#Explaining my argument in response to that is tricky

[etz-ashashiyot]

You know how sometimes arguing a point is losing?

Like if you engage the argument at all you are inherently putting up for debate things that should never be up for debate and the argument itself is degrading?

You see this with interpersonal gaslighting:

A gaslighter doesn’t simply need to be right. They also need for you to believe that they are right. In stage one, you know that they’re being ridiculous, but you argue anyways. You argue for hours, without resolution. You argue over things that shouldn’t be up for debate  – your feelings, your opinions, your experience of the world. You argue because you need to be right, you need to be understood, or you need to get their approval. In stage one, you still believe yourself, but you also unwittingly put that belief up for debate. In stage two, you consider your gaslighter’s point of view first and try desperately to get them to see your point of view as well. You continue to engage because you’re afraid of what their perspective of you says about you. Winning the argument now has one objective :  proving that you’re still good, kind, and worthwhile. In stage three, when you’re hurt, you first ask, “What’s wrong with me?” You consider their point of view as normal. You start to lose your ability to make your own judgements. You become consumed with understanding them and seeing their perspective. You live with and obsess over every criticism, trying to solve it.

[Source]

But you also see this on a broader societal level, with people asking unfathomably awful questions about minority groups, such as:

[Source]

It should go without saying, but no group of people should be forced to explain that yes, they really are real people, dickheads. The question doesn't deserve an answer; it deserves at best a disgusted eyeroll + "Are you a Nazi?" and at worst a punch to the face.

There is also the related phenomenon of the "when did you stop beating your wife?" type questions. The question is framed as a yes or no question, but the real answer for the innocent is: "I've never beaten my wife and never would." But even that answer still dignifies the question with a real response and puts the idea in the mind of the listener that hey maybe that's a real possibility and this guy is lying because of course he wouldn't just admit that. Now I don't know what to believe, but I'm skeptical.

Even if he answers, doubt has been cast on his character and many people (maybe even most people) neither have the attention span to listen to his full counter argument and supporting evidence nor are invested enough in strangers' lives to take the time to dig for facts on their own. Critically, it comes from a good impulse that shouldn't be repressed or taken too far in the opposite direction; namely, that we want to believe survivors and make it socially acceptable to speak out about abuse.

This leaves us with the uncomfortable reality that balancing believing survivors and whistle-blowers against not automatically believing allegations that very well may be false and/or in bad faith is a very tricky balancing act indeed. Because of this, people tend to struggle with taking survivors seriously and with presuming innocence until guilt has actually been proven, both. And as for the latter, this is at least partially due to the same psychological factors underlying the Don't Think of an Elephant problem.

Why am I discussing this?

See the thing is that these types of discourse have all been used, heavily, against the Jewish community, especially since Oct 7th, but really going back hundreds of years.

If you want to be our ally, you need to be on guard for how people use this rhetoric to accuse Jews of absolutely batshit cookoo bananas allegations (like being lizard people or having horns, or secretly running the world, or killing Christian babies to use their blood in our matzah, etc. etc.) and get away with it. Now obviously if so many people weren't already racist towards Jews as a people and had a vested interest in maintaining their supercessionist cultural worldview from Christianity and Islam, it would be a lot harder for this to work. Alas, the past 2000 years has created a bit of a snowballing effect.

This culminates in the effect described so well by Sartre:

Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.

— Jean-Paul Sartre

Right now, Jews are facing extreme levels of these types of rhetorical abuse, and are receiving very little help in the way of pushback.

We have to stop trying to explain ourselves and start just naming these tactics instead.

[synthetickitsune]

can i please request how svt would make up with their s/o after an argument? if you can't write for all the members then i would like to ask for either 95 or 97 line. thank you so much in advance! <3

angst, my beloved <3 thank you for requesting this!

svt + making up after argument //gn!reader

S.Coups ❧ He hates fighting with you for many reasons. It gets too heated, and it’s too important, too close. And he doesn’t have any sort of authority to use as a leverage. Not that he usually does or uses it, but it helps ground him with fake confidence. He doesn’t have that luxury here. As a result, every argument with you shakes him to the core. Afterwards he trails after you, and it’s so annoying sometimes that it almost leads to another fight. But by then he’s too unsure about anything that isn’t his love for you to keep it up and he closes off. He won’t meet your eyes because he can’t have this right now, he’ll give you an easy victory that leaves a bitter taste on his tongue. This is not a battle, something to win or lose, but he doesn’t like the feeling all the same. He swears the pout on his lips isn’t on purpose. It certainly works in his favor, though. As annoying as his constant hovering is, seeing Seungcheol lose confidence in his own kitchen is the most heartbreaking thing. You motion for him to come closer and he comes into your arms easily. He grows more comfortable. He apologizes again, and so do you. It’s endearing, his curious glances any time he wants to follow you. He needs to know you’re okay, and this time you let him. It’s easier to talk things out in the buzz of going about your day. He listens to your rant about what really upset you as you wash the dishes, and he opens up about why he’s been so snappy with you lately while he folds the laundry. To keep the mood going, you keep cleaning and talking. There’s nothing like doing chores to remind you you’re in this together and to get the house in order. Maybe you should fight more often.

Jeonghan ❧ In the silence and invisible distance after, he knows what caused the rift. He doesn't like giving space when it already feels like there's too much of it between you and him, but he knows when it's necessary to take a step back. It might be a weakness or a strength but his emotions are his own responsibility that he alone takes care of. Jeonghan needs to sit down and analyze; put things into perspective and create a mental model and draw parallels. Complex understanding of a problem is what he excels at, after all. He sorts out the mess in his head, thinks about what hurt you and comes up with the best way to explain himself - not to make an excuse, but to show his intention and apologize. He tells himself how to navigate through this next time. The other half, what hurt him, he sorts out as well. He is understanding. He can't let what you don't mean or you're right about to get under his skin. He can set his ego aside for a while. When he approaches you, it’s difficult for you. It feels like you’re chasing after someone miles ahead. You also want to deal with your feelings so efficiently. Maybe it's just hard because you long for him so much after arguments. Because you know the fight wasn’t worth it. You talk and you listen and you apologize to each other. While his apology flows like a river, yours is more like a mountain stream, rushed and crashing against your mental blocks, hurdles in communication you can't get over. But he still listens and he nods, holds your hand and helps you get your point through. You know he understands without you speaking and you’re grateful. Even if it breaks your heart you can never truly meet him in the middle, Jeonghan always being one step ahead, doing much of the work for both of you.

Joshua ❧ It's all about timing. Arguments are rare, and so the way away from them is all the more tricky. It's hard to get Joshua riled up like this, enough for a fight to take place, and it just so happens that he lets his other little frustrations slip into the arguments. The aftermath is both of you on edge still long after apologies were said. You want to make up, he wants to make up, but if you try too early, you'll snap at each other all over again without meaning to. Leave it alone for too long and the hurt will deepen. From an onlooker’s perspective, you could be a pair of naughty students, exchanging notes during class and waiting for each other's reaction. Joshua keeps stealing glances at you, you try to glance at him. It's all to see if it's safe to approach the other already. In an ideal world, you'd always get it right and end the day over cups of warm drinks, talking about the problem, resolving it, coming up with suggestions what to do differently to avoid this happening again. But you're only people. So sometimes it’s snark met with sarcasm, riling each other up again instead - only this time, the venom slowly disappears and you push each other’s buttons on purpose. You like that he can meet your level of sass, he likes how clever your comebacks are, and vice versa. You don't notice how close you've inched to each other until your lips all but brush against his. It's a wake up call for both of you. Sometimes the conversation takes place over coffee at the table, sometimes it happens in the bed as you bask in the afterglow. Either way, your fingers are intertwined and your voices are soft. You make up with kisses just as tender.

Jun ❧ This is why he always carefully considers whether the issue at hand is worth arguing about. Oftentimes he rather backs out, gives in simply to avoid the fight - or more accurately, to avoid the fallout. It’s awkward. Even after everything’s been said and settled, there’s tension between the two of you that he’s unused to. He can’t come up to you and act like nothing happened. It’d feel too inappropriate, even if that’s what he’d love to do. There’s nothing else to say, though. Words are pointless if you know how he feels and he knows how you feel. Everything is settled - only the emotions linger. What he does is on the line between his usual kindness and a love language. A bowl of cut fruit, watching the episode of your show first, or him picking only the whole, unbroken chips to feed you. It's all for you, to show that he cares, if you're ready to accept that. It melts your heart even if you’re still wound up from the argument. You take the fork and stab the fruit, not him. You don't roll your eyes and stop yourself from getting annoyed that he wants to appease you. You open your mouth and you don't bite his fingers. But sometimes you wish he would just apologize. It's not like either of you was wrong. It was mostly just an exchange of opinions. But still, sometimes the simplest solution is the best one - you apologized too. It's three damned words. That's not gonna kill him. But then you see Jun cut the fruit with the star-shaped cutter, or he hums the opening of the show, or he chuckles at the one chip that kind of looks like a heart. You can only sigh and smile and let go of it all. This is who you picked. This is who you're gonna stick beside.

Hoshi ❧ He might not follow you around, but his eyes do. Soonyoung is long past the stage of being shy around you, but he reverts back to it after arguments. His eyes never leave your figure unless you look at him. It's pointless, he knows it's obvious he's staring. Yet he can't help it, a part of him is worried about you leaving if only for a second. And it's not fair. It's cheating because he looks so small and vulnerable, and you know he is - know that you are too. How could you ignore him? You sigh, half exasperated, half fond, as you close the distance between you and sit down next to him. He has the decency to look sheepish when you do. He's moving ridiculously slowly when his arms reach out to hug you to give you a chance to refuse, sometimes it makes you angry that he acts like you’re the only one whose emotions matter or like you’re gonna refuse his affection. As if you could live with the heartbroken expression he'd make if you pulled away. Not that you want to. He tucks you under his chin, cushioning your head on his chest. His arms are wrapped securely around you and the muscles on his legs flex with your every move, ready to use all his limbs to keep you trapped. You'd almost think you did try to run away and he only just caught you. He murmurs into your hair about how much he loves you, the dates, wildly unrealistic, he'd love to take you on. He promises you stars, moon, and the sun, he promises you forever. He'd do anything to keep you happy and laughing as you are now. You know he's as serious as he can be. What you also know is that the only way to shut him up now is with a kiss. So you do.

Wonwoo ❧ You're both trying too hard and that might also, eventually, become a problem. Trying too hard to be mindful of the other to the point you ignore your own needs and feelings is never a way. When the argument happens, it feels inevitable. It leaves you both feeling defeated. So you agree to give each other space before discussing things further. And you both think pretty much the same thing - what is the other thinking? You're circling back to where the problem started but with the result of that fresh in your minds, you don't make the same mistake. Somehow you end up in the same room, on the same bed, lying on your backs and staring at the ceiling as you talk. Telling each other what conclusions you came up with, what you think the other wanted to say and felt, you learn a lot about each other. Wonwoo takes advantage of the situation. He's opening up anyway, he’s already showing vulnerability, he might as well compensate for struggling with it otherwise. So he does. He uses the mellow atmosphere after an argument to show you his heart, to explain a little about how he thinks, gaining confidence with each of your reassuring nods and the way you really listen and care. You don’t judge and neither does he. He tells you all the things he wanted to say but didn’t before, throws in a tiny thing or two that he secretly loves about you. He lets you in, comforted enough by the safe bubble enveloping the two of you to do so. Each fight is a step forward to never fighting again, he said once. No matter who it is, being honest without holding back is hard and takes a lot of courage. With your hand in his and his knee bumping against yours, however, even conquering the world seems possible.

Woozi ❧ Arguments are never easy on Jihoon. It's enough that he has to deal with them at work - because really, the negotiations he's gotta do sometimes are nothing more than pointless fights. Therefore at home, he tries to be as efficient as possible dealing with any issues that come up. Partly because yes, he's tired, but for the most part because he knows how patient and tolerant you are towards him and he wants to give back. Which doesn't mean he doesn't snap occasionally and full on arguments don't happen, and then he's quick to apologize. You talk about it more, get over it, and then it's up to you and Jihoon to each decompress and process everything. You might busy yourself or leave to get some space, but he stays right where he is. He leans his head back on the couch and closes his eyes. He lets time wash over him as he thinks and takes in the silence, finally indulging in the absence of sound. When he's had his fill, though, he thinks about how it must seem to you for him to tell you that things are alright, and then he makes no effort to move or approach you. So he does so now. It feels awkward when he finds you - should he apologize again? Will you understand? Isn't it too late? You notice him hesitating and call him over. He relaxes seeing your smile, and he leans down to kiss the top of your head. He mumbles something that vaguely resembles a sorry. He asks what you've been doing, and he lets you get away with it if you pull him with you to show him or glue yourself to his side. He listens too intently and thinks hard about questions to ask to really mind any skinship you're doing even if he'd grumble any other time.

The8 ❧ His first step is always to assess the situation. He tries to feel out if it’s space or his presence that you want. Either way, it’s not far from the truth to say he approaches you as if you were a stray cat. Once it's safe to assume you'd welcome him being in the same room, he still keeps his wary distance. He lets you lead. But Minghao's also only a human and the tension where there should be peace upsets him more than the argument itself. He creeps towards you slowly, and at first it's only brushing his fingers against yours or bumping his leg with yours as he sits down next to you. Like a flowing water, he slowly envelops you without you noticing. Soon enough, his arms are around your waist and his head is on your shoulder, planting a gentle kiss to your skin, nuzzling into you, asking for forgiveness and reconciliation. He's not opposed to talking things out, he prefers it, actually, but only after everything is settled and you're okay and back to being partners, not angry lovers sharing a home. He likes to have his hands on you while you talk it out after some time. He brushes your hair back, his thumb caresses the back of your land and draws reassuring circles on your skin. It's as nice as it is distracting. After arguments, he always feels the need to reassure and be reassured. They leave a sense of unease inside him that unsettles him as much as the fact that he lost control and fought with you - it's inevitable, he knows, but he's a fighter and if the opponent is the human nature, so be it. There is no rock that can withstand the flow of a river, after all. But until then, he makes sure to hold you tighter and cling while he has an excuse.

Mingyu ❧ He really is a shadow of you and you have to bite your tongue to keep quiet. Sometimes it makes you snap at him, other times you've gotten over the argument and it's just cute. His hesitant steps and the second of questioning warmth as his hands hover over your waist before they make contact. His chin on your shoulder while he asks if there's anything he can help you with - anything he can do to make it right again. And sometimes you're still upset, and you want to tell him to go to hell, but how could you - with his voice so soft and low, so gentle, and his hands slowly encircling your waist until he's hugging you. He pulls you close and sways with you a little, he apologizes again, with a kiss to the top of your head. He really is willing to do anything - take on your share of chores, go over the argument again, anything but leaving you alone. And it's not fair because his puppy eyes and dejected look anytime you try to ignore him always wear you down in the end. He promises to do better, he whispers the words into your hair through a pout at being denied your gaze meeting his. He is well-aware of his shortcomings and where you were right, and where he was, and it means everything to him that you, too, understand and without promises, without empty excuses, you silently acknowledge what was said and work with it. The little steps forward are appreciated, he tries to take notice of them, and puffs out his chest with pride whenever you smile when you notice his own efforts. Making up with Mingyu is whining and pouting and clinging, but it's also understanding and making an effort to make sharing a home, sharing your lives, easier.

DK ❧ He’s shaking - his entire existence is. His hands are trembling, he’s taking shallow, shaky breaths, and his eyes keep darting all over your figure, trying to see if you will flinch away if he touches you now. It’s only been a couple of silent minutes since the argument; call him weak and clingy, but he can’t take it anymore. He calls your name quietly, pleading for you to look at him, and he can’t help the primal instinct to pull you close once you do. Seokmin holds you like you’ll slip through his fingers if he doesn’t, and he feels like he lets go of all the built up tension with the long exhale that slips past his lips once your arms wrap around him and hold him just as tight. He murmurs apologies, he stumbles over his words trying to explain, but after all the effort, he knows it pointless. You understand, and he understands too when you kiss his jaw and snuggle closer. After you part, he keeps babbling to keep the silence away. He hates it, he can’t stand it right now, but he stops talking so fast as soon as he sees you opening your mouth to say something too. He pays so much attention to you it almost feels overbearing, but you let him, because you analyze his every move too, trying to guess how he feels. Even if you talk things out, there’s this uneasiness that lingers and that makes him overcompensate for what happened, to prove that he’s worthy of you - he just kind of messed up. But that might lead to you feeling the same way, and it’s a downward spiral until it reaches a critical point where it hits you both how much this seems like farce, and you laugh, and you love each other nonetheless. You’re still smiling when you kiss.

Seungkwan ❧ He needs a good long time to cool down. At first, he hopes you know he didn't mean half the things he said. It's ridiculous, right? You know better than to trust him when he gets upset. As much as his pride and stubbornness hold him back though, his love for you eventually pushes him forward. Seungkwan approaches you and tries (and fails) to pretend like nothing happened. He tries to strike a conversation but he himself is too awkward - not to mention you, still hurt and shaken by the argument. You’re trying your best too, both of you miserably trying to get over the argument simply through relying on the strong foundation of your relationship alone. But when were you known for not holding grudges, a vice that you both share? He sighs and he takes your hands in his. A quick look into his eyes is enough to know he's dropping the charade. You drop it too and listen to him patiently explain his point of view. This time when he puts on a mask, it fits better. He tries to make it fun - he hates confrontation with you, and he finds reassurance in making you laugh. He holds your hand throughout and listens carefully when you speak, laughs when you insert jokes of your own. He finds it hard to let go of your hand. It's necessary sometimes but as soon as he can, he holds you again. Your hand in his, arm thrown around your shoulders, around your waist and pulling you close to himself. He makes you laugh in any way he can, he reminds you how much he loves you so there's no room for doubt in your mind about his feelings. He gets shy when you do the same, but it means more to him than he could ever explain.

Vernon ❧ At the end of the fight, both of you apologize. It's a habit at this point really, because it's what always happens. As justified as the reason for the argument might’ve been, nothing is as important as your relationship and nothing could ever warrant losing your temper at each other. Vernon asks if you're okay when you go through things again, calmly this time, and you know he means the two of you, and yeah, you've worked it out, things are alright again. And perhaps that's enough for him. He goes about the rest of his day as usual, though maybe his smiles are a little wider. You appreciate that and it's nice to fall into your routines, to return to normalcy of everyday life in your household. Then again, you can't help but wonder - is everything alright? Would he tell you if it wasn't? Maybe the way he closed the cupboard was a little louder than usual, maybe there's more to the tension in his shoulder than exhaustion from his morning workout. You call out his name and it's enough to alert him that something’s wrong. You explain, and he chuckles - you know he'd be more distant if something was bothering him, he reminds you. He told you he's fine, so he's fine - simple as that. He's warm and reassuring when he hugs you tightly and rocks you from side to side. You might even get a kiss. Just to make sure you have no doubts that he’s truly over the argument, he makes the time to spend some extra quality time with you. You tell him it’s not necessary, that his reassurance was enough, but you'll never say no if he wants to hold you. It’s nothing special, just a couple hours spent much like they would be on a day you’re both free. And that’s all you need, after all.

Dino ❧ He feels at loss after you fight. Apologizing and talking things through can only get him so far. The tension in the air lingers and he doesn't like it. His first impulse is to go buy flowers, maybe some sweets, but then he'd have to leave and that's out of the question right now. Part of him is irrationally afraid you'd take him leaving the wrong way and he'll do anything not to make things worse. He could tell you, ask if there’s anything you’re craving right now - and maybe that's not a bad idea at all. He brings it up to you and blushes a nice shade of red when you laugh. You end up coming with him, because the air is clearer outside, not as stifling. It's easier to remember the good times as you walk through the familiar neighborhood. Your hand finds his on instinct and he knows it made you as surprised as he was when he felt your touch. You don't pull away though. In the shop, he lets you go to grab yourself some treats while he does the shopping for necessities. He finds you at the snack isle when he’s done and follows your requests, throws into the basket even the things you're hesitant about trying - you said things are okay between you, so it’s alright to have adventures again. But then you need to compensate for the snacks, so you pick up some of the fruits you've never tried, and maybe also the cereal... Needless to say this wasn't the cheapest grocery shopping but the fun and having the comfortable atmosphere between you back is well worth it in Chan's eyes. He doesn’t forget the flowers - even if he has to run to the shop again without you so it’s a surprise. As he closes the door, he smiles. You’ll be there when he returns, and you’re as eager for him to come back as he is.

[slimelover165]

I want to take a second to talk about some of the main criticisms people have with the Moon Knight show—the ones that are actually valid, not just comic purists crying about “accuracy.”

The two biggest issues people bring up are:

Marc’s DID stemming from his brother’s death and his abusive mother instead of the serial killer Nazi who infiltrated his inner circle.

The portrayal of Jake as the “evil” alter.

Now, quick side tangents:

First, it’s hilarious how people will complain about Jake falling into the “evil alter” trope in the same breath that they demand comic accuracy—as if that exact portrayal didn’t come straight from the Bemis run. And when you point that out? Suddenly, that run “sucked” and “shouldn’t have been used.” The cherry-picking is unreal. They want comic accuracy, but only from very specific runs—ones that almost no one can agree on. Which is especially tricky for a character like Moon Knight, who has had some truly terrible runs. (I have been in too many Twitter arguments with comic purists, can you tell?)

Second, people refuse to acknowledge that when Moon Knight was released, Disney and the MCU as a whole were still extremely toned down when it came to violence. The Moon Knight team had to fight just to get that TV-14 rating. And honestly, this show is probably the reason we’re now getting Daredevil with actual violence and longer seasons. Moon Knight pushed the envelope and showed Disney what audiences actually wanted. Just had to put that out there.

Back to my initial rambling—I've never seen Jake as an “evil” alter. In the show, he’s clearly the protector. His violent nature isn’t random; it’s a response to the role he was forced into.

Building on that, I’ve always believed Jake formed from the incident with the Nazi. Marc was terrified in that moment—his safety, his identity, everything was under attack. That kind of trauma could absolutely trigger the creation of a protector alter.

This also strengthens the connection to Marc’s Judaism. Imagine the horror of realizing someone he saw as a close family friend delighted in killing Jews—and told him so, to his face. That kind of direct, personal trauma, coupled with witnessing brutal antisemitic violence, could explain both Jake’s aggression and Marc’s complicated relationship with his faith.

And yet, people give Moon Knight so much shit for not cramming 50 years of comics into six episodes. The comics themselves took 20+ years to name Marc’s DID, and 37 issues before acknowledging his Judaism. Even now, these aspects of his identity are often treated as cameos—quick mentions that have little to no impact on the story. When it does have an impact on the story, it is for drama or to move the story along without being treated like an actual disorder or piece of his identity that affects the way he lives or functions as a human being. 

Not to mention the long history of completely ignoring or outright disrespecting these parts of his identity. Calling him “crazy” or “schizophrenic.” Writing him into a Christmas special. The show handled him with more respect than most of the comics ever did, and if you can’t see that, you’re straight-up blind.

Oh, and let’s not forget: this was also the first piece of Moon Knight media to actually respect his Egyptian roots. The comics? They cherry-picked the mythology, kept whatever served their story, and disrespected an entire culture and their history in the process. But sure, let’s pretend the show was the problem.

Comic purists on Twitter act like the show assasinated his character. In reality, they’re using these technically valid criticisms as a front for their real issue—it’s not their version of Moon Knight. And half the time, they exaggerate how “inaccurate” it even was. Like, let’s be real, a lot of the changes were necessary. Take Steven, for example—he was barely a character in the comics, and what little we knew about him was a comic book cliche. In order for his character to move past the copy accusations and become a long-lasting character, he needed to be changed. 

Let’s be honest—virtually every reasonable issue people have with the show could be solved with more screen time. That’s why I, like most fans, am praying for a second season or even a solo movie. Throwing him straight into crossovers would ruin one of the best aspects of the show: the lingering question of what’s real and what’s not. If they rush his development for the sake of team-ups, we lose all the previous set-up.

Of course, that’s assuming that if he did get more screen time, they’d handle it well… and with MCU writing, that’s never a guarantee.

Anyway, I could rant about Moon Knight forever, but I’ll stop here. Shoutout to @NotHenryDumb on Twitter, who made a fantastic thread on this idea. I’ve had this take for a while, and I just wanted to go deeper into it. I know this would rile up the comic purists and Twitter oomfs alike, but honestly? I’m done with that side of the fandom.The Moon Knight show and character have brought so much joy into my life, and I refuse to let some comic-obsessed gooners ruin my hyperfixation.

[defendingtheowlhouse]

Now, it is time to do what is basically equivalent to playing with snakes again and critique another set of passionate critiques (this time even more passionate). Today, I am handling belos, which will probably go... less then spectacular.

Belos is a character who receives a lot of criticism around the end of the series, I will be completely unable to cover every point about him or the most well argued versions of those points as I do not have them. I do not hate belos fans, but I also often find myself disagreeing with some but not all of them, so I wish to respectfully disagree. these will be pretty scatterbrained. Please have patience.

One of the arguments is that it's significantly bad that we don't get a flashback scene on him, and while that may be intriguing, I don't see how it's necessary. We are given context to him throughout seasons 2b and 3 with the paintings and the hayride, giving us baseline information on key elements on his backstory. (Orphan, betrayed by his brother, who he seemed to look up to, brother leaves, belos kills him) it's pretty barebones, and while it would be very interesting to have something more in depth and many fan artists have provided that that doesn't mean the show had to. What we are given is meant to provide lore and context, but it isn't a story. I don't see how a flashback would do much more than retread old steps while maybe making it a little more sad and characterise the characters who aren't really characters, which I don't really see as needed, not much will change depending on weather caleb was nice or mean or something else entirely. I don't see the problem in leaving these things up to interpretation. If someone wants to explain *respectfully* why they disagree please go ahead.

Another is that belos wanting to be 'the hero of his own delusion' means he's out for glory and is therefore completely flattened of all intrigue on purpose for some reason. I do not understand this because while glory is an interpretation of that line, the one that I find more likely and intriguing is that he wants to feel like a good person more than he wants to be one. Wanting to be right while falling into the pitfalls of wilful ignorance, the wanting to be good before wanting to evaluate what is good. We see this as a theme in the show through Jacob and Hunter (Jacob literally having the line 'I'm the good guy here' (acting as a mirror to belos wanting to be a hero since season 2a in my opinion showing how it wasn't just said as a way to purposefully flatten him because they don't like him) and hunter who is shown repeatedly using thought terminating clichés to keep himself able to go against his moral compass). It's also this veiw that somehow belos' entire handling in the finale was a response to spite his fans while that would probably take lots of effort in changing what was probably planned out relatively early on while working on season 2b and 3 to the point where I can't see how realistic it is to say that they changed the things in season 3 in response to the response to hollow mind.

My main problem is that I see many had overly specific expectations that weren't lived up to because they weren't exactly how people wanted him to be and the chances of their vision of belos and the writers vision of him don't align. A selection of (definitely not all, if this doesn't apply to you, I'm not talking about you) belos fans don't seem interested in the show at all outside of their idea of belos and his lore and while that's fine, you're allowed to do that, the show juggling many other themes and characters probably aren't going to be as fleshed out as works focused on that.

Sorry if I don't make sense or am fighting points that don't really exist and missing the actual points. It's tricky when I'm not going against something specific and I'm also not my best thinking wise right now

Please be nice to me, I just got home from the hospital for a mental breakdown the day before yesterday.

[certainchaostyrant]

Static v.s Dynamic Characters in AUP

"Dynamic: Main character undergoes some fundamental change- spiritually, socially, politically- their belief system, even a physical change. The change in the character is an excellent clue to the story's main idea. Static: Main character does not change and remains stagnate throughout the main plot points. (But this static behavior can still lead to Main Idea)."

I made a comment earlier today "... he [Ludger] just wants to die, he only impacts the people that make the character look good in a false mascaraed of what character development could be, his dialog is ass because it doesn't pinpoint any turn in place, and his abilities only serve to move the story along. I have read 4th grade writing with more rising conflict than this story the suspension of disbelief is only good if your characters also have that suspension of disbelief, and Ludger doesn't have that so he doesn't convince the readers at all he's a shallow character that could have been and his abilities only serve to hinder him [Ludger] and the plot as a whole." And I wanted to elaborate and maybe explain the in-depth reasons for me saying this, and it ties back to how to write a static character.

I think as a whole, we can agree that Ludger Cherish is a static character, even though events happen, and huge changes occur around him, he himself remains the same throughout the main conflicts of the stories. The resolutions are geared to focus on resolving conflict through other characters changing (IE: Casey Selmoy) rather than Ludger himself changing.

And while Static characters can be written well for the "main idea" it's not really realistic. Ludger gets lost in the story a bit, and I believe that he's not necessarily a 'Mary Sue', even though he certainly fits the description, and an argument otherwise could certainly be made, however he- in my personal opinion- fits more into a Pathetic Fallacy.

"Pathetic Fallacy: Attributing human emotions and responses to nature, often mirroring the mood of the story."

Ludger's entire base model as a character- as I mentioned earlier about his "death is the only way to make peace with the people I've hurt"- is strictly based off a mentality of staying dead. Which is a fine character base on its own, however the choices he makes within the manhwa reads like a pathetic fallacy, all of his responses- such as not telling Selmoy about what had actually happened in Delcia- is purely emotional. Which again, by itself is a fine base for a character, but when you dive into it, it's not consistent. This is where it becomes a fallacy and no longer works within the story as a whole.

When your main character has the same "Achilles heel" as your main villain it can get pretty tricky down the line especially if your main character is stagnated and does not change.

I could go more in depth with this, as it is really fascinating, however I feel like this is a good place to start with my own personal opinion about the manhwa.

[sirenum]

It's always fun to explore a characters trauma && pain along with mental health but it can also be tricky

As someone who writes traumatized muses these are things I've personally learnt and just because it works for me doesn't mean it'll work form you!

Its understandable that the character will have triggers. Be in pain and have trust issues or other forms of issues and that's completely normal and okay!

Remember that there is also a time and place where muses will expose their vulnerability, sometimes it can come out in a argument or it can come out suddenly

Their trauma isn't something that defines them. Take eve for a example (my interpretation) she has trauma from Eden and also from her time in purgatory: she has a immense fear of being alone and also is mortified of red apples but she doesn't always show it even when she is scared she puts up a facade and panics alone

There is a hierarchy of trauma ( image bellow ) which is a good way to helping your muse with their trauma

Find out what can trigger a muses trauma response, is it a phrase , touch , smell , item and so on

Don't be afraid to explain their response for trauma the 5 fs

( fight , flight, freeze , ,flop , faun )

You don't always need to have your muse in a constant state of traumatic response it can stunt character development and growth and it can also cause threads to feel repetitive

No one expects your muse to be like someone else's, no one expects anyone to write different

I just hope these tips and info help

[actual-changeling]

i haven’t seen the autistic thing but isn’t “this character did this certain thing because they’re traumatized” just regular meta analysis? it can be dangerous if it’s followed up by “therefore they can say and do whatever they want!” but if one person says “character 1 said something hurtful to character 2” and someone else says “ah yes but this is where character 1 is coming from” isn’t that just character analysis? sorry if i misunderstood

It very much depends on the phrasing!

I talk a lot about trauma and how it affects Crowley's and Aziraphale's actions & choices, and it's an important aspect to keep in mind for meta analyses. However, the problem is when it is not used as an explanation but as an excuse.

"He did this because of [trauma reasons]" can either be followed up by

a) some version of "but he still needs to apologize"

b) so you cannot blame him/hold him responsible for doing the thing.

The first one would be an explanation, the second an excuse.

Unfortunately, I have seen way too many posts that go with option b) and either blame Crowley for Aziraphale's choices or simply remove any and all responsibility from Aziraphale, turning him into a "he never does anything wrong ever" type of character—which is not just incredibly and stupidly reductive but also entirely untrue to canon.

In general, explaining the reason for harmful behaviour can be a tricky thing. Sometimes it can help to understand a character's motivations, but it can also be weaponized to shut people up or destroy character's autonomy or their right to emotional reactions.

For example, if I am talking about Aziraphale pushing Crowley into a severe dissociative episode during the final fifteen, then someone else adding "but Aziraphale is traumatized!!!" is not a respectful addition or argument, it is meant to invalidate Crowley's experiences and my explanations.

If, however, I am talking about why Aziraphale said certain things, then adding "this sentence can be connected back to this traumatic experience" is productive, respectful, and offers an actual argument to bounce off of.

I hope that helped explain it!

[ailelie]

I have been lectured multiple times at work for my tone in emails. This is now my formula for emails that read as 'warm' to people.

Hello [use name if possible]! (comma is also fine)

[Positive statement regarding their well-being. For example: I hope you are doing well. / I hope you had a good weekend. / I hope the week is treating you well.]

[If the receiver does not know me: Quick introduction and explanation of how I got their name and maybe a foreshadowing of why I'm emailing them. For example: My name is Ailelie. So-and-so suggested I reach out to you about That Thing. / My name is Ailelie. I'm the project manager of the State Project and need some guidance on Topic. I saw on the intranet that you are a Topic Expert.]

[The stuff I actually care about, but broken in to short paragraphs with key points bolded. I try to ensure that my words are never accusatory. For example:

I noticed this morning that your review of Document isn't done yet. I just wanted to check in and see when you thought you might be finished. As a reminder, we need this by 10am tomorrow.

I have a couple questions about the surveys. (1) Do you know when we conducted the last survey? (2) Can you point me to the survey results online? (3) Do you know who designed the survey?

This is just a reminder to upload your consent forms to the Airtable by EoD Friday.

I am reaching out because we still need to schedule your interview. Please review the following list of times and let me know today which one works best for you.]

[If necessary, I tell them "Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions!"]

[If any part of the email involves a request or a response to something they've done, include a 'Thank you!' You can use this instead of the closing statement.]

[Closing statement wishing them well. For example: Have a great afternoon! / Have a great weekend! / I hope you enjoy the play tonight!]

Sincerely,

Ailelie

--

Every email, I've learned, also needs a minimum of 2 exclamation points, though 3 is better. The exclamation points may only be connected with positive statements.

Other tips I've picked up is to be very, very clear with dates and expectations. Then, write the thesis first (I need X by Y) followed by the supporting details (For X, please include A and B, but don't worry about C).

And, when giving feedback, always use the cliched compliment sandwich and explain the feedback instead of just telling it.

This is really good. I love the level of detail you included. I did notice, however, that you use school years instead of actual years. Our audience isn't just education people and so they may find school years confusing. Also related to audience, I'd love if you could include a bit more explanation about how turnkey professional learning works before you justify using it. I think that will help them understand your arguments better. Overall, though, I think this is a solid start. Thank you!

And with that I've not been lectured in a few years. If an email is tricky (read: firm for any reason or on a touchy topic), though, I still get a co-worker to read through it first.

ETA: For feedback, sometimes it is very helpful to give the compliment, give the reason for criticism, and then give a list of specific bulleted things you want them to change, and then close with another comment. Some people can handle paragraph feedback. Some people need it super spelled out.

just like me fr

[eventumlegal]

Can I Change My Guilty Plea?

Have you been to court and entered a guilty plea and have since realised this was a mistake? Did your solicitor at court rush through their conference with you and you did not have enough time to consider the evidence, or have that explained to you in detail; the law and potential defences? This is something we are hearing more and more as the courts and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) are getting inundated with cases and sadly the process for many defendants is one which is rushed, misinformed, and where there seems to be allowances for missing or incomplete initial disclosure. Removing the plea entered is an option some defendant's may have who have found themselves in this position and our team are here to provide advice and support in this situation. 

A defendant can change their guilty plea at any stage prior to sentence, but it can be tricky. Referred to as vacating your plea in the legal world, changing a plea to not guilty is often a difficult process which requires careful preparation and expert legal arguments to be made as part of the application. The Court of Appeal has stated on a number of occasions that ‘the cases must be comparatively rare where it would be proper to allow a change of plea’ (R -v- Mutford Justices ex parte Harber [1971] 2 QB 55). 

Reasons you may want to vacate your guilty plea

We often speak to clients initially who feel they have been forced to plead guilty and did so in response to advice from the solicitor that represented them at the Magistrates Courts

. They have then returned home and having digested the proceedings against them realised that in fact they should never have pleaded guilty and want to quickly rectify this before sentence. I have often spoken to clients who have not seen the evidence against them, nor had it properly explained which begs the question how you can plead guilty to an offence when you don’t know what the offence is, the law you have allegedly broken or how strong the case is against you. 

Additionally, and we see this in many youth cases

, a defendant may want to have proceedings over quickly due to the anxiety and fear, but don’t really understand the consequences of a guilty plea nor had it been explained to them. Mental health and psychological factors at the time the plea was entered may be important factors taken into consideration when applying to vacate a guilty plea. 

The full credit provided to a defendant who pleads guilty at their first Magistrates Court appearance can be an appealing factor in the moment. The criminal justice system do encourage defendant’s to plead guilty and as a result this encouragement was rolled out by the  ‘Early Guilty Plea’ scheme, giving full discount when the guilty plea is entered at the magistrates court, which can often be before evidence has been served by the prosecution in a full and proper form. When the evidence is then served, it may be a realisation to the defendant the facts on which they have pleaded guilty to, and may dispute the facts and therefore believe that they are in fact not guilty of the alleged offence.

The Procedure For Changing a Guilty Plea 

There is a procedure set by law for changing a guilty plea, this procedure is set out in part 24 of the Criminal Procedure Rules. 

Section 24.1 of the Criminal Procedure Rules states that a defendant must apply as soon as practicable after becoming aware of the grounds for making an application to change a plea of guilty and may only do so before the final disposal of the case by sentence, or otherwise." 

Becoming aware of the grounds means that you have established a reason for your plea to be vacated. At Eventum Legal, we will work with our clients to establish grounds, and this includes taking a full review of the case and work done with any previous legal representatives our client may have had. 

Once grounds are established the application to vacate the guilty plea must be made in writing to the court, unless the court states otherwise. The application must:

(a) Set out the reasons why it would be unjust for the guilty plea to remain unchanged. 

(b) Indicate what, if any, evidence the defendant wishes to call to help establish the grounds for vacating the plea. 

(c) Identify any proposed witnesses; and 

(d) Indicated whether legal professional privilege is waived, specifying any material name and date. 

The application must be served on the court and the (CPS).

The court will list the case for the application to be heard by the court. During this hearing evidence may be heard from the defendant, any witnesses they have and any prosecution witnesses. 

Deciding to give evidence is a discussion your lawyers will have with you prior to any hearing. 

What Happens After The Hearing?

If the application is successful your case will start again from the beginning and your guilty plea will be changed to a not guilty plea. Your case will then proceed to trial and preparation for this will begin.

If the application is refused, your guilty plea will remain and the case will continue for sentence as planned for another date.

What Does Waiving Legal Professional Privilege Mean?

By waiving legal professional privilege this means the defendant is allowing the court and the prosecution to see their case documents which exist between them and their previous solicitor. This information would otherwise be strictly confidential. Where it can be required for legal professional privilege to be waived, is where the previous solicitor’s advice and representation forms the grounds for the application to vacate plea. In this instance and if the prosecution are not agreeing to the application made to vacate your guilty plea, they may call your previous solicitor to question them about the advice they gave to you.

The decision to waive legal professional privilege must be done with great care, and with the understanding that comments you may have made about the case to your solicitors could go against you.

How Eventum Legal Can Prepare Your Case for an Application to Vacate Your Guilty Plea

Our lawyers have been representing clients facing this legal dilemma for many years and understand the frustration and upset a person can face knowing they have pleaded guilty in error. Taking a methodical and expert approach to this complex area of law is crucial, our lawyers will firstly discuss your case and concerns during an initial free consultation. We will then proceed to obtain all case papers and fully consider those to enable us to prepare a strong application to the court.

We may require you to waive legal professional privilege and we will discuss this with you and the potential consequences.

Once we have prepared your application and fully explained the legal process to you the application will be served.

One of our expert lawyers will attend court when the case is listed to represent you and make legal submissions in person.

[babyouran]

The Twins Fight! - what started as a tricky game soon turns into a dramatic argument where the twins cause chaos in their fight against one another

Pairing - fem!reader x host club

A part of - ouran add-in

"Let's all play the ‘Which one is Hikaru’ game!" The twins exclaimed, standing up while the ladies clapped at their announcement. "So, can you tell which one of us is Hikaru?"

"Well, it's hard to say," One lady began, tapping her finger against her chin.

"You're identical!" The other added.

"Many ladies have tried to tell us apart, but so far none have succeeded."

"Oh, they're playing that game again?" Y/n turned to Haruhi, the girls didn't have any customers at the moment. They were just enjoying the less busy crowd and chatting about a book Y/n read recently.

"It's kind of stupid," Haruhi expressed.

"What? Have you got a problem with it, Haruhi?" They overheard her comment, turning to look at the two girls.

"No, it's just odd," She simply spoke, turning her attention back to Y/n.

"Hikaru! Kaoru!" Tamaki spoke, running in with a computer. "When I gave you control of the club's website, I did so on one condition. That you take it seriously!" Tamaki scolded them.

"We take our job very seriously boss," Hikaru responded.

"In fact, last night we worked on it till dawn," Kaoru added.

"Is this what you worked so hard to create?" He pulled up the screen, showing Y/n without her mask on and a shorter dress going up to her knees.

"Oh no," She stood up, grabbing onto the device to look at it. In response to seeing the less-than-accurate image, and realizing what lecture she would receive if her father saw such an image, she slumped to the ground. 

"You look great N/n-chan," Honey smiled.

"Pretty," Mori commented, and soon enough the girls were all surrounding the screen trying to catch a glance.

"There, there," Haruhi patted her back.

"My teeth don't look like that," Y/n pouted. "Also my lips are not- never mind. You have to take that down," She walked over to the twins flicking their foreheads. "Kyoya-senpai!" She yelled, wandering off from the mischievous duo.

"When did you take those photos of her?" Tamaki walked up to the twins.

"Didn't you hear her? We didn't," Hikaru explained.

"There is something called Photoshop, boss," Kaoru added.

"Can you do it with her wearing this?" Tamaki lifted a magazine where the main model was wearing a fancy green dress. 

"No," They deadpanned, walking away to leave a disappointed Tamaki. Instead, they decided to focus their attention back on Y/n who was arguing with Kyoya.

"I don't care if it got you more views on the website, if you don't want to be sued by my father take it down!" She stated, clearly frustrated and flustered trying to reason with Kyoya. In the presence of the twins, she switched her yelling onto them, taking the computer from Kyoya’s hands and motioning it to the boys. "Take it down," She pushed it in their hands.

"Why? It's fun. When we get bored we make fun."

"No," Y/n rolled her eyes, “This is not fun, this is bad!”

"You're our pet," Hikaru spoke, while Kaoru started working on getting rid of the photo.

"Be a good girl now," Kaoru looked up from over the screen.

"I'm not a dog. I can’t be both of your entertainment like this, you should go on and find a toy."

"You want a toy?" A dark figure appeared from behind a door, candlestick in hand. "Toys, toys. If you like toys then you should come and visit my Black Magic Club," The boy offered. This piqued Haruhi’s interest as she walked over to the mysterious figure to hear more about his offer. 

"We've recently opened a marketplace that hosts black magic items from across the globe. We're also holding mass around the clock. If you visit right now, I'll even throw in a free curse doll. You can have Belzenef as your gift."

"Why is he talking to us through a crack in the door?" Haruhi wondered, looking back at the fellow club members.

"Wait a second, has that door always been there?" The twins pondered.

"Nekozawa-senpai likes to hide. He doesn't care for brightly lit places," Kyoya informed the group.

"Don't get involved with that guy Y/n," Tamaki snuck up on her, scaring her. She jumped and flinched where she was standing. "If you do you'll end up being cursed, don't you do it either Haruhi!"

"How do you know?" Y/n asked, moving closer to the door, her arm was about to reach for the doorknob but Tamaki stepped forward to pull her arm back so that she was standing next to her. 

"It happened during final exams, at the end of the last school year," Tamaki let go of her wrist since she was trying to shake her hand out of it. He then went on to explain a story where he stepped on a 'cursed' doll, leading to him taking a test in different lettering and he also didn't know any of the students in that class. "I was in a different dimension."

"Scary!" Honey cowered.

"Did that really happen to you?" Haruhi questioned, unsure, trying to hide behind the shorter boy. Y/n walked over to the nervous Honey, bending down a bit and patting his head in a comforting way.

"Don't you worry Honey-senpai, or you either Haruhi-chan. I think Tamaki-senpai just went to the wrong class," Y/n explained while Honey was hugging her. 

"It was a curse! I know because I woke up three days later and my legs were as heavy as lead!" Tamaki fired back.

"Your legs were heavy because you ran a marathon the day before, remember?" Kyoya told him, still working on his normal tasks despite the new presence of the man. 

"You shouldn't underestimate the dark powers of Belzenef the cursed doll. All you have to do is write the name of someone you hate on his back and then that someone will come into misfortune," Nekozawa popped up, holding the cat doll.

"Wow this guy is dark in more ways than one," Kaoru spoke, and soon he and Hikaru exchanged a glance.

"I wonder what he will think of this," Hikaru showed the flashlight from behind his back before shining it on Tamaki and Nekozawa. Both of them ran away scared, Nekozawa choosing to retreat to his club room.

"How on earth could you two do such a thing? Obviously, the two of you don't know the true terror of the black mirror!" Tamaki shook, but this wasn’t anything the twins paid much attention to, instead just wandering off with complaints that they were bored.

"My dignity as the club's leader is being ignored," Tamaki sulked in his spot. 

"Hey, Y/n! We have a favor to ask you," The twins spoke.

"What’s that?" Y/n responded, going over to her bag to search for a new book.

"Can we go to your house?"

"No."

"That could be fun," Tamaki looked up.

"No, it wouldn't. My house is almost the same as yours, it would be different if we were going to Haruhi's, that could be fun," Y/n shrugged, finding her book and taking a seat. Soon enough the twins were standing around Haruhi, hopeful eyes looking upon her. 

"No, you're just going to make fun of it," She shook her head, crossing her arms in distaste. 

"I think it's about time we all pay our respects to our beloved Haruhi's family!" Tamaki beamed.

"No way in hell, only Y/n can," Haruhi mumbled the last part, looking over at the girl reading intently.

"We can settle this with a game! If you can't pick out which one of us is Hikaru, then your penalty will be the two of us coming over to your house later tonight!"

"It's kind of simple," Y/n commented. "That's Hikaru and that's Kaoru," She pointed to the boys.

"You're wrong."

"No she's right," Haruhi agreed.

"Sure you guys look alike, but that doesn't mean your personalities are the same," Y/n mentioned. 

"How did you tell?" One of the girls asked.

"With that hat, it's so hard," Another wondered, Y/n ignored the words of the girls since the book once again captured her interest which made Haruhi have to answer the question. 

"Well, how do I put it? It's kinda difficult to explain. But Hiakru's speech and actions make him come across a little more mischievous than Kaoru," Haruhi explained honestly, not truly thinking about her words before speaking them.

"I'm sorry Hikaru, I don't mean to laugh," Kaoru spoke, trying to hold back a laugh but soon ended up breaking into a loud one.

"I don't see what's so funny. I'm honest, I speak my mind, and I don't hold back. It's sneaky people like Kaoru who are the troublemakers," Hikaru argued.

"Don't turn this on me, Hikaru. After all, I'm the one who's always going along with all of your selfish games.”

"I may suggest them but you're the one that gets into them Kaoru. If you hate it so much then why don't you just stop?"

"Because I'd hate to see you make an ass out of yourself, in front of everyone. It was your idea to call Y/n a pet, but I noticed you were quick to make a pass at her. Admit it, Hikaru, you're actually in love with Y/n, aren't you?" Karou smugly spoke, Hikaru getting all flustered.

"You've got it all wrong, Kaoru! Man, you're such a freaking idiot," Hikaru told him annoyed.

"Yeah! There are some things in this world that must never be said," Tamaki buzzed.

"Why would I fall for her? I mean she can't even show her face, she probably looks like a tanuki," Hikaru claimed.

"How dare you call her a raccoon dog?" Tamaki fumed. "You're going to pay for that!"

"Can you guys be quiet-" Y/n tried to speak before a large rumbling cut her off. 

Soon enough Renge made another surprise appearance and started to emerge from the ground. "Our beloved Y/n is in the middle of a beautiful yet poignant seven-sided romantic relationship! And to make it even better, two of her admirers are twins, torn apart by love! Just the thought of it could make me eat three bowls of rice!”

"Wait, what did you-"

"Oh butt out, otaku," The twins spoke causing a total flip in Renge’s confidence as she now stepped down from the platform all sad.

"You guys are meanies! You shouldn't say something like that to your manager!"

"But Renge, I thought you had feelings for Y/n as well.”

"I do and it's platonic, but I have no problem with her having relationships on the side. Also after speaking with Haruhi, I'm developing feelings for him as well," Renge announced back to her confident self.

"I'm confused, I thought you had decided to go back to France, Renge," Haruhi walked over.

"Well, I was going to start up a host club of my own… but, I don't think France is ready for a host club, just yet," She told Haruhi, a light blush on her cheeks.

"I don't think anywhere is ever ready for a host club," Y/n commented, Renge was about to mention something else but was cut off by the twins' voices raging at one another. 

"Cut it out already! You're the one always crawling into my bed! Talk about annoying," Kaoru yelled.

"I only do that because you look lonely. I wouldn't choose to sleep in your bed, you idiot!"

"Who are you calling an idiot? You're the one who sucks at math."

"Oh yeah, well you're failing your foreign language class you dummy," Hikaru argued, just continuing to go back and forth like little children.

"That's it we're over!" They fumed, walking in opposite directions of one another, stomping off into the distance. 

Later the next day Haruhi and Y/n were sitting beside each other in class chatting before it began.

"What did you think of the fourth chapter?" Y/n asked her friend who was taking out her book.

"I didn't expect Tobio to show up especially him claiming he wanted his daughter back," Haruhi spoke excitedly.

"Hey Y/n, Haruhi!" One twin walked in, flamingo pink hair. "Good morning.”

"Um, Hikaru," Y/n spoke, squinting her eyes in disbelief at what she was seeing. "What did you do to your hair?"

"Why is it dyed pink?" Haruhi wondered.

"Because pink suits me. Don't you think it's cute? From now on I'm the pink-haired twin. I didn't want to be mistaken for that Kaoru for the rest of my life, you know?" Hikaru mentioned, his now blue-haired brother, coming up next to him.

"Good morning Y/n, Haruhi," Kaoru voiced, Hikaru, walked over to an empty seat near Y/n and sat beside her. "I was finally able to sleep all by myself last night, but I ended up having a nightmare. I dreamt my stylist had dyed my hair pink. It was so garish and ridiculous looking, I woke up screaming.”

Hikaru stood up and walked over kicking Kaoru's chair so that he fell. Kaoru then returned the favor, knocking Hikaru down the same way. Once back to their seats, the twins stared at each other and soon enough an all-out war erupted with a multitude of items being flung over Haruhi and Y/n’s heads. 

"This is going to be a long day," Y/n grumbled as Haruhi nodded in agreement.

When class was over and it was noontime Haruhi and Y/n decided to chat about the lesson they had just finished learning while walking into the cafeteria. 

"I was wondering what all the fuss was about, I can't believe the two of you are still fighting," Tamaki spoke, watching the twins in line arguing about food.  "You're a disgrace to the Host Club!"

"Why is the rest of the club here?" Y/n questioned, turning to Haruhi. Haruhi just shrugged and let Y/n wander over to the group. "Hey guys!"

"N/n-chan!" Honey exclaimed.

"Hey, look who it is!" A short-haired girl spoke, joining hands with another.

"I've never seen them all together like that," Another one commented.

"We've had enough of this, you're both to blame for this fight," Honey said, then pulling out a cake. "Hika-chan and Kao-chan I want you to make up and then go halfsies on this cake, 'kay? But I want to have a piece too, and N/n-chan should get some, so I guess we're gonna have to have fourthsies," Honey went on babbling in an attempt to try and figure out how to cut the cake.

Y/n just walked over to the nox distressed and anxious boy, lifting him, and taking him over to Mori. 

"You're just making it worse, leave them alone," Mori told Honey, moving him far away from the irritated twins.

"Oh, Y/n! I didn't expect to run into you in the dining hall," Tamaki fangirled, rushing over to the girl who was watching Honey now munching on the cake he was once going to share.

"Haruhi and I decided to follow the twins here, they have been acting odd all day," Y/n looked over to her senpai. 

"I brought a boxed lunch and I just wanted to eat it in the classroom," Haruhi mumbled, walking over to where the host club now decided to eat lunch. 

"A boxed lunch?" Tamaki repeated.

In Tamaki's head

"Tamaki, darling, I hope you will accept this food I made. I'm not amazing at cooking, but I made it with love!"

"I will eat anything you make Y/n, it's always beautiful and tastes delicious," Tamaki declared 

"I will eat it!" Tamaki spoke out loud.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Kyoya mumbled.

"Ah," Y/n ordered beside Kyoya, pointing out the dish of her choice

"Our chef makes amazing crab, it truly is so delicious the way he seasons it. Maybe once you can come visit and try the dish," Kyoya mentioned, the two walking towards the lunch table that the Host Club members were currently occupying.

"Damn rich people," Haruhi grumbled.

"Haruhi, come sit over here!" Y/n waved her over, but instead of just Haruhi another friend had joined alongside them, Hikaru.

"What's that, what do you have for lunch?" He questioned, watching Haruhi take her seat.

"Yesterday's leftovers, and a rolled omelet,"

"Haruhi you want to switch?" Y/n looked over at the mouthwatering expression on Haruhi’s face as she stared at Y/n’s food. With a happy nod, the two exchanged their meals.

"This is amazing!" Haruhi exclaimed, tasting the food.

"Great! I usually like to eat more in private, so I can just save yours for later!"

"Y/n, I got a meal that you’ll enjoy. Want to try it, all you have to do is take your mask off," Kaoru softly grabbed her chin, tugging it closer towards him with one hand while his other held a fork with a piece of his meal on it.

Hikaru chomped the food off of the fork instead of the intended recipient, "Quit butting in Kaoru." At the possibility of another fight, Y/n moved out of her seat and grabbed Haruhi's hand to take her with her. Just as they were out of the line of fire Kaoru threw his soup at his twin but missed the wanted target and instead, it got splashed all over Tamaki. 

"I'm going to go eat alone now," Y/n quietly muttered over the yelling of the twins, choosing to take her leave from the noisy group.

After the whole cafeteria incident, the group (excluding the twins) met up again in the club room, hoping to relax with some tea and discuss the problematic antics of the twins.

"Looking at the numbers, if this situation isn't resolved, I'm afraid we're going to have to stop offering our brotherly love package. We're down one pair of loving brothers," Kyoya announced, typing in some digits into his calculator. "Oh, Haruhi, I just want you to know there's no reason for you to feel responsible, even though it was your tactless comment that started this whole feud between the twins."

"It's weird for Hika-chan and Kao-chan to be fighting like this," Honey spoke, playing with Usa-chan. "It's never happened before."

"They have never fought before?" Haruhi pondered, looking over at Honey.

"I've known Hika-chan and Kao-chan since we were in preschool. We weren't in the same year so I never really got to talk to them, but I remember that the two of them always played together," He told the group.

"Yeah that's true, I mean I've only known the twins since middle school but they have always stood out," Tamaki added, he went on about how the twins had been together for a while, saying it might not be such a bad thing they are fighting.

Yet quickly his former opinion changed when the twins finally arrived and they were still fighting, Tamaki quickly getting annoyed at the twins’ reckless behavior. 

"Don't you guys think it's maybe time to give up all this fighting?" Tamaki wondered. "It's driving me insane."

"What'd you say? It is driving you insane? You've got to be kidding me, how do you think I feel? Every time I look in the mirror I see his face. I'm sick and tired of being mistaken for you Kaoru! The truth is I hate your guts!" Hikaru snapped.

"You took the words right out of my mouth. In fact, I hate you so much, I bought this. Belzenef curse doll!" He pulled out the cat doll and a marker. "I'm going to complete the curse, Hikaru, I'm going to write your name on his back. From this day forward you are going to experience nothing, except misfortune and sorrow."

"Okay, this is getting to be enough," Y/n interrupted. "All because of some comment, that didn't even mean to offend you guys."

"Yes!" They both screamed. Mori rushed over to take Y/n’s hand in an attempt to bring her back into safety if they decided to start one of their throwing tantrums again. He did not want to see the girl getting injured once again. 

Haruhi finally had it, truly annoyed at the way they were treating her friend and how stupid they were being about an argument that didn’t make much sense. They were acting like toddlers. 

"Will you guys knock it off?" She smacked the sides of their heads. "What do you think you're doing? You don't bring something like this into a petty fight,” she motioned to Belzenef, “Both of you are at fault here, but what is truly sad is that you're bringing everyone else into your big mess! Now apologize to each other, if you don't make up right now I'm never going to let you come over to my house!" Haruhi threatened.

"So, then what you're saying Haruhi is that if we make up, we can come to your place?" The twins questioned at the same time.

"Oh, no," Y/n whispered, slapping her forehead, she figured out the mischievous plan they were trying to hatch all along. Haruhi slowly turned the doll around just for it to be blank, her face dropping in fear.

"I'm so sorry Kaoru, even though I was just following our script I said such awful things to you. I'm not fit to be your brother," Hikaru apologized.

"Don't say that Hikaru! I was so worried, I couldn't live with myself if I ever thought I had hurt you," They embraced each other, repeating apologies.

"You've got to be kidding! You mean you guys were faking it this whole time?" Honey shouted, arms flaring above his head.

"We didn't have anything else to do, we were bored!" They told him, laughing with each other. Haruhi was now sulking to the ground where Y/n moved in attempts to try and comfort her.

"Twins with too much time on their hands, are the devil," Tamaki concluded.

Later on the next day, the club was back to running like normal, with no obnoxious feuds between the twins but instead back to their game.

"Okay, it's time to play the ‘Which one is Hikaru’ game!" The boys announced.

"I know," A girl with short hair raised her hand. "The twin with the pink hair is Hikaru!"

"We have a winner!"

"So, are you two going to keep your wild hair color even though you made up? It's much easier to tell the two of you apart now," A girl with longer hair spoke.

"Not really," Y/n sighed, sitting up in her seat where she was eating cake with Honey. "The blue is Hikaru and the pink is Kaoru, they switched for the day," She then continued back with munching on the sweet treat while the twins stared in astonishment. 

"Do you realize what happened Hikaru? Until now, there were only two groups of people, 'us' and 'everyone else'. But for the first time, someone's crossed into our world."

next chapter - The Grade School Host is the Naughty Type!

[misskasu]

Module 6: Blog Assignment: Video games and women.

The stereotype about myself is that I wouldn't like video games since I am a girl. Consequently, the game must revolve around family life and domestic chores, whether Sims, a farm, or some other type of game. This stereotype is far from the truth, as it pertains to what happens in the real world. As with most games I play, I am most interested in more masculine games such as Subway Surfers, SXX Tricky, and Fruit Ninja.

In the following article, an argument is presented that men have a valid reason to think women shouldn't play video games beyond just girly things like Barbie. Barbie Fashion Designer outsold Doom and Quake in 1996 and was the ninth best-selling PC game of that year. (Of course, women were also playing Doom and Quake back then, too!)  (half-gamers-women-)  This title implies that men dislike when women outcompete them in masculine activities.

This article points out that this construction follows my Key Questions: It is necessary to include both a girl's and a boy's perspective since both pieces present both viewpoints. Much more so in the second article called: Girls Got Game? For instance, in this article were the results from both males and females for discussing video games and stereotypical attitudes in the classroom. This survey, which included students from various schools, received over 1400 responses from 6th-12th graders nationwide. girls-got-game-discussing-video-games-and-stereotypes It is necessary to point out that information and context are present. In the first article, teens discuss their feelings about female characters and video games.

 

I mentioned before that the results varied depending on who you asked, although both women and men could be professional gamers. It is also worth noting that the results vary depending on who you ask and which article you look at. There is information/biases/etc. For example, the first article shows that men fear female gamers outcompeting them. " All of these silly theories were not only wrong but revealed that a lot of these dudes likely have little contact with actual women or, for that matter, reality itself." half-gamers-women According to this, male gamers may feel intimidated by female gamers because of their own insecurities. You would likely get mixed reviews if you asked people about female gamers and their experiences. A variety of factors may cause prejudice against female gamers.

This second article presents the results of a survey of discussion questions administered to middle and high school students. Based on the survey results, it is possible to explain the differences between boys and girls in these two age groups. Virtual environments surround them, in this case. You may harm yourself and others if you negatively stereotype female gamers. We could benefit from this type of construction if we asked survey questions anonymously and then had a way of distinguishing between a woman's opinion and a man's opinion based on the data from this survey. As I mentioned earlier, this is the same as the second article. To compare the contrast, we could use a sample size of college students rather than high school kids to inquire about their feelings about stereotypes of women characters in modern-day video games.

Check out the links below:

“Girls Got Game? Discussing Video Games and Stereotypes in the Classroom.” ADL, www.adl.org/resources/tools-and-strategies/girls-got-game-discussing-video-games-and-stereotypes-classroom. Accessed 21 June 2023.

Zwiezen, Zack. “Data Shows Most Switch Owners Are Women, Gamers React Poorly.” Kotaku, 9 June 2023, kotaku.com/half-gamers-women-switch-ps5-xbox-pc-owners-girls-stats-1850524629.

[delphinidin4]

oh my god there are so many of them.

The current DSM actually says that in order to have PTSD you have to have survived a life-threatening situation. That alone is bullshit. And that's the PROFESSIONAL LITERATURE. You can imagine what other shit people (both professionals and nonprofessionals) believe....

Not realizing that a bunch of smaller incidents can give you PTSD

Not realizing that most cases of PTSD are from multiple incidents (Complex PTSD instead of Simple PTSD)

Not realizing that most flashbacks aren't actually like sensory hallucinations: instead of seeing and hearing the event, sufferers are more likely to just be overwhelmed by the emotions of the event, like fury, despair, shame, terror, etc. These are called "emotional flashbacks" and are the rule, not the exception

Not realizing how wildly common trauma and PTSD actually are in our society, how much they're underdiagnosed, and how few therapists actually know how to treat trauma because it's such a delicate operation

THE NUMBER OF THERAPISTS who will tell you they know how to treat trauma when they have NO fucking clue

People believing that PTSD only comes from being a soldier and/or sexual assault (it always throws me when I mention that I have PTSD and somebody goes, "Oh, you served?" ..... I wanna be like, "Yeah, I served LEWKS")

People believing that if you can just get people with PTSD to talk about their trauma that they'll feel better... not realizing that it's actually much more likely to trigger them and make the trauma response WORSE (this is why trauma therapy is so tricky)

People not realizing that Yes, your parents just kind of constantly being low-level douches to you throughout your childhood CAN traumatize you, and yes, I DO think it's possible you have PTSD, and yes that WAS a person responding to a trigger not just "overreacting like a snowflake" and oh my god.

People not understanding that a lot of the reason why members of minority groups seem (to the majority) to be "overreacting" to potentially offensive material is actually a fucking TRAUMA RESPONSE from being traumatized so often in the past by racism, sexism, homophobia, etc.

People have some really weird ideas about what counts as a trigger? Like, they've got it that loud noises are bad, and sometimes they understand that the discussion of certain topics is upsetting. But they just don't get it when I have to explain that I CANNOT hand-wash dishes or I'll start crying. Or that for a long time I couldn't watch ANY media in which a pet could potentially be in danger (even after my friends looked it up on DoesTheDogDie and assured me that the pets were fine). Or that I start having anxiety attacks every time I think my roommate might be on the phone with the insurance company.

And if you describe something as a trigger that doesn't match what THEY think a trigger SHOULD be, they start telling you that "you shouldn't use the word 'trigger' because that's harming to people with REAL ptsd uwu" and I"m like, ???!!!???? LIKE ME, YOU ASSHOLE?

and sooooo much more. I got into an argument online a few months ago when I was telling people that they needed to stop gatekeeping the use of the word "trigger" because it could potentially keep people with undiagnosed PTSD from enacting self-care or getting a diagnosis, and PEOPLE KEPT DOWNVOTING ME. A PERSON WITH PTSD. FOR BEING UNSYMPATHETIC TO PEOPLE WITH PTSD.

rrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaauuuuuuugggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh

Unusual Discourse topics that make me GO OFF:

People freaking out about cousin marriages

People acting like Twilight is actively harmful

People feeling the uncontrollable need to "correct" one another's English

People not understanding how PTSD works and preaching to other people about it based on misconceptions

Fatphobic people acting like they primarily care about fat people's health

[messers-moony]

Wish | F.H

Paring: Five Hargreeves X Wife!Reader

Summary: Five storms out to time travel after an argument with his wife and comes back to an unexpected surprise.

A/N: Five time travels at the age of 26 instead of 13

He was angry, that wasn’t mistaken, “ You aren’t listening to me! “

“ Are you hearing yourself?! What you’re about to do is dangerous! “ She yelled in response, and he scoffed.

They stood in the main room of their apartment. Y/n was placed in the kitchen leaning on the island while Five was dangerously close to the door. Both of them at the age of twenty-five. They had gotten married only a year before finding each other during one of his trips to Griddy’s with his siblings. He thought she was the prettiest thing he had ever seen.

Five stalked closer to her, “ You are so stubborn. “

“ I am the strongest one. “ His voice was dangerously low as they stood only a foot apart, “ I will do this. I don’t care what you say. Nothing will change that. “

“ Five, please. “ Y/n begged, “ I’m- I’m just worried about you. “

“ You don’t need to be. “ Five snapped, and he fast-walked to the door.

The male swung open the door, “ Five wait, please- “ But before she could finish, the door slammed, “ I’m pregnant. “

It was new news. She didn’t find out until a week earlier. She didn’t know when to tell him; there never was a suitable time. Now he had just threatened to fulfill a lifetime goal of his– time travel. Since he was a boy, he’s wanted to prove his worth. The only way Five could think to do that is by time-traveling into the future. He didn’t know what the future would entail. He definitely didn’t plan to get stuck in an apocalypse.

So for nine torturous months, Y/n endured a pregnancy. She was carrying a child of her presumed to be dead husband, which she didn’t believe in the slightest. Five Hargreeves was alive, and she knew that regardless of what anyone told her. She had a baby boy who she named Malachi. The same bright, alluring green as his fathers.

Despite his birth father not being around, Diego was a significant help. Diego stepped in where Five couldn’t. He was there for all of Malachi’s firsts and everything in between. But he was always Uncle Diego. A constant reminder that this man wasn’t his father. As far as the little boy knew, he didn’t have a father.

Things got more tricky as he got older. Malachi realized that a father figure was more common than not, which brought raising questions. She answered to the best of her abilities, but nothing was ever valid. None of her answers could be a hundred percent true because she didn’t know either. It was killing her to see her son this way.

He longed for a father. Wanted nothing more for a father-son relationship. Every birthday, every Christmas, he wished for his father to come home. It was killing Y/n because she understood his pain. The amount of dread, guilt, and sadness.

Maybe if she had told Five sooner, he would’ve never left. The guilt ate away at her. It was like an insect slowly crawling its way under her skin into her bones and nibbling them until they were gone. It didn’t help Malachi was an exact replica of his father. The dark, almost raven hair parted to the side, the glittering green eyes and a defined face.

No matter how long Five was gone, Y/n never took off her rings. She was a married woman until proven otherwise. Malachi had never even seen photos of his father. That was normal to him. All he knew was that his Uncles and Aunts told him he looked the exact same. Despite the same appearances, they had clashing personalities.

Malachi was the sweetest guy you could ever meet. Kind no matter who the person was. Wise beyond his years and intelligent like no other. His strong suit was English while he struggled in math. The irony was amusing. His father excelled in math, but he couldn’t do a two-step equation if he tried.

In the grand scheme of things, this didn’t matter. He got all the way up to high school. He was seventeen, to be exact, in his junior year of school. It was the summer before his senior year, and he couldn’t be more excited. As the years went on, the hope of meeting his father diminished to the point where he didn’t even think about it anymore.

He had his mom, and that’s all that mattered. His mom was his rock, his number one supporter, and his best friend. Malachi loved his mom more than anything and would give anything to keep her safe. Diego had grown to be like a father to him, but it was never the same. Malachi was sitting at the island doing homework while Y/n was cooking.

“ Hey, mom? “ He called, “ Yeah? “ Y/n turned to look at her son.

Malachi fidgeted with the pencil in his hand, “ Can I- Can I see your rings? “

“ My rings? Why? “ She asked, “ Well, dad gave them to you, didn’t he? “ Malachi replied.

Y/n nodded, “ Of course he did. We were married, technically we still are married. “

“ I just wanted to see what dad gave you. “ He murmured.

Hesitantly Y/n twisted both her engagement ring and her wedding ring off her left ring finger. She set them down on the granite island before her son so he could look at them. Gently he picked the engagement ring up and looked at it. It was the only time he’s ever seen the ring this close. She never took them off.

“ We got engaged in the snow. “ Y/n informed quietly, “ I really wasn’t expecting it. He never seemed like one to settle down. “

Malachi listened intently, “ Regardless. It was almost Christmas, and he took me to go Christmas shopping at one of the malls which was outside. “ She chuckled, “ Why he did that, I don’t know, but it was amusing. We got hot chocolate despite his love for coffee, and I made him wear a Santa hat. “

“ He was never into festivities before meeting me. Neither were your Aunts and Uncles. I started making holidays become more festive when you were born. Eventually, they got the hang of it. “ Y/n continued, “ Why was dad's name a number? “ He interjected.

“ He never got a name like the rest of his siblings. “ She answered plainly, “ Why? “

Y/n sighed, “ His father, more specifically your grandfather was a cruel man. Still is a very cruel man, which is why you’ve never met him. Reginald made the Umbrella Academy, where he adopted your dad along with his other siblings. “ She explained, “ They endured long days of training without breaks and horrid living environments. They were treated as experiments rather than children. “

“ They all got names, but Five didn’t want one. He rejected it because it didn’t matter. Name or anything. Their numbers would always define them, and Five was the only one who understood that. “ She finished.

“ What really happened to him? I know you’ve given me vague explanations, but I think I’m ready for the real thing. “ Malachi stated, “ I’m seventeen now. “

“ I know. Your father had powers. His others siblings do as well. They all do certain things. Five could travel through space and time. “ Y/n began, “ Growing up, he always felt the need to prove himself, to be better than everyone else. “

“ So, one day, he told me he was going to time travel. It was a big argument that definitely didn’t need to happen. At the time, I was a week pregnant with you, and I didn’t know how to tell him. “ She swallowed the emotions arising after remembering Five’s glare,

“ When I told him, it was too late. He was already out the door and gone. “

Y/n walked forward and took the rings back. She placed them back on her ring finger carefully as her son watched every movement. He knew she was upset. Malachi couldn’t help but be a bit resentful towards his father. All this to make a point? It seemed far-fetched.

“ That solution seems a bit absurd. “ Malachi commented, “ That's what I was trying to tell him, but he was very prideful and stubborn. “ Y/n replied.

A knock echoed through the apartment. The room felt tense. It wasn’t right; something felt off. Malachi felt it immediately cause he stood up and began walking to the door, wanting to protect his mother if a threat was there. Secretly Diego may have given him some defense classes, but that didn’t matter.

The boy opened the door to see almost the exact same face staring back at him, “ Who are you? “ Malachi snapped.

“ More importantly, who are you? “ The man retorted.

Every hair on Y/n’s body stood up. She knew that voice, and she knew that tone. It was him. He was back. It took everything inside her not to scream or cry but seeing Malachi hold his defensive stance against his own father was worrying her.

“ Malachi. “ She called, and he turned to her as she began to walk to the door, “ I need you to go to your room and promise not to eavesdrop. “

He wanted to protest, “ Please, sweet. I’ll be okay. I promise. “

Reluctantly Malachi backed away from the door giving the man a harsh glare that made the man evidently tense. Y/n waited for Malachi to be fully retreated in his bedroom before looking at the man in front of her.

“ Well. It looks like you’ve moved on. “ Five murmured, “ No- please. It isn’t what it looked like. “ She pleaded.

Her hand took his, and he recognized the rings on her finger. The same rings Malachi had just been examining. The same rings he took months to search for to find the perfect fit for his perfect girl. Everything seemed so colorful in his greyscale world now. His wife was still his.

“ Who- Who is he? “ His voice trembled as his lingering suspicion felt more accurate than ever, “ Come in and sit. We need to talk. “ Her voice was gentle and held no malice.

Five entered the now unrecognizable apartment. It wasn’t the same as when he left. In fact, everything seemed moved out of place. Y/n walked to the stove and turned off the burner that she was using. Five had peered at the papers on the island that were math worksheets and took a seat beside them.

“ Where did you go? “ She asked, “ The future. “

“ No shit. What did it look like? “ Y/n retorted playfully, “ It’s not as I hoped. It’s an apocalypse, love. “ His voice held so much pent emotion it was almost radiating off him.

She sighed, “ Okay. We need to talk about that- “

“ I- I want to know who that kid is. “ Five interrupted, and she gave him a knowing look, “ Malachi, can you come out here. “ Y/n called, and instantly he was out of his room.

The boy stood beside his mom, still not comfortable with the unfamiliar man. This time Five got a chance to really look at the teenage boy in front of him. The defined face, the almost raven hair, the same sage green eyes. His posture was protective and territorial, obviously for his mom.

“ Y/n… “ Five began as he swallowed the tears in his throat, “ Is- Is he mine? “

She nodded, “ Five Hargreeves, I’d like you to meet your son, Malachi Hargreeves. Malachi, I’d like you to meet your father, Five. “

[mindmeltonabun-blog]

Another Day, Another Plagiarist and Leaker On Reddit

I thought by now people would know I have eyes and ears everywhere. So here I am yet again having to deal with yet another plagiarist. And this one is even worst....they're also a leaker! Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, this dumbass decided to play dumb and pretend they didn't know about my blog until someone else on Reddit told them about it.

Following that, this person tried to make it seem like they didn't take and leak stuff from my blog by including a link to my blog in their post after the fact because they didn't want to get downvoted...HAHAHA HILARIOUS!!!!

I AM FREAKING LIVID!! Let's take a look at plagiarism and leaking at its finest!

Exhibit #1

No one and I mean absolutely no one besides me had came up with the Naksu=Jin Bu Yeon theory. Another dead giveaway this person has been following on Twitter as well as on Tumblr is their usage of "JBY". Most people refer to Jin Bu Yeon as either Jin Bu Yeon, Bu Yeon, or Buyeon. I, on the other hand, sometimes refer to her as JBY.

Exhibit #2

"Mama Jin" is also a nickname I frequently use both here on my Tumblr account as well as Twitter. Word of advice, if you want to get away with plagiarizing someone's work...YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO USE THE NAME NICKNAMES AS THEY DO...JUST SAYING.

Then let's look at this lovely statement of theirs:

"I feel like once her memories returns (both the body and the soul's) the face will also return but here is where it will get tricky because I dont see JSM going back to AOS2 because of how they are promoting LJWxGYJ like crazy."

Riddle me this, if you came up with your own theory.....why the hell are you disagreeing with yourself?! A person who comes up with their own theory would not be disagreeing with themselves. Why? BECAUSE THEY FUCKING SPENT TIME RESEARCHING AND THINKING AND THEREFORE HAVE THE CONFIDENCE TO DEFEND THEIR THEORY. Jesus Christ.

Without revealing the rest of my post, I will only show you the portion that this idiot decided to freaking plagiarize and leak:

Its amazing....how freaking SIMILAR MY SHIT IS TO WHAT THEY SAID.

Continuing on with this idiot, they also decided to end their post with something that sounds so similar to what I write in my T&A post. They said:

"This is will be for today's theory and analysis. If you have any questions too or counter arguments I would love to see those"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA WHO IN THE AOS FANDOM USES "THEORIES AND ANALYSIS"....MEEEEEEEE!!! Below is what I included in my AOS2 blog posts.

Again, what they said is nearly identical to what I originally said!

Exhibit #3

And if you think it stops there.....you're in for a treat everyone!!! This person also decided to take my diagram and used it in their header on Reddit...HAHA.

For those who don't know, this diagram was from my TA post for Eps 7-8. You can see it below.

Exhibit #4

In my original post for Eps 23-24, I had said 200 years ago and then in a more recent post on my Twitter, I corrected myself and said 203 years later. See below.

This person also decided to say 203 years ago in a response to another comment. If I hadn't corrected myself when I posted on Twitter...this idiot wouldn't have caught it either.

You can go and see for yourself on Reddit how this person pretended they didn't know about my blog and then took stuff from it. It's quite hilarious to read their comments and responses since they have no clue what they are talking about. There are many things I did not explicitly state in my blog posts because quite frankly I was too lazy to type more than I already had. I'm glad I didn't because it leaves people like this dumbasses unable to fully explain stuff when asked.

Whelp I'm done with my venting and ousting this disgusting human being! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

[whenrockwasyoung19]

As a historian, I really want to do a piece on how 9/11 has been commemorated and how it’s been remembered by the people who lived through it and the generation that came up after. So I need to see 9/11 memes so I can determine what jokes about 9/11 are deemed acceptable by society, if any, and which ones are purely tasteless.

Having lived through that time, and remember the South Park era of comedy, I saw a lot of 9/11 jokes in the years after the attacks. They were tasteless then but laughing at them felt cathartic in a way. We’d all been through this collective trauma, and laughing at some shitty jokes was a way of coping with that trauma. But were these jokes tasteless? Probably.

I feel like as we get further away from the event, our memory of it gets more and more distorted. I think for a lot of people who weren’t there and don’t share that collective trauma they can be more cynical about it than the people that were. What do I mean by cynicism? This refers to a couple of trends I see in 9/11 discourse. The first is tasteless jokes, usually in the form of memes. The second is discourse that usually makes a lot of (false) comparisons between 9/11 and some other tragedy. This can be a comparison between some military mission performed by the US military or a natural disaster and most recently the pandemic. The emphasis in these comparisons is that 9/11 wasn’t that bad actually OR what America has done in retribution for 9/11 is worse than the original act itself. The latter point isn’t necessarily wrong but using a tragic event in which thousands of people lost their lives to do it, while an effective rhetorical strategy, can also come off as cynical and disrespectful to the people who survived it or lost family members. I feel like the best way to make that argument is to emphasize how horrible 9/11 was but explain that what the military did in response was perhaps even more destructive and cost more lives. I think deemphasizing how bad 9/11 was or just using it to make a political argument can read as disrespectful and not enough people find that tricky balance between political argument and disrespect.

As for the but such and such was worse, those people can shut up. Like I can entertain conversations about the actions of the US government and military in response to 9/11 because those are conversations worth having. This sort of cynical worldview doesn’t actually yield effective discourse. It essentially posits that because more people died in say a hurricane or an Earthquake that that event was a bigger tragedy. But as a historian, I can tell you that historians don’t claim that something is more significant or even more tragic or less tragic just because at some point in history a worse thing happened. Like as a historians were more aware than most how many bad things have happened in history, so there is no point in comparing all the tragic things to all of the other tragic things like some kind of mad web. Like there is no point in comparing a natural disaster to a terrorist attack because they are in no way similar other than the fact that innocent people died. They are far more dissimilar than similar, and comparing to disparate events that may not have even happened around the same time doesn’t make any sense. What points of comparison are we drawing and to what end? What does that really tell us about the society we’re living in or were living in during the time of these events? So just the business of comparing tragedies is a pointless endeavor but it also posits that the only thing that measures how tragic something is is it’s death toll and that’s not true. 9/11 is a tragedy not just because innocent people died but because of how meaningless their deaths were. They were caught in the crossfires of a conflict that these random office workers, flight attendants, flight passengers, and first responders had nothing to do with. An ongoing struggle between the East and the West, the dynamics between the most powerful nation on Earth and tiny subsections of a massive global religion has nothing to do with these people who died and yet they lost their lives anyway. Now that is true of any civilian attacks. But that’s the thing: there have been far worse civilian attacks in history, even some conducted by the US military (the Dresden bombings come to mind) but that’s kind of the problem with drawing comparisons. I can’t really say if the Dresden bombings and the Blitz were worse than 9/11. It simply doesn’t feel like my place to say to someone that suffered that your tragedy is actually smaller or less significant than this other tragedy that happened some other time. They are all hugely significant in their own ways, they are all tragedies, and they should all be remembered and discussed with reverence.

I do feel that a lot of the comparisons between 9/11 and some other tragedy come from this place of “why does the US make such a big deal about 9/11 and not xyz tragedy?” And this is a valid question but not all of the answers come down to “the US doesn’t care about xyz tragedy” or “the US only cares about itself!” So let’s go through some reasons why the anniversary of 9/11 is so widely covered. Firstly, it happened on our soil. Countries are always going to honor things that happened to them. It’s just a thing. If it affected the people in that country, then yeah they’re gonna go on and on about it. Secondly, it happened 20 years ago so it’s still in very recent living memory. Most people alive on the planet have vivid memories of that day, so most people still remember what that day felt like and want to honor the victims and commemorate it. Thirdly, all the cynical reasons. Yes the US is less concerned about anything else that’s happened outside of our borders. What happened to us matters more to anyone else. No this isn’t great but I’m just reporting the state of things. And yes, the US is selective about what it remembers and what it doesn’t, and the government has a history of struggling to acknowledge the bad things America has done. And lastly, America never really stopped being overly nationalistic like a lot of other countries did after the rise of fascism scared them out of ever doing that shit again. America just maintains its nationalism. Maybe one day it’ll have a more nuanced perspective of itself like other countries do but we’ll see. So yeah there are a lot of reasons why the US makes a big fucking deal about this day and will forever and not all of them are bad or reason to criticize.

Ok now to acknowledge the memes. God any time I tell kids not to make memes about 9/11 I feel like a grandma. I mean I could go on and on about how it’s disrespectful but the people making them know this and don’t care. I guess I’m more interested in understanding why people make memes about a national tragedy. I think it has to do with how 9/11 has been remembered which is largely clouded by all of the political and military stuff that happened as a result of it. For people who learned about 9/11 years after it happened, they didn’t experience these events in real time. For those of us who lived through it, we didn’t know all that was going to transpire because of it. On that day, all we really knew was that thousands of people were dead and more were going to die in the conflicts that would result from it. We didn’t know that the wars would last decades or how pointless it would all be in the end. We had no idea how shitty George Bush was or how incompetent his administration was. We definitely had no idea that Trump was coming. So for a lot of us, we can separate the mess that happened because of the attacks from our memories of the attacks. It’s so much easier for us to think only about the events of that day because we were there. We have specific memories of it which we can latch onto rather than just thinking about news footage or events that came later.

And the cynicism that people feel is somewhat earned. The attacks obviously spurned two decades of Islamaphobia as well as countless military attacks in the Middle East. For a lot of young people, they feel like they’re supporting Muslims or standing against Islamaphobia by disrespecting an event that prompted so much Islamaphobia. And I get that. But also that’s not the way to do show your support or take a stand. Keep in mind that the people who died that day had no idea what they were dying for. Most in their last moments probably didn’t even know it was a terrorist attack. The American people didn’t even realize the first plane was an attack. So it doesn’t really make sense to disrespect their memory when it’s not their fault that their deaths resulted in so much pain and suffering for the Muslim diaspora. Disrespect the people who were openly Islamaphobic after the attacks, criticize the American government for their actions in the Middle East. But not the people who had no control how their deaths were remembered or used by politicians, military leaders, white nationalists, and other racists to attack Muslim people.

As a historian, it’s my job to try to apply a historical context to people’s actions. A lot of people have done this to observe why people responded to the attacks the way they did. Now I want to use it to understand why so many young people feel at best indifferent to the events of that day and at worst resentful and disrespectful towards ur

[thespianinthebackcorner]

Yeah. Grumpy, angry and self-interested. Yes, he does get genuinely mad and start fights, but Shadow's entire storyline is about how he's a lot nicer on the inside than he is on the outside and learning not to be consumed by his past. He withdraws into himself because he doesn't trust anyone to open up to entirely. He's not a narcissist, he's a 15 year old kid with PTSD who's learning as he goes. Yes, he takes pride in himself as the Ultimate Lifeform, and part of why is because it's rooted in people he loves- it was Gerald that gave him the nickname iirc. It also works as a form of self-confidence, he clearly uses it as a form of motivation whenever things get tricky. Cockiness in that fashion isn't narcissism, it's both motivation and letting off a little steam. And besides, most people withdraw into themselves when they're hurt. Before the events on the ARK, he had Maria to confide in, but his lack of someone quite as trusted as her now naturally leads him to withdraw into himself. It's shown pretty well throughout the franchise that a growing point for Shadow is learning to lash out less and allow himself to be a little softer. The reason he's usually not is because he's afraid of growing to trust someone and losing them again, just like Maria. His "narcissism" is actually just a very natural response for a mentally 15-year-old-kid who went through something like that. Heck, that's literally what got him labelled as emo back in the 2000s.

I'm not gonna go any further with this because I am not in the mood for an argument, but I thought I'd explain my two cents on the matter. Also, this is my post, if you wanna start debates do it on your own post.

There's a couple things in Sonic Prime I haven't noticed many people pay attention to, which is interesting because they're both focused on Shadow.

One- he actually makes an unintentional joke at the end of the show through sheer irony. His last line is "I am the Ultimate Lifeform. I go where I want." Plus the chaos control. Funnily enough, Shadow, you don't go wherever you want. That was like, his entire plot- he was stuck in the void and couldn't go anywhere, and if he tried it would physically hurt him. Way to make a joke out of irony, Shadow.

The second point is more angsty and relatea to how Shadow seeks attention from Sonic throughout the series. There's other posts out there on Prime Shadow being a bit of an attention seeker specifically towards Sonic, and it really all comes down to the fact that he's completely alone besides Sonic, what with Green Hill being gone, and now Sonic's getting attached to other people and Shadow knows he's gonna lose him if he doesn't act quick. Throughout S2 E1 (Avoid the Void if you go by episode name like I do) he repeatedly tells Sonic that his "real friends", the originals, are gone, and throughout the entire series he majorly distrusts everyone who's not Sonic, only relying on them right at the end when it's crucial to the plan. And yet, in that first episode of Season 2, he says to Sonic something that I find interesting.

"Think about your real friends. The ones who still have a chance." Who's he talking about here? Not the versions of Tails, Amy, Rouge and Knuckles- he's already stated they're not Sonic's real friends and doesn't trust them. There's no one else besides them two that survived the crystal shattering. He avoids it by using plurals, but he's less saying

"Think about your real friends. The ones who still have a chance."

More

"Think about me, I'm still here and I still have a chance. Don't just leave me alone for copies of your old friends."

Sonic, though, doesn't quite seem to get the memo- he says a bit of stuff in that episode that kinda implies he subconsciously doesn't consider himself Shadow's friend (he teases him a lot about not having friends without considering himself, among other things). Eventually, he gets it, forced into the realisation that all he has left of Green Hill is Shadow when he nearly loses him to the void. (SA2 flashbacks anyone?)

I don't remember where I was originally going with this- I think it was just about the hidden angst in that single piece of dialogue and how easily Shadow seems to be separated from the others when it's not what he wants on the inside (real) but stuff happened and I've been typing this mid meltdown so this is what you get. 🤍Happy angsting Sonic Prime fic writers