#I’m saying that. it is incomprehensible to Sam to have that faith. to not question. to not be allowed/expected to question.

[quietwingsinthesky]

like okay I have no basis in canon for this, I know that, but. Taking from Bugs Sam’s emphasis on “if you just tell your Dad what’s happening, you can make him see that what you want to do is right” and the way Lucifer presents in The End how he told God he couldn’t worship humans… They both just came out and said what they wanted to their fathers’ faces, didn’t they? And more, they expected it to work. They expected that they’d be heard and their opinions would be considered and they’d be allowed to do what they wanted.

I’m trying to get at like. There’s a level of trust that has to be there for that to happen. Or at least, a level of security in your place in the family. Neither of them went into that confrontation expecting to be kicked out.

[americachavez]

did cas really tell dean to kneel before their new god? did that actually happen? i thought him beating the shit out of dean in that alley was the most unrestrainedly horny thing this show had ever done ACTUALLY you know what scratch that new question: top horny moments from the cw's supernatural (2005 - 2020)

getting this ask feels like my sins of the last week have been weighed against the Trials I Have Gone Through since the premier of supernatural on the wb in september of 2005 and I’m not sure if it is a punishment or reward

some notes before we begin:

the ep with dean’s male siren was like, conceptually horny but not actually that horny because the dude was uglie. I’m sorry to this man

all you sam girls out there. I respect you but I do not respect jared padalecki who is JUST tall and has zero sex appeal. but those eps where he’s like, drinking ruby’s blood and then eating her pussy are. you know. I’ll give you that

I am ONLY UP TO SEASON 10 so fair warning this is not comprehensive but the horniness does seem to drop off sharply after the mark of cain is no longer in play lol gotta love a good demon murder tattoo plot

this is easily the most insane thing I’ve ever done, including the destiel manifesto

S1 EP12: the scene where dean gets healed by the faith healer, on his knees with a hand in his hair and looking somewhere between religious ecstasy, brain death and an orgasm. starting this list off great

S1 EP22: azazel possessing john winchester. no I will not explain further if u know u know <3

S3 EP10: dean being taunted by a dream version of himself, this is where we first got the daddy’s blunt little instrument line. still burned in my hippocampus a good 13 years later thank yew

S4 EP1: dean crawling out of his own grave covered in grave dirt. hot. the HANDPRINT. HOT. also tangent but this reveal after the s3 finale was WILD back in 2008 I hollered in my dorm room after canvassing for obama. simpler times man

S4 EP 1: cas’ intro scene. the barn. the shadow wings. the hair??? getting stabbed in the chest by the man you just pulled out of hell. getting aaaallll up in that personal space. his little eyebrow. “you don’t think you deserve to be saved.” OUTRAGEOUSLY FLAMING

S4 EP02: “I dragged you out of hell I can throw you back in.” <<< this angel tops. mark dean down as scared and horny etc

S4 EP16: this ENTIRE EPISODE but specifically the part where dean tortures alastair as some kind of foreplay and then alastair kicks his ass. carved you into a new animal. jesus.

S4 EP16: wait I forgot about the part where cas also gets his ass kicked and looks all....hm. dazed and covered in blood while he’s on his knees and about to die. yeah.

S5 EP4: I mean this entire ep is unfairly horny considering everyone is dying of a zombie plague and hasn’t showered in like, 4 years but if I had to pick one hmmm. the dean/dean interrogation scene with the panty kink yeah I know it’s not original but hm. it happened. also misha collins just being able to convey that CAS IS A FLEXIBLE SLUT with a single roll of his shoulders. who SAYS this man can’t act!!!!!

S5 EP18: the ALLEY SCENE. DEAN DOESN’T FIGHT BACK. CAS HOLDS HIM UP OFF THE GROUND AND THEN THROWS HIM ACROSS THE ALLEY. WHY DID EVERYONE THINK CAS COULDN’T TOP. you all had brainworms.

S5 EP18: when cas locks dean in the panic room to stop him from saying yes to michael and “well cas not for nothing but the last person who looked at me like that I got laid” I hate this show. wait I think the blow me cas line is in this episode too what the fuck were they on here

S6 EP5: the scene where dean gets turned into a vampire. between the old dude who I think calls dean a pretty boy (??) and soulless sam....watching??? no ******* but there were just some absolutely foul energies in that scene and I still do not understand WHAT they were thinking

S6 EP20: cas doing a double smite on two demons by slamming them to the ground and then shoving another demon back in its vessel and then smiting him in the same motion. TOP. ENERGY.

S6 EP22: season 6 is possibly cas’ horniest season because he’s like, going through angel puberty after getting his first boner for dean, but the final cas eps are. whoof. cas eats a bunch of souls and proclaims himself to be a new god in order to handle said boner, and then the season ends with cas telling them to bow down and profess their love to him, their new lord, or he will destroy them. note: the way this is framed makes it look like cas is only staring at dean while he says this, even though sam and bobby are also there. the season ends with dramatic zooms on both cas and dean’s faces respectively. this made me actively regret ditching this show after s5 lol

S8 EP??: literally EVERY SINGLE PURGATORY FLASHBACK. cas dean and benny are all purgatory hot in the “pop 10 cranberry pills and risk the UTI” kind of way but also. dean being the hot girl bottom between two tops who hate each other. I really. whew. I need to go take a shower.

S8 EP17: if I get canceled for including the crypt scene on this list I blame you bud. but dean on his knees begging a brainwashed cas to stop killing him WAS sexy. how many times has dean been on his knees in this list wait there’s another one coming up next jsldjfsldkjf

S9 EP2: abaddon getting dean on his knees (YEAH) and pulling his hair and praising him for always coming when called HELLO???? the only thing that ruins this is dean says “I can’t tell if we’re gonna fight or make out” because this is the CW and they won’t let him say fuck

S9 EP6: ah. this entire episode is Emotionally Horny but the horny horny part is when they’re in the car and dean is telling cas to unbutton his shirt and. watches. I know this was on my destiel manifesto but I need it here too

S9 EP9: cas, covered in blood, slitting another angel’s throat and eating his grace after getting tortured. that shot alone made me understand why this website was so goddamn horny for misha collins for nearly a damn decade

S9 EP11: MARK OF CAIN BABEY. cain watching dean beat up a bunch of demons as an audition for taking on the mark, while crowley also is a fucking voyeur to the whole thing. cain is also a hot silver fox with daddy energies. I said what I said

S9 EP 16: dean getting the first blade. he’s chained to a pillar and being menaced by a foppish dandy who wants to add him to his “collection” (WOW). dean then kills him with the blade and whew. murder is sexy sometimes

S9 EP21: dean being pinned against a wall by abaddon’s power, then using the mark of cain to break her hold, calling the first blade to him psychically and then killing her. god the mark of cain is hot

S9 EP23: dean waking up with the demon eyes NUT

S10 EP2: demon dean beating up that dude with the boring backstory and kicking his ass. really was a go on baby I got your flower moment because I hated that dude and I love demon dean

S10 EP3: demon dean being chained up and taunting sam about how his brother is gone, then hunting sam through the bunker. demon dean in general was VERY fun for me, someone who loves trash

S10 EP9: dean going berserk and killing a bunch of pedophile rapists/child abusers. I’m sorry I know this show is trying to preach morality at me about monsters and unnecessary murder and humanity or whatever but we blew past that like 8 SEASONS AGO. also the mark of cain is sexy

S10 EP14: the rest of this list is really gonna be mark of cain stuff isn’t it look I’m here to have fun. cain and dean’s fight. cain continuously tossing his mane of hair back and taunting dean with the picture of what he’s going to become, who he’s going to kill. dean begging cain to tell him that he can stop, and then ultimately killing him. rip daddy.

S11 EP4: again I have not watched this however. every shot of this episode is PRESTIGE TELEVISION because driving a muscle car is sexy. and especially the shot of dean all beat to hell and begging his car to start and giving her a little kiss from his fingers to her dash. ugh. masculinity.

S12 EP10: the bearded salt-and-pepper daddy look returns, only it’s an angel this time and he’s wearing a vest and shirtsleeves and he swordfights with a hot redheaded lady in a suit and an eyepatch. this show is good sometimes!!! and oh fuck lol I just realized this is the same guy who played krissy’s hot hunter dad in s7 probably the first guy who’s hotter as an angel than a hunter. huh.

S12 EP 11: dean riding larry the mechanical bull to “broomstick cowboy.” I have no idea where this factors into the ep but I have seen. the youtube clip

S13 EP23: from what I can tell s13 is way more emotionally horny than boner horny, although dean burning cas’ body was sexy. but the horniest part was dean saying yes to michael and then michael taking over and saying “thanks for the suit.” we are going to ignore the silliest fight scene in existence as well as the final shot ending on a FREEZE FRAME like a goddamn tiktok

S14: not gonna pick a specific moment because I have not watched yet!!! but michael dean is hot. idk why michael is weirdly hot and I cannot stand any iteration of lucifer on this television programme. it should be the reverse but I’m forever an older sibling stan apparently. someone who is catholic could probably explain this better.

S15 EP13: genevieve padalecki and danneel ackles fight flirting as ruby and anael I CANNOT BELIEVE THEY HELD OUT ON THIS TILL THE LAST SEASON

I know I am missing things but this is already an absolutely incomprehensible screed. I know I’m missing shit from the latter seasons but give me time I’m pacing myself

[tinkdw]

13x15: the moral of the story

I am so happy because I was struggling with the point of some of the negative stuff going on this season so far... So, this episode was just one big confirmation of my meta of 13x14 and how it was addressing morality very heavily this season with their choices leading either to an upwards or downwards finale and addressing the underlying theme of morality since the pilot. 

To have it addressed as a point purposefully made and a whole episode dedicated to it to make us think about it is frankly a relief! 

It’s on purpose, it’s for a reason! 

Good :)

Morality has always been an underlying foundation of the show. The themes, the plots are family, love, faith etc but under it all, as with most stories we have the foundation of morality, that good things happen to good people, that doing things for the right reasons is important.

It’s been consistent that when they do things for others they win, when they do things that put others in danger out of desperation for each other (ie 8x23 and 10x23) bad things happen.

This is consistent and this is a very common narrative, see this post where I mention very quickly the hugely blatant ones of Star Wars, Harry Potter and Buffy just off the top of my head, because stories don’t just exist in a random void, there is always a moral to a story, usually that it’s always better to be good and heroes are selfless.

Anyway, this episode gave us many meta points. In itself I wasn’t totally enamoured with the semi-noir genre attempt, I was very interested by the boys’ interaction with the story but I was a bit bored by way too much going into peripheral people’s stories etc and it could have been done in a more fun, blatantly emotive way, but the meta side and the side that was clearly making a point I loved.

1. Dean is worried for Cas dodging bullets in Syria. Now I have to watch what I say here as I already had antis using my mentioning Syria as an excuse to send me shit, but there’s a reason they chose Syria as Cas’ location out of any country in that region which could be relevant to the spell’s ingredients. I didn’t do this. The show did. For a reason. Syria is a place where currently immoral awful things are happening to good people. It is a horrific situation. Some people are doing awful things to other people in the name of religion. People are doing bad things for bad reasons and framing it as good reasons, this does not take away from the fact that it is incomprehensibly immoral and abhorrent. This was not an accident given the theme of morality in this same episode.

2. Separately to this, Dean is worried about Cas (as usual). Dean is shown as using two established coping mechanisms in this worry. Food (the pizza) and a Woman (the girl in the coffee shop). This is the same old coping mechanism when Cas is in danger / missing / dead.

3. Sam doesn’t know Dean. This is something that we see a lot in the earlier seasons and then sporadically since, but I love that this is coming back given we’ve had quite a few moments so far this season (and last) that have shown Dean is tired of keeping up the facade:

Dean: “you’re like a Boy Scout, always prepared!” Sam: “you’re like... I don’t know what you’re like.”

No shit Sam! The idea that Sam doesn’t actually know who Dean really is (because Dean sublimates and hides so much, particularly around Sam) is consistent and I can’t wait to have this explored textually.

4. Father Lucca giving us some lovely Dean/Cas faith material:

On the skull: “It means everything to my congregation. Imagine you woke up one morning and this thing you loved (...) was just gone, what would you do?”

Sam: “try to get it back”, looks at Dean.

*insert gif of Dean trying to get Cas back whilst saying he’s everything*

I mean?!

5. Father Lucca giving us some lovely morality lessons and exactly referencing Dean’s earlier comment and saying this is bad:

Dean: “Look this isn’t a perfect world we’re trying to save okay? And if I’m not perfect trying to save it, so be it”

Father Lucca: “Change it (...) the world’s not perfect but do you use that as an excuse? Do us use that to excuse your own sins? The world will never be perfect. If good men do good things it can be better” 

Dean looks awkward but Sam is convinced to help him.

I mean this is a blatant No, Dean, that’s not what good men do, you need to find yourself again, this isn’t you or what you really stand for (see every time Dean wants to focus on saving one person with less regard of the bigger picture because it’s the right thing to do since the pilot).

Good men doing good things - not doing bad things for the right reasons, doing good things for the right reasons. Ie. in this episode’s instance getting the skull back for the priest is the right thing to do.

Father Lucca to Dean about Sam later: “ All good things beget good things and what you’re brother is doing is a good thing”

Now morally without knowing the outcome yet I thought hey! this should lead to something good for the boys as this is always the case, they did the right thing even though it didn’t benefit them and they should be rewarded, because it’s the standard heroes reward in every story.

Oh, look, in the end Father Lucca turns out to be the Holy Man that they were after the blood of in the first place so they get the reward by doing the right thing! Such accident! Much coincidence!

*Tink stares into the camera*

As an aside, @amwritingmeta reminded me of just how many Disney / fairytale stories they’ve been referencing recently too and these always have a moral to the story. Just saying.

Now, Sam clearly is fully on this path of wanting to do the right thing (he said it clearly in 11x01 that they had to change and he’s been trying hard ever since). Dean has been also doing this (eg 11x23) but he is very iffy in this episode and has been all season, see Dean being framed as bad when he threatened Kaia to save Mary for example, in this episode he has a real reticence re the main plot and not wanting to give up their goal to help Lucca for nothing, but also that whole I would murder someone who stole the impala bit, that wasn’t for jokes, that is... ick. This is supposed to be bad. Sam know’s it’s bad, his reaction is telling us we should see this as troublesome. Cas also last episode showed he is shady, unfortunately set on doing bad things for the right reasons etc and I know, I KNOW this was the “lesser of evils” concept but look my dudes it’s framed as bad, it’s framed as morally questionable and then this episode came straight afterwards begging us to consider these things. That is NO accident. Of course it’s not saying Dean and Cas are evil, it’s just, well, are they soon going to decide to take the ends don’t justify the means attitude or will it be after they’ve fucked up and released the next big bad, ie. opened the rift most likely. No matter what, it’ll end well, obviously, they’re heroes, it’s just a case of timing and dragging out the story. Whatever happens short term, clearly this theme is hella important.

Anyway, the final scene is just one big metaphor of morality.

Father Lucca is moral, he refuses to lie and still distracts the guy enough. He tries throughout the episode to do the right thing and ends up “miraculously” only being grazed instead of likely killed if the shot was 5cm to the left.

Bad: Margaret is greedy. She dies. The others are all greedy, avaricious, immoral and end up shooting each other. All the baddies end up killing each other in a huge lesson of repercussions of your shitty actions.

Good: Meanwhile, as per the above, the boys did the right thing for the right reason, they took the moral high ground and helped Father Lucca because it was the right thing to do even though it went against their own aims and they got rewarded for it by getting what they sought in the first place and getting it in a positive way.

Grey are: Not assuming that anyone is good or bad or anything until they prove themselves either way. Just because the bad guys all seemed OK to start with doesn’t mean they’re not all morally reprehensible, just because Lucca seemed bad to start with doesn’t mean he’s not the good guy and the most Holy Man etc. etc. etc.

=> Don’t judge a book by it’s cover. Don’t go headstrong into a plan without thinking about the consequences on others. Do good things for good reasons and get rewarded for them.

*Tink couldn't stare into the camera any more than I am already*

Bonus: Dean now has faith and is helping Sam with his in a direct flip of earlier in the season. I wonder what changed! We just don’t know!

So yeah, honestly it wasn’t fun, uplighting, romantic or particularly characterful, but as an episode helping me, who had read the past episodes as very morally iffy and thinking about why they decided to frame these questions and make us think about it, why there was such a twitter/tumblr wank fest over Cas’ choices last episode, as to why they are doing this overall throughout the season and where this is leading...for all that, this episode was fantastic.

It told us so much about the structure of the season, why it’s been like this, what their point is, where it is going, why it is going that way and that is just great :)

[georgialouisea]

What should have been - Part 1

Characters - Dean X Reader, Dean x Lisa, Sam, Cas, Bobby. Word Count - 1600 Warnings -  Angst, swearing. Summary - Sam is gone, Dean and Y/N only have each other until Dean leaves her for Lisa. Moving into Bobby’s she begins to move on with her life without the Winchesters, or so she thought. A/N -  A new series I’ve been thinking of writing for a while, it’s based around 5x22 and 6x01. 

Sam was gone. That’s all you knew, Sam was gone, he’d sacrificed himself and said yes to Lucifer. You’d watched him fight an internal battle with Lucifer as he beat Dean into a bloody mess. Cas had been obliterated and Bobby’s neck snapped, yet after Sam and Adam fell into the pit both Bobby and Cas were okay, they were back on their feet and Cas healed Dean. Your best friend was now gone, Dean was a wreck and you didn’t know what to do, how you’d get yourself through this let alone Dean.

The answer to your grief came in the form of Dean, the man you loved, the man you’d always loved yet you’d always been too afraid to make a move on or reveal how you felt. Your nights were spent getting drunk together as you rolled around in bed together. By the 5th day of sex, drinking and hardly any food you realised what you were doing, you were numbing yourself to the fact you’d both lost Sam. Dean had lost his brother and you’d lost your best friend if you carried on this path you’d lose your other best friend.

On day 6 you bribed Dean out of the motel room with promises of waffles and bacon, as the day seemed to be heading on a more positive track you both once again ended up drunk and in bed together.

On the 7th day, you woke to silence in the motel room, Dean wasn’t snoring, wasn’t breathing. Jumping up you reached for him to find his side of the bed empty, your fingers touched a piece of paper, grabbing it you blinked in the dim light as you tried to read it.

‘Y/N,

I’m sorry, I’m leaving, Sam told me before he said yes to Lucifer to get out of this life and go to Lisa and Ben. He told me to not find a way to bring him back.

So I’ve gone, I’m sorry, I can’t do this with you, I can’t stay in this life with you.

I love you.

Dean.’

Rolling over you closed your eyes, Dean had now left you, you were alone. Your two best friends were gone and the man you love has left you for another woman.

You slept for a solid 13 hours, you don’t know how, you were devastated, grieving, but 7 days of drinking must have helped you sleep properly. Waking to darkness you glanced at the motel clock, 2 AM, packing your bag and pulling out some clean clothes from the bottom, you showered and made yourself look half decent before pulling the hood of the black hoodie up to hide your face, grabbing everything you owned in the little bag you slung it over your shoulder and left the motel room.

It took you about 20 minutes to find a car decent enough to withstand the 6-hour drive and crappy enough to not have a decent alarm system. As you hot wired the old ford pick up a station blared rock through the speakers, switching it off you settled into the seat and sped off to Sioux Falls.

You left the pick up 5 miles from Bobby’s, sure he could have scrapped it easily and made the trace vanish but you decided to get out near an abandoned area, leaving the car in neutral with a few minutes of pushing it soon rolled down a verge into the trees and bushes, hopefully never to be seen again. Turning around you picked up your bag and started your 5-mile walk to Bobby’s.

As you walked the sun rose a sense of hope filled you with each step, you’d get to Bobby’s, you’d be okay, you’d hunt and be okay.

Walking up the front steps you knocked on the door and studied the modern dodge charger in the driveway wondering who was already here.  

“Y/N? What are you doing here kid?” Bobby questioned as he opened the door.

“I… Sam’s gone … Dean left me …”

“Kid I…”

“Y/N?” Sam’s voice echoed through the small kitchen as you stepped inside.

“Sam, you’re alive?” You looked at Bobby with wide eyes, surely this was a demon, this couldn’t be Sam.

“Yeah, it’s him, checked him myself.”

“How? How are you back?” You questioned as you ran at him and held him as close as you could.

“I don’t know, someone brought me back, I don’t know who though,” Sam mumbled as he hugged you.

“Why isn’t Dean here?” You asked as you pulled away from Sam.

“I told him to get out, to go and live with Lisa and Ben, I can’t tell him I’m back now he’s out, he can have normal.”

“Bobby, can I stay here for a while?” You questioned as you turned to face him.

“Sure spare room is yours.” Bobby shrugged.

“Thank you so much, Bobby.” You smiled walking towards him and gave him a hug before disappearing upstairs to your new room.

It had been 3 weeks since you moved into Bobby’s, you were helping him out with everything you could from cooking to answering the phones, helping hunters with research and cleaning up his place. You were also helping Sam out occasionally when his hunts brought him nearby.

But when you started to get sick you slowed down, the flu was running you down, your research now occurred from your bedroom and you’d routed all the calls to your mobile. When a week went by and you were no better you decided you should probably go to the doctor.

You drove home and pulled the car Bobby had given you in behind Sam’s charger. Grabbing your handbag you walked in the front door, a smile plastered on your face as you tried to avoid any questions from either Bobby or Sam.

“Hey kid how’d it go? What’d the Doc say?” Bobby asked as he got up from his seat at his desk and walked towards you abandoning the book before him.

“Well it’s not the flu.” You stopped talking as the tears fell knowing whatever came out next would be incomprehensible sobs. Bobby’s hands were on your back as he pulled out a seat at the kitchen table and settled you into it, his hand remaining on your shoulder as he stayed beside you.

Sam was on now crouched before you with his hand on your thigh. “Y/N, are you okay?”

“Yes and no, Sammy ... you’re going to be an Uncle.”

“What?” Bobby gasped as his grip on your shoulder tightened.

“I’m pregnant … I’m pregnant and Dean left.” You cried as you held your head in your hands, Sam’s arms wrapped around you as Bobby’s hand rubbed your shoulder.

“You’re sure it’s Dean’s?” Sam questioned bluntly as he pulled away to look at you.

“Yes you asshole, of course it’s Dean’s, I haven’t been with anyone else in months.” You looked up at Sam confused by his tone.

“Sorry I didn’t mean it that way.” Sam’s hand rested on your knee as you let your forehead fall into your palms.

“It’s going to be okay,” Bobby reassured. “Now get yourself up to bed, take a nap and I’ll make us all some dinner, any requests?”

“Anything that won’t make me puke.”

“We’ll figure it out, won’t we Sam?”

“Er yeah, we will,” Sam mumbled as he looked between you and Bobby.

You followed Bobby’s instructions and headed to your room, you knew you weren’t going to sleep there’s no way you’d be able to. All you wanted to do was to find Dean, if Dean knew about your pregnancy then maybe he’d come back, if he knew Sam was alive he’d definitely come back.

You needed to find him, needed to tell him.

Sam caved easily and gave you Lisa’s address in Michigan, the drive wasn’t too bad, yes it took you nearly 12 hours but you didn’t want to risk flying with how you felt.

Knocking on the door you picked at your nails as you waited for an answer. The door flung open to reveal a woman, her hand fell to her hip as she leant against the open door.

“Can I help you?” She smiled as she looked at you.

“Hi, does Dean Winchester live here?”

“Yes, how do you know him.”

“You must be Lisa, I’m Y/N.”

“Y/N.” She repeated as she scowled at you, all previous friendly expressions disappeared.

“Yes, Is Dean here I really need to talk to him I…”

“He doesn’t want to see you, ever again. He hates you, you ruined his life.”

“What?” You stepped back as she raised her finger to you.

“Don’t ever come back here, you’ve ruined Dean’s life once I will not have you do it again.”

“Lisa, I just need to talk to him.”

“Get off my property before I call the cops.” She spat as she scowled at you.

“Please just tell him I stopped by and I need to talk to him.” You begged as you turned and walked back to your car. You heard nothing else as you opened the door to your car and slumped in, roaring it to life you set off towards the city in search of some food before you began your drive home.

As you pulled into the car park of a diner you saw him, Dean was walking out of a bar with a friend, his head thrown back as he laughed. Sliding down in your seat you watched him smile and laugh with his friend as they got a taxi back to what you assumed to be their homes.

Maybe he was better off without you, maybe Dean Winchester was destined to be out of the hunting life. Dean Winchester deserved to be happy and that life was a life without you in it.

Part 2

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[davepainchaud-blog]

Three Big Things

It’s gotten to the point where not stating where you are in a political sense is almost the same as a tacit approval of the current state of affairs. Since that isn’t acceptable to me, I’d just like to make a few things clear in case anything close to that could come across as plausible or possible. I guess my point in doing something like this is that people, especially those that don’t know you very well, tend to make assumptions about who and what you are and those assumptions are often erroneous. My thinking is I’d like to get this off my chest, just so nobody will take me for either the Republican or Democrat I am not (I remain an independent that leans heavily left). I just get the sense that at this time it is fairly important to declare unambiguously what you are and what you are not. I’d also like to state up front that I have many friends that do not share my perspective. In these hyper-politicized times that can be a source of friction, but I think it is to their credit (and mine) that we navigate these disagreements fairly easily because I know they are people of good will and apparently they think I am as well. Nothing that I am about to write is an attack on them or anybody else, although it should be recognized that there is a political and values based conflict going on (and that this conflict has always been going on in one form or another, it just seems more accentuated these days). Also, the nature of conflicts is that the intended goal is for a set of ideas to ascend and become the norm and that others whither and disappear, so in that sense, virtually any philosophy anybody holds at any time IS a threat to the values of others and their way of life. Mine are more than likely a threat to yours and yours are probably a threat to mine – there’s no real way to get around that as most philosophical stuff tends to be mutually exclusive. With all that said, here we go…

Nationalism is front and center these days and it’s something that I oppose deeply. Not just American nationalism, but anybody’s. Chinese nationalism (scary), Russian nationalism (also scary), North Korean nationalism (really scary) and even English, French and German nationalism. Tribalism, adherence and absolute loyalty to a state has led directly to two world wars. The problem is once you buy in and your group becomes “the best” or “the greatest country” that means that everybody else’s isn’t, and if they’re not…  then why are they deserving of etc, etc, etc? It’s the slipperiest of slippery slopes that although well-intentioned leads directly to the over-generalized stereotypes of entire populations and racial groups. It also leads to authoritarianism and militarism (whenever anybody’s flag flies anywhere in the world, the military is right there as the supposed “protector of the people” and as the clear and obvious last line of defense of a world view and its truths, whatever those may be), which is why the impulse is so concerning among historians. Nationalism elevates all the symbols of the state while quashing free speech. The foundation of virtually any intellectual pursuit and the understanding of our universe depends upon the ability to ask questions. When no idea is above scrutiny and everything is and can be on the table, we have a chance to really get somewhere. Nationalism makes some lines of inquiry impossible because they are deemed an act of disloyalty that cannot be tolerated. Amazingly, Americans fall for this sort of thing and apparently don’t have the education to understand the dangers involved. Nation states, at best, are political contrivances, but for many belonging to the group is easier and more comfortable than the challenge of being a truly free individual capable of reaching their own conclusions. When you see tremendous amounts of flag waving going on and arguments being made only in terms of whether an individual has proven themselves sufficiently loyal to the state, or the symbol or the song or to the group in question, it’s time to start asking lots of questions about the rational being proffered and what the group consists of and what it’s rejecting (which often includes supposed members of the group in question - there’s nothing like a good purge every now and again to keep people in line).

Guns are in the news. I oppose their ownership… outright. As circumspect of any authority as I am, the only people I want to have armaments are the police. I oppose weapons pretty much in any form, but especially the most obviously efficient and violent forms. On some level supporting guns is supporting the means by which violence can be done – there’s really no way around that. I do not believe in a right to have armaments in order to kill other beings at this point in history. Not only should we not own them, we should not want to own them. We should strengthen police to the point where they are a reliable organization that protects the populace from any threat in which violence might be required. We should be running for pacifism with every fiber of our beings. Would that be perfect? Of course not – there is no perfection in human affairs. “What do you want, Dave? Utopia?” Well yes, I do, but knowing that that is not possible I’m willing to settle for the idea that it is a worthy, albeit unachievable, goal. “But Dave, what about the 2nd Amendment?”  The Constitution can and should be changed. No document can be frozen in time and be expected to function properly (one of the worst constitutional arguments being that of “originalism”). What was true of the world in 1787 is not true today. We have come to learn that we live in  relativistic universe in which change is constant and language, intent and meaning are forever evolving depending upon the times and the context. It is the responsibility of our society to be constantly interpreting and adapting the Constitution to present circumstances. If it is true that we are what we know, then when the body of knowledge changes as it continually does, we have a responsibility to change as well. The sole purpose of weaponry is to kill people – there is nothing about that that can be defended. Some will argue that removing all guns cannot be done. That’s probably true, but an enormous percentage could be. It would take a while. That’s okay, let it take a while. The result will be better than mass killings on a monthly or daily basis. I’ll take the improvement and a society in which people do not find their views empowered by the ability to enforce those views with violence or the threat of violence.

Many things hold human beings back, but there is no cultural blind spot quite as dangerous as our loyalty to Bronze and Iron Age beliefs in a fundamentalist sense, which reinforce and justify the arguments made for the above societal issues. People will (and do) believe anything and the vast majority are willing to buy into the idea that a creator deity in a literal sense (basically an invisible being, which we are told would actually look like us if it were visible, which is both convenient and lacks imagination) has made the universe and controls their lives. Naturally the evidence for this claim cannot be verified - faith being a nice way of saying “Believe what I’m telling you because...  I told you so.” There have been any number of gods throughout history, worshiped by many cultures, and yet, apparently all of those are false, because only the one the faithful are currently being told to worship is the real one. Like nationalism, religious faith, according to many, cannot be scrutinized – there can be no rational process like those used in every other aspect of our lives, there can only be obeisance. This, by itself, gives permission to otherwise normal people, by the billions globally, to believe in things that border on the delusional and crazy. I think it was Sam Harris that once stated that If you wake up in the morning and think that saying some kind of magic words over your pancakes will turn them into Elvis Presley, you have lost your mind. But if you do pretty much the same thing with a cracker and the body of Jesus, you’re just a Catholic. It reminds me of the Salem witch trials in the sense that at that time when the faithful were lighting people on fire they were not doing so because they were craven monsters but because they sincerely believed that by torching their fellow humans that they were actually doing them a favor by ridding them of possession by witches and sending their souls to heaven. Today, we think of them as having gone ‘round the bend, but we’re mistaken to think so - these were sober people, the pillars of the community, who sincerely thought they were doing the right thing and... if you actually believe all the dogma that they bought into, then it actually follows a certain logic. If you buy crazy thing A and crazy thing B which leads naturally enough to crazy things C, D & E... well then, lighting people on fire seems the prudent thing to do. We hold this conceit that we’re better people and that we’d never do anything so off the rails as buy into crazy thing A to begin with....  Yeah? I’m not so sure. Not only are we capable of great evil, good luck slowing us down once we’ve allowed ourselves to turn some poor minority into an other and a threat - we can, and have, justified virtually anything. 

Look, I understand that human beings have always needed creation myths because the cold, dark universe was incomprehensible and scary. We needed order and a sense that we at least had some oblique control over things. We’ll believe anything rather than be honest with ourselves and face the fact that we are alone and have very little in the way of answers. In the end, we prefer a comforting lie to a truth that leaves us uncertain. I also comprehend the fact that many were indoctrinated into various religions as kids, but that’s an incredibly weak excuse - we have to outgrow this nonsense and recognize that the world can be understood and that only we, and our ability to use the tools of inquiry, can make our world a better place. It’s important to note that WE can make the world a better place, not an invisible man that lives in the sky. What I would ask of you is, beware of any philosophy or ism that requires no questions or scrutiny as the price of admission. Whenever you see that, and you will if you look, it’s time for the bullshit detector to be turned on and running strong because somebody is bamboozling somebody else. No idea is, or can be, above scrutiny.

So, when somebody says with an abundance of pride that their governing values are God and country, what do you think I make of that? I don’t judge them as somehow an irredeemable lost cause as they may be a good person in many respects, but it’s also fairly clear according to all I have been able to learn of this world and our shared history that there is a fair chance that they are deeply misguided in some fundamental way, at least at present. The level of pride with which this statement is often made, as if such a view were unassailable, saddens me because in such an utterance I see nothing but a source of shame - a person happily and purposefully aligning themselves with the worst aspects of the human animal.

Look, I recognize that you may find much of the above jarring and something with which you disagree with violently, but we live in times when we often hold back to avoid a fight (I do it all the time) and although that’s not a bad idea, it also seems prudent to let there be no doubt what your positions are on the major topics of the day. So, you can say all sorts of lousy things about me, but I don’t think you can say, “That Dave Painchaud guy… I just don’t know where he stands…” If nothing else, you have to at least give it up to me for being unambiguous.