#Interesting discourse

[vyachki]

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

that article going around abt firefox's new ad program is annoying bc it's phrased as though "mozilla has finally TURNED on its people and is SELLING YOU OUT for cold hard cash!!" when. that's not what's happening. it is specifically being implemented to discourage tracking behavior, and literally all the data they are giving to advertisers is aggregate and anonymized, which is like, the opposite of what that post wants you to worry about, lol

[yujateaandpi]

hold on I’m going to be emo about Digimon for a moment. The whole essence of the franchise is “my good weird talking dog loves me soooo much and all they want is to live peacefully by my side but when my life is threatened (which is often) they transform into an immensely powerful being just so they can give their life up for mine. And sometimes they do and sometimes they are reborn but other times they do not come back and there is no way to repay or fill their loss. And sometimes I betray them but they will forgive me forever no matter how I mistreat them. And sometimes they forget who I am but they will never stop following me because that love doesn’t go away. All they want is to stay small and get head scritches and snacks but the world gets threatened literally every day so they’re always fighting for me. We live in two different worlds and they can’t always be next to me but they’ll wait. They’ll wait years and even when I’m older and have changed they’ll know who I am. They don’t understand why I’ve changed but in their eyes, I’m still the same child.”

[grotesque-butler]

for anyone who stumbles across my blog because i interacted with you, i need you to understand that i like whatever posts i like. i don't have time to click on every single profile to see if i'm "allowed" to interact or not. and expecting that of me, or anyone else, is frankly ridiculous.

if you don't want certain people interacting with your posts (and let's be real, liking a post is barely an interaction to begin with), then the internet is not for you. people are going to engage with the content they want to engage with. you cannot control who sees your posts, unless it's a private account that you only let certain people see.

[astarionancuntnin]

he's not only a clown, he's the entire circus

astarion + text posts (part 22)

[fiona-fififi]

Okay. I'm about to say something that's probably going to get me run out of the fandom, but.

I don't actually think Tommy leaving their date early had anything to do with him not wanting to pressure Buck (regardless of what he claimed later). Instead, I think it had everything to do with Tommy being annoyed and no longer into it that evening, and I think that is both okay AND significantly more interesting than taking him at his word later and framing it as some selfless act by a sanitized elder gay shepherd just trying to do right by Buck.

[bugflies00]

OKAY so what ive been thinking about for ages is ctommy and being soft vs quiet . because i feel like it's one of those things in his fandom characterisation that sparks the most debate and in my opinion theres a huge difference between the two but i keep seeing people mix them together.

ctommy is soft but he's not quiet, and to disregard either of those things is what makes him less believable in fanworks imo

because on one hand, of course he's not quiet, that's the most obvious and i think one of the most commonly accepted qualms that we have with general fan interpretations of him. he doesn't just lie down and take shit, he's always committed to being an annoying shit, he's straight up rude so often, and even just. vocally. man's loud as fuck. i think that's pretty easy to establish .

but then what i find is that sometimes we veer into the other opposite, by completely denying that ctommy is also very soft sometimes. and by this i don't mean he turns into strawberry shortcake or starts being polite or whatever, but it's the fact that he's not just crass and rude. he's very considerate a lot of the time, he just shows it. uh. in his Own Way let's say. he cares for animals so so much, he's always so apologetic when he thinks he's hurt one of them, for fuck's sake he sung to the FLOWERS. he's very soft with nature, with things he's attached to, with things he perceives as weaker than him and needing protection.

the complexity of ctommy and what makes him so hard to grasp is that he's loud, he's brash, he is NOT a perfect quiet victim who suffers in silence, he asks for help, he's rude, he steals stuff, he's annoying as shit; but he's also soft, and incredibly empathetic, and he has no shame in showing that softness for animals or nature or his friends.

ctommy, and this is very much because cctommy himself acts like that a lot, is constantly vacillating between someone with the maturity of a thirteen year old boy who shouts and swears and pretends not to give a shit, and a boy who will stop everything he's doing to look at the sky or a flower or an animal (which does contrast his stereotypical rude teenager persona, because lots of aforementioned thirteen year old boys Would be embarrassed or whatever to do that).

he does BOTH. he's not just quiet and nice and sad and lonely; but he's not just rude and loud and """uncaring""" (if there is one thing ctommy is not i think we can all agree its UNCARING).

and i think this is why a lot of debates around "woobifying" ctommy (who remembers the july 2021 trenches . the butterfly clips.) tend to point any ctommy design that portrays him as soft, cozy, or even leaning into his feminine side as the be-all end-all of reducing his character.

in reality i think that misses the mark a bit because while there IS something to be said for sure about people turning ctommy into Blonde Anime Child #249824 and stripping him of his Very Vibrant character, i don't think that putting him in butterfly clips and skirts erases him in the same way. i think he could very much lean into that kind of thing . as long as he's still flipping off the camera we're all good

TLDR : fans strip ctommy of his loud-and-annoying persona but in avoiding that some forget that he's a character who's not afraid to be soft

[bludgeon-alt]

hey, so, i've been a wilbur fan for ages, and i want to see the evidence against him. this isn't sarcasm or anything, i just genuinely want all the evidence so i can make a decision

Sure! I got you covered, anon. No shame in deliberating on the evidence yourself. I'll link you a few posts.

This is a good master post, but I will provide a few additional sources:

Shelby's Stream

A Follow-Up Tweet by Shelby

Additional Corroberating Statements From Former Lovejoy Trumpeter, Zoe

Statements From Admin of Wilbur's (unofficial) Discord

Statement From Julie Verlintox (Wilbur head mod/admin)

Clip of Shelby Talking More About Her Story on Lexie's Stream

Addition Piece of Potential Evidence Submitted by an Anon: Wayback Machine Archive of a Reddit Post Likely Made by Shubble in November; Mirrors Her Stream Statements

Additionally, both Smajor and Ranboo have unfollowed Wilbur. Make of all that what you will!

EDIT (3/27/24): Wilbur responded.

Shelby's Response to Wilbur's Response

Aimsey's Response to Wilbur's Response

Ranboo's Response to Wilbur's Response

Lexie's Response to Wilbur's Response

Punz's Response to Wilbur's Response

Tubbo's Response to Wilbur's Response

And many, many more.

[doomdoomofdoom]

If you've been boycotting Eurovision, you may have missed out on how bad it truly was, so here are a few events in no particular order:

The opening act of the semi-finals was Eric Saade, a swedish-palestinian singer who participated in Eurovision 2011. He wore a keffiyeh, a palestinian headdress, around his arm like a wristband.

Despite not making any political statements or drawing attention to his accessory, he was reprimanded by the EBU for "compromising the non-political nature of the event".

During their semi-final performance, the Irish contestant had the word "ceasefire" in old irish runes painted on their face. They were ordered to change it for the final, as it was deemed too political.

The contestant from Israel was not allowed to mingle with the other contestants, due to supposed security risks.

During an Interview, she was asked if she felt any concerns over her participation potentially endangering the event and the people present. The host told her she did not have to answer this question. Dutch contestant 'Joost' asked "why not?"

Joost, while not openly antagonizing the Israeli contestant, has made covert critical remarks about the EBUs decision to allow Israel to participate.

On Friday, the day before the Finale, Joost was investigated by the swedish police for a supposed incident where he threatened an EBU crew member. Thursday, a female camera operator had followed him off-stage to continue filming, even though there was an agreement not to film him off-stage. After she ignored his requests to stop, he threatened her with some sort of gesture.

Joost was disqualified mere hours before the finale. He was slotted to perform just before Israel and considered a favorite and potential winner.

The show itself did not address his disqualification. The dutch entry was simply skipped with no further comment.

Israeli broadcaster KAN was confirmed to have broken EBU rules during their coverage of the Irish act in the Semifinal. The commentator spoke negatively about their act, condemning the very scary goth aesthetic, and noting their willingness to criticize Israel's actions.

Despite Irish contestant Bambie Thug lodging a complaint with the EBU, there was no penalty or other repercussion.

If you were hoping that the event itself would turn into some sort of protest, I have to disappoint you:

Despite rumors of other contestants dropping out over Joost's disqualification, all of them performed.

There was audible booing every time Israel was on-screen, including their performance, announcement of points, and every time they received points. There was equally audible cheering.

No contestant or spokesperson directly addressed the ""controversy"" (read: ongoing genocide being artwashed), although very few made covert remarks about peace, love, dignity, and equality.

The most explicit it got was the Austrian spokesperson, saying something along the lines of "It's hard to find only positive words in a time where heartlessness prevails. But we hope everyone can unite through music and show that everyone deserves to be treated equally"

No one stormed on stage or held up a palestinian flag or anything, if you were hoping for that. I certainly was.

Israel gave its 12 points (both Jury and public) to Luxembourg. The singer is half-israeli and born in Jerusalem.

Jury votes mostly ignored Israel, netting them a total of 52 points through jury votes, which put them somewhere in the middle of the scoreboard. Norway, Cyprus, and Germany awarded them 8 points each, making them the main contributors.

In contrast, Israel received 323 points from the public voting. They were second only to Croatia with 337. 15 public votings, including "rest of the world" awarded Israel their 12 points, more than any other country would receive. The only countries not to award any points to Israel in the public vote were Croatia and Ukraine.

Israel thereby placed 5th out of 25.

But hey, at least the winner (Switzerland) was nonbinary, diversity win amirite. Notably, they had to smuggle in their pride flag, since EBU guidelines only allow flags of participating countries and the rainbow flag. (This is also why palestinian flags were not allowed. It's not a new rule, but they certainly weren't going to start bending it now.)

If there's one thing to take away from this: Do not ever think the rest of the world is on your side, just because your social media is. The rest of the world has shown their allegiance, and it lies with Israel and Genocide.

Do not stop fighting for what is right.

[ecoterrorist-katara]

“It’s gross if Katara marries Zuko since he’s her colonizer” she overthrew the last Fire Lord to put Zuko on the throne. If anything the Fire Nation would be worried that he’s Katara’s puppet

[vyeoh]

I have to say, as much as I love the fix-its and the spiked coffee theory, the part of me that's the queer kid living in a homophobic and sometimes manipulative household wants to watch Aziraphale make that mistake fully on his own and grow from it

[overnighttosunflowers]

other people have said this better than I will here, but every time there's an imodna conversation, I start hearing noises about the their relationship being codependent, unhealthy.

and, look, yeah, individually? they're mentally unhealthy. they are! they're fucked up and traumatized and trying to hold on long enough to get to the other side and each of them individually struggling to believe that's even possible.

but their relationship? how much they love each other? how much of a harbor they try to be for each other, how they do their best to help each other, steady each other, even while they're grappling with their own shit in ways that make that really really hard?

of course they're not always gonna get it exactly right. sometimes, one of them—both of them—needs support. needs reassurance. needs their partner to be there for them.

two fucked up people are never gonna have a relationship where they both behave perfectly, healthily, every time. (in fact, no relationship is gonna have that, but that's neither here nor there.) they won't have a relationship that's all sunny skies and calm waters, not until they can calm their own storms.

but they can give each other the space to be both fucked up and loved. to promise to hold each other's hand while they do what they need to do to get through it, and to promise that there is something on the other side. that it's worth fighting to get to it together.

needing each other isn't inherently codependent. and loving someone who's struggling isn't toxic.

and there's so, so much love.

[skellagirl]

Gordon/Barney/Alyx is really really funny to me conceptually bc it's like, two hot geniuses in their 20s who look at the 40-something smartass who hangs around and go 'yeah that guy. we both want him carnally'

[lesbianelsas]

alicent + (lack of) bodily autonomy

"This felt like a baptism. Stripping the outer layer, and that f-cking collar [laughs]. Her getting into the lake on her own is embryonic, in a way. It’s weirdly a coming-of-age moment for Alicent—the start of the rest of her life, what she’s about to do, and the woman she’s possibly about to become." (x)

[captainkirkk]

I've always been obsessed with 'character & community' fics, and I'm devastated that they aren't more. There's never enough fics about superheroes & the city they protect, rulers & the people they serve, teachers & the wider school body, captain & his soldiers.... I can never get enough of them

[metamatar]

i listen to this podcast called song exploder by hrishikesh hirway sometimes. on the podcast he discusses with musicians how they composed and produced a particular song usually with some in progress samples. its great fun for me who loves hearing experts talk shop. in particular you can hear from all kinds of artists the frustration of trying to turn their vision into an actual song, and they tend have a love hate relationship with the process. but the part of the process or "work" they all seem to love is the discovery involved in it, for new tools or sounds or techniques because each has a particular quality. i really don't see why and how making it easier to try things would make art worse lol. the fact that you can hire a session musician to play a rare instrument or use a sample of it from a library instead of having to learn it yourself is a great thing. anyways that's how i feel about ai artists don't want to do the work themselves!!!