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reallifesultanas · 4 years

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Portraid of Ahmed I's sons / I. Ahmed szultán fiainak portréi

Ez a portrésorozat nem tartalmazza I. Ahmed három fiát, akikből később szultán lett (II. Oszmán, IV. Murad és I. Ibrahim). A szultánoknak különálló portré készült vagy fog készülni.

This series of portraits do not include the three sons of Ahmed I, who later became sultans (Osman II, Murad IV, and Ibrahim I). Separate portraits have been or will be published for them.

Şehzade Mehmed

Ahmed ascended the throne in December 1603, his first son Osman II was born in November 1604, followed a few months later by Prince Mehmed. Mehmed's mother was Kösem Sultan and he was born in March 1604 in Istanbul. The identity of his mother has long been in question, but nowadays we have evidence that indirectly clarifies that he was born as the son of Kösem Sultan. One such proof is that Kösem Sultan became a Haseki in late 1605 or early 1606, and this would hardly have been possible without a son. Another piece of evidence is an ambassadorial report from 1611/12 that says "The King has two sons, one is seven years old, the other six. His Majesty has three daughters as well, and to him sons are born very often, both for the abundancy of women and both for his youth and prosperity". Simone Contarini, who wrote this understood Osman and Mehmed as the two boys, but the three girls must have been mistaken, as Ahmed had four daughters alive at that time (Ayşe, Gevherhan, Fatma, and Hanzade). Perhaps Contarini only knew about the existence of Ayşe, Fatma, and Hanzade, as they were the children of Kösem Sultan, the famous favorite of Ahmed.

The counter-arguments that Mehmed was not the son of Kösem Sultan have now been overturned. In 1614, Della Valle recorded the second son of Sultan Ahmed as Sehzade Mahmud, which was mistakenly identified with Prince Murad by some. Murad was born in 1612 though. Mahmud was certainly a misunderstood version of Mehmed, not Murad. Another counter-argument was Valier's account of 1615. In that, he wrote that the Sultan not allowing the two older princes near Kösem Sultan, for the Sultan is well aware of Kösem Sultan's ambitions for her own children. Many identified the two princes as princes of Osman and Mehmed, so they though none of them were Kösem's sons. However, it was more likely that Valier meant Mustafa, Ahmed’s brother, and Osman, Ahmed's firstborn son. This is supported in particular by an earlier account of Valier, where he clearly describes that the sultan has four sons, two from the dead sultana and two from the living one. Since Mahfiruze - the mother of Osman - died around 1612, it is clear that she was the dead sultana. Mahfiruze's other son may have been Prince Bayezid, who was born in 1612 soon after Murad, the second son of the living sultana, Kösem.

It can be seen that the counter-arguments are much weaker, so we can say with relative certainty that Prince Mehmed was the firstborn son of Kösem Sultan. Not much is known about Mehmed's childhood. It is known that although they were taught and raised separately with Osman, their teacher was the same Ömer Efendi. Mehmed had joint programs with Osman after 1612 though. Kösem Sultan visited the Old Palace regularly to meet with Safiye Sultan, Ahmed's grandmother, and she regularly took Prince Mehmed with her, and occasionally also Osman. After Ahmed forbade her to spend time with Osman, she probably traveled to the Old Palace with Mehmed and possibly with her daughters or her second oldest son, Murad.

Mehmed's first real public appearance was shortly before his father's death, in 1617. It was then that the mosque complex of Sultan Ahmed was completed. Ahmed took his two oldest sons, Osman and Mehmed, to the opening ceremony. Ahmed died at the end of the year and a chaotic period ensued. The abolition of fratricide has long been a central theme in the Ottoman Empire and although Ahmed himself was against it and he did not execute his brother, Mustafa, he never made a legal decree about the topic. The only chance to save the lives of Mehmed and his younger brothers was to change the succession-system. Kösem Sultan for years tried to convince Ahmed and although she undoubtedly had something to do with Prince Mustafa surviving, after Ahmed’s death she could do nothing. However Haci Mustafa Aga, the chief black eunuch who was in close association with Kösem Sultan, was able to do something. He influenced the divan and ulema to enthrone the oldest living prince and spare the lives of the others. Thus the brother of Ahmed, Mustafa I, was put to the throne, so Mehmed and his brothers were locked up in the harem, but stayed alive.

Little is known about this short period since Mustafa was soon dethroned and Osman was enthroned. It was easy to influence Osman and this often pushed him to make wrong decisions. Osman was not popular, there were no supporters of his, there was no strong mother behind him who would have helped, so he was understandably terrified of Prince Mehmed. Mehmed was only four months younger, but his mother was an extremely popular and influential woman. Kösem Sultan never did anything against Osman, on the contrary, she tried to build a nice relationship and Osman also visited her in the Old Palace regularly. Over time, however, Osman's paranoia grew bigger. In the spring of 1621, he wanted to leave the capital to go on a campaign but was afraid to leave Mehmed in the capital. Osman feared that Kösem Sultan and Mehmed would do something and would enthrone Mehmed while he was at war. The logical step would have been for Osman to take Mehmed with him to the campaign, but Osman wanted a more definitive solution. For this reason, during the preparations for the campaign, he executed his brother in January 1621.

Mehmed certainly saw exactly how dangerous the situation was, and we can assume that during Osman's reign he feared that Osman would eventually revive the law of fratricide. Mehmed’s death shook Istanbul, poets of the age often write about this bloody event with immense disgust. Naima, for example, openly condemns and calls Osman a tyrant for making an innocent prince, Mehmed Khan, a martyr for his own power. According to legend, while Mehmed fought for his life with his executioners, he cursed Osman: "Osman! I beseech God that your life and your reign be full of dread, and as you have deprived me of my life, may the same fate be yours."

Whether the curse is true or not, the end soon reached Osman. A few days after Mehmed’s death, a huge snowstorm struck Istanbul, killing thousands of people. Commoners interpreted this as Revenge of Allah for Osman's disgusting act, so his popularity sank to unprecedented depths. And soon after his failed campaign, Osman was dethroned and brutally executed and mutilated.

Şehzade Cihangir

All we know about Prince Cihangir was that he was born in 1609 and died soon after. The identity of his mother is unknown, but it is almost certain that it was not Kösem Sultan. Kösem Sultan gave birth to another child, Hanzade Sultan, in 1609. It is unlikely that she would have given birth to two children in one year.

Şehzade Selim

Prince Selim was born in the summer of 1611 and died a month after his birth. The identity of his mother is unknown. He was buried in his father's mausoleum.

Şehzade Hasan

Prince Hasan was born in November 1612 between the later sultan Murad IV and Prince Bayezid, as the child of an anonymous concubine. He died shortly after his birth and was buried in his father's mausoleum.

Şehzade Bayezid

Prince Bayezid was born in December 1612, a few months after the birth of Prince Murad (later Murad IV) in July. Accounts suggest that Bayezid was Osman's full-brother, so his mother was Mahfiruze, too. Mahfiruze disappears from the harem records around this time, perhaps for complications after childbirth, perhaps for other reasons, but she died during this period.

We don't know much about his childhood. After the deaths of Prince Mehmed and Sultan Osman II, Murad, who was barely older than Bayezid, ascended the throne in 1623. This essentially made Bayezid the heir to the throne, with many dangers, especially since he was only a half-brother to Sultan Murad. Because of Murad's youth, his mother, Kösem Sultan, ruled the empire as a regent. The situation was very bad, in recent years the empire has gradually sunk into anarchy and the situation has become increasingly bleak. Kösem Sultan and the statesmen fought hard to pull the empire out of the chaos, and although they achieved success, they failed to solve all the problems.

Then, in 1632, tension peaked in a Janissary rebellion. The Janissaries executed several of Murad's close confidants and demanded that the Sultan show them the princes. Murad was forced to agree to this and showed his brothers the Janissaries, who at this time began to rejoice for the princes. This humiliation was never forgotten and forgiven by Murad later. It was then that he experienced for the first time in his life that Bayezid (and also his other brothers) posed a huge threat to him. It is not known how Bayezid felt about the situation, however, given that he was not the son of Kösem, he could not expect too much support, which made it probably a difficult time for him.

In fact, we know almost nothing about Bayezid's life and personality, he lived his life locked up in the palace. Contrary to the picture conjectured by the series, Bayezid was not particularly close to Murad and there was no bond between them. This, too, certainly played a role in Bayezid's destiny. Murad considered Selim I to be his role model, trying to follow him in everything, so he also wanted to bring back the old succession-system so that his son would follow him on the throne, and not one of his younger brothers. In addition, Murad was getting worse mentally and physically over the years, so he began to become paranoid and saw conspiracy against him in everything. These things together caused the end of Murad's brothers. After the victory of Revan in 1635, while the people celebrated he ordered the execution of two of his half-brothers, Prince Bayezid and Suleiman. Bayezid was buried in the mausoleum of his father, Ahmed I.

Şehzade Orhan

The birth, death of Prince Orhan, and his mother's identity are all unknowns. Most give his birth date between 1612 and 1617, but there is no primer evidence to suggest this. Since we know so little about him, he probably died shortly after his birth.

Şehzade Hüseyin

Prince Hüseyin was born in November 1613, not knowing who his mother was, but it is certain that it was not Kösem Sultan. The time of his death is 1617, however, we do not have a more precise date. It is interesting, however, that he was not buried in the mausoleum of his father, Ahmed I, but in his grandfather's, Mehmed III's mausoleum. The reason for this was perhaps that Ahmed's mausoleum was not completed when he died (very early 1617), which is why he was buried in Mehmed III's mausoleum. Of course, they could have been reburied him to Ahmed's mausoleum as they did with Ahmed’s previously deceased sons. We don't know why they did not rebury him. Maybe since Ahmed himself had soon passed away, there was no time for that. Maybe the prince's tomb was too fresh when the other princes were reburied so he was left out?

Şehzade Kasim

He was born in the beginning of 1614 as the son of Kösem Sultan. Prince Kasim spent a significant part of his childhood separated from his mother, locked in the kafes during the reigns of Mustafa II, Osman II, and then again Mustafa I. From 1617 to 1623 he had little or no access to his mother. It is not known how Kasim spent his childhood after 1623. As the son of Kösem and Murad's full-brother, perhaps during Murad's early reign, he was able to enjoy a little more freedom in the palace than his half-brothers. At least we can assume this when Kösem's reign lasted, until 1632.

In 1632 his life changed radically, for Kösem lost her regent position and Murad began to rule by himself with extreme strictness. This year there was a Janissary uprising in which the Janissaries, fearing that Sultan Murad had secretly executed his brothers, demanded that the Sultan show them the princes. Murad complied with the demands of the Janissaries, but never forgave the humiliation.

Little is known about Kasim's life during Murad's later reign. There are several legends based on contemporary and somewhat later accounts, however, their reliability is rather doubtful. These legends suggest that Kasim was very close to Murad. Knowing their mother, it seems logical that she tried to push the two boys to love each other, as this was how Kösem could protect her other sons from Murad. Murad and Kasim spent much time together, which Giovanni Cappello also confirms in his account from 1634. According to him, Murad regularly took Kasim with him, treated him very kindly, and even allowed his brother to grow a beard, which was not a custom among the princes living in the palace.

Knowing this, it is particularly surprising that Murad eventually turned against Kasim. Murad considered Selim I to be his role model, trying to follow him in everything, so he also wanted to bring back the old succession-system so that his son would follow him on the throne, and not one of his younger brothers. In addition, Murad was getting worse mentally and physically over the years, so he began to become paranoid and saw conspiracy against him in everything. As a result, Murad first made a fatal decision in 1635 and executed his half-brothers, Bayezid and Suleiman. He spared Kasim and his other brother, Ibrahim back then. But over time Murad's paranoia continued to grow and in 1638, after the victorious campaign in Baghdad, he also executed Kasim in the Revan Pavilion. Interestingly, barely two years later Murad died in the same place. Prince Kasim was buried in his father's mausoleum.

Şehzade Suleiman

Prince Suleiman was born in 1615 as the son of an unknown concubine. Some believe he was the son of Kösem Sultan, but this is completely ruled out for two reasons. On the one hand, Kösem gave birth to Ibrahim (later Ibrahim I) in November 1615, who was surely her son, so it is not mathematically possible that in 1615 she would have given birth to another child; on the other hand, Suleiman was executed by Sultan Murad in 1635, while his full-brother Kasim was executed only in 1638. It is clear that Murad first wanted to get rid of his half-brothers, so the fact that Suleiman died in 1635 along with Bayezid (who surely was Murad's half-brother) is in itself enough proof that he was not the son of Kösem. Prince Suleiman was also buried in the mausoleum of Ahmed I.

Used sources: C. Finkel - Osman's Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire; L. Peirce - The imperial harem; G. Börekçi - Factions and favourites at the courts of Sultan Ahmed I (r. 1603-17) and his immediate predecessors; S. Faroqhi - The Ottoman Empire and the World; C. Imber - The Ottoman Empire 1300-1650; F. Suraiya, K. Fleet - The Cambridge History of Turkey 1453-1603; G. Piterberg - An Ottoman Tragedy, History and Historiography at Play; F. Suraiya - The Cambridge History of Turkey, The Later Ottoman Empire, 1603–1839; Howard - A History of the Ottoman Empire; Öztuna - Devletler ve Hanedanlar; Uluçay - Padişahların Kadınları ve Kızları; : F. Davis - The Palace of Topkapi in Istanbul; Y. Öztuna - Genç Osman ve IV. Murad

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Şehzade Mehmed

Ahmed 1603 decemberében került trónra, első fia II. Oszmán 1604 novemberében jött világra, őt néhány hónappal követte Mehmed herceg. Mehmed édesanyja Köszem szultána volt és 1604 márciusában jött világra Isztambulban. Édesanyjának kiléte sokáig kérdéses volt, azonban napjainkban rendelkezésünkre állnak olyan bizonyítékok, melyek közvetetten egyértelműsítik, hogy Mehmed Köszem fiaként jött világra. Egyik ilyen bizonyíték, hogy Köszem 1605 végén vagy 1606 elején lett Haszeki szultána, ez pedig fiúgyermek születése nélkül aligha lett volna lehetséges. Másik bizonyíték egy 1611/12-ből származó követi beszámoló, mely úgy szól "a szultánnak két fia van, egyikük hét éves, másikuk hat. Emellett a szultánnak három lánya is van. Fiatalsága és termékenysége, valamint az, hogy nőkben nem szenved hiányt arra enged következtetni, hogy hamarosan több fiú fogja követni az első kettőt. Simone Contarini, aki az írás szerzője a két fiú alatt Oszmánt és Mehmedet értette, a három lány viszont minden bizonnyal tévedés lehetett, ugyanis Ahmednek ekkoriban négy lánya volt életben (Ayşe, Gevherhan, Fatma és Hanzade). Talán Contarini csak Ayşe, Fatma és Hanzade létéről tudott, ők voltak ugyanis Köszem - a kedvenc ágyas - gyermekei.

Az ellenérvek arra, hogy Mehmed nem Köszem fia volt mára megdőltek. Della Valle 1614-ben Ahmed szultán második fiát Sehzade Mahmudként jegyezte fel, melyet tévesen Murad herceggel azonosítottak néhányan, aki 1612-ben született. A Mahmud minden bizonnyal a Mehmed félreértett változata volt, nem a Muradé. Másik ellenérv volt Valier 1615-ös beszámolója, aki arról beszélt, hogy a szultán nem engedi a két idősebb herceget Köszem közelébe, ugyanis a szultán jól ismeri Köszem ambíciójit és tudja, hogy Köszem csak ártana a két hercegnek saját gyermekei érdekében. Sokan a két herceget Oszmán és Mehmed hercegekkel azonosították, azonban valószínűbb, hogy Valier Musztafára, Ahmed öccsére és Oszmánra gondolt. Különösen alátámasztja ezt Valier egyik korábbi beszámolója, ahol egyértelmen leírja, hogy a szultánnak négy fia van, kettő a halott és kettő az élő szultánáról. Mivel Mahfiruze - Oszmán anyja - 1612 körül elhunyt egyértelmű, hogy ő a halott szultána. Mahfiruze másik fia talán Bayezid herceg lehetett, aki nemsokkal Köszem - az élő szultána - második fia, Murad után született 1612-ben.

Látható, hogy az ellenérvek jóval gyengébbek, így relatív biztonsággal állíthatjuk, hogy Mehmed herceg Köszem szultána első szülött gyermeke volt. Mehmed gyermekkoráról nem sokat tudni. Ismert, hogy bár külön oktatták és nevelték Oszmán hercegtől, tanítójuk ugyanaz az Ömer Efendi volt. Oszmánnal 1612 után is voltak közös programjai Mehmednek. Köszem szultána ugyanis rendszeresen látogatott a Régi Palotába, hogy ott találkozzon Safiye szultánával, Ahmed nagyanyjával és ezekre az utakra rendszeresen vitte magával Mehmed herceget, és alkalmanként Oszmánt is. Miután Ahmed eltiltotta Oszmántól valószínűleg Mehmeddel kettesben, esetleg lányaival vagy Muraddal kiegészülve utaztak a Régi Palotába.

Mehmed első nyilvános megjelenése nemsokkal apja halála előtt volt, 1617-ben. Ekkor készült el ugyanis teljes egészében Ahmed szultán mecset kompelxuma, ahová két idősebb fiát, Oszmánt és Mehmedet is magával vitte a megnyitóra. Ahmed még az év végén elhunyt és kaotikus időszak következett. A testvérgyilkosság eltörlése régóta volt központi téma az Oszmán Birodalomban és bár maga Ahmed ellene volt és nem is végeztette ki édesöccsét, Musztafát, sosem hozott döntést arról, hogy halála után ki kövesse a trónon. Az egyetlen esély Mehmed és öccsei életének megmentésére az volt, ha az öröklési sorrendet örökre megváltoztatják. Köszem éveken át próbálta Ahmedet meggyőzni erről és bár kétségkívül köze volt ahhoz, hogy Musztafa herceg életben maradt, Ahmed halála után ő már nem tehetett semmit. Nem úgy a Köszemmel szoros szövetségben álló Haci Musztafa Aga, a fő fekete eunuch, aki befolyásával meggyőzte a divánt és ulemát, hogy Ahmed helyére a legidősebb élő herceget tegyék, a többiek életét pedig kíméljék meg. Így került I. Musztafa néven Ahmed öccse a trónra, Mehmed pedig testvéreivel együtt elzárásra a hárembe.

Keveset tudunk erről a rövid időszakról, hiszen Musztafát mentális betegsége maitt hamarosan trónfosztották és helyére Oszmánt ültették. Oszmán nagyon befolyásolható volt, mely tulajdonsága maitt gyakran hibázott. Oszmán nem volt népszerű, nem voltak támogatói, nem állt mögötte egy erős édesanya, aki segítette volna, így érthető módon rettegett Mehmed hercegtől. Mehmed csak négy hónappal volt fiatalabb, édesanyja viszont rendkívül népszerű és befolyásos asszony volt. Köszem sosem tett semmit Oszmán ellen és Oszmán maga is igyekezett jó viszont ápolni a nővel, rendszeresen látogatta a Régi Palotában. Idővel azonban Oszmán paranoiája eldurvult. 1621 tavaszán el akarta hagynia fővárost, hogy hadjáratra induljon, azonban félt Mehmedet a fővárosban hagyni. Oszmán attól félt, hogy Köszem és Mehmed puccsot elkövetve elfoglalják a trónt, amíg ő háborúzik. A logikus lépés az lett volna, ha emiatt Oszmán magával viszi Mehmedet a hadjáratra, azonban Oszmán ennél véglegesebb megoldást akart. Emiatt a hadjárat előkészületei alatt 1621 januárjában megölette testvérét.

Mehmed minden bizonnyal pontosan látta, milyen veszélyes helyzetben van és feltételezhetjük, hogy Oszmán uralkodása alatt rettegett attól, hogy Oszmán végül feléleszti a testvérgyilkosság törvényét. Mehmed halála megrázta Isztambult, a kor és későbbi korok költői gyakran írnak erről a véres eseménnyel hatalmas undorral. Naima például nyíltan elítéli és zsarnoknak nevezi Oszmánt, amiért saját hatalma érdekében mártrírrá tett egy ártatlan herceget, Mehmed Khant. A legendák szerint amíg Mehmed életéért küzdött a kivégzőivel elátkozta Oszmánt: "Oszmán! Könyörögni fogok Allahnak, hogy egész életed és uralkodásot rettegésben teljen és sorsod legyen ugyanolyan, mint az enyém."

Akár igaz akár nem, Mehmed átka hamarosan elérte Oszmánt. Néhány nappal Mehmed halála után hatalmas hóvihar sújtott le Isztambulra, több ezer ember halálát okozva. Az emberek ezt Allah bosszújaként értelmezték Oszmán undorító cselekedete miatt, így Oszmán népszerűsége sosem látott mélységekbe süllyedt. Sikertelen hadjárata után pedig hamarosan trónfosztották és brutális módon kivégezték és megcsonkították Oszmánt.

Şehzade Cihangir

Cihangir hercegről annyit tudunk, hogy 1609-ben született és nemsokkal később el is hunyt. Édesanyjának kiléte nem ismert, viszont szinte bizton állítható, hogy nem Köszem volt. Köszem ugyanis 1609-ben egy másik gyermeknek, Hanzade szultánának adott életet, így valószínűtlen, hogy egy évben két gyermeket is világra hozott volna.

Şehzade Selim

Szelim herceg 1611 nyarán született és születése után nemsokkal meg is halt. Anyja kiléte nem ismert. Apja mauzóleumában helyezték végső nyugalomra.

Şehzade Hasan

Hasan herceg 1612 novemberében született későbbi IV. Murad és Bayezid herceg között, egy névtelen ágyas gyermekeként. Születését követően nemsokkal elhunyt és apja mauzóleumában helyezték végső nyugalomra.

Şehzade Bayezid

Bayezid herceg 1612 decemberében született néhány hónappal Murad herceg (későbbi IV. Murad) júliusi születése után. A követi beszámolók valószínűsítik, hogy Bayezid Oszmán édesöccse volt, így édesanyja neki is Mahfiruze volt. Mahfiruze innentől eltűnik a hárem jegyzőkönyvekből, talán a szülés után fellépő komplikációk, talán más okok miatt, de ebben az időszakban elhunyt.

Gyermekkoráról nem tudunk sokat. Mehmed herceg és Oszmán szultán halála után kisebb kitérővel a Bayezidnél alig idősebb Murad jutott trónra 1623-ban. Ezzel lényegében Bayezid lett a trónörökös, ami igen sok veszéllyel járt, különösen, hogy csak féltestvére volt Murad szultánnak. Murad fiatalkora miatt édesanyja Köszem szultána uralkodott a birodalmon régensként. A helyzet igen rossz volt, az elmúlt években a birodalom fokozatosan süllyedt anarchiába és vált egyre kilátástalanabbá a helyzet. Köszem és az államférfiak erősen küzdöttek, hogy a birodalmat kihúzzák a csávából, és bár értek el sikereket, nem sikerült megoldaniuk a problémákat.

1632-ben aztán egy janicsár lázadásban csúcsosodott ki a feszültség. A janicsárok kivégezték Murad több közeli bizalmasát és követelték a szultántól, hogy mutassa meg nekik a többi herceget. Murad kénytelen volt beleegyezni ebbe és megmutatta janicsároknak testvéreit, akik ekkor éltetni kezdték a hercegeket. Ezt a megaláztatást később Murad sosem felejtette el. Ekkor tapasztalta meg életében először, hogy Bayezid hatalmas veszélyt jelent rá. Nem tudni, hogy Bayezid, hogyan élte meg a helyzetet, azonban tekintettel arra, hogy nem Köszem fia volt nem számíthatott túl sok támogatásra, emiatt feltehetőleg nehéz időszak volt ez számára.

Tulajdonképpen Bayezid életéről, személyiségéről szinte semmit nem tudunk, életét a palotába elzárva élte. A sorozat által sejtetett képpel ellentétben, Bayezid nem állt különösebben közel Muradhoz és nem volt köztük semmi kötelék. Ennek is minden bizonnyal szerepe volt Bayezid végzetében. Murad példaképének I. Szelimet tartotta, őt próbálta követni mindenben, így a régi öröklési rendet is vissza akarta hozni, hogy utána fia kövesse a trónon, ne pedig öccsei közül valaki. Emellett Murad mentálisan és fizikailag is egyre rosszabb állapotban volt az évek során, így kezdett paranoiddá válni és mindenben konspirációt látott személye ellen. Ezek együttesen okoztákazt, hogy 1635-ben a győztes revani hadjárata után, míg az emberek ünnepeltek ő elrendelte két féltestvére, Bayezid és Szulejmán hercegek kivégzését. Bayezidet apja, I. Ahmed mauzóleumában helyezték végső nyugalomra.

Şehzade Orhan

Orhan herceg születése, halála és anyja kiléte egyaránt ismeretlen. A legtöbben 1612 és 1617 közé teszik születését, de nincs erre utaló bizonyíték. Mivel ennyire semmit nem tudunk róla, valószínűleg röviddel születése után elhunyt.

Şehzade Hüseyin

Hüseyin herceg 1613 novemberében jött világra, nem tudni, hogy ki volt az édesanyja, ám az bizonyos, hogy nem Köszem. Halálának ideje 1617, azonban pontosabb időpont nem áll rendelkezésünkre. Érdekesség viszont, hogy nem Ahmed mauzóleumában, hanem nagyapja III. Mehmed mauzóleumában temették el. Ennek oka talán az volt, hogy Ahmed mauzóleuma még nem készült el, mikor meghalt, emiatt III. Mehmedébe temették. Természetesen újratemethették volna, mint Ahmed korábban elhunyt fiait, azonban mivel Ahmed maga is nemsoká elhunyt erre nem jutott idő. Esetleg túl friss volt a sír, amikor a többi herceget újratemették, így ő kimaradt?

Şehzade Kasim

1614 legelején jött világra Köszem szultána fiaként. Kasim herceg gyermekkorának jelentős részét édesanyjától elszakítva töltötte, elzárva a kafesben I. Musztafa, II. Oszmán majd újra I. Musztafa uralkodása alatt. 1617-től 1623-ig nem vagy csak alig találkozhatott édesanyjával. Nem tudni, hogy Kasim gyermekkorát hogyan töltötte. Mivel Köszem fia volt és Murad édestestvére, talán Murad 1623-ban kezdődő uralkodása alatt valamivel nagyobb szabadságot élvezhetett a palotában, mint féltestvérei. Legalábbis feltételezhetjük ezt amíg tartott Köszem uralma, 1632-ig.

1632-ben élete gyökeresen megváltozott, ugyanis Köszem elveszítette régensi pozícióját és Murad kezdett vasszigorral uralkodni. Ebben az évben zajlott egy janicsár felkelés, mely során a janicsárok félve attól, hogy Murad szultán titokban kivégeztette öccseit, követelték, hogy a szultán mutassa meg a herceget. Murad eleget tett a janicsárok követeléseinek, azonban sosem bocsátotta meg a megaláztatást.

Kasim életéről Murad uralkodása alatt keveset tudunk. Több legenda is létezik korabeli és valamivel későbbi beszámolókra alapozva, azonban ezek megbízhatósága meglehetősen kétséges. Ezek a legendák azt sugallják, hogy Kasim igen közel állt Muradhoz. Ismerve édesanyjukat logikusnak tűnik, hogy igyekezett úgy nevelni, hogy a két fiú szeresse egymást, hiszen így óvhatta leginkább Köszem többi fiát Muradtól. Úgy tartják, hogy Murad és Kasim sok időt töltöttek együtt, amit Giovanni Cappello követi beszámolója is alátámaszt 1634-ből. Szerint Murad rendszeresen vitte magával Kasimot, nagyon kedvesen bánt vele és még azt is megengedte öccsének, hogy szakállt viselhessen, ami nem volt szokás a palotában élő hercegek között.

Ennek fényében különösen meglepő, hogy Murad végül Kasim ellen fordult. Murad példaképének I. Szelimet tartotta, őt próbálta követni mindenben, így a régi öröklési rendet is vissza akarta hozni, hogy utána fia kövesse a trónon, ne pedig öccsei közül valaki. Emellett Murad mentálisan és fizikailag is egyre rosszabb állapotban volt az évek során, így kezdett paranoiddá válni és mindenben konspirációt látott személye ellen. Ennek eredményeként Murad először 1635-ben hozott meg egy végzetes döntés és végeztette ki féltestvéreit, Bayezid és Szulejmán hercegeket. Ekkor Kasimot és másik öccsét, Ibrahimot megkímélte. Idővel azonban Murad paranoiája tovább nőtt és 1638-ban a győztes bagdadi hadjárata után kivégeztette Kasimot is, a Revan Pavilonban. Érdekesség, hogy alig két évvel később Murad ugyanitt halt meg megtörve. Kasim herceget édesapja mauzóleumában temették el.

Şehzade Szulejmán

Szulejmán herceg 1615-ben született egy ismeretlen ágyas fiaként. Egyesek úgy tartják Köszem szultána fia volt, ám ez teljességgel kizárt két okból is. Egyrészt Köszem 1615 novemberében adott életet Ibrahimnak (későbbi I. Ibrahim), aki tudottan az ő fia volt, így matematikailag nem lehetséges, hogy 1615-ben egy másik gyermeknek is életet adott volna; másrészt Szulejmánt 1635-ben végeztette ki Murad szultán, míg édestestvérét Kasimot csupán 1638-ban. Egyértelmű, hogy Murad először féltestvéreitől akart megszabadulni, így a tény, hogy Szulejmán 1635-ben halt meg, önmagában is elég bizonyíték, hogy nem Köszem fia volt. Szulejmán herceget is I. Ahmed mauzóleumában temették el.

Felhasznált források: C. Finkel - Osman's Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire; L. Peirce - The imperial harem; G. Börekçi - Factions and favourites at the courts of Sultan Ahmed I (r. 1603-17) and his immediate predecessors; S. Faroqhi - The Ottoman Empire and the World; C. Imber - The Ottoman Empire 1300-1650; F. Suraiya, K. Fleet - The Cambridge History of Turkey 1453-1603; G. Piterberg - An Ottoman Tragedy, History and Historiography at Play; F. Suraiya - The Cambridge History of Turkey, The Later Ottoman Empire, 1603–1839; Howard - A History of the Ottoman Empire; Öztuna - Devletler ve Hanedanlar; Uluçay - Padişahların Kadınları ve Kızları; : F. Davis - The Palace of Topkapi in Istanbul; Y. Öztuna - Genç Osman ve IV. Murad

#Ahmed I #Murad IV #sehazde bayezid #sehazde kasim #ibrahim I #deli ibrahim #Kösem sultan #kösem #mahfiruz hatun #mahfiruze #Sehzade mehmed #Osman II #fratricide #selim i #yavuz selim

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lastcrystalwitch · 3 years

Text

4/11/21

Curbing frustrations due to stopping smoking, *I am constantly reminding myself to be a decent human being, and be decent to others. Its been a while since I stopped smoking. But this is the first time I did so willingly.

I had my heart broke. A close friend of mine turned out to be an enemy. Someone who didn't believe in me from the beginning, lied to my face countless times that I am just finding out about, and told others bad things about me. All I can do, and all I could ever do, however, us just accept this distrust, because that is the person that they want to be and I cant change that. I can only just keep being myself, wishing good for everyone and understand what it is that makes me tick, and focus on my needs. I spent a year and a half doting on that person, taking care of them, bringing them gifts, and trying to make them smile when most of what they did was talk bad about me behind my back, lie to me, and prove to me that they don't respect me, don't care about me, and they are stuck in a childish mindset.

Honestly early drug use in young teens prevents their brain from developing. So perhaps that's the case. You're a lost boy from neverland. And If you want to grow up and stop acting spoiled and entitled, and super selfish, you'll have to try harder than everyone else. But small steps first starting out.

Spirit told me not to burn my bridge with you. That you will grow up, that you will learn, but only after you lose your entire family, people disown you because of your cowardly negligence, and you lose everything. I don't keep liars as friends. And I should have been more careful. They say love is blind. But only the ancients understood it fully. This is why I still love you. I see you for you, and not what everyone else sees. Let me explain.

There are many forms of a persons soul. Spirit, soul, essence, and physical outer spirit, what you show everyone else, are all radically different things.

To help explain this a little bit I borrowed the following list from Wikipedia, which does a fair job at explaining most things. However, there was an exceptional volume written by one of my favorite authors so far, in the early 1800's - and his name unfortunately escapes me. He was a scholar, professor, archeologist, and preserver of ancient history. He had traveled to many many sites from ancient cultures, mainly Egypt, and it is because of his work as a linguist that we were able to get this list together to help others understand there is more to a person than just their spirit and their soul.

1Khet (physical)

2Sah (spiritual body)

3Ib (heart)

4Ka (vital essence)

5Ba (personality)

6Shut (shadow)

7Sekhem (form)

8Ren (name)

So, each one of these is its own separate element that makes up a person. And in this book from the 1800's, the one that escapes my memory - he goes into each of these, and If I am remembering correctly, this is not an exhaustive list; there are more elements to a person. But he goes into each one and breaks it down. I can do my best to explain these, but I feel like I wouldn't do half as much as a good job.

But when I look at a person, I don't know if it is my vision, but I don't see someone's KHET. I see their "ihb", Thier "Shut", and their "Ka."

But that is because as someone who was constantly bullied in my life, by all types of people, beautiful people, ugly people, faking nice people ... I don't look at the way that they dress, or how skinny they are. That is the least important part of a person. The most important part of a person is the part that they show to no one when no one else is there, how they interact with strangers, and how they interact with animals and their environment. Spencer might have broken my trust, but I see his KA, I've always seen it. And his Ka is beautiful, RARE, and so strong. He asked me what I see in him. Many people have asked me what I see in him. He has broken BA, and a very interesting Sekhem. He hates his own Ren as much as I do, and opened up to me as to why. And I know he wasn't lying about that. I enjoy his company because I see who he wants to be. And I see his Shut, (shu*ot) or his shadow. But behind every Shut, there is a light side. And he has the capability to become one of the most successful and influential people I know. He has endless potential which he hasn't even scratched the surface with, and he can change so many peoples entire lives, and doesn't even know it yet. I love his Sah, which isn't easy to explain to someone who has never heard these terms before.

And without which is why I see lots of growth needed for him to do. And he'll get there. It might take him 20 years to stop being afraid of himself, and I say that with so much love. Afraid, not calling him a coward, he is very brave, but he runs away in fear of getting hurt, and in fear of people letting him down, like so many people have done so many times in the past. Your Ka is beautiful. One of the most rare and strongest I have ever seen. As shocking of a presence as being very tall. Someone with a beautiful Ka will always influence others. Always draw attention. They are so rare and unique of a person that instantly others are attracted to them. Instantly they get noticed.

You know what is cute? Someone so tall trying to be invisible. ^-^

They are able to be someone that others depend on, feel safe around, and look up to. People want to be around others with a Ka like that. Always. Even when you're feeling blue. Because when that Ka feels better, when its not sad, when you get out of your comfort zone, set a goal for yourself and get it done, the sun comes out of the darkness. And that Ka starts emanating happiness. People with strong Ka's are like superweapons. They can be the back bone of families. Someone who everyone loves and cherishes. I don't think they know it, but that Ka is the most beautiful part of someone. And it drives me insane to think that he doesn't even know his own worth!

I forgive you for lying to me. I don't accept it, lying isn't good. But I understand why you did it. They were selfish reasons, and I don't use the word selfish in a negative way. Selfish in the fact that you were just looking for a way to get what you wanted, to make yourself happy. So you could have fun, enjoy the day, and smile like you do sometimes.

But you are still a child when it fully understands what it is that makes a person happy. And that's not your fault. You never learned the secret. No one told you because it doesn't exist in your family. It doesn't really even exist in mine, its something that I had to figure out and struggle through myself growing up, and dedicating 15 years to bettering myself and doing everything I could to become the best version of myself;

In order to be happy with the decisions that you make, in order to feel comfortable with you decisions and be proud of yourself, you have to know yourself. When we spend so much time hiding and looping pain around in our heads we spiral down into a circle that never ends. This leads to depression, drug abuse, alcoholism, lying to your friends, lying to your family, and lying to yourself. You'll look in the mirror and not know/not like who you are. To not know yourself.

Take time to practice healthy practices for you. Become an adult. Become who you want to be. You say you wished she'd come out of the blue and make you be someone who you wished you were: Someone confident. Someone happy. You wished you were okay. You said that she'd come into your life and make you stop drinking, stop doing all the drugs.

Be careful what you wish for, Giant. She came into your life. She adored you. She tried to show you how to love. You pushed her away, thwarted her efforts to help you, shamed her, disrespected her, hurt her feelings, tore her soul, made her spend entire nights crying over you and your decisions. She just wanted to trust you. And you broke that trust. YOU destroyed your relationship with select few who really were expecting great things from you.

Because you still need to learn. You still need to try. There is a point, and it is possible. Everything that you want, you can achieve. The only person who is stopping it is yourself. Grow up.

I see your pain. You can't understand that because you can't empathize with others like I can. I know your heartbreak. I can say that because I have a very big heart.

But seriously, grow up. Set a goal. Get it done. You're sitting and rotting in your own filth and its no ones fault but yours. You can blame anyone you want to. Anyone. I can think of seven people you'd probably blame instead of yourself.

Take responsibility for your actions. This is a part of growing up. Accept that you made a mistake. Say your sorry, and try again. When you do something wrong, admit it. When you go out of your way to hurt someone, tell yourself that it is bad. Be a god damn decent human being and the world will be yours. Stop living like a pathetic thief. You're better than that. You're stronger than that. I see your Ka, and I believe in you. Seriously, stop your shit. Just stop. This is bigger than your deep seeded sadness. This is about the rest of your life.

I can't force you to change. You'll either change, or stay the same miserable self you are and end up being hated and shamed by everyone in your family. But its up to you. Its only up to you. She came into your life. You got what you wished for. You had the lock, and she had the key. But you have to be the one that turns the key and opens the door to your own success and future. Sometimes you have to help yourself. Sometimes you have to do things for yourself.

I know you can do it. I believe in you. But it doesn't matter what I say or think, or how I feel. You'll never see it that way, unless you grow up and get your head out of your ass. <3 Be a man, know yourself. Learn what it is that makes you tick. Stop the drugs. They're just a guaranteed trip to self sabotage and unhappiness. Seriously dude, you're going the wrong way on that, and I CAN SEE. So I'm giving you a heads up. It doesn't make you feel better

STOP LYING. Mostly stop lying to yourself. Drugs don't solve anything. What do they make you do? Well, they mess up your kidneys, which always hurt and only feel better when you apply pressure to them. You're rotting your kidneys. You've only got two, and a rare blood type, so the more you drink and the more you do drugs, the higher your creatinine level will be and it becomes like a cutter. You are injuring yourself to the point of self harm. And you do it deliberately to TAKE THE PAIN AWAY.

I know this because I can see your spirit. And there were so many conversations that we have had. So many that I know you don't remember. And after finding out how much you lie, I can't believe all of it anymore. I can't trust you. YOU DID THAT. No one else. And it sucks, but even behind all the lies, the Ka was still there. I could feel your actual hurt as my own, so those 5am talks we had, all those conversations, and the times that you were there for me, weather you were to blind to know that you were there for me and if you even realized it or not, I just want to say thank you.

Thank you for pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and hanging around me sometimes. Thank you for sitting with me on the couch, while I cried because my soul hurt and the world didn't make sense. Thank you for showing me what a kind person and loving friend you actually really are, even if it is hidden under layers and layers of pain and guilt and self loathing. Thank you for letting me get to know a little bit of you, and thank you for making me smile when you know I didn't feel good. Thank you for making me laugh when things were getting too serious. Thank you for sharing your joy with me in my life. You don't know how many times you made me feel better just by being able to forget about all the worlds problems and sing in the car. Thank you for saying things without saying them, and showing me that you are so genuine and unique, there really isn't anyone like you in this world. You are super special, and you've literally saved my life the night you let me come into your room and sit there and watch the fishes. You don't know how much pain I was in. And you were there for me. You helped me not end my life that night. I only walked away with a couple scars. YOU HELPED ME. YOU did. Just by letting me in. We didn't talk. I couldn't. I was crying too much and my Ba and Ka were in absolute shambles. You didn't do anything except be in the right place at the right time, but your energy, as confused as it was at that time, helped me know that I wasn't the only one alone and suffering. And it was okay. and YOU had given me another reason to keep breathing. You'll never know how much you mean to me. Thank you for what you have helped me though.

I hope you can learn and know the Wisdom, not knowledge, that you can do anything you set your mind to, if you want to. I have proved to myself and to you, that you are the only one that is making your life miserable. I have done everything for you. And unless it is served to you on a silver platter, you reject it. You are the only one stopping your life progress. And you've convinced and lied to yourself so much about it that somehow you actually believe it is true.

I wish you could see through my eyes.

Even better, I wish you the courage and strength it takes to change you life and want to succeed better. Because you have all the tools. Shit, I gave you EVERYTHING. The only excuse is yourself. You are what is stopping you.

Life goes on. We never forget them. But we have to live our lives. They forced themselves to be a memory. Force yourself to live. Go live out your own story. Stop lying to yourself. Your a fricking great person! You lie, sure. You manipulate, sure. But I see you! That isn't who you want to be and the time in your life right now is merely a stepping stone for all the endless things that are out there. There are layers of things that you don't understand. I'm not trying to be mean, but trust me when I say there's a lot out there.

Maybe someday we will meet again when you turn into an adult. Because right now I see you as a boy. There is so much out there to look forward to. There are SO many fun things out there in different cultures. You have a journey ahead of you, and I just wished that I could have been part of it with you.

I forgive you. You really really hurt me. And it absolutely is your fault and no one else. But at the end of the day, its You who has to live with who you are. And you can CHANGE and Grow. I have all ready seen the person you are 20 years from now. And you wouldn't believe it if I told you. Rv's, dual citizenship, backpacked across the grand canyon, visited MT St. Helen, been to Yellowstone 3 times, had lots of fun there with friends. Married, divorced. Someone who is comfortable in his own skin. Someone who doesn't feel the need to impress everyone, and who is happy. Someone who has become comfortable in his own skin. Someone who doesn't get offended by what other people think.

In 20 years I see you happy. I see you deciding you're a product of your environment and you wanted to change because everything is not set in stone. Its just what you knew. Past tense.

You can learn from your mistakes.

Just because you've never won the lottery, doesn't mean its not possible. People are winning the lottery all the time. There is hope. Just because you have never felt comfortable in your own skin doesn't mean that its not possible. It just means that you can experience it, and LIVE it, and KNOW it, for the first time, and for the rest of your life.

In 20 years you have more money than you know what to do with, and you have your own place, and like 3.5 cars, 2 that run 2 that don't. Projects. You have goals. You have your own family. You have your own life. People look up to you. You smile more. Your mouth doesn't hurt anymore because you stopped saying, "It doesn't matter." Instead you say things like, "Its possible."

But you have to try. And you have to keep trying.

But first you have to stop with the drinking and stop with the drugs, because you're literally hurting yourself and everyone around you, and you are going to be the only reason that you end up alone and unhappy. The truth hurts. Just like when I found out how much you really did lie to me, after I really didn't deserve it. I did everything I could to help you. I spent hours doing paperwork for you to help you get free dental, researching schools for GEDS, looking at loan and credit repair options, screening background checks to help you find out if you were really hung up locked out of states and not allowed to come back. You're actually not banned from Florida or Texas. There are no warrants out for your arrest by the way, because you never actually did anything super terrible. Otherwise you would have been thrown in jail instead of told to get the hell out of dodge.

There are people out in this world that really do care about you, and really want to see the best for you. But you have to want the best for yourself. You just want to be happy. I don't know how high or drunk you were when we had that conversation, but you just want to be you again. You just want to be happy again.

You can be. You have to do it though. I can't hold your hand like a little boy and do it for you. I tried. YOU were the reason that it didn't work. I did my part. YOU were the one that let yourself down. Literally all you had to do was to sign it. And I see this pattern with you.

Really, lets go ahead and break this down.

You are the cause of your own unhappiness.

Others can literally do EVERYTHING for YOU, and you come up with some kind of excuse and you LIE to YOURSELF, of why it won't happen. You do this to yourself. You are what they call, "A product of self fulfilling prophecies."

That's because you make it happen.

Your success: YOU make it happen.

Your failures: YOU make it happen.

Its really up to you to decide who you want to be. Not the other way around. Really. I'm not joking. I'm being honest. I'm not lying.

You can do it.

But you have to want it.

And you don't have to be alone.

And as shitty as you have treated me, and as terrible as a human you've been to me, doesn't make it ok. That was a really really mean, unnecessary and childish thing you did, for the past year and a half. Manipulating me like you did.

It still hurts because I trusted you, and you shit on me. YOU did that. That was YOUR choice.

But its MY choice to give you a heads up and let you know what you've been wanting to know this whole time, You are the way to your future. If you want to be miserable for the rest of your life, I cannot stop you. If you want to be treated like a little boy, who lies, and who is mean for the rest of your life, I cannot stop you. You are the only one who can change you.

Your entire future and happiness is up to you.

Choose your attitude. Choose your future. Choose to be someone you can be proud of. For once, stop lying to yourself. Its stupid.

#raw truth #my truth #self harm #mental illness #drug abuse #alchoholism #dear diary #self growth #self improvement #taking the first step #hope #true love

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heartslogos · 5 years

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newfragile yellows [642]

Bull hasn't seen his lady wife since she was whisked away a few scant hours after they arrived at the Surana ancestral home to meet with the current head of house.

“Isn’t Lord Surana one of the most influential speakers at the Council?” Bull asks Abelas as he flicks through correspondence that had been forwarded here when Bull told Evelyn that they would detour on their way to the capitol of Orlais.

“Formerly," Abelas answers, looking quite content to back on somewhat more familiar lands in a much more familiar setting. By content Bull means he isn’t scowling and the furrow between his brow is slightly less pronounced. As far as Bull can tell this is as close to giddy as the man has ever physically expressed. “Lord Surana is actually quite old, and retired from politics several years ago.”

“If I recall correctly he did vouch for the Inquisition when Neria Surana brokered this treaty.”

“Commander Neria was once a former potential heir to the house of Surana, though she ceded that right when she joined the Gray Wardens. The house of Surana has been without a dedicated heir since, as this house has a fondness for enlisting in the military,” Abelas explains. “Lord Surana, himself, was once the former Commander of the Emerald Knights for several years before retiring to tend to his lands and peoples instead. But he is quite decorated. He was posted on border control at the most heated and contested battlegrounds with Orlais. Blight territory, even.”

Abelas tilts his head, “If I recall that was how Neria Surana ended up joining the Gray Wardens, as she was also posted there under his command.”

“This is a house with no heir?” Bull’s eyebrows raise, “A heavy name and prestige for a house with such an uncertain future.”

“Lord Surana is quite old, but he isn’t quite out of his heyday just yet,” Abelas shrugs, “I suspect he retired from public life out of boredom more than any fatigue or such weariness. Though I am surprised that Commander Neria was able to convince him to put the house behind her. Normally he abstains from using his influence.”

“Maybe he likes the Inquisition?”

“Perhaps. The man is hard to read.”

“You’ve met him before? In person?”

“I was the Commander of Mythal’s guard, and interim Head Priest for her temples. I’ve met him several times. But I cannot say I know him well. I respect him.”

Bull tosses the bundle of letters onto the small writing desk, leaning back in the chair that lets out a warning creak.

“Do the Suranas get along with the Lavellan’s? I’m assuming they do, otherwise my lady wife wouldn’t insist upon visiting.”

Before Abelas can answer the door to the sitting room bursts open and Ellana stumbles in. Bull stares at her as she sucks in deep gasps of air, staggering into the room and leaning heavily on the back of the long, low couch in the center of the room.

The woman is a mess. Her carefully done hair is loose and sticks to her face with sweat. Her clothes are in a complete disarray, and there’s a fresh bruise on the underside of her chin. Ellana sucks in deep gasps of air, hands shaking as she attempts to tidy her appearance.

“That old man,” Ellana’s voice rasps, rough and raw, “Fucking Elgar’nan’s sword that man can still move. I can only hope and pray I’m that spry and able when I’m geriatric. Abelas, come help me fix my lacing. Gods. It’s like he never aged passed thirty. I can’t feel my legs.”

Abelas gets up and moves around Ellana to help her adjust the lacing at the back of her dress as she sweeps her hair over the side of her neck to give him better access.

Following into the room after her at a much more sedate pace is who Bull can only assume is Lord Surana, himself. He’s a handsome man with a surprisingly sturdy, build. Broad shouldered with long, steady legs and a stoic jaw.

Lord Surana, in contrast to Ellana, is covered in only a very light sheen of sweat. His dark gray shirt is halfway laced, sleeves pushed up his arms, and half tucked into his pants. There’s a line of scratches — bright pink — going down one of his arms. His dark hair is only a little bit ruffled, a few strands escaping from the braid, but otherwise well put together.

He leans against the doorway, surveying the room with a slow sweep of his eyes before letting his dark gaze rest on Bull.

“Lord the Iron Bull.” He nods, eyes doing a slow travel from the tip of Bull’s horns to his muddied boots and back up to his face. Abelas is right, the man is unreadable.

“Lord Surana.”

Lord Surana pushes up off the door, walking into the room and picking up an apple from the small bowl in the center of the table by the window before lazily dropping into the armchair next to it. He crosses one ankle over his leg and takes a bite of the apple, eyes moving to Abelas and Ellana.

“What happened to you?” Bull asks.

“He happened to me,” Ellana makes a vague gesture at Lord Surana. “Did you want specifics?”

Bull points to his neck and Ellana wrinkles her nose. “Let’s start with that one.”

Lord Surana raises a hand and beckons Ellana forward. She glares at him.

“You’re not the one in five separate layers, at least two of which seem purposefully designed to limit mobility.”

“No one told you to put them back on.” Lord Surana’s voice is low, soft, and reminds Bull of the dark shapes he’s seen in the waters off of the Coast when lightning flashes just right over the turbulent waves.

Ellana groans, dragging herself over to him and dropping down at his feet. He touches the side of her face with the tip of his fingers, slowly turning her head to the side to display the bruise.

“Ah,” he blinks, “The back hand.”

“The what.”

Ellana frowns. “It didn’t feel that hard when you hit me. Are you quite certain it wasn’t the choke hold?”

“No. It was the back hand,” Lord Surana says, turning towards Abelas.

“Abelas.”

“Alim.”

“I thought you were the one who taught her combat.”

“She had left my tutelage by the time her combat training had begun.”

“Hm.” Lord Surana lets his hand fall, turning to address Bull. “This afternoon you and I will spar.”

It doesn’t sound like much of a question.

Ellana slowly gets to her feet and moves towards Bull, slumping onto him, pressing her face into his neck.

“Careful. He’s a beast,” she says. “He even let me bring in two knives as a handicap and he still beat me quite soundly into the floor. Thrice.”

“You almost had me the second round,” the man says, “When you attempted to crush my throat. You would do the Raven school proud. Had you not lost your knife earlier I am sure you would have silenced my voice permanently.”

“He says that,” Ellana whispers into Bull’s ear, “But he immediately kicked me in the chest about a yard and a half.”

“Should I be concerned that you’re being thrown around like a ragdoll?”

“Not at all,” Ellana kisses his cheek. “My mother warned me ahead of time. This is how he shows affection. By teaching people how terrible they are at defending themselves so he can teach them how to do it right.”

“Your mother was the better of my students,” Lord Surana says. “It gladdens me to know that the Surana line continues to be strong even as it drifts further from us.”

“You two are related?”

“He’s my great uncle,” Ellana answers. Bull blinks. “Elven aging, lord husband. He’s ancient. I’m fairly sure that he’s almost old as Abelas over there.”

Bull’s eyebrows raise as Lord Surana takes another bite of apple. He looks only a little over Bull’s age.

“Untrue,” Lord Surana says, swallowing his bite of apple, pointing at Abelas, “He was already taking apprentices in the priesthood by the time I finished basic training and had my first deployment. Compared to him I’m as young as you are, grand niece.”

#heartsfic #gather your party and venture forth

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badri2 · 6 years

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Ralph Waldo Emerson and Sam Harris - An Essay by Badri Tulsiram

Sam Harris and Ralph Waldo Emerson are two thinkers from entirely different eras. They both represent spheres of thought likable by people who may call themselves atheist, nonreligious, or secular. The Harris perspective, unlike the Emerson perspective, has no belief in God, although both thinkers seek to make changes to how one perceives Him. Emerson, rather than making any claims of God not existing, seeks to redefine God to the masses who seem to understand God only from the perspective of the Bible. The two agree in saying that religious texts are of no benefit for a progressive people. In this essay, I seek to identify and analyze the similarities and differences in the thoughts and theories laid forth by these two influential thinkers by comparing and contrasting their language ideologies, epistemologies and ontologies.

In Emerson’s Divinity School Address we get a brief understanding of his ontological views on the nature of things. Emerson delivered his Divinity School Address to the Senior Class at Cambridge. Emerson is in no way an atheist, however, he shares the distaste in the ways of the Church, and advocates new revelation. He says that the way in which preachers preach the Gospel is as if God had spoken, and died. They speak of God as if he was here a long time ago, and is no longer here. Emerson has a strong foundation of moral sentiment based on intuition and insight of the perfection of the laws of the soul, laws that execute themselves. Emerson says that every action has an equal reaction. Thus, if you do a good deed, a good deed may be done upon you. “He who puts off impurity, thereby puts on purity.” Emerson believes in the effectiveness of good intentions. In a broad sense, summarizing his main points into one phrase; your perception is your reality. Each and every one of us is a soul. He closes his address saying, he “shall see the world to mirror the soul; shall see the identity of the law of gravitation with purity of heart; and shall show that the Ought, that Duty, is one thing with Science, with Beauty, and with Joy.” In other words, our souls are not separate from our world, but by only illusion. Gravity is, as our hearts beat. Our purpose is one with Science, Beauty, and Joy. Based on this summary of his address, we can assume a few things about Emerson; 1)he believes that we are each individual souls 2)he dislikes antique practices 3)we have a purpose.

Harris, at first glance, proves to be a little more difficult to tackle in understanding his ontology and beliefs on the nature of things. For the most part, Harris subscribes to the notions of modern science. As far as having a strong foundation for fundamental beliefs, as Emerson does, Harris seems to be on his way-- and this progression can be seen in tracing his early work to his newer work where he begins to open up to changing his adamant views. When reading Harris’s earlier work, such as his Letter to A Christian Nation (2006) and The End of Faith (2004), you can sense a sort of anger or resentment towards large populations of people for their belief systems that are different than his own. Emerson does not do this; he may point out the flaws in existing systems, but he does not downplay or criticize them in the way that Harris does. In Harris’s later work, however, such as Waking Up (2014), Harris proves to have grown considerably in many areas, spirituality in particular. So much so that he spends much of chapter one explaining spirituality in a context that may be friendly to his atheist readers who would dismiss anything “spiritual” as being mere nonsense. Harris does this by redefining “spiritual” in the atheistic context as having to do with “breath” as its Latin roots imply.

One of Harris’s main arguments in his work is that “there is a sacred dimension to our existence,” but it does not require superstitious beliefs. In The End of Faith, Harris argues that words like “God” and “Allah” must go the way of “Apollo” or “Baal.” He says that belief is what puts meaning to these words, and belief is like a lever; when pulled, moves almost everything else in a person’s life. This may be true, but my only criticism is that it is slightly hypocritical when considering it being written by someone who believes themselves to be an atheist. Harris argues that these are “mere words, until you believe them.” Given these notions about belief, and the faith put into words, we can begin to understand Harris’s language ideology, that is, his ideas and ideals associated with the way he uses language. To put it into binary terms, things are either 1 or they are 0. On a spectrum, for Harris’s ideology, subjects he supports are often as far left on the side of 1 as they can be, to denote what he would define as “true” and; subjects that he does not support, such as religion, and words like God-- fall as far right on the 0 side. The distance between these two is a lot greater, than say, the distance between Emerson’s opposites--which are as close as possible when thinking of his language ideology in this way. When thinking in this abstract way, Emerson makes it clear, whereas for Harris, one must seek to look past the obvious. For example, Emerson in his essay The Over-Soul, says the soul knows only the soul. The soul requires purity, but purity is not it. If you replace what he says with numeric values, you get something like this: 1=1, from 0 to 1, but 0 does not equal 1. One is for the soul, zero is for purity.

Emerson’s epistemological views are much more refined and developed than Harris’s. This may be because Emerson’s lifetime has come and passed, while Harris is still fairly young, and may have more books to be written. Emerson’s tone is also much more poetic, which is why I think it is so much more favorable than Harris’s heavily critical tone at times. In The Over-Soul, Emerson says, “Supreme critic of errors past & present and any prophet of that which must be, is that great nature in which we rest as the earth lies in the arms of the atmosphere; that Unity, that Over-Soul, within which every man’s particular being is contained and made one with all other” (p.262, Complete Works). Notice the poetic tendencies. We are also introduced to his ontological view of the Over-Soul, which is some sort of “higher self” or God, that is the unity of the individual soul to this Supreme “Over-Soul.” A point that Emerson makes, that Harris may agree with, is that faith that stands on authority is not faith. That is to say that if you are basing your faith off the authority of a book or a religious majority, then that is not really faith. Emerson states that the reliance on authority leads to the decline of religion and ultimately the withdrawal of the soul. Emerson also states that in a conversation between two persons, tacit reference is made to a third party, a common nature, which is not a social, but an impersonal God. It seems to me as if with Harris, this conversation is ongoing-- a dialogue between himself, based on reason and rational discourse, and a Bible-believing faith fanatic. The tacit third party is not quite as obvious, and I believe that in Waking Up, we begin to work towards that through the idea of “spiritual but not religious.” Emerson further states that “We know truth when we see it.” This is another Emerson statement that Harris may agree with. Emerson also says, “infallible index of true progress is found in the tone the man takes.” I have noted that Emerson’s tone is individualist, and more personal to man; while, on the contrary, Harris writes with a societal, communal lens (that community being modern atheists or skeptics), addressing that group. Emerson is speaking to an individual, while Harris is speaking to a people. Here are some important quotes from Emerson: “The heart in thee, is the heart in all,” “the source of nature is in his own mind,” and “he must greatly listen to himself.” Given Emerson’s conception of the Over-Soul and the soul, the last statement on listening to oneself, one must consider this self to be the soul, and in relation to the Over-Soul, so that one is listening to that transcendent self that is not limited by conforming beliefs. That Over-Soul present in the heart of the enemy, is the same as that Over-Soul present in his own heart. I say this because when listening to an Atheist speak at events, I get this notion that he is judging religious people in an unfair and close-minded way. Unfair, because he places on them his learned beliefs of what they must believe because of what he has discovered in his research of their books. Rather than respecting other people’s beliefs, an Atheist has a tendency to show what is wrong, and poke at the elements that may be outdated, to formulate an argument which at its core is claiming an entire people’s faith to be wrong. This in itself is wrong, but it is important to mention that this happens on both ends, as religious people do this just as often. Just as Harris claims that we put meaning to words, we must hold this to be true in analysis of these faiths--that is to say that we put meaning on these religions and atheisms. This perspective is based off of my reaction to his public Q & A video, where Atheists and Deepak Chopra go back and forth, and the Atheists don’t really hear or understand Chopra’s perspective, as they think of his beliefs as being vastly different.

In Chapter 1 of his book, Waking Up, Harris opens with a story of his experiences with meditation and spirituality. He tells us of a story in his past when he had done MDMA (Ecstasy) with his best friend in the late 80s and had realized an immense feeling of unconditional love, where his friend’s happiness was his happiness. Harris makes an important distinction between spirituality and religion. He says that any dogma or superstition associated with the term spirituality is ill-advised as the meaning had been distorted at an earlier point in history. The real meaning of the term has Latin and Greek roots for the word meaning breath. Harris makes the point that the feeling we call “I” is an illusion. That we are not the small person sitting behind the eyes, at the control panel of our brain operating our functions-- that concept or perception is an illusion we create. In this work, Harris finds religion to not be entirely fallacious, as compared to his earlier work. He says that there is some profundity to be found beneath the rubble of what is left of these belief systems, in what has been said by Jesus and the Buddha about compassion and empathy.

In Emerson’s essay entitled Circles, he notes that St. Augustine “described the nature of God as a circle whose centre was everywhere and its circumference nowhere.” Harris believes we should do away with such words like God. Harris makes the argument in The End of Faith, that religion is a cause for much violence and provides many examples of wars on the basis of religion (26). Harris shares, as Emerson does, a notion that there is more to our existence than it seems. Harris says that as the basis of our spirituality, the range of possible human experiences far exceeds the ordinary limits of our subjectivity. Some experiences can utterly transform a person’s vision of the world. The feeling we call “I” separates us from the universe. Harris, actually indeed does share with Emerson a notion similar to the Over-Soul, in that once this feeling of “I” is removed, we can be connected to ourselves and the rest of the universe. Harris remarks that religious ideas have grown around this idea, and spiritual experiences like these are as dangerous as they are remarkable.

Harris’s main goals for The End of Faith, are noted on page 43: “(1) Our religious traditions attest to a range of spiritual experiences that are real and significant and entirely worthy of our investigation, both personally and scientifically. (2) Many of the beliefs that have grown up around these experiences now threaten to destroy us.” Given this, we get a clear concise perspective from Harris, and his ontology. One of Harris’s main driving points is that spirituality can be-- and must be-- deeply rational. In Self-Reliance, Emerson states that the youth make the seniors unnecessary. He states that a man must be a nonconformist, and “blind man’s bluff, is this game of conformity.” Nothing is sacred except your own mind. Society is in conspiracy to its members, and reliance on the self is the way to avert society’s conspiracy. This is similar to Harris’s methods of removing the belief of “I” to learn more about yourself, and begins to change how we may have previously defined Atheism as being a pessimistic view about God, to a personal exploration of the self. It takes the focus away from these conforming thoughts and beliefs and helps the individual become an individual again.

In Sam Harris’s Waking Up, we begin to see how meditation and spirituality can help benefit the individual and to receive this benefit, one needs not the belief in God or superstition. Through understanding the intellect, one’s mind, by meditation, one can become aware of their spirituality. Harris advocated the practice of mindfulness in this book, and even provides many methods in which the individual can begin a mindfulness meditation practice. Harris has a newfound interest in Buddhism and it helps him learn about this concept of mindfulness and awakens him to his spirituality, while still maintaining his rational discourse.

Harris discusses stages in self-development in which one becomes more aware of their spirituality in a sense. He says that in Buddhism, by beginning to see things as they are, we see things as usual. Suffering often is in the mind, and it is from ego and created. In his conclusion, he brings up a simple question that his three year old daughter had asked him and his wife about the origins of gravity, to which he did not know the answer, so instead of saying from God or some other faith-based answer, he honestly replied that he does not know. He relates this to how people create religions. Further in his conclusion, he reinstates the importance of mindfulness and the mind as our greatest faculty for understanding the world. Harris wants all to open their eyes, and see.

Harris and Emerson seem to have more in common in their beliefs than different. Apart from being born in different eras, a hundred and fifty years apart, they actually have a lot in common. They both believe that the mind is man’s most important faculty for understanding the universe. They both agree, that we create our suffering and our success. They both agree that conformist religious institutions do not help individuals in understanding their spirituality or Soul. Religious sacred texts only allow for people to misinterpret and create false boundaries of separation between one another and are out-dated and though may preach Love, they also preach the stoning and killing of other people-- which is not beneficial to a peaceful society. They both agree that God is not a man with a beard somewhere hurling plagues at his people. Emerson has an esoteric understanding of God as a being of profound Unity. Harris has a notion of spirituality, which is his understanding of the profound Unity. The two men also agree that people need to constantly be making progress in their thinking. Subscribing to antique beliefs and thought-processes because the majority is doing so, or that is what your parents have done and their parents have done before them won’t cut it. One must seek their answers from within, and use their mind, as it is the most powerful faculty in realizing one’s individual place and position in this world. Atheism does not have to be about hatred and disagreement, and neither does religion. We are all individuals having spiritual experiences, and it is important to ultimately think for yourself, and not give in to conformity.

#emerson #harris #ralph waldo emerson #sam harris #atheism #essay #writing #religious studies #student paper

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sleemo · 7 years

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Jedi master Mark Hamill geeks out with Bill Hader

— Interview Magazine Nov 9, 2017

From the time of the ancient Greeks, humanity has been fascinated by the struggle between good and evil, often led by an archetypal chosen one who blazes a path of glory by separating himself from the pack. As a young actor toiling between auditions, Mark Hamill’s moment of destiny came when he took a break from TV fare such as General Hospital to read for a role in a little sci-fi film helmed by a young director fresh off an Oscar-nominated hit called American Graffiti (1973). When Hamill was cast in the original 1977 Star Wars as Luke Skywalker, an orphaned farm boy growing up on a desert planet, no one—chief among them Hamill himself—knew that the film would become one of the most influential and profitable franchises ever made.

When the announcement came a few years back that Hamill would reprise his role as the Jedi Knight in J.J. Abrams’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), along with his original co-stars Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher, fans went wild. But while Hamill’s screen time was relegated to a small appearance at the end of that film (Skywalker, in ascetic seclusion on a remote planet, is discovered by a young woman who exhibits strong signs of the Force), the second installment of the new trilogy, next month’s The Last Jedi, is squarely focused on Skywalker’s journey.

On a late September afternoon, the comedian, actor, and Saturday Night Live alum Bill Hader (who was a vocal consultant for the droid BB-8 in The Force Awakens) called up Hamill from the Sony lot in Los Angeles to geek out about that iconic galaxy far, far away.

MARK HAMILL: Hi, Bill!

BILL HADER: Hey, man!

HAMILL: I’m a big fan of yours. My kids tell me that you came to my house before you were on SNL.

HADER: Yes! I was a PA on Empire of Dreams, the documentary about the Star Wars movies, and I came over to pick up some pictures of you. I sat in your living room, and I believe it was your wife who brought down the pictures, and I was like, “Oh my god, Mark Hamill’s so rad.”

HAMILL: Was I not there?

HADER: You weren’t. I didn’t want to touch anything, and the whole time I kept apologizing for my existence.

HAMILL: Were any of my kids there? Nathan or Griffin or Chelsea?

HADER: No, but when I first moved to L.A. in 1999, Nathan and I ran in the same circle for a bit. I had a friend who had a massive crush on him. I remember once we had to go to this bowling thing because Nathan was going to be there. [sirens wail in the background] Sorry, I’m robbing a bank right now. Hold on.

HAMILL: [laughs] I saw your tauntaun and Jabba the Hutt impersonations on YouTube. It’s a talent of yours I had never seen. I like that you keep alive the legacy of some of the actors that I love, like Vincent Price. I’ll be talking to people your age and younger, and I’ll mention Lee Marvin [Hamill’s co-star in The Big Red One, 1980] and a lot of them will go, “Who’s Lee Marvin?”

HADER: Oh, my god.

HAMILL: It just goes to show how fleeting fame is.

HADER: I remember I was at Comic-Con once, and I looked over and there was this long line for, I don’t know, the stars of some lesbian vampire series from Mexico, and then all by himself was [stop-motion animation and special effects master] Ray Harryhausen.

HAMILL: Did you go talk to him?

HADER: Yeah! I was like, “Oh my god, you’re Ray Harryhausen.”

HAMILL: He’s always been an icon for me. I was so into that stuff as a kid. I mean, The 7th Voyage of Sin-bad [1958] and Jason and the Argonauts [1963] and First Men in the Moon [1964] and on and on and on. I lived for that stuff. I got to interview him once on the floor at Comic-Con for Comic Book: The Movie—he was the quintessential gentleman of another era.

HADER: Were you always a fan of this stuff?

HAMILL: I was a total freak for these kinds of movies. As for getting the role of Luke Skywalker, I really stumbled into it. Just last year, I saw that they included our audition tapes as a DVD extra, and I saw William Katt’s and Robby Benson’s and Kurt Russell’s tapes, and they were all great. It seems so arbitrary that I was anointed.

HADER: Was it true that they were casting for Carrie [1976] at the same time?

HAMILL: When we auditioned, it was a total cattle call, where they didn’t even tell us about the movie—we just went in and talked for a few minutes. Brian De Palma was looking for actors for Carrie and sitting next to him was George Lucas. Since Lucas didn’t speak the whole time, I thought he was De Palma’s assistant. I didn’t know what he looked like! So I did my thing, and a couple of weeks later, I went to my agent, and there were six or seven pages of audition material for me. By the time I got the part, I assumed that Harrison Ford was the lead, because he’s a traditional leading man. I thought I was going to be his sidekick, you know, like Captain America and Bucky.

HADER: Or Batman and Robin.

HAMILL: Then I opened up the script, and at the time it said: The Adventures of Luke Starkiller as Taken From the “Journal of the Whills,” Saga I: Star Wars. I just couldn’t believe my eyes. I thought, “How are they going to do all this?” Robots, the Death Star, all of it—it blew my mind.

HADER: Did you have confidence that they could do it?

HAMILL: You have to believe. But it’s always a little disconcerting—what you imagine in your head and what you see on set.

HADER: Describe a moment on set when you went, like, “Wait, these are the Sand People?”

HAMILL: The lightsabers, for a start. George referred to it as the most expensive low-budget movie ever made. At one point, Fox screened raw footage to some people, because they needed more money to finish it. Imagine it with no effects, no music, no nothing. The general consensus, because it played so horribly, was that they should just shut it down and take a tax loss. It was only [20th Century Fox executive] Alan Ladd Jr. who saw the potential and gave us his blessing. I think they gave us like a million and a half more. Do you remember seeing it when you were young? Did it scare you, or did you love it?

HADER: I remember going to see Return of the Jedi [1983] on my fifth birthday—the people tearing the tickets were dressed as stormtroopers—but the first image I can remember on a movie theater screen is that close-up from Empire [The Empire Strikes Back, 1980], of Han in carbonite. I flipped out, and my dad had to take me out of the theater. Then he told me the whole thing on the ride back; he was like, “Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s dad!” And that’s how he said it—not his father, his dad. [laughs] What was it like, back then, leading such a massive franchise?

HAMILL: It was kind of like The Prince and the Pauper, where one day you’re nobody and the next you’re partying with Andy Warhol. It was surreal. I came from a big enough family, so I didn’t let it get to my head too much or change my view of the world. The first time I went to the Oscars was like that, too. It wasn’t really me walking the red carpet. It was like watching a movie of a Hollywood premiere. You have to have an intellectual distance from it, because it’s so atypical from your everyday life. I’m sure you feel the same way. You can’t sit in the park and people watch anymore, that ship has sailed. Star Wars ebbed and flowed, but I never expected it to come back, certainly not with this intensity. Carrie and I were in Orlando, with fans. It’s just astonishing the passion and affection that they have for all of this stuff. It’s overwhelming. You can get emotional about it because it’s so personal, the way they relate it to their own lives.

HADER: Batman, too. [Hamill has served as the voice of the Joker in animated series, films, and video games, starting with Batman: The Animated Series in 1992.]

HAMILL: That’s a whole subgenre of comic book nerds who know that I’m a nerd, too. I’m one of them, so they love the fact that I’m not posing.

HADER: What is it like working with [Last Jedi director] Rian Johnson or J.J. Abrams, people who grew up with Star Wars? Is it ever weird to be told things about your character, when you know him better than anyone else?

HAMILL: With J.J. and with Rian, it’s the first time that the fan generation has grown into being in the position that they are. I was surprised in many ways how they saw not just my character, but the overall piece, because you get really possessive over the years. But Rian, what a blessing that guy is. He is unassuming and amiable. I’ve never seen him raise his voice. I’ve never heard him curse. I never heard him humiliate anybody else in front of the entire crew.

HADER: [laughs] When the first trilogy ended, did you feel a sense of relief? I know when I left SNL, it was a big relief.

HAMILL: It was exhilarating. It felt like senior year of high school. You know those last moments when you’re clearing out your locker? You’re going to miss all these people you know, but there’s the exhilaration of what comes next. It’s like jumping out of an airplane and hoping for the best, hoping your parachute opens. I was lucky that a lot of pressure was taken off financially; I didn’t have to do stuff that I didn’t want to do, so I indulged myself. I always wanted to do theater, so I did lots of theater. I got to do a comic mockumentary, and I wrote a comic book, and I discovered that the Joker gave me a whole new career. I didn’t expect to be the Joker, of course, but with voice acting, it liberates you to play characters you’d never do in a million years because you’re physically not right. You can show up looking like hell, you don’t have to memorize your lines because you can read them right off the page, and you get to play the most fun parts. You come in and you kick everyone’s ass and you get your own ass kicked, and then you go home.

HADER: I do animated things, too, and they’re so much fun. But do you get tired after a session?

HAMILL: Oh, yeah. It’s a real workout. But it’s so entertaining. It’s like going to a really great nightclub act and getting paid for it.

HADER: I really liked The Big Red One. What was that like?

HAMILL: I was a huge Sam Fuller fan. Within five minutes of meeting him, I went, “Holy Christ, I’ve been drafted!” He got up on his feet and he started telling me the story of that film, with the explosions and the rat-a-tat-tat, and I was mesmerized. He had such charisma, such magic. He was a firecracker, like Yosemite Sam. I was traumatized when it came out because, even though it got good reviews and takes its place among the great war films, it wasn’t what we all hoped for. They cut it down to an hour and 50 minutes, to the point where it was so incomprehensible. Now, of course, it’s been restored to its proper length. If anybody’s reading this and is thinking about watching the movie: make sure it’s the two-and-a-half-hour version! Not that truncated version. I wish Sam were alive to have seen that because that would have made him happy, and he deserved it. Like any great artist who is ahead of the time, he was not welcome in Hollywood at a certain point.

HADER: There was a great documentary about him called The Typewriter, the Rifle, & the Movie Camera. That was when I first heard about him.

HAMILL: Was I in it?

HADER: You’re not talking in it, but there’s a clip from The Big Red One in it.

HAMILL: Okay, yeah, I remember that one. I hope you and I get to work together some time.

HADER: That would be awesome.

HAMILL: I have been loyal to Saturday Night Live from the very beginning. When it first came on, I said, “We’d better enjoy this because it’s for sure going to be cancelled. This is only going to last one season.” So I started taping them all. I had no idea it would become such an institution. I guess we can both relate to getting lucky and hitting the jackpot.

BILL HADER IS A COMEDIAN, ACTOR, AND WRITER. THIS SPRING HE WILL STAR IN THE HBO SERIES BARRY, WHICH HE CO-CREATED.

— Interview Magazine

#interview #mark hamill #bill hader #star wars #cast #luke skywalker #interview magazine

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headspacea-blog · 7 years

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My Al-Anon Story

My dad has been an alcoholic for my entire life. However, his disease did not become fully apparent or malevolent until I reached middle school age. Though a hardworking, determined, caring father of two (and a half), his alcoholism turned some of his most admirable traits into some of his most frustrating. His hardworking nature became the reason for needing a drink to take the edge off. His dogged determination became a vicious, stubborn attitude during disagreements, and his caring paternal instincts became an inability to let go of his children when adulthood dawned.

During one particularly painful disagreement, I became so emotionally unsettled that I packed a small bag of items and removed myself from the only home situation I had ever known. As a senior in high school, I had not fully realized the capabilities of the disease that is alcoholism and its deceptive ability to turn good people, like my father, into monsters. Eventually, the damage created from that fallout came to be repaired to the meager extent that it could be. However, that was not the end of the pain for my family.

Fast forward to the summer after my sophomore year of college. I was working as a camp counselor at a Lutheran bible camp approximately five hours away from home. Though strained due to my father’s anguish at losing his eldest to adulthood responsibilities, my relationship with my dad remained neutral leaning toward positive most of the time. However, while home for July 4th vacation from work, I found myself having to leave my home situation again due to turbulence in my relationship with him. His refusal to change and even more adamant refusal to admit to having a problem, drove me away so intensely that I cut off all communications with him until a few months later when his ego led him to attempting to turn his side of the family against me and convince them of my insolent, pathetic nature. This was also the interaction that drove the wedge far enough between my mother and I to send our once intimate relationship spiraling out of control.

Through the entirety of middle and high school, my mother had not wanted to admit that my dad had a serious problem with alcohol. Though she would often say that she knew he had a drinking problem, I think she refused to believe in the full extent of the problem. It seemed as if no matter how bad the problem got, she would return to his side rather than taking mine and admitting I was right about his alcoholism. During the last escape made from the house in July, I told her that I was sick of being chosen second to him and his problems. I had no choice in being brought into the world and, additionally, their turbulent relationship, nor did my brother have a say in the matter. Yet, her response was always the same; she had put too much time into her relationship with my dad to leave him despite the abuse that came as a result of the alcohol (and not as a result of it).

The woman who had always been my best friend and greatest source of spiritual guidance was allowing herself to be emotionally abused and dragged through the mud by a man who claimed to be Christian but had never shown that to be the case. Having struggled throughout middle school and high school with my faith, the realization of the extent of my dad’s disease was one of the many final straws that drove God out of my life. I had been so angry at the “God” who claimed to be all-loving of every one of his children, yet he allowed alcoholism to exist and allowed it to tear apart families just like mine. Even worse in my mind was the lack of support and acknowledge from my mother which would also come to play a big role in a series of moments I would come to see as religious.

One day at the beginning of the Fall 2017 semester, during a seemingly ordinary conversation, my mother asked if I had ever gone to an Al-Anon Family meeting. I responded that I had not, and she told me that if I had a chance, I may find one to be beneficial. She told me that she had visited our new associate pastor, whom she had found a profound connection to in the previous months, and that she had directed her to an Al-Anon meeting in hopes that it would give my mom a different perspective on the issue. Upon arriving at the meeting, the group followed protocol and began to introduce themselves by first name only. The first man introduced himself as Bryan and the second man introduced himself as Scott. My mother said it was this moment that she was finally convinced. Though unrelated and unobvious to anyone else, my father’s name is Bryan Scott and it was this moment where my mother finally accepted, through God’s intervening that my dad had a problem and it was time to fully accept it rather than continue denying it. As she told me about this experience, I felt a wave of peace come over me; it was the much-needed result of finally being told that she would no longer deny his problems which released the pent-up tension I had been holding. I felt like God had opened my mom’s eyes and shown her that I was not making claims about my dad to tear our family apart but I truly was experiencing an emotional turmoil beyond imagination.

Previously, I had not been able to comprehend the structure of Al-Anon, much less had I wanted anything to do with attended a meeting surround by people like my father. From my perspective, it was a group that met to talk about how their week/month/season had gone and whether they had relapsed and used alcohol again. I came to find out that Al-Anon is, in actuality, a separate entity than the one I just described which is actually known as Alcoholics Anonymous. Al-Anon is a group of people who have been affected by alcoholism in a loved one. Distinct groups meet and utilize the same twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous in order to cope and understand the disease of alcoholism better. It was this confusion that originally discouraged me from attending, however after hearing the way that God had affected my mother through the program I was willing to see what Al-Anon had to offer me.

Upon arrival at my first meeting, I was welcomed with no more than a few polite glances. I didn’t feel particularly welcomed, but I didn’t feel unwelcome either. It seemed like this group of people had known each other for a significant time and my presence was irrelevant to their conversations. As the meeting started, the group followed protocol and then began doing a round table of readings from Al-Anon literature, something I had not come prepared with. As people began to speak, I sat quietly with my hands folded in my lap, doing my best to remain unnoticed. Then the woman next to me slid a bit closer and nudged my arm to show me that she was sharing her book with me to read from. When it became my turn, I read the next passage in the lineup from her book and smiled in silent appreciation as she continued to allow me to share for the entirety of the meeting.

As the session came to a close, the group abruptly stood and asked those who felt comfortable to join in the Lord’s prayer. Being a nervous newcomer, I quickly joined and did my best to follow the groups’ lead. I hadn’t realized Al-Anon was in any way religious. I wasn’t offended, but I was certainly surprised. This unexpected addition of religion confused me, but it also seemed to fit with the purpose of the group. As the final words were spoken, I quietly left the room as the returners continued to chat. As I left the church where the meeting was held, I was overcome with intense emotion. I began to run to my car and once in the safety of its confines, I let myself fall apart. I spent a long time sitting in the parking lot of the church talking to God. I told him how, despite the normality of the meeting and its simple nature, I had felt an unusually strong connection to the people in that room. I had seen their individual pains and their strengths despite the short time I spent with them. I had felt drawn to the church and drawn to the Al-Anon group inside of it. Each week I have returned to that church, and each week I have repeatedly felt the way I did the first night I attended. Despite the struggles each member faces, I can see that they want to understand the plight of alcoholism while going for their own benefit as well. They talk about their Higher Power and how connection with him has been influential in their healing journey.

Where I once blamed God for the problems my father deals with, I now thank Him for showing me that there is hope. Just as he brought my mother to her first Al-Anon meeting and me to mine, it is obvious that he also brought each of the members I have come to cherish to their first meetings and have continued returning.

#alanon #al-anon #alcoholism #mental health #mom #dad #religion

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tsunrugi · 7 years

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So I have a lot of thoughts about Ares that I haven’t been writing down/sharing on here! I was going to go through point by point with that trailer they did a few months ago, going in to my personal opinions/predictions for each team, situation, and what I think that means for the characters in them… but then I realised I really just want to talk about Teikoku. So i’m gonna. do that.

so aliea is a super influential arc for a lot of characters, and three of those have ended up at teikoku - sakuma, fudou and kazemaru (just mentally add + genda every time i mention sakuma, i love him but unfortunately he doesn’t get built on much after aliea). and actually the minute hino said this was an alternate timeline i was v. concerned in regards to the development for these characters bcs i see them as being v important to them growing up in to strong healthy beautiful adults! very briefly:

- it reaffirms sakuma’s sense of self in a teikoku w/out kidou. it helps him define himself w/out kidou. also like it’s super fucking mature of him to be able to encourage kidou to go to raimon when he knows it’ll hurt him in the process!! props for sakuma, look at all that Character Growth.

- it sets up fudou’s whole deal. on subsequent viewings it actually also sets up his isolation which is super super important for his later development.

- it shifts kazemaru’s perspective, shows us (and him) how destructive it can be to cling to things like being the best, how having high standards for yourself can, when left unchecked, be self destructive. the whole dark emperors thing makes him grow up very fast and kind of refocuses his priorities in sport (and life?).

so in ares, these things haven’t happened. maybe they won’t happen! that concerns me because i love that these things happened because it’s a testament to how well i11 develops its characters subtly and continuously through the series. i want to have faith but lbr, this is going to be one fucking crowded series. here’s maybe my thoughts re: all of these characters being together, on what appears to be the most fucked team in the competition. like, rip teikoku, you’re not getting anywhere and it’s not fair because you’re beautiful and you deserve it.

first up with sakuma. he’ll probably suffer enough being a captain on a team coached by kageyama, but i’m curious to see exactly how. not just because i enjoy suffering, but because kageyama brand suffering is pretty bland at this point, so the real question is - will this suffering bring about as nice character moments as shin teikoku did? shin teikoku was such a good story arc. it had purpose in the overall season as well as for the characters involved! and i’ll say it again, i really love how sakuma Grew because of it. it takes a lot to own up to your own mistakes, let alone as big as the one he made. he wasn’t just trying to absolve kidou of his guilt by telling him he was better at raimon: he was also in a way repenting himself, giving himself a stern talking to, to try and see past his own desires and fears and paranoia and to fight his loneliness with his friend’s happiness. it sounds so petty but this can be hard!! fomo is a Real Thing. and i think this kind of shapes sakuma later, in ffi - he gets setback after setback but he works through it and it’s Brilliant. he works hard to get back in to shape so he can play again. he works even harder to try and be on the representative team, and then gets knocked back. picks himself up and keeps going. puts aside his own beef with kageyama to support kidou. he works on himself constantly, physically and mentally and just As A Person, and it all starts with that guilt from shin teikoku. will ares have these moments for him?

i can see the whole “kidou come back to teikoku :cccccc” thing being solved by a casual conversation. it might even be OFF SCREEN. and that feels super anti-climactic considering the lasting impact of shin teikoku? what i want is for sakuma to lose it again - maybe have his anger at his own inability as captain boil over, have him lash out at kageyama in the Worst Possible Way. he’d have to be isolated. he’d have to ignore support from genda and kazemaru and whatever interaction he has with kidou. but it would be FUN and we also get to have his development and learning growth and i’d be happy*

i want to jump in with kazemaru next. because he’s kind of similar with sakuma in how dark emperors impacted his character, only his attachment was to the idea of winning/being the best rather than a person or idealised team/friendship situation. kazemaru doesn’t look like he’s in a good position in aliea which ngl gives me Life, but the question is - will this lead to his realisation and reconfiguration of his toxic mindset?

there’s nothing wrong with wanting to improve, or with having ambition or goals. but we all know how that ended for kazemaru, because of the way he internalised loss and failure and was eventually tempted by pure power. he’s very de-powered in ares. he has to play second fiddle to KAGEYAMA, of all fucking people, and idk i got the vibe from the trailer that he’s trying to start a coup with sakuma at least to usurp it all. but… is this consistent with s1 kazemaru, or even early aliea kazemaru? he feels very ffi kazemaru already. again, no doubt he’ll Suffer, but there was something to dark emperors that was so shocking, so impactful, that you can’t help but want something just as big? i don’t think there’s space for it in the ares story. and like sakuma, i don’t think he’s isolated to the point he was in aliea for it to happen all that naturally. so the question is - will his toxic mindset get addressed? will the dark parts of his ambition be dealt with, or will they still be there ready to explode?

i think that’s my major concern. aliea built kazemaru’s dark emperor turn so well. i don’t want that aspect of his character to just be ignored like it was never a thing, because imo it’d make the whole thing feel less like natural, human development and more like contrived plot device. and yeah, i know this is fiction, i know things have to happen for the plot, but i like i11 because it does treat character seriously, and does have the plot evolve along character lines. even in s1 kazemaru talks about how he wants to fight on the world stage. his break in s2 is believable. his stress, his fear, his anxiety, his despair, it’s all believable! please let elements of that stay in whatever he has to go through in ares.

and now for fudou! i love fudou. i was v. concerned when he turned up in the outer code and seemed Actually Stable. see, the thing with these three in aliea is that they were all isolated (sakuma you could argue had mentally separated his own suffering from genda’s, when you consider the extend he went to in shin teikoku in comparison). and they all dealt with that isolation by taking the power of the aliea meteorite. sakuma and kazemaru did that with a whole lot of passion. they let it consume them. fudou… didn’t. fudou was in control. and he seems to discard it without having to break like the other two did.

fudou is so interesting, i’d recommend an aliea rewatch just focusing on him. he’s all about the calculated revenge agains the world. he wants chaos, but he himself is not chaotic. he wants it to come apart around him, but to stay above it all. that’s why the only real moment of shock for him comes when kageyama rubs it in his face that he’s just as much of a pawn as the rest of them. this is a Deep Cut for him. this is Huge. and it’s huge because, as much as he wants to stay separate, he is still insanely affected by his family situation. it follows him in to ffi in that he can’t open up or trust any of his teammates, and how he deliberately antagonises them to keep them away. he doesn’t want, closeness. he doesn’t think he needs it, even though in many ways he craves it (snarky comments to himself that just serve to show how lonely he is, the fact that 90% of his hissatsu are combo moves, etc).

ANYWAY. why does this matter? well, in what we’ve seen of him in ares he’s…. playing nice? he’s sitting quietly and listening? he’s involved in team play? HE’S WEARING THE NO. 10 JERSEY JFC. this fudou already feels post-ffi. i can give them the benefit of the doubt - he doesn’t know why he’s at the teikoku meeting, and he doesn’t seem to have an established relationship with kageyama. maybe he’s just playing it save, sussing things out. but i hope there is some chaos. i hope he doesn’t play nice from the get-go. ffi was really fun in deconstructing his actions vs. everyone else’s intense dislike of him. it’s a really subtle unravelling of a villain, one that i missed on first watch because i was too god damn mad at him. but!! it’s so good. it’s so well done. and there are so many layers: we see fudou as we know him, just that Shithead who caused shin teikoku. we see fudou from the POV of kidou and sakuma, as someone who can’t be trusted, as someone who might still be working with kageyama. and then we see him through his own actions: he was fucked over too, and he wants to get back at kageyama just the same as everyone else. he’s insanely attentive to his teammates, even in the early stages of the season. he’s alone. and he grows. i love adult fudou because it’s such a lovely transformation from this isolated kid who dealt with his pain by causing chaos, to an actual well adjusted human being who has Friends and who Coaches and Helps people and Supports them while still retaining his own sense of self. IT’S REALLY NICE. BUT WE CAN’T HAVE THAT ARC IF HE’S ALREADY THERE.

so hino, please, make fudou a shit. make him the biggest shit. make him ambiguous and unpredictable and look I know there’s not that much time to deal with this but make him chaotic, just for a little bit. he is the joker - let him act like it before he joins up all buddy with sakuma and kazemaru, as per the implications of the trailer. you can do it, i have faith in you.

*i will most likely be happy with anything they do anyway this is all moot

#inazuma eleven #inazuma eleven ares #magic soccer

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inkstainedfanfics · 7 years

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Hi! For Drabble night can you do a Sam Winchester x Reader where the reader has been a hunter with them forever and she's in love with sam and they have to pose as a couple for something and he actually falls in love with her

Sam realizes it in a moment, one small gesture that makes everything click into place and suddenly, at a party full of important, influential people, you’re the only one he wants to talk to.

He knows he’s on a mission, that he should be focusing on the person across the room, watching the mayor to see if he exhibits any signs of possession, that the text his buzzing phone is receiving is from Dean asking about the case, but he can’t tear his eyes away from the way your nose wrinkles as you wipe a bit of sauce from his bowtie.

“How the hell do you get sweet and sour sauce on your bowtie?”

His breath catches in his throat at your teasing smile. “I don’t know. A talent, I guess.” The words are breathless as the feeling in his gut catches up with his mind. Love. No, there’s no way. Not after five years of traveling together, of seeing you scream, sweat, cry, sleep, and nearly bleed out. There’s no way he’d realize it just now.

“A pretty shit talent if you ask me.”

Sam’s answer is interrupted by a businessman that you both recognize as the founder of a publishing company.

He sticks his hand out, shaking Sam’s hand first, then yours. “William Cass, Lord Mockingjay entrepreneur. Never seen the two of you at one of these balls.” The sentence comes out as a statement, but this is the third introduction you’ve had with an entrepreneur; they all seem to ask questions without actually asking them. You’ve learned by now that never seen you means how the hell are you important enough to be around me.

Sam’s still wordless from his revelation, forcing you to grin at the man. “Thank you. I’m Susan Miller. This is my husband,” you slip your hand into Sam’s, smiling up at him, “James Miller. Coder of a new operating system that’s soon to be released.”

“Impressive.” He takes a sip from the champagne glass he’s holding. “Would I have heard of it?”

“Oh, not yet. We’re still working out some details with a company I’m not allowed to name. Minor details about pay left, right honey?”

Sam stares at you a moment longer, blinking, trying to convince himself that your smile didn’t grow just a little wider at the use of the pet name.

“Sweetheart?” You question again, squeezing his hand the slightest.

He almost blurts it out right then and there, almost confesses the strange rush in his chest at the way you’re looking at him, but his phone buzzes again and he clears his throat.

“Yeah. AWTHG-780. My pride and joy.”

The man raises his eyebrows. “Long name. Is there a meaning behind it?”

“Long story.” God, he should be doing better, working harder to keep this cover. It had been challenging enough to fake entry into this party, to buy the outfits and sneak their name onto the list and create a few fake news stories that “covered” James Miller’s work. He knows if he doesn’t mingle well, he’ll never make his way into the afterparty like he needs, but he can’t bring himself to prioritize that.

“Well,” William chuckles, “we have plenty of time. I’m not looking forward to Miss Oliver’s inevitable speech in the other room. The longer we seem to be talking, the longer we can avoid that scene.”

Sam laughs as though he knows what the hell this man is talking about. He only half listens to the story about last year’s speech as you shift next to him, hand tightening around his. He can almost see the eye roll you’ll give after this, can almost hear you say God, what a self-important prick. Thank god for hunting.

His heart swells and, without thinking, Sam’s backing away, tugging on your hand. “Sorry, excuse us for a moment, I think I just heard the band begin to play my wife’s favorite song. Concerto in D, right, honey?”

He can see the confusion in your eyes, but you mask it nearly perfectly, lighting up and swaying immediately. “It’s so elegant. Perfect for dancing!”

“Exactly.” Sam shoves his hand out, shaking William’s hand quickly before pulling you to the side of the room.

“What are you doing?” You hiss as he finally stops.

Now that he’s here, separated from everyone else, almost alone, he can think. Confessing suddenly doesn’t seem like such a good idea.

He decides to go ahead with it anyway. “I think I kind of love you.”

Your confusion becomes even more apparent, though you smile at the lady walking past the two of you. “I love you too, honey. That’s why I married you.”

He shakes his head, glancing around. “No, I mean-“ he sighs agitatedly and lowers his voice, “I mean I really do love you. You. This isn’t a cover.”

You’re stone, unmoving.

Sam chews on his bottom lip, watching you process everything, wondering if he misread you earlier, if he just made a huge mistake.

“Do you… are you serious?” You question, eyes downcast, voice low.

“One hundred percent. I know this is bad timing, but I realized it and I…” he trails off before deciding his next words. “I needed you to know now, not in a year or five.”

“And five hours is too much to wait?”

Sam’s shoulders droop. “Yes.”

You frown at him. “This is the worst possible time for this.”

“Are you sure telling you while one of us is dying wouldn’t be worse?”

You laugh and shake your head. “You’re just lucky I kind of love you too, you idiot.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Well, okay then.”

You laugh and place your hands on his shoulders. “Now you owe me a dance before Will over there gets suspicious.”

Sam spends the rest of the song spinning you, reveling in the smile on your face and the relief in his gut as he wonders just how long he’s been denying that strange airiness now filling his chest.

#I hope this is something along the lines of what you wanted anon #is this any good? who knows #writer's block sure didn't like it #but I hope you do #and I hope you have a fantastic day!#sam winchester #sam Winchester drabble #drabble night

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deadlydollies13 · 7 years

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The Potion Master's Grace ch. 22

The four pushed their carts through the crowd at King’s Cross Station. There was no rush, they wouldn’t miss their train, but they wanted to get a good cabin. They reached the brick column between Platforms 9 and 10 and stopped for a moment to catch their breath. “Ladies first,” Rolf said gesturing to the wall. “You’re just afraid that this is the time it won’t work,” Luna said, running towards the wall and disappearing. “It would be funny if it suddenly didn’t,” Grace said before doing the same. Moments later, the boys joined them on Platform 9 3/4.

The platform was bustling with students pushing their carts and getting on to the train. Many families stood watching as their young witch or wizard said goodbye. For the first time, Grace didn’t feel sick to her stomach as she watched the other children hug their parents goodbye because she knew hers was waiting for her at Hogwarts, and she’d get to have them all year-round. She also realized she had lately been referring to Severus and Phoebe as “parents,” plural. Severus her dad and Phoebe her mom. But, only in her thoughts. A small yip from her bag brought Grace out of her thoughts. Merlin was currently in her bag that she’d take with her on to the train and Cas was in Luna’s. No one would bat an eye to the cat, but the dog was a completely different story. “Ssshh, Merlin,” they couldn’t take any chances of him being seen.

They got on to the train rather early. “We’ve got to go to a Prefects meeting, but it never lasts long and we’ll meet up with you later, okay?” Draco said handing the bag full of junk food to Grace. “Okay. I’ll go find us a cabin,” she said. This would also be the first time Draco didn’t lock himself in the back car with all of the other Pureblood Slytherins. It occurred to her that Draco may face some serious heat for dating a Muggle-born Ravenclaw. She knew how Pureblood families worked; they liked to keep the bloodline pure and she had even heard rumors of some families arranging marriages. It was a dead tradition, but that didn’t mean that families still didn’t heavily influence their children to marry a certain person. The three Prefects made their way to a separate car while Grace squeezed through the narrow hallway to find a cabin. She finally found one that was completely empty. She set the bag that Merlin had been smuggled in down on the seat, only to find he had fallen asleep and wasn’t moving anytime soon. She began putting her bags on the storage shelf, along with her uniform to change in to later. For now, she was wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and Draco’s Slytherin Quidditch letterman jacket she finally found while digging through his stuff. Despite it being summer still, she liked how big it was on her and wrapped her in an embrace of soft, fleece lining and Draco’s scent. She was standing on her toes, struggling to push her bag on to the shelf, when someone much taller came up behind her and helped her with her bag. She turned around to see who it was, and her face lit up at the sight of him, “Charlie!” she exclaimed, jumping up and wrapping her arms around his neck. “Hello, love,” he returned the gesture and squeezed her tightly. Finnegan Charles Ackerman was the definition of the high school teen movie jock. He was tall, dark, and extremely handsome. His family had moved to the U.K. from Australia before he turned eleven so that he would be able to attend Hogwarts, and despite the move, his accent seems to get thicker every year. He came from a very rich and influential Pureblood family, though their influence was held more in Australia rather than the U.K. like the Malfoy's. He was a Gryffindor, Chaser, and Quidditch Team Captain. He was every girl at Hogwarts' dream, and could often be seen with a posse of drooling girls trailing behind him, just to get a chance to sit directly next to him during meals. The fact that the only girls he really paid attention to where Grace and Luna really made the entire female student body resent them. Going only by Charlie because he hates the name Finn, he made the acquaintance of the two Ravenclaws on their first day of First year on this train. He had walked into their cabin, rather confidently, and introduced himself. “I was trying to find a cabin to sit in, and it looks like I’m the luckiest mate alive because I believe I’ve found the two most beautiful women to ever bless this school we’re going to,” he said with a heartwarming grin. Even at eleven, he was ever the charmer. The girls blushed and giggled, but they didn't swoon over him. Instead, they treated him as any other person, not some god. Even though Charlie wasn’t in the same house as Grace and Luna, their friendship never faltered. In fact, they rather liked it because then at least they had different gossip from other houses to discuss. They soon met Alfred Honeycutt, or Alfie, a Hufflepuff. Since their first year, it’s always been the four of them. The quartet practically went everywhere together, and they were lucky enough to have all of their classes together as well. Since there are usually two people to a table, Grace and Luna would sit together and Charlie and Alfie would sit together behind them. Charlie would always insist on sitting directly behind Grace, and at first she thought it was so he could copy her notes or look over her shoulder during an exam, but on the contrary. Charlie would often reach up and play with Grace’s copper curls; stroking them, twisting a lock around his finger, and sometimes even scooting as close as he could and braiding her hair. It was undeniable that Charlie had an immense crush on Grace since day one. The tables had turned and now he was the drooling admirer and she was the one who just shrugged his flirting off. It only made him even crazier for her. He would do every trick in the book to try and win her over, but she’d just come back with her beautiful smile and glistening blue eyes and say, “Oh, Charlie, you’re so sweet! I couldn’t ask for a better friend!” Friend. It was all Grace ever saw him as. A friend. A brother-type. It broke Charlie’s heart every time, but he never gave up. The whole school actually thought that they would end up together because of how close and touchy the two were. Even on the Quidditch Pitch, they’d tease each other and playfully shove one another around. Everyone would surely be in for a surprise when they found out Grace and Draco were actually a thing. “How was Australia?” Charlie went to Australia this summer to visit with his extended family, which is unfortunately why they didn’t get to see one another all of holiday. “It was wonderful. Though, I missed you, love! I couldn’t bear being away from my favorite girl for so long,” he was always this dramatic. “Well, you have me now!” Grace finally stepped back out of his embrace and Charlie’s eyes averted to a certain emblem on the jacket she was wearing. “The bloody hell are you wearing?” “Hm? Oh, it’s Dray’s jacket! It’s mine now until Quidditch starts,” she said rather proud of herself that she had made that deal with Draco. “Who the hell is Dray and why do you have his jacket?” “It’s Draco’s, Char. And I have it because he’s my boyfriend,” she didn’t mean to put even the slightest bit of emphasis on the last word and regretted it even more when she saw the pain flash in Charlie’s eyes. “You’re dating Malfoy?” She nodded. “But you hate him… All he did was tease you!” he had to sit down. He felt himself rocking and the train wasn't even moving yet. “I teased back. And I always sort of liked him, it’s just this summer I saw a new side of him and… I don’t know.” “I should have stayed here this summer…” his voice was low and somber. “Charlie, we’ve talked about this.” “I know but-“ “You’re still one of my best friends, Charlie. And I wouldn’t want anything to change that. What if we had a huge fight and started hating each other— not that I could ever hate you— but I’d be devastated! You mean too much to me to lose you,” she reached her hand out and touched his cheek before placing it on his shoulder. At her gentle touch, he grinned. “Alright, love. But, if Malfoy hurts you in any way, I’m going to actually kill him.” “I wouldn’t expect any less,” she wrapped her arms around him, squeezing his middle. Her head went up to his chest, whereas with Draco, her head fits perfectly under his chin. “And nothing has to change between us. It shouldn’t change between us.” “And what will Malfoy have to say about that?” “Well, he’ll just have to fucking deal with it,” she shrugged. In the midst of their discussion, they didn’t realize someone walking up to their cabin before they cleared their throat, grabbing the attention of the other two. “Alfie!” they both exclaimed. “Yes, I have arrived,” he flipped back the nonexistent hair that would fall on his shoulders. Alfred Honeycutt, better known as Alfie, was a Half-Blood Hufflepuff in the same year as Grace, Luna, and Charlie. They had also met their first day on the train. Even then he was so lanky and had a rather feminine figure, even for an eleven-year-old boy. There was no denying Alfie was gay. The only interest he’d ever shown Grace and Luna was their style choices. The best way Grace would describe him is Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson’s love-child from Glee. While being the biggest diva in Hufflepuff and being a runner-up for all of Hogwarts, Alfie was an amazing friend. He was always there when someone needed to talk, even if he had never spoken to them before. The younger Hufflepuff students tended to stick close to him the first few weeks of their first years because he had such a maternal instinct. He could also sympathize with Grace on some Muggle-related things, unlike Luna and Charlie. “Grace, Charlie,” when he said Charlie’s name, a blush appeared, but he tried to cover it up by pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. Alfie had a crush on almost every boy in their year and older. This included some of the most recently mentioned names: Davies, Draco, Rolf, Professor Lupin, and his current crush, Charlie. The good part about having a crush on Charlie was that Charlie really didn't care. He didn’t make Alfie’s life hell for it. Instead, they often joked about it. Charlie knew he was irresistible to everyone, and stated that he simply couldn’t help it. So if Alfie had a crush on him, so be it. “How was your summer, mate?” Charlie asked as Alfie shoved his bag in a storage cubby. “Nothing too special. We just did some small day trips here and there. My brothers never stopped being assholes.” Alfie had two younger brothers, and strangely enough, neither of them were wizards. This was a huge relief to Alfie’s mom, who is very religious and didn’t even know her husband was a wizard until they were married and with child until Alfie came along. It was bad enough Alfie was discriminated against by his own family for being a wizard, Alfie didn't dare tell them that he was gay. He was sure they had to have known, but simply ignored it or hoped that he’d “grow out of the phase.” He was afraid of how they would react if they ever found out. “You could’ve called to come over, ass.” “Um, apparently you’ve had a very interesting summer according to the two rumors I just heard your name mentioned!” “Oh god, what now?” Grace rolled her eyes. Charlie sat straighter, “Who is making rumors about my girl?” “Down boy.” “Well, the first was that you’re with Malfoy, and judging by the Slytherin jacket you’re wearing, I’d say that’s been proven. By the way, green isn’t your color. Makes you look like Christmas personified with your red hair.” “Bitch!” “And the other one, which of course can’t be true, is that Professor Severus Snape adopted you!” At that, both boys started giggling in disbelief. But Grace’s eyes went wide and she quickly shut the door to their cabin. “Who’d you hear that from?!” “What’s it matter? It’s just a dumb rumor,” Alfie shrugged. “It’s not a rumor though!” “What?!” everyone in that train car could have probably heard the two boys scream. “Sssshhhhh! Shut up, fuckheads!” “I’m sorry, you’re telling us to calm down after you just told us Snape adopted you?” “Yes! We’re trying to keep it on the down-low!” “Do you have Stockholm Syndrome or something? Blink twice for yes!” “Charlie, could you be any more stupid? He didn’t kidnap me, I don’t have Stockholm Syndrome, I wasn’t brainwashed, and I’m not a robot and/or alien.” “You can be a robot and an alien?” Alfie muttered. “Yes,” both replied. “Gracie, have you gone Slytherin?” “I would’ve gone Slytherin if I didn’t tell the damn hat to put me in Ravenclaw!” “But it’s Snape! Snape, Grace!” “And he’s an amazing father! He’s been there for me and Luna all summer! If you’d just give him a chance, you’d see that he's actually cool… Okay, he was cool, but he’s still really great! Why can’t you just be happy for me that my life is finally good for once? I’m happy, I have a family, I have someone who loves me, and I have the bestest friends in the world! I’m finally in a place where I’ve wanted to be for a very long time.” Charlie and Alfie exchanged a look, and then both gave Grace an apologetic smile. “Of course we’re happy for you, love,” Charlie said pulling her into his chest. “It’s just a lot to take in is all,” Alfie joined the hug, sandwiching Grace in the middle.

The Hogwarts Express departed exactly on time, as usual. The three sat in the cabin waiting for Luna, Draco, and Rolf to join them. They talked about their summers and how they were excited for the new school year, but also nervous because O.W.L.s were this year.

At Hogwarts, the teachers scrambled to finish any last minute preparations for the students’ arrivals. Except Severus, who sat in the solitude of the Potions Lab, lost in thought. His private rooms were redecorated to look homier, and Grace’s room was almost an exact copy of her room at Snape Manor, save for the windows because they were in the dungeons. She had moved too many times in her life, she didn’t need to feel like everywhere she went she had to adjust to a new living space. Ever since he arrived back at Hogwarts, he couldn’t stop thinking about her and how this year would be so much different. He had hoped that for once, she’d have a year with no troubles at all. He wanted her to focus on her school work, the Quidditch team, and have a social life like any teenager should have. But after meeting the new staff, he knew that wouldn’t be too easy. He knew Grace and Luna would love the new male teacher Dumbledore brought on. He was probably just out of school getting his Masters. Practically all of the female staff was drooling over him from the moment he walked in and introduced himself. Even Phoebe said, “Oh, the girls are going to absolutely love him!” with a wink. Severus rolled his eyes at this and was thankful that they both had boyfriends now to keep them grounded. But the new Defense teacher… Honestly, where did Albus find these people? The Ministry found out that Lupin was a werewolf and deemed him dangerous to be around children. Who were they to pass judgment like that? Out of all of the Marauders, Remus was the most civil to Severus. So, in a strange way, Severus and Remus could be called close acquaintances? But Remus has never harmed a student when the full moon came. And the students loved him because he loved what he did, and he cared about the kids. He wondered where Lupin was now. Would he find a new job? Would he ever take back his position if offered? Telling by his replacement, would Severus have to go fight the Ministry on its position? Possibly. The replacement was horrid, and a prime example of why the government should never be involved with schooling. “Knut for your thoughts?” her voice caught his attention. He hadn’t even noticed she’d come in. “Do you think we should just homeschool Grace and Luna?” “I think that’s probably the worst thing to do,” she sat on top of the desk that was directly in front of his. This was usually Grace and Luna’s desk, and he thought they had always rushed to sit there because Grace wanted to answer all of the questions and show off. But one day, somebody had taken their seat and they had to sit a few rows back, and Severus realized she had sat front and center simply because she couldn’t see. Everyone was too tall and it was hard for her to see the board because of the heads blocking her view. By the end of the period, though, she had dragged a chair, rather loudly and while shooting death glares at the two Hufflepuffs who took her seat, to Severus’ desk and continued taking notes. Then that was the first time a Hogwarts teacher had ever implemented a seating chart for the entire class. “We’ll worry about it when— if— it comes to it. Until then, you need to chill,” she continued. “I suppose you’re right,” he glanced down at his phone sitting on his desk. It hadn’t buzzed in a while, and he guessed that it was because Grace was too busy catching up with her friends. Or she was dead. “She’s not dead! And I know I’m right. I always am,” Phoebe smirked. “Isn’t reading my mind some form of harassment?” “Isn’t reading my mind some form of harassment?” she repeated in a mocking tone.

After about an hour, the Prefects finally made their way back to the cabins. “Finny!” Luna exclaimed as she slid open the door. “Hello, darling,” Charlie replied as she gave him a tight squeeze around his middle. Draco and Rolf soon followed and their initial reaction was shocked at the sight of Charlie. It was well-known that the girls were friends with Ackerman, they just didn’t expect him to already be in their cabin. And it is also to be noted that there was absolutely no animosity between Charlie and Draco. They kept up appearances for their houses and pretended to want to rip each others’ heads off during Quidditch matches, but both boys got along relatively fine. And everyone got along with Rolf; you probably couldn’t find one person at Hogwarts who disliked the Scamander boy. “Hello, mates,” Charlie flashed them his perfect smile. “Hey, Charlie,” they both replied. “Oh, hey, Alfie!” Rolf peered around Charlie to see his younger housemate. Alfie, scrunched up in the corner with his phone looked up momentarily and waved before putting his face back down into his screen before they could notice his blush. The six of them got situated; Alfie, Draco, and Grace on one side, Rolf, Luna, and Charlie on the other. They passed around snacks and exchanged summer tales. “Wait, so who’s Prefect with you?” Grace asked Luna. Luna rolled her eyes, “Christopher Raves.” “Oh, you poor dear.” “He’s barely even in class! He’s always in Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom getting high! I don’t even know how he got Prefect!” “He makes Dumbledore laugh,” Rolf said. “The man’s borderline senile,” Charlie added. “Dad sometimes tells me all of the crazy shit Dumbledore says or does,” Grace’s hand was currently tangled with Draco’s who kept intertwining his fingers different ways with her’s. Charlie blinked a few times, “Sorry, the whole Severus-Snape-is-your-father-thing is still a bit shocking.” “Honestly, we should have seen it coming,” Luna giggled. “They act like they’re biologically father and daughter too. In the length of the summer, they’ve gotten closer than he and I are, and he’s my godfather,” Draco looked up from his preoccupation of cracking Grace’s knuckles with whatever he was doing. “It’s only been the bloody summer!” “And they’re best friends.” “We look nothing alike, though. Except, his mother did have light hair and light eyes, so I can always say I get it from her. And of course, Phoebe also has light hair and light eyes. In the end, I get nothing from him but his intelligence.” Charlie gave Grace a baffled look. After a moment, Alfie said, “Honestly, if I didn’t know you, I’d believe that shit.” “Wait, who’s Phoebe?!” Charlie asked once his mind caught up with him. “My aunt,” Luna said. “And Severus’ girlfriend. He’s practically my uncle now. Which would make Grace and me cousins!” “I think you’re all fucking nuts! Should’ve stayed in Australia.”

That evening, the train finally pulled into the station. The students exited the train, went through the gates, past the pile of luggage, and the older students climbed into the carriages, while the First Years followed Hagrid to the boats. Luna gave the front of the carriage a sad smile. “What are you looking at?” asked Draco. “You don’t see them?” Luna didn’t look away from the front of the carriage. “See what?” Grace nudged her boyfriend and shook her head. Now was not the time. She’d explain to him later that the reason Luna could see the creatures was that she has had a close experience with death. Luna didn’t even notice. She was staring off into the distance, but now holding Rolf’s hand.

Hogwarts’ lights reflected onto the water below in the dark night as they pulled up to the castle. “Why do we always have to wear those stupid dunce hats?” Charlie muttered as he put his on. “Because you are a dunce. Jesus, Char, can you seriously not dress yourself?” Grace took to make him look presentable. He hated the uniforms and always tried to look as horrible as possible when he had to wear them; as if he thought that if Dumbledore saw that if Finnegan Charles Ackerman couldn’t make the uniforms look cool, they shouldn’t be implemented at all. She straightened his tie, tried to smooth out the wrinkles, and button up his robes. She gave her final approval with a nod. Draco tried not to let it bother him too much. They all shuffled into the Great Hall, and as soon as Grace saw Severus, she beamed. She wanted so badly to run over to him and hug him. She hadn’t realized how much she really missed him. He smiled back; it was a quick, slight smile. Oh, right. Gotta keep it a secret. Everyone made their way to their House tables, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin. Grace sat next to Luna towards the end closest to the head table, and Draco sat behind Grace like he had done for the past five years.

The First Years slowly filled the Great Hall. They were all so tiny and wide-eyed. They stared around the room in amazement, but at the same time looked terrified. Did we look like this when we first came here? McGonagall called off their names, the children were sorted, everyone cheered, and the houses that gained a new member cheered even louder. When the new students had been sorted, McGonagall paused but remained standing next to the Sorting Hat, “A rare occasion has come upon us, students. This year, we welcome a transfer student from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. I want you to welcome her just as you would any other new student. Remember, things may have been different at her school, and it will take time for her to adjust. Rose Martell!” Her name was called differently than the First Years’ was; first then last, unlike last comma first. A girl, still clad in her Beauxbatons uniform floated in. The pale blue of her dress and hat perfectly contrasted her olive skin and long chestnut hair was thrown over one shoulder. She walked with such grace and poise, she looked goddess-like. She gave a closed-mouth smile to McGonagall before taking off her uniform hat and sitting on the stool; hands folded in her lap and legs crossed at the ankles like a queen. The Sorting Hat was placed on her head. A few seconds passed and Grace secretly hoped she’d be sorted into Ravenclaw. It would be fun to have a trio of Ravenclaws. Maybe they could be like the Heathers, but not total bitches and everyone survives. And then she thought she heard the Sorting Hat say Ravenclaw, but then it continued to contemplate where to place the French girl. Though, Rose sat even straighter when the hat said Ravenclaw. “GRYFFINDOR!” it shouted. The Gryffindor table fucking lost it. The Lions gave the new girl a standing ovation, the boys whistled, a few girls already started to look jealous, and Rose looked utterly confused. But still, she kept her poise and her kind smile as she made her way to her new table. Grace decided that no matter what her house, she had to meet her.

As the excitement died down, Grace finally noticed exactly who was at the head table. “Where’s Professor Lupin?” “Surely he’s up there,” Luna scanned the table and then rescanned it again and again. “What the hell?” “He’s not there!” “What are you two freaking about already?” Draco turned around. “Professor Lupin isn’t here!” Luna sounded seriously distraught. Lupin was her favorite professor. Draco gave her a doubted look, but after looking across the table himself, his eyes widened, “Holy shit, he’s really not there.” Luna snatched Grace’s phone that was sitting on the long table and quickly sent a text.

Grace watched her father jump slightly and then look down at his phone. She watched the conversation on her own phone over Luna’s shoulder. Luna: Where the hell is Remus Lupin?! Luna: It’s Luna btw but I DEMAND answers, Severus Snape! Severus: If you’d just be patient, Dumbledore will explain that the Ministry did not see fit for a werewolf to be teaching children.

Wouldn’t you know, Dumbledore had begun his speech, and had just started to explain the situation.

Luna: Doesn’t the Minister have anything better to do than to fire the most awesome teacher ever?! Luna: Of course, second to you. Severus: You can’t even lie through text message. Luna: Can't prove it was a lie! Severus: I saw you panic as soon as you sent the text and try to cover it up. Luna: Whatever! Who the fuck is the giant flamingo? Severus: Luna!

“In place of Professor Lupin, Dolores Umbridge will be filling in as your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher,” it looked as if it pained Dumbledore to say that. Severus gave the lady a practical death glare, as did many of the other teachers behind her back. Grace had to fight herself not to laugh. The lady was wearing an all-pink pencil skirt and blazer combo. Her undershirt was pink, her hat was pink, her shoes were pink, even her stockings had a pinkish hue! Grace couldn’t even focus on what she was saying, she couldn’t believe her eyes. What she did get from this first impression was that she had a bad aura about her, her heart was cruel, and she didn’t even like Grace and they had yet to meet. This lady just kept going on and on and on and on about fucking bullshit Grace didn’t understand. She glanced back at the conversation still pursuing on her own phone.

Severus: She’s from the Ministry. Luna: Again, why is the government putting their influence in the school? Severus: Been asking myself that same question since I got here. Luna: AND SERIOUSLY WHAT’S UP WITH THE PINK?! Severus: It’s all she wears. I haven’t seen her wear any other color yet. Luna: Ew. Severus: You know, all the BS Dumbledore is saying is meant for you to hear. Luna: Don’t go into the Forbidden Forest, don’t track in mud, leave Filch alone, blah blah blah. You will remind all of us of the damn rules ten billion more times before Christmas. Severus: You’re all talk when it’s not face-to-face.

“Your dad can be such a bugger, do you know that?” she whispered to Grace. Dumbledore pulled both girls’ attention, “Please welcome your new Professor of Magical Art and Music, Evan Maes.” The new professor stood and Grace and Luna’s jaws nearly dropped, along with Grace’s phone. He was tall, blonde, with blue eyes. He had a perfect little smile and a strong body. When he said hello, Grace could definitely hear an accent. Central European, like German or Belgian or something. “Magical Arts and Music will be an elective course available to all students and a sign-up sheet will be available in all four common rooms tonight.” Draco leaned back, “I assume you girls are signing up for the class?” “Uh-huh,” they replied in a daze. He just rolled his eyes, “I’ll text the boys to sign up too then.” “Aw, babe, you don’t have to. You have N.E.W.T.s this year, I don’t want you to be distracted.” “I won’t be. It’s just art and music. And with the way you two are drooling, no way are we leaving you unsupervised.” Grace watched as he quickly sent a text and then saw Rolf, Alfie, and Charlie snicker at their tables. “Do you seriously have a group chat with the boys?” Luna asked. “Yeah. We’re gonna use it to talk about how ridiculous you girls are,” he joked. Luna acted offended but Grace smiled, “I’m glad you’re making new, better friends, Dray.” She looked over at the group of Slytherins Draco used to “associate” with. He was never friends with them. But their parents were friends, rather, their parents were Death Eaters, and Draco said that since his father was put in Azkaban, as tragic as it is, he felt a weight lifted off of his shoulder.

The feast began and Grace and Luna talked amongst their fellow Ravenclaws. They discussed the upcoming Quidditch season, and Stretton, the oldest member and only Chaser left, kept giving her dirty looks. He had expected to become captain when Davies left, but he had left the position to Grace instead. Grace glanced over to the Gryffindor table where Rose sat. She still looked confused, and now that she wasn’t presented in front of everyone, she looked slightly afraid.

Grace: Charles, make friends with the new girl! Charlie: No, you! Grace: Are you afraid of her? Charlie: No! I just don’t wanna look desperate. Grace: You’re unbelievable.

“Luna, c’mon.” “Where we goin’?” Luna asked, her mouth full of treacle tart. “To make friends with the new girl.” Both girls got up, taking off those stupid dunce hats, and walked over to the Gryffindor table, sitting down on either side of Rose. “Hello,” they said in unison. Rose’s eyes widened and she froze, “B-bonjour.” “I’m Grace McClivert and this is Luna Lovegood. We’re both Fifth Year Ravenclaws,” she said gesturing to Luna and both girls held out their hands for Rose to shake. Rose finally relaxed and she smiled her absolutely perfect smile; all of her teeth were straight and unbelievably white. Instead of turning to each Ravenclaw, she crossed her arms in front of her and shook each girl’s hand at the same time, “Rose Martell. I was in Ombrelune at Beauxbatons but it seems now I am a Gryffindor. I am a Fifth Year as well.” Her French accent was thick. “Ombrelune is, what I assume, is sort of like Ravenclaw. At least that was the impression given to me by Hogwarts: A History. But I didn’t expect to be a Gryffindor.” Luna shrugged, “You’ll be surprised at how right the hat can be.” “Well, at least we may have some classes together, being in the same year. We won’t know until tomorrow morning, though.” Rose looked over at the head table, “Could you tell me about some of the professors?” “Why, certainly! Well, of course, you already know Dumbledore, the Headmaster.” “He’s a bit of a coot,” Grace added. “And then Professor McGonagall for Transfiguration.” “McGoogles,” Grace smirked. “She gets awfully cross when we call her that, but not too much.” “Because she loves us.” “She’s head of your house, so you ought to just suck up to her ASAP.” “Seriously, it’ll help you in the long run.” “And then there’s Professor Sprout.” “Head of Hufflepuff.” “And the Herbology professor.” “Another one of those school mums.” “She loves everyone, though, And she loves to bake. So, if you’re really nice to her, she bakes you cookies and muffins.” “Professor Trelawney is absolutely bonkers.” “She’s the Divination professor and I happen to like her!” Grace rolled her eyes, “Bonkers,” she whispered to Rose. “Professor Binns for History of Magic is dead.” “No, we’re serious. Dead. He’s a ghost. There are lots of ghosts here, but he still teaches and his class is the worst. It’s like nap time.” “Speaking of ghosts, beware of Peeves.” “Oh, you poor dear.” “Who’s Peeves?” Rose asked. “Peeves the Poltergeist. He’s a ghost in Gryffindor Tower and he’s a bugger.” “He likes to pull pranks.” “Oh, dear.” “Anyway, before the feast ends, Professor Flitwick is the Head of Ravenclaw and the Charms professor.” “He also runs the school choir, but seeing as we have Professor Hottie over there, we may have a new choir director.” “Grace, you have a boyfriend!” “As do you, Luna, but that doesn’t mean we can’t admire him.” “Who are your boyfriends, if I may ask?” “We’ll get on to that later.” “Last, but not least, Potions Master-“ “Prince of Darkness-“ “Notorious for being a hardass-“ “King of Dad jokes-“ “Professor Severus Snape!” both girls said loud enough for Severus to hear even on the other side of the Great Hall. They heard both Rolf and Draco snort, and a girl laughing, whom they assumed was Phoebe. Severus just glared at the girls and shook his head. “He looks mean…” Rose whispered, afraid that he had ears like a hawk and could now hear their every word. Grace was the first to break into laughter, followed by Luna. “Mean? I mean, yeah he has a resting bitch face-“ “RBF!” Luna doubled over. “And he wears all black-“ “Bastard looks like he’s attending a funeral every. single. day.” “But he’s actually very kind. He’s tough on his students, but that’s only because he expects a lot out of us. So long as you try your best, you’ll be fine.” All three turned around to meet Severus’ glare. It was a terribly fake glare and was trying his best not to crack a smile. Then Grace and Luna waved, grinning at him. Rose looked at them like they were insane. Severus finally had to look away; he looked in Phoebe’s direction, who was giggling uncontrollably now. He was helpless. Grace’s phone buzzed in her pocket. She took it out and read the message aloud, “Stop being such insolent little girls.” “He’s no fun,” Luna pouted. “I am so confused.” “I suppose we might as well tell her.” “The secret is practically out.” “Snape is my father.” “Wait, really?” “Adoptive father. But yes. And it’s a secret, so we mustn’t tell anyone.” “Except our closest and dearest friends because now Grace has private rooms down in Slytherin, and what good are they if we can’t invite people over?” Rose nodded in understanding, and was extremely happy to find that they already considered her a “close and dear friend.” “Are you Ravenclaws going to leave anytime soon? You’re making the table boring,” it was Charlie who had moved down to across where they were sitting. “Rose, I’d like to introduce you to Finnegan Charles Ackerman.” “You can call me Charlie,” he took Rose’s hand, but instead of shaking it, he kissed her knuckles. Rose’s cheeks were now of a deep rose color, “Pleasure to meet you, Charlie.” Luna rolled her eyes, “Oh, so now you wanna come sit with us? Charles, don’t go ruining our new friend. She’s too good for you.” “Nobody asked you, Luna darling” “‘Nobody asked you, Luna darling.’ I asked me.” “Rolf! Your girl is mocking me!” Rolf turned around, looked at Luna, and then looked at Charlie, and smirked, “You’re very mockable, Ackerman.” “You’re whipped, mate.” “I’m not starting any fights this early into the relationship.” Rolf leaned back and shook Rose’s hand, “Rolf Scamander— yes, of Newt Scamander, he’s my grandfather— nice to meet you, Rose. Welcome to Hogwarts.” “Thank you, Rolf,” she smiled. “And I’m Alfred Honeycutt, the most fashionable person in this bloody school,” Alfie turned around in his seat and took Rose’s hand in his. “And I must say, I may have a bit of competition this year for best dressed.” “Thank you. Although, it’ll be hard to make this uniform fashionable. No offense.” “Oh, no, don’t worry. We all know it’s ugly,” Luna said. “We never wear our uniforms under our cloaks unless there’s something special going on.” “I wish Hogwarts would take notes from literally every other Wizarding school and update their uniforms,” Alfie rolled his eyes. “I feel left out because Slytherin is literally on the other side of the room,” Draco made his way across the Great Hall and sat next to Grace. “Hello.” “Hello,” Rose replied. “This is Draco Malfoy.” “Biggest Arse of Hogwarts.” “But he’s my arse.” “I think I’ve rather matured since last year.” “It also helps to distance yourself away from them,” Grace glared over at the group of boys Draco once associated with. “I can’t avoid them forever, you know.” “I know. But if they try to say anything, I’ll knock their teeth out.” “Mhm, my little fighter,” he wrapped his arms around her middle and rested his chin on her shoulder. “Get a room,” Alfie smirked. “Bugger off! Hey, so we’re all signing up for Art and Music, right?” “That’s the new professor, oui?” Rose asked. “Yeah, but that’s not the only reason we’re signing up. It’s the only class we’ll have with students, not in our own year!” “Unless you take Arithmancy so you won’t be cramming it in next year,” Rolf nudged his girlfriend. “Why the hell would I take that?” “I signed up for it,” Grace shrugged. Draco's head bobbed with her shoulder. “You bitch! Why didn’t you tell me?” “You said you were signing up for Care of Magical Creatures, and I said, ‘Okay, I’ll sign up for Arithmancy then.’” “I didn’t think you were serious!” “I’m taking the class, Luna, so you won’t be alone,” Rolf placed a hand on her shoulder. “Now’s the time for you to start choosing classes based on what you want to do after you graduate, anyway. And Grace just doesn’t need CMC. Neither do I,” Draco said. “I bloody signed up for Astronomy! Neither of you told me the plans!” Charlie propped his elbow on the table and leaned on his palm. “You need to focus on your core classes, you dunce,” Alfie said. “Astronomy is easy enough and you need to pass your O.W.L.s if you want to be an Auror!” “I guess I will see what class I have tomorrow when we get our schedules,” Rose looked across the head table one more time, hoping for a smoother year.

“Why didn’t you tell me Professor Lupin was gone?!” Grace began unpacking half of her casual clothes and uniforms into her room in Severus’ private rooms. “I told you she’d be angry,” Severus whispered to Phoebe. “Leave me out of it, I had nothing to do with it,” Phoebe held her hands up. “Of course I’m angry! He got replaced by a toad! A pink toad! Ugh, I’ve never been more repulsed by the color pink!” “Grace, you don’t have to love your professors, you just have to pass the class.” “But Lupin wasn’t a bad professor! We’ve had worse!” “The Ministry thought he was a danger to the students.” “He hasn’t been a danger to the students in all the years he’s been teaching! Why the hell is the Ministry sticking their nose where it’s not wanted now?” She stepped up onto her trunk to put something on the top shelf of her closet. “You should take it up with the Ministry then.” When Grace turned around, she was almost eye-to-eye with Severus. Still shorter, but at least she didn’t have to crane her neck, “Don’t tempt me, father. I’ll floo right to Fudge’s office this instant and wait all night for an audience if I have to!” They had a stare down for a few seconds with their arms crossed before Severus smirked, “Stubborn little girl.” “You missed me though,” she held her arms out in front of her. “Actually, it was pretty quiet,” he smirked but still pulled her into a hug. “Okay, but seriously, why’s it so cold down here?” “We’re in the dungeons of an old castle, there was no insulation when they built it!” “We are goddamn magical people! Why can’t it be warm?” “You’ll live.” “Barely. Can I stay down here tonight?” “No, you’ve got to stay in Ravenclaw Tower. At least on school nights.” “Wait, seriously? Phoebe!” “Listen to your dad!” she called from the living area. “It’s such a far walk…”  “You’ll get your steps in. Go on,” Severus started leading her to the door of his quarters, then stopped. “Where’s Merlin?” “He’s staying with Hagrid tonight.” “Okay, that’s good,” he opened the door that led into the extremely dim dungeon. “Goodnight, see you in the morning, love you.” “Love you-“ she was just finishing her sentence when the door shut, “-too.” She stared at the door for a minute, “Bastard.” “They’re probably doing the… y’know,” a voice said behind her. “Oh, shut up, I don’t wanna think about that!” “Well, it’s probably true! Think about it; they’ve had three days without you around,” Draco smirked. “La la la la,” Grace covered her ears and shut her eyes. “I’ll walk you up to your common room, though.” “Oh, you’re so sweet. Such a gentleman. My knight in shining armor,” she wrapped her arm around his. They both walked all the way from the Slytherin common room in the dungeons to the Ravenclaw common room in the highest tower of Hogwarts, along the way battling the moving staircases and being the gossip of the portraits. Though, the spirits did not bother them, as they probably had the first years to tease anyway. “Thanks for doing my rounds with me,” Draco said as they reached the large door with a golden eagle knocker. “It was my pleasure, since I really had no choice,” she smiled into their chaste goodnight kiss. “I love you,” she wondered if she was even heard, she whispered it so softly, but she saw Draco smile when she glanced up through her lashes. “I love you too,” he kissed her once more before stepping away. “I’ll see you at breakfast. Sweet dreams.” “You too,” when Draco disappeared from sight down the spiral staircase, she turned her attention to the door of her common room. It started with its usual crap, “What is-“ “Not doing this bullshit every night this year, let me in.” The door creaked open.

#harry potter #harry potter au #modern au #The Potion Masters Grace #Grace McClivert #severus snape #original character #luna lovegood #draco malfoy #draco malfoy x original character

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ruffoverthinksthings · 7 years

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I've thoroughly enjoyed the Claudine/Frollo headcannons, do you have any in mind for Esmeralda/Phoebus? If the sequel movies are wiped from this universe, that means their son doesn't exist (or not yet). Also, do you have another headcannon for onesided fresme on frollo's part? How would he handle being unable to obtain her in this universe?

Ilike to believe the sequels and spin-offs are valid, as the bookseries (which is, as of the Rise of the Isle of the Lost, is canon…to a certain extent) makes reference to characters that could onlyexist outside of the original movies, such as:

Diegode Vil, presumably the child of Ivy de Vil from the 101 DalmatiansTV series, or a descendant from the rest of the extended de Vilfamily, and

Jade,Jay’s cousin and presumably the daughter of Nasira, Jafar’ssister from the Aladdin video game series

There’sa level of personal bias, with the amount of work I’ve already putinto expanding the world with my own ideas, but I think we can allagree that the Isle and Auradon would be a whole lot less interestingif we didn’t have the likes of:

Mozenrath(Aladdin animated series) acting as Maleficent’s longsuffering middle manager, and personal chew toy as an “inferiormagical being,”

LadyWaltham (Tarzan animated series) adding an element of sympathyto the Isle of the Lost with her regretting her brother Clayton andher nephew are still on there and unable to return, and

LadyCaine (Tangled: Before Ever After), who adds a deliciouselement of grayness and a MASSIVE stain on the otherwise pristinereputation all sympathetic Disney monarchs have.

Ontothe headcanons:

Phoebusbecomes one of the new Captains of the Guard in France once theoriginal forces are merged with, or completely replaced by the newlyestablished Auradon Royal Guard. Though the actual administrative andexecutive power lies much higher up the ranks (such as theCommander-In-Chief, Beast), he himself is an incredibly influentialmember, well-known and well-loved by the citizenship and the fellowsoldiers he patrols the streets with.

Auradonhad to rely heavily on translators, human and machine, or translatingmagic during its tumultuous first years, as everyone struggled tofind one common language for every state to use as the internationalstandard (it’s English still). A LOT of things get lost intranslation or don’t translate too good into another language, orsomeone gets VERY offended when someone who is fluent in both Frenchand Chinese tells you exactly what they meant, and howunflattering it is.

Andthis isn’t even going into all the numerous cultural clashes andfaux paus, such as one unfortunate Louisiana chef realizing you’renot supposed to serve pork to most Agrahbans until he was alreadyuncovering the dish...

Phoebusbridges the gap through his calm, professional demeanor, alwaysshowing politeness and civility to everyone whoever they may be, andof course, his sense of humour, given “a real workout” when hehas to figure out how to make someone laugh with universallyunderstood comedy (someone falling face first into a pile of horsedung), non-verbal humour (wearing a silly, pink, fuzzy bunny earswhilst on duty), and using simple plays on word that foreigners caneasily get, or are tailored specifically to their language.

“Inever quite realized eggs could be such a huge source of humour,”he muses when he has to speak to Spanish speaking citizens.

However,his usefulness quickly dwindled as the culture clashes settled down,people started learning English, and of course, the already olderPhoebus found himself growing ever older and unable to keep up withthe rapid pace of advancement and pop culture references in Auradon,not to mention his disadvantage of “not being gifted a smartphonefor my first birthday.”

Hehas an incredibly cushy administrative position that pays well,commands respect from his soldiers still, and gives him great hoursto spend with his family and other pursuits, but as he’s no longergoing out (or being allowed) on patrols and interacting personallywith the people in his jurisdiction, he can’t help but wonder ifhe’s just being eased into the idea of retirement, and Auradon issimply too nice to boot him for the much feared “chainsaw HR” ofsome corporations from BGU London.

(Forthose not familiar with the term, “chainsaw HR” is when entiredivisions, and numbers into the hundreds are suddenly, and oftentimeswithout proper recompense or retirement packages, fired or forcedinto early retirement.

It’sa play on the term “axed” for being suddenly fired, and chainsawsbeing a modern, much more efficient tool for the same job as aliteral ax.)

It’ssafe to say that at the age of 55 or so, and having already lived oneillustrious career then a brief revival, he’s having a midlifecrisis, not helped by the fact that many other Auradonians about hisage are feeling as obsolete as last year’s ayGem.

(“Butit came out just a year ago!”

“Yeah,but they updated to a new, much better firmware and hardwarearchitecture, all the hot new apps don’t even bother with legacyupdates.”)

Esmerelda has fared much better.

Shehas become an activist in this world, using the power of theinternet, the normalization of the “other,” and the erasure ofthe national and ethnic boundaries that once separated communities tohelp her fellow Romani people (I won’t use “gypsies,” as that’san offensive term to them), and other marginalized, and forgottengroups, such as much of the Wild Fae population.

Shealso owns and teaches at a dance studio, using them to train the nextgeneration of performers (“Be they for the street, the stage, orthe screen”), and waging a subtle campaign to remove the stigma forblatant and shameless use of sexuality.

I’vealways known Auradon is a conservative wet dream in many respects,and the fact that ripping a tiny tear in your skirt is considered“scandalous” by teenagers says a lot.

Beforeyou ask, YES, Esmerelda is still as desired and lusted afternow as she was BGU—probably even more so, now that we have thecombined populations of all the states, and she is a very popular andcommon presence on the internet.

Beforeyou also ask, Phoebus has long gotten over it and considers it “partof the package.”

Sheis one of the most knowledgeable and well-versed with moderntechnology out of the “Travellers” (Auradonians who were adultsor close to it Before Great Uniting), seeing as her troupe ofperformers have always been highly adaptable and all to ready to dowhatever it takes to survive, fit in with the locale they have foundthemselves in, and afterwards, thrive.

Thatthey have generally relied on being couriers and brokers ofinformation, and the internet basically being a giant free market ofinformation has helped GREATLY.

Withher religion, she still isn’t 100% on the existence of God, onlyever praying to Him during times of crisis or as a show of good faithwith the religious institutions of Auradon, but the Greek Pantheonhas given her hope that Supreme Beings like Him do exist.

“Atthe very least, He’s been very light on throwing down lightningbolts from up on high.”

(Thoughmuch less murderous and many other negative traits than the original,Disney Zeus is still INCREDIBLY fond of “warning shots.”)

Andonce more, before you ask, I can seriously see her making a cameo inthe canon as a guest dance instructor for the Descendants, if sheisn’t already a full-time staff member of Auradon Prep, and yes,she would definitely mentor Evie by showing her much healthier waysof expressing her sexuality and femininity without feeling like she’sdegrading herself, or turning herself into a “slab of meat in thebutcher’s window.”

Zephyrwas born BGU, and if my idea that the states had been communicatingfor a few years before the idea of fusing is canon, has a veryunique perspective of being a “Traveler Tot,” living with theideas and concepts imported over through the portals andcommunication crystals, before he got to live it in Auradon when thetechnology and materials could be more easily accessed and produced.

Heis still hyperactive and excitable as ever, though most of that wasbeing channeled into a combination of soldier training and becoming acircus performer like his parents; in his mind, there really isn’tmuch difference between the two, as they both require incrediblephysical skill and endurance, a sharp and creative mind, andrelentless, dedicated training, day-in, day-out.

“Itall really comes down to what you mean when you say you ‘slayedthem,’” he says.

Thisquickly changes in Auradon when he finds himself addicted to HeroRising, the video game that Carlos was seen playing during hisfirst night in Auradon. While initially Phoebus sees it as a good wayfor him to blow off all his excess energy and get some physicaltraining done, and Esmerelda tolerates it as he’s not going offstealing and rearranging stop signs, it evolves into something muchmore for him in time.

Atfirst, he’s the best player on the block, then in theneighbourhood, then the school, then the city, then the state, andfinally, one of the Hall of Famers in Auradon. As he grows older, hejust barely passes his high school subjects as a conditional for hissponsors support and working with the Hero Rising developersas a PR person, community idol AKA a “Paragon,” and beta tester.The height of his fame and success comes when the latest release,Hero Rising: The Lost Legion, features a new playablecharacter based off of him, and his unique dance-like fighting style:

“Twister.”

Trueto the name, his life is sent into a spin cycle after that.

Afew years pass, a new Hero Rising is released, and everyone isgushing over the new characters, and Twister gives up his place onthe cover art alongside the series “cornerstones” to give them achance to shine.

NewParagons are brought in as the old guard goes off to college, retiresfrom the business into different, less-demanding pursuits, or isquietly given a send-off as they simply aren’t as salable nor asgood as they were a few years ago.

Zephyrquickly realizes that while he’s still got it, these new kids areinsane, and have so many advantages he didn’t, like muchbetter nutrition, a much more generous school schedule, and havingthe infrastructure, the audience, and the sponsors for Hero RisingParagons already there, rather than helping spearhead them.

Hecontinues on, making less and less public appearances, awkwardlybeing one of the only adult Paragons in crowds increasingly filledwith little kids and teenagers, and new characters based off the newParagons get the spotlight.

“Everyonealready knows Twister, and played him to death in all the specialinstance maps, the players want someone new!”

Thedeath-knell of his career and the cold, hard slap from Reality comeswhen Twister is removed from the roster due to development costs, andthe fact that Zephyr’s fees and royalties were considered too highfor the relatively lower cost of a new, fresh face who the fans aremuch more eager to see digitized.

Heand Phoebus both find themselves facing obsolescence, being leftbehind by a world that has simply moved too fast for them and leftthem in its dust, as they were only ever good at one thing each:fighting, either real bad guys or fictional ones.

Andso, with Esmerelda’s love and support, the two go off to reeducatethemselves and train in the new industries and careers Auradondemands, incidentally becoming the inspiration for the blockbusterfeel good movie of eight years from this time of writing:

“WithHonours”

Thestory of how a father and son went back to college, forced to startfrom scratch in a brand new world, learning new tricks, makingstrange friends, and doing a whole lot of growing up they didn’tknow they still needed to do.

Nowonto Frollo:

Helaments his permanent loss of Esmerelda (unlike the other Villains,he harbours no fantasies of Claudine getting him off the Isle—notwhen there’s still so much Good Work to be done here in this landof Sinners and Nonbelievers), and takes the disastrous results of hisobsession and lusting after her as a cautionary tale, the catastrophethat befalls those who turn away from God and the Right Path, and howthey take the whole world down with them.

Publicly,he is “that” preacher yelling about modesty, the sanctity ofmarriage and sexuality, and how pretty much everyone on theIsle is damned for engaging in such scandalous, salacious acts likepremarital sex, sexual intercourse without the intention ofprocreation, and of course, homosexuality.

Privately,he seeks a form of redemption by raising a good, Christian child inClaudine, the child he would have born with Esmerelda and raised ifcircumstances had been different (yeee-eep), and is looking for awoman with whom he can have a much healthier relationship with, toshow someone from this Isle what marriage and the word “love”truly means than the perversion the Islanders have turned it into.

Asboth Claudine and Not Esmerelda will attest to, he’s failedmiserably on both counts, but as usual, is blissfully unaware ofeither.

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catholiccom-blog · 7 years

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The Ten Most Common Misconceptions About Apparitions

Every day, it seems, the papers are splashed with another report of an angel appearing by a hospital bed, the Blessed Virgin’s image showing up in a window screen, or the face of Christ appearing on yet another tortilla. Many Catholics find these reports embarrassing. But then there are sites like Lourdes or Fatima, places that nobody would have heard of except for the reports that Mary appeared there and conveyed messages of hope and repentance. So, what’s the deal, when it comes to reported apparitions? Arguments break out; accusations and contradictions are slammed back and forth by both sides. There are a lot of misconceptions and misunderstandings, no matter where you look or whom you listen to. Here are the top ten contenders. 1. People who believe that stuff are crazy. Well, now, hang on a minute. "Apparition" just means that a heavenly being—Christ, Mary, another saint, or an angel—makes himself known to human senses. That being the case, pick up your Bible and check Genesis: The first apparitions were to Adam and Eve, when God walked with them in the cool of the garden. Then have a look at Exodus, when God appeared to Moses and spoke to him in the burning bush. Carry it through to the Annunciation, the Nativity, and the Resurrection. Look at the Apocalypse, in which John describes his vision of the whole heavenly Jerusalem. The whole Bible is the transcript of one apparition after another. Every Mass includes Christ’s apparition among us—in the appearance of bread and wine. If it’s crazy to believe in apparitions, then every Jew and every Christian who ever lived would have to be crazy. 2. Real apparitions come only to exceptionally holy people. You’d be surprised. Bernadette was a remarkably sweet-natured child before Mary appeared to her, and she got even better afterwards, but at the time she was totally ignorant of her catechism and not unusually pious. Melanie Matthieu, on the other hand, was practically a feral child before the apparition at La Salette in 1848, and her teachers described her afterwards as a complete savage. She later became a vagrant, running all over Europe denouncing the Church for refusing to pay her saintly honors during her lifetime. To take a middle case, Marie Lataste (1822–1847) started life as a remarkably obnoxious little girl in Dax, France, but then Christ started appearing to her almost routinely after her first Communion. Her vices disappeared, her virtues grew, and those around her felt an abiding sense of joy, just from her presence, although she never went out of her way to impress them. (The surprising thing was that she wasn’t surprised at all of this; evidently she thought that’s the way religion works, and you have to admit she had a point. It just happened faster with her.) Anyway, it just goes to show you that God picks up his tools as he will, and that he doesn’t always pick the sharpest knife in the drawer (Judg. 6:15, Matt. 9:9–13, Acts 9:1–4). 3. People claim to see apparitions just to get in the spotlight. That one happens to be true. Not in all cases, though, but in most. Overwhelmingly, the two greatest causes of reports of apparitions are human fraud and human delusion; then, in terms of frequency, there are the diabolic high jinks that almost always help the frauds along. Least frequent of all is a genuine outreach by God, either directly from Christ or through Mary, another saint, or an angel as an intermediary. The genuine ones come, invariably, to people who didn’t want them before they happened, who later wish that they hadn’t had them, or who don’t want them at all, ever. The modesty of their conduct contrasts sharply with the posturings of the fakes and the deluded. Declining to pose as a divine messenger with more authority than Christ, or even refusing to claim to speak for him, is really about the barest minimum of humility a person can have, yet the overwhelming majority of self-declared mystics trip over that very low threshold. The minute you see self-proclaimed visionaries giving interviews to the press, dashing off reams of prophecies for all and sundry, asserting that they’ve seen Mary and that they have an urgent message that can save the world; the minute you see someone even permitting himself to be interviewed on such a matter; certainly as soon as you see a reported visionary routinely blessing people, "curing" pilgrims, or even receiving pilgrims at all—you can safely assume that the person is a fraud or, if you want to be particularly charitable, that the person is deluded, genuinely believing that what he said he saw was real. Either way, it’s not worthy of your attention. Here, as in so much else, John of the Cross is the best model. When dispatched to investigate a reported apparition, he walked cheerfully up to the woman and said, "Are you the lady to whom the Holy Spirit is appearing?" When she answered "Yes!," he bid her good day and reported to the bishop that the woman was either a fraud or delusional. Credit-worthy visionaries speak of "the Lady" or "the person," but they don’t even claim that it was Mary or Christ. 4. You can tell if a reported apparition is real because miraculous things happen around it. Miracles are distinct kinds of mystic phenomena, entirely separate from apparitions and not necessarily occurring anywhere near them. Incidentally, one thing that’s practically the hallmark of a false apparition is the report that a set of rosary beads has changed color. 5. I’ll see an apparition some day. Not likely, this side of Armageddon. It’s an outreach by God, and you can’t compel God. Thinking that he owes an apparition to you, that you’ve earned it, or even that you deserve it, is pride—a cardinal vice that puts a stop to even the possibility, not to mention to further personal growth. "I consider it certain," Teresa of Avila said, "that spiritual persons who think that they deserve these delights of spirit for the many years that they have practiced prayer will not ascend to the summit of the spiritual life," which is in line with Matthew 12:39 and 23:12 and everything else that the Church teaches. John of the Cross attributed the taste for these experiences to a "spiritual sweet tooth," a matter of unwholesome greed. It makes a person an enemy of Christ, he said. Or, as Bernard put it, a soul striving toward union with God "will be far from content that her Bridegroom should manifest himself to her in the common manner, that is, by . . . dreams and visions." The best advice? Stick to the sacraments and the normal spiritual discipline of the Church. Remember what Thérèse of Lisieux, one of the most influential of the Church’s mystics, said: "To ecstasy, I prefer the monotony of sacrifice." 6. People who don’t bother with modern apparitions just aren’t spiritually gifted enough to understand. No, they’re within their rights, and they’re doing basically what the Church hopes people will do. Belief even in events like Lourdes or Fatima is only enjoined, never required. No such event is necessary for salvation or for the business of the Church; like Christ’s own miracles, they only help bring people’s attention back to the faith (John 3:1–21). No latter-day apparition should be taken as the centerpiece of one’s ideas about what religion is all about. That’s because Christianity—a revealed religion—works with two different kinds of revelation. The revelation that came to us from Christ, through the prophets before him and the apostles after, is an unchanged body of teachings called the "deposit of faith," and it’s publicrevelation, so called because Christ said that it was to be given to all nations (Matt. 24:14, 28:19; Mark 11:17, 13:10; Luke 24:47). It’s the substance of our religion. Since the death of the last apostle, public revelation is closed. Everything that God needed to reveal about Christianity already has been revealed, so nothing needs to be added; Christ himself revealed it, so nothing has to be changed. "The Christian dispensation," Vatican II repeated, "as the new and definitive covenant, will never pass away, and we now await no further new public revelation before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ." But there’s also a phenomenon called private revelation. This is not part of public revelation, but just a reminder of some part of it, given by God, sometimes by way of an angel or a saint, to an individual person. It can be the answer to a simple prayer or a sky-splitting apparition—or anything in between. Whatever the form, it’s not essential to the faith. No genuine apparition is going to be anything other than private revelation; none will convey new or revised public revelation, so none is necessary to the substance of the faith. You’re supposed to take the reminder, if you need it, and then get to work increasing your devotion to public revelation. That’s why even spectacularly gifted saints can take apparitions or leave them. Louis of France looked up calmly when his servant burst into the room yelling about how Christ was appearing in the Eucharist in the palace chapel, and then the king turned back to his work. Margaret Mary Alacoque and Teresa of Avila went so far as to fight off their visions of Christ, begging him to leave them in the normal routine of their orders. If you stay at home when the next visionary claims that Mary is appearing in the back yard, you’ll be in very good company. 7. Bishops encourage crowds to flock to any reported apparition, no matter how nutty it is. Just about the last thing any bishop looks forward to is that late-night call about yet another hometown visionary. His efforts will be directed at keeping things orderly until an investigation can be made—if in fact the report warrants investigation. Usually, the thing is so far outside the spectrum of genuine mystic activity that he’ll respond only with silence, and silence from the local bishop is really a public proclamation that the thing deserves no notice. Even if it does turn out to be real, the most that any post-biblical apparition gets is a negative approval—an official declaration that there’s nothing in the report or in its implications that’s contrary to the faith, so that it’s "worthy of belief." That means that you can believe it or, if you aren’t interested, not. 8. Bishops discourage people from flocking to any reported apparition, no matter how wonderful it is. Wrong again. They know that only a tiny percentage of reports—maybe only one in a thousand, or really even fewer—turn out to have anything wonderful about them. To the average bishop, the overwhelming majority of reports are obviously, even blatantly fraudulent or delusional. There is an immense amount of spiritual treasure in the messages of genuine apparitions, a lot that can deepen and enrich your life in the Church through the sacraments. But it’s also true that fakes and delusional cases distract thousands of people from basic—and fully adequate—participation in those sacraments, and they draw them away from growing in the normal life of prayer. So the good of a real apparition is potentially overwhelmed by the evil from a myriad of fakes. Bishops have to be careful. Those reports that have enough substance to merit official examination are studied by panels of qualified experts—theologians, medical doctors, perhaps chemists and physicists—assembled by the local bishop, the only person authorized by law to investigate. They take their time. Time weeds out empty promises, and it may take a century or more before a final determination is announced. In the meantime, follow the lead of King Louis or of John of the Cross, who just turned back to reading his Bible when his brother friars called him to run into town to see a purported apparition. Maybe he was looking at Matthew 12:38–39. 9. If enough people go to see an apparition, the bishop will give it his blessing eventually. A genuine apparition is an outreach by God. The reality of it is not determined by voting and most particularly not by the voting of people unqualified to evaluate the matter. We tend to forget that mystic theology is a regular academic discipline—you can get a doctorate in it, at accredited Catholic universities. It’s sobering but safe to remember that the layman-on-the-street has no experience of genuine mystic activity, no book-learning about what it really is, and—judging by the numbers who flock after even the most preposterous reports—sadly insufficient knowledge about the basics of the faith. A little learning goes a long way toward winnowing out the nonsense. You’d be surprised how far it goes toward opening up the wonders of the apparitions that have been declared worthy of credit, wonders that are closed to people who rely on their emotions and won’t make the necessary effort to grow in knowledge and discipline. Most experts, undoubtedly, would just like to see a little more common sense in these things. Christianity does not change (Heb. 13:8–9), so certainly an apparition of a saint (Matt. 17:3) or an angel (Luke 1:11) is as possible today as it ever was. But there’s no biblical reference for the appearance of anybody’s face on a food item or flower petals. Lack of biblical precedent should be enough to turn anybody from the silliest reports, but there are also the writings of the great Doctors of the Church such as Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross, which ought to settle any doubts the laity is likely to have about the value of a given report, pending official judgment—or official silence. By the way, continuing to fuss with a purported apparition that has been declared false by the local bishop is disobedience: a sin rooted in pride. 10. Apparitions can be photographed. Nope.

#CAMO #Catholic Answers #Kevin Orlin Johnson #Apparitions #Fatima #Lourdes #Medjugorje

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your-lady-star · 8 years

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Revealing the Star: Caring Conqueror Corrin

I can’t think of any character that has caused people to become so split on opinions quite the same way Corrin has. I find that there are only two camps when it comes to opinions on him. There are those that see him as the worst lord to ever come out of Fire Emblem, others see him as a misunderstood character that gets way too much slack. I’ve yet to see anyone who would describe their thoughts on him as “Eh, he’s okay”. Well, I’m here to represent the positive camp, as Corrin easily stands as one of my favorite video game protagonist. And this whole analysis will not only serve to show why I think that, but to also offer some perspective to those who don’t see why.

I think one of the biggest aspects that lead me to loving Corrin all hinges on one aspect of his character. No, not his draconic blood, not his God dragon ancestor, not even his incredible cuteness (although that’s a huge plus). No, I’m a Corrin fan because he is Fire Emblem’s

1 and only inexperienced ruler.

One thing that I find really holds me back from becoming invested in a character that has a lot of experience is that I always know that they are going to have a solution to the problem. They know how to handle tough situations and can handle any problem with ease. But because of that, we never see them grow and learn from these experiences. They only show how great they are, not how great they can become. It’s hard to root for them and anticipate how they will come out on top.

Corrin is the different case.

He doesn’t have any experience or practice with how to be a proper ruler. Yes, he knows how to defend himself, but things such as tactical planning, strategic thinking, political correctness and efficient means to create equality are aspects that he isn’t fully knowledgeable of. Being completely sheltered his whole life, only being given the bare bones info on how to survive, with no intentions of ever being let outside left a much greater impact on him. He may be grown, but he has a teenagers undertsanding of the world.

But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to change.

Corrin has made it plainly clear that while he refuses to change the person he is, he knows that there are some things about his methods and actions that need to change. He is always open to learning new things and wanting to grow as not only a leader, but as a person. And lucky for him, he has

2 families to help show him the way.

Family is easily one of the best ways to learn how to become a better person, and because Corrin has so many siblings, he has plenty of different influences from him to grow from. Each of them can teach him different things; leadership, efficiency, morale decisions, conflicting choices, tactical battle planning, even simply becoming braver. Each of them play a part in his growth because they aren’t afraid to tell him when some parts of him need to change. Even if they never force him to change, it’s obvious that he’s taking their words to heart and is slowly working to change himself. But they also show him the parts of him that are his strongest points. Particularly, his loving heart and ability to find the good in anyone. His unwavering kindness and lack of judgement of anyone regardless of who or what they are is what helps him to inspire others, enlightened them, set them on a different path. He has the ability to save others. And looking through all his supports, I found the

3 people who Corrin has saved.

All of which are neutral characters. Hmm.

These three characters practically owe Corrin their lives. His influence on them is the sole reason why they are still alive and are the people they are.

Had it not been for Corrin standing up for him and slowly training him, there's no telling what would have happened to Jakob. He was abandoned by his family and was the most incompetent butler around, something that Garon likely wouldn’t want to put up with for too long. Corrin’s determination and empathy for him is what inspired him to get better, going from the worst servant to live to the best in all of Castle Krakenburg. They share one of the best connections between lord and retainer because of the history behind them and how they came to be so close.

Something that also translates perfectly to Corrin’s bond with Kaze.

I’ve already talked in detail before about how Corrin’s kidnapping left a tremendous wound on Kaze and his self confidence. A wound that wouldn’t be healed for a long time. But they took the first step to mending it by cementing their bond between lord and retainer. With Kaze now in a position where it’s his job to protect Corrin, he is now able to make up his past mistake on a daily basis and Corrin can always reassure him that he’s anything but a failure.

Corrin and Shura are a different case. They don’t have any longtime history or connection; the first time they meet in the the games is the very time they ever see each other. Yet despite the short time they have together, Corrin has spent every moment trying to make Shura feel better about himself. Whether it be giving him the hope to continue to pursue his goal or reaching out to others to no longer remain in isolation, Corrin has done everything he can to help him, to show him that you shouldn’t let the past hold you down and prevent you from having a future.

Corrin has shown himself to not only be quite the guardian, but also pretty influential. All of it can be summed up in his level 40 conversation in Heroes:

“We’ve spent so much time together, I’m uneasy when you’re not around. I’ve felt...overprotected my whole life, so it’s a strange feeling to want to do it myself. I’d like to keep you where I can see you, but people would call me overprotective. Heh. You are obviously essential to the realm’s defence, so it’s natural to protect you, I suppose. I guess I’m saying we’ve got your back, so don’t worry about what path to choose. Just keep going.”

This whole conversation complete sums up why Corrin is the way he is. He’s someone who’s been isolated, yet cherished with constant love. He’s been given the encouragement to move forward and make his own path in life. And if Heroes Corrin is meant to be post Revelations Corrin, than it shows he understands that even when a problem is faced with only two choices, it doesn’t mean they’re the only two options. Unlike most of the other lords, he’s seen the harsher sides of life and wasn’t nearly as pampered. So when he speaks out to others and tells them how there’s always a chance for growth, he’s speaking from experience and makes his words more impactful. He can promise the good and warn about the bad.

And boy has he experienced the bad side of things. He’s had the dark side of war drilled into him through his unfortunate

4-time heartbreak.

War has always taught us one major thing; that we can’t expect to come out of every conflict without having lost something. Sometimes you need to give something in order to earn something, and the things you have to give up won’t always be simple little hand me downs that you can easily bear to part with. And in the case of war, you’re going to have to give up lifes. And Corrin has had to give up a lot of lives.

The death of siblings in the separate routes. Watching his mother give up her life to save his. Being forced to eliminate the kitsune or wolfskin out of survival. And watching his dear friend and unknown sister Lilith protect him from certain death.

All of these deaths left a tremendous impact on him, and for two main reasons.

For one, he held a personal responsibility for each one, whether because they gave up their lives for him or he had to be the one to take them away himself. And second, all these deaths are of people he was close to. Watching someone die is painful enough on its own, but when the person who dies is someone that you’re close to, it’s a pain worse than anything. Corrin cherishes the bonds he’s formed with his family and friends more than anything, so it’s no surprise that when they break, it leaves an intense toll on him. He truly is lucky that in these moments he has so many others there to console him. Had Corrin had to face all these tragedies alone, he would have completely cracked. He strives to create a world where no one has to fear their untimely demise, so when he’s forced into a situation where he can’t do anything, he’s left completely powerless and questioning his abilities. These are the darkest moments for him, but they also serve as the moments where his conviction and determination shines through the most. He could’ve opted to completely ignore the words of the others in these moments, but instead he pushes forward and uses these tragedies as a means of reinvigorating himself and push himself harder to achieve his goals.

Because as much as he suffers in these games, I counted

5 big wins in Conquest alone.

These are the moments where he succeeded through his own methods, where his decisions and choices are put to the test and hold up.

Suppressing the Ice Tribe rebellion without taking any lives. Obtaining the Rainbow Sages power. Finally bringing justice to Kotaro’s selfish actions. Earning the respect and recognition of Fuga. And destroying the monster that drove Nohr into dismay and anguish.

The reason why he came out victorious in all these moments was because he stuck to his gun. He refused to be intimidated and stood for what he believed in, sometimes finding ways to resolve the issues by not resorting to the traditional means of solving problems in the Fire Emblem world.

And that’s what I think really separates people’s opinions on him.

Corrin isn’t meant to be a conventional character. He’s the most unique lord to come out of Fire Emblem. And those who come to like him not only are able to accept something new, but are willing to invest the time into learning more about him. Corrin is someone who requires time to completely understand him, if you judge based on just face value, you’re missing out on most of his character. But when you do look into him, you find that there is a lot to unpack. You find someone who not only inspires others to grow and better themselves, but uses every experience to grow himself and become a better person. Corrin still has some growing to do, to make up for all the time he missed out on being locked up in that castle, but he’s ready to face the challenges head on and make an example for everyone.

And I’m looking forward to seeing where the path of this prince will take him next.

Sources for art:

http://scottaphor.deviantart.com/art/NOHR-CORRIN-597738404

http://datnekoashe.deviantart.com/art/Fire-emblem-Fates-16-days-left-588241726

http://shyamiq.deviantart.com/art/FE-Fates-Corrin-578722078

http://sheepskin.storenvy.com/collections/477724-prints/products/16409733-corrin

#fire emblem fates #fire emblem fates conquest #fire emblem heroes #fe corrin #corrin #underrated

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englishchinesetranslations · 5 years

Link

https://radicalcapitalist.org/2018/05/15/the-jewish-origins-of-communism/

Introduction

Communism, an ideology that killed 94 million people in the 20th century, is still far from dead. Despite the ghastly and bloody history of communism, many young people still hold to a white-washed, romanticized view of it. To them, communism was a morally commendable cause with noble intentions that just happened to go awry at the hands of unsuitable dictators. Recent headlines from the New York Times over the past year have served to legitimize this view. A common view among “moderates” and “normie” conservatives is that communism was “good in theory but failed in practice.” Despite the economic collapse of communism in the late 20th century and the accompanying mass bloodshed, both communist ideas and sympathies are alive and well. As such, it behooves one to understand the true roots of communism so that principled libertarians and other right-wing folk may combat it more effectively.

An inconvenient “hate-fact” expressed by paleoconservatives and alt-righters is that communism is an ideology with distinctly Jewish historical and ideological origins/overtones. That is not to say that all or even the majority of Jews are communists, but that Jews have been disproportionately represented in the leadership and funding of communist movements throughout history (for example in Russia, Hungary, Germany, and Austria between 1918 to 1923) (1), and that the communist ideology itself comports strongly with certain behavioral and ideological tendencies which have manifested themselves throughout Jewish history.

The Talmudic Nature of Marxism

To understand the Jewish connection to communism, it may be helpful to start at the beginning – with Karl Marx and his lesser known mentor, Moses Hess. Both were of Jewish ethnicity, although only Hess identified openly as a Jew while Marx attempted to distance himself from his Jewish identity and embraced atheism. From the work of these two men, one may trace a multitude of communist aspects that can be tied directly to Jewish philosophies, particularly those expressed in the Talmud – a collection of Rabbinic writings that constitute the authoritative text on Jewish theology and philosophy. While the Talmud covers a wide array of different topics, contempt for gentiles (particularly Christians) and a belief in Jewish supremacy are pervasive themes. This spirit of Jewish supremacy is decidedly materialistic and utopian, and it was precisely this attitude that characterized Marx’s thinking, even while Marx rejected the Zionism of his mentor. Nonetheless, as E. Michael Jones explains in his book “The Jewish Revolutionary Spirit,” Marx certainly inherited Hess’ Talmudic mindset and worldview (2):

The Talmud has led to revolution. You don’t have to be religious to be talmudic. Karl Marx was an atheist, but according to Bernard Lazare, he was also “a clear and lucid Talmudist,” and, therefore, “full of that old Hebrew materialism which ever dreams of a paradise on earth and always rejects the far-distant and problematical hope of a garden of Eden after death.” (p. 99). Marx was the quintessential Talmudist and the quintessential Jewish revolutionary, and as such he proposed one of the most influential false Messiahs in Jewish history: world communism. Baruch Levy, one of Marx’s correspondents, proposed another equally potent false Messiah, namely, the Jewish Race. According to Levy, the Jewish people taken collectively shall be its own Messiahs… In this new organization of humanity, the sons of Israel now scattered over the whole surface of the globe… shall everywhere become the ruling element without opposition…. The governments of the nations forming the Universal or World -Republic shall all thus pass, without any effort, into Jewish hands thanks to the victory of the proletariat…. Thus shall the promise of the Talmud be fulfilled, that, when the Messianic epoch shall have arrived, the Jews will control the wealth of all the nations of the earth.

So, it turns out that there was basis in Jewish history for what Mahathir Mohammed said, as well as ample evidence—the creation of the state of Israel, for instance—that world Jewry had advanced considerably toward its goal of world domination in the century and a half since Levy wrote to Karl Marx. The Jews, quite simply, could not shake themselves loose from the notion that they were God’s chosen people, not even after they stopped believing in God. By rejecting Christ, they condemned themselves to worship one false Messiah after another—most recently Communism and Zionism. In their book La Question du Messie, the Lemann brothers, both of whom converted from Judaism to Catholicism, and both of whom became priests, compared present day Jews to the Israelites at the foot of Mount Sinai: “having grown weary of waiting for the return of Moses… they feasted and danced around the golden calf.” Zionism and Communism are two of the most recent false Messiahs which the Jews have fallen down to worship. Having rejected the supernatural Messiah who died on the cross, the Jews condemned themselves to worship one false natural Messiah after another and repeat the cycle of enthusiasm leading to disillusionment over and over again throughout their history. Those illusions both found fulfillment in and lent themselves to the creation of the birth of the Jewish state. On January 6, 1948, the chief rabbi of Palestine announced that “Eventually it [Israel] will lead to the inauguration of the true union of the nations, through which will be fulfilled the eternal message to mankind of our immortal prophets.” In the history of Jewish messianism, fantasies of racial superiority alternate with contradictory fantasies of universal brotherhood. “The great ideal of Judaism,” The Jewish World announced on February 9,1883 “is that… the whole world shall be imbued with Jewish teaching and that in a Universal Brotherhood of Nations—a greater Judaism in fact— all the separate races and religions shall disappear.”

It was from this Talmudic materialism that Marxism (along with other Jewish revolutionary/globalist ideologies like Zionism) came about. The fact that the Bolshevik movement featured so many Jews in its leadership cannot be dismissed as a mere coincidence – for the global communist revolution it promised is exactly what the Jewish elite have always wanted, and still continue to fight for to this very day. The ultimate failure of communism in the Soviet Union takes nothing away from this point – as Jones points out, the Jews “condemned themselves to worship one false Messiah after another – most recently Communism and Zionism.” In other words, the Jewish pursual of communism was irrational, but nevertheless pursued out of their ethnic interest – out of a desire for ethnic liberation from the “oppression” they have historically suffered in European countries. Ethnic liberation via human effort and historical “progress” leading up to revolution (as seen in Marxist theory) is a theme in Jewish thought that predates even Marx.

Jones explains how the Kabbalah – an ancient Jewish mystical/esoteric school of thought – gave rise to this sort of utopian revolutionary spirit. Without getting into all the specific details of Kabbalahic doctrine (which you can find in Jones’ book), it can be summarized by the idea that the purpose of Jews on earth was to bring “tiqqun,” or healing into the world by re-igniting the “holy sparks” of divine understanding which had been scattered throughout the world and suppressed. The suppression of the sparks had political implications as well, being represented by social/political oppression. This was how the Jewish Diaspora was explained – to facilitate the discovery of these “holy sparks” by the Jews. The long-foretold Messiah, rather than bringing about “tiqqun” himself, was instead the result of “tiqqun” being achieved by the Jewish people. Cosmic redemption via “tiqqun” was also tied to the national redemption of Israel, and from this one can see the roots of the Zionist ideology that Hess embraced, as well as his communism which Marx would later inherit. Jones has this to say about the Kabbalahic connection (3):

The political implications of the Lurianic Kaballah seem clear enough. The Messiah must now wait upon man’s efforts. He can only come once the process of tiqqun or purification and healing has been accomplished by man, i.e., by the Jews here on earth, who act as the vanguard of redemption much as the communist party at a later date would function as the vanguard of the proletariat. Without tiqqun, “it is impossible that the messianic king come.” From here it is but a short leap of thought to the conclusion that Israel had become its own Messiah, or as Scholem says, “By transferring to Israel, the historical nation, much of the redemptive task formerly considered as the messiah’s, many of his distinctive personal traits, as drawn in apocalyptic literature, were now obliterated.”

As mentioned before, this aspect of Kabbalah was used as a means of explaining the Jewish diaspora. Jones also explains in the preceding paragraph how it emerged specifically as a result of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, as a means of explaining how catastrophes like these fit into the grand scheme of Jewish redemption. Again we see the “Jewish revolutionary spirit” emerging in response to their expulsion from European societies. And again we see how Judaism operates as a “group evolutionary strategy,” adapting its philosophy and worldview in response to obstacles that stand in the way of the “redemption of Israel,” such as alleged ��oppression” at the hands of European populations. The great Russian novelist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s historical account “Two Hundred Years Together” (which will be looked at in more detail later) reveals that the Bolshevik Revolution was indeed perceived by Russian Jews as a means of ending the oppression they suffered under ethnic Russians and establishing Jewish hegemony in Russia, and eventually the world. The revolution was eagerly supported by many Jews, particularly Zionists. A Russian Jew named D.S. Pasmanik cited by Solzhenitsyn bemoaned the fact that many of his fellow Jews were so openly boasting about their role in the revolution, fearing that such a blatant display would forever ingrain anti-Semitism into the hearts of ethnic Russians (4).

D. S. Pasmanik evokes in 1924 “those Jews who proclaimed loudly and clearly the genetic link between Bolshevism and Judaism, who openly boasted about the sentiments of sympathy which the mass of the Jewish people nourished towards the power of the Commissioners.” At the same time, Pasmanik himself pointed out “the points which may at first be the foundation of a rapprochement between Bolshevism and Judaism… These are: the concern for happiness on earth and that of social justice… Judaism was the first to put forward these two great principles.”

As Pasmanik’s testimony indicates, the Marxist vision for global revolution to establish a classless egalitarian society would have had a natural appeal to the Talmudic, Kabbalahic Jew who wished to bring about “happiness on earth” and “social justice” for the ultimate goal of achieving “tiqqun.” Communism was both globalist and utopian, and as we shall see later, actually allowed Jews in practice to retain their Jewish ethnic identity while relegating the gentiles to a generic, deracinated, decultured mass. While Marx may have formally disavowed his Jewish religious traditions in favor of atheism, it was clear that the Talmudic influence of his mentor Hess likewise had a great impact on his own philosophy.

Moses Hess, the Communist Rabbi

Moses Hess served as the inspiration for many of Marx’s communist ideas, despite Marx himself later disagreeing with Hess on certain points of socialist ideology, namely in their evaluation of Zionism and Jewish identitarianism. In fact, Hess was sometimes referred to as the “communist rabbi” due to his connection with and influence on Marx. An article written in 1959 by British historian James Joll attests to this:

Although he can claim to have originated two of the major movements of our time, Communism and Zionism, and in spite of having streets named after him in Jerusalem and Tel- Aviv, Moses Hess is a disregarded figure, remembered mainly as a butt for Karl Marx’s attacks (The donkey, Moses Hess’), a comparatively unimportant member of the Young Hegelian circle from which the master sprang. Hess married a prostitute in order, as Professor Berlin tells us, ‘to redress the injustice perpetrated by society.’ The action was typical of his nature and beliefs; (it was typical too that the marriage should have turned out to be a happy one). Hess’s saintliness, his passionate belief in love and equality together with his belief in men’s capacity for co-operation and planned economic action made him a Communist before he met Marx in 1841. He differed from Marx in his belief that the end of the class struggle would not come about through violence, but as a result of a moral change, a spontaneous growth of solidarity and justice among men. What prevented him from becoming a Marxist was his belief, to quote Professor Berlin again, in ‘benevolence and love towards individual human beings and not just humanity at large’; but he also differed from Marx in his understanding of the ideals of nationality as expressed, for example, by Mazzini. It was this sense of the significance of nationality, and his own Jewish upbringing and experiences in Prussia and France, that turned him to the second great enthusiasm of his life— the advocacy of a national state for the Jews in Palestine and the undermining of the moral and intellectual position of those Jews who, as he himself had done when young, placed their hopes on assimilation into a liberal secular society.

With Hess’ thinking, we see a slightly different approach than Marx, but even despite their differing views on how a communist social order would be achieved and how they viewed their own Jewish identities, the overarching themes are the same. For all his disagreement with Marx’s vision of violent class struggle, his desire for a centrally planned communist economy was every bit as violent as Marx’s was (which should be obvious to libertarians who recognize that socialism in any form is institutionalized trespass and aggression). Hess, despite being a Jewish nationalist (i.e. Zionist), was decidedly a globalist in his thinking regarding the rest of the world, believing that communism could be achieved through feelings of “solidarity and justice” among “humanity at large.” Even more revealing is what Michael Hoffman explains in his book “Judaism Discovered” (5):

For Hess, the cardinal sin of the Judaic people was to abandon their heritage, while the cardinal objective of his Communism was to persuade all other people to abandon theirs…

Communism was the means for achieving Judaic supremacy over the gentiles. The gentiles were fated to be reduced to a faceless, deracinated mass. Capitalism was also capable of producing this effect, through free trade and the unfettered financialization of society, in which the management of money becomes a vast business in itself, and where the highest virtue, after obeisance to Judaism, is profit.

While Hoffman’s attribution of globalism to capitalism is misguided (as I have explained before in an earlier article) the salient point is that Communism was intended by Hess as a means to exert Jewish supremacy over the gentiles. In fact, Hess even viewed the French Revolution (in many ways a foreshadowing of the Bolshevik Revolution) as “Jewish revenge” upon their gentile “oppressors” (6):

The French Revolution was the beginning of the violent stage of the Judaic revenge. Hess set Communism in motion partly as ritual revenge on the goyim: ‘…you modern nations have denied these indefatigable workers and industrious merchants civil rights. What persecutions! What tears! What blood you children of Israel have shed in the last 1800 years! But you sons of Judea, in spite of all suffering are still here!…You have escaped destruction in your long dispersion, in spite of the terrible tax you have paid during eighteen centuries of persecution. But what is left of your nation is mighty enough to rebuild the gates of Jerusalem. This is your mission.

And unlike Marx his successor, Hess was far more open about the Talmudic influences on his thinking (which was likely the inspiration for his extreme hatred for the “goyim”) (7):

[Hess] was an unabashed, fanatical proponent of the Talmud…[ he] did not personally practice Judaism. Neither does Harvard Law Prof. Alan Dershowitz or Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan in our time. Observance of ritual is beside the point. Over the centuries, allegiance to the Oral Traditions is credited with having preserved the purity of the Judaic race and that’s what counts:

‘You who declare the teachings and ordinances of our sages to be foolish inventions, pray tell us what would have become of Judaism and the Jews if they had not, through the institutions of the Talmudic sages, thrown a protecting fence around their religion, so as to safeguard it for the coming days? Would they have continued to exist for 1800 years and have resisted the influence of the Christian and Mohammedan civilization? Would they not long ago have disappeared as a nation from the face of the earth…?’

Aside from the Talmudic nature of Marxist ideology, what else motivates this “Jewish revolutionary spirit” that we see in both Hess and Marx? The answer can be found in the investigative work of Kevin MacDonald, an evolutionary psychologist who has studied the political and intellectual activity of 20th century Jews in detail. As the main thesis in his work “Culture of Critique” argues, Judaism is ultimately a group evolutionary strategy. As such, the behavior of Jews in society and politics tends to be geared toward the advancement of their ethnic group interests. One might wonder, then, why Jews (who tend to be economically well-off in Western countries today) might be drawn to radical leftism, which would seem to be contrary to their economic interests. And indeed, while Eastern European Jews during the 19th and early 20th centuries (both in Europe and in America) were generally of low socioeconomic status (thus making their affinity for leftist politics more understandable), economics alone is insufficient to explain Jewish leftism in general. MacDonald argues instead that cultural and ethnic factors are the bigger issues here (8).

The suggestion is that in general Jewish political motivation is influenced by non-economic issues related to perceived Jewish group interests., the latter influenced by social identity processes. Similarly in the politically charged area of cultural attitudes, Silberman notes “American Jews are committed to cultural tolerance because of their belief – one firmly rooted in history – that Jews are safe only in a society acceptant of a wide range of attitudes and behaviors, as well as a diversity of religious and ethnic groups. It is this belief, for example, not approval of homosexuality, that leads an overwhelming majority of American Jews to endorse “gay rights” and to take a liberal stance on most other so-called “social” issues.” A perceived Jewish group interest in cultural pluralism transcends negative personal attitudes regarding the behavior in question.

Silberman’s comment that Jewish attitudes are “firmly rooted in history” is particularly relevant: A consistent tendency has been for Jews to be persecuted as a minority group within a culturally or ethnically homogeneous society…. The point here is that the perceived Jewish group interest in developing a pluralistic society is of far more importance than mere economic self-interest in determining Jewish political behavior.

One can immediately see, therefore, why communism, a universalistic, internationalist, egalitarian ideology would be perceived by many Jews as serving their ethnic interests. The destruction of gentile nations and cultures (which inevitably must occur under communism) would have given Jews protection from the anti-Semitism which, as MacDonald has pointed out in a passage that will be quoted later, has historically taken hold mostly in societies which are culturally and ethnically homogeneous and stable.

A complication here is the common claim that many Jewish leftists do not self-identify as Jews (a claim which is strongly contested elsewhere in MacDonald’s book as well as by Solzhenitsyn). MacDonald addresses this objection by pointing out that even supposedly “de-ethnicized Jews” (i.e. those who do not openly display their Jewish identities) are still over-represented in radical leftist movements and underrepresented in right-wing movements. (Neo-“conservatism” doesn’t count as right-wing, by the way – sorry Ben Shapiro!) Even if some of these right-wing movements are “anti-Semitic,” it should be irrelevant to such “de-ethnicized Jews” – if indeed they are completely de-ethnicized as is implied by the objection. MacDonald argues that Jewish group interests are formed by what he calls “social identity processes” – to which not even supposedly “de-ethnicized” Jews are immune.

In summary, he holds that radical Jewish political activism is the result of strong identification with a Jewish in-group, paired with “very negative and exaggerated conceptions of the wider gentile society, and particularly the most powerful elements of that society, as an out-group. As an example he cites the “New Left” movement of the 1960’s which was marked by “radical social criticism in which all elements that contributed to the cohesive social fabric of mid-century America were regarded as oppressive and in need of radical alteration” (9). One can see, therefore, how “social identity processes” would give a globalist and utopian ideology like Marxism a strong appeal to Jews, as it granted them a positive self identification with a supposedly moral cause (thus enhancing their sense of in-group identity) while simultaneously reinforcing their “negative evaluation of gentile power structures.” In addition, he points out (10):

Psychologists have found that a sense of moral rectitude is an important component of self-esteem, and self-esteem has been proposed as a motivating factor in social identity.

The Jewish revolutionary spirit makes more sense in light of MacDonald’s analysis of Judaism as a group evolutionary strategy. In summary, Jewish affinity for radical leftism is motivated primarily by a survivalist instinct that developed over the course of their history of being reviled and persecuted by their host European societies. The development of Jewish affinity for radical leftism was in turn reinforced by social identity processes which strengthened their positive in-group identity as well as their negative perception of the gentile out-group. As radical leftist – especially communist – social revolutions are extremely destabilizing to the majority culture and society, Jews see such social fragmentation as beneficial to their prospects for survival within Western society. When in-group preference within the majority population is strong and its social/civic institutions intact and stable, so-called “anti-Semitism” becomes a bigger threat. But when in-group preference has been eroded by multiculturalism and white guilt, and social/civic institutions (like the nuclear family) have been uprooted, then the host population can no longer offer meaningful resistance to the social/political agenda of Jews.

When one looks at the history of Jews in European countries, a common theme emerges. Jews have been expelled from a total of 109 different countries in the past. Did all 109 of these countries suffer from irrational bouts of anti-Semitism? Or was there a basis for all these expulsions? The clannish behavior of Jews combined with their economically and politically subversive behaviors eventually compelled the host populations of these countries to kick them out. This in turn led Jews to re-adjust their behaviors and seek out ways to gain economic and political dominance in their host countries without generating resistance from the host populations. The pursual of this strategy is the basis for Jewish support of multiculturalism, open borders, and cultural degeneracy in Western countries. Interestingly enough, many of these same Jews support precisely the opposite concepts and policies when it comes to Israel, or even in their own communities formed within Western countries.

The motive here is indisputable. Jews attempt to undermine the social and cultural cohesiveness of the host populations of Western countries to prevent “anti-Semitism” from becoming a threat to Jewish existence in these Western countries, and to eliminate any real resistance to Jewish economic and political hegemony. 20th century communism was part and parcel of this agenda, and modern-day communism/radical leftism is no different.

Jewish Bolshevism and Trotskyism

The great Russian novelist and historian Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (who experienced the horrors of the Soviet gulags himself) recalls the nature of the violent Bolshevik Revolution that plunged Russia into totalitarian communist rule for nearly a century in an interview with David Duke in 2002:

You must understand. The leading Bolsheviks who took over Russia were not Russians. They hated Russians. They hated Christians. Driven by ethnic hatred they tortured and slaughtered millions of Russians without a shred of human remorse. The October Revolution was not what you call in America the “Russian Revolution.” It was an invasion and conquest over the Russian people. More of my countrymen suffered horrific crimes at their bloodstained hands than any people or nation ever suffered in the entirety of human history. It cannot be overstated. Bolshevism was the greatest human slaughter of all time. The fact that most of the world is ignorant of this reality is proof that the global media itself is in the hands of the perpetrators.

The last line is revealing – just who are the people in control of the global media? It is undeniable that most of the mainstream media networks and publications are owned by Jews. Who, of course, have a strong motive to deny any connection between their ethnic group/interests and infamous historical atrocities like the Bolshevik Revolution. Solzhenitsyn’s historical account of the Revolution and the events leading up to it, titled “Two Hundred Years Together,” details the history of Jews and ethnic Russians in the Russian Empire. The first part, “Russian Jewish History,” is fairly innocuous – he describes the life of Jewish communities from the late 18th century up to the early 20th century just before the Russian Revolution. Those who are hypersensitive to “anti-Semitism” might take issue with Solzhenitsyn’s implication that Jews were no less oppressed in Tsarist Russia than average Russian peasants, but that’s about it. The second part, “Jews in the Soviet Union,” is the reason why the book has been blacklisted in most English-speaking countries. For it is in this section that the uncomfortable (and politically incorrect) truth is exposed: Bolshevism, the ideology that led to the deaths of millions of Russians, was indeed a Jewish-led movement. Solzhenitsyn continues (11):

Bolshevik Jews often had, in addition to their surname as underground revolutionaries, pseudonyms, or modified surnames. Example: in an obituary of 1928, the death of a Bolshevik of the first hour, Lev Mikhailovich Mikhailov, who was known to the Party as Politikus, in other words by a nickname; his real name, Elinson, he carried it to the grave. What prompted an Aron Rupelevich to take the Ukrainian surname of Taratut? Was Aronovitch Tarchis ashamed of his name or did he want to gain more weight by taking the name of Piatnitsky? And what about the Gontcharovs, Vassilenko, and others…? Were they considered in their own families as traitors or simply as cowards?

Observations made on the spot have remained. I. F. Najivin records the impressions he received at the very beginning of Soviet power: in the Kremlin, in the administration of the Sovnarkom, “reigns disorder and chaos. We see only Latvians and even more Latvians, Jews and even more Jews. I have never been an anti‐Semite, but there were so many it could not escape your attention, and each one was younger than the last.” Korolenko himself, as liberal and extremely tolerant as he was, he who was deeply sympathetic to the Jews who had been victims of the pogroms, noted in his Notebooks in the spring of 1919: “Among the Bolsheviks there are a great number of Jews, men and women. Their lack of tact, their assurance are striking and irritating,” “Bolshevism has already exhausted itself in Ukraine, the ‘Commune’ encounters only hatred on its way. One sees constantly emerge among the Bolsheviks—and especially the Cheka—Jewish physiognomies, and this exacerbates the traditional feelings, still very virulent, of Judæophobia.”

From the early years of Soviet rule, the Jews were not only superior in number in the upper echelons of the Party, but also, more remarkably and more sensitively for the population, to local administrations, provinces and townships, to inferior spheres, where the anonymous mass of the Streitbrecher had come to the rescue of the new and still fragile power which had consolidated it, saved it. The author of the Book of the Jews of Russia writes: “One cannot fail to evoke the action of the many Jewish Bolsheviks who worked in the localities as subordinate agents of the dictatorship and who caused innumerable ills to the population of the country”—and he adds: “including the Jewish population.”

The omnipresence of the Jews alongside the Bolsheviks had, during these terrible days and months, the most atrocious consequences. Among them is the assassination of the Imperial family, of which, today, everybody speaks, and where the Russians now exaggerate the share of the Jews, who find in this heart-wrenching thought an evil enjoyment. As it should, the most dynamic Jews (and they are many) were at the height of events and often at the command posts. Thus, for the assassination of the Tsar’s family: the guards (the assassins) were Latvians, Russians, and Magyars, but two [Jewish] characters played a decisive role: Philip Goloshchekin and Yakov Yurovsky (who had received baptism).

Thus, as Solzhenitsyn notes, Jews often took measures to conceal their Jewish identities as Bolshevik revolutionaries. This is because ethnic Russians were well aware of the relevance of the Jewish Question in their society even before the Revolution, as Solzhenitsyn describes in detail in the first part of the book. Yakov Yurovsky, as the last sentence in the above quote describes, even underwent a Christian baptism.

It is also worth noting the conflict which later arose between the Leninist-Trotskyist faction of the Communists, and the Stalinist faction. Lenin and Trotsky, both Jews, along with other Jews, enjoyed a very strong influence among the party leadership in the early years of the Soviet Union. Both were infected with the same kind of Talmudic idealism and globalism that characterized Marx’s thinking. Trotsky in particular advocated strongly for “permanent global revolution” to overthrow the bourgeoisie everywhere in the world and ultimately to establish a one-world state (which he denied would be a state, much like the “anarcho”-communists of today). One can see how if the comparatively more conservative and nationalistic Stalin had not purged the Trotskyites from the party, and Trotsky had gotten his way, the Soviet death toll would have far exceeded the 58 million that were killed historically. Countless more overseas would have been killed as well in Trotsky’s desired “global revolution.” Dan Michaels of the Occidental Observer explains, drawing from Andrei Burovsky’s book “Myths and the Truth about 1937: Stalin’s Counter-Revolution“:

The author refers to the war between the two devils as Stalin’s counter-revolution because, until Stalin undertook the great purge, the revolution and the Communist state had been overwhelmingly a Jewish enterprise with Lenin and Trotsky the leading lights. The goal of the Trotskyites, as demonstrated by the Comintern [Communist International], was to establish a permanent worldwide revolution “to fight by all available means, including armed force, for the overthrow of the international bourgeoisie and for the creation of an international Soviet Republic as a transition stage to the complete abolition of the state.”

By this definition, it was quite obvious that Trotsky and his cohorts were embarking upon a reckless and bloody adventure to establish a utopia based on nothing except their own fanciful dreams. To accomplish this, agents in every important country, usually citizens of those countries, either volunteered or were recruited to undermine the bourgeois government under which they currently lived and agitate for world revolution.

According to Burovsky, Stalin’s purge of the Trotskyites from the party leadership therefore represented the lesser of two evils. This is interesting because, as Michaels observes, Western historians tend to focus primarily on the crimes of Stalin while glossing over the atrocities committed by Lenin and Trotsky. Stalin, as Burovsky explains, was not necessarily less bloodthirsty or less committed to communist ideals than Lenin or Trotsky, but was decidedly less idealistic and much more calculating, preferring to establish and secure socialism in Russia first before embarking on “world revolution” as the Trotskyites were so eager to do. This relatively more conservative attitude with Stalin, therefore, is what made him the lesser evil compared to Lenin and Trotsky. Michaels goes on:

Burovsky notes that the end goal of both devils, Stalin and Trotsky, was the same — world communism, but the means chosen by Trotsky to achieve it would have caused worldwide mayhem and countless millions more deaths.

In addition, Michaels points out that although “Jews were prominent in both factions… Stalin insisted their loyalty be directed exclusively to his concept of a ‘socialist’ Soviet Union while their own interests and unrealistic goals be set aside. When, in his eyes, they did not comply, he had them killed.” Thus, we see that Stalin in some sense “de-Talmudized” the Soviet communists by partially forsaking the globalism and utopianism that had previously characterized its outlook under the more Jewish Leninist-Trotskyite leadership. This makes it all the more interesting, then, the fact that the crimes of Stalin are focused on to a much greater degree than those of Lenin and Trotsky. A coincidence? I think not.

Answering Some Objections

As the Jewish-Bolshevik connection is a politically incorrect “hate-fact,” much effort has been spent trying to deny its truth as an “anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.” While calling people anti-Semitic is not an argument, it may still be helpful to go through a few of the common objections to the “hate-facts” presented above.

First, the obvious one. Yes, we are all aware that communism was practiced in China, Vietnam, South America, Cuba, and various other mono-ethnic countries without significant Jewish populations. But the fact that some non-Jews have used communism as a means to achieve non-ethnospecific goals says nothing about the propensity for Jews to use the same means for their own ethnic interests in a different setting. As the subjective theory of value tells us, different actors can use the same means for varied ends. But nonetheless, the fact remains that communism has distinctly Jewish ideological roots, and was developed with Jewish ethnic interests in mind, as has already been shown. It is also a historical fact that the first real implementation of communism was by the actions of Jews during the Bolshevik Revolution. In light of these observations, the objection based on the existence of communism in settings that did not involve ethnic conflict is hardly an argument. Rather, it is a red herring meant to distract attention from the Jewish-Bolshevik connection.

Some will argue that the Jews suffered equally as much (if not more so) under Soviet communism as gentiles did – and therefore it cannot be said that Bolshevism was a Jewish movement. But neither the premise nor the conclusion drawn from it holds up under scrutiny. Solzhenitsyn recounts from his time in the gulag how many Jews actually had it much easier than their gentile gulag-mates. They were often assigned as “Idiots” (“an inmate slang term to denote other inmates who didn’t do common labor but managed to obtain positions with easy duties, usually pretending to be incapable of doing hard work because of poor health”) in a much higher proportion than ethnic Russians and also were shielded from disciplinary action by Jewish officers (who were also represented in higher proportion than ethnic Russian officers). These “free employees,” as Solzhenitsyn observes, demonstrated a much stronger degree of in-group preference toward the Jewish prisoners than Russian officers did toward Russian prisoners (p. 470-471). This testimony from Solzhenitsyn, corroborated by many of his personal sources who also suffered in the gulags, calls into question the popular narrative that it was the Jews who suffered the most. The reality was that because of the strong ethnic bonds between Jews that still existed even between boss and prisoner, and the fact that Jews were overrepresented among the “free bosses,” Jewish inmates ended up receiving better treatment from their overlords than did Russian inmates. Solzhenitsyn explains (12).

This particular Jewish national contract between free bosses and inmates is impossible to overlook. A free Jew was not so stupid to actually see an “Enemy of the People” or an evil character preying on “the people’s property” in an imprisoned Jew (unlike what a dumb-headed Russian saw in another Russian). He in the first place saw a suffering tribesman – and I praise them for this sobriety! Those who know about terrific Jewish mutual supportiveness (especially exacerbated by mass deaths of Jews under Hitler) would understand that a free Jewish boss simply could not indifferently watch Jewish prisoners flounder in starvation and die, and not help. But I am unable to imagine a free Russian employee who would save and promote his fellow Russian prisoners to the privileged positions only because of their nationality. Though we have lost 15 millions during collectivization, we are still numerous. You can’t care about everyone, and nobody would even think about it.

Is the in-group preference demonstrated by Jewish prisoners and the “free” guards by itself proof that Bolshevism was motivated by Jewish group interest? No, but it does cast doubt on the objection that Jewish suffering under communism disproves the existence of any connection between communism and Jewish group interest. Solzhenitsyn does not go into much detailed analysis regarding the ideological or sociological connections between Judaism and communism (he in fact denies that Judaism in general was responsible for the Bolshevik Revolution and argues that Jewish Bolsheviks were apostates from Jewish tradition rather than representatives of it), but the facts he presents in his historical work raise questions about these connections that other writers have since investigated with a more critical eye.

Kevin MacDonald has pointed out in a paper in The Occidental Quarterly that Jewish Bolshevism, in many ways, was actually a continuation of a common theme observed throughout the history of Jewish economic and political relations with their European neighbors in Western countries, with a slight twist.

This is the overarching generalization which one can make about Jewish economic behavior over the ages. Their role went far beyond performing tasks deemed inappropriate for the natives for religious reasons; rather they were often tasks at which natives would be relatively less ruthless in exploiting their fellows. This was especially the case in Eastern Europe, where economic arrangements such as tax farming, estate management, and monopolies on retail liquor distribution lasted far longer than in the West:

“In this way, the Jewish arendator became the master of life and death over the population of entire districts, and having nothing but a short-term and purely financial interest in the relationship, was faced with the irresistible temptation to pare his temporary subjects to the bone. On the noble estates he tended to put his relatives and co-religionists in charge of the flour-mill, the brewery, and in particular of the lord’s taverns where by custom the peasants were obliged to drink. On the church estates, he became the collector of all ecclesiastical dues, standing by the church door for his payment from tithe-payers, baptized infants, newly-weds, and mourners. On the [royal] estates…, he became in effect the Crown Agent, farming out the tolls, taxes, and courts, and adorning his oppressions with all the dignity of royal authority.”

Jewish involvement in the Communist elite of the USSR can be seen as a variation on an ancient theme in Jewish culture rather than a new one sprung from the special circumstances of the Bolshevik Revolution. Rather than being the willing agents of exploitative non-Jewish elites who were clearly separated from both the Jews and the people they ruled, Jews became an entrenched part of an exploitative and oppressive elite in which group boundaries were blurred. This blurring of boundaries was aided by four processes, all covered by Slezkine: shedding overt Jewish identities in favor of a veneer of international socialism in which Jewish identity and ethnic networking were relatively invisible; seeking lower-profile positions in order to de-emphasize Jewish preeminence (e.g., Trotsky); adopting Slavic names; and engaging in a limited amount of intermarriage with non-Jewish elites. Indeed, the “plethora of Jewish wives” among non-Jewish leaders doubtless heightened the Jewish atmosphere of the top levels of the Soviet government, given that everyone, especially Stalin, appears to have been quite conscious of ethnicity. For their part, anti-Semites have accused Jews of having “implanted those of their own category as wives and husbands for influential figures and officials.”

From MacDonald’s analysis, we see that the Bolshevik Revolution provided Jewish elites with an opportunity to expand their economic and political power over Russian society even further by abandoning their traditional “middleman” role and moving directly to the top of the hierarchy. All this was done while cleverly concealing their Jewish identities. Thus, contrary to Solzhenitsyn’s misguided claim, the revolution was in fact a continuation, not an abandonment, of the “Jewish revolutionary spirit” that has characterized Jewish activity in European societies even before the advent of communism.

Furthermore, MacDonald also points out that the advancement of Jewish group interests under Russian socialism as a whole was disguised by the claim that Marxism is a “universalist” or “internationalist” ideology that supposedly transcends ethnic and cultural boundaries (13). The apparently universalist nature of Marxism may be another reason why some have trouble seeing the connection between it and Jewish identity. Indeed, as MacDonald observes, Jews in Western societies both yesterday and today tend to campaign aggressively against nationalism for their host countries and populations in the name of universalist-sounding ideologies (ranging from individualism/liberalism to “tolerance and inclusivity” and appeals to the “universal brotherhood of man,” etc.) while at the same time embracing strong ethnic identitarianism for themselves. The Jew-dominated communist government that reigned in Soviet-era Poland is cited as a prominent example of this (14). Such a double standard, of course, cannot be pointed out in polite company for fear of being smeared as an “anti-Semite” (i.e. Literally Hitler™), which is precisely why so few have observed it.

Thus, far from being evidence against the presence of Jewish group interest in Bolshevism/communist revolutions, the universal nature of Marxism comports quite well with Jewish group interests. It simultaneously allows Jews to retain their own group identity while avoiding the scrutiny of gentiles, and subverts the national ties of gentile peoples for the universal cause of communist revolution.

Another objection to the Jewish-Bolshevik connection is that Bolshevism would have been antithetical to the economic interests of Jewish elites, especially those in the West who tended to be wealthy capitalists. However, MacDonald has demonstrated that Jewish political activity is driven more by sociological incentives rather than strictly economic ones (15). MacDonald also discusses how wealthy Jewish capitalists in Western countries supported the Bolshevik Revolution despite the apparent fact that communism was opposed to their economic interests (16).

The emphasis here on social identity processes is compatible with Jewish radicalism serving particular perceived Jewish group interests. Anti-Semitism and Jewish economic interests were undoubtedly important motivating factors for Jewish leftism in czarist Russia. Jewish leaders in Western societies, many for whom were wealthy capitalists, proudly acknowledged Jewish over-representation in the Russian revolutionary movement; they also provided financial and political support for these movements by, for example, attempting to influence US foreign policy. Representative of this attitude is financier Jacob Schiff’s statement that “the claim that among the ranks of those who in Russia are seeking to undermine governmental authority there are a considerable number of Jews may perhaps be true. In fact, it would be rather surprising if some of those terribly afflicted by persecution and exceptional laws should not at last have turned against their merciless oppressors.

In summary, the testimony of Solzhenitsyn, the social analysis of MacDonald, and the evidence of the open boasting of many Jews about their role in the Bolshevik revolution all serve to demonstrate that Bolshevism was indeed a Jewish movement. This truth, unfortunately, has often been obscured by political correctness. And as Solzhenitsyn said, the fact that the perpetrators of such a massive atrocity have not been unmasked and identified only goes to show that the global media is under their control. As it is sometimes said: to determine the true rulers of any society, all you must do is ask yourself this question – who is it that I am not permitted to criticize?

Even to this day, the perpetrators of the Bolshevik Revolution continue to exercise an insidious influence on world politics, but in a different form.

Internationalism, Zionism, and Neoconservatism

There is an interesting parallel between the radical leftism/communism that has characterized Jewish political activism in the past, and the Zionism/neoconservatism that many Jews embrace now. While neoconservatism is commonly associated with “right wing” politics, it is in fact only a variation of the globalist, internationalist ideology of communism. The fact that many of the founding neoconservative thinkers like Irving Kristol held Trotsky in very high regard (and in fact were influenced by his worldview) is a telling sign of this. Like Trotsky, neoconservatives support the idea of “global revolution,” albeit in slightly different form. They support military intervention by the US in countries all around the world to (in the words of Woodrow Wilson) “make the world safe for democracy.” That is, the neocon vision involves reconstructing the whole world into the “liberal democratic” image of the modern West – albeit inconsistently. This kind of global Messianism bears a striking resemblance to the globalist vision of Marxism – the only difference is that the false “Messiah” of the neocons is the American military carrying the torch of liberal democracy to the world, rather than working-class revolutionaries carrying the torch of communism.

Interestingly enough, while neoconservatives often make a show of condemning foreign dictators like Saddam Hussein, Muammar Gaddafi, Hosni Mubarak, Bashar al-Assad, and Vladimir Putin who supposedly are “serial violators of human rights,” they turn a conspicuous blind eye to other countries who are arguably even worse violators of human rights. Two prominent examples are Israel and Saudi Arabia – the former which has recently been in the news for its massacring of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and has been displacing many more Palestinians from their homelands over the past few decades, and the latter (also a close military ally of Israel, interestingly enough, despite the fact that the Saudis are Sunni Muslims who historically have hated Jews) which enforces an extremely strict regime of Sharia Law and has also been bombing and starving the country of Yemen to death over the past few years (with the help of American weapons and airplane fuel). Why does the US not bomb Israel or Saudi Arabia for these atrocities? Why does the US not push for regime change in these countries? Perhaps to answer this question we ought to wonder which countries actually benefit from the endless US military intervention in the Middle East (hint: not America).

I have written an article in the past exposing the pernicious Zionist influence over American foreign policy. I will not attempt to rehash all of the same points here. There is another article, however, titled “Whose War?”, written by Pat Buchanan at the start of the Iraq War in 2003 which goes into much more detail regarding the Jewish interest in American warmongering.

The War Party may have gotten its war. But it has also gotten something it did not bargain for. Its membership lists and associations have been exposed and its motives challenged. In a rare moment in U.S. journalism, Tim Russert put this question directly to Richard Perle: “Can you assure American viewers … that we’re in this situation against Saddam Hussein and his removal for American security interests? And what would be the link in terms of Israel?”

Suddenly, the Israeli connection is on the table, and the War Party is not amused. Finding themselves in an unanticipated firefight, our neoconservative friends are doing what comes naturally, seeking student deferments from political combat by claiming the status of a persecuted minority group. People who claim to be writing the foreign policy of the world superpower, one would think, would be a little more manly in the schoolyard of politics. Not so.

Former Wall Street Journal editor Max Boot kicked off the campaign. When these “Buchananites toss around ‘neoconservative’—and cite names like Wolfowitz and Cohen—it sometimes sounds as if what they really mean is ‘Jewish conservative.’” Yet Boot readily concedes that a passionate attachment to Israel is a “key tenet of neoconservatism.” He also claims that the National Security Strategy of President Bush “sounds as if it could have come straight out from the pages of Commentary magazine, the neocon bible.” (For the uninitiated, Commentary, the bible in which Boot seeks divine guidance, is the monthly of the American Jewish Committee.)

David Brooks of the Weekly Standard wails that attacks based on the Israel tie have put him through personal hell: “Now I get a steady stream of anti-Semitic screeds in my e-mail, my voicemail and in my mailbox. … Anti-Semitism is alive and thriving. It’s just that its epicenter is no longer on the Buchananite Right, but on the peace-movement left.”

Washington Post columnist Robert Kagan endures his own purgatory abroad: “In London … one finds Britain’s finest minds propounding, in sophisticated language and melodious Oxbridge accents, the conspiracy theories of Pat Buchanan concerning the ‘neoconservative’ (read: Jewish) hijacking of American foreign policy.”

Of course, this piece was received with howls of “anti-Semitism” from the neoconservatives in addition to all the “reasonable moderates” and pro-war leftists who were all beating the war drums in unison at the time. Quite telling, isn’t it? The neocons seem to be fully aware of their own ideology’s Jewish connection (as is especially apparent in Max Boot’s comments cited above) and yet were foaming at the mouth at the very suggestion from Buchanan and co. that the Iraq War for which they had vigorously campaigned had anything to do with Jewish interests! Buchanan goes on:

They charge us with anti-Semitism—i.e., a hatred of Jews for their faith, heritage, or ancestry. False. The truth is, those hurling these charges harbor a “passionate attachment” to a nation not our own that causes them to subordinate the interests of their own country and to act on an assumption that, somehow, what’s good for Israel is good for America.

What Buchanan and the rest of the paleoconservatives correctly recognized was that these neoconservatives (whom he observes in addition to being Jewish, were composed mostly of “ex-liberals, socialists, and Trotskyites, boat-people from the McGovern revolution”) were actively promoting an Israel First foreign policy for the American government. And we see here that the same Zionist-Bolshevik theme recurs: nationalism for the “chosen ones” and internationalism (this time in the form of perpetual war in the Middle East) for the goyim (read: Americans). Just as communism was meant to destroy the culture, tradition, and identity of gentile nations for the purpose of furthering Jewish hegemony, neoconservatism entails the destruction of the Middle East (making the Middle East “safe for Israel”) and the subordination of the American military to Zionist interests, all at the expense of American taxpayers. Communism and neoconservatism are two sides of the same globalist coin.

In addition, MacDonald’s “Culture of Critique” also discusses neoconservative views on immigration, in fact dedicating an entire lengthy chapter to the issue (which I would highly recommend reading in full). Many neoconservatives, in contrast to the more nationalistic paleoconservatives and alt-right, tend to voice (nominal) opposition to illegal immigration while supporting a theoretically unlimited amount of legal immigration. They also tend to vigorously counter-signal those “dissident” conservatives who take more principled anti-immigration stances, treating them essentially the same as the left treats them (i.e. calling them “racist,” “fascist,” etc. etc.). MacDonald gives some specific examples (17):

Because liberal immigration policies are vital Jewish interest, it is not surprising that support for liberal immigration policies spans the Jewish political spectrum. We have seen that Sidney Hook, who along with the other New York intellectuals may be viewed as an intellectual precursor of neoconservatism, identified democracy with the equality of differences and with the maximization of cultural diversity. Neoconservatives have been strong advocates of liberal immigration policies, and there has been a conflict between predominantly Jewish neoconservatives and predominantly gentile paleoconservatives over the issue of Third World immigration into the United States. Neoconservatives Norman Podhoretz and Richard John Neuhaus reacted very negatively to an article by a paleoconservative concerned that such immigration would eventually lead to the United States being dominated by such immigrants. Other examples are neoconservatives Julian Simon and Ben Wattenberg, both of whom advocate very high levels of immigration from all parts of the world, so that the United States will become what Wattenberg describes as the world’s first “Universal Nation.” Based on recent data, Fetzer reports that Jews remain far more favorable to immigration to the United States than any other ethnic group or religion.

MacDonald also explains the general history of Jewish involvement in US immigration policy here, reiterating a point made previously regarding Jewish Bolshevism. Like the Bolsheviks, modern Jewish open-borders advocates wish to dilute Gentile culture so as to create a more pluralistic society. The thinking goes that since Jewish persecution has historically taken place in more culturally and ethnically homogeneous societies (i.e. European countries) as opposed to more heterogeneous societies (i.e. America), the dilution of the native-born and predominantly white populations of Western countries will make them safer for Jews (although one might question the accuracy of this kind of thinking given the results of the Islamization of Europe taking place currently). Here is what MacDonald has to say (18):

The Jewish involvement in influencing immigration policy in the United States is especially noteworthy as an aspect of ethnic conflict. Jewish involvement in influencing immigration policy has had certain unique qualities that have distinguished Jewish interests from the interests of other groups favoring liberal immigration policies. Throughout much of the period from 1881 to 1965, one Jewish interest in liberal immigration policies stemmed from a desire to provide a sanctuary for Jews fleeing from anti-Semitic persecutions in Europe and elsewhere. Anti-Semitic persecutions have been a recurrent phenomenon in the modern world beginning with the Russian pogroms of 1881 and continuing into the post-World War II era in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. As a result, liberal immigration has been a Jewish interest because “survival often dictated that Jews seek refuge in other lands.” For a similar reason, Jews have consistently advocated an internationalist foreign policy because “an internationally-minded America was likely to be more sensitive to the problems of foreign Jewries.”

There is also evidence that Jews, much more than any other European-derived ethnic group in the United States, have viewed liberal immigration policies as a mechanism of ensuring that the United States would be a pluralistic rather than a unitary, homogeneous society. Pluralism serves both internal (within-group) and external (between-group) Jewish interests. Pluralism serves internal Jewish interests because it legitimates the internal Jewish interest in rationalizing and openly advocating an interest in overt rather than semi-cryptic Jewish group commitment and nonassimilation, what Howard Sachar terms its function in “legitimizing the preservation of a minority culture in the midst of a majority’s host society”…

Ethnic and religious pluralism also serves external Jewish interests because Jews become just one of many ethnic groups. This results in the diffusion of political and cultural influence among the various ethnic and religious groups, and it becomes difficult or impossible to develop unified, cohesive groups of gentiles united in their opposition to Judaism. Historically, major anti-Semitic movements have tended to erupt in societies that have been, apart from the Jews, religiously or ethnically homogeneous (see SAID). Conversely, one reason for the relative lack of anti-Semitism in the United States compared to Europe was that “Jews did not stand out as a solitary group of [religious] non-conformists.” Although ethnic and cultural pluralism are certainly not guaranteed to satisfy Jewish interest, it is nonetheless the case that ethnically and religiously pluralistic societies have been perceived by Jews as more likely to satisfy Jewish interests than are societies characterized by ethnic and religious homogeneity among gentiles.

Indeed, Jews have a vested interest in promoting the “invade the world, invite the world” agenda that has largely characterized American foreign policy and immigration policy over the past few decades. The Jewish neoconservative lobby has successfully co-opted the American military for the pursual of Zionist interests, while Jewish radical leftists (along with neoconservatives) have shaped an American immigration policy geared toward ensuring a pluralistic society safe for Jews. Neither of the items on this agenda are advantageous for the American majority host population (i.e. White people), and neither have ever been considered traditionally conservative positions (at least by the standards of the American Old Right).

Neoconservatism is not conservatism at all, but rather a Jewish ideology that has hijacked true conservatism. It has led to the co-opting of the American military for the purpose of advancing Israeli rather than American interests. And like communism, it has led to the mass killings of many innocent people. Neoconservatism, like the Zionist ideology with which it is often coupled, means supporting ethno-nationalism for the Jews of Israel while simultaneously pushing internationalism for everyone else. This is yet another parallel with the Jewish Bolshevism of the twentieth century – an ideology meant to deracinate and denationalize the gentiles while allowing Jews to retain a strong sense of their ethnic identity.

Eastern Europe may have survived the horrors of Jewish Bolshevism, but Jewish political subversion is alive and well in the West. Whether in the form of communism or neoconservatism, this subversion must be stopped before private property norms are completely subverted in the West, and before the entire Middle East is plunged into irreversible chaos.

References:

[1] MacDonald, Kevin. Culture of Critique. Bloomington: 1st Books Library, 2002. p. 80, 99.

[2] E. Michael Jones. The Jewish Revolutionary Spirit. South Bend: Fidelity Press, 2008. p. 1066.

[3] Ibid. p. 443.

[4] Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr. Two Hundred Years Together. Moscow: Vagrius, 2008. p. 297.

[5] Hoffman, Michael. Judaism Discovered: A Study of the Anti-Biblical Religion of Racism, Self-Worship, Superstition and Deceit. Coeur d’Alene: Independent History and Research, 2008. p. 865-866.

[6] Ibid. p. 864-865.

[7] Ibid. p. 863-864.

[8] Culture of Critique. p. 84-85.

[9] Ibid. p. 81.

[10] Ibid. p. 87.

[11] Two Hundred Years Together. p. 286-287.

[12] Ibid. p. 471.

[13] Culture of Critique. p. 89.

[14] Ibid. p. 63-65, 89

[15] Ibid. p. 84-85

[16] Ibid. p. 81.

[17] Ibid. p. 245.

[18] Ibid. p. 241-242.

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