#Unimportant which is why this post is going in the tags

[buckttommy]

-

[moe-broey]

A closer look at my young Askr siblings designs! Sharena's kind of constantly fluctuates, but I've always had a really clear vision for an early teen Alfonse.

[cookinguptales]

So… last week I made a vent post about an accessibility issue I’d had with some podcasters. I really only meant for the post to be read by my followers (who to my knowledge aren’t familiar with the podcast in question) which is why I put minimal tags on it and didn’t name the show.

But… the post got legs that I wasn’t expecting, and eventually a lot of people asked for the name of the show. I hadn’t intended on creating a whole big thing, so I was kind of reluctant, but I did see the logic in what they were saying — as a disabled woman myself, I would also want to know if I were supporting podcasters whose values did not align with mine. So I told people quietly in the notes that the show had been Old Gods of Appalachia.

Things… did not stay quiet.

Frankly speaking, one of the reasons why I don’t write as many posts about disability and ableism these days is because I got tired of people writing to me and telling me that people like me should be dead. So you can imagine what kind of fucking week I’ve been having since all that blew up. It’s been a very high symptom week, too, so I’m just. Very tired and stressed rn.

Personally, I’d be happy to never talk about it again and try to get back to my everyday life, but I did think it was important to note that the creators of OGOA must have gotten wind of the post, and they did contact me.

I won’t post the whole email here, but it was a good response. Since seeing my post, they’d tried getting in contact with the venue and realized very quickly why I’d been so frustrated. They ended up needing to go through their booking agent to get any kind of answers — so like, to the people who sent me a thousand messages telling me I was an entitled idiot who just needed to contact the venue, please know that none of you were remotely helpful.

Again, I’m not going to post the entire email, but I did think it was important to be fair and use the same platform that I used to vent to tell people that they seem committed to doing better in the future. They told me that they would be making sure that they have all this information going forward and that they would no longer allow it to be such a barrier to entry for disabled fans.

They invited me back to the show and… god, I’ll admit it. I really had to think about my answer. Not to sound ungrateful, but after the week I’ve had, even thinking about the podcast, the podcasters, and that damn live show has me stressed af. I had to really consider whether I even wanted to go.

But in the months since I first contacted them, they added a show that’s a lot closer to where I live, so rather than a weekend trip, I could just take a single bus. And it’s near one of my favorite Japanese restaurants in the city, so if all else fails, I can at least have some good katsudon. So I will be going to the Philadelphia show.

(Though for fellow disabled fans, Terakawa Ramen is not wheelchair accessible. 🙃 Most days I can do the two steps into the restaurant, but not always. Philly, I love and loathe you.)

Anyway, I wanted to reply to them before I made a post here, but… yeah. We’ve worked things out, I think. Only the future can tell what they'll do going forward but they do seem committed to doing better.

To me, there are always two goals when I write about disability and ableism. The first is that disabled people will feel seen. That is always, always my primary goal. It’s so easy for us to feel invisible and unimportant, and I always want to make you all feel seen, just like I want to feel seen. The second is that able-bodied folks will listen and learn and do their best to support their disabled peers in the future.

So… I think that my post managed to fulfill both of those goals. A lot of disabled people have reblogged that post and have talked about their own experiences, and a lot of them have explicitly said how much that post makes them feel seen. And the podcasters in question seem to have really reflected on their actions and seem to want to do better going forward.

So as incredibly fucking stressed out as I’ve been, I guess I can’t regret making the post. It’s always good to know that your words can have impact. The post has long since moved out of my friends circle so I assume it’ll just keep circulating and I’ll keep getting shitty anons and chat messages, but I’m just gonna focus on what good has come from it. I’m hopeful that my post will make life tangibly better for at least a few disabled people, and I’m encouraged by the fact that podcasters who I’d formerly liked do actually seem to want to do the work needed to improve.

And uh I’m not answering any more messages from people who just wanna swear at me. I’m tired. Leave me alone.

[emry-stars-art]

What was Abrams favorite thing that Andrew gave him during his courting attempts?

Okay I’ve been sitting on this one because I was trying to give it my best answer and like. I still don’t know lol

I know that people in the replies and tags are going to have incredible answers as well so I want this to be more of a “here’s a collection of things he likes the most” and I get to start so here’s my take:

It’s a book. I hear your valid confusion but LISTEN. In the stretch before Abram finally realizes what’s been going on with the gifts/etc, Andrew gives Abram a book - could be poetry, could be a romance story, idk - with a ribbon just barely peeking out of one page. Abram, obviously, doesn’t think much of it and he’s never been big on reading (I don’t know why I never have Neil liking to read lol is that canon) so he keeps the book on his dresser or something like “I’ll get around to it if he insists”

And then after Abram actually, clearly says he can accept Andrew’s advances, Andrew remembers about it and realizes Abram must not have ever opened the book because he would have figured this all out before now if he had

He asks him about it, if he ever read it, and Abram’s like “…no”

So Andrew tells him to. Later, when Abram’s back in his room, he picks up the book and checks out the first page, and it’s something pretty obviously unimportant or unrelated. And the next page. Eventually he thinks to check the ribbon; he flips to the pages and somewhere on them a quote is underlined in steady deep blue ink:

My glances through the eyes of friendship grow more brief by the day. You remain in the kindest, softest embrace of my heart, but now I find myself watching, hopeful, and friends do not look at friends the way I sometimes look at you.

Stunned, in a word.

But this is something he can figure out. This isn’t flowers - they’re lovely but die so quickly, and Abram doesn’t know the language of them or which ones Andrew would like. It isn’t meals shared, because that’s too common by now. It isn’t direct words or actions of affection because those are far too awkward for someone with so little experience with them. But Abram looks at this book, sees exactly what to do with it, and he knows certainly that this is a way the prince wouldn’t mind communicating because he was the first to do it. Abram doesn’t even have to be around when Andrew reads it.

So Abram spends the next several days scanning the book when he has time, finding many quotes he could perhaps imagine returning, finding a few he keeps marked just in case. Then he finds one that he doesn’t even bother marking with a scrap paper, he immediately picks up his pen and underlines it.

I look at the moon and she has your face: the brightest thing in my sky, the most beautiful, and so, so far away.

(And @jtl-fics had the sweetest idea of Abram pressing and keeping the flowers from the bouquet Andrew gets him in this post; and that he uses some to make bookmarks probably because he knows how much the prince likes books. He would definitely use one of those bookmarks to mark the page he underlined rather than the scrap ribbon 🥰)

Anyway the next time Abram sees the prince he wordlessly hands him back the book. Andrew sees the new mark but doesn’t try to open it yet (which relieves Abram more than he’ll admit), just keeping it under his arm until he has somewhere to put it. But it doesn’t take him near as long to find another quote, since he tends to get distracted reading the context or surrounding passages; he underlines the very next sentence and gets the book back to Abram the next morning. Understanding the risk of Abram’s misunderstanding and completely willing to explain himself in plain terms when Abram asks. Still with the pressed flower bookmark.

To have you near enough to touch should surely destroy me.

When Abram opens it later he first sees that the pages look very familiar - those passages look very familiar - that quote is certainly familiar. And he gets very worried very quickly. Maybe Andrew didn’t like that one, maybe Abram had chosen wrong and he didn’t know how to do this as well as he’d thought. But he doesn’t close it fast enough not to finally, mercifully read on and realize that some of the ink on the page is not his own black ink. After it, dark enough to almost be black in the wrong light, is Andrew’s dark blue.

But after reading Andrew’s quote he does in fact close the book quickly, sitting back and just staring, mostly because he’d surprised himself; he won’t know Andrew’s intention for certain until he asks, but this time - likely for the first time - Abram looks at the word destroy and doesn’t immediately think of the harm he’s done. (Andrew’s new, unfamiliar way with words had to work it’s way into Abram’s understanding eventually.)

They go on as long as there’s still quotes they like in the book, and only once does Andrew get frustrated that Abram stole one of his before he could get around to using it.

Anyway thank you for the sweet ask, here’s a quick sketch of Andrew reading to Abram in the library

[averywiseanimatedcat]

The stars in your eyes

Good Omentober #1

Prompt: pre-fall

Word count: 2,311

Rating: G

Tags: pre-fall a Crowley and Aziraphale

Summary: This one shot takes place after Crowley and Aziraphales first meeting as angels. Aziraphale has developed a bit of a workplace crush after meeting the charming star-maker. He makes an excuse to visit him in the planning and construction department.

Read it on AO3

Author notes: The nebula referred to in this piece is the Ring Nebula, to me, it looks like a blue eye….wonder where Crowley got the design inspiration from…can’t be a certain blue eyed angel.

The idea of Crowleys angel name comes from this meta post by @indigovigilance.

Aziraphale didn’t need to go up to the planning and construction floor. In fact he had no business being up there at all. But he’d managed to convince his supervisor that these brand spanking new scrolls with gold inlay absolutely should be delivered by hand, and by his hands specifically. As he rode the elevator upwards, he had a silly, giddy feeling in his chest. It felt like little bits of light dancing around in there. Not that he knew what dancing was. But if he did, that’s what he’d tell you it felt like.

The elevator light blinked onto the planning and construction floor, coming to an abrupt halt. He’d been squished in with multiple other angels who were all heading up here too. It was a very busy department right now, what with all the building the universe going on.

The doors opened, and all the others tumbled out and scattered in various directions, leaving Aziraphale alone. He’d only been up here once before, and that was because gotten into trouble for suggesting that horses should have 5 legs instead of 4.

‘Why not one more if you’re going to give them that many?’

He’d said. It was suppose to be a joke. His supervisor wasn’t amused. So he’d been dragged up here to illustrate how unimportant and uneducated he was on the matters of creation. He hadn’t seen the star-maker at that time, if he had, he might’ve taken a bit more interest in planning and construction beyond how many legs horses were going to have.

This department was an impressive floor. It was wide and stretched out seemingly unending in all directions. Huge, long tables extended into the distance, all covered with various scrolls being pawed over by hundreds of angels. On those scrolls were extremely complex mathematical equations, planning sheets, maps and memos. There were various miniature models strewn about the tables and larger holograms floating in the aisles. Planets, stars, suns and galaxies dotted the room. At the centre was the biggest and most impressive hologram of them all, the Milky Way galaxy. It was a miniature of course, only about as high as Aziraphale was tall. In real life it would be quite enormous. Even as a hologram, it was deeply impressive. And if Aziraphale had been paying more attention to it, he would have said it was beautiful.

Beautiful would also be a word he’d use to describe a certain star-maker he’d met the angelic equivalent of a few days ago. He’d been travelling across a new sector of space when someone had called for help. He’d pulled up and come face to face with the most stunning angel he’d ever met. Gosh he’d been star struck. That was a new phrase he’s coined just for the occasion, considering all the stars that were being made at the time.

The star maker, whose name he never actually caught, must be quite a high ranking angel in planning and construction. He must be very intelligent, Aziraphale thought to himself. Although Aziraphale was equally as intelligent in his own department. Which was what modern humans would call being a ‘book worm’. But the areas of science and creation sounded like magic to him.

He scanned the immediate vicinity, if he couldn’t find the star-maker straight away, he’d have no real excuse to go looking for him. Aziraphale didn’t want to peak curious eyes by wandering around asking for someone he had absolutely no reason to see. Fortunately, the way ahead cleared at just the right moment. The star-maker sat at his own desk a short distance from the mass of longer ones by the windows. Aziraphale fluffed himself up courageously and started towards him.

As he got closer, he could see the angels position title stamped in large, gold letters on the front of the desk. It read ‘Lead design engineer’. Golly, thought Aziraphale, that was much higher than a supervisor. His nerve began to shake more and more as he got closer, Aziraphale hoped the star-maker wouldn’t be upset at being disturbed. But his fears were soon soothed when the star-makers face spread into a wide, bright grin at the sight of him.

“Oh hello again!”

He greeted Aziraphale, putting down the complicated looking instrument he had in his hands. A large sheet of paper was laid out on his desk, it was covered in complicated drawings, equations and scribbles.

“Hello. I uh, got sent up to deliver these. Not sure who else to give them but a familiar face.”

Aziraphale bluffed. The star-makers eyes twinkled as he stood and took the armful of scrolls.

“Perfect! I’ve been waiting for some decent paper. Gotta make it all look pretty you know. Can’t show up to the presentation with a hundred bits of old scribbled on paper.”

He cleared off some space on his desk for the scrolls.

“No, got to have decent paper. What are you working on now?”

Aziraphale asked, trying to make conversation.

“Oh something very exciting, I can show you if you like?”

The angel said cheerfully, Aziraphale blinked

“Oh…absolutely I’d love to see it.”

The star-maker abandoned the paper and gestured for Aziraphale to follow him. But then he stopped suddenly and turned around

“Wait, you’re not suppose to be somewhere are you? I’m not gonna get you in trouble stealing you for a few minutes?”

His eyes had a flicker of concern Aziraphale haddnt seen in their last meeting. He shook his head

“Oh no, I have some time. Please continue.”

The brief moment of tension lifted and the star-maker strode on. They made their way past a large groups of angels all gathered around a huge round table debating something about dwarf planets. Aziraphale had to almost jog to keep up with the taller angels quick pace. eventually, they reached the back wall and Azirphale gasped. All along it were large holograms of what he assumed were different nebula. There were all different sizes, shapes and colours. The star-maker grinned at him.

“Just super isn’t it? I’m working on this one right now.”

He pointed to a large, round one. Aziraphale thought it looked almost like an eye, or a portal to another world. Whatever it was meant to be, it was beautiful. The star-maker then pointed to each hologram in tern and told Aziraphale it’s name, its designer (which was often him), location in space, physical make up, how big it would be and it’s purpose. Aziraphale didn’t understand some of what he was saying, but he enjoyed listening anyway. Once the angel finished he looked at Aziraphale expectantly.

“Just…beautiful. Honestly I don’t know what to say. It’s so much more exciting than the records department.”

He sighed. The star-maker beamed at him. They chatted on about continuing plans for the expansion of space and what they were going to fill it with. This took them all the way back to the desk.

Aziraphale clawed for another point of conversation

“Oh, how did your ah…suggestion box idea go down?”

He asked. The star-makers face went dark for just a moment, like a shadow passed over it.

“Oh, not that well…”

His voice sounded quite absent, lacking its usual pep. He pushed a finger into a model galaxy that sat atop a golden stand on his desk, making it spin.

“Well, you tried. I guess the almighty has other plans.”

Aziraphale said, trying to offer some comfort.

“Mm. I guess so. Anyway…not my job is it, to decide what happens to them. I only make ‘em…”

The stare-maker gestured around vaguely, his eyes settling on the Milky way hologram in the centre of the room.

“Look I know…I can see how important this all is to you. Obviously you’re brilliant at what you do…”

Aziraphale started

“Oh…thank you. You really think so?”

The star makers face brightened a little as his deep brown eyes flicked to Aziraphale.

“Absolutely. Maybe…maybe the almighty is going to make a lot of new ones later. After these have gone. And she would need you for that.”

Aziraphale was just making this all up, he had no idea really. But the star-makers discontent made him uneasy. He could tell the angel was just passionate about his creations, but there weren’t allowances for that kind of thing here. You had to just do what you were told, or things could get ugly.

Aziraphale noticed that the star-maker was squinting at him.

“What’s wrong?”

He asked, thinking that maybe he’d said something offensive. The other angels head just tilted a little as he said

“Have you…ever noticed your eyes, the pupils, they’re the shape of a star?”

Aziraphale felt quite taken aback, they didn’t have mirrors here, so he’d never looked at his eyes. He just assumed he looked like everyone else.

Aziraphale blushed. It was only the second time in history where an angel had blushed at this point. Both times were Aziraphale, and both times occurred when he was in-front of the star maker.

Aziraphale took note of the star-makers eyes. The inky black of the his pupils reminded him of the drops that occasionally dropped from the top of his quill when he got to hasty writing. They sat inside a soothing, earth tone of brown you’d find on many a book cover in the record department where he worked. The deeper brown tones were flecked with white and gold, much like the gold in layer paper he’d just dropped off. Overall, they had the same inviting, comfortable quality Aziraphale enjoyed about books.

Aziraphale suddenly realised he’d been staring for far too long. Although the star-maker didn’t seem to mind, he was smiling in a gentle, lost sort of way.

“Anyway…sorry to interrupt your work. I’ll…get going, lots to do you know.”

Aziraphale said rather awkwardly.

“Oh yes, same. Very busy.”

The star-maker answered, just as awkwardly. He bustled back to his chair behind the desk. Aziraphale went to leave but stopped himself

“Sorry but…”

He started, the star-maker looked up at him again

“I still don’t know your name?”

“Oh, it’s Baraqiel.”

The angel replied, lifting the corner of the large sheet of paper to reveal the name plate that had been hiding underneath it. Aziraphale blinked in surprise, Baraqiel? He had heard the name but never connected it with the face before him. Baraqiel was a dominion, engineering was actually quite lowly work for an Angel of that status. No wonder he had the ear of the almighty herself. Aziraphale felt himself feeling a mix of bewilderment and relief. He had no idea what it was like up in those ranks, maybe they had more freedom to express themselves to the almighty and he was overreacting by worrying so much. “Oh, well it’s nice to meet you then.” Baraqiel smiled, and surprised him by asking

“See you around then Aziraphale?”

Aziraphale felt himself blushing again, for the third time in history

“See you around.”

And then he scooted off, only breathing when he reached the elevator. The doors opened, he stepped inside and took one last look as they closed. The star-maker was smiling over his work.

Aziraphale was already thinking of other excuses he could make to come back here again.

——

Present day

——

Aziraphale opened his eyes, sitting bolt upright on the bed. Crowley was standing over him, looking a little concerned, he asked

“So? Do you remember anything?”

Aziraphales mind slowly settled back to the present and remembered what they’d been doing. They’d decided to try and recover some of Aziraphales memory from before the fall. His memory had been wiped just like Crowleys had. Only Aziraphales was wiped selectively. He worked in the records department and had extensive knowledge on each and every fallen angel. That knowledge was promptly removed after the war. He’d regained some over time, but there were large holes. Aziraphale felt a silly grin spread across his lips, Crowley gestured at him expectantly

“I remember…that I had the most ridiculous workplace crush on you.”

Crowleys eyes widened for a second, then he started to laugh, a lot.

“It’s not that funny!”

Aziraphale suddenly felt quite embarrassed.

“Yes it is! That explains so much!”

He continued to laugh quite heartily, and Aziraphale started to giggle as well. He told the whole story of how he’d managed to convince his supervisor to let him take the scrolls upstairs. How Crowley had showed him the nebula, how he’d been so flustered to find out he was a dominion. The comment about his eyes.

“I think I was quite star stuck.”

He joked, blushing for what was probably the millionth time by now. Crowley threw himself down on the bed and sighed out the last chuckle when the story was finished.

“Well, from what you just told me I think the feeling was mutual.”

The demon said. Aziraphale laid down next to him and looked up at the same patch of ceiling.

“Do you remember any of it?”

He asked. Crowley was quiet for a bit

“Bits and pieces. Shadows of memories, I remember a general feeling like you were following me.”

“Maybe I was.”

Crowley sat up and pointed at the Angel

“That’s why I knew you were safe to approach on the wall, some part of me must’ve remembered you.”

Aziraphale reached up and cupped the demons cheek.

“I think some part of me remembered you too.”

Crowley placed his own hand over the angels, they smiled at each other for a bit. Aziraphale gazed into the deep yellow eyes that now sat in place of the brown ones in his memory.

“You know, I remember thinking your eyes reminded me of books. They were brown back then. But I like them better like this. Yellow is such a beautiful colour on you darling.”

[aseriesofunfortunatejan]

Making a sudden shift to hating on Eurovision and people who have enjoyed it brings nothing to the table and, rather, closes the door to newcomers potentially being receptive to your message.

On top of that, it is my personal opinion that we can bring about substantial change by being vocal about our enjoyment of the show - what we enjoy about it in comparison to what we don't, and why we want it to get its act together. It's likely that the people who are the most passionate about Eurovision will be the ones to bring the loudest concerns to the EBU, broadcasters, artists and their labels. It is people who love Eurovision who are looking up official accounts and tags and paying attention to whether Israel is participating. It is people who love Eurovision who are aware, months ahead of the finale, that something bad is going on.

Complaining that the show isn't that good or that important or worth watching does not bring anything to the table. It's a fine personal opinion to hold, but it shouldn't be presented as an example of the right "activist" path. It does not teach anything about boycotts, why exactly we are calling for boycott, or how to boycott.

You can only really boycott if you were a customer in the first place.

I have also seen reactions from people who probably discovered Eurovision recently and seemed appalled that Israel was ever included and even won "one time" (they won four times). I think that if we want things to change we need to understand the history of the contest, why Israel was included and what happened as a result. I think it's possible that someone who makes such comments doesn't realise how long Eurovision has been going, how much has happened within it, and as such is likely to see it as just another problematic and unimportant show.

Everything can be unimportant if you want to be nihilistic. Realistically, though, I personally want to argue that the symbolism of a scandal about Israel's participation is influential.

It's important to be aware of your priorities - which won't look the exact same depending on your living conditions, your geographical position, and such factors - and to focus on actions that can impact Palestine positively in a direct manner. It's happening now, so it's important not to let yourself be distracted. However, that doesn't mean that you have to ignore Eurovision, what it's doing, and its impact. Our actions and debates about Eurovision can have their place on our to-do lists if we think we can make use of its influence to spread an important message to a large audience.

When so many people are watching their TV and a YouTube stream at the same time, whatever they see will impact them. Your personal distaste for Eurovision or lack of interest in it does not change its viewership.

Si vous êtes français et vous lisez ce post, je me permets de vous recommander de faire part de votre déception à l'agence de Slimane, qui a été sélectionné pour représenter la France. Vous pouvez aussi contacter France Inter, car c'est la pression des pays participants qui a causé le retrait de la Russie du concours par le passé. Même s'il y a peu de chances que la France, qui fait partie du Big Five et qui est confiante en sa défense d'Israël, soit vraiment un des pays qui décide d'exercer une pression sur ce sujet, que des français aient exprimé leur désaccord a un impact. Votre voix, votre boycott, votre vote, a toujours un impact. C'est juste comme ça.

[readreactrant]

I read (you'll whisper, serpent tongue) what you fear you have become and as usual I have to make it some poor soul's problem.

Hi, it's me and I'm the problem, I know most anyone that follows me is either here for Goyuu or morally questionable shipping content but there's being such a lack of interesting content for me to talk about and paired with my lack of energy, it's been pretty difficult...until I stumbled across this fic in the Goyuu tag here on tumblr. The title gave Hogwarts au and the synopsis gave 'All That's Left of the World' (which if you haven't read go ahead cuz all I remember is that it warmed my heart so much as my first zombie apocalypse bl).

In addition to this intriguing combination it was also rated E for 'Either they fuck nasty or nasty shit happens' so it was definitely up my alley. With all the stars aligned and my interest piqued I went over to ao3, finished it I one sitting and I'd like to say...I'm a slightly different person now. I'll explain but make sure to read for yourself before continuing as there will be spoilers and before you leave to read be aware there is smut...

AND IT'S BOTTOM GOJO 💔

Did that turn some of you off, yeah that's how I felt but trust me the fic is genuinely beautiful and heart-rending, and though I don't give a fuck about what dynamic others choose to enjoy, I DO have a problem with authors not tagging their shit. ESPECIALLY WHEN THE TAG EXISTS AND IS READILY AVAILABLE.

Anyone who knows me from Twitter knows I take my dynamics very seriously in shipping and I, some others, have sort of sense for these kind of things. First set of pictures instantly lit up in my brain from the post I found it through but I brushed them off as reading into too much. The second set went off while I was examining how Yuuji was described and spoken of, especially through Gojo's lens, as it's the exact same way someone would write about a shorter top. I can't explain it but there's definitely a tone to it. I went back up, re-checked the tags, nothing.

No dynamics tags, which isn't as egregious as fake dynamic tags but I still feel very cheated. I know some authors do this, especially when writing for less popular dynamics but even if it's for like a surprise factor or not spoiling, it's still in itself a bit disingenuous. Not only are you making it hard for ppl to filter out what they don't want to read but you're actively making it hard for bottom Gojo enjoyers to find your story in a sea already mostly cluttered with top Gojo.

Nevertheless I'm not here to nitpick shipping dynamics or tagging because I'm aware there are authors who believe caring about dynamics is stupid or unimportant, which no, it's important but that's like another topic in itself. I simply skipped the sex scenes which hurt cuz intimacy in the plot of these kinda stories really gives something extra to the flavor.

If you enjoy multiple dynamics and can or have read it, I'm jealous give me your brain. And if you haven't read and no longer feel the need to cuz you don't want anything to do with bottom Gojo that's fine, to each their own. I definitely know if I'd seen a bottom Gojo tag before I started reading I wouldn't have opened it but I got invested and wanted to see the end.

(side note it is kind of crazy though cuz they tagged everything sex or kink related but not the dynamics which sure whatever, I'll get on with the review on why I enjoyed it now.)

We open up in a world that's the Canon universe but 1000 years later cuz that's when the cube thing chooses to spit out Gojo. I don't know if there's a Canon reason for it being 1000 ýears or if the the author made it up but I'm not that overly excited about jjks magic/power system like the dudebros to care. I'm here for daddy Gojo, Sukuna-oniichan and sweet baby boy Yuuji, make of that info what you will.

Gojo pops out of the box 1000 years later and the world is a mess cuz just like the avatar, he vanished and came back but the difference is everyone's fucking dead and curses are everywhere. Thing is, not everyone is dead.

Yuuji, our most precious boy is still alive and most likely the most powerful being alive thanks to absorbing Sukuna who was killed by Kenny (read to find out, I am not explaining cuz thinking back to it makes me so fucking sad.) There's this one part where Yuuji talks about how it is being without sukuna even tho they hated each other.

Of the many things I enjoyed about this fic I do have to say it's amazing how raw and and painful the writing is. There's a lovely blend of humor, hurt and emptiness in the conversations that Yuuji and Gojo. Pain, regret, loneliness, fear, it's all there building up to a kind of angst I haven't read and felt in a long time.

Another beautiful thing that's explored is one of the biggest 'what if' in the series. I'm guessing this was probably written before Gojo's kit-kat ad of a death in the manga and tho now, we have leaks Gojo being alive (probably) I read this before the leaks. What if the world had to move on without Gojo Satoru and the curses won??? I think the way this fic answers that is very interesting and unique but so close to canon it's feels strangely believable.

I enjoyed reading Yuuji's rendition of all that happened, tho I got lost a bit but once again, I'm the problem. I do not read jjk so my knowledge is limited to what my lust addled brain retains from the anime and the leaks that happen to pop up on my timeline. I do not know wtf the Angel is or how they are tied to Gojo's unsealing and no I don't want to be spoiled.

I don't remember any fic that's brought me so close to tears before but at the end, when Yuuji tells Gojo to actually kill him this time because he doesn't want to be left alone again when he eventually outlives the other (Yuuji is a curse now btw), I literally wanted to toss my fucking laptop. You start and can't help but expect some for of happy ending or optism now they're reunited but things only seem to get more complicated. Yuuji is still Yuuji but so different, Satoru's guilt weighs heavy and tangible through the screen and though it's short and trust me when you finish you will feel it's way too short, you can't help but feel you've spent the months and centuries beside them.

This is what I hinted when I said it gives ATLW vibes, the joy of discovering hope only to have it dashed as you move on only to find some dim lights fraught with uncertainty later on.

As for the end, I think it's well executed, open ended, sad and a bit nostalgic. I'd like to imagine after a few years together Gojo does kill Yuuji but ends himself immediately after because he can't stand living without him. That or he remains alive to start his own form of punishment for never being there when the world, when Yuuji, needed him most.

This kind of feels to me like the alternate universe that modern Yuuji dreams of in lainebee's reincarnation fic I'll open my eyes. Yes I've caught up, no, I won't be talking about it soon, all I'll sat is fuck Naoya in every fucking fic I read, I do not know who this man is but I dread when I'll have to in the anime.

Back on topic tho, I think this is something any Goyuu reader should definitely give a try if they can handle it. I don't have a lot of influence but my post do tend to get out there sometimes so please don't go into the author's comments to chide them, don't be weird, I've given you enough warning.

That's all from me about my first and only bottom Gojo fic lmao, I watched a couple other anime I feel like talking about soon, 86 or Black Clover, not sure which I'll talk about first or if I'll just make another Goyuu post lol. Bye <333

[dorkydreamer]

Yesterday, on my main blog, an anon called me out for sending myself asks and for not having anyone interested enough to ask me questions. I'm embarrassed, but not ashamed of doing it. I thought it was actually refreshing that I could send myself asks so I tried it out. It helped me just ramble about some silly things that were bothering me and I was excited about. I could have just posted as a text post because it wouldn't have been any different, but I didn't. And that's where anon was right about calling me out.

Anon is under the impression that people don't actually care about me to send me asks? Why would they when they dm me instead. I've made and have a handful of wonderful and amazing Tumblr friends (and on other social media platforms) that I appreciate with my whole heart and whom I talk to on a daily/weekly basis who always tell me that it's okay to vent to them if I need to. I just - it's difficult for me to vent to someone about something as silly as being triggered by my family members. I chose instead to send myself asks and just talk to myself. It felt good.

I'm not ashamed of what I did to keep myself sane.

That being said, I should have just vented everything here or on my main. It wouldn't have really mattered where. That's why I'm embarrassed about it but then I'm like, whatever. It was pathetic, and I'll let anon believe them thinking that no one cares enough about me 😊😊

I'm super grateful for everyone who is currently in my dms being my friend, those who have reached out to offer an ear (it's weird for me to just message you my worries. I want to be a positivity moot and talk about randomness instead. ), and those in the future who will become my friend. I'm sorry I find it difficult to reach out. I usually always wait for a dm.

Despite being outed for sending myself asks, I actually am so grateful that happened because

1. I'll grow from this. Just text post it next time, or come to this blog and do what I'm doing. Talk to myself. I can do the same thing on my main, but it will still be okay whichever way I decided to go.

And 2. I got to express why I tag said posts "the most beautiful girl out there" and "gorgeous hot mess". Because she's my friend or was a friend.. I don't know anymore. who allowed me into her life and I got to experience so much more than her blog. Yes, she's stubborn, difficult, frustrating, stoic, as heck. Sometimes I don't even know if she has a soft spot, but then I understand that maybe I am not and was not privileged to experience that side of her. And that's okay. Sometimes.. I wished she'd tell me that she appreciated my friendship every now and then. It would have helped me feel wanted in their life and kept me going. But I realized or questioned myself.. did I make my friendship with them more than what it actually was? Was this more of an unrequited friendship? Obviously, it's my fault if so. But I actually thought I mattered or was one of their closest friends. It's okay if not. That's on me. That's why I appreciate when people remind me that they care about me and appreciate me. It reassures me I'm a good thing in their life. I don't feel like she ever did that and that's what hurts me the most the more I have to think about it.

I hurt her by not giving her a heads up when I decided to delete my Snapchat to take a break late Feb — I just needed out I was dealing with an ex that took advantage of my forgiveness and it left me feeling unwanted and unimportant.

I didn't know that it would bother her as much as it did and I apologized already for it. I reassured her at first that I just needed time for myself and that she didn't do anything wrong, which she didn't, but then I felt bad because as a couple of weeks had passed and I had this horrible feeling in my stomach that I abandoned, betrayed, and hurt her. Now that's something I was ashamed of. Feeling like I neglected my best friend. All because I couldn't block someone I forgave. Childish, irresponsible, inconsiderate, and disrespectful. I love her. Always will. But I destroyed that and her trust in me and I will always be remorseful. I felt rude to reach out to her so I always waited for her to message me so I could ecstatically talk to her. Sigh. None of that matters anymore. I'll keep tagging her as such until she tells me to not do it. I remember her telling me that it was okay to do so or that she would tell me if something bothers her so I'll leave that as such.

The point is, if you truly got to know the other side of her, well the one I got to experience because I'm not saying that's all of her, but yes, the side I also got to experience, you would see that she's truly a wonderful human being. And I will always be grateful for having met her and be able to consider her my friend and best friend. I will always root for her happiness.

But distance and silence bonds nothing and it hurts that she seems to be okay with us not talking to each other anymore, but I can only accept the consequences of my actions. I'm still and will always remain soft and thankful for them. 😊😊😊

Edit: THEY DON'T AND WILL NEVER OWE ME ANYTHING. this is just me lamenting a sense of negligence I felt towards dealing with my ex and others. It's okay, that's on me for misunderstanding our friendship and not really communicating with them my situation and how I was feeling at the time. They are a super duper amazing person who deserves the best.

SIGH.

this was good. 😊😊

[hms-tardimpala]

For FFWF, I'm sending a question bomb back to you, friend <3 Soooo how is it going along with breaking in that ship tag? Care to tell us about them, like what sort of characters they are and what their dynamic is?

Or if you would rather talk about your experience with rarepair ships in general I would be interested in that too <3

I'm so happy to get this ask! Heads-up: it might get long.

So I'm not breaking in a ship tag, what I said yesterday was that I was writing for a small ship and, as a reader, I had found no fics for some pairings I were looking for. Your ask might change that however, but I'll say more about this a little lower...

I can tell you about the small ship I'm writing for currently! I'm entering Know No Shame mode so here it is: it's Alan Grant/Billy Brennan from Jurassic Park 3.

Yes, of all things. I'm the first who's surprised. This time around I'm seeing something in them that I want to explore. I think you of all my writer friends can appreciate a teacher/student dynamic best. They're two brilliant scientists (Billy has to be to be Grant's dig site manager) in the hot Montana badlands, they act sort of like a married couple in the movie (they're a package deal), Grant has a history of dating younger paleontologists and Billy is his very devoted easygoing assistant that acts as an intermediary for his misanthropic professor.

There's potential for: hero worship, We Shouldn't Do This™ angst, establishing a healthy relationship despite status and age gap, and I've never written a student character, especially one who has to finish a PhD after he's been traumatized by the animals he was studying, so that's interesting.

Like, the movie isn't much, but it gives me just enough to want to write a study of their relationship during and post-canon.

And now I realize that both fics I'm currently writing are about fixing an established relationship after a big falling-out (partly, at least). Well, well.

Now, for my experience of rarepairs. I mostly read (and write, so far) in big to huge fandoms and I'm generally into the main ship (which is why I see Billy/Alan as a rarepair, although you might think that with 181 fics, they're not in this category). But sometimes (often, actually) I get interested in a media that has a very small fandom and I happen to ship characters that very few people seem to be interested in.

When that happens, I end up reading as many fics about that ship as I can find, and I really make sure to kudo and comment to thank the author. Fandom is never more a community than when it comes to rarepairs.

As a writer, so far I'm enjoying the experience. I feel more free because virtually nobody is watching and I can really write the thing for me, and me only. That's such a pleasure! It's really just me and my notepad, that feels great. I feel like a kid!

And about breaking in a ship tag... One of the ships I failed to find fics for the other day is Juan Borgia/Christoforo Castanea, or really Juan Borgia/any man for the show Borgia. Christoforo in himself is a tiny and unimportant character, but I'm seeing some gay subtext around Juan Borgia, and I can't believe I'm the only one! There's something about the desperate way he kisses men on the mouth especially his brother that I want studied!

Your ask inspired me, and I now have a couple of interesting ideas to explore the character's possible homosexuality/bisexuality in a fic. That would include writing about him and Christoforo and him and his brother, so I would functionally be breaking in two ship tags: Juan Borgia/Christoforo Castanea and Juan Borgia/Cesare Borgia (because Juan is an ugly duckling but he deserves to be invited to the sibling fuckfest).

Thank you so much for asking me this, Nara, I loved talking about it. And thank you for the inspiration, I'm now going to let these ideas simmer. I love you <3

[dxringred]

HELLO FELLOW ST/DDIE NOT-QUITE HATER BUT JFC DO THE DOUBLE STANDARDS REALLY NEED TO BE SO OBVIOUS?

i love the fandom, but this issue has been present since. forever. since steve stans were shitting on nancy after the halloween party scene, making fics and long-ass paragraphs bemoaning steve’s puppy-dog eyes when he heard that nancy say that she was pretending to be in love. as if the scene wasn’t about NANCY and her grief??

and then again! when robin came out, the initial “holy shit, we finally have some canon queer rep of quality!! robin’s such a cool character, and this was a beautiful scene!” people immediately latched on to the fact that she didn’t label herself explicitly as a lesbian in order to shove her and steve together. and again, the steve stans raved about what an excellent ally steve was, when the scene was about ROBIN and pushing past her obvious fear to tell steve something like that.

and most recently, with the vickie and robin scenes. i personally don’t ship them, but even that was, apparently, content tailored for the steve stans. the fact that the directors might be leading into an actual romance life for a canonical lesbian character (though nancy has literally been right there. even the actors are in support of the ship)? unimportant because look!! look how proud steve looks in that scene, look how happy he is for robin. wtf.

steve’s a great guy, a fun character and he’s got depth and kindness etc etc. eddie… i mean. he’s also really cool and i get why people like him, i really do. but he barely had a season’s worth of character development, and already he’s a fan favorite. i like the ship, but i hate the fact that once again, the fandom is full-on obsessing over the “cute white boys” and neglecting the wlw pairings

and it’s so much more than a bunch of people upset that their ship isn’t as popular. this is an actual issue, where the lack of wlw content and attention is forever being overshadowed by the mlm pairings.

damn, i didn't even know it was possible to send asks this long-

sadly, i don't know any history of the stranger things fandom since i've never watched the show, let alone engaged in the fandom, but i can attest to the rock/ie one since i've seen several posts mentioning how steve looked like a proud parent or w/e, and then others being all "poor steve" since he's single while robin has vickie and nancy has johnathon. (for now.)

on his own, steve's an okay character to me. his development was good until 4B messed it up with him latching onto nancy again, but even with that, i've never gotten the impression that there's a lot of. depth to him? like it's very much the basic character arc of "popular highschool asshole realizes it is bad to be an asshole and that he actually cares for others". totally fine but hardly groundbreaking lol. and if i see his chest hair one more time-

i haven't watched the show, so i can't attest to eddie outside of gifs, but again. nothing special from what i've seen. his little arc seems to be 'manning up'? instead of fleeing like he did with chrissy (which i thought was a perfectly valid reaction, frankly), he dives into lover's lake, helps save steve and then sacrifices himself which ultimately then lowkey negates the development because he's fucking dead lol.

maybe it's just because he's a far cry from my type of male character, but. yeah, don't get the fan favorite thing. don't get the petition with 75k signatures. don't get the ship (no issue with it yet though) when they barely had any scenes. it's definitely a case of them both being (arguably) attractive white men. cishet girls in particular will eat that shit right up.

the fact that ste/ddie shippers are now going around reporting ronance shippers and calling them names for giving them a taste of their own medicine and/or politely asking them to tag their fucking fics correctly is disgusting imo. it's giving lesbophobia. they seem to think their ship is more important, and therefore nobody else's tags and spaces matter. the way they behave, you'd think the average age of that fandom is 12. (and i wouldn't be surprised if it is, honestly.)

the only canon lgbt+ character is wlw. (i can't speak for will. i don't know if his sexuality has actually been definitely stated yet, and it hasn't in the show as far as i'm aware, so. vickie also isn't confirmed anything as far as i know.) and yet somehow mlm pairings with minimal scenes are heavily overshadowing any wlw content. (first it was billy/steve which. what the fuck, actually. now it's ste/ddie.) i don't know what the huge disparity is rooted in (lesbophobia, misogyny, mlm fetishization, all of the above) but it's fucking annoying and boring. broaden your horizons. get a grip. uggggghhh.

[potteresque-ire]

Meta on "propaganda reblogs". This post is Section 3.

1) Introduction: why I am, for once, waving my candy-washing soap 2) Anatomy of a propaganda reblog, Part 1: the midnight timestamp 3) Anatomy of a propaganda reblog, Part 2: the ultrashort response 4) Beyond the propaganda: the significance (and tragedy) of events remembered by these posts 5) Conclusion: The Li Jiaqi Paradox

(Below the cut — Section 3: The Ultrashort Response)

Now, let's take a look at the responses included in the reblogs. Candy washing can be a little unpleasant to read, I understand. I promise it'll be over soon.

The responses are often very short. In today's (2022/08/01) case, there were no added words, just a tag. It's this particular characteristic, perhaps, that has given a false impression to some that these reblogs of propaganda are unimportant — make them appear as if they're just something everyone does, like some (boring) homework everyone just scribbles down a word or two and submits. Gets them over with.

It's ... more complicated than that.

A closer look at the responses, and one will probably notice this: their wording is often a paraphrase of the original propaganda post, with little added information or sentiments. In certain cases, it's a character-by-character duplicate of words in the original post...

Gg's reblogs tend to follow the original post's wording more than Dd. I've underlined, in red, the duplicated wording. In the first post (upper left), which was about the Making of the Communist Chinese Army, the duplicated phrase, 致敬最可愛的人, meant "paying respect to the most loveable people". In the second post (upper right) about the Marco Polo Bridge Incident that started the Second Sino-Japanese War, the duplicated phrases 銘記歷史，吾輩自強 meant "Remember history, our generation shall strengthen themselves". In the third post (lower left) about the Hong Kong Handover, the duplicated phrase simply meant Bless Hong Kong, Bless the Ancestral Country (= China).

Wait, you may say. But doesn't the duplicated wording serve as further evidence that these responses, these reblogs are like ... boring homework?

Hmm. Perhaps, let me offer a counter-example first. What if a star decides to inject more of themselves, of their understanding of the subject, into their response to a propaganda campaign?

This happened just before the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong Handover, a month ago.

The star caught in controversy was Jacky Cheung 張學友, a beloved, and highly respected singer from Hong Kong (he's 60). Asked by CCTV to make a short video about the handover, he agreed and, in his native Cantonese dialect, said the following:

大家好，我係張學友 香港過去25年經歷過好多高高低低起起跌跌 但係因為我係同依個城市一齊成長 我係依度出生，係依度長大 我仍然相信呢個城市 仍然都希望呢個城市會變成一個比以前更加好既城市 香港加油

Hello, I'm Jacky Cheung. In the last 25 years, Hong Kong has gone through many highs and lows, ups and downs. But because I'm growing with this city, (because) I was born here, I was raised here, I still believe in this city, Still wish it'll become a city better than before. Go Hong Kong.

Sounds okay, right? More detailed, more personal than a post reblog. CCTV thought so too, apparently; it approved the video and aired it.

But then, Cheung was attacked — not by his antis (which he didn't have many with his age and status), but by the nationalistic trolls, the "Little Pinks" — and the attack was ferocious enough that CCTV soon had to remove the video.

Cheung's crime, according to these trolls: not so much because he acknowledged Hong Kong had gone through lows and downs; not, even, so much because he said "Go Hong Kong" — an innocuous phrase (as innocuous as its English translation) that the 2019 protestors had just happened to have used.

Cheung's biggest crime was he failed to mention, in the video, 祖國, literally ancestral country and means motherland, or China, and 回歸 return.

Cheung, who lives in Hong Kong and doesn't own a Weibo, failed to grasp the One Message behind China's propaganda surrounding the Handover anniversary. It wasn't about Hong Kong's well-being. It wasn't about Hong Kong's future, or anyone's love for the city. It was about Ownership. It was about the People's Republic of China now possessing Hong Kong.

Why had the opinions of the nationalistic trolls managed to override that of CCTV's? The answer: the dominance of these trolls on Chinese social media has been a signature of the Xi era. With China's heavy-handed censorship in place, voices as loud, as violent as theirs can only remain online if the state offers its implicit approval.

These trolls have served, in their own way, as hounds and spies for the government. They threaten, do the dirty work the state would otherwise have to perform itself. They intimidate fellow netizens to silence in places where censorship isn't quick enough to reach. They report dissenters who have gained influence to the platforms, to the police.

In the end, Cheung was "saved" by the powerful political influencer Hu Xijin 胡 錫進, the former editor of the State Tabloid The Global Times. He defended Cheung's patriotism. Chinese netizens protested, asked why Hu came so quickly to an old Hong Kong artist's defence, while younger, mainland Chinese artists hadn't been given the same understanding, the same accommodation?

Seniority was the likely answer. Traditionally, Hong Kong artists have, also, been given more room to express themselves, with the culture of their home city recognized. But the netizens' observation was not incorrect. A young mainland Chinese artist would've gotten temporarily suspended, at least, for saying the exact same things, starting with the lows and downs.

The Chinese government has always been harsher to those who are closer to it.

In all cases, I hope the Jacky Cheung incident proves sufficient to make this point: public figures in China can say more thoughtful things, more heartfelt things, more sincere things about a political issue than the content on these propaganda posts, and end up being tarred and feathered for them.

As such, the short to the point of curt, the redundantly-worded responses to propaganda posts aren't products of laziness, or lack of care.

On the contrary, they're products of (extreme) caution.

They make sure the message delivered by the star aligns perfectly with the government's. Reblogging the propaganda posts, rather than making one's own posts about the same topic, doubles this safety factor:

The "safety factor" in reblogging state media propaganda posts. In their responses, Gg (top left) wrote 祝福香港，祝福祖國 Bless Hong Kong, Bless the Ancestral Country (= China), Dd (bottom left) wrote 25載春秋可監，祝福香港 25 years of Springs and Autumns for witnesses, Bless Hong Kong. While, like Jacky Cheung, Dd didn't explicitly mention 祖國 Ancestral Country (= China), and while both Gg and Dd didn't mention 回歸 Return, the phrase was already included in the tag #香港回歸祖國25週年 #25th Anniversary of Hong Kong's Return to the Ancestral Country. The graphic (right) further ensured the rebloggers would be viewed as having their messages in perfect alignment with the government's — its Communist Red background was a reinforcing visual that Hong Kong's ownership has been transferred to China.

The caution applied to crafting the responses means that, as is true for the close-to-midnight timestamps, there's ... little sweetness in similarly-worded responses to propaganda posts. Because they're they're statements made in rigid adherence to the state's ideology. Because there's little of the rebloggers injected into them.

Of note: those who read Weibo closely may notice that even the fans follow these subtle propaganda post reblog rules. They reblog the reblogs of their favourite stars quickly, and respond, too, in short, similarly-worded statements. While, with their anonymity, these fans are more likely to treat these posts as boring homework, they're also doing it to protect their favourite stars. As illustrated in Section 1), given that celebrities congregate in these posts, the latter present convenient locations for haters to stalk and sniff for signs of disloyalty, for messages not adhering to the propaganda's theme; for fan-reblog counts failing to match the star's perceived "traffic". The motivation of these haters is simple: in the Xi era, insufficient patriotism is cause enough to rage a cyberbullying storm.

Some of you may have noticed that up till now, in the figures and descriptions, I've left out the most recent propaganda post (2022/08/01) about One China.

The reason is: that post was a slight departure from the standard propaganda reblog, and I'd like to address it separately. Its different-from-usual nature is, I believe, also reflected in the stars' responses.

Unlike the anniversaries which the propaganda posts are mostly about, which the state has already made a clear stance and rhetoric surrounding the mentioned event, this latest post was about a piece of breaking news, an ongoing development with strong elements of unpredictability — not so much on the Taiwan / U.S. side, but on China's side: now that Nancy Pelosi has stepped on Taiwanese soil, will President Xi start a war?

This means the response to this post became more than a contest of speed, of who could reblog faster. It also became a test of who was politically savvy, who could better walk the tight-rope of expressing a firm belief — a commitment to the One China stance — while not letting on anything extra.

Because no one knew what would happen next. Because Pelosi's visit presented President Xi with a dilemma that even the most experienced political analysts could not predict his next actions. Revanchism plays a big part in how the Xi regime fans China's nationalistic sentiments. This is a new word I learned, so I'd write down its definition here to remember it better: revanchism means the "political manifestation of the will to reverse territorial losses incurred by a country", drawing "its strength from patriotic and retributionist thought and is often motivated by economic or geopolitical factors", and relying "on the identification of a nation with a nation state, often mobilizing deep-rooted sentiments of ethnic nationalism". (Source) Revanchism for China involves, of course, taking back the "lost territory" of Taiwan. It should be a piece of cake, right? Taiwan is tiny, and at the center of the propaganda campaign promoting President Xi's 新時代思想 New Age thoughts are nationalistic slogans like 實現中華民族偉大復興的中國夢 Realizing the Chinese dream of the Great Revival of the Chinese Race, and 東升西降 East rises, West falls.

These slogans, taken altogether, have broadcast to the Chinese people that China, both as a country and a race, has emerged to become the world's superpower, and will soon kick the declining, failing Western democracies off the international stage.

Before Pelosi's visit, China's People's Liberation Army, its Foreign Ministry, its state media have all promised retaliation, with gritted teeth and all, should the visit take place. And after the years of "patriotic education", many Chinese were believed them, were convinced that an armed conflict would happen as soon as Pelosi set foot on Taiwan, that their country would finally flex its mighty military muscles and 武統 — forcibly re-unify — Taiwan, the rogue child who, they say, their loving mother(land) has indulged for far too long. Moreover, these people were convinced that the re-unification would be very speedy, given how mighty China they believe has become.

Attack in the morning, says the most faithful among them, and by 6 pm, Taiwanese will be watching the CCTV's national news broadcast with mainland Chinese.

In reality, experts have doubted that Taiwan can be taken so easily. While China has a much larger military, islands like Taiwan are notoriously difficult to invade — even a TV show from China shot with sponsorship from the People's Liberation Army acknowledged the difficulty of seizing control of an island, hypothetical the island might have been (Ace Troops 王牌部隊, Episodes 35-39). The Taiwan military is expected to get help from the United States, likely in the areas of surveillance and weaponry, especially after the summer of 2022. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has illustrated, too, how unwise it can be to underestimate the will of those whose homeland freedoms are threatened, and who, in Taiwan's case, have nowhere to escape to, being surrounded by the ocean.

(Source — a decent, short summary from BBC about China vs Taiwan.)

Some have also questioned whether China can really afford to start a war, given the rapid loss of confidence by its people towards the country's economy at the moment. While economic downturns and recessions have been ubiquitous around the world, such turn of events may present more problems for China, with the conventional wisdom that a good (prosperous) life is often the implicit social contract between an autocracy and its people — ie. people would only consider the loss of their freedoms worthwhile only if they're given a dependable livelihood. And President Xi can hardly deny his responsibility for the rising doubts: the foundation of China's economy has been reportedly shaky for a while now, and Xi's Zero-COVID policy, his heavy-handed crackdown of the country's most lucrative industries since 2020, have all been pushing, shoving the big, bubbly thing stacked precariously upon it.

The famous Outer Beach 外灘, or the Bund, of Shanghai, deserted during its 4-days-turned-into-2-months lockdown in Spring, 2022 (Source). China's battle against COVID is now widely perceived as having transformed from a public health issue to a political movement, a power struggle — with President Xi's faction insisting on upholding the Zero-Covid policy as an ideology, a showcase of China-Can-Do-Better-Than-the-West; meanwhile, dissenters are concerned about the effects of continued lockdowns and aggressive testing on the already fragile economy. In April, 2022, not a single car was sold in Shanghai, a city of 25 million.

But, how can President Xi save his face should he decide to not wage a war? What about his Chinese Dream then, his Great Revival of the Chinese Race, his rhetoric about avenging every insult China has suffered? What about the declining West? The West hasn't declined nearly enough, apparently, if China proves itself to be too chicken to confront just one of them and over its own tiny island. What will be Xi's basis, his claim for wanting a third term in the office this autumn, which had been against China's Constitution until he removed its presidential term limits in 2018? 10 years in the office, and he has precious little achievement to show for them.

Starting a war is the surest way for Xi to raise his support.

Starting a war is also the surest way for Xi to expose his weaknesses.

Hence, the unreadability of President Xi, the difficulty in guessing his next actions. WWPXD? (What Would President Xi do?)

A propaganda post was published, as expected, on CCTV's blog soon after Pelosi's touchdown in Taiwan, at the earlier-than-midnight time of 22:19, exclaiming that There's Only One China in the World.

Ideally, those must respond to the post could take their time, wait for more events to unfold to respond. See what Pelosi would say to the Taiwanese Congress the next day, for example, or to President Tsai. But antis and melon-eaters and trolls were watching. This presented a challenge — what was the best response one could offer?

Graphic in the propaganda post by CCTV, 2022/08/01. The caption in gold says 世界上只有一個中國, There's Only One China in the World.

If the response expressed a wish for peace — the Chinese Foreign Ministry had accused the United States as being the provocateur, that China only wanted peace and stability in the region — what if President Xi decided to attack Taiwan over the next days? If they responded, instead, with Taiwan being the disobedient child deserving a hard lesson, what if their leader decided to hold off a military assault?

It is impossible for anyone but those involved to know the thought processes of the stars and their teams' had while drafting the reblogs. I can only screenshot the outcome and post here — the responses of four of China's favourite stars:

A tag only, with the exact wording as the tag from CCTV. #只有一個中國 #Only One China.

Loud, but silent. Smart. Safe. United.

A political landmine averted, for now.

** Gently puts down the candy-washing soap **

=====

The "Propaganda Reblog" Meta Series: 

1) Introduction 2) The midnight timestamp 3) The ultrashort response < YOU'RE HERE 4) Beyond the propaganda 5) Conclusion: The Li Jiaqi Paradox

[starscelly]

which of the flying stars have your ‘favorite’ backstory? (i realize that that’s kind of a difficult question but hey? maybe it isn’t?) or, alternatively, which one do you want to tell us about the most?

i’m so interested in this au i don’t know what questions to ask so if you don’t like these ones feel free to use this ask as an opportunity to go off about something you’ve got on your mind!

i saw this ask during work and could not Wait to get home to answer this omg tysm for ur interest and question and providing me a space to dump a lil abt the flying stars boys!! <3<3<3

i think robo has my favorite backstory bc its so silly and lighthearted dfjksdf to give a quickish summary of everyone's backstory rq (a chunk of it based off their real lives but messing with the timeline and obviously outcomes and some details etc):

they all grew up playing hockey, roope and miro took it more seriously/were able to go farther with it but none of them quite made it to the draft. jake and robo are on a beer league team when they have the time!

roope and miro were on the same liiga team, bonded over music taste and going to shows and playing music together, but roope went to play juniors in the us and eventually became more involved in the punk scene there and started to prioritize it over hockey (especially since it was a space where he could be openly queer and loud, as opposed to hockey where being either is Largely Unacceptable), eventually quitting. the whole time he was still in contact with miro fs and they were still super close.

miro was feeling a lot of pressure from being seen as a "wunderkind" and ended up using music a lot to cope with that, realized he had more fun just fucking around with friends playing music than he did hockey anymore, and when roope said he was starting a band with two freaks in texas and miro could live with him Rent Free miro was like "^.^ okay" and dropped off the face of hockey earth to go to them

otter grew up in love with punk (esp pop punk) and obvs went to warped tour and everything as much as possible, he was also Always very painfully emotionally open and sincere in a way that made him never want to pursue hockey seriously lol like he got hints of dudes who would pursue it, being on a minnesota hs team, and he was like.... yeah not 4 me. he loved being a goalie but didn't love the locker room environment and ultimately just loved playing the drums and writing more!

robo is like if he still grew up in cali but instead of his dad being an ex-goalie he was actively a drummer and instead of using the rv to go to hockey games and moving to michigan and everything they used an rv to tote around their FAMILY BAND (half inspired by zoe's tags on the original post thank u ily) to little gigs, mostly . robo still played hockey a ton in his free time as a hobby but it was harder/unimportant to pursue it seriously given where he was along with obviously just having this love for music growing up in his family. his big teenage rebellion moment was when he was like "no DAD i dont want to play generic universally appealing rock music anymore, i want to play stupid loud messy punk!!!" except nobody actually cared in a serious way they were like "okay lol as long as ur still having fun playing music if thats rlly what you want to do!!!". he was raised to play guitar based purely on vibes by his mom which is why he cannot actually read music still lol

i can elaborate further on any of them if there's anymore questions or u just want to hear more abt them, and im always more than happy to answer Any questions abt the au!!!!! tysm!! <3<3

[rjalker]

Here’s how to make The Murderbot Diaries 80 percent less casually transmisic, for each book and short story published so far as of January 25th, 2023. (Main books 1-6, and 2 short stories)

This post will be updated to include any future books once I've read them.

(If this is the first post of mine you're seeing and you're thinking, aghast or maybe offended, "What??? The Murderbot Diaries is transmisic????? What are you talking about????" Here's a link to my tag for reading these books. It contains all my posts I've made about the series except for a few random unimportant ones. Skim through them until you come to the ones talking about the transmisia in the series. I'll add links to this post with the important ones tomorrow.)

This post is literally just me picking out a section from each book and adding in things to explicitly establish Murderbot’s pronouns, normalize the characters asking eachother what their pronouns are/listing them in their fucking brainchip social media profiles, and maybe even more importantly, making it so that sex is not equated with gender.

I'm trying not to make this post any longer than it already is, so here's the tiny version: Murderbot and all the other bots and constructs so far being agender because they're all robots (shut up if you're going to argue semantics) who don't have genitals is transmisic. There only being one explicitly nonbinary human so far is transmisic. Go search my blog for a more in-depth explanation or wait until I've added links to this.

Dialogue that was spoken though the feed is marked with :: as quotation marks, rather than being italicized, to make it easier to read.

Anyways as a reminder, even if it's not intentional, malicious transmisia, it's still transmisia. I like Martha Well's style of writing. But it has a lot of problems that I'm hoping she'll fix.

She especially has a problem with biological essentialism and gender essentialism, which is exemplified in her The Books of The Raksura.

So to demonstrate how Literally Easy it would be to fix most of the transmisia in The Murderbot Diaries, here's some sections from each book/short story where I've added in and changed things so that it's not transmisic and actually represents the way trans people (and their allies) live and interact.

also, when the characters ask what pronouns Murderbot would prefer rather than asking what its pronouns are, that is 100% intentional to fit the theme of this post. Which is that even people who have the best intentions can be unintentionally transmisic and that everyone always has room to learn more.

So.

Here you go:

___

Prequel: The Future of Work: Compulsory

Words added: 150.

(You can read this short story here. Archived version here. Just the text can be found on a tumblr post here. Be warned that the first two links have eye-straining neon art at the top that moves, which is why I made the tumblr post.) 

Asa took her arm gently. “They can’t talk,” he told her.

She shook her head as her friends steered her toward the access bridge. “No, it talked. I heard it.”

That still came as a pleasant surprise every time it happened. 

The Company had assigned me different pronouns when I was constructed, and I’d always hated them. And I hated the gender they’d assigned me, too. So the second thing I’d done after hacking my governer module (the first was downloading media) was hack into the Company’s systems to change my pronoun and gender assignments.

Now, my pronouns were listed as it/its/itself, and my gender was listed as “indeterminate”. None of the humans got paid enough to bother memorizing our assigned pronouns or genders, so none of them had noticed the change. And every time they rented me out, the humans doing the renting got a copy of my relevant info, including my assigned gender and pronouns.

Maybe someday the euphoria of being referred to the way I enjoyed would dissipate, but apparently that day was not today.

___

Book one: All Systems Red

Words added: 79

Then Mensah said quietly, “SecUnit, do you have a name? Pronouns you would prefer?”

 "My pronouns are what was listed on my contract when you rented me." I said, "It, its, itself."

I didn't explain how I'd gotten those pronouns. They didn't need to know that I'd hacked into the Company's system to overwrite the ones I'd originally been assigned. I'd changed my gender assignment at the same time. And they didn't need to know that either. I didn't want them to know that.

As for having a name, I wasn’t sure what she wanted. “No.”

___

Book two: Artificial Condition

Words added: 22

They had listed themselves as unaffiliated guest workers, but you could list yourself as anything, there was no identity check. Two had listed their gender as female, and they both used she/her/hers/herself pronouns. The other one had listed ter gender as tercera, which was a gender signifier used in the group of non-corporate political entities known as the Divarti Cluster. Ter pronouns were te/ter/ter/terself.

(To initiate the meeting, I’d had to make an entry on the social feed, too. The system was extremely vulnerable to hacking, so I had backdated my entry to look like I had come in on an earlier passenger transport, listed my job as “security consultant,” my pronouns as "it/its/itself", which was the format humans used, and listed my gender as "indeterminate". Posing as its own captain, ART gave me a prior employment reference.)

___

Book three: Rogue Protocol

Words added: 135

Her gaze went to Wilken’s back again, but on our private channel she said, ::I’ve never worked with a SecUnit before—I’ve never seen or interacted with a SecUnit before—so please tell me if you need any information or instruction from me. I know you already know my name, but I’m going to introduce myself properly anyways. My name is Don Abene, and my pronouns are she/her/hers/herself. You can call me Abene if you'd like. Do you have a name, or designation? What pronouns would you prefer?::

While I’d had several humans now ask me for my name and pronouns, I had never had a human ask me how to give me orders before. It was an interesting novelty. ::I have standing orders from Rin to assist you. I can do the rest.:: I said, answering the first part of her question, as for the second half... ::It is best if you refer to me as SecUnit, and my pronouns are it/its/itself.:: It wasn’t technically lying, since she’d asked ‘do you have a name’, not ‘what is your name’.

Not that it would matter if I was lying, anyways, considering all the other lies I was telling at the point, but still. Old habits die hard.

___

Book four: Exit Strategy

Words added: 36

I pulled a selection of video from the trip with Ayres and the others on the way to HaveRatton, mostly exchanges I’d tagged so I could critique my performance later. (A few times I’d broken up fights, been forced to give relationship advice, the infamous Cracker Wrapper in the Sink Incident, and the time near the start of the trip where I’d had to explain to a confused but enthusiastic group of depressingly young humans how to properly use it/its/itself pronouns when talking about me.) I cut it together, labeled it “Murderbot Impersonates an Augmented Human Security Consultant,” and sent it to Gurathin.

___

Book four and a half: Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory

Words added: 347

(You can read this short story here. Archived version here. Don’t scroll down to the comments at the bottom unless you want to see people misgendering Murderbot.)

Instead Ephraim asks her, “Can you separate that person from the purpose they were created for?”

Anger flares automatically, despite her best efforts to stifle it. But this is not an insult she will let stand, she can’t.

Ephraim should know better. He does know better, and his motive is clear: Refer to it as ‘they’ rather than its actual pronouns, to make a show of being respectful, the way this whole thing is a show of him being respectful, while denying it the same rights that every other person, including bots, was given without question. It was a transparent farce, and that just made her all the madder.

“Its pronouns are it/its/itself.” She snapped, and the only reason she managed to stay seated instead of storming out of the room in a fury was because SecUnit was still pinging her with armament request forms, getting more absurd by the second. None of its anger leaked into the messages, even though she knew it had to be listening. She wasn’t the one being insulted, so that meant it was her responsibility to shut the idea that this was at all acceptable down forever.

She continued angrily, “You know this, and I know you wouldn’t even think to use the wrong pronouns for anyone else, not a human, not a bot. So why should a construct be the exception? You say SecUnit is ‘a product of surveillance capitalism and authoritarian enforcement’, but how is that any different from any other refugees we take in from the Corporation Rim? Why should we not extend the same rights we grant bots to constructs? Why do you think it’s okay to use the wrong pronouns for a construct when I know for a fact that it wouldn’t even occur to you to do this to any other person? Use its correct pronouns or do not dare to speak about it at all: it/its/itself.”

Ephraim, for his part, looked suitably ashamed and guilty. “You’re right, I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.”

But not ashamed enough, apparently, because he simply repeated the question: “Can you separate that person from the purpose it was created for?”

___

Book five: Network Effect

Words added: 494

There was no planetary feed (stupid planet) but Stupid Boat had its own rudimentary feed that was heavy with games and pornography but light on anything that might be helpful for a security assessment, like who these people were and what they wanted. Even the individual humans’ feed signatures only contained info about their pronouns and sexual availability, which I didn’t give a damn about. 

...

She smiled. “Thank you.” Then she added, “Oh, I’m sorry, I’m being rude, interrogating you before I’ve even introduced myself. Forgive me. My name is Farai, my pronouns are she/her/her/hers. What about you?”

I said, “Call me SecUnit. My pronouns are it/its/itself.”

She smiled again. “It’s nice to meet you, SecUnit. Thank you again.”

...

She yawned. “Okay, third mom.” I froze, confused and annoyed, and almost lost all the data I'd just finished tagging. I put that on pause and said firmly, "I'm not your third mom. I'm not anyone's mom. I'm not any kind of gender that can be called a mom. Don't call me that." Amena jolted a little and blinked, looking startled, then frowned, shaking her head slowly, clearly confused. "Wait, what? Don't call you what? What did I say?" Okay, so, she hadn't been deep in thought, she was literally falling asleep standing up. That made it a little less annoying. But only a little. "You called me your third mom." I said, trying to actively remove some of the anger from my voice but probably failing miserably. My emotions were shot, okay? And so were hers. I got confirmation that she hadn't meant to call me that when, a few seconds after I spoke--yes, it was taking way longer than normal for her to process information. She really needed to go to sleep--her eye got wide and her face flushed red. I didn't need to be an expert on human body language to know that meant she was embarrassed. This was further confirmed when she stammered out, "I--I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to say that, I don't--I mean I don't really see you as my third mom, or a mom, or--" She waved one hand in a frantic gesture. "I don't see you as any gender that's normally a mom. I know your gender is indeterminate, I'm sorry, I think I just fell asleep and was half dreaming, so when you told me to go to bed I thought 'oh that's what my moms are always telling me', but your voice was different from both of theirs so my brain sort of just said 'oh yeah that's your third mom telling you to go to sleep'. But it's not because I see you as a mom! I think I would have called anyone who told me to go to bed right then my third mom. But I'm really sorry it happened, and I promise it won't happen again..." Her voice started trailing off at the end despite starting out strong, and I could tell she was starting to fall asleep again. "I forgive you." I said, since it was true and I really didn't want to hurt her feelings, "Just--go to sleep. It's harder to keep you alive if you're sleep deprived." Instead of making another gendered comment, she gave me two sleepy thumbs up, then turned and trudged away down the corridor. I followed her with two drones, just in case.

___

Book six: Fugitive Telemetry

Words added: 5

Senior Indah said, “The feed ID doesn’t need to say anything other than what everyone else’s says, just name, pronouns, and…” She trailed off. She was looking at me and I was looking at her.

...

I posted a feed ID with the name = SecUnit, pronouns = it/its/itself, gender = not applicable, and no other information.

Indah had blinked, then said, “Well, I suppose that will have to do.”

___

And there you go. 80% of the transmisia has now been removed.

[jorgecrespo]

1 4 5 6 (have fun with that one) 15 17 23 (idk how to even interpret that but spread hate<3) 28 32 38 39 go crazy

what are 3 things you’d say shaped you into who you are?

the age of 10 and 17

living in nicaragua for a year. found out i actually like people and i'm not a beach person because the ocean is very scary

the liza minelli tries to turn on a lamp snl skit

what’s an inside joke you have with your family or friends?

it's an inside joke with my family and it has to do with eric clapton's dead son. i have no excuse and it's not my fault

what made you start your blog?

started this blog because of druck (😩). i was on the tag but everyone was like IF YOU DON'T REBLOG THINGS YOU'RE THE DEVIL and i felt bad so i made this and then it's all been downhill every since

what’s the best and worst part of being online/a creator?

best part is obviously all the people i've met from all over the world. from germany to australia to indiana (🤢) and everywhere in-between. i feel like the world is at my fingertips. the worst part is seeing the worst takes that anyone has ever thought and i feel my brain rotting away. also, old woman moment, i hate watching these kids grow up on the internet, it's like watching worms take over their brain

what do you think of when you hear the word “home”?

yeah i'm an adult but also....my stuffed animal brownie 🥺. that little dude goes everywhere with me

name 3 things that make you happy

my cats. if i'm sad i just look up and see their little fluffy faces and then i feel ok

all my internet friends. love seeing everyone's dumb posts

every night i grab my pepper spray and walk around the neighborhood and it has actually improved my overall mood it's insane. who knew

say 3 things about someone you hate

let's talk about scott meyer

after leaving the mental hospital (literally across the street from it) he asked "kallie why don't you have a job" mere moments after he was kicked out of a bar for being too drunk. so i asked why he doesn't have a job and he got all mad and said WELL I'M TRYING and then i started yelling at him in the pizza place but my excuse is i was pretty drugged up and then he just never got a job

attacking the whole house (which included a literal baby btw) and then stealing one of their cars while insanely drunk after hitting me and biting someone else and then i waited outside for the cops while eating mac n cheese in the rain (shout-out to the eugene oregon police department for not finding a drunk man on the empty roads at midnight and just saying "we have people looking")

STEALING MY CLOTHES FUCK YOU SCOTT

do you collect anything?

i don't really collect anything rn but i do have a lot of rocks from my childhood/teen years. i still love a good rock

how many tabs do you have open right now?

44 and they're all unimportant but i'm not deleting any of them

fave song at the moment?

for the fifth year in a row, hounds of love. i will inform everybody if that changes

youtuber you’ve been obsessed with and why?

this is a great place to bitch about youtube because i used to go on there all the time and now i barely go on there. mainly just to watch random clips of shows and sports compilations because the ads are legitimately terrible. it's impossible to watch anything anymore. every two minutes, BAM another ad like it's fucking torture. a five minute video takes eight minutes it's insane. who let this happen

[anoddrock]

Hey, an attempted tag list below the cut!!! There will likely be many edits now and in the future

Asks are open

Addition: I know it’s pretty unlikely, but please DO NOT repost my art. If there’s a platform that you wish I was on, tell me and I’ll take it into consideration. If the post says you can use art, you should still credit to me.

Links:

[Would You Still Love Me If I Were A Wyrm]

[Why I Need To Go Back To Hell Masterpost]*

*WINTGBTH is going to be restarted, I think I’ll feel better about it and it will be more enjoyable if I do this. This masterpost will lead to the original posts, but will also lead to the new ones as I begin working on them.

Tags:

Non oc tags:

tmntd- teenage mutant ninja turtles, but instead they take place in the world of ATLA and are turtle ducks

WINTGBTH - My ROTTMNT AU [first page here] [Masterpost]

Fanart - fanart

ebog - unimportant reblogs

rebog - important reblogs

Asks - asks

Polls - polls I’ve done or that are in progress

Emoticons - I like to do homebrewed emoticons they’re fun

Sewing adjacent - tags to do with sewing where I’m not actually sewing

Medium tags: I feel these are fairly self explanatory

Animation - anything that’s on here relating to animation, most of it being my own attempts at the art

Roughs - rough animation, not clean

Animatic - not animated drawings to sound

Video - videos

J me - Where I say things

Writing - me writing

Sketches - sketches and doodles, incomplete stuff.

Comic - comic

Digital - digital art

Character list - character lists

Miniatures - miniatures I’ve made

Crochet - crochet projects

Sewing - sewing projects

Complete art - non-digital works I consider complete

Original Story posts will be tagged by world, storyline, character groups, and individual character.

This is not yet complete, but I’m working on it.

Realms -

This is the nearest and dearest of my worlds, in which there are several storylines and a consistently inconsistent magic system.

Log entry- worldbuilding written from the perspective of an interplanetary explorer gathering info on the main planet that Realms takes place in

Kings Scavengers and Tenth Star- tags featuring one of many storylines taking place in my Realms world, which primarily focuses on the King family and the friends they make on a quest to save their planet from falling back into an apocalypse. Tenth star is a separate storyline that meets Kings Scavengers about a third of the way through the story

10th+Scavengers Character List:

Star Song - a story that also takes place in The Realms, very shortly after the first known apocalypse on the planet of Intul. It follows a Shadowborn who was recently separated from the hive mind that wanted to destroy all intelligent life on Intul and Ibis, who has spent her life surviving despite of and hiding from the hive mind.

Outposts - a story following the earliest characters I created from the Realms, a group of humans, who aren’t native to Intul and arrived on the planet through a portal centuries ago, as they bypass the forest that stopped them from meeting those who have lived on the planet for much longer than the humans have been there.

There are also tags for characters by their names but I don’t really feel like listing all of their names at the moment

And that’s it for the time being!! Enjoy!

[cumaeansibyl]

I posted 2,272 times in 2022

That's 496 more posts than 2021!

206 posts created (9%)

2,066 posts reblogged (91%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@velociraptors-in-hats

@ysabelfaerie

@ratsintherosebush

@callmebliss

@indieninja92

I tagged 952 of my posts in 2022

#leave immediately and wait in the car - 138 posts

#oh no babies - 56 posts

#louis - 45 posts

#anathema - 37 posts

#always reblog - 28 posts

#food - 28 posts

#laugh rule - 25 posts

#boogers! - 23 posts

#bangerz - 15 posts

#check out my face - 10 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#i've put so much power in this man's hands... faith that he wants me as i am... faith that he won't use me or trade me in for a newer model

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

One of the funnier things about Goncharov to me is that that image is two years old, it's been on Tumblr for a long time. How did everyone decide that now is the time to initiate the fandom?

278 notes - Posted November 21, 2022

#4

See the full post

349 notes - Posted July 23, 2022

#3

idk if anyone's been following the ThedaCare case in Wisconsin but a judge lifted the absurd TRO and the seven health care workers can go work their new jobs

if you haven't been following it, this filing by defendant Ascension lays out the facts of the issue clearly and concisely, to wit: ThedaCare didn't pay its employees enough, seven of their employees, responded to open job ads posted by Ascension, and Ascension hired them. ThedaCare, instead of either offering more money or moving to hire replacements, waited a whole month and then filed an "emergency" lawsuit screaming that Ascension stole their employees and if they didn't get them back immediately everyone would die. Some dumb motherfucker of a judge who needs to be recalled granted a temporary restraining order that would ban the seven workers from reporting to their new jobs until the lawsuit was resolved, even though ThedaCare had no apparent intention of scheduling said workers for shifts.

Which is why Ascension comes straight out the gate with one of the clearest "plaintiff's a lying sumbitch and we can prove it" lines I've ever seen in a legal filing:

But this emergency is also of ThedaCare’s making in a second, much more troubling sense: ThedaCare has invented the emergency ostensibly justifying this lawsuit. As the facts will show, allowing seven health care workers to leave ThedaCare for the hospital of their choosing — Ascension’s St. Elizabeth Hospital, not even seven miles away — will not plunge the Fox Valley into a critical care crisis, as ThedaCare claims. St. Elizabeth already offers the medical services at issue, just without the fancy designation ThedaCare appears to view as a better use of funds than paying its workers. And Green Bay is and will remain available as a backup option—no need for diversion to Milwaukee or Madison. In short, this emergency is entirely of ThedaCare’s making because ThedaCare is making it up. [emphasis in the original, holy shit]

381 notes - Posted January 25, 2022

#2

I don't give a fuck if your food has GMOs in it, what I want to know is if you paid anyone involved in farming or processing it a living wage

Where's my cute little logo for that

2,214 notes - Posted February 14, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Every time people talk about putting billionaires to the guillotine I'm thinking "in this scenario where you can execute the richest people on the planet you can clearly do whatever you want, so just take their money"

I personally think it would be way funnier to stick Bezos and Musk and them in bland middle class lives like Ray Liotta at the end of Goodfellas, it's a perfectly good life if you aren't accustomed to being able to buy entire political parties or go to space or command a herd of creepy little followers who would probably literally kill for you

Want these chumps to suffer? Make them unimportant.

38,325 notes - Posted July 23, 2022

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