#a unified theory of me humor

[bestworstcase]

I’ve gone back to rewatch 6x3 (Salem backstory) like three times since I heard of the summer joined salem willingly theory and I just never really stopped to FULLY appreciate how unfairly salem had been treated by the narrative before.. like I literally can’t stop ranting about how she’d not really done anything wrong! A grieving woman pulled the classic childhood “mom said no so I’m gonna go ask dad and pretend I didn’t ask mom” and is cursed with immortality!

She’s a smart woman so when she realized they were fallible she made a plan that would potentially end her suffering/life and instead they ruined her life further… eventually Ozma comes back and she realizes that they together could create *paradise* (her words, she has no desire for ceaseless destruction unlike what the story of her falling into the grimm pool and all said) and replace the brothers as the worlds new deities.

He feels conflicted that there are people fighting/dying to spread their new religion and she says (at 21:51) “you said we needed to bring humanity together, in order to do that, we have to spread our word and destroy those who deny it.” Like that’s what fucks me up! It was *his* idea to unify them via religion which meant all along he was using *her* own suggestion of being gods to create paradise to instead bring *back* the gods that cursed her, the ones that she wanted to replace… she literally just goes on to say “don’t you see? None of that matters anymore” like it literally doesn’t! It wasn’t even her idea to spread it to the degree that it would require killing!

Oz could’ve just enjoyed the freedom to live with Salem forever but instead he withheld his true intentions and even tried to twist her cause when even after everything she went through she wasn’t some sort of bloodthirsty monster, she just wanted to create a beautiful world for the people who already existed and for their new family… Salem is literally so tragic 😢

#TeamSalemDidNothingWrong #…UntilAllOfThatMurderThatCameFromNeedingToPreventHerDeathOrNewTypeOfTortureAtTheHandsOfTheGods #EverythingIsBecauseOfOzma

hgfhdgsk step one COMPLETE!

step two is asking, is salem really being treated unfairly by the narrative? are we meant to take jinn as an objective source? she does begin the tale with “once upon a time”—it’s framed as a fairytale. are fairytales treated as the whole truth in any other narrative context? why does the scene get inexplicably washed in glaring red light when jinn says “salem blamed the end of the world on the gods” in a way that insinuates it’s a lie? why is it ruby, not jinn, who asserts that ozma “has to destroy salem,” and why does jinn grin when she tells him he can’t?

V6 builds from the groundwork laid in V5 regarding truth and deception and the importance of critical thinking—think of all the emphasis raven puts on telling yang she needs to ask questions and stop taking every answer she’s given at face value—and what do the kids do after jinn tells them this tale? they ask ozpin what his plan is, and they ask how they’re supposed to defeat salem if she can’t be killed. ruby actively chooses not to ask jinn any follow-up questions because she’s afraid of wasting the last one (<- this happens AGAIN with hazel in V8, the characters don’t ask jinn what salem wants because they assume that their assumption is correct, and that caps off a subplot about all of salem’s hench people bickering over their wildly different ideas of what she’s planning.)

STEP THREE,

is remembering that jinn is a djinn bound to a magical lamp whose three questions were humorously equated to wishes, and ambrosius makes it clear that he gives people exactly, literally what they ask for, and ruby doesn’t ask jinn to tell them the truth about salem, she asks “what is ozpin hiding from us?”, and then you have to smack yourself in the forehead a bit.

step four is going back to the beginning and paying attention this time. what does salem say about humankind? what does she say about the society ozma built after the great war? how does her tone change from one to the other? what does volume one have to say about the nature of evil? is the conspiratorial, paranoid cult of secrets and lies keeping a comatose young woman in the basement until they find a suitable vessel to overwrite with her soul really people the narrative expects us to agree with? is this a good system? what is it for? who does it serve? is ozpin right and ironwood wrong or are both of them wrong in opposite ways? is salem really describing her own methods, or is she mocking ozpin for the self-sabotaging failures of his? what does the narrative think about chosen ones who try to stand alone against the darkness? how does it engage with the concept of heroism? how is it deconstructing the fairytale ethos at the heart of the huntsman system? are the things the characters believe about the grimm accurate? why aren’t there any grimm plaguing kuo kuana, despite it being the most densely populated city in the world and not participating in the huntsmen institution? how is salem’s part of 6.4 annotating her portrayal in 6.3? why does the narrative show us the rage and terror behind her decision to rush to atlas ahead of schedule before ironwood speculates that her greatest strength is a complete lack of emotion? why does she fly off the handle every time someone lies to her? why does the narrative make such a huge point of establishing that no one knows what she wants and then conclude that subplot with the characters actively choosing not to verify their assumptions? what might the narrative be setting up through salem’s treatment of cinder in V8, through salem losing the power struggle because she won’t commit to punishing cinder for her defiance? why does the woman who loathes the gods and praises humanity’s strength and wisdom and resourcefulness and passion really hold ozma, god’s chosen one, in such contempt? WHY DOES SHE LET HER HOSTAGES GO? and so on and so forth.

step five is rewatching the lost fable again for the nth time and staring at a wall and thinking about “creatures known as faunus bore fangs and claws and were locked away in cages” and “frightened whispers that spoke of a terrifying sorceress who commanded dark powers in the wilds, among beasts and monsters” and putting that together with how grimm are used to symbolize the persecution of faunus and ozpin transparently suspecting blake as salem’s spy and how the world of remnant episodes on grimm and faunus and the faunus origin myths all strongly imply a cultural perception that faunus are sort of grimm-adjacent, and having the oh. OH moment where you realize that salem is a faunus and her arc is intricately connected to the faunus narrative.

step seven is going down the feverish rabbit hole of ‘fairytales of remnant’ and tilting at silver-eyed windmills until your brain is thoroughly cooked, at which point you can start yelling on street corners about how the god of animals was a grimm lady and silver-eyed warriors are psychopomps and summer rose is salem’s second in command and rapidly approaching ozma apostasy arc and ozlem reconciliation because lord knows they deserve it, and so forth, ideally with a bullhorn.

step eight is getting cold-clocked by volume nine tearing the last vestiges of ruby’s faith in the huntsman system to shreds like a pack of rabid hyenas so that she can finally tear herself free of the fairytale cult that tried to eat her

and that’s the normal rwby fan to salem club pipeline in a nutshell.

[good-chimes]

just wanted to say i love your writing so much, the mix of humor and romance (when it happens) is SO good because you balance it out so well. Your comedy is just perfect and you truly have a grasp on what these characters would be saying/doing in that situation. i was also wondering your thoughts on the scarian grand unifying theory and how secret life fits in???

GREAT question I am noodling limlife and SL but haven’t had time to fit them into the theory yet. However bad boy divorced!grian makes me way too happy to let go

[52booksproject]

Book 28 The Skeptics Guide to Conspiracies

The RNG threw out 366 which is Secret Societies such as the Freemasons or Knights Templar. A book of conspiracy theories about them seemed interesting, so I went with Monte Cook's The Skeptics Guide to Conspiracies since I'm a skeptic myself.

Well, the book seems a little more credible than I am since they rank each conspiracy by believability and wackiness, and their ratings were often higher than I would have put them.

Take the Kennedy assassination. I actually was a believer back as a young, impressionable teen right when the 30th anniversary hype happened. I think I actually cried in frustration when Quantum Leap said they thought Oswald did it alone. However I've moved away from that and now do believe that Oswald did it and all the mystery surrounding the assassination comes from the bungling investigation that followed. There is one conspiracy about it I rate plausible- that a secret service agent in the cars ahead of Kennedy slipped and accidentally delivered the fatal headshot. They don't mention that one in the book- just the standard mafia/CIA/Castro stuff. There is the curious coincidence that 3 future presidents were in Dallas that day (Johnson in the motorcade, Nixon playing golf, and Bush skulking around being CIA-y). It added up to a 7/10 plausibility, which I disagree with, but agree it is more likely than some of the other conspiracies in the book. Incidentally, while I also don't believe in an RFK conspiracy, I do actually buy a conspiracy against Dr. Martin Luther King, they didn't get extensively into it, but there does seem to be some substance there.

They give alien abductions a 6/10 which, to me is just crazypants. Sleep paralysis seems a good explanation for the lion's share of the stories and kookiness the rest. The book rounds out with conspiracies on Princess Diana, Marilyn Monroe, Jim Morrison, Elvis, and the moon landing. Incidentally, apparently Stanley Kubrick directing the faked moon landing started out as some wag's joke, but now some people actually believe it!

BEST LINE: This is why conspiracy theorists have decently adopted the term "parapolitics" to describe what it is they research and write about. We've yet to see that term catch on, however.

SHOULD YOU READ THIS BOOK: If you want a breezy overview of many different conspiracies then this isn't a bad choice. It includes resources to go more in depth on any of its subjects and except for a little credulity here in there is mainly a sensible book with a good dose of humor.

ART PROJECT:

The last conspiracy was called the octopus and it essentially is a grand unifying theory trying to cram all the conspiracies together in one elegant theory. So here's an octopus gathering the mafia/freemasons/UN/and Kennedy assassination all together.

[jessicafurseth]

Reading List, Participation edition.

"Joy demands something of us. It requires us to participate. To pay attention. To find beauty in darkness. To be awe-struck in otherwise mundane moments. To celebrate what is in front of us." Anna Brones

[Image by Equal Parts]

*

"Which digital rhythms are we actively following because they make us feel good, and which are we entrained to? Entrainment, a term that originated in biology and then spread to the social sciences, refers to the alignment of an organism’s physiology or behavior with a cycle; the most familiar example would be our circadian rhythm. ... Letting go of one overwhelming rhythm, you invite the presence of others. Perhaps more important, you remember that the arrangement is yours to make." What Social Media Does to Our Sense of Time [Jenny Odell, The New York Times]

"Perhaps, looking back, we should consider “millennial cringe” as less of an embarrassing phase we’d rather forget and more like the last gasp of what humor on the internet looked like before it became impossible to keep up with it." Towards a unified theory of millennial "epic bacon" humour [Rebecca Jennings, Vox]

“The CIA ... encourage most officers to have a social-media presence because, quite frankly, it’s a red flag and it looks strange if you don’t. You’ve got to blend in and look normal. I would argue that some of the Gen Z–and-younger folks, their networks are so huge online, it’s almost a blessing. You can’t figure out who their close friends are because they’re friends with everybody. It almost negates the exposure.” The CIA Is Trying to Recruit Gen Z—and Doesn’t Care If They’re All Over Social Media [Jessica Goldstein, Washingtonian]

"What if some of the things people describe as mental disorders are purposeful, not pathological?" Evidence grows that mental illness is more than dysfunction [Justin Garson, Aeon]

Patrick Burleigh entered puberty at age two. It was ... a lot. [The Cut]

"We need strength and energy to live with illness; reducing my workload gave me the reserves I needed not just to live with chronic pain, but to begin on the path towards recovery from it." Permission to recover [Gavin Francis, Wellcome Collection Stories]

I for one found the Netflix documentary about Prince Harry and Meghan illuminating, but among British columnists, even the ones who sympathise with Meghan for the racist bullying still can't help but point out how annoying they find her. As the documentary points out, being Black was a big part of what Meghan did "wrong" - but another is that's she's American. Here's a comment piece that actually articulates what that means [Charlotte Kilpatrick, The New Statesman] 

"Augit means to be able to stay with the good bit of your life. To stay with the good augit is to find the good in an experience.” Lessons from my dying therapist [Phoebe Greenwood, The Guardian]

A Month in a Tuscan Villa Didn’t Fix My Burnout [Alanna Bennett, The Cut]

On Raising Teenagers [Rachel Cusk, The New York Times]

"In any relationship, there is an expectation of privacy. There is also an expectation of respect. Violate the latter and you relinquish your right to the former." My boyfriend, a writer, broke up with me because I’m a writer This story by Isabel Kaplan in The Guardian is spectacular. So is this response to the story by Rachel Connolly, in Slate: "It can feel embarrassing to admit how attached we are to situations and people that we know are not serving us well. Mortifying to admit the extent of our agency in desire, and how much of ourselves we willingly give in the hope of getting something that is valuable to us back in return. Shameful to acknowledge that a degrading situation was one we chose. But then, so many commonplace, even definitional facets of the human experience do feel deeply humiliating." 

Time Has Run Out for the Leap Second. The fascinating story of how we're disposing of the leap second, and thereby severing the "the timekeeping of atoms from the timekeeping of the heavens". [Alanna Mitchell, The New York Times]

"I stood over the table, sending this photo of fresh ripe tomatoes and bonito and razor clams out to a paltry few hundred viewers, watching and waiting for the twenty-four hours to pass, when the story would disappear. I looked for meaning in it, and in the hundreds of other images that flooded my screen and filled my brain, of other meals and of make-up routines and dancing teenagers and neo-fascist marches and runway shows and old churches and drone strikes. I looked for meaning and all I thought was ‘Soon, I will die’." A History of the Culinary Selfie [Huw Lemmey, Vittles]

[i-shen-blog]

My reflection as an Anime fan and how has it provided me with a sense of community online.

My reflection as an Anime fan

The internet has orchestrated a profound transformation in the dynamics of fan communities, giving rise to a dynamic and all-encompassing sense of unity. Online forums, social media platforms such as Reddit, and purpose-built websites have evolved into vibrant virtual realms, serving as crucial meeting points for enthusiasts to not only express their exhilaration but to engage in lively discussions, share opinions, and provide unwavering support for their beloved anime teams and characters.

In this expansive digital landscape, geographical constraints are rendered inconsequential, allowing fans of anime to forge connections with kindred spirits scattered across the globe. The internet serves as an inclusive stage where the shared love for anime becomes a powerful common language, bridging cultural divides and fostering a profound sense of belonging.

My personal journey within these online platforms has been nothing short of extraordinary. Engaging with fellow anime enthusiasts from diverse corners of the world has not only amplified the joy of shared fandom but has also been instrumental in cultivating a deep sense of camaraderie and unity. Despite the physical distances that separate us, the virtual spaces we inhabit have become conduits for forging lasting friendships, all ignited by the spark of our collective passion for anime.

The beauty of this digital connectivity lies in its ability to transcend borders, creating a global tapestry woven together by the threads of shared enthusiasm. It is a testament to the incredible capacity of a common passion to bring together individuals from disparate backgrounds, transforming the internet into a boundless arena where lasting connections are forged, and the love for anime becomes the unifying force that transcends geographical boundaries.

My online community experience with Reddit

As I mainly uses Reddit, I will be reflecting about my experiences of using this social media platform as a catalyst to connect with other kindred spirits across the globe which provided me with a sense of community online.

Reddit has emerged as a prominent social media platform, particularly for anime enthusiasts, offering a unique and diverse space for fans like me to connect and engage. Structured around specialized communities called subreddits, Reddit caters to various aspects of the anime fandom, providing dedicated spaces for discussions, recommendations, and fan creations.

Within these subreddits, such as the general r/anime or specific ones like r/Naruto, I can partake in in-depth discussions through threaded comments. This format enables conversations about specific episodes, characters, or overarching themes, fostering a sense of community and shared enthusiasm. Intellectual engagement is a hallmark of Reddit's anime community, with users frequently sharing analyses, theories, and insights.

Reddit also serves as a canvas for fan art and creative endeavors. Subreddits like r/AnimeSketch allow users to showcase their artistic talents, contributing to the vibrant and creative side of the anime fandom. I myself had always been fascinated by the fan art created by these talented souls especially when the artwork looked even better than the original version. Beyond fan art, users can also share various fan-made content, including wallpapers, digital art, and animations, creating a dynamic space for artistic expression.

For those seeking the latest updates and news within the anime industry like myself, subreddits like r/anime_news provide a centralized source for announcements and releases. Additionally, Reddit communities often organize events such as rewatches and AMAs (Ask Me Anything session) with industry professionals, adding an extra layer of excitement and direct interaction for fans.

The platform's diverse nature is evident in its content, ranging from humor and memes in subreddits like r/Animemes to more serious and analytical discussions in places like r/TrueAnime. This diversity ensures that users can find communities that align with their specific interests and preferences.

Conclusion

In summary, Reddit has become a multifaceted hub for the anime fandom, offering a space where fans can discuss, create, share, and connect with others who share their passion. Its structure, diverse subreddits, and interactive features make it a go-to platform for those seeking a comprehensive and engaging online experience within the world of anime. Lastly, If you use internet the right way and connect with like-minded people, I am certain that you would also enjoy yourself at your own fandom and online community!

[jeffament]

tagged by @andreamakesstarsdance thank u🕺🏼

list the top 10 songs you've been listening to lately

p.s. goodbye - the chameleons

view from a hill - the chameleons

looking inwardly - the chameleons

dangerous land - the chameleons

i’m losing more than i’ll ever have - primal scream

ivy ivy ivy - primal scream

noxious (the demon’s game) - corpus delicti

tortured by a sense of humor - children on stun

wither - unified theory

you’re gonna miss me - connie francis

i tag @morganascorpse @crashdiet @marklanegan @visible-disappointment :)

[jocia92]

… So much of an actor’s craft is figuring out the “I want” of their character, but that’s got to be a little different with Tom since he states that he literally cannot want anything. What challenge or opportunity did that pose for you?

I think he wants to improve. I think he wants to calibrate according to Alma’s needs, wants, and desires. I think he’s very ready to learn and to understand. That was the kind of primary objective: listen, learn, calibrate, improve. That’s almost the track of each scenario. He just gets a little better each time, and the process gets a little faster. But certainly, in the beginning, he’s just delivering this sort of 20 classic chat-up lines that he’s been uploaded with and getting it all wrong. It’s fun to watch the machine learn and chart that progress.

On a practical or philosophical level, how did you approach the process of humanizing a character that’s an algorithm, or did you at all?

It was very much about charting with Maria exactly when we want to see the machine, when we want to see the human. Even playing with that ratio was really interesting and fun. It’s not so much about watching him play the machine, but watching a character try to play the human. Certainly, in the beginning, in some of the not quite so successful human moments, shall we say, we deconstructed what we regarded as the conventional human behavior in that. We looked at a lot of screwball comedies, like Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Katharine Hepburn movies. [We were] taking a move or a gesture, breaking that down, and just doing two of the things. It just suddenly looks very odd and wrong, and you’re like, “Oh, this is what a human does in this moment!” But it’s just off. It was really as much about looking at the human.

You’ve mentioned things like The Philadelphia Story as shaping the film and its central relationship. Was that to ground it in reality or further ensconce it in the warped reality of cinema? Grant and Stewart are recognizable to us as people, but things like that mid-Atlantic lilt were entirely manufactured for the screen.

That was a very key point for Maria in referencing Cary Grant. The hair color that we chose for Tom was very much like Cary Grant’s hair color, being a shade darker than is possibly human. And the skin tone being slightly artificial for Tom. You’re right, Cary Grant is often very heightened and mannered sometimes, and it works in the situation in the style of the thing that he’s in. But we quite liked the idea that Tom has been uploaded with some outdated versions of what a romantic lead was supposed to behave like.

It’s striking just how thought-out things had to be down to how Tom responds to dead air space in a conversation. What was the process behind those small moments that can make or break the believability of a character?

It was very fun to play with, and probably quite frustrating for a lot of the human actors. Maren was giving a beautifully naturalistic performance, and the conventional responses that there should be from her scene partner weren’t there. We deliberately strip those away—sometimes without telling her, sometimes without needing to tell her. It’s just the way that Tom was, so it was about pushing those moments into a space that became a little uncomfortable: not jumping in on the lines where you might normally jump in, sometimes coming in hard, sometimes offering a delayed response, sometimes none at all. Playing with those, and watching how comfortable or uncomfortable that made them both, was really fun.

Did that frustration, built in by the process, bleed over for Maren into the character of Alma, do you think?

Maybe for Maren. Certainly, for me, it was frustrating in that I would have to remember not to respond in the way that I might normally and remove some of those things. [I had to] really break down exactly what Tom is thinking, what his programming is doing in that point, how he’s responding and calibrating, and whether we see that or not. Choosing moments to show the human, to show the machine. Along with Maria, that was one of the great joys of the role.

How did you settle on the physicality of the character? Was it at all helpful to have done something like Beauty and the Beast in a mo-cap suit to be hyper-aware of how your own movements translate to the screen?

Very much so. In fact, in pretty much every role I’ve done since Beauty and the Beast, I’ve incorporated not always a movement coach, but I’ve definitely looked at movement theory and physicality in a totally new way because of the challenges of that role. And, I have to say, dance plays a huge part in that. Whether it’s incorporated on the screen or if it’s something that just feels as if it helps the role, I often find that a dance studio is a very fruitful space to discover things about your character’s physicality. Learning the rumba for this role was incredibly helpful because it’s a very precise, technical, almost robotic dance in terms of the laser precision that’s needed to get it absolutely right. I had a fantastically exact teacher in Berlin who was teaching me the rumba the whole way through the shoot. We shot that [one scene] quite near the end of the shoot. Just to have those lessons, that kind of physicality, and that poise with me the whole way through the role was really useful.

How did the role being in a non-native tongue affect the characterization of Tom? Was it all easier to make him seem slightly unreal given that the words might not come quite as naturally as they would in English?

I think it was a deliberate choice on the part of Maria to look for a foreign actor who could speak German. She needed somebody who could both get their heads and their mouths around the very technical German that was required, which, even for a German is pretty complex, but also who had that sense of otherness. I’m sure they could have tailored the screenplay to any number of nationalities, but I was very happy they came to me and made him British. It definitely helped with, as I say, the fact that he’s listening, learning, focusing, trying to improve…that was literally all I was doing last summer, every day.

How do you lock onto the frequency of German comedy, which isn’t always something people associate with that country or people? How is it different than doing something like the more mannered British wit of Blithe Spirit or the broad studio comedy of Eurovision Song Contest?

It’s not a country known for it, but I think they should [be]. I find Germans very funny. They have a very interesting sense of humor. What’s particularly delightful is the way that they can tackle really kind of big, sometimes weighty, issues with a certain wit and lightness of touch, which is not common to all countries. Physical comedy, I think, is fairly universal. I think there’s something almost farcical about some of the physical stuff that we managed to get in this. It was really fun to make people laugh in a foreign language. It was surprisingly delightful. It felt very unifying, somehow, to be able to get a joke across in any language.

[essektheylyss]

Divination in the Luxon Religion—A Form of Astrology

A brief summary on the history of astrology here—many traditions of astrology originate in Mesopotamia and Egypt during the ancient period, beginning in the Mesopotamian region around 2000 BCE. Astrological interpretations were not causal in anyway—the movements of celestial bodies didn’t cause events, they were viewed as a kind of “heavenly writing” that was placed there by the gods in order to convey messages. In Egypt, different techniques arose, but with similar significance.

These two traditions were essentially pulled together to create what became Hellenistic astrology and was transmitted to Indian to create Vedic astrology, and so on and so forth as those two primary lineages were passed down. (Western astrology has shifted greatly over time as it has been translated as the boundaries of empires in Europe changed, whereas Vedic astrology has largely remained one unified and further refined tradition.)*

In Exandria, like other campaign settings, the gods in fact communicate directly with their followers, especially through priests who get either directly worded messages or fairly clear omens about what is to come (we’ve seen both from Melora). Additionally, the gods have in the past been present physically, and the existence of the Divine Gate is well documented and researched—probably the most well-known effect of the Calamity.

In that regard, you wouldn’t inherently need to create some sort of astrological system to interpret omens, because you can call up your god (or have a priest call up your god, if you’ve got enough money for it) and ask. This isn’t to say that people without that money would not look for other omens, but they probably would not have a centralized practice considering how word travels in Exandria and how necessary that kind of practice would be.

However, then you get to the Dynasty. The Luxon is not a deity that speaks to anyone (as mentioned by Essek in 91, and confirmed by the EGTW in the Lesser Idols section, since our boi is unreliable at best). The EGTW also says that higher ranking members of the religion divine omens from the beacons, and the description of Skysibil Abrianna Mirimm says that she is a ‘talented diviner’ in addition to being the Umavi of her den. Her title, notably, also literally means “heavenly prophet.”

And if your people had just come aboveground after centuries if not millennia in the Underdark, and you were predisposed toward night but followed a god seemingly made of light that is believed to have come from beyond this world before settling upon this rock, it would stand to reason that the first place you would look for messages would be in the movements of the stars.

And the thing being, that the people who developed the techniques of that interpretation and recorded patterns in relation to events would be both invaluable to the political structure of the Dynasty as well as honored authorities within the Luxon religion, meaning that the practice would probably be largely institutionalized and intrinsic to the operation of the government—using omens to choose times to act or to predict tragedy, for example.**

As an additional note, astrology until the Renaissance period was tied into other natural sciences—Ptolemy famously wrote the Tetrabiblos in order to reconcile astrological techniques with his concept of cosmology. This was in addition to its association with the Greek humors and softer sciences like political science.

One thing that interests me about this is whether or not they would use this for individual people (natal astrology) or only larger or more situational purposes. I think it would depend on the Dynasty’s interpretation of fate versus free will, which is a major pressure point in the field of astrology especially in modern times, and I imagine it would be in this situation as well given the ways in which the Dynasty looks to manipulate fate.

However, I would tentatively suggest that there probably is some form of natal astrology, in which an individual can be given guidance on coming events or influences specific to them and alter or navigate those things as such—every time something of this sort has been mentioned in canon, it is approached more as something to manipulate rather than something that simply doesn’t exist, so I would guess they have a middle ground approach to that concept.***

So I could absolutely see the primary method of divination in the Dynasty being astrological! It would make sense given the parameters of their religion and why astrology has in the past been developed, and symbolically I think they would probably vibe really well with it.

[Notes and citations under the cut.]

* This post does not touch on Chinese astrology, primarily because it works on a system of years and does not track the movement of constellations, working instead with twelve-year cycles aligned, I believe, in part with the cycle of Jupiter. This is specifically focused on tracking the movements of the constellations and celestial bodies. ** This is something that some in power still use in the real world! Look up Joan Quigley, who was the personal astrologer for the Reagans, and then think about how effective Reagan’s actions as president were in becoming embedded in American society. For good or bad, astrologers absolutely still effect that kind of thing. ***This is where many contemporary astrologers fall as well!

[Most of the historical context comes from work done by Project Hindsight, a major translation project in the 1990s/2000s that worked on historical Greek documents that had been compiled by academics but never translated, and curated and distilled by Chris Brennan in Hellenistic Astrology: The Study of Fate and Fortune. This work has also been contributed to by Demetra George, both in her work in translation and her book Ancient Astrology in Theory and Practice, and translations of medieval texts from Latin and Arabic by Benjamin Dykes. For more information on Joan Quigley, reference episode 68 of the Astrology Podcast with Chris Brennan and Nick Dagen Best.]

[ehliena]

FilAms referring to the Philippines as the acronym PI while they are calling homelanders for the use of Filipinx and Pinxy is peak irony. That is without adding these two facts: the letter F is a loaned letter in Tagalog from the oppressors (and its corresponding phoneme too) and that the demonym is an appellation to Felipe II of Spain. And for someone like me who reads and writes in Baybayin since age 15, to write a Baybayin X seems like a dark humor scene in a Taika Waititi comedy. (Yes, I do Baybayin shiz for fun, but not as serious as Kristian Kabuay and NordenX.)

I first encountered PI among FilAms during Christmas vacation 2002 in LA; and Pilipinx when I joined the theatrical production of a FilAm musical at CalState East Bay in 2016. I understand that it is their culture and I respect it, and I assimilate. I easily assimilate with what I call my Nickelodeon voice, which I have acquired from when jailbroken cable services became a thing in Mega Manila and through my theatre background. But when in Rome, we live the Roman way, so as the Santa Mesa-born foreigner, I have to hide that dark laughter every single time someone uses PI.

But of course, 2020 had to make us see PI-using FilAms pressuring homelander to use Filipinx, citing political correctness and gender neutrality (while white American Pemberton, the killer of Filipino transwoman Jennifer Laude, was given an absolute pardon by Duterte).

So, let us start my TEDtalk.

P.I. is a colloquial acronym for Putanginamo (the equivalent of Fuck You) used by conservative Filipinos who probably are only retelling a story.

Tsismosa 1: “Minura ni Aling Biring si Ka Boying.” (Aling Biring cursed Ka Boying)

Tsismosa 2: “Oh? Ano ika?” (Really? What did she say?)

Tsismosa 1: “Malutong at umaatikabong PI.” (A hard and surging PI.)

Then I imagine PI as the curse when FilAms say some sentences:

“Are you flying back to Putangina?”

“I miss Putangina. We went to Boracay.”

“Duterte is President of Putangina.”

But it’s fine with me. I understand they mean well and I know that Americans, as first world as they are, have poor grasp of history. It’s a little sad though that FilAms have not always been reminded of this special footnote in the history of the United States:

P.I. stands for Philippine Islands. That’s the colonial name of the Philippines as a commonwealth republic under the United States, which the republic stopped using when the 1935 Constitution was enacted in 1946. Yes, in case people are forgetting, the Philippines has long been a state with full sovereignty recognized by the United Nations (of which we are a founding member of and wherein Carlos Romulo served as President) and recognized by Shaider Pulis Pangkalawakan.

Also, RP is used to refer to the Republic of the Philippines before the use of the standard two-letter country code PH.

I’m not saying FilAms should stop using PI to refer to the Philippines but I’m saying that the roots of that practice is from American oppression that homelanders have already cancelledttt.

Our oldest bank in the Philippines is BPI. It stands for Bank of the Philippine Islands, originally named El Banco Español Filipino de Isabel II because it was founded during Queen Isabella II’s reign. It was a public bank by then; perhaps comparable to the Federal Reserve. Upon its privatization during the American occupation, the bank started using BPI for the sake of branding because it was the Americans who christened us with P.I. (I have a theory that Manila was a character in Money Heist because the Royal Mint of Spain used to have a branch in the Philippines and operated very closely with BPI. And my other supernatural theory is that our translation of peso which is ‘piso’ affects our economy. ‘Piso’ means ‘floor’ or ‘flat’ in Spanish.)

Now, going back. To me, P.I. is more appropriate an acronym for the ethnic group of Pacific Islanders. I don't think I need to explain further why. These would be the natives of Hawai’i, Guam, Tuvalu, Kiribati, and other islands in the Oceania continent, and maybe even New Zealand. If a curious FilAm raises a question of whether Filipinos are Pacific Islanders or Asians or Hispanics, the answer is long but easy to understand.

The Filipinos live in a group of islands within the Pacific Plate. The Philippines is an Asian country, following conventions of geopolitical continental borders from the other. We are Hispanics by virtue of being under Spain for three fucking centuries. And Teresita Marquez is Reina Hispanoamericana because why not? (We could’ve been a part of America still if not for the efforts of Quezon.) So, the quick answer is that the Filipino is all of it.

Yes, the Filipinos have an affinity with the Pacific through nature and geography. Think of the earthquakes, volcanoes, flora and fauna, and the coconuts. And they even look like us. The earlier inhabitants of the archipelago were Pacific Islanders who were introduced to Hinduism and Buddhism as being closer to the cradles of civilization India and China. Then, the Islamic faith has grown along with the rise of the kingdoms and polities in Southeast Asia. The Spaniards arrived in the archipelago, to an already civilized Islamic polity - too civilized that they understood how diplomacy is necessary in war. We knew that it resulted to the defeat and death of Magellan who was fighting for Rajah ‘Don Carlos’ Humabon. Then came the 333 years of being under Spain AND (sic) the Catholic Church which made us more Hispanic. Our Austronesian/Malayo-Polynesian languages (Tagalog, Bisaya, Kapampangan, Ilocano, Bikol, Waray, Cuyonon, etc.) have kept our Asian identity intact - unlike Latin American countries where the official language of each is one of the Romance languages; thus "Latin".

(It is only towards the end of that 333-year Spanish rule that the 'Filipino' emerged to be something the oppressed could claim, and for that we thank the poet in Jose Rizal. I see a parallel in how Christians claimed the cross, the former symbol of criminals in Jewish tradition, to become the symbol of God’s love and salvation through Jesus. Wow. That’s so UST of me. Lol.)

You add into the mix that our diaspora is so large and identifiable, the data gatherers decided to mark the tables with “Filipino” - too Asian to be Hispanic and Pacific, too Pacific to be Hispanic and Asian, and too Hispanic to be Asian and Pacific.

What many FilAms do not realize everyday is that unlike the words Blacks, Latinx, Asians, or Pacific Islanders, or Hispanics, the word Filipino is not just a word denoting an ethnic group. At its highest technical form, the word Filipino is a word for the citizenship of a sovereign nation, enshrined in the constitution of a free people whose history hinges on the first constitutional republic in Asia.

By state, we mean a sovereign nation and not a federal state. (Well, even with Chinese intervention, at the very least we try.)

By state, we mean we are a people with a national territory, a government, and a legal system inspired by the traditions of our ancestors and oppressors. It may be ugly, but it is ours, and we have the power to change it.

This one may be as confusing as Greek-Grecian-Greco-Hellenic-Hellene, but let’s examine the word 'Filipino' further when placed side by side with related words.

*Pilipinas is the country; official name: Republika ng Pilipinas. It is translated into English as “Philippines”; official name: Republic of the Philippines. Spanish translates it into “Filipinas”, the Germans “Philippinen”, the French “Les Philippines”, the Italians “Filippine”.

*Pilipino refers to the people. It is translated into English as Filipino. The plural forms are ‘mga Pilipino’ and ‘Filipinos’.

*Philippine is an English adjective relating to the Philippines, commonly used for official functions. It may be used as an alternative to the other western adjective ‘Filipino’ but the interchangeability is very, very nuanced. Filipino people not Philippine people. Filipino government and Philippine government. Philippine Embassy, Filipino embassy, not Filipino Embassy. Tricky, eh?

*Filipino also refers to the official language of the state (which is basically Tagalog).

*Filipiniana refers to Philippine-related books and non-book materials (cultural items, games, fashion, etc.) which could be produced by Filipinos or non-Filipinos, inside or outside the Philippines.

*Pinoy is a colloquial gender-neutral demonym; comparable to how New Zealanders use the word Kiwi.

The demonym Filipino has evolved from that of referring only to Spaniards in the Philippines into becoming the term for the native people who choose to embrace the identity of a national.

It started from when Jose Rizal wrote his poem “A la juventud filipina” and he emerged as an inspiration to the Philippine Revolution through Andres Bonifacio’s leadership. (But take note of ‘filipina’ because ‘juventud’ is a feminine word in Spanish.)

Today, no less than the 1987 Philippine Constitution, which was neither written by Hamilton nor a group of straight white men but by people of different faiths, genders, disabilities, and skin colors, in its first five words in both Filipino and English versions read: "Kami, ang nakapangyayaring sambayanang Pilipino", translated as "We, the sovereign Filipino people” validates the legitimacy of the word as gender-neutral, alive, aware and awake with our history of struggles.

Article 14 Section 7 of the current Constitution says Filipino is the national language. And while I agree that it is not really a real language but an alias for Tagalog, it is a conscientious codification of a social norm during the time of Manuel Quezon as he is aiming for the world to recognize the unified Filipinos as a sovereign people. People. Not men. Not heterosexual men. People.

It is a non-issue for the homeland Filipino that the word Filipino refers to the people and the language. But FilAms are concerned of political correctness due to an understandable cultural insecurity also felt by other non-whites in the US. And there is added confusion when FilAms pattern the word Filipino after the patriarchal Spanish language, without learning that the core of the grammars of Philippine languages are gender-neutral. The Tagalog pronoun "siya" has no gender. "Aba Ginoong Maria" is proof that the Tagalog word 'ginoo' originally has no gender. Our language is so high-context that we have a fundamental preposition: “sa”.

It is difficult to be a person of color in the United States especially in these times of the white supremacy’s galling resurgence. Well, it’s not like they have been gone, but this time, with Trump, especially, it’s like the movement took steroids and was given an advertising budget. But for FilAms to force Filipinx into the Philippines, among homeland Filipinos, is a rather uneducated move, insensitive of the legacies of our national heroes and magnificent leaders.

The FilAm culture and the Filipino homeland culture are super different, nuanced. It’s a different dynamic for a Latinx who speak Spanish or Portuguese or whatever their native language is - it reminds entitled white English-speaking America of their place in the continent. It should remind a racist white man whose roots hail from Denmark that his house in Los Angeles stands on what used to be the Mexican Empire.

Let’s use a specific cultural experience by a Black person for example: the black person not only has Smith or Johnson for their last name, but there is no single easy way for them to retrieve their family tree denoting which African country they were from, unless the Slave Trade has data as meticulous as the SALN forms. Let’s use a specific cultural experience by a Mexican-American with Native American heritage: the person is discriminated by a white US Border Patrol officer in the border of Texas. Texas used to be part of Mexico. Filipinos have a traceable lineage and a homeland.

Filipinos and FilAms may be enjoying the same food recipes, dancing the same cultural dance for purposes of presentations every once in a while, but the living conditions, the geography, the languages, social experiences, the human conditions are different, making the psychology, the politics, the social implications more disparate than Latinxs like Mexicans and Mexican Americans.

I don’t know if it is too much advertising from state instruments or from whatever but FilAms don’t realize how insensitive they have become in trying to shove a cultural tone down the throats of the citizens of the republic or of those who have closer affinity to it. And some Filipino homelanders who are very used to accommodating new global social trends without much sifting fall into the trap of misplaced passions.

To each his own, I guess. But FilAms should read Jose Rizal’s two novels, Carlos Romulo’s “I am a Filipino”, materials by Miriam Defensor Santiago (not just the humor books), speeches of Claro Recto, books by historians Gregorio Zaide, Teodoro Agoncillo, Renato Constantino, Nick Joaquin, Regalado Trota Jose, Fidel Villaroel, Zeus Salazar, Xiao Chua, and Ambeth Ocampo, and really immerse themselves in the struggle of the Filipino for an unidentifiable identity which the FilAms confuse for the FilAm culture. That’s a little weird because unlike Blacks and the Latinx movement, the Philippines is a real sovereign state which FilAms could hinge their history from.

I have to be honest. The homelanders don’t really care much about FilAm civil rights heroes Philip Vera Cruz and Larry Itliong, or even Alice Peña Bulos, because it was a different fight. But the media can play a role sharing it, shaping consensus and inadvertently setting standards. (But it’s slightly different for Peña Bulos, as people are realizing she was already a somebody in the Philippines before becoming a who’s who in the US, which is somehow similar to the case of Lea Salonga who was not only from the illustrious Salonga clan, but was also already a child star.) How much do Filipino millennials know about Marcoses, Aquinos? Maybe too serious? Lol. Then, let’s try using my favorite examples as a couch potato of newer cultural materials accessible to FilAms - cultural materials on television and internet.

FilAms who only watched TFC wondered who Regine Velasquez was when ABSCBN welcomed her like a beauty queen. Those with the GMA Pinoy TV have a little idea. But they did not initially get why the most successful Filipino artist in the US, Lea Salonga, does not get that level of adulation at home that Velasquez enjoys. Was it just Regine’s voice? No. Well, kinda, maybe, because there is no question that she is a damn good singer with God knows how many octaves, but it is the culture she represents as a probinsyana who made it that far and chose to go back home and stay - and that’s already a cultural nuance Filipinos understand and resonate with, without having to verbalize because the Philippines is a high-context culture in general, versus the US which is low-context culture in general. I mean, how many Filipinos know the difference of West End and Broadway, and a Tony and an Olivier? What does a Famas or a Palanca mean to a FilAm, to a Filipino scholar, and to an ordinary Filipino? Parallel those ideas with "Bulacan", "Asia", "Birit", "Songbird".

You think Coach Apl.de.Ap is that big in the Philippines? He was there for the global branding of the franchise because he is an American figure but really, Francis Magalona (+) and Gloc9 hold more influence. And speaking of influence, do FilAms know Macoy Dubs, Lloyd Cadena (+) and the cultures they represent? Do FilAms know Aling Marie and how a sari-sari store operates within a community? Do FilAms see the symbolic functions of a makeshift basketball (half)courts where fights happen regularly? How much premium do FilAms put on queer icons Boy Abunda, Vice Ganda? Do FilAms realize that Kris Aquino's role in Crazy Rich Asians was not just to have a Filipino in the cast (given that Nico Santos is already there) but was also Kris Aquino's version of a PR stunt to showcase that Filipinos are of equal footing with Asian counterparts if only in the game of 'pabonggahan'? Will the FilAms get it if someone says ‘kamukha ni Arn-arn’? Do FilAms see the humor in a Jaclyn Jose impersonation? Do FilAms even give premiums to the gems Ricky Lee, Peque Gallaga, Joel Lamangan, Joyce Bernal, Cathy Garcia Molina, and Jose Javier Reyes wrote and directed? (And these are not even National Artists.) How about AlDub or the experience of cringing to edgy and sometimes downright disgusting remarks of Joey De Leon while also admiring his creative genius? Do FilAms understand the process of how Vic Sotto became ‘Bossing’ and how Michael V could transform into Armi Millare? Do FilAms get that Sexbomb doesn’t remind people of Tom Jones but of Rochelle? Do FilAms get that dark humor when Jay Sonza’s name is placed beside Mel Tiangco’s? What do FilAms associate with the names ‘Tulfo’, ‘Isko’, ‘Erap’, ‘Charo’, ‘Matet’, ‘Janice’, ‘Miriam’, ‘Aga’, ‘Imelda’ and ‘Papin’? Do FilAms get that majority of Filipinos cannot jive into Rex Navarette’s and Jo Koy’s humor but find the comic antics of JoWaPao, Eugene Domingo, Mr Fu, Ryan Rems, and Donna Cariaga very easy to click with? Do FilAms know Jimmy Alapag, Jayjay Helterbrand, Josh Urbiztondo? Oh wait, these guys are FilAms. Lol. Both cultures find bridge in NBA, but have these FilAms been to a UAAP, NCAA, or a PBA basketball game where the longstanding rival groups face each other? Do FilAms know the legacy of Ely Buendia and the Eraserheads? Do FilAms know about Brenan Espartinez wearing this green costume on Sineskwela? Do FilAms know how Kiko Matsing, Ate Sienna, Kuya Bodjie helped shape a generation of a neoliberal workforce?

That list goes on and on, when it comes to this type of Filipiniana materials on pop culture, and I am sure as Shirley Puruntong that while the homeland Filipino culture is not as widespread, it has depth in its humble and high-context character.

Now, look at the practical traffic experiences of the homelanders. People riding the jeepneys, the tricycles, the MRT/LRT, the buses, and the kolorum - the daily Via Crucis of Mega Manila only Filipinos understand the gravity of, even without yet considering the germs passed as the payments pass through five million other passengers before reaching the front. Add the probinsyas, people from periphery islands who cross the sea to get good internet connections or do a checkup in the closest first-class town or component city. Do FilAms realize that the largest indoor arena in the world is built and owned by Iglesia ni Cristo, a homegrown Christian church with a headquarters that could equal the Disney castle?

Do FilAms know the experience as a tourist's experience or as an experience a homelander want to get away from or at least improved?

Do FilAms understand how much an SM, a Puregold, or a Jollibee, Greenwich, Chowking branch superbly change a town and its psychology and how it affects the Pamilihang Bayan? Do FilAms realize that while they find amusement over the use of tabo, the homelanders are not amused with something so routinary? Do FilAms realize how Filipinos shriek at the thought that regular US households do not wash their butts with soap and water after defecating?

Do FilAms understand the whole concept of "ayuda" or SAP Form in the context of pandemic and politics? The US has food banks, EDDs, and stubs - but the ayuda is nowhere near the first world entitlements Filipinos in the homeland could consider luxury. But, that in itself is part of the cultural nuance.

Do FilAms know that Oxford recognizes Philippine English as a diction of the English language? While we’ve slowly grown out of the fondness for pridyider and kolgeyt, do FilAms know how xerox is still used in the local parlance? Do FilAms know how excruciating it is to read Panitikan school books Ibong Adarna, Florante at Laura under the curriculum, and how light it is to read Bob Ong? Do FilAms realize that Jessica Zafra, with all her genius, is not the ordinary homelander’s cup-of-tea?

Do FilAms know that Filipinos do not sound as bad in English as stereotypes made them believe? Do FilAms really think that Philippines will be a call center capital if our accents sound like the idiolects of Rodrigo Duterte’s or Ninoy Aquino’s Philippine English accent? Do FilAms realize how Ninoy and Cory speak English with different accents? Lea Salonga's accent is a thespian's accent so she could do a long range like that of Meryl Streep if she wants to so she wouldn't be a good example. Pacquiao's accent shows the idiolect unique to his region in southern Philippines. But for purposes of showing an ethnolinguistic detail, I am using President Cory Aquino’s accent when she delivered her historic speech in the US Congress as a more current model of the Philippine English accent.

Do FilAms bother themselves with the monsoons, the humidity, and the viscosity of sweat the same way they get bothered with snowstorms, and heat waves measured in Fahrenheit?

Do FilAms know that not only heterosexual men are accepted in the Katipunan? Do FilAms even know what the Katipunan is? Do FilAms realize that the Philippines had two female presidents and a transwoman lawmaker? Do FilAms take “mamatay nang dahil sa’yo” the same way Filipinos do? Do FilAms know the ground and the grassroots? Do FilAms know the Filipino culture of the homeland?

These are cultural nuances FilAms will never understand without exposure of Philippine society reflected from barrio to lalawigan, from Tondo to Forbes Park. It goes the same way with Filipinos not understanding the cultural weight of Robert Lopez and the EGOT, or Seafood City, or Lucky Chances Casino, or what Jollibee symbolizes in New York, unless they are exposed.

The thing though is that while it is harder for FilAms to immerse to the homeland culture, it is easier for homeland culture to immerse into the FilAm’s because America’s excess extends to the propagation of its own subcultures, of which the FilAm’s is one.

We’re the same yet we’re different. But it should not be an issue if we are serious with embracing diversity. There should not be an issue with difference when we could find a common ground in a sense of history and shared destiny. But it is the burden of the Filipinos with and in power to understand the situation of those who have not.

Nuances. Nuances. Nuances.

And while I believe that changing a vowel into X to promote gender-neutrality has a noble intention, there is no need to fix things that are not broken. Do not be like politicians whose acts of service is to destroy streets and roads and then call for its renovation instead of fixing broken bridges or creating roads where there are none.

The word ‘Filipino’ is not broken. Since Rizal’s use of the term to refer to his Malayan folks, the formal process of repair started. And it is not merely codified, but validated by our prevailing Constitution, which I don’t think a FilAm would care to read, and I cannot blame them. What's in it for a regular FilAm? They wouldn’t read the US Constitution and the Federalist Papers; what more the 1987 Saligang Batas?

The bottomline of my thoughts on this particular X issue is that FilAms cannot impose a standard for Filipinos without going through a deeper, well-thought-out, more arduous process, most especially when the card of gender neutrality and political correctness are raised with no prior and deeper understanding of what it is to be a commoner in the homeland, of what it is to be an ordinary citizen in a barangay, from Bayan ng Itbayat, Lalawigan ng Batanes to Bayan ng Sitangkai, Lalawigan ng Sulu. It is very dangerous because FilAms yield more influence and power through their better access to resources, and yet these do not equate to cultural awareness.

Before Rizal’s political philosophy of Filipino, the ‘Filipino’ refers to a full-blooded Spaniard born in the Philippines, and since Spain follows jus sanguinis principle of citizenship, back then, ‘Filipino’ is as Spaniard as a ‘Madrileño’ (people in Madrid). The case in point is Marcelo Azcárraga Palmero - the Filipino Prime Minister of Spain.

But the word ‘Filipino’ was claimed by Rizal and the ilustrados to refer to whom the Spaniards call ‘indio’. The term was then applied retroactively to those who helped in the struggle. It was only later that Lapu-Lapu, Francisco Dagohoy, Gabriela and Diego Silang, Sultan Kudarat, Lorenzo Ruiz, and GOMBURZA were called Filipinos.

The word 'Filipino' was long fixed by the tears and sweat of martyrs through years of bloody history in the hands of traitors within and oppressors not just of the white race. The word Filipino is now used by men, women, and those who do not choose to be referred to as such who still bears a passport or any state document from the Republic of the Philippines. Whether a homelader is a Kapuso, Kapamilya, Kapatid, DDS, Dilawan, Noranian, Vilmanian, Sharonian, Team Magnolia, Barangay Ginebra, Catholic, Muslim, Aglipayan, Iglesia, Victory, Mormon, IP, OP, SJ, RVM, SVD, OSB, OSA, LGBTQQIP2SAA, etc., the word 'Filipino' is a constant variable in the formula of national consciousness.

Merriam-Webster defines Filipina as a Filipino girl or woman. Still a Filipino. Remember, dictionaries do not dictate rules. Dictionaries provide us with the meaning. To me, the word Filipina solidified as a subtle emphasis to the Philippines as a matriarchal country faking a macho look. But that’s not saying the word Filipino in the language is macho with six-pack.

The word Filipino is not resting its official status on the letter O but in its quiddity as a word and as an idea of a sovereign nation. The words Pilipino, Filipino, and Pinoy are not broken. What is broken is the notion that a Filipino subculture dictates the standard for political correctness without reaching the depth of our own history.

If the Filipinx-Pinxy-Pilipinx movement truly suits the Filipino-American struggle, my heart goes out for it. But my republic, the Philippines, home of the Filipino people, cradle of noble heroes, has no need for it (not just yet, maybe) - not because we don't want change, but because it will turn an already resolved theme utterly problematic. The Filipinos have no need for it, not because we cannot afford to consider political correctness when people are hungry, abused, and robbed off taxes. We could afford to legalize a formal way of Filipino greeting for purposes of national identity. But as far as the Filipinx, it should not be the homeland’s priority.

We may be poor, but we have culture.

From Julius Payàwal Fernandez's post

[enigmaticxbee]

✖️✖️✖️✖️✖️ 2x25 Anasazi

The one where... Mulder is drugged and Scully shoots Mulder (to save him) and then he gets trapped in a burning boxcar. Part 1 of 3.

Tagline: Ei ‘Aaniigoo ‘Ahoot’e (aka TTIOT in Navajo)

Best: Mulder: You shot me! Scully: Yes, I did. You didn’t give me much choice.

Worst: This is the first of the “is Mulder dead?” season finales. Spoiler alert: he usually isn’t dead, and if he was they’d bring him back, so.... As the viewer I know he’s not going to die. I wish they’d ended (as I remembered it) with Scully searching for him in the desert - because then you’re left with the emotion that SCULLY thinks he’s dead, which is a lot more effective to me.

✔️ Flashlights

❌ Woods

❌ Slideshow

❌ Autopsy

✔️ Evidence Disappears

✔️ Scully Misses It

✔️ Mulder Ditch

❌ Sunflower Seeds

❌ Voiceover

❌ Catch Phrase

❌ Scully is a Medical Doctor

❌ Mulder is Spooky

✔️ Scuuullllaaaaayy! Muullllderrrr!

❌ Fox/Dana

✔️ Inappropriate Touching (that I am here for)

❌ Casual Scully

✔️ Casual Mulder

✔️ Trench Coats

❌ Bad Tie Watch

✔️ Glasses Watch: Scully

50 States: DC x12, Massachusetts x5, & New Mexico (25/50) - they’ve investigated in half the states!

Investigate: Together & Apart

Solve Rate: 67%

❌ Bechdel Test: Scully doesn’t talk to another named female character

MSR: 🐝🐝🐝🐝

Goriness: 👽👽

Creepiness: 👽

Humor: 👽

Rewatch Thoughts:

Scully’s the absolute MVP of this episode:

1. Covers for her partner with their FBI superiors.

2. Recognizes that the tape is encoded in Navajo and finds someone to translate it.

3. Takes care of her partner when he’s sick, letting him sleep it off in her bed.

4. Gathers evidence of Mulder’s innocence by attempting to prove that his gun wasn’t used to shoot his father.

5. Figures out that Mulder’s apartment building water is being drugged.

6. Shoots Mulder to prevent him from using Krycek’s gun and implicating himself in his father’s murder.

7. Bandages him up and drives them across the country.

I have a very important, grand unifying theory about Mulder’s bangs representing his physical and mental wellbeing. Fluffy and flopping artfully = Mulder’s doing great. Flat down across his forehead = something is very, very wrong. See my Mid-Episode Thoughts for the evidence in this episode. Or maybe it was just an easy way for DD/hair and makeup to show when he feels like crap lol. Either way, evidence holds up. See also: 2x01 Little Green Men.

[ill-be-istj-if-no-one-else-is]

Typing help needed: My mind is organized I guess, because I greatly dislike vagueness, randomness and convoluted things. But I struggle with keeping my things organized. I’m highly curious but only about what interests me. I’m curious about how people really are, how things really work backstage in companies and industries I’m interested about, how things I like come to be (I love documentaries). I let myself daydream for fun but I’m very aware of the divide between imagination and reality. 1/8

Many ideas are so ludicrous or illogical you can just discard them immediately, but if needed I Google it to check if they are true. I have to keep true to my values and self, I also can’t stand people who don’t have their own or discard them to follow the herd. Look before you leap is my natural way of being, but I’m also quite reactive. I'm not impulsive, but I have a very quick response time. I need to have freedom and autonomy, my space and privacy respected, being able to dedicate time 2/8

to things that interest me. "Show, don't tell" is one of my mottos, so I don’t brag or make promises, I prefer to let my work speak for itself. In college I focus on quality and filling requirements. I used to stress myself out a lot about the results of every project, then I realized I was usually the only one who cared, so others would benefit from my hard work and get great grades for free. After that I still usually am the one to decide the theme we’d work on and a format, beyond that 3/8

that I don’t really care about other’s work or lack of. I care about my individual grade and being prepared for the actual presentation. I completely lost my marbles when one of the members of a group I was working with just decided she could emailed me a copy and paste of a Wikipedia page as her “contribution”. I sent out a group email berating whoever may think it’s ok to do such a juvenile, lazy and disrespectful thing. I can’t stand people who can't separate feelings from reason and make 4/8

everything personal. People prone to self-victimization and whining. Using double standards, being over lenient and making up excuses for everything, intellectual laziness. The mental gymnastics of denying facts to create alternative narratives. Putting your preferences and affections before truth. Being vague, too indecisive and unwilling to take a stance. Lack of professionalism and work ethic. Lying or trying to fool me in any way, trying to emotionally manipulate me or guilt trip me, 5/8

trying to sweet talk me into doing things instead of asking me directly, snooping around on my private business, being less than courteous to me. Lack of independent/critical thinking, attention seeking behavior. They come for me so I can advise them on people or important decisions I help them see the pros and cons and probable consequences, and how to get out of difficult situations they find themselves in. I guess I'm as good at giving advice to others as I am at ignoring the ones they 6/8

give me. I was always seen as confident and secure in myself, which was not always the case. I never shared my insecurities so they couldn’t have known. My flaws are that I'm impatient, can be too aggressive, have an all or nothing approach, am super lazy when it comes to chores, have super high standards for myself which makes me compare myself to others and my ideal at all times, can't open up about emotions or "show weakness" at all. I have doubts about being a sensor because I’m 7/8

I’m very much into theoretical subjects (like psychology, philosophy, theories on the nature and fabric of reality), and I see everywhere that they dislike and have no patience with these topics. Most people online seem to see typology as a fun hobby, things like “the types as kitchen utensils”, memes and discussing how it can be applied to their sexual and romantic lives. Those things annoy me a lot, and typology is serious for me. I can see the humor in it of course, but I take it  8/8

------------------------------

While this seems fairly clearly enneagram 3, it’s difficult to tell anything else. I suspect Te-dom over Fe-dom but due to the nature of 3 and the general subjectivity of questions like this it’s hard to be sure, and there’s nothing here that clearly indicates Si over Ni or vice versa.

The forcefulness and attitude towards group projects as well as being a planner, but quick to react, is what makes me fairly confident you have a dominant extroverted judging function. The part about being true to yourself is fairly subjective, so it’s hard to know for sure, and since you indicate you’re college-aged your Fi would be pretty weak, and the anecdote about berating everyone over one person’s plagiarism could go either way and could also just be a sign of being college aged (I should note this is not bad and I’ve done things like that in my late teens/early 20s). Fe+3 is often hard to tell from Te from the outside because there isn’t that same attempt to ingratiate one’s self through trying to be friendly or nice, which is why I’m hesitant to rule it out. Being more emotionally private though and all of the other reasons above make me at least lean towards Te-dom.

Somewhat related to the question yesterday about ENTJ, with a dominant extroverted function it can be hard to tell. The only evidence you give against sensing though is enjoying theories, which isn’t actually evidence against sensing. Sensors can and do enjoy abstract theories; it’s a matter not of enjoyment at all but “do I want this to be my primary focus in life”. I can enjoy a good abstract discussion, but when, for example, someone comes into my inbox trying to have that discussion I’m not interested because who is this random person (also, I like typology for practical applications and so I’m not interested in pure abstraction in typology; I’m more interested in abstract theories of philosophy or science but again not so much with a random anonymous person I don’t know). Plenty of sensors enjoy psychology, which is very much an applied science, or the concept of a grand unified theory of everything, so it’s more a question of “do you like talking about this sometimes with your friends and colleagues, or do you want to become a theoretician as your career and purpose in life”. So with that, either high Ni or high Si is possible.

[quercus-queer]

Also do you know that meme: girl studying politics: I can't believe he's not texting me back :( boy: *trying to spell bourjewazee*

You’re absolutely correct, bourgeoise is the worst. Evidence: 1.) it’s French 🤢 2.) im gay and cant spell 3.) it’s literally a word only the bourgeoise would use and is not easy to use in common language to educate or unify the working class. It makes me so mad!

And it’s infuriating on so many levels because having “easier” language is how right wing groups get people to agree with them! Leftists are so caught up in proper words and liberals with performative talk and correctness that it becomes harder to rally the common man and uneducated kids.

Right wingers use this to their advantage and It’s super fucking common. The alt-right pipeline RUNS on being able to use everyday language and edgy humor to slowly push ppl into becoming literal neo-nazis like Harambe, “the elites”, and conspiracy theories -> rise in young neo-nazis

[marshmallowgoop]

Goop Plays Kill la Kill the Game: IF (Ryuko Episodes 5-8)

It’s been a while.

Episode 5

Writing about these episodes has been a struggle. I wouldn’t be able to narrow down a single reason for my eight-month hiatus from IF’s story mode, but I can say that it’s difficult to talk about content that is overwhelmingly—and disappointingly—a rehash of scenes I’d already watched before.

Ryuko’s fifth episode especially feels like a game of “spot the difference.” Segments of Satsuki’s story are repeated with astonishingly minor changes, and while this has been an issue with earlier Ryuko episodes (1 and 3), by episode 5, it’s starting to feel very tedious.

I won’t deny that the slight alterations are charming—they very much are! Mako’s contribution to Ryuko and Senketsu’s fight against Nui, for example, is adorable:

Mako: My dad says, “When you’re outnumbered, get more weapons!” An eye for an eye, a blade for a blade!

However, such minimal additions feel like a dishearteningly poor use of the player’s time. If I hadn’t already questioned it before, these chapters really made me question the choice of a two-campaign story mode. 

It’s not that I don’t see the appeal of such a structure; there’s something fun in telling one side of a story and then changing the perception of that story by telling another side of it. Plus, with IF in particular, I think there was a goal—at least to some extent—of confounding players with Satsuki’s ending. I could see Ryuko’s campaign as a means of making the plot more interactive, which is of course fitting for a video game. By not spelling everything out right away, players are encouraged to unravel the mystery and put the pieces together. 

Satsuki: I had a bad dream....

But... there’s just too much overlap for me to feel that the two-campaign structure was the most effective storytelling decision. The choice perhaps makes more sense from a gaming standpoint; it’s easier to focus on one playable character rather than jump around between two. But I don’t know—perhaps it could have been fun to give players a feel for more of this game’s roster all at once. Maybe we could have played as the Elite Four or Ragyo or Nui, too.

Because from a story standpoint? One major letdown of Ryuko’s fifth episode is that actually fighting Nui completely lacks the power that the cutscene in Satsuki’s campaign has.

Sure, that scene certainly doesn’t have the impact of similar moments in the anime (episodes 18 and 21/22), but you can’t really expect it to, and it works well within the context of IF. Ryuko and Senketsu haven’t been through as much together, but Ryuko still keeps her temper under control to prevent a repeat of hurting Senketsu from it again, they burst into battle with “Before my body is dry” playing, and though the animations in the game can be stiff and limited, it’s still sweet. 

Ryuko: Won’t know ‘til I try! So let’s do this!

They sparkle! Their hearts are as one! They’re uniting to take down this threat.

But in Ryuko’s story? You just fight the fight. You miss out on Ryuko shit-talking Nui, you miss out on the song (seriously, was it just the struggling Steam port, or does “Before my body is dry” really not play during the fight?), and most importantly, the emotion I get from the cutscene is largely lost.

Don’t get me wrong—skipping a repetitive scene is appreciated. But at the same time, the omission makes me long for a single story mode. Players could have fought Nui with “Before my body is dry” playing and watched the Satsuki-story cutscene upon victory. That bit of “Satsuki’s” story already focuses so much on Ryuko that in some ways, it honestly feels more “Ryuko” than Ryuko’s story! Why not just have a unified story mode?

Ryuko’s episodes shine when they significantly differ from what players already witnessed in Satsuki’s campaign. The very beginning of episode 5 is charming because seeing Ryuko just wanting to smash things is legitimately amusing.

Ryuko: Oh! So, I just gotta smack ‘em all in the head.

But this could have easily fit into a single story that switched perspectives. And in fact, moving into episode 6...

Episode 6

It’s almost humorous that Satsuki’s story has purposeful omissions to “justify” the existence of Ryuko’s campaign. I am astounded at how Mako literally does not exist in the Satsuki equivalent of Ryuko’s sixth episode:

Seriously, what? This reminds me of Kingdom Hearts jokes about how it’s rude of Disney movies to totally edit out Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

But jokes aside, the Kingdom Hearts comparison actually has some real weight in regards to IF. In Kingdom Hearts, the Disney worlds are—at least, in my opinion—the most fun and engaging when they do more than simply rehash the films they’re based on with Sora, Donald, and Goofy added. In the same way, Ryuko’s campaign in IF is the most fun and engaging when it does more than simply rehash Satsuki’s campaign with Mako added.

And why was Mako even literally edited out of Satsuki’s cutscenes in the first place? It’s really a bigger discussion, but this choice only adds to my frustrations with how Kill la Kill handles Mako’s character. I’ve already written about my beef with the anime in that regard, but IF is even worse. Mako’s so inconsequential to the story (at least thus far) that she can be totally cut out and have absolutely nothing change. For goodness’ sake, she sleeps for a good chunk of her screentime!

Which... is actually an issue I have with the Grand Summoners crossover game, too....

Ryuko: She’s [Mako’s] already asleep!

But in any case, Mako’s presence in the IF story seems to be purely because she’s a popular character. It’s disappointing to me that Kazuki Nakashima couldn’t find more things for her to do.

And it’s sad that she’s literally edited out of Satsuki’s scenes. I really cannot get over that. What the what.

More to the actual content of Ryuko’s sixth episode, the first part is just old hash browns (plus Mako), but the second part is much more intriguing. I find it curious that Senketsu knows right away what the Primordial Life Fiber is, but Ryuko doesn’t. Does he have a connection with it that Ryuko lacks because her Life Fibers haven’t been awoken yet?

Senketsu: That... is what’s known as the Primordial Life Fiber.

Also, same, Mako, same. I also call Nui and Ragyo’s Primordial Life Fiber-y attacks in this game “meatballs.”

Mako: Ooooh! It looks like a big ol’ meatball!

I feel like my previous write-ups on IF already express a lot of what I could say regarding this episode, but I will again reiterate that the character interactions are charming. It’s nice to hear Ryuko laugh (even if in a taunting way), and the Elite Four are absolutely adorable.

Ryuko: Ha! Whatever. I’d like to see you try!

Houka: Oh, my God. Do they have to be so loud? Our enemies can hear us from a mile away.

And since this is a video game and all, in regards to the one fight in episode 6, it’s a bit of a pain; battling multiple enemies doesn’t make for the most enjoyable experience because of the camera and inability to properly lock on to targets. But IF excels in the little details. The dialogue when other characters join you for the fight is as amusing as always. 

There really should be subtitles, though. It’s super poor accessibility.

Episode 6 also briefly questions the nature of the world. Earlier episodes of Ryuko’s campaign had Senketsu—and Nui—note that something felt off about time. Here, Senketsu outright says that time in the Fiber Palace is “seems unstable,” and interestingly, the camera focuses on Ryuko when he wonders if it’s the location or “something else” that’s causing the abnormality.

Senketsu: The flow of time here seems unstable. Is this place causing it to happen...? Or... is something else triggering it....

It’s not in this episode, but given that Ragyo later describes Ryuko as “the singularity,” perhaps she is the one messing up the world.

I think Ryuko sums up my thoughts, though.

Ryuko: I don’t get what’s goin’ on.

Of course, probably the most notable aspect of episode 6 is the ending, and while I could see right through what was happening, I have to admit that Ryuko going at Mako with the Scissor Blades is a stellar finish.

Ryuko: I still gotta get revenge for my dad.

Senketsu: What are you doing, Ryuko?!

Episode 7

However...

Ryuko: Oh, blow it out yer ass... Nui Harime!

I got some issues with this.

For those who have been Kill la Kill-ing for as long as I have, you might remember that there was a flood of Mako-is-Nui theories immediately after the show’s finale. Amusingly, character designer Sushio outright denied the idea in a Tweet, and a Studio Trigger panel at Anime Expo 2014 (6th post from the top) also shot the notion down.

aranbeik: is it [the Mako-is-Nui theory] true????

Sushio: It is no relationship at all

But fake Makos actually ain’t absent from Kill la Kill. In the official Drama CDs that came packaged with Japanese releases of the anime, there are two instances of fake Makos. The first happens in CD 1, where Maiko Ogure impersonates Mako for a huge portion of the runtime. The second happens in CD 4, where—“funnily” enough—Nui herself impersonates Mako after Ryuko has her heart brutally ripped out of her chest by her own mother.

And here’s my issue with IF’s portrayal: in both of these Drama CD cases, Ryuko is fooled. Mako isn’t Mako for tons of the first CD, and Ryuko doesn’t notice. And, in the Nui situation, it’s Senketsu who has to tell her that the “Mako” before them is not actually Mako. Which goes completely counter to what IF does!

It’s not that I’m against Ryuko recognizing a fraud, but her inability to in the Drama CDs lends insight into her character that I find fitting. Ryuko fails to identify the fake Makos in the CDs because Ryuko initially closes her heart off to the girl—something she outright admits in episode 22 (and which the English dub makes particularly prominent).

Ryuko: Yeah, you [Mako] too! You’re like the most persistent chick I ever met! You didn’t care if I pushed you away! You kept coming back and coming back like a yo-yo!

However, after ripping Junketsu from her body, Ryuko becomes far more open, and it’d be really powerful for her to correctly identify a fake Mako then. It’d show how their relationship has grown and become stronger.

In IF, Mako and Ryuko have hardly had the development they undergo in the anime, and further, Ryuko’s explanation for how she knew it was Nui doesn’t make a lick of sense!

Nui-Mako: How’d you know it was me?

Ryuko: Easy! After Mako wakes up, she’s always got drool on her face.

As Ryuko seemed to have already deduced that “Mako” was Nui before even looking at her, how in the world does this work?

Episode 7 has more questionable character writing for Ryuko later on, too. I’ve already written at great lengths about how I find her attitude regarding murder totally OOC, but Nui’s death scene also has such a strange line regarding Ryuko’s feelings towards Satsuki:

Nui: Guess who ordered me to take the Rending Scissors from your daddy! Give up? It was Satsuki!

Ryuko: If she did, she musta had a good reason for it.

As sweet as the sentiment is, and as much as I understand that it’s there to point out how not even Nui can tear apart Ryuko and Satsuki’s bond, it leaves me totally baffled. Satsuki must have had a good reason to issue the order that killed her father, and Ryuko’s chill with that? At this point in the story, the kind of unwavering faith in Satsuki that Ryuko displays here is completely unearned. I could see Ryuko at the end of the anime feeling this way, but IF Ryuko? Not at all! She barely knows Satsuki!

But for all my gripes regarding the storyline, we Kill la Kill fans are starving. (Well, at least I am, anyway.) Even if Ryuko’s words to Nui make no sense, it is something I would have liked the anime to explore more, and the character interactions here are undeniably sweet. I love Ryuko and Senketsu’s banter and how it shows how comfortable and in tune with each other they are. I love Ryuko’s silly dialogue to Satsuki and how Satsuki smiles at it, telling us that even the “ice-cold” Student Council President can’t help but get a bit soft at this dorky shounen protagonist.

Ryuko: I hate family drama. But I said I’d save Satsuki, sooo...

Senketsu: I had a feeling you’d say that.

Ryuko: Looks like you’re having a really shitty day, Satsuki!

The battle that finishes up this episode, with “Blumenkranz” playing in the background and the Elite Four and Satsuki joining the fight with cute dialogue, is a joy, too. There are a lot of little details that I really appreciate.

(I also realized this time around that you can stop Ragyo’s Instant Kill and didn’t get obliterated by Shinra-Kouketsu like I did in Satsuki’s story.) 

Ragyo: Your sins shall be purged along with your pathetic body!

Episode 8

But in regards to the plot of IF, Ryuko’s eighth episode finally starts dropping some more answers. As the ending of Satsuki’s story had implied, the world is outright said here to be her dream, created from Junketsu:

Ragyo: Junketsu took your [Satsuki’s] dreams and made them tangible. That is the distorted world we see now.

However, I still can’t say I get it. When Satsuki wakes up at the end of her story, it’s the start of episode 1 of the anime. She hasn’t come into contact with Junketsu yet, so how has this distorted world even been created in the first place? I guess Life Fibers can just mess with time?

I’m also kinda amused that the world is said to be what Satsuki wants to happen, yet she describes it as a “bad dream” when she wakes up.

But the big “new” information is Ragyo’s assertion that Ryuko is “the singularity”:

Ragyo: I knew it. You were the singularity, Ryuko Matoi.

As Ragyo explains, she could have taken over this fake world (and perhaps merged it with the real one, judging by her comment in Satsuki’s story about how such a world “can even be spun into a single yarn with the Primordial Life Fiber”), but Ryuko got in the way:

Ragyo: Since my Life Fibers are much more powerful than Junketsu’s, I could’ve taken this planet over. Then, I could’ve enslaved humanity and begun the process of turning it... into a Cocoon Sphere. Yes, I could’ve. If it wasn’t for your existence, Ryuko Matoi.

Now, there have been hints that something’s up with Ryuko all throughout IF, but I can’t say I really know what to make of it. Senketsu remarks that Ryuko’s oddly strong in the first episode of her campaign, Ragyo adds to this and suggests that Ryuko’s affecting the Primordial Life Fiber in the same episode, and then, there also seems to be the implication that Ryuko is triggering the weird sense of time in her sixth episode. The final episode of Satsuki’s story seems to feature Ryuko absorbing Life Fibers, too.

It makes sense for Ryuko to affect Satsuki’s dream world, of course; Ryuko has Life Fibers in her, and she’s also the sister whom Satsuki is ultimately fighting for. I’ve seen theories that the Primordial Life Fiber takes on the shape of a baby to represent the baby sister Satsuki thought she’d lost (and at least in the English dub, Ryuko does refer to the baby as a “she,” further connecting the baby to the lost sister); so perhaps, even if Satsuki doesn’t recognize her connection to Ryuko, maybe the Life Fibers do. Ryuko has power in the dream world because, in a lot of ways, Ryuko is Satsuki’s dream. Maybe that’s the reason that Satsuki only gets flashes of scenes between her and Ryuko in the anime when the baby connects with her, too.

Who knows? I can only hope that episodes 9 and 10 will clear this story up.

I’ve obviously got a lot of questions, but I know this is basically the end. I’m not sure how much explanation to expect going forward, and I’m still wondering about things that don’t even necessarily (?) have to do with the dream world, too. Like, whatever was the point of that moment with Ragyo and one of Senketsu’s scraps? And what was bothering Shiro?

Shiro: There’s just one thing that bothers me...

I said in the beginning of this tl;dr report that I couldn’t pinpoint a single reason for my inability to write it for eight months. But maybe part of the reason is that it’s kind of nice to not know the ending. As long as I don’t play it, there’s still some official Kill la Kill content that I haven’t experienced yet, and it could be anything.

But at the same time, I don’t know how much longer I can go without seeing Senketsu-Kisaragi, so.

The thing—i.e., this monstrous essay—that was holding me back from playing through to the end is now complete! And I’m ready to finally finish this game.

Here’s to hoping that the finale is satisfying 🤞

[sgtbluebacon]

Is the United States a Corporation?

Is the United States a Corporation? Not in the way that Sovereign Citizens would want you to think. They claim that it is an organization that exists as a legal entity independent from the individuals who constitute it, which it doesn’t.

Like most of the more extreme theories of Sovereign Citizens, this one has a lot of different claims by a lot of different people. Most aren’t worth discussing in this essay based on their absurdity or lack of support within the Sovereign Citizen community, but I’m willing to debate them if you reblog this and send me a message. The ones I will be discussing in this essay appear to be the most commonly brought up. 

Our first of many examples of why the US is a commercial corporation is that under the definitions section of 28 U.S. Code § 3002 (Judiciary and Judicial Procedure) , "United States" is defined as a "federal corporation". That's pretty thought provoking until you discover that a federal corporation is just a specific type of organization established by Congress.

It also becomes less compelling once you realize that this definition only applies to the use of "United States" within that specific U.S. code and only that U.S. Code, which is specifically for federal debt collection procedures. See, the United States uses federal agencies to collect debt, so to avoid saying something like “the federal corporations, agencies, departments, commissions, boards, or other entities of the United States” every time some part of that code referenced that sort of thing, “United States” was used instead, just to shorten and simplify the code. This is why it states “As used in this code” at the beginning of this list of definitions. 

Another very popular argument is that the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871 established that the United States became a commercial corporation, operating under a second secret constitution. To the surprise of, I hope, very few of you, it doesn’t do that at all. In 1790, when Maryland and Virginia granted land to the federal government to be used to establish Washington DC, the land was split between two counties and contained three towns, which all maintained their own separate municipal governments. Some Sovereign Citizens claim the land was unconstitutionally seized, or that the establishment of this area was unconstitutional. Of course, this isn’t true, since the states gave up the land willingly, and because the Constitution granted Congress the authority to create a seat of government within 10 square miles of land that was ceded to the federal government. Incidentally, the land ceded by Maryland and Virginia for the seat of the government did not exceed 10 square miles, meeting the Constitutional requirements found in Article 2, Section 8, Clause 17.

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;

By the time the Organic Act was passed, the original territory granted in 1790 had been reduced, and only included the City of Washington, the City of Georgetown, and Washington County. There had also been a population boom in the area, and the three municipalities were struggling to manage it as separate entities. So Congress decided it made sense to revoke the cities' charters and combine them with the county to unify the area under a single governor. That’s the purpose of the District of Columbia Organic Act .

If you read the act, which is about 11 pages, you’ll come across things like this: “That all that part of the territory of the United States included within the limits of the District of Columbia be, and the same is hereby, created into a government by the name of the District of Columbia, by which name it is hereby constituted a body corporate for municipal purposes”

Yes, this says that Washington DC is a body corporate, but what you may not know is that this is a legal term for a local governing body formed by a municipal charter, like you would find in a town or city. In this context, corporation does not refer to a business, or indicate a second secret federal constitution was established.  

But Sovereign Citizens claim there is more to this act; something that can only mean that the United States has a second secret Constitution. The Constitution of the United States of America is written in all capital letters. Because capital letters change the meaning of words, this must establish a second secret constitution. But here’s the thing… that text doesn’t exist. Oh, sure, the Constitution is mentioned multiple times, but I can’t find any part of that act that contains a fully capitalized Constitution. Unsurprisingly, Sovereign Citizens have once again failed to fact check their sources. Even if I was wrong about this, that particular act was replaced in 1874. Also, if the second constitution is supposed to be secret, why would this act have been publicly published? Use a bit of common sense, folks. 

Let’s humor them for a moment, and imagine that the fully capitalized text did exist. The argument that capital letters can change the meanings of words is true. For example, turkey is a type of meat that I covered in OC spray and ate once, and Turkey is a country with a questionable human rights record. These are called capitonyms. If one capitalized letter changes the meaning that much, what does it mean when all the letters are capitalized? Many Sovereign Citizens believe that a fully capitalized name establishes a corporate identity. For example, they might claim to be John Doe, but their corporate name, which the Government puts on their birth certificate (which is supposedly a contract with the government) is JOHN DOE. Some argue that this is because your name is liquidated capital (capital like money, capitalization of a name. An enormous stretch but still fun), and therefore you are born with a bounty on your head.

For those of you who don’t know, I used to be law enforcement. When I wrote paperwork for my cases, I did write the last names in all caps. This isn't because they're a corporate entity, its because its easier to find them when reading the paperwork. When I'm reading off your information to dispatch to find out if you're the zodiac killer (still at large, by the way), I don't want to spend extra time trying to find it on whatever weird state drivers license you've handed me. Many court documents will make words or statements conspicuous for similar reasons, not because they're establishing a New World Order, like some people suspect. For more information, check out my essay on the strawman theory.

My final example is also easily explained. In volume 19 § 883 of Corpus Juris Secundum, a law encyclopedia, one can find the following: "The United States government is a foreign corporation with respect to a state.” That must finally establish proof that Sovereign Citizens are right, right? No.  When we look up what a corporation is in Black's Law Dictionary (2nd ed.) you find it is a "legal entity created by or under the authority of the laws of a state or nation." In the same dictionary, it defines "foreign" as "belonging or attached to another jurisdiction". Simplified, the quote from the CJS means the United States and individual states are legal entities belonging to separate jurisdictions.

Plenty of words have multiple meanings. They're called homographs. For example, bark can be a verb or a noun, the former being a thing a dog does, and the latter being the stuff on the exterior of a tree. Pool could be billiards or an area for swimming in. Corporation happens to be a word that is applicable to multiple things.

This one’s a bit complicated, but I hope it helps some of you understand the ridiculous theory that Sovereign Citizens believe, If you have any questions, please feel free to send them my way.

[neirawrites]

Worldbuilding questions! In your world... What is typically seen as attractive? What natural features and what artificial features? What personality traits? | How are settlements organized? In large cities, smaller villages? Where are they typically set up? Are they temporary or permanent? | How are conflicts resolved? Peaceful negotiation, war, or something else entirely?

How are settlements organized? In large cities, smaller villages? Where are they typically set up? Are they temporary or permanent? 

Jord is parallel Earth and it is one unified country and has been for the last 105 years. It’s divided into 22 svaidi(regions). I need to make a map one of these days. I have info about most of them, so tell me where you live now, I can tell you what svaid that would be :) 

As most of the population lives in very big cities, the svaidi are basically divided into those cities, with a lot of wild land in-between.  

Jordish cities are different than similar sized metropolises from Earth. They tend to live in smaller apartments. Their cities have a  lot of communal spaces. Communal gardens where you can grow your veggies and fruits, farms were you can get your eggs, parks to walk around, sports centers, museums, everything you might need, just a very human oriented living conditions.

People are easier to move to the other side of the planet or even on one of the orbital habitats. Why not? Language is the same, travel is much easier and faster, especially if you live near a space elevator. Also, if you could live on Venus, Moon or Mars, would you say no? 

What is typically seen as attractive? What natural features and what artificial features? What personality traits?

Jords are diverse people with a variety of different ideas as to what is considered attractive. Still, there are some common things. Green eyes are usually seen as more beautiful, especially on someone with darker skin. Freckles are also considered cute. They are generally more but loving people :P They all try to enhance their natural features when it comes to face, but crazy hair colors are very very common and so are tattoos. Jords do dress like peacocks, so the flashier the better (within some reason, of course), but nothing too revealing. They are kinda prudish.

Personality: kindness, intelligence, sense of humor.

How are conflicts resolved? Peaceful negotiation, war, or something else entirely?

the Last War  was lead in the Malayava svaidi some 150 years ago. This svaidi devastated by the Tambora volcanic explosion a few decades prior and it never really recovered so scarcity led to political unrest. Luckily, the War lasted only a few weeks as it was cut short by the  Krakatoa eruption which they all took as a sign to cut it out. Only a few years later, the negotiations for the unification began. 

How does a whole planet full of diverse people solve their problems now? with peaceful negotiation, of course. There is no shadowy organization controlling the world. Dragons are just a conspiracy theory, you know that, right? Are you now going to tell me Jords have a secret research facility in the middle of Russian tundra that has been making new technology for the last 25 years?  That’s just ridiculous. 

Thanks for the ask and do remember that the Organization isn’t a thing :) 

[incarnateirony]

Chuck came off as bad (& as annoying) as Metatron, to me. Very megalomaniac like & SO OOC. He's worried about Jack sneezing India away. But then he just overreacts (to D&S making the RIGHT CHOICE which he always liked before) & 'ends' the world he was so worried about?

But to be fair, this seems to be going on with a lot of people.

And generally comes from, atop canon confusion, Christian Culture Coding getting in the way of people’s lenses, even if they, themselves, are atheist or whatever, because we live in a society largely formulated by the dogma.

That said,

You’re confusing the God of Control with the God of Good. Point being, there was never a God of Good, just a God of Control. He humors, he lies, he misleads, and when it goes beyond his control, he punishes. He burns. He floods. He starts over. Or at least Gnostic. Hermetic has a different silver lining which I bang on elsewhere. The two overlap. We’ll see.

Christian dogma is understandably unkind to this, or the mainstream forms of it. Other belief systems that tap on judeochristian elements, like Gnosticism and Hermeticism – which were both very present in this season, admit to this from different angles.

Gnosticism is the pessimistic angle, wherein ironically Lucifer was the force of respective good who brought knowledge to man with his division from the divine, and brought free will. Hermeticism acknowledges the Great Good as god, but not as the god we know. Both forms have a god above the terrestrial god, above the fire and brimstone god, above both a masculine and a feminine aspect (Amara) as the one and the all - the shadow of god, as it were, the first thought that floated in the Empty Nothingness, the Ein Soph. As all things are this Shadow, we are all God, and all reflected in it, and it is our own Shadow as well, but no one of us is the one true god unto ourselves. Rather, climbing the tree of life is the ascent towards the divinity, away from the terrestrial and mundane worlds and into a state of cosmic consciousness – first in realms of angels and gods and then past it, to primal thought and to grasp what the Nothing Before Creation even means.

Gnosticism’s pessism gives aspect to this in addressing the concept of Abraxas as the true creator, with demiurges and false creators beneath them as fragments of the self.  A two set: A god of both creation and control, and a god of knowledge and freedom. But there is also the divine masculine and the divine feminine, representing creation and destruction, neither of which are good or evil, just balances of the universe. 

The god that breathed creation is more of the true satan in our understanding of the concept; that the Lucifer that was cast down did so at the cost of breaking past the walls of control to bring a different form of truth to man. Gnosticism frames Lucifer, ironically, as the benevolent force in this structure (which, in theory, in being the first to rebel against villainous Chuck and his control, would have made him the first hero of this story, as much as we are loath to admit it with Mark P – to whence he was caged, strangulated, abused, kicked out of heaven, and himself became a monster – is this sounding familiar with Jack’s path in sync to Team Free Will as his fathers?)

Even still, Chuck’s attempt to control – or, in the old narrative, save his creation – was giving the mark to Lucifer. Lucifer, driven by the destructive balance needed in the universe, then descended. Amara’s destruction and black smoke still entered the world as the demons and hell, and balance resumed, with Lucifer framed into the Ultimate Villain Of This Story, drive and motivation behind we only hear in S11, but didn’t want to sympathize with, especially with Chuck’s supposed parental lessons.

On the other hand, Chuck voluntarily wrote the draft for the ultimate biblical revelation. Everybody tore that up. In theory he kept writing. He kept “creating.” Only his creation was one misery porn after another. Other pseudo-gods tried to fill his place, even write like him, but without the same universal impact because they weren’t really in his seat. He was still writing. He was still writing all of it. 

A thousand prayers he could have answered and he didn’t. He just kept writing. Kept making new dramas. There is the theoretical question of if Amara is a being of his own design to introduce the drama of it, but with the later gnostic and hermetic structure meeting the vein of it, that is unlikely. Rather, it is the divided god, The Archon, the Demiurge, the Unbegotten father theoretically above it, just like in full metal alchemist,

Speculatory? Sure, but not unparallel. It was the end of the road at the far nothing once journies were met, past poles of sacrifice and gain, of destruction and creation, of any concept of evil or good. It is the ultimate good, because its thoughts are what becomes and exists, but it is you, and me, and everyone, and it is our shadow that reflects us, as only its dream is, in a very lovecraftian concept wherein it just wants to sleep.

Anything like… ringin’ a bell here? 

The shorthand explanation is that Chuck is the creator force of the universe(s) related to him, as part of the dream, and Amara is the destroyer force of the universe(s) related to her, but in essence they’re still dancing poles. When Chuck and Amara took their leave, they made a balanced caduceus towards the heavens, a legendary sign of balance that would later become relevant in all of the hermetic STUFF going on, especially in season 14.

God is a writer. The shadow – in theory, unless they swing way far left all of a sudden – is a dreamer past them, the thoughts of the nothing in which we all reside. People may consider this somehow underwhelming, “it was all a dream,” but it’s a great step beyond that and it’s reductio ad absurdum to apply that, unless you only consider your entire life a dream – because this is a philosophy turned over by some of the greatest minds our academia banters back and forth to our day, banters the specifics of, entire elaborate philosophies and theologies are written around. Abraxas (though buckleming wasted that name on the late demonology corruption, and it has many names and forms) is the origin of Abracadabra – I speak therefore I am; it is similar, and yet in opposition to the alternate take, “Only what I dream is real, I know nothing of reality beyond what I know.” – the opposition of the idea of a divine force compelling you, versus being the center of your own active dream you take into your control.

How far TPTB take this line of philosophy is hard to say, but they’re definitely popping some wheelies around with the idea right now.  

God had fun with his control, his story, his entertainment, until the free will inserted into the universe beyond his control reached a pinnacle where they no longer followed his orders, or went without question; wherein they looked him in the face and tried to take him down. The story, then, ceases to be fun. It is no longer of value. Rather, his entertainment comes in the ways of old with each major rebellion: the fire and brimstone of the past, putting a new spin on the universe that is his sandbox, with or without Amara’s aid, who he may very well even be unified with despite not entirely being one with the Shadow of himself (and us.) After all, they caduceus spiraled their way out, who’s to say what became of them on that road trip, and what balance was met. Amara’s, what, playing craps out in Reno? Sure. But writers lie. 

Team Free Will are the ouroboros that has broken its chain, becoming the brazen serpent that climbs the cross/tree it would have been crucified on in a journey towards the peak of existence and enlightenment, standing toe to toe with what seems to be the crown, and the skies grow dark until they can tackle, and own that. Until they take full, true, and total control of their experience to the godhood, and really, truly, and ultimately rip up not just the ending and the rules, but whatever forces are dictating, rewriting, finding new amusement in their sufferages, feeding draft after draft of possible deaths or rewrites even to Death trying to keep the cosmic order, who herself is growing tired of the shenanigans.

“In the end, I’ll reap god too.” - Death, S5.

Welcome to the end.

Enjoy some related posts of adjacent topics and issues including the primordials of SPN, the gnostic and hermetic structure, titles, applications, general theology and pass-around thoughts as they came up:

(x) (x) (x) (x)

Chuck didn’t answer prayers not due to lazy authorship. Chuck didn’t answer prayers even in the darkest days because he didn’t want to. The drama is all he can experience. The games. But now the game itself is fighting back, via one bullet from Sam Winchester willing to sacrifice himself to destroy the creator himself in a moment of that free will rebellion – a strange aptness considering his place in the universe against Lucifer.