#also this is purely talking about the economics side of things

[i-am-dulaman]

Okay I'm riled up about this rn so time for a history of economics lesson (rant) from me, a stranger on the internet

I'm a communist, I hate capitlism, so lemme just put that out there. But capitlism had its moments. Even marx had some praise for parts of capitlism.

And by far the most successful form of capitlism was Keynesian economics, as evident by the enormous increase in living standards in those countries which adopted it between the 1930s and 1970s.

What's Keynesian economics? The idea that capitlism can't survive on its own, and must be supported by government spending at the poorest ends of society and taxes at the richest ends of society (essentially the opposite of trickle down economics) as well as strong regulations on certain industries like banking.

It basically started in 1936 with President Roosevelt who was a personal friend of John Keynes (who the theory is named after).

Roosevelt implemented Keynesian economics to great effect; he raised the top tax rate to 94% (he actually wanted a 100% tax rate on the highest incomes, essentially creating a maximum wage, but the senate negotiated down to 94%) and similarly high corporate tax rates, he created the first ever minimum wage, created the first ever unemployment benefit, created social security in America, pension funds, and increased public spending on things like public utilities and infrastructure, national parks, etc. Which created about 15 million public sector jobs.

This ended the great depression and eventually lead to America winning world War 2, after which many countries followed suit in implementing similar policies, including UK, Australia, and NZ (apologies for the anglosphere-centric list here but they're the countries I'm personally most familiar with so bare with me)

Over the next 40 years these countries had unprecedented growth in living standards and incomes, and either decreasing or stable wealth inequality, and housing prices increasing in line with inflation. Virtually every household bought a car and a TV, rates of higher education increased dramatically, america put a man on the moon, and so on.

Then it all abruptly ended in the 80s and the answer is plain and obvious. 1979 thatcher became UK prime minister. 1981 reagan became US president. 1983 the wage accords were signed in aus. 1984 was the start of rogernomics in NZ (Someone link that Twitter thread of the guy who posts graphs of economic trends and points out where reagan became president)

(Also worth noting those last two in NZ and Aus were both implemented by 'left' leaning governments, but they are both heavily associated with right wing policies.)

This marked the beginning of trickle down economics: tax cuts, privatization of publicly owned assets, reduction in public spending, and deregulation of the finance sector. The top tax rates are down to the low 30s in most of these countries, down from the 80s/90s it was prior. Now THATS a tax cut.

And what happened next?

Wages stagnated. Housing prices skyrocketed. Bankers got away with gambling on the economy. Public infrastruce and utilies degraded. And wealth inequality now exceeds France in 1791.

I don't know how anyone can deny the evidence if they see it, but there's so much propaganda and false information that a lot of people just don't see the evidence.

Literally all the evidence supports going back to Keynesian economics but now that the rich have accumulated so much wealth it's virtually impossible to democratically dethrone them when they have most of the politicians on both the right and the left in their pocket.

Unfortunately it was the great depression and ww2 that gave politicians the political power to implement these policies the first time around. Some thought the 2008 crash would spur movement back towards Keynesianism (which it actually did in Iceland, congrats to them), I hoped covid would force governments to now, but nope.

All these recent crises' seem to have just pushed politics further and further right, with more austerity and tax cuts.

I don't really have a message or statement to end on other than shits fucked yo.

[andcorde]

Talking in your sleep

Summary : you woke up during your sleep, thirsty and hear your husband talking in his sleep about a girl.

pairing : young!president Snow x f!First Lady!reader.

warnings : physical and psychological violence (strangling and swearing iykyk), smut (not REALLY explicit), Coriolanus is his own warning, toxic!relationship, dark!reader, possessive!reader (if there’s more lmk please !!)

a/n : first fic posted here, I’ve got the idea from the song « talking in your sleep » by the romantics (you should know them, at least if you’ve seen the FNAF movie :)). It’s a late valentine day post btw.

Hope you’ll enjoy it !

dividers by @saradika-graphics !

Your throat just feels completely dry which wake you up. You sigh in annoyance, having to get up without waking up your husband, which is a tough task, just to take a glass of water. It happens often, but you were really tired of this dangerous mission of not waking up the lightest sleeper in the world.

Coriolanus Snow, the young President of Panem and you, his First Lady, married since a year and a half, are the most important and influential people in this place. Everybody was either jealous of Coryo or you because of how charming and affectionate you are.

You slowly lift the duvet and get out of bed as gently as possible, not waking your husband, only making him sigh before turning around. You walk as quietly as a mouse as you make your way straight to the bathroom you both shared.

Your marriage seemed like a pure fairytale, full of love and happiness, even if none of this was true to you two. You just accepted together, like a contract between individuals seeing the economic benefits and also the popularity of both of your families to get married. None of you were even slightly attracted romantically to each other, but on the sexual side…it was otherwise.

Even if Coryo agreed to not giving you a heir for a couple of years, it doesn’t mean you don’t have fun, straddling his cock time to time, letting him eating out your sweet and soaked pussy just for him.

You reach the bathroom with a smirk at your thoughts, opening it silently and entering in it, closing the door and turning on the soft light. You brought a glass and gently run the water into it, crossing your fingers that the sound alone isn't enough to wake the sleeping platinum blonde. Well it already happens before, so now you’re careful.

You get out of the bathroom as quietly as you get in, sipping your glass of water, not seeming to have woke him. He seems pretty asleep, which is really rare, you thought to yourself. He seems to dream, seeing his facial expressions slightly changed from the calm and relaxed one.

His lips parted slightly, he seems to say something. You never see him like that, so profoundly asleep, you keep looking for a few seconds before stopping you from acting odd and put the water on the nightstand.

« …Lucy Gray…please » He whispers. So low you could have misheard.

But no, you were sure you heard those words coming from his most sleepy and pathetic voice. You feel yourself being totally freeze for a few seconds, as if those simple words as awaken something completely uncontrollable in your body.

Anger. Even more devastating than any other feeling. The possessiveness of Coryo wasn’t a one-side thing, both of you were pretty possessive to the fact that you were his, and he was yours. None of you could denied that, getting pretty dangerous when people approached a bit too much one of you.

You blink a few times, motioning yourself to get back in bed like nothing happened. You let yourself be more loudly, because he seems so asleep and dreaming of things you don’t want to imagine or you might just strangle him in his sleep.

The marathon in your body seems to calm a bit as you find your sleep once again, but you absolutely know what’s waiting for your husband tomorrow morning.

As you wake up, you noticed that Coryo seems to have started breakfast without you, which happens more often when you woke up in the middle of the night. You emerged from your bed rubbing your eyes, as the events of earlier just hit you like a bus. Standing in the middle of the large and richly decorated room, you take a deep breath, calming yourself and also making a good figure to just destabilise even more your husband. You don't change your clothes, which was part of your sordid plan.

You make your way through the dinning room, being greeted by some of your domestics in the way, responding with a polite smile and nodding, wearing a black nightgown, too sexy to go outside of your bedroom. But at this moment, that’s exactly what you wanted to show him. Your body was his as long as it was mutual. And his little whispering was making you thinking it wasn’t completely the case.

You enter in the dining room, greeting the Mute that was passing, in this soft and warm voice that makes Snow’s head lift up to lock his eyes on you. You feel his gaze travelling your body, and you already feel the point of his ego touched by this personal attack for him. You gently make your way to the long marble table, not giving him a look, only a small “good morning”.

Only you knew how to piss him off so easily by doing mostly nothing. His hands clench into fists while clenching his jaw, taking his time to talk as low as he can.

« Can you explain me what the fuck you’re doing dressing like that outside the bedroom ? » his tone was infuriating and his eyes wanted desperately to met yours.

You smile slightly, putting down the tea cup and turning your head to him. Your lashes fluttering innocently.

« Oh dear, you’re really asking those stupid questions that late in the morning ? » you simply answer as you get up.

Teasing him was a bad idea, but your mind couldn’t think of something else than those words. He scoffed with a dry and short laugh.

« Yes, and my wife has to answer me. This provocation will end really bad for you and I don’t think you want to see that. » his voice just seems impatient and you know that he will not be as ‘nice’ in a few moments if you don’t start talking.

You just get up, walking and closing the doors of the dining room, now all alone and without some curious ears passing by. Coryo is still sitting on his comfortable chair, one hand still in a fist while the other one takes the coffee cup to take a few sips of it. His eyes didn’t look away from you. Those icy blue and somewhat terrifying eyes. Back facing him, you take a deep breath, trying to not smirk and not sounding too angry, controlling your voice being much easier than your body, lightly shaking.

« You talked in your sleep this night. » you state while turning to lock your eyes with his, seeing a surprise look passing through them. « And unfortunately for you, I was awake. And I can say that between the two of you, you’re the one who’s fucking provoking the most. »

You walk towards him, your eyes looking down to him, seeing a small change in his attitude. Apprehension ? No. Curiosity with a sweet melt of guilt. You get just in front of him, your husband sit and look up for you, lips parted, and if you weren’t that fucked up, you’ll kiss him and let him making out with you on the marble.

« What did I say ? » his voice seems still a bit infuriate but more low, close to the whisper. He knows he fucked up somehow and seeing his wife reaction, it must be an absolute disaster.

« Guess. » Your eyes just won’t listen to show how the toxicity of your feelings were affecting both you and Coryo. « I’ll give you a hint, think of the birds I hunt every Sunday in the forest nearby. »

And it hits him.

Lucy Gray Baird. His face changed a bit, being white as snow as he blinks twice, getting the information in his brain. Then, Coriolanus shakes his head.

« You must have misheard I was asleep— »

« I can assure you that you said her fucking name in your disgusting pleading voice, with a ‘please’ that just screams how painful your nightmare must have been. » Sarcastically finishing your sentence, you notice you clenched your teeth so hard that they grinded slightly.

He suddenly gets up, his right hand taking your cheeks firmly, bringing you even more closer to him, as his eyes glanced down at you now, angry at your words. For you, he just seemed scared to be caught.

« Shut up. I didn’t say her name…and even if it was the case, you have no right to act like you do. And you better not talk to me this way, ever. » His words are meant to hurt. To scare and threaten you.

In any other cases, you would probably have squeeze your thighs together and nodding like a good girl. But not this time. It was her. You try to talk through his grip, your eyes furiously locking with his.

« Yes I can, Coryo. Because you’re mine. Not hers, not anymore and never ever again. You’ll react the same way as me if it was my case. But guess what ? I never loved anybody in this world, so you can't attacked me about it. » your voice is filled with jealousy, doubting on the only thing you ever agreed of. You are his pretty good wife, and he is your jealous handsome husband.

Coryo cannot stop looking at you, trying to arranged his thoughts. He knows he would have reacted even worse than you if he was hearing you whispering the name of any other men than him. He didn't even remember his dream to be totally honest. But he doubts you'll believe him. So his hands takes gently your cheeks moving you so your back hit the buffet, blocking your way.

You see his eyes looking every inch of your face before sighing loudly. He opens his blue eyes and nod.

« I'm yours, y/n. I can promise you that, and I already did, didn't I ? For me, and for everyone else, Lucy Gray is dead. Nobody cares about her and so do I. You can hate me or not trust me, but it's the only thing you can be sure that will never change. As long as your mine, I'm yours. » his low and profound voice will always do something in your body. As you look at him, you know for sure he's not lying.

What Coriolanus deliberately left out is that even if one day you no longer want him, you will still be his, and you will never be able to escape from his grasp. His firm hands between your cheeks, thumb gently rubbing them, was something new for you. Those kind of interactions were nearly non-existent. Except maybe an aftercare from a tough round. So you can't help but blushing a bit to this unusual contact and feel suspicious too.

You finally nod, letting him getting closer and starting kissing you, softly but desperately needy. You jump on the buffet, your hands behind your back as you let yourself go completely to his touch and his possessiveness from your body. Your breathing accelerate as his hands let go from your cheeks to touch every part of your body, from top to bottom, stopping to your thighs. Squeezing it, he lets a small groan before putting slightly away, whispering.

« You're fucking mine, all of this body and this little shitty personality of yours. » and you just nod while biting your lip, like a pretty good girl. He grins to your sudden submissiveness.

Well, you were now going to know for sure who is his wife.

~

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Poor Boy

Alright so, apparently the rule for me is going to be that I have to watch every Only Friends episode multiple times. Because the first watch through is just vibes and pure, unadulterated emotional reactions to whatever is being laid in front of me; and the second watch through I have to keep pausing the show every thirty seconds to make another observation.

I don’t know what it is about Episode 4s but they are always where everything starts kicking in to high gear for me. Now, not sure how many more academic papers I am going to be able to write for the bit for this show, but there are so many things about body language, about hands, about relationship dynamics, about drug use, etc that are swarming in my head at this point. 

In constantly talking some other tumblr users ears off about this show, @lurkingshan tasked me with writing a post about Only Friend’s seventh main character.

The POOR BOY shirt. 

Why? Because god are there already some juicy literal and metaphorical character dynamics at play with this shirt, (at least in my perception) and I have been commanded to discuss them, and if you have not realized it by now I love discussing my silly little gay shows. 

What is initially and primarily intriguing to me is the fact that the Poor Boy shirt ends up making rounds in the show. Sand gives the shirt to Ray → Ray keeps the shirt rather than returning it to Sand → Ray gives the shirt to Mew. 

To each of these characters, the shirt means something different, not only from a place of sentimentality, but from a literal, textual meaning. 

Sand

Sadly, we have not yet seen Sand wear the Poor Boy t-shirt, but he is the original owner. From my view, Sand’s relationship to the t-shirt is fairly simple. It is a literal translation of Sand’s own economic status. Sand is poor, and the Poor Boy t-shirt speaks directly towards his everyday reality. 

Sand’s decision to put Ray in this shirt feels petty. Sand is very aware that Ray is rich. (I mean, his first words to Ray when they wake up the next morning are “you’re up, rich boy?”) Now, obviously we cannot peer in to Sand’s mind about the fashion choices he is making, but the entertainment value of seeing this rich boy in a poor boy shirt was there. In this capacity, the Poor Boy shirt serves as a physical manifestation of the wealth disparity between Sand and Ray. Sand owning that shirt is a literal statement, Ray wearing that shirt is hilariously ironic. 

Or is it? 

Ray

We know (or at least can suspect) that Ray has some sort of alcohol dependence from the very first moment we meet him, based on his ascribed role as The Drunk. On the off chance the initial reaction was not “oh this kid is an alcoholic” the narrative continues to build that aspect of Ray’s character when his second trip to the bar also results in him getting plastered, and when he drinks from a flask in the middle of the day, and when he is constantly seen on screen with a whiskey glass in his hand. 

Now, I will not say that everyone who is an alcoholic drinks as a trauma response, but I will say that there are many people who use substances to cope with life stressors. So, when I see Ray with alcohol constantly, that is an indication to me that there is maybe something more beneath the surface of his party boy aura. 

We learn in Episode 2 that Ray’s mother died and he was present for her death (#trauma). [In case you didn’t notice, Ray’s mother died with an empty glass in her hand and empty liquor bottle at her side.]

Sand jokingly calls Ray out on his motivation for paying Sand to hang out with him: “Now I know. You’re a lonely spoiled rich brat. Your friends left you because they have lovers. That’s why you need a new friend. Your life is dramatic. Poor you.” 

Sand says it teasingly, with a smile on his face. But Ray? Ray turns his back to Sand, takes a long pull from his glass, and heads over to the record player.

Perhaps you know where I am going with this already, but I want to just take a second to review the order of events by which I am going to make my final conclusions about this shirt in relation to Ray. 

Episode 1

Ray is introduced piss drunk and hanging on to the edge of the toilet for dear life, he is quick to anger, he gets drunk at the bar again, he tries to drive home, Sand drives him back to his apartment, he wakes up in the Poor Boy shirt, he gets kicked out of Sand’s apartment for being a #rudeboy, Ray calls Mew, Mew wonders how he got to Sand’s place when Boston said he would take care of Ray. In short, Ray gets extremely drunk, is abandoned by all of his friends, taken home by Sand and as a result is adorned with the Poor Boy t-shirt. 

Episode 2 

Our first Ray sighting in Episode 2 he is sitting outside drinking a nip, alone. No one inside the hostel even questions where he is. Mew is the one that goes outside to check on him, calls out his drinking habits, and tells Ray “I can’t be your emergency staff all the time”. Ray sees Sand selling something on campus and follows him around. He breaks Sand’s plum wine bottles and then offers him 10,000 bhat to just hang out, drink, and listen to music. Sand learns about Ray’s dead mother. Ray goes wakeboarding with the rest of the college pals, Ray tries to help Cheum, makes her ankle hurt worse, and literally the only person that talks to him besides to tell him to stop (Chuem) and to question his ability to help (Top) (aka the only person who engages in casual conversation with Ray) is Mew. Ray has his second hang out with Sand, Sand calls out the fact that Ray’s friends have abandoned him because they all have lovers, he says he will be friends with Ray, and Ray and Sand fuck. 

Episode 3

Episode 3, Ray clings to Sand the morning after, offers to drive him to school, volunteers to handle the music for the pool party (much to the surprise of all of his friends). Ray then spends most of the rest of his screen time either flirting with Sand or simping over Mew. Top belittles Ray, Boston calls out Ray’s crush on Mew and calls Ray’s life dramatic, Ray is left alone at the party and runs in to Sand, offers to take Sand home, starts making out with Sand, and then interrupts the guaranteed dicking down that he just convinced Sand to make an exception for when he pulls himself fully and instantly out of that make out session to answer Mew’s call, pissing off Sand. 

Episode 4

Episode 4 opens with (yet another) show stopping performance by Khaotung (seriously this dude is a powerhouse) where we learn that Ray was at one point actively suicidal and made an attempt. We learn in a very short period of time there that Ray does not have a lover, a sibling, or family that he feels like he can rely on. Mew is his emergency contact because he is the only person who is consistently taking care of Ray. On the phone with Mew, Ray says “If I’m gone, I won’t be anyone’s burden anymore, right?” When Ray breaks down sobbing as Mew holds him, Ray says “No one loves me. I’m all alone. Everyone hates me. My mom never loved me. Her life was ruined because of me. She died because of me. She never hugged me like this, you know? I’m bad luck, Mew. No one loves me!” and it is at this point that we can look back at all these other interactions Ray has had over the three prior episodes and see that two years after his suicide attempt, he is still being called a burden by friends and strangers, he is still alone.

[As an aside: I want to make it extremely clear that there is a lot of juicy complexity to Ray’s dynamic with his friend group. I am not saying that his friends are inherently bad people for the distance they place between themselves and Ray. First, they are college students, second Ray has a lot of mental health and addiction things going on that they are not equipped to handle, and having to constantly manage a friend with an addiction, especially one that can make them escalate situations really quickly (see Ray ready to fight Sand in the bathroom within like, thirty seconds of talking) is challenging. But I am also not going to absolve them entirely of the kind of statements they make about Ray, when they don’t return his ‘i love yous’ when he’s drunk and when they call him a burden, because these are things that were such a strong part of his belief system that they are part of the driving thoughts he verbalizes when he tries to kill himself.]

While it took us fully four episodes to get there, we find that the Poor Boy t-shirt that Ray wakes up wearing in Episode 1, while inaccurate for his literal financial reality, is incredibly, aggressively precise and accurate to Ray’s emotional reality. 

Mew

Cutting back to present day in Episode 4, Mew has been picked up by Ray and brought over to his house to spend the night. Ray’s first action in the scene is to turn to the coat rack he has in his room, pull a white shirt from it, and hand it to Mew to change in to for pajamas. Ray asks Mew why Top didn’t pick him up and Mew states that he did in fact call, but Top was busy fucking Boston helping his dad at the hotel. Ray makes a comment about being a substitute and feeling forgotten when Mew is with Top, Mew tells Ray that he is his most beloved friend, and then he looks at the shirt, turns it around to show Ray and asks:

“Is this yours?”

Now, I assume Ray is aware of what shirt he gave Mew to wear, but there is something disconnected in what I am reading from Ray’s reaction to seeing Mew hold up the shirt. 

To me it seems a bit like Ray is...not surprised, but perhaps uncertain? He knows that shirt is Sand’s but he has spent all this time at the party trying to convince Mew that he isn’t interested in Sand, that there is no attraction between them, because Ray is still hung up on Mew and some part of him is hoping there is a chance. Ray lets Mew tease him “Poor boy, seriously? How dare you wear this?”

Ray remains quiet, until Mew once again presses Ray about getting together with Sand.

 “Why don’t you hit on Sand? I think he’s lovely” (preface- I do not know Thai, but I do know that ‘narak’ typically means cute. Mew definitely says ‘narak’ when he refers to Sand, but it is translated as lovely so the caption may not be completely accurate). “I want you to have a boyfriend. Dating a musician is freaking cool.”

Now, there are a couple things I see at play in this moment. First, I am pretty certain that Mew is still very much aware of Ray’s crush on him. I think the casual comments Mew makes about Top being the first person to make his heart tremble and how heavily he is pushing Ray to ask Sand out or even to just try to figure out if Ray does genuinely have interest in Sand are ways for Mew to kindly, gently remind Ray that he does not reciprocate any romantic feelings. 

Secondly, Mew is and will be commenting on traits that apply to either himself or adjacently to Ray. When Mew says dating a musician is freaking cool, we know he is referring to Sand who is actually a musician. But for Ray, who is desperately in love with Mew, is it too far of a stretch for Ray to believe that Mew’s sentiment may also apply to people with really strong tastes and interests in music?

Third, Boston has stirred up some resolve in Ray from the party, trying to convince him that he needs to tell Mew that he is interested, to even have a fighting chance at maybe getting Mew to date him. So he lies: 

“No. I don’t want to be in a relationship just yet. Besides, Sand isn’t my type.” 

Something I absolutely love about Only Friends so far is that no one is telling the truth 100% of the time, but also no one is lying 100% of the time and we don’t yet know enough about most of the characters here to be completely certain which parts they are being truthful about. Nick is lying to Boston, or at least keeping secrets from him (he did not tell Boston he bugged the car), but he will fully, easily, and readily admit to Sand that he bugged the car and recorded Boston and Top having sex. He will fully, easily, and readily admit that he is nasty and also that he isn’t trying to blackmail Top. Top will omit the information that he slept with Boston, but he will admit to drug use and pull a baggie of coke out of his pocket to show Mew. Some of my mutuals are still in debates around how much Top is lying, including whether or not he is telling the truth about the fire he was in as a child, etc. 

In this case for this scene with Mew, we know Ray is lying about not wanting to be in a relationship. He does want to be in a relationship…with Mew. But is he lying about Sand not being his type? It would certainly track, considering Ray was the one that initiated the sexual relationship between them and continued to pursue it. Yet at the same time, Ray is stopping in the middle of a make out session, disregarding Sand’s feelings entirely, and taking Mew’s call. And Sand’s lack of wealth is something Ray has exploited or tried to exploit on multiple occasions. (Which is in part why it is very important to recognize the second Sand realizes he may actually be enjoying Ray’s company, that he rejects all offers of money from Ray).

As Mew continues to talk, he continues to state advice that could apply to himself: “Don’t set your standards too high.” Ray is a drunken mess of a college boy, and if Mew is telling him not to set his standards too high, wouldn’t it also be possible that Mew could see Ray as a lower standard and still decide to date him? 

“Just date someone who loves you and takes care of you.” Mew is the only person that really seems to take care of Ray at this point. Boston abandoned him, Cheum doesn’t really interact with him all that much, Top hates him, etc. When Ray attempted suicide Mew said he loved him, when Ray attempted suicide Mew said he would always be there for him. Mew has supported Ray for so long, Mew has taken care of Ray for so long. And now Mew is casually naming the qualities of his good friendship to Ray as a recommendation of how to find someone to date. 

So to me, it makes total sense that Ray would try to kiss Mew and admit his feelings. 

But why is the Poor Boy shirt relevant to Mew? 

Because there is someone else we have seen take care of Ray multiple times already…

Sand. 

The OPB (original poor boy). 

Sand says he can differentiate between love and lust, but the ease at which he relents to Ray’s puppy dog eyes, the speed by which is is made upset at being abandoned by Ray, the safeguards he has in place that he is constantly undermining, we know that if Sand is not already in love with Ray he will be getting there fast.

In my opinion, the Poor Boy shirt acts not as any form of physical or emotional commentary for Mew’s state specifically, but serves instead as Ray subconsciously projecting Sand on to Mew. Despite how quickly and strongly Ray has been drawn towards Sand in recent episodes, despite the good vibes, and good sex they’ve had going on, despite their mutual attraction to one another and some matching interests, Ray has given this reminder of the first care Sand provided (despite throwing him out after Ray gave him an attitude) to Mew. And it’s not like Ray hasn’t had the opportunity to give Sand back his t-shirt. Ray and Sand have hung out there at least twice and fucked each other in Ray’s bedroom. But Ray hung on to the shirt, why? 

Sand’s shirt on Mew’s body is misplaced, either as a subconscious acknowledgement of his growing interest in Sand or as a way for Ray to physically place reminders of the care and attention Sand has been giving him on to Mew, who Ray is still crushing on, even as Mew has slowly started to pry himself away from the responsibility of taking care of Ray.

And as we approach the end of Episode 4, we see Ray start to realign his expectations, settling in to the reality that Mew has not, does not, and never will like him romantically. We are introduced for the first time, to a physical, tangible object that Ray owns that is connected to Mew and to Ray’s relationship with Mew as a result. Ray sits in the tub, the same tub he tried to die in two years ago, the same tub Mew held him in two years ago and told him he loved him and promised to always be there for him.

Ray thinks about what this pendant symbolizes, the words Mew told him when he gifted it to Ray: “You are the brightness, you are a ray of sunshine. You should be hot and lively.” Ray says at the beginning that his friends hate him, that he is all alone. So I don’t think it is a far stretch of the imagination by any means to say that Mew may be one of the first if not the first person in years to make Ray feel like he was loved, valued, supported, and understood. 

And it is not surprising as a result of that that Ray would fall in love with Mew, especially if Ray’s addiction has been ongoing for years and he has been a difficult person to maintain friendship with. 

Ray has crossed boundaries and suffered immediate consequences as a result, but those consequences included finally hearing directly from Mew that his feelings have not changed over the last two years. Ray is drunk 99.9% of the time, that doesn’t mean he’s blacked out by any means, but it does mean that frequently his judgment is going to be inhibited. It is highly likely, in my eyes, that Ray needed the direct admission rather than Mew’s gentle rejections over the last two years. 

With Mew finally voicing his regard of Ray as only a friend, Ray is now able to re-evaluate the advice Mew gave to Ray at the beginning of the episode, and consider who else (besides Mew himself) Mew’s statements might apply to. The answer, of course, was staring him in the face the entire time. With the Poor Boy shirt removed from Mew’s back, Ray is forced to understand the shirt more as a physical tie to Sand, like the keychain is a physical tie to Mew. 

(hehe this angle makes it look like it says Poo Boy or Poop Boy) 

Ray looks at the shirt and thinks back to the record shop not-a-date with Sand, the honesty Sand had with him, the ease at which Sand shared information about himself, his interests, the gentleness with which Sand treated Ray, even just placing the headphone on him. Ray thinks of the song they listened to together, titled เรา which translates to “we” and he makes his choice. 

Looking forward: I am curious if this shirt will continue to make its rounds, with Top having recently fucked Boston, there is also a total possibility that Mew is being branded as the Next Poor Boy whose life will fall apart as truths are revealed and consequences enacted. 

Thank you to @lurkingshan for edits and observations!

[thewales]

Hello, I've come to vent.

I had all the intention to take some time away from this world. Although it's fun it can be frustrating, especially if your blog is about William and Catherine. I don't want to go back to that discussion because I think I've said enough but here I am frustrated again.

I am not from the UK or any commonwealth country so the monarchy does not affect me one way or the other. From where I am I can see the usefulness of one, especially one like the British who actively do things to give back to their country, but that's as far as it goes. The way I run my Twitter account and this blog, it's mostly informative, opinionated and one or two other things so I do take an interest in the serious side of the monarchy. I talk about William and Catherine's work and in general about everything else, with certain exceptions, but I'm also here for the pageantry. For the tiaras, for the pretty dresses and for the juxtaposition of having a monarchy in the 21st century. It's fun to dive into how absurd that world can perhaps be, so the fact that Charles' coronation isn't going to have much of that seems ridiculous to me.

Let's be honest, we all want to see that coronation because there would be tiaras and pretty dresses, carriages and going out on the balcony, and many of us wanted that because it would be Catherine doing all that, many will include Sophie too and nothing else. Oh, and the kids. Few will do it because it's for Charles and Camilla, although we're aware that if it wasn't for him it wouldn't be possible.

The monarchy is mostly ceremonial so if you take away the interesting part of all that, what's the point of it continuing to exist?

The relatively confirmed rumours I read today have disappointed me and made me question whether it's worth waking up early in the morning and wasting my internet to watch a normal Service at the Abbey because the way things look that's what it will be. The only difference is that Charles will be wearing a cape and a crown and so will Camilla. Yay. Carlitos, I like you, but not that much.

 Many or all of us want to see a coronation as it should be, with all the pomp and pageantry one imagines when one hears the word coronation, especially when it will be done by the Brits, they are good at all that. But now it turns out that it will be a lot simpler, sorry, more modern than we expected? Again, what's the point of doing it then?

And before someone comes along and says that the coronation is more than dresses and I don't know what else, is it? I do think the British monarchy is more than pretty dresses, they or some of their members do things that are worthy, useful but the coronation would only help tourism probably and honestly, I don't think many people want to travel to see a bit of the same.

Going back a little bit to their desire to be modern, what is their vision really? A purely ceremonial institution that spends millions of pounds a year in exchange for... what? Looking pretty? Receiving foreign dignitaries? And the odd project - albeit several important ones, that's true - by some members? doesn't sound like a very good deal, to be honest.

A lot has been said that they want to be conscious of the current situation in the UK, but it doesn't make sense to do the coronation as they are doing it then, better use that money to help people in need, that would be being more aware of the economic situation in the country, wouldn't it?

Since last year we have been hearing or reading that the organisers of the whole show would remove certain elements of the coronation that would not look good in current times and that is understandable, but why remove what for many is the most important thing, especially in current times? Why remove the main reason why many, maybe all, would be interested in the whole show? Even if it is just to criticise it.

The British monarchy in their eagerness to appear modern is losing the essence of a monarchy (no, I don't mean the gory details), every day is fewer and fewer events with all the pomp they could have, fewer and fewer events in full regalia because, when was the last time they unveiled a portrait in full regalia of any of them? So I ask again what is the point of doing all that?

It all gets a bit more ridiculous when I think that they did that whole proclamation thing at St. James Palace, but going full regalia at the coronation is just too much.

Unlike some pessimists or hopefuls depending on where you look at it, I don't think the British monarchy is going to disappear, but I do think that, if they carry on like this, they will become as irrelevant as all the other royal families in Europe, in the world. Yes, I said it.

Personally, if everything that's rumoured is confirmed in the next few weeks, I don't think it's worth tuning into that show. It sounds a bit boring.

If the rumours are true it will be a pity, the British will miss a good opportunity to show how majestic they can be in that kind of event or situation. Although Charles is not doing a bad job, he doesn't have the necessary pull to get people to tune in to an event where only he and his wife will be wearing a Crown.

Although, if I think about it, I suppose it's better than nothing or whatever will happen when it's William's turn. I wouldn't be surprised if, in his first speech, the guy says that being a republic would be a good idea. And if not, we'll probably find out he was crowned king by an entry in the court circular.

This post ended up being unnecessarily long. The point of it is that it's stupid what they seem to be doing and I honestly feel disappointed and betrayed by Carlitos. I would expect it from Lizzie Girl and I definitely expect it from William but I didn't expect it from Carlitos.

[thephantomcasebook]

Maybe I’m being pessimistic but I have completely lost all hope for house of the dragon and really any ASOIAF tv series that may come in the future. At first I was sort of neutral bc season 1 wasn’t complete dogshit but the more I think about it I realize there were a lot of weak points and really weird/annoying directions they took the plot (ex. Ryan’s weird insistence that daemon killed rhea even though the book doesn’t imply this and in fact it doesn’t really make any sense). And then I keep hearing all these awful things about season 2 like that they spent so much time arguing back and forth about the plot and eventually had to have someone else come in to fix it, also that there was falling outs between showrunners and grrm (specifically that grrm was unhappy with what was happening to the story), then that it was reduced to a measly 8 episodes, and now rumors that plot points that were so gravitational to the story like nettles are being overlooked (which I can see happening considering they have to cut so much of the plot to have only 8 episodes)… it’s so disappointing and reminiscent of the last seasons of got:/ to be fair, I feel like this is not solely an asoiaf issue, I’ve heard a lot of similar writing/production problems with other shows where executives and showrunners are just far too prideful and big headed combined with greed and they just completely shit all over a potentially good story.

While I hope that the strikes going on might make have an effect on this sort of problem in the future (secondary to affirming labor rights ofc), I almost wish that they would just scrap all these asoiaf shows rather than ruin the story and that grrm hadn’t agreed to let these writers and show runners do it in the first place. I’m not a diehard believer that the source material is a pure golden holy grail but it’s definitely better than this. I remember seeing all those interviews of grrm in the early got era where he would talk about how he turned down a lot of writers/showrunners because of how important it was to him for the story to be told right and he needed people he could trust to do that…. How ironic that is now.

Far be it from me to be the one to talk you down ...

But, I think going in somewhat cynical is perfectly fine. However, I wouldn't box yourself into a corner or give yourself no way out. It might surprise you.

Check it out, some of the best material in entertainment was made under fire. Usually the rule of thumb is that if everyone is having a good time on set, that usually means that its going to be shit. But if everything is going haywire and they lose shooting locations and episodes (literally) it forces creativity to the forefront and pushes the bullshit to the side to get across the story as economically as possible.

Sapochnik's clown shoes ass was given every resource imaginable that his tantrum throwing bitch made douche-baggery could imagine, and his lack-of-creative vision nearly got the show panned. You had actors so comfortable, so assured of their bullshit, they the nearly ruined a quintessential moment in the show (Episode 8 dinner scene) that had to be saved in the editing room and cut around their dip-shittery.

This time, they don't have that luxury, and no one - especially the studio - as the patience for their bullshit. It's all a garbage fire and they're making it work with shoe strings and chicken wire. There's just no time for people like Sara Hess's ideological indulgences.

So, I say, give it a chance - it might surprise you.

[captainjonnitkessler]

Ok as someone not from the us I need to ask something to this

https://www.tumblr.com/captainjonnitkessler/713884405486239744/everyones-too-liberal-with-the-word

(sorry for my english and probably not using the right words)

I am aware that in the us liberals are also leftists because individual rights liberties, progressists etc (vs right wing people), and we do use that language when we talk about democrats in the us who fight for social rights etc

However if we're talking about different point of views and not being x centric, then us people should know that in other parts of the world leftists people usually won’t be leftists because liberals/liberalism is highly associated with economic liberalism. When talking about history and the 19th century for instance we will often talk about 'political liberalism' but yeah nowadays if you're very vocal about feminism, racism, homophobia etc, but very liberal on the economic side, well you're not a leftists you know (which is something that is often criticised about american activists btw). You can also be liberal economically but every racist, mysoginist, homophobic.

That's also why it's often said that the us left as in democrats are right/center right everywhere else, because it's still very liberal on the economic side.

Also just for context because this may be yet different in other countries, I'm talking from France.

(and just to be clear, this isn't a stance on which politics and parties system is better, we're quite fucked up here too right now. I'm also not talking from a very far left point of view, just regular left here, like being pro-universal health care)

First of all I'm sorry that it took me like a month to answer this. But thank you for sending this! I didn't realize "liberal" was used in a different way elsewhere, which might go a long way towards explaining some of the disconnect online. (Although I know that there are a few countries where the Liberal party is the conservative party, which further muddles things. Australians celebrating the loss of the Liberals recently really threw me for a loop until I figured it out.) I think in the US the term "neoliberal" is what we call an economic liberal but I could be wrong, especially because I also think people have been diluting "neoliberal" to just mean "anyone left of center that I don't like".

Which is ultimately what that post was complaining about - in the US, some leftists call anyone who isn't actively advocating for violent revolution a liberal in a derogatory way, implying that they're just as bad as right-wingers. But equating a neoliberal who supports social justice causes - even if I think they're misguided and ultimately not effective - with right-wingers who are actively trying to install a fascist government is uhhhhh not helpful, I think. And in the end it just becomes a performative test of who has the most "pure" politics, instead of focusing on what's actually effective.

[the-sound-ofrain]

Views on capitalism

Ah, this is what I call a question. i found such questions intriguing.

Capitalism is an umbrella term for various ideologies existing but in general we can say it's an economic model which adhere political world too.

It's a mode of economic system in a country where the source of production like land, factory, agriculture any means of producing merchandise, devices or any thing which is useable is govern by the capitalist or the tycoons of a country where there is no interference by the state. Well, the best example of capitalism and its achivement would be western europe.

as you must have read about the industrialization showed its epoch there & they achieved a great excellence in standard of lifestyle but there exist a dark side of it.

I would acknowledge you with both.

Pros :

the globalization & the origination of unicorn companies all around the world shows how capitalism has influenced the money sector.

if you've power, you're ready to work to your greatest potential than capitalism is a boon to you.

it all enables a lot of greatest option & as it increases competition among all the firm's existing it offers n number of choices for us.

the platform you and i are using at this moment tumblr, instagram, facebook these all are the outcomes of capitalism.

so, till now it seems the capitalism is a deal of profit but lets talk about the dark side of it.

due to the competition you'll see dirty tactics.

there's a term consumerism which means to create products which isn't really valuable to us but they're produced and marketed in a luring way that it produces consumers out of us.

the difference between rich people and poor people has seen a great enlargement because over here you'll see richer section will live a luxurious life and the poorer section will keep ruining their life to earn a little for them.

if a country is going for pure capitalism then they might end up with crises of loot, corruption & security damage for that state has to step in.

capitalism also encourages foul practices in which government is run in the favour of these market runners because they give them funds and in return they form taxation rules in a way which will be an advantage to these market mafias.untill now

i guess i have explained you what it means to be in a capitalised society. I'll suggest mix economy as the solution.

[terrorpenned]

some r/v au things kicking around in the brain (or in my art lmao)

V has a new wedding dress made that is heavily inspired by, though not an exact replica of, Josette’s dress, taking a mix of regency style and late 1960s/early 1970's (which are already in partnership in fashion). she borrows Naomi Collins' wedding veil, and Liz gives her a string of pearls that first belonged to Annabella Collins –– a symbol of the Collins prosperity born of the sea.

Wedding flowers: blue delphinium (dignity and grace, youth, new life, remembrance), calla lilies (magnificent beauty, rebirth or resurrection, the goddess Hera), lily of the valley (return to happiness: "The naiad-like lily of the vale. Whom youth makes so fair, and passion so pale" ) and blue jasmine (amiability, loyalty, integrity, trust, "On the blue flower which, Brahmins say. Blooms nowhere but in Paradise.")

" The jasmine, with which the queen of flowers, To charm her god, adorns his favourite bowers Which brides, by the plain hand of neatness drest, – Unenvied rival! – wear upon the breast; Sweet as the incense of the mom, and chaste As the pure zone which circles Dian's waist."

They're married out on the terrace but, predictably, rain interrupts them, and they have to rush inside to the drawing room to finish the ceremony. Roger cheats and carries her over the threshold before they're officially married.

They fly to France for their honeymoon, staying on the beaches of Biarritz in the Hôtel du Palais. They make several excursions to sightsee in the rest of the country, including a few days in Paris to see the Louvre and the Palais Garnier. V returns home with several paintings to add to Collinwood's collection, and Roger with several bottles of wine. Vicki also picks out an André Courrèges for Maggie, an Yves Saint Laurent for Carolyn and a Givenchy for Liz. for David, a lapel pin with a guillotine motif inspired by 1790s designs.

Rog's proposal is very Maxim-esque. It happens outside on the cliffs, not at breakfast itself, but right after. Since David is old enough to go to Real School, he no longer needs a tutor and governess, but Roger assures her she's still needed at Collinwood and she can stay on with him. ("Do you mean you want a secretary or something?" "No, I'm asking you to marry me, you little fool.")

They're generally supported (especially by Julia) when they announce the engagement, and Carolyn is delighted to have her as an official member of the family (though it takes some getting used to thinking of her as an aunt). Liz is highly skeptical and would try to talk Roger into calling it off; Vicki has to work hard to convince her that’s what she wants. the plus side is that he’d never do anything to hurt V because if he did Liz would flay him alive. not one single foot out of line.

Maggie would also be on Liz’s side, certain at first that the power disparity favors Roger and his happiness, but Vicki would eventually bring her around. Maggie, along with Willie and Joe, is probably one of the few who realizes or cares what it means for Vicki socially/economically to rise through the ranks and marry into the Collins money/power. most of them would view it as marrying Roger, but V’s fellow working class characters see it as marrying into the family, and Roger comes second.

The engagement lasts a while for legal reasons, though not for lack of Rog's trying to hurry their lawyers, since neither of their spouses can be served divorce papers (being yoinked back to the eighteenth century or being transformed into a vampire as your alternate identity don't count for much in court). they're able to get annulments on the basis of mental incapacity –– r.e. Rog's mental state when he married Cass, and the speed –– and fraud –– vis a vis Jeff's real identity. it's not pleasant, and involves lots of testifying about adultery in the courtyard, which leads to their first real fight.

Though he buys her a few things in France, his big wedding present is a car of her own to live in the Collins garage: a Triumph TR6 in Royal Blue with tan interior. Carolyn is allowed to drive it; Roger is not.

[fruityyamenrunner]

The correct political position is Blue.

from the Blue lunatic fringes:

Richard Kulisz

Then there was the stupid suggestion by someone that the nuclear industry emphasize how "green" it is. Except that too is self destructive since “green” is a propaganda word owned by the enemy. And what's so laughable about green is it's the colour of money in the USA. Hence the colour of the rich. Which is of course who bankrolls the anti-industry anti-human movements.

I of course have an obvious proposal to all this aimless useless confused scratching of heads among pro-nuclear advocates. I propose we call nuclear a BLUE power source. Mmmm blue. In fact, it’s a GLOWING BLUE power source. And since we all know from cartoons and anime that Power Glows it behooves pro-nuclear advocates to use this obvious selling point.

...

The corollary is that so-called “green” energy sources don't glow because they are WEAK! And equally obvious, to me anyways, is the reason why Gaians hate nuclear energy. Because it is powerful. And this conflicts with their submissive worship of Gaia.

Robin Hanson

Since the future is far in time, thinking about it tends to invoke a far mode of thought, which introduces other far mode defaults into our image of the future. And thinking about the far future makes us think especially far. Of course many other considerations influence any particular imagined future, but it can help to understand the assumptions your mind is primed to make about the far future, regardless of whether those assumptions are true.

For example, since we expect things further away in time to also be further away in space, we expect future folk to live further away, such as in space, and to habitually travel longer distances. Since the distant past is also further away in time, we also expect past folk to live further away and travel longer distances, but the many concrete details we know about the past reduces this effect.

Since blue light scatters more easily than red, far away things in our field of view tend to look more blue. So we expect future stuff to look blue. And since blue stuff looks cold, we expect future stuff to look cold. Finally, since we expect far away things to have less detail, we tend to imagine them with fewer parts and flourishes, and less detailed textures and patterns.

The future is not paisley.

from the sensible moderates:

Carl Sagan

From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that [pale blue] dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

Kim Stanley Robinson

So they sailed west into the wind, day after day, talking or not talking. Many times they came back to what it might mean to be brown. “Perhaps the combination should be called blue,” Ann said one evening, looking over the side at the water. “Brown isn’t very attractive, and it reeks of compromise. Maybe we should be thinking of something entirely new.”

“Maybe we should.”

...

Then one winter evening they were sitting on the westernmost bench, in the hour before sunset, everything still, the Hellas Sea like a plate of glass, the sky cloudless and clean, pure, transparent; and as the sun dropped everything drifted over the spectrum into the blue, until Maya looked up from her salade niçoise and clutched Sax by the arm, “Oh my God, look,” and she put her paper plate aside and they both stood instinctively, like ancient veterans hearing the national anthem from an approaching parade; Sax swallowed hamburger in a lump, “Ah,” he said, and stared. Everything was blue, sky blue, Terran sky blue, drenching everything for most of an hour, flooding their retinas and the nerve pathways in their brains, no doubt long starved for precisely that color, the home they had left forever.

When you go out and look at the world from low heaven, it takes the form of a Blue Marble:

I claim this is something of a shibboleth. Of course, everyone loves the Blue Marble picture, environmentalists especially because the whole world is there. But Greens are loath to use this picture - they frequently fall back on little cartoons:

The world is not very green at all, but in sentimental gaian representations, it is. There's green there but once you get past the overwhelming blueness of it, it is evident that the world is as brown, and white and black as it is green. To see the world as green is to see it from below. To see it as blue is to see it from high above, and also as you see it if you lift your view ever so slightly above the horizon.

I find their use of the sunflower as a logo faintly disgusting too. Using the sun as your banner is a very bold statement, and people who do so tend to be egomaniacs. Floralising it is both a very familiar kind of false modesty and also a turning away from the sun towards an imagined likeness of it - this is another case of looking down instead of looking around, and up.

Say what you will about the blue EU and the blue UN, but they were at least founded on somewhat Blue principles of using science and technology to better man's ends.

[controversialhottakes]

Okay, since I've seen quite a few people talk about communism, I thought it'd be nice to clarify what it is, what it actually looks like in practice, and why it doesn't work. Because I get the impression that most of you have a very skewed idea of what it is that you're asking for.

(ThoughtCo. provides a very nice and clear overview, take a look.)

First things first: communism and socialism are not the same thing. If you live somewhere within the EEA, congrats, you're most likely living in a country which functions based on some socialist principles (best example - the three Scandinavian countries, I hope the irony is not lost on you). And you are almost certainly not living in a communist country, although you might be living in a post-communist country - you can recognise these fairly easily because most of them have no money and are really struggling with... everything, basically.

And when I say they have no money - that goes for the people and for the state. And no, they're not just dumb, this is what fifty years of communism does to a country, you can't just reverse the damage in 30 years. That's why the West and the East of Germany feel like two different countries, why people in the East earn so much less, and why people in the West had to pay an "East-tax" for some thirty years (to the total of 1,6 billion or possibly even more). And just to make it clear - this is one country. How do you think countries which were completely swallowed up by the Eastern bloc are doing right now? To really dumb it down (this is way too simplistic but I want to illustrate my point) - Germany has been moving resources it already had in 1989 from one side to the other to try and balance it out, but the other countries obviously can't do that because they didn't have any resources to begin with, and they had to start from scratch.

Communism is big on equality but what you fail to realise is that everyone is equally poor. Everyone belongs to the working class but the working class is not in power, the politicians are in power and the only way to get anywhere is to lick their arses. If someone somehow manages to have money, no worries, they won't have anything to spend it on, because the shelves in all the shops will be full of... nothing. Vinegar and mustard, according to people who got to experience it first-hand. I'm too young, thank god for that.

But that's history. Let's look at some examples and try to figure out what would happen if a country became communist in the 2020s. First, there would most likely be a (violent and bloody) revolution, because unlike socialism, communism isn't really into gradual change (Civil War in China, Russian Revolution of 1917, etc.). Then, the class system would be abolished. Completely. No classes anymore. Let's ignore for a second the fact that the only way a completely equal society could work is if we were living in small groups of hunter-gatherers and consider the implications of everyone being equal instead.

If you owned any property - now you don't, because communism doesn't support the idea of personal property or assests. It's all... well, communal. You can't move up in society. Or down, for that matter. You die exactly where you were born - with no money, no property, and no real sense of achievement except for the fact that you managed to survive X years. Also no religion, in case it's important for some of you, but there's a little bit of leeway on this one.

If you are wondering what a communist country looks like in the 21st century, look towards North Korea. Now, I don't know that much about North Korea, for obvious reasons, but I would argue that this country has come the closest to pure communism, out of all the communist countries in history. This is what you are aiming for. North fucking Korea.

And if you are thinking of China, you're right too. But you're also wrong. China's economic power comes from the capitalistic part of the system, not the communist part. For a less diluted version of communism, you'd have to go back to the Mao-Era. Like the Great Leap Forward or the Cultural Revolution. Hardly an economic or political power at that time (The Republic of China, aka Taiwan, was still the "official China"), but the guy did manage to pretty much single-handedly cause one of the deadliest famines in history. Not just Chinese history, history of humankind. It is pretty impressive, especially the way he went about it.

And no, you can't have communism and personal freedom, it's one or the other. I can't think of a single communist country that didn't or doesn't employ strict censorship and doesn't forbid any and all criticism of the government. There's a reason for that. It's so that the idiot in power can stay in power.

Communism doesn't really work without censorship because people wouldn't stand for it, especially middle and upper classes. I'm not working class, and I have no intention of changing that, especially not in the name of "fairness." I'll pay my taxes and I'll be happy to help out however I can but I'm well-educated and have no intention of earning the same as a blue-collar worker. No offense, these jobs are obviously important, but I didn't work my arse off at uni to be paid the same salary/wage as someone with a high school diploma or less.

That's the difference between socialism and communism. Socialism accepts that people are not completely equal and rewards them accordingly ("From each according to his ability, to each according to his contribution."). Communism doesn't give a damn about how hard you work or how you contribute to the society ("From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.").

I can keep going by the way. I have a tonne of anecdotes from and in-depth information on both the Soviet block and China. But I think you get my point.

[oldgooddaysoldgooddays]

164

On Sunday, while running in the rain to meet my mum, I slip and fall on the northern line escalator. CUNT, I yell, without the ability to stop myself. I wonder whether the two states in which we reveal our true vulgar nature most are drunkenness and falling in public. In the U.K. of course "in vino veritas" and "in falling (procidens? cadere?) veritas" often go hand in hand. Maybe also Alzheimer's - thinking of David Sedaris' recounting of a woman in her dotage screaming "Hitler wants my pussy!!" Anyway I fell, and cursed, and righted myself and boarded the train on pure adrenaline. I would later meet unspeakable inner thigh pain, an ankle bruise and a swollen elbow, but the British body seems to know that being publicly mortified trumps being injured. I am late to meet my mother and thank god art museums don't have strict covid-era booking slots anymore The Cezanne show is extensive, wonderful, and - like all blockbuster exhibitions attended on a Sunday - ruined by the presence of children and Americans. The portraits are unflattering, or perhaps just truthful. Those of his wife appear to depict her waiting for the whole thing to be over. The trees are nice. What is it with these Impressionists preferring trees to people? As a deeply unimaginative millennial painter, I'm moved and relieved by Cezanne's occasional copying of mass-produced imagery. I forget that artists have been doing this for decades. A wall text claims he would paint the same still life over and over in a "quest for perfection", and I would like to know if he ever felt he achieved it, or instead died a little dissatisfied, with his wife by his side rolling her eyes. Attendees seem most taken with his sad little paint palettes, varying in size and quality "according to the artist's financial circumstances". I do however have a few embarrassing moments of sheer disbelief, perhaps even enchantment, re: seeing the fallible and earnest markings of somebody who is now dead. Somehow this hits harder than with much older paintings - the 1500s being almost too chronologically foreign to my modern mind, but the early 1900s just accessible enough to overwhelm Over fish and chard in portions that smack of economic inflation, I ask mum when a child last died in front of her. She remembers a girl whose synthetic aorta became detached from her tissue and blood flooded the inside of her chest, killing her instantly. And during her training, a pancreatic cancer patient fading before her eyes. I tell her I'm thinking of going to Mexico for Christmas and she looks at me with intense envy because she has already made certain promises to my grandparents about hosting. As I become more adult, I am given a more and more detailed picture of my mum's relationships, and thus realise how much I was spared for so long. She does not, for instance, get on with my grandmother. In turn I notice how my grandmother gently chips away at her dignity with criticism that is more sung than spoken. I notice, also, that the more this happens, the more my mum is poised to take the hit, arriving to the big house in west London in an emotional karate pose. I am asked by her a lot never to "let our relationship become like this". I soothe her with plans of swift euthanasia. Plus we already laid some great relational groundwork during "family day" in rehab After lunch I go to meet V and a man from a museum at my studio. He has North Carolina ties, and we talk about that. He likes the small works, and I tell him this heartens me because a lot of people seem to channel their aspirations for penis size through the size of paintings. For some reason the museum man's family friend is present for the whole visit, a man who is training to be a doctor. He doesn't know what he's going to specialise in, but likes paediatrics. Coincidence, my mother is a paediatrician, I tell him. He seems overwhelmed and lost near my paintings. This leads me to believe he'll make a fantastic paediatrician

[gffa]

Do you think one could follow the Jedi Code/Lifestyle in real life as a positive manner of living or do you think it only works in Star Wars? I asked this on r/Mawinstallation and the answers I got were either:

''The Jedi code is oppressive so no'' ( this was the most upvoted answer )

''The Jedi code works but only for the Jedi''

''The Jedi code requires the force to work and since the force doesn't exist in the real world, the code cannot work''

And finally, I got only a single reply that said

''Yes, the Jedi code does work in real life, that's the entire point of Star Wars''.

What is your take on this?

This is going to be sort of a long, roundabout answer, but the short version is: In the finer details, we're not space psychics, but as a general idea? Yes. First of all, what even IS the Jedi Code?  Are we talking about the whole “there is no emotion, there is peace”/”emotion, yet peace” meditation mantra, which we should point out is nowhere in the movies or TV shows, but is entirely in the novels and comics supplementary material?  Are we talking about a more generalized idea of Jedi philosophy?  And what, precisely, does that mean?  I mean, what’s oppressive about it and what scene evidences that that’s what the Jedi taught? Second, there are two talks that George Lucas gave that I think really illustrate this view of emotional navigation and how that impacts Star Wars and the Force: There’s the writers meeting of The Clone Wars where he talks about the light side and the dark side and there’s an Academy of Achievement Speech from 2013 where he talks about joy vs pleasure:     “Happiness is pleasure and happiness is joy. It can be either one, you add them up and it can be the uber category of happiness.     “Pleasure is short lived. It lasts an hour, it lasts a minute, it lasts a month. It peaks and then it goes down–it peaks very high, but the next time you want to get that same peak you have to do it twice as much. It’s like drugs, you have to keep doing it because it insulates itself. No matter what it is, whether you’re shopping or you’re engaged in any other kind of pleasure. It all has the same quality about it.     “On the other hand is joy and joy is the thing that doesn’t go as high as pleasure, in terms of your emotional reaction. But it stays with you. Joy is something you can recall, pleasure you can’t.  So the secret is that, even though it’s not as intense as pleasure, the joy will last you a lot longer.     “People who get the pleasure they keep saying, ‘Well, if I can just get richer and get more cars–!’ You’ll never relive the moment you got your first car, that’s it, that’s the highest peak. Yes, you could get three Ferraris and a new gulf stream jet and maybe you’ll get close. But you have to keep going and eventually you’ll run out.  You just can’t do it, it doesn’t work.     “If you’re trying to sustain that level of peak pleasure, you’re doomed. It’s a very American idea, but it just can’t happen. You just let it go. Peak.  Break. Pleasure is fun it’s great, but you can’t keep it going forever.     “Just accept the fact that it’s here and it’s gone, and maybe again it’ll come back and you’ll get to do it again. Joy lasts forever. Pleasure is purely self-centered. It’s all about your pleasure, it’s about you. It’s a selfish self-centered emotion, that’s created by self-centered motive of greed.     “Joy is compassion, joy is giving yourself to somebody else or something else. And it’s the kind of thing that is in it’s subtlty and lowness more powerful than pleasure.  If you get hung up on pleasure you’re doomed. If you pursue joy you will find everlasting happiness.”  –George Lucas And how I like to compare that to The Hijacking of the American Mind by Robert Lustig, MD, MSL, which is a book about how corporations have hijacked our pleasure centers to make us focused on reward over pleasure.  It talks about the exact same concepts, with only slight word adjustments, but otherwise might as well be verbatim: “At this point it’s essential to define and clarify what I mean by these two words—pleasure and happiness—which can mean different things to different people.     “Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines “pleasure” as “enjoyment or satisfaction derived from what is to one’s liking”; or “gratification”; or “reward.” While “pleasure” has a multitude of synonyms, it is this phenomenon of reward that we will explore, as scientists have elaborated a specific “reward pathway” in the brain, and we now understand the neuroscience of its regulation. Conversely, “happiness” is defined as “the quality or state of being happy”; or “joy”; or “contentment.” While there are many synonyms for “happiness,” it is the phenomenon that Aristotle originally referred to as eudemonia, or the internal experience of contentment, that we will parse in this book. Contentment is the lowest baseline level of happiness, the state in which it’s not necessary to seek more. In the movie Lovers and Other Strangers (1970), middle-aged married couple Beatrice Arthur and Richard Castellano were asked the question “Are you happy?”—to which they responded, “Happy? Who’s happy? We’re content.” Scientists now understand that there is a specific “contentment pathway” that is completely separate from the pleasure or reward pathway in the brain and under completely different regulation. Pleasure (reward) is the emotional state where your brain says, This feels good—I want more, while happiness (contentment) is the emotional state where your brain says, This feels good—I don’t want or need any more.     “Reward and contentment are both positive emotions, highly valued by humans, and both reasons for initiative and personal betterment. It’s hard to be happy if you derive no pleasure for your efforts—but this is exactly what is seen in the various forms of addiction. Conversely, if you are perennially discontent, as is so often seen in patients with clinical depression, you may lose the impetus to better your social position in life, and it’s virtually impossible to derive reward for your efforts. Reward and contentment rely on the presence of the other. Nonetheless, they are decidedly different phenomena. Yet both have been slowly and mysteriously vanishing from our global ethos as the prevalence of addiction and depression continues to climb.     “Drumroll … without further ado, behold the seven differences between reward and contentment: Reward is short-lived (about an hour, like a good meal). Get it, experience it, and get over it. Why do you think you can’t remember what you ate for dinner yesterday? Conversely, contentment lasts much longer (weeks to months to years). It’s what happens when you have a working marriage or watch your teenager graduate from high school. And if you experience contentment from a sense of achievement or purpose, the chances are that you will feel it for a long time to come, perhaps even the rest of your life.Reward is visceral in terms of excitement (e.g., a casino, a football game, or a strip club). It activates the body’s fight-or-flight system, which causes blood pressure and heart rate to go up. Conversely, contentment is ethereal and calming (e.g., listening to soothing music or watching the waves of the ocean). It makes your heart rate slow and your blood pressure decline.       - “ Reward can be achieved with different substances (e.g., heroin, nicotine, cocaine, caffeine, alcohol, and of course sugar). Each stimulates the reward center of the brain. Some are legal, some are not. Conversely, contentment is not achievable with substance use. Rather, contentment is usually achieved with deeds (like graduating from college or having a child who can navigate his or her own path in life).       - “Reward occurs with the process of taking (like from a casino). Gambling is definitely a high: when you win, it is fundamentally rewarding, both viscerally and economically. But go back to the same table the next day. Maybe you’ll feel a jolt of excitement to try again. But there’s no glow, no lasting feeling from the night before. Or go buy a nice dress at Macy’s. Then try it on again a month later. Does it generate the same enthusiasm? Conversely, contentment is often generated through giving (like giving money to a charity, or giving your time to your child, or devoting time and energy to a worthwhile project).       - Reward is yours and yours alone. Your sense of reward does not immediately impact anyone else. Conversely, your contentment, or lack of it, often impacts other people directly and can impact society at large. Those who are extremely unhappy (the Columbine shooters) can take their unhappiness out on others. It should be said at this point that pleasure and happiness are by no means mutually exclusive. A dinner at the Bay Area Michelin three-star restaurant the French Laundry can likely generate simultaneous pleasure for you from the stellar food and wine but can also generate contentment from the shared experience with spouse, family, or friends, and then possibly a bit of unhappiness when the bill arrives.       - Reward when unchecked can lead us into misery, like addiction. Too much substance use (food, drugs, nicotine, alcohol) or compulsive behaviors (gambling, shopping, surfing the internet, sex) will overload the reward pathway and lead not just to dejection, destitution, and disease but not uncommonly death as well. Conversely, walking in the woods or playing with your grandchildren or pets (as long as you don’t have to clean up after them) could bring contentment and keep you from being miserable in the first place.       - Last and most important, reward is driven by dopamine, and contentment by serotonin. Each is a neurotransmitter—a biochemical manufactured in the brain that drives feelings and emotions—but the two couldn’t be more different. Although dopamine and serotonin drive separate brain processes, it is where they overlap and how they influence each other that generates the action in this story. Two separate chemicals, two separate brain pathways, two separate regulatory schemes, and two separate physiological and psychological outcomes. How and where these two chemicals work, and how they work either in concert or in opposition to each other, is the holy grail in the ultimate quest for both pleasure and happiness.”                                – Robert Lustig, MD, MSL And then lets add in what Dave Filoni has said about the Force and the core themes of Star Wars:     "In the end, it’s about fundamentally becoming selfless moreso than selfish.  It seems so simple, but it’s so hard to do.  And when you’re tempted by the dark side, you don’t overcome it once in life and then you’re good.  It’s a constant.  And that’s what, really, Star Wars is about and what I think George wanted people to know.  That to be a good person and to really feel better about your life and experience life fully you have to let go of everything you fear to lose. Because then you can’t be controlled.        “But when you fear, fear is the path to the dark side, it’s also the shadow of greed, because greed makes you covet things, greed makes you surround yourself with all these things that make you feel comfortable in the moment, but they don’t really make you happy.  And then, when you’re afraid of something, it makes you angry, when you get angry, you start to hate something, sometimes you don’t even know why.  When you hate, do you often know why you hate?  No, you direct it at things and then you hate it.  And it’s hard because anger can be a strength at times, but you can’t use it in such a selfish way, it can be a destroyer then.        “These are the core things of Star Wars.“  –Dave Filoni So, the core things of Star Wars and the Jedi teachings (because Jedi teachings are basically almost word for word how GL described how the Force works) can very much be a reflection of real world teachings and ways to live by, because all of the above are about how GL viewed the world and what he wanted to put into his movies. Further, Jedi teachings are basically just reworded Buddhism + Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.  And both of those are very livable by our real world standards, if you so choose.  GL was very much about how SW had themes that were meant to be picked up on by the audience and even DF has said this:  “ Jedi have the ability to turn the tide, to make a significant moment, to give hope where there’s none.  That’s their ultimate role to play, to be this example of selflessness.  And that’s what makes them a hero, when no one else can match that heroic thing.  And then our job is to emulate that, to use that example, and further our own lives.” --Dave Filoni Ultimately, the Jedi are specifically focused on disciplining themselves (which GL has said is the only way to overcome the dark side, in that TCW writers’ meeting), probably to a degree most of us wouldn’t have the room to devote to, but that doesn’t mean that the broader strokes aren’t meant to be applicable to our lives or don’t echo real world teachings.