#american gods meta

[spn2006]

the fact that eric kripke isn't even christian really adds something to the way christianity is depicted on supernatural. because its really not about being christian at all, but about living in america, a country dominated by christianity, and having to decide for yourself how to handle that. faith is huge in supernatural, and the mythology of the show is very bible-centric, but notably, christ is never there. even sam, who starts out revering the angels, who once said he prays every night, doesn't actually call himself a christian or imply that he believes in jesus--the show is steeped in christianity and biblical lore and yet neither sam nor dean are christians. in fact, over and over again the church itself is depicted as a haunted house that sam and dean will only ever enter as strangers, as outsiders. priests, preachers, faith healers, chapels, crypts, etc. are all just iconography that create an intense sense of unease that sam and dean respond to instantly. as a jew, its very relatable. an essential part of living in america when you're not christian is that exact sense of unease, of knowing that the culture of your country has ensured that you'll get knocked over by christianity no matter where you go, that you'll see hundreds of people truly believing they're good people while doing awful things in the name of their god, and you have no choice but to confront that. kripke gets it

[inhonoredglory]

Good Omens Season 3: Heaven and Hell dividing humanity; humanity as Leviathan; and Aziraphale locking the doors of Heaven and throwing away the key [A Meta]

(This meta is long, but I swear there's some good stuff in here. It took me 2 months to get it together for these two longsuffering Anons. Thank you so much for asking me these very important questions.)

In preparation for answering two Asks above (and to aid my own predictions of Good Omens 3), I read and reviewed the Book of Revelation, W.B. Yeat’s iconic poem “The Second Coming,” Terry Pratchett’s Small Gods, Neil Gaiman’s deleted scene from American Gods (Shadow meeting Jesus in America), and Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies’ 2003 miniseries The Second Coming (starring Christopher Eccleston!). The first two are definitely going to be referenced in season 3, Davies’ show is one of the few stories dealing head-on with the coming of Christ, and Terry and Neil’s bibliographies are probably the biggest resources for how Season 3 will shake out thematically.

🕊 How Aziraphale Will Change Heaven

I think GO s3 is the season we see Aziraphale really come into his own, when we see him implement the moral vision he’s taken this long to coalesce, when all the pieces he and Crowley have put together are finally put on stage in a terrifying, beautiful display (all that righteous anger and conviction, merged with his kindness and empathy is going to be Something Else).

There’s an angel in the Book of Revelation who stands between the Earth and the Sea. This angel wears a rainbow halo and speaks with the voice of seven thunders, and yet John (the writer of Revelation) is told not to write down what this angel speaks. (Sounds like someone has hit on the Ineffable Plan?) If Neil and Terry were going to pick up an image from Revelation for Aziraphale, I really like this one, because it feels like an intermediary role (between two Sides), one that god dare not make public because it speaks an uncomfortable truth. And it’s about speaking and revealing knowledge, instead of fighting or destroying something.

Because even though we know Azi and Crowley will fight to stop the second End Times, fighting itself is not a theme Neil Gaiman or Terry Pratchett really champion. Instead of war, Aziraphale will oppose Heaven in all the little ways he and Crowley opposed it before: By enjoying human comforts (Azi will definitely bring food and trinkets to Heaven and send scrivener angels and seraphim alike to tour earth). By asking questions (Heaven’s new suggestion box). By telling stories about humanity and why it’s important to know who these humans are before anyone kills anybody (Azi was, after all, brought on board because of his human expertise).

Aziraphale will become what Crowley wanted to be before the Fall, but Azi’s got the benefit of thousands of years of knowledge, cunning, and intelligence about how both Heaven and humanity work. He knows Heaven’s weaknesses, he knows humanity’s strengths, he knows his own capabilities, and he knows where Heaven will turn a blind eye. He’s going to be such a bastard the likes of which we’ve never seen. And he’s going to drop truth bombs like there’s no tomorrow.

Season 2 brought back the book banter about “the lower you start, the more opportunities you have.”

Season 3 will bring back Aziraphale’s most badass book moment. This scene takes place after Azi possesses an American televangelist talking about the fire and brimstone of the End Times and the Rapture (the mass teleporting of all worthy believers to Heaven). Says Aziraphale,

Aziraphale is fed up with Heaven’s hypocrisy and he's scathing in his condemnation of both Heaven and Hell. Everyone will die and become collateral damage, no matter which side is doing the killing.

Sound familiar?

That's the arc Aziraphale is heading towards: that blazing conviction of Crowley's, spoken out loud and fearless and in spite of his eons of trauma. And Season 3 will see Aziraphale get to that place, where he gets to tell off Heaven, but not just in the privacy of the bookshop or the bandstand, but to their faces in Heaven's hallowed halls.

The demons and angels in Season 2 were much less icky and ethereal (respectively) from their appearances in Season 1. Because it's working towards a further humanization of both sides in Season 3. Because one of the biggest themes in s3 will be Aziraphale humanizing Heaven in all the little quaint ways he loves humanity. All in preparation for the endgame of Heaven and Hell not existing at all.

(Season 3 deep dive continues under the cut...)

Because angels and demons won’t be fought, but changed. Maybe not by much, but just enough to break the loyalty they have to a Great Plan no one understands. This is how both Neil’s American Gods and Terry’s Small Gods conclude, with the build-up to an incredible battle, and then for the human hero to step in and talk down the gods and armies into seeing sense and reason.

I don’t think Aziraphale himself will be that person. It might be a very human Jesus. Or (more likely) a random human being caught up in this craziness (maybe someone in Tadfield, per the working title of the second GO book: 668: The Neighbor of the Beast). But Aziraphale will be fundamental in changing the atmosphere of Heaven in the little ways Earth changed him.

🗝 Season 3 Themes: Morality and God

In the Job minisode, Aziraphale casually but boldly assumed that god didn’t want the goats and children to be killed. Because Aziraphale has a firm and dogged idea about what god should be. It’s his own personal morality, but he calls it god’s because he doesn’t want to imagine the symbol of ultimate goodness being anything other than what he Aziraphale himself feels to be true.

And I don’t think that’s a theme that Good Omens will deny for Aziraphale. Because it’s not really about how evil or good god is. It doesn’t matter what god thinks or is. god doesn’t answer questions, doesn’t deliver messages we can understand, doesn’t show up when needed. god is inscrutable, shifty, absent, “a Dealer who won’t tell you the rules, and who smiles all the time.”

What’s important is what humanity has done with god, what humanity has said about god, what they do in god’s name, what they interpret god to be. That’s the real danger.

And Aziraphale, in his profound goodness, will become the person he wants god to be. Because that’s the injunction we all have. To live up to the ideal we have made for ourselves: In many ways, that’s what god is.

Aziraphale is now in a privileged place that allows him to affect basically the entirety of Creation with that driving idealism. He will level the playing field in Heaven. I firmly believe Aziraphale will be the one to close the doors to the pearly gates and throw away the key.

So, like you asked Anon, will Aziraphale try to make Heaven better or stop the Second Coming? I think those are the same goal. Changing Heaven will fundamentally change how the Second Coming happens, because just like the End Times in Season 1, Heaven and Hell’s scheme will be turned on its head because the Chosen One refuses to follow the script.

The Second Coming will end, not with a bang, but a whimper, because everyone decides to turn in their guns and forget the whole thing.

⚔️ Heaven and Hell v. Humanity

But before that ending happens, I think there will be another threat the world has to face: the individuals who are so sure of their own righteousness that no amount of sense could stop them from destroying anyone who thinks differently. This is an important theme in both Neil and Terry’s works (see Vorbis, the Exquisitor in Small Gods, who tortured unbelievers for the Church), and I believe it will show up in the new season.

There's never been a true war that wasn't fought between two sets of people who were certain they were in the right. The really dangerous people believe they are doing whatever they are doing solely and only because it is without question the right thing to do. And that is what makes them dangerous. –Neil Gaiman, American Gods

Because it’s humanity who takes Faith and shapes it into Religion. We are the ones who created the Heaven we see in GO: cold, unfeeling, strict, judgmental. And I think Season 3 is going to address this fundamental belief of both Neil and Terry: that humans are just so damnably human (fundamentally innocent and stupid and wonderful) and yet there’s a few of us who will take things too far and think that Someone wants them to destroy everything in the Name of God. And in these changing contemporary political times (the passage of an old generation, still clinging to their old ways and growing more extreme by the minute *cough*Trump*cough*), the dangerous people become even more vocal and violent, like the frightening, monstrous creature in WB Yeats’ poem “The Second Coming,” a devastating scourge on the world born in the name of God:

Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand. […] A shape with lion body and the head of a man, A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, […] And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? –WB Yeats, "The Second Coming"

That’s who I think the Metatron will team up with in the end, someone like Vorbis. Because we’ve already seen how petty and small Heaven and Hell is, especially in Season 2. Only the Metatron really carries some heft and foreboding. I believe he’ll team up with some extremist faction of humanity who wants to see the End of Days and divide the world into Yours and Mine, with Heaven taking a portion and Hell taking a third and calling it a day. Not a War, but a divvying out of souls. With no consent or permission on the part of humanity.

That’s what I think the zombie reference is all about. Like Gabriel said in 2x03:

Yes, we’re going to get zombies. And it’s going to be insane and funny and horrifying (and I think we’ll get to know one or two historical figures who pop back up to earth). But the thematic and fundamental metaphor of zombies is how they have no free will. They’re not alive, they have no souls, they have no choices. That’s what Heaven and Hell want humanity to be: To do away with the dance of choice and free will and divide humanity once and for all between both sides. That’s how Heaven and Hell team up against the human race.

🐳 Leviathan (Job 41:19) as Humanity

And that’s how I believe the Leviathan fits in, who is the subject of the quote from Muriel’s matchbox:

The Leviathan is a magnificent creature, and this passage goes on and on about how fearsome this being is:

Who can penetrate its double coat of armor? Who dares open the doors of its mouth, ringed about with fearsome teeth?… Nothing on earth is its equal—a creature without fear. It looks down on all that are haughty; it is king over all that are proud –Job 41:13b, 33-34

And yet why does god want to explain how amazing the Leviathan is? To show how god has control of it. God says,

Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook… Can you make a pet of it like a bird or put it on a leash for the young women in your house?… Can you fill its hide with harpoons… No one is fierce enough to rouse it. Who then is able to stand against me? –Job 41:1, 5, 7, 10

The reasoning is that because god created this dangerous and terrifying being, then god must be even more dangerous and terrifying. And if god can so easily abuse and humiliate this beautiful monster, then god must be worshipped and respected. (Yes, it’s as messed-up as it sounds.)

I can’t help but think of this Leviathan as a metaphor for humanity. A beautiful, ferocious being whose ownership and control is the focus of god’s attention and qualification for worship? Of the Leviathan, Job says: “Will traders barter for it? Will they divide it up among the merchants?” (Job 41:6). That’s how humanity is going to be treated in Season 3.

Because both God and Satan want to control humanity. They want to put their thumb on human souls and claim them for each side. But humanity doesn’t have to be so easily fooled, because we are more powerful than we realize. Our hearts and imaginations can forge a path of purpose and goodness without the entrapment of organized religion and fundamentalism. We, like Leviathan, are ferocious and angry and fed up with being treated like this. We can and will fight back.

🌟 Becoming Gods

Ultimately, we will shuffle off the need for Heaven and Hell (symbolized by the shutting down of both at the end of Season 3). We will lose the need to unquestionably defer to a Being who plays dice with our lives. I’m reminded of the opening passage to Terry’s Small Gods:

The lowly tortoise will learn to be the eagle; humanity will learn to be like god. Because we are as powerful as god, since we created god. Adam Young pointed out that having a god figure to solve all our problems doesn’t make humanity any more responsible for the evil things we’ve done. We need to learn that we are all we’ve got, and we have to answer for the shit we’ve done to each other and to the world.

I like how Russell T Davies put it in his show The Second Coming, where Jesus comes down again in the body of ordinary human Steven Baxter and tells humanity:

You are becoming gods. There's a new master of creation, and it's you! Unraveled DNA, and at the same time you're cultivating bacteria strong enough to kill every living thing! Do you think you are ready for that much power? You lot? You lot? Cheeky bastards. You're running around science like kids with guns, creating a new world, while the world you've got is stinking…. If you want the position of god then take the responsibility. –Russell T Davies, The Second Coming

I legitimately think that’s how Jesus in Good Omens 3 will come down. In the body of a regular 30-something off-the-streets guy, who thinks the pomp and circumstance made about him is insane. And Aziraphale will be his minder, trying to tell him how the whole scheme is supposed to play out and giving him wise asides on how warped Heaven’s standards are and trying to tell him how to go about changing things for the better. (Jesus will be terribly confused, meanwhile; he just wants to go out for a pint and get on with his human life, none of this god business.)

🐍 Crowley’s Growth

There will be some big things at play in Season 3. I think Aziraphale will change how Heaven operates and close Heaven for good. I think Aziraphale will initially try to get Jesus on board with Azi’s own private mission of Goodness. I actually think Crowley will end up becoming Aziraphale’s “back channels” to Earth, and they’d exchange trite, bantering messages about the state of affairs from secret rendezvous points in America. (There was a whole thing about Jesus getting lost in Times Square, according to Neil Gaiman.)

I think Crowley will learn how to trust Aziraphale and learn that doing the right thing means being brave and selfless. He’ll realize that humanity is worth saving, even if it means dying. In fact, his depression at the start of Season 2 will probably only get worse after the loss of Aziraphale, and his altruism might get colored by the taint of suicidal recklessness, because he might as well go out for what he believes in, if what he wanted most in the world chose being selfless over being with him. (If Crowley’s character takes a suicidal turn like the Tenth Doctor after losing Rose, I’m gonna scream.)

This is how Aziraphale helps Crowley be brave in the finale of the Good Omens book. That’s what I think will happen in Good Omens 3:

Aziraphale here displays a gentleness and kindness that comes from a place of grounded knowledge and responsibility. He knows how much he and Crowley have in their own ways fucked up humanity too, and he knows that no matter what their own personal feelings, they each need to do something to defend the human species they've come to love so much.

Crowley is scared of risking everything to help save humanity, but with Aziraphale's encouragement and wisdom, he realizes that doing the right thing is the only option he can choose, no matter the risk to his own happiness and safety.

So I believe Crowley will learn to understand why Aziraphale chose to return to Heaven and fight in the trenches. Crowley will see it as a choice made to save, not just each other, but the world they love so much.

Ultimately, I think Crowley on earth will take on Aziraphale’s strongest qualities: being selfless and bold to protect humanity at costs, and connecting to humanity on a personal, individual level.

While Aziraphale in Heaven will become like Crowley: asking questions, sabotaging the System, and condemning Heaven with all the uncomfortable truths they need to hear.

[theinfinitedivides]

and if i said i was about to do the dumbest thing i've done in a while and make a canon Eliot Spencer tracker map of all the places he's said he's been when i still haven't made it past s2. if i said that would you think that's a good idea

[shallowrambles]

So I've been thinking. It's funny how enjoying meta is somewhat embedded with trust.

Like, if you're "friends" and have followed a person for a long time, you have more a sense of their values, and it's easier to read their difficult meta because you trust more that they're being charitable/nuanced.

If you don't know them, it's harder to trust that they're not funneling difficult topics into rationalization of liking/supporting gross shit.

[merrysithmas]

#1 one reason i loved the elvis movie so much was the painful, pathos-filled, agonizing allegory it was for the genuine beauty of the personified American Spirit (elvis) vs the vicious system of Capitalism (the colonel) & the utterly inevitable destruction therein.

the commentary on Americana as an ever-changing traveling carnival of products/wares/talents exploited at the highest level by profit, which decays all that was beautiful about them in the process... yet makes their success in such a structure boil down to a symbiotic relationship to this parasitic system itself. (clenches fist)

but there is no way out, hotel california, heartbreak hotel, once you check in you can never leave.

and how all of us in america are essentially born into this exploitive materialistic system, somehow trying to breathe, and always failing. always losing something (or someone or ourselves) in the pursuit of something else. no "having it all", because then youd be free.

the premise of the country: it's a false choice, a false sense of freedom. trade one thing for something else. debt, payment, cost, profit.

in his most memorable scene with the colonel elvis rightfully explodes at the exploitation he's suffered - to which the colonel replies in his cool delighted way, as if watching an animal pace in a cage, knowing he can never bite, that they have lived off each other - America and Capitalism... and neither can live any longer without one another.

a dark marriage that results ultimately, in the film's context, in either the death of the Salesman or the Person who has become the Product.

longing to fly away but we cant, the dorian gray effect that is Success in America esp when you arent schooled in how to fight against it.

(screams into the void) americana golden cage allegories

[kerryweaverlesbian]

This is old news for fans of the CWs the flash and presumably the rest of the extended arrowverse but this fucking crisis on earth x crossover across 4 shows having the WEDDING of TWO MAIN CHARACTERS that has had a season and a half of build up and a PROPOSAL of two DIFFERENT main characters from a DIFFERENT show all in SUPERGIRL. OF ALL PLACES. Which none of those 4 characters are from. Is INFURIATING!!!!!!

I bought the fucking DVD. I bought the goddamn DVD of season 4 of The Flash so I could watch all of the events of season 4 of The Flash and the important things that happened to the people in season 4 of The Flash such as. Say. Getting fucking married. So I watch season 4 episode 6 of The Flash and they say "next episode we are going to get married :)". And then I click on episode 7 and it is called Crisis on Earth X part 3 and I go that's weird. Well maybe this is just where The Flash joins the crossover. During their wedding. Because it would be crazy for them not to put the wedding of two main characters including THE titular Flash on the DVD. And Barry's cheerful little voice goes "previously on Crisis of Earth X" and it shows me a clip of their wedding.

So I go. Fuck you, for one. And for two okay I guess I will find???? Supergirl?? (ew) and watch them get married :3. And find that Supergirl is only streaming on fucking. NowTV. because nobody wants to watch Supergirl. To which I obviously don't have a subscription. So I am reduced to looking up "Barry and Iris wedding" on YouTube dot com of which there are only two scenes. Neither of which feature Cisco for more than a brief cut to him as best man. So what's even the point.

Anyway now I'm watching the DVD part 3 and I am once again asking where is Cisco. Why am I seeing conflicts between Supergirl's sister and (?) A guy from Legends? Or maybe he's a new guy from Earth X? And then cutting from them to an old guy and the guy who had to ask what a pink triangle represented on a human person in a concentration camp (jesus christ?????? Why are they tackling this?????????). And THEN to MORE people from different shows. I haven't seen someone from the Flash for 5 scenes in a row let alone had them be a main character in the scene. Where are MY friends from THE FLASH. The Flash, the show I bought the DVD for!!!! SO I COULD WATCH THE FLASH!!!

Like surely. The appeal of crossovers are to show "here is how the people you already like hang out with people from other shows you either already like, or could like, if you give it a chance". This isn't letting me get to see any of that.

It is nice to see Snart again though. And oh he's a man loving man?? that's nice. Why did they make this like this. Why didn't they put all the episodes on my DVD 😭

[daincrediblegg]

Aight. We’re like 5 eps down. Last 3 tomorrow. Mike is delivering a strange time but honestly? I’m having fun

[lingeringscars]

it’s the way layla shines SO BRIGHT. around jordan for me. it’s the support. ( you’re starting to sound like a supportive girlfriend ). it’s the way she literally cannot help herself from smiling when he’s around because he makes her happy. it’s the way they seek each other out and talk about things with each other it’s--- 

[beeapocalypse]

do like the idea of fructis dragons being a bit akin to barbados blackbelly sheep in that they originated from a tropical island (ve-corpsis) that prioritized hair rather than wool but CAN grow a fine wooly undercoat for winter / colder conditions. one of the few accidental concessions thule made in their creation lol

[funkopersonal]

Here's your daily reminder that...

Jews are only 0.2% of the worlds population but...

Jews make up 14% of the World Total and 38% of the United States of America total winners for the Nobel Prize for Literature (source).

Of the 965 individual recipients of the Nobel Prize and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences between 1901 and 2023, at least 214 have been Jews or people with at least one Jewish parent, representing 22% of all recipients. (source)

Jews make up 14% of the total winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 18% of the total winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; 53% of the total winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction (source).

Jews make up 39% of the total winners of the Antoinette Perry (Tony) Award for Best Play; 54% of the total winners of the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical (with 62% of all Composers and 66% of all Lyricists of Best Musical-winning productions being Jewish) (source).

Jews make up 40% of the total winners of the Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Original Screenplay; and 34% of the total winners of the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (source).

Although Jews constitute only 3% of the U.S. population...

80% of the nation’s professional comedians are Jewish (source).

90% of American comic book creators are jewish (source)

38% of the recipients of the United States National Medal of Science are Jewish (Source).

Jews are very successful, with educational levels higher than all other U.S. ethnic groups with the exception of Asian Americans, and income levels the highest of all groups. Six out of ten Jewish adults have college degrees, and 41% of Jewish families report a household income of $75,000 or more” (source)

Jews are a minority across the globe. We've been historically opressed and hated. But these key figures from history are all Jewish and loved, yet many don't even know they're jewish (or they don't know these people in the first place!):

Stan Lee (birth name: Stanley Martin Lieber) - An American comic book writer and editor, Former executive vice president and publisher of marvel Comics, creator of iron-man, spider-man, and more.

Albert Einstein - a Theoretical physicist, Received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics, developed the theory of relativity and the "worlds most famous equation"  (E = mc^2), and more.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg - Former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, co-authored the initial law school casebook on sex discrimination, co-founded the Women’s Rights Project at the ACLU in 1972, and more.

Jack Kirby (birth name: Jacob Kurtzberg) - an American comic book artist, co-creator of Captain America, one of the most influential comic book artists

Harry Houdini (birth name: Erich Weisz) - a Hungarian-American escape artist, illusionist, and stunt performer, noted for his escape acts.

Emma Lazarus - An American author remembered for her sonnet "The New Colossus," Inspired by The Statue of Liberty and inscribed on its pedestal as of 1903.

Julius Rosenthal, Lillian Wald, Rabbi Emil G. Hirsch, Stephen Wise, and Henry Moskowitz - Jewish activists that helped form the NAACP along with W.E.B. Dubois, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and Mary Church Terrell.

Mark Zuckerberg - Founder and CEO of Meta, a businessman who co-founded the social media service Facebook, and within four years became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire Harvard alumni.

Joseph Pulitzer - a politician and newspaper publisher, his endowment to the Columbia University established the Pulitzer Prizes in 1917, he founded the Columbia School of Journalism which opened in 1912.

Jacob William Davis - a Latvian tailor who is credited with inventing modern jeans and who worked with Levi Strauss to patent and mass-produce them, died.

Irving Berlin - drafted at age 30 to write morale-boosting songs for military revues (including “God Bless America”). Many Berlin songs remained popular for decades, including “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” “Cheek to Cheek,” “Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better),” “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” and two celebrating Christian holidays: “White Christmas” and “Easter Parade.”

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel - received his doctorate in Berlin. He was arrested by the Nazis in 1938, moved to the U.S. in 1940, and became an influential figure in the 1960s, marching with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, Alabama, and speaking out against the Vietnam War.

Elie Wiesel - Romanian-American writer and professor, holocaust survivor, nobel laureate, political activist. Authored 57 books including Night, a work based on his experiences as a Jewish prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps

Bob Dylan - an icon of folk, rock and protest music, won the Nobel Prize in literature for his complex and poetic lyrics.

J. Robert Oppenheimer - ran the Manhattan Project, considered the "father of the atomic Bomb," presented with the Enrico Fermi Award by President Lyndon Johnson.

Betty Friedan - co-founded the National Organization of Women and became its first president, wrote The Feminine Mystique (1963) and helped spark the second wave of feminism.

Gloria Steinem - one of the most prominent feminists of all time, launched Ms. Magazine and co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus with Bella Abzug, Shirley Chisholm, Betty Friedan and Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of Medgar Evers.

Sergey Brin - an American businessman best known for co-founding Google with Larry Page, president of Alphabet Inc.

Judith Heumann - a founder of the disability rights movement, led a 26-day sit-in at a federal building in San Francisco. The protest spurred implementation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, a precursor to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Larry Kramer - co-founded Gay Men’s Health Crisis in response to the AIDS epidemic but was soon ousted over his confrontational activism. He went on to help launch a more strident group, ACT UP, and wrote a critically acclaimed play, The Normal Heart, about the early AIDS years in New York City.

Steven Spielberg - released his critically acclaimed epic film Schindler’s List, based on the true story of a German industrialist who saved Jews during the Holocaust. The movie won seven Oscars and led Spielberg to launch the Shoah Foundation at the University of Southern California, which filmed interviews with 52,000 survivors of the Holocaust and genocides in Nanjing and Rwanda.

Calvin Klein - made designer jeans and the infamous ad starring Brooke Shields revolutionized the fashion industry, sold his company to Phillips-Van Heusen (now PVH) for $430 million. Klein was the first designer to win three consecutive Coty Awards for womenswear.

Daveed Diggs - an American actor, rapper, and singer-songwriter. he originated the dual roles of Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in the musical Hamilton, for which he won a 2016 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical. Along with the main cast of Hamilton, he was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album in the same year.

And so much more. (a pretty decent list is available here)

Not only that, but the following are all Jewish inventions...

The Teddy Bear - made by Morris and Rose Michtom in honor of Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt.

The Ballpoint Pen - *the first commercially sucessfull ballpoint pen was made by Lazlo Biro, a Hungarian-Jew, and his brother.

Mobile Phones - made by Martin Cooper, nicknamed the "father of the cellphone", and was born in Chicago to Ukrainian Jewish immigrants.

The Barbie - made by Ruth Marianna Handler, born to Polish-Jewish immigrants.

Power Rangers - made by Haim Saban, a Jewish-Egyptian

Video Games - made by Ralph Baer, a German-Jew

Peeps - made by Sam Born, a Russian-Jewish immigrants who came to the United States in 1909.

Cards Against Humanity - created by a group of Jewish boys from the same high school

Many Superheroes including Superman, Ironman, spider-man, batman, and more!

and more! (an illustrated list available here.)

Conclusion: If you're Jewish, be proud. You come from a long line of successful people. No matter what happened to them, Jews persevered, and they strived for sucess. Be proud of your culture, your history, these are your people. You're Jewish.

(feel free to reblog and add more, or just comment and i'll add it!)

Last Updated: June 25, 1:35 AM EST

[ruestheday]

i haven’t been sober since 10am for 4/20 here’s some weed fueled batfam hcs

• tim smokes weed. i think he deserves it. as a treat

• dick bit people (in and out of custom) until he was like 13

• damian also bites people no one knows when he’ll stop

• tim was devastated when dick ran off to blüdhaven bc how was he supposed to stalk him now????

• the only thing stopping steph from completely dying her hair purple is she’d have to hide her hair when she’s spoiler but she looks cunty asf running around w her hair loose

• duke is one of the 7% of americans who thought chocolate milk comes from brown cows. he didn’t really think about it critically enough

• jason relates too much to olivia rodrigo songs it’s kinda embarrassing for him. deja vu comes on and he has an out of body experience

• barbara has seen every episode of south park and can tell you the episode based on a single clip

• cass really fucking likes spongebob to the horror of bruce who really fucking hates spongebob

• bruce uses gen z slang horribly wrong but no one will tell him

• alfred has met god

• dick and jason get their own robin photos confused

• damian couldn’t spell eloquently on one of his fifth grade spelling tests and refuses to ever say the word again

• dick is a stanley girl he has 4 different colors (heather blue, mist green, the target valentine’s day one he almost lost his life over, and lilac purple)

• barbara knows if princess diana’s death was an accident or not and she’s not telling the rest of us

• tim beat candy crush and emailed them begging for more levels and they told him no

• jason will only drink cold water

• cass learned what the word cunty meant and hasn’t stopped using it since but she says it in the most serious tone everytime

• steph is always thinking about the roman empire

• duke forgets he has super powers all the time. someone calls him a meta and he’s like “who???? me?????”

• jason makes fun of dick for being a stanley girl but secretly has a red one to keep his water cold in bc like i said he only drinks cold water

[hellsite-hungergames]

THE FIRST WAVE OF TRIBUTES

All tributes (With the exception of hellsite-hall-of-fame, God, Jesus, Tarlton, and Wallace) were chosen randomly, as were the pairs (Again, with the exception of 1, 18, and 32)

Information about the polls will be out a little bit before the polls themselves

Polls will open February 14th in the afternoon/evening (EST)

Second Wave will be announced sometime around 6pm EST

Tribute List under cut

@hellsite-hungergames vs. @hellsite-hall-of-fame

Vace (I Was a Teenage Exocolonist) vs. Herobrine (Minecraft)

Regulus Black (Harry Potter) vs. Edward Cullen (Twilight)

Merlin (Merlin) vs. Florida Man (American Mythology)

Gary the Gadget Guy (Club Penguin) vs. Sunny (Omori)

Benoit Blanc (Knives Out) vs. Ridley (Metroid)

Animal (Muppets) vs. Miku Binder Thomas Jefferson (Hamilton)

Clint (Stardew Valley) vs. Data (Star Trek)

Skunk Ape (Florida) vs. Daniel the Manager (Anon's manager)

Waluigi (Mario) vs. Timmy Turner (The Fairly OddParents)

Meta Knight (Kirby) vs. Castiel (Supernatural)

Death (Puss in Boots: The Last Wish) vs. Prince Caspian (The Chronicles of Narnia)

Katsuya Suou (Persona 2: Eternal Punishment) vs. King Arthur (Monty Python's The Holy Grail)

Squidward's Hopes and Dreams (Spongebob Squarepants) vs. Spiders Georg (Tumblr)

Anya Forger (Spy x Family) vs. Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games)

Hannibal Lecter (Hannibal) vs. Campbell Bain (Takin' Over the Asylum)

Jasper (Steven Universe) vs. Star Butterfly (Star vs. The Forces of Evil)

Tarlton (A completely real fandom) vs. Wallace (Wallace the Living Wall)

Mikhailo "Mickey" Aleksandr Milkovich (Shameless) vs. Dimitri Blaiddyd (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)

Duck (Don't Hug Me I'm Scared) vs. Everyone from Cats the Musical (Cats the Musical)

Jay Walker (Ninjago) vs. Miles Vorkosigan (Vorkosigan Saga)

Illyria (Angel: The Series) vs. Evan "Buck" Buckley (9-1-1)

Haymitch Abernathy (The Hunger Games) vs. Richard Gansey III (The Raven Cycle)

Ronald McDonald (McDonald's) vs. Amelia Bedelia (Amelia Bedelia)

Matt (Wii Sports) vs. Oswald Cobblepot (Gotham)

Edward Nygma (Gotham) vs. Tumblr Anon Icon (Tumblr)

Gillion Tidestrider (Just Roll With It) vs. Jedediah (Night at the Museum)

Reigen Arataka (Mob Psycho 100) vs. Willow Rosenberg (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Alex Fierro (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard) vs. Puss in Boots (Puss in Boots/Shrek)

Jessie Prescott (Jessie) vs. George Costanza (Seinfeld)

Leon Scott Kennedy (The Resident Evil Franchise) vs. Han Solo (Star Wars)

God (Universe fandom/Deadbeat dads fandom) vs. Jesus (Christianity fandom)

[drconstellation]

Goats, Crows and The Flood

Or why Crowley turns the goats into crows in the Job minisode

If you're reading that and thinking "eh, what's the Flood got to do with it?" then read on. It wasn't done just so Crowley got to change his name. It's never as simple as that. C'mon now, this is the GOmens AU, I'm not going to write a meta about something like this and not give you at least three if not four layers as to why, now, am I? Certainly not, and this one won't be any different.

Recently I picked up a book that has been sitting for far too long on a pile near my kitchen that needs sorting through called Parallel Myths* and in it is a section on Flood myths. (It's got lots of other good bits as well, but the Flood myths are what I want to talk about here.) The Flood is a wide-spread myth, with stories all around the world from India, to the Greek myths, to the Incas and Aztecs and in North America as well.

There are four stories that include crows as messengers who are sent to look out for land. The first is our familiar bible story. Oh, did you miss that bit? Yeah, I know, you keep getting told about the dove that represents the holy spirit that came back with the olive branch. Why would they want to tell you about a dirty old crow? And why is that crow dirty anyway? Ah, hold that thought...we'll come back to that shortly.

Another very famous story that include a crow being sent out to look for land after a great Flood is in the epic story of Gilgamesh. While on a journey Gilgamesh meets an old man named Utnaptishtim who tells the hero how he survived a great flood by building a boat after being warned by the gods to do so, and then floating for several days before coming to rest on a mountain top. At first he sent out a dove, but the dove returned. Then he sent out a swallow, but the swallow returned also, so he knew there was no land yet. But the third bird he sent out was a crow, and it didn't come back, so Utnaptishtim knew it was finally safe to leave.

There are also crows mentioned in two North American Flood myths, with the Cree and the Algonquin, and in both stories they are also sent to look out for land.

So why am I telling you this? Because of this:

Which is, as we know, is a bit of a play on words, but it establishes the association between the ungulate offspring and the human offspring when we run into the next occurrence of the innocent being killed on the Almighty's fickle whim in the Job minisode in S2. And we know our favourite demon is just not going to take that lying down that without some kind of protest.

So after delivering his open monologue to the goats, which gives an insight into himself, then being confronted by Aziraphale, and revealing he has a permit, from the Almighty Herself, no less, he turns Job's goats into crows.

(And if you've missed the bit about why the goats, and not the sheep, which the archangels kept going on about, its because sheep were seen as more "Christian" as the rams were considered faithful to their ewes, as good followers should be, but goats were observed to just do it with any-nanny, with no sense of commitment, if you get what I mean, so they were considered more "demonic" in nature.)

The bible seems to have a bit of a love-hate relationship with birds. On hand they can be used for food or sacrifices, on the other hand they are metaphorical demons! There is an association made between "birds of the air" and demons, waiting to pick off the weak (of thought) and young before they can be enfolded into the "safety" of the church.

Even the noble eagle is frowned upon in a way, as it eats carrion, or rotting meat. And that is something ravens and crows are known to do as well. This eating of dead animals, and humans on the field on the ancient battlefield, led crows to be associated with death and the afterlife, and by extension, transformation from one form to another.

(I can't help thinking at this point about the Sandman's assistant crow helper that travels between worlds, but also I've written a couple of metas about both Crowley and the Bentley being facilitators for the crossing of thresholds between different worlds.)

If you've ever had a close association with a crow or two- and I have, over several years, they can be wily opponents! - you come to respect their intelligence and adaptability, no matter how they might be frustrating you! **

The raven is also mentioned in the Book of Job 38:41

Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.

We didn't hear this line delivered to Job during the minisode, though we certainly heard some of the other lines from verses 38 and 39 that come before and after it. God is in the middle of telling Job about the universe, the earth and the creatures upon it, and how She looks after them. The line Jimbriel speaks about the morning stars all singing together is Job 38:7, for example. Just before mentioning this loathsome bird, She mentions that most noble of animals, the lion. But look, She also cares about ugly croaking raven fledglings that seem to get kicked out of the nest as soon as they can fly. How do they fend for themselves? It is seen as the mercy of God that she provides for each of the creatures of the Earth, both the lion and the raven. (Well, there's some interesting metaphorical links riiiight there...I hope I don't need to spell them out....)

So where are we? We've gone from a crow being a messenger for Noah, to kids/goats from the Flood scene in S1E3, to demon-associated goats being transformed into demon-associated crows in the Job minisode in S2E2, just before Job's human kids are saved from destruction by being transformed into geckos - which is also a significant symbolic creature for resurrection (which I explain in another meta.)

You know, I wouldn't be at all surprised if we loop back for a longer look at the Flood in S3. Kids, crows, a transformative experience...

Va-va-voom, here we come!

*Parallel Myths by J. F. Beirlein (1994) A Fascinating look at the common threads woven through the world's greatest myths - and the central role they have played through time. ISBN 0-345-38146-7

**I know there are corvids all around the world, and they can be shy, important birds in the ecosystem but here in Australia they can also be big bullies who know they are bigger than the other birds and throw their weight around accordingly and then do gross stuff like dirty up the backyard bird bath by finding discarded sandwiches and dog bones or even Lego blocks and drop them in to "soften" them for later consumption and just leave a filthy mess there for everybird else. yyyiikkk.

[humansbgone]

I got an ask on YouTube that asks some questions I've never gotten a chance to answer before, so I thought I'd repost it here!

m m on YouTube says:

Shared forms of communication would be absolutely possible, if there is an intention to communicate.

Forms of meaning can be conveyed by shared media, such as sculpture, rhythm, and yes, even scent. If we were hypothetically able to make mechanical items which don't break down too quickly.

It would be difficult as all heck, but CERTAINLY not impossible.

Humans could form structures that resemble Sophi.

How do the macrovolutes do math, btw?

What is their scent "language" like? Do they have different "languages" or would one macrovolutes be entirely able to say absolutely anything to any other macrovolute and be completely understood? Basically, how much of their communication is constructed and voluntary vs innate and involuntary?

Their communication method MUST have simple forms which appear as set patterns, such as the translation of the statement "A is not B" or "A is B". Would these single meaning packets have individual scents/patterns OF scents which are distinct and repeating, even if contextual, such as for our verb tenses, etc, or would they be the same, such as for nouns, which have a basic pattern but usually with a simple modifier which is applied across all, or similar types of, nouns, such as the s for English, or other notations for other languages, even if they are applied differently across different noun types, those types are set in patterns and categories.

I'd be extremely interested in a meta study of the macrovolutes communication and ability to encode meaning.

ANY encoding, ANY encryption, no matter how it takes place, whether linearly or not, can be "translated"

My reponse:

Can you understand the way a raven describes a human face (which we know they do)? Can you understand what plants whisper to each other across their roots? The more structured we learn whale communication is, the more frustrating it becomes that we barely understand any of it.

Add this to the fact the humans are, just now, finally in a place again to have anything resembling an industrial revolution. As their technology advances, they have gone from thinking of the macrovolutes as gods, to viewing them as entirely mindless. To say the least, communicating with them is not where the priorities of most lie.

On top of that, without smell and movement, most macrovolutes would not regard a sculpture as anything meaningful. Would you understand if ants laid out a perfect scent trail of your likeness?

And Sophodra herself has some issues with denial, and difficulty remembering.

But, as Gregorsa said…there is a way. More than that would be spoilers, though!

Macrovolute math is something that would be very difficult for a human. Instead of thinking one small step at a time in precise units, they tend to think in vast, fuzzy, three-dimensional figures. The closest I can describe it would be like doing operations in Dyalog APL on a GPU, scaling up the resolution as you go. On top of that, there are inherit unit qualifiers and slots to how they specify numbers. There is no "two." There is "non-moving few-member half-unit generic substance absent an individual," translated approximately. They also go out of their way to avoid using exact numbers wherever possible. Vectors and frequency indicators (similar but not equivalent to sine waves) are very commonly used in casual conversation. And on top of that, they use base six!

Macrovolutes have both a core language and a meta language. The core language covers basic things, and is innate and understood by all (with some differences between insects and arachnids, so arachnids typically learn the insect way). The meta language is learned and varies, covering things like slang, jargon, and more specific experiences.

Macrovolute grammar structure is most similar to highly agglutinative Native American languages, such as Kwak'wala. There is a root word, and additional stems keep getting added to it. Instead of just prefixes, infixes, and postfixes, however, there are scents being wafted toward you in three dimensions. (Also worth noting that our linguistic categories are largely Western ways of thinking, and macrovolutes do not categorize their "sentence" partitions the same way at all!)

You could also think of it like Common Lisp, with its layers of functions feeding into functions!

Macrovolute language is simultaneously frustratingly ambiguous, and bizarrely precise. As mentioned, many things are thought of in particular complicated units, with some parts explicitly or implicitly left empty. Imagine a unit that defines speed, "weight" (by Unknown Nature standards, which is all the more complex), temperature, volume…but half is missing, and the other half is filled out with things like "several" or "more than a reasonable amount."

On top of that, Formicosan culture loves to leave things vague as a deliberate power move. There will be loquacious description of a thought that isn't finished. "Oh, A is a sort of thing…it gets around, has been known to be in this sort of location…possesses a certain quality, it's not unknown…possibly it is negatively related to a thing you mentioned…." And if you don't remember that B was mentioned, then you just missed that this statement means "A is not B."

[sparkyblizz]

so I've recently been rotating an idea in my head for the funnies where Kirby, Bandana, Meta and Dedede all get magically transported to Earth (while there's still humans present) and are also magically able to transform into human forms, which they do so for the purposes of trying to fit in while they figure out how to get home

all this to say, I randomly pictured a human version of King Dedede wearing a Hawaiian shirt and I just thought that visual was so funny and great

more about this idea under the cut:

Somehow Dedede and Meta have knowledge about what humans are like and this informs how they attempt to fit in

re: above point: they believe that if anyone asks, they have to say they're the parents and Bandana and Kirby are their kids

their human forms originally sport clothes best made to approximate their regular appearances (and while the kids may look vaguely ordinary, the outfits of the adults are not) and so on their first day in [insert well-known American city here] they look extremely out of place

the gang goes into a department store to buy normal clothes and hijinks ensue: Dedede is annoyed by struggling to find clothes in his size, Kirby wants a pink dress and no one objects, etc.

Dedede tries to cook food and messes up so badly he sets the kitchen on fire, and as they're outside watching the fire department deal with it, Dedede sits dejectedly on the ground while Meta massages his shoulders, citing the fact that humans are receptive to physical touch and it could make him feel better since they're in human form (and it does make him feel better) (I had to include at least one metadede moment in there)

the gang has a beach day and marvel at how swimming is starkly different when you've got long limbs and need to breathe air (these guys can just be underwater for so long in games oh my god)

I think that's it for my silly ideas rn I'm so sorry Kirby fandom no one should have ever let me play these games now you're plagued with my random thoughts and ideas

[lingeringscars]

Of COURSE layla felt connected to Bella swan. Of course.