#and how careful we need to be when calling out these atrocities and our government's complicity in them

[biblicalhorror]

The most frustrating part of engaging in any of this discourse with pro-Israel people is that they claim there's just something ineffable about "seeing and understanding" how supporting Palestinian liberation is directly calling for the eradication of Jewish people (as if that type of rhetoric isn't exactly how actual antisemitism often manifests in online spaces but that's a topic for another day)

They get through people debunking the "the land belongs to the people of Israel anyway" argument and the "LGBTQ Palestinians are safe in Israel" argument and the "Genocide isn't what's happening here so you should educate yourself" argument and when all of those points are meticulously disproven over and over they still stand with "Well, myself and your Jewish friends see the hate you have in your heart for us" and it truly doesn't matter what you say at that point because even if you yourself are Jewish they will claim that refusing to support the state, government and military of Israel is inherently hateful and bigoted, as if a religious ethnostate is some inherent human right that is being taken away from them. I know many of them are blinded by the relentless propaganda that's been around their whole lives and how hard it is to break free from a belief system that is so tied to your core identity as a human being but it is so frustrating watching people being led straight to the point over and over again and just turning around and refusing to see it.

It's also so frustrating to see people using the momentum of this movement to casually tack on actual antisemitism to these discussions, as if having Jewish people in positions of power is why the US bends over backwards to excuse the actions of Israel and not, yknow, the fact that our government directly benefits from having a military stronghold in the middle east. I've talked to some well-meaning pro-Palestine friends irl who casually use antisemetic talking points because they've ALSO bought into the narrative that Israeli = Jewish and so they blame the actions of Israel and the IDF on Jewish people's "religious values" and ignore the fact that this conflict really has almost nothing to do with religion itself and everything to do with capitalism, imperialism and maintaining the US's status as a so-called "global power".

[aliz5karga]

Words about Gaza and Palestine

I'm not Palestinian. I have no family there. Yet, I mourn those who died, and I cry with those who lost their loved ones. I've been living those past days on autopilot mode. I'm stuck on my phone, looking to be updated on the situation. I am and will not be impacted by this. But my body, my heart is acting as if – because I realize how awful the situation is. It's called being human. It's called having compassion.

We live in a society that forces us to be selfish. To lack compassion, to be completely desensitized to atrocities happening around the world. To go on with our lives. We're a few realizing that the death toll isn't just a bunch of numbers, but a list of people, who had dreams and hopes, friends and a family.

We're a few realizing the importance of life, and how absolutely devilish politicians are. Every single government in this world has and will only care about power and money. It seems obvious, an equivalent to saying the sky's blue, but nobody really grasps how awful governments, worldwide, are...

The West is funding genocide. Joe Biden is supporting "Israel" in their genocide. The U.S. is sending troops and billions in aid to the Israeli regime – they're literally helping "Israel" to exterminate Gazans and colonize Gaza. At least 2000 Palestinian children have been killed and in total, at least 4000 Palestinians have been murdered by the illegitimate State of "Israel".

We live in a world where it isn't outraging and worth burning everything down to see babies being traumatized by war. Newborns coming into this world and whose first sound is either explosions, pain, fear and/or grief. Parents being forced to bury their kids. Children bidding a farewell to their siblings. Entire families being wiped out of the civil registry. Thousands of people have been murdered, and thousands of others are on death row, held hostages by the genocidal regime of "Israel". Because "Israel" decided to cut off access to electricity, water and fuel, hospitals in Gaza are even more struggling to help the injured. The world cries about 40 fake babies, but has nothing to say about 130 real newborns who will be sentenced to death by "Israel" if the blockade doesn't end immediately.

“130 babies at mortal risk in Gaza's hospitals as Israel continues to bar entry of fuel : Israel's 'insistence' to block fuel deliveries needed for hospital generators may cost lives of 130 premature babies, says Gaza Health Ministry” (Anadolu Ajansı)

Worse, they're funding it! They're aiding Israel to murder all these people.

It sends shivers to my spine, it makes my heart sink and it boils my blood when I see those videos of bombs further destroying Gaza ; every single time they touch the ground and detonate, they tear the lives out of many people at once, who thought they'd be safe. I wished those deaths were false, that "Pallywood", as so many disgusting, vile “Israeli” assholes think is real, truly existed. That all these people, all these children, were still among us…

Damn it. I don't know what to think or say. I just want to burn everything down. From what I've seen, many people (thankfully) feel the same.

We need to organize ourselves. We need to accept the (ugly) truth : the government doesn't give a damn about any of us. For the State, money is more important than anything, it's worth killing for. We need to accept it and start organizing ourselves and truly fight for justice. Making them know we don't agree doesn't change anything, voting doesn't change anything – we need to stop playing by their rules because it's useless : we're only fighting for a better illusion of a just society.

We can't live with illusions anymore. Be bad, be angry. Organize and fight for the insurrection. 🔥🏴

If Palestinian children can't dream, then we'll prohibit world leaders from sleeping.

RIOT, STRIKE AND BOYCOTT NOW!

Palestine will be Free, from the River to the Sea! We'll fight until the fall of the apartheid regime. 🍉

Here's what you can do to help the Palestinian cause :

Boycott! Preferably, boycotting all companies that funds the Israeli apartheid is good, but you must absolutely boycott...

Puma

AXA

HP

Siemens

Carrefour

SodaStream

Ahava

Isr*eli produce

Donate to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund (PCRF) if you can. Uplift Palestinian voices and share everywhere, on every single platform you have, what's going on in Palestine, from Gaza to the West Bank. Settlers are committing an ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, and the IOF has shot dead numerous Palestinians in the West Bank. "Israel" has bombed a mosque in the West Bank too.

This isn't a "war", even less a war against terrorism. It's a genocide. We must fight.

[icypolargirl78]

i'm so fucking tired man. i don't normally post on tumblr beyond reblogging and making art occasionally but i cannot think of anywhere else to put these thoughts so whatever

i'm not entirely sure if anyone will read this post and that's okay, i don't have many followers and there are better posts to follow when it comes to supporting palestine and her people. don't give up hope, keep reblogging, keep talking about palestine okay. even if you think it doesn't matter it does. talking about what's happening beats back every bit of propaganda that gets spread about palestine. every bit counts

FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA PALESTINE WILL BE FREE

here is a list of resources that you can donate to if you can. and if you can't, please reblog anyways. boost them.

i'm sick and tired of the constant news from palestine. not because i want to remain blissfully ignorant about what's happening there but because with each passing hour i get more and more angry and discouraged regarding what's happening there. i cannot in my mind truly comprehend the level of inhumanity that is required to forcefully remove people from their homes, to deprive them of basic necessities like water, food, and medical care, and then carpet bomb the land that so many families have lived on for literal decades. it's horrific and a disgusting level of evil.

beyond that i have to live with the knowledge that my government is actively funding these atrocities. i don't even want to call it my government because there is no way in my mind that any human could possibly see the deaths caused by israel and want to help them continue in their path of genocide.

these past few months have solidly confirmed in my mind that capitalism is single-handedly one of the worst things to have ever happened to our society because capitalism the thing that's behind my government supporting these atrocities. plain and simple it makes companies more money to help kill literal children who have done nothing wrong than to send aid to those children and to call for a ceasefire. it's sickening that my government is choosing to support this senseless violence simply because it means they can sell more guns and bombs and tanks.

i think about how the world will speak on these events in 20, 30, 50 years from now. i wonder how the history books will recount the brave gazans who survived what happened. i wonder if my country will continue to pump out propaganda regarding their involvement in this disaster. i wonder if the textbooks and worksheets students will read and write on will echo the way that my textbooks talked about native americans or african slaves. i wonder how many lives will get reduced to a statistic on a page.

and it makes me sad. so depressingly sad that so many people will get swept under the rug. that every lost life will never be mourned in the way every human deserves to.

i get conflicted over whether or not i have any right to speak on these events. i live a very privileged life. i never have to worry about when my next meal is coming, i have access to clean and safe drinking water at all hours of the day, i have a roof over my head and 24 hour access to the internet. why should i, someone who has all this, speak about events that are happening across the world. why should i have the right to mourn and speak about people who are now gone when those who are still alive are living in some of the worst conditions known to humankind.

and i realise that that's what the israeli government wants. they want me to stop thinking about gaza and palestine as a whole. they want the world to turn their backs and ignore the atrocities they are committing.

and i don't want that to happen. i'll continue clicking daily for palestine. i'll continue to reblog posts about gaza. i will keep that shred of hope that one day i will wake up and my tumblr dashboard will be filled with posts celebrating a ceasefire, that one day palestine will be free from the occupation of a tyrannical state.

but even knowing that doesn't take away from the guilt that i feel when i see gofundme's and links to aid relief programs. i've donated an esim to gaza and i really do hope that it helps someone but i'm not in a position to do anything more than reblog posts and do my daily clicks.

[nerdylittleguy]

are spidersonas still a thing? yes? cool cool...

Okay, he's not my spidersona per se, he's based on a favourite character from a forgotten 80s show (robin of sherwood, and the character's name is Nasir, if you're interested) but I wanted to make a spiderman based on him since watching atsv, but because of how well Pavitr was designed (culture and representation wise) I wanted to make him also more representative, but had no idea where to start where to even find designs or inspiration. So I wrote down in one of my many diaries that he's Palestinian, and left it at that for months.

And, if you're somehow not yet aware, Palestine has actually been noticed by the west for the past month, though it should have been for more. People should not have to die, civilians should not have to die, hospitals, mosques, churches, schools, bakeries and people should not be targeted by a powerful military, blamed for the conditions of their suffering and resistance under an apartheid state. I'm Polish, fun fact, and when Russia started its invasion of Ukraine we were all crapping ourselves, supporting the Ukrainian fight back against people who had already oppressed them in the past. Of course, every story of oppression is different, but the moral is this: the world supported Ukrainian resistance against oppression, and suddenly when it's in the oh-so dreaded middle east, it's apparently a threat to everyone, and apparently it's completely justifiable to murder innocent civilians, but not justifiable for them to fight back. Ideally, I'd like to say "violence is never the answer, it's not correct to fight fire with fire" but realistically, after 75 years of oppression, of western ignorance, what other options are there? You cannot debate for peace with a government that calls you "children of darkness" or "human animals" or whatever other dehumanising things the Israeli government and military have been saying. Now is the obligatory time I feel I need to clarify, no, I do not support acts of terror (from either side!! Israel deserves as much criticism as Hamas, if not more, seeing as they are a powerful military) and no, I am not antisemitic. I have not been studying World War 2 for almost 4 years as an autistic hobby to be called antisemitic, but also neither to ignore a genocide unfolding before our eyes on social media. My issue is not with Jewish people, who have suffered for years, centuries, especially in Europe, my issue is with the weaponisation of the Holocaust and the misleading Israeli/ Zionist idea that they, the children of the Holocaust, cannot cause the same atrocities. Especially when many, many Jews, also children of Holocaust survivors have spoken out again Israel and its actions towards Palestinians. Trauma is a cycle, one that the state of Israel has clearly not dealt with and is now willing to cause in another population.

So. Autism and activism (another fun fact, I'm a former climate activist who quit due to burn out) combined in my brain to make this artwork. I have a few more drawings of Nasir as spiderman, I'm still mulling over if I want to post them, but if people want to take my design and run with it, redraw it, make it more accurate or interesting (I literally just took the patterns on the keffiyeh and threw them on a spiderman suit, not very creative, or not as much as it could have been) absolutely do so. I would ask for a little credit, but if you feel you make the design entirely your own, it's yours. I'm just some Polish idiot living in the UK, what do I know about accurate middle eastern representation? (Also feel free to use this as pfps and what not, I don't care, I'll be happy with the knowledge I drew it, and if it makes you happy, I've achieved more than I hoped.)

Obviously activism has more to offer than just drawing spiderman, so if you can, write to your MPs or representatives or what have you, share information (I will do my best to share information on tumblr as I have been very inactive on here recently), maybe even attend protests if you can, but first and foremost, stay thinking!! Stay learning and educating yourself as having information keeps you one step ahead of propaganda. If you have the energy to, compare and criticise different news outlets, find yourself some Gazan news sources and journalists (a lot of people have been following Motaz, Bisan and Plestia on Instagram, I don't have that but it's easy to find reposts of their videos on tiktok or twitter) and stay informed!! Boycott those companies suggested by BDS, MacDonalds, Starbucks and Disney as the main ones (or just ignore capitalism all together and shop local!! That's what I've been trying to do, but obviously it's not an option for everyone, it's better to have focused efforts on those big three than smaller, scattered attempts at boycotting). We all have something we can do to help and show out support.

However, from my burnt out activist's perspective I have to highlight that you MUST take time for yourself, your hobbies, your wellbeing. Yes, you are privileged to be able to turn it off, but from my privilege of experience, I tell you that you will burn out and loose your spark. You need to be able to support those who need us (and not just in Palestine, but in the DR of Congo and many other places where crises and genocides are occuring) but you can't do that if you've burnt yourself out. You, your comfort and safety is important, your ability to sustainably fight for these important causes is more valuable than you know. Important causes like these require a lot of energy, but we as activists cannot let ourselves become completely burnt out as there will be no one left to fight. Just pace yourself. Do as much as you are comfortable with. Everyone has different styles of activism, different abilities, and that's the beauty of us. We can do so much if we don't start with too much and end up burnt out.

In conclusion, Free Palestine <3

[plain-white-knuckles]

I've returned from thesis-writing-hiatus to say one thing:

I'm so incredibly ashamed of the German government. I went to high-school for 8 years, 4 of which we spend most of history class talking about the Drittes Reich, Hitler and the Holocaust. My grandpa was in the Hitler Jugend as a child. His dad died somewhere in Russia fighting for Hilter. My Polish grandma told my mom stories about how the Germans devastated the Polish people during WW2. I am very well aware of my German heritage and rightfully so are most of us Germans. We've been taught about the unforgivable acts our ancestors have committed against the Jewish people and we are aware of the xenophobia still taking place in Germany today. And I am all for keeping this knowledge alive in each new generation for the purpose of never forgetting what people, regular ass human beings, are capable of doing.

The German representatives at the UN have chosen to not vote for the ceasefire that almost all countries of the world are asking from the Israeli government. And I cannot fucking fathom this. I'm ashamed. So goddamm ashamed. Us Germans, after what our ancestors have done to the Jewish people, as a result of them commiting a GENOCIDE, we have an obligation to forever be the first ones to get involved when we see someone else committing the exact same heinous crime! How can our politicians and parts of our people think that the main lesson from the Holocaust for us Germans needs to be: "Never again criticise or hold accoutable any Jewish person ever again for anything they do because of our past." When the ONLY lesson we should have learned from this devastating crime should be: "We can never ever again let this happen. We need to be the first ones to call it out. We owe this to every single person that was killed during the Holocaust. So that no human being has to suffer throught this again".

I understand that us Germans feel the guilt. We all know what we did to the Jewish people and that these actions can never be forgiven. However, we cannot let this guilt be the reason to stay neutral right now. It cannot justify us watching on as thousands of human beings are being slaughtered by the Israeli government and military in the present day. They are actively murdering civilians. They are systematically destroying the health care system in Gaza. And they are not even trying to hide those atrocities from the world. It's a genocide they're commiting right now. And it's well past time to start believing that.

Again, I can't put into words how disgusted and embarrassed and ashamed I am that many of our German representatives are acting like spinless cowards. Yes the matter is complex. Yes there's been death and destruction on both sides. However, only one side is currently invested in eradicating an entire people from existence. They don't want anyone to survive this! Call it what it is. We owe it to every person that died by our peopels hands nearly a centuries ago. And for every person alive in Palestine right now scared to death that each moment could be their last.

[cock-holliday]

“Westerners’ opinions on this don’t matter, you are not part of this, you cannot fathom what living under bombing is like,” says fellow westerner who has been incessantly giving their opinion, who lives in a luxury apartment built on the remains of the MOVE bombing in a state that manufactures the weapons Israel uses to commit their atrocities, with a state and reps and universities and businesses who fund the atrocities, who is neighboring states where the police force is trained by the IDF in a partnership camp paid for by US tax dollars and then tries out these techniques on Americans, and whose facebook profile picture is from a gay Israeli cruise trip.

I’m not sure if you’re aware but Westerners’ interest in the conflict is how we are where we are now. The West’s relationship with Israel is symbiotic and they learn from one another’s brutality. Struggles for liberation are interconnected. Boycott-Divest-Sanctions didn’t spring up out of nowhere, it came from The US being responsible. From Americans funding genocide through our active fundraisers and through inaction. Palestinian Liberation movements and Black Liberation movements found deep solidarity decades and decades ago through similar government repression, through the ADL calling both groups terrorists and supporting apartheid twice, through the violent and horrific police and military tactics placed upon both.

“You don’t need to be involved” gets reserved for pro-Palestinian support as if apathy and “staying out of it” is not Israeli support. Inaction allows this. Apathy allows for a quiet genocide. Every conflict is “complicated” in that none exist in a vacuum and are always the culmination of hundreds and thousands of years if you want to go back that far. Every country is formed on stolen land. That didn’t make Ukraine assault “complicated” to people because the issue is happening right now, the specific injustice is happening now. If the Nakba is ancient history to the cause of conflict then sorry but so is the Shoah.

You cannot claim to support liberation movements in the US and then think support for them abroad is all for brownie points. You do not support land back and self-determination in the states if you then reject them abroad. You cannot believe in the right of Ukrainians to fight back and then see all Palestinian struggle as terrorism.

All Israeli deaths are being framed as civilian deaths whether they are soldiers or not. When your civilian population is mandatorily a solider, it’s easy to conflate the two. The targeting of military bases and killing of military leaders is “civilian deaths”, then the bombing of residential neighborhoods is a “strike on Hamas.” All Palestinian deaths are being framed as terrorist deaths if we even bother to count them. “40 beheaded babies” vs silence on 300 children. A bombed children’s hospital. Children burned to death by white phosphorus. A newspaper headline read “mutilated Israeli children” and showed a photo of injured Palestinian children.

It’s not about loss of life to people, it’s not ‘complexities’ in a struggle for freedom, it is the expectation to die in silence lest you make us feel bad for our complicity.

President Isaac Herzog’s words are atrocious, but unfortunately he is not alone in his sentiment that, “[Palestinians] could have risen up, they could have fought against that evil regime which took over Gaza in a coup d'etat.”

Fighting Israel is justification for your death, not fighting Hamas is justification for your death. There are no innocent Palestinians and there are no guilty Israelis. Vigils for just Israelis is “caring about human life” but any vigils or supprt for Palestinians whether it is coupled with support for Israelis or not is labeled as antisemitic and terroristic. If you oppose the atrocity you are a terrorist, if you take action to try to stop it you’re a terrorist, if you sit on your hands and pass judgement from “the other side” then you are simply a reasonable and wise voice in a tricky situation with no remedy but to suggest both uneven sides kiss and make up.

[psychewritesbs]

Chapter 201: Direct Negotiations, part 2—THIS IS AMERICA! 

Happy JJK-Sunday. 

Actually... not really... Our boys are about to walk into insanity... Get your Kleenex box ready. Gege is up to no good...

He also made fun of and called out “America” and I love him all the more for it. Makes me wonder whether he’s keeping up with the USAmerican fandom and wonders how we’re reacting to the chapter.

We love it!

If anyone cares to read... I got super political and opinionated and personal. That’s what happens when you are a First Generation USAmerican born in the US but raised outside of the US--you see things differently.

THIS IS AMERICA

Also, if you haven’t, go listen to the song by Donald Glover, This is America, a fantastic satire of a song and music video loaded with symbolism. The song and video were released in May of 2018 and depicted the deeply rooted societal problems plaguing American society. 

TW! The video is very graphic.

Not featured in the song and video, however, are...

The American Healthcare System: The fact that I can't afford to go to the Doctor or have a medical emergency without getting into ridiculous amounts of debt... 

Student loan debt: Not to mention the mountain of Student Loan debt I have because... #this is America and in the American Dream you get into debt to go to college to get better jobs. It’s a literal scam and millions of us bought into it. 

Far Right Christian Fundamentalism: Also, a group of judges took away federal protection for abortion laws. It’s feeling really Handmaid’s Tail up in here. 

Guns guns guns, USAmericans LOVE their guns: Did I mention my neighbors aren’t scared to publicly say that they’ll shoot you with their assault riffle if you trespass into their property and they assume you are suspicions? #Texas.

Talk about being a progressive society.

But hey...

I think the biggest irony about the internal societal problems tearing down American society is intimately related to what Gege is addressing in this chapter... instead of focusing on fixing our internal problems, American leaders are hell-bent on colonization, conquest and dominating the political landscape outside of its borders. 

Cue Killing in the Name of by quintessentially American Rock Band, Rage Against the Machine.

Yes, Gege. Say it.

And the whole implication about how the US uses its army to pursue this world domination agenda?

I don’t care how cliché these American Villains are they’re painfully cliché... this whole thing is so on point.

As a First Generation USAmerican, I honestly had second-hand embarrassment reading this chapter.

Side note: I drive a 13-year old Honda Civic. I highly recommend Japanese cars. USAmerican cars are not that great.

I am totally not surprised to see Gege addressing how the US government and media will manipulate public perception of certain political issues. 

“We’re not experimenting on Japanese citizens, we’re protecting them” reminds of the war in Iraq in the search for weapons of mass destruction that were never found.

Similarly, if you Google Project A119, the formal definition about it was presented to the public as having benign reasons. But who is to say it wasn’t about establishing dominance?

Curious to learn more? You can read more about Project A119 and Operation Fishbowl by doing Google searches on these terms.

But I think most poignant is the implication that American leadership would think that it’s morally correct to experiment on humans.

And Kenny totally has the USAmerican leaders eating right out of his hand by saying everything he knows they need to hear.

We know Kenny is going around stirring the pot and getting countries pitted against one another.

But we haven’t seen what he has told the Japanese government. We also don’t know if Gege will write about the kinds of atrocities the Japanese government might have committed against its own citizens.

Like other authors, Gege certainly doesn’t hold back his punches.

And, again, what’s most poignant about this whole ordeal is that we’re talking about governments and how they justify their actions while manipulating public perception of these issues.

That’s why I really appreciated the symbolism used to depict the ideal of what it means for USAmerica to be the world power that it is today (or at least was once upon a time).

This is America.

And I love that, again, Kenny was just like...

“Calm down USAmerica, you might have guns and muscle, but Japan has psychic warriors. Duh!”

That smug look on his face too... Let’s not forget that Kenny has been planning this ordeal and waiting for the right set of circumstances like an idiotic USAmerican President in office for at least a millennia

Anyways...

Yes, world. The clichés about USAmerica are mostly painfully true.

Ura-ume

Talking to @justafrenchlondoner​ we were both wondering whether Ura-ume is going to turn on Kenny since Ura-ume appears to have a deep allegiance with Sukuna and Sukuna had a change of plans.

Similarly, if I remember correctly, Kenny was ok with doing away with Sukuna... something like that. Gotta go back to re-read parts of the Shibuya arc.

Either way, gotta wonder about them...

And then the chapter ends...

The perfect recipe for disaster.

800 soldiers with USAmerican guns and muscle against a comedian, an Angel, and two high school-aged Psychic Warriors.

I fear that here comes the culmination of this cozy feeling of safety that Gege created during the first half of the arc... and it is legit giving me anxiety.

I’m literally going crazy because I can see it coming. There’s a Gege-twist coming. I can feel it. And idk if I’m being paranoid but that’s how Gege rolls.

This man kills and hurts beloved characters without remorse just after you thought everything was groovy.

The Culling Game so far...

During the Culling Game, a literal Battle Royale twist on the Battle Tournament trope, with some exceptions, most of what we’ve gotten so far has been very lighthearted moments and battles and no significant deaths.

The Culling Game is about death but we haven’t experienced any deaths that we care about. Think long and hard about that.

Instead, Gege has bombarded us with Gege-style irony and humor.

Who could forget Yuta kissing a cockroach?

Not to mention Yuta and Ryu’s bromance to wrap up the arc.

Have we forgotten how incredibly annoying Charlie Bernard was?

And how Kashimo vs. Hakari literally ends with them teaming up, stroking each other’s ego, and acting like they weren’t just trying to kill each other moments ago?

What about Takaba’s awful jokes?

Then there was Kappa-guy and Katana-guy...

And now that Naoya has died again... we’re back to where it all began: Yuji and Megumi willingly going on a suicide mission to save each other and their loved ones.

Now, during Shibuya, Yuji walked away scarred, not just physically, but emotionally and psychologically. Megumi, on the other hand, was protected by Sukuna.

This also just reminded me that, from my perspective, Megumi has shown us on more than one occasion that he doesn't seem to have much regard for the life of others. 

So I kind of have to wonder whether we’re about to find out just how much Megumi doesn’t value human life in general given the whole thing about how the most powerful sorcerers have an overwhelming sense of self and have no regard for others.

Who knows! Can’t wait to see how the rest of the Culling Game arc unfolds because when JJK is good, JJK IS GOOD.

Anyways. Happy JJK-Sunday! If you’ve made it this far, thank you again for reading my rant about USAmerica.

This is America

You know... the political rant about USAmerica aside, I must admit that living in USAmerica is quite the privilege that I am grateful to have.

I think that inasmuch as we, USAmericans have a bad reputation, we really are just like everybody else--doing our best with what circumstances we have been handed. 

For some self-disclosure: I lived in Houston, TX for a decade. Houston is a criminally underrated yet quintessentially USAmerican city...

Houston is no Manhattan, but it is the cultural capital of the Southern US and is one of the most culturally diverse cities in the country. And amongst the things that are quintessentially American are the immigrant communities that have made this country what it is today.

I understand that when Anthony Bourdain recorded the episode for Parts Unknown in Houston, despite Houston’s incredible gourmet foodie scene, he specifically asked to visit the hole-in-the-wall-type cultural nooks in the city because he wanted the episode to focus on the USAmerican experience of being an immigrant in this country.

I can tell you that while I lived in Houston, I had friends from Mexico to Nepal, and worked with people from Spain all the way to Korea. 

The private school I worked at had children enrolled from at least 50 different nationalities from the world over. What I loved most about working there was knowing that these children were being taught that it didn’t matter where you’re from because in the end we’re all just human.

Similarly, when Hurricane Harvey dumped a year’s worth of water on Houston in 2017, Houston was practically under water. The outpouring of support from the community in the midst of the chaos, however, was beautiful to behold. Your nationality or skin color did not matter, what mattered was helping other Houstonians get back on their feet.

This is USAmerica. 

... and we’ve got deeply rooted societal problems, but we really are just doing our best with what we’ve got.

One final jab at “America”

I didn’t want to couldn’t help myself...

[milkyetoile]

last night was VP Leni and Sen. Kiko's thanksgiving event at Ateneo. I was sadly only able to watch the livestream while the rest of the fam (also kakampinks!!) went there. even through the screen, you could see the sadness and disappointment of the attendees and even the performers. people were crying early on.

but despite all of this, the gratitude was apparent. it was indeed a thanksgiving event, not just from the candidates to their supporters, but the supporters to each other. even in the live chat, we were all thanking each other.

because we've all been brought together by someone who gave us hope. someone who has done nothing but genuinely care for people in her many years of service.

in her speech, she acknowledged our grief, but also said that the work doesn't stop here.

she then announced that the Angat Buhay program of her Office of the Vice President would transition into an NGO after her term ends, with the goal to be the largest volunteer network in the country.

she said that this NGO will aim to help everyone in need, regardless of who they supported. it was such mom behavior, chiding us since a lot of us were saying how we wouldn't help Marcos supporters who suffer under his reign 😂 but honestly expected, because who else would call out this behavior other than the one who famously said, "Mas radikal ang magmahal." ("It's more radical to love.")

I think aside from the fact that it's Marcos who's winning the elections, part of why we're experiencing so much grief is because we've been shown a glimpse of how someone with integrity can actually be in the government, continuously serving the people despite challenges. and it's inspired people to help as well. we actually started hoping for a better government, but instead, we're getting something worse than what we already have.

it's okay that we're grieving. let us grieve for how majority of our population have become victims of disinformation and how we've been cheated out of clean elections.

but, as she said, once we're ready to wipe our tears, we need to prepare ourselves because we still have work to do. Sen. Kiko also said this is only the beginning of our fight. we may have lost this battle, but the war has just begun.

"Ang namulat, hindi na muling pipikit." ("Whoever had their eyes opened would never close them again.") our awakening is not just for the atrocities of martial law--a lot of us were already aware. but our awakening was also for this education crisis and the extent of the spread of disinformation.

"I hold it true, whate’er befall,

 I feel it, when I sorrow most;

‘Tis better to have loved and lost

Than never to have loved at all."

- Alfred Tennyson

we'll always have grief for what we could've had. but so will we have this awakened love for our country forevermore.

let's take care of ourselves, then we move forward with each other with love and hope in our hearts.

maraming salamat sa pagtindig, mga kakampinks! tuloy tayo lumaban para sa lahat.✊🌸

p.s. UP FIGHTING MAROONS WON IN UAAP FINALS LAST NIGHT TOO!! THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1986, THE SAME YEAR AS EDSA PEOPLE POWER!!! if that isn't a great sign idk

[saltypiss]

Censorship is saying "it didn't happen" in every context, and it's absolutrly disgusting.

If you can't handle how barbaric and disgusting this world is, you're the pussy that's making the world weaker.

If you can't handle footage of war, if you can't handle pictures of terrorism, if you can't read descriptions of a murder, if you can't read the complications of cancer, if you can't see someone on their last legs from a disease-

You're a pussy. But the least you could do is not try to delete real life from other's existence because you're a pussy. End every thought off with that. "Because you're a pussy, everyone else has to suffer."

You hide reality because you don't want to handle it. Not that you can't handle it, you simply Don't Want To.

And because of these pussies, you can't say Fuck online as often. You can't discuss drug problems or medication. You can't discuss depression, suicide, social issues.

I seriously just need people to recognize there's an entirely massive group of people that investors manipulate for profit. And this group of people don't know anything horrific outside story telling or a family death. Your suffering is unknown to these pussies because it bothers them that the world isn't fucking disney. And they FIGHT to make the world a faux disney, but only for themselves, everyone else with real lower class problems? Not their problem. They'll make your problems theirs by taking away all context to make you the villian in Their story.

And because of these pussies, all of our problems are seen as ignorable, for Their safety, and by that of course, I mean Mildly being Upset for an Hour. God forbid we discuss mass shootings, when Debra once dropped a loaded gun in her house and shot out a window, very traumatising, we should ban guns, from media.

But you? Your Actual Problems? That's too much for the investable crowd! Conservatives/religious larpers. God forbid those pussies grow the fuck up and let shit be without dipping their god damn childish inexperienced lifeless fingers into it.

Tired of censorship growth. It needs to die. No fucking reason for ANYONE to ignore atrocities in our world. No reason to HIDE human suffering behind a curtain so the idiotic audience doesn't feewel bawad fower uh dayawar.

I seriously can't believe the more experienced you are, the further from society you get. Depressing as all hell that chosen stupidity and ignorance is the default and enforced standard. God forbid we advance an iota. Gotta slide back on everything.

Incredible. The economy is in the rutter, the government is doing fuck all, the rich are taking all our money and raping kids on an island. But can't discuss ANY of that! Someone might be offended! Clearly we need to censor, the written text, "suicide" with the Ungodly Offensive "Unalive"

The difference in offense is clear: One just exists, the other is a tragedy, let's censor both! Neither happened! Happy happy happyyyy!

I blame the left FAR HARDER than republicans when it comes to censorship. You fucking idiots made being offended an actual weapon. Now look at your dumbfuck selves. Can't even say suicide or your YT video is taken down. Can't discuss "aboose" on tiktok because that's not monetizable!

God speaking of the left ruining everything, monetization! On YT! It was good-ish! But not anymore. Can't say any fuck words in the first minute or you're demonetized. Can't discuss adult topics because it's not monetizable. The left made being offended a topic of importance to companies who do not care the damage caused by their decisions and platform. And here we are. Suicide is an offensive term, not topic, but term, however, UnAlive, some fucking how, some mother fucking how, is not.

Sure. Okay. Let's just call cancer growths "silly glitches" while we're at it.

Seriously, I want leftists to know that 2013 leftists ensured the internet became a far, far worse place. I'm as far detached from anything right as it gets, but take the L on your failure. You fucked everything up because you couldn't get over your pathetic feelings. The entire reason so many are republican today is because you fuckers were actually reporting or blocking people for discussing suicide or any myriad of """tough""" subjects. You wanted more than safe spaces, you wanted the internet to be your personal safe space at the utter cost of everyone else.

You made a man, who sent a rocket into space, go on live tv, in tears, and apologize, because he worse a shirt with bikini clad women. Take your L, we have a rapist in office now, loser.

Seriously. The weakest. Most pathetic period of time for anything blue was 2013 to 2020. A solid 7 years of pussies actively censoring EVERYTHING. And you can put ALL the blame onto Leftists for that. Not one republican wanted to lose tbe ability to say the N word, now they can't, congrats, but now we can't say suicide or fuck, or drugs, or abuse, or corruption, or infidelit-

Now we all suffer. Because of your feelings, Your. Personal. Feelings. That you got over. You got over them. The world didn't need to change, you did, unfortunately, your pussy screamed louder than any other, that superseded Normal People's actual lived experiences. Congrats. Congrats on the W. I'm certain being solely responsible for the mass internet censorship shit was not why Dump won in the first place.

When that meme of some idiot being pushed to republicans come up, remember, you weren't there, and if you were, you were so up your own ass, you couldn't see the shit you pushed out of your mouth that caused companies to close their windows.

Sit the fuck down and be better. You already have, but you don't acknowledge It's Entirely Your Fault because you couldn't handle your emotions. Sad.

[nataliesnews]

Haridiem and the kidnapped, the shadow, atrocities, anti-semitism, Bedouin, an expensive soda 5.11.2023

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Natalie Ginsburg <natanyag@gmail.com>

to me

I am sending you two PDFs about Arab citizens in Israel. Just as Jews feel targeted overseas, so they do here.

I forced myself to walk this morning hoping it would ease the cramp in my leg. I realise that I have to force myself to walk as my balance also is not so good and I have to be very careful when I turn. At the corner of Herzyl I saw these banners. When we passed there a few times this corner which has become very Haredi is filled with religious mothers and their prams and their slightly bigger offspring wrapped or waving flags madly. I was curious to see the banners they had put up. Not one word about the kidnapped. One reads, "The Jewish people live" The other, "We fight till the last terrorist." The other refers to the Lion of Judah which I guess means we will be protected. I just hope that their husbands and sons are also fighting and not sitting in the Yeshivot and that they mean to fight to the last terrorist and not to the last secular fighter. And if you think I am prejudiced, yes I am because of all the moneys which are being directed to such groups. 

Then there  is this photo of Ben Gvir kissing and giving money to "The Shadow, "  Eliasi , has previously used his social media platforms to call for the castration and organ harvesting of slain Palestinian assailants, and has compared left-wing Israelis to an AIDS epidemic

 and has already led an attack against demonstrators. I was also once threatened by him . 

Sunday:

And this is what I wrote on facebook to our dear leader.....who is skulking in his hidey hole. Let's see if facebook leaves it .  He came out with the underlined statement.  This evening at the nightly demonstration outside the house of Herzog there were a group of people demonstrating.  They were evacuated and now have been told to leave the hotel where they were.  They asked Herzog  to come out to them. You think he did? Not once have he or Netanyahu come out to the protestors. 

Israel has made a great mistake not showing the atrocities which were carried out by Hamas. By the way, there are those who deny that there were atrocities and so it is easy for people to deny. I can understand people not wanting the world to see what happened to their families but this is making it too easy for people to deny. Only today the body of a celebral palsied young woman was found who was slaughtered together with her father. So I will tell you one thing that I saw, a woman being led to a jeep with the back of her pants stained red. It does not need much imagination. Just as Eisenhower showed the world what had happened in the camps,  so this has to be shown to the world as much as it is.

As far as the anti-Semitism in the world.....I believe more and more what one person said....that it was always latent and now people feel free to show it.  The western countries of the world should realise that Hamas is Isis....and that eventually what happened here in Israel will happen all over the Western world. That today it is the Jews and tomorrow it will be the Christians.  I am not talking of the ordinary Moslem but of those who are eventually so influenced by Hamas and such organizations that they will also be prepared to perpetrate any evil in the name of religion. Just as Ben Gvir and his ilk, including the idiot in the government who suggested we drop a nuclear bomb on Gaza. 

 When people speak of Arabs they should read  this:

Four Bedouin drove from Rahat to evacuate their cousin in Be'eri; they rescued dozens

And if you ask how this has affected me....of course it has but I stick basically to what I always thought and you can read the PDF about others like me. I feel for the ordinary people of Gaza but if their leaders really wanted a cease fire they would start by returning our hostages. 

And to leave you on a lighter note..... I nearly had a heart attack today. My hairdresser went to visit her daughter in America and has either not been able to get back or is waiting to do so. Another friend of mine told me that her children do not want her to come back....she is also there. So I decided last week  to go to the hairdresser here and the same day we had to go to a funeral. I was already feeling like a real gorilla. I looked up on the internet and saw that dafke there is one about 5 minutes walk from here. When I made  an appointment  he said he did not give prices over the phone. Julia used to take 80 shekel, I heard of one woman who took 180 and I thought it can't be much worse than that. 

I did not like the place or him from the first moment. He was flouncing all over the show and booming away and his three helpers, though quiet, looked like puppies following their mother. Showering me with compliments which I hate. Giving orders left and right about what oil to use, and to always bring a client  some soda water and to offer coffee. They must  have washed my hair about 4 times and while he was cutting it , talking to other customers over the phone. "Of course, darling, you know I always have time for  you", etc, etc. "Oh yes we have a wonderful rinse just for you." Ugh. When after he had cut it he said he wanted to wash it again to give it the final finish. That finished me off and I said no I was in hurry. So now I come to pay him.....he says to me, "I always take 350 but seeing it is you I will take 250." FOR A CUT. I paid him quickly so that I would not faint there on his floor. He told me to phone anytime I needed a cut. I thought to myself, "You should live that long." And dafke when I was telling a friend she said that she had  had the same experience and the same dislike. 

[hannahdaisy27]

What is the Church?

When I think about the question “What is the church?” my brain and most people immediately go to the church building. The physical brick-and-mortar establishment, which we call church. I think about the great cathedrals in Europe and all the history and art that is contained within the walls. Slowly my brain starts to turn to the controversy, the news headlines about the terrible atrocities that have been committed by the church, the crazy fundamentalist churches in the United States that have Netflix documentaries about them. The last thing my brain thinks about when thinking about what the church is is the people. The souls that are doing the work of the church, the ones that embody what it truly means to be the church. The innocent people who just want to do right by the bible and spread the golden rule of love. They are part of the church that is so often left out when the discussion of what church is comes up. 

From a church leadership perspective, we talk in meetings of governing bodies all the time about how we are going to pay the bills, heat the building, and pave the parking lot, but we never talk about how we are going to feed the souls of the people who make up our church community. We focus so much on the physical building that the people who come into it are often left in the dust fighting with themselves about if it is worth it anymore to support a church that doesn’t support them. 

I have said time and time again that the church of the present is a church that cares more about how much money you have in your pocket than if your spiritual needs are being met. This leads to an increase in “church shopping,” bouncing between churches trying to find one that fits your needs the best. I personally think that the institution of the church as a whole needs to take a step back and re-evaluate its priorities. 

Should the church's first priority be keeping up church buildings even though the congregations inside are dwindling? 

I don’t think so; the church's first priority should be to live out the gospel's message and provide a space for people to grow and learn on their faith journeys.  Many people's needs are not being met by how we are currently doing church, which is an issue. 

We see it through many minority groups, women are treated differently in the church. They are expected to watch what they wear so they don’t give the wrong impression; it is expected that women going into ministry will logically be going into children and youth ministry because that is the woman's role. Women are looked down upon by church governing bodies, and going back as far as biblical times; they have been left out of the church's history just because of their gender. 

Young adults are constantly alienated by the churches they have grown up in just because they are young. They are given positions on councils and at events, but they are only there so the church can feel good that they included young people, not because their voices actually matter. The decisions of young people are constantly second-guessed and overlooked, and the choices they do get to make have to be approved by someone older than them for fear that the original may not meet the predetermined standards. 

Indigenous people are treated like children needing guidance. The church bestows upon them the autonomy to make a version of Christianity that is relevant to their lives but then places an advisor in to make sure that they aren’t actually changing anything and that they don’t get the idea that they can do it themselves. 

The church constantly looks at people that are “other” and places boundaries on what they can and cannot do regardless of how well they could do it if given the chance. The church prides itself on loving others and always being there for those in need, just like Jesus, but unlike Jesus, the church discriminates and judges those who are worthy of love and help. 

The church cries out for more members but will not leave the church building in order to build meaningful relationships with the communities that surround the building. These neighbourhoods are the lifeblood of the church, or at least they should be. If the church actually cared about loving their neighbours, then they should probably know who their neighbour is and maybe a little bit about them too. 

The goal is this community building is not to increase members of the church because that is an unrealistic goal. You will never get everyone in the surrounding area to a church to become a member, but you can get most people in the area to value the life and work of the church and support it because it does something for them.

Community meals are a great way to build real relationships. There is no expectation that you will join the congregation afterwards, but there is an expectation that you will meet new people and have a good meal. It is a way to bring together the many different faith traditions within any given community that is not limiting or exclusionary to any of them. 

The church should be a place where people can come together to explore, learn and ask questions, all while having the spiritual needs of their souls fed and the needs and wants of the surrounding community met. 

[ingek73]

Juneteenth

STORY by Team at Archewell

Jun. 16, 2021

YOUNG POETS OF GET LIT SHARE POWERFUL WORDS TO COMMEMORATE THE DAY

In honor of Juneteenth, we, at Archewell, connected with our friends at Get Lit and asked them to share poetry to honor this important day. We hope their poignant words allow you to reflect on the significance of this newly declared federal holiday in the United States and its impact across this country and around the world.

AND HOLD, AND HOLD

CORTUNAY MINOR AND TAMIA JACKSON

WHY THEY WROTE THIS POEM:

“When I wrote this poem, just a few weeks before June 15th, Juneteenth wasn’t yet a federal or national holiday. It wasn’t something I’d given much thought to, but when I had recognized that fact, it wasn’t information, it was confirmation. At first, I was upset about it. My immediate thoughts were along the lines of, ‘Where are our fireworks? Where’s our three-day weekend?’ But in reflection, I realized that this was demonstrating continued deference to a supposedly superior entity. Juneteenth isn’t the ‘Black Independence Day,’ it’s the only Independence Day. To have that nationally recognized feels amazing. But whether or not the date is printed in every calendar does not validate this holiday. We do.”

WHY SHE ANIMATED THIS PIECE:

“This poem, especially for Juneteenth, really inspired me. The color palette expresses the somber yet hopeful emotions that happen when black freedom is discussed, and what it means to be a Black individual in America. This poem as well as the visuals really emphasizes the impact that Black people have by simply existing, and the importance of our breath. We know that as long as we’re still breathing there can and will be change, and ultimately full freedom.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Cortunay Minor (she/they) is a performing artist who specializes in Stage Acting and Spoken Word Poetry. They are currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Theater from the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television. The theme and goal that Minor tries to hold in the heart of their artistry is liberation, be that emotional, intellectual, or otherwise. Expression and education are two of the most fruitful paths Minor has found that achieve that liberation, and she is immensely grateful to be able to participate in a craft that allows their simultaneous occurrence.

ABOUT THE ANIMATOR:

Tamia Jackson (animator) is a rising senior at the Rhode Island School of Design, receiving her BFA in Film/Animation/Video with a minor in Literary Arts and Studies. She has always been passionate in art, animation, and storytelling. She loves bringing stories of lesser voices, such as BIPOC, low income, female, etc., into a visual and cared-for light. Though not all of her stories or animations revolve around such identities, it is important that she shows diversity so that many people can relate and find comfort in the characters or art piece. Not only does Jackson enjoy spreading her own voice, but she also loves bringing others’ stories to life.

AND HOLD, AND HOLD

‘Holiday’ meaning ‘Holy Day’ meaning:

every second is sacred/every hour hibernates

within the spirit, huddled beneath the bosom.

To breathe is to commemorate:

inhale – exhale – cradle the thought – hold – and repeat.

When daybreak demotes breath to subconscious action,

the diaphragm still submits in reverence, still remembers that

This is Divine. This

is where jubilation begins:

in the suspension of

breathe in – breathe out – take maybe – and

forever hold the moment,

where the deferred dream stopped shriveling,

wavered in anticipation, remembered that expansion

can be soft,

recognized that it didn’t want soft

expansion.

Bodies were policied out of possession, but

the Black individual liberated their own being,

hollered themself out of state-sanctioned silence.

Words ignite, but presence sustains; this intake/expel maintains us

here

the dream explodes. The spirit absorbs the remnants and outpours,

‘holiday’ meaning ‘Holy Day’ meaning:

I hold this day as sovereign. Meaning:

I hope this day knows its home is in these lungs,

is in this breath, is in the repetition of:

inspire – expire – immortalize the memory – and hold – and hold – and release

POPLAR TREES

CYRUS ROBERTS

WHY HE WROTE AND DIRECTED THIS POEM:

“It’s easy to say “slavery was an atrocity and we need to do better” but it’s much more difficult to say “slave masters ripped babies from their mothers and used them as crocodile bait for sport.” In the average American lexicon, phrases like ‘Never Forget’ are commonplace but are rarely attributed to periods of fundamental, ongoing violence of a racial nature for the simple fact that our pain makes the people who benefitted from that pain uncomfortable. For me Juneteenth is a day of mourning; the Confederate holidays still celebrated today seem like a gruesome counterbalance. So this is my eulogy to both the country and my own being that could have been.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Cyrus Roberts (he/him) writes, acts, and directs across poetry, theater, and film. While his work has been commissioned by organizations like Toms Shoes, Adidas, and March For Our Lives, he also enjoys working on cool independent projects, whether he’s self-publishing poetry compilations, creating movies with friends, or acting in his own plays. Roberts is currently a senior in UC Santa Barbara’s BFA Acting program. Look for him in the upcoming film Summertime, directed by Carlos Lopez Estrada. His assistant director on the project was Mattie Kranz.

POPLAR TREES

Before you there was me. But before me there was (Nina Simone audio: “black bodies swinging”). And that was the gentler time period. Everything base within you, reflected in your actions. Please don’t censor me when I mention how you wrangled our teeth from our mouths and used them to seduce your own illnesses into submission. Or how you took an interest in the skin that had a monopoly on sunlight and then took what you wanted underneath the moon. Or how you used our babies as crocodile bait and our skin as shoe leather. Look right into the eyes of our demise and try to say those times are past, that I’m being rash, that I’m being bad and so full of woe and I should be glad I’m writing this on my MacBook Pro. Yeah? Who am I to complain about slavery? Because it ended, right? On June 19, 1865, Union Army general Gordon Granger made his way to Texas and proclaimed slavery’s supposed fall and us colored folk supposed to have a ball? I mean it was two and a half years after Lincoln already announced it, but we needed a white man to tell other white men what another white man already said. I mean that is until that white man found himself dead and Reconstruction found itself at a head and chain gangs, sharecropping, Jim Crow, private prison options, perc popping, bodies dropping, cops still stopping, guns cocking to ensure that (Nina Simone audio: “black bodies swinging”). Every 19th of June we celebrate the end of chattel slavery and every 20th we’re back to fighting its descendants. Private prisons / a cop’s knee is a modern lynching / it ain’t my decision to get busy dyin’ or busy living / I paid attention, to all the digitized depictions / all the people packing up pensions while we’re backed up by the system. Put your back into the system, this is wack how mother’s missing their babies kisses and I’m supposed to be celebrating? I’m sorry. Will you forgive me, I’m jaded. My grandmother looks at me and says confidently that I made it. That she can’t possibly imagine the life that I’m living, I owe a debt to her generation, and I hope that I pay it. I just get so angry, hazy laughter at the thought of thoughts and prayers ending enslavement. So after you hear me, I’ll forgive you if you’re jaded. But you still need to know the history to have an appreciation. It’s no mystery why it’s a mystery present in our education, presently the gatekeepers keep us from it and it’s heinous. On Juneteenth, Americans across the nation eat red foods in honor of the blood spilled before and during emancipation, we celebrate the secondary, pushed-to-the-side independence day, but you don’t have to know our proclamations of jubilation for us to be heard. We will be heard in our voices screaming thanks that we are not treated as herd. We dance and we sing hymns of freedom. Freedom: absence of subjection to foreign domination or despotic government. Are my brothers and sisters in jail cells free? When there’s a glaring loophole in the 13th amendment smiling from cheek to cheek I’d imagine there’d be some incentive to ensure our purity is never free. And how can I be free when I can’t sleep because my dreams keep whispering I can’t breathe. Regardless of that fact, progress is still being made. But I fear progress is just an exchange of chains for other chains. Same way they changed our names for other names, I rest a bouquet on the graves of enslaved, singing regardless this day. In the hopes that I never again have to see (Nina Simone audio: “black bodies swinging”).

UNTITLED

SIERRA LEONE ANDERSON

WHY SHE WROTE THIS POEM:

“When writing this poem, I really made an effort to think back to my ancestors. What was their impact? Who did they inspire? How did they carve the path for the road I now choose to take? This poem is about legacy. I am calling back to the ancestors before me to give me the strength and courage to be the ancestor I want to be to future generations.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Sierra Leone Anderson (poet) is a youth activist and professional spoken word artist from Los Angeles. Rooted in liberatory joy and armed with ancestral truth, Sierra Leone aims to bring light to the power of language, empowering Los Angeles youth of color to recognize the quantifiable influence of their voice. She has placed both second and first in Get Lit’s annual middle and high school Classic Slam respectively, co-wrote an article for the political column of USA Today, and has shared space with several influential changemakers including Dr. Melina Abdullah (co-founder of BLM-LA) and Cecily Myart-Cruz (president of UTLA). Her other organizing work includes collaborating with Students Deserve LA to make Black Lives Matter in and beyond schools. She is currently a ninth grade student at Girls Academic Leadership Academy and an avid lover of trashy teenage dramedies.

Her director and editor is Lukas Lane, an award-winning filmmaker and founding member of Literary Riot (started in his junior year of high school), and he is currently attending UC Berkeley.

UNTITLED

Every generation, the world gives birth to a new fleet of freedom fighters.

I am one of them.

I stand on the shoulders of tired women.

I dance in the footsteps of Pan-African poets, liberation fighters, and Black writers

who grew fires from a pit hungrier than a stomach. They call my name and I call theirs.

Malcolm X. Phyllis Wheatley. Maya Angelou. Sojourner Truth. Audre Lorde. Ida B. Wells.

Your resilience rivers through me. You are my founding fathers. The blueprint to a world we need to be brave enough to see, to seek.

Let us imagine a world in which we know each other’s palms

and never the fist. Not unless needed. Not unless united together.

Let us be the drum and not the war.

Let us know each other’s names and not the languages we cry in.

Let us be, let all us be more than a slave’s wildest dream

Let us beam past blueprints and what-ifs and start becoming the now we want to see, the now we want to be

Trees growing so far past the Earth, Allah would mistake our bodies for angels.

When I die, I want to ripple through lifetimes. I want my name to graffiti the mouths of the next 10 generations.

I don’t want to be forgotten. Or remembered for the way my feet wouldn’t stop running.

I wanna grow roots in this soil, in this American skin. Join the forest of my ancestors. Let my grandkids climb up my branches and tell stories of school.

And before the first pulse of morning, I want them to drip from their homes and gather at my roots.

I want to tell them my name before I forget it.

I want to tell them that morning is coming. And will always come. And will never wait for when you are ready.

I want to tell them that there is a point far beyond this tree, this forest, this temporary point in time, their bodies, their fears, their fathers, their memories. Where the sun is eternal and smiling. Where freedom rings and is never silent, never out of reach. It is called horizon. And it is right there.

[msfbgraves]

The way our society completely disregards the arts says something about how it disregards human feelings.

Feelings are weakness. The way we show character and strength is by not showing emotions in situations where having them would be expected. The best thing you can do with your emotions is not to feel them, so the more you do feel them, the more you are impaired in your functioning. Hurting someone until there is no longer a emotional reaction or the person lashes out in sarcasm and violence is called succesful child rearing. Emotions are private. If felt, they should not be shown to anyone but your closest, as they are inherently weak.

You certainly do not nurture your emotions, or indulge in them. If you have to, on your own dime. Society certainly has no obligation to indulge your weaknesses. They do not hand out free candybars either.

And then of course, governments turn around and commit unspeakable atrocities that are felt a hundred years later still. People batter their spouses or children. Sport supporters demolish whole inner cities after a lost game. We celebrate drinking until we black out. We watch helplessly how our loved ones self harm, overdose, commit suicide. We are terrified of leaving our loved ones to the cruelty of strangers when we cannot take care of them. We lash out and ruin relationships, possibly even start vendettas. We say the world is a harsh and cruel place and open another beer

But no one needs art, dance, design, games, stories, songs, unless they can be sold to consumers and passively enjoyed. We can go without that. We don't need to feel. Maybe we shouldn't at all.

We fear people who can perceive our emotions and anticipate what we'll do because of that. There can be no reason for doing that other than to harm, can there? That's manipulation and that's a coward's strategy. As if empathy could not simply be used to treat someone well. To heal from the inevitable scratches on our souls, because of course things will happen. To support each other against the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. To soothe pain, to increase joy and friendliness. To help. To even increase physical fitness and health.

I mean, the fact that Sansa Stark's enjoyment of stories and songs is framed as a sign of her naieveté and her subsequent turning away from them as maturation by the same guy who is so full of love for the war of the roses he has created an elaborate fanfic to soothe his obsession is. I mean. How blind can you be to the power of stories and feelings? Especially because the same story states that one of the key strategies to winning power - if only to keep yourself safe - is empathy? What indeed do you think nurtures that empathy? What do you think can help prevent so much inwardly or outwardly directed violence? Art. Feelings. Especially when we're dealing with a lot of suffering that isn't man made anyway. We need to learn ways to increase our own joy and reduce our pain. Exercise and sports are excellent. Making art or simply expressing your emotions is an extremely good way to make life better and we keep telling ourselves that it is a private matter, a weakness, best drunk, sniffed or injected away or paid for on your own dime and how can we get people to stop killing each other, no idea, must come with the territory of being strong sensible enlightened epitomes of stoicness.

I can't believe this level of stupidity about the human condition is not only accepted but widely encouraged.

How many tragedies have been prevented by teaching someone streetdance, guitar, drawing, needlepoint, reading,knitting, photography, code, woodworking, painting, the macarena, ice dancing or the chorus to We Will Rock You ? How many inventions find their origin in a trip to the museum? We could do so much better still.

[some-jw-things]

For me personally, one of the hardest aspects of leaving a cult was how it fucked up my perception of love.

“Love-bombing” is a recruitment technique. You walk in through that door for the first time, and the entire congregation can’t wait to greet you and befriend you and they’re sometimes actually counting every minute they spend speaking to you so they can log it in their service report. You are offered instant love from a whole new community, for seemingly nothing, just for being there. Not earned, not gradual. Everyone in a Kingdom Hall loves one another

There were brothers and sisters I had never spoken to directly and that I didn’t know the names of. I was told since I was born that I should be willing to give my life and die for any one of them, no exceptions whatsoever. You aren’t allowed to dislike or openly have any issues with anyone in the congregation because of this specifically.

And then on top of this, we’re taught that only Jehovah’s Witnesses have love among themselves. There’s approximately 20 Bible verses they use to back this, they talk about the moral atrocities of every other religion as proof but of course the Society has never had a scandal ever— at least not one we were told about, and with the “don’t read outside sources” doctrine, they can get away with anything. They can get away with painting themselves as the only true, pure, morally upright religion in existence

When I said I was leaving, my dad told me straight up that I would never experience love again in my life. Only Jehovah’s Witnesses has that.

I know it’s easier to explain and more relatable for worldly people when we talk about the sky burning in Armageddon, friends and family falling and dying by our sides, going underground to live in a bunker and hide from the government, facing permanent eternal death— all those things that the Society has promised us, and we can point to and say they’re terrifying. It’s easy. It’s understandable.

The part that’s harder to explain is that I’ve expected my whole life that I’ll die young but the idea of living completely alone and unloved for however much longer I have— that kept me in a lot longer than the other stuff did. It’s a very effective control mechanism, being told that no one will ever genuinely care for you outside of this group

And then there’s the shit that Witnesses do to family relationships

At varying points in time, I have been fully convinced that the only things keeping my mother from leaving my dad were the congregation punishments and financial concerns. It’s a bit like their marriage came straight out of the 1940s: divorce is a sin, would get them disfellowshipped, and my mom doesn’t have the money to live on her own even if she could. My dad doesn’t do any of the housework whatsoever— all of that gets pushed to his wife and children. My mother blames herself for this, because apparently it’s her fault for “spoiling” him when he got badly injured twenty years ago. My dad, being the head of the household, has the final authority on any of our decisions he chooses to involve himself in, despite knowing almost nothing about what’s going on with us at any given time. The disparity of the housework wouldn’t be so bad, but my parents both work full time, not just my dad.

A few years back, my sister and I were in an extended period of anger over this. We weren’t outright trying to convince mom to leave dad (her main defense being that she was getting older and she had made her choice years ago), but it came damn close. My sister asked mom to name three things she loved about dad.

A half hour later, she didn’t have any.

She loves my dad, in the way a Christian wife loves her Christian husband. She couldn’t name any specific way, but she insists she does. She will never leave him.

They love each other. I know this. I don’t understand it.

I was terrified by the idea of marriage since I was eight years old. For Jehovah’s Witnesses, marriage is in no way between equals. I’ve gotten in trouble for implying that men and women could be equal. Marriage under this system means an even bigger loss of autonomy than I already had. The JW idealized loving relationship looks like hell to me

I said earlier that I was going to talk about familial love but I got sidetracked by romance, I’m coming back to it now

Familial love is completely 100% conditional. A JW will receive love if and only if they adhere to a strict set of terms. Upon violation of the terms, all love will be immediately revoked.

When a Jehovah’s Witness leaves the religion, their friends and family are supposed to shun them. No contact whatsoever, through any medium. If the ex-JW is an adult, they’re supposed to be kicked out of the house. If they’re still a minor, they are allowed to continue living there and communication is allowed only as far as it is needed for household functioning

This is love for Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is instant, enduring, boundless, to the extent of being willing to give your life for one another within seconds of finding out someone is a fellow brother or sister.

Until you commit a sin. Sinning makes you unlovable, here.

A girl I grew up with was kicked out, homeless, not even given time to pack a bag, because she fell in love with a worldly boy and interfaith dating is not allowed. This had nothing to do with any sexual sin. The boy just wasn’t a Jehovah’s Witness, and that was enough.

There was a man who left the congregation years back, along with his wife. He contacted his mother a few years later and wanted her to meet his kids. He wanted them to spend at least one day together. She told him very bluntly that she wanted nothing to do with him or his family anymore. She relayed this story in service, and everyone comforted her and told her how strong she was, how proud Jehovah must be.

Romantic love is bound up in rigid rules. You do not sit next to someone of a different gender unless you’re engaged or close to it. You don’t go on dates without a chaperone, you don’t spend even a minute alone without a chaperone. Texting and dating have a blurred line, so that needs to be policed. If you date for over a year, then you’re leading that person on. You’re a spinster or a bachelor by age 25. Divorce is a sin. Divorce will get you disfellowshipped.

There was a woman in my congregation who went to Bethel and met a man there. They knew each other for two weeks before getting engaged. And divorce is a disfellowshipping offense. There were so many older couples in my congregation who had stories like that, who had dated for only a handful of months, and I guess they love each other like my parents love each other

We’re told that disfellowshipping is a loving arrangement. Shunning is an expression of love. It’s spiritual rock bottom: it’s meant to be the wake up call that makes you realize how badly you need God and the Org. It’s meant to be incentive to repent, start following all the rules again, and beg for reinstatement. You want to see your loved ones again, don’t you? And they want to see you. That’s why they’re doing this, see, because they love you and care about you.

In the cult, love is used almost exclusively to hurt people.

[notebook-13]

BNHA History

Alright! I decided to assemble what we’ve been told about how society has changed since the advent of quirks. So here’s a rough timeline + my speculation.

Distant Past

≈200 years ago

The birth of a glowing baby signaled the beginning of superpowers. Considering the tremendous chaos that followed, I think it’s likely that the onset was fairly rapid—the glowing baby was the first of a lot of people all at once born with superpowers (or, it was the first baby born with a noticeable superpower). Crime skyrocketed, the law became meaningless, humanity came apart at the seams.

Why there was such an explosion of crime and chaos hasn’t been directly addressed; presumably it’s because early metas were violently shunned as nonhuman, and because new powers entailed the opportunity to use them.

Under these conditions, All for One rose to prominence. He used his meta power to win slavish loyalty, granting powers to those who desired them and removing them from metas who rejected them. His manipulation of his devotees was so great that he didn’t need to give them orders: they anticipated his will and acted on it. He didn’t tolerate dissent and crushed those who defied him. (ch193)

AfO’s period of de facto rule is not included in history books (he persists as a myth), so it’s unlikely that he occupied an official, publicly recognized position. But his rule apparently stretches from approximately the advent of quirks till the battle of Kamino Ward. (ch59)

However, AfO’s younger brother opposed him. AfO punished him by forcing on him a “useless” power-stocking ability. This power fused with the brother’s latent ability to transfer his ability, and the brother was able to pass it on. Over the next two centuries, the OfA holders continued to pass it on, largely to whoever happened to be nearby when they were dying instead of to selected proteges. (ch59, 257)

Relatively soon after the advent of superpowers, the police foreswore using them as weapons in order to keep the trust of the public. Vigilantes emerged to fulfill this role, attempting to mete out justice, and at some point the government authorized certain people (heroes) to use their powers offensively to enforce the law. Heroes were heavily criticized at first, but they eventually developed public support thanks to their strict adherence to the law (according to police chief Tsuragamae). (ch56)

According to the bnha spinoff Vigilantes, the government classified vigilantes into heroes or villains based on public opinion of them. (ch13)

MLA Era

How long ago was the Meta Liberation Army active?

Ch232: Redestro weakly implies that Destro was born before the beginning of heroes as a profession. This early date would also coincide with writing legislation to authorize heroes to use their powers to apprehend any other meta who used their ability.

Ch238: the MLA was in hiding for generations, plural.

Ch223: Redestro states the MLA has trained for “many generations”

So…somewhere between seventy years ago and more than a hundred years ago?

Regardless of the exact dates, Destro was born into a borderline period when there was intense prejudice against metas and official effort to coexist peacefully. When his mother defended him by claiming his power was a mere “quirk,” she was killed by a mob.

Sometime later, when the government drafted legislation to (supposedly?) promote peaceful coexistence, they recalled her idea of “quirk” and tried to use it as part of their reform. Destro, now an adult, opposed this and their reform, asserting that this was not the world his mother envisioned when she’d said “quirk.” (ch232)

He rallied metas to his cause, to bar any restriction of meta ability use, and the MLA fought the government for several years before defeat. It dissolved, many of its members in jail, including Destro himself. He penned his autobiography and then killed himself. (ch218)

Post-MLA, Pre-Symbol of Peace

Unknown number of years ago

Villain: “Seems like no one’s willing to break the law nowadays. All this whining about not selling out their friends. It’s a real pain. […] Man, I miss the days before All Might came along… I was young, and this country was a way more impulsive place.” (ch57)

Yagi: “I believed that this country needed a symbol so I started dashing headlong towards that goal. A shining light…hope. A wake-up call for everyone. As I ran, I swore I’d become that sort of man. People always had these worried looks. All the heroes in the world couldn’t slow the rising crime rates. Much more than now…they were truly scared.” (ch165)

This was an apparently cutthroat, impulsive period where efforts to curb chaos continued but found limited success. Crime was on the rise, something Yagi attributed to the idea that there wasn’t anyone (a “pillar”) for people to rely on. (ch93)

≈70 years ago

When Ujiko proposed his “paranormal singularity theory,” he was roundly rejected and mocked. Due to his own struggles with housing multiple quirks, AfO recognized how prescient Ujiko’s warning was, and he reached out to recruit Ujiko. (ch270)

(Note: Ujiko’s use of “paranormal” could mean he proposed his theory before “quirk” became the standard term, meaning “quirk” could be a rather recent change of language.)

≈35 years ago

AfO killed Nana. All Might was eighteen; he subsequently went to America to complete his training.

Symbol of Peace Era

≈30 years ago – Battle of Kamino Ward

Deku: “Ever since he appeared on the hero scene, his strength has won him undisputed popularity. Every year that he’s been active has seen a marked decrease in the appearance rate of villains. His existence alone is a deterrent to villainy.” (ch2)

Gran Torino: “[Stain’s] ideals and opinions…they’re gonna get out there. On the net. In papers and magazines. On TV. This age we live in, for better or worse, is one of suppression. But mark my words—people are gonna be influenced by this.” (ch57)

Shigaraki: “It’s not crazy to imagine that someone could commit an atrocity at any given moment. So why do they smile and mingle like this? Because the laws and rules are built on their individual morality, they’re convinced that ‘No one would ever do that.’” (ch69)

Shigaraki: “The reason these fools can smile and live their lives is cuz All Might’s always got that grin on his face. Smiling wide, as if to say there’s no one he can’t save!!” (ch69)

Deku: “All Might. Was there ever a time you really couldn’t save someone…?” Yagi: “…? … Sure. Plenty of times. Right now, somewhere out in the world, someone could be hurting or dying. It sucks, but I’m only human. I can’t save people who are out of my reach… That’s why I stand tall and smile. I’m the Symbol of Justice. The citizens…heroes…villains…I need to light the way for all of them.” (ch70)

Kid: “Nowadays people expect different things from heroes than they used to. It’s all about the entertainment factor and approval ratings.” (ch144)

Shigaraki: “You heroes pretend to be society’s guardians. For generations, you pretended not to see those you couldn’t protect and swept their pain under the rug. It’s tainted everything you’ve built. That means your system’s all rotten from the inside with maggots crawling out. It all builds up, little by little, over time. You’ve got the common trash, all too dependent on being protected. And the brave guardians who created the trash that need coddling. […] I don’t care if you don’t understand. That’s what makes us heroes and villains.” (ch281)

After about two centuries of chaos, Japan achieved stability after All Might established himself as the Symbol of Peace. All Might was specifically noted to have demolished most organized crime, so that villain teams were relatively rare (ch83, 115, 125). As Shigaraki put it, now people could go about their lives confident of their safety because All Might convinced them that everything will be alright, a hero will take care of them. This was true to the extent that people would flock to the sites of hero/villain battles to take photos and videos.

Whereas, as Twice put it, if you were on the wrong side of the law, then All Might’s catchphrase “I’m here” was a curse, something to fear and loathe. Gran Torino characterized this era as an age of suppression, as in, the symptoms were suppressed, producing superficial stability, but the underlying conditions hadn’t changed.

During this period, the industry of heroism shifted to over-emphasize heroism as public entertainment, rewarding attention-grabbing stunts and PR skills over humbler virtues.

This shift inspired Stain the Hero Killer to enact a purge of unworthy heroes in order to revive true heroism. He deeply impressed society, and, despite his murders, he became a popular figure. His ideals provoked some people to question whether society’s heroes were “true heroes,” while others disregarded his ideals and simply found him cool.

During this era, 80% of the population had a quirk. Whether that statistic was stable or if it was an effect of demographics (ie, most quirkless people are elderly and almost all kids have quirks) hasn’t been specified.

This era could be separated into All Might’s Bronze, Silver, and Golden Ages, each with a different costume.

≈30 years ago

All Might debuted in Japan, and he kicked off an unprecedented era of stability.

5 years ago

All Might fought and “killed” AfO.

Age of Endeavor

Battle of Kamino Ward – Present (ch283)

HPSC: “All Might had it all…power with enough charm to win the people over. The gulf between him and the perennial runner-up was always huge… I doubt we’re gonna find someone that charismatic again anytime soon.”  Mera: While we’re waiting for the next All Might, hero squads with a focus on team unity are gonna have to fill the gap. This order from up high is meant to make some headway on that front… (ch111)

Miyagi (newscaster): “If we’re being honest, I think All Might just got too big for our own good. So big that we lost sight of things. […] As for us, we shouldn’t just passively protect the status quo. Isn’t it our duty to bring back a culture of excitement around heroes?” (ch115)

Kid: “We know what’s up. Mom and dad and the TV all ask the same thing. ‘Are the heroes doing okay?’ …We know. We’re better than them!” (ch165)

Hawks: “That guy earlier, screaming ‘Long live metahuman liberation’…this [rumors of nomu sightings] is kinda like that. They republished some old-school criminal’s autobiography, and it’s flying off the shelves. I’m thinking that’s influencing people. That stuff tends to sell best when society’s feeling unstable, right?” (ch186)

Gentle: “What counts as a spectacle is a question for the current generation. We shall go to the source [UA]—the source that enchants our society.” (ch171)

Newscaster (surveying the stampede of fleeing civilians during Endeavor’s nomu battle): “This is society without a Symbol of Peace!!”  Can’tcha See-kun: “Stop saying that crap already!! Open your eyes before spouting off on TV! Especially at a time like this! Look! Those flames’re still rising up! You see ’em, right?! Endeavor’s alive and fighting!! So don’t give up just cuz the other guy’s gone! There’s still a dude out there risking it all for us!! Can’tcha see?!” (ch189)

Kuraishisu (newscaster): “In the past, a situation like this [the destruction of Deika City], where heroes were forced to make a difficult call, would have earned those same heroes criticism, but I suspect we may be witnessing a critical turning point in this era. A large-scale shift in opinion from criticism to passionate support.”  Uraraka: “Feels like everything’s different ever since the ‘Can’tcha See kid’ did his thing.”  Ashido: “It’s all cuz Endeavor kicked butt!” Mt. Lady: “Y’think the future’s bright? Not so fast!! It might seem like the winds of good fortune are blowing our way, but if you stop and think about the flip side of all this…it’s actually coming from a sense of urgency—it’s a response to danger! These cheers for the conquering heroes are really prayers—a plea that we emerge victorious! They’ve had enough of the showbiz side of heroism and want us to prove our worth for real now!” (ch241)

Mineta: “Not too long ago, she didn’t give a crap about anything except being on camera…” Aizawa: “Mt. Lady’s not the only one who has changed. Every hero out there is being pulled up by the number one’s rising ride.” (ch241)

After All Might retired, uncertainty gripped Japan as people wondered what would happen now. A strong consensus agreed that Endeavor wasn’t suited to fill All Might’s boots, something reflected in how the crime rate went up 3% in the month after Kamino, and reflected in how people suddenly became interested in reading the MLA ideology of rejecting heroes and protecting themselves.

During Endeavor’s battle against the nomu, the press attributed the public’s frantic stampede—ignoring heroes trying to guide evacuation—to the public’s lack of trust in Endeavor (and heroes generally) now that All Might was gone. Public trust improved after the nomu battle, especially thanks to Can’tcha See-kun.

Within a month after the battle, expectations shifted. People had enough of showbiz heroism and wanted the heroes to walk the talk and protect the public against villains, to the extent that comfortable armchair criticism was replaced a passionate support driven by fear of villains.

Miscellaneous Questions

When did “hero” become a recognized profession?

When did the hero ranking system begin?

When did the celebrity culture around heroes develop?

When did “quirk” come into common use?

How old is Yagi? How long ago did he debut in Japan and begin the era of peace?

How old is AfO? How long after the advent of quirks did he come to power?

When did AfO recruit Machia?

When were the nomu invented?

When did humanity pass the point of quirk singularity? (ch193)

[blufox234isadumbname]

day 100 of waiting since 1st jan, about the 185 since the first appearance on ocotber 7th, and possibly 178 days since the last

my essay on why the dreamon hunters would be nice to bring back on the SMP (mostly because I’m stubborn)

(foreword for this, i tried to get it proof read but no one has responded so i guess take the first draft, I’ll probably work on one more in depth if i have time but you get this instead, I’m also a bit rusty with my essay writing, this isn’t really a argumentative, because there’s not a valid counter argument but its no discursive either. It’s just being obsessed with Dreamon Hunters and very fixated on it coming back. This was written from two days ago, finished yesterday)

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7th of October 2020, a fateful day. With golden hoes digging etching a protective barrier, a fox draped in a vest and tie crouched along towards the quartz mansion. A kid much young is carefully behind him, luring an unknowing masked man to the dirt altar site. Fundy and Tubbo streamed their perspective of their Dreamon Hunting experience for a short subplot on the ever-popular Dream SMP. Amidst the political satire and the war-frenzied state the SMP was at the time, Dreamons lurk about within everyone. Dark, malicious sides of every soul, a part filled with nothing but twisted desires. It’s interesting ever since then, more unexplainable and supernatural things have popped up. Yet when these things are brought up, the Dreamon Hunters have only been mentioned barely by the members. Despite the teasing, not much activity from the Dreamon Hunters has actually been observed. It is a shame to see the Dreamon Hunters Campsite collect dust, merely another monument to pass by. However, hope seems to shine upon the seemingly abandoned concept of Dreamons on the Dream SMP, as DreamXD makes a more plot-relevant appearance. And so, Dreamon Hunters might be needed once more.

The Dreamon Hunters have much potential, there's already a good opportunity to use them. They are a group dedicated to eradicating all the Dreamons in the SMP. Many tend to associate them as a ghost-hunting type group. A group to observe, investigate and, of course, eliminate Dreamons. Adding onto the fact that the word “Dreamon” is merely a variation of “demons”, there’s an occult aspect to the Dreamon Hunters. Although, the supernatural and paranormal phenomena are not out of place for a Minecraft server, with an infectious Red Egg spreading influence and canonical voices living rent-free in one’s head. The Dreamon Hunters seem to be the type of group seeking out these enigmatic singularities, the type wanting to research these occurrences. After all, something must explain these things – it's only a matter of who will do it first? With most preoccupied in other affairs of abolishing governments and monitoring a prisoner, the Dreamon Hunters seem to a good candidate to get to the bottom of these bizarre circumstances. After all, they have a containment pit where they contain shit.

One of those supernatural occurrences, the very first of it actually, would be DreamXD. Canonically, DreamXD is a godly deity. An immortal creature beyond the mortal realm, only crossing over to please a simple dethroned mushroom king. DreamXD’s first-ever appearance on the SMP was caused by the Dreamon Hunters themselves; he was the result of an exorcism that split him and his counterpart, Dream, apart (albeit by a probably not canon method, as we send our condolences to the Fundywastaken shippers). If DreamXD continues to be more plot-relevant, it will become even more essential for the Dreamon Hunters to come back to light. After all, they were responsible for his current association of godhood mostly. Additionally, his slight side comments on pesky “hunters” hint towards their future involvement. Maybe they will find out more about the Dreamon, perhaps with George’s assistance. A further look into DreamXD’s history will be a further look into Dream himself, how they are connected and what exactly the smiley masked tyrant is doing with such a malevolent being. With the Dreamon Hunters actively looking into the Dreamon’s happenings, maybe more questions about the allusive Dream will be answered

With their adventures to reign in the supernatural, it will allow the Dreamon Hunters themselves to reveal more of themselves. The first of the Dreamon Hunters, Tubbo, has been notably focused on making sure Dream commits no other atrocities. Sooner or later, Tubbo will catch wind of DreamXD making rounds again. As a grand Dreamon Hunter, he would be inevitable. Dreamons upon his property, his home will obviously not be welcomed. When the situation doesn’t call for full-on nuclear warfare, he may as well don an old uniform and pick up that golden hoe again. All to ensure at least the most important people to him are safe. Micheal, Ranboo, Tommy, anyone he just about he cares for.

Adding onto that, his protégé will get the spotlight too. It was only recently that Fundy had gotten a plotline with attention; most of his arcs seem to not have a potential payoff until the recent “Fundy’s Mind” on 31st of March, 2021. It seems as though Fundy’s dreams can become a whole new subplot itself, alongside involvement with the Las Nevadas arc which it seems it will heavily relate. If Tubbo starts up the Dreamon Hunters again, he will most likely drag Fundy back in too. Dreamon Hunters was one of the few subplots he almost had an ample amount of screentime, his involvement much more prominent. Upon finding out a Dreamon is back again, he’ll most likely spring back into the hunting business too. Possibly a way to explain his premonition illness, to explain how these dreams seep into reality.

And let's not forget the most recent addition to the Dreamon Hunters – Sapnap. The closest to both the Dreamon’s possessed victim and to the one the Dreamon seems to swoon over. Sapnap, in the SMP, has not many associations, only the Kinoko Kingdom and his position as a prison guard. Sapnap has always been in the lore, though not as prominently as others. If the Dreamon Hunters start back up, Sapnap will have to face DreamXD, a malicious reflection of his friend. He and his relationship with Dream has always seemed important, so a chance to possibly help his friend would be appealing.

I’ve always liked their brief interactions, their motivations in the lore can be intertwined too. There’s even more common ground between other stories too, since each of the Dreamon hunters seemingly part of many other storylines. Tubbo with Snowcheseter possibly against the Syndicate, Sapnap a part of the Kinoko Kingdom and now Fundy with Las Nevadas in the future. The Dreamon Hunters can ties some knots together if only they came back officially. Whether it will come soon or even later, the Dreamon Hunters are too good of a potential plotline to leave out. Someday, they’ll return clad in dark cyan trenchcoats over crimson red sweaters, stitched with gold from radio frequencies. Someday, they’ll return with gilded axes and golden hoes already sharpened for a fight. Someday, the Dreamon Hunters will return, to get rid of one last pesky Dreamon.

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tldr: pls i just want my dear fundy tubbo and sapnap to come back please god i just want them back and hunt dreamons please please please i only partially care that george has something to do with it just please god-