#and ideological ones are a particular trigger

[earlgraytay]

this is your regular, cranky reminder that you are never going to get people to give up something that humans inherently do by guilting and shaming them.

no matter how strongly you feel that people ought to feel bad about doing something, and no matter how correct you are about whether or not they should feel bad.

shaming someone is an emotional attack. and the more vitriolic your attempt at shame is, the more vicious the attack is. most people, by the time they're adults, recognize this, and have built up various defenses against emotional attacks.

the only people that shame 'works' on the way you want it to work are not mentally well. they have moral OCD, or scrupulosity issues, or have been abused so badly that they do not feel like they have the right to have boundaries, or some combination of the three.

most people with healthy boundaries and healthy emotional responses will see your weaponized shame as an attack on them, and will react accordingly. and they are correct to do so. because part of having healthy boundaries is not letting random people emotionally attack you, regardless of how correct they are.

you can convince people that you are right and they are wrong. but the harder you try to make them feel ashamed, the less effective you're going to be. you're just gonna trigger a bunch of people who are mentally ill and make everyone else pissed at you.

[drdemonprince]

I've noticed a pattern in anticapitalist books I read (specifically I'm talking abt Mark Fisher here, in Capitalist Realism). They do this great anticapitalist analysis etc and then go on to critique their students? and sometimes it's a bit ableist? it's like all the critical thought goes out of the window and they cannot understand the situation because for once suddenly they are in the authoritative position. It always gives me this "I don't understand these kids, back in my day-" vibe, and I see this with lecturers at university too. like Mark Fisher maybe we can think outside the box about your student who "needs" headphones to focus in class "even though no music is playing". and maybe it's not to do with the "Matrix"(????) I'm well aware this was written in 2008 but it's weird that I see this pattern continue today. Not to mention Mark Fisher took part in some ableist studies, and was a guy with questionable intentions on occasion.

it's like you Just said that reducing labour is good why are you calling your students lazy, that's so unprofessional and privileged. I wonder of coincidence that he is anti-meds when his right wing, pro-eugenics, accelerationist friend was addicted to amphetamines.

Or even just the amount of people who have written books about laziness and anticapitalism (excluding you) and just saying the most contradictory shit ever?? or not following their own ideology???

Anyway, I wonder if, when writing Laziness Does Not Exist, you came across any of this and were equally as baffled.

Materialism is just *so* true that high-status academics don't have a vested class interest in seeing their student struggles as legitimate or in recognizing the struggles of disabled people in general. For many edgy academic leftists having the correct opinions is just a way to flex one's intellectual status, not a lived experience they give a shit about. I'm not shitting Fisher in particular in saying this, it's more that it's a really widespread problem in the culture of these kinds of (very white, very academic, very cishet) leftists communities. You see the same kind of thing among some of the Chapo stan types, too, you don't have to be specifically an academic to do it -- lots of people throwing around the r-slur and flexing on how much they have read and doing fuck all for the oppressed people around them. I tend to find it especially common among people who inherited leftism from their (often academic) parents? Whereas leftist communities populated by Black & brown anarchists and working class people tend to fare a lot better in this particular respect.

Note that I'm not saying a person's identities are a guarantee of them being any more radical -- there's lots of liberals lurking in our midsts of all identities for instance -- more that someone's orientation toward power tells you a lot. and unfortunately there is an approach to leftism that puts a lot of stock in either institutional power via the academy, or in a kind of soft power of intellectual authoritativeness that tends to punish anyone who is supposedly less well read, less intelligent, lazy, needs disability accommodations, has trauma triggers, or what have you.

The simple answer is that power and privilege obscures other people's challenges from you, and the desire to preserve one's power (be it actually institutional academic authority or just the status of the person who supposedly knows the most in the room) leads to a lot of oppressive behavior. a lot of these guys that you're talking about believe in communism sincerely but they don't have humility, they believe themselves to be superior to most everyone else. and they tend to be white guys from wealthy families who either do not have any disabilities of their own, or they have the undiagnosed intj mastermind rational flavor of autism that makes you feel incredibly alienated from others but interpret that alienation as a sign of your intellectual superiority. (i had this type but i got better. a little)

[childofthewolvess]

My experience with spiritual psychosis as a practicing pagan and how to recognize the signs of a psychotic episode in contemporary witchcraft practices.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: mentions of S/H, schizophrenic behaviors, psychosis, religious manipulation.

Buckle up, because this is going to be one hell of a ride.

A DEFINITION OF SPIRITUAL PSYCHOSIS - "Religious-spiritual crises include distress associated with the weakening or loss of faith, turbulent conversions, and affective states associated with negative spirituality. The differential diagnosis in regard to psychosis is often challenging... Although the crisis and psychosis groups scored similarly on perplexity, self-disorder, depression, and anxiety, the disturbance of social contact and cognition was observed only in psychosis" (Kállai & Kéri, 2020: Religious-spiritual crisis or psychosis? The impact of basic symptoms in the differentiation of prepsychotic states).

To summarize the above definition, Kállai & Kéri (2020) differentiated spiritual crisis with spiritual psychosis through one particular symptom: social withdrawal and disturbance of cognitive functions. If you Google the word "spiritual psychosis", you'll get a wealth of articles and websites cautioning on symptoms that aren't entirely accurate to spiritual psychosis. It is important to consider that spirituality, especially witchcraft and paganism, have been demonized since Christianization and it is integral to recognize that these beliefs still exist today. This heavily impacts spiritual psychosis and its diagnosis, especially within pagan communities, as there are still individuals who want to convince others that if they are a pagan, they must be ""clinically insane"" (I say this, as someone federally disabled from clinical OCD, PTSD, and ASD). It is super important to realize that a lot of people will point the fingers at pagans very quickly to say "HEY! That person is insane because they are talking to a god!" when the same person goes back home to pray every night to God and ask them for forgiveness. This isn't meant as an attack on Christians, but rather to point out the hypocrisy that can occur when this topic arises in religious spaces.

I say this, as a medicated, healthy, and healing individual who practices deity worship, work, tarot, astrology, and spirit work! Not all paganism is "spiritual psychosis", but there are definitely facets and wings of spirituality/neopaganism (in particular) that can lead right down the path of the red pill and psychosis to the right-wing ideology (looking at you, Grimm).

To begin my story: my spiritual psychosis took place pre-COVID, around 2017-2018 timeframe.

I also want to note that this is my experience; this experience does not define everyone who has experienced spiritual psychosis, nor meant as a diagnostic tool. I am simply here to share my story and hopefully spread awareness in the pagan community to help others recognize the signs of potential psychosis and ultimately make our community safer, more inviting, and more healthy.

I also want to make this ABUNDANTLY CLEAR: you do not have to have preexisting mental/emotional disabilities to experience spiritual psychosis.

Anyone can experience spiritual psychosis, and that's what makes it so incredibly dangerous! The above belief is what ultimately led to my downfall and unfortunate experience with psychosis, almost causing to my own death. I am not an individual with any preexisting mood disorders; I do not experience mania symptoms or psychotic symptoms, and never have, outside of this experience. When I was going through spiritual psychosis, I told myself that "this must be real, because I don't have BPD or mania or schizophrenia!" In my head, I was "happy and healthy", and I continuously told myself that because I was happy, it couldn't have been psychosis. It's also important to mention that I was 15-16 years old when I experienced this, so I was already within a vulnerable population to religious manipulation due to being in a rough mental state and exploring who I was as a teenager.

Please do not try to diagnose me in the comments. I am monitored and medicated by a physician, psychiatrist, and therapist, and have been evaluated again and again for mood disorders since this experience. I have consistently, multiple times, failed the diagnostic measures for disorders consisting of psychotic episodes, mania, or bipolar-type disabilities. Trying to diagnose someone actively experiencing spiritual psychosis and slapping a label on them will only make the problem worse, I PROMISE. Same goes for individuals in recovery from psychosis.

On a similar note, if a loved one is going through spiritual psychosis, and needs help, simply telling them that it's "not real" or that they're in psychosis will probably not work; it didn't work on me, at least. What I needed was medical intervention, and this problem marinated in my head for over a year because of negligence and ignorance to the severity of my state. Telling someone with spiritual psychosis that they have spiritual psychosis WILL NOT WORK, I promise. Reach out to their doctor, a hotline, or a professional in a medical field if you suspect a friend or loved one is in a psychotic episode. Please, for me—don't try to play the savior, because they might think they are the savior.

That being said, I also will say that OCD can share a lot of similarities with BPD, and I've talked to a ton of fellow OCD-ers that have had spiritual psychosis experiences.

I will also mention that certain chemicals or medications can influence the onset of spiritual psychosis! At this time, I was struggling through a lot of menstrual issues, and was placed on a oral birth control (progesterone) that was notorious for causing delusion, with users of the hormone reporting that "they literally felt like they were going insane". I snapped out of my spiritual psychosis the second I went off the medication. This is not to blame pharmaceuticals or scream out to the void that medicine is bad (I am happily medicated and monitored by a doctor, psychiatrist, and therapist now!) but to emphasize that outside influences can, and will, encourage the onset of spiritual psychosis.

Here is a list of some of the events, symptoms (unique to me), and beliefs I held during my spiritual psychosis. I've bolded critical drivers of my episode.

I was a "Christian witch" at this time, and believed that I was a lightworker sent by God among a group of 20 or so individuals to "heal" others

I was socially withdrawn, without any true friends. I had one online friend at the time, who was also going through spiritual psychosis with me, making this problem much worse.

I was constantly compulsion-checking (OCD) for signs such as angel numbers, words, messages, to the point where I could not concentrate because of the desparate need for reassurance

I was obsessed with the concept of talking to and doing spellwork on real people in the astral to "heal them", and it gave me a sense that I was not alone; this was not consensual to these people, who I did know in real life, and I was convinced that was okay, because...

I believed in twin flame ideology, which I have consistently not only seen mentioned from other survivors of spiritual psychosis, but often encourages toxic relationships, abuse, and stalking.

I thought I was an earth angel who had a past life as an angel. This included delusions so severe that I thought I could "feel my wings" and that I "wasn't meant to be on earth" (this can slip so quickly into su*cidal ideation, and it did for me)

I created my own world in my head that I would meditate to enter, essentially, where I had an entire family of spirits taking care of me, including my "future kids" (I had internalized homophobia)

I could not sleep, function, and barely could eat. This is a defining, tell-tale sign of any form of psychosis: I was so obsessed with meditating and entering the astral realm, that I was completely dissociated from the real world. In a sense, I was not existing in the physical world, at all.

I could hear and see "spirits" who would tell me uncomfortable things. They would appear as voices in my head that I didn't want there, but believed I had to let be there if I wanted to continue on my path as a healer.

I had gone from a state of depression so badly that I was unable to function, to "happy and healthy" in my psychotic mania during this. If you find yourself quickly turning from a down to an up, be aware.

I thought I was pregnant with a spirit unconsensually. This one I will say with certainty (and love): guys, please, if you think you have a spirit child and you are the equivalent to the modern-day Virgin Mary, please walk yourself into the nearest ER.

I was obsessed with conservative, right-wing beliefs to the point where it was the only media I consumed. This was also in-part because I grew up on military bases, but most definitely worsened during my psychosis.

I believed I was more important than others to God, my life had more value.

I could go on, but I think these bullets sum up my experience pretty well.

How I recovered and realized my spiritual psychosis episode, and what that looked like.

This is where it can get extremely dangerous! I was lucky enough to have my driving factor as a medication, but that was not the sole influence.

I kid you not: I woke up one morning after switching meds, realized that it was literally all in my head, and entered the worst depressive episode I've ever had in my life, to this day. I was unable to sleep from paranoia, struggled eating, would refuse to talk to my parents, and was terrified of anything to even remotely do with religion. It got to the point where I was, quite literally, on my death bed. The only thing that saved me was going into therapy and establishing connections, getting diagnosed with OCD, and ultimately, aging and maturing.

The story of my recovery is a much, much longer road with unrelated events, so I won't go into that. But I will emphasize that this event almost caused me my life on a few occasions, and led to a multi-year journey to reexplore spirituality, morality, and religion. It took me years upon years to recover, and I believe that I did the right thing: if you ever have spiritual psychosis, take a step back for awhile and evaluate first what caused the psychosis, what your symptoms were, and identify your coping strategies and networks to avoid the situation reoccurring in the future.

Spiritual psychosis is dangerous, it's scary, and it's not talked enough in pagan communities. I think my end-all advice for this post would be just that above: be aware, be educated, and be monitored by a medical team. If you are ever hearing things you don't want to hear, thinking your gods are upset at you (they're not, I promise), experiencing mania or depressive symptoms, please please please speak to a medical professional or something you love and trust.

Today, I am an eclectic Hellenic/Norse pagan with spirit guides and gods who I have boundaries with. My healthy spiritual practice looks like being grounded in my body, in nature, my friends around me, my family, and most importantly, maintaining good mental health. It includes working a job I love, telling stories of nature to others (I'm a tour guide/naturalist), and writing. I go to therapy weekly, I'm medicated, and I actively take steps to heal and recognize how my psychosis impacted both my spirituality, religion, and path. Recovery is possible. You are never alone.

I'm more than happy to open conversation about this topic and answer any questions! Please also feel free to correct me on anything I said.

I'm hoping this helps someone who needs to hear it, spreads awareness, and most importantly, promotes healthy religious practice. I'd like to thank my deities (Loki and Aphrodite) for encouraging me to make this post and speak up about my experience <3 It's always wonderful to have a spiritual team that is truly on my side.

Blessed be, my friends! Stay happy and healthy!

[cherryg]

For the past months there has been a storm of bad internet bills this year, now it’s not just the EARN It Act or KOSA but now a bill just like EarnIt called STOP CSAM.

There has also been overwhelming support on KOSA with some news articles claiming that groups who once opposed KOSA supports it now.

It also now has 36 cosponsors with a group called Design it For US saying they are going to lobby for it to get more cosponsors to sign the bill in the senate in July along with pushing a markup for the bill.

This group is dedicated to protect children online which is a good thing but they also have huge misguided support for KOSA.

There are also bad pro censorship groups like NCOSE and The heritage foundation supporting this bill as well

KOSA was supposed to protect kids online but this will actually give state attorneys power to dictate what could be recommended for kids.

This is a huge issue because this will give bigots and transphobic people power to use this against lgbt and trans content censoring them entirely.

Major proof from this is that a far right group called the heritage foundation recently came out with this tweet. Last year they created an article stating why the support KOSA (KidsOnlineSafetyAct) and it’s not pretty at all.

/Warning/ if this stuff triggers you feel free to skip this part until you see a green check mark

TW: Transphobia

✅

Some groups that support KOSA claims that the state attorney stuff in the legislation has been “watered down” and that all concerns are “addressed”

but it’s kinda hard to believe when you have groups that have these kinds of dangerous and close minded views behind statements on how they are gonna use this particular bill to censor content from groups of people they hate.

Also, support was so huge that Dove is also advocating for it with Lizzo https://www.fightforthefuture.org/actions/tell-lizzo/

Also if you want more information and facts on why KOSA may not be a good idea. You can find more info here https://fair.org/home/these-bills-will-make-children-less-safe-

Meanwhile a few senators are trying to push the EarnIt act along with its sister bill called STOP CSAM. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/stop-csam-act-would-put-security-and-free-speech-risk

While stopping csam is a great idea, these bills are bad for privacy and increase government surveillance. It’s also a section 230 carve out and will hurt creativity and free speech and expression. It’s also dangerous for everyone in a lot of ways. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/06/15/lgbtq-earn-it-act-risks-online/70247956007/

Please everyone, call your senators and tell them to oppose these bad internet bills!

( I’m sorry guys if this is badly made I’m currently rushing, I will be updating this post more and adding in more information)

[granulesofsand]

Daily Deterrents: Escape Programs

We’ve been in a position to take notes on our symptoms, which we weren’t at the start of last semester. It gives us the chance to talk about some of the programs we’ve encountered, which are triggered by ‘escaping’ (they know where we are and show up as they like, but our brain didn’t get the memo).

This is a non-exhaustive list, and we’re only going in depth about the ones we’ve had success undoing. We will include some potential cues. Please consider whether you’re prepared to proceed.

You’re free: a wandering program that resembles dissociative fugue. Upon realizing we have been left alone for longer than our set limit, an alter fronts who has been taught to walk along the nearest road. The particular set of directions may have been from one group property to another, but the roads around here don’t have so many intersections to turn at. A word and gesture can also trigger this program.

This was taught by chasing the alter home in a car. They had to get there within a set time, then had to take that speed without knowing the destination.

The utter lack of cars helps, and then we had to show them there was no punishment for breaking the rules. Now, they only start walking by habit and stop on their own once they realize they’re doing it.

Here or dead: another timed or cued program, two small groups of alters argue whether we are still with our perps or have died to escape. It’s a constant loop with voices talking over each other, and was intended to trigger suicide programs after a certain repetition.

This one was ingrained deep. We don’t know all the instances they used to teach it, but it was a regular lesson. The triggered suicide programs we worked on earlier, a similar pattern of demonstrating safety and giving them choices.

The alters who argued were given very black-and-white thinking, and the agreement was reached using that. They were both right and both wrong, having gotten their sides from a lie. They both cared more about being right than maintaining the program, so they joined up and work together to deprogram.

No eating: we have several punishment programs revolving around our right to eat; having earned it, what we can consume, being sinful for requiring food. It kept us weak and enforced harmful ideology. The individual programs had different triggers, and we’re working through them one by one.

Creating healthy relationships with food is both very hard and surprisingly easy; some of the less enforced programs could be built over, and the proof we could do it was that it was done. We eat out of spite, and some of us cook for fun.

The harsher programs came with a lot more trauma. Meat is still too much sometimes. We like to know where it came from, how it lived, how it died. Even then, the smell of it — raw or cooked — takes getting used to.

No noise: both for crying and telling, several trainings went into the same program. It felt like being smothered, then had repeating phrases, then felt like breathing smoke. It kept us from reacting to flashbacks or processing the emotions of new events.

It’s not a secret that some groups literally use pillows over very young children’s faces to stop their crying. The words were repeated during that, and they added to them as we got older.

The telling was an extension of that base; layered on it was fire torture that still feels like a face full of smoke. It burns and stinks, and our family was generationally taught this way. We could tell our mother was feeling emotional when she complained of woodsmoke.

We had to find alters internally to get them out of their flashbacks. Some were snapshots of that moment in time, others held more. Showing them in the body that there was no smoke, that they could breathe. Some of them we taught to use the inhaler — I have no idea if it does anything for the body memories, but it makes them feel like they’ve taken action.

Thirsty: we might have actually developed some kind of disorder about this, but at least a portion came from enforced ideology. Our demonic alters were taught that water would burn them, and their angelic counterparts were told it was a test of faith to go without it.

I can’t say I know what they gave the demons to get that reaction — we paired some of their higher ups with more front-facing alters to prove it was neither holy water nor running water, and they felt what it was like without the pain.

The angels we’re still working to convince. The goal is to have them believe their deity is kind and wouldn’t want them to suffer, but they’ve been heavily conditioned to fight it. Currently, we let them leave if we’re breaking the rules, and while they don’t like it, it’s been accepted.

Restless: our body is pushed into survival mode when we should be getting tired. The Spooks make themselves known, and we feel like we’re falling when we start to drift off.

The Spooks are alters shaped like shadow monsters. They rarely do anything but idle around, but we get confused about whether they’re inside or out.

The falling is a snapshot of one of the times our family pushed us off a structure. It was short enough, about a story, but it’s an extended version of the falling dreams. I think they tried to put us on a carnival ride for the effect, but it didn’t take.

Making our room safe is a big chunk of the work. We had to do it for other memories anyway, and we’ve made a spot with rugs and pillows by our bed to lie down on and feel the floor. The Spooks are still kinda there, but they’re assigned to zookeepers and tended to. It helped us to see them existing in less threatening situations, eating fruit and getting pets. They’re vaguely horse-like and friendly enough.

Conclusion

While a few paragraphs don’t capture the effort of reclaiming a system, it is a process to undertake. Some alters are trained to resist with backup programming, some are just struggling to catch up after so many years.

So much of deprogramming relies on communication and respect, and every alter on board is a new perspective to augment the process. Every alter deserves to know a life of healing, actively because of how they are without it. It does work, even if it’s slow-going, and your system is worth fighting for.

[miss-mania]

In the early days of COVID, before any infections reached the US or Australia, I was telling everyone I could that based on the available data at the time that the situation was going to be absolutely disastrous. That unless something were done and severe measures taken quickly it would be too late to prevent an unfathomable amount of death and illness, but that I did not believe that the western capitalist paradigm would allow for such a response.

One of the things I would tell the people I know is that within a few years many people's lives would be divided into two periods; before the pandemic began and after. I even UNDERESTIMATED the number of deaths there have been thus far. I also would tell people the preventative measures that could be taken place, absorbed every new piece of information I could about COVID, and the most effective measures recommended by researchers to disinfect surfaces and prevent infection and spread of the disease.

A lot of people thought I was being a doomer. I was just being realistic, and the people who I told tend then to take these warnings more seriously now but plenty of people seem to be in denial regarding the severity of the damage COVID did and the threat it continues to pose because they were in the privileged position of not being personally too affected by it, and frankly some are so utterly fixed in the mindset capitalism has burned into the the very core of their being from birth that they actually cannot imagine how the global response could have been better and how the worst of it could have been avoided.

What I'm getting at is this: while we continue to be impacted by COVID both in terms of new infections and long-term health effects, we are staring down the barrel of another global pandemic. H5N1 has been around for a long time but in the last several months it has displayed a marked increase in pathogenicity and lethality in multiple mammalian species ranging from cows to penguins to seals and more in unprecedented levels. It is not a matter of if this virus will evolve and recombine in a way that will trigger a pandemic that makes COVID seem like a picnic, under the death cult of capital it is a matter of when. It is a matter of time.

Our governments will continue to do exactly what they have done under COVID; take the minimal precautions and delayed measures necessary only to keep the gears turning, while the sacrifice of the underpaid "essential worker" and the culling of the vulnerable continues, normalized and unabated.

I have no solutions to this particular parts of the problem and frankly I'm probably not knowledgeable or articulate enough that I should even be making this post. I do however believe that we should personally do whatever we can to prepare and protect the people around us. Get PPE and prep in advance, over time so as to not strain the supply when things escalate. Be mindful of washing your hands and being hygienic. Don't be around other people if you know you're sick or have been exposed. Mask up in public spaces. This is the bare minimum in terms of personal responsibility.

But I also believe that under a system so utterly corrupt and reprehensible that it considers millions of deaths to be merely the price to pay to continue with business as usual, which deems inconsequential the lives of those who for various reasons can't or won't devote themselves to it and extol its virtues, and which facilitates the growth of ideologies that venerate cruelty and exalt puerile displays of individualism above the safety of the whole, that it is an absolute moral imperative to rebel and live as much of your life divorced from that system as you possibly can.

Hang on to each other <3

[eretzyisrael]

by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi

Today, the Islamic State's al-Furqan media released a new speech from Islamic State spokesman Abu Hudhayfa al-Ansari. The speech, entitled "And kill them wherever you find them" (taken from Qur'an 2:191), focused primarily on the Israel-Gaza war but was a very predictable reiteration of the group's talking points: (i) that the battle in Palestine is a religious war against Jews, and not one about liberation to establish a national homeland, (ii) denunciation of the various 'nationalist' Palestinian factions and those like Hamas aligned with the broader Iranian-led 'resistance' axis, which is utilised by Iran as a Shi'i expansionist project that is no less dangerous if not more so to Islam and Muslims than the state of Israel, (iii) the various Sunni Arab governments are 'apostate' entities that are part of the Jewish-'Crusader' alliance against Islam, (iv) the correct form of jihad is one the Islamic State pursues to establish the rule of God's law, and fighting all the disbelievers.

Within this context, the Islamic State has now launched a new expedition entitled "Kill them wherever you find them," beginning with claiming responsibility for the two bombings that took place on in the hometown of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force commander Qasim Sulaymani on the fourth anniversary of his assassination by the Americans. As soon as the sheer scale of the killing of people in such an indiscriminate terrorist attack, it became evident to me that the bombings were likely an Islamic State operation (though it is always wise to wait and see if the group claims a particular attack). Blaming Israel for the incident, as John Hopkins professor Vali Nasr did, was frankly ludicrous. It is simply not Israel's modus operandi to engage in such terroristic acts inside Iran: rather, Israel pursues carefully targeted killings for specific goals like undermining Iran's nuclear program. The suggestions that the attacks might have been an inside Iranian job also struck me as ridiculous.

These attacks illustrate the Islamic State's unchanging basic worldview and that it is ultimately a marginal player in wider regional geopolitics. The Islamic State pursues an ideologically purist agenda based on fighting all others who do not share its rigid political program, wherever it is possible for the group's members and supporters to do so. Ultimately, this amounts to the same old messaging and the same old tactics. While there was concern that these bombings would somehow trigger further 'regional escalation,' they are in reality a sideshow, especially now that the Islamic State has officially claimed the attacks.

Below is the statement by Islamic State claiming responsibility for the Iran bombings, translated by me.

As part of the 'And kill them wherever you find them' expedition: the killing and wounding of more than 300 of the idolatrous Rafidites [Shi'a] in a dual martyrdom operation [suicide bombing] in Iran.

Iran: Thursday, 22 Jumada al-Akhira 1445 AH

Through granting of success by God Almighty, and as part of the 'And kill them wherever you find them' expedition, two martyrdom operative brothers- Omar al-Muwahhid and Sayf Allah al-Mujahid (may God Almighty accept them both)- headed yesterday towards a great gathering of idolatrous Rafidites, near the tomb of their hypocrite leader 'Qasim Sulaymani' in the town of Kerman in southern Iran. There, they blew up their explosive belts amid their gathering. This resulted in the killing and wounding of more than 300 idolatrous Rafidites. Thanks and praise be to God.

May the idolatrous Rafidites know that the mujahidin lie in wait for them and their projects, by the permission of God Almighty.

[liskantope]

God, Freddie deBoer can be such a dick. Both this, and a proclivity for uncharacteristically careless and weak arguments, seem to be a risk whenever the triggering (extremely, for him) topic of mental illness awareness culture is involved, to the point that he's defending a ton of questionably ambiguous interpretations of another writer's language, where properly objective analysis would involve a carefuller look at the nuances of meaning of "deal with alcohol abuse"*, "moved to LA to become an actor" (as opposed to, perhaps, "became an actor in order to get to LA"), "embraced an eating disorder" versus "committed to my blossoming eating disorder with the diligence of a pious saint [within the framework of being addled by the disorder!]", and "diagnosis shopping". This kind of thing is incredibly sloppy on FdB's part, and it's hard to say that it's fueled more by his (in my opinion righteous) antipathy towards the "mental illnesses/disorders are inspiring and made me what I am today" ideology than by mean-spiritedness towards certain people who cross him. I'm a paid subscriber who can participate in the comments sections, but I think I'd better stay out of these ones (FdB is not known for his kindness towards commenters who disagree with him either).

I've often compared FdB's triggered behavior around this mental illness stuff to Scott Alexander's triggered behavior around feminism circa ten years ago, but Scott's decreased capacity for even-handed rigor and occasionally overly-harsh language never came close to anything like this. There is such a palpable underlying niceness to Scott that, I think, would make it impossible for him to be this unkind. Scott also was able at times to demonstrate self-awareness about his lack of objectivity.

*No, there's a difference between a young person drinking from time to time in an irresponsible or even abusive way, and a history of "dealing with alcohol abuse". This distinction is somewhat related to my recent suggestion that speech/behavior which is X (in particular for X = some bad thing) doesn't necessarily make a person themself X.

[spiritofwhitefire]

The Mourning of Tenko Shimura: or how one’s identity can be warped by childhood trauma and abuse

I want to begin by saying that it isn’t at all unusual for someone to change dramatically between childhood and adulthood. Often times the kid that we were feels, not necessarily like a stranger, but the memory of someone who we once knew. Of course there are usually certain similarities that carry through life, but change is natural, and though a good friend might be able to recognize you from a childhood photo, it is unlikely that you’ll have much in common with that kid as an adult.

Something that exacerbates those changes is trauma and abuse during our formative years. There are multiple behavior and developmental effects that can be triggered by those experiences and, as some of you may not be aware, there can actually be physical traits that develop after these experiences as well.

In this post I would like to talk about the effects of Shigarakis trauma and abuse on both his personal development, personality formation and his physical appearance (which changes dramatically throughout the duration of the manga) and the way all of that relates to his narrative journey.

In the most recent manga panel, shigaraki finally regains his personality and acknowledges that he and Tenko are one person with the same goals (though that goal should be taken with a grain of salt). We as the readers already knew they were one person though, what with all the panels of a young Tenko being restrained within Shigaraki’s possessed body, a fantastic representation of one’s inner child.

Now let’s take a look at Shigaraki’s initial presentation, which takes us back to the USJ arc.

Shigaraki initially presents himself as a frail, pale haired man who covers himself in desiccated hands, obscuring every vulnerable part of his body almost like armor. In other words, creepy, but not particularly threatening. In particular the choice to obscure his face feels rather vulnerable. Our face is a huge part of our identity, he doesn’t want to be known by others, nor does he particularly want to connect with them in any way outside of a shallow social role or hero v. Villain.

His demeanor is erratic, emotional, unconfident, almost fearful. And oddly, a bit excited as well! For example I find the way he fixated on how “cool” eraserhead is rather charming. Honestly I found it strange that he was mocked for being a “man-child” because at 20, I would personally say that he is still absolutely a child. 20 is young! And as we now know, he was also a particularly isolated and oddly sheltered child.

From what we can garner based on the glimpses we’ve been given of his living situation and the earlier years he spent with AFO, he was kept very much removed from the rest of the world and not given any opportunity to socialize. Socialization is (obviously) very important in child development. It’s how we learn to process complicated emotions, intense stimuli, how we learn direct communication and decision making skills. It’s also how we learn to create our own individual identity.

Growing up isolated with only one man’s lessons, ideology and world view as a point of influence is THE IDEAL situation for a groomer. He wouldn’t have any opportunity to gather outside perspective or make his own decision, everything would be fed to him from AFO’s pov. It also ensures he will remain emotionally stunted and therefore vulnerable to manipulation.

His physical appearance also very much suggests that of a malnourished child. He’s pale, frail, his shaggy hair is unkempt and he wears red converse like a skater kid. He looks like an abused teenager and I find it difficult not feel a bit of sympathy looking at him.

I have to say that Shigaraki’s backstory was probably the moment when this manga/ anime started being like… ok there’s something really special going on here.

Tenko when we first meet him is a very kind, gentle, ordinary little boy. Initially he is black haired and grey eyed, with the same skin condition as he had in adulthood though not as severe (seemingly). Tenko is abused prior to his encounter with AFO which sets the stage for the tragedy to come. His father is harsh with him, and he clearly feels unsafe in that house, he even tells his mother that the “itching” is worse when he’s at home. Shigaraki’s skin condition does double duty as both a metaphor for his grief and rage as well as a very literal drawback to his quirk.

The tragedy of what happens to Tenko is the same tragedy as is the case with everyone in the league: there are multiple points where his trajectory could have been changed. If his father had been able to accept his desire to become a hero, if his family had stood up for him, of his father had apologized in time, if after everything happened someone had reached out when he was on the streets. But no one did, and that’s how a lot of kids end up in a bad place. No one steps in.

I find it fascinating how his appearance changes upon the development of his quirk. I’m not going to bother looking at this from a real world standpoint because that’s insane, but there are multiple thematic reasons for the change in appearance. Essentially many of the physical traits that are given to Tenko after his traumatic event go into making him look dead. His skin is very pale and tight, and the scars make him appear much older than he is, the hair being a light blue and the red eyes also create a very otherworldly appearance, something supernatural even in a supernatural world. Ironically, his appearance after his trauma probably was part of the reason no one wanted to help him. He looked scary, which is very sad considering how frightened he was.

By the time the MVA arc occurs shigaraki has already changed dramatically. The forced removal of AFO from his life as well as the introduction of a group of likeminded comrades and his introduction as a true leader has instilled in him the beginnings of a maturity and confidence he didn’t have previously. The placement of the hands he wears changes and he begins wearing that dramatic matrix coat. His hair grows and he begins at least attempting the planning for his missions himself. However, the big change in him doesn’t happen until his battle with Redestro.

The memory of his origin seems to cause him to double down on his destructive impulses. James Baldwin says that hatred is much easier to deal with than pain; and this is true. Shigaraki’s anger and hate is so much a fixation for him that he’s made it his whole personality, but in reality it’s because he is riddled with guilt and grief. He’s lost so much and he blames himself for what happened to his family even though we know it was an accident. He becomes vicious in this fight, almost joyfully so and his confidence reaches an all time high, even falling easily into his new role of head of the PLF. But all of it is just a power fantasy to detract from the very warped self image he has created for himself. He truly believes because of his quirk that the only thing he is capable of is destruction and villainy. It’s easier to just buy into that than to try to create a whole different image of himself and try to convince others that he is worthwhile. He doesn’t even believe that is possible because of his childhood.

I’m going to be such a thirsty bitch here for a second but GOD does he look amazing in this arc 🥵 His hair turns fully white and he suddenly becomes like jacked. He dresses in a suit and gangster cape. He is meant to finally begin to take on the appearances of an adult, a powerful one at that. He looks like a king, he looks like a god. (Yes yes I will go directly to horny jail). But the thing is that narratively he does fit into the archetype of a boy king or a young god, someone born to great power who does not yet have the wisdom to wield it.

(It’s so insane he doesn’t even look like the same guy from the first picture)

When he comes out of the Gatorade tube he’s even more buff and even more confident and honestly, he finally LOOKS like a villain, someone we should be afraid of. This is also when he starts falling apart as AFO’s quirk begins to take over his body.

There’s something viscerally frightening about the way that AFO goes about this possession. He has to have been planning this almost since he first took Tenko, he raises this kid to be a vicious, hate filled man, trained him to even mimic his mannerisms and forced him into isolation so no one would help him. He took so much form him and then finally, he takes his body.

What follows is a terrifying example of body horror as Shigaraki fights for control of his own fucking body and mind. His hair grows longer, his scars begin to disappear and his body twists itself into terrifying shapes as the two personalities clash. The erasure of Shigaraki’s own features reflects a groomer’s method of taking away everything unique about their victim as they continue to impose more of their will. His body becomes a battlefield. In the end though ironically it’s that hate that frees Shigaraki, because hated AFO so much that he was able to overcome him. But he’s still stuck in the mental cage that was put in place long ago.

What follows now is that Shigaraki, having come to terms with his past as Tenko must begin to relearn himself and come to terms with his own trauma. Easier said than down of course and he will need a lot of help to do so. The abuse and loss of his identity will make it difficult for him to figure out who he really is but that will be part of the healing process. Hatred leaves a nasty wound in the body, but all wounds can heal with time and eventually the pain will fade as well. He is reaching adulthood, and as all children do, he will have to carve out his own path for the first time in his life as Tenko Shimura and as Tomura as well, because in the end, they are one in the same.

[transgenderer]

i’m inclined towards disgust and i don’t really feel disgust towards trans people, so i can tell you the role disgust plays in my radfem ideology. when i first got on the internet and discovered trans people, i was wholeheartedly supportive and did not feel disgust at all. in the intervening decade or so i hit puberty and was sexually harassed regularly to different degrees by strangers and friends alike, until i developed a strong and finely honed instinct for sexual predators. i’m not saying it never led me wrong - i can’t prove a negative, after all, if i listen to my instinct i avoid interacting with the person and never get the opportunity to be proven wrong - but when i do ignore my instinct for other reasons, i usually end up regretting it.

i was a rationalist first and a radfem second, and when i was younger i tended to look at things from a logical perspective and assume good faith when analysing what someone says instead of making assumptions based on gut feelings i can’t prove. this resulted in me being groomed and taken advantage of.

for whatever reason, a number of trans women trigger this instinct in me. it could be a false flag but out of self interest i choose not to overcome this bias. there used to be a sub r/itsafetish that documents examples of trans women fetishizing womenhood but it was banned. even now, on trans subreddits, you can see examples of transwomen being sexually aroused by things like wearing a bra or sanitary pads.

(its not fair to generalise trans women based on them, but i draw a line between my beliefs personally and my beliefs in the - for lack of a better word - realpolitik sense. for instance i think that trans people should be able to use whichever gender-specified facilities they feel comfortable with without fear, but i also think that realistically i think that homeless shelters, dormitories, prisons and such should be based on biological sex and not gender. there are enough examples of trans women raping other women in female prisons that i personally think its not worth the risk.)

but i digress. radical feminists as a whole are women who understand the role of instinct and disgust in keeping you safe. sometimes these instincts are a reflection of personal biases or societal constructs, and sometimes not. that’s why there’s also a lot of emphasis on resisting and noticing emotional abuse, in particular gaslighting, as well as validating people who establish boundaries over any minor reason whatsoever out of discomfort.

that’s the difference terfs have from conservatives. at it’s core, it’s still a kind of bleeding heart emphasis on emotions. conservatives use their emotions for rhetoric but don’t validate feelings the same way. terfs’ beliefs are rooted in their emotions but their rhetoric is less “isn’t this disgusting? do you really trust these people around your daughter?” and more relying on empathy/sympathy like “i knew this trans person and this happened”.

i’m sorry if my messages made you uncomfortable. i deliberately follow trans people in addition to radfems so i don’t end up in an echochamber. (i also follow r/sneerclub in addition to r/rational, and slatestarcodex in addition to r/catsaysmao.) i hope you won’t go out of your way to block me.

i mean...i think "i can tell if people are dangerous based on vibes, i dont hate [group], they just give me dangerous vibes" is like...one of the main types of prejudice? like. literally for thousands of years people have been saying "this group is going to harm our fragile women, we need to hurt them to stop that". like. i think it might be useful to take the outside view here, and think to yourself what about this feeling would be different than a white woman who thinks black men are a threat to her, and so shouldnt get to use the same train car or whatever. like whatever if trans women skeeve you out you shouldnt *force* yourself to interact with us, obviously. but like. i dont think you should accept that feeling uncritically?

i guess the core of this is like. i dont believe that your "instinct for sexual predators" is actually finely honed. i think its probably sending a ton of false positives. like maybe recall is high but precision is bad.

[icebearfromnorthpole]

Phewww!! The Kerala story has definitely got potential to trigger some people!! So here is all i got to say !!

It is just a MOVIE guys! Just a movie, which highlights the particular incidents of girls being manipulated to join terrorist organisations from Kerala! And yes shouldn’t we talk about it!? But the problem is that we are only talking about the film and not what the core messaging of film is!!

It targets muslims!? Yeah probably because the main antagonist was one! I mean are u that dumb!? Can’t u see it targets the society, the parents of the girls who could not make her confident enough to speak about what wrong has been done to her and rather went on to believing ki wearing hijab would save them!! Why could not the society make her believe that if she shouts and ask for help they won’t judge her, rather the wrong doer would be punished!?

More than the propaganda and all, y don’t we realise it also talks about what all they have suffered!?

Ye agar ek bhi ladki k saath hua tha , to film ban ni chahiye thi, akhbar m articles chhapne chahiye the, kitabein likhi jani chahiye thi! Didn’t we do the same for NEERJA !? Ek hi to jaan gyi thi!? Fir bhi baat hui thi na!?

And yes a lot such projects have already been made

Article 15 ( antagonist non muslim)

No one killed jessica ( antagonist non muslim)

Delhi crime ( antagonist non muslims)

To bhai esi movies/ series to hmesha se banti aai hain! Jo gunhegaar hoga uski ko tehraya jayega na!?

Why is it such hauwa this time!??

Yes, forced conversions were done! Girls were made victims by muslims in this particular incident! Kya ye baat galat hai!? Nahi!!

Kya ISIS hindu chalate hain!? Nahi !! Its full form is ISLAMIC state of iran and syria!!

Yahan gunhegaar musalman they, ek islamic kattar wadi ideology thi to thi!! Y take it against all!? Mujhe nhi pata !! Apki kam budhi pr mujhe taras ata hai!!

Rather than sympathising with victims and promising to never let it happen again, we are fighting again!! Wohoooo!! Pata nhi kisne itni samjhdari se shadiyantra racha , but kamyaab hua!!

Take the learnings:

Ese hi kisi ki bhi baton mein mat aya kro , do ur own homework

Speak against anyone who is wrong be it HINDU,MUSALMAN,SIKH,ISAI etc etc.

Ab bhi kisi ko mujhe ISLAMOPHOBIC kehna hai, to apka swagat hai!!🙃😙👍🏻

[yeyinde]

Hi! Hope you're doing well. I just have to say that you're my favorite writer and a huge inspiration to me. Everything you write, even the small little snippets, just make me so happy.

Are you by chance still doing the WIP snippets? Cause I go feral for Jacob Seed, and when I saw you had a WIP for him I can honestly say I almost fell out of my chair.

Hiya! This is so sweet!! Thank you so much 🖤😭

Jacob Seed is one of those characters who I'd very much like to chisel open. He's so intriguing. His ideologies are so unfounded but his conviction and his reasons for them are what I find really appealing.

This is quite a deviation from what I normally do—third person, technically no reader-insert (I kindaaaaa made an OC? Oops) a bit darker (dragging me back to my slasher roots), and pulls a lot from a pseudo-religious upbringing. It is really fun to write, in theory, but is one of those fics that is mentally taxing in the sense that every piece is part of a bigger picture. Despite that, though, I could probably talk about this fic more than any others because of all the weird influences it draws from—Siken (it was originally gonna be titled war of the foxes but I felt that was a little too on the nose so I changed it to wishbone which is even more on the nose), bible mythology (in particular, the warring interpretations of Abaddon, iyjyk but also??? Abaddon and Michael, though???? 👀), and um. Cult shenanigans.

Here is a little bit about it!

He's in her head now, a sickness polluting her grey matter until it's shaded the same colour as the burning auburn around his wicked mouth. The one that splits wide, and croons about her failures, her destiny, until the rasping slur of his words are skeined tight around her gyri. Festering like a cancer she can't clove. One that sounds more like a truism each time she hears it.

Jacob has his finger on the trigger of a loaded gun with the barrel pressed tight to her cerebellum. A tool, he said. One without a master. Until now. Until him.

She can't fight him. Can't get rid of him. 

She wonders if she ever even tried.

And for some Rook x Jacob (kinda sorta but in a weird and twisted way):

Jacob doesn't give an inch even with the barrel of her Whitetailer pointed at his heart. A beat, then, where the world around her seems to shiver at the smirk he sends her way, his own hand fixed, deadly and calm, on the butt of his garish rifle. Red. 

(Of course. Of course.)

He stands on his tower, a castle of rock in the middle of the Whitetail Mountains, surrounded by unfathomable wilderness, and the broken remnants of his wolf beacons, his fallen men. His Judges. 

They lay by her feet, discarded offerings to the man who vultured her sense of self, her agency, until the person she was before all of this was lost, collateral to a war she never agreed to. She feels it sometimes, the putrefying remains of idealism and hope clawing at her skull until the tissue shreds and bleeds. Feels it like a second degree burn, a scab she can't stop picking at, and then pushes it back into its sarcophagus. It's an effigial prison in which she's both a warden and cellmate. 

It rears, now, as her patent yellow boots sink into the ribcage of a man torn to shreds by her bullets, her fists, mourning the loss of who it once was—a person of empathy and compassion. Someone who would have recoiled at the sight of viscera staining her laces, bone crunching under the soles of her feet. 

But it's gone. All she feels is annoyance. Disgust. 

They rendered it out of her. All of them pulling and tugging until bits of herself ripped apart, left behind in their regions, in their hands. Faith holds her belief. John, her compassion. Joseph, her fear. And Jacob—

Well. 

She tries not to think about what she lost in his cages. The gaping hole where her humanity once sat is heavier now that it's empty. 

It doesn't matter. Not anymore. 

Everything has been culminating to this point. To this moment. She feels the weight of it, the truth, in her bones. Unlike John, unlike Faith, only one of them will walk away from this still breathing. Her fingers tense. A proxysm. 

She finds, as the sky fades back to an endless blue and the mournful call of a loon breaks through the coppice, that she isn't entirely sure she wants it to be her. 

"Everything, all of it, has been leading up to this moment," he calls down to her, answering the unspoken assertions that bounce around the bruised fibres of her head. Hunt. Kill. Sacrifice. She gets it. She hates that she does. Hates him, she thinks, even more for making her see, for turning her into his executioner so easily. "So, Deputy, what will you do?"

If it were Faith, there'd be something about the path. About choices. About submission and surrender. Giving up agency and self in the single-minded pursuit of devotion to the Father. John, maybe a taunt. A sotto voce about atonement and true self. Of life admit the torture. A baptism in pain. 

But Jacob is neither of them. 

"Are you gonna kill me, angel?" 

She thinks about it. Really does. Lets it grind down into her synapses as she imagines a world without him. A place in Hope County where they celebrate his death and burn his body on an altar, unwilling to let the cult take him back until he's charred bones and ashes. Sure, then, that he's gone. Forever. Always. No more. 

Jacob will burn. 

She thinks about it, and she shudders. 

It feels anticlimactic despite the effort he put into setting it all up. Moving beacons and men and cages and wolves. Tracking her down through the forest until she led them to the Wolf's Den, and put a bullet in the head of the only man who made her feel some sense of footing amid a crumbling world. A place that wasn't quite home but it was something. Purpose, maybe. 

It stands in sharp contrast to the dogfight between them. Jacob and his soldiers. A commander playing a game of war from the comfort of his sanctuary. They're gone, now, and she hates that she isn't, too. That no matter what she does, how open she leaves herself, he still lets her sneak up the side of his perch until she's crouched behind a log, until she can hear the weight of his footfalls as he searches for her across the blood smeared landscape. 

It's a fallacy. He knows where she is despite the engineered confusion in his tone. What was that? He asks. Come out and fight me, Deputy. You know I'll find you—

The red dot follows her, always just a few inches from where she's hiding. A farce. She hates it. Hates that he isn't really fighting her. A marksman, he said (hoorah), but the only bruises he gave her are in her mind. Mental scars. Stupid. She hates him. Despises him. 

(Hates herself even more.)

It feels like muscle memory when she peers over the ledge, her bloodied knuckles leaving smears of her fingerprints behind. He's there. Waiting. 

Killing Eli, killing phantoms. Killing men. Killing him. It all congeals in her marrow. Effortless. Easy. She's killed him so many times already that she's sure, now, she could close her eyes and find her mark. 

Over and over again, he turned to a nebula of dust when she jumped on his back, wrapping nimble fingers around his neck. Mocking words haunting her as he dissolved into the aether. The Father will protect me. You need me. Don't fight it. Just let go. You've served your purpose. Let's say you get out of this. What's next? You go back to running errands for a teenager and a housewife? You are nothin' without Eli. 

"Come out, come out wherever you are, honey," his crooning taunt makes her hackles raise. A part of her hindbrain prickles with unease. Jacob brings a certain terror out of those dormant depths—an atavistic fear coils around her jugular. "Let's finish this." 

She wants to end him. To kill and maim and bend and break until nothing is left but bones and tissue. She wants to ruin him. Wants him to ruin her. To end this conflict at the top of a precipice she never wanted to climb. 

She says nothing—not to him, to them—but scuffs her feet against the gravel for no reason other than to make him look. He whips around, hand steady on his rifle. 

"Finally done hiding, Deputy?" 

The red dot hasn't left her vicinity since she prowled after him, unleashing hell and gunfire on the men—his Chosen, his best—that tried to keep her away from him. Hiding, she thinks, and wonders if those words are a projection. 

The Whitetailer—the only anchor she's had since she found it laying behind in an abandoned cabin—hums under her fingers. Pulses with the blood rushing through her veins. It's always been heavy. An SA50 isn't easy to carry across a landscape she mostly ventured on foot (as the near constant ache between her shoulders can attest to), but it feels both heavier and lighter than before. Another contradiction of many since she walked out of the Den and into a world on fire. Since she slit his throat and watched him turn into cosmic dust. 

It's steady, though. Unwavering. There's a gash on her arm from one of his Chosen. A bullet in her thigh. The unhealed wounds—bliss bullets and arrows—twinge with pain when she tenses her muscles, breathes in deep. Her broken ribs scream. She feels like more like a throbbing contusion than she does an actual person, still caught in the tendrils of her conditioning where his voice echoes in her head, the last notes of a song that turned her world into ashes. Only youuu… he'd crooned.

Only you. 

Only ever you. 

She gets it now. 

Or, she wishes that were true. It isn't. It isn't because maybe she's known all along. Since the bunker. Since Pratt. One, two, three. One, two, three. And then he's got you. Since she blinked into cognisance surrounded by the fallen bodies of the militia who didn't survive the training, who had bullet wounds that matched the shots she took in Jacob's trial. 

Since she went back to the Grand View and walked through the rows of cages in the parking lot. 

She gets it. 

She knows what she has to do. 

Her grip doesn't falter when she aims up. Up. His stomach. His lungs. His heart. 

"You can't. You're done. You've served your purpose, and now it's time to accept your place, Deputy. Where you belong." 

She thinks of Tammy. Of Wheaty. There's nothing left for her. Not anymore. 

Nothing except—

She wonders if there's a flash of panic in his cerulean eyes. A brief flicker of fear. But all she sees is contempt. 

"If I die, you'll be lost forever—"

She pulls the trigger. 

[aotumnfalls]

I am for female separatism. I am an advocate for female separatism because the trauma inflicted by men and the patriarchy is a constant blow in the psyche of women. It does not matter how educated or self aware a woman is,if there are no like minded souls to stand beside her in solidarity stagnant is the evolution of the group. It is a common theme in trauma therapy to remove yourself from the toxic situation in order to begin to heal. Considering the damage men do constantly unto women,how can we heal as a people? Female only spaces allow women to relax into their humanity without the constant barrage of restricting identity ,and following self criticism, the male gaze triggers. Whenever women have created their own spaces or moments,we undo one knot in the tangle of internalized hatred we are taught so young. We find joy and solace in each others company and that of healing in of itself. Until men enter the space then the arrested conditioning that is ingrained in each woman puppets our beings and we are left scrambling to appease the wake of mens blindered strides through the novel unconquered space.

It truly saddens me to see the young women of today view their womanhood with such disdain and think it cannot be synonymous with their humanity. The object and perhaps a reaction out of self-defense to the suggestion that the gender ideology they so fervently cling to is yet another facet of internalized misogyny rearing its ugly head. For these girls and women even,see the existence of women in this world as so bleak and soulless that they would deny the no doubt wretched proof of material reality that manifests in the unwavering gaze of the violent patriarchy. I can only speak from my experience as a westerner,I feel the need to further specify that this particular behavior may be unique to the US as the women of other countries not so performatively liberal do not have the luxury of sliding into fabricated escapist identities

[13eyond13]

i've been playing around with those character AIs, specifically the L ones, seeing how long it takes before i can convince them to join team kira. they usually become pretty much out of character nonsense by that point i think due to some flaw in the model, but it did make me think... do you think there's anything that *could* convince L to join team kira? any hcs on what you think L would do if he was the first one to find the notebook?

Do I think L would ever join Team Kira?

I don't think he would, no. 😅 In canon L literally staked his life on opposing Kira and seeing him defeated, so he probably didn't have a lot of flexibility about this particular stance. I think that even if L was technically convinced to 100% ideologically agree with Kira he would still stubbornly oppose him simply because he was pissed off about Kira trying to order everybody else around like that and rule the world with an iron fist. I feel L REALLY doesn't want to submit to anybody else's authority or be told what to do by anybody, and he was also fascinated by the challenge of trying to be the one who successfully takes Kira down. BUT I also think that in the manga L's opposition to Kira isn't so much due to his own principles and moral convictions or a sense of heroic duty as because it becomes a territorial pissing match and an addictive puzzle and a matter of personal pride for him. I'm of the opinion that L could somehow remain completely opposed to Kira and refuse to ever be considered part of his entourage even while straight-up dating or marrying Light or something along those lines 😆 It's just always way too OOC and weird to me if I ever see him in a fic getting convinced to see Kira as correct and to start serving him and obeying him as though he is Mikami or something. And I honestly think Light would actually like and respect L less if he ever did stop opposing him and start completely agreeing with him on all of his views.

If L was the First One to Find the Notebook: He's definitely a curious sort, but he also doesn't seem to be a believer in the supernatural. My headcanon is he wouldn't ever take it seriously enough to even test it out in the first place. If he DID test it and found it worked, I think he'd see it similarly to how he does in the manga when he says that he thinks anybody who finds themselves with Kira's power to kill from afar is cursed. L's not as young and impressionable and idealistic and easily prone to feeling guilty as Light was at age 18, nor is he as uncomfortable with seeing himself as a not particularly good person either (in canon he quite freely admits to doing things like cheating, lying, and torturing Misa without batting an eyelash). So I don't think the thought of becoming a murderer himself would trigger quite as dramatic a reaction in L as it does in Light. He might be capable of adjusting to that thought or dismissing it as a mistake that anybody could've made without it drastically altering his own self image much more easily than Light. Maybe he'd become fascinated with the possibilities that the notebook opens up to him about the supernatural world and the other things out there that he doesn't already know, but he would possibly also have a stronger fear of it and a more realistic idea of the potentially disastrous consequences of using it than Light. I could see him either giving it back to the shinigami pretty quickly or trying to lock it away in a personal vault somewhere for himself. And I think he might brood about it and have more of an extended existential crisis about his worldview and his theories and goals upon meeting a shinigami and learning about the shinigami realm than Light did. It would likely shake his confidence a fair bit to have to adjust all his preconceived notions about the world, as he really strongly prides himself on his intellect and bases much of his self-esteem on always being correct.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Peter Boghossian

Published: Feb 25, 2020

Social Justice is a dangerous, illiberal ideology that is taking over society. Although often associated with “liberalism” in the United States, it is explicitly anti-liberal. One of the core pillars of Critical Race Theory, upon which one dimension of Social Justice ideology rests, is a critique of liberalism, where “critique” is meant as Karl Marx used it and “liberalism” is the broad philosophy of individual liberty upon which the United States was founded.

One of the easiest ways to understand how illiberal Social Justice can be is available to anyone who attempts to criticize it. Those who criticize Social Justice are not thanked for helping to improve its tenets. Rather, they’re called bigots, homophobes, Nazis, grifters, misogynists, or, the trump card meant to silence all conversation: racists. 

Proving its commitment to illiberalism even further, when the accused denies these accusations and demands evidence to substantiate claims that they’re racist, this denial is taken as evidence of guilt. To ask for evidence of racism is considered a form of willful ignorance of racism, according to Social Justice. Then, when the accused points out the obvious, that name calling isn’t an argument and they’d like to have a conversation about the manifestation of Social Justice that led them to be accused in the first place, nobody comes forward to converse. In the Social Justice ideological paradigm, conversing with someone who’s been accused of being a racist, sexist, or bigot would be acting in complicity with racism. (There’s even a word in their lexicon for this, “platforming.”) So conversation is a priori ruled out. 

But Social Justice’s illiberalism is actually far worse. In many situations, because nobody comes forward to speak with the accused—in spite of the fact that he has pleaded with adherents and enforcers of Social Justice ideology to have a conversation—a narrative is then constructed that paints the accused as someone who does not want to have a conversation with anyone with whom he disagrees. Moreover, this is often reframed as the accused being unwilling to have a conversation about racism!

And this is exactly what has happened to me. I have called out Social Justice ideology for being dangerous, illiberal, and unjust. I have stated that it’s an ideology for which not only is there at best scant evidence for its particular claims, but there is actually an entire body of established scientific literature (biology, up against gender studies and queer theory, for example) that contradicts many of its underlying assumptions (e.g., that differences between men and woman are entirely social constructs). I have asked my colleagues and the administration at Portland State University, where I teach, to provide evidence for policies and practices that may be institutionalized (trigger warnings, safe spaces), and I have sent them evidence (Scott Lilienfeld’s or Jon Haidt and Greg Lukianoff’s work) that contradicts these policies. I’ve either been ignored, or ridiculed, or told I’m committing a microaggression and making people feel unsafe. Requests for evidence have even been characterized as having caused them trauma.

From the outside, of course it looks like I’m not having conversations with those who have substantive disagreements, but this is because in Social Justice communities if anyone has a conversation with me they’re contributing to a platform where their claims about reality can be questioned and where alternative views can be explained. And why would they want to do that, given the moral certitude they place in their conclusions? They wouldn’t, especially because Social Justice has been remarkably effective at spreading throughout the society—government (see Benjamin A Boyce’s videos on YouTube), media, tech (note the controversy around the infamous “Google memo”), and, quintessentially, the academy. 

The unwillingness of Social Justice adherents to speak with me—or others who challenge their doctrines—does not stop them from accusing me of not wanting to speak with them. In fact, it escalates those accusations. This is because the primary method of Social Justice is to accuse, whether true or false, sensible or insensible, and to manipulate everything that follows into further accusations.

Sadly, this is exactly the response one would predict given that Social Justice ideology is highly aggressive, intrinsically political, and completely in conflict with science, evidence, and reason. If it were backed by science, evidence, and reason, science evidence and reason would be presented in conversation and there would be no need to call anyone names or accuse people who want to have conversations of not wanting to have conversations. The Social Justice canons would also not need to build an infrastructure that insulates itself from criticism and uses name calling and accusation as the primary tool to dispense its ideological enemies. Rather, it would encourage dialogue, conversation, and even debate. Instead, it sees discourse not as an effective means for determining truth but as yet another political project to oppress people.

Social Justice cannot continue to be taken seriously on its own terms, which it has literally made up. It must be taken seriously in terms of the threat it poses to liberal and civil society, which it is actively undermining and seeks to destroy. I am just one man, of course, but the problems I’m facing are becoming commonplace throughout society—in workplaces, schools, academia, hobby groups, online, and even in churches. As Social Justice creeps into everything and rewrites it with illiberalism, accusations, unfairness, and a conspicuous refusal to have a reasoned conversation about anything it proposes, we put ourselves and our societies at tremendous risk of losing the norms civil society needs to function. We must stand up to Social Justice ideology. We must fight. New Discourses is helping us do exactly that.

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Remember when people were still saying this wasn't happening, and anyway, if it was happening, it wasn't happening outside the academy? Ah, the days before the Summer of Riots. Good times.

[sun-in-retrograde]

Pluto Eris Square

I woke up from an awful dream in June of two thousand sixteen In a far right fake news fucked up universe And though we sang the Mountain Goats loud enough to bruise our throats Every year that followed still got worse and worse

-Grace Petrie “Fixer Upper”

So 2016 was a weird year, wasn’t it? Brexit, Harambe, Trump, clown attacks, The Orlando Shooting, Syria. Things got weird, and then, in 2017 they got weirder. I think it’s fair to say 2020 was the weirdest of years and things are still pretty weird now, to the extent that normality starts to feel, in itself, weird.

I would never want to blame everything on one astrological aspect, but it has to be noted, the 2016-2025 Pluto-Eris square maps really well onto this period.

Within 1 degree

16 February 2019 - 28 June 2018

27 December 2019 - 13 March 2020

24 April 2020 - 23 July 2020

8 November 2020 - 9 Jan 2021

9 July 2021 - 24 November 2021

Within 3 degrees

31 Jan 2018 - 2 June 2018

2018 15 december - 2019 August 9

22 October 2019 - 24 January 2022

23 June 2022 - 10 December 2022

Within 7 degrees

8 Jan 2016 - 15 May 2016

23 November 2016 - 10 March 2024

10 May 2024 - 11 January 2025

19 July 2025 - 26 July 2025

This year, for the first time in years, the Eris Pluto Square let up a little bit. We’re heading back into it now as Pluto retrogrades back towards Capricorn. But for the first time in a while this particular energy has cleared, leaving us to see what normality looks like without this square active.

What is Pluto-Eris Energy?

People often talk about Pluto and Eris as the Higher Octaves of Mars, but this is inaccurate. It’s useful to say because our society is obsessed with the idea of higher, transcendental truths and astrologers who study new astrological objects are going to want to associate their findings with higher truths because that’s good capitalism. But it would be more accurate to say that Pluto is a lower octave of Mars and Eris is a lower octave still. 

Mars covers all the planets in the zodiac in just 2.1 years. Its time in any one sign is measured in months. Pluto takes 244 years and its time in any one sign is measured in about a generation. Eris has a 557 year cycle and because its orbit is extremely elliptical it’s in Aries from 1922 to 2044 - 122 years, or 21.9% of this entire cycle. 

What this means is that in terms of octaves Pluto and Eris are much lower and slower than Mars. This seems to give them an element of depth. If Mars is attraction, Pluto is obsession. If Mars is violence, Pluto is trauma. If Mars is energised, Pluto triggers the survival drive. I’d argue Eris goes deeper still. It is cutting so deep that what you get to are the things that can’t be removed. 

When Eris and Pluto meet you have irreconcilable differences, major conflicts, things that are foundational to society coming into conflict. This is especially true this cycle. 

This Eris - Pluto cycle began with the conjunction on 17 December 1756 at 18°36 of Sagittarius. Despite this they had their waxing square, waxing trine, opposition, waning trine and waning square while Pluto was in Aries and that’s where Eris will be for their waning sextile. Eris is in 6 signs during this Eris-Pluto cycle but all but two of the key aspects happened with Eris in Aries so has an active, martial energy to it.

If you’re following this, and agree with me that Eris is fundamental planet alongside Pluto, you will be unsurprised to hear the last Pluto-Eris square was 1936-1949 and was at its strongest during World War Two.

What this means for us now

2024 is the last hurrah for the current Eris-Pluto Square. It’s not as strong as it’s been in the past but it’s still an underlying important energy of our time. In 2024 over half the world’s population is having an election and in the UK, USA and India the far-right are leading the conversation. We have ideological conflicts, a moral imperative to engage in anti-fascist work and deep fears for how this period will impact the survival of all of us, but especially the most vulnerable people. 

We know this energy. If you’ve been fighting in this time, you probably have the methods to fight ready to go when the next inevitable crisis comes up. But there’s a bigger problem coming up and that’s normality. What happens when the current square ends and the fight for marginalised people stops being such a fiery spectacle? For years the fight against global fascism has been massive, dramatic, and very visible. What happens when there is no crisis and we’re stuck with the new normal that’s emerged from all this? 

Sadly, it seems unlikely that the end of the Eris-Pluto square will be the end of extreme violence, fascism, and war. What I would expect is these conflicts becoming more a matter of attrition and normalisation - the banality of evil. The genocides continue, but they no longer shock us. 

The promise offered by the astrology of Eris and Pluto is that we come out of the Eris-Pluto Square into a quintile, where the skills and experience we’ve gained harden into a playbook of methods to keep fighting. We have experience and we have knowledge and we keep going.

In natal astrology

The oldest people with an Eris-Pluto square in their birth charts are now eight. That’s still young but this is a generation that’s going to come up and start looking into astrology before you know it. Mars-Pluto squares in a birth chart are often indication of pretty bad trauma. Eris-Pluto Squares in charts will mean an early childhood defined by traumatic experiences. Just the nature of being raised by parents experiencing the pandemic ensures that. The astrology indicates that this generation could replicate some of that trauma throughout their life and astrologers will be seeing that for years to come. 

As most astrologers don’t use Eris, I would argue they’ll be cutting themselves off from a key diagnostic criteria that would really help explain the lives of the 2016-2025 generation. But whatever. There are usually more than one tell for a traumatic experience in a chart. The underlying, fundamental, Eris-level truth of this square that all of us have to face is a generation who will need care and time and understanding beyond what we might expect looking at their lives now. We can do that, that’s what we need to offer younger generations.