#and lots and lots of self identified catholics

[supercantaloupe]

nah instagram keeps recommending an acct to me whose entire shtick is that our very catholic college is not catholic enough, with such delightful posts as "genuinely comparing being pro choice to racism" and "the secularists are trying to destroy religion on campus by cancelling a guest speaker"

[probablyasocialecologist]

In this book you focus on the idea of gender as a global ‘phantasm’ – this charged, overdetermined, anxiety- and fear-inducing cluster of fantasies that is being weaponised by the right. How did you go about starting to investigate that? Judith Butler: When I was burned in effigy in Brazil in 2017, I could see people screaming about gender, and they understood ‘gender’ to mean ‘paedophilia.’ And then I heard people in France describing gender as a Jewish intellectual movement imported from the US. This book started because I had to figure out what gender had become. I was naïve. I was stupid. I had no idea that it had become this flash point for right-wing movements throughout the world. So I started doing the work to reconstruct why I was being called a paedophile, and why that woman in the airport wanted to kill me with the trolley. I’m not offering a new theory of gender here; I’m tracking this phantasm’s formation and circulation and how it’s linked to emerging authoritarianism, how it stokes fear to expand state powers. Luckily, I was able to contact a lot of people who translated Gender Trouble in different parts of the world, who were often gender activists and scholars in their own right. They told me about what’s happening in Serbia, what’s happening in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Russia. So I became a student of gender again. I’ve been out of the field for a while. I stay relatively literate, of course, but I’ve written on war, on ethics, on violence, on nonviolence, on the pandemic… I’m not in gender studies all the time. I had to do a lot of reading.  There’s a lot of focus in the book on how the anti-gender movement has moved across the world in the past few decades, and how it’s inextricable from Catholic doctrine. It was clarifying for me; domestic anti-trans movements in the UK mostly self-identify as secular.  Judith Butler: In the UK, and even in the US, people don’t realise that this anti-gender ideology movement has been going on for some time in the Americas, in central Europe, to a certain degree in Africa, and that it’s arrived in the US by different routes, but it’s arrived without announcing its history. It became clear to me that a lot of the trans-exclusionary feminists didn’t realise where their discourse was coming from. Some of them do; some people who call themselves feminists are aligned with right-wing positions, and it’s confusing, but there it is. There’s an uncomfortable history of fascist feminism in movements like British suffragism, for instance. Judith Butler: Yes, and of racism. But when Putin made clear that he agreed with JK Rowling, she was probably surprised, and she rightly said, ‘no, I don’t want your alliance’, but it was an occasion for her to think about who she’s allying herself with, unwittingly or not. The anti-gender movement was first and foremost a defence of Biblical scripture, and of the idea that God created man and woman, and that the human form exists only in this duality and that without it, the human is destroyed – God’s creation is destroyed. So that morphed, as the Vatican’s doctrine moved into Latin America, into the idea that people who advocate ‘gender’ are forces of destruction who seek to destroy man, woman, the human, civilisation and culture. 

[qqueenofhades]

Hello! I have a question that may be a tad uncomfortable but I don't know who could answer honestly. How do you get over class with a professor who self identifies as your mentor/father? He spilled his guts to me after class and told me how happy he was he connected to a young girl like me(Im 19 he's 59). He will be my prof for the ENTIRE year. I don't know how to feel, it wasn't flirty at all, and I actually think he sees himself in me. He's odd and off putting and stand offish. I am too, kinda. He said if shouldn't feel lonely because Im different, because I have my family, and now him (also Implied i should find god).

He's a conservative catholic with a wife and kids, I can tell he doesn't mean it in a weird way. He probably means well. But it's odd that he's acting like a mentor when I've only known him for a month.

Now, I thought this chat wouldn't affect me but he psychoanalysed me and it felt like he saw right through me while treating me like his therapist. I also think he's a lonely man who is projecting, seeing my potential and "what could've been" for himself.

How do I cope? I don't want this to affect me, but it pushed me terribly off axis. I felt pigeonholed, more than anything, and also feel bad for him.

WELP. Okay, first of all, I want to reinforce that this is NOT your fault and that it clearly creeped you out to the point where you decided to ask someone for help, all of which means that the situation is not okay and he does NOT have the right to do any of this -- whether forcing emotional intimacy on you after a very short time, suggesting that you Find Jesus and/or convert, hinting that he wants to "mentor" you, or whatever. Just because he's a conservative Catholic is no guarantee that it won't get creepier (indeed, often the total opposite) and even if it wasn't sexual or didn't feel sexual at the moment, that is... wrong. He should not have done it. He does not have the right to decide He Is Now Your Mentor and to push that connection on you. Even if it was not conscious or intentional grooming behavior, it is... squicky to say the least, showed that he was willing to push boundaries with you right away, and is certainly something that should make you cautious of any more uncontrolled or one-on-one interaction with him. So yeah. Gross. "Now you have me so you won't be lonely"??? Sorry, there is no scenario in which I can imagine that being an okay thing for a professor to say to a student. No. It may be that he just doesn't have a good sense of social boundaries or appropriate behavior, but that also doesn't mean you need to excuse it.

Next, if you can switch to another section or class so you don't have to spend the year with him, that might be worth looking into. If you can't, then obviously minimize the time you spend one-on-one (if there are office hours or if you need help with the class, maybe ask your peers or the TA if there is one, rather than him) and remember that you can tell people at your university if it continues to creep you out, not just me. There are procedures in place at most institutions to document this kind of interaction if it continues to cross a line (I don't know where you are in the world, but in the university where I work in the US, there's an office of Title IX, which deals with these kinds of issues). Older male academics smarming up to young female students and telling them they're "special" happens a lot, unfortunately, and while it doesn't always end terribly, it is something that you deservedly flagged as weird and which you should keep an eye on going forward. I'm sorry that you've experienced this and once again offer my support in navigating this year in as un-icky a way as possible. Please remember that you do not have to apologize for or excuse yourself for making choices to get out of a weird situation that clearly threw you for a loop, and you do not have to put up with this behavior if it continues or gets worse. Good luck.

[olderthannetfic]

A poll on a shotacon website I frequent recently found that 62% of male respondents and 29% of female respondents (going off of how you self-identify, not AGAB) picture themselves as the shota. 20% of men respondents and 56% of female respondents didn't picture themselves as either the adult or the shota when reading, watching or viewing shotacon.

So I'm very confused on where people get the "you must want to fuck kids" thing, but also: I'm pretty sure lolicon fans would have a similar breakdown if polled, albeit with more women picturing themselves as the loli than men. A lot of people like being the small, submissive one.

While I'm a gay man so I can't speak for women, I like shotacon because there's an aspect of a young person being unable to consent and I can therefore imagine myself getting railed without any of the leftover Catholic guilt I normally have. After all, no one with any sense would ever shame a child for being fucked by an adult. For women, who get shamed about wanting sex even in secular contexts a lot of the time, I'd assume there's a similar thing there when they're into lolicon. You can imagine yourself having sex, and in the fantasy you're absolutely blameless. And if you're a straight dude with Catholic guilt or an equivalent, you don't see it as "sex will ruin this girl's life, her family will tear her to shreds". You get to go, "if her family is remotely not garbage, they'll support her" and then your brain turns off so you can look at the porn.

My theory is a lot of straight men into lolicon are into it for reasons that aren't about wanting to fuck kids or hating women and are a lot more about other kinks/other factors in their upbringing.

--

[loveroftoomanyfandoms]

Cooking Up Love, Chapter 14

Pairing: Chef!Matt Murdock x F!Journalist!Reader

Rating: T

Story Summary: Here 

Warnings/Tags: Hallmark levels of fluffy, cheesy goodness (and speed that their relationship develops, lol), no use of Y/N, Matt is not a vigilante, idiots in love, revenge is sweet 😉

Word Count: ~3800

A/N: A heartfelt thanks to everyone who has read, liked, reblogged, and/or commented on this not-so-little self-indulgent Chef AU of mine -- like Chef Matt, I appreciate each and every one of you.

I would be remiss if I didn't give a special shout-out to the OG members of the Traumatized Irish Catholic Boys Discord server for the encouragement and cheerleading while I was writing this story -- @souliebird, @theradioactivespidergwen, @mattmurdocksscars, & @bellaxgiornata -- y'all are the reason Chef Matt even exists and for that I can't thank you enough.

While this may be the end of the main story, like every good (and some not-so-good, tbh) cheesy Hallmark rom-com, there's lots more to this tale! Chef Matt and Reader don't want to let me go, so I have more planned for them. Whether it winds up being several smaller one-shots or another multi-chapter thing remains to be seen, however, so stay tuned!

As always, thanks to @theradioactivespidergwen for the divider!

Tag List: @yarrystyleeza @hailey-murdock @mattkinsella @bellaxgiornata @danzer8705 @chezagnes @shouldbestudying41 @thepunisherfrankcastle @mattmurdocks6thscaleapartment @roseslovedreams

"Girl, you should have seen her," Skyler said as she filled you in over the phone on everything that had happened that morning at the Bulletin . "When she first walked into the office and saw all your stuff missing from your desk she got this smug-ass look on her face -- she was so sure you had either quit in embarrassment or had gotten fired over that article. God , was it satisfying to watch karma bite her in the ass."

You huffed out a laugh. "So then what happened?"

"Ellison had asked me to let him know when Kelsie had made it in, so I texted him and he immediately called her to his office,” Skyler continued. “She thought for sure that she was getting reassigned to Features so she made a big production of having 'no idea' as to what Ellison wanted then took her sweet time going to his office. Little did she know what was actually in store." 

She chuckled. "She was fuming by the time she came marching out of there. First she tried denying the whole thing, then once Ellison showed her the proof we had gathered she accused you of trying to frame her, then she accused me of trying to frame her, then by the time she had packed her desk and was being escorted out of the building by security she had accused Ellison of trying to frame her and was threatening to sue the Bulletin for wrongful termination. I'm so glad you waited until after she had left for the weekend to move your stuff over to your new desk because the moment she realized that her little scheme hadn't worked and you had just moved to a bigger, better desk was priceless."

You sighed and shook your head. "Well, at least it's over and I can just move on with my life."

Skyler was quiet for a moment. "Still haven't heard from Matt?"

Your heart squeezed. You were still hurt and angry that he would believe that you would stoop so low as to pretend to get close to him in order to write a tell-all article full of false information simply to further your career as an investigative journalist, yet at the same time, you missed him. You missed the way he had waited with bated breath as you tried one of his culinary creations, as if your opinion was the only one that mattered to him. You missed the way his eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled at you. You missed the way his hands had felt on yours when he had taught you how to identify fresh fruit and vegetables, the soft caress of his fingers as he had traced your face so he could draw a mental picture of what you looked like, and the way his breath had fanned over your lips as he had leaned in to kiss you.

You sighed and shook your head. You had spent the past 3 days crying over him, so the best thing to do now was to give up and move on. "No, he hasn't tried contacting me. He probably deleted the follow-up email I sent him trying to explain everything the second he got it and blocked my email address."

Skyler hummed. "Mmm, I wouldn't be so sure about that."

Your brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"Just that I don't want you to pass up the opportunity to be happy either."

Suddenly there was a knock on your door. "Oh, hold on, Sky, there's someone here."

"I'll let you go so you can get that."

You nodded. "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow then." 

"By the way, you're welcome."

"I'm welcome? For what?" 

"Nothing, talk to you later, byeeeeee!"

Before you could say goodbye, Skyler hung up.

You shook your head with a fond smile as you went to answer the door. You were lucky to have a friend like her.

You opened it and sucked in a shocked breath at the sight of Matt standing outside of your apartment. “Matt?”

Matt smiled nervously at you. “Hi.”

You stood blinking at him for a few seconds. Finally you asked, “How do you know where I live?”

Matt bit his lip. “Oh, I um, I went by the Bulletin but you weren't there, so Skyler gave me your address. I know I probably should have called before just showing up at your home, but I really needed to speak to you and didn't think you'd answer my call, so may I, uh, may I come in?”

You hesitated a moment, then stepped out of the doorway. "Okay."

Matt walked in, then turned to face you as you closed the door behind him. "Thank you.” 

You debated on whether or not to offer him a seat, but ultimately decided against it. Instead, you wrapped your arms protectively across your chest. “What do you want, Matt?"

Matt fidgeted with the container you had belatedly noticed he was carrying. "I owe you an apology for my actions on Friday. I should have known that something was off with that article and given you the benefit of the doubt instead of automatically assuming the worst and accusing you of using me in order to further your career. Not that I'm trying to make excuses for my behavior, but it wouldn't have been the first time that it had happened."

Your brow furrowed and you uncrossed your arms. "What do you mean?"

Matt took a deep breath. "A couple of years ago I met this woman named Elektra, who was a restaurant reviewer for a small online magazine. We started dating and she eventually asked me if I would be okay with sitting down for an interview with her. Naturally I said yes, but when the interview was published it turned out to be a scathing review of both my restaurant and me as a person. Elektra had taken my words and twisted them to make it seem like all I cared about was becoming famous and that I was using my visual impairment to try to get a network deal -- and not only that, but she also strongly insinuated that I hadn't actually earned the Michelin stars that Nelson and Murdock had received and that the food at my restaurant was subpar." 

He shook his head. "The whole time we had been dating Elektra had been trying to get a job with a national publication and figured that an exposé on me would be her ticket in. Needless to say, we broke up after that but the damage had already been done. Her article had been picked up by The Hand , which absolutely tanked our reputation as a gourmet restaurant, forcing us to close Nelson and Murdock and nearly destroying my & Foggy's friendship.”

While you didn't know much about the culinary industry, you did know that The Hand was the premiere magazine for restaurant goers and their reviews were treated like gospel. “So that's why you don't trust journalists.”

Matt nodded. “After I found out that Elektra had used me I decided that I would never get involved with a journalist or do another interview again, but business has been struggling at Daredevil ever since we opened a few months ago so Foggy took it upon himself to schedule me for an interview with the Bulletin during Restaurant Week to try to drum up some business.”

He paused. “I was originally told that it would be with the writer for the food and restaurant section, so I hope you understand my… hesitancy at first.”

You huffed out a breath. “Yeah, it was supposed to have been Kelsie but she was actually out sick with food poisoning at the time, so it was reassigned to me. Oh, and by the way, it turns out that she wrote the exposé I accidentally sent you. She lured me away from my desk while I was in the middle of sending you my real article and swapped the attachment out in an attempt to sabotage me.”

Matt shook his head. "By the way, I did wind up reading your real article and I really appreciate all of the kind and wonderful things you said about me."

You shrugged. "I just wrote what I felt was the truth at the time."

"'At the time'?" Matt bit his lip. "Does that mean you don't still feel that it's the truth?"

You sighed. While you were still a bit hurt and upset that Matt could have thought so little of you, you could now understand the reasoning behind his thoughts.

You shook your head. “No, I do. I still believe everything I wrote.”

Matt huffed out a relieved breath. "Thank you. I um, I wanted to give you this.”

He held the container out towards you. “I promise it's not poisoned.”

You huffed out a laugh as you took it. “I believe you.”

“I also wanted to let you know that the butternut squash risotto, pesto pasta, cremé bruleé, and tiramisu will all be going on the menu at Daredevil next week.” Matt bit his lip. “I hope you'd still want to come by to get some.”

You nodded. “Yeah, I’d love to.”

Matt smiled. “I'm glad. And actually, how about --”

"Foggy, Foggy, Foggy, Foggy…"

Matt groaned as his phone started ringing. "I'm sorry, I should get this. It might be an emergency with the restaurant."

You shook your head and went to put the container of what you assumed was tiramisu in the refrigerator. “It's fine. Go ahead.”

Matt tapped at his screen. "Yeah, Foggy. Wait, wait, slow down… What? They are? How? You're kidding… Wow, okay, yeah, thanks for letting me know. I gotta go though… Yeah, I am. Okay, I'll talk to you later. Thanks. Bye."

"Big news?" you asked as Matt hung up the phone. 

Matt nodded. "Kingpin lost its license this morning due to multiple health code violations and has been permanently shut down, effective immediately."

You bit back a smile. "Really? Wow."

"Yeah, they failed a surprise inspection and --" Matt's brow furrowed. "Wait, you already knew. Did you have something to do with it?"

"Not directly." You grinned. "Skyler may have called the health department a couple of days ago and anonymously reported a case of food poisoning that originated there last week." You shrugged casually. "After all, Kelsie was dating the sous-chef and ate there right before she got sick. But how did Foggy find out so fast?"

"He and I have a friend at the health department -- Brett Mahoney. He keeps us apprised of goings-on -- not when we're going to be inspected, of course, but of shutdowns and such." Matt shook his head. "So wait, the food writer for the Bulletin is dating Wesley?"

You nodded. "Yeah, they've been together for a while, although I didn't know anything at all about ‘James’ except for his first name until Friday when Skyler did a deep dive into Kelsie's social media and found his profile.”

Matt shook his head. “I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that he and Fisk were also somehow involved in her plans. I have a sneaking suspicion that they had been driving potential customers away from Daredevil.”

“You're probably right. They had to have known that Kelsie had been planning on covering Kingpin for the Restaurant Week kickoff, but then she got sick right as Foggy contacted my boss with the offer of an exclusive interview with you and by the time she had recovered enough to come back to work, it was way too late to try to convince Ellison to switch the story back over to Kingpin.” You shook your head. “At first Kelsie tried to fill my head with doubt about you, saying that you would do anything to try to salvage your reputation and that you were pretending to be interested in me while I was writing my article and would ditch me the second it was published.”

Matt shook his head, a slight smirk spreading across his lips. “Oh I can assure you, sweetheart, my interest in you is very sincere. Apologies if I didn't make that clear before.”

Your breath hitched at the term of endearment. The whole time Matt really had been flirting with you.

“I've never felt so comfortable with someone so quickly before,” Matt continued, “and have genuinely enjoyed getting to know and spending time with you this past week -- going to the farmer's market together and being able to make breakfast for you at the restaurant, having you come with me to the soup kitchen and Fogwell's then over to my place for dinner, getting your honest reactions during the blind tasting, finally knowing that you were just as beautiful as I had thought…”

A small smile crossed his face. “I'd really like to keep getting to know you, if you're interested.”

Your heart fluttered. “Yeah… yeah, I'm definitely interested.”

Matt grinned. “Then how about dinner tonight? My place, 7 o’clock?”

You nodded. “Yeah, I'd like that.”

“Great then. It's a date.”

You smiled. “It's a date.” 

Matt shook his head. “You know, now that I'm thinking about it, Kelsie must've been the person I spoke to when I went by the Bulletin on Tuesday.”

Your brows raised in surprise. “You went by the Bulletin?”

Matt nodded. “Yeah, I had wanted to talk to you about the blind tasting Monday night -- well, actually, what happened after -- but you weren't there and the woman I spoke to said that you were out on assignment and working on a big scoop, and she also said something else about you being one of ‘those investigative types’ who were always looking for a good exposé even if you had to make it up.”

You shook your head. No wonder he thought I had written that article. “Yeah, that was Kelsie, all right. I actually had gone home early that day -- I didn't sleep well Monday night because I thought for sure you were mad at me for rushing out of Daredevil on you.”

Matt shook his head. “Actually it was the opposite. I thought my advances had been unwanted and that I had made you uncomfortable, so I went by to check on you and apologize.”

“No, your advances were definitely wanted, I just…” You sighed. “When Foggy walked in and interrupted us I panicked and began overthinking everything.”

You shook your head. “I guess when Kelsie wasn't sure if planting seeds of doubt between us was working fast enough she decided that straight-up sabotage was the best way to go and wrote that fake exposé since it would hurt both me and you professionally rather than just personally. Luckily I caught it before it went to press and was able to swap it out with my real article, so now that I think about it, it's probably actually a good thing that you went off on me because otherwise I probably wouldn't have known until it was too late."

Matt winced and shook his head. "No, I should've realized that you probably hadn't written that article and calmly asked you about it instead of being an asshole to you, I --"

You shook your head. "It's okay. I forgive you -- this time. But don't think you can just make apology tiramisu for me every time you screw up, no matter how delicious it is."

"Of course not." Matt bit back a grin. "There's also apology cremé bruleé, and apology crepes, and apology --"

You swatted at his chest playfully. " Matt --"

You let out a soft gasp as Matt caught your wrist and pulled you to him, your heart thumping erratically in your chest.

Matt reached up and caressed your jawline with his thumb. "You know, I don't know if I can wait until our date tonight to be able to finally kiss you.”

You shook your head. "I don't think I can wait until tonight either."

A bright grin bloomed on Matt's face. “Well then, I guess there's only one thing to do.”

You melted into him as his warm lips pressed against yours.

You'd had no idea what you'd been in for when you'd first gotten your assignment, but you'd definitely hadn't known just how much it was going to change your life for the better. 

One Year Later

“Matt, honey? You in here?”

Matt turned towards your voice as you walked into the kitchen at Daredevil. “Hi, sweetheart.”

You huffed out a light laugh. “I should've known. You're supposed to be out in the dining area celebrating, Matthew, not at work in the kitchen decorating pies.”

Matt set the piping bag he had been holding down, feeling slightly guilty despite your playful tone. "I just needed to pipe the whipped cream onto these before they went out."

You walked up to him and took his hand. "The kitchen staff has it handled, love. Come on, everyone's waiting."

Matt followed you out to the dining area.

"Hey, there they are!" Foggy said, handing Matt and you each a glass of champagne. "The couple of the hour!"

Matt shook his head. "This is just as much of a celebration for you as it is for me, my friend."

"Ah, yeah, but you have a bit more to celebrate than I do, don't you, buddy?"

Matt grinned. "It has been quite the week, hasn't it?"

Foggy huffed out a laugh. "That's an understatement. I think we need a speech!"

"Yeah, speech!" Karen added. "Everyone, may I have your attention? Matt would like to say a few words."

You gave Matt's hand a gentle squeeze. "You've got this, sweetheart."

Matt nodded and cleared his throat. "First off, I would like to thank everyone for being here tonight. To our vendors -- thank you all for your patience with us as we got things up and running. I know I can also speak for Foggy when I say that you're not just our vendors -- you're our friends as well."

He turned to Foggy and Karen. "Foggy, you are the best sous chef and the best friend I could ever ask for. We wouldn't be here celebrating our first Michelin star for Daredevil nor our James Beard nominations if it hadn't been for you sticking by my side. Karen, same goes for you. Foggy and I are happy to welcome you as an official partner."

Next, he turned to you and took your left hand. "Next, I'd like to extend my heartfelt appreciation to my beautiful fianceé."

He paused for a moment, his thumb caressing the diamond ring he had placed on your finger during a surprise dinner date the night before. "I am so grateful that you wound up being assigned to interview me for the Bulletin."

"You're welcome!" Ellison called out from the crowd.

Laughter rang out from throughout the room.

Matt turned towards Ellison's voice. "Yes, extra thanks to you, Mitch."

A framed copy of your article hung proudly in the lobby next to a photo of Matt, Foggy, and Karen outside of Daredevil the day they had opened. After it had run, business had picked up almost immediately, with the restaurant being constantly packed and reservations being booked months in advance. He, Foggy, and Karen had had to hire both extra servers and kitchen staff to help keep up with demand and had recently signed a contract to expand the restaurant into the empty business space next door.

Matt smiled and gave your hand a gentle squeeze as he turned back towards you. "I'm also grateful that you were willing to give me a second chance after I was an asshole to you during our initial meeting, and a third chance once I had screwed up yet again.”

He nodded towards Skyler, who stood next to Foggy. “And Skyler, thanks for your help with that. ”

Skyler chuckled warmly. “You're welcome.”

Matt had been cautiously optimistic when he had gone to the Bulletin to apologize for (wrongfully) accusing you of writing the fake exposé that you had unintentionally sent him, only to find that you weren't even there.

“Where is she?” Matt asked Skyler, recognizing her voice as the person he had initially spoken to the first time he had gone to the Bulletin to apologize to you. “Will she be back in today?”

He could feel her studying him. “No, she took a personal day,” she replied. “She needed it after everything that's happened over the past few days. You really hurt her, you know that?”

Matt‘s shoulders slumped dejectedly. He nodded. “I know. I was hoping to be able to apologize in person and explain myself.”

Skyler was quiet for a moment, then gave him an address. “Hers is apartment 3-B.”

A broad smile spread across Matt's face. If Skyler was willing to give him your home address there was at least a chance that you'd forgive him. “Thank you so much… Skyler, right?”

“Mmhmm. You’re welcome. Just don't make me regret it.”

Matt shook his head. “I won't, I promise.”

He had hurried to your apartment, where luckily for him, you had not only accepted his apology and forgiven him, but had also told him that you reciprocated his feelings  and agreed to a date, and then the two of you had kissed for the first (but certainly not the last) time.

He cleared his throat and focused his attention back on you. “I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you, sweetheart. And congratulations once again on becoming the newest Assistant Editor of the New York Bulletin -- I'm so proud of you.”

He turned back towards the crowd. “And finally, to everyone here tonight -- Each and every one of you have contributed to Daredevil’s success and we can't thank you enough. I'd like you to know just how much each and every one of you are appreciated.”

He raised his glass of champagne. “So eat, drink, and enjoy. Cheers!”

“Cheers!” rang out throughout the room.

Matt pressed a kiss to your forehead as everyone toasted to the restaurant's success. “Love you.”

You hummed happily. “Love you too.”

As Matt continued to celebrate with Foggy, Karen, and you and the rest of their guests, he couldn't help but be filled with a sense of rightness. Daredevil was thriving beyond his wildest dreams, he was engaged to the woman he loved, and as an extra dose of karma, Fisk had recently been indicted on charges of tax fraud, racketeering, and money laundering uncovered as a result of the surprise health inspection closure.

Had you told him a year and a half ago that this would be his life, he'd have never believed it.

Now, however…

Well, he couldn't wait to see what life cooked up for him next.

[archer3-13]

Sitting and thinking on it a bit, I think what i find so morbidly fascinating about the acolyte isn't even the acolyte itself. its just kinda whatever as far as a story goes, not as bad as some would have you believe but also just not good at the end of the day. unavoidably bad in a kinda mediocre way, that raises serious questions about how hollywood budgets these things.

no whats morbidly fascinating, is how the acolyte relates to fanworks and especially fanfiction, cause going through it so many parallels start popping up. Like, the jedi being depicted and disparaged as creepy repressed space police Catholics who sneak into peoples houses and steal their children? thats not even a unique bad/incorrect take, thats just what a lot of people who self identify as star wars fans think is canonically true.

so isn't this what you wanted star wars fandom? isn't the acolyte everything you ever hoped and dreamed for in your ff.net fanfics? are you not entertained?

[chilly-weirdo-in-a-tomb]

*Vibrating with excitement* would you like to share opinions on tlt characters zodiac signs. Because I have so many

(Naberius is a Virgo sun Taurus rising imo)

I have a lot of opinions. Bear in mind that I am not an astrology expert and I personally consider zodiac signs simply a fun, sometimes humorous thing and not an end-all, be-all thing. I don’t know a thing about rising signs or moon signs or all that. I don’t even know my own full chart! I’m friends with a very big astrology buff and they—in all seriousness—told me I was born the wrong sign 😂. According to them, I act like a Sagittarius.

But as for my TLT zodiac opinions, I’ve included my thoughts in the tags of each poll I’ve posted. So far, my prediction have been 50/50. I’ll go into more detail about my thoughts in this post, though.

Past polls:

Gideon is an Aries. Two of my best friends are Arieses and they give off the same energy as Gideon. It’s a kind of ‘fuck you if you’re rude, fuck me if you’re hot’ energy. They don’t give a flying fuck what society thinks of them. They’re also incredibly gay. Do I also happen to fall for Aries a lot? Yeah. Am I in love with Gideon Nav? Also yes.

Harrow is a Scorpio. I’m a Scorpio and so is one of my other best friends. I identify a lot with Harrow (we have the same genre of religious trauma/Catholic guilt, as well as a shit ton of grief and loss in our lives), but honestly, I just go with vibes. Incidentally, I’m related to one of people who helped discover Pluto (the planet that rules Scorpio) which is also the Ninth house. Like, legit these bone lesbians are from Pluto. I’ve seen several posts joking about that why Harrow’s so short. Because she’s from a dwarf planet.

Palamedes is a Virgo. This is based solely on one guy I knew in high school. Dude was a walking encyclopedia and had a pair of Pikachu sunglasses. I feel like Pal would wear Pikachu sunglasses.

Camilla my love. I thought Leo. Again based on one person I knew in high school. But Tumblr at large thinks she’s a Virgo and after some thought, I agree.

The Tridentarii are either Leos or Geminis. I said this in the tags, but Leos for personality, Gemini for the meme. My friend from high school is a Leo and she is one of the most driven and determined people I have ever met (so Ianthe it hurts). But she’s also one of the biggest romantics I’ve ever met. Like romantic as in the art/literature movement. She wrote me a fucking poem hyping me up because she saw that I was going through a tough time (self image issues). She compared me to the goddess Athena and I have never been more honored. Ray of fucking sunshine is the most wonderful sense (CORONA AF).

Babs. He was a fucking asshole, but he deserved better than what he got. Taurus. Yet again, based solely on a dude I knew in high school. Voice of an angel that boy. Bust out into a rendition of “A Whole New World” on an escalator one time and no one complained because it sounded so good. But a low key asshole. Not entirely unexpected as he was a tenor. Yes I am throwing shade at tenors. Most tenors (and many sopranos) in my experience are bitchy as fuck. Naberius Tern has tenor energy. Polls ended with Leo taking the win, with Aquarius a close second.

Other:

Dulcinea. The real Dulcinea. My other love. She’s horny for revenge and I love it. Chronic illness Queen. Like, can we please talk about the representation in this series? We have all manner of queer representation, mental illness rep, and chronic illness/disability rep! I know that *spoilers* it’s actually Cytherea in GtN, but then the real Dulcie shows up to be a bad bitch in HtN and I am in love with yet another TLT character. She’s a Libra and I love her.

OUR LADY OF FUCKING PASSION. Pash. TLT’s John the Baptist (take a look at Alecto Theory 11 for more on that). Capricorn. I don’t think I know any Capricorns irl, but from what I know of them, she’s a classic Capricorn.

So yeah, those are my thoughts.

[best-overplayed-song]

fun facts

"Zombie" is about the violence in “The Troubles,” the decades-long conflict in Northern Ireland between nationalists (mainly self-identified as Irish or Roman Catholic) and unionists (mainly self-identified as British or Protestant). Dolores O'Riordan wrote the song during the band’s English tour in 1993 in memory of two young boys, Tim Parry and Johnathan Ball, who were killed in an IRA bombing in Warrington, England.

Brian May initially didn't like "Don't Stop Me Now" as he felt it was celebrating Freddie Mercury's hedonistic and risky lifestyle. He added that he struggled with the lyrics at the time, because it was about a difficult period in Freddie's life when the singer was "taking lots of drugs and having sex with lots of men". However, after hearing the song being played at weddings, parties and funerals, he has come to appreciate it as representing "great joy"

[jackwolfes]

I've been reading smut for nine years so you'd think I'd be able to at least write a little bit of it, right? And yet, the minute it comes to even a kiss scene I get all uncomfy and just can't do it. Lately I've been coming up with so many smut scenes I wanna write but I keep second guessing myself and feeling all embarrassed. Any words of wisdom from a smut veteran like yourself?

i've shared some advice on this in more detail before and also here but the key question i'd ask yourself is: why

like. why are you embarrassed writing smut. why THIS and not writing fluff or whump or very elaborate longfics. because smut is at the end of the day any other type of writing, with just as much feeling and action and weird messy fluids.

"sex is taboo and shameful and i've got catholic guilt" - so fair, we live in a society. but also, sex is natural and a 100% morally neutral act. i'd be surprised if this wasn't underlying some part of the embarrassment but at a certain point, if this is the key thing holding you back, you might just need to sit down and consider whether you want the hegemonic bastards that suck the dick of advertisers and snuff out any sort of difference to be the thing holding you back from what is already a transgressive weirdo hobby. accept that if this is your biggest sticking point, you might not be ready to jump straight into writing a graphic monsterfucking piss play orgy and might have to start with heavy petting and missionary that's more feelings and "i love you"s than descriptions of genitals. and maybe you need to write 10,000 kissing scenes first to build up the courage to write the word "cock", but that's never going to be wasted time. there's no race. you don't need to jump straight in.

"fear of being perceived" - you are the arbiter of who sees this. you can post it anonymously, you can post this under a sock puppet account you made with a completely different email, you can wait until youve written 5 million words and post it all at once, you can literally never ever ever ever ever post it ever. but don't not write it because of an audience that doesn't even exist yet.

"fear of being cancelled for writing something weird" - the ao3 block button is a beautiful, beautiful feature. if someone reads something they don't like, what are they going to do? nark in your comments? whine? launch a smear campaign? fuck em. you should practice good internet safety to avoid getting doxx'd anyway, and if you do literally the only thing they can do is complain, which means all you have to do to get them to shut up is block them

"i like what i'm writing a Bit Too Much and don't know how to process that" - 1) self indulgence is the fucking shit but also 2) the writing is the processing it. writing is a tool that can help you identify the things that get you hot or your underlying opinions on the concept of intimacy and love. and dear god it's fucking awful to be vulnerable but the benefit is very very worth it. also no one's gonna know if you have a wank because you wrote a fic so hot you turned yourself on unless you tell them, so if that's how you gotta process it, then that's between you and god

"it's going to be bad" - it will unfortunately continue to be bad without practice.

if it wasn't immediately obvious from this answer, the only reason i ever got to 'smut veteran' stage was because i got really really fucking shameless about a lot of things, including the fact that i cannot say sexual things out loud, sometimes turn bright red while writing smut, and have still been known to get so embarrassed by a fic that i have to slam my laptop shut and put it away because i can't cope. and i think that part of writing anything that makes you feel that way is acknowledging that 1) you're strong enough to get through that discomfort and 2) a little bit of discomfort is probably worse than not writing anything at all

[maxsterclass]

PAC: Urgent Messages You Need to Hear Right Now 👁️

Pick a emoji / number between 1 and 3 for your spread.

Pile 1: 📸

Pile 2: 💄

Pile 3: 🕷️

Pile 1 or the “📸” :

knight of pentacles [upright], ten of pentacles [reversed], page of wands [reversed].

For this pile, you probably want to start a new project or there’s something that you’ve really wanted to do for a long time. You’re possibly considering leaving your current place of employment to pursue this other desire of yours, because you feel bored doing what you’re currently doing. This is the creator / artist pile.

The first aspect I’m getting is that for some of you, you have not actually put this idea into action. It’s in the early stages of fantasizing, you’re wanting to make a switch but although you’re bored with what you’re currently doing, it’s something that you’re familiar with. And you don’t want to step away from something that’s safe.

If you’ve already started this type of project recently, you’re stressed out that it will be unstable for you financially. You might feel frustrated that you aren’t seeing “progress” at a pace that you want (for example, if you’re someone who wants to grow a platform like on Twitch, you’re overly concerned about the rate of which you’re growing).

This is about a success that isn’t immediate, that takes time to blossom, but one that is worth investing in. If you haven’t made moves yet, it’s asking you to do so. If you have already, it’s asking you to be patient and wait, that you will get over the rough patch you’re currently in and your situation will improve.

Pile 2 or the “💄” :

five of cups [reversed], justice [upright], temperance [reversed].

Recently, you’ve walked away from either a situation that no longer served you or a person that no longer served you.

You recognized something in your life was unhealthy and so you cut it out, you need to be aware that you made the correct decision.

I think that this decision wasn’t made lightly and only happened after a lot of consideration and analyzing from you.

The spread is telling you that this isn’t your fault and that you ought to engage in some self care (whatever that may mean to you, whether it’s a sheet mask, a bubble bath, a bottle of champagne, a night of horror films, etc) and look forward to times ahead.

I’m happy for you Pile 2!

Pile 3 or the “🕷️” :

seven of wands [upright], eight of swords [upright], the Hierophant [upright].

From this pile, you might be clashing with others over your beliefs? This is like if your family members were to identify as Catholic and you were raised in an extremely Catholic household but you yourself did not identify as Catholic. Maybe you’ve had to defend yourself against being “different” from what everyone else around you is thinking.

I’m also getting the 9th House in my head? Which is all about religion, philosophies, ethics, anything along that line.

There’s also a bit of that in the Inspiration card I think with the quill. I would recommend journaling both in a therapeutic way (like shadow work prompts or diary like activities) and also in a scripting way (like writing out exactly how you want your life to look in five years, two years, what type of friends you want to attract into your life with what types of interests).

You feel out of place in a particular environment you’re in, but you feel as if there is no escape to it.

But with your Oracle cards, your advice is that you are quite spiritually gifted. Another recommendation I’m getting is that walks could be helpful in terms of “recharging.” Or another idea is to possibly start gardening, I feel like you’d find it extremely easy to have things flourish?

Do not let other people talk you out of what you believe.

[redditreceipts]

Hi, I’m curious on your opinion, if you’re willing. I’m a trans woman, I recognize I was born with a male body, but I don’t accept people purposefully calling me a man. I am a woman. I’m curious how you feel about that combination of how I see my identity.

Tw: stalking, harassment

I experience life through the lens that people perceive me as, which is woman. I’m talked over at work, I’m stalked by cars while riding my bike at night, and numerous men have made inappropriate advances toward me. I know I don’t have the specific experiences of sex-based discrimination, but I definitely experience the gender-based discrimination from living in a sexist society.

Hey :) Thanks for the question!

You can of course identify however you like, but to acknowledge material reality, self-identity is not really that important. I would, however, not advocate for people to come up to you and harass you, call you names etc. I also think that it is the kind thing to do in most situations to respect people's pronouns and beliefs, even if you do not share them.

And yes, it is also very problematic that men are treating you like that. This should not happen, and you should be able to maneuver the world without this kind of discrimination. People are seeing you as a woman, and women are treated like shit in this society. However, just because people see you a certain way does not mean that you literally are that thing. For example, there are catholic women who wear headscarves. In an islamophobic environment, some people might think that they are Muslima and shout islamophobic slurs at them. Do these women experience a kind of discrimination similar to that of Muslim women? Yes. But does that make them Muslim? No.

But if people are seeing and treating you as a woman, the gender-based discrimination you face is certainly a problem, which would make you a great ally in the fight against patriarchy and exploitation! Passing trans women and women face a lot of similar struggles, even if I wold argue that they do not belong in the same sex category. These are male violence, homophobia, sexualisation, mental health issues, and overrepresentation in prostitution. I actually think that your voice is very important, and if you are interested in fighting for women's and trans women's rights, I think that you can contribue quite a lot! There are many trans women who are allies in feminist and intersectional fights and I think that your voice can be impotant in bringing attention to these issues :)

[milkdreamspecialmix]

i was thinking of the strip in which italy loses the iron cross given to him by germany today. it was a bit of a throwaway gag but the necklace always remained in a lot of fanart as a representation of their friendship and bond. i think it’s cute, but even italy losing the damn thing aside, it doesn’t have much of an appropriate application or use in modern day settings.

though the iron cross predates WWII and isn’t technically an offensive symbol on its own (i most commonly see it being used by punks and other self identifying anti-conformist subcultures) it’s also likely still used as a dog whistle in conjunction with other things. it just doesn’t work beyond WWII settings in my opinion.

i’ve thought that maybe modern-day germany could give italy a new necklace, removed from any symbology related to nationality or pacts/alliances and instead related to their own humanity and friendship. the regular cross/crucifix is an obvious choice, because it is commonly worn by men (catholic and otherwise) and can be an understated design. but it lacks a more personal meaning.

beyond that, germany sometimes lacks taste (tomato ring?? i mean it’s cute but like wtf) so we can only hope that maybe he bought something italy was already eyeing or got help from romano. perhaps he’d think it was too personal of a gift to give and instead opted for something like a rosary. he’s a sucker for acts of service and gift-giving, i feel like he just wants to adorn him in all sorts of pretty and/or practical things.

unless we’re talking about established gerita. i think germany would propose with a ring that compliments the undertones of italy’s skin, but wedding rings are an entirely separate can of worms. collars too.

[catholic-character-tournament]

Round 1 - Side A

Propaganda below ⬇️

Louis de Pointe du Lac

french (creole) in the 1700s, has a crazy Ultra-Catholic brother that he builds a cathedral for on his property out of love, in which he gets turned i to a vampire after setting the place on fire in a drunken stupor because he was sooo damp lestat (insane vampire, also catholic but also not, it's complictaed) just couldn't resist, fire motif continues (he burns a lot of places to the ground, fire kills vampires, etc); denies himself human blood not because killing is wrong but because drinking human blood is a pleasurable experience (drinking blood is also how vampires have sex, so take this how you will), finds himself baby trapped in a toxic patriarchal nuclear family setting with lestat (not exclusive to catholics ofc but, come on) louis would not identify as catholic/religious but literally everything he does comes down to his immense catholic guilt complex and he believed genuinely for a very long time that he was going to hell for existing as a vampire (it's a metaphor)

episode 1 he has a whole breakdown in a confession booth about pimping, drinking, gay sex, etc. then his priest gets immediately murdered by a vampire and he then agrees to be turned by that vampire and to marry him (in his defense lestat is VERY dreamy) and keeps doing the same shit and worse but feeling extreme guilt about everything constantly. he keeps this up for 144 years and counting

He battles with faith so hard dude he spends like half his book being Catholically Guilty for his vampirism. It slaps

He got turned into a vampire after having a big gay crisis in a church. Iconic

Homura

she is a catholic lesbian whose girlfriend became god. she has been through so much.

shes such a lesbian for amdoke

Catholic guilt literally turned her into a demon

she literally watches everyone she knows die over and over and over again just so she can save madoka, the one girl who showed kindness towards her. when madoka ends up basically becoming god in order to stop the cycle of death and violence, homura RIPS AWAY THE HUMAN PART OF HER SOUL so that she can create a world where she and Madoka and their friends can live happily, effectively becoming the devil to madoka's god

She has so much religious symbolism when it comes to her relationship to Madoka. Madoka is God and Homura becomes Lucifer so that she can save Madoka and give her happiness. She literally rips God from heaven and rewrites reality though. The way she sees her self and shapes reality is through the lense of Catholicism.

most fucked up little catholic girl. we love that for her.

Okay homuras entire fuckin arc is stemmed from the fact she is Catholic. Look at her trying to save Madoka over and over again and suffering for it because she thinks if she suffers enough and works hard enough Madoka will stay. Normal people do not go into time loops willingly. Catholics will.

[sudaca-swag]

its gotten to a point where its ridiculous how usamericans and europeans grabbed a random fact from the 19th century and ran with it to build another prejudiced vision about south american countries. In short, no its absolutely not true that "there are no black/indigenous people" in countries such as Argentina or Uruguay, studies deminstarte it and anyone who lives inside these countries and isnt actively racist can see it.

Its true that during colonial times and afterwards there was a whitening process, you see while USA had segregation in latin america mixed marriages were encouraged as the norm bc it was thought children would be born paler and catholic, this resulted in most of latin american people being mixed genetically (except the more powerful classes who of course still marry between themselves and tend to be of european descent only). Also, lot of the times, black male slaves were thrown as soldiers in the independance wars and other fights, this is something that happened all over the americas, including the US.

But since race is a social construct that varies from time to time and from country to country, its not seen the same in latin america than in the US. Here nobody cares about blood quantum like they still seem to do in the US, a lot of ppl who identify as black there would never say they are black here, and you would probably never call "white" most people who self identify as white from uruguay or argentina if you ever saw them irl. Here racial identitity is more focused on phenotype (facial features) and self-identification, which makes it so that if you can "pass as white" youre most likely going to be identifying as such because the concept of "being white" is incredibly wide. Also because european immigration to south america came mostly from spaniards and italians unlike what happened in the US.

There is of course internalized racism that answers to all of this, and state government racism just like it happens in the US there is a reason why most POC in latin america make up the poorest classes, and have the least opportunities to rise from them. Calling all argentinean and uruguayan people blue eyed blonde nazis is a disservice to all of us, but most of all to POC who identify with pride with their roots, it shows youre not interested in them you just want a viral tweet/tiktok to diss on countries who are still victim to YOUR country's imperialism. It sounds as if you only found out two days ago about other latine countries that are not mexico, it sounds as if you dont understand context and that you cant apply an usamerican pov to other countries narratives.

Lastly, since yankis get horny with graphs and percentages, heres some numbers: Uruguay has about 4.5% self identified black people (although genetic studies claim it could be higher up to 7%) meanwhile argentina has about 150k people self identifying as such, but afroargentinean organizations claim the numbers can be up to 2 million people, which would also be a 4.5% of the population, its a trend that seems to be repeated in a lot of american countries.

[former-leftist-jew]

I really loved your post about religious extremism and I wanted to add that a lot of the people using the "peaceful, noble Palestinian" trope (like you said, the noble savage trope) would have no problem understanding that a Christian population is bigoted against gays because they were raised in that faith and ministered to by bigots -- for instance, Russian leadership using the language of Christianity to make "same sex propaganda" illegal (I literally know someone who went to jail for kissing another woman in front of Russian police) and then holding them to account when said government is removed from power, or even refusing to forgive them even when they've changed. These are totally understandable reactions to bigotry, even societal bigotry (my grandfather remains deeply homophobic due to his Christianity and even if he one day changes, I don't know that I'll be able to forgive him for supporting conversion therapy).

But when it's a non-Western population? Suddenly those people CAN'T be bigoted and CAN'T have been fed antisemitism and hatred for their entire lives because. I don't know, it's different with them! I know so many wonderful, affirming, progressive Muslims who have done the work to reinterpret and decolonize their faith, the same as I do Christians, Jews, Hindus, etc.. But I also know that in the Middle East, many don't DO that sort of reflection -- largely because they don't have the ability to due to decades of corrupt leadership and authoritarian rule. You can be a victim of religious extremism by virtue of being raised in it, but we NEED to hold these people to the same standards as we do Westerners coming out of religious extremism.

I'm not shocked Palestinians support Hamas -- it fucking sucks in Gaza, and has for a while. That's how terrorism gets its roots, same as the Taliban, the KKK, Al-Qaeda, etc; it preaches to a suffering population and promises it everything it wants, if only you'll hate XYZ group, if only you'll give us your children, etc. If we truly want to free Palestine -- which I do, I am a supporter of Palestinian self determination and ending anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia -- then we need to understand all this and help them decolonize and de-terrorize.

(I hope any of that made sense, I just sort of rambled)

Daww, thank you! I'm glad my pot struck a chord with you. ^_^

Yeah, believe it or not, I do have a lot of sympathy for the average Palestinian Muslim/Christian. It's just... like Atticus said of Mayella Ewell in To Kill a Mockingbird, my sympathy doesn't extend so far as to condone anihilating Israel and massacring all Jews.

I do believe that everyone has a right to self-determination and self-government. Gay people have a right to marry who they love, trans people have a right to dress and live as the gender they identify as, Arab Muslims have a right to worship Allah with Muhammad as his last and final Prophet, Jews have a right to self-determine and self-govern, etc.

TBH, I think there's a cruel irony that an estimated 30-60% of Palestinian Arabs share ancient Canaanite/Hebrew ancestry with modern Jews (meaning, they're also descended from ancient Jews), but since the region was forcibly conquered and converted by Islamic Caliphs in the 600's, it's fair to assume their Jewish ancestors were colonized and/or forcibly converted. (Or at least passively pressured to convert over time, since non-Muslims in Sharia Law are made to pay a poll tax and live as second-class citizens to Muslim citizens--so who wouldn't want to switch to Islam under that literal two-tiered legal system?)

Part of me thinks, "Why would you WANT to stay with Islam when your ancestors were conquered and forcibly converted (or at least passive-aggressively pressured to convert) as sure as Vietnam is largely Catholic because of their French Catholic former colonisers? BUT AGAIN, I respect their right to self-determination and their desire for self-government. If the Palestinian Muslims with ancient Hebrew blood want to stay with Islam, live in an Islamic society, and be ruled by an Islamic government, that's their right.

With that said, part of me feels like the average Palestinian Muslims (and Christians) have been duped by their Islamofascist government to see Israeli Jews not as long-lost brothers and sisters who finally returned home after centuries in exile, but as "foreign invaders" trying to take what little scraps they have. Both in the early 20th century and early 21's century.

You know that leftist meme that goes like:

"A CEO, white kid, and black kid sit at a table. The CEO's plate is piled high with 10 cookies, white the kids' are empty. He then tosses a cookie to the white kid and says, 'That black kid wants to steal your cookie.'"?

That is LITERALLY Hamas is doing to the Palestinian Arabs and Jews!

Hamas notoriously hoards as much of Gaza's food, fuel, water, resources, and wealth as they can, throw their people just enough scraps to get by, and then tells them, "Those Jews wants to steal your land, your religion, and your liberty. Help us kill the Jew, and you'll be living in Paradise." When the state of the rest of the Middle East (which have little to no Jews left in them) shows otherwise.

And I'm so disgusted by how the Left West recognizes that manipulation tactic when it comes to rich white CEO's duping poor whites into blaming black "welfare queens" and brown "illegal immigrants" for their lack of the good life, but somehow CAN'T connect the dots when Islamofascist dictators who openly hoard all their country's resources for themselves and spread oppressive violence and misogyny to the rest of the population do the exact same thing to the average impoverished Muslim regarding "Jews" and "Western invaders."

The average Muslim? Believe it or not, I DO have some sympathy. Based on what I've seen and read from various ex-Muslims, it sounds like Arab Islamic culture doesn't really encourage critical thinking, self-examination, or widespread education as the norm. MANY ex-Muslims I've met and talked to IRL, and that I follow on social media, talk about how, when they were growing up

A lot of Palestinians are also pretty upfront about how "we don't question" what they've been taught about Islam and Jews.

But, you know what? As far as I'm concerned, it's time to START questioning. It's time to START thinking about it. It's time to START making room for non-Muslims to live beside and share equal rights and resources with Muslims.

And I'm so grossed out that the Western Left encourages the religious bigotry, intolerance, and "no dogs or Jews allowed here!" segregation because "It's their culture/religion." Well then, they need to change with the times like everyone else.

[cloverandcrossbones]

Who TF decided that the His Dark Materials (Golden Compass) books were for kids/young adults?

I attempted to read them when I was the "target" age for them and it was the first time I ever remember tapping out on a book because it was above my reading comprehension (I regularly read books that were 2-3 years ahead of my "reading level" and was generally up for a challenge so that should tell you how much of I struggled). I gave up partway through the second book, The Subtle Knife, and didn't touch them again until this year.

And, boy, am I glad I waited! There is so much to this series that would have just been totally lost on me as a kid. The way it explores theology and morality would have gone right over my head. Even now with a bachelor's degree in English literature under my belt the depth to these books astounds me.

Every chapter of the Amber Spyglass opens with a quote from Milton's Paradise Lost, or one of William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience, or some other theologian or philosopher or outright Bible verses. Every chapter. In a series that was regularly promoted to 10 year olds. Yes, kids can be pretty smart and I hate when adult authors talk down to them, but what 10 year old is reading Paradise Lost?

I'm not saying you need a degree to understand this stuff, but you would have to have read a lot of foundational texts to get the full depths of the references. I also ended up leaning a lot on the religious study courses I've taken (and theological education from growing up Catholic) to identify specific religious theories/schools of thought which was just fascinating. Religious groups HATE these books! They're extremely critical of organized religion and Christian beliefs especially as they are canonized by the Catholic and Anglican churches. It's a three-book fiction trilogy exploring and arguing against Milton's interpretation of original sin.

So why was this series labelled as YA? Simple, the protagonists are kids; they're 12 years old.

Why did Pullman write about 12 year olds if the series wasn't meant for them? Because the biggest theme of the story is sin and children are considered innocent. Lyra and Will are coming of age and transitioning from childhood innocence to adulthood and its accompanying consciousness/self awareness that allows us to be held responsible for sinning.

Anyway here's an entry to the literal Wikipedia page for the series that I think sums it up:

Although His Dark Materials has been marketed as young adult fiction, and the central characters are children, Pullman wrote with no target audience in mind.