#and the new majority hated being forced to accept your unchanging ways so

[fetaspeak]

Like ask yourself

If your corp is for the betterment of people or so the ceo has a chance of being the hih master when the inevitable collapse theyre using their power to provoke/prevent ppl from saving themselves from happens.

[data-is-my-favorite-android]

Does anybody else get the sense they’re eventually going to go AU in Strange New Worlds? Especially since from the first episode, they keep talking about whether the future is preordained or if knowing your “fate” creates the opportunity to change it? The season so far has been toying with fate vs self-determinism, honesty (particularly self-honesty), empathy, duality (and the false-binary therein), and the nature of death and sacrifice as major themes. All of these really tie into Pike’s internal struggle with the knowledge he has of his future.

But there have been repeated statements across Discovery and SNW that there are many possible futures at all times. And the narrative around dualism and the false binary, while generally tied to questions of identity so far, also challenges Pike’s own perception of his future, which is either he avoids his fate and lets his crew members die or he saves them and accepts the future he’s seen. There are any number of scenarios that could play out between those extremes.

The last episode “The Elysian Kingdom” is an interesting example of this. (*SPOILERS AHEAD*) Dr. M’Benga’s daughter, Rukiya, loves the story he reads her but hates the ending, which forces the king to choose between the Mercury Stone and the princess (this mirrors the doctor’s own struggle to choose between his daughter and his duties as a medical officer). Rukiya says the ending doesn’t make sense and wants to change it. Shenanigans ensue, and in the end, a choice must be made between Rukiya and the Enterprise. On the surface, it looks like despite the changes to the story Rukiya has made, she and her father still arrive at the same binary choice: save his daughter’s life and sacrifice the ship, or let his daughter die and save his crew mates. But there is another option, a choice that only Rukiya can make: she can stay in the nebula, living forever in perfect health and acting out an infinity of stories, but she must leave the Enterprise and her father’s life to do so. This is the option she chooses. She returns to her father in an adult form projected from the nebula to tell him it was the right choice. Now, one could argue her fate is essentially unchanged and that this is all a metaphor for death and acceptance. She is no longer physically present in her father’s life, has no true corporeal form, and has passed beyond the persistently observable universe into a plane of existence beyond mortal comprehension. But it is different, at least from Rukiya’s perspective, from being ravaged by disease and helplessly withering away until she dies. She found a way to change her story to give herself a happier, more fulfilling ending, one where she grows up, she and her father can still see each other occasionally, and she is very much alive in a psychic/spiritual/non-corporeal sense. It’s a world of difference, even if that difference is only truly perceptible to her and only very briefly glimpsed by her father. There was a third option and she took it. She got to choose it, and she was happier for it.

Was there a scenario where Dr. M’Benga wouldn’t have had to choose between his daughter and the crew? Probably. It’s a wide universe out there full of possibilities and alternate choices that could fall between (or outside of!) the binary of one sacrifice or another. Circumstances forced this particular set of choices to be made, but that doesn’t mean Rukiya’s ascension into the nebula was fated and that there wasn’t another way. It merely means that this was the junction at which they arrived first. And if Dr. M’Benga and/or Rukiya had had foreknowledge of it (or some other, better choice waiting further downstream), could they have avoided the nebula in the first place? Would they have?

(*SPOILERS END*)

There has been this constant dialogue in the subtext of the first season so far about knowing your fate, embracing your fate, and/or changing it, as well as the relative value of death and sacrifice, life and love. It remains to be seen whether the writers will eventually deviate from the canon and to what degree, but I think we might be inching toward an AU. Pike’s accident is supposed to happen 10 years in the future, so maybe this will all remain a question never answered but constantly asked, and the whole series will take place in this liminal narrative space. But I keep wondering if the writers aren’t inching us toward an event horizon, maybe one not visible to the crew as characters in the story, but one we as the audience will know is a true deviation from the canon, thus opening up a whole new set of possibilities for all the characters. After all, Star Trek has always played around in branching timelines and parallel universes, and it would be interesting for the writers and actors alike to be able to redefine the characters and tell new stories, ones that brush with the original beats of TOS but generate novel results. And there is always the tension of exactly how alternate any new branch would be, and whether some things are fated to occur anyway, with the only appreciable changes being the reactions and choices made by the crew which may or may not substantially change the results. How fated is fate? How do pre-determination and self-determination play off each other, meet and part? Are they two separate tracks, or do they intertwine? Is it a binary or a spectrum?

I could be totally wrong. There is still a TON of creative freedom within the confines set by canon since this is pre-TOS and most of the characters in SNW are unique to the show. The only characters that need to work within the limits defined by canon are Spock, Chapel, Uhura, and to a lesser degree Pike and Una. But Pike and Spock are precisely the two characters that the most narrative attention is being given and around whom the deepest philosophical themes coalesce. These are the two characters whose fates we already should know and whose futures appear from our perspective pre-determined. Perhaps so much attention is being lavished on them because they are known quantities and, at least in Spock’s case, are already wildly popular. But I feel like there may be a turn coming up somewhere because of the nature of the questions being asked. The writers didn’t have to center their themes on fate vs free will and false binaries, but they did, and it begs the question.

I guess it really all comes down to whether the writers are the kind of storytellers that revel in the Greek tragedy of Fate Inescapable or if they can’t resist the allure of the age-old narrative Man Makes His Own Destiny.

Or is the choice between the two a false binary as well? 🤔😉

[yuyuntianyu]

[2HA analysis blog] To love you is torment but leave you I cannot

I wanted to write this (hopefully not-too-long) blog to give 2HA fandom a different perspective of the events in the past timeline. I noticed that there are many little things that could not be carried over to the English language. These little things can give more explanations to our characters’ actions so I hope sharing this would help the novel make more sense. This blog focuses on Taxian-jun and Chu Fei.

Warning: Spoilers ! ! ! Taxian-jun and Chu Fei are their own trigger warnings ! ! !

Despite the novel having 350 chapters, we really know little about what happened between Taxian-jun and Chu Fei besides the abuse and mistreatment and that little is relayed to us by the Most Unreliable Narrator of the Cultivation World - Mo Ran Mo Weiyu. If we only take Mo Ran for his words then a lot of his and Chu Wanning’s decisions told later on would seem irrational and almost silly. So let’s dive deep in the past so we can understand how the great cultivator Beidou Xian-zun could raise such a dumb husky since the events in the past would explain the more irrational decisions made by both main characters.

Given Mo Ran’s narrator is about as reliable as his character in the first 120 chapters, we have to look at other more subtle clues and some of them are due to cultural and linguistic differences.

1. I used to like you a lot

At his coronation day, Taxian-jun stated that he once greatly looked up to Chu Wanning and that he used to love and respect him dearly. Maybe I am reading into this too much but this is my theory: The flower could erase the memory itself but cannot erase the feelings associated with the memory. He had his memories of the good deeds Chu Wanning did for him erased but still remembered that he used to love and respect him. It doesn’t make sense unless it is indeed that the flower could not erase its host’s feelings. So throughout the novel, Mo Ran’s complicated emotions are complicated possibly because he could not remember how he came to have these feelings. Similarly, Hua Binan could mess with the undead Taxian-jun’s memory to a great extent but could not erase his obsession with Chu Wanning.

2. I gave you a new title

Chu Fei. 楚妃. In the Imperial Chinese harem hierarchy, “Fei” means consort and not concubine (嬪 “Pín"). Consorts were highly respected positions in the palace weidling much political power and were only seconds to the Empress Consort. Another major difference is a consort would be married to the emperor while a concubine would not. So if Taxian-jun had truly wanted to only humiliate Chu Wanning and keep him for the carnal pleasures (I am intentionally ignoring his breeding kink completely), he would keep him as a concubine but he gave Chu Wanning the Consort title and hid him from the world. At this point, Taxian-jun had almost lost Chu Wanning once and had spent a lot of effort to bring him back from the verge of death after hearing Chu Wanning’s apology so his anger might have softened a bit. Also, given that Chu Wanning is a man, having a legitimate offspring ( (I am still intentionally ignoring Mo Ran's breeding kink completely) is not an issue so although this is not clearly stated, I believe Taxian-jun wanted to force a relationship and somewhat proper marriage on Chu Wanning. Another hint of this is in an Extra chapter where Taxian-jun tried to get Chu Wanning a birthday gift. He recalled that in his past timeline, he had wanted Chu Wanning to give him something on his birthday as well and that he had wanted Chu Wanning’s heart.

3. Shizun likes to write letters and poems

On Book 3 Chapter 247, Chu Wanning sat down and wrote a few unsent letters to the people he used to know. He also wrote a few lines of poetry. In the first few lines taken from different literature works, he expressed his sense of helplessness and his wish to remain untainted despite the circumstances. The more important two lines are from a poem written by a real poet named Fàn Chéngdà ( 范成大) who lived in the 12th century Southern-Song dynasty. The two lines read:

“May I be like the stars, may you* be as the moon. Night after night, may we shine together side by side.” **

*In the original work, the character used instead of you is “jun” 君 (as in 踏仙君 Taxian-jun). 君 could mean king, emperor, lord, or gentleman ** This is my rough translation - I haven’t found an English version of this poem

These two lines are commonly used in romantic novels as a way to express one’s unchanging love and loyalty to another person despite the circumstances. He compared himself as the stars and wanted to remain by Taxian-jun whom he viewed as the moon. Chu Wanning wrote this to express his willingness to stay but he would never voice this out loud. In the next timeline, he did the same thing by quietly loving and caring for Mo Ran 1.0 despite the mistreatment and was content with never expressing his feelings vocally. Mo Ran was rather uneducated and thus could not fully comprehend these two lines and misunderstood that Chu Wanning was missing Xue Meng.

4. You are all I have left

In chapter 252, after Chu Wanning returned to The Red Lotus Pavilion, he found Taxian-jun already waiting for him. Taxian-jun told Chu Wanning about a dream he had and said:

“I am afraid I don’t resent you… I want to resent you… Otherwise, I…” “In the end, it’s just you and I”.

This is not the first time he expressed that Chu Wanning was all he had left or they only had each other. I believe that at this point, Taxian-jun might have somewhat believed Chu Wanning and recognized that his memories were missing. His words and behaviors seemed a lot more gentle and he mentioned they did have periods of time where their marriage was easier. I believe it was after this point. He told us about the numerous times he attempted to spoil his consort or expressed his affection through gifts, a trip outside the palace, goods, jewels, and even teaching Chu Wanning how to cook or personally taking care of Chu Wanning when he was sick. At one point, Taxian-jun expressed his wish for a more peaceful marriage with Chu Wanning through his breeding kink by saying that if they had children, perhaps they would be more civil towards each other.

Edit: I really wanted to go about this blog without having to refer to their particular taste in bed

5. Are you still mad?

This is a smaller detail but in the original text and the Vietnamese official translation, the way they talked to each other had a bit more of the “husband-wife” dynamic. Especially Chu Wanning ( l┐(︶▽︶)┌ ), the comment section said he sounded like when your wife is mad that you didn’t take out the trash but still says: “I’m not mad” and Taxian-jun, the husband, would come around and ask “Are you still mad at me?” after every fight.

6. I did not think you would really leave me.

On Chapter 99, Mo Ran recalled the fight between him and Chu Wanning after an assassination attempt. In order to convince Mo Ran to not go to Taxue Palace, Chu Wanning said:

“If you destroy Taxue palace, if you kill Xue Meng, I will die before you”.

Now the line “I will die before you” in my language is less of a suicidal ideation but more of a threat. It's used when a person already knows that they are important to the other person and is using their own death as a threat to make the other person do something. This line is thrown around a lot during heated arguments between people close to each other but they almost never mean it. (Even my mom said it numerous times before T_T . I personally think it’s manipulative). Therefore, it is understandable Taxian-jun did not take this line seriously and replied almost mockingly. After all, they had been married for almost a decade at that point, Taxian-jun probably felt somewhat comfortable that Chu Wanning would not do anything reckless. He could not foresee that Chu Wanning meant what he said and actually followed through with his words. I believe that if Taxian-jun had known that Chu Wanning was serious, Taxian-jun would not have gone to Taxue Palace. 7. Don't leave me, ok?

Then Chu Wanning died and Mo Ran spent two years alone. In those two years, we know he basically went insane because of grief, talked to a corpse everyday, and deep fried his Empress Consort. But strangely enough, Mo Ran 1.0 did not immediately mention this after being reborn although it was the main reason he committed suicide. And at that point, it had been well over a decade since Shi Mei faked his death in the past timeline, yet Mo Ran 1.0 seemed to still hold a lot of resentment towards Chu Wanning. Also, he said he could accept Shi Mei’s death but would never accept Chu Wanning’s. So honestly, it did not make sense to me the first time I read the novel and I believed Mo Ran resented Chu Wanning for a different reason.

The answer was first hinted at in chapter 9 when Mo Ran scolded the sleeping Chu Wanning. He called Chu Wanning a donkey hoof (lol) and this is actually an idiom to scold someone who is disloyal and unfaithful in love. The puzzles came together when the undead Taxian-jun showed up and immediately went after Chu Wanning (and not Shi Mei). He believed Chu Wanning used his death to hurt him and was angry at Chu Wanning for leaving him. This is the resentment Mo Ran 1.0 carried over to the next timeline. He hated Chu Wanning for abandoning him. This is solidified in chapter 262 by the undead Taxian-jun pleading to Chu Wanning:

“Don’t betray me” “Don’t leave me the second time. The first time you left, I could choose death as a relief. This time, even death is not an option any more… I won’t be able to bear it…”

So there it is! I hope this blog brings some new information and feel free to discuss! Let me know if you have any questions for me ＼(￣▽￣)／

Disclaimer: Plenty of this is my conclusion drawn from the already ambiguous original text and various translations. Unless Meatbun says it, it’s not canon. I am looking at the novel in three different languages so I might have made some mistakes. Pls forgive. Also, I am not making excuses for Mo Ran 0.5’s actions nor am I justifying the abuse in any way. Chu Wanning never said Mo Ran 0.5 was innocent of these crimes nor will I.

[kryptkept]

(   ellie thatcher ,   female ,   she/her  )   apparently   that's   𝐋𝐘𝐃𝐈𝐀 𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍   lurking   around   town   for   a year .   the   local   psychic   claims   they're   a   𝐕𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐄   (   record store clerk   )   who's   𝟐𝟑   /   𝟒𝟓  years    old    but   she's   always   been   a   bit   unhinged .   whispers   around   town   say   they're   intrepid ,   artful   but   mordant .   honestly ,   they   remind   me   of   using pages of the bible as tinder for a fire , getting a stick & poke in your best friend’s basement , & the liberation of forsaking your savior   which   explains   why   i've   seen   them   with   an   aged rosary . 

𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄.   lydia emerson  ;  born as  lydia anne morgan  . 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒.   lydia myers  ,  sawyer augustine  ,  valerie tatum smith  ,  various others  . 𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐒.   lyd  ,  lydz  ,  deetz  . 𝐀𝐆𝐄.   physically 23  ;  truly 45  . 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑.   female  ;  she/her  . 𝐒𝐄𝐗𝐔𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘.   bisexual  . 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐈𝐄𝐒.   vampire  . 𝐎𝐂𝐂𝐔𝐏𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍.   clerk  @  quiet riot records shop  . 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘.

(   tws for  :  abuse  ,  loss of a child  ,  alcoholism  ,  attempted murder  ,  period typical misogyny  ,  if i’ve forgotten to tag anything or you need something tagged please let me know  !   ) lydia was born in 1960 to a moderately unhappy pair looking to save both face  &  their miserable marriage  .  while they had initially been informed that they were expecting twins  ,  lydia’s sibling died in utero  &  thereafter was absorbed by lydia herself in a case of twin resorption  .  while there was little explanation for this phenomenon at the time  ,  lydia’s mother  ,  theresa  ,  was distraught  ,  under the assumption that lydia must have killed her sibling in the womb if only she had survived  ,  and began to view the child growing inside of her as something akin to the devil  .  this belief was only exacerbated by the difficult pregnancy she endured with lydia  ,  anf further stoked by her strict catholic beliefs  . after her birth  ,  theresa’s feelings remained unchanged  ;  she was a withdrawn  ,  angry mother  ,  forced to keep up the act of a perfectly quaint little family in front of friends  &  family  .  unfortunately  ,  theresa fell victim to severe postpartum depression which would devolve into full blown psychosis  .  given the time period  ,  this went largely unnoticed for the most part  ,  written off as the stress a new mother must endure for the sake of her child  .  meanwhile  ,  lydia’s father  ,  richard  ,  was of little help  .  he was similarly withdrawn but as opposed to theresa  ,  this was less rooted in hatred and more in the general apathy he faced most things with  .  coming from a broken home himself  ,  directionless in life  &  uninspired  ,  he’d long since turned to the drink as a way of coping  &  the arrival of his daughter had done little to change that  . in a hazy memory that haunts lydia to this day  ,  she can recall the day her mother wrapped both hands around her throat a the tender age of three  ,  and attempted to squeeze every last bit of life from her  .  all the while  ,  she was shrieking like a banshee about how lydia was a demon  ,  the antichrist  ,  nothing but a  plague  .  her father found them moments before lydia slipped into unconsciousness  ,  and she has little recollection of what happened between them after that  . the situation itself resulted in theresa’s departure  .  this would eventually lead to lydia being left in the care of her maternal grandparents after three more years spent with her father  ,  who spent more time under the influence than he did sober  .  her grandmother  &  grandfather were strict and very much orthodox  ,  though they  did  love her  ,  but their expectations of her were far too lofty  .  they weren’t the affectionate type  ,  but were more prone to physical rewards than words of praise or hugs  .  her childhood  &  adolescence were pockmarked with various attempts at rebellion  ;  talking back  ,  sneaking out of sunday school  ,  sneaking out at home  ,  meeting up with the outcasts in town despite often being warned to steer clear of them  ,  stealing  ,  etcetera  .  lydia was desperate to feel something and in pursuit of pleasure  ,  she continued to act out and do as she pleased  .  she began to dabble in darker things  :  the supernatural  &  the occult  ,  namely  .  she was kicked out of her home at 18 and spent her time couch surfing  . as the 80′s rolled around  ,  she delved into the world of satanism  , urged on by the need to separate herself from her heavily religious upbringing  &  the ways in which her experiences during childhood had effected her  ;  essentially  ,  a big  fuck you  to the majority of her family  ,  and to god himself  .  at this point she was on the other side of the satanic panic  ,  laughing at those that protested and screeched about unholy corruption in things like music  &  literature  . lydia was well known on the scene .  with her sharp humor and devil may care attitude  ,  she was the life of the parties she frequently attended  .  and it was during the aftermath of one such event that she would come to lose her life  :  taken with a perfect stranger  ,  she’d followed him into the darkened alleyways as the party came to a close  ,  unaware of his intentions to quite literally bleed her dry  . when she woke the following night  ,  she was in a haze  ,  wobbling like a baby deer and overcome with a hunger so intense it almost sent her toppling to the ground  .

𝐈𝐍 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐍.

as opposed to some  ,  lydia accepted her fate with little complaints  .  in fact  ,  you might say she was a little  too  enthusiastic  ...  driven by thirst  ,  she slaughtered a group of college students and left them out in the open air of the park they’d been having a nighttime hangout at  .  she fled town soon after  ,  leaving behind the sunny shores of california for the emptiness of indiana  .  she began going by the name lydia myers meanwhile  . after that  ,  she never really stayed in one place for too long  .  she loved to travel  ,  enjoying her freedom immensely  ,  and found kin with the people she met along the way  .  most of these relationships were fairly fickle  ,  in the grand scheme of things  ;  most people she charmed out of necessity  .  it was nice to have a friend to call on when you needed a place to stay  ,  or a few bucks for bus fare  .  it was a genuine rarity for her to find herself truly attached to another  ,  because she feared commitment more than anything  ;  she still does  ,  in fact  .  letting someone grow close means giving them the chance to hurt you  ,  to leave you  ,  and lydia is  ...  not about that  .

𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐋𝐘.

though she’d initially vowed upon her departure that she’d never return to cali  ,  lydia has come slinking back  .  if you ask her why  ,  she’ll tell you it’s boredom  ,  and that much is true  —  but a pressing matter remains  :  that of her sire  .  she’s been running from him for 22 years since her turning  ,  but recently  ,  she’s felt a sharp tug on the thread that keeps them connected  .  both curious and vexed  ,  and maybe searching for an answer to a question she’s tried not to ask  ,  she’s tracked him back to ambrose  .  to support herself  ,  she’s taken up a job at the record store   (   one of the things she’s always enjoyed has been music  !   )

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘.

hello words are failing me so take some bullet point traits  .  :,) +   creative  ,  adventurous  ,  brave  ,  resourceful  ,  charismatic   (   when necessary   )  . -   manipulative  ,  sardonic  ,  evasive  ,  stubborn  ,  dishonest  ,  hotheaded .

𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒.

hi please bring me her sire  .  i have  ... honestly too many ideas to list here because i don’t want to risk rambling for like  ,  eight paragraphs about everything lmao  .

i think it would be interesting if she ran into someone she hasn’t seen for years  .  maybe they were one of the people she used  ,  and they’re super pissed at her for how she just ghosted  .  or maybe they look back on her fondly  .

she antagonizes people for fun  .  please hate her

she’s also definitely the type to flat out tell people she’s a vampire  .  and like  ,  given her usual sarcastic  ,  jokey nature  ... people probably just take it as her messing around  .  which is even more hilarious to her  .  this could result in  :  1.  someone who constantly goes along with the ‘joke’  ,  who maybe later on finds out and either also thinks it’s funny  ,  is horrified  ,  or feels betrayed   (   to which lydz would respond with  but i told you  ?   )   2.  someone who is very suspicious of her and Does Not think it’s just a funny joke at all

𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑.

she loves going to the beach late at night  .  like  ,  the sand getting everywhere sucks  ,  but she’ll deal with it  .

she can be surprisingly generous when in a good mood  .  when she says don’t mention it  ,  she fuckin means it

loves motorcycles  ,  wants one someday

has an old polaroid camera from the 80′s that she still uses pretty frequently  .  she enjoys photography  !

i need you all to know i literally came up with her because i listened to kiss the go goat by ghost for hours on end over the span of a few days please help i can’t stop

[beinglibertarian]

Before You Go To University: Do I Need A Degree?

(Editor’s note: This is Being Libertarian’s new series, curated to help anyone who is beginning their journey through university. As Jordan Peterson alludes to in many of his lectures, the university can help a person read great books, absorb great thought, and develop their unique human ability to speak, argue, and articulate. However, often students face a situation where rather than being taught how to critically think, they are instead being shown one-sided arguments, or being told what to think. This series intends to prepare future and current students so that they can move forward confidently into their university experience; one that will open their minds and challenge their presuppositions and arm them with critical thought, logic and reason.)

      Do I Need A Degree?

All our lives we have always been told that they key to financial success is to get a college degree. So much so, that college degrees have flooded the labor market.

For Generation X, relatively few people had a degree, and therefore, degrees were something that could separate you from other job applicants. However, now there are so many degrees that they add less value than before.

It’s a matter of simple economics. Scarcity often equals higher value. A greater supply of college degrees with mostly unchanged demand equals less value for those degrees.

Now, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go to college to get a degree. It means you have to consider it as a factor in your career choice when thinking about making yourself valuable in the marketplace. From the moment you leave high school (and often times while you are in high school), you are actually in business for yourself. You are a contractor available to supply your labor to businesses. How do you want to increase your value to pursue that work, and how are you going to market yourself and maintain good customer service?

The mistake most often made by college graduates is the idea that immediately upon leaving college, there will be a dream job somewhere lined up for them, and that they can have a job that really fulfills them. The first reality anyone entering into the job market should accept is that you are not going to have a job that fulfills you completely. No one does. People eventually land in a job that is better than all the other jobs they have had, but you certainly don’t get to start there, and you will never have a “perfect” job.

When you are considering your education, you have to stop thinking about searching until you find a perfect job, and you have to stop thinking about a career path in terms of what is really fulfilling. You aren’t likely to keep the career you’ve originally chosen. On average, people change careers three times during their lifetime. When considering your future, don’t freeze up and get stuck on something you think you will be spending the rest of your life doing. Instead focus on what jobs are most available and what jobs are in most demand by employers.

If you look at the job market and decide that the best available opportunities don’t require a degree, then don’t go to college. Go to work instead or go to a vocational school or get into an apprenticeship. Many tech jobs don’t prefer any formal schooling, but are focused more on experience and on projects in which you’ve been involved. Silicon Valley cares less and less about education these days. If you’re interested in a particular field, check first to see if employers require a degree in that field. If they value experience above degrees, then go for experience instead of a degree.

Once again, the best thing you can do, career-wise, is to think about how to make yourself more valuable, which applies to your education considerations. Seek out scarce benefits you can offer that not everyone has available, but also understand not all scarce abilities have value. If you can curl your tongue, nobody pays extra for that. If you get a degree in some obscure social subject, you’re likely to get no credit for it in the work place, and you will have wasted money.

If you don’t want or need a degree, the skills you should seek that are the most important are the same as the most important skills you can seek if you don’t go to college. In other words, the skills employers value the most don’t involve schooling.

While many professions do require a degree, what recent college graduates sometimes fail to realize is that there are skill sets that are far more valuable than a degree and while some can be addressed and learned in school to an extent, they require a lot more experience in “the real world.”

Skills employers look for in order of their importance:

Integrity. If you are the sort of person I can’t trust, I cannot afford to keep you employed at my business.

The ability to communicate effectively. Both written and verbal communication are important. If your primary means of communication is electronic (texts, emails, etc.) then you are in for a rude awakening.

In order to be as effective as you can as a good contractor of employment, you have to be able to get people to really understand you well, and you have to understand other people really well. The people who can best communicate always go further than people who can’t. That means learning how to write, how to speak in a way that effectively conveys thoughts and persuades, and the ability to read and understand body language.

Critical thinking. You must be able to effectively solve problems. That means lots of logic and reason and the ability to understand “if x then y, and if y then z”; that means being able to understand if something doesn’t work, then here are the other available options and likely outcomes.

Work ethic. You need to be mindful that you are indeed in charge of your own personal business. You are selling yourself and your services, so you must provide good customer service for your employer, and that means doing more than others would do. Imagine yourself as your own customer and what things you’d like to see that would really impress you.

Required knowledge for the job. This is where a degree might come in. It’s obvious that if you don’t know how to design a bridge you’re not a good candidate to be an engineer. However, not all jobs require college learning, and not all jobs require a lot of uncommon knowledge. Acquire the knowledge you need for the job and don’t bother with more. If the job requires a degree then get the degree.

Notice that the top four things have very little to do with schooling. However, schooling can still be very useful in some of these areas. For example, it may feel like you would never use trigonometry or calculus, but they certainly do force you to think through logic and give you plenty of practice to learn to think critically.

You can read online how to improve your writing and communication, but a class on business writing and classes on English composition provide great foundations into effective writing and speech and debate are very good for improving verbal communication.

If you want to start a business, you’re going to drown in your lack of knowledge in accounting and finance, so those sorts of classes can be useful.

College learning, short of degrees, is not necessarily wasted money. There’s nothing wrong with an unfinished degree if it acquires the knowledge you need to get to where you’re going. If you’d like to work in engineering, then get a degree. If you’d like to be in the field of finance or accounting, then get a degree for the knowledge that requires. Get a law degree if you want to enter the field of law. Get a doctorate in medicine if you want to cut into people to fix them. But, in the majority of fields, experience trumps education.

However, it’s important to understand the paradox that has always existed in trying to find work. Businesses want people to have experience, but you can’t gain experience until you have work. It’s something that’s incredibly frustrating, but there are ways to gain experience. You just have to check your ego and go after jobs that are unpleasant at first and jobs that aren’t necessarily where you want to go.

Every job gives you some sort of experience, and as long as you aren’t constantly job hopping over short periods of time, then you learn something from each job, that can be a significant part of your education. It takes patience and recognition that nobody loves their job as much as they might say. Nobody has a perfect job, and you should never leave a job until you have gained all that you can from it, even with the little things of menial tasks that train you to follow through on even the things you hate to do.

So, college or university isn’t for everyone, and a college degree is not always going to be as valuable as the cost of going to college. Study a few fields that are in demand and aren’t likely to become obsolete in the near future. What field has the most in demand opportunities, even if you don’t necessarily like those fields? One day you will end up in a good position.

There are a huge number of jobs going unfilled because everyone thinks they have to have a degree and jobs that don’t require them are somehow beneath you. They aren’t. They’re either just stepping stones to more prosperous opportunities or they are great opportunities in themselves. Maybe you will end up in a trade you don’t necessarily like, but there is something that can be more fulfilling than that job, and that is securely being able to keep food on the table and have a comfortable level of earnings that allows you to save. Fulfillment and success aren’t always tied to work and career. Success can be measured in may ways that have nothing to do with how much you make or what you do for a living. Family life and successful relationships, helping others in ways you can’t make money doing, time outside of work, etc.

If you really need a degree to accomplish what you want in life, then by all means go for it! But, if the best opportunities available are ones that don’t require a degree, then go for the experience first. But understand that your career is not a good source for your happiness. The best sources for your happiness come from within.

You will never find the perfect job, but you can find happiness no matter what you’re doing. Just consider these things before you go off to college to pay for a degree, and make sure that the degree will add

the value you’re seeking.

The post Before You Go To University: Do I Need A Degree? appeared first on Being Libertarian.

from WordPress https://ift.tt/2KEBoIL via IFTTT

[transgenderteensurvivalguide]

do you know any good resources for detransition? (I looked at your FAQ but couldn't find anything)

Lee says:

None of the mods have personal experience with this, so we don’t have any resources to link to about it. Detransition statistics are closer to 3-5% of people after they make any sort of irreversible changes (here are two studies with similar numbers) which means that detransitioners are a minority within a minority, so it’s hard to find resources in it (that aren’t transphobic) since most trans people don’t detransition.

Detransitioning isn’t the same thing as going back into the closet at home for safety reasons, it’s stopping your transition and reversing it everywhere in your life. Being trans isn’t easy, but denying that you’re trans to yourself can sometimes be worse.

If you are not using the trans label anymore but it’s because of peer pressure or fear that you won’t find anyone who accepts you, you may actually still be trans but not able to handle being out of the closet for now. It’s okay to go back in the closet if you don’t want to be out, but if you are trans but don’t want to be because you weren’t accepted, detransitioning won’t help with some of your dysphoria- only self-acceptance and transitioning can.

You can also look into whether you’re actually non-binary if you were formerly identifying as a male or female. It’s possible you could still fall somewhere under the trans umbrella if you want to, but it’s also your choice if you no longer feel comfortable identifying as trans at all. 

genders / more genders / neurogenders / questioning

All that being said, sometimes you just aren’t trans after all! And that’s okay. You may want to explore the gender nonconforming label if you don’t feel you’re trans.

You also should try to figure out what caused you to identify as trans in the first place, and what you need to do to be comfortable in your detransition if you have decided that you aren’t trans. Investigating what compelled you to identify as trans might provide some clarity in what you want to do as you move away from the trans community. There’s often a lot of stigma around being trans, so people who choose to identify as trans and come out as such usually don’t do it on a whim. Were you uncomfortable with the gender roles you were assumed to have to fit? Was it physical/body dysphoria, and if so, how do you plan to cope with it as you detransition?

Also consider why you aren’t identifying as trans anymore. Were you comfortable with the trans label but unprepared for the discrimination/rejection that you experienced as a result of identifying as trans? Did you expect that your dysphoria would improve when you transitioned but it didn’t? 

No matter how far you transitioned, you should look into Therapists and therapy to help you cope with the process you have ahead of you.

“Knowing where to go starts with knowing oneself. Whether going to a male role, a female one, somewhere in-between, or genderless, the choice of action has to be done with even more certainty then was done the first time around. Waiting to decide may look like not being able to, but in the end it will be out of a more informed decision when it comes to ones unique identity, and not based off emotion and/or misguided ideas. A stable identity and expression must come from within, and not be fueled by the opinions of others.

If the basis of transitioning was simply because the belief one isn’t “X” and therefore must be “Y”, (grass is greener theory) then attempting to understand the reasoning behind the thinking is an introspection option. The reasoning behind that theory could be anything from confusing gender expression with identity, to disbelief in non-binary gender as it relates to the facets of identity and role. Separating preferred gender expression, gender identity, gender role, and sexuality will allow for easier understanding of the influences that make up the core self, and if one or more is based off external validation of a false belief.” (Source)

If you’ve socially transitioned: you could try to use the Coming out page to re-come out as your axab, and consider what you want to change as you detransition. Do you want to keep dressing masculine/feminine, or do you want to experiment with old clothing? Do you want to keep the same style as before your transition, or try something new? Do you want to go back to your birthname, continue with your chosen name, or find a new name? Change pronouns? Make a list of the goals you want to accomplish on paper- writing things out makes it seem more real. Writing things out and keeping a diary or a journal can help. 

If you’ve medically transitioned: If you’re afab you could look at the Transfeminine resources to see info on what surgical options are available and such, like breast augmentation if you had your chest removed or electrolysis if you’ve grown facial hair. If you’re amab you could look at the Transmasculine resources and start to research getting any breast implants removed, or top surgery to get rid of any chest growth from estrogen, etc. Either axab you can talk to your hormone provider about stopping hrt, and what to expect as you stop it, and if you’ll need to take estrogen/testosterone to restore your system to balance or not.

The trans community is often silent on detransitioning, as the vast majority of trans people don’t detransition and yet it’s kinda the bogeyman of the community because when people hear about someone detransitioning they think “oh no, what if I’m making a mistake too?” and so they don’t like to acknowledge it.

Despite that, there’s nothing wrong with exploring your identity- it’s okay if you thought you were one thing and it turns out you’re another. You’ve just learned more about yourself, and now you know that the trans label isn’t for you. 

If someone explores their gender identity, it doesn’t mean they were “faking.” Some people feel a certain way for a certain amount of time, and later their identity shifts- not everyone has a static unchanging gender for all of their lives. That doesn’t mean you were faking or were lying about it when you identified as trans.

You can look into connecting with other detransitoners to help provide you with support as you’re all going through a similar experience, but watch out for TERFs/radfems who may disguise their transphobia and transmisogyny as being “gender critical”. 

One important thing to remember: While you may not be trans, other people’s identities are still valid. Some detranstioners will start to believe that because they weren’t trans, nobody is trans- and that’s not true.

You may not have belonged in the trans community but the community is an important and helpful place for other people, and it shouldn’t be vilified as coercing/forcing people into identifying as trans because that sends the message that trans people aren’t actually trans and they’re just being tricked into it, which is really invalidating. 

There are issues with every community of course, and the trans community is no exception, but it’s possible to address that without invalidating other people’s identities.

All in all, I wish you the best on your journey, and I hope you find an identity and method of coping that makes you the most comfortable and happy.

Followers, any good resources for anon?

Followers say:

randomtranshiker said: I know 1 person who detransitionrd after a year of transitioning and living as mtf, on facebook they said ‘Over the past year of living as a women I have learned a lot more about myself and have learned to embrace some more feminine aspects of myself, but I have decided that being a female isn’t quite right for me so for now I will be going back to he/him pronouns. I appreciate all the support and I hope you will all support me in the future as I learn more about myself’ and I thought it was put really well. So it might be helpful for other people looking into detransitioning

questioningsideblog said: It is important to remember the reasons you transitioned in the first place. Even if you do not stick with it forever, there was a legitimate pain or feeling behind why you made those choices.

ishcadore said: Anon you have to understand that people who condemn trans people as “transtrenders” or claim its just a phase somehow compartmentalize the act of questioning yourself (and growing to understand yourself) as ‘not part of your life’ as if phases do not make up who we are and how we change as people.  Looking for your identity does not put you at fault, just as any other part of life doesn’t.  Those who do not try to find their own path and figure out who they are in the same way don’t…

kaykitty said: even if nobody ever detransitioned transphobes would use the possibility as an excuse for bigotry. by reidentifying you won’t “become” evidence for anybody’s agenda. don’t let anyone else’s hatefulness stop you from doing what you need to do. i know it’s really confusing and embarrassing but in my experience everyone has either been very accepting, if a little confused, or just as quietly baffled as they were when i started transitioning in the first place lol

[hg47]

47 ISLAM

47 ISLAM By @hg47 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Instead of a Dedication, an Appeal: Before you accuse an Infidel of hate speech against Islam, accuse Islam of hate speech against Infidels. ++++------- http://www.amazon.com/Cruel-Usual-Punishment-Terrifying-Implications/dp/1595551611/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380310980&sr=1-1&keywords=CRUEL+AND+USUAL+PUNISHMENT+by+Nonie+Darwish In CRUEL AND USUAL PUNISHMENT Nonie Darwish maintains that there are upwards of 35,000 Islamic laws and scriptures urging intolerance and violence against Non-Muslims. ++++------- http://www.cspipublishing.com/statistical/charts.html On one of the many excellent charts at this site is a break-down of the Anti-Jew text within Islamic holy writings.  For comparison purposes, Hitler’s MEIN KAMPF is referenced at 7% Anti-Jew, slightly more than the Koran at 6.7% Anti-Jew. ++++------- If Islam is a serious threat to our Western way of life, don’t we need to know about that?  Don’t we need, as Infidels, the freedom to study what Islam is all about, and then the freedom to warn others according to our conclusions?  Don’t we need the freedom to compare our own conclusions on Islam with what other Infidels have concluded about Islam?  This requires Freedom of Speech for the sharing of knowledge, even if that “knowledge” be provably wrong or offensive to some. A part of Freedom of Speech is that particular ideas will offend others.  It’s a given.  Some widely disseminated ideas are silly.  Some so called “truths” can be scientifically demonstrated to be false, even though a majority of people may believe them. The moment blasphemy laws kill Freedom Of Speech, our Western culture is done.  Stick a fork in it.  When laws are in place which require that communication be inoffensive to everyone ACCORDING TO RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLES, Scientific Inquiry is finished.  The proponents of slavery will have then won against us the believers of LIBERTY. What of the individual Infidel who is offended by a particular religion?  What of the individual Infidel who is frightened and horrified by a particular religion?  Is that person’s voice to be silenced by mob rule and by fear? To be in opposition to Islam is not to be racist, but rather to be concerned about your own survival, and the survival of your own culture.  It is to be religionist (in the sense of being in opposition to a specific religion).  Muslims are all races. About 60% of the world’s Muslims are not Arab, which makes Arabs a minority within Islam. Inside the United States, only about 20% of Arab Americans are Muslim (circa 10/15/2013 5:34 AM).  Race has nothing to do with it.  Something like 65% of Arab Americans are pious Christians who put most of us casual home-grown American Christians to shame by their devotion to Christ. Christianity has an interpretive tradition where the violent Old Testament passages concerning non-Christians tend not to be taken so literally, and are generally understood today to be amended by Christ’s teachings in the New Testament.  In Church, a typical sermon today involves an appeal to good behavior according to Christian principles and tolerance of others, regardless of their faith.  Although, some fire and brimstone for personal failure to comply with Christ’s message may be involved.  It is a very personal thing: an intimate relationship between the valued individual and a basically loving God. Islam is the reverse: the peaceful passages in the Koran concerning Infidels are cancelled out by the violent passages about us, and the literal violent verses have been codified into unchangeable Islamic Sharia law for precisely how we Infidels are to be subdued.  In Mosque, a typical sermon today involves an appeal to good behavior according to Islamic principles, and prompts for intolerance concerning unclean Infidels; likely, blaming Infidels for Muslims’ problems will be involved; and don’t forget, religious chanting for the death of the enemies of Islam.  It is an impersonal thing: a relationship between The Muslim Group which is superior to all else, the Infidels who are inferior, all before a harsh, unpredictable God. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ NOTE-1: On My Use Of The Word “Islamic” There is much disagreement among Muslims of what constitutes an “Islamic Nation,” and of what “Islamic” means.  I use the term to refer to Muslims or things associated with Muslims.  A Muslim majority country, I regard as an Islamic country; just as I would call a Christian majority country a Christian country. (In Western Nations, there tends to be a separation of Church and State; in Muslim majority nations, Islam tends to percolate and influence every aspect of the State.) The technically-correct definition is probably something like: “Only when the Sharia is the established law in a country, does it constitute an Islamic state.”  There is no way to please everyone: Shias and Sunnis are murdering each other over minor disagreements of what constitutes proper Sharia and what true “peaceful” Islamic behavior is. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 47 REASONS WHY I FEAR ISLAM -1-I am suspicious of any religion that demands the death of any member who quits.+MORE+ -2-In Islamic nations any Muslim male can have his way with any female he has access to, because it is impossible to convict a Muslim male of rape under Islamic law. +MORE+ -3-I am suspicious of any religion with a zero tolerance for criticism: Any criticism of Islam is blasphemy, the penalty for which is death. +MORE+ -4-I am suspicious of any religion which claims that it is perfect “as is” and must never be changed or moderated on penalty of death for anyone attempting to do so.+MORE+ -5-Islam divides the world into “House of Islam” and “House of Warfare,” which means that a technical state of war exists between Islam and anything that is not Islamic.  A religion that claims to be peaceful, but is at war with everything else!+MORE+ -6-In Islamic nations, male members of the religion are first class citizens, female members of the religion are second class citizens, non-members are third class citizens, and Jews are fourth class citizens.+MORE+ -7-I am suspicious of any religion with holy texts statistically more anti-Semitic than Hitler’s MEIN KAMPF.+MORE+ -8-I am suspicious of any religion that legally defines the worth of female members as half that of male members, and which views non-members as sub-human.+MORE+ -9-Complex prayer rituals which must be done a minimum of five times a day, every day without exception, are not healthy for people, or for people living near people compulsively praying in military formation like that.  In my opinion. +MORE+ -10-I am suspicious of any religion which has no honorable surrender for its members, but rather demands that its members fight on in suicide against hopeless odds.+MORE+ -11-Initially, Islam was a peaceful force, with peaceful teachings; during that first decade it gained about 150 members through persuasion.  Then Islam changed character, with warlike teachings; during that second decade it gained about 30,000 members through looting, killing, and forced conversions.  Today, the warlike teachings over-rule the peaceful teachings. +MORE+ -12-Moderate Muslims are in the minority, have no influence, and are afraid to speak up.+MORE+ -13-Mentally-ill people are used as front line troops in the struggle against non-Islamic forces.+MORE+ -14-Muslims tend to blame other people for their own problems.+MORE+ -15-I am suspicious of any religion where cursing your enemies and chanting for their death is an accepted religious ceremony.+MORE+ -16-My intent is to expose Islam to Christians so that we can know what we are dealing with, not “attack” Islam.  However, some parts of Islam seem so nasty from the Western point-of-view, that to expose them, to write about them at all, seems like an attack.  Me?  Islamophobic?  Just because I am afraid of Islam, doesn’t mean that these slaves of their God aren’t trying to destroy my way of life, and possibly my life.+MORE+ -17-Muslims will NEVER accept the existence of Israel (or Spain for that matter, but Spain is on the back burner): 66% of Palestinians think their goal should be to start with a two-state solution but then use their Palestinian state as a launch pad to destroy Israel. +MORE+ -18-Sharia Law is a systematic encroachment of legal rulings to raise up the Muslim male, lock the Muslim female into hopeless submission, denigrate, devalue, and destroy anything non-Islamic, placing non-Muslims as third-class citizens, and Jews as fourth-class citizens until their eventual extinction.+MORE+ -19-The Islamic God hates Infidels and plots against us.  Actually, I think I am supposed to fear this.+MORE+ -20-Terrorism by Muslims is not a perversion of Islam, but a form of accepted (and actually required) Islamic behavior according to a straight reading of the Koran, Sharia Law, the Hadiths, and is approved by the highest Islamic authorities in the world; a frightening percentage of Muslims within Western nations believe that terrorism is appropriate under some conditions.+MORE+ -21-The Islamic vision of Paradise is unlimited awesome sex after death for male Muslims.  Can’t think of a better recruiting tool to funnel emotionally disturbed young men not into psychiatric hospitals but into front-line troops hoping to kill themselves for Islam and orgasmic eternity.+MORE+ -22-Islamic religious leaders, especially in the Middle East and Islamic majority countries like Pakistan, can whip up an angry mob of rioting Muslims whenever they please, and aim the mob at a specific target, due to the hair-trigger fever-pitch intolerant religious passion inside average Muslims (We are the slaves of our God, you are the scum of our God.) +MORE+ -23-It’s starting to look like only the few moderate Muslims can be trusted; and the fanatical Muslims may pretend to be friendly so well you won’t find out the truth until it’s too late.+MORE+ -24-The Muslim religion preaches disinformation as an article of faith; they are at war, so they must lie to the enemy about their troop movements, their subterfuges, and even what their religion is all about.+MORE+ -25-“Infidel” is the ugliest gutter insult one Muslim Arab can hurl at another person, roughly equivalent in emotional tone to the Western insult suggesting that a son has an inappropriate sexual relationship with his mother.+MORE+ -26-I fear for the freedom of Muslim women locked away behind a veil, and I fear for the safety of non-Muslim women not behind a veil because Muslim men, who already view Infidels as inferior scum, are more likely to see Western women as whores, fair-game to be raped. +MORE+ -27-The Islamic religion has not changed 2% in 1,100 years; and probably will not change 2% in the next 1,000 years.  Rather than adapting to civilized laws, unchangeable Islam forces civic laws to adapt to it by violence, intimidation, terrorism, mob rule, murder, warfare, extortion, assassination, and disinformation.+MORE+ -28-Yes, moderate Muslims can be productive members of Western society; but only if they are “Bad Muslims” according to their own religion, or if they are “deep-cover agents” playing a “long-range” or “sleeper” game for the eventual destruction of non-Islamic forces.+MORE+ -29-Hollywood Comedy Writers can write a TV show making fun of the Pope, making fun of the U.S. President Barack Obama, making fun of [our] God, making fun of [insert any name except the Islamic Prophet].  Free speech?  Nope.  Fear speech.  Muslims have us running away, scared of them.+MORE+ -30-Non-Muslims who like Islam don’t have a clue what the religion is all about.  Non-Muslims who attempt to expose Islam are often accused of Hate Speech by those in the West largely because Islam itself is vicious.  Accurately describing the way Islam functions seems to Western ears as unbelievable exaggeration motivated by hate.  Also, Muslims have an army of PR experts and disinformation specialists who collectively yowl in the media like wounded wolves because of an “improper” and “intolerable” and “insulting” attack upon their religion by unclean Infidels who contaminate Islam with words they, as inferiors, have no right to speak.+MORE+ -31-There are “Good Muslims” and “Bad Muslims” just like there are “Good Christians” and “Bad Christians.”  But what people in the West think of as a “Good Muslim,” the devout Muslims regard as “Bad Muslims.”+MORE+ -32-I’m all for “Freedom of Religion,” but I’m not sure Islam should be accorded the subsidized and protected status of a “religion” under American Law: isn’t that like us paying Communism to destroy Capitalism? +MORE+ -33-The only sure way into “paradise” for Muslim males is to die fighting enemies of Islam.+MORE+ -34-In my opinion, Christianity conquers through LOVE.  In my opinion, Islam conquers through FEAR.  If Machiavelli was right, we are doomed. +MORE+ -35-Earthly Islamic success seems more about loot, taking possessions from Infidels rather than self-actualization.+MORE+ -36-109 verses in the Koran advocate violence against Non-Muslims; 527 verses in the Koran are intolerant of Non-Muslims; of the 245 verses that are slightly “positive” on Non-Muslims every one of those has been abrogated, redacted, annulled, and do not apply to Islamic Law or influence Muslim behavior.+MORE+ -37-The only sure way a Muslim woman can get into Paradise is if her husband is happy with her at her moment of death.+MORE+ -38-Rather than assimilating into Western nations as productive members of society, on average Muslims tend to gather together into self-contained Islamic zones, or “no-go” zones, where Police & Fire & Social Services are afraid to enter because Non-Muslims are violently not welcome there.+MORE+ -39-Dangerous “holy” words lead to dangerous “unholy” behavior; if Moderate Muslims are ever to be taken seriously as moderates in the West, the 109 verses in the Koran which advocate violence against Non-Muslims should be abrogated, redacted and annulled.  Will this happen?  Never.  The moderates attempting this would be killed as Apostates if they even talked about it.+MORE+ -40-I am suspicious of a religion which demands total and absolute slavery from its members.+MORE+ -41-Islam does not respect civil law, but rather seeks to invade civil law, to become the civil law.  There is no “Render unto Caesar those things which are Caesar’s.” +MORE+ -42-Moderate Muslims essentially share the exact same ideology as violent Islamists, but prefer different tactics: a long-range strategic destruction of all American values, not a short-range bomb explosion to kill a few of us Infidels today.  +MORE+ -43-Since Islamic holy writings refer to Jews as apes who must all be killed before Judgment Day can occur, I think the following analogy is fair.  Fundamentalist Muslims are like barking sheepdogs that herd moderate Muslim sheep in the direction the radicals want.  Also, several Christian refugees from Iraq have mentioned to me in passing that Muslims in the Middle East treat their women like dogs.+MORE+ -44-Islamic hatred of non-Muslims is often simmering just below the surface, only needing a pretext to flash into violence.  We are unclean, detestable scum who are polluting the Earth, THEIR EARTH, with our miserable presence.+MORE+ -45-When the ideal male person of your religion marries a girl when she is six and has sex with her when she is nine, setting the standards for all other men, you know you are in the wrong religion, but it’s too late, the other members of your religion will kill you if you try to leave.+MORE+ -46-The word “LOVE” does not appear once in the Koran.  I don’t know about you, but that scares me.  A “religion” devoid of love!+MORE+ -47-Moderate Muslims scare me when they say that violence against non-Muslims is an incorrect interpretation of Islam, and not a part of the Koran: either they don’t know their own religion, or they are deep-cover agents for the subversive advance of Islam.+MORE+ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Note-2: My method is to first list my 47 reasons concerning Islam.  The initial list has no distracting links or supporting arguments.  Probably most readers will abandon this book before completing the initial list, and go on to some other form of entertainment.  (Yes, I am exactly that cynical.) [This Second Section does not yet exist in the online version of 47 ISLAM; It only functions in the eBook version of 47 ISLAM.]Secondly, I list my 47 reasons concerning Islam with internal links; in this way, any point that strikes the reader’s fancy can be followed up in the third section by a few of my own supporting arguments (which, admittedly, are not much different from what can be found in books or on the Internet), and additional material.  It has all been said and written before, many times.  But this is the START SECTION to drill down and explore any point that interests you, by following the links.  I am attempting to take advantage of hypertext and electronic books so that readers may explore Islam according to THEIR INCLINATIONS not mine.  All external links were functional at the time of publication; but the Internet is always changing; research done over a decade has given me much material which I have not included within this book because the links no longer function. Thirdly, I list my 47 reasons concerning Islam with supporting arguments, and with links to Internet sources.  And humor.  I’m trying to be entertaining, so I also mix it up.  If I can’t hold your interest you’ll go watch some video on demand.  Anyway, THIS PART IS THE BOOK, if you want to read linearly the way most books are written and read, from start to finish.  The purpose of links to Internet sources is to encourage you the reader to actually go to the article or web site and read further.  In this way, any point that interests you can be followed up in-depth quickly.  The points that bore you are easily avoided.   Mostly I let others argue my case, which you may follow with links to the online article or to Amazon where you may purchase the physical book.  I like to use other’s words to make my point whenever possible.  They are the experts.  I also like to mix things up; this is fair, since the Koran is all mixed up.  I am also wary of long reasoned rational arguments, because most readers are bored by them and just skip over them.  However, if you follow the links and read the full text of the articles you will get more rationality than you can handle.  Read the books in my bibliography, and you will be an Infidel Expert on Islam. If you want long, reasoned, rational arguments concerning Islam, supported by facts which are substantiated, FOLLOW THE LINKS!  READ THE BOOKS IN THE BIBLIOGRAPHY!  You’ll get deductive logic there.  I do not expect to persuade anyone—the writer/reader relationship is too flimsy.  But if you already sort of agree with me about the danger of Islam, this book should provide you with the tools you need to persuade your friends.  Friend-to-friend is how persuasion really takes place anyway.  And, sadly, persuasion usually happens for emotional reasons, not intellectual reasons. In addition, expect some error in this project.  I am not perfect.  As Eric Hoffer expressed, it is impossible to think in understatements.  Some of my declarations may go too far.  Some of my declarations may not go far enough, due to my own ignorance.  I am also sometimes guilty of over-simplification; not mentioning a minor clause if it is not relevant and/or would distract from my cherished sound bites.  For example: When I stated that Islam divides the world into HOUSE OF ISLAM and HOUSE OF WARFARE, I simplified; there is also a HOUSE OF TEMPORARY TRUCE, not much in use, where jihad against Infidels is not allowed.  Additionally, there is a HOUSE OF PEACE, what the entire world will supposedly become once Islam has conquered the entire world.  There may be other archaic Islamic “HOUSES” that I have not noticed.  If I try to bring all the “HOUSES” into the argument, I just confuse the essential duality.  The main fact is that according to Muslim jurists, the Non-Muslim living in territory not subject to Islam (and therefore considered a land of war) has no rights: his property and his life are legal prey to any Muslim.  The more I try to “fully explain” all the details, the more I just confuse most readers.  One flaw I find in many books on Islam is that exhaustively dealing with all the exceptions dulls the edge of the argument, and has the effect of boring rather than enlightening readers. I’m not the hero here; the writers I point to with links, and YOU, the readers who share this information with YOUR FRIENDS are the heroines and heroes.  These writers are the experts; they have done all the research and scholarship; some of them are hiding for their lives.  I’m only good for jumping up and down and pointing at the pros who really understand the threat of Islam to Western Civilization.  Even the best of my own writing on Islam is likely just paraphrased arguments from the professionals condensed down into sound-bites.  If I have a talent it is in cramming a thought into 140-characters. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ A SHORT FORWARD: The word LOVE does not appear once in the Koran.  There is no love between Muslims and their God.  There is no love between Muslims and Non-Muslims (quite the opposite, actually).  And, according to the Koran, there is no love between Muslims and other Muslims (there are, however, many texts in the Koran and the Hadiths about how a wife may never refuse her husband sex—my favorite is the one about sex on a camel). Islam means to submit.  As the slaves of their God, the ones who submitted, Muslims regard themselves as the lords of the Earth, the true owners of the Earth.  Thus, according to twisted Islamic logic, looting and stealing from non-Muslims is, in their eyes, repossessing what is naturally theirs. Non-Muslims, or Infidels, are the lowest animal form of life, except for Jewish Infidels, which are even worse; when forced conversion to Islam is not practical, intolerance is encouraged (especially, if loot can be collected on a regular basis), murder of Infidels is condoned, and temporary peace treaties may be allowed with Infidels, provided the final goal is always kept in mind: the eventual destruction of anything Non-Islamic. Islam is 1/3rd religious force and 2/3rds political force.  Much of the Koran functions as a rule book for precisely how and when the detested inferior Infidel must be conquered, marginalized, humiliated, taxed, converted, and killed.  This is the Islamic Golden Rule: Kick the Infidel’s butt! The dangerous Muslims, in my view, are the ones who have studied Islam carefully and who take the teachings of Islam seriously.  The moderate Muslims are the ones who don’t know their own religion or who don’t take it seriously.  Christianity has an interpretive tradition where the peaceful teachings of Christ tend to over-rule the few violent Old Testament passages; in Islam the many violent hateful verses have rendered the few peaceful verses officially null and void. If you want a simplification, Islam is an ass-backwards Christianity.  Instead of the Christian impulse to “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” it’s the Muslim desire to “Do unto others before they do unto you.” Islam divides the World into HOUSE OF ISLAM and HOUSE OF WARFARE.  War is a major theme of Islam; any action which expands Islam is a good action. Because Muslims are always praying, or they have just prayed, or they are just about to pray, or they are memorizing some holy words to be recited later, there is a religious spin on everything Muslims think, say or do.  Because Infidels are “the enemy” the Koran repeatedly forbids Muslims to be friends with Infidels.  It is perfectly acceptable, however, for Muslims to pretend to be friends with Infidels to gain some advantage. The religious leaders in Islam have an inordinate power and influence upon Muslims because the Koran has been randomized and redacted, so it is obscure and difficult to make sense of without expert study involving Islamic texts outside the Koran, particularly the Hadiths.  Essentially, all the peaceful passages of the Koran have been annulled, voided, reduced to empty words that have no influence upon Islamic Law or Muslim behavior, by chronologically-later passages calling for intolerance and violence toward Non-Muslims.  Also, Muslims are not allowed to critically examine the Koran, but must accept without question what their religious leaders tell them. Much emphasis is placed upon memorizing and reciting the Koran in the difficult Classical Arabic language in use from the Fourth to Ninth Centuries; so most Muslims are saying sounds they do not fully comprehend, over and over.  As a result of this, many Muslims don’t know their own religion, but depend on their religious leaders for instructions.  Orders given to Muslims from Islamic religious leaders in a Muslim majority Nation (“Death to America!  Death to Israel!  An accursed infidel on the other side of the world burnt a Koran, so boys after service go out and kill me some Infidels at the U.S. Embassy!”) are far different from orders given to Muslims living as minorities in Western Nations (“Keep your heads down until we get our numbers up, then Jihad!”).  What all Muslims do know is if they quit Islam they might be killed, possibly by a family member, and at a minimum, they would be forever cutting off all contact between themselves and anyone in their extended family; they would be banished, to live in exile, under a death sentence. The religious leaders in Islam have also redacted and rewritten history.  Islam denies its birth, and insists it has been around since the time of Adam and Eve.  Islam denies the Holocaust, and many other “Western facts.”  In Western Nations, Muslims tend to live together in “no go” zones where Non-Muslims are violently not welcome, and where an alternate Islamic history of the world is home-schooled to their children: Little tiny growing Islamic separate outposts for the future conversion of whatever Western nation they are in to a completely Islamic state. I have no clue what to do about Islam.  But these are my fears, and my reasons.  Occasionally, I make a suggestion, knowing full well it will never occur. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +Go-To-1+

[onlyonecanbeking]

Figments for Dummies

Written by RS

Please do not attempt to complete the same things as seen in this book.Traveling to these locations are very dangerous, and often deadly.

Introductions

What is a Figment?

    -What is their purpose?

    -Figments and their Host

    -Figment Strengths

    -Figment Weaknesses

    -Final Form

What is the Void?

    -Void Dimensions

    -Void Regeneration

How do Figments Glitch?

What is the Figment Council?

    -How Did They Become a Council?

Introductions

The study of something as mysterious and elusive as Figments was no simple task. They are a secluded, reserved, distant species that has little to no connection with human earth. The entire forefront of their existence is experienced only in passing glances, and this is why it took almost five years to gain enough intel to truly understand a Figment’s purpose and personality.

As someone who has been fascinated with the mind, it was not surprising that I achieved a natural connection with the Figment world almost immediately. Their style of life was intriguing and strange, and no human before had ever attempted to accept them beyond their own subconscious thoughts. I decided to pursue the opportunity to learn more about them in depth. However, the road was dangerous, each location feeding me new trials and threats.

That is the reasoning behind the basis of this book; to offer everyone insight of the incredible story of the Figments within all of us, without having to risk life and limb. I hope that this inspires you to make communication with your inner mind, and respect and love the thoughts you receive.

-RS

What is a Figment?

This question is the most commonly asked to anyone that I happen to come across. What exactly is a Figment? Although there will never be a direct answer, as a Figment’s job can range to hundreds of different paths and choices, the basic duties from Figment to Figment tends to remain the same.

A Figment is a developed mirage of the human subconscious. They are nonphysical beings, born and residing within the mind at different stages of a human’s lifespan. They take the appearance, voice, and natural ticks and habits of their host, with only small attributes and differences showing they are not exact twins to who created them. They are not demons, spirits, ghosts, gremlins, monsters, or apart of the imagination. They are, quite literally, entities of the mind.

They are ageless and are not restricted by time. Figments who were developed upon the birth of the first walking humans still remain today.

Every living human who has the ability to think and understand their own subconscious has Figments. No human, however, is exactly alike. Each Figment is particularly tailored to their host’s desires, appearances, and personality. Each Figment will respond differently to certain emotions, and each Figment will work differently with each host.

What is their Purpose?

What is it that they do? Well, as stated, many Figments find secondhand jobs and abilities that can range as much as human jobs do. However, each of them have the same major responsibility to their host. Figments claim, protect, and delegate the use of their host’s emotions, using them properly in order to keep their host healthy and working properly. Each human has a multitude of separate Figments for the purpose of different types of emotions.

For example, Darkiplier, or Dark, claims all of Mark Fischbach’s dark emotions. His anger, sadness, grief, regret, loneliness, sadism, etc. Wilford claims his more light and sexual emotions. Libido, joy, curiosity, impulsiveness, etc. Googleiplier claims his more meticulous informative side. Knowledge, understanding, technical advancement. When a human must feel a certain emotion, happiness, grief, anger, regardless, it is the Figment’s duty to provide said emotion to the human mind. In doing so, the Figment themselves must also feel this emotion, for it to be properly transferred.

Figments and their Host

On occasion, by their host’s approval, a Figment may come to the “surface” and control their host’s body. This usually occurs through extremes of a certain emotion. It is most common to see dark figments claim control of their host for small segments of time. When there is overwhelming grief, the dark Figment may take over to properly dispose of the sorrow. All of this must be with consent to the host for it to occur.

Figments are most naturally tied to their host. It is uncommon to see a Figment far from where their host roams. However, on few cases, large surges of  power, usually stirred by anger and hate, spike their energy far beyond natural standards, and because of this, become separate entities that are allowed to manifest into physical beings when they receive enough energy to do so. They are still, however, able to regulate their host’s emotions. “Darkiplier” from Mark, and “Antisepticeye” from Sean, are examples of this.

Figment Strengths

    Invincibility is the major upside to a Figment. Death is impossible, as in technicality they never live. Even when their Host passes on, they do not fade away, but instead remain in the Void, waiting for another Host to arrive or simply working their own solitary job for the Council for the rest of their existence.

    Anything that has ever been produced by the mind can be produced by a Figment with merely a gesture. They are extremely powerful figures, that claim control over the Void, and can produce third dimensional objects with their own will and energy.

    Their amount of energy surpasses anything I have seen before, and they can conduct elemental attacks on opponents, in order to severely wound them, or kill them if they are mortal.

    Figments have no need for food and water, as they have no working organs that need to be fed with nutrients. Figments also do not sleep, but instead meditate when their energy begins to drain. They can last for several weeks before needing to meditate, if they use their energy smartly.

Figment Weaknesses

    Figments are forced to remain in the confines with which they are developed in. They are unable to venture freely on earth.

    All Figments bend their will and powers to the Council when the time is needed to do so. They follow the basics of authority, and because of this, must often subdue their powers and stand down from what they desire to do.

    Each Figment’s duty first comes to their Host, as their instinct. Their Host is basically their captor, as the Figment is unable to make their own decisions or take their own desired path until the Host has passed on.

    Figments are unable to choose which emotions to feel. Whatever emotions they are assigned is the scope of what they can express. For example, Darkiplier from Mark Fischbach is unable to feel happiness, as he works with all of Mark’s negative emotions.

Final Form

    Every Figment has a Final Form, a final stand of defense. It is basically the human version of Hulking Out, as severe anger, or physical stress from pain or wounds, causes for this Final Form to emerge. This Final Form is the most dangerous form that can be seen from a Figment, and almost always involves a death of anyone in close proximity.

    Each Figment has a different type of Final Form dependent on their Host and themselves as a personality. The Final Form completely warps the Figment’s original body, and they transform into some type of unearthly beast, with possessions of powers and utilities never seen on earth before.

    The only way for a Final Form to end is when the Figment completely drains themselves of all of their energy, and is more or less forcefully transferred into meditation, what humans would equal to “blacking out”.

What is the Void?

    Each and every Figment, no matter how powerful or developed, are forced to the confines of the Void.

The Void is, essentially, the realm of human subconscious. Your thoughts, your inner desires, everything that makes you who you are, resides within this space. It is limitless and timeless, it contains nothing and everything in the same sense. It remains tucked in the fourth and fifth dimension, unseen by humans, and the Figments cannot see earth in that same way. It is a black chasm of eternity, and everything that is within it is purely formed from the mind. Everything that has ever been thought, every piece of knowledge, and whim, is stored there in the black canvas around.

The Void is claimed as the native homeland for every Figment. They are developed here, they reside here, and they remain here. No earth creature is known to be able to claim the Void as their habitat. Humans, as the most prime example, are completely incapable of handling the harsh dimensional warping of the Void. As it resides in the fourth and fifth dimension, third dimensional bodies become slowly dismantled, atom by atom. If a human remains in the Void for approximately five minutes, they will receive a rash close to the sensation of a sunburn. If they remain for an hour, they may begin to lose smaller digits like fingers and toes. A day’s worth of time in the Void would cause a human to literally disintegrate.

On occasions, mutterings of Abstracts have been known to accept the dimensions and are therefore able to live in the Void despite not being natives.

Void Dimensions

The Void has always been relatively stable. It’s beyond the natural bounds and physicalities of the earth, so there is no real possibility for its destruction. It isn’t limited by time, or air, or living beings, or the lifespan of said things. It is controlled by the human mind, which is a marginally unchanging, controllable place.

Many people are confused on what the fourth and fifth dimension really entails. It refers to the addition of time and space, that is, three spatial dimensions, and one time dimension for a fourth dimension, or three spatial dimensions and two time dimensions for a fifth dimension.  As far as science is concerned, there is a possibility of 10 separate dimensions of space, treating time as a 3rd dimensional space and the sum total gaining to infinity.

Void Regeneration

I have discovered that injuries within the Void are never permanent for a Figment. Although when a Figment fights a Figment, it may be painful, there is never death. No matter what you harm, or what you lop off, the ligament or bone, or flesh, or whatever may have been attacked will always heal itself back. It’s the subconscious mind reforming the representation of what it envisions the Figment to be, if that makes sense. If the Figment was missing an arm, it would be a misrepresentation of what the subconscious mind identifies. It will simply just reappear into being, no special glitching or regrowing required.

How do Figments Glitch?

This is another common question I see, and I think it is based around the fact that a famous Figment named Antisepticeye is capable of glitching and teleporting the entirety of his body from one section of the Void to another. There is misconception that this is a normal occurrence for the majority of Figment kind. However, the truth is that very select Figments are able to harness this ability.

Figments’ forms of transportation are very different and dependent on their host and their own personality. Antisepticeye cracks and glitches because he is loud, energetic, and technology based. Darkiplier forms himself into a shadow-like mist and becomes almost transparent as he travels because he is reserved and mysterious. Googleplier, one of Mark Fischbach’s other figments, does a similar sort of transport as Antisepticeye, but instead follows a more basic, computer generated style of glitch that resembles a server shutting down.

But while their styles are original and hardly duplicated, each and every Figment uses the same dimensional jumping in order to get around. That’s right. Figments are indeed jumping through dimensions when they glitch, and this typically occurs through the third, fourth, and fifth dimension of space. While they are in the Void, jumping from fourth dimensions and fifth dimensions allows them to glitch and move quickly throughout the void. While in physical form, jumping between third and fourth dimensions allows them to travel through the physical realm easily with little trouble.

What is the Figment Council?

    The Figment Council is a collection of fifty Elder Figments. These Figments were the first fifty Figments to ever be developed, from the first dawns of time, and from their own experiences, have been seen as capable and trusted to oversee and regulate following Figments to ensure tranquility to both the Void and Hosts alike.

    Not one Council member is the same. Each one directs one of the major emotions that can be found in a Figment and Host body. For example, Council Member Adghad governs the emotion of sadness, and therefore communicates and regulates all Figments that possess such an emotion. Council Member Simil regulates and governs the emotion of happiness, and works with all Figments who claim happiness as an emotion.

    It is the Host’s main duty to assign emotions to each Figment, and they do so subconsciously by simply feeling the emotion for the first time. However, it is the Council’s duty to adapt, alter and rearrange emotions based on a Figment’s ability and obedience.

How did they Become a Council?

The Council was formed hundreds of years ago, at the first creation of the subconscious. It was started, at first, only by a few fleeting Figments who desired for peace between one another while spiteful rages for more power, and energy, and control began ripping the subconscious apart, and shattering innocent minds.

Those who desired for that same peace rallied with them to create a system of law. Those who fought against it were cast into darkness after years of war.

Over time, the influence of the Council began to spread and intensify. They were no longer a simple beacon of hope to keep each other sane, it became a governing society that justified their ownership over the others through their threats of what chaos would reign without them.

So, Figments bent their will to the Council. They allowed their emotions to be governed, decided, and controlled by those of an elder stature. They trusted in their purpose, everyone was given equal reign of their host, and for a long time, peace was the prominent source found in the Void. Figments began to trust in the Council’s word. They feared what would occur from rebellion.

Now, the Council creates regulations and laws for the Figments to follow to maintain order and tranquility throughout the Void. While there are no physical punishments for standing against their rules, it is a dishonor to rebel against their statements and would cause said Figments to be shunned from their society.

[leeran]

About Natsu's (lack of) character arc

So, there are a lot of posts criticizing Fairy Tail thanks to this recent arc. I'm sure there's someone out there talking about this exact same issue, but I admit I haven't found that person yet… And in any case, I want to say my own piece about this subject. It's been awhile since I wrote some sort of analysis here, but this is probably going to be long anyway.

I want to clarify something: I'm trying to be objective here. While my opinions and tastes will show up, what I'm going to focus here is on writing and structure. I want to talk about why Mashima's writing is so ineffective lately, and why so many people call Natsu a Mary Sue or plainly dislike him. I'm not here to defend Natsu; I love him, sure, but he's been a victim of terrible, awful writing. I 100% understand why people dislike him or even hate him. They have VERY good reasons to do so. What I want to do is explain why this happens.

Alright, now let's start.

→ Inability to change.

At the start of the latest time skip I saw the first sign that I should drop any tiny bit of hope that I had for Natsu's character. I was stupid and I kept that hope alive, sadly, but I really should've seen it coming.

Remember when he came back of the one-year-trip he took after Igneel's death? How he had his long hair, and many people wanted him to keep it that way, but in the next chapter he came back to his usual look? 

It may seem silly, but to me this was a sign of a bigger problem. Usually, when there's a time skip it's expected that character designs change. Not only because it keeps things interesting, but also because people change with time. A change in design tends to reflect this. And I know it sounds stupid to worry about something so “insignificant”, but remember: manga is a visual medium just as much as it is a written one. Visual elements are as important here to tell the story as any other. For example: Lucy, the character who's allowed to change the most throughout the story, gets a slight change in her design after this time skip. By contrast, Natsu doesn't.

Following that small sign, we discover that Natsu's personality hasn't changed. Like, at all. A year has passed, and he hasn't changed. Worse than that: He lost Igneel. And. He. Hasn’t. Changed. At. All.

Natsu's motivation was established in the beginning of the manga: He wanted to find his adoptive father, Igneel, after he disappeared 7 years prior to the start of the story. That motivation was fulfilled in the Tartaros' arc, followed by Igneel’s death. In one day, Natsu fulfilled a dream he spent seven years (or fourteen, I guess) pursuing… and then he had to see one of his worst fears come true. This is a pretty big thing for any person, but it's also the culmination for a character arc. The character is at his lowest point, so he's forced to grow in some way (whether it's positive or negative).

But… we don't see Natsu grow. Sure, we see him grieve for… a couple of panels, but that's all. The chapter before the time skip, we see Natsu smiling and barely reacting to what happened, besides deciding that he has to become stronger. 

We don't get much insight into him. And after that? A year passes and we don't get to see Natsu's struggles or his process of growth. What's worse: when he comes back, he's acting like he always acted. And there's no insight that shows us that no, he changed, he's just ACTING. We have nothing like that, he just… got better. And we don't get to see it.

Look, this isn't about his coping mechanisms or anything. It's not about whether a person, in real life, can go through a situation like that and appear unchanged by all that happened. No, this is about the writing choices made for a character being utterly ineffective and incompetent. It's not like we need much, honestly. We don't need to have Natsu ranting in his thoughts about all the suffering he went through and how he changed. Small changes would've been enough. Maybe having Natsu smiling less, or showing sad smiles. Or maybe have him lose some of his will for fighting, at least when it comes to the reckless fights he does for fun. Those things are small, but they are effective.

But, what is Natsu's character arc anyway? What did Mashima intend for him at the beginning of the story (or what he seemed to intend)? In my opinion, there are two major themes to what should've been Natsu's character arc: Choosing between Igneel and Fairy Tail, and learning to deal with loss. Both of these themes should've culminated at the end of the Tartaros arc, but Mashima accidentally destroyed all the moments that lead to this.

→ Igneel vs Fairy Tail.

So, the most basic character arc you see in stories usually is about what a character wants vs what a character needs. As I said, Natsu's motivation was established in the first chapter of the manga: He's looking for his adoptive father. However, as the story advances we start to understand how important Fairy Tail is for Natsu. It is his new family, and he can't abandon them. But what happens when Natsu finds Igneel? Will he leave with him and quit the guild? Or will he stay in Fairy Tail and say goodbye to his father? These questions are never properly addressed in the manga at any point, which I think was the first problem when it comes to establishing Natsu's character arc.

However, we do get at least one moment when we see a glimpse of what should've been his arc. This happens at the beginning of Edolas: Natsu and Wendy need to go to another world to save their friends, but there's a very strong chance of them being unable to return to Earthland once this is all over. Natsu says that he doesn't have anything tying him to Earthland if his friends aren't there… besides Igneel. However, he still makes the choice to go to Edolas. He basically chose the guild over Igneel, knowing fully well that he might have to give up his search for him.

While he makes this choice with a smile, his attitude during this arc seems a bit off comparing to previous arcs, at least until they reunite with Lucy. He smiles all the time, but not in a defying or devilish manner, like he usually does. It might be just my interpretation, but it did seem like he was swallowing up his feelings on the matter (not only when it came to giving up his search for Igneel, but also about what happened to his entire guild). Showing a bit more about him, about his feelings and thoughts at this time could've helped to build a real arc for him. Especially when we had a brilliant set up only a couple of chapters before, with him speaking to Gildarts about Igneel and Lisanna, which showed us that Natsu couldn’t just give up his search for Igneel. Except he did! Only a couple of chapters after that! And he barely shows any conflicting feelings about it! See why I say the writing is really incompetent?

The ideal progression would've been to see Natsu grow to understand that he already chose Fairy Tail over his search for Igneel. The manga deals a lot with themes of family and friendship. Having Natsu grow closer to the guild (more than ever before) thanks to Lucy joining in was the perfect set up for a character arc about about something REALLY difficult: choosing between your past and your present. That is, choosing to move on.

This leads us to the second theme of Natsu's (hypothetical) character arc:

→ Learning to deal with loss and moving on.

Natsu is established very early in the story as someone who can't deal with loss at all. He can't accept the possible death of his friends. We see his reactions to Gray's attempt to sacrifice himself. We see how he would've reacted to Erza's death, and how he even tells her that he can't deal with the thought of losing her.

And, more importantly, we see it when Lisanna's death is mentioned:

When it comes to death and loss, Natsu can't move on. He can't accept Igneel disappearance, and he can't accept Lisanna's death. And here's the thing: Lisanna's death was a perfect parallel to his loss of Igneel. It was a minor arc that could’ve help him learn to move on after losing someone.

But then Mashima decided to revive Lisanna and he screw it up.

Am I saying that Lisanna should've stayed dead? YES. Look, I don't like the idea of more female characters getting fridged. She was dead just to give her brothers (and Natsu) Pain and Suffering (™), honestly. However, after she was brought back, Mashima never did anything for her. She has literally no character arc. She barely appears, and is usually there to make either Elfman or Mirajane suffer. And her relationship with Natsu is completely dropped after Edolas. She serves no purpose in the story at all. And I want to like her! I think the concept for her is really interesting! But Mashima did nothing for her as character. (And this is a failing of him as writer, NOT a question of whether Lisanna is an interesting character or not. I don’t hate her, I want to make that clear).

In a better written story, Lisanna's death would've served to start a character arc about accepting loss and moving on. We had three different characters dealing with this death, and all of them were unable to move on. But instead of forcing the characters to confront this loss and finally accept it, we have the author rewarding their lack of growth by bringing back the character from the death. That right there is bad writing.

And this ties to a bigger arc, which comes back to the whole Igneel vs Fairy Tail thing. Natsu choosing Fairy Tail over Igneel would've been him finally moving on. Yes, Igneel disappeared, I can tell you how much different is having someone disappear instead of simply just die: It eats you up your whole life, even if you assume they're dead. But even so, accepting the loss of Igneel and moving on with the new family he found would've been the growth Natsu needed. It would've meant that he learned how to deal with death. It would've meant that he became an adult, in some senses. Again: Want vs Need. What Natsu wanted was to find Igneel, but what he needed was to move on.

As you see, Natsu's character arc was established in the beginning of the story. We had several arcs prior to Edolas showing us his inability to deal with grief and loss, as well as the importance Fairy Tail had gained in his life. We even had a chapter just at the beginning of Edolas reminding us of both Igneel and Lisanna, and how Natsu was unable to move on after both of these losses.

We had all the elements set-up in the story… But then it went nowhere.

Had these element been well established, Igneel's death in Tartaros would've been so much more powerful than it ended up being. And more importantly: Natsu would've been forced to change. As it is, we leave Tartaros, the culmination point for Natsu's character arc, without being able to see him truly grow.

What's worse is that Mashima tries to establish another character arc (related to E.N.D. and Zeref) at the end of Tartaros, after failing to finish the first character arc. So when we arrive to the recent chapters and we have Natsu face the choice between becoming a demon and becoming a dragon, that scene falls so tremendously flat that most of the fandom was pissed off.

That arc, the arc about Natsu questioning his own identity after finding out the truth about his past, was so poorly established that I can barely say it was established at all. I mean, sure, some of the scenes are there. Natsu finds out about all of this, but he barely seems to react to it. He barely seems to struggle with all this. HAPPY is struggling more than Natsu is. And the thing is: when you failed to execute the bigger and most important arc for the character, how can you hope to follow it up with something else? Natsu never learned the things he should've learned. He never grew, he only became physically stronger. That's all.

When you have a character with a sad backstory, who has flaws but neither the story nor the characters around him force him to recognize and confront them, and who only grows stronger and stronger physically speaking, how can you not expect people to call him a Mary Sue? I've said time and time again that I HATE that term, but people have every right to use it in this particular case, although I prefer to talk about bad writing, since it places the responsibility where it belongs: in the author.

Natsu keeps fighting the battles of other characters, and it serves no purpose to the story or his character arc. He just does it because he's the main character, but the story gains nothing from it. OF COURSE people are going to be pissed off. What else could you expect? That’s poor writing.

So there it is. This is one of the many, many flaws Fairy Tail has, but I think it’s an important one. When you can't get invested in one of the main characters it's very difficult to keep reading a story. And when the plot also shows the same sort of poor writing in the latest arcs, what else do you have to care for in the manga?

[churchleadergazette]

LISTEN: Whyte House Family Devotions: A Prayer for the Family, the Church, the Nation and the World #316 (Monday, April 2, 2018): “Use Your Mind,” by Billy Graham

https://soundcloud.com/danielwhyteiii/whyte-house-family-devotions-prayer-for-the-family-church-nation-world-316-4218

[caption id="attachment_40916" align="alignleft" width="156"] Daniel Whyte III[/caption] My family and I have had morning devotions, or family altar as some people call it, every day ever since my wife, Meriqua, and I were married 30 years ago. We have prayed and read the Bible together as well as other devotional books as a family, and it is the only reason why this family has stayed together, and the only reason why God has blessed our family and used our family in ministry all of these years. We read Ephesians 5 and 6 every morning as it relates to the role of each member of the family and how that we need to put on the whole armor of God to fight against the devil who is seeking to destroy our family and all Christian families, churches, and Christians. So, now after 30 years of doing this in our home, we are opening this up to others who don't have a family to pray with, who don't have a spouse, or who are single by choice, and to encourage all families who are still intact to go back to the family altar and have devotions together every morning. In these devotions, you may hear me deal with a temptation I'm facing in my life, you may hear me rebuke my wife about not doing what she should be doing, or you may hear me get on one of my children's cases about something they're doing. Don't be shocked; this is real life. SING "DOXOLOGY" Praise God from Whom all blessings flow Praise Him, all creatures here below Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost Amen Billy Graham said, “May our prayers today—and every day—be from our hearts and with the focus of our whole being” ------ RECITE: "THE NEW APOSTLES CREED FOR TODAY" I believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Maker of Heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord: Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell. The third day He arose again from the dead; He was seen alive by Mary Magdalene and the other women, the disciples and over 500 other brethren; He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth on the Right Hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen. ------ EPHESIANS 6:4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Steven J. Cole writes in his commentary on this passage, “Having our own anger under control, we must not do things to provoke our children to anger. Paul’s command to fathers here does not imply that children are not responsible for their own anger. They can’t excuse their anger by blaming their angry fathers. But it does imply that fathers have a responsibility not to provoke their children to sin. We could probably come up with a list twice this long, but we are going to look at 12 ways that fathers may provoke their children to anger. (1). Fathers may provoke their children to anger by capriciousness. This is when a father is unpredictable because of his up and down moods. One day, he blows his stack because of a minor infraction of some rule. The next day, he lets a major offense go unpunished. So he is inconsistent in how he relates to his children. Some fathers act this way towards their children deliberately to keep them in fear or under control. But it is not like Jesus Christ, who is steady and unchanging in His love towards us.” ------- PRAYER ------- DEVOTIONAL PASSAGE: Psalm 120:1-4 1 In my distress I cried unto the Lord, and he heard me. 2 Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue. 3 What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue? 4 Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper. Regarding this passage, Matthew Henry writes: “The psalmist was brought into great distress by a deceitful tongue. May every good man be delivered from lying lips. His enemies forged false charges against him. In his distress, he sought God by fervent prayer because he knew God could bridle their tongues. He obtained a gracious answer to this prayer. Surely sinners wouldn’t act as they do if they knew, and would be persuaded to think, what will be in the end thereof. ” --------- PRAYER FOR THE ESTATES 1. Clergy (church) 2. Government 3. People (citizens) 4. The press (media) 5. New media/Online journalists PRAYER FOR CHURCH LEADERSHIP - For all pastors, church leaders, denominational leaders, Bible teachers, missionaries, and ministry workers. GOVERNMENT LEADERS 1 Timothy 2:1-2 says, "I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty." President Donald Trump and his administration Vice President Mike Pence First Lady Melania Trump Second Lady Karen Pence All White House staff including: White House Social Secretary Anna Lloyd All leaders of federal agencies including: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt All state governors including: Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant All city mayors including: Bal Harbour, FL, Mayor Gabriel Groisman All members of Congress including: Florida Representative Alfred Lawson All law enforcement officials including: Bal Harbour, FL, Police Chief Raleigh Flowers All military leaders including: Defense Secretary James Mattis / Lieutenant General Maryanne Miller, Commander of Air Force Reserve Command Leaders of nations around the world including: Lithuania’s President Dalia Gry-baus-kaite and Prime Minister Saulius Skver-ne-lis For the peace of Jerusalem PRAYER FOR THE PEOPLE / CITIZENS PRAYER FOR THE MEDIA PRAYER FOR CURRENT EVENTS AROUND THE WORLD - For the comfort of the families of ten people killed in a hotel collapse in India. - For peace in Israel and Gaza where 15 Palestinians were killed in clashes this week. - For the comfort of the families of 3 police officers killed in a bomb attack in Pakistan. PRAYER REQUESTS Dobson Please provide them with the Bibles they need to witness and grow Ina please give her faith, confidence, peace, and joy in you; deliver her from depression and being bullied; help her not to hate herself Paule please fill her and anoint her to do everything by Your Holy Spirit and use her to do Your work Karen please reunite and save her family THOSE WHO HAVE ACCEPTED CHRIST AS SAVIOR Allen Yonas Priyanka THOSE WHO HAVE RECOMMITTED THEIR LIVES TO CHRIST Prosper Ishwor Francis DEVOTIONAL READING: “Use Your Mind,” by Billy Graham Mark 12:30 says, “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind...” Christ touches every area of our lives. He touches our minds and we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. God invites people to use their minds; “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord.” We are told in Scripture not to be like the horse or mule, “which have no understanding.” Christ declared that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. We are told to fear God, to love Christ, and to hate sin. Fear, love, and hate are emotions. Dr. Leslie Weatherhead, preaching at the City Temple in London, said, “What is wrong with emotion? Christianity is falling in love with Christ. Has anyone ever fallen in love without emotion?” - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Now, if you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior, allow me to show you how you can place your faith and trust in Him for Salvation from sin and Hell. First, accept the fact that you are a sinner, and that you have broken God's law. The Bible says in Romans 3:23: "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Second, accept the fact that there is a penalty for sin. The Bible states in Romans 6:23: "For the wages of sin is death…" Third, accept the fact that you are on the road to hell. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 10:28: "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Now that is bad news, but here's the good news. Jesus Christ said in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Just believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead by the power of God for you so that you can live eternally with Him. Pray and ask Him to come into your heart today, and He will. Romans 10:9 & 13 says, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved… For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." If you believe that Jesus Christ died on the Cross for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead, and you want to trust Him for your Salvation today, please pray with me this simple prayer: Holy Father God, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. I am sorry for my sins, and today I choose to turn from my sins. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. I trust Jesus Christ as my Savior and I choose to follow Him as Lord from this day forward. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life today. Amen. If you just trusted Jesus Christ as your Saviour, and you prayed that prayer and meant it from your heart, I declare to you that based upon the Word of God, you are now saved from Hell and you are on your way to Heaven. Welcome to the family of God! I want to congratulate you on doing the most important thing in life and that is receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. For more information to help you grow in your newfound faith in Christ, go to Gospel Light Society.com and read "What To Do After You Enter Through the Door". Jesus Christ said in John 10:9, "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." Until next time, May the Lord Bless You!

Daniel Whyte III has spoken in meetings across the United States and in over twenty-five foreign countries. He is the author of over forty books including the Essence Magazine, Dallas Morning News, and Amazon.com national bestseller, Letters to Young Black Men. He is also the president of Gospel Light Society International, a worldwide evangelistic ministry that reaches thousands with the Gospel each week, as well as president of Torch Ministries International, a Christian literature ministry. He is heard by thousands each week on his radio broadcasts/podcasts, which include: The Prayer Motivator Devotional, The Prayer Motivator Minute, as well as Gospel Light Minute X, the Gospel Light Minute, the Sunday Evening Evangelistic Message, the Prophet Daniel’s Report, the Second Coming Watch Update and the Soul-Winning Motivator, among others. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Theology from Bethany Divinity College, a Bachelor’s degree in Religion from Texas Wesleyan University, a Master’s degree in Religion, a Master of Divinity degree, and a Master of Theology degree from Liberty University's Rawlings School of Divinity (formerly Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary). He is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Ministry degree. He has been married to the former Meriqua Althea Dixon, of Christiana, Jamaica since 1987. God has blessed their union with seven children.