#are all wrong and stealing and even a moral issue

[sp00ky-scary]

To preface this I don't like AI, I think the ways in which AI is currently being used is the worst way we could be using AI, HOWEVER, I think the ways in which we discuss what makes AI art "bad" aren't like productive I guess. I don't really know how to explain it but the way in which people are defining what makes art human and what makes it "good" or "bad" are more detrimental to artists than anything ? And like idk it feels kinda discouraging at times and like it falls into old discourse surrounding art and things like referencing.

[tsukihigui]

deleted my twitter app (not account) bc i really can’t handle the intense no-nuance high-stakes takes right now. not that here is all that much better but it’s definitely less of a time sink

[verdantwyrm]

Anya, The Virgin Mary or the Vengeful Bitch

Or, shorthandedly, the Anyalysis.

I'm going to be occasionally stealing some points from my Curly thread over here, which you should absolutely also read. And also some segments from here, my small analysis of Jimmy and him being a monster vs choosing to be.

This analysis will be going over partially some of how she's treated in-game, but also how she's treated outside of the game as a representation of sexual assault and abuse victims, which is to either make her a mournful, bleeding heart virgin Mary, or a vengeful, final girl that's a violent, hysterical she-bitch. Which she is neither.

I think it's perfectly fine to orchestrate fictional characters killing their abusers, there's nothing inherently wrong with just that, it's more how people actually write it.

Just like any other trope, there are ways to go about it that are extremely harmful and ways that are generally inoffensive. As a victim myself, I personally see so many issues in wishing harm against your abuser, and there is nothing wrong with acting that out in characters you feel comfortable and relatable towards, but there are ways to do this that don't end up doing more harm than good— which is where most people fail. It's an objectively hard topic to address, because it requires nuance and understanding, possibly even lived experience to truly understand why someone would want this. Grieving, the absence that comes with being a victim, is not straightforward or black and white, it's an uncomfortable topic thats often on a spectrum of anger, grief or sadness that most people do not want to engage with because they have a very nearsighted opinion on how a victim should react– the perfect victim.

No one actually likes her as a character, they only like her for what she represents.

The Sexism of the Final Girl

I am sick and tired of people making up the realities in their heads where Anya overcomes Jimmy and kills him,

The trope of a "Final Girl" is not the feminist girl boss you want it to be and is incredibly misogynistic. The definition, as told by Wikipedia

"the final girl in many movies shares common characteristics: she is typically sexually unavailable or virginal, and avoids the vices of the victims like illegal drug use. She sometimes has a unisex name such as Avery, Chris, or Sidney."

There are feminist ideals and intentions behind it, but it is not inherently feminist as a concept and is often very misogynistic despite its intentions to display the woman of the group to be strong, better or uphold moral superiority for declining sex, drugs or any of the vices mentioned forehand. It is a sexist trope, and all it does is ridicule women for "falling" for said vices as if that inherently makes them inferior or deserving of murder or assault.

On the surface, the use of the final girl trope may seem like a progressive portrayal of feminist strength and ideology. It can be satisfying to see a strong, independent "girl boss" overcome an otherworldly predator or rapist. However, upon further examination, it is clear that this trope perpetuates prejudice and reinforces societal expectations for women. The final girl is typically portrayed as a straight, white, morally superior woman who abstains from "immoral" activities like drinking, drug usage and sex. She serves as a voice of reason and represents the ideal woman in our society.

Most importantly, she survives while those who deviate from societal norms face violent deaths. This trope is a subtle commentary on the expectations placed on women in our society - good girls will prevail while those who do not conform will suffer a violent and brutal death, usually at the hands of a man. Ultimately, it seeks to shame women for behaving in ways that are not considered "ladylike."

The film industry as a whole has a history of using females as vessels for pain and suffering. Hollywood loves to profit off of female suffering. These male directors may believe they are earning brownie points with audiences by having female survivors in their films, but in reality, they are simply using feminism as a disguise while indulging in the fetishization of female pain.

It is rather exhausting seeing who we are being reduced to one note Virgin Marys with bleeding hearts, scorned mothers or wounded victims of assault who will never recover, never love or never will have sex again. I do think Mouthwashing does an excellent job of telling the story of a rape victim, but how other people treat her beyond that, it's almost impossible to even have a character like Anya or even Angela from Silent Hill 2 without people stripping them and violating what their character is and instead of focusing on what they represent, a victim.

But back to Anya specifically, she does not even exert any interest, desire or want to murder or harm another person. People dehumanise her the same way Jimmy dehumanises her. They strip her of everything she could be, everything she wanted to be and make her out to be a perfect victim, a bleeding heart, a weak and pathetic woman.

How about Anya has a nice day, how about Anya smiles, and she's happy and safe. What about that? Huh? Or do you only like her when she's a victim. People care more about Anya being a victim they can save, a victim they can nurture and heal and rescue than anything else. They care more about her being weak, sad, frail and miserable. Always the mother, always the victim, always the virgin Mary and a sacrifice but never ever a woman and most definitely never a person.

It's even worse when I see people continuously writing and "re-imagining" Anya being Raped just so Curly, Daisuke, Swansea or even a self-insert reader situation to save her. I totally get that you want her to be happy, and to be rescued and for that to never happen but you severely miss the point of the story that there was no one there to save her. And constantly rewriting it to put a man in the favour of the situation comes off as very shallow and misogynistic the way you're all so ready to have someone rescue her like she's some distressed maiden in need of a big strong man, it also takes the point away from her entirely.

The horse that bites

Jimmy's constant dehumanisation of Anya affects how other people perceive her character as well, that she's weak, small or a crybaby in some sense because of how she responds to situations - emotionally, which is then amplified by Jimmy's pre-existing hatred and lack of respect for her.

Jimmy tears her down every chance he gets, makes her feel little and even compares her to Polle in his hallucinations. And Anya knows that he and Curly have a very lengthy history, so her caution and anxiety about even mentioning the incident, let alone saying the word “rape” is borderline impossible for her. It’s a manifestation, it’s a verbal acceptance and confession that it’s even happened. Something she has been trying to avoid coming to terms with.

And when she does eventually tell Swansea what happened, as much as you want to think she told him- she most likely told him to not do anything, to try and keep the peace for as long as possible.

Again, her vagueness is not her fault, nor is it her responsibility. It was Jimmy’s responsibility to not abuse and rape her.

It’s also very present that Jimmy is verbally abusive to her, putting her down at every opportunity by ignoring her very talented medical skills by saying Pony Express only hired her to cut corners in an attempt to reduce costs because she failed Medical School and that she’s not a “real nurse” because of that, and how he constantly questions her skills despite keeping Curly alive for such a long time in such a state.

After being insulted by him multiple times, she fawns to get him to actually do something beneficial because she knows he responds well to praise, and he complies, all while still insulting and belittling her for being "weak" and "sentimental"

Anya shows a clear fear of Jimmy and has consistent fawn responses around Jimmy. She is extremely careful not to make him upset and praises him to keep him amused and compliant to a degree.

Just like Anya says, our worst moments don't make us monsters. It's one thing to fuck up, and immediately suffer the consequences and acknowledge your mistakes— But it's another thing entirely to purposefully make it so you never have to deal with the repercussions and then make yourself out to be the victim. Jimmy takes every opportunity to blame everyone around him. All the time and Anya is no stranger to this.

Curly genuinely saw the good in Jimmy, in the same way, Anya sees the good in others and possibly even tried to see the good in Jimmy despite the pain as one of the key important things about how everything went about is that Anya never directly refers to her rapist as Jimmy, nor does she ever actually insult or talk badly about him, she only expresses her disinterest in talking to him because of his reluctance to cooperate with her. They both believe that our worst moments don't define us, and Curly had his own interpretation all of how we're defined by our past, but not slaves to it.

She is scared, she is terrified at this point and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that nor should we rush to change that. Her being scared is realistic, she is a scared lady in a very scary situation with an even scarier man who constantly switches between dissociation and lashing out depending on what's going on around him. And she is not that person to fight back, to be violent or to hurt him and that is perfectly fine. She doesn't need to be a girl boss feminist and fight back, she can just be a scared and quiet woman stuck in her own terror, and trying to infer that one Is the "better" option downplays victims who freeze in their own terror and makes them out to be weak or a hapless damsel because they're incapable of "standing up for themselves"

She has every single right to be absolutely terrified and that is in no way a bad thing. I actually really, really dislike the interpretation that Anya is angry, resentful or has any revenge towards Curly, or that she has to be this, hysterical mad woman sent out to kill or hurt Jimmy. I don't believe she's either of this. Anya deserves peace, and I think it's extremely important to understand just how similar she is to Curly. And I'm full of the belief that if Anya had actually done something to Jimmy (hurt him, kill him, whatever) she would be demonized and the misogyny she already faces in the fandom would be worse tenfold. Do not lie to yourself.

Not to even mention one of the many, many reasons as to why Anya OD'd in a room with a lock in the first place. It was to make sure Jimmy could never touch her again? Or do something awful to her body, even when it was lifeless and cold? It was to keep the gun safe, to protect Curly, to protect herself, to take control of the situation, to finally not have to worry about him ever touching her again. And Jimmy still violates it, even after she's dead.

He touches her, drags her body, and props her up in that chair. Even after death, she is never free from him. She thought she was going to finally be free of him, his rage, his desires, his touch, and she died thinking this, that he would never ever be touched or hurt by him ever again. She died thinking all was well, that it would all work out in the end, it had to. She died thinking Daisuke and Swansea would somehow make it out of there, tell her story, and make Jimmy face the consequences of his actions, it was the ultimate sacrifice, it was the greatest thing she could ever do.

Jimmy ruined her life, and he ruined her death, her sacrifice. To keep herself safe, to keep Curly safe, to keep the gun away from him, it all meant nothing.

Thinking outside the Ship

Anya is fun, she is enthusiastic, loves to make jokes, draw, play board games with Daisuke, read, and teases Swansea about his love for sweets which he doesn't even bother to object to and Swansea hands her a note so that she could give it to Curly during his psychological evaluation,, implying that they're casual enough for an exchange like that to occur, and even has what seems to be a budding relationship with Curly himself, taking to his comment about being fit to fly in her eyes like it's a common exchange of flirting between the both of them and she even teases him at the birthday party to "hop to it" in terms of the cake. She is at ease around him, her walls have dropped, and she feels safe to talk to him, and even attempts to try and get him to open up more to her.

She reads psychology books, she is extremely determined having applied to Medical school on total of eight different times and obviously has the skills and interest to keep doing it despite failing and only joined Pony Express so she could make money and keep trying to get into medical school.. She also has good taste in music, one that Swansea and Curly enjoy very much. She also seems to get along well with Daisuke and even allows her emotions to show with anger when they play games they seem to have much of the same sense of humour, judging by how Daisuke is genuinely worried about her when she locks herself in the Medical, they seem to have a positive relationship. We don't know much about her relationships with the others beyond what the wiki can provide.

She seems to have the best relationship with Curly, although. And after the crash, she can't bear to give Curly his pills due to him being in visible agony and her own trauma of forcing him to do something he very obviously doesn't want to endure, likely due to memories of her assault being triggered by both the act of forced insertion and the sounds produced by Curly during it.

Anya also spends most of her free time studying. She runs to clear her head. And when she really needs to destress, she binges on the worst reality television and fast food. She is a very free-spirited woman who is eternally doomed to be reduced to nothing but a hapless, miserable victim.

Final Comments and Thoughts

I don't have much to say here unlike my last analysis, but the situation on the Tulpar is not as straightforward as people would like, I understand it's extremely cathartic to think of a situation where Jimmy gets what he deserves but it isn't realistic, and thats what this game is trying to say. Abusive corporations, exhausting capitalism, this environment breeds Abusers like Jimmy and victims like Anya and Curly. There was nothing that could be done. Pony Express is what doomed them all, they're the catalyst.

Anya deserves to be written and viewed as more than just a representation, a victim or a vengeful hysterical bitch. She deserves to be happy!

Thank you for reaching the end of the thread, please don't be scared to share your thoughts in the tags or in my inbox, I'd love to hear them! good job! (っ˘з(˘⌣˘ ) ♡

[evilwizard]

I do want to say, my views on AI “art” have changed somewhat. It was wrong of me to claim that it’s not wrong to use it in shitposts… there definitely is some degree of something problematic there.

Personally I feel like it’s one of those problems that’s best solved via lawmaking—specifically, AI generations shouldn’t be copywrite-able, and AI companies should be fined for art theft and “plagiarism”… even though it’s not directly plagiarism in the current legal sense. We definitely need ethical philosophers and lawmakers to spend some time defining exactly what is going on here.

But for civilians, using AI art is bad in the same nebulous sense that buying clothes from H&M or ordering stuff on Amazon is bad… it’s a very spread out, far away kind of badness, which makes it hard to quantify. And there’s no denying that in certain contexts, when applied in certain ways (with actual editing and artistic skill), AI can be a really interesting tool for artists and writers. Which again runs into the copywrite-ability thing. How much distance must be placed between the artist and the AI-generated inspiration in order to allow the artist to say “this work is fully mine?”

I can’t claim to know the answers to these issues. But I will say two things:

Ignoring AI shit isn’t going to make it go away. Our tumblr philosophy is wildly unpopular in the real world and most other places on the internet, and those who do start using AI are unfortunately gonna have a big leg up on those who don’t, especially as it gets better and better at avoiding human detection.

Treating AI as a fundamental, ontological evil is going to prevent us from having these deep conversations which are necessary for us—as a part of society—to figure out the ways to censure AI that are actually helpful to artists. We need strong unions making permanent deals now, we need laws in place that regulate AI use and the replacement of humans, and we need to get this technology out of the hands of huge megacorporations who want nothing more than to profit off our suffering.

I’ve seen the research. I knew AI was going to big years ago, and right now I know that it’s just going to get bigger. Nearly every job is in danger. We need to interact with this issue—sooner rather than later—or we risk losing all of our futures. And unfortunately, just as with many other things under capitalism, for the time being I think we have to allow some concessions. The issue is not 100% black or white. Certainly a dark, stormy grey of some sort.

But please don’t attack middle-aged cat-owners playing around with AI filters. Start a dialogue about the spectrum of morality present in every use of AI—from the good (recognizing cancer cells years in advance, finding awesome new metamaterials) to the bad (megacorporations replacing workers and stealing from artists) to the kinda ambiguous (shitposts, app filter that makes your dog look like a 16th century British royal for some reason).

And if you disagree with me, please don’t be hateful about it. I fully recognize that my current views might be wrong. I’m not a paragon of moral philosophy or anything. I’m just doing my best to live my life in a way that improves the world instead of detracting from it. That’s all any of us can do, in my opinion.

[aangarchy]

Opinions. I have them and I want to share them. On the Netflix live action specifically.

It's a little over a year since the release of Netflix ATLA and since then I've kind of just been stewing on it angrily as if it's insulted my mother or something, and there's more things that I've been meaning to say that I never mentioned in my original reviews, specifically on why I think this live action is doomed to fail. It all has to do with media literacy, because these writers don't seem to fucking have any.

An example I want to talk about is the waterbending scroll. I want to bring this up specifically because this is a mistake m night shyamalan's movie also made. I will be referring to them as Natla (netflix atla) and tla (the last airbender movie).

Both natla and tla have the waterbending scroll in their story. I'm sure the writers gave themselves a pat on the back for including this important story element. But what is very apparent is that they do not understand why this scroll is in the story, because in both live actions Katara gets handed the scroll by someone. In tla she gets it handed by strangers who tell her it was stolen from her people by the fire nation and that she should be given it back. In natla, she gets handed the scroll from gran gran. In both of these instances this scroll can be replaced with literally any other object. It could be a rock that strengthens a bender, it could be a letter written by someone, it could be a stick. In both versions, the narrative reason for the scroll being there in the first place is missing completely.

In the original show, the scroll is specifically part of the story to develop Katara's character, because she doesn't just get it handed to her, she steals it. And it's a decision she makes herself without discussing it with anyone else. Katara going out of her way to steal the scroll from pirates, and not really seeing an issue with it because the pirates stole it from someone else first, tells us a lot about Katara's moral compass and how she sometimes likes to twist her ethics to fit her own narrative. In any other instance Katara would tell people stealing is wrong. Literally later on in book 3 she tells Toph something similar, that she can't just scam people just because they were scamming her. But because this scroll is something she desperately wants so she can improve her own waterbending, she tells herself it's fine to steal this because it didn't belong to those pirates in the first place. She believes as a waterbender she has more right to own this scroll than those pirates do. It shows us how committed she is to learning waterbending and connecting to that part of her culture, because she's willing to go quite far in order to achieve this. Later though she gets faced with the consequences of her own actions, because stealing the scroll lead to the pirates teaming up with Zuko and chasing her and her friends, which ends up endangering Aang.

In this episode she also obsesses over the scroll to a toxic degree. One of the excuses she uses to justify her stealing it is because she wants Aang to learn too. But it becomes obvious that this is just an excuse, because she tries to claim the scroll for herself by saying Aang can have his turn after she learns, even though it's kind of more prudent for Aang to learn first as the Avatar (because the episode before this we literally just learned about the comet and our end of summer deadline to learn all four elements). It shows that Katara isn't some goodie two shoes, and that she has some ugly sides to her. She can be sneaky, selfish, stubborn, immature, and has difficulties letting go when she has her mind set on something. Then when Aang gets caught by Zuko she realizes that she caused all of this, and she apologizes to Aang who then tries to be a good boy and tell her it isn't her fault, but then Iroh kind of throws it back in her face that yeah, this is in fact her fault.

This episode also shows us development between Aang and Katara's relationship. We learn that Aang being naturally better at something is a difficult thing for Katara to swallow, and while Aang tries to make her feel better by encouraging her and telling her she's a great teacher, he doesn't manage to solve the problem which is that she feels inferior to him here. Later on, he acknowledges that just like him, Katara is a waterbender. She doesn't just know some waterbending moves, she IS a waterbender. Then they work together to escape, this makes Katara feel better, and it strengthens their bond.

This entire plotline is the reason for the waterbending scroll existing in the original storyline, but all of that is missing from both live actions even though they also have the waterbending scroll in their story. I'm sure these live action writers don't see the problem, they probably think the pirate episode is just filler they can cut without consequences, because the scroll is the only thing that's retained in the rest of the story after this episode. But that's simply not the case. This episode is much more consequential, even though it's not immediately obvious or visible, and that's what these live action writers do not seem to grasp, which is what I mean when I say they lack media literacy. They think the only thing that makes that episode worthwhile is the object that is obtained, and because they don't want to go through the hassle of adapting the whole pirate episode the only element they keep is the scroll. But everything about this scroll and why it's narratively necessary is removed.

This lack of understanding of character development and how to write a good story is why Katara's character is so bland in both live actions. All her agency gets removed. She doesn't decide to steal the scroll, she doesn't decide to help Aang save the world, she doesn't decide to ignore Sokka's instincts on Jet, she doesn't decide to deliberately ignore the northern watertribe's customs on bending.

The worst part for natla specifically is that the writers seem to understand that certain moments in the show need to happen, but they don't understand why. Katara needs to fight Pakku because she's so angry about the northern watertribe's sexism, this ties in to Sokka's sexism earlier in the season. She went through the trouble of traveling all the way to the north, stealing a waterbending scroll, getting burned by Aang on accident to discover her healing abilities, and now she's being told she can't train to fight simply because she's a girl? She's been confronted with sexism her whole life and she knows she's capable of more, so she's done succumbing to it, she fights the patriarchy by fighting Pakku. In natla she fights him too, but her anger lies solely with Pakku not willing to teach her, and not with sexism as a whole. She didn't fight that whole season in natla in order to learn waterbending, she just simply trained a bit and got better because boys told her she was strong, so there's no anger for her to feel towards Pakku because there's no buildup. The writers know the Pakku fight needs to happen but they removed everything in the story that leads to Katara fighting Pakku.

A similar thing happens with certain side characters. The writers understand that Teo and The Mechanist are important characters, and we need to add them so we can have them show up for the invasion too. But they don't understand what their purpose was in the original show in the first place, which was character development for Aang. Similar with Jet, he was there for Sokka's character, this episode showed us Sokka is intuitive and intelligent, but doesn't get taken seriously because he's the goofy nonbender older brother. That also gets removed in natla, because Sokka doesn't even interact with Jet more than once. He doesn't even get told Jet's name at all!

This is the biggest writing flaw that is recurring throughout the whole first season of natla, and probably won't be solved in the next seasons. I've seen a lot of people say natla is good because they got more things right than tla, but imo natla is just as bad as tla with similar reasons. Just because the costumes looked more like the original, or because they added more things that happened in the original than the movie did, does not mean natla is good whatsoever. I'd argue it kind of even makes it worse, because natla shows the trouble these people went through to have more accuracy than the shyamalan movie, and yet they still missed the mark this badly. I'm honestly angrier at this live action than the movie, and I might not be the only one.

[ikyunho]

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[17:30] Myung Jaehyun ~ Boynextdoor

Pairing: idol mc!jaehyun x idol mc!reader

Warnings: lovesick Jaehyun, Idk I have no plot just a dream, this mildly devastating

A/N: I have never watched an ep of MCountdown without being overwhelmed and turning it off, Sohee I miss you.

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Anxiously, you flipped through your script and analyzed every highlight, note, and comment. You’d never done anything remotely similar to MC-ing for one of the most popular music shows in the country, so why did you agree to be their guest host? Simple. Myung Jaehyun.

He’d been nagging and begging you to accept the offer for weeks. When MCountdown announced they were in need of a temporary MC, the first person Jaehyun thought of to fill the position was you. What could go wrong? It was good promotion for you, and you could finally be with each other after being apart for so long.

There was one issue that both of you seemed to have forgotten. Your relationship wasn’t public, nor did your companies want them to be public any time soon.

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After nervously fixing your hair and committing your lines to memory, you and Jaehyun walked into the area where you would be spending the next several hours. His hand reached for yours to calm your racing nerves instinctively, only for staff to cough in warning from behind the cameras. The two of you gave each other a look before stepping apart to avoid a rise of suspicions and dating rumors per company request.

Seeing how quickly Jaehyun deflated into himself had a sad sigh falling from your lips. But as quickly as it happened, he put on a smile and acted like he wasn't disappointed. The usual puppy love filled look in his eye replaced with displeasure and frustration.

He had it all planned out. He was supposed to be with you, hold your hand, and finally spend more time together than the short sleepovers that resulted in someone being gone when the other woke up. You weren't supposed to steal glances at each other every time the camera cut hoping that no one caught you.

You both walk backstage for a moment under the guise of needing water. You're concerned and Jaehyun is visibly upset, effecting the usual fun and happy environment of the show.

"Jae... What is up with you?" You question, hands reaching for his worry covering your face.

"This wasn't how I planned for things to go. They don't care when Sohee and I hug or even get close to each other. I wanted to be able to actually be near you, not on opposite sides of the room," He answered, looking at the ground with a devastatingly cute pout on his face.

You let go of his hands to cup his cheeks, lifting his gaze from the floor to you. "I know this isn't what you wanted it to be like, but we can make it work. Now, let's go back out there, stand next to each other, and maybe I'll let you hold my hand when we aren't live," you responded with a slight giggle before dragging him out of the room, both of you smiling more than when the show started.

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The audience of fans quickly noticed the change in demeanor. Jaehyun was practically glued to your side, grinning and giggling like he was back in kindergarten. He didn't care about spreading rumors anymore. They weren't even rumors if they were true, right? All he cared about was you and the smile on your face that he loved so much.

The rest of the show was significantly better. Morale was high and both of you were beaming with joy. Your lovesick puppy was back, and you wouldn't have it any other way. To say the fans were obsessed was an understatement. Tweets with screenshots and clips of you together were going viral, the viewer counts skyrocketed, and it did wonders for publicity. All because Jaehyun loved you and was able to show it how he so desperately wished to do.

But if he asked you to come back as a host, everyone, staff and all would say no. He was happier than ever and views were up, but productivity was down seeing as Jaehyun was too busy staring at you with hearts in his eyes when the cameras weren't rolling.

It was safe to say that your first (and last) time hosting a music show with Myung Jaehyun was one for the books.

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[maybelacrimosa]

Fastpass spoilers

I think one of the largest issues I have with Lore Olympus is Rachel Smythes tendency to ignore her favourite characters wrong doings or to try 'justify' them with poorly executed retcons. In the latest chapter we get yet another "Zeus bad" retcon that somehow feels worse than the prior "Zeus bad" moments. Im not going to deny Zeus is a very VERY flawed person in LO, I am all for Hera divorcing him. But here she is trying to justify the Metis/Zeus plot point by saying "oh she was protecting her daughter all along by sleeping with someone who she met when he was underage!!!!" That feels really creepy? I dont think she really considers the implications of the things she writes and thats not a good thing. She cant even try argue "oh kronos time shenanigans make it ok" or whatever stupid logic she might use because she has established his time powers had run out from his fight with Ouranos at that point in the story.

Like lets take the catastrophe that was the Dio birth arc, she tries to retroactively justify Persephone being a terrible midwife who steals a baby without letting the father hold him by being like "oh actually he didnt care about the baby he chose to carry in his leg for about 10 years Persephone was in the right!!!" instead of having her ask to take custody or do anything other than demanding she be given the baby like a few minutes after Zeus finished giving birth.

Its not just Zeus either, she tries to justify Persephone invading Leuces home by being like "Oh Leuce never really got any texts shes delusional!!!!" ignoring the fact that Leuce thought the texts were valid enough to show to Persephone when mrs pink tyrant was being a home invader and neglecting the baby she just stole a couple of hours ago. Dio is treated like a purse dog and we get some off hand comment where Persephone blames the neglect (which was so bad the child got into TARTARUS) on the sitter she hired rather than being like "oh I should have made actual arrangements for Dio instead of giving myself a makeover". Theres also the way she tried to claim Thanatos was as much to blame for Hades' terrible parenting as Hades was by being like "well the abandoned child had an attitude can you blame Hades for not being a good dad?" Like yes. Yes we can blame Hades, he was an ADULT and Thanatos was a CHILD.

I guess the point Im making is, if she wants her characters to be morally grey, she needs to stop twisting the narrative into a gordian knot to justify every bad thing her favourites do whilst condemning other characters as being 'the worst' like hold them all to the same standard and actually let them develop instead of making excuses.

[physalian]

If you're still defending ChatGPT please condsider the following

I feel like the angle of “fuck ChatGPT” that isn’t given enough attention is the traffic it draws away from the websites it’s ripping information from.

Now Google does this already. If you google anything now, Google’s “Search Labs AI Overview” will give you what you’re looking for summarized without having to scroll and click on various links.

Google has been up to some shady shit for years redirecting traffic. It used to just be a search engine—you used it to find the non-Google-owned websites that you needed. Now, though, Google is doing everything it can to keep you on Google.

If you search up a product, Google fills half the page with ad-placement links, image search results, the AI overview, Google reviews, and other noise so you stay with them.

Less traffic to the websites it’s ripping information from means those websites don’t get any profit for the information they’re providing, through ad revenue and such.

You might not care whether XYZ website makes money off you, but hosting and maintaining a website costs money, and if there’s no return on investment because search engines are gobbling it up, it’s that much harder for these businesses to stay afloat and not either bury their info under ads, or stick it behind a paywall.

Enter ChatGPT.

Remember when your teacher slandered Wikipedia to kingdom come? “Don’t use Wikipedia! It’s not a reliable source of information!”

Wikipedia, at the very least, demands sources for all of its information, and scroll to the bottom of any article to find exactly where the people who wrote it are getting their evidence.

Google might show you the most relevant link, one out of the thousands of possible search results. It’s foggy here so I googled a question about fog, and beneath the AI overview was a link to NOAA, for example.

ChatGPT goes one step farther. ChatGPT does not fact-check. All it does is answer your questions, but where it’s getting those answers and how correct those answers are, are pulled from the Internet. And if the Internet’s most popular results are wrong, ChatGPT isn’t going to care, it’s just going to regurgitate what those results are saying.

You still have to check your sources, but the difference is, now you don’t know who those sources are, or how biased their information is.

If I want to know the morality of declawing my cats, and I google “should I declaw my cats” I might get two very different answers. The ASPCA will tell you it’s harmful to the cats and animal abuse. “SuburbanBoomerCatMoms.net” (hypothetical) might tell you you gotta do it for the sake of your furniture and that outcry from the other side is just leftwing snowflake libtards.

Wikipedia will cite both of those sources (actually Wikipedia won’t give the second one any credence at all but hypothetically speaking). Google will show you the URL before you click it to both of those sources. ChatGPT will steal from both of those sources, not tell you it’s doing it, and present it as if both carry equal authority on animal care. Do you see the issue here?

Saying all of this because I know somebody who’s putting their medical information into ChatGPT to “translate” it for them.

Anyone who googles any symptom finds out pretty quick that “you have cancer” is a very popular and overblown answer. At this point I have to brush them off because arguing with them won’t change their mind.

So even if you don’t care about information diversity, sustained by giving those smaller websites traffic and revenue, you should care about the smoke and mirrors being very quickly normalized around hiding where information is coming from and making it that much harder to sort fact from fiction.

The Robot cannot be an unbiased source of information, because it is trained on the biases of the information it is scalping. It is your job, your responsibility, and your right to know and understand the ulterior motives behind what any one source is telling you.

[onnahu]

Felipe Garzonas' fall and Jason Todd's analysis

Alright. So it's all about Jason Todd. But also Felipe Garzonas. If you know the plot of the issue skip the next paragraph bc it's just a summary.

If you don't know the issue, here's a quick summary. There is that guy, Felipe Garzonas, who is the titular diplomat's son. It gives him an immunity. He's a rapist and just a shit person. There is also that woman, her name's Gloria Stanson. She was a victim of Garzonas, and when nor Batman and Robin nor police were able to stop Garzonas from harrassing her, she hung herself. Jasonwent to confront Felipe, and when Batman arrived at the place, he saw him falling from the building and die. He asked Robin if he fell or was he pushed, and Jason just said he had to spook him and Felipe slipped. The panel's here:

And now let's think; what really makes sense for Jason? Would he push Felipe? I personally don't think so, however it's more like 70% for he didn't and 30% for he did. Because really, both makes sense if we take Robin we know and future Red Hood.

If he pushed

The thing about Jason is that his moral compass is in greys. The first time he's portrayed as not a blond copy-paste of Dick Grayson, he steals the tires from the Batmobile. In his eyes, he doesn't do anything bad. He does what he have to get by living on his own. He's not hurting anyone, not in a gang, 'no thug' as he put it. He diesn't feel guilty because in his eyes he didn't do anything wrong. He's around 12 at the time, and he's a child that saw some shit, lived through it, but was still innocent and with a big heart. As Robin, he saw a shit tone of worse things - murders, assaults, literally all the world have to offer. It would make sense his moral compass would become more crooked. He can recognise good and evil, just not in a way Batman does. He looks from the perspective of victims. He's able to empathised with them on basis of his own life expiriences. He's good, painfully so, but not in the way most recognises it. He thinks he does good, so it can't really make him a bad person. So if he was to push Garzonas, he would not feel guilt. He would see it as justice. Life for life, but without all the horrors Gloria had to went through before. He's also saving all the future victims Felipe would hurt. It does not make sense however, when we take it and also the rest of his personality and earlier appearances. If he didn't feel guilty, he would not try to hide what he did, even opposite, I think he would argue with Bruce on the righteusness of pushing him. He would not win, he would dug himself a grave (hah) with that argument, but he still would. He's a honest little guy. And let's say he did feel guilty - he would still not lie. He would tell Bruce what he did and cry himself dry.

If it was an accident

Jason didn't try to catch him. He was chilling on the balcony while Felipe was falling. He didn't push, but he also didn't save. In Batman's eyes, it's still one of the worst thing Jason could do, but Jason would not feel guilty. Jason belives that not everyone can be redeemed, and Felipe Garzonas, who commited horrible acts before without a plot armor like criminal insanity would be propably one of them. Especially when Jason's riding fresh on emotions from finding Gloria. There's a big possibility he would try to catch Felipe if he wasn't already riled up. If Felipe slipped, for Jason it would be justice given by the world. Also, if he didn't push, it makes Jason oh so more tragic. He didn't kill a man, but Bruce belived that he would even be able. Jason is a good human, and he's against killing. He wouldn't be Robin if he wasn't. And yet Bruce, his father, benches him for suspicion that he broke the most important rule. So he goes looking for someone who would belive in him no matter what - his blood mother. And when he comes back, and he sees the new Robin, that nothing changed, he needed to be that change. And he knew he couldn't ever trust Bruce. Because he always saw the worst in him.

So. Both of those also fit for Red Hood's whole agenda. If Jason push, his first kill would be one of the worst scum. It's known Jason hates the most rapists and people who hurt children. His first kill is one of them. The whole Gloria situation could be a thing that gave him hatered for that crimes, actually. If Jason didn't push Felipe, but also if he was numb to his death, it would be the first step to even start murdering people. No emotions toward death of who he deems unworthy to live, and who with their existence bring more bad than good. It would also make his first kill Egon in Lost Days, which is really fitting for his character in my opinion. Once again to his two most hated types of crime.

So, no matter what actually happened on that balcony, it is some sort of the beginning for Red Hood, and I mean both the killing and no acceptance policy for some specific crimes.

The whole issue also makes Jason more likeable in some aspects. It's 80', so the victim blaming is at it's peak. Most of people reading comics does not care about rape, and victims at all, actually. Unintentionally, Starlin gave us something the modern fandom loves about Jason. The reactions at Gloria's death and that at Felipes clearly shows what his priorities are, and it's the same as Red Hood - he cares about the weak and innocent and victims and mistreated. And it's kinda silly to put it here, but you know that scene from the end of Injustice 2? I'm a sucker for that. It kinda gives Spider-Man's vibes of I care for the little guy when the others get themselves into some wild intergalaxic shit.

[plotwhatplot]

illi x reader headcanons!!

(updated slightly to fit changes in my au)

this is for @fawns-soft-pillows ^^ sorry I couldn't do a fic I just have so much in my drafts and so much to finish and AGGHH ���😿😿 yk what im saying lol :') hope u like this tho!

Context: you and illi r dating, these are headcanons on exactly that. This is also set in my au, so YES there are vampires and YES yall R the demolition lovers and YES there is genderfuckiness🗣️🔥🔥

Btw these r the exact same hcs I use for my illi x philip (my illiverse frank) ship I just switched out Phillip for reader, so if u wanna imagine it with philli (ship name) u can do that too since it's all still canon lol ><

illi: she/him (demigirl) - reader: no pronouns used (gender neutral reader)

(miscellaneous and highschool based hcs)

you tried to teach her how to dance but she messes up no matter how many times you try lmao

he'll beat up really anyone but if anyone fucks with you he'll make sure to hit em EXTRA hard with that croquet mallet!

roughness is her love language, he always hugs a little too tight or bites kisses a bit to hard, you dont mind tho, just means theres a lethal amount of love in there! ^^

hes morally questionable and it rubbed off on you, ya know killin ya enemies doesnt sound too bad! (ok pop off future demolition lovers)

you researched a lot of stuff about vampires so you could understand her. she knows that and she finds it adorable that you care that much <3

shes actually really smart, school just burns her out a little harder than it would a human.. (nocturnal diva issues💔)

if you forget your lunch or a bully steals or ruins it he'll share his with you

she loves to watch horror movies with you, but if you get scared she'll kiss and tease to distract you.

you find it cute how obsessed he is with his croquet mallet, its his most prized possession (other than you ofc, you're her favorite) there's nothing she loves more (other than u) than banging that shit onto some bastards head (even tho he gets in trouble for it, god forbid a girl has hobbies!!)

you guys like to draw eachother (im giving up on this help)

sometimes her fangs poke your mouth when you kiss :3 (fun fact abt how i write vamps, theyre fangs can go inward when they need to hide them so they look like normal canines but sometimes when they get excited the fangs can pop back out lol. but in ya mouth? youch! *you like it what huh who said that*)

hes always showing you cool underground bands he discovers

As bad as she is at it, she loves to dance with you, it's actually a good mix because your not the best dancer either so y'all just move along however you can lol

(not a x reader hc but I rlly wanted to add this 💔↓)

Illi's transfem (don't tell the others no ones supposed to know her bio gender ok so Shhhh 👅) but her gender is like a game and she's hacking the system, like she's also demigirl, her "other half" is male but sometimes she just is either too lazy to get girled up or jst straight up feels masc that day so she literally looks like a fully pledged guy every now and then, that and she's just a big tomboy and dyke combined, but she's not genderfluid she just feels a tad cis once in awhile, but at the same time she loves to feel girly if she doesn't feeling like doing her ass off and she also loves skirts but mainly bc it'll be super hot and she wants to stay cool but still, she's like half and half, fifty fifty, she's an even number, she's a he, he's a she. It's beautifully confusing

(these next ones r hcs for the demolition lovers part of my au, lilli's the demo woman and ur the demo man but u stay gender neutral big tw for themes of murder and crime, i do not condone those actions ofc)

you guys are literally partners in crime, killing and stealing for eachother is yalls love language frfr

you guys's main goal when you took up murdering was to get revenge on those who wronged you, but a little splatter here and there for funsies doesnt hurt <3

on that note yall never kill innocent people tho, the weakest yalls victim criteria goes is being a sore rude bitch lmao

you died in each others arms in the gunfight ... :(

"vampires will never hurt you" what if illi violently ripped her victims flesh off with her teeth alone? what if you got off to that? what if she knew that? what if your next but in a sexual way?? what if your GAY?!

despite the tagline being "the corpses of a thousand evil men" the devil is a liar of course and knew killing the innocent was your weakness, thus going out of his way to lie about a couple "requests" he added to your list

on that note you caught on to the devils games and tried to deviate from the task to try and spare the innocent targets but when you did that instead of the devil showing up and hanging you (like you thought he'd do lmao) he flat out made sure you got caught and thrown into a jail or something of the sort (something something you know what they do to guys like us in prison something something)

even tho illi was in a coma the whole time that didnt stop the devil from playing games with her too, he plagued her poor brain with terrors straight from hell (i love being cruel to fictional characters)

who you guys were running from in the desert was this cult like (i say like because theres not nearly enough of them to make a cult, its more like a brainwashed homicidal coven) of satanists who made deals with the devil themselves, but bringing victims to him instead of being victims themselves, yall had been on a bunch of wild goose chases but this was far worse then any of the cops and opps you two had shot away

you guys R masked killers, u wear these white masks with eye and mouth holes (cough cough "meta man" Gerard swarm outfit cough) your known (ofc) as the demolition lovers in order to stay anonymous. The only one who knows about your side hustle is milli (Mikey)

Remember what I said about you guys dancing together? Well illi learned to dance eventually, and the sight of u two dancing together actually got ya saved from assignation once, the opps thought yall were too precious to kill XD

WOAH THIS WAS A YAPFEST ‼️ a ways yeah that's all I can think of, I hope yall like these!! ^_^

[rleep80-blog]

I work at a Grocery Store. I have for about 15 years. Recently (within the last year) I was promoted. I went from a sheltered bubble of Store security, to a harsh reality. The reality is that I would rather deal with criminals who I already know have mental health issues, then the general public who hide there flaws for the sake of “presentation”.

Here is why….

I would expect no common decency from someone who has reached a point in their life that they steal or shit on the floor or stab someone in the head, to lack morals and values and common decency. So it was quite the culture shock, to realize that all of the “normal” people, are even bigger assholes. Case and point…

I am helping my produce department fill salads. I have a u-boat out. FULL of boxes. It is directly across from the two refrigerated doors I am filing. I have about three to four feet in-front of me. U-boat to salad wall. That’s what I am doing. Filling product. It doesn’t sound like it’s hard work. But the up and down and back and forth and bending and reaching and cutting my arms on the pushers , after time, it gets physical. Like…. I am sweating.

And it’s a Sunday. What’s wrong with Sunday? Well, EVERYONE for some reasons wants to grocery shop on god damn Sunday.

Anyway, I am there, in this little cubby corner of this huge ass store, and low and behold… here comes the first person. With a big ass cart. Rolls it right infront of my little space and wants me to stop what I am doing, get up, and move. So they can walk through my little space and interrupt me working. AS IF THERE WAS NO WHERE ELSE TO WALK. AS IF THERE WERE NOT 5 OPTIONS OF PATHS TO TAKE.

I smile and they say “excuse me” and shrug their shoulders and apologize. I let the first few instances of that blatant inconsideration roll off my shoulders.

And after any the 30th time, different people, I am to the brink of snapping on someone. Because not only do people do this all day to people working in a grocery store, but I am literally stocking 8 glass doors FULL OF GODAMN SALAD. You need the one salad I am filling. Or YOU need to get on the other side of me so bad and cannot walk around? It’s bad enough I have to sit here and wonder why we need 5,000 different types of fucking salad for your picky spoiled asses.

They will not stop. They will never stop. YOU will never stop. It’s entitlement and laziness and a sheer lack of respect or courtesy.

The general public does this all fucking day. Turning a two hour job into a three hour job. Making my body even more sore so you don’t have to walk a few more feet. The sheer ignorance blows my mind.

So yes, I would rather deal with a crackhead. At least I have no hope with a crackhead. I suppose I could be naive to think people are aware enough of their own surroundings that they take others into consideration? Wow… what a dream world that would be. 🖕🏽

# from my head

[loquatsloquatsloquats]

Cookie Run as Incorrect Quotes

Part 2! The Deceit Quad

( Plus Some Adjacent Characters For The Last Few )

|

Truthless Recluse: I’ve become a bread crumb dealer to four crows at the lake. They pay me with a bit of everything. Like shiny things, fabric, or pens. But recently they paid me with a 20 dollar bill they found somewhere. So I decided to buy them some more expensive bread. They loved it. So they understand what to do. Give me money. I’ve probably racked up about 200 dollars at this point. Is it morally wrong though, I mean. They’re the ones who steal the money from others. Or perhaps they just have a big pile laying somewhere. Should I keep on doing this?

Black Sapphire: You sound like the start of a Batman villain.

<>

Candy Apple: So, Black Sapphire, do you have a crush on anyone?

Black Sapphire: The only crush I have is this crushing anxiety.

<>

Shadow Milk: Ugh, there’s always that one in the group who isn’t down with murder.

Shadow Milk: *glares at PV*

Pure Vanilla: Well, sorry I have morals!

<>

Shadow Milk: If you aren't someone The Witches wanted dead 3000 years ago, are you really living?

<>

Shadow Milk: .. .----. -- / … --- .-. .-. -.-- (translation: I'M SORRY)

Truthless Recluse: What's that?

Shadow Milk: Remorse code.

Truthless Recluse: I'm even angrier now.

<>

Black Sapphire: Please could you go to the shop and get a carton of milk, if they have avacodos get six.

Candy Apple: *comes back from the store with six cartons of milk* They had avacados!

<>

Shadow Milk: Pure Vanilla is off at an appointment, so while they’re gone, I’m going to cut the sleeves off all of my shirts.

Black Sapphire: Why?

Shadow Milk: They’re like 90% of my impulse control.

<>

Pure Vanilla: If you took a shot for every time you made a bad decision, how drunk would you be?

Black Sapphire: Maybe a bit tipsy?

Candy Apple: Drunk.

Shadow Milk: Wasted.

Truthless Recluse: Dead.

<>

Pure Vanilla: Do you even, cuddle, bro? Do you even lift, bro… each other up with kindness? Do you tell your loved ones that you care about them regardless of who is listening? DO YOU EVER RESOLVE CONFLICTS, EMOTIONAL ISSUES THROUGH COMPROMISE AND COMPASSION RATHER THAN ANGER AND DENIAL?!

<>

Candy Apple: You know, sometimes dandelions remind me of Pure Vanilla.

Black Sapphire: Aww, is it because they’re like a little sunshine, spreading light and hope everywhere?

Candy Apple: What? Gross, no, it’s because they’re like a weed that you can’t get rid of!

<>

Black Sapphire: I want a bf.

Shadow Milk: Do you mean best friend, boyfriend or bread feast? Because you’re being really vague here.

<>

Pure Vanilla: I am an expert at identifying birds.

Shadow Milk: Okay, what about those ones flying over there?

Pure Vanilla: Yeah, they're all birds.

<>

Shadow Milk: I learned a valuable lesson from this.

Black Sapphire: I’m guessing they are all horrible distortions on the lesson you actually should’ve taken away…

Shadow Milk: DEATH ISN’T REAL AND I AM BASICALLY GOD!

<>

Truthless Recluse: Do you see yourself as a glass half-full or glass half-empty kind of person?

Shadow Milk: Half-full, definitely.

Shadow Milk: Half-full and constantly rising.

Shadow Milk: Soon the water will escape its container and consume us all.

<>

Silverbell: I bet you’re wondering why I gathered you here today. It’s because we need to have a discussion about how some people in this room aren’t getting along with other people in this room.

Black Sapphire: Why did you say that so vaguely? Mercurial Knight and I are literally the only people you called in here.

<>

Black Sapphire: See, the problem is, Mercurial Knight, you’re playing 3D chess. I’m playing 4D.

Mercurial Knight: I’m playing checkers. I don’t know what you’re playing.

<>

Silverbell: You know, Black Sapphire, when you generalize, you tell general... lies.

Black Sapphire: ...Are you trying to teach me moral lessons through puns?

<>

Mercurial Knight: We’re all in this together. If one of us falls, we all fall. Nobody is expendable on this team.

Black Sapphire: Sounds fake but ok.

<>

Silverbell: I’m this close to falling in love with Black Sapphire.

Mercurial Knight: Your fingertips are touching.

Silverbell: Exactly.

<>

Black Sapphire: We should be partners.

Silverbell: You mean like- partners in crime?

Black Sapphire: ...Yeah ...that’s precisely what I meant.

|

1 | 2 (You Are Here) | 3 | 4 | ?

[eggbedthewriter]

My ✨️official✨️ rant on Kipperlilly Copperkettle in relation to the bad kids and rat grinders:

WILDLY unpopular opinion, the bad kids/intrepid heroes were correct in leaving her dead, both narratively and morally.

OKAY hear me out PLEASE! I LOVE Kipperlilly's character. Imo, she's VERY well written and crafted. I also don't necessarily believe she's evil, or unfixable, or anything like that. I won't say she's a good person, because she isn't, but she's also not definitively a bad one. I actually got attatched to her too. So... why on earth would I think she should be left for dead? Well... there's a few reasons.

1. She is not trustworthy.

2. She isn't a good person, just a good character

3. It wouldn't make any sense story-telling-wise.

Let me elaborate:

1: Kipperlilly was SHOWN to be untrustworthy. She didn't have a rage star in her chest like the others. She chose to have the rune in her chest without the alternative literally being death. Every other rat grinder had a horrible, horrible choice to make; save your soul or your life. Lucy chose to save her soul, her essence, her innocence. In the words of (I think Ruben?) Lucy "stuck to her guns". The others chose to save their lives. To go back to loved ones, each other. I don't think either choice was wrong, really. These are kids who had never faced the possibility of death, and may have been the only ones in their grade to never do so. When confronted with it for the first time, it was a lose-lose. They didn't know what would happen when they came back, didn't know the extent of the rage stars or what they'd be made to do. Kipperlilly never had this choice to make. Don't worry, I'll address the fact that she was being manipulated by an adult. Kipperlilly was angry from the start. I'm almost positive that, with what the bad kids learned after stealing her file, she didn't always have that rune in her chest. She got it later in her time at Aguefort, evidenced by the fact that Brennan says there's a notable switch in what she's saying about the bad kids- "it's not fair" to "I hate them". Anger issues and jealousy OBVIOUSLY don't condemn someone to death, but that isn't all. She either murdered Lucy or let her get murdered. Lucy, her BEST FRIEND. Think about what could make you kill your best friend, because I'm willing to bet it's next to nothing. Even though she was being manipulated and groomed, she did kill Lucy/let her die for power.

TLDR P1: There's no evidence that Kipperlilly would be different had they resurrected her. With all that the bad kids have seen, they just can't risk that.

2: This is a BIG problem in I think every fandom: Kipperlilly is not a GOOD person, she's a COMPELLING one. She is not a morally good character, she's a deeply interesting one. I don't hate her, please don't get me wrong. And like I said, I don't think she's a bad person necessarily. But I do worry that a lot of the reason there's so much defense for her is that people like her and so they want to convince themselves she's perfect. No character is perfect, that would make them SO boring. Kipperlilly isn't perfect by ANY means. I don't want to make it sound like shes remorse-less either, because we don't know that. I'm sure she felt IMMENSE guilt for Lucy, but an apology or feeling awful about something like that doesn't change that you did it.

TLDR P2: A lot of things defending her may come from the fact that she's a compelling character, rather than a good person.

3: Okay, final part! Pretty much the reason I'm even making this post is to defend the bad kids/intrepid heroes, because some people think that they were cruel for not bringing her back. Here's the thing, narratively, it would've made zero sense for them to revive her. They seemed a bit loathe to even bring the others back, considering all they went through. Kipperlilly was not only more concious for what she was doing, but she also pretty much voluntarily did it. Heres the thing- she WAS technically manipulated and practically groomed by Porter, which is why I don't want to say she herself was evil. I agree that she was a kid being used. That doesn't mean everything she did is excuseable, though. Kipperlilly wasn't loyal to the one person (we know of) who cared about her. Not to mention she was literally jealous of the bad kids TRAUMA. She was a traumatized kid, sure, but... so were the bad kids. BY shit she did. My final point (promise 😭) is that it's cruel to blame the bad kids for not reviving her. She was trying to kill them, and just like in every other battle, they had to protect themselves and the world. What evidence did they have that she wasn't going to be evil when she was brought back? That she wouldn't do it all again? Buddy clearly is working with Kalina, do we REALLY think that Kipperlilly wouldn't too? Narratively, it wouldn't have been a satisfying ending. They brought the other rat grinders back because the rage stars would be gone. It was akward, sure, but they had reason to trust them. Could you imagine how it would've gone with Kipperlilly if they'd saved her? "Hey, I know you chose to work for evil... but you probably won't do it again!". Okay, I'm being so dramatic but you get my point 😭. I adore fan work (whether fanfic/fanart) where Kipperlilly IS good, where things are different and she's redeemable. This is NOT a post meant to hate on those works, because I love them and they're amazing!!! I just don't like when people call the bad kids evil for not bringing back someone who was responsible for a LOT of evil, and could likely cause a lot more. Imo, Kipperlilly being brought back just wouldn't have been a satisfying ending within the story we were given.

TLDR P3: Keep making fan works where Kipperlilly is good/saved!!! I love reading/viewing them, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with making them! I just think that in the story we're presented with, letting her remain dead was the kindest and most sensible ending.

I REALLY hope this doesn't come across as mean or passive aggressive, because I fucking adore this fandom (and honestly adore Kipperlilly too!). I'm so so sorry this ended up being so long 😔. If anyone actually read the whole thing tysm! I'm really sorry if the conclusion I reached wasn't satisfying to you, and I'm always up for a (civil 😭) discussion about her!

[soup-mother]

people love getting so incredibly mad about the idea of people cheating at school, which is funny in of itself. but especially mad at people cheating at school using chatgpt (because obviously, it's like the moral outrage of the day) which is ESPECIALLY funny because in terms of material effect it is literally no different from paying someone to write something for you, just more widely accessible and more likely to be wrong.

like people have been cheating at school forever, school sucks and basically functions as a class bottleneck, i literally do not give a shit if someone cheats at school to actually be able to get a job or not have CPS called on them or even just to get their parents off their back. like you get the smug "if you need to cheat to get through school you shouldn't be there" and it's like wow you're a cunt aren't you? definitely not any issues with the education system, people are just stupid huh? Charming.

uncritical support to stealing and cheating in all forms except colonialism

[its-all-papaya]

The “not champion mentality” is honestly one of the worst to me.

Bc if we break this down, this is people saying that if you struggle with self confidence, self doubt, mental health or anxiety then you’re not capable of achieving success.

It’s such a dangerous and toxic message that people don’t realize is hurting a lot more people than just Lando. (Bc lets be so fr these aren’t opinions, these are comments meant to hurt and hate)

And as a Rosberg fan back in the day, I KNOW how bad that man’s mental health was when he won his WDC. He pushed through that self doubt, anxiety, mental health issues and he still won. He’s living proof that there is no perfect/specific “champion mentality.”

I absolutely understand your struggle with the F1 community/people online rn. I’ve felt the same way today. (And many other days). I’ve been a fan since I was a kid, it’s been rough watching fans become nothing more than a herd mentality of hate and toxicity. It’s exhausting honestly and I’ve been so close to stopping watching the sport entirely bc it felt so miserable at times.

But I’m grateful for people like you bc you make it a positive place to be. You don’t contribute to hate, you don’t trash teams or drivers you don’t like, instead you support your team, write fics and create a positive environment for so many people. You have no idea how much of an impact that can make. It’s rough out there but I’m glad we got good ones like you.

(You absolutely can ignore this, Ik you were hoping to move on/forget about this negative online stuff, your post just had me thinking and ranting so I thought I’d give my own input lol)

(I really am incapable of sending a normal sized message aren’t I?) -og

yeah, no, i mean the reason i crash out about lando is because i identify with him so much in moments of failure/non-perfection. like the WHOLE original inspo for anybody, nowhere were his comments after silverstone, as i've said before, but more specifically the horrible mental place that i'm familiar with where you're trying SO HARD to figure out where to assign blame, and it feels like a knife's edge between "all me" or "all others." and no matter what lando says, it's the wrong amount of one or the other for people. if he says the car's difficult it's "if i was in woking i'd hate him" and if he says it's himself making mistakes it's "not a champion mentality." and in moments of high stress and intense emotions, like straight after a botched qualifying, it's nearly impossible to remove yourself from a situation enough to make sound determinations about what went wrong where and who's to "blame" for it (which. whatever on that word but.) and so i am IN HIS WALLS in those moments where it feels easiest, optically, to blame yourself entirely. because then the worst thing people can say about you is "he's too hard on himself" and not "he won't accept his own faults" or "he's making excuses," which both feel morally worse.

the other irritating thing to me about it all is that self-confidence is not usually something you can just pull out of fucking nowhere, especially if you're already struggling with it. like if you're told to be more confident and then picked apart and smeared at every turn, how the fuck are you going to do that? like sure, therapy, your loved ones, etc, but it's the people saying you're not confident originally who you're trying to "prove" yourself to, and they're the ones making it impossible. as you say, it's the narrative that if you don't handle negative emotion in the "right" way, it's a moral or competitive failing. you're lesser, you're a burden, you're "stealing" resources or a seat or a "rocket ship" from someone who "deserves it more" just because they're a more outwardly confident person. and by the way, if you let any of that shit that people are implying or outright saying get to you - if you even acknowledge it - that's your fault, too. basically, it's really hard to perform under the pressure of everybody hoping you'll fail, and it's even harder never to reveal outwardly how that's affecting you as a person.

i think i suffer a lot from projecting on lando and then internalizing things people say about him because of that, but i also don't think i'm alone in that, as you say. "mental health" is such a buzzword to everybody that it literally means nothing to most people in practice.

at the end of the day, i know lando's got a really, really good and solid support system and i know he'll be fine and it's early in the season. but it's so hard to watch people i know and i'm friends with make jokes about this to me because it's like what are you saying about me to other people, then? because nothing lando's said today or ever after a disappointing result is remarkably different than things i've said about my own job and my own self over the last ten months. just demoralizing.

anyway, i appreciate you saying that last bit, because a lot of the time i don't FEEL like i'm being very positive here. and to be clear, when i'm frustrated about f1 fans, it's very, very rarely a tumblr issue. as much as rpf is funny and fake and a game for us, i do think it does work to humanize drivers in a lot of ways. i like interacting with fans of all drivers, i just can't stand how every one of lando's mistakes feels quadrupled to me because i know there are people (on twitter mainly, as well as my irl friends) who are going to make it into more than it is to feed their narratives.

sometimes a man is suffering with a car just because he is. if it ended with that, i'd be handling this way better.

[violetastridhotd]

Lawful v. Moral/Team Black v. Team Green

Rant incoming. (This is Fire and Blood centric, not HotD centric, but most of it applies to both)

So, I have always been a firm Rhaenyra supporter for the Dance. And for a long time, I couldn't understand how people could legit be "Team Green" outside of liking individual characters or their portrayal. And then I realized:

Team Black has a moral mentality and Team Green has a lawful mentality. Follow me here.

Rhaenyra and Aegon both have legitimate claims to the throne by birth and by law. So, we essentially have an ethical dilemma on our hands. With many ethical dilemmas, the "right" solution is based on an individual's perception of morality.

(Example of Lawful thinking v. Moral thinking: You catch a woman stealing food to feed her children. Do you put her in prison (she broke the law) or do you let her go (because letting children starve is immoral)? Also, please note this is purposefully a simplistic example.)

In Defense of Team Green:

The biggest argument for Team Green is "They weren't wrong. Jace, Luke, and Joff were literal bastards. Rhaenyra was trying to trick everyone by passing off bastards as true-born heirs."

And this is facts. Rhaenyra is committing high treason for having an affair and passing off her bastards as legitimate. As far as the law is concerned, this is a black and white issue. It doesn't matter she was Viserys' favorite. It didn't matter that Corlys and Rhaenys didn't care. None of it mattered because Rhaenyra didn't even try to hide her affair or even have the decency to make sure the father had features similar to her husband. What Rhaenyra did was not only high treason, but the fact that she wasn't careful about keeping it a secret because she knew Viserys would turn a blind eye, made it all the more offensive.

Especially to Otto, who relied on the strict laws of the court to enact his plan to obtain power. Especially to Alicent, who was a victim of these strict laws as a woman who "did her duty." Especially to Aegon and Aemond who were ignored no matter what they did in favor of their sister. Rhaenyra's actions were a huge, cruel middle finger to everyone on Team Green (except Otto, but fuck him).

In Defense of Team Black:

For the good of the realm, Rhaenyra needed to have that affair.

Hear. Me. Out.

The alliance between House Velaryon and House Targaryen was the Big Picture Problem, not who would sit the Iron Throne. Now, we have to remember that Corlys married Rhaenys while her father was still alive and it was assumed that she was going to be the next Queen. This is important.

When Rhaenys was passed over for Baelon for heir, Corlys was pissed. When the Great Council chose Viserys over Rhaenys/Laenor, he was pissed. When Viserys married Alicent instead of Laena, pissed again. Now, Corlys being upset is Not Good. Corlys has the largest naval fleet at this point. It is made clear several times that repeatedly pissing off Corlys is not the move to be making because he was rich, powerful, and had an entire fleet (and two dragons) and could make things very difficult for King's Landing if he felt frisky.

Cue Rhaenyra and Laenor getting married. Corlys no longer has a reason to beef with House Targaryen. Laenor will sit the Iron Throne. House Velaryon will now be tired directly to the Iron Throne and will practically be unstoppable. Team Viserys v. Team Rhaenys no longer matters because the two lines are coming together as a power couple.

And then Rhaenyra and Laenor struggle to conceive (which, as far as Fire and Blood is concerned, I fully believe Jacaerys is Laenor's son, but that is a whole other rant). This is a problem. If Laenor can't have children (because he's gay, infertile, etc), then that means his marriage to Rhaenyra needs to be annulled.

(In Fire and Blood, Alicent wanted to marry Rhaenyra to Aegon. Viserys denied it to keep the Hightowers from getting on the throne. If Rhaenyra's marriage with Laenor falls apart, Alicent would have pushed hella hard for her to marry Aegon)

Rhaenyra was either the heir to the Iron Throne, or she was a valuable bargaining chip for the heir. She would not be allowed to remain in a unfruitful marriage. If their marriage is annulled...we are back at square one. House Velaryon is powerful and pissed off for the fourth time. There was a very real possibility that shit would go down between House Velaryon and House Targaryen.

Conclusion

The Dance of Dragons is an ethical dilemma and no one is right or wrong. And that is the whole damn point.

So don't be weird and have such intense, Twilight-esque, beef with each other. I'd love it if the TB v. TG could be fun like Team Valor v. Team Mystic discourse, but some of ya'll really try to make one side right and the other wrong, one side morally superior and the other moral degenerates, and its super cringe.