#as much as i hate academics and the education systems those in it like these students are so important to our society

[aurae-rori]

DR RATIO ANALYSIS

SPOILERS FOR 2.1 CONTENT!

Now, you might be saying - "Aurae, Oh No! and Are You Satisfied? are much too basic songs to analyze Dr. Ratio to! Just because he's a scholar doesn't mean that he has academic trauma!" WRONG! Before we start, I have been researching psychology for approximately six years and I plan to go into it professionally. HOWEVER, that said, I am NOT a professional (YET. One day I will be. Yay for Aurae!) so understand that everything I come to conclusions about has been analyzed with some personal judgement, personal interpretations, and this is just what I have concluded with the info that I have deconstructed from his brain. If you disagree, that's fine!

I will be pulling from my own experiences with being a "golden" and "gifted" child, as well as the experiences I've had speaking to other people who were those. I will also be pulling from my experiences of researching and seeing how people with superiority complexes work, as well as diving into how those work (from what I've seen, as well as how they conceal a lack of self-esteem).

OKAY, NOW THAT THAT LONG AHH DISCLAIMER IS OVER, ALLOW ME TO WORK MY PSYCH ENJOYER MAGIC! Let's deconstruct Dr. Ratio like a lego toy.

Let's start off with how Dr. Ratio presents himself. When you first meet him, he seems like a haughty, arrogant asshole. He likes to PRESENT himself as a stoic, superior scholar who is purely in it to win it, and I got total "*stares down at your tiny body and laughs at how you lack knowledge*" vibes at the very start, due to how he goes around calling people idiots all the time. However, he DOES lose the idgaf war, and we can very quickly see that he does care for other people, even if in his own, strange way. Dr Ratio presentation: An asshole. The reality?

His entire character is based around the idea of helping the masses. He wishes to spread knowledge through the cosmos and give people who didn't have access to it, access. He's a harsh teacher, and calling people 'idiots' is NOT the way to motivate them, but he's doing his best™.

Actually, no, I'm going to go full psych into this. Okay, so here starts the Dr. Ratio and my FATHER COMPARISONS. My father is a professor and he is often called a harsh grader by his students. However, I've spoken to him multiple times because I was curious - why is he so harsh and diligent with his grading system? The answer is - he wants them to actually learn. When he's grading, he gives them harsh marks because he wants them to know exactly where they messed up, and he's always willing to stay after hours to help students understand where they can't. My father also is an enjoyer of knowledge, and for as long as I've remembered, he has prioritized teaching me how to think critically. He wants me to be able to think for myself - and I think that's what Dr. Ratio wants, too. He wants for his students to be able to fully comprehend and absorb the information that he teaches, and although his methods are harsh, he genuinely wants to help. My father's like this too - he hates students that waste his time or aren't here because their hearts are in it. Dr. Ratio hates people who aren't taking their education seriously because knowledge is important. Knowledge is a tool, and to disregard it completely is lowkey kind of insulting - especially when there are people who weren't privileged enough to actually get it, so this isn't something that you should take for granted. Dr. Ratio despises people who take knowledge for granted.

Also, I disagree with the claims that say that Dr. Ratio hates the genius society. He shows open respect for them in his voice lines. Just check them if you need proof. Also, I'll delve into the idea of Aeons and recognition later.

Now that we’ve established that Dr. Ratio kins my dad, let’s let's tackle the 'stoic' allegations. He is LOSING the idgaf war. Like, really badly. He has a temper of a thousand suns and snaps at people frequently, despite his 'impassive' face, his tone holds a LOT of emotion. He seems to feel very deeply and has a shit ton of empathy for others - why else would he be dedicating his entire career to helping others? Of course, he doesn't express this in 'typical' ways of being openly kind - but it doesn't mean that he doesn't care for other people. In fact, he seems to be pretty good at putting himself in the shoes of others and understanding them - expressed in the 2.1 quest where he tells Aventurine to tell him if he can't hold on any longer. Also, he loses the IDGAF war because he is actively trying to help people who want to learn and trying to spread logic and knowledge across the cosmos to those who didn't have it before. Would a man who didn't GAF do that? No!

Now that we've covered his view on knowledge and the way that he presents himself, let's turn to the way that he SEES himself. Now, this is where we get into the nitty gritty of gifted child trauma & academic trauma as well as crippling expectations. It's literally explicitly said in his character stories that he sees himself as mediocre, and it's canon that he doesn't have a good view of himself. His self-esteem is down in the fucking trenches along with my sanity as I write this analysis. The reality is - being called a genius your whole life doesn't really make you feel better about yourself. I'd know. I was. In fact, it makes you feel fucking worse when you can't live up to an expectation. We all fail in life. It's part of being human. But when you're held to such high standards - idolized for your knowledge and the way that you're 'gifted' - the crash comes really fucking hard. Failure is inevitable, and when people who are held on that pedestal experience it, they take it really bad.

The reality is that nobody - not even geniuses - are perfect, but you grow up believing that you are. Then, when you fail for the first time, it all comes tumbling down. The first time I came home with a bad grade was one of the most humiliating moments of my life. I hadn't studied because I was arrogant and I thought that I was smart enough to pass without putting any extra effort into it - because I was a 'gifted' child, right? I should've been able to do it without studying like the other kids. And that's the thing with gifted children – you grow reliant on that title. You cling onto it for dear life for motivation, as well as self-perception. Little by little, the person you are falls apart as you slave away to the perception other people have of you. I think basically every gifted child that I've ever spoken to is a victim of this – and of course, you can heal from this mindset - but it's a hard one to shake.

Ratio's way of presenting himself as being a 'genius' and 'arrogant' also seems to contradict the way that he calls himself 'mundane' at the same time. However, these are two mindsets that can coexist. One part of you believes that you are a genius and that you are perfect, while the other part is crumbling and calling yourself good-for-nothing every time you make a mistake. It's a tiring cycle to live in. This usually leads to people shutting themselves out and closing themselves off after living like that, pushing back your own feelings in favour of being the perfect child. However, we don't know the exact details of Dr. Ratio's childhood, but we can infer that he was held to a pedestal, and this is a very harmful mindset for a child to have.

His superiority complex comes both from how other people view him, but it's a way to cope with his crippling lack of self-esteem. I'm sorry my guy. Also helping others probably helps him feel like he's worth something and makes him feel better because he bases his entire worth off of what he can do and how he can help others. However, this is just my personal interpretation backed by what I have already deconstructed. 

In general, this is an easy way to crush self-esteem. You spend your whole life working to meet the image of what other people think you are. In fact, another reason why Dr. Ratio might be so harsh is because that’s the kind of attitude he holds towards himself when conducting research – he’s as hard on himself as he is to others. You end up hating the idea of failure, instead of seeing it as it should be - a way to improve and grow. Actually, I think this could be a reason that he went out of his way to break that illusion of 'worshipping geniuses' in the Space Station. Maybe some sort of childhood connection? Personal connection? In his endeavour to spread more knowledge and make people think for themselves and not blindly follow geniuses, to wake them up and let them think for themselves - maybe, somewhere, in there, he's helping that little child that was almost dehumanized for his intelligence. TLDR: Conflicting mindsets due to trauma, brain vs heart almost - his knowledge that he is a genius vs the crippling lack of his self worth.

Now that we've established Dr. Ratio's self worth, let's take a look at the impact Aeons had on him. Nous, the Aeon of Knowledge itself. I think in a world where the Gods are real, tangible beings that you can reach out and talk to - it makes sense that someone with high ambition and someone who's been called a genius his whole life would seek the confirmation of Nous. When you're a man of knowledge, and you've spent your whole life working with it, being praised for it – it feels natural to look for a god to look down upon you and bless you, right? The Genius Society – it should house him, because he is a genius as well, right? Imagine this – you have been called a genius your whole life, held to that kind of pedestal for so long, and now you wait for the recognition of the Gods. Because if you truly are a genius – then surely, a higher being will recognize your intelligence, right?

The invitation never comes.

And then, comes the doubt.

What if I'm really not a genius? What if everything I've worked for is a lie? Aeons are beings that are 'absolute'. If the god of Knowledge won't accept you or even cast a glance upon you, does that mean that everything was wrong. Gods see more than humans, after all. Gods know more than humans - and that spiral... I think you can see if. (If you don't let me know. I will ramble about how a failure like that can make you spiral down into a worse mindset). 

However, the reason why Ratio was never invited to the Genius Society is simple. It’s because he LOSES THE IDGAF WAR. Now, if we look at all the people we know who are in the Genius Society - we find one thing in common. They’re in it to win it for themselves. They don’t help others using the knowledge that they’ve gotten - they use it to pursue shit for themselves. The people of the Genius Society are inherently self-serving. They WIN the idgaf war. Ratio LOSES. Do we see now? 

Ratio’s empathy is the reason why he wasn’t let in. He is too human. Nous is a computer. Herta is detached from people. Ruan Mei is literally looking at life as test subjects. Screwllum is a robot. 

OUR DOCTOR MAN LOST THE IDGAF WAR, BECAUSE HE IS HUMAN AND FEELS FOR OTHERS!!! 

Also, it’s a plausible theory that Nous’s definition of ‘genius’ is different from the human definition of ‘genius’ – it’s a computer, after all. Who knows what’s going on in that code head of its. 

However, we still love you Ratio. Never stop losing the IDGAF war. 

TLDR: Nous is a computer. It is also in it to win it. It is also self serving. It gazes upon the hoes who are here to win it for themselves. Ratio is busy serving the masses and cooking knowledge in his frying pan. To it, there is no logical reason to be doing this. Therefore, no reason to invite this guy to the Genius Society. 

Ratio’s gifted child trauma says otherwise. He wants in. Why wouldn’t he? He’s been working his whole life as a genius. 

Nous is like… nah bro, you care too much. Ratio is like, ‘what the fuck?’ And then the AEON OF KNOWLEDGE GOES FOR THE MILK. 

Okay, now, quick shoutout to Ratio wanting to help others. He is just like me fr. SO BASICALLY, RECAP OF EVERYTHING I JUST SAID:

Ratio LOSES the idgaf war because he cares about other people. Spent his whole life as the golden egg, and then turns to the gods for recognition because of the inherent trauma of being a child genius. He goes, "hey bro, can you confirm that I am in fact a genius?" and Nous goes, "no, you are too busy cheffing for the masses." Ratio goes, "what the fuck?" and then we collectively realize his attitude comes from blocking off his feelings (while failing miserably), being salty about not being recognized, being put on a pedestal for his whole life, and his crippling depression *cough* lack of self worth *cough*. 

Oh, and the "I will never be enough" thought train probably hits him every single day. He is not enough to be recognized by a God. Gods are superior to humans. Maybe nothing has worth after all. Hey, that's Nihility! Hi IX, let's hear what you have to say.

*muffled ix noises*

I see, I see.

The consensus is: HE'S TRAUMATIZED BY EXPECTATIONS! HE WILL PROBABLY SUFFER FROM BURNT OUT GIFTED CHILD IF HE HAS NOT ALREADY!

Okay, now, before I delve into song lyrics (and I KNOW this has been long, just bear with me) I want to talk a little bit (read: a lot) about his relationship with Aventurine. We all know that he cares about Aventurine in his own way. But I want to pull in another idea that I didn’t cover before: 

Ratio’s fucking emotional constipation. 

Basically, the reason why he has trouble connecting with others is because he was most likely alienated by others as a symptom of being called a genius and being put on a pedestal. This makes him seem unapproachable to his peers, most likely, and therefore, as a result, doesn’t know how to properly connect with others. This just makes his way of presenting affection and care to others even more challenging – because he just doesn’t know how to do it in a healthy and clear way. Academic trauma causing emotional problems, because he’s probably a little bit out of touch with his own. Processing? No! Research. Also, this is very important for understanding Ratio’s character in my opinion, because he’s just a little guy who doesn’t know how to articulate. Maybe he’s got a touch of the ‘tism. Tism mutuals, do we agree or disagree? 

However, in comes Aventurine. Love Aventurine, but they are both emotionally constipated. Aventurine displays his affection in ways that Ratio probably only catches after re-analyzing their time together about five times. He’s also a very closed off individual – but Ratio knows this. A cute thing is that Ratio is patient where he needs to be, even if he’s generally a pretty hot-headed guy, and I’m like… bro… that letter… “I wish you the best of luck”... I will wait for you…. GAY ASS MAN…

Sorry the Aventio demons took over. Anyway, what I’m trying to say here is that they both have nonverbal communication with one another that they clearly decipher and Ratio obviously cares for him (he came back and almost jeopardized the plan just for the sake of his ‘coworker’... okay gayboy…) and they just have such a neat little dynamic… Aventurine lets Dr. Ratio do his thing… understands his emotional alienation to a degree…. they’re so neat….

Okay, Aventurine segment over. NOW, FINALLY, WE CAN GET TO THE SONG LYRICS!!! YAY!!!! We all cheered!!!

We are going to be here for two more amber eras, because I realized I actually want to analyze every single lyric from both of these songs. Brace yourself for like, 2k more words. Help. 

I think it’s only proper that we start off with ‘Oh No!’ the song that has haunted me since my childhood.

“Don’t do love, don’t do friends

I’m only after success

Don’t need a relationship

I’ll never soften my grip”

Remember when I mentioned that alienation was a big part of Ratio lore? Yeah, that manifests itself in this. When you spend your entire life chasing after knowledge and being held to that standard of untouchable genius, it makes sense that you couldn’t connect with others and that you turn your gaze only to success. Therefore, relationships that are interpersonal lose meaning for a bit – you’re just looking for answers and ways to help them, not connect with them. Also, this is what he wants to do – so he’s never going to pass down an opportunity to better himself or to help someone else. 

“Don’t want cash, don’t want card

Want it fast, want it hard 

Don’t need money, don’t need fame

I just want to make a change

I just wanna change, I just wanna change” 

This is directly alluding to his reasonings for distributing knowledge across the cosmos. Was he based on this song? Maybe he was. He’s not looking for money or fame, his ultimate goal is actually pretty selfless – to bring knowledge and give people the tools they need to think for themselves. He just wants to make a change – he just wants people to be able to have access to knowledge and help cure ‘stupidity’. He wants to do it as quickly as possible, always reaching for lofty goals that might seem impossible, but he will make them possible. 

“I know exactly what I want and who I want to be

I know exactly why I walk and talk like a machine

I’m now becoming my own self-fulfilled prophecy

Oh! Oh no! Oh no! Oh no, oh!” 

Ratio knows his goal. He knows what he’s working towards. I do believe that he understands why he is the way that he is – he has a degree in Psychology, after all. He knows how he’s been hurt but at the same time, the trauma brain probably doesn’t want to recognize it and he hasn’t stepped into healing yet. He knows what he went through impacted him, but he’s too busy helping others to help himself. He’s becoming what he wants to be, and yet he’s not, all at the same time – which causes the idea of “oh no!” as a kind of cry for help, almost. He’s too proud to ask for it himself, of course, so he’ll fall alone until someone manages to catch him and give him the strength to continue holding on. Aventurine is that. 

“One track mind, one track heart

If I fail, I’ll fall apart

Maybe it is all a test

‘Cause I feel like I’m the worst

So I always act like I’m the best” 

Now, these are the exact lyrics that made me associate this song with Ratio in the first place. He’s got a singular goal that he will do nothing to stop at getting, that he goes so far to get to. However, as I mentioned earlier, failure is not an option for those who were deemed gifted or genius. You are perfect, so therefore you must live up to everyone’s every expectation and surpass them, too, in order to keep your perception of yourself intact. Ratio does not hold himself in high regard, but acts arrogant in order to hold himself together and not fall to the self-deprecating thoughts, even if they fall through the cracks. It gets tiring to hold yourself together like that for a long time, you know? 

“I’m gonna live, I’m gonna fly

I’m gonna fail, I’m gonna die

I’m gonna live, I’m gonna fly

I’m gonna fail, I’m gonna die” 

Remember how I was talking about contradictory mindsets and how they can coexist. This is them. The feeling of crippling self-hatred and lack of self esteem versus the idea that you can do it, you can make a difference – you were born a genius, this is what you’re going to do. This is the knowledge that you are a genius vs the lack of self-esteem that Ratio has. “Mediocre” vs “genius” mindset, eh? 

All the other lyrics in this song are repetitions of what I’ve analyzed before, so let’s move onto “Are you Satisfied?” 

To be honest, there are only a few lines in this song that allow me to connect it to Ratio, so therefore, I will only be analyzing them. However, if you think that other lyrics can connect to him, I’d be interested in knowing how. 

“What you’re gonna be 

It’s not my problem if you don’t see what I see

And I do not give a damn if you don’t believe

My problem, it’s my problem that I never am happy

It’s my problem, it’s my problem on how fast I will succeed”

Pretending to not care about how the world sees you is so fucking real. Sometimes, you really don’t give a shit, and sometimes it’s all you can think about. Ratio… doesn’t seem like he’s the happiest person. He works himself hard and he’s always chasing after a goal that must be exhausting. He’s always doing his best, and I think even with his empathy, it’s easy to start not giving a shit after trying for so long and so hard. Accepting help is one of the hardest things that anybody can do, especially with how much pride he has. His personal problems are his personal problems and he can deal with them on his own. 

“High achiever, don’t you see? 

Baby, nothing comes for free

They say I’m a control freak

Driven by a greed to succeed

Nobody can stop me” 

Nothing comes for free. A lot of the things Ratio has achieved is due to his own intelligence, yes, but also because of a shit ton of hard work. His goal is literally to cure the universe of ‘stupidity’ – and that’s a pretty large fucking goal. He is a high achiever who likes to know the details of every situation when he can in order to try and make things better, and he is driven by a greed to succeed. Why wouldn’t he be? Success is important, and success means helping more people. He isn’t going to allow himself to be stopped by anybody – not even anybody from the Genius society. 

Okay, and we have finally reached the end of my analysis! This caps at around 4k words, so if you stuck around for this long, thank you so much. I would love to hear any of your comments, and I hope you laughed a little bit. Thank you again! This means so much to me that you read. <3

[big-box-of-kinda-silly-fop-ideas]

Just wanted to make like a proper way bio thing for peri (irep coming soon probably if i bother)

I would write fanfiction but uh idk if i could so these are more like characters notes

real long post below

Peri is a highly independent adult, he doesn’t like being coddled or touched without any warning and isnt the type to ask for help at all even if he really needs it. He’s an extremely closed off person using the suave act as a way to personally seperate himself to others which he developed due to his celebrity status, the suave personality also acts as a way to keep face as he never knows where could be camera. He pretends this cool collected guy, that can worm his way to getting anything (which is true) that has everything under control but in reality he’s this kinda dorky dude, that always anxious on how people perceive him and his grades. He’s an overachiever, after the initial first baby born hype died down he’s mostly known as the really smart youngest fairy in existence, he’s was an academic weapon throughout spellementary school and hs (im basing his education system off mine which is only two schools no middle 4-12 and 12-18) and came to uni with overconfidence in his educational abilities. Theres one thing thats consistent between his suave act and his actual self which is he’s petty as hell and very snarky, you can try talking him down but he’ll roast you back or give you a vaguely threatening threat. As well as being a bit prideful and vain, like he knows he’s pretty and smart and cares a lot about his appearance.

In this uni au he’ll be a bit of a static character he doesnt grow much, and struggles with demonstrating his affection or his struggles. (Which is why dev and peri dont exactly work much cause peri is overcompensating on how much coddling he got, and show affection in a more subtle way that dev doesn’t need as he need a more direct way (and heres a thought i dont think peri wouldve ever said he cared for dev unless delirious) ) . But he’s more openly affectionate with his parents cause he loves them. What he mainly goes through is humbling, he starts fairly prideful and overconfident but starts to slowly crumble from the pressure and anxiety. As in he doesnt say no to anything, hes somehow always busy or doing something, he also studies not enough and too much (crams shit in) and he also got his celebrity things to do. Another arc will be opening up to Goldie and Irep (but they'll be his only friends) cause he doesnt learn shit about how to socialise without depending on the act. He’s also easily frustrated, if things dont go in the way he wants he gets frustrated at himself, like he really put his self worth on his abilities to do things and less on who he is as a person. Like everyone praised him for his intelligence, charm, talent, magic and appearance, like he hates being coddled but he likes being praised, while irep doesnt get praised and seeks getting praised. But that doesnt change the fact he is a genuinely nice-ish person he just doesn’t like disappointing people, especially those close to him but he’s got a bit of an ego but not in a narcissistic way but in a young adult way where he doesnt exactly think for others first but for himself because he doesnt want to disappoint people. (Which is seen in battle of dimmsonian where hes more worried about being seen by his parents and his career choices then dev). Which is also why he’s a stickler to the rules, like he doesnt want people to think he’s bad person but also jorgen literally drilled it into him that breaking the rules is bad. Like he’s the type to do it right by the books, that comes from him being a bit of a people pleaser, and genuine concern of him messing up his perfect facade.

Speaking of Goldie, i would describe their relationship as fairly close. It takes a while for the either of them to open up to anything personal but they start off as friends of mutual benefits. They use eachother as study buddies, people to hang out with and to talk about their slightly weird interests. And the more they go through uni the more they will confide with each other. Like i imagine a tipping off point for their friendship is when peri finally breaks and gets like a panic attack, Goldie will be there to boost him up. Irep is also their friend but he’s in it more to best Peri or to piss him off. Irep is one of few to see through his act and knows how to break it.

Like genuinely i do think hazel and peri may be counterparts to each other like they both lost their sibling figure, both overthinks scenarios and both want to be appear more mature then they actually are. Like i want anw to be where he grows the most because he’s more challenged to question his behaviours and habits, especially with how these traits affect his and dev’s relationship for the worse.

[whatbigotspost]

Sometimes it feels like everyone left leaning on this site are at the extreme polar opposite ends of a spectrum of "compulsory vote blue or die and kill us all, you stupid selfish piece of shit" or "vote for Biden and you're a fucking warmonger who will kill us all, you stupid selfish piece of shit."

I'm so sick of it. It's exhausting.

I can't do justice to this point in a tumblr post. But for now I'll say, as with everything in life, it's all so much fucking more nuanced than this. Both systemically and personally. No 2 people on this site's voting access and circumstances are remotely the same. Y'all really gonna tell me it's the same experience every step of the way to vote in rural Texas as it is downtown NYC? Indianapolis as LA? Denver as Honolulu? Alaska as Alabama? And that’s only speaking to geography which is 1 factor of so many.)

I'm gonna hold my nose and vote for Biden. Again. (Again and again if you count VP.) AND I fucking hate him and his politics. I was raised as close to the "vote blue or die" side of the spectrum as one could be in 1984. My parents were shit, but they did take me to see voting w/ them. I was raised with a hero of a grandmother who reminded me every election cycle that when she was born, her mother wasn't legally able to vote.

I ended up spending 4 years studying poli sci, where my academic mentor and thesis reader was the first Black woman (I'm white) who I'd ever gotten to formally learn from. She was the first person who also ever challenged my idea that "voting is the ultimate way to participate in society" and opened my eyes to the substance of the choice to not participate in politics that way. She was foundational and planted the seed of the thought in my mind, but my continued educational path studying the governmental systems of the US far outside her direct tutelage kept raising the same questions for me. After that educational experience, I basically walked away with a following 17 year (ever growing) mental ethical dilemma and debate on this in my own mind that has just gotten more and more intense because I can personally understand both of those extremes and why they are so passionately felt.

But I just don't agree that we should be spending our time continuously text screaming at another person that the choice you arrived at (for the reasons YOU have) are in any way actually relevant to a stranger.

If you read this and you're at one of those extreme ends, I want you to know: I don't blame you or have a negative judgement against that. But if you think that YOUR REASONS are the same truths present for all other folks on the left side of the stupid ass US political spectrum, you're wrong. You just are.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Long Covid activist Meighan Stone didn't want to take her mask off. After pressuring her multiple times, an ER nurse called security on her. This public health failure happened at Sibley Hospital in D.C. These incidents are happening on a regular basis now as mask bans and proposals spread from L.A. to New York. You're not going to hear much about it in the news. When you do, it's framed as a problem for the vulnerable, with blue fascists freely associating masks with crime and hate.

None of the handful of stories that discuss these mask bans mention that we're currently in the middle of a deep Covid surge, at a million cases a day. None of them talk about mask bans in the context of Long Covid in adults and children.

A widely cited study declaring "strikingly low" rates of Long Covid in children was recently retracted due to major flaws in methodology. The researchers who pushed for this retraction are heroes and champions of truth.

Is the media covering that?

Not really.

To their credit, Time did recently run a very important piece on Long Covid in children, focusing on a recent study published in JAMA.

Here's the highlight:

They estimated that 20% of the previously infected younger children and 14% of the previously infected adolescents met that threshold [for diagnosis]. Kids infected before the Omicron wave were especially likely to fall into the Long COVID category. Those numbers are higher than some previous estimates—for example, a recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report concluded that only about 1% of U.S. kids had had Long COVID as of 2022. But other studies have come to similar conclusions, estimating that somewhere between 10% and 20% of kids who catch COVID-19 will develop long-term complications.

Media outlets like USA Today and NBC are also covering this study. For once, major news networks are devoting attention to something that deserves it. Of course, they're doing it after years of running stories blaming children's school performance and developmental delays on smartphones and lockdowns.

Earlier this year, The New York Times published a misleading, biased story on the "long-lasting" harm of school closures. And The Washington Post recently ran a story also blaming absences on everything except Long Covid and immune system damage. Even Education Week has run pieces attributing weak academic performance to school closures and stress, not the virus itself. It's like shooting fish in a barrel. Pick a magazine or newspaper and you'll find stories like these, but very few talking about the ongoing harm of exposing children and teenagers to Covid. The ones that do are almost always sitting behind a paywall.

Absence speaks louder than words, and not just about Covid.

In 2022, barely 1 percent of all corporate television focused on climate change. That was, in fact, a record high. A year later, it fell 25 percent. That was 2023, the year we surpassed 1.5C of warming for all practical purposes. It was the hottest year in recorded history, and also the worst year for climate disasters, costing us $600 billion in the U.S. alone. Entire countries shut down because it was too hot for work or school. All that, and the corporate media spent even less time talking about the problem. Meanwhile, one columnist after another published long screeds against doomers and fearmongers, insisting that we still had plenty of time to turn things around.

A compelling piece by Ryan Hagen breaks down the unsettling relationship between western news media and the fossil fuel industry. As he points out, internal reports from companies like Exxon celebrate their campaign to turn liberal news outlets like The New York Times in favor of their own industries, convincing the public they were working hard to shift toward renewable energy when the plan was always to use it like icing on top of a cake made out of coal.

Tireless work by Amy Westervelt has chronicled the impact of these campaigns. As her research shows, climate change has morphed from a topic that 80 percent of the public felt an urgency about to, now, a divisive issue and a point that most people would rather not talk about. On top of that, think tanks like the Atlas Network have made a major push to criminalize peaceful climate protests and turn public opinion against activists. A Yale study found that more than 60 percent of Americans hardly ever hear anything about climate change now.

And if you bring it up...

You're a doomer.

There has been a concerted effort across the internet to paint anyone who actually cares about the future as a deeply unhinged fearmonger. Meanwhile, social media giants like Meta have relentlessly censored information about Long Covid.

Have you noticed?

Nate Bear pulled the curtain back on how the media works roughly a year ago. As he puts it, "A lot of the stories you see in the headlines are the result of a PR agency. And depending on the news, the PR agent might not send out a release en-masse but “sell in” the story as an exclusive to just one outlet... Every day a proportion of all news you read starts at just a handful of these agencies."

PR firms are constantly wooing journalists, creating an atmosphere where conflict of interest is more of a feature than a bug.

Caitlin Johnstone did a thorough breakdown of mass media bias. Perhaps the most egregious example: MSNBC reporter Krystal Ball leveled blunt but accurate criticism of Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign and correctly predicted that she would lose against Donald Trump because of all her neoliberal baggage. In response, the Clinton campaign threatened the entire network "not to provide any access during the upcoming campaign." The head of the network told Ball that she "could still say what I wanted, but I would have to get any Clinton-related commentary cleared with the president of the network."

So, she couldn't say whatever she wanted.

Right?

Johnstone cites a piece by Jeff Cohen in Salon that also outlines the peer pressure, groupthink, and careerism that dominates the newspapers, magazines, and mainstream news networks in the U.S.

As she further explains:

Journalists either learn how to do the kind of reporting that will advance their careers in the mass media, or they don’t learn and they either remain marginalized and unheard of or they get worn down and quit.

Christopher Hedges, who left The New York Times after a written reprimand for criticizing the Iraq War, has gone on to describe in disturbing detail how the U.S. media caters to the Israeli government, continually overlooking its war crimes. An outspoken critic of U.S. policy, Hedges has endured persecution for speaking the truth, including the cancellation of his news program for defending other writers and real journalists from charges of antisemitism.

Another outspoken critic, Mehdi Hasan, was dropped from MSNBC for speaking out over Palestine. As Sharon Zhang wrote after the decision, "Hasan has been one of the only news anchors on a major broadcast outlet speaking up against Israel's brutality." He was also one of the few news anchors who told the truth about Covid. As Hasan recently made clear in The Guardian, it's imperative for Democrats to take a stronger, pro-humanitarian stance on Gaza and break with Biden's approach, which has sparked outrage and disgust across the left.

Hasan makes a remarkable point in this column, looking to history for cues about how Democrats need to act to ensure history.

It's not vibes.

It's guts.

Nobody really remembers Hubert Humphrey, LBJ's vice president who lost the 1968 election to Richard Nixon by about a percentage point. It's a lesson worth talking about. Humphrey was losing badly because he couldn't stand up to his own party, the Democrats, who were actually very, very pro-Vietnam War. He managed to close the gap considerably in the 11th hour of the race, finally standing up to his own party and promising to end the war if he became president. Hasan wonders what would've happened if he had trusted his gut sooner.

Well, history gives us a few clues. After all, Nixon did end the war. In the decades since, the Vietnam War has gone down in history as one the biggest mistakes the U.S. ever made. Psychologists use it as a case study of entrapment in escalating conflicts. It's a touchstone used to rate our other failures.

Time and again, history tells us that doing the right thing actually serves political expedience far more than vibes.

Democrats could ensure a landslide victory if they would just take a clear stance on our biggest threats and challenges. They could be honest about Covid. They could stand up against mask bans. They could stand up against genocide. They could renew their promise to take on climate change.

We're not seeing that.

Instead, we see the same groupthink and indirect censorship that dominates the news media. It's not a surprise, given how entwined they've become.

Look at what's happening to Taylor Lorenz.

Outlets like The Washington Post and NPR, who pride themselves on their devotion to democracy and diversity, have assailed Lorenz for referring to Biden as "a war criminal" in a private social media post.

Here's the worst part of NPR's story:

Lorenz has also courted controversy, online, in print, and in real life. During the peak of the pandemic, and since its ebb, she has inspired mockery from conservatives over her insistence on wearing masks, even outdoors. She has cited autoimmune issues as the reason.

Look at the verbs here. Far from objective, they describe Lorenz as "insisting" on wearing a mask "even outdoors," and then frame her autoimmune issues not as a reality but as a reason, almost an excuse. For the record, multiple studies have shown that Covid spreads outdoors, especially at crowded events.

This is what writers and real journalists deal with as they try to do the right thing. It's disturbing to watch.

Both Jared Yates Sexton and Sarah Kendzior have expressed an ambivalent reluctance to get on board with the vibes as the DNC hosts their national convention. The kindest thing Sexton can say is that "It was a masterful feat of political theater" as organizers clambered to put down pro-Palestinian protests during speeches and tilted cameras away from violence and toward more soothing, therapeutic shots of Tim Walz with his family.

As Kendzior writes, "Today both the Democratic and Republican parties operate on cult logic, which means they sometimes have the same policies, but wrapped in different rhetoric--because cultists will abide anything so long as their leader is the one pushing it. Policies they would protest if they were carried out by the other side are suddenly deemed acceptable when pushed by their own."

The same goes for media coverage.

It's worth pointing out that Kamala Harris no longer supports a ban on fracking. She no longer supports a single-payer healthcare system, otherwise known as "Medicare for all" which would provide healthcare access to everyone. Her stance on border patrol and police funding have all shifted right. The media signs off on it, saying "Progressives said they’re disappointed but still support her as she works out the best strategy to defeat former President Donald Trump — even if it means leaving their cause behind."

But it's not just causes getting left behind.

It's human beings.

Is it simply a desire or a wish that nurses don't call security on us because we want to wear masks at an ER, like Meighan Stone? Do we have to leave our human rights behind so we can ensure our human rights?

Do we have to lay down our lives for vibes?

That's the current groupthink.

So there you have it.

The media doesn't report the truth. They spend about 1 percent of their time on things that actually matter. Politicians cater to an underinformed public, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy that leads to nurses calling security on immunocompromised patients for wearing a mask, while newspapers and networks fire real journalists for daring to do their jobs.

It's really something, isn't it?

It doesn't help when readers and viewers complain anytime someone salts their mood with the truth. In an era where free, independent content matters more than ever, it's also harder than ever to come by. How are content creators supposed to tell the truth or talk about things that matter when they're constantly being reprimanded, penalized, and punished every time they try?

We desperately need a free press, and we need a public that supports a free press and not silos of dueling echo chambers.

You get what you support.

It's that simple.

[neuroticboyfriend]

i hate how many people's idea of "high functioning" is pretty much just a neurodivergent person with ~academic potential~ who can speak. i'm autistic with adhd and childhood onset schizophrenia. i like learning. i often speak formally with more "complex" vocabulary because i was very autistic about reading. so people labeled me "high functioning" - even as i could no longer read/write for school because of cognitive impairment by schizophrenia.

but more than that, i had daily meltdowns. i was agoraphobic because i didnt know how to do "common sense" things or socialize with others; i could not go places or do anything alone. i had anxiety attacks when spoken to. i ran out of classrooms because it was too loud or i had to do group work. i stayed quiet and alone as much as possible. the world was scary and confusing, and i was being abused and neglected by everyone. so, that plus psychosis, made me suicidal.

two psych ward visits later i end up in special education. and yet. despite all that, and just getting out of the state ward... my psychologist at SpEd called me "high functioning" because i was "smart," "articulate," and (for the first time ever) "aware" i was psychotic. and i say all of this because being labeled a certain way by neurotypicals or the psychiatric system doesnt mean the label is right. ND people can be labeled "high functioning" and be severely disabled by their neurodivergency. and those people are not receiving the (high) support they need. the neglect traumatizes and further disables them.

and it's not right. it's not fair. and i wish people would stop it.

[d1rlin]

Time to discuss on my main/side page, what the hell is a special interest?

Did I make this because I'm petty and hate people fake claiming others because of the term special interest? Yes.

So let's talk about it,

So what is autism in a brief summary?

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex developmental condition involving persistent challenges with social communication, restricted interests and repetitive behavior. While autism is considered a lifelong disorder, the degree of impairment in functioning because of these challenges varies between individuals with autism.

Ethnicities such as a person of color, Asian, or other ethnicities may not present how a caucasian person would. A reason may be some non Caucasian's (a bodily white person) was taught it's okay to punish their children with physical punishments. And because of that some traits of autism such as autistic meltdowns may present in a different way and not in a way that you'd normally see it. Source and source

THIS DOSENT MEAN CAUCASIANS DO NOT GET PHYSICALLY PUNISHED. SOME DO. IT DEPENDS ON THE HOUSEHOLD AND WHAT THE PARENTS WERE TAUGHT

Brief description of types of interests. Source

Circumscribed Interest - an intense and restricted interest in objects or topics that often results in functional impairment.

Unusual Preoccupation — an intense interest in an object or topic that is unexpected for the child's age or development.

Atypical Attachment - an intense attachment to specific or unusual objects.

Moving on to the topic of discussion,

When we talk about special interests what do you think of? Trains, animals, maybe even math. And yes that is some others may have, but it's not limited to just those. Some people with autistic (not always the case but is pretty common) have those as a special interest. I know as a child I had a special interest of an owl. This would have me draw owls where ever and whenever, it was a favorite topic of mine. Much like how someone may enjoy rambling about certain shows, certain topics. These topics is to soothe the person in question, or to use as an award for good behavior. Think of it as you were gifted a golden sticker because you did well in class despite feeling overwhelmed and anxious, the sticker can provide an extra layer of praise and comfortability for the person.

When in school I know we had severely bad anger issues, which lead into fights, being explled and kicked out of school. However during that time a former in school the counselor gave me a stress toy that I took everywhere and had time where I needed time for myself. It was a way to cope with the stress that comes with my disorders including autism. Since I don't speak about having autism a ton, nor speak to a lot of people this may seem derange towards a normal person. But enough about me, let's go back to the academic sources rather than my rambling.

Neurotypical individuals also develop special interests, often in the form of hobbies. Although past research has focused on special interests held by children with autism spectrum disorder, little is known about their role in adulthood. The current study investigated differences in the content, number, and specificity of the special interests held by adult individuals with autism spectrum disorder and neurotypical individuals, using Internet discussion forums as a data source. Quantitative analysis of forum posts revealed significant differences between the diagnostic groups. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder reported having more interests in systemizing domains, more specific interests, and a greater number of interests overall than neurotypical individuals. Understanding special interests can lead to the development of educational and therapeutic programs that facilitate the acquirement of other important social and communication skills. Source

special interests are wrongly assumed to be obsessive. Even though persons with autism nay experience special interest as an 'addiction', they do not feel that they are unwanted or distressful (Baron-Cohen, 1989), as is the case in obsessive-compulsive conditions. Rather, they are a source of pleasure.

This poor understanding of the defining features of special interest is reflected by the fact that scholars use over 70 different term variants to describe such interests. By analysing the salience of these terms in 80 academic papers focussing on the subject, the author has found that 'special interests' is the most salient term, rather than 'circumscribed' and 'restricted' interests, or'obsessions'. The value of special interests to higher education becomes more clear when it is recognized that their defining features is an intrinsically motivation to know all there is to know about a subject without regard for the social or practical contexts in which it is embedded. In a rare study focussing on special interests in so-called 'high-functioning' adults, Aday (2011, p. 112) found that 85% of a sample of 150 reported one or more special interests; of this group, 90% pursued their interests) daily, and 35% for six hours a day. A larger and more recent study found that 65% of a sample of 687 adults with autism reported at least one special interest; 56% of the sample pursued their special interest(s) every day, for 0-2 hours by 31% and for 2-4 hours by 37% (Grove et. al., 2018, p. 4). Source

Some important information especially when it comes to mental health diagnosis'

Some people may opt to be self diagnosed because they were withheld of the acknowledgment they were diagnosed especially as an infant or child.

Does a parent have a right to receive a copy of psychotherapy notes about a child's mental health treatment?

No. The Privacy Rule distinguishes between mental health information in a mental health professional's private notes and that contained in the medical record. It does not provide a right of access to psychotherapy notes, which the Privacy Rule defines as notes recorded by a health care provider who is a mental health professional documenting or analyzing the contents of a conversation during a private counseling session or a group, joint, or family counseling session and that are separate from the rest of the patient's medical record. See 45 CFR

164.501. Psychotherapy notes are primarily for personal use by the treating professional and generally are not disclosed for other purposes. Thus, the Privacy Rule includes an exception to an individual's (or personal representative's) right of access for psychotherapy notes. See 45 CFR 164.524(a)(1)(i).

However, parents generally are the personal representatives of their minor child and, as such, are able to receive a copy of their child's mental health information contained in the medical record, including information about diagnosis, symptoms, treatment plans, etc.

Further, although the Privacy Rule does not provide a right

for a patient or personal representative to access psychotherapy notes regarding the patient, HIPAA generally gives providers discretion to disclose the individual's own protected health information (including psychotherapy notes) directly to the individual or the individual's personal representative. As any such disclosure is purely permissive under the Privacy Rule, mental health providers should consult applicable State law for any prohibitions or conditions before making such disclosures.

https://depts.washington.edu/bhdept/ethics-medicine/bioethics-topics/detail/82#:~:text=If%20the%20physician%20has%20some,justified%20to%20withhold%20truthful%20information.

Other recourses for autism and special interests

[kimyoonmiauthor]

Please cite your sources... and errata

Ever since I did the long post on Worldwide Story Structures and then edited the list of Story Structures on Wikipedia, more and more blogs, articles and so on have been popping up with the information I sourced when I backtrace and relook up the names of the story structures.

This is great! Because this means things like the Wikipedia page for Confessional has gotten longer with more sources added. People are paying attention more and so some of the ones I struggled with now have more information out there as people wear it with pride.

But this has also resulted in a new string of people not giving credit where credit is due and wholesale stealing from mainly Wikipedia or doing it poorly without understanding what they are taking (psst, mostly white people and white men, which I covered is somehow a past time and a trend...).

I'm really begging you, given what I've outlined over and over again to NOT do the latter. Please, please give credit to where you got your ideas. Do citations. Also, I've noticed that people have taken my ideas directly from my page, and then not given credit to me. And that one stings. I spent hours tracking down and experiencing story structures from the countries where I cited stories of different types to come up with the ideas, but then they cite usually white people instead. WTF. You took my ideas one for one, down to the wording, but can't cite the academic that came up with it or why? Haven't I gone over the dangers of this already? Like calling out Kenneth Rowe? I spent all that time citing what Freytag really said and people still want to hold on very strongly to the notion he came up with a different diagram, and call it "Updated" in what imagination? Just cite your sources and say it was also Syd Field, etc like I outlined and then give me damned credit for putting in the hours of tracking it down.

Look, I have the degree, the education, I bothered to give the sources and just because my gender is not man and my skin color is not white, does not mean my ideas and the work tracking down primary sources is not "valid". Stop being AHs and taking the hours I gave to you for free, the money I spent on books by erasing the credit when I argued really, really hard that you need to give credit to your sources.

The reason you cite your sources is so people can hold them to account for their ideas, so the person researching can inquire, why do you think that? Also exceptions to the rule... what about this? If they can't inquire, then it's much, much harder to hold the specific person and their ideas to academic rigor. I know that your professors went on a rant about how plagiarism is evil on a personal level and Kenneth Rowe was a professor that plagiarized and somehow got Shakespeare and Aristotle wrong, despite specializing in both, but as I've shown, it also destroys on a systemic level, because people can't name the source of the information and can make up crap, such as Aristotle wanted a 3-Act structure and say things like, "I heard that Aristotle was a sissy pants." and everyone believes them because what? You cited nothing, you just cited everything Aristotle wrote so they can't examine things like if the statement is true because they didn't read beyond Poetics 7 and didn't have enough background to understand that Readercism really, really doesn't work well in this case because the invention of the 5-paragraph Essay was in the 19th century, messing with how people think and organize.

I get it–you might hate me for some of my ideas, like say, Aristotle is a sexist pig, which he is. And Aristotle is not Jesus. Which he isn't. But you should at least cite your sources, especially when those sources have taken the time to cite other sources, like the primary works with page numbers, showing things like where the diagram for Freytag comes from (and how much of a genocidal AH he was).

Cite your sources, even when you hate their guts, like finding out Freytag was a pre-Nazi Fascist–I can cite the History of Opera (Lucy Worsley's Nights at the Opera (TV Mini Series 2017) and Wagner and how Freytag glows with how much he loved Wagner's The Ring saying that they now outstrip Shakespeare. When I say that Freytag was a pre-Fascist, I can cite his love of the middle class, imperialism, and love of the idea that Polish people would be wiped off the face of this Earth. Why? Because I bothered to read the original text. And because I did that I can cite the page numbers where he said so because I posted it up on my blog. And because I cited the page numbers, someone can chime in that I'm wrong.

Also, stop citing white people on PoC things. Favor own voices and stop erasing credit. I was very purposeful in citing the people I did. I spent hours using Japanese I learned, Chinese I learned, etc to make sure it was correct--which includes the Kishotenketsu diagram--which for some reason in the Kishotenketsu Wikipedia people deleted the credit for the diagram to the people I got it from where? Japanese people--something I took 2 years to find and edit in. WTF. What's wrong with you? (Someone also took the diagram and colored it badly and then erased the credit and then explained it on Youtube--the diagram I made off of the Youtube video I credited... c'mon.). They also took a bunch of the words I wrote for the page and gave no credit to Wikipedia. Do better, white dude.

I'm not asking for credit because I want it, and have an ego—no, what I want is the ability of people to interrogate their sources. To correct me down the line. To be able to check back to see if the statements made are original or not and then interrogate the truth of the matter. Because if anything, my journey through the idea of a singular "true" story structure that never changed over time, has proven very much to be false. And it took me *forever* and a day to unwind this myth. So I'd like subsequent generations to also be able to interrogate my work too. But they can't do that if they don't have access to my words, thoughts, and how I selected the parts of the text that I did. I'm very open to being wrong. I want to be corrected--I make errors all the time. And they are free to disagree from there. Much like I hate the idea that Aristotle thought that women get a soul later than men, because, as I said, he's a misogynistic pig and it was not the times.

Oh look, a citation. You can interrogate the source now.

And the source cites: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4021448/

Now you can interrogate the people who came up with it and find out where Aristotle said that.

The source says: "This question has evoked human thinking since ancient times. Hippocrates (460-370 BC) argued that man and woman each contributed semen that mixed in the uterus to form the embryo, whereas Aristotle (384-322 BC) favoured a more male-centred view that the woman merely provided fertile ground for the male seed to grow. "

With the numbers in place, then you can look at other sources such as: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(05)71025-4/fulltext

And you see, new vocabulary pops up. Then you might ask, where did Aristotle say that? And now that you have vocabulary, you can find out if it's a myth or fact.

And from there, I was able to find the original source of the statement from Aristotle, and find the original text. (Which BTW, is still a misogynistic piece of crap) and add it back to the wikipedia page (which I did) De Anima 350 BCE.

I don't want to be cited because I think I'm correct. I don't want to be cited because I have an ego. I want to be cited because I'm pretty sure someone might think I'm wrong, and I want them to be able to inquire into my line of thinking and how I selected sources so that I might be corrected or examined down the line.

So stop being a white straight male, well, usually, and cite your sources. Your privilege isn't going to cushion you from being called out as wrong and a plagiarizer. And do you want to end up being called an imperialistic imperializer who hates PoCs? Please cite your sources and make sure your sources say what you think they say. If you don't, I or someone else is likely to find you and call you out. And don't make it me, because I do check sources.

BTW, more PoCs need to be "allowed" to have writing manuals without half of the internet breathing down their neck for not being white enough because that half of the internet didn't bother to read anything outside of European canon or want to imperialize European ideas of story on the rest of the world.

Oh, you made it this far... here is your reward; https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/the-joy-of-kuwentuhan

A story structure/story type that's older than colonization.

BTW, also watched a film from Filipino filmmakers and the story structure I cited earlier with the introduction (longer than the US) and the Third act (or second, if you're working off of the 3-act) had an inversion in "What if" (2023) which amused me a lot. I love when people play with expectations. Previously, I said Pinoy filmmakers try to leave the story structure behind and do something else, but to see someone expertly play on an old one and then flip it—that was magic.

[gavinwielandsblog]

On Living in the Moment

I get the aviator-nation-yoga-matt-mom dread whenever I hear someone non-ironically tell me about how they are living (or working on living) in the moment. But from a philosophical perspective, I have to admit, this whole the present thing is a little fucking weird. 

If you have been systemically manufactured into thinking about history in the (problematic) western-hegelian-linear-line type of way like me, and you take some time to reflect (or smoke something), you might conclude that (as you pretend to do your homework in the library and are, instead, planning tomorrow morning's coffee shop [where you plan to see your crush] outfit) you and the rest of the people on the planet and in the library are actually on the precipice of space-time itself hurdling at the speed of time into the next infinitely short present moment. But I took calculus and you probably did too and, like you (unless you’re a math major), I don’t remember much. What I do remember though is if something is infinitely small, like the moments in time during the present, it just collapses into zero. So I guess I’m thinking that the aviator-nation-live-laugh-love-mom person actually can not, no matter how hard they try, live in the moment. The moment is just too damn short to live in. I guess an alternative might be that we live slightly behind the moment. Like the moment happens and then we react and process and, while all that’s happening, all of humanity is already hurdling through an infinity of new moments. 

The funny thing is though, none of the shit in that previous paragraph actually matters. If you’re convinced that the present doesn’t exist and we’re all just living slightly behind the moment you’re literally not going to change a single thing in your life. It’s basically just some bullshit semantics at the end of the day. Fuck it, I’m blaming it on my hyper-western education and Hegel. 

So, what if we disregard the whole straight-line history thing? How can we think about the present as something besides the ever-speedy perpendicular dividing history and future?

Well, I really hate to do it but I think we might have to look at this thing from the aviator-nation-shaka person perspective for a bit. When someone says they are living in the moment, they’re pretty much never talking about metaphysics. Even though you can kind of intuitively get the gist, it’s honestly quite hard to spell out what they really mean, unless they tell you. They might mean that they are trying to be more mindful of their current state of affairs. Or, they might mean that they are trying to emotionally jettison some fuck-shit that happened to them in the past, or some fuck-shit that they are anticipating in the future. Or, they might mean that they are trying to practice (often platitudinal) gratitude. Or, it might mean that they are (to obviously no avail) trying to slow (or stop) the only thing in the universe that never changes, change. 

Regardless of their implicit intentions, I think the multiplicity of meanings imbued in living in the moment should be enough to show it’s pretty damn trite. Sometimes, moment livers do give context though, so this isn’t always a problem. Regardless, the thing that sucks is that it actually seems to work for people. I mean, I wouldn’t be writing about this unless a fuck-ton of people had normatively embodied this shit. It begs the question: am I just a judgemental-academic-epistemic-hubris-dickhead or is this living in the moment shit whack?

I just re-read what I’ve written so far and it’s pretty clear that I am, in fact, a judgemental-academic-epistemic-hubris-dickhead, but I don’t think the two options posited above are mutually exclusive. Now, call me paranoid, but I think that those who explicitly tell others that they are living in the moment are actually implicitly weaponizing the practice in a sort of spiritual-superiority-complex. What I’m trying to say is: part of the reason living in the moment works for people is not just because of the actual introspective spiritual/emotional work, but because they are telling people that they are doing introspective spiritual/emotional work. This is not to say that people don’t actually do any of the cognitive gymnastics that might constitute their subjective working definition of living in the moment. I’m not trying to call them liars. I really just want to say that whether or not their reasons for performing these cognitive gymnastics in the first place are outward-facing, telling others is always (salient or not) implicitly intended to positively influence the way others see them. Whether others actually see them in a more positive light or not, the underlying (again, salient or not) expectation of their increased social (spiritual?) capital is enough for the practice, in part, to work for them. I see this as the spiritual-superiority-complex (SSC). 

And now there’s a problem. Intrinsically, it seems like living in the moment is a good thing. But, if you live in the moment and you tell other people about it, whether you like it or not, you are exercising the SSC. 

But is the SSC even a bad thing? Is it generally bad to say things that are implicitly intended to positively influence the way others see you? Well, we obviously say good things about ourselves all the time, so that’s not an issue. The problem with the SSC is in those cases where those outward-facing reasons are stronger than the inner facing ones. Cases where the liver lives because they want to improve the way others think about them, instead of improving themselves. What really sucks is that the livee has no way of knowing what the liver’s reasons are and, if the livee is emotionally immature like me, they’re going to assume the worst. 

This pretty much perfectly brings me to my conclusion: grind in silence. Stop telling other people that you are working on living in the moment and just fucking do it. Or, be like me and live in your relatively chill trauma. Okay Google, play Easter in Miami by Kodak Black.

[murmuur-vanilja]

RE: Finland

Some people say we never know we're happy until we lose the happiness. That's a sad perspective on life that might hold a bit of truth, but that truth is not inherent to the so-called "human condition", I don't think so. Rather, you might call it a reflection of how the society I live in has overglorified being absent from the present. Waiting on and on for a future that doesn't come, longing on a past that barely was here. In fact, there is something radical to claiming back the free use of your time; resting is revolutionary. So are my introducing thoughts to this open letter I write as I sit in a plane back to my birth country. It isn't somewhere that I'm particularly attached to politically, nor in terms of identity. In fact, as a black person born in Europe and detached from what I consider my culture, I've often felt lost. I thank internet for meeting some people who, although not from the culture I consider my own, showed me a lot about an identity that feels more like home. I feel closer to being at peace, and yet that means I'm angrier than ever. I suppose these are two elements that create an ongoing fight in terms of transmisogynoir; love and rage, radical and pushing against an oppressive policing, both feelings connecting us to years of history.

And so I went to college abroad. Although most people around me might think this has been a negative experience, and that I couldn't wait to go back to somewhere that feels more familiar, I would have to nuance the take. Of course, I've been through literal trauma as I "won" an entirely new phobia, and of course, we could talk about the pitiful state of the apartment I rented, of the sheer amount of whiteness and xenophobia that was seriously aggressive in the way that I couldn't even access to most things, and we could talk about the lack of communication, and we could talk about the racist landlord, and we could mention how the situation of systemic ableism and racism made me unable to care for my neighbour who seemed to be stuck in a home she didn't belong in, and we could mention all of that. But that's not all there has been, although all of that is more than enough to rightfully give in to anger. And so I went to college abroad. I still hate school, in personal ways, yes, but also because we need to abolish it along education [as the unredeemable concept that it is]. Still, currently forced to live one way or another, I appreciate how I manage to hang on. I shouldn't have to, but there is eventually this mixed feeling of pride about survival. "I did it." It would've been easier for somebody else, could've barely been an accomplishment for some people I resent, and would've been impossible for other people I'm closer to. And that's not to say I'm a special individual; it's barely an acknowledgement that under current conditions, there are possibilities that simply don't exist. I'm happy I'm doing well enough not to have to worry as much as some of my friends, and yet I grieve the thought. There are good aspects to the way uni worked here. I was freer in my essays, and those were my very first, I believe. I realised once again and further how much we'd like me not to write what I write. They'd want me to abandon the communities I've been longing for, and finding bits and pieces of on Twitter, making me feel closer to home. They'd want me to say we're wrong, to elevate me into a true academic; to appeal to the white leftist. And so I wrote, but I wrote that they were wrong. I wrote of psychiatric abuse, and I wrote of African genders, and I wrote of intersex liberation, and I wrote of youth oppression. Some didn't like it. For most, I even had to tame my own speech without conceding too much. One called me out on a lack of "proper sources": but academia is white, and there is an ongoing effort for "proper" (i.e. "academically acceptable", i.e. classism that necessarily intersects with everything else) sources to be regulated in dominating ways. Still, I was freer to write, and some appreciated it. I want to keep going that way. I'll make it hard for myself, and I know how I could make it easier and "succeed". But I don't want to succeed; success as we know it is lonely and a betrayal. No, I want to be a failure together. Maybe that's how I'd describe my idea of practising anarchy. Let's be losers, as they call it, because the cores hidden behind those things they discourage are based. Let's be childish, let's be fools. Mostly, it isn't so much that Finland taught me something, rather than it was a context that triggered something in me. My fiction writing started changing too. I used to know what I wanted to write, without knowing what I wanted to give. I know now. I want to give hope and I want to create seeds of radicalism. I can't force people to take them in and water them. I can't, and I don't want to: I've grown because I was challenged, not because I was worshipped. I'm a weird guy treated as a subhuman subject of experiments who can barely exists "IRL"; semi-verbal, still masks in face of eugenism, low physical strength. So I know I won't be the guy who shoots a brick at the government and burns it down. But those are not the only people we need, and that's why we should have each other too. I'll be somewhere else. I'm only at ease with drama [theatre] and writing. Although I'm sincere when I play, it's a role, and role doesn't have to be negative here. So I want to play teaching without being a teacher [without the authority of school, as much as possible]. And I want to write and write, both in uni and in fiction; I want to make that knowledge accessible and unapologetic. I am working on fiction projects, and I genuinely think they're going somewhere good, and every day contributes to shaping it better. I don't want us to ever shut the fuck up. I've grown. And I still grow. That's why I'll never be a grown-up, I don't have that kind of oppressive pretentiousness. Unfortunately, that also means it gets harder sometimes. I'm sorry, I can't be happy about half-accomplishments for the queern't whities we obtained well over 50 years ago any more. I don't long for a past that was never there to begin with now. I'm sorry, I can't be happy about assimilationism any more. I don't long for a future where I betray everyone and will most likely still die because I could never actually be assimilated. There are many things I want to do once I touch land again, in about two hours as I write this. One thing is sure, I'm happier than I ever was, and I want to acknowledge it right now, not after becoming unhappy. But do know that it's not greediness when I say I want more. No, it's our rights, and I'm tired of waiting to be nicely handed them. I'm happy, but not satisfied. Thanks to everyone who has ever been present in my life and influenced me for the better. Thanks to those who are currently here. Today, I smile as I go through clouds and see the sun shine, and yet, may tomorrow the sun be shinier.

June 6th. 8:33-9:32 PM.

[papirouge]

Notice how the rising stories from China and in villages across India are reporting that families are still mass killing their baby girls make the pro aborts quiet? They claim to be feminists but the choice is always at the expense of a baby girl being murdered for being a girl. Always. There’s no place on earth where baby boys are being mass killed in a system that tells families that boys have no value.

Now those countries are killing themselves because they don’t have any women left to marry their sons too. There’s already kidnapping from nearby areas but that’s not sustainable. On top of that, boys in primary school who consume content like Tat3 or these masculinity podcasts are academically falling faster because they’re more concerned over being “masculine and dominant” over the female teachers and classmates. The future seems to be full of single, violent, unintelligent/uneducated men who hate women because the girls who haven’t been killed in the womb or as infants are accomplished and educated but vastly outnumbered. Males will use every excuse to justify their hatred from religion like islam to just being violent. There would be pick mes that support those men tho. I watched a tiktok of a woman at the gym (who I think either had her account banned or went private) say the worst things for her male viewers. The worst I saw was how she said that men should return women back to god (so kill us) and the comments (the males) all agreed. But even so, she won’t be protected by them because at the end of the day, being a woman means you have a target on your back that will only get bigger as time goes on. So I hope pro aborts are happy that they think giving the choice to kill babies were worth it. Because this world despises women, even in the womb so that choice will always kill us.

They're quiet about it because they can't shove them abortion as the solution of this problem ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ pro abortion aren't solution focused, they just want to elevate abortion as the be all and end all of reproductive justice. But what are they gonna do when women are going to profit off access to abortion to have safer sex elective abortion? They'll go *shocked face Pikachu ", that's all

Female redpilled grifter are trendy because pandering to incels is very profitable. The good news is that it's pretty much a phase and that most of these women will get over in ~10 years or tone down their act big time (à la Lauren Southern), the bad news is that they will always be a new flock of idiot to take over the torch AND having the audience to follow.

Even here in France we have them red pill trad chicks associated to far right movement saying slut shaming is good and that feminism is the devil (Thaïs d'Escufon is a piece of work lol), and they are fairly popular in their nice. Just sprinkle "woke" here and there and they reach 100k+ views every few days.

She (Thaïs) once made a collab video with a french manosphere scrote, and they humiliated her asking her to pick some coffee and basically putting her down into her 'female place', and french twitter clowned her saying "well that's what sd was asking for ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯". There was also an audio leak from this french Nationalist vocal chatroom where she threw a fit bc apparently nationalist scrotes were interested dating Asian or African wife bc they were "more traditional". She was fuming bc it was a cultural and racial waste 💀 (FYI she's a legit White supremacist. But also a VERY dumb one. She once posted on Twitter an AI image of these "perfect man & woman" and used the fact they were White to argue that White people were objectively the prettiest 💀 .... girl didn't get that AI wasn't "neutral")

It's was very interesting to see her seething at seeing her White men lusting after women. You'd think with all the attention she gets, she'd have a ring on her finger yet, but homegirl is in her mid 20, still not married, but patronizing men peepee to keep them on check (which is a lost cause of course bc most men are animals). This dissonance is very weird... She's very much like Pearl. There has to be something very off with them or their surrounding if they can't find a man. I mean, according to their own logic of "women main purpose to breed to pursue the (white) race".

[djuvlipen]

wait actually, same anon from earlier, i have another question please, hope this isnt a stupid one. how do you/what other opinions have you heard abt the incentives taken to educate roma kids? im particularly interested in this bc in romania both among us and the roma part of the issue w trafficking is that girls are uneducated and lack opportunities, and generally im all for education being done in small rural communities, and in the future id like to spend my time in communities trying to do anything at all to help w this mess. but. at the same time ive always felt theres something - i hate this word but oh well - problamatic about it? obviously roma kids deserve equal access to education, and i know specifically for roma girls this is often harder because at times they are expected to marry young - which happens w us too at times. but at the same time, there are many roma in romania who dont want to send their kids to school, even when the opportunity is presented and insentives are taken, and from what i get one of the reasons is that there are those who see it as an attempt at forced assimilation....is it systemic opression to use the state to get these kids to school? at times too i have gotten the sense that the education system is in a way trying to make the kids less roma, if that makes sense, and that i rly dont agree w or think its gonna help much

Hi anon! This is a really tough question

You identified the different issues at play here. On the one hand, it is true that education is very important as it leads to employment opportunities and as it lowers the rates of early child marriage, sex trafficking and prostitution, and sexism overall.

On the other hand, European countries (not just Romania) have all used their institutions (be it the healthcare system or the education system, for example) to persecute Roma, take Romani children and forcibly assimilate them into the white dominant culture by separating them from their families. That was the policy in my country in the 18th century and during WWII, for example. That's why many, many Roma distrust any State officials, including medical professionals and teachers. This relationship is even more complicated by the discrimination you can get at school for being Romani (bullying from classmates, discrimination from teachers, up to outright segregation in specific Romani classes).

And still today, many national or European-wide programs or organizations are still embedded in this rhetoric. I'd advise you to look up Angéla Koczé's book Gender, Ethnicity and Class (I have a link to it in my pinned post, it's available for free online), she's a Hungarian Romani academic who talked a lot about the colonial dimension of these programs. Here, "colonial" is defined as the exercise of a political and economic power by more powerful groups over weaker ones. You get a lot of pro-Romani orgs, like the Open Society Fundation, a very famous one that played a key role during the Decade of Roma Inclusion, that will back programs in support of Romani rights, but will do so in a paternalistic manner, using the rhetoric of "civilizing the Roma". These organizations are led by white people, with Roma rarely being in commands, and their Romani employees regularly experience racism from them. Grassroots Romani programs get sidelined, they often don't get invited to programs led by these big groups, which leads Koczé to qualify it as a silencing technique.

If many Roma don't want to send their kids to school, it's because the trust we put in the education system is very eroded, has been eroded by a history of persecution, and is still very flimsy nowadays. This, as well as misogyny, is then justified by "culture" ("we take our daughter out of school to get her married"), which is a good excuse to naturalize sexism, but also, to prevent us from being fully aware of the history of anti-Romani racism

Because it's not true that Roma don't want their kids to receive an education. I don't live in Romania but I work with an association that helps Romanian Romani immigrant children with school, their homework, etc. Romani parents are either enthusiastic, or are interested in the project but can't rely on it because they have other priorities. Once, a 6yo Romanian Romani girl I was helping didn't come because she had to help her parents earning money. This Romani family eventually dropped off the project because they were evicted from their home so they moved to another city to find a new place to live.

tl;dr, no I don't think it's systemic discrimination to use the State to get Romani kids to school. However the way it's being done right now is most often than not systemic discrimination, because Romani kids are often subjected to bullying at school, they are sometimes put in segregated classes, and lack of education is a reason that was/is still used to take Romani children away from their parents. It could be done differently, in a non oppressive way, but European countries all have a long history of anti-Romani racism that they are not addressing, and using the State to force Romani kids to school will not help build a relationship of trust between Roma and education professionals. Moreover, as long as European States don't fix their economic system, that has been marginalizing and impoverishing Roma for so long, no progress will be made, as poverty prevents children from receiving good quality education

Hope this helps!

[didwho]

Hello! You mentioned looking for more info about labels and stuff, so, if you're interested, here are a few things we've personally learned from several years as a "Origins Are Weird And Confusing" system who has been in therapy for A While at this point, in case they're useful to you: - you deserve whatever support you need, regardless of origin or dx or anything else. Therapy, friends who listen to you and support you, academic or workplace accommodations, the right to be unhappy and having a shitty time--you don't have to prove anything to be allowed to want/have those things. - trauma is a subjective experience about how your brain processed something difficult--not about whether the events were 'objectively bad enough to count', because there is no externally defined threshold. (There are certain types of negative experiences that are statistically very likely to be traumatic to the average person, but that absolutely does not mean that only those types of experiences "count".) - if you are experiencing lasting negative impacts from something that happened to you, 1) there is nothing you need to prove in order to be 'allowed' to get support for it; 2) anyone telling you that it wasn't bad enough to affect you is wrong. (This is true even in contexts completely unrelated to syscourse, btw!) - DID in specific is predominantly associated with chronic trauma/adverse experiences during childhood. However, if you have struggles with mental health issues and feel like a system, your options are not just either "100% Definitely DID" or "You're Making It All Up". Whether the label that happens to fit you and your experiences best is DID or any other label (OSDD, MaDD, PTSD + system, "stuff is shitty rn" + system, "who even knows", etc.) is between yourselves and the people on your support team--it's not the business of internet discourse randos trying to tell you whether or not you're valid. (Besides, figuring out what labels fit you best often isn't actually easy or obvious right away, for any number of reasons--including the fact that sketchy and/or 'muted' memories of awful experiences is a big part of many CDDs--and that's okay. Really. You get to figure stuff out at your own pace.) - you are allowed to use/benefit from CDD management strategies and ways of thinking whether or not you have one. (People without ADHD can use bullet journals. DBT isn't just for people with BPD. Etc. If it helps you, the important part is that it helps you.) - don't let the haters get you down. (There are folks out there in syscourse with complex and nuanced opinions, legitimate critiques of communities, etc.! And also, there are sometimes people who just want to be 'allowed' to feel hateful towards someone, aren't in good faith, and aren't interested in listening. What those people think of you or say about you Does. Not. Matter. They are howling at the moon.)

Good luck out there <3

thank you so so so so so much for the kind words!! i preach all of the same things yet sometimes its hard to believe it for yourself, so i genuinely really appreciate the reassurance.

i am looking for a label as of currently because i dont really know whats what, yknow?? its hard for someone like me because despite preaching all of those things, i struggle to understand what defines trauma!

a lot of my headmates tend to agree we do have trauma, but those who dont tend to feel very strongly about not, so it kinda pushes that positivity away!

it really sucks to be both your own supporter and your own enemy at the same time (not calling my headmates enemies its just the best way i can describe it)!

the vents i post are usually when im feeling fired up or upset over things, and again, for that post/ rant i had earlier i spread misinfo, which i feel HORRIBLE about, but i will keep the post up because someone else made a point on it and had the patience to help educate me!

i am still learning and alla that, its hard to navigate this community because theres so many terms, and due to general amnesia, whether it be the fact im a system or due to my ADHD, its hard to get a grasp on all of those!

anyways, sorry for the ramble and thank you so much for the kind words! i hope you have an amazing day ❤️

[lynesn-blog]

LEARNING HOW TO LEARN

Introduction

The topic I chose today was “Learning How to Learn”: Techniques to Help you Learn with Dr Barbara Oakley (Bridging the Gaps, 2022). I chose this particular topic for more than a reason, firstly, because we discussed it a bit in class after some people wrote about it so, it intrugued me and I thought maybe I should listesn to Dr Barbara. Secondly, if you are a learner like I am, surely this is one of those topics that would catch your attention. Every learner would be looking for ways to learn better if not easily. This topic would perphaps provide a light to even performng better in your classes.

This interesting classic from the portal for curious minds was a podcast between Dr Waseem Akhtar and Dr Barbara Oakley (Bridging the Gaps, 2022). Dr Waseem is the head of the Computing faculty in Griffith College Dublin where he is based. He hold an MBA in Higher EducationManagement from the institute of Education at University College London and a PhD in Computer Science from University College Dublin. The academic has a reputation for his engaging lectures and discussions where he explores multidisciplinary ideas, cutting edge research on diverse research topics with researchers and thought leaders from around the world (Bridging the Gaps, 2022).

Dr Barbara Oakley is a writer,Educator and professor of Engineering at Oakland University in Rochester,Michigan.With two Bachelors degrees, a masters and PhD in systems Engineering, the author has also taught one of Cousera’s most popular courses online “Learning How to Learn”. Dr Barbara has written books like Learning How to Learn, Uncommon Sense Teaching, Mindshift and more that highlight her topics of interest in neuroscience and social behavior (Oakley, 2022).

My favourite question from Dr Waseem in these podcasts is always the first one, “tell us about yourself”. It always seems like the guest is caught off guard or they have so much about them to tell that it can’t be answered in a single line. This I am yet to believe that because they have so much work on their names, the questions seems too small to fit such an answer. The most interesting part about Dr Barbara is that even after her work in the army and with a degree of Arts, she felt like something was missing at 26 years. A bit of her must have felt like a failure and she wanted to prove it wrong, from hating Math and Science to going head on with the same subjects and becomimg an Engineer in the field is not light (Bridging the Gaps, 2022). This was a trick worth sharing and we are all now thankful for the books she has written about this subject to help us all.

Dr Barbara explains with good examples when asked how learning occurs in the brain, just like driving a car and small tasks like those become natural to us after consistently and persistently doing them.I have heard people say “there is no talent good enough to beat persistence”. She advises on how important it is take short breaks for effective learning, the Pomodoro technique that I personally use was recommended (Bridging the Gaps, 2022).

Learning in chunks was another concept she advisein learning how to learn. Dr Barbara believes learning repetively and consistently can create neuro chunksfor example, reading something and stepping away from the material while trying to memorise or meditate on what you have just learned can help build your memory muscle (Bridging the Gaps, 2022).

Dr Barbara makes another not obvious point but a common one too about learning how to learn whe she says discussing with others as a form of learning is another good way to practise learning how to learn, because its so easy to read something and you think you know it until you don’t after talking to others.This has happened to me many times when I think I know but actually I don’t. She says we need to take learning as a social activity not just an individual one.

Conclusion

Many people learn differently, and as a past teacher in kindergarten I know this so well after seeing children learn in different forms. Dr Barbara advises that the Pomodoro technique is her most trusted style that can also be used to shut out distractions like social media (Uzu, 2022). Dr Barbara is looking forward to new future reseach on the brain and neuro science especially, on how people learn, she also hopes that in future, maybe we can impart brains into people and I think this is where scientists try to play God. Actually by just asking this question I wonder what Dr Waseem thinks?

SOURCES

Bridging the Gaps.(2022). Retrieved from: https://www.bridgingthegaps.ie/tag/learning/

Barbara, O. (2022). Barbara Oakley, Phd. Retrieved from: https://barbaraoakley.com/about-me/

Uzu, Y. (2022). Pomofocus. Retrieved from: https://pomofocus.io/

[ackermental]

Hi! Hi! I hope you’ve been having a beautiful day or evening so far! How are you? :D I saw this post this morning, and I love how you dissect and go into detail with different accounts of stories or opinions and I was genuinely wondering, is it true that Daemon cheats on Rhaenyra with a mistress? Or was that another false claim from Mushroom/The Maester? Also there is that dreaded claim that Daemon is only after the throne and not after Rhaenyra’s heart! I wanted to know your honest take on this, I love open discussion a ton and it gives me further knowledge and insight truly! :D (Ps LOL am I a sick fuck for actually smiling about the Mysaria comment towards Daemon about Rhaenyra? I’m sorry, but Daemyra could cause me to go bankrupt, I’m absolutely addicted to them, I simply CANNOT. 🧎‍♀️🧎‍♀️🐉🐉 anyways! Thank you for taking the time to read all this if you find time, I appreciate it as always! :)) DAEMYRA FOR THE WINNNNN MFSSSS 🔥🔥🔥!!!

Please, don't feel like I'm dismissing you, but I've already answered the question about the ridiculous claim that Daemon didn't love Rhaenyra and only used her to get the throne in this post and I don't feel like repeating myself all over again.

And that post you sent me only proofs that people don't understand the Rogue Prince and the Princess and the Queen at all. My god, only a complete moron can write something like that, exposing their own stupidity for the whole world to see.

Maesters were the ones who used young girls for their own gain. They were the ones who told Viserys it would be perfectly fine to rape Aemma when she was eleven. They were the ones killing women and unborn children left and right. Oldtown Triad has so much blood on their hands, they are the ultimate creeps in this story, they are the ones who should make your skin crawl.

Here you have my take on F&B being a crooked mirror of historical sources in our own world.

How can you read those books and don't notice that Oldtown with it's Citadel, Sept and Hightowers is a reference to Vatican, only worse? Worse because in ASOIAF they are going to the Sept during the day, preaching to other people of Westeros about how they should live their lives while being assholes themselves, and then at night they go back to play with their creepy, dark magic. I shit you not, they are like some frickin’ Illuminati of the Seven Kingdoms. Like, Jesus, did any of those idiots even do some reasearch on Hightowers? Those fuckers are fanatic zealots!

And they are responsible for writing Westeros' history! They are the ones who control all letters aka communication system in that world.

When you hear the word 'maester' you're not supposed to think about some poor, educated fellows who were suffering under their masters' ignorance. You are supposed to think about priests, who were keeping all of the ancient knowledge to themselves, whispering lies to their lords, poisoning their minds and their bodies, while trying to control them.

I've never seen a 'history book' as biased as Gyldayn's. This man is contradicting himself not even every second page, but sometimes every second sentance. Maesters murdered Aemma and Laena in cold blood, at the least. You want to be a defender of women, take it out on some creeps grooming children or old men causing trauma for little girls? Oldtown Triad is right there for you.

And they hated the Blacks with a burning passion.

So you know what? I'm standing over there in the corner with those Black guys.

Here is me ranting to poor @ladyalianora about maesters being suss.

//Not to mention: this whole grooming shit? The brothel visits? Daemon teaching Rhaenyra how to suck dicks? Daemon having a lover? Even Gyldayn doesn't have the audacity to say those rumors are true.

Makes you wonder why did he put Mushroom's nonsense in his 'academic' work at all, doesn't it? (Not that the other sources, them being a septon and yet another maester, are any better). And the real reason he did it, was so the people would come to the same, idiotic conclusions as the person who wrote that post above.

It's insane, isn't it, how easy it is to manipulate history, if you only use the right tools. It's almost like GRRM was trying to make a point with F&B other than telling a story about 'huehue, incest, dragons, big fight'.

So what am I saying? That some of those things didn't even happen in the first place?

Yeah, that's exactly what I'm trying to say.

It's almost like Daemon and Rhaenyra could've become close, fall in love even, after his return, without him teaching her how to fuck dwarfs 🤔🙄😯. It's almost like Hightowers accused him of grooming the Princess of Dragonstone in order to get rid of him for a second time 😮. By lying. You know? Just like they did it all those years before, by providing false witnesses and lying 😱😵. Or they simply had an affair and some Hightower spy told the King everything. Mind-blowing stuff, huh?

By this point I know I'm like a broken record BUT IF YOU CHOOSE TO BELIEVE THAT DAEMON HAD ROMANCE WITH NETTLES, THEN I CHOOSE TO BELIEVE ALICENT WAS RIDING JAEHAERYS' DICK. IT'S THE SAME FUCKING SOURCE!

Two more asks about this, and I swear to god, I'll put those words above my bed.

[whaleofatjme1920]

About my previous ask: Don't worry about saying no! It's perfectly fine, thanks for letting me know, man. I hope your recovery continues going well, too! Comfort over writing, I always say. INSTEAD, would Scout, Pyro and Medic comforting their S/O do instead? For example, maybe S/O was having a bad day or got into a fight with someone and their ways of attempting to make their S/O feel better?

Scout, Pyro, and Medic Comfort

[GN!Reader]

[Warnings: Like, none? I mean, vaguely upsetting situations but nothing extreme.]

[AN: Thank you so much for understanding. I can do that for you.]

Scout

Jeremy doesn't always let himself feel bad days except when it comes to you. You come to him with the weight of the world on your shoulders and he melts instantly, wanting to do anything and everything to make you feel better.

Jeremy's way of dealing with problems is getting out and having fun. After you've laid everything out on the table, how all these bad things snowballed into how you feel now (entirely overwhelmed), he wants to take you out to do fun stuff. Bowling, going on a jog or watching a movie... All that cute stuff.

He'll try to handle whatever made you stressed that he can. Jeremy would move mountains for you. He also makes you some of his Ma's home cooked favorites because surprise, he has a knack for her cooking and literally only her cooking. It fills the soul.

Jeremy also takes a long nap with you when the whole day is over. Anything to get you to relax. He tells you really corny jokes, far fetched tales, does really off the wall things and makes you smile. He compliments you, makes sure things go your way. Whatever you wish, it's his command.

But mostly, the two of you go on some wild as all hell adventure around the city to get your mind off of it. It's how he works best, and he knows laughter is the best medicine.

Pyro

They're way more aware of the world around them than anyone can see or they even care to admit. When you come to them crying about fighting with someone near and dear to your heart, it breaks theirs! They hate seeing you in such an uncomfortably soft state of mind.

They're very pampering. They will cover you in smooches, hugs, cuddle with you, and they'll also bake you things. They like baking sweets with you, so it kinda gets your head off of it!

Expect to have a relatively quiet, not too stimulating night in. They know your nerves are probably shot, so they put on a good movie, some hot chocolate or tea, orders take out, and also listens to you completely. It makes you feel safe, and secure. They bring you a bunch of their stuffed animals, wrap you up in blankets, all of those things to make you feel nested and secure.

Pryo would also run a bath for you. I don't think they're hydrophobic but they get weirded out by water on their skin or in their hair. But, that doesn't stop them from running a really nice bath for you. They really, really do pamper you completely.

Pyro also is a big fan of a nap when all is said and done. They like to pet you, and hum softly to you. If you want, you can get a little destructive they'll bring you to one of those rage zones. They sometimes find that freeing.

Medic

You come to him upset about grades, exams. Your mental health hasn't been in the best state and well, it's midterms and you're not exactly doing the best you possibly could. And it makes him pause. He wonders what the hell is going on in the education system that someone as hardworking as you could be that close to not hitting a mark. It makes him reel tbh.

Aside from wanting to help you academically, he has to remind himself this is an emotional matter, not necessarily a problem to solve. He steps back from himself for a moment and takes care of you in a still clinical, but soft manner. He takes you out into the town, holds your hand and spends time with you. A cafe, some light shopping, a farmer's market and so on.

It's peaceful and low energy because he knows how much you've been expending yourself elsewhere. At home, he will take care of everything else. Lets you rest, and gives you personal space. He probably makes food for you as well, comforts from Germany that his mother and father would make for him.

Out of everyone here, he's the most likely to give you proper space for yourself to recalibrate. He's also just as willing to cuddle with you and not say anything while you zone out. He thinks that's sweet too.

Even if you don't know about it, he's definitely handling your academics without you knowing. He helps you study in ways that work for you, reminds you of assignments from time to time, he finds a way to make it work in your favor. He's a good mix of personal and professional.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

Do you any suggestion for Super Sentai?plz

*cracks knuckles*

Well first off, if anyone wanting to get into Super Sentai watched Power Rangers growing up, I’d check out the series whatever season you watched was adapted from to see how things went there in comparison to how they were in the United States. So if you grew up with the original Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, watch Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. If you don’t know what the Sentai the season you grew up with is called, I’d check out RangerWiki, which provides a lot of information on both franchises.

I’d also recommend checking out a few episodes of the very first Super Sentai entry, Himitsu Sentai Gorenger. Not all 84 episodes, mind you, but I’d just watch a few to see where Super Sentai got its roots from, because the team football attack gets referenced a lot further down the line. Yes, you read that correctly.

But for individual seasons for beginners, it’s harder for me to answer. Super Sentai has varied aesthetically and tonally across its 45 year run. Some shows are dark and gritty, while others are light-hearted and goofy. Some shows have a vehicle motif, while others use animals for a motif. So the seasons I’m going to talk about will cover all kinds of tones and themes across the years. I also haven’t seen every single entry, so these are the ones I’ve seen that I recommend for beginners.

Denshi Sentai Denziman (1980-1981, 51 Episodes)

Centuries ago, the evil Vader Clan conquered and decimated the Denzi Civilization. In the modern day, the talking dog IC awoke from his slumber when the Vader Clan began their invasion of Earth. So IC recruits five people to become the Denzimen to defend their planet and stop the Vader Clan once and for all.

The first three seasons of Super Sentai were very experimental, but Denziman was where Toei started to get an identity for Sentai down. Not only would the black visors and sculpted mouthpieces become a staple for Sentai’s (and by extension, Power Rangers) suit designs, but this was also the first season to really start a few Sentai traditions. It was the first season to have female villains, the first to use a transformation device for the heroes, the first time the monsters grew to fight the team’s giant robot.

The Denzimen, while not really going through any character development, are still very likable characters, especially Denzi Blue/Daigoro (played by legendary tokusatsu actor Kenji Ohba). The villains are also a lot of fun, a real improvement from the first three villain groups, who were all basically Earth-based terrorist organizations and/or death cults. The Vader Clan is full of villains who are just as entertaining to watch as the heroes, especially Queen Hedrian, played by the late Machiko Soga, who would later go on to play Witch Bandora, the character Rita Repulsa is adapted from in Power Rangers. There’s not that much of an ongoing for most of the series, and it can get pretty goofy at times, but it’s still a really good show.

Choushinsei Flashman (1986-1987, 50 Episodes). 

Five infants are abducted by the Reconstructive Experiment Empire Mess to use as test subjects for experimentation, but are saved by benevolent aliens from the Flash Solar System. They all spend the next twenty years in the system developing their combat skills and special powers until they decide to head back to Earth to fight Mess themselves as the Flashmen, despite the warnings of their alien caretakers.

The 1980s are usually referred to by fans as Super Sentai’s golden age, with a string of great seasons thanks to famed writer Hirohisa Soda. Flashman is no exception. While Denziman tended to have more stand-alone episodes, Flashman is more story-driven. Later on, there’s a really dark plot twist that I don’t want to give away. Admittedly, some of the special effects can be dated to showcase the Flashmen’s powers in addition to stock footage being reused a lot, but the action and camerawork are still fast-paced and rarely do the fight scenes get boring.

The villains are the kind you love to hate, and their actors all give great performances, especially the late Unsho Ishizuka (the Japanese voice of Professor Oak) as Great Emperor La Deus. This is easily one of the darker Super Sentai entries, but if you don’t mind that, I highly recommend it.

Choujuu Sentai Liveman (1988-1989 49 Episodes). 

At an academy for the finest minds in the world, three of the students feel their talents are being wasted on designing a satellite to conduct scientific research. They soon join up with Great Professor Bias, leader of the Armed Brain Army Volt, who takes them all under his wing as his students and generals. Before they leave, they kill two students, leaving their three friends traumatized. Two years later, Volt begins its plan to conquer Earth, but the three friends of the two victims developed their own technology to fight them as the Livemen in the two years since they last saw their former classmates. Bias’ students have developed their own abilities through mutating their bodies, starting a conflict between some of the most intelligent youths in the world while figuring out what Bias’ evil plan is...

Some Sentai fans consider this to be even darker than Flashman at times due to the themes discussed. Unlike earlier seasons, the heroes have a more personal connection to the villains, and act as foils to them in terms of morality. The show also has some surprisingly deep themes at times, deconstructing the harsh standards the Japanese have for education and the effects they can have on people. Seriously, the main villain, Great Professor Bias, sets up a competition for his generals as a way to advance his plans, treating it like a high academic honor. 

This series also has some amazing special effects for the time. This was the first Sentai series to have an animal motif, so they go all out by using one of the most complicated models for his giant robotic lion, a stunning innovation for special effects. It was also the first series to introduce the gimmick of combining two robots, which is a genius marketing tactic when you think about it, motivating kids to buy both robots to combine them. Even putting those technical aspects aside, this is still one of the most iconic Super Sentai seasons, and a must-watch for beginners.

Choujin Sentai Jetman (1991-1992, 51 Episodes)

An elite soldier is chosen for a top-secret military project meant to turn him into the leader of a team of supersoldiers called the Jetmen. After he gets his powers, the satellite base is attacked by the Dimensional War Party Vyram. Not only are the four remaining “Birdonic Waves” meant to empower the rest of the Jetmen scattered across Earth, powering four civilians instead, but the soldier’s fiance is killed in the process. So he has to recruit the rest of the Jetmen and form a competent team to stop the Vyram from conquering their dimension.

A lot of Precure fans view Heartcatch as the best series in the entire franchise, and many Sentai fans view Jetman the same way. It was a huge success in ratings and toy sales, which actually helped to save Super Sentai from cancellation after the disastrous sales and ratings of the previous series, Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman. It also had some elements that made it stand out from earlier Sentai seasons. While I’ve talked about how Marinette was forced to become Guardian against her will while the show doesn’t acknowledge it, this show actually does point out that almost the entire team is a group of civilians with no combat experience. Earlier episodes are not only spent assembling the team, but also training them to better fight the Vyram and pilot their giant robot.

The series introduced a love triangle for three of the Jetmen, and while controversial among fans, was very popular with Japanese mothers, who were rumored to find Gai/Black Condor very attractive and begged Toei to not kill him off. The love triangle, while arguably one of the weakest parts of this show (but still better written than the Love Square), was part of the main theme of the team being more conflicted, showing they weren’t all best friends all the time.

This extended to the Vyram, who also tended to fight with each other over their plans to conquer the Earth. Sure, there was the occasional villain in earlier seasons who tried to overthrow the big bad, but this was the first time we had a whole group of villains trying to one-up each other. The best way to describe the Vyram is if the cast of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia were supervillains who were still competent at their jobs.

The series is also incredibly dark, and is often seen as the darkest Sentai has ever gotten. There’s a lot more violence and blood than usual, and a lot more onscreen deaths that aren’t just limited to the villains. Humans are actively killed or hurt in the crossfire, and it shows just how painful this war is. And because of all of that and many other reasons, this is seen as the peak of Super Sentai. If you have to watch a single Sentai series, watch Jetman.

Ninja Sentai Kakuranger (1994-1995, 53 Episodes)

During Japan’s Sengoku Era, a team of five ninja sealed away the leader of an army of Youkai, rendering their kind powerless. In the present day, one of the few surviving Youkai tricks two bikers, who are actually descendants of two of the ninja in the past, into undoing the seal and giving all of the Youkai their powers back. Another descendant of the ninja recruits them into taking on the legacy of their ancestors to fight the Youkai, becoming the Kakurangers.

The 1990s were when Super Sentai was starting to delve more into fantasy elements rather than just science-fiction, and also started to take on a more light-hearted tone. Kakuranger is no exception. It’s a lot more goofy than the other entries, even using comic book-style graphics during its fight scenes. There’s also a narrator who appears to explain the history of the Youkai of the week, a detail I really like. While this show is still unashamedly goofy, it still gets more serious in the second half, but never loses its comedic moments entirely.

Like with Jetman, Kakuranger shows the reality of drafting two civilians to fight a war against the supernatural, with only one of the first three Kakurangers knowing how to fight. That Kakuranger in question, Tsuruhime/Ninja White, is easily one of the best Sentai heroines of all time. Not only was the first female and non-Red to lead a Sentai team, but she was only fifteen years old while the other Kakurangers were in their twenties. Marinette could learn a lot from her, and no, that’s not an insult. Tsuruhime is a complete badass, and a team-up with Ladybug would be the coolest thing ever.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, watch Kakuranger.

Kyukyu Sentai GoGoV (1999-2000, 50 Episodes)

The demonic children of the Grand Witch Grandiene begin causing natural disasters to bring destruction to Earth in order to revive their mother. In response, five rescue workers who also happen to be siblings are recruited by their estranged father to become a team dedicated to saving lives from the Psyma Family’s actions.

Did anyone ever watch Rescue Heroes as a kid? Imagine that show, but with the intensity turned up to eleven. This show is epic, with amazing action and some of the coolest giant robots in Sentai history. One of their robots is a giant train armed to the teeth with guns. Even putting aside the action, this show does a great job at highlighting all the dedication rescue workers have to their jobs by showing a lot of rescue scenes in addition to having GoGoV fight the Psyma. It even teaches the audience about firefighters from Japan’s Edo Period. There’s really not a lot of shows that explain what rescue workers were like in the past, which shows just how invested this show is in teaching people about rescue workers.

While this wasn’t the first Sentai series to feature a team of siblings (the first being the aforementioned Fiveman), I think it managed to capture the dynamic best. Family is a key theme of the series, with the healthy relationship between GoGoV contrasting with the more toxic environment the Psyma Family has.

This is easily one of the most action-packed Sentai series ever made. It is literally Fire Force twenty years before that anime premiered, and it is AWESOME.

Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger (2004-2005, 50 Episodes)

In the not-too-distant future (Next Sunday, A.D.), the universe has come together to the point where Earth has made contact with several intelligent alien civilizations. However, intergalactic arms dealer Agent Abrella starts to help out the extraterrestrial criminals on Earth, called Alienizers, by providing technology and giant robots to them because he enjoys profiting from crime, and dreams of a world without the police. In response the organization Special Police Dekaranger, or S.P.D., brings together a team of officers to apprehend the Alienizers.

You want to see space cops doing space cop stuff? Then this is the show for you. Admittedly, this isn’t the most story-driven show, but is instead carried by its characters, who go through a lot of development. The Dekarangers have one of the best team dynamics in Sentai history. All of them are very likable characters, and it’s a lot of fun to see them interact. But the best character in the show goes to the Dekarangers’ boss, Doggie Kruger/Dekamaster, a dog alien who becomes a Dekaranger himself, labeling himself The Watchdog of Hell. That has to be the coolest title any superhero has ever had. Dekamaster is another one of the greatest Super Sentai characters ever, taking down a hundred goons in his first battle by himself.

I haven’t even gotten to Agent Abrella, one of the coolest Sentai villains of all time. He’s obsessed with profit and chaos, and he’s easily one of the most sadistic main villains compared to his predecessors. He isn’t some evil emperor who wants to rule the world. He just wants to raise hell and make a quick buck from it. He’s also voiced by Ryusei Nakao, the Japanese voice of Frieza from Dragon Ball Z. That’s another appeal of Sentai, the voice talent. A lot of big-name voice actors have voiced characters, like Mao Ichimichi and Kotono Mitsuishi. Hell, the currently ongoing Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger has Yuki Kaji of Attack on Titan fame voicing one of the main characters.

Dekaranger is easily one of the most popular Sentai seasons out there, as it has a lot of additional material. Not only did the Dekarangers get a theatrically released film like many other seasons before it, they teamed up with two separate Sentai teams, some of them cameoed in the anniversary series Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, they got a reunion movie ten years after its finale, four of the Dekarangers guest starred in another Sentai series two years after that, Uchu Sentai Kyuranger, which served as a prologue to a team-up with another Toei hero, Uchuu Kenji Gavan, and then that led into the Dekarangers cameoing in another Kyuranger movie meant to be an epilogue to that series.

Yeah, this is why I haven’t talked about the Sentai movies in this post. You don’t have to watch any of these unless you really enjoy Dekaranger, which you should at least check out. It’s slow at times, but it’s still a lot of fun.

Engine Sentai Go-Onger (2008-2009, 50 Episodes)

The Banki Clan Gaiark have traveled from their home dimension of Machine World and chosen Earth as their new home, but they have to pollute the planet to serve as an ideal living space for their kind. In response, sentient animal-themed vehicles called the Engines choose five humans to partner up with, the five humans in question becoming the Go-Ongers.

Unlike most of the shows I talked about, Go-Onger is incredibly goofy, and I love it. The characters are all incredibly likable, both the Go-Ongers and the Engines. While Sentai had touched upon the idea of treating the mecha as sentient beings, this was one of the earliest series to actually have their partners talk, leading to some interesting character dynamics. The villains are also really fun to watch. While they’re about as competent as Team Rocket at times, there are moments where you actually feel bad for them, especially towards the end of the series.

It’s also really funny. Granted, comedy is subjective, so you may not find the same things as funny, but there are a lot of funny moments in this show, all helped by the actors giving amazing performances. Go-Onger can get extremely wacky at times, like in Episode 31. I’m not going to say what happens, you should watch it for yourself.

What makes the humor really work unlike the last attempt at a comedy-focused Sentai, Carranger, it didn’t really feel mean-spirited by portraying the heroes as idiots by claiming to be “parodying” Sentai. Yes, the Go-Ongers can be dumb at times, but they still take their jobs seriously when they’re not goofing around. There’s not really much I can say about Go-Onger other than it being a bunch of dumb fun. If you’re in the mood to start off with something more light-hearted, I’d check it out.

Samurai Sentai Shinkenger (2009-2010, 49 Episodes)

For centuries, generations of samurai have waged a war against a race of demons from the underworld called the Gedoshu. After their leader was temporarily sealed away for several years, the Gedoshu begin another invasion of the surface while trying to flood the Sanzu River, which grows through human misery. In response, the current generation of samurai, the Shiba Clan, assemble to fight the Gedoshu as the Shinkengers.

This was actually one of the first Sentai seasons I ever watched, as my first Power Rangers season was Samurai. And yeah, while Samurai is a really bad adaptation, I’m here to judge Shinkenger on its own. Admittedly, there are a lot of qualities that can be chalked up to cultural differences, like the whole honor code samurai have and certain plotlines you’d see in a jidaigeki film. The Shinkengers themselves are all very likable characters, and you can really relate to their struggles of being forced into this war (again, handled a lot better than what’s going on with Marinette). All of them have different responses to their situation. Some of them dedicate themselves to wholeheartedly following their lord (Takeru/Shinken Red) or being more vocal in their hatred of their duties.

The villains are also really interesting. Sure, the big bad is pretty boring, but the side villains are just so twisted they really steal the show. Takeru/ShinkenRed gets a rival who serves as a perfect foil to him, representing the idea of why one fights. Even the concept of the Gedoushu is pretty terrifying. Demons from another world hellbent on causing misery to flood our world with their water, which I must point out, is deadly to humans. They’re not my favorite villain group, but they’re a close second.

There’s also some clever plot twists that happen late into the series that I don’t want to give away. Sure, you might have a hard time getting used to the Japanese culture at first, but Shinkenger is still a great series.

Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger (2011-2012, 51 Episodes)

The Zangyack Empire invades Earth and because of their army reaching across the universe, they become the greatest threat the planet has ever had. In response, the previous thirty-four Sentai teams unite to fight them. They succeed, but the attack they used to wipe out the battle fleet stripped them of their powers. A few years later, a group of space pirates come to Earth in search of “The Greatest Treasure in the Universe”. While the pirates couldn’t care less about stopping the Zangyack, they still have to deal with them while searching for the treasure, which is somehow connected to the previous thirty-four Sentai teams. Also, the pirates form their own Sentai team, the thirty-fifth Sentai team in particular, the Gokaigers, who have the ability to TRANSFORM INTO ANY OF THE PREVIOUS SENTAI TEAMS.

For Super Sentai’s 35th anniversary, Toei wanted to go big this time. While the previous two anniversary seasons only had movies that paid tribute to Sentai as a whole, this was the first season where the anniversary aspect was in the premise alone. 

The interesting thing is that the series was changed last-minute, and it was totally for the better. See, in March of 2011, Japan’s Tohoku Region was devastated by an earthquake registering at a 9.1 on the Richter scale. To this day, it was the largest earthquake ever recorded in Japan’s history, and that’s not even getting into the tsunami it caused the same day. What does this have to do with Gokaiger? In response to the tragedy, several tokusatsu stars including Super Sentai alumni took to social media to encourage kids to stay positive, and even asked some of Gokaiger’s showrunners if they could reprise their roles in an episode. Originally, there were going to be some cameos from past Sentai heroes, but it would only be limited to the ones whose powers would upgrade the Gokaigers’ giant robot. After this, there were a lot more cameos from Sentai alumni in the latter half of the series. Out of Gokaiger’s 51 episodes, 24 of them were tributes to past seasons. And that’s not even getting into all of the cameos in the movies too.

This was another one of the first Sentai seasons I ever saw, and it really helped me get into the franchise as a whole. It manages to explain things to people who haven’t seen certain seasons, while paying tributes to said seasons and making clever homages older fans will understand. Admittedly, the show does spoil the endings of the older seasons like Liveman and Jetman, so keep that in mind before starting this one.

Even outside of the tributes, the Gokaigers are some of the most memorable characters Super Sentai’s had in recent years. While they aren’t exactly evil, they start off not really interested in protecting Earth and care more about getting the Greatest Treasure in the Universe. The only reason they fight the Zangyack in the first episode was because their lunch was interrupted. A team of anti-heroes in Super Sentai hasn’t really been done before. Even then, there’s an interesting dynamic where some of the Gokaigers have more of a moral conscience than the others. And as the series goes on, they start to care more about protecting the Earth, even if they don’t admit it.

It’s just a really good show, and even if it isn’t your first, I’d check it out.

Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger (2013-2014, 48 Episodes)

When the alien entity known as Deboss invades Earth during the prehistoric era, another bird-like alien named Torin empowers several dinosaurs into the mighty Zyudenryu to fight off the invading force. After a brutal final battle, Deboss was sealed away, but his army of followers was still growing. In response, Torin started to recruit several humans throughout time into the modern day to become the Kyoryugers.

While Gokaiger was the first Sentai I ever watched, Kyoryuger was the first Sentai I watched every week as it aired, so it has a special place in my heart despite its middling reputation. Yeah, Kyoryuger has been criticized for starting the trend of Red Senshi stealing all the screentime, and while that can easily be applied to later entries like Shuriken Sentai Ninninger and Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger (the latter basically made Red and Gold the only ones to pilot the giant robots while the others watched), I don’t think it's as bad as everyone says it is.

There is just an amazing cast of characters here. It’s the first Sentai to be composed of ten rangers (while Dekaranger also had ten, three of them were just one-offs), and it does a really good job at balancing them all out. Yes, Daigo/Kyoryu Red does get a handful of power-ups and can be the focus at times, but the other characters all have their own distinct personalities and are just a blast to watch. I’d honestly recommend watching a few episodes of this show to get an idea on how to do an ensemble cast. If I end up doing the whole “tokusatsu has better toy tie-ins than Miraculous” thing, expect me to talk about how Kyoryuger introduces its new characters and giant robots.

And then there’s the soundtrack. Oh my God, the soundtrack. Sentai tends to have banger songs for their seasons, and Kyoryuger is no exception. “Vamola! Kyoryuger”, “Solid Bullet”, “Kyoryu Gold! Iza!”, “Yuuki Bakuretsu”, “Chou Shinka! Kyoryu Beat”, “Houkou! Bragigas”, and “Senkou no Brave”. So many of these songs are incredibly catchy, and I haven’t listed all of them. The show has a bit of a music motif, so it makes sense for there to be a lot of insert songs.

The one major flaw I have to point out is that you kind of have to watch the theatrical movie (which is only slightly longer than an average episode), in order to understand some of the plotpoints for the season’s endgame, but other than that, it’s still a really good season to start off on.

Mashin Sentai Kiramager (2020-2021, 45 Episodes)

The Dark Empire Yodonheim attacks the planet Crystalia, with the king’s brother betraying him and siding with the enemy. The kingdom’s princess is sent to Earth to recruit five warriors to fight the Empire. The chosen five all possess “Kiramental”, a way of weaponizing their imagination, which they use to defend the Earth’s radiance.

Precure fans might remember this being the season where Cure Star met the Red to promote the latter’s season (actually referring to Cure Star as his sempai), and I can kind of see why. A lot of fans have jokingly compared this season to Precure because of the gemstone motif and focus on creativity, with Juru/Kiramai Red acting like a Pink Cure according to some of the comments I’ve seen in Sentai discussion forums.

This is the most recent season to finish as of this post, and it’s already gotten a lot of praise in terms of writing, characters, story, and managing all of these during the COVID-19 Pandemic and having to adapt to losing five episodes in the process. The characters are very likable, the Red is one of the better ones in recent years with him being more timid compared to the more hotheaded ones, and the villains are also amazing, and some of the best in recent years. Episodes can range from funny to tragic to just plain awesome in terms of writing, with seemingly innocent filler episodes being the source of major bombshells and plot twists. 

Honestly, there’s not much I can really say about this show other than check it out for yourself.

But these are just my recommendations. If you do some research and see a season you like, I’d go for it. If anyone else wants me to do these for Kamen Rider and Ultraman, I’d be happy to.

Sorry this took so long.