#at least it's a change from other myth Discourses ...

[dilutedh2so4]

Remind me to never go onto the mythology side of tiktok

[aliciavance4228]

Bitches be like "Oh Hades always has to deal with his stupid youngest brother Zeus who cannot keep it in his pants."

First of all, Ancient Greeks didn't wear pants.

Secondly, Hades and Zeus are actually decent with each other. Hades isn't ashamed of asking him for help whenever he considers that there's the case, whereas Zeus trusts his eldest brother enough to give one of his daughters as his wife. There's also this whole discourse claiming that Zeus got the best and Hades got the worst, but if you actually give a second thought to it the Underworld actually has some of the greatest peaks: besides the fact that you're extremely rich all the mortals eventually become your subjects. Even poets stated that in numerous works:

Ovid, Fasti 4. 443 (trans.Boyle) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :

"[Zeus speaks :] ‘My rank is no greater [than Haides]. I hold court in the sky; another rules the sea [Poseidon], and one the void [Haides].’"

Or:

Seneca, Hercules Furens 53 (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) :

"Dis [Haides] himself, who drew a lot equal to Jove's [Zeus's]."

But if you're so desperate to give Hades a brotherly rivalry then I'm here to tell you that there's no need to erase all of Zeus' qualities (leadership skills, wisdom, long-term planning, determination, cunning etc.) and over exaggerate all of his bad actions in order to portray him as an incompetent asshole Hades always has to deal with. You could simply give Hades and Poseidon this type of dynamic instead.

Poseidon is way more impulsive, temperamental and testy than Zeus. He doesn't hesitate to show his wrath, let aside make others suffer because of it. On top of that, he's the god of the sea and earthquakes, and he's also almost as powerful as Zeus. His attributes and realm could easily represent a threat to the Underworld if he lets his anger go too far.

Take this passage from the Iliad as a relevant example:

Homer, Iliad 20. 67 ff :

"Poseidon from deep under them shuddered all the illimitable earth, the sheer heads of the mountains. And all the feet of Ida with her many waters were shaken and all her crests, and the city of Troy, the ships of the Akhaians (Achaeans). Aïdoneus [Haides], lord of the dead below, was in terror and sprang from his throne and screamed aloud, for fear that above him he who circles the land, Poseidon, might break the earth open and the houses of the dead lie open to men and immortals, ghastly and mouldering, so the very gods shudder before them; such was the crash that sounded as the gods came driving together in wrath."

Dude was freaking out in this scene. During the entire Greek Mythology he's presented as stoic and rarely frightened, but when his brother was causing a strong earthquake he was shitting himself and sucking his thumb like a baby (metaphorically). For the first and last time we see a god being vulnerable and scared by other gods in a similar way a mortal who is about to lose all of his property and belongings would be. Poseidon is pretty much capable of drowning the entire Underworld or exposing it to the Aboveworld if he wants to, so who's actually the more problematic brother? The one who can maintain his calm and control and understands better how distructive power can be, or the one whose anger was on the edge of breaking the border between the realms of the living and the dead?

What if people would stop completely changing the original personalities of the Greek Gods and create more headcanons and fanfictions based on what's actually stated (or at least what is suggested/more plausible) in the myths?

[hashtagloveloses]

im still kind of in disbelief that that the internet like...turned on lore olympus. i get the whole "once something is popular people make it their personality to hate something", and the "incredibly online people make age gap discourse about immortal gods bc they need to touch grass," and you're certainly not obligated to like it, it's not everyone's cup of tea, but like. it is a genuinely good comic. its issues are no worse than like, most serialized web comics that have to struggle with the medium, and its art style is engaging and interesting, and has improved a lot over time. i know there was a very t*rf-led movement on here a LONG time ago starting discourse about greek myths to get crypto t*rf shit about femininity across and i know thats where some critiques come from. and it's weird that many criticisms of "modern retellings" get blamed on lore olympus bc it doesnt actually follow them - like, demeter isnt some crazy bitch, she's a character with complexity and depth.

yes the original intent of the story is changed, a story that women in ancient times could relate to about the fears of marriage, but LO actually does what modern retellings of old stories do best - modify a story to serve a similar purpose, but reflecting the modern audience's contemporary issues. in this case, embracing the complexities of love and marriage as a survivor of sexual assault, something many modern women struggle with. persephone's relationship with demeter ALSO reflects a very real struggle many modern young women have, of finding identity and sexual agency as an adult when your entire life has been controlled by a helicopter mother, even with the best intentions, and with her own trauma.

i also find the criticisms of the body types and sexuality often misogynistic and weird - people want things with a distinct, interesting style, they want women with sexual agency to be promoted and not sanitized, and yet LO gets over-criticized. how persephone dresses, how the other gods dress, changes a lot depending on level of confidence, mood, etc, and is a part of the storytelling in an interesting way. you don't have to like it, and i know there's jokes about the LO art style of drawing women, but i have a body like some of those bodies. i know other people who do, or at least similarly. it's not like a lot of comics or manga or anime where everyone is a stick, and they get to be sexy! it's nice!

and when people complain that its the only webcomic people read well then thats a YOU problem. i read a LOT of webcomics. i talk about them to people, i recommend them. romantic and otherwise. do you? do you spend as much time complaining about lore olympus as you do talking up other cool webcomics that deserve attention?

[fandomrelatedshowerthoughts]

Nothing like trying to figure out hypothetical character names for a rule 63/genderbent/spectrumslid/whatever-we're-calling-it-now AU for The Librarians (which I tentatively found for 3/5 of the ensemble) that are similar in vibe/symbolism/whatever without sounding like they're Michael-to-Michelle-level direct flips to make you realize how (albeit often due to historical attitudes towards gender given the show's rooting in history/myth) The Librarians might be one of the most freaking impossible fandoms to do such an AU for outside of obvious shit like The Handmaid's Tale or Six because a lot of not necessarily its lore but at least aspects of characters' arcs are really really gendered. Yeah sure, some symbolic-y archetype-y stuff could still work with a progressive eye towards them but the vast majority wouldn't and you'd have to basically write-a-whole-new-version-of-the-show-with-same-basic-theming with how much you'd have to change to give characters' arcs equivalents of the same plot beats with an actual basis in reality or myth (from the mythological stuff to how much it'd monkey with Stone's backstory if they were a girl (and btw an example of what I mean by similar-vibe-but-not-direct-linguistic-similarity in the names is that cisgirl!Stone wouldn't be named something like Jade that sounds similar to Jake or Jacob they'd have another Old Testament (as I still do headcanon the Stones as Jewish either way) name one could easily make a nickname like that from) because the family business would potentially have to change (and therefore the type of threat-to-it they'd have to come back to face their past demons to solve that ends up making them basically have to confront said demons (what the Holokonote was in canon)) because a woman wouldn't really be able to be as inconspicuously-hiding-being-five-of-the-world's-foremost-art-historians on an oil rig though I wonder if the fake names would still be male or just androgynous). Compared to Warehouse 13 where the biggest lore thing that'd have to change is basically everything about HG but some character arcs can still stay intact

Not meaning to slight The Librarians for being this level of gender-y as some of that did lead to some good plot points but it's just something I never really noticed before and I'm surprised I haven't heard even negative discourse about

Edit: found a potential name for everyone but Cassandra (as going by similar origins/symbolism-y stuff like I did for the others leads to Greek-myth-y names that either wouldn't really suit what-of-her-vibe-would-carry-over-to-male!her or would seem unusual for the modern day either at all or unless you have Greek heritage and the only similar-sounding (the cliche way to genderbend names) boys name I could think of was Caspian which would seem cool if not for her last name being Cillian) so if one could figure out how one would genderbend the Librarians' arcs effectively the names I found for the others (that match the same vibe, suit their canon personality as personalities don't change that drastically in these AUs and have some kind of connection to the canon names that's more than just linguistic) are Fiona Carsen (not just another F name another Irish name), Noel Baird (gotta keep the Christmas symbolism), Rachel "Rae" Stone (carrying through my headcanon of the Stones being a Jewish family despite that you wouldn't expect that out of Oklahoma by using an Old Testament name) and Gabriella Jones (because of the symbolism regarding Ezekiel's name meaning of "god strengthens" tying into the demigod fan theory I knew I wanted a name with basically that same meaning for his rule 63 version and out of the girl names with that kind of meaning, this one had the most similar energy)

If you're thinking I missed one that's because I've decided the best way to go about if you could make a genderbend AU for this show would be to keep the mythological figures, Fictionals etc. the same gender they are in canon (as even if it'd mess with some plots like Fiona would have to be a little less disappear-y than Flynn was in S2 canon to make the Moriarty thing work or what the heck would the fairytale archetypes be so [whatever this AU would have as the name for male!Cassandra] (who because Cassandra is bi in canon could still have the same love interests) could still get magic it'd keep some the same and lend new angles on characters' relationships with them) so this genderbent squad would still have Jenkins the same as canon

[sophieinwonderland]

Seeing the reactions to that one recent controversial post of yours (I say that like most of your posts haven't been controversial in syscourse lol) has been... idk, a little weird. Like, yes, I personally think it was a little extreme and too harsh. But I don't really blame you for it. I completely expected backlash and criticisms about it, some of which I would have agreed with, but...

The part that most baffles me is how this has taken a sharp left turn into "you're turning people into anti-endos". Like. What?? Regardless of how a harsh post could reinforce some anti-endo beliefs (like how practically all pushback against someone's worldview has the potential to do), I thought we were all in agreement that if it just takes some harsh words from someone who's been hurt repeatedly to decide you want to hurt them too, you never actually cared about reducing hurt. You just don't want to be the receiver of that hurt. If all it takes is one person going too far while talking about the discrimination they and others like them have received, you didn't care about discrimination. You didn't care about those people. These people aren't "suddenly turning into" anti-endos – they already held some anti-endo beliefs, and are using this post as an excuse to fully and openly switch over. You can't say you support endogenic systems if you turn against them the second a popular endogenic blog goes a little too far.

Like. There are so many trauma survivors here in this community, and among your followers alone. I kind of thought at least most of us knew about the perfect victim myth and how it's not a victim's responsibility to cater to their abusers. Did I read your post and go "wow, that's taking things a little far"? Yes! But I do the same with patches that say "TERFs KYS" or when someone slips in the middle of a vent to say something offensive. Even though you don't seem as deeply affected by some of the hate as others I've seen, that doesn't mean it's your responsibility to be completely polite and perfect when talking about the people who openly want those like you and I dead. A post that could be paranoia inducing if taken the wrong way is... not comparable to the shit anti-endos do, even if it does suck. If all it took was a post like that for people to throw up their hands and say "you've gone too far! I'm going to be actively against your existence and acceptance in society!" ... they didn't care about harm. They didn't actually support us. They don't actually care about any of the victims here. They just like discourse and think our lives are inconsequential enough to treat like fandom drama.

If all it takes is a victim of pain, harassment, and abuse making a single slip up while talking about a future in which those who have hurt her can't do so anymore without major consequences, and how she hopes to be part of the change to bring about a future like that, to change your mind about if you want to respect people's existence and identity? Yeah, these people can see themselves out the door. They could've just blocked you (op) and moved on to other areas of the plural community on here. "Going to turn people against us" – pshh, get out of here. We don't have to be perfect victims to be worthy of basic respect, and I'm disappointed that so many have completely fallen for the perfect victim myth.

.

[churchblogmatics-blog]

Books for political formation

Books that have left an indelible mark on my understanding of politics some way. My political development is unfinished, so this list is unfinished - I'm always open to suggestions

Capital Vol. 1, Karl Marx - unmasks the inherently exploitative social relations embedded within capitalism, critiques capitalism as ineffective/self-destructive (not just immoral)

Capital and Ideology, Thomas Piketty - there is no such thing as a "natural" social order, examines how inequality regimes have emerged and been justified across the world throughout the past 1000 years of history

Nixon Agonistes, Garry Wills - captures a cross-section of American politics over a short period, probing insights into the psychology driving political affinities, documents the evolution of the word "liberal" in American political discourse

What Are We Doing Here?, Marilynne Robinson - provides a constructive, anti-Hobbesian view of society

Poverty, by America, Matthew Desmond - shows the extent to which poverty in America is a policy choice, harm reduction is possible without revolution

The Code of Capital, Katharina Pistor - a cursory overview of the legal strategies to insulate capital from any competing legal claims

Eichmann in Jerusalem, Hannah Arendt - laziness and insistence on self-exoneration is often the psychological engine behind human wickedness and injustice over and above malice

Illness as Metaphor / AIDS and Its Metaphors, Susan Sontag - shows how deeply ingrained prejudicial views of disability is within our collective language and psyche

Blood Meridian, or, the Evening Redness in the West, Cormac McCarthy - violence has never been excised from politics, the invisibility of violence to the bourgeois is an illusion

Lysistrata, Aristophanes - unmasks the nature of gender politics despite its operation behind closed doors, imagines a project of mass organizing along gender lines

Civilization and Its Discontents, Sigmund Freud - civility is unfortunately a tenuous prospect

Heroes of the Fourth Turning, Will Arbery - excoriates conservative psychological pathologies

Martin Luther King Jr

A Gift of Love - justice is love in public

Letter From a Birmingham Jail - there are contexts where civil disobedience is mandatory for the Christian, solidarity with the marginalized is always mandatory

The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot - progress is not inevitable

William Faulkner

Absalom, Absalom! - racism is an inexorable part of American capitalism, imperialism cannot be stopped until we are able to free ourselves of our disingenuous national myths

The Sound and the Fury - nostalgia makes you an idiot, unable to understand your present or to predict your future

Herman Melville

Billy Budd, Sailor - history is unavoidably malleable

Moby-Dick - a true-believer demagogue is worse than a cynically disingenuous one, democracy can be an ineffective antidote to a tyrant

Franz Kafka

The Trial - the very procedures instilled to protect (or at least mitigate) injustice can also exacerbate it

The Metamorphosis - modernity interferes with our ability to see and relate to others as human, liberalism's self-advocating and individualistic ethic destroys us from the inside out because it forecloses our ability to recognize this

John Milton

Areopagitica - freedom of speech is as much about the individual's freedom to render judgment on speech as it is about the speakers ability to speak, the problem with censorship is the top-down nature of it, not in the governed people's discernment of quality or value

Paradise Lost - similar to Birmingham Jail, the character of Abdiel represents righteous opposition to Earthly principalities

The Autobiography of Malcolm X - the psychological, spiritual, emotional toll that being black in America takes on a person, black empowerment is a necessary step towards black liberation

Ursula LeGuin

The Lathe of Heaven - structural reform can only be undertaken democratically, no change is without trade-offs so changes must be broadly accepted and supported by the populace who will inevitably bear the unforeseen burden that results

The Ones Who Walk Away From the Omelas - shows the extent to which our brains are broken by imperialistic thinking, exploitation is a necessary feature of the worlds we are capable of imagining

[popcartoonkabala]

The Kabbalah of Barbie x Openheimer

Venus vs. Mars(?) amidst the fire of Summertime Shabbos. There is tremendous public enthusiasm i’m noticing from within the communities about Barbie this year, something that hasn’t been possible for a long time in light of the imbedded nature of exploitation and eros-as-product. Now the public discourse is changed, and a new pseudo-innocence is possible, that of a knowledge that does not disrupt. The Leo mythology is rather scant within Hellenism, the Lion itself understood as Solar King and yet completely unfamiliar in Greece, where they had none. From Babylon and Egypt, again, come the insight-association of Leo-the-Season (late July, early August) with the Lion. Again: the King but the absence of mythology implies the Omnipresence of the narrative in ur-antiquity. I need to assume that the Egyptian metamyth parrallels the Babylonian, in that at least: The Babylonian Lion at the gate of Ishtar is what Ishtar rides, parralleling the Left Eye of Ra that emerges with hostility against mankind in the form of the cruel firey goddess Sekhmet who comes with the judgement of the Left Eye to destroy all the people UNTIL she’s sated with beer dressed as blood, dyed with ochre, and then becomes Ra’s other eye, the nice one, happy dancing erotic cow goddess Hathor                                                                   The house of Hor(us)  Another Venus, split between joyful rewarding fecund and punishing, vicious burning, and I suspect, this is precisely the Lion depicted in Leo: ultimately accommodating, as is the Venus/Aphrodite/Lilith nature. This brings us back to Barbie, The Bar of Bee rather than the House of Hur, the dreamhouse vessel that reflects aspirational capacity. Years ago, noted mystic artist, farmer, editor and publisher Jorian Polis Schutz released a wonderful book of Illustrated Greek Myths as devotional psychological/spiritual exploration. Amidst this he wrote about Aphrodite, relating her to the Barbie concept, as accomodating and devoted product producer of the plastic fantasy that makes ideation possible, spirituality itself:

The challenge of Lilith/Leo, ruled by the Sun as urgent solution to the problem of neglect and indulgence, gives way to the love that wants to be expressed through it.

[ansautism]

Debunking Myths - "Autism doesn't have symptoms."

A symptom is something that a person feels or experiences that may indicate that they have a disease or condition. “Symptoms can only be reported by the person experiencing them. They cannot be observed by a health care provider or other person and do not show up on medical tests. Some examples of symptoms are pain, nausea, fatigue, and anxiety.”

Some publications describe a symptom even looser than that - Merriam-Webster includes the definition of symptom as “something that indicates the existence of something else.” For example, social communication deficits/differences and repetitive behaviors and interests indicate the existence of autism spectrum disorder. Therefore, they are symptoms of autism.

No matter how you view autism (as a condition, a disorder, or a disability, or all of these), “symptom” accurately describes the experiences of autistic people. You are free to interchange the word symptom (which can feel medicalizing to some) with “traits,” however, it is incorrect to say that a condition doesn’t have symptoms.

Briefly, let's define cure in this context. “Possible definitions of substantial change and cure are the following: (1) absence of any psychopathology; (2) absence of functional impairment in everyday life; (3) absence of psychopathology and functional impairment; (4) sufficient quantitative change (partial remission) in psychopathology or functional impairment; (5) absence of the need for treatment; (6) psychopathology/impairment no longer mainly caused by ASD; (7) not/no longer fulfilling diagnostic criteria for ASD; and (8) normal/typical phenotype with qualitative change (full remission).”

While it is true that autism is generally accepted to not currently be reversible or curable, that doesn’t mean it can’t ever be reversed or cured (this is not cure discourse - some autistic people do not want a cure, and that is okay).

There have been some claims of “recovery” in people who were diagnosed with autism. “It seems evident that ASD is a lifelong disability and currently generally not curable, but only treatable to a limited extent in certain individuals to avoid worse-case outcomes. Nevertheless, spontaneous recovery, significant remissions over time or idiosyncratic positive responses to certain treatments are impossible to categorically exclude for rare cases, even if excluded for the ASD population as a whole. Particularly, as ASD is not a neurodegenerative disorder, gradual improvements are conceivable. Indeed, there have been claims of recovery in single cases or smaller groups of individuals with ASD. For instance, Fein et al. reported 'optimal' outcomes in 34 individuals with ASD, defined by losing all symptoms of ASD in addition to the diagnosis and functioning within the non-autistic range of social interaction and communication."

Furthermore, there is some research that suggests that some aspects of autism could be “cured.” “Translational studies from the last decade indicate that phenotypic reversals of ASD might be possible at least for some aetiologies of the disorder.”

On one hand, we will probably never develop one singular “cure” for autism. With how different autism presents in individuals, it just is not feasible for a cure-all to be available. However, I would suggest that it’s inaccurate that certain autistic features cannot be “cured” (if the autistic person chooses or wants to be “cured” - that is a separate conversation entirely). Currently - yes, autism cannot be reversed or cured. But to claim that autism does not have symptoms is not true and can be damaging and invalidating to autistic people who genuinely struggle with their symptoms.

It’s also a belief that has deep roots in Aspie Supremacy, or the idea that autistic people (or more specifically, lower support needs autistics) are “better” than others, and that autism is not a disorder but “the next step in evolution.” A supposedly autistics-for-autism advocacy organization spreading this idea is deeply disappointing.

[melted-snow]

I read this post and really wanted to believe it. It fits so well in the stereotypes about the us. But it also sounds not really believable. So I googled a bit and came upon this site:

At first I just looked at the pie charts, and it seemed like my suspicions were correct:

It looks like Violent crimes make up a big portion of the crimes in the us. I almost closed the site again, but then I got curious, because of the large "Not Convicted" portion of the graph, which felt kind of weird. There might just be a reason, it is not just the graph on this page, but a lot of text to explain it. I was procrastinating anyway, so I might just use this time to read a bit, instead of just browsing through Tumblr. And there are a lot of interesting facts in the article, if you have time and are interested in how the us prison system works (or doesn't really work, at least not the way many people believe) I can really recommend reading it, it addresses a lot of myths around it, that even exist in the leftist prison-critical spaces I'm in.

But regarding violent crimes the article states the following (bold parts highlighted by me, not the text):

The fourth myth: By definition, “violent crime” involves physical harm The distinction between “violent” and “nonviolent” crime means less than you might think; in fact, these terms are so widely misused that they are generally unhelpful in a policy context. In the public discourse about crime, people typically use “violent” and “nonviolent” as substitutes for serious versus nonserious criminal acts. That alone is a fallacy, but worse, these terms are also used as coded (often racialized) language to label individuals as inherently dangerous versus non-dangerous. In reality, state and federal laws apply the term “violent” to a surprisingly wide range of criminal acts — including many that don’t involve any physical harm. In some states, purse-snatching, manufacturing methamphetamines, and stealing drugs are considered violent crimes. Burglary is generally considered a property crime, but an array of state and federal laws classify burglary as a violent crime in certain situations, such as when it occurs at night, in a residence, or with a weapon present. So even if the building was unoccupied, someone convicted of burglary could be punished for a violent crime and end up with a long prison sentence and a “violent” record.  The common misunderstanding of what “violent crime” really refers to — a legal distinction that often has little to do with actual or intended harm — is one of the main barriers to meaningful criminal legal system reform. Reactionary responses to the idea of violent crime often lead policymakers to categorically exclude from reforms people convicted of legally “violent” crimes. But almost half (47%) of people in prison and jail are there for offenses classified as “violent,” so these carveouts end up gutting the impact of otherwise well-crafted policies. As we and many others have explained before, cutting incarceration rates to anything near international norms will be impossible without changing how we respond to violent crime. To start, we have to be clearer about what that loaded term really means."

So OP is wrong, but only if you take the legal meaning of the term violent crime. It applies to property the same way it applies to people, and even applies if there is just the "substantial risk" of violence against a person or property is there:

The term “crime of violence” means— (a) an offense that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person or property of another, or (b) any other offense that is a felony and that, by its nature, involves a substantial risk that physical force against the person or property of another may be used in the course of committing the offense.

It is not possible to say whether OP is correct or not, because it completely depends on what OPs definition of a violent crime is. But that might not even matter that much. If the argument against the prison system is based on most people being in there because of non-violent crimes, it implies, that if more people were in there because of violent crimes, the prison system would be justified. And I think a lot of people even in leftist spaces tend to agree with that sentiment. I also thought that way. But just the next myth addresses exactly this:

The fifth myth: People in prison for violent or sexual crimes are too dangerous to be released Of course, many people convicted of violent offenses have caused serious harm to others. But how does the criminal legal system determine the risk that they pose to their communities? Again, the answer is too often “we judge them by their offense type,” rather than “we evaluate their individual circumstances.” This reflects the particularly harmful myth that people who commit violent or sexual crimes are incapable of rehabilitation and thus warrant many decades or even a lifetime of punishment. As lawmakers and the public increasingly agree that past policies have led to unnecessary incarceration, it’s time to consider policy changes that go beyond the low-hanging fruit of “non-non-nons” — people convicted of non-violent, non-serious, non-sexual offenses. Again, if we are serious about ending mass incarceration, we will have to change our responses to more serious and violent crime. Recidivism data do not support the belief that people who commit violent crimes ought to be locked away for decades for the sake of public safety. People convicted of violent and sexual offenses are actually among the least likely to be rearrested, and those convicted of rape or sexual assault have rearrest rates 20% lower than all other offense categories combined. One reason for the lower rates of recidivism among people convicted of violent offenses: age is one of the main predictors of violence. The risk for violence peaks in adolescence or early adulthood and then declines with age, yet we incarcerate people long after their risk has declined.

I think the reflex to want to punish people who did crimes, that fall into one's own category of violent crimes or serious crimes is understandable, and I know this reflex from myself. But if we really want to stop against mass incarceration, we might have to rethink about this reflex.

And after researching a bit for this post I definitely need to read more about prison system and the whole abolishing prison movement, because I realise that I know much less about it than I thought.

I think the thing most dumbfounding of all about the politics of many Americans is that they rightfully hate the power held over people's lives by the state and they REALLY hate taxation yet they also think police and prisons are mostly rounding up dangerous rapists and killers or otherwise people who "just shouldn't have broken the law." There are genuinely several times as many people living years in prison right now for not paying all their taxes the right way than for all violent crimes combined.

[porcupine-girl]

Tumblr: Myth vs Fact

People have been talking a lot about Tumblr on Twitter lately (for no reason whatsoever), but that also means a lot of misinformation is going around. So if you're coming from Twitter, I would like to clear up a few misconceptions, starting with:

Myth: Tumblr is dead. It died with the Dec 2017 porn ban and now it's a ghost town.

Fact

Well, okay, yes, it did die with the Dec 2017 porn ban. Mostly. But it got better! On November 5, 2020, Destielpocalypse happened and Tumblr rose from the grave. Since then it hasn't been as busy as in, say, 2015, but it's gotten over its death and has had a steady stream of traffic ever since.

See the rest below the cut!

Myth: Tumblr is where all the drama and discourse starts.

Fact

Again, this hasn't been true in quite a while. When Tumblr died in 2017, most of the people responsible for the discourse moved to Twitter. Since then, it's been pretty chill, even after Destielpocalypse resurrected it. People like to say that Twitter is just Tumblr five years ago, and... it's pretty true right now, at least in the drama department. We'd appreciate it if you didn't try to change that.

Myth: Porn is allowed again on Tumblr!

Fact

Sadly, this is not true. However, nudity is allowed now. Just no visual depictions of explicit sex acts. Here is a pretty detailed explanation from the CEO of Automattic (the company that owns Tumblr) on why they can't bring porn back right now, even though he would like to.

Note that this only applies to visual depictions. Explicit text (yes, that means smutty fanfic) has always been allowed.

Myth: You should never add anything to a post you reblog.

Fact

Actually, one of the really cool things about Tumblr is how a post can grow and develop with every new addition! Simple Tumblr posts have turned into repositories of useful information or complex scifi world-building thanks to users collectively adding cool stuff with each reblog, or sometimes just asking relevant questions for others to answer in their reblogs.

But you don't have to add anything in order to reblog! Most people don't! And if you have something to say that doesn't really add to the post (like "Cute!") or is just for your followers, it can go in the tags.

Which brings us to a related myth:

Myth: There is a complicated system of etiquette around reblogging and tagging and if you don't follow it everyone will point and laugh.

Fact

Okay, there are some general etiquette guidelines that have developed that most people follow. Like the above, about only adding onto a post if you have something substantive to say and putting other comments in the tags. I'm sure you've seen rules like this around.

But these are flexible and nobody is going to hate you for violating them now and then. If you reblog something and forget and add "Cute!" to the post instead of in a tag, nobody is going to dogpile you. Worst case, people will click back to the reblog before yours and reblog it from there instead of reblogging yours. Or they might just reblog yours because tbh it doesn't really detract from the post. Just don't be rude, and remember that the OP and everyone who sees the post can see your tags very easily now.

The main thing is please do reblog stuff! That is the #1 way posts get new viewers (see below, most people turn the algorithm off). You don't have to add anything or even tag it; reblogging it is just a way to say "hey followers, look at this neat thing I found!"

Don't let the idea that you're not reblogging "correctly" prevent you from reblogging at all.

Myth: It's cringe to reblog old stuff, or to go through and reblog/like lots of things from someone's blog.

Fact

Posts are made for reblogging. We are all here for the reblogging. We want you to reblog. There are posts from 2012 or even older still making the rounds. If someone stumbles on my blog and reblogs a bunch of old stuff in a row, I'm just happy that they enjoyed my blog.

If OP doesn't want a post to be reblogged anymore, they now have the ability to turn reblogging off. Otherwise, reblog away.

Myth: Tumblr is the golden land of no algorithms!

Fact

Tumblr is the golden land of allowing you to avoid the algorithm if you so choose.

Most Tumblr users changed these settings years ago and have been living algorithm-free for so long they forget that when you first sign up, it does have an algorithm unless you turn it off.

Here is how to customize your viewing experience (on the app):

From your blog (the little people in the bottom right corner), hit the Settings wheel in the top right corner.

Go to General settings

Go to Dashboard preferences

The first four are all various algorithms. Best stuff first reorders your dash by algorithm - if you turn it off, it's all chronological all the time. 2-4 add extra stuff to your dash that the algorithm thinks you'll like. If you turn them off, you will ONLY see what's on the blogs you follow. (Note: if you turn off "Include followed tag posts" you can still view the tags you follow in the "Your Tags" tab at the top of your dash.)

4b - If you want to view mature stuff (nudes but also violence or anything drug/alcohol related) go to Content You See and turn it on. It's off by default. This is also where you can set tags or keywords you want hidden.

(These settings can all be found in similar places on desktop.)

Even after you do all this, if you really want to see what the algorithm has to say, just go to the For You tab. It will... probably convince you that you made the right choice in turning all of this off. Tumblr's algorithm really isn't that great, and we're fine with that.

Myth: Neil Gaiman is an active Tumblr user.

Fact

@neil-gaiman has no social media.

Myth: Supernatural is a television show that went off the air two years ago and is no longer relevant.

Fact

Welcome, you are now on the Supernatural website, where even if there wasn't a prequel series currently at this very moment airing, Supernatural will never die. Or will die and be resurrected repeatedly. It will probably creep into something on your dash eventually. Mute a few keywords if you don't want it, but brace for the occasional gif anyhow.

[ode-to-spring]

hello!! ive seen a lot about the recent discourse on sumeru and all it's characters, most especially kusanali nowadays, and felt the need to clear some things up for my own peace of mind. though i should put a disclaimer that i'm in no way from any of the countries or cultures sumeru was originaly intended to represent, though i am a POC who knows what colorism, orientalism, and blatant lack of representation feels like. if anyone from the real cultures finds something wrong in whatever i say, please point it out and educate me so i can adjust! I might not be in a place to speak and have a very little platform, but I promise you, a few minutes of research and a little empathy can go a very long way.

cw for the topics i mentioned above (orientalism, colorism, subtle racism, etc etc.) very long discussion utc!

A common excuse I see people making for aspects of Kusanali's design (her skin color, her size, etc.) is that she's allegedly based off of Kusanali Jataka, from a Buddhist collection of poems as a fairy living in a clump of grass. This much is true, she very much is named after that, and the nature-esque inspiration matches up. However, that changes when many fans on tiktok, twitter, etc. have been claiming the original poem to mention that Kusanali Jataka had "skin as pale as the light of the moon."

This specific description pertains to an entirely different diety, one going all the way to Hinduism backgrounds. She who that quote was originally used for is known as Sarswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge, wisdom, art, speech, music, aesthetics, and learning. For the record, here is what common portrayals of her look like, as well as the description of her appearance:

See? Sound familiar? To compare, here is what a portrayal of Kusanali Jataka looks like:

These two very separate dieties were definitely mixed up, most likely in a way to simply excuse how utterly far away the dendro archon looks from the real life people her country is meant to represent. Previously we've had Zhongli and Ei, a dragon accurate to real Chinese myths, and a samurai with cultural ties even to her name, her titles, and other various inspirations such as from the Vision Hunt Decree. Yunjin proves that Hoyoverse is capable of making accurate and in depth research of real life cultural aspects. Kusanali, however, has no obvious cultural background to her design except her name and perhaps the quote of "Let great and small." Other than that? You could've told me that she's just another kid from Mondstadt and I'd believe you entirely.

It's one thing to like a characters design, but another thing to entirely erase the problems there are with representation, among other things. The problem in her is not that she has a child model, it's that she, as Sumeru's archon, is meant to represent their whole country, but at the same time she has no indications of references to SWANA or ME culture what so ever.

To add onto that, the argument of "but im from this race and im pale" is not valid at all, because just because you or your family or friends are not, doesn't mean the rest of your people don't either. In my country, we were taught as kids to bathe with some kind of papaya whitening soap, not to stay in the sun too long or we'll get tanned, that we need go "stay indoors more to get whiter," and I'm sure this isn't only a problem in mine. The few times that the people of these underrepresented cultures get a chance at the spotlight, the very least Hoyoverse can do when they'll make truckloads of money from them either way is to do it right. They deserve that much.

Hoyoverse is a multi million dollar company that is perfectly capable of making designs that aren't stereotypical and all lightskin if not paper white. They honestly dug their own grave by making the exact mistake many have made before when it comes to representation specifically in these regions, such as Aladdin, where they threw many different and diverse cultures together and thought it would end up nicely without either five different things happening at once, or an entirely whitewashed version of everything. They should not be able to cherrypick and make money out of whatever bits of these cultures they want only to leave out the outward appearances of the people that they belong to. That is colorism.

I am making this post to at least try to raise awareness on the misinformation going around about Kusanali, as well as shed light on how condescending all the pale and at most light brown characters feel as a POC. That said, however, I can't speak for the people from South Asia/North Africa/Middle East on this issue, and therefore if you have time I'm *begging* you to listen to what they have to say. If you're from those cultures and don't have any problems with Sumeru, thats okay! But it doesn't mean that everyone else doesn't either. If you're white or from a different culture and are therefore unaffected by all of this? If you want to ignore, don't say a word. Don't shut the voices of the POC that should be in the spotlight in the first place. But if you want to help? Do your research. Uplift the voices of those who are affected. Listen to what they have to say. Orientalism and colorism aren't easy topics to be brushed off easily, and they have every right to be reacting in opposition to what Hoyoverse currently has to offer.

If you're interested in what I've just mentioned, here are a few links I've found of people from these cultures that you should consider checking out ::

https://twitter.com/dorobor1/status/1553151372308135938?t=QfJI9jXKDVvPO86eqGgyGw&s=19

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSR2pcbVC/?k=1

https://twitter.com/dailynahida/status/1538609206621790209?t=JRPUQ5Z8kn_nJJ2McShbag&s=19

https://twitter.com/Altochameleon/status/1553623114650509313?t=nDhSJyZ167HqP_eR4byqEg&s=19

And many more! So many SWANA & ME people are speaking up about this but get drowned out in all the arguing when they are the ones in the right. The goal isn't to speak over them, it's to let their words be heard. So please, stop the unnecessary ignorance and disrespect in every aspect of all that's going on with the discourse going around about this topic. It isn't hard to be respectful, it isn't hard to research, it isn't hard to be decent human beings.

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSR2pT61E/?k=1

https://twitter.com/Bitanees/status/1562903344553013252?t=CyBbIxBG3IFGWM98bZYADw&s=19

[nunchiimagines]

Pied Piper: Prologue

— Summary: You’re a recent grad who was given the dream opportunity to intern abroad in South Korea. When you moved into a small, somewhat homely, apartment complex in Gangnam, you were pleasantly surprised to have become neighbors with 7 very intriguing, very charming, very handsome young men. You weren’t expecting them to have become so attached to you so quickly and that’s probably because you’re actually their reincarnated soulmate. To make matters even more convoluted, they’re also part of the mafia, they’re demons, and they’re heir to the throne of the underworld. Who’d thought that your once normal life would change so drastically over the course of such a short time?

— Pairing: demon lord! mafia boss! bts x poc! curvy! intern! reader

— Genre: super fluff / poly!au / mafia!au / demon!au / soft yandere!au / soulmate! au

— Status: On Going

— Warnings: quick explanation of the backstory, mentioning of very violent and graphic situations, allusion of depression, somewhat happy ending?

— Word Count: 2.6k

~MASTERPOST~

CHAPTERS: Prev - Next

**AUTHORS NOTE**

This is the revamped version of Sweet Tea and will be officially started once Choco Bun is finished! :) For now, enjoy the prologue!!!!

_____________________________________________________________

Once upon a time, many years ago, demons were not looked at as a mere myth, religious aspect, or even a means to scare children into shape. At least, not like they are today. No, demons were about as common as deer were in the forest and had stirred up unfathomable trouble across the world. The sudden increase in violent activity from them became unsettling amongst the countries and many had taken hefty damage due to it. The smaller less defensive villages and towns ended up becoming completely raided by them; falling prey to their pillaging, slavery, and murder.

Such themes were no surprise to humans, these characteristics having been carried on through generations prior. What was unfortunate was that as a result, all demons got branded vicious, vile, monstrous beings, even if they’re nothing like their fellow kin. What humans were unaware of was that most demons tended to keep to themselves, opting to find amicable relations with humans if possible. But too many demons had made themselves known under the guise of antagonists and the humans saw all demons as such. So, many demons went into hiding, doing their best to blend into society as they had no intention of being harmful like most others. And one of those demons was known as the Pied Piper.

Many millennia ago there was a kingdom that laid sturdy and strong, a vast land filled with lavish greenery, strong soldiers, diligent citizens, and a kind king. It was always peaceful in this domain, a rarity for there to be unsettled discourse amongst the patrons within its borders. You could even argue that they were the epitome of perfection. At least, it would've been for not the sudden raid of rat demons.

It was unforeseen, shocking, and a massive blow to morale. The citizens were terrified, the kingdom was slowly being destroyed each night, and the knights had become worn out by the continuous waves of rat demons. It was like a never ending battle that was going to end in the slow demolishment of such a sanctuary. Just when all hope was lost, a cloaked man appeared before the king, suggesting a trade to rid him of his problem.

The cloaked man had proposed that he would rid the entire kingdom of the rat demons if the king allowed him to stay free of charge within the castle for 7 days and 7 nights as well as 613 gold coins for his services. The king’s council found the offer absolutely ridiculous but the king, who was extremely desperate, did not find any harm in at least allowing the man to try and prove himself. And so, the cloaked man did just that.

He removed his cloak, revealing features almost unreal to the human eye. He followed up by pulling out a long and beautiful pipe, one unlike any other. Putting the instrument to his lips a melody so mesmerizing, so alluring, so captivating began to play. It ceased every rat demon from moving, their immediate goal being to focus on the new figure in sight. With each note played the rats followed after him, unaware of the fate the man was leading them towards.

The citizens were frozen in place, watching in astonishment at how quickly the monsters fell under his spell but more so with how absolutely gorgeous the young man was and how ingenious he was with music. Once the young man had reached the thick of the forest, eventually coming across a vast clearing within the confinements of the woodland area, he made sure all the demon rats had surrounded him in a large crowd. He stopped playing his pipe and with the snap of his finger a massive flame ignited the bodies of each demon. The flames were so hot that they turned black, charring the remains of all around him into nothingness. The young man watched with an expressionless face as the one who seemed to be the leader looked at him with eyes of anger and betrayal, knowing he was as much a demon as himself.

When the job was done, the young man made it back to the kingdom where he was instantly praised for his work. Many had revered him for being the child of god, the one who will save all from the wrath and hatred of demons, the extinguisher of all evil. He was affectionately given the name “Pied Piper” and offered more than what he had asked for. The Pied Piper respectfully declined the additions, kindly only asking for his original request. The king, still feeling as if it wasn’t fair, decided that the Pied Piper at least have a maid be with him at all times to fulfill whatever additional request he’d like if he happens to acquire any.

The king had offered up the prettiest maid on staff, against the wishes of the Pied Piper of course. She was a petite, doll-like woman with pretty green eyes and long luscious hair. She reminded him of a sheep, easy to break and as clueless as a rock. Luckily, with quick thinking the Pied Piper had decided to choose a different maid, one whom he’d admittedly had his eye on. She, like the other woman, held beauty in her own respect, but not just physically, something far deeper than that. The Pied Piper had sensed it since he made his way into the castle and has always kept tabs on her. Now was the ample opportunity to dig deeper behind this mysterious feeling.

The king held no issue in the Pied Piper’s decision, having praised the young woman for being kind hearted, soft spoken, diligent, and an attentive worker. Though the decision seemed to have made all parties content, it was not so with the doll-like maid, a woman who was used to receiving and being pampered at her beck and call. However, she opted to restrain her frustrations, concocting ideas to change the Pied Piper’s mind over the course of his stay.

Unfortunately for her, her promiscuous advances and provocative attempts barely even reached the Pied Piper as it had been made quite clear he had fallen in love with the maid he had chosen. Her tanned skin reminded him of the earth he had travelled, her gorgeous locks framed her cheeks like how the flowers adorn the grass, her rubenesque figure resembled the curvature of the trees he’d seen, her touch was as warm and gentle as the sun’s rays, her eyes were as radiant as the velvety colors of a butterfly, and her smile was sweeter than any wild berry he’d ever tasted. He knew that she was his fated soulmate and he vowed he'd do anything for her.

Their love was unbreakable, true, and fated into countless rebirths throughout time. There was nothing or no one that could take that away from them as they were destined to always find eachother one way or another. But there were some who dared to try, even if it meant plunging the entire planet into chaos as a result.

The doll-like woman did not take too kindly to the Pied Piper ignoring her advances and hated even more that he’d chosen someone she deemed inferior to her as his lover. In a fit of jealous rage, she retaliated by spreading false rumors about both the Pied Piper and his soulmate. She had told everyone that he and his lover had concocted a plan to bring the rat demons into the kingdom, pretending to be a false hero so he can then be lavished with praise, wealth, and fame. Unfortunately, it didn’t take much for people to believe the claims, as more and more individuals proclaimed additional false rumors.

The allegations got so out of hand that most of the kingdom demanded the two be taken into custody, tried, and convicted for their crimes. The Pied Piper and his lover desperately tried to plead to the king that the allegations were false and baseless, no proof whatsoever of their supposed crimes. They even offered to be permanently banished from the kingdom if they really felt it was all true. But the king, a man dedicated to his people, chose to follow the citizens' words against that of the two before him, unfairly skipping a trial and announcing the immediate execution of them both.

The guards instantly grabbed for the maid, brutally beating her into submission as they attempted to arrest her. The Pied Piper, in a state of panic and anger, unleashed his rising black flames, revealing to all around him his true nature. A demon. Everyone began panicking as the wrath of the Pied Piper was unleashed against the guards who dared to lay a hand on his lover. Freeing her from her bondages, the two immediately tried to escape from the kingdom, reaching the outskirts of the forest. Just as all seemed to have been a bit easier for the duo, the unexpected happened.

A loud gunshot rang out, the sharp metallic bullet piercing the heart of the maid as she had instinctively blocked the shot from hitting the Pied Piper. Unbeknownst to them, guards had been stationed in the area the night prior, having already been alerted of the two trying to escape. When one young guard caught sight of them, he decided to try and kill the closests one in his range, the Pied Piper. But what he didn’t realize was that the maid had noticed this and shielded the Pied Piper as a result, bleeding out and eventually dying in the arms of her lover.

The Pied Piper, now holding the soulless carcass of his one true love, had to bear witness to the cheering from the guards for having murdered her. Someone who was innocent, who was kind, who had accepted him with open arms even after discovering his true heritage. They had taken away his salvation and cheered, mocking her even after death.

Within a matter of seconds the sky had turned dark, thick with heavy clouds suffocating the once vast blueness. There were large cracks of thunder and vicious whips of lightning. The wind picked up, slicing into the skin of any who stood in its way and the air chilled to a low degree so quickly it became alarming. The nearby bodies of water raged angrily and both the farm and forest animals shouted out with piercing and disturbing cries. The grass beneath the Pied Piper began to blaken, dying instantaneously from his presence alone. Not long after, the familiar black flames appeared, slowly rising up before setting the soldier ablaze, burning them painfully into nothingness.

As stated earlier, there are some demons who choose to not harm or disturb the humans. Only a select few of them do so. It did not always used to be like this, many humans living amongst demons without even knowing it back in the day. But what started the recent violent tendencies from some demons was the crumble of the hierarchy. The king of the demons had passed without claiming an heir and some demons took that as permission to do whatever they wanted. However, what most demons did not realize was that the previous demon lord, in fact, did have a son, that man being the Pied Piper. The Pied Piper had not felt ready to take the throne and had opted to take a journey of self-discovery first before claiming his rightful place. And it was in that moment of hurtful heartbreak that he finally came into tune with his calling.

It did not take long for countless demons to come to the Pied Piper right then and there. It was like they all instinctively felt the birth of their new king and rushed to him at will. The sudden mass of demons who had appeared struck an unimaginable fear within the kingdom, almost as if they knew they were all going to die. No words were shared between the Pied Piper and the mass of demons. They knew what he wanted and they all instantly followed through with it.

All but the animals were completely annihilated that night. Businesses destroyed, homes demolished, streets painted red, and the air filled with cries and screams of the humans being brutally slaughtered. As the kingdom plunged into chaos, the king, his staff, and the guards were frantically trying to escape. But it was no use, the Pied Piper having trapped the two individuals who had started it all inside the very room the execution was officialized.

They all pleaded with their lives, begging for forgiveness. The Pied Piper held an expression so angry, so filled with rage and hatred that it almost came off as unreadable to any who bore witness to it that day. No words came from the Pied Piper in response to the countless offers and negotiations. No, instead the Pied Piper held up his hand before snapping his fingers. As a result of his actions, the doll-like woman's leg warped and bent with a disturbingly audible crack. The witnesses could hear the disconnection not only from the bone but also the tearing of the muscles inside.

As she screamed in agonizing pain, the Pied Piper snapped his fingers once more, decimating her other leg just as he did to the first. Each time he snapped his fingers, a limb would twist and contort in a way that was irreversible. She would scream and cry and beg, her voice reaching an octave that sent chills down everyone’s spines. Once the Pied Piper had no more limbs to destroy he snapped his fingers one last time until eventually her neck twisted 360 degrees, her head popping off as a result. It was at that moment, all the humans realized that she was being used as a precursor for what would continue to transpire to the rest of them. And they were right.

That night led to a massive impact on humans, one so brutal and violent that it was wiped from history all together. But even so, it could never erase what continued to transpire afterwards. The Pied Piper took to his rightful throne and went on a path of destruction, any human who’d ever thought about trying to hunt him down was immediately murdered on the spot. This went on for a very long time, the Pied Piper sinking into a deeper and more shallow darkness. It was almost as if he died the day he lost his lover and in some ways, he did. But after so many years had passed, something comparable to hope came into the miserable life of the Pied Piper.

An elderly mage offered up a deal to the Pied Piper. She had told him that if he could cease his reign of terror he could be granted a reunion to his lover, one where they would not have to fear being together. All that he had to do was allow himself to enter a deep slumber, one that would separate the 7 core parts of his soul, and then be reborn in a more peaceful and forgiving time. Though the Pied Piper would appear as 7 different individuals upon waking up, he would retain his powers, albeit divided, and the throne would still be his. The Pied Piper had listened carefully to the words before accepting the offer, no longer wanting to live in this hell.

With the sudden violent attacks having ceased since then, the humans lived on throughout the years forgetting the existence of demons all together. No demon had made themselves known like they used to, not in a way that would cause mass panic. The only time demons were mentioned were in fairy tales, religious texts, movies, books, and anything else alike. They’d come in various forms, in different regions, and even be called different things. This was the only way for demons to live in peace amongst the humans, at least until their king would arise once again. Hopefully, sometime in the near future alongside the very person his heart beats for.

_____________________________________________________________

[tonyglowheart]

same anon about the chinese terms; i keep thinking clan = extended family. wwx is adopted right? cause i keep thinking that by how fandom does it and the clan term says that's right to my brain

Nooooo think of this more like a feudal system (I don't know historical fuedal systems well enough dont quote me) or like... idk, Game of Thrones, everyone knows game of thrones now right? I don’t know Game of Thrones either, just imagine a... game of thrones-esque setting

So you have the Clan, right, and the main family of the clan? the uhh what are they, the starks, the lannisters, the whoever else. You have the main family at the center of that. But then you also have all sorts of servants and soldiers and retainers and whatever. In a feudal system you have knights and stuff. They all technically “belong with” the clan/are under the banner of the main family, but are not literally members of the family, are not adopted into the main family tree, etc. A royal companion of a royal heir in real life history, for example, could even be raised alongside the heir, attend the same classes, participate in the same activities, and they could be close as brothers. But the royal companion does not become the literal adopted sibling of the royal heir. It’s like how you might be friends with your boss, and they might consider you like family, but while the boss-employee relationship exists they’re still your boss, and there’s still that power dynamic & positional difference there.

“Traditionally,” or like, in what can be considered established xianxia/wuxia canon, you have cultivation sects that are more like apprenticeship or... guilds I guess? I only know vaguely about historical guilds, so I’m more borrowing their idea than quoting them exactly. You have masters and you have apprentices, and journeymen, etc, and apprentices can hone their still and “go up in rank” so to speak, work their way up to being a full master in the guild. It’s an organizational grouping that creates close bonds but is not necessarily a family in the nuclear family sense or like the family tree or clan sense. But MDZS cultivation families are structured much more like nobility/gentry, even if they came from humble origins, where you have the whole... core family + also the accompanying people who are under the family’s banner and thus “part of the Clan” as far as considering the clan as like, a political organization also goes. But not literal adoption into the family. 

Within wuxia/xianxia, sect-mates are actually considered more marriagable prospects than outsiders, and a lot of the romances in the dramas might be about a shixiong and a shimei or whatever. (If you think about them as a professional collective that does have close personal bonds, like a guild might, then it makes sense; you spend a lot of time around these people so you know them well already, plus if your sect has proprietary techniques you would keep that inside the sect. it’d be like if you had a childhood sweetheart, like in PotC with Will Turner and Elizabeth Swan). 

“Wei Wuxian is adopted” is the absolute Anglophone myth of the century and the bane of my existence lmao, because he’s NOT. People use it to discourse about all sorts of things and justify all sort of other things, but his standing in relation to the Jiang family is much more nuanced and complicated than “he’s adopted.” He’s a cultivator, so he’s not just a normal servant, and he’s also the head disciple, plus he can be considered, at the very least, a sort of “royal companion” to Jiang Cheng and Jiang Yanli even, so he does have an advanced place compared to your average Yunmeng Jiang disciple. But, like how in PotC Will was raised alongside Elizabeth, that doesn’t make them automatically adopted. Even Jiang Yanli declaring Wei Wuxian her did doesn’t mean that he is, or that he is to her, per se. Before anyone throws rocks at me - I’m not saying she doesn’t consider him like a brother, or that they’re not close. But that assertion had a very specific purpose. As mentioned, your sect-mates are actually considered to be very marriagable prospects, and Madam Jin was suggesting it would be improper for Jiang Yanli to be alone with Wei Wuxian, who is considered a potential prospect for her. Jiang Yanli’s assertion that Wei Wuxian is her didi stops the reasoning behind the suggestions of impropriety in its tracks. But that doesn’t mean she considers him literally adopted into her whole family tree, it’s not getting into that territory, it’s an interpersonal declaration between her and WWX. It also doesn’t then automatically mean that JC should see WWX as a brother in a literal adopted sense either, which I’ve seen some people argue lmao.

Plus, if Wei Wuxian were adopted, his name most likely should have changed and he should have the Jiang name; if MXTX had decided that WWX were actually adopted but kept his own name, then MXTX should have made a note about it, like she did with Madam Yu. It’s the kind of thing that’s like, you would expect it to be remarked on at least, like it should be lampshaded if nothing else.

So, yes a clan kind of would be an extended family usually, but I thiiink even in historical terms, the like retainers or generational servants would be considered as “belonging to” the Clan, since a Clan is also kind of a political organization as well socially speaking, especially if we’re talking about nobility or landed gentry, but not literally part of the family tree - main or otherwise.

Add to that, that in MDZS, MXTX plays around with clan & the idea of a cultivation collective/organization, so a clan functions both as a clan (family), clan (political), and clan (cultivation organization organized around the schools of cultivation established the founding families).

Maybe a good example? Think of Gusu Lan. They make very clear the distinction of “inner disciple” and “outer disciple.” They all belong to Gusu Lan, but “inner disciples” - i.e. members of the family tree who can trace their ancestry to Lan An, are differentiated from outer disciples, who are part of the clan, but that doesn’t make them adopted into the family tree. Lan Sizhui, who IS adopted into the family line/tree/lineage, has both the Lan name and the cloud-scroll forehead ribbon.

Wei Wuxian being adopted actually would have made things even more complicated for YMJ imo lmao, and I think YMJ/JC would have had to do more extreme stuff to buy back into being deemed “proper” or pious by society or by like, Confucian(?) standards after WWX went rogue, and also he’d have more social obligation to eradicate WWX and his work in order to like regain honor for the family & sect. If he’d been adopted, then YMJ would have been much more closely tied to WWX, and like WWX “defecting” already is still seen as partly YMJ’s responsibility/fault, either for like... idk not bringing him up right, or for cultivating a snake in their midst, and so it’d be their responsibility to “clean up their mess” so to speak. If WWX had been adopted, he might well have carried YMJ down with him too when he chose to defect, much like how the main branch of Qishan Wen carried the whole extended clan down with them. 

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Taxes are for the little people

If you wanna do crimes, make them incredibly complicated and technical. Like the hustlers that came into the bookstore I worked at and spun these long-ass stories about why they needed money for a Greyhound ticket home.

Those guys shoulda studied the private equity sector.

Private equity's playbook is to borrow giant sums by putting up other peoples' companies as collateral (yes, really). Then they use that money to buy the company they mortgaged, and pay themselves a huge dividend.

Then they sell off the company's assets and pay themselves even more money. That leaves the company in a state of precarity - assets they once owned, like their buildings, they now rent. If the rent goes up, they have to find the money to cover it.

All of this forms a pretense for mass layoffs, defaulting on pension obligations, lowering product quality, stiffing suppliers and borrowing more money. If the company doesn't go bust, the PE looters can flip it to *another* PE company, that does it again.

Whenever you see something really terrible happening to a business that once offered useful products and services and paid decent wages, it's a safe bet that PE is behind it. Toys R Us, Sears, your local hospital - and that memestock favorite, AMC.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/04/12/mammon-worshippers/#silver-lake-partners

Private equity goons make their money in two ways: the first is by pocketing 20% of  these special dividends and other extractive policies that hollow out business.

This is money at PE managers get paid for spending their investors' money. It's a wage, in other words.

But thanks to the "carried interest" loophole (a hangover from 16th-century sea captains that has nothing to do with "interest" on loans), they get to treat these wages as "capital gains" and pay far less tax on them.

The fact that we give preferential tax treatment to capital gains (money derived from gambling), while taxing wages (money derived from doing useful work) at higher rates really tells you everything you need to know about our economic priorities.

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/29/writers-must-be-paid/#carried-interest

The carried interest loophole lets PE crooks treat their salaries as capital gains, are taxed at a much lower rate than the wages of the workers whose lives they're destroying.

On top of the 20% profit-share that PE bosses get every year, they also pocket a 2% "management fee" for all the "value" they add to the companies they've taken over.

This is *definitely* a wage. The 20% profit-share at least has an element of risk, but that 2% is guaranteed.

But PE bosses have spent more than a decade booking that 2% wage as a capital gain, using a tax-fraud tactic called "fee waivers." The details of how a fee waiver don't matter because it's all bullshit, like the tale of the needful Greyhound ticket.

All that matters is that a legal fiction allows people earning *eight- or nine-figure salaries* to treat *all* of those wages as capital gains and pay lower rates of tax on them than the janitors who clean their toilets or the workers whose jobs they will annihilate.

Now, the IRS knows all about this. Whistleblowers came forward in 2011 to warn them about it. The Treasury even struck a committee to come up with new rules to fix it.

But Obama failed to make those rules stick, and then Trump put a former tax-cheat enabler in charge of redrafting them. The cheater-friendly rules became law on Jan 5, and handed PE bosses hundreds of millions in savings every year.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/12/business/private-equity-taxes.html

The New York Times report on "fee waivers" goes through the rulemaking history, the technical details of the scam, and the gutting of the IRS, which can no longer afford to audit rich people and now makes its quotas by preferentially auditing low earners who can't afford lawyers.

But former securities lawyer Jerri-Lynn Scofield's breakdown of the Times piece on Naked Capitalism really connects the dots:

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2021/06/private-inequity-nyt-examines-how-the-private-equity-industry-avoids-taxes.html

As Scofield and Yves Smith point out, if Biden wanted to do one thing for tax justice, he could abolish preferential treatment for capital gains. If we want a society of makers and doers instead of owners and gamblers, we shouldn't penalize wages and reward rents.

There's an especial urgency to this right now. As the PE bosses themselves admit, they went on a buying spree during the pandemic (they call it "saving American businesses"). Larger and larger swathes of the productive economy are going into the PE meat-grinder.

Worse still, the PE industry has revived its most destructive tactic, the "club deal," whereby PE firms collaborate to take out whole economic sectors in one go:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/14/billionaire-class-solidarity/#club-deals

We're at an historic crossroads for tax justice. On the one hand, you have the blockbuster Propublica report on leaked IRS files that revealed that the net tax rate paid by America's billionaires is close to zero.

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/08/leona-helmsley-was-a-pioneer/#eat-the-rich

This has left the Bootlicker-Industrial Complex in the bizarre position of arguing that anyone who suggests someone who amasses billions of dollars should pay more than $0 in tax is a radical socialist (so far, the go-to tactic is to make performative noises about privacy).

At the same time, the G7 has agreed to an historical tax deal that will see businesses taxed at least 15% on the revenue they make in each country, irrespective of the accounting fictions they use to claim that the profits are being earned in the middle of the Irish Sea.

That deal is historical, but the fact that it's being hailed as curbing corporate power reveals just how distorted our discourse about corporate taxes has become.

As Thomas Piketty writes, self-employed people pay 20-50% tax in countries that will tax the world's wealthiest companies a mere 15%: "For SMEs as well as for the working and middle classes, it is impossible to create a subsidiary to relocate its profits to a tax haven."

Piketty, like Gabriel Zucman, says that EU nations should charge multinationals a minimum of 25%, and like Zucman, he reminds us that the G7 deal does nothing to help the poorest countries in the Global South.

https://www.lemonde.fr/blog/piketty/2021/06/15/the-g7-legalizes-the-right-to-defraud/

These countries and the EU have something in common: they aren't "monetarily sovereign" (that is, they don't issue their own currencies *and* borrow in the currencies they issue).

Sovereign currency issuers (US, UK, Japan, Canada, Australia, etc) don't need to tax in order to pay for programs - first they spend new money into the economy and then they tax it back out again.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/06/10/compton-cowboys/#the-deficit-myth

These countries can run out of stuff to buy in their currency, but they can't run out of the currency itself. Monetarily sovereign countries don't tax to fund their operations.

Rather, they tax to fight inflation (if you spend money into the economy every year but don't take some of it out again through taxation, more and more money will chase the same goods and services and prices will go up).

And just as importantly, monetary sovereigns tax to reduce the spending power - and hence the political power - of the wealthy. The fact that PE bosses had billions of tax-free dollars at their disposal let them spend millions to distort tax policy to legalize fee waivers.

Taxing the money - and hence the power - of wage earners at higher rates than gamblers creates politics that value gambling above work, because gamblers get to spend the winnings they retain on political influence, including campaigns to rig the casino in their favor.

This discredits the whole system, shatters social cohesion and makes it hard to even imagine that we can build a better world - or avert the climate-wracked dystopia on the horizon.

But for Eurozone countries (whose monetary supply is controlled by technocrats at the ECB) and countries of the Global South (whom the IMF has forced into massive debts owed in US dollars, which they can only get by selling their national products), tax is even more urgent.

The US could fund its infrastructure needs just by creating money at the central bank.

EU and post-colonial lands can only fund programs with taxes, so for them, billionaires don't just distort their priorities and corrupt their system - they also starve their societies.

But that doesn't mean that monetary sovereigns can tolerate billionaires and their policy distortions. The UK is monetarily sovereign, in the G7, and its finance minister is briefing to have the City of London's banks exempted from the new tax deal.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-08/u-k-pushes-for-city-of-london-exemption-from-global-tax-deal

Now, the City of London is one of the world's great financial crime-scenes, and its banks are responsible for an appreciable portion of the planet-destabilizing frauds of the past 100 years.

During the Great Financial Crisis AIG used its London subsidiary to commit crimes its US branch couldn't get away with. The City of London was the epicenter of the LIBOR fraud, the Greensill collapse - it's the Zelig of finance crime, the heart of every fraud.

UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak claims banks are already paying high global tax and can't afford to be part of the G7 tax deal. If that was true, it wouldn't change the fact that these banks are too big to jail and anything that shrinks them is a net benefit.

But it's not true.

As the tax justice campaigner  Richard Murphy points out, the risk to banks like Barclays adds up to 0.8% of global turnover: "The big deal is that the 15% global minimum tax rate is much too low. Suinak has yet again spectacularly missed the point."

https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2021/06/09/how-big-is-the-tax-hit-on-banks-from-the-g7-tax-deal-that-sunak-fears-really-going-to-be/

Image: Joshua Doubek (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IRS_Sign.JPG

CC BY-SA: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

[youneedasoultraveller]

Is the popular headcanon that Nicky was illiterate, stupid and barbaric fitting in the stereotypes about Southern Europeans / Mediterraneans ? I’m guessing it’s from the American part of the fandom that’s choosing to not respectfully write Nicky since he is white while being virulent towards anybody that doesn’t perfected and accurately write Joe because he is MENA.

Hello!

Mind you, I am neither a psychologist, a sociologist nor a historian, so of course be aware these are my own views on the whole drama.

But to answer your question, yes, I personally think so. It definitely comes from the American side, but I have seen Northern Europeans do that too, often just parroting the same type of discourse that Anglos whip out every other day.

There is an abysmal ignorance of Medieval history – even more so when it concerns countries that are not England: there is this common misconception that Europe in the Middle Ages was this cultural backwater full of semi-barbaric people that stems unfortunately not only from trying to (correctly) reframe colonialist approaches to the historiographies of non-European populations (that is, showing the Golden Age of Islamic culture, for instance, as opposed to what were indeed less culturally advanced neighbours), but also from distortions operated by European themselves from the Renaissance onwards, culminating in the 18th century Enlightenment philosophes categorising the Middle Ages as the Dark Ages.

Now this approach has been time and time again proven to be a made-up myth. I will not go into detail to disprove each and every single one misconception about the Medieval era because entire books have been written, but just to give you an example: there was no such a thing as a ius primae noctis/droit du seigneur; people were aware that the Earth was not flat (emperors, kings, saints, etc, they were depicted holding a globe in their hands); people were taking care of their hygiene, either through the Roman baths, or natural springs, or private tubs that the wealthier strata of the population (and especially the aristocracy) owned. The Church was not super happy about them not because it wanted people to remain dirty, but because often these baths were for both men and women, and it was not that in favour of them showing off their bodies to one another. Which, you know, we also don’t do now unless you go to nudist spas. It was only during the Black Death in the 14th century that baths were slowly abandoned because they became a place of contagion, and they went into disuse (or better, they changed purpose and became something like bordellos). And, lastly, there was certainly a big chunk of the population that was illiterate, but certainly it was not the clergy, which was THE erudite class of the time. It was in monasteries and abbeys that knowledge was passed and preserved (as well as lost unfortunately often, such as the case for the largest part of classical literature).

So what does this mean? According to canon, Nicolò was an ex priest who fought in the First Crusade. This arguably means that at the very least he was a cadet son of a minor noble family (or a wealthy merchant one) who was part of the clergy. As such, historically he could have been neither illiterate nor a dirty garbage cat in his daily life.

Let’s then talk geography. Southern Europe (and France) was far, far more advanced than the North at the time and Italy remained the cultural powerhouse of the continent until the mid-17th century. Al Andalus in the Iberian Peninsula, the Italian States,  the Byzantine Empire (which called itself simply Roman Empire, whose population defined itself as Roman and cultural heirs of the Latin and Greek civilisations): these places have nothing to do with popular depictions of Medieval Europe that you mainly see from the Anglos. Like @lucyclairedelune rightfully pointed out: not everyone was England during the plague.

Also the Middle Ages lasted one thousand years. As a historical age, it’s way longer than anything we had after that. So of course habits varied, there was a clear collapse right after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, but then things develop, you know?

Anyway, back to the point in question. Everything I whipped up is not arcane knowledge: it’s simply having studied history at school and spending a few hours reading scientific articles on the internet which are not “random post written by random Anglo on Tumblr who can hardly find Genoa on a map”.

Nicolò stems from that culture. The most advanced area in Europe, possibly a high social class, certainly educated, from Genoa, THE maritime superpower of the age (with…Venice). It makes absolutely no sense that he would not be able to speak anything past Ligurian: certainly Latin (the ecclesiastical one), maybe the koine Greek spoken in Constantinople, or Sabir, or even the several Arabic languages from the Med basin stretching from al Andalus to the Levant. Because Genoa was a port, and people travel, bring languages with them, use languages to barter.

And now I am back to your question. Does this obstinacy in writing him as an illiterate beast (basically) feed into stereotypes of Mediterranean people (either from the northern or the southern shore)? It does.

It is a typically Anglo-Germanic perspective that of describing Southern (Catholic) Europeans are hot-headed, illiterate bumpinks mindlessly driven by blind anger, lusts and passions, as opposed to the rational, law-abiding smart Northern Protestants. You see it on media. I see it in my own personal life, as a Southern Italian living in Northern Europe for 10 years.

Does it sound familiar? Yes, it’s the same harmful stereotype of Yusuf as the Angry Brown Man. But done to Nicolò as the Angry Italian Man (not to mention the fact that, depending on the time of day and the daily agenda of the Anglo SJW Tumblrite, Italians can be considered either white or non-white).

Now, the times where Nicolò is shown as feral are basically when he is fighting (either in a bloody war or against Merrick’s men) or when Yusuf is in danger. Because, guess what, the man he loves is being hurt. What a fucking surprise.

Nicolò is simply being reduced to a one dimensional stereotype of the dirty dumb angry Italian, and people are simply doing this because they do not seem to accept the fact that both he and Yusuf are two wonderfully complex, flawed, fully-fledged multidimensional characters.

So I am mainly concentrating on Nicolò here because as an Italian I feel more entitled to speak about the way I see the Anglo fandom treating him and using stereotypes on him that have been consistently applied to us by the Protestant Northerners. I keep adding the religious aspect because, although I am an atheist who got debaptised from the Catholic Church, a big part of the historical treatment towards Southern has to do with religion and the contempt towards Catholic rituals and traditions (considered, once again, a sign of cultural backwardness by the enlightened North).

I do not want to impose my view of Yusuf because there are wonderful Tumblr users from MENA countries who have already written wonderful metas of the way Yusuf is being depicted by non-MENA people (in particular Americans), especially (again) @lucyclairedelune and @nizarnizarblr.

However, I just want to underline that, by only ever writing Yusuf as essentially a monodimensional character without a single flaw, this takes away Yusuf’s canon multidimensionality, the right he has to feel both positive but also negative feelings (he was hurt and angry at Booker’s betrayal, allegedly his best friend, AND HE HAD EVERY RIGHT TO BE – and I say this as a Booker fan as well).

I have not been the first to say these things, it is nothing revolutionary, and it exactly complements what the MENA tumblr users in the TOG fandom have also been trying to say. Both of us as own voices people who finally have the chance to have two characters that are fully formed and honest representations of our own cultures, without stereotypes or Anglogermanic distortions.

And the frustration mounting among all of us comes from the fact that the Anglos are, once again, not listening to us, even telling us we are wrong about our own cultures (see what has happened to Lucy and Nazir).

What is even more frustrating is that everything in this cursed fandom – unless it was in the film or comics – is just a bloody headcanon. But these people are imposing their HCs as if it were the Word of God, and attacking others – including own voices MENA and Italians – for daring to think otherwise.

I honestly don’t expect this post will make any difference because this is just a small reflection of what Americans do in real life on grander scale, which is thinking they are the centre of the world and ignoring that the rest of the world even exists regardless of their own opinions on it.

But still, sorry for the length, hope I answered your question.

[postmodernbeing]

Shingeki no Kyojin headcanons: 104th training corps (College AU)

Hello, Postmodernbeing here. This time I wanted to write about things that I actually know, since I’m a college student and I’m studing History and Social Sciences I found myself wondering about what would the 104th training corps focus their studies on if all of them had chosen humanities as their career. I hope you find this funny and at least a bit accurate.

IMPORTANT:  I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin, only these HCs are my own. // Might contain a few spoilers from the manga. // English is not my first language and I study uni at Latin America, so scientifical terms/words/concepts may vary. Anyhow, I thank you for reading and for your patience.

Eren Jaeger

He’s passionate about Military History, not to be confused with history of army. Eren’s rather focused in strategies, weapons and semiotics involved in military speech.

First started with books about great wars in modern era. The use of certain weapons took him by surprise due the technological development.

Then he took classes about discourse analysis, semiotics and such, and felt inspired by the discourse reflected in emblems, uniforms, flags, etc.

Eren doesn’t really have a preference between occidental or oriental, North or South, Modern or Ancient settings. He would simply devour all the books that deal with military strategy and warlike conflicts. Although he has more experience and information about great wars in modern era.

He’s fascinated with the inexhaustible human desire of freedom and the extent that it can reach. This fascination might not be very healthy, he concludes.

Also, finds a cruel beauty in violence when showed in freedom and ideals are protected over one’s own life. But he won’t tell his classmates or professors. He knows is a controversial opinion for he’s still aware the implications of massive conflicts and the abuse of power.

One thing led to another, Eren is now taking classes and reading about philosophy in war and anthropological perspectives about violence through time.

He’s so into social movements besides his main interest in college: “No one’s really free until all humanity is”, that’s his life motto pretty much.

Due his readings and researches he decided it was important to develop a political stance about the world’s problems. Eren strongly believes all lives worth the same, but systems and nations had imposed over others and vulnerated other human's lives.

Yes, Eren is anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist.

Mikasa Ackerman

Asian Studies Major / History Minor.

She thinks by studying these degrees, she pays honor to her heritage. Specially to her mother. Her family is the proudest for Mikasa is also the best student in her whole generation.

Mikasa received a scholarship thanks to Azumabito family, who are co-founders of an academic institution dedicated to Asian historical and cultural research. She might as well start working when she graduates.

Although she’s passionate about Japan’s history, she has written a few articles and essays about Asian Studies themselves and the importance of preserving but also divulging by means of art and sciences.

In her essays and research work, she likes to employ tools from many disciplines since she strongly believes all humanities and social sciences serve the very same purpose at scrutinize the social reality all the same. Might as well use demographics, ethnology, sociology, philosophy, anthropology, archeology, and so on. For it proves to bring light into questions that history by itself could answer unsatisfactorily (in Mikasa’s opinion).

Even her professors wonder how she manages to organize that much information and pull it off successfully. She might as well be more brilliant than a few PhD’s students.

Armin Arlert

Prehistoric studies / Archeology

He’s so into the studies about the prehistoric humans and routes of migration.

Passionate about the ocean and natural wonders since kid, Armin believed his career would be environmentalist or geoscience related.

That was the agreement he had with his grandad since middleschool, until he read Paul Rivet’s “The Origins of the American Man” book and captured him thoroughly. The way the book explained logically the diverse theories about global migration and enlisted the challenges of modern archeology -for there are numerous mysteries- simply devoured his conscience.

He knew from the books he’d read that most evidence of the first settlements are deep under dirt or far away in the ocean whose level has risen over the centuries leaving primitive camps – and answers – unreachable. 

That’s the reason he is so eager to study and give his best to contribute both archeology and history disciplines. Also, he’ll forever love the ocean and nature, just leave him do all the fieldwork, please.

Jean Kirstein

History of industry / Industrial heritage / Historical materialism

Jean first started interested in capitalist industries and production development in first world countries. Kind of rejected other visions and explanations since he’d read about positivism studies.

His interest in such matters started when he was a just boy. He often found himself wondering how things were made and that question captured him ever since. As he grew up, he realized that machines and industrial processes were highly involved in the most mundane objects creation.

Nonetheless, he learnt that not always the best machinery was used, nor the best work conditions were available for mass production. From that moment he’d started to read about the First Industrial Revolution and his mind just took off with questions. Invariably, he learned about labour struggle and the transforming power due workforce.

Between his readings and university classes, he’d knew more about labour movements, unions. And in the theoretical aspect, he'd learned about historical materialism analysis.

One could say that Jean possesses a humanistic vision of the implications in mass production under capitalist system along history and nowadays.

Marco Bodt

Royalty's history / Medieval Studies 

I wanted to keep his canonical fascination to royalty and the best way to do that was including Medieval Studies.

Marco would study since the fall of Roman Empire until the latest gossip of royal families all across Europe.

Might get a bit of Eurocentric with his essays but in real life discussions he’s always open to debates about decolonization. He has even read Frantz Fanon books and possesses a critical thinking about colonial countries and their relations with the so named third world.

Nevertheless, Marco finds a strange beauty in the lives of monarchs and he’s interested in study from their education, hobbies, strategies, relationships, everything.

I’d say that his favorite historical period is probably the establishment of the descendants of the barbarian peoples in the new kingdoms such as the Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Franks, Vandals, Huns, Saxons, Angles and Jutes (holy shit, they're a lot).

Because this would transcend as the beginning of his favorite matter of analysis.

Sasha Braus

History of gastronomy, development of cooking, antropology and archeological studies.

Sasha’s interested in the history that shows human development of food and cooking. She finds wonders when she inquires into cultural aspects from the first farming till modern artistic expressions that would involve food.

Such as gastronomy. But her attention got caught in literature’s food representation too, with its symbols and allegories, also in paintings that belong in still life movement, but also Sasha finds interest when food is used as rhetorical devices (for example: the apple in Adam and Eve’s myth).

She’s curious about primitive systems of irrigation, cultivation, food distribution, adaptation of wild species; as well as the domestication of animals, the diversification of the diet and its link with sedentary life, as well as the subsequent division of labor once the need for food was assured in humanity’ first cities.

Sasha’s convinced that alimentation is the pilar of civilization as we know it. For it involves cultural, artistic, economic, emotion and social aspects. Food is a microcosm of analysis of humanity.

Sasha hasn’t a favorite historical period or setting. But she definitely has a special fascination for first civilizations and their link with alimentation. Also, she likes to study the development gastronomy in occident world around different regions, social classes, and time.

Although, let’s be honest, Sasha would devour (lol, couldn’t help it) ANY book about agriculture, cattle raising, cooking or gastronomy. 

Connie Springer

Micro-history / History of everyday life.

Connie loves his hometown, has a deep respect to his family and traditions. That’s why he finds himself wondering about the most ordinary events that developed in his dear Ragako. 

The book “The Cheese and the Worms” by Carlo Ginzburg changed the way he used to understand history and capture him into meaningful discussions about what he learned was called micro-history.

His favorite quote from that book is: “As with language, culture offers to the individual a horizon of latent possibilities—a flexible and invisible cage in which he can exercise his own conditional liberty.”

Once deep into studying the Italian historians and their works, he decided to give it a try, and ever since he’s mesmerized with the mundane vestiges craftsmen that worked in his village left behind.

Connie’s parents are so proud of him and his achivements, but mostly because he became a passionate academic over human and simple matters, (so down to earth our big baby).

His attitude towards his essays and research works truly shows his great heart and humility. Connie is aware that academic works have no use if they are not meant to teach us about ourselves too and current times.

Empathy and hard work, that’s how one could describe the elements that integrate his recently started academic career.

Historia Reiss

Political History / Statistician

Her father’s family pressured Historia since she was a little girl into studying History just like his dad. For he’s a very famous historian that had made important researches and books about the greatest statesmen of Paradis.

She thought in numerous ways that she could sabotage her career or study any other career without her family’s consent and end with her linage of historians. But she ended up enrolling in tuition and so far, she is trying her best in her studies. Historia swears this is the right path for her.

But don’t let the appearances fool you, even thought she studies her father’s career and the very same branch of history’s discipline, she has her own critical sense and she’s so talented on her own, very meticulous with her research papers.

Definitely wants a PhD about women, power and politics. We stand a Gender Studies Queen.

Her complementary disciplines are Political Sciences. Historia also has a talent for philosophy and owns a diary with all her thoughts about them. She hopes one day she would write a book or a manifesto about an innovative methodology for research and teaching History of Politic Thinking.

Ymir 

Religion’s History / Theology

Just like Historia, Ymir was pressured into studying History. And if she’s totally honest, she still has some doubts about it. Even if she couldn’t imagine herself studying anything else.

Anyways, Ymir thought that she could build her career around topics that she enjoys. So, she finally chose theology for unusual reasons.

Her classmates had grown up in religious families or had experience studying the doctrines they practiced. But she, being an agnostic, found satisfaction in unraveling belief systems in different cultures and time periods.

Albeit she studies in Paradis’ University, she currently has the opportunity of taking an academic exchange at Marley’s University. This only made Ymir more conflicted about her future, for she wants to stay (near Historia) but she’s aware that Marley would offer her more academic opportunities for her specialization.

Nowadays she’s working in some collaborative research paper with some people from Mythological Studies from the Literature department. She’s nailing it, writing some historical studies about titans in Greek mythology and its impact in shaping neoclassical poetry. Her brains ugh, love her.

Reiner Braun

Official History / Biographies of heroes and great wars.

His mother convinced him with numerous books about great national heroes, but mostly because she knew that would mean sure job to her son. All political administration in every level requires of an official chronicler. 

When he started his college courses, Reiner felt motivated and he was actually convinced that he had the vocation. But the more he read the less sure he felt that the academic world was for him. He wondered if he made the right choice. If he did it for him or for his mother.

Stories and myths about heroes have always cheered him up. That gave him purpose and consoled him when feeling down. Or at least it was like that when younger. Reiner truly didn’t feel like himself when regretting his choices, but he couldn’t help it for he was changing in more than a way.

That’s why he decided to experiment with other disciplines and with time he would find joy in historical novels. He would analyze them just as good as a litterateur and research about historical context in the written story AND study the artwork’s context itself.

His favorites theorical books are: “Historical Text as Literary Artifact” by Hayden White and Michel de Certeau’ “The Writing of History”.·        

Heroes stories would always accompany him, just differently now.

Bertolt Hoover

History of mentalities / Les Annales

Intimate relationships, basic habits and attitudes. / Culture

Bertie has always been a much reticent and shy guy. As he grew up, he consolidated his sullen personality, but maintained a friendly attitude towards anyone who needed him. That’s why he thought that the priority in his studies was to be at the service of his classmates.

So, although he was passionate about research and was a fan of the French Les Annales current, he considered his mission to be in the Archive. As a cataloger, organizer and curator of ancient documents.

But the ways of History are always mysterious, and Doctor Magath showed him that other way of being was possible. Before Bertolt picked his specialty, he met Theo Magath, a professor who recently had finished writing a book: “The Idea of Death in Liberio’s Ghetto in Marley During its War Against Eldia (Paradis)” (long-ass titles are historians specialty btw). After Magath ended his book’ presentation, Bertolt reached him. They talked for hours and finally, he felt inspired into pursuing his true passion. Magath gifted him “The Historian’s Craft” by Marc Bloch as a way to reminding him his way.

By the time Bertolt took History of Mentalities as optional class, he already had some basic notions about Les Annales, Lucien Febvre, Marc Bloch, Fernand Braudel, Jacques Le Goff and such. 

Being the gentle giant he is, Bertolt finds joy in reading about different lifestyles in diverse cultures. He constantly wonders about the origin of social constructs and the way they shape thinking as much as identity.

This boy is a wonder, he might not be the best in oral presentations or  extracurricular activities but sure as hell he’ll graduate with honors.

Annie Leonhart

Oral history, about institutions. Particularly, police and justice system in early XXs.

Albeit she got into the same University than Bertolt and Reiner, even shared classes and hopes, Annie regularly felt disconnected from her studies. With time she realized it wasn't due her career itself but rather because of the currents that her professors had suggested her taking. Until now.

Talking with Hitch and Marlow about their doubts concerning subjects and departments it came up the topics of history and present time but also oral history. She’d never heard something like that before. So, that very same week, Annie started searching for information about that.

She ended up with more questions: is it all of this just academic journalism? Or maybe sociology? When we can talk about regular history and when it starts being present time? If she introduces interviews due oral history, then that makes it an interdisciplinary work? Which are the best systems for analyzing data? Definitely, she’ll need help from anthropology and sociology departments if she wants to keep going. 

Contrary to her initial prognostic, philosophy and history of historic writing became her new allies, and the text “Le temps présent et l'historiographie contemporaine” (Present Time and Contemporary Historiography) by Bédarida among others, provided Annie another perspective. 

Regarding her favorite topics, she wouldn’t say that she selected them freely. They were just practical preferences. For institutions own extensive archives and numerous functionaries. One way or another, she ended up tangled in judicial system and police issues.

With new tools and object for studying, one could find Annie having a blast as detective too. Even if her academic essays focus on institutions’ history and configuration, she’s also working in corruption and more. She doesn’t do it because she believes it’s the right thing, but besides, the thrill of the tea is spicy. Although she won’t admit it.