#based on false information and a lack of understanding of other peoples

[shiftingconfessions]

I will be pulling a wild one here

I am shifter before shiftok and shifting tumbler and so on, I was part of the firsts shifting plataforms to ever exist, the work of my friends and colleagues are diluted and changed in many methods the community still using today, or use and not yet know about it.

Shiftok is a lie. It is straight up a lie, more than half of accounts in there are lying, take the big 10 accounts all around the globe and you will see how deeply unsettling and ego blinded these ppl are.

I will share a lil secret to shifting on tumbler, most influencers KNOW that they are talking shit nowadays. The so proclaimed creators of shittok vanglorizes themselves for creating it, but deep down one was a absolute baby shifter and the other one knew her stuff but was caught in drama.

They both are part of the first shifting community ever, started on 2017, they were warned to use their voice to spread information but they decided to blind themselves and continue their fights and dramas.

Besides that, the modern Mainstream Shiftok is around money. TikTok monetizes creators and for these creators to have a base, they need people to watch their videos

Information is freedom, and there is no way to get the proper amount of needed information on shiftok, it is a short video app, we are discussing a experimental practice on reality switching.

Besides that, people now want to make you pay for shifting info, or manifestions courses, and so on

Let me tell a thing that sadly will make sense in the future: Shifting is free, shifting has always been free and those people do not have authority on the matter to even teach it

While the community has been improving, there is a lack on the shifter vanguard, on ACTUAL new stuff and an actual understanding behind shifting. Some people shift by oversimplifying things, others by hard looking into why's and hows, both are valid but they need to correspond to each other. If a community is too complex shifting becomes too hard, if a community is too simple shifting becomes a myth.

That is the state of the community, anyones out there who wants to understand why's and how's can't even find good bases since everything is gatekept and even the so called shifters from shiftok can't even understand it or desire to share it.

Therefore creating a community that is constantly a lie, people tell experiences that don't match when being re-telled and either make sense, many have been spotted doing so. Shifting changes someone, it is a trace marked on their minds forever, to fully shift is to be forever changed. Most people are either LDs or having false awakenings and calling it a day.

Besides all that people are fighting for stupid ideas. Being taboo, race changing was never a topic in our community before it began on shiftok. You know why? Because everyone knew that infinity selfs does not mean that you are equally in all realities, we all playing roles, if I am certain race in my Dr that is not the one I am in this reality, then I won't act like I am part of the minority in this reality.

As for the hypocrisies of these people, most accounts that moved this debate was being xenophobic on Portuguese and Spanish communities.

As an extra information, If you know Sunni Method, you should know that sunni was one of the first shifters (on our understanding of DR, WR and scripting) that created and sourced so many different shifting practices and helped the first gen of the community to understand the practice. She did not only proved shifting to the subliminal communities as well define a work that would be still being used today, the Sunni method is the basic for every method. And she is afro American, and for today terms, she would be changing her race depending on the reality.

For the people that keep making futile problematization on this topic, it shows that you never fully understood shifting and created fake scenarios on your mind to source a point that was never a actual point. Minorities need support on day to day life, not whatever people are believing on determined practice.

tw: mention on self harm

As for respawning, anti-respawing are a bunch of ungrateful. Respawning made the very much bases of modern shifting. And for the respawners that belief that it should end on self harm, you do not understand how respawning work and how delicate are the structured you about to mess. If you are suffering from any mental difficulties, search professional help and not spiritual help that often leads to bad escapism.

Going back

The individual journey of someone starts on the seed planted by the community they find shifting, the hard truth is that shifting isn't only a personal experience but a collective one. In another words the community state you get, is the seed of your journey. Before 2018 people had a hard time shifting because they could not understand what it was, a few years later the community achieved a gold state with sharing knowledge and methods (which the English community would constantly gatekeek to their siblings communities btw) and after the mainstreaming on TikTok shifting went down to a stone age.

People are debating either if they can or cannot do things. In shifting. The. Belief. Of. Infinity.

I can understand why baby shifters do these questions, but I see people on this community since 2020 and the ones from 2019 who end up on the wasteland of other social platforms, asking questions that are so OBVIOUS

You don't need to know everything, but for star sakes you NEED to understand the basics of the thing you are doing, what a script is and how to write one, a few methods and your own cosmological view settled down.

Shifting allows you to mix and match beliefs like a Lego set, do it for your personal journeys using what other have found in the past.

While people are degrating the community and locking good stuff a way, shifting gets every day harder and harder, becoming everytime a godfied event and a hard and thought task that only a few can achieve, that is the mindset that is being grown on the community.

Why the hell the overall community nowadays have less and less actual experiences that the community a few years ago?

For the future, I am not sure but I bet on the end of the practice in a few years, when outsiders "grow out of it". Some will shift, others will just move on with their spiritual journey and so on, the community slowly fading.

I am not here to bring a salvation message, I am so tired, I have been making so much for the last 5 years, trying so hard to archive, share and teach people about shifting, in a way that was forgotten and locked down.

I am permashifting soon, and I am posting what I know on the community where I learned shifting in my native language, this end up more in a vent and a warning to what is happening. Do not believe me if you do not want to.

As for the people that want to understand more, I really recommend for you to dig in the past, a hint is that shifting started on amino. ik it is a bad app but sometimes gems appears. Shifting predecessors (quantum immortality and dimensional jumping) are available on Reddit to be studied (see the archives version of D.J) but they don't fully translate to shifting. (do not use the reality shifting subreddit)

And leave the damned app that is TikTok, you may be laughing for 3 seconds with some random girl talking about draco, but would be way better to be in your dr. why would you let your mind rot?

Shifting is a spiritual practice sourced on scientific facts and theories, both may be fighting a lot but a thing that they have in common is digging stuff, dig and search like never before, the community and it's beliefs are open on the internet, sometimes all you need is to answer a few questions and you will be able to find a good plataform

Your journey will be good no matter what.

Happy shifting.

.

[nightswatchdisbandmentera]

There is a kind of triple irony in the following exchange because it highlights two types of blindness: literal and metaphorical.

But all of them seemed surprised to hear Maester Aemon murmur, “It is the war for the dawn you speak of, my lady. But where is the prince that was promised?” “He stands before you,” Melisandre declared, “though you do not have the eyes to see. Stannis Baratheon is Azor Ahai come again, the warrior of fire. In him the prophecies are fulfilled. The red comet blazed across the sky to herald his coming, and he bears Lightbringer, the red sword of heroes.” (Samwell V, ASOS)

The first: Melisandre has two sets of eyes that Maester Aemon does not. One set through which she literally sees the world, and another that allows her to tap into the metaphysical. Mel is a powerful seer but she, in a tragic twist of fate, remains blind to the truth. By taking elements of prophecy at face value, she has determined that Stannis Baratheon is the hero of prophecy. But he is not. And so she employs various glamours and tricks to give him legitimacy. And when Mel finally encounters the (very literal) promised prince, her metaphorical blindness causes her to look right past him.

That’s how we get to the second irony: old Maester Aemon is literally blind and does not posses Mel’s powerful prophetic abilities either. Yet he is able to ascertain that Stannis is not the hero of legend. In his blindness, he still manages to see past Mel’s glamours. Stannis’ magic sword may be as bright as the sun, but it lacks heat. And many times, we see that this false “light bringer” only serves to blind people’s eyes (very literally making them look away) and, as Aemon would put it, lead them further into darkness. For all the vision she possesses, Mel quite tragically misses the mark where Aemon does not.

But there is a third irony because even though Aemon sees what Mel doesn’t, both of them are still blinded to the truth. Mel, utterly convinced that Stannis is her man, misses the visions literally spelling out that Jon is the king. And as far as Aemon goes, he spent a good amount of time thinking that the promised prince was Rhaegar. When he had cause to change his mind, he understood that Rhaegar’s son was the one. Yet Rhaegar died, as did his son. So Aemon remained at the Wall nursing his wounds. But unbeknownst to him, Rhaegar’s son did survive. No, not Aegon. The bastard, Jon Snow. And Aemon knew Jon. He taught him, and loved him. But how tragic, and so very convenient, that Aemon did not have the eyes to actually see Jon. Because if he did, would he have seen glimpses of the prince he had mourned all those years?

This is where information becomes important, especially information that helps us understand prophecy. Both Mel and Aemon make decisions based on what is available to them. What they miss is, in large part, due to what has been hidden from view. Mel sees with her magic eyes that Jon is her king but she dismisses it because he does not align with what she knows. Aemon gives Jon advice befitting of a king, even comparing him to one, but at the end of the day he’s only a Stark bastard; he doesn’t know that this bastard boy is Aegon V come again.

So Mel’s quote doesn’t just apply to her, it comes back to Aemon as well. Both of them come to know their prince, their king, but they do not understand who he truly is. And that raises some interesting questions regarding the nature of prophecy. One may know it to the letter, but do they truly have the eyes to see and understand it? Unfortunately for Aemon, he did not and he died in his ignorance. On the other hand, Mel might be given the chance to correct her mistakes. But something tells me that in an attempt to grasp the light, she will only descend further and further into the darkness…until it’s far too late!

[crippleprophet]

[ID: the “wait, it’s all [blank]” meme of one astronaut pointing a gun at the other, edited to read “wait, it’s all celiac?” / “always has been.” with the word celiac in a groovy pink font. end ID]

happy celiac awareness month 💓🖤💓 folks expressed interest in my #Controversial Opinion, so here we go:

as someone who “has” non-celiac gluten intolerance, i don’t believe it exists.

this, as with all of my diagnostic opinions, is built from both health research & sociology, specifically the genealogy of (my) disabilities – how the labels we use & the divides we create between diagnoses are socially constructed. conditions don’t announce themselves as discrete entities; instead, labels are given based on, at best, current medical understandings of symptoms + clinical visualization measures (imaging, bloodwork, genetic testing, etc). conditions that were once considered two separate things may eventually be restructured under the same diagnostic label, & what was once considered one singular disease may be divided into separate categories, in response to new information or the new recognition / respect of existing information.

the issue with this system, though – with access to healthcare which is predicated upon diagnosis, which is itself predicated on checklists of symptoms & clinical visibility – is that we don’t know shit. our bodies are not required to present symptoms in accordance with the ICD 10, & chronic illnesses are very much an “ask four doctors, get five answers” situation.

for example: without any of my symptoms, imaging, or bloodwork changing, i’ve been diagnosed with active ankylosing spondylitis, ankylosing spondylitis that is in remission, fibromyalgia, & spondyloarthropathy. the only difference is the doctors: their belief or lack thereof in my symptoms, their familiarity with current research, & the diagnostic systems they abide by. under the NHS, it was definitionally impossible for me to have ankylosing spondylitis that was not visible on an MRI, therefore i must have been in remission, even as my symptoms were just as debilitating as before & treatable by immunosuppressants.

how this pertains to celiac: as with all chronic illnesses, symptoms of celiac disease are a broad spectrum. some people have severe growth impairment from a young age; others may only have minor skin manifestations. other common symptoms are vague & potentially attributable to any chronic illness, such as fatigue, depression, & gastrointestinal issues. crucially, though, damage to the small intestine is still occurring even in people with celiac who do not flare after consuming gluten.

following this,

the diagnosis of non-celiac gluten intolerance has nothing to do with symptom presentation or severity. it doesn’t even mean there is no clinically visible damage to the small intestine. rather, it just means you didn’t pass the test:

in my case, not only was the (notoriously unreliable) antibody blood test negative, but so were subsequent tests for the genetic markers associated with celiac.

two people with the same exact experiences can get put into two different boxes, solely based on bloodwork – but that’s not how genetics works. it’s pretty much impossible that only those two markers dictate whether or not someone has celiac, or any given disease, because genetics are infinitely more complex than that; equally, plenty of autoimmune disorders can have a genetic component but are not exclusively found in people with that particular marker (ankylosing spondylitis & HLA-B27, for example).

therefore, i firmly believe non-celiac gluten intolerance is celiac disease, just influenced by other genetic factors and/or antibodies we haven’t yet identified.

there are a whole host of issues created by the false divide of celiac vs non-celiac gluten intolerance, certainly including things i’ve never considered, but here are a few examples of what i refer to as diagnostic violence, the physical & social consequences of these forms of categorization:

celiac disease increases people’s risk for small bowel cancer. but if it’s been determined by the medical establishment that according to their criteria, you don’t have celiac disease, then you won’t receive cancer screening.

since a food intolerance is not considered an autoimmune disease, there is no medical evidence of an underlying cause of arthritis, for example, making it that much harder for people to receive diagnosis & treatment for autoimmune symptoms.

diagnostic paperwork & a letter from a doctor is almost always required to receive accommodations, & food-related accommodations are notoriously difficult to obtain at universities which require the purchase of a meal plan without sufficient gluten-free options, for example.

as a response to the dangerous ableism permeating societal attitudes toward gluten-free food, many people (diagnosed) with celiac fall back on communicating the seriousness of their needs at the expense of their undiagnosable peers. “it’s not just an intolerance!” i read over & over – never mind that gluten made me so sick i lost a significant amount of weight, my hair fell out, i had signs of multiple vitamin deficiencies, & i could only keep down liquids.

this is honestly the most blatant example i’ve come across of the complete arbitrariness of diagnostic categories, but it’s far from the only one, & i’d love to hear other folks’ controversial opinions – what physical disabilities do you tell people you have without a diagnosis? do you consider yourself to have that condition, or is this just for expediency of communication? how does your undiagnosability affect your interactions with community formed around that diagnosis?

your experiences are real, your symptoms are serious, & it is not your fault that white supremacy demands a categorizability which all bodies inherently fail. join the club – we’ve got plenty of gluten-free snacks. 💓🖤💓

[chirpsythismorning]

People keep posting in the tag like WHERE ARE THE LEAKS bc we keep talking about it.

To be clear, there are no leaks. And I feel like it’s disingenuous to keep humoring stuff that we know for a fact is false. Like it’s 100% false and there is no room for speculation.

And then on top of that not giving the full context of the situation that led us here, because a lot of fans just popping in obviously don’t have that context. They hear the word leak and they get excited and then it just spirals to something that complicates things even more.

To be clear, there was one account on Twitter that is known for having sources and getting leaks. This one account said they got a spoiler in their inbox. They did not share that source nor the spoiler. That’s where the supposed leak ends. That’s it.

Since that happened, fans have been unhinged making claims they have a source too.

I understand being misinformed because you don’t have all the information. And that’s why it’s harmful to humor stuff as if it has an ounce of validity when we know it doesn’t, creating confusion.

If there was ever a leak, it’ll come from a source directly, and it’ll likely end up on the Hawkins AV Club on Reddit. IF you want leaks, join that sub and wait it out. THEN if and when something happens, there will likely be a list of leaks based on what comes from that. THIS is when there will be fans saying they have a leak, when really all they have is the leak the sub has. If fans said they had leaks in the past and they ended up being accurate, it came from that sub, not from their personal source. And so that’s my issue with taking claims fans have sources seriously rn, bc there are no leaks for them to even claim they have. They’re just trolling and using the past of having leaks that weren’t even theirs in the first place, as an excuse for why they magically have some now. But they don’t.

And seeing fans take these claims seriously, when its coming from people very intentionally mocking bylers, like it’s hard to watch.

It’s not a matter of maybe it’s true maybe it’s not. It’s not true. And spending time confusing people over it as if there’s a chance it could be true, is going to make this hiatus miserable bc we are clearly struggling to think critically about what’s worth our time, as if it’s worth confusing other fans over, based simply on just wanting stuff to talk about.

Of course we’re bored and lacking content. There is still plenty of stuff we can do that doesn’t involve falling for stuff specifically made to mock us by antis.

And now people elsewhere are saying the leaks came from byler tumblr, which isn’t even true, and we’re getting shit on for something that wasn’t our doing in the first place. We get enough hate as it is for simply shipping byler, and now we have to deal with claims that we are making up stuff. People are going to think and say what they want about us, but I dread that we’re giving them ammo to criticize us even more for stuff that we never started in the first place.

[utilitycaster]

A lot of people who try to analyze religion in Exandria need to watch the Adventuring Academy episode where Brennan and Matt talked about worldbuilding, specifically when Matt said “In a game like dungeons and dragons, or a lot of role playing games where ultimately part of the game is to overcome villains and rise up and become a hero, there has to be some level of universal antagonism… there is a pure and defined entity or force that is evil, it may not be realistic to some stories out there, but that’s [how it works in DND].”

This is true, and it's really interesting to watch this happen because Matt will make a huge, unambiguous evil like Lucien or the Vanguard, or Brennan will do so with Asmodeus and people will do everything they can to try to come up with reasons to woobify them or argue why they're justified...but I haven't seen this happen in most of the D20 seasons, and I think it's because the villains in most D20 seasons have been things that reinforce people's beliefs, namely, capitalism and abuse of religious power. And to be clear, capitalism and abuse of religious power fucking suck, but it's telling that people assume the villain is capitalism in places where that doesn't apply on a wide scale, or in some cases, exist (EXU Calamity, Neverafter); or that the Ruby Vanguard or Tomb Takers, both of which have pretty much every single hallmark of a cult but just aren't affiliated with the main pantheon, are actually the good guys.

Incidentally: this is like, quite literally how people get sucked into cults. One of the leading cult researchers in the world, Janja Lalich, is a survivor of a now dissolved explicitly leftist/anti-capitalist cult. Abuses of power, which is, ultimately, what both Brennan and Matt lean on as their Universal Antagonist traits, rely on confirming people's existing biases and exploiting them - even if those biases are broadly good! This is in fact why I can get so fucking adamant about what is mostly silly fandom shit, because I do, on some level, look at some takes that completely lack critical thinking and am like oh you'd 100% buy into all kinds of dangerous patterns of thought if someone packaged it nicely; even something as stupid as the Caleb Werewolf Theory relied on circumstantial evidence and false information that you could easily verify was false. And it's annoying but mostly harmless in the context of fandom, but it always makes me wonder - does this person do this with political posts on social media?

Anyway getting back to the main point, I think watching/listening to Brennan commentary on Adventuring Academy is generally a really good idea because he is a very smart guy with a philosophy degree and has a strong grasp of the genres in which he works as well as TTRPGs as a storytelling medium, and talks to other people who also have a good understanding of the morality of fantasy stories. And if you listen to this, you will in fact get that the basis of evil in these stories is not something as specific as "capitalism" or "religion"; it's quite literally as basic as "exploiting other people simply because that is an option available to you and you don't care about them." And obviously that's the whole basis of capitalism, and it's a serious problem that exists within organized religion, but like...not to repeat myself from this weekend but I keep thinking about the "Suvi without the imperialism" and it's like...she is a 20 year old woman whose parents died for a cause and we have had ONE episode with her as an adult. We know nothing about the Empire except that it's an empire and it is at war. Like, can you look at imperialism and understand why it's bad? Can you separate the concept of imperalism - which, to be clear, is based on power structures - from say, your 21st century understanding of empires in the real world? Or do you see the word Empire and go "Bad Thing" without any capacity to analyze because that's how you end up looking at two flawed things in a story (well, if we're lucky; see the middle paragraph) and deciding one is perfect and correct for no reason other than because it opposes the thing you think is worse. And Brennan is REALLY good at skewering that, and Matt is REALLY good at portraying multiple complicated and flawed perspectives, but you do have to like, use your brain slightly.

[theculturedmarxist]

Over 500 children have been killed in Gaza in the last week and over 2,000 maimed, many with life changing injuries. Nobody can claim they do not know what is already happening or what is about to unfold. The cutting off of food and water to Gaza is a major international crime, which the western proponents of the “rules based order” universally refuse to condemn.

In both the UK and the US there can be no more stark illustration of the lack of any kind of meaningful democracy, than the fact that there is no major political party that opposes the genocide – despite massive public opposition.

The bought and paid for media and political class in the west are extremely nervous, throughout the western world. Now they have come to the final genocide for which zionism has always aimed, they face a good deal of popular resistance.

Throughout Europe there is a massive gap between the zionist unanimity of the politicians and the much greater understanding of the Palestinian situation among the general public. Tellingly the response by the zionist political class has been a wave of outright fascist suppression.

In France, Macron has made all pro-Palestinian demonstrations illegal, but as so often the French people are not standing for that kind of authoritarianism.

In the UK, the police have adopted the cowardly tactic of arresting a couple of individuals, one in Brighton and one in Manchester, for pro-Palestinian demonstration. Under Tony Blair’s notorious draconian “anti-terror” legislation, they could face up to 14 years in prison.

The young man in Manchester was arrested on the precise site of the famous “Peterloo massacre”, which generations of British people were taught at school was a terrible crime in breach of the rights to freedom of speech and assembly. Let the irony of that set in.

You can go out in the streets of the UK with an Israeli flag and yell that you want every Palestinian to be cleansed from Gaza. That is not illegal. If you say the Palestinians have a right to resist their genocide, that is illegal.

That appears to be a genuine analysis of the law in the UK, France and many other western countries.

That is intended to terrify all of us. It will not work.

The European Commission has been ferociously zionist and gung-ho for this Palestinian genocide. It displayed the Israeli flag on its Berlaymont headquarters. It has taken a side in the most ferocious way.

It is therefore deeply sinister that the European Commission is actively working to shut down pro-Palestinian information and comment on social media. The European Commission has written to all major social media organisations and is able to threaten them with massive fines if they do not remove information of which the European Union disapproves.

The notion is plainly nonsense that through the fog of war the European Commission – which is 100% parti pris – is qualified to say what information is true and what information is false, and what comment is legitimate.

Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner in charge of this operation, is a former chief executive of electronic companies – and defence contractors – Atos and Thomson. He has no genuine interest in freedom of speech, and is engaged in a process of silencing dissent for military aims, which is quite simply fascist.

We are witnessing almost all western governments deliberately facilitating massacre, ethnic cleansing and genocide. We are witnessing almost all western governments turning on their own people to crush dissent at that complicity in genocide.

This feels not so much like the week that western democracy died, as the week it was impossible any longer to deny that western democracy died some time ago.

[tamelee]

NARUTO TOPIC: (NON-)'CANON'

In regard to this ask by @isabeldc (and a lot of recent Anon asks about Canon).

(Very long post. [a lot of warnings])

Eh.. I feel like I might be the only person interested in this topic from a p.o.v. that talks about what goes on behind the story. And that is fine this is my personal view. But I think it is vital in a conversation like this because that is where it starts. I still hope this answers the Canon asks I still had though. I apologize, I have studied marketing and am studying storytelling, so this post is kinda theoretical.

Disclaimer: What is Canon is not up to you or me, but your truth will always be yours.

Yes, this post is intentionally color coded.

WHAT DOES CANON MEAN?

Canon is original (and official) source material. 

So, as 'Naruto' became an entire franchise based on that original source material- this means: the Manga.

However, additionally Canon also means: material derived from the original source that matches the same narrative. Kishimoto's narrative. (His work.)

A common misconception is that narrative is the same as storytelling (skill) or plot. A plot (chronological) is part of the story. It is a sequence of events (beginning → end). The complete narrative can be more seen as the story itself, a structure and a means to help you understand the creator's perspective and their values. Aka, again: Kishimoto's narrative, his p.o.v. By definition all literature is narrative. This is a very complex topic and yet despite 'Naruto Canon' being easy to define- some people are confused. I also know it's not that serious, I'm making this because I find the topic interesting. That's all.

What made it so confusing for 'Naruto'?

When you experience a story (reading/watching/listening) you use two ways of thinking: paradigmatic and a narrative one. It means logic (facts/truth) and the narrative way of thinking which deals more with human intentions, feelings and personal experiences. They play a part in your interpretation*.

A story's structure reflects the way we, as a learning individual, give meaning to (or make sense out of) personal experiences. Also why humans benefit from learning through narrative (story) as it is more easily absorbed by our brains.

Hence, in our case, when you observe an absurd amount of mental gymnastics or out-of-context reasoning to force 'boy loves girl' despite evidence, (heteronormative thinking), what is really happening is that someone is trying to mentally connect pieces of information to an existing related thread of thoughts. This through concepts, feelings, images, sensations, metaphors etc. An element ('Naruto's story) is ‘wrapped’ and connected to existing narratives in our head. Often biased. (s)

It is not always ignorance or ill intent. Not always.

Such idiosyncratic interpretations* of Canon and other contradictions that only live in a fan's head are Headcanon.

*Note: stories play a very important role in interpretation. And while the mind is a personal thing that in itself is not an excuse to create false narratives on purpose. (Cognitive bias.) These are obvious as they lack in sufficient and accurate information. Your "interpretation" isn't source-material-truth (as in Canon) by itself.

That's why it has been easy to ignore marketing material until now because:

Whoever controls the narrative has the power to influence the reader/viewer. (Depending on target-audience. And yes, I'm talking about what you think I'm talking about.)

(Gretchen Busl did a TEDx talk about control in narratives.)

Which brings me to..

Ownership

Viz Media (terms are incredibly long) says that Kishimoto and Viz Media LLC/Shueisha co-own 'Naruto's licensing. Viz Media (led by Ken Sasaki) is also the one that oversees the financial and operational concerns, controls, buys and handles all the affiliations (which also means hiring third-party employees), licensing and broadcasting businesses as it is the parent company.   And well, this is normal. Kishimoto is a Mangaka, not a business man.

What I'm emphasizing here is that Kishimoto does not have full ownership of 'Naruto' (which has its own rules) as it became more than a story. A franchise. Something that became a profitable source due to the story's success. Even as he was creating the Manga, he mentioned in interviews that he had to argue with the team about details/scenes (Naruto's sexy Harem Jutsu- guy version etc) and that he felt pressured about x, y and z.

A popular book about screenwriting ("Save the Cat!" by Blake Snyder) talks about pre-sold franchises. It is when studios produce sequels/remakes that an audience is already "sold" on. A built-in fan base. In the early '00s big companies already had trouble grabbing a viewer's attention as the average attention span was cut down to 30 seconds. These days it is down to less than 5. (Newer studies say it's more an issue of us becoming more demanding, an adaptation of sorts.) People quickly give up on new shows if it doesn't grab them immediately and it is hard to cut through all the traffic that competes for attention. I even notice myself finding it hard to get into new shows lately and needing to really sit down in order to give it a chance. 'Naruto' has everything that Hirohiko Araki (creator of JoJo) describes as 'the Royal Road of Manga', so decision-makers just don't think that you're out there always wanting to try something new. They're not willing to gamble without research. (That's not smart anyway.) And this happened a lot throughout Shippuden with the help of polls, (most popular female character for example which was a huge one) collecting data and doing thorough quantitative research to predict a future and hopefully spot a trend. Hence the existence of 'Boruto'.

So what do you think? How genuine is 'Boruto' anyway?

(Having done research doesn't mean automatic success.. as we are the built-in fanbase.)

This also is happening as I write this post. (Though the current poll seems highly busted as the cult found a way to vote multiple times a day.)

You may constantly hear people say "Boruto is only made for profit" and that in the end is true, yet there is more to it. I hope you can see why. And it is important to understand the underlying intentions in my opinion when it comes to a discussion about something being genuinely Canon. Which is why many people refuse the sequel to be Canon in the first place.

.. Storytelling and building a franchise around the original work (incl. business, marketing, adaptations) are different things. 

In all definitions for something to be judged as Canon, as a general rule, official material has to be genuine. Preferably made by the original creators themselves. If it goes against the narrative (the story) or if it doesn't add anything that matches the same narrative as the original source material, then it is non-Canon.

THE ANIME

'Filler lists' for Anime are made by page contributors which you and I can register for too. Despite 'Naruto' finishing in 2017, the most popular lists get updated regularly and not too long ago.

Why you ask? Personal bias and confusion created around its messy sequel 'Boruto'. They've added 'Anime Canon' (it makes no sense) which simply means Filler (non-Canon). Episodes based on novels (every episode after 484) are now marked as 'Manga Canon' and previously were not as there is no Manga nor is it Canon.

Hence, people are bringing up the Canon-question lately. Things in 'Naruto' are being changed in discussion for the sake of its sequel. "If that in 'Boruto' is true then this for 'Naruto' wasn't right either!!" They say. Hello????? Its foundation is being reworked instead of the other way around. And I don't know about you and this has nothing to do with Naruto or Sasuke as characters only, but that's pretty damn sad. (And yes I know, what exists already can never be changed, but this is still a matter of controlling the narrative which I'll explain.)

To produce an animation a lot of people are involved. (Literally hundreds.) Don't take my word for it though, there are plenty of documentaries about the process that you can look for. I also have a few examples from ASO College group Japan. The pics are from their animation course. To understand how a change in narrative (or deliberate control) can happen, it helps to know a bit about the process.

This is just a general overview but all of these are vital for the production of animation. Everyone has their own role but first, before anything there is a planning phase. Someone who schedules and does the finances etc. 

The Producer.

Aka Studio Pierrot (and Aniplex) for Naruto (Shippuden) 4 years after the Manga was published. Well, the planning started probably earlier but that’s when the Anime first aired. (2002) 

Then, you need a director who will grasp the entire image of the work and control the production to make sure that everything progresses smoothly.

“The director has the right to make the final decision on many aspects of the animation project.”

The narrative of the Manga will always be kept in mind (of course) but this is true!!! Kishimoto is not the director of the Anime. It is not his job. (Although as a Mangaka, you are also a director of your story in the Manga as well.) And at the same time he was still extensively working on the Manga without rest.

For ‘Naruto’ the director was: 

Hayato Date

For ‘Naruto Shippuden’ the directors were:

Hayato Date (1 - 479)

(Note: interesting choice to switch director here, no?)

Osamu Kobayashi (480 - 483) 

Chiaki Kon (484 - 488)

Toshinori Watanabe (489 - 493)

Masahiko Murata (494 - 500)

‘Naruto’ has 30+ episode directors who are in charge of the individual episodes themselves. ‘Naruto’ Shippuden around 77 (!!).

Only when everything is decided planning-wise, then they start the process. They need someone to fill in all the details and spoken lines.

That’s the amazing work of a screenwriter. 

“Even if the work is being adapted from an original Manga or novel,”

“Modifications are almost always needed for producing the animation.” 

Of course, a scene needs to be filled as blocks of narratives are missing between panels or even rewritten in order to produce an episode. In the case of 'Naruto' entire fight scenes needed to be choreographed. Dialogue needed to be added in order to compose an entire episode out of a few panels. Entire Seasons of Filler arcs exist. Who do you think wrote all that?

These people:

This is relevant because it means that more than 30 people are involved in the process of 'storying content' based on their own judgement of the original Manga. If you ever wondered why some episodes are very much in favor of one narrative and seemingly against the same one in another- this is why as well.

"Can you kill me calmly(/softly)? Sasuke.."

Some things didn't make it into the Anime. Other things changed that modify the context a bit like having the other Shinobi help Naruto during the War by animating all those hands. Or have Naruto show regret after "dying" because he promised Jiraiya he would become Hokage. That changes a lot because in actuality he didn't mind dying with Sasuke, that was his choice. Having him show regret in front of Sasuke would make Sasuke feel guilt, (that's what some people thought) as if he was blaming him for it. That wasn't the case at all, yet, if you haven't read the Manga I can see why you'd think that as it gets brought up in conversation. They completely missed the mark in my opinion. And well, Sasuke's entire confession.. it would've explained a lot for Anime watchers. During VotE2, Sasuke's emotions were dulled compared to the Manga as well as in the panels, he was shouting while punching Naruto.

Then of course there are certain scenes that were glorified and characters which background stories are completely made up. And yet, those episodes are marked as 'Manga Canon' (when it should be 'Mixed Canon/Filler'.)

Which is fine, the point is that the Anime is created by an enormous team. Even the slightest modification changes the narrative and it is inevitable as so much script is added or at points, lost. But arguing for Canon based off of a list is completely pointless for these reasons.

Currently as I write this, 197 - 222 from Shippuden are all marked as 'Manga Canon' except for 213 (Mixed Canon/Filler) and I don't think it was that way(?), which is perfect because I want to talk about that one and 212.

The story at this point is Sakura running after Sasuke and Kiba told her where he is. She knocks out her comrades whom she asked for help, leaves them to die in the middle of a path in enemy territory so she can go after Sasuke herself and thinks she can kill him with a useless poisoned kunai even though he is immune to it. (Confirmed by Kakashi.) Now, please take note of the image that the OP called 'lovers' is painting ↩

Ah yes the love-triangle. Except, no one is paying Sakura any attention. The OP/ED’s have their own directors btw.

In this arc, both Naruto and Sakura set their own resolve in how they are handling their current situation and decide what to do in regard to Sasuke. More importantly how they feel about it. The Anime decided to split up their decision-making into two episodes in order to show you the contrast deliberately. 212 'Sakura's Resolve' (Manga Canon?) for Sakura, and 213 'Lost Bonds' (Mixed Canon/Filler'?) for Naruto.

First, Sakura deceived, hurt and manipulated (yes, she did, your meta's defending this don't make sense) the people around her so she could run off on her own. Naruto sneaked off without Yamato knowing, although he got annoyed, his little white lie saying he "slept" didn't hurt anyone. In fact, if he wasn't on time Sakura would've died. They both got 2 panels in the Manga running towards the bridge where Sasuke is.

In the Anime however majority of ep 212 shows Sakura running while we hear her thoughts about the matter. The same for Naruto in ep 213 although he is in despair while lying in bed first which is prolonged too.

They add scenes of Sakura as a child where she tells other kids, including Ino that she picked Sasuke to be her crush. For Naruto it is scenes of him picking Sasuke to be his rival.

We see a ton of "Team" 7 flashbacks while we hear their thoughts. Sakura asks herself when she fell in love with Sasuke, that being teammates didn’t change her, how she was “so hopelessly in love with the cool Sasuke..” as we see some scenes of her staring at him:

.. yada, yada..

As for Naruto, he says the reason he picked Sasuke to be his rival is because he was so different from himself (as Sasuke was so good at everything at the time and Naruto wasn’t) he wanted to become like Sasuke. (He confessed this in Canon.) Naruto explains that Sasuke was always one step ahead of him and that the reason why he trained so hard was because he wanted to catch up to him. He’s his strength. (Do you see where this is going? Do you already notice the insane contrast with the previous episode and how it feels?) Instead of Sakura's shallow thoughts and selfish love they show Sasuke acknowledging Naruto which is also Canon (Chunin Exam). Something he realized he wanted since Chapter 3.

“It was the first time Sasuke acknowledged me as an equal.” he says.  

Then, in Sakura's episode she reflects upon how she never gave a thought to who Sasuke really was “behind that pensive face” and when she realized “the shadow he carried” it was too late. Thus, Sakura gives up on Sasuke. (But that is Canon.) She also goes on about Naruto knowing more than her and her trying to catch up with them but that Sasuke isn’t Sasuke anymore. Her thoughts here, although not in the Manga word for word in the same Chapter, still match Canon. She doesn't know anything about Sasuke and Kishimoto has her confess this again after the war, that all she could do was cry.

Naruto’s thoughts, confessions are actually also in the Manga and he repeats them later in the scene which is under the bridge both in the Manga and the Anime.

Naruto reflects upon what he knows and came to learn. Then Sai is shown (who’s character is used also to help readers/viewers answer questions about Kishimoto’s version of “bonds”), as he says that both Naruto and Sakura must have a reason to pursue Sasuke so desperately even though he doesn’t understand it all that clearly yet. Because he doesn't. This to emphasize the point of the episodes.

While Sakura had set her resolve to kill Sasuke by herself, Naruto is still in despair about the entire situation and previous events. He mulls over his bond with Sasuke (this extension of the pining isn’t in the Manga) while we see some more flashbacks (Retrieval Arc, Canon). He accepts that at the time he didn’t understand Sasuke as he thinks over his words during VotE1 while they show scenes that are in the Manga:

We get to see more flashbacks from characters who press Naruto about his bond with Sasuke as they all tell him to give up on him. As they tell him to focus on his goals to become Hokage which can't include Sasuke and that he's a fool that should become wiser if he wants to survive as a Ninja. As not only the whole world gives up on Sasuke and Naruto's faith in Sasuke, even Sakura who supposedly loves him so much says that he's is too far beyond their reach... Yet she comes to realize after Naruto’s speech under the bridge that it is only Naruto that is able to reach Sasuke, that only Naruto never gave up on him and that her resolve to kill Sasuke in comparison to Naruto who wants to bear Sasuke's hatred and die with him.. is not only weak- they made it pretty clear how irrelevant she is to him. As she says herself: She's the one not able to reach him, but Naruto can. And she said this before 'Sasuke's retrieval Arc' too.

Conclusion:

Naruto already said he'd rather be a fool his whole life.

So, the Anime tells it slightly differently than the Manga, neither episodes are entirely 'Manga Canon' and don't follow the original structure. However it is all based on Canon, so how would you judge this? There is a reason why I bring this up.

It would almost be impossible for an Anime to be completely 'Manga Canon' because your Anime would be really short yet what you can do is be genuine and stay true to the narrative. Which is what happened here. So why is everyone simply accepting how every episode is marked by a random person anyway? Why are some episodes marked differently when it's the same? That list is biased as hell.

For that reason I'm very selective about episodes being Canon or not. Some scenes within an episode are, some aren't.. But in the end every episode despite Fillers up until Shippuden ep 479 the message didn't change. Hinata and Sakura still were ignored in the end and dudebro's ran to the internet to complain about Naruto and Sasuke's fixation on each other. And so for me it doesn't really matter much.

And also, I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I wouldn't mind a Naruto remake. If they could do it well at least and follow the Manga completely without so many flashbacks and leave out all the fillers? Make it like the bingewatch-Anime's like they make these days? It's just that I don't have a lot of faith in it. But if they could with a non-bias director? (At least one that understands the Manga well.) I'd love to see it.

MOVIES

For the same reasons I don’t consider the movies Canon. Not even if Kishimoto worked on them. So many people work on these movies even at the planning stage alone and then hundreds including the animation, voice acting, production and music... Plastering Kishimoto’s name on it and saying “he worked on it” doesn’t really say much tbf.

The only exception is ‘Boruto the Movie’ (if you count that in the first place), because Kishimoto was very vocal about it being his personal project. He did not only write the story, but also did the screenplay. (!) Which is very different from vaguely saying "..he was involved in the writing." And it shows because the ‘Boruto’ Anime, with their weird shipping-agenda, re-did the scenes to make them look less gay. Which is insulting tbh. 

And no, 'the Last' is not Canon, Genjutsu my ass.

We all know why it was made and if you go back to the meaning of ‘Canon’ (“material derived from the original source that matches the same narrative”) that’s not it. Genjutsu worked on Naruto before he could control Kurama's Chakra. Explain to me why Kurama, whom had a perfect partnership built with Naruto at the end of the series, hated Naruto all of a sudden and refused to break him out of that lame guilt trip other than stupid plot-reasons and you may have a point. I'll wait.

DATABOOKS

Vague, includes subjective commentary by staff and are highly inconsistent. I guess they’re fun to use when discussing powerscaling between characters. You can quickly check a character's Chakra nature or profile which is useful. For things like that I guess they can be helpful.

For other data though.. why not use the Manga? All the data is in there already. While it is true that the books use the Manga as a source and it is nice to know their birthdays, the commentary includes words that literally don’t make sense. Temari can “blow away the Universe” (subjective) and Sakura sees Naruto as “a troublesome guy that courts her insistently but only wants the best for him and never doubted him.” (wrong) Hinata is described as a “pure white lily whose feelings of love reach towards the future in place of her resolve” (my god). There is a reason why people use these Databooks so insistently while ignoring the Manga. It is glorified and untrue. 

Therefore, sure they may be fun to have (I guess) because they’re meant to show you a summarized overview of a character through spiced up vocabulary like they’re selling them to you, but that’s why Databooks can’t be Canon. 

INTERVIEWS

You have years worth of story and a little interview is what should invalidate or support that entirely? Everyone has their own bias/characters after all. Characters that Kishimoto openly mocks. Kishimoto's earlier interviews seem very genuine and he goes in-depth about his story and how he’s thinking about ending it too. As early as 2006.

He leaves little stories about his life in-between Manga Chapters and they're enjoyable to read. Some interviews are also in his art-books. But around the time they started to press him about ships in the middle of Shippuden? He stumbles around words, says contradicting things, constantly mentions feeling pressured and starts hiding. I think it is clear why this happened. But that's why I try not to use them in arguments because it is easy to counter his words with his own damn words said in another interview :')!

I do use his interviews when it comes to his art-form/writing because I, as an aspiring writer, love to take inspiration from him. But no, interviews are not Canon as Kishimoto himself, has been too contradicting. Which is why I don’t use them if possible, not even in SNS’s favor. 

Of course, this applies to VA's etc- too.

NOVELS

None of the novels from the Naruto franchise (though maybe Itachi Shinden? Not sure) are truly made to add something new that was in character. Truthfully I haven’t read them all but novels are non-Canon. Yes, no matter what label they give them in order to fool you into getting interested in its dumb sequel. This never used to be a question in the first place. Not like this anyway. The only fandom that is questioning this is.. *drumroll please* the Naruto/SS/Boruto-fandom. Wow, I wonder why. Are you surprised? Are you questioning this? Ok. Google something vaguely like "are novels canon?" and see what comes up. Ikr? And you didn't even mention 'Naruto'. And I know, I'm sure there are plenty of people saying the novels are Canon nowadays, hence this post. And hence the changes in the Filler-lists.

There is one I have read in its entirety though, the one that made that all happen, which author (mostly known for the Retsuden series) made sure to note it is in fact, NON-Canon.

And this is probably the only thing I'll agree on with Esaka.

These aren't Esaka’s only tweets claiming the novels to be her own. As in: singular. Or her own interpretation/story/not an extension of the original Manga. What people don’t understand is that plastering Kishimoto’s name on a novel as “by Masashi Kishimoto” is a marketing ploy because it sells well. It makes 'Boruto' and in this case a ship that has no development more legit despite still having no development.

It makes us talk about it more. Joke's on me. I'm aware thanks.

Because they know that people do care about things being Canon even if people make posts about them not caring about things being Canon or not. Wdym oxymoron. Showing off the Mangaka's name means the story (the original Manga) is by Kishimoto not the story within the novel but they don’t have to specify that on a cover. Why? Because they CO-OWN the licensing. They hired Esaka who got into 'Naruto' only a year before writing her fantasy novel. He didn’t sit next to her to write her trash garbage (anti-)fanfic. (Spoiler). Why is that so hard to understand? 

Check WSJ, 27th issue if you must, “she (Esaka) returns” after having written Sasuke Shinden and Kakashi Retsuden. 

These novels are simply made to create more income for the company and the quickest way to do so is by picking a target audience and satiate their needs. Kishimoto mentioned he had no clue how to get SS together as Sasuke only has rejected her and had no reason to love her (Canon) and so they hire a SS-shipper to write that story.

"So?" I hear you say. "He couldn't think of anything, so they hire someone else, what's the big deal."

Oh. glad you asked. Well for one, we already had 'Gaiden' where Kishimoto made the dynamic between the characters as adults pretty clear. Secondly, this novel was a response to 'Gaiden' and went directly against the entire narrative including the original source almost as if to debunk what was already there. Like she was saying that Kishimoto was wrong about everything and that her ship is sailing strong regardless while taking his scenes AND dialogue used between Naruto and Sasuke but then using them for SS. This, because Esaka seemed a little bitter about it. So therefore already, 'Retsuden' can't be Canon no matter what. Thirdly, she is a well-known Naruto and Hinata hater who openly likes tweets mocking them and supports the idea that Naruto is a third wheel who is not really that important to Sasuke. Engaging in such (anti-)fandom behavior as a "professional author" hired by the franchise and holding quite the influence for your sub-fandom is just disrespectful. She agrees with fans who beg for official smut novels and art from her and Kishimoto and I just don't think she should is all. (This, and don't laugh, is also marketing research, she can, if the company can profit from it, actually make it happen. Because it already did with the adaptations. But doing so with this type of behavior, doesn't mean the narrative-change is Canon.)

Also, Kishimoto drew the cover but didn't even design it himself. He got the assignment by email. That's how much he was involved. Kenji Takahashi from the design company ‘Terra Engine’ is in charge of the designs and JJ-books interviewed them about it in 2019. (S)

I might one day make a short summary of a long post I made about Retsuden because that one is a mess. I don't encourage you to read it. I do have to say, if you think Sasuke with 2 arms, or Avatar-filter screenshots are bad, from what I've seen, those adaptations are 1000000x better than the novel 😂💀 and that's saying a lot.

Anyway I talked enough. 🌷

[uncloseted]

why do you think media literacy is dying?

I think a big part of it is just the introduction of the internet. In the 1980s, before the world wide web became a thing that lots of people had access to, the sources of information that people had access to were relatively limited and generally pretty well vetted. In the US, ABC, CBS, and NBC were the only free channels on TV, and you would generally get one or two newspapers a day. The information people were getting from those sources were generally well-researched, well-written, and with at least some attempt to be impartial. If you wanted to know anything that wasn't in the newspaper, you had to go to the library and try to find a book with the answer to your question. While all local libraries have some books that are probably not exactly accurate, the information in those books had to go through an editor, a publisher, maybe a legal team, and then be chosen by the librarian to add to their collection. In a sense, I think people used to be more media literate because there weren't a ton of things to be media illiterate about. Compare that with our media landscape now, where we have access to hundreds of TV channels, plus streaming services, plus millions of random people on YouTube and social media, plus websites with their own agendas that masquerade as legitimate. There aren't really institutions in place to protect us from misinformation anymore, and protecting ourselves is a full-time job. We have to approach everything we see online with skepticism because we don't know where the information came from, how well it was sourced, or what the bias or agenda of the poster is. Plus, we have algorithms that are intentionally feeding us content that it thinks we want to see, whether the information in that content is true or not. It's much easier to believe something false when we want to believe it, and now we're being bombarded with information that we want to believe all day long.

I think the other element to this decline in media literacy, at least in the US, is the No Child Left Behind Act. No Child Left Behind introduced a system where schools are evaluated based on standardized testing, which in turn introduced an educational curriculum that, in many places, focuses only on things that might appear on a standardized test. And as a result of that, English classes, which used to focus on literacy - things like reading comprehension, identifying motifs and themes in literature, identifying bias in text, distinguishing the author's point of view from the narration - started to focus instead on things that could be easily tested. This usually ends up being things like "locate information in a text", "define this word", "identify which words are synonyms", and "identify the correct grammatical structure". Literacy just isn't being taught the way that it used to be, and so as a result, people are generally less media literate as well. In the US, about 54% of adults lack literacy proficiency, meaning that they can't reliably evaluate sources or infer sophisticated meaning and complex ideas from written sources. Some sources suggest that 20% of adult Americans have a literacy proficiency at or below Level 1- meaning that they struggle to understand texts beyond filling out basic forms. In that context, I think it makes a lot of sense that half the people in any online comment section seem like they've totally missed the point.

[cosmichighpriestess]

Here is the inside scoop on what" narcissist's" fear, which are just people who don't know themselves and can be extremely abusive, the intention is not to use this information against the narcissist, but to help heal you, help educate you on how their internal world feels. These individuals, are afraid of being exposed, they don't want anyone to know what they are doing or how they really feel on the inside. They are deeply afraid of public humiliation, they will control and dominate conversations/situations and people to avoid any kind of possible humiliation.

This will actually make them break down and cry later on that night, but don't expect them to cry right in front of you or the group, they will actually attack you. They are afraid of being ordinary, they really need to feel superior to other people. They are afraid of being alone, isolated, and/or ignored. They cannot regulate their self-esteem, or emotions(they are terrified of their own feelings) they are completely dependent on outside validation and narcissistic supply aka you. They need your attention. It's a hit to their ego when you ignore them. They are afraid of people like me that know their psychology because they don't want you to use their own psychology against them, they don't want to feel any type of shame bringing them back to the shame they felt from their childhood.

They feel entitled to being above the law, being above other people, they feel entitled to your energy. They fear not having a new narcissistic supply to feed off of, they also fear prison for the heinous things they've done to innocent people. Ultimately they feel worthless and they feel as though they have no real value. They feel empty inside, they attempt to fill the void with everything except the things that would actually allow them to feel fulfilled and connected to their true self. They are in denial. They live in constant denial that the emptiness is there. Their feelings of lack of self worth is the reason for their exaggerated sense of their worth. They are deeply afraid of the consequences of their own actions. They are afraid that their reputation is going to be ruined. They fear being powerless and having no control over you or situations, they don't allow themselves to feel anything that they are avoiding.

Some narcissists believe that most people don't have any empathy and that you & everyone else are faking empathy because THEY don't have empathy. They believe in social hierarchy, they actually believe that people are above others or lower than others based of status, and everyone is just "being nice" to the ones they view lesser than. Even though a sane person sees everyone as equal, not above or below each other. They actually believe that people do nice things for others to receive praise, likes or higher status, and not out of the selfless goodness of your own heart. They actually believe everyone is in a constant battle of competition to prove that they are better than someone else, so they actually believe you are in a constant secretive, unspoken competition with them. See, these individuals are completely delusional, they don't actually understand that there are truly good-hearted people in this world.

They have invented a false persona after years of denying their true soul's essence, so they don't know who they are, so they don't know who you really are, they will never see you for who you are because they cannot even see themselves clearly. Unless they do the work to heal themselves, get away from them if you are around one, most of them have no intentions of working on healing themselves. Remember, they love your reactions big or small, so they feel in control of you, don't give them a reaction, don't feed them. They think you are the problem, you are the reason they feel anger, jealousy, and hatred ect. so don't use this information to hurt them, they may attack you, just ignore them, place boundaries and keep healing at your own pace.

[nopenonoaaaahh]

Immaturity in The Summer I Turned Pretty

I think tsitp is really interesting, mostly because of the immaturity of the three main characters, and that leaks into the Fandom space as well. Each one of the characters is very immature at this current moment but in very different ways, and I really hope we'll get to see how they grow and mature next season.

First off we have Belly. Despite a lot of her actions I really like her mostly because of her space as an unreliable narrator. You have to read into scenes with a more precise lens because we're being fed false information as fact based on how Belly is feeling at the current moment. Which shows her maturity level. She is very insecure but also very self involved. She inflates her importance but often times in a negative way, which leads her to making these incredibly rash decisions and has her flip-flop on her feelings all the time cause she feels like she'll never get her chance again and tries to shield herself from hurt. With Conrad she never trusts his intentions because she's spent so long telling herself he is a fantasy that she can't trust he genuinely loves her or wants to be with her. And with Jeremiah you have kind of the opposite thing happening she never really entertained the idea until he brought it up so now she feels like she can always trust him to be there and love her despite the fact that he's been trying to move on.

With Jeremiah, he is competitive and overconfident. Belly's relationship with Conrad forces him to face both of those without him really wanting to. He does genuinely care for Belly but he gets jealous and scared that he won't be good enough because she's always been in love with Conrad. And it being Conrad just makes it worse for him, because we see that he's always felt overshadowed as the younger sibling and that Conrad was 'the golden boy'. We see with how he reacts to Cam. He is jealous, but he'd be willing to let her date him, barring a little teasing, because he wants her to be happy. But that doesn't happen with Conrad. The only reason he gave them his "blessing" is cause he didn't want to look pathetic. It's a competition and a way to prove he can truly win out over Conrad, and every time she chooses Conrad over him it's a hit to his ego. He wants Belly to be happy, but only if it's not with Conrad.

With Conrad his immaturity is shown in a very different way. Whereas Belly and Jeremiah are immature because of lack of experience and needing to learn, Conrad has had a lot of responsibility. Both of his parents aren't reliable. His dad's never around, and though I love Susannah, she is not flawless. She has a very common belief that you don't talk about hard things you plaster on a smile whether or not you're actually happy because you don't want to bring the people around you down. The problem with that is if you cannot express your emotions or how you're feeling you will either be completely unable to address and understand your feelings or you'll blow up. Conrad is immature in the way he refuses to address his feelings even when he's hurting people because he doesn't know how.

I just think it's really interesting to see especially how the Fandom reacts to it because a lot of us are immature in similar ways and we're going to relate to and care for the characters that act in ways we would.

Anyways I want to hear what other people think of this and any counter arguments to these ideas cause I really like analyzing these characters and their actions.

[kulay-ng-banaag]

Filipino* Hetalians are bothered by how vocal people are to criticize the US state but not CN. We only wished for others to be as critical, because Filipino Hetalians have been criticizing the CN state for trespassing — no, literally violating international law that was settled years ago and ineffectively implemented after our former president elected to court the CN state in the name of anti-US imperialism. The coast guard of the CN state rammed the boats of our fisherfolk — one of the, if not the, poorest sectors of the Philippines. It doesn't matter who you are, if you are in their way, they won't hesitate. Why they do this has more to do with capitalism than racism per se (even while racism is ultimately rooted in capitalism).

We're critical because WE DON'T WANT IT TO ESCALATE INTO A CONFLICT THE LIKES OF PALESTINE RIGHT NOW. The White House is literally intervening because the CN state refuses to take accountability. We are forced to invoke a law that most of us did not even exist to protest before. It doesn't help that they have used the military bases they built here as a jumping point for other wars (one example with the keywords: Clark Air Base, Allen Lawrence Pope, 1958 PRRI/Permesta Rebellion). What happens is we end up holding some level of responsibility for something we as a people did not sign up for. Then, we have to pay reparations but our taxes literally get pocketed, so we only further suffer for the sins of capitalist pigs.

But since no children have died yet, I guess it doesn't matter? Our government is debating over the reimplementation of mandatory ROTC for university students. One student was killed years ago for exposing the hazing rituals that have been normalized in the ROTC system. This is the same ROTC that obliges us into military service when the state calls for our specific names, only this time everyone has to go through it, and therefore anyone can be called on. Of course, that is unlikely unless there is war. Now put that next to our West Philippine Sea issue and you see the dots connect.

You would have known that if you had just listened to Filipino Hetalians from the start, instead of scrambling for excuses and copy-pasting racist rhetoric as a clapback to defend your victim complexes.

Nobody asked for you to explain your trauma. Nobody asked because we're completely aware and SYMPATHIZE with that. That's not our problem. That was never our problem. Your trauma is not our oppression. The problem is a neighboring government refuses to acknowledge and intervene in the aggression of its own resources. Nobody said iT's yOuR fAuLt ThEy'Re DoInG tHiS, it's honestly worrisome how people hear things that were never uttered...

But what are we supposed to expect when you have informants everywhere to keep track of any form of disagreement so you're basically a panopticon over the fandom that nobody wanted in the first place? Do Filipino Hetalians have to go into detail now about how we here are under constant surveillance from the Philippine state because any form of vocal disagreement will get us red-tagged and possibly killed as retaliation for offending the egos of those in power?

You demand we respect your trauma while irrationally labeling someone else's trigger as racism? Did you actually believe that would contribute one step closer to a ceasefire? Be honest with yourselves and think it through realistically: Did you actually believe that your online, inflammatory retaliation will contribute a step towards a ceasefire?

The honest and realistic answer is NO, because you wasted energy that could have been put into organizing on the ground. You wouldn’t have to get snarky about how you spend time helping elsewhere because your lack of training in working with fellow organizers with mental health issues indicates your lack of experience. Your lack of experience indicates you have yet to touch real grass and organize beyond huddling your friends into online harassment campaigns.

You don’t get to sprinkle disclaimers of not harassing people while adding #hater tag. You literally gossiped about me in your circle. You cherry pick receipts in your favor. The worst part is I’m not the first person you’ve done this, and I doubt I will be the last one. You only visibly condemn public harassment in order to wash your hands clean of your private harassment.

And I’m not even white, yet you spit inflammatory statements about me as if I was a white racist. Between us, who’s the Westerner to the other?

This is not about racism from white supremacists anymore. This is elitism, and we Filipino Hetalians have too much of that already. It’s elitism because you constantly enforce your intellectual superiority over us like some evangelizing conqueror holding dominion over the poor, unenlightened savages. It’s elitism because being Asian by blood doesn’t change the fact that you’re entitled to privileges not so within the means of non-migrants. Note that I write “by blood” because tying identities to the state is conclusively dehumanizing. Does my being Filipino automatically make me anti-indigenous? Does someone being American by citizenship make them racist freaks, regardless if they are also black/indigenous/Asian/Pacific Islander?

We’re as upset over the racist-motivated attacks of Chinese people because of the racist framing of the CN state as the source of COVID-19. We’re as ashamed of the lingering sinophobia in SEA. At the same time, we here in SEA are in closer geographical proximity to the CN state puts us in a higher vulnerability to exposure to aggressions on a state level. You could have also learned of our genuine opinions if you had just asked. Instead, you assumed for us. We may both be Asians by blood, but what happened to the whole respecting our nuances because Asians aren’t a monolith? Please understand where the nuances lie.

Elitism is also satisfying your freedom to freely speak of your traumas while policing the traumas of other people not shared by you, because the conditions you have grown under have instilled a hostile and ableist perspective for mental health breaks in general. That is the fault of the normalization of capitalism that every one of us must live under. The good news is that it can be dismantled. The bad news is having a petty fight with someone you dislike because they explained why they disagreed with your fandom opinion on the internet is not going to leave a scratch on the foundation of capitalism we mutually want to destroy.

Lastly, elitism is also the combination of residing in Western countries — all the more in the core of all cores of imperialism today that is the United States of America — and having a significantly larger following, and therefore influence, on social media than most non-migrant SEAsians in the Hetalia fandom. You hold a privilege and leverage over other voices; I mean, just look at how much traction the racebending disk horse received. As far as I can speak for my commentary — though I wasn’t the only one — we only wish for acknowledgement of the nuances alongside the impossibility of total depoliticization of nation-state personifications.

You speak of fighting racism, yet you constantly patronize the people from the communities you demand more representation of. It should not be any harder to realize the unappreciated double standards than the history of racism against diaspora communities in white-majority countries. I hate that it happens. We hate that it happens. But the internet is not restricted to the Western experience alone. The internet is not occupied solely by Westerners. Sheesh, guys, I know the US is even colonizing the digital space but don't give them that validation lmao?

And at the end of the day, this bizarre drama was never about the Chinese identity or the anti-Asian racism or the genocide of Palestinians. It was about a neurodivergent SEAsian expressing that her sudden quiet presence on social media is because she needed to recover from an anxiety attack that was preventing her from functioning, which includes platforming her support for Palestinians and other obligations in her every day life with sincere intentions. Understand that you are enforcing an unwanted power dynamic every time you make everything about you, again and again and again and again.

Understand that in creating a false rumor in mocking someone's trigger, you are establishing that the Hetalia fandom is not a safe space for the neurodivergent.

Understand that in creating a false rumor in mocking someone's trigger, you are establishing that the neurodivergent are useless, and therefore have no right to participate, in the fight for the freedom of Palestine.

UNDERSTAND THAT YOU ARE A VICTIM OF RACISM AS MUCH AS YOU ARE AN ENABLER OF ABLEISM.

THE GOOD NEWS IS THIS: It can be unpacked. Here are some articles on the impact of frequent media exposure to extreme violence. Mental health wellness is as much a part of the peace process.

Media Exposure to Collective Trauma, Mental Health, and Functioning: Does It Matter What You See?

Witnessing images of extreme violence: a psychological study of journalists in the newsroom

Media’s role in broadcasting acute stress following the Boston Marathon bombings

You are free to email the authors to argue about why dedicating time for recovery is morally wrong and a privilege that can never be a right. Don't take it to me or to any other Filipino Hetalian anymore, take it to the specialists in the field. Argue against the foundations of their profession. Shake them to the core, for all we care. Tell them how you think their works supplement racism because you want so desperately to be right about your bad-faith reading. Understand that your stubborn inability to hold others in good faith for once is toxic and destructive.

EDIT (01/09/24): Here are abridged infographics of a webinar addressing mental health and systemic violence, and organized by an advocacy network that works with indigenous communities and environmentalists. To quote them: "mental health must be addressed with collective care that is inseparable from collective action in solidarity with the Palestinian people's national liberation movement." If that still does not humble you, then accept that there are Hetalians — not just the non-migrant Filipinos — who are actually uncomfortable with your constant aggression and you just don't know it because you don't listen when they choose to speak up about it.

Now that that’s all said, take the time to comprehend how our pains now stand as equals in magnitude with respect to our dignities as humans.

*Bluntly, me and my friends and mutuals in the Hetalia fandom who are all non-migrant Filipinos. I don’t want to assume for others not in my circle, but I am extremely tired of all the cop behavior over us. This is not Martial Law.

P.S. Stop using “mainlander” like a slur. Not even as a joke. Stop it before it blows into full-out racism.

[actual-changeling]

hi, in you post the other day you said that some authors `wrongly portray PTSD` ? can you axplain what you mean by that?

Hi anon!

I assume you are referring to this post, though I have made a couple at this point.

When it comes down to it, I mostly mean two things with that: ignoring their PTSD and trauma entirely and the portrayal being medically/factually incorrect.

I wish I could say that you can completely ignore the shit that happened to them and still write the characters as they, but in my opinion they are way to intertwined, you cannot separate Joel from his trauma because his trauma MADE him Joel, same with Ellie. Unless it is an AU and/or purposefully written out of character, you have to acknowledge their PTSD in some way. And mind you, even in most AUs people still include Sarah's death and Ellie's traumatic experiences because they are defining to their characters.

Still, my issue isn't even with people completely ignoring it (honestly if you wanna do that please do! let them be carefree and happy), the problem arises when people continue to write them the way they are, PTSD symptoms and all, but do not acknowledge it whatsoever. Ellie flinches and it's portrayed as funny, Joel is anxiously overbearing and it's written as "oh he is just like that", I am talking about authors taking serious disordered symptoms and depathologizing them. This is dangerous because it means people who aren't as educated on the matter read that and think those experiences are normal. They are not.

The second problem is people writing PTSD and other disorders in a way that is medically incorrect, either out of pure ignorance/lack of education or on purpose because it serves their plot.

Before I explain why exactly that is an issue though I wanna say that there IS a third version of this one where it is okay. If you have PTSD/whatever disorder it is about and write it in a way that provides catharsis to you or helps you process something that is 100% alright, you are not contributing to the problem. Writing is personal and sometimes we don't want the shit we go through on the daily to be as heavy as it actually is, just the comfort we can come up with. So if you are reading this and worried I mean you: I don't, promise.

Now, the problem. I think the most obvious one is the fact that it is inaccurate representation that can not only give people false information but also contribute to stereotypes. If you are not educated enough to write an accurate portrayal of PTSD the one you do write will be based on ableist stereotypes society throws at us.

I have read fics not just in this fandom but basically all the other ones I have been in where panic attacks and triggers are healed by "the power of love", where panic attacks are always excessive hyperventilation and laying on the floor and it's the only symptom they have, where bad memories are erased because the person they like suddenly does love them back. Any symptoms that would require someone to actually understand how trauma affects someone are just fully erased or ignored. People get triggered and it's either "haha funny look how they flinch" or "you are evil for showing symptoms" - not even intentionally, but the way people write about it expresses exactly that to someone who has PTSD. There are inaccurate depictions of dissociation like "they pass out and need to be carried home" which is simply not how it works at all, or contradictory things like "they dissociated the whole time but still remember every little things" (if you didn't know, dissociation prevents memories from forming, it is not possible to heavily dissociate and then remember everything afterward).

I could go on and on about the shit I have seen, but I think this explains what exactly I meant by "inaccurate portrayals of PTSD". It contributes to ableism and stereotypes and unless you have PTSD yourself you have no business writing it like this. Trauma isn't your playground, either do it properly or not at all.

I hope this helped you understand anon, feel free to leave another ask if you have more questions or need something clarified, I am always happy to respond! I hope you have a good day <3

[no-side-us]

The Invisible Man, Ch. 3 - The Thousand and One Bottles

My copy of the book tells me the title of this chapter, referencing A Thousand and One Nights, alludes to the magical nature of invisibility. A pretty surface level observation, but a lot of people do "see" Griffin's invisibility in this one, so I guess you could say this is where the more fantastical nature of the story gets going. My other thoughts below:

There are three times where people "see" Griffin being invisible: his pant leg after the dog bite, Mr. Hall entering Griffin's room, and Mrs. Hall before Griffin puts on his glasses. And I like how they all showcase how people react to the unexplainable, by either ignoring or rationalizing it.

Mr. Hall doesn't understand what he saw, and even if he did he couldn't explain it, nor does he try to. He ignores it and moves on:

Mr. Hall, staring at them from the steps and listening, found it incredible that he had seen anything so very remarkable happen upstairs. Besides, his vocabulary was altogether too limited to express his impressions.

Mrs. Hall and Fearenside on the other hand explain away what they saw with something they do understand. For Mrs. Hall, she assumes Griffin's lack of eyes must've been really hollow eye sockets. For Fearenside, he assumes that Griffin must be black, or a "piebald":

“That’s true,” said Fearenside. “I knows that. And I tell ’ee what I’m thinking. That marn’s a piebald, Teddy. Black here and white there—in patches. And he’s ashamed of it. He’s a kind of half-breed, and the colour’s come off patchy instead of mixing. I’ve heard of such things before. And it’s the common way with horses, as any one can see.”

Piebaldism is a real condition, but is not related to being mixed race like Fearenside assumes. But Fearenside's comments are indicative of the dehumanization (and in this case racism) Griffin faces. I think it's important to note that Griffin is directly compared to an animal after the assumption is made that he's black. Whereas before he was just a peculiarly strange person, now we're getting into the ways people see him as less than human.

Something else I also wanted to comment on were the few instances of the framing of the story being more apparent. These lines specifically:

It is stated by an anonymous bystander that his trousers and gloves had been changed. He then swore to himself, so Mr. Hall asserts. All the afternoon he worked with the door locked and, as Mrs. Hall testifies, for the most part in silence. 

They reveal places where the story becomes less like a narrative and more like a journalistic report of what happened. The people involved are asserting and testifying as to the real events. They're witnesses. Some people like the bystander even desire to remain anonymous, to which the narrative has obliged.

I think this sort of works for the beginning of the book, where everything is set up to be a little bit of a mystery, so we're investigating and taking in information as the story goes. However, it does mean that we should question some comments. Like this line from earlier:

Besides, his vocabulary was altogether too limited to express his impressions.

The narration states that Mr. Hall couldn't explain what he saw due to "limited vocabulary," which feels judgmental. Could anyone explain what they saw? A man head's wrapped in bandages but nothing inside? Even if their vocabulary wasn't "limited"? I think it's an interesting way of looking at the book as a series of assumptions, prejudging others, and spreading rumor and false information based on that, not just from the people of Iping to Griffin, but from the narrative itself.

Also, this chapter begins on the 29th of February, despite earlier chapters stating Griffin arrived in early February. My copy of the book tells me that Wells changed this in later editions to line up, so the discontinuity isn't intentional. Regardless, I do think it adds to the framing. Whoever the narrator is, they got the dates wrong. If that's true, then what else could they be wrong about?

[fincalinde]

how do you feel about yi city? i don't really go there but i know i've read some meta about how it's like 3zuns and a lot of people compare jgy and xy and was wondering what you thought.

I don't go there either and writing a post deconstructing the idea that there are parallels between Yi City and 3zun could get messy, but I'll make an attempt. Here goes, this got quite long.

As far as I'm aware, fandom when it conflates Yi City and 3zun draws parallels roughly thus:

JGY = XY

LXC = XXC

NMJ = SL

Well there sure are three guys in each group! I mean actually Yi City has four key characters but AQ is a girl and who cares about those right? Right? Fandom, as always I am regarding you disapprovingly over my lorgnette.

Character parallels (or a lack thereof)

XY is hyperviolent and takes excessive revenge for the smallest of slights and takes pleasure in extreme violence and cruelty. JGY endures an onslaught of slights with smiling forbearance, and while he commits acts of extreme violence always does so under duress or in service of a larger goal (though he can certainly enjoy it to a degree). He even outlines his personal philosophy to XY in Villainous Friends, which XY not only rejects but doesn't even fully comprehend.

XXC is an idealist with limited experience of the depths of human cruelty, vulnerable to being preyed on by bad faith actors exploiting said ideals, and when those ideals are shattered he is unable to endure it. LXC's entire deal is that he has a clear understanding of the gap between ideals and reality; witness, he is the one constantly pointing out how few options JGY has and how that informs his actions.

SL is a man of upright morals who wants to break from traditional clan-based practices. When he loses his temper with XXC in a highly emotional context, he subsequently feels deep shame and tries to find him to make amends. NMJ is a moral stickler, but hypocritical and obsessed with the blood-based legacy of his clan. He flies into regular rages which over time escalate to become more and more murderous; he never attempts to make amends for anything he has done during said rages.

Narrative parallels (or a lack thereof)

Again from what I can tell, a proportion of fandom seems to have decided that JGY is some kind of XY lite, hiding behind LXC's skirts and making a diabolical neko face as NMJ points out how evil he is and LXC blithely ignores it. This is then being conflated with XXC being tricked by XY and SL being the one whose arrival at Yi City blows up the status quo.

Except this isn't really accurate to either group.

LXC and NMJ are not partners in ideals or ambition. They each have very different ways of seeing the world and are each responsible for their own clans. They're good friends, but we know that LXC's motivation for suggesting the sworn brotherhood is to improve relations between NMJ and JGY i.e. to protect JGY from NMJ's wrath, and we know NMJ's motive is to regain authority over JGY. There's no indication that they would have entered into a sworn brotherhood with each other if JGY hadn't been present. They're good friends but they're just not a matched pair like XXC and SL.

JGY does not intrude on some cosy scenario and cuckoo his way into LXC's life by means of deception. He saves LXC's life, protects him, gives him the funds to rebuild his clan, and is upfront about who he is and what his parentage is from the beginning. Obviously he keeps secrets from LXC, but he doesn't enter LXC's life under false pretences. I presume people think JGY's use of Turmoil can be compared to XY's use of corpse powder, but there is an ocean of difference between using your friend's house key to steal a piece of paper you need in order to take out your mutual friend who has repeatedly and recently literally tried to kill you and ... literally tricking your friend into murdering a bunch of innocent villagers and laughing about it.

LXC knows a high percentage of what JGY has done and isn't defending him due to ignorance of his actions but due to a sincere belief in their necessity and/or an understanding that JGY's options are limited and he is doing the best he can in the circumstances. This attitude continues in the temple, when he refuses to turn aside from questioning JGY in an effort to reconcile JGY's additional secrets with the man he knows. Meanwhile, during the confrontation between XXC and XY, XXC is steadfast in his rejection of XY's thesis statement and when he succumbs it is to despair rather than to XY's justifications.

Rather than being oblivious to the danger JGY poses, LXC is not fully confronting the fact that NMJ is incredibly dangerous and an ongoing threat to JGY's life; and, for that matter, the lives of others too. Remember NMJ cut down plenty of his own cultivators under his qi deviation, and said qi deviation was merely accelerated rather than created by JGY's playing of Turmoil. SL is no danger to anyone and continues to selflessly travel and do good where he can. He takes ownership of his mistakes and commits to doing penance in the hope that he can ultimately make amends.

It really cannot be overstated how dangerous NMJ is both to JGY and everyone around him. He's a ticking time bomb and that is not remotely comparable to SL, a genuinely upright man who makes a huge mistake and in trying to put it right stumbles into a twisted situation and gets horribly murdered. SL isn't obsessed with the potential for destruction exhibited by a man who is doing his best to navigate an impossible situation because he has to follow his father's awful instructions or be eliminated; he's trying to stop the man who massacred his temple, maimed him, and used his own best friend as a murder weapon for the fun of it.

It's not that XY doesn't have affection for XXC; he clearly does love him in his own way, and XXC is the shizun cum father cum big brother he never had. It's notable that XY stops with the corpse powder after a while and settles into his domestic life with XXC and AQ (remember her). But he very obviously has no understanding of XXC's moral framework, and it's not that he learned better so much as he no longer has a desire to revenge himself on XXC and can't quite bring himself to examine that.

Miscellaneous dynamics (oh no, I'm going to talk about pairings)

Guys, A-Qing is there. She is there, like, she is super there, she is our viewpoint character, she is not some optional add-on. She's crucial to the entire dynamic and whenever I have dipped a toe in Yi City I'm usually frustrated to see that the miraculous plot change that has spared XXC has omitted to spare AQ. Or, if she is spared, she gets relegated to daughter or little sister status while XY is elevated to being one corner of the Songxuexiao triad.

So let's talk about pairings. Here is my position, which I must stress is based on MDZS not CQL.

If there is any significant potential for a romantic read on the relationships between any of these characters, it's solely between XXC and SL. They are completely committed to each other, love each other deeply, and are each the most important person in the other's life. SL is committed to finding XXC to right the wrong he did him, and XXC is so committed to SL that when he thinks he's to blame for the death of SL's surrogate family he literally gifts him his own eyes.

The dynamic between XXC and XY is really more of a familial or mentorly one. XXC is providing guidance and support that XY has never received in his life, and XY is responding as a child experiencing actual care for the first time. He's still not capable of understanding or accepting that his past actions are wrong, but, like a child, he thinks he can sweep them under the rug and go on as though they never happened. It's not that he's learnt better; it's that he doesn't need to commit mass violence any more.

But even if you could make a successful argument for XY's feelings being romantic, and even if you could successfully argue that XXC returns them (a massive stretch), whatever kind of relationship they have is fundamentally unworkable and doomed. Sooner or later, even in a scenario where SL survives, XXC will discover the truth and reject XY utterly. In their final confrontation he is hurt, appalled, trying to understand... but he's not trying to understand so he can find his way back to the XY he thought he knew. He's trying to understand in the way a shell-shocked soldier is trying to understand. He shows no openness to XY's explanations and no indication whatsoever that any reconciliation is possible.

XY doesn't understand this at first, but when he does realise it—that's the moment he reveals the presence of SL's fierce corpse. The moment of no return is years in their past, but XY only grasps this when XXC refuses to accept or engage with the narrative he's created in his own mind about how justified his actions are.

It's very telling that, when XXC is being slammed with revelations, the moment that finally breaks him is when he finds out that SL is dead by his own hand. And, to loop back round to dismantling false parallels between Yi City and 3zun, this should really be compared to LXC's reaction to his minor role in NMJ's death. He's appalled in the moment, but it doesn't even come up during the temple discussions and he's constantly seeking explanations and accepting the logic of many of JGY's responses.

[saltyfish64]

💨 Mercury in the Air signs

💨 Talking about the Air signs, everyone knows that these signs represents communication, thinking, learning, creativity, synthesizing information and sharing knowledge.

💨 So anyone with Mercury in the Air signs will be like a kite in the wind, flying high and far because Mercury symbolizes thinking and communication :>

💧Mercury in Gemini

👉 Mercury is the ruling planet of Gemini so this is really a good placement :))))

👉 People with this placement are often smart and resourceful but don't have much depth.

👉 Due to their curious nature, love to learn and explore everything, they only know the surface of the problem and are not good at a certain field.

👉 They like to talk with logic and clear arguments. They also don't like to make decisions based on intuition or feeling.

👉 They like to socialize, like to make friends and have good adaptability, of course they are also good at communication and have a sense of humor.

👉 But they can easily get bored if they find something new and more interesting

👉 Some people also like to brag, explode, and often have the habit of making false promises, making promises but not bothering to keep them :)))

👉 Sometimes they also lack opinions, changing their mood depending on circumstances and living environment.

👉 In particular, they do not like having their minds captured or controlled or limited by others.

💧 Mercury in Libra

👉 Libra is considered a friendly queen, of course that is also reflected in Mercury :)))

👉 Mercury in Libra does not like to argue and argue, they like to be gentle and always easily make others sympathize with them.

👉 Despite that, Mercury in Libra is very talented in convincing others to do what they want :))))

👉 Mercury in Libra can even make enemies become friends after a few conversations :))))

👉 They also like to make friends and don't like to offend others. They lack opinions and are easily hesitant, so they often miss many opportunities.

👉 They are open, friendly, sociable but at the same time skillful, understanding, good at listening and giving objective opinions to others, so people love them and often come to confide in them.

👉 They like to make things easier, so they will often please others even if they don't want to.

👉 They often act as mediators if an argument takes place before their eyes.

👉 They may be hesitant and lacking in opinions, but they are not impulsive and reckless. On the contrary, they are very careful and carefully consider the benefits and harms before deciding to do something.

💧 Mercury in Aquarius

👉 Mercury in Aquarius is a exaltated placement, so people with this placement are equivalent to people with Mercury in Gemini or Virgo.

👉 Mercury in Aquarius is smart, sharp, have a deep and wide pool of knowledge and are always looking for opportunities to learn and expand their knowledge.

👉 They like to learn new things and can have different and progressive thoughts, their thinking and thoughts can even be ahead of their time.

👉 They talk openly and comfortably, like to exchange information, opinions and knowledge with others.

👉 But Aquarius is often eccentric and sometimes likes to isolate themselves, so it will make others feel distant even they before their eyes.

👉 Moreover, because their thoughts and ideas are somewhat rich and change too quickly, making it difficult for others to keep up with their thoughts, it sometimes shocks the listener's mind :))))

👉 Some people talk too far-fetched and far-fetched, making it especially difficult for listeners to understand, so they often don't have many close friends.

👉 Sometimes, because they are too smart and too confident about themselves, they will sometimes act arrogant and look down on people who are less intelligent than them.

👉 They especially like talking to people with similar opinions and interests. When it comes to personal matters, they are not good at sharing and rarely confide in others.

👉 Many times their ideas are only calculated in theory but not in practice.

💓 This article has ended, thank you for reading.

💦 Btw, My English is not very good, so if I make any grammatical mistakes, please let me know.

📌 Anyway, this article is only personal and written based on my own analysis .

🍀 Wishing you success and luck will come to you.

📍Dành cho bạn nào người Việt thì mình có đăng bài này bằng tiếng Việt trên FB, link mình để ở dưới

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/JgEgyTmTvPph4ouC/?mibextid=oFDknk

[nahalism]

Do you ever have moments of deralization?? If so, how do you deal with it? I find that I have to be present in life but I struggle because when I am present I still feel detached like I can’t believe my life (not negative or positive,just neutral)

more so in the past than currently & it was in relation to other dissociative tendencies — mainly depersonalisation.

i dealt with it through acceptance. i know all of these experiences can be labeled as 'disorders/mental illness' but i find that dangerous. cause (e.g)— just because im depressed doesnt mean what i experience whilst im depressed isnt reality. if i start to believe that what i feel, and what i think in reaction to the world is 'just my disorder' or a symptom of insanity and not my genuine truth in relation to the moment before me, a split will be created between the disorder im experiencing and my self which is the experience. people were constantly trying to convince me i was living in a delusion, 'its not you, its the 'insert disorder'', which i found invalidating & i felt was deeply untrue. i saw the disorder as a narrow lens, and felt that there had to be a reason i was seeing the world through that lens. it had to be showing me something or given to me as reflection of something id learned through an experience id had, and so whilst it wasnt the entirety of who i was it was a part of who i was. thus, if i wanted to master it i had to embrace that and understand that so i could wield it rather than it wield me. — as i did that, and embraced the 'disorders' i was experiencing, as well as my thoughts & my feelings (mainly a lack of them). i allowed them to be true for me and validated my narrative of the world around me through my experience of them. i sat with everything and allowed myself to really be present with what i found, and internalise it.

[that looked like letting myself dissociate without resistance & i letting the world around me feel foggy and out of my reach, or letting time pass whilst i stood/sat somewhere unable to feel myself/my body or how long i was there for].

what i found was that my psyche was using this 'disorder' to protect me from ptsd & feeling everything i was aware of / becoming aware of but had not yet processed. as i continued surrender to where i was and accepted every part of that experience as my own real and valid truth, i was slowly able to question what i was being shown by myself in that moment. i observed my perspective & the emotions that arose in correlation to what i was experiencing & i used the combination of the two to understand how i got to that point & why i was having the experience i was having. (basically unpacking trauma & the blueprint i was operating off of). as i observed falsehoods from my past i was able to unlearn them without convincing myself they were false or that i was to blame, because i could see what was happening through an objective lens. that let me change the rules of the game of my life. because by seeing my self and my past through the dissociated lens, i was granted not only that objectivity but an intuitive feeling of 'this wasnt right', 'this wasnt my fault' which i learned from observation was being shown to me each time i would feel my body shut off from me. so i took that information & applied it, thinking 'if i were to redo this, this isnt how i would choose for things to be, so how would i choose them to be?'. — the whole experience felt like it came to help me unlearn my past, and refocus on what i felt called to do instead rather than what i felt like i had been doing or had to do or/was programmed to do (not even by society per se but due to familial roles that we base our morality/centre of self off of, or even what id internalised about myself due to certain events).

because of this, i could begin to operate in my own world again. but that world wasn't a different world than the one i felt dissociative in — it was an expansion of it! & it was being in my own world that saved me because i could process what was unprocessed and realign with my own centre of truth whether mentally or emotionally, rather than force myself into alignment with a world that didnt and wouldnt fit for me. it came at a cost cause i went mia at university & my jobs at the time in order to do it, but i didnt and still dont regret that. the freedom i felt in shedding weight that didnt belong to me or that i couldnt/didnt want to carry is something i aspire to uphold to this day, & deeper than that i prioritised myself & my sanity!!!!! (which is all u actually need in order to sustain living a real life & provide for yourself). — im still very spaced out at times. someone referred to it as alice in wonderland syndrome the other day. but i embrace it & dont wish to change it.

the real question, are people really neurodivergent or just different/having different responses to the stimuli the world throws at them? dont let labels other you, or put you in a box that you feel you have to work to get out of. the reality you face is just as valid as the reality of any other person, ant or, goat. just because people dont understand where your at or maybe you dont understand where your at doesnt mean it isnt valid & necessary. — if you dont like your current experience, thats another thing & growth is always possible. but accepting that tour growing from where you are, not into what you want to be is huge for overall peace of mind. fundamentally, we are all human beings having a human experience. we feel what we feel, think what we think, and experience what we experience for a reason! there is always a reason. — sending my love. u can always dm if u wanna talk <3