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#because there are plenty of examples that Arent that way and in my own life it isnt that its simply wrong to say otherwise
glitchdollmemoria · 1 year
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preemptive warning for discussion of violence, abuse, and sexual assault in the links ahead
one of the many frustrating parts of schizospec paranoia is that, when it comes to more realistic fears, it gets hard to tell whats The Mental Illness and whats actually justified, at least to a degree. people with schizospec disorders are more likely to be the victims of violence, with some estimates claiming those with schizophrenia are 14x more likely to be victims of violent crimes than they are to commit violent crimes and twice as likely as the general public to be victims of violent crimes, and people with "severe mental illnesses" overall have been repeatedly reported to be at a much higher risk of being the victim of violence.
when you account for other factors which can put an individual at further risk of violence and abuse - physical and intellectual disabilities, race, gender, sexuality, or religion for example - you can easily see that theres plenty of fuel for persecutory fears.
when you account for the fact that schizospec disorders, especially their paranoid symptoms, can be exacerbated and even partially caused by trauma such as being the victim of abuse, and the revictimization rate for victims of such mistreatment, even more fuel is clearly being added. schizospec symptoms can easily mesh with symptoms of ptsd, resulting in paranoid fears that are, to some degree, based in factual events in a persons life.
so, with the way schizospec disorders muddle up our thought processes, it becomes especially difficult to know whether our fears are based in any form of fact or not. i experience fears that people are obsessively attracted to me, because ive been mistreated by past partners and by those who i wasnt involved with like that but who still took their own feelings for me too far. its difficult for me to discern whether people are actually attracted to me, and wanting to harm me because of it, or if its all just my synapses misfiring. i simultaneously have a constant feeling that the people around me are scared of me or see me as less than a person, and are therefore planning on causing me immediate harm or working behind the scenes to ruin my life, but these fears draw on actual experiences of being told im scary or pitiful or lesser, having people actually make efforts to hurt me in one way or another, so on and so forth. i am not the only one experiencing this, im confident.
and then you factor in the fact that those of us with schizospec disorders are most often socially isolated to some degree - the dsm even lists social isolation and difficulty maintaining close relationships to be a symptom of schizotypal personality disorder, for one thing i remember off the top of my head. were seen as strange, unnerving, unnatural, our behaviors are abnormal, we dont connect with others the way we "should", we communicate in confusing ways. every day i feel as if i have an aura emanating off of me that other "normal" people can sense, that tells them im a threat. and so it becomes increasingly difficult for us to find support, for our symptoms, or for the aftermath of discrimination and violence. we often arent truly "people" in the eyes of non schizospecs, rather were psychos, crazies, potential killers. we become collateral damage, acceptable targets. and it becomes easy to brush off our concerns for our own safety, because its more convenient to chalk things up to us just being delusionally paranoid rather than putting in the effort to actually examine the situation and the facts of how dangerous life is for mentally ill people.
i know that my thinking is disorganized here, and im doing the "flowery language" thing because its a serious topic and its hard to put into more succinct terms than dancing around what im saying. so i hope that what im trying to say is actually coming across clearly. my point is that im tired of second guessing myself and never knowing whether my fears of persecution are based in fact or not, and im tired of the social isolation that comes with this shit. im tired of feeling like if anything happens to me its going to be brushed off as just symptoms and not a real problem that matters to anyone except me
EDIT 8/19/2023: because i got reminded of this old post, i want to add that since posting this ive realized i also have npd. usually i keep my npd talk to a side blog because im not super comfortable talking about my symptoms on main, but i do want to add the clarification that the paranoia i talk about in this post is ALSO very very heavily tied to my npd in addition to my being schizospec. and in a way that makes me feel even more vulnerable, because people with npd tend to be villainized and treated as if our problems are just exaggerations to get attention. so when you combine the stigma against both conditions... its fucking rough out here, idk what else to say.
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spicybylerpolls · 2 months
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Dear Spicy Byler Polls,
i love your in-depth response to the anon about rooting for finn to be queer and the difference between accusations of queer-baiting and excited speculation.
the main difference does seem to be entitlement, and public forums. for example, commenting on someone's literal social media post? rude. are they going to reply personally to you? no! but i think people honestly forget or dont care that the celeb can see that. they have something to say, and they think they have the right to say it. so they do.
so my main issue is being told i can't speculate amongst friends (which is what this blog often feels like) when we are pretty hidden over here. i certainly would never want to interact with finn or even comment on his posts, as i dont feel i have anything to contribute to his life. but i love to observe and wonder in my own space on the internet, because it does serve me to do that, and i am not hurting finn, which is what matters.
but lastly i will just say that the ambiguity of how we interpret things is maybe what freaks people out about speculation. for example, i had a hunch that noah was queer way before this debate and s4, but it didnt matter in my life so i wasnt boasting to anyone about being right when he came out. it wasnt about me! who cares what i thought? my hunch was also based on nebulous things that arent quantifiable and definitely would not hold up in a court of law (lol), so it also seemed trite to describe them.
whereas sadie simply saying she likes an artist who is queer, for me is very silly evidence because that essentially makes everything into a message, and if a large majority of the straight community realised that queer folk think them liking queer art made them queer, it would stop them liking that art (or rather, being open about how much they liked it), in case people started saying ooooh you must be queer! not that being queer is bad, but that the jump in logic is pretty large. its like saying oooh you've got a friend who is queer, you must be queer too! it was a wonder it didnt happen as much as it could have with queen in the 80s - the music was so good, people didnt care. same for elton john. but im sure plenty refused to listen based on the rep alone.
I personally am not queer, and if i had a platform of fans, and i said oooh i love boygenius, and some of those fans started thinking i was queer because of that, i would feel like they were reading too deeply. because my queerness would not be expressed through enjoying music, which is a universal thing. if they started to notice actual queer behaviours in me that i also acknowledged were queer, and i was questioning, i would be like ok, they've seen through me.
so as a straight person who is fascinated by modern (and older) queer culture, its kind of funny to me to see the ways modern queer folk interact with people who are unlabelled.
it seems to have gone from the old ways of safely finding others queers, like asking if theyre part of the family (which would have been an assumption based on instinct and vibes, and which was relatively easy to dismiss if they were in fact straight), to either demanding someone comes out, or relying on vague indicators of sexual identity, like someone's taste in music or even whether they wear rainbows.
these things might be big for the queer community, but they already have meanings in the straight ones, too. liking rainbows does not make you queer or even indicate you are queer.
of course, the queer community have used these ambiguous ways to find each other, but the whole point is that they remain double meanings in order to protect the secret language of queerness. 'are you family' means one thing to straights and another to queer folk, but now, in modern culture, lots of queer people seem to be insisiting that it MUST mean only one thing: gayness. for example, someone wearing rainbows? they must be gay. they must be flagging. despite the millenia-long history of the existence of rainbows and their popularity in pop culture.
in modern gay culture, many people seem to think they are entitled the queerness of others because they sense it. whereas back in the day, you get the sense that if someone did not respond positively to 'are you part of the family?' then you would leave them alone, not demand that they come out because they would be happier if they did so and lived their truth.
do you think this speaks more about the internet age than it does about queer culture itself? and can queer culture every be extricated from the internet age? can any modern culture, now? i love that young queer folk are living more freely, but it seems to have swung a horrible way, towards entitlement for a lot of people online. and all that does is make them unhappy when their faves dont come out. i understand that queer people are oppressed and need idols and role models more than straight folk. but you can still enjoy an artist's work even if they dont share your sexual identity, cant you? it might help to make your experience more universal if you can acknowledge that not everything is about sexual identity. we want gay love stories like stranger things to bring straight folk and queer closer, not divide them by making sure gay communities remain separate, surely?
i hope i'm not being unfair.
Thank you for your thoughts! I hadn't really considered the straight perspective in all of this. You bring up a lot of interesting points, and I don't agree with all of it, but I don't necessarily disagree either.
You're right that sometimes rainbows are just rainbows and that, "These things might be big for the queer community, but they already have meanings in the straight ones, too. liking rainbows does not make you queer or even indicate you are queer."
I just had a vision of someone who is really into rainbows, putting them on literally everything, placing them in all their captions, placing them on all their bags, and everyone assumes they're flagging their sexuality. But then it turns out they're actually just a devout Southern Baptist, and they're really into the Noah's Ark story lol.
That being said, rainbows might be pretty universal, but I'd say there are symbols and clues that one might flag with that are very queer. And probably one or two of these things can be a coincidence. But just like with Mike's sexuality, it's not just one thing that clues us in but several subtle things piled on top of each other. And while of course "you can still enjoy an artist's work even if they don't share your sexual identity," there's a subtle magic when they do share it that I'd say can't be fully replicated by anything else.
The thing I find the most interesting about your message is your question, "Do you think this speaks more about the internet age than it does about queer culture itself? and can queer culture ever be extricated from the internet age? can any modern culture, now?" And I do think a lot of what you're critiquing is absolutely a part of the internet age in general. And it's not going away anytime soon.
The one thing I will clarify tho is that the Sadie Sink/girl in red thing is not a matter of her liking a queer artist but the context. At some point in like 2020 or 2021, "do you like girl in red?" actually became a very specific coded conversation/semi-meme for queer girls on TikTok.
So Sadie commenting I like girl in red btw on a girl's Instagram, followed by a winky face, is absolutely within that context. It's not about liking a queer artist, cause "I like Reneé Rapp" doesn't hold the same meaning even though they are both lesbians. And it's not even about liking girl in red as anyone can like her music (I love her music and I'm a guy), but about subtly communicating queerness in a specific way.
That being said, music/media in general ARE cultural signifiers that someone may be "safe," especially if there's a pattern. Like if someone's Spotify exclusively consists of boygenius and other similar artists, if they follow the Heartstopper cast on IG, and if their favorite films on Letterboxd are But I'm a Cheerleader, Bottoms, Carol, and Portrait of a Lady on Fire, that might be a sign lol.
I'm interested in my anons thoughts on this.
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fan-clan-fun · 2 years
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I was wondering about making alternative naming systems for fanclans, not talking about anything that's in canon. Do you have any ideas that aren't strictly based on a prefix-suffix type system, or a tribe naming type system? I think you could use kittypet names or other names, but I feel like those don't really intertwine with a clan's culture, unless you make them.
This is a really interesting ask because it makes me really think deep about what naming is and why we have names. Cause, warriors names have (kind of) a logic to them, particularly if you follow the more traditional mindset of naming a kitten after something they can see that looks like them. If you want to go with something that is decidedly not like canon naming, I guess the first step is to think about what a name is and why we have them. Part of the issue we have these days is we have inherited a lot of the names in our culture, or absorbed them or borrowed them from other cultures. A decent chunk of them are religious, handed down through the generations. But names had to start somewhere right? As far as I can tell a lot of names originally came from a language and had specific meanings, just like these days some people might name their kid Mercy or Precious or whatever. Now when we use those names it might sound a bit weird to us at first in modern times, but it makes plenty of sense. Most surnames also came from literal meanings, lots of them refer to the profession of the individual, or the location they came from.
So let's move this to warriors or in this case a more warriors adjacent cat group. You could pull from real life, have their first name be something that is personal and theirs, and have a sort of surname be their rank/profession within the group so something like Ash Guardian. Or you could have those switched, have them called, like, Guardian Ash. Or they could only have the single name, or they could have a family name passed down. Maybe each cat in the direct lineage takes the name of the female who founded the line, so something like Ash of Ivy. Or maybe in smaller groups that arent as largescale as the canon clans (think like wolfpacks, smaller family units) they could be known for the group name either again the founder or the location, so Ash of clan Field, or Ash of clowder Field, or Ash of Clan Ivy. Or they could be known for a specific skill (though this is fairly close to some understandings of warrior names) so Ash the Runner, or Ash the Tunneler.
Of course those options still leave the first part up to interpretation, the personal name. You can have it so that instead of parents naming their kids, they choose their name upon adulthood, and they are called a nickname or a childhood name until they choose their adult name. But what could those names be? Well, you could come up with your own conlang ( a lot of work) or have cats build/create names out of sounds they can make and vocalize that might not have to have specific meanings. Or you could have them be named after the things they see around them in their world, like most warriors prefixes are. Or you could go with something wacky, like the pilgrims did. There is nothing more intimidating than having to face someone named Fear-not in battle. Im only somewhat joking, because you could heavily involve your naming system as religious or cultural, kit named after ancient heroes whose names have transformed over time, or deities or virtues or vices within their understanding. Now this is my personal opinion, so take it with a grain of salt, but I believe that going with "human" names is a bit lazy and also doesnt make sense. If you really want cats to have names given to them by humans, dont just write down what we as humans hear, change it up to what you think the cats might understand from it. So for example, one of my cats is named Artemis, no way they are going to understand the cultural significance of that, or how its spelled, BUT some of those sounds they can understand! So maybe she would call herself Arramiss, all sounds that I feel confident my cat can make. That could also be a fun way to come up with more unique sounding names!
Alright those are some of my suggestions, feel free to send any more questions if you have them! Hope this can help jog some ideas for you!
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prof-peach · 3 years
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Do people in your universe eat Pokémon? If they do, where do they stop, or do they eat any Pokémon, regardless of intelligence? If they don’t, does this mean that every person is a vegetarian?
Do ur universe’s Pokémon eat other Pokémon? Do they eat other Pokémon regardless of the victim’s intelligence? Do Pokémon have natural prey and predators? If they do, has there ever been a situation were a Pokémon has been eatend while in battle with one of its species natural predators? Do some Pokémon refuse to battle with one of their natural predators?
((Your post about ur vulpix and the poor torchix got me thinking lol, I hope you don’t mind all the questions! I’m excited to hear what you think))
Ok, admittedly this is just my opinion, and how I think about Pokemon and this topic, it doesn’t at all mean you have to agree or do the same thing, to each their own.
So For me pokemon are all complex pieces in the ecosystem, they do indeed have prey and predator roles. Anything with sharper teeth I usually deem a carnivore, or omnivore, really based on any present information. For example a Gabite will eat only fish and meat, and the occasional rock for minerals, so they’ll eat Pokemon for sure, magikarp, stantler, whatever they can get their teeth into, but a pidgey will eat greens, seeds, berries and bugs, so bug Pokemon are on the menu for them. I really closely relate Pokemon to real creatures where possible, and try to present a world which is both fantasy and fun, but also realistic and believable. Pokemon of higher intelligence would indeed be able to perhaps escape being dinner, but they too can be caught and consumed, just like any other Pokemon. Perhaps some have personal morals, species with really high intelligence tend to show guilt or remorse about eating youngsters or Pokemon that can’t even begin to protect themselves, others are bothered by this less.
Without one species in the food chain, I believe the rest would soon crumble, each Pokemon is valuable and important in their own way. Where we work on the island we try to provide meats and fish, usually we have to order milktank or Tauros bits, and we have to use a lot of fish based Pokemon to feed up some species, so we get the odd shipment of basculin or whatever is cheap at the markets. On average we feed the carnivores away from the herbivores for obvious reasons, and tend to try to minimise Pokemon eating other Pokemon on the island, with regular feeding. If you try to go against a pokemons nature, if you try to force a carnivore to be a herbivore, it’s a matter of time before they either get very VERY sick, or a Pokemon from the local area goes missing. It’s very much the natural order of things, and just because we’ve seen Pokemon be cute and smart and varied, doesn’t mean they lose their natures deep down to hunt or be hunted. The most unnerving thing? Some Pokemon are secret meat eaters. Did you know a Rapidash will consume meat? Because I sure didn’t until studying them. It’s quite rare but has indeed happened on numerous occasions throughout history.
As for people eating Pokemon meats, it’s actually a topic I delve into in my sun and moon comic, the black and white one you may have seen pages of here and there. Eventually We join a food truck and travel the area to try to win some money, and repay a debt to the owner of the business. Along the way we meet a husband and wife team that buy, consume, cook and sell all Pokemon products, and apparently they taste very good. I personally wouldn’t eat the stuff without good reason, we live a life that gives us plenty of opportunity to NOT eat Pokemon meat, so I take that excuse and try to avoid it. That being said, if a milktank or something dies of natural causes, has no toxins in it or anything, and no trainer requesting a burrial, we do chop them up for Pokemon, I feel like it’s a case of wasting nothing, the whole island is pretty self sufficient, with very little waste, and we like to try to keep it that way. A body is just that, and I suppose it’s my farm yard upbringing, but waste is unacceptable in any form. We don’t go out of our way to kill and consume Pokemon meats, but should they be there, and otherwise not get used up, then it’s just what happens. The morality of it is tough, it comes down to ‘do I want to waste this perfectly good thing that lived and died a good life?’ Or ‘do I want to not consume the meats of something that thought and felt very similarly to me?’ It’s down to the individual, I know Everyone’s got their 5cents on the matter. I feel farming Pokemon for food is pretty abhorrent, conditions for living must be incredibly high to negate the process of growing, harvesting and consuming a Pokemon, so high I doubt it possible to do without big moral issues. People still do it, all over the place, people will and do farm and consume traditionally ‘dumb’ pokemon, perhaps to satisfy their guilt, or maybe because it’s cheaper or easier. Who knows. But I do see farms for that around, people can somehow turn off their guilt and eat the stuff regularly.
I find it’s a pretty hit and miss topic, some don’t seem to mind, and boast the meat is delicious, and that the Pokemon arent intelligent enough to get stressed by this. I personally can’t see how that’s possible when we know Pokemon all feel and think on symilar lines to us. The Pokemon world I see is like 70% vegetarian, or at least pescitarian, with the remainders choosing to eat steaks and wings and all the normal meat products you’d find in this world. It’s up to the individual, meat is a bit taboo, but that doesn’t stop restaurants and vendors using it in their dishes.
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bulletsgirl · 3 years
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Dude your dta playlist is up and down one of the better playlists I’ve ever SEEEN like I really couldn’t say enough about it, do you have any notes about any songs in particular in terms of why you chose them?
omg thank you so much!!! thats so sweet :)
im usually pretty picky about songs which is why a lot of my playlists arent like. as big as my dta one but i have a LOT of feelings about dta and its a monster of a series so you know. almost every single one is lyrically relevant (imo) to the story but some are there for just vibes. i think it would take me literally forever to go thru every song and why its there but i can go thru a handful!
this ended up insanely long bc i have cant shut up disorder so its under the cut <3 also ill rb the playlist after i post this so ppl can check it out if theyre interested
suspended in gaffa by kate bush is to me a major dta cas song. its chock full of biblical references and is about wanting to experience god, but in terms of how i see it associated w dta, dean would be the god in this case. cas realizing he wants something from dean that hes never wanted before, and all the while hes scared hes going to up and lose him for good. two of the pre-choruses are especially of note to me -- "i caught a glimpse of god, all shining and bright" (see: "and you glow, of course you do" from motw) / "where are the angels? i'm scared of the changes" (cas' humanity, the angels leaving). and also from the 4th verse, "thank you for yanking me / back to the fact that there's always something to distract / but sometimes it's hard to know if i'm doing it right" (drugs and sex being cas' distractions, him not understanding humanity and how to be like other people).
someone else by henry wolfe on the other hand is imo THEE dta dean song. it is literally about feeling like youre someone different from who you used to be. to me this is relevant to dean in two ways: hes of course trying to pass off as the original dean, and doesnt possess his memories or anything so hes reliant on bluffing and cas (intentionally) and others (unintentionally) filling in the gaps -- "i don't know who i have been / there's a stranger in my skin"; then there's the fever, and how it altered his physical state so drastically that he struggled to look in the mirror after doing so on accident once, even after hes doing much better and looks healthy -- "i took a look at my reflection / i didn't recognize myself / the person in the mirror was a shell" (see: him describing his appearance as that of a corpse, as it appeared in its underweight and sickly state)
color in your cheeks by the mountain goats is pretty straightforward so i wont go through the lyrics because its literally just the entire song -- in this context, its about ichabod, and their policy to welcome anyone they possibly can into the town and take care of them. take the refugees, for example, whom they expended many resources trying to take care of even though they were unexpected and many.
pillar of na by saintseneca is an eight minute long song with even more biblical references because im a sucker for them. its always felt like an endverse cas song to me and reading dta it really became about him as he appears in the fic. the song is about the cycle of life, death, and rebirth, in general, which is continuous and terrifying to deal with, leading to anxiety and self-medication. cas has seen plenty of life and plenty of death, and hes experienced his own rebirth. he wasnt scared of death, but he couldnt die because he had to be there for the original dean and then the dean who (unwittingly) comes to replace him. he coped with living through substance use in the time he was with the former, and when it came time for dean to lead him to their certain deaths he accepted it easily. when he didnt die there came uncontrollable sorrow and grief and he immediately became responsible for another dean who looked exactly like his dead best friend and charge. in a way, cas experiences a rebirth later with this dean. he changes his way of life when dean moves in, when he catches fever especially so. and suddenly he is desperately scared of losing this dean who has become extremely important to him, igniting a fear of death hes never really felt before. and yet with this dean he is more alive and present than he has ever been. so he lives in fear of death after a rebirth and experiences life. ok and this is getting super long so im gonna run through lyrics and explain why i think theyre super relevant -- "shall i lay awake / keeper of the watch / or the dozers off?" i see as relevant to cas training chitaqua soldiers/patrol, "shall i lay to waste / sleepers of the watch / with the knowers not?" is, to me, about the patrol leaders corralling others to murder cas and vera, and him executing luke as a warning/consequence afterwards and his mostly unacted desire to exact revenge for the terrible thing they did to him. the rest of the lyrics about getting stoned and waiting for the end are all pretty self-explanatory so ill stop while im ahead.
nobody dies by thao & the get down stay down feels like a song that can be viewed through the lens of dta cas and his relationship with the original dean. while its a song about thao’s father, i think this can be seen as the way that dean literally taught cas most of what he knew about humanity, putting him in a mentor position. i also just feel like dean became more serious, hopeless, and single mindedly focused on the mission. so “not to say, not to say / i wasn't grieving / in the evening / not to say, not to say / i want another / just like the others / i send all of it, i take all of it” is like, cas grieves who dean once was sometimes, his gentleness and hope as seen in the dean that replaces him, sure, but he NEVER wished for anything other than what dean was. so he followed deans orders (even though he mocked him thoroughly when given the chance) and remained on his side (see: “the only thing I think we have left, dean and me, is each other. if dean says it's time to go out in a blaze of glory, win or lose, so be it.”)
supermassive black hole by muse is because. hole :)
us by regina spektor is very much how i see the endverse and how the world is operating at the point of the story. dean and cas are actively trying to save the world and theyre blamed for the virus and put on the fbis most wanted list, and the world, in a state of hopeless chaos, listens blindly to the lies fed to them by the world govts and the news stations they control. it could also apply to ichabod and its original mistrust towards chitaqua, even tho chitaqua was literally there trying to help them and establish relations that would benefit them both
anyway im stopping now because this is. insane. and only seven songs so you see why i couldnt do every single one. but yeah i hope this is what you were looking for <3 if you have any questions about why i put other songs on there feel free to ask and i can explain them!
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angeloncewas · 3 years
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dont wanna make this ask long bc i am tired and dont have the energy to be a well spoken (?) person rn but it probably will be long anyways, so sorry!! but like. as somebody who has hyperfixated on both idubbbz and schlatt (along with a plethora of other problematic content creators, i really know how to fuckn pick em!!) they absolutely foster a dogshit community, at least outside of platforms like tumblr, where like. you cant really avoid fandom culture like you can on twitter or ig, if that makes sense. on here, if you wanna post about your favorite youtuber, whether you tag it or not, other fans will likely see and if you say some bad shit, you will likely get called on it, whereas on ig basically only your followers will see it even if you use a hashtag and on twitter its like if you arent in a subtwt/fandom then you basically dont interact with any subtwt at all unless its an accident, ya know?
so like. i think what im trying to say here is that while ive met a lot of fans of both these creators, especially schlatt, who are great people as far as i can tell, i am also specifically on the fandom side of things and as soon as i step out of that space i realize that a lot of people who watch them are not actually minorities like me and my mutuals who can catch on to satire or who watch their more behind the scenes stuff where you can see them act like a decent person or even call out people for the things they usually joke about which just. fucking sucks. it sucks that, as much as i do believe schlatt is actually a good person (and sort of idubbbz, although i dont really watch him much anymore for a plethora of reasons, mostly related to the fact that i cant stand his jokes anymore even if he is playing a character as he's said before), he also keeps doing terrible fucking things and im really glad his actual friends have been calling him on it recently, especially after that jackbox video (which is a whole other thing on its own bc it literally seemed like nobody wanted to be there basically the entire video?? like as somebody who watched all the jackbox videos before that one, it was really fucking off in that call and the jokes were next level fucking upsetting), but sometimes it's just kinda like. exhausting. bc his community is already fucking bad now, you cant undo accidentally fostering a community of fucking racist homophobes who dont get that you're playing a character, unless you kinda drop off and build a whole new community from that, which would be stupid to do at this point in his career. not really sure where i was going with this tbh, but i thought i would chime in on this discussion as a viewer of mainly schlatt, but also a past idubbbz viewer who is basically a seasoned fucking vet at dealing with shitty fanbases because of him and many other dumb youtube white boys
(also, note on that anisa thing: ian's main fanbase was definitely pissed just bc she does sex work and a lot of them are too fucking young or just too fucking dense i guess to clock the fact that he's putting on an act bc, like i said before, they either dont watch his behind the scenes content, or they do and they kinda just miss those moments between still trying to entertain where he gets genuine. that being said, a lot of people outside of his fanbase were also pissy bc anisa is a less than spectacular lady if you really do your research on her, kind of a bad person but it's not something a lot of people know about, especially since one of the few videos made on it was by fucking creepshow art)
sorry for the rant again, i feel like i do this every other week now and i apologize, you just seem to have the best discourse and i enjoy partaking <3 hope you have a good rest of your day/night/whatever time you're reading this!
—🦷
Thank you for the input (don't mind the rant !) and I hope you have a good rest of your day too <3 For post length, I'll answer under the cut :)
Yeah, I get what you mean (I think ahdsufsd). Fandom as a concept is pretty... I don't even know how to describe it, but it's the kind of thing that I feel like white male Redditors would think of as pussy shit, y'know? Like the Ricegum gang isn't a fucking "fandom" they're a... well, a fandom, but they're not gonna admit to that. So when you step outside of a community like Tumblr (the queerest place on the internet TM) you come into contact with the faces of the fandom you're dealing with and oftentimes they're a lot less like you than you might've thought from the similar interest. It's like going to a Weezer concert and realizing you're surrounded by incels (this is a JOKE).
Satire's a rough topic because some people don't think it should exist at all. Like any words that can be directly interpreted as bigoted or problematic should not be uttered. I disagree with that, I think it's one of the most interesting forms of both social commentary and comedy, but I do see the problem. There are people who watched Filthy Frank (to take an example from that other anon) and didn't know or care what the point of his actions were (I don't know what they were tbh - I never watched him, but it sounds like he's a pretty decent dude) and instead read his jokes as-is. There are thousands upon thousands of people who aren't gonna get satire and that's a problem because if they're already bigoted they're gonna see people like Schlatt and iDubbz and whoever else as truly validating.
(Largely unrelated but yo, is iDubbz still going? Are the views alright? Is the adsense popping? Has he just kept going with Content Cops? I haven't heard about him since the girlfriend thing dropped.)
"you cant undo accidentally fostering a community of fucking racist homophobes who dont get that you're playing a character, unless you kinda drop off and build a whole new community from that"
I think this is what's pertinent when it comes to discussing Schlatt. After the Jackbox video (for me at least, he might've been there before) he put himself at a crossroads. If he'd apologized, said "sorry, I took it too far, that was a mistake" - yeah, plenty of people wouldn't have forgiven him and plenty of bigoted fans of his would've said that the apology was just to placate the snowflakes on Twitter, but to the sort of in-between people it would've shown that he's able to recognize and reconcile his mistakes. He could've transitioned into content that's A) actually good (when I say that the video was bad I don't just mean in terms of racism, I mean it straight up was not entertaining) and B) less "edgy" for the sake of. I wouldn't expect him to go uwu squeaky clean, but he's already reeled in the bad people, so if he really wanted to foster a good, progressive audience, he has to do something significant to show that.
But he didn't.
Maybe for the sake of his career, maybe because he likes those bigoted fans, maybe because he just doesn't get it - I don't know. I don't think we'll ever know. I spoke earlier about doing what is right over what is easy and in the case of Schlatt it just feels like he really did take the easy way out. Whoever he is in his personal life doesn't change how he's perceived online and the kinds of people that are idolizing him for it.
(And yeah I saw the video on Anisa when I Googled her to check if they were still dating, but then I saw who it was made by and I was like oh well whatever avhfdfkj)
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seerofmike · 4 years
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i feel like a huge portion of kpop fans are gay fetishists attracted to the idea of quote unquote feminine men and thats why theres so much bullshit
YES okay. okay let me rant for a minute. let me preface this by saying i am NOT a kpop shipper at ALL. this is going to be long so i’ll put it under a’ ‘read more’ because i’ve been holding it in for TWO FUCKING YEARS BABY!
being mlm in boygroup kpop fandom is literally so exhausting. 99% of the people who ship real life human men from boygroups are fetishists and i will tell u why
obviously we all know of a ship in a fandom where the characters' personalities are twisted to fit the heteronormative view of "top" and "bottom" --one character is hypermasculine (top) and the other one is feminine (bottom). there are typical traits associated with both. the ‘top’ is scary or mean or angry or serious while the ‘bottom’ is emotional or bubbly or shy. while this is egregious, at least its fictional characters. their personalities can be simplified or exaggerated and it doesnt cause any real life harm.
im going to define what i think of as a fetishist: a non-mlm person who overly sexualizes gay men/men they think are gay/gay ships, and forces them into heteronormative roles for their own pleasure. its not even limited to cishet women. plenty of non-mlm lgbt people do this too and its like disheartening. so anyways
enter the kpop fandom
i may be incredibly biased here because one of the most affected members [of bts] is my favorite kpop boy, but oh god is the ‘personality change/simplification’ thing AWFUL here. i do not go out of my way to find fanart or see fanfic threads, but being in the bts fandom, u will inevitably see it and i REALLY wish i didnt
so anyways. my favorite boy ever is hoseok. he is sweet and hardworking and very passionate about dance and he can be serious when needed, but ultimately he tries to be very lighthearted and will consistently laugh or make jokes or do something funny when the other members feel uncomfortable or awkward (mostly during english-speaking interviews). he kisses the members on the cheek a lot/hugs them a lot/cuddles them a lot [this is important for later okay]
of course, theres a lot more to him because he is a multi-faceted real life human being, and i don’t know him personally, but that’s a general idea of what he’s like, okay?
SHIPPERS will have you think differently. some video got popular on youtube ""proving"" that hoseok is a sadist (which is just clips of him jokingly playfighting with the younger members), and the video depicts him as secretly mean and serious, and shippers will use that to say "hoseok is a total top!" and then most fanart or imagines or fanfic threads you see are top!hoseok, using this imagined 'hoseok is a sadistic dom' narrative to fuel their fiction, because SOMEONE has to be the top, so they twist him into this hypermasculine mean person (and probably feminize the 'bottom' of their ship but more on that later)
EXCEPT it is not just fiction. this narrative bleeds into REAL LIFE. you have new armys who dont know anything about the shipping scene, and yet somehow the narrative of hoseok being a secretly mean, sadistic person has already made its way into them. in real life, hoseok likes rainbows and wearing nail stickers and putting glitter in his hair. yet people in the fandom will say shit like "hoseok hates femininity" "hoseok would never wear [thing] because he's a dom"
sometimes on twitter you have ppl like me who say uh actually you guys are really weird and this is fetishy and in real life hoseok is very nice and not sadistic at all, you will UNDOUBTEDLY get comments like "omg hoseok isnt cute/nice when will yall learn he’s secretly like [x] and [x]". you could post a video of hoseok with a puppy titled "wow cute" and u will get like 2 clowns in ur comments going 'hoseok isnt CUTE hes a sadist’ . i wish i was joking but i am not. they will do this for EVERY action hoseok does. he cannot blink without people twisting it into a sexual thing
[also, side note: its funny that, since hoseok is one of the least popular members and therefore one of the least shipped members, he is often the odd man out among pairings, and is assigned 'the straight one' by default, and 9 times out of 10 people who assign him 'the straight one' do all this 'dom daddy hoseok' shit.
which just goes to show that this is indeed a matter of heteronormativity.]
so anyways arguably the most popular ship with hoseok is with yoongi, sope. this absolutely happens to other ships probably but im just using them as an example because i see it the most, being a hobi stan
yoongi is very calm and thoughtful and kind and sometimes appears to be cold/having a bad attitude but its just because of the way he speaks, which is very bluntly. again hes a multi faceted real human and i do not know him personally but thats generally what hes like.
god the fandom. treats him SO BAD. so horribly. he's shorter than hoseok. he's shorter than hoseok and people will exaggerate that literal 1 inch height difference so bad and people will turn his whole personality into shy and blushy and In Love With Hoseok, so in love with hoseok that ‘he gets sad’ when hoseok doesn’t kiss him/hug him/or whatever and IT BLEEDS INTO REAL LIFE.
ANY time hoseok or yoongi do ANYTHING together at ALL, people will ALWAYS push the narrative that hoseok, being the mean sadist he is, is 'hurting' yoongi for not returning his undying love or whatever. hoseok did a vlive where he made bracelets for all the members and he considered putting a cat charm on yoongi's but ultimately decided not to because he was having difficulty and oh my GOD sope stans twisted it into 'hoseok HATES yoongi, yoongi would have been so happy, he would have worn that all the time, hoseok isnt affectionate he hates being close with other people after all :(' which is LITERALLY not true because hoseok gives all his homies good night kisses but okay! whatever fits your narrative!
PEOPLE ACTUALLY HATE HOSEOK BECAUSE OF THIS. BECAUSE OF A SHIP. BECAUSE OF THE MANUFACTURED NARRATIVE PUSHED ONTO HIM BY FETISHISTS SO HE COULD FIT INTO THEIR HETERONORMATIVE ‘TOP’ ROLE. not to be all wahh wahh hoseok is one of the least popular members BUT THIS IS LITERALLY A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR.
everyone """headcanons""" hoseok to be a top so they will make him a MEAN HYPERMASCULINE person. everyone """headcanons""" yoongi as a bottom so they will make him a SOFT UWU HYPERFEMININE person. shippers are literally pigeonholing the two of them into fujoshi-esque roles for jack-off material.
anyways this all boils down to: gay fetishists will do anything, ANYTHING, to twist characters or real life fucking people to fit their heteronormative view of top and bottom. top=mean and masculine, bottom=soft and feminine. hoseok is a real life human being. yoongi is a real life human being. they both have real life human personalities, and yet shippers twist their personalities into the opposite to fit their narrative, to the point where nonshippers will genuinely view the two of them as something theyre not.
you have tons of armys that theorize that hoseok's happiness is just a mask he puts on to hide a cruel nature. on twitter. on youtube. in fanart and fanfiction. you have tons of armys that truly believe that, despite literally all the evidence, believe he hates being cute, he hates being happy, he hates the members, and hes secretly a dom daddy fuckboy who wants to bend yoongi over a table. hes a real life human being and fetishists doing their fetish thing has real life consequences.
the same is true for bottom!hoseok stans: they overexaggerate his more cutesy personality traits and he does have a 'feminine' figure i.e. he has a rly small waist but they will overexaggerate that as well and give him huge hips and its disgusting but dom!hoseok is far more frequent with far more devastating consequences so i used that as an example but they’re both bad.
people who """"headcanon"""" [like actually headcanon/firmly believe and not just joking or lighthearted] that members are gay will force these types of roles onto the members. if someone genuinely believes that like, yoongi is gay/bi/whatever, and then try to force this subby soft uwu persona onto him, they have no respect for gay people. they dont. gay people are simply objects for their fantasies. their view of gay people is so one-dimensional and so driven by fetishists’ ideas that its actually disheartening.
and god bitches will deadass be homophobic yet still ship real ass human idols. not just for bts specifically but all boygroup fandoms. sometimes when you search up an idol's name, [idol] gay will be trending--whether it be because of people saying "im gay for him" or whatever, and a LOT of cishet people will try 'clearing' the searches because being gay is bad or something. people normally ‘clear’ the searches if something like [idol fat] or [idol ugly] are trending, which im telling you so you know the context that people only clear the searches when bad things are happening.
[never forget that time 'jungkook gay' was trending and bitches were like "lets clear the searches!" but their pinned tweet said some shit like "sub jungkook x dom jimin coffee shop smut au thread 🌈". bitches also be like i cant be homophobic i ship taekook]
and hoseok and yoongi arent the only ones affected ! we could get into why namjoon and jin (another popular ship) are often assigned 'dad' and 'mom' respectively, or the fact that gay fetishists not only twist members' personalities to fit their ship narrative, but will also force tropes onto them i.e. taehyung/jungkook shippers who will literally demonize jimin and call him a slut or say that he's trying to 'get in the way of' of taekook or 'steal' taehyung/jungkook but thats a whole DIFFERENT rant baby! racism/asian fetishism is also definitely a present factor in all of this but this focus was primarily on gay fetishism and heteronormativity.
oh my god i could also get into the severe transphobia/trans fetishism in this fandom too but this post is already long enough as it is
tl dr: gay fetishists will fetishize real life people and it has actual real life effects and we should ban straight women from shipping mlm
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I reallllllyyy need to get back into my spiritual practice. Been neglecting it.
This year has made me more bitter than normal, with good reason, but it's also been so draining.
I need to get back to my meditations, paganism and satanism, and calm myself down more, figure out what I need to work on. Cuz even though I do feel that what I've been fighting for this year is VERY important, i also need to get back on track with toning down my fat ass leo ego. Nothing good comes from s large ass ego. Nothing.
There are so many ppl in the world here who are AWFUL but I need to remember they are just ppl, and it's not good for me to focus on them all the fucking time. Its draining, and I dont think thsts what my deities want for me. I've neglected them the past like 6 months. And that's mostly been due to my health and my overall need to process what my life is supposed to be like, figuring myself out.
Tumblr can be an amazing place but it can also be toxic. As much as I love my fellow trans and gay ppl, we often have large egos that end up making us fight within our own community. I dont really participate in the kinds of things I'm talking about but like.....ugh I'm tired of seeing ppl fight over materialistic and dumbass things. And I'm not talking about fighting with terfs or anything like that. Theres plenty to fight over. I just mean why are we fighting over who gets to be gay in a tv show or shit like pan and bi discourse. It's really annoying like yall get into this fucking bubble of IM RIGJT IM RIGHT IM RIGHT and I'm even guilty of it. You cant be right all the time. But petty things like stating bi ppl are transphobic or pan ppl are biphobic is fucking silly as shit and gets us NOWHERE.
And then we have more tumblr toxicity when it comes to religion. Again, I'm guilty of it. We have ppl who are adamant that you HAVE to practice one way or another and its just.....I get cultural appropriation and all that. I'm not talking about that. But to scream and yell that maybe a person isnt doing a spell right or they arent learning right is disgusting. Let ppl have their own paths when it comes to witchcraft.
Idk yall
I just need to try to live for me. And try as hard as I fucking can to 1. Fight for the rights of ppl but also 2. Not neglect my own well being, spiritual state, and overall journey as a human being in this life. In the end my labels, personhood and so forth only go so far.
Tumblr can be so amazing but it can be so so toxic and when we spend our time fighting over things that really are so small are qe really taking the time to better ourselves for our causes or are we letting our egos get in the way? Because an example: fighting over what fictional character gets to be gay or whatever isnt really helping the cause of trying to get more representation within media. It's simply just fighting over a fictional character. Idk. I'm just tired.
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gender-chaotic · 4 years
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Oh boy b**tleba*bes talking about stuff they have no clue about lmao
Warning talk mentions of b**tleb*bes, over sexualization of minors, and a bit of adult stuff.
Im goldenbeetle shipper whos been here a while now and is a proud drinker of loving barbara maitland juice not gonna deny our community has some issues mostly in the past with leaving babs out of fics and art and focus more on adam and beej as well as more adult content. But this is something myslef and many people IN OUR OWN COMMUNITY has been speaking out about for a long ass time now you can search the tags for posts adressing leaving Barbara out including by myself so jot that down, so we dont need b**tleb*bes who barley know anything about our community telling us about our content especially when some of y'all openly mock our ship and made it clear you do not care about it, thanks. many of us especially more recently add barbara in, ive seen so much goldenbeetle content that includes babs including again my own content, ive purposefully drawn solo babs and beej so if you're saying there no content that includes her or just beej and her you're very VERY wrong, come to me or most shippers we can provide lots of golden beetle content with babs and even just babs and beetlejuice. Not to mention a few of your own b**tleb*bes have made beetlejuice and adam content and usually leaves Barbara out and focuses just on adam and beej but go off i guess lol.
Many people draw barbara also draw her based off her actresses' who are both women who don't have very large breasts on top of that gena davis' dress for Barbara did not reveal much, kerry's showing a bit more with a deep neckline still covered alot of her body. Many people arent drawing babs with big knockers and sexy clothes because were trying to repress her sexuality and make her dress like she's in the handmaids tale, shame women for being sexy, its because barbara and adam are canonically a white bred suburban couple who are "vanilla" its their personailty, i drew babs with smaller breasts and more "canon compliant" for a while before i changed it up. Obviously you CAN draw barabra and even adam as sexy and babs with big tiddies, i draw barbara with larger breasts now, and show her cleavage and I've been doing this for a while and i have draw PLENTY of sexy and pin up style babs as well adult content with her beetlejuice, and adam, I've also posted it on here so again y'all dont know what you're talking about. I know others who have drawn sexy barbara and barbara with larger breasts just because its not common and YOU haven't seen it doesn't mean its not out there.
Have y'all seen art of anyone oc's like including self ship oc's with beej?? many of them are sexy and/or have pretty bug breasts (not complaini g btw yall are doing gr8 i love your oc's) or other adult female characters in the show I've seen of art thats sexy of miss Argentina and delia as well as art of them with larger breasts and dressed more "sexy" because that's their character, dress more revealing and prefer to be "sexy". Ive also never been attacked or seen any other "anti" attack a creator for making sexy art or big breasted versions of female characters that are canonically adults in beetlejuice, this includes myself who has openly posted suggestive content of babs even on here infact Ive seen people actually like that stuff they just don't make it themselves so claiming "no one is allowed" to draw barbara sexy or adult content of her is also a huge load.
Not to get too personal but speaking from experience as a person who developed at a very early age i got my first real bra at 7 or 8, had D-DDD breasts throughout middle school and highschool, currently has g-h cup breasts, has been overly sexualized my entire life by people of all ages because of this, and also deals with ALOT of dysphoria because of It am A-ok with representation of women with larger breasts, including suggestive/sexual art of them, women of all body types including their breasts but that's the thing i highly doubt y'all care about large breasted women I've seen the argument when talking about the over sexualiztion of large breasts
"well you dont care about women with big breasts we exist too!"
"Dont erase our body breasts!"
I get it! But its pretty clear this argument is usually only being presented to tokenize us and then someone will draw a big tiddied lady with wide as birthing hips, a dumpster truck ass, back that looks like it son the verge of breaking, and a waist that varies from size skinny to "holy sh*t did all your organs get sucked out???" If yall really care about women with big breasts draw women of differing body types with big breasts, draw them chubby, fat, ACTUALLY curvy, give them stretch marks, a double chin, ect. You fucking cowards say were mysoginists for "not giving barbara big tiddies"
Most of b**tleb*abe adult lydia art looks like a mix of jessica rabbit, elvira, and morticia addams with the same 2 or 3 body types over and over again, infact ive run into plenty of b**tleb*bes art where lydia has either has big tits or like a B-ish cup ("aged up" lydia thats looks almost exactly like her teenage self canon(s)) not really an inbetween but you "totally care about women with large breasts" its not tat you only care about adult lydia to make her ooc, project onto her and make her to sexy goth queen many of us wanted to be when we were young and watched beetlejuice, ship her with beej so she can be his big tiddy goth gf its TOTALLY about ""feminism"" uh huh....
And where has YOUR sexy barbara art been hmm? b**tleb*bes draw so little art of barbara or either maitlands other than to be in the background and react to beej and lyida's shenanigans, or scold them because babes portray the maitlands or way more protective and prude than in canon, and the little art I've seen babes draw of her isn't sexy big tiddy babs. I have at most seen a handful of deetzland fics with adult content including barbara and that's it. Its very clear many of yall care mostly about lydia and beej especially boinking be honest now. So dont bring up our ship or barbara as a "gotcha antis".
And lastly Lydia, i dont think any of us are saying she cant grow up, we literally just think its gross to sexualize a character who is a minor in canon and age her up solely to be with a canon adult. Ive seen "antis" draw adult lydia in a tasteful way and develop her as she grows up because they're interested in her charcter and no one has taken issue with it at all. Lydia in all canons doesnt have big honkers in any canon either, yes minors can have breasts, even larger ones. I mentioned above that was me, and you can have a character who is a minor who looks more developed than others where its not gross and sexualized (jackie lynn thomas from svtfoe is an example, mami from madoka isnt really sexualized in canon from my memory) i think representaion of all body types abd breast sizes is important for young women but lydia isnt one of those characters even in canons where shes 15-17 and going through puberty.
Let lydia be a child jfc, stop being creepy and getting pissy when people draw lyida with the same breast cup in canon and make her look like the average teen/tween she is, that isnt misogyny its treating a character who is a minor appropriately.
The ACTUAL misogyny is over sexualizing and aging up a tween/teen character soley to do the horizontal monster mash with a adult charcter, write her so that she really only cares about said adult character and the spawn that pop out of her from him, she dies young but parents and friends who cares shes got beetlejuice!, Forget the entire life she leaving behind too, and giving her the body of a pixar mom or h*ntai protagonist a majority of the time.
Your performative white feminism is showing.
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gluestickcherrybum · 4 years
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Happy Earth Day peeps! ヾ(@°▽°@)ノ
I haven’t written in a while but I wanted to write something for this occasion, and more posts about environmentalism since its something i’m quite passionate about. Coronavirus is pretty much all anyone’s talking about lately. And as a result , our entire way of living has been adjusted due to the outbreak: Staying indoors, washing our hands, and social distancing has become the new normal.
But just because we’re experiencing difficult times doesn’t mean we should lose sight of the bigger picture which is caring for the earth. 
Thinking about sustainability is even more important now because it connects us to the world at a time we’re told to quarantine ourselves. We’re told now more than ever to purchase single-use hand sanitizers, face masks, gloves, and other products. 
Unfortunately, these items will likely end up in landfills, or worse - the environment. Already, face masks are polluting the shores of Hong Kong. Also, people fear reusable items like never before - some businesses flat out refusing reusable mugs, containers and produce bags. While I understand we want to stay healthy, and prevent the spread of the virus, we should still make a conscious effort to think about how our decisions effect the Earth too. So, with this in mind, here’s how to stay zero waste during the coronavirus outbreak.
Why should we care about zero waste right now?
Sustainability probably isn’t on the forefront of anyone’s mind right now, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t still care or talk about it. As I mentioned earlier, thinking about sustainability helps us connect to the world in a time we’re told to bunker down and stay inside. It helps us appreciate things and maybe view the world a little differently. And, as scary and disheartening as all of this is - there is some good news too.
For example, there have been several reports of clearer waters in Venice where fish are now visible. Air pollution has dropped significantly in Italy due to the fact that fewer fossil fuels are being burned from people staying indoors. Even New York, Los Angels, Chicago, Seattle and Atlanta have reported significant drops in air pollution.
I’m well aware these positive changes come at a cost - so they’re bittersweet, at most. However, they can’t be ignored. It would be fantastic if, after the emergency is over, we could remember the beauty we’ve seen reappear in the world and do our best to preserve it.
There’s of course negative news as well, single-use items are being disposed on the daily and ending up littering up our community. Worst part is, these gloves and masks are not biodegradable or good for the environment - they’re made with petroleum. They’re also a health hazard because you can’t exactly pick these items up without worrying you’ll catch something.
That’s why it’s so important to think about sustainability right now. And zero waste does figure into all of that. By remaining zero waste during this time, we’re acting on our commitment to bettering the planet as a whole. 
How can I stay zero waste during the coronavirus outbreak?
Thankfully, there are several ways to make an impact during this time. All hope is far from lost.
Make the most of your food by reducing food waste
In this hard time, the food we eat should be cherished. With so many people struggling to put meals on the table due to job loss, we need to make our food last us. One way we can do this is by cooking with leftovers. For example, if you have some leftover rice and vegetables - make fried rice. Or turn boiled potatoes into mash.You can also get creative and make vegetable stock out of food scraps, turn mushy berries into jam, pickle some fruit. Or getting into some good old composting.
Invest in reusable masks and gloves
During this time, you’ll likely see a ton of people walking around with face masks and gloves on. Most of them are single use too. As I mentioned earlier, lots of face masks and gloves are being littered right now. 
It’s bad enough these items are single use only, they should be disposed of properly. Face masks have already started to wash up on the shores of Hong Kong in addition to other ocean polluters. Yikes.
Cloth masks havent been proven to be as efficient as clinical face masks in filtering the air, but for those who are sick and would like to prevent infection to others, the cotton does aid in catching water droplets from coughing and such. Just make sure to wash them regularly.
Instead of plastic gloves, consider using those reusable rubber gloves that people use to wash dishes sometimes. You can wash them with soap or even boil them to disinfect.
Decluttering
If you haven’t yet read Marie Kondo’s book “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up”, now’s a good time to get inspired. Time to go through all of your items and find the items that truly “spark joy” and be rid of the rest. Unfortunately during this time, you can’t exactly donate items to thrift shops. More than likely, thrift shops will be closed. However, you can at least set items aside to be donated once all of this is over. If you’re not comfortable waiting that long, you can always try selling it online like on Depop or Carousel.
That said, don’t be afraid to throw certain things out. I know that may seem kind of counterproductive, as I’m advising you to stay zero waste during this crisis.However, I’m fully aware there are some items we hold onto as zero wasters because we hope to keep them out of the landfill as long as possible. Items that are hard to recycle, or we don’t know how to recycle; items we believe we can fix but never get around to fixing; items simply destined for landfill one way or the other.
I know it hurts to let these items go, but you have to. It’s good for your mental health, and for the sake of your home. Remember: There is no such thing as being fully zero waste. We can get very close, but the truth is, our economy is a linear one. And every living creature creates waste of some sort. Now, this doesn’t mean I want you throwing out perfectly good items. Try to find items homes first! See if your friends or family want items you don’t first. Then, if not, seek to donate or sell. But obviously things like clothing tags and junk mail must go.
Invest in reusable period products
At this moment of crisis, with everyone panic buying basic necessities, menstrual pads and tampons are starting to get scarce so much so, you might have a hard time finding those items these days . This might be a good time to try out some sustainable alternatives. Women spend an enormous price in period products throughout their lifetime, so investing in reusables not only keeps a phenomenal amount of waste from landfills, but also saves the time going to the store and a whole lot of money.
Personally i use a menstrual cup (which i might write a whole post about it later), but for the less adventurous there are a good few other choices like reusable cloth pads and period panties (which sounded like a miracle when i first heard about them, but i haven’t seemed to be able to find any sold locally for now)
Heck, invest in reusable anything…
Its not just pads and tampons with reusable counterparts, if you want to get a little advanced in zero waste, try swapping out any disposable items possible, like stainless steel safety razors for plastic ones (ask your granddad), the infamous metal straw for plastic straws, or even things as simple as bar soap for bottled body soap.
Shop for food without the waste
During this time, please only stock up on what you need. You don’t have to hoard food - there’s plenty to go around. There’s more than enough food for everyone. Just take what you need and leave some for others.
To continue shopping sustainably, you can bring your own reusable shopping bags or produce bags (or you can diy some from old pillow cases)
I understand not everyone will be able to shop in bulk during this time for dry goods. So, you should shop as if you have no bulk food options. This means opting for items packaged in paper, cardboard, glass and aluminum.
If you must get something packaged in plastic, get the biggest container you can afford. Smaller plastics especially cling film are harder to or even impossible to recycle. Less than 9% of plastic is actually recycled so the less we consume, the less will likely end up in the landfill or oceans.
And thats all for today’s post, im sorry if its posted a bit later on Earth day than expected. I hope everyone is safe and healthy during these hard times. And if youre a student, i hope the online classes arent as bad as people say (im conveniently on a special leave of absence this semester (see my last post) so i have no idea how its going down) and if youre interested in more tips and tricks in being zero waste, feel free to hit me up and maybe ill write more posts like these. Thanks for reading ヽ(*・ω・)ノ
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justsomeantifas · 5 years
Text
its 11:59 its still technically tonight so
this is gonna be my reference point to questions abt venezuela, at least regarding things pre- May 19 2019. Its a bit scattered and it may get edited down along the road, but yeah.
short version that draws some similar conclusions: https://www.salon.com/2019/05/17/the-plot-to-kill-venezuela_partner/
one difference in scales that’s important to keep in mind: the lifespan of people is 2-7 decades. the lifespan of colonialism lasts centuries. the lifespan of media memory is a couple years, tops.
Most western narratives of venezuela start meaningfully at chavez, which is a mistake. The focus point in history around which the country flowed was the Caracazo. You probably already know about this, but a massive uprising took place in the heart of Caracas, against decades of dictatorship both formal and informal, after severe instability in the global oil market. The people were hungry, the riots were fiery, and the bullets bled. knows the death toll even now, but its estimated well into the thousands.  This happened pre-chavez, and started a cascade of events which brought him into limelight that you can read about here. not gonna go into more venezuelan history, but i talk a bit more here
chavez was democratically elected, multiple times.
   in 2002, after his first democratic election, he was kidnapped by US-backed troops and replaced by someone who threw out the 1999 constitution, which was as legitimate as any other made in venezuela’s colonial and violently capitalist history, seeing as it was the first (aka only, so far) of 26 constitutions actually approved by popular referendum. He was reinstated largely due to massive protests in support of him. Maduro however doesn’t really have as much of the charisma and support of chavez, which is creating problems - as well as exacerbating problems created by the economic crises ramping up just around chavez’s death. In 2015, there were elections to the National Assembly, which ended up with the Opposition winning a majority of the seats (which does show that there’s some degree of fairness in the elections, at least verifiably up til that point, yet that isnt rly accounted for when western media describes it as “undemocratic” - many of whom don’t apply the same scrutiny to their own country: such as this UN Human Rights councilor who also happens to be the crown prince of british-iraq, currently residing in the noted democracy of the Kingdom of Jordan, which has no vested interest or control over any particular export of Venezuela.).        
This turnout showed most of all that maduro had alienated as many as 2 million of his supporters, who didnt end up voting (though many also voted against him - trying to act on their feeling that whatever they want, its “not this”). This decreasing support also accelerates whats known as “Everyday Sabotage” - people not trusting in the government, and look out for their own interests contra everyone else. This is a danger inherent to tying “Socialism” to a primarily state project.       
However 1999 Constitution was never meant as an eternal document & it created mechanisms to call for new popular constitutional referendums to be held. That’s what the “Constituent Assembly” is about, which is what a lot of the western world is describing as him singlehandedly rewriting it (while also being “vague about its contents”), or “created by him”. Elections to the constituent assembly were boycotted by opposition, so that it would be government controlled & look like a sham in the eyes of the broader world. That being said, the assembly was called both as a reaction to losing election but also in response to intensifying crises - it was put forth (i don’t see any reason to believe in bad faith) as a way to come together and figure out how to address the needs that were driving people to protest - to address the desire for “not this”, but bc of the uncertainty, it was easily twistable by reactionaries by putting all emphasis on the former. Also timing corresponds with increasing fears of maduro straying from the path of chavez, the image of scrapping one of his strongest plays for smth unknown is risky - tho if there are other meaningful options given the situation im not sure. And the body’s got at least as much constitutional legitimacy as Guaido  (Chapter III)  
The 1999 constitution also enabled a recall election to be called against maduro in 2016, bc it was written with particular attention to holding public officials accountable - similar noble commitments helped to end the presidency of Rousseff & bring in Bolsonaro (who was also one of the people spurring on the investigations and whipping up a social base).
     (speaking of guaido & bolsonaro)
on Guaido:
part of student group in 2007 protesting against non-renewal of coup-assisting network, who the CFR (one of the major think tanks of the cold war still playing a big role in foreign policy today) considered “most important network”   
close friend of Leopoldo Lopez, the aforementioned coup plotter.
politician since 2010, won a couple small elections
Unknown to majority of general population until 2019, most venezuelans surveyed didnt know him   
Plan Pais       
plans to privatize state owned industry & allow investment from foreign oil companies       
center-right neoliberal draped in platitudes of “stability”, “revitalization”, “security”, and “rescue” - a message seemingly deliberately targeted to become more and more resonant with increased sanctions.
/on Guaido
governing is about the expression of power. I wanna live in a world where that power isn’t expressed, but as long as the exploitation of the global working class continues unabated, id prefer some of that power be put towards helping the poor.     
there is no such thing as a static state of affairs, there’s no “goldilocks zone” out in the political universe where we tweak things finely until we find whats best for everyone, only different rates of change in different dimensions. what we need to do is figure out how we can push that state of affairs in a direction so that everyday people have the power to take control of their lives. re
re: “constitutionality” - if the supreme court calls it constitutional then its constitutional. period. There’s no such thing as a supreme court as an “independent branch” of government, but there are different degrees of integration into the rest of it.       
The Supreme Tribunal of Venezuela has 32 members, (a bit more than a dozen put in by the national assembly, while the PSUV held it), and the opposition holds abt 3 away from a supermajority. Each member of the court holds their spot for 12 years. If that’s “The Most Corrupt In The World” according to Transparency International, i wonder what world the 9-person lifetime-appointed US Supreme Court (2 of which appointed by trump, and save for pulling a Weekend At Ginsbergs, likely 3) is on. In fact, one of the tactics that the more radical circles of democrat voters are putting forward is to pack the Supreme Court. Because thats how shit actually gets done, or at the least how shit is prevented from being committed w the stamp of legality. FDR learned that lesson too, in trying to pass what is today known as “The New Deal”
My comparisons to trump are for specific end: these actions are exerted on levers of liberal democracy, and every single liberal democracy is susceptible to them in some ways.
whats a “dictator”? if hes unelected, the millions of people who participated in the elections dont seem to think so. if maduro is a dictator, then what is donald trump? the majority of ppl didnt vote for him yet hes still governing. macron’s popularity has at several points been less than 1/3, and the yellow vest protestors have been violently attacked - why is he not “a violent dictator with only the support of the military”? These terms are not neutral.
“their elections are highly flawed” So What? show me a country whose elections arent.   
“opposition jailed” - ok but coup plotters don’t get off easy in any liberal democracy. If someone - say Bernie Sanders - said “enough is enough” and succeeded in overthrowing the current government with the help of a foreign government…. you think they’d let him go free? what if ten years later he was getting his supporters all riled up to do it again? how long you think he’d be in jail for (assuming he can survive well into his 100’s)? You think more than 13 years? Think he’d get house arrest? Some US states lock you up for posessing weed up to 10. If you stay long enough around this blog, youll find plenty of other examples of much more cruel and unusual punishments. Look at Chelsea Manning, look at Oscar Riviera…   look at the US protestors saying Guaido is illegitimate
 what we have to keep in mind most of all, is to show that the contradictions being exploited are inherent to Liberalism. Contradictions are just expressed most freely at the margins - the interstices
poor economic decisions happen everywhere - 2008/2009 still affecting the entire world there’s violence thats “natural”, and violence thats “intolerable”. The dividing line is whether we have anything to gain by changing things.
sanctions:    started under obama, originally targeted specific individuals, used as precedent for more generalized. They’re indirect - they have a “squeezing effect”, takes already-existing problems & just makes them markedly worse. also doesn’t necessarily correlate with emigration, bc it takes a lot of money to start a new life somewhere else, and sanctions disproportionately affect the poor.   
war wouldnt likely look like (many) US boots on the ground - we’ve got plenty of other places to be. It’d look like guns being smuggled to counter-protestors. It’d look like sending resources to neighboring countries like Colombia or Brazil who would then use their troops. Colombias ruling party is right wing populists - much of current president’s campaign was run on fearmongering abt venezuelan socialism - they’re raring to go. It’d look like drones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracas_drone_attack. Also means there likely won’t be a sudden trigger, its a gradually escalating stressful gradually-more-warlike situation.  
If war does break out - where would the refugees go?  In reality the majority would go to Colombia, but if anything significant breaks out there will be a stream of those looking to find shelter in the US, which has advertised itself as a beacon of hope - what would happen to them? some may get taken in as a gesture of showmanship, but nowhere close to the majority.   
speaking of the US - imagine if trump and bolton manage to actually plot a winning coup. Do you think that that wont be his main bullwark against ppl like Bernie? you think the media and rest of the democratic party wont jump on that narrative and “begrudgingly” support a fascist because the alternative might mean supporting single payer and not-having-good-for-ratings-climate-apocalypse?
another term thrown around without regard is “once vibrant” - for whom?
most articles ive seen just take this as an axiom, and dont find any cognitive dissonance when also saying chavez reduced poverty hugely.
Tumblr media
 The answer to that rhetorical question: Citgo is venezuelan, before chavez none of the wealth went back to venezuela - thats what “vibrancy” means.  
     many similarities with BP (the-artist-formerly-known-as-the-anglo-iranian-oil-company)
in age of climate change & vocal ppl about phasing out oil, the more one’s livelihood is connected to oil, the more unstable ones country will be - either that, or the more instability ones country will cause.
“Oil exports fell by $2,200 per capita from 2012 to 2016, of which $1,500 was due to the decline in oil prices.”  
The drop in price that affected the venezuelan economy so much in 2014 was largely by US shale fracking
Tumblr media
in 1970’s Chile, copper was the main product of Chile - allende nationalized the mines, and in return wall street dropped the
(also worth noting that venezuela’s got non-insignificant untapped shale basins)      
At least venezuela used the oil money to fund social programs instead of like, pad the pockets of Raytheon.
also oil price wars in africa highly correlated w oil (whose annual production doesn’t even combined total venezuelas)
a couple ppl have raised concerns abt my strong stance on equivocal dismissal - if there’s a difference, if there’s some way of reading your statement that says “X country that the State Dept wants to invade is an anomoly in the otherwise free world”, then that’s acting to push the discourse towards normalization & invasion. It’s not “whataboutism”, just basic consistency.   
now more than ever, narratives are affected by people. They may not be ones we had a hand in forging, but the way that we propagate them actually does have measurable effects on the larger-scale political outcomes. Always look for the base assumptions, as well as the direction   
sure denounce Chavez. sure denounce Maduro. denounce Kim, Xi, Castro, anyone. But if there’s no equally or proportionally loud denunciations of the horrors perpetrated by allies - the “assumed”, “natural” violence, then you’re acting to reinforce the narrative of exceptionalism.   
Just make sure after you take a breath, you denounce Saudi Arabia & Yemen, Israel for Palestine, the conditions which brought Argentinian/Brazillian, Brazilian coup, the US for Puerto Rico, the conditions which have murdered dozens of journalists in Mexico per year…  
what people want most of all is stability. “A debate over whether it is mismanagement and corruption by the Maduro government or the sanctions that are the author of the crisis is largely irrelevant. The point is that a combination of the reliance on oil revenues and the sanctions policy has crushed the policy space for any stability in the country.”
government’s errors and tensions   
fixed exchange rate -> black market      
took 5 years to address changing relation between dollar & BsF, all the room between those two curves left a huge room for intensifying crises, though since it also corresponds with the death of chavez, it sorta makes sense.   
antidemocratic actions and remarks by maduro  
scattered responses filled w half-solutions   
diversification needed, but how do you diversify an economy filled with rampant poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy… 
(nominally begrudging) support for mineral extraction 12.4% of territory opened to extraction - “Special Economic Zone” as a method of managing decay       
this is also what much of the reality of “economic diversification” looks like
not enough socialism. (even fox agrees!) Venezuela shows the limits of Social Democracy in countries living outside of the Imperial Core - esp the dangers if you’re in the crosshairs already bc of oil         
started out as populism, gradually grew as confronted more.            shows shaping influence on political organs from actions of foreign actors - if you’ve survived a coup before, you’re gonna become paranoid about any more of them - especially when the coup plotters say “hey lets do more coups”       
also shows the weakness of only having a small number of charasmatic faces representing the movement - if one dies and theres no clear and popular replacement, then you’ll lose ppl who were largely brought in by the charisma, weakening your political project, and creating cracks for reactionary forces to take advantage of - especially in times of transition.       
bourgeoisie still control a majority of the economy.            Capitalist businesses are internally unaccountable, and in this age of intensified global trade, one can punish countries for straying from the pack by moving business & focus away. If you’re looking for dictatorships, look at the thousands of private companies run as dictatorships daily       
capital flight is a real effect, precisely because socialism is fundamentally and irreconcilably against the self-interest of the bourgeoisie. not necessarily against the interest of the humans-who-are-also-bourgeois, but of the impersonal self-sustaining force of capital.           
Have you ever pulled something out of an electrical socket, and seen a quick spark? The reason that occurs is bc of what’s called an induction current, which is a fancy physics word for flowing electricity not liking to suddenly change its flow. If you accidentally touch that spark, you might feel it, but youll live to tell the tale. But if you only take the plug out halfway & touch it, that’s a different story.  Capital flows similarly.
   my country (lithuania) has been facing sky-high emigration since the collapse of the USSR (with an added boost after 08-09), we have also consistently had one of the highest suicide rates in the world (#7), a minimum wage of about 3 Euros an hour (after a recent increase), as well as one of the highest prison populations in Europe (discounting Russia & Belarus… which like….)   
when are we gonna be invaded? when will the US media talk about our pain?  
oh wait, they did. We cried all pretty for the TV cameras, then they got a bozo nobody really knew of to denounce the government, who they called dictatorial (though it was far from ideal, massive bureaucracies dont tend to mix well with single-person-decision-making). And to be fair, the fact that the government was unpopular wasnt entirely undeserved. But what was promised to us was the idea of “Freedom”, “Free Enterprise”; to “Get Rid of Corruption” and institute “Real” Democracy". They said we’d be integrated into the glorious capitalist west, and we understood that to mean that we’d be in the position of a Germany, or at least an Austria or smth. But they never meant to integrate us into the imperial Core, we have always been seen as part of the Periphery - the “assumed” violence that “naturally” happens.    
Then we got to where we our today. Some of the stuffs more available, but expensive. Most of the bureaucracy’s still around, it just helps fewer people. We stand as an example of what to expect, in one of the best case scenarios, you would join our emigrees now making up a significant percentage of underpaid house-servants aka maids across the EU.  
if we want the people of Venezuela to be healthy, safe, and fulfilled, then:
speak out and pointing to the effects of US sanctions is incredibly important. They’ve already killed 40,000 people in the last year, and 300,000 more are in extreme danger (and millions more in long-term risk).
what does it mean when you simultaneously sanction trade with a place but also demand they let you give them humanitarian aid?
if there is to be action taken by the international community, then the US has forfeited its right to speak. They threw it away once in 2002, and obama rhetorically picked it up and dusted it off so that trump could throw it in a bigger dumpster, thats also on fire. However we also still live in a world deeply shaped by US Hegemony, so the opinions of its close trade partners & closest-knit media buds should be seen as influenced as such. Doesn’t mean that theyre wrong on everything too, but they still feel the magnetic pull of the US economy and ecosystem (as well as their own potentially imperial interests) and the effect of that force cannot be discounted.
transitioning our economies away from oil & away from globalized neoliberalism which only values peripheral states by their exports - dissolves tensions of how to produce in unproductive terrain   
socialize medicine in the US, so that drug companies run by dictatorships can’t control their lives & ours. healthcare is especially reliant on imports, sanctions affect especially strongly.  
normalize the ideas of Socialism, without taking the easy way out of “oh no dont think of Venezuela, think of sweden or denmark”. None of them are Socialist, but to avoid the complexities of Venezuela is to imagine that US attempts at socialism wouldn’t involve significant capital flight. If we don’t consider that, if we don’t have solid actionable plans to deal with that, while also facing the inherent complexity of changing material conditions, then we’re gonna waste whatever shot we get.   
redirect conversation normally centered around government towards support of the tens of thousands of small business co-operatives, where people live their daily lives in a democratic manner.
on The Communes:
    “delegating responsibility throughout all members, and bringing important decisions to the whole to work through and find the best possible solution… They create “collective criteria” together; agreements stipulating whether individuals have power over certain decisions or whether it is up to the whole group. However, he assures that these “are not rigid, they can change at any moment.” The cooperative I lived with in Venezuela had regular organizational meetings where they informally came to agreement and were even able to come back to re-evaluate decisions that didn´t seem to be satisfactory for the whole group in this same way. Decisions and decision making, in this way, are viewed as a process not contained by meetings and discussions in board rooms, but are always being analyzed and made better by the process of putting them into action, and not only by thinking them out and writing them down.”
- the “Self Government of the Producers” - aka what it looks like for cooks to govern.   
they have communal councils as well - neighborhood councils in the same vein that so many (rightfully) find inspiring in Kurdistan . They preexisted chavez, but they were able to proliferate and be given legal recognition through him. I understand that legal recognition can act to ‘name’ a body & pin it to smth that doesn’t match its requisite variety - how dynamic it is, but imo as its currently legislated it recognizes a good amount of the autonomy that they had already been excersizing. - liable to change                                government recognition of co-ops has drawbacks too, and correlates negatively with that coop’s success           
           "A good example of this intention is the de-emphasis that cooperatives in Venezuela put on advertising or “marketing” products, and instead push to find more people to become part of the cooperative, and choose the services or products they provide based on community decisions about what is needed. A cooperative I worked in […] was originally a family owned and operated theater group that traveled around the country performing theater pieces that highlighted social and environmental issues. When they joined the […] cooperative, the larger co-op did an analysis and decided they wanted a natural fruit juice concentrate producer and gave the group a loan to acquire capital and start producing. They have been doing this for only a couple of years now but have already paid back the loan to the larger cooperative and are bringing extra money in to support themselves, better their services, and supply extra funds to the larger cooperative for community projects such as the recently [2012] built community health center…                  
The cooperative services I experienced and learned about in Venezuela were health, dental, food, and a separate example of trash services. A dental cooperative […] provides quality dental services (I know because I used them) almost every day for affordable prices. You don´t have to be a member of the cooperative, and you don´t have to make an appointment. It takes only a couple of hours, and emergency situations are treated with urgency. The health center, built with funds provided by all the associated cooperatives[…], works the same way. Anyone can go there, the services are subsidized by the cooperative so they are affordable, the clinic and workspaces are clean and well taken care of, and the quality of the service is great. Worker-members of the cooperative receive health care at the facility without charge except for the massage and acupuncture services that they also provide at a really low price.
           […] food services are priced to provide more access to food for the community in which it exists. The original and persistent intention is to make the best situation for people on all ends of the process. The producers are part of the cooperative and are part of the group that decides the prices that growers get, as well as the prices that the food is sold for. This means that both farmers and workers at the market decide what to charge a person, which ultimately affects how much money the growers receive, as well as if the food is affordable for the people who need to eat who live in the city. In a normal capitalist market system these parties are separated and put up against each other, raising prices for consumers and lowering them for small producers, excluding those people from getting enough money to afford all the necessities that are typically only provided at a high price.
           One communal council, a parallel governing organization of community members linked to investment funds from the national government, in the city of Merida, Venezuela organized themselves to get funds to buy a trash collection truck. The truck at the time was used for a specific waste removal project that removed waste from their community regularly but was not a traditional collection service. However, they did have plans to expand the project to start their own collection service, and this would be provided by the commal council, an anti-capitalist organization which does not require people to pay for the service. Although this is not a “co-operative” as some hardliner co-operative enthusiasts might point out, it is a horizontal anti-capitalist organization widening access of necessary services to the larger community run by community members; following cooperative values of equity, inclusion, and solidarity I believe this to be an example of cooperative economics and action. It appears to me that economic inclusion is much more likely to widen only when those who are being excluded are included in the process of organizing the services and are in control of the economy.“
until the communes, workers cooperatives, and the like are strong enough to rule themselves, having Maduro in power is the only option given to us which doesn’t trigger the control of reactionaries. People make their own history, but not in situations of their choosing - the exact outcome isn’t predetermined, but there’s only a limited number of poles - gravitational attractors - towards which that trajectory is heading at any particular time.   
if maduro acts to squash the power of the communes, then thats a different situation. but until that point, we outside of the country must work to center any discussion on these bodies - they are the heart of the country and of whatever social revolution has occurred/is further possible. They are filled with lessons for us to learn from, and show how rich and dynamic the organized populace can be if they are allowed to control their communities. (ex of dealing with gang violence from @ 22:50)       
This is all said with recognition that many chavistas have acted against communes, the bureaucratic machine acts to co-opt much of their energy, its linguistically obscured the concept of "ownership” with that of “control”, and that the state has changed its messages over time. But the heart of the communes is what’s a priority, and they have acted against the government overstepping its bounds & mis-identifying them. But whats important is that there’s a feedback process in the gvt to actually allow them to assert their autonomy. Liberals will do their utmost to close those channels.
   If Guaido and the Popular Will take control of power, be assured that whatever gains made in organizing the everyday people of Venezuela will be at the top of the chopping block. How effective that suppression turns out to be is undetermined - it might turn out to strengthen the communes, but that outcome would be damage control, not something to try and bullseye.
Effective Propaganda knows that its more effective to control what’s left out than control what’s put in. Keep that in mind, and study trajectories and forces.
other links:
https://next.podbay.fm/podcast/1363342644/e/1551711604
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Voc08vh9cJY
https://www.counterpunch.org/2013/06/21/a-cowboy-in-caracas/
https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2017/08/03/the-tragedy-of-venezuela/
https://www.multpl.com/venezuela-gdp
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/04/fivethirtyeights-venezuela-problem
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-venezeulas-middle-class-is-taking-to-the-streets/
https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/bjkmq8/fiery-protest-leader-leopoldo-lopez-faces-13-year-sentence-in-venezuela
https://potent.media/minimum-sentencing-for-marijuana-possession
https://www.thoughtco.com/core-and-periphery-1435410
https://popularresistance.org/building-the-commune-radical-democracy-in-venezuela/
http://www.antiwar.com/regions/regions.php?c=Venezuela
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cinnbar-bun · 5 years
Text
RFA + V+ Saeran Acting As a Guardian to Teenage! MC
A/n: Have some headcanons to soothe the pain I just caused
Under the cut since it’s a long one! MC is about 16 in this one!
Also: might include some spoilers!!!
Yoosung
Finally, he wasn’t the youngest anymore! 
He was so excited to meet you and honestly he was all sunshine and rainbows as he talked about how you were like a little sibling to him
So gushing and doting, he’s more of an older sibling than a parental figure, but he still does it so well
Always brags to his guildmates he has the best sibling ever, and he will fight (and lose horribly) to anyone who tries to say otherwise
Very concerned over you since you’re so young and caught up in the RFA’s mishaps. 
So proud of anything you do, even getting out of bed makes him cheer for you
Always cooks for you, anything you want, he’ll make for you. 
He won’t admit it until he’s at his worst- when the depression and the grief from losing Rika really gets to him- but he looks up to you. He kinda gets jealous of how young and talented you are (even if you don’t think so), and wishes to become better so you have someone actually worthwhile to look up to (in his mind). 
He doesn’t seem to think that you like him, he still assumes he’s a bit of a nuisance and someone else could be better. You however, love him a lot and value his presence in your life. You don’t think you would’ve been as motivated without his help!
Sometimes he can get a bit irresponsible and you need to drag his butt to bed so he doesn’t game so much. 
Taking care of you has been a roller coaster for both of you, but he still feels a lot better since you’re here. He has cut down on his bad habits and has slowly grown from his past issues. 
If you talk about how you’re going on a date, he’ll cry. 
“Waaaaaahhhhhh!!! How are you going on dates before I am????” 
He’s supportive though, and makes sure your date actually cares for you. Probably the only one on this list you don’t have to worry about when saying you’re seeing someone
Zen
Okay so the first moment you met him on the messenger, you flipped out. 
“ZEN??? AS IN THE ZEN???? JDSFJNAJGNLSJN OH MY GOD CAN YOU STEP ON ME?????”
Jaehee also feels you but outwardly tells you to relax
He goes full on dad mode. He immediately checks himself and everyone else, anything above a ‘g’ rating and he’s flipping out. No more flirting, no more swearing, no more smoking, he’s gotta be a father figure somehow.
Once he cools down, he finds that his paternal instincts come naturally. He is very easy to talk to and is easily your biggest supporter. He wants you to feel confident in yourself and see that he’s got your back no matter what happens, something he didn’t have growing up. 
If you say you wanna act or join theater (especially if it’s because of him) he’ll just cry. He’ll sob about how his ‘child’ is the most precious thing in the world. 
He’s a straight up PTA dad afterwards, always going to your school when he can and checking up on you. 
All the mothers and teachers try to hit on him but he ignores them because his shining little star is there
He goes to all of your shows, all of your concerts, ANYTHING that involves potentially watching you do something, he is there in a second. 
After anything, whether you give a speech or a finished a performance, he’s there with a large bouquet of flowers. He’s so proud of you and he feels so enthusiastic about you. 
His narcissism drops about 200% because now he’s focused on you. His phone is full of pictures of you and your accomplishments, and after anything he makes sure to say it in the RFA messenger. 
He’s really easy to have a heart to heart with because you’re his precious little angel and he’s just as (if not more) emotional as you. 
HOWEVER!!! DO NOT!! I REPEAT!!! DO NOT MENTION DATING!!! THIS MAN WILL GO WALK UP TO WHOEVER YOU LIKE/DATING AND WILL GO INTO A FISTFIGHT WITH THEM. 
He screams when you mention guys- ‘MEN ARE WOLVES!! THEY ARE HORRIBLE!! THEY ARE DISGUSTING DO NOT EVER DATE!! YOU ARENT ALLOWED TO DATE UNTIL IM DEAD AND YOURE 80!!’
Jumin
So, let’s cut to the chase, you REEALLy liked the fact Jumin was rich. 
“Wow, so I DON’T have to starve everyday???” 
Jumin is...not the most emotional at first. He is just getting used to having to take care of you so it will be a while before he opens up. 
Jumin is great for when you want to rant or need to blow off steam. He doesn’t say anything and just listens to you. However, it’s horrible when you want emotional/physical comfort. 
He tries, he really does, but since he grew up so detached with his emotions he immediately thinks you’re dramatic. It isn’t until Jaehee (and perhaps Zen too) step in and say how he can’t keep brushing off your feelings 
So, he decides to try even harder and understand the enigma that is a teenage mind. 
It’s difficult as shit
After a while, he begins to learn all your cues and patterns, and understands what you want when you need it. He can read you like an open book now and knows when he should give you space or step in and comfort you. 
He’s actually really good at it 
He is always pampering you to the extreme. You watch tv and muse, “cool... there’s a new video game out.” and forget moments later, he immediately walks in with over a hundred games and pre-ordered, deluxe gold editions of them. 
He is the prime example of a father figure at this point, and all your friends get jealous.
He only gives you the best and will settle for nothing less. You are practically his own child at this point and like HELL is he gonna give you anything he discerns as not worthy. 
He likes taking you out for nice strolls after you beg ask for you two to hang out. You always get excited at seeing a simple cafe or mannequin with a cute outfit, and he wonders at how nice it must be to be so innocent
Plenty of outlets had contacted him about you, but he makes sure your privacy is secure. He doesn’t want anyone taking advantage of you or getting too personal
But they do manage to capture snippets of you two walking, and some misunderstandings have occurred due to it
“Jumin Han is dating a minor!” 
“Jumin Han has child after affair with mistress!” 
He gets fed up with the rumors and explains right away that you are NOT his lover, and you are NOT his actual child. He lies and says you were the child of a good friend of his, because explaining what actually happened would be weird
He is one of the worst when you say you’re dating someone. He will hound his security guards to watch EVERYTHING you to do, and he WILL have 707 do a background check on whoever you are going out with. 
“What are they doing?” “Uhhh...they’re eating.” “What about now?” “Still eating sir.” “Are his hands visible?” “Yes sir, he’s using them to eat a burger.” “B-burger? Where are they at?!” “McDonald’s sir...” “What kind of lousy date is this, why did (Y/n) accept this, does he think he’s good enough for my child with his peasant lifestyle???” “Sir...they’re 16????” 
All in all, he’s trying to be a good father figure and guardian that he never really had growing up. But he’s so prideful at seeing how much you mature, and even though he’s blunt sometimes, he hopes you understand he loves you a lot. 
He also tries dad jokes, but they’re so weird because obviously he rehearsed it and he says it so stoically that it makes it even funnies. 
Jaehee
Jaehee is a sweet woman, and she is like your best friend and mother rolled into one. 
She is so caring and considerate of your feelings, and is your number one supporter. 
She may seem kinda stand-offish, and kind of annoyed because she’s already incredibly busy now she has to take care of someone else and-
Whoops now she’s in the PTA and runs it like a damn boss. She is all over your studies and fights the faculty if she feels the school is not running in tip top shape. 
She gets exhausted a lot, as Jumin isn’t exactly the easiest boss to work for. 
It was kind of hard at first, sometimes she wouldn’t come home until way after midnight, and she’d see your body passed out on the couch with a note on the table about how you tried to make her dinner. 
Even though it wasn’t the best, knowing you tried so hard to stay up for her as well as cooking for her made the food taste even better than anything a five star restaurant could have made. 
So she tries to make it up to you in any way she can. She’ll pick you up your favorite movie or snack on her way home, or even little cute gifts that reminded her of you. 
She writes down any information she knows about you, and makes sure to write about your friends and teachers so she can keep up with you. 
She gushes about Zen a lot, and you were a fan too, so you both would binge watch his movies and clips of him. ANY piece of media involving Zen was devoured by you two. 
You two were constantly picking each other up and giving gifts, and when it was Jaehee’s birthday, you wrote her a letter about how much she meant to you and even got Zen to sign a poster for her! 
It was also the first time you called her ‘mom’, and even though the Zen poster is proudly hung up in her office, she can’t help but smile at how you called her that. 
She is a huge advocate of following your dreams. She does complain about how awful it is to work for Jumin sometimes, so she hopes to god you do something you love. 
You also convinced her to start her own cafe! You helped her as much as you could, and she was just...so ecstatic. 
Jaehee is easy to talk to, she is always prepared with good advice and comforting words. 
Probably the second easiest to talk to about dating. She is hesitant at first because one, you’re young and stupid, and two, she just doesn’t trust people. 
707/ Saeyoung
Okay, everyone in the RFA was hesitant to allow him to take care of you. They trusted him when it came to his work, but this was an actual human being. He could hardly take care of himself, how would he even take care of you???
Surprisingly, he’s an awesome guardian
A lot of them didn’t believe it at first and they were like ‘blink twice if he isn’t feeding you’ but you shrug and insist he’s great
He’s very nurturing and protective of you, and he sort of sees this as a second chance to make up for when he couldn’t help his brother. 
He’s really good in the fact that he’ll allow you your space to grow, but he will step in if you’re out of line or in trouble
Will NOT hesitate to ruin someone’s life if they dare hurt you. He’s got connections and the prowess and like hell is someone gonna make his child cry. 
Saeyoung is still as corny and crazy as he is in the chatroom, but in these instances with you, he means it a lot. He does anything he can to make you smile, even if it means he’d get hurt. 
He is a lot calmer though with you, and his parental instincts kick in a lot more. The RFA was shocked to see him actually change some of his poor quality of life skills as a means to be a better guardian to you. 
When he needs to go on a mission, he entrusts Jumin or Vanderwood to take care of you. 
He never tells you about those dangerous missions, he only says he’s going to be at a conference out of the country. 
He always makes sure to get you a souvenir or gift when he comes back from those trips. 
Joy rides in his cars!! He loves to take you to the beach or sightseeing whenever he can. 
He stills eats poorly, but it really makes him melt when you offer him some dinner you cooked for him. He started screaming and Yoosung (who was on the other end of the phone call) felt his ears bleed. 
He gets so excited for your cooking, like he stops his work just to take a bite of your grub. 
He hacks to get movies that weren’t even released to the public yet so you both could watch it on your downtime. He’s a hardcore softie though and you still have yet to see him shut up or not sob all over you as you two watch. 
“You’re getting snot on me!!!” “I’M sorry it’s just....oh my god how could this even happen??????” 
You accidentally called him ‘dad’ one time and he lost it. He was jumping for joy and hugging you in a death grip, screaming, “IM A FATHER!!!!!” 
Oh and he will definitely not pass up the opportunity to make some Star Wars references. 
You can’t hide anything from him. He tries to not be snoopy but holy shit you did not know just how far he’d go when it came to keeping tabs on you. 
By the time he was done he knew the name of your first grade crush, an incident where you kicked your own self, and how old you were when you got your first cavity. 
Likewise, he will already know if you’re crushing/dating someone. He’ll pretend he doesn’t know, but secretly do a background check. 
OKay so this definitely happened on your first date out with your crush, you two went out for milkshakes when your phone started sounding like Saeyoung’s voice. 
“HEY YOUNG MAN BOTH HANDS ON THE TABLE NOW!!!” 
You both started SCREAMING and had to be told to shut up by the staff because what the hell, your phone was talking! 
You screamed at him later on to mind his damn business
And god help whoever you were dating if they hurt you. 
This man will go ballistic and start hacking their things like a crazy psycho
“DONT WORRY, GOD SEVEN WILL FIX THIS!!!!” 
But seriously, this man adores you to the bottom of his heart. He’s made many mistakes in the past, but you will sure as hell not be another one of them. Anything you ask of him, he’ll gladly do!
V
V is a great guardian for those who don’t like pressure or stress. He’s so soothing and relaxing.
Hardly will ever raise his voice at you, and he practically never gets angry at you
He can’t see that well, but he seems to have a sixth sense that just makes him know where you are and when you are in danger. 
He likes taking you out to more scenic ventures, maybe even get you into photography as well!!
He has so many pictures of you, you are like his favorite subject
He even made an exhibit just based on you, and after that, he got a lot of calls about who you were. He made sure they know that you are basically his child
He feels incredibly guilty you had to go through this whole mess. He really wishes nothing bad would happen and you just didn’t have to get involved, but you always encourage him and say you don’t mind, you met him because of it!
He melts and cries a bit later on
If you call him ‘dad’ he gets so happy, like he finally feels like he actually did something right for once
But occasionally he doubts himself and can get kinda stand-offish in fear of how he might hurt you later on
He doesn’t make the same mistakes this time, and he makes sure you can get the help you need. He’s not gonna allow you to hurt yourself or others, and he won’t enable negative behaviors. 
He doesn’t talk about Rika to you. That was one of the worst moments in his life, and he thinks you’ll hate him because of it. 
You don’t- and he wonders what he did to deserve you
V is not an idiot. He may be partially blind but oh honey, he WILL know if you are dating someone. Don’t ask how, he does. 
He’s chill about it, but makes sure you understand what you are getting into. He’ll sit you down and start questioning you or your date’s intentions
It’s a side effect from his past with Rika, he doesn’t want you hurt, nor does he want you to hurt someone else. 
He makes you have clear and concise boundaries
He’ll let you do as you please, just please, for everything holy in this world, let him know where you are and be back before 10. 
If you get into a bad breakup he’s there to comfort you but also calls 707 to use his special skillset
I feel like V would use a lot of dad jokes. Like he doesn’t even know where it comes from and he’ll just say one, and 707 flips out.
Overall, just a calm dude who really loves you a lot. You’re allowed to grow and be your own person, but within some boundaries. He’ll stop at nothing to keep your smile. 
Unknown/ Saeran
Okay so... he feels weird. You’re a child. A damn child. 
He gets very conflicted because he gets flashbacks of how he was taken at a young age
He starts off as incredibly scary, staring you down to make you fear for your life, but you notice right away he’s become...softer
If anything, now he feels guilty. You were nice to him, even though he did all these things to you...
Saeran becomes a guard dog to you, watching over you like a hawk. 
As thanks, sometimes you would make him sweets
He loves them a lot, they’re now his favorite things
Pretty soon, a friendship begins to form, and then a feeling of guardianship over you. 
He’s noticeably a lot nicer and softer to you, he’ll be cussing out his brother in one moment but then if you ask him for something, he’ll stop and bend down to your level and answer you. 
Saeyoung finds this incredibly hilarious and nice
Saeran feels a lot better having you around. He feels a lot safer and happier, and knowing that you are safe and happy makes him even more excited. 
He likes gardens, so he takes you to them a lot, and he even decided to start one with you
On special days, or days when you are feeling down, he’ll get you a special bouquet of flowers with different meanings to cheer you up!
Baking is also a special hobby between you two. Sweets in general are where you two bond, so occasionally you two go out and try different sweet shops, cafes, or parlors. 
You two always rank your fave desserts and places
Do not, I repeat, do NOT tell him about/mention/ or even THINK of dating. He’ll probably beat the crap out of whoever you’re dating because, ‘they are not worth it’
Very strict and will throw hands with anyone checking you out- he’s like an angry dog 
Oh dear, if your date makes you sad or upset they will be dead. Saeran will take no shit if they made you frown, and they better start praying for their safety. 
You and Saeyoung have to hold him back before he murders your date
He still has his anxious moments where his past may catch up and he’ll freak out, but you are one of the few that can easily coax him out of it. He’d never hurt you at all
If you refer to him as ‘dad’ I think he might feel his heart flutter but also feel nervous...what if he becomes like his dad? What if he hurts you or can’t protect you? 
He’ll definitely teach you self-defense but Saeyoung will step in when he tries to teach you how to use a pistol because ‘SAERAN THEY’RE 16, DO NOT DO THAT!!!!’ 
He has his days when he’s more lax about you, but also has days when he’s breathing down your neck
It’ll take him a long time to be considered a ‘good’ guardian, please be patient, and gently let him know how he should improve. 
He’s not good at dealing with your emotions. All he knows how to do is punch whatever made you feel sad, but he quickly learns he can’t do that, and takes advice from all the RFA to help you. 
You can fight me but he probably has bought some guidebooks or pamphlets to try and learn to take care of you, and he’s LOST. 
“So to comfort them, I hug them...then ask how they’re feeling? Okay, but then it says they might want space? So how do I know? IT DOESN’T EVEN SAY WHEN! WHAT THE HELL? WHAT A WASTE OF MY DAMN MONEY!” He chucks it across the room before promptly picking it up and trying to read it again
He sees a lot of shows and tries to do stereotypical ‘family’ things, but quickly realizes that neither of you are enjoying it and he breathes a sigh of relief because holy hell that made him so uncomfortable. 
You both are pretty blunt with what you feel so you’re both on the same page, and try to work it accordingly. 
Okay on occasion he’s got you outfits that are similar to his so you both can match and he loves it so much
The most awkward dad jokes. EVER. You’ll be like, ‘hey I’m hungry’, and he’ll remember that he read on a parenting website that dad jokes make your connection stronger or something, so he’ll murmur, ‘hi hungry, I’m dad’. You didn’t know whether to laugh or cry because he was in physical pain after saying that. 
You both got a lot to work on, but he tries. Really. And he’s so happy he met you, and he’ll make sure you grow up with a better childhood than he did. Nothing is too big or too small for him to do. 
429 notes · View notes
stanstiktok · 5 years
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OK so you all wanted it. i could definitely do a fuller analysis over this but this is what im gonna start with bc im thinking about it right now. ill most likely have a thousand more things to add bc ill remember them later after writing this but heres my initial pitch as to why stan marsh is obviously gay. most of this is about his compulsory heterosexuality.
first of all we need to address the elephant in the room being his relationship with wendy. i feel like a lot of ppl are very quick to off him as being bi or pan or something. and while it may seem that way, personally having lived my life being a gay man throughout school, i dont think thats the case. 
his relationship with wendy is INCREDIBLY surface level. it seems forced more than anything. i take a lot of this from my own experience in being a gay boy at school, and i definitely had a ton of compulsory heterosexuality, which is exactly what i feel that stan deals with. you may think that younger boys at school dont really “deal” with that, but i assure you that your friends who are also boys can be brutal about this sort of thing when it comes down to it. 
stan more really seems to like, just like girls because thats the “right” thing to do. thats what everyone else expects. thats what everyone else wants. he wants to fit in he doesnt want to make  a scene and he doesnt want it to be talked about.
nothing about stan really says that his crush on wendy is anything other than this. the dude just likes her because he can, basically. there is no basis to the crush or them dating. honestly when you look at it it really seems like a way to assert the fact that hes “not” gay. putting your life into liking a girl you dont actually have any feelings for is something ive done personally in an effort to show that i was straight when i very clearly wasnt. i convinced myself i liked a girl to the point where it was unhealthily effecting me, i genuinely thought i liked her and thats what i told my friends, because i wanted them to accept me as a “straight” guy. Stan seems to mirror that, as he doesnt really have many reasoning into liking her. its surface level attraction, and he uses that as a ground to show that hes straight. no one questions you if you lie about it and convince yourself otherwise, dude.
if you dont buy into it, its kinda been scrapped as far as recent episodes go, but him throwing up whenever wendy would go to kiss him is an incredibly big indicator at this possible comphet. as its a gag, i wouldnt use it too much into the point, but there really isnt a straight reason to throw up when a girl goes to kiss you.
still on the point of wendy, her being genderfluid canonically also affects stan. stans confused about it, which is fair play to him. hes stressed out about it when she begins to identify as not just a girl. but he doesnt question her decision to do so or take any kind of action to break that crush towards her. i feel if he really was straight, and i know straight men, he would adamantly refuse this and stuff. but he doesnt he just kinda rolls with it. while i still think his crush on wendy is completely comphet, he doesnt make the move to change anything when she identifies as wendyl. its more acceptance towards it, despite how confused and stressed out he is at the thought. its also interesting how they make it clear to show his confusion with his sexuality at this point.
tweekxcraig is another example of this. stan becomes the focus. stan is the one whos confused. everyone else is kind of just like whatever about it, but stans the one up at night threating over 2 kids, who arent even really his friends, being gay! why would stan be a center in this if he wasnt also dealing with his sexuality in some way, it doesnt make sense for him to be like this. straight dudes tend to be god awfully sensitive about their sexuality, but stan isnt at all. stan questions it and questions himself. many others have pointed this out before, too. when there is an episode involving sexuality or gender, it always seems to point in on stan for some reason. always stan.
there are plenty of instances when stan is also called gay in a mocking sense, or kyle is referred to as his boyfriend or something. he never seems to fight that, though. he just kind of takes it! if he were straight he might be more adamant that this isnt the case, but i dont think he is. he brushes it off more often than not.
and lets not forget big gay al, i dont have to say much other than that for this one!
and im most likely forgetting a lot right now, but i really wanted to talk about the comphet aspect of this. i 100% believe that stan deals with comphet feelings and thoughts.
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enixamyram · 5 years
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Hey, guess what, I’ve found another screen rant I want to react to! I wasn’t planning to do any more but, reading through this article, I just have SO many problems with it... So Let’s do another, agree or disagree with a Screenrant article made by someone with no bias at all. (Sarcasm for the last part by the way.) So let’s see:
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Agreed with this point. People act like, if the characters weren’t on screen then they disappeared or something. Maybe they were just living their own lives?
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... I don’t even understand this article. Apparently this is 20 things people get wrong and this point is that the timeline can make sense, but then OP goes on to say “However, the more characters were introduced and the more worlds the characters ventured into, it became clearer and clearer that time didn't work the same way everywhere... However, in a world of fairytales, expecting anything more than that is simply asking too much. What does it matter, exactly, when some of these events took place as long as we know that they were a long time ago in a universe not at all like our own?”
Like, so that means this isn’t something people get wrong - the timeline DOESN’T make sense - so what the hell is it doing in this article? You can’t claim you’ve solved it just because you shrug and go “yeah but it’s magic so what do you expect?”
I mean the text directly conflicts the title/bullet point. Luckily I can still safely say I disagree, both with the title and the text because the timeline became f*cked, and just making an embarrassed shrugging face doesn’t change that.
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I can’t even say disagree because this is just plain wrong! I don’t quite understand this writer. I can’t tell what they’re deal is, like did they just give a poor title to their article?
Season 1 - The Original Curse Season 2 - Belle and Sneezy lost their memories. Season 3 - Everyone lost a year. Season 5 - Camelot Season 6 - Emma lost her memories Season 7 - Another Curse.
Notice how I left out 4? Well this is where I’m getting confused because this is what OP had to say about Season 4: “While season four dabbled with alternate universes, memories were never wiped or reset in the way they were in every other season.”
... But their memories WERE wiped! They were essentially in a curse because their memories WERE wiped and they WERE given new identities just like the original curse. So yes, memory wipes did in fact happen every single season!
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So I can’t agree or disagree because maybe some people do call Ruby a lesbian, but most everyone I talk to calls her bi... So I’ma just skip this one.
Note: She’s bi people. This is canon. If you don’t agree then tough shit.
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Agreed, there’s plenty of other ways true love can be proven. TLK is probably just the most convenient, lol.
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Kind of agree? I mean I think most people do know and acknowledge this but I guess it can sometimes escape people without realising in passing sentences?
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This is true. It was a lame and terrible reveal that made no sense but it was revealed.
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... Like, I’m getting confused again. Because this title either doesn’t fit or the writer lives under a rock because no one get’s this wrong! Everyone - rightfully - calls out Zelena for what she did. Even Zelena fans admit what she did was messed up!
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... I do agree, I don’t think she made up for all the awful things she did and she definitely became “one of the team” way too quickly for my liking. (I’m hesitant because I suddenly have an idea what side of the fandom wrote this article and I can pretty much predict where it’s going.)
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AND THERE IT IS!
DISAGREE.  DISAGREE. DISAGREE. DISAGREE. DISAGREE. DISAGREE.
“Nothing says good guy like being an older man who takes advantage of a young girl, impregnates her, and lets her go to jail for crimes you yourself committed.” First off, we don’t know his age. Second, he didn’t ‘impregnant’ her. She got pregnant. It takes two to tango though I doubt the writer knows this. And third, Emma went to jail for HER crimes. Sorry, dear writer, but let me just fill you in. Aiding and abetting a fellow criminal IS A CRIME! Emma did wrong and she was punished for it. I don’t necessarily agree with what Neal did but he is not responsible for where Emma ended up.
“Even further, nothing says good guy like someone who mocks the woman he allegedly loves for the years of trauma, suffering, and scars she endured as a result of your callous, selfish behavior.” ... WHEN?!
“... Neal Cassidy became more and more like the selfish, frequently malicious parents who raised him.” ... Again, WHEN?! Like seriously, selfish maybe but malicious?!
“In no world would he have been the right man for Emma or a good father to Henry because he could never accept accountability for any of his many wrongdoings.” Except, you know, Neal knew Henry all of five minutes and was already dedicated to being a great dad to him and literally was WAY better at being a father to Henry than Hook ever was to the kid. And I added the Hook part because my God, the writer of this article couldn’t be more obvious a CS shipper if they had every sentence end with swans and pirate flags.
It’s amazing how, even dead, they’re still threatened by Neal’s character.
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Maybe this was true in S6, but by S7 they had clearly retconned it, making the Wish Realm a very real place. Otherwise there’s a ton of plot holes and you’ve got to be a real idiot to say you’d rather accept plot holes than that the Wish Realm might actually be real.
(Also, just saying, another terrible title because what happened to Emma and Regina when they were in the Wish Realm very much DID happen. So again, really poor titles for this article that clearly doesn’t know what it’s point is.)
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... She VIOLATED everyone’s minds by erasing their memories and TRIED TO MURDER ZELENA!
She may have had good intentions but that doesn’t change the fact that she was a villain for a season! Dude, have you never heard the phrase “the road to hell was paved with good intentions”?! I’ll defend Emma turning Hook into a Dark One for sure, but trying to completely ignore the awful things she did?! Jesus Christ!
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Again... What? OP... Everyone already KNOWS this. This article is meant to be things people gets wrong but, honestly, I think OP’s the only idiot who gets things wrong at this point. So I’m once again torn because I agree with the statement but I don’t agree that this is something people get wrong.
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*Sigh* OP’s giving me a migraine. Not because their statement is incorrect, but because all their reasoning is!
“Regina, as we know, went back and forth to points outside of Maine many times during the preceding 28 years.” It was actually explained, by Regina herself to Hook in Season 2, that because she (and he) had no cursed memories, crossing the town line would not affect them.
“Greg and Tamara are also able to cross the town lines, with Greg even remembering the tiny town for years and years after a traumatic encounter within it during his childhood.” Again. The town line affects people who ARE CURSED! This is made very clear! Henry can also cross the town line when he went to get Emma.
The title, once again, is misleading. People are able to leave - so long as they don’t CROSS THE TOWN LINE. That’s the part CURSED people are not able to do.
I’ve given up Agreeing and Disagreeing at this point. OP’s points are making my brain hurt so let’s just move on.
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You’re right OP. It did serve a purpose. It’s purpose was to be a cash grab!
Apparently OP’s excuse is that Anna and Elsa helped Emma come into her own as a magic user? Like yeah, I’m calling bullshit. Emma had no problem using her magic until they brought Frozen in, then they made a whole storyline of Emma having problems just to justify having Elsa struggle and then help her with it.
And after they left they were barely even mentioned. So, again. NO PURPOSE. (Apart from a cash grab.)
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Okay, so actually, I do agree. Regina is still Henry’s mum but the fact is, his adoption can’t be legal because Regina would need to have lied on her application and all the usual checks usually done for people wanting to adopt couldn’t possibly have happened.
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I was going to agree on technicality but you know what? No.
DISAGREE!
Just because the couples aren’t perfect doesn’t make them toxic. (Using OP’s examples:) “Robin's relationship with Regina results in his being repeatedly assaulted and fathering a child as a result of that assault.” Wow, dude, wait to blame the girlfriend for some of the bad stuff that happened in Robin’s life. I sure feel sorry for whoever you end up with if this is how you see it. “Hook and Emma frequently lie to one another as well,” Lying does not equal a toxic relationship! Certain lies, maybe, but general lying is just what people do when they’re embarrassed or ashamed or upset. What counts is what you’re lying about and also whether or not you come clean about it.
The only one I’ll agree with is RumBelle but even then OP completely misses the reason WHY they’re a toxic relationship. Instead they generalise it into very un-toxic details.
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... Again... Like... I agree with the statement but NO ONE GETS THIS WRONG!
OP is clearly just using this article as an excuse to bash Regina. And I’m not a Regina fan, but no, dude, if you’re gonna do this then make a “20 of the worst things Regina ever did” list. Not a “20 things people get wrong” and then list a bunch of things that one in ten people gets wrong!
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And now OP’s repeating. Because I’m pretty sure this was covered in the 4th one? Like, agree. I guess. But it feels like OP was running out of things and figured Regina bashing again would be too obvious or something.
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Okay. Now this is something a lot of people won’t agree with but... I do.
I agree the show was intended to be Emma’s story and that it then got popular and other characters got popular and it branched out into something more.
... However OP is still a colossus idiot because they ended on this sentence:
“It's what made the concept of a seventh season without almost any of the Charmings such a laughable concept - and such a colossal failure, as well.” And while Season 7 may not be the masterpiece I pretend it is to piss of anti’s, it is also far from the worst. OP just hates it because their fav wasn’t centre stage and they’re bitter as hell.
Wow this was probably the stupidest article yet. OP either clearly doesn’t know what they were meant to be doing (a list of things people often forget about the show) or they just wanted to make a list where they bitched a few points and couldn’t be bothered to think of a catchy title or reason why. Either way, OP’s an idiot and most of these points are ridiculously dumb.
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ifelltomyknees · 6 years
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How to become vegetarian as a meat lover: A comprehensive guide
So you love meat. It’s delicious, fatty, and satisfies your need for umami flavours like nothing else. The downside of this delicious common food item is the pain, suffering and poor environmental effects that come with it. Now I’m not going to educate you on factory farming, I’m assuming you’ve done your research, you hate the idea of eating something that was raised, tortured and slaughtered to be on your plate, and now you want to stop eating it. Congratulations! You are an empathetic person! I was in your exact position. I was addicted to meat, i had it at every meal for majority of my life. It was symbolic of home and nostalgia, and always found its way into family recipes that just ARENT the same without it. But I went vegetarian and I haven’t turned back since (and am progressing to vegan slowly for the record, but for people like us, it’s a process). Now you may see people on social media pretty much flip on a dime and just DECIDE to be vegan. And that’s awesome that they can do that, but as a pure and true food lover, that was impossible for me. So I took it into my own hands, and through tons of trial and error and plenty of failures, I have now successfully been vegetarian for over half a year with no hiccups! But first things first there are a couple of tips and things you need to understand before trying. 
 1. NOTHING is going to taste like meat except for meat. Bean burgers don’t taste like meat burgers. Cauliflower wings don’t taste like chicken. Get the idea of the taste of meat out of your head because you are never going to replicate it exactly. 
 2. Mushrooms tend to be a vegetarian staple, but if you don’t like them, don’t use them. They’re considered “meaty” to some but I literally dont know how people get that at all. In fact don’t cook with anything you don’t like or you won’t be satisfied.
 3. It’s not easy. People will tease you (including your family), you’ll miss out on main courses at family meals, you may be the “annoying vegetarian” of your friends, you always have to look at the menu before you eat out and you always have to ask “what’s for dinner?” When going to a dinner party just in case you need to eat before. 
 4. You have to take B12 supplements and don’t believe anybody who says you don’t. You may seem fine for YEARS living off of your built up stores but eventually it’s gonna hit you and it will hit you HARD. Budget it in now (I can usually get 3 months worth for $15). 
 5. Some things have micro-amounts of meat or meat juice (Parmesan is a good example, although pure vegetarian kinds exist) but literally don’t worry about it at first (if at all). Take things step by step, eating the 1/5473930 of a ml of beef juice does not mean you suddenly aren’t vegetarian anymore! Try your best to avoid it, but don’t stress and don’t freak out at restaurant workers if you happen to get a tiny bit of meat in your food, you risk that by going out to eat. 
6. The easiest way to transition is to do it over time. Start by only allowing yourself meat a few days a week. Next cut out the main meat you enjoy (for me that was beef) and slowly decrease your intake over months. This also allows you to try out new recipes and meals you may enjoy once you fully transition.
7. DONT freak out if you make a mistake. It happens to literally everyone. So you ordered a pizza and didn’t realize it would have meat on it. You bought something without checking the ingredients and now it’s opened and cooked in a bowl in front of you. The deed has been done, and wasting food and going hungry isn’t going to bring back a life, if anything it just makes more waste for the landfills. 
8. Try recipes. you can use meat substitutes but i don’t find they’re that great. Try to enjoy the vegetarian food for what it is (like i said, it’s never going to taste like meat). 
9. Don’t suddenly turn into an asshole about it. All this does is turn others away from it, when thats the opposite of what we want. Be generous, make great veggie meals for your friends and fam, don’t call them murderers or anything thats gross. 
10. Finally, never underestimate the power of guilt. One of the best ways to turn yourself off of meat is to THINK about it. Don’t see a steak, see a cow. Don’t see bacon, see a pig. Don’t take the “chicken” out of chicken wings. Understand the impact you’re making on the environment and you will find will power, i PROMISE. 
Good luck lovelies <3 
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webmarket01 · 4 years
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People Are Sharing Small Changes They Made That Helped Them Lose Weight (47 Tips)
New Post has been published on https://weightlosshtiw.com/people-are-sharing-small-changes-they-made-that-helped-them-lose-weight-47-tips/
People Are Sharing Small Changes They Made That Helped Them Lose Weight (47 Tips)
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45 million Americans go on a diet every year. Moreover, Americans spend $33 billion each year on weight-loss products. The numbers are staggering, having in mind that two thirds of society are now classified as overweight and obese. So where did it go wrong?
Well, humans tend to overthink and end up trying too much. From counting calories to judging ourselves for a piece of cheesecake, some lose the simple joys of life, while others get fed up with their diet just not working.
But what if weight loss, like any other journey in the world, starts from some simple little steps? What if one or two basic changes in our lifestyle are all it takes to find the balance we crave? To find out, we looked at the little weight loss tips shared by people who genuinely claim they really worked. And no, you don’t need to give up on pizza any time soon.
#1
Make your couch a no-eating zone. I found that when I sat in my overused, sunken-in spot in the couch with food, it turned into a mindless binge-fest. Sitting at a table or kitchen bar with a plate and silverware made me more mindful and present when I ate, which in turn helped me to listen to my satiety cues and stop eating when I was full. Lost over 100 pounds in a little over a year.
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#2
Just doing something in the gym everyday is better than nothing.
This advice helped me so much. It really reinforces that this is a lifestyle change by forcing you to just go be active everyday. It also helps just in the sense its objectively true doing 10-15 minutes on the treadmill is better than nothing if you really arent motivated at all. The biggest way it helps though is on the days you are unmotivated, once you start you will often just do your full workout.
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Image credits: totalloserx
#3
Don’t try to ignore your cravings — just find healthier ways to satisfy them. I will never be the girl who says no to pizza or bread. Embracing it and not hating myself for it was the first step. Then I was able to find ways to satisfy those needs in a better way. For example, Cauliflower pizza crust pretty much satisfies my need for pizza. (I know, it doesn’t sound believable but it’s true!)
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Image credits: Deb Nystrom
In the past few years, there has been a surge in what’s called the mindful eating trend, which is all about staying present in the moment and enjoying it. This approach gained popularity because it doesn’t focus on restriction, but instead aims at changing our relationship with food.
Mindful eating is opposed to mindless eating, which is all too common these days. The latter refers to eating past fullness, eating out of boredom, emotional eating, eating and multitasking, and eating to gain comfort and soothe yourself. Conversely, mindful eating refers to eating when your body tells you to, enjoying eating, thinking about where food comes from, listening to your body, and stopping when you feel like it.
#4
Give up delivery and start preparing your own meals instead.
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#5
Stop weighing yourself as a means of measuring your progress. For a while I was focused on making my weight number constantly decrease. When I stopped looking at that and just focused on being healthy — eating right, fruits and veggies for snacks, exercising — that was when I started losing weight and feeling better!
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#6
Swap “boredom eating” with other mindless (or productive) tasks. [I stopped] snacking when I was bored, became more aware of what I was doing, and I soon realized I wasn’t actually hungry. I was just restless and wanted something to do while I relaxed. So I replaced snacking with painting my nails. It’s also become kind of a fun thing I do for myself. When I’m at the store and trying to make healthy decisions, I will reward myself with a new color. Essie has become my preferred reward, as opposed to a ‘cheat meal’!
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You can practice being more mindful in the way you eat simply by slowing down and concentrating on your plate. Let yourself be immersed in flavors, textures, tastes, and smells. Think of how the bite melts into your mouth and what kind of nutritional value you get from it.
Also, you need to learn to trust your body. Our bodies are smart mechanisms that can signal both hunger and fullness, except we sometimes prefer not to listen to them. In reality, when the mind tells you to grab another piece of cake, you may ask your body if it really wants one. You may be surprised by the answer.
#7
Skip escalators and elevators. I took the stairs EVERYWHERE! I worked on the sixth floor when I started this endeavor. I had to start getting to work earlier than normal just to make sure I’d make it up in time without being disgustingly sweaty. I lost 40 pounds in the first eight months and now I’m running half marathons multiple times per year!
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#8
Water is your friend
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Image credits: stop_being_ugly
#9
Cut down on sugar. “Trying to eat healthier foods” is good to do, but it’s also vague. For example, I’ve seen people go on strict low-carb diets and drink insane amounts of Gatorade. There are tons of things you wouldn’t expect to have a lot of sugar in them, too- it’s not always the obvious stuff like cookies.
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Image credits: foreverfremdshamen
#10
Ditch the soda, seriously. I decided to give up soda for Lent since I had one almost every day at lunch. After the first two weeks I lost 10 pounds! When it was over I honestly didn’t even crave it all at anymore. That was years ago and now the taste of soda is always too much sweetness in a drink for me.
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#11
There are no bad vs good foods.
Try to eat a balanced diet of fruits and vegetables, but if you want a donut and it fits into your daily caloric intake, eat the fucking donut. Don’t demonize food. Learn about nutrition, drink plenty of water, and exercise.
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Image credits: trolldoll26
#12
Ditch friends who sabotage you or try to keep you from progressing on your goal. If you’re 180 pounds of fat and they say you’re getting too skinny they’re not trying to help you.
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Image credits: _ImperialScout_
#13
Buy smaller plates.
I don’t hear this one too often, but it’s basically an aide to the common “Eat smaller portions” advice. Willing yourself to eat smaller portions can be difficult, but a smaller plate can look full with less food on it, and that can have a very real psychological effect. You still get that “I cleaned my whole plate” satisfaction, but you’ve eaten less to get it.
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Image credits: Gluttony4
#14
Patience. Losing weight (especially a significant amount of weight) takes a considerable amount of time.
I lost 60 pounds, but it took upwards of 16 months of constant work. It was a shade under a pound a week.
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Image credits: Neb810
#15
Stop forcing yourself to go to the gym if you hate it, and find an exercise you actually enjoy. I gave up trying to enjoy the gym and found things I actually like doing! What a difference! I’ve lost 30 pounds simply by finding exercise I enjoy, such as hiking, biking, yoga, swimming, snowshoeing, and kayaking, among other things. Now I crave exercise and can’t wait for my next workout session, because nothing feels like a workout anymore!
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#16
Start taking your coffee black. Started drinking black coffee instead of having it with cream and sugar or the flavored creamers.
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#17
Full disclosure, am still fat (currently 301 pounds), but I have lost 50 pounds since my highest weight and am working on the remainder. Here is what is working for me: 1.) Track everything. Get an app, or a journal. Write down everything that goes in your mouth. You don’t need to track calories at first if you’re not used to it. Just write down what you eat. Be honest, don’t cheat. 2.) Learn your triggers. What makes you eat? Is it normal hunger? Did you have a bad day at work? Did you fight with your SO? Are you “treating” yourself because you accomplished something? 3.) Redirect yourself. Don’t be idle. If you sit in front of the TV and snack, start cross-stitching, knitting, paint-by-number, F**KING SOMETHING that gets you occupied while sitting and watching the latest mind-numbing crime drama. 4.) Make a plan. Meal plan for a week, or be ambitious and do a whole month. Plan what you’re going to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Make a grocery list. ALWAYS GO GROCERY SHOPPING WITH A LIST. Never have to ask yourself “oh what’s for dinner? what do we have anyway? am i going to have to buy x ingredient? f**k it, I’ll just order a pizza”. Include eating out in your meal plan. 5.) Move a little. You don’t have to run a marathon. Just move more. Walk further. Do yoga in the morning. Just something to remind your body that it has a purpose. All I do is yoga in the morning and walk to and from the bus stop. 6.) Start small. Don’t make a goal to lose 100 pounds. Make a goal to lose 5 pounds. That’s a bag of potatoes. Those are huge and heavy! 5 pounds is a huge accomplishment. I never set a goal for myself except to lose 5 pounds at a time. Lose 5 pounds, drop one pants size, walk around the block without stopping, jog for 90 seconds. These are tiny goals that when added to incrementally make a HUGE DIFFERENCE. 7.) Ignore everyone else. Don’t buy some junk your Aunt Marcy promises will cleanse your colon. Don’t let your coworkers tell you “oh you look so good you don’t need to lose weight”. Don’t let your family say “but grandma made this chocolate cake just for you”. THIS STEP DOES NOT APPLY TO MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS SUCH AS A DOCTOR OR CERTIFIED NUTRITIONIST. The world wants to sabotage you. Listen to people that you pay money to to take care of you. 8.) Forgive yourself. This is the most important step. Love yourself as you are now. You are beautiful. You are loved. You are important. You are a human being. You will move forward but you will have bad days. You will struggle and you will hate yourself for making a bad choice. You will fall down sometimes. But life is a series of failures and lessons. Life is a long journey and weight loss is a lifestyle change, a transformation, and those don’t happen quickly. It will take longer than you think it will. And that’s OKAY. You are doing your best and you will reap the rewards SOMEDAY. Don’t be in a hurry. Enjoy the journey.
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Image credits: bigdamncat
#18
unless you’re Chris Traeger you’re gonna f**k up. it took me two years of trying to get the momentum I needed to lose 110 pounds. I’ve got 50 to go and I’ve lost that momentum and it’s taken me a few months to get back in the swing of it. [Messing] up is a part of progress and progress isn’t linear.
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Image credits: MichyMc
#19
The 70% rule
Eat 70% of the meal. Take a break and talk for a while drink some water and enjoy the moment for a bit. You’ll find that the majority of the time the food will settle in your stomach and you won’t be hungry anymore.
Edit: many are saying it’s a waste of food but I never said that. Get a to-go box and take it home.
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Image credits: Pizanch
#20
Remove the sugar. Once you do that, it’s stupid easy. It’s not a secret, but it’s rare for people to really do it. We all scramble around trying to find a trick to avoid doing just that. Lost 60lb and kept them off. For the past year and a half I’ve been eating less than 10 grams of added sugar per day, no exceptions. After the first 2 weeks, it gets pretty easy. After about 2 months, the idea of eating sugary [crap] feels pretty repulsive. After a year, it’s a no-brainer.
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Image credits: fixittillitbreaks
#21
It’s a lifestyle change. It’s not something you can do for a while and then be done with it. You need to continue to eat mindfully and exercise in order to maintain your weight once you’ve lost the excess.
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Image credits: LeftWren
#22
Don’t drink calories
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Image credits: LordTachanka_LmgMaL
#23
My mum says “Motivation helps to lose the weight but discipline is what keeps it off.”
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Image credits: Rithims
#24
Walking. It’s so underrated. Anyone can do it, can be done anywhere and it’s free.
What I’ve been doing is leaving early for my bus to work and walking 30 mins along the route before catching my bus. On the way home I’ll get off early and walk 30 mins home again. Adds an hour of walking a day with very little disruption to my daily routine. That plus eating better and I’ve lost a stone in about 5/6 weeks
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Image credits: JiMMyCCuDDa
#25
Meal Prepping. You would be surprised how much control you give yourself over your calories when you plan ahead. It also saves a lot of time and money.
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Image credits: totspur1982
#26
Don’t look in the mirror. This was sophomore year of college and my roommate didn’t have a full-length mirror to hang in our room, and neither did I. Without it, I discovered that I could mark my progress based on how I felt rather than how I looked. This was great because it prevented me from being discouraged when I didn’t see results right away. Looking back on it now, not having the opportunity to constantly glance at my reflection actually played a pretty key role in my success. I ended up losing around 40 pounds total.
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#27
Treat yourself really well. Be easy and gentle with your thoughts, then the decision to eat healthful foods will be easier to sustain.
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#28
Make sure you’re actually drinking enough water. I realized I was terrible at it and it’s so stupid. I bought some 32-ounce bottles and put labels on them, so I have to drink 8 ounces by certain time points, fill up the bottle and do it again to get 64 ounces in a day. I feel a lot better and have an easier time exercising now that I’m not chronically dehydrated.
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#29
Quit fad diets for good. I had lost weight before on really restrictive diets like the Dukan diet and then just gained it all back as soon as I was allowed my regular foods again. By deciding to quit the fad diets and eating smaller portions and mostly unprocessed foods, I found it was a whole lot easier to lose weight, I felt much healthier and the weight stayed off!
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#30
Replace “I wish” with “I will.” I used to always say, ‘I wish I looked like that.’ Or I would look at people on Instagram who had lost 100 pounds and I would think, I wish I could do that. And then finally it just hit me. Stop wishing for it and just do it. Replacing ‘I wish’ with ‘I will’ has helped me make actual goals that I am on the way to achieving. I have been working out six days a week and watching what I eat for over a month now and I have lost over 20 pounds. I am so excited to see where I WILL be in a year!
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#31
Chew flavored gum to keep your mouth busy and overcome eating addiction. It’s so much easier to quit chewing gum I find.
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Image credits: unknown
#32
Do simple exercises like push-ups and sit-ups every night. Start out with low numbers and by the end you’ll be able to do 100+ push-ups a day. It’s just involves making it a part of your routine.
#33
Realizing that you CAN actually control your body weight. You are in the driver seat. Eat 2000 calories but burn 2500 calories a day? You WILL lose weight.
There is no secret to losing weight. End of the day it’s Cals in vs Cals out. The control and results are addicting.
Source: Lost 50 pounds in the past year.
#34
Stop buying your go-to unhealthy snacks so you’re not even tempted. The only snack food I keep in the house now is cottage cheese, Triscuit crackers, fruit, hummus, English muffins, and veggies.
#35
I think a lot of people go into dieting with a mentality of “I’m going to diet constantly until I hit my goal weight” and either end up stopping along the way or putting the weight back on within a year or two of reaching their goal. What I have found that helped me was stopping my diet every 3-4 weeks and having a period just trying to maintain that particular weight before I start up again on my diet. It has helped me keep things under control and it’s nice to have a little break from a diet every once in awhile.
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Image credits: ElPapiGrande
#36
Be prepared for the psychological barriers you will face if you are dieting. People will pressure you to eat badly all the time without really realizing it – when you go over to your parents’ for Thanksgiving, when your co-workers go out for drinks and wings after work, when your partner wants to go out to eat and celebrate something, when you go over to a friends’ house for a dinner party.
People think they are being nice to you when they say that one piece of cake or big meal won’t kill you and you should just go for it. In other circumstances, they just won’t realize that are making you feel like a diva or a wet blanket when you don’t eat what they clearly want you to. You have to be prepared for these curveballs or they can undo everything.
Most diets are designed for you to be able to construct your meals basically from scratch at home, or consume something prepackaged. But for many people their lifestyle and social life just can’t accommodate that enough. You need to learn to have backup plans that don’t make you feel like an ass or a killjoy. Plans can involve eating before, deciding what you eat when you get there, and how to talk to other people about it so everyone is comfortable. It takes some effort, but you get the hang of it pretty fast if you work on it.
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Image credits: zazzlekdazzle
#37
(Not fat, just had a brief “chubby” phase in my teens, but I cured it fast.)
My tip: don’t snack. it’s easier than you think.
Eat your breakfast, lunch, dinner. In between those, stay the hell out of the kitchen and eliminate snacking as an option at all. Stay busy with life and fun. Don’t wander around your house bored and depressed until you find yourself making peanut butter toast with cookies or chips. Just GTFO of the kitchen and into a life of some sort.
The bulk of the magic is in the diet, not exercise. It’s a hell of a lot easier/quicker to refrain from eating 500 extra calories than it is to eat it then try to burn off 500 extra calories.
So when you’re done a meal, brush your teeth and get on with your day.
#38
My trainer wanted me to run, but I just could not for the absolute life of me get into the habit of running. So I would do this walking / running interval. I still hated it
So I decided to just cycle instead. Yes it burns fewer calories than running but you know what, I actually do cardio when I’m cycling. With running I wouldn’t really do it, I’d be like “meh I can skip it today.”
#39
Cut down on beer.
Drink only water
Burn more calories than I consume
Eat smaller meals
Go hiking as much as possible in preferably challenging terrain.
Pull up bar.
I’ve went from 198-163 since the end of May and I look pretty damn fine now.
Also, mind numbing depression helps with the hunger…
#40
Don’t stop at home before going to the gym after work or class. I cut out the middle step of going home before working out and started going to the gym straight from work. If I set foot in my apartment, all intentions of going to the gym fall by the wayside because my bed and Netflix always sound like better alternatives. Going to the gym straight from work helped me get into a routine, and in just over a year, I’ve lost 45-plus pound
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#41
Ditch alcohol
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#42
Cut back on foods with added sugar. I got rid of added/extra sugar during Lent one year. This meant no desserts, no soda, no syrup, etc. Fresh fruit was OK and I used yogurt with the least amount of sugar to satisfy my sweet tooth. In 40 days, with minimal exercise outside of gym class in high school, I lost 20 pounds.
#43
Feeling hungry for a bit won’t kill you. Drink water and deal with it.
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Image credits: Kitehammer
#44
Soda has to go, period. Sure you could balance it into you calorie counting but why bother when you could fill it with stuff that makes you feel better
#45
If you want to lose weight, start by honestly counting your calories. You dont need to cut back what you eat, just keep track. Keep doing this for 2-3 weeks. By doing this, you are showing yourself just how much you are consuming.
From there, establish a small goal for yourself, e.g. 2100 calories per day. Keep track and measure your calories honestly. It’s okay if you dont meet your goal every day, but aim for most days.
Once you are comfortable at that level, lower it a bit further down, to say 1800. Keep this up and repeat until you reach 1600, 1400, or 1200 calories per day.
Take time to work your way down. Dont deprive yourself of a once in a while treat. The end goal is not to hit a point and then go back to eating how you did when you started, it’s about changing how you eat permanently. Sustainability for how you eat is what it’s all about.
Personally, my goal is 1300/day and after doing this for 2 years, it has become normal. A bad cheat day for me is 1600-1900 calories, which is in line with what my body needs (BMR).
The hardest part of this process is being honest with what you are eating and sticking with your goals.
#46
Treat working out as a social activity. One of my friends got a Groupon deal for a gym, and about five of us signed up. I joined purely to hang out with the boys after work instead of going home and browsing the web. We started going every evening, and within a few weeks I started noticing significant differences (as all beginners can relate).
A month later, I signed up for a gym closer to work and started eating better. Now, four years later, I have lost 100 pounds of fat, and put on over 25 pounds of muscle.”
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#47
“You can’t lose weight unless you are hungry.” Accept it and deal with it.
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Image credits: reddit
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