#bogus to put it that way though

[fantodsdhrit]

[peripatetic in delhi ii — 35mm]

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Apple fucked us on right to repair (again)

Today (September 22), I'm (virtually) presenting at the DIG Festival in Modena, Italy. Tonight, I'll be in person at LA's Book Soup for the launch of Justin C Key's "The World Wasn’t Ready for You." On September 27, I'll be at Chevalier's Books in Los Angeles with Brian Merchant for a joint launch for my new book The Internet Con and his new book, Blood in the Machine.

Right to repair has no cannier, more dedicated adversary than Apple, a company whose most innovative work is dreaming up new ways to sneakily sabotage electronics repair while claiming to be a caring environmental steward, a lie that covers up the mountains of e-waste that Apple dooms our descendants to wade through.

Why does Apple hate repair so much? It's not that they want to poison our water and bodies with microplastics; it's not that they want to hasten the day our coastal cities drown; it's not that they relish the human misery that accompanies every gram of conflict mineral. They aren't sadists. They're merely sociopathically greedy.

Tim Cook laid it out for his investors: when people can repair their devices, they don't buy new ones. When people don't buy new devices, Apple doesn't sell them new devices. It's that's simple:

https://www.inverse.com/article/52189-tim-cook-says-apple-faces-2-key-problems-in-surprising-shareholder-letter

So Apple does everything it can to monopolize repair. Not just because this lets the company gouge you on routine service, but because it lets them decide when your phone is beyond repair, so they can offer you a trade-in, ensuring both that you buy a new device and that the device you buy is another Apple.

There are so many tactics Apple gets to use to sabotage repair. For example, Apple engraves microscopic Apple logos on the subassemblies in its devices. This allows the company to enlist US Customs to seize and destroy refurbished parts that are harvested from dead phones by workers in the Pacific Rim:

https://repair.eu/news/apple-uses-trademark-law-to-strengthen-its-monopoly-on-repair/

Of course, the easiest way to prevent harvested components from entering the parts stream is to destroy as many old devices as possible. That's why Apple's so-called "recycling" program shreds any devices you turn over to them. When you trade in your old iPhone at an Apple Store, it is converted into immortal e-waste (no other major recycling program does this). The logic is straightforward: no parts, no repairs:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/yp73jw/apple-recycling-iphones-macbooks

Shredding parts and cooking up bogus trademark claims is just for starters, though. For Apple, the true anti-repair innovation comes from the most pernicious US tech law: Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

DMCA 1201 is an "anti-circumvention" law. It bans the distribution of any tool that bypasses "an effective means of access control." That's all very abstract, but here's what it means: if a manufacturer sticks some Digital Rights Management (DRM) in its device, then anything you want to do that involves removing that DRM is now illegal – even if the thing itself is perfectly legal.

When Congress passed this stupid law in 1998, it had a very limited blast radius. Computers were still pretty expensive and DRM use was limited to a few narrow categories. In 1998, DMCA 1201 was mostly used to prevent you from de-regionalizing your DVD player to watch discs that had been released overseas but not in your own country.

But as we warned back then, computers were only going to get smaller and cheaper, and eventually, it would only cost manufacturers pennies to wrap their products – or even subassemblies in their products – in DRM. Congress was putting a gun on the mantelpiece in Act I, and it was bound to go off in Act III.

Welcome to Act III.

Today, it costs about a quarter to add a system-on-a-chip to even the tiniest parts. These SOCs can run DRM. Here's how that DRM works: when you put a new part in a device, the SOC and the device's main controller communicate with one another. They perform a cryptographic protocol: the part says, "Here's my serial number," and then the main controller prompts the user to enter a manufacturer-supplied secret code, and the master controller sends a signed version of this to the part, and the part and the system then recognize each other.

This process has many names, but because it was first used in the automotive sector, it's widely known as VIN-Locking (VIN stands for "vehicle identification number," the unique number given to every car by its manufacturer). VIN-locking is used by automakers to block independent mechanics from repairing your car; even if they use the manufacturer's own parts, the parts and the engine will refuse to work together until the manufacturer's rep keys in the unlock code:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon

VIN locking is everywhere. It's how John Deere stops farmers from fixing their own tractors – something farmers have done literally since tractors were invented:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/08/about-those-kill-switched-ukrainian-tractors/

It's in ventilators. Like mobile phones, ventilators are a grotesquely monopolized sector, controlled by a single company Medtronic, whose biggest claim to fame is effecting the world's largest tax inversion in order to manufacture the appearance that it is an Irish company and therefore largely untaxable. Medtronic used the resulting windfall to gobble up most of its competitors.

During lockdown, as hospitals scrambled to keep their desperately needed supply of ventilators running, Medtronic's VIN-locking became a lethal impediment. Med-techs who used donor parts from one ventilator to keep another running – say, transplanting a screen – couldn't get the device to recognize the part because all the world's civilian aircraft were grounded, meaning Medtronic's technicians couldn't swan into their hospitals to type in the unlock code and charge them hundreds of dollars.

The saving grace was an anonymous, former Medtronic repair tech, who built pirate boxes to generate unlock codes, using any housing they could lay hands on to use as a case: guitar pedals, clock radios, etc. This tech shipped these gadgets around the world, observing strict anonymity, because Article 6 of the EUCD also bans circumvention:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/10/flintstone-delano-roosevelt/#medtronic-again

Of course, Apple is a huge fan of VIN-locking. In phones, VIN-locking is usually called "serializing" or "parts-pairing," but it's the same thing: a tiny subassembly gets its own microcontroller whose sole purpose is to prevent independent repair technicians from fixing your gadget. Parts-pairing lets Apple block repairs even when the technician uses new, Apple parts – but it also lets Apple block refurb parts and third party parts.

For many years, Apple was the senior partner and leading voice in blocking state Right to Repair bills, which it killed by the dozen, leading a coalition of monopolists, from Wahl (who boobytrap their hair-clippers with springs that cause their heads irreversibly decompose if you try to sharpen them at home) to John Deere (who reinvented tenant farming by making farmers tenants of their tractors, rather than their land).

But Apple's opposition to repair eventually became a problem for the company. It's bad optics, and both Apple customers and Apple employees are volubly displeased with the company's ecocidal conduct. But of course, Apple's management and shareholders hate repair and want to block it as much as possible.

But Apple knows how to Think Differently. It came up with a way to eat its cake and have it, too. The company embarked on a program of visibly support right to repair, while working behind the scenes to sabotage it.

Last year, Apple announced a repair program. It was hilarious. If you wanted to swap your phone's battery, all you had to do was let Apple put a $1200 hold on your credit card, and then wait while the company shipped you 80 pounds' worth of specialized tools, packed in two special Pelican cases:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/22/apples-cement-overshoes/

Then, you swapped your battery, but you weren't done! After your battery was installed, you had to conference in an authorized Apple tech who would tell you what code to type into a laptop you tethered to the phone in order to pair it with your phone. Then all you had to do was lug those two 40-pound Pelican cases to a shipping depot and wait for Apple to take the hold off your card (less the $120 in parts and fees).

By contrast, independent repair outfits like iFixit will sell you all the tools you need to do your own battery swap – including the battery! for $32. The whole kit fits in a padded envelope:

https://www.ifixit.com/products/iphone-x-replacement-battery

But while Apple was able to make a showy announcement of its repair program and then hide the malicious compliance inside those giant Pelican cases, sabotaging right to repair legislation is a lot harder.

Not that they didn't try. When New York State passed the first general electronics right-to-repair bill in the country, someone convinced New York Governor Kathy Hochul to neuter it with last-minute modifications:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/12/weakened-right-to-repair-bill-is-signed-into-law-by-new-yorks-governor/

But that kind of trick only works once. When California's right to repair bill was introduced, it was clear that it was gonna pass. Rather than get run over by that train, Apple got on board, supporting the legislation, which passed unanimously:

https://www.ifixit.com/News/79902/apples-u-turn-tech-giant-finally-backs-repair-in-california

But Apple got the last laugh. Because while California's bill contains many useful clauses for the independent repair shops that keep your gadgets out of a landfill, it's a state law, and DMCA 1201 is federal. A state law can't simply legalize the conduct federal law prohibits. California's right to repair bill is a banger, but it has a weak spot: parts-pairing, the scourge of repair techs:

https://www.ifixit.com/News/69320/how-parts-pairing-kills-independent-repair

Every generation of Apple devices does more parts-pairing than the previous one, and the current models are so infested with paired parts as to be effectively unrepairable, except by Apple. It's so bad that iFixit has dropped its repairability score for the iPhone 14 from a 7 ("recommend") to a 4 (do not recommend):

https://www.ifixit.com/News/82493/we-are-retroactively-dropping-the-iphones-repairability-score-en

Parts-pairing is bullshit, and Apple are scum for using it, but they're hardly unique. Parts-pairing is at the core of the fuckery of inkjet printer companies, who use it to fence out third-party ink, so they can charge $9,600/gallon for ink that pennies to make:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/11/ink-stained-wretches-battle-soul-digital-freedom-taking-place-inside-your-printer

Parts-pairing is also rampant in powered wheelchairs, a heavily monopolized sector whose predatory conduct is jaw-droppingly depraved:

https://uspirgedfund.org/reports/usp/stranded

But if turning phones into e-waste to eke out another billion-dollar stock buyback is indefensible, stranding people with disabilities for months at a time while they await repairs is so obviously wicked that the conscience recoils. That's why it was so great when Colorado passed the nation's first wheelchair right to repair bill last year:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/06/when-drm-comes-your-wheelchair

California actually just passed two right to repair bills; the other one was SB-271, which mirrors Colorado's HB22-1031:

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB271

This is big! It's momentum! It's a start!

But it can't be the end. When Bill Clinton signed DMCA 1201 into law 25 years ago, he loaded a gun and put it on the nation's mantlepiece and now it's Act III and we're all getting sprayed with bullets. Everything from ovens to insulin pumps, thermostats to lightbulbs, has used DMCA 1201 to limit repair, modification and improvement.

Congress needs to rid us of this scourge, to let us bring back all the benefits of interoperability. I explain how this all came to be – and what we should do about it – in my new Verso Books title, The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation.

https://www.versobooks.com/products/3035-the-internet-con

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/22/vin-locking/#thought-differently

Image: Mitch Barrie (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Daytona_Skeleton_AR-15_completed_rifle_%2817551907724%29.jpg

CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

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kambanji (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/kambanji/4135216486/

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

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[lazyjellyfish300]

Fortune Cookies 🥠🖤

Miguel O'Hara x Reader s/o

Gif credits to @miguelo-hara

Just more pure domestic Miguel fluff in your established relationship with him. 😇🤧 No mention of readers gender but he does use the feminine form of precioso at the end. Enjoy 🖤 word count 1.1k

------

You let out a little belch after you took a generous swig of your Dr. Pepper, relishing in the biting sweetness it left in your mouth. You pushed away the takeout container of lo mein noodles and orange chicken slightly away from you on the coffee table. 

"Oh God...I can't. I'm so freakin full..." 

Miguel glances over at you, sitting next to you on the couch with his Mongolian beef and broccoli. He smiles as you pull the hood from your oversized hoodie over your eyes and lean back on the couch with more overstuffed groans. 

"I told you to slow down a little." Miguel says, spearing a broccoli head with his fork and popping it into his mouth. "You were hungry, huh?" he says slightly amused, trying to keep his mouth closed as he chews. 

"Yeah. Was..." You take a deep breath and sit up and reach for the white plastic grocery bag from the restaurant with bold red letters, looking inside. 

"Can't forget about these though." You wave three fortune cookies in your hand, setting one of them in Miguel's lap. 

Miguel raises an eyebrow. "You actually read those?" He closes his takeout container as well, setting it on top of yours. 

You look at him, "Whaaaat. You don't?" 

Miguel shakes his head. "Hell no. You realize they're usually the most generic phrases that some factory just mass prints and produces and ships out to random restaurants all over? I'll bet you mine says some corny shit like 'Live Laugh Love'." 

"Sir!" You give him a gentle elbow into his side and he gives a little sputter at you calling him "Sir."

"Must you absolutely shit all over every single little thing in life that I find absolutely the tiniest shred of joy in?"

Miguel chuckles and looks at you smug. "Yes." 

You roll your eyes. 

"I suppose you like Astrology too, huh?" He smirks. 

"You know, for a Libra, you're wayyy too logistical." 

Miguel groans. 

"Shush, mister. Let me have my stuff and I'll let you have yours." 

Miguel shakes his head and turns his attention to the fortune cookie you put in his lap, turning it in his fingers, his large hands dwarfing the small pastry. "I don't really care for sweets that much. If I open mine, you can eat the cookie part." 

You nod at his bargain and watch him open the crinkled plastic, a few crumbs spilling into his lap as he cracks the shell, his thumb running over the tiny scroll of paper that's partially folded on the inside. 

"😊Your charming smile is attracting everyone around you😊" 

The deadpan way he reads it out loud matched with his bored expression makes you cackle, giggling hysterically. 

"Very funny..." Miguel balls up the fortune and tosses it at your head. You snicker when it hits you. "The thing's bogus. I told you." He gets up and puts your leftover boxes in the fridge. 

"Nuh uh! Wait! We still gotta do mine!" 

You sit up and tear the soft plastic from your cookie and split it in half with an easy crack. You pop one half of the wafer in your mouth. Light vanilla, slightly stale, the sharp edges poke the roof of your mouth and you squint one of your eyes a little as you crunch down. You pick up your fortune scroll reading it while you crunch slowly. 

"A vivid and creative mind is just one of your many great attributes." 

You smile, "why THANK you, cookie! Hah!" You pop the other half in your mouth, triumphant. 

Miguel leans against the wall to the entrance of your kitchen, crossing his arms. "Hmph, clearly, they made that with you in mind. Told you those things are phony." 

You turn around, leaning your chin on the top of your couch, peering over at him leaning by the kitchen. "You're not gonna cancel fortune cookies just because they were slightly off on yours and they nailed mine?" 

Miguel chuckles a little and walks back to you, joining you again on the couch and slinging one of his strong arms around you. "I don't give a damn about what a vanilla wafer has to say about me." 

You smile and hold up the third cookie. "Well, that means we can see what this extra one says then, since you don't care." 

Miguel sighs but gives you a gentle look as he watches you eagerly unwrap the final cookie and snap it apart. 

"Your love life will soon be happy and harmonious." 

Miguel smiles. "I don't need a cookie to tell me that. Besides, it already is." He gives your shoulder a squeeze. 

"Awhhh, you!" You smile at him and cuddle a little closer, leaning into his shoulder. The warmth from his body in tandem with your satisfied belly creates a cozy feeling you could get used to. 

"I'm serious." He says, taking one of your hands in his, his fingers stretching out over the back of your hand then locking in between yours.

"I know..." you say softly, giving his hands a squeeze as though to emphasize your statement. Honestly, he was your best friend. You could never get sick of doing these seemingly mundane things with him. You knew you were both well on your way to build something much more serious together. You glanced at your vacant ring finger, trying to picture a ring he picked out just for you wrapped around it. He seems to be thinking the same thing, the way he gently lifts your hand, still locked under his, studying the pattern of your skin. 

Miguel doesn't say anything but just lets out a deep sigh, his heartbeat stirring quietly against your eardrums as you just hold him. 

"Can we watch a movie?" You ask him, running your fingertips along the soft dark hair on his arms. 

Miguel closes his eyes for a moment, enjoying the soft way you're touching him. "Course we can." 

You smile. "I'm picking it this time. I'm sick of all those nature documentaries you like to watch." 

Miguel smiles, now drawing circles on your back with his fingers as you lean forward and grab the remote off the coffee table. "You just get upset because the cute little baby deer gets eaten by the wolves." 

"That shit is traumatizing!" You chastise him. 

"It's nature." He says with a smirk. 

"I don't care, I don't wanna see it." You pout. 

He presses a kiss into your forehead. "I know, baby. You're so cute. Your pick tonight." 

"Thanks baby." You smile and lean back into him as you click through a wide selection of movie titles on Netflix. 

"Always for you, preciosa."

-----

🖤

[knickynoo]

can we talk about marty’s sleeping scenes, he’s still in his clothes, in the weirdest position, face first into the pillow, lights on, no blanket,,, he’s so chaotic

World's Most Ridiculous Sleeper.

For real, though, chaotic is probably the best way to describe it. (Actually, chaotic is a good way to describe Marty in general)

And listen, there are excuses you can make for him. Like, that first sleeping scene was Like That because he was supposed to be waiting to meet up with Doc, so falling asleep wasn't his intention—hence the lights on and no blankets and such. And then at the end of the movie, you can certainly pose the explanation that he was drop dead tired, physically and emotionally, from all the time travel and stress and Doc being dead and not dead. He climbed into his window and passed out.

But you know what? I think even a typical night wouldn't look too much different from the scenes we see, simply because of Marty's established character traits. He has no sense of time or time management. He's overwhelmed easily. Prone to distraction and sort of always running at 100 mph. Dave even says, "What, did you sleep in your clothes again?"

The executive functioning skills are absolutely Not There for our boy, and I can't see him really being able to dedicate mental space toward a normal sleep routine even on a good night. He's all go, go, go! then abruptly hits a wall of exhaustion and just. Goes to sleep. I mean, I think he'd probably at least turn out the lights, but it isn't a necessity for him. Maybe a blanket if it's particularly cold, but otherwise, who cares? And the thought of having to change his clothes just to sleep for a few hours and then have to change them AGAIN? Bogus.

So, yeah, that's just how he is. Although, I do think it's not as bad in the Lone Pine timeline, simply because George and Lorraine would probably be more on top of making sure he's practicing decent sleep hygiene. I can see them checking in to remind him to turn out his light or telling him that jeans are not for sleeping or going into his room to put a blanket over him. But sometimes he still falls back into the chaos because, ya know...Marty.

Thanks for the ask!

[lucidreamer-uwu]

Being their seatmate: Dateables Edition I

Link to Part 1: Brothers Edition

Diavolo

Would try his very best to set an example and not talk to you during class but ends up striking a conversation anyway.

Can he copy your notes? He didn't catch that last part. And by last part he means half the lesson.

Gifted you a fountain pen once as an anonymous admirer and thought he was being so sneaky about it leaving it on your desk, telling you that it was there when he got there.

Wiggles his way out of trouble until Barbatos finds out and scolds both of you.

He absolutely loves the idea of passing notes and makes it extremely obvious that you two do it. He gets too excited and makes major reactions to each note you send him too.

Likes teaching you things you don't understand.

Barbatos

Another Mr perfect.

Has the cleanest most organized notes.

His desk is always neat and tidy.

Offers to teach you how to arrange your things too.

Will bring you surprise water bottles of his freshly brewed tea when he starts noticing how you can't focus for too long and get burnt out. He says the tea will especially increase focus and brain attentiveness, which you greatly appreciate.

I have a feeling that he'd watch you panic and suffer for a few minutes when you forget your pen or a sheet of paper or a notebook before he lends you one of his spares. Unlike Satan though, he doesn't intentionally bring extra supplies exclusively for you, he just does because he's Barbatos.

Will tell you not to pass him notes before you even write a single word.

I bet he'd rat you out for talking with or passing notes to anyone other than himself just because he doesn't want you to. If you did talk to him however, he'd still encourage you to pay attention. But that doesn't mean you can tend to others other than him! He finds it unpleasant to see others satisfying you when it should be him doing that.

Simeon

Alternates from being the one asking for a spare pen and lending you a spare pen.

He accepts and reads the notes you pass him but he only smiles as acknowledgement and doesn't write back because he's trying to set an example :((

Angelic handwriting

Likes to play with or hold your hand to keep him motivated and focused. His hands are warm and super comforting too!

Torn between wanting to sit next to you and not because when he does sit with you, he notices that he often ends up staring at you more than he listens to the lessons and focuses on his tasks. You're his biggest distraction and motivation.

Once when you had free time during class, you taught him how to make paper airplanes and he is obsessed with them. Consequently, he got really into origami and starts to gift you with paper flowers whenever you had class together. Different origami figures will be waiting on your desk every time you had class.

Doesn't remember to put his phone on silent so you help him every time.

He smells like a bakery.

Luke

Brings you sweets that he makes every once in a while.

Has cute stationary.

This boy is the living breathing sunshine of the Devildom so he is more than enough to keep you from drifting off to sleep. Heck he even motivates you to do better without saying a thing!

You both tutor each other and help the other out.

Positive vibes all around ~ ! But will rant every now and then about Mammon calling him names again.

Offers to help you with homework after class.

Would doodle cute drawings on scratch paper that you give him.

Solomon

Interested in every lesson in class so he is focused and is surprisingly quiet despite you trying to chat.

Mischief when he doesn't pay attention in class. You two try to get away with your shenanigans. Being the only humans, you guys felt like you'd been friends for forever. So you have a lot of inside jokes about human world things.

The witty sorcerer WILL try to get you in trouble at times when you two are messing around. He will make noises like fake coughs or just flat out calling the professor's attention for bogus reasons when you try passing him notes. And you do the same with him.

Both of you struggle to understand Devildom lessons so you do wholesome study sessions with each other.

If he gets to class first, he will purposely sit on two seats, his own and yours, just to tease you. He'd say that it's taken and that you had to find another seat. When you give up fighting for your seat back and pulled up an extra chair, you find that he is seated properly in his own seat acting all sheepish and innocent. He's done this childishly more times that you're willing to admit honestly.

You are often his shield from Thirteen's trap attacks. And he feels NO SHAME whatsoever using you like that. He do you dirty >:c

But he'd offer to make it up to you after class every single time.

Will let you lay your head on his shoulder in case you're tired. And may or may not pull little teasing pranks on you while he's at it.

[comradekatara]

there's a post going around about how katara is misunderstood by fans who claim that she "whines too much about her mother" and "unfairly friendzoned aang" and how people who say that are doing a disservice to such a great character. and obviously i agree. even though i've never actually seen anyone say those things firsthand, i'm positive that they do, and it is a gross misinterpretation of her character. i'm glad people are defending her from slander. but i also can't help but feel disappointed by that post, because in an attempt to defend her from bogus allegations, they end up actually reducing her themselves. and that makes me so sad, because katara would not actually be as special and wonderful as she is without her flaws. of course, her response to aang's affection and the way she brings up her mother are not flaws, but she does have them. they're what make her such a good character! putting her on a pedestal is just as reductive as calling her whiny or whatever.

Or you hear the infamous line, “then you didn’t love [our mother] the way I did” and you prepare yourself for one of the worst character assassinations ever only to see the scene after nearly three seasons worth of context and realize she was kinda right. She’s been the mother, the nurturer, the comforter. She’s been patient, gentle, and accommodating where everyone else has gotten to be insensible and reckless and childish, and the one moment where she allows herself to feel her grief, suddenly she’s this evil bitch and not, y’know, a 14 year old girl whose (sic) been thrusted into adulthood in a way no other character has. A 14 year old girl who should be allowed immaturity and raw emotion and anger instead of the patience and grace she’s been forced to extend to every character without even the smallest amount of gratitude or even consideration in return.

okay so the thing is... i do think katara is kinda right when she says this line. it's cruel, but it's not exactly wrong. katara has placed so much of her identity into kya's sacrifice. perhaps sokka and katara loved their mother equally, but they did not grieve her equally, they did not feel the same loss. kya's death was personal to katara in a way it was not to sokka, and in that moment, when she says that, it's upsetting, but understandable.

that said, katara gets to be insensible, reckless, and childish constantly. it's a cornerstone of her character. that doesn't mean that she isn't often reasonable, practical, sensitive, and comforting, but that's not all she is. she's a kid and she acts like it! her immaturity, raw emotion, and anger are some of her defining characteristics. we see those wonderful traits of hers as early as the pilot, and they never go away. so i'm confused by the claim that she is denied that. she just simply isn't.

she's also not the only one who is thrust into adulthood. even if you ignore azula, since she's a villain, we literally see hakoda say to sokka multiple times that he left sokka behind to care for and protect katara and their village. and sokka takes that very seriously. he and kanna face down katara and aang in episode one chastising katara for being irresponsible enough to accidentally send a flare that locates the fire nation to their village. sokka tells katara that she put them in danger and kanna says "sokka is right." katara tells sokka that he's making a mistake, but he says, "no, i'm keeping my promise to dad. to protect you." sokka's mentality is one of protecting katara, of being responsible for her, for his village, and then aang, and later toph. he was thrust into adulthood at 13 when he was "the only man" left in the tribe. i don't understand how anyone could see that and say that katara was the only one forced to grow up too fast. she was forced to grow up too fast, and it's tragic, but she also clings to her innocence and childhood, and that's an integral aspect of her character. why would you erase that?

Katara is the most misunderstood character in the show. As much as people recognize the complexities of Zuko, Sokka, and Azula, they struggle to do the same for Katara because they see her struggles as somehow lesser, and therefore, less deserving of sympathy. They can handle her so long as she’s being endlessly patient and loving and kind, but the moment her endless love, patience, and kindness runs out, she’s suddenly this annoying bitch who can’t shut up about her mother or reciprocate Aang’s feelings. But Katara’s trauma does matter as much as anyone else’s. No, she wasn’t banished from her kingdom. No, she didn’t lose her entire community, and no, she isn’t the only one who lost her mother. But the difference between her and everyone else whose experienced loss because of the Fire Nation is that she’s never given time to process her trauma. Aang gets to lean on Katara constantly. Toph gets to express her feelings to Katara, and yeah, Sokka also lost their mother, but unlike Katara, he isn’t put in the position of being a substitute for everyone’s parent. He even admits that he sees his sister as a mother. The only characters who ever comfort Katara or allow her to vent is Zuko and her father and that’s, like, three scenes in a show where the other characters are consistently given opportunities to seek out Katara for unconditional support.

lmao i don't really think people understand the complexities of azula and sokka. zuko, yes, definitely, much ink has been spilled on zuko's strife. but if you know where to look, people write about katara as much as they write about azula and sokka, which is to say, not as much as they do zuko, but nonetheless a fair amount.

she is given time to process her trauma, though. she talks about her trauma constantly. not in a whiny way, but in the sense that her grief defines her in many ways, and since she is the main character, arguably on equal standing with aang, her trauma is explored a lot throughout the show. she certainly discusses it with more than simply zuko (who immediately goes on to betray her). she does have that beautiful scene with hakoda, but she also talks about her trauma to aang, jet, haru, hama, and of course sokka. she never talks about it directly with toph, but sokka talks about her to toph.

the idea that aang and sokka cannot empathize with her grief is actually pretty absurd. aang knows what it's like to be the chosen one, to be the last of your people and expected to carry the weight of your entire culture on your back. sokka knows what it's like to lose their parents (they lost. the same parents) and be expected to replace that parent and bear their legacy (even if with sokka he is attempting to replace hakoda while katara is attempting to replace kya). and just because zuko is the only one who bears the guilt of knowing that his mother sacrificed herself for him in the same way that kya sacrificed herself for katara, doesn't mean that aang and sokka are completely blind to her grief. they do want to help and support her. helping and supporting katara is sokka's number one priority at all times. and although katara's support is invaluable to aang, that doesn't mean that their relationship is all giving and no receiving. he also supports her. he inspires her and helps her and would do anything for her. yes he's kind of awkward when it comes to navigating his feelings for her, but he's also twelve years old. and he's not a selfish monster. katara would not love him (platonically or romantically) if he were.

the idea that sokka isn't put in the position of being a substitute for everyone's parent but katara is doesn't make sense to me either. if anything, they take on equal responsibilities. and okay. sokka does not actually say that he sees his sister as a mother, but i do understand why that is a common interpretation of his speech in "the runaway." i just don't think it really makes sense to say that considering he never actually treats her like a mother. if he does see her as a mother, then why does he always treat her like a little sister? i'm not going to repeat my take on this scene since i've already discussed it enough, so just read this post.

^guy who sees his little sister, who is the most responsible girl in the world and never does anything reckless or irresponsible in the name of justice (no sir!), as his mom

i know i've talked about this before, but it makes me really sad when people diminish katara's character in a misguided attempt to defend her from racists/misogynists who unfairly malign her character. she should be defended, by all means, but erasing the traits that make her interesting and good, at sokka and aang's expense no less, is not the way to defend her. she is worthy of praise, but there is no need to remove entire chunks of her character and slander other characters to do so. i want more posts lauding katara for how amazing her character is, but i want those posts to be accurate. she deserves to be appreciated for her flaws as well as her virtues. she deserves to be honored properly.

[chirpsythismorning]

Well, it looks like I've been shadowbanned by the Stranger Things subreddit for talking about the strikes.

This might not seem like that big of a deal, but considering the ST subreddit might very well be moderated by Netflix themselves in some capacity, has me pretty pissed off rn.

For some context, Netflix creating the ST sub has already been speculated since the sub's inception. The first season of the show didn't even start filming until November of 2015, however the subreddit for the show was created a month before that, in mid October of 2015.

It's not uncommon for Netflix to create social media accounts across the board for all of their content in order to promote it online, and so it makes sense that in the process of getting filming ready, marketing was going about creating social media accounts on every platform (their other official accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram were also created months in advance of filming as well).

Also worth noting that there is a separate sub called Hawkins AV Club, which fans created themselves to talk about the show and other things related to it that they weren't able to on the main sub, most commonly leaks, which are prohibited on the main one (Netflix don't like leaks...).

Recently though, I noticed all the strike related posts were getting removed, with it being flagged as breaking rule three.

Rule three is pretty simple, in that all it really states is that users cannot post stuff unrelated to the show.

As far as I know, the main ST sub has never made an official post about how the strikes qualify as being unrelated to the show, so it's not like this is some widely understood specific point that has been elaborated on that fans have to follow. To me, it looks like this rule operates as a loophole for a moderator to remove strike posts and list it as 'breaking rule three', without having to acknowledge how fucked up that is.

And so I wanted to test this theory and decided to post the picture of Finn picketing at Paramount Studios in support of SAG-AFTRA the other day.

Right after posting, I added the comment, 'Also ST sub if you delete this, you're confirming you have a Netflix bias'.

For the first hour, the post remained public and so luckily I was able to get some comments on it from other users in the sub. A majority of the comments just acknowledged the picture of Finn and voiced their support, though there was at least one condescending comment speaking negatively against the writers and actors striking. But most importantly, I got a few comments from fans asking why I was insinuating that the post would get deleted aka my time to shine.

I replied by saying that I noticed all the strike related posts were being removed for 'breaking rule three' and how it was bogus because plenty of other unserious posts, that are even less related to the show, stay up all the time. And so, considering the speculation over the years that Netflix played a part in creating the sub and therefore likely still has a stake in moderating it in some capacity, means they are essentially blocking fans from discussing the strike.

I then went into how ST has one of the biggest fandoms for a TV series and how the sub reflects that with over 1 million users. There are plenty of other fandoms out there that are much more niche and small in comparison to ST's base, that have been able to come together and make a big difference by donating and spreading the word as a community, and how it's kind of embarrassing considering our size, that we have not been able to come together to show support for our writers and actors in a tangible way.

And that's when I speculated how I didn't think it was a coincidence that one of the biggest fandoms in the world isn't able to even merely talk about the strikes, in the one place that affords them the ability to come together in the masses, to potentially have the ability to play role in putting pressure on the studios in order to reach a fair deal sooner than later.

These strikes literally depend on the writers and actors not talking about their content in order to put pressure on the studios, and this sub basically operates in the exact opposite way. It allows free for all discussions about the show, but doesn't allow any discussions of the strikes.

Who benefits from that? Netflix. The studios.

The reality is the strikes have EVERYTHING to do with the show. Making posts about an actor protesting so that the writers and actors of said show can continue production in a way that is more just and humane, is about the show. Technically, in a reality where things are never resolved as a result of this strike and the studios being greedy, the show could literally cease to continue. So again, this strike has EVERYTHING to do with the show.

I then ended my comment by saying that despite my suspicions, I hoped that I was wrong and that my post would stay up.

Returning to the sub the following day, I found that my post was not only removed, but also all of my comments were. Everyone else's comments remained including the anti-strike one, and there was also the addition of a pinned moderator comment explaining why the post was removed ie Rule 3.

Now, I have had some of my posts removed on Reddit in the past. Byler posts for example tend to get removed pretty swiftly because the comments get nasty and so that's the moderators usual excuse for removing those, however they don't say it outright with a moderator comment, you usually have to message them directly to get the gist of why it was removed. I've also posted memes before with them being removed and being flagged as breaking rule three, however I have never seen an actual moderator pin the details of the rule. They usually just tag Rule 3 at the top, with it being implied that you have to go look into their FAQ to read up on the rules yourself.

The way they removed my post just came off soooooooooo corporate to me, where the moderator(s) didn't even acknowledge what I said, but basically just proved my point by taking advantage of their rule loophole, by listing off the irrelevant argument against it based on said rule, with no further elaboration on what I actually speculated.

Initially, I wanted to make a post about what happened on here, but I sort of just shined it on because I already assumed they were going to remove it, and so all they did was confirm my suspicions.

But then today I was on the sub and tried to comment on a recent post, only to see that when I tried to reread it after posting, my comment wasn't showing up.

To test if it was a me problem, I went to another subreddit I'm in, Shrek (naturally), and commented on a post. Low and behold it showed up and stayed there...

I then went back to the ST sub to comment on a different recent post and again it did not show up right after I posted it.

So apparently I am a threat to the ST sub to the point where they do not want me commenting on posts anymore, specifically after I posted about the strike and the subs intense measures to prevent it from being discussed at all. Like... ya'll just literally proved my point tenfold.

Now, I do think there very well could be several moderators that are not associated with Netflix at all that are in charge of moderating the main sub. That's actually very likely. However, whether Netflix was involved from the beginning or not, it's also very likely they are now, as the sub is MASSIVE and they probably don't want an account on that scale to be controlled entirely by fans. That would mean 1 million people having access to leaks or anything and everything. Not being able to moderate that would be a pain in the ass (and we're seeing how now in the case of a strike, they also benefit from preventing certain posts from being seen).

So I think that either Netflix created the account themselves from the beginning and have recruited a handful of regular hardcore fans over the years to help moderate it, or they hopped on after a bunch of complications with leaks getting posted to hundreds of thousands of fans during s2-3, taking control at some point from the original moderator, only to join the mix of other moderators that already existed and are basically none the wiser.

In the case of either of those, they can play off that they are an unofficial ST reddit, all because they have a few fan moderators, when it's clear that is not the case.

Anyways, the ST sub has a Netflix (studio) bias and everything that's posted on there is likely moderated by someone that works for Netflix. So, keep that in mind.

[theothin]

the more I understand the role of AI as an assistive tool, the more I realize how much we need to be discussing it openly in those terms. how much we need to treat it like any other form of disability advocacy

and when you recognize AI as an assistive program, so much of this looks very different

"this company used an assistive program to put out bogus information" - the company is shit, get their ass

"assistive programs are just toys" - no the fuck they aren't

"should people be able to monetize art created through assistive programs?" - yes, obviously

"art created though assistive programs is often low-quality and struggles with certain functions" - so build better ones and give people the chance to get better at using them

"the company making this assistive program optimizes it for their own profits rather than assistive functionality" - so find better people to make open-source versions without those issues

"we can't let assistive programs offer too easy of a way to compete with people who don't use them" - we can and should

"what about the economic impacts?" - we can find other ways to address them

people who use assistive programs are soulless hacks" - WHAT THE FUCK IS THE MATTER WITH YOU?

[laufire]

there's a scene in "cold comfort", an episode from the new batman adventures (you might've seen it around on tumblr) where timmy todd has failed a civics test. tim says he doesn't care about what a district attorney does, bruce tells him he doesn't know anything about the american justice system, tim replies it's "bogus". when bruce asks how did he come to "that well-thought-out conclusion", tim, cheeky, replies "watching you", saying that bruce doesn't exactly follow the rules of due process (bruce tries to change topics asking about his math test).

and it's a funny moment and all but (because I'm me) it made me think of it in the context of jason's character. first, idk if the show does anything more with tim in an academic setting, but this is a contrast with new earth!jason that speaks to a more "stereotypical" idea of a street smart kid.

second, while presumably tim would've seen the flaws in the system before as well, this moment carelessly implies certain ignorance (like i'd care about what a district attorney does when I was a petty thief / you don't know the first thing about the justice system, do you) and jason's mistrust on the system came across as coming from someone who, thanks to his experience, had a really good grasp on it, and that said knowledge was what made him mistrust it. he preferred to be on the streets that in the hands of gotham social services (my personal headcanon was that he was under their care previously for a little while, and then things went sideways and he had to run). he runs from ma gunn's. he argues for penguin's potential rehabilitation to bruce. etc. etc.

and third, jason's journey was more about... first, seeing the flaws in the system, then agreeing to work with bruce in what seems an alternative, better way, then seeing the flaws in BRUCE'S system, the way victims still fell through the cracks. this scene puts the sole focus on bruce's worldview, with tim (even if it's part of a joke) adhering to bruce's. this is literally the third episode, I know there's more, plus comics, so maybe they do more to build up tim's independent views (though idk if it'll be within is vigilante tenure or as part of the return of the joker's plot, whose specifics I don't recall well).

either way. food for thought.

[streamsofstardust]

i debated saying anything about this bc i wanted the focus to be on how incredible josh is and how much we all love him, but since other people have made posts (and bc the subject of them has continued to be a problem) i figured i might as well.

long ass post below the cut bc i don't wanna clog people's feed

hannah has spent the better part of 6 months trying to salvage her reputation after tweetgate. she's been posting bogus, empty apologies and trying to prove that she's a good person, a person who has changed over the years and isn't close to being the same as the one who made those horrendous tweets.

yet every time someone calls her out, she continues to show everyone she hasn't changed at all.

hannah's career is not josh's. her personal life is not josh's. their connection is simply the fact that she's with sam. she's benefitted from the relationship since it started, regardless of how little her status as a "well known" musician has increased. she's gotten plenty of opportunities that she likely wouldn't have, had it not been for her relationship with sam. this isn't me saying she's using him, none of us could ever know that for certain, but it's certainly an interesting pairing and she definitely doesn't do herself any favors to get us to think otherwise.

i understand there is no obligation on hannah's part to join the masses in public support of josh coming out. I'm not going to say she needed to like the post, comment on it, put it in her story, etc. what i will say is that her initial silence about it on social media is extremely telling.

she tweeted about legislation when it came to gun control. granted she talked about how she wanted her music to make a change (it's not going to sweetheart), and made most of the conversation about her, but she brought up the importance of standing up for what you believe is right in the state you live in. and for anyone not aware (though i assume pretty much everyone knows) she lives in tennessee.

because of that, and given her adamance that she's not a bigot, one would think she'd take josh's post as a chance to also talk about the importance of fighting for LGBTQ+ rights in the state she lives in. even if she didn't live there, you'd think she'd do it to support her boyfriend's older brother. and for as much as she talks about how much she loves them all, it sure doesn't seem like she gives as shit about any of them other than sam, and yeah that's likely because he's the one directly helping her career.

she didn't though.

she didn't do anything to show her support for josh.

and it's not that she wasn't active on social media because she spent the day posting on everything about her new music. she follows josh, she would've seen the post. I'm sure there were plenty of conversations over text or call or facetime or whatever that she could've been part of. I'm fully aware that anything could've happened in private. but when you spend so much time trying to publicly convince people that you're a good, caring, thoughtful, loving, and accepting person, how could you not show public support when it comes to this?

of course she has to go and make it even worse though, because that's literally the only thing she knows how to do.

i don't necessarily agree with people commenting on her posts about josh (though i agree, yesterday was josh's day. idc argue with your mother) but the issue was her response to those comments.

you want to talk about your music? go ahead, lord knows you're never gonna shut up about your subpar shit. but this:

was fucking disgusting.

that's your boyfriend's fucking brother who, after spending nearly a decade hiding a massive part of himself and his relationship, decided to come out publicly where millions of people would see it all at once. where he could've been met with judgment from fans, non-fans, peers, fellow musicians, etc. I'm not saying he assumed the worst, there's no way any of us would know if he did, it's just the reality of the political climate. he did something that is fucking terrifying for anyone on a considerably smaller scale. even when you know you'll have support, coming out can be scary. hell i was drunk when i accidentally came out to my dad and even though i knew he'd still love me, i was fucking scared.

josh risked so much by making that post, regardless of the love and support he was guaranteed to have from his family, his friends, and presumably most of his fans. i can't imagine it was the easiest decision for him to make, but the fact that he did it is incredible and praiseworthy.

anyone with a brain and a lick of common sense knows this. anyone in the LGBTQ+ community is more than aware of this. anyone who cares about those around them and understands how awful the political climate is when it comes to the LGBTQ+ community, is fully aware of this.

hannah should be fully aware, and though it often seems otherwise, she has a brain, so i know she knows this.

it's the bare fucking minimum to publicly support josh. the bare. fucking. minimum.

but once again, she had to make sure she was getting the attention she so badly craves. and of course, her responses to gvf fans were just as gross and immature as they always are.

as i've said several times before, hannah wicklund is not a good person. she clearly never has been and never will be. she has this delusion that she's changed and grown and matured but every single time she makes a post, she proves that none of that is true.

she's single-handedly digging her own grave and i look forward to the day where she's no longer connected to the band and our community.

[luxexhomines]

Welcome back!!! It’s great to see you again, I hope you’ve been doing well 💕 Could I request a Kokichi/Reader (romantic) for the dialogue prompt “You're so persistent”? Either fluff or silly, whichever you prefer! Thanks and have fun!!

Thank you so much for the heart-warming welcome back and for the request!! I'm happy to see you again too, and I hope you've been doing well, too, ehe~ ♡ ♡

I took a little while to think about this prompt and to reacquaint myself with Kokichi as a character, ahaha. I realized then that I...don't even know how to write Kokichi, even though I love him so much?! But nevertheless, I tried to write something fun. Honestly, it feels kind of awkward/mechanical, but maybe it can't be helped because it's been so long since I last wrote for Kokichi?

Anyway, here we go! It's almost 3k words (oops) so there's a cut. Icon credit to dreamcrush!

“You’re so persistent.” Kokichi x Ultimate! Celebrity Reader

“You’re so persistent.” You slammed the metal locker door close and glared at Kokichi. “And annoying.” 

Kokichi simply shrugged with that same shit-eating grin on his face that he always had. 

“Well, maybe you wouldn’t have to deal with the annoying me if you’d just say yes,” he says in that sing-songy voice. 

You resist the urge to box his ears and instead turn away, speed-walking toward the classroom. To your dismay, he quickly follows behind you, matching your pace easily and practically skipping. You supposed someone like him burned a lot of energy annoying people and pulling tricks everyday, so this was probably nothing to him. 

“Don’t you ever get tired of being rejected?” you glanced at him, genuinely curious. 

“Nope!” He folds his arms behind his head leisurely and grins at you. “But I bet you’re getting tired of rejecting me, huh? You really want to say yes, don’t you? Huh?”

“I’m not even going to answer that,” you sighed. 

Kokichi made a face of shock, mouth and deep purple eyes wide in a way that could only be described as overexaggerated and purely for dramatic effect. 

“But you just did!” 

You suppressed an exasperated sigh and looked away from Kokichi, who was strolling next to you without a care in the world. He’d even started to whistle some annoying little tune that sounded suspiciously like the tune that had recently gone viral for being one of the worst earworms ever. 

Kokichi had been asking for your autograph for the past month since the fall semester of Hope’s Peak Academy had formally started and the two of you had met in-class for the first time. 

“Ultimate Celebrity, huh?!” he’d exclaimed, eyes comically wide and sparkly. “Does that mean you get to be an Ultimate for just existing? Do you even have to do anything? How is that even a talent, huh?” 

Kaede interjected with her hands on her hips. 

“Hey, don’t make fun! You know, they’re an Ultimate for a reason,” she huffed. “Look at that face! That style! The stuff that they use gets sold out within minutes, and the places they go get so popular they only take reservations for months after!” 

To be fair, you tried to stop Kaede. Tried and failed. 

“It’s okay, Kaede-” you put a hand on her shoulder gently, only for her to not even notice. 

“Do you even know how much one of their autographs goes for? It can go for a million yen!” she burst. 

It was then that a chill ran down your spine as you watched Kokichi’s face flash from that of a naive and playful prankster to a calculative one worthy of being called the Ultimate Supreme Leader–whatever that bogus-sounding talent was. Actually, how dare he question your talent when he had a suspicious talent like that? 

“Oho, is that so?” he smiled and tapped a finger to his lips, seemingly in thought. You didn’t know what he was thinking, but you did know that whatever it was, you didn’t like it at all. 

You gave the door to the classroom a furtive look. 

“Okay, well, if that’s all, I’m going to go to the bathroom now- Eek!” 

Kokichi had made his way to the door before you and was somehow effectively blocking your exit route with both palms pressed on either side of the door frame, even with his slight frame. Not only that, but he was currently making one of the most horrifying faces you’d ever seen on anyone, and you’d seen a lot of terrible things in the entertainment industry. 

“Where do you think you’re going?” he smirked. Whatever that black pit of a face was, his eyes were two black holes in that pit. And, his mouth was stretched unnaturally wide in what could only be called an evil smile. “Hand it over.” He held out a hand, and you stared at his empty hand, simply appalled. 

You’d faced plenty of terrors and challenges as the Ultimate Celebrity, from surprise paparazzis at night to stalker-fans trying to break into your apartment, but you had to say that this was your first time being extorted for an autograph–not even asked, but threatened. 

You crossed your arms and gave him a dirty look. 

“No. Now step aside.” 

You couldn’t imagine that he’d keep blocking the doorway forever, especially since from the corner of your eye, you could see Kaito walking toward the classroom from the hallway. 

He slinked to the side surprisingly easily, making a disappointed puppy-dog face. 

“Aww, you’re no fun. It’s just an autograph, you know?”

You slid past him and made a beeline to the bathroom, which he thankfully did not follow you to–but you did feel his eyes on you until you disappeared from his line of sight. You’d think you’d have gotten used to being watched, being the Ultimate Celebrity, but somehow, this felt different. 

Fast-forward to today, about a month into the semester, and he hadn’t failed to pester you for an autograph every single day, although he luckily spent some of his time playing with (irritating?) your other classmates, too. 

“Keeboi, robots don’t have nipples, do they?” Some clanking noises came from the other side of the classroom, which you desperately hoped wasn’t Kokichi touching Kiibo.

“This is harassment! I must ask that you cease and desist at once–no, seriously, stop, Kokichi!” 

You winced but opted to remain a bystander. Getting involved ultimately meant offering yourself as the sacrificial target for Kokichi’s tricks and attention. ‘Sorry, Kiibo,’ you thought sympathetically. 

But unfortunately for you, Kokichi must have quickly gotten bored with Kiibo, because not even ten minutes later, he was at your side again. To be exact, he was sitting across from you at the desk in front of yours, hands holding onto the backrest of the chair.

“Come on, just one little autograph,” he begged with those big, gleaming eyes. Man, since when did being an Ultimate Supreme Leader involve having incredible acting abilities? Because otherwise, how could he look so pitiful and sad? Like a cat left in the pouring rain, sitting in a rotting cardboard box, waiting for a kind owner–

You averted your eyes. It would be fine if you didn’t look at him, you desperately thought to yourself. 

“I’m not giving an autograph to any classmates,” you state. “We’re all Ultimates and more or less equal, so I’m not going to give a fellow Ultimate an autograph. Plus, you think I don’t know you’re just going to go and auction it off?”  You turned and stared him down with the last sentence. 

“Nishishi, you got me there!” he laughed, but he didn’t seem surprised or offended. “Why don’t you do your classmate a little favor, then? You gave one to Nagito!” 

You huffed and pursed your lips. 

“I said no, Kokichi! And it’s different if it’s a fan,” you argued. “Nagito was already a fan because he loves Ultimates. Plus, he’s our upperclassman!” 

Kokichi put a hand to his chin in thought. 

“So it’s different if it’s a fan, huh? Okay, got it! I’ll be your fan, so give me an autograph!” he cheers. 

“No, Kokichi! Were you even listening to me?” 

He didn’t reply immediately for once, just watched you in an unsettling way. He even started twirling a strand of hair around his finger as he looked at you, and you started to feel self-conscious. You thought you’d gotten used to being watched, but yet again, it felt different coming from him. 

“Hmm, I guess I wasn’t… Well, if you won’t give me your autograph, then I want something else!” 

“What is it, now?” 

You sighed and rested your cheek on your hand, propping your elbow up on the desk and preparing yourself for whatever other ridiculous demand he’d come out with next.

“Give me your heart!” 

You almost fall out of your chair and scramble to hold onto the desk for dear life before incredulously staring at him. You could feel your face heating up, but you were sure it was just because he’d said something so unbelievably absurd.

“What did you say?” 

“I said, give me your heart,” Kokichi enunciated with a smile. “Do you need hearing aids? How come you didn’t hear it the first time?” His eyes reflected obsequious concern, and you frowned. 

“I heard you the first time! I just thought I heard wrong because you said something so– so weird. You know, your habit of lying and playing around with other people is going to get you in serious trouble someday.” 

Kokichi held up a hand and started examining his nails, shrugging. 

“I was being serious, though? This time, at least.”

You stared at him, unable to discern his true intentions or motives. 

“Kokichi, I–you’re just pulling my leg, right? Because if so, it’s not funny…” you trailed off, not sure what to even make of the current situation. On the off chance that he was being serious, you didn’t want to be dismissive, but after the past month of being teased and watching him trick and lie to other people like it was nothing, you couldn’t just take his words at face value. Especially when he said it so offhandedly. 

Kokichi clenched his fists and pouted, puffing up his pale cheeks. 

“Hey, don’t make me repeat myself! I tell the truth once in a while, you know! Don’t tell me you don’t believe me after I told you I was telling the truth already!” 

You blinked slowly, feeling your cheeks reddening. 

“Uh, then… What do you even mean by, ‘give me your heart?’ You want to date?” 

“No, silly,” he stuck his tongue out at you and rolled his eyes. “I want you to fall in love with me, duh! Come on, are you really so boring that you can’t even understand a figure of speech?” 

“I just didn’t expect it from you,” you quietly muttered. 

How did you feel about him, anyway? The past month suddenly felt like a blur–what had you even done the past month? You couldn’t quite remember, but whatever it was, it definitely felt like it was all memories filled with Kokichi’s presence, as infuriating as he could be sometimes. 

Then again, you knew he never truly meant any harm, and overall, you considered him–a classmate? No, that felt wrong after all the time you’d spent together for such a short span of a month. 

A friend. That felt so much more right, suited your relationships so much better.

You paused. 

“Wait a minute! You never even said that you liked me or anything. You just told me to fall in love with you!” you said, affronted by the realization. 

“Oops, you got me!” Kokichi snickered. “Well, if you insist, though I’m sure you get plenty of proclamations of love everyday as the Ultimate Celebrity.” 

He pulled out a flower from behind his back and thrusted it toward you with a big, innocent smile on his face. “I like you!” 

You facepalmed but plucked the flower from his hand begrudgingly.

“Somehow, that felt so disingenuous,” you complained. “Like it was just an afterthought. And you wondered why I didn’t believe you.” 

Kokichi poked your cheek, which had puffed a little without you even realizing. 

“Hey, don’t be so pessimistic after I told you I liked you! How can you have so many complaints about the Ultimate Supreme Leader liking you, huh? It should be your honor! A snap of my fingers, and I can have my thousands of underlings kneeling before you in seconds,” he boasted.

You gave him a look–you could just about see his nose growing longer for every lie coming out of his mouth.

“I doubt you have thousands of underlings,” you sighed. “Plus, this was so anticlimactic. I’m still pretty sure you just want to get my autograph.” 

Kokichi put a finger to his chin, thinking hard–or hardly thinking, it was always hard to tell with someone like him. 

“Well, do you need me to prove it? I’ll say I like you a thousand times! Here, why don’t I start now?” He opened his mouth wide and started chanting, “I like you, I like you, I like you, I like you, I like-” 

You hastily slapped a hand over his mouth and fearfully glanced around the classroom. Luckily, everyone else was busy with their own conversations during lunchtime. 

“Stop that, you’re going to get everyone’s attention!” you grumbled. 

“Oh?” he chuckled as he pulled your hand from his mouth, and a look of delighted mischief sparkled in his eyes–a look, you now realize, of trouble. “You know what an even better way to get everyone’s attention is? Watch this!” 

And then, he leaned in and pressed his soft, pale lips to yours–but they were gone so soon, no sooner than you had realized they’d even touched you at all, too soon, in fact. You sat there in shock, face rapidly heating up; you were melting like butter in a hot pan, like ice under the summer sun, and you had no idea how to cope. 

Slowly, you brought your fingers to your lips, still staring at Kokichi, who had the smuggest little smile on his face. 

“You-!” 

“Did you like it? Should I kiss you again?” he licked his lips, smirking. “Here, hold still-” 

But before he could do anything else, he was interrupted by Kaito, who had grabbed onto his shoulders firmly with an uncontrollable blush on his face. Kaito could barely even look at you, instead fiercely glaring at Kokichi.

“What are you doing to them?! You didn’t even ask, and you’re in the damn classroom, Kokichi! Our entire class just saw that!” 

Kokichi stuck his tongue out at Kaito, struggling against Kaito’s hold on him.

“Yeah, and who cares? They didn’t say they didn’t like it. Right, [Name]?” He paused and waved his hand in front of your dazed face. “Hellooooo, Earth to [Name]?” 

You shook your head rapidly, trying to come back to your senses. Of all the things to happen today, you hadn’t expected to be kissed by Kokichi Ouma. Maybe just another plea for an autograph, and maybe a prank or two, but a kiss? And not only that, but you hadn’t expected yourself to like it so much. Or like him so much.

“No, I…” Still thoroughly startled, you glanced away, still blushing, only to notice that the entire class was practically staring at the two of you (and Kaito, now that he’d tried to intervene). Tenko had put her hands up over her eyes, except she’d parted her fingers, so she wasn’t actually blocking anything from sight as she blushed furiously. Meanwhile, Shuichi had dropped his egg roll onto his desk, and Gonta was trying to ask Miu what kissing was and what it meant. Angie was watching with fervent interest, and Maki seemed shocked you’d let him kiss you to begin with, judging by the murderous expression on her face. 

To hell with it, you decided. Let them watch. Most of your life as the Ultimate Celebrity was already watched, anyway. What was one more thing? 

“It’s my turn now,” you grinned. Kaito let go of him, seeming to notice the tension in the air. “Don’t move.” 

You leaned over the desk and with a finger, tilted his chin up toward you, watching the Adam’s apple of his slender neck bob nervously. 

You leaned in and pressed your lips to his, not just once, not just twice, but three times. When you finally let go of him, you had the pleasure of seeing a thoroughly and truly bewildered look on his face for once; his eyes were blank, as if trying to process what had just happened, and a generous amount of pink had painted itself over his usually pale cheeks.

Kaito gave a wolf whistle and clapped, while the others started murmuring to each other.

“Nyeh… Is this the power of the Ultimate Celebrity?” Himiko uttered in surprise. “Truly magic to be wary of…” 

“It’s not m-magic,” Tenko stuttered and flusteredly pointed at you. “It’s, it’s sorcery! They made Kokichi shut up for once in his life!” 

“No, no, this surely must be a divine act bestowed by Atua,” Angie crowed. 

“Did we want Kokichi to shut up that badly…?” Shuichi asks tentatively. 

“Yes.” Maki stabbed her pickled plum with scary precision. “Yes, we did.” 

Kaede tried to assuage everyone’s complaints.

 “Now, he’s not that bad…” 

“Well, I’m glad that pipsqueak shut up for once!” Miu exclaimed. 

“Yes, he’s an absolute menace,” Korekiyo agreed.

But the quiet Kokichi didn’t last for long–or at least, not as long as some of them hoped it would. He swiftly leapt up from his seat and pulled you up, too, before hug-attacking you. 

“Wow, I didn’t know you had it in you! From now on, you have to kiss me everyday,” he declared proudly. “And if you skimp, you have to give me an autograph!”

You pat him on the head, chuckling–his hair was so soft, you absent-mindedly thought to yourself. 

“Again with the autograph. You really are persistent,” you laughed. 

He pulled back for a moment and sweetly stared into your eyes. 

“But that’s what you like about me so much, right? Nishishi!” 

“Yeah, yeah,” you shrugged, but you could feel your cheeks warming up again. 

Kokichi leaned in close, the breath from his mouth tickling your ear.

“Just between you and me, though, I’d take your kisses over your autograph any day, so don’t forget~”

[dameronology]

“ nothing is worth losing you. “ + steve harrington please

steve and angst let's fucking gOOOOO

Steve Harrington wasn't a serious guy.

He always...flippant. He would say things that held substance and sentiment, but word them in a way that you couldn't help but laugh. Even your deepest and most vulnerable exchanges had been shielded with his regular quips and flittering punchlines. It was just who he was: he was funny by nature. Unable to take anything too deeply for more than a second. Every so often you might catch a glimpse of thought in those coffee coloured eyes of his but then it would fade. That child-like spark would return, exhaustive thoughts loss to the wind. Even when he opened up to you about his deepest and darkest fears, there was always a sheen of humour in there.

The first time you saw him completely crack was almost a year-and-a-half into your relationship. Neither of you could deny that you had a good thing going: you were both lulling in the haze of your impending adulthood, trying to fend off the reality of your early twenties with a shitty part-time job in one hand and Steve Harrington's charm in the other. He brought more than that though - he had his own weird brand of making you laugh, but also ever so gently implying that he would cross the ends of the Earth for you. And for Steve, you were his escape from the world. From the pressures of his parents, of working out his future, of all the crap that Will Byers had accidentally dredged up from the Upside Down.

It was when you got involved with that and began to help him and the Hawkins kids out that he knew he'd struck gold.

The same involvement that threw you right in the line of danger.

There had been a close call. It was worse for Steve than it was for you, entirely because you hadn't even noticed how close you'd been to knocking on death's door that day. He'd seen it all with his own eyes, and if he hadn't reached for you and pulled you out of the creature's path, you would have been long gone. It was the realisation that he had been the one to drag you into all of this that weighed a bit too heavy on his shoulders, and even more so on his heart.

"You can't do this anymore. I'm forboding you," Steve declared. It was a cold Tuesday afternoon and you were sat in his bedroom, barely phased by the incident.

You rolled your eyes. "The word is forbidding, Steve."

"No, that doesn't sound right."

"It doesn't even matter," you grumbled. "I'm an adult. You can't tell me what to do and you certainly can't forbid me - because that IS the right word - from helping Will-"

"- it matters to me!" he cut you off. "I dragged you into all of this. This is all on me, okay? And I can't sit around and just let you get hurt because of something that I did."

"Steve," you murmured. He was pacing back and forth in front of you, but stopped to take your hands when you held them out to him. Pressing a small kiss to the back of your hand, he then knelt down in front of you.

You continued: "I know this is hard but you are not the one who dragged me into anything. I did it all by choice, remember? I asked you what was going on, and...I gotta look out for the kids, you know? Mike, Max, El, Dustin, Luke, Will, especially Will, need us both."

"Yeah, I know," Steve gave you a small sigh. "I think we're both in too deep but I don't know what I'd do if you got seriously, properly hurt. You're sort of the only thing keeping me sane nowadays."

"Likewise, Harrington," you smiled softly. "It will all be worth it in the end. When those kids are safe and all this is put to rest, I promise you it will be worth it."

He shook his head. "Nothing is worth losing you."

"You're not going to lose me. As long as I have you and that stupid, nailed baseball bat, I know that I'm safe," you insisted.

You pulled Steve onto his bed beside you, tangling a hand in his hair as you pulled him into a passionate kiss. It wasn't often that you shared emotional kisses - it was most commonly bogus make-out sections reminiscent of your high schools years. Every so often, and mostly when he was lost for words, he would give you a kiss that spoke a thousand.

"I love you," you murmured.

"I love you too," Steve smiled, "but I still don't think that forbade is the right word."

[theerurishipper]

Your reblog about the senti thing make me LOLing so hard because of the senti defender when shoved a fact that contradict their theory mostly act like "Yeah, I didn't think that far" except they never said it out loud!

I remember when s4 still airing and these senti defender said "senti lives matter!" But whenever I ask, "what about that lolipop thing? Feast? Senti Moth?" They always said "They don't have the same level of intelligence as senti human, probably only at the level of animal"

So basically they said it's ok to kill a senti as long as they either don't looks like human or they have low intelligence. This came from the same people who preach that sentimonster is a good methapor for abuse or disabilities.

In the end it boil down to "if hero kill it, it's good but if villain kill it, it's bad" double standard and I couldn't even fathom what so good about the whole sentimonster!human thing except to make an obedient puppet.

"Yeah, hope Chat can have a upgrade power that could destroy the connection between amok and the senti" they said. Except he already did. TA said in his tweet the reason why Reflekdoll or any senti that gone berserk due to the cataclysm is /exactly/ because the connection was destroyed. It didn't free them, it make them berserk. And ironically, this tweet also what make people think the reason why Chat Blanc is so feral is because half of his amok got destroyed, instead of the long isolation and guilt that eat him.

Also a so called child psychologist preach the whole sentimonster is good methapor for abuse thing make me facepalmed, hard. Why need methapor if it's so obvious? Is miraculous going to put on disclaimer : Attention, no real child is being harmed here. Why take the whole abuse theme if they're not going to do it correctly? Who the heck approved this kind of theme??

Sorry for the long rant and thank you for reading my incoherent rant.

You said it, anon.

The Sentimonster theory is a shitty metaphor for abuse or disability. What it says to me is that if your disability isn't convenient or "normal," then you don't matter. Hence the "human" Sentimonsters like Adrien, Felix and Kagami who can fit into society are accepted, but the other Sentimonsters are disposable, despite them having the same amount of sentience and life as any of the human ones.

So Senti lives matter, but only if they're a particular type of Senti. If not, then they're not really alive and can be disposed of without a single thought spared to them (even though that's not true, because Felix treated Red Sun like a sister, and Feast, Sentibubbler, etc. clearly had emotions). Which means... only socially acceptable Senti rights matter. The rest of them only exist to be killed by the heroes. The heroes get to decide which Sentis matter and which ones don't, and the only ones that matter to them are the ones that look like them.

And like... if you're going to have an arc about making us understand that these creatures are just like us and have a life and emotions of their own, then don't create classes and divisions between them from the get-go. Don't portray some of them as more worthy than the others. Nothing in the show suggests that the creation of Adrien, Felix or Kagami was in any way different from the creation of Feast or any other Sentimonster. The argument that they are different because they were created to be humans is also bogus, because of Sentibug. She was created not to be a human, but to be a copy of Ladybug, yet she still had free will. All the justifications for this theory fall apart if we think about it for more than 5 seconds.

And the whole Chat Blanc thing you mentioned is part of a larger problem in this fandom, which involves attributing common reactions to abuse in abuse victims to them being artificially created beings. Adrien listens too much to his father? It must be because he's a Sentimonster and is being controlled, not because Gabriel has conditioned him to be subservient to him all his life! They are literally saying victims of abuse and their reactions to abuse are "unnatural," and can only happen if they weren't human at all. I despise this implication, especially since the show doubled down on it.

And it's not like this was a necessary writing choice. What does Adrien being a Sentimonster contribute to his's character? What did the revelation that he's being mind-controlled help us understand about him? What new facet to his character did we learn about? Nothing, really. There is no exploration of what Adrien being a Sentimonster means for him. He doesn't even find out about it. The only reason Adrien became a Sentimonster is so that the writers could justify leaving him out of the finale and so that they could have an obstacle for Adrienette. And I will say, introducing the whole "Sentimonsters deserve free-will" plot point and then using the characters' Senti status as an excuse to deprive them of agency in their own battles is... certainly a choice.

The Sentimonster theory isn't this groundbreaking exploration of the concept of humanity and free-will, nor is it this subversive metaphor for something that was already being portrayed blatantly in the show. It's something the writers used as a plot device to justify removing the three most plot relevant characters from the story so that Marinette could have the finale to herself. That's it. There's nothing more to it than that.

Which is why the concept is so poorly developed. The whole Senti rights thing is brought for about five minutes in Emotion and maybe two minutes in Pretension. After this, Felix, the main advocate for Senti rights himself falls back on all his ideals and creates a Sentimonster to use and then kill. The heroes have spent three seasons killing these livings creatures without a single care in the world. The moral implications of this are never questioned in any way, even though the show pretends it's presenting this thoughtful and nuanced commentary on the matter. No one cares about Sentimonsters. Sentibug is presented as this big deal, but they don't think about her for more than five seconds and then she is never brought up again. Sentimonsters do not matter in this show. Not to the villains, not to the heroes, not even those who start of advocating for them stick to that cause. The narrative doesn't care about Sentimonsters. Any justification made for it just paints in a worse light. It's a shitty metaphor for anything, and it's just a shitty plot point in general.

Thank you for your ask!

[tachyon-omlette]

TFA Eda. Malgus Eda.

This man has witnessed the rise and fall of planets, civilizations, Magnuses, and his own sense of self, all while tracking down his siblings with the intent to destroy them - and they, too, watch him from the shadows, carrying out Unicron's will while playing out a grand scheme to bring about the end of all things by design. His story involves a lot of suffering, a few bright spots, and then amplified suffering when all good things are brought to an untimely end. He was never meant to know peace.

TFA Eda Lore Timeline

(art by the wonderful @thewiglesswonder, who is in large part the reason why I am so dedicated to ensuring this lore post is made real - even if I have to break it into parts)

Part 1: Where All Things Begin

Eda of Unicron exists not by accident (or so it is said), but as one of a set of three powerful, dangerous creations, made only with the purpose of carrying out Unicron's will - to pave the way for the destruction of the universe by Persuading its guardians, most notably the Thirteen, created by Unicron's ancient enemy, to destroy themselves through whatever method worked best.

Ethos was a master of betrayal and diversion, changing loyalties and betraying so-called comrades on a dime, sowing discord as he went along. He was agile and an opportunist but not very physically strong, preferring his victims, his siblings, or his creator to do the heavy lifting when it came to combat; he was, however, able to reformat himself into virtually any form, allowing him to take on a vast array of guises - though he often retained certain cosmetic similarities, claiming it was his "brand" - and could even put himself back together after enduring fatal injuries.

Logos was much stronger by comparison, and could readily handle himself in combat, but his true skill lay with his capability to alter reality. He could manipulate the memories and surroundings of his victims separately, could imitate any creature's voice flawlessly, creating fractures in individual paradigms and forcing even the sanest of minds into states of paranoia and disarray. Outwardly, he showed little emotion, his tone flat and body language static, and he often masterminded how each of his siblings would act to bring Unicron's will to fruition, in between causing friends, families, and trusted allies to turn on one another.

Then there was Pathos.

Pathos was Unicron in miniature, granted all his capabilities proportionate to his size (which was itself quite impressive), born of that which Unicron cast out of himself and by that virtue possessed one skill that his creator did not. He could sense the emotions of any living thing - though it was easiest with energon-imbued organisms - as naturally as humans can smell, feel, or taste. He was meant to destroy the more easily vanquished worlds and ferry their resources to his siblings and creator, and do little else... but he possessed this sixth sense, seemingly by pure accident, and it was a burden on his anti-spark. How was he meant to not only perpetuate but enjoy the universe's destruction as his siblings did, when he could so acutely sense it cry out in pain, fear, and sorrow with every blow? 

He asked Logos if he, too, harbored any doubts, but Logos claimed that getting twisted up about his purpose was complete bogus, that he should get straight with the big U and stop harshing the vibe. He asked Ethos a similar question, and was told that the universe would either destroy itself or get destroyed, so he should quit whining and enjoy the ride or else join the universe in getting curbstomped.

He couldn't disobey Unicron outright, not on his own, so he reached out to the Thirteen, the first and strongest creations of Primus, whom he and his siblings had faced in combat many times before. Though they distrusted him, in the end they reached an accord: while the Thirteen would coordinate a final strike upon Unicron himself, Pathos would strike against his siblings, and do his best to keep them occupied.

While Unicron was rendered successfully inert, Ethos and Logos were not, and would remember Pathos's betrayal - but they were all cast out, flung far apart and across the galaxy, and would not again cross paths with either Pathos or the Thirteen for some time.

With nowhere else to turn, Pathos remained with the Thirteen on their homeworld of Cybertron. He had earned their mercy by turning coat on his creator, but their kindness was less freely given, for they had witnessed the extent of his capabilities and were rightfully afraid of him. He did make overtures to earn their trust, subduing his powers and doing his best to exist unobtrusively, which earned him the trust of those more accepting - such as Quintus Prima-Vectorum, who found him fascinating and wished to study him, to which he consented - but did little in the way of making him feel accepted.

The divide between Pathos and the Thirteen became more prevalent as Prima Primus-Vectorum and Alpha Prima-Vectorum conspired, and at the last agreed that he must be supervised by one of the Thirteen at all times to ensure he would not sow further destruction. He would have protested this, for he possessed no inclination towards destruction and in truth never did - but he had caused mass death and ruin not long ago, knew he was still capable of such acts even alone, and thus accepted their terms. It would have been rude, ungrateful, selfish of him to speak up, he believed.

Slowly, these sorts of thoughts began to multiply, and over time how can I appease them became they will never forgive me became I can never be forgiven. Pathos offered himself as a menial laborer, a sounding board, a test subject, anything that was asked of him, because he believed acting in service of the creations of Primus was all he could do. He would never be worthy of their kindness, because whenever they looked at him their reaction was fear - he could sense it every time, and were they so wrong? He was made to be a monster, a weapon of chaos, and that's what they saw. That's what they thought of him. That's what he is.

The only exception to this reaction-standard was Quintus, who regarded Pathos predominantly with fascination and intrigue - a far cry from the usual fear and/or revulsion, which was strange but still welcomed. These were much easier emotions to be around, ones that made him feel safer and more appreciated if only marginally, and unknowingly Pathos found himself more and more attached to Quintus. Over time, favor turned to fondness, and had Pathos doing everything in his power to make Quintus's field brighten with their seemingly natural curiosity.

That curiosity gave way to ambition - though Pathos thought this natural, as it paired Quintus's excitement and ideas with action, and because of this he indeed enabled their ambition. Pathos, blinded as he was by his affection, even allowed his plating to be prized apart and opened, so long as it was Quintus's servos that rummaged through his insides and handled any samples. He didn't know Dark Energon was poison to any of the Thirteen; he had no idea what was happening to the mech he cared for until it was too late to undo the damage he'd done, the damage he'd allowed to happen to the person he cared for most.

Unbeknownst to Pathos, his siblings were orchestrating the downfall of the Thirteen still, even in Unicron's absence. Ethos and Logos worked in tandem to bring about Megatronus Prima-Vectorum's downfall - not Quintus's, they needed an isolated incident, some proof that even being on the same planet as Pathos had dire consequences - which led to Solus Prima-Vectorum's death. Pathos had hoped to not witness more death for as long as he could manage, and mourned her as the other Thirteen - Twelve - did, despite the chaos that followed.

Blame was cast by many of the others upon Megatronus, exiled as the Fallen, for wielding the Requiem Blaster knowingly against a fellow incarnate of Primus's will which resulted in her death; upon Liege Prima-Vectorum, who fled Cybertron to avoid persecution, framed for guiding Megatronus's hand (because he was always a shady character, Prima believed, and all the evidence Ethos and Logos had carefully led out would reasonably satisfy his hunch); and upon Pathos, for being the corruptive force that compromised the sanctity of the Thirteen. He was to be exiled as well - for those among the Thirteen who had seen Pathos's kindness and empathy overruled Prima's call for execution, with the stipulation that Pathos would be executed if he ever dared set foot on Cybertron thereafter.

Records would be kept that ensured Pathos was not and would never be welcome in the realm of Primus again.

Dejected and devastated (though ultimately unsurprised), Pathos made to leave, but Quintus demanded to go with him. They had a plan to create a brand new species on a planet far from Cybertron, one in which Quintus could perform experiments without deferring to the demands of Prima’s elite, all with Pathos at their side. It seemed very appealing - a world where he would be openly welcomed, could put his past behind him, and would live with the mech he loved for as long as they both lived? It was nearly something out of a dream, a foolish hope he had long buried, and after ensuring that Quintus would not prefer to remain behind, that they were not doing this at the expense of their own happiness on Cybertron, he acquiesced with enthusiasm.

Together, they embarked on a voyage far beyond Cybertron's solar system and settled on an uninhabited planet. Pathos built great structures and gathered materials, while Quintus experimented, constructed bodies, and created what would become the Quintessons. For many ages, this new planet was their sanctuary, and this new species provided guardians and confidantes in equal measure; a burgeoning trade empire began to form, and soon began to expand into nearby star systems. For a time, Pathos and Quintus lived blissfully together, away from Cybertron and the turmoil which soon engulfed it.

These were perhaps the only good memories Pathos would ever have.

[part 1 (here) / part 2 (coming soon!) / ???]

[robertreich]

This One Thing Made Alex Jones Stop Lying 

Alex Jones will have to pay millions to the parents of Sandy Hook victims.

Fox News might be on the hook for over a billion dollars after making bogus 2020 election claims.

It turns out there actually might be a way to stop the constant stream of lies coming from the right-wing media. How can we do it? Two words:

Sue. Them.

This won’t defeat the right’s media ecosystem overnight — but defamation law may prove to be one vital weapon in the battle against misinformation. Let me explain.

Alex Jones, you may recall, had used his website InfoWars to portray the Sandy Hook school shooting massacre as a hoax involving actors, aimed at increasing gun control. Parents of victim children sued Jones and his media company for $150 million — ultimately winning an initial settlement of $49 million.

Courts in Texas and Connecticut had already found Jones liable for defamation. And as a result, Jones’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, filed for bankruptcy.

Even though Jones lost this case and finally admitted that the Sandy Hook massacre was “100 percent real,” he’s probably not going to stop making harmful and deceptive videos anytime soon.

But this defamation lawsuit will serve as a warning to both Jones and others in the media who build their business models around spreading lies.

Like OAN.

One America News, a Trump-allied media organization that pushed conspiracy theories about the election, is facing so many defamation lawsuits from those harmed by the start-up network’s lies that its future is now in doubt.

Cable providers have dropped OAN like an extremist hot potato, and the network is now only available to a few hundred thousand people who subscribe to smaller cable providers.

Talk about cutting the chord.

Defamation lawsuits have also been filed against more established right-wing media organizations, like Fox News.  

Dominion Voting Systems, a maker of election information technology used widely across the country, is suing Fox for $1.6 billion over false claims they say the network knowingly made about its software following the 2020 Election.

The case could potentially be a huge financial blow to Fox, and serve as one of the most consequential First Amendment cases in a generation.

Again, to be clear, defamation litigation will not single handedly stop the rampant spread of misinformation taking over the airwaves and the internet. These lawsuits can take years and often end up being expensive, plus some of the media organizations peddling lies are bankrolled by conservatives with deep pockets and a radical agenda.  

It can also be abused, and in some cases, pose potential threats to the free press. Although, if news outlets are alerted to errors and correct them quickly, defamation shouldn’t be a problem.

But at a time when social media companies clearly can’t be trusted to moderate themselves against weaponized lies — and elected officials have done little to step-in — the courts might be the best avenue we have to take on manufactured deception and put it to rest.

Where other methods to counter half-truths and exaggerations being spewed by Fox News and their ilk have failed, defamation law might make companies think twice before they knowingly spread falsehoods — and help stop the vicious cycle of lies, clicks, and profits that further divides our country.

[magellanicclouds]

Tell me something about you

I had two pet slugs for several years. They have since made their way over the rainbow bridge - one last year, one earlier this year. Gaia rest their slurmy little souls.

Their names were Sluggsy Bogues and Kevin and they were Dusky slugs. I loved them very dearly. They fled into my house one very cold winter when their little burrow was disrupted by maintenance workers outside. They somehow squoozed through a small crack at the flooring by an exterior wall and popped into our place through a closet, haha. I found them and could not in my heart put them back outside because it was snowing! So I thought- "I'll just keep them inside until it thaws." but of course that didn't happen because I became so so attached and they quickly become fully reliant on me.

Anon, I'd like to tell you more about them. I just loved them so much.

So, many people may not know this, but let me tell you that slugs have behaviours. They have preferences and habits. My boys had their favourite foods - cooked lima beans (cooled and peeled), tomatoes, and butter lettuce. For treats they would go crazy for cucumbers and raspberries, munching away until they fell asleep in them, only to wake up and eat more.

Lettuce-time from when they were still small enough to share a tank together.

When I first took them in, I was not able to fill their humidified tanks with soil from outside, as all the top soil was frozen over (and had likely been sprayed with pesticides from gardeners) so I instead lined their tank (they initially shared one when they were small) with an unbleached organic brown paper toweling that held moisture well and was soft on their foot while not sticking. It was loosely piled so they could still dig and tunnel. When the soil thawed enough some months later, I tried to transition them back to a safe deep soil dirt that had been baked clean, but they refused to touch it. They would pull their foot back and turn away quickly. They had become very accustomed to the soft paper bedding. It of course needed cleaning and changing more often, but that was okay. It was a pleasure to care for them and it was just more time spent together.

They eventually had to move out from each other and have their own tanks because they got very big! Both boys measured about 7.0" total length when Long, but they could still squinch up to about an inch when going into 'dot' mode. Dot is 'no no, I don't want that', something they'd do when I would have to carefully lift and move them to a isolate spot while cleaning their tanks. Slugs are very anti-lifting, you can imagine. I always tried to do it with a little platform of paper for them to stand on to reduce the stress, and they didn't stay dot-mad long as soon as they smelled the cucumber nearby. When they went back to their nice clean tanks they would be long and happy and get immediately to digging new tunnels and adventuring. Slugs have "home-ing" behaviours, meaning that they pick a specific place to return to each day to sleep. Somewhere they feel safe. Kevin had a small log. Sluggsy a hollow rock. When they sleep, they often like to curl up into a small doughnut or circle-like shape, like little dogs. Though occasionally, especially in summer, they might've laid out flat to stay cooler.

Sluggsy did this much more than Kevin-

-but he did still prefer his rock more often

Good morning, Kevin!

When they woke, sometimes they would still be very tired and slow to raise their eye stalks, moving around their little mouthparts and rasps to rehydrate them a bit after 13 hours of sleep. Their vision was simple, but they would follow me across a room, watching from the clear walls of their tanks. Hoping for treats no doubt. (they got a lot of them > v < )

Live slug reaction (featuring Kevin)

Kevin getting LONG. Long is a happy state of being, and feels good on the foot.

They both lived for years beyond their species general lifespan and I'd like to think they were happy in their own way. When I lost them each, I took them from their tanks in my bare hand - something I was not able to do for the most of their lives because our skin oils are not good for their bodies - I wrapped them gently in leaves of their favourite butter lettuce, and carefully buried them in our garden next to one another. Having them in my life for the short time that I did was meaningful and beautiful and I will remember them always.