#capital doesnt

[sinensis26]

"Oh so you think murder is okay now? You support MURDER?"

Yes. Full stop. Ive spent my entire life watching school shootings happen, seen my country blow billions of dollars on unnecessary wars, and stood in the middle of peaceful protests that get mocked and ignored. I did everything right, and learned that whats "right" simply makes you easier to ignore by the people who hold power.

I grew up in the sweet and docile "Babysitters Club" era, and have watched the next generations cut their teeth on "Hunger Games" and all kinds of dystopian lit. What did you all think was going to happen, when you kept tightening the noose on kids who were reading about revolution between active shooter drills?

I dont like murder, nor do I think most people do. But my god, you cant desensitize a nation full of people and still expect them to mourn their oppressors.

[fluffyartbl0g]

PFTDGEHSJSJDYTE I CANT BELIEVE MONKEY D. LUFFY HAS TAKEN OVER TUMBLR!!!

At first sight I was like, oh cool! I see they’ve added a Luffy tab on my dashboard, because I love one piece. And then I look down the luffy tag,,, AND THERE ARE SO MANY PEOPLE WHO JUST. DON’T KNOW WHO HE IS XD. That must mean THEY’VE JUST ADDED HIM TO EVERYONE’S DASHBOARDS WAHAHAHA!

First of all, it’s pronounced loo-fee. Second of all, he’s from hit series One Piece and you better not forget it!!!

[bananaheathen]

So much discourse is discoursing right now, but as I scroll this morning, I find myself thinking again and again about what we owe each other.

Probably someone wiser than me has said all of this better than I have. But if you’d like to join me for a little morning ramble about what we owe each other (and love and art under capitalism??), come on in 💛

I think capitalism has made us believe, on some level (on every level??) that money is the highest and best thing we can ever give anyone. And that if we give someone our money, they owe us. Which, in a transactional sense, they do.

If I go into a store and give the cashier my money, they owe me the goods I paid for. It's worth noting that what I do with those goods when I leave — how much time and energy I give them, how much I think about them or enjoy them, how many memories become associated with those goods, or the stories I tell myself about those goods — are not something I paid for. Those things aren’t at the whim of the little guy I paid for the goods, or even the store that employs the guy I paid. You could argue that how much I enjoy the goods is determined by whoever is in charge of manufacturing/growing/creating the goods. But even then, it was my choice to buy THOSE goods, and not someone else’s. I gave money, I got the thing, and now we’re even. 

Now, late-stage capitalism has also made us believe that we DO have something else to give. And while it isn’t more valuable than money, it can be turned into money, making it sometimes as valuable. And that thing is: our attention.

If we’re paying a lot of attention to something, it can be used to advertise to us. It can be used to get us to pay for something else. To buy more goods. To spend our money for more time with the thing we can’t stop paying attention to. 

And when we’re paying a lot of attention to something, it feels personal. For example, I spent a solid two years of my life writing a more than 600,000 word fic about One Direction. I was (and still am) paying A LOT of attention to them. They got so much of my dedicated time and energy and attention during that time, that it would make sense for me to feel, in the society that we’re in, that they now owe me something. Because on top of all the attention I’ve paid, I’ve also spent money! I’ve streamed music! I’ve bought albums! I’ve bought vinyl! And merch! And film tickets! And concert tickets! I’ve traveled to see shows and that means I’ve spent even more money! And did I mention all that attention I paid???

And this is where we run into trouble. Because actually, those boys don’t owe me anything. I gave them my money, yes. And, like the store example earlier, I got my goods. They gave me singles, and albums, and vinyls, and merch, and concerts. They also gave up most of their privacy and a fair chunk of their childhoods giving me content. And I didn’t pay for that content in money, but I did pay for it in my attention. And I would argue, on that score, we’re actually pretty even. What they gave up to get me to look at them, and what they’re still giving up to keep my attention, is a lot. It’s more than I can comprehend as someone who is not famous. And yes, they have fame! And money!!! Which as you may remember, according to capitalism, is the ultimate thing!!!!! But they’ve lost a lot to get it. And they’ve lost a lot to keep it. We don’t know, and shouldn’t ever have the privilege of finding out, just how much they’ve lost. But even just looking at it superficially, it’s obvious it’s a lot: The right to grow up and experiment with identity outside the public eye. The right to grieve in private. The right to have a private sex life. The right to have your personal physical boundaries respected. And so on. 

And sure, I’ve lost things too. Certainly time and energy and sleep and occasionally my mind. But I do have a certain advantage: I could always stop paying attention. I could always stop giving them my money. They can’t stop chasing my money and attention because that’s part of their job. But it isn’t mine. I have the choice to walk at any minute. And what I have to remember is that if I choose to stay, it’s not because they still owe me something. 

It’s because of all the things that I’ve gotten for my money and attention that have nothing to do with the transactional side of it. The friends I’ve made, the art I’ve discovered, the self-discovery that art has inspired, the feelings and the memories and the connection to community. The love I've found.

(For me, those are the secret things no one tells you are worth quite a lot more than money.)

And the difficult truth is, whether I agree with the choices they make or not, they don’t owe me different ones. I can feel upset if it seems like they aren’t the people I thought they were, in the same way anyone can upset me in this way. But my choice to keep them in my life or not, is on me. If they’re not a person I can hang with anymore, then they aren’t. And that can be painful and sad, and I’m allowed to feel my feelings about it. But it will never be that they owed me something else, or something more. 

And this is, I guess, the point I’m coming to:

Love is not a transaction. We don’t love people so that they will love us back. We love people despite ourselves. Despite the desire to get something in return. Sometimes we love people who love us well, and sometimes we love people who are shit at loving us. Sometimes we love people who make us the center of their world, and sometimes we love people who might never know we exist. Love isn’t a currency. Your love isn’t worth a certain amount in exchange. It’s so much bigger and broader and better than that. It’s so much more powerful than money, but it also doesn’t work like money. Not in interpersonal dynamics, and certainly not in parasocial ones. 

This is one of the more impossibly tricky things about loving anything or anyone. The only thing love means for sure is that you care. That you’ve allowed yourself to be vulnerable enough to put your heart into something. There’s no other guarantee. There’s no speaking to the manager if you don’t get what you wanted from it. (Believe me, I have tried.) 

It can feel, when we give our money, and our attention, and most of all our love to someone, that they owe us everything in return. That they should try to protect us, and love us back, and give us content, and give us goods, and make all the right and best choices all the time. And those should be the ones that we personally agree with, because those are the ones that are RIGHT. (And I know, I’ve made this last part sound childish, but anyone who has loved someone really intensely knows, it feels a little childish sometimes. That young feeling of wanting to be cared for, and taken care of, and surprised and delighted, and appeased.) 

But at some point, we learn that love isn’t a transaction. It doesn’t guarantee us returns. And the way a person loves us, when we’re a nameless, faceless part of a group that has given them a living, isn’t going to be the same as the way someone in our lives who knows us might love us. And the way we love them isn’t the same as the way we love the people we actually know. We’ve gotten our money’s worth. And the content keeps coming in exchange for our attention, whether we like what we get for our attention or not.

And the love — the love that makes it hurt so much when the content we get isn’t what we wanted, when the person does things we don’t understand and we feel like they don’t love us like we love them, the love that makes us believe we were owed something more because our hearts are in this — the love is ours to make of what we will. To write stories with, or make fanart about, and build memories around. To make friendships and families and love stories out of. It’s ours to reblog and retweet and repost and gif. It’s ours to spread and share and extend to as many people as we can. It’s ours to learn from, and grow from, and grow up with. No, the love isn’t transactional, but that doesn’t have to mean it’s wasted. 

I love you.

[lavyyulu]

Don't go to Rakua, kids. You might end up severely disabled, alone and miserable

[feeelslikespace]

my sonic forces character her name is Nila love her pls she’s a diva

little comic thingy super rushed but in my little world she hangs around knuckles a lot esp before they rescue sonic

[not-so-superheroine]

the thing is...galinda is right about popular.

it isn't just about a make-over. like it is, and about galinda recognizing elphaba is beautiful the way she is. but the song has a larger purpose. she's teaching elphaba about the importance of soft power. very clearly when she talks about "celebrated heads of state."

soft power, which elphaba does not have, and that has major consequences when it comes to accomplishing her mission.

not saying glinda made all the right or moral choices. she very much doesn't. its just that's she has a point here, which plays into why glinda IS able to depose morrible and the wizard later on.

now, mind you, glinda wouldn't have done any of that if not for elphaba taking the risk she did by confronting morrible and the wizard by taking a strong moral stance in defense of the Animals.

activists are necessary when it comes to making change. they push politicians to make the right choice for the people.

people, including capital "A" Animals.

[proselles]

i think the biggest crime of the "feminist mythology retellings" trend that's been going on the past couple of years is the reframing of the hades/persephone myth to be about a girl falling in love with a misunderstood sadboy and escaping a cruel dictator-like mother rather than linking it to its original context which is that it is literally a comfort tale for mothers who worry about their fourteen-year-old daughters getting wedded off and married to men years older than them. the story is literally a revenge fantasy on the MOTHER'S behalf.

[pcktknife]

tube top w cutouts alright man

[robinmage]

one thing i really appreciate about jinshi's character is how he has NEVER once actually had any intention of succeeding the throne. every time the idea is brought up he immediately detests it. so hes giving maomao as much as he possibly can, even though maomao has many qualms about it due to their difference in social status, but jinshi DOESNT CARE because hes NEVER cared about or wanted the status of crown prince! its been nothing but a burden to him! from his perspective the ONLY thing keeping the two of them apart are outside influences. he has no doubt within himself-- hes horribly down bad, in fact. but unfortunately his stupid JOB is getting in the way of him skipping off into the sunset with his favourite little cat

[2-faded-memory-2]

daniil dankovsky isnt actually confident and he doesnt really have authority especially in an alien town, hes just sorta making it up and pretending and people go along with it for the most part. sometimes he gets shot down or doesnt dare play that part for people he knows have power especially over him because he doesnt actually have the ability or the knowledge. ill probably come back w recites and the like but yall just gotta trust in the time being

[galaxygermdraws]

I'M BACK IN THE BUILDING AGAIN. I'M ROTATING THE HERMITCLONES SO HARD I will single handedly REVIVE the fixation. This was initially just art about Hermitclones but it turned into an AU where me and my partner made S11 exist and it was a Hermitclone season. They're Hermits now. Deal with it

[bmpmp3]

not used to this kind of mascot

[puppygirl-princess]

sometimes I forget that people think therapy works instead of just being a replacement for community and friends who you can talk to about your struggles and trauma.

it's kinda fucked up that we as a society decided it was a smart idea to offload all of the education on how to help people work through tough things as well as the emotional work of helping people work through tough things on a group of people instead of spreading the load throughout as many people as possible.

by having therapy we also encourage the bottling up of emotions to release at a later date which may not be the healthiest in the long term.

add onto this that therapy can be expensive, vary in quality, often has people that try to solve systemic issues with personal solutions, out of date information and practices

adding on top of that therapists personal bigotries can effect patients a lot, especially for queer people, especially especially for trans and aspec people.

it makes me smile that my parents paid someone money to listen to me talk about the problem inherent to the system we live under and continued to pay her when she said our sessions were a waste of my time and energy

[keshetchai]

Do you ever just get obsessed with how cultural Christians (esp atheist or agnostic ones) often openly choose to maintain Santa Claus for their kids?

Like think about this with me:

A group of people who don't actively align themselves with religious life, religious institutions (churches) or other traditions, and may even be total atheists STILL sometimes choose to do Santa Claus for their children, because THEY had Santa Claus as children.

The parents give their child a folk demigod (lesser deity?) of outsized importance to children SPECIFICALLY, and teach them the demigod is definitely totally real. They maintain this active belief as long as possible through childhood. They may encourage and actively engage in this belief with their children moreso than anything else involving the religion it comes from (aside from perhaps, the easter bunny). They know Santa isn't real, does not exist, and is a fiction.

They know their children will learn this demigod is a lie. Subconsciously or consciously, the child then learns that Santa Claus is really only as real as the parent intention to make him real, and the child belief in that truth. The child grows up. Knows Santa is a fiction. And then they make Santa for their children too, because that's the only real thing about Santa — parents knowing it's a fiction and then passing it on anyways.

I just like...am deeply fascinated by this unique cultural training of accepting that the Santa deity isn't dead or anything so extreme, and even though he's made up, he is still extremely important and the fiction gets passed on while explicitly knowing and acting upon the fiction. Parents have to be Santa, they can't just encourage belief and sit back. No no, they must actively CREATE Santa's existence for the belief to work. And they do this willingly!

It's not that I think believing in a myth is unusual in any religion (like we don't need to believe hundreds of thousands of Israelites fled Egypt all at once to observe passover or even to think some Hebrews did flee Egypt and the legend developed from there, or w/e), so much as like, this is an incredibly obvious and well known one that every adult Knows 100% is Not Real, not even based on any kind of reality or possible actual legend, Santa doesn't have all those powers, he does not come to your house or get your wishlist (prayers).

No adult has a pure and genuine belief that Santa is a real being who visits and brings children gifts.

I just want to study everyone who actively is like "I don't believe in God or go to church but like, I'll obviously still do Santa for the kids, that's fun."

(Regina George voice: so you agree? Religion doesn't need to be grounded in imperial facts of science in order to provide substantial benefits to people, foster positive emotions and connections within communities, and for people to derive meaning from it? It doesn't matter if God is real, if you yourself make the benefits of God being real happen for yourself and others?")

[azzymaxxing]

IFUCKING WIN

[irl-batsignal]

I hope Jason Todd and or dick Grayson gets stuck in the backrooms just for a little bit as a treat to myself.