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fanficfish · 3 months

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hetalia parenting hcs and theories

i got on a Sweden kick lately, alright-

Austria wasn't *too* great at parenting (*gestures at Italy*) when he was younger, but to be fair: the man obtained a child, was essentially being bossed around by his younger brother, and also the kid was Italy. His punishments were on the nicer end of the spectrum considering the time period, though-as far as we're aware, his punishments were more towards "stop Italy from eating a fifth serving of pasta" then anything physical (wait is that why Italy's so into pasta now, is it trauma? ...let's not unpack that right now-). But if it's related to art- that he can appreciate, that's the main trait that sticks around with Kugelmugel. Austria would totally get mad at his charges/kids for messing up his own art, but he won't actively stop them from expressing themselves, as an artist that would be hypocritical. He'll deny he cares about his wards when asked, though. Hungary thinks it's cute. And yes, he totally gets Italy to come over to hang out with Kugel because "you're artists, right? Go on, I'll be over in the corner playing Mozart."

China - nah he's just a normal Asian parent. Drives everyone up the wall, means well, stuffs everyone full until they're bursting, then beats them over the head with a frying pan until they finish their chores. Love language? Food. So. Much. Food. Even Japan can't always escape the Family Dinner, and to his great dismay China acts like he's going to starve (he's not, he swears-) and.

America is that dad that has free-range kids, because well. America. Also, he has other things besides parenting 50 states and all of his territories and micronations and Native nations, because do you know how many personifications that is? A lot. He's 400, not 1000, between him and Canada they're kinda just accepted they need to delegate a lot and just never plan on a family dinner-that's why America throws a big party on all major holidays and Canada sometimes joins in ("the states and provinces all hang out anyways"). Both America and Canada but mostly America's inboxes are constantly full, and they have one phone for work and the other nation personifications and whatnot and one for "family matters". It's fine, most of them govern themselves anyways- wait, what do you mean Florida is fighting an aligator on the NASA launchpad-?!

Prussia actually didn't do half bad, but Germany was already half-grown, so that helped. He passed the parenting test with flying colors though.

Denmark (and Norway)....Iceland took one look and wisely decided not to move in with them like other nations were doing with their caretakers and stayed on his island. Away. Far away from Vikings and all the ridiculous things going on with wars and what-gives. He, Greenland, the Farce Islands, Aland- they all were quite content to just ignore the chaos their big brothers were stirring up and to be fair, maybe having the immortal 13-year-olds raising 6-year-olds wasn't the best idea.....Denmark did try, though, when he wasn't being beat up by Sweden or fighting the neighbors. Making trips to Iceland (the country) (with Norway in tow, of course) and bringing gifts from the mainland, and such. Iceland in turn visited, but very rarely- he did his best to jsut skip whatever nightmare Denmark cooked up during the Kalmer Union (wise choice all things considered) and visited only when necessary, no wonder Finland and Sweden didn't really meet him until the 1700s and it took to the 1950s before Iceland deemed his brothers were mostly sane again. But all things considered he got a decent end of the straw, and he got his quiet life, though there's a reason Norway mother hens him (bro feels bad he didn't do much with the kid for the first 800 years after the initial "yo you're mine now, oh wait now we're both Denmark's" thing).. Iceland takes it in stride even if he found out he wasw a bit more touch-starved then he realized. The other Nordics definitrely mother hen him now, and Estonia tries to act like it too but really he ends up like that weird slightly-older cousin who keeps turning up for some weird reason. (Y'all, Estonia and Iceland are physically the same age I can't-)

Sweden is the ultimate dad. Welll, the ultimate dad that spoils his kids but still a dad. Actually pays some degree of attention to the kids he ends up with, even if he isn't technically supposed to acknowledge Ladonia as a country but "c'mon, there' sa personification, and also he's MY kid. I made this. Technically. Don't you DARE touch his laptop". Also Sweden definitely is the one fixing the laptop when something goes wrong, He kind of wishes Ladonia and Sealand meeting didn't happen by Sealand getting super bored and making a micronations club but he supposes at least it worked out. Finland pretends he's staying out of it, but he's kind of hyped there are kids and a dog around. Funnily enough, Selanad only found out later that Iceland is his uncle....after trying to declare he was his "sempai". Iceland was not amused, because dammit he's 1000, you little- Sweden, get your children under control!

England and France.....well, at least France tried to keep America from drinking too much beer once but neither did particularly outstanding jobs. But hey, Canada and America are alive and mostly in one piece! So that's a win, right? Right? Australia, New Zealand, back us up here- PUT DOWN THAT KANGAROO, YOUNG MEN- (England also had a bad habit of delegating but that's what happened when your wards span the whole world and you can't really bring them all home because they're territories and colonies. England the personification was secretly glad he didn't' have to deal with whatever personification nightmare was going on in America after a while). (But they do care enough that England wil still offer calming tea after a good soclsing and lug Sealand home after he sneaks into another world meeting because "you aren't going home at this time of night that's rodiculous- what no ofc i don't care but don't hitchhike back home that's dangeorus!" And France will invite his lot pvwe for dinner and throw "extra things i had lyong around" at them during Paris Fashion Week. They care but in a strange, "we're flipping old ans don't always get ir" way.

And Spain just tried his dammed hardest to keep Romano from doing stupid stuff. Not that it worked, of course, but E for Effort!

I can't think of any more right now. I'll add more when i think of it. Obviously out of everyone, Greece and maybe Egypt probably had the best upbringing. With somewhat-normal parental figures that weren't preteens and teens running around trying to figure out how to care for five-year-olds

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gryphons-n-kelpies · 1 year

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Oddball Kinks Morogh and Bird

Morogh:

Remember when I said he wouldn't bust a nut when he making you sink in bodies of waters. Watching you drown? Well, that doesn't apply if he's eating you out while your head is above water! He loves tasting you. He loves how you feel. And being in his element while having fun with you is a testament of his love and willpower to keep you alive. If you were to dive your head underwater, even for a moment, he'd freeze, but become more wild afterwards. Just remember that you'd need to tap at his head to let you back up so that you could breathe~

He has no problem changing forms to satisfy your curiosities, though should he know that you are into a different Yandere, he'd purposely change into them and go down on you, not caring if he gets caught. There is always a 50/50 percent chance that it will turn into a 3some, or he's running away laughing from the angry Yan

Likewise, he'll also change into YOU just to mess with the Yans! He has a fondness of watching their expressions as they see that he has taken pictures (of himself posing at you) in sexy pinup lingerie. Is it anger? Jealousy? How much worse can it be if he can convince you to take part in the photoshoot. Will the Yan be able to tell it apart right away? He loves the chaos. There is a theory that he enjoys pushing a Yandere far over the edge to make them "love" you more

Bird:

So, it has been recently revealed that he would go out of his way to preen and groom his beloved, but he is more hesitant to let you preen and groom him back. Why? Not only does he think it's lewd, his body is sensitive. Remember, that humanoid body is still "new" compared to the centuries he lived out in space. If you were to take control and force him to sit still while you preen his feathers. He would squirm and try to hide whimpered moans until he bursts. The base of his tail and his wings are VERY sensitive

He's fine with bottoming, so long as he can keep some control, but if you take all control from him, he's a whimpering mess. As long as proper aftercare is given, he's more bound to return. He can play flirty and smug, but he knows what you did, and being reminded of it will force him to derail his act. Careful though. You might end up with a brat afterwards as his way to fight back (ask Morogh how well that works out)

Finally.... If you bring oviposition to him. That will make him fluff up. As a bird thing, it does things to him. Being willing to take part in such a kink makes him shiver. Even if you don't want to take part in such thing (which he is fine with).. He'd be more in love with you anyways if you make a specialized nest for the two of you and snuggle in that! Be warned, he might end up puffing up against others (including Morogh) to back off you while he deals with this high of happiness

#morogh #bird orion #spicy

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teamdilf · 17 days

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🐚 🪲 🥐 mwah

🐚 ⇢ do you like or dislike surprises?

As a reader/writer? Absolutely! I love a well-thought out twist. In real life? Not as much - I’m a quiet introvert who loves to plan ahead.

🪲 ⇢ add 50 words to your current wip and share the paragraph here

Have a bit more than 50 words, from the BG3/Dragon Age crossover!

Dorian’s expression shifts to something resembling a mix of horror and awe. “I’ll be fighting gods. Makes me wonder if landing a proper blow will be enough to win my mother’s approval or if that’s a permanent non-starter. You begin work to abolish slavery after coming out to your parents one time and you’re a pariah through to the end of the world.” His tone is joking but Petra gets the sense there is genuine pain there.

“Iris adores you.”

“She and my partner are all I need, really. Suppose Solas can tag along too. Bit of a strange family but they’re mine. Mind taking us shopping? Not today - I think Iris and Solas need a break they’re unlikely to give themselves, but I have mastered the art of a good hard stare and Iris crumples like a house of cards if she thinks she’s disappointed me.” Dorian pauses, as if realizing something. “Maybe… don’t tell her I told you that. Especially since she’s been acting like she’s harder than she actually is around the two of you. Her heart is soft, and it gets her into plenty of trouble.”

“Oh, I knew that. It was obvious from her taste in men,” Astarion says, laughing to himself, but Dorian doesn’t laugh.

“I hope one day you’ll be able to see her at her best and not at her worst. I’ve said it countless times, but she’s going through sorrow I cannot fathom and I appreciate your patience with her, and the kindness you’ve shown her, even if she can’t express it herself.”

🥐 ⇢ name one internet reference that will always make you laugh

I’m so fond of the meme from the Community episode “Remedial Chaos Theory” and it always gets a chuckle out of me.

#ask games #Thank you!#j's fics #astarion #dorian dragon age #dorian pavus

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nonamenotitles · 4 months

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Hey, can anyone talk about Magnus Archives THEORIES AND SPOILERS here.

Okay só the web, the fear of being controlled.

The thing is it feeds on the paranoia, you cocoon yourself. Doing nothing because you are afraid of being manipulated and doing something bad= the web wins.

Then we have the ending of the magnus archives, where we see that the Web and it's avatar, Did manipulate A LOT of things and actually won!

It manipulated the characters, and uses people as neurons because it's sentient só it could use a break in reality to spread.

Só you would think the Web is inexcapanle,right?

But there's the thing, people are not really consistent with how they act. Out of character is a real thing people do.

The web did had some Luck.

And even now that the Web plan of spreading to multiverse was done, doen't mean it worked.

Because as i've seen people theorize, the fears could end up in a dead world of the multiverse. A world where life did not become.

Because there's the possibilities of such thing existindo. And the WEB is NOT omnipotent.

There's a chaos and Lucky effect in the universe.

Yeah you have 50% heads and tail in a coin.

Yet it's possible for if you flip a coin 100 time 100 of them will be heads.

Unlikely? Hell Yes! Impossible? No.

The Web cannot defeat the chaos of the universes and probability.

Contigency plans for bad luck, yeah. But even they can fail.

There's the chance because of Entropy? (i think it's the term) that for all website machinations and it's sucess in manipulating everything...

It failed.

And even though it doesn't seem like it, or it Anabela would never admit.

The scheme really lucked out.

Because it just needed a little chaos of the universe. Dices turned up in "unlikely ways" for it to all crumble.

Because a little frog can escape a spider's web if a rock suddently knocks out the web of it's place, if it kills the spider.

My point is.

The episode 200 of mag does make it seems that the Web is unexcapable, and always wins.

But actually it just didn't get evicerated by the CHAOS of the universe yet.

#mag spoilers #the web #the magnus archives

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alex-is-vibing · 7 months

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26 32. 33. 34. 35.43. 44. 45. 46. 48. 49. 50.

(45 was already answered) (26. can they play any instruments? if not, which one do they want to learn if they could?) (ooc: One of the things its powers can do is play notes on a nearby instrument. It knows how to play music through that, though does not know the techniques for physically playing any. It wouldn't mind learning any of them, but has other things to do.) (32. what would make them laugh?) (It particularly loves goofy impressions and puns, though it also likes meta-humor quite a bit.) (33. what is their favorite swear word (if any)?) ME IS NOT FAN IS BIG OF SAYING SWEARS IS NOT QUOTE. BUT WORD IS "SHIT" IS ME HAS FAVORITE. (34. how do they feel about sports? would they want to watch/participate in any?) (ooc: It doesn't know much about sports, but it does love watching them just to root for someone. It's not a sore loser when its team loses either.) (35. if someone were to. in theory. make a fan song for them, what would it be about?) (ooc: Frankly I have no clue. I'd be incredibly interested to see a take on it though!) (43. how good are they at keeping secrets?) (ooc: Decent, due to its loyalty, but it has a tendency of thinking aloud and accidentally revealing it. Oops.) (44. what if they were a teacher? how’s that going? which subject would they be best/worst at teaching?) (ooc: It'd probably do pretty well honestly. It'd excel at almost any subject, with the exception of language, which it'd be quite awful at. Has enough patience to deal with kids, though might allow a little too much chaos, particularly with highschoolers) (46. how would they react to being sick? (trying to act as if they’re not, actually taking care of themselves, complain a shit ton, etc etc).) (ooc: It generally just tries to avoid getting others sick, without changing much else, even if the sickness makes the task much harder.) (48. any foods they absolutely hate?) ME IS NOT HATE FOOD IS ANY. AT LEAST THAT ME HAS TRIED. :3 (49. how forgetful are they? would they have to be reminded to do important things often?) (ooc: It doesn't usually forget but it gets distracted very easily. It'll get around to it eventually, but if time is of the essence it definitely needs reminders.) (50. Free space!) (ooc: It loves building buildings and is quite capable of it. It dreams of building a barn outside the house connected to a large pasture and filling it with animals.)

#(god help us it has discovered :3)#mostly ooc post

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hopepunk-priest · 1 year

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Okay since everyone's doing it, I'm gonna do it too

My version takes place in the 70's, the gang is college-aged, dodging the draft by solving mysteries with a background of the rise of grindhouse horror films, second wave feminism, student strikes, "the silent majority," environmentalism, Watergate, Queer liberation, and groovy rock music. As a more adult take, the monsters of the week and overarching villains will reflect, criticize, and celebrate the cultural movements of being in your early 20's during the 70's. That means villains ranging from nerds in star wars costumes to paranoid political scandals to actual real aliens. Stakes range from being inconvenienced to being in mortal peril.

Fred Jones: Mom friend with first aid training (that he learned from med students during a campus protest), the moral compass of the show in that he reminds the gang that laws exist and they are very much on the run, fucking HATES Nixon dude like HATES Nixon. Heart's always in the right place, even if things don't always work out. Knowledgeable in traps and whatever level of engineering is needed to solve the episode, also acts as the primary face. Also just loves mysteries.

Norville "Shaggy" Roberts: former track star, dropped out of culinary school, collects cool belt buckles a la original series, straight man in the horror movie "maybe we don't go in the haunted house" way, brave considering zombies and witch's ghosts are straight up real and he will still never leave his friends to face danger alone. Anxiety disorder he treats with weed, super knowledgable in pop culture which also gives him a variety of random trivia needed to fill gaps when needed. I think he really likes Lord of the Rings and Pink Floyd. Good at riddles.

Daphne Blake: inferiority complex because of her many successful siblings, wants to be a journalist like Gloria Steinem. Has taken a few self defense classes, but overall acts as the second face for the group. Still into make-up and fashion, and can use her skills (and a little high school theatre experience) to make believable disguises. She can pick up when someone's lying and can pick locks.

Velma Dinkley: Jewish. Loves mysteries and paranormal fiction, believes in conspiracy theories and urban legends. Her intelligence specializes in puzzles, historical, and chemical knowledge. She can be reckless, but only because she becomes very single-minded when she's onto something. Snarky, lesbian, and headstrong.

Scooby: Mischievous, food motivated, and gentle. Protective of the group, Scooby is just a big, goofy great dane who doesn't understand he isn't a lapdog anymore. He can talk, no one inside the group questions it, and only a select few outside the group even notice (part of the mystery). Intergalactic being but doesn't know it, he's much more dog than other iterations.

Scrappy: Just appears one episode, everyone acts like he's always been there. Revealed at the end that he's actually a trickster deity, comes in and causes chaos every now and then mostly just to fuck with Scooby.

The Hex Girls: a psychedelic witch-rock group with a heavy emphasis on environmental protection and new age metaphors, actual witches, a sound somewhere between Cream, Hendrix, and Stevie Nicks. Genuinely just friends with the gang.

Scooby is Shaggy's emotional support dog.

Daphne and Fred are together, healthy, and often end up hyping each other up to the point where other members have to step in and go "you're getting carried away, can we focus."

Daphne and Velma met at a feminist rally, and often have nuanced discussions about different feminist theories. Honestly, most likely to commit very real crimes to get to the bottom of a mystery.

Fred and Velma met in elementary school at a Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew book club (or whatever the 50's equivalent of this was) where they were the only two members. Their friendship is like an anti-macho brotherhood, paralleling the overly masculine friendships of the era.

Daphne met Shaggy in High School and she immediately adopted him the way extroverts adopt introverts. She is very dedicated to helping him build confidence, and Shaggy helps her with her inferiority complex and keeps her true to herself.

Fred and Shaggy are very physically affectionate, share a brain cell, most likely to get into shenanigans if left alone together. Second most likely to get into shenanigans if left alone together are Fred and Daphne.

Shaggy and Velma have a shared interest in music and films, and love talking conspiracy theories.

Shaggy and Scooby are inseparable. Real boy and his dog vibes.

They all smoke weed on screen, are constantly broke, they all are capable of being equally intelligent and dumb as rocks, they're all snarky in their own way, and they all say things like jinkies and Ruh Roh to like... Murders and cryptid kidnapings and issues of national security.

#scooby doo #adult scooby doo

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popolitiko · 2 years

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‘The lunacy is getting more intense’: how Birds Aren’t Real took on the conspiracy theoristsZoe Williams

- Thu 14 Apr 2022

‘It’s not like I sat down and thought I’m going to make a satire’ … Peter McIndoe pictured at Los Angeles county arboretum and botanic garden. ‘It’s a conspiracy-within-a-conspiracy’ ‘People who believe conspiracy theories live in another world where even the most fleeting attempt to fact check it marks you out as a brainwashed liberal.’

On a march, Peter McIndoe held up a sign and talked about how the ‘deep state’ had replaced all birds with drones. It was meant as a small act of satire but has become a mass movement

In early 2017, Peter McIndoe, now 23, was studying psychology at the University of Arkansas, and visiting friends in Memphis, Tennessee. He tells me this over Zoom from the US west coast, and has the most arresting face – wide-eyed, curious and intense, like the lead singer of an indie band, or a young monk. “This was right after the Donald Trump election, and things were really tense. I remember people walking around saying they felt as if they were in a movie. Things felt so unstable.”

It was the weekend of simultaneous Women’s Marches across the US (indeed, the world), and McIndoe looked out of the window and noticed “counterprotesters, who were older, bigger white men. They were clear aggravators. They were encroaching on something that was not their event, they had no business being there.” Added to that, “it felt like chaos, because the world felt like chaos”.

McIndoe made a placard, and went out to join the march. “It’s not like I sat down and thought I’m going to make a satire. I just thought: ‘I should write a sign that has nothing to do with what is going on.’ An absurdist statement to bring to the equation.”

That statement was “birds aren’t real”. As he stood with the counterprotesters, and they asked what his sign meant, he improvised. He said he was part of a movement that had been around for 50 years, and was originally started to save American birds, but had failed. The “deep state” had destroyed them all, and replaced them with surveillance drones. Every bird you see is actually a tiny feathered robot watching you.

Someone was filming him and put it on Facebook; it went viral, and Memphis is still the centre of the Birds Aren’t Real movement. Or is it a movement? You could call it a situationist spectacle, a piece of rolling performance art or a collective satire. MSNBC called it a “mass coping mechanism” for generation Z, and as it has hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, “mass”, at least, is on the money.

It’s the most perfect, playful distillation of where we are in relation to the media landscape we’ve built but can’t control, and which only half of us can find our way around. It’s a made-up conspiracy theory that is just realistic enough, as conspiracies go, to convince QAnon supporters that birds aren’t real, but has just enough satirical flags that generation Z recognises immediately what is going on. It’s a conspiracy-within-a-conspiracy, a little aneurysm of reality and mockery in the bloodstream of the mad pizzagate-style theories that animate the “alt-right”.

Birds Aren’t Real didn’t stay in Memphis – in a sequence reminiscent of the Winklevoss scene in The Social Network, when they realise just how big Facebook has become, McIndoe recalls being back at college, five hours away from Memphis. “I remember seeing videos of people chanting: ‘Birds aren’t real,’ at high-school football games; and seeing graffiti of birds aren’t real. At first, I thought: ‘This is crazy,’ but then I wondered: ‘What is making this resonate with people?’”

It’s no surprise that it first gained popularity among high schoolers. The younger you are, the quicker you get it. “Teenagers understand it, they don’t need footnotes,” McIndoe says. I asked my own two teenagers if they were aware of Birds Aren’t Real. They went off on some crazy extemporising, where pigeon was pronounced “piggin” and doves had the greatest surveillance accuracy, and it seemed that they really did have a good working knowledge of how a fake conspiracy theory functioned, with its need for jargon and taxonomy. Then I asked again the next day, and it turned out that they’d never heard of it, they were just taking the piss. Teenagers do just seem to get it. I still need quite a lot of footnotes.

This is the fourth interview McIndoe has given as himself, not his conspiracist character. If you go looking for interviews with him on Spotify, you will find him explaining to sub-Rush Limbaugh local radio shock-jocks, in total seriousness, how the CIA was explicitly founded to spy on the American public – these robot birds were their crowning achievement, listening to and watching everyone all the time.

He describes sombrely but matter-of-factly the genocide of the real birds, which Birds Aren’t Real was tragically unable to prevent. The shock-jock will typically say something noncommittal, such as: “Huh. That’s bad.” (In fairness, if it were true, it would be quite bad.)

It’s a vivid dramatisation of how divisive conspiracy theories are; people who believe them live in another world, where any wild theory flies and even the most fleeting attempt to fact check it or test it against logic (if birds have been destroyed, who’s eating all the worms?) marks you out as a brainwashed liberal. People who don’t believe them cannot think themselves into the headspace of those who do. Then along comes a guy with a sign, and maybe he’s not bridging this implacable divide, but he’s certainly disrupting it.

That day of the Women’s March, as McIndoe ad-libbed his conspiracy to whoever would listen, he had no plan. He was talking about robot birds one minute and “Killary Clinton” (a trope used by conspiracists about Hillary Clinton) the next: “I was just saying things that were the funniest thing to me at the time.”

“It was a character based on the people I grew up around,” he says. “I grew up in rural, deeply conservative Arkansas, in a home-school environment. I had these intensely negative experiences of it. I’m not a conservative person. At a very young age, I became more of an observer than a participant, which created a real loneliness, from an ideological standpoint.”

Until he could drive, McIndoe’s entire life was home, home-school co-operatives run by the church, and church. He knew no one who didn’t believe exactly the same thing, and “Even though everything is [an] echo chamber,” he says, “the ideas in these home-schooled communities are bad echoes. I’m sure that there are beautiful Christian communities that are doing good things somewhere. I’m not trying to bash spirituality. But from my experience, the deep fundamentalist communities that I was in have caused way more harm. And I’ve seen pure evil coming from them.”

As his movement grows, though, he’s started to think that maybe that kind of schooling made him more independent-minded, even though it emphatically didn’t intend to. “It creates a different relationship with the world. I wasn’t involved in normal cultural settings, I was barred from a lot of traditional media. I didn’t go to school. It definitely creates a different type of thinking, which can be in some ways more free and exploratory.”

He also draws a tentative line between faith and conspiracy theory: “The Christian worldview is really just about how you’re determining truth. Where are you getting truth from? What is your relationship with truth? For the Christian, your foundational relationship with the truth is determined by faith, its definition is that you can’t argue with it or interrogate it.”

That mindset, plus the religious yearning for one single theory that explains everything, really softens up the brain – these are my words, not his – for conspiracy theories, which meet the same need. I think there is an actual concrete example of this journey, from fundamentalist Christianity to QAnon (again, this is definitely me not him, he is much less strident than I am). The paedophile element of QAnon, where Hillary Clinton and a huge global web of powerful liberals, are abusing children and keeping them in tunnels, sounds completely unhinged. But if you’ve been vehemently anti-abortion on faith grounds for years, then to your mind, feminists and other liberals are already in favour of murdering children.

Real conspiracy theorists will approach me like I’m their brother. They will start spouting hateful rhetoric and racist ideas because they feel as if I’m safe

So the leap isn’t as great as it looks. McIndoe is more interested in “tribal language” and how “conspiracy theory language echoes, in many ways, what I saw in a religious community. From QAnon, one of the main tag lines was ‘the storm is coming’. I hear many Christians talking about that right now, about coronavirus and the end times.”

One more thing happened on the first day of Birds Aren’t Real. “I met someone, her name is Madeleine. She has been my girlfriend for four years, she’s the love of my life.” So before long, he decided to drop out of college, and move to Memphis. “I lived with people I didn’t know, and worked at the richest country club in the south, as a waiter. It gave me a real window into how the 1% of Memphis talks about other races, since the entire staff are minorities. It was a very interesting time to start an idea about American polarisation.”

Although “birds aren’t real” was very quickly picked up as a chant, getting the movement to snowball “did take some work”, McIndoe says. “We set up the Bird Brigade, our boots-on-the-ground activism network, led by Claire Chronis. That was the first step to building a structured movement, getting it from Memphis to the rest of the US, getting people to put up flyers that I designed very poorly on Photoshop, which works for the conspiracy theory aesthetic.”

They made up facts, faked secretly leaked CIA documents and made videos – “we created a world with laws and evidence” – and took out billboard adverts, which people posted on Instagram as selfie backdrops. “If you put something absurd into the world, people are trying to present themselves as irreverent or funny, so that really spread.”

Meanwhile, “real conspiracy theorists,” he says, “will approach me like I’m their brother, like I’m part of their team. They will start spouting hateful rhetoric and racist ideas, because they feel as if I’m safe.”

In describing the movement, he gets towards perhaps the closest definition of what is happening: “It is a collective role-playing experiment. There is true community found through this, it breaks down political barriers. We have taken pictures of a car park at a Birds Aren’t Real rally. There are people who will show up with a US flag on their car, Republican, patriotic, and a car right next to them with Bernie Sanders stickers. I was a Bernie guy myself. You see these people marching together, unified.”

They’re unified on the prank, right? There aren’t people there who think birds genuinely aren’t real? (I still need a lot of footnotes.) “Yeah, they’re role-playing together. They’re role-playing the collective understanding of the conspiracy theory.”

The response of real-life conspiracists to Birds Aren’t Real has shifted now: “They think Birds Aren’t Real is a CIA psy-op. They think that we are the CIA, we’re put out there as a weapon against conspiracy theorists.”

McIndoe has a long game with Birds Aren’t Real: “I think it has the potential to be a creative collective for a long time. I would love Birds Aren’t Real to continue to be a space to process the badness. I don’t think the madness is going to necessarily end. I think the lunacy is going to become more intense.”

He ends with an image that is poetic, freighted and incredibly neat. “We talk about it like an igloo. Making a shelter out of the same thing that’s posing the threat. Take the materials of what is around us, build something with them, be safe in there together, and laugh.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/14/the-lunacy-is-getting-more-intense-how-birds-arent-real-took-on-the-conspiracy-theorists?utm_source=pocket-newtab

#birds aren’t real

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mobian-eggman · 2 years

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au/ headcanons [incomplete/unorganized/in development]

headcanons-

thought i share some personal eggman headcanons of mine they aren’t anything really special but more from observation

isn’t odd that eggman hadn’t aged since he stopped using live animals in his robot’s?

well i think it’s the cause of him using chaotic energy! he practically uses it constantly and is exposed to raw chaos energy a lot would also explain his unusual strength and durability

didn’t eggman act a bit off in shadow the hedgehog game?

my theory is that black doom had some influence on him to act that way and might be cause he is related to gerald making it a bloodline tie

why do more dangerous villains even work for him?

well we know they use him as a pawn but why the interest? well comes back to my first idea that he gives off an unique energy signature that is never on other human beings, feels like chaotic energy a bit and we know some villains want that energy so having a doctor who has that odd sense of energy is useful and just fascinating

au-

i had a theory.

what if he was there when maria died but was pretty young

since the more recent doc versions i tbh think he was genetically made like shadow he just turned out to be human but the similar genetics between the two are still there tbh i see shadow and ivo as family since infact they act surprisingly similar in their own ways

i always saw them as it and tbh him being almost a twin to shadow makes sense why the doc never seemed older even though theoretically he is in his 50-60s but looks in his late 20s to early 30s. and think if shadow the hedgehog game and in ark why would the doc be so easily influenced by black doom unless he already was linked slightly

gerald wanted to make his perfect “prodigy” and “creation” why not almost at the same time and or same/similar DNA besides we know gerald was kinda shitty so ivo and shadow kinda think one or the other was the favorite but neither know that even the doc was genetically made.

most of the archie iterations is 200 years prior minus interaction with scourge and some other parts i will need to piece apart

ivo’s lineage is actually from snivly as jullian robotnik the previous eggman of 200 years prior never gotten an heir. based on the comics snivly did die by jullian’s hand but had a robotic partner so i concluded that the partner took snivly’s DNA to make a child

as well as based on a good friend of mine’s idea with snivly is that he could use chaotic energy but it makes him sick as a result that Genetic add on resulted in mobian’s in the family tree

additional info warning mention of death and injury

the chaotic gene was added to the idea of my own that gerald couldn’t survive on mobius without an oxygen tank as the air was like toxin to his lungs not being able to handle the raw chaotic energy that is everywhere in mobius

as a result Black Doom sought him after to make an “heir” by means of mixing human/mobian DNA with Black Doom’s DNA to make an offspring. Black doom had caused gerald to go mad by his whispers into his head leading him to kill humans and mobian’s alike for body parts until G.U.N found him and whipped his bloodshed into none existence in exchange in working for them

of course he agreed

additional info warning mention of death and injury prt 2

thought i always thought that around ivo’s 20s that G.U.N had kinda a problem with him cause 1.they knew his past and exactly what he is

2.ivo was robbing banks of course for money

3.keeping track on him

and 4. i like to think the old commander for G.U.N was Xenophobic

and ivo gets along a lot more with mobian’s

{remember ivo is human till recently so he was human when this was happening}

he didn’t want a full blown war so he did defend the mobian when they did a a calm riot i think it’s called holding out signs about not being able to be part of G.U.N, of course the G.U.N agents where hostile and ivo took them out himself no robots the soldiers were shot down with no mercy if they did try to harm him or the mobian’s {he still has the promise to maria like shadow did}

i think he would be heartless with his signature smile but it didn’t have the emotion he has now and the breaking point to make G.U.N change their commander was him destroying three bases

i thought as one super dark thing of him having a general amongst a warning transmission to G.U.N and well shot him when they didn’t comply to his demands in cold blood even got on his face

a bit later a mobian took care of his wounds and giving him care would snap him back to not being a cold heartless “weapon” that he would probably break down

cause don’t some mobian’s work for eggman?

as well he saved a few towns and they kinda shaped him to what he is now a lot less harsh and actually slightly more caring

au headcanons

with the genetic differences ivo has from regular mobians as he is considered a “mutt” mobian being a hybrid of human/ mobian DNA with black doom DNA as the setting block keeping the two DNA mixes stable and his genetic background of family has mobian and human origins leading to him havinghe a visible neck but he wears a turtleneck like outfit to over it and also explains his lanky stature and unusual height as well as the odd quill formation

Ivo has a genetic deformation on his left red eye resulting in the pupil being slited/dilated having a sensitivity to lights and lights and coloring being brighter than normal. He is also color blind to blue and pink color tones that’s why he wears his glasses 24/7

ivo does wear a semblance of an inhibitor made into a necklace of smelted gold rings and a red carved crystal

without it causes an extreme overcharge of chaotic energy and explosions near the doctor leaving him comatose after wards or resulting in a berserker like mode morphing into more black arm-ish like form {yet to be drawn} being absolutely feral

ivo and shadow are genetically twins being from the same embryo in the testing tube but took more DNA parts and took less of the opposite

ivo took more from human {gerald’s DNA} than mobian leading to him being more human than mobian looking at all while shadow took more mobian than the human leading his appearance to a mobian then human, Doom’s DNA was the stablizer for both

ivo is able to siphon chaotic energy from the air by unknown means as he won’t share upon his work how but all his robots are built with a fan that takes the air of mobius and siphons the chaotic energy that resides in it having constant energy without needing oil

when ivo was a child the scientists in ark has been put through surgical examination of the inner workings of his body while he was still conscious leaving him with night terrors in present time

ivo used to dye his mustache brown when he was human

ivo is marked by dark gaia and as a result has somewhat of a dark gaia monster form in a way leading to insomnia and being more aggressive when the moon is full it as well marked him as the “awakener” or “disciple” for dark gaia

#eggman #dr eggman #sonic au #mobian eggman

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elevateherja · 9 months

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Diary of a University Student: Uni Chronicles

Dear Diary,

Oh, where do I even begin? Today has been one of those days that truly tested every ounce of my sanity as a university student. As much as I love the pursuit of knowledge and expanding my horizons, there are moments when the pressures and struggles seem to weigh me down like a ton of bricks. But hey, that’s what this diary is for – a safe space to vent and share my rollercoaster journey with all you wonderful readers out there!

Let me paint you a picture of today’s chaos. It all started with my alarm clock, which seemed to have developed a personal vendetta against me. Instead of waking up to the sweet melody of birds chirping or gentle ocean waves, I was rudely jolted awake by the shrill screeching that resembled a fire alarm on steroids. Is it too much to ask for a pleasant wake-up call? Apparently so.

Anyway, after snoozing my alarm a few too many times (guilty as charged), I leaped out of bed and raced against the clock to get ready for my morning lecture. You know, that one class where the professor seems to be on a mission to squeeze the entire textbook into a 50-minute PowerPoint presentation. Today, it was Theory and Practice of International Negotiations. Yep, you read that right – Theory and Practice of International Negotiations at 10 a.m. If there’s one way to ensure your brain wakes up faster than your body, that’s it.

With my hair still a knotted mess and a hastily made PB&J sandwich in hand, I sprinted across campus, dodging fellow students like a professional dodgeball player. It’s always a gamble trying to navigate the sea of determined faces, backpacks swinging wildly like pendulums, and those unlucky few who insist on walking at a glacial pace right in the middle of the sidewalk. But hey, it’s all part of the university experience, right?

Finally arriving at the lecture hall, I mustered up the last remnants of my dignity and walked in, only to discover that today’s lesson was accompanied by a mock United Nations Council Peace Plan Delegation. It's nothing like a forgotten assignment to get your heart racing faster than Usain Bolt. In a panic, I rummaged through my bag, praying that by some miracle, I had already written my speeches during my Red Bull-fueled study session the night before. And lo and behold, a semi-written opening speech plastered on my laptop screen with a few key points. Thank you, past me, for that small act of preparedness.

After surviving the delegation by the skin of my teeth, it was time for the dreaded group project meeting. You know, the one where you’re paired with individuals who seem to possess the remarkable ability to disappear off the face of the Earth until the deadline is looming large. As I sat around the table, exchanging nervous glances with my equally overwhelmed teammates, I couldn’t help but wonder if a team-building retreat in the wilderness would have been a better bonding experience than this torturous project.

But hey, despite the chaos and stress, there’s always a silver lining. Sometimes it’s a small victory, like finally grasping a complex concept after hours of banging your head against the textbooks. Other times, it’s the support and camaraderie you find among your fellow students, who are going through the same struggles and can offer a sympathetic ear or a well-timed meme to lighten the mood.

So, dear diary, even though today tested my patience, resilience, and ability to juggle a thousand things at once, I know that I’m not alone. We’re all in this together, navigating the treacherous waters of academia, with occasional storms and rocky shores. And when the going gets tough, I’ll always have this diary to turn to, a place where I can pour out my frustrations, celebrate the small victories, and remind myself why I embarked on this crazy journey in the first place.

Tomorrow is a new day, and with it comes new challenges and adventures. Who knows what awaits me in the labyrinth of lectures, exams, and deadlines? But one thing is for certain: I’m ready to face it head-on, armed with my trusty backpack, a pocketful of determination, and a dash of caffeine-induced bravery.

Until next time, dear diary, stay tuned for more tales from the battlefield of university life.

Yours faithfully,

Saint Nick

#diary #uni #online diary #university life #university #academia

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trustjordan · 2 years

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Jurassic world game optimal layout

Jurassic world game optimal layout how to#

Jurassic world game optimal layout upgrade#

You'll probably have about $5-7 million left at this point. Finally, you can open Jurassic Park and start raking in the cash. Have your paleo-medical team diagnose them, research poison ivy treatment, and then administer it to your sick dinos. Unfortunately, you can't open the park quite yet since disease will strike. When you have a bunch of happy herbivores in a habitat, construct a Jeep tour vehicle through it. Be sure to adjust the landscape and foliage as you go! You can gradually synthesize, incubate, and then airlift the dinos into this habitat as your genomes near completion. While your scientists are digging and extracting, build a nice big enclosure for all these dinos. These two herbivores can live happily with the Triceratops. When that's done, go to sites to find Gallimimus and Parasaurolophus fossils. You only need a viable trike genome (50%) for the objective, but I recommend you get it a little higher, 75% or more, before synthesizing them. Focus on amber and fossils first and then fill the remaining spaces with other finds that will be sold for cash. In addition, make sure you can fill up all extraction slots. Extracting the fossils, no matter their quality, will always require only three genetics skill points, so keep that in mind when allocating your scientists in the future. Now you can access the dig site map and look for Triceratops fossils.

Jurassic world game optimal layout upgrade#

The fossil storage upgrade is valuable too, but extraction capacity will be more useful to get genomes rolling. You can also apply the extraction capacity upgrade to the Science Center. It only costs 75k, but it ensures you get more fossils from every expedition in the future. Once you've built an Expedition Center, apply the improved yield upgrade to it. You should also research Efficiency Upgrades. As soon as you get your Science Center, research Improved Power Technology so you can replace your backup generators with a power station and some pylons. Do this and connect them to the existing path. They'll ask you to do some simple tasks - place a Visitor Center and Science Center in predesignated locations highlighted in blue. The beginning of Jurassic Park Chaos Theory acts like a mini tutorial to show you what you'll be doing in the Chaos Theory mode as a whole. You Bred Raptors? | Jurassic Park Chaos Theory

Jurassic world game optimal layout how to#

This guide will explain how to complete the first Chaos Theory map, Jurassic Park. Before we begin, be sure to read our Chaos Theory Tips and Tricks first since these apply to all of the Chaos Theory maps. It's more like a proper campaign than the actual Campaign mode, and each map will take you one to several hours to complete depending on the difficulty and your pace. In order to help new (and returning) players with their parks, the following list has been updated and now includes even more Jurassic World Evolution 2 tips.Jurassic World Evolution 2's Chaos Theory charges you with successfully running the defunct parks that never were or shouldn't have been. Those that are new to the Jurassic World Evolution franchise are likely scratching their heads a bit on what to do and where to go first, as some of the necessary day-to-day operations can be difficult to keep track of. Although it's changed a bit, the core elements are still there, thankfully, in what made the original release such a polarizing title. Updated February 24th, 2022 by Russ Boswell: Fans of Jurassic World Evolution seem to be enjoying the sequel quite a bit thanks to some needed updates and a slew of gameplay upgrades. Luckily, this list of tips should prove useful for anyone just starting their dino park management career. These features can also make the game harder to get into for beginners. The game also offers other features that build upon and improve those from the first game, including new stores, new dinosaurs, new tools to use, and more. RELATED Jurassic World Evolution 2 ReviewThe sequel to Jurassic World Evolution has introduced two new types of dinosaurs: aquatic and avian. Tons of new features have been added that flesh out the features available, and favorite animals have been brought back as well. The sprawling Jurassic World Evolution 2 is available now, and players have been getting a handle on how to tame their new dinosaurs.

#Jurassic world game optimal layout

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werindialive · 2 years

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“Happy Indian family drama,” says Karan Johar for his upcoming film Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani'

Karan Johar is all set for the release of his next movie Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani' (RARKPK). The movie was shot last year and as per Karan Johar, it gave him the desired thrill, joy, and chaos. It’s been almost 6 years since 'Ae Dil Hai Mushkil' (2016) that Karan have come up with a film and he cannot agree more. Talking about the upcoming movie, Karan says “It made me realize that I love being on set the most. At 50, [I have decided] that I will not take such long gaps.”

The delay in his work was primarily because he wanted to work on a large project, Takht which however got stuck and delayed because of pandemic and related concerns. It was then he decides to come up with something new and wrote Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani', a movie starring Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Dharmendra, Jaya Bachchan, and Shabana Azmi.

The movie is a complete family drama and Karan expects it to be synced with the taste of the modern audience. “As filmmakers, we all have to go back to the basics, if we want commercial [success]. If you want to make an artistic film, go ahead, but know that your audience will get limited. Now, the cinema-going audiences want the tadka of Hindi cinema that got diluted over the decades. The [success of] KGF: Chapter 2, RRR, and Pushpa: The Rise [2021] [proves the theory]. We need to go back to [the elements] we grew up on — drama, songs, dance, and emotions. The phase of small-town, high-concept movies is great, but this is the reality of our times.”

The family is a “happy Indian family drama”, he says. “There is unabashed naach-gaana. Dharamji is a ball of love, and at 86, he is so passionate. Shabanaji is an acting institution. With Jayaji, whom I call aunty J, I feel like I have a mom on the set.”

With full confidence in the movie, Karan however is ready to face the criticism as well as he considers it an integral part of any project. “I read the criticism before the praise. The praise does nothing for you, but what’s bad or what’s mediocre needs to be told. I even read what the trolls [write]. I feel the more grounded I am, the more I will be able to fly.”

For the latest Bollywood news and updates, subscribe to our newsletter.

#werindia #leading india news source #entertainment industry #latest entertainment news #entertainment news #entertainment #Bollywood news and updates #latest Bollywood news #karan johar #bollywood news

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potteresque-ire · 3 years

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Concerning the incredibly far and deep reach of CCP’s propaganda, the narratives the government can spin and call the truth; does ‘the common normal populace’ actually know what’s really going on?

Hello everyone!!! Happy Chinese New Year!!

I’m grouping these asks because if I hear them correctly, they’re all related to this question: how much do people in China know about the atrocities committed by their government, and why don’t they do something about it?

It’s a difficult question, isn’t it? A potentially upsetting one too, just to think about. My answers are more opinion-based, more personal this time. Since there’re no polls about what people know, they have to be based a little more on my own impression, which has more chances of error. Please bear with me and proceed with caution ...

As with people in most countries, what people know is hugely dependent on individuals. Specifically, re: politics, I can think of at least three reasons why people don’t have the facts

1) they have limited access to information 2) they’re being lied to about what they know 3) they’re not interested in current affairs.

1), of course, is what most people think about when it comes to China. You’re right, Anon(s), that VPN use is indeed rampant in the country and is essentially an open secret; there’re no official numbers but surveys have estimated the number of users can be up to 100 million, most of them being youngsters. They use it to do exactly what most of us would imagine: gain access to things they don’t have otherwise. Instagram has been (sporadically?) blocked since 2014 September and so while users may have set up their accounts while being overseas, it’s indeed, (very) possible, that they’ve set up and maintained their account under VPN use.

Wait, you may ask, so you mean the Great Firewall of China doesn’t exist?

That’s exactly the official stance. Not because of private VPN use, but because individuals/companies can apply for a license via their telecommunications company to visit all internet sites. Hence, the government’s claim that the Great Firewall doesn’t exist—you’ll be let through as long as you ask (and we’ll watch your every step)! There are also no explicit laws prohibiting the use of private VPNs; only a handful of arrests associated with private VPN use have been made and only since 2019, and the punishment is considered light—no imprisonment, just fines. It is, in contrast, against the law to *provide* private VPN services, and while companies have been shut down, the crackdown has still been incredibly sluggish by Chinese government’s standards, especially when the Xi regime has made its intention of banning VPN known and directives have been issued for that in 2017.

Why has VPN continued to enjoy this “grey existence”? Because without VPN, a lot of foreign businesses would leave—some, for example, require the most efficient online tools developed outside China to track the foreign markets, and talents have rejected job offers in the country when they realised they couldn’t get on their favourite social media. The science and tech sectors also rely heavily on VPN—programmers relying on Google to search stackoverflow, for example, to find known solutions to bugs.

VPNs have also served political purposes—Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-critical communities all over the world are all painfully aware of the Chinese government’s practice of hiring its own collection of internet commentators (”50 Cent Party”), and at times, mobilising their youths (gamers, fan circles) to scale the Firewall and astroturf, throw insults at the “CCP enemies” and bomb message boards with pro-CCP messages.

Also, a significant fraction of VPN companies, both in China and overseas, have been reported to have Chinese ownership, by companies with government connections. These VPN services provide a false sense of security for those who do not enjoy having big brother peeking behind their backs while acting as surveillance tools that extend beyond the country.

(Please be careful about free VPNs).

The next question: If until now, users of private VPNs only rarely get into trouble, what’s holding them from scaling the Great Firewall and learning the facts?

It is this: the law isn’t about “climbing the wall”, but what one does outside the wall.

Article 6 of the 2016 edition of Cybersecurity law states the following:

第六条　国家倡导诚实守信、健康文明的网络行为，推动传播社会主义核心价值观，采取措施提高全社会的网络安全意识和水平，形成全社会共同参与促进网络安全的良好环境

Article 6: The State advocates sincere, honest, healthy and civilized network conduct; promoting dissemination of the core socialist values, adopting measures to raise the entire society's awareness and level of network security, and forming a good environment for the entire society to jointly participate in advancing network security.

What this article implies is this ~ legally, Chinese citizens are bound to the Chinese government’s rules of good internet conduct, regardless of whether they use VPN to get on the internet. As with many Chinese laws, however, the vagueness in wording invites more questions than answers. Is it getting on Twitter, a banned website, “sincere, honest, healthy and civilized network conduct”? Obviously, it’s illegal to interact with other users about the Xinjiang’s internment camps, but what if one only goes there to talk about their favourite stars, because on Weibo supertopic they can’t even mention the stars’ name, can’t ahkgkhagjkfaskjgdf about their favourite fics? What if one goes there to discuss a M- or E-rated fic? Where is the line drawn and given its vagueness, will that line move tomorrow? How?

Most people, therefore, have opted to simply stay away from VPN. After all, China offers its own version of many of the fun websites out there (Weibo-Twitter; Instagram-Oasis; Tiktok-Douyin; Youtube-Bilibili). For those who do use VPN, they tend to stick to websites that are unlikely to cause issues (such as Instagram; Instagram became an issue when Hong Kongers started to upload information about the protests on there).

Now, let’s proceed to 2): People don’t know the facts because they’re being lied to about what they know.

There’s a difference between having access to facts and knowing that they’re facts. This is among the most painful lessons, perhaps, for those who followed the politics of the United States in the last few years (please forgive me for the US-centric-ness of the following few paragraphs!). Even with equal access to identical information, people can vary a LOT in their understanding of what are facts and what are lies.

This illustrates the power of propaganda—and propaganda in the US isn’t even centralised. Some media outlets and individuals (political leaders and analysts) have more say on what should be viewed as the truth, but parties without significant power—small foreign and domestic interests, fringe political organisations, conspiracy theorists, regular folks—have also made critical contributions to the “fake news” phenomenon in the US. There haven’t been apparent coordinations between these parties; little concerted effort has been made to create one coherent story out of the many tales told.

In China, the propaganda effort is centralised, coordinated, free of distractions from competing story lines. The One Story the government decides on is repeated, over and over again, on newspapers, in shows, in textbooks, on signs on the streets, on social media. To put it another way, when it comes to political discourse, the country is designed to be an echo chamber with 1.4 billion people. Over time, the One Stories inevitably become firmly held beliefs—so firmly held that even if the people are exposed to facts, they no longer believe in them.

This is especially true when the source of the facts are countries with strong traditions of freedoms of speech and press, where the facts are often laid out with a critical eye to the administration and with vastly different opinions attached to them. While we view the latter as evidences that the values we embrace are alive and well—a critical eye to the administration means the Fourth Estate is doing its job, and the different opinions means freedom of speech gets to live another day—people who haven’t been exposed to these values tend to interpret these things as signs of weakness of the government. They may think the Chinese government is better than its counterparts elsewhere because no one is penning scathing criticisms against it. They may think the Chinese government is stronger because it unifies the opinions of their people—the failure of which, they’ve been taught, would lead to social chaos and economic free-fall.

The Chinese population has also been “immunised” against the truths that may be exposed about their government by a propaganda talking point used since Chairman Mao’s days—that the “Imperialist” western world, particularly the United States, is always scheming its downfall. The phrase often used is 美帝亡我之心不死 (”The heart (intention) of Imperialist US to bring us down will never die”). Unfavourable truths exposed must therefore be part of the “bring down China” scheme. This decades-old demonisation of the political apparatus of the US and Europe also prepares the people to accept what most would see as outrageous conspiracy theories: for example, in March 2020, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that the US Army intentionally planted COVID in Wuhan during the 2019 Military World games. “Foreign interference” becomes a frequent and convenient scapegoat for policy decisions gone wrong, sometimes to a (somewhat) hilarious effect ~ for example, a Taiwanese journalist calculated the cost required for the CIA to fund the 2019 Hong Kong Protests, as the Chinese government had claimed—and it turned out that the CIA was too poor to do it.

(Many of us in the US would probably laugh at the idea that our government is capable of secretly paying 2 million foreign-language speaking strangers to show up together in one march.) (It can’t even get the COVID relief payments to its own people right over a period of months.)

(Fun trivia for turtles! As 美帝=“Imperialist US” is the synonym of a feared, imaginary super-villain—super organised, super efficient, super everywhere and super impossible to take down—c-BJYX, the indestructible No. 1 CP fandom in China, has been nicknamed “美帝 cp” by those not so enamoured with it.)

Finally, there’s the psychological factor. Once a set of beliefs becomes personal truths, listening to alternatives can be very upsetting (for those in the US: imagine the blue voting block made to listen to Fox News). Hence, even when people gain access to the facts later—for example, when they study/work abroad, even emigrate—they often don’t take advantage of the access. Instead, they remain logged in in the Chinese social media sites where they’re comfortable with not only the politics but also the language and the friendships they’ve built, and continue to immerse themselves in an environment heavy with CCP propaganda. They remain defenders of the Chinese government; some have even gone out and harass people who disagree with it, in the name of freedom of speech that their country of origin never offered to them.

Censorship, of course, is an important component of building a One Story echo chamber, and I should add a note about it: censorship in China comes in vastly different strengths. The restrictions on LGBT+ issues, for example, are fairly lax, relatively speaking—“homosexuality” remains a term one can find on their internet and a topic the administration continues to address, and while BL dramas are censored, their adapted versions, along with highly publicised discussions of their original material, have so far been tolerated. The strictest form of Chinese censorship would’ve allowed neither: any mention of the 1989 June 4th Tiananmen Square massacre , for example, is immediately removed, including any hints that the event may have happened. When the former leader of the Chinese government, Jiang Zemin (江澤民), was rumoured to have passed away, the censorship apparatus went so far as to remove all mentions of Jiang, which also happened to mean “large rivers”. Chinese netizens therefore joked that major rivers had ceased to exist in China that day, as one couldn’t find any information about them online.

(LGBT+ activists have therefore remained optimistic about the future of their campaign, despite the current state of affairs. To put it simply: the Chinese government has bigger fish to fry. Sexual minorities haven’t had major clashes with the administration, haven’t embarrassed the Chinese government with their demand for rights as the ethnic minorities—the Uyghurs, the Tibetans, the Mongolians etc did. Political dissidents, including the millions in Hong Kong, are also (far) ahead in the ranking of fish size.)

For most issues, the censorship effort sits somewhere in the middle and is often inconsistent over time. The people, therefore, often have knowledge that an event has happened — even when the event is considered, beyond the Great Firewall, damaging to the reputation of the Chinese government. However, critical information is often missing in their knowledge, or is heavily distorted. For example, overseas Chinese citizens have insisted that the motivation of the 2019 Hong Kong Protests was economic, echoing the longstanding CCP propaganda that Hong Kongers have been jealous of China’s prosperity (reality: China’s GDP per capita was $10,268 USD in 2019, and Hong Kong’s, $48,713—more than 4 times higher). They missed out a critical fact: while the fast economic growth of China has created some unease—Hong Kongers have always known the Chinese government has only tolerated them and their freedoms for their ability to generate wealth—what has truly ignited Hong Kong’s anger is the Chinese government’s violation of the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, and the terms it had agreed upon to get back the then British crown colony. Hong Kong hasn’t been demanding autonomy and freedoms because it’s a troublemaker, but because these things were promised to the city as conditions of the 1997 handover. As residents of the world’s third largest financial centre, Hong Kongers are diligent drafters and executioners of contracts (which international treaties are) and above all, faithful believers of them. For an asker (the Chinese government) to claim a contract as “historical” because it has received the goods (Hong Kong) and no longer feels a need to pay (allow Hong Kong 50 years of freedoms and autonomy) is offensive to the principle, the very heart and soul of the city.

(Gg’s former boss was a Hong Konger, and his experience working for him was a rather accurate reflection of Hong Kong’s view on business. What made an impression to Gg—that the posters should be without rips and misprints, even if these imperfections were not the fault of the design company—is a no-brainer to the Hong Konger in me reading the interview. Delivering high quality goods and services isn’t an act of kindness but rather, of professionalism and respect for the contract.)

(This interview is a highly recommended read, for those who’ve missed it!)

(One more example of “conveniently missed critical information”: remember GG’s show on Chongqing? Did you know the underground bombing shelters were not built by the Communist government, but the Nationalist government that was still ruling China during WWII?)

Anyway, where was I?

Right. We’re getting to 3): People are not getting the facts on the political situation in China because they’re not interested in current affairs.

Some—well, many— people are not interested in politics.

Some of you may be thinking: well, I’m not interested either. I follow politics because it’s important.

Why is it important? Because political engagement means you can do something about the many ills of the society, speak for those who cannot, force the government to change by voting, by voicing your opinion, by going to marches and protests etc.

What if you follow politics and still can’t do most of these things? What if, if you do choose to do these things, the price you pay may be astronomical? Will you still follow politics or devote your time, your energy to something else, something you’ve got more control over, something that won’t be as saddening, frustrating because it’s something you can actually change?

3) is therefore intricately related to why people often don’t do anything, even if they manage to find out about the facts.

There’re no national elections in China. Marches and protests are practically banned because while the Chinese Constitution guarantees the freedom of assembly (as it does freedom of speech and press; Article 35), it also explicitly states that "Citizens of the People’s Republic of China, in exercising their freedoms and rights, may not infringe upon the interests of the State, of society or of the collective, or upon the lawful freedoms and rights of other citizens.” (Article 51) — ie. the freedoms and rights only go as far as if they do not stand in the government’s way. Social media and all communications platforms are under constant surveillance, and so only opinions tolerated by the government is allowed...

And so, the fact, social ill that has broken your heart—you can’t tell for sure if it isn’t talked about because the government has censored it, how many people know about it and more importantly, how many among the people who know about it will agree with your take. If you break your silence and voice your concerns, how many people will have your back, even if you also conceive them as victims of the social ill? If the social ill is the lack of rights of a minority group, for example, will they appreciate your speaking out, or will your “rocking-the-boat” make things even worse for them? A heavily watched net means communications with the oppressed/vulnerable social groups are often filled with obstacles, if not outright impossible. You don’t know how these groups feel; you don’t even know how many affected individuals are there. You watch the and news and shows and they all talk about how wonderfully things are going; how everyone seems so hopeful and positive and happy with their lives—are you the only person feeling that way? Are you wrong? If you speak out then, will you be yelling into the void, or worse, yelling at the police who “invites” you for a chat in the police station? To speak for those who do not have a voice to speak, are you ready, willing to take the risk of also becoming one who no longer has a voice to speak? Is your family ready?

To put it another way: the opportunity cost of “doing something” about the political situation can be astronomically high in China, compared to the opportunity cost of us doing something similar in our own country.

If I want to support the LGBT+ population in my part of the US, for example, I can do so effectively with minimal investment and most importantly, with minimal risk. By pasting a rainbow flag on this Tumblr post, for example, I’ve already signalled to those who need support on this issue that I’m ready to give mine. And this “signal” of mine will join the hundreds and thousands on the site, collectively telling the activists doing the “on the ground” fighting that they’re not alone; that they have my vote of support. I pose no danger to myself in doing so; no one will accuse me of, arrest me for infringing upon the interests of the State and the Collective. The rainbow flag, a display of my stance, will not turn into a blurred blob the next time I look at it, transform overnight from a symbol of solidarity to a warning sign to those who may wish to join the cause. There’s no danger for me, even, to carry an actual, huge rainbow flag to Pride, perform my activism in person. I don’t have to worry about my phone already giving away my identity as a protester to the government, especially in post-COVID times. I don’t need to watch out for plain clothes pretending to be my allies. I don’t have to look at the many surveillance cameras present and wonder if I’ll get blacklisted as a troublemaker.

Am I still being tracked and taken pictures of? Possibly. But for this cause, at least, I’m not afraid that these information will be used to arrest me. If I were arrested, I know there'll be lawyers and activists who would come to my aid. LOUDLY. ANGRILY.

I’m not afraid. Period. I’m having fun. And I doubt I can say the same if I try to carry a rainbow flag to Tiananmen square and march there.

This vast difference in the opportunity cost of taking political action is the reason why I’ve refrained from demanding those who live under authoritarian dictatorships to stand up for their neighbours who’ve been oppressed / bullied by their governments. I’ve refrained from criticising them for looking away, minding their own business. Do I wish they’ve take action? Of course I do. Am I aware that their lack of action is potentially more harmful because of the frequent atrocities happening around them? Yes. But I also understand that going on a fight is far more frightening when one doesn’t even have a sense of how many will join their side of the fight; I understand that fighting for what one deserves—freedoms, rights, justice—should never equal martyrdom, and just because a regime has elected to put equal signs between the two doesn’t mean those equal signs should ever be there. I remind myself that, to ask the people in any authoritarian dictatorship to stand up for a political cause is to ask them to make sacrifices that we, as people in relatively free societies, do not need to make when standing up for the same cause. In a country where a father demanding the truth about the milk product poisoning of his own son got jail time for “eliciting social disorder”, to stand up for even a single issue, no matter how small that issue is, requires courage that I’m not sure I have.

I can’t ask anyone to do anything I may not be able to do myself.

And this is why I, too, have chosen to support these people, even if many of them are single-issue activists, even when many support the Chinese government on other issues that matter. For example, the late Dr Li Wenliang, one of the eight COVID whistleblowers in China who passed away from the disease, was an opponent of the Hong Kong Protest, but I still (greatly) appreciate, respect him for what he did. As long as they’re not actively helping the government to cause (more) harm to others, as long as their cooperation with their government falls within what is demanded of them as citizens, they have my support. Why? Because most people who speak out in China cannot afford to stand up for more than one cause before it becomes dangerous for them. Because even if it’s only a tiny vulnerable social group, one small minority that makes a tiny step towards more rights, more freedoms, more justice, it’s still a victory in a country where rights, freedoms and justice are luxury items for those with neither political nor economic power. Because those who’re not part of the ruling class cannot afford to cherry pick their allies, cannot afford to in-fight when the ruling class already holds absolute power. Because I still believe in pay-it-forward, that most people who’ve benefited from someone standing up for them, even for one small incident, one minor cause, is more likely to stand up for someone else.

This is, admittedly, not always an easy choice to make—not for me, at least. I do get frustrated, can’t help but think at times that those who subscribe to and spread propaganda are, to a certain extent, corroborators of the atrocities committed by their government. (So, to those who’ve felt this frustration, you’re not alone!). And the Hong Konger in me has every reason to be furious with everything about China right now—all I could think of, when I listened to Gg singing 異鄉人 Foreigner the other night, are all the Hong Kongers fleeing the city now, as refugees, because of their political beliefs.

But for now, I’m hanging on. I’ve been able to tell myself that given the country’s political reality, given its tradition of collectivism (which tends to view confrontational dissent with scorn), the paths to freedoms, to equal rights and acceptance, will not be the same as what I’ve seen, what I’ve wished for. They’ll likely be slow; They’ll likely be long and winding, taking three steps forward and two steps back; they’d likely be unexpected in places, offer us surprises —

And since it’s Chinese New Year / Valentines and I’m feeling brave (irresponsible?), I’d venture a little bit of speculation and say this ~ yes, I’ve wondered if one of these many paths may be trodden, intentionally or not, by two beautiful male idols and their millions of turtles. Is it wishful, fantastical thinking? I’d be the first to admit the answer is yes. But the BJYX scheme has been so well executed as of now, so effective that I can’t help but wonder if it’s leading towards some sort of a goal, whether devised by the humans involved or by the gods/Fates who, as c-turtles have said so romantically, have been writing an original BL story with our favourite boys. The goal may be personal —simply two people being able to act more like themselves again under the spotlight—or a bit more ambitious…

… Because the sneakers + ice-cream post did catch my attention (will probably have to devote a post on that?). Another small incident that has caught my attention, unrelated to Gg and Dd but can significantly change the path they may be trodding, is this — in June 2020, People’s Daily, the state controlled newspaper, boasted its country’s increasing friendliness towards the LGBT+ communities on Twitter . While the tweet was met with skepticism and soon removed, the message it sent is this: the Chinese government may have figured out the the Western world (in particular, the younger generations) view LGBT+ rights as a measure of progressiveness. While I’m still leaning towards the government maintaining a tight grip on LGBT+ rights within its borders, with the strengthening call to boycott 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics because of the country’s poor human rights record, I can see a glimmer of possibility that the same government may do the unexpected and cater to the queer community for the sake of propaganda. As I mentioned, the queer community hasn’t caused much headache for the Chinese government, and so it’s far more likely to be chosen as the “benefactors” of such a “we’re a human rights champion too!” propaganda campaign than, say, ethnic minorities and political dissidents. Promoting dissemination of core socialist values has always sat high on the CCP’s agenda list, and its target audience has always included foreign, non-Chinese populations; this effort is known as 大外宣—“The Great External Propaganda”. And who better to cast as leads of an international propaganda campaign on LGBT+ rights than two of its own stars who’ve already demonstrated loyalty to the government, who’ve already garnered international fame from a TV series widely viewed as queer, and who may actually be queer?

(And if—if!!!— this ever happens, may I ask everyone to please consider doing the following? Please do not feel a need to express gratitude. Please do not act as though it’s a gift. Celebrate as you would celebrate anyone in a free country exercising their birthright to live, to love the way they want — no less than that, no more than that.)

(For those who’ve asked ~ as international fans, not allowing the CCP to modify our expectations of how a government should behave may be one of the most effective ways to protect Gg and Dd.)

(I call this learning from the best: get the goods we want (more rights for the people in China), refuse to pay the cost (subscribe to CCP’s propaganda), and RUN! ❤️💛💚)

#pie metas #yizhan #bjyx #pie answers

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bloopme911 · 3 years

Text

Random WandaVision Thoughts

Thoughts about WandaVision I cannot get out of my head, so here you go.

SPOILERS AHEAD. BLOOP. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.

1. Wanda and Vision are connected by the stone.

I went back and watched AOU and pretty much from the moment Vision is on screen, the connection between him and Wanda is obvious. Her reaction to him in particular struck me. She exhaled like she was drawn to him--to the stone. She also said she saw inside his mind before he was brought to life.

I believe they’re meant to be together, not only b/c of their chemistry together and compassion for one another, but also b/c of that mind stone. It gave him life and awakened her latent powers. It drew them to one another the moment they met. Vision himself even said in Civil War that he didn’t fully understand the stone, or how it works exactly; it’s a mystery to him. That stone is POWERFUL. It “speaks” to Vision, it “has a mind of it’s own”, it’s not a passive player, IMO.

...more after the kr...

2. Wanda can channel the powers of ALL of the stones in her chaos magic.

This I can’t claim credit for, but I believe it. I saw a theory on ScreenCrush (great YT channel for dummies like me to break things down) that Wanda can not only bend reality to her will, she can channel pretty much all the powers of the five stones. She demonstrates this in many ways -- bringing the butterflies and stork to life, rewinding the turkey until it turned into eggs, planting visions into Avengers heads, controlling the minds of the Sokovian citizens so they would evacuate the city in AOU, etc, etc, etc.

ScreenCrush theorizes that the stones are all connected, having sprung from the same fabric of the universe, their powers work alone but also together. Inside Wanda. If she concentrates, if she wills it, she can be just as powerful as Thanos was with that Infinity Gauntlet. So yeah, I believe she can trap a whole town under a spell and give Dr. Strange a run for his money across the multiverse, point blank periodt.

And if she can do that, could she not remake Vision? Pull his atoms back together, reform him, especially if she (somehow) got ahold of the copy Shuri made of his neural network? Why wouldn’t she bring Pietro back to life? I’m not sure...perhaps it could be that it’s simply too painful. Or perhaps she just doesn’t want to put her brother under a spell in a dream world. Vision is Vision, he can handle this, and she may not feel as bad resetting him when he gets too suspicious she might if she had to do that to her brother. I don’t know...time will tell, hopefully.

3. Wanda was an Avenger, training under Black Widow. She got rid of her accent intentionally.

I see people referencing her “suddenly disappearing” accent a lot. I think she (the character) did this on purpose. In the opening of Civil War, when her accent was first starting to fade, she was being taught to spy by Black Widow and Sam and the gang. It stands to reason that accents and speaking with what TV folks used to call a “non regional diction” or any accent she pleases would be part of that training.

Since this WandaVision is based on a sitcom reality, if you know how painstakingly they recreated these sitcom eras, plot tropes and all, then you’ll find that not only is Vision’s behavior based on the popular ‘TV Dads’ of each era (Dick Van Dyke, Mike Brady, Ricky Ricardo, etc) but Wanda was also mimicking the way TV wives speak and act during each era. Perfect 50s diction for Ep 1, slightly more relaxed like a Mary Tyler Moore in Ep 2, a bit more broad and (with a lot more physical comedy in her face, she’s so adorable) for the 70s.....the MCU didn’t forget about Wanda’s accent and Elizabeth Olsen isn’t being lazy.

Wanda deliberately got rid of her accent while she was a spy, and she slipped into it when she was thinking of her brother, her home, her childhood lullaby.

4. “Geraldine” a.k.a. Monica was casing Wanda’s house.

I noticed that from the moment Monica set foot inside, she covered a lot of ground. She found little ways to check that house out because she’s a trained agent and I think even though she was NAILING the part of the stereotypical 70′s black “foxy” nosy neighbor, she was 100% on a mission that whole time. She went in to get Wanda out, but the pregnancy obviously derailed that. I think she was waiting for an opportunity to gage when she could jog Wanda’s memory and probably also waiting to make sure Wanda would be at home alone before she stopped by.

She has “no home” in the town, Agnes said, but she is a SWORD trained agent, so she knew how to survive until she could make her move. Unfortunately, Wanda was not having it. She does not want to be saved. “Geraldine”/Monica also said during her crazy work story that she keeps her cool under pressure, which she did during that BONKERS delivery. She even gave Wanda the coaching she needed to get through it despite the house going all Poltergeist around her.

I only wish that when Wanda was questioning her, she would have been like “I’m Monica Rambeau, I’m here to rescue you.”

5. The townspeople have known all along about both Wanda and Vision’s powers, but they’re only terrified of Wanda.

Vision used his powers in front of people from day one. Helping Mr. Hart at dinner (notice how IMMEDIATELY after Vision saved him, they left in a hurry? They were terrified. They went there to act out a dinner, not for Mrs. Hart to watch her husband almost die without being able to break character to save him, and Mrs. Hart knew it was Wanda who could make it stop). Speed computing at the office. Obviously the magic show kinda sort doesn’t count but does b/c come on mirrors don’t work like that. Getting the doctor, etc. No, I think the townspeople know Wanda and Vision are Avengers, but there is nothing they can do about it because they are under a spell and they must carry out the FOR THE CHILDREN evil plot. I’ll bet word spread about Wanda choking Mr. Hard, so they def don’t want to piss off Wanda, nor bring the wrath of the nefarious entity controlling them all (most signs point to Mephisto).

6. Agnes’ witch costume reminds me that there are some tropes in media where evil witches are the wives of the devil (or sell their souls/enter a pact).

Obviously the Mephisto Comic story line sets this up, but I just love the way they executed it in the show, using the spouse that never appears on screen as a big fat clue.

Agnes may not be evil but she def wants Wanda to have children for her devil husband and she def does not want “Geraldine” disrupting that. Everyone else just seems straight up afraid of Wanda but Agnes knows who is really pulling the strings here. Agnes is terrified of the Big Bad, whereas the townsfolk fear Wanda b/c they know what she’s capable of. They may even believe Wanda is the one controlling them all--and she is--but Agnes knows who’s manipulating Wanda--Ralph, or Mephisto to us.

7. I get the strange impression that the sitcom credits start because Wanda is waking up for the day, and end because for her the day is over...

...and she’s done concentrating so hard on the sitcom spell. It’s sleep time for REAL-real. If she’s using magic to keep this stage play going constantly, then it stands to reason she will tire even though she’s pretending to live in sitcom world where time works totally differently. I believe the commercials are her dreams, sending her subconscious messages about her past traumas. I also believe dreams could be the way Mephisto called out to her--subconsciously drawing her to Westview.

Fun fact: TV way back in the day used to turn off at a certain time at night. 11pm or midnight, I can’t remember, but the networks STOPPED BROADCASTING at a certain time and there was no such things as 24-hour TV until like the late 80s.

There are waaaaaaaay more thoughts banging around in my head but this post is pretty long so until the next time I’m wide awake at 4am with the 70′s WandaVision theme song stuck in my head...

#wandavision #spoilers #random thoughts and theories

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