#cog gets personal

[cognitiveinequality]

U.S. nationalist propaganda is so strong, even growing up outside of the US, I bought into it. I wasn't even a direct target — I only absorbed it through osmosis and media/cultural exposure, it wasn't spouted by everyone around me or force-fed to me in school. Still, I now realize I was brainwashed just as thoroughly as if I lived there.

Sure, I chuckled at the simple-minded flag wavers, the 'support our troops'-ers, the 'love it or leave it' dipshits; I rolled my eyes at the people who lost their shit about what an epic tale "Hamilton" was; I made fun of people who talked about 'The Founders' as though they were fucking infallible demigods.

And yet... the whole time I was being smug, I had blindly swallowed the most fundamental lie of all: the idea that the U.S. is a country that is somehow, in some unidentifiable-but-important way, immune to manipulation by grasping greasy authoritarianism; that it would somehow always be ferociously protected by *enough* level headed minds ("of COURSE, it's the STATES..." ) who would strongly push back against the type of populist pandering that has tempted so many other countries into fascism.

I don't even know what my point is... I'm just realizing how stupid it now seems that I ever assumed the USA was some bullshit unicorn that was somehow NOT built on a house of cards like every other government out there.

[valtsv]

oh so when commander fitzjames lies about his identity it's ok, but when i, "cornelius hickey",

look man do you want a narrative foil or not

[meteortrails]

the thing about sol and albin is that they found true unconditional love and support in a place full of nothing but lies and completely conditional acceptance. and like that genuinely sets the tone for the rest of their relationship - it’s the two of them against the world, baby! of course albin’s ready to drop everything and follow sol into a revolution; their relationship is built off the understanding that they’ll have each other’s back even when everyone else is out to get them. and it’s not just that, it’s also the way that sol’s love and affection for albin never falters even as albin fumbles social interactions and constantly embarrasses himself by others standards; it’s the way that albin brings the entire revolution to follow sol across the continent; it’s the way that even after this first real stint of time spent completely apart they fall right back into watching each other’s backs bc they never truly stopped doing it. they’re just really important to me ok what do you want me to say

[silvr-skreen]

HE LIVES!

[dizzying-faust]

Sometimes I feel like the Toontown fandom needs a reminder that liking the cogs isn't the same as condoning their actions let alone people aren't bad for liking them.

Edit: Because of the tags in a retweet I wanna also say this before people say similar things.

Yes, there is an issue with parts of the fandom woobifying the cogs.

No, that doesn't negate my point that some need to chill with people liking the cogs.

"There's criticism with the fandom woobifying the cogs" and "There's criticism with parts of the fandom attacking people for liking the cogs" are both statements that can coexist.

[cathalbravecog]

veep dad comfort art

[frostbite-the-bat]

talked w/ a friend about this and wanted to post something similar yesterday after a convo i saw also

about people criticizing ttcc / ttcc fans for just... being cog fans? being cog centric? usually coming from people who only like the toons.

and everyone likes what they like! it's okay! but saying that people who like the cogs are horrible and support the bad things they do, is just blatantly wrong. i thought we knew that enjoying villainous and morally Bad / grey characters is... okay? it doesn't mean you support what they do. it's interesting to explore these topics.

i've seen many people just... paint anyone who likes the cogs as horrible because they're "apologists of x and y" and... i dunno. rubs me the wrong way! you do have a point and recognize the cogs do bad things, but liking them as characters means nothing about who you are as a person.

and this is not to say that people who are in toontown for the toons are bad. hell! they are right this IS toontown. i may be on the cog liker side but i like the toons! maybe ocs more than the npcs - mostly because i like my friends and the sheer creativity the toons can bring out!!

SO what i wanna say... i dunno. let's not point fingers...? let's have fun in a goofy cartoon game together??? also complaining about people liking VILLAIN ROBOTS on TUMBLR is kind of funny to me. do you realize where you are. but then again a lot of this i see on discord and in-game as well since i avoid things on tumblr... i am a sensitive little fella i avoid misty fight bc of One Really mean "Critic" guy i saw there and i have been shivering in my bootsies since. so you get me

but like yes ttcc is more cog centric but... that's okay? things could be written better and i still wanna speak on it, and i do thing the toons deserve attention and better writing... but the fact it focuses on the cogs isn't... bad? if you don't like how con centric it is you can go play ttr...? god forbid people have fun and explore the villain's side of things...? i'm not saying either toontown server is better or worse than the other... and everyone can like their own things!!

but like... people will just like the cogs and that's okay and it doesn't make you bad. let's all be friends okay? both sides may be going at each other's necks in-game and the cogs in fact do horrible things - but it's what makes them fun, and it gives the toons things to do in the game!! but we don't gotta !!!!!!!! i may be really sarcastic and sometimes mean in private but like that's me just privately sassing, deep down i think people should just... y'know..? enjoy things.

so yea that's the guzma / cathal thought of today. toon people cog people both people are all awesome as fuck and you keep doing what you're doing i love you toontown isn't toontown without you

[ratfreecog]

Far away from Tulsa…

[delicatefury]

I’m pissed. I am so pissed right now. (Super long, very personal rant below)

I’m an attorney. A lawyer. My job is to advise my clients to the best of my ability of what legal options they have and which acts may be in their best interest. That’s why one of the other names for my job is counselor.

It is not to get more clients. It is not to file more bankruptcies. My job, my ethical obligation, is to provide my professional expertise to clients in relation to pursuing a bankruptcy.

Which means sometimes my ethical duty is to advise clients that filing a bankruptcy is the worse option for their situation and other steps would serve them better to reach their goals.

So when a client who makes less than the median income (which is fairly low, especially with inflation) comes in owning their house in full (meaning lots of value in the house to pay off debts), it is my job, my ethical obligation, to warn her that filing bankruptcy will mean she has to pay every single cent of her debts back. That she will be handing over almost half of her pay every month to the bankruptcy court to pay back her creditors. Or else the bankruptcy trustee has the right to sell her house.

And after discussing her situation with the senior attorney, turns out that it’s actually a better option for her to take out a small home equity loan and negotiate for lower debt payoffs for her credit cards and personal loans. It’s a lower interest rate, she gets a lot more leeway before her house is at risk, it’s quicker, and it will preserve her credit score. In every conceivable way it’s a better option for her.

So I call her to discuss that there are other options for her before I sink hours into preparing her case.

This woman freaks the fuck out. She’s convinced the loan will lead to her losing her house. She demands to know why I would even suggest it. She implies I have no clue what I’m doing and am just trying to take advantage (which is… no? I’m telling you that you’d be better off not using our services). I try to calm her down and ask for a few days to put together the numbers to show her what her options will look like. She agrees to a phone call in two days.

Two days later, she sends me a basic email saying she no longer wants to go forward with the bankruptcy. Silly me thinks that means she’s given thought and realized that a 3.5-5% small loan and negotiating payoffs is better than 5 years at 8-18% interest plus attorney fees.

Wrong! She also emails one of the partners and writes a nasty message about me and how “incompetent” I am! Because I suggested a home equity loan! Because I did my ethical duty! And I found this out because I went to add a note to her file about giving her a refund and found a note from the partner about her complaints about me.

And I do not trust the partners to take my side. I did the right thing. I took the right actions. I know I did. And the Senior attorney will back me up! We literally just had a discussion that legal ethics requires that at times we have to advise clients not to file bankruptcy, even if that means we lose their business.

But I cannot believe that the partners will stand behind my actions. I can’t. Not after the last year. Too many times have they assured me that they have my back only to throw me under the bus the moment they actually have to prove it.

A client is rude and combative to me and my paralegal? Makes me deeply uncomfortable and keeps on insisting on coming into the office so he can attempt to railroad me by physical intimidation into doing what he wants instead of the actual correct legal actions? Partners says he understands and that he’s okay if we turn this client away. Then he calls the client, tells them I’m also on the line, and immediately rolls over because the asshole isn’t rude to him. And I have another month of near constant harassment and arguments and passive aggressive insults.

A client gives off creepy vibes? Again insists on coming into the office for every little thing? Has a criminal record for domestic issues and an active criminal case open against him for pedophilia? Oh well. He paid a lot up front so guess I have no choice but to keep representing him. For the next 5 years.

Client starts being threatening and aggressive to our paralegal before we even meet with him? Demands to be seen and threatens to come into our office even though we are booked all afternoon? Gives the former criminal prosecutor senior attorney bad vibes before she’s even seen him? Meet with him anyway! Oh he just lost his job because he threatened his HR? Has been arrested for domestic violence? Just attempted to physically intimidate his now former boss and had the cops called him? That’s fine! We have security concerns? Oh well, they’ll think about it during the partners meeting next month.

I’d like to take the time to learn how to do post filing work or how to file bankruptcies in the neighboring district that I actually live in? Tough. More front end work for a court that’s literally on the other side of the state! And if that doesn’t keep me occupied, they’ll send me front end stuff from the other side of the country!

So I really don’t trust that when I tell them I was doing my ethical obligation and making my client aware that there are better options that they will take my word over hers. I can’t. They’ve shown me that’s not how they think. It’s being a business first, with being a law practice a distant second, and mentoring new attorneys a far away third. Caring for our staff is barely a blip on the horizon for them.

But I know I did the right thing. And if that client wants to go to another firm and pay most of her paycheck to the trustee every month, fine by me. And if they try to lecture me about how I “handled it poorly” and should have just filed it without saying anything, I can’t guarantee I won’t just walk out.

I’ve got contract work. I’ve been approached by headhunters. One literally emailed me this morning. I like this work, but for once I’m not scared to walk away.

[badolmen]

It’s actually kinda insane how inescapable the war machine is. My uncle helped build blackhawks for Sikorsky. My little brother worked at a machining factory that makes the firing pins for almost every major arms manufacturer in the country. GE and BAE have career fair booths for hiring the computer science majors who will write code for their missiles and drones. ROTC has teenagers LARPing as soldiers. This shouldn’t be fucking normal.

[cognitiveinequality]

ah what a great night to have an emotional, anxiety-based breakdown... exactly how I wanted to spend my evening, thanks brain!

[alectoperdita]

Both Kaiba and I consider flinging ourselves out of a thirty-floor window when a "Product Roadmap" meeting appears on either of our calendars.

[thousandbuns]

I had an idea how to "solve" the issue of "40K media invoking Abaddon all willy-nilly in the dumbest of contexts", like DoW2: Retribution having Abaddon micromanage Eliphas' grudge-campaign against Blood Ravens (a small, battered chapter of relative nobodies in an equally insignificant corner of the galaxy) or "Soul Hunter" and the plotline about Abaddon and the billionth Sorcerer on his payroll both getting very sweaty about bringing in one specific Night Lord (who does have some clout and historical significance... for Night Lords, maybe*, and whose divination gift is only "impressive" and "special" because ADB says so**):

Warp-based automatic secretary.

It works like this: you grab some Sorcerers skilled in illusion and mind-reading, put them in what's essentially a magic call-center, and whenever some two-bit nobody warlord tries to dial you up and pester you about the hundredth "this is blatantly my personal issue and frankly a gross misuse of Black Legion's resources" campaign, you just have the warlocks conjure up a convincing enough illusion of yourself acting deeply invested in all that nonsense and pressuring the commander to act fast and efficient. Meanwhile your accounting and logistics division assign the bare minimum of armor, weaponry and supplies to that fleet and only notify you if Azkul the Deprecated's Individual Hangups Jaunt goes over the budget, just so you're aware of this loss in the grand scheme of things. Your subordinates will most likely schedule an extra supply raid to make up for it anyway.

That way none of those losers are directly tugging at your sleeve and you don't have to worry that their dumb little escapades will put a dent in your pocket. Your undivided attention can remain on plotting how to deal with Indomitus Crusade and sliding into Huron Blackheart's DMs to call him a smelly upstart bitch.

*) Based on the fact that Ruven had no qualms about jumping ship over to the Black Legion even before Talos was there, how fractured Night Lords are, and how Talos is specifically one of the few people who sincerely cares about whatever disjointed nonsense passes for Curze's philosophy and legacy? I'd say bringing him over to BL isn't that important and it's just Ruven trying to resolve his personal grudges with Legion's resources. Much like Eliphas.

**) Like yeah, sure, you have your fortune-telling epilepsy, Talos, shame that Abby can just walk down the street and hit on that one ex-Thousand Son Corvidae who can see the future without having to go into fits for 72 hours, or consult one of many daemon oracles or even greater daemons. He can probably stage a ritual to dial up Kairos the fucking Fateweaver and have his Sorcerer covens try to decipher whatever nonsense it spewed at them. There's even a good chance Tzeentch won't purposefully muddle the visions too much because Abby is the Gods' Chosen Loser and he deserves a treat from time to time.

[boxylic]

im not trying to be controversial or mean or anything but at this point- why not make your own content? why have the game bend the characters over backwards to your taste..? doesn't that make them feel less like people, or is this just a matter or preference that escapes me.. this and wanting the whole cast to be default playersexual is smth i have been chewing at

[a-random-citrus]

If I ever see a gacha reaction video with TTCC characters I will jump for joy

[neverendingford]

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