#context .

[juliaknz]

SHOEI YOH EGAMI CLINIC, 1982 Nagasaki, Japan

[pratchettquotes]

"Some of these are powerful nations, gentlemen. Many of them don't like Klatch's current expansionist outlook, but they don't like us much, either."

"Whyever not?" said Lord Selachii.

"Well, because during our history those we haven't occupied we've tended to wage war on," said Lord Vetinari. "For some reason the slaughter of thousands of people tends to stick in the memory."

"Oh, history," said Lord Selachii. "That's all in the past!"

"A good place for history, agreed," said the Patrician solemnly.

Terry Pratchett, Jingo

[liberalsarecool]

So the Jan 6 insurrectionist uses 'bloodbath', and we all need to parse the context?

He did not say the car industry will be a bloodbath. He said the country.

Also:

[glitter-garbage]

Love these so much. For our gringo friends, this is an old shoot for a gay magazine that brazilian football ⚽️ player Vampeta did. For some reason, images of him naked are often edited to add political messages, and then are used to flood people on social networks, often politicians. This is called a "vampetaço". (and he is fine with his image being used for that, by the way)

the last vampetaço happened after netanyahu came for the brazilian president claiming that his comparison of the holocaust to the palestinian genocide was antisemitic, even though Lula was demanding a ceasefire to prevent more palestinian civilians from getting killed. netanyahu's twitter replies were full of vampetas, which we hope conveys the message of how much we care about his opinion.

[lorenzonuti]

Safety first.

Now available for purchase on INPRNT

[mintaikk]

Okay, I thought this was Blitzø's hand (his hands are fucking massive), and he was opening a curtain or smthn, but I saw people point out how he's in a car and those are his feet on the dashboard and holy shit this a hole new vibe and new context that I need IMMEDIATELY

[dovewingkinnie]

goldies inferno william life is like roblox

[waywardstation]

Might as well post comically-annoyed Ingo

Original image under the cut:

[nekropsii]

Let this be a living example that knowing the beliefs of any individual who wrote any piece of text- be it literature, articles, or posts- can and should drastically alter your perception on what the text is actually communicating, even if that knowledge has, on its face, changed none of the actual printed words. This is how application of real-world context works, and this is how it applies to any recorded medium.

It reminds me heavily of a quote from video essayist Jacob Geller, regarding the 1938 film Olympia- "It's different when Nazis do it". Olympia is a film that, on its face, simply depicts an artistic documentation of the 1936 Berlin Olympics. But within the context of its production taking place during the Nazi regime, with its director being a well known Nazi propagandist... The way the movie fixates on the power and elegance of the human form and Ancient Greek statues quickly shifts from being completely innocuous appreciation to the worship of what is perceived as the ideal forms of the "Aryan race". Suddenly, you understand the movie not to be a pretty inoffensive documentation of a historical event, but a propaganda piece.

Understanding the time period in which something was made, as well as the setting it was produced in/for, and whatever ideologies an artist may hold and experiences they've had is absolutely critical to getting a full understanding of anyone's work. There are some things that are near completely anodyne on their face, but the revelation of what the author thinks and feels about other people and the world around them totally redefines every word on the page.

This image is such a prime example of why context matters. This opinion, laid bare, stripped of context, is both inoffensive and nonsensical. No one's ever thought it to be lame to create your own nickname... But on its own, that's a harmless kind of wrong. ... But with the addition of them being marked as Anti-Trans (red) on Shinigami Eyes, a browser extension dedicated to crowdsourcing keeping track of Trans Friendly and Transphobic creators... Suddenly, "Nicknames" doesn't mean "Nicknames" anymore. Suddenly, you realize that "Nicknames" is code for "Chosen Names of Trans People". Suddenly this isn't about thinking choosing your own nickname is lame, this is about thinking that trans people shouldn't have the right to name themselves. Suddenly it's about invalidating identities, thinking they're worth mocking. Thinking that people who identify as trans are "just trying to be cool", and that they're not actually what they say they are, because you don't get to choose your gender nickname, that's something already decided for you.

Suddenly, you realize, it's not about "being lame".

It's about Transphobic Violence.

This is why you cannot ignore when an artist, author, essayist, developer, musician- so on and so forth- is bigoted. This is why you can't ignore the context behind their upbringing. This is why you can't ignore the context behind their lived experience, their ideals, their goals, their message. Yes, it may appear innocent on its face. Yes, it may look fine stripped from the context of it being written by an inevitably flawed human being. But what's really being said here? What do those words mean... To the one who wrote them?

Context redefines Text.

Even if the words didn't change.

[phantomialie]

all talk until he's told to zip it

Oh Error is this oh he's that..

BOOM. MAN BABY KILLER.

[eustaceloser]

these mfers look like they’re going to call you a foolish fool

[superbeans89]

The news has gifted us with the most cursed subtitle fuck up.

[pratchettquotes]

"Just a minute," said Lobsang. "Who are you? Time has stopped, the world is given over to...fairy tales and monsters, and there's a schoolteacher running around?"

"Best kind of person to have," said Susan. "We don't like silliness. Anyway, I told you...I've inherited certain talents."

"Like living outside time?"

"That's one of them."

"It's a weird talent for a schoolteacher!"

"Good for grading papers, though," said Susan, calmly.

Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time

[zenosanalytic]

I love the idea that the Homestuck Multiverse has a built in autotranslate that's just really super-lazy, making it simultaneously both Really Good and Really Shitty? Like:

ala This Comic you say a human name to a troll and its completely incomprehensible to them, because names refer to particular individuals and their meanings(or lack of) are very culturally and historically contingent and your language is utterly alien to them, but if you say "Troll![Name]", you've provided the translator with a Context, so it just searches for some person in Their culture who is contextually similar to YOUR person, and gives them that name instead XD

[0livdocx]

Does he always sit like this so each time Charles happens to see him he can just sit between his legs. Is he deliberately making room and convenience for Charles by leaving that huge space in between. Is this sort of a kink between you two.

[lorenzonuti]

Accurate control.