#deaf american recordings

[doublelp]

Flyer / Infosheet included with Unholy Grave / Capitalist Casualties split EP

[thatchickwiththecamera]

If I'm There

This is from a request sent to me by @lma1986

Pairing: Noah Sebastian x Female Reader

TW: Death, Loss, Grief.  

Any and all feedback is appreciated!

Y/N groaned upon entering the hotel room and flung her body onto the crisply made king sized bed. The pelican case she had been holding was discarded somewhere along her journey. Noah, her boyfriend of two years, simply smiled at her antics as he rolled their remaining bags into the entryway. 

Noah’s band, Bad Omens, had just wrapped up their latest North American tour with a four day run of shows across central and eastern Canada. Y/N was a member of the band’s visuals team and worked as the lighting and video technician alongside Matt at Front of House. Her and Noah met four years ago when she was running visuals for one of the bands supporting Bad Omens on tour. 

Noah, Matt, and Nicholas liked her work and decided to extend an offer to join their growing team prior to the next tour. After two years of working with Bad Omens and two years of tip-toeing around shared feelings, Noah finally asked her on a date and as they say, the rest is history. 

With this tour coming to a close, it meant that they had the next two weeks off to do whatever they wanted before the guys had to be back in Los Angeles to finish tracking the new album. Everyone was scheduled to fly back to their respective home states at various times throughout the next day. While all of the gear was to be freighted back to the LA to either be stored in the warehouse until the next tour or to be moved into the awaiting studio space for recording. 

“I am so ready to sleep in my own bed,” She exclaimed, voice slightly muffled by the pillows. “I think the mattresses in the bunks are getting worse with each tour.”

“Either that or we’re just finally starting to feel older.” he said, flopping down next to her, “I mean, we are almost thirty.” 

“Don’t remind me.” She groans.

Before she can raise the question of who gets first dibs at the shower, she is interrupted by the familiar sound of her sister’s ringtone chirping from the phone in the front pocket of her hoodie. 

“Yellow!” She tiredly exclaims, placing the phone on speaker. 

“Y/N” the serious tone of her sister's voice cuts through the speaker. 

She immediately sits up and looks over at Noah, now sporting a concerned look on his face that she was sure matched her own. 

Her sister rarely called her by her first name. Mainly using childhood nicknames. Never her given name. 

“What’s wrong?” Y/N questions. 

“Y/N…it's Olivia.” Her sister continued, voice shaky. “There’s been an accident.”

She went on to explain that Olivia, Y/N’s best friend since as long as she could remember, had been hit head on by a drunk driver on her way home from dinner with friends from work. She had been rushed to the local trauma center where the medical team had managed to stabilize her but they stated that the next 24 hours were going to be critical. 

Noah was immediately on the phone with Matt, who five minutes later knocked on their door ready to drive them to the airport. 

The small airport chapel was dark and empty. The smell of incense lingered in the air from a Mass held earlier in the day. Y/N sat quietly in the last pew staring up at the large crucifix hanging on the wall above the altar and tabernacle. 

Despite eventually developing a vehement disinterest in organized religion as an adult, Y/N had been raised in the Bible Belt of the deep south and had grown up in and out of church as a child and young adult. She had witnessed and experienced enough over the course of her life that made her unable to completely let go of the notion that there was a greater power at play somewhere in the universe. 

Her grandmother always expressed belief in the power of prayer and when her usual sage advice fell on the deaf ears of a stubborn teenager, she always told Y/N to ultimately pray about it. 

“Give it up to God,” she would say, “Put it in his hands.” 

There were no direct flights out of Toronto, which left them stuck at JFK in New York City for the next three hours due to a layover. Noah’s many years on the road made it possible for him to sleep pretty much anywhere despite his tall frame. But her anxiety prevented her from finding any respite of sleep on the uncomfortable metal chairs outside the gate. 

Which is why she now found herself sitting in the Our Lady of the Skies chapel talking to a wooden crucifix. 

“I don’t know how to talk to you or if you even are actually there and listening,” She states, eyes stinging from the tears that threatened to form, “But at this point I’m desperate.”

“If there is one person in this lifetime that deserves to live a long and fulfilling life it is her,” she continued, “she can be one of the most naive people I know, but she has only ever brought kindness and love into this world because of it.” 

“You’ve already taken so many from me…,” she pleads, unable to hold back the tears as a few escape and trail down her cheeks. “Please don’t take her too.” 

A moment later she felt the warmth of an arm wrap around her and turned to see Noah sit down next to her, their carry-ons bags sitting on the floor in the aisle next to the pew. 

She buried her face in his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, placed a tender kiss on her head and held her close as she finally let the tears pour out. 

Upon landing in South Carolina, Y/N's sister met them at baggage claim. She looked as tired and spread thin as Y/N did. She knew just how much Olivia meant to her little sister, and also considered her a good friend. But her bond of friendship was no wear near as unbreakable as the one that had been built between Olivia and Y/N over the years.

She wrapped Y/N up into a tight hug and let her know that Olivia had been rushed back into emergency surgery about an hour before they had landed. They had found internal bleeding that was previously missed due to the severity of the initial trauma sustained in the crash, causing her previously stable condition to quickly deteriorate. 

Upon arriving at Columbia Memorial Hospital, they quickly located Olivia’s parents in the waiting room outside the Intensive Care Unit. Olivia’s mother, Mary grabbed Y/N in a  bone crushing hug the second she saw her, thanking them for coming as quickly as they did. She followed the band and knew the journey they had made to be there. Before they could speak further, a man dressed in surgical scrubs emerged from the large bay door. She felt Noah take her hand and give it a squeeze.

Mary walked over to the doctor. He grabbed her hands and shook his head. Y/N couldn’t hear the words he spoke, but Mary’s reaction to them told her all she needed to know. 

Olivia was gone.

Y/N felt numb. She felt her emotions shut down. She wanted to cry, to scream, to fall to her knees but her body just remained frozen in place for what felt like an eternity. Noah’s hand never left hers and his grip never faltered.

They briefly expressed their condolences to Mary and other member’s of their family before leaving them space to grieve. There was no reason for them to stay at the hospital while Mary began the heartbreaking task of preparing for her only child’s funeral. 

The drive to her sister’s house was silent. She showed Y/N and Noah to the guest room and left them to unpack and prepare for bed. 

Y/N found little sleep that night. As sunlight began to stream in through the bedroom window, she turned to peer at the clock on the nightstand. 

It read 6:00am. She quietly rose so as not to disturb Noah’s sleeping form in the bed next to her. She quickly dressed, grabbed her sneakers, and headed out the front door. 

Y/N ran. 

She ran until her lungs felt like broken shards of glass. 

She ran until her legs felt like they were made of jello.

She ran until her feet were numb and weighed heavy like cinder blocks.

In school, she ran after her first heartbreak, she ran when her father died of cancer, she ran when her mother became absent in her own grief leaving her and her sister to fend for themselves, until she would eventually pass as well. 

She ran when all of life's problems seemed to pile up as high as the peaks of Mount Everest and bare down on her shoulders. 

When life didn’t make sense, Y/N ran. 

Olivia had always been the one to run with her. When her own body would grow tired she would remain on the bench at the trailhead of the old high school cross country course, making sure Y/N knew she wasn’t alone. 

But now Olivia was gone and the bench by the trailhead sat empty save for the water bottle Y/N had discarded at the start of her run. She tried to ignore the empty spot as she set out on her second loop. 

As she circled around again she spotted a second water bottle sitting next to hers on the bench. She felt the already growing agitation stir inside her further at the idea of having to interact with a stranger on the course. She prayed they would just run their route and leave her alone. 

Halfway through her third loop she heard the sound of another person coming up from behind her and expected them to call out what side they would be passing her and continue their run. 

Instead the person fell into stride next to her. She turned her head, ready to tell the stranger to politely fuck off, but stopped when she saw Noah running next to her.

He didn’t say anything, just kept running, never leaving her side as they continued to complete two more loops. He knew this was something she had to do, and despite his own fatigue, he wasn’t going to let her do it alone. 

Toward the end of her fifth loop, she felt her legs start to give way. Her toes snagged on a root sticking up in the middle of the path and she waited for her body to hit the dirt. She thought that maybe she would just lay there for a while and let the earth swallow her whole, but the impact never came. 

Instead she felt Noah wrap his arms around her. Pulling her firmly into his chest. The weight of everything she tried to hold inside started to fracture and crumble around her. The emotion she tried to run from rebounded back like a lightning bolt striking her directly in the heart. She thrashed against his hold and hit the bottom of her fists against his chest. 

She screamed out in rage as the hot tears streamed down her face. But despite her best attempts at getting him to let go, his hold remained firm. Noah was sure that his chest was red by the time she finally relaxed in his arms. He took the opportunity to kneel down and scooped the sobbing figure of the woman he loved into his arms. She didn’t have the energy to protest as he carefully carried her home. 

The funeral took place four days later. It was held at St. Joseph's Cathedral downtown where four generations of Olivia’s family had been baptized, confirmed, married, and eulogized. She could not deny that the Mass her family prepared had been beautiful despite Y/N not knowing much about the ways and traditions of the Catholic Church. 

After the service, Mary came up to the both of them and thanked them again for traveling back like they did and for staying for the service. 

“You were the closest thing Olivia had to a sister and even though it may not have seemed like it at times, you were and still are like my second child.” She stated. “Thank you for being her friend and being in our lives.” 

Tears once again formed in her eyes as Mary pulled her in for one of her soul squeezing motherly hugs that Y/N learned to cherish over the years. 

“I love you so much” she said, reaching up to grab either side of Y/N’s face, wiping away the tears with the pads of her thumbs. “And I am so proud of you.”

“I love you too.” Y/N replied, before hugging the woman once again. 

The next day they were scheduled to fly back to LA, but not before visiting Olivia’s grave. It was covered in layers of floral arrangements and marked by a temporary placard with ‘Olivia Renee Barber” and her dates of birth and death engraved on dark metal. 

Noah stayed back as Y/N paid her respects. He wished that he could take all of her grief and carry it on his own shoulders so she didn’t have to weather the burden. He knew from his own experiences that she had to go through this process at her own pace. Loss was not linear and there were no magical boxes to check as you grieve and heal.

There was one thing he knew for absolute certain. As long as he was around, she would never go through anything in this world alone. He’d be there to catch her when she’d fall and just as he knew she’d do the same for him in return.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

But one thing for certain - the story of William being spotted popping into a local pub for a beer with Carole really poked a lot of holes into Harry's claims that the UK isn't safe. If The Prince of Wales can go out for a beer with a friend and no one bothers them, his irrelevant little brother can certainly go out for a church service.

He doesn't care, neither does the world poke holes in his stupid claims, haven't you seen the photos from polo where they're flanked by security? they just love to show off

Oh, no, Harry cares. He cares a lot. He cares only about which makes him look important and equal to William, especially as the Americans perceive it. That's why he's surrounded by security all the time; because it makes him look important and it makes him look equal to William, who's very protected and rarely without security in the photos/images that get published here in the US.

What Harry and Meghan are trying to do is gaslight Americans into thinking they're as important as the Prince and Princess of Wales so that we'll fight for them when the BRF strikes back.

Which is why it's so damaging when stories like William going to the pub for a drink or Kate popping out to a music festival for spicy margaritas or the two of them grocery shopping together get out and start circulating around the US. It contradicts Harry's messaging that being the son of The King is so dangerous that he can't do ordinary everyday things despite all of his PR claiming he's just like us.

So when this does happen, when William does show that Harry's security concerns about the UK are overblown, Harry reverts back to his military "I fought the Taliban" self which he thinks will get him bonus points in the US because we love our military and we love our veterans...right?

Wrong. Let me show you a little perspective. In 2010, the National Academy of Sciences published a study conducted in April 2009 that determined 1.9 million US military members deployed at least 3 times to Afghanistan and Iraq for at least 30 days each deployment. Of the 1.9 million, 582,733 of those people were active-duty US Army soldiers; another 125,595 soldiers were Army Reserve; and another 295,336 soldiers were Army National Guard. That's a total of 947,664 US Army soldiers deploying to Afghanistan and Iraq at least three times between 2001 - 2009.

In 2010, the British Army was 142,000 people: 113,000 active-duty soldiers and 29,000 reserve soldiers.

Let me louder for the people in the back. The entire British Army, in which Harry served and deployed to the War on Terror with, is FIVE TIMES SMALLER than the number of US Army soldiers that had deployed three times to the War on Terror by 2009.

Here in the US, Harry is not the special apple he thinks he is. He wants a ticker tape parade here in the US for his military record but what exactly has he done that's worth it? We don't care that he was the some other country's head of state's grandson when he deployed. But he doesn't get that, the same way he doesn't get that we don't like a foreign immigrant trying to become our military's ambassador. He thinks the work he did and the status he held in the UK is automatically transferrable to us over here here in the US.

It's not. He thinks it is, and Meghan thinks it is, but it's not. Which is going back to your original point, Harry does care. He cares a lot about optics and making sure that if he's not seen as equal to William, he's seen as better than William. So when William does these very normal, very average, very everyday things and gets praise for it, it's discombobulating for the Sussexes. They don't understand how being so common is so likeable, which makes the security fleet they surround themselves with look so tone-deaf and outrageously narcissistic.

[newhistorybooks]

"Employing the methods of social history, such as the use of digital history techniques and often-ignored sources like census records, Eric C. Nystrom and R. A. R. Edwards recover the lived experiences of everyday deaf people in late nineteenth century America. Ordinary Lives captures the stories of deaf women and men, both Black and white, describing their family lives, networks of support, educational experiences, and successes and hardships. In this pioneering “deaf social history,” Edwards and Nystrom reconstruct the biographies of a wider range of deaf individuals to tell a richer, more nuanced, and more inclusive history of the larger American deaf community."

[philseyebrowslit]

What did Dan say about Mexico?? I haven’t watched WAD but there have been other times when Dan has made a comment about. countries/people where I’ve just been like ‘🤨😬’ like in a sims vide where he made a ‘joke’ about native Americans

I got some asks about this same topic but I’m using this one to answer all of it!!

basically in one of the wad shows (obviously not in the recorder version) Dan was talking about how Mexico (and Brazil) wouldn’t get to see his tour because it was a first world country tour, not a third world one. Which, even if it was a joke…. it’s so ????

joking about how pretty much all of Latin America is some uncivilized territory that couldn’t fathom see his tour is so tone deaf and insulting. Specially after the whole interactive introverts fiasco where yes, maybe they had some organization problems and whatever, but they never really addressed it or apologized. I know they did some kind of dvd screening and q&a in Brazil, but Mexico didn’t get anything.

I’ve seen some people arguing that it’s that some countries are not as openly lgbt friendly as others, but then again, that is so reductive. The idea that Mexico or any latam country is incapable of having gay shows is simplistic. To act as if latam countries don’t have tours where lgbt creators have been is insane.

Don’t get me wrong I’m really happy they’re touring again and people are getting to see them. And maybe they don’t want to even tbc some countries in case it doesn’t happen, but to outright just exclude some regions (im talking about latam because that’s where I live and know, but it’s pretty much the same with Asia and Africa) because you think we’re not fit to see the show or the language difference or whatever it’s insulting to said audience.

And this is not me trying to cancel them or whatever, I do however think they should at the very least inform themselves about their latam, Asian, African, etc. fans and not make them feel as if they basically don’t exist. A great deal of their audience is from said regions, and to outright exclude them is so reductive to the care and love we as fans give to them

[deeptrashwitch]

Incorrect quotes

Jackson: *talking with Aelan (@islandtarochips OC)*

Alexander: Umm, Sergeant...? *arriving with a bit of shyness*

Jackson: What now? *sighs*

Alexander: We had an accident on the salt water pool, the Lieutenant fell and-

Jackson: Is he drowning?

Alexander: No

Jackson: Then he can figure it out alone

Alexander: But Gun Powder is also in the water...and Elliot hasn't taught it how to swim

Jackson: *froze* ...

Aelan: Jackson?

Jackson: *stands up and runs towards the pool* MICHAELIS! I SWEAR THAT IF SOMETHING HAPPENED TO MY BABY-!

Aelan/Alexander: ...

Aelan: Is this usual?

Alexander: More or less, he really loves the cat

Aelan: While he doesn't hit someone...

Alicia: *playing UNO with Kanoa and Aly (@alypink OC)*

Aly: Here *puts a red 9 and smiles* uno!

Alicia: ... *puts a red 8*

Kanoa: *giggles when is his turn*

Aly: What is it?

Kanoa: I don't know...

Aly: C'mon, throw me anything! I can lead with it *confident* what do you have there?

Kanoa: Hehehehehe *puts a +100 over the deck* eat up, Aly

Aly: ... *gets a tic on her eyebrow*

Alicia: Uhh, Aly?

Aly: *slams the card over the table and tries to throw herself to hit Kanoa* NOA!!!

Alicia: ESPÉRATE ALY! *holds her to stop a possible murder* NO VALE LA PENA! NO, NO, NO! CÁLMATE!

Kanoa: *screeches out of fear*

Luke: Why are we here?

Alicia: Dominique asked me to teach you about...courtesy with our superiors

Jackson: What for?

Alicia: *shrugs* Beats me, but anyway, what do we tell when our superiors starts bickering and say "you should obey me as if I was king!"?

Luke: Uhhh, oh! I'm sorry but Americans don't like kings, have you seen us? We'll fuck you up

Jackson: Well sir, history have taught us that the best way to lead with a king is beheading them!

Alicia: ...

Tiala: *wheezes from the background*

Alicia: I mean, you aren't wrong...

Wraith: Alicia! Focus!

Alicia: Sorry, sorry. Let's try again-

Agnes/Nigel/Tiala/Alicia: *watching at Kanoa asleep on a chair*

Tiala: Are you thinking the same as me?

Agnes: Can I do it? Can I?

Alicia: *giggles* I'll record *takes out her phone* whenever you're ready

Nigel: Ohhh, let's try, go for it Blast

Agnes: *smiles and stand near Kanoa* WAKE UP PRIVATE! ARE FUCKING DEAF?! *screams with Drill Sergeant voice*

Kanoa: *wakes up suddenly, stands and salutes*

Nigel: *laughs* Holy shit it worked!

Tiala: You'll pass me the video?

Alicia: Hell yes *laughing* wow Noa! What good reflexes!

Kanoa: I'll have my revenge *sighs* but I want the video too

Alicia: Of course

Aly/Arjun (@welldonekhushi OC): *walking like normal people down the aisle*

Kanoa/Noah/Aditya: *from the archives room* InTo ThE uNkNoWn-!!

Aly: Uhh...

Alicia: *opens the conference room door* I wasn't the only one who heard that, was I?

Arjun: I heard it too *sighs dissapointed*

Alicia: Alright *looks at the archive room* I'll leave Luke to lead with this *shrugs* want some tea?

Aly: Yep! I have some things to tell too~

Alicia: Ohhh, nice

Arjun: ...Yeah, why not? *nods*

Kanoa/Noah/Aditya: INTO THE UNKNOWN!!!

Alicia/Arjun: *groan*

(90% of this came from pinterest but I lost the videos ;-; sorry. I hope you enjoy this!)

[darkmaga-retard]

Four retired military leaders criticized Democrat presidential nominee Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota for allegedly inflating his military record and avoiding deployment to Iraq during an interview on The Megyn Kelly Show that aired Monday.One of the retired leaders, Minnesota National Guard Command Sergeant Major (Ret.) Paul Herr, went as far as calling Walz a “habitual liar.”“He’s a habitual liar. He lies about everything! He lies about stuff that doesn’t make sense,” Herr said.Herr noted that Walz has lied about other important things as well.“He says all these things like, ‘I was a football coach.’ You were assistant coach and you were fired because of a DUI that you lied about being deaf to try and get out of whatever you were trying to get out of there,” he said.The accusations suggest that Walz’s portrayal of his military service may not fully align with the reality of his record.

[puppyexpressions]

30 Fun Dog Facts

1. The Labrador Retriever has been on the AKC’s top 10 most popular breeds list for longer than any other breed.

2. A dog’s nose print is unique, much like a person’s fingerprint.

3. Forty-five percent of U.S. dogs sleep in their owner’s beds.

4. Speaking of sleeping … all dogs dream, but puppies and senior dogs dream more frequently than adult dogs.

5. Seventy percent of people sign their dog’s name on their holiday cards.

6. A dog’s sense of smell is legendary, but did you know that their nose has as many as 300 million receptors? In comparison, a human nose has about 5 million.

7. Rin Tin Tin, the famous German Shepherd Dog, was nominated for an Academy Award.

8. Dogs’ noses can sense heat and thermal radiation, which explains why blind or deaf dogs can still hunt.

9. The French Bulldog was first named the most popular breed in 2022.

10. The name Collie means “black.” (Collies once tended black-faced sheep.)

11. Yawning is contagious — even for dogs. Research shows that the sound of a human yawn can trigger one from your dog. And it’s four times as likely to happen when it’s the yawn of a person your pet knows.

12. The Dandie Dinmont Terrier is the only breed named for a fictional person, a character in the novel “Guy Mannering” by Sir Walter Scott.

13. Dogs curl up in a ball when sleeping to protect their organs — a holdover from their days in the wild, when they were vulnerable to predator attacks.

14. The Basenji is not technically “barkless,” as many people think. They can yodel.

15. The Australian Shepherd is not actually from Australia. In fact, they are an American breed.

16. … And the Labrador Retriever is originally from Newfoundland.

17. Human blood pressure goes down when petting a dog. And so does the dog’s.

18. There are over 75 million pet dogs in the U.S. — more than in any other country.

19. A person who hunts with a Beagle is known as a “Beagler.”

20. Dogs are not color-blind. They can see blue and yellow.

21. All puppies are born deaf.

22. Dalmatians are born completely white. They develop their spots as they get older.

23. Dogs have about 1,700 taste buds. We humans have between 2,000 and 10,000.

24. When dogs kick backward after they go to the bathroom, it’s not to cover it up, but to mark their territory, using the scent glands in their feet.

25. A study shows that dogs are among a small group of animals who show voluntary unselfish kindness towards others without any reward.

26. The Norwegian Lundehund is the only dog breed created for the job of puffin hunting.

27. Greyhounds can beat cheetahs in a race. While cheetahs can run twice as fast as Greyhounds, they can only maintain that 70 mph speed for about thirty seconds. A Greyhound can maintain a 35 mph speed for about seven miles. The cheetah may start out first, but the Greyhound would soon overtake them.

28. The Bloodhound’s sense of smell is so accurate that the results of its tracking can be used as evidence in a court of law.

29. According to Guinness World Records, a Great Dane named Zeus is the world’s tallest male dog. Zeus is 3 feet, 5.18 inches tall.

30. What about the shortest dog? According to Guinness World Records, the shortest dog ever recorded was Pearl the Chihuahua. She measures 3.59 inches tall.

[agentem]

Marvel finally released a trailer for Echo. Happy Native American Heritage Month, I guess.

Every behind-the-scenes thing I have heard about this is negative. I imagine it will be similar to Secret Invasion in that all these actors are great but there might not be enough there there.

My big hope is that Alaqua Cox will continue to have a career after this. Hawkeye was her first acting job and she was so good that they were like, "let's give her her own show!" So I think she is talented but she still has no other film credits outside of Marvel.

Most of the posts about this trailer I have seen are about the brief glimpse of Charlie Cox as Daredevil or about D'onofrio coming back as Kingpin which does annoy me even though I like both of those actors a lot.

Like when She-Hulk came out everyone complained each week Charlie Cox didn't show up and I don't want that to happen to Alaqua Cox.

Look how bad ass she looks! Put her in all the action movies, guys! She could totally beat up aliens or Nazis or something. I'd watch that movie.

Like did you know the Disabled Community is the LARGEST "minority" group in the United States (1 in 4 people!) or about 26% of Americans but only about 3 percent of film and TV characters are disabled (and they are often not played by disabled actors, that's a whole other can of worms). Anyway, that measly 3 percent was considered a "record high". It's sad.

Anyway, I just wrote a presentation about disability is media so I'm psyched to see this deaf character beat up that blind character.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

New Rule: The War on the West | Real Time with Bill Maher

New Rule: For all the progressives and academics who refer to Israel as an "outpost of Western civilization" like it's a bad thing, please note: Western civilization is what gave the world pretty much every goddamn liberal precept that Liberals are supposed to adore.

Individual liberty, scientific inquiry, rule of law, religious freedom, women's rights, human rights, democracy, trial by jury, freedom of speech. Please somebody, stop us before we Enlighten again.

And since one can find all these concepts in today's Israel and virtually nowhere else in the Middle East, if anything, the world would be a better place if it had more Israels.

Of course, this message falls on deaf ears to the current crop who reduce everything to being only victims or victimizers, so Israel is lumped in as the toxic fruit of the victimizing West. The irony being that all marginalized people live better today because of western ideals, not in spite of them.

Martin Luther King used Henry David Thoreau's essay "Civil Disobedience" to help shape the Civil Rights Movement. The UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights owes its core to Rousseau and Voltaire. Kleisthenes never showed up for a sexual harassment seminar, but without him there's no democracy. The cop who murdered George Floyd got 21 years for violating his Fourth Amendment rights, an idea we got directly from John Locke, who no one in college would ever study anymore because he's so old, and so white, and so dead, and so Western.

Yes, that's how simple the Woke are. It's never about ideas. If it was, would they be cheering on Hamas for their liberation? Liberation? To do what? More freely preside over a country where there are no laws against sexual harassment, spousal rape, domestic violence, homophobia, honor killings or child marriage. This is who liberals think you should stand with? Women there should be so lucky as to get colonized by anybody else.

And for the record, the Jews didn't "colonize" Israel or anywhere ever, except maybe Boca Raton. Gaza wasn't seized by Israel like India or Kenya was by the British Empire. And the partitioning of the region wasn't decided by Jews, but by a vote of the United Nations in 1947 with everyone from Russia to Haiti voting for it. But apparently, they don't teach this at Drag Queen Story Hour anymore.

Now it is true that for too long we didn't study enough Asian or African or Latin American history. But part of the reason for that is, frankly, there's not as much to study. Colleges replaced courses in Western Civ -- boo! Eyeroll! Dead white men, am I right? -- they replace that with World Civilization classes, which is fine in theory, but what it meant in practice is you read queer poetry of the African diaspora instead of Shakespeare. And I'm sure there's value in both, but as usual, America only ever overcorrects.

And so, we're at this place now where the words "western civ" became kind of a shorthand for "white people ruined everything." But they didn't ruin everything. No, they didn't live up to their own ideals for far too long and committed atrocities. But people back then were all atrocious, not just the white ones depending on who had the power.

But it was the western Enlightenment that gave rise to the notion that the law of the jungle should be curbed. Henry David Thoreau. John Stewart Mill. Ralph Waldo Emerson. Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Three-named dudes. It was all about three-named dudes. Three-named dudes like that were the OG social justice warriors. The ideas that came through Athens, Rome, London, Paris, and yes Philadelphia, are what make life good for most people in free societies today. That the individuals have value, and even the powers that be must submit to the rule of law. That punishment should not be cruel and unusual. That accused people get a trial. That there is such a thing as a war crime.

Why is it that every other culture gets a pass, but the West is exclusively the sum of the worst things it's ever done? You think only white people colonized? Historians estimate that the very non-western Mr Genghis Khan killed 40 million people, and that was in the 13th century. He single-handedly may have reduced the world's population by 11%. On the other hand, he kind of made up for it, because he was such a prolific colonizer of vaginas that today an estimated 16 million people are his direct descendants.

So, stop saying "western civilization" like it's a contradiction in terms. It's not. You're thinking of "moderate Republican."

==

The people who snarl "western civilization" went to elite universities with air conditioning where they used their MacBook Pros and iPhones on extensive Wi-Fi networks.

[ohtobeleah]

Amilia and Jake are just so cute in the beginning. I love them. But it hurts to know how messed up they get.

For me, Amilia is my comfort character. You guys get the reader. I get Amilia

Side Series to Terms of Endearment

Terms of Endearment // Jake Seresin

Tattoos & Broken Hearts //

For what it was worth—Amilia didn’t know how to feel when she came face to face with her ex in the waiting area of her place of employment on the Mid-North Coast of New South Wales. It was a shock to the system she’d been clawing her way back to the surface to protect. Jake Seresin was a long way away from Fightertown. 

Amilia had been bedridden for weeks, depressed beyond belief. She knew her worth and she knew her value but fuck Jake had really done a number on her. It probably didn’t help that she left Australia in search of something more—that more turned out to be Jake. As she stood before Jake in the waiting room of the gym, Amilia knew that in hindsight, placing all her value and all her worth on the shoulders of one man probably wasn’t her best decision in life. She should have just gone to the Queen Mary like she wanted to—in search of a good ghost scare. But no—she shacked up with Hangman.

Who, shockingly, left her hanging. 

“I know I fucked up—but please just let me talk?” Jake had been a broken record ever since that moment where Amilia learnt the fate of what happened to Jake’s wife. She’d been annulled. But there was something inside her that was telling her not to give him the time of day. 

He didn’t deserve it. He didn’t deserve her and Amilia was absolutely adamant that she deserved a hell of a lot better than Jake. It didn’t matter if she had his stupid callsign tattooed on his hip, she was getting it removed. It didn’t matter if she still loved him. She wasn’t good enough for him, that’s why he married someone who was. 

Right? 

“Yeah—no something tells me that if I let you talk I’ll listen and I’m not sure if I’m stable enough to deal with whatever repercussions come with that.” Amilia laughed at herself as she walked to the front desk, Jake trailed behind her like a lost puppy as all her coworkers on reception watched on like they were the first viewers of a new reality TV series. Starring Amilia herself and the American Psycho. 

“Amilia please, I just need to talk with you—“ As she put the keys back to the sound system in the cupboard at reception, Amilia cracked it at the man who broke her heart. She loved him still—oh so much, but she wasn’t a second choice. “I’m here, I came all this way to see you and—“ 

“I don’t wanna talk, Jake!” She raised her voice loud enough that the people on the nearby treadmills turned their attention away from their workout to the fuss going on at reception. “I’m sorry you came all this way but I don’t owe you anything.” 

“Oz—“ Jake pleaded, but it only fell on deaf ears. 

“Don’t call me that!” Again she raised her voice a little louder than she should have. Amilia felt all eyes on her as she ran her hand through her sweaty hair. Just fresh from teaching a class. “It wasn’t commitment  you were afraid of it was just doing it with me that scared you—and don’t stand here and lie to me Seresin because you got hitched!” Jake watched as Amilia fixed her gym bag over her shoulder and tried to keep herself together. She turned to her colleague and faked a phony smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow Michelle, sorry about Flyboy here he must have left his manners at customs.” 

“Amilia—“ Jake was on her tail, following her out the automatic doors that swung open at the sight of people. “All I’m asking for is five minutes—“ 

“Four hours south will get you back to Sydney and seven and a half hours north will get you to Brisbane CBD—but you aren’t staying here, not in my hometown where I live and work and people know me.” It was beginning to dawn on Jake that he may have flown all this way for nothing, perhaps there was nothing left to salvage, no love left to reclaim. But he wasn’t about to let Amilia Fisher slip through his fingers again. 

“I already booked a hotel.” Jake had begun to slow down, he placed his hands in the pockets of his jeans and came to a standstill as Amilia kept walking. She didn’t even turn around to see if Jake was still following her or not. But after a few seconds of regulating his breathing—Jake pressed on and met up with the only love he ever knew as she placed her gym gear into the boot of her car. 

“You’re right you know—“ Jake sighed as he waited for Amilia to slam his fingers into the groove of her two thousand and eighteen Honda Accord. But she didn’t. She just stood there with the saddest eyes Jake had ever seen and a quivering bottom lip. He could see she was shaking just by the way her hand trembled around the clasp on the boot. “You don’t owe me a single thing.” 

“I loved you—“ Was all Amilia could muster the courage to say. 

“I loved you too, I still do.” Jake replied with enough conviction in his tone that for a split moment Amilia could have believed him. But how could she when Jake let her go so easily just to turn around and marry someone else. “I came here to see you, I needed to see you just to tell you how sorry I am for messing this, us, up.” 

“Well I’m glad you got to get that off your chest.” Amilia pressed her lips together in a tight line as she pushed your hand against Jake's sternum to will him away from her car. He moved with ease because he wasn’t about to stop her from leaving. “Go home, Flyboy, just go home and leave me the hell alone.” 

“I’m here on an extended leave of absence.” In a last stitch effort to get Amilia to listen, Jake told her the truth. “I couldn’t focus at work because you were all I could think about day in and day out and I was grounded. Until I can sort my shit out I’m on a leave of absence.” He sighed as he watched Amilia clip in her seatbelt and start up her car. She hadn’t shit the door yet. Jake lowered himself down, resting his hands on his knees. 

“You are so not going to put that you couldn’t pull yourself together enough to do your job on me.” Amilia scoffed out loud. That wasn’t fair. “I had to drag myself out of bed, me, I showed up for me Jake, so show up for yourself.” He could hear it in her voice how hurt Amilia truly was. 

“I never meant to hurt you Ozzie—and I’m sorry, I just wanna talk.” 

Amilia didn’t respond straight away, she simply sat there wondering if she’d ever get over the American Aviator who stole her heart and never gave it back. She thought she was crazy as her internal monologue kicked in and begged her not to do it. Not to let him back in. 

But she did it anyway— 

“My flatmate is working the dinner shift at Sails, if you come by we can talk.” Jake could have jumped up and punched the air he was that thankful. “My address is 40 Crescent Street, apartment 17.” 

“Can you do me a favour and unblock my number so I can at least text you when I arrive?” Jake sent Amilia the cheekiest grin he could conjure up and for a split second he heard it, her laugh, the laugh he heard in his wildest dreams and fantasies. 

Amilia simply smiled back as she watched Jake step away from her car and shut it for her, he watched as she rolled down her window. Slowly but surely pulling out of the car park. 

“I’ll consider it.” 

She wasn’t getting that tattoo removed. 

***~***~***~***~***~***~***~***~**

Tags: @a-serene-place-to-be @lilyevanswhore @thescarletknight2014 @blindedbythelightt @averyhotchner @emma8895eb @blairfox04 @caitsymichelle13 @oxxolovemelikeyoudooxxo @teacupsandtopgun @aemondssiut @feltonswifesworld87 @akalei349 @notjustsomeblonde @americaarse @avaleineandafryingpan @phoenix1388 @xoxabs88xox @je-suis-prest-rachel @pono-pura-vida @rosiahills22 @starset21 @anarchyrising @caidi-paris @starkleila @criticalroleobssedperson @enchantingdreamergothprune @flrboyd @emma8895eb @endofdays56

[anteabbie]

Assigning American historical figures favorite bands except its my music taste

Disclaimer: this is for shits and giggles. There’s obviously no real way to know how they’d feel about these bands. I listen to a lot of 60s-90s rock, so I’ll be sticking in that sorta era. Amrev to Civil War-ish.

George Washington: OG American. He’d like a lot of OG rock, like the Beatles, Elvis, etc etc. also a big blues guy.

Henry Clay: He’d like majority of rock I feel. I cant see him as a huge metal fan tho, the hardest he listens to is maybe Led Zeppelin. Huge prog guy, has a LOT of prog records. Would specifically love the Moody Blues. Listen to Days of Future Passed, you’ll see.

Ulysses Grant: nothing. He was tone deaf.

John Brown: hard rock guy, loves bands like Deep Purple.

Charles Sumner: Charlie, my beloved. He’d love all types of rock music. Closet metal and grunge fan, but open with his love of most rock. Huge ELP guy.

Margaret Eaton: Man why not throw her in here. Huge glam rock girl. Has multiple posters of bands like Mötley Crüe, all of which terrify John.

Alexander Hamilton: huge 80s pop guy. Huge Wham! fan, Thomas Jefferson uses this against him.

Daniel Webster: would be IN the band. In all seriousness he’s a huge dad rock guy. Obsesses over bands like Supertramp. In the modern day he’d either be a bassist or drummer.

John Eaton: knocking both Eatons out in one post. Damn. Anyway’s he’s a huge soft rock guy, think bands like the Eagles. Hates his wife’s music taste, vice versa.

John Calhoun: would hate anything rock related unless it’s Lynyrd Skynyrd or the Eagles (they get by just enough due to thier country sound). Country guy, but not cool vintage, modern kid rock kinda country.

Andrew Jackson: metal elitest. Huge Sabbath guy, but also likes the big 4 thrash metal bands. Hates any other genre of music.

Abraham Lincoln: BIG PROG GUY. Would try and introduce prog to everyone around him, including his wife and kids. Nobody would like it tho (oof).

Lmk if you want a part two and who I should include 🙏

[papaver-decervicatus]

go on bestie give us your roach headcanons 👀

Oh no!! I sort of don’t want to answer this now because I am manifesting that he’ll be in MWIII, but sure! I’ll give some! (Roach girlies rise up) These are just the silly ones, don’t take em too seriously.  Enjoy beneath the read more! Continued from Simon's Page

Birthday, April 1st, 1993

MW REBOOT TIMELINE

Like I said, childhood friends with Simon “Ghost” Riley

Born and raised in Manchester. His father (Michael) is a union Steelworker who often took Roach to work with him. His mother (Sapphire) is a teacher at a school for the deaf. 

His parents met at the secondary school for the deaf that Sapphire now works at. Michael lost his hearing due to a congenital condition fully around the age of 10, he was born in the US but moved to Manchester at 12. Sapphire (her real name is Busarakam, but she went by Sapphire once she moved to the UK) was born deaf in Thailand and immigrated with her family to Manchester when she was around High School age. 

High school sweethearts, fell in love and never fell out of it. 

Roach is an only child. 

His parents adored Simon and Tommy. Considered them their own. Sapphire in particular showed her love for the two by frequently sending them home with “extra” food. 

Gary Sanderson is an American name, if not THE American name. It is the equivalent of an American Writer naming a Japanese School Girl "Sakura Kokoro." His dad has to be from the USA.

Michael Sanderson was from the Appalachian region of the USA, so Gary grew up very superstitious. 

Don’t whistle in the dark

Wear your coat backward if you think something is following you in the woods.

Sasquatch is real. That’s just a fact. If you see one, no you didn’t. Fuck off and run. 

The hills have eyes. 

The trees have eyes. 

The water has ears. 

It is out to get you. 

What is it? 

Doesn’t matter. 

It’s out for you, boy. 

Never play with fortune telling in any form or fashion.

Go the opposite way of where a black cat has crossed you.

Don't accept fiddling duels from strangers.

Throw salt over your shoulder when you spill it.

Don’t trust the government when they tell you you don’t need a union.

Don't wash clothes on a Sunday.

You know. The usual. 

Simon spent about half his life with the Sandersons during summers and breaks. Became fluent in BSL as a result. 

Gary is much more slender (but still built) than Simon but he is half an inch taller and uses every opportunity available to remind Simon of that fact. 

Before joining the Army or SAS Gary had a shitton of scars from being the least coordinated skateboarder ever. 

Once had to go to the hospital because he stabbed himself with a flip knife he had in his belt when he fell off his board while going 35 mph down a hill. 

Simon voice “What the fuck, Gary?”

His biggest hobby growing up was collecting obsolete music media and tinkering. 

Prized possession is a portable FM/AM radio with a built-in cassette player that he found in the garbage and fixed himself.

His favorite cassette was Nevermind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols by the Sex Pistols. It was a last-minute birthday gift from Simon because he forgot Roach’s birthday when they were 13. Simon stole it from his dad. 

Extensive record, CD, cassette collection that was entirely unsupervised and unchecked. Was definitely listening to shit he should not have been as a kid.

RTO for the SAS

Natural talent for mechanical engineering, give him a blueprint and 15 minutes and he could fix nearly anything. 

On his 20th birthday (Also, April Fool's Day) he managed to play Barbie Girl by Aqua on 6 speakers on base at exactly 04:20.

No one knows how he did it, and no one knows it was him except Simon and two other corporals from their squad.

Simon voice "What the fuck, Gary."

Taught Simon how to drive. 

Should not have taught Simon how to drive. 

Simon would have been better off learning how to drive from literal Roadkill than Gary Roach “Fuck it we Ball” Sanderson. 

Energetic-thrill-seeker, could not sit still to save his life. Always doing something. 

Narrowly avoided arrest as a teen after sending a lit shopping cart (yes. On fire. Don’t ask how he set the metal on fire in the first place, a true artist never tells their secrets,) down a residential street. 

Simon played interference and deliberately pointed the cops in the wrong direction. 

He didn’t know that Gary was the one who set it on fire because he didn’t see him do it, but like. The first thing he thought when he saw it was “What the fuck, Gary.”

He was, of course, correct. 

Has a habit of sleeping under beds? Always took the bottom bunk.

Can sleep through anything. Slept through a helicopter crash. How? Don’t ask, not even Roach knows. 

He grew up sleeping underneath Simon’s bed when he would stay over and when they got to the service it was not unusual for a commanding officer to send Simon to go fetch Gary for morning warm-ups. 

Used to go to goth bars with Simon to keep the carnage of a hot headed Simon to a minimum. 

Never considered himself goth, but he was attached to Simon at the hip so of course they’d go together. 

They’d sneak in by bribing bouncers with cigarettes or just plain old-fashioned going through the bathroom windows on the occasion that cheap bribery didn’t work. 

Once, Simon was getting pummeled because he didn’t know what lace code was and found out the hard way when he wore white laces with black docs (a massive mistake, especially for a pasty dude with a blond buzz cut) and Gary intercepted the fight and had three beer bottles smashed on his head and didn’t bat an eye. 

Hard headed. Literally. 

They never went back to that bar, but Simon did learn from his mistake and changed his laces back to black. 

It was an honest to goodness mistake, but Simon did mope about it for a while.

Rock paper scissors champion. Anytime, anywhere, best two out of three, he always wins. When asked, he says he learned how to always read his opponent by practicing playing by himself. This usually leads to more questions than answers, but its the only answer Gary's got.

Got addicted to cigarettes after Simon started smoking them at 14 to prove he was “a real man” to his father. Gary, never one to leave a friend alone, also started smoking. 

His favorite party trick in the SAS was to eat lit cigarettes for cash. 

Once again, often behavior that CO’s left Simon Ghost “What the fuck, Gary” Riley to deal with.

Is similar to Gaz in the way that he’s absolutely a practical joker with a surprisingly strong moral compass.

He’s deceptively airheaded, he overhears a ton of shit because people figure that he simply won’t tell, but oh. He will. 

Gary and Gaz met briefly after Roach’s retirement, the two are affectionately referred to as “Singles” and “Doubles” by Price and Simon for the numbers of ‘R’s in Gary and Garrick. 

Surprisingly emotionally intelligent, good-natured dude. Wishes nobody harm, goes along to get along, friendly and all around decent.

Florida man but Bri’ish. 

The army bloke of all time. Stupid, broke, loyal, and physically strong. 

I love him.

With all my heart. 

Thank you for coming to my tedtalk. 

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

When Valentine Low broke the news of M bullying the Palace staffs, she immediately barked back saying this is a smear campaign against her. Now the Hollywood Reporter asked for their comments before they release their article and she had no comments on it.

So she's only brave enough to demean and thrash the UK staffs? Doesn't dare to say anything against their American staffs huh? Why does she do that RTA?

She can pass off bullying the Brits as xenophobia (they hate her because she’s a foreigner) and cultural differences. Remember, Meghan’s whole clapback to the British bullying allegations is that she’s a go-getter American and that work ethic contrasts with British work culture*. She can get away with that in the UK because she’s hedging her bets that the majority of people have never worked with Americans or know Americans personally and thus think she’s telling the truth.

*But even that’s not a solid defense for her. I’m reminded of a story - it’s either from Low or Bower, but maybe Spare? - where Meghan strolled into the KP offices late in the morning and announced that she brought bagels for breakfast. No one reacted and the staff felt it was actually tone-deaf of her to stroll in at 11 announcing breakfast when they’d been working for a few hours already. So right away, Meghan’s claims that she’s a go-getter American boss are debunked because no one who calls herself a go-getter is delaying her arrival to the office by 5-6 hours so she can do yoga and talk to her friends back home in California - as claimed in Finding Freedom.

She can’t do that here because we’ll call it out for the bullshit it is, because we all know better and we know the difference between the go-getter American boss babe Meghan wants us to think she is and the toxic narcissist boss dick she actually is. Meghan wants us to think she’s Miranda Priestly with the charm of Leslie Knope but she’s really just Mr. Burns dressed up as Jan Levinson.

For the record, American work ethic actually comes from the Puritans: it’s working hard all day every day to pull yourself up by the bootstraps but when the workday ends, the workday ends. It’s why we have shit maternity/parental leave and have practically no vacation time (compared to other countries) - because the Puritans sucked the fun out of everything and then when the class divide happened during the Industrial Revolution, the rich got richer, the poor got poorer, and everyone developed the mindset of “well, it was like that for me and I persevered so why should I make it better for you?” (Which, by the way, is 1-the main debate today over welfare programs and 2-why the ‘rags to riches’/Cinderella story works so well here, for any non-Americans here.)

Well, that was a very-so-far-off-the-road-we-can’t-see-it-anymore tangent.

Anyway. Getting back to the point. Which is that all the excuses Meghan gave to justify, or blame others for, her behavior in the UK doesn’t work here. She knows it and she’s stuck. That’s why she isn’t talking. Her whole game is over when the Americans start talking because while we don’t always get along, one of the very few things that all Americans agree on is bad bosses suck and rude celebrities that bully everyone are the worst.

Now, where’s my Swingline red stapler? And why couldn’t Dolly sing 10-3?

[prof-polaris]

can you tell us a bit about your animals? the ones that live with you?

[Audio Recording Translated From: Japanese, To: {Language Corrupted}]

["Ohhhh thank God, much easier topic for me."

"Well, you've already heard about the dogs, Orion, Tag, Hyde, Anne, Zeike, and Cobbler..."

"We have a few cats! Maple and Linnea are mine. Maps is a Ginger tabby, and Linnea is more a sandy color. Linnea is deaf, and she and Maple are a bonded pair. Kittsu has Aeries, she's an Abysinnian but don't let the expensive breed fool you that cat is a freak of nature and I mean it so fondly. Sprite has Jester, he's a Sphyx with purple skin, those are hairless cats. He's...also very strange. Likes to bring home- ah. Gifts."

"We have a few more exotic animals as well, mostly rehabs from work! There's Nymbus the snowy owl, Petra the albino Douglas Squirrel, and Graupel the black bear. Very grumpy fellow him, but almost done with treatment."

"Oh! And of course, Bird has her stickbug."] [Aiki's voice hushes to a lower tone.] ["This is a secret. Can't tell anyone. But, I'm working on getting Sprite a service dog for himself. His name is Reed, and he's just the sweetest little fellow. He's an American Water Spaniel, and I think they're going to be perfect for each other."]

[todaysdocument]

Crow Indian Chiefs, captured at Custer Battlefield, Montana, Nov. 7th and imprisoned at Ft. Snelling, MN, 11/15/1887.

Series: American Indians, 1881 - 1885

Record Group 165: Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs, 1860 - 1952

Image description: Eight Crow men in traditional clothing, including blankets, beaded necklaces, and braided hair. Crazy-Head, Chief, is wearing a brimmed hat and a fur instead of a blanket. Their names are listed in a caption. Standing: Looks-with-his-Ears, Rock, The-man-that-carries-his-food, Bank; seated: Deaf Bull, Big-Hail-Stone, CRAZY-HEAD, Chief, Crazy-Head’s Son.