#detachment from reality

[thisgingerhasnosoul]

I think the most ridiculously stupid thing about the current western anti-Zionist movement is how much they hate my actual stance on the I/P region. Not the war, necessarily—but the longterm solution.

Because, like, my only criteria for a “good” longterm solution to I/P is one which honors both peoples’ (Jews and Palestinians) cultural ties and rights to the land; one that takes both their concerns—especially that of safety—seriously and accounts for it. The details? That’s something people better and smarter and more powerful than I can debate and hammer out—but anything less than the unwavering commitment to respecting the rights and humanity of all affected parties is an unacceptable outcome, and I cannot for the life of me understand how that could be offensive to anyone.

And YET.

[reesiereads]

How much time do you think Monty spent at the library while he was human?

I mean, he chose to bump into the group specifically at the library—and more than that he already had books checked out. He understood that astrology book so well he made Edwin an entire astrological chart.

Not only that but a lot of the things Monty says and does sound like something he could have picked up from novels. “I didn’t get your number” Esther is from the colonial times, I doubt he would have picked that up from her and who else would he be talking to? “Do you want to go get coffee?” Aka one of the most common romance fiction tropes of all time.

Like I absolutely believe Monty worked his way through a monster amount of books and tried to peace together how to act based on that. Even the set up on the swings feels like it could be torn out of a romance book. And maybe that’s part of why he took the rejection so harshly (other then Edwin’s admittedly blunt/hurtful response). Books hardly if ever show rejection.

It could even explain why when he’s discussing it with Edwin he states “you said you don’t love me.” Where the hell would he have gotten love from? I doubt Esther’s spouting off about love with her history. If Monty had read a romance book or two he might have assumed what he felt for Edwin was love simply because in stories that’s how it goes: meet, attraction, flirt, kiss, love. He’s spent his whole life as a crow, how is he to know better?

[starsnores]

i don't have someone irl i can talk to about this stuff and in my daily allotted twitter time i saw something and it keeps bugging me so i'm just gonna rant here for a second and i might delete it later because twitter is mind poison and i shouldn't be think about it this much but i need to tell Someone about this or i'll go crazy.

The patriarchy isn't a system that rewards masculinity above all else, it is a system meant to keep straight cis men in power and prescribes people roles based on sex characteristics at birth (often forcibly assigning people a role) and deviation from those roles is reacted to with violence to "correct" it, and trans men are oppressed under the patriarchy bc of this. Idk how to say this delicately, but if someone is born with a womb they are seen as a broodmare. Women and people socially pressured to be women are valued primarily based on their ability to give birth. The same social pressure that tells a trans woman she isn't a "real woman" bc she can't give birth is the same that scare mongers about "irreversible damage" and the fertility of peoples "daughters" and it's just so frustrating to go on twitter and see people being deliberately stupid and obtuse about this. What gets to me most is the backhanded affirmation. These people aren't saying "trans men are men" bc they care about respecting trans men, they just wanna erase the idea that these men face any oppression for being trans.

[kaiserouo]

fuck weekly meeting

[hacked-wtsdz]

So tired of jk rowling demonisation. Yeah the woman hates trans people. She also spent amounts most of y’all have never seen on humanitarian causes and charities. She is not a one hundred percent horrible person deserving of shunning. Are people allergic to nuance

[remusawoooo]

I'm all about curating my content and ignoring ships I don't like, BUTTTT

isn't there something so insidious about taking a character that was vehemently against dark magic and supremacy (to the extent of giving his life fighting them) and shipping him with a voldemort fanatic who couldn't wait to become a death eater.

[gojoest]

daydreaming is so magical ✨

[sher-ee]

It is quite wild to see people who will twist themselves into a pretzel defending this man despite volumes and volumes of proof and first hand accounts that reveal what a disgusting, morally bankrupt grifter that he is. Sadly, the DJT effect will remain in this country long after he is dead and buried. It has forever changed the way we interact with each other. The way we observe each other. The way we trust each other.

The damage this one man has done to our country is truly staggering.

[broomsick]

Tell me you don’t understand the Gods without telling me you don’t understand the Gods 

Pagan tiktok: cancel culture applies to deities and the myths provide sufficient justification behind said cancellation

[thewither129]

We need to relentlessly bully non-americans telling us how to handle our government

“organize” bitch WHAT

Oh and dont get me STARTED on MLs and maoists. Everyone with🔻 in their name. Watermelon gang is usually smart and reasonable. Red triangles are basically hamaslings.

Look at this shit.

Before i begin, i am pro-palestine. In fact, i hated israel before it was cool. Joking about a kid throwing a rock across the border and getting carpet bombed for it. Then it got real. They bomb kids for being secret hitlers or hamas agents. Oct. 7 was a tragedy for palestine. Decades of torment, and ONE retaliatory strike brands palestine as terrorists who deserve to be glassed.

But these people are deeply brainrotten.

In case i actually have to explain my original tweet quoting that fuckwit, the point being made is not based in reality. Its so fundamentally dishonest im not really sure how to engage beyond asking them to remove their fingers so they never type something so stupid ever again.

This actual troglodyte looked at i, a transgender lesbian in america, with Donald J. Trump threatening to take my rights away, and calls ME privileged for, let me see here, ah yes, NOT WANTING THAT TO HAPPEN. And apparently this is “at the expense of palestine.”

“If i was american-“ no. Shut. You are worthless. You have no horse in this race. Get out. “-id vote for the guy who wants gaza glassed and to ban transitioning out of spite” genuinely. ROT. Actually completely vile behavior.

I get called a liberal. Then a nazi.

For not wanting to have my identity and rights stripped from me.

Then this other absolute megamind over here screenshots an obvious joke and calls me a fed or lobotomite.

But the AUDACITY to call me privileged when im struggling for my fucking right to live my life as myself.

Marxism-Leninism, everybody. A faux-progressive “ideology” that masks stalinism as communism and can be boiled down to anti-america contrarianism.

Listen. Kamala Harris is miles from perfect. Shes a liberal democrat and a former DA. Shes not anti-israel. But shes not a hardline zionist like biden, and shes dedicatedly pro-LGBT+. Shes probably the best we could ask for and the best we’ve gotten in a looong time. Shes VP to the first openly pro-trans president. And her opponents are *him* and a plant so bad hes pulling votes from the guy he was supposed to help.

To any dumbass that wants to pull the “yeah well if this vote we sacrifice palestine, next is mexico. Then trans. Then this. Then that,” your argument is moot, because thats not how this works. Cus this is not the first election to happen during the one-sided war over gaza. Israel has been trying to steal it for almost a century. I sincerely hope no one doing anti-electoralism cus of israel has ever voted before, cus you voted for a zionist. Sorry pal. Thats life. (Though theyre probably too young to vote anyway.)

Back to my point, the dems are not getting pushed right. Theyre moving left. Very slowly, but they are. Only the right has gone further right. Not the dems. This is not a slow burn instead of fast burn deal. Israel is a special case. Israel is like the USA’s lapdog in the middle east. We lay out the red carpet for Netanyahu as he spits on us, and we let him cus hes our precious little spoiled brat child who got everything he ever wanted handed to him.

America sucks. Yes. We let the modern day hitler walk in and spout propaganda and we applaud him. We have wannabe hitler dodging criminal charges and running for president with MAJOR backing. But what the fuck do you expect me, a broke 20yo trans girl, to do about that? All i CAN do is vote.

Does it not come off as extremely privileged to say “well you should sacrifice your rights to do absolutely nothing for a bunch of people being genocided”? Cus i can tell you right now. Me doing any kind of protest that involves stopping Harris will get trump elected. Trump will let them turn gaza into a parking lot. Trump will let them hunt down refugees. Trump will kill all palestinians, ruin america, and then he will ruin the world.

There are millions of voters who do not give a shit about gaza and never will. Plenty of them have been brainwashed into thinking israel is in the right. They wont care. They WILL vote red.

We HAVE to vote blue to stop them. If you cant grasp that, you have no right to speak on american politics. You are uninformed.

This is not a trivial election. This is America. Possibly the most powerful nation on the planet. The effects of this election will impact the world.

Like it or not, and god knows i dont, thats how it is.

I hate the democrats, but Kamala Harris is the path of hope. Thats so fucking corny, but it is what it is.

Sorry for the rant. If any ML with a heart reads this, please understand that this is what you are a part of. How actually awful people in that group are. If you are a non-american, i dont actually hate you. Just annoying self righteous pricks.

If you are palestinian or related to palestinians, i am so so sorry for what youre going through. I sincerely wish there was something i could do. Its actually heartbreaking how awful the israeli government is and what theyre doing to you, and how twisted this whole thing is.

If youre a fellow member of the LGBT+ community, i love you, and i care about you. You are valued.

My fellow americans, please vote for Harris.

Sorry for the rant. TL; DR: Euroids are brainless, red triangle emoji = hamasling, watermelon emoji = real palestine supporter, Harris 2024.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

Free Palestine.

[allamericansbitch]

you’re ‘frustrated with the state of the fandom’ solely because you have no issue with ignorance and can look past it but actually most sane people are frustrated at the state of the world and how taylor herself could be helping with her ungodly amount of influence and power but instead she’s befriending transphobic trump supporters, racists, and abusers. we are not the same.

[baradyke]

craziest tags i've seen today

[thisgingerhasnosoul]

Someone reblogged one of my posts with these tags and it gave me the ick so I decided to scroll through their blog.

I’ll give you three guesses as to what I found.

[detectiveneve]

hello! i can't remember if you answered this in your wonderful astarion romance meta [THAT I CANNOT FIND AGAIN FOR SOME REASON...], but when he propositions us for a second time -- with the series of pick-up lines that we can cheekily call him out on -- do you think he's still in the 'i'm just trying to keep you on my side' stage, or is there maybe some interest in us beyond that?

Hello!! Ahh thank you, you might mean this one? I have another one where I broke down a separate scene so if it’s that one, I can dig for it! But!!!!

I’m currently phone-bound so I can’t grab my usual quotes screencaps BUT I DO have thoughts on that scene, so let me ramble—

for the scene you’re referencing in particular, I really do think there’s a degree of projection from the player (ie what you think this scene means for astarion and your tav is up to you) and personal interpretation for the pacing in here—so if someone else sees it differently or sees it paced differently for their tav, I can definitely get that. however, for me, this scene sort of represents this very interesting shift in the relationship, but not because astarion is developing interest, but because of how he’s acting around tav now that he knows he has tav’s interest secured.

in short: I do think this scene happens still mostly in “I’m manipulating you to keep myself safe,” territory BUT. What’s interesting is that astarion isn’t making any attempts to disguise that anymore. prior to this scene, his two potential propositions (both the one he initiates pre-goblin camp and the one that happens during the goblin party), while not necessarily “natural,” and most certainly not rooted in the first bloomings of a crush, or whatever, there’s a conscious effort to disguise his routine and, in essence, genuine seduction through appealing to Tav, trying to incite desire, etc. — he’s lying and when you know he’s lying it’s obvious, but there’s wiggle room for Tav to genuinely think, hey, this guy is interested in me. but the scene you’re referencing—“here’s my little treat with their cheeks all flushed…” “three little words. everyone’s favorite. I love you. (that would be a lie.) but a very sweet lie,” or whatever he says at the end there—descends very quickly into teasing (almost taunting) that is VERY heavy handed and very gleeful in how he almost …. dangles the falsehood of it in front of you.

there’s multiple ways you can interpret that. is he getting more egregious in his flirting because he feels like he doesn’t have to try as hard, but still TRIES? is he revealing the truth behind the facade because he’s starting, on some level, to feel comfortable enough to reveal THAT if nothing else? I’m less convinced by the second, more convinced by the first, but myyyy personal interpretation of that scene is one that kind of….. is within the romance but removed from it in terms of. I don’t think it’s about tav here, really. I think it’s about astarion.

to elaborate, I think that there’s a kind of thrill in this moment — astarion has been an object for sex and desire for 200 years, and he’s still doing that, still playing that role, but now he’s doing it without the overarching crushing influence of cazador behind him; his safety within the group is relatively secured now; there is less..... external (or perceived external) pressure to keep up the act, but he still does it. which I think results in him almost……. outright telling you that it’s false? like a kind of release, to say that the I love you is a lie, and you know that, and I know that, and I don’t have to FULLY pretend so, in his own way, he doesn't--he tugs and pulls at emotion, and kind of .... invites Tav into the lie, in a sense (thank god there's no option to say "I love you too," here, I worry that fans would take it and mean it sincerely. like. AUCK). maybe there's almost a vindictive thrill to getting to basically display his exaggeration. or maybe he's pushing at the boundaries of what tav & he have here, seeing how far he's sunk in. playing the role still, but at the end, you know it's at least partially an act. either way, poking and prodding like that, to me, isn't motivated by blooming squishy feelings. rather, it's something less sweet, less romance-y to boot, but more interesting for the character as a whole. or maybe that's just my own bias--I tend to find the Soft Squishy Romance to be the least interesting aspect OF the romantic dynamic. also, to be clear, I'm not trying to soften it up with elaboration here. taking away the context of astarion's history and past, what he's doing here is really just mean. it's a kind of cruel thing to so starkly display that you dont really give a fuck about the feelings of the person in front of you--enough to throw flirting and emotional barbs of "I love you," at them just for the laugh of it. it's a bitch move, but it's an interesting one, and I rarely see the conjunction of His Meanness discussed with how it manifests due to his history-- it makes complete sense and it's FASCINATING.

there is ONE thing I'll say, and that in the dialogue branch where you say, "Are you having fun?" or something along those lines, he says, "I am! It's hard not to, with you." and that, I do believe to be sincere, in its own way. I do think Astarion is having fun with Tav out on the road, being with them, being with the group, enjoying the show so to speak, and exploring his newfound freedom--all of which is wrapped up in proximity to Tav. there's arguments to be made that there's pacing issues here, but I actually interpreted the fact that we don't really have another romance-specific scene before the "you're wonderful"/drow confession to be intentional. to me, the trust bond with astarion isn't developed in moments where he's putting up the act or where you're expressing interest or attraction to him (he already knows, he's already removed from that, there's no trust to grow in these moments because sex/attraction is the last thing associated with trust to him), but rather, trust is reinforced over time on the road, through shows of support out and about during crucial, but NON-ROMANTIC moments (such as killing yurgir for him--a nonromantic act, but one that solidifies that he can trust you.)

all in all, after such longwindedness... I guess my answer is that. while I dont think he LOVES tav at all, and maybe he isn't even romantically there yet with them, I do think he likes Tav by this point, and enjoys their company and their presence. what that means to YOU is up to you! as I said, I think it's a scene where the pacing and emotional weight is partially up for interpretation. you can just as easily imagine that he's got unaddressed growing feelings there as you can not--especially since if you turn him down here, what he'll say is "I've gotten on my back more times than I can count [...] most of them I don't even remember. but you, I'll remember." <- possibly implying that there was the start of a potential something here, ultimately ended, which he isn't really sad about because it removes the overall pressure of putting up a show, but at the same time implies a fondness for tav the person; again, not necessarily romantically oriented, but positive emotion regardless.

[self-spaghettification]

[sher-ee]

We have a mental crisis happening in America.