#discussing how brainwashed those citizens are

[localcuttlefish]

A Theoretical Lore Bible of Caesar’s Legion as a Nation

Hello good citizens of Tumblr! I’ve been on a Fallout: New Vegas kick lately, and I recently graduated college with a bachelors degree (major illustration, minor history of art and western civilization). So now that I’m certified to draw dick AND talk about Ancient Rome, I have things to yap about.

Have you ever looked at Caesar’s Legion and wondered how the more intricate aspects of their society model after the Roman Empire? Because I have! And because of those very musings, I have come up with a little dumb idiot theoretical lore Bible on how The Legion might function as a more developed nation, using my back knowledge of western civ and Roman art and culture. Nomenclature, societal structure, industries, imports and exports, the whole nine yards!

DISCLAIMERS: I have not looked through the writers’/directors’ social media accounts thoroughly enough yet to confirm if any of the information I’m bringing to the table is already solidly canonical or solidly non-canonical in the lore of Fallout: New Vegas. There is a nonzero chance I may say something that someone in charge has already said, or something that’s already been disproven or denied. If you catch something I don’t, let me know! I like worldbuilding for fun like this, and I want to keep everything as lore-cohesive as possible to challenge myself. I’ll come back to edit this every now and then if I come up with more cohesive lore pieces, or if you guys have any suggestions that would tie in the lore better. In addition, Caesar’s Legion is an inherently totalitarian nation that supports itself on some pretty sexist and bigoted social structures. There is no universe in which I support, condone, or otherwise encourage any of the ideologies of Caesar’s Legion in real life. Don’t become a tyrant dictator of a military slave nation, kids!

CONTENT WARNINGS: Discussion of slavery, sexism, physical and verbal violence, unsafe medical practices, brainwashing/psychological abuse, and death.

Without further ado, the absolute wall of text that is the theoretical lore Bible of Caesar’s Legion. Enjoyyyyy!!

CHAPTERS:

I: Citizenship

- How To Become a Citizen

- Social Castes

- Names

II: Everyday Life

- Common Social Customs

- Household Structure

- Settlement/Town Structure

- Clothing, Hair, and Accessories

- Languages

III: Industry

- Jobs

- Imports and Exports

IV: Politics, Education, and Religion

- What Senate?

- In The Unlikely Event of a Transfer of Power

- Common Political Beliefs

- Male vs Female Education Standards

Walk and talk with me about the ways The Legion mirrors, juxtaposes, and takes inspiration from Ancient Roman society in a post-apocalyptic setting.

The first time I encountered Caesar’s Legion in game, my initial thought was “What about the American West makes these people think this is the perfect spot to reinvent Italy?” it’s a barren, land-locked desert with only one or two significant water access points. Italy is a peninsula in a temperate climate with high mountain ranges and verdant forests. Most of this was a jokey thought, but then it struck me that a phalanx would actually be an insanely powerful force in a flat landscape. It all started coming together from there in a most dreadful shape

I: Citizenship

- How to Become a Citizen

Caesar’s Legion is a colonialist nation. They gain land through conquest, typically, and have a tendency to try and homogenize the culture to their liking. Generally speaking, after a town has been conquered, people who willingly surrender or submit to The Legion are given an opportunity for citizenship. Any survivors of conquest that aren’t willing to surrender are either executed or sold into slavery. Slaves are not considered citizens, because the rights and freedoms of a slave do not reflect the rights and freedoms that The Legion offers to those who can be put to better use or are complacent with the mission of The Legion.

Once one is offered a chance for citizenship, the highest ranking general in whatever battalion just took over that person’s land will evaluate if the person can be put to work, put on the battlefield, or is generally useless. Remember, an offer isn’t a guarantee. There is a chance someone who is offered citizenship may be evaluated as useless and sold into slavery regardless of their complacency. Protesting the verdict typically increases the chance of spontaneously being executed, or, if one doesn’t like their proposed role of worker or soldier, being demoted from potential citizen to slave.

If the general regards one as fit to work or fit for the battlefield, these “half-citizens” (media populi for plural, and media persona for singular) will be assigned a new legal name after a record of all new media populi is sent from the general to the regional Vilicus (overseer ;) we’ll elaborate more on this in chapter II), and given the task of minimum 400 hours of what we would understand as “community service” before the Vilicus confirms their citizenship. This “community service” is called pentimento, or repentance. It’s a form of brainwashing in which The Legion is in a position to repeatedly reaffirm that the media persona has more value here helping The Legion than they ever did as a free settler in New Vegas before, and instills dynamics that empower and encourage violence against people of “lower status” (slaves and women, usually). Kinda like a Stanford Prison Experiment that’s purposely designed to cause power dynamics instead of accidentally stumbling to the conclusion. Pentimento may include anything from helping re-pave and clear trade routes in Legion territory, to catching runaway slaves. Each media persona is given a number of tasks to complete per month, and each failed task results in more hours being added onto the total pentimento before citizenship is granted. The number of initial hours of pentimento a media persona needs to do may vary depending on the whims of the Vilicus, how much they resisted Legion control in the past, how many tasks of pentimento they leave incomplete per month, and whether they are masculine or feminine presenting, but is never less than 400 to start. Most media populi end up with starting numbers in the 600s or 700s.

Once the pentimento hours are complete and approved by the Vilicus, the media persona becomes a citizen and is expected to continue the service to the growing empire through either the trade they work in, or through service in the army. However, there is a several-month-long window of time in which spies occasionally visit the new citizens’ homes to monitor them for suspicious activity. In this window of time, spies may be looking for signs that indicate the new citizen is an agent from a rival faction sent to infiltrate The Legion. Only high-ranking officials know about this window. One can lose their citizenship and be returned back to status of media persona if they show suspicious behavior during this time, or worse, be demoted from citizen to slave. In cases where there is undeniable evidence that a new citizen is an agent for a rival faction, the citizen is immediately put to death, and their citizenship is revoked (though revoking the citizenship of someone being put to death is a little redundant).

A baby born into a family of two Legion citizens is automatically also a citizen, and must be given a name in line with Legion naming conventions (which will be discussed next segment). A baby born into a family in which the mother is not a citizen and the father is a citizen will also be considered a citizen. A baby born into a family in which the mother is a citizen and the father is not a citizen will not be considered a citizen at birth. A baby born to a family of two media populi or two slaves will not be considered a citizen at birth.

A person who willingly enters Legion territory and requests citizenship will follow the same steps as how a person from a conquered land would be evaluated for citizenship.

- Social Castes

Social Castes in Caesar’s Legion are determined by how useful one is to the empire, and whether one is male or female. The more sexist aspects of the caste system stem from the fact that women in The Legion can’t serve in the military, and the military is a notably higher status than most other castes since Caesar’s Legion is a military state.

Of course, Caesar is the highest on the social pyramid, followed by his chosen officials (take Lanius for example), then chosen guards (praetorian guard). The military comes next, with the social hierarchy of the military following that which was established in the Roman Empire in the early establishment of Caligula’s reign. After that, religious officials (which act as pseudo-indoctrinators into The Legion, and therefore are pretty essential to brainwashing the next generation of Legionnaires). Then, the Vilici, the overseers of each region/settlement. Next, the average male citizen and then, the average female citizen. Media populi come next, and following that social caste is performers (which serve very little purpose in the eyes of Caesar and the goal of conquest), with male performers having marginally more respect among the populous than female performers. Second to last is slaves, once again with males being just a little more respected than females, but what does that matter when both are going to be abused by the upper castes anyways. At the very bottom of the social ladder is outsiders and criminals, which need to be broken before earning even a sliver of humanity in the eyes of The Legion.

Caesar > Chosen Officials > Chosen Guard > Military (with sub-hierarchy of Ancient Roman military) > Religious Officials > Vilici > Average Citizen > Media Populi > Performers > Slaves > Outsiders and Criminals

- Names

The average citizen in Legion territory wouldn’t need to immediately use their new assigned name (since there’s not enough force immediately available to actually push that, the nation is still growing), but The Legion will give them a “legal” name that they’ll be addressed by formally, and in the best case scenario, the original name will be effectively waned out because it simply doesn’t matter in comparison to the new one.

A praenomen acts effectively as a first name one uses around close friends and family, while a nomen (while acting as a last name) becomes what one is more commonly known by in public. The average citizen will usually have a nomen at least, and a male citizen will have a praenomen and nomen.

- MASCULINE: A classical Latin praenomen will be assigned equivalent to the meaning or phonetics of the new citizen’s first name. The nomen will be determined based on either phonetic/meaning equivalent of the last name, or based on the new citizen’s occupation.

- FEMININE: No praenomen will be assigned. The citizen’s title will be a feminized variation of their father’s nomen, differentiated in generation by number nomenclature (Major, Minor, Tertia, etc). If they have no father, they will assume the feminized nomen of a living male partner that is already a Legion citizen. If they have no living Legion family, they will be assigned the name “Romana” and likely be either sold into slavery or auctioned to a bachelor to gain a proper nomen.

For example: Marcus Gaius has two daughters. The eldest daughter is Gaia Major. The youngest daughter is Gaia Minor. Gaia Minor meets Decimus Junius, and they get married. Now Gaia Minor is named Junia. Gaia Major remains unchanged.

Legion soldiers have more dignity in society, and therefore have all the previous conventions, plus a cognomen. Since all Legion soldiers are masculine, differentiation between masc and fem naming conventions is irrelevant from this point forward. The nomen of a soldier may be akin to the structure of how an average citizen’s would be given, or if the soldier shows exceptional prestige and has no remaining male family, a nomen referencing warfare or combat will be assigned to them (Marcus, Augustus, Drusus, etc.).

A Legion cognomen acts effectively as a Roman military callsign. Cognomens follow classical Roman conventions. The cognomen will be used most frequently in a military setting.

II: Everyday Life

- Common Social Customs

Many Roman social customs are adopted into Legion life. For example, the entertainment at the colosseum is mimicked in the tourneys in the various arenas scattered throughout Legion territory. However, because of the key difference in that The Legion isn’t even pretending not to be a totalitarian dictatorship, there are a number of drastic differences between Roman social customs and Legion social customs.

Because of how respected the military is in Legion society, it is commonplace to show soldiers with utmost reverence. It’s customary to allow soldiers to stay in a citizen’s place of residence if the soldier requests it, and it’s customary to refer to the soldier by their military rank, not their nomen or cognomen (especially if the soldier in question is on duty). It’s considered rude or inappropriate to question the motives of a soldier, or prevent a soldier from accessing areas of a citizen’s property. Such transgressions can potentially be met with violence.

One may frequently see slaves struggling to keep up with workloads. It’s taboo, but not punishable to help them, as long as it doesn’t interfere with the productivity of one’s own work. After all, The Legion gains nothing from incomplete work. If helping a slave means increasing efficiency, then it’s appropriate, but a citizen may get strange looks from others for doing so.

Utilitarianism is the ideal philosophy under which everyone should function in an ideal Legion society, but this is clearly not the case nor the environment to foster it. Social norms are based strongly on class, and in most cases, selfishness prevails because selflessness can be seen as weak (or worse, suspicious) by trigger-happy soldiers and spies.

But hey, at least sex isn’t considered a super taboo topic or activity in Legion society. Got that much going for them. Granted, it’s seen more like a conquest, but at least it’s not seen as a sin. Woohoo? Lets go? Kinda? One step forward two steps back.

- Household Structure

A household in Legion territory for a citizen of average means will likely be similar to any other household in New Vegas (with the addition of slaves in wealthier households). Where things start to get confusing is the aforementioned situation of soldiers being allowed to invade households at will. Psychologically, these soldiers are deprived of a lot of comforts the average citizen may have. There is a decidedly nonzero chance that soldiers can show up like stray cats and keep coming back in the event that a citizen is interesting enough to them. Soldiers sometimes “claim” houses or small patches of territory they frequent as a substitute for the emotional interaction they lack. Humans are social creatures. The soldiers might not know why they want to keep coming back, but they do keep coming back. Parasocial.

Generally, a woman’s domain is the household in Legion territory. While the society is by no means matriarchal, it’s customary for a woman to maintain control over most happenings within a household. This often means a woman will need to interact with stray soldiers more frequently. Among female citizens in Legion territory, these soldiers are called catuli (singular catulus) for their presence and tendencies, though this is always in secret due to the harsh punishment of misrepresenting a soldier’s status to his face. A household can sometimes have up to three catuli claim it before fights start to break out among them about perceived territory.

It is expected for a couple in a household to have children. Cultivating multiple generations of soldiers is part of how The Legion grows most efficiently, because children are impressionable enough to instill Legion values without struggle. If a household does not have a child after several years of partnership, it is considered suspicious and the male of the partnership is encouraged to be unfaithful or open the relationship. While there are no consequences for not having children, there is intense pressure to do so.

- Settlement/Town Structure

As mentioned before, the equivalent of a mayor in each region is called a Vilicus, or an overseer. The Vilicus is responsible for tallying the census, assigning names to media populi, approving the pentimento of media populi, keeping track of production rates of resources from citizens, keeping a lookout for disease outbreak so a region can be quarantined if needed, and monitoring the citizens in each region for minor suspicious activity to report to those higher in status. Each town is also occupied by a heavy military presence, to intimidate citizens into productivity and complacency.

Most of the time, Legion towns are made of the previously conquered settlements now added to Legion territories. Building more houses is an avoidable expenditure if they just repurpose the structures already there with a few modifications. Despite the multiple depictions in-game of Caesar’s Legion showing little to no care about what damage they cause, it would make sense that the depictions in the gameplay are actually the outliers in the situation, since it’s far more efficient to leave the settlements intact and just gut and reconfigure the purpose.

There are also multitudes of mobile scout settlements, mostly made of fabric, tarp, and hide tents that can be easily condensed and moved in the event that the camp is compromised. In many cases, these camps are set up as a base to return to in order to stage an invasion of new territories. If possible, The Legion sets them up close to large landmasses like plateaus or mountains for additional cover in the event of an ambush. If that’s not available, The Legion makes settlements like this close to preexisting towns in order to make the wordless threat of “push us back, and innocents die”. Generally, very few citizens are taken on these excursions, but if the plan is to stay out longer, citizens who are medics may be involuntarily drafted into going with the scout team.

- Clothing, Hair, and Accessories

The Legion isn’t a necessarily materialistic society that allows a lot of room for personal expression. Since the goal is to create a homogenous society and culture, self expression through visual cues is often muted at best and absent at normal. Makeup, perfumes, and hair styling products are prohibited if they have any synthetic qualities or materials. In many cases, beauty products are exclusively reserved for performers, and even still, only natural pigments and materials would be permitted. Think the same pigments Ancient Egyptians would make for their makeup.

Protective updo hairstyles are common for long hair, both for practical purposes and for purposes of keeping hair out of reach and harder to pull. Efficiency is key, so in the event of a raid or a threat, everyone is expected to be able to hold their own to some extent. Part of that standard is remaining on guard, so keeping hair up while out of the house is customary.

In the military, hair is expected to be cut short, again, for efficiency. Any soldiers with long hair are expected to keep it in tight braids or cornrows to maintain the same level of efficiency. As long as it stays out of the face.

Most clothing is dull, salvaged from the wastelands. The only exception is clothing reserved for high ranking officials and Caesar, which is quite literally dyed in blood of enemies. Because blood fades to a blackish-red hue over time, high ranking officials will often appear to be wearing darker colors, when in actuality they’re wearing clothes that were soaked in blood as a symbol of power and debt paid to the gods (namely Mars).

Widows are permitted to wear part of their fallen husband’s bloodsoaked clothes through the mourning process, if The Legion can recover and identity the body. With this in mind, as soon as the widow finds a new husband, the bloodsoaked garment piece is burned.

Slaves are deprived of all aspects of individuality, given rags or scraps to wear and marked with red paint. A citizen may give finer clothes to a slave voluntarily, but those clothes must also be marked with red paint.

Jewelry, while rare, is often made of scrap metal salvaged and re-forged from battlefields or old weapons without any further use. Which is why jewelry is so rare. There is seldom ever an instance in which metal can’t become a weapon, so making jewelry is a waste of time and energy.

- Languages

Basically any language can be spoken in Legion territory as it stands, because as The Legion is currently, it doesn’t have enough power or force to totally instill a whole new language system. With that in mind, the groundwork is being laid for an eventual push to make Latin the official language of Caesar’s Legion. Between the commonly used Latin terminology to address people and the Roman theming of The Legion, it’s primed to eventually enforce Latin as the primary language. Highly educated citizens may be fluent in Latin, and most soldiers know commands and codes in Latin.

III: Industry

- Jobs

There are two types of jobs in The Legion, excluding military and slavery. One can either be a worker or a performer. Medics and nurses are highly valued, both on the battlefield and off, since chemical substances are prohibited in The Legion. Carpenters, metalworkers and blacksmiths, engineers, and tanners are some of the more important standard worker jobs, since all of them play directly into expanding the empire more efficiently, making more weapons and armor, or repurposing old material to make new. Tailors, glassworkers, weavers, technicians, and chemists are less valuable to The Legion to some extent because they either involve industries less geared towards conquest, or involve industries beyond the scope of what The Legion finds socially acceptable. Despite the amount of emphasis Roman polytheism puts on naturalistic sculpture, The Legion actually doesn’t find the arts very useful in the immediate future of the empire. What’s most important is conquest, not expression.

On the topic of the arts, performers were seen in a very poor light in The Legion, often oversexualized into objectification or framed as clowns. Most performance art is often seen as a waste of time or an avoidable expense, but it does keep soldier morale up since it gives them something to target that isn’t their fellow man. Being a performer in The Legion is marginally better than slavery, because one can at least have a house as a performer, but the physical and verbal abuse is often daily and unrelenting.

- Imports and Exports

The Legion is definitely not known for being friendly to neighboring factions, so any concept of import and export is often very loosely based in barter (namely, The Legion demanding tithe to barter for leaving a region alone, similar to how some mafias demand payment in exchange for protection from themselves). The Legion has a semi-steady stream of imports from their commonwealths which they pressure into helping them in trade for leaving their towns unburned and their people free from enslavement. However, this is decidedly not a permanent arrangement. This is a way to bide time to grow the nation a bit more before making moves on settlements and regions with more useful resources.

They export nothing unless it’s a strategic play. They pressure neighboring regions into paying them, even though they honestly don’t need it as much as they want the general population of other factions to think they do. Middle school bully nation.

IV: Politics, Education, and Religion

- What Senate?

The big difference between Rome and The Legion is that The Legion doesn’t try to pretend it’s not a dictatorship. There is no senate, there is no board of people to vote, no forum. The only voice that matters is Caesar’s, and it shows in every aspect of how the society is structured, from the strict rules on self expression, to the patriarchal hierarchy of Legion society. Ultimately, this makes the nation weaker, because in the event of Caesar’s death, it creates a power vacuum. No, I don’t think there’s a secret senate. No, I don’t think there is a solid backup plan. I think the closest thing there was to a senate was the two-man power-team that was Edward Sallow and Joshua Graham. We all know how well that worked out. And I think Caesar’s been running on fumes ever since that point, taking this as a sign to expand the nation faster before anyone sees him bleed. Hubristic in nature.

The closest thing there is to a senate are higher officials (such as Lanius) that Caesar hand-picked from Legion ranks to be his personal cabinet that all agrees with him. There is a distinct instability of power when recreating Rome without a senate, and there is the distinct air of trying to hide that open wound.

- In the Unlikely Event of a Transfer of Power

Let’s say, hypothetically, Caesar, the praetorian guard, and all his higher officials suddenly died. The role of Caesar would be up for grabs. In the event that there is no clear successor to Caesar, there is no real backup plan aside from an arena battle between the generals that could potentially succeed Caesar. A simple solution that will clearly show who can spill the most blood for Mars without hesitation or question.

With this in mind, there is one thing distinctly Roman about the potential of a transfer of power. There is always a nonzero chance that Caesar’s killer, be they foreigner or Legion, could become the next emperor. All that matters is who can devote themself to Mars in a way that would honor the fallen Caesar.

- Common Political Beliefs

Politics and religion go hand in hand for Caesar’s Legion because of the cultish way Caesar built the nation. The idea of Mars being the patron deity of The Legion instills a level of gratuitous and overzealous love of warfare among the people. Military expenditures are met with great support, and very little infrastructure on public service is supported as adamantly because of the instilled value of “we are all independent cogs working in a well oiled machine, we don’t need help”. Then again, it’s not like any other voice mattered anyways, since Caesar is the be all end all of political power.

There is a generally nationwide extremism when it comes to dealing with criminals, however. Criminal activity in The Legion is more often than not punished by torture and death, and nobody seems to really protest it to the degree that other factions do. As many of the travelers and traders in Fallout: New Vegas have said, the roads in Legion territories are incredibly safe. There is a level of patriotism in The Legion specifically regarding how safe their lands are, but in exchange, those lands also have an active military presence.

Conquest is also a pretty intrinsic pillar of Legion political beliefs, since the motivation to create a homogeneous society and usher in a new era of perceived piece may make some people accept the totalitarian power for what it is and hope it pans out right.

- Male vs Female Education Standards

Due to the intrinsic divide between male and female Legion citizens, the education of male and female Legion children is vastly different with the only exception being the uniform brainwashing. Male and female children are not only educated on different topics, they are also educated in different locations.

Similar to Spartan men, most male children (even including orphans from freshly raided towns) are give combat training just about as soon as they can hold a stick and swing it. The male children that show combat proficiency continue to become soldiers, and the male children who aren’t strong, but are intelligent are instead divided into training as either spies or medics, depending on the specifics of their skill sets. Male children who aren’t good at any of that end up becoming armigeri (singular armiger), the people who sharpen weapons and tend to the needs of more proficient soldiers. It’s a social tragedy to become what is essentially a pathetic sidekick to some far better soldier. Thankfully, since most of these children are trained from an incredibly young age to be strong, cunning, fast, and durable, very few people end up becoming armigeri. Generally speaking, no boy in The Legion goes without military training. The Legion can capture their blacksmiths and carpenters, there’s no need to train them in-house.

Female Legion children are not given formal education. They are expected to grow up to be housekeepers and produce the next generation of warlords. However, a family still has the liberty to educate a daughter at home with a tutor so long as it doesn’t interfere with the family’s productivity. Usually, female children are given medical teachings more oriented towards patching the injuries of their future husbands. However, girls aren’t left entirely defenseless. Girls are taught how to use ranged weapons and how to escape grapples in the event of an emergency. In addition, girls are given more of an education on finances and practical skills that tie into long-term survival, such as how to use every part of a killed animal for resources, how to patch clothes, and how to cultivate plants.

A Thank You And Some Concluding Comments

Hello hello to anyone who’s made it this far through my ludicrous ramblings! Thank you for reading! This is really just me throwing nonsense in the air and seeing what floats, and most of what I’ve written here will probably be subject to edits every now and then to keep building up what I’ve already put down.

Feel free to use this lore for any fan fictions, fan art, original characters, or whatever else! Please keep building on it!

I hope y’all enjoyed my insane chattering!

[darkmaga-retard]

Instead of facing the real threat, everyone "shuddered at spy stories, discussed irrelevant problems, argued endlessly about scapegoats and minorities.” ~ The Rape of the Mind

Karen Hunt aka KH Mezek

Sep 16, 2024

I had to share this video of Kamala Harris joking with Ellen DeGeneres about killing Donald Trump back in 2018.

And then there’s that demonic laugh that we’ve all come to know so well, with DeGeneres and the audience laughing along with her. This is where we are as a nation—the vice president and presidential candidate laughing about killing her rival.

It sure isn’t 1963 anymore. No, it’s a continuation because we still don’t know what happened back then, do we. Will we ever know the truth of the first assassination attempt on Trump, not to mention the second? What can we expect tomorrow or the next day?

As we hurtle ever closer to the presidential elections keep in mind that we are being conditioned to turn “the other” into the enemy and we are laughing about it. I think many people have a sense of unease about the laughter which shows all is not lost, we still have some remnant of morality.

The laughter hides our feelings of fear and foreboding:

“Hitler's psychological artillery was composed primarily of the weapon of fear. He had, for example, a network of fifth columnists whose main job was to sow rumors and suspicions among the citizens of the countries against which he eventually planned to fight... [an example of such a rumor/slogan was:] "Why should France die for England?" Fear began to direct people's actions. Instead of facing the real threat of German invasion, instead of preparing for it, all of Europe shuddered at spy stories, discussed irrelevant problems, argued endlessly about scapegoats and minorities.” ~ Joost A.M. Meerloo, The Rape of the Mind: The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide, and Brainwashing

I continually go back to my essay, Utopian Madness, written in Sept 2021 (before anyone else was writing or doing podcasts about mass psychosis), where I wrote about how the “rape of the mind” is achieved through menticide:

“Menticide is… an organized system of psychological intervention and judicial perversion through which a [ruling class] can imprint [their] own opportunistic thoughts upon the minds of those [they] plan to use and destroy.”

“Each wave of terrorizing . . . creates its effects more easily – after a breathing spell – than the one that preceded it because people are still disturbed by their previous experience. Morality becomes lower and lower, and the psychological effects of each new propaganda campaign become stronger; it reaches a public already softened up.”

I encourage people to actively counter this assault. I train most days in the gym; I have a friend that I box with. I run. I hike. I pray. I read fiction. Yes, I read nonfiction for my research. But for the benefit of my mind and my soul, I read fiction.

[respectthepetty]

2+2=5

If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself. - George Orwell, 1984

We know Ayan has been reading 1984 throughout the series. The book focuses on an employee of a totalitarian government, who ends up being tortured for his part in an affair with another government worker and their opposition to the government. Although he disagrees with the brainwashing techniques executed by the government, his job was to rewrite history in favor of the government, and in the end, he once again becomes an obedient citizen.

George Orwell wrote the book. He also wrote Animal Farm, which is about animals overthrowing their human oppressors on a farm only for certain animals to slowly become the oppressors of the other animals through suppression of education and manipulation.

Real-life connection – In 2019, the Thai government spokesperson, Lieutenant General Sukondhapatipak, stated that the Prime Minister recommended that citizens read Animal Farm which is ironic since the government discouraged the reading of 1984.

In the show, Akk goes to a forum where a “new-age Thai writer” discusses the significance of the book. That writer is Prapt, who is the writer of the novel, The Eclipse from which the series is adapted.

During the forum, Prapt explains how he was inspired by the book, and explains the book’s premise:

Other connections to the book:

1984’s protagonist writes everything in a journal, which is used against him when it is taken. Ayan’s journal is still missing.

Doublethink is a term used within the book to describe holding two conflicting ideologies, “to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies.” We see many instances of this throughout the series mostly when it comes to policy and punishment.

In the book, the protagonist’s job is to go through archives and rewrite history to positively favor the current government. We saw this in the series in episode 2 when Ayan questioned the erasure of certain historical events from their textbooks.  

The book heavily discusses that the middle class, those with more liberties, are more likely to rebel because the lower class is too preoccupied trying to survive. Akk, someone from the lower class, is trying to maintain his scholarship, while Ayan, someone from the middle class, rebels.

The protagonist’s love interest is sexually free, and they first encounter each other at the Chestnut Tree Café. Although the café in the series is a much happier place, it, too, represents sexual liberation and acceptance.

We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness. - George Orwell, 1984

The Ministry of Love in the book monitors people who diverge from traditional roles. The above line is mentioned to the protagonist, and he believes it means that the future will be brighter and the truth will no longer be hidden. However, once captured, he is taken to a room where the bright light always remains on to deprive him of sleep.

However, the series seems to take a different approach. An eclipse brings darkness, but it makes us appreciate the light more.

[pengosolvent]

you comparing sean chiplock drama stuff to literally holocaust nazi propaganda is so insensitive holy shit do you never take a moment to think about what you say and if you should say it at all. i genuinly want to know the thought process behind you thinking twitter drama between some voice actor and the person you simp for is in any way comparable to brainwashing used by mass murderers

that is not what happened i feel you should stop hate reading things for your own health, and also take a moment for yourself to think and ask questions in ways that don't strip context i request that you try to follow what i've written, to think before replying again if you reply again, but i admit that i do not feel like that is likely, and it makes me feel sad

if you genuinely want to know:

i was specifically replying to glip saying how they had felt back in 2013, based on how sean spoke to them back then. glip said that they had felt "every single person could not only lie, but could not care that it's a lie" i was replying to glip's feeling they had shared that landed in me as similar to "i felt like the whole world could be hostile, from lies, and no one would care it was lies" which seemed hugely isolating and painful

like… the feeling of "what matters is what people believe, even if it's lies" is… aligned to propaganda and the effects it has, even if its on a small scale especially if its possible to manipulate what people believe…

you… know there was a ton of propaganda leading up to the holocaust right? that it wasnt just out of nowhere? that eventually that countries (not just germany) actually ran fake stories specifically to rile up their own citizens in the years leading up to that?

i had been watching videos/docs/reading up on propaganda tactics from the alt right, and how things align to world war propaganda as well videos on how history ISN'T just an untouchable idea and we should learn to think about and examine mentalities that are vulnerable to these sort of ideas, purposefully or not things dont exist in a vacuum, there are core feelings and similarities to things

i understand that large tragedies in history being compared carelessly can be painful, but that wasnt what i was … even trying to do

i am not comparing this "drama" of sean saying something about some character or whatever to the scale of the holocaust as you seem to be implying i was thinking specifically of how horrible "what matters is what people believe even if it's lies" is as a concept, how that belief can really disconnect from even wanting to understand truth, how it connected me to media i had been intaking lately and how its a belief that feels dangerous to go unchallenged

do you agree with "what matters is what people believe even if its lies"…? do you feel that belief is totally unrelated to what can cause propaganda to flourish…? do you feel that that belief isnt a big deal?

i don't feel it's wrong to see something and feel "this feels like if this idea was widespread, it could be dangerous and cause issues" and make that connection

if my wording was unclear, well.. i had talked to glip about the videos i was watching and even sent some of them earlier that day my reply was to them, so they knew what i meant when i mentioned it because we had already discussed a lot on those videos i did not expect a random anon to come into my inbox from peeping so i didnt formulate my thought as an entire thesis as i appear to be doing now it was not that i "never think", but my thoughts were not expanded upon deeply there because i had already talked about those thoughts elsewhere

" holy shit do you never take a moment to think about what you say and if you should say it at all" is honestly a really painful thing to say i do feel you won't really care (this is my impression), but it is cutting in a way i wish you could have found other words for why was "do you never think" your go to? it implies so much and dismisses so much i hope you haven't been hurt in that way, that what you have thought and said was responded to like this it makes me feel sadness to imagine i hope that if you have felt pain in this way, that you can heal from it

if you havent felt pain that way, i hope you never do

back on topic, i suppose… i just don't feel it's wrong to see the effect of an idea on someone and feel "this feels like a very dark feeling to have and reminds me of concepts i had been watching"

i feel like… ideas that allow one to ignore personhood… it does slip into fascism and dangerous territory genuinely, i do feel that way

"i dont think you're nice so i think its okay to hurt you" "what matters is what people believe even if its lies"… these ideas need to be challenged, imo

i feel that it SHOULD matter if people believe lies, and that i rather they want to understand and not just accept that i feel people in general should try to grow away from feeling its acceptable to hurt those they do not like (or at the very least question it!), because it's… its energy thats wasted and can be rerouted it does not cause lasting change to bully others a society where the biggest bully is right doesnt… help anyone

this isnt to say that struggle and defense isnt something others sometimes need to partake in, but this being the first resort? this sort of impulsive aggressive jump to me, where you're invulnerable and anon and i just have to tank your hit? its hurting me because you feel its acceptable to hurt me, and i don't really like that it feels like you have intent to hurt me, over not understanding something i said and because you feel its okay, anything i say is just… noise for that fuel i suppose

but i could be wrong i'm just stating how i feel about it based on the impression youve given me in this ask

if you want to explain how i am being insensitive, i would try to listen, but given the way you have worded this ask and appear to be hatereading, i don't really feel confidence that you will actually care about if i understand, nor will you care about explaining

it does hurt to be talked to like this, though again i do not feel you will care about that aspect

if you are hurt from me having said that, i am sorry and would try to listen and discuss to understand that too, but again, given that it seems you are hate reading things, i don't expect a lot from this interaction

i also dont expect you to actually talk about your pain (if you have pain) because you decided to message me on anon so it feels like not feeling able to stand by your opinions or feelings, or maybe even expecting attacks on yourself if you reveal yourself, similar to how you are attacking me now or i could be wrong and you dont have a tumblr but either way it feels impersonal, which feels like treating me like im not a person i try not to treat others the way you have sent this ask if i'm talking to them if i'm upset, i try to be upfront about why and how it made me feel, not insulting

so i guess since this ask doesnt feel that way, thats why i'm interpreting it the way i wrote above

i hope my explanation can help clarify if you genuinely wanted to know as you claimed if not, then i cannot really help further than that

i just do not want to close connections

large things start small large painful moments in history can start from a build up of small pains, and feeling specific ideas as related in small ways is not… inherently wrong part of what i was drawing upon was my own memories of people i knew giving this sort of feeling, of manipulative narrative, and becoming alt-right and into neonazi ideas i don't know if it will mean anything to you, but i am not white, so i take these sort of feelings (of removing personhood) seriously i dont mean to say that to try to use my identity as a shield, but to try to explain where i was coming from and my interest in understanding alt-right and holocaust things, racist indoctrination, and even stuff like the mentalities behind colonialism

i am also speaking from my experience of having written a callout and seen how that contributed to large harassment (in relation to "large things start small")

i do feel like its important to try to understand things and connect things here and there if a connection ends up being incorrect, thats still information that was learned

trying to shame me into not making these connections just… feels like you have no interest in understanding me so it confuses me why you said you genuinely want to know i have tried to take that sincerely, and worded myself here, but it does not feel sincere from you it feels like you are saying "i genuinely want to know" in a way that is more like "i dont believe anything you can say right now, so prove yourself to me"

i hope thats not the case i would request that you not reply so aggressively if you choose to reply, but i do not have hope for that

if you do not want to try to understand me, if "i genuinely want to know" was not genuine, then i think i will just block you

[raconteur-multiverse]

Chapter 12. Nostalgic in Fall Seasons 秋のノスタルジック

First month of Fall Seasons in September, all fictions in Fictional World start harvesting pumpkins and all stores prepare random fabrics to create costumes for Villain Fest. Halloween and Thanksgiving Day will combine into one event in this festival. The citizens in here hum a famous song ‘This is Halloween’ from animation Tim Burton. Watching the citizens' activity through the window building, Kichiko is still in the meeting room of Denouement tower after discussing for operation guard this area from any suspicious activity according to anti-heroes fiction soldiers from Arcane group. Checking the document that she already filled in her reports so far when she was dealing with the antagonist fictions under Shedim brainwashed by Vad fragments. But…she can't stop thinking about her strange dream, the dream of someone who knows her, calling herself guardian of the Underworld and the Moon. Only she is confused why her face is the same as hers? It's coincidence or not?

“Selvy?...Who is she?...Every time I remember her face, why does my head hurt a little? Like I remember my old past with my dad?” Kichiko massaged her forehead and was a little dizzy, but she had already taken pill medicine before she came here. Suddenly she's blank like her mind appears, her vision of her past with her father. The moment when she and her father got bothered by thugs who tried to steal their scooter on their way to return home from her father's workplace. Kichiko's father managed to defeat the five thugs by himself even though he got a scratch bleed on his right shoulder by one of the thugs ' knives. Little Kichiko teary and hugs her father after those thugs run away in fear.

‘Kichiko. Please don't cry…I will be fine dear, it's just a small scratch. Most important is you're safe now. But…I'm also worried, even if I die someday, I must teach you how to protect yourself until you're grown up. Before I'm gone. Remember…I'm always with you.’

“Kichiko? Hey, Kichiko?”

Kichiko's vision was gone after she felt someone's calls her and patting her head. It's Ben and Naruto who call her again. These two are sure to always check up on her like brotherly love to their sister. “You okay? You looked like a blank mind like weeks ago.” Ben asks. “Ah, I am fine. Thanks for your concern. Probably I…still thinking of Halloween costumes after I check Theater Hall Venue's decorations by Servants, Toudan, and Kantai girls.” Kichiko makes excuses to lie in front of them, it's always like that whenever she doesn't want anyone to worry about her. Even herself is scared if she bothers people around her.

“Oh? Halloween costume? Same with others too in here. Everyone is really excited for the Halloween event. Especially Villains Feast, but I'm still worried since there's a lot of villains from senior to newbie this year appearing.” Naruto says with a sigh. Ben huffed at Naruto while putting his both hands on his waist then shaking his head. “Come on, let's enjoy the event! I know the Blood Moon is already appearing in the Fall Seasons in the middle of September. Everything will be fine.” Ben was assured about the situation. Still, Naruto just makes sure everything is safe from any sign of Shedim's alliance. Naruto and Ben did advise Kichiko to take a break this season, since she has been working hard lately. Tell her to try to relax by checking everyone's activities to prepare for Villain Feast around the city.

“Oh! And you have a big mission too for this festival. A very important mission, everyone is searching for someone who'll lead on preparation for parade special villains theme. Our parade last year did well but was not really lively.” Ben says.

“Do you mean everyone is looking for the Chairman of the committee?” Kichiko asks.

“Yes, so we're thinking that you could be our Chairman of the committee for the villains parade.” Naruto says.

“Oh I see—Eh? Why me? (⁠ꏿ⁠_⁠ꏿ⁠;⁠)” Kichiko shock. Naruto and Ben explain to her that they gave her an important mission to be chairman of the committee's Feast parade. Only once for this year. And she is free to find anyone who would like to volunteer to be part of parade shows. So, she still has a long time to do it, before the end of October. “No need to be in a hurry because we understand that you still hold the mission to find other missing pages from the Book of Paracosm. That's all.” Ben and Naruto explain to Kichiko before they leave the meeting room, of course Kichiko has to see what citizens are doing for this Villain Feast.

“Ah, if you need anything or need help, you can call us. Since we also don't have any work to do this season.” said Naruto.

“Also, maybe next time let's have lunch together. I heard there's a restaurant with the best cook in this city.” added Ben.

“Sure! I would love it too!” Kichiko replied to them with grins.

==========

A few hours later, Kichiko walked to the sidewalk street in this city. The children run energetically on the sidewalk while carrying their mask costume for Villain Fest. The stores have a discount too, special Fall Seasons in every spot, also the people are excited for this Villain Festival to meet their favorite villain fictions. As for Kichiko, she is still thinking about how to recruit for the parade show at the end of October soon. “It's so lively this month, like a real paradise. Never thought I would be in this world for three months after I found this magic book.” She ponders and stops next to the street light pole.

The sky in the afternoon is really cloudy, but not gonna rain. Is like still clear scenery with a breeze in fall seasons, now she's worried about being the chairman of the committee for this event, who's gonna join her? She hasn't gotten to know any close people around here. Ah, it's really nostalgic about the joint committee event. When she was in school, she joined her school friends on a school event show. She did her best to dance and sing with groups, but…none of her friends isn't appreciate her, only someone who's rich, good looking, and high ranking. “...No, I shouldn't think about that past. There's no point in returning to them.” She murmured quietly in bitter mode. Suddenly, she bumps into someone's front of her.

“Ah, sorry! My bad! I didn't see your way…” Kichiko apologizes but pauses for a moment, in front of her it's a tall young man with long blond hair which is done halfway up in a bun, using a green ribbon to keep it intact. He also has yellow eyes. His physique also looks strong with his school blazer halfway off his shoulders. He wears his school blazer halfway off his shoulders, and a sleeveless white shirt beneath. He also wears a loose, yellow necktie. It's Mage Nanashiro, from ‘Dance with Devils’.

The blond demon stares at Kichiko silently. Kichiko just blinked with confusion, did she make him angry? Or something? “Um, hello?..” Kichiko said again. “Heh, Come with me for a sec, babe.” Mage smirks before pulling the girl's right hand to him. “H-huh? What–” Kichiko yelps when he carries him on his right shoulders. Kichiko whines and struggles from his grip around her waist on his right shoulder and begs him to let her go. Mage didn't listen before he jumped up then teleported to somewhere else where no one noticed them both. Five minutes later, Mage takes Kichiko to the top of the high tower balcony in the middle of this fictional world.

Kichiko keeps holding the tower rim since she is still shocked they're on top of the highest tower. Mage is amused to see her panic expression while standing near the rim end of the balcony tower and cross arms. “So you're that human from the real World that's everyone talking about? No wonder I smell a scent that doesn't belong here.” Mage said in tough mode. “Why? And if I'm not belong here? If you don't like me, why don't you leave me alone instead.” Kichiko talks him back in seriousness. Mage whistle impressively sees her has some guts to talk back without fear. “Pretty gutsy, huh?” He walks towards Kichiko as he squat down in front of her before lifting her chin up to him.

“Be mine.” Mage said.

“H-Huh? Wait! You can't force me like that! We just met! (⁠╯⁠ರ⁠ ⁠~⁠ ⁠ರ⁠)⁠╯.” Kichiko declined. Mage huffed at her like she looked like an angry baby hisses Tiger. “Chill out, it's not like I'm gonna eat your souls or do goody stuff like I did my job in that dating sim game by my creator act…even I'm a demon.” Mage mutters before pinned her to rim holder tower like kabedon style, hitting a metal hard, resulting in a loud sound causing Kichiko flails. She is trapped in his arms corner pose, now he feels better seeing her more calm now before sniffing her cheek to her shoulder. “Eek! Stop it, Baka snake!” She protests and tries to push him but can't after he pinned both her hands to each side of her waist.

“Oh? Now you're feminine? That's better, you were so cold to me and now you're nervous like a little mouse.” Mage chuckles while grins watching Kichiko's expression flustered like a fruit peach. “No matter, I'm getting like you. Girls these days always act playful and try to mimic wanted to be the real heroine. But you seem like a fun person to tease.” He nuzzles her lovingly even himself bashfully since he never felt this before. ‘Oh Sh*t…I almost lose my toughness in front a girl like her (⁠´⁠-⁠﹏⁠-⁠`⁠；⁠), come on Mage! Act like a real man!’ Mage murmured quietly since he is tsundere after all.

“Ehem.”

The situation is shattered when Shu Sakamaki appears in front of them by crossing arms and tapping his foot. “Tch…lazy-bone vampires appear. What the heck do you want this time? Aren't you supposed to go back to your work at voice casting?” Mage mumbles when this blond vampire ruins the moment. “...I skip when I sense the girl (Kichiko) has been taken by you, muscle head. And who's allowed to have her? How troublesome (=_=#)” Shu rage marks.

“Huh? Just because you get many fangirls every year, it doesn't mean you can add her to your 'blood stock' collection!” Mage gets up and stands in front of Shu like a rivalry between demon and vampire. Kichiko sweat drops and seeing both of them is really childish. But is it rare to see a type of quiet men and tough men like them actually a 'cinnamon rolls'? Kichiko did try to calm them down, but unfortunately they didn't listen.

“You two…”

Kichiko also loses her patience and wacks their heads like a mother scolds her children. “Yaught!/Ouch!” Mage and Shu yelps while rubbing their heads after getting wack by her. “Please, don't fight with each other! We still need to know each other okay? You can't make someone fall in love so quickly without a long bonding. Start being friends first, I can't fall in love so easily.” Kichiko gave them advice and sigh. She got the point, Shu and Mage look away while pouting after being scolded by her. “I can't believe I'm being scolded by her. Well, this is the first time someone has whacked my head like that.” Mage replied and mumbles in embarrassment.

Kichiko feels awkward, never sees them so acts like a naughty spoiler child who wants attention. “Alright, I'll forgive both of you. Sorry for hitting your heads too hard.” Kichiko apologized too while patting their heads. Being touched by humans like her, makes their mind ease, still feels annoying too since she now knows their 'weak' side. Shu noticed Kichiko's folder documents inside her sling bag and asked her for that paper. She explains that she's been chosen to be chairman of the committee Villain Fest parade for the final show. The problem is, she dunno who wants to join the committee? Mage and Shu stare Kichiko like pity to her, but Mage bravely takes the brochure from her. “Yours truly will share this poster at my place! After all, Fall Seasons are also special holidays for us.” Mage grins. Shu is feeling strange again, like jealous the second time? When he and Natsume chat with Kichiko?

“Really? Thank you! But…I also still want to know, I did see many districts around this world. Is it like a theme neighborhood or something?” Kichiko asks. To answer her questions, Shu suggested talking about it in a café rather than standing in this tower by teleport. Mage was going to hold her but failed when Shu held her close before they teleported to a café nearby.

==========

Once they're in a café, after buying drinks and snacks, Shu starts to explain to her. In Fictional World, there's many district by following fictions genre stories in novel, manga, and films:

•Elysian District, for fantasy fiction. (Examples; fairy tale fiction and humanoid fictions like Naga/Lamia, mermaid, Dridder, and more)

•Venery District, for adventure and action fiction.

•Lucifugous District, for horror and thriller fiction. Also homeplace inhuman fiction like vampire, demon, and more.

•Whist District, for Mystery fiction.

•Amity District, is mixed for the fiction genre of Family, Friendship, and Romance.

“Wow, there's a lot of districts in this world. How fascinating.” Kichiko is amazed while slurping her frappuccino cookies' cream flavor after opening the Book of Paracosm while listening to Shu. As for Shu and Mage, they're in Amity District. This Fictional World is surely the peculiar world she ever felt after she reincarnated in here. On the other side of it, Shu and Mage are confused why Kichiko isn't effective on 'fangirly' things? Like usually every girl always swoons and fangirly to their favorite idols also characters in films, novels, and games. Kichiko did answer to them that she doesn't have experience of having own boyfriend the entire of her life from high school until graduate college in her homeworld. Because she is not used to talking to people around her. Two reasons, always being bullied by her friends and teachers, also after her father passed away. Boys or girls, young or elders, they're the same.

“Now that's bummer, which means you're still single?” Mage asks. Kichiko nodded and felt shy too, that's why she doesn't have any experience of falling in love or having her own soulmate. While Shu is of the opinion that from how he sees Kichiko interact with anyone she does close to her, Kichiko prefers to be friends first. “Why of course, every relationship always be friends first. You can't fall in love with someone who doesn't know you and you need to know her or him first. That's…how my grandmother advised me.” Ah, now she misses her grandmother by remembering her advice about having own lover someday.

“...Not just you, me and him also know that feeling. Although, we just do our job to entertain our dear fans by following our creator's works.” Shu replied before patting her head gently. Kichiko feels nervous when Shu supports her like this, her cheeks are really pinkish again while she slurps her frappuccino cookies and cream flavor. “Hmph, show off ( ಠ⁠ ⁠೧⁠ ⁠ಠ).” Mage mumbles in jealousy, but he grins and sneakily pretends that there's something on Kichiko's cheek. Kichiko is confused but flails after Mage licks the left Oreo cream on her cheeks.

“?! M-Mage-san! What are you doing?” Kichiko flustered.

“Hm? Just want to clean up those sweets on your cheeks.” Mage snickers and is happy to see her expression.

“I haven't do anything or even taste her blood, you're sure have some guts, demon (⁠╬ಠ⁠_⁠ಠ⁠)...” Shu's little snarl and jealousy see the muscle demon try to provoke him.

While Kichiko flails trying to calm them down, suddenly the television in the café shows a news flash that is connected to real world television. In Fictional World, our world is connected to television like a parallel network, of course no one in the real world knows about this.

'Eight dead victims have been found mysteriously in areas of England in different locations. The police and inspector of London can't figure out who's the culprit who killed these innocent people. Five adults and three children. Only shows a bite mark on each victim's neck, unfortunately there's no clue nor does the witness know what the culprit looked like.'

After hearing the news, the customer's fictitious chit-chat in sympathy hears that news. How could that culprit do such a terrible thing like that? The host did tell that only the culprit was wearing black yukata and black glasses. They said he called himself the 8th sins. Sadly, none of them got a picture as a clue. “Seems your homeworld is having a bad situation, huh?” Mage comments it while sighing.

Kichiko also condolences heard this news, suddenly her bracelet Paracosm turned into a book along flip pages itself like it shows another missing page. The next location is Snowdonia National Park in the UK. According to the book, there is also a note written in someone's diary about what's gonna happen in that location. It seems the book can predict the future and the past. “I guess it's time to return to the UK again…But I feel bad if I ask Naruto and Ben for help because they have been busy lately.” Kichiko murmurs while tapping her fingers.

Hearing her murmur, Shu finished his cup of Grey Tea and said, “I'm coming with you. I may only learn Swordsmanship skills, I could least help and accompany you. After all, I want to know more about your world.” Shu volunteered. Mage also didn't give up too after he ate his steak, “I disagree if he joins your mission. Yours truly much stronger and faster than him. ÙwÚ) you can count on me!” Mage says proudly. Kichiko blinking and feeling awkward see both of them fighting each other again like between python vs polar bear. “How about we go together? If you two didn't have any schedule, I don't mind if the three of us go there.”

Hearing Kichiko suggested, both of them surrender and can't deny her decision. Even though she feels happy being helped by other fictions, she is still curious about what the Book of Paracosm tells her about what's happen in the next location. Is it something connected with the cases from her real world news flash about those victims?...

[thejollywitchtaster]

Random Thoughts on U.S. Government-Centered Conspiracy Theories...

I have been thinking about conspiracy theories, especially the U.S. Government-Centered ones, that have come and gone and still hold some fascination in the minds of highly imaginative, mildly illogical, scarily gullible, and non-common sense thinkers throughout the mid-to-late 20th (1900s) century and 21st (2000s) century.

I have watched many videos of conspiracy theories out of sheer curiosity and boredom. I don't believe in many of the theories and have noticed that all the conspiracies, especially those related to the US government, are ALL the SAME basic plot just with slightly different "evidence" that was conveniently and easily found and accessibly accessed by a freaking civilian with zero, I repeat ZERO government clearance, and without the "men in black" coming to their house to arrest and/or unalive the person who hacked into government archives before it is, ya know, put out on the INTERNET (ya know something that the government can easily access and trace the IP address of said hacker as they're hacking, especially if they're noobs and don't know how to encrypt their IP address) and just let the hackers not only hack the government archives but also put it on the internet and talk about it.

I'm just like, first of all, if ANY of these conspiracy theories about SECRET, OFF THE BOOKS, government human testing/brainwashing projects were true in ANY capacity, WHY ON EARTH WOULD THE US GOVERNMENT ALLOW EVIDENCE OF THESE SUPER SECRET PROJECTS TO EVER SEE THE LIGHT DAY?!

The US Government would NEVER want ANY US citizen or any other country to know about their off-the-books and highly unethical and inhumane projects.

This leads me to think that most, if not ALL, conspiracy theories, especially the US government-related ones, might actually be Alternate Reality Games a.k.a ARGs.

The reason I believe this is for a few reasons and they are as follows:

1.) A random and ordinary person (who is most of the time, if not always, a WHITE, MIDDLED-AGED MALE) with no US government clearance and/or hacking skills who just "stumbles" upon a mysterious discrepancy in either random news reports, their own company that's even owned by the government, or just come across said evidence via a walk in the woods, a random package in the mail, or an old trunk sealed in the wall of the house they just happened to buy for no particular reason (other than needing a inexpensive place to live).

2.) Most of, if not all of the "evidence" and/or "proof" is HEAVILY redacted and is not really "proof" and/or "evidence" of anything that is being discussed and/or "exposed" in the government conspiracy.

3.) The conspiracy "theorist" says all this random shit and doesn't give any indication of what the fucking relevance the random facts have to the theory.

4.) The "Theorist" forces the "evidence" and/or "proof" to fit the conspiracy that the theorist "believes" to be "true" for some insane reason.

5.) The "evidence" and/or "proof" doesn't prove ANYTHING and is totally pointless and easily debunked by any intelligent person who has fucking common sense.

AND

6.) All the conspiracy theories I've come across are ALWAYS surrounding the fucking US GOVERNMENT "hiding" something that somehow was found out by some, white, middle-aged male who doesn't have a single genuine intelligent brain cell, and is super lonely and bored and has too much time on his hands, and for some reason either doesn't have a job or has a job that is WAY too flexible in its hours to be legit.

I've taken the time to actually give all these conspiracy theories I have heard about and listened to, some deep thought, and have convinced myself that most of, and if not ALL of these conspiracy theories are ARGs a.k.a Alternate Reality Games that were meant for entertainment purposely only and were taken way too seriously by some gullible and mildly insane people would most-likely be seduced into a cult because they literally don't have common sense and don't take the time to critically think about the conspiracy theory they just listened to and just decided to believe in it even though it is fucking insane, illogical, easily debunked, and mostly lies.

I don't easily believe things due to my massive trust issues and my knack of ALWAYS doing fucking research to see if something is real or not before fucking assuming like a single-brain-celled insane person who downright refuses to think for themselves and would rather believe everything on the internet is true (when NEW FLASH approximately 98% of the information on the internet is most-likely fake in some compacity, I.E A.I generated images, ebooks, articles, and videos).

******The Government Conspiracy Theory that's not really a conspiracy, but actual fact and is true, is the "MK Ultra" Government Brainwashing/Mind Control Project that the government did during the height of the Cold War (mid-to-late 1950s). This is the only one that I know truly happened and is, for the most part, legit.******

[xtinacherry]

Koboyashi's Sensoron Blog Post 3/27

Linking war crimes to pooping is crazy LMAO, but it definitely was an attention-grabbing introduction to what message this manga was trying to tell. It tries to tell us that America fabricated a tampered media frenzy against Japan to punch down on them further as the losers and ultimately dismiss themselves for any wrongdoings by highlighting Japan’s transgressions falsely. The lengths to which this manga tried to prove this were very problematic and hard to read at some points… I forgot that it was mentioned in class that this would not be a relaxing read and that it would be fairly right-winged, so you can assume my confusion! In the reading, we are introduced to several photos and messages that display Japan as abusive and completely evil in the midst of the war. However, the author claims that these photos were stolen from other events, tampered with, and wrongfully utilized and that revealing this false reporting and portrayal of history proves that Japan is not the evil entity it is drawn out to be...

It also claims that postwar, the generations were brainwashed to believe that democracy was the saving grace of society, that individuality trumps patriotism, and that Japanese citizens began to reject public life due to American propaganda. But these positions dismiss postwar thought for the generation that experienced the war and war memory as defined by those who did not experience the war. Here we see the illustrator attempting to reject the importance of war memory by saying that it sides too much with the acceptance of democracy and sympathy with America. He even discounts any commitment Japan attempts to recognize their war crimes, such as peace museums.  Several arguments discuss the lack of responsibility Japan held during and after the war, and Sensoron does not help its case. The impact of the war continues to permeate Japanese culture even into the postmodern day, and even if there is a case of certain media displays portraying Japan as perpetrators being slightly exaggerated, it does not make their war crimes any less atrocious.

Also, I have to mention his horrible take and argument about comfort women during the war. He went through so many loopholes and strained explanations on how the Japanese government did not force or coerce women into becoming them. If they were coerced, they were. Even if their lives were sad, they made it worse. Their experiences as comfort women were brutal, and despite the claims of how they became comfort women, the government did little to prevent the tragedies they endured.

He's just like me for real

[kick-a-long]

Let’s talk about something else that gives me a way forward . Just to breath.

This is a hanging statue of two lovers.

I first saw it as the opposite. I thought it was restricting and meant to disturb as people should be able to live independently.

But then my husband put his arm around my shoulder and we joked about it, I giggling at how his embrace could made us like them. he laughing and just held me tighter.

This is my relationship to the Jewish community. It feels dangerous to depend on only vet the in but. It feels an insane task to untangle. But it’s also a protection. A ward from a world too stupid to understand that a country they hate while knowing nothing about does not mean all of them deserve to suffer without listening to their defense, their right to live.

My husband holds me like the statue, Jewish people hold me like the people in the statue hold each other. It is disturbing because the lovers shouldn’t need to hold each other so close to feel and be safe. They should be allowed to touch the earth in safety and don’t but now I believe them when the art says they can’t.

Trans people I apologize for involving you in this metaphor but when the ground of the world they walk in tries to burn your feet they find comfort in protecting each other. In a way they don’t always explain because no sound bit would suffice. They fight and internally bicker about specifics. Just like Jews.

For Jews we are taught from an early age that the world will come for us. We are a real minority. Leftists can’t understand what it’s like to know in a million different ways over 3,000 years that the other shoe will drop. And there will be mass deaths.

Our holidays morn and grieve and apologize for surviving when we couldn’t protect all of ourselves, but there as many to celebrate that we have never been erased. Our victory is survival despite despair . We scrap and scrape. We start over and wait for our goy friends to be the first to call for our deaths if we become a burden. They always attack us because they say “it the only moral option”

So the horror is not the tangled embrace in this statue. The horror is the world necessitating it.

There is always some period of appeasement and the ones giving quarter or concessions are the first attacked to their surprise.

There are no leftist, only guilty and angry war hawks mixed in with people willing to throw us away and use their open antisemites as the military bringing their “equality” but really supremacy.

Read any revolution. Ask if you would kill to change the world? Ask how that turned out for the people who said nothing. What society those people built. Denounced compromise and discussion. Broke ideal after ideal until there was nothing left. Ask if china or Russia have wealth inequality. Ask if the French Revolution ended in society of equality for women, brown people or free religion. Or did it end in beheadings performed to keep the population under control and reminded more violence was on the horizon. And the violence could be directed at the ones who held their tongues or dissented.

No citizen, no matter how brainwashed deserves death if they have not killed or aided and planned killing but no citizen should be targeted as symbol of a race or a government because they are too weak to run from guns and rockets and a surprise attack.

I embrace strongly because love and community float above the hate, violence and muck while in each others arms, holding on for dear life. If we fracture we are within the reach of a world that won’t rest until we are gone.

There is no exit to this war. But people thinking Ukraine or Iran or Israel are a one time thing…This wave of violence is headed to shores everywhere. We can only brace ourselves against each other.

They want to gas us and remove our identity as individual humans. Words don’t stop tides. Holding together can weather the storm but only if we hold tight.

Like our lives depend on it. Because they do.

[robbyrey23]

Discussion Leader Presentation "Ideology"

Another Brick in the Wall Part 2

"Another Brick in the Wall Part 2," by the band Pink Floyd, was released in 1979 and revolutionized the music industry. The song is a direct protest against teachers, especially of that time, that would strictly enforce and indoctrinate their views and ideologies upon their students. The education system and teachers were often prioritizing student's subservience and academic performance, rather than their creativities, ambitions and even their wellbeing. Students were churned into one mold, designed to become obedient and simply cogs in the societal machine.

The themes of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2" directly relate to Karl Marx's teachings of ideology. In his manuscript, "The German Ideology," Marx explains how labor workers and those of lower classes are used and exploited for the benefit of the bourgeoisie, or the rich. This process begins at the school system, which the song demonstrates, where children are designed to fit the ideals of the workforce; compliant to authority and robbed of their own ideologies or opinions. In doing this, the school system causes students to lose their own identities. This is made apparent in the visuals used throughout the song, such as the hammers walking in unison with no differentiation amongst them.

The hammers are also a symbol of control, quite literally displaying how the school system "hammers" their ideologies into students. All the children are hammered into the same template. Interestingly, the hammers also represent the Nazi regime which was known for the brainwashing of ideologies amongst their own people. These themes correlate with Antonio Gramsci's "Hegemony," as he discusses the ideas of government's control over their people with the false notion of "consent." Lower class citizens and laborers are bent into submission by those who have power, with the illusion that since they are a part of the society they are to actively consent to the dominance of their superiors.

The teacher is displayed as monstrous in appearance, quite literally putting children into a meat grinder that represents the school system. The outcome is a pile of meat, devoid of personality and life.

While the students are the central focus of the visual text, the song displays how teachers are also puppets of the school system and are subjected to the government's hegemony.

Depicted in this image, is quite literally the teacher tied to strings being used as a puppet. He too is under the control of those that have higher authority over him. The teacher's ideologies and abusiveness towards his students are also traits that have been indoctrinated into him by his superiors. The teacher's ghoulish appearance and lifelessness is a clear representation of how society drains one of their ambitions and characteristics.

Active protest to such control by the school system and the government is made in the lyrics:

We don't need no education We don't need no thought control No dark sarcasm in the classroom Teacher, leave them kids alone

Fortunate Son

"Fortunate Son," released in 1969 by Creedence Clearwater Revival, is a protest song against the Vietnam War and the American government as a whole. During the Vietnam War, those of higher status and wealth did not have to fight in the war while tens of thousands of lower class citizens were drafted to die for their country and its ideologies. Again, they were forced to be subservient to authority, with the safety of their lives literally being dictated by their societal status.

This song relates to Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2," as both songs are made in reference of revolting against government corruption and put on display the sacrifices one must make for those who are deemed superior.

The music video demonstrates these themes a in lighter, more hopeful sense. The video shows lower class citizens still enjoying their lives in the presence of one another, rather than in materialistic riches. However, the themes of anti-authority and anti-elitism are still very much present.

Images such as these depict the struggles that lower class citizens face and the arduous work that one must endure to live in society. Again, this ties into society's false sense of consenting to its principles. The government promotes the idea that one consents to its ideals by being a part of society, giving one no choice but to do so, as not consenting would force one to live homeless, foodless and ironically, without their natural liberties. This relates to the lives of those who served in the Vietnam War, as in order to be a part of society, they had no choice but to fight a war that was created based on the ideologies of the government.

The US government invaded Vietnam to prevent the spread of communism, placing their own capitalist ideologies above the lives of the laborers of society.

It ain't me, it ain't me I ain't no senator's son, son It ain't me, it ain't me I ain't no fortunate one, no

Some folks are born silver spoon in hand Lord, don't they help themselves, Lord? But when the taxman come to the door Lord, the house lookin' like a rummage sale, yeah

It ain't me, it ain't me I ain't no millionaire's son, no, no It ain't me, it ain't me I ain't no fortunate one, no

In the music video and lyrics, the phrase "It ain't me" is used to describe how the working class do not get the same luxuries as the rich. They are not born with a "silver spoon in hand," and instead must work rigorously and, in some cases, are even are forced to surrender their lives for their government.

Discussion Questions:

Do you believe that protest music such as "Another Brick in the Wall" and "Fortunate Son" inspire the youth to stand up for themselves and revolt against injustices?

2. In what ways have these visual texts increased societal awareness? Have they been used to foster change? If so, how and when?

3. It can be argued that this music helps the mental health of those who are feeling oppressed. Do you believe this is true?

[nickyhemmick]

A Very Stressed American Jew here again,

Hi! Thank you for taking the time to respond to my ask and yes, I’m someone who loves hearing as many perspectives as possible so I’d love some sources from you. I also very much appreciate the fact you are being very careful to only reblog posts that are anti Israel, not antisemetic (which is frankly a breath of fresh air, the internet has been a bit exhaustingly full of both antisemitic & Islamaphobic content these past feel days as I bet you’ve seen)

I’ve also been to Israel on a Birthright trip. We met people who ( both Palestinian and Israeli) on various sides of the conflict and learned a ton about it, from both perspectives which I was lucky to have the opportunity to do. We even went a little into the Gaza Strip to talk to these people running a pro Palestine peace movement and it was so important to me hearing those stories.

I never said they were on equal footing militarily, they definitely are not, Israel definitely has that advantage. But you are incorrect about Israel always being the aggressor since 1948,they’ve defended themselves about as often as they’ve attacked. Isreal is a small country comparatively to the ones surrounding it, so it makes sense it defends itself heavily in case of an attack.

I 100% agree that there are too many people who are compliant with the mistreatment of many Palestinians! I’m not anti #freepalestine at all! I get why that is a thing. But I also stand with Israel( but that does not mean I condone every action they take. ) Overall I think the situation is extremely complicated and some sort of compromise should be reached.

It’s just been very frustrating to see so many people reblog things on a situation just bashing Israel because so many others are doing it. Especially when then don’t know what they are talking about or using big buzz words that they don’t know what they mean, or spreading misinformation. It’s been on both sides and has been very very draining. I just want peace and some sort of solution. It makes me extremely happy you know what you are talking about and can debate politely yet happily about it. The internet has been so ‘ either agree with me 100% or you a bad person’ about this so it’s refreshing to see you are not like that.

I’ve done a lot of research into it from as many perspectives as I can get my hands on.

Some extremest Israelis are hurting Palestinians

Some extremest Palestinians are hurting Israelis

Both sides are throwing rockets at each other and it’s terrifying.

Both sides claim the other side is brainwashed

There is so much biased propaganda out there on both ends it’s hard to know what is truly happening.

I know people living in Israel who have sent me videos they’ve taken of rockets flying over there heads and I’m so scared for them. I’m so scared for all the innocent people caught in the crossfire on both sides.

Thank you for a more nuanced response and I’d love some of your sources,

A Very Stressed American Jew

Hi anon, 

I wasn’t going to respond to this until after my math final tomorrow but I’ve spent the past two days thinking of your ask and the things I wish to articulate in my answer. 

I am going to start here: how can you say you support Israel but say you are also pro-free Palestine (as in, you said you are not anti free Palestine). In my opinion, these two ideas cannot coexist. Simply because, the entire establishment of Israel has been on violent, racist, colonial grounds. 

(Super long post under here guys)

You said you don’t support all Israel’s actions, and definitely, just because you support something doesn’t mean you can’t criticize it. However, in my opinion, if you do not support Israel’s actions against Palestinians there’s not much left to support? I admit this is a very biased view as I am Palestinian, but many things that people support about Israel have existed before its creation: as in, these are things and qualities that have existed in Judaism and are not due to “Israeli culture.” There is no Israeli culture. There’s Jewish culture--100%. But there is no Israeli culture, because Israel does not only steal Palestinian land, but Palestinian culture, too. Such as claiming Levant food is Israeli; hummus, ful, falafel, shawarma. I mentioned food from this article I know is culturally and traditionally of the Levant, and has been for centuries, it is not something that has come to culinary creation in the past 73 years. 

I do not think this is a complicated issue. I said that in the previous ask and I’ll say that again. Saying it is a complicated issue is trivializing the deaths of innocent Palestinians, the violent dispossession our ancestors endured, and the apartheid they live under. I hope if anything comes from this discussion it is you removing the “it’s a complicated issue” phrase from your vernacular. 

This is not complicated. A journalist reporting the death of martyrs only to discover that of them include two of his brothers is not complicated. The asymmetry of Israel vs Palestinian armed forces is not complicated, nor is the asymmetry in Israeli vs Palestinian suffering (which I will get to later). It is not complicated.  Destroying the graves of martyred Palestinians (or just in general, the graves of the dead) is not complicated. Little children being pulled from the rubble, children being forced to comfort one another as they are covered in the ashes of their decimated homes, attacking unarmed citizens in peaceful demonstrations (you can find videos before this attack where they were playing with kites and balloons), destroying an international media office and refusing to allow journalists to retrieve the work they are spending every waking hour documenting but claiming it was because it was a hide out for a “Hamas base,” fathers who are trying to cheer their frightened children up only to end up dead the next day, while many Israeli have the privilege and the option to go to hotel-like bomb shelters is not complicated. 

This brings me to my next point: the suffering of Palestinians cannot be compared to the inconvenience of Israeli’s. On one side, you have children who are happy to have saved their fish in the face of their homes and lives being decimated behind them to Israeli’s in Tel Aviv having to cut their beach day short to get to bomb shelters. You have mothers and fathers ready to set their lives down for their children to save them from bombs to Israeli’s enjoying their brunch only after making sure there are bomb shelters there. You have Palestinian children being murdered to blocking out the sound of sirens in the safety of your bomb shelters. (The first picture of the Palestinian child is not from footage of the recent problems). You have the baby lone survivor of a whole family recovered from rubble. His whole family, gone, before he ever had the chance to realize that he even exists, while Israeli’s decide to flee out of the country,(Translate the caption from Twitter, it checks out), or have to leave the shower due to sirens. Who is really suffering? 

I won’t sit here and pretend like the thought of rockets flying over my head, no matter which side I am on, is not terrifying. It is. It’s scary to just think about. But Israeli’s have protection beyond Palestinian’s, they have sirens to warn them (Israel does not always warn Palestinian building members that it is about to be bombed), they have the Iron Dome, they have simply the threat of nuclear power (which I am not saying Israel would use, but the simple fact they have it would make me feel a lot better if I were an Israeli citizen) and they have bomb shelters. What do Palestinians have? Hamas? That smuggles its weapons through the ocean? That only ever reacts to the action Israel instigates? And yet Gazans are branded terrorists and that it is their fault that they “elected” a terrorist organization that only was ever created due to no protection from any armed country? (There are so many links I want to add in this paragraph but it is simply impossible for me to add everything I want, a lot of what I’m referring to can either be found through a Google search, or you can stalk my Twitter account, all that I am posting now is about Palestine, and will include sources of things I cannot add in just this one post.) 

Look, I see myself in the genocide happening in Palestine right now. I see myself in this ten year-old girl. In this three year old girl. I see me and my family in videos of cars being attacked in Ramallah and Sheikh Jarrah (I cannot find the Ramallah video, should be somewhere on my Twitter), I see my father in the countless videos of fathers crying out for their children, of kissing the corpse of their loved ones (again, translate the Tweet, the man holding the body is saying “just one kiss”). I see my grandfather in videos like this (old footage). I see my younger brother, I see my grandmother, my mother, my aunts and uncles and cousins. I see myself and my life and my family were my father not lucky enough to get a scholarship to the UK and out of Palestine, were my maternal grandfather not been lucky enough to make it to a refugee camp and build a life in Jordan. I have an unbelievable amount of privilege to be born into the life I was born in to, in terms of I do not have the threat of bombs and violent dispossession around me, and I do not even live in the US. I have privilege and sheer luck that my parents were able to go to the US so that me and my brothers can be born, because now I have both the protection of the most powerful country in the world while at the same time being part of a people to have suffered so generously the past seventy-three years. 

On the other hand, you saying that Israel has “defended themselves about as often as they’ve attacked. Israel is a small country comparatively to the ones surrounding it, so it makes sense it defends itself heavily in case of an attack,” I offer you this question: why are they using military grade guns and stun grenades in mosques to “defend” themselves from rocks? And before you mention that Hamas hit Tel Aviv, I remind you that Hamas did that due to the violence in the Al-Aqsa mosque square and the attempted ethnic cleansing in Sheikh Jarrah. The violence didn’t begin with us; the violence was brought out of Palestinians in resistance to the generations of oppression we have endured and the attack on Palestinian Muslims during the holiest night of Ramadan. Hamas has since asked for a ceasefire multiple times and Israel is refusing. New reports say there is a possibility of a ceasefire in the coming days, but Israel could have decided this a long time ago and spared many lives. (Remember, no matter what resistance we make, Israel is the one in power).

Israel has been the aggressor since 1948. Just read up about the Nakba! 700k Palestinian families were dispossessed violently. The only reason Israel was established at all was because it simply declared it was now a country and the US and many other countries recognized it as such. (Of course, there are many other historical details here, like the British Mandate of Palestine, the Balfour Declaration, the Oslo Accords and many others. I am aware of them but these are for a different post all together). My paternal grandfather was a little younger than me when Israel as a state was created. The hostility that followed was due to this independent declaration being listened to over Palestinian voices. 

Here is a very, very simplified analogy, one that can also answer some people’s questions as to why Palestinians (not Arabs, we are Palestinian before we are Arab) did not like what happened in 1948 and why they refused a two-state solution (that Israel was never going to go through with anyway). (I am also aware other Arab nations got involved, and that is perhaps what you mean when you said they had to defend themselves, but my response to that would still be we didn't start it, that we only responded to it).

Let’s say you are a farmer. You have many fields of trees, ones you have taken shelter under from the sun since you were a child, or hid behind when you wanted to avoid your parents when you misbehaved. You have seen your trees grow from a seed, to a sprout, to a flower, to a large, beautiful tree with fruits the size of a fist. You pluck the fruits from one tree, and make a jam from it. I don’t know how to make jam but I know it takes a lot of energy. So, you make this jam and from it, produce a lovely, mouth-watering pie. Once it has cooled from the oven, you take it with you outside your balcony just so that you can admire the years, months, weeks and hours this one pie has taken to be created. Suddenly, a stranger walks past and yells to you, “That pie looks delicious, I want it!” And you, shocked at their boldness but ready to share, say, “I will give you a bite.” But the stranger says, “No! I do not want a bite or a slice or whatever you want to offer me, I want the pie!” And they grab it from you. You and the stranger start screaming at one another about who the pie is for, who is allowed to decide what happens to it, and who you can share it with. Then, another stranger comes by and says, “Why all the problems? Let’s cut the pie in half and the both of you can share it!” But why should you, who has spent years cultivating the fruit and grain inside this pie, share it? Why should you give up half of the 100% that you already owned? Of what you already had? So you disagree, and now a crowd has formed around you. “What’s the problem?” someone in the crowd calls. “They don’t want to share their pie!” another voice says. Then you become branded a selfish, mean bastard. Again, this is a super simplified analogy, so don’t take it too seriously, but I am trying to show you why Israel is the aggressor.

In addition, I do not know too much about the Birthright program, just that American Jewish people are sent to Israel, all expenses paid. I tried my best to find the Twitter thread but I read it so long ago, about an American Jewish person who went on their trip and they talked about the propaganda that they were exposed to on that trip. I can’t say for sure that it is true, because I haven’t been on it and never will, but that is the first thing I thought of when you mentioned your Birthright trip. Either way, I think it is still great you went and saw the country. However, I must ask you this: are the people you met ones you, yourself, sought out, or ones you were organized to meet?

Now, I haven’t been to Gaza, so I don’t know what you really saw or didn’t, but did you speak to Palestinians who lost their homes to airstrikes? Did you speak to siblings, parents or children of loved ones who had been lost beneath the rubble of buildings and towers? Outside of Gaza, did you speak to Palestinians that live in poor quarters? Ones who have been victims of an IDF soldier shooting them, or who have family members who have died from such attacks? Did they take you guys to Ramallah, to Nablus, to Beit-Imreen, to Jenin, to small villages in the West Bank, far away from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv? Did you speak to people there? Ask them their stories? Because if you did I have a very hard time believing you still think Israel is “defending” itself.

I’ve been to Jerusalem, many times, even Tel Aviv and Jaffa and Haifa. All the times I visited Dome of the Rock there were IDF soldiers with huge guns strapped to their person, standing menacingly outside the courtyard. For what? Genuinely, genuinely for what? It is nothing but an intimidation tactic. The same way we are not allowed in through the airport. If you could see the struggle some Palestinians actually go through just to get into Palestine, through the land border, you would be disgusted. I love Palestine, it is my ancestry land, it is my culture and tradition. But I always hated going to visit because I knew the way to getting there would be hell.

My father worked in Tel Aviv through the first Intifada. My maternal grandfather was forced out of his home in the Nakba and was forced to leave behind his belongings and the orange trees that have been in his family for generations. Hell, the town they lived in was destroyed! It doesn’t exist anymore except in the memories of my aunts and uncles, who never even saw it, but just heard of it from their father!

I’m not saying there aren’t Palestinians who are racist and anti-Semitic (though, tbh, I will direct you here for that) and who support Hamas in killing Israeli’s, but talking about how there are many “extremist” Palestinians who are hurting Israeli’s and in the next line say there are extremist Israeli’s who are hurting Palestinians is not correct. There are extremist Israeli’s killing, lynching, stealing the houses of Palestinians, and there are Palestinians who are fed up and fighting back. (I am not talking about Hamas vs the IDF here, I am talking about the citizens). I have not seen one reported death of an Israeli due to Palestinian violence (if you have, from a trusted source, send it to me), but I have seen countless of the other way around. I have seen images of charred little bodies, of a baby being dug out of the rubble, of a child’s body that had been so mutilated that you can literally see the insides of their body coming out. (I don’t know if it’s on my Twitter, I didn’t want to save that shit). If this was my country I would be absolutely ashamed of myself and my people and what they are doing in the name of my protection. So you have to forgive me, and forgive other Palestinians, who don’t give a fuck about Israeli’s having anxiety over rockets flying over their heads when we see these images. Where is the protection of our kids? Why does no one seem to mention them except when mentioning the poor, innocent ones in Israel? At least more than the majority of them have their parents to comfort and rock them. At least many of them will probably be saved of ever having to be beneath the rubble of a destroyed building, or digging in it, to hope to find the parts of their parents or siblings just so that they can bury them. Just the links from the start of my answer is enough to support what I am saying.

I have soooo much more I can say, like how Israel uses religion to distort the image of what’s going on (tbh, just check my Twitter for that: language is EVERYTHING), but you didn’t mention religion in any of this and so I won’t either. The only reason I decided to respond to you in such length was because you have been one of the few respectful anons in my inbox in the past few years of me being on here talking about Israel, so I appreciate that from you. 

As promised, some more sources: decolonizepalestine is a good place to start if you haven’t used it already, it has reading materials, myth busting, and more. Here is a map list of destroyed localities from pre-1948 until 2017, run by two anti-Zionist Israelis. Here and here are the articles I promised of a former IDF soldier-turned Palestinian activist, I read these two last year in June and remember coming out much more informed than before I read them. I suggest looking into the writer and his organization, which, if I remember correctly, collects accounts from previous IDF soldiers. I would suggest not to follow Israel and the IDF accounts on any platform, or any Israel times newspaper, simply because they will not tell you the truth. In fairness, you do not have to follow any Palestinian Authority accounts (which I am not even sure there are), but to follow on-ground Palestinians like Mohammed El-Kurd, who has been speaking out since he was 12 (he is now 22) and he is part of the families in Sheikh Jarrah. I have noticed that this and this account have been translating Arabic headlines and tweets for non-Arabic speakers, I have just started following this person but their bio says they are a Palestinian Jewish person so I am interested in their view of things. You can also follow Israeli’s on-ground and see their perspective on things, but I would also advise to compare the Palestinian and Israeli side of things from the people, and critically analyze the language used in each case. Also, this article references Jewish scholars opposed to the occupation (I have not looked into them myself but I plan to after my exams), and Norman Finklestein is another great Jewish scholar to look into if you haven’t. Twitter is better than Instagram and Facebook, so I would stick to getting live-info from there, Twitter does not censor Palestinian content as much as Insta and Facebook so you’re more likely to see things there.

I will end this by saying I personally do not see any other option for peace than to give Palestinians our land back. Whether we may be Muslim, Jewish or Christian, it has always been and will always be our land. I only hope to see it free in my lifetime. 

Free Palestine. 

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Gale's Story Idea: 'Those of another world must die' or 'Isekai no mono ha shi ke re ba naranai'

(I probably butchered the Japanese. But the point is to give it a light novel title feel)

(Since a few people have been asking what my light novel idea was. I decided to explain it and go a bit more in-depth)

Premise: Rumors have been circulating about a Killer known only as 'Hero Eater' is targeting heroes in the Human Kingdom of Itsumo. But not everything is as it seems, Itsumo has many dark secrets and the kingdom may need a change...

The world of Itsumo.

Now the setting would be similar to most fantasy Isekai worlds. Money consists of Gold, silver, Bronze coins. Platinum coins are for the super rich.

Magic exists, Magical items exist. Levels exist.

There are dragons, goblins, the typical fantasy fair/ D&D/MMORPG feel but with a lot more twists

Summoned Heroes

When it comes to Summoned heroes things get different.

1. 'Heroes from another world' are treated above the standard people. As being summoned from another world gives them stupidly over powered abilities compared to the average citizen of Itsumo. The Elites show them favoritism.

2. Aside from obviously enhanced strength, speed, durability, and magic. They level up faster, have overall higher stats, and Summoned heroes also get some sort of Overpowered ability.

3. These over powered abilities or OPAs are ranked from S to E. Depending on that OPA, determines your lot as a 'Summoned Hero'

4. E's are the lowest. The skill is just slightly useful. Summoned heroes are still MUCH stronger than the average soldier. So these heroes are often brainwashed Coerced and put as soldiers on the front lines, or bodyguards of the elite. (Basically they are just glorified meat shields.)

4.5 There is nothing ranked lower than E. Those summoned ALWAYS have a OPA.

5. C and D Ranks are considered worlds more useful. These heroes depending on their abilities are thrown into a field where their skills can be utilized. These heroes are usually thrown a boon by the king and get funding. These heroes are the ones responsible for the innovations in technology (such as guns, refrigeration, etc). (Though in truth they have done a lot of f***ed experimentation)

6. A and B Rank are considered 'Heroes of the Kingdom'. Those heroes are the ones that you see going around and fighting demon hordes with ease. The ones you see with the harems (usually of whatever their fetish is). They basically have license to do WHATEVER they want, so long as the King doesn't intervene.

7. S Ranks. These summons are incredibly rare, but their skills are 100% broken. To put it in perspective. 1 S Rank hero could easily beat 10 A ranks without breaking a sweat. This is where the OPA's become near god like. Fortunately for some reason, only 7 S ranks can exist in the world at a time. Only when 1 dies can a new S rank otherworlder can appear. Currently the King has some of them watching over different parts of his kingdom. But all of them are considered Legendary.

8. (Little known fact that summoned heroes are often loners, losers, incels, neets, and other lesser freaks of society. Who else would willingly go to another world if their life is actually good?)

9. Some heroes do start out doing good... but power corrupts

_____________________________________________________________

Religion:

The Religion of Itsumo in stated by King Tyran. Insists that there is a kind and loving goddess (Named Oveun Ativ) that blesses Itsumo with the heroes that appear. Basically making those from another world as 'Her blessed children'.

So often regular citizens range from worshiping them or at the very least respecting them. (Though this is simply a front, the average citizen HATES these arrogant s***s. Considering the awful stuff they put them through.)

The Church also has a monopoly on Hero summoning. The ritual that they use is as follows.

1. A young girl will be chosen once a year from every village. (basically not where the nobles live.) It was considered a great honor. (and if the town didnt comply the church would inform the king and that town would be burnt down and all of the young maidens there would be brain washed and taken anyway) A maiden will be trained in magic for several years until her 18th birthday. During this time she must not have relations with men, must not touch the blood of an animal, must read the sacred scriptures and serve the church without question. (Indoctrination)

2. According to the church, the Summoning ritual will then have the young Maiden perform the summoning magic in which if performed successfully, will summon the hero and she will take the form of a portal of light which summons him. After which she will ascend and become an angel that serves the goddess. (This is not true. Its a virgin sacrifice. Those girls are killed in a ritual. Its f***ed up what the s***)

3. If a maiden summons a B or A rank hero she is regarded as an example for others to follow. For she clearly followed the doctrine of the church. She was likely Heavily rewarded by the goddess.

4. If a Maiden summoned C or D rank, they are not discussed often except by friends and family.

5. Maidens that summon E ranked Heroes are considered disgraces. Maidens that clearly did not follow the teachings of the doctrine. Their names are stricken from the records.

6. Maidens that summoned an S Rank hero. Are written into the logs as Blessed by the goddess. They are treated like Saints and some worshiped like deities. Some doctrine claim that they serve at the hands of the goddess after achieving this.

_____________________________________________________________

Economics

Summoned Heroes basically caused Economic collapse for adventurers.

Summoned heroes often hunt monsters and get rare drops, and often those with rare skills can get much more value than typical adventure guilds.

Merchants initially loved Heroes getting them rare drops but when many other worlders started selling so many Rare drops like they were common... it made rare items worth much less and drove value of such items and materials down dramatically. Newer merchants will rarely buy goods from adventurers because of this.

Blacksmiths and artificers initially also had it great. They now get access to powerful materials for cheap. Since their work is labor intensive the value of the item is much less impacted on the product. Though Other worlders with Craft skills have popped up and open businesses that have been driving other types of stores out of business since they can easily craft higher grade weapons for cheaper and faster thanks to OPAs.

The only real way to make money was in the service industry. With rare items and monsters easily hunted and sold for cheap, Restaurants, inns and Taverns have less of a thin margin. And with Otherworlders constantly moving about, the inns had constant customers. Many of these customers would throw money around and expect to be waited on hand and foot. Inns that had pretty women were often the most popular.

Brothels were very popular among Summoned heroes. Though the places that experienced the most traffic were the ones that had more ... unique characteristics. (Animal ears, pointed ears, Wings, horns.) Beast-kin were often very requested.

Societal Impacts

Women would often try to sleep with Summoned heroes. Children made with those of another world often had a chance of producing offspring with an OPA. Which meant that the kid could have a much better life.

The 'Trope' of offering the daughter for saving them was more of a way to ensure their Family had a better life. But in reality this just meant Summoned heroes often obtained harems. This resulted in declining birthrates as many summoned heroes didnt actually often marry humans. Most would simply keep the harem. Or if they did marry they would often sleep around.

Heroes that dismissed companions often left them as single mothers. Some would be lucky to remarry, but many were left single due to social stigma. The claim is that men felt insecure marrying women that have been with heroes, because how could they compare. (In reality it was more like they felt the woman had little self respect to be willing to partake in a relationship with a hero with a harem.) And the off chance the hero did comeback to the woman to find her married, the new husband was likely slaughtered. (This selfish mentality of treating women as things to be owned was disturbingly common in the summoned heroes mind)

____________________________________________________________

The Main Characters.

Oralee: A maiden that was raised in the church as long as she could remember. Her family had a lot of faith in the church and were honored that she was picked. She followed the doctrine to very high levels. Never ate meat, Never even made contact with another of the opposite sex. She dreamed of summoning an S Rank hero and bringing great honor to the goddess (As a recent S Rank passed away and hasnt been replaced yet). Though the night she along with her fellow maidens were supposed to summon heroes. The 'Hero Eater' arrived and started killing everyone.

Hunter "Hero eater": A high level individual. A skilled fighter with a plethora of weapons in his arsenal. Skilled in strange magic that seems unorthidox yet effective. He wears a skull mask with a black cloak. He wields two daggers. One Named Malice, and the other named Mercy. His goal is to kill every other worlder he comes across. What is his motive? Does he want revenge? Power? Fame? Why did he spare Oralee. What does he look like under that mask?

[yel-halansu]

Pre-Reform Vulcan isn't what you think it is

So I've seen a lot of confusion in the fandom regarding Vulcan history, which is a shame because it's really detailed and interesting! I've compiled this summary of the main eras and events in Vulcan history which I hope you will find informative and useful (just as a note, all dates will be given in standard Earth years and centuries for clarity). Let's begin!

THE TIME OF THE BEGINNING

Life was seeded in Vulcan by a preserver race around 6 million years ago, which explains the similarities with other kinds of humanoid life in the galaxy. Evolution took its natural course, and by 600,000 BCE, a humanoid species had developed from a feline ancestor.

Proto-Vulcan humanoids were a peaceful people with an aptitude for logic. They lived mostly in the plains and kept away from mountain areas due to the danger posed by volcanic eruptions. They learnt to use fire early, and the abundance of metals made for a short Stone Age as they quickly developed rudimentary metallurgy and agricultural techniques. They soon started to domesticate animals and developed other basic technologies such as weaving. During this time period, strong solar flares and increased volcanic activity desertified the planet. The lack of resources such as water and fertile land that ensued would mark Vulcan history for thousands of years to come.

THE AGE OF ANTIQUITY

By 2,700 BCE, society was organized around tribal lines in clans that banded together for protection. Most tribes were nomadic, crossing the desert in search of water and following the migrating herds of the animals they hunted. It is theorized that groups were female-dominated, with the clan matriarchs overseeing most aspects of life.

Around that time, however, settlements had also started to develop across the territory, mostly near the shorelines of the small seas of Vulcan and by protective rock formations near oases, in order to utilise these precious resources and guard them from outsiders. These settlements eventually developed into fortified city-states. Conflicts over water and arable land became common as the cities fought to monopolise them, and technological development quickly stagnated as they fought for survival, ushering in a dark age. Political intrigue and violence were rife, with the warlords of the city-states securing alliances through arranged marriages and concocting elaborate plots of betrayal.

It is also thought that it was around this period of time that Vulcans as a species started to develop psychionic abilities, with members of the population who displayed these abilities being highly sought after and respected. As early as 2,500 BCE, some isolated Vulcans appear to have began to mentally train themselves to suppress their emotions, noticing that doing so resulted in a heightened control of their telepathic abilities.

The Age of Antiquity lasted thousands of years, but due to the uncontrolled destruction of the environment during the wars that were about to ensue, little archaeological evidence remains of it. Most accounts about this period are now shrouded in legend.

THE AGE OF EXPANSION

Eventually, an arms race began as the Vulcan city-states, locked in constant skirmishes, rushed to overpower their neighbours and defend their scarce resources. Technological advancement, which had up to that point been slow, quickly sped up and focused on weaponry, until Vulcans came to create weapons of mass destruction such as atomic and neutron bombs. The wars that ensued ravaged the surface of the planet, permanently distorting a region of its magnetic field, and leading to frequent energy discharges in the red sands.

By the 9th century BCE, Vulcans were capable of space travel, though they did not yet possess warp capability. Legend states that the first spacecraft was built by the warlord D'Vir in 855 BCE. At the time not many species were warp-capable, and so the Vulcans did not come into contact with other civilizations. They quickly landed on Vulcan's sister planet, T'Khut, and started mining it for resources.

Wars were now worsened due to the shifting balances of power caused by the destabilizing factors of the discovery of new off-world territories to colonise and the new incoming resources taken from T'Khut, the nearby asteroid belts, and other neighbouring planets. The wars in Vulcan continued for centuries.

SUDOC'S HEGEMONY

The landscape suffered greatly, and the Vulcans came close to extinction just around the 3rd century CE. It was around this time that a warlord called Sudoc took power in the city of Jaleyl by assassinating the previous ruler. His psichionic abilities were renowned and he used this power to control his followers through mind-melds and telepathic torture. He cultivated a close circle of ardent brainwashed followers. He quickly became very popular in Jaleyl by appealing to the majority of the populace with propaganda techniques, and began to expand his kingdom quickly and violently. Initially, other neighbouring city-states resisted, but Sudoc fought them mercilessly and invaded them. He is said to have slaughtered entire cities except for a single survivor, who would then be sent to the next town with the following message: “Your rulers are responsible. They would rather see you dead than out of their control.” This would cause neighbouring city-states to either surrender or be torn apart by internal conflict, as the leaders would be overthrown by their fearful citizens. For over a century, Sudoc's armies advanced across the planet.

THE TIME OF AWAKENING

Surak was born to a general in Shi'Kahr just as the city was entering in conflict with Sudoc's expanding kingdom. As a well-off youth, he was spared the horrors of the war and was not drafted into the army as most common citizens were. Instead, he spent his youth reading, studying and discussing philosophy with his friends at the sumptuous feasts of the upper class. The turning point in his life came when his entire family was assassinated by Sudoc's agents. Surak was spared as he was at a party that evening. Many other influential families were killed in this coordinated attack, including that of Surak's closest friend, Senet. Senet was consumed by rage, and immediately joined the front lines of the army, wishing to get his revenge on Sudoc. He was promptly killed.

This event changed Surak permanently, and he began to write. He theorised that all the problems of the Vulcan people stemmed from their excess of emotion. He started to develop his discipline of logic, which he believed was the only thing that could temper emotion and allow Vulcan society to develop past the horrible struggles of war. Many of his former friends deserted him during this time, but others stayed as he developed a close circle of faithful followers. Surak surrounded himself with masters of all disciplines, such as law, calligraphy and mathematics, who would in time go on to apply his principles of logic into these disciplines.

Surak faced great opposition at the beginning, as he was perceived by the population of Shi'Kahr as a spoiled kid who knew little of the horrors of the war. Sensing their apprehension, Surak and his followers started crossing the enemy lines and teaching their philosophy of peace among the armies of Sudoc. Many warriors began to desert the army, and propagated his teachings in turn as they travelled through the desert, fleeing the conflict.

From that point on, Surak's teachings gained popularity and sparked unrest in many of the territories of Sudoc's kingdom, which soon rebelled against the warlord. By this time, Sudoc had grown old, and in 331 CE, he died in a telepathic accident during melding session with his inner circle. His empire collapsed quickly after that and the war came to an abrupt end. The Vulcan people were still fractured into various groups while Surak spread his message, but in the vacuum left by Sudoc, many more Vulcans found comfort and hope in Surak's teachings.

THE SUNDERING

Even though Surak's teachings were extremely popular, not all Vulcans felt inclined to follow them. A group of Sudoc's most ardent supporters, led by a warrior named Tellus, found themselves increasingly disturbed by the new philosophy that was sweeping the planet. They would come to be called the "those who marched beneath the Raptor's wings". After attempting to start a new war against the followers of Surak, they saw themselves forced to leave the planet.

In 369 CE, hundreds of thousands of Tellus' followers took to space in the rudimentary crafts available at the time, looking for a new planet to call their homeworld. They would eventually arrive to a distant planet named Romulus and their culture would develop to become the Romulans we know today. It is a mystery how they managed to survive in space and travel that far a distance in non-warp ships, and it has been suggested that they may have accidentally entered a wormhole or been aided by some poweful interstellar entity.

With the exodus of the proto-Romulans, Vulcan was left mostly unified in thought and belief. However, Surak always considered the societal rift responsible for the Sundering to be one of his greatest failures. Surak died of radiation poisoning on Mount Seleya in 481. Selok, one of his disciples, took to the task of building a new system of government that would align with the new philosophy of pacifism and planetary unification, emotional supression and logic.

THE GOLDEN AGE

With a renewed spirit of unity and cooperation, Vulcans ushered in a new age of technological development. Within the space of a few years, Vulcans mapped the geothermic activity of their planet to contain its destructive force and harness its power, and used this new energy source to construct desalinisation plants and supply water to the cities and the cropfields. For the first time in Vulcan history, resources were plentiful and the constant threat of famine was erradicated. Science progressed quickly, with the Vulcan Science Academy being founded in 399 CE. Psichionic techniques also developped faster under the discipline of logic, and by the 6th century they had become cemented in the population as the new techiniques of meditation and self-control developed in their mainstream culture.

THE ROMULAN WAR

The Golden Age came to an abrupt end in 1270, when mysterious spacecrafts entered Vulcan aerospace and attacked their planet. These were, in fact, the Romulans, who has returned to their homeworld with the intention of conquering it. Both civilizations lacked warp drive capability at the time, and it is theorised that the Romulans were using an unstable wormhole to travel between the two worlds when permitted. Because of this, the timing of the incursions was unpredictable, and sometimes long periods of time would pass between attacks. The war lasted around 100 years in total. Romulan strategy dictated that their vessels must self-destruct rather than being captured, and because of this, the Vulcans never understood who was attacking them or why. However, they defended themselves with tenacity and avoided being conquered, until the wormhole closed permanently, putting a stop to the war.

SPACE EXPLORATION

The Romulan war drove technological advancements in many fields, including aeronautics, and after many years of avoiding space travel, the Vulcans took to the stars once again. Initially motivated by the potential discovery of their enemies in the recent war, they developed warp-drive capable starships. However, as they were still weary of other civilizations due the recent conflict, they avoided first contact with other races, preferring studying them from afar until they had gathered sufficient data to judge whether they posed a threat. First contact with Earth took place on 2063, and by that point they had already had encounters with the Tellarites and the Andorians, among others.

THE REFORMATION

Relations between Vulcan and Andoria were always tense, and by the 22nd century they had reached a boiling point when the Andorians sacked the Vulcan monastery of P'Jem, believing it to be an undercover spying operation. In the political fallout that ensued, the Vulcan High Council came under the control of Administrator V'Las, an undercover Romulan agent who was working to instigate the Vulcan invasion of Andoria.

In 2137, a Vulcan named Syrran created the Syrrannite movement, with the goal of returning Vulcan to the true path of pacifism and logic laid out by Surak. The increased militarism of the Vulcan High Council did not go unnoticed, and the Syrranites stood in stark oposition. The Council, weary of their influence, commenced a long campaign of persecution and slander against them.

In 2154, V'Las attempted to bomb the Terran Embassy in Shi'Kahr and blame the Syrranite movement, now led by T'Pau. However, his plans were foiled when T'Pau uncovered the Kir'Shara, an ancient artifact containing some writings of Surak that had been lost for centuries.

As a result of this discovery, the government of Vulcan was reformed and restored to a less militaristic democratic government in 2155. T'Pau stood for election and was elected as First Minister, and during her term she became one of the most influential Vulcan politicians of all time.

THE FEDERATION

The Federation was founded in 2161, with First Minister T'Pau as one of the signatories. Vulcan was proposed as capital, but the more conservative elements of government rejected the idea as it seemed culturally dangerous. Instead, Earth became the capital, though Vulcan remained a core member in spite of the warnings from conservative Vulcans that too much involvement in the affairs of other worlds was illogical and could be contrary to the philosophies of autonomy and peace that guide Surakian thought. In 2241, T'Pau refused a seat at the Federation Council, the only person to ever do so, and Suvok volunteered in her stead. This reticence to become overly involved in offworld affairs extended to Starfleet, as many saw the paramilitary organisation as having the potential to become violent. While enlisting in Starfleet was not forbidden, and many Vulcans did indeed choose this career path, it was mostly frowned upon in Vulcan society.

Though the majority of Vulcans support the Federation, the growing influence of Terra and other alien worlds in the affairs of Vulcan crystallised the radicalisation of more xenophobic elements of society, such as the Logic Extremists. During the 23rd century, this terrorist group bombed the Vulcan Learning Center to kill young Spock and Michael, the children of the mixed family of Ambassador Sarek. In the following years, they went on to sabotage several diplomatic missions until they were disbanded. In 2370, the Vulcan Isolationist Movement, the spiritual successor to the Logic Extremists, was discovered and also disbanded.

And these are the main periods in Vulcan history so far! In spite of their rapid advances in technology, Vulcan remains respectful of its traditions, ever logical and reserved, ever holding the violence that plagued it for centuries as a reminder of the past they wish to distance themselves from and the bright future that lays ahead.

Sources: VLI: Planet Vulcan History, The Way of Kolinahr: The Vulcans, Memory Alpha, Memory Beta.

[awed-frog]

what are your views on islam?

Well - I’m still learning, and I don’t claim to be an expert on the subject. But I got interested several years ago, read many books, met a lot Muslims and ex-Muslims and non-Muslims people raised in Muslin countries in my life, and through all that there’s a fairly homogenous picture that emerges.

Let me just start by saying I have nothing against Muslims as people. Religion can play a positive role in a person’s life, and is often understood as a purely cultural phenomenon by many believers. I met Muslims who were perfectly happy to give gifts for Eid and that’s where their faith started and ended, just like it happens for many Christians. I visited a lot of Muslim-majority countries in the 90s and early Noughties and was always welcomed very warmly everywhere. In fact, reading about the recent radicalizations of those countries was one of the things that made me interested in learning more about Islam.

First of all, I think the big difference between Islam and other major world religions is that Islam was deliberately conceived to be a political entity in a way other religions were not. For instance, Judaism is not about conversion or empire-building, and Christianity and Buddhism were founded by two rebels dissatisfied with their own religion who had zero interest in building anything on the ‘reality-based’, politics-heavy side of life. So even if Christianity and Buddhism ultimately became state religions in various countries, they had to be twisted and remolded in order to fit that role. Islam, on the other hand, was created with the explicit purpose of being an all-encompassing state religion, and thanks to many Muslim leaders’ tactical genius, profound devotion and lack of scruples, it was wildly successful in that role. What this means to modern non-Muslim states with sizeable Muslim populations is that there’s a lot of stuff, from bank transactions to shopping, eating, healthcare, legal disputes and work that really pious Muslims need a parallel system for. And obviously the creation of parallel systems within a nation state is something that’s generally not desirable and can cause a lot of trouble down the way.

A second thing about Islam is that it went through the same philosophical arguments Christianity was having in the West, but unfortunately the ‘wrong’ side prevailed - and by that I mean the ‘question nothing, God is always right’ anti-intellectual side. You often hear people wondering why Islamic science and general progress seems to stop after the Middle Ages, and while there’s generally a lot of overt bias, underlying racism and ignorance in the idea, there’s also a basis of truth. By conquering most of the Middle East, the Muslim world found itself inheriting the rich melting pot of cultures and ideas that stretched from Byzantium, through the Persian empire, to and beyond the Indian borders and found its natural heart in the vibrant, multicultural city of Baghdad. Almost immediately, erudite philosophers like Al-Kindi (801–873 AD) started to turn this inheritance into something even richer: he and his disciples, the Mu’tazilites, were arguably the main drivers of the Islamic golden age. They studied and discussed philosophy, medicine and science thanks to books and experts from the four corners of the world, and the Islamic world flourished as a result. But then, in the 10th century, the ongoing theological dispute between the Mu’tazilites and their opponents was finally lost for good: the Mu’tazilites were branded as heretics and hunted down, their works destroyed. Since the other side basically saw no way to reconcile Islam with philosophical enquiry or scientific thinking, those pursuits were mostly abandoned. And that continues in the most extreme currents of Islam today, although their leaders can be very selective in what they do and don’t consider haram (most of them, of course, are perfectly happy to use glasses, modern appliances and the internet).

And a third thing is that a lot of what we now consider as simply ‘Islam’ and defend tooth and nail against Islamophobes was heavily influenced by Saudi Arabia’s extreme version of Islam, which spread like poison over the last 30 or so years through ‘charity’, mosques, carefully trained imams, and ‘schools’, and that’s how countries who’d taken centuries to develop their own version of Islam - which was generally moderate and ‘normal’, and mixed in with other faiths and local pre-Islamic traditions - turned into something that’s barely recognizable - often to the dismay of their own - Muslim - citizens.

As ever, the West and other big powers weren’t much help here, what with colonization, racism, proxy wars, actual wars, their profound and stubborn ignorance of how Islam works and their exploitation of Muslim soldiers in various wars and Muslims workers to do cheap labour in Europe in appalling conditions, but this is not just about the West. There are powerful forces in the Muslim world itself who think there is only one ‘true’ Islam and that Islam can only work as a state religion, and who are deliberately funding a well-oiled machine to brainwash Muslims - and non-Muslims - into believing this. In this sense, the work they do is not that different from how some cults operate, only it’s on a much larger scale. And our governments, through inefficiency, ignorance and greed, are mostly content to let these influences do their job unhindered.

(From feminist Tunisian and Turkish mothers who are appalled by their daughters’ insistence in wearing a veil to old people in Albania tearfully wondering why their sons used their university money to covertly join ISIS and die in Syria, there are a lot of heartbreaking eyewitness accounts who show just how quick this transition was.)

Despite the work of hundreds of moderate imams, activists and philosophers, and despite the desires of a majority of Muslims everywhere, on the whole I’m not optimistic about the future. I think that the most extreme parts of the religion will continue to be preached and to spread, that the Middle East (and the world) will be more unstable and dangerous as a result, and that our politicians will never agree on a way to make any of this better - or even have the will to. 

[aotopmha]

Attack on Titan in 2020

I've sort of dropped doing detailed chapter posts on the series because that type of writing wasn't very fun for me anymore and I have taken a liking to a bullet point kind of approach where I list the elements that stood out for me in the chapter or make a separate post for some specific topic I'd like to talk about in it.

I've started like 10 different posts to attempt to talk about AoT this year and I always end up with incoherent rambling because of all of the elements I'd love to to talk about.

This year's chapters were 125-135 and this year's episodes episodes 1-4 of season 4.

The anime episodes in particular have given me a lot of food for thought, so I'm just saying fuck it.

I think the biggest misstep of the story for me will forever be the fact that it decided to use fairly specific historical imagery.

The Eldians are clearly supposed to have allegorical equivalency with Jewish people, but the Jewish people were never the oppressors. There weren't any Jewish empires. That's conspiracy theory bullshit.

But on the other hand, the series clearly takes great effort to not stereotype any of the groups it's portraying and gives complex reasons for what both sides do. It's one of the few Japanese series that I've seen not stereotype Middle Eastern-coded people (Ramzi and Halil) or black people (Onyakapon). Everyone are people, it says. It even champions diversity:

(Chapter 118)

It is also very much true that a bunch of fascist states use long-term history as an excuse for their actions:

(Chapter 127)

Nation did X 2000 years ago therefore our conquest of them is justified.

This makes discussion about the series' themes like a minefield.

The people who are very critical about its imagery are right, but the people defending the series aren't wrong, either because it condemns all of those nasty ideas of conquest and hurting innocent people.

You can't have a more clear-cut condemnation of genocide:

(Chapter 127)

If you combine all of these details instead of zoning in on them one by one, to me what the story is saying is that *even if* all of that conspiracy bullshit is true, innocent people don't deserve to be slaughtered no matter the reason because they are still people who have their own feelings, thoughts and wishes.

The story clearly gets the baseline, but fumbles the details. I decided to look up some more discussion surrounding this these past few days and I just wish there was more good faith discussion about it. A lot of it feels like a moral superiority contest.

I think it's these kind of flawed stories that actually deserve detailed scruitiny over stories that are rotten to the core because they are *almost there*. Talking about them is a good topic starter in what to do and not to do in a story like this.

Speaking of rotten to the core, I think the absolute highlight of the chapters this year is Eren and some of the chapters this year finally gave me a pretty clear picture of what is going on with him.

Context from 123 certainly helps, though:

(Chapter 131)

This is about Eren's perspective. He can't accept the destruction of Paradis.

It's not that this solution was inevitable looking in from the outside (which is one of the interpretations I see around for Eren's actions), it's that *Eren* can't see any other way out of this except the most extreme because of all of the horrible things he has seen from the outside world. It is very similar to the way suicidal people can only focus on the negative.

You can tell them everything is going to be okay, but those words won't reach them because their mind won't let them and loops them back to those negative thoughts.

Eren can't see the ice cream or silly clowns. But he can see how the other Eldians in the league of Eldians are willing to push Paradis under the bus. He can see how Grisha's sister was killed. He can see how racist and cruel Marley is towards the Eldians in Liberio (and how the people have racist leanings towards other nations, too).

He can only see those bad things. But he also understands how everyone outside of the walls are human just as the people inside of the walls are.

So he is torn to pieces by guilt.

He doesn't want to do this, but he can't see any other solution.

This is why I also think he can't rob his friends of their agency. He is fighting for them to have a good future:

(Chapter 133)

(Chapter 131)

What really stood out to me on a revisit is that Eren considers himself much worse than Reiner.

I've seen criticism on how the story pushes the narrative of both sides being the same and this detail is really important to me because this is the story acknowledging that what Eren is doing is worse and gives all of the following exchanges about this the context of it being a similarity in principle.

Both sides have killed for what they think is right and have to deal with how they have killed people. This is such an important detail in the Uprising arc, too, where Erwin firmly acknowledged that overthrowing the government might not actually be the right choice by him. It was simply what he saw as right. On a narrative level this avoids absolute truths and preference of one character perspective over the other and once again makes it about individual perspectives.

The theme of individual perspectives is so ingrained in this story at this point in my eyes that it's another cornerstone in understanding what is going on with Eren to me.

I think it's great.

I also really appreciate Annie and what was done with her in this chunk of chapters.

(Chapter 127)

There has been this narrative going around that proposes that the story is in Eren's corner too much. But these chapters are nothing but questioning Eren and Annie is one of the main voices in this. It's the Marleyan girls, really and I think this is a very necessary part of making the narrative work. Once again, it separates the narrative and character perspective.

It says that the Paradis side caring is about character perspective, not what the narrative sides with and Annie is even sympathetic to Mikasa in that instance.

She gets it. Unexpectedly, I think Annie might play a bigger role in taking down Eren than expected. Her character arc about deciding to no longer go with the flow because she doesn't want any more tragedy to happen is basically calling for it.

(Chapter 128)

Another element I've seen brought up is the fact that nobody seems to address the Bert-sized elephant in the room, but some of our characters are certainly thinking about him.

This is such a thematically strong element and really interesting because Connie joined the military to make his mom proud and be a good soldier. This is the motivation behind his claim when he says they are going to save the world. But what does becoming a good soldier mean, exactly?

Well, apparently possibly gunning down people you care about.

This moment is so good because it's another moment where the idea of glory in war is taken down a peg.

The moment with Connie declaring they're going to save the world is so often criticised, but it is actually turned on its head in 128. There is no heroics in this. This is actually Connie's big "killing a person" moment because it strips away the final bit of comfort in killing in war, the excuse of killing for good moral reasons.

It is also a wonderful complex evolution of the series' themes. Trost was about fighting monsters. In the Female Titan and Clash of Titan arcs some of those monsters turned out to be human. In the Uprising, Return to Shiganshina and Marley arcs all of those monsters turned out to be human and here in the War of Paradis arc, everyone is human and the only separating system is what everyone views as right.

I really hope the anime will let this chapter breathe a little bit more.

Moving on, I guess it is time to address the rumbling.

I love it as a horror spectacle.

(Chapter 130)

And I really I think it needs to be non-CG when animated. CG is fine in spectacle battles, but not in horror settings because it is too clean.

The rumbling needs to be disgusting and dirty.

Chapter 132 gave me one of the few moments in which I truly cared about Levi. I think him telling Hange to dedicate her heart was a very good moment to cap off their relationship. He sent another SL commander to fulfill their duty.

The speech about hatred in chapter 134 also stood out to me. I think it definitely should be fitted in there somewhere in this, but I also see a bunch of criticism for it.

I want to point out that this is the side of present Marley talking here. It's the military dictatorship.

It's the Nazis. I think the Nazis should feel regret for exploiting innocent people and admit they're wrong.

I also like how the horrors here are undoing the brainwashing and showing the truth to the citizens.

I guess you could read it as heavy-handed, but it is also something that needs to be addressed and in principle, it's not wrong.

I'm also going to put a mention of Historia here. I've talked about how this is my biggest and most glaring problem with the series because of how thematically unfitting it feels, but I've also talked about it in many posts. I wanted to focus more on other stuff in this post.

So now, we make it back to chapter 135.

I think having stewed on it for a month now, I like the element of mindscrewing our cast with the Titans of the people they love is the strongest element of it. It's making them face their personal traumas and we also get some great character moments and payoffs from it.

Mikasa ended off the year in a very good note in my eyes.

Even this deep in the story, this chapter left me in a situation where I have no idea how things might turn out.

I might have rough ideas, but not anything specific and that's fun.

Well, this is it on my retrospective.

2021 is confirmed to be AoT's final year of publication as volume 34 is set to be the story's final volume.

Those who hate the story can finally be free of it and those who care for it, can look back on it with fondness and sadness and many other emotions and evaluate.

It's been 7 years for me. What a wild ride.

So, I'm asking everyone, what are some of your observations on AoT in 2020?

Is there anything you'd like to add or do you have any observations or counterarguments for anything I've said?

I'd be curious to see what everyone else thought of AoT in 2020!

[brianinjapan721]

Sensoron

I found this manga to be an interesting view of the content discussed. Right off the bat, it is very clear that this is a highly-conservative and highly-opinionated manga. I had not really seen or heard much about the views of this political group, so I appreciated that this was assigned so we could learn more about extreme political groups and ideologies in Japan.

The main part I noticed was the constant misuse of photographs to represent an event that is entirely out of the photographs’ actual contexts. This was apparently done with the photo attached in this post, as well as one that was supposedly an image of the dead bodies of the Nanking Massacre. I found this to be fairly confusing, as I wasn’t sure why Japan would continue to reimplement things that harm their national bond. As I kept reading, it was emphasized again and again that this was not Japan’s government’s doing, but rather that of the victors of the Second World War. According to this manga, America (and the other nations) have been brainwashing the Japanese citizens to feel guilt for their crimes in the war by implementing a program known as the War Guilt Information Program. The “brainwashing” is very frequently noted, and obviously depicts America and the GHQ in a bad light.

With that being said, it’s hard for me to determine how reliable this source is. I could definitely see how the victors of the Second World War could have implemented programs like this to keep the Japanese silent, but, again, I just do not know enough about world history to agree or disagree with the views in this manga.

In regard to the reading, there’s a very clear connection. For one, the reading discusses a hierarchical system of people in agrarian societies. Although not agrarian, it is certainly possible to see how Americans (and those of the other affiliated nations) could use programs like this to keep the Japanese people out of their way. There is also a lot of clear discussion about nationalism in general. At the same time, the reading also discusses how in industrialized, modern society, the hierarchy dissipates and becomes more of a continuum by which people have the opportunity to change social classes. I genuinely enjoyed this assigned reading because I found it interesting. As for the manga, I think it was cool to learn about these political views, but I don’t see myself reading something like this again.

[indigosabyss]

Jaded

Izuku didn’t know when it started exactly. He supposed it might have been when he first got his own laptop, when he was twelve years old. In the years before this, his mom usually made sure that he didn’t get sucked into forums for hours on end, but once he got his laptop, he was almost immediately sucked into the rabbit hole of hero forums and discussions. Sure, Bakugo might bully him in school, and all the teachers would turn a blind eye, and every person who knew that he was quirkless treated him like he had been given a death sentence or something, but on the forums, no one knew him, and no one could tell that he was quirkless. His voice mattered.

Well, it mattered just as much as every other faceless voice on the internet, but that was at least more than you could say about his actual life. Until, one day, he found himself looking at a news clipping on one of these forums.

Middle School Mass Murderer Still At Large

Tragedy struck as a middle school in Yokohama that we are not allowed to name because of privacy laws. A dozen students was found locked in a janitor’s office, with stab wounds covering them. At least half of those students succumbed to the wounds, while the remaining students are in critical condition.

According to the statement of one of the victims, they had been led there by a classmate, who had also been found dead in the office, and furthermore, had already decayed more than the other casualties when the kids were found that same day. Of course, the traumatizing circumstances make the statement somewhat untrustworthy, but with this just following an incident a few blocks away, at a school which had a seemingly healthy and bright student allegedly kill a fellow student, is sparking worry that there is a mysterious villain in the shadows, with a Quirk that is manipulating these poor children to butcher each other.

All citizens are firmly advised to stay safe, and all middle school students should be on high alert. If you think anything is off, or have suspicions about the identity of this atrocious criminal, do not hesitate to contact the local heroics agency.

Pictured below are the innocent children who’s lives were taken far too young, just hours before the tragedy.

Izuku stared at the pictures of several students, smiling happily at the camera, and some candid shots too.

There was fervent debate below the post, discussing who exactly could’ve done such a thing, and how it was possible. It all seemed redundant to Izuku.

Couldn’t they see? The killer was right in front of them. Everything lined up so well.

Of course, he could be wrong though, it would be just like a Quirkless Deku like him to be barking up the completely wrong tree, but a quick Google searches later, and he didn’t think that that’s what it was. It just seemed so crystal clear for it to be wrong.

So, he through his hat into the ring, and dove into the comments.

MightyGreenBoy217: It’s pretty obvious that it was the girl who killed her classmate from a couple schools away.

IceQueen: Umm… proof?

MightyGreenBoy217: I looked up her case, and it has slightly more information. Her name is Himiko Toga, and her Quirk has to do with blood, considering the fact that she was seen drinking the blood of the victim. Her Quirk is not public as she is still a minor, but taking into account that both of her parents have somewhat shapeshifting-based Quirks, it would be prudent to assume it’s the same for her. Remember that there is eye witness testimony of a girl who should’ve been dead before the incident took place, leading them to the scene of the crime.

Furthermore, the idea of a Quirk unlocking violent tendencies in the minds of other people, while plausible, doesn’t seem to match anything I can find in the database. It could be a form of brainwashing, but it seems unlikely, since there were no suspicious figures loitering about the school according to reports from other newspapers.

Plus, if you look into the backdrop of the pictures we’re shown, you can actually see Himiko Toga standing there in the corner. Plus, I got super curious, and started thinking about motive, because no one would do anything without a motive, and I found out that one of the children pictured here was also in a picture in another article, about the Himiko Toga incident. I dug into it, because I was super curious, and it turns out that one of the victims was actually a former friend of Himiko Toga’s, who had actually been the one to report her to the authorities, so it’s safe to assume that she did this for revenge.

He released a breath as he tapped the Enter button. He’d gone on for a bit too long, but he needed to cram all his information in it so they might just follow where he was coming from, just in case it turned out that he was wrong.

He bit his lip and waiting for someone or the other to respond.

Meteoric-iron: Holy shit…. You got that from some news articles?!

MightyGreenBoy217: Yeah, I did. Why, you think I'm off the mark??

IceQueen: Wow... That's a lot of evidence. It's nowhere near enough proof though. But you gotta admit the coincidences are a bit too perfect.

Yeah, that was all it was, just a massive coincidence he was looking too deep into.

He ended up putting his laptop away when his mother called him out for dinner, and didn't think about that incident again.

Until that is, a couple days later when the user called Meteoric-iron sent him a DM.

Meteoric-iron: ARE YOU A PSYCHIC OR SOMETHING?!

Along with that, there was a link to an article, that Izuku hesitantly clicked on.

Middle School Murderer Identified

The culprit of the slew of deaths happening in middle schools in one corner of the Yokohama Prefecture has been identified as one Himiko Toga, aged 14.

Police were able to connect the dots when someone brought up the fact that a person with great resemblance to Himiko Toga was found in pictures taken on the same day as the attack. Further investigation revealed her saliva was found on the scene, and usage of her Quirk seemed to be the reason behind the conflicting sequence of events.

The local authorities admit that it might have been solved quicker, and the villain might have been apprehended, if they had had a more competent analyst, since Quirk Records of children are not disclosable to anyone without good reason.

He stared at the article, hardly daring to believe it. He actually got it right? But how?

He typed back to the person.

MightyGreenBoy217: Haha, nothing that cool. It was just a hunch. Glad I was right tho!

Meteoric-iron: That is so crazy. You got to the bottom of it in… what? A couple hours? And it took the police several days. You a hero or something?

MightyGreenBoy217: Oh, nothing like that! I just like quirks and stuff. It just clicked when I saw the pieces laid out.

Meteoric-iron: Huh… you should be a QA. Bet everyone will fall over their feet for someone that good.

Izuku felt like scoffing. Yeah, right, like anyone would want some of his crappy analyses.

But... Well, this person wasn't the first person to say that. It couldn't hurt to try.

That night, he looked over the profile of his new analyst account on the quirk discussion forum he'd been a part of for a while.

Everything was there, from his fees per commission (Nothing; he didn't want to make someone pay for his work when they didn't know how poor quality it was), to any restrictions he had, (nothing about lethal spots, especially for heroes; he'd heard enough horror stories about villains approaching analysts to get them to help kill a hero)

All that remained was a name. What could he do?

He tapped his chin as he tried to think. What was special about him?

Considering how he was always being told how plain looking he was, there wasn't a lot.

He was Quirkless, but that wasn't something he wanted to be known for. No way someone would trust him with a quirk after that.

He ran a hand through his hair, before freezing. Wait, he had green hair. Wasn't there some English word for the color green? What was it? Jared? Jaded?

Yeah, jaded, that was probably it.

Just to be sure, he Googled it.

Turns out, it did not mean green. It meant exhausted. What was the word he was looking for?

As he thought it over, his eyes drifted over the definition again. Huh, oddly, it seemed fitting to him.

It was an impulsive choice, but he typed it in quickly.

Jaded_qa.

He didn't have time to overthink it, as he pressed Enter before he could start to back down.

And just like that, it was done.

He didn't know it then, but his life was about to get a whole lot crazier.