#either covertly or overtly

[rhysnolastname]

im literally so tired of having to experience racist micro aggressions for being hispanic. like they think i don’t notice or maybe they don’t notice they’re doing it but oh my god. y si te meto un pescozón

[blackhholes]

teen wolf meme: [5/5] motifs -> pain

It still hurt! And that's what keeps you human- pain.

[rayday-mayday]

I know this will probably be a pretty niche acceptance/positivity post, but for for the people who are minorities and fetishize/sexualize that part of themselves: You aren't a "bad example" for doing so.

Being a minority can be really traumatizing, and the trauma and abuse we endure can often go overlooked or be minimized. It isn't wrong for you to react to that trauma in a way where you attempt to take control back of your identity, even if that control takes the form of a sexual coping mechanism.

Personally, me being misgendered for 4 to 5 years fucked with my head a lot, and while that doesn't sound "that bad" to most since they've never endured that type of pain, it basically meant the people around me was ignoring and denying me my identity for pretty much my entire teen life which were already fucked over by other factors.

While I won't go into too much detail, all those years of having such an integral part of me denied ( especially during such formative years of my life ) lead to me developing a forced feminization kink as a trans man.

At times it can trigger my dysphoria, I have to be careful participating in it, and do my best to not oversexualize myself too much, but either way, I'm not bad for that happening to me nor am I bad for having the kink. Similarly, you're also not bad for it, no matter what your story looks like, nor how your kink manifested.

Even without any explicit trauma like that, being a minority that's just existing can be inherently traumatizing and scary as fuck. I mean, why wouldn't it be when the world around you is hostile towards you, be it overtly or covertly, simply for existing?

While I know you can also be into this type of stuff without having trauma like this, ( which is also just as valid, ) I've just never see anyone talk about this type of stuff in the sense of it developing from trauma, so I wanted to make a post like this in case anyone out there can relate and needs to hear this.

Cuz if I'm completely honest? It's kinda lonely and isolating to go through this type of stuff, due to how taboo it is to fx. be a trans person that fetishizes themselves. People can make you feel shameful for developing a kink like this, or for simply fetishizing yourself at all, since it can make those mentioned people label you as a "bad [insert whatever minority here]"

Just remember to pace yourself, know your limits before it starts to harm your mental health, and remember that at the end of the day you're more than just a sexual object; you're a person that deserves respect, love, and acceptance.

Even if you can't do any of those things just yet for whatever reasons, I'm sure you can work towards partaking in the kink you have in a healthy way eventually. I believe in you.

[bubblesxo]

this post is in reference to my de-aged gotham!bruce au (from the tv show)

the batfam meeting s1 ed would just. blow their minds completely.

like, you're telling them that this little adorable baby is the riddler?? they will barely believe you until he randomly hits them with a riddle and they go. well then. i see.

it would probably be a constant game of getting whiplash between seeing him as innocent and seeing the potential for violence in him. it would also probably just make them sad, because he totally could have avoided this. if he had gotten real psychiatric help there was a great chance that he could have completely avoided hurting anyone ever.

i just. i love ed, but especially s1 ed. he's such a baby and he really just needs to be able to talk to someone without being insulted (either overtly or covertly). he also just needs to be appreciated. de-aged!bruce would probably let him work on some case for him (knowing how and why he snapped in the first place) and the entire batfam would go crazy.

but bruce wouldn't care. he's freshly 18 and he's never met any of these people before that week. he makes his own decisions and not even alfred can stop him.

the truth is, ed had the ability to become an amazing asset for batman (just as he was for the police department when he did extra work for them to only get a thank you about half the time. maybe without an insult, if he was lucky), similar to how lucius ends up in the show. we even see the parallels in s5 when lucius and ed briefly work together to find out who bombed haven.

so, yeah. meeting s1 ed would destroy the batfam emotionally

my tag for this au: #g!bruce meets batfam

see my ao3 (tkzxexo) for the fic about this <3

[yangsharperavery]

so here's the thing...

i've written about this topic a few times during and after season 1, but the carmy and sydney of it all remains a highly contested and discussed topic. even after season two.

what i find so truly fascinating is that chris storer and joanna calo and everyone involved with the creation of this lovely, well constructed show absolutely could have created the duo they work SO hard in the press to convince viewership they intended.

if they really wanted sydney to be a psuedo/standin sibling for the one carmy lost, or the brainy, determined business partner that comes in to orient a sinking ship...

there are a couple hundred ways they could have managed that and made it abundantly clear that's what the angle was within the dynamic between carmy and sydney.

instead... we have all this very overtly (and covertly) romantic, potent and simmering subtext regarding the nature of their relationship and what they mean to one another, their effect on each other and their seemingly endless potential.

in a whole host of ways there are a number of scenes that literally don't make sense without the lens of the undercurrent of feelings or reverence or romance or something that exists between them beyond the intended business partners/co-creatives.

there are ways to narratively parallel sydney as a mirror and equal and peer of carmy's void of all ambiguity and romantic tension and any energy of awkward longing or confusion.

but that's not actually what we got. i've been consuming television media for most of my life. i've watched hundreds of shows; shipping has never been a requirement for my viewership or interest.

which leads me to believe that there's either a bunch of deflection/dismissing happening for a very distinct reason. or there's been a bait and switch planned from the beginning.

you would literally have to remove 75% of the nuance within carmy and sydney's interactions for the stictly platonic claims to make sense and effectively land.

you'd have to go through and remove various staging, shot selection, editing, music choices and sometimes entire scenes to accurately convey original or "intended" messaging.

to completely eradicate the liminal space of subjectivity between them.

why is carmy talking about tina looking like sydney with that distinct expression on his face when they all wear that apron?

why are they being awkward at the lockers like it isn't customary for coworkers and business partners to go out after work for dinner or drinks or whatever (literally evidenced by tina this season)?

why is sydney mentioning jealousy at all when it comes to carmy's relationship? especially when it makes perfect sense for her to be upset with him for not pulling his weight?

why is sydney entering into carmy's life for the first time and deciding to stay, the second time, something that literally brings him out of his panic? when it could have been him cooking, his drawings, his staff, his gf. ANYTHING else.

they effectively made sydney an emotional, mental and energetic tether for him in that scene. for what reason? business partner ones or????

why do they bicker like an old married couple? is that customary for creative collaborators and coworkers?

why superimpose sydney, parallel her doing something the audience saw carmy do last season, and then show her going about her night while he's by contrast, with his girlfriend? why show a random closeup of a meaningful tattoo on her shoulder? no thematic significance beyond the grind of the restaurant world and career ambition?

why is there an obvious awkward breaking of energy after a highly vulnerable and tender moment between the two of them under the table? why does sydney noticeably fidget/adjust herself/her apron when he walks away to get her gift?

there's actually a hundred instances of these questions you could ask over the course of the two seasons when it comes to them.

so the reasoning behind the shipper pushback is baffling and a bit laughable.

some people bring into question, perhaps this is just the natural chemistry that jaw and ayo bring to their characters bc they're obviously good friends.

which... sure. i guess. but even that begs the question, you wrote and shot and constructed a story a specific way and then your two actors sort of bled on and expanded the material in a very obvious way you didn't expect?

cool, cool. so again... you're surprised that could lead to viewership seeing something deeper than mere platonic business partners?

that's shocking and surprising to you?

no way.

especially considering storer and calo have commented on how close jaw and ayo are and that their dynamic is different than the one she has with ebon and lionel. which is hilarious bc she adores ebon and has been out of the country traveling with lionel (and some other people from odd future.)

so clearly they all enjoy each other, are friends and get along.

but why even make that note of demarcation regarding jaw and ayo's dynamic and STILL be like "oh yeah, we didn't write or mean for them to be a romance " you're shocked that people SEE something given your storytelling and their obvious connection that even you, the creators themselves remarked on?!?!

there's a picture from the golden globes of ayo holding jaw's mom's hands during his acceptance speech. like they're really besties.

but i'm sorry, they can't bestie themselves into what carmy and sydney clearly exemplify on our screens without an entire framework at their disposal. because they're talented and professionals.

so if the writing is saying something, then it's intentional.

maybe the intention was to have their characters skirt and skate on the periphery of each other.

maybe it was for things to be awkward and weird and undefined or hectic and toxic.

maybe they weren't ever gonna have some relegated idea of a shipper's happily ever after.

people have feelings that go unexpressed and undefined. people fall in love and then don't end up together.

maybe the slow burn fizzles out, maybe it explodes or implodes, maybe one of them self denies, maybe they both do.

maybe it will or won’t be addressed directly or covertly. that's actually not a requirement for its existence.

to act like there isn't something true and obvious and visceral that exists between these characters is frankly like asking those who watch your show not to use their eyes and their brains.

impossible.

[sleepingdeath-light]

poly relationship hcs ; jumin & v

requested by ; anonymous (02/08/23)

fandom(s) ; mystic messenger

fandom masterlist(s) ; here

character(s) ; v / jihyun kim, jumin han

outline ; “hi death, i hope you’re having a good day! i was wondering if i could request some sfw poly headcanons for mysme, either for v and jumin or jaehee and zen, whichever you feel like more! thank you in advance <3”

warning(s) ; none, just fluff!

with partners like jumin and v it’s impossible for you to not be spoiled rotten — they love providing for you and each make sure, in their own ways, that you’re never without whatever you want, need or crave (whether that’s a home cooked meal, a new outfit, supplies for your hobbies, or anything else)

jumin is incredibly protective of you and v, feeling a lot of guilt about what happened to his best friend (and now partner) in his last relationship and what followed it — so he makes sure that the two of you are accompanied by security whenever you’re out and about (overtly if you’re at a public event, like a gala or a fundraiser by the rfa, and covertly by a smaller group if you’re just running errands or going on a date or something else along those lines)

jihyun took up painting again after settling into your relationship and you and jumin are his muses — pretty much all of his warm up sketches are of the two of you (countless expressions, poses, scenarios, moments captured in pencil and pastel and oils and pen and charcoal and…), he takes pictures of you all of the time, makes sure that you know how wonderful you both are, even if most of his art featuring the two of you never leaves your home

jumin leans towards traditional pet names (like ‘darling’ and ‘dear’, when addressing the two of you) whilst being responsive to anything you use for him — including some ‘sillier’ pet names like ‘honey bunny’ and ‘baby’ — whereas v will generally just call you and jumin by you names or, occasionally, ‘my love’ or ‘my loves’ when addressing you both

the three of you go on frequent holidays just to escape the responsibilities of life for a while — jumin, his business, and you and jihyun, the duties of running the renamed rfa — and you go anywhere and everywhere you can (even tagging along on business trips with jumin just to get away for a few days — which he’s always quietly grateful for)

jumin and v are both early risers, with the former having to get up immediately in order to get to work whilst the latter enjoys staying in bed and cuddling for a little while — but neither leave bed without sharing a kiss amongst the three of you (with jihyun even returning later once you’ve woken up with some freshly made breakfast for you to share after jumin has gone to work — or to have with him if it’s one of his rare days off)

you and v will often venture out to jumin’s office in order to join him for lunch, taking the opportunity to spend some much needed time together in the midst of his packed schedule — but if he’s too busy that day you two will just pack him something with some loving notes for him to read between meetings

between the three of you elizabeth the third is absolutely spoiled rotten and you wouldn’t have it any other way — three sets of hands to give her affection, three humans to play with, three pet parents buying her all of the toys and treats a cat could possibly want, and three laps to curl up on when she’s tired (what a life!)

when it comes to kissing — jumin always kisses you passionately and never fails to leave you flustered and breathless (he also prefers to kiss your knuckles or your lips), whilst jihyun prefers to kiss you sweetly and chastely whilst making every one count (he also prefers to kiss the top of your head and your wrists)

jumin sleeps flat on his back and enjoys having the two of you cuddled up to him — either against his sides or on his chest — whilst v is a side sleeper who prefers to spoon over anything else, but he’s also happy to have you or jumin resting on his chest if you’re comfortable there

[happyk44]

Ok!! So I believe it was already established or implied that Piper was covertly and subtly using her charmspeak on Jason whenever she felt someone else might catch his attention away from her, but either way it's something I believe when I write their relationship. Jason is essentially under a fugue, which also impacted his ability to retrieve his lost memories. It's subconscious and not fully intentional on Piper's behalf - but it does occur, and basically it just got my me thinking about histrionic Piper 👀

She doesn't present in the stereotypical way that you would expect of someone with HPD - she's not overtly flirtatious - but there's a part of her that needs to be the focus and gets frustrated when she's not. Because of her mom, she had the predisposition to develop it. It first stems from her dad's neglect of her and her acting out to gain his attention, subsequently building and building until her need to be the focus occurs outside of her dad.

Like even in TLH when she's speaking to her experience of her charmspeak before she was aware of it, she speaks to "it's not my fault people just give me things" but the one I remember most is her mentioning a salesperson giving her a car for free and like even a 15 yr old should be able to understand how suspicious that is and not accept, but for her, in the moment, it's just "okay, why not" because someone is treating her like she's special, even though she knows, or should know, better, esp considering the trouble she's gotten into before!

There's also aspects to Piper that allows her to be the center of attention with some immediacy - she's rich, her dad is famous, she's Native. When she feels threatened by Drew, she immediately draws the "my dad is famous" card and gets annoyed when they don't believe her. She canonly gets jealous when Jason shows anyone else a passing interest, regardless of if it's romantic or not. She has the "I'm not like other girls" attitude which makes her "different" and such.

So she never really had to draw attention to herself by dressing provocatively and so on because it was already on her. Also her emotions never felt very intense to me when I read her point of view, and I know shallow and shifting emotions is a symptom? I have to review the full criteria later, but yeah.

Thoughts? I think it's an interesting take - like my mute!Piper AU. I'd be happy to hear from anyone who has HPD!

[riverdale-retread]

Jughead is certainly good at not taking his anger out on Archie, but sometimes it's infuriating in its implausibility. it's understandable that the show was trying to show that the whole friendship of these four is far more important than their quarrels, but sometimes it was overdone because even among true friends, a fight can break out that can end an entire friendship. Veronica didn't excel at that either.

That's an interesting take, that neither Jughead nor Veronica express anger at Archie or Betty because the show is trying to make a point about friendship.

I don't quite see it that way. Jughead is both parental towards and terrified of his parents (who are both fundamentally criminally oriented in a way he isn't) and Veronica is the same (parental and scared - and her parents hire gunmen to shoot at each other). Both have dads that are overtly or covertly violent to them (FP pushes and shoves and handcuffs Jughead; Hiram takes a baseball bat to destroy Veronica's babies, her bottles of rum). Neither of them is ever allowed to actually disagree with their family, so any disagreement or outburst of anger or expression of negative sentiment is not something either of them have ever done in a place of safety, where the relationship will withstand it. When Jughead can't keep a lid on his feelings anymore, he lashes out - a years-too-late outburst voicemail to Betty, calling Archie who always worries about being stupid dumb to his face in front of both girls when he's being hosted by Archie's girlfriend etc. The gingerly distant way that Jughead approaches Archie in S5 is reflective of this huge, unaddressed hurt between them that Jughead doesn't want activated again. Veronica marries her dad's clone, who is both less competent than he is and more controlling.

[dragonagekeeper]

Disclaimer: This is not recorded in the keep.

Captured as part of the Lost Souls quest. Judged for his crime of attacking Skyhold with a goat in retaliation for his son's death.

Judgment polls / Dragon Age Inquisition Polls

Movran's son, the Hand of Korth, was sent to kill Tevinters but decided that attacking the Herald of Andraste would bring more glory to his god. After his son's death, Movran answered, as is tradition in Avvar culture, by smacking the holdings of the offending party (in this case, the Inquisitor) with goat's blood. Movran freely admits, however, that he has no intention of actually pursuing any conflict with the Inquisition, and offers himself to the Inquisition for judgment.

Banishment

Banish Movran and his clan

2. Put on public display in a gibbet and "probably" released

Sentence Movran to be put in a gibbet (a hanging cage for public display)

3. Arm and Exile to Tevinter

Arm and Exile to the Tevinter Imperium

If Movran is exiled to Tevinter, his clan will establish a settlement on an uninhabited region of the Silent Plains, off the Imperial Highway. The Inquisitor can either overtly support Movran's new settlement (incurring the Imperium's ire), covertly supply them (allowing the settlement to flourish and becoming a welcome stopping point along the road), or simply leave them to their own devices.

4. Assign to Abernache [Sided with Templars and only if Abernache is alive]

Conscript Movran into the Inquisition, in which case he will serve alongside Lord Esmeral Abernache

If partnered with Abernache and Josephine's suggestion is taken, Movran and Abernache develop something resembling a mutual grudging respect and become an effective ambassadorial team, with Josephine noting the value in the Inquisition's threat of "not recalling our ambassadors".

[libbee]

Ego battles for Sun in 7h

While it is fruitful to have Sun in 10h/11h for career and public life, the public perception and how you appear in workplace; it is, at the same time, detrimental to have Sun in 7h for relationships both romantic and otherwise.

From 7h, Sun also aspects the 1h, thus giving a personality where the native is ego sensitive, demands a lot of respect and authority. These natives are always looking for respect whether it is their personal relationship or professional, they are insecure if not being given a lot of importance by people in their surroundings.

At the same time, they may have a lot of "self-respect" which is a double edged sword -- 1. on one hand, self respect means that you have standards for how you ought to be treated by others, that you do not tolerate insults and teasing from others even as a joke and 2. on the other hand, it means that you are too egoistic to take help from anyone, you want to do everything yourself and seeking help from anyone feels like incompetence.

This applies to both Sun in 1h and 7h but mostly for 7th housers the problem is that ego works everywhere except in relationships. Whether it is your parents or partner, ego ruins relationships. These are the people who matter to you regardless of their shortcomings, they stand with you through thick and thin. So, we adjust our egos to better settle with the egos of our important people.

In the same way, according to the principle "like attracts like" that I like to use in astro relationships, the partners they attract have similar demands for authority, respect, pride and self-respect. If 7th houser is not consciously aware of their egoistic expectations, it is definitely going to cause problems for the people. So, here the choice is to adjust the need to be "I am right" or "respect me unconditionally" and to understand that it is your expectation that is too high. People cannot respect you all the damn time like you are some royalty. Even if you are a royalty, there will be people who gossip about you behind your backs, can you control them?

Moreover, where does this demand for excessive respect come from? If we explore this demand deeply, we find its roots in the relation to our father which is also indicated by Sun in astrology. In relation to father being excessively hero type or being too cold, we are either too demanding of respect overtly or covertly. For sun in 1h, they act too much like their father who himself was a grandiose type personality who liked to be in limelight. For sun in 7h, they are covertly demanding the limelight, father was likely a figure to be feared and intimidating authority. In any case, the personality of 1st houser and 7th houser Sun are similar.

Difference lies in the area of life; whereas the 1st houser will focus on self image but the 7th houser will focus on other image. The goal is to find respect and recognition.

[poppyandzena]

I've always felt uneasy about Poppy. Something about her on stream set off alarm bells. Literally, like within moments of the first time watching them. I think some survivors develop a certain sense about potential abusers or unsafe people. It's visceral. Often survivors come to know specific clusters of codified behaviors that many abusers exhibit. Poppy displays many of these behaviors, both covertly and overtly. It is genuinely concerning. I mean, her x/twitter TL is overflowing with coercive, humiliating messages for her "mates".

Are there other survivors who experienced a similar gut feeling about Poppy early on? Are there any behaviors or instances that ultimately validated that gut feeling?

Your gut feeling is very right on the money. I've never been sexually victimized, so my alarm bells were "shut off" to give the benefit of the doubt until I couldn't anymore. I only knew of Zena and Poppy from their first Courtney video. I was dissatisfied by how unorganized the interview was. I'm of the belief that a survivor's account of their horrific abuse should be told in a professional, neutral setting. Mormon Stories Podcast did this quite well in regards to Jessie Hildebrandt.

Poppy was inappropriately nonchalant and off-topic often. I found myself frustrated when Poppy would go on tangents about how she's prettier than Lily or some dumb Twitter bullshit. Poppy's questions left a lot to be desired and Courtney did 100% of the conversational heavy lifting in regards to substance.

The first thing someone--especially a survivor--might recognize is how Poppy consistently injects herself when it is not necessary. On Twitter, Poppy's narcissism is fully unmasked. She compliments her partners by how good they benefit her or make her feel. She misconstrues a possessiveness kink with being an unrepentant, controlling asshole.

Responsible kink/sexual contact is done with the full knowledge and consent of all parties. Poppy will straight up sexually harass strangers on Twitter and get mad when they indicate that they don't like it. She insists she isn't doing anything wrong because she's "succubian" and "a flirty bitch." The reality is she's a serial sexual predator who purposefully disregards the consent of other's for her sexual gratification.

Poppy has this nagging motif of controlling others. It codes her language and actions all of the time. She jokes about how she "transed Lily's sister." She insisted that Courtney was not straight and removed the autonomy for them to come to terms with their sexuality. On multiple occasions, Poppy has used the prospect of feminization surgery to either lure or claim possession over the bodies of her partners. "I will make my girlfriend hotter with each visit." Keep in mind she often hasn't been with these women for longer than a year, or even six months, and she's already claiming ownership of the transition of their bodies.

Poppy frames minor setbacks, inconveniences, or disagreements as either life-ending or abuse. She is not receptive to criticism. When the most minor of issues or non-issues occur, you will bet that she's crying about it on Twitter with a crusty anime jpeg. This completely takes the other partners' privacy and agency away from them. If you are Poppy's partner, you are not guaranteed that your conversations are private.

Yet, Poppy is outwardly against "confidants" in her polycule. This is information control. She does not want her partners to develop closer relationships with each other, as there will be a risk of confiding about Poppy's abuse. This is why she is so aggressive towards metamours and will frame their actions as abuse against her, to force her paramours to distance themselves from other love interests.

She's already doing that with Noeh, swerving between hypersexual love bombing and passive aggressive vague posts about "enabling abuse against her." This is not the first time she has done this and it won't be the last.

Lastly, she scopes out potential victims constantly, worming her way into people's lives and offering to "adopt" them or "be their succubus." This ramps up when she is in conflict with one of her partners. It's cyclical behavior that follows established abuse frameworks. Lovebombing, control, inciting incident, attack, withdrawal, ultimatum, "resolution", lovebombing and repeat until she is bored of you and tosses you aside for a newer victim. Her turnover rate for relationships is fucking insane and NOT normal for a poly relationship.

In order to avoid people like Poppy, I urge you to keep trusting your gut. Normal, lasting relationships should make you feel secure and calm. Do not override your boundaries for the sake of other people. Don't afraid to be a bitch when people are not taking your "no." These people will find it harder to prey on you when you respect your identity, your intelligence, your strength, and your body.

@transpersian and @helavitrum are ex partners of Poppy and can attest to the power of trusting yourself.

[theculturedmarxist]

Israel’s military strategy follows precisely the parameters its war planners proclaimed: total war. This would not be mowing the grass. This was a fight all the way to the end of the line. To eradicate Hamas, yes. But far beyond that.

US leaders have telegraphed their acceptance of this approach by floating the notion of “what comes after Hamas is defeated.”  In other words, after Hamas is totally dismantled and destroyed as a viable entity.  They may be thinking of how the west and its regional allies attacked and largely eliminated ISIS as a viable force.

But as this article points out–the proper insurgency analogy for Hamas is not ISIS, but the Vietcong.  A people’s army rooted in every home and village.  With disciplined political and military cadres operating covertly and overtly everywhere and anywhere.  Even when the Vietcong faced the most severe US-Vietnamese attacks, they never wavered.  It was their country after all. They could never be defeated in any real sense.  And events proved them right. They outlasted the invaders: a Vietcong version of summud.

Gaza, of course, is a much smaller area than Vietnam. So targeting Hamas would be an easier feat.  But among 2-million people, you cannot eradicate a movement the people embrace.  You would have to eliminate all the people to do that.  Which brings me to my next point.

It is very likely, I believe, Israel intends to expel all Gazans.  This isn’t just a war to destroy tunnels, or to eliminate Hamas fighters.  It wasn’t even exclusively a war to eliminate Hamas.  It was a war to make Gaza entirely unlivable.  It is total war in an urban setting.

By total war, I mean one that destroys everything. Everything and everyone.  Leaving the living to bury the dead…or die trying.  The goal is to make Gaza so uninhabitable, that the world will find this version of the Final Solution perhaps unpalatable, but in the end unavoidable.

I can’t think of any modern version of total war comparable to this one.  In every similar attack on a major city, the attacker did not intend to render the place permanently unlivable for survivors.  Even in the case of the atomic bomb attacks in Japan, the US formed an Occupation government which entirely rebuilt the country, including Hiroshima and Nagasaki, while also creating a new democratic political system. After murdering 500,000 during the infamous Dresden bombing, the city was rebuilt. Only the ruins of the bombed cathedral remained, as a testament to the cruelty and suffering of the War.

There are ancient versions of this, all revolving on conquerors sowing the earth of the vanquished state with salt, so it would be unable to produce anything that could sustain life. In fact, this ancient version of a scorched earth-total war strategy, may originate in the ancient Middle East.

This may Israel’s Total War 2.0: a military strategy “updated” for the modern age.  Preferably, it would be studied in military academies more for its horror than for the innovation of tactics or long-term success in achieving political goals.

The first stage of this process is the one we are in now–genocide by degrees. Eliminate neighborhoods, infrastructure, institutions. Render hospitals, schools, businesses either destroyed or inoperable.  The latest is they’re even bombing water tanks and solar panels.  Because I presume they’re major weapons of war.

People will then die not only from the bombs, but from their untended wounds, starvation, disease, etc.  Despite the savagery of Israeli tactics in this stage, eventually the world slowly becomes acclimatized to it.  What was once horrifying and downright uncivilized, is now the new normal.

That leads to what may be the next stage: Israel declaring, Gaza is now unlivable. It’s a sad tragic fact of war. We had to do it. They gave us no choice, etc. But guess what, the Israelis could say. Let’s start over. Let’s reconceive what Gaza is.

They might have a hybrid approach to how the post-war landscape will look: perhaps Israeli Jewish settlements, interlaced with Gazans carefully screened by the security apparatus, who are permitted to remain.  Or perhaps it would be Palestine-rein (though that might be a bridge too far for a finicky global audience).

Gaza: Nakba 2.0

Israel has already published two separate plans, one produced by a whack job analyst, Amir Weitmann, arguing it would only cost $5-8-billion to resettle Gaza Palestinians in existing or newly built housing stock on the outskirts of Cairo.

In the video below, he tries to tear an RT reporter a new asshole. Pulling an Israeli Rambo, he threatens to personally destroy Russia. Or something.

A mentally deranged genocidal Nazi threatens Russia… 🤷🏽‍♀️#GenocideinGaza #ShutElbitDown STOP THE #GENOCIDE NOW! pic.twitter.com/GrMWMmbc4A — 🗣️📢 𝕗𝕣𝕖𝕖 𓂆 𝕡𝕒𝕝𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕖 (@ronnie_barkan) October 20, 2023

The other proposal came from the intelligence ministry.  It was similar in some respects to the other plan.  But it did not offer the newly expelled refugees anything other than tents in the Sinai. As far as this proposal was concerned, Israel dumped them there. It was now someone else’s problem.

Which wasn’t much different than what Israel did after the 1948 War.  It expelled a million indigenous Palestinians and foisted them on neighboring Arab countries: your problem, Israel said.  These countries now have 5-million Palestinian “problems.”

Media reporting on these two documents noted they weren’t produced by the country’s highest level security think tanks and that the intelligence ministry is really an insignificant backwater as far as government ministries go.

But a different strategy may be involved.  These plans may be part of a broader plan.  After they are leaked, the government gives them time to be absorbed by Israelis and the world.  Then the genocide continues. The body count continues to rise.  Savagery even escalates. Pressure builds up.  Then Israel says: hey, we have a plan to end all this. No more killing. No more terrorism. No more Palestinian Gaza.  Are you interested, world?  It is quite possible that so many nations and world leaders will be so outraged by this Israel will pack it in and return to killing business as usual.

But…if Israel preps enough allies, if it gets Biden and Blinken on board. If they lobby the European allies, then Israel may be able to pursue a diabolical plan to its “logical” criminal conclusion. At least that’s what Israel hopes.

Gaza as colony. Israel, US, and European and Arab allies as colonial powers

The US and Israel have cooked up a real stew. They propose that after Hamas is eliminated (a dubious proposition to begin with–but more on that later), an occupation force consisting of American troops would administer Gaza:

The US and Israel are exploring options for the future of the Gaza Strip, including the possibility of a multinational force that may involve American troop…

Plan B involves an Arab multilateral force that would administer Gaza. It has even designated who that could be–none other than the next-up in the Abraham Accords sweepstakes, Saudi Arabia.  Yes, those Saudis did such a bang-up job in Yemen, where they not only murdered 80,000 Yemenis, they also slaughtered hundreds of Ethiopian refugees fleeing from Yemen. We want these humanitarians to work their magic in Gaza.

Secretary of State Blinken summed up the (stupid) thinking behind the plan:

“We can’t have a reversion to the status quo with Hamas running Gaza,” Blinken, who will travel to Israel on Friday, told the Senate Appropriations Committee. “We also can’t have — and the Israelis start with this proposition themselves — Israel running or controlling Gaza.” “Between those shoals are a variety of possible permutations that we’re looking at very closely now, as are other countries,” he said.

So you can’t have Hamas running the show. And Israel wants nothing to do with the job itself because, guess what? It tried it and didn’t work well for them: one of the reasons Sharon so unceremoniously withdrew in 2005. A decision which led–you guessed it–to Hamas’ takeover of Gaza. Israel, of course, wants to foist the unwelcome job on someone, anyone else.  Smart move for them. But not for the sucker left holding the bag.

But look at the language of Blinken’s statement. Who’s missing from consideration?  Gazans themselves. They are an after thought.  Or a non-thought.

The only thing colonial powers understand is who will run things. Not who lives there or what they want. But who’s on top. The problem with that approach is it ends up as all colonizing schemes do–the natives reject the guy running things because they want to run them for themselves.  This is precisely the disaster the US is heading for under any of these schemes.

For once in his professional life as a pro-Israel US diplomat, Aaron David Miller is right when he warns:

“The idea of bringing Arab states in to do counter insurgency in Gaza in the wake of the death and destruction that the Israelis have visited is going to be extremely problematic because it would involve Arabs killing Palestinians,” said Aaron David Miller…

You bet.  Not only that. It will involve Gazans killing Israel’s Arab stooge occupiers. That’s a message that would resonate with any Gazan.

Oh and here’s another Biden humdinger:

…One option would grant temporary oversight to Gaza to countries from the region, backed by troops from the US, UK, Germany and France. Ideally, it would also include representation from Arab nations such as Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates,

Consider all the vague meaningless unquantifiable terms in this passage: “temporary,” “oversight,” “representation.”  These words mean nothing: tissue paper floating on the breeze. What European country in their right mind would want to station troops in a Gaza tinder keg?

It was bad enough for them when they joined multinational forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.  At least there was some international consensus behind the US invasion (as wrong as it was).  There is no such consensus how to deal with Gaza.  They would be walking into a building already on fire.

Which Arab nations would be foolish enough to join this shit show? Of course, those buddy-movie heroes, MBS and MBZ.  They’ll go anywhere, do anything: Starve Yemen? Check. Murder Shiite clerics? Check. Fund ISIS? Check. Fund anti-Iran terror? Check. Dissolve dissident journalists in vats of acid? Check.

Israel’s friends at the Washington Institute came up with their own plan. It has as much merit as my last Amazon packing slip:

[It] called for a Palestinian-run interim administration, with the UN Relief and Works Agency continuing to provide food, heath and education. “Public safety and law enforcement could be directed by a consortium of the five Arab states who have reached peace agreements with Israel—Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco,” Washington Institute scholars wrote in an Oct. 17 note. “Only those Arab states would have Israel’s confidence, which is essential for this effort to succeed.”

So in other words, some Palestinian stooges, presumably the PA since they’re perfect casting for such characters, and UNWRA, will respectively, feed Gazans and administer traffic tickets (if there any cars left); while Abraham Accord stooges do all the heavy-lifting on behalf of Israel. I couldn’t have come with anything better myself (and I didn’t!).

As if reading my mind, Blinken offered fond hopes for PA’s future stooge role. Just not quite yet:

…What would make the most sense would be for an effective and revitalized Palestinian Authority to have governance and ultimately security responsibility for Gaza..

If those aren’t a few choice euphemisms concealing his admission that the PA is a bunch of corrupt aged incompetent grifters.

Media reporting on the various plans say Democratic senators were receptive. I wonder: do they have eyes in their head? Do they read the news? Do they remember when we imposed our own version of “democracy” on captive nations in Afghanistan and Iraq?  How well did that end?  If any of these harebrained schemes sees the light of day they should all have their heads examined.

But hey, it’s their own party. Let them make the rules. But remember the Pottery Barn rule, which Tom Friedman so infamously and erroneously attributed to Colin Powell: you break it, you buy it.  The beauty of the these plans, especially for Israel, is that after they break it, they don’t buy it or fix it. They pawn it off on the Saudis and they “fix” it, as only the Saudis do (cf. Yemen). If Biden thinks that a joint military occupation by European or Arab allies will absolve him of responsibility for the inevitable disaster, he should think again. It won’t.  Republicans will see to that.  And for once in their lives, they would be right.

Hamas will last

Whatever happens to Hamas during this war, no matter how decisively it has been defeated (which is by no means certain), it will not disappear. It will not be eliminated. You can kill 100,000 Gazans and you will not eradicate it. Like the Vietcong, it is so part of the people the two cannot be separated.

No matter how much propaganda Israel tries to peddle. For example: Whispered in Gaza, a dog and pony show “hosted” by pro-Israel front-man, Dennis Ross, with his Foundation for the Defense of Democracies sidekick, Jonathan Schanzer.  I tell you: there’s nothing that validates Israeli genocide more than offering Israelis and the west the delusion that they’re actually helping Gazans.  One question? How did they obtain these purported statements from Gazans?  Under what guise or pretense?  Because even if these statements are genuine (not necessarily established), I guarantee that interviewees were deceived as to the purpose for which their statements would eventually be used.  This is plain and simple information warfare. Ross has moved on from US diplomat to propaganda warrior.

That doesn’t mean all Gazans love Hamas. Not all Vietnamese loved the Vietcong.  Not all colonial Americans loved the patriots.  But Hamas fights. It resists.  There is no other force in Palestinian society that fights for its rights against occupiers and oppressors. So until something better comes along, Gazans say this will have to do.

In whatever bright new future the colonial powers have in mind for Gaza, Hamas will not just fade into the mist never to be seen again.  It will be there. It will assert itself and its presence. It will resist whoever calls himself a colonial Lord Jim. Doesn’t matter whether its a GI Joe, Saudi commander, or a Jedi knight.  They’re all foreign occupiers. All unwelcome. It will be the undying mission of Hamas to rid Gaza of them.  And eventually, if it takes a decade or five, it will.  My money is riding on it.  Colonial powers don’t have a very good, or long track record.

Something better could come along if these powers deciding Gaza’s fate recognized a Gazan voice, and compelled Israel to recognize a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, including free, full and fair elections.  Never happen. I know. But I wanted to put out the real and only solution that works. Not the one that these colonial douchebags are sticking together with rubber bands and wood glue.

Gaza: the Biggest Loser

The Biggest Loser–and they always are–are the Gazans.  At least one can say that in the Saudi scenario, they aren’t expelled and turned into refugees twice in 75 years. But they would now be under the boot heel of a hated, corrupt, despotic monarchy.  If Hamas resonated with Palestinians before–it will even more in this scenario.

The Saudis failed to quell the Yemeni Houthis. In Gaza the conditions would be even less favorable.  Despite their Israel-induced deprivation, Gazans are worldly, technologically-adept, politically engaged, etc.  They are not tribal kinsman from the mountains.  Gazans have as much in common with Saudis as Gigi Hadid has with Tokyo Rose. The Saudis will be as unwelcome occupiers as Israelis.

[birchbow]

When Kurloz and Gamzee let it be known that they were quadranted, apparently Inquirer had questions. (Did he know anything at all beforehand?) I don't think most trolls - and certainly not Gamzee - would notice if Ianche Uderak decided to go secretly snooping into their motives, associations, history, etc but to what extent did Inquirer investigate covertly vs. just badger Kurloz and Gamzee for details directly? He seems comfortable enough being a nuisance to anyone and everyone, but did he feel that he could get all necessary information from direct observation and conversation/prodding or did he pursue other paths to uncover ssssecretssss?

This is a great question! I don't think he interrogated either of them about it directly, for pretty much exactly opposite reasons: Ianche is a prying, curious, proud little shit, but he's also aware that it pisses people off when he overtly pries into their whole deal. Normally he doesn't give much of a shit, but when it comes to the Grand Highblood he doesn't really have a choice but to give a shit.

...Meanwhile when it comes to Gamzee, Ianche's pretty disdainful of his, like, whole entire deal, and once the news broke among the community of People Who Know Things, he wouldn't be inclined to be seen just like, walking up to this barely-graduated subjugglator and asking questions directly. Besides, once he got through even the most preliminary pokings-around he definitely was like "so some meathead young blood with the same sign. A fun novelty." And when he picked up the news RE: kinks, it only would have confirmed for him that Gamzee was a convenient boytoy, quadranted mostly to avoid any shit-talking from quadrant traditionalists. And tbh he probably didn't have any reason to adjust that estimation until fairly recently in-fic! Especially since red quadrants don't come very naturally to him, and he underestimates how willing other trolls are to do things purely out of love/pity.

[spidervarin]

How come people just kinda assume that overt/covert system presentation is a strict binary and you are either one or the other lmao

Our system is pretty covert even in the presence of other systems, and we struggle to communicate our needs or who is fronting, but we know other “covert” systems who are more easily able to present overtly

We also know a lot of more overt systems who mask or present covertly depending on environment

And I’ve heard people say this, like genuinely “I think you’re lying about being covert because you did X” when it’s really just self-identification and something that can change with therapy and environment and self-assurance

[thekidsarentalright]

idk if i’m going to articulate this well but i think the thing with mcr fans as well is that they treat the way they talk about pete or patrick as being just a joke but it’s not just a joke when theyre consistently racist towards pete (overtly and covertly) and now being fatphobic towards patrick and the scene as a whole has always been SO hostile to people of colour and fat people like i think it’s part of a wider problem in the scene where people think of it as just being made up of skinny white people and resent anyone who doesn’t fit that mould….. does this make sense idk

this does make sense to me and i believe is absolutely a factor and is why “jokes” like this are particularly bothersome because it’s like… okay so you think being racist and fatphobic and upsetting people is just funny and silly and goofy?? it’s our fault we’re offended over this behavior and not yours for conveying a message that comes across as such?? in a scene/community where exclusion based on things like race and appearance is so rampant it is literally bone chilling to see someone so flippantly joking about it and then laughing at people getting upset. these jokes are based in harmful stereotypes and bigotry. it is contributing to the hostility no matter the intentions of the person and no matter how much someone claims they’re joking and that people are just sensitive. this shit needs to be called out and squashed every single time it happens because i don’t Care how funny or jokey they think they’re being, i don’t care if being upset about it comes across as being sensitive, it is never funny and is actively harmful to both the band members who aren’t skinny white and conventionally attractive and to fans who are as well. this is absolutely not just mcr or fob fandom specific problems either, it’s indicative of a much deeper problem and shouldn’t be brushed under the rug or ignored ever even if it Seems like it’s a small thing like this drama might

[delistravaganza]

Enemies to lovers is pretty much my go-to wlw trope. I find that childhood friends to enemies to lovers often works even better because they have a history.

Still, I have found few examples of "true" wlw enemies to lovers in series, much less in books. I have found many "don't like you much", "been a moron to me several times", "academic rivals" and even "on opposite sides of a universe-threatening war", but neither of these necessarily equate enemies.

I know that fanfiction does this trope better because it relies on what you know about the characters and their shared history, but I'm starting to wonder whether there's some kind of animosity between the trope and writing exclusively about women (or girls). It's like the phase of pure hate is never fully realized. Why? I mean, we have all these memes about women's resentment being eternal, about women's endless state of competition against other women, and then we can't have new media where the characters genuinely hate each other's guts for a while before becoming all soft?

I've found the trope to be generally better executed in mlm media (and fanfiction of course!). Sadly enemies to lovers isn't usually my cup of tea when it comes to mlm, as I favor the more tender friends to lovers trope. It's just a preference and I guess it's simply because I tend to prefer my women feral and my men soft.

As for m/f, I haven't found any enemies to lovers storyline that I was excited about in modern media. Straight enemies to lovers seems to me the most lazily executed trope ever, and it's usually just an excuse for the guy to act like a jerk. I once stumbled across a Reylo fic right after TFA and I was mildly interested in the idea, so I started reading it. It was only after some chapters that I realized that Kylo Ren had already raped Rey, threatened her and turned her into some kind of trophy wife that I understood what kind of story I was reading. I realized that, for many readers, that was what m/f enemies to lovers was about. Really fucked me up in the head, and I read lots of very fucked up stuff. But it was the fact that this story seemed to be so innocent and was virtually clueless about its message what really got to me.

The only m/f enemies to lovers that I have liked have been those in classic novels, such as Pride and Prejudice or Wuthering Heights, though arguably those aren't enemies either or aren't a romance per se. Might also be the reason why I tend not to identify with any lesbian novels unless they're not a romance per se or they're not overtly lesbian (covertly lesbian I'm an expert of).

I just don't see myself in contemporary lesbian romance books. And I find it weird that I identify more with Catradora or Caitvi, or even any cheap m/m vampire/werewolf book, than with situations I have also experienced and been a part of. It's like - it's all dumbed down, it's watered down. Not all of them, of course, but it's like the world is way more dangerous in my experience, romance has sharp edges to it, pain is often difficult to overcome, there are many shades of you that you still don't know about, and these books aren't even giving me female characters that are fleshed out to begin with.

Just a rant, just my experience, and just a bit sad that I can almost never join in the excitement of ooooh check out this new lesbian couple on this series because I dngf about them, they're barely characters to me and to the screenwriters, and I dngf about girls getting kissy and huggy without any depth to it.