#france debacle

[jefferson-starkid]

HOLY SHIT I just got tickets to the Eras Tour next year 🤩

I can’t believe it I’m still in shock

[pawnshopsblue]

top 5 fav films and books of all time 👀

also this one is really tough to answer i know but top 5 rory and jess moments

OH okayyy !!!!! ok these change literally all the time but for now:

fav films:

1. blue velvet

2. youve got mail & when harry met sally aka best of the nora ephron/meg ryan cinematic universe

3. kill bill vol 1

4. the french dispatch

5. city of bones film adaptation

fav books:

1. the secret history (the only constant i think)

2. bonjour tristesse (francoise sagan)

3. the mandarins (simone de beauvoir)

4. l’age d’or (diane mazloum) tied with ni toi ni moi (camille laurens)

5. currently a big fan of the sally rooney mundane esp conversations with friends

(honorable mention the princess diaries by meg cabot)

fav roryjess moments:

1. new york

2. teach me tonight “dont give me that whole misunderstood kurt cobainy thing” / “so courtney! what about you!!” like are u kidding me. marriage vows

3. why did you drop out of yale!!!!

4. 22.8 miles

5. unpopular opinion but their fight in the swan ep it hits in all the right places. esp when jess sees the portrait of rory. like its so symbolic so persuasion-core so well executed it leaves me nauseous in the best way. also they both look hot here so

[rowesam]

sorry i cant give my all to the misha debacle (do hope he takes it back in 3 days tho that'd be funny as hell) the big mean old nazi in my country is in the hospital with heart failure and might die i'm just thinking of dancing crabs

please pray with me

also the leader of the communist party used a dog whistle to imply there are too many immigrants getting in the country so. win some lose some. hell world

[icharchivist]

What event is Lopop from?

Lopop comes from the second Lunalu event, Imagination Overdrive.

the event is basically Lunalu introducing her friends to her hyperfixation (the Popol Saga) by showing her doujinshi first and then the picture books, while Siero ends up doing a lot of the voice cast. She also inserts her self insert with it and the girls finish reading the book going "hey let's write a fix it AU" and so the end of the event is them writing a fix it AU.

I'm rusty on the details but the Popol Saga is about Popol, a prince, and his brother, Lopop, heir to the throne. Both of them are supposed to occupy different authorities as their father dies, but Lopop learns something about his birth that makes his claim on the throne invalid, and he freaks out about his life being a life, stabs his best friend, and then set everything on fire (which, again, Sephiroth core). The girls give them a fix it ending where the two brothers can talk and fix their relationship thanks to Lunalu overpowered self insert.

Delightful event 10/10 would recommand, but i never forgot Lopop.

[great-and-small]

Do y’all know about Frédéric Thomas? He is a French parasitologist who heard a story about crickets in New Zealand leaping into the water even though they can’t swim, and immediately speculated this suicidal behavior was related to behavior manipulation from an internal parasite. This is before neuro-parasitology was a field at all, and before people really put much stock into parasite’s ability to control animal behavior.

Thomas was certain that studying these crickets would be a huge priority for the scientific world given the implications of a parasite controlling an animal’s actions in such an insidious way. Unfortunately, absolutely nobody would fund Thomas’ expedition to study the crickets, and his grants were all declined. In a wild move that showcases the balls to the wall, near- insanity level passion of a biologist, Thomas declared a hunger strike and wrote a letter to the president of France saying he would not eat until someone took the matter seriously and funded his study on the suicidal crickets. I feel like those of us in research can at least a little bit understand this impulse.

Well the French government actually got Thomas’ message and freaked out a bit at the negative publicity that could arise from a crazy worm scientist starving to death. So they send some government bigwigs to the university to pressure Thomas and his department heads into calling an end to the hunger strike. In the flurry of attention that resulted from this, a Swiss billionaire heard about Thomas’ plight and offered to partially fund the study. The French government was happy to get rid of Thomas and contributed funding as well so that Thomas could head to New Zealand to study his suicidal crickets. He was right about the parasites causing the behavior!

The hunger strike debacle is not even the wildest part of this story. I love biology so much

[panictrack]

The stop and frisk was clearly racist by the French police!!!

To watch the video, click on the link below. I am glad to have you on my channel if you like it https://youtube.com/shorts/ipzZXv66OMk…

[aestheticaltcow]

The Aftermath

Carmy left- he just left? Where the heck was he? Was he even alive? Your anxiety almost gets the best of you.

The Bear Masterlist

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MDNI 18+

You groaned as you stretched, trying to crack your back. You’d been cleaning all afternoon, Carmy was still MIA, and this was the one thing you knew would distract you enough not to storm into The Bear demanding to know where your husband had been last night. You hopped up on the counter and grabbed your phone from the charger. A knot formed in the back of your throat when you saw a text from Carmy displayed on your lock screen.

Sorry about last night, baby.

On my way home.

“Okay. Fuck you, Carmy. At least you’re alive.” you mumbled to yourself before hopping down from the counter and going down the hallway to your bedroom. You knew the two of you would have a screaming match when he got home; you rolled your eyes at the thought. He was usually predictable; this running away from home debacle threw you for a loop. Since the fighting was inevitable, you opted to take care of yourself a little bit at least, and an everything-shower seemed like the move.

Pregnancy was hard; you were in a constant state of nausea, you were exhausted, you had almost daily migraines toward the end, and, oh boy… hormones were interesting. You gained a decent amount of weight, but loved how you looked. Carrying Mia made every body insecurity you had vanish. You felt powerful as she grew in your womb, and the feelings were only amplified by the way Carmy would caress your stomach at night when he’d get home from work. He’d pepper kisses across your stomach and talk to Mia as he helped you rub shea butter in an attempt to prevent stretch marks. You laughed about it now as you stood in front of the bathroom mirror. Cellulite, stretch marks, loose skin, and a c-section scar decorated your body. All those insecurities you’d thought vanished returned as soon as you showered for the first time post-partum. You didn’t want anyone to see you, especially Carmy. 

You’d always been so secure in your relationship with Carmy. Something ignited within you when you saw him sitting at the bar by himself the night the two of you met. He was sexy and aloof. You had turned to your friend and told her, ‘I’m gonna marry that guy,’ and cocked your head in Carmy’s direction. She gave you a nod of approval, and you were off. He was shy and confused about why the prettiest girl in the bar would want to talk to some loner drinking a ginger ale instead of one of the guys coming up to her throughout the night. After months of casual hookups or late-night lounging around his apartment, Carmy found the courage to take you out on an actual date. After that, you declared he was your boyfriend. He admitted to being in love with you and was overjoyed when you returned the sentiment. Carmy was your knight in shining armor. You knew he was in your corner if you ever had a problem or needed to talk about something. It was you and him against the world, and it only amplified when he proposed to you. The two of you had a small wedding on the beach and decided to travel for a few months. When the two of you started dating, Carmy recounted tales from his time in culinary school- you were shocked that the man had lived in Frances for years but hadn’t explored the city beyond his campus or the restaurants he worked at. Exploring Europe together felt like a dream; it was everything you’d wanted to do with him. The two of you hadn’t planned on having kids, but after a couple of years of living as a married couple and buying your home, it felt like a natural progression to just ‘see what would happen’ if you got off of your birth control.

Now you stood in the shower while your mother took care of your baby and your bitch of a husband hid at work. You sighed and exited the shower, wrapping your hair in a towel and tying your bathrobe at the waist. You checked your phone to see no new messages from Carmy and that Natalie had left you on read.

As you blow-dried your hair, you couldn’t shake the thoughts of Carmy doing something dumb last night. You knew he’d never cheat on you, but the curiosity about where he’d gone was killing you. You took your time blowing out your hair and doing your skincare routine. As you brushed your teeth, you heard the front door open. “Hey… I’m home.” Carmy’s voice called through the house. Your stomach twisted at the sound. You took a deep breath and quickly put on deodorant before walking out of the bathroom in a pair of fresh pajamas. After contemplating jumping out the window to avoid this conversation from happening, you cautiously exited the bedroom. You went down the hallway to see Carmy washing his hands in the kitchen.

“Hey.” you grinned, rubbing your arm nervously. Carmy inhaled sharply before closing the distance between the two of you. He wrapped his arms around you tightly, feeling the stress of the day melt away as he took in the scent of your conditioner. “I’m sorry, baby. I shouldn’t have left like that,” he spoke into your hair. You sighed and hesitantly hugged him; he rubbed circles into your back and wished to go back in time and change what had happened. 

“Where were you? You’ve never done something like that before- I thought you were dead or something Carmy.” Carmy tucked your head under his chin and contemplated what he should say. He knew he’d have to come clean eventually but wanted to relish in this moment.

“I just drove around and went to work early.” he lied, hoping you’d not push it further. Natalie had ripped him a new one when he’d confessed the details of his indiscretion. She ranted about how she’d feel if Pete had treated her like that; she’d kick his ass to the curb. “You realize she’s gonna leave your ass, right? You absolutely can not sleep at my house- Carmen Anthony Berzatto, you’re no better than Dad.” before he could respond, Natalie threatened to kick his ass if he didn’t come clean to you about what happened. Carmy wanted to tell you, but being compared to his father was something he hadn’t expected Natalie to say. He didn’t know the guy that well, but he knew a little about the cheating. He didn’t have a second family or kids outside his marriage with Donna, but he saw the hurt it put her through and vowed never to be like the man. Now he stood in his kitchen holding his wife- the love of his fucking life, lying about his whereabouts from the night before. Yeah, he didn’t get past third base, but would he have gone all the way if he had gotten hard? Would you constitute this as cheating? Would you leave him and keep Mia from him? He pushed the thoughts back and pressed his nose into your hair. He took in the scent of your conditioner, just in case this was the last time.

You pulled away from the hug and nodded, “Okay. I trust you, but never do something like that again. You scared the crap out of me.” 

Carmy and you sat at the dining room table that night and talked about your insecurities postpartum and that while you were medically cleared to have sex, you were nervous about the actual act. He nodded, and you felt vindicated. You kissed his cheek and headed into the kitchen to order dinner. Carmy grinned and fished his phone out of his pocket. He deleted his text chain with Selena and quickly blocked her number before you came back to ask if he had any preferences for dinner. Carmy shook his head, “Whatever you want, baby.”

The two of you ate dinner in the living room and watched the newest cheesy romcom on Netflix. Carmy sat back and took in the moment. It was like when the two of you had started dating. You’d always had some kind of freelance video editing job or some other creative endeavor that gave you a good amount of flexibility in your schedule. No matter how late he’d get off, you were always down to come over, watch a movie, eat takeout, or whatever new recipe he was trying to perfect. You explained that quality time was your main language, so as long as you were together, you were happy doing whatever with him. 

As the movie continued, you’d put your head on Carmy’s chest and held onto his waist. He had an arm around your shoulder- he stunk of his usual kitchen smells and smoke, but there was another scent you couldn’t quite place. “I should probably shower if you wanna cuddle, baby.” he laughed as you pushed a hand under the hem of his T-shirt. Carmy had long forgotten about the hickey that decorated his collarbone. You hummed in disagreement, “Your BO is comforting Carm…” 

Carmy laughed and kissed the top of your head. Carmy tapped your shoulder as the movie ended, signaling he wanted to get off the couch: “I need a shower, baby.” He shifted in his seat, and you looked up at him. “Kiss me?” you asked, looking up at him through your lashes. Carmy swallowed and hurriedly nodded as he gently placed his lips on yours. You smiled into the kiss as the taste of tobacco and spearmint flooded your tastebuds. You removed your hand from under Carmy’s shirt and put it on his cheek. Carmy wasn’t sure where to put his hands. This felt like a 180 from the previous day, confusing and excited him.

You threw a leg over Carmy’s hips to straddle him as the kiss turned more passionate. Carmy’s hands found your hips; his touch felt like electricity shooting through your body in the best way. You pulled away from the kiss, gently pulling Carmy’s bottom lip between your teeth, eliciting a deep throaty moan from him. You ran your hands down Carmy’s chest. He closed his eyes, focusing on the sensation of your nails tickling his skin through the material of his shirt. “Still need me, baby?” you asked, leaning in to kiss Carmy’s jaw. “Still need to be inside of me?” you said as you trailed kisses up his jaw toward his earlobe. You felt his cock harden beneath you as you rolled your hips against him. Carmy’s grip on your hips tightened at the sensation, “Please, baby.” he whined. You giggled at his response and slowly swirled your tongue around Carmy’s earlobe before leaning back on his thighs. Carmy leaned back into the couch. His eyes were dark with lust as you reached for the hem of your shirt, quickly discarding it. 

Carmy’s eyes widened at the sight of your bare breasts, “Fuckin’ hell, baby.” he muttered. You bit your lip as Carmy stared at you, “Can-can I-” Carmy began to stutter before you cut him off by bringing one of his hands to your chest. “Fuck.” Carmy laughed as he snaked an arm around your waist to bring you closer. You giggled as Carmy massaged your breast in his large, calloused hand, “Baby- fuck, you’re so sexy.” 

You moaned softly as Carmy gently pushed you back onto the couch before trailing delicate kisses down your stomach to the top of your pajama shorts. As eager as he was to remove them, he still felt like he was dreaming. Your eyes met and you nodded, Carmy bit his lip holding back a groan. He swiftly yanked the soft cotton material down your legs to reveal your lack of panties. He smirked as he spread your legs wider and stared down at your core like a starved animal. 

“Carmy?” you asked softly, “Do you want me to stop?” he responded, hoping you would say ‘no.’ You shook your head, “Be gentle?” you whispered. Carmy nodded, “Of course, baby. Say, stop, and I will…” 

Carmy put your legs over his shoulders and nuzzled his face between your thighs, placing delicate kisses against your folds. Your legs shook as he ran his tongue up to your clit, “Mmm,” you hummed as he took your clit between his lips. “Oooh,” you moaned as Carmy slowly pushed his index finger into your entrance. Your reaction only fueled Carmy’s desire to please you. As your juices flooded his tastebuds, you bucked your hips up against his mouth, making him moan against your clit.

“I need you,” you whined, pulling at Carmy’s hair. Reluctantly, he pulled his mouth away from your heat. “What do you need me to do, baby?” Carmy teased. You giggled as he moved to hover above your body. You pulled at the hem of his T-shirt, wanting to feel his skin against yours. 

Carmy’s body tensed. You noticed the color drain from his face, the weight of his actions from the night prior finally hitting him. “Are you okay, Carmen?” you asked as you stopped pulling at his shirt. He nodded, “Yeah-h.” 

You didn’t believe him. “You’re being weird. I don’t care that you’re gross from work. I want you.” You looked into his eyes and could sense he was hiding something from you. “I’m not being weird,” he said defensively. You shook your head, pushed up at his chest, and sat up against the arm of the couch. “You literally left last night because I didn’t want to have sex- now I want you and you’re being fuckin’ weird. Take your clothees off and fuck me.” you demanded, Carmy swallowed and sat up on the couch. He shouldn’t have let it go this far, you rolled your eyes and yanked his shirt off. 

“What the fuck is that!” you screamed when you saw the dark purple hickey decorating his collar bone, Carmy stared at you nervously. “YOU FUCKIN’ LIAR!” you screamed louder pushing yourself off the couch picking up your T-shirt from the floor. 

“Baby, I swear—I didn’t—" Carmy explained as he scrambled to his feet as you walked down the hallway toward your bedroom. Your blood boiled at the thought of Carmy fucking another woman last night while he was ‘getting air,’ “YOU’RE A FUCKING LIAR GET THE FUCK OUT OF THIS HOUSE, I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD CARMEN!” you screamed at the top of your lungs as you glared at him as tears started to fall from your eyes. Carmy’s face regained color and softened in reaction to your screams. 

“Y/N, it was a mistake! We didn't have sex because I couldn’t get hard-” Carmy attempted to explain the situation, and you shook your head in response. “That’s fuckin’ bullshit! Get out!” you screamed through your tears.

Carmy dropped to his knees and reached out for your hand. You slapped it away and ignored his begs to hear him out and let him explain what had happened. “No. No. I don’t want to- that’s why you wanted to fuckin’ shower so bad, right?! Didn’t want to fuck your wife with your dirty fuckin’ cock you fucking liar!” you screamed as you attempted to pull your wedding ring off of your finger. When it wouldn’t budge, you screamed in frustration and slammed the bedroom door. 

Carmy fell back and brought his knees to his chest, the weight of his actions truly hitting him when you had tried to take off your wedding ring. He really had ruined his marriage. Carmy heard your sobs through the door as he got up, “Y/N- it was a mistake. I love you. I love you so fuckin’ much-” 

“GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE CARMEN! I FUCKING HATE YOU!”

~

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[rollerska8er]

On Transphobia as Cultural Imperialism

On 1 August 2024, Imane Khelif, an Algerian, and Angela Carini, an Italian, two Olympic women's boxers, fought a second-round boxing match. 46 seconds into the match, after two powerful blows from Khelif, the Italian withdrew from the match, reportedly exclaiming "It's not fair!" and complaining that she had never been hit so hard in her life.

Khelif is a cisgender woman with a build that reads, to many, as masculine. The international governing body for boxing, a corrupt organisation run by a Putin-backed wannabe Russian oligarch, had previously banned Khelif from participating in matches on the basis that genetic testing found that Khelif had XY chromosomes, indicating a possible intersex condition. To be intersex is a distinct thing from being transgender, but most people don't know or don't care to learn the difference.

What this precipitated has been well-documented. British right-wing television channel TalkTV called the fight "Domestic violence turning into spectator sport", while disgraced YouTuber Logan Paul called it "the purest form of evil". J. K. Rowling, posting a picture of Khelif placing a hand on Carini's shoulder in a show of good sportsmanship, accused Khelif of smirking and misgendered her as "a male who knows he's protected by a misogynist sporting establishment".

Khelif's father stated "My child is a girl. She was raised as a girl. She's a strong girl. I raised her to be hard-working and brave. She has a strong will to work and to train." After the end of the Olympic Games, Khelif immediately launched legal action against her critics.

Imane Khelif comes from Algeria, a former French colonial possession. It is pointed that she managed to win a gold medal in the heart of France.

Algeria is one of 63 countries around the world in which homosexuality is illegal, punishable by imprisonment and fines. Algerian law does not recognise the possibility of changing one's gender.

The accusations levelled against her by predominantly white Western commentators who hail from Britain and the United States, therefore, have a certain colonial edge to them. This is not to suggest that Algerian legal attitudes to homosexuality and transsexuality are morally defensible, far from it. But this debacle constitutes the projection of a specifically Western hatred - that is, transphobia in the guise of feminism and protecting lesbians - on to a person from a country that criminalises homosexuality and does not recognise transsexuality.

Transphobia of this kind is becoming a kind of colonial cudgel. The idea of men "dressing up as women" to overtake "real" women is a specifically Western concern, a reaction to increased visibility and accommodation for transgender and non-binary people. This anxiety operates within a specific cultural and political context, and one that is by no means global.

While it may apply in Italy, where homosexuality and transsexuality are recognised, It does not apply at all in Algeria, for example.

Rowling, Paul, and various other blustering commentators saw a woman with a masculine build fight another woman, and concluded that this woman was a male infiltrator who had somehow made it to the Olympics.

This is not to say that the treatment of Khelif would have been acceptable if she had been transgender. Far from it. But this mass-libelling was both transmisogynist and colonialist: transmisogynist because it relied on hateful tropes about trans women, and colonialist because it removed Khelif from her ethnocultural context and placed her in a Western context that did not and could not apply to her. She was expected to fit the norms of Western society, and she was publically harangued for it.

This has happened before, of course. Caster Semenya, a South African middle-distance runner found to have the intersex condition 5α-Reductase 2 deficiency, was banned from many athletics events due to the "unfair advantage" conferred upon her by her naturally higher testosterone levels, and continues to fight court battles to let her run.

(The argument has become cliché at this point, but Michael Phelps, a man with various bodily mutations which happen to make him an exceptionally good swimmer, has never been asked to return even one of his twenty-eight Olympic medals.)

Transphobia of the kind that is now popular across the political spectrum in the Western world has become a tool for a pernicious kind of cultural imperialism that is, quite simply, fascist. It stems from a colonial, white supremacist, hegemonic mindset, which insists that the Western world has the purest ethics, and everyone in the world must be held to such standards.

I am not a moral relativist. I do not believe that queer, trans and intersex liberation only works for some cultures. I believe in and support queer, trans and intersex liberation worldwide.

But by the same token, I do not believe that Americans and Britons should be allowed to demand that everyone in the world is an American or a Briton, to be treated like an American or a Briton. I do not believe that the collective white saviour complex of Western liberal democracy and capitalism will liberate queers, trans and intersex people.

And I certainly believe that the mass-crybullying of athletes who happen to excel at what they do on the basis of pseudo-feminist white woman pearlclutching can and should be called out for what it is: cultural imperialism.

It is the white Western world demanding that the entire world be brought to heel.

We must reject this, and we must not fool ourselves into believing this is mere idiocy. Mere idiocy is one thing. Trying to ruin a person's life because you assume every muscular, square-jawed woman is a secret man in disguise, because you're Oh So Fucking Feminist And Just Trying To Protect Women And Girls From Disgusting Violent Men is, quite simply, fascist crybullying.

Accept no excuses or apologies from these wheedling maggots. They want everyone who is not like them dead.

[dwarfanonymice]

My two cents that nobody will read.

I liked the series. It was entertaining and interesting. I know it is called Mary and George. Kudos to them to have the guts to show a queer relationship that shaped English history. But the historian student I once was will not rest.

Mary and George:

not historically accurate: Somerset was dismissed with a letter in 1615 after a quarrel and replaced with George immediately. The Overbury trial sealed his fate.

not expanding correctly on James and George's love: we have proof of that, even flamboyant proof.

Mary's role in his son's life wasn't that active: she had bigger fish to fry with the others and she wasn't a lesbian. We have proof. With all the real lesbians and gays and queers of the period, why do we still need to invent them?

The biggest Queen was the King. In Tony Curran's words. He had surely anxiety problems (with his life how could he not) and he suffered of mood swings.

George had three kids and James wasn't that jealous of his wife: she was regularly at court (I know that the night before the wedding James had a breakdown but they were steady with their affections and he got over it).

George and James were promiscuous but so in love with each other that nobody doubted, not even them. Proof in their letters till James' death and in the reports the Venetian ambassador wrote (you can count on Venice's gossip. It was accurate: the Republic's survival depended on it).

No love letters.

Not showing the secret passage.

Not showing that famous speech comparing them to Jesus and John.

No historically accurate petnames.

Buckingham was incompetent on important matters but not a himbo.

Buckingham didn't kill James: there's no proof about this dark legend. He offered him a cup with some medicine in it according to one report. The king suffered from malaria (or what his doctors thought it was malaria) and George didn't kill him in that way in front of a witness like that.

Not showing the part where he stayed on as Charles I's main advisor for some years before being killed: it almost appears he was killed after the coronation.

Not showing La Rochelle's debacle, his games at the French court with Anne of Austria (we have proof of that) and how unequipped he was against Richelieu.

The fashion wasn't that dark. The show is too dark and Nick would have looked attractive with those beards too. Also Somerset had a wrong beard and all (even the Spanish) didn't have those close cropped beards in that fashion. Were are the flamboyant moustaches?

Not showing Charles' wedding with Henriette Marie of France and the fact that George was probably in that marriage too. In what capacity they only know.

Wrong hair colour for Somerset and for Buckingham. One had red hair, the other auburn. Curly or wavy was the fashion.

Not showing that Buckingham was a good friend of Queen Anne. We have proof in affectionate letters in which she asked him to be "always true" to her husband. George was knighted in her bedchamber and she called him "her dog". She didn't care for Somerset. At all.

Sorry for all of this. I encourage you to watch it but after years I am still waiting for a series that will have the guts to show the historical facts for what they were. They were surely wilder than what we see.

[qsycomplainsalot]

Recently the French news cycle has been dominated by us patting ourselves on the back from refusing a racist law project from some dickhead in parliament, and a frankly shameful debacle where a teacher took their students to the Louvre and took them without warning to see a painting featuring naked people, with the students being eleven to twelve years old in that context. I invite you to read about it yourself although you should keep in mind that a lot of sources show a very strong bias in their language describing the event.

What we see with that whole nonsense is that 130y after Alfred Dreyfus' trial, we still have the proceedings over controversial facts and statements be ruled over by some clique with obvious conflicts of interest passing judgement by telling us that no everything's fine we swear, it's the minorities that we need to worry about. A teacher shows artistic nudes to 12yo's with no warning but no no it's their fault you see, and the fault of their religion, this eternal enemy of the Republic (except when it's fairweather catholicism)/s. The students complain that this is part of a pattern of hostility from said teacher, but it's okay because the teachers tell you that it's not. And now the minister of education wants to punish the students. Classy.

It's honestly not hard to see a pattern of abuse towards these kids and we don't need to have this teacher personally involved in it either, because if even a single student in this class was Muslim, or Jewish, or literally any other religion than Christian, there are laws that should be unconstitutional in nature that already bars them from even harmless outward displays of their religion, because of a fundamentally moronic, stunted understanding of what secularism and the separation of church and state was about. It was supposed to stop discrimination, but instead it hits on the head any and everything that might stick out to a white Christian point of view with absolutely no self-reflection on how hypocritical it is. France has had a deeply religious culture for as long as it existed, our national myth STARTS with our people's conversion to Christianity, but because it is our culture and we're used to it we do not see it, we do not question it, and any attempt to point it out is an attack on the values of the Republic, you filthy non-assimilated foreigners. Ignore over half of our holidays being literal Christian holy days, all of our stores legally having to close on sundays and wearing cross pendants in school literally never being prosecuted, we're so fucking secular it's beautiful.

Mind you this is borderline irrelevant in this context though, because a teacher decided to shoulder the responsibility to show nudity to children, not all of whom were Muslims and they were obviously made uncomfortable by the experience. There's probably an age at which one can expect students to look at tits in a painting and be able to contextualize them with their art history lesson, I'm going to be honest though it's not gonna be twelve years old. Reframed without the racist "their obscurantist beliefs can't handle our beautiful art of chubby ladies in what I can only assume are poses an Italian man four hundred years ago thought were sexy", it's not an attempt against the sanctity of the republic not to show tits to children without warning them and their parents. But apparently some fucking dullard did a dumb, and rather than address it or any of its systemic issue the French education system is circling the wagon and shitting on its students twice as hard.

“At French schools, we do not challenge authority, we respect it! At French schools, we do not contest secularism, we respect it! ! At French school, we don't look away from a painting, we don't cover our ears in music class, we don't wear religious dress, in short, in French schools we do not negotiate the authority of the teacher nor the authority of our rules and our values!”.

--Gabriel Attal, French minister of education/Macron simp, showing how becoming minister at age 34 might be a bad idea and an indictment to the institution you claim to represent by ignoring the past some two hundred and forty years of French history.

"Shut up and do as we say, after all the French system as an impeccable record of mediocrity so clearly we're doing everything to merit your obedience !!"

I cannot stress this enough, kids this age are NOT COMFORTABLE WITH NUDITY AND SEXUAL THEMES, it is not a purely religious thing and not all kids who complained were Muslim. The school and media are brushing over that because it doesn't fit their racist framing job, because it would not be convenient for them to report the news accurately because it would expose how the education system in France is rotten from top to bottom, from underpaid teachers who stopped giving a shit all the way to a political appointee minister who couldn't pour water out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel.

[whencyclopedia]

The Siege of Damascus, 1148 CE

The siege of Damascus in 1148 CE was the final act of the Second Crusade (1147-1149 CE). Lasting a mere four days from 24 to 28 July, the siege by a combined western European army was not successful, and the Crusade petered out with its leaders returning home more bitter and angry with each other than the Muslim enemy. Additional crusades would follow, but the myth of invincibility of the western knights was shattered forever at the debacle of Damascus.

Background: The Second Crusade

The Second Crusade was a military campaign organised by the Pope and European nobles to recapture the city of Edessa in Mesopotamia, which had fallen in 1144 CE to the Muslim Seljuk Turks. Edessa was an important commercial and cultural centre and had been in Christian hands since the First Crusade (1095-1102 CE). However, when Pope Eugenius III (r. 1145-1153 CE) formally called for a crusade on 1 December 1145 CE, the goals of the campaign were put somewhat vaguely as a broad appeal for the achievements of the First Crusade and Christians and holy relics in the Levant to be protected.

The Second Crusade included successful campaigns in the Iberian peninsula and the Baltic against Muslim Moors and pagan Europeans respectively, but it was the Levant that remained the focus of Christianity's holy war. The Crusader army in the Middle East, numbering some 60,000 men, was led by the German king Conrad III (r. 1138-1152 CE) and Louis VII, the king of France (r. 1137-1180 CE). Just as in the First Crusade, the bulk of the army travelled via Constantinople where they were met with misgivings by the Byzantines and their emperor Manuel I Komnenos (r. 1143 - 1180 CE). Manuel's primary concern was that the Crusaders were really only after the choice parts of the Byzantine Empire. Accordingly, Manuel insisted the leaders of the Crusade, on arrival in September and October 1147 CE, swear personal allegiance to him. At the same time, the western powers considered the Byzantines rather too preoccupied with their own affairs and unhelpful in the noble opportunities they thought a crusade presented. The old divisions between the eastern and western churches had not gone away either. It was significant that Manuel, despite the diplomacy, strengthened the fortifications of Constantinople and provided a military escort to see the Crusaders on their way as quickly as possible.

The German contingent of the crusader army, already having suffered significant losses during a terrible flash flood at their camp near Constantinople, ignored Manuel's advice to stick to the safety of the coast once in Asia Minor and so met another, even worse disaster. At Dorylaion, a force of Muslim Seljuk Turks caused havoc with the slow-moving westerners on 25 October 1147 CE, and, forced to retreat to Nicaea, Conrad himself was wounded but did eventually make it back to Constantinople.

Meanwhile, the army led by Louis VII, although shocked to hear of the Germans' failure, pressed on and managed to defeat a Seljuk army in December 1147 CE. The success was short-lived, though, for on 7 January 1148 CE the French were beaten badly in battle as they crossed the Cadmus Mountains. It was a disastrous opening to a campaign which had not even reached its target of northern Syria and a sorry tale of bad planning, poor logistics, and unheeded local advice.

Louis VII and his ravaged army finally arrived at Antioch in March 1148 CE. From there, he ignored Raymond of Antioch's proposal to fight in northern Syria and marched on to the south. In any case, a council of western leaders was convened at Acre, and the target of the Crusade was now selected, not at the already destroyed Edessa, but Muslim-held Damascus, the closest threat to Jerusalem and a prestigious prize given the city's history and wealth.

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[insertdisc5]

Silly little questions that have been on my mind since forever (June) but would Isabeau vouvoyer Odile? since both options (if he does or doesn’t) would be equally very funny, also who of the cast would have accents/dialects? Since from what I’ve gathered Odile isn’t from fantasy France (and speaking from experience french pronunciation can be really hard to get right) and Sif isn’t from the same area as Bonnie, Mirabel and Isabeau.

Anyways you’ve made an incredibly fun and endearing game!! and I genuinely cannot wait till it comes out on the 20th!!!! :333

my god i read your first sentence and immediately screamed YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and your ask just got better as i kept reading. thank you

The Tu (informal you) VS Vous (formal you) debacle. i imagine everyone would use "vous" with Odile. Mirabelle because Older Person I Respect, Bonnie because That's A Whole Older Adult, and Sif because Everyone Else Is Doing It. Isabeau would also do it but I somehow imagine he would switch back to "tu" during certain conversations. probably when it's only the two of them he'd use "tu" all the time... apart from that, i think they'd all use "tu" with each other.

as for accents and dialects, Mirabelle and Isabeau come from the same region so they have the same accent and dialect. Bonnie is from a northern region of Vaugarde, so def a different accent and dialect (which I imagine to be somewhat close to french creole). Odile DEFINITELY has a noticeable accent, since she comes from very far away, but her Vaugardian is still close to perfect (although she doesn't always understand the smaller things). Siffrin also has a slight accent that no one can really place, hashtag little traveler things. they're all from different spots! people can definitely tell they're a diverse group, but people from all over the world come to Vaugarde, so it's not an especially uncommon sight.

[gozuforce]

I wish I had witnessed the technical difficulties in their "citation needed" or "two of these people are lying" days. Allthough I really enjoy what they are doing now, it's on a different more laid back level than those two chaotic series.

I really recommend it to anyone curious about humoristic trivia games. Tom Scott is a pretty good host, both in leading contestants and on his own, but matt grey, chris joel and especially gary brannan are simply too good at derailling any conversation.

highlights include:

the prizes at the end of most episodes of "citation needed" being crazy convoluted wordplays and alliterations

fish tank and people tank

a goose and a train

the chocolate war

a pope infestation

"and the wheel lands on... france"

tom scott awarding points for someone simply paraphrasing what he just said

Gary occasionnal throwing some of the wildest sounds a man can produce with his mouth

the tale of Henricus, the drunkard gaul prophet who came to rome

that time matt stated "I'm telling you, that's not mine" and Tom still went and picked his proposition

gary trapped in an endless giggle fit.

multiple instances of tom crossing off gary's proposition immediately, and being wrong half the time.

"so you think they just transported a flipping corpse to the house of Commons?"

Juan Pujol and Jack Churchill both being grandiose WWII mad lads in their own ways

the whole "hagia Sophia" debacle, from Tom being mocked by the commenters for not knowing it, to the terrible description which almost made me think I was mistaken, to the final twist ending

that one time one of the liers was accidentally closer to the truth than the one who was supposed to have picked the article

Tom being certain an airoport he actually went to didn't exist

Gary being a massive "old timey official documents" nerd, but also the man with the grossest jokes of the crew

on that point, "♪ have you ever seen your granny [...]"

hugging a penguin

"are you done?"

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Wait, what other controversial things happened at these Olympics besides the Drag Queens parody ?

THE CONVICTED P*do in the Netherlands playing volleyball. (Which alone is enough to make me not want to watch.)

Then that whole gender debacle with the boxing event. (This one has more nuance then people care to admit)

typical doping scandals.

The Olympics not accommodating the athletes by making them sleep and eat in below mediocre conditions.

And then there is the whole thing on which countries should or Should not be involved.

And of course, it’s in France.

[wanderersrest]

Some (Not So) Idle Thoughts On Mobile Fighter G Gundam

Before you begin reading: Do note that I have two companion pieces that I'll be referencing throughout this post, namely a small aside on the "Real vs Super Robot" debacle and a prequel highlighting what's going on in the world when G Gundam begins airing.

Good evening, everyone. I'd like to tell you a story. A story about a man set on a mission of revenge. tale. This is a tale about martial artists of all nations fighting it out on the grandest of arenas: the Earth. This is a tale about how a pair of young adults learn how to love not just themselves, but each other. Most important of all, this is a tale about a man who learns what it means to overcome even the most traumatic moments of his past in order to become a better man.

This is Mobile Fighter G Gundam. More specifically, these are my random thoughts about this series. And full disclosure: I grew up with G Gundam being my first entry into the Gundam franchise, as I was just a little bit too young to really watch Gundam Wing when it aired on Toonami.

G Gundam Is Just As Political As Every Other Gundam Series

Contrary to what a lot of people think, G Gundam is just as political as any other Gundam series. To give a quick summary, G Gundam is set in a time when the majority of humanity has fled to the space colonies above due to the how polluted the Earth has become due to war. In order to change this, the nations come up with an alternative to war: the Gundam Fight. There are just two problems with this:

Most of the people who fled to space were rich. And in case you're wondering, the first episode clears something up immediately: the poor were left behind on Earth.

The Gundam Fight uses the Earth as the battlefield. Which is fine if you're rich. But if you're poor...

This doesn't even touch on the motivations of THE UNDEFEATED OF THE EAST, MASTER ASIA, whose goal to seize control of the Devil Gundam stems from seeing how much damage was caused from the Gundam fight, which is pretty understandable as far as I'm concerned. This also doesn't touch on the fact the Shuffle Alliance and allies consist of people from all nations (specifically Japan, America, China, France, Russia, Sweden, and Nepal, among other countries), to say nothing of the fact that the nations of the world eventually come together to fight the Devil Gundam.

What a Lovable Cast of Goofballs

Nothing really pulls me into a show quite like a good cast of characters. And boy does G Gundam have quite the cast. Taking a page out of older mecha shows like Mazinger Z, G Gundam presents us with our protagonist: the hot-blooded samurai Domon Kasshu. Joining him on his mission to find the Devil Gundam are his mechanic/doctor/love interest Rain Mikamura and a handful of fellow fighters and support crews that make up the Shuffle Alliance.

I think part of what makes this cast so entertaining to watch is the fact that this series pulls a lot from Hong Kong action films and wuxia epics. It's why there are all of these crazy fighting techniques and action sequences that wouldn't look to out of place in something like a Jet Li or Donnie Yen film. Heck, THE UNDEFEATED OF THE EAST, MASTER ASIA is named after the popular wuxia character Dongfang Bubai (Literally the Invincible East in Chinese; this is why Master Asia's title in Japanese is Touhou Fuhai, as Touhou Fuhai is the direct translation of Dongfang Bubai into Japanese).

Another part of the cast's appeal lies in the fact that, despite this series having some out there Mobile Suit designs, the characters themselves are not actually stereotypical (or if they are, they tend to be portrayed in a more positive light). Take, for instance (and probably the most talked about example of this), Neo America's Chibodee Crocket and the Gundam Maxter. Gundam Maxter is notorious for being one of the more out there Mobile Suit designs in the series: A Gundam that is made to look like a football player, carries a pair of six shooters for ranged weapons, a shield that is used more as a surf board, and has shoulders that can also double as boxing gloves (the chest piece also flies off to give Maxter more of a boxer look). Chibodee, meanwhile, looks to be like a stereotypical American at first. He's loud, flashy, reckless, and just as much a hothead as the King of Hearts himself. Chibodee is also a street rat who, through his keen talent for boxing, was able to achieve the American Dream. Not only that, Chibodee also has a strong moral compass, which is also how he comes to meet his field crew.

I think I'd also be remiss not to talk about the King of Hearts, Domon Kasshu. Yes, it's an absolute blast to watch the man beat up anyone and everyone who gets in his way. But I think it's also touching when, after running into THE UNDEFEATED OF THE EAST, MASTER ASIA for the first time in the series, he breaks down crying due to the fact that, outside of Rain, Domon doesn't really have anyone else to go to when it comes to expressing his trauma. That's why MASTER ASIA'S betrayl towards the end of the Shinjuku arc hits as hard as it does: one of the very few people you could trust turns out to be a villain. Of course, things get more complicate once you find out what MASTER ASIA'S true goals are. It is so satisfying getting to see Domon grow so much in the first half of the series, and the payoff is that the second half really lets us enjoy some of the goofier aspects of Domon's character.

Really, I could go on about just about all of the characters. Like how Sai Saici is probably one of the best characters after Domon and THE UNDEFEATED OF THE EAST, MASTER ASIA, how the series gives us a pretty reasonable version of the love triangle by introducing probably one of the best characters in the series: Allenby Beardsley or the fact that Rain is already a great love interest (and just a great character in general) that knows how to put up with Domon's nonsense, especially once they get to Neo Hong Kong. Heck, I didn't even get to talk about the best Char Clone, Schwarz Bruder, who will show up at random, laugh at Domon, teach him a lesson, refuse to elaborate, and leave. I also feel like I'm doing a disserevice to THE UNDEFEATED OF THE EAST, MASTER ASIA by not talking enough about him. Like the fact that he doesn't ride his horse Fuunsaiki like a normal human being. No. Master Asia STANDS on top of Fuunsaiki. And you know that Fuunsaiki is built different because he gets his own Mobile Fighter, complete with his own suit up sequence. I would talk about them more, but we'd be here forever. So we have to move on, both for my sake and for yours.

What Everyone's Been Waiting For: The Hot-Blooded Action

I don't think I really need to explain this one. G Gundam just has some really good action sequences, even if it relies on a lot of stock footage. I'd honestly be more impressed if this series had better animation, especially considering that G Gundam is a 49-episode series. And really, that's what people love about G Gundam, regardless of whether they think it's just dumb fun or if it's some bespoke series. It knows that it's very different from most Gundam series, so it leans into that. A lot. Part of what makes this series such a treat to watch is seeing it carve out its own name in spite, or maybe because, it is a Gundam series.

The other part is that, by revisiting the older style of mecha stories, you do get some really cool setpieces. And man, when G Gundam is at its best, it's at its best. There really isn't much else to say here. G Gundam just knows that people like cool action sequences.

G Gundam Gets Referenced More Than Its Brethren

I would like to start this off by saying that I only found out that Amphibia references G Gundam while I was writing this post.

Anyways, that gif is important here, because in my opinion it kind of highlights G Gundam's legacy. Because in my mind, it shows that G Gundam has resonated with a nonzero amount of people. I know this because my last two posts currently have the most amount of notes, and they're both about G Gundam in some fashion.

But more to my point, it often catches me off guard just how often this series in particular gets referenced. This is especially striking when you remember that a lot of western fans talk about how important G Gundam's successor, New Mobile Report Gundam Wing, is. And while I would agree with that notion, I do think that Wing's importance outside of being how introduced a lot of western fans to the franchise is minimal at best (full disclosure: I am not a big fan of Gundam Wing especially due to how idiots like Professor Otaku talk up that series while trashing G Gundam, so I'm probably understating just how important it was), which is funny, because G Gundam gets referenced a fair bit in comparison (at least I think it does; I'm not about to verify this because I'm not that insane... yet). Here is a sample of some of the G Gundam references that I know of:

Regular Show's Brilliant Century Duck Crisis Special references a lot of mecha shows including G Gundam. The G Gundam reference here is when Benson suits up, which is ripped straight from Domon's Shining Gundam suit up sequence, complete with the ass shot.

There's a trainer in Pokemon Red & Blue that, when they spot the player, shouts "Pokemon fight! Ready, GO!"

Speaking of Pokemon, the Sun & Moon anime has an entire episode dedicated to G Gundam (which isn't surprising, since one of the banned in the US episodes has a reference to the original Gundam), complete with both Meowth creating a Devil Gundam-like machine, all while Brock and Olivia defeat said machine using a Z-move reminiscent of the Sekiha Love-Love Tenkyouken.

Nanbaka has a scene where one of the main characters defeats an opponent using the Erupting G*d Finger S*kiha T*nky**ken.

Gintama's Bentendo Owee arc has a store manager who's basically a dead ringer of Stalker. He even does the "Gundam Fight! Ready, GO!" pose at one point.

This doesn't even touch on the fact that this show is pretty quotable. Things like the Shining Finger/Erupting God Finger quote, the UNDEFEATED OF THE EAST motto, "...with the help of KYOOOOOJI!", MASTER ASIA'S quote about becoming more than just the UNDEFEATED OF THE EAST, and my personal favorite: "Except this time, I am a WANDER BUG!!!" are often quoted on the Internet whenever people talk about G Gundam. Heck this doesn't even touch on my personal memories of seeing (and even participating in) Reddit comment threads that were just the UNDEFEATED OF THE EAST motto.

(See? Guy even has his own version of the hyper mode!)

This also ignores the greatest form of reference: the fact that other works may have been directly inspired by G Gundam. This is going to be a bit more tenuous I think, but in my opinion, you can see this series' influence in shows like The King of Braves, GaoGaiGar. I'm convinced that Guy Shishioh is what happens when you take Domon and turn him into a cyborg more or less (It helps that their voice actors, Nobuyuki Hiyama and Tomokazu Seki respectively, are considered to be two of the most hot-blooded performers of the 90's). Guy even has the friend to all children shtick that Domon has, which isn't surprising since GGG is supposed to be for children primarily. You can even see G Gundam's legacy in shows like Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, where the antagonist Lordegenome is often joked as being a disciple of THE SCHOOL OF THE UNDEFEATED OF THE EAST due to him bodying Simon with his bare hands (while Simon is still piloting Lagann). Heck, I won't say who it is due to spoilers, but there's also a Disgaea character who's based heavily off of Domon. Like the fact that I'm making this comparison alone is a spoiler, so I'm keeping it vague so as not to spoil everything.

Final Thoughts: A Maligned Series With a Lot of Heart

Mobile Fighter G Gundam is a series that is often looked down upon due to the fact that it is a traditional mecha series in a franchise that is all about being a military robot series. That line of thinking is a real disservice to G Gundam, as this series is one that has meaningful messages it wants to convey. Those messages being:

Humans have a responsibility to take care of the environment, even if and especially because we were the ones to cause harm to it.

There are no easy ways to solve complex problems, and taking shortcuts can lead to more problems.

It is okay to be angry, but do not let that anger consume you.

And because this is sports we're talking about: Cheaters never prosper.

This doesn't even touch on the fact that said messages are very much in line with what a lot of the franchise has to say. But because G Gundam trusts that its audience aren't a bunch of idiots, the series doesn't beat the viewer over the head with its morals (although MASTER ASIA does have a not-so-thinly veiled rant about how Japan is now in ruins even though it was once a financial juggernaut, almost as if the country had some sort of economic crisis happen around the time G Gundam aired *cough*), but it does understand that beating the viewer over the head with these morals is not going to help.

I think this is why I've seen people push back on the concepts of Super Robots and Real Robots, especially the latter. I hadn't touched on this in my original Real vs Super Robots post, but part of the problem with Real Robots in particular is the fact that it is basically just "Not Super Robots." If you look at the original Gundam, it still has a lot of the usual tropes that were in shows like Mazinger Z or Getter Robo. The RX-78-2 Gundam is a one-of-a-kind machine that is made out of a super alloy (Lunar Titanium) that makes it all but indestructible, carries one-of-a-kind weapons (the beam rifle, the beam saber/javelin, and the hyper hammer), and is treated as an almost supernatural entity on the battlefield (hence the moniker "The White Devil"). Heck even the much harder Fang of the Sun Dougram has the smaller-but-still-big Dougram jumping over other mechs like it's about to go for a slam dunk in a basketball game. Do these facts diminish the types of stories that Gundam and Dougram are trying to tell? NO.

It is this dangerous line of thinking, the idea that all mecha shows must be either "Real" or "Super", that helps fuel people's idea that G Gundam is a bad series. The fact that people do not like this series because of how different it is from the rest of the franchise ignores the fact that, really, it's still a Gundam series. Just like how The Last Jedi is still a Star Wars movie, or how Xenoblade 2 is still a Xenoblade game. It is a wild notion that, in my opinion, shows that people who say things like that are doing so out of some twisted doctrine that says that Gundam can only be a serious war story. I am happy, though, that G Gundam is finally getting the reappraisal it so deserves. I have a general aversion to rose-tinted lenses when it comes to media, and it always makes me happy knowing that Mobile Fighter G Gundam is still just as good as, maybe even better than, I remember it being as a child.

Special Thanks & Notes

I'd like to thank all of the people who have been waiting patiently for this post as well as the people who made all of the gifs I used in this post. I didn't really think people would be interested in what I have to say about G Gundam until I posted the "Real vs Super" post, so it means a lot to me to see people react so positively to what I had to say in that post as well as the G Gundam context post.

As for what to expect next, I'm going to take a break from mecha stuff for a little bit. I'll still be writing posts, don't get me wrong. I just want to branch out a little bit from mecha, and I'm going to start out in small steps. I do have something of a primer on Gintama that I'm working on, so look forward to that. I'm also going to try post sillier things every now and then like my Getter Robo post (which unfortunately got buried under the original G Gundam post), so also look forward to that. Who knows, maybe I'll talk about Xenoblade at some point along with my love of Zeke von Genbu, THE BRINGER OF CHAOS. Or maybe Pokemon, and how Rowlet is objectively the best starter.

But once again, and most important of all, thanks for reading.

[teal-skull]

Sometimes something you hear a random person say in a museum sticks to you so much you buy a magnet and never forget it.

Let me set the stage

I spontaneously went to an art museum, and it had an exhibition on impressionism. It showcased works from classic impressionist masters mixed in with nordic impressionists.

I walk up to what is obviously the crown jewel of this exhibition. It has been given it's own wall, with good spot lighting and a big junk of text beside it. I orientate myself so that I can take in this painting.

The painting is Les glaçons (Floating ice) by Claude Monet.

A pair of youngsters walk up to the painting. I think they are somewhere between 16-20. They had cool outfits, emo-ish style. They stop to look at the painting. Then one says to the other in finnish:

"This is fine/fancy but in my opinion meaningless." (Tää on hieno, mutta musta merkityksetön)

I, a person who has visited Monet's house in France, stand there, baffled by this. I'm white guy blinking at this person. In my mind I say: "Bro, that's Monet!!"

I kept examining the painting for solid five minutes, thinking about what that person had said. I was conflicted because while I disagreed hard, because a scenery painting in my opinion can have a fuckton of meaning, I could see where they are coming from, and in some sense, I saw a little spark of truth in that nihilist take. More of my thoughts are behind the read more link.

In order to never forget this moment (and perhaps out of some sort of spite) I bought a magnet with the painting on it.

Now whenever I see it on my fridge I think "fancy but meaningless...."

The thing is, while I don't think thats honestly might not always be the best way to look at art, and especially older paintings, there is some truth to those words. It's a very nihilistic take, but I find myself unable to completely disregard it. We have beautiful things in the world where their only meaning is to be pretty. They don't have any deep meaning given to them. Beauty is nothing but an obscure subjective experience we project into things. A fancy decorated hand mirror is indeed "fancy but meaningless". It's just a pretty object. And in some sense, that applies to art as well.

But then again, couldn't the meaning be that these beautiful things bring us joy, and turn the mundane into something that sparks happiness in us? Is that not meaningful in itself? Is the experience of beauty meaningless when it can awake so many emotions in us? Could it be that the purpose of this piece of art isn't to convey a deep message about society, but to capture a passing moment of natural beauty into something that will last long after the moment is gone? Or perhaps for the artist to show us what he he sees in nature, how the colors play, how there are no lines how light plays on the water's surface? In the text it's said that Monet had to paint this in freezing weather, and it was a huge labour, undoubtedly also physically. But he withstood the cold for art, to get his vision and to capture the moment. Saying the painting is meaningless is like completely disregarding the actual hard labour and years of practice that was needed in order to produce this particular piece.

It it not about being a physical manifestation of the artist's work, and technical skills and mastery of depicting light and color? Fancy, and therefore meaningful.