#have these kinds of beliefs!!

[pansypr3p]

hmh! having npd and being a system is evidently real weird!

[eddis-not-eeddis]

In my early twenties I know more theology than most men in the churches I've attended who are twice my age. This isn't a boast, I am no scholar. I say this in abject horror and despair.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Thank you. I'm sorry.

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[cycle-hit]

to see a milgram character as a "good person" or "bad person" is a failure of media literacy for milgram. the entire lesson of the milgram project is that thinking in such black and whites, to deem someone as "good - innocent/forgiven" and "bad - guilty/guilty" only causes damage. the prisoners voted forgiven are not helped. the prisoners voted guilty aren't either. the lesson is that such a mindset will never help you- that it will harm whatever youre touching with it.

we cannot stop this, either- we have to keep choosing one or the other, because an abstained vote is impossible. we just have to keep choosing to shock them, over and over, no matter how much they beg us to stop because there is no other choice. you as an individual can refuse to vote, but someone else will always choose to. it is better to put in a vote, in that scenario, than to have it be uncounted entirely.

stop shoving characters in such black and white boxes. this is a story about nuance. they are not only "good", they are not only "bad". acknowledge that they are both. acknowledge that these characters are deeper than that. this is, quite literally, the "look deeper" media, you're supposed to be analysing. you're supposed to be theorising and looking at evidence under a microscope.

you're supposed to be acknowledging nuance, because anything could be true and anything could be incorrect. even a theory you prize could be completely wrong, or a theory you hate could be completely right. theorising about a character is not to "excuse" their actions or make them more "sympathetic", but rather to explain their actions. to flesh them out.

plus, as a bit of rant, you've all gotta stop dismissing people's theories completely just because you believe your own is oh-so above it. acknowledge a theory's evidence, acknowledge a theory's points, acknowledge why it could and could not be true. don't become obsessed with the black and white "I Choose To Only See The Worst Of This Character And Nothing Else Because That's My Preference!!! I'm Just Critical!!!" or "I Choose To Only See The Good Of This Character And Nothing Else Because That's My Preference!!! I'm A Moral Paragon!!!". jesus fucking christ.

i sincerely hope this doesnt make you believe that i think im above this same mindset either- i'm very much not. i can be guilty of it as well. but the important thing about analysing media is the ability to acknowledge every possibility, every point of view, anything that's possible. to discard any bias you may have in order to figure out what's going on in a clear and succinct manner that is closest to the truth. please remember this!

[humanmorph]

i really like putting these 3 next to each other. there's a lot of cool throughlines / parallels / contrasts that are SO fun to think about... like their relationship to (doing) violence! expecially excited for wherever Cori is gonna end up by the end of this season. on one hand i love going 'yes!!! kill!!!' when she does something sick. on the other : ( oh no

(quote is from Marielda 10: Four Conversations. it's said to Sylvi's character that season, which is additionally neat :>)

[quatregats]

Something I've been thinking about is how Patrick O'Brian manages so skillfully to write characters whose actions contradict their beliefs, which I think is honestly a big part of why his characters feel so real. Mostly with Stephen and Jack—e.g., and perhaps most notably, Stephen has notably leftist sympathies (honestly I have no idea how to characterize his politics in period terms) who nonetheless becomes very comfortable with his rise to the landed gentry, while Jack is a card-carrying Tory who much of the time sympathizes far more with working class sailors and farmers than with the upper classes—but I'm sure he does it to a lesser degree with some of his minor characters (James Dillon, while perhaps not precisely minor, comes to mind), and I love that he's able to do that, especially the way in which he embeds it in the narrative. We see how they're all unreliable narrators of themselves; we understand how they want to be seen and how that does and doesn't coincide with the reality, but most importantly, this isn't presented as something reprehensible, just as a part of their own humanity. They are not their expectations for themselves, but they don't need to be those expectations to be beloved.

[blowingoffsteam2]

I’m in pain over this again

[cepheusgalaxy]

Hazbin Hotel's characters beliefs that are wrong and will come back to them eventually

Charlie

"The solution to our problems is being always gentle"

Alastor

"I am invincible"

Vaggie

"My only purpose is to serve Charlie"

Angel Dust

"The most valuable thing about me is my body"

Valentino

"I have Angel Dust on a leash and I also can do what I want"

Lute

"Angels don't make mistakes"

[noknowshame]

hello- on your jesus birthday post you said The Child Is The Price. What does that mean?

Okay THIS one I will answer. this is a reference to Roberte Icke's adaptation of Aeschylus' tragic play(s), The Oresteia. simplifying as much as possible, the story begins by following Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek army during the Trojan War. the winds he needs to sail his army to Troy have not been blowing, and Agamemnon receives a prophecy/instruction on what is needed in order to return the winds. the prophecy states "The Child is the Price". this phrase is repeated throughout the play, and what it is asking him to do is make a human sacrifice of his young daughter, Iphigenia. eventually, he goes through with it, and the winds do indeed return.

In the original plays by Aeschylus, the actual death of Iphigenia has already happened and is referenced as something the audience should already know all about. Icke chooses to add an act to the play that allows us to linger on that decision much longer. As a whole, the play deals heavily with themes of the nature of sacrifice, narrative inevitability, and cycles of guilt and violence.

When I was drafting my... infamous christmas post, I was trying to think of the story of the birth of jesus like a greek tragedy, involving very similar themes. factually, in a textual sense, jesus is the sacrifice. his death is the price paid for - according to christianity - absolution. and what I was attempting to point out is that we spend so much time celebrating jesus' birth as this wondrous arrival of the savior that we don't stop to meditate on exactly how bloodily that saving is going to play out. it's the exact same thing: The Child is the Price.

As a last note, many many many people have told me in the tags that me saying "Mary did you know? that your womb was also a grave?" is stupid because "all babies are born to die, Jesus isn't special" ...but there is a Very important difference I'd like to point. yes, all babies will die eventually. but NOT all babies are born to die. Jesus was. it was God's plan from the start for him to horrifically die on the cross, and it was inevitable as soon as Mary agreed to give birth to him. I feel that is an important part of the story. The Child is the Price.

(...anyway go read Robert Icke Oresteia and also watch Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) while you're at it)

[cielkie]

idk how this would work in the OIAR bc i just feel like they wouldn’t let anyone from outside look at their files, but i think it would be really funny to have like. a college age researcher show up to the og magnus institute or the OIAR who’s like studying the paranormal or folklore or some shit (cue guy with an actual degree in parapsychology which makes martin shit himself when he tries to start conversation HELPP) who’s just like oh hi guys this is my honors project! :) can i look at some spooky stories? 🤗 and the OIAR/MI staff are like NO. DO NOT LOOK INTO THIS ANY FURTHER RUN FOR YOUR LIFE. but i feel like elias would 100% require that they help this person out, bc he’s evil and he’d want a fear to eat them, and like… it’s just funny to imagine like. the staff trying to keep the true nature of the institute/OIAR away from this totally clueless 22/25 year old and feeding them the silliest statements possible that don’t connect at all to throw them off track so this poor kid is confused and hopefully gives up. but also kinda bittersweet imagining them all coming together to protect a stranger from falling into a world they can no longer escape… the old “it’s too late for me but it’s not too late for you” makes my heart hurt

[softesttangerines]

Ok, idc how wrong of a theory it is that Rayleigh is Mihawk's dad but i'm obsessed with the fact that Mihawk probably didnt get to see much of his dad while growing up because of his pirate life.

And on the rare occasions when he gets to see him, he's constantly sulky because Rayleigh keeps talking about these two other kids that he adopted with his captain and how "You would totally love Shanks and Buggy, Hawks. They are trouble makers but i'm sure you would get along!"

And Mihawk isn't so sure he would love the kids that stole his dad from him so he just humphs his way out of the conversation everytime. He did ask his dad to take him with him on his adventures since it's kids safe (he's bound to think that when there are two kids, younger than him, parading on the ship) but Rayleigh always refuses because he wants his son to live away from piracy, an honest and safe life.

(Except, joke's on him. Mihawk had his rebellion phase and said fuck you, dad! Discovered his obsession with swords and went on his own adventures.)

Fastforward, post Roger's execution, Mihawk meets Shanks for the first time and the bitter feelings he had from his childhood resurface and he's full on grudge and salty so he challenges him to a duel to kick his ass. Except, to his surprise, Shanks is actually a decent opponent and instead of wanting to kick his ass, he relishes in the fact that he finally found someone that keeps up with him, so he keeps coming back asking for more duels.

On the other hand, Shanks sees this dark haired guy with magnificent yellow eyes and he knows him, he knows him from his bounty posters and because Rayleigh has spoken few times when he cameback to the crew from his short family visits about his stubborn son, and he wonders if Mihawk knows him or if the guy just randomly challenges people with no regard to his life.

Obviously, to no one's surprise he falls in love mid fight, with the sassy quips (now he confirmed that Mihawk does in fact know him and he does seem angry about something) the audacity to roll his eyes in the middle of a fight and he's absolutely breathtaking with a sword in his hands. Shanks wants to impress him no matter what since this guy seems to genuinely be onto the fight and ignoring his flirty comments. He figured he did impress him a bit, if the way that Mihawk said they'd meet soon again is anything to go by.

Bonus:

Mihawk took an immediate like to Buggy when he met him but he refuses to admit it to anyone ever, especially not the clown himself but he does enjoy teasing Shanks that Buggy was much easier to "tolerate" first, just to get a raise out of him.

+

Rayleigh is totally against two of his boys dating each other but Mihawk keeps telling him off ("You were barely ever here for me as a dad, you don't get to boss me around!") and Shanks is too busy being heart eyes to listen to any word coming from the man. At the end, he just ends up giving both of them the shovel talk.

[mzminola]

I think it's fun, and consistent with the rest of his character, that while Tim has no faith in the existence (or perhaps simply benevolence) of any sort of divine higher power, he does believe in the existence of souls.

I think that fits really well with Tim having faith in people. That all individual people are important, that they have amazing capabilities for both good and evil, and that they need support from each other to keep doing good. It fits with his continuing balancing act with both faith in and criticism towards Bruce.

Tim finds it totally believable that Greta is both a ghost & connected to some kind of afterlife pathway. He rolls with Anita's parents souls whooshing into the fetal clones. When Kon is worried he doesn't have a soul, Tim is confident that Kon does have one. He gets pissed when Red Tornado is dismissed as "just" a machine.

When Dick fights against Tim using or sampling the Lazarus Pit to bring back some loved ones, asking "What about their souls?" Tim just retorts that "The Pit brings that back too."

Which leads to one of my headcanons: that some time before she died, Janet expressed either belief in or hope for reincarnation. Tim describes his parents as "My mom was a little religious. My Dad not at all." in the Judgment on Gotham crossover arc. In Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul, when thinking of dead loved ones to bring back, he pictures Kon, Steph, and his dad. Not his mom.

Combined with all the above, I'm headcanoning that Tim has reason to think the Lazarus Pit can't bring back Janet Drake. That Tim believes her soul is neither lingering on this plane nor moved on to an afterlife from which it can be summoned, but willingly reincarnated already, and is therefore actually out of reach.

[anglerflsh]

problem solving 101

[beachboysnatural]

Six episodes left and I'm starting to entertain the very real possibility that Hae-in might die and I don't like it one bit

[brittlebutch]

actually it's kind of funny how people will say Alex's fatal flaw is that he 'doesn't ask for help' and that it's his determination to handle things on his own that leads to his deterioration and eventual death when his whole introduction to the present-day timeline was a very literal cry for help that simply went ignored

[fungisteri]

Honestly the whole transandrophobia debate is kind of like the most Tumblr discourse ever. Like it's all just transfems vs transmascs arguing online over semantics while irl cis gnc people get hatecrimed for "looking trans"