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#if someone knows more & would like to see some cultural elements in any of the characters’ designs i’d love to add them in!
groguspicklejar · 2 days
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i might say something that will offend you in this post because i may have certain misconceptions and stereotypes about the lgbtqia+ community that i'm probably unaware of. but hopefully, this comes off across from a good place and any offense taken was completely unintentional and i apologize in advance. these are my opinions and mine alone because this is what i've noticed so far in my 22 years of life on this wretched earth:
in african culture, when a woman gets married, the groom's family has to pay dowry. and when that woman dies, she will be buried with her husband's family's graveyard, instead of being buried in her family's graveyard.
now i knew the first part of that for a long time, but i didn't know the second part and i was horrified when i did because why would my husband's family want to keep me after i'm no longer of service to them? because that's what marriage is to me, that's how i see it. a transaction. in the current age of alpha pod cast bros, incels and the men in my own country being inherently misogynistic anytime i express myself in a way that challenges how they view women, i've come to the conclusion that marrying someone from my own culture would probably kill me in more ways than one.
it would kill me in the sense of me knowing that there's more to life than being reduced to an unpaid maid, surrogate, sex machine and other things that are physically, mentally and emotionally debilitating.
i'd asked an older woman (40s) from an african culture about this and she... tried to make it seem as though the dowry thing wasn't a transaction and more like the groom's family saying thank you to the bride's family for raising such an upstanding young lady for their son. which, in hindsight, was just her trying to dampen the severity of what was actually going on and i think she was trying to make me feel less apprehensive about the idea of marriage, fully knowing that it will always, always, always put women at a disadvantage in some way, shape or form.
she, herself, is married. has been for over 20 years now. and she's someone close to me, someone who i regard very highly.
but for her to... i don't wanna say lie about the dowry thing because i feel like she has a different opinion than mine, but the way she looked at me when i asked her about it makes me aware that it's a sensitive issue and she didn't want to frighten me so the only way to do that was to not tell the truth.
and that lowkey makes me trust her less now, which hurts because i really do value her opinion on things. because i want the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, no matter how brutal it is, if i'm going to make an informed decision about certain things that might alter the course of my entire life.
anyway, dowry, husband's family claws to you, even after death. terrifying thought. my point is that in whatever cultures i hear about, whatever cultures i come across, there's always going to be a woman being exploited somehow. whether she's bought, sold or abused by someone close to her so that the men can benefit from it, there's always going to be that element to some degree and i think as women, especially, the younger generation, need to be made aware of it.
which then brings me to another issue that i now have to face because of this, which is the subject of my asexuality because it directly contradicts everything there is about being a woman in my particular culture. especially the part where it involves sex. and those of you from ethnic cultures and are part of the lgbtqia+ community know this struggle. it may vary from the gays, to the lesbians, to the bisexuals, to the transgenders, nonbinaries and so forth, but the different struggles we all face are connected by the same things and that's the horrifying and intricate beauty of the patriarchy and white supremacy.
what do i mean by this? the main point of all this is that sexual intercourse is a tool used to obtain and maintain power in a heterosexual relationship. and anyone who does not fall in a heterosexual relationship is seen as not normal or a threat or something negative.
let's take a gay relationship, for instance. perhaps there's two men in a relationship. since there isn't a woman in the equation, society sees it as wrong. society sees it as a threat to the heterosexual, patriarchal structure that has been built. why? since there isn't a woman in the equation that needs to fulfil the role of being subjugated and exploited in some way.
same with lesbian relationships, but it's slightly different in the sense of there isn't a man in the equation to do the exploiting. just two women existing in a relationship, no man involved as the center of attention, no man that needs his every desire to be catered to.
i feel like lesbians are the luckiest people because they don't have to deal with men the way straight women, gay men and other people do and it just goes to show that sexuality really isn't a choice. if it was, i'd chose not to be attracted to men.
with a bisexual, you're pressured to "pick a side" because being attracted to more than one gender, according to society, is also wrong. also, just because you're in a relationship with someone of one sex, doesn't mean you're still not attracted someone of another sex. not sure if this applies to pansexuals as well, but i think it does.
if it's a nonbinary person or gender neutral, also a problem because not conforming to one specific gender, no matter how uncomfortable it makes you feel or how it really is not something you can truly identify with.
transgender: transitioning from one gender to the other. also a problem, according to society because apparently it's wrong to identify with something you're not born as?? if i'm putting it lightly and in the simplest terms that i understand it. adding to that, society sees it as a problem because transgender men (or anyone who wasn't born a woman) carrying children and transgender women not having children is not what the patriarchy is about, therefore it is a threat to it because of how non-traditional it is. that and so much more regarding being transgender, it's a huge threat to the system(s) put in place and i think that's why they're at a higher risk of being physically put in harm's way which is frightening to think about.
asexual: since you're not attracted to anyone or don't want to have sex with anyone, you're a problem to society because you are that much harder to exploit if you aren't in a relationship with a man. because you're either "too picky" (code for; your standards are too high and i can't step up my game to reach them) or "you're sick and need to see a doctor" (code for; i can't seem to change your mind and neither have countless others, so i can't seem to find a way to force you to be in a relationship with me therefore my only other option is to make you feel like you're weird for not allowing that) or "you'll meet the right one" (you'll meet that one person who will finally get under your skin enough to sink their teeth in and use you the way they want to) or any other phrase the average asexual has heard.
like all of these things centered around men and men's desire for sex, for marriage, for children.
still, even if i wasn't asexual, even if i was just another straight woman, it wouldn't have made that much of a difference (if any at all) because i still stand firm in my belief that marriage was built as a transaction, as away to suppress and oppress women's voices and autonomy because the world i live in has not changed its ways regarding how daughters, wives and mothers are treated in households that are apprently supposed to protect them.
maybe my opinion might change when i'm older. maybe that's when men stop acting like complete monsters to us. maybe i might find that one guy who isn't as monstrous as the rest and even then, i'll still question if i'd want to be vulnerable enough to willingly legally bind myself to him and him to me. and if i do want that, then fine. so be it.
but as of right now and always? having kids? out of the question. married or not, i am not having a child for one reason or the next. i've seen myself around children, okay? i don't like the person i become when a kid pushes my boundary. i don't like having to suddenly question the morality of smacking a kid and telling them to shut up before i do something worse. and i can barely remember to eat and i hate cooking on a regular basis, the mere concept of feeding someone else at regular intervals so they grow up healthy is mentally exhausting, on top of doing countless other things to make sure that they grow up to be functional adults.
all of that is required as a woman, especially in my culture. i'm expected to get married and have kids at some point in my young adult life. but i don't know if i have it in me for even one of those things and i'm damn sure that i don't want the other.
the african woman i spoke of, i worry for her because when she dies probably maybe 3-4 decades from now because she's still in her 40s godwilling, her children will have to advocate for her when she can't, they will have to stand 10 toes down and demand that she be buried with the family she grew up in because that's what she said she wanted and not the family she married into. and i know they will because they love her too much not to grant her that final wish and let any cultural practice to get in the way of her last moments of happiness.
anyway, that's all i had to say.
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ash-and-starlight · 1 year
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Hi, hope you're well.
I love the way you draw Mai, and I was just wondering what inspires your Mai design? (Particularly her garments and makeup)
Hey thank you! As it often happens in my art her design is a mix and match of elements from different cultures, the clothes she’s wearing here are inspired by ming dynasty china, while her hair are done up in a korean braided bun (i think it’s called jjok, and it’s usually worn by married women but oh well she’s married to ty lee so… also the binyeo is of course a dagger in disguise)
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i am trying to figure out a “less formal”/more FN look for her, this time inspired by vietnamese traditional clothing.
i think what i always try to keep in mind while drawing Mai in canonverse is that she’s always carrying around a full arsenal of knives, so the fit of her clothes has to reflect that lol, as for the make up it’s mostly made up, i’ve seen the two dots under the eyes a couple of times in modern hanfu models.
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ryo-maybe · 1 year
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can u explain why AI art is bad without fearmongering, moralizing or bootlicking lol
I'm going to answer in good faith, even though the tone you're using sounds like you're harboring anything but. The issue with AI art isn't specifically inherent to the tools used to produce it, because, ultimately, a tool is merely that: something devoid of will which, in the hands of a human, can produce a specific outcome. It's the human element that taints what we could otherwise enjoy for the unquestioningly fascinating topic that is AI art and, by extension, AI software as a whole.
Now, the problem isn't people, period, but the kind of people that are responsible for giving AI the bad rep it's been getting, along with the intent that goes into both the development of AI tools and the things produced by dint of said tools. I'm talking about the tech bros happily rubbing their hands, waiting to provide business moguls with a brand new means to commodify and mass-produce what artists stake their entire livelihoods upon, because when you have enough zeroes lined up in your bank account, your eyes are utterly blinded to the soul and personality that human beings put into their handiwork, and which a machine won't ever be able to reproduce no matter how much stolen art you feed it. Oh yeah, by the way, that's how AI art tools have been making the rounds: by chewing on thousands upon thousands of stolen pictures made by actual people so that they may learn how to ape someone's style and spit out absolutely soulless derivatives, while the original authors don't see a lick of recognition or monetary retribution for any of it. Do I need to tell you why stealing and parading someone else's art as your own is a terrible, vile thing to do?
But sure, you did ask me to refrain from "fearmongering, moralizing or bootlicking", which I guess I've already done. So since you'd rather I skipped straight to the point in a concise manner, lemme offer some quick examples of why the culture surrounding AI art has already developed into one of the most abysmally disappointing displays of how greed and an utter lack of human decency can ruin something objectively brimming with possibilities:
Less than a week after the sudden death of Korean artist Kim Jung-gi, someone trained an AI model to mimic his artstyle, having the audacity of asking for credits if anyone wished to use it. I sincerely hope I don't have to explain to you why this is a ghoulish example of the kind of tone-deafness sported by tech bros who buy wholesale into the AI art craze.
A piece of AI art was submitted to an art contest and won. The "artist"'s work amounted to little more than picking a series of prompts and letting the machine do the work. It's as much art as googling a smattering of terms and making a collage of pictures taken from Pinterest (and even then, you would have put more work into it than this person did). That they won at all says a whole damn lot about how abysmal the respect given to artists - real artists - nowadays is.
There are a multitude of people out there already selling prints of AI-generated art. I could link some of them here, but honestly, type "ai art prints" on a search engine and you'll get inundated by them. I've seen and personally know artists who have had to undersell their works because commissions were the only thin, frayed string they could hang on in hopes of making it through the week without fucking starving themselves, but here we are: any random asshole can now yell "MASSIVE BREASTS, THIN WAIST, COCKTAIL DRESS, HUGE BADONGAS" at a computer, let it mash together a trillion of other people's hard work, and print it for easy bucks that the actual authors of the basic ingredients of their insipid soup will never, ever see a dime of.
It really bothers me that you mentioned "no bootlicking". Whose fucking boots is this side of the debate supposedly tasting? That of the artists who post every day about how angry, sad and terrified they are by the prospects of what the development of AI art will entail for their livelihood and passion? What kind of gall did your mother birth you with that you have the spiteful spunk to type that word, when you've got shit like an artist who had their sketch stolen while they were drawing it on stream, then fed to an AI and posted by someone passing it off as their own art? How does that not ignite your indignation? "Bootlicking". Like anyone's tongues have been tasting leather but those of the same tech bro chodes who kept trying oh so hard to convince us NFTs were the future while ruining the environment to make the absolute stupidest point ever made in the history of humanity.
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toskarin · 8 months
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As someone knowledgeable about MMOs, and given the topic of SAO just came up. If you were to write a .Hack/SAO/Log Horizon style story, what kind of things would you focus on? I personally feel like there are a lot of different elements of MMO culture anyone writing about them could really delve into. So I'm curious what Tumblr user Toskarin would choose.
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back when I played Perfect World, it had some empty spaces. this wasn't uncommon for mmos, and if you can name one older than 15 or so years, you can bet there were vast empty spaces on the world map that existed to pad it
but they were important! sure, they added nothing of obvious value and could cynically be read as existing just to pad travel time, but they also made the worlds feel bigger than you what you were doing in them. and more mysterious.
some friends in my guild and I got a message one day that one member was going to roll a new character and wanted help levelling. a complication: their starting zone was across the sea.
a few friends and I volunteered to swim across the sea to their zone. there were definitely easier ways to go about it, but setting out to do something just to see if it was possible seemed fun
now, they may have changed this since then, but the sea in Perfect World felt strange in a way I haven't seen any game really emulate since. the sky was a dull, and as was the fashion, everything was a bit muted. the sea itself was opaque, and when you swam under it, there was a significant amount of grey-blue terrain that seemed to stretch on forever into the fog
and of course, there was fuck all in it. nothing alive. no monsters until you got close to a shore. just vast empty sea that you swam through, only your friends' characters to break up the odd stillness of it. you probably turned the music off at this point, too, so there was only ambient sound and splashing
this is because you were supposed to fly over it, if you crossed it at all. and because there wasn't really a good centralised source of knowledge on these things, it wasn't really clear if it was entirely empty
the trip there was fine, if a bit boring and lonely. during the trip back, I accidentally clicked on something in the middle of the ocean
now, there weren't supposed to be things there. I had my friends, but I clicked on a monster, and when I swam down to look at it, I saw that it was actually an enormous sea monster
so I pinged one of the guildmates swimming with me and they thought I was lying, so I showed them, and then we repeated this several times until everyone in the group had seen this weird thing that felt like it came from a schoolyard rumour
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Ancient Sea Dragon. 99,999,999 health points and none of us could find anything on it posted online. it was pretty common for players to run into it and be shocked, but we didn't know that
so we naturally let the rest of the guild know, got a hunting party together, and spent the better part of a day just whittling its health down
with the benefit of hindsight and documentation of this thing existing now, I can spoil this and tell you it didn't drop anything, but this long down the line, I still think about how deeply surreal it felt to stumble on an enormous sea monster in the middle of what my brain had come to understand as a liminal space. the sea was supposed to be mostly empty, and here was this thing
which is a very long way to introduce what I think is lacking here: we need more of those enormous empty spaces that leave characters with nothing to do but talk and feel completely isolated. sometimes you get to a sprawling castle city and it's completely empty because the players moved on. sometimes the devs threw an enormous monster in the middle of nowhere just to fuck with you, and that was kind of cool even if it sucked
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sunderwight · 2 months
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y'know what, I think it's kind of interesting to bring up Data from Star Trek in the context of the current debates about AI. like especially if you actually are familiar with the subplot about Data investigating art and creativity.
see, Data can definitely do what the AI programs going around these days can. better than, but that's beside the point, obviously. he's a sci-fi/fantasy android. but anyway, in the story, Data can perfectly replicate any painting or stitch a beautiful quilt or write a poem. he can write programs for himself that introduce variables that make things more "flawed", that imitate the particular style of an artist, he can choose to either perfectly replicate a particular sort of music or to try and create a more "human" sounding imitation that has irregular errors and mimics effort or strain. the latter is harder for him that just copying, the same way it's more complicated to have an algorithm that creates believable "original" art vs something that just duplicates whatever you give it.
but this is not the issue with Data. when Data imitates art, he himself knows that he's not really creating, he's just using his computer brain to copy things that humans have done. it's actually a source of deep personal introspection for the character, that he believes being able to create art would bring him closer to humanity, but he's not sure if he actually can.
of course, Data is a person. he's a person who is not biological, but he's still a person, and this is really obvious from go. there's no one thing that can be pointed to as the smoking gun for Data's personhood, but that's normal and also true of everyone else. Data's the culmination of a multitude of elements required to make a guy. Asking if this or that one thing is what makes Data a person is like asking if it's the flour or the eggs that make a cake.
the question of whether or not Data can create art is intrinsically tied to the question of whether or not Data can qualify as an artist. can he, like a human, take on inspiration and cultivate desirable influences in order to produce something that reflects his view on the world?
yes, he can. because he has a view on the world.
but that's the thing about the generative AI we are dealing with in the real world. that's not like Data. despite being referred to as "AI", these are algorithms that have been trained to recognize and imitate patterns. they have no perspective. the people who DO have a perspective, the humans inputting prompts, are trying to circumvent the whole part of the artistic process where they actually develop skills and create things themselves. they're not doing what Data did, in fact they're doing the opposite -- instead of exploring their own ability to create art despite their personal limitations, they are abandoning it. the data sets aren't like someone looking at a painting and taking inspiration from it, because the machine can't be inspired and the prompter isn't filtering inspiration through the necessary medium of their perspective.
Data would be very confused as to the motives and desires involved, especially since most people are not inhibited from developing at least SOME sort of artistic skill for the sake self-expression. he'd probably start researching the history of plagiarism and different cultural, historical, and legal standards for differentiating it from acceptable levels of artistic imitation, and how the use of various tools factored into it. he would cite examples of cultures where computer programming itself was considered a form of art, and court cases where rulings were made for or against examples of generative plagiarism, and cases of forgeries and imitations which required skill as good if not better than the artists who created the originals. then Geordi would suggest that maybe Data was a little bit annoyed that people who could make art in a way he can't would discount that ability. Data would be like "as a machine I do not experience annoyance" but he would allow that he was perplexed or struggling to gain internal consensus on the matter. so Geordi would sum it up with "sometimes people want to make things easy, and they aren't always good at recognizing when doing that defeats the whole idea" and Data would quirk his head thoughtfully and agree.
then they'd get back to modifying the warp core so they could escape some sentient space anomaly that had sucked the ship into intermediate space and was slowly destabilizing the hull, or whatever.
anyways, point is -- I don't think Data from Star Trek would be a big fan of AI art.
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donderwolkenblog · 3 months
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very heavy on locker rooms as liminal spaces! i grew up as a dancer with a hockey-playing brother in midwestern usa, and it's bizarre how much our experiences were paralleled. we'd vent a lot to each other about the various pressures of our sports, and even though i didn't have the words for it at the time i look back now and can see that both of us were locked in these insulated, self-policing, gender-essentialist and hyper-conformist environments that reallllyyy distilled themselves in locker rooms/dressing rooms - places where we both spent a ton of unsupervised time establishing our own in-group hierarchies and in-jokes and bonds. it's why i'm kind of baffled by some depictions of the locker room in hrpf as the convening of the big happy team family and nothing more- because yeah, that can be what it looks like on the absolute surface level, but there are so many weird and often fucked up undercurrents that create a constant baseline tension that everybody is at least subconsciously aware of and reacting to at all times. especially when some kind of event, usually an intrusion from Outsiders Who Just Don't Get It And Never Will or some infraction committed by a team member against unspoken but gospel rules- really cannot emphasize the self-surveilling and self-policing enough- triggers an uptick in the tension. and i want to see that tension informing everything those little guys do in MY hrpf. i want the tension to be palpable in the narrative! additionally! it is extra extra interesting to me that it's very possible to be a person immersed in such a culture who can recognize that other similar cultures are extraordinarily fucked up and even that elements of one's own culture are fucked up but remain fundamentally and fanatically attached to the idea that changing one's own culture would harm its success in some way, which is more unforgivable than literally any other sin. i cannot stress enough how badly i want more hrpf through that specific lens. i am so sorry this got so long lmao but would LOVE! to hear your thoughts on this i am obsessed with all of your meta and could read your hrpf perspectives all day
yessss yes yes! i love this message so much, you get it, damn. i went to a professional ballet academy and this is so real. i definitely didn't realize it at the time but the way dressing rooms have both been a refuge for me and the most terrifying place to walk into is so interesting. even just the process of taking off your own clothes to all put the same shit on... walk in an individual, walk out part of the team, oof. i think locker rooms are so difficult to get a grip on writing-wise so i definitely don't blame anyone for not going there in fic, lmao. i know i always try to avoid locker rooms in my fic, especially on an nhl level. it's hard to find real, solid resources/texts on the hockey locker room and the shit that happens in there, but i fucking love when people do go there in fic and really just... put in text how a locker room is its own little microcosm where the rules are different and the real world isn't allowed. like, you just know the performing and the posturing and the weird mindgames going on there are crazyyyyy! and honesty about that sacred space seems, for so many guys, to veer into betrayal so fast (interesting in and of itself, i think) and i think the fact that it is this kind... of we don't talk about fight club thing... even just the politics of who you're sitting next to... i was watching this tour of a hockey locker room and someone asked a player like, 'do you think you're sitting next to vets on the team was a deliberate choice from the org?' and he was just baffled by even the idea. had never even thought about it even though it was so obvious that that was exactly what was going on, lmao. but then you also hear players say like, 'no i need to sit next to this guy or i'm going to blow up this whole building' so there is some wherewithal... i think it's also so interesting how like, showers are this holy thing. so many players without any kind of like, self-reflection saying like, if you don't shower with the boys, that's it, it's over. you have to shower with the boys or you miss everything. it's guy time. it's important. it's bonding. i was reading someone's dissertation on lgbt acceptance in junior hockey and the thing all these guys kept coming back to was like, well, i would probably feel uncomfortable with a gay teammate being in the showers with us but i would be even more uncomfortable if he couldn't shower with us, it's soooo like. even the politics about like, who has the aux cord, lmaooooo. i was reading this article on locker room politics and there was this whole thing about certain players not bobbing their heads to the music and how that became a whole thing. just incredible stuff, hahahaha. i think you're also so right about how some dudes, looking back, can see that fucked up shit went on there, lmao. and still are so set on like no but we shouldn't change anything about it. was it auston m who said that (junior) hockey is like a cult? bc......... you can get in. but you can't get out. not even when you're sixty and no longer care that your hockey coach/father stand in isn't proud enough of you. you're still trapped.
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mantizimus · 10 months
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Hi so I Saw you write for avatar the last Airbender and want to ask for a reaction to Male Reader who's a fire bender who just wants to travel and learn and has the ability to become fire an is intangible while in that state the characters are the avatar gang Zuko and iroh please
Yeah.
Firebender Reader can become fire
Aang
He treats you quite friendly.
He has a lot of questions about this ability.
First of all, how it feels.
Wondering what would happen to you if someone poured water on you in this state. No, he's not going to do anything like that, he's just curious.
Maybe he'll ask you to teach him something like that. If you refuse, he'll take it perfectly well.
Katara
Although her mother died at the hands of the Fire Nation soldiers, she has an open mind about you.
She finds your ability to turn into fire very interesting.
Wonders if its possible to do something like that with any other element.
Sokka
At first he's suspicious of you. However, upon realizing that you really do prefer to just travel and fight solely as self-defense, he warms up.
Can and will snark at you couple or more times.
Will gladly help you come up with strategies involving turning into fire and getting information from your opponents.
Wonders how you learned something like this, but assumes you'll tell if you want to.
Toph Beifong
Finds your ability very unusual.
Like Katara wonders if you can do something similar using earth magic.
Because of her blindness, she's unable to see your fire state and, thus, will question you about its appearance.
Zuko
He has never heard of such form of firebending.
So he's very interested in how it works.
Will ask you truckload of questions about your fire state. How does it feel to turn into fire? Are there any limitations? If so, what are they?
Wants to know where you learned it.
On the whole, treats you kindly. Even before he joined Gaang.
It's not because he wants to learn it. He just likes the company of a person who doesn't care who he is.
Iroh
With the dragons having revealed the secrets of fire magic to him, it's safe to say that no, your fire state was no surprise to him.
Realizing that you prefer to fight only when you have no other options, he will help improve your bending.
Will gladly tell you about the cultures of other nations if you ask him to.
Will also give you some useful advice, even though they're not too obvious.
Advises you never to lose your peaceful nature.
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Do you have any headcanons or anything of the sort regarding Precipice Moirai/PreMo? I'd like to hear what your thoughts are about them!
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I don't think about Premo a ton (for people who are confused, this is Idia's favorite idol group), but here's how I personally picture them:
They're sisters.
They look youngish (or "ageless") but they're actually a bazillion years old. Don't ask them about how old they are or they'll give you that smile that doesn't fully reach their eyes.
Because they're so old, they've seen sooo much and are thus easily bored. They live for listening in on drama and scandals because those can get so absurd it provides some fleeting entertainment to them.
In interviews and talk shows, they drop very archaic, outdated jokes and have refined manners of speaking. It's an odd mix of how your grandma might talk combined with modern anachronisms (slang). It's very "how do you do, fellow kids" energy.
They get along in public, but they constantly bicker and act overly competitive in private (usually over borrowed items).
They came up with a really complicated and dark “anime-esque” backstory for how their group got together. No one knows if the backstory is really true or if it’s something their marketing team came up with as part of their “lore”.
In some interpretations, the Fates are specified as Clotho (who spins the threads of fate with her spindle), Lachesis (who measures the threads of fate using a measuring tape), and Atropos (who cuts the threads of fate using shears). In other interpretations, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos represent past, present, and future respectively.
I think of each girl as being representative of one place in time. For example, the Fate representative of the present may be a carefree party goer who wants to "live in the moment", without thinking much of the consequences (the future) or her previous mistakes (the past).
I see Premo banking on these themes as motifs or image items for the corresponding idol girl (so one represents the past with her spindle, one represents the present with her measuring tape, etc.). I also headcanon that the idols have their own merch and fandom hand signals which make reference to each Fate's respective task. For example, there may be scissors on a Premo T-shirt or a scissor-like hand shape or cutting motion made to signal that you stan "Atropos" of the Fates.
Eyes are a prominent motif and are more universally associated with the group as a whole rather than an individual member. (This is because the Fates were fighting over a single eyeball in Disney's Hercules.)
It’s implied that the girls wear black, but I headcanon that most of their outfits are monochromatic, save for like maybe a few colorful accessories.
It would be cool if they also incorporated elements of Japanese mythology into their group's theme. More specifically, I love the idea of the three girls wearing a red ribbon or some slash of red on their outfits each time they perform. This would be a reference to the "red thread of fate" which permeates many east Asian cultures. It is said that this "thread of fate" connects you to someone you are destined to meet someday, someone who will change your life in some significant way. Typically this means romantically (which would fit in the culture of Japan promoting idols as "pure" and "avaliable" to their fans), but it can also be interpreted platonically. I think this makes a lot of sense given that the Fates are marketed as "three girls bound by Fate".
They blend traditional dance and attire with modern practices. It's very important to them to retain their history and culture, as well as to share it with a new generation so that they are preserved for the future.
They partner up/collaborate with organizations and programs that seek to educate others about history, such as museums and restoration projects. Again, this is because Premo truly cares about preserving history and teaching it to others.
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yourhighness6 · 1 month
Text
NATLA Episode 1 Debrief (by yours truly)
Hello my lovlies! There are so many opinions swirling around right now in the fandom and I wanted to give my own opinions a quick (this is not going to be quick but whatever) post of their own. I'm probably going to do this with all of the episodes, just an fyi
First of all, Sozin can fuck all the way off. I don't think I really have to explain that one but goddammit they really made me hate him (and I love to hate the villain)
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I LOVE the detail of seeing the flames reflected in his eyes whenever he kills someone, as a symbol of fire's natural brutality consuming him from within. Kudos to whoever added that detail because it is absolutely perfect. I look forward to seeing more of this monster in future flashbacks.
The firebending itself was absolutely brutal. Watching the cartoon, you don't really think about how painful and horrific being burned alive is, and the live action explored that element in a way the previous show could not.
I know this is controversial, but actually really like how they devoted a good ten minutes to establishing some background with the Air Nomads before we dove in. In my opinion, it gave more depth to the Air Nomads besides just what we see through Aang's eyes, which I think helps the viewer connect with him more and sympathize in ways the cartoon didn't. One detail from this part that was absolutely heartbreaking was the Comet Festival.
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Something about the way a time of joy was turned into a time of pain and misery was absolutely awful (this was the first time I cried [I cried three times]). The fact that all of the Air Nomads were in one place kind of filled in why there was no evidence of the FN ever having been to the Western Air Temple in s3 of the cartoon. It also adds another layer of awfulness to the whole thing. I can't really put into words why I feel that way, it's just a sort of vibe.
I also liked the way they established Aang's character flaws right off the bat:
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The episode was named after him, so it only makes sense to show all aspects of his character almost immediately. This also gives me hope that they might address these flaws later a little more than the cartoon did.
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Super glad they included a female Airbender on the counsel (or whatever that was). She was also fighting later and she looked super badass.
Now, onto the Water Tribe.
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I can't express how glad I am that they included both boys and girls in Sokka's little warrior pack. People have talked about this before, but the gender roles in the SWT didn't make a lot of sense. Perfect little detail to fill a plot hole.
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I am also over the moon that they decided to expand on the differences between the Water Tribe sibling's outlooks on the world. Katara was raised as both a beacon of hope and a liability, whereas Sokka was raised as a warrior and a protector. It gives insight into their characters and also symbolizes the way the war shaped them. The pressure within a society to adapt to the times even as traditional values are abandoned and culture is devastated is something that the original show laid the groundwork for, so I really hope we see the live action build on it further. There's also this:
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Gives the perfect insight into the ways their parents leaving affected them both differently and expands on their different mindsets. 10/10 for the sibling dynamic.
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I'm not sure if I liked the changes to this scene. Katara was characterized pretty well, in my opinion, and it does make sense with the "toning down" of Sokka's sexism that she didn't explode on him, but it's still an iconic moment I would have liked to see translated to the live action. I also found the fact that Appa wasn't included at all just plain weird. He should have been there, and even if he was established differently later, again, I'm not sure I liked the way Aang was introduced to the siblings. (At least they didn't include any romantic Kat@ang moments. Platonic besties for the win)
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Zuko's introduction was just kind of... there, in my opinion, but I did love the detail of the icons on the shelf glowing. There were several homages made to Zuko's search for the avatar that I really appreciated, from the early establishment of his antagonism towards Lieutenant Jee to his pages of research, which I really appreciated. There were also several moments that implied that Zuko had a more spiritual journey throughout his banishment to find the avatar, which was partially a little bit of worldbuilding and partially a play into the idea that he will legitimately try everything possible to find the avatar that was another nice detail. Sadly, Dallas didn't really make a huge impression on me. This might be because of lack of screentime or the fact that this is THE Zuko, but I was kind of expecting more. Still, I don't think it was an irredeemable portrayal by any means, and I look forward to seeing more.
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This is sort of random, but I just need to say that I'm glad they included more evidence of Katara's PTSD. It was already pretty established in the cartoon that she did have PTSD, but the live action allows exploration of that in a more mature way, which I appreciate. It made the kat@ang conversation hit that much harder, and gives more depth to Katara's character.
The fight at the gates was also just perfect. Zuko acting on impulse out of a need to prove himself:
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Katara's speech and Sokka's change of heart:
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And this line:
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Sokka kind of fell flat to me a bit in this episode, and I feel like Katara was the MVP in all of their interactions, but I loved this line. I just have a feeling he really needed to hear this.
There's also this moment that I thought was really significant where it looked like Zuko was actually going to kill Sokka:
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My heart legit stopped at this part. Like, I knew it made no logical sense for it to happen, but I still got scared for a moment. I know it was just another one of those moments to show how Zuko's anger gets the best of him, ect, ect. but this was overkill. I don't think they took it too far by any means, but it was still just so unexpected.
I also noticed they removed the zukka parallel of the two of them getting ready for battle at the same time, which I really disliked. It plays more into the warrior mindset for the both of them, and even though we had that established in other ways, I would have still liked to see it.
Aang's sacrifice is the same, but I appreciated his little conversation with Iroh. When Iroh showed up, I half expected him to just let Aang go, but I guess that wouldn't really be in character for season 1 Iroh. Either way, that was some good stuff.
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The framing also sort of reminds me of the season 3 conversation between Zuko and Iroh when Iroh is in prison back in the FN. Both shots give the impression that it is not actually the one behind bars who is in prison. This makes me think that they might give Iroh more of an arc in season 1, which I would kind of like to see, but at the same time, I'm not sure about. I think it was important in the cartoon that Iroh had already completed his journey and was doing his best to guide Zuko through a similar one.
I am disappointed that they removed the fight scene between Zuko and Aang inside the ship, but there was another huge moment this allowed for that I REALLY LOVED:
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I LOVE that they let Katara have her hero moment I LOVE that they let her discover her bending a bit more in this episode I LOVE that Aang helped her I LOVE IT ALL. Katara gaining more confidence in her abilities is the season 1 Katara arc I want to see and they legit made me fangirl over this moment so much I squealed. There's also something about her blocking a fire blast from Zuko after being powerless to stop him from killing/seriously hurting her brother in the earlier fight that's just... chefs kiss. (also maybe establishing that ZK yin and yang concept early... I'm reading way too much into this but the way Katara's arms are positioned kind of looks like the yin symbol a little bit...)
And finally, we have the air temple scene. The whole thing was so incredibly sad, and I actually didn't mind that it was part of the first episode. It makes everything go full circle, in my opinion.
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I also thought that Gyatso's voice instead of Katara's being the one to calm Aang down was a really good choice. Aang coming to terms with his death should be about his memories with his past mentor, not about Katara comforting him. I loved the hug though. Perfectly devastating:
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Also, the last parallel at the end was just SO perfect:
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Something about how tradgedies in their lives forced them both to become dedicated and adapt to a new world beyond their control. Aang and Zuko parallels always wonderful.
Overall, I really enjoyed it! I would give this episode an 8.5/10. Not perfect, but definitely not bad. It surpassed my expectations and I'm so excited to see more!
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fragmentedblade · 1 month
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Can you expand more on Ratio's philosophical influences? You seem super knowledgeable!
I've been sitting on this for some time because I didn't know what prompted this message and thus I didn't know what to answer and how. I guess it may be the comment I wrote about him having a socratic but also a sophist air?
There are a lot of details in Ratio's overall design that point towards philosophical references. I want to draw attention to the fact that since this is a vague message on anon I don't really know what to focus on or what could I skip because it's information already known, so what I'm going to say is a very brief summary of many ideas, which of course makes such ideas but the shadow of an echo of themselves, so faint they almost become untrue. I fervently advise to look more deeply into any of this if something catches anyone's interest. And I also want to point out that the problem of knowing a little bit of something, even its existence, is that seeing turns to seeking, and an excess of seeing is also a blindness; what I mean by this is that I'm not sure how much of what I am going to say was intentional by the developers/writers and how much is just me suffering the blindness of seeing too much haha
However, I also want to clarify that I do think many of the things I’m going to say are present even if perhaps not intended by the writers/designers. This is due to the fact that Ratio’s main influence is platonism, and platonism is everywhere in western philosophy and in general western culture; once you see it you cannot unsee it. So perhaps I am reading too much or making correlations between things in his design that were not meant to be linked, giving a depth to the character that is probably incidental, but that I would say nonetheless exists because it pertains to a certain philosophical tradition in which the elements stem from each other. I hope this will become clearer in its development if it isn’t right now. 
Ratio has an Apollonian air. At first that and his mask made me wonder if he was going to be linked to the Mourning Actors, who alongside the Masked Fools for now remind me a lot of the Nietzschean Apollonian and Dyonisian dichotomy. This was conjecture on my side so I won't go on about this on this ask.
Ratio retains however the Apollo air. When I saw his splash art he reminded me instantly of the Belvedere Apollo, down to the strap under his chest like the sculpture has the quiver's strap. His sixth eidolon too recalls that sculpture, since it seems to be a mix of the pose in Michelangelo's David with the cloth in the Belvedere Apollo. Among other things, Apollo is a god linked to truth, medicine, archery and divination. The owl seems to be a reference to Athena, though. 
Ratio also has the laurel or bay branch on his head, which is one of Apollo's traits. Laurel on someone's head became linked to victory as well as academic and artistic merit (I know in Italy people still use it when graduating, for instance; I mean, that's where the word comes from). The fact that he has half of it is most likely due to an aesthetic choice, especially given how the character designs are pointedly asymmetric in this game; however, I think it works well with how, no matter how much he achieves and how hard he tries, Ratio is never gazed upon by Nous nor accepted by the Genius Society with the frustration, bitterness and questioning that brings both himself and others.
This last point, being ignored by something akin to a divinity, works also with his Apollonian air, I'd say. Given his Apollo look, his snake-like pupils made me think instantly of Delphi. Delphi was where a temple to Apollo was (linked to a mythological snake, and snakes thus became associated with Apollo in imagery), and it was famous for its prophecies. Socrates (the master of Plato and main figure in his dialogues) is said to have started the habit of questioning he is mostly famous for because a friend of his went to the temple in Delphi and was told by the Oracle that the wisest man in Athens was Socrates. Socrates was perplexed by this because he knew nothing, and started posing questions to supposedly erudite people about the matters about which they were experts, only to come out of that feeling unsatisfied with the answers. Thus, Socrates thought the Oracle may be right after all, but he was only the wisest man because he at least knew that he knew nothing. 
This works very well with Ratio because Socrates starts the journey by being distinguished among his peers, gazed upon, by a god (Apollo was supposed to possess the Pythia, or at the very least the prophetic power came from him), while Ratio never gets that recognition, and seems resigned to that already ("If this day I have not gained the recognition of Nous, it stands to reason that I never will at any point in the future" and "One day, I received a letter from the Interastral Peace Corporation (...). I could tell the solemnity of the invitation, so I excitedly passed it on to Mr. Ratio. Yet, he said nothing. I could sense his heavy silence even through the headgear. He then politely asked me to leave. The moment I closed the door, I heard a grim sigh followed by a self-deprecating laughter... Perhaps he realized he would never be accepted into the Genius Society..."). The mix of arrogance and humbleness, although enhanced in Ratio in a comical degree, is already somewhat present I would argue in the way Socrates talks in Plato's dialogues. Arrogance was also a trait Heraclitus, the author of the line cited in the name of his banner (“Panta rhei”), was famous to have.
So Ratio takes the position at the IPC. The Intelligentsia Guild is "often seen as a vendor of knowledge", and is looked down upon by the Genius Society. This is where I think the philosopher/sophist dichotomy comes in. Sophists were teachers, and were paid. They also were known to use rhetoric to convince (I would say there's a reference to this in one of Ratio's daily messages). In the political landscape of Athens, they were very useful for young men interested in politics. Some sophists became quite rich and famous. Usually philosophers, who didn't receive any money and did everything for the "love of knowledge" itself, looked down on them. At least in the texts of Plato that's often the case, although some sophists are portrayed under a better light even there; btw many of the things I've been saying come from Plato, but since this is an intricate subject on its own that isn’t directly pertinent to the ask I won't dwell on it right now.
Education in ancient Greece consisted of both intellectual and physical training. Intellectual education included music, poetry, mathematics, astronomy,... Physical fitness was held as something very important in a young man's curriculum as well. I think this is where the fanservicey choice of making Ratio so fit and pretty comes from. And I say “pretty” because beauty too is an important concept for Plato, and ancient Greece in general. It is also part of what linked the need of a young man to develop himself both intellectually and physically. Beauty is linked to harmony and order, both on an individual basis and cosmologically, often in some philosophical trends to a mathematical level; pythagoreanism has a lot of this.
Indeed I think pythagoreanism has to do somewhat with Ratio's design, considering his link to mathematics and geometry, and given his name ("Ratio" made me think of the golden ratio and in general pythagorean ratios even before it made me think of "reason" tbh), but in general the main philosophical reference in Ratio seems to be Plato, who was influenced greatly by pythagoreanism; this is one of the perhaps unintended indirect yet present links I mentioned at the beginning.
Platonism is very present in many ways in Ratio. It's noticeable even in his visual design, with how buff and handsome he is, arguably the references to Apollo and Athena, the geometry imagery, and even the sculptures he creates with his technique, but the influence is seen throughout his entire character, story, dialogue lines,... Part IV of Ratio’s character story, the way he talks with Roseth and what he says, has in my opinion an echo of platonic dialogues, as does his line “To spread knowledge, we must first make people realize their folly” recall Socrates. In the Trailblaze mission the main character had to argue for their innocence, which to me brought to mind the Apology of Socrates. On the other hand, the way this was done was very reminiscent of the socratic method, both in the discussion and counterargument mechanic of the game as, and especially so, in the use of memory. The main character had already the knowledge they seeked, yet they had forgotten about it, and had to retrieve it through memory guided by the intense questioning of Ratio; this, if applied to the research of a more essential knowledge instead of circumstantial, is the core of Socrates' maieutics. Maieutics is "midwifery". Socrates called by that word his method because he thought he was helping give birth to truths or knowledge that were already present in people's minds, if forgotten. It's what Ratio's skill, "intellectual midwifery", references. 
The fact that Socrates' method, the "intellectual midwifery" to put it in in HSR terms, works in platonic philosophy is because it is taken that there are eternal truths, something Ratio believes as well (“The beauty of truth is that it never changes, even when no one understands it. Well, that's true for me, at least”). This has to do with what is called the theory of Forms or the theory of Ideas. The world that we see is but the shadow of that other conceptual abstract world, of which we have but forgotten memories and that we can access only with the mind's eye. Our soul once saw/was part of that other world, which is why it can remember it. Plato was influenced by the pythagorean view of a sort of journey or reincarnation of the soul after dying, to put it some way. This is also extensive, it has to do with orphism, is at the core of a lot of philosophical and theological western traditions, and thus I will say only this, even though it feels very close-to-fake simplistic haha. To summarise, there’s the other abstract perfect world of which everything in this world participates from and is but the shadow of (everything beautiful participates on the Idea of Beauty, eternal and inextinguishable, but it’s never as perfect as that Idea, only but its echo). The idea that the world is but the shadow of the other world is present in Ratio's English line when he is ko-ed, "Mere flesh…" (in Chinese, though, if I’ve understood correctly he says “«Mediocre»… hah”, which is very different if still lore-heavy). This of course implies a strong ontological dualism. 
In this sense it is extremely interesting to me that Ratio’s banner is named “Panta rhei”, because Heraclitus is the epitome of the defender that all things were in constant change yet all things are One, the process of “becoming”, the constant struggle, at the core itself of reality (this too is harmony). He was pointedly monist, and is often contrasted to Parmenides, who spoke of eternal unchanging truths and beings. Both are cornerstones in the development of western philosophy and influenced Plato, but the choice calls my attention. In the Japanese wiki the line was linked/took to the buddhist concept of impermanence; while not necessarily related to that, this wiki suggestion made me wonder whether the choice of making “Panta rhei” the name of Ratio’s banner was done to further enhance another aspect of the many parallels between him and Ruan Mei, who also talks about life as something seemingly diverse and changing, hopes to obtain permanence, and talks about a something that transcends the multiple faces of life and that unifies them all (“Life is countless and varied in form. I firmly believe in that. Its beauty is like a myriad of flowers, and I want to pluck the one that never wilts”; “I wish to discover "the true essence of life," something that all individuals possess unknowingly, whether it is the materialism of their existence or an unknown entity beyond corporeal realms”; “The core of all existence is unity”). Even beyond that, in the context of everything else Ratio has going on, the mention of Heraclitus brings very intriguing food for thought to the table; yet I think this may be another instance of things that are, yet were most likely not meant by the writers.
Moving on, I’ll give a quick comment on the more explicit philosophical references we can find in Ratio’s traces, attacks and voicelines, and will dwell a bit only when I think they work well with the subjects and concepts I already commented Ratio plays with, otherwise this response will be eternal.
Summation (trace): in Chinese this is more clearly linked to the inductive reasoning, which in context it is obvious this is what this trace references; I don’t know why they chose to translate it this way. It is a method of reasoning that comes from the observation of particularities to generalisation, hence “summation”. It works well with Ratio causing more damage per debuff, and with the references to empiricism in Ratio’s attacks. The consequences in inductive reasoning are not truly ensured by the premises (the typical example is how you can’t ensure that all ravens are black by as many black ravens as you observe). 
Inference (trace): this baffled me because again it is more clear in Chinese that this is referencing deductive reasoning, but every language translates “inference”, whereas in the “deduction” trace the characters are exactly the same as the ones in the Chinese wiki for “inference”, but every language translates “deduction”. I don’t know what’s happening here, I wish I knew Chinese and found this less confusing, but at least both words are present in his traces. Deductive reasoning is the one that goes from premises to conclusion. It is heavily linked to logic and it doesn’t necessarily require empiric knowledge.
Deduction (trace): this is what is called “inference” apparently in Chinese (if someone knows about this I would love to know what is happening in Chinese in these two traces). Inferences are, well, the process of reaching conclusions. It can be either through deduction or induction (or abduction, some would argue, but that’s another can of worms).
Mind is might (basic attack): in latin this is “scientia potentia est”, and while at this point the line is very detached from its context, initially it was linked to Bacon and Hobbes. I honestly think this is just a very convenient name for an attack of a character following a philosophy/sciences/knowledge thematic.
Intellectual midwifery (skill): Socrates, and platonism. I talked about this before.
Syllogistic paradox (ultimate): Syllogistic paradoxes were one of my favourite things when I was studying. Syllogisms are a form of logic reasoning, which consist of two premises and one conclusion. Though the premises may be true, and though the reasoning may be sensible, at times contradictory or illogical conclusions may be reached. This is a syllogistic paradox. Why this happens is because of a myriad of reasons, like the differences between natural and logical language, or the development of theories (the paradoxes in set theory are among my favourite things ever). I personally like to draw a strong distinction between paradoxes and contradictions. Anyway, I have a lot to say about this haha In general, this is what the name of the ultimate is referencing. It works well with Ratio’s traces. It also goes well with some of the other subjects present in his characterisation, like platonism, Descartes and such; there are a lot of paradoxes that arise from many of the theories that play with such topics. I think reading Alice in Wonderland’s apparent madness through the lenses of logic makes us see that most of those incongruences are actually pretty logical; many of them iirc are syllogistic paradoxes. Carroll was a logician. I mention this because this, as well as many other ideas present in Ratio, work extremely well with Penacony.
Cogito, ergo sum (talent): this is a line by Descartes, a rationalist. This too is something that fits Penacony incredibly well. Descartes starts doubting knowledge, ends up questioning pretty much everything, establishes inspired by mathematics and logic a method of acquiring the truth, and in the research of true knowledge he starts doubting everything with a methodical doubt to be able to tell what knowledge stands after being hit by doubt, and why, and try to reconstruct knowledge from there. Ratio’s lines about “seeking answers with a negative hypothesis in mind”, “When one is immersed in academic research, scepticism comes more naturally than belief” or “Pursuit tinged with negativity is still pursuit, and it is capable of leading us to the right conclusion” reminded me of Descartes’ method. One of the steps in the process is doubting one’s own existence, but since I (pardon the “I”, but the first person is very important in Descartes) doubt, then I think, and since I think, then I exist; cogito, ergo sum. This is closely related to platonism in some senses, and while Descartes’ philosophy comes in part from a criticism of scholasticism, it still has ties to it, but Descartes was a massive breakthrough in the history of Philosophy. I also won't dwell on this, but this is fascinating imo haha 
Anyway, Descartes’ doubt about the existence of reality, of the world, is heavily linked to dreams, because in dreams we believe things are real but are not, so equally we could be at every moment in a dream and not be aware of that; only the existence of oneself is clear of this doubt (Zhuangzi’s text about the butterfly plays with this too; I comment this because butterflies have appeared in Penacony and the Zhuangzi’s text seems to play in an interesting way with the concept of “I”, taking it a different route than Descartes, which is a very intriguing idea but I don’t know much of Chinese philosophy at all). The concept of simulated realities, Matrix-like settings and such, all are strongly linked to this conception of Descartes, even though similar things existed previously (such as Plato’s allegory of the cave), and this works very well with Penacony again. Obviously, Descartes’ theory is strongly dualist, and it’s even established a body-mind dualism. The idea of the ghost in the shell also comes in great part from Descartes. Descartes’ view of the body was not too unlike that of a machine. 
This was in a time in which clockwork and automatons were quickly advancing and fascinating people. Physic theories started to look (even more) like clockwork, with the universe as clockwork and god as a watchmaker that put it into place and then let it run its perfect course, needing or not (depending on the theory) adjustments from the watchmaker from time to time. I said before that harmony was linked to both the cosmos and the body, with the body in part being a reflection of the cosmos, and even linked to it by the harmony of the spheres. This new way of approaching the cosmological and human issues and developing Physics still has echoes of that. Newton, who is referenced in one of Ratio’s idle animations, is one of the epitomes of this concept of the universe as clockwork. Again, I don’t know how much they’ll do with these ideas nor even if they were written on purpose, but it all works so well with Penacony it would be a pity if they did nothing with this.
Another thing I want to note about Descartes is that besides mentally detaching himself from everything while doubting in his deconstruction and construction of knowledge, seeking undoubtable truths, he famously did so physically as well for some time when he first started thinking about the matters in his Discourse on the Method one night: “having no diverting company and fortunately also no cares or emotional turmoil to trouble me”, while he “spent the whole day shut up in a small room heated by a stove, in which I could converse with my own thoughts at leisure”. This reminded me a lot of Ratio’s head and how he uses it: “with the headpiece on, isolated from my five senses, i can think without interference”, “he put on a headgear to keep away all external distractions and completely focus on thinking? Who else in the world could manage that?”.
Mold of idolatry (technique): this links mainly again to the theory of Forms of Plato, with that representation of something else that is what is real. The name of the technique and what it does works well also with the idea of idolatry, especially of idolatry of false gods, idols or even falsehood in general, and how Ratio criticises people’s blind infatuation with geniuses. It also reminds me of Nietzsche’s Twilight of the Idols, or, How to Philosophise with a Hammer. Among other things, Nietzsche heavily criticises platonism and platonic philosophy, and mostly all western philosophers (he has kind words for Heraclitus, for instance). 
Wiseman’s folly (ultimate’s effect): the idea that knowledge or beholding the truth brings to something similar to madness or ends up leading to foolishness is a very common one. Many of the Ancient Greece philosophers were said to have been extravagant. Diogenes the Cynic and Heraclitus were two such examples. Democritus was said to have plucked out his own eyes. Empedocles is said to have killed himself in a volcano. There’s Nietzsche, Georg Cantor, Kurt Gödel. It is the idea of the wise ending up being very much like the fool, but also the idea of the wise ending up losing sight of basic truths I believe, in that alienation from the world.
Know thyself (eidolon): this is what was inscribed in the temple of Apollo in Delphi I spoke of before. This is linked to Heraclitus, Socrates, Plato and platonism, of course. I think when it comes to Ratio that’s it, really. But this maxime has had a lot of implications and interpretations in different contexts and at different times. It could be seen as just a salutation, recommending temperance, the idea of knowing oneself and one’s limitations as key to succeed when approaching subjects or problems, the first step of getting to know anything at all, humans and the world being closely linked and even reflection of god so studying one helps studying the other, etc.
Vincit Omnia Veritas (eidolon): the translator says this means “eternal truth” in Chinese, which would play way better with the philosophical ideas and concepts present in Ratio while still playing with his name, “Veritas”. I won’t dwell on this because I’ve already talked about the link between eternal truths and Ratio a lot, and besides I can’t even confirm this is the true meaning because I don’t know Chinese.
Eidolon “The divine is in the details” seems to be a reference to a Chinese idiom that comes from a book. I don’t know if it has greater significance, but if anyone knows I am all ears. The other eidolons obviously work with Ratio, but I don’t see obvious philosophical influences so I’m skipping them.
Esse est percipi (ultimate line): “To be is to be perceived”. This is a line by Berkeley and linked to his philosophy. He criticises both dualism and materialism. The core idea is that the world’s existence is entirely dependent on the mind, that things don’t exist unless they are perceived and thought. His justification for one’s own existence seems to come from this perception, as Descartes’ came from thinking: “I do nevertheless know that I, who am a spirit or thinking substance, exist as certainly as I know my ideas exist”. Parmenides has a similar idea in his poem. I don’t think this was intended to be read too much into when it comes to Ratio, but I think it fits nicely with the other topics he has going on, and the dichotomy they often entail. It also works well with Ratio’s plaster head, with how he says “I don't have to set eyes on stupid people. Of course, they don't want to see me either”, with how he uses it to go unnoticed or unrecognised in both Herta’s Space Station and Penacony, and I think it could be overread or taken to more exaggerated levels in a juicy manner reading this under the notion of nothingness, mediocrity and being disregarded by Nous. 
One of the listed researched achievements of Ratio is in the field of epistemology. Epistemology is the field that studies knowledge. Although studied in particular at times, it is of course often linked to ontological conceptions; all the philosophical theories I’ve stated carry with them epistemological implications as well as ontological. In one of Ratio’s character stories there’s a mention to epistemic logic which is, speaking broadly, a logical approach to the analysis of knowledge. 
Another one of his listed achievements is in natural theology, which is the study of god through reason and logic instead of things such as transcendental experiences or revelations. This is very common in philosophy in general. It often has to do as well with the world as a harmonious whole, god as watchmaker/the universe as clockwork, and teleology. I will mention Newton and Darwin here because Newton is referenced in Ratio’s idle animation, and Darwin because he broke up with the teleological tradition when it came to the world. Ratio’s work is named Aeons: A Natural Phenomenon, and the title and its description, how its “Aeon non-theism”, makes it seem to me like he wrote of Aeons as if they were just another form of life or something that pertains to nature itself and not detached from it, which although very different from Darwin’s ideas did remind me of how he dismissed teleology in nature. This also clearly links, in my opinion, to Ruan Mei.
Other than that I also want to note Ratio’s final speech to Screwllum about inspiring doubt and scepticism when it comes to established ideas and geniuses. It reminded me of Socrates, how he was said to have “perverted” youth inspiring all that questioning among other things. It reminded me of Nietzsche, how he fervently encouraged individuals to use critical thinking, question dogmas and preconceived ideas they could have, and come up with their own conclusions that does not mean necessarily negating absolutely everything they held true before the questioning (this exchange between Screwllum and Ratio: “Screwllum:  «You wish to uproot the researchers' blind worship of geniuses».  Dr. Ratio: «I am only laying out my questions».”). It also pointedly reminded me of Kant's “Sapere aude!”, “Dare to know!”,  and his text What Is Enlightenment?, in which among other things Kant talks about the lack of courage, not of intellect, of people to think for themselves, how humanity lives in a constant immaturity or adolescence of the mind, and urges them to get out of that state, to dare to know. Kant was greatly influenced by rationalism but said to have awaken from the rationalist slumber thanks to empiricism; the plays on rationalism and empiricism, deduction and induction, and the presence of idealism in the rest of Ratio’s writing as well as this fervent push for people to snap out of their lack of criticism and dare to think for themselves are what made me think of Kant here.
There’s more things to talk about Ratio, like his view on mediocrity and geniuses, and how that view is constructed and described in traces through fragments in his lore, the character stories, snippets of conversations; how he seems to be so similar in character and drive to geniuses, but never accepted as one, and how he is regarded as very different and eccentric by “normal” people, even in the Guild. In short, how he is detached from both the “normal” people and geniuses, like suspended between both states without being either completely, and how it makes so much sense in this context that he tries to breach the rift between both. I couldn’t help but mention this, to avoid forgetting this aspect of his characterisation in the future, but I won’t dwell on this because it isn’t really directly linked to any philosophical influence that I can think of.
I think this is it. Hopefully I didn’t forget anything important. And I’m sorry it is so long, but I really tried to summarise. As I said, I may well be reading too much into some of these things, but I also think that since Ratio plays with many of the core authors and concepts in the history of western philosophy, some things I expect were not intended by the writers still are present somewhat, because mentioning this or that thing alongside this or that other thing ends up having implications if you know a bit of the context. 
I hope this was clear enough. However, I can try to explain myself better or further if I wasn’t. Philosophy may look unapproachable and dry at times at first, but it really isn't, it just needs one to get accustomed to some basic terminology, and it becomes fascinating and beautiful, and lifechanging haha. I would love it if Ratio is making people get a little bit more invested or interested in it, or open to explore it. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a good place to check the main ideas, texts and authors that may spike someone’s interest if anyone wants to read further about anything I've said or compare sources, but tbh I think even Wikipedia can be useful with getting a first feel of some basic ideas to know what to look for.  And although I am not an authority or the most trustworthy source at all, I will help as best as I can if someone reading this has any further question. I recommend reading the texts firsthand though, with historical context in mind and footnotes perhaps if possible, and making one's own mind about everything.
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nocturnowlette · 3 months
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I don't know if this has been said before, but Everywhere at the End of Time is one of the most interesting examples of mass suggestibility and psychological priming that I've ever seen.
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Some people seem to think that suggestions are only something that can be done with trance, but it's simply a core part of human communication. If you've ever gone into the comments of a youtube video that you liked and read a bunch of positive comments and left liking the video more after, you've been suggested.
If someone has ever anonymously insulted you and altered the way you saw yourself for a while, you've been suggested. If you've ever been a victim of losing "the game" or told your breathing is now manual, you've been suggested.
Suggesting someone is the mere act of summoning an idea in their mind that alters their behavior or perception. Even for a few particular series of hypnotic files, there seems to be intentional campaigns run to make them seem "dangerous" and "too effective" to plant the idea in the mind of anyone who listens to it.
In a weirdly similar sense, the buzz around Everywhere at the End of Time is essentially a self-sustaining feedback loop of suggestion. I am not saying that the album is not an experience or is without artistic merit or doesn't affect someone in any way, necessarily. However, I would be much more surprised if listening to repeated degrading loops of old music for 6 hours doesn't exhaust someone's brain.
The idea of it simulating dementia, however, is complete nonsense. I don't know where the idea started, but it seems to be in that perfect zone of "a little hard to believe, but easy to find 'proof' of as you listen". The moment someone finds themselves exahausted from hours of this album, find their brain challenged in a way it normally isn't, suddenly that seed of an idea planted in their head starts to sprout. And, as it continues and the concrete effects mix with the person's paranoia about the suggestion, it will eventually become as real as if it genuinely was. Over the course of 6 hours, at least.
And, once this "effect" was observed enough, it was given cultural legitimacy through personal testimony en masse and pseudoscientific "video essayists" trying to find these magical elements that simulate fuckin dementia. It's so fascinating to see happen in real time, and an interesting isolated example of how an idea can affect not just persons, but people.
Luckily for us, suggestions have a tendency to fade. Your breathing went back automatic again, after all.
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centaurianthropology · 10 months
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Ashton and Silence
One of the things that has fascinated me this campaign is how ready-built Ashton is to be a leader, but how Taliesin plays low charisma to constantly stop them from being one.  Ashton has great ideas, and tends to be one of the two most grounded members of the group.   He has excellent moral intelligence (far better than they’ll admit), and one-on-one Ashton excels at talking people down from their worst points.  
But they also are in constant pain, and they’ve spent their entire life being told that they’re worthless as anything other than a slab of muscle.  So they silence themselves.  And the more unfamiliar the environment or the more people around them, the more they clam up.
Last episode was one of the best examples I’ve seen yet.  Ashton was almost entirely silent this episode.  He admitted to hating camping, likely to do with the chronic pain, but also to do with the unfamiliar environment.  Ashton is a city barbarian through and through, and they thrive in cities.  They are far more confident in cities, even when they don’t know them as well as Jrusar or Bassuras.  But the wilderness?  On an unknown continent?  He’s already on the wrong foot.
And then they go to the village, and before they know it things are spiraling.  It turns out this place was a powderkeg waiting to blow, with two factions that are, at least from appearance, both highly suspect.  The Vasselheim faction are clearly outsiders come here to impose their culture on the locals, taking too much from their land, bleeding their farms dry for distant tribute, and recently sending more and more armed thugs and more religious oppression.  Add to that the Flameguide being clearly an asshole who won’t listen to reason (very classic lawful stupid paladin, and I agree with Emily, likely a Conquest Paladin, some of the worst to deal with), and the Dawnfather folks are clearly assholes who aren’t wanted there.
But though the townsfolk in general seem sympathetic and just want to live free and worship as they will, their charismatic leader also seems to be full-on with Ruby Vanguard ideology.  She wants to tear the gods down, mistaking gods who are behind a divine gate and can’t interact with humans without a great deal of faith, with the corrupt religious institutions that sprung up around them.  But at the same time she gives a distinct feeling of hating those institutions because she’s not them.  She flat-out said that she didn’t want to stop with the town.  She wanted her own elemental worship to take over the world.
It’s a great set-up, because the townsfolk just want to be free, so they’re throwing in their lot with someone who has grand and terrible ambitions.  It’s Ludinus writ small, and playing out on an intimate scale.
And the team wasn’t really given any choice.  Once they were exploring the options, they were already sort of stuck with the elementalists.  And they mostly just want to prevent casualties, but the people in charge of those potential casualties have no care for the people who could die.  They see only glory and their own faith.
Orym spoke up, because that’s what Orym does.  But Orym’s confidence has been shaken, and there was little to no way he was going to manage to sway two fanatics.  Denise sort-of spoke up, as did Laudna, both trying but both also failing.  Bor’Dor and Prism were both basically on the side of ‘let’s fuck up the gods, whoo!’ from the off, Bor’Dor because he doesn’t really know what’s going on, and Prism out of academic bitterness.  In another life, she would have been hard-core Rube Vanguard fairly easily.
And then there’s Ashton, silent in the back, deeply uncomfortable, surrounded by an elementalist group that feels a lot like a cult with a charismatic leader.  How much must he be associating this with the Hishari?  Does it have any connection?  Some remnant faction?  Are they fighting on the side of his nightmares?
But they say nothing.  They stay silent.  They are barely noticed, despite being a big rock person in an elemental-worshipping town.  People should be all over them in fascination, but they aren’t, because Ashton has practically vanished.  They needed to speak up.  They needed to stand with Orym to try to de-escalate things, but instead they are sneaking in the background.  Why?  Lack of confidence.  Self-loathing.  Fear.  This is where Asthon’s low charisma springs from: they will never trust themselves to do the right thing, to say the right words, to really step up and be counted.  So they hide, and things crumble.
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capriciouscapsss · 1 year
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What Disney Couple Do You and Your F/S Resemble? ☁︎
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BOOK A READING WITH ME 💞
today we're doing a section of my disney storyline pac reading!! it's a short vers. but ugh it absolutely warms my heart. if you guys want the full reading feel free to book a reading since i do offer this one completely catered to you and only you (along with being able to get ANY disney storyline I'm sobbing 😭😭); with that being said........LETS GET STARTED 💞💞
we have four piles; intuitively choose what pile you're most drawn to.
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now let's go ahead and start ♡
pile i. pink yummy dessert
[j&a, KoW, the lovers, the world, 3oW, 8oS, D.W, B.]
my pretty pile ones you all got Aladdin as your disney couple ♡ when watching the movie everything feels and look intense, like you're in there and not watching it through a screen. the romance between you and your f/s feels real. ever lie to yourself about how strong a connection was? like "omg he and I are soulmates I know it" type of stuff? yeah with this person you don't know it, you feel it. it feels real. Aladdin plays on illusion a lot, Aladdin himself lies to Jasmine about his status to make her give him a chance, but if there's one thing that was never faked it was the connection. the love between Aladdin and Jasmine. you two are the same, this connection can't be faked it's the real deal. elements of the couple that could mix into you and your f/s could be your f/s pursuing you with the same determination that Aladdin did with Jasmine. seeing you from afar and having to have you. meeting you, not even knowing your name but wanting it all. the world could also work in funny ways in your story like it did in Aladdin. meeting by fate. the universe working with your f/s to get them what they want. you two are going to meet and want to share view points and share your stories of how you collectively got to that point in your life. their going to want to show you what they know, all they know, and you're going to accept with open arms.
also make sure that if you got nothing else from this reading you get this at least; you two are very different. like from completely different worlds. this could point to cultural differences, economic differences ect. but bottomline is you two are on unequal footing in some way.
pile ii. girl walking along the water
[h&m, the devil, 5oW, 5oC, m.o.c, p.t.t.r.u.a, l.i.h.j)
why is that my sad pile always have a hot f/s? stop it fr 😭 my dear pile two, you and your f/s most resemble Hercules and Megan!! not only does this tell me that your f/s is a certified hot dreamy masterpiece BUT I can also see that you and your spouse are definitely into each other sexually a lot more than my other piles. your f/s is a sucker for the sad people of the world ngl they just want to fix and help everyone. pile 2, something important in about you and your f/s would be that you, like Megan, will be going through a hard time when you meet. something toxic will be reigning over your life (this could be a friend, relative, partner ect) and this person will see that.they're obvs, in true Hercules fashion, going to want to even protect you from it at times if need be. if any of you have ever seen this movie you'd know that Megan betrays Hercules and honestly I'm kinda seeing it here as well. the conflict of the story seems to be the same. someone feeling betrayed. "you said you were with me" type of vibe. you don't like that they help everyone. in fact it might even be that you never wanted or asked for their help! it irks you at first. and this is going to sound so bad but you might want to get to know them at first only for their looks 😭 or because you have something to gain from it. with time though, even though people DO NOT want you together, you will come to fall in love with their sensitivity and their good nature. not everyone has an angle, or is mean, and not everyone is the same, and you will come to realize this with your person. cute ♡
pile iii. hand in neon pink water
[t&n, KNoP, 2oC, QoC, the fool, i.h.u.w.i.l.u, i.p.u.f, r.]
pile 3 how lucky u are 😭 in this pile we got Tiana and Naveen as your disney counterpart!! not only can we infer then that your f/s is as easy going as prince naveen but we also got the royalty oracle card which means that they're royalty that they're certainly as influential as he is. dear pile 3 you know what love is. you've seen it, you've heard about it, you've read about it. you know HOW to love. patient, loving, kind, that is you. you've begun to live in your divine feminine energy. you have no time for others! you focus on yourself, love yourself, put yourself first. your f/s is a fool - wait no sorry the fool as in metaphorically they take after these traits strongly. they're eager to try new things, they keep their mind open to opportunities and always looks for LIFE. they're alive, they want to make sure other people take advantage of it (their words not mine 😭) lmao they're a bit full of themselves. the candle of everyone's eye etc. honestly you might not even know if you love them or are annoyed by them half them time. or so you tell yourself. true love lies tried and true here. this love is gradual and it takes time and effort but once you tw begin to explore each other's personalities we see love that is hard to undo. you don't come back from this. two people become one. they chase one goal. they chase a future. they promise you forever. you know you love them because you couldn't imagine it differently. true true love.
pile iv. girl brushing her hair
[c&p, the lovers, 4oW, 2oW, KoW, F., u.l. r (b), f.l (g)]
LISTEN!! this is my mushy lovey dovey pile 😭 the cards we got?? fantastic?? the oracle cards?? amazing. the pairing?? in my top 3. DO I NEED TO SAY MORE?? pile four, you all got cinderella and prince charming as the couple you two resemble. and before you throw a shoe at me let me just say that 1. I love the first cinderella movie and 2. that being said I will always pick the third one over the first one. and so that's the one I'll be focusing on for now :) because we all know that both of them weren't all there in the first movie 😵‍💫 now to start off with your f/s and yourself. if there's a pinnacle of love in this world you two have reached it with your connection. this is TRUE LOVE. like ultimate love. the world has blessed you pile four. marriage, no - union is inevitable here. you two are from very different worlds. if there are levels to this you two could be on opposite sides. but that's just what makes it all the more crazy when you meet. how, you might ask yourself later when everything happens, did I meet this person when our lives are completely different?? but the answer would simply then be that it was meant to be. how did cinderella always find her prince? fate. destiny. how did they just know with a simple touch that they were the "one" for each other? fate. destiny. it ties in for you and your f/s just as much as it did for them. pile four you might think at first that this isn't meant to be, that this is unrequited, that you and your person could never function together and be ONE but time will tell you eventually that you got it all wrong. you might even reject them at first too 😭 remember cinderella running from the prince when the clock struck 12? yeah, she was fleeing because of time but you're going to be fleeing because you're scared. scared of the connection. this might be the first time you really fall in love pile four. let them in when they come knocking on your door. as the old saying goes "if the shoe fits, wear it." sending you love.
was a little sleepy so hope this post makes sense 😭 but yeah, that was all for today 💞 I hope you have an amazing day and hope maybe a tad little more that it resonated. blessings xx
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shintoinenglish · 1 month
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Review: The Essence of Shinto
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I have written before of Yamakage's authorship of multiple antisemitic conspiracy theory books. That said, given that there are not a lot of English language books about Shintō, I find this book is often recommended. It should not be recommended to anyone, not just because of the authorship, but for its misinformation. There is very little actual information that can be salvaged from this trainwreck of a book.
Koshintō is not an ancient practice - it's a new religious movement; an attempt to imagine an ancient Shintō, which is, in my opinion, inherently paradoxical, as the concept of Shintō as the name of a religion (and indeed the concept of a religion itself) were consciously constructed as recently as the Meiji Era, which is the 19th century. The archaeological and historical truth is that we do not know what Yayoi or Jomon period peoples believed, and Shintō is likely very distinct from that, and that is okay. While I understand the impulse to try to reconstruct Yayoi or Jomon era religions, I find the impulse to remove foreign elements like Buddhism to contain elements of xenophobia, and have found the idea of Shintō as truly ancient to be misleading at best. We do not actually have an ancient practice handed down to us. Japanese religious practice, first, is diverse -- regions do things differently. Kyushu area graves, for example, bear continental Chinese influence and have 土神 enshrined at their sides. Secondly, while I do think there is a necessity to undo the damage that State Shintō has done, it is not helpful to do so in a way that, at best, ignores and at worst, contradicts history.
Secondly, Yamakage Shintō is barely attested outside of Motohisa's writings. Many of the practices allegedly specific to Yamakage Shintō are common Japanese New Age theories, along with some condescension of traditional practices. One way to recognize this is his repeated use of the word "spiritual" (which presumably was either written スピリチュアル in the original text). It's ironic, then, that he puts down "bizarre cults and sects" (p.13). The aforementioned paragraph should explain why I am so skeptical of the Yamakage school when there is no such thing as ancient Shintō by definition.
Crucially, there is some dangerous and typical New Age medical misinformation here. He claims that certain chants or practices can heal different physical and mental health symptoms, which is not something anyone should say, much less someone who claims to be a religious teacher. This is a sidenote, but I am hoping that Paul de Leeuw did not absorb any of this, but am concerned as he trained under Yamakage.
Yamakage states "...Shinto leaders have been at the forefront of campaigns to restore the forests..." As much as Westerners want Shintō to be the Green Religion that saves the world, I've had very little luck actually encountering any shrine websites or articles that back this up, outside of the traditional practices of keeping very small sacred forests known as chinju no mori. If anything, the opposite has been documented. See Sacred Forests, Sacred Nation for more on this subject. I would be open to correction on this, but Yamakage provides no sources whatsoever; in fact, he provides no sources throughout his book for any of his factual or historical claims. Presenting the Showa Emperor as a source does nothing but reinforce fascist rhetoric about the emperor being the religious head, as he was at the time of State Shinto, and likely says more about his personal convictions than his religious ones. There is something eerily dystopian and fascistic in Yamakage's description of the people cheerily following the Showa Emperor's example.
I have noticed a tendency in some Japanese people to do what I think of as self-orientalism; an exoticization of your own body and culture to appeal to whites. It seems to me that Yamakage is doing such a thing, while simultaneously appealing to Japanese nationalistic sympathies, by saying it is an ancient, mysterious religion untainted by materialism. Demonizing materialism, in fact, goes against the actual practice of most Japanese -- many, many businesses regularly pray for prosperity and dedicate lamps to shrines, or will get ritual decorations for prosperity known as kumade during the November Tori-no-Ichi festival.
"Ajimarikan" is a chant that is, at best, shoddily derived from Buddhism, as is his use of mudra hand gestures. At worst, he completely fabricated this chant and doesn't even attempt to provide a meaning for this phrase. The Five Great Vowels Chant and the Heavenly Counting Chant are both chants that do not exist outside of this book.
Yamakage Motohisa also repeatedly uses Okinawan/Ryūkyūan religion as examples as if it is a part of Shintō, which it most decidedly is not. There was forced assimilation because of colonization, to my understanding, but the practice is entirely different from Shintō.
This is kind of a briefer overview than I originally intended, but I hope this provides some information on why I dislike Yamakage and this book so much. My hope is that he stops being recommended as any sort of resource and a better one is translated soon.
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gffa · 9 months
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I know this has been talked about many times before, but I still don't know what we are supposed to think of Padmé's actions when she comforts Anakin after he confesses to murder in cold blood. He feels guilty and all, but he continues his shitty behavior even before he became Darth Vader, and then does it again. It's just hard for me to see Padmé as some sort of saint in that scene. And are we even supposed to see it that way anyway? There's no official answer, which makes it all the more mind boggling to me. When people say she forgave and did the right thing, it's seems unjustified because he still did it, he regretted it, but he also said "I hate them". Idk I'm sorry if this is too long. I just have a lot of thoughts on this scene.
Hi! For me, I've settled into a balance between "there's no hard narrative intention here, so I just have to let it go" and "here's my best guess at a look into what little has been said about her" and "here's what makes sense to me as someone speculating about her character on my own". I think it comes down to two things: 1) Natalie Portman's comment about how Padme thinks she can save Anakin as a motivation for her character and 2) that as complicated as it can be in some ways, the Tuskens were written in an extremely racist way, especially in that their deaths do not register with Lucas the same way other races/cultures would. Which means that while this should be a point-of-no-return moment for Anakin's character, while it should be recognize that he's murdering children here (and I do think that's meant to have weight, that the dialogue specifies he knows he's killing innocent lives), I don't think the narrative fully does so, and instead treats it as his "first step" onto the path of darkness, one that he can come back from. And I do think a lot of that comes from Lucas, much as I applaud him for being progressive in other ways and genuinely seems like someone who was trying to do better, does portray real world elements in a racist way in the movie, they're treated as less than human here. (I will say that Padme also is willing to take Anakin back even after he murders the Jedi younglings, so there's a little wiggle room here, in the way she reacts, but the racism is pretty undeniable and a big motivation here.) But because the narrative and the author don't treat his murder of the Tuskens as a point of no return, Padme can't treat his murder of them as a point of no return, so instead her reactions are based on the idea that, yes, this was bad, but it was something that still left good in him and she's trying to reach out to that good, she's trying to save him. As much fun as it is to examine these characters from a more realistic lens, so much of Star Wars makes a lot more sense when you consider what Lucas was going for on a thematic level--in a lot of ways, Padme isn't written for herself, she's written as a baromter of where Anakin is at. When she comforts him, it's because we're meant to see Anakin in a place of emotional turmoil. When she backs away from him on Mustafar, we're meant to see him as having crossed a line, unwilling to come back. When she says, "There's still good in him." on Polis Massa, we're meant to understand there's a glimmer of hope for the far-off future. I don't think it's really about Padme's character at all, I think she's written--as SO MANY of the elements of Star Wars are--to be an extension of Anakin's character, because the story of Star Wars is the story of Anakin Skywalker. I love love love some of the excellent meta that examines these scenes through the lens of what Padme is thinking and feeling and what her character arc is about. And I may be being uncharitable to the writing for her, but it's largely where I've settled just so I can stop itching over it. For me, I don't think Padme was "right" or "wrong" on Tatooine, I don't think we're meant to see Padme as any kind of saint. I think she's balanced between "Padme thinks she can save Anakin, but ultimately she cannot, Anakin has to be the one to choose to come back himself" and "Padme is basically a symbolic dark side meter, as so many of the characters in SW are symbolic of various aspects of Anakin".
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transmutationisms · 7 months
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i just read Against Exercise. i wanted to ask what you make of this sentence and the wider paradigm he gestures at occasionally in the essay:
Upon the desperate materialist gratifications of a hedonic society, commanding immediate comfort and happiness, we engraft the desperate economics of health, and chase a longer span of happinesses deferred, and comforts delayed, by disposing of the better portion of our lives in life preservation.
do we live in a ‘hedonic’ society? and does that framing shape his conclusions on in ur opinion? i have my own thoughts but am interested in yours x
ok i'm glad you asked because i find this sentence and this paradigm very irritating lol. i don't think he's the only left-ish thinker who's acceded to this type of framing (like i've complained about mark fisher pulling a similar move) but with greif there's a particular irksomeness to it because, even in the sentence you've quoted, we can see in the latter half how he contradicts his own idea of a "hedonic society"! if his thesis here is something like "the dominant cultural paradigm encourages instant gratification and hedonism, and the exerciser defies this edict by deferring their happiness and sweating it out at the gym instead" then, like, the obvious question here is, where does the impulse of the exerciser come from? does greif actually think the pursuit of fitness and longevity by physical exertion is some kind of counter-cultural move that reacts against, without acceding to, the demands of a "hedonic society"? if he does then it kind of undercuts the significance of the entire rest of the essay, lmao.
my personal answer here would be—and this is something greif dances around a few times but doesn't ever seem prepared to fully unpack—that the demand to have a fit and 'healthy' and long-lasting body is not at all contradictory to the demand to consume goods, and that this latter is more precisely what is meant by "hedonism" here if we are to use it in any useful sense. i think what greif is actually pointing to is the demand to shape oneself into, simultaneously, a valuable worker and an obedient consumer. in an immediate sense these two goals demand different things (say, 'going for a run' vs 'buying products') but on a more thorough analysis we can easily see how they arise from the same fundamental logic of profit-seeking. body fascism has never been just an aesthetic; what it promises to the state and the corporation is a population that is biologically managed and economically exploitable. i think this is true even in an imperialist economy like the united states that doesn't run primarily on production/export.
i don't know a ton about mark greif biographically but my impression is that he's kind of half-left at best, lol. certainly he's like, curmudgeonly in a way that is sometimes useful to mine (ruthless criticism of all that exists, &c) but i think in this essay and others we can clearly see how easily that attitude can slide into just a vaguely reactionary position when it lacks materialist analysis. like, frankly i think if we lived in a social context that actually had a commitment to ensuring hedonic pleasure that would probably be a better world. it's kind of similar to when lib-left types try to claim that we live in a world that has any serious degree of commitment to "the individual" when what they actually, usually mean is that we've been massified in a way that denies us social connection and material support from one another.
anyway: 'against exercise' was very mind-blowing to me when i first read it and i love to see someone staking out that position seriously; and there are elements of greif's analysis i think can be useful in an actually communist analysis. but i find a lot of cultural criticism (specifically that positions itself as counter-cultural without being explicitly communist) has a risk of just sliding reactionary, and i think this half-baked idea of a "hedonic society" is an example of that happening. curious what you think though!
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