#internal problems

[communistkenobi]

This is moreover complicated by the fact that the [South African] apartheid state did not acknowledge itself as engaged in a war. The apartheid state in the late 1970s saw itself as engaged in a ‘total onslaught’, preferring to refer to its ‘enemy’ as terrorists rather than declaring an outright war. According to Cock and Nathan, the choice for the apartheid state to define the conflict as unrest or terrorism as opposed to war implied that liberation movement fighters were denied the prisoner of war status granted by the Geneva Protocols to those engaged in war against colonial powers.

— Women combatants and the liberation movements in South Africa (2015) by Siphokazi Magadla

its refreshing to see this so plainly laid out in writing. a terrorist is just someone the state has decided has no rights

[chronicsymptomsyndrome]

sometimes when chronically ill/disabled/neurodivergent people say “I can’t do this thing” they really mean “I can technically do this thing I guess, but not without pretty significant repercussions” and I really need more fully-abled people to understand the validity of that

[applestorms]

(tw for extensive discussions of dubiously consensual sexual situations, typical to canon. also spoilers for the decay route update)

honestly, one of the most interesting aspects of andrew's psyche that we get to see in the most recent decay route update to me is his nearly unending hesitancy about having sex with ashley, despite both his overwhelming desire to AND her incredibly blasé, Yeah Sure Let's Do It attitude in response to the question.

while the end of the burial route provides some key insight into ashley's point of view regarding this topic (e.g. if you go with the less enthusiastic/more teasing answer to andrew's question of "we're not like that, right? right??"), and the shots & such ending provides even more intrigue into her motivations, i think that decay presents two key reasons as to why andrew has continued to hold back for so long: his two core conflicting desires, and an inability to see ashley as her own full person. notably, both of these parts can easily be connected to his mother's childhood abuse and parentification of him as well.

with regards to the first point: andrew has two main overwhelming desires at the heart of his character that motivate most of his actions, which unfortunately for him are completely incompatible. andrew wants:

to be a normal, average person-- someone who can hold a steady, respectable job, fit in at the block party BBQs, and not attract any negative attention from the neighbors.

to fuck his sister.

to some degree, you could even read the distinction between the two main routes themselves (burial and decay) to be motivated by whether or not andrew can diffuse the tension between these two wants-- in burial, he gives up on his need to fit in with the rest of respectable society, presumably pushing him more towards the fucking-his-sister route; in decay, he struggles significantly to let go of this desire for normalcy, and the stress almost always breaks him. notably, in neither of these routes can he fully give up on the second desire-- really, his relationship with julia and the rest of his life up til the point that ep1 begins has been about him trying and failing to do so, so this makes sense.

(sidenote: i would also like to clarify that i think the Most key distinction between these two routes comes down to the decision you actually have to make to get one or the other-- namely, whether or not the siblings are able to trust one another. but anyways)

this focus on the first desire for normalcy is also interesting in that it seems to be one of the core desires that renee holds as well, as we see her so happily boast about during their interactions in ep2. honestly i could probably write a whole post about how much andrew (consciously or, more often, not) mimics his mother's behavior and takes on her standards and ideals, but the key point to pay attention to here is the fact that andrew has subsumed his mother's viewpoint in such a way that he is either not fully aware of or simply hasn't questioned in all that much depth yet.

we can also see this with the aforementioned parentifiication, which has really interesting consequences on how much andrew does (not) see ashley as her own autonomous person. pretty much every single childhood flashback we get in 3a shows the same terrible cycle:

andrew is told by renee that ashley is His responsibility -> ashley causes problems on purpose -> andrew takes the fall for her

frankly, we don't even really need that first step for andrew to fully internalize the idea that ashley's actions are His to take responsibility for. the horrible consequences of this are also quite obvious: not only is this pressure to take responsibility for someone else's actions an incredibly unfair burden to put on anyone, much less a kid, but it also continually pushes andrew to see ashley as something less than human, or as little more than an extension of himself rather than her own person.

the main conflict in decay really comes down to this conflicting desire between the two of them, where what both andrew and ashley want above all else is Complete and Utter control over the other-- andrew wanting control because he has again been groomed to see ashley as his full responsibility, and ashley wanting control to assuage her own insecurities and fears about being isolated and hated forever. the more sympathetic throughline underlying a lot of this is that what both of them seem to want is safety, to protect both themselves and each other from any and all situations outside of their control-- though, unfortunately, a lot of times those exact external situations are simply the other acting on this mirrored desire for control lol.

anyways, going back to the sex thing-- since andrew doesn't see ashley as her own person, since he sees her as incapable of taking responsibility for her own actions and therefore as someone who cannot make decisions for herself, due in large part to him automatically transferring this burden to himself, andrew also sees ashley's consent as essentially meaningless.

the more sympathetic reading here is that andrew does genuinely want ashley to be at least kinda into it as more than a manipulation tactic/transactional thing-- but i think it's also equally likely that andrew simply doesn't want to have to once again shoulder the full burden of Committing Incest on his own, and he doesn't trust ashley to ever be even capable of taking the fall for her own actions. the fact that andrew still ultimately sees ashley as Leyley and NEVER as Ashley Proper (as he himself recognizes at one point) really just reinforces this to me. he says it himself-- he practically raised this woman. and in this case, even above all others, ashley's actions are quite literally also his own. it all goes back to that initial mistrust, and he carries that resentment with him even after they get around to actually doing it. mutually dubious consent, truly in-fucking-deed.

[batryz]

@solangeloweek — reverse tropes (6/25)

(the sun burns out) (but) (the star will always be waiting)

Pushed out a small comic in a few hours to contribute!

Not sure if it fits the theme but the comic is basically a reverse on the 3 day in the infirmary trope. (unique to them ofc!)

Read right to left!!!

[erzfreu]

hello all! after a long time and several trials and tribulations i've decided on making the high-res png of this piece free. you can get it here. grateful for any tips though <3

[outtamynoggin]

It's crazy what he gets away with (and who the ones letting him get away with it are)

Bruce: What Nightwing did might have been... unconventional, but it worked.

Tim: Exactly. I mean, sure, the plan might have involved hacking into Gotham’s power grid, a few strategic distractions, and, uh, some minor illegal surveillance-

Barbara: MINOR? DISTRUBANCES??

Tim: Okay, fine! The plan also had a teensy bit of hacking into the stock market, manipulating a few politicians, and borrowing a couple confidential documents, but nobody was harmed!

Bruce: ...In the strictest sense.

Tim: Yes! See, it's a win-win solution!

Barbara: *furious* You two are insane. You’re treating morally ambiguous like it’s a fun new hobby. He practically engineered an escape from a high-security prison by tricking the entire staff into thinking it was game night. In addition, he orchestrated a city-wide blackout just to steal classified documents, and you’re calling it genius?

Bruce: Very resourceful.

Tim: I mean... it’s not his fault they didn’t know how to play Dungeons & Dragons. Also, I want to see who else could pull off a high-profile heist while simultaneously launching a PR campaign for a new tech startup!

Bruce: *to Tim* Wayne Enterprise's tech gadgets cleared the shelves, we need to speed up production.

Tim: Already on it.

Barbara: You’re defending this? That’s not genius, that’s a psychotic breakdown wrapped in a cape! It's madness layered up in a three-piece suit!

Bruce and Tim: It’s Dick.

Barbara: I swear, if it was anyone else, you’d be throwing them in a cell for years.

Bruce and Tim: It’s Nightwing. He has plausible deniability.

Barbara: Plausible? I think he has a whole separate universe of deniability!

[wildgeese98]

You know how people say they're their favorite character's defense attorney? Well I'm the state prosecutor trying to convict Gwen Bouchard. Of what? No one is sure. I'm up there making long winded statements to the jury about everything she's done. I'm calling up witnesses, I'm cross examining, I'm interviewing experts, trying to get to the bottom of what exactly her deal is. Despite no one knowing what the charges are I'm arguing to the judge for her to be sentenced to 1000 years in my mind prison where I will be poking and prodding and conducting experiments on her. The judge is close to holding me in contempt of court. I should probably be disbarred from being a blorbo attorney.

[wordpress-blaze-174017029]

I Can and I Will

Source: I Can and I Will

[bizarrelittlemew]

calling it right now that season 3 starts like this

[sunlit-mess]

it's not even half the percentage

[septemberlikeastorm]

qimir/the stranger: before i train you in the ways of the Dark Side, you have to sign your internship contract. for insurance purposes

osha: it says you're not liable in the event of injury, death, dismemberment, or *squints* true love

qimir:

osha: it also says workplace relationships are not just allowed but Strongly Encouraged

qimir:

osha: finally it notes that while 401(k) matching is not offered, you CAN match my freak

qimir: osha: qimir: osha: qimir: it also says there's free bagels on tuesdays

[deancity]

dean's issue is commitment not sexuality. that's not to say that those things don't intersect bc they 100% do, BUT we are talking about dean, king of denying himself what he wants, winchester. this man knows he's attracted to other men and doesn't have much of a problem with that in itself. his issue is the fact that that attraction is fun to act on but can never lead anywhere. guys can fool around together but they can't settle down together type mentality. and that's not an issue for him bc he can't settle down with anyone anyway. he's a hunter and hunters don't do that so no need to think about it too hard. he knows he's into guys and he knows he'll never have one for more than one night and that's the end of it.

[soop-jpg]

cissie + the people who feel some kinda way about her being arrowette + the fear of being pressured to fit a part youve outgrown

[pr3tty-when-1-cry]

[utilitycaster]

since Fiedra was last seen in Stilben it is not out of the question that she is the founder of the organized crime syndicates and thieves' guilds of Tal'Dorei that eventually became the Clasp which makes the fact that Crokas founded the Cobalt Soul very funny.

[melandrops]

hollywood could never top the casual but meaningful representation that horror fiction podcasts have

[bpdetrimental]

People pleaser but in the way that I shut up and can’t say what I need to in fear of rejection.