#no criticism can negate what good it has done for me

[tmmyhug]

ok here is a disjointed jumble of thoughts. it’s taken me a couple days to come to terms with the situation. but i will no longer be supporting wilbur. besides the numerous obvious hints shelby dropped, if it wasn’t him, she would have said something by now to prevent false accusations. believing it was wilbur is not baseless speculation as much as it is critical thinking about what shelby could and couldn’t say.

it’s not like i really watched him anymore in the first place so not much will change here. it still hurts a lot. i wish i could feel angry. instead im just incredibly sad. for shelby, for other abuse victims who thought they could trust him, for all of his fans who looked up to him.

remember that there is no way we could have known. anyone who says they would have/could tell has a moral superiority complex. there is no secret code to identifying who is a good vs bad person because there is no such thing as a solely “good” or “bad” person. we saw wilbur do lots of good things over the last few years. that’s we why we trusted him. that doesn’t negate the bad things he has also done.

tommy and phil’s reactions remain to be seen. if they do anything. i will probably still reblog fanart but it’ll be focused on smp characters and not ccs.

i also want to say: please don’t let this man ruin dsmp for you. the characters and story, especially from early on, are hugely important to people and if we have to rip them from the creators’ dead hands so be it. forget the authors. we made the fandom. we enabled the story. we made it good. our creativity, our passion, our love and excitement and joy were and are the core of what makes dsmp good. nothing can change that.

[reneethekraken]

What a Doll

Being an office rep at the Revision of Hero Society comes with costs, talking to everyone and trying to not make an enemy out of the wrong ones. Somehow this means becoming business partners/ Frenemies/Pining lovers with Backugou and Kirishima. Though, Gangsters, they know everything about their community and these people are still people, and it's your job to help them. Being so young and running for office means being bullied by the older members of the Pro Hero society and eventually being pushed to the company, laying her off and leaving her alone with her thoughts. Shutting everyone out for weeks before finally leaving to party with Mina for a bit and when she sees Bakugou in the bar she dashes leaving her purse and keys on the bar counter. And of course, seeing her he follows her taking her keys with him.

WARNINGS: Angst, emotional, Bakugou doesn't realize how mean he is because Kirishima likes it, Reader is soft asf, Bakugou is definitely still an asshole. Blank blogs and ageless blogs DNI

PAIRING: Bakugou x reader, suggestive kiribaku x reader

WORD COUNT: 1.5k 

A/n: constructive criticism is always appreciated

This is ridiculous. I couldn't think of a sillier way to go home than this one. Walking slower than my thoughts so I can keep up with myself and not throw my eyes over my left shoulder. My feet are sore from the jacked up heels, my blouse is too wet from my urgency to have a good time and my pants are too thin as the wind blows around me on this street. All while my car slowly rides to the left of me.

He's mocking me, he has to be

He mocked my choices trying to tell me that he's already won. I don't know what to say because the thought of speaking to him brings tears to my eyes and my throat gets so tight I want to die.

I’ll never be prepared.

I'll never be able to stand up to them. Even on the days, everyone thinks I have them right where I want them, a board full of pieces that I've already accounted for. They'll never understand that the two of them are the ones who drew up the board. It's greedy, to have someone who shares similar ideas as me yet degrades my every move

“That was a selfish decision. You would have done better writing up your damn think pieces and putting them in a burn book instead of slathering your name all over an unfinished piece that makes you look like a lousy piece of uptown nobility. I don't live here but you all are making a ruckus and it makes me feel bad that I get to sit in my highrise and even look at ya.”

“If I was on the board you would have been put out the commission a long time ago, fixing my city yet telling me how’re gonna take my job, drink my coffee, and fuck my wife all before noon.” 

That's a sick way to live, miss board member, good plan. Even better spokesperson. The Daughter of mass Mutiny comes from the 3rd and last gang in the U.S. and yet she sits here in the Commissioner's office thinkin’ she's better than me. That title doesn't negate that if I wanted you and your bright ideas I'd take I’d still side with the very office that's shooting down every punch you make. And when you're beaten down thinking there's nothing else you could do, I’d give you my hand and let you realize there's nothing ever you'd be able to do in my city without my okay.

“You're lucky he sees something in you otherwise we wouldn't be friends, Doll.” 

Always had that same condescending tone as he called me about whatever decision I publicly made. Most of them were good ones; he was literally just a hater. 

“Did good out there today Doll, real good. Eiji and I are real proud of the progress ya making in sectors 7-9 keep that up and maybe I won’t have to berate ya every other day. Don't get too comfortable though Yakato is speaking wi-”

On the rare days I did get a good call he always managed to put his stamp on it. And sometimes even when he talked down on me I sat there and took it with wet panties and bated breath ready to hear him be soft with me again right before he stamped it.

Friends?!? Friends, I wouldn't even bat an eye if he choked tomorrow! In fact, I would be the first in line!  Until he knew exactly what it felt like to have his entire life's work spit on and shredded because of it being work of public relations community service logs. He's greedy and he won’t have me, because that's all it’ll take for him to win. Presenting me to his partner like a Christmas present. Popping champagne while I sit there naked and waiting for orders like all the other sick fucks that follow behind them as they need them.

I don't need them. But I do need him to get the hell out of my car. Maybe that's why I put my pride aside, I tried not to let my tears show and my anger release through my words.

Teeth clenching and eyes lowered into the passenger window, “What do you want Bakugou, why the hell are you following me late at night? You know stalking is a crime, correct?”

“It is if there's proof and your life is endangered. It could be from someone else looking to have a lucky night with a lady walking on the side of the road at 2 am looking like a call girl.” He smiled, put the car in park, and opened his door slowly. Standing over the side of the vehicle like he wanted more, needed it. “Nobodies seen ya in 3 weeks. We all thought that Having to step down from the board made ya yoke. I was hoping it had not.” He said the last part softer but that boyish grin never left.

“ It’s temporary.”

“What?”

“My decision to step down from the board is temporary and if it runs till November I’ll resign and apply again.” I was closer now to the passenger side. I wanted to show him that he didn't own me and that he didn't scare me.

“Always the fighter. Did you not have time to come see us before ya left?”

“I came because Mina said I could have a good time, I left because I was ready to go.” He sucked his teeth hearing my quick retort.

“You're hurting my feelings, thought we were friends?” He slowly rounded the car, stopping in front of the hood to play with the radiator grill.

“YOU and Kirishima are not my friends, were business partners who come together to correct hero society on blue moons-

“Then I’d say we've had more blue moons than the smurfs”

“I'm trying to be serious and professional and you're making it hard for me.”He was in front of me now and I couldn't help but look past his neck. I wasn't strong. I let the media get the best of me and the hero community. I let Bakugou and Kirishima’s backhanded compliments and weird pinning throw me off my game and accept my resignation, no temporary relief of position. He was too close, his collared button down hiding the swirly black ink of his gang insignia. The ring holder chain held a ring with opal on it. I wondered what my ring would look like next to Kirishima's

 “I don't need you rubbing my failures- I lost and because of me the city and its people will be without someone advocating for them, all of them. Someone who cares about them. WHO WANT THE BEST FOR EVERYONE EVEN IF IT MEANS DISMANTLING THE VERY SAME SYSTEM THAT KEEPS THEM SAFE BECAUSE IT ALSO KEEPS OTHERS IN SITUATIONS THAT LEAVE THEM WITHOUT.

The Tears fell and I was finally looking at him. He wasn't smiling anymore. I pushed his chest, again and again, and again. “And you were nowhere to be found, NEITHER OF YOU AND I

 CALLED AND PLEADED AND CALLED AGAIN AND MY SO-CALLED FRIENDS WERE NOWHERE TO BE FOUND.”

He grabbed my arms and pinned them to my side as I cried, into his shirt, into his skin, holding onto the very fabric that held the man that I swear I hated “I know and I’m sorry. Some things were more important at that moment–”

With a croaky voice and a tighter grip, I asked what I always wanted, always needed, needed to know from him.“Am I not enough? Am I not important enough to come to the rescue? Are my problems not satisfactory on your list of important shit that needs to be tended to. What about my feelings?” He hugged me tight and sighed into my hair. “ You won ya know.”

“I didn't wanna win, I wanted to make you work hard, I promise I just wanted to prepare you for what was out there. If I coulda I woulda been on the first flight back to help but I couldn't and were sorry, Doll. Eiji is waiting for us at the house. You want me to drop you home or do you want to stay the night at ours because I swear–”

“I wanna see him too, I’m tired of this runaround. Are we friends, are we enemies, our business partners on the occasion when both sides of the coin retire us to some janky place to drink scotch? Are we pining after each other? I Don't know what we are or how we're gonna make,” I point to the space in between us, “work but I’d like to see where it goes just lessen up all that damn bark. I’m sensitive.”

He pecked the top of my head and opened the passenger door for me. Jogging over to the other side. He threw on some random radio station and put the car in drive.

 “Okay.” 

Please please reblog if you like it so I can get feedback, and find things others like to read so I produce more content! 🥰

[nikethestatue]

My pet peeve is when people say 'character X has never done anything wrong, ever'. (Insert Gwyn, Feyre, Mor, Lucien as the usual suspects)

And to me...it's not a compliment?

If a character's never done anything wrong, ever, then what is their depth? what is interesting about them? Either they are poorly written, because the author didn't think to give them dimension or traits that might be questionable, OR you read them through such rose-coloured glasses that you aren't being objective or critical.

Yeah, you can love them, but not acknowledging that characters are imperfect, that they've made bad decisions and done bad deeds doesn't necessarily negate their appeal. But arguing with others that 'no, they ARE perfect' is just silly. Trying to convince others that, I don't know, Lucien and Mor are without fault and everything they've done could be excused and every action of theirs is perfect, is kind of absurd and not serious at all. That somehow they deserve better and more than other characters because of their perceived 'goodness' is also ridiculous.

I'd say: fear perfect characters! They are either going to turn out pretty bad, will be forgotten or will be killed off.

[ca-suffit]

I don't get why some people refuse to accept that Louis was abused. Him having been a victim to Lestat doesn't negate his grief. He's clearly still grieving Claudia, and from what we can tell of S2, we WILL see that too. No one is saying he's a saint either - he did fail Claudia. Him being a victim doesn't overshadow his grief or make him a saint.

And as you said, this isn't just some cheap story of abuse for shock value either. I wrote a whole wall of text about the complexities and layers of the abuse here but that would have been too long of an ask ajdhwj. Basically, there's the race aspect (which converses with the other aspects), there's that Louis couldn't leave him for many, many reasons, there's the emotional aspect, there's the power aspect (in more than one way)... I'm probably missing something, but this is very good portrayal of abuse and also something that happens irl.

This is also something that loustat will have to touch on in the future and will make for a very interesting story (again, as you said).

His arc is different in the book because the show has a different version of Louis with added struggles that book Louis didn't have (mostly due to his race and era, but also the dynamic that is shown with him and Lestat, if I remember the book correctly - partly also due to the former). Grief is still a part of his story, though.

Sorry for the long ask, it's just that reading that really made me go "??"

thank u for all of this!! I am not ignoring all u wrote but I wanted to elaborate on one point specifically tho and it's gonna be long. thank u for everything u wrote in full tho, I appreciate it. "I don't get why some people refuse to accept that Louis was abused."

they did it when he was white. it's because he's black now and lestat remains white. the vampires mention shit like slavery outright to each other when it's all white ppl, but it suddenly holds a LOT more weight once u make the "fledgling" a black person. AMC has done nothing but enhance what was already there, ppl just don't want to empathize with a black man.

anne rice fans are not critical thinkers but they like to think they are because they're proud they read a lot of books at prbly young ages. books they felt were rly "adult" and "mature." they've never grown up and taken a second look. anne rice's encouragement of parasocial relationships made that worse too. most of these ppl can't separate themselves from these characters and now feel bad seeing themes brought more to the surface about these relationships. they have to blame the writers and keep looking stupid instead of getting some self-awareness.

I know the fight does not happen in the books but I've seen enough passages from book IWTV to know physical and emotional violence between louis and lestat is v common. I've seen parts of lestat's books too where he's also violent to other partners. it's in the character, they've just been too busy wanting to fuck him the whole time to notice ig. that's what it is too. lots of this before the show was a sexy game to ppl and now they're mad u have to think about the story and consequences for things so much, mainly in ways that interfere with lighthearted shipping stuff. anne rice didn't ever talk about anything in depth so they're used to having awareness of topics but never exploring them. they feel stupid in many, many ways now and somehow that's everyone's fault but their own. it's practically *two years in* and they're still doing all this instead of doing some self-reflection. they keep reapplying the clown paint and then want to say it's ppl like me "ruining" it for others here like that's even remotely true lol.

anyways, u are welcome to visit my inbox any time and write whatever u want on this btw! I'd luv to hear it all.

[momentsbeforemass]

Change

Change is hard.

Changing you? That’s the hardest.

If you’ve ever tried to make a significant change in your life – whether it’s something physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual – you know this all too well.

We can throw up so many roadblocks to our own success. Often unwittingly. That we really have to focus on us, on what we’re doing in order to make any headway at all.

It’s critical to have that focus.

But it’s easy to get so focused on the work that we’re doing, that we don’t see the effect that the change in us is having on other people.

It’s a classic problem for people who are in recovery from an addiction. Or trying to get out of a life of crime. You can predict with horrible accuracy the success or failure of someone’s efforts by the response of the people around them.

The thing is, that dynamic isn’t just limited to obvious situations. That same dynamic – the impact of the people around you –applies to all types of positive change. Even the less obvious ones.

Why?

Because your attempt to change, your attempt to do better, to be better, to be healthy, to live up to the potential that God has given you? Will be a threat to some people.

There are people in your life right now (some of whom are surprisingly close to you) that define themselves in relation to you. And not in a good way. Not in the sense of “I’m so glad I know her.” Or “he’s such a good friend.”

But in the (often unspoken) sense of being in some way better than you. Part of their self-image is tied up in something they look down on you for. They make themselves feel better by laughing at some perceived fault or weakness in you.

And when you change that? You disrupt their entire world.

So don’t expect them to let that go without a fight.

BTW, that is exactly what Jesus is dealing with in today’s Gospel.

Jesus has started His public ministry. He’s preaching a message that rings true. He’s healing people.

You’d expect people to be really impressed, really excited. And some of them are.

But not everybody. Not the people who have defined themselves by looking down on Him as “the carpenter’s son.” As the stepbrother of James and the other sons of Joseph.

These are the people in Jesus’ life whose self-image is tied up in something they look down on Him for. In seeing themselves as better than Him.

When Jesus changes that? He’s disrupting their entire world. And they’re not letting that go without a fight.

What’s important for you and me? To see is how Jesus responds.

First, by what Jesus says, “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place, and in his own house.” Which means?

Their negative reaction doesn’t negate what He’s doing.

Jesus is doing what God has called Him to do. And people whose self-image isn’t based on an unhealthy view of Jesus are (rightly) amazed to see the transformative power of God in action.

What Jesus is doing is valid. Their lack of approval doesn’t change that.

This is their problem. Not His.

And second, by what Jesus does. Jesus doesn’t argue with them. Jesus doesn’t try to convince them. And Jesus doesn’t stop what He’s doing so they can go back to being comfortable in their prejudices.

Jesus does not waste His time with them. Jesus does not engage.

Jesus goes right back to doing what God has called Him to do.

This is their problem. Not His.

Jesus keeps His focus on God. And on what God has called Him to do.

That is how it’s done.

In case you ever wondered how to handle the haters in your life.

Today’s Readings

[catgirl-kaiju]

No, sweetiepie. You support Pussy Ass Bitch. Your imbecility and solipsism (you doubtless voted for Shrill Jill the PUTA Shill in 2016) helped PAB steal the White House and you're doing your best to make it happen again. YOU are partially responsible for the death of Roe and every other fascist act committed by our Nazi SCROTUS. YOU, bitch, and all your little online 'leftist' edgelord-wannabe friends. EAT IT. OWN IT. YOU ARE TO BLAME.

okay... so... most of this is incoherent, but i will respond to each claim that i can understand one at a time.

i'm assuming "Shrill Jill" refers to Jill Stein. i did not vote for her in 2016. i voted for Hillary Clinton. I still have some criticisms of Jill Stein's past behavior and stances, and i am skeptical of her viability as a candidate in the current election, but she has been vocal about her wish to stand with the ICJ in prosecuting isreal for their genocide against the Palestinian peoples, more than most candidates in this race can say. also, "Shrill Jill" strikes me as a very misogynistic nickname, seems ethically dubious to use that.

i'm not entirely sure who PAB is supposed to be, but in context, it seems like you mean donald trump? i don't know how you get PAB from that, but i digress. have you actually taken the time to go look at the publically available voting statistics from 2016? bc I have, and those statistics do not reflect the story of people voting 3rd party giving trump an advantage in that election. in fact, i've reviewed the voting statistics of every presidential election so far in the 21st Century, and there has not been a single time i can find that voting 3rd party over one of the big two made a significant enough difference to impact the results for either the dem. or rep. candidates. 3rd party voters are not a large enough group to have any relevance statistically, unfortunately, and this has been the case even as far back as the 80s. besides, if you really want to get mad at people voting 3rd party, the libertarians are right there. why don't you badger them about voting democrat? they're THE most popular 3rd party by a WIDE margin. if there's any group that could even come close to making a difference, they're it.

the loss of Roe v. Wade is a collective failure on the part of every administration since its ruling. no one has done enough to protect and enshrine the ruling as reflective of an inalienable right. while it's true that the trump administration was able to stack the supreme court, making the final pieces fall into place for the removal to happen, the ruling happened under the joe biden administration, and thus administration has done NOTHING to negate the ruling or provide better protections for the right to abortion access.

i think you need to look inward at the party that YOU support and what THEY are culpable for, what your support of them makes YOU an accomplice to under your own logic. stop blaming people on the left for progressive policies not happening, and accept that the dems have been the less fascy right-wing for a while now. accept that, unless you vote 3rd party or withhold your vote, you are voting for a candidate and a party that supports genocide. ask yourself if that's a concession you're willing to give.

i doubt that any of what you've said has been in good faith, anon, but i felt it worth it to use your drivel to push back on the common talking points you're using. i hope you grow a new and worse appendix, especially if you still have your's.

[cinematicnomad]

Hi! Can I ask you how was Killers of the flower moon ? (No spoiler pls but just your overall opinion) I think I'll go see it but I admit that the 3h30 kind of scare me 😅

oh man, i loved it. it was SO good, and so deserving of that runtime. tbh i didn't notice it much—i subtly checked the time only once in the movie to get a sense of where we were and it was about halfway through. i didn't have to get up and go to the restroom during the film, and i only noticed like, a handful of people who did.

i highly recommend it to people, especially so that you can see lily gladstone fucking knock it out of the park—she's the heart and soul of this movie and she steals every fucking scene she's in and she breaks my heart too many times to count. de niro is fucking chilling in how he chooses to play his role, this insidious, two-faced, polite monster. dicaprio's character is just...so fucking dumb, in a way that is not hokey or over-the-top but completely 110% believable—that guy you knew in high school who didn't have a fucking single thought in his head—who clearly thinks he's a good guy bc Of Course He Is, but has just as black a soul as all the other white men in this movie—arguably even blacker, bc he tells himself he loves mollie despite all he does to her.

i think it's definitely a better movie for the decision scorsese and roth made (with the help of dicaprio) to shift the focus of the story away from the FBI and onto the actual people. i think it's valid to discuss the lens scorsese approaches this story, as a non-indigenous person, and how he clearly finds moments of sympathy for dicaprio's character. i think a person taking the movie at face value might argue that the film believes there is genuine love between dicaprio and gladstone's characters. but i think the film itself rebukes that belief, by showing how duplicitous ernest burkhart was—no matter what he thought he felt for mollie, it wasn't love. it couldn't be. not really. not after all he's done.

but i think it's okay to have complicated feelings about this movie. i think it's okay to examine those feelings, to consider those critical views, and to realize that two things can be true at the same time. that this is a very good movie does not negate the fact that a different version of this movie centered on mollie might be more emotionally devastating—just like a different version of this movie centered on the FBI as white saviors coming in to make everything Right Again™ would most likely be less interesting.

but i'm a white woman, so i'd encourage you and anyone else going to see this movie to listen to what christopher cote, the osage language consultant for the film, had to say about it and to also read what jim gray, a descendent of one of the victims, henry rohn, and the former principal chief of the osage nation, thought about the film.

[back-and-totheleft]

"Time offers up curve balls, moments things change"

No sooner have I asked the movie director Oliver Stone and the history professor Peter Kuznick about criticism of their book and TV series The Untold History of the United States than Stone is shaking his head, tutting grandly and instructing Kuznick to “show him, show him”. Kuznick proffers, with a flourish, a full page of plaudits, including one that makes them beam most: “There is much here to reflect upon” (Mikhail Gorbachev).

Both book and TV series — the latter called Oliver Stone’s Untold History of the United States — analyse “what America has done wrong, in the hope it can change”, says Stone, director of Platoon and JFK, in his husky voice, a vivid red scarf wrapped around his neck.

Two years ago Stone, a magnet for controversy, apologised after claiming a “Jewish-dominated media” focused on the Holocaust. Now he’s condemning the rapacious “empire building” of the US, which has warmongered for power and profit, and — in the cause of American exceptionalism — negated its potential as a force for good. “What is untold for me — and I was born after the atomic bomb was dropped, the Cold War was my youth — was the truth that the Russians were the main victors of World War Two and paid the highest price.”

Stone means the 27 million dead that the pair attribute to the war, although one critic claimed that between one and five million could be attributed to Stalin’s brutality. Stone and Kuznick claim that Truman was an aggressor and the Japa- nese were about to surrender before the US dropped the Bomb. “The US did that as a strong, barbaric statement to the Russians,” says Stone. “‘You can’t fuck with the United States. We control the world and kill people.’ ” His eyes glitter, the swaggering Stone replaces sober tutor: “That’s just the f*ing first three episodes!”

In the week of the tenth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, Stone is strong in his condemnation: “It’s been a tremendous setback for our country, a national trauma. Obama has continued the lie that this is American military service abroad without any selfish motive, that it has everything to do with 9/11.”

What was Iraq about, for Stone? “God knows,” he laughs. “It was a plan definitely with its eyes on the prize, beginning with [former Vice-President Dick] Cheney’s on Iraq’s oil and gas reserves.” Iraq represented “a very dangerous continuation of the neocon plan to penetrate the Middle East”.

In their most contentious chapter, Stone and Kuznick say that had the left-wing Henry Wallace, Vice-President under Roosevelt, become President rather than Truman, “the Cold War, Vietnam, arms race, Iraq and Afghanistan” may not have un- folded; the book sweeps through Reagan’s consolidation of the US military-industrial complex and Obama’s failure to keep his promise to “change” America. “Obama’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” Stone says.

He and Kuznick may have received praise from Gorbachev and many others, but their revisionism has also been criti- cised. The biggest firestorm has been played out on the pages of The New York Review of Books. The historian Sean Wil- entz accused them, in a lacerating review, of distorting history and the actions of Truman,Wallace and others, and “cherry-picking” sources. In response, Stone and Kuznick said Wilentz’s review was “error-riddled”. Wilentz then blasted their “disgraceful” version of history.

Have they made errors? “There are some mistakes but nothing major,” Stone claims. “We could have spent more time attacking Stalin,” concedes Kuznick. “There are no limits to the bad things you could say about Stalin,” Stone growls. “He destroyed the true leftist communist movement in the Twenties and Thirties, forever. But I went to Russia in the Eighties. They loved Stalin, he was their wartime leader.” Stone praises Stalin’s “coolness” in his dealings with the West. “There are libraries full of books that talk about his brutality,” says Kuznick. “We didn’t feel that was a story we needed to tell.” Stone: “Ask the average American who won World War Two and they’ll say ‘We did’. But the Soviet struggle and sacrifice was far greater.” Kuznick identifies the “mythic understanding of our past” at the root of American exceptionalism: “The cavalry riding in . . . that we’re God’s gift to humanity. It’s fanciful and destructive.”

Was America ever the good guy? “In World War Two,” says Stone. Kuznick: “The Marshall Plan was a positive way of us relating to the world, rebuilding it. If America had reached out to the world we could have helped carve out a different world. We’ve had that opportunity time and time again.” For Stone, the greatest US presidents that never were include Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy (had they not been shot) and George McGovern.

“Something was wrong” in the history Stone imbibed as a child. “Up until the late 1970s I never questioned the Bomb.” While his father, a Republican, hated Truman’s labour policies, “I was born and raised in an age of conformity, we walked around in jackets and ties. I was more scared than rebel, growing up in a climate of fear of bomb tests and Russians taking over our country.” Stone’s analyses, and sometimes audacious revisions of history, are intrinsic to his movies, most controversially in JFK, which posited a conspiracy theory around President Kennedy’s assassination.

Platoon was based on his experiences as an infantry soldier in Vietnam, the experience of which was “an eye-opener, but not radically so. I didn’t come back and become an antiwar protester like Ron Kovic [the subject of Stone’s Oscar-winning Born on the Fourth of July]. I went between left and right. When I went to El Salvador in 1985 [to research his movie Salvador] I saw how the death squads and paramilitaries were linked to the US. I felt the same anger I felt about the confluence of shady ‘contractors’, military and terror we brought to Vietnam. You could tell you were tearing wounds into a country. It was horrible, frightening. But you couldn’t see the whole until you pulled back. In Platoon, when you see them shooting at the feet of the Vietnamese in frustration, that’s true. You saw rape and killing. We used semi-automatics . . . you’re a monster, you’re as powerful as Hitler when you have that thing in your hand.” Stone (“of course”) thinks there should be greater gun control in the US.

Was he traumatised by Vietnam? “Some people would claim so,” Stone says, smiling. His voice hardens. “No, I was lost. It was as if I didn’t belong. It wasn’t like World War Two, which people spoke about, it was very distressing.” He attended New York University. “I felt like that kid in Taxi Driver, that I could kill somebody.” His first wife “helped stabilise me”.

Stone voted for Obama in both elections (this time, “because I didn’t want the other guy to win”) but claims that Obama is “worse than Bush in some ways, he’s reinforced his policies”. The men aren’t excited about a President Hillary Clinton. “She’s too hawkish,” says Kuznick. “She’s into empire,” says Stone. “Nobody wants to talk about getting rid of the f***ing military.” He thinks “economic devastation” could serve some good. “It’s the only way to end an empire. If you don’t have the dough you can’t do all this shit.” But if you don’t have “the dough”, then your infrastructure crumbles, I say. Stone ignores that, and says America doesn’t need “a thousand military bases”. Obama is “a manager of em- pire, not someone willing to challenge it”.

Hollywood doesn’t embrace radicalism, he says: “I don’t think a ‘political film’ has ever had bite.” What about the Oscar-laden Lincoln, Zero Dark Thirty (about the hunt for Osama bin Laden) and Argo (about the rescue of US hostages in Iran in 1979)? Lincoln was “well-written. The others were conservative, centrist. Argo didn’t investigate the reasons for the Iranian unrest. But that wasn’t even as close to offensive as Zero Dark Thirty, which didn’t take account of internal opposition within the CIA against the use of torture.” For Stone, it echoed the vigilantism celebrated in American film-making from Dirty Harry to the present day. “By the end, she [Jessica Chastain’s character] is a merciless robot who has no qualms about what she’s done. We should have brought bin Laden back to the US and put him on trial. At the Nuremberg Trials ‘they’ got to give us reasons and important things were aired.”

Occupy Wall Street signified “something positive”, says Kuznick, but nothing will substantively change until America becomes “part of the global community”, willing to sign collective treaties and disarm. “A council of nations, like in Star Wars,” should preside over space, says Stone. America should be “answerable for what it does rather than be the Darth Vader of the world”.

The death this month of Hugo Chávez, the President of Venezuela, has robbed the world of “its great consciences”, Stone, a friend, says. “He represented the under- class and poor oppressed everywhere. He was extremely heroic and a great leader.”

Stone accepts his book is a “leftist primer, but closer to the truth than people think”. Why does the TV series bear his name? “It was Showtime’s idea,” he says of the production company. “I understand why, otherwise it would disappear.

“It’s taken years out of my life. This is it man,” mutters Stone. “I’m finished. I’m f***ed. After this, how do you go back to drama? I need a pause.” But not for too long. “I’m writing something, but I’m not going to tell you what.” Of retirement, he says: “I might slow down but I don’t think I’ll retire my mind. It’s always playing chess with itself.” As for our future, this history man is not pessimistic. He hopes that a progressive leader will emerge. Time offers up “curveballs, moments things change”, he says smiling. “I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t able to get out of bed this morning and put some hope into my clothes and toilette.”

-Tim Teeman interviews Oliver Stone, The Times, Mar 30 2013

[ninhaoma-ya]

Chapter 1078 — Escape limit

I really enjoy the cover story! Good for Judge and Caesar; sad for Reiju and Ichiji, sighing in defeat. Maybe there is hope for the next generation of Vinsmokes after all?

Confirmation about the Void Century research conducted on Egghead! As well as a nice little nod to the difference between government-sponsored weapons research (Egghead) and ancient institutionalised academia (Ohara) — one you can just bomb, the other will bomb you back.

Cool use of the silhouette-against-explosion-trope here.

She is one cold-blooded snake, stomping Pythagoras like that, tho’ :(

I wonder if Boa and S-Snake’s powers are reversible through haki? If Law’s earlier negation of Doc Q’s sick-sick fruit is anything to go by, I’d say yes; her mero-mero power just has the unfortunate side effect of paralyzation, making your haki useless… power-up for Franky in the pipeline?

Backup! Backup! Backup!

The flying thing is cool as well.

And Atlas is one big girl.

We knew that. But still.

All rights, it’s nice that Sanji’s embracing his human-exoskeleton-thing. And his eyebrow has reversed, so it’s proper Germa Science! going on. But does he have to look so pleased with himself?

Ooo, also a lot of ideas about how his mum sacrificed herself so he could be normal and all the love she had and how that could be seen as the power of love too and how he continues the love and—

—and Luffy and Zoro are being absolute morons again.

On the other hand, Kaku’ snot showing his critical thinking skills either right now, reacting way too late to being called Usopp.

And Luffy, really? You’ve fought Pigeon Guy earlier, why are you surprised he’d happily eliminate the weaker links to rattle the stronger ones? He’s done it before. You threatened/tricked him into not doing that once this fight is finished!

On one hand, it’s the exact same tactic Luffy had against Kaido: bash your head against the wall until you think of something else.

On the other hand, I miss his earlier adaptation and quick battle-thinking. After the time-skip it feels like he’s just… hitting things again and again. Which, don’t read me wrong, is a pleasure at times (see: pummelling Caesar, pummelling Doflamingo, pummelling Cracker, pummelling Kaido…). But I do miss the wacky pre-timeskip fights: Luffy having to figure out how to fight with a ton of gold hanging of his arm. Luffy with a Door through his face. Luffy breaking Kuro’s swords. Water Luffy.

But we move on, to what will be known as the Egghead Incident, apparently.

What do Bonney see? What secrets do Kuma’s memories hold? O_o

Traitor speaking, how may I help you?

Love Angry Lilith in the background.

Although art quality has gone down, Oda really can tell a story. This is the last panels on the spread and we still don’t know who it is. But it is someone huge: they have to bend to fit through the door and their shadow is massive on Vegapunk.

But who can it be?

York is huge.

She was petrified by S-Snake; did she manage to unpetrify her as well in the chaos? Does she have an antidote? Do S-Snakes powers, unlike Boa’s, only last for a certain amount of time before unraveling?

I wonder if killing of the satellites destroys that part of Vegapunk’s personality or if they.. return, somehow?

And it’s a really nice comment on the need for balance in people. You are not only your feelings or desires: you are the combination of those, keeping each other in check and balance. People who lose their feelings make worse decisions that people with a healthy blend of rationality and emotion, for example, and no human can be completely rational. Vegapunk let his desires lose on the world, and where did that leave him? Prisoner in his own cellar.

And York: they don’t let you become a Celestial Dragon just like that, you know that, right Guessing the Elder Star on their ways has a special mission with regards to her…

Interesting chapter, nice plot drop. I give it a treasonous heart and a desire for the extravagant things in life (and total ignorance of the suffering producing those things).

[the-martyrfication-of-the-matron]

I had a lot of trouble phrasing this, I’m very sorry if it comes off as overly critical of your rewrite or your plans for it. I’m just concerned about how this is being handled.

Is Nicole going to be condemned for what she does? I understand it’s the cycle of abuse and Nicole isn’t doing what she’s doing because she’s a bad person at heart or something like that, but that doesn’t really reduce the harm or fault in the situation even if it provides context for her actions.

That’s not even mentioning the balancing act that sounds like. I can’t think of a way that Dancole wouldn’t be uncomfortable because from what I gathered (please correct me if I’m wrong) Nicole tries to get with Dante when he’s a minor and then later actually gets with him when he’s an adult. I can’t see how Nicole could stay a ‘good guy’ character after trying to date him as a minor, let alone see how her dating him as an adult could be handled well.

Tw, grooming, pedophilia, the cycle of abuse and how the themes correlate to Amaranth

Dw about sounding critical! This is a sensitive topic so I completely understand any kind of critical tone that comes with discussing it. It’s part of the deal with writing this stuff that criticism is expected.

One of the reasons I didn’t want to discuss these events happening in Amaranth yet is because I haven’t fully figured it out yet and they are subject to change with ever piece of media I consume or conversation I have, or simply just if im left alone to think for too long. That’s why my most recent posts about Dante and Nicole’s relationship were from about a year ago.

Most things I’ve said about Dante and Nicole’s relationship pre-recent discussion don’t apply. Nicole and Dante never date as adults, and in fact Nicole never steps foot in Phoenix Drop between the last chapter of Amaranth season 2 and beyond, despite the 15 year gap and all the time after that. Their relationship, which is how I will be referring to it due to a lack of better terms coming to mind though it isn’t at all to be considered genuinely romantic, lasts for all about a week during the events of Amaranth s2, and despite its brevity, it was a very bad situation and Nicole does face repercussions. Those of which I am still trying to figure out, as it’s a difficult spot to try and navigate.

By the time Nicole would face the punishments for her actions, it’s is known she is the heiress of Scaleswind. It’s known that she has immense amounts of power of Ru’Aun and that no physical harm can come to her. They couldn’t even imprison her without inviting another war. So far, the list of punishments ends with permanent exile, and to cut off contact with Dante entirely. The only conversation she should ever have with him is regarding politics and nothing beyond that. Even Dmitri isn’t a topic she is allowed to bring up with him. But of course I am considering other punishments as well as to leave it at ‘oh you can’t be here anymore’ feels too little for what she did.

But aside from it being written that she is very clearly in the wrong despite her lack of understanding, and a conversation she has with Garroth, it’s hard to try and figure out how to make it clear her actions aren’t forgivable. That’s why I wanted to wait until I had done some research to really talk about it, alongside other things of course. Because I’m still figuring out the finer details.

But, to simplify, Nicole isn’t going to be treated like a good person afterwards. It’ll be clear that Nicole is someone who did good things, but they don’t negate the bad. She’s going to be punished for what she did, and it’ll never be stated that what she did was okay.

Talking about the cycle of abuse doesn’t mean that the people that are caught in it are innocent, it means they’re victims as well, and that the only way for the cycle to be broken and to make sure no one else is hurt, is to make sure that victims are given the proper means of healing and coming to terms with what happened to them. It’s why Zane is still considered a villain even though his actions are a result of the abuse he experienced. Because he was never given the chance to heal from his abuse, he abused other people. He is not a good person, his actions are his own, but there is a reason for them and if he had been able to properly heal, or if the reasons didn’t exist at all, he wouldn’t have done what he did. And the same goes for Nicole. Both characters will be treated the same way in this regard. Zane will be held accountable for what he has done, Nicole will be held accountable for what she has done, because even if there are reasons for what they have done, there are also victims.

If anything I said here isn’t clear or makes it seem like I’m justifying anything, please let me know. And if you have any questions or criticisms about how I’m handling it, I’m more than happy to receive them. I wouldn’t post this stuff if I wasn’t open to actually discussing it.

Also yes, this makes Dmitri 15 in season 3. Older than canon but I don’t want to have Dancole happen again so it’s a needed change.

[nezu-mi]

Elfen Lied wasn't made with the intent of being a story with a message though. That's a very huge misconception. This is much more thoroughly explained on the wiki, such as Lynn Okamoto's interview and the FAQ page on there, but the creator of Elfen Lied was planning on making a Love Hina clone first with emotional sci-fi drama stuff on the side to make his story seem "more interesting." He wanted to write a love story, with a supernatural side plot to keep viewers interested, but his editors and viewers wanted to focus more on the Diclonius ripping people to shreds over the plot of some cousins kissing each other. So he was made to shift the focus of the story to give the people what they wanted. I do think there is a lot to criticize with Elfen Lied but the huge misconceptions over what the author "intended" block out what should be actually criticized. Yeah, a lot of the stuff is bad, but it isn't correct to criticize something for "failing to give out it's message" when in truth there was no intended message to begin with and the author was made to do something entirely different than what he originally wanted. Hope I don't sound like I am hating or anything, just wanted to point things out and explain things.

Good to know, thank you for the info and don't worry it doesn't sound hateful I appreciate it.

Tbh I haven't read the manga or the wiki since the first time I read them as a 13 year old so it's fair to say that I didn't understand everything too well and it's also true that most of elfen lied's fans come from the horror/gore aspects of the manga. For the most part it's not as deep as it seems and that's very apparent reading it now at 26, so I agree with you and your clarification helps put that in more accurate words so thanks again.

One thing I would like to point out though is that just because the creator of something didn't intend some meanings the audience has derived from the work, doesn't negate and erase that. In other words, the not intended meanings we find in someone's work aren't inherently incorrect just because the author didn't intend them.

On that note, I was planning to write a more in depth review once I'm done reading it so I will do further research into that. I will probably mention your message as it has good points so if you want send me a message with your @ so I can give you proper credits when I do

(edit to add: if his intent was writing a love story, he absolutely sucks at writing a love story)

[arkus-rhapsode]

My Honest Opinion of FE3H After Four Years

That’s right. Time for my opinion on this game after 4 years and it’s… *drumroll* An overall okay game but with some glaring flaws.

I feel like the discussion around this game has become so toxic it’s led to this “love it or hate it” extreme division. And it feels so hard to talk about this game either praising or criticizing it without making someone upset. I understand that this entry has been a jumping on point for many new fans like Awakening was and that can effect perception of what a franchise can be like or should be like. I think that due to the structure of the game’s narrative, it does breed divisive among players and how there is a particular route that is “right” which leads to infighting, and there is just general toxic behavior we have come to expect from fandom. All these things add up to being one of the most talked about entries in FE to this day. Overall, talking about 3H feels harder to do than actually experiencing it.

I think the good parts of this game are its great character writing particularly the supports, great acting from the Japanese and English casts, an amazing soundtrack, and it has one of the most robust customizations in an FE game.

However, things I felt were lacking were route style writing felt inconsistent in terms of quality, Byleth lacking a personality and voice, the graphics are rough at times, there is power creep in the gameplay and does make it easy to blast through, and the monastery feels rather empty and repetitive.

That said, weighing all these factors I still think it’s an okay game. Achieving more than just being an average FE experience. I would personally be fine if FE3H was the starting line for future FE, however, as mentioned before, InSys has a tendency to often go in completely new directions with FE rather than sticking to one particular style and building on that.

Now I think this approach has allowed FE to stay relevant and not be beholden to one style or mechanic. But that also means while there are improvements, it’s now almost something completely different. I think Engage has fixed things from 3H I thought could be improved: better graphics, a more vibrant hub area, a voiced avatar. However, I think FE Engage has also gone in a completely new direction in tone, gameplay, and story structure that it feels wrong to compare.

So with what we are left with and none of the added bits of info or spin offs, there are obvious flaws. Flaws that I can imagine effected people enjoyment genuinely and not some inter fandom debate drama. There is stuff in this game that hold it back for me and that’s frustrating. But when I line that up with its positives, I cannot say it’s a bad game. Heck I can say it’s more than quite a few other FEs. This was an incredibly ambitious game and in several ways it delivered. And those aspects that are done well are not negated by the stuff I didn’t enjoy or like.

It’s not my favorite FE, and it bums me out knowing the problems with this game will probably not be fixed or improved upon without InSys doing their usual style deviations. So as 3H is, I feel it will be talked to death even as more FE come out that do their own thing. As itself though it’s good, but not great. And I hope any FE fan can read that as see where I am coming from.

I think FE3H is okay. And that’s okay if others feel like that. Just as it’s okay to love or hate this game within reason.

[letgomaggie]

all this criticism being lobbed at pat and pran is not sitting well with me. 

Let’s look at this very clinically. 

They were given four episodes, two per couple. The crossover is a way to gain more space for telling these stories. It doesn’t seem like it is enough. 

Yeah, they don’t seem to clear up the conflicts between the couples with a clean and nice little bow. Yeah, its messy and all over the place and you are left confused as the viewer. 

I don’t think a perfect resolution was the aim, nor should it be our demand. It would be nice to think that conflicts of this nature can be resolved and checked off as done but that’s not the world we live in. Being queer is already hard. Being out, being in a relationship, overcoming internalised and externalised homophobia -- these are things that take lifetimes to deal with. P’Aof and co are doing something very important in these four episodes. They are placing in front of you the realities of queer existence in modern society. It weaves such a complex relationship between the self and the other, between you and your partner, you and the world and most importantly, you vs you. Four episodes is not going to resolve a conflict that will pop up again and again. Every single time the resolution will be different. It’s more important to look at these and say, we will be resolving them. It will take time. There is a conflict, there is a problem, we do need to talk about it. I am not giving up on us. These are not concurrent. 

You are confused and bereft as the viewer? Good! You should be! You watched it well! You understand how important it is to address these things! You also need to understand how difficult it is to address these things. How our fears govern us. How the society we live in governs us. We are seeing Pat and Pran in a period of time we KNOW they overcome. They come out stronger, they obviously then do deal with everything. Maybe they still are dealing with it. I know we want them to have a ‘happily ever after’ but let’s remember the role choice plays in all of their lives. P’Aof has given the viewer stability as a promise and then asked you to see the work it takes to be in a relationship. Obviously Pat and Pran will be going back home and continuing this conversation! We won’t see it (maybe) but we don’t need to. We just need to know that they will be choosing to resolve the conflict. All they have done in these three episodes, is show each other that they will choose the other time and again, no matter what. No matter how petty or serious their issues or realities are. They’re IT for each other. That’s the happily ever after. The conflicts will continue. You are welcome to ponder the reality of a queer relationship here, but you cannot impose your choices on them. 

Tian and Phupha, I am obviously very conflicted about them still but we have another episode to go. I really don’t they will solve all their concerns in like an hour. What we do know from the teaser for the next episode is that they converse. Even if it is an attempt. Even if it is just the start, even if the conversation does not end the way YOU would like it to, does not negate the importance of it. It takes so much courage and sacrifice to do what they are doing for each other. That is the reality for many, many queer people around the world. Phupha is shit scared of facing the world beyond his forest, of losing control but they are all valid fears. Opening himself up to that conversation, showing up for Tian time and time again, professing his love for him through his words -- he’s doing everything he can. He’s resistant to a lot of things, I do agree. But y’all, cut him some slack. He’s trying to battle external and internal homophobia in one fell swoop, he’s pressuring himself so much, he’s got so much to deal with. They are still finding their footing in this relationship, and that means trying new things, and that means trying to be brave in ways you didn’t know how to be before. It will take more than four episodes to tie that neat bow you want. The neat bow is not even important.

Find me a straight couple who has had a relationship SO mythically secure that they have been able to go “Would you still love me if I was a worm?”, heard “Yes babe, of course!” and then considered their self doubt, insecurity, fear, trust issues, all of it resolved forever.

Let queer people tell real stories of their realities. There’s more to queer existence than just being queer you know. 

[thepolyamorouspolymath]

You know, I've avoided talking about my brother. Because I still, after years, don't know what to feel.

I want to hate him. Because he abandoned me. Even more because he broke his word in doing so and WE DIDNT DO THAT. We didn't make promises often and we kept them when we did because we'd had so many broken to us, and it broke our hearts just a little more each time -- mine for the world to see, his hidden even from himself. (Some magical powers of denial that one's got, it's beyond human...)

I want to hate him for letting himself fall so far from what I understand. Because he was the Titan of my childhood, the one thing I could count on in a world where nothing, including myself made sense -- even when it was just counting on him to be an ass about who picked the TV show. (Incidentally, our lone agreement on X-Men:The Animated Series in the mid 90s was my bisexuality awakening... I'm sure he'd be thrilled.)

I want to hate him because in that fall he let himself become the worst parts of Dad -- he drank too much, was verbally and emotionally abusive to his wife, and did it in front of his daughter, who can be sensitive, as if having her in therapy would negate that. And after knowing what that toxicity around me, a sensitive kid, had done to break me forever.

I want to hate him.

But I don't.

Because took every hit so I never would. He drew the criticism so I wouldn't. Yeah, he missed a lot of stuff but he was like 10 -- and brave as hell for that. Because he tried so hard to teach me to survive, even though he only knew his way and not mine. Because the last night under the same roof, when he was home from college and he and Dad went at it, and I broke... he's the one that pulled me into the hall, that hugged me, that calmed me down because neither of my parents could be bothered, and reassured me that him not coming back there wouldn't mean losing him, he find a way to still see me on visits home.

Because I remember him crying when selecting flowers for my Dad's funeral despite their history. And pulling it together for the funeral anyway enough to still protect me, keeping my Dad's family away from me so I didn't lose it on them.

Because he took on making sure I got treatment when I had my breakdown.

Because I've heard him have so many mini breakdowns of his own and seen how much hurt he carries and hides.

Because when my lung collapsed he drove for hours during midterms despite needing to study to check on me even though literally everyone told him I was fine.

Because when I was in my first school play in high school he couldn't come because midterms and I was crushed. And on opening night the cast reception was going on, and I was alone, and there appeared his 3 best friends (who were around my house way too much lol) because he'd sent them so I wouldn't be alone.

Because even though he called me "Chubby" as a nickname most of my growing years, when his friend slipped and called me that in public and I went home raging mad and hurt and embarrassed, he never did it again, not even slipped (having a kid who changed their name, it is HARD to never slip up) because he could see it had hurt me badly.

Because he told me I was stronger than him because I could bend and I could hurt and it didn't mean I was weak because I couldn't do his stoic act, because I've always been afraid/hated being weak.

Because he always believed I could be more and better than I am or he is, even if he rarely admitted it.

Because he was still trying to keep guys not good enough away from me when I was 30.

Because every time he makes me cry -- which he sometimes has a knack for -- he always follows me, and hugs me and tries to make it better. And because he's so awkward at it I can't stay mad.

Because he lets me be mad and hold grudges and hate who I hate, even if he doesn't agree.

Because he was always the one I looked up to, and always the one I wanted to make proud.

Because I know why he fell so deep probably better than he does, and I can't be mad at his pain.

Because our brains interface better than anyone on earth -- it's been commented on by more than one person how we get each other's points instinctively, to the extent we don't even need to hear it and how no one else can keep up when we get debating or talking.

I want to hate him. And I want to rail at him for days. And mostly... I just want my brother back. Even the messy fucked up parts. Not because I need saving or a hero, but because I miss him.

The earth is just a degree off its axis without him, and I'm the only one who notices.

[concupiscience]

Critical theory has caused the west to be overly self-aware, to the extent that culture can no longer organically develop without obsessive comparison. Its tendency to dissect itself has left nothing but shards of thoughts, fragments of images that were once so tightly interwoven.

Therefore, we shouldn’t be concerned with the current popular trends, or even the forthcoming zeitgeist which is always visible over the waves of those successive trends, each obliterating the last in an endless cycle. Not now, not next, but what comes after that is our objective. What is unseen as of yet, that is our goal.

THE STARS THAT FLOG THE SEA WITH WHIPS OF LIGHT

NOT ME.

ecstatic rites of an elegant, ancient beauty

perishing under sickly skies

NEVER LOOK BACk

WHO FUCKING CARES

If u have formed some type of notion about me please just do us both a favor and just forget that shit because human beings are in a constant state of change

To taste every forbidden fruit,

松の木々を通る夕日の最後の光線 寒さを逃れるために南へ飛ぶ鳥たちを照らす

You are limitless potential. You are the clay at the potter’s wheel.

Is this hell? This is definitely hell.

that dusk-tinged demigod

Industrial society operates under the presumption that resources are infinite

A triumphant, arrogant attitude may be necessary from time to time

The same moon my ancestors and descendants behold

We’re all hoes under the same blue sky

Ephemeral and fleeting as a smoke spirit

Having drunk deeply from the cup of sin

Spoiling the land with hubris and greed

Wow imagine that, In our modern society everything has to be done for money

I think you live longer when you have a good attitude. There’s cases where cancer goes into remission when a person starts believing they don't have it anymore. Likewise, there’s also cases of people dying on purpose from resigning their will to live, like those super old couples who die within days of each other. You can control your health with your mindset, at least that’s what I believe. If your mind is thriving your body is thriving. Right but we do have free will to influence our future. “The system cannot be sustained indefinitely ” Right. Like why did a religious impulse develop independently in every single ancient culture.

Media consumes us. Objects own us. Money spends us.

The flowers bloom without caring if they are observed.

Pattern-Matrix

Mass media, escapism, distraction, bread and circuses, whatever you want to call it. Recorded by studios with more money than some countries, packaged neatly for mass consumption. This is the result of capitalism working flawlessly for over a century. the spectator becomes a mere receptacle for media, they become a consumer, the same way food is consumed then comes out as waste, media consumes us. The more people are emotionally invested in fictional people and fictional worlds the easier it is to distract them from what’s happening in real life- the panopticon of modern life. Your superheroes, singers, actors, exist for one purpose only: to sell you a product. Through our complicity they buy our complacency. They have taught us to be satisfied with “what is” and not think about “what could be” because that’s just the way it is. They exist to sell us an image of what our lives and the world ought to be, and we stupidly buy into it. It’s a drug we regularly take.There’s nothing wrong with enjoying movies, TV, books, music etc but you have to realize what is illusion and what is real. When you watch anything, imagine the processes that go into its production. Could this potentially be used to manipulate people into feeling a certain way? Is this fact or does it reflect the views of its creator? All I’m saying is that if you unplug from this “machine” things seem much more relative.

we are bound to our era. we cannot escape the present. 

The notion of a grand, divine scheme negates the possibility of free will. If God does have a plan for everyone, that would mean we only have the illusion of free will.

Tragic figures such as these

Traditions everywhere are dying, we must forge new ones

Wholly effaced by time

Writ large

Pastoral vibes

I believe there are multiple paths to God. The fact that religion has sprung up independently in so many places over so vast a distance is incredible. Jesus and Buddha weren’t so different in their teachings.

Some got it more right than others, obviously.

So there is actually very compelling evidence that early Christianity was heavily influenced by similar savior-centered religious sects such as Mithraism, Orphism and the veneration of Dionysus (they all belong to the subset of Rising-and-dying gods). We know for certain that in Alexandria, an extremely important centre for early Christianity, Buddhist monks taught at the library of Alexandria around the time of jesus.

Wine was central to the rituals of Dionysus, who was believed to have died and been resurrected.

The real importance is that Jesus and Buddha were real historical figures that established schools of thought that endured for millennia.

They both preached the importance of virtue and morality, sympathy for the suffering and acceptance of the transitory nature of the material world.

The library itself was mostly intact until the 260s AD when it was burned by Aurelian.

There is ample evidence of eastern thought circulating in the near east around the time of christ. Statues of hindu gods were found in Pompeii, in Alexandria itself a tombstone with the Wheel of Dharma was discovered, in the port city of myos hormos in Egypt a sail cloth of Indian manufacturing was discovered. The trade routes between judea and the east were active until the 4th century AD.

Theres a Christian tradition that the apostle Thomas died in India where the church he established still exists.

Paganism is an umbrella term for anything that isn’t Christianity, or more accurately the animistic traditions that predate monotheism.

Judaism is fascinating because we have proof it originally was polytheistic. It’s totally Canaanite in origin but over time yahweh was promoted to the status of one true god. The painted pottery from Kuntillet Ajrud Shows yahweh and Asherah (later ishtar, aphrodite) as his consort.

Religions dont appear from nowhere. They’re the product of thousands of years of tradition, thought, and self reflection.

Do you believe the bible refutes evolution?

I dont think it does either. Those seven days of creation are metaphorical. The bible says our lives are like a single breath of god. Which implies he operates on a much longer timescale than humans. So the space between the first and last days of creation could have been billions of years for all we know.

Because the second to last thing he did was to create humans. Evolutionarily, anatomically modern humans first emerged in east Africa around 100,000 years ago. The first stirrings of human culture were around 20,000 years ago. The pyramids were only built 4000 years ago. Rome was only 2000 years ago. We can’t even comprehend how early on in our journey thru the universe we are.

A mere blip in the cosmic timescale. We might not even survive another million years.

I’m tired of getting hurt

旅に病んで 夢は枯れ野を かけめぐる

Falling ill on a journey my dreams go wandering over withered fields

[yinlotus]

(original ask was mine) hi i am so sorry I did not mean to get you dragged into the discourse...i really just did want to complain for a minute about the US news cycle, and the fires/smoke hit especially close to home, and i thought you had made some good points so i sent in the ask. (also as an american i felt like i could critique it bc its my country)

I thought your answer was really well thought out like yes we both agree about it being extremely important to help canada & everywhere else that's on fire but you're right, that doesn't mean that people in nyc philly dc boston toronto montreal etc and all over the entire eastern coast of n.america aren't suffering too. my grandma has copd so i know that bad air quality can really be dangerous, especially for vulnerable people or those who cannot stay inside or stay home to work.

anyway again i'm very sorry i liked your answer to my ask and i hope you're not feeling bad about this

Hi Anon!

Aww thank you, but don't worry you don't have to apologize for sending in the ask. They commented on my other post as well so they would've done it regardless. It was annoying sure (my interactions with the other person, not your ask) but it's not worth anymore effort thinking about it.

I liked hearing your critique and thoughts! Heavens know I have plenty about this country that I want to critique. Though, I admit I'm usually more receptive to other Americans criticizing the US than others. From other people it usually tends to sound like "those stupid, white, rich ableist americans always causing problems and ignoring the rest of us" when that doesn’t portray the vast others that live here especially bipoc, disabled people, and anyone not upper middle class or above.

Like you, some of this hit close to home. I used to live in the areas affected more intensely and I have asthma bad enough to need a daily inhaler in addition to the one for emergencies. So, having seen posts completely negating that people would suffer from the air quality and that they should suck it up because Canada is doing worse, struck a nerve with me.

Thank you for asking in the first place! Don't feel afraid to send anything else because of what happened, it wasn't a big deal. 🩵