#or even having themselves romanticized because of their source

[caged-canines]

reminder to all introjects

you don't have to be completely like your source, you're your own person. you can have different memories, different opinions, even a different look than your source.

I'm an American, raccoon version of Tommyinnit and share nothing in common with my source except for the people im friends with. My name is different, my eyes are different, my height is different, my name even.

so it's ok to be different from your source, whether that's just a few small differences or everything being changed.

-🦝

[celestialtarot11]

Solar Return Observations ☀️✨

Hi friends! Today we’re discussing solar return notes + what I’ve observed from them. I’ve been observing for three years, but I’m not able to fit all of the details in one post. I can always make another 🦋 enjoy and feel free to like, comment and reblog.

Chiron in the 7th house 💌- Healing through partnership and connections. I’ve had this placement last year and went through a breakup which taught me a lot about self worth (Aries ruled 7th house SR) and I learned to stand up for myself. I learned to be my own best friend and start over after a loss. Everything in terms of my relationship and how I viewed it changed completely. It was a pretty long journey, being that Chiron is the wounded healer, I’d say about a year the cycles were going on. Anyone who has this placement in their SR chart, you can expect for healing to occur in your relationships. Not necessarily a breakup always, but definitely wounding will come up that year.

Neptune in the 6th house 🌷- Routines can be heavily centered around spirituality. Meditation, yoga, occult practices become a theme in the daily life. Incorporating this can help the native grow and develop a consistent routine, and eventually connect with a higher source of love (deity, religion, universe, etc) because Neptune is the higher octave of Venus. With Neptune here there’s an emphasis on romanticizing daily routine and self care. Certain day to day events can feel whimsical, ethereal, and fated even! The native may question that year their beliefs and want to start something new, or reignite spiritual passions ✨

Moon in the 4th house 🌙🌟- Romanticizing the past, viewing things from a nostalgic lenses, daydreaming about a family. The native may deal with family illusions around this time, manipulation, or themes surrounding the family this year. The native might find it difficult to balance their life as family is an important theme for the year, whether it’s their own, or biological. The mother could be significant this year, and the mother may try to build a close bond with the native. The past is viewed from a bittersweet lenses, as there’s an element of moving on but honoring the past for what it was.

Capricorn 4th house 🦋✨- Structure, evolution, and discipline is needed regarding the home. Things may be slow, sluggish, or even depressing in the house. Saturn slows things down and when Capricorn is in the 4th, it can point to restrictions, boundaries, and limits. The native will learn to have boundaries with the family that year, and the value of alone time. The necessity of independence, and rebuilding structure in terms of roots. New job, new ways of managing finances, moving homes even. The native may feel uncomfortable that year within their home, they could feel detached even more than usual, and may long for an actual home of their own. Their own independence apart from family. Family could be stricter that year, and family events may be limited.

Saturn in the 6th house 🤍🌹- Structure, routine, discipline through health. The native may develop a stable gym routine and eating habits that year, and their health will improve with dedication and practice! They may choose a better diet, and learn about proper nutrition that year, and take care of their digestive system especially. Even energetically, the native will find themselves not wanting to consume shows or channels that are stressful. The native is meant to build a stable routine with their health.

11th house stellium 🌷🥂- Emphasis on networking, friends and meeting new people. Lots of people will want to meet the native, and will try to talk to the native. It’s easier to meet people this year, and to form new connections. Even strangers will randomly strike up a conversation with the native. Potential for meeting a marriage partner or best friend is strong! Potential for growing famous online is also strong, you may start an online business or be online a lot more this year.

11th house sun ☀️✨- Finding others is how you come back to yourself. What kind of community will you center yourself around? This year the native will try to figure out what kinds of friends they want, and where they belong. Through others the native comes to themselves, and people will teach a lot to the native. Not necessarily handing out wisdom, but there will be situations in which the native has to choose their own community and their beliefs compared to what everyone else wants.

11th house Venus 🦋🤍- Having friends and community becomes important, and the native realizes the importance of it all this year. Lots of people may want to date and get to know the native, as the 11th house is public. The native will be seen a lot more by others, around the place and people may actually make comments about that (I’ve had that happen with this placement many times!) The native will find that somehow the people around them come the right time when they need help too. Almost as if they’re blessed 💘 The native learns a lot about detachment from others expectations, and opinion. It’s about finding what works for them not for others this year. Potential for dating online is strong! And meeting someone through a dating app or social media.

Mars in the 12th house 💗🌹- The natives abilities and effort may struggle to be seen and recognized. There’s a sense that the natives effort is hidden, and the native feels unseen. It’s important this year the native keeps their plans and goals hidden as there could be others who want to criticize negatively. Especially with virgo 12th house! People may expect perfection from the native this year, or the native will struggle with perfectionist tendencies, and eventually will be the self undoing (12th house) Perfectionism is the natives enemy this year, and the native will have to find ways to understand themselves and work on their tendencies. There’s a chance to end up injured or hurt this year, so be cautious. The zodiac sign in that house will tell you where. For example if you have Virgo 12th house, your stomach in some way could struggle this year or be injured.

North Node in the 8th house ☕️💌- Leaving behind the material realm for the spiritual. Native is involved heavily with healing, releasing, and esoteric practices. The native eventually finds balance towards the end of the year with the material realm, but will likely find 6-8 months of deep inner work. Boundaries regarding spirituality get muddled as the native explores their psyche, uncovering new experiences! Healing and transformation through the past, to be in the present. Certain relationships can fall apart as it’s not aligned with the natives growth. Jobs may change as the native adjusts to their needs.

Libra Ascendant 🥂💗- Focus is on beauty and seeing the world through a connective lenses. Connection everywhere, with nature, people, communities, spirituality, etc. the native will fill more in touch with their fair and balanced side. This year the native will focus on balance, and not doing too less or too much. The act of balancing means things will be out of balance, so this year the native will go through upheaval as well. They will learn about discipline and structure throughout these changes, and work on mending things that were out of place. Going back and rebuilding. Or starting new if needed. The natives peace is important, and the native could find a partner this year! Depending on the other SR placements. The native is looking for ways to be connected to whats around them and within them.

Pluto in the 7th house 🌟🌷- Transformative relationships and unhealthy dynamics can come up this year in the native. Power dynamics and upheaval of roots in connections. The natives relationships with others is changing tremendously, and likely they could attract someone healing as well, and the two can heal. But with pluto here it can get intense and chaotic, if the two aren’t consistent working on themselves. People from outside could try to get into the natives relationship, adding gossip. It’s important to stay private this year with relationships.

Venus in the 12th house ✨☀️- Some I knew actually met a soulmate that year, the potential for a deep bonding connection came up. It was long distance given the 12th house ruling distant lands. If Venus is in a water sign for that year, the connection is a psychic one and very intuitive. Her house had cancer over it, and she developed a close bond with someone. They did things for the first time she’d never done before like traveling to another place! Everything was kept private, as Venus fell in the 12th house. Although this happened, they both mirrored wounds and did inner work to sustain the connection, and had a connection that was incredibly intimate. So Venus in the 12th can bring up a romantic interest, a connection that will be profound in terms of inner healing. It can also mean the native will choose to heal and do inner work, and not have the desire to date that year. It can mean codependency is the natives undoing that year in their relationships.

Sun in the 1st house ☀️🥂- Focus is on the self, growing and improving the body. The native could go to the gym and explore new routines, or be athletic that year. Participating in a sport they enjoy. Their appearance will go through a massive change too, someone I knew impulsively cut their hair after drinking lmao. It was super long, and then they went short! The father could be in the natives life a lot more, whether thats through spending time and bonding, or being intrusive and invasive. The native will realize a lot in terms of their strength, depending on which zodiac sign falls in the sun. For example, if its Leo, the native will realize a lot of their determination; strength, resilience and their self esteem will improve.

Venus in the descendant or 7th house 🤍☕️- Dating someone! Or meeting someone who is a potential partner. Venus was in my 7th house for my SR when I got into long term relationships. Conj. NN will be an impactful relationship, NN is also associated with destruction in a way because it rebuilds, and what doesn’t work must leave, so that relationship I had was incredibly chaotic 😅 But for those who have Venus in the 7th house, you will potentially meet a long term partner that year. Check the zodiac sign and that’ll tell you how! Someone with Gemini Venus 7th house met someone online.

Venus in the 1st 🌟🌹- Appearance changes! A glow up will definitely happen that year, and ideals of your relationship will change a lot. What you expect, want, desire will go through changes. You may prefer healing therapy of some kind for the body, like massages, or yoga. Something to restore the body physically. You could absolutely be in the gym too!

Saturn in the 1st 🌙🦋- Having to be more structural and disciplined within yourself. Setting new routines and maturing personal boundaries. You may struggle with dissatisfaction and apathy this year, because you’re moving towards what fulfills you. Check the zodiac sign to see what will be maturing most within yourself that year. For example if its in Pisces, you’ll be maturing the part of you that has wishes, dreams, but has been passive in taking an approach to make them happen.

Venus in the 5th house🌙🥂- More fun and romance this year! The chance to get to know someone and friendship. However your approach to dating will differ depending on what zodiac sign falls in the 5th house. For example, if it’s in Capricorn, you’ll take on a reserved and detached approach to relationships. You’ll show up practical.

Capricorn Venus 🦋🤍- Material matters are important and you’ll likely pick up extra hours this year. Your approach to relationships are practical, refined and you have a long term focus. You don’t want anyone or anything unnecessary, as you know it’ll hinder you this year. There’s a need to mature when it comes to relationships and understanding how they work, because Capricorn is ruled by Saturn. There will be lessons on emotional intimacy this year!

Leo Venus 🥂🌟- This year there will be a focus on attracting the one potentially, and going big. Not playing small in relationships and attracting abundance. Loyalty is important, and the native wants a commitment within their friendships or romantic interests. The native steps into their worth and their value. By valuing themselves, they learn to realize their value in other peoples life. Lessons regarding self worth and value will come up, and the native will find themselves having to speak up for what they deserve in relationships!

Thats all I have ya’ll! I hope y’all enjoyed and please support this blog 💗🤗 it’s very much appreciated! If ya’ll would like I’d love to do more of this!

[multidimensionalguidance]

🌫️🌷Venus Observations #2 🌷🌫️

Venus and Neptune have a really interesting interaction when in aspect to each other, particularly with the conjunction, opposition, and square. It’s not that sextiles and trines are not important, but since they are softer, the energies tend to flow with more ease and therefore, less difficulties.

Venus is exalted in Pisces, so it would bring no surprise that individuals with this planetary aspect would display similar traits to the sign, if not maybe even stronger.

Natives with the strong aspects (preferably less that 6 orbs) are perceived as distinctively beautiful in some way. Not necessarily in a conventional way, but more so in their aura field, which then translates to the physical on some level. When Venus makes a strong aspect to the angles (specially ASC or MC) the native can be seen as classic beauties or it simply just draws a lot of judgment from others when it comes to their appearance or mannerisms. Venus with any other planet in general enhances and beautifies it. Pleasure becomes associated with the traits of the planet that its touching it.

When Venus meets Neptune, the planet that represents inspiration, spirituality, illusions, healing, and loss it causes the same effect but much stronger.

Therefore, these natives can find joy, pleasure or become enamored with the Neptunian topics mentioned above. Since Venus thrives the most in relationships that are inherently spiritual, “rose-colored”, or somewhat obscured from the public it encourages to only feel that inner harmony when love comes from a source that isn’t material or seen at all.

In essence we understand love to be a non-physical experience, even if we’re used to being brainwashed by the notion of pursuing this experience through physical or material experiences. The media tries to lead us to filling a void, that simply cannot ever feel complete without spiritual consciousness.

Venus in Pisces or Venus-Neptune natives despite being seen as those who foolishly and innocently love others almost to a detrimental level, understand this the most. They feel as if love can only be found in the moments that are filled with emotions and spiritual connections. A moment where the love they feel seems to be connected with everything, which it is, since the universe thrives when its in energetic harmony.

Does it mean these placements have an easy time simply because of its exaltation? Yes and no. They are given the blessing of finding beauty in everything, but that is exactly the same reason why they are prone to looking for love and beauty in all the “wrong” places. To them, there’s no such thing as an experience that can’t be filled with love and beauty. They will romanticize and beautify absolutely everything, including those who only wish to use them for their own benefit.

For example, if Neptune squares or opposes Venus, the person might choose the wrong partners in life and will tend to idealize them/not see them for who they really are.

At their most difficult moments they become victims of a lot of traumatic experience in love and struggle with understanding feminine energy (which is not exclusively related to gender), which can only be restored by recognizing that love truly lies within them, and in that which is the most connected to the universe, like nature. Many who have a harsh time with recognizing this can end up trying to transform themselves into a version they’ll love or others will, without noticing that they already embody that beautiful version they so desperately seek. They forget that their beauty truly comes from their own inner world and the amazing gifts that lie in there. They are creative geniuses, in every sense of the word. Similarly to Venus-Ketu/South Node natives.

I’ve personally noticed they tend to succumb to enhancing their bodies wether permanently or temporarily, as they initially may try to pursue their best outward self. They crave for others to see them, as they feel within.

It is advised for these natives to be extra careful when involved in romantic scenarios and with the uses of substances that can make them feel more connected to their inner world or the spiritual realm. You are already tied to the universe’s waves by nature, and without much effort. Instead of pouring the oceans of love you have to others all the time, do it instead consciously towards your passion, creativity, and those who are truly interested in your well being.

Note: Venus in the 12th house can also apply to this post to a certain extend.

[horizon-verizon]

https://www.tumblr.com/evebestthinker/751366825102770176/the-way-he-looks-at-her-as-if-no-one-else?source=share

It's funny that their relationship is so romanticized. Whether by showrunners or even people in general.

Corlys and Rhaenys in the original material have a bigger age difference than Daemyra, yet no one talks about grooming.

Rhaenys, from what I remember, certainly chose Corlys, but Rhaenyra also chose Daemon and everyone prefers to say that she was groomed to want her sexy old uncle... 🙄

The fact is that, apart from this age difference, Corlys only wanted Rhaenys to be queen for her own person and the name of her house, let's be realistic. And in Fire and Blood, it was actually Laenor and not Rhaenys who was actually proposed to the throne with Viserys.

Unlike Daemon, Corlys has also always shown a genuine interest in the throne, whether in HOTD or Fire and Blood. This guy fights for power and always goes against his wife's wishes in general.

Yet they are supposedly a great relationship ? A great marriage of love ? A couple goal ? People's double standards are astounding to me.

I will add that Corlys, aged 60 in Fire and Blood, is having sex, from what I remember, with a girl under 16 or in that age range it seems to me. In any case, a close age that Rhaenys was when he married her at the time, showing that he has a type of age range for women, unlike Daemon who in Fire and Blood was with women of varying ages.

So basically the directors of HOTD said to themselves that Corlys and Rhaenys would make a superb love story ? WTF seriously ? They keep talking about Daemyra's age difference but obviously it's only a problem when it's them and not the others.

Actually, what I'm trying to say is that... most of the criticisms leveled at Daemon : Bad father, bad husbands, way too old for his ultimate wife, power-hungry, throne-seeking, loving the girls are rather young... Well it's actually Corlys who ticks all the boxes. Show and or Book.

Disclaimer: This is to note the discrepancy that fandom does when it tries to bring up age differences, how biased people are towards Daemon. You can look to la-pheacienne's notes about GRRM and age differences HERE, where we talk abt Doylist vs Watsonian readings of GRRM's storytelling and over age diff creepiness vs what story the dude is telling in-world.

It mimics how people will say "Targs are colonizers" and then they ignore what the Westerosi did to the giants and twstsote/children of the forest. There's a clear bias and lack of reading being done, because yeah I agree. Like, Corlys is an impressive man, but that has little to do with this conversation topic. (For all who don't know, Corlys was 37 when 16-yr old Rhaenys chose him as her husband; Rhaenyra was born in 97, Daemon in 81; RhaneysxCorlys has a 21 diff, Daemyra has a 16 diff)

In the show, it makes way less sense as to why Rhaenys & Corlys are together. I did a TikTok abt it, but here it is:

Rhaenys has constantly said that she considers a "good" leader AND [good] person to be one who goes out of their way to avoid violence, war, or great conflicts. Someone who takes measures to make sure their own actions do not lead to conflicts that may hurt even more than themselves. Even at the cost of one's own political advantages. She values what HotD has implied is "self-restraint" & defends Rhaenyra from Corlys' saying everything is her fault [specifically by reasoning that out of all the men who are there, Rhaenyra is the one who is trying to not go to war or any battle]. She is also supposed to care very much for her daughter, Laena, and her own grandchildren through her. Supposedly above Corlys' interests (episodes 6-7). Compare this to Corlys' self-interest evidenced by his pushing for a Velaryon-marriage through his 12 year old daughter & keeping Lucerys as his heir DESPITE the would-have-been-clear discontent from Vaemond abt the Driftmark succession PLUS how the Velaryon boys wete not his grandkids biologically AND Rhaenys advis[ing] him to name [their] granddaughters instead. With every value and action these two take for & against their family and against the other's desires….For what the HotD writers & whoever responsible wrote for these two…. Why do we believe that this ship is one of the best ones --or even makes logical sense-- to earn the reputation of being one of the best during this part of ASoIaF history?! The [show]relationship doesn't stand up on its own without the looks & performances of its actors. It also gets away with the nonsensical dynamic in two other things:

the constant defense of "two canons"

the many time jumps that remove any possibility for us or the writers to show us how these two actually like each other & continue to like each other

Once again, Daemon was never a good person, but he is also not what is depicted in HotD and grooming does not = DV. they are not the same, thus you do not have to include DV with grooming by saying it "eventually" happens with groomers. Espe when GRRM has a track record for just stating abuse when it happens (Jaehaerys with Alysanne, her pushed to keep giving birth; Robert Baratheon with Cersei):

[strawbrygashez]

Haven’t made a post about postal in a lonnnng time but I randomly thought a lot about Movie Dude x Postal 1 Dude the other day so… here’s some hcs about them together 0_o

•P1 dude becomes completely obsessed with Movie Dude just after meeting him once. Hes so intrigued by him since he’s the only ‘normal’ postal dude he’s ever met. Like yeah Java Dude is pretty normal but even he gets up to real dumb stuff just for root beer so when he meets a Pdude that doesn’t just randomly throw themselves into random situations for no real reason.. he’s curious 🧐

•He knows that Movie Dude is a postal dude which should mean he must be at least somewhat messed up but he ignores that and romanticizes him a lot in his head. like he pictures him as a pure angel who somehow hasn’t been truely cursed with being a ‘Postal Dude’. He wants to protect that and him from the other Dudes that can possibly bring out his ‘bad side’ since P1 believes Mdude somehow was lucky enough to have that side suppressed deep down.

•Part of why P1 likes him so much is because he views Movie Dude as a sign that there is hope yet that a Postal Dude can be ‘normal’. He wants to believe that so much that his mind comes up with excuses for all the killing Movie Dude did.. and or his mind literally just filters out any mention of Movie Dude having done anything bad lol

•Movie Dude is definitely taken back at p1 and the way he treats him but ultimately decides that he’s happy he can be a glimmer of hope for P1.. even if P1 is just imagining a extremely glamorized version of MDude.

•P1 is quick to defend Mdude from the other dudes and pull him away from the others since he doesn’t want Mdude ‘corrupted’. Like if the other Dudes are pleading for Mdude to come along to like.. rob some houses or whatever, P1 will sit on top of Mdude so he can’t get up and join in 💀

•Forgive me if I’m wrong, I didn’t watch the movie all the way thru but I believe it wasn’t ever shown that Mdude was extremely religious or anything like that??? But anyways, I think even tho he doesn’t particularly care about being a good Christian boy, he will join P1 when he wants to pray or make a quick stop at a church.

-kinda related, kinda not. Movie Dude has messed with P1s cross necklace while P1 was going on about something or another. He gently tugged on the chain & held up the cross while running his thumb over it. He didn’t even realize how much P1 was flustered by it until p1 cleared his throat and he saw how red he was.

•When P1 finally does see Mdude do something very ‘Postal Dude-y’ like killing someone, he shuts himself away in his room for days. His only glimmer of hope crushed. He only comes back out if Mdude or another Dude can have a genuine, meaningful conversation about being a Postal Dude with him :/

•When p1 and him get close enough, P1 just ends up staying in MDudes room and brings all his stuff in. Because he was already coming in a lot at night for a source for comfort since his thoughts particularly spiral a lot worse during the night when he’s by himself. Eventually he doesn’t even need Mdude to stay up and keep watch for whatever P1 is imagining can happen.. he just basically cuddles up to him and that’s good enough to keep him grounded to reality.

•Speaking of the previous point, I feel like Mdude actually had a good understanding things like schizophrenia and other mental illnesses that the others just never considered they might have or even gave a second thought about looking into. So when P1 is breaking down or having bad episodes, he knows how to handle it a lot better than a lot of the others would.

(He would help the others too if they aren’t hard headed about opening up about what’s going on or what’s bothering them.)

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

i was just thinking about the fact that there are a few toxic sapphic ships i've encountered in fandom spaces and it made me realize why c//a is one of the worse.

it's because one: the source material tries to gaslight everyone into thinking the ship isn't toxic

and two: the fandom always end up more toxic than the ship itself.

my reasons for this is simple. i used to watch a show called legacies with a ship, p*sie who is seen as toxic within canon (like they were not romantized within canon AT ALL.), but the fandom for the ship didn't see it that way, making the shippers super toxic when it was pointed out. and tried to gaslight anyone who believed it was toxic that it wasn't or that it wasn't as toxic as something else within the show! so it can't be that bad! not realizing two things can be toxic at once. and the fact the show acknowledged that they were toxic, made it entertaining to watch. but it was easier to point out all the issues within canon that was never retconned so they couldn't exactly disagree with it, just try to change the subject to make the ship looks better.

whereas since spop's canon says that c//a isn't toxic by season 5, the shippers takes that and runs with it. because it can't be toxic if canon says so!!! (which .... no, actually. it called romanticizing) and it creates a more toxic environment for critical thinking because of the fact the canon gives the shippers something of an out. and gives them this reason to argue and be worse than the ship itself, because canon says so! so anyone who disagress with canon is the toxic one! when we're just going by the first four seasons (and even some of season five) that shows, no, they are actually really toxic even outside of their sister dynamic. and i wished the show embraced it, instead of trying to write it off. because i rather that than this loop of seeing people not having any crictical thinking skills believing that canon is "perfect" and if you disagree, you're obviously wrong since everything that happened before season five no longer matters and context no longer exist, and it's exhauting.

c//a shippers would actually be more tolerable if they just say "yes, this is toxic but i still like it" then trying to justify themselves on how it's Good and Healthy ship.

any way, rant over. thank you for this blog, i hope you have a great day. and if you want me to expand or explain anything i mentioned here, i'm happy to do so!

i agree with everything here, i have nothing more to add <3

[atopvisenyashill]

why do you infantilize Lyanna like she doesn't know her own mind? she's already a grown woman if we go by the standards of Westeros. you might as well say Daenerys ordering the torture of the daughters is done under duress. or joffrey was just a misguided boy in the end. He's even younger than Lyanna. Ygritte would have slit Jon's throat when they were alone if she really wanted to. same with Arya if she married Ramsay. it's in the text that is what they would do and they parallel Lyanna. don't you think the author was trying to tell us that Rhaegar did not rape Lyanna?

again i say your justification in text does not exist.

everything you are mentioning isn’t even remotely similar to what lyanna went through! joff, dany, robb, they are LEADERS making MILITARY CHOICES that involve killing, torturing, burning crops, sacking cities, and harassing peasantry. lyanna is third born, not in any sort of leadership position, and makes a dumb choice for reasons we don’t have any context for. this is like saying alys harroway is responsible for the shitty decisions maegor makes since she agreed to marry an already married man. i’m also not reiterating the arya point beyond - go reread her chapters. seriously, go reread her riverlands arc and watch her, gendry, and hot pie get their asses handed to them over and over again and then tell me that she would be capable without any magical help of killing ramsey.

and think about what you are you saying here - does this mean ramsey never raped jeyne poole because she didn’t kill him? does this mean rhaella was never raped by aerys, because she didn’t kill him? is daenerys not a rape victim, because in order to cope with the horror that was her life married to drogo, she forced herself to fall in love with him and mourns his death? was naerys not almost literally raped to death by aegon, all because she was too sickly to kill him? in the show, alicent is 15 when she marries viserys - are you saying this was fine actually, because according to westerosi standards she was basically a woman grown? sansa parallels lyanna too - does this mean joffrey never abused her, because she romanticizes him in her head for a while?

also, do you want to know ygritte never actually slits jon’s throat (after losing a fight to him, because sometimes you just lose a fight, a fact you have very pointedly ignored to make this silly point)? it’s because jon is nice to her! he doesn’t, for example, keep her under constant watch in a tower guarded by three of the most elite knights in all of westeros, until she dies of a birthing fever while screaming out for tormund to come save her!! we have like three lines of dialogue from lyanna and not a one is about rhaegar! you are citing a source that does not exist!!

and i am ending with - i do not give a single solitary shit that lyanna was considered a grown adult at 16 by westerosi standards. drogo’s marital rape is acceptable by westerosi standards. robert’s abuse of cersei is acceptable by westerosi standards. what EYE think the author is telling us is that sometimes princes do not have the best interests of their people at heart, and sometimes little girls will romanticize the terrors they experience so they can get through the day. what EYE think is that dany, sansa, and jeyne, all very young girls who are married off to powerful men with no choice, all think of killing themselves to escape their lives. because 14, 15, 16, is the age of a CHILD and not an adult.

[fantasyinvader]

I was watching a video on why Japanese media is so focused on youth, especially high school. The TLDR is that for the Japanese, high school is romanticized as their last experience with freedom before they enter adulthood. The last time they can just hang with their friends at their own leisure, back before they enter a career and the dreaded Japanese work environment. Rather than looking back at high school as a sucky place, it's viewed as something to long for afterwards resulting in a lot of media romanticizing it in order to cash in on the appeal.

But this just ignores the fact that Japan is a meritocracy, and even during high school there's focus on studying in order to get into a good school, because getting into a good school can result in getting a good job and enjoying financial success. But that's not really the case of what's going on in Japan, as those high paying positions are already filled by people who got to them first. Likewise, in companies people are expected to work not for their own sake but the sake of the company, which can be abused in people required to work unpaid overtime, go to afterhours parties, hell people are criticized for being the first person to leave at the end of their shift while others are doing that unpaid overtime in order to look good. People are meant to follow their elders/superiors, even if those leaders have made mistakes and problems worse, because that's how Japan follows tradition. It's led to problems like Japan's missing generation, how the Japanese economy burst in the late 80's and still really hasn't recovered, and the infamous black companies.

In terms of anime and manga, people just want to escape from modern Japanese society. Not just in using stories set in a high school as a form of escapism, but isekai stories or stuff like Zom 100 where Japanese society collapses and rather than viewing it as hell the protagonists view it as a means to be free and pursue the dreams they've given up on. Or you get slow life stories about people moving from the city to a more relaxing life in the country, as well as all manner of power fantasies where you can just brute force the world into making sense.

In modern Japanese, the word hadou is used to refer to bosses who abuse their power. And at the same time, the devs of Houses believed that people would focus more on the school section of the story. And this got me thinking.

Think about it like this, Edelgard is supposed to represent hadou. She talks a lot about merit, and like a significant proportion of Japanese society doesn't believe in social safety nets. The Japanese text has her state that she's going to put the world back to the way it was, a return to tradition. Likewise, like Japanese society she also believes that change has to come from the top, namely her remaking society the way she believes it should be run. She's also an Imperialist who has been fed historical revisionism, which she never questions despite knowing her real source and their intentions.

Edelgard represents the worst aspects of Japanese society.

Now, go back to that romanticization of the high school experience and how the devs thought people would focus more on the Academy portion of the game. Time passing is a motif of the game, with the Japanese name for the game invoking the passage of the seasons. Time is always going forward (minus the odd divine pulse), it waits for no man and once passed you can't go back. Mechanically, we get the game's calendar system limiting how much grinding we can do in contrast to past FE games with grinding. The story isn't going to stop just because you want to grind EXP or supports. And with the passage of time comes maturity.

Going back to what the devs have said, Edelgard being a villain is meant to be a twist. Supporting her means cementing Fodlan as a meritocracy, a place where people are expected to look after themselves and not rely on others according to her solo ending which shows that her big speech against Rhea was just BS. She'll even admit to walking the path of hadou up until that point, and despite her words that's not longer the case her victory is still supposed to lead to hadou. All this happens because when her mask came off and she was revealed as the Flame Emperor, the player didn't see her for what she was. They saw her as the romanticized school girl she had pretended to be up until that point.

Supporting the system that is most like Japanese society leads to tyranny.

The flipside is oudou. Dimitri's ending was written in direct opposition to Edelgard's and is seen as radical in Japan. Rather than consolidating power on himself, he gives it to the masses so that societal change comes from them, all while he also works to support those in need rather than leaving them to fend for themselves. It's also present in Claude's ending, as he makes a point to bring up stopping Edelgard's hadou. His route sees him mature, realize he was wrong about things, and as a result changes his stance. He also opens up, working with others to accomplish his goals while also realizing that simply erasing lines won't bring people together. His ending sees Fodlan reset and rebuilt in contrast to Edelgard's restoration of the Empire. Finally, it's also present in SS (through the Japanese name for the Sword of the Creator invoking Heaven's Mandate) where Byleth and the Black Eagles don't side with Edelgard after all she's done. Doing the right thing is not always easy, and SS is meant to be the hardest route simply because it means fighting someone that you may been close with. But the alternative is just blindly following your house leader, whose route repeatedly makes her out to be a liar manipulating others for her own gain and again it leads to tyranny. Instead, Byleth takes over as the leader of the Church and their former students.

SS, AM and VW are all supposed to lead to better societies. Lessons that could lead to better a Japan, all tied to the idea of growing up into being a responsible adult rather than expecting the person on top to magically solve everything. If anything, it makes this obsession with the freedom of youth and high school Japan out to be an issue holding it back. Japanese society has plenty of problems and whatever your poison escapism isn't going to solve them. People stepping up and taking control of their own lives rather than just having blind faith in their leaders, supporting and empowering each other rather than believing that people only get what they earn, adopting new points of view rather than regressing to tradition, even taking in the perspective of outsiders, all of those things can help make things better. This longing for high school, conversely, only leads to how Hideaki Anno once described Japan: A nation of children.

And, really, the fact people make up elaborate headcanons in order to say Edelgard is the real hero despite what the game's creators say? That's just people revealing how childish they really are. After all, Houses had a CERO rating of B, rated ages 12 and up. This game is something that is supposed to be understood by middle-schoolers, yet some folks can't accept that their favorite is a villain who does bad things

[problematicfactive]

factive of one of the columbine shooters here (i didn't see a dni in your pinned, sorry if im crossing any boundaries or making you uncomfortable) and just. thank you. thank you for everything. i try hard to separate from source just to make other people like me and feel comfortable talking to me but i still have all the same interests (or at least similar) that i used to. i don't want to hurt anyone but people just immediately assume that because they see that i use the same name and look the same and like the same things and i never feel like im being entirely myself. so thank you. i feel seen for the first fuckin time

I'm glad I can help

If you're referring to the fact that we were in a school shooting, I can assure you that we're fine interacting with Columbine factives. It's something we knew we'd have to work on if we ran a blog like this. We don't have a DNI, factives no matter how harmful in source are allowed to make themselves known here. I'm glad you feel known.

I know exactly what you mean. I keep the same face. The same name. I still like some of the same things (and even though I'm from a movie which is technically fictional) I get the same backlash in public spaces. People act like being who I am means I romanticize and glorify doing bad things to people

And I don't

And neither do you

I'm glad you feel seen here. We do see you. And we welcome you with open arms

[genericpuff]

Fun fact, the story of Hades and Persephone has actually been romanticized since long before Twilight came out. Never mind antiquity, but in terms of modern media, the earliest example I can think of comes from Hercules: the Legendary Journeys, where the episode that retells the Homeric Hymn to Demeter came out in 1995! And if we do account for antiquity, the Ancient Greeks themselves saw the marriage as ideal and there actually are a few ancient sources that basically have Persephone preferring Hades and the Underworld to being aboveground with Demeter, but it should also be noted that these sources are Roman and not Greek (specifically Virgil's Georgics and Lucan's Pharsalia).

Don't get me wrong, Twilight definitely had a lot of influence here, I just thought I'd point out that this interpretation of the myth has been around for way longer than most people probably realize.

Oh I know, but that's sort of next to the point I was trying to make in that previous post. When I compared it to Twilight I guess like... I'm comparing it to the entire genre and trend of shitty manipulative romances being both romanticized as well as turned into "global phenomenons". Like they were romanticized before but at least they were just shitty cheap books in the back of the bookstore, you know? Now that they're turned into these big Hollywood fiascos, it makes it even easier to normalize these types of relationships and concepts. Even if we look back on Twilight and 50 Shades now and call it out for what it is, there are still a lot of people who absorbed those books/films in incredibly damaging ways (especially younger audiences in Twilight's case). You are what you eat, is what I'm saying. And it's a much bigger problem than LO but I do think LO is a symptom of the problem, which is - instead of stories being written by men through a toxic male gaze in which women are objectified and hypersexualized and men are told not to cry, now we have stories being written by woman through a toxic female gaze in which women are "empowered" by being carried around like dolls by an emotionally stunted man who wants to cry but just whips them in the bedroom instead.

It's still pretty much the male gaze but with extra steps.

IDK if I'm explaining that well though LMAO Obviously I don't want to generalize and reduce the entire dark romance genre to its worst writers but this is why it annoys me to no end that stories like Twilight, After, 50 Shades, and LO keep getting propelled to the forefront of the genre zeitgeist. It makes the people who aren't a bunch of creeps writing their kinky self-insert power fantasies look bad just by affiliation. And it sets an incredibly shitty standard for those who are introduced to the genre through these works.

The reality is (and I'm speaking very candidly here from my own experiences so take with grains of salt if you must, you don't have to agree) being a woman - or being an under-represented minority/individual in general, whether you're LGBTQ+ or neurodivergent or POC - doesn't mean you're magically protected from thinking or writing the same stuff as the problematic majority. You are what you eat. If you grew up consuming toxic heteronormative content (which EVERYONE does because it's FUCKING EVERYWHERE LMAO) then of course you're gonna go on to write the same stuff unless you challenge it in some way, either by reading other opinions that don't "play it safe" just to look good, or reading other content entirely that isn't subject to the norm of "what's popular". Always be willing to broaden your horizons and don't forget - just because it makes a lot of money doesn't automatically mean it's good.

[ohsalome]

I am so sorry for you that some of the Western press is just garbage when it comes to ruzzia. More concerned to write dozens of articles about like one isolated case of a ruzzian who appear to be anti-war, often picking examples were the impact is grossly overstated in Western press, having had no impact in ruzzia at all. I'll say that there are very very very select few ruzzians helping Ukrainians such as those helping Ukrainians to leave ruzzia. But guess what? They are not necessarily anti-war and even if they know to keep themselves anonymous and out of the public eye. But if anyone from Moscovia publicly denounces the war, they'll get a shit ton of coverage and even more asylum offers. It's ridiculous. Let them fix their own country. Europe literally tries to get Syrians to go back (or forces them to) to a country in which the ruzzian state also occassionally just decides to bomb full neighbourhoods until there is nothing left of them. But god forbid the poor uwu "anti-war" ruzzians aren't giving visas. The Ex-Soldier with his stupid book is a prime example of how ruzzians will exploit the heck out of Europe while not ever even considering to shed a single tear for Ukrainians (the worst being the absolite ridiculous excuse from the exiled ruzzian opposition org that they never would have thought he would lie to them - fellow ruzzians :O like no eff you, you willently ignored that he voluntarily rejoined the army and never gave a shit about how Ukrainians responded to the disaster). Same for Navalny ofc (and while I do consider it correct, that he was treated for being poisoned, I still know he has never renounced his right wing connections and is just as imperialistic as Putin so no - he ain't a viable "alternative" - as much as the press tries to whitewash him).

The most rational statements from ruzzians about ruzzia have come from those who left because of the regime before or right after Crimea liek Kasparov and even with him not all he says is perfect, but you know, he also has 0 ambitions to return.

On the other hand, where are all the heartwarming stories about Ukrainians? They are way more interesting, there are countless of those. There are so many Ukrainians who also willingly speak about the trauma experienced by ruzzians during occupation but I guess rape, torture and execution just gets "boring" after a year.

While I think that, as an East German, German politicians have come quite far - took 'em long enough - I totally can see what the other anon mentioned. Our press is absolutely desperate to romanticize ruzzians all the time. We hate the idea of "all ruzzians" so we latch onto "not all". Which I find particularly upsetting, since this debate has been had in Germany. Extensively. And what was largely agreed upon in German politics, culture etc.? That all Germans carry guilt for the holocaust and destruction wrought upon Europe. That being a bystander is not enough of an excuse. Sure we also latch onto the Germans that were an exception to the rule like crazy because we need the affirmation that not all Germans were okay with this, but there are some unspoken and actual laws in place. A whole chunk of put constitution is build around the concept of the common guilt for atrocities.

Aaaaand yet. When our press looks to ruzzia they simply cannot cope with the idea that maybe in some ways, history is repeating itself again.

Sorry for the vent. But I hope you know, that there are also some Westerners (if I count as such... always bit complicated as East German) that seek out Ukrainian sources to understand and see the war through your eyes.

Nothing much to add. I feel the same outrage.

[dustedmagazine]

Marc Masters — High Bias: The Distorted History of the Cassette Tape (University of North Carolina Press)

There’s a popular theory, advanced with varying degrees of seriousness, that the best kind of music is whatever was released when you were about 16. There’s also a fairly well-known Brian Eno quotation about the way we tend to romanticize forms of media just as they fall out of currency, eventually becoming loved even for their shortcomings. One of the biggest strengths of Marc Masters’ High Bias, a new history of the compact cassette (as it was originally known), is that it refuses both the personally biased special pleading of the former and the possibly distorting format nostalgia of the latter. Instead Masters brings together a fascinating technical history of the creation, limits, and virtues of the cassette tape, an overview of some of the areas where the medium has been most richly used and adopted, and a reflection on its continued vitality.

That last aspect, which is reflected on throughout High Bias and forms the focus of the book’s last chapter, is one example of the balance Masters manages to strike. It would be easy to fall into a kind of strenuous insistence on the most optimistic vision of the cassette’s future, to tell us that it could or should regain a level of prominence it hasn’t seen in decades. But to do so would require a… selective choice of data, and would probably fall into a kind of “protesting too much” register for many readers. Masters instead has the confidence and knowledge of the actual current (vital, but subcultural) role of cassette tapes to make the more modest but resonant point that the ‘cassette revival,’ such as it is, is already with us and shows no signs of going away. And he both puts this in its proper, inspiring context and makes a persuasive case for its importance because of the book’s continual emphasis on the democratizing and personalizing aspects of cassette tape as a medium.

The opening chapters, which include relatively brief looks at the context of recording technology prior to and at the time of the cassette’s introduction, set the stage well. Masters doesn’t shy away from acknowledging the social, marketing and profit motives impinging on the development and success of the medium (and the sometimes panicked response of the music industry to it, “home taping is killing music” and all), and points out how those aren’t totally separable from the explosion in personal expression that tapes allow. From there, High Bias branches out, looking at various places and times cassettes have helped or even allowed particular peoples, scenes or genres to be heard and spread in ways other media haven’t managed. From Deadheads to the early days of hiphop, Awesome Tapes From Africa to some of the more extremely personal examples that sometimes overlap with those covered in Michael Tau’s recent Extreme Music (reviewed on Dusted here), this slim volume doesn’t pretend to be exhaustive but does manage to illuminate enough different areas most readers may find themselves surprised by at least one of the many little pockets Masters looks into.

The second-last chapter, “The Tape Makers,” may be where High Bias hits many of its intended audience in an even more personal place. Here the book shifts slightly from people making music onto, or then distributed via, cassette, and instead delves into the personal mixtape. The balance between creation and curation is never that clearcut, of course, and the chapter doesn’t pretend it is. But whereas after the cassette we have burned CDs and playlists, before the team at Philips first brought the compact cassette to the world there was simply no mass-available form that offered the particular form of expression that a mixtape does. As with the rest of High Bias, here Masters uses a blend of interviews, secondary sources and direct experience to convey the unique role and impact of the cassette, both in its historical moment and persisting into the current day.

It’s not that the cassette tape is a “better” medium than vinyl, CD, DAT, or saved or streamed digital files (what would “better” even mean in anything other than a subjective sense?), and it’s not that High Bias, despite its doubly accurate title (both a desired quality in a cassette and an implicit acknowledgment that this a very pro-tapes book), tries to make that claim. But Masters clearly had in his sights a compelling portrait of the strengths of the format, and what makes it different from those other media, and here he convincingly portrays it as a special and worthy one. He’s even set up a, well, mixtape for the book on Bandcamp (linked at the beginning of this review), 12 tracks all sourced from current tape labels he discusses in the book. Notably, you can buy that mix on a cassette.

Ian Mathers

[anendoandfriendo]

Y'know if we can say it just to say it,

Being a fictive-heavy system and trying to be normal about a character is sometimes like "do I want to be them or fuck/date them," and sometimes it's BOTH for varying reasons jodvsohvsouvuosvous.

Fictosexual and fictoromantic for all of the "wrong" reasons. Giving the reclamation of fuckin "animesexual" and "animeromantic" a Legitimate Case because holy hell do we have a shitton of anime fictives here. F/O is not just a fandom term. You get the idea.

Even if it's NOT every system member.

Even if IT IS every system member.

Here's to those who have relationships that would be "wretched" in the outerworld but where your inner world constructs make them consensual and less wretched.

And for soulbonds who people would just see as "aged-up" versions of a "source" they were never aware of until they started living here

For those who are partners with doubles of themselves because welp, you're still technically different individuals.

And we cannot forget the systems where the Harkness Test is an Actual Measure Of Consent because tbh, system shit gets real freaky really fast folks.

And there's probably a lot more that we missed, but no, your relationship does not make "fiction affects reality," a fucking gotcha! in an argument about fiction. Once you started to exist you became an actual person and not a character. If this has been your biggest fear: you know your own brain best and how it works. You most likely have morals that would tell you where to draw the line and that is good! And, we cannot emphasize this enough, you know your own brain best and how it works.

Everyone else can just leave if they aren't having fun.

Plurality can make things complicated and make exceptions that would not exist in an outer/external-world relationship.

So shoutout to the systems who are stereotypically "wrong/bad" systems where that extends into their lovelives. Especially if it's for having sexuality or romanticism that exists specific to their system only.

Please continue to love each other like this no matter what the world says.

~ Being mean will get you blocked on this post. We are not here to debate you. This post is not an invitation to debate the existence of systems and how headmates are "allowed" to interact with one another. ~

[magxit]

Matty played Madison Square Garden 3 months ago, so he was in NYC. He also was on the Johnathon Ross Show in England 2 months ago.// But Anon, Taylor was in LA and then Glendale in tour rehearsals during this time. There is absolutely zero evidence they were in the same city after the January appearance at the 1975 concert. I think people are getting tripped up by what we’ve actually seen versus that obviously false Sun article: there is atm nothing to suggest anything more than a fling/situationship is happening here. People need to get better at understanding the Sun often gets kernels of truth right but the details horribly wrong. As 2 people who were already friends and collaborators and had a history of 10 years, very little needed to transpire between them to get to a fling/situationship happening. Matty clearly is into her and has been and probably took his shot as soon as he heard the news. Not to mention her hooking up with someone else fresh off a break is her usual MO so I don’t get why people are struggling to understand how this could’ve happened? Also, people romanticizing him flying right after his gig to get to her: yeah cause he knew he’d get some (don’t underestimate what men will do for good sex) and once again, he’s been into her for some time and knew he needed to act fast here (he fumbled the bag previously).

The most obvious answer is usually the right one: Taylor’s first weeks on tour and then the switch to The 1 indicate the timing of the split and it being sudden. Obviously there were likely issues brewing for some time but you can’t ignore Joe was with her in LA until his film started and that he liked her pre-tour post and photo dumped himself at her Grammy party with Jack and the cats plus there were sightings of them in LA together through February). You also can’t ignore that it seems obvious something happened to cause her to pull the plug and that something made her friends immediately distance themselves from Joe too. Abi still follows some of the K family and Karlie and yet she immediately unfollowed Joe. I know some like to paint it like Taylor forces her pals to do this. But she clearly doesn’t make them choose based on multiple different connections several friends have to people who are on her shit list. So ask yourself why then did they all unfollow Joe so fast (especially since he’s rarely on SM)? And for those who say, why didn’t her pals know I’d ask have you been in an adult LTR? Issues or not, Taylor clearly believed she and Joe were going to make it (the house, her music, the likely engagement, etc). You don’t sell out your partner or share all the shit even with close friends when you expect to still be in the relationship - but also a legit source (People) indicated that pals did know they had ups and downs. But the biggest indication honestly should be how clearly Taylor is going through it in these past few weeks and even now (see last night’s show). We’ll see where this thing - whatever it is - between her and Matty goes. But with him back on tour shortly and her on tour too (plus everything she’s still dealing with) I’d be surprised if it goes on past May.

One last thing to point out: People is Tree’s go-to. When the Sun broke the TH news she didn’t comment and it played out as it did: a rebound or fling. When the Sun broke the Joe news, People had confirmation of the relationship within a couple hours because it was obviously something real. With this Sun article on Matty, People said nothing all week and then has only noted they were spotted together and the rumors from the Sun since. People would have gotten the confirmation this is a relationship if it actually was that. My guess is that we’ll see this play out like TH a bit and then it’ll fizzle.

.

[cto10121]

There is always that tendency of some people—antis and some fans alike—to characterize R&J as idealistic characters. But I don’t think that’s entirely true.

Oh, sure, they idealize each other. Tons. Juliet could literally step on him and Romeo would thank her. And Romeo could kill her entire family and Juliet would still be like “but he’s so hot tho 🥺.” When it comes to each other, R&J are proud, unabashed clowns.

But do they idealize their love? Do they idealize love itself? The answer is no, I think.

Quick denotative definition of idealism: “The cherishing or pursuit of high or noble principles, purposes, goals, etc.” I suppose the principles and goals may not necessarily be high or noble so long as they are thought on as such, but this still does not define R&J’s attitude towards their love, themselves, or their world.

For one thing, we have literally zero canonical evidence as to their attitudes towards the feud. They make no grand statements about their love overcoming their family’s feud, or even about the feud in general except in hard, practical terms. There is Romeo’s pointed “Here’s much to do with hate, but more with love,” and Juliet’s “If they do see thee, they will murder thee” and other practical considerations. Other than that, they don’t engage with the feud at all. So R&J are not idealistic in that sense.

What about in the sense of their love? R&J do romanticize each other: They are each other’s lord and lady, sun, angel, falcon. But that doesn’t stop them from fearing the worst from each other: Romeo fearing that Juliet would abandon him because of his killing Tybalt and Juliet’s balcony hangups over the possibility of Romeo just being in it for da sex. They both weigh these logical and real-world considerations. They both expect the other to act within the social rules of their established universe.

Romeo’s love for Rosaline, by contrast, is characterized as idealistic—as in, he likes the idea of her better than the reality (although even there, Romeo’s frustration with Rosaline’s chastity and her denial of him and sex are very much pointed). Even then Romeo quickly abandons this idealized love when immediately faced when something much more real. His language changes on a dime, becoming rich and original, but he also continues his theme of repudiating chastity—which is, of course, the ideal of virginity, of abstaining from sex.

R&J’s rather myopic pragmatism, in fact, even contributes to their tragedy. Had R&J been more pie-in-the-sky, our-way-or-the-highway type of characters, they probably would have left Verona on their own or come up with the crazy plan on their lonesome. As it is, it doesn’t even come up.

In Shakespeare’s source for his adaptation, Brooke’s Romeus and Juliet have a long discussion where Juliet suggests escaping Verona with him by disguising herself as a boy. Despite the fact that this employs one of Shakespeare’s most beloved tropes, this discussion is nowhere to be found in Shakespeare’s adaptation. No doubt because Shakespeare’s R&J are way too smart even to entertain such a dumb, reckless plan. But it’s also because they are so narrow in their pragmatism it doesn’t even occur to them that they, er, need not be separated. They could just…you know, go.

All in all, I’d say R&J are not inherently idealistic characters. On the contrary, they are pragmatic characters in the throes of real, transformative romantic love. Their inherent pragmatism does not fade and is even reflected in their love language. And of course, that pragmatism rises to the level of utter ruthlessness when Romeo finds out Juliet is dead and makes immediate plans for his death and when Juliet discovers Romeo is dead and immediately ends her life with stoic resolve.

The characters that are (arguably) idealistic, though? The Capulets and the Montagues. After all, what is the feud but a natural result of upholding the ideals of honor and pride? Even of love for one’s own house and family? Just because the narrative shows the feud for what it really is doesn’t mean that the characters themselves are not acting from these ideals.

And the one character that does believe in the ideals of the feud the most? Tybalt. The heads of houses, especially the Capulets, are mostly operating out of a sense of tradition, I feel: They are the enemy, so we hate. It is what it is. But Tybalt does believe in the ideals of the feud and society, its honor and pride. Mercutio even mocks him for being so molded to his ideals of honor that even his dueling style is by-the-book. And in the end, Tybalt pays these ideals with his life.

[benchowmein]

really missed the point. to say its laden with colonialism when talking about how a house is built feels only true by proxy of where it exists, not the role it played in colonialism (which you can make a stronger argument for the prairie farms, but they aren't the "cottages" in "cottagecore".) to break down parts of an aesthetic like cottagecore -- which can markedly vary -- and say it is influenced by colonialism (not even addressed the conversation about classism) implies more than just the era these "aesthetics" originated from (which is equally arguable, since then it becomes an argument about where an aesthetic's components originate from.) calling for colonialism to be mentioned on an aesthetics page is deviated from the conversation one wants to have about these countries and their cultures as a whole, which becomes a much larger task, and not about the components themselves, all of which are cherry picked for an individual's preference and what they consider cozy and cottagecore

dark academia is different in the sense that it heavily regards its aesthetic origins and ongoings with intellectualism and old european colleges (which spots its roots in harry potter and the "magical" novelty of going to school in a castle.) and the very heavy history of said colleges which, if an individual wanted to learn more about the implications around such colleges, then they should go to the respective places and learn about the college histories themselves.

I love that you describe cottagecore as being "cherry picked for an individual's preference and what they consider cozy and cottagecore". You are right: cottagecore girlies do cherry pick the palatable elements of a bygone age, and ignore their deep roots in feudalism, enclosure, colonialism, misogyny, and conservatism.

Your prose style is very leading: you use the impersonal pronoun 'one' to encourage a reader to agree with you. But Wikipedia is not about a 'conversation one wants to have', it is about compiling sources to present the pertinent information to readers. The article also goes into extreme and superfluous detail about Greek pastoral poetry. Do you think this is as relevant to cottagecore's development as, say, the Arts and Crafts movement? Do you think we shouldn't mention Orientalism when we discuss fashion in the late-Edwardian period because it turns the conversation into one about colonialism?

Just to point out as well: you can't say that prairie farms arent' the 'cottages in cottagecore'. There is no defined principle for what is and what isn't cottagecore. I would never describe Gierthoorn as the archetype of cottagecore, but I can recognise how it conforms to the aesthetic. Media set in early America and on the frontier is often used in cottagecore.

Dark Academia is much more obviously steeped in elitism, yes, but cottagecore is steeped in merely a different mindset from the same period. To consider the cottage as 'free' from the constraints of the town, to think of agriculture as an ornamental task, to idealise the 'natural purity' of the countryside and of a life of knitting and painting, is to romanticise the aesthetic of being poor. The cottage was not free. The common land was taken from the farmers and worked by a wealthy landowner. Farmers worked for a pittance on land they did not own, often in houses they did not own outright, and had barely enough to scrape by. Sure, we can cherry pick the good side of this, but that is exactly the danger of aestheticising a complex and multiply-realisable way of living.

It can all be summed up by this: the other editor's last edit to the article changed "According to critics cottagecore offers a nostalgic, romanticized view of rural life" to "According to critics cottagecore offers an realistic romanticized view of rural life". This is unfounded in the critics' work. It is not true. It is the personal opinion of an editor being inserted into an article. And they are describing my inclusion of documented critiques of the aesthetic as a personal opinion. And...they changed it to "an" for no reason