#people too. So much of this is enforced from within the community.

[rasairui]

I think anybody who thinks autism is more "accepted" nowadays is either in denial or can't see outside themselves. What we actually did is just popularize a really weird infantilized perception of autism that focuses on the symptoms that can be repackaged as "cute" or "quirky," and are continuing to treat people with inconvenient or even upsetting symptoms like garbage. And no I'm not talking about bigots who pull the "I'm literally neurodivergent" bs I'm talking about supposed allies telling me I'm acting like a child for getting too emotional when I literally have "Can't Regulate My Emotions" disorder, or that I'm moving weird, or that my voice never has the right tone to it. Sorry my autism doesn't stop and end at hand flapping and dinosaurs lmao I can gaurantee I'm not enjoying my meltdown any more than you are, buddy! In fact, I'd say I'm having a far worse time than you! I do not make a choice to be emotionally volatile nor do I feel good when I get upset. It's not my fault that emoting "properly" is a performance that takes energy and I really can't do it 100% of the time. Like idk it honestly feels like I still have to mask in supposedly progressive spaces just in a different way.

And of course this doesn't even start to get into people with higher support needs than me who are rarely acknowledged unless they themselves are doing it. It's one of the reasons those posts that are like "Do you think neurodivergence is just autism/adhd, and not (heavily stigmatized other disorder)?" rub me the wrong way. They always seem to be addressing the most sanitized version of autism possible which strikes me as counter intuitive to the point being made. And don't get me wrong, as a system I understand why it's being said but it just really frustrates me because the people these posts are about don't actually think severe cases of autism or adhd are neurodivergence either! They treat higher support needs people with the same disorders like shit!

No I do not think anyone who's ever made a post like that is a bad person nor do I expect every post to have a disclaimer containing every possible nuance but I do think a lot of them are not written with the existence of high support needs or "weird" autism symptoms in mind, which inadvertently feeds into this "palatable autism" thing people keep doing

[usermakki]

ㅤ· ₊ ⊹ · ₊ ⊹ · ᴀᴠᴀᴛᴀʀ ᴍᴇɴ + ʙᴏʏꜰʀɪᴇɴᴅ ᴛʜɪɴɢꜱ ;

ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ ; neteyam, lo’ak, tsu’tey, jake, ao’nung, rotxo x reader

ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ ; fluff so much fluff, aged-up!characters, dreamwalker!human!reader, na’vi!reader, gender neutral, dreamwalker!jake, established relationship, lowercase intended, the alternative tittle was avatar men + non-sexual dominance lol

ɴᴏᴡ ᴘʟᴀʏɪɴɢ ; eyes off you by prettymuch

ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ'ꜱ ɴᴏᴛᴇ ; this literally took me hours to write because my attention kept shifting to other things damn..

ᴍᴀꜱᴛᴇʀʟɪꜱᴛ

・・・・・・ ɴᴇᴛᴇʏᴀᴍ

﹒ɞ  answers questions meant for you neteyam is frighteningly attentive to your state of mind, any and all telling signs and gestures are swiftly picked up by your boyfriend. the moment he notices your brief hesitation when faced with a question or some probing from a fellow clan member, be it because you're in a cranky mood or scared, he's quick to step up and answer on your behalf. as long as you're comfortable, he doesn't mind being the mediator in the relationship.

﹒ɞ  hunts and prepares your meal as a mate, neteyam is a provider through and through. you'll never be short on anything, not if he can do something about it. "do you want mushroom steak or roasted sturmbeest ? oh, beanpod potato ? noted, i'll be quick then." neteyam prides himself on his unmatched hunting prowess, and he relishes in your praise and beaming face every time he enters your home with his catch in hands. your mate always takes your cravings and wants into account, and he takes great pleasure in preparing your meal, all the while you cuddle yourself to his side in anticipation.

﹒ɞ  enforces your boundaries he's always ready to ensure that no one takes advantage of your kindness. neteyam understands, how hard it is to deny a request, and he gets how mentally and physically taxing being everyone's go-to person is, honestly. he doesn't want you running around, losing sleep, and spreading yourself thin over someone else's business. "we'd appreciate it if you could do this on your own." even if, in order to do that, he needs to use a little force. you can rest assured that neteyam will always have your back.

ㅤ

・・・・・・ ʟᴏ'ᴀᴋ

﹒ɞ  makes way for you by drawing back the flap of a tent open as he stands to the side, holding onto your hand behind his back as he shoulders his way through the people, ushering you over to sit alongside him during meals. your home is right by him and he wants you there always, so he makes space for you wherever he is. lo’ak loves spending all of his available time with the one he loves most, and as long as he's around, you will always have a place in the world.

﹒ɞ  defends your reputation lo'ak's troublemaker abilities are well known within the clan since he was a small kid, and while he's been discouraged from those practices since getting with you, that doesn't mean he won't resort to some quarrel or ruthless prank to get back at someone who dares to bad-mouth, belittle or disrespect you. you've had to patch up your boyfriend a handful of times because of that, and despite being apprehensive of the consequences that await him, you fall deeper in love with him each time. "stop it! that's so cheesy. i'm not your silent protector, ew."

﹒ɞ  interrupts people who interrupt you if there's one thing Lo'ak hates more than being talked over, is when people talk over you. the sight of your beautiful features twisting into a frown is like a punch to the stomach. he doesn't care whom it is you're talking to either; your friends, his siblings, your siblings, a tutor, or an experienced warrior, the least he expects is for them to respect you. and he's relentless about it too, not backing down until you finish your sentence. “they weren’t done speaking."

ㅤ

・・・・・・ ᴛꜱᴜ’ᴛᴇʏ

﹒ɞ  escorts your rides it has become customary for the people to see tsu'tey accompanying you high and low–through the communal spaces and deep into the forest. his commanding hands constraining your pa'li as you struggle to conduct it, occasionally galloping behind you with his strong arms secured tightly around your waist to keep you from falling over. and he is even more fretful during your flights, hovering with his banshee close to yours, calling out directions. tsu’tey was chosen by the olo'eyktan himself to educate you in their ways, to teach your untrained eyes to see–and he’s nothing if not a proficient and devoted teacher. he's always ready to catch you.

﹒ɞ  weaves your garments it really surprised you at first, catching sight of tsu'tey weaving a loincloth with his battle–hardened hands. craft-making is a proficiency for every na'vi, they are taught and encouraged to practice it from a young age, seeing that they do not partake in selling or buying their clothing and utilities from others. since you were not born into those traditions, tsu'tey gladly takes it into his own hands to weave and gift you pretty, colorful, and fitting loincloths, tops, and other items to adorn your avatar body. "is it to your liking ?" he puffs out his chest in pride as you voice your approval, and he also grunts on all the occasions you mention picking up on weaving for yourself. 

﹒ɞ  dresses you in your battle attire tsu'tey has always been gentle with you, and it's no different whenever he assists you in dressing and painting yourself for war and raids against the RDA. And you love it, the glide of his cold fingers against your warm skin, the grip on your shoulder as he adjusts the strapped sheath of your knife across your chest, the sight of him on his knees before you as he fastens your leg band. but in special, you love experiencing how much of an endearing person tsu'tey can be, for you only. "here, let me put it on you. turn around." 

ㅤ

・・・・・・ ᴊᴀᴋᴇ

﹒ɞ  lights your cigarettes you have a frustrating habit of losing all of the lighters you've brought along to–more like snuck into–pandora. they're never inside your pockets, on your baggage, or in your wardrobe and shelf when you ransack them for it. after noticing that, jake started keeping a spare lighter and matches inside the pockets of his pants and backpack for whenever you need them. he beckons you closer, with a flame already lit, "i got you, sweetheart." and when you lean down, cigarette in between lips, he never misses the kiss placed on your chin. 

﹒ɞ  talks you out of trouble unconventionally, you and jake have always shared an attitude. your fuse, however, is much shorter than his. so he has to resort to pulling you into a corner and sweet talking you into not doing some dangerous stuff he would clearly do if given the chance. "yeah, but this isn't about me. i'm trying to stop you from getting killed." it might be more stress than he signed up for, but jake definitely wouldn't trade you for the world. and in his defense, he manages to hold your trigger finger alright, for the most part. those other times, he joins you in whatever it is you plan on doing. 

﹒ɞ  pulls on pitcher leaves for you to drink from after so many years, your boyfriend has developed a deep knowledge and connection with pandora. and so, jake readily teaches you what he's learned from the omatikayan people–half to impress you, and half because he doesn't want you going through what he did on his first day on the field. one of his favorite past times is to take you on an expedition to the forest, where he tugs on the leaf of a pitcher plant for you to drink rainwater from. and you have half a mind to remind him that you've done this enough times to know how it goes, but you simply comply and let him do as he pleases. and you also don't comment on how he sneakily shakes the leaf to get your white shirt wet.

ㅤ

・・・・・・ ᴀᴏ'ɴᴜɴɢ

﹒ɞ  looks after you ao'nung has always been a distant individual, and you were aware of that when you accepted his courting. but it pleasantly surprised you when, early into your relationship, he started to treat you more mindfully. "careful with your head, yawntu." he watches your blind spots during hunts, carries any heavy items you have to transport, accompanies you when out and about, keeps a hand on your back and arm at all times, and he doesn't eat before making sure you did. ao'nung's behavior is strikingly clear, especially in contrast to how detached he is from everyone else. and these gestures are all unconscious; to him, looking out for you is instinctual.

﹒ɞ  maintains your weaponry from the moment you and ao'nung became an item, he took it upon himself to cater to your well-being and safety, and he does that by also maintaining your knife and spear. after every hunt or occasion, he gently takes your weapons from your hands or sheath, and sharpens the blade and repairs its handle. the last thing ao'nung wants is for your blade to fail you in a moment of need. despite coming with and leading any hunt you're present in, for his peace of mind, he makes sure to preserve your weapons' integrity for the unavoidable moment he might not be there to protect you.

﹒ɞ  carries you around ao'nung proudly admits to spoiling you rotten, it is a clear sign of how good a mate he is to you. and at first, he never realized to what extent, until one night while returning to your dwelling, you leaned your body against his and tiredly demanded that he carry you inside. it was dark and only the two of you, so he complied. "but the marui is only a few feet away... fine, hop on." but now, despite grumbling a little, he always carries you on his back or arms to and from wherever place you want to go, to the entirety of the clan's bewilderment. but you don't overuse your power over him, so as not to embarrass him too much in front of his friends.

ㅤ

・・・・・・ ʀᴏᴛxᴏ

﹒ɞ  collects trinkets for you garments in rotxo's most humble opinion, you are unarguably the prettiest person in the whole clan. he knows how much you love to adorn pretty armbands, necklaces, and headpieces–it only adds to your charms. and so, as the dutiful boyfriend he is to you, he carefully scouts the surface of the sea bed in search of the prettiest and most iridescent shells, rocks, and crystals to weave into your garments. "i made you a new headpiece, yawntutsyìp. did you like it ?" whenever and wherever he is, rotxo makes sure to keep an eye out for flowers, beads, leaves, bones, talons, and teeth to add to the impressive collection of garments he has woven for you. seeing you walk around all dolled up, showing off his creations, is a sure way to make him all sheepish. 

﹒ɞ  fixes your appearance the most distinct trait of rotxo's love is, undoubtedly, his heedfulness toward you. he's always gazing, watching, looking out for you, and whenever he notices something out of place he's quick to fix it. he brushes your hair back into place, fastens your loosening armband, reaches over someone else to pull a leave from your hair, adjusts the belt of your loincloth, he's doing whatever it takes to tidy you up. and honestly, you love the gesture and he aims to keep you content.

﹒ɞ  always at your beck and call he could be sleeping, at the bottom of the ocean, elbow deep into some important work; before you can even think about asking him to do something for you or with you, rotxo's already on his way to ask you if you need him. whatever it is, he's always down, no questions asked. "of course, i can! we can do this right now." sometimes your requests might be answered with a pout, a grimace, and even a few seconds of hesitation, but he'll still do the thing for you, even if to make sure you won't get yourself killed. besides, spending more time with his adorable mate is never a bad thing in rotxo's book.

lovehina© 2023 All rights reserved. Do not repost, reupload, translate, modify or claim my work as your own.

[kiriska]

I originally made this zine back in October. There was no particular impetus for it except I think I’ve just been low key constantly thinking about ghost bikes since I learned about them some years ago.

I rewrote some parts of this a few times and I’m still not happy with it, but it feels kind of pointless to keep fiddling with it. There’s too much I want to say and 8 pages isn’t enough.

Saying that drivers “choose” vehicular manslaughter sounds aggressive. I know (most) drivers don’t intend to do harm, but it doesn’t actually matter what their intentions are if someone gets hurt or is killed. Maybe drivers aren’t “choosing” to kill, but they are choosing to get gigantic vehicles and to go fast enough to kill.

Most recent cyclist deaths in the Seattle area have been on common biking routes, though none of them have bike lanes (Seward Park Ave, Spokane St, Marine View Dr). I’ve biked on all of these, some of them very frequently. It sucks passing by each time and knowing someone died there, and that it could’ve been avoided.

Basically everyone I know who bikes has been hit by a car at some point. A friend was hit while in a crosswalk a few months ago. (In a similar incident, a 13-year old kid was killed in a crosswalk last year.) Thankfully, no one I know has died yet. It does sort of feel inevitable though.

Recently, a car ran a red light and hit a bus. The bus was forced onto the sidewalk, where it killed a pedestrian. I walked by on my way home with groceries 5 minutes after this happened. Couldda been me. Everyone is a pedestrian at some point, but so many people avoid living life as a pedestrian. They drive everywhere and are only ever on foot within a building. My high school was one (1) mile from my house, but I had to drive to get there because of the 6-lane highway between us.

The problem is complicated. I mostly blame infrastructure, but that’s not easy to fix. We designed and built whole cities around cars and left no space for people, and that can’t be corrected without a lot of money and political will. We need roads that are “inconvenient” for cars and drivers. Ones that are narrower and have speed bumps and “traffic calming” devices slow drivers down by design, without relying on speed limit compliance or enforcement.

Seattle is cramped as hell and there aren’t sidewalks in a lot of places. But in order to build sidewalks and bike lanes, we need to take away space from cars, and hell gets raised every time anyone even suggests taking away parking, much less an entire travel lane. Lots of people depend on cars, but that’s never going to change without cities investing in the alternatives.

Buses and transit can become reliable. Bikes offer a lot of the same freedom and personal autonomy as cars. “No one wants to bike in the rain/cold/hills/etc” and yet Seattle has such a robust cycling community, both in commuters and recreational cyclists. “You can’t haul groceries/supplies/kids/dogs/etc by bike,” and yet so many people do.

And if people don’t feel safe on bikes, it’s just because of all the cars.

RIP Steve Hulsman, who was killed at the intersection of Marine View Dr and 46th Ave, the intersection in the photos, on December 21st.

[autistichalsin]

What is pro-ship?

Proship is, basically, a combination of three core beliefs:

Fiction doesn't have a 1-1 overlap with reality, and more to the point, what one enjoys in fiction isn't who they are in real life. People who play DOOM aren't school shooters, people who torture their Sims aren't serial killers, and people who enjoy reading about dark themes in fiction such as rape, abuse, taboo kink, extremely unhealthy ship dynamics, and so on aren't real life abusers.

Harassment over fiction is wrong. If you hate a ship or a kink, it's reasonable to blacklist, block those who post about it, and so on to curate your experience, but things such as suicide baiting, doxxing, implying they have harmed people in real life because of what they enjoy fictional characters doing, and etc are all wrong.

Censorship of fiction is wrong, on the grounds that: it almost exclusively ends up applied to queer creators and/or queer content (queer content is judged as obscene infinitely more than the same content were if it was not queer), therefore making it an oppressive tool; attempting to censor certain themes, which often have been experienced by the creator and/or readers, is tantamount to telling them their own lived experience is too obscene to be discussed; the resources it takes to censor fiction could have been better used to help real life people in need instead; what counts as obscene is incredibly subjective, and you can't count on this judgment only being made by reasonable people because unreasonable people are prominent in much of the anti discourse; and labeling of a ship as obscene/problematic is, more often than not, done simply to ships that rival antis' favorite one, rather than on any actual moral grounds, resulting in incredibly nebulous reasons being given that make it impossible to consistently enforce rules about what ships are problematic.

Some people prefer to use the terms pro-fic, anti-anti, or similar instead, and some people don't support antis but prefer to distance themselves from proship as a label due to issues within the community.

Note: the "pro" in proship has NEVER stood for problematic; it has always meant the opposite of "anti", because anti as a label predated proship being a label (before antis, proship was the default, so it had no label). Pro always meant "in support of", not "problematic."

Hope that helps, anon!

[ianthe-is-a-bitch-and-i-love-her]

@st-just, in reference to this post.

Here's my more in-depth review of The Faithless, if you're curious.

The Locked Tomb is something of a special case of queer norm fiction. It took me a while to figure out why I loved tlt so much when I was so cold on all other queer norm fiction, but I do have an answer.

The thing about tlt is that it's queer norm in the sense that queer characters and relationships are utterly unremarkable... but it's also not queer norm because there is no norm. The worldbuilding in tlt is deliberately sparse, such that we have no idea what a normal family or relationship within the Nine Houses even looks like! We know Harrow's parents were married and had her. We know that Magnus and Abigail are married but don't have children. We know that Corona and Ianthe have parents. We know that children can be grown artificially in vats. We know that marriage for political alliance is a concept that Harrow is aware of. And as far as I can remember, that's it! The worldbuilding is a black box, and nothing that we can glimpse in it is strained by unremarkable queerness, which is a very rare thing.

The Locked Tomb also injects other elements that resonate with me as authentically queer. Probably the biggest one is that the characters, in addition to being queer, are horny and weird about it. Like, I know that sounds trite to say, but of all the wlw books I've read, I would say a plurality are pretty chaste, and most of the ones that aren't are fairly tame or understated in the level and type of horniness on display. There's a lot to be said about the overlap between the queer community and the kink community that is way beyond the scope of this post, but without even touching Harrianthe bone sex and Nona's vore thing, one of the first things we learn about Gideon is that she owns porn magazines. It is vanishingly rare for fiction to acknowledge that people have or use pornography, let alone queer characters, let alone in a value neutral way, but a lot of queer people owe some part of their self-discovery to porn, in whatever form. The books are just full of unsanitized, "impure", queer desire, and that's both resonant and uncommon.

The last thing, I think, that makes tlt stand apart from queer norm fiction, is that the queer normalization is localized. In Nona the Ninth, we see life outside the Nine Houses, and it is messy. Pyrrha gets misgendered and stereotyped. Her gender identity is misunderstood and disrespected. The polite fiction of perfect understanding and tolerance of a lot of queer norm settings falls away completely. If you want to take a particularly meta read, you could argue that since the Nine Houses are not an emergent culture but a society designed and created by John, a queer man from our time, that he acted as an author and deliberately enforced queer norm standards on them because if he was going to be God, then god dammit he was gonna have his queer utopia about it.

The locked tomb deals with queerness in its setting in a really novel way that works very well for it specifically, and I really enjoy it. You could argue whether it counts as queer norm or not, because it very much blurs the lines. Something queer about that too, yeah?

[anarcho-puppy]

you ever think how fucking stupid it is that every 4 years this whole empire erupts into a psychological battlefield? that year after year we are forced to pick harm reduction over “throwing away our vote”?

the amount of pressure from democrats to not only “vote blue no matter who,” but to also shut the fuck up about all the imperialist, genocidal, fucked up shit the dem candidate has done is fucking insane.

“vote like democracy depends on it because it does” you think voting for someone you don’t want as president because if you choose someone who would actually change things, or god forbid, fuck with the system is democracy?

y’all act like with the power of our ballot we’ll be able to “vote away fascism”. bitch, fascism is already here.

you want us to have hope because you want us to vote dem instead of giving up and not voting but we can’t have too much hope because then we’ll recognize how fucked up the system is and try to dismantle/destroy it. we have to be discontent enough to vote blue but content enough to turn a blind eye and continue to barely survive (if you’re privileged and lucky) within the system.

we are stuck in a dystopian dance with no way out and i am fucking sick of it.

but nooooo, we can’t give up yet! the democrats still need our vote because otherwise you’re voting for the bad genocidal fascist instead of our genocidal fascist! /s

i encourage y’all to have hope. have more hope then the dems want you to have; recognize that we can do better and that things can change if we agree that voting is the bare minimum. don’t just vote blue and then sit back and say, “whelp i did the best i could do with what i was given”. don’t be satisfied with the stagnancy the two-party system is providing us. you are not going to be able to vote away the system. if i’ve learned anything over these past 4 years it’s that if we want things to change, we have to fucking make them change.

so do the stupid harm reduction thing and then organize your community. join an org of fucking create one. life is too short to take what you are given. help out your neighbors, fund mutual aid campaigns, start a community garden, i don’t care!

you need to fucking organize because when you need gender affirming care or an abortion that you can’t get in your state, you’re gonna need someone to cover for you and keep up your digital schedule while you book it across state lines. when the pigs come knocking at your neighbors’ doors because you threw a brick at a cop car or shut down a nazi rally you’re gonna need people who won’t rat you out. you’re gonna need someone who can hide you or get you out of the country when you burn down a gov building with your friends.

when the system is built to oppress you and keep you from changing anything, you need a strong community behind you. the system and the people who enforce it are out to get you and when things get bad they are not going to help you, no matter how privileged and cooperative you are.

who keeps us safe? we keep us safe.

[whumpsday]

my unhinged rant about the whumptober discourse, below the readmore for the benefit of ppl who dont wanna see that crap. im just gonna go insane if i don't say this somewhere bc i feel like i'm losing my mind

this drama is genuinely so mind-blowingly stupid it's unreal, and it's been bothering me so much that i just HAVE to talk about it or i'm gonna go insane, if for no other reason than to get it out of my system. i honestly never expected the whump community to go on the kind of bad-faith tirade that's taking place.

disclaimer right here that i do not support AI scraping creative works without permission (like chatgpt and a whole host of AI art programs do) or these AI-generated works being passed off as legitimate creative works. obviously that stuff is bad, and literally everyone on all sides of this agrees it's bad. i used chatgpt exactly once one week after it came out, before i knew how shit it was, and haven't touched AI stuff since. because it steals from creators and it sucks.

now:

saying "whumptober supports/allows AI" when their official policy says plain as day:

"we are not changing our stance from last year’s decision"

"we will not amplify or include AI works in our reblogs of the event."

"we discourage the use of AI within Whumptober, it feels like cheating, and we feel like it isn’t in the spirit of the event."

is bonkers! whumptober is a prompt list, there is nothing TO the event other than being included in the reblogs. they literally cannot stop people from doing whatever they want with the prompts.

someone could go out and enact every single prompt in real life on a creativity-fueled serial killing spree and the whumptober mods couldn't do shit about it. it's not like it's a contest you submit to. it's a prompt list! someone could take every single prompt from the AI-less whumptober prompt list, feed it into chatgpt right now, and post them as entries. and the mods of THAT wouldn't be able to stop them either. because it's a prompt list.

the AI-less event have also made just... blatantly false claims, like that grammarly isn't AI. grammarly IS AI and they openly advertise this. hell, this is grammarly's front page right now:

and this is a statement from grammarly about how its products work:

its spellchecker / grammarchecker is AI-based! claiming it's not AI is just... lying. saying "this is an AI-less event" and then just saying any AI that you want to include doesn't count as AI is ludicrous.

and you know what? whumptober actually pointed this out. they said they don't want to ban AI-based assistive tools (like grammarly) for accessibility reasons. this post has several great points:

"AI is used for the predictive text and spellchecker that's running while I type this reply."

"Accessibility tools rely on AI." this is true and here's an article about it, though the article is a little too pro-AI in general for my tastes, there's nuances to this stuff. it's used for captioning, translation, image identification, and more. not usually the same kind of AI that's used for stuff like chatgpt. THERE ARE DIFFERENT KINDS!

"But we can't stop that, nor can we undo damage already done, and banning AI use (especially since we can't enforce it) is an empty stand on a hill that's already burning, at least in our view of things."

and people were UP IN ARMS over this post! their notes were full of hate, even though it's all true! just straight lying and saying that predictive text isn't AI (it is), that AI isn't used for accessibility tools (it is), that whumptober can somehow enforce an anti-AI policy (they can't because it's a prompt list).

in effect, both whumptobers have the EXACT SAME AI POLICY. neither allows AI-generated works, but both allow AI-based assistive tools like grammarly. everyone involved here is ON THE SAME SIDE, they all have the exact same opinion on how AI should be applied to events like this, and somehow they're arguing???

not to mention that no other whump event has ever had an AI policy. febuwhump, WIJ, bad things happen bingo, hell even nanowrimo doesn't have one.

and you wanna know the most ridiculous part of this entire thing? which is also the reason why none of the above events have an AI policy.

no one is doing this. no one is out there feeding whumptober prompts to chatgpt and posting them as fills for whumptober cred. it's literally a hypothetical, made-up issue. all of this infighting over a problem that DOESN'T EXIST.

to the point that people are brigading the whumptober server with shit like this:

saying "everyone who participates in whumptober is a traitor, you should go participate in this other event with the exact same AI policy but more moral grandstanding about it" is silly. every single bit of this drama is silly.

in the end, please just be nice to people. we're ALL against the kind of AI that steals from creators. the whumptober mods are against AI, the AILWT mods are against AI, whumptober participants are against AI, AILWT participants are against AI. there is no mythical person out here trying to pass chatgpt work off as whumpfic. let's all just be civil with each other over this, yeah?

[mariacallous]

Every president of the United States has within their grasp the power of a vast surveillance state that has grown significantly over the past few decades and has beaten back any real effort to rein it in. Through America’s numerous enigmatic intelligence agencies, presidents possess the ability to dive deeply into the communications, movements, and relationships of everyday Americans. Presidents of both parties have abused the surveillance state, but under a second Trump administration, this power could be abused in ways it has never been before.

Donald Trump, a now convicted felon and the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee, has said he plans to prosecute his political opponents should he return to the White House. He’s said he would allow states to monitor pregnant women and prosecute those who seek abortions. Trump wants to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. He plans to invoke the Insurrection Act to quell civil unrest, which means sending the military into the streets. The much publicized Project 2025 outlines how he would quickly replace thousands of career civil servants in the federal government with loyalists.

If a president was interested in prosecuting their political opponents, crushing protests, targeting undocumented immigrants, and had the right people in place to help them carry out those plans, surveillance could become a valuable tool for accomplishing those goals. Like former US president Richard Nixon in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Trump could use the surveillance powers available to him to monitor his political opponents, disrupt protest movements, and more.

Nixon and former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover famously surveilled the president’s political opponents and activists, including Martin Luther King Jr., through a program called COINTELPRO. One of the main goals of the program was to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize” civil rights groups.

If he so desired, Trump could create his own version of this program, but he’d be working with much more advanced technology—and it’d be in a time when there are countless data points available on every American. Hoover could have only dreamed of a world where everyone was walking around with tracking devices.

“So much of what we depend on, in terms of the rule of law, depends on norms. When those norms are ignored, that’s when things start to fall apart,” says Jeffrey L. Vagle, an assistant professor of law at Georgia State University. “Some of the norms, like prosecutorial discretion, might be eroded or disappear entirely. That could mean a number of things in terms of surveillance.”

Vagle says that if a second Trump administration wanted to defend its abuse of surveillance powers, it could stretch the use of national security as a justification for doing so. He says presidents have done this in the past in other ways.

“Administrations from both parties have invoked the term ‘national security’ and have used national security loopholes to justify surveillance and profiling,” says Patrick Toomey, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Security Project. “They have too often used national security as a pretext for law enforcement to target Muslims, communities of color, and immigrants.”

Toomey says Trump has sent “mixed signals” when it comes to how he feels about surveillance, but he’s made it clear he plans to target his political opponents in various ways if he’s elected again.

“A second Trump administration could be disastrous for many of our most fundamental freedoms,” Toomey says.

The administration may not even need to come up with a justification for surveilling Americans without a warrant, because it could simply purchase scores of people's personal data. The federal government has been known to purchase data from private brokers in the past, and doing so doesn’t require a warrant.

“We are just awash in data, and data brokers can just collect and sell these data,” Vagle says. “Law enforcement or quasi-law enforcement can collect that information.”

Surveillance can be done in secret so that the people being surveilled don’t realize they’re being surveilled, or it can be done openly as a way to stifle free expression, Vagle says. The government might tell you they’re keeping an eye on people, and then you might be less likely to speak out.

“If you think you’re being watched, you act differently,” Vagle says. “You could see a Trump version of COINTELPRO—only maybe not so covert. They might be more open about it with the idea that it might chill speech.”

As for the abortion issue, some of what may occur will depend on the future legal status of abortion, which could involve a US Supreme Court decision or congressional action. A major change in its legal status would likely affect how the federal government approaches the issue. If it remains a state issue, the federal government wouldn’t typically get involved in how a state is implementing a law it’s passed, but that’s not to say it couldn’t. If a state wanted help tracking people who are crossing state lines for abortions, for example, the federal government could conceivably assist with that.

“The federal government is not in the business of enforcing state laws, but there are a lot of what-ifs. How crazy might a Trump administration be willing to be?” Vagle says.

Whether it’s monitoring political opponents, activists, immigrants, or pregnant people, there are many ways in which a second Trump administration could utilize surveillance powers to exert more control over the populace. If the FBI and the Department of Justice are staffed with people who won’t push back when Trump orders them to do things that might be legally or morally questionable, they may carry out his wishes, and Americans may discover how much their privacy rights have eroded over the years.

“One of the things about Project 2025 is that it’s clear that the Trump camp, and more broadly the Republican Party that’s behind Trump, want to make it a more organized presidency than his first presidency was,” Vagle says. “It would be very unsurprising if the Department of Justice and the FBI dismissed anyone if they even had a whiff of disloyalty.”

[wewerebornsextuplets]

recently i realized i havent given... any context, really, on kiru's family outside of her being yana's cousin, which is honestly a little shocking because i think about it a LOT and it provides a lot of context for why she presents herself the way she does, both in terms of physical appearance and in terms of actions/character as a whole. i also need to explain the nature of her relationship with yana, so this will be the tell-all on kiru's upbringing, as well as some elaboration on her general disposition! you know the drill! this one ended up being much longer than some of my other long winded posts, which is a little scary. but under the cut we go!

BEFORE I START i do want to disclaim: for the sake of canon compliance, assume anything i say about kiru's parents [particularly her mother] and grandparents' attitudes doesn't apply to yanagida's upbringing or family. as much as i love headcanons and speculating about background characters [theres a reason s1e9 is my favorite episode], i also want kiru's lore to be taken somewhat independently from those headcanons/interpretations if so desired :-)

In order to make things a little less confusing [mostly for myself, because im very scatterbrained], i have a little family tree graphic. thing. mostly to keep track of names + relations and all that! ill be referring to kiru's parents by name for that same reason. but uhhh tada 🎉

OKAY BUT FOR REAL. the actual timeline is like this: kiru's childhood was pretty normal to start. her mother [mayumi] was a bit strict, but it wasn't anything too crazy, though she did prefer spending time with her dad [kentaro] during this time. this was all upended around the time she was eight, though, when her family had to move into her grandparents' home after her dad fell ill. kentaro, a lifelong smoker, had developed lung cancer, and the costly nature of treatments for his condition meant that they could no longer afford to life in their old house. in addition, kentaro's condition meant that mayumi had to essentially take over as his caretaker at home during this time, leaving kiru's grandparents as the ones to raise her.

i imagine this side of her family had a decent amount of social power within the community [this may just be a thing in my town, but you know those families where it feels like theyre kind of everywhere, like the school staff, the local politicians, etc.? theyre like that], which led to her grandparents being quite strict, if not authoritarian to a degree, with a particular emphasis on what behaviors were considered "acceptable". as such, while kiru was greatly encouraged in her academic endeavors, there was near equal pressure on how she presented herself outside of her studies. while the physical aspect of "dress neatly and maintain good hygiene" was part of this presentation, it also included a HEAVY emphasis on her emotional regulation. It reached a point where she began to suppress nearly any strong emotions she had, because she felt that there was never a Right time to feel or express them.

^ it was kind of like this. not really any forceful or outright Mean enforcement of this ideal, but definitely a conditioning that was strong enough to impact kiru, especially at such a young age. past this i think they would be fairly normal as far as grandparents go, just not quite as nurturing.

even in the present day, kiru's calm demeanor is only really maintained because of her belief that sharing her feelings would disgust or embarrass the people around her. growing up, strong expression of any emotion was childish and unsightly, and she still conducts herself with this in mind; its not something she feels about others, but she doesnt extend the grace she gives others in this regard to herself.

BUT back to the timeline. after moving in with her grandparents, kiru got a bit closer to yanagida, who would often visit their home, since yknow. same city and all. during this time kiru was pretty lonely, since kentaro's illness meant she had to spend less time with him, and as a result her and yana spent much of that time together instead. yana particularly enjoyed kiru's knowledge of english, since kentaro primarily spoke bonin standard english in the home + taught kiru the language. in turn, kiru appreciated that yana didnt see her through the same lens of "respectable young girl" that everyone else in the family seemed to have picked up since moving, and they were able to meet each other on more of an equal level of just being friends.

this pattern continued up until kiru was 10, when kentaro passed away. aside from the obvious, this was a particularly stressful time for kiru and mayumi, since kentaro wanted to be buried in Chichijima + have his funeral procession held there. as a result, kiru spent about a month of that summer away from home, on the island with her father's side of the family. away from the eagle eye of her mother, she tried to make the most of the time, but found herself too distraught to enjoy any of it to the fullest. she was too ill-equipped to tell her relatives there how she was really feeling, so they mostly carried on with the impression that a young kiru was being "strong" in the face of kentaro's death and was taking it well, even though it was quite far from the truth. upon her return to mainland japan to start her new school year, most of her family carried on with the impression that all had returned to normal. that is, except for yanagida.

obviously, only being about thirteen at the time of kentaro's death and not really having a strong understanding of the expectations kiru was under at home [not to mention having the emotional intelligence typical of a boy his age-- that is to say, not much], he didn't really understand Why her behavior had changed so much since moving in with her grandparents, or why her demeanor had taken a near 180 in that time. but he didn't really need to understand the why to know that Something was wrong, even before kentaro had passed.

what he wasnt expecting, though, was her breaking down sobbing the second he asked her how she was doing after she got back from chichijima. since yana was Also a kid, and had never put on the same pressure that the rest of the family put on on her, kiru felt a bit safer talking to him with the confidence that he wouldnt berate her for feeling that way or be disappointed in her. he consoled her about as well as he could [or as well as any 13 year old boy could] and assured her she could come to him if she was ever feeling down, but instead she assured him she would be fine.

after this event, yana started worrying about her quite a bit, but he wasnt really sure how to go about Expressing this concern [either to her or anyone else], so he just kind of let it sit there. as time went on, and kiru started to return to a more cheery persona, he let go of that worry for the most part and they returned to their old routine fun for the time being.

yanagida wasnt the only person whose relationship with kiru changed after kentaro's death, though. mayumi, who was wholly unequipped to handle the intense grief that kentaro's passing brought her, was wracked with a mixture of guilt, anger, and resentment; she regretted having ever met and married him, now knowing the pain it would come to cause her, and she even began to regret kiru's birth. its a feeling she was deeply ashamed of. she loved her daughter, but every time she looked at kiru, every time she heard her name, mayumi was acutely aware of the fact that kentaro was no longer there to share these memories, that he wasn't going to be there to see her grow any further. ashamed as she was of this feeling, it never fully went away, even if she made efforts to ignore it. the gap left between them was never fully mended, and though kiru couldn't place it at the time she definitely got the sense that mayumi didn't really want her around. as a result, kiru began to spend a bit more time around her grandparents, whom she had grown closer to since they were the ones raising her for the past couple of years.

as junior high rolled around for kiru, and as yanagida was going into high school, the distance between them grew as well; yanagida was beginning to exercise more independence from his family and spend more time with friends, and kiru was doing the same. they still made time for one another, though, walking home together once in a while when yanagida wasn't in the mood for hanging out with his friends. most of the time, though, they just stuck to their new groups. it was a small period of respite and was actually pretty chill for kiru, all things considered

once it came time for kiru to start testing into different high schools, mayumi became a bit more involved with her daughter's life. more specifically, she became more involved in how kiru presents herself; if youre a daughter [or former daughter] youre probably familiar with the specific underhanded flavor of body shaming she experienced. kiru and yanagida also lost contact during this time, as yanagida was preparing to enter college and they were both too busy to keep up with one another too well. he was definitely a little concerned with all these changes regarding her appearance, though

now, to this point, i want to say that mayumi was NOT being intentionally malicious or even aware of her harm during this time. during her youth, mayumi was ridiculed and ostracized for a more unkempt appearance that came as a result of an intense focus on her academic endeavors and matters other than her looks. not wanting to see her daughter endure the same thing, she tried to encourage kiru to put more care into her appearance. even so, her tactless expression of this concern ended up hurting kiru more than anything else.

high school came and went, with kiru attending St. Hanagaoka's, a prestigious all-girls school in the city. nothing particularly bad happened during this time, but kiru regards this time in her life rather poorly, because she spent most of it trying to Appear a certain way, rather than living how she actually wanted to live. its during this time that kiru became more acutely aware of much of her desires and identity; as femininity began to feel more like a prison, she found herself looking at the boys her age a bit differently. she had a boyfriend or two during her time at school, sure, but she never really felt that it was any different from having a friend. slowly, she realized the feelings she thought were admiration, or crushes on boys, were really just a sense of longing; she longed to dress like them, to be able to cut her hair short like them, even to pursue love with girls the way that they did. though she was still quite confident that she was a woman, she knew she wasn't the kind of woman her family wanted her to be.

as such, when she finally got into college, kirumi cut contact with her mother and grandparents almost completely. her first year of college was a year of rebellion and experimentation; primarily with her appearance. at first she'd wondered if her discomfort for feminine clothing was the result of the KIND of femininity she was portraying, but quickly realized this wasnt the case. so the kirumi futch era was only about a semester long. after this, she started to present as more masculine, and this is around the time when she starts getting more concerned with fitness in terms of strength; she didn't manage to get built like yuko miyamoto just by standing around, after all! its during this time that kiru also began to make actual friends, though her problems with connecting to others emotionally made this a rather difficult endeavor when it came to maintaining those relationships.

during her second year of college, her grandparents both passed, roughly six months from one another, due to old age. while she had mixed feelings on the matter due to her strained relationship with them, she still attended both funerals. at the latter of the two, her and mayumi got into a bit of a fight because of a comment mayumi made about kiru "destroying" herself. this ended up pushing kiru, out of pure spite, to shave her head the second she got back on campus.

it ended up being a mistake.

not one without a silver lining, though! this drastic change in appearance ended up catching the eye of one of her acquaintances, who was a close friend of her roommate. you might know her as keiko :-)

during this time, keiko was just starting her transition, and was still getting a feel for the big city. the two initially bonded over a shared love of terrible movies [as one of kiru's biggest hobbies is watching shitty movies to laugh at them], and kiru gave keiko many of her old clothes + some tips for hair and makeup now that she no longer needed them. but over time, they became quite close. in particular, they bonded over the fact that they experienced pretty strong discomfort towards gender roles and expectations in their upbringing; while keiko's family was much more loving and supportive than kiru's, she still felt an intense obligation to be seen as ""man enough"", mainly to her peers, having been bullied quite intensely during her high school years for her transness.

i could probably write a whole separate post about kiru and keiko's relationship [not any time soon though. jesus.], but the long and short of it is that they became a couple during their third year together at college :-) this is also the year that kiru secured her job at the butcher's shop in akatsuka, having been a bit of a floater before then.

after graduating with her bachelor's, kiru began to attend a veterinary school in pursuit of a doctorate in the field. they lived separately, but visited one another's apartments about as frequently as could be managed.

one summer, when school was out and she was less busy, kiru began volunteering at a local animal shelter, wherein she met and fell in love with a little cat named kabosu. after adopting her that autumn, on one particularly busy night, kabosu broke out of the apartment, and... hey, i've told this part of the story before!

past that, uh... not really a lot to say! i have a whole storyline thought out about kiru and yanagida getting back into contact + how that intertwines with some other family drama on kiru's side of things, but thats an idea that i want to dedicate a different post to since i have. a LOOOOOT of thoughts on that whole arc. ill do that eventually but again, definitely not anytime soon. if i make another post like this too soon i think my brain will explode

BUT YEAH! if you managed to read this far, thank you!! i put a LOT of thought and consideration into kiru's background; i didnt want it to be like. senselessly edgy. since this IS a gag anime in the end. even still i am a sucker for complicated family dynamics so i tried my best to strike a good balance there

[punkeropercyjackson]

This isn't a problem exclusive to it but it's INCREDIBLY annoying and so fucking stupid that the Atsv fandom is so set on defining Miles,Gwen and Hobie's dynamics within just 'romantic' or 'platonic' and straight up harrasing people over it or making debunked accusations

Yes,romantic Ghostflower is canon but that dosen't mean nobody is allowed to perfer them as found siblings and what i got from them having no set canon is the nature of their love is irrelevant to their variants that got to meet to because it's always just love,no set category,just love and Siblings!Ghost Flower is no lesser and saying it is is very insulting to Gwen and Miles' bond as if they only want eachother for romance and would consider all they've been through together worthless if it's not for dating

Hobie and Gwen being familial isn't canon but Hobie being a minor IS-That interview you guys love so much?Yeah,that '19/20' line y'all haven't shut the fuck about since was about Prowler Hobie,not Spiderpunk Hobie.Ultimately,their relathionship is ambigious enough that any headcanon for them makes sense within canon.The writers didn't say he was no longer a romantic rival for Miles and kept the jealousy bits in so Ghostpunk is a valid interpretation.Siblings!Ghost Punk is too since they never actually say they're a couple onscreen and neither does anyone else in-universe.Relathionship Anarchy Gwen and Hobie goes without saying

From experience,there's nothing inherently only romantic or inherently only platonic about Gwen's relathionships with them because i see a lot of both me and my s/os and me and my younger siblings that we consider eachother so important and close to we call ourselves siblings.If your real goal is to stop enforcing strict relathionship norms,you're going to have to accept that the same affection gestures can have different feelings and context behind them and that nobody is secretly evil or whatever for realizing that or a fucking prosh*pper for shipping a minor you confused for an adult and refuse to admit you got it wrong with other minors

And you're also going to have to accept that in the case of Punkflower,Miles and Hobie moments you call 'brotherhood' are just Hobie being punk and therefore having a strong sense of community and what's almost textual gay undertones you've been taught can't be gay with homophobic propaganda,the antiblack kind especially

[oreo-oro-orero]

I was giving some more thought as to why Ekko is mistreated by the Arcane community at least imo and I think one of the reasons is that Ekko is pure in a world where grayness is the norm.

I know that sounds weird but lemme explain a bit. Arcane is very much praised because of its complex and mostly gray characters, each character even the more good ones all have complex moralities even if a character by all intensive purpose is a bad person the show still goes out of its way to make those inherently bad actions complex but Ekko breaks this rule because he is in no uncertain terms is a hero. Every action that he takes is not only justified but understandable and everything about his goals and what he does is objectively good.

He fights against two oppressive forces those being Piltover and Silco

He provides a home the disenfranchised and those that have been hurt due to the actions of the Chembarons

He builds and fosters a community for those who need it

Hell you can even see this in more subtle actions, like Ekko Agreeing to give the gem back to Piltover despite not trusting Cait or Enforcers or even how despite his anger he actively goes out of his way to not kill anyone.

Even his visual design represents purity and hope, Ekko contrasts the undercity visually with the undercity being very grim with dark and neon colors but Ekko is a very warm presence with warm soft/colors and even his hair and his facepaint representing purity in a sense with them both being white.

Ekko by in large is a hero, even down to his nickname the "Boy Savior" and due to this I think a lot of Arcane fans write him off as very one note which is a shame because if you just look a little bit deeper he is an amazing character despite his overall hero status.

I also think because he heavily contrasts with Jinx he gets a lot of underserved ire from the community because well it is a Jinx and Vi story and due to this I feel like a handful of fans take any slight against those two very seriously, which is fine everyone is allowed to have their favorites but I think due to this basis it can cause people too hage a skewed viewpoint of Ekko.

This also affects him in shipping too where despite it being very clear from both the show/other material/ the Animators and even the some of the writers themselves that there is something deeper between the two, some people still act as though this ship is unfathomable. There is also the obvious Anti-Blackness involved and how it affects black characters in general, I would say especially in Ekko's case since he is a foil to Jinx who is pretty much this community's "UwW baby" that needs to be protected which is understandable ( both her and Ekko are UwU babies that need to be protected tbh)

But that's the end of my rambling, honestly I know a large reason for Ekko's absence within community discussions is that he is a side character in a sense so he won't get as much discussion as other characters but I still think he is given the short end of the stick despite his importance within the story.

[ala-baguette]

Do you think Aurors are the same as Muggle cops, or do you think it's different?

Ah, I anticipated this follow-up question (and the political undercurrent that comes with it). The Magical Law Enforcement Patrol would be akin to "cops." Aurors are different. And I think canon gives us plenty of evidence for the distinction:

"[Moody's] retired, used to work at the Ministry," said Charlie. "[...] He was an Auror-- one of the best... a Dark wizard catcher," he added, seeing Harry's blank look.

"[...] I only hope we can catch whoever's [charming the regurgitating toilets]." "Will it be Aurors who catch them?" "Oh no, this is too trivial for Aurors, it'll be the ordinary Magical Law Enforcement Patrol."

"Well, it'd be cool to be an Auror," said Ron in an offhand voice. "Yeah, it would," said Harry fervently. "But they're, like, the elite," said Ron. "You've got to be really good."

"Well, I thought of, maybe, being an Auror," Harry mumbled. "You'd need top grades for that," said Professor McGonagall, extracting a small, dark leaflet from under the mass on her desk and opening it. "They ask for a minimum of five NEWTs, and nothing under 'Exceeds Expectations' grade, I see. Then you would be required to undergo a stringent series of character and aptitude tests at the Auror office. It's a difficult career path, Potter; they only take the best. In fact, I don't think anybody has been taken on in the last three years." [...] "What sort of character and aptitude tests do the Ministry do on you, if you get enough NEWTs?" "Well, you'll need to demonstrate the ability to react well to pressure and so forth," said Professor McGonagall, "perseverance and dedication, because Auror training takes a further three years, not to mention very high skills in practical defense. It will mean a lot more study even after you've left school [...]"

"I was born [a Metamorphmagus]. I got top marks in Concealment and Disguise during Auror training without any study at all, it was great." "You're an Auror?" said Harry, impressed. [...] "Yeah," said Tonks, looking proud. "Kingsley is as well; he's a bit higher up than I am, though. I only qualified a year ago. Nearly failed on Stealth and Tracking, I'm dead clumsy [...]"

"Having Aurors on our side is a huge advantage-- Kingsley Shacklebolt's been a real asset too. He's in charge of the hunt for Sirius, so he's been feeding the Ministry information that Sirius is in Tibet."

"I [Voldemort] dared not go where other humans were plentiful, for I knew the Aurors were still abroad and searching for me."

"[Frank and Alice] were Aurors, you know, and very well respected within the Wizarding community," Mrs Longbottom went on. "Highly gifted, the pair of them."

"I'm sure you are an excellent Auror, [Dawlish], I seem to remember that you achieved 'Outstanding' in all your NEWTs [...]"

From the above quotes, we can glean that becoming an Auror requires higher education and training, stringent exams, and is exceedingly competitive and exclusive (none of which is particularly true of a Muggle police officer). We can gather that they are a particularly well respected profession and that these individuals are viewed as smart, magically powerful, and admirable people. We also understand that they are not concerned with petty criminals and your run-of-the-mill misdemeanors, but are pulled in specifically for cases involving individuals accused of Dark Magic on a much larger scale. We know them to be a governmental agency and can see that their jurisdiction is not confined to Magical Britain and Ireland, but that they do work abroad (presumably in cooperation with the government of those nations). The conclusion I reach is that Aurors are more akin to detectives/investigators with institutions more similar to Muggle Interpol, the National Crime Agency, and the Secret Intelligence Service.

And, one can only hope, lack the institutionalized racism.

[just-your-average-tangerine]

I find it frustrating how being a gnc and gay makes it hard to talk about my experiences as a trans person.

Both because the experiences themselves are so different from the norm. And because, if i try to talk about transphobia I face there's this underlying idea that because im a feminine trans man, I deserve it or at least could avoid it by being less feminine.

And there really is no way to win because if I'm feminine, then I'm not really a man (or not trying hard enough to be one) but if im masculine then I'm not queer enough and get shit from within the community for that too.

And I cant relate to the average trans masc experience (tm) because my (lesbian) mother's idea is that I should be a butch lesbian instead of a fem gay man so the lack of acceptance from them comes in the form of barring me from wearing makeup or "flashy" clothes, as opposed to the more typical enforced femininity.

How much of myself am I expected to give up? And more importantly, why is that expectation coming from other queer people, people who should know better?

[ceasarslegion]

the frustrating thing about communism is that it doesn't scale. you need to have a central government because if you don't, everyone around you who does have that coordination will either absorb you peacefully or violently. infrastructure requires maintenance, and that maintenance cannot be managed, trained or supplied for without an organizing body. a parliament or congress is the proper form for that body, imo, but you can't not have it.

To be fair, there are many types of communism that cover similar ideas of government. Within every major political ideology, there will be sects like agree on general ideas but differ when it comes to the details of how to make that happen or how to govern such a structure. But i do see where youre coming from, I've also noticed that the nitty gritty boring things that are nonetheless critical for the functioning of a major society are often left at the wayside in (online) communist circles in favour of the revolution pipe dream.

In my opinion, any ideology that hinges on the idea that we can achieve a perfect society at all is already doomed to fail, and often to fall into actual fascism for a number of reasons. Firstly, humans are inherently flawed. Flawed beings can not achieve perfection, period. Secondly, what "perfect" means is very subjective based on experience, ideology, and personal preference, meaning that my idea of perfect would be unlivable for many of the people living in my apartment building, much less within an entire society. And if i were to be put in such a position, it would be dictatorial of me to enforce my idea of perfection upon those people. Thirdly, you will never, ever, EVER have a legitimate society where nobody disagrees with the government. It just doesn't happen without mass enforcement. There will ALWAYS be someone who disagrees with how the show is run, there will ALWAYS be someone who is hurt by ANY system, and there will ALWAYS be someone willing to officially dissent against the government. You could have a society based on the idea that everyone gets free food and shelter and water and energy and free education and puppies and rainbows and unicorns, and you will end up hurting the farmers who have to work disproportionately to others to produce the resources to allow this to happen, and then how are you going to organically convince them that this is for the greater good without some kind of enforcement?

If you can not answer the questions of "how will you deal with dissent in your perfect society," or your answer is "there will not be dissent" then im sorry but theres more than a few red flags in there for me.

Like look, i dont mean to sound like im bragging but i think pointing this out is warranted. All my education is in politics. I have a 4.0 ivy league degree, i come from a family made up entirely of history teachers and local politicians, i have spent years on the frontlines of legitimate activist movements and i volunteer as many extra hours as i can with the NDP, at this point im on a first name basis with multiple local MPs and MPPs within the party. I have read whatever political theory youre about to demand i read to "change my mind." Ive probably read it multiple times in order to write a paper on it. And i still dont have an answer for the question of "so what system wouldnt cause all this hurt?" because all that experience and education has mostly taught me how incredibly ignorant i really am and how i would be a dictator if given absolute power, because everybody would be. Yes, you. You would be too. Sometimes the best answer you have is "i dont know, so right now lets do the best we can with what we have."

[kingsonne-zedecks]

Setting Idea

Magic is nothing like science, or science fiction, but those can be helpful terms to explain where it comes from. I don't know that multiverse, or omniverse theories have any truth to them, but if you imagine that all of this, everything we see or observe through science is one reality, and that there may or may not be others out there, then magic is like the space between.

The outside.

That's better. I like that one more. Forget everything I said about other universes that's not relevant. Magic is what exists outside of reality. Its not compatible with reality. That's why you don't see people launching fireballs down main street.

People that can do magic? People like me? People like you? We're the ones who've fallen through the cracks in reality. We're a little bit Outside.

Most of us stay there. Straddling the line. Living in both worlds. You can't do too much, but with what you can, reality smooths the edges over for those on the inside. They don't see the magic —can't see the magic. We can't do anything so big it can't be explained away within the bounds of reality, and reality takes care of the explaining for us.

Of course that isn't enough for some folks. Some people want the big stuff. They go deeper. Further out. That's where they find the power to really break the rules of reality. Or they would if reality had any interest in being broken.

You see, once you take that step further outside? Reality can't fudge the lines anymore. It's not able to hide what you're doing within the realms of possibility. So sure, you can gather power and fling fireballs down the street, but they aren't going to burn anyone, or anything. Reality can't handle that, so it just doesn't. You know what reality can handle? A strange person screaming magic spells in the middle of the street while everyone looks at them like they are crazy.

I can see from the glint in your eye that its still caught your imagination, and I can't say I really blame you, you're not the only one that's for sure. Who wouldn't want to live out their dreams of fantasy? But it's dangerous. Okay? Remember what I said. Pay attention. You've got to be on top of this shit if you're going to go deeper.

Magic like that doesn't belong on the inside, right? You go that deep, you're not on the inside anymore. You're too far out for reality to protect. That fireball might do jack squat against a real building but it will sure has heck scorch you. And there are plenty of other people who want to play in that sandbox with you and they are not always the nicest.

You go that route, you best find someone to teach you fast, and be right smart about it. City dwellers are your best bet. You surround yourself by anchors to reality and you get a bit of that protection back. Reality has a bit of trouble blurring the lines if you get incinerated when surrounded by hundreds of civilians, and that means some of their safety becomes yours.

Out in the middle of nowhere? Reality doesn't have to try so hard.

And don't get me started on the magical communities. You get that many outsiders in one location and they start to drag that place Outside with them. They loosen the grip of reality on that place and the rules stop getting enforced so strongly. It's dangerous, you hear me? Yeah they aren't getting obliterated ever second Friday, but I'd sleep with one eye open and magic at my fingertips if everyone around could do what those folk can.

And that isn't even the worst. There are people who jump the line; they don't hardly straddle at all anymore. The real powerhouses of the magical world. They make the trade, sacrificing all ability to engage with the real world in exchange for greater magic. A person like that? They could walk down the street streaming lightening from their fingertips and screaming at God and not a soul would know.

What's beyond that? Rumors only from me. People with only the barest of ties to reality. If they exist then I would never see them. Like a ghost. Unable to exist in reality itself, their power creates a reflection of their surroundings to exist in, like a funhouse mirror. They could level a city in an instant, but only the dreamscape version of it would be destroyed, reality itself would never know.

If any further is possible I can only imagine. Maybe once you got that far outside, that immersed in magic, you'd be no different than a God. The ultimate force of a world or your own creation. Maybe that multiverse idea isn't so far fetched after all. Maybe all this is just the creation of someone who stepped to far out of their own reality to ever return.

[fearlessinger]

How does Athena foil Apollo?

oh in so many ways… Love that you picked her. (Granted Athena herself, like all the gods who aren't Apollo, has had a relatively low amount of screentime in the rrverse so far, but I believe there's enough to paint a pretty complete picture if you read between the lines, and take into account what other characters - mainly Apollo and her children - say/imply of her. So.)

Athena is Zeus's favorite, I would argue even above Artemis, because she's the only one out of all the gods who never feels the need to resort to going behind his back in the course of the three pentalogies. She's the only member of the Olympian council that we know he actively seeks the advice of.

Apollo on the other hand, is possibly the least favored of Zeus' progeny in the present day. In Apollo’s own words, Zeus “hasn’t trusted [Apollo] for millennia”. By the time we meet him, Apollo has been left by his father barely any room to maneuver even within his own domains, as demonstrated by the fact that he can’t even independently choose to cede the reins of the sun chariot to anyone that Zeus might not approve of. He is the one Zeus immediately points to when he needs a scapegoat. He gets hit with a punishment so harsh it's quite literally a miracle he survived, to the point that we find ourselves wondering, in the end, if he was actually meant to.

But it wasn't always like this. Once upon a time Apollo too enjoyed Zeus' favor. He and Athena both used to be Zeus' main enforcers and right hand people. We still see evidence of this in the kind of relationship they seem to have. 

Athena is the only one of Apollo’s family members whose counsel he explicitly wishes he could ask during his trials, as opposed to his wishing for material help from most of everybody else. She is the only one of the gods to openly speak against Apollo’s punishment, right in front of Zeus too. She words her disapproval carefully enough that she retains plausible deniability, but just barely. And she alone bets on Apollo’s survival in Hermes’ pool. In that last council scene, she and Apollo are able to silently communicate with just a glance. It’s clear that they share some deep camaraderie, an old well established ease with each other that the recent distance between them has not diminished. 

We’re never given the full explanation, but it’s not hard to figure out how their paths must have diverged. It’s not even hard to figure out why. Apollo’s ruled by his heart, while Athena can’t fathom following anything but her brain. As Apollo started more and more chafing under their father's rules, more and more refusing compliance, Athena clearly made the opposite choice. Nowadays they play opposite roles: the beautiful fool and the dutiful lieutenant. Everything about the way Apollo chooses to present himself is a middle finger to his father, whereas Athena is the staunchest of Zeus loyalists. 

And yet it looks like they still have a lot of respect for each other. Which isn’t surprising because they have some significant similarities despite their very different characters. Firstly: they share a similar sense of responsibility. It’s undeniable that Athena takes their job very seriously, and much as it may seem that Apollo has the opposite attitude on the surface, we know, having reached the end of TOA, that that was never the truth. Secondly, they are both extremely intelligent and acutely aware of it. They both expect to be the smartest person in the room at any given time. And they are right except of course for when they are wrong bc their intelligence most definitely does not prevent them from being also incredibly dumb. You may be wondering how can I so confidently make this latter assertion, since we never get a peek into Athena’s head, but I think Annabeth saying that the first lesson Athena’s kids must learn is that “mom is always right and don’t you ever dare suggest otherwise” backs me up here.

On this note, it’s interesting to observe that Athena’s children and Apollo’s children both display a strikingly unusual amount of faith/confidence in their divine parents, compared to… basically all the other demigods. 

Annabeth won’t ever stop singing Athena’s praises/boasting about being her daughter, even as she makes comments like the one I cited above. And Will famously stood in front of the army that was about to raze CHB to the ground in Apollo’s name and called bullshit on the idea that his father would ever approve of such a thing with enough conviction that the matter was considered settled and nobody even for a second thought of doubting Apollo afterwards. 

And yet “dad is always right” is very obviously not an idea that has ever entered the mind of any of Apollo’s children. They show absolutely no reverence, let alone fear, toward their father. Will doesn’t hesitate to legit SCOLD Apollo in front of the whole camp in THO. The loyalty that Apollo’s children have toward their father is nothing like that of the Athena kids toward their mother. In this too it seems like Athena has chosen to stick to the path traced by Zeus, while Apollo has rejected it.

But their divisions aren’t irreconcilable, and that little secret nod she gives Apollo at the end of TON proves it. Remember when I said Athena is the only one out of all the gods who never feels the need to resort to doing stuff behind Zeus’ back? That changes here. For the very first time, we see her take initiative without her father’s knowledge or consent.