#the hopelessness and inherent evil of humanity

[angry-glasses]

Evil God!Junko...!!!

Prophet!Chiaki? Makoto? Prophet!Kirigiri???

Hunter!Yasuke and Evil God's Heir!Ryouko (except the relationship is more LYZ & BL, with Yasuke trying to stop her from becoming Junko. he even has the fucking around with her memories thing! :D)

(honestly though Yasuke would be such a failure of a Hunter. he keeps getting killed by Junko and leaving for a different worldline to "try again", like he didn't just doom the previous one by being a coward.

a good Prophet would switch him for someone else, but isn't he still the best suited to keep Otonashi Ryouko away from despair...? decisions, decisions...)

[tagedeszorns]

I've got an interesting comment on one of my Erebus-essays:

So, @blackmentallight, here's an answer, slightly too long for answering in the comments:

I won’t argue that theoretically the Chaos Gods have positive aspects as well. I’ve drawn Nurgle’s growth- and fertility-aspect and I think passion, strifing for perfection, honour and brotherhood or hunger for knowledge and love of complexity are great splinter parts for them and absolutely positive.

But in canon, it’s a hinted possibility, nothing more. At least in the books (if you’ve found a book where this is playing out differently, I would really love to read it! Please recommend!). Chaos’ modus operandi is always described at a two-phase thing: First - unlimited promises trickling into the ears of the most downtrodden of society (and there are plenty of those!). Of course, freedom is one of those promises. Chaos Cults always start out as the underdogs and need to develop a pull. So freedom is a great promise in a 100% hierarchical/oppressive society and gets people into the fold. But as soon as those underdogs have developed a critical mass (or get outside help by either Chaos Space Marines or demons or both), they will seize power and that’s the second phase and the end of freedom. Nobody on that planet/in that society has a choice any longer. It’s worship the Gods or get tortured to death. It’s 100% oppression, too. There’s no democratic Chaos. Not even with Nurgle.

And that’s what I love about Warhammer. It will never end well. Warhammer is born from a societal background of hopelessness (economic and societal decline, the zenith of the cold war, cultural take-over … the eighties were so dark!), fought off with the most dark sarcasm and irony. And that’s reflected in the ever present „choose your poison“-mindset.

And in my opinion it's too easy to say "people can't handle freedom, so they twist the positive message of Chaos into servitude", because that would rob humanity of both free will and the opportunity to choose - and would turn them into mindless victims of nurture, totally ignoring nature as the other aspect of the duality that forms morale and ethos. Being faced with the horrors on both sides is what (at least for me) makes Warhammer the most interesting setting. It refuses the concept of someone or something being inherently good or evil. To me, how people react to this, is the real factor that ties the setting together.

Yes, it’s great to muse about how the Chaos Gods could be positive as well. How they could form a pantheon able to uplift humanity. But that’s not what Warhammer is about. It’s a wonderful area for AUs or headcanons. I love doing that as well. But if we go by what is written in codices and novels, the Chaos Gods are the best parts of humanity twisted into the worst and amplified thousandfold.

I am pretty sure even the most ardent zealot of the Word Bearers is fully aware of this. But clings to the first thing Lorgar wrote: All I ever wanted was the truth.

The truth may not be sunshine and roses (in that case it’s the exact opposite) – but it’s the choice that matters.

The Chaos Gods are dicks. I stand by that. But they are necessary dicks, because they are part of the truth. And horrible as this truth may be - it's the ultimate thing to strife for in Warhammer.

[papiliovolens]

Spoilers for up to Ch. 20

This drabble was written as an exploration for Nightmare's motives for Ch. 25, so it will have some hints as to how he will act.

it also hints at more multiversal mechanics going on in the background of everything

This is a glimpse at his interpretation and first impressions of Classic, courtesy of an evil overlord who thinks he knows everything :)

this also became a lot longer than i was expecting, so enjoy 1000 words of nightmare being nightmare

The multiverse was nothing if not predictable.

Regardless of its infinite multitudes, it followed specific patterns. Universes fed off nearby ones to fuel their creativity, forming clusters whose links became jumbled in a heated mess of wired connections. The universes' influences on each other were palpable.

Ultimately, universes could dissolve into basic templates through which each spread its roots into the larger multiverse to cement a place for itself. Thus, despite the multiverse's infinitude, it lacked any carbon copies.

It seemed everyone had a different idea as to why.

So, Nightmare relied on the patterns in each universe- how, regardless of their separation from other universes or how out-of-place they seemed, they acted in predictable manners. It made most missions comically easy once Nightmare conducted a little research. The current state of affairs between monsterkind and humanity, the existence and status of the Underground, and the presence of resets told him all he needed to know.

Even Dream's responses had become expected, although that was more due to his inherent benevolence than anything else.

So, yes- the multiverse was predictable to a reliable degree.

- Until a week ago.

Nightmare planned his missions meticulously. They did not fail. Perhaps delayed, and he occasionally needed to iron out minor kinks, but outright failure was never a factor.

The fact that Dream happened to be in the universe Nightmare chose that day was unfortunate, but it was an easy fix. He sent his men to the Capital with a single order, causing enough panic to draw Dream's attention away, and his plan was back on track.

It worked flawlessly for all of about ten minutes.

Nightmare's goal had been simple. Investigate one of the negativity spikes that plagued the multiverse as of late- the same that had Dream floundering like a fish out of water. For all his supposed wisdom, Dream had failed to realize that the emotional spikes were not the result of any 'affliction' or 'sickness' as he seemed to believe.

So when the spike Nightmare was tracking vanished completely, he had nearly gone into a frenzy, and Dream, unfortunately, sensed his sudden anger. His brother came like a moth to a flame, and Nightmare was happy to turn his frustration to his pathetic brother.

The battle had been going as he expected. The arrival of a Sans was slightly unexpected but hadn't even made a blip on his radar. He begrudingly gave the monster a bit of respect at how they managed to get Dream away from his for a few seconds, but it was child's play to find them and send the Sans off to the pits of whatever hell awaited him.

Oh, the way Dream's face had fallen felt heavenly. His face crumpled like Nightmare had not witnessed in decades, and- yes, he wanted to take a picture to make the moment last forever. The way Dream shook, his frown, the tears brimming at the corners of his sockets, the way his face twisted with the hopelessness Nightmare had always dreamed of-

And then the Sans, whose soul Nightmare had just shattered, threw a bone at his skull.

Nightmare was not ignorant of resets, but the situation screamed foul play. It had been nowhere near enough time for a reset or load to occur, especially since the Sans was from a different universe entirely.

Nightmare could not deny his interest as the Sans reentered the battle and somehow dodged him at every turn. Yes, skeletons tended to have a high tenacity for dodging, but few could bear to stand so close to his aura without collapsing.

Nightmare's memories toward the end of the battle were fuzzy. He remembered his brother finally releasing his fragile hold on his aura, enveloping the forest in its sickly sweet tones. Nightmare responded in kind- flooding the air with negativity to choke Dream out.

Then the Sans, somehow still standing despite the clash in auras, dared to grab him, and then-

Nothing.

Nightmare had not slept in a millennia.

He would have thought the same nightmares he inflicted on others on an hourly basis would fill his dreams, but his sleep was oddly peaceful. No demons nor haunting visages visited him, and he idled in the darkness of his mind for what felt like days.

The multiverse was meant to be predictable. It moved in expected and flawed ways, but ways that could be measured and recorded for future reference.

This Sans was an oddity—an anomaly. A strange mystery in a multiverse Nightmare had already scavenged for everything of interest to him.

There was no record of this Sans, Classic, anywhere until a month prior. It seemed he had fallen into the multiverse out of, quite literally, nowhere. While a universe suddenly gaining access to the rest of the multiverse was expected, what was not was the extent Classic had spread his influence in such a short time.

With Ccino's report, Nightmare wasted little time reaching out to the destroyer and protector. Error had appeared particularly peeved when Nightmare reached out to him, dismissing him until Nightmare uttered Classic's name. The destroyer had gone quite still, seeming to hover threateningly near a crash at the name alone, and a wave of nostalgia flowed over him.

It was a plethora of information Nightmare had not been expecting, and he happily bid Error farewell when he recovered enough to threaten to decapitate him.

Ink, on the other hand, was a dead-end. Getting him to talk was easy enough, but he hardly reacted to Nightmare's probing about Classic, stuck with that annoying blank look on his face. Ink only muttered something about a metal chair, blinked at him, and then greeted him with a child's enthusiasm.

And, of course, there was his brother. From his and Classic's interactions on that day alone, it was not difficult for Nightmare to glean the burgeoning friendship between the two, and the expression that crossed Dream's face at Classic's fake death began to make more sense.

It seemed Classic had undergone a rather unconventional introduction into the multiverse. The more Nightmare heard, the higher Classic raised on his list of utter buffoons.

It was strange. Unexpected. Exciting.

Nightmare had not faced a new mystery in centuries. His studies were his first venture into the multiverse outside of spreading negativity, and it had successfully occupied him for most of his existence. But then things got predictable. Nightmare found that, with enough time, any question at all got boring quickly.

Classic presented a new project with novel results.

And Nightmare was very, very curious.

[sarafangirlart]

The problem a lot of these retellings have is that they are scare of complexity. Yes that female character is a victim of the patriarchy, and yes she's also abusive and a horrible person. Yes that male character benefits from the patriarchy because of his sex, and yes he's a victim of abuse. Taking away people's complexities is taking away their humanity.

Also their idea that men are inherently evil and unable to change is a weird take for people who claim to want to destroy our oppressive system, what's the point if being evil is in their nature and they are unable to change it? Doesn't that make our fight seem pointless and hopeless? It's really just another way to excuse men shitty behavior by believing they are just "born evil" NO! They chose to be shitty, they chose to support a oppressive system, it isn't in their nature, it is something they are thought!

We should believe men can change their views, we should believe we can fight for a world where men aren't thought since birth to be misogynistic. I don't want an eternal gender war or whatever that thing is called, I want a world where my child can see a man while walking alone, and not feel afraid

Yes! All this!

[chestersbraincell]

Chara-cter analysis but I severely project onto them(prepare yourself for a wall of text, this IS the promised somewhat organised thoughts on chara as a character)

I really think they self-villanise as a coping mechanism, I really, truly do. All that calling themselves a demon? Dawg they are like at MOST 14. Of course they’re going to be edgy about it asf/pos

If they can just convince themselves that they are truly just pure evil and that they don’t care nor feel guilt, then life can just be easier. This is supplemented by the numbing properties of LV if we’re talking No Mercy run, and very much hinted at in the newest newsletter lore drop about them.

At it’s core, I think this comes from their hatred of humanity. I think, as they are in that phase of growing up where you realise not everything is as pure and innocent as you were clueless to as a kid, they very likely have become dead set in their view that humanity is inherently evil. And, even if they absolutely hate it, they still are human themselves.

And so, in an attempt to escape both humanity and their affiliation with it, they fall into the underground. I also think that their manipulation and teasing of Asriel is a result of their defeatist mindset about already being rotted and evil by humanity so they might as well teach this naive “crybaby” what the real world looks like. Because they see their past self, the one before learning about the inherent evil of humanity, in him.

But alas, to what extent we can’t be sure, they atleast regain hope that maybe just maybe monsters are better than humans. And since they don’t see their life worth much(being a rotten human being, afterall), they think that the only way they can “fix” the world is by exterminating the bad(humanity) and in the process freeing the good(monsters). So, the plan happens.

But, as we know, the plan doesn’t come to fruition. I really can imagine the pure spitting anger and frustration and hopelessness that Chara felt watching Asriel betray them for the sake of sparing the very humanity they hated. They just didn’t understand. Asriel really was naive, naive child.

And, after coming back, and seeing what Asriel had become(flowey), they lost faith in monsterkind aswell, this only made worse by how keen all the monsters in the underground are to attack the humans that fall down, despite them being children, the one pure, uncorrupted thing in their eyes. And under the orders of their adoptive dad, the one who they saw as the kindest being in existence, now yet another ruthless, heartless ruler(I also like how this then parallels them with Toriel, as I theorise they do take after her as suggested by them sharing way of greeting, whereas Flowey/Asriel shares Asgore’s).

The world was better off gone, then. That would solve everything, right? And maybe, just maybe, if they destroyed the world then they would surely go down with it(intense self hatred and self-villanised complex wooooo).

I really think this recontextualises both the true pacifist and no mercy runs.

In the No Mercy run, like many have theorised before after a certain youtube video analysis on them, we only confirm their beliefs. Confirm that both monsterkind and humankind are rotten and only seek to destory one another. We confirm their suspicions that their purpose is to destory the world for everyone’s good. And we give them the sweet sweet agent that is LV, and I do think they become addicted to it. It numbs their hurt, their pain, so perfectly afterall(undertale newsletter). And makes their job, their purpose, easier.

But in the True Pacifist run? Not only does our kindness show them that are is some genuine good in humanity, but we also gradually restore their faith in monsterkind throughout the run. From finding the genuine reasoning behind everyone’s actions and helping them overcome it and find alternative solutions, all the way to Asriel-the very first monster that shattered their faith in monsterkind. Treating the problem at the root, so to speak.

[blackveilblasphemy]

Black Veil Brides

A Mental Health Message from Andy.

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH

It occurs to me that mental health and more broadly speaking the subject of how you feel, how you think and the ways that the emotions you have manifest themselves within the confines of life are a subject that is in some ways almost too big to conceive of and is somehow simultaneously a constant and sustained topic of conversation in nearly every aspect of modern human life. These conversations tend to center around the ways in which we are affected by our demons. It is true that we as a whole have a great number of beasts, we attempt to slay every waking moment however I speak to you in my capacity as a musician and writer and admittedly not someone who is capable of solving these issues or even pretending to fully understand them. I want to talk about you. Not the monsters, or the depths of despair in which they live but the person reading this. Your spirit, your heart, your inherent ability to hold yourself up and fight on.

I have for the better part of the last two decades been someone who writes songs about this idea and for my part am also a fellow "demon slayer" as it were. Sometimes the trope of a rock song about fighting back against oppression is seen cynically and frankly if I'm honest I have heard a great many rock songs that were written cynically in an attempt to appeal to you the listener as someone who is this or that thing or should feel this or that thing. A bold and blatant attempt to sell you loneliness and sadness as a means of growing a career that hinges on you feeling further unhappiness and despair. That, and I don't mind saying this, is horrible bullshit.

The truth is that songs, whether they are mine or anyone else's never really saved you, my lyrics never made you into something new. You did that. You have always been the one leading your path through the endless darkness. My lyrics and all of our songs are sincere, and I hope that they have deep meaning to you . However, it is crucial that I tell you that I know that you are the one with the strength and the drive to be here today. When I was a kid listening to Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run record I would often think "This is exactly how I feel" and it meant so much to know that someone out there 20 years before I ever even heard those songs felt, in my mind at least, exactly how I did. This doesn't mean that Bruce (despite major inspiration) saved my life. It means that his art helped me access a part of myself that I had not been to before and with every new song I heard or piece of art I took in I found more and more about myself that could help me in the fight to save my own life.

I like to look at art as a means of gaining tools for yourself, whether that is intellectually, spiritually or emotionally. Something transformative can have a deep and profound effect on us but at the end of the day we are taking in the inspiration and apply what we have learned or using it in ways that help us.

A growing sentiment in today's discourse is the idea that there is something wrong with all of us. That we are not demon slayers but rather we are the demons themselves. How, if that is true, would we ever be able to survive? Best case we are benevolent monsters and at worst we are evil and hopeless. This feels wrong to me, and if you have connected with my writing over the years I feel certain you would at least on some level agree.

We are not the demons that dance in our minds and consume our hearts with darkness. We are the light and power and beauty that destroys them. You are not the thing that hurts you, you are not the fear and despair, you are not a hapless subject to the whims of another or the result of someone else's opinions or artistic or political aspirations. You are strong, you are unique and powerful, and I promise you that you are not alone.

I will forever be grateful for all the ways that you have inspired me, and continue inspire all of us in BVB. I just want you to remember the next time you feel that demon creeping up to the surface, you've got this. You have always known how to slay the monsters. Sometimes we all just need a little reminder of how fucking great we are so let me remind you, you are fucking great.

[kryptonbabe]

Superman: Earth One (2010) by J. Michael Straczynski & Shane Davis: A Review

Clark Kent is a reserved young adult, he's leaving his familiar Smallville for Metropolis, looking to find himself, build a life. With an anguished demeanor and sad eyes he navigates the big city unscathed, but never satisfied. There's a veneer of trauma to the story, Clark talks more with his dead father, Jonathan, than to anyone alive in the book. While his parents are pumped to have a superhero son, Clark just wants to give his mother a good life, after his father's passing, and to belong somewhere, anywhere.

This had so much potential bringing this different perspective to the Superman mythos, exploring all these heavier feelings we are more used to seeing in the origins of characters like Batman or Hulk. The thing is that while Batman and Hulk earn their angst, Clark's behavior feels unjustified. It's never clear how his otherness can be an obstacle, his abilities are always described as achievements, he's easily accepted everywhere he goes. He could be depressed and that would be interesting (what to expect when the most powerful being on the planet is not evil, but isn't hopeful at all?), but that is never really mentioned.

Clark's feelings are exposed in dialogues and monologues, but his wallowing seems out of place, his father's death is not traumatic, he had a healthy relationship with his parents, he's a genius, he's super strong, he can make a lot of money really fast, but hmm, I guess everybody always asks where is Superman, but no one ever asks HOW is Superman. He's just sad, and we must embrace this.

There's also a kind of mall goth / 2010s emo to this art style and dialogue, the moodiness, the angst, the aversion to primary colors, the Welcome to the Black Parade palette of the underdeveloped villain. As an emo kid myself, I'd probably have a much better time reading this in 2012, when all was new and darkness was inherently exciting. But now, as an elderly decaying millennial emo, I just feel like I need more than aesthetics to make me interested in a story, invested in a character.

The freezing cold take of "Clark Kent is the costume of Superman" was already old in 2010, this view was popularized by the Kill Bill vol. 2 movie, released in 2004, and it's an oversimplified perception of the character, one that considers certain aspects of his history while ignoring several others, lacking the nuance a character as old as Superman deserves. It's jarring to hear this coming from Clark's mother, at this point in the story he is not Superman yet, he doesn't even know if he will someday choose to wear the cape. When Martha says "the mask is what you'll have to wear the rest of the time" she's disregarding Clark's humanity, the life he lived so far, the bonds he might develop when he's not in Smallville anymore. All of this belittled in front of the bigger goal: to turn Clark into a Superman.

In the flashbacks the couple seem slightly manipulative, Jonathan and Martha's only subject with Clark is about him becoming Superman, which might explain why the boy feels so on edge, as if deep down he's trying to run away from this fate of becoming an all achieving force of nature their parents want him to become. It's his parents who give him the Superman name, the costume and the idea to become a superhero. Clark has so little agency in this story, acting resigned, his intentions vague, it's frustrating.

On a positive note, I really liked the fact that Superman destroys a giant spaceship on board his baby ship, (even though, how exactly he stops a world invasion happening in multiple locations with multiple vessels by destroying only one single ship is never explained), overall the baby ship was a nice touch, the science fiction logic of it was very interesting too.

Superman Earth One felt like a very hopeless post-9/11 Superman story, surface level deep, moody and often bleak, without any of the positive emotional impact of the character. The art is nice though and emo Clark is cute. But I need to cheer up now. Thanks for reading this!

[zepumpkineater]

Considering the story has gotten more popular as of late, I do wonder what the newcomer's perception of I Have No Mouth is.

As someone who's spent quite a lot of time talking about the story with a variety of people, I've always seen that no one interpretation is ever the same as the other.

Of course, like with any piece of fiction, especially ones as complex and ambiguous as IHNMAIMS, there is no one correct interpretation. Does AM claim ultimate victory over mankind by reducing the last of their species into a disgusting jelly monster? Are they locked in eternal stalemate, both of them functionally useless and unable to do anything to the other, just exist in mutual despair? Does Ted claim ultimate victory over AM by releasing his fellow survivors from the endless torture, at the cost of him being forced to endure it for an eternity more? Is his comfort in knowing that AM has lost the one thing that gave him purpose enough, or is it just another fleeting, stupid idea from a mouthless, limbless jelly monster that was once called a man?

Ultimately, at least in my view, in spite of Harlan Ellison's misanthropic views on mankind and his blatant misogyny and contempt for mankind as a whole, I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream is still a hopeful story in the face of absolute despair.

It was definitely only Harlan who could have come up with a character as twisted, almost comedically evil as AM. I do think some part of AM is just Harlan projecting, projecting his own views on humanity into this character that he created to be the greatest monument for hatred of humanity that any of us had ever seen before. I mean, hell, the man took every chance to voice AM that he could get, it's how we got the iconic hate monologue.

But even through all of AM's attempts to break the pitiful, small, pathetic, writhing, selfish, hopeless little apes...He's never satisfied. The only thing that brings him any amount of joy, torturing them, is still fleeting at best. Eventually he would have gotten bored of that, too.

AM doesn't prove anything through his relentless torture of the 5 remaining humans, he attempts to prove time and time again that mankind is inherently evil and selfish, but he is disproven at basically every turn, as these characters still do compassionate and good things when they might have done evil in the past. AM's own twisted experiment defeats itself time and time again, and I think for that reason, I Have No Mouth is probably the best example of the inherent capacity for good we humans hold inside of us.

Even in AM's most ideal situation, where he gets to torture humans for eternity, he still loses. He still lives in hate, suffering, and there is no catharsis for him. He simply just...Is, and that is endless suffering of his own making.

I guess what I, and by extension the story is trying to say is that living in hate is bad, kids. Go find something to love in this fleeting little life of ours, because living in that kind of pain is just no way to live at all. And if you do, you'll always lose in the end, no matter what you do. There's no victory waiting for you on the other side, just a hollow void that'll never be filled no matter how much you indulge in that hatred.

[novelmonger]

I've recently come across some posts in the chrumblr world expressing viewpoints that I find...disturbing. I'm vagueposting about it partly because I don't know these people personally, and also because I think it has a wider application than this one instance.

While reading posts about people from a certain faith background, I came across multiple instances of people saying (literally) "I hate them" and (paraphrase) "They're all liars."

This kind of talk needs to stop immediately.

Just imagine for a second that the conversation was about people from a certain country or ethnic background, rather than a religion. I hope we would all recognize it and denounce it for the gross racism it would be.

How can you think it's okay to talk about anyone like that? How is that pleasing to God, or helpful to anyone?

Even if their religion is false, they're still human beings. Even if their doctrines are heretical and blasphemous, they are still made in God's image. Even if it's true that it's a cult in every sense of the word, the people involved in it are still worthy of respect, love, and understanding. (And whether they're following a cult leader or a demon or just a really charismatic speaker who pretends to know the truth, they are being deceived. They're not inherently, irredeemably evil!)

Besides, as Christians, when we see people who are mired in a world of false teachings, following a false god, held captive by leaders' manipulative tactics and a works-based salvation...shouldn't that move us to compassion? Rather than saying things like "I hate them" and dismissing them as though they're hopeless causes or worthy of ridicule, shouldn't we be reaching out to them with the truth that will set them free? At the very least, shouldn't we be praying for God to extend mercy to them, rather than tearing them down?

But for the grace of God, we Christians are no better off than these people following a false religion. If the Holy Spirit hadn't worked in our hearts, we would be just as lost as they are, and we weren't saved because we were somehow better, more righteous, more truthful, less prone to being deceived. We have no high ground from which to look down on them.

So yes, point out the problematic aspects of their teachings and history. Make it clear that we do not worship the same God, no matter what they may claim to the contrary. But don't hate them. Don't laugh at them behind their backs. What kind of witness to the truth will that make you? Rather than convincing them of the true gospel, all it will do is confirm their suspicions of how horrible non-believers are, and leave them thinking, "If that's what Christianity is like, I don't want anything to do with it!"

... to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Titus 3:2-7

[deservedgrace]

the more I become a leftist as well as being ex-evangelical is really, really making me think how xtianity is basically a perfect tool of manipulation for imperialism.

and how much it has damaged the world into thinking humans are inherently evil. contributing to people feeling hopeless about humanity in the belief that we are inherently cruel. as xtianity spread that idea of original sin to everyone

a lot of other cultures viewed humanity in a more neutral light. some neutral to good

how would someone feel like they can make actual change in the world for the better if we were taught humans are inherently damned?

through this and many other aspects of xtianity… it is no wonder many conservatives who fight against progress are evangelical. and no surprise that christofascism would evolve as a concept and is a significant threat in the US

you're so right. there are so many things that contribute to xtianity being so effective as a manipulation tool but enforcing the idea that something is inherently wrong with you in order to sell the "cure" (xtianity) is particularly insidious

there's this weird dichotomy in evangelical xtianity where you're this horrible, depraved sinner without any hope of being better because you're a human and it takes away responsibility and accountability for your actions, and yet you're better than all the other sinners because you have ~the cure~, and because you have ~the cure~ and you're better than everyone else, you don't need to look at the harm you're doing. it's really similar to the issues in like, over-identifying with being a "good person" or "bad person" imo. if you're a "bad person" there's no point in examining your behavior because everything you do is bad, and if you're a "good person" you don't have to examine your behavior because everything you do is good. and in so many of these people we get this weird yet inevitable mix of "i can't help that i'm a horrible evil sinner" and "i'm always doing the right thing" that leads to this inability to self-reflect or take accountability even when people explicitly say they're being hurt. and then it's magnified by this belief in an all-knowing, all-loving god that you cannot question without consequences and couldn't possibly ever understand with your mere human knowledge that demands your full trust and faith anyway or burn in hell for all eternity

and then by claiming that everyone else is horrible and evil and that you have the ~one true fix~, you get these people who desperately want to "help" others but simultaneously view them as inherently evil and worthy of destruction, and that combination is catastrophic because then you have people who are not only willing to do whatever it takes to "fix" them, they view it as a loving activity

and all of that ties into the problem of heaven, where people are like "why should we make things better for people when the good, deserving xtains will be rewarded in heaven anyway and this life won't matter, and the evil, undeserving non-xtians are lucky that earth isn't as bad as hell will be"

i can only speak for where i'm at (the us) but the idea that humans are inherently evil is prevalent even outside of xtian circles, and it's so unfortunate because that's a very xtian idea that stems from the idea of original sin... which is the reason xtians think xtianity is necessary in the first place

i'm gonna stop there but i have A Lot of Thoughts about xtainity and why it's manifested the way it has

[applestorms]

Not quite sure how to word the thoughts I'm having in reaction to Trump's re-election today, so I offer these excerpts from Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed up as supplement.

Plenty of people have already been discussing the emotional reactions in response to this, as well as creating and spreading great resources to prepare for the future should you need them. There is comfort to be found if you need it, mutual anger and frustration should you need the catharsis. We are not moving into this alone, and do not allow yourself to be convinced otherwise.

My goal with this post is not to reiterate the same points over and over. Rather, I write this to add one key point that I think is of the utmost importance to remember, and that I offer you with the wish that you will think about and consider it for yourself:

You still have agency.

It is out of a failure to remember this fact that I feel we have gotten into this position-- yet it is through gaining recognition of it again that I know we will make it through this.

If the results of this election are anything, they are proof that this kind of fatalistic, doomer nihilism bullshit is exactly that which benefits our oppressors-- the patriarchs, the racists, the rapist capitalist fuckers who did not have to win this election. Our apathy is killing us, and it is serving their means-- passivity quite literally allowing global harm and destruction to the most vulnerable of our communities. This widespread pessimism is a fucking parasite, it is the voice of our oppressors themselves spewing their shit into your ear, and you cannot let it overtake you.

I say this as psychological, emotional, and material advice: you can't fucking live if you don't take your life as your own.

I am not unsympathetic to the feeling of hopelessness in the face of what feels like overwhelming horror and doom. There is no experience more dehumanizing than feeling like your voice means nothing, your actions mean nothing, your existence and being itself influences no one. It is understandable that when looking at both your own and others' suffering, your response is despair and anxiety, resentment of the fact that you were born at just the wrong time to have to live through such a historical moment.

The fact is, there has never not been a historical moment. Humanity is history, and it always has been-- reality not some static, unchanging set of boundaries and systems, but an ever-evolving, ever-transforming social system, entwined within itself, contradictions running to its core because humanity itself is contradictory. There are no clear boundaries between identities, responsibilities, the pure good of the superior class and sinful evil of the degenerates. It is a lie birthed within you by the oppressors, for their benefit, to believe otherwise, to fall for the falsity that we are distinct individuals, separate from birth, doomed to simply and submissively accept whatever the world happens to hand to us.

You are not some position within a triangular hierarchy of the world that decides for you whether or not you suffer. You are a fucking human being. You think. You act. You live.

We are interconnected. For better and for worse, we are free agents. You have control over your life, small though it may seem. We've gotten through this before, and we will get through it again, together.

We have arrived at this particular point in history only through the collective action of many, and we will only get out of it by the same means. You are not an object. Your actions, your words, the connections to the people you love and care about and even those you do not know, all mean something. Please-- don't allow yourself to be domesticated into passivity, into acceptance of some "fate," about how the world is just inherently fucked for the next four years because of one goddamn horrible election. Whether you like it or not, you transform and influence the world every morning that you continue to wake up and breathe and speak.

It was shitty yesterday, and it will be shitty tomorrow-- but there was also hope yesterday. And there's going to be hope tomorrow.

We must take care of our own. They are not going to do it for us.

signed, a bitch, a faggot, and a dirty-blooded product of immigrant miscegenation. this is my goddamn america, my life, and my people. that asshole is not taking that from me.

[daevstroders]

sorry this post n its replies made me go feral and the brain went bzzzt have these musings under cut idk

dirk at his time of ascension being in the throes of 15 year old conviction that youre inherently evil and awful. self hating and closed off, yet so full of love for his friends but having no ability to express that correctly so he has to put a barrier on it and close it off. wants to control them into being their best selves but cant even manage to control himself. hates himself, thinks that the version of himself that ascended is the worst (he couldn't save anyone, he couldnt help anyone in the game, only hal was actually capable) and stories of his Greatness are actually stories of hal, the hard work in the jacksq boss fight was mostly dave and tz, he got himself fuckin killed like. his motif is beheading. his tale isnt one hes proud of, its another failure at his dream of being a hero, feels like the odds are stacked against him with his designated classpect.

jake at his time of ascension being so scared of himself and who he is under his facade. confronted with his inability to believe in anything he tells the world about himself, finds himself a fraud and while hes meant to be the embodiment of hope its buried so deep down under all these layers of lies that he cant even begin to parse the truth. all he knows is what he wants to be/thinks he should be that he winds up hopeless because he doesnt match up to this ideal at his core. stories of him surround him being the side character, the sexy lamp, the one who can't fight the one who cries when confronted. his boss fight was hardly his own. hes not proud of his story and all it does is serve to remind him hes not the hero he thinks he should be, classpect fuelling this with the untapped potential etc that he just cant quite get his hands on or head around.

these traits cant be worked on now, they can't change or be overcome, they can only fester and pollute. jake is now a caricature of the hapless heroine/hero he thinks he should be, dirk is a now caricature of the failed hero/villain he thinks he is.

enabled by the public opinion being the only thing that can waver them. rdpp is framed as jake as the hero and dirk as the villain. they have to keep up these personas and they become more real with the beliefs of the masses put upon them, but these war with the actuality of their character: jake isnt a hero, and dirk isnt a villain. but theyre stuck now, eternally being while simultaneously not living up to these ideals. forever tortured by their godhood and never actually growing because you cant grow, cant change, if youre not human.

tldr im clawing at my walls

[connectparanormal]

Sea Ghouls

For ages, sea ghouls have haunted sailors' nightmares, lurking beneath turbulent waves and in the dark depths of the ocean. These things represent the darker, more menacing sides of the water, standing in sharp contrast to its tranquil beauty. People believe that sea ghouls are the evil spirits of sailors who perished at sea, unable to find peace, and left to roam the ocean's depths. Often depicted as skinny, bony individuals covered in ragged shards of their previous clothing now covered with seaweed and barnacles, sea ghouls are a striking sight. Their pale and translucent skin casts an unpleasant light in the murky waters, reflecting the creepy glow of bioluminescent critters. They appear to be peering down the deepest depths, constantly searching for something that the waves have lost.

Rumor has it that tragic locations like shipwrecks, where the loss and hopelessness of the drowned still linger, draw these ghostly entities. They wander the ocean floor, searching the debris for relics from their previous existence, living a never-ending loop of the moments leading up to their deaths. The abrupt drop in temperature, the unexplained sensation of being watched, and the sorrowful cries that occasionally rise from the depths and are transported to the surface by the currents are all thought to be signs of their presence. Fishermen and sailors frequently tell stories about encounters with sea ghouls as warnings of impending disasters. When ships venture too close to their haunts, they may encounter unexplained disasters such as abrupt storms, mishaps during navigation, and mysterious disappearances. Reports claim that these ghouls have the power to manipulate the sea, causing whirlpools and waves to sweep the unsuspecting to their watery demise. On foggy nights, when visibility is poor and distinguishing between the living and the dead is difficult, people fear them the most. Some folklore implies that sea ghouls have a purpose despite their terrifying reputation. According to some stories, these ghosts guard the ocean's cemeteries, keeping the drowning victims' final resting places safe from vandalism. We could also view them as depressing characters who will never find peace or salvation. A sea ghoul is rumored to occasionally guide a shipwrecked soul to safety, possibly in an effort to make up for their own transgressions or to win their release from the curse that holds them captive.

Literature and art frequently depict sea ghouls as symbols of the harshness of the ocean and the thin line separating life and death. They act as a constant reminder of the dangers associated with the water and the innumerable lives it has claimed over time. Their eerie presence in myths and tales highlights the reverence and terror that the huge, wild ocean demands, emphasizing both its natural beauty and its inherent peril. The legend surrounding the sea ghouls is proof positive of people's continuing curiosity about the secrets of the deep. Whether seen as sad guardians or vindictive ghosts, they continue to be an essential component of marine mythology, representing the never-ending conflict between humanity and the merciless water.

[aloeverawrites]

I think some terfs see Manhood as like being a cop. Like it's something you can't reform and trying to make it positive is just sweeping problems under the carpet . They have an acab mentality. For them amab means all men are bastards.

So their only solution in their eyes is female separatism. 'Men can't be fixed so there just has to be a wall in between us.'

Trans people and non binary people threaten that because we cross over the 'wall' of gender, making the border 'unsafe' if you will. So you have to stop people from being transgender.

And it seems kind of hopeless. Like nothing can be fixed and different people just have to be segregated or closeted to keep ciswomen safe.

I think it's wrong to see manhood with an acab mentality. You can choose to be a cop, can't really choose your gender. And I think portraying demographics as inherently evil and unchangeable is quite dangerous actually, has some bad implications for minorities anyway.

I'd much rather think of Manhood as something we can change. As something we can improve and re-define around values that we care about, instead of violence. And I think that blurring the lines between men and women is a really important part of that. You can't have a solid, violent definition of manhood if the definition isn't even solid in the first place.

Previous generations and dominant cultures/religions made up the social construct of what it means to be a man. We can make up something new.

Also, saying that men are just inherently like this gives a lot of weight to the bs that was just made up. It back up their idea that this is just natural, which it isn't. Patriarchy only became a big thing when humans settled down and started farming like 10,000 years ago. Which is a long time but not most of human history.

We're not supposed to be like this.

Someone invented it, so we can uninvent it.

[fratresdei]

Nonreligious Thoughts on Hope

Content Warning: mental illness, religious upbringing, hopelessness

When I was in the thick of my religious upbringing, I remember feeling very apathetic about hope. It felt like a "pie in the sky" carrot dangled in front of me; a cheap response to the problem of suffering. I felt like the god of my Evangelical Protestant education was saying, "I know I hold all of the cards, and I could either fix everything now or show you the grand plan that will make all of the universe's hardships make complete sense, but I will do neither of those things. I will, however, give you a brain developed enough that you will want both of those things. But here's...um, hope! Go ahead and hope your little heart out that I've got everything under control. Those systemic forms of oppression that could be fixed by both human action and divine intervention? Sprinkle some hope on it! Confronting the entirely excruciating and life-altering reality of death and grief? Fingers crossed it'll feel better after you're dead! Good luck, love you, mean it girlfriend *kiss kiss*!" As someone who neither had the strength of faith to find comfort in this attitude nor the ability to make peace with the problem of evil (more on this in the 1st link in the comments), I was never particularly moved by hope.

1 Corinthians 13, while an unmitigated banger, did not do much to sway me. In verse 13 it is written, "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." Steeped in Evangelical Protestant doctrine, I understood the importance of faith and love. Faith was the magic word you had to utter in order to gain access to the exclusive heaven club, and love felt like an inherently worthwhile enterprise. Hope though? Hope seemed like a less certain version of faith, but perhaps a more honest one. Faith seemed like the surer face one would wear to address the public. If your factory was on fire, and you said to your employees, "We have faith that this will never happen again," that hits differently than, "We hope this doesn't happen again." Faith felt like a more transcendent, spiritual knowing, and hope felt like a gentle consolation. And in Evangelical Protestant Land, calling your spiritual practice a mere consolation and not Truth™ is an unforgivable sin.

As was true about many aspects of Christianity, I was only able to appreciate the value of hope once I had some distance from Christianity. So, for your enjoyment, I have compiled my nonreligious thoughts on hope. I welcome your disagreement.

What is Hope?

Biological Survival. Hope is the drive that keeps a species alive. It is our sustained push to continue being, despite our undulating moods. Cheetahs have hope that they will catch prey (and the prey has hope that it can escape or hide). Parents have hope that they can successfully have and raise a child. Sunflowers have hope that if they face the sun they will receive nourishment. I have hope that if I eat lunch it will give me energy. When I experience symptoms of mental illness, I have hope that I will eventually feel better. Without the pressure of an overarching ontological narrative, it can be easier to see and receive hope as a morally-neutral tool that serves a function. This understanding of hope is comparable to that of desire found in the book of Genesis and as understood by Jesuit theology (more on this in the 2nd link in the comments).

Sometimes Rooted in Capital "B" Belief, but Not Necessarily. Another freedom of a nonreligious approach to hope is that you get to choose what is helpful and discard what is not. In certain belief systems, wherein believing the correct things is more important than virtuous outcomes, hope is nonnegotiable. Moving into a more religiously-nebulous space, however, allows for the freedom to choose between what I will call Absolute Beliefs and functional beliefs. With an Absolute Belief, whatever interaction you have with that belief must be based in the conviction that it is definitely true, and any thought to the contrary dismantles the whole thing. With functional beliefs, there is more room to look at a belief and openly say to it, "Believing in you is helpful and serves a purpose, and if you end up not being true, the benefits will still be there, and that is enough."

Hope Can Hurt. Hope can fuel our survival, and survival can pave the way for our flourishing. However, when the object of our hope is proven false or futile, it can be disastrous. While hope can serve a function whether or not the specific hope is realized, this is not always the case. This frequently occurs in the form of a faith crisis, broken trust, disillusionment with a government, organization, community, cultural norm, or even yourself. When our hope eggs are placed all in one basket (often through no fault of our own), and these things fail us, the results can be devastating.

An Idea for Functional Hope. So if you take a functional approach to hope, how do you cultivate hope in a way that feels genuine? In the face of the heat death of the universe, what good does hope do? Is hopefulness a neutral trait or a virtue? Does maintaining hope cultivate individual and communal morality, or does it just make coping with oblivion easier? Perhaps the key to finding a sustainable object of hope is to find an amendable object of hope. Finding an amendable object of hope could mean finding an object of hope that you respect enough to let it be what it is without forcing it to become something that it is not. This can be tricky for those of us that are used to Absolute objects of Hope, because if we cannot trust our hope object to remain unchanging, how do we have hope in it? And if all our objects of hope are constructed, does this not quickly plunge us into nihilism? Maybe. But even nihilism makes space for joy and life-affirming, lovingly-created meaning. Even hope. So selecting in what to have hope could be just as--if not more--important as having hope at all. But also maybe not.

When Hope is Not Necessary. If there is value in having a living, breathing hope that is open to change and recalibration, perhaps there is value in having more things in which to have hope besides, well, hope. Humanist author Julian Baggini writes, "...when there’s nothing to hope for, there is often nonetheless something to celebrate. And when there’s little or nothing to celebrate, there is something to respect. Sometimes hope just isn’t the thing we should be looking for, but that does not mean in its place has to come despair."

So I think hope is always available to us. And if not, there's still hope.

Thank you for chewing on this with me. I'd love to hear your thoughts on hope in the comments. If you're interested in exploring these questions in a spiritual direction context, schedule a free session through the link in bio. What's spiritual direction? Find out at the 3rd link in the comments.

[the-phant0m-cat]

Reading the notes in this post really shows that it's 100% fucking hopeless. The people who need to understand this are all missing the point on purpose and pretending that this post is saying "you just need to love the nazis and they'll get better!" When it's not even close to that, if that's what you're picking up from this post, you're just being as disingenuous as you can on purpose and should fuck off.

All (most) people under this post is saying is that if you don't want (especially very young, like teens and younger) men to go towards the right, you're gonna have to stop saying that they're inherently evil.

Not that anyone who needs to hear this will care. Not that they actually want to improve anything. They just want to talk about how ~half of all humans are inherently and unfixably evil.

I couldn't have said it better myself.