#this is simply just discourse

[gingerswagfreckles]

The thing is, we've been seeing Qanon level reality denial from the left for over a year and a half now when it comes to Hamas, Israel, Oct 7th, the history of the Jews in the Middle East, the existence of antisemitism, etc etc etc. It's become increasingly mainstream and become increasingly frightening and dangerous for Jews. But what was distinct about this type of reality denial is that the consequences for it started and ended with putting Jews in danger. In other words, the people engaging in it were never really going to feel the consequences of their own actions.

I feel like this sudden mass delusion that there's no evidence Iran is/was developing nuclear weapons is a tipping point in terms of how far the general population is willing to take reality denial in order to maintain their belief that literally anything The Jews do ever is evil and wrong 100% with no nuance. The reason I feel like it's a tipping point is because while the motivation for it is still clearly antisemitism and the desire to fit literally everything into a Zionists vs. The World narrative, the consequences for this denial are clearly now moving beyond a minority group you already hate getting hurt.

What I mean is. People are now willing to deny obvious facts that potentially could endanger them, not just The Jews. They're so committed to this that they're willing to en mass pretend that there's no evidence of Iran developing a nuclear weapon, something that would have massive global impact. We are really screwed when people are willing to ignore facts that endanger their own personal safety, just to keep their oppressor vs. oppressed narrative 100% clean and tidy. I really do feel like we are at another tipping point.

[timekeepers-memoir]

LOOK. I KNOW YOU ALL LOVE TELESTRATUS (i do too, multishipper tendencies) BUT PLEASE, DO NOT, FOR THE LOVE OF THE GODS, PUT DOWN OTHER SHIPS IN FAVOUR OF TELESTRATUS.

LET'S ALL PLAY DOLLS TOGETHER BUT DON'T DESTROY OTHERS' DOLLS PLEASE

[brontes]

I had a thought today about all that vampires lose in the twilight lore. Sure sure they’re fast and strong and invulnerable BUT they lose the chance to earn things because of that. The Cullens are rich but like…that just happens when you invest for three centuries. They can lift incredible amounts of weight…but just by nature and not because they’ve built up to it. They build projects and make paintings and learn…but they will always lack the satisfaction that comes from managing those accomplishments amidst the regular demands of life. Edward was seventeen…he never got the chance to earn anything by the sweat of his brow or the burning of the midnight oil.

Beyond just the bloodlust, they miss out on the regular daily challenges that make our time and pleasure meaningful. Something that is easily overlooked by teenagers reading a love story but honestly something heartbreaking to contemplate.

[crimeronan]

it's sometimes so silly to look in the notes of a polyamory art/post and see people like "is this cheating art....?" when the characters in canon are all extremely close friends. i know it's not malicious because most people think of monogamy as the default and anything outside that Must be cheating, but truly i'm always like. guys. guys Please.

please think about this for like 2 seconds.

under what circumstances do we think this non-canon couple might hold hands directly in front of their canon partners. and under what circumstances do we think the canon partners might be okay with this. do we Truly think this is a secret relationship. do we Truly think these guys would sneak around behind their canon partners' backs when all of them are extremely close friends with a high level of trust and commitment to each other.

would assuming that these extremely close friends have actually communicated with one another Exactly The Same Way They Do In The Canon Source Material perhaps cause less despair.....

[holoska]

wow I love toby fox's early contribution for soriel week 2025 day 3!!

[prismatic-ink]

another Minecraft SOS update for you all, this time about why there's a "no lore" rule put in place.

Here are my own personal thoughts about this: Good. I think a lot of us would agree that Empires s2 fizzled out at the end and that it was clear, even if they didn't show it, that the CCs were just not that passionate about it anymore. I think part of that has to do with the scripted lore stuff (the other thing would be the crossover which I have a lot of Thoughts about but it might be a bit too controversial, ig if you see an mcytblr confession about the crossover being *ahem* mid then you know who wrote it).

While the elaborate backstories and planned lore segments had their place... these are Minecraft creators, not actors or writers, and I'm sorry to say, but the obvious Lore moments were just a bit awkward and ill-conceived to watch sometimes. I like roleplay-based SMPs, but I prefer it when the bulk of the lore is kept to the fandom, yk? It leaves more room for imagination.

Minecraft storytelling is at its best when it is improv, which is why Empires 1 worked better. I feel like forcing a traditional storytelling structure on a non-traditional format is limiting the strength of the medium (can you tell I also want to write a paper on Minecraft storytelling and its completely unique approach to narrative and the dimensionality of characters, completely deconstructing/transforming the concept of the "protagonist?").

anyways good rule fwhip keep on trucking 👍

[wtslpod]

some lesbian thoughts on elrond & galadriel

The dynamic between Elrond and Galadriel, despite being central to the show, sometimes feels under-appreciated in the fandom. Like many relationships in TROP, it doesn’t easily slot into a single category. It’s not merely one of friendship or kinship or mentorship

It’s not romantic, but it is emotionally intimate—and that seems to trip a lot of people up, even before 2x07. We’ve always appreciated how emotionally open Galadriel and Elrond are with each other, particularly given how guarded Galadriel is with most other characters.

She and Elrond have a long history prior to their reunion in the first episode, and during the course of the show they rely on each other as they navigate disappointment and loss, both personal and as relates to elven-kind.

They don’t always see eye to eye, but even when Elrond feels hugely betrayed by Galadriel’s choices, it doesn’t erode the love between them.

They’ve been separated during their respective darkest moments, but find solace and healing in each other’s presence. They bring light into each other’s lives, and together will be instrumental in banishing the rising darkness.

One of the strengths of Tolkien's work, and one of the reasons fans (including queer fans like us) return to these stories time and again, is the focus on platonic bonds that defy societal norms through the strength of their intimacy and commitment.

Of all the relationships we've seen on the show so far, Galadriel and Elrond embody this wonderful category-defying emotional intimacy most of all.

[tanadrin]

one reason i think matt yglesias thought is not really meeting the moment is the failure to understand the (quite common in some quarters already!) obvious insight that "willingness to fight donald trump like an angry badger" is not correlated with "moderateness on policy stances," that pursuing moderation in itself as a political goal tends to produce the focus-group-chasing milquetoasts that voters despise, that actual moderation on policy positions is not at all related to whether voters see you as a moderate, that voters often construct post-hoc rationalizations for why they vote for the candidates they vote for, and that (partly as a result of these factors) even if moderation does correlate with electability it is a weak effect that can be swamped by other factors. all of which makes chasing apparent moderateness via adoption of a specific slate of policy proposals kinda silly. deeply silly, in fact. at best it is a strategy which i think is going to result in something completely orthogonal to political success. and it would be sort of inexplicable that you could understand the present political moment that badly, except that whatever else he also wants, it seems to me yglesias really quite badly wants to win an intra-party factional conflict for petty personal reasons. and that really screws over his ability to do accurate political analysis.

[trashingfish]

Millicent questline proves that Maleina had control over the bloom. She uses the word "unleashing" when she talks about Malenia blooming, making it seem like Malenia meant to use the bloom, and that Malenia has control over the bloom. Millicent also says: "The pride she abandoned, to meet Radahn's measure." This word choice wasn't chosen to show that Malenia can't control the bloom. It's to show the opposite. It's to show that Malenia abandoned her morals and pride to ensure that she won her battle. She purposefully chose to release that bloom. It shows how low she will go to ensure her victory.

The thing Malenia can't control is the spread of the Scarlet Rot to her own self. She can't stop the rot from spreading throughout her body, as her and Miquella tried to find a way to stop it, but failed in doing so. She can control how and if she releases her Scarlet Rot. This is shown in her bossfight. In her first phase, she doesn't deal any Scarlet Rot damage to the player. Only in her second phase does she deal rot damage. This is her curse she was born with. She knows how to control and wield it. I'm sure she had to learn how to control it, I don't think she was born with the knowledge on how to take control of the rot.

Malenia finding solace through swordplay would only make her even more set on being undefeated. It's what she first found comfort in. It's what she knows best. Pair this with being Miquella's protector, and she's not going to back down and accept defeat. She is going to fight until she is the victor because swordplay and ensuring her brothers' safety are her top priorities. Especially if it's helping her gain resistance to the rot.

She says she has never known defeat as Blade of Miquella, but it would still carry over to when she becomes the Goddess of Rot. As the GoR, she hasn't known defeat either because she first becomes her in the bossfight. She also comes back therefore shes still technically undefeated in her eyes. I would think she still has her memories and goals in her mind, but at that moment, she is focused on killing the player. When she blooms the third time, her words are: "Wait...Now you will witness true horror." To me, this sounds like she meant to bloom and used her last breaths on using the bloom. Especially her tone when she says these words. She sounds confident and sure of herself. She doesn't sound upset or distraught at becoming the GoR. She chose her third and final bloom to win this battle. When she loses to the player, she says her final words with such despair. You can hear what sounds like weeping and tears in her voice as she's says these words. She also sadly admits she has finally met her match. This also means she failed at her goal of protecting Miquella, so not only was she defeated in battle, but she was defeated in her number one priority.

The Radahn VS Malenia is definitely a stalemate, I would never argue about that because neither one of them killed the other (winning to me would be Radahn or Malenia dying). They only left the other severely injured. I talked about how Malenia didn't win because she still claims that's she undefeated. This is true because technically, she didn't lose, but she also didn't win. I would assume that she believes Radahn to be dead since she used the bloom in that battle. I think really all the demigods are arrogant, as all of them are so sure of themselves that they are going to win. We just see it differently for each one. You could argue that arrogance is all their flaws, but I do think their main flaws are different. I argue that it's Malenia's main flaw because how an important part of her character is that she's undefeated. Also she does fight dirty, all the demigod do. This isn't me upset at the bossfights, its the demigods doing anything they can to reach their goal. Malenia is good exmaple of this as Millicent says Malenia abandoned her pride and blooming. That is an example of fighting dirty to me.

I don't think of her a petty crybaby either. To my knowledge, she's not petty as we don't even know what the Radahn and Malenia battle was even about. Also, I don't see her as the type to go picking fights with whoever. It's just with any enemy she has come across that she has defeated. She is definitely not a crybaby because she never whines about anything. I called her a dirty fighter because, to me, all the demigods are. This isn't about their boss fights either. It's about how they fight. All the demigods have a moment where they didn't fight fair, and that okay I don't expect them to. They are some of the most powerful people in the game with a set goal in mind.

I do agree that Radahn and Malenia are two peas in a pod. However, I never claimed their battle was to showcase who has the bigger dick or just to show how Malenia will do anything to win. Their battle happened after the shattering of The Elden Ring. Everyone was fighting with or without reason. Like you said, it was a tragedy of two broken people ending each other for basically nothing. It's just another part of a senseless war.

Also, the whole thing about her flaw is "She can't accept defeat and prides herself on being undefeated" is true. This is so obvious with the Radahn fight and when the player fights her. When she fought with Radahn, she used her Scarlet Rot Bloom because that was the only way she was going to leave that battle alive. When we fight her, right before the boss battle begins, she says, "And I have never known defeat." She prides herself on being undefeated and has such confidence she's going to win this battle. Then, the cutscene before her second phase starts she uses the Scarlet Rot Bloom and becomes the Goddess of Rot because she refuses to be defeated. Malenia will fight tooth and nail to ensure she is the victor, even if that means fighting dirty. I am sure this is also probably due to her wanting to protect Miquella and wanting to be there for when he returns, but her flaw is being arrogant.

[local-limebug]

wanna get back into mdzs but you are all so goddamn weird about jiang cheng

(i don't wanna retype my tags but read them pls... if you are both a wwx and jc enjoyer interact with this post please)

[scarefox]

whatever is going on in here, glad I am distracted with renovating my flat

The only thing I say is that Spare Me Your Mercy was amazing, one of the best shows for me.

I don't care that the romance plot isn't standard / regular / normal / linear. These guys are a bit weird, love can be weird and have layers and a spectrum. Humans are irrational, contradicting sometimes, feelings over logic. So can be fictional characters. Just flow with it. Accept them as they are with their flaws, instead of being mad they don't fit in regular romance plot boxes. Instead of saying "that is impossible" say "crazy that it is possible for them, i wonder what different corners and paths they went in their brain to land there".

And yes I get that they didn't want to add too much horny in a show that is constantly about death, dying, killing, euthanasia, one being an on-off murder suspect. That's not censorship, That's respect for the topic. Despite that they did kiss and had sex at the end when the pressure of the investigation was gone. The investigation + grief was the reason for Tiu to hold back the whole time. I also get why he started to love Kan between all of that. First of all he's adorable and smart and an open communicator when he doesn't try to hide his illegal side service. He is an ideal partner for him if they weren't on the opposite sides of the law.

[captainshiloh]

i don’t know i just think that the disconnect in this fandom between people who see ascension as the best ending for astarion and people with media literacy lies in the simple failure to understand that astarion’s motivation for damn near every single thing he does throughout the entire game, ESPECIALLY ascending, is fear

[visenyaism]

visenya had a husband and a kid meaning she clearly had sex eith him she’s bi

i do not know how to tell you this but long ago like especially in the feudalism times (where the entire paradigm revolved around using women and their potential future children as social currency between families) but even still today women have not always had control over who they married and who they had sex with and whether or not they had kids. if you’re coerced into marriage with someone because it’s your “duty” and then you have their child out of political necessity does that 100% determine who you are forever. come on now

[the-life-of-a-herm]

is it okay for perisex people to use the terms afab transfem and amab transmasc? is there alternative terms that should be used, or none at all? i would love to know lots about this, and i sincerely apologize if the terminology i'm using is incorrect to begin with, i fully welcome corrections.

thank you for your time!

hey! tysm for the Question!

I have been working on this ask since I got it.

I absolutely thing you can be transfem and afab and perisex, or amab and transfem and perisex. Let's get into why.

First off, of course, let's get into the language of it.

AFAB transfem is not an identity label you should use, because AGAB isn't an identity and it's actually counterproductive to centre it in who you are.

The reason why the term exists and is used is for a few different reasons..

A.) Some people don't have the language to describe how they are. I remember when I was a kid people would ask "can I be an AFAB demigirl?" because they didn't know and they didn't have the language.

B.) It's just what people use. It's a way to discuss "a transfem who is afab" shorter, the discoursers use it and it's simply a way to get what your saying across and seen better

C.) A lot of harassment happens in this community because of queercourse and a lot of people feel pressured into disclosing their AGAB otherwise they're "faking" or "infultrating" the community.

Secondly, transfemininity should never have even been defined by transition, your body, etc.

Transfemininity means a trans person who has a feminine gender, uncommonly mistaken for a trans person who presents femininely. (and also doesn't mean 'another term for trans women'.)

That description right there has been for a while the definition and I understand some people have astrix in their head for that but that's not anybodies problem but their own.

Multigendered people, nonbinary people, etc can all fit into this category and be perfectly perisex.

.

I think the idea people need something that seperates them "enough" from their trans identity to fully identify that way is harmful. Being trans does not need strict labels. You cannot box in the queer experience into specific categories. Being trans is about your experience and I think some people need to come to terms with the fact that it may not look the same for everyone.

Some people define their transness by transition. For them, transitioning to something is a part of their identity. These labels are tools to describe a lifetime of experiences.

For others, it's about their SIG never matching up with who they are.

-

I have switched in and out several time while writing so let me put it this way as to maintain some facade of an eloquent manner of speaking, I view being trans as something that is more defined by the person who is choosing to use the label rather than a strict definition. Anything other than that won't quite fit right.

This community was not built as a dictionary, everyone will have their own specific life experiences and reasons for identifying as trans and I don't feel like any way you describe it by one specific thing works at all.

(Heres how we would describe transness btw, but it probably needs a bigger post.)

Secondly, I have issues with it being seen as intersex only.

I think defining it as intersex only is kind of othering. Don't get me wrong, the intersex trans experience will hardly ever line up perfectly with perisex trans experiences.

However, I feel like stating intersex as an exception overall feels off to me.. We are not the only people in the community that break the FTM/MTF binary, and I really don't like how othering it is.

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-

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Anyways, switched far too much because of stress while writing this let me put it straight:

• Don't ID as 'afab transfem', though there are reasons you may want to use the wording for tags and such. Just call yourself whatever. Transfem, trans women, who cares.

• Being a trans woman or transfem is not some unicorn gender, you don't need a special bit of parts to ID as either of those things. It's somebody who is trans and uses either of those labels.

People may hate to see it, but it's the truth. Transness is not some binary experience. Being trans is personal to everyon and the reason why one person will ID as transfem compared to another and the experiences with that can be entirely different. That's okay. We don't have to be a monolith.

Do whatever you want anon, if you feel like you fit in some way why not? It's like saying 'therians are only spiritual' to me. Why box in a community that doesn't need to be? Why create definitions that do nothing but exclude? Being trans is an experience, but that doesn't mean all of ours have to be the same.

[ghostinacardboardbox]

CC is one of my new favourite things ever but ill respect your dislike of it far more than i ever will going "I'm not saying you cant criticise the musical but" then express discomfort with people calling out the antisemitism

CC is my least favorite Starkid show ever but I'll respect your appreciation of it far more than I ever will people who go "there's nuance here" in a post that is fully just using polite language to shut down criticism. I genuinely don't know what's so hard about this.

Anyway it's been a Rough Time to be in the Starkid fandom and actually want to complain about things I disliked in a show I was incredibly excited for. Somehow having literally any issues with the show at all means I must be someone who is only here for Hatchetfield and is just trying to bully Starkid back into doing Hatchetfield stuff. Piss on the poor website.

[malewifealucard]

the discourse about Remmick and Sammie is INSANITY y’all are scaring me (the hoes)