#those learning. but don't forget the ceasefire

[karinyosa]

reminder that you can email congress for a ceasefire here and the white house here. don't forget to mention/also email about us government ending funding to israel and sanctioning them, and holding them accountable for war crimes, but the immediate need right now is a ceasefire. there are other online writing actions on the first link including calling the white house

[phoenixyfriend]

A lot has been happening today that rep calls could affect. UN vetoes, KOSA, Julian Assange, UNRWA's funding crisis and Israel's demands that it be completely dismantled, the large number of bills we just learned are on the docket for the coming week, and even the good news that is recent successes by the BDS movement.

And like... I care about this stuff. I want to talk about it. But it takes an emotional and mental toll to do it, and it takes time, and... there are two reasons to write up reference, update, information posts:

Compensation. I'm not a journalist, but if I were, I would in theory be getting paid for the information I collect and share to my audience. However, I am not, and am doing this for free. I have gotten maybe $5 in donations since I started this project, and while I recognize that this is probably because people are (quite rightly) donating instead to Palestinian charities or local campaigns or something, it's a basic fact that I am not actually being compensated for this work.

Promoting change and activism. This is in fact my main goal: to have a positive impact on current events by giving people a guide on the news and politics because there's so much happening that's hard to keep track of, and if I'm already doom-listening to half a dozen political podcasts, I might as well save other people the trouble, right?

The thing is, like... most of the reblogs on my guidelines and helpful posts are from me, to me. I am the one reblogging. I am desperately trying to get these things to circulate so I can make a difference, but... no dice. Some of the posts are admittedly pretty long (my 'how to call your reps, here's some verbiage' post is 3.4k words), and I can imagine some people are saving it for later, and then maybe forget, or they don't want to share something controversial, and like... I do get that. I do.

But it does mean the posts aren't circulating, and thus they're having less of an impact, and I can't help but feel like there are other things I could be doing to help that would be more effective. More bang for my buck, except it's my time and effort instead of my money. Like, maybe it would have more an effect if I hunted down a wider variety of elected officials I could bother instead of instructing other people on how to bother theirs? Maybe going to protests (which would be a huge commitment due to distance) would be more effective than trying to help ensure that the effectiveness of "I actually have a vote and you are losing it" of calls has the weight of numbers behind it.

Especially since I did try to blaze it, and tumblr mods rejected the post. I don't know why. It's not against ToS, since none of it was disinformation or election interference, which is the only reason given on the FAQ for why things might not be approved for blazing, but who knows.

Maybe tumblr just decided the possible blowback on them for blazing a pro-ceasefire post would be too much.

I don't know. I just... it's just really disheartening to try to help and it gets stymied because, as much effort as it might be, it doesn't reach more than a (comparatively) tiny audience, especially when my relatively low-effort polls and shitposts get easily ten times as many notes with way less energy put in.

EDIT: This is not a post that I need to have reblogged. this is just me bitching. This a vent post. What I am asking people to reblog is my activism posts that I spend hours on to try and help nudge things in a better direction. Please reblog THOSE. This one doesn't need reblogging unless you have an actual comment. Reblogging this post just to reblog, with neither useful comment nor encouragement, is not helping me with my issue of 'not paid, not making an impact' or helping with any important causes.

[alfredsolos]

hey, you know how you did a review (basically) of colin���s character and kinda outlined or corrected any misinformation ppl make ab him (like that he’s Jon kent 2.0?) (idk how to explain- character study??? u just explained him rly well with good textual evidence)

anyways~

do you think u could do something like that for Maya Ducard? like, clear up any misconceptions ppl have ab her character and such? i want to write her but i don’t have the ability to read the comics/don’t rlly want to anyways.

Alright! Before going into a character analysis, let's talk about Maya's story. Who is Maya Ducard?

Maya Ducard is a vigilante/hero called Nobody. She is the second person to take up that mantle. The first Nobody aka Morgan Ducard aka Maya's father, was killed by Damian Wayne in Batman and Robin.

Maya finds the remains of her father's corpse beneath the sea and watches the clip of Damian killing her father. So to take revenge, she goes after Damian to kill him.

But during that time, Damian goes into a redemption trip where he tries to undo the damage he did when he was an assassin.

During on of those missions, Maya and Damian cross paths and she tries to kill him. But when she finds out that he was on a redemption trip, she decides to go with him and ensure that he is doing what he's supposed to. And she tells him that in the end she'd kill him.

Damian let's her tag along and they go on adventures together, growing closer and closer. And in the end, Maya forgives Damian.

Now, going back to the topic. Coming across Maya fics are harder because there are too few. So I don't really know how the fanon portrayes her.

I do know that most of the time she is portrayed as a supportive big sister, which is true but she is also so much more. So in this post I'll give out some facts about her and explain her character using canon panels.

****

1. Maya does not like the idea of innocents dying:

Even when she was trying to kill Damian, she interrups her plans to save the innocent people. This tells us that she indeed has a pure heart. Along with her potential to be a hero.

2. She knows how to get inside someone's skin:

During the times where they have a temporary ceasefire, Maya does not hold back from hurting Damian with her words and trying to get under his skin. This tells us that whoever her target is, she will do proper research on them and make sure to know them on a personal level. Which makes her dangerous.

She has a sharp tongue, so don't forget to apply this trait of hers on your fics!

3. Abilities?

Maya does not have any super powers. But she does have a super suit with numerous abilities. The most prominent ones being: Invisibility, sonic boom devices that are built into her hands, a device that distorts people's eyesight. She is also a very skilled fighter.

Another very important thing to note is that, her father wasn't the one who taught her how to fight:

She learned how to fight by herself, watching her dad from the shadows. Which indicates amazing strategic and martial ability. Not to mention how she tracked down Damian and manage to hold her own against him.

4. At first these two did not get along:

And by that I mean, they did not get along.

They did not fight due to the ceasefire. But the things they said to each other? Ouch.

5. Maya loves Goliath:

Before and after trying to kill Damian, Maya always loved Goliath. She even tried to take him away from Damian at one point.

Goliath also loves Maya very much, risking his life for her countless times.

6. Along with her hate for Damian, she was also jelaous of him:

One, he had a family that gave everything to him. Two; while her father never taught her anything, he took in Damian and taught him special moves and trained him. And due to this she naturally had a bit of envy of him.

7. Maya was still adament to kill Damian when they started to get along:

This didn't last that much, but in her mind it was some kind of divine justice.

8. Damian saved Maya from Deathstroke:

After Maya quit trying to become an assassin and killing Damian, Deathstroke came after her. But Damian basically pays her off and gives Slade 5 million dolars to stop trying to kill her. Surprisingly it works.

But Maya doesn't understand why he did this. She calls herself worthless and with this, we can get that she has very low self esteem and self-deprecating thoughts.

9. She is more laxed, compared to Damian:

As you can see, she does not shy away from resting unlike other assassins who do not stop until they complete their plans.

10. She has never killed anyone:

Even before or after Damian, she has 0 body count. She never killed or kills anyone in the future. This fact is the reason why Damian let Maya come with him after she tried to take him on. He knew that she wouldn't be able to do it.

11. Damian has a habit of calling her 'chica':

It's obvious that he does this to annoy her. But we can use this in the fanon as Damian annoying Maya by calling her chica

12. Damian gives Goliath to Maya:

After the redemption trip and Maya forgiving Damian, he tells her to take Golaith with him. Maya refuses and tells him that Goliath belongs to him. But Damian answers with:

Goliath ends up staying with her.

13. Damian shies away from asking Maya for help:

After the redemption arc, Maya settles in and is actually happy. Damian sees this and hesitates to ask for her help.

As you can see, this happens multiple times. Which is cute, to see Damian being shy. Maya could be the only person who makes Damian feel like that.

14. Maya gains a brother:

After forgiving Damian for killing her father, she tells him that he has gained a new sister. Which means a lot because this shows that blood isn't what matters, but love. Seeing Damian accept and love her, destroyes the 'blood son' argument.

15. Maya hates the al Ghul's:

She tells Talia that she hates all the al Ghuls, besides Damian. She also goes on to tell her that she is a horrible mother. And by that, she really goes all out.

16. She kidnaps Jon Kent:

We all know that Damian met Jon by kidnapping him. But the thing is, he wasn't alone! Maya also helped him to kidnap Jon.

****

Anyways, these were my intrepretation of Maya Ducard's character from her canon interactions. If anyone wants to add onto these, please feel free and thank you for the ask!

[plain-white-knuckles]

I've returned from thesis-writing-hiatus to say one thing:

I'm so incredibly ashamed of the German government. I went to high-school for 8 years, 4 of which we spend most of history class talking about the Drittes Reich, Hitler and the Holocaust. My grandpa was in the Hitler Jugend as a child. His dad died somewhere in Russia fighting for Hilter. My Polish grandma told my mom stories about how the Germans devastated the Polish people during WW2. I am very well aware of my German heritage and rightfully so are most of us Germans. We've been taught about the unforgivable acts our ancestors have committed against the Jewish people and we are aware of the xenophobia still taking place in Germany today. And I am all for keeping this knowledge alive in each new generation for the purpose of never forgetting what people, regular ass human beings, are capable of doing.

The German representatives at the UN have chosen to not vote for the ceasefire that almost all countries of the world are asking from the Israeli government. And I cannot fucking fathom this. I'm ashamed. So goddamm ashamed. Us Germans, after what our ancestors have done to the Jewish people, as a result of them commiting a GENOCIDE, we have an obligation to forever be the first ones to get involved when we see someone else committing the exact same heinous crime! How can our politicians and parts of our people think that the main lesson from the Holocaust for us Germans needs to be: "Never again criticise or hold accoutable any Jewish person ever again for anything they do because of our past." When the ONLY lesson we should have learned from this devastating crime should be: "We can never ever again let this happen. We need to be the first ones to call it out. We owe this to every single person that was killed during the Holocaust. So that no human being has to suffer throught this again".

I understand that us Germans feel the guilt. We all know what we did to the Jewish people and that these actions can never be forgiven. However, we cannot let this guilt be the reason to stay neutral right now. It cannot justify us watching on as thousands of human beings are being slaughtered by the Israeli government and military in the present day. They are actively murdering civilians. They are systematically destroying the health care system in Gaza. And they are not even trying to hide those atrocities from the world. It's a genocide they're commiting right now. And it's well past time to start believing that.

Again, I can't put into words how disgusted and embarrassed and ashamed I am that many of our German representatives are acting like spinless cowards. Yes the matter is complex. Yes there's been death and destruction on both sides. However, only one side is currently invested in eradicating an entire people from existence. They don't want anyone to survive this! Call it what it is. We owe it to every person that died by our peopels hands nearly a centuries ago. And for every person alive in Palestine right now scared to death that each moment could be their last.

[starlightshadowsworld]

Hey, what is your thought about we slowly overwrite western judgement on arabs and Palestinian as Terrorist, into us saying that France is Terrorist Lover country for funding Israel, United Kingdon into Queen/Mother of Terrorist, and United States into United Terrorist? It fits them better. We have to turn their propaganda into the most degrading and embaraasing boomerang.

I want these countries to lose their attractiveness, good images, trust, and any good propaganda that they make to their name.

I appreciate that you think I'm in any way qualified to answer this.

Because I'm definitely not.

What I will say is that I am all for it.

Because the glamour and supposed prestige western countries exhibit is something we need to be critical off.

Because it's allowed them to get this far exploiting people both past and present.

They frame Arabs as violent as savage when they are the ones being slaughtered and tortured.

Whole countries and nations have been systematically uprooted and changed forever.

And those affects are still felt today.

In Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Afghanistan, Pakistan etc.

All things that were started by and than escalated by these western countries who have than reaped the benefits.

What we've learned from the way media is covering Palestine, is that the language we use is so important.

And using that language properly, well it's the least we can do.

And we should do, those like the UK and the US have blood on their hands from this and so many other conflicts worldwide.

They are able to do shit like veto a UN Security Council resolution for a ceasefire in a genocide.

Of destabilising and assassinating world leaders in countries they don't want to succeed.

And if their own laws won't hold them accountable, we should.

But while we do that, it's important we share other cultures, share narratives and stories and art and food from all other the world.

And embrace them.

White supremacist ideology can't be upheld if there's no idealised view of whiteness.

That these countries desperately cling on to.

... I dunno if I answered this right I am very much sleep deprived and have provably gone off on a tangent.

But yes I agree.

We can't forget this, what they've done and continue to do elsewhere.

We will not forget this.

And we will mock them mercilessly for it.

And I say all this as a Pakistani born and raised in the UK.

People are walking down the streets in protest shouting Rishi Sunak is a twat and a wasteman.

I am all for this.

And using their own words against them? Oh they'll hate that.

Never let them forget they are the animals here.

That they always have been.

[papirouge]

How am I pulling the “unbiased” card btw when I clearly stated “I have my biases as well”. I think my yearly visits to Israel make me biased and knowing people there affected by this definitely influences me to support Israel defending its people. With that said I still care about innocent life caught up in any war. That doesn’t make me biased it makes me human. Perhaps it is you that cannot read.

No YOU need to learn to read: you complained that my articles/sources were biased - so following your logic : you admit being biased and that's fair & ok, but when I pull out allegedly biased articles it's a problem??? I think you're so far your bad faith rhetoric you're losing track of the consistency of your talking point.

And tbh shut up about the I CarE aBouT tHe iNnOcEnt dYiNg In ThIs wAr uwu If you really cared about peace and protecting the innocent you wouldn't support a whole ass war you genius. Either go fight yourself to this peacemaking war or shut up. People asking others to sacrifice for your demented ideology need to be put on the frontline. War will come off less 'necessary' to you once you see someone be blown out to pieces and get spray painted by their brain, you freaking idiot.

And it's even more disgusting knowing you're babbling this warmongering bs from the comfort of your home while soldiers as well as civilians are dying. Ironically, those calling for a ceasefire are more protective of Jewish lives because we also don't want anymore Jewish soldier die in Gaza. The people who died in October 7 will👏🏾not👏🏾come👏🏾back👏🏾. IDK why it's so hard to get that through your thick skulls. This military intervention most likely killed hostages and as far as I know, Israel managed to get some hostages back only after negociating with Hamas (so Hamas ultimately got what they wanted). And let's not forget the kids in Gaza Israel left traumatized and will most likely be radicalized by its inhumane violence. So the cycle will never end. Hamas won't disappear anytime soon. Actually, Israel managed to make Muslim diaspora even more supportive of Gaza and Hamas so it might be the target of a bigger threat 💀 but yeah, war totally brings peace 🤡 totally worked for the last 70+ years...

[nylonsandlipstick]

I don't know if this is the sort of stuff you like but do you have any head cannons about Jadis and her sister in Charn? What was her childhood like and how was there early relationship. Or any other Charn headcannons really.

god i always forget that jadis even had a sister!

so jadis was quite possibly the worst child the charn royal family could have ever had. it wasn’t that she was rambunctious or ran around and muddied her dress. she just wasn’t good enough or rather, more specifically, as good as her sister. she wasn’t as good of a politician or as good of a hostess or even as good of a needle-pointer. she was basically always a step under her sister, which is what led her to become so cruel and bitter toward her family.

she knew of the sorcery that her ancestors had practiced and knew that she could practice magic herself too. after introducing the idea of practicing magic to her parents, they were elated and said that would give her tutors to teacher her… alongside her sister. her sister suddenly became the best witch the family had ever had. jadis later insisted on learning some older magic that her ancestors had practiced but was quickly shut down for fear of her using black magic and finding out about the deplorable word. her constantly being denied the teaching of old magic was actually what led to her one day delve deeper into the palace library and stumble upon several old spell books, one containing the deplorable word.

jadis immediately set to practicing the spells in those books. during the day she practiced the magic that her tutors only allowed her to practice where her sister was always praised for being the best, but during the dead of night she would practice the black magic contained in the dusty spell books where she knew that she was the better witch. nights of diligent practice and growing disdain for sister and family and everyone else in charn who regarded her as the lesser sister led her to be the best witch all of charn had ever known. she eventually learned of the deplorable word which she didn’t hesitate to use to end the war between herself and her sister to establish herself as the rightful queen of charn.

her sister wasn’t mean to her, on the contrary, she loved jadis with all her heart. she never sought to be better than her sister just to do her best. it irked jadis most about her sister. she didn’t like that her sister was so kind and caring because it made her hatred and disdain for her seem childish and unnecessary. she hated it even more that her sister had tried reasoning with her at the end of the battle for the throne. jadis didn’t want to surrender or call for a ceasefire. she wanted to end the war with a winner and a loser, the winner for once being her. jadis knew she was being wholly unfair and unreasonable but she didn’t care. she just wanted to be the best for once.