#us versus them

[solarpunkpresentspodcast]

On some very serious level, it’s just not solarpunk if it’s not about a community taking action to make the world a better place. Individualism: it’s just so wrong. It’s fair to say that, not just in solarpunk, but in our cultures, “community” is right up there with “children” as an idea of something inherently good, moral, and wonderful. Community is worshiped as an answer to our problems. But Christina gets a sinking feeling every time she reads a solarpunk story that idolizes community.In this episode, Christina tries to figure out why she’s so suspicious of community and so afraid of being suffocated by the rules, regulations, and norms of community. Join us for our Season 5 closer in which she and Ariel peek at community’s darker sides, like infighting, conformity, the potential for ostracizing people who don’t conform, and the fact that the existence of a community automatically creates a them.

Links: https://www.newyorker.com/news/on-religion/losing-a-beloved-community

Important announcement: We will be going on a short break for August, but stay tuned for season six in September!

[momentsbeforemass]

God's direction

When someone takes a position or heads off in one direction, you just know what’s coming next. Someone else is going to take the opposite position. Or head off in the opposite direction.

It almost doesn’t matter what the position or direction is. It could be something simple or something difficult. Something novel or something obvious.

There’s just something about us. Something in human nature, that’s hard-wired to be contrary.

Start with our native contrariness. Throw in our over-arching need to be right. Plus a dash of ego. And you have a recipe for deep, damaging divisions.

Leading us into the trap of seeing the world, of seeing people, as either on our side. The right side. Or as wrong. And our enemies.

You see it everywhere. It happens even between people who have so very much in common. People who – you would think – should be the closest of friends and allies.

Which is why the last part of today’s Gospel is so important. It’s a moment that’s easy to miss.

Peter is pulling Jesus to do one thing. It’s nothing bad. But it’s not what Jesus knows God is calling Him to do either.

Instead of telling Peter that he’s wrong, and heading off in the opposite direction. Instead of being like us.

Jesus doesn’t worry about who’s right and who’s wrong. Jesus doesn’t waste time picking sides.

Jesus rejects the whole us-versus-them dynamic. A dynamic that we – as human beings – are way too comfortable with. A dynamic that’s the secret sauce in our recipe for division.

Jesus gently but firmly ignores the whole thing. And heads out in God’s direction.

May God grant us the grace to always do the same.

Today’s Readings

[spokenforinvaliduser]

a 1% reduction income 2 months from now

[egophiliac]

Hi it's just to let you know that the official romanization of Revaan's name is Raverne ! Also they have romanized Baul's name to Baur !

Twst coming back at us again with the least expected romanization! thank you everybody (oh god my inbox) (no it's great, I literally asked for this and the reactions have been INCREDIBLE, thank you all!)

I do like Raverne though, I think it's got a nice fancy sound to it! (I had kinda suspected it was going to be an R instead of an L, so the fact that it's SO close to Laverne except for that is hilarious to me personally.) and Dragoneye Duke is honestly probably the best translation for his title, I wasn't envying the localizers that one. :') Baur instead of Baul I was NOT expecting, but in retrospect I think his name's supposed to be a reference to the Bauru crocodile, so that actually makes way more sense!

someone else also said Meleanor has become Maleanor, which is the REALLY weird one to me, because I was so surprised it was written as Mel instead of Mal in the first place?! oh god no I can't decide which one I like better. 😭 (I wonder if they might change it to Mal...they have made romanization changes before) (like I remember House of Distraction being corrected to House of Destruction in Playful Land) (I did check and she's still Mel for now, but I dunno, they might Mal her up and some point and save me from having to make a decision about which one to use) (HECK I CAN'T DECIDE)

uhhhh thank you for letting me ramble about anime names, let's just say MONOGRAMMED SWEATERS FOR EVERYONE

[oceanwithouthermoon]

*holds my breath* please dont be misogynistic please dont be misogynistic please dont be misogynistic

-me whenever a fic introduces teruhashi or yumehara

[squarebracket-trickster]

By the way, lurkers are welcome on my blog<33

Yeah, yeah, Writeblr is a community and all that. But I get it.

Some of us have anxiety disorders. Some of us are (or were once) minors on the internet who had it drilled into us to never make our presence known in online spaces lest we get stalked or groomed.

It's okay if interacting is outside of your comfort zone.

Some of us aren't actually on tumblr enough to make making a Writeblr intro worth it.

Some of us prefer to take a few months, maybe years, observing the community to learn the rules. And let's face it, there is a huge learning curve to Tumblr culture. I came here from Pinterest in like 2018 and hooo boy was it intimidating!

Like, I was that 17 year old pinterest lurker with an anxiety disorder who was taught that internet safety meant "never comment on anything" who took a few years before I felt comfortable enough with tumblr culture to reblog things with tags, let alone make public posts.

So I guess what I am saying is, I can't judge. Because I've been there.

Writeblr is a community. And the community (for me) is the best part. And remember that if you don't contribute to the community you don't get to complain about it either. But this is also a public space. Silent observers are to be expected. And on my blog you are welcome.

[justaz]

arthur repealing the ban on magic and sitting merlin and morgana down to figure out who is going to be court sorcerer and ready to mediate a debate but before morgana can even open her mouth, merlin passes to position onto her. arthur and morgana just stare, morgana makes feeble attempts to spark an argument, to instigate merlin to at least fight for it. even arthur is like “…you don’t even want, like, a room or something for your magic work?? none of the perks?? a different position in the court?????” and merlin’s just like “nope! i’m good!” and morgana and arthur exchange a look before arthur asks why. merlin’s answer is that his position, where he belongs, is at arthur’s side. besides. morgana deserves it. she was snubbed from becoming queen so it was only fair.

[tadc-survival-isles]

Hiiii another question. Just curious. What is Jax's and Gangle's relationship in this AU? :3

I'm glad you asked!

They are the best of friends your honor! Besties if you will! They have absolutely no ill intentions towards one another at all! Why would you ever think that? :]

(This is all /s)

They hate each other. The only times they ever interact is if Jax decides to antagonize Gangle which can escalate into something worse pretty fast depending on eithers patience. Ragatha often makes sure the two are kept separate whenever Jax visits for this reason. She doesn't need anymore problems to deal with.

[thetimelordbatgirl]

How to tell the royal family don't live in reality: they think that a postcard will help kids deal with a tough Christmas this year instead of, I dunno, actually trying to help the kids in these tough situations.

[onebizarrekai]

ibvs omori icons from 2021 (isaac and edward edition)

[crimeronan]

bi people tagging the joke fagdyke kinsey scale post about how they wish there were more slurs for bi people because they can't be a dyke or a faggot..... baby Please.....

straight people have NEVER cared about whether you experience exclusively homosexual attraction when they hurl slurs out of passing cars. those words ARE your slurs if you want 'em.

[trans-androgyne]

sorry but I do think doubling down here is a bad look. If you can provide a single way that using she/her pronouns could have reasonably lead to someone finding her blog then I’ll accept your reasoning. But outside of that, it is misgendering.

You yourself even say in your pinned that referring to you wrong is degendering and misgendering, why is this different? Would you be ok with someone referring to you totally wrong for ‘anonymity’ come on now.

This is your “different perspective” doubling down on misgendering a trans woman is bad! Even if one trans woman who obviously wants to agree with you says it’s fine actually

At this point, everyone else I talked to including multiple trans women and transfems all agree that vaguing is not the same thing as misgendering. To me, it’s standard etiquette to not use any information like that in vague posts. People have used “he” on me in vague posts specifically because they clearly thought me being a guy was relevant to their point, and I don’t think that’s appropriate when the person’s gender doesn’t matter for the point of the vague. Calling me a man or woman is misgendering, but calling me a person instead of a guy and otherwise using neutral language in a vague about me is not, and I would rather people do that than bring my gender into it if they think I have a bad take. I want to hear more perspectives on the matter because I genuinely do not want to harm other trans people. But it has nothing to do with her being a trans woman, this is just how vagues work to me and currently many more people agree than disagree with that perspective. I am sincerely sorry if she feels hurt by me vaguing her and not bringing up her gender, as if I knew that was her preference i would have done it; if I post anything else about her I will be certain to gender her. I hope not to though, she is not someone I want to interact with or talk about more.

[cesarescabinet]

For caer-gai's Arthuriana August! Prompt 6: Visiting Knights

Going obscure this time around with a doodle of Sir Priamus and his brothers Hectymere and Edward of Carnavron (who's not a travelling knight but that's besides the point). Figured it would be fun to finally make designs for them. Tbh poor Hectymere just isn't having a good time at the tournament this time around.

And with that ends Arthuriana August! Thanks to @caer-gai for hosting the event; I had a lot of fun with the prompts!

[dmclemblems]

“Claude in Hopes is exactly the same way he is in Houses! He’s always been like that and has the same feelings/morals!”

Claude in GW/Hopes:

Claude, literally, in Houses:

Let that speak for the fact that Claude was written with a 180 characterization in Hopes.

Claude wants peace and to bring everyone together; not to tear them further apart. That is his character.

[kaidanalenkosprmanager]

THE BEST OF MASS EFFECT: VIRMIRE

Featuring: Cmdr. Sophie Shepard and Cmdr. Dominik Shepard With: Lt. Kaidan Alenko, Gun. Chief Ashley Williams, Urdnot Wrex, and Tali'Zorah nar Rayya Ft. Special Guest Appearances by: Spec. Saren Arterius and Sovereign There is a realm of existence so far beyond your own, you cannot even imagine it... Mass Effect: Legendary Edition (2021)

[dodgebolts]

Sap saying that he’s not jealous of dnf and that he’s grateful that they paved the way for him and that he doesn’t feel insecure being regarded as one of the group because he knows he’s still distinct from them like THAT’S why the 3 of them have outsold and will continue to outsell—there’s no malice, no jealousy in fame, they all share the bring your friends with you mindset and have been best friends before anything else 🫶 and that was without ever having met like there’s very little that can break something like that now because it’s amplified by being irl, and i for one can’t wait to see what they do next