#use your brain and think critically!!!!!

[geryone]

Begging y’all to be normal about people reading & engaging with the work of authors with controversial backgrounds

[ladycatashtrophe]

"Let people enjoy things", "It's not that deep", "Stop being a hater", No.

You are capable of criticizing something and still enjoying it. Criticism should add to your enjoyment of the thing. Contextualizing and analyzing media is the only true sign that you enjoy it instead of just consume it. Stop selling the straggling iotas of your final brain cell to a fascio-capitalist system that wants to gorge you til you burst. Not consuming anything is better than blindly inhaling whatever is put in front of you without discretion.

Be an intellectual and have respect for yourself so you can have some sugary Wattpad fanfic and a Netflix reality TV show for dessert.

[shorthaltsjester]

coming off the high of finishing the draft of the last of my exegetical/theory heavy chapters of my thesis and while i was writing i was thinking a lot about why applying real world political philosophies to exandria specifically tends to fall flat and like. even beyond the explicit treatment of things like homophobia as nonexistent and hegemony functioning wildly differently if it really actually exists in exandria as we conceptualize it in our actual world really boils down to the works that make up a lot of the roots of the leftist theory people apply to exandria. like obviously marx is a big guy, nietzsche has more influence than you’d think given his reputation as the internets (poorly interpreted) sad boy, and less people probably know the names of the critical theorists that came out of the frankfurt school but you’d know their ideas — and they all have their toes in countless leftist ideas today, whether their influence is explicit or not. what’s notable in all those theorists is something found in the argumentative and background work that they provide before the claims most people on the internet know re: the workers of the world uniting, god’s being dead, and the culture industry, whether in their previous work or just earlier in the same books that people have read the goodreads quotes of: first principles.

if you’re unfamiliar with the term, it’s just a philosophy word for basic proposition that cannot be deduced from a previous claim. And for a whole lot of works in the history of moral and political philosophy (as well as other less relevant branches), one of the most common first principles you could find was the proposition that god exists. so much of the work of philosophers who inform leftist theory has required them to do the work of either coming up with a different first principle and justifying it and/or providing justification for why first principles are in themselves a flawed notion. nietzsche was so impactful in his claim that god is dead because it targets the very notion that history and the philosophy in it was finding the proposition that god exists to be unsatisfactory if unsupported. marx then was only able to ground his historical materialism because that first principle re: god was able to be dismantled. critical theorists, like adorno for example, were only able to do their work in light of accepting that god is not something worth appealing to without justification. and the reason any of this is relevant to the fantasy world of a silly internet show where voice actors roll dice is because any leftist theory whose most foundational basis is the realization and gradual societal acceptance that the claim “god is real” could not be assumed but had to be given justification will always end up being unsatisfactory when it is applied to a world where “god is real” is not only factually true but is also societally accepted and the existence of those who might philosophize about the gods is a direct product of those gods’ existence.

this isn’t to say there can’t be insight granted by applying these theories anyway (looking at my blorbos and applying philosophical theories is my favourite hobby, just ask my thesis supervisor) nor is it to say that the risks of trying to apply these theories to exandria starts and ends with its failing to be philosophically apt — but there have been many great posts circulating re: the issues with viewing certain facets of exandria through an “it’s a colonialist metaphor” lens and many similar cases so i won’t dive in here. just pointing out that as a facet of the objective truth that can exist in a fictional world, especially a world established by gods (world here being a word that includes the existence of mortals), some of the foundational propositions of the philosophical arguments at work in those theories are rendered false in the exandrian context. but this also means that, if the gods leave exandria in some sense, i will have a very fun time unpacking a nietzschean interpretation of their absence. because i predict that though the gods will be dead/gone, his meaning of god being dead will Not be fulfilled since ostensibly the majority of exandria still looks to the gods in love and in doubt as providers of guidance, and i question how much their presence actually informs the depth of that dependence. anyway. that’s my philosophical enrichment for the night.

[lesbiansayaishii]

"gone with the wind is racist-" thats the point. "rhett is horrible-" thats the point. "scarlett is a horribly unlikeable character-" thats the point. "rhett and scarlett are terrible together-" thats the point. "it portrays the south in a favorable light-" thats the point. all of this is the point. it's spelled out and right in the words you're reading and you're missing the fucking point.

[lizzybeeee]

Missed opportunity to have the 'magical god-killing macguffin' weapon be Andruil's spear. Rather than have an idol somehow become a dagger (not to mention cleansed of the blight and somehow expect us to just accept this - no questions) it could be this?

Veilfire writing from a ruin in the Arbor Wilds; the script is so ancient it defies translation. There are whispers from the Well of Sorrows. It's impossible to understand the entire text, but certain parts suddenly reveal a shadow of their original meaning. "She shook the radiance of the stars, divided them into grains of light, then stored them in a shaft of gold. Andruil, blood and force, save us from the time this weapon is thrown. Your people pray to You. Spare us the moment we become Your sacrifice." There is a brief image of an elaborate golden spear, glowing with unbearable heat. Then it fades. Codex entry: Unreadable Elven Writing, DAI

She began stalking the Forgotten Ones in the Abyss and became mad from it.

Andruil put on armor made of the Void, and all forgot her true face. She made weapons of darkness, and plague ate her lands. She howled things meant to be forgotten, and the other gods became fearful Andruil would hunt them in turn. Codex entry: Elven God Andruil, DAI

She made weapons and hunted Gods? The Evanuris, according to this myth, were frightened enough that Mythal had to come battle her?

Also imagine Ghilan'nain being killed by Andruil's spear...raised to Godhood by Andruil's hand and then slain by the weapon forged by her hand???

[srslylini]

Media using a character hitting another is always a topic of discussion and here it is with Caitlyn (cause god damn it).

Most of the times media uses it as a "one time thing" and in itself, like okay.

Is it weird?

Yeah.

Is it still hitting?

Well duh.

Mostly, media wants it to be just that, though, a one time event. A character moment. Not a discussion about abuse. Which is a whole other topic to talk about.

Now the thing is; abuse in real life doesn't have to just start out in an extrem. It mostly (of course that is still always different and individual!!!!) starts slow and with tiny occurrences. Like taking away the other partners phone etc.

The advice is to ALWAYS immediately leave for a reason. Cause when the partner hits ONCE it won't just stay at one.

See and that's the thing with media doing this. Is the character who they made to hit the other person abusive? No. Because the writers have the story in their hands and they then say "this is a one time thing." But real life is in no ones hands. There is no god that says "and you will just do this once for ✨️character✨️"

Meaning if people call that fucking shit out it isn't because they necessarily think the character is now a vile abusive piece of shit but because they recognize a pattern. And fuck, if that's not the truth. Meaning people who cry "dumb idiots for calling this abusive" make me mad.

Because people aren't necessarily calling the character abusive but the pattern behind it and how it usually occurs in real life.

[raylazuko]

Two all 2 people who follow my tumblr

GUYS THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT

If you’re of voting age in the US and not registered, PLEASE REGISTER NOW!

I’m endorsing Kamala Harris for president.

The fact that’s it’s even close makes me sick to my stomach.

You can disagree with Harris or Biden or their administration on a lot of things, but not seeing that she is clearly the better option is scary.

Queer people’s lives depend on this.

If you care about us, PLEASE VOTE

If you are mad at Harris for not stopping the genoc1de, remember that Trump will absolutely not stop it either and that he’s a moron who no one respects. I’d rather have a g3nocide overseas and have queer people (and poor people, women, poc) in the US protected than have a g3nocide overseas and not have them protected.

And if you say “well Roe v Wade overturned and other conservative laws happened under Biden” Remember this was the CONSERVATIVE supreme court that did this. And another Trump term will make the court even worse for decades. The implications of this are huge.

People are on the fence, it’s simple. If you care about your queer, disabled, poc, poor, female loved ones VOTE HARRIS. If you’re centrist and won’t vote because you don’t care you’re a pushover and a coward. If you’re farther left and think she isn’t left enough, yes you have a point but this is all we have, PLEASE use your brain and stop being chronically online and self impressed.

I don’t care if I lose followers for this at this point, I’m just out here doing everything I can, not to panic and want to hide who I am. A lot of people don’t have the options to move to another state let alone country and we just want to live.

I’m lucky to live in a very safe state but I’m still terrified.

Please care about us. Please vote.

[towards-toramunda]

Hey do you ever think about Orym being a self proclaimed romantic who is “super lonely all the time, especially at night” and how guilty he feels about wanting romantic connection because he still loves his husband, and sees Will’s face every night before going to bed, but he’s starting to realize his deeper attraction to Ashton as something real and realize his pining for Dorian as something he shouldn’t ignore, but he was supposed to be with Will and he’s come to terms with Will dying, but sometimes it hurts so much, and yes he wants romantic connection and he’s so lonely, but he still hasn’t gotten revenge for Will’s death, and he may die soon so why pursue anything if he’s gonna be with Will again in the afterlife, BUT he may die soon and why hold off on admitting how he feels when he knows that despite losing Will the time they had was real good and he wouldn’t trade it for anything, and what if he doesn’t die what if it all turns out okay and maybe he now really has a reason to want and hope for not just *the* future, but HIS future because that future could include Dorian or Ashton and is it bad to not want to be with Will sooner or is it better to want to live and be with someone who cares for him because thats what Will would want and he wants romantic connection and he is so lonely all the time, especially at night, and what if I started chewing the drywall huh?

[i-really-like-phrogs]

When someone else’s art is so good you physically can’t look at it because of artistic jealousy

[goyurim]

if you're into horror, don't watch hellbound. it's not for you.

it's being marketed towards audiences who loved of us are dead or sweet home which... makes sense i guess given the netflix logo, multiple seasons, bingeworthy amount of episodes etc. but at it's essence it is such a Korean drama i think it would have done so much better on a national cable tv channel like jtbc or something.

western audiences are trashing so much on the second season especially but also the whole show in general bc they're so used to being spoon-fed answers. western media doesn't trust their audience to understand implicit ideas and concepts. stories that are more open-ended and push viewers to fill in gaps themselves instead of relying on the storytellers to justify everything are way too complex apparently. but mainly i think a lot of people don't understand how korean psychological thrillers work. it's not about the monsters. it's about the people.

hellbound, to me, since the first season has always been a character study more than anything. it's about love, life, death, and sacrifice. what these things mean to different people, and how they find meaning through them. the monsters are merely a plot device, how does the existence of them affect your understanding of the world around you? the world within yourself? does it change anything? would you have been the same in a world that wasn't hellbound?

korean fanatasy dramas tend to do this a lot, like in the golden spoon where it was never revealed who the old grandma selling these golden spoons was or where she even got them from, or even in rom-coms like lovely runner, where it's never explicitly stated why this random watch allows our main lead to time-travel. we make sense of it ourselves though - it was the character's motivations, their passions, their ambitions, their love - that made their ordinary worlds extraordinary. and that extraordinariness (?? is that even a word?) is depicted through symbols, like a spoon, or a watch, or even supernatural monsters that appear to steal your soul and send you to hell. but the story was never about the symbols, it's about the people affected by them, and how they sometimes end up influencing the symbols too.

hellbound is an excellent show that explores all these different themes while never removing the spotlight from individual people and their humanity. personally, i loved the first season, and the second season even more. the cast is incredible, the acting is superb, the cinematography is amazing, and the writing is very intentional and well thought out. i wish it was appreciated more bc it really doesn't deserve all of the negative reviews it's been getting.

[wallspikes]

average gt fan when you ask them to think critically and carefully about the media tropes they consume or create.

[cloudsmovingcastle]

I am begging, on my hands and knees I am begging people on this godforsaken bitch of an earth

to check the goddamn sources of the posts they reblog

or rather, the disturbing lack of sources

I am sorry but if you want to call yourself an activist you have to do the bare fucking minimum to ensure that you are not actively spreading incredibly fucking harmful and incendiary misinformation

google is free. mediabiasfactcheck is fucking free.

Do better.

[ellieellieoxenfree]

build antis can get fucked every day of the year, but even moreso today <3

[arttsuka]

Friendly reminder that if you don't like something just, scroll away or block the individual who posted it. No need to be snarky and mean spirited in the comments, being rude is just, no, don't. Also statements like 'I'm retracting my like', ok? You're not doing me a favor by leaving a like (also did someone force you to like the post in the first place? Why would you leave a like if you didn't like what you were seeing?).

Be kind, if you have something to say please do so but don't be a jerk about it.

Also use your brain.

Thank you.

[audreyrose7]

I think about this all the time, before I started asking questions and poking holes and things, I was definitely oblivious but life was so much simpler back then! I believed in God, I was a conservative, and it wasn't that I thought I had all the answers, it was just that I didn't even think to ask for them. I figured God's got everything and it's not my job to ask.

It's insane to me to look back now and realize how closed I kept my brain, and how I could never be that person now. I could never blindly follow God, I could never again believe in the things that I did, I could never have the conservative mindset that I had for years, it's baffling to me to look at some Christians and hear what they have to say and realize they don't question anything ever?! It's insane! Questioning things and having critical thinking are so important!

(it's definitely not always fun, but using critical thinking and asking questions and always striving to find what's really happening, is more important than keeping your eyes closed)

[rxkuyo]

"Ahaha Daemon is so dumb for believing the old man is the one actively poisoning him when the weird goth witch giving him weird concoctions is right there."

May I introduce you to a beautiful concept known as sleep deprivation ? Man's only gotten poor quality sleep (if any at all) for weeks for all we know. Mood swings and paranoia are bound to go hand in hand with that one. Logical thinking ? Nope. Not happening. You add the fucking hallucinations further messing up his mind to the mix and you get exactly what we see.