#war criminals debating philosophy

[ross-hollander]

Freedom

"There's a difference between simply 'having one's freedom' and actually being free, Khamsin."

The soldier scoffed. "Wordplay doesn't impress me. Tell me what you're really saying, then I'll think about it."

Monsoon tapped the metal of Khamsin's walker with one hand, stroking his chin in meditation with the other, and after a short pause he spoke. "Well, then. A man's in prison, that man has no freedom. In the literal sense, you understand; he can't go where he pleases, eat what he chooses. But that man could- in the sense of soul, in the sense that matters, Khamsin -he could be more free than anyone in the world."

Khamsin's brow furrowed. "Nah. You're not getting me. Run it by me one more time…plain talk, this time."

"You didn't give me time to explain. You can keep a, a body in a box-" Monsoon leered into the cockpit with his death's-head grin. Khamsin snarled. "-but the soul, the soul goes where it pleases. Governments, cults, armies, religions, every institution in history has tried to perfect the science of trapping-" he reached up and clenched a fist, as though catching a thing mid-air, "-the soul itself. Of preventing people from being, truly, free.

"But the truth is, once a person is truly free, nothing can limit them. Make the leash as long as you want to or as short, it doesn't matter if the dog's slipped out of the collar you put on it, does it? A free person, in the meaning of true freedom, can't be inhibited by what becomes of those vain, superficial freedoms."

Inside the walker, Khamsin slouched back against the seat, hands behind his head and a curl in his lip. "No. I don't buy it. Freedom, true freedom, for your word, it's abstract. The actual personal freedoms are concrete. Freedom to take the collar off- burn the flags, riot, whatever -that's just one more freedom that you can be afforded, but there'll always be someone to hold it. Without that, I mean, without someone overseeing freedom, that's just chaos."

Monsoon shook his head, rubbing the metal where his temples once were. "You're agreeing with me, you just don't see it from the right perspective. A person can have every freedom in the world, but not really be free, because they're just allowed to have those. You need the right to bite the hand that feeds you."

"You're talking anarchy," replied Khamsin curtly. "A society at that stage- you can't call that society, that's animals. Freedom is afforded because freedom means it's afforded. Freedom without a structure to be free from is just animal, and animals might be free but they're also- you know, animals. We're sapient beings. We're different."

Monsoon hopped lightly off of the walker, legs shooting to the ground and drawing the rest of the magnetic discs of his body after them. He spoke over his shoulder as he walked off. "You're not getting me, Desert Storm. Think it over, I'm sure you'll understand." Under his breath, he sighed: "Eventually…"

[readingsquotes]

"The violent crackdown on students protesting against Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza reveals the stark hypocrisy of political and academic leaders at our colleges and universities, including my own. Instead of first turning to dialogue and debate – the very skills and values universities should promote – school administrators have turned to police, extreme discipline, and complying with a mainstream consensus that seems more interested in suppressing criticism of Israeli and American policy than protecting students.

From Columbia University to my own University of Southern California, peaceful student encampments in common university areas have been dismantled by city police, with hundreds of students arrested. Some have been suspended, evicted from dormitories, and threatened with expulsion and criminal conviction. At UT Austin, state troopers threw a Fox cameraman to the ground and arrested him. At Emory University, the chair of philosophy, Noelle McAfee, was arrested by a police officer wearing a balaclava, as if he were conducting an antiterrorism raid. Another Emory professor, Caroline Fohlin, who sought to protect students being arrested, was wrestled to the ground by two police officers, handcuffed, and charged with battery.

These student protests against a war that has killed over 34,000 Palestinians, at least two-thirds of whom are women and children, are what professors and administrators love to call a “teachable moment.” Unfortunately, most universities and colleges are failing their academic principles, their students, and their faculty. I wish I could say I was surprised, but after three decades in academia, I am not.

...

On my own campus, the USC administration canceled the speech of its valedictorian, Asna Tabassum, after pro-Israel groups on and off campus labeled her antisemitic for including a link on her Instagram to a website that called for the abolition of Israel. Tabassum minored in resistance to genocide, offered through the Advanced Center for Genocide Research. The center’sfounding director, Wolf Gruner, called Tabassum one of the most empathetic students he had ever taught. Tabassum said she planned to speak to the commencement audience about hope and human rights. She might or might not have brought up Gaza and Palestine, war and genocide, but even if she did, should that have been a reason to cancel her?

The university administration offered unspecified threats to safety so severe that it felt it could not protect Tabassum or the commencement ceremony, even though former President Barack Obama had attended the commencement the year before and presumably required heightened safety measures. It is difficult not to believe that safety was a pretext for the university to avoid controversy that might antagonize pro-Israel students, family members, and outsiders. But the real consequences of such a controversy would not have been community protest; instead, it would have been political blowback from Congress, donors, and trustees. 

....

In universities, the lack of democracy and transparency is more of a norm than an exception. Faculty and students are routinely ignored by university administrations when it comes to the most serious issues, which is to say those that involve money. This is perhaps why students have felt that their only recourse when it comes to demanding divestment and the end of military aid to Israel was through protest, carried out in public spaces, rather than the futile road of privately appealing to administrators. 

The student protesters are on the right side of history, as they were in the 1960s and 1970s, demonstrating against the immoral and racist war the U.S. was waging in Viet Nam, Laos, and Cambodia. The students were right again in the 1980s, campaigning against apartheid and forcing universities to divest from South Africa. 

It is amazing how institutions teach idealism, including these cases of opposition to war and apartheid, and are then astonished that students are idealists. We are now witnessing a student rebellion against the hypocrisy of their elders and the powerful, who tell them they have to accept the lesser of two evils, and who weaponizeantisemitism to justify genocide."

[skiasurveys]

survey #idk

I have Traveled To:

More than three states in the US

Mexico

Canada (tech i live here)

A place that starts with the letter L

Austria

An island

A big city

Anywhere in Africa

Japan

A place where English is not the main language

Anywhere in the southern hemisphere

India

Netherlands

I Have Read:

Any of the Bible

At least two Harry Potter books

The entire Twilight series

Catch-22

Animal Farm

A Dr. Seuss book

Instructions to a piece of Ikea information

A warning label that made me laugh

A biography/autobiography

Dante’s Inferno

A Chuck Palahniuk book

A newspaper in the last week

Something that made me cry

I Like to Eat:

Spam

Mexican food

Brussell sprouts

Onions

Watermelon

Vegan food

Bacon

Chocolate

New things

Escargot

Hummus

Haggis

Indian food

Home cooking

Fast food

My Favorite Actors Include:

Mark Wahlberg

Morgan Freeman

James Franco

Leonardo DiCaprio

Robert DeNiro

Samuel L. Jackson

Chris Hemsworth

Elijah Wood

Johnny Depp

Steve Buscemi

Robin Williams

Jack Black

Channing Tatum

I Have Listened to These Bands:

Taylor Swift

AC/DC

Jay-Z

Frank Sinatra

Pink Floyd

Fall Out Boy

Incubus

No Doubt

The White Stripes

Skrillex

Tenacious D

Metallica

Britney Spears

Ke$ha

The Beatles

I Have/Had These Pets:

Dog

Cat

Horse

Bird

Hamster

Lizard

Snake

Guinea Pig

Goat

Fish

Mouse

Spider

Pig

Hedgehog

Ferret

I Have Seen These Movies:

Fifth Element

Gone With the Wind

Nightmare Before Christmas

High School Musical

Kickin’ It Old School

Casablanca

Predator

White Men Can’t Jump

AVATAR

12 Years A Slave

Saving Private Ryan

MASH

Mamma Mia!

Dark Shadows

Riding In Cars With Boys

If I Could Have A Super Power, I Would Choose:

Mind control

Mind reading

Teleportation

Flying

Bullet-proof

Speed

Super-strength

Invisibility

All-Knowing

X-Ray vision

Freeze-touch

Time traveling

Invulnerability

Telekenisis

I Am Scared of:

Clowns

Heights

Spiders

Open spaces

Small spaces

Vacuums

Snakes

Needles

Strangers

Michael Myers

Bugs

Tiny holes

Highways

Germs

Police

My Favorite Color Is:

Red

Yellow

Orange

Green

Blue

Purple

Gray

Black

Brown

White

Pink

I Am Currently Wearing:

A t-shirt

A hoodie

Capris

Shoes

A bra

Make-up

Perfume

Deodorant

Hat

Something with a superhero/symbol on it

Nail polish

Scarf

Pajamas

Boxers

Sweatpants

I Would Describe My Best Friend As:

Bossy

Intelligent

Promiscuous

Funny

Whiny

Honest

Reliable

Loyal

Lazy

Adventurous

Unique

Complicated

Open-minded

Well-read

In the Last 24 Hours, I Have:

Read

Drank alcohol

Had sex

Eaten meat 

Danced in public

Went swimming

Changed my clothes more than once

Said something mean

Cleaned

Spent money on something pointless

Sang aloud

Met someone new

Played a game of some sort

Things In the Room With Me Now Are:

A TV

Another person

Something that belongs to a child

A pet

Food

Bed

Art

Clock not connected to a phone/computer

A mirror

Medicine

Books

Drugs or alcohol

The Last Person I Texted Is:

My significant other

Someone who sucks at spelling

A different race than me

A relative

Someone I don’t really like

Someone I went to high school with

My best friend

A person I work with

At home

In the room with me

Knows more than one language 

Is female

Is under the age of 21

Someone I live with

I Am For:

Abortion

Death penalty

Amnesty

Gun control

Gay marriage

Prayer in school

War in the middle east

Marijuana legalization

Banning cigarettes in public places

Higher taxes

Higher minimum wage

Standardized testing

Lowering the legal age for drinking

I Have Committed These Crimes:

Jaywalking

Smoking weed

Shooting heroin

Shoplifting

Breaking & entering

Public intoxication

Hit & Run

Speeding

Opening someone else’s mail without their permission

Burglary

Vehicular manslaughter

Lying under oath

Truancy

I Took These Classes In High School/College:

Home Ec

Physics

Photography

Criminal Justice

Journalism

Debate

Creative Writing

Art

Music Theory

Philosophy

French

Theater

Choir

Psychology

What I Watch On TV:

Reality shows about celebrities

Game shows

News

Reruns of classic shows

Award shows

Modern Family

Doctor Who

Scandal

Infomercials

HSN

MTV

Singing competitions

Cooking shows

Traveling shows

[howieabel]

"Moreover, postwar Germans have long tended to listen with sympathy to non-Germans attributing to them collective moral deficiencies and demanding humility in one form or another. It is hard to think how else to account for the extraordinary popularity enjoyed by the above-mentioned Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Melnyk, an unashamed fan of the terrorist, Nazi collaborator and war criminal Stepan Bandera and of his co-leader of the Ukrainian nationalists in the interwar years and under German occupation, also named Andrej Melnyk. Via Twitter, Melnyk has relentlessly lambasted German political figures, from the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, downwards, for not standing sufficiently with Ukraine, in language that in all other countries would have led to his accreditation being revoked. There was hardly a week when Melnyk was not invited onto one of the weekly television talk shows to accuse German political leaders of genocidal conspiracy with Russia against the Ukrainian people. Named deputy foreign minister in the fall of 2022, Melnyk continued to figure prominently in the German debate on the country’s obligations toward Ukraine. For example, referring to an article in Süddeutsche Zeitung in which Jürgen Habermas advocated a cease-fire in Ukraine to enable peace negotiations, Melnyk tweeted: ‘That Jürgen Habermas is also so brazenly in Putin’s service leaves me speechless. A disgrace for German philosophy. Immanuel Kant and Georg Friedrich Hegel would turn in their graves out of shame.’ (To gauge the tone of much of the discussion, see a tweet from a young aspiring comedian, one Sebastian Bielendorfer: ‘Sahra Wagenknecht is simply the empty shell of a completely mentally and humanly depraved cell cluster. She shouldn’t be invited on talk shows, she should be treated.’ A day later: ‘Twitter has deleted the tweet. Regrettable. The truth remains.’)" - Wolfgang Streeck

[thatstormygeek]

The violent crackdown on students protesting against Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza reveals the stark hypocrisy of political and academic leaders at our colleges and universities, including my own. Instead of first turning to dialogue and debate – the very skills and values universities should promote – school administrators have turned to police, extreme discipline, and complying with a mainstream consensus that seems more interested in suppressing criticism of Israeli and American policy than protecting students. From Columbia University to my own University of Southern California, peaceful student encampments in common university areas have been dismantled by city police, with hundreds of students arrested. Some have been suspended, evicted from dormitories, and threatened with expulsion and criminal conviction. At UT Austin, state troopers threw a Fox cameraman to the ground and arrested him. At Emory University, the chair of philosophy, Noelle McAfee, was arrested by a police officer wearing a balaclava, as if he were conducting an antiterrorism raid. Another Emory professor, Caroline Fohlin, who sought to protect students being arrested, was wrestled to the ground by two police officers, handcuffed, and charged with battery. These student protests against a war that has killed over 34,000 Palestinians, at least two-thirds of whom are women and children, are what professors and administrators love to call a “teachable moment.” Unfortunately, most universities and colleges are failing their academic principles, their students, and their faculty. I wish I could say I was surprised, but after three decades in academia, I am not.

This strategy of avoidance and appeasement is doomed to failure. Columbia University president Minouche Shafik submitted completely to Republican demands to discipline her faculty and students, but this did not prevent Rep. Elise Stefanik and House Speaker Mike Johnson from demanding her resignation. Republicans will not be satisfied until students are being clubbed and tear-gassed in a law-and-order spectacle that will please Benjamin Netanyahu and the GOP base. But the right-wing reaction against student protesters is not only about their stance on Israel and Gaza, which includes their willingness to declare the war a genocide and to demand divestment from Israel and the ending of further military aid. Instead, the right wing is stirring a moral panic around antisemitism, using Jewish students and their feelings of being uncomfortable and threatened as a reason to crack down on protesting students. ... Racist and antisemitic threats are wrong and should be treated appropriately, which is to say, through academic disciplinary and legal methods targeted at the individuals who issue such threats, not through the deployment of riot police against masses of peaceful protesters. But a big difference exists between being threatened and being uncomfortable, and critics of the protesters – and the anti-war movement in general – blur the two.  This happens by conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism, even though many student protesters are themselves Jewish. It’s what some have called a “weaponized antisemitism,” which places more value on how some Jewish students feel uncomfortable than how Palestinians are actually being killed en masse by an Israel whose weapons are supplied by the U.S.

[flirting-with-psychology]

“fool for love”

I have Traveled To: More than three states in the US Mexico Canada A place that starts with the letter L Austria An island A big city Anywhere in Africa Japan A place where English is not the main language Anywhere in the southern hemisphere India Netherlands

I Have Read: Any of the Bible At least two Harry Potter books The entire Twilight series Catch-22 Animal Farm A Dr. Seuss book Instructions to a piece of Ikea information A warning label that made me laugh A biography/autobiography Dante’s Inferno A Chuck Palahniuk book A newspaper in the last week Something that made me cry

I Like to Eat: Spam Mexican food Brussell sprouts Onions Watermelon Vegan food Bacon Chocolate New things Escargot Hummus Haggis Indian food Home cooking Fast food

My Favorite Actors Include: Mark Wahlberg Morgan Freeman James Franco Leonardo DiCaprio Robert DeNiro Samuel L. Jackson Chris Hemsworth Elijah Wood Johnny Depp Steve Buscemi Robin Williams Jack Black Channing Tatum

I Have Listened to These Bands: Taylor Swift AC/DC Jay-Z Frank Sinatra Pink Floyd Fall Out Boy Incubus No Doubt The White Stripes Skrillex Tenacious D Metallica Britney Spears Ke$ha The Beatles

I Have/Had These Pets: Dog Cat Horse Bird Hamster Lizard Snake Guinea Pig Goat Fish Mouse Spider Pig Hedgehog Ferret

I Have Seen These Movies: Fifth Element Gone With the Wind Nightmare Before Christmas High School Musical Kickin’ It Old School Casablanca Predator White Men Can’t Jump AVATAR 12 Years A Slave Saving Private Ryan MASH Mamma Mia! Dark Shadows Riding In Cars With Boys

If I Could Have A Super Power, I Would Choose: Mind control Mind reading Teleportation Flying Bullet-proof Speed Super-strength Invisibility All-Knowing X-Ray vision Freeze-touch Time traveling Invulnerability Telekenisis

I Am Scared of: Clowns Heights Spiders Open spaces Small spaces Vacuums Snakes Needles Strangers Michael Myers Bugs Tiny holes Highways Germs Police

My Favorite Color Is: Red Yellow Orange Green Blue Purple Gray Black Brown White Pink

I Am Currently Wearing: A t-shirt A hoodie Capris Shoes A bra Make-up Perfume Deodorant Hat Something with a superhero/symbol on it Nail polish Scarf Pajamas Boxers Sweatpants

I Would Describe My Best Friend As: Bossy Intelligent Promiscuous Funny Whiny Honest Reliable Loyal Lazy Adventurous Unique Complicated Open-minded Well-read

In the Last 24 Hours, I Have: Read Drank alcohol Had sex Eaten meat  Danced in public Went swimming Changed my clothes more than once Said something mean Cleaned Spent money on something pointless Sang aloud Met someone new Played a game of some sort

Things In the Room With Me Now Are: A TV Another person Something that belongs to a child A pet Food Bed Art Clock not connected to a phone/computer A mirror Medicine Books Drugs or alcohol

The Last Person I Texted Is: My significant other Someone who sucks at spelling A different race than me A relative Someone I don’t really like Someone I went to high school with My best friend A person I work with At home In the room with me Knows more than one language (not sure) Is female Is under the age of 21 Someone I live with

I Am For: Abortion Death penalty Amnesty Gun control Gay marriage Prayer in school War in the middle east Marijuana legalization Banning cigarettes in public places Higher taxes Higher minimum wage Standardized testing Lowering the legal age for drinking

I Have Committed These Crimes: Jaywalking Smoking weed Shooting heroin Shoplifting Breaking & entering Public intoxication Hit & Run Speeding Opening someone else’s mail without their permission Burglary Vehicular manslaughter Lying under oath Truancy

I Took These Classes In High School/College: Home Ec Physics Photography Criminal Justice Journalism Debate Creative Writing Art Music Theory Philosophy French Theater Choir Psychology

What I Watch On TV: Reality shows about celebrities Game shows News Reruns of classic shows Award shows Modern Family Doctor Who Scandal Infomercials HSN MTV Singing competitions Cooking shows Traveling shows

[alsjeblieft-zeg]

426 of 2023

“fool for love”

I have Traveled To: More than three states in the US Mexico Canada A place that starts with the letter L Austria An island A big city Anywhere in Africa Japan A place where English is not the main language Anywhere in the southern hemisphere India Netherlands

I Have Read: Any of the Bible At least two Harry Potter books The entire Twilight series Catch-22 Animal Farm A Dr. Seuss book Instructions to a piece of Ikea information A warning label that made me laugh A biography/autobiography Dante’s Inferno A Chuck Palahniuk book A newspaper in the last week Something that made me cry

I Like to Eat: Spam Mexican food Brussell sprouts Onions Watermelon Vegan food Bacon Chocolate New things Escargot Hummus Haggis Indian food Home cooking Fast food

My Favorite Actors Include: Mark Wahlberg Morgan Freeman James Franco Leonardo DiCaprio Robert DeNiro Samuel L. Jackson Chris Hemsworth Elijah Wood Johnny Depp Steve Buscemi Robin Williams Jack Black Channing Tatum

I Have Listened to These Bands: Taylor Swift AC/DC Jay-Z Frank Sinatra Pink Floyd Fall Out Boy Incubus No Doubt The White Stripes Skrillex Tenacious D Metallica Britney Spears Ke$ha The Beatles

I Have/Had These Pets: Dog Cat Horse Bird Hamster Lizard Snake Guinea Pig Goat Fish Mouse Spider Pig Hedgehog Ferret

I Have Seen These Movies: Fifth Element Gone With the Wind Nightmare Before Christmas High School Musical Kickin’ It Old School Casablanca Predator White Men Can’t Jump AVATAR 12 Years A Slave Saving Private Ryan MASH Mamma Mia! Dark Shadows Riding In Cars With Boys

If I Could Have A Super Power, I Would Choose: Mind control Mind reading Teleportation Flying Bullet-proof Speed Super-strength Invisibility All-Knowing X-Ray vision Freeze-touch Time traveling Invulnerability Telekenisis

I Am Scared of: Clowns Heights Spiders Open spaces Small spaces Vacuums Snakes Needles Strangers Michael Myers Bugs Tiny holes Highways Germs Police

My Favorite Color Is: Red Yellow Orange Green Blue Purple Gray Black Brown White Pink

I Am Currently Wearing: A t-shirt A hoodie Capris Shoes A bra Make-up Perfume Deodorant Hat Something with a superhero/symbol on it Nail polish Scarf Pajamas Boxers Sweatpants

I Would Describe My Best Friend As: Bossy Intelligent Promiscuous Funny Whiny Honest Reliable Loyal Lazy Adventurous Unique Complicated Open-minded Well-read

In the Last 24 Hours, I Have: Read Drank alcohol Had sex Eaten meat (ew!) Danced in public Went swimming Changed my clothes more than once Said something mean Cleaned Spent money on something pointless Sang aloud Met someone new Played a game of some sort

Things In the Room With Me Now Are: A TV Another person Something that belongs to a child A pet Food Bed Art Clock not connected to a phone/computer A mirror Medicine Books Drugs or alcohol

The Last Person I Texted Is: My significant other Someone who sucks at spelling A different race than me A relative Someone I don’t really like Someone I went to high school with My best friend A person I work with At home In the room with me Knows more than one language Is female Is under the age of 21 Someone I live with

I Am For: Abortion Death penalty Amnesty Gun control Gay marriage Prayer in school War in the middle east Marijuana legalization Banning cigarettes in public places Higher taxes Higher minimum wage Standardized testing Lowering the legal age for drinking

I Have Committed These Crimes: Jaywalking Smoking weed Shooting heroin Shoplifting Breaking & entering Public intoxication Hit & Run Speeding Opening someone else’s mail without their permission Burglary Vehicular manslaughter Lying under oath Truancy

I Took These Classes In High School: Home Ec Physics Photography Criminal Justice Journalism Debate Creative Writing Art Music Theory Philosophy French Theater Choir Psychology

What I Watch On TV: Reality shows about celebrities Game shows News Reruns of classic shows Award shows Modern Family Doctor Who Scandal Infomercials HSN MTV Singing competitions Cooking shows Traveling shows

[wing-ed-thing]

Orochimaru Relationship Headcanons (Boruto Era)

@animepickle7​ @brokennerdalert​

Obligatory Thing-Winged Warning for Language, TW: Mention of Manipulation 

💕Again, Leaf Uniform Orochimaru is the only Orochimaru you’ll ever see on this blog. Best look, dunno why man traded this style in for a fucking tarp

💕Dubious... A relationship like this would take some real tentative trust

💕On one hand, Orochimaru has made some changes. He helps the Leaf, does his experiments (we can only hope) somewhat more humanely and has a son.

💕The Leaf seems to trust him to an extent that word is doing a lot of heavy lifting and he trusts the Leaf enough to send his son there every day

💕All in all, there are many signs that he’s past his old ways

💕However

💕There are times where you see his old, perhaps true nature seep through

💕He wants Mitsuki to make his own decisions, but will sometimes be a little sneak to send him down the path that Orochimaru thinks he should go down. You’re no different

💕It’s really hard to pick up on. It really is, but sometimes in a burst of realization you can see when he’s being manipulative. 

💕Does Orochimaru know that he’s being manipulative or is it just second nature that he has to work on suppressing? Probably a mix of both

💕But then again, Orochimaru is a criminal terrorist who performed war crimes. You should probably already be aware of issues like these

💕This is a dangerous relationship. Even though he’s on better behavior and perhaps even changed a few philosophies, you can’t bank on someone drastically changing especially if they tell you that they’re changing for you

💕This is not a kind of relationship you should get into in real life

💕Orochimaru will try to take on some brand of normalcy in his life as he parents Mitsuki, but it’s apparent that others remember very vividly things that he’s done to their friends and family

💕And that’s something you have to cope with before your head melts from the philosophical debate of “how much good do you have to do to undo your bad?”

💕You’ll probably be isolated from a fair portion of people (and can you really blame them for being wary of your partner?)

💕You’d be right to look over your shoulder asking how much Orochimaru actually changed but you’d also like to trust him, which is a hard spot to be put in

💕On one hand, you could have a family that’s grateful for each other, happy together, and are individuals who don’t care what others think

💕Or you could find yourself trapped, alone, with a war criminal in a cycle of manipulation because he just doesn’t know anything else

Thank you to all who liked, reblogged, followed and otherwise supported. Your support means so much and is greatly appreciated.

[michelo-thedreamer]

BLOG NUMBER ONE

Tuesday, January 18, 2022

Greetings to my fellow writers.

For years (I have had many at my disposal) I have been a student of the World War II era, not in studying the art of warfare and battle strategy, but as a person in awe of the political and social motivations that led to the slaughter of millions. Having reviewed hundreds of books and journals on this wide-ranging topic, I have been and remain somewhat clueless on the wherefores and whys of this overpoweringly disastrous period.  Regardless of all the overviews, examinations, and explanations, I just don’t get it.

In her intensely debated book Eichmann in Jerusalem, written following the trial of Nazi criminal Adolph Eichmann, Hannah Arendt coined the words, “banality of evil.”  The book, an overview of the trail of Eichmann for crimes committed upon the people of the Jewish diaspora, she examined the rationales and behaviors of otherwise law-abiding human beings under the stresses of totalitarian regimes. Arendt concluded that Eichmann, as well as lesser contributors to these crimes, were not so much evil-infused monsters as they were ordinary (banal) people who placidly allowed evil times and vilifications to carry them into a sea of criminality.

Quote courtesy of Philosophy Matters

To date, the most terrifying self-imposed question that flutters about my soul is the following: what would you do in response to similar times and vilifications?  I have never answered that question with a sense of confidence.  Perhaps my soul remains wholly vibrant with the question unanswered.  I’m not sure.

Once, during a discussion of fascism, I asked my son-in-law, how he would respond to the pressures of totalitarianism.  He replied firmly that he would assuredly resist.  Then I posed a horrifying scenario: should a lower ranking government hack arrive with an announcement that someone dear to your life would be harmed unless you cooperated, would you?  He would not respond.

Historical photo: not copyrighted

Getting back to my journey in accepting this course challenge, my introductory blog words provide the rationale for the short story I intend to write this winter. The story topic is neither directly tied to WWII nor the Jewish diaspora.  The story will not examine the “banality of evil”; however, in different place and time. It will examine the plight of a family persecuted by those who never asked the question, “what would I do?”  The story line concerns itself with the tragic outcomes ensuing from a segment of society that has undermined the truth and has enshrined chronic falsehoods.

 Refugees flee the Nazi invasion of France

Photo courtesy of Forbes Magazine

My proposed story will not transpire in Europe, but in the United States of America.  Yes, the story will have political overtones.  Yes, the tale I envision will not be well greeted by those consumed by partisan dogma.  Yes, the ideas forming in my aging brain are heavily founded on a series of “what if” scenarios. Yes, the telling of the tale will include a degree of symbolism, beginning with the story title: Flight from Egypt.

Egypt Bay, Maine

Photo courtesy of Pemetic Purveyors Real Estate Co. 

As an amateur writer I have created more that a dozen short stories, many that included autobiographical features (I’ve lived a delightfully adventurous life). However, as my writing matures, I have discovered the joy in traveling beyond autobiography and into fictitious conjecture.  Thanks to our professor’s influence last semester I have learned that my more “personal” stories were better drafted as creative nonfiction pieces. The proposed short story is an adventure into fiction with little personal experience.  Yet I have known the nature of the characters I hope to create on paper.

While I am eagerly anticipating the forthcoming writing adventure, I am also frightened by the prospect: as with much of my life’s endeavors I am affected by a fear of failure.  What if the flow and nature of the story just doesn’t work? What if my story lacks the senses of angst and terror that I envision?

In response to fear, I ardently implore that you, my readers and fellow students, assist in advising and guiding me in this adventure. Creativity is gift that heavily rests on the foundation of our peers and predecessors.  Words sung in a somewhat sappy anthem written in the post WWII era included those in the title “No Man is an Island.”  Aside from the unnecessary masculinization of the title, there is truth to the chorale’s intended concepts. 

[hothian-snow]

The Jedi are colonisers. Period.

It is obvious in SWTOR that the Jedi has strayed from their main purpose. Instead of simply adhering to and advocating for the philosophies of the light (encouraging the pursuit of knowledge, creating harmony in the galaxy etc), the Jedi has shifted their focus to become a reactionary force. Rather than promoting the light, they have chosen to destroy the dark.

Except, in my opinion, the force doesn’t work like that. Dousing out a flame will not create more water. Killing the dark will not bring you more light. The mindset that the dark is something that can be destroyed has permeated the beliefs of the Jedi, leading to the rise of ‘warriors’ among the Jedi ranks. And yet, Jedi are supposed to be peacekeepers. It’s the ultimate oxymoron: fighting for peace. You do not bring about peace by waging war. The fact that the Jedi have a title of ‘Battlemaster’ says a lot.

What irks me is the philosophy of Master Gnost-Dural. Below is a quote by him.

“But the Sith are another matter entirely. Even if the Empire falls, the followers of the dark side will continue to exist in hiding. That is why I have devoted myself to studying the Sith. I am determined to find a way to cleanse the galaxy of their corrupting influence, putting an end to the eternal struggle between the light and dark sides of the Force.”

As a POC, the word ‘cleanse’ reminds me too much of ethnic cleansing. It should be noted that Sith here isn’t just Palpatine and Darth Vader like in the Rule of Two Era- there is a whole civilization, an entire culture of Sith. Yes, the dark corrupts, but so does the zealous light which blinds. A fervent belief in the light blinds the Jedi to seeing that their enemies are people too. And not only is it implied that Gnost-Dural is advocating for genocide (something which certainly has happened before), but he willing to push other Jedi who are tired of fighting - who are traumatized and clearly suffering from PTSD - to go to war against the Sith once more. Task Force Nova isn’t a step towards peace.

Now, Master Tol Braga is an interesting case study. Below is a quote from the Jedi Knight storyline.

We’ll capture the Sith leader, bring him to Tython… and redeem him to the light side of the Force. A perfect victory. Defeating the Sith through violence accomplishes nothing. We must embrace them as our own.

Master Tol Braga’s idea of defeating the Sith is certainly less insidious than that of Master Gnost-Dural’s. Tol Braga is a genuine advocate for peace: a peace that speaks of harmony, not just a peace caused by a lack of conflict. He is the man who talked down a Dark Council member and turned a Sith into a Jedi through discussion and debate (along side some sparring, of course). However, the word choice still makes me uneasy. Redemption implies a fall, an inherent wrongness that must be corrected. Embracing the Sith as their own is a beautiful statement, but also a double edged sword. Assimilation sometimes result in a lost of culture; ask any immigrant how bittersweet it could be.

Is it possible though for the Sith to acknowledge the light without losing the dark that makes up their identity? Could there be a sincere middle ground between the Jedi and Sith?

I hope there is.

Recall this conversation between Gnost-Dural and Lana Beniko:

Gnost Dural: Intriguing, I suppose the Sith code never specifically calls for the usurpation of the master by the apprentice- merely the pursuit of greater power

Lana Beniko: Precisely. It’s only natural that the strongest should lead, but the goal should be strength- not necessary leadership. If one is truly strong, leadership comes inevitably.

These two are coming to some kind of understanding, that the dark side is not always vile, that the Sith code does not translate to evilness. Although, I feel like Gnost-Dural would probably view Lana as being an exception to the rule rather than how Siths generally are. He’s not wrong in that regard, but there are good Siths in the Empire who were good even before they consciously chose to step into the light. Take Lord Praven as an example. Praven is a war criminal. His actions have led to the painful death of countless people, and nothing excuses that. However, he does have a code of honor which was present in him long before he was ‘redeemed’ to the light side.

Friendship between Sith and Jedi is possible too, see Kira and Scourge as an example. If the Jedi could acknowledge that being a Jedi does not mean one is inherently good (otherwise, why all the training to control your emotions?), then in the same sense, the Jedi could and should understand that being a Sith does not mean that one is inherently bad. I believe that there can only be genuine peace only when such an understanding occur between the Sith and Jedi. I believe that both the Sith and Jedi should work with one another, learn from each other, in order to better themselves.

[handeaux]

Cincinnati’s Doctor Bartholow Apologized For His Diabolical Brain-Probe Experiments

Like a scene in the mad scientist’s laboratory – right out of an old horror movie – a doctor at Good Samaritan Hospital in 1874 ran several electrified needles into a patient’s brain. Although his work opened up new avenues for neurological research, the doctor was pressured to make a public apology, which led to new developments in medical ethics.

The doctor in question was Roberts Bartholow, born in Maryland in 1831. Young Bartholow enjoyed a solid liberal arts education before entering medical school. Throughout his life, Bartholow’s intelligence, erudition and literary skills were widely praised, but he had few friends. Otto Juettner, historian of Cincinnati medicine, described him in 1909:

“Roberts Bartholow, that strange child of genius, who was thought by his contemporaries to be the very embodiment of cold cynicism, while he was, strangely enough, the fervent apostle of faith and warm optimism in the very department of medical knowledge where nowadays cynicism, pessimism and hopeless agnosticism are the rule.”

Bartholow’s reputation for “cold cynicism” emerged from his often sarcastic critiques of his colleagues’ shortcomings. Few Cincinnati doctors could marshal the intellectual firepower or the wealth of experience Bartholow brought to any debate. On a couple of occasions, Bartholow engaged in the Nineteenth-Century version of a “flame war,” publishing pamphlets and counter-pamphlets in his attacks on other doctors.

Much of the friction between Bartholow and his colleagues hinged on his educational philosophy. Where most medical professors explained concepts, processes and treatments, Bartholow believed that education is best conducted by demonstration. Where human subjects could not be found, Bartholow employed animals in his classroom demonstrations of surgical techniques and pharmaceutical substances.

This practical approach to medicine derived from Bartholow’s long service in the U.S. Army out on the western frontier, back when it really was the “Wild West.” He was sent to Utah in 1857 as surgeon to troops engaged in what was variously known as the “Utah War” or “Mormon Rebellion,” and remained with the Army throughout most of the Civil War. He resigned his commission in 1864 and settled in Cincinnati, where an established doctor helped him build a practice and earn a professorship at the Medical College of Ohio. Although respected, Bartholow antagonized almost everybody. Per Juettner:

“His splendid academic training, backed up by a vast amount of observation and experience, gave him the advantage in contests with most men. He was fearless and merciless. This is what raised hosts of enemies for him. He fought with weapons of analogy, logic and sarcasm up to the point of extermination. His intense nature could not tolerate concessions. It is not surprising that he was not popular in the vulgar sense of the word.”

Academic feuds drove Bartholow out of the city’s Commercial Hospital and into the somewhat friendlier staff of the Good Samaritan Hospital, then located in the East End beneath Mount Adams. There, Bartholow built his dream laboratory. In a medical journal the he founded, Bartholow described his “electrical room”:

“By the intelligent liberality of a gentleman of this city, Good Samaritan Hospital now contains an electrical room furnished with all the appliances needed for the practical uses and scientific study of electricity.”

Claiming that electricity could cure anything from hemorrhoids to nasal polyps to cysts caused by tapeworms, Bartholow used the apparatus housed in the electrical room to instruct students convened in the operating theater next door.

Into this laboratory, in 1874, walked Mary Rafferty, a 30-year-old Irish immigrant with a most unusual condition. As a young girl, she had fallen into a fire and severely burned her scalp. To cover the scarred bald patch, she wore a variety of wigs. A sore, which she believed was caused by her wigs got worse and worse, eventually becoming cancerous. The cancer ate away Rafferty’s skull to the extent that a hole exposed a portion of her brain.

Rafferty worked as a housemaid. Some sources claim she worked for Bartholow while others deny that connection. By whatever route, she found herself in Bartholow’s electrical room at Good Samaritan Hospital where, over the course of about a week, Bartholow inserted electrically charged needles into her exposed brain. While some of this probing elicited little more than tingling and giggles, some precipitated seizures, convulsions and weeping. Eventually Rafferty’s condition worsened, the experiments were terminated and she died.

In his first report on the research, published three months later, Bartholow candidly described each attempt to stimulate Rafferty’s brain and the disturbing results. So many doctors objected to the report that Bartholow felt compelled to publish a detailed apology in the British Medical Journal. In this mea culpa, Bartholow concluded:

“Notwithstanding my sanguine expectations, based on the facts above stated, that small insulated needle-electrodes could be introduced without injury into the cerebral substance, I now know that I was mistaken. To repeat such experiments with the knowledge we now have, that injury will be done by them, would be in the highest degree criminal. I can only now express my regret that facts which I hoped would further, in some slight degree, the progress of knowledge, were obtained at the expense of some injury to the patient.”

Bartholow’s reputation did not suffer. Five years after the experiment and three years after his apology, Bartholow accepted a distinguished chair at the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, where he remained until he retired in 1893. Poor health and a mental breakdown tormented his retirement. Bartholow died in 1904.

Modern perceptions of Bartholow’s macabre experiments might best be summed up in a paper published in 2019 by Devi P. Patra, et al, in Neurosurgical Focus:

“Despite the audacious nature of the experiment with possible ethical breaches of human research, Bartholow’s findings formed the foundation of the electrophysiology of the human brain. Although his methods seem crude in retrospect, they demonstrated the basic principles of human cortical mapping that are still followed in the modern era, although in a more sophisticated way. While his methods cannot be condoned, we recognize his scientific curiosity and his passion for integrating clinical medicine and experimental medicine. Just as importantly, we pay sincere tribute to the ill-fated soul, Rafferty, whose sacrifice should not be forgotten in medical history.”

[holeyweasel]

༄ daniel padilla, cismale, he/him + the color orange, impressive explosions, fireworks in the night sky, trolley carts ignited into flames, graffiti on stop signs, and quivering palms concealed by a nifty hand-buzzer. – is that george weasley ? their ministry records say that they are twenty-five , a pureblood , and went to hogwarts . currently they are the owner of weasley’s wizard wheezes . whenever i see them saintlike by jakey starts playing in my head. i think this may be because they’re astute & whimsical , but they also happen to be deviant & reticent . (       BIOGRAPHY. | PINTEREST. | PLAYLIST.     )

TRIGGER WARNING: MENTIONS OF ALCOHOL & SUBSTANCE ABUSE / ALLUSIONS TO ALCOHOLISM.

basics .

name & origin : george felix weasley ; based on the Greek word georgos; meaning farmer. the word georgos is a combo of two Greek words, ge (γῆ), meaning earth, soil, and ergon (ἔργον), meaning work. && george doesn't apply much of a personal meaning to his name; perhaps molly was following the trend of her late, twin brothers, gideon & fabian, or maybe it'd just been a coincidence. george doesn't know; it's possible he never will, since molly doesn't talk about her brothers that have passed too often. nicknames : forge, fred, georgie, gred, twin #2, & weasel. preferred name : george is fine. age & birthdate : twenty-five ; april first. gender & pronouns : cis male ; he/him. orientation : straight ; heteroflexible ; questioning. ethnicity & nationality : filipino ; english. hometown : ottery st. catchpole, devon, england. current residence : the loft above number ninty-three diagon alley. occupation : owner & operator of weasley’s wizard wheezes. hogwarts house / school graduated from : gryffindor.

miscellaneous .

phobias : he can’t be alone, because when he is, that’s when he gets into more compromising situations. he excessively relies on others to fulfill his own emotional needs (eg. fred, specifically) his codependency to fred ran, and continues to run, so deep that even his level of confidence changes without his brother around. he needs fred around to feel okay with himself. he fears being rejected and abandoned as lone unit; rather than the one collective unit he was with fred. quirks : when disinterested in something, doesn’t put the effort in; rarely expresses his true emotions unless it’s through anger; jokes so much it’s hard to tell when he’s being serious; sometimes doesn’t realize when a joke has gone too far & unintentionally hurts people’s feelings. when his emotions are too much to handle, can act rashly, and do something stupid; he often winds up in trouble since he couldn’t careless what others think. also he’s not great at overly complicated math. fred was better at math, while george is better at reading/writing/words in general. basic addition and subtraction is fine, but once you get to double digits? oof. he uses his fingers to count. hobbies : comforting others & giving advice anonymously, creating his own spells & potion recipes, dueling, inventing things, quidditch beating, quick-wit, speed reading, stand-up comedy; there’s never a dull moment with him; he’s always able to entertain an audience and make people laugh. likes : adventures, biscuits, breaking things, causing chaos & confusion, conjuring up ideas & schemes, creating inventions, discovering new things, explosions, fireworks, flashing lights, freedom, friendly debates, hippos, irony, jokes, laughter, memes, mum’s home-cooked meals, parkour, philosophy, petty arson, punching things, puns, quidditch, quotes, rebellion, rioting, sweaters, & unlimited knowledge. dislikes : being alone, being controlled, boredom, commitment, conformists, copycats, cucumbers, disloyalty, early mornings, feelings that aren’t joy, grapefruits, hypocrites (ironically), instant tea, judgmental people, ordinary living, pocket watches, purists, restrictions, school, sellouts, silence, sitting still, spinach, the government, the rich, the status quo, & unnecessary rules. wand :  10 ¾ inches ; dogwood ; dragon heartstring core. patronus : previously, his was a magpie; along with fred’s. since fred’s death, he struggled to conjure one for many years, but eventually was able to - and it’s now a peacock.  boggart : him, completely and utterly alone. without fred or just without anyone in general? the world may never know. reverse amortentia : burning cedar, broom polish, firewhiskey, freshly baked biscuits, & roasted chestnuts.

history .

➵ the fifth son born to arthur & molly weasley right after his twin brother, fred, george was practically born a prankster & inventor. after graduation, he planned to become a successful entrepreneur. from birth, both him & fred were attached at the hip; getting into all sorts of shenanigans together. not much has really changed regarding that. growing up, they successfully set off a dungbomb during christmas dinner, turned ron’s teddy bear into a spider after he broke fred’s toy broomstick, gave ron an acid pop that burnt a hole in his tongue, and nearly tricked ron into taking an unbreakable vow. ➵ during his first year, him and fred swiped the marauder’s map from filch’s desk; this aided more in their mischief. ➵ george, while not being a hat stall, could definitely have been a fair candidate for slytherin with his ambitious & cunning nature — if only he wasn’t a red-headed, reckless weasley. ➵ this curious boi might have a teeny, tiny case of undiagnosed ADHD. he definitely exhibits all of the symptoms; he’s never gotten officially checked out, though.  ➵ second year, he joined the quidditch team as beater. at one point, ron informed harry that george received ”really good marks” for his first few years. ➵ the summer before his fourth year, he stole arthur’s ford anglia with fred and ron. this was in order to rescue harry from the dursley’s and bring him to the burrow. ➵ the summer after fourth year, george went on a trip with his family to visit bill in egypt. with fred, of course, he tried to push percy into a pyramid. ➵ fifth year, he & fred graciously gifted harry the marauder’s map since they’d already memorized it. ➵ sixth year, he attended the quidditch world cup with his family, harry, & hermione. he and fred gambled on the outcome & won a great deal of money from ludo bagman. however, they were never paid, and harassed bagman all year. fred wanted to inform the ministry; george was against it since that’s considered blackmail. after harry won the triwizard tournament, he gifted fred & george his winnings to make up for their lost bet. they put this money away with the intention to invest it into their future joke shop. this is also the year they began selling their inventions and he took his ordinary wizarding level exams; received 3 OWLs in, what’s assumed, charms, defense against the dark arts, & transfiguration. ➵ seventh year, he spent the summer before school at 12 grimmauld place. after being given harry’s winnings, george had no interest in returning to school, but did anyway. he spent most of the year selling his and fred’s products. he also joined dumbledore’s army; not being a huge fan of umbridge. ➵ later that year, umbridge kicked him, harry, and fred off the quidditch team after george & harry got into a fight with draco malfoy. once the DA was discovered, george decided with fred, that he didn’t care about getting in trouble, and they began an all-out rebellion. they shoved an inquisitorial squad member into a vanishing cabinet, set off an array of fireworks that they made themselves, & created a portable swamp in the corridor. after the vandalism & chaos, george flew away from hogwarts with his brother; encouraging others, and peeves, to follow their example. ➵ after fleeing the castle, george worked with fred to establish a weasley’s wizard wheezes storefront. the summer before the golden trio set off for their sixth year, they had their grand opening. they remained open in diagon alley even while growing tensions of the war ensued. draco malfoy even purchased peruvian instant darkness powder from their shop, which assisted him during the battle of the astronomy tower. in theory, the twins unknowingly helped the death eaters twice, but we don’t have to unpack all that right now. ➵ him & fred lived in a loft above their shop. ➵ sometime after turning of age, george joined the order and assisted them during the battle of the seven potters. he was paired with remus lupin, and sometime during this mission, snape hit him with sectumsepra. he lost his ear and it was unable to be healed due to being cut off with dark magic. ➵ the burrow operated as a new headquarters for the order until they were ambushed by death eaters and they had to flee. ➵ george & fred were frequent guests on lee jordan’s radio show: potterwatch. ➵ george was hit with snape’s sectumsepmra curse and ended up losing his left ear. since it was dark magic, his injury wasn’t able to be repaired. he has permanent hearing loss and a scar where his ear used to be. he’s picked up BSL (british sign language) since the incident.  ➵ he split up from the rest of his family after the death eater ambush, but remained with fred. him & fred were apart of lee jordan’s radio broadcast, potterwatch, so it’s assumed they were with lee in some way. ➵ there was an incident where george, alone, was taken in front of the wizengamot while fred had stepped out for the afternoon. he was brought on charges of aiding and abetting the mass breakout of muggleborn criminals. supposedly, they had items sold at weasley’s wizard wheezes that’d aided in their ultimate escape. ➵ questioned & tortured at the hand of umbridge, they almost sent him off to azkaban… but the department of magical law enforcement requested time to gather more evidence to build a stronger case of george’s involvement. his blood status wasn’t in question, and therefore, he was free to go. ➵ during the battle of hogwarts, george lost his twin brother, fred, in an explosion orchestrated by augustus rookwood. the years that followed were absolutely the hardest thing he’d ever gone through.  ➵ upon fred’s demise, george might have taken up a biiit of a drinking problem. while it hasn’t entirely taken over his life, some would definitely consider him a “functioning alcoholic.”  ➵ depending on a potential charlie mun, after fred’s funeral, george followed charlie to romania in order to “travel” and “find himself” without fred able to stand by his side anymore.  he eventually stole a dragon from charlie and took it across the world. goooo georgie! he returned about a year after fred’s funeral initially took place. ➵ for quite some time, george struggled to conjure a patronus. with all of his “happy memories” linked to fred, the charm became quite difficult for him to perform. of course, george is a determined individual; he continued to try anyways.  ➵ eventually, two years after fred’s passing, george was able to cast a patronus. although, instead of a cheery magpie revealing itself, a peacock took its place. this was significant because, slowly but surely, george was beginning to detach his identity from fred. ➵ george continued to build the business he’d started with his late brother. these days, he fills his time with work; occupying his mind with weasley’s wizard wheezes instead of the void fred’s passing left within him.

[jadejedi]

Love Does Not Fail (7/?)

Summary: When Anakin saves the galaxy from Palpatine, Padmé and his children survive, but their family is split apart nonetheless. Leia is taken to be raised in the Temple, not knowing that the Jedi who “found” her is actually her father. Luke grows up with Padmé, knowing only his mother’s side of the family. But some things are inevitable.

Chapter Summary: A new darkness arises in the galaxy.

ao3 link: here

A/N: Sorry it’s been nearly ten months lmao. Oops. Thanks for reading, let me know what you think! (more notes and thoughts on ao3)

“Are you sure that this is the best time to start dragging him around the galaxy?” Anakin asked Ahsoka skeptically, with a bit of an edge to it. She knew he was protective of Luke, and she respected that but-

“I am his teacher, Anakin,” she reminded him, trying to keep her tone gentle rather than defensive . They met about once a month, usually at some diner or bar in what she wouldn’t necessarily describe as a shady part of Coruscant, but shady-adjacent, perhaps, to catch up and talk about Luke’s training. “He’s ready to do some travelling without Padmé. And it’s not like it’ll be anything different than what he does with Padmé, anyways. Just more of a focus on training.” 

At the still unconvinced expression on his face, Ahsoka sighed, and softened. “I promise I’ll be extra careful on what assignments we take him on. We won’t get involved in this Snoke guy’s business.”

“I know,” Anakin sighed. “I still don’t like it.”

As much as she believed Luke was ready to do some travelling with her and Barriss, she understood Anakin’s worries. Five months ago marked the beginning of a new Senate rotation. Bail Organa’s time as Chancellor was over, as he had set stricter term limits for the office. Mon Mothma had been elected Chancellor, and her Vice Chancellor was now Mazun Dul, the Senator from Corellia. 

Dul’s election had been troubling to many, as he represented a new political party that had arisen with Palpatine’s downfall. They called themselves the First Order. Their leader, Corellia’s new prime minister, a man called Snoke, pushed for Republic expansion in the Outer Rim as well as less Republic intervention in already ‘civilized’ worlds.

The First Order was good at playing around the issue, but Ahsoka, as well as Padmé and many others, could tell that they held the same anti-alien sentiments that Palpatine had secretly harboured. 

Since the election of Snoke, Corellia had been swept up in violence, from both its criminal element and from his political detractors. Other worlds that also had a First Order presence had also started experiencing small amounts of violence, usually protests gone south, or riots. 

“Look, whatever Snoke is playing at, he won’t get very far,” Ahsoka tried to reassure him. “People are still wary of conflict so soon after the Clone Wars. They’ll get tired of the violence he’s stirring up. And I promise we’ll stay away from worlds with a First Order presence; we’re going to Kashyyk. Since Wookies have a long history of being exploited in this kind of conflict, their leaders are worried. Padmé just needs us to go and calm them down a bit. We’ll be talking to their leaders, then delivering supplies to an area affected by a storm; we’ll be fine.”

Ahsoka was the best person for this job, because she understood Shyriiwook, and she knew one of their leaders. 

Anakin gave her a look. “Isn’t that where you got kidnapped and hunted for sport?”

“That was Trandosha,” she corrected him. “It’s close by, but we’ll be coming from a totally different direction,” she assured him. “We won’t even be passing by it.”

“Fine,” Anakin assented begrudgingly, even though Ahsoka wasn’t really looking for his permission. 

“Make sure you keep your lightsabers out of sight,” Anakin reminded her, and she had to keep herself from rolling her eyes.

“I’m not stupid,” she told him, raising an eyebrow.

“I never said you were!” 

“You’ve got to trust that I know what I’m doing, Anakin.” She sighed. “The lightsaber laws are nothing new. Barriss and I would never do anything that would put Luke or Padmé at risk.”

Years ago, not long after Bail Organa had been elected Chancellor, there had been some debate about the Sith, and whether or not it was illegal to hold such beliefs. However, it had not been popular to criminalize an entire religion, so instead, certain measures had been put into place to appease the Jedi, such as making it illegal to carry or wield a lightsaber unless one was a member of the Order. 

Ahsoka continued to carry her lightsaber anyways, concealed away in a pocket or in a bag.

“How is Leia?” she asked, changing the subject.

Anakin did not look impressed by her attempt to move on, but did so anyway. “She’s doing well, I think. She’s near the top of her clan in lightsaber skills.”

“Have you ever considered teaching more than just lightsaber classes?” she asked.

“No,” he replied with a shake of his head. “My teachings aren’t very orthodox.” 

She laughed. “No, they’re not.” She smiled at him. “I learned a lot from you in just three years, and lightsaber duels was only a bit of it.”

“Me and the Jedi ways don’t get along very well,” he insisted.

Ahsoka shook her head, exasperated. “Anakin, you always complain about the things the Jedi teach, but you never bother to teach yourself.”

Anakin crossed his arms defensively. “I’m more of a duelist than a philosopher. I’m doing my best with them, Snips.”

Ahsoka softened. “I know you are. I’m sure Leia appreciates having you around, even if she doesn’t know why. But, I really think that you could be a good influence on them. Don’t you? Give them a new perspective?”

“I’m sure Obi-Wan would be thrilled that I’m taking an interest in philosophy,” he agreed after a moment of consideration. “I don’t know about everyone else.”

She laughed. 

--

Ahsoka went straight to the apartment she shared with Barriss after lunch. Luke wouldn’t be done with school for another couple of hours, and the Senate was more Padmé and Dormé’s realm. She could use the time to pack for the trip to Kashyyyk. 

She found Barriss meditating in the living room of the apartment. Where Ahsoka tended to prefer wearing jumpsuits when she was working or, if she was working on official business of the Naboo Senatorial office, something similarly functional with a bit more professionalism, Barriss preferred a slightly more elegant look, just as she had as Jedi. Today, she was wearing a flowy black skirt and a nice but comfortable looking blue blouse. 

“How did it go?” she asked, eyes still closed in meditation.

“Well,” Ahsoka said as she pulled off her shoes and made her way over to the sofa behind her, “he tried to talk me out of it,” she said, leaning back against the sofa, “but he relented eventually.”

“His fear controls him,” Barriss said after a moment, opening her eyes and relaxing her posture slightly, turning to face Ahsoka. 

“It does not!” she disagreed, although sometimes she thought otherwise. “Luke’s his son, it’s natural for him to worry. And hey, he changed his mind, didn’t he? He’s always given me room to train Luke as I see fit.”

Barriss nodded her head, conceding the point. “Fair enough. He’s still not good at controlling his emotions,” she continued before Ahsoka could come to Anakin’s defense again. 

Ahsoka sighed. Since being released from prison, and even before, Barriss had believed that her fall had been due to her emotions- fear, anger, hate. So, now she strove to rid herself of those emotions, to feel peace. 

Ahsoka didn’t disagree that Barriss’s actions against the Jedi had been motivated by those emotions, but she thought that maybe there was more to it than that. 

Luke, for all that he was a child, did not seem to struggle with the same parts of his training than she, and most young Jedi, had. Peace came easily to him. Maybe it was his personality, but that’s not all it was. He was a very sweet, gentle child, but he was still impatient, reckless. Ahsoka privately thought that his peace came from the fact that he didn’t have to struggle with his emotions. He just- felt. 

Maybe that was making it too easy for him, and it would backfire later, but for now, Ahsoka was content to continue down their current path. Sometimes the easy path was easy because it was a shortcut, a dangerous way to get to one’s goal, but sometimes the easy path was easy simply because it means you’re doing it right.

So, she taught Luke to not try and separate himself from his emotions, but to be in harmony with them, and she was trying to teach herself the same thing. 

But Barriss disagreed. 

“Maybe trying to control our emotions at all is what is dangerous,” Ahsoka suggested hesitantly, leaning forward, bracing her elbows on her knees. 

Barriss shook her head, her intense blue eyes pointed at the ground. “If we don’t control our emotions, then they will control us.” She reached up to fiddle with the ends of her dark hair that she kept shoulder length, longer than when they’d been Padawans. She was beautiful, as she always had been. She looked up; her eyes held Ahsoka’s gaze. “Emotions like that are like an ocean. Fear, anger, and hatred-”

“And love,” Ahsoka added.

Barriss nodded, face still passive. “And love. They’ll toss you around, try to drown you, sweep you off the shore. You have to build a wall, to protect yourself from it.”

“The ocean doesn’t try to do anything. It just is,” Ahsoka countered. “If you learn to swim, or have a boat, then you’re safe.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Are you?”

Ahsoka huffed and leaned back against the sofa. She knew what Barriss was saying. That the ocean- emotions- would always be dangerous. Even if you could swim, or be safely in a boat, there were always dangers lurking beneath the surface. Not to mention the storms. 

--

Leia sat in one of the Temple’s small meditation rooms alone. Normally she meditated with her clan, but right now, she just needed time alone. 

She took in a deep breath, holding it in for a moment, and exhaling slowly. She repeated the exercise a few times until she felt centered. 

She’d had a dream last night. It hadn’t been a normal dream, like her reoccurring dream about falling into one of the fountains in the Room of a Thousand Fountains, or even a nightmare. 

In the dream, she’d seen faces, people. A woman she could barely make out, with curly brown hair and a kind smile. A man with curly dark blond hair. A few others, another woman, more distant with darker hair, and a humanoid alien of some kind that was too blurry to recognize. And a child. 

She couldn’t tell if she was the child, or if she was watching the child. She saw them all against the background of a green meadow. It felt slow, idyllic, peaceful. 

Leia tried to focus, tried to see their faces clearly, but she couldn’t. 

The dream, it was beautiful, but sad. 

It was her family, she knew. She wondered if the dream was sad because it made her sad, or if the memory itself was sad. It felt like a beautiful memory. 

Leia did another round of breathing exercises and tried to push past the memory. She focused on the emotions the dream stirred up in her: sadness, confusion, wanting.

She repeated the Jedi Code silently in her mind as she breathed, releasing her emotions into the Force. 

There is no emotion, there is peace. 

Her sadness was only disturbing the peace within her; she had to let it go.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

She pushed away her confusion, focusing on what she knew. The dream was of her family, but they were not important. She was a Jedi, the Jedi were her family. 

There is no passion, there is only serenity.

Love, Leia knew, was passion. Family, attachments, these things broke the serenity of a Jedi’s mind. She didn’t want them.

There is no chaos, there is only harmony.

Her mind must be calm, pushing away the emotions. She must be at one with all around her.

 There is no death, there is only the Force. 

The Force contained all things, and when something died, it was absorbed into the Force. Her time with her family was dead. It had lived when the Force had needed it to, but that time had passed, and all was as the Force willed it.

With one last deep breath, Leia slowly got up from her meditation pose and found herself heading not towards where she knew her clan’s history lesson was supposed to start, but towards the part of the Temple where most of the Knight’s quarters were. 

She walked purposefully, but not too quickly, trying to pretend like she belonged here during a part of the day when most initiates were in classes, until she reached Jedi Skywalker’s door. She hesitated only briefly before knocking.

She felt him reach out to see who was at his door. Hi, she projected.

After a moment, he opened the door, a confused smile on his face. “Leia, it’s good to see you,” he said. “Shouldn’t you be in classes?”

She looked him in the eye. “I’m skipping,” she told him matter-of-factly.

He gave her a surprised grin. “Well, then, come on in,” he said, motioning her into his quarters. 

Leia had first been in Jedi Skywalker’s quarters about three years ago. She’d been sad, she remembered, because she’d worried that moving into her clan bunks meant that he wouldn’t be able to do her hair any more. He’d shown her where his room was, and had told her to stop by anytime she wanted her hair done. 

His quarters were small, plain grey walls just like in her clan’s bunk. There were blinds half closed over the windows, a sofa, and a tiny kitchenette in one corner, and a door to his bedroom in the other.

“So,” he said, closing the door after her and sitting cross-legged on the sofa, “Do you want to tell me why you’re skipping your classes?”

She sat down on the floor across from him, adopting the same posture and gave him a look. “I wanted to talk to you, obviously.” 

He chuckled. “Of course. And what was it you wanted to talk about?”

Leia glanced down at her hands in her lap. “Do you ever have sad dreams?” she asked him, not sure whether to directly ask him about her family. 

“Sad dreams?” he asked, considering. “Not nightmares?”

She shook her head. 

“Yes, I guess I have.” 

“What do they mean?” she asked. “Are they visions?”

He sighed. “Well, I imagine that that depends on the dream.” He smiled sadly. “Sometimes the Force gives us dreams that mean something, but sometimes, a dream is just a dream. Maybe it’s a reflection of our day, or a memory, or something you want.”

“My dream was about my family, I think,” she admitted. “I could barely make them out. But in the dream, I wanted to be with them. Is it bad?” she asked, quietly.

A shadow crossed over his face. “No, it’s not bad.”

“It’s not?” she asked hopefully.

“No.” His expression was as serious as she’d ever seen it. “Leia, you can’t control what you dream.”

“But what if my dreams are a reflection, like you said? A reflection of what I want? Master Yoda says that Jedi should not want attachments.”

He huffed. “We all have attachments, even Master Yoda.”

Leia looked at him skeptically. She found that hard to believe. “Really?”

“Yes, really!” he said, his serious expression breaking into a slight grin. “Attachment isn’t something we can simply not have. Jedi are taught to have compassion, after all, which is a form of unconditional love. That compassion is bound to lead us towards attachments.”

Leia crossed her arms. “I don’t think that’s what that means,” she disagreed. 

He laughed slightly. “Maybe not,” he muttered. “It doesn’t matter what it’s supposed to mean,” he said, more clearly. “You don’t have to agree with me, or Master Yoda, or Master Seminaria. As you get older, you’ll have to make up your own mind. There is more than one right way to be a Jedi, Leia.”

She nodded in understanding, feeling a bit better about her dream. She still wasn’t sure if she agreed completely, but he was right that she didn’t control her dreams. It didn’t make her a bad Jedi.

He stood up with a brief smile, offering a hand to help her up. “C’mon, I’ll walk you back to your class. I have my own class that is starting soon, actually.”

“A lightsaber class?” Leia asked.

“Not quite,” he said as he led them out of his quarters. “Philosophy, actually.”

“I didn’t know you taught Jedi theology,” she remarked. She was kind of surprised that they let him. Everyone knew that Jedi Skywalker wasn’t a typical Jedi.

He chuckled, seeming to sense her reaction. “It doesn’t really seem like my thing, does it?”

She shrugged, her cheeks heating up. 

“Well, you’re right; it isn’t. But I’ve been talked into it. This is only my second class; Obi-wan is letting me cover for him while he is off-planet.” 

“Master Kenobi is letting you?” she asked, disbelieving that Jedi Skywalker would want to teach that kind of class

He hesitated for a moment, before replying. “Yes. I was talked into it by my former padawan.” 

“She’s alive?” Leia blurted without thinking.

Jedi Skywalker glanced down at her and gave a wry chuckle. “Is that a rumor? No, she’s not dead. She just left. She’s still on Coruscant, even; she works for the Naboo senatorial office.”

“Oh,” Leia said. That must be why he knows so much about Naboo. She wanted to ask why his padawan had left, but wasn’t really sure how, so instead she just followed him silently. Ezra had told them that his padawan had been kicked out, but Jedi Skywalker had just said ‘left’. 

“You’re thinking very loudly,” he commented after about a minute of walking in silence. He stopped walking, turning to look at her. “You have questions,” he stated, matter of factly. Leia nodded, feeling shy all of the sudden, even though she’d known Jedi Skywalker practically all her life. 

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly, looking down at her shoes. 

“You don’t have to be sorry,” he said kindly. “I don’t mind if you ask me your questions. In fact, I’d rather you do that than continue to feed the Temple rumor mill,” he said wryly. 

Leia looked back up at him, nodding. “Okay, so your padawan-”

“Ahsoka,” he interrupted.

“So, Ahsoka,” she corrected herself, “You said she left the Order. Did she leave on her own?”

He sighed, crossing his arms. “She chose to leave, if that’s what you mean. But she wasn’t given much of a choice, if you ask me.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

He glanced down at his chrono. “We’ve got to get moving,” he said. “Ahsoka’s decision-” he sighed. “It was complicated.” He gave her a considering look. “I’ll tell you about it when you’re older.”

Leia huffed. He said she could ask questions, but apparently that really only meant one question. 

--

Padmé smiled as Anakin’s speeder landed on her apartment’s landing pad. She didn’t always wait out for him; sometimes he forgot to let her know he was on his way, and he wasn’t always able to come over at the same time, and sometimes she herself got so caught up in her work, and he’d come into her office in the apartment, gently cajoling her away from her work.

But today she waited for him outside, sighing happily as he swept her into his arms. She wound her arms around his neck, breathing in his scent as she could feel his chest expand and contract with a deep sigh of relief. 

He set her down, his flesh hand coming up to cup her cheek as he bent down to kiss her. She stood on her toes to meet him, one hand coming up to grasp his shoulder, the other winding into the curls at the nape of his neck. 

“I spoke to Leia today,” he told her with a small smile as they separated, and her hands came to rest on his shoulders, while his rested on her waist, thumbs stroking in place.

“You did?” Hearing her daughter’s name brought a smile to her face, even as a jolt of sorrow swept through her. 

He hummed in confirmation. “She dreams of us,” he said, in a voice thick with emotion. “She came to me, to ask if her dreams were bad, if they were against the Code.”

Padmé wondered what Leia saw in her dreams of them. Could she feel the sorrow that had run beneath the surface of that year on Naboo? 

“What did you tell her?” she asked.

“I told her that we can’t control our dreams any more than we can control who we love,” he said, his bright blue eyes meeting hers. 

She smiled sadly. “I’m glad she comes to you for advice. It means she trusts you.”

“She reminds me of you,” he said. “Her big brown eyes, her curiosity, her kindness,” his soft expression changed into a mischievous one as he continued, “her stubbornness.”

Padmé laughed. “Oh, my stubbornness? I think that’s something she got from you,” she insisted. 

“It’s definitely from you,” he disagreed, chuckling. “You should see the expression she makes when she disagrees with me. It’s a look I’m familiar with.”

She gave him a look, and he laughed. “There, that’s the one!” he exclaimed, laughing slightly as he leaned down to kiss her cheek. 

“How’s Luke?” he asked, changing the subject. 

“Well, I haven’t heard from Ahsoka yet, so I assume they’re still in hyperspace,” she told him. They’d left not long after Luke got home from school; Luke had been so excited to go on his first ‘solo’ mission that he’d basically dragged Ahsoka and Barriss out of the door. He’d even packed yesterday without her even having to tell him to.

Anakin looked surprised by this information. “Hyperspace?” he asked.

“To Kashyyyk, remember?” Padmé reminded him. “I thought Ahsoka talked to you about it yesterday.”

His forehead creased. “I guess I didn’t realize that she was planning on leaving so soon.”

“They’ll be fine, Anakin,” she reassured him. “It’s just a simple relief mission. Trust Ahsoka and Barriss to keep him safe.”

“I do trust Ahsoka,” he said slowly, “but are you sure you’re entirely comfortable with letting Barriss spend so much time around Luke?” 

“I’m sure,” she said simply. And she was. Barriss was troubled, she knew, much like someone else she knew, but she regretted what she’d done. And more than anything, she trusted Ahsoka’s judgement. She’d spent a lot of time with Barriss over the years, and if she thought it was safe, then Padmé would agree with her.

When Anakin still looked troubled, Padmé stepped back, towards the apartment, grabbing one of his hands to pull him after her. “Ani,” she said with a slightly exasperated smile, “I know you’re worried, but you’ll have time to worry tomorrow. Right now, we have the whole apartment to ourselves; let’s go inside.” 

He followed her inside, where it was just the two of them; the outside world and all of its troubles melted away.

--

Luke was all but vibrating with excitement as the ramp lowered to reveal the world of Kashyyyk. He glanced up at either side of him, first to Barriss on his left, and then to Ahsoka on his right. Threepio followed behind them, ready to act as translator when Ahsoka couldn’t. She smiled at him, placing a hand on his shoulder. His first mission without his mom; it was a big deal. 

At the end of the ramp waited members of the King’s council, as well as the local Chieftain, and a couple of generals. 

They bowed to the Wookie at the head of the group, and he bowed in return, growling out what Luke assumed to be a greeting. Luke wasn’t as good at languages as Ahsoka and Barriss were. 

“Thank you for welcoming us on behalf of his Majesty. Queen Layarria and Senator Amidala of Naboo send their greetings,” Ahsoka said, before turning to Luke and Barriss. “This is the Senator’s son, Luke Naberrie, and Barriss Offee, my fellow representative from Senator Amidala’s office.”

There were more greetings all around, which Luke watched, half interested. He poked at Barriss’ mind, knowing she couldn’t speak Shyriiwook, and instead of a poke back, like he might get with Ahsoka, she just turned and glanced at him, eyebrow raised. He shot her a grin, and he did finally feel an echo of a laugh through the Force. He knew Barriss liked to act like she was so serious, but she was a pretty nice person. 

“Reach out with the Force, Luke,” she instructed, leaning down slightly to whisper to him. “Try and feel the emotions of those around you. Be aware of your surroundings.” She gave him a small smile. “Maybe then you won’t feel so left out.”

“Yes, Barriss,” Luke said, dutifully. He did as she said, reaching out with his feelings, and to his surprise, rather than just the calm emotions he expected, he felt a jolt of excitement from one of the Wookies in the back.ff

Luke’s eyes widened when said Wookie swept Ahsoka up in a big hug, roaring a particularly enthusiastic greeting. 

“Oh! Chewbacca!” she said with some surprise in her voice. “It’s good to see you, too, old friend.” When he set her down, they talked back and forth for a bit, and Luke found it a bit difficult to only follow half of a conversation, though he could feel that this Chewbacca was happy to see them. 

“They certainly seem very friendly,” Threepio remarked behind them. 

“Of course they are,” Barriss said with her characteristic calmness and aura of all-knowingness that Luke knew drove Ahsoka batty. “The Wookies have long been very supportive members of the Republic. They have always strove to maintain good relations with other planets, even if that desire hasn’t always been reciprocated.”

“Mom said that Wookies are one of the most noble and loyal species that exist in the Republic,” Luke added, proud to show that he was listening when they talked about politics. 

Barriss nodded. “That’s right. That’s why it’s so important to maintain good relations with them. We can’t just neglect them because they’ve always been there; we have to show them we value them.”

“Which is why we’re bringing aid.”

“Exactly.” At this Barriss shot him another little smile, to show that she was proud of him. Luke smiled back, because he knew it was hard for her to show that kind of thing. He’d heard Ahsoka scold her for it more than once. 

Eventually, Ahsoka turned back to them. 

 “Barriss, Luke, this is Chewbacca. We go way back.” Luke smiled up at the tall Wookie. He was so tall; all the Wookies were. Even taller than Jedi Skywalker, who was pretty tall. 

“Chewie, this is Luke. He’s here to learn,” she explained vaguely. “And this is Barriss. We grew up together,” she said, giving Chewie a look. Luke knew this was her way of explaining that Barriss was also a former Jedi, without saying so outright. Being a former Jedi wasn’t bad, Luke knew, but there also weren’t a lot of them, so Barriss and Ahsoka tended not to mention it. Especially because Barriss had done bad things in the past as a Jedi. 

Chewie roared something, motioning them forward. Ahsoka turned back to them to translate. “He says that first we will meet with the King and his council, and then we will be transported to the nearby village that was hit in the recent storm.”

Luke and Barriss followed Ahsoka, Chewie, and the other Wookies through the winding path of stairs and bridges that connected the giant wroshyr trees. It was beautiful, Luke thought, as long as you didn’t look down. 

Barriss must have noticed him looking at the railing uncertainty because she grabbed his hand, shooting him a small smile. “Your mother will have my head if you fall out of one of these trees,” she told him quietly. Luke let her, even though he didn’t really think he needed his hand held now that he was eight. It was a long way down, and his mother would be extremely upset with Barriss and Ahsoka if he got hurt. 

“Are you scared of my mother?” he asked her with a grin. 

“Oh, absolutely,” she said with a solemn nod. “More than any Separatist or battle droid I’ve ever faced.” 

His grin widened, and he held tightly to Barriss’ hand for the rest of the journey to one of the highest platforms in the capital city, where the King met with his council. 

The King was even a bit taller and larger than the rest of the Wookies, dark, near black fur peppered with silver throughout. He sat in an innocuous looking chair at the head of the circular platform, and the three members of the council took their spot in chairs on either side of the King, with the other Wookies who’d accompanied them moving to stand next to those seated. That left just the four of them, Luke, Barriss, Ahsoka, and Threepio, standing facing the Wookies. Even though Luke knew that the Wookies were loyal members of the Republic, there was still something intimidating about the sight. 

Luke remembered what Barriss told him earlier, and he reached out with the Force again. This time, he felt stronger emotions. Fear, worry, permeated the council.

The King began speaking in the growls of Shyriiwook, with Threepio translating.

“His Majesty, King Rrayyywk of Kashyyyk, welcomes the ambassadors from Naboo. He thanks Naboo for their aid, and for allowing his majesty to share his concerns. He says that their representative in the Senate has had a difficult time being heard these days.” That didn’t surprise Luke. While he didn’t sit in on as many Senate sessions as he used to, now that he was in school, he still did occasionally, and not many beings had their voices heard. It was usually just a lot of yelling.

“Your Majesty,” Ahsoka began, “We are happy to carry your concerns back to Senator Amidala, but to be honest, the Senate is very much at a standstill. With Chancellor Mothma and Vice Chancellor Dul being from opposing parties, it is hard to get anything onto the floor these days.”

King Rrayyywk growled mournfully. “His Majesty understands,” Threepio dutifully translated. “It is Vice Chancellor Dul that he is worried about,” and at this, the other Wookies made noises of agreement. “Him, and the other members of the First Order. It is no secret that the First Order has begun implementing anti-alien policies on several planets. Several close enough to make the Wookies nervous. They already have enough problems from Trandosha, without having to worry about Hapes, Valgauth, and Onderon as well.”

Luke sensed surprise from Ahsoka. “Onderon? King Dendup may have been neutral before the Clone Wars, but they’ve-”

King Rrayywk interrupted with a curt growl. “His majesty says that a single victory does not heal all wounds,” translated Threepio. “Onderon may have joined the Republic, but that does not mean it is a planet of one mind. The First Order has a presence there. It may be small, but that may not matter.”

“To be honest, I think you have a right to be worried, Your Majesty,” Barriss said, speaking up. “The First Order is stirring unrest in people’s hearts. Preying on the vulnerable state of the galaxy. I, more than most, know how easy it is to be swayed when you are already conflicted.”

“His Majesty asks what can be done? Is Senator Amidala working to fight the First Order? Are the Jedi?”

Ahsoka shot a quick glance at Barriss that Luke couldn’t decipher. “At the moment, there is nothing to fight. They’re just a political party, but-”

“King Rrayywk reminds you that the Sith were just a religion.”

“That’s not the same,” Ahsoka said quickly, shaking her head. 

Luke shifted uncomfortably as some of the Wookies shook their heads and muttered. He didn’t know much about the First Order, but what he did know, he knew from his mother. It was strange to hear these Wookies, strong, proud, creatures, seem so afraid of anything. 

Ahsoka seemed like she was going to continue, when Barriss stepped in again. “Senator Amidala shares your concerns. She has always fought for the equality of all beings, starting with the Gungans on her home planet, and has always been a voice for equality in the Senate.”

King Rrayywk sighed and growled out a response. “His Majesty thanks the office of Senator Amidala for listening to his concerns, and hopes that Senator Amidala will ally with alien species against the First Order, if the time should come.”

Ahsoka and Barriss bowed their heads in acknowledgement, and Luke did as well. Then, the Chieftain of the city, howled something at them, stepping forward, and directing them back the way they came. “Chieftain Varu asks that you follow him. He will take you to your transport.”

--

Anakin was just finishing a lightsaber class with Mara Jade’s clan Dalgo when Obi-Wan commed him and asked to meet. He knew Obi-Wan had just gotten back from Corellia- he had gone on a diplomatic mission to meet with Prime Minister Snoke- and had been debriefing with the council. He dismissed the younglings and hurried to Obi-Wan’s quarters, as Anakin sensed it was urgent.

Anakin found Obi-Wan seated in meditation on the floor of the very small living space in his quarters. “What’s so important that you comm me while I’m in class?” he demanded as he walked in. He wasn’t actually upset, more worried than anything. Obi-Wan wasn’t one to make a big deal out of nothing.

“Sit down,” he said curtly, turning to look at him, a frown etched onto his face. “I’ve just learned troubling news. It will be common knowledge soon enough.” 

He complied, sitting next to him and assuming a meditation pose. He knew that, while meditation wasn’t his favorite thing, it helped Obi-Wan immensely, and he might as well go along with it.

“I’ve learned that Prime Minister Snoke has the Force. That he uses the dark side.”

Anakin jolted. “What? Another Sith? How can this be?”

Obi-Wan shook his head. “He claims not to be a Sith. And in the loosest sense, that seems to be true. It seems that this Snoke was an acolyte, of sorts, of Sidious, back when Sidious was just a Sith apprentice himself. Snoke told me that while Sidious taught him how to use the dark side, he never taught him the ways of the Sith.”

Anakin looked at Obi-Wan incredulously. “He told you this?”

“Oh, yes,” Obi-Wan sighed. “He was quite eager to tell me all about himself. Gleeful, even. He knows that we can’t touch him.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, he hasn’t done anything illegal!” Obi-Wan exclaimed in frustration. “As far as we can tell, he had no association with the Separatists. He was a private citizen before running for office. His ship building corporation builds private vessels, not warcraft, so he never had contracts with either side. He’s never done anything illegal, hasn’t been implicated in any crimes, doesn’t carry a lightsaber, and ended his association with Sidious before his illegal activity began. He simply hasn’t violated Republic law.” He shook his head, glancing down at the floor. 

Anakin heard the defeat in Obi-Wan’s voice, and felt his own heart begin to race, fear creeping into his veins. “That’s not possible. I restored balance to the Force. It’s-it’s only been eight years.” He shook his head, unsure of what to say. He didn’t know how to put into words the combination of fear and frustration that flooded him. 

Obi-Wan looked up at that, and put a hand on Anakin’s shoulder. “You did restore balance. You destroyed the Sith. One man with a few years of bare bones instruction into the dark side is not the same thing.”

Anakin shook his head. “I didn’t want my children to have to worry about this like I did. A mysterious dark sider pulling strings in the galaxy.” 

He thought of what Qui-Gon’s ghost had told him all those years ago, on Naboo. He’d never told Obi-Wan about that. He’d never told anyone about that. According to Qui-Gon, he hadn’t restored balance. Not yet. He’d said there was more to do. On Mortis, it had all been very literal, controlling the Brother and the Sister at once, holding them in balance. But in the real world, he didn’t know. 

“Maybe there’s more to bringing balance to the Force than just destroying the Sith,” Anakin mused aloud. 

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow. “More? And what might that ‘more’ be?”

Anakin shot him a grin. “I don’t know, Master. I suppose we’ll have to figure that out.”

[arcticdementor]

The hilarious headline in the Daily Beast yesterday read like a cross of Clickhole and Izvestia circa 1937: “Is Glenn Greenwald the New Master of Right-Wing Media? FROM HIS MOUTH TO FOX’S EARS?”

The story, fed to poor Beast media writer Lloyd Grove by certain unnamed embittered personages at the Intercept, is that their former star writer Greenwald appears on, and helps provide content for — gasp! — right-wing media! It’s nearly the exclusive point of the article. Greenwald goes on TV with… those people! The Beast’s furious journalisming includes a “spot check” of the number of Fox items inspired by Greenwald articles (“dozens”!) and multiple passages comparing Greenwald to Donald Trump, the ultimate insult in #Resistance world. This one made me laugh out loud:

In a self-perpetuating feedback loop that runs from Twitter to Fox News and back again, Greenwald has managed, like Trump before him, to orchestrate his very own news cycles.

This, folks, is from the Daily Beast, a publication that has spent much of the last five years huffing horseshit into headlines, from Bountygate to Bernie’s Mittens to classics like SNL: Alec Baldwin's Trump Admits 'I Don't Care About America'. The best example was its “investigation” revealing that three of Tulsi Gabbard’s 75,000 individual donors — the late Princeton professor Stephen Cohen, peace activist Sharon Tennison, and a person called “Goofy Grapes” who may or may not have worked for Russia Today host Lee Camp — were, in their estimation, Putin “apologists.”

…

For years now, this has been the go-to conversation-ender for prestige media pundits and Twitter trolls alike, directed at any progressive critic of the political mainstream: you’re a Republican! A MAGA-sympathizer! Or (lately), an “insurrectionist”! The Beast in its Greenwald piece used the most common of the Twitter epithets: “Trump-defender.” Treachery and secret devotion to right-wing politics are also the default explanation for the growing list of progressives making their way onto Fox of late, from Greenwald to Kyle Kulinski to Aaron Mate to Jimmy Dore to Cornel West.

The truth is, Trump conservatives and ACLU-raised liberals like myself, Greenwald, and millions of others do have real common cause, against an epistemic revolution taking hold in America’s political and media elite. The traditional liberal approach to the search for truth, which stresses skepticism and free-flowing debate, is giving way to a reactionary movement that Plato himself would have loved, one that believes knowledge is too dangerous for the rabble and must be tightly regulated by a priesthood of “experts.” It’s anti-democratic, un-American, and naturally unites the residents of even the most extreme opposite ends of our national political spectrum.

…

Follow the logic. Isikoff, who himself denounced the Steele dossier, and said in the exchange he essentially agreed with Meier’s conclusions, went on to wonder aloud how right a thing could be, if it’s being embraced by The Federalist and Tucker Carlson. Never mind the more salient point, which is that Meier was “ignored by other media” because that’s how #Resistance media deals with unpleasant truths: it blacks them out, forcing reporters to spread the news on channels like Fox, which in turn triggers instant accusations of unreliability and collaborationism.

It’s a Catch-22. Isikoff’s implication is a journalist can’t make an impact if the only outlet picking up his or her work is The Federalist, but “reputable” outlets won’t touch news (and sometimes will even call for its suppression) if it questions prevailing notions of Conventional Wisdom.

These tactics have worked traditionally because for people like Meier, or myself, or even Greenwald, who grew up in the blue-leaning media ecosystem, there’s nothing more ominous professionally than being accused of aiding the cause of Trump or the right-wing. It not only implies intellectual unseriousness, but racism, sexism, reactionary meanness, greed, simple wrongness, and a long list of other hideous/evil characteristics that could render a person unemployable in the regular press. The label of “Trump-defender” isn’t easily removed, so most media people will go far out of their way to avoid even accidentally incurring it.

…

The consistent pattern with the Trump-era press, which also happens to be the subject of so many of those Greenwald stories the Beast and the Intercept employees are complaining about, is that information that is true but doesn’t cut the right way politically is now routinely either non-reported or actively misreported.

Whether it’s Hunter Biden’s laptop or the Brian Sicknick affair or infamous fictions like the “find the fraud” story, the public increasingly now isn’t getting the right information from the bulk of the commercial press corps. That doesn’t just hurt Trump and conservatives, it misinforms the whole public. As Thomas Frank just pointed out in The Guardian, the brand of politicized reporting that informed the lab-leak fiasco risks obliterating the public’s faith in a whole range of institutions, a disaster that would not be borne by conservatives alone.

But this is only a minor point, compared to the more immediate reason the constant accusations of treachery and Trumpism aimed at dissenters should be ignored.

From the embrace of oligarchical censorship to the aggressive hawking of “noble lies” like Russiagate to the constant humbugging of Enlightenment values like due process to the nonstop scolding of peasants unschooled in the latest academic jargon, the political style of the modern Democratic mainstream isn’t just elitist and authoritarian, it’s almost laughably off-putting. In one moment it’s cheering for a Domestic War on Terror and in the next, declaring war on a Jeopardy contestant flashing the “A-OK” sign. It’s Dick Cheney meets Robin DiAngelo, maybe the most loathsome conceivable admixture. Who could be surprised a politically diverse group finds it obnoxious?

During the Trump years conventional wisdom didn’t just take aim at Trumpism. The Beltway smart set used the election of Trump to make profound arguments against traditional tenets of democracy, as well as “populism,” (which increasingly became synonymous with “the unsanctioned exercise of political power by the unqualified”), and various liberal traditions undergirding the American experiment. Endless permutations of the same argument were made over and over. Any country in which a Trump could be elected had a “too much democracy” problem, the “marketplace of ideas” must be a flawed model if it leads to people choosing Trump, the “presumption of innocence” was never meant to apply to the likes of Trump, and so on.

…

By last summer, after the patriotic mania of Russiagate receded, the newest moral panic that the kente-cloth-clad Schumers and Pelosis were suddenly selling, in solidarity with famed progressive change agents like Bank of America, PayPal, Apple, ComCast, and Alphabet, was that any nation capable of electing Trump must always have been a historically unredeemable white supremacist construct, the America of the 1619 Project. The original propaganda line was that “half” of Trump supporters were deplorable racists, then it was all of them, and then, four years in, the whole country and all its traditions were deemed deplorable.

Now, when the statues of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt came down, there was a new target, separate and apart from Trump. The whole history of American liberalism was indicted as well, denounced as an ineffectual trick of the oppressor, accomplishing nothing but giving legitimacy to racial despotism.

The American liberalism I knew growing up was inclusive, humble, and democratic. It valued the free exchange of ideas among other things because a central part of the liberal’s identity was skepticism and doubt, most of all about your own correctitude. Truth was not a fixed thing that someone owned, it was at best a fleeting consensus, and in our country everyone, down to the last kook, at least theoretically got a say. We celebrated the fact that in criminal courts, we literally voted to decide the truth of things.

This new elitist politics of the #Resistance era (I won’t ennoble it by calling it liberalism) has an opposite view. Truth, they believe, is properly guarded by “experts” and “authorities” or (as Jon Karl put it) “serious people,” who alone can be trusted to decide such matters as whether or not the Hunter Biden laptop story can be shown to the public. A huge part of the frustration that the general public feels is this sense of being dictated to by an inaccessible priesthood, whether on censorship matters or on the seemingly daily instructions in the ear-smashing new vernacular of the revealed religion, from “Latinx” to “birthing persons.”

In the tone of these discussions is a constant subtext that it’s not necessary to ask the opinions of ordinary people on certain matters. As Plato put it, philosophy is “not for the multitude.” The plebes don’t get a say on speech, their views don’t need to be represented in news coverage, and as for their political choices, they’re still free to vote — provided their favorite politicians are removed from the Internet, their conspiratorial discussions are banned (ours are okay), and they’re preferably all placed under the benevolent mass surveillance of “experts” and “professionals.”

Add the total absence of a sense of humor and the inability of “moral clarity” politics to co-exist with any form of disagreement, and there’s a reason why traditional liberals are suddenly finding it easier to talk with old conservative rivals on Fox than the new authoritarian Snob-Lords at CNN, MSNBC, the Daily Beast or The Intercept. For all their other flaws, Fox types don’t fall to pieces and write group letters about their intolerable suffering and “trauma” if forced to share a room with someone with different political views. They’re also not terrified to speak their minds, which used to be a virtue of the American left (no more).

From the moment Donald Trump was elected, popular media began denouncing a broad cast of characters deemed responsible. Nativists, misogynists and racists were first in line, but from there they started adding new classes of offender: Greens, Bernie Bros, “both-sidesers,” Russia-denialists, Intellectual dark-webbers, class-not-racers, anti-New-Normalers, the “Substackerati,” and countless others, casting every new group out with the moronic admonition that they’re all really servants of the “far right” and “grifters” (all income earned in service of non-#Resistance politics is “grifting”). By now conventional wisdom has denounced everyone but its own little slice of aristocratic purity as the “far right.”

[iconaclysm-a]

i was talking with a friend bout it a little while ago but like. i am hilariously down for the concept that ‘canon’ revan (aka swtor revan) is the image of revan that has survived into the prequel era. i've mentioned a few times before that revan existing in galactic history as an enigmatic figure with a lot of in-universe debates about what they truly were is something that i adore, but the idea of revan being perceived as le Classique ‘rando white guy’ in general by the academic community is just. i’m feral over how much i love it. who even knows how that image of revan got introduced?? some guy showed up in the swtor era claiming to be revan or his descendant and no one knew enough about the real revan to refute him, so everyone just rolled with it??? there’s a whole block of modern academia’s knowledge that’s just based on. complete nonsense and there are all these theories disputing it but no one can prove anything because it’s all too vague. 

anyway there are like... 3 1/2 different revans that exist into the golden age of the republic. to the mandalorians they are te demagol, the butcher (of malachor, of te ani’la, of their progenitors) reviled and despised down the generations until they exist practically as dark metaphor. to the jedi they are revan, a cautionary tale of how even the greatest of jedi (the galaxy’s savior) can fall and turn against everything they stand for. (it’s unlikely knowledge of revan’s ‘redemption’ survived the test of time, given how the prequel jedi are pretty set in the ‘falling to the dark side is permanent’ philosophy. in their tale revan falls to the jedi strike team, and bastila goes on to vanquish malak at the star forge). the republic’s revan is an extension of that, the war hero turned war criminal. and the sith have their own darth revan, the one who chose to fall, the one who understood the truth of the dark side that the jedi were too blind to ever see. the one who laid groundwork for what the sith were meant to become. 

of course, none of these are truly accurate depictions of revan, merely exaggerations of the small facets of their persona that survived the test of time. the last vestiges of their legacy, distorted beyond recognition, clouded in misinformation that persisted even in their own era. misinformation that they directly contributed to, in some cases. for the most part though, shit just gets lost in history. yes i am obsessed with this idea and no i will not shut up about it. 

[inessencedevided]

Oh yeah, titles are totes valid. I like yiling patriarch cos when you think about it it doesn't make sense. He didn't create the town of yiling, and he technically doesn't even live there. He sould be called burial mounds patriarch or smth.

Anyway, enough about titles (also if I have made a mistake due to translation error or misunderstanding, whoops). Which OG sect leader do you think was the worst, and which one was the best? And which next gen sect leader is best and worst?

I dislike jgs most, cos yikes. Wrh might have been a tirant and war criminal, but at least he wasn't as big of a dick as jgs. Can't really decide who the best is, cos they all had issues, you know?

Worst next gen would have to be jgy, not cos I dislike him as a person but because he definitely commited war crime and genocide. Idk best here either cos once again, *slaps top of cgl* these cultivators can fit so much trauma and issues. I do like imagining how the now sect is run. One twink mastermind and his hunk retinue? Love that for them

-the axe cultivator

Argh, 🪓-cultivator (there's an emoji! :D). I'm so sorry! I'm terribly behind again in answering you. I promise, I like your asks but I want to give them proper attention and the holidays were surprisingly busy this year.

That question is very creative! And hard ^^ I had to think about all my answers, even the seemingly easy "worst sect leader of the OG". Because while jin Guangshan is definitely a pompous ass and overall shitty person who is more concerned with sleeping with every woman in Lanling than his duties and who didn't step up during the sunshot campaign and then decided to use the power vacuum afterwards to his advantage, he at least, you know, did some sect leading. Which is not something that can be said about one Qingheng-Jun. That guy just left his brother and eventually and increasingly his teenage son in charge. Now what is worse? Bad sect leading or no sect leading at all? I don't know if I can decide ^^

Ah yeah and Wen Ruohan ... 🤷‍♀️ obviously he wasn't great, but he's also the least three-dimensional "villain" so I never really bother with him ^^

The best og sect leader? Does lan qiren as an acting sect leader count? ^^ obviously he too has issues, as you said. I believe lan qiren, as a leader, as an uncle and as an educator was deeply influenced by the things that happened with his brother. I can only imagine how deeply it must have hurt him to see his brother abandon both his people, him, his brother and his own children for the sake of one woman. Whatever your opinion on qingheng-jun, I believe we can all agree that his actions must have deeply hurt and disappointed lan qiren. We don't know what he was like before those events, so we don't know just how mich of his extreme rigidity is due to those events, but I do believe that they hardened him and made him more inflexible. Maybe he was much more of a free spirit before. Maybe he was a lot like Lan Wangji, but instead of loosening and expanding his understanding of the relationship between morality and rules, the events that shaped him let him to harden them. We don't know. But we do know that he picked up the pieces his brother left him. My point is, you can think about his style of leadership and teaching what you want but you cannot deny that he is devoted to the people in his care and that's not something you can say about a lot of the leaders of his generation.

Now, to the next gen leaders:

This is, in a way, even harder to decide ...

I wouldn't call jiggy the worst sect leader so easily. His record, imo, is very much mixed. The watchtowers, if I recall the novel correctly (it's been 6 months since I last read it ^^), were a pretty good way to get help to people who usually fall under the radar of the cultivation sects. So while he definitely sacrificed a lot in his rise to the top, he seems to have tried to help the common people (something that cannot be said about his two predecessors).

But ... who then? I thought a lot about it and I think I'm inclined to say Nie Huaisang. Don't get me wrong, I love him as much as anyone, but I also remember the part in the novel where, when wangxian investigate the "man eating bunker" (i wonder how accurate that translation is) a town's person sais that they don't expect help from the nie sect because ever since Nie Huaisang took over nothing gets done and they neglect to help the people within their territory. Now, we know that Nie huaisang cultivated a reputation of general incompetence so people wouldn't suspect him to scheme against jin guangyao, but in doing so, he obviously neglected his duty to the people under his care. Which is, imo, pretty consistent with his character. Nie Huaisang us ruthless when sufficiently angered and has no qualms to cause casual damage to achieve his goal (see Mo Xuanyu's suicide to bring wei wuxian back). His revenge was his first priority and so he placed being a good brother over being a good sect leader.

Best? Is also dificult. I honestly can't decide between Lan Xichen and Jiang Cheng? There are so many factors to consider here! (There were already woth the ones above, really): what actions count towards the assessment of their leadership? What makes good leadership at all? (Which is funny because I'm doing my masters in political science rn and that's one of the biggest questions in political theory. But I only really know "Western" political theory. Chinese philosophy i have only ever graced the surface of) which is to say ... I can't really decide.

Jiang cheng put his sect above all else. While there's a lot of debate about whether that was morally right, it's certainly what helped him rebuild his sect as quickly as he did. He is brash and sometimes cruel, but his deciples clearly trust him and admire him.

Lan Xichen is an incredible diplomat. He is calm, fair (i.e. when he decides to listen to wangxians accusations against the sworn brother he loved and investigated them himself) and proactive when he needs to be. (I know, he is often accused of being too passive within the fandom, but I don't think that is necessarily the case. In a world where most leaders seem to base their judgement on rumor and hearsay more often than not, he withholds judgement until he listened to all sides. That is not a flaw in leadership) Now, in the end, he seemingly follows his father's footsteps by going into seclusion. I would argue, that still doesn't place them on the same step leadership wise. A. The situation with Jin Guangyao and madam lan, imo, aren't equivalent. It's hard to judge madam lan because we don't know what let her to kill the lan teacher, but I think it's unlikely she deceived qingheng-jun in the process. Jin Guangyao actively deceived kan xichen for years. When lan xichen learned this, he decided to investigate and was badly hurt in the process. The outcome, seclusion, may be the same, but the reasons are different. Also, the novel heavily implies that lan xichen will eventually emerge and take up his duties again.

All of this is to say... I can't decide ^^

I'll answer the other putstabding ask tomorrow. It's past midnight now and I should really sleep. Thank you for being so patient 💙

Btw, happy holidays, if you celebrate 🥰