#we call it africa

[elbiotipo]

Tolkien wrote "half-elf" a couple times, and D&D was like "y'all mind if I bring back the sistema de castas"

[bourgeoisie-immorality]

I’ve not seen anyone say this yet so I feel like I ought to:

even if the ICJ demands that Israel stop their military operations, we still need to keep talking about Palestine. Even if Israel actually fully honours this ruling and stops the siege (something that I, unfortunately, don’t think is very likely) we still need to keep talking about Palestine. Palestine is not free until the occupation ends; Palestine is not free until the illegitimate colonialist-satellite state of Israel is completely wiped off the map, and remembered only in history books for its crimes against humanity and the Arab people. Palestine is not free until it is free, from the river to the sea. Even when this bombardment ends, DO NOT STOP TALKING ABOUT PALESTINE.

If Israel is allowed to exist in its capacity as a settler-colonialist satellite state for the USA, it will commit genocide again. It’s not an if, it’s a when. Israel’s genocidal rhetoric defies humanity, and I fear defies all orders. It exists as an attack dog for the US, and will continue to commit war crimes for as long as it remains.

Heaping the pressure on is vital, at this point, especially if you live in the imperial core. It is our job now to ensure that Israel becomes a pariah state, rejected and sanctioned by the imperialist nations it once worked for. All future weapon shipments must be blocked, all Israeli products boycotted, and our governments made to pay for supporting their genocide. Even when the bombardment stops, continue to cry genocide, and continue to fight for a free Palestine, from the river to the sea.

[adamsvanrhijn]

Bates literally shoving people around this season who have nothing on him and we're supposed to believe he was never violent with his wife while simultaneously being Angry and Hard and drinking more than was good for him....

[tanadrin]

“middle east” is a painfully generic geographical term. like if you saw something on a fantasy map like that you’d roll your eyes so hard. ‘this bit is only a little to the east, so we call it Middle East. That bit is way more to the east, so we call it the Far East.’

[muminshoom]

Zionists saying that calling Israel an apartheid state is disrespectful to South Africans that experienced Apartheid makes no sense. South African anti-Apartheid activists themselves have been long advocated for a free Palestine. Desmond Tutu himself said that the conditions that Palestinians face is like the apartheid system in South Africa

When countries like South Africa and Ireland, have long been vocal about a free Palestine, it’s because they themselves have also experienced what’s it like to be colonized and occupied. If anything, to act like Palestine isn’t experiencing apartheid is disrespectful to South Africans who experienced apartheid.

[livelist]

Please stop the nonsense. This should be obvious.

The map even came with the large gaps for the Suez and Panama canals! I didn't even have to do that!

#SixContinents #Eurasia #EuropeIsntAContinent #FarWestEurasia

[dreamieparadise]

Can- can I ask about the Somali pirates?

Hi hi, Lili! Yes, of course. Tbh I shouldn't have called them "pirates" they are known as such and treated like villains, but they're more like unofficial naval guard! The official naval guard was disbanded in the 90's due to the civil war that broke out [btw this civil war is why I'm diaspora! My maternal family fled to Djibouti or elsewhere. My dad came to Canada due to it.] Anyway! Other nations took advantage of this as they tended to do and started fishing illegally in the waters! Somali citizens rely on fishing to live [also farming and agriculture bc I also recall there was a drought and famine going on] so they turned to "piracy" to stop these thieves from stealing from them! Of course, these outsiders didn't like it and called it "piracy." they shouldn't be there in the first place!!!

BFJRKRKRKR I TALKED IM THE TAGS AND REACHED THE LIMIT I AM SO SORRY LMAOOOOO

Other than Puntland there is also Jubbaland ok lol I love talking about my people's history too much

[psychopomparia]

Maybe I'm delusional. But....is Argenti from Space Americas??? Is Argenti Hispanic???

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

this is probably off topic but like i was rereading sea glass gardens & i was just giggling at the fact that kamo (the good one ofc not the one who took back shots for the greater evil) is just…obsessed with getting this middle school delinquent approval & MEGUMI JUST NOT REMEMBERING HIS NAME???

like imagine dedicating your spare time to impress the adopted child of the strongest who is also the zenin’s heir (if gojo fucking goes crazy or kicks the bucket) who is also the ten shadows user, trying to compliment him, hyping up his skills by saying he has more potential than the current zenin head, only for him to not know your name 😭. & the fact he apologized for it? i’m cacklingggg. you truly embraced megumi’s silent menace tendencies. tbh i was so convinced that kamo had a crush on megumi & was just flirting with him for the whole exchange event 😭.

(also maki’s little story of her interaction with megumi in their childhood? i cried a little. like the fact megumi being a menace to naoya & the clan & taking mai away was like mai’s happiest memory? i really can’t wait to see mai’s appearance here)

also i can’t believe megumi is half dead & blind & he’s already known as “yuuta’s boy”. this is giving when you’re a high school senior & you just forcibly take a underclassmen under your wing & everyone just calls that underclassmen your school kid.

like imagine in a happier universe where shibuya didn’t happen & yuuta pops tf out & introduces himself to the first years. imagine the hilarity of nobara & yuuji trying to figure out how tf yuuta is able to cling onto megs, tease him, & knows little details about him without getting his head chewed off 😭.

honestly..yuuta’s unhealthy platonic feelings about megs makes me wonder gojo’s reaction bc i imagine him being so insufferable like he just assumes that “omg my distant relative have a crush on my emotional support child”

ANYWAYS I LOVE YOUR STORY !! i can’t wait for the next update, your writing is literally so beautiful that i have to re read it multiple times to take everything in (i’m kinda slow). it’s gotten to the point where i accepted your fic as canon 😭. i promise you in a few months your fic is gonna be known as THE JJK FIC. i’m manifesting it. <3

So I’m never gonna get there in the fic because sea glass gardens cuts off pre season 1, but I like to headcanon that Yuuta desperately wants yuuji to like him (he’s megumis friend and also Yuuta feels an obligation to look out for him because they were both sentenced to death) but yuuji is just NOT having it because he’s the one person in the world that yuuji feels almost seething jealousy for. He is not a jealous person. He has never been a jealous person. But Yuuta is living his perfect life, which is a fact that Yuuta would be surprised to learn, because he is not living anyone’s perfect life. From yuujis perspective, Yuuta is:

Inexplicably close to Megumi. Megumi is somehow his boy. Yuuji didn’t think Megumi would tolerate being anyone’s boy.

(He doesn’t tolerate it it’s somehow the best and worst kept secret in the school. Everyone knows Megumi is Yuuta’s boy except for Megumi himself. Megumi insists Yuuta’s like this with everyone while panda silently shakes his head where Megumi can’t see him.)

He’s got some kind of secret history with Megumi that no one will talk about (since I imagine that the second years would legitimately keep their word and not talk about what the Zenin did to him behind his back) but whatever it is it makes Megumi trust and rely on him more than anyone else??? How is the son of a bitch doing it???

He was also sentenced to death but got it suspended and like. Yeah. Yuuji would like to live that dream existence.

The fucking legally adopted child of Nanamin??? How?????

It’s a lot of

Yuuji, glaring at him angrily from across the room: he’s the perfect man

Nobara: why do you say that like you’re mad

Yuuji: why am I not him!!!

Yuuta’s just. Despondent. He wanted yuuji to like him so so bad.

Considering canon Megumi didn’t tell them he had an entire sister until they were at his old school and people were asking after her, I doubt that even waterboarding could get out of him “yeah so I met the second years when my bio family violated the no contact protocol that started because of how dangerously abusive they were and basically tortured me for a week, up to the point of my Actual Death. I was blind for a while. I guess okkotsu senpais protective of me because when we first met he Literally Had To Restart My Heart and Lungs. Also we held hands multiple times in the immediate aftermath.” So I think Yuuji and Nobara would be aware that there’s something weird about how Yuuta and Megumi met but have absolutely no idea what that weird thing is.

(Panda: look it’s really not weird how protective Yuuta is of Megumi considering all that Megumi was going through when they first met

Nobara: What was Megumi going through when they first met

Panda:

Nobara:

Panda: I’ve said too much.)

I have a serious reading of Kamo and a self indulgent reading of Kamo and a Kamo that’s somewhere in the middle.

The serious reading of Kamo is that Kamo was a kid who grew up in a bad situation with very little control over his own life and saw Megumi as the one who could possibly understand him. They both were born outside of their clans but their inherited technique had the ability to elevate them to clan heir. He persisted in trying to compliment him and form common grounds with him out of isolation and a desire for someone to understand his lot in life. Megumi, meanwhile, would see Kamo as exactly who he doesn’t want to become. Kamo has accepted his place in his clan; megumi is violently rejecting it. He doesn’t want to be the same as Kamo because he doesn’t want to be anywhere near the Zenin clan.

The thing is that out of all the characters, Kamo’s really the best one we have to kind of represent the more common views of the jujutsu world. like, he very consistently is shown to be able to make his own assessments about what judgment call the higher ups and the wider jujutsu elite are going to make or expect, and part of it is his desire to fulfill his role as kamo clan heir. And Kamo? Accepts out of hand that Megumi is going to be formally brought into the Zenin clan once he graduates.

Like, he's in the fight during the goodwill event, and he's just like "yeah so when we both graduate we'll both be working to support a major clan in the jujutsu world" and megumi's like "the hell are you talking about. i'm going to kill you with this elephant."

It is probably a common expectation that gojo keeping Megumi from the Zenin clan is not going to stretch into perpetuity. Like. Right now, megumi is a minor. Gojo very easily can control who has access to him. When he’s an adult working in the society, the same trick of preventing all contact isn’t gonna work. Those are his coworkers now. They’re going to get more and more opportunities to bring him back into the fold. The Zenin are just playing a waiting game to get Megumi back and everyone sort of has just accepted that fact.

Kamo is what the Zenin clan expect Megumi to one day be for them, and I think it puts Megumi a bit at odds with him. Megumi has no interest in living the way Kamo does, and a little internalized fear about it happening anyway. Refusing the Zenin clan is the only control he’s ever really exerted over his life and future. He never got to pick being a jujutsu sorcerer, but he chose not to go with them. All of kamos priorities and mindset remind Megumi of all the things he’s messed up about, and it sets them at odds.

The self indulgent reading is that Kamo had a huge crush on Megumi and spent the entire goodwill event trying to execute his four year long plan towards holding his hand only to be thwarted by the fact that Megumi was completely dazzled by a himbo he knew for less than two weeks three months ago.

And the reading above is just the serious reading with the added fact that Kamo also had a huge crush on Megumi.

The thing with Mai partially came from something that Gege apparently released as background lore. In the goodwill event, Mai says that she never told maki when she had her first love, and i was like "that's weirdly specific, I wonder who that is" and then I googled it, and the answer was apparently either Megumi or Maki herself, and I said, "Huh, I Don't Like That" and decided we weren't doing that.

Now, to be clear, I do get making that decision on a level as a writer. Like, the Zenin clan is enormously fucked up and explicitly practices intermarriage. That is the kind of thing where you may include it because it's so fucked up and perfectly exemplifies how fucked up it is. a clan that explicitly is practicing incest is going to heavily skew how relationships amongst family members develop and form and it's going to be a fucked up dynamic amongst closely related people.

But also I Don't Like It And We're Not Doing That.

I did like the idea of Megumi and Maki occupying a somewhat similar place in Mai's mind. Like, Maki is in a league of her own, there's too much history there for anyone to come close to her in a relationship, but Mai's fondest memories of Maki were specifically with Maki occupying a sort of companion and protector role. Maki was in the same "level" as mai. They were both vulnerable kids in a bad situation who were looked down on by their family. They were both fast tracked to be servants. But Maki was the brave one, the capable one, the one who guided her when she was afraid and promised to always be there, and that's where a lot of mai's complex emotions around maki come from: mai was afraid and maki was strong and maki was there to hold her hand, and then suddenly she wasn't anymore.

Once I put Megumi in the Zenin compound as a little kid (since it's unclear what contact Megumi had with his bio family pre-season 1 and how extensive it was), I knew that 1) the zenin would not be putting him anywhere near Mai and Maki, and 2) that I wanted them to have met anyway.

So I liked the idea of Maki and Megumi occupying similar spaces in mai's mind because they both had briefly been viewed by Mai as companions and protectors. Megumi's contact with Mai was way more limited than Maki's was, but Megumi sort of swept into her life at a time where Mai really did need it most.

Mai would have been right at the age where most kids get their technique, if they get any at all, and we can sort of assume that mai may have figured out what hers was late if Maki didn't know about it. She just failed to get the ten shadows technique, and was a freshly confirmed failure in terms of power. She was just feeling the sting of her family's rejection, and Megumi, meanwhile, was the one who was supposed to be the most special and blessed of them all.

And he was the only one who didn't reject her out of hand, other than her sister. He stuck his own neck out to protect her. They all played together. There's not a lot of good memories than any of the three of them have on the Zenin compound, but I think that all of them secretly thought of that day as one of the best they can remember from childhood.

And it sort of was a huge deal for Mai. Everyone was treating her like she was dirt under their heel, but there was Megumi, the presumptive heir to the clan, the Ten Shadows himself, and he played with her. He was her friend. I think that would have been kind of a landmark moment for little mai. not only is that the acceptance and kindness she desperately needed, but I think it was also sort of source of hope for her that she could have a place in the Zenin compound one day without it being utter garbage. Megumi was assumed to take over the entire clan one day, and he was kind to her. He was her friend. He didn't let Naoya treat her badly, when Naoya was the one who was likely going to be heir if Megumi hadn't inherited the ten shadows. Naoya was at the top of the food chain, but Megumi still stood up for her, even though her own parents wouldn't have. So maybe when he grew up and became clan head, he wouldn't let people mistreat her and maki anymore. They could all be happy together, and Mai couldn't imagine a future where she and maki got to be happy before. Even though the clan leadership cracked down pretty hard on them for that stunt, it didn't make a dent in how overwhelmingly happy it made her.

Megumi going no contact probably would have been a huge blow, especially considering her age. She lost her hope and her only friend who wasn't her sister in one fell swoop, and she really was too young to have the tools to understand just how much Megumi needed to be kept away from her family for his own safety.

Mai, back then, was living in such a warped life that she didn't really realize how bad her family was, especially to Megumi. and that's not so much a comment as to how bad it was for her there versus him, but more that she had very little context as to what his life there was like. she was never supposed to meet him. She mostly heard about him secondhand, and that's all being filtered through the zenin's unique. All she ever heard was about how the ten shadows had finally been reborn, and how the clan was blessed for it, and how upset they all were that they had to give him back to gojo. No one even wanted her. Megumi seemed like he was living a much better life than anyone at the zenin compound could expect, so what cause would gojo have to take him away?

She was just a little girl who didn't really have friends other than her sister and him. She wanted to play with him again. She didn't understand much outside of that.

Of course, she's had time to grow up and kind of put her memories of the past in a more reasoned context. Maki came to the conclusion that Megumi probably didn't have the best time there a while ago, and this incident has really put it into perspective for her that he must have cut off the zenin because they were dangerously abusive towards him. Like, she mostly never saw him, but she has a lot of memories of him 1) being hauled out of a training room unconscious 2) being on sixteen hour days at the age of six, and 3) being violently unhappy whenever he was in the compound. Mai, to a lesser extent, likely has a similar awareness that he didn't go no contact for shits and giggles, it was because her family's fucking bonkers and abused him badly enough for gojo to pull the plug. of course, how that's shaped mai's mindset towards megumi now is still yet to be seen.

I know what it is, of course. it is seen for me. you all have yet to see it.

Gojo can and will make his own existence everyone else's problem and yuuta is sooo right to not want him to know. like. he wouldn't kick yuuta's ass. but that doesn't mean he'd be good about it.

I'm so glad you like the story! thank you for your kind words!!!

[rahabs]

Lots of people complaining about The Mummy vs the new Cleopatra documentary but therein lies the issue: Cleopatra is claiming to be a historically accurate documentary, it is claiming to tell the “real” truth and even put out a statement on how Cleopatra’s ethnicity has been long debated (which, among scholars, no it really hasn’t, y’all just keep ignoring us when we say Cleopatra wasn’t black), but now they’re here to tell the real story that Cleopatra was really black and so was everyone in Egypt, especially the ruling class, at a time where they definitely were not as they were being ruled over by the Ptolemaic Greeks, while The Mummy was not claiming any historical accuracy or to be a documentary of real events, and that’s where a lot of the backlash is coming from.

[casiavium]

Everyone on the program: omg cool mummies!!!

Me, literally holding back tears: they are so far from home. Are their souls scared? Has anyone even offered them bread in the afterlife?

[oh2e]

Every time I think about Gráinne Mhaol I want to cry. Why oh why must she be called Grace? Why is Granuaile so disgusting to look at? Grania is…bad but actually not too bad in comparison to what else there is. Gráinne is not a hard name or an unusual name. I know multiple Gráinnes. I will completely accept Gráinne O’Malley instead of Gráinne Ní Mháille or Gráinne Ó Máille (which she reportedly used) because that’s still the same name effectively. Grace and Gráinne have nothing to do with one another except beginning with G and being a virtue. Is it so hard to respect someone’s name?

[babyitsmagic]

hoping to be here tomorrow! unfortunately it's one of my quarterly 6:30am meeting days AND i have to participate in the presentation tomorrow so. must bed early tonight and might be mush brained tomorrow.

[magnoliamyrrh]

thats why it hurts my brain too when ppl have intense ass arguments abt what race specific "hard to classify" groups are

the balkans are just one example of this bc weve been considered a bunch of shit throughout history and we exist in a weird position always but. there are So Many ethnic groups and regions of the world which are like this

and ppl will go on entire things with the upmost seriousness trying to "race" whatever ethnicity when its like....... dude do you not understand.... does the entire argument itself not make you see.... this is all made up and this conversation makes no damn sense bc there isnt actually any sort of biological basis that this shit is based on ,, ,,, race is Largely some bullshit made up for the sake of oppression and youre trying So Hard to shove ppl into it instead of understanding the complexities of the situation...why..... pls stop

[pro-prin-prinny]

I know I say this often but DO NOT let Zionists conflate the holy land of Israel with the state of Israel. While generally in the same area one is just a place. Zionists will purposefully mislead you since the land of Israel is SAID to be 5000 years old(we don't actually know this is based on religious text and historians trying to align them with history) BUT the state of Israel is less than 80 years old. There are people alive today older than the state of Israel.

[tracybirds]

TAG Ask Game

Sooooo I’ve seen quite a few people that are new or new-ish or joined in while I was busy and I’m excited to meet you but haven’t had the chance yet so I thought that writing an ask game to share might be fun (and I love a good excuse to start a conversation) so feel free to reblog and get to know each other and don’t mind me peppering you all with questions :)

There are 25 questions - leave a name in the ask to have the question answered!

---

Scott: Do you prefer to follow the advice of others or to forge your own path?

Virgil: What’s your favourite form of creative expression?

John: If you could become an instant expert on any topic, what would you choose?

Gordon: Tell me your best joke! Or your favourite comedy movie if you’re feeling the pressure :D

Alan: Do you prefer video games or board games?

Kayo: If you could choose any superpower, what would you pick?

Brains: It’s time to draw an allegiance - what’s you favourite Thunderbird?

Grandma Tracy: What’s something you enjoy doing, even if you don’t think you’re very good at it?

Jeff: If you got to go on a solo eight year holiday / adventure, where would you go?

Lady Penelope: Who would you invite to a party if you knew they had to say yes?

Parker: What’s your favourite mode of transportation?

EOS: What’s a pet peeve you’ve always kind of wanted to go killer robot on?

MAX: What’s your opinion on the advance of modern technology?

The Hood: If you could spend a day with another person’s face, who would you choose?

The Mechanic: What’s something about you that people are often surprised to learn when they don’t know you well?

Havoc and Fuse: Are you a Chaos Crew sympathiser? (no shade, I’m just curious)

Colonel Casey: What do you think of the GDF in the show?

Captain Taylor: Are you any good with names?

Francois Lemaire: What’s the most wild thing you would do if you ever became a sudden and immediate billionaire with never depleting money?

Langstrom Fischler: What’s a mildly annoying problem that doesn’t need solving, but you want a useless invention for anyway?

Cass McCready: Who’s the side character in TAG that you most want to explore?

Ridley O��Bannon: What’s something you wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice a Thunderbird for? (sorry not sorry)

Ned Tedford: What’s your favourite type of flowers?

Buddy and Ellie: What’s something that you would cross the universe for on the slim chance of success?

Kip Harris: Who’s your personal hero?