powerofvoid

[powerofvoid]

(source)

#reblog #rl #politics #standing together #israel #palestine

[powerofvoid]

#international holocaust remembrance day #reblog #rl

[powerofvoid]

Going back to the other aspects of the question, besides the fact that the Green Party are grifters:

I'm... not sure how registering for a party's Primary upholds the two-party system.

As far as I know, registering for a party's Primary does nothing else except letting you vote in that Primary, and (together with other voters) tell that party who to nominate.

Unlike most countries, here in the USA, you can participate in a major party's candidate selection process without having to do anything more than check a box on voter registration and then show up to the Primary. No membership fee necessary, and they can't just kick you out.

So... I think it sort of balances out?

The Democratic Party and the Republican Party are going to be around in name for a long time, but that's because any movement popular enough to replace them will instead take over one of the parties, and seize its name and identity for its own, which happens pretty often.

Which is to say: you aren't stuck with the party, the party is stuck with you.

---------

The things that actually uphold the two-party system are:

Single-winner elections, which means that only two candidates per district are important.

Bans on "fusion tickets", so each candidate can only have one party

The extreme focus on the office of President, which is elected nationwide, which means that the two parties are the same everywhere

Right-wing parties putting large numbers of people's existence on the ballot, so we can't afford to lose or ignore the issue.

If Right-wing parties stopped putting people's existence on the ballot, then people could afford to "lose" elections in protest.

If the President was less important, then each State could have its own parties.

Where fusion tickets are legal, you have minor parties. (Unfortunately, the President effect keeps them minor)

With multi-winner elections, the threshold for a party to elect candidates would be lower.

All of which adds up to the effect observed above: politicians who are popular and play well with others generally wind up taking one of the major parties' nominations, and influencing that party instead of inventing their own branding and operating as an outsider.

i registered to vote for the first time ( i feel old) now that im an adult but my state has closed primary elections which i was wondering if you have an opinion about. my initial thought was that its bad because i had to register democrat (rather than my states green party which represents my beliefs more) just so i could vote between democrat candidates, which feels like being pressured into supporting the weird pseudo two party system we have. but then i looked it up and apparently a reason for this is so that people from opposing parties wont purposefully mess up the votes just so that their preferred candidates have an easier time winning, and i think that makes sense too. but is that actually the reason theyve closed it or is it just to force us dem/republican?? cause it feels strange

Okay, look. I respect the fact that you're a young person, and I appreciate that you have not only registered to vote, but plan to vote in the primaries, so I don't want to lecture you too much. That said: I am taking you out for coffee, I am sitting you down, I am looking into your eyes, and I am urgently telling you the following:

The Green Party is a scam. It is a scam. It has existed for decades in American politics as an empty shell corporation weaponizing the good intentions of young people like yourself, because all it theoretically stands for "it's good to save the planet maybe." Which is not something that any non-insane person seriously disagrees with, but there is no world in which that cause is actually furthered by registering/voting Green (you mentioned that you did vote for Democrats, which -- good, but listen to me here, youngun, okay?) It ran Jill Stein in 2016 to siphon more votes from HRC, and this election it plans to run Cornel West, a pro-Russian tankie who positively equated Bernie and Trump, as another spoiler candidate. It does not stand for "protecting the planet" or America in any real way. It has never elected a single senator or congressman, let alone a president. It stands for empty performance/grievance political theater by those people who feel too morally superior to vote for/affiliate with Democrats, often because the internet has told them that it's not Cool or Hip or Progressive enough.

If your main priority is climate/the environment, you're doing the right thing by registering as a Democrat and voting for Democrats. (Also: the adjectival form is Democratic. It is the Democratic party and Democratic candidates, otherwise you sound like the Fox News host who wrote a book literally entitled "The Democrat Party Hates America.") They are the only major party who has in fact passed major climate legislation and have made environmental justice a central tenet of their platform. As opposed to the Republicans, whose Project 2025, along with the rest of its nightmare fascist prescriptions, openly pledges to completely wreck existing climate protections and forbid any new ones, just because we weren't all dying fast enough under their death-cult rule already. That's the main logical fallacy I don't get among both the Online Leftists and the American electorate in general: "the Democrats aren't doing quite enough as I'd like, so I'll enable the active wrecking ball insane lunatics to get in power and ruin even the progress we HAVE managed to make!" Like. How does that even make sense?

On a federal level, the Greens have contributed nothing whatsoever of tangible value to American or international climate policy/legislation, environmental justice, or anything else, because as noted, they don't have any elected candidates and mostly focus on drawing voters away from Democrats. There might be plenty of good candidates on the local or city level, which -- great! Vote away for Greens if they're available, or the only other option is a Republican! But on the federal/primary level, please understand: once again, they are a scam. There is no point in affiliating yourself with them. You're welcome to register Green and vote Democratic, if that makes you feel better or if you prefer having another label next to your name, but once again, I'm telling you in my position as a salty Tumblr elder that they have done nothing but harm to the causes they claim to care about, because "environment" is such a nebulous priority and has demonstrably been hijacked to stop the American government entity, i.e. the Democrats, that is actually working to improve on it.

As for your question: nobody is "forcing" or "pressuring" you to vote in primaries. By your own admission, you made a conscious choice to register as a Democrat in order to vote for Democratic candidates. If you were just a regular registered voter of whatever party affiliation, you would vote in the general election for whatever candidate the primary process produced. But if you are sufficiently vested and committed to that process that you would like to have a say in who is running under that party label, it is not unreasonable that you would register as a member of that party. Nobody has twisted your arm behind your back and made you do so; you are taking a considerable level of initiative on your own. Likewise, open primaries can be both a good and bad thing. This falls under the "the political system we have is flawed, but we can't magically pretend it doesn't exist and act according to our own fantasyland versions of reality" thing that I keep saying over and over. So yes, if you want a role in shaping the Democratic candidates who emerge from a Democratic primary process, you will usually register as a Democrat, and nobody has forced you to do that. It's that simple.

Likewise as a general programming note: I'm trying to cut back on politics a bit right now, because I don't have the spoons/bandwidth/mental health to deal with it. I apologize. So if you've sent me a politics-related ask recently and haven't received a response, I'm not deliberately or maliciously ignoring you; I just am not able to handle it as much as usual and will have to put it on pause. However, I feel as if this is important enough to be worth saying, so, yeah.

#primaries #usa #politics #rl #reply #fusion tickets #two-party system

[powerofvoid]

Isn't the obvious solution just "have a priest turn some wine into blood"?

I know that’s kind of the go-to thing to show that a vampire character is “one of the good ones” or whatever but it actually seems a little bit more fucked up for a vampire to steal blood from a blood bank than for a vampire to attack people for blood, at least as long as it’s not the kind of vampire where a bite is instantly lethal like it never stops bleeding. 

People can recover from losing some blood but blood bank blood is constantly in short supply and is reserved for people who imminently need blood transfusion of a specific blood type or else they die.

#reply #vampires #ethics #blood #Christianity

[powerofvoid]

Ahsoka: I blatantly disobeyed orders and almost got myself and my troops killed Mace: You're working in the library, young lady! Prosset Dibs: I want to kill you. Mace: Well I'm gonna put you on library duty and hope you change your mind. The war's been rough on everyone. Republic Law Enforcement Officer: Okay, so Boba Fett tried to murder you. What's your recommendation? Mace: Okay, hear me out. We find a library - RLEO: NO!

#sw #jedi #reblog #mace windu

[powerofvoid]

hope is a skill

#reblog #<3 #hope

[powerofvoid]

I think it depends on the tone and the viewpoint

If the emphasis is on open character-character interaction between Team RWBY and the Transformers, then probably the first one.

If the emphasis is on characters who do not really understand each other, or on fish out of water, or Team RWBY is simply not the focus, then probably the second one.

For other stuff, IDK, I'd have to here what the story is about beyond "these cool characters having a crossover"

Writing a RWBY x Transformers crossover

What should my first chapter be?

1. Team RWBY gets caught up in the middle of a fight between an Autobot and Decepticon (inspired by Bumblebee vs Blitzwing in bbm)

Or 2. Soundwave attacks an Atlas base (inspired by Blackout's attack in the 07 movie)

(Keep in mind, both chapters are being written, I'm just not sure which should be chapter 1)

#reply #rwby #transformers #reblog #fanfic #writing

[powerofvoid]

And it's not like Obi-Wan is short by our standards either.

The guy's 5'11"

He's just surrounded by even taller people.

... taller people and Clones, I guess.

(Disney can claim the Clones are 6ft tall, but that's blatant bullshit. If George Lucas wanted the Clones to be taller than Obi-Wan, he would have had Temuera Morrison wear stilts, like Hayden Christensen did in the Vader suit.)

Anakin looking up at future Ahsoka: Ah, okay no I get it now. I see what you were talking about Obi-Wan: So you'll be sorry for rubbing it in my face that you're taller than me? Anakin, with a wide grin: What? No! Now there are TWO of us taller than you! Obi-Wan: I should have joined Dooku when he asked

YOU'RE RIGHT screw the time travel au tho, this can happen in every fix-it au ever as well

#sw #reply #reblog #obi-wan kenobi #anakin skywalker #ahsoka tano #clones #height #salt #disney #commander cody

[powerofvoid]

Yeah, that was my first reaction too.

"... and he did!"

Don't mind me, just thinking about that one Star Wars Legends book where Obi-Wan was in love with another Jedi, who was in love with him

And when that Jedi died, Obi-Wan showed her killer mercy

And Anakin sees this and his literal inner monologue is "Clearly Obi-Wan could never have loved her because I would physically torture Padme's killer to death"

And i just want everyone to think about that for a second

#reply #sw #anakin skywalker #attachment #star wars #a day that ends in y

[powerofvoid]

Happiness is pleasure and happiness is joy. It can be either one, you add them up and it can be the uber category of happiness. Pleasure is short lived. It lasts an hour, it lasts a minute, it lasts a month. It peaks and then it goes down–it peaks very high, but the next time you want to get that same peak you have to do it twice as much. It's like drugs, you have to keep doing it because it insulates itself. No matter what it is, whether you're shopping or you're engaged in any other kind of pleasure. It all has the same quality about it. On the other hand is joy and joy is the thing that doesn't go as high as pleasure, in terms of your emotional reaction. But it stays with you. Joy is something you can recall, pleasure you can't.  So the secret is that, even though it's not as intense as pleasure, the joy will last you a lot longer. People who get the pleasure they keep saying, 'Well, if I can just get richer and get more cars–!' You'll never relive the moment you got your first car, that's it, that's the highest peak. Yes, you could get three Ferraris and a new gulf stream jet and maybe you'll get close. But you have to keep going and eventually you'll run out.  You just can't do it, it doesn't work. If you're trying to sustain that level of peak pleasure, you're doomed. It's a very American idea, but it just can't happen. You just let it go. Peak.  Break. Pleasure is fun it's great, but you can't keep it going forever. Just accept the fact that it's here and it's gone, and maybe again it'll come back and you'll get to do it again. Joy lasts forever. Pleasure is purely self-centered. It's all about your pleasure, it's about you. It's a selfish self-centered emotion, that's created by self-centered motive of greed. Joy is compassion, joy is giving yourself to somebody else or something else. And it's the kind of thing that is in it's subtlety and lowness more powerful than pleasure.  If you get hung up on pleasure you're doomed. If you pursue joy you will find everlasting happiness. —George Lucas

(Thanks, GFFA, for the transcript

I think there’s a case to be made about modern consumerism and the promotion of constantly chasing after momentary highs and excessive/extreme experiences and stimulations in order to have a fulfilled life influencing the notion that characters and groups (in fiction) such as the Jedi Order are viewed as bland and boring and detached and not living their lives to the fullest. Whereas in contrast characters portrayed as "morally grey", borderline "evil, with witty remarks and doing whatever it is they want and feel and showing it however they want even at the expense of others" are perceived much better by the majority and viewed as living life fully and the "right" way.

#reply #reblog #george lucas quote

[powerofvoid]

if you think tumblr not adding a flash warning feature isnt a big deal because they already have tag filtering here is a list of all the tags i have to manually filter whenever i make a new account

cw eye strain

cw: eye strain

cw:eye strain

eye strain cw

tw eye strain

tw: eye strain

tw:eye strain

eye strain tw

eye strain

cw eyestrain

cw: eyestrain

cw:eyestrain

eyestrain cw

tw eyestrain

tw: eyestrain

tw:eyestrain

eyestrain tw

eyestrain

cw flashing

cw: flashing

cw:flashing

flashing cw

tw flashing

tw: flashing

tw:flashing

flashing tw

flashing

cw flashing lights

cw: flashing lights

cw:flashing lights

tw flashing lights

tw: flashing lights

tw:flashing lights

flashing lights

flash warning

warning flash

cw flashing images

cw: flashing images

cw:flashing images

flashing images cw

tw flashing images

tw: flashing images

tw:flashing images

flashing images tw

flashing images

cw flashing image

cw: flashing image

cw:flashing image

flashing image cw

tw flashing image

tw: flashing image

tw:flashing image

flashing image tw

flashing image

cw flashing gif

cw: flashing gif

cw:flashing gif

flashing gif cw

tw flashing gif

tw: flashing gif

tw:flashing gif

flashing gif tw

cw flashing gifs

cw: flashing gifs

cw:flashing gifs

flashing gifs cw

tw flashing gifs

tw: flashing gifs

tw:flashing gifs

flashing gifs tw

flashing gifs

but no its my fault for making a big deal of it!

#reblog #for visibility #tumblr

[powerofvoid]

Cal “I introduce myself to everyone with my full real name” Kestis has never had a problem with identity theft. Somebody tries to steal his space credit card? Vader’s on that personally

#sw #humor #jedi #cal kestis #reblog #🤣

[powerofvoid]

"Size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? Hmm? Hmm. And well you should not. For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes. Even between the land and the ship."

-- Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back

"Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force. They continually speak to you, telling you the will of the Force. When you learn to quiet your mind, you will hear them speaking to you."

-- Qui-Gon Jinn, The Phantom Menace

"Now in this particular case, the gods happen to be a life-form that allows a cell to divide. So it’s a metaphor: that which brings life. I don’t want to get too controversial about this – some people believe it happened in other ways, over seven days, but if you listen to biology, there’s another theory, which begins with an e. If you study microbiology, you will come to the realization that this alien life-form, which has a completely different DNA, helped create life on earth and within the galaxy. But every cell has one of these life-forms in it. It’s a simplified version of relationships – that symbiotic being goes through everything."

-- George Lucas, The Cult of Darth Vader, Rolling Stone

Midi-chlorians are the equivalent of Mitochondria in living organisms and photosynthesis in plants - I simply combined them for easier consumption by the viewer. Mitochondria create the chemical energy that turns one cell into two cells. I like to think that there is a unified reality to life and that it exists everywhere in the universe and that it controls things, but you can also control it. That's why I split it into the Personal Force and the Cosmic Force. The Personal Force is the energy field created by our cells interacting and doing things while we are alive. When we die, we lose our persona and our energy is assimilated into the Cosmic Force.

-- George Lucas, "The Star Wars Archives: Episodes I–III, 1999–2005"

The Whills are a microscopic, single-celled lifeform like amoeba, fungi, and bacteria. There's something like 100.000 times more Whills than there are Midichlorians, and there's about 10.000 times more Midichlorians than there are human cells. The only microscopic entities that can go into the human cells are the Midichlorians. They are born in the cells. The Midichlorians provide the energy for human cells to split and create life. The Whills are single-celled animals that feed on the Force. The more of the Force there is, the better off they are. So they have a very intense symbiotic relationship with the Midichlorians and the Midichlorians effectively work for the Whills.

-- George Lucas, "The Star Wars Archives: Episodes I–III, 1999–2005"

The Midi-Chlorians create the 'personal' (Living?) Force, to power cell division. the Whills are attracted to it

The Cosmic Force is all the extra Force that was left over from dead people

Qui-Gon, who specializes in the Cosmic Force, figured out a way to either not dissolve in the LifestreamCosmic Force when he died, or to precipitate back out of it, and then he taught Yoda and Obi-Wan, and they taught other people, and...

To not-quite-paraphrase how someone else put it: George Lucas learned a tiny bit about microbiology, and had a religious experience.

Quick additional point about "engaging with the material" vs "engaging with the narrative". Ahem:

"Midi-chlorians?!"

So a while ago, Pablo Hidalgo stated his headcanon about the Jedi and the Prequels on Twitter. Here's what he said in the midi-chlorians section.

(which is cool, to each his own headcanon)

And also, he wasn't all alone in having this interpretation of the midi-chlorians anyway, it's a pretty popular read.

Hell, it's a more charitable approach than other SW creators had:

Couple of years ago, I sent Hidalgo a reply to another tweet he wrote and was lucky enough to get an answer:

He confirms that the midi-chlorians are not intended to come across as a soulless way to look at potential (which tracks; again, he was only stating his headcanon, years prior)... but the second half of that response is what interests me.

Because if we're talking about the 2000s and early 2010s, when hating the Prequels was so popular and the options before you were:

Make a video-critique/op ed/comment on a forum/documentary about "why the Prequels suck and George Lucas raped my childhood!" ...

... or 2) think of a headcanon that makes the movies bearable to you.

I think - at that time - the latter one was a much more praise-worthy approach.

Instead of ranting about "midi-chlorians are shit, you don't need to explain the Force!" some people, namely Star Wars creators at the time, picked up the baton and thought "okay, so now we've got midi-chlorians... how do I engage with this?"

Back then, asking these fans & writers to take it a step further and engage not just with the material but with the narrative, would've been too much to ask.

They were already giving George Lucas a lot of rope as it was.

But now we're in the 2020s, the kids who grew up with the Prequels are adults and George is used as "word of God", constantly brought up to make authority arguments by both fans and creators.

So I think it's only consistent that, in addition to his material, we now begin to engage with his narrative. We should take that next step.

And if you look at what he had to say about midi-chlorians...

... it doesn't look like they're "narratively-designed to be soulless".

They're a metaphor for symbiosis, they're a different outlook on why the Force is so cool and how all-encompassing it is, etc.

And if we're willing to do that re: midi-chlorians, maybe we should start doing the same with the Jedi.

Alternatively: we all say "death of the author" and agree to stop invoking Lucas to legitimize our productions or our headcanons and win our debates.

#reply #sw #george lucas quote #reference #the force #midichlorians #this is totally not ff7 #cosmic force #living force #george lucas #meta

[powerofvoid]

I just found out that a) "selfcest" is a thing that exists in fandom and b) that some people consider it "problematic", and I honestly want to know what wanting to fuck oneself could possibly be "normalizing" that people feel strongly about it being "problematic"

Like what could possibly be a real-world equivalent that people are worried about???? None of us are ever going to run into another version of ourselves???? I'm so confused.

#reblog #meta #fandom

[powerofvoid]

Ah, yes, Penis Inspection Day

If only it was just a joke or an outlier.

The correct response to some old geezer demanding to see your daughter's genitals is to break their nose.

#reply #rl #transphobia #penis inspection day #reblog

[powerofvoid]

Yeah, it's kinda fun to imagine.

The reason it didn't happen, of course, is:

That would have made it harder for Palpatine to convince the galaxy to blame the Jedi for the problems Palpatine caused

If the galaxy was willing to accept the idea of Clones being in charge of Nat-borns, then the Clones wouldn't make as good of hostages to keep the Jedi where Palpatine wnated them

And, of course, if Palpatine wasn't contriving his whole plot (to genocide the Jedi), there wouldn't have been a war.

it's fucking crazy to me how high-ranking obi-wan is during tcw. letting this guy spearhead an ATTACK BATTALION is like handing dwight d eisenhower a rifle and a bangalore and letting him storm the beaches of normandy himself. absolutely batshit INSANE

#reply #sw #jedi #clones #The Clone Wars #sheev palpatine #I ship Mace Windu's Lightsaber / Sheev Palpatine's throat

[powerofvoid]

Given the rates at which queer and neurodivergent children are mistreated and othered by their families and communities IRL, it's amazing to me that tumblr-using star wars fans are so utterly convinced that the vast majority of force-sensitive children--children who are connected to the magic space energy that a good chunk of the galaxy doesn't even believe exists, who behave in strange ways and hear and see things other people don't--are coming from Loving Supportive Families and Communities who would accept them and provide for all their space-magic-related needs, and that the community of space wizards who are also connected to the magic space energy are the bad guys for adopting force-sensitive children into a community of people who experience the world the way those children do.

#sw #reblog #neurodivergent #the force #jedi #dooku