#-- doing more harm than good

[ominous-mongoose]

REMEMBER TO BRUSH YOUR TEETH KIDS!

#wednesday 13 #murderdolls #doing more harm than good #how to ruin your enamel

[nerdpoe]

I'm not trapped with you, you're trapped here with me.

Danny, in Gotham after bolting from the GIW after a reveal gone bad, is on the roof of a building.

The building is surrounded by GIW agents.

Danny can't fly away, or they'll gun him down.

When the local vigilante lands behind him, all he can think about is how he isn't ready to die all the way. That he admires Gotham Vigilante's, but he isn't going to doubt that they'd side with the letter of the law.

So he overshadows them and bullshits his way out of the situation.

For a Bat, which Danny has heard are notoriously stubborn and tenacious, the chick he's possessing is surprisingly chill. She isn't fighting back at all, completely content to hand over the reigns.

Usually there's like, a little struggle.

Cass, however, is quietly perusing through the memories of the ghost that has possessed her.

He had no ill will when he did the jump, only fear. He only seeks to escape, and Cass understands that with an intimacy she wished she did not have.

What she wants to know is the why.

Hence, subtly going through his mind.

There are many things she was not aware were laws, and she believes that Bruce does not know are laws as well.

She will have to tell him.

He will fix it, one way or another.

She will make sure that he does.

So she watches the most recent memory of her Ghost possessing her; memorizes how it feels for him, how he did it from his point of view, and decides to take over so that she can get him to optimal safety.

If he is a ghost, and a ghost is a soul, and she has a soul; she should be able to take control again. Possess herself. Lock him in.

She is right.

She can feel the brief struggle, the confusion, as her ghost is forced to be the passenger. He tries to leave, but she focuses on how possession felt for him and locks him in place.

Ah!

This would be a good time for a Star Wars quip. It will be funny, even if he does not understand it.

"Congratulations. You are being rescued. Please do not resist."

@simplestoryteller

#dpxdc #dcxdp #dp x dc #dc x dp #story prompt #phanfic #danny does understand it #this is what stops him from actually fighting back as hard as he can #because he's giggling #and it calms him enough to wanna see where this Bat is taking him #he doesn't know them name by name #but he knows they tend to do more good than harm #unless the red one is having a bad mental health day #which red one? #both

[pleuvoire]

actively disappointed in y'all. i saw the "cohost mod is into cub porn" post reblogged uncritically on my dash a few times and was like hmm seems kinda flimsy so will not be reblogging. but to find out that the main target of the accusations in that post is a trans woman and that the accusations were really as unsubstantiated as they seemed... now of all times, in a conversation about leaving the site that was precipitated by spurious claims of sexual deviancy against trans women... i'm sorry but you simply can't be holding onto the whole "reblog warning posts about so-and-so being a sexual deviant" mindset even if you claim "oh but i won't reblog the unsubstantiated ones against trans women" cause clearly thinking that is not protection against actually doing it!

#between this and the toonimal warning doc that ticked off every item on the ''how NOT to report on csa'' checklist + #+ i'm thoroughly disillusioned with the entire practice and concept of this kind of post #just seems to do far more harm than good even when the person in question /is/ a sex pest #well ig there's some exceptions but they're few and far between in the realm of tumblr callouts

[qrwinn]

tommy is not merely a catalyst for buck's bi awakening – he is a love interest. this is first and foremost A LOVE STORY, not so much a queer story (although, yes, it certainly is an element of it). if you treat bucktommy as just a stepping stone to buddie and invalidate buck's feelings for tommy by saying he is simply confused, i'd argue you have never really cared about bi representation. you just wanted to see YOUR ship sail. sure, you have every right not to like the pairing but being bitchy about it and creating theories that completely trash buck as a character is just not it. do better.

#i'm just so done with y'all trying so hard to make buck's journey about eddie #like can't you just relax and enjoy what's actually happening on the screen without trying to discredit everything you see? #if you're not happy about it go to ao3 #having hope is not a crime but when you purposefully misrepresent canon you're just doing more harm than good #i'm not saying you can't speculate #but it'd be nice if you were respectful about it #be better #do better #bucktommy #evan buckley #tommy kinard

[musterniillustrates]

weirdest thing i've encountered in recent memory is the notion that laziness is never just that (laziness) but always the result of emotional paralysis/mental illness/some kind of socioeconomic factor. let's be sincere - sloth is very much real, independent of all of those things.

#u can call a spade a spade it's fine. #circumventing it might do more harm than good #to you and others

[uncanny-tranny]

Sending love to trans people with a culturally different idea of gender than what is considered the """norm"""

I hope you are able to honour your gender and your culture peacefully, however that may (or may not) look like. It can be hard, but you deserve to not have to sacrifice your gender or your culture. They can (and should!) coexist without you needing to apologize or qualify.

#trans #transgender #lgbt #lgbtq #ftm #mtf #nonbinary #man this is one thing i wish everybody (including other trans people!) could do better on... #...just... accepting that manhood/womanhood/personhood isn't universal. it literally *can't* be universal #and the attempts to make it universal do more harm than good

[trans-cuchulainn]

had a really interesting convo yesterday about ethics and whether intent or results matters (eg if you tried to make an ethical purchasing choice but the business was actually exploitative as hell, does that "count") and very much came to the conclusion that sure, if you're concerned with your personal immortal soul, as a christian might be, then intention counts. but if what you're focused on is your impact on the world, then intention means nothing if the actions have negative results, right? (that doesn't mean you're to blame for them! you didn't know! but you also don't get "ethics points" for trying, you know?)

and this also got me thinking about the whole christian idea that sinful thoughts are as bad as sinful actions because. they're just not imo. maybe for the sake of your Immortal Soul they are points against you, if that's your jam. but in terms of putting good into the world, in terms of your impact on other people, the ONLY thing that matters is what you choose to do with those thoughts. there is no way that "was kind to someone who was pissing me off, for the sake of community harmony" or "helped an acquaintance with a task even though I felt resentful about the time spent doing that" is a Bad Thing for the world

and it made me wonder how much purity culture and thought policing is rooted in (mostly evangelical) cultural christianity and this idea that ethical choices are an individual thing because what matters is the impact of them on YOUR soul and not, you know, things we do because of what we owe the world around us / because of love for others / because a world where people are trying to put good into it is a hell of a lot nicer to live in than one where people are only worried about themselves

i grew up evangelical but like. fairly mild evangelical and even though there wasn't a big focus on hell and stuff, i definitely fixated on imperfect thoughts and behaviours that were putting absolutely no harm into the world, rather than focusing on what i could do to put good into it, and that individualistic vs outward-focused approach to morality has been something i've grappled with a lot as an adult. but i never really thought about it as simply as this and really that's what it boils down to. are you making the ethical choice because you're trying to put good in the world, or because it would make you a "good person" to do so? because the answer to that 100% defines whether it's the thought or the result that counts

#also i feel like Sinful Thoughts Are As Bad As Sinful Actions... #as well as being bullshit... #is just like a one way trip to moral ocd and a whole lot of guilt spirals #and i just don't think it's useful! you can't necessarily choose your thoughts! #you can however choose your actions because Good is something you do not something you are #ethics #i do think The Good Place did more to make me interrogate my evangelical upbringing and ethical assumptions than anything else #but also this idea of putting good into the world... idk. it's kind of encouraging AND scary #i don't think I'm naturally a very good person but i can choose to do good #i can be bitter and jealous and resentful and still help people and make their lives a little easier #and my feelings are not actually impacting on the world whereas my actions are #at the same time in a society built on exploitation and corporate greeed #it's hard not to be conscious of the harm my actions are doing without me trying #i didn't necessarily make an unethical choice but all of my choices cause harm to someone somewhere #living in the west and the global north and whatever you become very conscious of that

[comradekatara]

You've mentioned Zuko's "inability to kill" before, so could I ask you to elaborate on that?

sure. zuko is banished for, essentially, committing treason. he says to ozai that he was banished for "speaking out of turn," but simply speaking out of turn is not actually why ozai banished him. zuko said that people shoudn't have to die for the sake of further empowering the fire nation, and that goes against their nation's entire ethos. zuko lacks, as azula puts it, that "killer instinct that is just so fire nation."

while zuko does set fire to suki's village in his quest to capture aang, and you could argue that he may have committed other such acts offscreen, we never actually see him outright kill anyone. unlike zhao, who kills the moon, and azula, who kills aang in a manner that would have ended the entire avatar line had katara not revived him, zuko threatens and intimidates and harms, but when it comes down to it, he does not actually kill, because he simply cannot.

he threatens to kill zhao, and if he had killed zhao, no one in the audience would fault him for it. zuko does not even burn him upon winning their agni kai, going against custom; zhao calls him a coward for it. zhao tries to kill zuko on multiple occasions, including when he blows up zuko's entire ship. but, when the ocean spirit is dragging zhao under, zuko still extends his hand in a futile attempt to save zhao. contrast this scene with sokka arguing to leave zuko for dead in the same episode. he legitimately does not have a problem with letting zuko die, because, as he says, zuko would do the same thing to them (at least, sokka seems to think so).

sokka kills combustion man, toph kills yu and xin fu, and neither of them have any regrets. conversely, katara cannot kill yon rha, and aang cannot kill ozai. like sokka and toph, they are justified in killing these men, perhaps even more so (since yin and xin fu did not actually attempt to kill toph, "only" kidnap her), but they ultimately choose mercy. like zuko on kyoshi island, aang and katara's actions, such as blowing up the factory in jang hui, may have had indirect casualties (i don't count aang being merged with the ocean spirit because he was not truly in control), but they are never able to kill directly, because when faced with another human being, regardless of how much they may hate them, their pathos prevents them from delivering that killing blow.

zuko, as a foil to aang and katara and the deuteragonist of the narrative, is also someone whose instincts prevent him from being the cold-blooded killer his nation expects of him. it is why, unlike the rest of his family (including iroh), he is unable to produce lightning; he is too sensitive to become the perfect weapon his father wants him to be, which is why azula's reveal is so thrilling and terrifying to the audience, because she is what ozai wants in a protege, unlike zuko, who try as he might, fails at embodying the fire nation values of ruthlessness and power at any cost.

#some caveats before anyone misinterprets me: #1) zuko has still done awful things. i am not saying that he is 'inherently good' or that because he has 'good inside him' that makes it ok #just as i am not saying that azula is 'inherently evil' for having that killer instinct. morality is far more complicated than that #this isn't a 'zuko smol bean uwu' post. i'm just stating facts from the show #just because he never directly killed anyone and just because he was abused into believing he was doing the right thing #does not mean that he did not do bad things (burning suki's village being the most tangible harm we see him cause iirc) #he just cannot kill people directly which is crucial to understanding his character esp as he relates to aang and katara #2) i am not faulting sokka and toph for killing people! and anyone who thinks that i am saying that is a dumbass. ok bye #asks #zuzuthelord #analysis #zuko #not tagging everyone else

[astraltrickster]

Given that my post about why you are not obligated to blog about Current Events (whatever they are at any given time) is going around again, I'd like to say the same thing from a slightly different angle and state what you ARE obligated to do.

You are still not obligated to blog about ANY specific subject, no matter how serious, no matter how urgent, no matter how grave. You never will be. The impact of social media on real world atrocities has the potential to be great, but it is cumulative. No one is going to die in a ditch somewhere, barely uttering the tragic final words, "if only...if only...tumblr users wormhentaiafficionado and mothmanbutthole...posted about how sad they are...then maybe things would be different..." - nor are policymakers going to change their minds because some tweet has 749,845 cumulative likes and retweets instead of 750,000. Make no mistake, if you have the energy to be sharing these kinds of things, it can be good to do! We live in a society, it's always good to help where you can, even if all you can do is show public support for people who are hurting - but if you can't do that, for any reason, you're not obligated to. Period. End of.

What are you obligated to do?

1. Give people the benefit of the doubt. Social media accounts are not most people's entire lives. Just because someone isn't blogging about whatever tragedy is occurring does not mean they don't care. Sometimes it does mean that, sure, and that sucks - but not only are you not going to change that by yelling at them, sometimes it means they care too much. Sometimes it means they're closer to it than you assumed and need a moment to think about something else, anything else. Sometimes it means it's not safe for them to be blogging about it, be it due to abusive family potentially finding out, being at risk of getting fired and quite possibly dying of poverty sooner rather than later, or even taking very illegal direct action that they do not want to be linked to on record in even the vaguest possible way. Sometimes it means dealing with it is their day job and they're on the internet after a long and exhausting day of trying to make things better. You don't know. You'll never know unless they decide to tell you. No one owes you that explanation. You are obligated to make peace with that fact.

2. Slow the fuck down.

Listen. When bad things happen, from natural disasters, to manmade horrors beyond our comprehension, it's only normal to get scared and desperate to do something, anything about it. That heightened emotional state is very vulnerable, and because of that, there will always be people out there looking to take advantage of the chaos for ulterior motives - and no matter how good your intentions, and in fact no matter how right you are in your values and at the core of your strategy, you will never be immune to garbage-in-garbage-out. Misinformation can be deadly, even in the hands of someone who means well. You need to pause long enough to sort out the garbage. You need to learn to fight the impulse to trust every single post that tells you that your share/comment/etc. is URGENT and WILL mean the difference between life and death for someone, somewhere. Do your fact checks. Scan for dogwhistles before you end up passing around a post that implies [insert group that is marginalized in most of the English-speaking world but has hegemonic power in some other part of the world and is committing some atrocity there] is coming after you next if you stay silent. Vet charity and advice links before you accidentally send scared, desperate, and vulnerable people to a scammer - or worse, hand them over to a honeypot operation or give them a recipe for poisonous "medicine".

Or, to put it another way, you are obligated to make an attempt to stay informed enough to avoid making things materially worse. You are not obligated to doomblog. In fact, doomblogging can be antithetical to your obligation to not make things worse. Choosing neutrality in times of great tragedy and injustice is bad, yes, but you should immediately be wary of anyone who says that simply not blogging about a subject - let alone not sharing a specific post - is inherently "choosing neutrality".

So remember: breathe. Be careful out there. Mourn for the people that whatever atrocity has this or my other post circulating has taken from us or will take from us, and do your best to be kind to the people who are still alive - and remember that kindness includes using social media responsibly.

#current events #internet safety #serious tag #on 10/27/2023 - this post brought to you by the fact that i've seen multiple people #who i know mean well #pass around full tilt new world order conspiracy propaganda shit because it was hidden in support for palestine #i don't mean ''israel is committing genocide'' i'm not denying that #that is very much happening and it's horrifying #but i mean full on ''(((They're))) controlling the whole world's media to cover it up and you're next if you don't share this post #you're the last bastion of hope we have if we don't want to lose all we hold dear all over the world'' level shit #and it was honestly enough to make me dissociate #but i leave it generic because i know it will be relevant to something else in the future #and like. bruh. generic timeless question. if you'd rather people be passing around misinformation that does more harm than good #up to and including - and i cannot stress this enough #anything from SCAM CHARITIES to CRYPTO HATE PROPAGANDA to POISON RECIPES PASSED OFF AS MEDICINE #than just...not using this ONE aspect of their lives to talk about [INSERT ISSUE HERE] #....do YOU care? or do you just want an excuse to FEEL like you're helping by micromanaging strangers?

[rintoki]

i hope arlecchino is actually evil and not fake evil “oh no it was all a misunderstanding actually” i need actually wicked female antagonists that have no redemption arcs bc they never thought they were wrong.

#don’t say kafka bc she isn’t doing it for me #honestly she’s more like just doing whatever she wants #than actually antagonistic #in honkai star rail that is #i need playable characters that have done grievous harm and are NOT sorry about it #genshin impact #arlecchino #i also hope the guy that seems to be the judge in court is those really black and white type of characters #i hope genshin finally gets creative with their character building and not the same old #everyone is good yada yada #it’s so plain #WHERES THE RANGE ???

[cruelsister-moved2]

im sooooo sick of neopagans thinking they invented stuff that literally every religion thats not modern american evangelicalism already has 💀 i dont care if u want to light candles in ur bedroom or whatever, but even when youre swinging at “normie” religions ur still missing like okay catholics LOVE altars. jewish liturgy celebrates moon cycles. whatever youre trying to articulate about an all encompassing divinity of universal love was probably said in verse by a persian muslim centuries ago. your american christian/atheist background is a huge outlier in the global history of religion: it’s not even that you’re missing some niche exception, it’s literally that your entire perspective on “organised religion” is based on an outlier 💀

#this woman being like wicca is awesome because it doesnt teach fire and brimstone to children. #okay. good news about how many religions believe in the fire and brimstone concept. #and wicca is a funny example because its so infamously like. culturally appropriative and downright racist #like i agree it does less harm than evangelicalism but thats just because it does less of anything...... #it's more of a hobby than a religion #+ belief in the supernatural is both subjective + literally only one of like 8 markers of religiosity that sociologists study #fixation on that in particular ltierally stems from the UNIQUELY faith-based and exclusive model of xtianity #anyway this is why i believe in religious educationand w the additional benefit of learning abt other religions might help xtians of certain #stripes to realise how like abnormally fucked up their communities are #also most neopaganism is literally xtianity-jesus like the underlying concepts are so christian but theyll still be like fuck those #abrahamic religions. like okay you honestly are just an xtian holding an incense stick what does this have to do with me

[i-really-like-phrogs]

Re-design of my un-named Beetlejuice OC from back when I was thirteen

Original Reference under the cut:

#my art #beetlejuice #toonjuice #beetlejuice cartoon #beetlejuice fanart #beetlejuice movie #procreate #I don’t really make OC’s for fanwork anymore… but the ones I had when I was younger almost never got named 🥲 #When I first made her I really really liked her- and her story was very self indulgent #Looking at it now is almost way too weird for me… (and honestly a little unintentionally homophobic???) #Basically she was one of the girls from Dante’s inferno… except she got kicked out because she only had attraction to girls #(This was BEFORE I suspected that I was a lesbian— mind you.) #Yeah but anyway she went to the Deetz/Maitland house looking for a place to stay but drove everybody crazy #She was super flamboyant- loved everything pink n fluffy- and was well meaning but did more harm than good trying to do nice things for the #She had this one sided crush on Delia??? Like musical Beej and Adam except less perverted and more flirty/sappy? I was an odd kid- okay? 🥲 #Anyway… the old design didn’t really do much to show off her personality… so I ended up upheaving the whole thing #So I upheaved the whole thing. #It was okay for what I knew at the time- but I know what I was trying to say then and now I have the knowledge to say it better #Also— the reason I gave her horns here is so silly. #When I was younger I was in a Christian school where I wasn’t allowed to draw witches-ghosts-demons-etc. #So even though I based her on the Dante girls… I refused to give her horns because I thought that was ‘too sinful’ #I even remember having so much guilt while looking for references of the Dante workers #I couldn’t even look for more than five seconds! #Anyways… she really pushed the boundaries for me at the time and it’s fun to see how I’ve changed and grown since then.

[lovelyheartclover]

....

Why is it ALWAYS the nonlesbians that dont care enough to educate themselves on why the "bi lesbian" lable is problematic or just support the lable???

Just saw a post (op will not be named, PLEASE DO NOT ATTACK THEM) saying that the whole 'bi lesbian' discourse doesn't matter because regardless if someone is bi, lesbian, or both, they are queer and that we should stop being angry at how people choose to label themselves as.

Gee sherlock I donno, maybe im upset because the label that person chose to identify as is ACTUALLY PROBLEMATIC AND HARMFUL TO BOTH THE LESBIAN AND BI COMMUNITY!????

YOU CALLING YOURSELF A 'BI LESBIAN' IS SAYING THAT LESBIANS CAN LIKE MEN IN ANY COMPACITY, WHICH BTW IS NOT TRUE. LESBIANS HAVE AND WILL NEVER LIKE OR INCLUDE MEN.

LEAVE US ALONE.

The post's tag btw ⬇️

#its always the people that are like everything is valid 🥺🥺 #little do they know that that is actually MORE HARMFUL THAN GOOD LIKE WTF??? #no....just no.... #why are people so obsessed with trying to make lesbians love men or include men into the lable!???? #yall disgust me wtf #yall are weird for wanting a lesbian to be into men bruh #Clover's text #important psa #important reminders #'bi lesbian' #'bi lesbians' #bi lesbians dni #lesbophobia #lesbian issues

[solarpunkani]

Y'know someone's probably waxed poetic about this already but it's on my mind so I'm gonna do it again.

When it comes to encouraging people to learn about native plants and habitat and involving themselves and their yards in the wider ecosystem, you gotta meet them where they're at.

And maybe that means they won't go as far into it as you are or would like them to in your wildest dreams. But even small steps count towards the bigger picture and I think we need to appreciate that more.

An example from my own life is my mom and the current gardening project we're working on. We're planning out the garden beds in the front of the yard by the mailbox--my mom's previous plantings for the most part haven't worked out, so I'm taking a crack at it.

I'm a pollinator gardening enthusiast who cares more about attracting as many butterflies bees and hummingbirds as possible than keeping things 'neat' and 'tidy'. However, not only do we live in an HOA neighborhood (though not as intense as some other stories I've heard), but I know my mother--an interior designer who has a deeply vested care for making sure the exterior of the house looks as Nice as possible.

We're still getting a pollinator garden in the front though. How? I'm meeting her where she's at, I'm making some concessions, she's making some concessions, but ultimately we're making something that works for the both of us. She doesn't want the plants too tall and messy? We'll trim them back in fall and winter--the insects can use the backyard garden to nest in. She doesn't want things too wild and bushy and weedy? We'll add a nice mulch to the beds, keep things a bit spaced out until they grow in to their larger sizes. She doesn't know the latin names for the plants I'm asking for, let alone how to pronounce them to ask for them at a garden center? That's fine, I don't know the Latin names for most things anyways, let's just use common names.

Does she care that the garden will attract butterflies and hummingbirds? Not intrinsically--she sees it as more of a bonus, if anything. She just cares about what color everything will be and if it'll be easy to maintain. The fact that they're native plants barely registers as a plus side to her. And honestly? That is fine.

If I approached this problem with a hardheaded attitude on how I wanted it to be just as wild and free as my backyard garden? There wouldn't be any native plants in the front beds. It's not like I didn't teach my mom things, but I didn't lecture her like she was lesser just for not knowing or caring as much about native gardening as I do. And that, ultimately, made her more open to the idea than she would've been if I looked down on her like I've seen too many people do to others.

Not everyone is going to develop a deeply seated care about native plants and Latin names and I don't think it's reasonable to expect that. Meet people where they're at and you just might get a lot more done. Meet people where they're at and you just might find they'll get excited enough to learn more--but if they don't want to learn more, that is fine.

We can't expect everyone on the globe to suddenly become plant experts rattling off Latin names left and right and professionally ID'ing native and invasive plants. In the same way we wouldn't expect everyone to suddenly learn the ins and outs of learning code, or how to synthesize medicines, or how to properly build a house. And that is fine. Because we can lean on those who do know when these things come up.

I lost track of where this was going but. Y'know????

#out of queue #ani rambles #may delete later #like idk between the CPBD channel and some posts ive seen on here #it feels like a lot of people expect EVERYONE to learn ALL the Latin names for everything and thats just not realistic #Latin names make me fuckin dizzy just hearing them out loud 99% of the time #we can't admonish your everyday homie for referring to things by their common name and not knowing the ins and outs of native gardening #you attract more flies with honey than vinegar. don't look down on people for things they don't know and instead lift them up #thats the best way to get people curious about wanting to learn more #and lead by example. show good results and people will be interested. #i put up a bird feeder for the first time like 2 years ago and just this weekend my mom decided to buy a window feeder because she likes #seeing the birds. does she care about providing habitat for wild creatures? no she just likes seeing the pretty birds. #im not gonna lecture her for not putting up a birdhouse and birdfeeder and just wanting to see the birds??? thats stupid #if she wants to get into more then she'll get into more and if she doesn't even a small contribution is still a contribution yknow? #like if someone's doing something actively/with risk to be harmful by all means talk to them about it but like #dont be fuckin rude guys #im going to bed

[youbutstupid]

Jason Gideon was an amazing agent but a bad mentor and those two things can coexist

Don’t get me wrong; he had every right to leave his job after it became too much and that in turn meant he had every right to leave Spencer, but he should’ve never been mentoring Spencer in the first place because who brings a 21 year old to the BAU

#criminal minds #Jason Gideon #Spencer Reid #I do love Gideon but not as a mentor #I don’t see him as Reid’s father figure #because he ultimately did more harm than good

[little-cereal-draws]

Pls only answer if you’ve received an official diagnosis from a dr

#i have my appointment scheduled for November but as a trans American I’m worried it’ll do more harm than good #i want to see how other peoples experiences went #personally it has both short term pros and cons but I want to know abt the long run #polls #autism #autistic #mental health #autistic community #autistic adult