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baesimss · 1 year

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I don't usually do CAS challenges but I saw the #OneBigSimsFamily challenge by grenesims on Twitter and I felt inspired. So, I'm formally introducing you all to The Richmond Family. Details on this cute family below - pictures are in order of the challenge days!

San Sequoia finds it's very own power couple in Johnathan and Yvette Richmond - a husband and wife dream team in the custom home build and remodel market. The two have been married for more than 30 years and, while they hoped their children would take interest in the family business, they've enjoyed watching their kids forge their own paths in life.

Oldest son, Quentin, is a lovable engineer who became a single dad after his girlfriend took off following the birth of their 2nd child. She decided that she wasn't ready to be settled down with children yet. Quentin was heartbroken, as he had just bought them a house and had plans to propose, but he's done his best to hold it together for his kids. His son, Jamel, is still grieving his mother's disappearance and a part of him can't help but to be angry at his dad (believing he may have done more to push his mom away than he lets on). Meanwhile, little sister Mila has a more positive outlook on life, not really having a memory of their mother anyway. Mila adores the theater and singing but Quentin, while he is supportive of her dreams, can't help but be saddened by how much her voice sounds like hers mother's.

Daughter Kyra's household looks a little differently. Kyra is the stay-at-home mother to triplets - so that means she's working harder than us all. Between taking Chandler to soccer and track practice, helping straight A Casey with extra credit projects she doesn't need (but insists on doing), having almost weekly meetings with the school about Cameron's behavior, and of course doing all the cooking snd cleaning - she's utterly exhausted. She'd love it if her husband Lawson helped her out more, but he claims to always be busy with work. Kyra is starting to fear that something more than work is keeping him away...

The three youngest Richmond children don't currently have any families of their own to care for, but their lives keep them busy enough. Son Deonte lives in Del Sol Valley and is doing his best to stand out in the hustle and bustle of the entertainment industry. He dreams of joining the ranks of acting greats like Simzel Washington and wants to be a role model to other Black LGBT+ aspiring actors. Sometimes his work keeps him busy and so he doesn't get to come home to San Sequioa as much as his family would like. His sister, Camille, on the other hand, is known as the Cool Auntie. Living in San Myshuno and working as a DJ, Cam finds time in between juggling gigs (and juggling women) to visit home and hangout with her nieces and nephews. Lastly, baby sister Jordan is still living at home having recently finished college (she didn't want to go to college but her parents forced her to). Jordan has no interest in working for anybody and that's why, during her senior year of college, she launched her own online clothing boutique. Jordan has a few guys interested in her, but she's too focused on scaling her business to be worried about dating. She's currently saving up to get her own apartment AND get her own brick & mortar location for her boutique.

Note: Kyra's husband, Lawson, is included in the family photo for story purposes but he's not part of the challenge and is a sim from the gallery.

#baesimss #sims household #ts4 gameplay #ts4 simblr #black simmer #black simblr #maxis match #📁: simmisota

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opinated-user · 2 years

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https://lily-orchard.tumblr.com/post/700147774315020288/why-did-you-remove-cherokee-from-you-bio three different people have send me this post so i think i should adress it. first of all, i feel appropiate to remind anyone that i never supported any kind of racialized (or transphobic or any other kind) of insult towards LO, nor has any other person i have ever spoken to about this particular issue on this blog. most of the anons i have recieved about it where from indigenous people themselves expressing their dissaproval about the way LO has gone about treating her native identity online and how disrespectful it felt for them. i know that it’s likely that many of those anons telling her slurs were LO sending them herself, just like it’s highly probable that LO also send herself this anon to bring attention to this small change to her bio, but going with the assumption that there was people out there who wrote and send those awful messages... that wasn’t okay. LO might be comfortable throwing serious words around just to piss off her critics to the point they lose all meaning, but we shouldn’t follow her example. it makes any attempts to call out actually dangerous attitudes completely null when we have to stood to her level. whenever i talk about the issue of LO appropiating Cherokee culture i try to call out specific actions or point out specific flaws that i have managed to notice. on one hand because i know what’s like for people to use a identity you live with as another way to garner attention or because they think it makes them “exotic” rather than because they have any connection to the label. on the other hand, because we should be able to call out when a woman who wants to be considered a leftist is spitting on the face of progressive values by taking a culture that is not her own just to dress up a sexualized avatar she puts online. more so, it’s important to remember that the problem was never just a word on her bio. for example, the phrase “i’m just not going to talk about my heritage at all anymore” as a phrase makes no sense when you remember that LO never started talking about her heritage at all in the first place. she just took the identity of “native women” and then yelled at anyone who questioned what that meant for her. she never talked about engaging on cultural practices, she never talked about getting in contact with other members of the Nation outside of her immediate family, never talked about why she put a feathered earring on her avatar, never talked about any cultural aspect of the Nation she has used as a shield for herself for years at this point and she has never shown any interest towards other indigenous people, as a friend, as mentors, nothing. every time anyone has tried to know what part of her life is “Native” she has always insisted that it was no one’s business but her own. as true as that might be, let’s go through the list of what this “native woman” has talked about: -burning sage during streams because “it smells awesome” and insisting that everyone should do it, despite the warning of actual native people that mass production of sage is what it’s destroying the plant that they have used for their practices for centuries before “new age” people found it. -claim she didn’t know anything about Two Spirit, despite having a relative who identifies as such, and it’s one of the most common concepts known regarding the intersection of LGBT+ history and Native American Nations. -claim she hasn’t suffered racialized discrimination, but also never talks about the racialized discrimination that other Native people go through on her own. -call Canada “a real country” without adressing the horrible way it treats it’s Native population. -point out to “Native decorations” on her house as proof of how Native she is. -insist that her blood quantum makes her Native rather than anything else. -defend blood quantum in general as proof of her Native identity, despite how many Native people could tell her, and probably did, that shared culture is actually more important. i have searched on her blog hoping to find something, anything at all that would give me the impression that LO thinks about Cherokee culture as anything unrelated to herself, and besides sharing a couple of posts where she didn’t add anything, i could only find her recommending a Native owned business to buy dream catchers. nothing else. not on her blog, not on her videos, not on her streams. besides a great smell, decorations and how she loves to say “they hate me because i’m a native woman”, i can’t discern anything she has integrated into her life about “embracing her heritage”, which she always insisted was “only my business” anyway. she can’t stop doing something she never started. why care about this? because part of supporting the self determination of Native Nations means the hability to recognize that they get to decide who’s part of their Nation and who isn’t, no one else. they have that power and it should be recognized. it’s not the place of any outsider to decide that for them and that includes LO until she gets to be claimed by them. she deleted one word from her bio but is she going to delete the feather earring from her avatar? is she going to stop insisting that the skin tone matches her own? is she going to stop saying that people hate her because “she’s a native woman”? is she going to stop defending blood quantum as a valid measurement of how “Native” someone is? i don’t see that happening any time soon.

#lily orchard

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elodie-scribes · 3 months

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writeblr introduction!!

been meaning to do this for a while i just never got to doing it with how busy i am; i barely have time to write anymore. its 0147, thank you for reading :)

hey guys!! my name is elodie, pen name: elodie finch. you can call me elodie or elodi, i don't mind either!

im 16! bisexual, transgender (agender), and i use they/them pronouns!! i am also autistic and have adhd. i hope to become an author who those who are lgbt+, autistic, and have adhd can count on for representation!

i am not muslim, but i do believe in allah and participate in islamic practices. i have four cats: jessie, rollie, talyn, and bella, as well as one dog: joey. shes my pride and joy <3 i have a girlfriend too!

i really enjoy reading, writing, kpop, anime, and video games! i find it hard to like other things. many of my fixations are on video games and anime! such as: mha, bsd, dr (1, 2, v3), fnaf, and kpop lore! i am also a marvel fan and deadpool is my fav character from the franchise :3c

my favorite genres to write are: fantasy, romance, and supernatural. my favorite genres to read are: thriller, horror, romance, and supernatural. favorite genres to watch are: fantasy, supernatural, thriller, and slasher.

on this blog, i'll share writing tips, (a lot of) facts about my wips, writing prompts, things and medias i enjoy, art, and my writing.

thats kinda all i can think to share rn so yea have a good day <33 !!

je vous envoie mes amicales pensées, elodie ♡

#writeblr #writers on tumblr #writing #intro post #blog intro #introduction #introductory post #wip

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queerbrownvegan · 1 year

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What is Vegan Capitalism? How can we hold Vegan brands to a standard that recognizes sustainability, diversity, and ecologically sound practices are centered? In my latest youtube video, I discuss three Vegan brands that I have lost confidence in as a consumer for failing to address and improve their practices when it comes to worker exploitation of Black and Brown women, firing people without notice, and building a brand on sustainability without doing the actual work. Before I preface the term vegan capitalism, I want to be clear that we should ensure as ethical consumers that Vegan businesses continue to use ethical practices. While it is true that the plant-based meat industry is evolving into new sectors, I hope there are the right people who will be shifting conversations. However, as someone who leans onto food, land, and seed sovereignty, every future of food tech conversations does not incorporate these themed messages. How do we ensure that rural farmers are included in these conversations around vegan businesses? What does it mean to create an ethical plant-based food system rooted in harmony, justice, and decentralization of large monopolies? Oatly is a unique company that I decided to highlight in this video because of its continuous disappointment with me as a consumer and why I no longer support the business. Please watch if you are looking for a theoretical and analytical review of how we can ensure that plant-based industries are grounded in ethical practices. Support local BIPOC Vegan owned brands, LGBT-owned Vegan Brands, Disabled Vegan Owned Brands, and Women-owned Vegan brands because they are often the ones left out of these conversations to create ethical food systems. -qbv

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bisexualseraphim · 8 months

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wait you’re actually Christian but also lgbt? how does that work?

So I’ve got a bit of a funny relationship with religion — I was actually raised Iehovah’s Witness at first (yeah that’s a story to tell…), decided I didn’t like that one bit, was then raised Protestant for a while, became antitheist out of rebellion, studied religion in depth, went through a few different phases, and then finally rejoined the Church as a Protestant again.

However, I would describe myself as more of an agnostic-Christian; I do not take any edition of the Bible at face value or, pardon the pun, as gospel. I also don’t see God as some bearded old dude in the sky who loves us yet has nothing better to do other than spread disease and watch us destroy all species.

Some people might find that contradictory and I do understand that, but I personally find it a lot more productive and comforting to see the Bible kind of like Aesop’s Fables — these events did not actually happen the way they are depicted, but there are valuable lessons to be learned from them and they are personal and open to interpretation by everyone who reads them. Every Christian you meet will have a different opinion on what it “actually” says and means. You’d be surprised how many claim that Ezekiel’s descriptions of angels are “wrong” despite literally being there within the text. At the end of the day it is a book, just like any other. No interpretation is strictly right or wrong.

…Which is exactly why I despise Christians who use it to excuse their hatred. “I interpret the Bible as saying that men having sex with men is wrong.” Okay? That’s personal to you. So just don’t have sex with men as a man if you don’t want to. However, many other people don’t interpret it that way or just aren’t Christian to begin with, so for you to tell them that their identity or their personal lives are against God is cunt behaviour. You are not Christ himself, it is not your job to “save” them or whatever the fuck. Mind your business.

I just think trying to apply a magical story that was written thousands of years ago in many different languages that can be translated and interpreted in many different ways to the real world in the 21st century is pointless and can only lead to a life of misery. I mean, Hell isn’t even spoken about in the Bible the way that 99% of Christians speak of it. Dante made up most of that shit in Inferno about 2700 years after the Bible’s first ever conception. They’re literally basing their idea of Hell off of, essentially, a fanfiction poem when they tell us that that’s where us gays are headed. They don’t even actually read the text they hold so dear lmao. You’re not technically supposed to wear mixed fabrics or shave your beard or cut your hair or get tattoos according to the Bible but that always goes ignored too 🤷🏻‍♂️ You can’t do all that but then rag on trans people for “rejecting His image” or whatever the fuck. People are the way God made them, and God made trans people. Not that anyone follows the Bible to the letter anyway. That would be practically impossible. (And, as I said, not everyone is Christian and interested in abiding by the Bible.) In short, do whatever the fuck you want as long as it’s not hurting anybody else. Love yourself and love each other.

So yeah, it’s a bit of a weird one for me. I think the Bible is a very interesting story regardless of whether it’s “real” or not and many could get something out of reading it if you just see it as kind of a cool comic book or something. I find the idea of Heaven and an afterlife comforting and I value the teachings of Christ. At the same time, I am open to all other religions and their teachings. Everyone has their own perspective on who or what God actually is — or many Gods, of course — and nobody has any right to tell them that they are wrong, because we simply don’t know. I think anyone who has studied the Bible would also greatly benefit from reading the Torah, the Bhagavad Gita, the Koran, etc to open up their world view a little more.

I just think it’s such a shame that religion is often used to divide when it could instead be used to connect and relate with others. I had many Jewish, Buddhist and Hindu friends as a kid and I greatly enjoyed discussing with them our respective texts and how they differed, but were also in many ways similar. And I do admit I sometimes feel ashamed for being part of a group who so often see an ancient book as the entire meaning of life, the universe, and everything and use it to deny human rights or even fucking science.

Facts and science should always come before faith, end of story. Science is a universal truth whereas faith is personal belief. And you should always, always, when you can, be kind. “Love thy neighbour as thyself” and all that. Funny how that always gets ignored. Just goes to show that people who spread hatred have some serious self-esteem issues.

And I hate all forms of bigotry but one that especially gets on my nerves is antisemitism by Christians because it is entirely baseless and Christianity literally would not exist if it weren’t for the Jewish people. (Not that bigotry ever has an excuse but you get my meaning.) Jesus was not killed by “the Jews.” Jesus WAS a Jew and he was persecuted by — who else — the Romans. And even if he was killed by Jewish people (he wasn’t) that still wouldn’t excuse any of the horrific things done to them throughout history. Antisemitism has been a problem since Judaism first became a concept thousands of years ago and I cannot express how much it saddens and disappoints me that it’s still so commonplace today. Many people are even antisemitic without realising due to all the dogwhistling (“lizard people rule the world,” anyone?). It’s abhorrent.

But yeah. It’s complicated. To sum up: I love Jesus. I believe in Something that created us but not necessarily exactly as the Bible says. I believe most if not all of the Bible is metaphorical and therefore using it to justify treating others shittily is bullshit. I believe science should always come before faith and church should always be separated from the State. Religion is deeply personal and therefore trying to enforce your personal beliefs and values from it onto others is, at the very least, fucking rude and preachers can kiss my well-bathed arse. I believe all religions are valid and have value and, if I’m being honest, I am primarily Christian rather than anything else due to its familiarity to me. If me from 20 years into the future time travelled back here and told me I’d end up becoming Jewish or Buddhist or Hindu or something else, I’d be completely fine with that. I am always curious about the world around me and try to be as open as possible, and, above all else, compassionate. (Except to bigots and to anyone else who’s plain cruel but I don’t feel like I can be particularly faulted for that.) And I believe Christianity and the Church as an institution has a lot of issues that it needs to answer for.

I don’t know if I’ve at all explained myself well here but if anyone has any more questions my inbox is always open. (But if you come in to say anything homophobic or transphobic or antisemitic or whatever the fuck in the name of the Bible you can go fuck yourself ✌🏻)

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celticwolfie · 1 year

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22,23, and 24 of the Pride asks!

Hi Omen!!! <3<3

22. How do you usually celebrate Pride month?

Normally I do doodles and drawings for pride. But I have been so busy I wasn't able to this year. ;; That and try to read a few books written by authors from the community.

I was gonna be drawing and coloring my sona in genderfluid pride colors.

23. Do you prefer loud parties or quiet?

Ahah... Quiet is my most preferred. I mean, I can handle loud parties on a really good day, but in the end I would rather enjoy a quiet party with friends.

24. Do you practice any religion, if so how does it play into your LGBT identity? Do you feel welcomed by your spiritual community?

I do have a religion and I believe it's called paganism? The people who are a part of the community are very kind and don't really mind my identity. They're actually more worried about my health more than anything. Making sure I stay hydrated and don't push myself. ^^;;;

#celtic speaks #friend!#omg #i hope this answered your questions #happy pride month!!!#pride ask game

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docholligay · 2 years

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And while I think there is some shadow of wanting to help with this, there’s something that’s so desperate and clawing about it that even Michael, i don’t think, realizes. He wants to find the girls because he needs to know where they’ve gone, which is, to me, very different from wanting to find them in order to help them. For people named Doc, who are me, it doesn’t really matter--good gets done whether I love your motives or not, and that’s enough for me--but I think it is an object of interest. Michael is desperately looking for himself, not as a Fitzhubert, but as MIKE. Whoi is he in all of this? And he feels, having seen Miranda and how free she is, that he can find it there.

There’s also an element of playacting here. People love to put on the trappings of lifestyles they romanticize, of people they admire and like to believe they COULD be. This is why things like dude ranches are historically so popular. This is why Jill and I had a short-lived idea to have a business leading specifically women-- and LGBT women even more specifically-- in backpacking and outfitting adventures. People like Michael want to be shown how to be people like Albert, when in reality it takes a lot more than being ‘shown the ropes’ to get around the bush. It’s years of learning where you don’t even realize you’re doing it, and then calling it instinct. It’s skill acquisition, and physical fitness, and mental toughness. None of that can be magically conferred upon Michael with a lesson. He is still going to be a titled boy with soft hands.

Now this doesn’t mean I’m opposed to Michael being taught, not at all, I think everyone should learn practical skills, but he has to have some realistic GRASP here that...step one is step one, and as BAD as he wants to be the rough and tumble, tough and gritty Albert, it takes time to callous up

#Doc watches Picnic at Hanging Rock #Picnic Ep 2

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rametarin · 1 year

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I think the right leaning people might also have a better chance of fighting against "wokeness" in media if they could, as a whole, make stronger arguments. As it is it seems that the only arguments people make are "Ugh they went woke this is shit" or "OMG this has a gay/black/female/whatever person in it. It is the embodiment of evil indoctrination to our children" like neither are particularly convincing and since there is no real argument it just reinforces claims of bigotry.

You're absolutely right. Which is probably even more annoying than their shitty positions on most things; their inability to form any coherent argument against bad faith pseudo-science because they're too busy trying to affirm their own. But the non-secular kind.

They're pants on head, screaming incompetent, ineffectual and so much so that even garbage like Critical Race Theory being put into practice in public schools slips by, because the biggest detractors and the most probable people to raise objections to it are genuinely the people that have latched onto anti-wokeness because it seems like the shortest bus to validate racism.

This is made even worse by the fact that actual wokes don't want to argue against liberals that know the literature references to the bullshit they use to justify their ideology, and they don't want to argue with objective people who don't see anything sacred, whether it's metaphysical or ideological. They want to argue with theological people, because they can argue their dogma is secular, therefore thanks to separation of church and state, religious Christian culture has to stop at the door to the civic buildings, but social constructionism gets to be part of the fabric of our doctrines and values.

They want to argue with the dude that twangs on a shitty guitar and sings, ♫ Jeeesuuuus! ♪ as the response the question of where ethics and reality come from. They want to argue with the guy that insists that you can't have morality or even culture without their religious doctrine, shrug their shoulders helplessly and look the sane and reasonable one on the side of SCIENCE! by comparison.

They do not want to argue with the secular nontheist-to-nihilists, because then they have to argue knowing full well their opponents isn't going to cite Jesus or presuppose the existence of the Judeo-Christian god at the center of everything, and instead demand the person use objective, empirical evidence that does not have its roots in prioritizing sociological meanings before basic math, science and anthropology. They want to look good in front of rebellious teenagers that already don't respect the transparently oppressive nonsense of their shallow and sometimes petty, tyrannical religious parents and make them feel like society is finally shrugging off the yoke of superstitious nonsense.

Even figures like Jordan Peterson keep fumbling and getting stuck in the mud this way and just doing the Woke culture's work for them by proving everything they puff up about western civilization as inherently misogynistic, LGBT-opposed and evil, because they won't stop fucking citing religious competitive arguments in why they oppose them. It's exhausting and nauseating.

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gothamitereaderwrites · 2 years

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Gotham Rogues x / & reader request blog!

I love a lot of existing rogues blogs but they always seem super busy and swamped so I figure another can't hurt and it'll give me a chance to practice my writing.

What's x / & mean?

Classically x and / are gendered relationship markers (x for m/f ships and / for m/m or f/f, originating the terms "slash fiction" and "femslash" to refer to lgbt shipping) but today they are largely interchangeable. However x and / both indicate romantic relationships. & indicates platonic and familial relationships. This helps avoid ship mixups!

What can I request here?

I have seen every Batman movie but not Catwoman, Joker, Justice League (either cut), or the 1940s serials. I have seen Batman 1966, Gotham, BTAS, TNBA, and Mask of the Phantasm but am not through Batman Beyond and have not seen The Batman 2004, TBATB, or Happy Halloween Scooby Doo. I am almost done listening to Batman Unburied but have not heard Rogues! Or Batman Audio Adventures. I do read comics but don't feel grounded enough in my knowledge to write comics canon yet. I have watched LPs of Arkham Asylum & City but have not finished watching LPs of Origins, Knight, or the Telltale series, and do not have the actual games to mine for details.

I would prefer only Rogues requests at the moment, I don't quite feel comfortable writing for the Batfam. I will also only write & fics for Ivy Pepper, Selina Kyle, and Jonathan Crane from Gotham.

Can I request NSFW?

I've never written NSFW before, nor do I have experience to draw on, but if you can stomach the awkwardness or inaccuracy go ahead.

Can I request a minor!reader?

No. If this is a success, I might later consider a seperate blog for strictly & requests but to start with I'd prefer minors don't interact at all.

Can I request a ship?

You can request a polyamorous reader fic i.e. nygmobblepot/reader or Harley x reader x Ivy, but for now I won't write direct ships.

Can I request a fic where a rogue with a "split personality" is "cured" or my favorite personality "wins"?

No. DC's treatment of mental health issues is always questionable and that's part of writing these characters at all, especially in regards to systems like Two-Face, but while I might mention conflict between system members I will not write about them being destroyed, erased, assimilated, or otherwise unmade to suit the preferences of the reader.

#gotham rogues #batman #dc comics #x reader #rogues gallery

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nonbinary-itachi · 2 years

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In a non-mass au, nothing scares Itachi more than the idea of coming out to Sasuke.

Shisui? Shisui's pansexual, something they've known since they were kids, so telling Shisui they're gay and agender is no big deal.

His parents? They love their mom and dad dearly and everything, but they've finally realized it's their life and they just want to be happy, with or without their parents' approval.

But Sasuke? They adore Sasuke and practically raised him when their parents were busy. They're terrified he'll disapprove (Shisui: he's gonna love and look up to you no matter what. Itachi: But what if he doesn't). They aren't sure what they'd do if he disapproved, but the mere possibility of it happening terrifies the hell out of them.

(How do they react?

Shisui, who's known he loved Itachi since forever: is totally chill about it while secretly being pleased. He's also familiar with Konoha's LGBT scene, so this isn't the first he's heard of someone being agender and asks Itachi what pronouns he should use.

Mikoto: I personally hc her as a lesbian (she loves Fugaku, especially for giving her their children; she's just not in love with him not has she ever been) so she just smiles and says, "Me too." Being agender is something she's never heard of, however, but she listens patiently as Itachi explains what it means to them personally.

Fugaku: knows Mikoto is a lesbian (they had an arranged marriage) and supports her. Promises to support Itachi as well. Like Mikoto, agender is a new concept to him, so he's confused but he tries. "You said you're okay with any pronoun, right? Does that mean I can still call you my son?"

Sasuke: is actually okay with everything. Sakura taught him and Naruto a lot (Naruto is pretty sure he's nonbinary too), so he's familiar with everything Itachi tells him. "Can I still call you my big brother or should I say sibling instead?" Itachi hugs him.)

#itachi #headcanon #shisui #mikoto #fugaku #sasuke #itachi uchiha #shisui uchiha #mikoto uchiha #fugaku uchiha #sasuke uchiha

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caffeineandsociety · 2 years

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I notice that a huge part of the reason for online leftist infighting is people fundamentally not understanding the difference between, and interplay of, fighting FOR progress, vs. fighting AGAINST regression.

Trying to build space for more ethical and sustainable business practices to survive and thrive while megacorporations try to crush them? Rebuilding your yard to suit your local climate and support the ecosystem? Trying to get more queer stories told outside of niches where they're already normalized? Trying to get more inclusive education available, whether through schools or not? That's action FOR progress - but these things don't necessarily halt regressive actions. Shop small all you want; it won't HURT Amazon or Walmart...but it will HELP that ethics- and sustainability-focused mom-and-pop shop that encouraged its employees to unionize, or that independent disabled POC Etsy seller, keep from having to close up shop and funnel all those people into an Amazon warehouse instead. You could plant trees 16 hours a day for the rest of your life and it won't offset the damage caused by oil companies, but lobbying for a community garden and filling your space with whatever local plants you can may help make YOUR COMMUNITY healthier and more livable and very likely inspire those around you to do the same.

On the other hand, voting, fighting propaganda, pushing back against the encroachment of bigotry into spaces that are meant to be a haven from it, showing up at your local city council meeting to tell them NOT to approve that new Walmart that WILL choke out local businesses that provide the same services? That's fighting AGAINST regression. That's saying "dude, the status quo is bad enough, don't make it fucking WORSE." JUST voting for the center-right candidate instead of the outright fascist (and let's not kid ourselves, the US political sphere doesn't have a major left-leaning party, we have outright fascists vs. the center-right) will ensure that progress happens at an inexcusably slow pace if it happens at all - but it DOES slow the backslide; it is marginally better for the ratchet to stop than for it to spin out of control. Stopping one new Walmart from being built won't IMPROVE your local community from where it was before, but it DOES send a message to Walmart that you will not tolerate their shit and wastes a lot of their time even IF they try again.

Neither of these approaches is complete, and neither is better than the other. BOTH need to happen.

And, yeah, there are some actions that do a bit of both at the same time - unionizing your workplace, petitioning for new nondiscrimination laws, etc. - but those aren't complete either. I mean, just look at how the passage of same-sex marriage got a lot of white middle class gays to rest on their laurels, and how a lot of young LGBT+ people are being radicalized against the members of their own community who don't want to - or can't - assimilate into the hot new Rainbow Capitalism Club; there's a purely anti-regression fight that NEEDS to be fought here.

In short, don't ignore the whole picture. Complicated problems require multifaceted solutions.

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thewitchsstudy · 4 years

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An Old Opinion Research Essay

Made this last school year. It’s about MLMs (Multi-level Marketing) and why I think they should be illegal

Thousands of dollars. You don’t make thousands, you pay thousands. You don’t sell thousands, you recruit thousands. You don’t get paid to work, you pay to work. Welcome to MLMs, the most unethical world of business where everything is a scam. It deserves to be banned, gone from the reach of the people who run them. For the safety of the workers.

MLMs- Multi-level Marketing- companies pop up a lot in the modern day. Have you ever gotten a Facebook message from somebody, likely with an eye bleeding amount of emojis, claiming to know you from somewhere pitching a product? That’s an MLM worker, no doubt. While most see them as annoying at worst, these companies that these workers come from have been proven, as from testimony by former workers, the FTC, and multiple state lawsuits, to have destroyed finances, careers, friendships, and lives while breaking the law. Many have been accused of or been charged with illegal activity- operating a pyramid scheme.

Any amount of research will bring up how horrible some companies can get. Being repulsed at the practices is one thing, but how do we prevent them from harming workers? I argue a full ban on the practice. With already tight regulations and monitoring by the FTC, MLMs are in hot water. Still, illegal pyramid schemes manage to bypass the law and operate until it’s too late (hello Advocare, like your lawsuit?). The best way to deal with MLMs is simply banning the practice.

Bans may not be the best, but they can be necessary. Prepare to feel a mix of shame, disguise, anger, and bitter hopelessness for humanity.

Corporate can be a dictator. Many people, including former workers, heavily argue the point that many MLMs are morally and legally wrong. They have no base pay and hide under a “make as much as you want” claim. In reality, workers buy products from the company to sell to consumers, and when they don’t sell, often due to the terrible quality and horrible company reputation, they are essentially being paid under minimum wage with negative wage counts! Financial reports show that, during a year in an MLM, the majority percent of employees lost money, some broke even with joining packages and product costs (which cost thousands of dollars), and less than 5% made money, and less than 1% reached or exceeded the annual national minimum wage ($15,080)

In addition, workers who quit MLMs are often shamed by supervisors and friends still in the company. They get harassed online through texts and Facebook for breaking free. Friendships are broken in split seconds. Lives are left fragments of what they once were. Families fight and argue and refuse to communicate with each other due to associating with these companies. A video by Vice News, which is highly recommended to watch, tells the stories of women who have left MLMs and the shame that was placed on them. In addition to their terrible financial situation, it documents how much shame was put on these women who are left friendless, leaving friends for the company and leaving the company with fake “friends”. MLM workers are encouraged to sell to family and friends, and one worker has stated that “every conversation turned into a sales pitch”. Any human would leave a friend who did that.

On the other hand, people argue that MLM products are legit and that they are perfectly legal and not pyramid schemes. They say that, without legal action, MLMs are fine to operate. They argue that a pyramid scheme is a solid definition that requires many boxes to be checked, and that MLMs don’t check enough. They may call them “Anti-pyramids”, which is a funnel and shows more on the top than the bottom and the money still goes to the one guy on the bottom and that’s still a horrible business model for a dozen reasons, but that’s beyond the point. These could have good backing to them. When the research is done, however, even on social media, these people are often corporate workers who run these MLMs and bank millions or other workers (who many call “Huns”) who are in denial about their workplace being a scam (they may also be arguing this case even if they understand the truth).

It is also important to understand that the other side will defend their word with flamethrower and shield, even if the flamethrower is a knockoff that doesn’t even work and the shield is a sad excuse for a thing made of atoms. Workers post pictures online of their new “expensive” things they bought with money from their “job”. Many have debunked these as fakes, including noted images of clearly empty bags that were supposedly filled with stuff (classic fake-rich tactic right there). This is easily found, since if the poster refuses to show a top view or take the items out, you don’t trust that anything is in the bag. Many in the Anti-MLM community realize and share their findings on how the evidence and claims made by these people are next to nothing in value. It makes them incredibly petty and decays their point. Like rotting flesh.

Most of that evidence is little slaps to MLMs. The big problems come when states start suing them. Oh, yeah, MLMs from Advocare to Young Living to LulaRoe have been sued for years. States, ranging from Idaho to California, have accused these companies of operating illegal pyramid schemes. Warehouses have sued LulaRoe over not receiving payment for storage. LulaRoe has been sued over cross-state taxation (taxing buyers in states with no tax who purchase from workers in states with tax). Federal government agencies have reprimanded MLMs as well, most noticeably in a case against Young Living where a man died in a distillery due to severe safety code violations, such as lack of training and not providing respirators in the high-chemical environment. Note, these are only some well-known companies and their well-known lawsuits.

Deception is rampant in MLMs, and consumers are being lied to almost constantly. Young Living used to claim a Seed to Seal standard and having 100% pure essential oils. Not only was it revealed that they source from multiple farms, which makes the Seed to Seal claim highly unlikely, independent lab tests show birch and jasmine oils produced by the company were, in fact, synthetic. Worse, one study done by the State of California showed higher than acceptable levels of a chemical known for producing cyanide inside the body in Young Living’s oils. This was not mentioned anywhere by Young Living- not on the bottle, not online, not anywhere, which is an offense in California. They were, like previously, sued over this serious health and safety matter since they sold their products in the state.

It should be obvious that Young Living’s products are not the most trustworthy, regardless of your opinion on essential oils. That could be applied to all MLM products. LulaRoe leggings are notorious for ripping, even in the first wear. Herbalife’s powders and mixes, especially their soup reportedly, have been called by people such as John Oliver as tasting “like wood shavings” (this was a continued joke in his televised segment on Multi-level Marketing, another good watch for more info). When looking at prices, such as LulaRoe leggings costing $30+ bucks for a quality $10 Walmart leggings with better, non eye-bleeding designs far surpass, the word “scam” pops up in New York City lights.

John Oliver in his segment also went into detail on how, while distributors lose thousands on MLMs they work for, their founders and CEOs can afford meetings that I can only describe as an 80s metal concert if everybody there was on some serious drugs. Some things that occur range from overly enthusiastic live announcers, CEOs coming out as “Welcome to the Jungle” plays, and screaming at the grave of a man named Joe Nobody, dated 1952- about how much he could’ve done with his life if he had just joined his MLM. Are laughing out loud at the thought of all this? It’s real, and you can find the Joe Nobody clip and more in the John Oliver episode online. It’s on-the-floor-laughing levels of ridiculous. One can only imagine being at any MLM meeting, host, worker, or random guy, in person is an accurate simulation of an acid trip for all parties involved.

How does this add up to a pyramid scheme? With the previously stated knowledge in mind, look at the employees. Those Facebook messages from before? Those can be recruitment messages. These often target mothers, those of color, and those of specific religions depending on the MLM. For example, LulaRoe often has single or unemployed mothers as distributors. On its website, the FTC notes that promises of extravagant lifestyles, wealth, and “high-pressure tactics” during recruiting are prominent red flags for any business. Guess who milks these until the cow runs red? MLM recruiters. While I don’t trust Reddit for factual info often, there are credible accounts of this practice on such subreddits as r/AntiMLM and r/LuLaNo.

The big problem is that MLMs may pay their employees for recruitment. The FTC says that “Your recruits, the people they recruit, and so on, become your sales network, or ‘downline’. If the MLM is not a pyramid scheme, it will pay you based on your sales to retail customers, without having to recruit new distributors”. The way it often works when a Pyramid Scheme is in place is that those higher up in the pyramid get a percent of commission from those they have recruited, those recruit’s recruits, and so on. Pyramid schemes require active participation for this often only check, which requires more money for products that will never sell and, as the saying goes, “get left in a garage.” The FTC notices this is a practice utilized by pyramid schemes. A former LulaRoe (funny how LulaRoe pops up so much) worker high up on the corporate ladder on the previously mentioned Vice News clip claims to have been receiving these commissions, with checks from the company proving it. MLMs have systems of ranks, which are often named after anything from crystals to management positions, and guess what those more than not focus on? How many people you recruited. Higher up you are, the higher percent of commission, the more money you get.

That, fellow readers, are the bones of pyramid schemes. You don’t grow a business with a stable customer base and happy employees, you make more people fall into it and destroy their lives. Former work testimonies say that supervisors actively encourage recruiting over selling. It’s a cycle of new and quitting members.

It should be obvious. Horrible quality, product not worth the price, constant lying to consumers, lawsuits galore, and the foundation of a pyramid scheme and its culture are what make MLMs scams, unethical and borderline illegal. We, as consumers and workers, should call for a ban on this business model to protect sales and underclass workers from a practice that harbors illegal schemes. If a company wishes to grow, it should in an ethical way that isn’t a pyramid scheme coverup! The FTC says that pyramid schemes “can look remarkably like legitimate MLM business opportunities” and so taking part in any MLM is a risky venture to the highest degree. Even legit MLMs have the same issues as pyramid schemes, since the lack of buying due to terrible reputation causes equal wage and financial issues as stated earlier. MLM and pyramid scheme operators milk money from their employees. As Bo Burham’s song “Repeat Stuff” says, they’ll “stop beating this dead horse when it stops spitting out money.” We need to stop them from beating the dead horse of MLMs so they can’t collect the money it spits out at them. And the best way to get rid of a dead horse is to bury it.

Bury the horse, they cannot get the money. Will you grab a shovel and start burying it, or will you watch as people continue to beat it?

#thewitchsstudy #mlms #antimlm #anti mlm #mlm scam #essay #research #research papers #opinion papers #school papers #please do not think I am against gay people when I say I am antiMLM #I mean the business practice not lgbt #hell I am lgbt #studyblr

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mickules · 3 years

Text

THE SHIRT

(otherwise known as: I Bloody Lied. THIS will be the final minicomic. . . for now) from a series of minicomics, work backwards from [part 3] for the context

Next week: Daiya and Takaaki visit a Gay Bar for ‘research’

It’s amazing what a solitary 9 hour shift can do for the imagination.

This isn’t as meme-esque as the others, but It occurred to me that Takaaki’s discovery of “The Shirt” might be the perfect vehicle for paranoid, over-protective Detective Ishimaru to put 2 and 2 together about his son and his ‘kyoudai’. Frankly, he’d be out of his depth. He holds no bigotry, but he knows almost nothing about the lgbt+ community. Nevertheless; He’ll be damned if he lets that get in the way of being there for his boy when he needs him. Even if that means sleeping with the enemy.

Daiya meanwhile, bless him, was so busy teasing Mondo about his new best friend that he fully missed the forest for the trees. (Oh my god they were Roomates)

He can also never allow Takaaki to find out that he was the one to actually give the shirt to Taka.

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as I mentioned before - I’ll probably dip in and out answering the asks in text format; If I’ve an idea for a little comic I might save it up! I’m so pleased with all the asks, sincerely! - I don’t mean to leave anyone hanging! (I’ll also pool any angst asks together for a separate post so I can keep the feels and the memes in their respective lanes)

Before I pause tho, I wanted to answer a bunch of asks in text format! Since it got long I’ve sorta grouped them together and put them below the cut >>

(also next set of ask comics are in [this big ol’ ask dump!])

@ladymage

1.) I may have slightly forgotten my own timeline- Before seeing Takaaki face to face Daiya had a hard time trying to picture that demon as the dad of Mondo’s dorky kyoudai, and might have allowed himself to let his guard down before being HARSHLY REMINDED.

2.) occasionally, when Takaaki is relaxed and content a rare, almost fatherly expression can be seen on his face. However if you were to blink - you’d miss it

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‘Friends with Benefits’ is such a bloody useful phrase! Just. .the image of Daiya and Mondo entering a dark hall only for Takaaki to turn on the light, sitting reclined in a chair like a bond villain, and Taka is nowhere in sight. A long dormant survival instinct immediately sets in. The Oowada boys are the prey in the presence of an apex predator (Thanks so much!)

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Takemichi will always be the exception. Takaaki doesn’t see a volatile delinquent, 2nd to only Mondo himself in the Diamonds heirarchy; instead he sees a pre-teen who has lost their parents in the shopping centre, and must be helped.

@yaysof11037

I guess Fluttershy has tamed the most chaotic of delinquents. Although Takaaki would not take that shite from her rabbit.

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Bruh, I found out this man was 6′5′’ and I was ruined. I cannot help but stan. I get the feeling neither Ishimaru is internet savvy enough to have seen the shift in opinion - it’d probably come as a vindication for Taka that his hard work to clear the family name is working. I think fandom wise; he’s too much fun to play with! Even his design isn’t really set in stone, you could make him Dad of the Year or a Bastard of the Highest Calibre, and you’ll get something interesting outta it.

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I must honour their origins by giving Daiya the most luscious of JoJo lips. (tho’ I must argue on the practicality of knee-high boots they’re an utter nightmare about the ankles)

Takaaki would not survive such chicanery I’ve not thought of Daiya with anyone in particular, I see him as a bit of a slut(affectionate) playing into the image Mondo has of this super suave ladies man ultimate gang-leader. He has a lot of non-committal short flings from town to town. They go out, have a good time, maybe spend the night maybe not - no pressure. He looks far more successful than he is since he can read a room well and won’t approach a lady in such a fashion if she’s not interested/ wouldn’t appreciate a casual thing. This is whilst he’s still the leader of course. . . before the accident.

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(!! Thank you !!) Ahh Sakura, my Beloved. I need to draw her more - her design is PEAK. Toned musculature, strong features, battle-worn but no less feminine? Please and thank-you! Her character has some wonderful depth: The expectation of acting the zen martial artist, whilst still having the uncertainties of a teenage girl - knowing she’s physically large and intimidating, and actively mitigating that with a calm, patient personality - being utterly passionate, and incredibly practical, with a playful streak! Like with most of the DR1 kids, I wish we could really seen what she could do outside the killing game.

@future-connected

(!!!! Thanks so much! These are really so very very sweet! :-D !!!! It’s really wonderful to receive such bloody lovely thoughts! AHH!)

The mini-comics were originally just a stop-gap whilst on dayshift but they’ve kinda taken a life of their own! I’ve a few longer things I think folk would like; but I have but 2 hands and a single brain-cell, so it seems I may have to put them on the backburner, for just a little bit :)

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I’ve not read ‘Jealousy’ (I think by chinateacup?) but I’ll deffo give it a look see! Don’t hesitate to give me fic recommendations! Reading fics is one of the few things I can do during turnarounds at work. Internet connected devices are banned, but I can pre-download a bunch of fic onto my work I-pad, and use it like a kindle.

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Thank you for such a genuine, kind message :-) I appreciate how rough having to endure depressive episodes can be, and although it isn’t much, I hope the little sparks of joy that you can find will help you through today, and tomorrow and beyond. I’m glad that my comics could be one of those sparks for you.

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wantshimsorely · 3 years

Video

So I finally got around to see Portrait of a Lackey on Fire. It was not the Burnsmithers killer, in fact, it took this in a direction I never thought it would go. It was not the Burnsmithers clutch either. Let me explain. So, spoilers:

To be fair? The Burns Cage may be credited with Smithers “coming out” to Burns but this episode seems more like it, the far more definitive edition. There is a scene in here where Smithers’ new boyfriend, Michael, is causing a level of cognitive dissonance for him, that Michael isn’t the dream boyfriend he wanted but a fantasy version of Monty Burns that Waylon desired, right down to the deviousness and conceited bastardly triumphs from his fast fashion practices, as in he realizes he has a type. So to deal with the dilemma to carry on with this despite of all of Michael’s nefarious business practices, he finally has to muster up courage and ask the one person who he knows might have insight about this moral situation: Montgomery Burns. So Smithers bursts into Burns’ office to relay his love life to him and it’s legit the most forward he’s ever been about his sexuality TO Burns in the show’s history (well barring a few times, and one in the Tapped Out game.) In true Burns fashion, it seems like he is avoidant, even ignorant of it by substituting Smithers’ statements of gender with the feminine one, but then just listens when Smithers brings up that it was esteemed billionaire Michael and then Burns mentions that he should *marry* him. And it’s the answer that everyone got after 30+ years: Mr. Burns never cared if Smithers was gay, or anyone for that matter, he was in fact encouraging about it - after all he’s a billionaire and what a catch that is. “So what if you pretend if you are gay, he’s a billionaire!” A bit of the icing on the top but we now know that Burns really has no limits when it comes literally to anyone’s gender in a relationship as long as it works out profitable. A bit on the nose to nepotism, but it really falls in line what we have been saying about Monty for years now - he surrounds himself with LGBT+ confidants like Nigel and Phillip, so he wouldn’t be foreign to the idea at all nor uncomfortable about it. In fact, this line makes me wonder about if Burns has any hang ups himself and what his sexual identity really is. We have speculated he is bisexual for years with all of the hints he gives off, so this gives us into an insight that well, he would marry the richest most powerful man himself if he wanted to (I do have a complaint that well, Burns uses the modern term ‘gay’ instead of his usual antiquated ones which seems out of place for this.) In short, this makes us wonder what will happen with both now going forward, that Burns knows Smithers wants men and well, Burns seems like he is game up for anyone himself it would seem? I always wondered if Burns saw something in Sr. more likely and this is why he’s rebuffed Waylon’s advances for decades (besides the theory that he’s suspicious of anyone wanting to climb up on him for power.) We probably won’t know. What does this mean for Burnsmithers as a whole in the future? I feel like there is more than 30+ years being ignored here of basic relationship building and honestly, with Burns out for most of the episode, there is a LOT we need to address here and catch up on. This doesn’t deconfirm a Burnsmithers relationship in the future, but it doesn’t cement one either.

#the simpsons #portrait of a lackey on fire #smithers #mr. burns #season 33

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