#billions of animals put through hell on earth each year just so people can have their chicken nuggets with a side of pandemic risk

[joeyskattebo]

White Picket Fence part 4

“Why couldn’t you just have given those people some cigarettes? Or some money?” Steven said before eating some lobster.

 “Why? Because fuck them, that’s why! The poor and the needy’s problems are not my problems!” Michael said coldly before eating some caviar.

“Because it’s good to help those in need; some people need help and maybe those people are employed and maybe they’re not. If you are homeless you’re sleeping in the streets, you’re dirty and hungry; of course you are going to be pushy and crazy; you have nothing. Even if you do give them money or food they are still in the same position. The same with people on unemployment or food stamps; these are people with not very much in the first place and what help those programs do, doesn’t give people a luxurious lifestyle; they don’t more than comfortably.”

“But that cuts from our profits! I mean this is money we’re talking about……why don’t all these fucking people get jobs or better jobs?!”

“That’s not always possible Michael, even if you do try.”

“Life is harsh Steven, only the strongest survive, look at nature!”

“Yeah, and the planet is only ten thousand years old.”

“Fuck you, Steve! I know you don’t believe in God Steven, but he is real, and that is around the time he made the universe and everything and everyone in it. And you are going to end up in hell, while I will be in heaven in my mansion!”

“That’s so ridiculous Michael; there is nothing scientific about that statement at all. Heaven, hell, god, angels, demons, and satan, it’s all make believe, it’s all mythology, like the mythology of any other culture. I believe the universe is around fourteen billion years old, and there are around one hundred and seventy billion galaxies that we can see alone; who knows how many there actually are. And I believe the planet is over four and a half billion years old. I also believe in evolution, all plants and animals on Earth have evolved from earlier species. And as far as human beings go, I believe we evolved from apes around three million years ago. Science backs all of this up and it doesn’t back your beliefs. Michael, scientists constantly discover fascinating insights about the universe and ourselves, whereas religion enforces the same dogma as they did when they began, despite science continuing to prove them wrong.”

“Yeah whatever, professor!”

“Fuck you Michael, and more U.S. troops should be sent to the Middle East, right?”

“Of course they should! Our oil and our honor must protected from those dirty,”

“Shut up, Michael!”

“Every fucking time I say something racist, sexist or homophobic you have to defend those people. That’s just who I am and I don’t care,” Michael said before eating more caviar. Steven eats some bread before saying:

 “I know you don’t care Michael, but I defend those people because racism, sexism and homophobia oppresses them, but you wouldn’t know what that is like.” There is silence for a second: 

“You think it’s easy to be rich and powerful! There is a lot of pressure and risk that goes into all of that, it’s not all fun and games!”

“I know that Michael, but you chose that life whereas the people who are oppressed by poverty, racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia didn’t choose that life. You have more than you will ever need and most people,”

“Alright I know! I’m fucking rich and I’m powerful and I was a CEO and I own a lot of capital why don’t you nail me to a fucking cross!”

“I’m sorry Michael, I don’t mean to offend you.”

“Alright then!” The two friends finish dinner without saying much of anything before Michael pushes the intercom button to get Gloria’s attention.

“Yes, Michael?” Gloria said through the intercom.

            “Will you, bring desert out for us?”

            “Yeah, I’ll be right down.” In a couple minutes Gloria brings out a dish of chocolate mousse for the each of them:

            “Thank you, Gloria,” Steven said as she put it by his plate.

            “You’re welcome,” Gloria said as he took his plate. Michael didn’t thank Gloria when she gave him his desert and took his plate; which is his usual behavior when being served. Gloria is used to this and then goes upstairs to clean the bedroom floor. After they eat their desert, the both of them move back into the living room for some earl grey. As they were sipping their tea, Michael lit up a cigar and Steven says:

“That was a lovely meal!”

“Yes it really was,” Michael said returning the smile. Michael puffs on his cigar:

“I bet you think everyone should eat like that everyday huh?” Steven looks at him with an offended expression:

“Yes I do.” Michael laughed:

“You’re my closest friend but you’re fucking crazy!”

“You’re the fucking crazy one Michael; you spent your entire life pursuing meaningless material wealth; climbing the corporate ladder while pushing people down, and for what? Power and money; the power to control others. You have a fucking private plane, land and houses all over the world. Why? No one needs most of the stuff you, or people like you have.”

            “Fuck you Steven, Fuck you!”

             “I’m sorry Michael, I don’t mean to hurt you but you didn’t need to attack me like that.”

            “I forgive you Steven and I’m sorry too.”

             “I forgive you as well,” Steven said with a smile. They continued to sip their tea when Michael said: “You don’t understand, the government and the economy must be run the way that it is. The people with authority have the most money and wealth because they fucking deserve it. It’s what right; the people at the top of the hierarchy have more than the people at the bottom because it’s the motivation to climb that ladder. Hierarchies and power structures like that have always existed. And who is at the top of the hierarchy of the global economy? The white straight man! And that’s where he fucking belongs beca,”  And before Michael could even finish his sentence, a Black Panther burst through the bay window and as they both scream, the Black Panther jumps on Michael and mauls him to death. As Michael screams, Steven screams and

[puddingandpolitics]

all of this extra risk because people can't stop exploiting animals 😐

#articles #veganism #the guardian #bird flu #much like covid all it will take is one of these strains to become transmissible and then we'll be back in lockdown #billions of animals put through hell on earth each year just so people can have their chicken nuggets with a side of pandemic risk

[r3almellow]

Lucien and Victor With A S/o Who Deals With Discrimination

Thank you @dummys-fics​ for the request!

As someone who is not only a minority, but is currently living in a place where they’re seen as “strange” or an oddity, I completely understand this 2000%. I’m so sorry that you’ve had to go through such things. 

I will say I did use my own experiences and the experiences of others for this, so fair warning for those who don’t want to read such a subject. I did try to make it as vague as possible so that many of us can relate. 

Warning: Microaggression/Discrimination/Racism

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Victor

Rude remarks and not so subtle stares pertaining to your appearance were things you’ve had to deal with ever since you were a child. You spent your whole life being treated different from those around you and usually, you never let things get to you. Usually....

Victor invited you to a charity event that was being thrown by one of his business associates. 

You were left alone for a while with Victor promising to return to your side after leaving to talk with someone. 

This left you open for people to talk with you. Not only were a well known producer but you were also dating the worlds most sought after CEO of a multi-billion dollar company, so this was to be expected. 

However, you felt like you were in a petting zoo and you were the animal. This wasn’t new, but after years of having to deal with this you couldn’t shake the burning hatred you had for people like them. 

“Your hair is just so different. How on earth do you manage to wash it?” These magical things called shampoo and conditioner....and water. Please stop touching my hair... “My apologies! Its so...fascinating!”

“Why did you decide to come to this country? Don’t you miss your home?” I was born here just like you. “Ah! So your parents immigrated here? That explains it! You know...I’ve always been on the fence about immigration. So many foreigners come and take ou-”

“Wow! I never thought someone like you would catch Mr. Li’s eye!” Someone like me? “Yes! Its quite surprising that he would choose someone so different.” 

In other words, what Victor saw in you was unfathomable to others. No matter how much you spoke like them, lived like them, and acted like them; you were never going to be seen as one of them. 

You had to bite the inside of your cheek for that last remark, the urge to runaway growing stronger. You couldn’t embarrass Victor in front of all his colleagues. You just had to suck it up and smile it off until he returned to your side.  

Little did you know, Victor was within ear shot and had witnessed your ordeal despite being caught up in a conversation. He knew leaving you alone would be risky, but never did he think the men and women he spent years developing professional relationships with could be so...disgusting.

You feel his warm hands intertwine with yours as he stepped forward. His hard stare finding its way to the person who made the careless statement.

“I have decided to break our contract and will no longer be doing business with you. If you have any questions please direct them to my assistant as I refuse to associate with someone who is as ill-mannered as you.” The person’s mouth hung open as did the rest of the group at Victor’s sudden declaration. “If the rest of you condone this act of disrespect then I’ll have to reconsider our future as partners as well.” And with that, Victor pulls you away, leaving the shocked group behind.

A part of you feels a little bad that Victor had to go that far over you, but the look on their faces was definitely a moment that needed to be framed and put on your wall as a great reminder of how amazing your boyfriend is.

“I honestly feel bad that you lost one of your business partners, but I do appreciate you coming to my aid like that.” 

Just like that the world stops. No music from the orchestra or the laughter from guests could be heard. Waiters with trays and wine bottles in hand frozen in place along with the rest of the people. 

Victor turns to you with a deep rooted scowl. 

“I only did what needed to be done. They have a mindset that is beyond deplorable. I will not have my name or my company be tied to people like that. I also won’t tolerate anyone who dares disrespect you in such a way.” 

Overall

Victor will never let anyone disrespect you in any way, shape or form. Now, put racism and/or discrimination on top of that? Best believe, Victor will shut that shit down quick. The way he’ll sue them for everything they’ve got on top of cut their asses up with his sharp tongue and still keep it classy?! Those people are about to be destitute and traumatized. 

Lucien

You’re at a café waiting on Lucien to show up for your lunch date. He’s running a little late due to being held up with work, but you don’t mind. You occupy your time by finding random things to do through your phone. 

Out of the corner of your eye you notice a group of people, who looked to be university boys, at another table looking over at you every so often before whispering amongst themselves. 

When they look over at you for the second time you hear a few chuckles causing your eyebrow twitch. They were definitely talking about you. 

One of them pulled out their phone, aiming it in your direction. Ah...so that’s how it is. You experienced this before, on trains mostly. Rude people trying to take a photo of you for whatever weird reason they may have. Usually it was because you were an “anomaly” to them.  And they weren’t subtle about taking the pictures at all. You’d be sitting across from them minding your own business and then snap! The loud shutter sound echoing throughout the quiet train. 

Sometimes you called people out on their rudeness, cursing them out and seeing their eyes widen and cheeks flush in embarrassment always brought you joy. They probably didn’t anticipate you calling them out and assumed you didn’t speak the language which made things all the more sweeter. 

Other times you had no energy to battle with them. You hated how people sometimes looked at you like you had grown two heads and how surprised they were to see you living your life just like them. 

This wasn’t the 5th century anymore. People in this country came in all shapes, colors, and sizes. Clearly, these people didn’t get the memo. 

Soooo, you were feeling a little petty today. 

You were ready let them know they weren’t slick with their antics by flipping them off. Was it a childish move? Yes. Did you care? Not at all. 

You make your move just as they took the picture, giving them the angriest look you can muster with your middle finger at the ready. 

You watch as the guys all crowd around their friend with the phone and grin as you see their unhappy expressions as they look at the photo. 

You smile at your little victory, but that smile quickly turned to confusion when you saw a familiar body looming over the group. 

It was...Lucien? You couldn’t hear what was being said but the pure horror that spreads across each individuals face in a matter of seconds indicates those boys were in trouble. 

A few seconds later, Lucien is before you shedding himself of his coat to take a seat, the group of boys scurrying out of the café like bats out of hell. 

He smiles softly at you as he sits down, completely ignoring the dumbfounded look on your face.

“Forgive my lateness. Did you order already?” 

Like hell you were just going to ignore what transpired. 

“Do you know them?”

You couldn’t hide your laughter once Lucien informed you those boys were his first year students from one of his lectures. Now, you know you had a bit of pettiness in you, but Lucien is a whole different monster when it comes to dishing out punishment. 

“Let me guess, you told them to write a five paged paper on how discrimination effects us and our view of the world due by the weekend?”

Lucien looks up from the menu at you slightly confused.  

“Now why would I do that? I’d like to think 10 pages due by tomorrow morning is more fitting.” 

Overall

Lucien won’t sit back and watch people disrespect you in anyway. Rest assured that our professor will have those people fearing for their lives all with a smile on his face. 

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Like my work?! Please check out my MLQC Masterpost for more! 

#mlqc #victor #mlqc victor #mlqc lucien #lucien

[you-cant-spell-subtext-without]

Hola Mishamigos! It’s Friday and I am here with more nonsense from my SPN rewatch - dudes, we are all SLEEPING on Season 11, in both good and bad ways.  There is so much in just the first trifecta of “Out of the Darkness, Into the Fire;” “Form and Void;” and “Bad Seed” (since “Baby” deserves her own analysis) -  so come relive my rewatch with me.  This is a summary of some things that stood out for me (few are analysis, most are clowning; basically this is a pared down live tweet - you’re welcome/I'm sorry); copy/paste from the script is included with my own emphasis:

OUT OF THE DARKNESS INTO THE FIRE [11x01]

-There’s lots more to this episode, but really this is the most important and relevant part (also it’s too soon and I am offended, damaged, attacked and hurt) -

DEAN: Yeah, whoa. All right, take -- take it easy, okay?  (gesturing to the deputy’s wound) Bad guys?

JENNA: Rebar. I sought cover. I fell.

***LIKE EXCUSE ME, but what in the actual fuck.  Did they just decide to pull that from the episode four years later to emotionally traumatize us in the subsequent rewatches? I know it’s probably coincidence but my sad soul has not recovered *enough* for rebar’s first SPN appearance to be right now in this moment when I am blissfully 5 entire seasons away from the dead end in the road.

- The only other important part of this episode - when Dean takes the call from Cas privately first before putting it on speaker for Sam, and something about this exchange is so endearing-

(Dean’s phone rings) 

DEAN: Where the hell are you, Cas?

(The scene flips between Sam and Dean at the hospital, and Castiel in the woods.)

CASTIEL: I'm...I'm okay.

DEAN: You don't sound okay.

CASTIEL: Dean, I am fine. Besides, what I have, you can't help me.

DEAN: What do you mean, what you have?

CASTIEL: Just please tell Sam -- Rowena escaped with the Book of the Damned and the codex.

DEAN: Okay, forget Rowena. Where are you?

CASTIEL: Now, you tell me -- the Mark . . .

DEAN: Oh, really? You're worried about me after everything that I’ve --

CASTIEL: Dean, is it gone?

DEAN: Yes. I'm good. I mean, I'm not great.

CASTIEL: Makes two of us.  (Dean puts Cas on speakerphone) This is good news.

SAM: Hey, Cas.

CASTIEL: Sam.

***It’s just so poignant that Dean wanted privacy for the first minutes of that call, probably because he is still haunted about the beating he gave Cas in 10 and *other things,* and Cas is literally being torn apart by Rowena’s curse but he only cares about Dean getting rid of the Mark, and the world is ending but Dean only cares about Cas and where he is -  honestly this scene - I’m - 

***Further thoughts on the Animal Curse/Cas/Dean below under 11x03

FORM AND VOID [11x02]

(love the Genesis call back to this verse in the title - “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.”)

-speaking of emotional trauma, this fucking shit again -

JENNA: Yeah. I pretty much grew up here. Learned to ride my bike down the road. Had my first kiss at that blue house over there. Lost my virginity up there (pointing to different house).

DEAN: I'll bet blue house was pissed.

JENNA: She was. (handing Amara to Dean) Do you mind?

***This frustrated/disappointed/angered/saddened me to NO END despite already knowing that it happens constantly on the show, because what was the reason?! Did they have to point out that she had a female love interest for this brief moment just to turn her evil and kill her off?  There was no need to include this detail.  It’s either blatant homophobia or willful ignorance (so also blatant homophobia) that this is what representation means.  I won’t go on because obviously we are aware of this and much has already been said/written about it, but still, fuck this.

-we meet Billie and there is more “FORESHADOWING”-

QUEEN IS SINGING “OH DEATH” aka Death’s entrance song from Season 5 and I am BLOWN AWAY by this almost as much as her amazing voice - like did they know at this point she would become the new Death season later? DID THEY KNOW? I need answers.

Seriously, go listen to it immediately; bask in its glory:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFOm5i6b56o

We also get our first mention of the Empty, so that’s cute that they referenced both Dean’s and Cas’s Season 15 ‘demises’ in the same episode (it’s not cute really and I am crying again now) ->

BILLIE: You and Dean . . . Dying and coming back again and again. The old death thought it was funny. But now there's one hard, fast rule in this universe. What lives . . . dies. So the next time you or your brother bite it, well, you're not going to Heaven . . . Or Hell. One of us -- and, Lord, I hope it's me -- we're gonna make a mistake and toss you out into the Empty. And nothing comes back from that. I know you're dying. I can feel it. You're unclean in the biblical sense. So I'll be seeing you again, Sam . . . Seeing you real soon. Name's Billie, by the way.

-another reason for me to continue denying the flaming trash heap that they tried to call the series finale-

Sam is dying here because he has been infected by the Darkness-vein-animal-exploding-people-plague so he goes to pray about it 

SAM: So . . . I know it's been a long time, but . . . Dean and I, we've -- we've been through a lot of bad. But this is different. This is my fault, and I don't know how to fix it. And if I have to die, I've made my peace with that, but . . . Please. Dean deserves better. Dean deserves a life. There are people out there, good people, who are going to suffer because of me, and I am not asking you to clean up my mess. Hell, I don't even know if you're out there, but . . . If you are . . . And if you can hear me, I, um . . . We need your help, God. We need to know there's hope. We need a sign.

**DABB WROTE THIS F-ING EPISODE.  How are you going to write Dean deserves a life here to just do what you did Dabb.  Don’t get me started on my feelings about this scene in the dark depths of my finale-denying soul.   DEAN DESERVES BETTER INDEED, SEASON 11 SAM. 

To rub salt in this particular wound, they show us THE cutest scenes of Dean with this damn baby so we can have feelings about how great of a parent he could be (also I ADORE that whenever Jared, Jensen, or Misha have scenes in later seasons with young children/babies it is SO clear they slip into their own natural dad mode without even noticing it; these guys just all seem like excellent fathers and it makes me mushy) and even Crowley picks up on that shit and makes his little ex-boyfriend joke (after Demon Dean and most of season 10 there is no way I will ever NOT believe that Crowley and Dean did not take a tumble; I will take no criticism):

CROWLEY: The child likes you. No surprise, really. You're very maternal.

LIKE WHAT IS THIS:

Speaking of King Jackles, next comes the episode he directed ->

BAD SEED [11x03]

-Cas/Dean parallels with the Attack Dog Spell/Mark of Cain-

This arc appears in the 10 finale and then runs through the first three episodes, culminating in this one.  Despite it hurting my heart to see our angel so bloody eyed and feral, I LOVED this parallel; it’s truly brilliant - Cas’s reaction to the attack dog spell is such a mirror to the way Dean dealt with the Mark most of 10.  It’s also beautiful that Dean is the only one that can pull Cas from the spell’s control at the end of this episode; that alley scene between the two of them in 11x02 is so tender and sweet.  I like to think this brought an entire new layer of depth to their connection, because no one truly understood how Dean felt under the influence of the Mark until now (someone write a fan fic about this exchange!!!!!!) I *love* this journey for them (please say that sentence in Alexis Rose in your head).  Bonus that  the episode containing my most favorite of *domestic* phone calls with Dean and Cas follows this one, and also Dean’s SHORT SHORTS follow because now he is just walking around the bunker in short shorts while Cas is there and I maintain this is because of this new level of closeness.  As previously stated I ACCEPT NO criticism.

ALSO OF COURSE THE FACE CUP THAT JENSEN HIMSEF DIRECTED HIMSELF TO DO.  I STAN A KING. I HEREBY DEMAND AT LEAST ONE FACE CUP PER EPISODE OF THE MINI SERIES JENSEN.

***I just saw something posted by @watchthebeesandfish​ back in 2015 when digging around the internet re: this episode - that this was the first time both Dean/Cas had seen each other as “themselves” since that heart wrenching bridge scene in 9x10, when Dean walks away from Sam/Cas after the Gadreel possession reveal (he goes on to take the Mark of Cain in the following episode, and has it the rest of the season through season 10 finale). That is brilliant and accurate and I BOW DOWN in humility to that parallel.  I now love this scene a billion times more. *single [wo]man tear*   Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this little trip down memory lane, thanks as always for getting through my rambling,  and HAPPY FACE CUPPING FOREVER.

#destiel #deancas #spn #spn family #spn fandom #sen season 11 #spn recap #spn analysis #spn clowning #heller #jackles #king jackles #but why not write an entire live tweet dissertation of my spn rewatch #spn subtext

[noonymoon]

JUSTICE FOR JESUS — Misconceptions & Prejudices about the Faith in the Biblical Jesus Christ.

PART ONE: Christianity is not a Religion, it is God‘s plan to redeem mankind and have a relationship with us forever

I‘ve used to think that Jesus is about Religion, Church, Pastors, Dogma. When you look around in the world it makes sense: Everyone believes something different, all faiths are entirely valid for the people who practice them. Of course you throw Christianity in the same pot as Islam and Judaism, they‘re called „the Abrahamic Religions“ (because Abraham was the father of Isaac, who was the father of Jacob, and Jacob is „Israel“, but also Abraham was the father of Ishmael who was only born because Abraham and Sara didn‘t put their faith in God to have a child like God promised, they were impatient and didn‘t have faith, because Sara was already old and could actually not get pregnant anymore, so Sara suggested that Abraham should have a child with Hagar, the handmaiden of Sara; and from Ishmael‘s lineage basically the Arabs and Islam came along, since God had promised to make a great nation out of Abraham, this blessing went worth to both sons of Abraham) - so basically YES, Jews and Christians worship the same God. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as it is written all over the Old and New Testament. The only difference is that Christianity has been infiltrated by Satan a loooong time ago, and Judaism (for the most part) rejects Jesus as their Messiah, even though Jesus was prophesied from the FIRST LETTER of the FIRST WORD of the FIRST BOOK of the Bible/Torah FOR the Jews! When he finally arrived FOR the Jews, the Gospel (the message of Salvation) was preached to ONLY Jews for 7 years (3 and a half years of Jesus‘ ministry, 3 and a half years after His death preached by His Apostles) and only THEN (after the Jews for the most part rejected the Gospel and persecuted everyone who believed in Jesus; our best example for this is the Apostle Paul who was actually Sha‘ul; he was formerly an extremely Jewish Pharisee who relentlessly persecuted Christians but then Jesus Himself appeared in a vision to Him and asked Him „Why are you persecuting me?“ and by seeing Jesus‘ glory and majesty, He was born-again and wrote ~70% of the New Testament) God decided to spread the message of Salvation to Greeks/Gentiles as well, because He wants to save all humans, and His chosen people would not do the work that He hoped they would. God‘s priority was always Israel until they have entirely rejected the Salvation that is ONLY found in God‘s Son, the Messiah, the Anointed One: Jesus Christ. Gladly there are a lot of messianic Jews nowadays who do their best to bring Israel‘s saviour to the Jewish people, just like it was supposed to be.

Every single Religion or Faith that there is that does not teach that you can find Salvation in Jesus Christ, the literal Son of God, will not give you peace, love and the Truth, will not give you Eternal Life (and if „Heaven“ and „Eternal Life“ sounds too ethereal for you try „different non-linear dimension“ and „consciousness transferred into a spiritual body“ - because THAT‘S how it was supposed to be before our Earth fell into a linear timeline, away from God‘s presence) and that‘s just how it is. There are tons of Religions, Faiths, even pretty much ALL Christian denominations and all the Christian cults, each one of them has a different way of denying the only thing that leads to Salvation: Jesus is the LITERAL only-begotten Son of the one true God & He died for our sins & was raised to life again by God the Father. Satan literally tries in ANY way possible to deny the LITERAL Sonship of Christ whose Father is God Almighty, YHWH. [...by the way, if you believe in that Zecharia Sitchin nonsense, please visit http://sitchiniswrong.com/ - by an ACTUAL scholar of Biblical Hebrew and of Ancient Semitic Languages]. And for the people who don‘t even bother with Jesus at all, he developed a plethora of options, to believe in something else, his first and only goal is to keep people away from Jesus, and he literally does not care how he accomplishes it. Every single Faith that does not lead to Jesus and into the Kingdom of God, has its roots in Ancient Babylon and leads into the Kingdom of Darkness. There are literally only two options, and that’s the absolute Truth, no matter if “truth” today is a “subjective matter for everyone”; that’s exactly what Satan wanted to achieve, and he sure did it. People are always extremely offended when Christians claim to have the only true God, the One who brought all things into existence despite the circumstance that they don‘t even believe in the FACT that we were brought into existence by this one God through Jesus Christ (who is the „Word of God“, and as you all know „God said: Let there be light, and there was Light“ - basically God spoke things into existence BY his Word, and his word IS Jesus Christ, the Son of God).

People rather believe in an extremely ridiculous and propagated concept of a „Big Bang“ that caused things to just „happen over time“, that our Earth is millions or billions of years old, that it is sheer „luck“ that we can survive because if we were just a tiny bit closer or less close to the Sun we would either burn up or freeze, that we evolved from ape-like men who were not very intelligible, that our extreme complex languages also probably evolved from ape-like sounds (you have no idea how ridiculous all of this sounds, when you are awake, I can‘t even type it without putting it in „quotation marks“, and you literally can NOT UNSEE the Devil’s work once your eyes have been opened) when there is literally an abundance of undeniable evidence that the Creation by an intelligent and brilliant God is a LOT more plausible; or let‘s say: there is a LOT of evidence that the public narrative is simply a deception (for example, tons of GIANT human bones have been found since at least the 1800s but of course not a single person informs us about stuff like this, and of course we don‘t make an effort to research it, because we‘re all brainwashed until we realize the Truth; people who study their Bible know EXACTLY who these giants were and they also know exactly who all those other spiritual entities are which we see in Mythology from ancient cultures) - and when the public narrative is a deception, the only logical conclusion is that something different must be true. And which book contains the entire story from the very Beginning to the very End of humankind, which fulfilled a massive amount of prophecy throughout human history 100% accurate, and is by „sheer conincidence“ the most translated and printed book of ALL time? Exactly! The Bible!

„In the beginning (TIME) God created the heavens (SPACE) and the earth (MATTER)“ — Genesis 1:1 

(parantheses added)

Isn‘t it AMAZING how the inspired Word of God through the Prophets conveys complex scientific concepts in only a little sentence? THAT‘S how incredible God is! He is a Mastermind and good beyond ANYTHING. Sadly Satan has accomplished that the world sees our Creator like a hateful, narrow-minded, strict and arrogant Ruler who just wants to dominate us and put His Religion on us, but that could not be further away from the Truth. God, in fact, HATES Religion, all He ever wanted is to be loved by His people, acknowledged by His people and praised by His people (and honestly, He DESERVES praise for Everything He has done for us and for Everything that He is!) .. And then of course, you can look all around in nature! I swear, being born-again is like being a child again, before this world and our „education“ brainwashes you. When I walk outside, I just MARVEL at God‘s handiwork, it‘s literally AMAZING. When I look at flowers, veggies, fruits, animals, insects of all kinds (I even lost my fear of spiders and wasps and even hornets, it‘s just amazing to look at them), when I taste different kind of nuts, herbs and spices (by the way, isn‘t it amazing how there‘s a herb or plant for every health issue a human can have, just like the Bible says? if we really evolved from a Big Bang to THIS, how do we explain the miraculous powers of all of these things? Have they just „happened“...?) look at the funny shapes of everything; everything just blows my mind, it‘s incredible. Someday I really want to ask God what He thought when He created Romanesco Broccoli because each time I see that thing, I just marvel at its weirdness and beauty. The world is just so ridiculously beautiful and NO ONE can see it except born-again Christians (I‘m really excited for eternal Life because this Creation is in a fallen state and the Bible says that the actual glory of the actual Creation is even more magnificent, WHOA...!!!) and I sometimes literally cry because it‘s SO SAD what Satan has made us believe about our planet, about ourselves, about literally everything. And why? Just because he hates Jesus, he hates God and he most certainly hates EVERYONE else, you, me, everyone. He loves only himself and he doesn‘t care if he‘s robbing us from the most astonishing experience ever: Life! He enslaves us through spiritual warfare to desires that we would naturally not have (social status, money, power, career, material objects of all sorts, fame, success, other people no matter how toxic they are for our health, drugs, likings and addictions of all kinds, literally ANYTHING can be the work of spiritual warfare) and makes us believe on top of that that we‘re just a bunch of random Apes in a random world, that our purpose is to make money and survive in a society that grows more and more into cold robots each year, only so that at the end, we die, never knew Jesus, and perish in Hell with him. It‘s literally the saddest thing EVER.

So yes, „Religious Freedom“ is a thing; everyone CAN believe whatever they want and feel drawn to, but ONLY born-again believers in Jesus Christ will live with God forever and ever in a different dimension that is not bound to time. Just like God wanted to live with us from the very beginning! We are His masterpiece of creation! Did you know that we are more cherished than angels? He sent his LITERAL SON to die for us, ALL of us, just so that we can live with God! Isn‘t that incredible??? I’m just absolutely in Love with God and Jesus and I’ve never thought that I’d EVER say this, growing up as an Atheist and then, over 2 years deceived in a spiritual bubble that is not even real.

My prayer is that the people who are written in the book of Life and belong to God’s kingdom find Jesus Christ, and experience His Love, because once you have, there is not a single day that is sad or empty, not a single day that seems pointless, you will have peace and a blessed hope for eternity to come. Amen.

TESTIMONIES

From Buddha to Christ. Powerful Testimony.

Chinese Triad Gangster Finds Jesus In Death Encounters

SATANISM, WITCHCRAFT, DRUGZ, DEPRESSION this is my testimony

"New Age" Occult Practices Nearly Ruined My Life | Warning & Testimony

Raves, drugs, vanity, new age to Jesus Christ | My Testimony

#Jesus Christ #jesus loves you #God is Good

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #205: Shadow of the Claw!

March, 1981

"... And the CLAW shall inherit the Earth!” isn’t even what the villain plan is, come on, cover copy person.

Yellow Claw was going to have a bunch of kids, make them fight to the death, and then the super child was going to inherit the Earth.

The actual cover is neat though. I like how all the red draws attention to the center where red is not.

Yes, I am good at talk about art.

Anyway, last time on Avengers: a woman named Shu Han who had been brought to Yellow Claw’s island to be one of Yellow Claw’s many wives (despite being a genius physicist athlete and could honestly be a superhero in her own right with those skills) sent out a distress signal which was eventually received by the Avengers. A lot of goofy stuff happened, Vision got captured like a dingus, Wasp did none things, a cyborg slime kraken was fought, and eventually Yellow Claw was like ‘whaaaat Shu Han doesn’t love me? Fine, begone!’ and told the Avengers to gtfo his island so he can start living his harem anime protagonist self-insert fic and also take over the world.

Which brings us to now.

After his dingus-like capture, Vision needs to be recharged because photons are his sweet calories and he never diets.

In fact, weirdly, he’s hungrier than usual this time. Sixty-seven whole additional solar units more than usual hungrier.

I don’t know how much a solar unit is. Even as a ballpark. But Iron Man finds it noteworthy so I’m noting it.

Meanwhile, in the only one person sitting room, Wasp retcons some actual actions into the last issue so that her entire screentime wasn’t pointless.

Maybe I should learn to be more patient on multiple part stories.

No. No, its the comic writers who are wrong.

Anyway, while Wasp was spying on Yellow Claw, she noticed some weird equipment in the research lab, including a lot of tubes filled with odd, sparkly mist.

Unfortunately, that’s all she managed to see before Yellow Claw told the Avengers to gtfo his island.

Which leaves them without much they can do about Yellow Claw.

Sure, they suspect he’s up to something. Hell, Iron Man would even admit that they know he’s up to something.

But being able to prove it is a different matter. And since Yellow Claw’s island is in disputed waters, moving without proving could lead to political fallout.

Captain America: “Iron Man is right. If we had proof that the Yellow Claw poses a global threat, international law would allow us to investigate. But as it is, we don’t have a single, tangible clue to--”

And then Jarvis walks in and tells them that the Yellow Claw’s top assistant, Dr. William Liu, is here to speak with them.

The timing this man has. Outstanding.

They scan the man to make sure he’s not walking in with a bunch of laser guns stuffed down his pants and then let him in.

And Dr. Liu pleads for the Avengers to help him. Cap asks why they should help or even trust one of Yellow Claw’s men.

Dr. Liu: “I could no longer live with the horrible nature of the master’s plan! That is why I secretly left the island, hoping that my absence would go unnoticed until I could reach you, and tell you of-- AAAGGHH!”

He doesn’t get to finish his warning because his crotch suddenly explodes.

I don’t know how else to describe it.

Apparently Yellow Claw rigged his assistant to explode in case of treachery or just for funsies. A barely alive, crotch exploded apparently a cyborg all along Dr. Liu realizes that Yellow Claw must have remotely activated his destruct code.

He gives the Avengers some coordinates in Australia and begs them to stop Yellow Claw.

Dr. Liu: “... Y-you must stop... the Claw! Y-you’re the only hope for... the children...!”

And then he dies. And based on panels, it seems like his chest exploded more than his crotch. His pants are intact.

This was the proof the Avengers needed to act, so as soon as Dr. Liu’s body is carried away by ambulance, the Avengers prepare to leave.

But Jarvis finds a note on Vision’s door begging leave from the mission.

Vision: “I regret that I have not yet recuperated to the point where I may participate in Avengers’ activities. Please understand. I do not wish to be disturbed.”

What an oddly formal ‘I’m sick, don’t come in’ letter to pin to your door.

Iron Man is perplexed since he oversaw Vision’s recharge himself and the solar gas tank should be full. But Scarlet Witch says that Vision has his reasons to do things and they should just carry on without him.

So off they go in the Quinjet.

But as soon as they take off, Vision goes to take the second Quinjet.

Why, he’s not sick in his room at all!

Hours later, the Avengers arrive in Australia, of course passing over a kangaroo, or else how would we know its Australia?

And at the coordinates poor exploded Dr. Liu gave them, they find a cave. And in the cave they find a secret base where that sparkle gas Wasp saw being loaded onto three missiles.

Y’know. I think I gave Vision too much shit last time for his stealth fail. Because the Avengers as a whole get spotted while they’re scoping out the missile cave.

Black Panther needs to give them all some refresher learning.

MEANWHILE, though. Back at Yellow Claw’s island, Vision ditches his Quinjet and intangibles into Yellow Claw’s base.

When he reaches Yellow Claw’s throne slash harem room where Yellow Claw welcomes him back and asks him how the hell he discovered he had been tampered with.

Vision explains: 1) that he required extra power to recharge, 2) that he detected ultra-wave radiation being emitted from Dr. Liu when he blew up, 3) detected the same radiation from his own bad self. Thus he deduced that he had been altered to be an unwitting mole through which the Yellow Claw could spy on the Avengers and that the alteration was what was draining extra power.

Also why Vision ditched the Avengers and came here instead.

And it was all a very smart move up until it was a dumb one.

Yellow Claw was prepared that Vision might figure things out and show up again so the doorway had a Vision trapping trap installed in it and now Vision is trapped in the Vision trapping trap.

After all his ‘I’ve come alone to defeat you’ bravado, Vision can now only defiantly claim “the other Avengers will turn your dreams into dust!”

You Tried, Vision. You Tried.

But Yellow Claw isn’t done having been one step ahead of things yet.

See, he let Dr. Liu escape and warn the Avengers because based on the broken into vent he knew that Wasp had been in his base and probably saw enough to suspect something was up. The coordinates Dr. Liu gave the Avengers was a trap!

A trap of three strong mooks with really dumb names.

Bludgeoner, Transformer, and Compressor.

Guarantee these guys won’t be recurring.

Anyway. Iron Man and Jocasta repulsor and eyeeeeee beam at the three so Transformer can readily demonstrate why his name when he absorbs the energy and blasts it back at them.

And Bludgeoner and his big hammer hands bludgeon Wonder Man and Captain America.

And Compressor, why if you guessed that his big ol cheese grater hands compress the air between them to put the squeeze on anyone stuck between, ... wow. That’s a really good guess.

You’re good at comic books, friend!

Scarlet Witch uses a hex bolt to drop a stalactite on Compressor to free Beast but the fly swatter hands man crushes the rock and shoots the shrapnel back at Scarlet Witch.

And Wasp is as useless as she often is. Sigh.

Iron Man tries to swing behind Compressor and repulsor him but Compressor blasts air and sends Iron Man SKRRUURRUNCH into the cave dirt, carving up a furrow.

Sure, this has been only two pages but this is a bad showing against three dinguses with dumb names. I mean for crying out loud, a man named Compressor just bodied a guy called Iron Man.

Back at the Claw Cave... no, wait, that’s confusing. The Avengers are fighting in a cave. The Claw Condo? Back at the Claw Condo, Yellow Claw tells Vision that hey his friends are going to die gruesome and frankly embarrassing deaths but maybe Vision could eke out a little win for himself.

Claw has long platonically admired his construction and capabilities and with Dr. Liu exploded, he does need a new second-in-command.

To sweeten the pot, he’ll even explain his villainous plot because I’m sure we’ve all been wondering about that.

Yellow Claw: “You see, my line was created to rule this planet -- though mankind has stupidly resisted that inevitability. But now, despite the chemical concoctions that prolong my existence, I grow old. My years are numbered. And that is why I selected these women, exemplary in both body and mind, to assure a form of immortality.

For each shall bear me a son, and in time those sons shall fight each other to the death! The survivor, the fittest, shall then fulfill my fate by becoming supreme ruler of the Earth!

Though I swear, he’ll not be subjected to the same obstinacy, to the blind sense of human freedom that has frustrated me for these many decades!

For within those cryogenic storage banks is genetic material gathered from the world’s most physically and mentally perfect humans! And from that matter, my heir will create a new order, a new population, all raised to obey by a single edit: unswerving reverence to my son!”

Vision: There is a flaw to your logic, Claw. You seem to forget that there are already several billion people on this planet -- people who will never serve the likes of you.

Yellow Claw: Ah, once more you underestimate me. For at this very moment, the missiles at my Australian launch base are being readied for take-off. Once in orbit around the Earth, they will dock with my private spacecraft.

Then at my command, they will release a specially formulated vapor, one which will permeat the entire planetary atmosphere, rendering everyone on the globe -- except for those here in my closed-environment sanctuary -- irrevocably sterile!

With no children being born, the Earth will be barren in the space of a few generations -- barren save for the followers of the new Yellow Claw!”

Okay, so, credit where it’s due.

That’s a VERY evil plan.

Sterilize planet, replace humanity with genetically servile slave race, make babies fight to the death for the right to rule that whole shebang.

In terms of a dick move that's a major league one.

So when Yellow Claw asks if Vision will become his new number Liu, Vision answers: “Perhaps, miscreant. Perhaps I will join you... in hell!”

Yellow Claw isn’t too bothered by the refusal and even decides to let Vision have a front row seat to his plan being fulfilled.

And I don’t mean tying him to the front of one of the missiles.

I mean, Yellow Claw’s throne room launches from his base as a hot rod pink spaceship, sold separately.

Back at the Avengers fight, Wasp does a thing.

Honestly, its a pleasant surprise.

Her powerset of ‘be small, shoot tiny lasers’ not being much of a help, she thinks outside the box. She scoops some dirt from the cave floor and jams it into Bludgeoner’s arm joints to slow him down.

And then Wonder Man clocks him in the face. Who bludgeons the bludgeoners indeed.

It does go to show that a ‘useless’ power like Wasp’s can actually be very useful if you write her smart. A superhero team should be more than just big punches, more than just spectacular powers. Wasp has great combo potential for playing things strategic and that should be something the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are too.

Beast realizes that Wasp had a really good idea. The Avengers outnumber these three jokers so why not gang up on them with teamwork? Besides, they��re not working together in any way so the Avengers might as well.

So Beast grabs Transformer’s shield arm to leave him open for Jocasta to OPTIC BLAST!

And Cap throws his mighty shield to know Compressor’s arms apart so Iron Man can kick him in the face.

Which is impressive since Iron Man was flat on his ass in the immediately previous panel.

Apparently this was a gaffe caused by the pages being edited separately and the error not being caught before the book went to print.

As far as things go, not the worst error! I didn’t even notice it until it was pointed out.

Anyway, in a fit of pique from his dumb name dudes losing the fight, Yellow Claw kliks a button. The goons join hands or whatever weapon they have passing for hands and then they blow up.

Yellow Claw: “It is done. It cost the lives of three worthy operatives but at last -- the Avengers are dead!”

Ah, villains. Always ready to flip the board if they start losing.

And with the Avengers totally dead for realsies no foolin’ Yellow Claw is free to launch his missiles full of sterility vapors.

Actually, he could do that by remote so I don’t know why he had to wait for the Avengers to be explode. He could have just launched the missiles while they were busy fighting.

Anyway.

With the Avengers dead I guess the book will be about- can’t think of a good one for that recurring goof. So yeah, the Avengers aren’t dead.

Scarlet Witch used her powers to shield the team just in the nick of time.

Captain America: “Thanks, Wanda. If you hadn’t cast that protective hex sphere around us just in time...!”

Scarlet Witch: “Don’t mention it, captain. I rather enjoy being alive myself!”

Although, I didn’t know she could just shield people with her powers like that. Unless she altered the probability that explosions hurt so that they didn’t. Yes, that sounds plausible.

The two flying members of the team, Iron Man and Wonder Man fly out of the cave after the missiles, still determined to save the days as heroes often do.

The missiles launch into orbit and then something really goofy happens.

I’ve been saying missiles because the comic has been saying missiles and I guess they are technically missiles. But if I asked you to imagine a supervillain launching some missiles full of a chemical weapon, would you imagine this?

When the missiles launch into orbit they link up with Yellow Claw’s hot rod pink spaceship.

When I first saw this, I thought: is he going to launch them again from his spaceship? A bit of an unnecessary additional step.

But no. That is not what is going on here.

The man is just super committed to his iconography. The missiles join the spaceship and then bend to make it clear its supposed to resemble a claw.

That’s the kind of goofy nonsense I’m here for.

Iron Man and Wonder Man show up, to Yellow Claw’s alarm, and try to attack the hot pink spaceship but bounce off uselessly. The thing is protected by a strong force field.

Yellow Claw probably goes ‘phew’ internally and gets on with his evil plan.

With the missiles bent, as missiles are known to do??, to resemble claws, they can begin to spray the sterility gas into the atmosphere.

Yellow Claw: “Soon, it will be over! When enough vapors are released to mingle with the entire atmosphere -- the shadow of the Claw shall cover the Earth!”

And with things looking grim, Vision decides that things are down to him. I mean he did go off alone and is now stuck inside the enemy’s spaceship. He’s in a good position to mess things up.

So stuck suspended in a trap, he increases his density and mass to his limit and beyond! One ton, two, further!

The energy bubble holding him gives way to his weight, allowing him to make contact with the deck of the ship. Adding his weight to that of the ship and throwing it out of orbit.

The ship will crash into Earth and at this point, it can’t be stopped.

Yellow Claw is fairly pissed.

He smashes the device holding Vision captive and then starts trying to kill him with his bare hands.

And he’s capable of hitting Vision when he’s intangible because he studied Vision while he was a prisoner, the first time he was a prisoner. And created circuity to his metal sleeves that lets him tangible the intangible.

And thus he tries to strangle Vision.

I’m not sure he needs to breathe. Probably why Yellow Claw is punching him instead in later panels.

Vision points out that this fight is fairly pointless and that Yellow Claw could be using this time to escape but Yellow Claw is determined that he get something accomplished today.

And then the ship crashes into the ocean.

A short time skip later and the Avengers have parked the Quinjet on the ocean (it buoyant) and are searching for the Vision.

How did they know the Vision was here? Didn’t they think he was recuperating back at the mansion?

Apparently another gaffe but one that could be handwaved. Earlier in the issue when the three dumbnames appeared, Yellow Claw appeared on a monitor to taunt the Avengers and Vision was visible behind him. Captain America even appears to be pointing at Vision like ‘hey I know that guy from work.’

So conceivably they knew he was with Yellow Claw when his ship crashed.

Iron Man gives up on searching the ocean, not being able to find the Vision in the water but Vision just peaces in from the sky. He intangible’d out the ship just before the crash. He’s totally fine.

Scarlet Witch: “I am glad that you are safe, my husband. And I’m glad that the danger has ended.”

Vision: “No, my love. Though it is true that the Yellow Claw is dead, that he will no longer plague us with his particular form of madness -- there are too many others like him, others who would rise to power by crushing the freedom that is every being’s birthright.

And as long as any of them remain unchallenged -- the danger will never end.”

With that, Vision sort of stares out across the ocean moodily. Because a true Avengers story ends with someone staring at something moodily.

And I dunno! Maybe it was the extended break from doing this liveblog but this two-parter wasn’t as bad as I dreaded.

Supposedly, part of the impetus of the story was to do a last hurrah story for Yellow Claw and then shove him under some furniture because his yellow peril character concept was growing increasingly awkward.

After one more story in Marvel Fanfare with Cap, Yellow Claw was shelved for nearly three decades.

And man launches sterility gas missiles into space to form a giant claw to make it so that his successor can repopulate the Earth with a new, freedom hating breed of humanity is pretty great as far as comic book nonsense goes.

Although, in retrospect, I’m realizing that this was basically the same plan the Sentinels that kidnapped Scarlet Witch had.

Sterilize the planet with Wanda’s magical uterus and then replace humanity with a genetically engineered kind that could not mutate.

Comic books are weird.

Next time: Human Torch guest stars. Everything is on fire.

Follow @essential-avengers or like or reblog or send me questions or tell me I’m doing an okay job or do nothing. There are many choices available. But I would appreciate feedback.

#Avengers #the Vision #Yellow Claw #essential marvel liveblogging #essential avengers #Wasp #Jocasta #Beast #Wonder Man #Captain America #Iron Man

[mirkwoodshewolf]

Chapter 8; 5 years later

*Author’s note*

Hey all, well been a long time hadn't it? I am so sorry for this delayed chapter. I got so involved with other requests and then school that I had to set this aside even after getting half the chapter done already and then finally finishing it just a second ago. So I apologize for the ending of this chapter, I didn't know how else to end it but I hope it's not too terrible for you all. I hope to get the next chapter up quicker than this one but we will just have to wait and see. Anyways I hope you all enjoy this next part of Mother Raksha :)

Taglist:

@psychosupernatural

@plethora-of-things

@ixchel-9275

@waddles03

_____________________________________________________________

*3rd Person POV*

Five years. Five years since Thanos had revealed that he had only used the stones after destroying half of the universe, just to destroy the stones.  The Avengers were devastated, families were beyond hope.  But as the saying goes; ‘Life goes on’ and for this case, it’s as best as it can.  People who had survived tried to continue to make a living.  

Some joined other families to help raise children that had lost their parents, some joined in group talks to discuss everything that has happened and how they are slowly trying to move on, however there are some that couldn’t move on.

They feel the guilt of why they are still alive and hundreds of others including those that they loved had to get snapped away into oblivion.  Why those people, not them?

At the Avengers facility, Natasha who had grown her hair back out and was back to it’s natural red state at the roots but at the end was the blonde hair she had sported five years ago.  

She sat at a desk cutting up her midnight snack, a peanut butter sandwich while on four holograms in front of her were as followed from left to right; Rocket and Nebula, Okoye and Morowa, Carol Danvers (who was sporting a new haircut as well, a sort of mohawk style hair), and Rhodey.

“Yeah, we boarded that highly-suspect warship Danvers pinged.” Rocket said sarcastically.

“It was an infectious garbage scow.” Nebula stated in disgust.

“So, thanks for the hot tip.” Continued Rocket as they both turned towards Carol.

“Well you were closer.” She said.

“Yeah. And now we smell like garbage.” Complained Rocket.

“You get a reading on those tremors?” Natasha asked Okoye and Morowa.  Morowa, sporting the reigning Queen of Wakanda crown on her head stated.

“It was a mild subduction under the African plate.”

“Do we have a visual? How are we handling it?”

“Nat. It’s an earthquake under the ocean. We handle it, by not handling it.” Answered Okoye.

“Carol, are we seeing you here next month?” Nat asked turning to Carol.

“Not likely.” Captain Marvel answered.

“What? You gonna get another haircut?” questioned Rocket.

“Listen fur face. I’m covering a lot of territory. The things that are happening on Earth are happening everywhere. On thousands of planets.” Rocket then began muttering in understandment, knowing that she was right.  She then turned back towards Nat and spoke the honest truth, “So you might not see me for a long time.”

“Alright. Uh, well…..this channel’s always active. So, if anything goes sideways….anyone’s making any trouble where they shouldn’t….comes through me.” They all agreed and then one by one each transmission ended.

*Morowa’s POV*

I removed Ramonda’s crown from my head revealing my newly short cut raven black hair.  I sighed heavily and leaned up against the throne.  Ever since that day five years ago, with all members of the royal family gone, I was forced to take the throne of Wakanda.

All the tribes have been trying to survive and adapt from the blimp.  Many of us lost family, for me it was like a triple blow.  I already lost my first family, with T’Challa, Shuri, (y/n) and Ramonda it was a double blow, and now…..Rauri and the Chimeras.

One day after Rauri, Dean and Mitchell returned from finding Thanos.  All of them were gone, the remaining chimeras all just left without a note or a word.  

And so far no one has been able to find them, I’ve had the remaining Wakandan spies that were still spread out across the world looking for them, I even sent out other Wakandans to find them, and so far nothing.

I refused to tell Nat because this wasn’t something she needed on her plate right now.  I knew the chimeras better than anyone, and they weren’t gonna listen to an Avenger, they needed the Alpha female’s mother.

“Morowa, you’ve done all you could do.” Okoye tried to assure me as I felt her hand at my shoulder.

“But is it really enough?” the doors opened and walking in was M’Baku and two of his Jabari members, Azizi and Kamari who were forced up the ranks after his true second and third in command were snapped away.

“My Queen.” He greeted solemnly in Wakandan.

“Brother.” I greeted back. “Any word?”

“We may have found something.” I looked at him desperately and he continued, “There’s been rumor sightings from one of my Jabari spies in Ireland, in a wooded area just 10 miles from Bristol.”

Of course, Bristol was where both he and Connor were from.  Guess he thought with the wider greenery passages, he’d be able to fit what’s left of the chimera pack there.

“Okoye, you’re in charge till I get back.”

“You’re going to find them?” she asked me.

“That or die trying.”

“Morowa, my sister. Are you sure that’s a good idea? When Rauri returned with Dean and Mitchell, none of them reverted back to their human forms. And in his mouth Rauri carried the body of Thanos. How do we know he’ll want to see you?”

“That’s the risk I’m willing to take. I’ve…..I’ve already lost so much in my entire life. Five years ago I lost twice as much. I promised (y/n) that I would look after her husband from doing something reckless. And you both know that I never break a promise.” They both nodded.

I grabbed my old Dora Milaje spear and wore a similar teeth collar that Shuri had made for T’Challa as an improved Black Panther design, however it would turn into my Jaguar armor.

I opened up a portal to Bristol and I turned towards my two friends and remaining brother and sister.

“I leave Wakanda to you till I come back. And if I don’t……the throne belongs to both of you.”

“Yes my Queen.” They both said in Wakandan. I crossed my hands over my chest in the Wakandan salute and they did it back to me then I stepped through the portal and closed it up behind me.

It was cloudy and foggy, not good weather for tracking down a bunch of grieving probably pissed off animals.  I walked along the acres of woodlands and ranging hills. I must’ve hiked for what felt like hours till I finally came across a pair of tracks.  I raced up to them and knelt down.  I stroked along the outlines of the paws till I realized that they were bear tracks.

“Dean.” I whispered.  I heard the sound of a twig snap and I quickly ducked for cover behind a nearby boulder and kept low.  I began hearing the huffing sounds of a bear and when I slowly turned to look past the boulder there I saw a great grizzly bear that was twice the size of a normal one. It was Dean.

He turned towards me but I quickly ducked back and I could hear him softly roaring and sniffing the air.  I bite my bottom lip as I tried not to make a sound, especially since I could hear his sniffing and growling coming closer.

Very slowly and as silently as I could, I slide around the boulder, in case he decided to peek over and would find me. But it wasn’t until I heard the sound of a dog’s howl in the distance.  Dean ceased his sniffing and took off running.

I looked over the boulder and trailed after him. I couldn’t let him out of my sight but through all the fog and mist, I could hardly see where I was going.  But using my mystical arts abilities it made guiding through the mist slightly easier as I tracked him down.

I didn’t want to suddenly cause a change in the weather, that would just startle him further and then I’d never be able to find him while also maintaining control of the weather.  I soon came to an open field and it was just dead silence.

No birds, no small critters, nothing not even the wind.

Suddenly out of nowhere I just felt something charging at me.  I leaped over in the air to see this giant mass of fur running under me.  I landed on the ground and soon standing well over 10ft was Dean in his bear form.

“Dean.” I said warily. He growled at me before finally roaring and leaned forward to swipe his huge paw at me.  I cartwheeled backwards and warned him as I took out my spear. “Don’t make me do this Dean!”

He suddenly charged forward his mouth wide open as he let out a roar so I put the handle of my staff between myself and his mouth as he forced me down and the two of us were at war with each other. He shook his head trying to take the spear away but I kept a strong grip.

I knew I had to snap him out of it, but at this point it was like all humanity was gone from him, all that was left was the grizzly bear.  So when I found an opening, I lifted my spear up with my left hand to ensure his head raised up, so that with my right I palm-strike him in the chest, in order to reach deep down and push his astral form out.

I soon saw his human astral form come out as his bear body collapsed right on top of me.  I let out a groan and tried to get his body off of mine.

‘Wha—what the hell is this? Morowa how did—when did you get here?’

“Explain later.” I groaned out.

‘Here I’ll—’

“It’s no use. Your astral form is useless in the physical world.”

‘The what form?’ I groaned as I finally managed to get out from underneath the giant soulless bear.  I panted and as he reached out I told him to back up as I stood myself up.

“The astral dimensions is a reality where the soul exists a part from the body. Your current form can’t touch or affect what is out here in the physical world. You are in one of the billion realities known only to the sorcerers.”

‘So basically I’m a ghost?’

“In a way. But now’s no time for a sorcery lessons. Where’s Rauri?”

‘Wouldn’t we all?’ he said.  At this point I was confused.

“What do you mean?”

‘It’s exactly what I mean. No one has seen Rauri for over 2 years now. One morning Mitchell and I went to talk to him only to see a note telling us that we were in charge.’

“Goddamnit Rauri.” I muttered. “So where is everyone else?”

‘We made camp base about 5 miles East. Rauri said it’s along the very village where he and Connor used to grow up in. Thought it’d be the best place to live since it’s been abandoned since Hydra invaded their village.’

“Take me there.” He sighed heavily.

‘You sure about that Morowa?’

“From the moment you all came to Wakanda and were saved from Connor, (y/n) made it her responsibility to look after all of you. She’s my daughter and now that she’s gone, that makes all of you my responsibility.” Dean just looked at me grimly before saying.

‘Alright. But I warn you it’s not gonna be pretty.’

“I understand what I’m about to see.” I then slowly swerved my fingers into a fist lifting his bear body up which absorbed his astral form and Dean’s bear eyes soon woke up.

Instead of the soulless black ones, they receded and had a more human spirit to them.

‘Hop on.’ I mounted his back and he took off eastward.

As we now came to a clearing, what I saw stunned me.  For mounted along a pike of quills, claws and teeth marks was a skeleton of sorts.  A skeleton belonging to only one deity.

“Is—is that…..”

‘Yeah. The skeletal remains of Thanos. Since the rest of the chimeras didn’t get to have their fun, Rauri brought his beheaded corpse to us to have our own go at the bastard. Animals take grieving very seriously. We also have this up as a warning. To warn anyone still around who somehow venture this far to turn back, for here lies the beasts that ended the bastard who started all this.’

I felt a shiver of fear run up my spine as Dean walked further into the thick forest.  Already I could hear the sounds of animal growls.  Then I saw them.

The remaining big cat chimeras all lowly growled from their dens.  Already I caught some glimpses of bones near them, the same sized bones as from the Thanos display.  Their eyes were cold and soulless like true big cats eyes were as they all began growling and roaring as we walked past them.

“You weren’t kidding Dean.” I muttered.

‘While humans all around the world have tried to move on. Animals don’t. Thanks to these animal instincts the pain humans went through five years ago is ten times stronger. Animals never forget, nor can some of us forgive.’ We stopped at a small rock formation and I hopped off of Dean but stuck close to him. ‘You all remember our Alpha female’s mother Morowa.’

At hearing my name I only got roars and snarls in response.  Not just from the big cat chimeras but the crocodile ones, some of the ape chimeras all huffed agitatedly and I got thunderous rumbles from the elephant chimeras.

“You shouldn’t have brought her here.” We turned around and coming out of the darkness of a cave nearby was Mitchell. He definitely looked different the last time I saw him, he grew his hair out down to his shoulders and he started to slightly grow in a beard.  Around his neck was a necklace that looked like fingers.

“Mitchell.” I greeted him with a simple nod.

“No offense Morowa, you can’t be here.”

“I know, I only came to talk to Rauri and find out where exactly you all went to.”

“Well….”

“I know Dean told me that Rauri left. And you have no idea where he could’ve gone to?”

“Not a damn clue. Though to be honest I think he couldn’t take the heat anymore. He think he’s the only one who suffered. We all suffered! I lost my girlfriend of over 12 years because of Thanos!”

“Alright Mitchell calm down.” Dean now in human form tried to hold steady.

“And you Dean, you’re whole family is gone. And you’re acting like it’s not even bothering you!”

“You think it doesn’t? My brother, my wife, my sister in law, everyone is gone from me. But if anyone needs to keep their heads on straight it’s me. And it should be you. You’ve always been the collected one while I’ve been the hotheaded one. So don’t you talk to be about suffering dog boy!”

“Alright, alright you two break it up!” I came between them.  “Look; no one has forgotten about all that’s happened. And I don’t expect all of you to forget and forgive just as easily. Your alpha female and savior was my daughter. I’ve already lost my real child and my husband years before I met her, and losing her five years ago was like reopening those wounds.”

Everyone was silent and that’s when Mitchell said.

“Then what do you expect us to do?” Honestly I didn’t know how to respond to that.

“Be there for each other. Cause all I’m seeing now is that you all are even more divided than five years ago. You’re all that’s left of your family. Don’t turn on each other.” At hearing my speech, the chimeras all seemed to let go of their savage animalistic instincts and turned to look at each other.

“And you two. Being the only Betas left, you both are in charge in making sure none of your pack members tear each other apart. I’ll try my best to find Rauri.”

“You promise you’ll find him?” asked Mitchell.

“I’ll keep you updated.” I hugged him and I whispered in his ear. “Just don’t fall off the deep end. Not again this time Marine.”

“I’ll try.” He said as he slowly embraced me back. I then turned to Dean and I hugged him.

“Thank you Morowa, for—snapping me back into reality.”

“My pleasure, keep an eye on these guys. They’re going to need you more than ever. You and Mitchell.” He nodded.

I hopped off the rock formation and the chimeras let me pass by.  Every now and then I stroked their heads in comfort or grazed their trunks and tusks as a promise.

As I left the forest that’s when I got a beep from my kimoyo beads bracelet.  I activated it and forming before my eyes was Okoye.

“What is it Okoye?”

“Nat just contacted us. She said her and Captain Rogers found something.”

“Found what?”

“A way to bring everyone back.” At hearing this my eyes widened.

“Tell me more.”

#Avengers #the avengers #avengers endgame #avengers infinity war #avengers x reader #avengers imagine #avengers fandom #avengers fanfiction #avengers imagines #bucky barnes #bucky barnes x reader #steve rogers #steve rogers x reader #bucky barnes x teen reader #steve rogers x teen reader #tony stark #tony stark imagine #steve rogers imagine #steve rogers imagines #natasha romanoff #clint barton #bruce banner #bad wolf #bad wolf series #marvel #thor #gotg #rocket raccoon #captain marvel #Marvel MCU

[ecotone99]

[SP] The Great Easter Egg Crisis of 2020

The old woman sat at a high-rise bar, looking out over the sprawling city below. A fat cigar hung from her lips. She took a deep drag, the smart smoke working into her lungs, repairing damage from a lifetime of breathing polluted air.

Her unwanted companion stood silently. Just another rich kid. But one waiting expectantly for an answer.

“That was a long time ago, and I’ve done my time. How’d you track me down anyway?”

The kid skirted the question. “It’s a school project. I’m trying to put together a story. Something gritty yet intimate.”

She inhaled again. “It’s all in the archives somewhere. Go digging.”

The kid slowly shook his head. “Without the personal details, it’s just old history.”

She looked the kid over. Why not. If she could get something out of it, anyway.

“Buy me a drink. Top shelf.”

The kid nodded reluctantly.

May as well go all out. She gestured over a robot bartender and ordered the most expensive thing on the menu. The robot dispensed it on the spot, ice cold in a tall glass.

She savoured a mouthful. It was excellent. She could feel the virotherapy agents working almost immediately, massaging at decades of DNA damage. It wouldn’t last, but sure as hell felt good.

The kid looked at her expectantly.

She sighed. “You know about the outbreak in 2020? Covid-19. For some it was the end. For others, a new beginning. I saw it as a chance to make money. A lot of money.”

She took another drag on the cigar, and washed it down with more of the drink. “SARS. Swine Flu. Ebola. We’d heard it all before, and the threat of a pandemic seemed almost routine. Life was calm at first, but slowly the hysteria crept in. People hoarding food. Stockpiling toilet paper. Ridiculous stuff. Each little crisis fueled by social media. It’s different these days, but back then people didn’t understand the risks of living your life online. Mob mentality took over. It quickly became chaos.”

She paused, trying to remember the exact wording. “A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals.”

The kid looked at her, impassive. Too young to understand by about a century.

“It’s a quote. Look it up.” The kids eyes went a little dimmer as he accessed the ‘net in his head. She interrupted and the kid snapped back to reality. “Do it later.”

She continued on. “So we got an idea. I suppose I should say I got an idea, but it took a team of us to pull off. Most were in it for the money. Some just wanted to cause trouble. That was a thing, back then. Coronavirus was our tinder, and fear of missing out was our spark. Little ripples of panic were already in effect. Shortages would come and go, stock prices jumped up and down. But how could we make it work in our favour?”

She stared, waiting until the kid answered. “Easter Eggs. I know that bit.”

She growled back. “You really don’t. There’s nothing like it anymore. It was a cluster fuck of corporations bastardising ancient beliefs for profit. Pointless conspicuous consumption in chocolate form.”

The kid retreated into his head, looking for meaning in the unfamiliar words. “Consumer whores, right?”

The old woman laughed, and coughed, and laughed again. “Exactly.”

She took another swig of the drink, calming her throat. “The only thing more powerful than consumerism was fear. And the world was primed for it. Outbreaks in almost every city. Shortages, both real and imagined. And just a few weeks out from a holiday celebrated by half the world. You’ve never eaten an easter egg, I presume?”

The kid shrugged. “I tried to recreate one with the food printers. I don’t get the appeal.”

She nodded along. “Either do I kid. Always hated Easter. Maybe that’s why I didn’t feel bad about what we did. Those damn eggs. Churned out by the millions in China. Each one trapping a little breath of air inside. We weren't sure the plan would work, but in the end it was easy. A faked video of a sick worker coughing over an easter egg production line. And a single tweet.”

She shook her head, breathing out through her nose. “We thought we’d need to push to get it viral. But no. Society was ready to bubble over. The media ran with it - a precious holiday was under attack. People were angry at Asia, angry at the government, angry at corporations, angry at each other. And we were ready. We seeded counter campaigns supporting businesses of our choosing. ‘Buy safe, buy local’. Anything forgein was boycotted. People tried to stock up on Easter eggs, beating the rush. Production was increased, but prices quickly climbed out of control. The savvy ones looked ahead, wondering about chocolate futures and next year's eggs. They invested, and stock prices grew. As the rest of the market tanked, our stocks were a shining beacon of hope. The fear of missing out kicked in even harder and the prices doubled. Then tripled. Along the way, the supposedly contaminated eggs all tested clean, and the video was declared a fake. But it was too late.”

She smiled at a plan gone even better than expected. “By Easter, the chosen companies were trading at one hundred times our buy in. We’d leveraged every dollar we had on the shares and were filthy rich. We cashed out, ready to disappear before it all came crashing down. We’d defrauded the world, and thought we’d gotten away with it.”

The old woman clenched her jaw, wrinkles deepening. “What happened next was pure bad luck. We couldn’t have known and it sure as hell wasn’t our fault. The chocolate in the ‘safe’ eggs was contaminated. The incubation was slow, but the mortality rate high. They didn’t even know what it was at first. Panic fueled speculation spun a thousand stories. Toxins from manufacturers cutting corners to meet demand. A Coronavirus mutation. Some sinister and ghastly biological weapon. People even looked to the skies, thinking of extraterrestrial horrors.”

She took a deep breath before continuing. “It was the global pandemic everyone had been afraid of, and had a terrifying fatality rate. Containment was impossible, hospitals were overwhelmed, and nothing slowed the spread. The death toll rose staggeringly fast. One hundred thousand. Five hundred thousand. By July there was over a billion dead, with no end in sight. No treatment, no vaccine, no cure. The old and the sick succumbed more easily, but it took young and healthy too. By the time the outbreak worked its way around the globe, two and a half billion people had died.”

She blinked, pushing back tears as she relived the memories. “I know you’ve seen the pictures. Watched the videos. But you can’t understand what it was like. Two and half billion people dead. Everyone lost someone close to them. Everyone.”

She stopped to take a deep breath “Have you experienced death? In your happy, sheltered life, has anyone died?”

The kid looked uncomfortable. “No. I had an aunt who tried to stop her treatments once, but the family wouldn't allow that.”

She looked at the kid with dull envy. “There had never been a tragedy like this. So much fear, so much anger. The world was drawn together, and grieved and raged and howled for blood with one voice. Our little Easter Egg fraud was uncovered, and we were hunted down. We burnt through our fortunes trying to run, trying to hide. But the world was single minded and we had to pay."

She wiped at her cheek. “I don’t know how I was kept alive until the trial. None of my co-conspirators made it. Death was too good for me, it seems. I was at the center of it all. Five billion survivors, cursing my name, demanding I suffer. They called me Patient Zero. That’s almost funny now.”

She looked the kid in the eyes. “I was terrified I would be tortured. Kept alive to feel the world's pain. I prayed for death. In some way what happened next was a miracle. It’s kind of fitting, don’t you think? A God’s honest Easter resurrection.”

She took a long slow drag of her cigar, blowing the spent smoke towards the kid. “Some people called them Angels. Friends and family, returned to the living. Others saw them as demons. That fitted better. The walking undead, climbing out of the ground. We’d spent half our lives obsessing over zombies and here they were. The reality was brutal, and another billion people died before they were stopped. Entire countries fell apart. The world staggered, and it felt like nothing could ever be the same again.”

She looked down at her drink, not sure where to next. “But humans are resilient, and we recovered. It almost seems trivial now. Nearly half the world wiped out, but that only took the population back fifty years. Life continued on, damaged but not broken. What little authority remained kept me in prison, but that was as much for my protection as it was a punishment."

She took one last swig. “I know some people see it as a blessing. Heaven on Earth, they say. I know I wouldn’t be alive today without the medical advances cajoled out of corpses that refuse to stay dead. Eternal youth.” She scowled. “At least for those who can afford it.”

She put down her empty glass, looking into it. “That’s all the memories you get for one drink. What’s this gritty yet intimate story of yours going to be called, anyway?”

The kid was already retreating inside his own head, but focused back momentarily.

“The Great Easter Egg Crisis of 2020”

“Jesus, that’s horrifying.” She turned back to the window, not really seeing the world outside.

submitted by /u/sywofp [link] [comments] via Blogger https://ift.tt/2xIISJD

#Blogger #Story

[ashfaqqahmad]

Faith versus Logic 6

Did the Prophet really go on a Skywalk?

Click here to read the previous part of this article

Many hadiths are also associated with this concept of Heaven and Hell, some of which are related to the Meraj of Rasool, which states that on his journey of Meraj, Hazur Saheb had not only seen Heaven but had also visited the Hell.

If you look at this anecdote in the Quran, then the Quran in its verse tells just this – it is a sacred caste that has taken along its fellow from Masjid-e-Haram to Masjid-e-Aqsa, around which we have set holy things… (17:01). Now you will find its evidence in hadiths, which tell that on one night (in a dream-like condition), Jibreel came to his house and took the Prophet from the Kaaba (Mecca) to the Masjid-e-Aqsa (Jerusalem) on his divinely animal ‘Burrak’ and then visited the heavens.

After going through questioning they entered the First Sky (as it happens while entering at a bungalow or factory gate), where they met Hazrat Adam Alassalam and exchanged salutes. Then they reached the Second Sky wherewith the same process they met Hazrat Yahya and Jesus— Hazrat Yusuf on the Third, Hazrat Idris on the Fourth, Hazrat Aaron on the Fifth, Hazrat Musa on the Sixth and on the Seventh Sky they met Hazrat Abraham.

How did humans start their journey on earth

On this Seventh Sky, they also saw Bait-ul-Mamur— this is that heavenly holy place which is in the straight direction of Kaaba (Then it was not known that due to rotation the earth rotates in all four directions and it does not have a straight line— now that you know it, you can’t do anything about it)… Seventy thousand angels encircle the Bait-ul-Mamur and once they do, then they don’t get the next opportunity till Judgment Day.

Here both Hazrat reached at Sidrat-ul-Muntaha— the last extent of the seventh sky. Here was a tree with elephant-like leaves and pitcher-like fruits with four canals bursting from its roots. Two secret canals flow from there in the paradise and are two others Nile and Euphrates which flow on the ground… (When the Ganges can descend from heaven, why not Nile and Euphrates), then Jibril could not go further ahead from here so the Prophet went alone.

There, not only did they see the gardens of Heaven and Nehr-e-Kausar, but they also visited Hell and saw some people getting punished. Here he received a reward of fifty Namaz’es for the community, which after the process of being intervened, persuaded and sent back by Hazrat Musa while returning, was later on edited to five Namaz’es. This description is derived from Ibne Qasir, Al Tabri, Quratbi, Sahi Muslim, Sahi Bukhari and Sunan hadiths.

Skies are envisioned as a multi-story building

This whole hypothesis is such as Sky is a seven-story building where you can reach from one section to another with the help of stairs— it is your discretion to believe it or not, but according to today’s information, we can do some investigation by getting out of this big earth.

The closest body to the Earth is the Moon, but even between it, there is such a distance that thirty piles of the earth will fit in it and if we travel at a speed of hundred kilometres per hour towards the moon, it will still take one hundred and sixty days to reach there.

Where did religion come from and how logical from the point of view of science?

Then we have a nearby planet Mars which is at a distance of 225 to 400 million km (in different conditions of rotation). Where the light also takes twenty minutes to reach, nothing can move faster than the light in space and the speed of light 3 lakh km per second. The far-flung Voyager Probe in the space, which has been running at a speed of 17 km per second, it will take hundreds of years to completely exit our solar system.

Now if we exit this solar system, we will reach the Interstellar Neighborhood where there are other solar systems. In our solar system, you can measure distance in an astronomical unit (the distance of the Sun from the Earth), but on exit, Light years has to be used as a unit to measure the distance (9.461 trillion kilometres) that is, the distance the sunlight travels in a year.

Our nearest star after the sun is Proxima Centauri, which is 4.24 light-years away from us— if you try to reach it at the speed of the Voyager vehicle, it will take thousands of years. Now, this solar system is a part of the which galaxy, the galaxy itself is spread over one lakh light-years, in which there are twenty thousand crore stars and planets and the interesting thing is that we can see only one percent of them at night.

Now if we go even a little further, we will get the Local Group of Galaxies— which has 54 galaxies and it spreads (from one end to the other) to One Crore light-years.

And when you zoom out this circle, you will find Virgo supercluster — whose spread is 11 Crore light-years, so think how big will this circle be— but this big circle is also equal to just one grain of rye in the Laniakea supercluster, in which there are one Lakhs galaxies and its spread is 52 Crore light-years.

what possibilities are there in the universe outside our planet

Now, this is also not everything— rather it is just a small part of the Titanic Laniakea supercluster, and the Laniakea supercluster is just a small part of the Observable Universe, which we have been able to see till date. In which there are two lakh crores Galaxies in total, the distance from our Earth to one end of this is 4,650 Crore light-years, that its total dispersion is 9,300 million light-years.

Our position is almost nothing according to the universe

The age of our universe is believed to be 137 billion years because the light before that could not be detected yet. According to the Cosmic Inflation Theory, there can also be Multiverse across it, with no accurate estimate of the exact dispersion and it is possible that the entire observable universe keeps just a status like of a football on Earth (in comparison to the entire super universe).

However, such a large local group with 54 galaxies is only 0.00000000001 percent of the Observable Universe, and it has so many planets, which are more than the particles of sand on the entire earth. Think about where we exist in the Universe and what is our status.

Think to stand in front of one of the deserts and there are some micro bacterias sticking on one of the particles, would you write their fates and deeds? Make Heaven or Hell for them? Only a person with religious intelligence can think of this, not someone with logical intelligence. However, now put the whole scenario in front and think for yourself where is the first Sky, where is the second one and what is the distance between them – and where can the word of God be?

If God is there then how can it be from the point of view of science

What is the practical knowledge of people called ‘Aalim’?

Well, you will find a lot of people around you who keep memorized data related to Hadiths, Puranas and they keep giving their expert views on everything, but do you really think they are knowledgeable people… one day in my circle, I had asked a simple question in the conversation going on a religious issue between these types of people. That whatever you are saying, how do you know that? What is your source of information?

A respected one mentioned the names of some Islamic books, now that the gathering was of Sunnis, then obviously the books were related to them.

 How to write a book in Microsoft word  

I told them three forms of one incident – one was in their book, the other in the book of Shia Hazrat and the third version was the version of independent Muslim historians. The interesting thing is that all three were different from each other… and then I asked if there was a guarantee that one of these or your writing is correct.

Apparently, there was no answer. In such cases, no one happens to have any argument other than unwavering faith in his writing. The problem with most people is that they have read one-sided books (only related to their creed) and they don’t even know what the people on the opposite side have written on the same issue.

Yes, since childhood, it is filled in the raw minds by codifying that our writing is right and what all others have written is wrong. They ​​grow up with these values and from personal life to the virtual world of social media, they are seen fighting with sticks, that whatever is written in their books, whatever they have read-only that is the real and the last truth.

Such a tremendous belief, as if they had been an eyewitness to those things. Even for a moment, there is no doubt in them that there can be lies and adulteration in the things that reached them.

Click here to read the next part of this article

इस लेख को हिंदी में पढ़ने के लिये यहाँ क्लिक करें

#islam #science #atheism #religion and science #faith vs fact #faith and logic

[agendercas]

Do you think murdoc has narcissistic personality disorder?

When I saw this in my inbox I kinda got “excited” because the other day my close friend and I were talking about Murdoc having Narcissistic Personality Disorder. So before I go any further, yes I do think Murdoc has Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Why? Well, that’s what I’m about to discuss.

Although I vaguely remembered what Narcissistic Personality Disorder entailed from my abnormal psych class, I pulled out my DSM-V and looked at the diagnostic criteria before answering this question. Let me tell you it was like looking at Murdoc’s life in a few sentences.

Diagnostic Criteria (this is taken directly from the manual)

A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of context, as indicated by five or more of the following:

Has a grandiose sense of self importance (e.g. exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior with commensurate achievements).

Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love

Believes that he or she is “special” and unique and can be only understood by or should associate with other special or high-status people (or institutions)

Requires excessive admiration

Has a sense of entitlement (i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations).

Is interpersonally exploitative (i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends).

Lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others.

Is often envious of others or believes that other are envious of him or her

Shows arrogant, haughty, behaviors or attitudes

Now let’s give examples of Murdoc exhibiting each of these:

Has a grandiose sense of self importance (e.g. exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior with commensurate achievements).

This is just Murdoc’s character in a nutshell. Most of what he says and does falls into this criteria. Here are some examples of Murdoc exhibiting a grandiose sense of his importance:

Self importance

“My first manager told me the golden rule of showbiz is to be nice to people on the way up ’cause you’ll meet them again on the way down. I punched him for saying that. Then fired him. There’s no way I’ll see him again on the way down, because a) Murdoc Niccals is a living fucking legend that will never go down...”

“Snobs look down on people, and I look down on everyone. Not in a snooty, classist way—I mean because I’m better than everyone.”

“If there’s a dream in your heart, never let anyone tell you you’ve got no talent. Get out there, embarrass yourself, and prove to the world you’ve got no talent. And then give up. ’Cause not everyone can be a genius like me.”

quotes found here

Exaggerates “achievements”

Interviewer: You need to fight Big Balls McGuinness to break out of prison. What’s going to be your battle plan?

Murdoc: We’ve already rumbled, mate. Prison lore rule one – wallop the hardest con to show the rest of the animals who’s at the top of the food chain. It wasn’t easy, mind – besides Big Balls’ oversized nuts, he’s got fists like seaside caravans. But he didn’t stand a chance against my finishing move, my version of the spinning bird kick from Streetfighter 2. What I do is, jump in the air, flip upside-down, do the splits, and then windmill kick his face into submission. Game over. (For him).

quote found here

As shown here, Murdoc lost the fight (if you can even call it that...) and he over exaggerates his failed jump kick.

Exaggerates “achievements” cont.

“First gig, I was 6 years old. Smashed out "The Wheels on the Bus". One of the most seminal gigs in pop history.”

Interviewer: Tell me about Gorillaz' first ever show. 

Murdoc: Camden Brownhouse, 1998. How did it go? Like any paradigm-shifting event, it overloaded people's synapses. They were so shell-shocked a massive riot broke out (which I predicted). The place got trashed, there were multiple casualties, and I picked up a range of STDs. Top night.

quotes found here

Superiority

“The Warden’s well happy to have me, of course – there’s already been a massive spike in crooks and murderers wanting a transfer here. I’m like the Dalai Lama in this place, every day there’s a line of faithful outside my cell waiting for a few seconds with me.”

“Murdoc Niccals doesn’t bunk up with anyone. I pretty much have my own wing. I’m like Pablo Escobar when he got banged up in his very own Playboy Mansion. I’ve got a pool table, plasma tv, chocolate fountain. I’ve even got a hot tub, although that requires a little vigilance...”

“Interviewer: How’s the food?

Murdoc: Absolute filth – for the other mugs in here. But when you’re high-profile like me, you get all the privileges. Steak, caviar, Coco Pops. And what I can’t get I have droned in over the walls...”

quotes found here

Contrary to what he says, Murdoc is an ordinary prisoner. He has a standard sized cell and he eats normal food, like ramen, as shown here:

Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love

Murdoc is constantly under the impression that the entire world is in love with him and anything he does will give him success. He also believes he has undying devotion and loyalty from ALL fans of Gorillaz as shown here in this interview:

“Cheers. But yeah, it’s no surprise to me that millions of people have—”

“It’s not millions,” I interrupt.

“—billions of people have come together to fight this terrible injustice!” booms Murdoc. “The masses have spoken, Murdoc shall returneth, like a glorious rocket from the heavens, a great and terrifying phallus crashing to Earth to save all humanity, and make Gorillaz great again! Plus hoover up those mini burger things at the welcome home party.”

Or in his plan to get out of prison

He genuinely thinks that millions of people will be outside the prison following his release and that he’ll have a giant welcome home party (when the band is pretty “content” with him not being in their lives at this point).

Believes that he or she is “special” and unique and can be only understood by or should associate with other special or high-status people (or institutions).

Murdoc believes he’s the greatest living person and he constantly compares himself to high profile celebrities or people in history. Or he’ll outright say he’s better than them. This is shown above the quotes from the first point and here:

and in this quote:

Interviewer: Do you ever worry that having so many high-profile guest features will take the spotlight off of you?

Murdoc: Of course not. Who’s higher profile than me? That would be like asking Emperor Nero if he felt threatened by the chumps that feed him grapes and polish his balls.

found here

Although Murdoc will associate with people who aren’t of a high status, he makes sure to let whoever it is he is talking to (usually an interviewer) that he’s better than them.

Requires excessive admiration.

In the video advertising the updated Gorillaz website for Plastic Beach, Murdoc makes sure to flaunt his many awards and to keep a portion of the video on him. Some of which are made by him and some of them aren’t even his.

In order to receive constant admiration, Murdoc will always keep the topic on him and will get upset when someone else is being praised or admired:

Interviewer: Have you heard The Now Now? What do you think of it?

Murdoc: Oh that’s convenient, changing the subject. You’re on the list, pal.

Interviewer: Where would you place it in a ranking of the top Gorillaz albums?

Murdoc: Up your arse, mate. You know what, this interview started well, but I’m beginning to dislike you. I thought this was gonna be a friendly tete-a-tete, a chance for you to get the real story, and maybe even a signed Wormwood Scrubs brochure. But you’re trying to rattle my cage. The only one who gets to rattle my cage around here is the Warden, to get my attention when he personally delivers my bi-hourly Martini. So let’s keep those questions focused on ME, shall we?

found here

Has a sense of entitlement (i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations).

Look at the quotes and the interview linked under the first point (Specifically under • Superiority). As shown in that interview, Murdoc believes he’s entitled better treatment in prison (and claims that he’s receiving it). 

Is interpersonally exploitative (i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends).

If Murdoc’s good at anything it’s definitely exploiting others. Murdoc kidnapped half of the band. Nearly got a young Noodle killed while trying to get rid of an enemy of the band.  Kidnapped pretty much all of the artists on the Plastic Beach album (including 2D).

"Some people I had to physically smuggle to Plastic Beach," says the Gorilla known as Murdoc. "I had them drugged and FedExed over. Then there were people like Snoop and his entourage who cruised up dripping in gold on a private yacht, amid a cloud of pimp fur and weed smoke …"

found here

Lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others.

I’m just going to leave these here

Murdoc: So... I crashed the car through the window and it landed straight in 2-D's head. Amazing! Direct hit. Knocked one of his eyes straight out. Put him in a coma immediately. I got arrested for that, uh, and ah, my community service, my SENTENCE, was to look after this silly sod.

found here

“Murdoc’s silver tongue, complete lack of empathy, and fear of further imprisonment was enough for him coerce his fellow bandmates into getting back together and recruiting their biggest host of collaborators to date.”

Interviewer: If you say so. Do you have any remorse for the terrible things you’ve done in the past?

Murdoc: Fucking hell, not this again. Look, if you’re talking about the rumour that I put a hit out on Noodle, then replaced her with a cyborg, and then the cyborg tried to kill me; I mean yes, it’s totally true. But I’d hardly call that a terrible thing. A creative disagreement, just part of the process. We’re all friends again now.

found here

Is often envious of others or believes that other are envious of him or her

Of course Murdoc would never admit it, but he’s jealous of others. One person you could say he’s jealous of is 2D. Murdoc has had several bands before Gorillaz. He was the lead singer of them and ultimately they failed for one reason or another (probably due to their awful names). When Murdoc formed Gorillaz and made 2D the lead singer, the band was successful. Although Gorillaz success was not solely because of 2D’s voice, it did play a large role. Here are a few moments that hint at Murdoc’s jealousy towards 2D:

Murdoc: Anyway, any one of [his bands] could've been as big as Gorillaz. But you know eventually, I thought it might be time to try a different vocalist. Other than me.

2-D: Yeah uh, someone who could actually sing, maybe?

Murdoc: Shut it twerp! See, eh, technically, uh, my voice, obviously, is still much, much better than 2-D's. But, yeah, I just thought it was time for a change. Change of texture.

found here

Richard the Popworld Horse: Anyway back to you guys. 2-D, what's it like being a sex symbol?

Murdoc: Err, no he ain't no sex symbol. He's too busy changing his ringtones.

2-D: You're just jealous.

Murdoc: No, I'm not.

2-D: Yes, you are.

Murdoc: No, I'm not.

2-D: Yes, you are.

Murdoc: Nooooo, I'm not.

2-D:....Yes, you are.

Murdoc: SHUT UP!!!!

found here

From a quote I mentioned earlier, we can see that Murdoc doesn’t like to talk about The Now Now and will shut down the conversation and get angry. Murdoc envies the idea that “his” band prospering without him. He’s jealous that his band was able to put out a successful album with 2D fully fronting the band now. He’s envious of the success the band is getting that he has nothing to do with.

In addition to being jealous of others, he thinks most people envy him (which is most likely a byproduct of him thinking he is better than everyone). Although this quote is probably not entirely serious, it’s still interesting to consider:

Radio host: Do all you animated guys know each other?

Murdoc: Most of us, Yeah. Some of them, they won't talk to me. Y'know, I think it's jealousy a lot of them. That's it, they don't want to see me. They wanna see somebody shoot me down, because I'm up there.

found here

Shows arrogant, haughty, behaviors or attitudes.

Watch this video. Also, if you read most of the interviews and transcripts I’ve linked, you can see how Murdoc oozes arrogance and disdain towards anyone who isn’t himself.

Well, there you have it. I most definitely think that Murdoc has Narcissistic Personality Disorder and that it’s a major factor in how he acts and what he says 90% of the time.

#i went overboard...again #sorry this took so long #murdoc niccals #murdoc #gorillaz #when you do things like this you find some gems tbh #you also realize how dated and untraceable gorillaz stuff is #like things from 2010 and earlier are completely gone unless someone transcribed it or pasted it onto the gorillaz wiki #as time consuming this is i really love doing this tbh #i learn new things #anon #answered #the author speaks #author's note

[hannahhostofheaven]

New Hannah head canon! Hannah has died seven times up to this point.

I made a new Hannah head canon page and it’s pretty extensive and detailed and gives you an idea of Hannah’s life before, during, and after seasons 9-11. It also talks about Caroline Johnson. So for anyone RPing or planning to RP with Hannah please take a look! Also note that her backstory will be tweaked to fit our RPs.

Tagging my current and prospective Hannah Muse RPers (let me know if I am forgetting someone): @spooky-racoons, @heavensmostterrifyingweapon, @heavenly-soldier, @angelic-rebels, @gracedsoldier, @ourpieceoutoftime, @wellillgowithyou, @meg-deserved-better,

Trigger warnings: mentions of torture, disease, and various types of abuse abound. Hannah had a very rough past:

Note: This is just Hannah’s main canon compliant/divergent verse. If we do any AUs, I might tweak things accordingly.

Also note again: Yes I will RP Caroline Johnson if anyone is interested!

I also updated my rules so you can check that out too:

Head canons:

                 Hannah's personality, skills, and traits:

* Hannah is an angel’s angel, she lives by her rules, but she finds inner conflict with her feelings. She believes in law, justice, and order.

* She is a unique angel in that she has emotions. This makes her more intuitive than other angels. She is quite passionate and although she doesn’t always understand emotions, she just knows she has them. She has a temper, especially when someone taunts her or Castiel.

* Hannah has a fascination with Humanity, although she holds and maintains a distance with these creatures she doesn’t quite understand. She tends to find ‘human things’ like eating unsettling and disgusting, at first, but she is open-minded and when given enough encouragement, she will try new things.

* Hannah likes plants and plant life. She has an aversion to things like fences, borders, and barriers.

* I think Hannah has cream colored wings with golden yellow tips, see blog banner picture.

* Hannah is considered a relatively young angel. She is perhaps 5-10 million years old which when compared to the archangels which are perhaps billions of years old,is very young. She is older than humanity but wasn’t around to see dinosaurs.

Hannah Prior to season 9:

Hannah has been to Earth a few times before meeting Castiel. She has not been to Earth prior to the 19th century, so nearly 200 years. She is weary around humans, tends to not trust them and doesn't automatically volunteer for missions involving Earth. Her time in heaven has not always been great either. She has a somewhat rebellious streak despite her adherence to law and order. In particular, she has had some run ins with Raphael who oversaw her training when she was newly formed.

Raphael punished Hannah harshly for minor transgressions, and often times, her punishment was to be exiled to Earth for a few years. She spent time on earth in the 1860s, the 1770s, 1340s, 1095, the first century CE, and during the reign of the Pharaoh Ramses.

During each of these time periods, Hannah was stripped of her grace and made mortal. She's died six times only to be resurrected by Raphael and brought back to heaven.

First Death: The first time she warranted punishment was when she spoke out against heaven during the time of the 10 plagues. She didn't think it was right to judge an entire race of people. As punishment for speaking out, Raphael sent her to Egypt and locked her into the vessel of a Hebrew slave girl. This slave girl befriended the Pharaoh's second wife and the two fell in love. When the 10 plagues occurred, Hannah tried to save her lovers child with the cruel, abusive pharaoh. Her lover died after the pharaoh beat her to death and he had Hannah put to death. Cause of death: Execution by impalement.

Second death: Hannah was sent to Earth around 79 AD. She fell in love with a roman farmer but they both died when Vesuvius erupted and destroyed their Pompeii farm. Her vessel's body is still entombed in pompeii. Cause of death: vaporized by pyroclastic flow of a volcano.

Third Death: Hannah was sent to Jerusalem in 1095 for again protesting Raphael. This time, she was the wife of a Jewish merchant during the first crusade. She had a child named Miriam. Her life was cut short when the crusaders laid seige to Jerusalem. Her child was brutally murdered in front of her and she and her husband were locked in their synagogue and the crusaders set it on fire, killing everyone inside. Cause of death: Burned alive.

Fourth Death: Hannah came to Cornwall, England during the Black Death. She was the daughter of a wealthy landowner who died and left her in the care of her cruel step mother and step sister. She became their peasant servant. She was treated terribly, especially when her mother found out about the affair she was having with a wealthy courtesan woman from the palace. When plague hit, Hannah and her lover both died. Cause of death: Plague.

Fifth Death: Hannah lived on a Massachusetts farm. She was hired by a cruel man as an Irish scullery maid (cook). The man beat her for the littlest mistakes. He was a British soldier who fought against the Americans during the revolution. He would adopt children from the orphanage in order to use them as slave labor. One such girl, a 5 year old named Scarlett formed a bond with Hannah and Hannah considered claimed her as her own daughter. But Scarlett came down with diphtheria and died and the cruel soldier told everyone that Hannah killed her. Hannah later became pregnant herself through forced assault and both she and her unborn child died of diphtheria. Cause of death: Diphtheria.

Sixth death: In 1863, Hannah lived in Wales at this point. She was the daughter of a merchant who came to the US during the Civil War. Her father was arrested by the southern confederates after being suspected of collaborating with the north. Hannah ran west with a pioneer caravan. While living in a wild west town, she was forced to live in a brothel. She died of cholera while living in the brothel. Cause of death: Cholera.

After her sixth death, Hannah learned to be more obedient. It was ingrained into her by then. She still possesses this spirit of rebellion and when Castiel rebelled, she secretly admired him for it even though she had never met him at that point. She would never openly defy Raphael again and even fought against Castiel on the side of Raphael. When Castiel killed Raphael, Hannah thought she could finally be free, but the fall happened a few years later, and she met Castiel for the first time.

Hannah while with Castiel seasons 9-11 (Her seventh death)

Hannah is much like Castiel was in season four. She is strict about obeying the laws of heaven and chastises other angels for their disobedience. But few know her secret past. During her time spent with Castiel, she learned to be more open minded towards humans and she began to open up to humanity again. Though she made some mistakes in her relationship with Castiel, she developed real feelings for him and she ended up dying defending him from Efram and Jonah. Cause of death: Angel blade, killed by Efram.

Hannah from season 11-13

Season 11: Hannah woke up from the Empty soon after her death but she wasn't allowed to return to Heaven or to Earth. Instead, the cosmic entity sent her to Purgatory.

Season 12: She spent a year in hell after escaping purgatory. She was tortured by demons until she finally made it back to Earth.

Season 13: Hannah spent the year graceless. She is rejoined and reunited with her older vessel Caroline Johnson only to discover that Caroline has not had the best life since they parted ways. When Hannah took over her body for the second time, she and Caroline suffered together.

Caroline Johnson:

* Caroline Johnson was born February 25th, 1980 in Great Falls, Montana. She is a Pisces.

* In this head canon, Caroline and her husband were not on the best of terms. Depending on RPG, Joe can be seen as neglectful at best, abusive at worst, and there was a reason why Caroline said Yes to Hannah in the first place. This may or may not contradict canon, depending on your interpretations of it.

* Caroline was a bit of a daydreamer and animal lover. She dreamed of traveling the world.

* Before her first encounter with Hannah, Caroline was raised in a religious household, though she was a bit of a skeptic herself. Her mother died of cancer when she was 7 and her father, depressed after losing their horse ranch due to financial hardships, committed suicide by shooting himself when Caroline was 14.

* Caroline spent her teenage years in foster care and married her high school sweetheart, Joe shortly after he joined the marines and returned from boot camp.

* Even back then, Joe displayed signs of being a narcissist. He was very controlling and very jealous. He would check Caroline's phone and ask her where she'd been. She learned to deal with his personality because she thought she loved him and he promised to show her adventures.

* After Caroline had a miscarriage, Joe got worse and it was at this time that Hannah came to Caroline and asked her to be her vessel. In an act of anger and defiance towards Joe, Caroline said yes.

* Her time as Hannah taught Caroline a strength she never knew she had. After awhile though, she missed Joe and when Hannah released her, she thought she could work things out with her husband. She thought wrong.

* In the year since she disappeared, Joe became more abusive and possessive and when she returned, he decided to punish her for ever running off on him. She was subjected to frequent beatings.

* When Hannah came to possess Caroline a second time, she found her vessel beaten and dying on the floor of the house she was being held prisoner by Joe. Caroline agreed to be possessed again and Hannah released her soul to heaven. But being graceless, Hannah was unable to convince Joe she wasn't Caroline anymore and so, Joe abused her, that is, until Hannah poisoned him and ran away. She has no idea if Joe survived the poison or not, she didn't wait around to find out.

So this is Hannah and Caroline's story. Depending on the RP, some tweaks and changes can be made to fit the RP.

#Hannah #Muse #headcanon

[italicwatches]

The Good Place, season 2 - Episode 12

Fuck. Me. Running. When I find the man that invented opening stores for Black Friday on Thanksgiving day…Well, that bastard better be somewhere deep in the Bad Place. Anyways, it’s The Good Place, season 2, episode 12! Here we GO!

-And we cut right in with the whole team, as Michael lays out the simple idea that the soul is as mutable and changeable in the afterlife as in the duringlife. These four became better, again and again and again. It certainly doesn’t prove what they were like on Earth…

-But that’s not the point. What it proves is that their time on Earth is not a sufficient metric by which to judge them. Hundreds of millions, hundreds of billions, have been wrongly condemned for behaviors they still have the potential to change!

-Damn, even Gen is impressed. That’s not easy.

-Chapter 26!

-So as all this debate continues, Eleanor and Tahani get to talk about what they both went through. Tahani admitting how she slipped into her old patterns…Until she realized how it wasn’t worth it. She told them about eating cheetohs, and then she was gone.

-And Tahani also realized something else. She only got this far, only became able to stand for herself instead of all of that mess, because of Eleanor and the others. Without them, she’d still deserve to go exactly into the Bad Place.

-Even Jay realizes how crazy this has all been…And that’s when Janet decides she needs to talk and she loves him. She’s needed time to process that and she had that time and she loves him. Whatever happens, she needs to put that on the board.

-Which leaves Chidi…To march right up and just kiss Eleanor full on the lips and quit letting himself get in his own fucking way. Hot, diggity, dog.

-And then Michael and Gen comes back, and here’s her plan. You’ll each get a Medium Place, like Mindy, as an isolated holding chamber while they figure out the legal ramifications. Each, on their own.

-…Nope, those both suck. Try again.

-So, Gen lays it out. One, you all didn’t pass her moral tests right now. Two, she’s pretty sure you only improved because you thought you were in the Good Place, not because you were honestly improving. “You’re supposed to do good things because you’re good, not because you’re seeking moral dessert.”

-Michael’s argument, of course, is that they so consistently strived to be better, every single time they had enough time to do so. There was not a single loop where they got worse, or even stayed the same for any length of time. All they ever needed, was…

-A push in the right direction.

-And Gen realizes what he set upon. This is madness. But, do they have any other options on the board? ..Fuck it, they’ll do it!

-Do what? What is happening here. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE—

-Snap?!

-And Eleanor wakes up.

-…With her grocery cart.

-Back on Earth.

-To five minutes before she died. Back to before the zero point. But as that set of carts comes rolling for her, she’s yanked out of the way by a figure, who’s gone as fast as he was there…

-And she really, truly realizes, she almost died. So by the time she gets back to her shitty apartment with her terrible roommates, and tells them how she was so close to meeting truck-kin. And they both give about…half of a quarter of a fuck to give, at most. And after all of it, she realizes it.

-She realizes she’s hit rock bottom. And, maybe it’s the near death experience. Maybe it’s these weird feelings lingering. But whatever it is, things have to change. She ends up going into her trashed up room, cramming things into bags, and getting it clear enough to dig out her laptop, sit down and work. She puts a big post onto Facebook, saying how she wants to change…And the first reaction is to assume she got hacked.

-The next day, she goes into that shitberg medicine hawking job, and quits. And they do not give a single fuck, as she fights her way through the badness, and even comes to apologize to the environmental guy outside the grocery store.

-And she ends up talking to him for a while…And that’s how she ends up with a new job.

-While back at HQ, Michael and Janet are watching their four experiments…And Michael is ecstatic at Eleanor’s ticker tape. She’s on the right track.

-With each morning, she gets better. She fights her old impulses. She learns how to, bluntly, give a fuck about something, and it changes her, real and deep.

-It’s not that long before she’s sitting in a restaurant with her roommates, and admits she’s shifting to a vegetarian diet. Something more sustainable. …And wow, her friends are terrible, and Eleanor realizes…She’s got to come clean about the whole Dress Bitch thing. Which, of course destroys the friendship in two seconds.

-So that’s how she ends up in a new place. Ends up fighting through the hard part of doing right. The parts where you get punished for taking the hard route. The parts where I’m sorry that is a day-old slice of pizza in her toaster.

-And one day, she ends up bumping into a car when trying to find parking. And leaves her number.

-And the woman sues her. Claiming whiplash.

-For a bump where she was not in the fucking car when it happened.

-And Eleanor’s shitty roommate, stuck with her after their rich bitch friend kicked them both out, can only laugh at how Eleanor’s attempts to be good have fucked them over so thoroughly.

-Back in HQ, Michael is displeased at this stagnation. It’s hurting his case something fierce…

-And indeed, the environment guy comes to Eleanor’s place and what the fuck happened to you? But cue her roommate who got tickets to, and I quote, “Taylor Splift, the Taylor Swift reggae cover band”. And so Eleanor has to lay out how her attempts to be better fucked her over. Why should she try to be better?!

-Because, you, feel, better about yourself when it’s done.

-But, she slips. She can’t do it. And that’s how she ends up back with her old dirtbag boss at his new gig, teaching people how to start up pyramid schemes.

-Back in HQ, Michael and Janet are struggling, trying to figure things out. But he realizes the core problem. She needs a better environment. How the hell can he give her a better environment…

-So that’s how Eleanor ends up drunk in a bar, a straight year after her near-death experience and on her birthday. Right back in the same slump she was in before.

-And a certain bartender look it’s Michael. Michael’s tending bar and he offers her a chance to talk it all out. They end up there for the entire night as Michael works on his tending skills, and Eleanor ultimately vents about how….How she got fucked over for doing good.

-Your moral dessert. …You know, he had a friend who talked about how, whenever she did something she knew was wrong, she’d get that little voice telling her no, don’t do it, it’s wrong. And the biggest thing she got from doing good? It wasn’t awards, or praise. It was the simple, honest awareness that that little voice could settle down.

-“Your friend sounds like she’s one pickle short of…a…a pickle party.”

-She’d always been a little rough around the edges…But she had a good heart. And she made him a much better man, when she followed her conscience. Drinks are on him tonight. But…Try thinking about that conscience. And ask yourself a simple question. “What do we owe each other.”

-The next morning, Eleanor wakes up with a hangover, and Michael slips back into HQ…And Eleanor, when she’s back on her feet and when Facebook shows her that post from a year ago, can’t get that sentence out of her head. So she ends up googling it. Finds the book. And finds Chidi’s lecture on it posted up to youtube.

-And she ends up spending the whole day, watching Chidi’s lectures, on and off. And his ideas…They resonate. They’ve always resonated, time and time again.

-And that’s how she ends up on a plane. And how something, something she can’t understand but can’t deny, draws her there. To the university where he teaches. To his office. To be standing right in front of a man that she hasn’t been able to get out of her head since she saw him.

-Michael sees that moment…And all he can do is smile. The one single linking factor in all of the reboots in his neighborhood, was Eleanor finding Chidi. And now…Now it’s time for things to get interesting.

-Credits!

God DAMN. DAMN damn damn. They keep flipping the script on me. And we haven’t even touched on the fate of Jay or Tahani! Jeeeez. This show. This fucking show.

I can only imagine what season 3 will hold.

But after all that, it’s time to get back to anime. Something…Uh, actually I don’t know what yet I’ve got like three things to pick between and I’m too hungry to say something pithy WAIT FOR IT

#where I watch #recap #live action #the good place #season 2 #spoilers

[frederator-studios]

Meet D.R. Beitzel, Creator of “The Bagheads”

DR Beitzel is a cartoonist, creative producer, and Pennsylvania fellow living a NYC dream. His day job is playing video games in a Times Square skyscraper; his evenings are occupied writing funnies and drawing comics for the likes of MAD Magazine, McSweeneys, and his own Phatypus Comics. And like several of his idols before him - Matt Groening, anyone? - he’s now making the petite leap from comics to cartoons.  His GO! Cartoon “The Bagheads” is a historically accurate depiction of trash take-out travails with former roommates and his competitive clashes with his older brother. He maintains that the Goat (”Goooat”) is its sole foray into the cartoonish make-believe. He studied politics, so you know that he has 0 capacity to - dare I even suggest it!? - fib.

Sooo, where’d you study animation?

I didn’t! I first went to a community college in central Pennsylvania. It was full of a bunch of cool people - unfortunately not Donald Glover or Alison Brie, but fortunately also not Chevy Chase. Then I went to University of Pittsburgh and studied communications and political science.

Poli- what now?

Yeah... it was the Obama era. I thought “It’s all uphill from here! We’re just riding this political train into the Promised Land!” Reality hit hard. Back then, Jon Favreau was writing Obama’s ‘Yes We Can’ speeches, and I was all riled up. I wanted to be a speechwriter.

At one point a local city councilman asked me to write some remarks for him to use on Martin Luther King Day. I was idealistic and had a head full of steam, so I wrote this fiery, passionate stemwinder that drew on self-sacrifice and righteousness. I even referenced "Letter from Birmingham Jail”. The thing was, it was for a pancake breakfast at a rural Pennsylvania fire hall. So, I'm pretty sure he went out and said something like, "Thanks for coming. Go Eagles”.  I was young and naive, and didn't realize that every speech didn't have to be "Ask not what your country can do for you ..."

When did you decide to NOT work in politics?

When I met a real life politician. (I laugh) No, really! He was a hometown representative - I’m from the Pennsylvania boonies. And he was a Republican, which was fine; I was just looking for a foot in the door. But when he found out I wasn’t, he asked me if I was a double agent. Like he actually suspected me of being in cahoots with the Dems to get dirt on him! So weird. And then finally, it came down to either an unpaid internship with a politician or a paid gig without a politician, so I chose to get paid.

Chasing that dollar. What was the paid gig?

I started out as a freelance editor for fashion and fitness blogs. The biggest perk - and irony - was that I was working in sweatpants from my couch. I got jobs at some TV and radio stations. At the end of college, I did do one unpaid internship, which was the best free work I ever did. It was at WQED, the PBS affiliate in Pittsburgh where Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood was filmed back in the day. They still had a bunch of the sets just hanging around the hallways - and I even got to meet Mr. McFeely, who was exactly as nice as you’d hope. Eventually, I decided to leave Pennsylvania and move to New York, probably for the cheap rent. And I’ve been here ever since, working with mobile games. I even got to visit the old MAD Magazine office when I did a comic with them. It was covered in original art from some of the all-time greats.

What kinda stuff have you done for MAD Mag and others?

For MAD, I did a comic parody called “Captain Red America”. He’s like Captain America but only represents conservative states, so a lot of his enemies are things he doesn’t actually believe in. So, when he fights the super villain Climate Change, Cap can’t fight back because he doesn’t believe in climate change, so it just beats him up. I also did some writing for McSweeneys. They have some of the funniest stuff published anywhere, and I always wanted to write for them. I love doing comics, too, because if I have an idea, I can just put it out there—there aren’t really stakeholders involved. Recently, I just finished a Valentines comic for Bushwick Daily, a local Brooklyn blog, about the types of people you meet on Tinder.

How was transplanting to NYC - did you always want to move there?

Ehhh… I’m one of those unwilling New Yorkers who loves to hate it. The city has its upsides; it’s the best comedy scene. When I first arrived I joined UCB, which I think is mandatory when you move to New York - they just issue you a membership with your MetroCard. I always brag that I got to see Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson perform their Broad City stage show before it became a TV show. I love that community, and part of me wishes I’d have stuck with it longer, but I was getting pulled in a bunch of different directions, including a new job.

Oh yeah? Where at?

At Nickelodeon! I got the opportunity very randomly, about a month after I arrived. My (soon-to-be) boss called two people in for interviews, and I guess all that theatrical training from UCB paid off, because I was able to fake being a functional person long enough for her to hire me. It’s a really fun place to work: talented artists, toys everywhere, and sometimes wide-eyed kids are touring the office or testing games for us and you remember what we’re all doing there. The downside is that we’re in Times Square, so when I venture into the street I’m guaranteed to get a face-full of armpit. But playing video games is part of my job - I produce apps and games related to Nick shows.

That is the Dream. What’s your favorite game you’ve worked on?

Probably TMNT: Legends. We had a tremendous team of real fans, and the game looks great. Plus, I got to go visit Montreal where the team is based. I highly recommend that everyone spend years developing a game with a blockbuster studio, so you can visit, too.

Did you choose the cartoon life, or did the cartoon life choose you?

Wow, I really need to get “Cartoon Life” tattooed across my stomach. It was mutual selection. As a kid, I’d go to my grandma’s house and draw through all the paper she had. I looked up to Sergio Aragones of MAD. I was always drawing in the margins of the handouts at church - that’s the only way I’d sit still. But in high school, I stopped drawing for a bit - I guess I was partying too much, or maybe I just lost all my pencils in one of my oversized neon Tommy Hilfiger jackets. Then, I got back into it in college, drawing editorial comics at my school newspapers. I get inspired by people like Matt Groening. He was grinding out “Life in Hell” for like 40 years - well after he became a TV tycoon with The Simpsons and Futurama - just for the love of it.

How did you come to pitch for GO! Cartoons?

Just a random Google search, looking for places to send some stuff. I only barely met the deadline. I put together a thumbnail pitch and sent it on in.

Did “The Bagheads” change much from pitch through production?

The core story was always a brother and sister arguing over trash take-out. But it fluctuated in length quite a bit. There were a lot parts I added and then we condensed or cut out. There were intros, flashbacks - at some point, probably dragons and ice zombies - a lot did have to be trimmed down. Which was tough, because as you can probably tell, I’m a pretty big blowhard.

Who inspired the Bagheads, and were they always, you know… bag headed?

The Bagheads were always bagheads. As a little kid, I used to doodle baghead people with my brother, who inspired me to start drawing at all. We’d draw the guys from Guns ‘N Roses, but with bags over their heads—I have no idea why, but probably because I was kid who was crappy at drawing and couldn’t draw faces. Anyway, it became a running gag between us, we called them Guns ‘N Baggies. And over the years since, I’d draw those types every now and then -- a muscle baggie, an old baggie, whatever. So when I was getting ready to submit to Frederator, I knew the character’s personalities, but I didn’t know their appearances. So I reached into my childhood and pulled out the Bagheads.

What do you enjoy the most about Elbow and Artemis?

Well, what I enjoyed most about the short in general was working with so many talented people to bring it to life. I gotta give a big shout out to Eric, Kelsey, Michelle, JoJo, Sylvia, Paul, Bill, Kevin, Stephen, our cast and everyone else at Frederator and Salami Studios who made this happen. I did not do this alone - nowhere near it.  

As for Artemis and Elbow, I’ve always liked duos with friendly antagonism, like Ren and Stimpy, Bugs and Daffy. Those good-natured conflicts where you’re kinda buddies, but you’re also kinda at each other’s throat. I like that Artemis and Elbow’s personalities create conflict: she’s hyper-competitive, he’s lazy. And then there’s their poor clueless dad, who’s working too much and constantly worried about the safety of his kids but doesn’t realize the biggest danger to them is each other. Those relationships can serve up a lot of fun, simple stories.

What inspired Nuke Man Jones, who’s still pulling off the eternal dunk as we speak?

Harlem Globe Trotters, for sure. They basically have superpowers. I was really looking for things that Elbow might see at a high altitude and I wanted something silly. Nuke Man is stuck up there in Earth’s orbit now, cursed to never complete that dunk like some Sisyphean baller fate.

The billion dollar question: do the Bagheads have bags for heads, or are they wearing bags over regular people heads?

Ya know, I’m gonna opt not to answer that one. The question of the bags can remain an unanswered mystery if it gets a series. It’ll be like The Leftovers for kids.

How about some favorite cartoons?

I mean, my Top 10 would just be The Simpsons, Seasons 1 through 10: that’s my all-time favorite TV, right there. South Park can’t get enough love—those guys have turned out classic after classic, and they’re the smartest gross-out humor in history. Looney Tunes, Ren & Stimpy, Beavis and Butthead - Mike Judge is a genius. Jim Henson and The Muppets, even though it’s not a cartoon; puppets count, right? MAD Magazine stuff like Sergio Aragones features or “Spy vs. Spy,” which was an inspiration for this Bagheads short.

I’m also really inspired by old school newspaper comics. It breaks my heart that they’re disappearing. Calvin and Hobbes is gorgeous and the most inspiring thing to me. I just read the entire series again, and it’s as good as ever. I appreciate that Bill Watterson refused all the licensing and merch deals people wanted to make for it. I read once that he left something like $400 million on the table.

That’s amazing.

Yeah. Once, I made a parody album cover for a local comic shop’s art show, and I made one based off of Notorious BIG’s “Ready to Die” cover: Notorious HOB’s “Ready to Live”. People wanted prints so I started selling them, and then it dawned on me that I was breaking the spirit of Watterson’s anti-commercial stance. So I stopped selling them, and just told people, “Sorry, they’re gone!” 

What do you like to do outside of your work*? (*everybody else’s play)

I like to connect with my inner hillbilly - errr, inner hippie - whatever it is. I go to the beach and state parks pretty often. And I love stand-up: I just saw Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Amy Schumer, Jeff Ross and Kevin Hart at Radio City Music Hall. It was insane.

What are you working on now?

At the moment, I’m investing all my resources in trying to score “Black Panther” tickets. Otherwise, I'm working on a musical animated series idea with two musician friends, Jeff and Matt. It's really cool and is somewhere between Hamilton and Freaks & Geeks. I'm also working on a comic strip about animals in a post-human world. It's really cartoony, except the president is a photo-realistic opossum whose speeches are just incoherent, ear-piercing screeches.  I'm not sure where that falls on the fiction/non-fiction spectrum. So much for giving up politics!

Great talking with you D.R., thanks for the interview! Looking forward to all of your future endeavors. And I’ll be sure to vote for you if you ever return to politics / being a spy for those wily Pennsylvania Dems.

Everybody: keep up with Phatypus Comics on Facebook and Instagram, @phatypus! And here on Tumblr: @phatypuscomics

- Cooper

#The Frederator Interview #frederator #frederator studios #go! cartoons #interview #cartoon #comic #animation #comics #cartoons #new cartoon #The Bagheads #phatypus #phatypus comics #DR Beitzel

[jadegem20]

Train Station of the Afterlife

“Jason?” a lady says, snapping her fingers in my face. One of the billions of souls that passed me on the way to catch their train. “Jason? Is that you?” the woman’s shrill voice is too much to ignore.

“Please miss, go and catch your train,” I motion my hand in a shooing motion. I'd rather just sit here for a melinia or two more. That would be better than making a decision.

She grabs my hand, “Your father wandered away and I can't seem to find him.”

Her eyebrows are lifted in concern. All her wrinkles seem to follow creating an over exaggerated expression. Almost as if she would be on a show that teaches toddlers their emotions. “If I help you, will you please leave me be?”

She loops her arm through mine and pulls me to my feet. Her other hand clutches the cross hanging around her neck, “I’ve been looking around for ages, my feet are killing me.”

She must be looking for the Heaven train. I wonder if Jason’s father is there waiting on her. Not that it really matters. Most souls as confused as her have been wandering around for years.

“I’m glad you decided to stop daydreaming and help your old mother.” she says with a smile.

I take her through the train station. Past hundreds of other souls waiting to catch their train. We pass by a small office with a dusty help wanted sign, “Who would want to work here?” the lady says.

“I’m not sure anyone works here,” I say. I haven't seen anyone for as long as I’ve sat. Truth be told, I haven’t exactly been looking.

The gold trim on the pearly white train catches my eye as we board the platform. “Are we going on a trip?” the lady asks, her eyes sparkling in the light from the train. The platform is covered in people. A young girl clutches the hand of a young woman. A kid is holding the leash of a golden retriever. The most eye-catching person on the platform is a man with olive skin and shoulder length brown hair. The old lady catches sight of him and drops my arm. The doors to the train open and the crowd boards together. Not a single person pushes or rushes. Everyone smiles at each other. The young help the old. The whole scene radiates happily ever after.

When the last passenger boards, the olive skinned man, who I can now see wears a  conductor’s outfit, looks at me and smiles. I guess someone does work here. He raises an eyebrow and gestures toward the train. I shake my head and he shrugs. As the train pulls off the whistle blows. It's more like a horn than an actual train whistle.

It's better to go back to my seat and think about my decision more. I can’t choose Heaven. An eternity of bliss sounds great at first, but after a few eons of the same thing over and over again, I know it'll be boring. If there is never bad, how can you appreciate the good? 

My shoulder crashes into another soul, “I'm sorry I didn't mean to.” He’s a young man, not more than 18 years. His shirt is a multitude of different colors, like a rainbow. He stands without lifting his head. “Hey, I didn't mean to…” he doesn't respond.

He walks around me into the small hallway that leads to stairs. I follow. The stairs are damp and slimy and let out onto a dark crowded platform with no seats. Some souls sit on the stairs with their heads in their hands. There's no sign to show the wait. 

“What is this place?” I ask.

“Hell,” an old man says putting his arm around my shoulders, he's wearing a conductor’s outfit like the olive skinned man, but his looks torn and old,  “Or the train to it anyway. Are you lost, pretty boy?”

I look over to the kid in the rainbow shirt, “No, I don't think so.” Why would you choose to spend forever in hell?

“Oh? Looking to save a soul?” He laughs, it's a high scratchy sound.

I shake his arm off and walk to the kid. I sit down on the dirty floor beside him. His neck has one long bruise across the front.

“You can't change my mind,” he says.

“About?'' I ask folding my hands in my lap so they wouldn't touch the disgusting floor.

“I belong here,” he says.

“I’m not here to change your mind,” I say, “I’m just deciding on which train I should take.”

“If you aren't here to stop me, then leave me alone.” he says and pulls his knees up to his chest.

“I just came from the train to Heaven, it was a little bright for my tastes,” I say and look over at him, he puts his head between his knees with a sigh. “But you know, with Heaven being so high up in the clouds it must be cold. Right? So I decided to check out a place a little bit warmer.”

“Ahh boo!” The old man yells from across the platform, “Are you sure we aren't already in hell with jokes as bad as those?” 

I watch through a break in his arms as the kid’s face moves up a little. I know he cracked a smile. “So, tell me, before I make a permanent decision, why did you choose to go to Hell?”

The kid’s smile vanishes and he lifts his head to meet my eyes, “It's where they told me I deserved to go.”

There is a deep ache in my chest. Like for the first time since being dead, I've felt the absence of my vital organs. 

“They?” the old man asks as he hobbles over to join the conversation, “There’s only one rule in this old train station, you can’t let anyone else choose your eternity. Hell is all about guilt. Whatever guilt you harbored in life, brought you down here in death. Sometimes people mistake their own guilt for the guilt of others. That's why I'm here, to set the record straight,” he clears his throat, “Or… um… You know what I mean.”

“You can't just drop a feeling you've had for your whole life.” the kid says.

“Not all at once, it’ll take some time to learn to accept yourself.” I say.

“And you can't do it down here in this shitty place, go upstairs and get some sunlight,” the old man says.

I lead him back up the stairs and into the train station’s brightly lit halls. I pull him along until I find the biggest windows I can and sit him in the sun. His cheeks turn rosy and he smiles. Even the bruising seems to lesson. 

“Thank you,” he says.

I leave him to think and try to do some thinking myself. I should try to stop putting off my choice and just choose an afterlife already. Heaven will get boring. I don't harbor any guilt for hell. There are so many other choices, I can't remember them all. I look at the closest map and notice a small bald girl also studying the map.

“Do you need help?” I ask.

“I’m not allowed to talk to strangers.” she says and looks away.

“Okay,” I say, and continue to study the map. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I catch her looking at me a few more times before she says, “What's your name?”

I can’t quite remember what I was called on earth. How very strange it is to not remember your own name. What had that woman called me earlier? “You can call me Jason. What’s yours?”

“Emma,” she says then crosses her arms, “Now we aren't strangers.”

“I guess that's true?” I say.

“Can you read that map?” she asks quickly.

“Yes, do you need to get somewhere?” I ask.

“Yes, Mommy said that one day I’ll go to sleep and when I wake up she probably won't be there.” she says as her small hands bunch up her dress and her face turns a light shade of pink, “Mommy said that I could be anything that I wanted. I want to be a wildflower.”

“Then you should go to Reincarnation.” I say pointing to the signs hanging from the ceiling, “There are signs.”

She motions for me to bend over and whispers in my ear, “I can't read.”

“Do you want some help getting there?” I ask.

“Yes please!” she says.

“You know I haven't chosen which train I want to get on yet.” I start walking toward Rencarnation’s train, “Why did you choose to be a wildflower?”

“They can grow wherever they want!” she says with a twirl, “And they are always beautiful.”

“To be honest I'm a little scared to choose a place to go,” I say.

“Everytime I had to take a shot Mommy would grab my hand,” she grabs my hand, “And tell me to be brave. So you just have to be brave and take your shot.”

We make it to the train just before it pulls out. There is every kind of animal painted on its sides along with plants and trees and even humans that look like they are dancing.

Emma’s face spreads into a big smile, but she turns and grabs my hand again right before she steps on the train, “Mommy always told me it was important to keep yourself the happiest, and your choices should always make you happy, so whatever you go, make sure it makes you happy.”

The train starts to pull away and she heads into the car.

Okay, it's time. I should make a decision. Why not the reincarnation train? I'm already here. No. No. I may not remember much of my life, but the last time I was on earth it was pretty bad, it can only be worse now. What about the train to Nothing? That just feels like giving up. And there’s that help wanted sign again. Wait. 

I grab the sign and blow off the dust. Maybe I’m not supposed to make a choice. Maybe I should stay right here and help others. I slowly opened the office door and stepped inside.

#short fiction #short story

[emersonmanandnature]

October 24, 2020

God Visits His First Planet

Has the bible all through our long history ever stopped the crushing madness of power through the exploitation of human beings?

So jesus the son of god comes to earth to save mankind from the depths of hell, without showing the people how to get out of the iron grip of the pharaohs, the slave traders, the money men, well, I would say there is no concrete way to escape the poverty of their lives for their predicament would last up until, hold it, what am I saying, their brutal poverty will last centuries up to the year, oh let me guess, the year 2020 and it looks like it will extend beyond, into infinite madness, and then our lord, god, jesus, holy spirit will come down to earth, up to earth? east to earth? west to earth? riding on a golden chariot made from the brutal killings of innocent children, mothers and fathers viciously murdered by the elites under god’s laws and because of religious paranoia

This god like man will take back from the evil greedy rich, satan’s army, which have been present on this earth all along, all that they stole, all that they destroyed, all that they put into slavery, all that they polluted on our earthly paradise without any empathy for the people dying for they were just pawns doing the hard back breaking labor, destroying their world for the profits that the wealthy deposited in hidden accounts all through our existence and as their worker ants started to rebel the forces of a devastating evil made it plainly clear who works and who gets the profits, now shut up and do your brutal jobs and not another voice do the rich want to hear claim, “rebellion!”

Our holy creator seems aloof distant, light years away and he would just as soon ignore his first attempt of loving something other than himself and just decided to get the heck out of this gluttonous human demand for power over others. Just like our god’s supposed power over us but I don’t see any of that influence when it comes to stopping the brutal murdering of innocence for profit!

Suddenly a vision appears, a holy robed god like man lowers himself out of his chariot and steps onto his earthly polluted soil and makes a face and plugs his nose and says, good god what is that smell? and someone in the gathering crowd yells at to our absentee father figure, our so called savior, “it was mankind through their egotistical god like reverence for money that did this to our mother earth and you just ignored us living with polluted oceans, polluted cities, polluted air, polluted waters as more and more people die from the atmospheric, water, food, crops sprayed pollution that is world wide.”

Oh my children I have been so busy doing my other duties as your god that I got so caught up in partying in the outer galaxies, I hope some of you can join me when you die on this awful planet, it stinks so bad but joy for you because I will take all my creations to my favorite galaxy, The Whirlpool Galaxy and we will party until we drop!

And remember I was a little broken hearted after I created my first born children, adam and in adam a female presence, eve and then they ate the apple, (oh by the way you are all wrong with the naming of the fruit you have suggested), of knowledge, good, evil and of course death, which made me feel less powerful so I booted them out of paradise and allowed them to know of good and evil  but I also kept earth there for my creations, so I did some good things but lets not get into Noah and that mess I was hung over and got so mad that I wasn’t being praised enough that I killed all but a few, I don’t want to discuss that right now, but I have always liked my animal friends more than my human animals.

Well, thanks god for your shallow appearance and I guess we will see you in another 2000 years but by then we, your religious flock of zombies, will be in an earthly battle ground of survivors still killing each other for profit.

The damage and pleasurable addiction the wealthy have had all through our history is not going to change through a god that is an absentee father, a god that has abandoned his creation just as the evangelicals, protestants, catholics and others all do eventually. Can I get a praise the lord and a big hallelujah fart for these godless preachers of manipulation and wealth?

I could love a god that is interested in his creations but what if we were not supposed to be the intellect behind narcissistic behavior, we weren’t even intended to exist as stand-up beings, evolution gave god his first big headache of mankind and it would follow then that god’s first attempt of creating human beings with all his love, was a big fat lie, a scam of lies for his abandonment of adam and eve was a true sign of his character, anger and a narcissistic tendency to punish others rather than himself. For he being omnipotent he could make humans without lust or anger or murderous eyes but he decided to leave man and woman as they were instinctive beings of power and lust just like their holy father.

And what he learned from his experience on this planet was an eye opener for his future creations. And this would explain why he has never come back to visit us, his first creation, this earthly spec of dust.

His first experience with humans was a big unbelievable looney bin of infinite problems. His  abandonment created in humans a need for a powerful leader that would control their lives and tell them what they needed to do to survive. Savage wars were fought and the profits of war made more wars a necessity to keep the elites power structure intact.

War is a way of life and it will always be that way, hate of differences creates a necessary propaganda machine with constant repetition of lies toward other cultures by the controlling elites to harness the power over the masses for if the people mobilized they could destroy the ruling class with one massive demonstration of the people’s power.

God Wised Up!

Lets face it god has moved on expanding the universe and starting over with a better idea of genetic engineering, creating beings with an understanding of their evolution and their open interaction with others and especially a reference to him, the almighty god of everything. I sometimes wonder how could any god be everywhere and know everything for even in our earlier gods we created out of our frightened human imagination to protect us and we would worship them in a frenzy addiction but even our gods still needed help from other gods and these gods mated with humans in lust and then the female gods gave birth to half gods that helped them control the heathens of greed. The only problem was that human beings are naturally selfish and love exploiting others as a means to obtain power over their neighbor.

So as time went by the kings and queens still needed the populace to believe in a heaven after death in order to control the peoples mighty force of rebellion if provoked. And the priests did their best to exploit the people for their own powerful interests.

Our holy creator seems aloof distant, light years away and he would just as soon ignore his first attempt of loving something other than himself and he must have decided to get the heck out of this gluttonous human demand for his constant presence for it is his example that allowed other rulers to appear godlike and to enforce laws that would protect their wealth and not the people’s future.

Just like our god’s supposed power over us but I don’t see any when it comes to stopping the brutal murdering of innocence for profit!

Our god seems present in the mouths of evangelicals when they are asking for cash to build their next super church but when it comes to these men and women of avarice to give some of their wealth away to the poor of their flock, oh no you don’t touch that cash for you will pay with god’s wrath.

We don’t have to look hard to see where the devil presides. Look at the illusion of truth and the foundation of sacrificing the people to fulfill the prophesy of affluence, the wealthy’s billions of dollar profits off the citizens all around this world is obscene as if they had a free pass to be greedy sociopaths that only think of themselves as men and women of stature that deserve whatever they steal from the poor while the rest of god’s children are left to struggle, to survive, where is the pride of the people to stand up and say enough and push the crooks out into the open so all can see their true faces of perpetual crime, their gross gluttonous profits to show their appalling indifference to others suffering, for why should they care about the little people for only a select few apostles get to be part of the inner circle.

Sorry once again I went out on a limb and forgot we are talking about the choke hold of power that wealth has on the world’s population and to have their illegal network broken apart and to have these criminals put away would take a miracle, did you hear that god, jesus and the holy ghost, a god damn miracle, put up or shut up!

Christ preached in a short lived life for he knew what he was doing by stirring up a new faith to replace the many varied gods looking for their own selfish profits of worship and this new faith would get him crucified and that was his father’s plan to get his son sacrificed, so jesus preached of the glory of god and kept silent in his frustration of not doing enough for the people that had begun to worship him, but his father in heaven was watching over him, demanding he give himself up to torture and a vicious death on the cross to be witnessed by many of his new believers, which will become god’s new herd of followers.

A big question would be why not god himself sacrifice himself in the flesh and claim redemption of his flock by sending himself down and not his only son. What is the purpose of having a three headed god? We have had that in ancient times!

Why this illusive preposterous god, yes we know that jesus is immortal and his reign in heaven will not be taken away but his father claims his son’s glory

So if jesus offered too much help to his growing flock of helpless slaves this would break the bonds of his fathers pride as the most powerful one of the trilogy, the holy ghost came and went in flutters of lightened breezes not seen but felt, but jesus would become a house hold word more powerful than his father if allowed to do his thing and correct the evil brewing over all godless impostors for they were elevated prideful human gods that needed to go, however jesus was torn should he stop this gluttony of madness by sending these devils to a fiery hell or be loyal to his father even though his god was sending him to a painful death, so christ got angry at his inability to judge the pharaohs and the wealthy elites that surrounded the rulers of power they themselves craved for, for power was the new opiate addiction and they demanded a written imperative from the, The Emperor of Rome, Tiberious and a quick death sentence for our lord jesus christ. For how could they continue to exploit the poor for profit if their was a man god preaching for a new day of worshiping a being of higher worth than our emperor that sent his only son to die but why shouldn’t he, christ, just claim his godliness and take care of this obscenity of poverty and wars, he could do it in just a blink of his eye, creating a world of peace and love for all as equals, no one better than another, but that is not what his father wanted, he wanted his son to suffer for the sins of his children and he made christ an example of the goodness in the father, to sacrifice his only begotten son to save the masses from a hell that was becoming even more a reality of god’s creation here on earth but jesus couldn’t be stopped all at once and he did enter the temple and cast out all that were selling and buying, he overturned the tables of the money launderers, the robber barons of corruption, these crooks that seek an advantage over the poor and innocent men and women trying just to live the best life they can but it gets harder and harder as time passes to believe in a prophet that promised them a paradise outside the folly of human nature, a nature of criminal institutions of greed and sexual exploitation by putting barriers up to block any attempts of the people to advance and live a better life of freedom, so the wealthy gods of power undermined the peoples chances of success by illuminating the benefits of slave labor around the world which can give them, the wealthy a means of power to control the masses, forget about giving them an ability to make a decent living, don’t listen to the propaganda of this evil preacher, jesus, so poverty and fear reign supreme as the money men steal and use people like herded cattle to be conditioned to work themselves to death, for the new testament is about jesus and his actions and not his fathers and the earth trembled when they heard his name but as we witnessed all through the coming centuries that nothing changed in the structure of government or the people, they still suffer and the rich elites have parties celebrating their latest conquest and the blackmailing of our elected dopes of corruption, our elected representatives, representing only themselves and the their glorious patrons, masterminds of outstanding criminality by stealing what is good for themselves and turning around and giving back to the herd what is terrible for them.  

Not so fast cowboy, I don’t think you can say without a smirk of disbelief that in today’s gluttony of criminality that jesus’s name means much of anything.

So, you are saying that our god, his son, jesus and the holy ghost have no power here on earth anymore and his promise of retribution with an army of angels descending down to judge the criminals that prospered for 1000,’s of years off the whipped backs of the innocent is just a story told in a bible to placate the people to behave themselves while the wealthy feed themselves through the blood of famine and death, for the majority of people are alive just to make more money for the criminal elites.  

As a matter of fact I would have to say that christ’s name is a cliche we repeat when we are mad and take his name in vane or a bought trinket, a chain with a cross, meaningless except for someones girlfriend.

Now this savior, god’s son, dies for us, for our sins but not the gluttonous sins of the ruling class. Oh wait, I beg your pardon of course christ died for these thieves as well because all they have to be is ashamed of their actions and voila they are back in the good graces of our lord, a known lover of mobsters. God goes crazy with excitement when a devil of sinning asks him for his forgiveness and he gleefully gives his blessing on a man that killed innocent children. All because he was sorry and repented he will join those children in heaven!

They seem to get a free pass in the gospels to basically do what ever they want to and the people must obey their authority for it was written in the gospel Romans:13.

Finally a new truth is born and this can begin a starting point to advance the people forward toward a revelation of intuitive power to dismantle the piracy of the rich and change the power system from the few to all.

Now lets look at this fraud of the rich creating a book that gives them free rein over the earth and its people.

Why would christ give absolute power to the very criminals that were and are enslaving and murdering innocent people for profit? And why would his father allow these imbeciles of gluttony to get away with taking over his son’s flock? Oh, wait our father’s flock!

Jesus and his father and the holy ghost and lets not forget mother Mary are the power and the decision makers for us earthlings. They can do and say what ever they want, they can take away the power of the wealthy at anytime. So why haven’t our heavenly foursome done just that. Strip away the power of these greedy and evil barons of corruption and send them to the very hell fire the rest of us have to contend with as we pray in churches that have less and less meaning as our only hope of salvation!

You have to ask yourself why has the god jesus abandoned the people, their loving creation?

Christ spoke his gospels before and after his death and resurrection, the apostles then went about his business and spread his word and they began writing down his thoughts and then they put them in order, their interpretation of his words of salvation in a book.

Not his real words but a memory of his real words that can be easily manipulated to send a message to the powerful that they should not fear the bible for it is a means to control the masses by making them fear not the criminals in charge but god’s wrath toward the peoples souls if they lose faith in his mystery.

My question is did they remember his words or did they change christ’s lessons to fit the changing times after our lords crucifixion? Maybe they felt the wrath of the rich that still reigned supreme over the lands. So christ dies for our sinful nature but leaves in place the very people that are the true satan’s of greed and power. You have to ask yourself what the f— is going on here.

He had the chance to change our trajectory of crime and the persecution of the people and give them hope that their lives would be better. Can anyone say truthfully that this world is any better than it was centuries ago. I think not, if anything the ruling 1% have got more power than ever before. And they buy all our politicians to vote in their favor, god bless the supreme court! Can I get a hallelujah! praise the phantom lord for the rich will inherit the world!

Through the centuries gospels were added and deleted, where are the women prophets, and low and behold the gospels became twisted and rearranged to undermine the growing frustration with the ruling powers by the people feeling their wrath and it became apparent that they controlled the word of god and any attempt to resurrect the words of love for everyone went by the wayside as life became more complicated and power of the elites grew more demanding and corrupt.

It gives you a warm fuzzy feeling doesn’t it to know christ died for nothing. Or did he die for nothing? Just maybe he was the bait created by the human gods, the money makers, to pacify the people for as long as possible.

It is strange and deceptive that after all these years we haven’t heard or seen any strong willed commands from our heavenly father, jesus christ or even our holy ghost. Actually the holy ghost is the most plausible excuse why we haven’t heard from our savior!

The silence is unnerving and without justification, it is as if we have been abandoned. Anyone in their right mind would demand that we the people, his flock of sinners, must have our lord come and talk with us after all these centuries to give us a renewed faith and incentive to keep his love for us and our love of him alive with purpose and not a front for the evangelicals mastery of creating profit for themselves off the backs of their flock and their rich connected friends of avarice in government and their sinful actions that are part of the ever entangling nature of religion and the word independence written in our constitution is a fraud.

What we have now is an old novel, the bible, that is being corrupted by the ministers of false pride and moneyed interests. This relic of history doesn’t relate to the new world of corruption and robotics that are undermining our ability to live a peaceful and fruitful life.

But one thing does continue unabated and that is the preacher preaching god’s word as if it was their own thoughts and who is to say that the gospel wasn’t created to ease our pain and suffering with a hope of a better life and was created to placate the people to accept their lower status and work themselves to death and not be rewarded in this life time for their efforts but rewarded in a fairy tale life, like christ resurrection up and away into the atmosphere of faith where you won’t need any oxygen because you will be dead.

The church takes very seriously gods words that allow them the authority to be in control of billions of lives. Now do these people of the cloth really care about their congregation or are they more interested in the feeling of power they receive when they are called your holiness. Can’t you see it in their clothes they wear, in their smirks of selfish egotistical pride, their lust and greed for power and profits for their own benefit not the people sitting in fear of the coming Armageddon, the destruction of the earth by corporate crimes of war and pollution.

God gave them a special gift, a permission to take his place here in earth. I guess he was to busy doing other things that he ignored his flock here on planet earth and allowed these pompous twisted tongues spewing high praise for their new mercedes and the thousand acre ranch bought by the parishioners donations where profits over people is the new tsunami of religious zealots.

#fraud #church #god #jesus #corruption #power #greed #words #religion #cjcorwinoriginal

[theliterateape]

If Yogi Bear Were God, I’d Have This Thing Wrapped Up

by Don Hall

From a Letter from Pontus Pilate to Tiberius Caesar:

...from that moment I was convinced that the conquered had declared themselves the enemy of the conquerors; and I would warn the Romans to beware of the high Priests of this country. They would betray their own mother to gain office and a luxurious living. It seems to me that, of conquered cities, Jerusalem is the most difficult to govern. So turbulent are the people that I live in momentary dread of an insurrection.

At first I was apprehensive that his design was to stir up the people against the Romans, but my fears were soon dispelled. Jesus of Nazareth spoke rather as a friend of the Romans than of the Jews. One day in passing by the place of Siloe, where there was a great concourse of people, I observed in the midst of the group a young man who was leaning against a tree, calmly addressing the multitude. I was told it was Jesus. This I could easily have suspected, so great was the difference between him and those listening to him. His golden-colored hair and beard gave him the appearance of a celestial aspect. He appeared to be about thirty years old. Never have I seen a sweeter or more serene countenance. What a Contrast between him and his hearers, with their black beards and tawny completion!

I extended to him my protection, unknown perhaps to himself. He was at liberty to act, to speak, to assemble and address the people, and to choose disciples, unrestrained by any Praetorian mandate. Should it ever happen {May the gods avert the omen!} should it ever happen, I say that the religion of our forefathers will be supplanted by the religion of Jesus, it will be to this noble toleration that Rome shall owe her premature death, while I, miserable wretch, will have been the instrument of what the Jews call Providence, and we call destiny.

Pilate knew that he was witnessing a new religion forming when he saw Jesus speak. He could see the demise of Roman rule at the hands of this new prophet and gave him the freedom to speak publicly about it. People believe in things that inspire them or provide them with a road to dominance because religion is both a way to codify behavior for oneself and to then enforce that behavior from everyone else.

Back in college, I really wanted to date Diane. OK. That was coy. I wanted to jump her bones. There was chemistry but she was Mormon. Like, full-on Mormon. Her father was an elder at her church. She told me before we could date I had to talk to him first. He invited me to meet at the church.

“You want to see my daughter socially?”

“Well, yeah. Uhm. Yes, sir. I would.”

“We don’t allow dating outside of the church. Would you be interested in coming to some classes and workshops before I give permission?”

“I’m a college student. Classes and workshops are all I do right now, so sure.”

For six weeks I’d go to Mormon school. Diane would check in with me at lunch in the commons area to see how it was going. I sat through spiritual exercises, hour-long seminars on the history of the church, and workshops designed to indoctrinate me into this odd belief system. If something they told me was not unintelligible, it was vague. If neither unintelligible or vague, it was unverifiable.

Yet these decent people believed. They believed in the absurd story of Joseph Smith and his magic glasses and disappearing golden tablets. They believed that multiple marriages primed them to live as gods and goddesses in the afterlife (even though officially they denied this, the classes sure made polygamy seem like the path to follow). There was the whole thing about binding underwear.

“Well, Mr. Hall. You’ve passed your classes. Any thoughts about what you learned?”

I wanted to get into Diane’s pants but not enough to stop myself from being honest.

“Sir, no disrespect intended but I’d sooner believe that Yogi Bear was the Divine Creator before putting my faith in this nonsense.”

While leaving me with a six week case of blue balls the time was instructional although not in the manner expected. I wondered what was going through the minds of people who believed Smith when he told them his bullshit story? I’m certain some thought he was a loon, others thought he was maybe an idiot, but enough people believed that it started a new branch of Christianity. That’s big. A new religion in the midst of so many.

Like Scientology, the Branch Davidians, the Aetherius Society, the Gentle Wind Project, and the Reformed Druids of North America, it seems so many are looking for answers in cults so cults are born on the flimsiest of reasons with nonexistent means to verify their connection to truth.

Turns out it isn’t difficult to start a cult and gain followers.

Step 1: Choose a set of grievances and attribute them to an amorphous enemy.

In the odd quirk of being the only truly conscious animal on the planet, each one of us is the hero (or anti-hero) of our own private movie. Each of us, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, believe that our struggle is the Greatest Struggle (often in spite of all evidence to the contrary). The Cult of Personality functions by breaking that quirk down, effectively convincing people that someone else is the real hero and themselves pawns to his or her victory over the Other. The Cult of Personal Anguish exploits this quirk, enforcing that each of us has Greater Pain than anyone else and by attacking the Other, we each receive our due.

So pick one. Pick some slight you feel personally. Anything that makes you feel all the bad feels. You know, because you are misunderstood and treated with less...whatever you think you deserve. Hell, pick a couple that seem related.

Some examples might include:

You feel objectified by _____. You feel unheard by _____. You feel left out by _____. You feel criticized and shamed by _____. Your choices in life have left you with LESS than _____. _____ are happier or more fulfilled than you

Step 2: Use language to pre-emptively invalidate all criticism or questioning.

This is key. The idea is to take an already agreed upon set of words that denote injustice or abuse and gradually expand the meaning until your specific anguish is cloaked in them. That way, when anyone questions your logical conclusions, you can throw out those words and phrases and shut down dissent.

If someone is critical of a war, they are automatically supporting terrorists. If someone tells an off color joke in the office, he is automatically a sex offender. If someone points out the obvious connection of a flag to slavery, she is automatically attacking your cultural heritage.

By expanding the umbrella that words mean, you destroy the nuances of language. Like when the word "rape" — defined as sexual intercourse without consent — is attached to the word "culture" and suddenly paints a broader brush that covers pretty much anything men say or do. Attaching the word "verbal" to the very specific "assault" amps up the calling of names to felony territory. Add "heritage" to a long standing bigoted "culture" and it seems goddamned noble.

More importantly, let these words and phrases completely dominate your discourse. Find ways to attack anything and everything through the prism of your pain. Eventually you and your followers will begin to lose the ability to see the complexities of living on a rock with seven billion fucking people and only see society through that kalaidiscope of personal misery. The mere opening of a door can be construed as sexist. The practice of women's basic health 97% of the time is completely eradicated because of a legal surgical procedure. Everything a white person says or does is automatically racist in intent.

A Cult of Personal Anguish requires a huge degree of fealty to these horse blinders, this narrowing of the world within the tunnel of your personal oppression or it falls apart under scrutiny.

Step 3: Recruit others who either feel that grievance or gain something by identifying.

In the Age of Constant Connectivity, this is a breeze. White Supremacist groups would be pocketed away in small, dark corners if not for the internet. With this tightening of the world via digital communication, being heard by others who hurt the same hurts as you is easier than ever before. 

There are also on the periphery those who, while they don't exactly feel your specific pain, gain a sense of validation by identifying with it. These "allies" to your cause are good for numbers but don't count upon them if things get tough. While they can assist in many ways, these are just groups of seekers who feel that things aren't quite fair enough for them but have no esoteric pain to attach to. Your cause is like a t-shirt they can wear and feel included in something bigger than themselves. 

Speaking of, sell t-shirts. Your "allies" will buy them. That's how you can tell them from your True Believers and you can make a couple of bucks in the process.

Step 4: Create an “Us vs Them” Mentality

Essential. Without an enemy to blame your grief upon, your cult goes nowhere. Focus lots of energy in pointing out the differences rather than similarities. The similarities weaken your cult. The differences are the fucking gas on the fire. Using Step 2 to amp up the discord, be on a constant attack on the Other. Ignore those other groups who, perhaps, have some of the same grievances because YOUR cause is FAR more important than theirs.

Remember the propaganda of WWII that reduced all Germans and all Japanese to evil caricatures. Observe how FOX News demonizes anyone who doesn't fall in line with their narrow worldview. Find your version of Bobby Jindal or Ben Carson to turncoat against those you see as Them. Remember, this is WAR (because if you attach the word "war" to anything else, it automatically becomes a Big Deal).

Become a Single Issue Proponent. Anyone who is not completely loyal to your cult becomes a part of the cause of your hurt. This is a broad strokes, scorched Earth approach that has succeeded for thousands of years.

When called out on this focus, obfuscate the issue by claiming a broader definition of the problem/oppressor:

"I love all sinners but hate the sin." "When I say 'white people are racist' I mean the system is racist." "I'm not saying Mexicans are the problem. All illegal immigrants steal our jobs..." "I'm not attacking the Good Policemen just the 'bad apples' when I say Kill the Cops." "It's not a war on women. It's a war on what's inside of women."

Once you have these four steps nailed down, go organize. Get a non-profit status or a Super PAC to support you (I mean, while you are out there sowing the seeds of revolution, someone has to pay the bills, amiright?) and legitimize your cult as either a political movement, a righteous cause, or a religion. Look around — there are legal organizations surrounding the pain Christians feel about abortions they don't have, the anguish Southerners have when removing their flag, coercing airlines to increase seat capacity for the Differently Weighted, the misery certain people have when their kids read about evolution, and Online Bullying.

A generation of citizens with crushing debt and few genuine job opportunities can feel bereft of transcendence and meaning, and “becoming woke” fills that spiritual hole. “Woke” is religion without God which strips away all the trappings of what we know of religion, simplifies the complexities of things like racism, income inequality, and the environment, and is really easy. Like Christianity, you profess your wickedness, confess your sins, and tithe to the church and you go to heaven.

Like early Catholicism, you wage war on those unbelievers and call it conversion. Create a moral binary that dictates a ‘with us or against us’ scenario and hammer it home. Spin the soft bigotry of yesterday and make it antiracism. No one likes to be called a racist and with no way to demonstrate that one is not racist, the moral binary takes hold.

I’ve read the books and heard the arguments. I believe most in the current cult are decent people who somehow believe in their movement.

Should it ever happen {May the gods avert the omen!} should it ever happen, I say that the religion of our forefathers will be supplanted by the religion of Kendi and DiAngelo, it will be to this noble toleration that America shall owe her premature death.

As for me? I’d sooner believe that Yogi Bear was the Divine Creator before putting my faith in this nonsense.

#cultthink #pontius pilate #mormons #religion of the now