#how evil cannot exist on a vacuum

[gaytwirights]

Entrance exams fucked me up so bad I'm genuinely thinking of a thematic analysis of Seth Twiright, and his relation to the main Themes of Evillious

#seth twiright #evillious chronicles #in case anyone's curious #the Evillious themes are #the complexity of parenthood and inheritance #how evil cannot exist on a vacuum #how money and power corrupt and also noble poverty #isolation as a catalyst for a downward spiral #hurt people hurt people #the lack of autonomy and being a doll #complicated relationships with identity and mirrors and reincarnation #imperialism and conquest and superiority (and money) #and finally. catholics are kinda fucked up #or at least those are the ones i can think of rn #if anyone has suggestions. pls tell me #but don't expect a response i'm in school rn

[dr3amofagame]

dr3's attempted serious of c!dream duo rankings based on lore importance (note: probably wrong, definitely argue)

c!Dream and c!Tommy: This is kinda undeniable. Like, in terms of their story, in terms of the Dream SMP, they are absolutely the heart and soul of the server. The c!Dream and c!Tommy show was such a thing that it has been like intentionally referenced and parodied within the story itself a million times. The story literally hinged on the idea of their opposing each other, c!Tommy-as-hero and c!Dream-as-villain, to the point where their whole you know finale and the closure for both characters involved realizing that they actually wanted the same thing and intentionally stepping out of the roles given them. Nothing really compares, sorry c!Discduo for the poll (but the heart wants what it wants XD)

c!Dream and c!Wilbur: I cannot believe they ended up ranking so low like I'm actually appalled. SLASH JAY but like . guys. Guys Please. c!Dream and c!Tommy's whole schtick forms the beating heart of this server because the story c!Wilbur wrote about them was its backbone. Like it's incredibly difficult to actually overstate how much c!Wilbur actually influences how c!Dream ends up--the paranoid spiral he ends up on is a direct influence of the increasing isolation he lived up until November 16th--this is why c!Quackity is so confident when he states c!Dream has no one left during dethronement and this is why c!Wilbur knows that c!Dream has no one in inconsolable differences. c!Dream doesn't exist in a vacuum and the whole, L'manburg narrative tyrant-villain-monster idea that originates from Wilbur ends up culminating in the identity that c!Dream ends up assuming to accomplish what he wants like hoooly shit he quotes "unfinished symphony" in Doomsday and he expects c!Wilbur to save him from the prison to the point of calling on him as his savior before basically Anyone and he lists c!Wilbur's name with c!Sam and c!Quackity post-prison like. Shit's fucked. Anyway.

c!Dream and c!Sam: Look I warned you guys I was going to be a little selfish. A Tad. Though, you know, it's kinda hard to compare in terms of like, you know, the fact that they literally spent a fuckin year together with almost no one else--sure there were visitors, sure Quackity happened, but like so much about them is very much isolated to. Them. (Also the ccs very clearly got a little carried away w/ these two and this reflects onto their like, Everything XD). With c!Sam and c!Dream it's less about well, straightforward comparisons and more about the Multitudes--c!Sam as the Plan, and c!Sam as part of the time and part of the server that c!Dream idealizes, and c!Sam as the cage for the monster the punishment for the evil the one that holds the villain away. And obviously while c!Dream doesn't um redefine his whole identity to base it on c!Sam the way that c!Sam does with c!Dream, the power of the trauma bond established over a year of Nothing Else does makes c!Dream noticeably more comfortable, almost, with c!Sam compared to like quite literally everyone else post-prison. Which is. Y'know.

c!Dteam (emphasis on c!Dnf): Admittedly, I'm not the biggest c!dnfer around by a long shot, so I don't really have as much to say here--but you know, considering c!Dteam very literally symbolize what c!Dream desires like. They're an extremely important part of who he is, what he wants, and why he does what he does. There's a reason why dethronement (and the cutting ties with c!Sapnap and c!George) is such a defining moment in terms of showing when he's fully burned bridges with the rest of the server, when he totally stands alone, etc. Obviously c!George is the originator of the "big happy family" line and well his mutual interests line up with c!Dream's quite a bit more than c!Sapnap's do, but as far as c!Dream is concerned both relationships are very much important to him and symbolic of happier times (and he's quite convinced that well. Both of them kinda want him dead, for reasonable reasons. So.)

c!Techno and c!Dream: This is where numbers get finicky, admittedly. As much as I love c!Rivals, and I love them a lot, I struggle a bit to put them on a definitive ranking. Because...well, on one hand, c!Techno is absolutely very high on c!Dream's priority list like as a character. I have said before and I'll say again that some of the most like outstanding displays of loyalty on the server come from c!Dream coming in c!Techno's defense at GREAT risk of personal harm--this guy literally stares down and denies both of his fucking torturers for c!Techno, like holy shit. c!Dream really fucking likes the guy like. So damn much. At the same time though, we're talking more...narrative importance versus importance to the character from a character's perspective--which is part of why c!Dteam is as high as they are, imo--while they're extremely important in terms of c!Dream's motivations and how he defines the whole "happy family" ideal around the idea of them living peacefully as a family, as far as actually looking at character interactions...especially post-dethronement they mostly just. Exist as figures that c!Dream yearns for but is also really fucking scared of. There's not as much consistent character interaction and frankly when we're talking about a character that's actively suppressing what he actually wants, they're not exactly high on his mental priority list either. All this being said, c!Techno definitely gets points by being one of the main vehicles by which we see c!Dream's like, humanity--being one of the few characters not to treat him as just a monster to be defeated and having similar ideals and therefore being an obvious comparison to make. Which is obviously important when we're talking about c!Dream, who was keeping himself rather in the dark.

c!Dream and c!Punz: Another real struggle to rank--I'd understand putting them up higher, but what really holds me back is well. c!Dream and c!Punz is the same as c!Dream and the Plan. And don't get me wrong, the Plan is extremely important to c!Dream as a character and like defines a lot of his actions especially post-revive book onwards, but what complicates this is like...well c!Punz as a character in terms of c!Dream? Like, he's just. He's just the Plan. That is his purpose, that's who he is supposed to be, and of course the Plan is important and of course c!Punz's like motivations here end up playing a big part in the tangled mess of what c!Dream ends up doing when we're talking what he starts ranting about in the third finale stream, but like. Well it's really not about c!Punz, innit, it's about what they're working together towards. c!Punz is secondary to the plan in a way that you really can't say the same for when you're talking about, say, c!Wilbur + the L'manburg narrative, or c!Sam and the prison. I can see an argument for them being higher just because like, if we're talking major c!Dream arcs, it's reasonable to have c!Dream and c!Tommy as being like a presence as the "main characters" in Wilbur's story starting the revolutionary war and ending at the genuine finale with c!Dream's main character development being split between the previously-named season finales--c!Wilbur being the main influence leading up to November 16th as c!Dream takes on the villain mantle, The Plan (and therefore c!Punz) driving him until Staged Finale, and the c!Sam and the Prison being the main force until the prison break...but well. There's just not enough of c!Punz and c!Dream actually acting together as a duo in terms of give and take in this dynamic to really make me put them higher--what's really important about c!Punz and c!Dream is just. The Plan and the Plan alone. Anyway, I'm decently flexible about this, but eeeeeeeh.

#c!dreamisms #look the punz thing is complicated because on one hand i think that the ranking should be higher because. The Plan is so important #but on the other hand it feels like it should be less for that exact same reason #like c!punz is just kinda there to Be The Plan. which is important to c!dream sure but like. #like it just feels so much less like it's abt a character duo and more about well dream and the plan and punz is the walking plot device #that symbolizes that #ultimately tho some of my c!dteam thoughts kinda skew in that direction as well...where it's less abt the characters and more abt what #they mean. but well even then the conflict that arises between c!dteam means that it's pretty different #from c!punz just being there to symbolize driving c!dream forward #idk 🤷 #honestly techno is pretty easily argued lower as well like as much as i love c!rivals (and i love c!rivals a lot) #narrative importance re. c!dream specifically is a lot more finicky #anyway honestly i have strong feelings on the first two and everything else is harder . c!awesamdream is number three In My Heart

[tavina-writes]

Sorry may I ask you a question? Your meta is so interesting! In mdzs "debts" is a recurring theme and can you please explain it? I've read meta about how in Chinese culture jc's owed the wen siblings a debt and he should have saved them, but I've also read meta about how he owed a hugger debt to his own sect. I've read how jgy killed whr and nmj, people who he owned his educations (debts). I thought that mdzs was more about "Who is wrong? Who is right?" so that everyone is a bit wrong and a bit right but this kind of meta make me doubt myself and think that maybe in mdzs someone is really morally right (wwx and lwj) and everyone else is wrong. I am going a little crazy, that's why I asked you. Anyway, thanks in advance and have a good day!

Hi Nonny!

There's no need to apologize for sending an ask! I love asks!

Regarding your question about debts and what is "owed" in relationships, I think it's important to clarify that like, presumably if someone saved your life you'd also owe them a debt of gratitude, a life debt, or however and whichever other 'debt' terminology you'd care to use there. So this concept of "debt" because you owe someone for doing something for you is not in and of itself a 'unique to Chinese culture' problem, and I think looking at "oh this person "owes" this other person a thing" is not entirely a great? way to analyze how character relationships "should" or should not go. There are lots of ways we as people in a society owe other people in our society and the characters in this book, much like us, are trapped in a confluence of factors that pull them in different directions regarding what they should or should not do.

The book itself (at least from my own opinion) is meant to read as "everyone is both right and wrong at various points in this text because this is a book with complex characters and not a morality lesson" because lest we forget, WWX made a woman eat a chair leg at one point, which. We cannot say this was correct in really anything except the most reductive main character centric interpretation.

Regarding debts themselves that say, WangXian might owe their families in accordance to their society that sound just about the same as the examples mentioned above, we can say things like "since Wei Wuxian was raised by the Jiang, he should've been helping Jiang Cheng rebuilding Lotus Pier instead of sitting around drinking or running off with the Wen!" or "how dare Lan Wangji injure thirty-three of his family elders, doesn't he know he should've been filial to them and owed his education and position in society to the Lan Sect?" and "why is it that WangXian got to go fuck in a bush at the end of the story when other people who arguably did fewer crimes end up dead? Does this mean they owed less to society or made all the right choices compared to say, the other people who are still in fact super dead and don't get to fuck their beloved in a bush?"

Does this start to look like this concept of "debts" doesn't,,, actually explain anything about the moral complexities of the character's situations? That's because it isn't a good indicator of if character x made a moral choice or not.

But again, this whole concept of "debts" to explain why a character does a thing and why they're morally good or evil and reprehensible for not doing this other thing is entirely a thing fandom does in meta to make their fave look good or character they're an anti about look extremely bad under a case of "well ACKSHUALLY morality says they SHOULD HAVE done this!" None of these characters exist either as Perfectly Moral Beings or Perfectly Evil Immoral Beings inside a decision making vacuum.

It...also doesn't really matter if your fave is right or wrong either :D just for context. They're all fictional blorbos upon a page and or screen. No real person was harmed in over the course of the story. No woman deep throated a chair leg, no child was tossed down the stairs, no groups of people were massacred, no brothers were abandoned, no one was poisoned with rage disease until they died, nobody committed incest... etc etc and honestly debating about if fictional characters were right or wrong fascinates me a lot less than "what does the story tell us about what drove them and made them tick?" and "what adaptational and translational choices did other people before me make about this story and do I agree with them on their adaptational choices."

:( sorry this came out so messy anon! I just don't think the "did this character repay their debts -> is this character a good person -> a morally good character therefore doesn't owe anyone anything anymore and if they do owe someone something that doesn't count/no they don't." pipeline is particularly useful from an analyzing the story standpoint.

#don't actually come debate in my notes or my inbox on if wangxian owe their families anything #or if this one debt a character has outweighs the other things that also act on their lives #like actually i am begging y'all to not #the debts debate means almost nothing! there are a lot of things everyone owes everyone else! #mo dao zu shi #the untamed #my meta #meta #asks and answers

[thewriteadviceforwriters]

How to Write a Good Witch Character in Your Fiction Novel

How to Write a Good Witch Character in Your Fiction Novel

Introduction

Witches have always been an intriguing and mystical subject in literature. Whether they are depicted as good or evil, the image of a witch evokes strong emotions and creates a sense of mystery. If you are planning to write a fiction novel with a witch character, there are a few things to keep in mind. In this post, we will explore how to create a believable and compelling witch character that will captivate your audience.

Writing a good witch character is not just about sprinkling in some magic and potions. It is about creating a complex and multidimensional character that has a unique backstory, personality, and motivations. A well-written witch character can add depth and intrigue to your story and keep your readers engaged from start to finish. So how do you write a good witch character? Let's dive in.

Section 1: Developing Your Witch Character's Personality

The first step in writing a good witch character is to develop their personality. Your witch character should be more than just a stereotype. They should have their own unique motivations, fears, and desires. To create a compelling character, consider the following:

1. Give your witch character a backstory: A witch is not born a witch. They have a history that has led them to practice magic. Create a backstory that explains how your witch character became a witch. This could be a tragic event, a family tradition, or a personal choice.

2. Define their morals: Just like any other character, your witch character should have a set of morals that guide their actions. Decide what your witch character believes in and what they stand for. Are they a good witch who uses magic to help others, or an evil witch who uses magic to further their own interests?

3. Create a unique personality: Your witch character should have a distinct personality that sets them apart from other witches. Are they confident and powerful, or shy and reserved? Do they have a sense of humor, or are they serious all the time?

Section 2: Incorporating Magic into Your Story

A witch character without magic is just another character. To create a believable witch character, you need to incorporate magic into your story. However, it's important to remember that magic should not be the only defining trait of your witch character. Here are some tips for incorporating magic into your story:

1. Establish the rules of magic: Before you start writing, establish the rules of magic in your story. Decide what your witch character can and cannot do with magic. This will help you avoid plot holes and inconsistencies.

2. Show the consequences of magic: Magic should not come without consequences. Show the negative effects of magic on your witch character and those around them. This will add depth and realism to your story.

3. Use magic as a plot device: Magic can be used to move the plot forward. Use magic to create conflict or to solve a problem in your story.

Section 3: Creating a World for Your Witch Character

A witch character does not exist in a vacuum. They live in a world with its own rules and traditions. To create a believable world for your witch character, consider the following:

1. Establish the rules of your world: Just like magic, your world should have its own set of rules. Decide what is possible and what is not in your world. This will help you create a consistent and believable setting.

2. Incorporate folklore and mythology: Folklore and mythology can add depth and intrigue to your world. Research the folklore and mythology of the region your story takes place in and incorporate it into your story.

3. Create a unique culture: Your witch character should not exist in a world that is exactly like our own. Create a unique culture for your world that reflects the beliefs and values of your characters.

Conclusion

Writing a good witch character is about creating a multidimensional character that has a unique backstory, personality, and motivations. Incorporating magic and creating a world for your witch character can add depth and intrigue to your story. By following these tips, you can create a witch character that will captivate your readers and keep them engaged from start to finish.

TheWriteAdviceForWriters 2023

#writing tips #writers block #creative writing #witchcore #witchblr #witchcraft #on writing #writeblr #writers and poets #authors #how to write

[archivalofsins]

Recently, I said I wouldn’t be discussing Kotoko’s case. Mostly because I believe I’ve already interrogated everything regarding the information provided already.  

However, I never said I wouldn’t discuss her ideology.  

So, let’s talk about Kotoko’s ideology and why she’s pivotal to Milgram’s progression and Jackalope says this,

Firstly,

What about Kotoko is too good to be true?

Well, her ideology of course. It fits far too well with what Milgram is trying to examine. Something the experiment the series gets its name from tentatively touched on. Fascism.

Particularly the Milgram experiment was done to,

CommonLit | The Milgram Experiment: X

Now I feel it's important to say out of the gate that by bringing this up I'm not stating I believe Kotoko is a nazi. While fascism has ties to Nazism not all fascists are nazis.

I'm toeing the line here and trying to use extremely specific wording as not to be misinterpreted. Because simply boiling down Kotoko's character to that concept alone would be a disservice.

When it comes to discussing Kotoko's ideology and how we've interpreted it I feel it's important for others to understand and recognize that fascism does not exist in a convenient vacuum where one can always tell that it is that from a glance. Poison comes in many forms and sometimes it can taste delicious going down.

One could frankly assume by me saying Kotoko has a fascist ideology that means I'm saying/believe she's a nazi. Because people tend to like to attach terms with things, they already have a firm understanding of and nazis are the most prominent type of fascists.

Many may go well I can tell a fascist when I see one. I wouldn't be tricked into falling for or supporting that sort of mindset. I have a firm understanding of right and wrong. I'd never knowingly support someone who's an exclusionist, bully, homophobic, ableist etc. Because I know better.

However, that's hard for me to believe from an outsider perspective considering Kotoko did have the highest Innocent verdict of trial one.

Firmly affirming that her crime was forgivable. That and by proxy her ideology that people who offend will always be offenders and there's no room for redemption or reform regardless of the scale of the transgression was correct.

Something she goes to no lengths to hide during her first trial song.

"I can’t forgive the evil hurting the weak."- "I hate all the evils in this world, I feel like I’m about to break." -"I’ll teach you the pain you caused. It’s a tie after saying sorry? What are you hoping for? Shall we replace the poor soul, and the miserable delusion. "I didn’t mean to offend”, “I won’t do it again” How many wins in a row?"

Milgram goes further making it clear through Jackalope in the second trial commencement notice and Mahiru's second interrogation that Kotoko's actions are heavily tied to her beliefs and ideology. Something she cannot let go of. If one were to just compare Kotoko's mentality to that of Nazism the focus would simply go to the idea that she is protecting the weak. Something that those sorts of fascists weren't known for doing.

This is why I'm making a point to state I don't believe Kotoko is a nazi and I do believe she thinks her actions are having a positive impact. However, I believe the ideals she shapes her actions around directly align with and can be labeled as fascist.

One of the reasons why fascism is so insidious and easy to fall into is because it can take many forms and look right up until the moment it begins to negatively impact the person viewing it.

This is why there's been so many videos on the concept and how to recognize it.

The Philosophy of Antifa | Philosophy Tube One hour and seven minutes and five seconds long.

Triumph of the Will, or, "Yes, You Might Be a Fascist" | Cinema Antifa Time 11:29 to 19:11. Twenty-two minutes and fifty-three seconds overall. The part time stamped goes over a list of features that tend to crop up when fascism is being applied. I'll go into that list later but yeah Kotoko's behavior and some of her second song's lyrics align well with this list.

Overall fascism isn't synonymous or specific to one movement. It is just an ideology and practice that can be shaped to fit the means the individual using it are trying to achieve.

"From the beginning I've never asked for your understanding! My actions, one by one, are bringing earth closer to peace. Useless weaklings should just shut up and let me protect them!"

It's also telling that her first song Harrow is about her protecting the weak from the evil. Yet her second trailer voice line is her lashing out at the weak. Meaning the weak are only important to her if they are able to be used to support or excuse what she wishes to do already.

Secondly,

Can you prove Kotoko has an ideology? And if so how do you know for sure it's fascist one?

When it comes to the f-word or any forms of isms. No one really likes to consider it outside of its more popularly known application. At points people may even default to believing that the word is meaningless. Stating that the word has been over applied and connected to almost everything at this point.

However, not everybody who doesn't get along with people who happen to have different religious beliefs, ethnic backgrounds, sexualities, or genders is a bigot. Sometimes people just don't get along. Just because people fight sometimes, or one person jumps another, it doesn't mean it's motivated by any external biases.

People can argue and it not be that deep.

However, that's not the case with Kotoko and Milgram blatantly states this.

Jackalope bluntly stating that he's,

"Never seen anyone so ideological and aggressive."

Why do I think Kotoko's ideology is fascism?

Okay , okay. So, there's some evidence and downright statements that Kotoko's behavior may be the result of her ideological beliefs. So, some could accept that she has an ideology but does having an ideology alone make a person a fascist?

People are entitled to their own beliefs after all.

Well, firstly with the way Amane's verdict is veering into Guilty-

No, they're not and consistent voters have made that abundantly clear.

Amane's case is kind of sad when you think about it in conjunction with this information. Because the voters are actively persecuting her for having religious beliefs that deviate from the standard while voting someone who could, and I believe does have this ideology Innocent. Possibly even doing so twice in a row.

Something I feel would really highlight how history is doomed to repeat itself in perpetuity if people fail to remember and engage with it critically. However, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Pettiness aside-

It's not as though Milgram was really trying to hide Kotoko's ideology. People just extended an immense amount of the benefit of the doubt with her case and took a lot of things at face value.

Milgram put her ideology on full display right out of the gate and has continued to.

From having Jackalope comment this,

"Prisoner 10, Kotoko. You can tell just from her aura that she’s not your everyday person…… You come across people like that sometimes."

To highlighting how she views those who do not agree with her as inhuman and those who'd agree with her as genuine human beings.

X

Q.03 Do you think any other prisoners who committed the same sin as you deserve to be forgiven?

Kotoko: Of course. Haven’t I already said that I believe my actions have been correct?

Through doing this she creates a us vs them situation where if someone were to say she was wrong they'd be the wrong one. However, unlike with Amane and Futa this actually worked for her.

"Eat this! Don’t act like you have no idea! We won’t forgive you! You’re the crazy one! Ban-Ba-Bang!"

"If you claim what I did was a mistake. I believe you are the one in the wrong."

Q.09 Which of the other prisoners do you think resembles you the most?

Kotoko: That’s a hard one. I’m only able to answer based on my guess on what they did. But I think the one that probably resembles me the most is Futa? Though he’s also the person who resembles me the least.

"I won’t stop until you say “sorry”!" - "It’s a tie after saying sorry? What are you hoping for?"

Milgram has been doing everything in its power to highlight Kotoko's ideological beliefs at this point without blatantly turning to the camera and yelling what they are. Even though it did that too in a way.

Well okay fine she thinks people who believe she was wrong aren't human but like you pointed out the others have voiced that if we view their behavior as wrong then we're the ones who are incorrect. Plus, someone would have to be a very inconsiderate, uncompassionate person to think she should have just let things continue as they were. It makes sense for Kotoko to believe that anyone who would persecute her for protecting others is wrong or inhumane. What should she have done, just ignore it? All these systemic failings and wrongs?

"I can’t forgive the evil hurting the weak. It’s unforgivable, I won’t allow it, I sweared."

Q.12 What is your motto?

Kotoko: “There’s no other way that could let us live, so I walk this path.” [TN: Quote from Mushanokouji Saneatsu.]

I too can quote people known for writing news articles in support of the second world war and being the younger brother of the Japanese Ambassador of Nazi Germany from memory.

A perfectly normal thing to be able to quote off the top of one's head verbatim.

No, red flags or dog whistles here.

Alright well that is odd, but it could be highly coincidental. That guy is a well-known writer and poet after all.

Besides Kotoko's focus is on protecting the weak from the evils of the world. The most well-known example of fascism is the exact opposite of that. They showed clear disdain towards disabled people, people who didn't practice the same religion as them, and people who did not look like them.

They were judgmental exclusionists who didn't care about anyone outside of their in group.

Kotoko isn't-

21/10/24 (Shidou’s Birthday) Shidou: ……oh, Yuzuriha-kun. It’s unusual so see you around this early. Wishing me a happy birthday…… probably isn’t the what you’re here for, huh. Kotoko: No, it is. Happy birthday, Shidou. Though it’s not like I bought you a present or anything. But while I’m here, I’d also like to ask you something. Has anything changed for you recently? Having nightmares, hearing voices, feeling anxious…… anything like that. Shidou: Not especially, no. ……ah, so this is about how Kajiyama-kun and Shiina-kun have been strange recently? And she’s been trying to hide it, but Amane too…… We’ve been living in these conditions for a while…… it’s not unusual for there to be an impact on us mentally. Are you worried about them? You’re a very caring person. Kotoko: Hmm, so you noticed? If nothing’s wrong with you, then that’s good. ……if I’ve understood properly, that means you’re safe…… Once again, happy birthday, Kirisaki Shidou.

21/12/15 (Kotoko’s Birthday) Haruka: Ah…… H-happy birthday, Kotoko-san. Kotoko: ……thanks. You’ve definitely changed a bit. Do you remember before? You could barely even talk to me. Haruka: I-is that so? Now that you mention it, I, I maybe have got a bit better since then. ……m-maybe I’ve got more used to being around people. There’s other people here who are interested in me, and, um, in particular Mu-san pays a lot of notice to me…… I… I’m enjoying myself here…… Kotoko: ……hmm. It’s just a theory I have right now, but I get the feeling the outcome of Milgram’s judgements are having some influence on our mental state. Well, I only noticed because I happened to be last up though. Good for you, then. This must mean that you’re fine. ……I’ll accept those birthday wishes.

22/12/15 (Kotoko’s Birthday) Mikoto: Ah, Koto-chan. It’s been a while. Both of us have kinda split off from the group, but how’ve things been? A lot’s happened, but for now let’s try to get along. I mean, it’s your birthday today, right? I got the feeling nobody else was going to do anything, so I came to celebrate. Kotoko: ……how carefree. It doesn’t matter, a villain like you won’t be forgiven next time either. And when that time comes, it’ll be the end for you. I’ll make sure of it myself. Mikoto: Ahh?? Just try and do it, you nutjob. I’ll crush anyone who hurts me…… You’re gonna be totally beaten at your own game……! [TN: The word “me” here uses first person pronoun “boku”.] Kotoko: Hm. The border between the two is getting a lot vaguer. Your entire existence is a crime. And I will see you’re punished for it. That is what Milgram, and Es, and I have chosen.

"I said before that I’m willing to follow your judgement, but you were soft on them. There’s some more that I wouldn’t have forgiven. If only I was the guard instead. Well, no use in complaining." X

Okay, fine that all looks sort of bad when framed in that light- and laid out in that way. All together.

But "I" personally don't interpret it as bad thing. Everyone in Milgram is a murderer. She has good reason to be on guard and keep to herself. Kotoko wasn't attacking innocent people she was killing criminals.

People who were skirting around the system, evading the law, and offending repeatedly. Getting rid of those sorts of people would make society better overall.

I mean child kidnapers and frauds cause damage to-

Okay, now you're just poking fun at Kotoko enjoyers.

Okay yeah, I am slightly but I'm also recommending you watch or read Death Note too just to better appreciate this joke. Sorry, sorry for that one, it really was just a low hanging fruit and far too good to pass up.

I can't lie I'm having a great and terrifying time writing this up right now. I only thought it'd be like ha, ha look at all these similarities between Kotoko's mindset and fascism isn't that odd.

Then I stumbled upon the fact that the person she directly quotes from memory in her first trial interrogation is a recorded supporter of World War 2. That's sort of really terrifying not going to lie. However, that just shows how much Kotoko has always been like this. To an extent this whole post has been writing itself because this is just a as soon as you see it you can't unsee it thing.

I really didn't think I'd find this much. I thought I'd go in an be like hm maybe I'm reading too much into this and there would be very little information within Milgram that supported this framing. However, there's weirdly a lot of stuff that does. Just all the way down this is how she is. Some have to admit that sometimes Kotoko's defense of her actions being we're stopping the bad guys is weirdly comparable to Light Yagami.

I mean no one has to but come on? It's kind of funny- It's at least funnier than the scary implications of her mindset and what that mindset garnering over sixty-percent support from people says about society as a whole. Let me tell you the Death Note comparison is certainly a lot funnier than that. Because the second thing is actually an issue that needs to be interrogated further.

Still, even after all this one could easily say despite everything, I haven't concretely stated why I believe Kotoko is a fascist. That all of this is just my subjective interpretation of the information provided mixed with a bunch of really weird coincidences.

However, that's the point of fascism, it's not meant to be recognizable until it is too late. It's fluid, flexible, ever changing and evolving. It changes to fit the environment, the goals of the party involved, and the people they wish to bring into the cause or exclude.

It doesn't always have the same tells in every instance it occurs. So, people can get tripped up by the deviations or even agree with the goal being strived for. However, it does have tells and Kotoko's behavior aligns with a lot of them.

Remember that second video which listed the core fundamental ideas that all fascist movements may build themselves from. Kotoko's behavior aligns with so many of them that again I just have to recommend you watch it but I will list the ones that stood out to me,

"4. Disagreement is Treason Because of this faith in tradition, which is inherently syncretic and self-contradictory and therefore can be easily deconstructed by an analytical mind. People defending that tradition hate when you point out its flaws." "5. Fear of Difference Disagreement is a sign of diversity of thought. Ur-fascism hates diversity. Because it can only operate through consensus. By force, if necessary. So, it always makes an appeal against the intruders. Who are these intruders? Honestly, it's entirely arbitrary. Anyone who doesn't fit."

"You'd understand, if you're a human."

Q.14 Are there any prisoners you don’t get on with?

Kotoko: Mikoto. He’s loud and bothersome.

20/07/01 Mikoto: Hey, hey, Koto-chan. I’ve been thinking this ever since I first heard your name, but don’t you think the names “Mikoto” and “Kotoko” kinda sound like siblings? Kotoko: No. Mikoto: Don’t say that! Let’s get along well from here on as the Koto-Koto combo! Kotoko: I’m not doing that.

Kotoko has shown that she disliked Mikoto from the start. Even refusing to wish him happy birthday before his trial even came up until he kicked up a fuss about it.

20/10/06 (Mikoto’s Birthday) Mikoto: ■■…… gh…… Gah…… ■■…… aaa…… nh…… ■…… ■■■■■……!! Kotoko: …………hm. Have you finally calmed down? Kayano Mikoto. ………… So, you want me to wish you a happy birthday? I don’t really mind, but is that really something for you to be saying to me? Mikoto: You’re the last person I need to have the whole group. If there was just one person left it’d be bugging me all night and I’d never get to sleep, right? At times like this you have to abandon your pride and just say something, right~? Kotoko: Ok, here you go. Happy birthday. ……if this is what will help you sleep soundly. Mikoto: Oh, thanks! Now I don’t need to worry~

Literally everyone told him happy birthday but her. They are in a panopticon. It's incredibly difficult for her to have not known it was his birthday if everyone had gone up to wish him happy birthday already. She just chose not to say. I don't know why she dislikes Mikoto specifically, but she does.

Even going as far to say taking care of him isn't just Milgram or Es' choice but her own as well. We've also gone over that Kotoko has a group. So, this is further illustrating that she's considered Mikoto's existence and intrusion in that group since before he was voted Guilty.

"7. Obsession with the Plot To ease this frustration, Ur-Fascism reminds the frustrated class that they are united by the virtue of having come from the same place. And what better way to unite than by forming a common enemy. The nation must always be under seige. There's always some shadowy force working from the inside and the outside to fundamentally change our way of life. Who is this force? Again it's arbitrary but usually it's some kind of foreigner."

Harrow "I can't forgive the evil hurting the weak." - "Whose fault is it? This is getting ridiculous. What should the punishment be? Want to find. I feel like I'm going crazy after straining my nerves. The person that can't be saved is now understanding the abnormality." - "It's ok to dislike, right? Losing it, losing it- What should I hope for? Good night. 'HARROW, HARROW'. Laugh and I can get to like myself."

"8. The enemy is strong & weak. The populace is taught two mutually exclusive ideas. One that the enemy is humiliating us through their wealth and power. Two, that they will easily be crushed by our wealth and power. Through this dichotomy the enemy is both strong enough to pose a threat but weak enough to defeat. Dangerous but impotent."

This is displayed through Harrow by having the criminals Kotoko attacks be strong enough to evade regular law enforcement or take advantage of the existing flawed system. Yet, weak enough to be taken care of through Kotoko's methods.

Something put on full display by having Kotoko triumph over this criminal that the police couldn't even catch in the end on top of showing her deliver justice to the bad guys repeatedly. Not just once overall.

"9. Life is Live for Struggle The belief that there will always be an enemy. So, life is always understood as permanent warfare. There is always a conflict, always a new battle. Therefore, pacifism is working for the enemy."

The ultimate message from Harrow is that the system we have now is flawed and it's up to the people, the real humans, to fix it. By any means. Through taking it into one's own hands if one needs to.

Q.04 When did you start learning martial arts?

Kotoko: When I was in primary school, I think? Without enough power, justice won’t be upheld.

Q.05 What do you do to pass time in the prison?

Kotoko: Training and meditation.

Q.12 What is your motto?

Kotoko: “There’s no other way that could let us live, so I walk this path.” [TN: Quote from Mushanokouji Saneatsu.]

Q.15 Which is more important, the objective or the means?

Kotoko: Objective. Does that not go without saying?

Q.17 Tell me what the merit is in working with you.

Kotoko: I will act according to your will. I can also act as your guard. Have you forgotten that you were about to die before?

"10. Contempt for the Weak Not just physically weak or morally weak this is a form of mass elitism. Everyone in the nation looks down on the other nations of the world. Everyone in the party looks down on everyone not in the party. Within the hierarchy of the party, everyone is taught to look down on their inferiors. And the leader looks with contempt on everyone because their authority is based on the weakness of the masses. After all, if they weren't weak, they would not need a leader."

Q.20 What do you consider “evil”?

Kotoko: The persecution of the weak and innocent.

"Useless weaklings should just shut up and let me protect them!"

If these people were not weak, they would not need to be protected.

Q.14 Are there any prisoners you don’t get on with?

Kotoko: Mikoto. He’s loud and bothersome.

"Your entire existence is a crime. And I will see you’re punished for it. That is what Milgram, and Es, and I have chosen."

"11. The Cult of Death or Everyone Can be a Hero The hero, in myth, is an exceptional figure who through struggle and sacrifice makes society better. In Ur-facism everyone is taught to be exceptional and of course the ultimate act of a hero is sacrifice. The belief that through glorious death we can reach transcendental happiness. In Eco's words, 'The UR-Fascist Hero is impatient to die. In their impatience, they more frequently send other people to their deaths."

Harrow

"Every time death comes the soul moves forward." - "Shall we replace the poor soul, and the miserable delusion?" - "Newly born “HARROW HARROW”. It’s ok to dislike, right?" - "Laugh and I can get to like myself."

Deep Cover

"So, I became your fang. I've chosen the awaited hero. I've engraved the answer. Why? Why stop me? Don't stop."

"12. Machismo This is the principle of permanent war and suicidal heroism brought into sexuality. Masculine sexual dominance is valued, and everything else, from femininity, to submissiveness, to chastity, to homosexuality- To anything outside of the ideal of dominant masculinity is shunned."

Q.10 What do you think of the term “femininity”?

Kotoko: A means. It’s something you can choose freely depending on the scene, not something you have to adhere to.

"13. Selective Populism Ur-Fascism relies on the people to function. But unlike in democracy, which works for individual rights, where individuals impact political decisions through the quantitative voting process Ur-facism treats the people as a qualitative function. As monolithic voice of the common will. Since no group is a monolith, and every populace is made up of a diverse number of voices, and as mentioned before facism needs consensus and abhors diversity- the leader serves as the sole interpreter of this will. So, the people only exist to serve as a rhetorical device commonly used to undermine democratic institutions that for one reason or another no longer represent the will of The People. And this, combined with the aforementioned, racism and xenophobia, serves to narrow the definition of who The People are. Eco speculates that in the future a TV or internet populism could also serve this function."

"The leader serves as the sole interpreter of this will. So, the people only exist to serve as a rhetorical device."

"I can’t forgive the evil hurting the weak. It’s unforgivable, I won’t allow it, I sweared." - "From the beginning I've never asked for your understanding! My actions, one by one, are bringing earth closer to peace. Useless weaklings should just shut up and let me protect them!

"Hm. The border between the two is getting a lot vaguer. Your entire existence is a crime. And I will see you’re punished for it. That is what Milgram, and Es, and I have chosen."

22/08/05 (Kazui’s Birthday)

Kotoko: ……Mukuhara Kazui. Thanks to you, I wasn’t able to properly serve justice to those who did something unforgivable. I’m currently acting as an agent for our prison guard Es. Don’t get in my way next time.

Kazui: Oi oi, don’t be silly, Yuzuriha-chan. There’s no way I could just look away from your outrageous display of violence. Anyway, even disregarding the fact violence against those voted guilty isn’t a part of Milgram’s system, what you’re doing is just acting recklessly based on a broad interpretation. As long as I’m free myself, I’ll stop you.

Kotoko: ……what a pointless argument. Hmph. Since Es forgives you, I have no choice but to forgive you myself too. If you're to keep to your words, then you’d best do what you can to keep being forgiven. If you’re not, then next time you’ll be one of my targets.

Kazui: Oh, how scary. That girl truly is frightening. ……well then, I wonder what the guard will decide to do with me. That’s the one thing I really can’t make out. Honestly……

Deep Cover

"Don't stop! I need a good reason to give justice! Give me my next purpose!"

Kotoko constantly uses the people around her and their struggles as an excuse for her behavior. Despite admitting she's never had to face any of the persecution or judgment she's more than happy to hand down to others.

Q.18 Have you ever personally been persecuted in the past?

Kotoko: I haven’t. But are you trying to say that if you haven’t had those experiences you can’t hate evildoers?

Now she's just using her relation to Es and their apparent agreement to justify her current behavior. Even if as Kazui pointed out attacking the prisoners because of their verdicts is not part of Milgram's system and she didn't even bother to ask what Es wanted her to do in their agreement.

She just made up these terms stating she'd take being voted Innocent as confirmation that Es wanted to work with her. Regardless of if she was voted innocent due to some other reason entirely or not. So far, all the prisoners' interrogations have highlighted that they aren't entirely aware of why Es made the verdict they did but they have some speculations based off the voices they'd been hearing and how they interpreted those.

So, she's truly just working off of her own interpretation of Es' and the audience's judgement.

Yeah, that's all I've really been able to gather on this idea and my thoughts on it. I don't know how comprehensive this will come off as and it may have spelling errors, but I hope people like it and use it to interrogate Kotoko's behavior can come off from a different angle. Because it's not as simple as a good deal of people have made it out to be.

#gunsli rambles #not tagging this because honestly don't want to deal with it but i wrote it so it's going up

[bloobluebloo]

I feel like Disney, MCU Thanos and Star Wars kinda soured the nuanced villain for the mainstream folks... I mean if I saw Kylo Ren I'd go back to wanting pure evil jackasses too.

As a certified hater of Kylo Ren I would love to blame him and Disney/MCU for people’s inability to see merit in properly developing a character. Unfortunately, for me that line of thinking is very low hanging fruit.

I've said it a couple of times already, but pure evil villains don't just exist in a vacuum, at least in a story that is decently written. Perhaps the villain themselves may be "evil just because they are evil" but their existence generally serve as a commentary on what is happening in the story they find themselves in. People love to cite Sauron as an example of an absolute evil antagonist, Tolkien himself saying as much. However, and not to start going into detail, Sauron himself has a lot of supporting backstory that gives you insight into why he is that way as well. My point is, a story that cares for telling a compelling story won't just stick in a character and say "he is evil" because then you, as the audience, won't care at all for it. I still cannot comprehend how people don't understand that if your antagonist, typically a part of the end goal for the protagonist, isn't interesting then you will really not care for reaching the end goal. Going back to TotK, even when I see people staunchly defending it and its storytelling, no one ever really talks about wanting to go fight Ganondorf, or feeling compelled to see him defeated. It's always about Zelda's sacrifice in becoming a dragon, or the many uses of Ultrahand, or the adventuring aspects amongst others. Everyone says that yes, when you do eventually go down to meet Ganondorf that the entire sequence is cool but there is no sense of urgency to actually go visit him. Maybe that was the intent of the dev team, to not have the player feel like they have to reach the end goal so that they can explore at their leisure, but that also makes for a boring villain that doesn't seem that threatening to begin with. Additionally, Ganondorf himself seems completely divorced from having any sort of interesting ties to Link and Zelda. His hatred lies with Rauru, and the only reason he seems interested in any way with Link is because Rauru said Link would defeat him. Zelda herself barely interacts with Ganondorf, which makes it even stranger that he chose to make a puppet out of someone that he seems to barely know nor care about. You would imagine that Ganondorf, hating Rauru and his kingdom as much as he does, would create a puppet out of Sonia with the goal of hurting Rauru with the image of his wife. Even the main quest of TotK is to "Find Zelda" aka Link's main concern is finding Zelda and bringing her home. Ganondorf is not Link's antagonist at all, but rather Rauru's, and then we learn little to nothing about Rauru. We actually learn little to nothing about Ganondorf as well, the game really banking on the fact that you as the player know that Ganondorf is the bad guy and the king of Hyrule is the good guy and running with it. Anyways, all's that to say, I love villains that are bastards. If Ganondorf was a tragic meow meow that spent his time lamenting his fortune I don't think I would like him as much. I want the game to make me feel like I need to beat him. Sticking him in a game and being like "yeah here he is, the bad guy, beat him" is boring and uninspired. I actually visited Ganondorf about 90 hours into playing TotK because, truly, the only thing compelling me to visit him was that he was my favorite character. There was no other sense of urgency for me. Compare that to OoT or WW where I wanted to get to him and see him defeated. Anyways I think I've rambled enough.

#ganonthots #bloothots

[cock-holliday]

“Westerners’ opinions on this don’t matter, you are not part of this, you cannot fathom what living under bombing is like,” says fellow westerner who has been incessantly giving their opinion, who lives in a luxury apartment built on the remains of the MOVE bombing in a state that manufactures the weapons Israel uses to commit their atrocities, with a state and reps and universities and businesses who fund the atrocities, who is neighboring states where the police force is trained by the IDF in a partnership camp paid for by US tax dollars and then tries out these techniques on Americans, and whose facebook profile picture is from a gay Israeli cruise trip.

I’m not sure if you’re aware but Westerners’ interest in the conflict is how we are where we are now. The West’s relationship with Israel is symbiotic and they learn from one another’s brutality. Struggles for liberation are interconnected. Boycott-Divest-Sanctions didn’t spring up out of nowhere, it came from The US being responsible. From Americans funding genocide through our active fundraisers and through inaction. Palestinian Liberation movements and Black Liberation movements found deep solidarity decades and decades ago through similar government repression, through the ADL calling both groups terrorists and supporting apartheid twice, through the violent and horrific police and military tactics placed upon both.

“You don’t need to be involved” gets reserved for pro-Palestinian support as if apathy and “staying out of it” is not Israeli support. Inaction allows this. Apathy allows for a quiet genocide. Every conflict is “complicated” in that none exist in a vacuum and are always the culmination of hundreds and thousands of years if you want to go back that far. Every country is formed on stolen land. That didn’t make Ukraine assault “complicated” to people because the issue is happening right now, the specific injustice is happening now. If the Nakba is ancient history to the cause of conflict then sorry but so is the Shoah.

You cannot claim to support liberation movements in the US and then think support for them abroad is all for brownie points. You do not support land back and self-determination in the states if you then reject them abroad. You cannot believe in the right of Ukrainians to fight back and then see all Palestinian struggle as terrorism.

All Israeli deaths are being framed as civilian deaths whether they are soldiers or not. When your civilian population is mandatorily a solider, it’s easy to conflate the two. The targeting of military bases and killing of military leaders is “civilian deaths”, then the bombing of residential neighborhoods is a “strike on Hamas.” All Palestinian deaths are being framed as terrorist deaths if we even bother to count them. “40 beheaded babies” vs silence on 300 children. A bombed children’s hospital. Children burned to death by white phosphorus. A newspaper headline read “mutilated Israeli children” and showed a photo of injured Palestinian children.

It’s not about loss of life to people, it’s not ‘complexities’ in a struggle for freedom, it is the expectation to die in silence lest you make us feel bad for our complicity.

President Isaac Herzog’s words are atrocious, but unfortunately he is not alone in his sentiment that, “[Palestinians] could have risen up, they could have fought against that evil regime which took over Gaza in a coup d'etat.”

Fighting Israel is justification for your death, not fighting Hamas is justification for your death. There are no innocent Palestinians and there are no guilty Israelis. Vigils for just Israelis is “caring about human life” but any vigils or supprt for Palestinians whether it is coupled with support for Israelis or not is labeled as antisemitic and terroristic. If you oppose the atrocity you are a terrorist, if you take action to try to stop it you’re a terrorist, if you sit on your hands and pass judgement from “the other side” then you are simply a reasonable and wise voice in a tricky situation with no remedy but to suggest both uneven sides kiss and make up.

[infinite-magenta1891]

Alfred Ashford and queerness, an analysis 

So, Resident Evil Code Veronica. It’s a game that has the community split on whether it’s one of the best or one of the worst games in the series. I personally love it, but there is a point to be made that it does have quite a few flaws in how its story and gameplay was handled, and with the newer RE remakes that have all been widely praised by pretty much everyone (some more than others,) many people have been clamouring for Code Veronica to get a similar treatment to the others, giving it another chance to show off its potential.

In all of these discussions of a remake, one thing that I see as being ignored is the character of Alfred Ashford and his rather tragic story. In a nutshell, it is a story about a child who is born of a heinous eugenics experiment and is neglected by his father for not being born with what he was looking for, becoming obsessed with the only person who ever showed him any sort of affection, and eventually losing his mind after she leaves, developing a separate personality to cope, and becoming a monster. 

However, this is not what we see in game.

In game, Alfred is a walking queer stereotype who’s entire character is based around an incredibly transphobic reveal of him dressing as Alexia in her absence and being a source of horror not because of his circumstances, but because he was, *gasp*, dressing as a woman! How disgusting!

Now, I probably shouldn’t need to explain why this is a problem. It’s both incredibly transphobic and ableist and utterly destroys anything else that this character could say.

It’s also something that I’ve never really seen people talking about in any Code Veronica remake, only a few actually talk about this issue in a constructive way. Most are more along the lines of “Oh yeah, that’s a problem, capcom better do something about it.” Which isn’t really all that helpful considering the subject matter, but here’s the thing.

I believe that Alfred’s story can be reworked into something that doesn’t just get rid of these unfortunate implications, but turns them on their head to make it a story about queerness rather than discriminating against it.

First, the crossdressing isn’t the only place where you can put Alfred’s queerness on display. Consider: Alfred was neglected and ignored by his father for his lack of intelligence, sure, but what if that wasn’t the only thing. What if it was also because he began displaying some form of queer behaviour and, as part of a horrible eugenics conspiracy, didn’t take it too kindly, maybe even full on physical abuse against him for displaying it. This not only could emphasise why he latched onto Alexia like he did, but also show why he also displays such an obsession with the military as well, choosing a ‘masculine’ career in order to avoid more harassment from his father, but this doesn’t work because Alexander just doesn’t care. Alfred was born wrong and as such he has no love for his son, only scorn. It also makes their experiment on him not just horrific for what they're doing to him, but also triumphant for getting rid of his abuser, but this is not the end for this story.

Soon after, Alexia leaves in her cryostasis and Alfred is not only alone, but in a system that also hates him for existing. Umbrella is probably also just as queerphobic as Alexander, if not even more so, but they can’t just get rid of him due to his status in the company. So they stick him on Rockfort and keep him there in order to stop him from ruining their plans or reputation, which causes Alfred’s mind to shatter under the stress and isolation, leaving him a broken, monstrous wreck of a man.

(They also shouldn’t make Alfred any less of a villain due to this, in fact, having him be even more cruel and sadistic could also make his story even sadder.)

However, Alfred cannot exist in a metaphorical vacuum of queerness. In order for this to work and work well, the rest of the game must work to emphasise this theme with the other characters. Have Claire and Steve empathise with him not just due to his madness, but also because of what caused him to break in such a way, have Alexia’s love come from not just his praise, but also because he’s the only person who truly understands her. Have all the other Umbrella employees look down on him and hate him for it. If Capcom wants Alfred’s story to work, then queerness has to be up there in this game’s themes along with ‘family bonds’ and ‘shooting zombies and big monsters in the face’

In conclusion, I believe that the only way to make Code Veronica’s story not queerphobic besides just cutting it (which would be boring,) is to make it about queerness rather than treating it like it’s disgusting and unnatural. Besides, if done well, then Code Veronica could go down as one of the best stories in gaming.

#resident evil #resident evil code veronica #alfred ashford #alexia ashford #code veronica #steve burnside #alexander ashford #claire redfield #This also has the advantage of emphasising resident evil’s bigger themes of eugenics #If I catch anyone trying to be homophobic or transphobic on this post I’m gonna ram your face into a blender #lgbtq #analysis

[biracy]

Cannot find my older post about it (tbh I didn't try very hard) but honestly I am so tired of people trying to pretend like there's any sort of consistency to "cis women getting a nose job is evil and NOT feminist. However all transsexual surgery is Holy Holy Holy". It's truly not surprising how often people end up reblogging from like, actual tradcaths about "modern women ruining their natural feminine beauty" or whatever. I've said this all before so I don't wanna repeat myself but obviously this does not mean "you cannot critique what drives people (cis or trans) to get 'plastic surgery'" or "women's choices exist in a vacuum" (although I would roll back some of the extreme performative hatred for women who make The Bad Not Feminist Choices), but it DOES mean "stop pretending like there's any sort of actual distinction between Cis Plastic Surgery (bad) and Trans 'Gender-Affirming' Surgery (good) that does not fully rely on the medicalization of being transgender" and it ALSO means "stop pretending to care about bodily autonomy when what you really mean is 'people can do things with their bodies I think are cool and good, but not things that I don't like. Those things should literally be banned, that's how we will save women'"

#i've Definitely said this before but bodily autonomy is not just the tumblr leftist transSEXual commune smoking and getting abortions or w/e #it's also all the things you don't like. it's also all the things you think are frivolous. it's also all the things you think are harmful #idk toooo many terfs have come into my notes to tell me that transgender surgery is equivalent to eating disorders #or 'transracial' plastic surgery or Literal Self-Mutilation or whatever that i'm done pretending #i'm not going to do the Noooo it's different! this is Medically Necessary surgery to treat the mental illness that makes me trans <3 #thing i'm Done. there is no definitive line between 'cosmetic surgery' and 'gender-affirming surgery' #and if it's either have both or have neither i think it's pretty obvious which one we should choose #open mick night #gender #idk you familiarize yourself with enough anti-trans anti-drug anti-kink and etc talking points and all this starts to #leave a bad taste in your mouth lol #when i say you can do WHATEVER you want forever i do mean it. even if the things are harmful or politically reductive or whatever #you can Leftist Critique it but you cannot even for one second start to fall into the 'and this is why women should Not Be Allowed To-' tra #bc as always. what's ur reasoning? you find it morally wrong? what other medical procedures do people find morally wrong? regarding women?

[a-midsummer-nights-dab]

Cracks and Notches

Nothing is Absolute.

It is a not very well established but nonetheless, an unequivocally accepted fact, that everything, practically everything comes with a catch. The good cannot exist, without the evil. There is always the Achilles's heel to every invincibility. Nothing is absolutely perfect or for that matter, utterly unconditional, as everything, indubitably, has its own inherent defects, for the creation of entities was not without terms. Opposites, the dualisticity of entities that the Illuminati revered, were always maintained in formation. Light was formed with the Dark, Sound, with Silence, and Life, with Death.

Everything, with Nothing.

As long as time has existed, for every thesis, there has always accompanied an antithesis, which despite its parasitical mannerism, is in a sense, often quintessential in maintaining a universal homeostasis in the equality of forces of both poles, ensuring a certain momentum of stability. Moreover, courtesy of our myopic, albeit relativistic world views, the truth is often shrouded and purpose is often lost. In the pursuit for greatness, a chronometaphorically worthless task, goodness is often forgotten. But then again, as Stan Lee once said, With great Power, comes great Responsibility. It is Human to err, and oftentimes easier to stow away the responsibility that it implies, but it always comes back. In ways we will never be able to predict.

Life is not without baggage of its own.

The existence of these entities, however, can be impossibly divergent. They may be two polar opposites, as the Sith and the Jedi were, or two faces of the same Coin, as S.H.I.E.L.D and H.Y.D.R.A were. Predicting these possibilities as certainties, however, is something out of Human perspective, for all we know, we are trying to discern and disambiguate reality into two sides of a Mobius strip, to discover something we already know.

The problem we Humans primarily encounter is a lack of perspective, for without complete knowledge, we can only extrapolate as to what the implied absolute we think we happen to be looking for. Then again, maybe it is time we began looking for the assets in the liabilities, the advantages in the disadvantages, and how best we can wield it as a weapon.

Change is the only universal constancy, and that, by its very intention, is very intention, is unstable and is always altering, ruling out any possibility of certainty. Absolutism is an incorrect idea, for nailing something down will only, almost in a Newtonian fashion, will function in an antithetical principle to the former. Existence is fraught with defects, some visible, and others not. In effect, everything has its own dents we will have to encounter at some point in time.

Everything, but Chaos itself.

Nothing has not a chink, hitch or a catch. It, in essence itself, is the antonymical entity of everything itself. Nothing is perhaps the only entity with neither conditions nor terms, for there exists naught to even begin with. The notion that a vacuum, a blank is itself, pure, is mind numbing, truly, but it happens to be the thing that we all seek in ourselves, a vacuum, and purely just a state of peace.

For Nothing, indeed, is truly the only Absolute.

Godspeed.

[xxchromies]

Random thoughts

It's crazy how much I've changed in the past couple of years, in a good way! I was just thinking about how if people I knew in high school found this blog, they'd probably faint. They'd be disturbed. They'd say I'm "going down the alt-right pipeline" and I'm an "evil TERF". And that would have bothered me in the past, but now I really don't care! It's not like the alt-right isn't a real thing, but I absolutely ABHOR people who consider anything that doesn't align with the most sanitized liberal thinking as being a part of the alt-right. Being conservative is not the alt-right either. I cannot help but CACKLE when people say that people like Ben Shapiro and Jordan Peterson are part of the alt-right.

I've learned a lot of things about the world in the past couple of years. I've learned to trust my instincts and to challenge the dominant narrative. I've learned things aren't always what they appear. And I'm so glad I did! I don't have to put up with any old bullshit anymore! I hate porn! I hate sex work! I hate gender ideology! I can't in good conscience support any of that bullshit anymore. Maybe I sound a bit crazy right now, but I really do feel like Neo from the Matrix. I feel as if I've uncovered the realities of the world, but at the same time it's scary because in many ways the reality is horrible.

I felt compelled to write this post because I've been seeing a few radical feminist tweets get absolutely dogpiled on Twitter. There was one about how BDSM and many other kinks are inherently abusive and a bunch of people were doing the typical "but they CHOOSE it" "it's more nuanced than this" bullshit. People were saying that radical feminism is just conservatism in disguise. And it just really opened my eyes. So many people are absolute hypocrites. These so called progressives will go on and on about how other people are problematic but the moment you turn the spotlight on THEM, they double down. It's fascinating.

I just want to make myself completely clear for anyone who comes across this blog, I do not hate trans people or want them to die. I believe being trans is a mental illness. However, there's nothing wrong with having a mental illness. I believe they are mentally ill people that are taken advantage of by the medical industry. People may think I'm insisting they don't have agency, but that's not it. I'm simply saying not all choices are good ones, choices don't exist in a vacuum, and you can easily be influenced by outside forces who don't always have your best interests at heat. No one is immune to propaganda. That includes you and me. If someone really truly wants to transition, they have a right to do so. BUT! I'm not going to pretend that sexual dimorphism isn't a thing. I'm not going to pretend that trans women are real women, or that trans men are real men. I will simply acknowledge that they are pretending to be the opposite sex. Nothing wrong with pretending, quite honestly. It's not a bad thing.

I also do not have any problem with kinks that aren't harmful to the self or to other people. I don't give a damn if someone has a foot fetish, a fart fetish, or even autogynephilia! But I do not condone anything related to BDSM, I just don't. If you enjoy a kink like that, I urge you to look within! I understand it may feel upsetting to realize that what you are doing is bad, but instead of doubling down, do some self-reflection! If you enjoying inflicting pain on people, that is fucked up! Even if they say yes! If you enjoy having pain inflicted on you, you have something wrong with you. But you're not a bad person necessarily, you're a victim. I have compassion for you. But don't lie to yourself. What you are doing is not healthy or normal just because you consented to it. Suicide is consensual, is it not? At the end of the day, it's a free country. But please cut the cognitive dissonance bullshit out.

#radical feminism #my thoughts

[adhbabey]

Psychopathy is a thing tho. It is separate from ASPD and psychosis. It is not technically a diagnosis, it is currently considered a "personality construct". Sociopath is less an official term these days than psychopath, which is whatever but while there is significant overlap between ASPD and psychopathy, they are not necessarily the same thing. Someone could have one or both but they have different criteria. And psychosis is another thing entirely. There are also two types of psychopathy, factor 1 and factor 2. Factor 2 tends to line up more with ASPD or what some would call a sociopath. There's also a thing called pseudopsychopathy, typically associated with damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex.

I agree that it is problematic that police procedurals/true crime shows and movies heavily associate psychopathy and personality disorders with violent crime. However, criminal offenders, violent or otherwise, often do have (usually undiagnosed and untreated) mental disorders or are neurodivergent.

People try so hard to separate personality disorders and psychotic disorders from violence and crime that they forget that criminals are still people with their own psychopathology that may or may not impact their criminal behavior. There is no single thing that determines someones choices, but it is disingenuous to say that someone's psychopathology has no effect at all.

One thing, psychosis is not a disorder, it's a symptom of many disorders. Psychosis is when you experience delusions and hallucinations, similar to a hypnotic trance, and is often caused by triggers, such as unreality. "Psychotic" people refer to those with psychosis.

Psychopathy, however, is not in the DSM, and is not a thing, just something we made up to assign to people who are "evil". Here is a good article on it. It's not real in the case that it's a "mental disorder". Sure, it exists as something in criminal psychology, but it's not an actual thing that actually applies to anyone, just something we apply to people that we deem as bad.

People with ASPD are those who have no affective empathy, they cannot experience other people's emotions as their own, and can struggle to understand their own emotions as a part of that. There are many people who are compassionate and kind, with little to no affective empathy, that shouldn't make them villains. As well as, people who mirror others is a common human experience, even with animals, that's normal and not weird. People with ASPD need your support and kindness, trying to convince me of the goodness of criminal psychology doesn't help victims. My blog is here to support all disabled and neurodivergent and mentally ill people, those with ASPD are a part of that. They're not scary at all.

I need you to understand this is not about me discounting the work that doctors do, but the way in which this information is used. This is only used to further demonize those with mental illnesses and disorders, I hope you understand. Think about stuff like profiling or body analysis, or how mental institutions once held both criminals and those who were mentally ill. This information doesn't exist in a vacuum, it's always meant to hurt someone else.

I think that these traits and symptoms associated with criminals is a bad thing. It's like the prison industrial complex, something used to put marginalized people in prison, so they can't fight back. It's not just people of color, it's all marginalized people, disabled people are one of them. Disabled people already barely have any autonomy, so any disabled people that are deemed as dangerous are locked up, what do you think about that? It's real, these things happen all the time.

Do you know like, other disorders that are associated with "damage to the prefrontal cortex", ADHD. I don't think like,, there's much to say on the research of "psychopaths" when it's not even in the manual of mental disorders, and it's often associated with an actual disorder and a symptom of several disorders. But that one disorder isn't even the same, it's deemed as a different thing all together. I honestly think a lot of this is bullshit, and only further causes harm to those of us who are disabled.

Do you even know that most people with personality disorders cannot seek treatment because it's so demonized? That they get turned away or have their disabilities erased, because there is so much shame and hatred surrounding these disorders. Did you even know that some people have medication forced on them because they have a "dangerous" mental illness? I'm not surprised if you haven't. I'm not surprised with the amount of ableism in this world. People with stigmatized disorders are the victims, not neurotypical abled people.

I won't change your mind, clearly. But I want more people to reconsider the information that they are given to, on a silver platter, by the police. Ask yourself why is that information handed to you, so freely? Why is it so easy to believe? How easy is it to just blame someone for the world's problems, and not on the system that created such horrible things? This is not a mistake, I need you to understand that much.

#babey asks #tw ableism #i was gonna answer this privately but everyone needs to hear this #i know you're trying to educate me but criminal psychology has helped with jack shit in my opinion #it's not a disorder it's not a symptom #it's basically made up #it's not in the dsm #honestly someone's socio-economics play a bigger role into criminal behavior than mental health really does #i could tell you how much the brain survives on so little if you'd like #there's way less mentally ill people that do crimes than it is just people being affected by the system #like... it's so easy to blame a mental illness on something bad than it is to look at the system and say it's failing #i have way more leftist beliefs if you can tell

[manie-sans-delire-x]

there are men dealing with men's issues. the problem is that radfem organizations have gathered power and influence and in many areas will actively lobby to prevent resources being given to orgs that help men. there's many cases of attempts to open shelters for men being shut down by lobby from feminist orgs. there's the fact that it is impossible to have a broad movement of "men's rights" specifically because it will be discredited and nipped in the bud by certain feminist interest groups. yes, sure 'MRA's are in big part responsible for this too. but like, outside of completely backwards and assinine 'versions' of feminism such as radical feminism, there's is a conscience that on a political and social level, equality of genders cannot be achieved if women's needs are held in higher regard than men's or if men do not have proper resources to help themselves. this is the part where modern intersectional feminist movements advocate for deep structural changes (dismantling the patriarchy) in order for *everyone* to have resources necessary for their well being. society as it is doesn't care about men's well being or actual self determination. when it comes to mental health for instance, men have significantly fewer resources than women do. this is why more and more men participate in feminist movements. in the long run, feminist ideology and politics have a better chance of advancing the cause of equality and just general improvement of life quality for everyone, then creating a specifically "men oriented" movement. actual conscious feminism is rooted in class consciousness, anti-capitalism and anti-colonialism, and these things affect men as well women, although in different ways. this is why there's a place for men in feminism, and why feminism is also concerned with men's issues. these two things are interconnected and do not exist in a vacuum. you seem like a smart person, you should really stop listening to radfems. there's plenty of other "types" of feminism or feminist schools of thought that are much more anchored in reality. not to mention that the Venn diagram of radfems and fascists is practically a circle. the whole bio essentialism thing, considering males as inherently abusive and automatically usurpatory vs. women is the same trick as labeling any group of people as "inherently dangerous and incapable of change and therefore They Are The Enemy". not to mention how fucking hopeless that is. what's the point in all of this if people are just "born this way"? that means theres no possible future where things can be better. radfem mentality is counterproductive at best, toxic and dangerous at worst. what kind of 'feminists' get female s.workers incarcerated to "save them"?? what kind of 'feminist thinker' teaches women that any penetrative sex is rape??? stop listening to batshit insane people...

Woah, when did I even mention radical feminism? I am capable of my own thoughts you know, why are you assuming I'm being influenced by extremists? None of my beliefs about sex equality are extremist, they're very basic feminist concepts. I definitely don't think incarcerating sex workers is saving them or any penetrative sex is rape. Definitely dont think all men are evil or whatever either. I've never said that and I would never believe such ridiculous things. So no, I'm not "listening to batshit insane people" at all actually. So wtf are you talking about with that?

Are they shutting down shelters for men, or simply saying that men should not be allowed into women's shelters? Because thats very different. The first is fucked up, men deserve equal help. The second is very reasonable and I back that.

Also I would be careful about the use of the phrase "mens rights" because men are not lacking rights. Nowhere in the world is there a law that denies rights to men for being male. I know I used it too lol, but that was because men like the ones I spoke about love using that phrase. But theres a huge difference between societal issues mainly affecting a certain sex vs that sex being denied rights. There are societal issues which affect mainly men, absolutely, and resources for men are indeed lacking compared to womans. Not because of malice towards men but because women are the vast majority of victims of domestic violence, trafficking, single parents, etc. They genuinely need it more. And thats not like a "win for feminism, fuck men lol" thing, thats actually the whole problem to begin with isnt it? -that women are disproportionately being victimized, in almost every category of crime. 

“This is why more and more men participate in feminist movements” Are they? Because all I ever see are men hating on feminism, saying there is no longer a need for it, and denying the extremely extensive damage that men as a whole have been committing upon women as a whole for thousands of years. I would hope this is true though.

"In the long run, feminist ideology and politics have a better chance of advancing the cause of equality and just general improvement of life quality for everyone, then creating a specifically "men oriented" movement. ... This is why there's a place for men in feminism, and why feminism is also concerned with men's issues. These two things are interconnected and do not exist in a vacuum."

I absolutely agree that issues are interconnected and complex, and I agree that men should care about womens issues and women should care about mens issues. I think you misunderstood my post. My post was complaining about men who dont care about sex equality issues- for men or women- until it negatively affects men/a man, and then they use that to complain about feminism or somehow discredit womens rights movements. 

#asks

[themuseandantarctica]

* 𝒒𝒖𝒐𝒕𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒑𝒕. 16

change however necessary.

“There are more valid facts and details in works of art than there are in history books.”

“History is a construct consequent upon the questions asked by the historian.”

“I sometimes think of what future historians will say of us.  A single sentence will suffice for modern man: he fornicated and read the papers.”

“The future is dark, the present burdensome.  Only the past, dead and buried, bears contemplation.”

“History is a pack of lies about events that never happened told by people who weren’t there.”

“History is an endless repetition of the wrong way of living.”

“History is the sound of hobnailed boots ascending the staircase and of silk slippers coming down.”

“History is little more than the register of the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind.”

“History is but glorification of murderers and robbers.”

“Sin writes histories, goodness is silent.”

“History celebrates the battlefields whereon we meet our death, but scorns to speak of the plowed fields whereby we live.  It knows the names of the kings’ bastards, but cannot tell us the origin of wheat.”

“History is the science of what never happens twice.”

“It would be a good thing if man concerned himself more with the history of his nature than with the history of his deeds.”

“What then is, generally speaking, the truth of history?  A fable agreed upon.”

“What experience and history teach is this—that people and governments have never learned anything from the study of history, or acted on principles deduced from it.”

“Happy the people whose annals are boring to read.”

“Honesty may be the best policy, but it’s important to remember that apparently, by elimination, dishonesty is the second-best policy.”

“A truth that’s told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent.”

“There’s one way to find out if a man is honest—ask him.  If he says, ‘Yes,’ you know he is a crook.”

“A man that should call everything by its right name would hardly pass the streets without being knocked down as a common enemy.”

“People who are brutally honest get more satisfaction out of the brutality than out of the honesty.”

“Speak the truth, but leave immediately afterward.”

“It is always the best policy to tell the truth, unless, of course, you are an exceptionally good liar.”

“Hope is the gay skylarking pajamas we wear over yesterday’s bruises.”

“The human body experiences a powerful gravitation pull in the direction of hope.”

“I steer my bark with hope in the head, leaving fear astern.  My hopes indeed sometimes fail, but not oftener than the forebodings of the gloomy.”

“Hope is patience with the lamp lit.”

“He that lives upon hope will die fasting.”

“Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense regardless of how it turns out.”

“Everything one records contains a grain of hope, no matter how deeply it may come from despair.”

“Hope for the best but prepare for the worst.”

“Hope is the feeling we have that the feeling we have is not permanent.”

“Things which you do not hope happen more frequently than things which you do hope.”

“Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence.”

“The road that is built in hope is more pleasant to the traveler than the road built in despair, even though they both lead to the same destination.”

“Hope, in reality, is the worst of all evils, because it prolongs the torments of man.”

“If one truly has lost hope, one would not be on hand to say so.”

“In your hopelessness is the only hope, and in your desirelessness is your only fulfillment, and in your tremendous helplessness suddenly the whole existence starts helping you.”

“Housework can kill you, if you do it right.”

“The phrase ‘working mother’ is redundant.”

“One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.”

“Never sweep.  After four years the dirt gets no worse.”

“I’m not going to vacuum till Sears makes ones you can ride on.”

“What is man?  The slave of death, a passing wayfarer.  How is a man placed?  Like a lantern in the wind.”

“Why the toil, yearning, honesty, aesthetics, exaltation, love, hate, deceit, brilliance, hubris, humility, shame, and stupidity that collectively define our species?”

“What a strange machine man is!  You fill him with bread, wine, fish, and radishes, and out comes sighs, laughter, and dreams.”

“We are all of us sentenced to solitary confinement inside our own skins, for life.”

“We are not human beings on a spiritual journey.  We are spiritual beings on a human journey.”

“All human beings should try to learn before they die what they are running from, and to, and why.”

“There may be said to be two classes of people in the world: those who constantly divide the people of the world into two classes, and those who do not.”

“A human being is not a human being while his tendencies include self-indulgence, covetousness, temper, and attacking other people.”

“Man is the only creature that consumes without producing.  He does not give milk, he does not lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plow, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits.  Yet he is lord of all the animals.”

“The body is a self-building machine, a self-stoking, self-regulating, self-repairing machine—the most marvelous and unique automatic mechanism in the universe.”

“Every man is as Nature made him, and sometimes a great deal worse.”

“When we speak of Nature it is wrong to forget that we are ourselves a part of Nature.  We ought to view ourselves with the same curiosity and openness with which we study a tree, the sky, or a thought, because we too are linked to the entire universe.”

“The universe seems bankrupt as soon as we begin to discuss the characters of individuals.”

“Strong people have strong weaknesses.”

“What a chimera then is man!  What a novelty!  What a monster, what a chaos, what a subject of contradiction, what a prodigy!  Judge of all things, feeble earthworm, depository of truth, a sink of uncertainty and error, the glory and the shame of the universe.”

“Always remember that you are absolutely unique.  Just like everyone else.”

“You don’t really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round will wave at his parents every time around—and why the parents will always wave back.”

“The real problem is in the hearts and minds of men.  It is not a problem of physics but of ethics.  It is easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil from the spirit of man.”

“Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made.”

“It is the greatest mistake to think that man is always one and the same.  A man is never the same for long.  He is continually changing.  He seldom remains the same even for half an hour.”

“We cannot heal the wounds we do not feel.”

“I have striven not to laugh at human actions, not to weep at them, nor to hate them, but to understand them.”

“For the first time I examined myself with a seriously practical purpose.  And there I found what appalled me; a zoo of lusts, a bedlam of ambitions, a nursery of fears, a harem of fondled hatreds.  My name was Legion.”

“The only thing you will ever be able to say in the so-called ‘social’ sciences is ‘some do, some don’t.’”

“I believe that the first test of a truly great man is his humility.  I don’t mean by humility, doubt of his power.  But really great men have a curious feeling that the greatness is not of them, but through them.  And they see something divine in every other man and are endlessly, foolishly, incredibly merciful.”

“Humility is the mother of giants.  One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.”

“Stay humble.  Always answer the phone, no matter who else is in the car.”

“Almost any difficulty will move in the face of honesty.  When I am honest I never feel stupid.  And when I am honest I am automatically humble.”

“Humility is attentive patience.”

“At home I am a nice guy—but I don’t want the world to know.  Humble people, I’ve found, don’t get very far.”

“Early in life I had to choose between honest arrogance and hypocritical humility.  I chose honest arrogance and never found an occasion to change.”

“Humility is the most difficult of all virtues to achieve, nothing dies harder than the desire to think well of oneself.”

“For the most part, I do the thing which my own nature prompts me to do.  It is embarrassing to earn so much respect and love for it.”

“If I only had a little humility, I would be perfect.”

“The secret source of humor itself is not joy, but sorrow.  There is no humor in heaven.”

“A passionate man is seldom witty.”

“If you want to make people weep, you must weep yourself.  If you want to make people laugh, your face must remain serious.”

“In the whole of the New Testament there is not one joke.  That fact alone would invalidate any book.”

“Jokes are better than war.  Even the most aggressive jokes are better than the least aggressive wars.  Even the longest jokes are better than the shortest wars.”

“Serious things cannot be understood without laughable things, nor opposites at all without opposites.”

#rp meme #rp starters #sentence meme #sentence starters #prompts #rp prompts #writing prompts

[anagramtransitory]

9. Love can fill the vacuum that says “why bother” or “what if someone tells me that’s not the right way or tells me something is silly lame or incorrect”. It says that I’ll still be loved even while I clean up the worst messes ever made by a human being, that I made, and that there’s no question about that. That there’s no shame because I’m loved and not my work ethic or my house looking nice when I’m home alone not hurting anybody by making messes, not my functionality. Ironically, only that could make me able to function. I can embody what I imagine a combined parent of all of my parental figures would say to anybody that questions the way I do things in my house, which is with kindness, patience, and a refusal to actually listen to them about any of it. To tell them “that’s interesting” and change the subject carefully to something similar but not related to how I do things. Good parents would let the houses of their strange children be questioned and not hold it against anybody, because it won’t be desperate like that. So I can react like that. Like a person who can laugh about the way a person they love lives. My real parents did not have the heart to tell me about the existence of evil or the state of the real world outside our loving home/family, and they did not have the ability to cope with a severely depressed young person for a long long time without improvement from any treatment plus other mental illnesses and problems and extreme anger issues. They did not have the ability to cope because both to this day refuse to give respect and attention to darkness and pain and suffering. Both good people. Neither people are good parents as parental figures for me specifically, and haven’t been since I found out about the reality they sheltered me from pretty much. So all the defense, armor, strength, coping, that’s all been self-parenting. 96% of me as a person/personality. That’s a lot of self-parenting! But once I gave full respect and loyalty and attention to the darkness, and thus to myself, I realized all that was left was kindness coming out of pure blackness and pain, to give meaning to my life, and ever since I’ve realized that pretty much once you’ve got darkness and pain on your side as old friends you cannot possibly be killed by no matter the severity or time stolen in paralysis hells in months and years at a time, then you realize that all the darkness and evil pales in comparison to how bad you thought the world was (pitch black pure animal hell-maze-by-torturer-god, with-only demon inhabitants as animals in that deceptive demon hell torture garden, a fantasy built for your own personal hell on earth to live inside of only to fight god and spite the suicide god wants you to commit, pure lust and greed and sloth and wrath and gluttony and nothing more when all masks are off, nothing deeper that’s true or real), and then you realize that love in all its forms and kindness in all its forms are the best and also most effective ways of living and getting what you want quickly and constantly and universally. No parent could have walked me through all that. My parents produced two different kinds of people, and the one I am is a fighter/changer-type, to improve a situation by any means necessary, both able and willing to do either. So ideally they would have known to tell me the truth about what I was up against, about the way the good makes the majority of the bad look ineffective and silly and short-lived and weak, while the good is what bonds all social animal groups together to help them survive better and is therefore what is best to model to show you belong in a tribe and shouldn’t have your genes or membership left behind for kinder ways of living, which eventually happens, always, due to evolution favoring those “more likely to kill and get killed” sets of genes/traits in favor of ones that help animals be smarter and more harmonized towards common goals and common needs. They ideally would have told me that darkness in myself is one side of a valuable and strong and ultimately built for good sword.

[thecoinfor1and2]

Where we came from?

Where are we going?

Does something exist?

Why does something exist instead of nothing existing?

Where does what exists come from?

If there was a beginning, what was there before?

If there was nothing before, what was it made of?

If nothing was a vacuum, where was it located? Is it possible for something to have always existed?

Or that everything has always existed?

Is it possible that something will always exist?

If everything has an end, what comes next?

Is the mind capable of conceiving nothingness? What is nothing like?

What is infinity like?

What is eternity like?

Or is nothingness only possible after death, since nothing would be perceived from it?

Is there a life after death? Was there a life before life?

Is there a thing in itself?

What is the self?

Is the self within the being?

Is the self that which is seen from outside the being?

Can the inner self be added to the outer self? Is it possible for someone to “see themselves” completely?

What is the other one?

Is it possible to put yourself in someone else's shoes?

What is love?

Does love exist?

Is the mind capable of understanding a material limit that cannot be “pierced”?

Does an all-powerful god, or any kind of god, exist?

If there is, what is it?

If there is, what is it like?

If it exists, who created it?

If it exists, what was there before it?

If he created everything, where was he before? If he created it, was it from nothing that he occupied?

If he did, did he create other worlds?

If it was immaterial, where was it located?

Is there just one universe or several?

How many universes are there How big is the multiverse?

Does something infinite have a size?

How many dimensions are there?

Is it possible to add dimensions?

Is there life outside Earth?

Does the distance allow us to witness it?

What is the nature of gravity?

What is the nature of time?

Divine or not, is the Universe permeated by natural intelligence?

If there is, is it capable of “freedom”? Is there freedom?

What is freedom?

Can we modify the course of events?

Or do they follow a logical trigger?

Is autonomy an illusion?

Are we one, or all?

Is there a soul?

If it exists, where is it?

Is it “out there”?

Or is it just a name to think about?

Is thinking only physiological?

Will the species survive?

Is a thing capable of thinking?

Is a living being better than an object?

Is the soul an object?

Are dreams part of reality?

What is the real?

Is it what you see, feel, touch, hear, say?

Is what you can't see real?

Is what a blind person sees less real?

Is there good?

Is there evil?

Are good and evil cultural?

Are humans important to the cosmos?

Are humans at the top of evolution?

Can science do everything?

Is anything true?

Does anything have a definitive answer?

Is reason right?

Is reason unaware of its reasons?

Life is Beautiful?

What is beautiful?

Is there beauty or is it just fear?

Is the species viable?

Is conscience a good thing?

Is awareness of death the end?

Will the human remain human?

Are we machines?