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electronicdelusionstarlight · 9 months

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You know, I was just thinking about the UA entrance exam.

Specifically, how terribly designed it is, but not for the reason they seem to give in the story itself.

Like, here's how it is: Aizawa is shown criticising the UA Entrance Exam once, during the Sports Festival. And the ONE criticism he makes, is that the use of Robot enemies during the exam would disproportionately affect people whose Quirk work against biological opponents, essentially.

His one criticism, is that the exam is not designed to also cater to people like him, and that's it. The way therefore it's set up, it'd be logical to assume he'd ask for a restructuring to the exam to remove the Robots and substitute them with live enemies, possibly Ectoplasm clones.

This is never brought up again, aside from maybe a stealth bring up during the mid term exams when they switch the exam from fighting robots to fighting teachers.

The exam is, and I just got to it myself while watching this video about how Copaganda paints police training and the relative risk police officers face on the job, set up in a very specific environment:

An empty town, where what is essentially a murder spree is taking place. The ONLY entities in the place, outside of fellow examinee, are robots that have been literally designed to attack everyone on sight, and that need to be destroyed to pass. The points granted from saving people are hidden, so they can be more "genuine" of course, and are, ultimately, also part of the problem.

Because here's the fucking thing.

When the fuck is that ever going to happen.

When the fuck, is a superhero, after their 5 years of Hero training in high school, then entering the work force without a need for a decree in higher education, ever going to find themselves in an environment where they can use LETHAL FORCE on civilian targets? With no restraint or care for collateral damage?

And where they are ENCOURAGED to kill as many criminals as they can, and NOT collaborate with other heroes? Because that's another thing, you need to steal points from other people to pass, by culling the number of limited robots, much like heroes are paid by the arrest and by popularity.

You do understand how fucked up that starts to sound right? The other, the enemy, is reduced as a caricature Droid from star wars, there only to kill and destroy, and against whom your only TWO methods of defeat are outright destruction or sneak attacks on their off buttons.

And here's the cherry on the shit too, because, AGAIN, when is that EVER going to be the case?

Do you know how many heroes show up in the first villain attack in BNHA?

Five.

Two are engaging a purse snatcher, three are doing crowd control, the Slime Villain, who may I remind you was guilty of robbery at a convenience store before he got the hostage, gets THE NUMBER ONE HERO, as well as those same FIVE heroes involved, of which only BACKDRAFT is actually doing anything.

Now, imagine you are a hero school, and you produce 40 heroes a year, just like every other hero school out there. How many of those heroes will see active duty, if the rate of crimes demand FIVE heroes to react to ONE criminal?

And people will say "but EDS, this mentality is later rewarded when All Might retires and it all falls to shit," Except NOT REALLY, because that's an externally forced situation caused by, and I can't stress this enough, a hundreds of yeas old NEET boomer who read too many Doctor Doom comics as a kid and decided to become a supervillain, the riots, the open air warfare, is only caused by AFO forcing the hand and inciting popular unrest, which is an unrealistic thing to expect off any society.

In one of the movies, Class 1-A is sent to open an hero agency on a small island with barely a village on it. 20 Heroes. Until the movie truly picks up, the best they do is help kittens from trees, and Bakugou, the sort of person for whom the Entrance Exam was designed, is useless, left in his tent like Achilles, the perfect cowboy cop who peeked in highschool and didn't realize just how much paperwork and dead time his dream job actually entailed.

So that's the ACTUAL Issue with the entrance exam. It take no account for any other mean to beat the robots but brute force, it takes no account for collateral damage, or the sanctity of life of your opponents, and it tests nothing but how good at ending lives you are.

Which is a problem when you're picking future heroes.

#mha critical #ua critical #bnha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #UA Entrance Exam #bnha critical

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itsror9 · 26 days

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❗️Urgent Appeal

Please share here, on other social media, and with anyone you know that could help share and donate! With an impending Rafah invasion, the agency charging $5000-$7000 to register for evacuation could close registration at any time!

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On top of all this, the entire family of 6 are now displaced to central Gaza, living in unbearable conditions.

They left to escape the bombardment. There's no way to go back to their home, as there are reports that it may be destroyed.

The Al Mugharee family members are Riad Sameer (father), Manar Said (mother), Saeda (sister), Reham (sister), Sameer (brother) and Saed.

Saed's elder sister, Saeda, a talented freelance software engineer, UI/UX Designer, and artist, is doing her best to support the family. His younger sister, Reham is a dedicated student in her 4th year of software engineering at the university. Sameer, his 15-year-old brother, is still in school.

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Thank you for your kindness and support. Together, we can help Saed and his family step into a safer, brighter future.”

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defectivehero · 1 year

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“They’re fashioning you into a weapon and you can’t even see it,” the villain remarks loftily at the hero’s turned back. The hero doesn’t even flinch and it annoys the villain more than they’d like to admit. Instead, their adversary remains staring out at the horizon. The villain rolls their eyes and comes up to stand next to them. They miss the days when their enemy would wince and scramble away from them in fear—they miss when the hero was lively. Now, they seem to be a husk of their former self.

“Oh, I am more than aware of that, trust me,” the hero eventually scoffs, crossing their arms over their chest defensively. The villain chances a sidelong glance at them, only to find that their rival is still gazing out at the horizon.

“I don't understand,” they remark, squinting at their enemy. “How can you be comfortable with that, with how they treat you?” The villain has always felt a strange sort of kinship with this particular hero—they both have similar superpowers and grew up in rather gruesome environments. The villain has long given up on wishing the hero joined them. They’re not sure what they wish for the hero, anymore. Perhaps they just want the light to return to their enemy’s eyes.

“We’re all monsters,” the hero says with a casual shrug unbefitting of the statement. The villain sucks in a sharp breath at the resignation that seems to roll off their enemy’s body. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It doesn't matter?” The villain can’t help but snap. Their fingers clutch at the railing of the building with renewed fervor. “Have you heard the whispers, the rumors? Surely you see the fear in their eyes. Do you understand-?”

“What do you suggest?” The hero interjects, finally turning to look at them and meet their eyes. The villain nearly recoils at the dark circles under the hero’s eyes, the grief written in the tight lines of their foe’s shoulders. “Should I switch sides, perhaps? You know that won’t change a damn thing. This way, I'm at least on the winning team.”

“It’s more than that-” The villain tries to say, only to be interrupted once more.

“No,” the hero laughs disbelievingly, shaking their head. “It isn’t. I think you’re the one that doesn’t understand. People like me, we don’t have the luxury of choosing when and where we’re wanted. Hell, we’re never wanted. We just go where we’re least feared—where we’ll at least be regarded with some semblance of humanity.”

“Even when that same humanity only regards you with fear and disgust?” The villain questions, despite already knowing the answer they’ll hear. The hero nods silently. This time, it’s the villain’s turn to look out at the horizon with an indiscernible expression. They can’t quite find the words to say. “That's a sad fate.”

“Of course it is,” the hero acquiesces, biting their lip. The villain isn’t sure why their chest feels so tight at the sight, why their breaths are suddenly much harder to come by. “Doesn't mean I can change it,”

“Have you ever considered... not taking a side at all?” The villain remarks. “Just because you have superpowers... doesn’t mean you’re automatically responsible for protecting or destroying the city.” Regardless of what hero agencies might tell you, the villain thinks loathingly. They themselves were nearly taken in with that kind of rhetoric, all those years ago.

“I never thought of it like that,” the hero admits.

“Of course you haven’t,” the villain sighs, hoping their voice sounds closer to irritation than the fond exasperation they’re feeling. “You’re so committed to torturing yourself, you know that?...You seem to think this is about choosing the lesser of two evils. Why choose at all?”

“Why choose at all, indeed,” the hero repeats, staring at them with an enlightened expression. The light is slowly starting to return to their eyes. There’s an easy grin on their face and it robs the breath from the villain’s chest. The hero reaches out and it takes every ounce of restraint the villain possesses not to flinch. Thankfully, the hero simply puts a hand on their shoulder. “Thanks. You’ve left me with a lot to think about.”

“Don’t hurt yourself,” the villain says with a smirk. “I know your mind might not be capable of all that free thought.” It’s incredibly amusing to see the carefree expression on the hero’s face morph into indignation.

“Shut up.” The hero rolls their eyes, their hand falling from the villain’s shoulder. The villain watches as their enemy turns around and walks away. The hero’s shoulders already look looser. The villain waits until they’re far enough away to smile to themselves.

reblogs are welcome <3

endnotes below

this was a fun snippet to write. I like the idea of a villain being the one to convince the hero that life is about more than conflict. typically, I see interactions like that being the other way around, so I thought I’d flip the script.

thanks for reading, everyone!

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brazenautomaton · 9 months

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I should come up with a name for this because I think it's the unifying thread I see between communism, and fascism, and censorship / anti-shippers, and homophobia, and a bunch of other shit. some theory that seeks to unify all that really should have an elegant name, shouldn't it? but it doesn't

rambly

I've said that it's impossible to deplatform fascism or communism because their ideas are so fucking childishly simple they can be independently re-derived by anyone who is upset at the world. "I'm upset. This is the fault of someone, who hates me and did it on purpose. Oh, I hate that guy so much. He does all the bad things, and if I kill him, there will be no more bad things." and that's why nobody's able to give a coherent definition of fascism, because you can't peg "emotional immaturity and righteous ignorance" to any specific teaching, you can't keep the concept of being emotionally immature and blaming others secret.

but despite the basis of these ideologies being so simple they don't need language, communism and fascism didn't exist until after the industrial revolution. what i think happened is, there's a personality trait people have that can expand immensely, that wasn't able to expand until the railroad and telegraph shrunk the world.

and that thing I wish I had a good name for is "the belief or assumption that a person's immediate environment includes everything they're aware of."

I think it's a thing people noticed but haven't identified as the causative factor, they just use it as an insult. but people want to be in control of their environment. they want things they don't like to not be there. the ability to control and affect our immediate environment is the basic definition of agency. if it's your house, it's your rules. that's reasonable!

but with the antis, and the homophobes, and the commies, and the fascists, they clearly behave as though their "house" encompasses everything that they are aware of.

the easiest example is the early 2000s homophobia where the refrain was "do what you want in private but don't get in my face about it," used to justify fucking with people who were in nobody's face. back then we all said "that's an agentically laid lie to justify their real opinion!" and guess what with an uncoordinated group of people it's never an agentically concocted lie. they did act only to get the gays out of their faces, but their "faces" encompassed everything they know about. gay dudes are gross, gross things make them upset, the only way to not be upset is to know there's no gay dudes being gross everywhere! and this mindset is something that only happened with the telegraph because before that, the area of your awareness wasn't that big! (the exception is probably Muslims in the Holy Land)

communism and fascism are both the assumption that everything you're aware of is right in your face, it's simple, it can and should be given to you to just Do Right. you can't have this idea that you have figured out everything wrong with the world until the area of your perception is big enough that you can think you're seeing the world. once your zone of perception is wide enough you instantly believe that all of it is directly your business, everything that upsets you is happening right in your face and you have to use your personal agency to control your environment by making the upsetting things go away.

this is why antis act the way they do. it's not an agentically crafted lie to get power. their behavior is compulsive like all political behavior is compulsive. the idea that someone is Doing A Bigotry somewhere makes them very upset, and it's right in their faces, and they want to make the upsetting thing go away, and the only way to do that is to take control of anywhere the upsetting thing might happen and make it not happen. the only way they know how to do this invariably destroys everything they touch but they cannot stop themselves, they have to take control of every environment so they won't be upset by the thought of people doing bad things. the communists have to take control of all economic activity so they won't be upset by the thought of someone getting rich. the fascists have to take control of every life so they won't be upset by the thought of someone not bowing to their supremacy. this mindset cannot conclude something is none of your business, because if you're aware of it, it's your business.

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acoffeemug · 5 months

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What If's in Transformers Earthspark Seasons

Spoilers: Warning!

I just want this ideas out in the open cuz it has been eating me for quite some time.

I'm sorry if my writing style gave you an head ache. English ain't my first language and thanks for reading my ideas? Prediction? Ramblings? What if's?...

Well, this is going to be quite long, so yeah. Buckle up.

In the end of Transformers Earthspark that last act/scene when the Emberstone revive the Terrans, Autobot and Deceptions.

An idea? or curiosity got me thinking all the deceptions or autobots in bot brawl has been revived? Or bots that died/stasis in the war.

Or the power of the Emberstone made more Terrans around the world, where as the energon/life force is found (creepy water cave).

Or maybe it's just in Witcky's vicinity all because the fragments of Quintus Prime is only there.

Or the mix.

So my point is, it's a given that they could add any bots in Season 2 like, maybe Rachet went into stasis and can't be revive with only few Medic Bots or resources. There's a few Autobots in Earthspark so yeah they could add any bots in the soup (or maybe some autobots are still in hiding same situation like Bumble bee or Grimlock.

Sidenote: Grimlocks situation is mostly about the Bot Brawls. Handling that problem, like a secret mission. Putting an end to it but got caught and got controlled by Mandroid, easing the problem of Agent Croft the one that initiated the Bot Brawls hinted in Episode 18

And that is a story for another time.

I think they would probably add Prowl (he has a action figure) Rachet, Ironhide or the other cast in the opening when they destroyed the spacebrige.

Or this could be just Alex perspective in the story.

This is Megatron's perspective...

Or the idea of other Terrans are around the world with the other Cybertronians who just been revived. It could be a Good version or Bad version, like for example the good idea would be the other revived Cybertronians would treat the newest Terrans as their child, like they would act as a guardian to them and the bad version would be Terrans without guardians. Like without the Maltos or other Autobots, Deceptions that knew their existence. So... they could play with the idea of Terrans having to grow up in a bad environment or influence or both.

Or A few years later when G.H.O.S.T. changed, reformed with the leadership of Agent Schloder, Optimus Prime and Megatron.

Sidenote: Prowl could be the prickliest prick with this new found peace saying

"I don't approve this" or "This ain't going to last" and Prowl could be the only problem in this season. No villains, just him being the "No no guy" then we could have it like a parallel of Twitch holding out a hand to Mandroid but this time it could be Thrash lending out a hand also Prowl accepting it and that's another idea for the other day.

Making the Agency what it was meant to be, having a safe haven for all bots and connecting with Earth's population.

And G.H.O.S.T. could be a rescue operatives saving bots and people! (One of the things Agent Schloder wants) or sending bots all around the world with the help of the basement spacebrige.

(The spacebrige is only accessable for travelling from places on earth for now the same function as in TFP)

And having new life at hand, the Terrans all over the world. The last act of the Emberstones power.

Looking for them with the help of the Maltobots, Robby and Mo's cybersleeves connection. (Or having a hard time locating most of them considering they're so far away for the bond to respond) Helping them integrate with their new lives on Earth.

Then the idea that some Cybertronians could adopt Terrans!

(Aye another wholesome fam or problematic fam. Who knows? that's another idea.)

Like Rachet (or Dratchet, I would do anything just for them to show up), adopting a Terran then that Terran got inspired with Rachet's Medical Knowledge and you know where this is going...BOOM! a Terran Medic bot.

So they could go hard with the plots with bots being injured or explore with their physical or mental state? Terrans being taught basic medical practices, self-care or their body parts.

(I heard that they plan to add Dratchet in Season 1 for them to teach the Terrans to maximize the full potential of their Cybersleeves but it got scrap. Glad they scrapped it. I don't want them just to be seen in a few episodes, I would want them in all episodes, still guiding the Terrans about the cybersleeves or just "life" in a way. Heh I'm becoming quite greedy here...)

Or other Cybertronians giving them advise, broadening their options then adding the Terrans being observant with the major details also them working out with those passed wisdom and what they have observed. The example to that is Trash being the most observant in some episodes

Sidenote: Rung being a therapist. We got like... A ton of traumatized bots in the last scene being controlled and what not. I think Megs is going to be more traumatized seeing that they almost made Megs cry in the cut.

Then they could add Megs thanking Starscream for being the Terrans backup. Tadah! "Connection" for the two of them dun! dUN! DAHHH! Making a deeper connection between the two so they could understand each other well. We could already see Megs starting to realize what he has done to Screamer or just stick to the other traumatized bots that being Starscream, Hashtag and Grimlock.

I noticed when Megatron got injured in Episode 10 it was still there until to the last episodes.

(This pic is from Episode 25)

One of the reason why he seems weak in the Episode 16 and that fact alone, they don't have a medic, resources or Megs being stubborn not wanting medical attention or making it a badge for G.H.O.S.T. to see those scars or a reminder.

So that idea comes in full circle bots being revived or adding more Terrans in the mix and having a Terran medic since they lack in it.

Season 2 for me is almostly establishing connections with Cybertronians and Humans, Autobots then Deceptions and for Terrans to be that connection or the bridge. That's why the idea adding more Terrans in this situation seems most likely to mend and connect.

Then adding some preparation plots for the Season 3's opening. (Mainly the spacebrige and the lack of energon for me)

And the ideas I have in Season 3 is that they could establish the connection on Cybertron. (Most bots has been revived on Earth. It could be Perceptor or Brainstorm or both. They would be helping Wheeljack and Shockwave with the rebuild of the main spacebrige that OP destroyed or the basement spacebrige then maybe enhance it a little. Resources are low so ye.)

Sidenote: oh, OH there's that Quintus Prime Ship just hovering outside of Earth's atmosphere? That may have resources to rebuild the spacebrigde? Or maybe that ship could be in the past that crashed landed or landed on Earth million years ago, and boom creepy water cave but that's a low possiblity for the ship to be in the past.

With the Terrans, Autobots and Deceptions had adjusted to earth and fixed the main spacebrige. They can now travel all around the universe.

The Terrans could have Earth and Cybertron as homes. The older bots could teach them the culture of Cybertron in deeper aspects.

They could add the idea why the war really started or other cultures in Cybertron. They could spice this idea up! for example in Episode 7 where as Alex shares his history and culture.

Or they could explain the the history of the Thirteen Primes? Well, maybe they couldn't "for the bots" cause they know so little details about them but you get my point.

Or they could just stick with the history of war, how it started.

How Megatron came to be then who is Orion Pax and why was he been choosen? Or they could make a movie about this topic.

And they could add other bots perspective, Autobots or Deceptions, their lives in Cybertron. I want to know their POV in the war, like for example Tarrantulas didn't want to join the war but needed to join to survive.

The idea in this, it's like in the Episode 16 "Warzone" Megatron explaining to the Terrans their histories, past mistakes and not repeating it again.

And we can dive deeper in the plot on how's and why's

Idk if the other animation franchise has that deeper lore in their history in Cybertron but if Earthspark would add it to their plot mix, I would gladly drink that shot.

And they could add the other (lost?) colonies of Cybertronians for like example Caminus, they could introduce Windblabe and Chromia or Velocitron like Knockout or Eukaris where as Airazor and Tigatron or Cheetor.

All that good stuff you get the idea.

So Terrans wouldn't feel that their the only other colony. Well, Terrans are quite unique, maybe the other Terrans could have like an Insecton or Beast Alt modes or even a Combiner? Who knows earthspark has a lot of potential for Alt modes or they can make them connect with the other colonies with their alt modes.

And that's all for now folks my social battery has ran out.

Thanks again btw for reading this heckin' knotted of ideas ~(°^°~).

Have a good day.

#transformers earthspark #earthspark #ideaspredictoinswhatifs #brainrot.txt #transformers #gladtofinallyletdisbishout

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bettsfic · 6 months

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“for so many years i had it in my head that if a process is harder, the result is better. it was that mentality that kept me in a job i hated for a long time. it's hard and i don't like it, therefore it's more serious and respectable. it was unconscionable to me to think that something fun and easy could result in something good.”

I do this^ and the fact that someone else could explain it and relate is so eye opening. I grew up with this mindset. Like I wasn’t smart or good enough unless I was struggling unless it was hard. If it was hard and I got something done, then I was a success. Never treated myself like it but that was my philosophy. If something was easy it was stupid and not worth doing. This causes a lot of issues.

I was wondering, if you’re comfortable. Can you talk more about this? And how you got out of this mindset? I’ve noticed that even in my writing I do this and not just in the work aspects of my life.

i think it comes from a place of learned hatred. in the same way learned helplessness develops when a person spends a significant amount of time in an environment where they have no control of or agency over anything, learned hatred is growing up in an environment where you are simply not allowed to exist as you are and you must change or adapt in order to survive.

when you're in a place where you're constantly made aware of your weaknesses and focus only on how to strengthen them, your awareness of your strengths (and the strengths themselves) atrophy. i think all the time about how in a different environment, at 18 it would have been so evident to me that i wanted to be a teacher. and i would have gone to college for teaching and then gotten a job teaching elementary school english or maybe even kindergarten. like if just one person said, "hey you've got real Bob Ross vibes" maybe my life would be completely different. but no, i had it in my head that obviously everyone wanted to become an elementary school teacher, so i couldn't be one, i had to do something no one wants to do, and i became a banker.

i took an IQ test last year, and i know IQ is bullshit, but i tested into like the 99th percentile of verbal intelligence. that's intelligence i've always had but didn't do anything with until i was 24, and because i didn't foster it by allowing myself creativity or really any self expression, my writing skills when i started writing were, well, bad. when i look at my earliest work from about 9 years ago, i can see that i was writing below the level i currently teach. at 24. with a bachelor's degree, having graduated magna cum laude. maybe i'm being hard on myself, but my point is that i was no prodigy. i could've been a gifted kid but i wasn't. i was too busy being dragged onto a baseball field to work on my terrible hand-eye coordination. i entered adulthood believing my work in this world was to deprive myself of happiness and pride myself in misery.

the attitude that changed my perspective was refusal. i refuse to suffer. that means i do everything in my means to alleviate any pain i experience--mentally, emotionally, and physically. and by "pain" i don't mean sadness, because allowing yourself to feel sadness when sadness is due is healthy, but things like abject dread, hating the idea of waking up every morning, things that can destroy you if you hold onto them for long enough. you have to let them go. you can't be complacent to your own pain anymore. when you get a headache, you take ibuprofen. when you come back up from a bad bout of depression, you drag your ass to the doctor to get meds and maybe therapy so it doesn't happen again. when you want something, you give it to yourself.

it's hard. it's hard because there's a benefit in bringing up your weaknesses. i pitched a perfect game in softball when i was a teenager. i'm more coordinated than i would have been if my dad hadn't forced me into every possible sport. working at a bank taught me much needed professionalism and organizational skills, and gave me stability during a time the economy wasn't stable at all. but on focusing on those things, i neglected to foster the stuff about me that was already pretty good.

you can strengthen your weaknesses, but you can also strengthen your strengths. your weaknesses do not have to be dragged up to the same level as your strengths. i made an okay banker. i was a pretty good pitcher. but i'm a great teacher. it took me years to learn finance and softball, but it took me one semester to get my bearings in front of a classroom. i'm a patient and nonjudgmental person. i love learning and so by definition i love explaining. i have a natural "yes, and" disposition. i respect everyone and take their work in this world seriously. i come from a long line of teachers. and yet somehow, despite all this, i had no fucking clue i was a teacher.

i love writing, but i'm not talented, not in the way i've seen talent in some of my students. having a high verbal intelligence only speeds up the skill leveling. and so writing is a side effect. writing is the subject i know well enough to teach at a university or masterclass level. writing allows me to process my own emotions and express myself creatively. writing feels good and it's fun. but teaching is my work.

who you are is okay to be. without trying, without any effort at all, there's something you're already great at. so keep your weaknesses weak and strengthen your strengths. refuse suffering. seek joy.

#writing advice

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shifuaang · 1 year

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Conglomerate thoughts about Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3 under the cut. Please do not read if you don't want to be spoiled! TLDR: I loved it.

I suppose I should preface this by saying Guardians Vol. 2 is my favorite MCU movie and that I hold no real affinity towards installments outside of the Guardians in the Marvel Universe. I used to be a pretty active and engaged fan, but Endgame swiftly put a stopper on that. I was very worried about how this film was charged with the task of picking up the pieces of a fractured and, frankly, careless and poorly written conclusion to Phase 3.

Long story short, I should have never doubted Gunn.

Gunn did an expert job at navigating the perimeters that Endgame thrust on him, ensuring that the plot didn't linger on what happened without neglecting the catastrophic weight of Thanos's actions. Bringing alternate universe Gamora into the fold seemed like a monstrous and difficult task. I have expressed before how much I hated the idea of Quill chasing down someone who isn’t even ‘his’ Gamora and trying to win her back, but Gunn handled this with absolute grace, assuring that everyone stayed in-character in their reactions and interactions. There was no backpedaling or continuity with how the Guardians were written in Infinity War and Endgame as I feared there would be. Gunn picked up from where we left off in Vol. 2 while still allowing us space to mourn Gamora's loss. Rocket's trauma and character development was taken seriously again. Every member of the Guardians had a well crafted arc and was given the appropriate amount of time to explore said arc.

The animal and child abuse was hard to watch. It felt way more violent than anything we've ever seen in the MCU, but I'm almost glad that it was. I feel that loss and violence is almost glossed over in the superhero genre. We don't quite get the full scope of devastation and impact that villains have caused in their quest for domination, colonization, and perfection. We've been desensitized to death and torture to a degree. Even the snap™, which most would site as the most evidentiary form of brutality in the the MCU, did not hold nearly as much weight as the actions of the High Evolutionary. Thankfully the plot never seemed like a hit over the head with a message of EUGENICS BAD! It was more a tragic exploration in what eugenics can do to an individual, how it desecrates the environment, and how the quest for perfection is gratuitous and futile.

In spite of the heavy subject matter and darkness of the film, Gunn still maintained the thread of humor that we love from the Guardians. I laughed out loud more than a handful of times, and every laugh came at a point in the film where it was necessary. There were no quips or jabs there to deflect from the seriousness of what was occurring, just enough to give the audience time to breathe. I am so glad that Guardians Vol. 3 was the first MCU movie to get the green light in the 'fuck' department. I can think of no franchise more deserving, and the way it was used was perhaps the funniest joke in the whole film.

I could write an entire essay on Mantis's arc and her development and how much she means to me as a character, but maybe (probably) I will save that for another day. To keep things short, I appreciated her continued empathy and sense of humor in such a bleak situation and after such a hard life. I see so much of myself in her, and it's incredibly moving to have someone represent aspects of yourself that you thought would never be portrayed in the superhero genre because they are more difficult to express emotionally and cerebrally. She's so important and so brilliantly acted by Pom, and I adore how much agency and confidence she was allowed.

As for people who say they didn't like the ending because it 'destroyed' the found family aspect of the Guardians, I never got the impression that these characters weren't going to meet up again and that they stopped being family. There was no discussion on how they were 'bad' for each other or that they'd be better off individually, which is normally the consensus when groups split in media. Quill should spend the remaining time his grandfather has with him. Mantis should go explore herself and her independence after years of captivity and compliance. Drax and Nebula should rebuild, and create, and love on the new occupants of Knowhere, as they've been forced to spend most of their lives being destroyed and being destructive. Rocket and Groot should carry on the legacy of the Guardians, protectors of the universe. And Gamora has clearly established a loving family of her own with the Ravagers, which is what she deserves. Everyone's ending felt pertinent and cathartic, and we were left with a sense of hope and a twinkle of potential for what could come in the future.

Thank you, Gunn and the cast and crew of this film, for making me cry the hardest I have in a theater since Toy Story 3, and for ending my favorite MCU series so beautifully. I honestly couldn't have asked for a better conclusion.

We'll all fly away together, one last time, into the forever and beautiful sky. 🚀

#guardians of the galaxy #guardians vol 3 #james gunn #anti endgame #just in case lol #review #gotg #gotg spoilers #gotg vol 3

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cursedvibes · 1 year

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Not looking good for Hana. Either Sukuna kills her or Angel takes over to get serious, destroying her consciousness in the process. Or Angel somehow manages to snap Hana out of it in time (don't think that's likely). Technically this isn't even such a bad situation to be in because not only is Sukuna hugging Hana but she is hugging him, so if Angel wants to attack, this is the best moment. At close range her technique would be even more destructive.

I was surprised Hana agreed to banishing Sukuna-Megumi this quickly, I thought that would be a bigger argument between her and Angel, but it does make sense with her goal to safe people. She puts saving Megumi above his bodily well-being. I'm sure Yuuji will have to face a similar dilemma in the future. Her just falling into Sukuna's arms took me off-guard though. Angel is literally screaming in her ear that she should stay away from him, but she seems completely oblivious to it. It does make sense though I think, considering her past and how she first "met" Megumi. People are saying she's "acting on a dumb crush" or "trying to use the power of friendship", but that's not it. If her feelings for Megumi were just a crush or she simply thought he's hot, I'm pretty sure she wouldn't be acting like this. It's more of a fixation. He seemingly got her out of a traumatic situation and she never managed to move on from that, probably because she never made any real deep connections with anybody afterwards.

She even says "Megumi is mine". She idolizes him, but also clings to him because in her mind he was the first person to show her kindness and she desperately wants to hold on to that. I thought it was weird that in her flashback Megumi doesn't really acknowledge her, but she still fixated on him this much. Considering how Sukuna managed to lower her guard, it makes more sense though. The gesture of reaching out to her, thanking her and telling her that everything is alright is what she wanted to see when he saved her with Shiro back in the day.

She grew up in a horrible and brutal environment. The children around her didn't seem to have much camaraderie due to fear. She constantly had to keep her head down and not stand out. Then a magical being comes by and seemingly picks her to lead her to safety, thereby acknowledging her and doing something good for her without demanding anything in return. It makes sense then, that this memory would have such a huge impact on her and by playing on that memory, Sukuna would be able to deceive her. If it was just a crush, Hana would have listened to Angel and stopped, but since it reached deeper than that, she was quite literally blinded. Hana wanted to return the favour and save Megumi, and at the same time wanted him to acknowledge that he really did see worth in her to bring her out of those ruins, that there was a purpose behind those actions (fate) and not just a whim or pure coincidence, where she herself didn't really matter. And that's what Sukuna gave her. She believes in fate because she wants her and her actions to matter (especially to others), and he reaffirmed that for her. This is also why I think that Megumi didn't actually consciously save her, Shiro just happened to run around and find her. Megumi was probably just practicing having his shikigamis out for a longer time. It makes for a good contrast between him and the facade Sukuna puts on.

She and Megumi are also quite similar in that they put a specific person on a pedestal and fail to really understand them as their own being with wants, needs, goals etc that go beyond them. And by failing to see that, they (most likely) lose agency over their own body and might even die. To be fair, Hana knew Megumi for like two days, of course she doesn't really know him (even if she believes otherwise). Megumi had over ten years to actually see Tsumiki for who she is...

But well, Hana's character was going to lead to this one way or another, so I'm not really surprised by this, just how it was executed. Her and Angels goals fundamentally clash and that has to be resolved. Only difference is that it's now Megumi instead of Yuuji, which is a lot more meaningful, since she has a deeper attachment to him. I still would have liked a bit more context surrounding Hana's decision to lower her guard and maybe a glimpse at her thoughts, but maybe we will get a bit more next chapter.

#Hana might die but I don't think Angel will just let herself get killed #jjk spoilers #jjk 213 #kurusu hana

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polyhexian · 2 months

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How would Jasper parent a difficult child that doesn't respond to his initial gentle parenting, doesn't feel guilty of what they do and is a big bully?

There's an interesting amount of overlap between training animals and raising children, and I think it's because those parts are the psychology of building relationships with a power dynamic. It's important to let people have a sense of control. In the US to be licensed as a foster parent you have to go through a course in responding to kids that can be angry and violent.

Positive reinforcement can be pretty hard actually. If you have a foster kid who's furious and violent it's probably because they're feeling a debilitating lack of agency. They are trying to find control in their environment any way they can, even by destroying it. And the response is to give as little reaction as you can to that kind of behaviour and then put a huge focus on rewarding good and healthy behaviour. And to address the root cause of these issues, usually by going out of your way to offer opportunities to take control over parts of their life- offering choices instead of orders and giving options in actually making decisions for themselves.

And a bigger one is testing. If you have a kid whose been failed again and again and again when you promise you're going to be different, you're not going to be like the others, they're going to test you. They're going to destroy things, hit you, scream, get in trouble on purpose because they want you to hit them. They want you to prove you aren't different. So like. You have to be able to come home and see your foster kid smashed the living room TV with a baseball bat and stay calm and say "do you want to help me clean it up or do you want to go to your room and think about what you did?" And refuse to react with anger, you have to prove that even the most extreme provocation won't make you break that promise.

Jasper knows a lot of child rearing knowledge. He has done a ton of reading. I think he knows all of this and some of it because it's applied to himself in the past. I think he is ready for the smashed in TV and for picking the kid up from school after they beat up a classmate.

My mom is a psychologist and she worked with kids with the most severe trauma imaginable and dealing with foster and adoption agencies and with the legal system and testifying in court and all. And like. Different foster caregivers often fill specific purposes; ie there are certain people set up to take infants same day from emergency situations because they have everything you need for infants all prepared. And they often only take care of these infants for a few days or weeks before they are returned or placed in a more permanent or long term placement. And I think jasper is like THE go-to for those cases of severe anger and violence and trauma. He has the strength and tolerance to deal with children who might be able to legitimately hurt their caregivers or others and needs some extreme support. And for other dangerous situations, IE, a foster child coming from an abusive household or one from a divorce case with custody issues and there's a real fear the parents might try to hurt or kidnap the child like. That is THE safest place for that kid to be

So I think like. He is fucking READY

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8makes1newworld · 4 months

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Fashionably Untitled

Unedited randomness that I'd like to turn into a series but we shall see what happens. Be safe and keep warm everybody.

You stand at your post outside of the full serve gas station that was presently the best that you could do for a job. The morning chill washing over your form, the bitter coffee doing little to warm your insides.

Was this really the best you could do?

The question oft repeated itself in your mind, though in this town it really was the case. The shit economy was leaving it's mark in your community as it had been through different parts of the world as well.

You shivered as you tossed your empty cup into recycling. The first customer of the day was driving in. Someone who you were obviously not looking forward to seeing.

“Hi~ Top it off, and be quick about it!” The popular girl from school, none other but Katie Lipsom.

You couldn't wait to get her out of your hair this morning. Ignoring her, you took out the gas pump and began to fill her Corvette.

“So how does it feel to work for a company that actively destroys the environment?” Katie draped herself out of the window in an annoying matter.

“I don't know… how does it feel to not be driving electric so you wouldn't have to support the people that are destroying the climate?” You replied without giving her a look, hoping that she would shut up.

Instead she merely giggled and twirled her blonde locks. “I could have, but I left it at home! I wanted to say hi before going to class today!”

Ah, brilliant. She purposely just wanted to gloat and flaunt her standing in society while you were struggling to get by and freezing your ass off with a job that you hated.

Satisfied with the thorn she'd managed to stick into your side, Katie drove away louder than necessary. Causing you to nearly jump out of your skin.

“A bad day already…” You groan and pace outside the service station, contemplating stepping inside for some warmth but deciding against it. Preferring the cold for now over more unwanted company from talkative and bored employees.

You failed to notice the black SUV with dark tinted windows across the street. The occupants observing you while you walk.

Eventually it drove up to the station and parked at one of the pumps. You looked it over and waited for the occupant to give you instructions. Feeling a sense of intimidation as you watched.

From the driver's side emerged what appeared to you like a CEO, a tall male with a commanding aura. You cough awkwardly, wondering since when did the likes of CEOs come to a town like this.

“Uh… what can I do for your… vehicle?” You freeze, feeling extremely out of place all of a sudden.

“We're not here for anything. But captain wants you to have this. Call and ask for either Jongho, who is myself. Or Hongjoong. Have a nice day.” The man who introduced himself as Jongho gave you a business card and then got back into the vehicle.

You gazed into the tinted glass with befuddlement clear on your face, barely able to make out the two silhouettes inside before the SUV drove away.

Still just as puzzled as before you read the card ‘KQ talent agency'

Skeptically you pocketed the card, proceeding to go about your work day.

Later on as you lied down to sleep you mulled over the card, lying down by your lamp as you scrutinized the piece of paper as if it would tell you of the agency's legitimacy.

You gave up and lied back with a sigh, quietly deciding that you would give them a try. But aware that if they asked for money out of the gate that it would be a scam.

As you fell asleep you wondered what it would be like to be successful, to be popular like Katie. Or to be even more popular than her.

#ateez scenarios #ateez imagines

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plethoraworldatlas · 20 days

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A pair of conservation coalitions on Monday made good on their threats to sue the U.S. government over its denial of federal protections for gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains, where state killing regimes "put wolves at obvious risk of extinction in the foreseeable future."

The organizations filed notices of their plans for the lawsuits in early February, after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) determined that Endangered Species Act protections for the region's wolves were "not warranted." The Interior Department agency could have prevented the suits in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana by reversing its decision within 60 days but refused to do so.

"The Biden administration and its Fish and Wildlife Service are complicit in the horrific war on wolves being waged by the states of Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana," declared George Nickas, executive director of Wilderness Watch, one of 10 organizations represented by the Western Environmental Law Center (WELC).

"Idaho is fighting to open airstrips all over the backcountry, including in designated Wilderness, to get more hunters to wipe out wolves in their most remote hideouts," Nickas noted. "Montana is resorting to night hunting and shooting over bait and Wyoming has simply declared an open season."

Brooks Fahy, executive director of Predator Defense, another WELC group, pointed out that "these states are destroying wolf families in the Northern Rockies and cruelly driving them to functional extinction via bounties, wanton shooting, trapping, snaring, even running over them with snowmobiles. They have clearly demonstrated they are incapable of managing wolves, only of killing them."

KC York, founder and president of Trap Free Montana, also represented by WELC, said that "Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming know that they were let off the hook in their brutal and unethical destruction of wolves even acknowledged as such by the service."

"They set the stage for other states to follow," York warned. "We are already witnessing the disturbing onset of giving the fox the key to the hen house and abandoning the farm. The maltreatment is now destined to worsen for these wolves and other indiscriminate species, through overt, deceptive, well-orchestrated, secretive, and legal actions."

The other organizations in the WELC coalition are Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Friends of the Clearwater, International Wildlife Coexistence Network, Nimiipuu Protecting Our Environment, Protect the Wolves, Western Watersheds Project, and WildEarth Guardians.

The second lawsuit is spearheaded by the Center for Biological Diversity, Humane Society of the United States, Humane Society Legislative Fund, and Sierra Club, whose leaders took aim at the same three states for their wolf-killing schemes.

"The states of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming act like it's 1880 with the most radical and unethical methods to kill as many wolves as possible in an effort to manage for bare minimum numbers," said Sierra Club northern Rockies field organizer Nick Gevock. "This kind of 'management' is disgraceful, it's unnecessary, and it sets back wolf conservation decades, and the American people are not going to stand by and allow it to happen."

Margie Robinson, staff attorney for wildlife at the Humane Society of the United States, stressed that "under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service cannot ignore crucial scientific findings. Rather than allow states to cater to trophy hunters, trappers, and ranchers, the agency must ensure the preservation of wolves—who are vital to ensuring healthy ecosystems—for generations to come."

The Center for Biological Diversity's carnivore conservation program director, Collette Adkins, was optimistic about her coalition's chances based on previous legal battles, saying that "we're back in court to save the wolves and we'll win again."

"The Fish and Wildlife Service is thumbing its nose at the Endangered Species Act and letting wolf-hating states sabotage decades of recovery efforts," Adkins added. "It's heartbreaking and it has to stop."

#ecology #enviromentalism #biden administration #us politics #let wolves live #wolves #endangered species act #us fish and wildlife service #wildlife services #wildlife #Fuck Wildlife Services #montana #idaho #wyoming #department of the interior #center for biological diversity

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mbti-notes · 1 year

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Anon wrote: INFJ. My question is about toxic workplace environments. Is there a reasonable way to deal with a boss who constantly reproaches, belittles and humiliates her employees; who constantly moves the goalposts, saying something one day and something else the next, then reprimanding us for essentially not being able to mind-read and figure out exactly what she wants each millisecond; who rarely gives feedback without turning it into a personal attack; who yells and throws blame at us when something doesn’t go the way she wants; who discourages autonomy and independence by requiring us to run every little decision through her and accuses us of attempting to ruin her business when we try to act independently (within reason)? And when she realizes she’s pushed someone too far, she switches her game entirely and plays nice for a while.

One colleague has broken down in tears twice after a particularly ruthless reproach and I’ve been wondering if there isn’t a limit to how much an employee can take. Is there a way to somehow detach from her mistreatment and scrape together what little positive there is to this situation (acquiring experience and finding something better in a few months), without letting it affect our self-esteem and mental health, or is it unreasonable to keep subjecting ourselves to this?

----------------------

1) The Allure of Anger and Blame

If you want to handle any kind of relationship well, the first step is to examine the facts of yourself and whether you're approaching the situation in a way that might be co-creating the problem or making the problem worse. I sympathize and agree that her behavior is problematic. However, if you allow her behavior to bring out the worst in you, how can you think, plan, and communicate to the best of your ability and handle the problem intelligently? Emotional intelligence and social intelligence intersect in that moment your feelings/emotions are at risk of spilling out onto others.

Is it safe to say that you're angry? Have you processed your anger? Or have you continually suppressed it to the point of rage or hate? Anger is an indication of brokenness, e.g., expectations were dashed, trust was damaged, or boundaries were violated. The reality is that you don't control the world and sometimes things break, so what do you do with that brokenness? Well, do you understand the difference between being informed versus being consumed by anger? The former leads you to rebuild whatever you can after destruction, while the latter perpetuates destruction.

What kind of person do you want to be: the one who behaves constructively or destructively? Your question indicates that you wish to handle the situation constructively and even help those who have been victimized. But unacknowledged and unexamined anger puts you at risk of letting loose your destructive tendencies and making impulsive decisions, especially if you are already prone to Ti loop and Se grip issues. Yeah, you could channel your inner bully and knock her down a few pegs, but would you feel at peace with yourself for it? Maybe she wasn't always like this. Maybe she just learned to justify her bullying behavior. Do you want to travel that same path?

Unresolved anger, hate, or rage contributes to a blaming mindset. Blaming people is usually a futile attempt to reclaim whatever you think they robbed from you, e.g., power, agency, safety, comfort, opportunity, etc. Blame produces dark thoughts and distorted beliefs about justice, responsibility, and punishment. Some people blame themselves and feel like crap, while some people blame others and feel like crap. Blame is always counterproductive because it ultimately destroys the possibility of relationship. After all, how can you work with someone when you're too disgusted to even look at them?

You have to ask yourself what's more important to you: your feelings of righteousness in condemning her, or having a functional professional relationship with her? You can't have both without feeling like you're being torn apart within. Relationship aside, you should want to have a good handle on your dark tendencies purely for the sake of your own psychological well-being. It's not good for you to be consumed by negativity. You have to make good choices about where to direct your attention and energy.

Remember that the people who offend you have something valuable to teach you. Anger can teach you to have better awareness of your emotional triggers, to know exactly where your boundaries lie, and it grants you opportunities to reflect on how to better protect yourself from harm (especially if you exhibit a pattern of being mistreated or exploited). What does your anger tell you about what you need, want, expect, and hope for out of the relationship? Make a list, then reflect on the best means, methods, and strategies for moving forward on those things.

Once you've processed your feelings and emotions, you are in a much better frame of mind to communicate to people, assertively and matter-of-factly: what you need/want, what your goals/hopes are, where your boundaries are, why the boundaries must be respected, what will happen when boundaries aren't respected, and how they can help you be your better self and co-create a better relationship.

Setting healthy boundaries means being able to clearly distinguish between what is your business and what is not your business. Take responsibility for what is yours; do NOT take responsibility for what is theirs. You get to choose how you approach situations; you don't get to choose how people respond. If you choose to take responsibility for what isn't yours, that's on you to rectify. The second you return her bad behavior with more bad behavior, you lose yourself, and you are at risk of getting entangled in a vicious cycle of violence. Purely for the sake of your own well-being, you have to be able to walk away from conflict with your integrity intact, knowing that you made your best effort to handle the situation constructively.

2) Whose definition of "reasonable"?

Basically, you're asking me how to reason with an unreasonable person. You can't, especially if you're so angry about them being unreasonable that you're not being reasonable anymore.

After you've tried reasoning with someone once, twice, three times, and they're unable to return with a reasonable response, it's safe to conclude that you're speaking two totally different languages. How are you going to get over that gap? In such a situation, you need an "interpreter", someone who can understand both languages and do some translation and bring the two parties closer together. You don't have to be that person because it's not your responsibility, but you could be that person if you genuinely wanted to help improve things.

When people appear to be unreasonable, there are usually a few possibilities to consider as to why:

Ignorance: For whatever reason, they lack knowledge and they don't know what they don't know. Being very ill-informed, they make unreasonable judgments and decisions.

Confusion: People easily get confused when they have poor critical reasoning skills and don't know how to assess objectively and analyze logically. This leads them to fall victim to bias, formulate faulty beliefs, draw incorrect conclusions, and miscalculate consequences.

Psychology: There are many psychological, mainly emotional, issues that can erode or undermine people's executive functioning, which leads them to make irrational judgments and decisions.

When you really understand how ignorance, confusion, and psychological issues operate in the mind, you'd be much less inclined to call anyone "unreasonable". It's more accurate to say that you haven't understood their reasoning process, probably because it's too different from yours.

For example: It's not unreasonable to believe the sky is blue when you are ignorant of the science that produces the blue effect. It's not unreasonable to be biased and believe the world is terrible and unsafe when you've repeatedly been the victim of discrimination or hate. It's not unreasonable to feel paranoid, suspicious, and easy to anger when your trust has been betrayed one too many times.

It's very difficult to know the best way to respond to people when you don't understand them at all, when you don't see how their negative behavior is actually a reasonable response, as determined from their perspective of reality. In other words, no matter what kind of relationship conflict you encounter, the best strategy for resolving it always begins with empathy. Do you understand her point-of-view? Do you understand how she thinks? Do you understand how she feels, where her feelings come from, and how her feelings inform her behavior? If you just write someone off as fundamentally bad because that's easier for you, then you've written yourself into a dead end.

Many people are under the misapprehension that empathy is about being "soft" or "weak". Yes, empathy requires you to feel what others feel, so in that sense, it makes you vulnerable to influence. However, empathy serves a larger purpose in helping you gather essential knowledge about feelings and emotions, how they motivate people, and how to mitigate their destructiveness. People who are only able to feel what others feel but just get overwhelmed rather than put the information to good use actually suffer from lack of boundaries, not an excess of empathy.

Imagine a therapist dealing with a client who is venting and raging and getting verbally abusive. How do you think the therapist should respond? Should they start shouting and cursing in retaliation? No, because that would only raise the emotional temperature and make the situation worse. The therapist remains calm and objective and tries to get to the bottom of the feelings/emotions in order to help the client understand them better.

You are not a therapist, so you shouldn't try to act like one. But you are capable of calm and objectivity when faced with people who are acting out their ignorance, confusion, and/or emotional issues. When you've set proper boundaries, you would know that their behavior is not really about you, so you wouldn't take it personally. Being calm, objective, and open to feeling what they are feeling without getting overwhelmed by it, you are in a better position to understand the feelings and emotions at play in the situation. Then, you can think of ways to address them reasonably rather than react back unreasonably. This is what it means to have good emotional intelligence in relationships.

You're not friends with her, so maybe you don't have the opportunity to learn about why she's this way. But, through empathy, even when you don't have all the sordid details about her past, you can at least still see her as human, suffering, and in need of compassion, just like everyone else. If she could control herself, she would, but she obviously can't. Wouldn't you hope for compassion in the event you lost control of yourself and acted out of fear or helplessness? Instead of taking her behavior at face value and getting all judgmental in labeling her your enemy, try to respond strategically to the feelings and emotions that motivate her negative behavior. In this way, you de-escalate, remove some of the heat, and actively create a healthier space for cooler heads to prevail.

You're not there for her mental problems. You're just there to do a job. It's not your company, so it's not your role to care about its future. You don't owe loyalty to someone who isn't loyal to you. Yes, looking for a better workplace is probably a good idea for your mental health. But until then, the best you can do is try to discuss work problems respectfully, empathetically, and tactfully. Keep things completely professional by focusing only on work issues, and stay out of her way otherwise. If she's unwilling or unable to change anything, set and maintain your personal boundaries through very assertive communication, and do what is minimally required of you for the job. If you have the desire and capability to help your colleagues, get their consent to speak on their behalf as you deem necessary.

#infj #infj relationships #anger #blame #judgmental #assertiveness #boundaries #empathy #social skills #emotional intelligence #workplace #career #ask

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autistictaylorhebert · 1 year

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personally I love Victoria but I strongly feel that the dreaming death thing should have been Wrong. authorially, thematically, pulling an arbitrary swerve out of nowhere where it was a good thing for vague nonsense reasons, was the wrong move actually. Victoria should have been forcibly enlisting everyone in a bad plan that she had no good reason to think would work and then it should have not worked. Final Arc Victoria should have been Khepri But If She Definitely Did Not Do Jack Shit Against Scion

What's maybe worse is that I can kind of see what wb was going for with the dreamplague. IMO it was a really interesting idea and good as a narrative goal, but had frustratingly awful execution.

Long post beneath cut.

Ward is about a cape vs civilian conflict-

Capes are people who have agency, and (theoretically) solve problems quickly, definitively, and often through violence. Their powers are usually defined by trigger events, a single moment of trauma, and their passengers put more importance on single, heightened moments and turning points rather than on continual work and effort.

Civilians are often defined by a lack of agency, and gradually deal with problems slowly through continual hard work and effort. When you ask the question of "what is the role of civilians in the cape world" the answers involve things like "slowly rebuilding damaged environments/buildings", "production of equipment", and "therapy and continual medicine". Even answers that involve violence, require more constant training and effort than powers do. Maybe most importantly, all of these answers involve civilians (at least as individuals) having a lot less agency than capes.

Victoria exists on both sides of this divide, being an almost platonic ideal of a cape, whilst also being someone who has had her agency stripped from her (and repeatedly goes up against masters). The rest of breakthrough are similar, each dealing with (often agency related) issues that they are unable to solve quickly and conclusively, and are instead forced to slowly deal with and/or adjust to.

Then, at then end of the story, the dreamplague happens, and it represents a shift. Cape society, who has always had more agency, gives that agency to civilians. When everyone wakes up the world is still broken, and there is no clear, conclusive way of fixing it- they instead have to put in slow, gradual effort to make things better. Simultaneous to this, Victoria gives up her cape identity and throws her costume away.

And I love that idea! I love the concept of heroism being inherently flawed! Of course you can't expect to solve problems with a climactic struggle!

In real life there are Big Moments and epiphanies and turning points, but the vast majority of the time if you want to change things you have to put in continuous, boring effort, and its fascinating for a story about superheroes to state that.

However, the ways in which this statement is explored are incredibly badly communicative and just god awful in general.

There are a bunch of different parts to this and I'll skim over some of them.

The fact that the reader is originally told that the dreamplague is an act of mass suicide (self destruction is more of a cape trait, so is the dreamplague meant to be a cape act or a civilian one?), is a big part of this. The lack of non-cape voice, and the fact that a lot of the civilian perspective isn't made sympathetic. A big part is the role breakthrough played the cape vs civilian conflict, both in how obscurely it communicates that theme and in how it lead wildbow to write some of the worst lgbt representation of his career.

I think a lot of what you're talking about anon, is the fact that it was originally depicted as an act of suicide, and that is was a huge risk on Victoria's part (that paid off with no downsides).

Worm, in contrast, is up front about how damaging the brain-warping is, and involves Taylor taking a risk that destroyed her as much as it saved the world. It was a bad plan in a number of respects, but it also has Taylor paying a price for it, and has a kind of weight because of this. I think that weight is why a lot of people don't like the idea of Taylor being in ward (or the idea of her surviving altogether).

In a way, I kind of have the opposite opinion, in that I'm ok with Taylor surviving Khepri (as a cape or otherwise), and I think some version of the dreamplague could have worked really well.

But I think what we share is a feeling that there should have been more consistency. I feel like if someone makes one of these big risky moves in the parahumans universe, it should be treated with the same kind of gravity, and should involve similar levels of narrative punishment (if there is narrative punishment at all). Similarly I feel that if a character does something suicidal or self destructive, the narrative should be relatively consistent as to how it treats that action.

That's my take anyway.

#parahumans #ward spoilers #spoilers #worm spoilers #it's a complicated issue that is interconnected with basically every part of Ward #and I've only gone into like a slice of it here #there's also a lot of stuff in this post that could probably merit references but im tired as fuck #and this post is already too long as it is

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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 9 months

Text

By: Erec Smith

Published: Jul 7, 2023

There is no such thing as a panacea; few things are actual cure‐alls in themselves, especially when it pertains to social issues. However, the closest thing to a panacea for contemporary social injustice—both actual and perceived—is the concept of individualism. It is the closest foil to what is, arguably, the most dangerous aspect of critical social justice activism: race fatalism, i.e., the idea that especially minoritized groups have no locus of control and are at the mercy of their hegemonic oppressors.

Unfortunately, too many social justice activists embrace this fatalism and, both implicitly and explicitly, demonize individualism as an inherently oppressive, white supremacist concept.

Race fatalism cannot exist without the idea that all people from a given race experience the world similarly (race essentialism), and that we are forever defined by our home environments (linked fate), concepts that could not be more opposed to individualism. Thus, to embrace individualism is to relinquish faith in the fundamentals of critical social justice.

Fortunately, when individualism destroys these fundamentals steeped in powerlessness, it gives birth to agency and freedom conducive to an empowered and fulfilled life.

The most egregious aspects of critical social justice activism—now wryly and/or disdainfully referred to as “woke” activism—can be considered footnotes of fatalism: skin‐color and or gender determine if you are a perpetual oppressor or a perpetual victim; racism will never go away and can only be managed; black kids can’t learn math like other kids; all people who look the same or live in the same area are bound to a particular outlook and particular fate. All these suggest the “truth” of race essentialism, that racism is always already present, and that even words, if coming from an oppressor, are literal violence.

The power of this fatalism is weakened by the concept of methodological individualism, what can be understood as an embrace of free will with an acknowledgement that we live an interdependent existence, i.e., “no man is an island.”

In recent essays, I describe such individualism as an antidote to race essentialism and linked fate. In “Individualism is a Social Justice Issue,” I insist that the embrace of individualism can enhance racial justice through its implied refutation of linked fate and its conduciveness to defensive confidence.

Regarding linked fate, I write, “linked fate denotes the use of the social standing of a group as a proxy for one’s individual identity, i.e., an individual’s fate is inevitably and intricately linked to that of the group. Any individual that seems to escape this fate is considered an exception.” Linked fate depends on the debunked stimulus‐response theory in behavioral science: the idea that people who share the same race or culture experience the world the same way. Senator Tim Scott’s passionate rebuttal of linked fate focuses on the idea that educational reform is the thing that can unlink fate most efficiently and instill a sense of agency in students, a sentiment elaborated upon by Ian Rowe.

Agency, or “agential fate,” a concept of individual efficacy I support in “Ditching Our Discourses of Doom” (excerpted here), “can be construed as a confluence of pre‐established circumstances—one’s life experiences—combined with free will.” This concept necessitates the belief “that each individual in a particular context may react to stimulus in different ways; that they each may have a different desired future state; and that their decisions and choices matter in relation to achieving those future states, we enter into a place of agency, possibility, and hope.”

This agency, possibility, and hope imply the concept of defensive confidence I reference in a recent Discourse article. If people have defensive confidence—the confidence that one can successfully defend one’s ideas in given situations—they are more likely to engage the world more courageously as individuals unbeholden to a group and is, ironically, more likely to have one’s mind changed precisely because of this willingness to engage.

These concepts suggest the benefits individualism can have to a sense of social justice and, especially, in combatting the fatalism of social justice activism. Individuals can think independently, adapt to circumstances, and, therefore, more effectively exercise agential fate and defensive confidence, thus better ensuring an attempt to communicate across differences.

Sadly, the concept of individualism is almost anathema in critical social justice circles, in which group identity is favored and individualism is considered an oppressive concept. Race essentialism, which implies concepts like linked fate and group consciousness, is a foundational concept in critical social justice that is diametrically opposed to individualism.

Individualism is not only the best thing for curing the ills of social injustice; it is also, by nature, the downfall of critical social justice ideology. For this reason, maybe “panacea’s” more colloquial synonym, “magic bullet” would be more apropos.

[ Via: https://archive.is/KcRxu ]

Your only identity is you.

#Erec Smith #individualism #collectivism #antiracism as religion #antiracism #identity politics #critical social justice #woke #wokeness as religion #cult of woke #wokeism #race fatalism #race essentialism #wokeness #methodological individualism #religion is a mental illness

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mihai-florescu · 1 year

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Mihai. Mihai my enstars professor mutual. What the heck is going on with ryuseitai

Ok so i read some liveblogs but i havent read comet show or submarine so a lot of references to those were lost on me (im waiting for them to come to engstars) and thus im not the best professor for this story.

But the tldr is that there's an agency in Okinawa (same place Submarine was held in during the ss arc), Crimson Production, that opposes ES's monopoly and that's where a bunch of ex ryuseitai kids have gone to (theyre called Antistars). Tetora goes to help these kids and the media publicizes it as him leaving Ryuseitai. Shinobu goes to find out the truth, talks to Tetora about the opposing ideologies, the next day the news state that he also left Ryuseitai. So the rest of the group go to Okinawa to see what's up. They trespass, Tetora and Chiaki have an argument and fight, but dont worry, Tetora is a spy on the inside of CrimPro and needed to make his loyalty to them believable. Chiaki opens up to Tetora about his time in the war (i realise as i type this how ridiculous this game sounds to an outsider...)

This was a distraction for Kanata and Midori to find and free Shinobu, and to find papers to destroy the company. They get caught. The 5 are reunited inside the agency and Tetora reveals he is a spy for ES but he does genuinely want to help the antistars kids who are mistreated by CrimPro for being former ES idols. So CrimPro are evil and need to be destroyed but im a bit confused at this part ngl. Something something yakuza something something they actually kill people so it's super dangerous (i think this part has a callback to Submarine that im not getting). They cant go to the local police cuz the organization has inflitrated it so the only option for Ryuseitai is to renounce ES and join CrimPro.

While making the announcement theyre actually sending ES secret messages, dangerous stuff if they get caught. Theyre gonna hold a live for CrimPro which is a distraction for ES to intervene, and while theyre preparing for that, Tetora has a self hating monologue about his own skills and merits. He's not being self sacrificial bc he's a hero but bc he doesnt mind putting his life in danger::::)

At the live they discuss about roles and who's the leader. Tetora cant become Chiaki, but he can be his own person with his own skills, and like this maybe he can even surpass Chiaki. They keep their colors but those expectations of having to fill in Chiaki's shoes are going away. So anyway, back to the live, Ryuseitai had secretly sent back to Eichi evidence to condemn CrimPro and now he's ready to bust them down (i dont know if Eichi is there personally with the police or if he's just in charge from above... i assume the latter?)

They tell themselves that they're not harming people but just destroying the environment where the evil had spread (Chiaki compares it to the war, but i think he's being idealistic...people Did get hurt in the war too. There's a cenotaph for the students who killed themselves afterall...) And uh. Then we get to the epilogue, that I haven't seen translated yet. I assume they're successful (imagine if we went through all of this only for someone to die lmao)

So. Ta daa. Thats it. Erm. I know this isnt new to enstars but i feel like things have felt more dangerous and high stakes, especially in the ss arc and 1.5 (negi just. Faked being shot by a hitman. That shit was traumatizing. This is set after that). I dont really know what other stories we could get of Ryuseitai set in our current year if im being honest. This felt like Climax yknow?

Well, im looking forward to translations of this story cuz im not entirely clear on everything just with the livetweets. And looking forward to reading comet show and submarine when they come to the english server. Hope this was helpful^_^

#ask #enstars #crane🌺

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