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yuri-for-businesswomen · 7 months

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a big german newspaper (die zeit) recently published a more critical article on the so called „verrichtungsboxen“ (literally: boxes of execution; boxes on the street where prostituted women and sex buyers can go to consummate the sexual acts; anyone who knows german will know this is a gross terminology, fitting for a gross concept).

while the fact these boxes exist is in itself a tragedy, the letters to the editor are giving me hope that there are sane people left in this country - even though from their names and writing style i would guess they are of the older generation, pension age.

heinz wohner: „if you dont get a visceral reaction of disgust and shame looking at these obfuscating boxes called ‚eco toilets‘ and the image of what is going on in them, you have to be extremely cold. calling what is being done to these women for little money ‚work like any other‘ is sugarcoating the issue.“

wolfgang wendling: „maybe there are women who voluntarily prostitute themselves, but the majority is doing it out of necessity and under pressure. calling the oldest trade in history a profession like any other is pure mockery. its not an honor to call our country europe‘s biggest brothel. but it‘s true. we should be ashamed that women are being exploited, humiliated and abused before our eyes. the more severe the poverty is in the country of origin, the cheaper you can have them. we should finally stop this, which is the only appropriate action for a civilised country.“

brigitte kosfeld: „the photo of these boxes alone speaks volumes on the inhumane practices hidden behind the liberalisation of prostitution. when the law was introduced, there were convinced social democratic women who were holding speeches on ‚prostitution as a profession‘. the intentions behind the law might have been honorable, but the reality has always been deeply anti-woman.“

professor claudia reuter, phd: „the liberalisation of prostitution in germany has failed in all regards. according to a french study, the average life expectancy of a prostitute is 33 years. babbling about self-determination in this case is inhumane. the state is not supporting prostitutes’ workers rights and their health, but their economic and sexual exploitation. its about time for the swedish model: protection for women and consistent punishment for sex buyers and pimps.“

joachim kasten: „social democrat august bebel already wrote in 1879 (…) that ‚honorable family men‘ were contributing to uphold the system prostitution with their money. according to him, they were generously let off their responsibility to disappear in anonymity. apparently today we are still where we were at the end of the 19th century.“

sabine moehler: „the description [in the article] of typical injuries prostitutes have reminded me very much of those women in physically abusive relationships show as well. a man who abuses, humiliates and demeans a prostitute in any way will do the same to his partner, wife or lover as soon as he doesnt like her behavior. (…) even reading about this is upsetting me a lot.“

and of course the one sex buyer who just had to write to the editors, peter müller: „its one sided to use the misery in berlin street prostitution with sex on public toilets as a reason to debate the liberalisation of prostitution. there are many brothels were the ladies are treated with respect. of course working as a prostitute harbors certain risks - but there are women who freely choose this job, and in my experience, some of them are doing it with passion and love. the regular prices are not the dumping prices you mentioned (5-10 euros) [note: which is indeed normal in street prostitution] but actually 80-100 euros for half an hour - not to mention those dont include extras and humiliating sex practices. i met women who earn better in prostitution than some employees in germany.“

loose translation and highlights by me.

#germany #anti prostitution

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turojo · 8 months

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gio moment tell me about one of your favorite threads! it can be something you played with this muse or any other, follow your ♥

OOugh,,where do I begin — lemme shout a few that occupy my mind rn.

edit: this got so long so slippy under a cut it goes:

last complete thread with @lvsamine. I like exploring his relationships before SCARVIO on people he's met and worked with possibly. This is a sort of break in his melancholy; recognizing and being comfortable with someone who knows him for his work rather then ... uh, you know. There's literal changes in his demeanor from light returning to his tired eyes and getting excited over working with Lusamine and Aether on a big project.

And it's also the start of a shift in his story too.

Throughout the blog he's been teetering between "being good": recapturing escaped paradox pokemon, reluctantly remeeting people in Paldea, slowly taking on actual regional professor duties, and rebuilding the Poco lab to keep track of the Crater from above. But he's also very solemn and withdrawn.

But then there's moments of excitement, of going through efforts to get work done, explore and build something....granted this all happens during temptations. His mind strays from staying out of pathways that quickly get him into trouble. He gets so excited sometimes he doesnt see or even care that what hes doing is going to hurt him or someone else in the end. It's very easy to fall back into comfortable, malign habits.

Talking with Lusamine, remembering and feeling invigorated by all the work he did and the things he discovered ... he questions if its worth forcing himself into a comfortable and safe box to appease people is worth it when he feels so much better "breaking boundaries and discovering impossibilities" people are going to be scared of and that's their problem. But he forgets ya know...Arven, the son he left behind and like...all the destruction his "happiness and well being" selfishly takes.

He's always cusping a villain arc or good direction and I love seeing wherever it goes as more plots and interactions come by ; >c

v. paradox verse in particular, the whole “hey Sada used the Time Machine to yoink Turo from a point in time before he gets mauled so things are hunky dorey again but oops, it’s a lot more complicated then that and there’s emotions all over” deal

There’s several threads with nox/ @prosada that I love but in particular the thread where Turo is completely existential on him being here. He’s having a hard time trying to step back into a husband/father role like nothings happened. Arven is very indifferent with him as expected which causes Arven and Sada to get into a lot of arguments Turo of course overhears cause hey its a small lighthouse-house and he has ears. So Turo being Turo turns to absolute truths like physics and numbers and equations when he can’t emotionally deal with something. And what do you know…! It definitely spells out he should be dead and it’s very unnatural he’s here and it’s putting everything off. He takes this as a certain and gets really distant and sad and quiet. He doesn’t belong here and maybe he and Sada could never naturally stay together in any timeline.

But Sada comes in, smacks that idea out of his head cause it’s silly. She literally shattered expectations and literal laws of physics, time and reality itself to change that to get him back.

Can you believe he’s loved so much that someone literally became a momentary God to change the fabric of reality itself? Just for him?? For their family??? No matter how dysfunctional??? Cause he didn’t until he realizes it and does a 180 in perspective and it!! Just makes him so happy and so awestruck and --

I JUST REREAD IT ON OCCASION…ON THE REALLY BAD DAYS…STILL GET EMOTIONAL OVER IT….

Okay both have really good writing and reaaallly good grasps on their characters too hh.

There's like several other threads I have in mind too but this got ridiculously long; might have to make a new post sometime.

#ooc. » .001 ✦#infernalpursuit #I hate this man--#but love both muns hiiii hiiiii #thanks gio ; > might have to do this for my other blogs too LMAO

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drinkybirdz · 11 months

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while i highly doubt the pleasure of the unauthorized fan treatise would be destroyed via spoilers as its a very well constructed story and i dont believe spoilers should be the end all be all, it is a murder mystery and therefore spoilers.

heres an essay of thoughts on unauthorized fan treatise

im so obsessed with gottie. i know we're supposed to accept the anon theory in the epilogue as fact, but are we? i love the open endedness that, while it certainly makes more SENSE gottie killed nathan, it still doesnt feel like it adds up. it makes sense with rob's dialogue during the livestream. what he notes to her after her testimony. but rob seems far too comfortable in his actions TO take the blame. additionally, murderers have been known to break down wandering/do irrational things after a murder. obviously, gottie's unreliable narrator aspect clouds the entire text. but these objective facts--rob did something common among murderers, and took on the blame for nathans murder seemingly without any objections or slightest protest--seem to imply some level of actual guilt. or is it just psychological guilt--does rob feel responsible, and it really was all gottie physically?

anyway to me, it almost feels like they both had a hand in it--ie rob injuring nathan and gottie then trapping him, killing him. "blunt force trauma" with two laptops doesnt make sense. additionally, if the case could be solved so easily by an anon that it was gottie all along, the whole BIG TRIAL thing seems like...kind of stupid. not that law enforcement is any good, but that intense scrutiny of a publicized case tends to have solutions. truly, there isnt enough evidence to convict gottie whether due to her playing the cards or the reality of the situation, so what it feels like to me is that the factor of the case that was obviated was pursued.

i love how the story asks us to get invested WITH gottie. see now im theorizing. what makes me any different from gottie? i love that kind of shit in a piece. the fact shes so unrepentant in her post-trial admission shes going to keep consuming rpf proudly and stalking people takes on a whole new meaning with her story that this was originally just revenge. also delia ending her bit with just saying "i do believe rob and nathan were dating." or whatever is so fucking awesome i absolutely LOVE it. i love how the reader is left to question was gottie really, really right or did she spin the narrative that fucking effectively?

whats particularly interesting is that, with rpf, gottie (and obsessive fangirls like her) are constructing their own realities. theyre bending evidence to serve their purposes, taking things out of context, building stories out of peoples actual lives. which is exactly what gottie proceeds to do with the whole situation. its so cool how thats bought to the forefront.

and shes so much like people ive seen during my time on the internet. ive seen thousands like her. its crazy to think about their stories, and like the anon at the epilogue says, how any number of bizarre horrible memorable people online are still living their lives. botfly lady. does anyone remember botfly lady?!!?!?! the homestuck skin sharpie dyer?!?! sure the rainbow dash cum jar has become sort of a "meme" but that users still around more than likely. still cumming. hiv aids hamilton writer. my immortal "author" fraudster. theyre just living their lives, like gottie after the events of the story. isnt that fucking crazy?

one criticism i have is it feels like 2020 is WAY too late for this story to be set. a '14 date seems much more likely. i also feel like the links totally suck balls. like flesh out the universe. if youre gonna include links, MAKE them.

otherwise, i dont own lauren james' other book but ive read what's been serialized, and loch & ness being a part (CRUCIAL part, actually) of the loneliest girl is an intriguing choice. in tlg l&n ran for 8+ seasons while the murder took place before the release of s2, so itd be cool if theres some kind of reference to an s2 replacement of fang & jaydens actors. whats also interesting is j is consistently likened to jayden, who was played by rob, who is the possibly wrongly incarcerated killer of his costar? so james uses familiarity with their other work to establish discomfort with a character intended to be nefarious. i like it.

#wrote this last tues when i actually read it but i actually wanna post this now

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finallysafeawakepowerful · 2 months

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“where i go in imagination, i shall go in the flesh as well”

because what goes on in your conscious mind is passed through into the subconscious mind that creates your whole life. It is always awaiting your instruction on what is real, on what life is, on what’s going on. (IT DOESNT FUCKIN KNOW WITHOUT YOU.)

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

Think of your true daily thoughts, assumptions, affirmations, beliefs etc as telling your subconscious what reality is - because it does not know - it depends on you to tell it / give it instruction. It cannot tell the difference between ‘reality’ or ‘imagined’ it will give you whatever you truly believe and rest in and give emotion to… what it is used to, what it rests in without question, what it knows safely to be true, what it identifies as and believes in. (Like it always has, and can only do.)

✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨

The leaders of this hologram tease us all the time with the information of the law of the world all over the place. In text, in science, movies, shows etc.

It’s proven ‘imagined’ experiences produce change just as much as ‘real’ experiences IE test groups who imagine VS. actually do - see the same physical and mental changes.

Did you know at one point people did not believe they could run a 3 minute mile? (And guess what… based on their belief on what’s possible they did not) Back in the day no one dared because they thought their heart would literally explode. Do you know what the man who dared to do it did? The man who finally broke the record and induced change in the world?

He visualized and saw himself there and gave emotion to running the mile and seeing the time being 2:45… he visualized the end non stop until … it became reality.. he “believed himself there and experienced in imagination what he experienced in the flesh”

Let’s insert Neville’s teachings here on imagining the end that we all have memorized at this point…. He first saw the end of beating the time and felt himself there and played the scene over and then went on to beat that record.

He visualized the scene. The end. Of what he wanted. And he experienced in imagination and believed it to be true and that he would attain it with such conviction he did attain his goal. Visualized. The. End. Lived the end in imagination until he experienced in the flesh. Your subconscious will always give you what you tell it to be true, what you tell it you want, what you visualize and believe to be true …..

Again to stress this enough:

it will give you whatever you truly believe and rest in and give emotion to… what it is used to, what it rests in without question, what it knows safely to be true, what it identifies as and believes in.

LET GO OF THE PAST - YOU DONT LIVE THERE ANYMORE AND YOU DONT CREATE FROM THERE ANYMORE. YOU DONT EXPERIENCE FROM THERE ANYMORE BABES.

#thoughts

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hobie-brown · 2 years

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first line tag game

rules: list the first lines of the last ten (10) stories you published. look to see any patterns you notice yourself, and see if anyone else notices any. then tag some friends.

i got tagged by @risoris :-D ty !!!!! I’m probably gonna pull from some things I haven’t published yet alongside the ones i have, just because i don’t publish my works very often and i don’t want to grab from much older stuff I’m not very proud of! hopefully that doesnt defeat the purpose of the game lol

before i jump into it and/or forget I’ll tag uhhhh @ohlooksheswriting-wips (if you havent done this already) and mmmmm @demonwithapaperhat. i dont know if you’ve shared your writing like this on tumblr tho so no pressure! both of you are completely free to ignore this if u so choose :V

Snapshots from Detention

DETENTION NOTICE

NAME: Jackson Overland-Frost

HOMEROOM: Bunnymund

REASON: Ran down the hallway during study hall with a bluetooth speaker blasting "I want to break free", thus disrupting other students

There are two seasons in Scotland. June and Winter.

Jack hums as he sets down a single foot on the cold cobblestone of the DunBroch gatehouse. Even with a guard in front awake and alert, Jack slips past him into the daunting castle easily.

Check Yes Gnomiet

There weren't really many extensive circumstances that led up to this point. You could say it started when Merida first began indulging the boy's whims, or maybe pin it as early as when she met Frost, but no. Jack's shenanigans were typically independent of one another. Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing…

Seen and not heard

When Amity was eleven years old the twins wanted absolutely nothing to do with her for nearly two years.

They had gotten to the exact age where they were comfortable meeting up with friends all by themselves but Amity still legally wasn’t allowed to be by herself in the house. Given how both of their parents were constantly out for work, Mother and Father had set the rule that one of the twins could make plans as long as one of them stayed behind or they brought Amity along.

Rendezvous

An ethereal being with immense amount of power, say an archangel, is not confined to limitations of miracles and physics the same way humans and lesser angels are. Their bodies are both real and untrue to the laws of the universe at the same time, so travel can be done with a single thought, if one thinks hard enough.

Welcome you home

Realistically, Catra’s world should have come to an end when she pulled the lever. That was when everything fell apart, when she was split and corrupted between herself and the unknown that had seemed familiar. When she turned into the nothing of another reality. Catra remembers that, that life in the back of her head like a recent dream. But that dream was not what happened. Adora got involved, everyone became themselves again, and Catra’s livelihood sputtered out and died on a much more anticlimactic note.

the WIP title for this one is: Merida’s HARDCORE X-TREME DOPE birthday EPIC spectacular

no title for this one but its just a giant indulgent costume party w queerplatonic jarida and merida bonding with elsa bc i said so. and mavis is there.

Queen Elinor of the DunBroch Kingdom means well. She does.

She does, Merida scolds herself. The nerves in her hands constrict like they

disagree but Merida negates that by slamming one of her swords into her bed frame for good measure.

“Awh you guys are so cute!” Mavis slightly slurs around her plastic neon pink vampire teeth. They are the only hint Merida has that Mavis actually wore a costume to the costume party, because the gothic cape and acrylic claws on their own wouldn’t be too out of the ordinary for Mavis’ style.

This one’s a giant big four project where i really thought about the worldbuilding i would go with if i wanted to make a whole overarching story where they met. but its again, a giant story.

Jack never learns the names of where he goes and here is no exception. It’s not for a lack of trying but usually the denizens of the lands he visits are always too busy rushing into the warm indoors to just namedrop much of anything. If Jack had to come up with a name for where he roamed now though, it would probably be something like Greenland. The real Greenland he had visited was more his ‘style’ but wasn’t deserving of the name. Here, everywhere he looked there was something green or just about. Green trees, green hills, green thickets.

It was his job, then, to change that.

and thiiiiiis is a piece about modern hiccup coming to terms with being touch-starved and what that means for his overly-touchy friends :V

Stoick was many, many things, but you couldn’t quite call him affectionate. Not with Hiccup.

The last time Stoick had picked Hiccup up was when he was four years old. It was finally time to plan a funeral for Valka. He’d been putting it off for three years but Stoick knew that even with the slim chance of her being alive somewhere out in the world, there wasn’t going to be any closure for them. This would be the closest they could get. When the casket finally arrived it remained empty and Stoick picked Hiccup as though he was hoisting an anchor, squeezing tight enough to burn. And that was that.

What I notice off the bat? Rotbtd obsession and inside of that a smaller, more intense jarida obsession. Seriously its bad. But more to the point I tend to have a lot of stress when it comes to first lines so I’ll compensate for that by just deciding to start where I’m most interested in. So sometimes I jump in with dialogue, or a framing device, or i put forth a ‘fun little factoid’ for the reader that if I stretch it out enough will give me enough mileage for the rest of the concept. you can see that last bit especially in here i think.

#rotbtd #writblr #?? i think #sorry for party rocking #tag game

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coldmorte · 3 years

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So i have some unpopular opinions; i feel like Dutch doesnt sleep around as much as people would like to think. He probably likes the fact that people think that of him, even if its not his style. Also...i dont think Dutch and Molly have any chemistry.

Howdy! (ASK 1 OF 2)

I apologize it took me some time to actually reply to this, especially because it is such a great ask! I definitely agree with both points made here, but I was debating how I wanted to write a response (and how far to take it).

Anyway, I'm open to hearing unpopular opinions! I know I have plenty of my own, so I'm not really one to judge others (as long as there is mutual respect) ☺️

My response is fairly long, and it deals with some sensitive topics. I decided to add a cut to this first ask, just to be safe! 💜💜💜

(Warning: SPOILERS below)

In regard to Dutch sleeping around, there are a few reasons why I don’t think he does it as much as it is often implied/assumed (I’m primarily limiting this to the timeframe of RDR2, Ch. 1-6).

First of all, Molly explicitly says Dutch doesn’t show her a lot of physical attention, even though he is her SO. If he’s not sleeping with her much, I doubt that he is going around with any other women at this time. He seldom leaves camp, outside of doing missions, so it is unlikely that he would meet up with anybody not in the gang. It just doesn’t seem plausible to me, as it would put him in a vulnerable position.

Dutch complains multiple times - including to Molly - that he is under stress and concerned about the Pinkertons closing in on them. Why would he go around outside the camp sleeping with random women? It would put him at the risk of being seen or reported on, and I believe he is smarter than to take on the unnecessary danger. Generally, he doesn’t spend much time in civilized areas, unless he needs to.

Not to mention, stress can be a real inhibitor of sex drive. For the entirety of the game, Dutch exhibits various degrees of anxiety and depression. I believe the gang and his personal safety were of much more concern to him, thus diminishing his interest in sex.

Speaking of the gang, I don’t personally see Dutch as sleeping around with the women in it that much. He did have a relationship with Susan in the past. Whether anything was still going on between them or not is uncertain, but if there was something, it probably was not serious or very frequent. In RDR1, he also suggests that he slept with Abigail, but if this happened, I doubt it would have occurred during the events of RDR2. They hardly ever interacted, and when Abigail did talk about Dutch, it was almost always in a negative manner. Dutch also showed some interest in Mary-Beth. However, I don’t think it went beyond flirting. She didn’t show much interest in him, and I think word would have gotten around if he tried to force anything, especially to Arthur (I am not going to discuss the events of RDR1 in any more detail here because that is a whole different conversation). But other than them, who else in the gang? There were not enough interactions with other women to suggest there was anything between them and Dutch.

Also, sex was considerably more risky in 1899 than it is today, and the means of contraception were not as dependable. For instance, The Pill didn’t go onto the market for another 60 years, and it was more difficult to get ahold of other birth control methods. This was partly because there were not as many technological advancements in this field and because there were a few laws that prevented reliable access to contraceptives (ex: The Comstock Laws). Condoms were arguably one of the easier birth control methods to find, but they still were not as widely available then as they are today (the quality was arguably not as good either). As I understand it, some searching was generally required to get ahold of condoms (usually in more civilized areas, which Dutch tried to avoid).

Dutch is a very contradictory character. My point in bringing up birth control is because although on some level I think Dutch probably would have liked to have actual children, I do not think he was serious enough about it to take any risks that might have led to an unwanted pregnancy during the timeframe of RDR2. As I mentioned, he was under a lot of stress with the gang. A biological child on top of that most likely would have overwhelmed him, and it would have required a long-term commitment to not only the child, but to the mother as well. I believe Dutch was smart enough to recognize this danger, and since birth control methods were not as widely available or reliable, he would not have wanted to sleep around too much (unwanted pregnancies were relatively common during this era).

I’ve written in the past that I believe Dutch had a certain degree of self-consciousness underneath his pride, so I do agree that he probably would have liked people finding him attractive or seductive. These traits emanate a sense of power and confidence, which would have provided a more favorable presentation of himself to others. These perceptions certainly would have helped to conceal his own self-doubts and insecurities, so he would have welcomed them, rather than try to refute them.

Now, in regard to the chemistry between Dutch and Molly, I agree. I think it was a pretty bad relationship all around. I don’t see its flaws as being entirely one-sided.

I will get into this a little more on the next ask, but I will discuss a few things here first.

Starting with Dutch, I will admit that he could have treated Molly a lot better. Even if he wasn’t happy with her or the status of their relationship, he should have seriously talked to her more. She deserved that, at the very minimum. There were a few instances where she tried to get his attention, and he just brushed her off. Again, like I said, even if he wasn’t very keen on the relationship anymore, he should have at least been honest about that. Then, as I already discussed, he had some mildly flirtatious conversations with Mary-Beth. I certainly do not think this helped matters. It was rude the way he insulted Molly for bringing up his interactions with Mary-Beth and how he pretended he had no idea what Molly was talking about.

Onto Molly, I don’t think she was perfect either. I know Dutch didn’t talk with her nearly as much as he should have, but she didn’t seem to show a whole lot of support for him in return. Dutch expressed that he was feeling stressed and not up to much physical activity, to which she got quite upset. She seemed to turn some arguments towards herself and her needs, with little regard for Dutch’s wellbeing. I do think she was selfish for demanding him to give her something he did not want to give/could not provide. Also, she refused to help the gang find leads or assist with chores, even when told to do so by others (ex: Dutch and Arthur). She tended to act above everybody else, claiming she wasn’t a servant to the needs of the gang as a whole. Though I can respect her sense of independence in that regard, it did show a sense of entitlement. Even Dutch donated to the gang funds, and as the leader, he was the one responsible for overseeing the vast majority of missions they engaged in. Molly was the only person who really did not contribute much. (Side note: Even UNCLE - the laziest bastard in the West - helped with leads and contributions!!)

I will get into this more in the following ask, but although I know she loved Dutch to an extent, I think part of her fascination with him was rooted in infatuation. Little is known about her background, but it is canon that she came from a wealthy and influential family in Ireland. I think part of the reason why she liked Dutch so much was because of the powerful position he held. She frequently lashed out at people who she perceived as challenging the reality of her “love” for him, such as Abigail and Karen. In one instance, Molly even went so far as to slap Karen across the face because she thought Karen was talking negatively about her. There was no evidence to prove or disprove Molly’s beliefs, but it did show that she was pretty sensitive about criticism (whether it was perceived or real) in regard to her relationship with Dutch.

Now, Dutch was wrong to use Molly’s fascination with him and his role in the gang to seduce her. But like I said, both of them had their issues. It was just a bad situation from both sides, and I do not think it should have happened in the first place. I don’t necessarily blame one more than the other. To be honest, I think they each deserved someone who fit them better.

And if I am being even MORE honest, I think Dutch should have stayed with Susan. She loved him, and he made a big mistake in ever giving her up. I believe the events of RDR2 would have turned out very differently, had he kept her closer.

(Ending note: Outside of serious posts - like this one - I know I make quite a few jokes about Dutch on my blog in regard to sexuality, but I do not mean for much of what I say in that regard to be taken *too* seriously. I don’t particularly want to discuss my personal life in the text of this post, but I will say that even if Dutch was a person I knew in real life, I’m not sure I would seriously want anything to happen between us. However, that is another matter entirely that has nothing whatsoever to do with him. I absolutely LOVE his character to death, and my blog will remain dedicated to his role in the RDR story for as long as I am around! That is all that should matter!!!)

Also, it is perfectly fine and normal to separate fiction from reality! It is okay to alter interpretations of Dutch (and/or Molly) for the sake of artistic expression, as long as the reasons can be justified. Furthermore, it is fine to disagree with me!!

I just hope this response gave you a thing or two to consider. Thank you again for sending your message in!! 💜💜💜

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anti-endings · 4 years

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I’m fairly sure at this point that Naruto is more or less fascist propaganda. There are so many things that we as a fandom want to turn a blind eye to yet when SNK was called out for being fascist, we had no problem boycotting it because it wasnt an anime that we’d come to love throughout our childhood. Unfortunately Naruto was a lot more subtle and pulled a fast one on us towards the end - 14/15 years after its initial release.

Theres a lot of intricate reasons as to why I’d call it fascist but I’ll list the general points to be made that everyone can easily recognize.

• Genocide for the good of the nation. This one is pretty obvious but I thought I’d get it out of the way. Slaughtering possible defectors of the state is apparently an honourable and justified choice. Even if some members of the oppressed minority were completely unaware of their leaders planned coup or had no desire to revolt against the system, each and every single one of them apparently deserved death.

• Brainwashing children into military violence goes completely unquestioned by the narrative. The only people who challenge this idea are portrayed as “hateful.” The best example of this is how the narrative feels the need to emphasize that Itachi murdering his clan was his own decision. I just find it awfully strange that we’re expected to believe that a 13 year old, who was sent to fight in a bloody war for his country when he was just a toddler and was shown to suffer from severe PTSD, apparently wasnt brainwashed with threats of war on his impressionable child brain when he was already completely numb to the concept of killing people. Itachis history details the story of a brainwashed child soldier yet goes to great efforts to brush it aside and give Itachi the autonomy that he never actually had. On a meta level it’s pretty messed up that Itachis actions as a result of his brainwashing, was praised by Hashirama Senju - the ultimate force of “peace” who founded the village and “the will of fire” that were so expected to admire.

• Consistent denial of blatant military violence. In the manga, the truth about the Uchiha massacre is covered up by Naruto, Sasuke and eventually Sakura to “maintain honour of the Uchiha.” This makes absolutely no logical sense whatsoever. How is it more honourable to say that a clan was slaughtered by a rogue criminal of their own (further perpetuating the selfish, bloodthirsty and power-hungry stereotype) when the truth is that an oppressed group of people were slaughtered off by the government? How can an act of genocide be prevented by a future government when the truth is actively censored by the governemnt? Neither Naruto nor Sasuke did anything to implement some sort of bill of human rights, laws or Geneva conventions in honour of Uchiha to prevent more innocent bloodshed at the hands of the state.

• Ultranationalism at every opportunity. The village is literally gated off. No one enters or leaves without permission from authority. The unification of the village under the statist military + the slaughter of any and all potential defectors is pretty telling. Its scary that “the will of fire” and protecting the state is the only honourable and good goal/ideology to have in this series as shown by Sasuke only ever being seen as “not evil” when he is beaten down into conforming to the government.

• Evil is in the genetics of the oppressed. This was pretty unsettling to witness and I’m surprised there havent been more people speaking out about it. Ideologies are inherited not just by fate, but by your genetics. The Senju-Uzumaki obviously have “The will of fire” which is known to be the supreme ideology. It consists of uniting and enduring the hardships of the world under the totalitarian government but NEVER pursuing revolution or change for the better. “The curse of hatred” is its counterpart which has its origins exclusively to the Uchiha. Its explained to be Uchiha culture to some degree. The narrative very desperately tries to paint the pursuit of revolution to prevent more violence as evil, bloodthirsty and selfish. This, in reality, makes no sense. Why are the Uchiha hateful for trying to fix a situation for the better of their family yet somehow the senju arent characterized by hatred despite openly hating the Uchiha? Simply put, the Uchiha are GENETICALLY undesirable and their push for equal rights are characterized as hateful, selfish and lonely. In reality, Madara Uchiha would not become a rogue ninja who decides to attack the entire village including his own family with Kurama because he could not get equal rights for the Uchiha. This doesnt add up with why he was so angry in the first place. Non of the “bloodthirsty” actions of any Uchiha do. They’re a fictional race of people that are only evil by the design of the author to portray oppressed people as selfish and aggressive. Towards the end of the fourth war, the story of Ashura and Indra is told to Naruto and Sasuke. Indra is apparently the original Uchiha who was influenced by some deranged evil spirit to pursue power over unification for completely selfish purposes. This is very unfairly equated to Sasuke and the rest of the Uchiha clan to explain to audience that the Uchiha are inherently evil and selfish detractors.

• To be a revolutionary is to be lonely. This ties into my last point. Sasuke is constantly referred to as lonely by just about everyone in the cast, Naruto especially. This has always been bothersome because Sasuke wouldnt have been lonely if his entire clan wasnt slaughtered by the very same people that Naruto stands by. This point is incredibly simple yet its overlooked because the anti-uchiha propaganda is so successful in what it sets out to do. To add onto this point, what if Naruto had simply said to Sasuke “I believe you have every right to bring the murderer of your clan to justice and I’ll stand by your right to justice every step of the way” instead of physically fighting him and screaming at him all the time? Sasuke isnt inherently lonely exclusively by his own means, he is alienated by everyone around him. The narrative acknowledges Sasukes emotional unfulfillment, IGNORES the real reason why hes lonely and then states that the only way that Sasuke will find a sense of family through the acceptance of his peers is if he conforms to the government and adopts the hegemonic ideology…. after “repenting” for ever daring to get justice for his clan in the first place. This eerie emotional blackmail is completely normalized and unquestioned by the narrative. It sends a harrowing message to the audience that it’s more desirable and fulfilling to conform to the government despite their poor treatment of your people and should you question otherwise, you must repent for forgiveness.

• The leader of the village is the most powerful member of the military, who is chosen exclusively through nepotism by a rich man who owns the land instead of the people, and is in power for an indeterminate length of time. Again with the military obsession! Not even necessarily the best military commander or anyone with experience in any leadership position at all. This is partly fascist due to the fact that theres no limitations on what a Kage can do to their village, they’re selected through nepotism and not democracy and they’re in power for as long as they please no matter how the public feel. The leader is not necessarily someone who is shown to be compassionate, responsible, trustworthy, intelligent or reliable. In fact, you could be a known, unpersecuted war criminal like Danzo and still get the position.

• To add on to that, war criminals in the Government or Military go completely unpersecuted and often unpunished - as shown by Danzo and the village elders. The village elders are still in the same position during the events of Boruto as they were in over 20 years ago when they conspired to execute the Uchiha massacre. Naruto and Sasuke know of their involvement yet havent held them accountable in any way.

• Child soldiers are sent to die for the government. It seems that only Obito notices this when Rin dies. The second he becomes critical of the fact of this reality is the second he becomes “hateful” and “evil."

Theres plenty more but I’ve already spent an hour typing this up and checking over every little detail. Generally speaking, much like SNK, the theme of Naruto is to just simply ENDURE hardship, stay loyal to your government at all costs even if they cause the hardship and NEVER revolt. Naruto as a character serves as the purpose of being as reductive as possible to every single character that faces hardship with "I too was lonely and oppressed but I coped by worshipping the government for a sense of emotional validation and you can too!"

#anti naruto #anti konoha #submission

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thisdreamplace · 2 years

Note

so Nevile talks about apointed hours alot, like everything we imagine has its own appointed hour. Children of horses, chickens, humans etc all hav differing gestation times. it sort of makes sense, naturally someone whos 30 growing many inches wouldn't happen in a few days, while it CAN happen yes, compared to someone wanting to see an orange car can happen instantly like via their phone, outside in street or on tv or their kid happens to draw an orange car

Im only a bit disheartened like yeah Nevile had his own limiting beleifs they all say, but he isn't that wrong is he? He also says if u properly hold inner conviction and know its done if a thousand peple gota move to make it happen it will

Like the barbados trip! Its insane if u think abt it now. They had no widespread internet or planes or anything back then

Anyway im curious i hear everyone say make ur own rules. And heres a chance for me to make them. nevile says everything gots it appointed hour to apear in outer man's world and i don't disagree. its not like hes saying the asumed desire isnt imediatelt ours in the 4d. It is! so I'm already a very vwrryyyy anxious person lol so how cud i approach this 'appointed time' versus "u literally can instantly have anything even physical changes!' beleif? hope this asks not too long i want to make sure i got my point across. :)

i dont disagree with the appointed hour thing bc it just… does make sense, in my opinion. how it all works, i cannot tell you. but i know things can be instantenous. somethings just… arent though. and theres almost no reason for it ?

ive both experienced deciding something would happen and it did when i wanted it to, as well as having minor things i wanted to experience coming much later than i expected. and vice versa. to me, it stands to reason the “appointed hour” is the most relaxed approach.

i think you can approach it by spending more time accepting consciousness is the only reality. if you truly believed imagining creates reality, how hung up on timing would you really be?

i think the community is very much so into controlling time and calling it a “limited belief” when the opposite is talked about. the whole push of “making your own rules” isnt something you need to worry about if it makes you more anxious, than feel good. to me, it just doesnt matter. having control over every little thing isnt what makes me feel good, so i dont approach the law in that way. so i would gauge your own beliefs off your personal feelings. and continue forward in the best way for you, not by following what others say you “should” be doing.

i hope this helps 💖

#time

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yukisohmasmokesweed · 4 years

Text

on: rin/haru and what “grooming” actually means

apparently there is some, hm, discourse going around at the moment claiming that rin groomed haru, crediting this to their 2 year age gap. there seems to be a pretty huge fandom-wide misunderstanding of what “grooming” actually means, so i wanted to talk about rin and haru and compare it to an actual instance of grooming in fruits basket: kyoko/katsuya

tw for discussions of pedophilia, grooming, abuse and references to csa

let’s put legality aside for a moment, and here’s why: legality =/= morality. the federal age of consent in japan is 13. it doesnt take a genius to come to the conclusion that that’s a seriously wack law, a 13 year old cannot consent to sex. however, just like in the united states, each prefecture sets their own local age of consent. fruits basket is set in tokyo, and in tokyo prefecture the age of consent is 18. japan does not have romeo and juliet laws like the US, so in tokyo prefecture neither rin nor haru would legally be able to consent to one another. so let’s set those laws aside because they are irrelevant to this particular conversation. when it comes to kyoko/katsuya, that relationship is illegal both in japan as well as the united states. in fact, katsuya would at the very least lose his job if this happened in america. however age gap relationships are unfortunately still a cultural norm in many places in the world, japan included. as an american i find this pretty shocking, but it is the reality of it

for clarity: haru is a high school sophomore (15 or 16) and rin is a high school senior (17 or 18) during the events of ep 18. kyoko is an eighth grader (13 or 14) and katsuya is 22 when they initially meet.

(source for all following images) (additional source)

so lets talk about the stages of grooming.

-rin did not target haru. yes, they both suffer (different degrees) of isolation, neglect, and abuse, but arguably rin is the more vulnerable one in this relationship. rin and haru are childhood friends as well as social peers, and their relationship grew from a place of mutual like and spending age-appropriate time together throughout their lives. haru offers rin support when she is in a bad place throughout their friendship, and presumably rin offers some sort of emotional support to haru in the same way, though we dont see this onscreen. so we’ve already failed step one

-kyoko is a victim of abuse. she is isolated and neglected by her parents. she has a chaotic home life and a lack of parental oversight, driving her to seek out bonds in an unhealthy environment (the gang). katsuya sees that she is a vulnerable, struggling child and targets her specifically after meeting her.

-does not apply. the only time rin or haru interact with the other’s parents onscreen is when haru is yelling at rin’s parents. we don’t know how haru’s parents feel about rin, but based on the way the sohma adults around rin talk about her and the other zodiacs, i think it’s safe to assume its mild disinterest to an actual dislike. we simply do not know

-doesn’t really apply to kyoko/katsuya either since kyoko’s parents are so absent

-this does not happen at all during rin and haru’s relationship. they are affectionate towards each other, but consensually and in an age-appropriate way

-katsuya doesn’t gift-give, but he does use flattery. he makes comments about kyoko’s physical appearance and her intelligence and gets her alone both in and outside of school to talk in multiple instances. he is purposefully fulfilling kyoko’s need for a positive adult influence in her life, seeing as she has none, and she starts to rely on that because she’s a child and he is being kind to her (from her perspective)

-i’m running out of things to say about haru/rin because this doesnt happen! yes they hang out alone together but again they are social peers. their age gap is simply not significant enough for this to be inappropriate.

-katsuya waits until kyoko is completely isolated from her family and her peers, having left the gang and immediately disowned by her parents, to do this. he shows up AT HER HOUSE at her absolute most vulnerable moment, getting kicked out her home at 14, and informs her that they are getting married. so now she is cut off from her immediate family, cut off from her only friends, and to a child it’s understandable why the only way out of this situation would be through katsuya. not only does she trust him after months of grooming, she basically has no choice but to trust the one and only adult in her life. she’s not even old enough to get a job (japanese labor laws prohibit anyone under the age of 15 from having a job)

-yes, rin and haru do have sex. they are both teenagers. it is not something where rin is exploiting haru’s curiosity about sex or vice versa, it’s two people in the same peer group consensually exploring it together. they are both on the young side for sure, but there is canonically consent (haru asking permission to kiss her). teenagers having consensual sex with other teenagers is not abusive in any way

-we don’t know when kyoko and katsuya’s relationship gets sexual, but kyoko was underage for sure. she’s 18/19 when katsuya dies and tohru was 3 or 4, which means when kyoko got pregnant she was 16 at the absolute oldest, and i’m sure they had a sexual relationship prior to the pregnancy. katsuya would’ve been around 24 when kyoko got pregnant

-this simply does not happen between rin and haru. they keep it a secret for a while, but not because rin is trying to control haru. once they’re found out haru talks openly to yuki about his sexual relationship with rin. the secrecy wasn’t a control tactic, they were trying to protect themselves from outside forces

-obviously there is no secrecy here either, but after katsuya dies it’s apparent that kyoko did feel that katsuya was the only person who could meet her needs. the way katsuya took advantage of kyoko’s social isolation and became the only person in her life as well as the person who supported her financially clearly took its toll on kyoko, who is despondent and floundering after his death. she falls into a deep depression and neglects her own health as well as the health of her child. she has no idea how to function without katsuya, as is the design of someone who grooms a child in the way he did.

tl;dr rin and haru dont even come close to meeting the definition of grooming. yes, they are both young, but they are also both in the same peer group as well as both being in bad home situations. their relationship is grown out of a well-established friendship and they mutually support each other. when their relationship turns sexual, they do so from a place of love and verbally consent to one another

kyoko/katsuya is an example of actual child grooming, so much so that it meets nearly every stage to a T. it is disrespectful to peg rin of all people as a groomer when there is such a glaringly obvious example of how a groomer actually acts within fruits basket.

i don’t know how people came to the conclusion that rin is grooming haru, but its an incorrect take and tbh reeks of misogyny! hope this was helpful to people who are confused.

#takes a huge bong rip #ohhh the discourse #rin sohma #haru sohma #katsuya honda #kyoko honda #meta???#i suppose

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masterserris · 4 years

Photo

Necromancer: Krzyzstof “Chris” Szyzcepanski (kshsh-toff shte-paen-ski) he/him. Ethnically Polish.

[Fun fact! The anglo version of Krzyzstof is Christopher!]

Patron god: Khystophylus (kiz-stoff-ill-us) or “Khys” for short.

Eldrich god of space and dimensions, guardian of wayward spirits and eternity.

KOFI

info under cut:

As a young lad he heard Khystophylus helping him out and talking into his ear. Khys helps a lot of mortals and is rather fond of them, having to care for their souls when wandering into the after life a lot of times. It’s just that this guy is one of the few and only to properly recognize the voice as khys, who does exist in the pantheon of eldrich gods but is often overlooked and misinterpreted as a different god entirely, and misses out on any sacrifices. In this world, all gods are eldrich abominations, it’s chill and normal, relax. Khys just has a very difficult voice lol. Khys helped him compile that tome of his full of really potent spells he has all memorized, he doesnt need the book but it helps and can make casting go faster sometimes. It latches on to the small of his back where the bone pelvis is. Those bones are real btw.

i mean, khys is perceived as a guardian of space and dimensions, why tf would they be a teacher? so everyone thinks it’s the god of wisdom or some shit instead and khys just facepalms and moves onto the next mortal, slightly annoyed they wasted their time again lol

the knife isnt all that special, just helps with blood rituals and the like and defense. he can imbue the blade with say poison magic and physically defend himself with it but usually doesnt need that. he’s. okay at hand to hand combat. he knows your pressure points and how best to break ur bones lol. an anatomy guru for many species lol

Khystophylus is his patron god ofc. A deity of eternity/a guardian between worlds. good to ask favor from when summoning the dead and monsters/spirits. like he’s mainly a necromancer but can summon other shit too

also makes teleportation/portal magic easier

Khystophylus is p chill but hardly anyone knows about them or makes proper sacrifices to them so they are more than happy to lend their infinite power to this guy. krzyzstof is very clean. he doesn’t leave blood and entrails laying around. wosh ur self looking ass

khystophylus is like. very much a guardian god and is like armored and wields a mace. ofc they are eldrich and no one knows what they really look or sound like and lives far off between dimensions but yeah. if this guy asked he could probs make him immortal if he wanted they are bros

tbh khstophylus probs already has made them eldrich deep down, he already has been physically altered w the pointy ears and sorta monster spine added on.

Oh! idk if this guy has eyes or not I think he does but he covers them bc he can see auras/souls/essence/energy. living or dead or spirits or machines he can see/sense them with p good clarity. god vision or smth like that. thanks Khys

i don’t think he is evil really. more like. necessary darkness in the world to balance things out. really, I think it’s more like you can hire him to perform burial rites for safe soul passage into paradise from khys. maybe sometimes he can fully resurrect a dead person but he’ll charge a higher fee and can only do it so many time a day/week just bc it takes effort. that and im p sure khys would get annoyed dragging a dozen souls outta the afterlife every day

that and the longer they have been dead, the harder it is to bring them back, but its always possible. nercomancy is just really advanced healing. you need to completely restore a body before shoving the soul back inside, right? just making zombies/skeletons is easy tho and he can make a small army in a day or two if he has enough bodies to work with

lol he would cast an air purifying spell every time too. he’s used to the stink ofc but he still doesn’t /enjoy/ it

ofc he has skeleton and lich dragons guarding his small abandoned fortress with lich sorcerers around as well. basically anything he summons is completely loyal ofc but some are lowkey sentient, at least enough to be competent fighters or warlocks

basically Overlord anime but really lowkey

if his life was in true peril, khys would save him by sending an eldrich minion to whisk him away or like. block the attack by shoving their arm through a portal, i doubt they would ever fully enter the mortal world tho bc they would break reality by doing that being a truly immortal and all powerful being but yeah

Khystophylus would be a big lad. skyscraper or bigger, though size is just an illusion so it can be manipulated.

has Krzyzstof made human sacrifices before? i wanna say yes. def sacrificed already dead bodies up for khys and animals but maybe recently deceased criminals who were executed or were going to be executed. he probs gets a legal pardon for taking sacrifices from the death row jail. it’s a public service. some people are scared af of him others are like: “oh yeah that guy? he’s nice, he helped my nephew pass his wizardry exam and resurrected my daughter’s cat to live another 10 years, real nice guy. good at baking too”

i’d say he’s lawful neutral then. he never breaks the rules of summoning/practicing magic. he owns his land legally and pays his taxes lol. if he gets drafted he helps in the army in the medical side of things while also bolstering their forces with undead troops

neutral bc like i said he can and will kill others for his gain but not out of any malice, only if they deserve to die for being an enemy or already committed heinous crimes

he’s decently skilled with a variety of topics on poisons, potions, healing, elemental magic basics, ect. to bring people back from the dead, you need to know all they ways they could have died and how to heal all of that mess or put them back into said grave if they turn out to be an asshole upon being brought back to life.

so he’d be on the short list for the world best magic users but not like. world conquering most likely. at least he would never have the gumption/motivation to do such a thing, sounds like a hassle tbh.

#msocs #bestofms #necromancer #sfw

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netgear93-archived · 4 years

Note

Yoel and askel for the OC profile!

for yoel

full name: Yoel Sothoth gender and sexuality: male and he doesnt know it yet but he’s gay pronouns: he/him ethnicity: New One. He’s black for sure though his mother is human birthplace/date: lurline, miskaton// october 10th 1997 phobias: the dark, his dad (hes dadphobic) what they’d be famous for: he can sing but also he’s famous bc hes the son of a wealthy politician what they’d get arrested for: shoplifting oc i ship them with: Little Darkness oc most likely to murder them: yog-sothoth lmao this man do not care his son favorite book: the askaton equiv to nancy drew books least favorite book: any sort of text books talents and abilities: his ability is called a wrinkle in time (yes based on the book) and basically it allows him to create little rips in time to hop in and out of. it does bruise him up pretty badly but he’s good at regenerating limbs and he’s perfected it so that when he uses he does it in short bursts multiple times so he just gets thousands of small lacerations instead of losing limbs why someone might love them: he is sooooo optimistic its crazy and he also cares about people why someone might hate them: kinda conceited and also rich how they change: goes from only caring about didar to basically bleeding heart for the whole world why I love them: silly rich boy falls in love with the concept of love...hes so weird and eccentric....that and he’s also very nice

for askel

full name: askel odinson gender and sexuality: nb female//lesbian pronouns: he/him ethnicity: black. birthplace/date: amesbury//June 21st, 1998 phobias: men. what they’d be famous for: was semi famous as the only survivor of the cult his entire village was apart of what they’d get arrested for: his ability allows him to send shit to a pocket dimension and naturally he’s accidentally stolen whole buildings and cars and shit so theft. oc i ship them with: didar oc most likely to murder them: little darkness at first, but after that, nobody favorite book: he can’t read least favorite book: whatever didar’s favorite book is talents and abilities: his ability allows him to transport people, objects and towns to a pocket dimension he’s got full control over when he goes to. it doesnt obey any laws of physics or reality either. he cant control what he sends why someone might love them: he do by having a strong sense of justice tho why someone might hate them: constantly spaced out and angry how they change: (falls in love with didar) why I love them : he’s very ‘tsundere’ i guess i could say

#evzio

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scripttorture · 5 years

Note

Can you please tell me what are the clean torture methods? And who is likely to use them? If my story is set up in future, i dont see why humans would still use torture that leaves physical scars. We already know torture doesnt work (even if its still used quite a lot), so I asumed in a futuristic setting only clean torture makes sense, unless the torture is just for the sake of it.

What I mean when I say ‘clean torture’ is any torture technique that is unlikely to leave any kind of obvious physical mark on a victim.

That covers a lot of different kinds of torture. I can’t list every single kind but I can give you a few examples of common tortures that don’t tend to leave physical marks.

Stress positions

Electrical torture with devices like Tasers

Choking tortures

Waterboarding

Dehydration

Some forms of temperature tortures

Some forms of falaka

Some forms of beating

Solitary confinement

Exhaustion exercises

The vast majority of torture nowadays is ‘clean’.

There are several theories about why that might be. Rejali supports the idea that international monitoring (ie people actively looking for signs of torture and trying to bring torturers to trial) is the reason. I think he puts forward a compelling argument.

Other suggestions have to do with cultural ideas about what’s ‘acceptable’. Broadly speaking that’s the idea people think obvious injuries are unacceptable but don’t object to the idea of causing other people massive amounts of pain. There’s less evidence for this.

Some people suggest that torture now is clean because it’s more ‘advanced’ and ‘effective’. This is complete nonsense. Most of these clean tortures were recorded hundreds, if not thousands of years ago so they haven’t come about because of technological advancement. And they are just as ineffective as scarring torture.

To answer your second question: if your setting is similar to the modern day then any characters who are likely to be involved in legally defined torture are likely to be using clean torture methods.

The difference between the legal and everyday definition of torture is relevant here. The basics of it is that the law doesn't define torture in terms of what is done but who is doing it and what their motivations are. A torturer is either a public official or a member of a group large enough to control territory. So a police officer who is on duty and beats a suspect in a cell is a torturer. But if the same police officer is off duty and beats someone up behind a bar that's assault.

So torture, according to the legal definition, can only be done by certain groups of people. Most commonly you’d be talking about police, soldiers, prison guards and doctors or teachers who are in public employ.

Torture has changed over time but these changes have come with cultural shifts and cultural shifts haven’t always caused changes in torture practices.

I think it’s highly likely that in the future torture will still be clean. But that’s not something I know for sure.

A big part of the reason I encourage writers of futuristic and sci fi stories to stick to clean torture is because the damage clean tortures do is often dismissed, both in fiction and reality. Treating clean torture seriously in our fiction helps tackle that problem.

The last part of this question is a bit trickier to answer though.

I’m interpreting it as a broad question about why torture occurs, coupled with the assumption that clean torture is ‘better’ from torturer’s perspective.

I’m not sure about that conclusion. Historically a lot of cultures used predominantly scarring tortures and- my interpretation is that the scars were often part of the point. A lot of historical cultures saw publicly inflicted pain as humiliating. A lot of cultures used disabling tortures (ie a torture that caused a disability) as punishment, with the implicit understanding that lifelong disability was part of that punishment.

Even today some torturers will say they tortured people in order to- basically make their victims to disabled to keep doing whatever they were arrested for. The fact that it isn’t that simple and that scars/obvious mutilation could act as powerful recruitment tools for opposing sides- doesn’t really seem to affect things.

From what I’ve read my personal interpretation is that- torturers and a lot of their strongest supporters are too invested to be swayed by evidence. You can see this most clearly in the way torturers insist that their methods are effective, even when evidence that contradicts them is right in front of them. Things like, survivor accounts from people who refused to talk and remember their torturer insisting that ‘everyone talks’ for this particular abuse.

Essentially I don’t think that torturers (or their supporters) are being honest when they say why they think abuse is acceptable.

I’ve got an old post here which summarises what I think are the most common ‘reasons’ torture occurs. I tried to put it together in a way that emphasises motivation and helps writers.

The most common ‘reasons’ I see aren’t really logical. The short summary of that old post is forcing confessions, trying to terrorise individuals or groups, trying punish/humiliate individuals or groups and causing disability (be it physical or mental).

You don’t need to come up with a logical or nuanced reason for your torturers to do what they do. Because torturers in reality don’t have logical nuanced reasons.

They’re following orders. They’re angry at particular groups. They’re posturing and trying to convince themselves and others of how important they are. They’re throwing their weight around. They’re doing what everyone else in the group is doing.

They’re falling back on stock tropes they saw on TV because they didn’t get much training, their boss wants an answer now and it’s easier to try and force a confession then actually investigate a crime.

I guess what I’m saying here is sometimes torture is just for the sake of it. It isn’t all the time and it doesn’t have to be in your story. But don’t worry too much if your torturers’ motivations seem simplistic and illogical. Because that lines up with reality.

Availableon Wordpress.

Disclaimer

#Anonymous #tw torture #writing advice #writing torturers #clean torture #sci fi ask #torture apologia #attitudes to clean tortures

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firemama · 4 years

Note

I have 2 questions about SlaveTale! 1 What did Sans end up asking Reader's sister when he and Papyrus spent the day with her? 2 Why were Sans and Papyrus nervous around Reader's boss?

Howdy, thanks for reading!

both questions are un-answered in the story thus-far on purpose! See below, but dont expect too many spoilers to the stories’ secrets!

item 1, the question Sans asked Abigail, is not revealed to “you” the reader, because it was a question he elected to ask someone other than you. Since “you” the reader do not know sans has this mystery knowledge, nor know that he asked someone else a question at all, the question and its answer have been omitted from his perspective. (it WILL come back around later, because it was an important question, it just hasnt yet!)

item 2 is more of a joke then a plot point, although it too will have some minor effect on the plot. It’s not quite a spoiler to share, so i shall:

Chapter 49 leads with the authors note “Koyol Bessmertnyy is nothing as he seems” as a hint to his invisible oddity. There are perfectly normal reasons to find him strange with just a normal human’s perspective:

1. He is unusually tall at an approximate of 7 feet. while his height isnt specified exactly in the story because the reader character is relatively disinterested in people’s oddities and never focuses on his height, they do note he is horrifically tall.

2. in addition to tall, he has multiple unusual appearance factors. Such as being off puttingly thin and lanky. The reader character doesn't acknowledge this much- but then again, they too are... unhealthily on the scrawny side given they’re diet and habits. He also has strange all-black eyes (sclera tattoos), speaks in a monotone, and does not make facial expressions. in short, he’s a bit off putting, in appearance alone.

3. these things are not inherently in human. However, Humans in this story are the cruel creatures, so it doesnt matter. Sans and Papyrus have been brought to someplace unfamiliar for the sole purpose of meeting an extremely large human who’s “deviant” traits are unsettling. Humans, as they’ve both learned, are to be feared- even normal ones, and this guy visually is not normal.

4. he has very strange habits. One of the most obvious is his intensive studying and note keeping- he has 3 notebooks now, each with one of the skeleton brothers or the readers name on it, and has taken excessive notes while in conversation with them. that in itself is unsettling, but behavior in humans can vary widely, and that too is not inherently inhuman, nor are his other small... behavior quirks. Like having immense amounts of pre-research and background checks done. Or extreme interest in them as Monsters. unsettling, but... human.

5. He is, of course, not what he seems. Sans and Papyrus dont know what is actually up with this stranger. But they can tell something isnt right for reasons the reader cannot, and therefore not acknowledge. The reality is that Koyol possesses Magic, which both brothers can tell upon laying eyes on him. Is he a Mage? is he a Monster? is he something else? they aren't sure.

number 5 hasnt come up in the plot, and im not sure if it will. It’s meant to be just... one of those passing strangenesses. You dont know about everything and everyone around you. you dont know you’re bosses’ secrets in real life. All you really know is that your monster roommates find him unsettling, and you’ve never thought to ask about it, because hes unsettling to you too- as a strange boss, not something... else. Maybe its a story we’ll figure out, maybe its not. who knows.

Koyol Bessmertnyy is actually a long-had OC of mine, who famously crops up now and again in a lot of my works. If you want to know a bit about him, i have a blog dedicated to him (mostly its aesthetics, ngl, but i plan to start putting more things on his blog some day.) found at @wasnevergod and Koyol is also the star focus of one of my own completely original works The Man They Called Universe, which is found exclusively on my Patreon and his actual character is a lot more... complicated and deep than the version you find in the fic or in my smaller works. The easiest description is that he’s a Mutant who travels different worlds and inserts himself into different universes to study “the main characters” the worlds need, the various cultures, and the different laws and rules of physics and reality that each universe possesses while accumulating several bodies in the process. thats the “easy” description, haha.

Koyol is my baby and he’s been around maybe... 15 to 16 years? and that's most of my life, you know. he’s been around since elementry school for me! and im finally putting all those intricisies into a story, so follow my patreon if your interested in him and his weirdness.

The version of him in SlateTale is very similar to the one bellow, although not exact.

#munchatter #Anonymous #Koyol #The Man They Called Universe #SlaveTale

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myhahnestopinion · 5 years

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THE AARONS 2018 - Worst Film

I read quite a few thoughts from people on the internet decrying the idea of a “Worst Films” list as overly-negative. Those people have likely never seen The Emoji Movie. Here are the Aarons for Worst Film:

#10. The 15:17 to Paris

Clint Eastwood’s late career need to commemorate every possible act of American heroism he can get his hands on and his inflexible attitude towards efficient filmmaking, no matter whether another take is called for, reached a breaking point in The 15:17 to Paris. Eastwood’s decision to cast the real-life military men that stopped the attack is admirable, but misguided, as each gives a performance more wooden than the fake baby from American Sniper. The film is clearly desperately reaching for some insightful commentary on heroism and sacrifice, but with its indifferent filmmaking of insignificant events designed to pad the runtime (a scene of the trio eating gelato takes over twice as long as the foiled attack), The 15:17 to Paris is too far off-track.

#9. Show Dogs

As a dog returns to their vomit, so too does a studio decide that Raja Gosnell should have another chance to direct a talking dog movie following Beverly Hills Chihuahua and the two Scooby-Doo films. The movie’s antics contain the same poor CGI, confusing world building, and lazy jokes expected from bottom-barrel family entertainment, but Gosnell has bred something truly abominable in Show Dogs thanks to the decidedly not family-friendly content littered throughout. Gosnell’s first show-stopper is grinding the ostensible kid’s movie to a halt in order to discuss the nature of sexual consent among animals; the second, in quite the reversal, was cut complete out of the film a week into release due to its unseemly implications. If you’re looking for an entertaining talking dog picture this year, maybe put this one down and pick up Wes Anderson’s instead.

#8. The Hurricane Heist

The Fast and the Furious series excelled once it began to play fast and loose with the laws of physics, but none of that franchise’s absurdity can break one’s sense of reality quite like finding out that The Hurricane Heist, which hails from The Fast and The Furious director Rob Cohen, revolves around a sentient storm. Yes, to repeat, the hurricane in The Hurricane Heist is seemingly alive and determined to hunt down a single family over a period of years. It’s the sole unpredictable element in an otherwise rote heist film, riddled with stock characters, hammy dialogue, and repeated visits to the same low-budget sets. Certainly the most predictable part of the cheap and confusing adventure though is that a franchise is certainly not on the forecast.

#7. Slender Man

The boogeyman of internet chat boards everywhere finally crept his way onto the big screen in 2018 by way of middle-aged filmmakers who don’t seem to understand how the internet works. The laughable writing of the teenage girl protagonists indicate an ignorance of the film’s target audience, but beyond that is the film palpable disinterest in its eponymous foe. The Slender Man is a non-entity in his own feature; his undistinguishing features are lost among low-lit cinematography that makes it hard to visually distinguish anything at all. His mythos is missing and the editing is choppy. The man may be slender, but so are the plot, the frights, and almost certainly the sequel count of this forgettable feature.

#6. The Clapper

Humans are socially conditioned to recognize the smacking of two hands together in rhythmic fashion as an expression of praise. Dito Monteil, director of The Clapper, has likely been socially conditioned by years of indie rom-coms to believe that smacking together a socially-stunted male character and a female character with a quirky job will result in an affable picture. But The Clapper is embarrassingly uncoordinated, failing to prop up its quirk with any actual humor or its romance with any actual human openness, resulting in a listless (and thus on this list!) film that flails into a third-act misunderstanding involving not-unfounded stalking allegations and an overall lazy disregard for the love interest’s personhood. So, give The Clapper a hand, everyone; it needs all the help it can get.

#5. Flower

Zoey Deutch is a charismatic actor and, following a great performance in Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!!, a rising star, which makes it all the more upsetting that her efforts to find exciting roles was hijacked by the gross male power fantasy that Flower grows into. For the first two acts of the coming-of-age drama, its provocation and plundering of “strong female character” archetypes seems to be in pursuit of something profound, before a sudden tonal and plot shift sends the film floundering through successively icky developments. It’s sad seeing Deutch craft such a compelling character only for the film to weed out its good elements and reveal its sensitivity was all a charade for irritating wish fullfillment, leaving Flower to wither and die.

#4. Mute

Mute is the most painful entry to place on this list, as the passion project of the proficient Duncan Jones and the spiritual sequel to his superlative sci-fi film Moon, but just like with his big-budget Warcraft adaptation, Jones trades the sublime simplicity of his early works for confounding worldbuilding and bland characters. The director’s standard visual polish is overshadowed by the film’s discount Blade Runner aesthetic, but even that stands-out against star Alexander Skarsgård, who shrugs his way through his cipher of a character. The film doesn’t appear to care much about him either, choosing to spend an inordinate amount of time following a pedophilic character to no real purpose, just as its noir-influenced mystery comes to a dud of a conclusion. Here’s hoping Duncan Jones can return to form with his next feature, and we never have to speak of Mute again.

#3. The Open House

The infamous reputation of horror films in the January Dumping Grounds has shifted to a new low with the influx of streaming services. The same craving for endless content that led Netflix to finance beautiful works like Roma also leads them to crank out cheap, dispassionate works like The Open House. The Open House’s algorithm driven production is measurable; it’s designed to draw viewers in with a likeable enough lead and the promise of thrills… and then puts no other thought or effort into itself. Dylan Minette bumbles around an empty house and an empty town, with the occasional sharp noise or shifty side character to suggest, but never genuinely achieve, tension. Its ninety minutes of nothing, culminating in a climax that is dependent on none of that nothing, giving an early and clear sign that it’s not worth visiting everything that Netflix puts on the market.

#2. How It Ends

Like The Open House, How It Ends ends where most other movies would begin. Or, at least, movies that put any effort into their conception beyond taking a cheap, marketable genre (here, the apocalyptic road trip) and hiring a recognizable actor who is nevertheless not a big box office draw. How It Ends has nothing to say about the fragility of society, no insight into taunt relationships between men, no twist or turn that hasn’t been ransacked from better films. It’s, again, ninety minutes of nothing, designed to be easily accessible, unchallenging, and instantly forgotten. And how does that ninety minutes end? With manufactured conflict rooted in hardcore toxic masculinity and an anticlimactic cliffhanger. This is how one’s faith in streaming services’ forays into filmmaking ends.

AND THE WORST FILM OF 2018 IS...

1. Seven in Heaven

If the in-house productions of streaming services’ relentless pursuit of content are lethargic, their acquisitions of theatrical studio’s misfires are a never-ending source of fascination. Netflix had several high-profile purchases from other vendors, such as The Cloverfield Paradox and Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, as well as several dumped onto the service with no warning or fanfare, such as this year’ s worst film, Blumhouse’s Seven in Heaven. Likely, Netflix had as little of an idea how to market the film as its initial owner Universal. It must be hard, after all, to know how to tell viewers what a film is about, when the film’s plotting is so aimless, its rules so arbitrary, its structure so faulty, that as the film rushes to its conclusion, the characters have a lengthy conversation trying to piece together what exactly mattered and what didn’t matter during their adventure. Seven in Heaven, as far as one can discern, sees two teens accidentally travel to a world where everyone follows their worst impulses. This alternate world is, of course, represented by the fact that everyone there is super into heavy metal and black clothing. This is, of course, to contrast with the normal world of non-worst impulses, where the wives in town collectively make a deck of pornographic playing cards for their husbands and then bond with their sons over them. The filmmaker’s worse impulse? Choosing to fill half of its run time cutting back from its central concept of alternate dimension mayhem for a plotline about partying teens waiting out the police that contains no horror elements or intrigue of any kind. It’s all underdeveloped, unbelievable, unagreeable, unmarketable. It’s impossible to make out what exactly they wanted Seven in Heaven to be.

NEXT UP: THE 2018 AARON FOR BEST DIRECTOR!

#film #TheAarons #TheAarons2018 #TheAaronsFilm #worstof2018 #bad movies #worst film #seven in heaven #how it ends #the open house #mute #flower #the clapper #slender man #the hurricane heist #show dogs #the 15 17 to paris

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themoneybuff-blog · 5 years

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Inside jobs: What do people do all day?

Last week, I found myself revisiting the fantastic Inside Jobs project from The Atlantic. Atlantic staffers interviewed 103 American workers from all walks of life. The magazine then collected those interviews into a single, unified website. Here's how one of the project's leaders describes her aims: So much of my aspiration for this project was to hear from people affected by the realities that business writers so often cover: what it's like to be a minority in a workplace, or the challenges of working parenthood, or the struggle to remain relevant as an industry changes. And we succeeded in finding those types of stories for example, the three female lawyers who started their own firm, or the coal miner who is adapting to the focus on clean energy. The ones that most stuck with me most were the people in the jobs many consider mundane, such as the janitor who so acutely equated people's respect for his job with their ability to throw away their own trash, or workers outside of the traditional economy, such as the stay-at-home mother who struggled to find her place in a feminist movement that emphasizes womens professional achievements. The Inside Jobs website has a fun layout. Each interview has its own page. From the main index, you can filter stories by subject, or filter workers by industry, age, or other demographic factors. Or, if you're like me, you can simply scroll down and click on any of the 103 worker portraits to read a random interview.

What Do People Do All Day? The Inside Jobs project reminds me of one of my favorite books from childhood, Richard Scarry's classic What Do People Do All Day? I've always been fascinated by the vast variety of work available to people, and how different each job is from every other job. Sure, there's a degree of sameness, but there are tons of differences. As a blogger, I sit at home all day and write. In a way, it's like I'm an artist (but without any sort of actual artistry). Everything about Get Rich Slowly comes from me. If I don't work, nothing happens here. (Actually, this isn't quite true anymore. Nowadays, Rachel manages social media and Tom is handling business development.)This process is similar to the one faced by my friends who are entrepreneurs or professionals. When you own your own business, it's up to you to make it succeed. When you have your own accounting firm or law office, it's up to you to build your reputation and client base.Then there are folks like my girlfriend Kim, who works as a dental hygienist. Whereas I see nobody all day long, she sees tons of new patients every day she works. Her work is physically demanding; mine is not.I have other friends who are band teachers and forensic chemists. I know engineers and salesmen and psychiatrists. I know lost of financial planners, of course, as well as factory foremen and county bureaucrats and hospital administrators. It's just like Richard Scarry taught me when I was a pre-schooler: Everyone is a worker.

And it's just like Brenda Ueland taught me (in a book about writing, of all places): Everyone is talented, original, and has something important to say. Its the personal histories that make up history (by which I mean the grand tapestry of world events). Without your story and mine the larger story doesnt exist. The mass movements of kingdoms and cultures are built on our backs. Maybe that's why I like oral histories so much. Speaking of which, the Inside Jobs project naturally reminds me (and many others) of the work of journalist Studs Terkel. Studs Terkel's Working In the early 1970s, Studs Terkel spent three years traveling across the United States to interview people about their jobs. How would you describe your work? he asked his subjects, men and women from all walks of life. And they told him. Terkel's 1974 book Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do collected 128 of these conversations. Terkel interviewed nobodies and celebrities. He talked to housewives and farm workers and actors and stock brokers and prostitutes. Terkel even interviewed New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael. I really enjoy what I do, she said. I love my occupation. This attitude is the exception, not the rule. I was constantly astonished by the extraordinary dreams of ordinary people, Terkel wrote in the introduction to Working. No matter how bewildering the times, no matter how dissembling the official language, those we call ordinary are aware of a sense of personal worth or more often a lack of it in the work they do. A couple of years ago, National Public Radio spent a week sharing audio excerpts from Terkel's Working interviews. And believe it or not, the book was even made into a Broadway musical adapted and directed by Steven Schwartz, a man better known for his work on shows like Godspell, Wicked, and Disney's Pocahontas. [embedded content] As much as I love both musical theater and Studs Terkel, that looks awful. No wonder it was a flop! In 2009, Harvey Pekar (and a team of artists) adapted 28 of Terkel's interviews into a graphic novel. As a comic geek and a Terkel fan, I loved it. Below are a few scans from my favorite stories. From the story of 34-year-old Roberto Acuna, a farm worker and union organizer:

From the story of 77-year-old Aunt Katherine Haynes, farm woman:

From the story of deep miner Joe Haynes, the nephew of Aunt Katherine:

From the story of prostitute Roberta Victor, who started off as a high-priced Manhattan call girl (at age fifteen!) before becoming a streetwalker:

From the story of actor Rip Torn:

From the story of 41-year-old Nick Salerno, who has been a garbageman for eighteen years:

From the story of Brett Hauser, a 17-year-old boxboy outside Los Angeles:

From the story of Dolores Dante, who has worked as a waitress in the same restaurant for 23 years:

From the story of 40-year-old stockbroker, David Reed Glover:

From the story of 65-year-old jazz musician, Bud Freeman, who has been playing tenor sax for forty-seven years:

From the story of gravedigger Elmer Ruiz (whose audio clip I showcased earlier):

From the story of 44-year-old Nick Lindsay, son of poet Vachel Lindsay:

Like most (all?) of Terkel's books, Working is simply a collection of oral histories. The author does a little editorializing and has an unhidden liberal/progressive bias but mostly he lets his subjects speak for themselves. I've read several of his other books, and they're all great. (Every time I revisit his work, I'm reminded that I want to do something similar: I want to travel the country and interview people about the nature and meaning of wealth.) In Praise of the Quotidian Life In the preface to the Working graphic novel, Harvey Pekar writes: I was especially pleased to work on this project because Studs Terkel puts a great deal of emphasis, as I do, in writing about quotidian life. The so-called normal aspect of human existence is underemphasized in every form of literature, yet that is the aspect that most readers are familiar with and can most easily identify with. The style of life I myself am familiar with is the quotidian. But just because one writes about everyday life doesn't mean it's uninteresting; in fact, I find it's most fascinating, because it is so seldom written about. Virtually every person is potentially a great subject for a novel or a biography or a film. Bravo to Terkel for documenting these fascinating lives. You won't find any deep insights into the human condition while browsing the interviews in Working or The Atlantics Inside Jobs project. What you'll get instead is a sort of voyeuristic glimpse into what other people do to make ends meet. You'll learn how some people live to work, and how others work to live. Mostly you'll be entertained by the variety of human experience.

Author: J.D. Roth In 2006, J.D. founded Get Rich Slowly to document his quest to get out of debt. Over time, he learned how to save and how to invest. Today, he's managed to reach early retirement! He wants to help you master your money and your life. No scams. No gimmicks. Just smart money advice to help you reach your goals. https://www.getrichslowly.org/what-do-people-do-all-day/

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