Tumgik
#sensible reform
beauty-funny-trippy · 2 years
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Which is crazier — Politicians allowing teenagers to buy semi-automatic military assault rifles -or- Voters continuing to elect those politicians and expecting things to change?
85 notes · View notes
liberalsarecool · 2 years
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Radicalized teenagers going into schools to murder innocent students and teachers is the culmination of misogynist Right Wing ideology.
The Right has targeted women. Has gendered occupations. Has weaponized a consumer identity around guns. And most importantly, the Right has done absolutely nothing to denounce the violence or address the patriarchal extremism.
Their god is a gun.
1K notes · View notes
Note
I think some of the accuracy critiques of 2019 LW are totally legitimate (the hair, my god), but Jo wearing men’s clothes has never flown for me as something “wrong” with the movie. She generally does so around her family and apart from what the actors said (actors are....actors) it would make sense that she had some access to men’s clothing through theater costumes and Laurie and would want to wear them. I think it’s a perfectly legitimate interpretation of how her character would dress and I’ve never understood critiques of it. (I know Abbie Cox has said this is well—in her “not like other girls” video (where she. wildly misunderstands that term) which makes me extremely uncomfortable in general. So that may bias me but.)
I don't think it's WRONG exactly; I do think it's lazy and belies their claims of historical authenticity. because she doesn't just wear those clothes in private- she wears them while working as a governess AND in her freaking publisher's office
would that have worked for an already-famous author? yes. look up George Sand; she pulled it off splendidly. for a young woman just starting out in the professional world, c. 1870? hell no. she'd have been hewing much closer to the line of respectibility- in an accurate setting, which again is a standard they set for themselves
it would have been more Authentic, in my view, to dig into how a woman like Jo would actually have incorporated masculine elements into her clothing to feel at ease while still maintaining baseline Respectable Female AttireTM. but, you know. that would have required effort and a respect for the lived reality of Victorian women's experiences, neither of which this movie's team had
also...I liked that Abby Cox video. I think a lot of viewers wildly misunderstood her meaning- she was talking about tropes used in historical fiction and a tendency going back centuries for writers to use androgynous or masculine presentation- or simple disinterest in clothing -as "proof" that a woman is more clever/innovative/generally interesting than her feminine peers. not whether GNC women existed in history- which is, of course, indisputable. so there's that
(don't even get me started on the How Dare You Criticize Perfect Infallible Saint Mary Wollstonecraft discourse that said video sparked. or the misogyny and professional invalidation leveled at Cox herself by many of those responses)
60 notes · View notes
zeriphi · 11 months
Photo
Tumblr media
WOW so I never did finished art of Bi Diamond in the nearly seven years since I started (and one year since I finished) the WoY Crystal Gem AU despite him being my beautiful son- so here he is. 
For the uninformed, Bi Diamond is the Deathglare fusion in this story. That shouldn’t be a spoiler anymore I posted that reveal in 2018. 
Also hilariously other than the AU this story ended up being almost entirely divorced from SU because pretty shortly after I started it I gained a pretty heavy distaste for the show- but not for WoY so. Oh well~
(This piece may or may not be @apoli-meow‘s fault) 
15 notes · View notes
yamimichi · 1 year
Text
SO DAMN SICK OF ALL THESE SHOOTINGS
When will it end?
4 notes · View notes
Text
I've just noticed someone (who has been dutifully unfollowed, thank you very much) reblogged in a matter of hours two posts, one praising pope Francis for saying "maybe not all faggots are evil" and the other condemning Biden for saying "right now I don't think there's any chance of a ceasefire". Specifically, the one about the pope was all cutesy and "don't you think its funny" and stuff, the one about biden was the usual "he's as bad as trump, i won't vote for him next time, ecc". Like, if you want to make big sweeping statements about political figures and situations, at least be consistent? Either the pope is also a disgusting homophobe that is faking being progressive, or biden is also a cute old man with his hands tied by an ultraconservative organization.
Of course they discarded from the go the alternative of both being truly lesser evils, both barely centrists at the heads of extremely right leaning organizations, both with their hands tied, and both still holding responsibility (both personally and as heads of their organizations) for a staggering amount of damage. This idea was never even taken into consideration.
1 note · View note
tanadrin · 21 days
Note
The actual reason we need a revolution is because it's the only way to ever get an English spelling reform done
You are wrong for six reasons:
English is an official language in 67 different countries. You will not successfully coordinate a revolution in 67 different countries.
The lack of an official English orthography is good, actually. Academie Francais-style attempts at language planning are cringe as hell, and often ineffective. They are not the product of sensible policy, they are the product of head-up-your-ass nationalism, and their decrees usually reflect that fact.
English spelling is fine. English orthography correctly predicts the sound of words in the vast majority of cases; where it fails, it's usually because a vowel isn't reduced quite enough. It's true that you can't really reverse pronunciation to get spelling, but in almost all orthographies there are multiple spellings to a single pronunciation.
Where English spelling is truly irregular, it's typically to preserve etymological transparency, which is actually a good thing in a writing system.
English orthography is complex, but it must be so: there are more phonemic consonants in English than there are consonant letters in the alphabet used to write it, and many more phonemic vowels than there are vowel letters. If this displeases you, take it up with the Romans and their shitty alphabet; it's not the fault of English.
English orthography is also conservative, but this is also a good thing: it means it's possible to read texts written in Early Modern English, and even in some forms of Middle English, with only moderate effort. If (for instance) we used a purely phonetic writing system, English of only 300 years ago would look very strange on the page, and English of 600 years ago would be nearly incomprehensible. As it stands, a fluent English speaker can read Shakespeare with only light editing, and can read Chaucer with the help of a few footnotes. That's pretty good for a phonetic script!
1K notes · View notes
wileycap · 2 months
Note
Hi! I really want to hear your opinion about Agni Kai in Atla LA and why it's bad thematically. Thank you!
Hi! I've never been asked anything before!
Alright, so - spoilers. Also, sorry that this is so long.
In the original, Zuko does not fight back, and that's so important. It's clear that the Fire Nation has great respect for hierarchy, whether it be elders, leaders or superior officers. Ozai is the ultimate hierarchical superior to Zuko: his father, his superior as a royal, and - of course - the leader of the entire nation.
In the Agni Kai, Ozai repeatedly orders Zuko to fight for his honor, and Zuko refuses. He remains prostrate, and reaffirms his respect for his father. In the context of this hierarchical culture, he is doing everything right in the face of an order that, to him, is the ultimate paradox. And that's what earns him his scar. A disfiguring, dishonoring brand.
He gets burned because he wants so badly to do everything right. He gets burned because he wants to show respect. He gets burned because, in a cultural context, he is behaving as he should. Because his father is cruel.
But it's not just that: it also serves as a shorthand to the audience that the Fire Nation under Ozai and his forefathers is wrong, to the point that Zuko, the dutiful son, literally cannot do right under that system. And you don't need to do a deep dive into what the culture is presented as to get that - it immediately strikes the audience with a profound sense of unfairness. It efficiently communicates that the Fire Nation is rotten, that the system itself has become corrupted and distorted.
And this sets up Zuko's entire arc. He did right, and he got punished. At the end of S2, he does wrong, and he gets rewarded, but the reward isn't fulfilling to him, because everything he could ever earn under that system is tainted and his experiences outside the system have shown him that, even if he can't accept it at first. And it's so narratively satisfying to watch him then defy his father, who tries to punish him again with lightning, only for him to now be able to literally turn it back (with Iroh's technique, Iroh being one of the few sources of unconditional love in his life!). He then redefines his relationship with Firebending itself, going back to the original source of it. He literally rids himself of the corruption of his nation.
It forms such a tight narrative arc, and it sets up so much about the Fire Nation with no need for explanation. Even his interactions with Iroh also tske on a new light: he's intentionally disrespecting his uncle - another elder and superior, as well as a father figure - and Iroh never punishes him for it. Ultimately, that unconditional love and support leads him to reform his nation.
In the Live Action, Ozai orders him to fight back, and he does. He even has a chance to strike Ozai, but doesn't, prompting Ozai to remark that "compassion is a weakness" before he burns Zuko. Which was never the point of Zuko's arc. It waters down his entire primary character conflict, because if his takeaway is that he lost a fight because he was too kind, then the only thing that needs to happen is for him to get some kind of narrative payoff by being kind. Wow, arc over. It becomes this surface level morality tale about how compassion isn't weakness.
In the LA, he also gets multiple chances to speak out at the war meeting. He questions the plan, the general and Ozai lay out actual, sensible reasons for why the plan has to proceed as it is, and then Zuko says that it's a terrible plan anyways. In the original, he speaks out once, and his words even make it clear that he's speaking out because the soldiers "love and defend our nation." His objection is the mildest possible form of objection: he isn't questioning the system, in fact, he's reinforcing it by appealing to the virtue of these soldiers. And he still gets punished.
With all that and Iroh explicitly calling out Ozai multiple times in the LA, we don't get the sense that the Fire Nation culture itself has been warped by imperialism. We just get the sense that the leader is a bad dude. And that's a far less powerful setup, and it will lead to a far less satisfying resolution.
It's an incredibly watered down version of the original, and lacks so much thematic weight.
432 notes · View notes
ironmyrmidon · 3 months
Text
I think necromancy wouldn't be outlawed in your typical wizards-are-common fantasy world. Not for moral reasons, but for economic reasons. I think most lords would be unable to resist the allure of having their peasants continue to plow their fields after death or having guards that never fall asleep or need to step away from their station. Your local baron probably already has a court wizard. They would probably command their court wizard to at least learn the fundamentals of necromancy.
Also, considering how many real world nobles pursued immortality, at least some of your wealthier nobles should be liches or ghosts. What king would choose to die and bequeath their kingdom to their squabbling failsons when they can just become a death knight?
From a religious angle, if ghosts are a real and observable phenomenon, then surely any sensible church would tell people that their soul goes to heaven while their body stays on earth. What kind of virtuous person wouldn't want their corpse to help provide for their children? In fact, don't you kind of have a moral obligation to leave behind your physical attachments when you ascend to the afterlife?
Adventure hook: kill the lich lord of this land, but only so that their son can claim the throne and enact some moderate necromantic reforms. No more ghosts, but of course your corpse is still the property of your liege lord.
574 notes · View notes
luxaofhesperides · 4 months
Note
For ghostlights: baby Ellie + tired Danny + Duke the baby whisperer?
He has no idea how his parents did it. 
Babies are exhausting. Toddlers more so. Any infants in the strange stage in-between? Doubly so. 
Ellie is wonderful and sweet and cute and such a terror that Danny genuinely has no idea how his parents managed to raise not one, but two kids. For all their eccentricities and absent-mindedness, he and Jazz turned out pretty well. Ignoring the whole halfa thing because that’s more his fault than theirs even if Jazz says they shouldn’t have created the dangerous environment in the first place.
That environment is exactly why Danny refuses to let Ellie go to his house in Amity Park. His parents say they’ve disabled all the weapons and ecto-sensors since he’s had to reveal himself as Phantom, but he knows that things slip their minds and if they can’t guarantee that the house is safe, then Ellie isn’t going in there. Simple as that. 
This means that they live somewhere else now. Danny had thought about it, during the hours Ellie was asleep and he was awake, exhausted and worn down to his bones, and took Jazz’s advice to accept Vlad’s offer of buying a house for him. Except he argued Vlad down to an apartment in a city of his choosing where he wouldn’t stand out too much and he would be safe, or as safe as he can be, from anyone trying to hunt down ghosts. 
So here they are. Standing in the empty living room of their new apartment in Gotham. 
Gotham may not be very safe as a city, but it’s good for two ghosts trying to pass as normal. 
Danny sighs yet again, and looks at the space he’ll need to fill. At least Vlad is footing the bill. It’s the least he can do for creating Ellie. Frostbite was the one who was able to stabilize her, though it was almost too late and resulted in her reforming as a baby, just one and a half years old. Jazz is the one who’s choosing most of the furniture, thankfully, so it’s something that Danny doesn’t need to worry about it.
It’s a new start to their lives and it feels so empty. So overwhelming. How did his parents do it? How do any parents do it?
Ellie smacks a small palm against his cheek and babbles lightly.
“I know, Ellie,” Danny says, giving her a tired smile. “Don’t worry, we’ll have this place looking good in no time.”
He adjusts her in his arms, then heads towards the bedroom. It’s the only room that has any furniture, and all that’s there is a bed, a crib, and a bookcase. There are a few boxes on the floor, labeled ‘bedroom’ and ‘clothing’ and ‘books’. Most of it came from his bedroom in Amity Park, but he’s pretty sure he caught Jazz sneaking a few things in before they closed the boxes and loaded them up into the car. 
“Can you be good for five minutes?” he asks Ellie. 
She babbles again and smacks his shoulder.
“I’m taking that as an agreement. Just let me open these boxes and start unpacking before you start causing trouble, okay?”
Ellie makes another sound, but it seems agreeable so Danny carefully lays her down in the crib and gets to peeling off the tape on the boxes. The opens the one labeled ‘bedroom’ first, finding blankets and sheets folded and stacked in vacuum sealed bags. One of them is his old childhood blanket, the one he carried around everywhere that was faded with age, barely blue, with white bunnies decorating it. 
He was so small when he had this. It makes him oddly emotional to unpack it and pass it on to Ellie, draping it over her so her pudgy little hands can grab at it. 
This is no time to cry, though! He forces himself to focus and makes his own bed, shaking out the sheets and fluffing up the pillows. He’ll worry about washing everything later; Vlad made sure to get an apartment with an in-unit washer and dryer, which means he was actually sensible while apartment hunting for Danny. 
He doesn’t mean to flop onto the bed once it’s made, but he ends up there anyways. He’s barely gotten a full six hours of uninterrupted sleep since Frostbite deemed Ellie healthy enough to leave his care. The drive up to Gotham was long and wore him down to his bones.
He doesn’t mean to fall asleep, but he does, drifting off as he wonders, distantly, when Jazz will be back from getting them dinner.
Ellie wakes him up at dawn with a loud cry. Danny jolts awake, heart pounding in his chest as he panics because Ellie isn’t here, she’s supposed to be in his arms, where is she? And then he sees the crib, where Ellie is staring at him through the bars, and he nearly collapses with relief. 
“Morning, El,” he says, voice rough from sleep, as he picks her up. She just stares up at him, then leans forward and rests her head against his shoulder.
It’s quiet moments like these that make his heart melt. Ellie’s had a hard life already; he wants to give her a better one, this time around. 
A quick check of the time on his nearly dead phone shows that it’s barely past six in the morning, and Jazz texted him a few times. All about furniture, saying that she didn’t want to wake them and that food is in the fridge. 
It’s only the mention of food that makes him realize how ravenous he’s feeling. Danny makes a beeline for the kitchen, ignoring everything else, and pulls out the boxes of take-out Jazz left stacked in the fridge. He devours it like he’s been starving for weeks, then gives Ellie her Ecto-Jello, the only food she’s allowed to eat until Frostbite gives the okay for solid, human food. 
Once he’s got her burped and cleaned up, Danny looks out of the kitchen and realizes that Jazz was very productive while he was asleep. The living room isn’t empty anymore; a dark green couch is against the wall, a low, rectangular coffee table made of dark wood in front of it. Two armchairs are on both sides of the couch, and a television has been installed, fixed into the wall. 
Jazz is asleep on the couch. Her legs hang off an armrest and she’s drooling slightly. 
Her phone is charging on the floor, so Danny takes it and snaps a picture of her for later teasing, then sends it to himself and writes a note to her that he’s going out with Ellie to explore the neighborhood.
He’s finally feeling more settled, energized from sleep and food.
In the warm dawn light spilling in through the windows, Danny looks down at Ellie and thinks that they’ll be just fine after all. 
. . .
Four months ago, Danny had hope. He was optimistic. 
Gotham was a fresh start, a new lease of life for Ellie. It is Danny’s attempt to be a single parent, sacrificing college for Ellie, and he’s planning to go out and beat the gangs black and blue if they start anymore shootouts in the next year.
He had just gotten Ellie to sleep. She was actually peacefully taking a nap.
And then a drive by shooter raced down the street, gunshots echoing down the road, and Ellie work up crying. She still hasn’t stopped, despite how Danny rocked her, soothing her as best he could.
They had been outside when Ellie fell asleep, her head on his shoulder. He had been catching up with Sam and Tucker when the car drove by, people ducking and crying out to avoid the bullets. Danny instinctively covered Ellie and made them both intangible, saving them from any stray bullets, but they ruined her nap and he needs to make them pay for that. 
“Shh,” he soothes, “You’re okay. We’re both fine. It’s okay, El, it’s okay.” 
Her little hands clutch at his back, twisting the fabric of his shirt, and she lets out a heartbreaking wail. He pats her back, hurrying down the street to get back to his apartment building, ignoring the looks people were giving them as they passed by. 
“I know it was scary, but you’re alright. You’re always safe with me, El.”
Ellie’s cries down down a little, but they don’t stop. She whimpers, burying her face against his shoulder as he finally reaches their apartment building.
The door’s locked, which wouldn’t be a problem except Danny can’t get his keys from his pocket. He knows he has them! But his pocket refuses to relinquish them and he has to stop every few seconds to pat Ellie’s back, trying in vain to calm her down. 
“We’ll be inside in a second,” he tells her, trying to keep the frustration out of his voice, “as soon as I can get these freaking keys!”
“Hey, you alright?”
Danny startles, whirling around so fast it makes Ellie go quiet, clinging to him so she doesn’t get flung into the air. There’s a guy standing before him in a gray hoodie, looking at him with clear concern. It speaks to Danny’s level of constant exhaustion that he hadn’t clocked someone sneaking up behind him. 
The guy offers an awkward smile. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you or anything. Um, do you need me to open to door? I live here too.”
Danny wonders for a moment if this someone dangerous, someone hoping to hurt Ellie, but she starts to cry again and he steps to the side. “Please. I can’t get my keys.”
“I’m Duke, by the way. I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before.”
“Danny,” he replies, watching as Duke pulls out a large key ring, jangling with the amount of keychains on it, and easily opens the door. “I’ve been here a few months, but I’m usually inside. Or walking around in the mornings with this little monster.”
“That would explain it,” Duke says as he holds the door open, letting Danny in first. “I’m usually in classes at GCU, but I decided to take a mental health day after my lab, so here I am.”
Danny walks in and waits for Duke to follow, making sure the door closes properly behind them. “Thanks. How is GCU? What do you study? I was thinking of going there myself once she gets a little older and can go to school.”
“Oh, I’m majoring in English and Human Services.” He goes to say more, but Ellie wails again and Danny winces.
“I’m so sorry. That drive by woke her up and it’s really rattled her.”
“Hey, no need to apologize. I get it, Gotham is rough to kids.”
Danny tries rocking her back and forth, but it doesn’t help. He resigns himself to another hour of her crying before she exhausts herself, and makes for the stairs, going up to the fourth floor. Duke holds open the door again, then follows after them. It makes Danny wonder if Duke is planning to do something to them, then decides he can beat Duke in a fight, so it’s fine.
Duke doesn’t try to hurt them or steal Ellie away. He opens the door to their floor and stops before they do. “I’m in here,” he says, “If you ever need me to open more doors.”
“Thanks. Um, actually, I might need help opening mine?”
Duke just smiles and makes his way back to them, following them farther into the hall until Danny stops in front of his apartment. 
“If I could just get my keys,” he starts.
“Here, let me hold her for a second so you can get them,” Duke offers. Danny wants to insist that it’s fine, but Ellie cries directly into his ear and Danny, at the end of his rope, passes her over. 
Like magic, Ellie settles as soon as she’s in Duke’s arms. She sniffles and hides her face away, clutching to Duke’s hoodie, but she stops crying. They both go still, surprised, and stare down at her. 
“Seriously?” Danny says as he finally pulls out his keys, “Are you trying to say that I’m the problem?”
Ellie babbles lightly, and Duke turns his head to futilely hide his grin.
He grumbles as he unlocks the door and pushes it open. Ellie is acting as if she’s never been upset before a day in her life, making herself at home in Duke’s arms. 
“I can’t believe this. Betrayed by my own blood.”
Duke laughs as he follows Danny into his apartment, lightly patting Ellie’s back. “It’s always the smallest, cutest ones that do this.”
“Yeah? Do you work with a lot of kids or something? Used to being betrayed by the little ones?”
“I don’t work with kids per se,” Duke says, “But my foster family is a hot mess and the youngest of them likes to keep us all on our toes.”
“Family,” Danny says in a tired, fond tone.
“Family,” Duke agrees.
With his door open and Ellie calm, Danny’s ready to just lay face down on the floor for the rest of the day and not deal with anything else. He moves to take Ellie back, holding his arms out, and Duke tries to pass her over.
The key word being tries. 
Ellie tightens her grip and kicks at Danny. She refuses to be taken away from Duke, making him awkwardly try to pry her off his hoodie. Danny really hopes Duke doesn’t notice how she goes slightly intangible to make his hands fall through her arms and legs. It shouldn’t be noticeable, but it’s hard to focus on anything but a kid that clings to you, so Danny holds out for Duke’s goodwill and silence.
“As nice as it is to meet you, you need to go back to your… parent?” Danny nods when Duke looks at him in askance. “You need to go back to your parent. Okay? Come on, kid, he’s waiting for you.”
Ellie shakes her head, makes a frustrated noise, and then turns and reaches out a grabby hand towards Danny. 
She still refuses to be taken from Duke when Danny tries to pick her up again, so he settles with just letting her hold two of his fingers. 
“I’m so sorry about this,” he says to Duke, face burning. This is why he hasn’t been going out and being social since he moved in; Ellie is a handful even on the best days, and Danny doesn’t want someone to judge him as unfit to parent her and have her taken away.
Duke shakes his head, stepping closer. “It’s all good, man. I don’t mind. It’s not like I had any plans today. I’m already skipping my classes, might as well spend it with you two than sleep all day.”
“Are you sure? I’d be happy to invite you in, but I know Ellie can be a lot and not everyone wants to spend their day off with a baby.”
“I’m sure. Besides, I’d just be down the hall anyways. It’s no skin off my back, man.”
“Well,” Danny says, stepping to the side to give Duke full access to his open doorway, “Come on in, then.”
Ellie keeps them connected, one hand in Duke’s hoodie and the other holding Danny’s fingers, and though her cheeks are still red from how hard she had been crying, she’s calm now with her eyes shining with mischief. 
As the door closes behind them, Danny realizes that this is the first time someone he’s not related to has been inside his apartment. Not even Vlad has come in, always choosing to invite Danny and Ellie out for lunch instead. 
It should make him nervous, but Duke is calm and easy going and kind. 
He’s making silly faces at Ellie to make her laugh, completely at ease with her in his arms, as if he’s done this a thousand times before. 
Gotham is a second chance at life for Ellie. It’s a sacrifice for Danny, to be alone and without friends or family around. He’d been ready to give up everything for Ellie, to focus solely on raising her, but with Duke filling his apartment with laughter, he thinks that he can make a life here too.
All he needs to do is take that first step, reach his hand out, ask Duke to stick around.
He can do this.
486 notes · View notes
mikelogan · 6 months
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
TAYLOR ALISON SWIFT is an American singer-songwriter recognized for her songwriting, musical versatility, artistic reinventions, and influence on the music industry.
Swift has been referred to as one of the greatest songwriters of all time by several publications. English-language scholars have noted that her literary and melodic sensibility and verbal writing style are rare amongst her peers. Swift divides her writing into three types: "quill lyrics," referring to songs rooted in antiquated poeticism; "fountain pen lyrics," based on modern and vivid storylines; and "glitter gel pen lyrics," which are lively and frivolous. Swift has influenced numerous music artists and her albums have inspired an entire generation of singer-songwriters. Journalists praise her ability to reform industry practices, noting how her actions changed streaming policies, prompted awareness of intellectual property in new musicians, and reshaped ticketing models. Senior artists such as Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Madonna, and Dolly Parton have praised her musicianship. Carole King regards Swift her "professional granddaughter" and thanked her for "carrying the torch forward." Springsteen called her a "tremendous" writer, while Ringo Starr and Billy Joel considered Swift the Beatles' successor. Britney Spears labeled Swift "the most iconic pop woman of our generation."
539 notes · View notes
random-brushstrokes · 2 months
Text
Tumblr media
Edward Robert Hughes - Bertuccio's Bride (1895)
The picture illustrates a story by Gian Francesco Straparola, a writer of whom little is known except that he was born in Caravaggio and died about 1557. Though credited with an early volume of poetry (1508), his most famous work is Le piacevole notte, a collection of novelle published in Venice 1550-3. In form this closely resembles Boccaccio's earlier and more familiar collection, the Decameron. Boccaccio's stories are told by a group of young men and women who have retreated to Fiesole to escape the plague-ridden city of Florence, Straparola's by a party which has gathered on the island of Murano during the Venetian carnival; they are led by Ottavino Maria Sforza, bishop-elect of Lodi, and include, among other notabilities, Pietro Bembo himself. The originality of the stories lies in the inclusion of many oriental folk tales and the use of animal fables - among them the famous tale of 'Puss in Boots', which Straparola seems to have invented. The stories are often rabelaisian, and many have priests as protagonists. This was considered offensive to Counter-Reformation sensibilities, and the book was placed on the Index in 1624. (source)
177 notes · View notes
liberalsarecool · 10 months
Text
Tumblr media
Sensible police reform. #BlackLivesMatter
776 notes · View notes
themalhambird · 11 months
Text
Thinking about how Jane Austen's six novels taken together (in writing order, not publication order) become an increasingly scathing criticism of social class, i.e:
Northanger Abbey: Individual members of the gentry (General Tilney, chiefly) come in for some criticism, but mostly on a personal level: General Tilney is a grasping, tyrannical father to be sure but we hear little (though we might easily infer) of what he is like as the resident landholder. The final crisis of the novel, General Tilney's refusal to sanction Henry and Catherine's marriage, is resolved by Eleanor's marriage to a Viscount.
Sense and Sensibility: The "correctness" and "elegance" of the fashionable members of society- the Dashwoods, Robert Ferras, Lady Middleton- are negatively contrasted to the warmness and frankness of Mrs Jennings- whose kind-heartedness makes her more attractive, in spite of her lower-class origins and perceived vulgarity, than Fanny, Lady Middleton or Mrs Ferras (snr).
Pride and Prejudice: The aristocratic Lady Catherine de Bourgh is an interfearing busy body whose title and money only excuse her officiousness and rudeness. Darcy's pride in his superior situation to the Bennets leads him to act wrongly with regard to Bingley and Jane. Aunt and Uncle Gardiner, in trade, are more respectable- certainly better parental figures- than the gentleman Mr Bennet (and Mrs Bennet too). At the same time - Darcy's strengths are displayed in his undertakings as the resident landholder of the Pemberly estates- he supports the poor, and his situation allows him to shield the more vulnerable when he his spurred to act (Georgiana, to a less successful extent Lydia). Wickham's circumstances - debt, etc- could easily be read as the consequences of his wanting to step out of his place- his desire to be the oldest, or at least the second, son of a Mr Darcy- rather than what he 'is'- the son of Mr. Darcy's steward
Mansfield Park: Hey. HEY. look at the shitshow of a baronetcy. Lady Bertram is functionally useless. Sir Thomas is such a bad father that his daughters marry idiots just to get away from him. Also, having money can't give you intelligence or a personality. Most of "fashionable society" are actually miserable and mercenary and also probably immoralistic. The Church is clouded by corruption and isn't actively benefiting the local parish the way it should. The whole thing is underpinned by slavery, and the hardworking Price Children are ultimatley more deserving than the flighty Bertram ones. THAT BEING SAID: the portrait of Mr. Price is hardly better than the one of Sir Thomas, and Mansfield Park does stabilise- indeed, begins grows stronger with the reformation of its heir, and the implication that Fanny and Edmund go on to have children of their own. There is less of a quarrel with establishment, and more of a quarrel with the people who fill it.
Emma: "Gentility is inherent one can sense it in a person-" no you can't lmao shut up. There is literally no inherent difference marking out a gentleman's daughter and a farmer's daughter. Emma's snobbery as to class leaves her, at various times, both isolated and into some *serious* missteps. Emma and Frank Churchill both have a tendency to treat others as playthings, as their money allows them to do so.
Persuasion: The peerage/nobility are patently ridiculous throw them out in favour of [relative] meritocracy and hard workers. Sure, the resident landowners are supposed to be of benefit to those beneath them but they're not, actually, they take all of the privileges and fulfil non of the responsibilities and are pretty much uniformly selfish and our heroine Casts Them Off.
496 notes · View notes
tanuki-kimono · 8 months
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Irezumi kei (tattoo penalty) as depicted in the [徳鄰厳秘録 - Tokuringenbiroku], a kind of penalty instruction book compiled in 1814, digitalized by the National Archives of Japan.
CW for this post about Edo period judiciary => mentions of physical punishment, torture, death penalty (text only, no details, no graphic illustrations) . The irezumikei pages above are p.19 to 25.
I won't reproduced the illustrations here, but the Tokuringenbiroku book also presents other Edo period "punishments" and death penalties, like different types of goumon (torture), gokumon (decapitation and exposure of the head to public view), kakei (stake), haritsuke (crucifixion), or tameshigiri (sword cut testing, here on executed convict corpse). Please proceed to the full book according to your sensibilities!
Back to irezumi kei : the markings of character Akaza (from Kimetsu no Yaiba/Demon's Slayer) are directly inspired by those, same for Mugen in Samurai Champloo for example:
Tumblr media
After Tokugawa Yoshimune's reforms abolished bloodier punishments (nose or ear cutting) for lesser crimes (like theft, gambling or fraud), irezumikei spread, inspired by Chinese bokkei practices.
Yet, zainin (lawbreakers) were also often beaten or whipped (tataki), which could be a "light" sentence or more far extreme one. Women tended to be imprisoned instead.
Punishment tattoos also often went alongside tokorobarai (banishment), which had several levels depending on the crime. You could be banished to a remote island, just away from your city, or forbidden to enter a certain perimeter.
Exile is why different areas had different marks, placed on the arms or faces, easily identifying the person as a criminal convicted in another region.
Number of lines or dots were often used to symbolize repeated offences (pic below source). Most of the times, getting 3+ irezumikei could grant you death penalty.
Tumblr media
Irezumikei maybe be why criminals came to use extravagant tattoos, as to cover their infamous marks, leading to the yakuza association with body ink.
Yet, other strata of population also favored figurative tattoos, so the link between criminals and tattoing in Edo period is not self-evident.
Some shapes of -sode (sleeve part of a tattoo) for example left arm interior bare, maybe to prove then that no armband tattoo was hidden underneath a bigger design.
305 notes · View notes
bonefall · 4 months
Note
so burdocks represent hard traditionalism, honeysuckle is regular traditionalism and thistles are thistle law.
Do you have set plants for Fire Alone/soft traditionalism bordering on Fire Alond
I hadn't, because the idea of using burdocks to represent cats like Mudclaw had only struck me so recently, and then it hit me. I know EXACTLY what flower represents Soft Traditionalists.
It's blackberry flowers. Bramble.
Tumblr media
It looks a lot like a completely white Forget-Me-Not, which is the flower of Fire Alone. Five petals for the five Clans.
Like honeysuckle, it grows in tangling, hardy bushes, preserving the old metaphor that "fighting makes the Clans strong"
But unlike a honeysuckle, it bares sought-after fruit and has protective thorns against outside threats.
Softer Traditionalists, like Heartstar and Tallstar in hindsight, will frequently use diplomacy and agree that rules of engagement are a sensible idea. They try to soften the violence of the battle culture and are open-minded to some reforms, but, they typically don't want to go much further.
And Bramblestar himself is pretty emblematic of that. At his WORST he's more of a perfectly mid-line Traditionalist, but at his best, he's here. He'll use diplomacy until it's just getting in the way, he feels like going any further with a compromise is just letting ThunderClan "get pushed around." Ultimately he still agrees that the 5 Clans should be separate, unless there's an outside threat they need to unite against. Like an invasion or a natural disaster.
He didn't have much of a problem with attacking the Sisters, after all. Regardless that his decision was heavily influenced by wanting to hurt Squirrelflight, he justified it to himself with his political feelings about "protecting the Clans."
In the modern era, the Clan's overton window has massively shifted towards Fire Alone. So Soft Traditionalists are really common, and "true" Traditionalists are what we'd consider right-leaning instead of JUST centrists.
To recap the flowers:
Thistle Law = Bull Thistle
Hard Traditionalism = Burdock
"True" Traditionalist = Honeysuckle
Soft Traditionalist = Blackberry/Bramble
Fire Alone = Forget-Me-Not
SkyClan's politics are different because of their unique origin, and they like to use leaves instead of flowers to represent themselves due to their relationship with oaks.
128 notes · View notes