Bernie Sanders finally made a statement, on Nov. 4, calling for a "pause" in the bombing. People in the replies are saying "better late than never!" and I don't even know where to start.
The genocide has been going on for almost a month. Over 9,000 men, women, and children have been murdered. Thousands more have been wounded. Members of press and healthcare and their families have been deliberately targeted and assassinated. Israel has been murdering civilians en masse with impunity for weeks, both lying about it and blatantly admitting to it. 100+ Palestinians have been murdered in the West Bank due to settler terrorism backed by the Israeli army.
In an interview, Dr. Ofer Cassif, the Knesset member who was suspended for calling for an end to Israeli violence against Palestinians, revealed that he'd reached out to Bernie months prior to Oct. 7th because of the pogroms being carried out by Israelis against Palestinians which he said would result with an "explosion [of violence]", but received no response.
what the fuck do you mean "better late than never". what the fuck do you mean? the genocide is still ongoing, and, just like Blinken, Biden, and every complicit ghoul, he's calling for a pause. not a ceasefire. a ceasefire is just the start of what needs to happen. but he hasn't even called for that.
"better late than never" what gives you the fucking right to say that? tell that to the 10,000 people who the U.S. and its allies allowed Israel to murder. tell that to the thousands of wounded. tell that to the thousands who have been displaced. tell that to the people of Gaza who have been without food, water, and fuel for WEEKS. tell that to the Palestinians in the West Bank who are being murdered at the hands of settler terrorists. tell that to the Palestinians who were abducted and tortured and released with blue bands around their ankles. tell that to the Palestinians in occupied Palestine who can't reach their families and friends. tell that to Palestinians in diaspora who have seen their families, their friends, their people slaughtered with the full backing and support of the vast majority of western governments and media.
"better late than never" no, it's not good enough. IT'S NOT. there are SO many people around the world - both citizens and members of government - who recognized the injustice for what it was the DAY the bombing started. we owe the Palestinian people so much more than that. "better late than never" the ONLY thing that could POSSIBLY begin to even "make up" for the horrors and injustices inflicted upon the Palestinian people for almost a century is to end the genocide, end the occupation, end the apartheid, end settler colonialism, and dismantle the colonial state. Palestinians deserve NO LESS than total emancipation. Complete liberation. until then, it is not and will never be enough.
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listen. i love el and i think she's a fascinating character. we all know this. i am very clear about this. but like. it really is SO crazy how she really came in and, like... fucked will's life up so fucking bad lmao. i know that it wasn't her fault, and i'm not saying it is, but that's just... such an excruciating writing choice.
it was a choice to have her be the one that opened the gate & essentially sliced will's life into an ugly before and after. it was a choice to have her replace him as mike's number one as soon as she came back into their lives. it was a choice to make her the party's mage and then "change" will from being their wizard to their cleric. it was a choice to make her his sister. it was a choice to purposely have her wear his clothes and have the same bangs. it was a choice to have her ignore him on mike's first day in lenora, despite the fact that he was mike's friend, too, and first. it was a choice to make her oblivious to his feelings.
it was a choice to make them love and genuinely care about each other. it was a choice to make her feel like a monster for everything that'd happened and kept happening. it was a choice to make will not resent her. it was a choice to make him support her enough that he's willing to uphold her lies to mike (!!!) of all people with his inaction.
it was a choice to have him spill his heart out to mike and gift him his painting all in her name. to have him be the one to unknowingly make mike finally say "i love you" to her in response to his confession. to have him realize too late that he's been needlessly pushing mike towards her this whole time.
it was a choice to place will right beside mike, his first ever friend and keeper of his heart, when he told el that his life started just as will's ended.
it was... a bold fucking choice to replace will with el in mike's eyes due to outside influence. it throws them into chaos and disarray because el and will are not interchangeable, and it shows in how...
mike seeks from el everything that will already gives him.
mike readily gives will everything that el begs him for.
el cannot read or understand mike in the innate, wordless, and familiar way that will does.
mike cannot be vulnerable with el, but he opens up to will without even needing to be asked.
mike always heeds, trusts, and listens to will, even when they're arguing or going through a rough patch.
mike always knows just how to mend things with will, because he knows exactly what he needs and he doesn't ever hesitate to do and give it. nor does he need anyone to help him with their conflicts either. he just knows.
el is always left waiting for him to do things for her that he's currently doing for will.
will visibly hates and feels uncomfortable lying to mike, but el can do it consistently with ease.
will is the one that loves mike how he truly wants (and needs) to be loved.
will hasn't been able to move on in full, because he was cast out of his own story and demoted to a supporting role behind the new lead.
el hasn't been able to find out who she really is, because she's been thrust into roles that were never meant for her to begin with. she has always been contorted into the shape of whatever others need or want her to be, but they don't fit because they aren't her.
and, like... there are so many things in this story, which is to say the show as a whole, that would not have happened had the men in el's life not done that. had they allowed her to just be, it's highly likely that the dominoes would've never fallen the way they have.
thankfully, the narrative is set up in such a way that it appears this disorder will rectify itself, but it's still so... upsetting to think about lol.
it all boils down to choices: who gets to make them, what choices they have, why they made those choices, and what happens after. that's all the show is: a series of choices, or a lack thereof, and their consequences with some monster mumbo-jumbo sprinkled on top.
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No ok I've had this rattling in my brain for fucking years now and I think it's high time I say something. I find it soooo absolutely delectable that dreams and sleeping are, accidentally, such prominent parts of hlvrai. Like, yeah, we all know "There's a world in your dreams Dr. Freeman, and I need you to take me there," but that's just the tip of the iceberg for me. Coomer realizes that everything around him is fake and that Gordon, the player, is the only actually real thing. When Gordon sleeps in the game, in actuality, he's taking off the headset and going about his day in the real world with real people. From Coomer's perspective, Gordon's reality is a dream, but from Gordon's pov, the modded game Half Life vr is a type of dream.
The way I see it is like if Alice in Wonderland took place where Alice knows she's dreaming and that everything is fake, but to the citizens of wonderland, it's all real, because that is the only thing they have ever known since they first began living (aka when Alice closed her eyes and began dreaming). Once Alice wakes up, the dream world ceases to be, but Alice continues on like nothing happened because that's what it was to her. Nothing.
What got me thinking about this is the it's all a dream trope, more specifically, Overly Sarcastic Production's video on it. Tldr, there are multiple avenues through which an author can do an it's all a dream plot, ranging from inconsequential one-off to the dream world may exist in its own way, but doesn't exist within reality. To Gordon, his adventures with the Science Team are the equivalent of a normal dream that turns sour once you and the people in your dream realize what's going on.
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Transcript:
Fia: Okay, I will help in whatever way I can. ["Irina" begins playing.] I can picture her very vividly still. I don't know whether it is true, or if I have made up a version of her, but she's still so strong in my mind.
Sienna: Do you sense her arrival?
Murph: Uh, and-- and looks at you, Fia.
Fia: Do I?
Murph: Um, and just then… you guys see a figure. Deep in the distance, in the maze of trees. ["Irina" begins playing. Fia gasps softly.] She's radiating with magical energy, surrounded by these swirling green sprites.
Fia: It just kind of flowed from her very effortlessly. In fact, when I knew her, I… ah, I did not have a spell to my name really. I-- I-- I was not magical at all. The most magical thing about me was her probably.
Murph: Yeah, Fia, you have this strong, strong memory of this magical girl that you grew up with in this very un-magical place. Just this burst of color in this grey world.
Murph: She wears a multicolored cloak that she's clearly made herself.
Murph: She has the looks of like, a bandit. Like, kind of like [Emily: Yeah.] patchwork clothes and things like that. [Emily: Yeah.] Of-- of like somebody who's like stolen armor.
Fia: Okay.
Henry: So it's gonna be like that.
Fia: This is gonna be a problem because I actually really like you, because you seem sweet, because you made your own clothing, so…
Emily: I am going to just…. ooh, I really don't wanna hurt her.
Murph: And, um, she's kind of looking around. It looks like she probably just plane shifted here, and is a little bit like-- she's like staring around in wonder. Because, you know, even as somebody who's inherently magical she probably hasn't been to groves before. Um, or if she has, they're still beautiful every time you go to one. So, she looks around.
Emily: Okay. I think I-- I take a moment to enjoy the pleasure of seeing her before she sees me.
Fia: She is like a pressed flower in my mind.
Murph: Yeah! You see uh, she smiles. She's got these, uh, little tusks that pop out, just like you Fia.
Emily: Does she still wear her hair long?
Fia: She loved honey cakes, but she would never finish one. She always gave the rest to the birds. Um, she had long silver hair that sometimes I would braid, but she didn't know how to braid her own hair. How funny is that! Sometimes I wonder, did you want me to braid your hair and that's why you never learned?
Murph: She still wears her hair very long. She's got, uh, her silver hair goes all the way down her back.
Fia: Okay-- ooh! Thank you. Silver is my favorite color. Yes, let's do this!
Emily: I think then I can't help myself. I say, like--
Fia: I'm glad you kept it long.
Murph: Um, you-- you-- you say--
Fia: It's such a beautiful color. There should be as much of it as possible.
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