#those are some fringe beliefs up there

[caffeineandsociety]

There's a specific genre of shitty antisemitic joke that I have seen fly under the radar (as it was designed to) a LOT more often lately - especially since Kanye started going full mask-off nazi - so I feel the need to issue a warning about it. Namely, the genre is jokes that get spread around by people who aren't willfully antisemitic because outside of conspiracy brain rot land, it appears that the point of the joke is absurdism.

As an example, let's examine the 23-and-me lizard DNA test that I've sadly seen floating around unquestioned.

Because, see, to the average person who isn't willfully antisemitic, this genre of joke comes off as nonsequiturs, or hilarious mistakes - you, as a person with some level of basic observational and critical thinking skills, living on Earth and not in whatever batshit mirror dimension conspiracy theorists think we live in, might very well end up getting a giggle out of it because, HAH, we KNEW those DNA ancestry kits were a scam! If you're not a deliberate antisemite but not really up on the dogwhistles, it doesn't scan as anything awful because you're put in mind of things like feeding a photo of something decidedly not human into that one selfie-to-anime neural net, which sometimes works and produces interesting results because the thing is looking for specific patterns and trying to make anything fit - not things like blatantly lying about doing something like that in the hopes that normies who see the absurdity and want to have a laugh at a scummy company's expense will pass it along to people who unironically believe that Jewish people are actual literal lizard aliens and the test proves it.

This is the same strategy that guy at the game awards pulled. You, a person living in reality where the main source of political corruption is just the basic consequence of an economic system that makes power pool in the hands of anyone willing to exploit enough people, a world of banal mundane evil, know damned well that QAnon-pizzagate-satanic ritual abuse cult conspiracy bullshit is, well, bullshit, if you're even familiar with the details of what they believe at all. When someone crashes the stage and thanks Rabbi Bill Clinton, you may very well laugh because to YOU it is a blatant absurd nonsequitur.

Problem is that to someone else, someone who's deep into that shit, it's either someone letting the truth slip, or someone backing the deep state into a corner - whichever is more convenient to believe.

This is one form of how the far right uses memeification (CW: the example discussed in the link is a rape "joke") - it means something totally different to the in-group than it does to the out-group. To you, it's funny because it's nonsensical; to them, it's fun because they think they're onto something huge and they're about to blow this shit wide open and it's going to be their great moment of triumph.

I cannot stress enough that no matter how absurd an antisemitic conspiracy theory sounds to you, there are people who believe it, unironically. There are people who unironically believe that Jewish people are very literally not human and no amount of evidence to the contrary will ever change their minds. There are people who believe that we're born with horns and tails and pointed ears and have them surgically altered to fit in with good Christian humans like some kind of extremely high-stakes game of Among Us. There are people who believe that we steal, ritualistically abuse, and kill Christian babies. These beliefs, while fringe enough that, yeah, most of you who this post is aimed at have never heard them in the wild before very recently, are not nearly as fringe as you probably think they are. Just look at fucking Kanye. This asshole has more fans than there are Jewish people in the world.

So I'm begging you to please, bare minimum, be careful of "absurdist" jokes about Jewish people, especially if they reference lizards, money, banking, or government power. Also, you may see Jewish people debating how religious laws may apply to fictional creatures, but outside of that context you should also be wary of any time Jewish people are mentioned in the same sentence as vampires, dragons, goblins, zombies, fantasy demons, or any number of other fantasy creatures known for greed, feeding on humans, or both.

If the reason it seems funny to you is because you'd have to be really stupid to believe it's true or makes any kind of sense - it's probably looking for you to spread it to people who are, in fact, that stupid.

#antisemitism #psa

[opencommunion]

Understanding the theory’s ascent from fringe forums to scientific journals to the halls of Congress helps clarify some of the moral panic and pernicious logic employed to restrict the autonomy and rights of trans people today. It also serves as a vivid example of how questionable science can be weaponized to achieve political goals.

A number of studies on trans youth have taken on “misinformational afterlives,” says TJ Billard, an assistant professor of communications at Northwestern University and executive director of the Center for Applied Transgender Studies. Among them are four papers published between 2008 and 2013 that have together been used to claim that most children “grow out” of gender dysphoria and opt not to transition. All have been shown to have numerous shortcomings. In some, nearly 40% of young people surveyed did not meet the criteria for the official gender dysphoria diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders edition used at the time. In two, researchers classified some subjects as having detransitioned—or reversed their transition—purely on the basis of whether a parent or third party said it happened. A 2018 study found that three of the papers labeled those who had stopped responding to researchers as detransitioners; and in one, a subject who identified as nonbinary was classified as detransitioning.

“There’s a wealth of bad science that is out there, and this science doesn’t stay in journals,” Billard says. Parents unfamiliar with trans issues, who don’t understand gender-affirming health care and don’t have the expertise to read the studies themselves, often fall under its sway.

... When Littman took up the question, she decided to survey parents, who she felt would be easier to reach than trans youths themselves. In her Methods section, she writes that “to maximize the chances of finding cases meeting eligibility criteria”—meaning youths who suddenly became gender dysphoric, according to their parents—she turned to three websites: 4thwavenow.com, a “community of people who question the medicalization of gender-­atypical youth”; transgendertrend.com, which says it’s concerned about “the unprecedented number of teenage girls suddenly self-identifying as ‘trans’”; and youthtranscriticalprofessionals.org, a now-private website that was “concerned about the current trend to quickly diagnose and affirm young people as transgender.”

The results were in line with what one might expect given those sources: 76.5% of parents surveyed “believed their child was incorrect in their belief of being transgender.” More than 85% said their child had increased their internet use and/or had trans friends before identifying as trans. The youths themselves had no say in the study, and there’s no telling if they had simply kept their parents in the dark for months or years before coming out. (Littman acknowledges that “parent-child conflict may also explain some of the findings.”) 

Arjee Restar, now an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington, didn’t mince words in her 2020 methodological critique of the paper. Restar noted that Littman chose to describe the “social and peer contagion” hypothesis in the consent document she shared with parents, opening the door for biases in who chose to respond to the survey and how they did so. She also highlighted that Littman asked parents to offer “diagnoses” of their child’s gender dysphoria, which they were unqualified to do without professional training.  It’s even possible that Littman’s data could contain multiple responses from the same parent .... But politics is blind to nuances in methodology. And the paper was quickly seized by those who were already pushing back against increasing acceptance of trans people. ... Many people who are citing Littman’s work probably haven’t even read the study or seen the correction, Billard says: “People are citing a Reddit post in which somebody invoked the idea of Littman and her research.” Littman agrees with this characterization. “It boggles my mind how people are comfortable holding forth on topics that they haven’t actually read papers [about],” she says. 

... Lawmakers in more than 25 states have introduced anti-trans bills during 2022 legislative sessions. Politicians writing such legislation have plenty of questionable studies, partisan doctors, and associations that lobby against transgender rights to draw on. Littman’s ROGD study is often a go-to. The Coalition for the Advancement & Application of Psychological Science wrote in 2021 that many of the “over 100 bills under consideration in legislative bodies across the country that seek to limit the rights of transgender adolescents” are “predicated on the unsupported claims advanced by ROGD.”

[it-happened-one-fic]

Nothing to Gain - Azul

Author Notes: I'm honestly not sure how I feel about this fic. Part of me really likes and another part of me.... Either way, I decided I might as well post it since I really didn't know what I wanted to post for this week. This fic was written while I listened to "Whataya Want From Me" by Adam Lambert which definitely affected the overall tone of this fic. As per usual, reader is gender neutral. I hope you enjoy!

Type: Gender-netural reader/ fluff/ some angst/ pining/ romance/ mentions of Octavinelle and Scarabia overblot so spoilers for those chapters

Word Count: 1820

There was something frightening about relying on others. It was something that Azul had noticed before and was the reason he preferred to surround himself with only the most reliable individuals. 

He could rely on them, and they could rely on him.

But his overblot had shaken him to his core. He’d questioned even his most basic beliefs about himself, and, to be honest, he still wasn’t entirely sure what to think of the events of that day.

However, neither Jade nor Floyd had changed their opinions of him or abandoned him after that day, as he’d feared they would. Instead, they remained by his side, as they always did. But there was a benefit to being there. Even after his overblot, Azul was still housewarden and had a say in how the Octavinelle dorm was run.

There might be some cost, but the benefit was great enough that the twins stayed, and Azul was comfortable with that. He understood it. 

What he didn’t understand was you. 

You stood nothing to gain by being kind to him and supporting him. If you were a normal person, you would either attempt to blackmail him or avoid him. Only allowing enough interaction to show how much you detested him for what he’d put you through.

But you apparently weren’t a normal person. Because you stayed by him and helped him through the aftermath of the overblot. 

Soothing the fleeing students whom he’d robbed of their spells and talents. Assuring them that all was well and such a thing wouldn’t occur again. Reminding them what a good, competent housewarden he was.

It hadn’t been easy, and it had taken you, Jade, Floyd, and Azul all working together to cover up everything that had happened and finally put his overblot to rest. And the entire time you were there, it made him nervous.

But at least after it was done, you would leave. That only made sense. There was no reason for you to stay past that point.

Azul had surmised that you must just be one of those people who liked to see their work done. Sort of like Jack, who’d been with you since the very start, even though he quite obviously had a distaste for both Azul and the tweels.

And, as expected, Jack left as soon as everything was settled. He had no further business with Octavinelle, and all was well on that front. But you didn’t leave.

Rather, you kept appearing in the very fringes of Azul’s vision. Smiling and offering a wave that was always returned by at least one of the tweels, as Azul found himself faltering.

Why were you still here? There was nothing to gain.

By the time winter break had come, he’d come up with a new plan and explanation for your strange behavior. You were always around because you wanted remuneration for your services. That made sense.

Having the tweels offer you a place to stay over winter break with an ever-benevolent warning about the fee was easy enough. An offer for your payment that wasn’t grounded in worry for the fact you were staying in the most run-down building on campus, no matter what Floyd said.

But you hadn’t accepted, and Azul was lost once more. You’d turned the offer down with a fond smile, joking that you didn’t want a bill like the one his offer would mean hanging over your head.

But that was that. Azul was sure he wouldn’t hear anything from you, at least until the next school year had begun. And by then, he would surely have figured out what it was that you wanted.

But he did hear from you. You’d quite literally crashed into the Mostro Lounge, landing in a heap on the ground. Covered in sand and trembling in fear as you’d looked up at the horde of angry Scarabia students that had come to collect you.

And Azul repaid you right then and there. He’d shielded you from those who’d sought you out and handled that matter promptly. 

It wasn’t as if there had been no reward for his actions after all. He’d assured himself that this was all just to get information on how, exactly, you’d managed to upset the students of Scarabia.

And that had led to another debacle, not entirely unlike what had happened to him. Jamil’s overblot.

Despite what Jade and Floyd may have teasingly suggested, Azul knew he’d only assisted you to give himself an in to winning over Jamil. And as for you spending the night safely in Octavinelle under his and the tweels protection for free one night…. That was just another part of his plan. Nothing odd at all.

By the end of the winter break, he’d repaid you, now had a perfectly good excuse to seek Jamil out for conversation, and everything was as it should be.

Or rather, it should have been.

Some part of Azul had seemed to grow cold when he’d seen you run into Ace and Deuce’s arms just after the Scarabia overblot, though. Perfectly happy to leave him behind in favor of your two friends.

And now Azul was having to question himself. Why did that upset him? He’d wanted you gone and handled because there had been no reason for you to be around him. Your lingering had made no sense, and his moroseness was equally ridiculous.

…. Right? Azul wasn’t expecting much as the next term started. He was fully prepared to go back to the way things were. With you hardly ever noticing his presence, while he would do his very best to ignore yours.

But he didn’t have to ignore you. Because as soon as he saw you in the hallway, you were turning to look his way. A smile on your face and a hand raised in cheerful greeting.

And suddenly Azul was frightened. What did you want? Why did you seem so happy to see him when you had your friends right by your side?

There was no benefit to staying near him, and you had seen him at his weakest, lowest, and most vile. So shouldn’t you want to have nothing to do with him?

He’d overblotted and attacked not only you but your friends. There was no reason to look so happy in this instance.

In his confusion, Azul found himself walking towards you quickly. Stopping as you looked at him with a slightly startled expression.

“Angelfish, if we might talk,” He started before glancing at both of the young men who flanked you with confused expressions that matched yours, save the wariness in their eyes. 

“Alone,” He finished a little more firmly than he’d intended, but if you noticed, you didn’t react.

Instead, you just nodded, a slightly uncertain smile appearing on your face as you responded, “Okay.” 

You waved off your two obviously concerned friends and followed Azul without a single concern. Only confusion.

Like you really did trust him. Like you really weren’t concerned in the slightest by his reputation or the things you knew that he did.

As if his past actions didn’t bother you and you weren’t the slightest bit upset by how he’d attempted to shoo you away with paltry offerings.

And it frightened Azul. He didn’t know what you wanted, and he didn’t know what he wanted. 

It was only once he was sure it was only the two of you that he turned to face you once more. Dropping any facade he had of confidence the very moment his eyes met yours.

“What do you want from me?” His voice quivered slightly, but he stood firm as you looked at him with utter confusion.

But then, as if you saw something in the depths of his pale blue eyes, your expression shifted to one of concern for him, and you stepped closer. Your voice dropping to a whisper that was perfectly filled with loving worry and that only made Azul feel more lost than he had before, “Azul? What do you mean?”

Azul had lived the entire first part of his life in the very deepest part of the ocean, but he knew that in this moment he was well beyond his depth.

Because suddenly all Azul could really think was that he didn’t want to let you down. Not when, as your simplistic question had just evidenced, you’d never been with him for any ulterior motive.

No, you stayed for a reason that Azul himself was only just now beginning to understand. You stayed because you cared for Azul, and that was enough.

And, looking back, Azul knew all those things he’d done in the past…. Offering you a room in Octavinelle for a fee only to waive that fee the very moment you’d appeared in front of him, frightened and covered in sand…. All of that had been him not wanting you to come to harm. 

Because even after seeing him at his most shameful, you hadn’t judged him as weak, untalented, or anything less. Instead, you looked at him like he had just as much worth as anyone else here.

And you genuinely cared for him. In your own way, you’d been supporting him ever since then, as he leaned on you without even realizing it.

Knowing all of that now, it felt wrong to ask you what you wanted. Because was it really you that wanted something, or was it him?

You continued to look at him, worriedly searching his eyes for an answer as one of your hands reached up to cup his cheek, “Azul?” Your voice was so soft, and it nearly broke him as he realized exactly how wonderful you were and how it didn’t make any sense for you to be here with him when he was so perfectly broken.

But he inhaled, a smile working its way onto his face as he let his hand cover your own, “I’m sorry, Angelfish. I… Just don’t give up on me yet.”

Your eyes widened as his hand wrapped around yours and pulled it from his face before squeezing it lightly, “I’m having to work all of this out and…”

He trailed off, faltering as he searched for words, but you only smiled. Shaking your head slightly before you responded, “No, I understand. You need time, and what happened to you… It messed you up.”

Azul nodded, half-touched that you could still be so understanding despite the confusing circumstances he’d put you in, and half-disappointed in himself.

Because he could only hope that you would keep appearing in peripheral vision and helping him get through the difficult days.

And he would do his best. He was slowly coming to understand what it was to care for someone without a cost-benefit relationship. And even if he didn’t know exactly what he wanted from you, he would with time, and he would repay you tenfold for everything you’d given him.

#Twisted wonderland imagines #briarvalleyarchives #Azul x reader #azul ashengrotto #Twisted wonderland #Twisted wonderland x reader #gender neutral reader #potential spoilers for octavinelle and scarabia #Octavinelle #mentions of overblots #Azul x you #Azul x y/n #twst #Twisted wonderland x y/n #Twisted wonderland x you #fluff #romance #pining #some angst #mywritings #it-happened-one-fic #twst x reader #twst x you #twst x y/n #Disney TW #Disney fanfiction #fanfic #fanfiction #fic

[moon-pepper]

I'm pretty firmly of the opinion that understanding history is necessary to prevent the worst parts of it from repeating, so I spend a lot of my free time trying to learn about things like colonialism, slavery, genocide -- and it worries me to no end to see how much the majority of people don't seem to understand even about events everyone is familiar with. I used to be baffled that anyone could genuinely believe slavery was "just how things were back then", but it makes sense when you realize that most history lessons only deal with what the people in power decided to do; public outrage about a particular action only matters in the historical context if that outrage led to actual mass revolution. Even before we get to the layers of whitewashing and propaganda constantly applied to history, there's an innate bias toward treating major political movements as though they just appear and disappear entirely at random. Which leads me to wonder...

Do fellow gentiles realize that the Nazis weren't new?

What I mean is that most coverage I see of the Nazi ascension to power in Germany presents them as this new, fringe group that came to power out of nowhere through solely violent means. Sometimes there will be explicit mention of the fact that antisemitism was extremely prevalent throughout Germany (occasionally even the rest of Europe!) prior to Hitler's political campaign, but oftentimes it seems implicit that mass antisemitism in Germany began when the NSDAP first formed. Even when the prior existence of antisemitism is brought up, the Nazis are portrayed as a new, unique evil; they did things that no democratic society would ever dream of doing, things that could only be achieved by either completely hiding them from the public or by threatening anyone who spoke against them. "Nazi" is simultaneously an easy epithet for any excessively cruel or restrictive person and a label that is far too severe to seriously apply to anyone because the Nazis were so evil in a way that nobody else was that nobody is truly deserving of comparison.

The thing is, though, that the policies put into place by the Nazi government in order to enable their genocidal end goal weren't original. Even setting aside the fact that they're often viewed as the inventors of genocide despite Hitler openly admitting that he got the idea from the treatment of Indigenous peoples by the U.S.A. (highly recommend watching this BadEmpanada video to learn about that), very few of the Nazis' beliefs or actions were original to the Nazis. The conspiratorial, racially-puristic ideas that the Nazis touted were derived from contemporary conservative thinkers all across the West, and many of the antisemitic legal policies they implemented as part of their Final Solution were practices that had been standard throughout Europe for centuries prior.

The infamous yellow-star badges used to identify Jewish citizens? Those were first devised and enforced the region (by both Christian and Muslim rulers) at least as early as the 800s; it was 1215 when Pope Innocent III declared that all Jewish and Muslim people living in Catholic lands should be required to wear identifying clothing with the explicit goal of segregating them from Christians. The Nazi ghettos to which Jewish citizens were forcibly relocated were inspired by ghettos which had existed to segregate and isolate Jewish populations for centuries; the only real difference is that these new ghettos were just preludes to concentration camps rather than being meant for long-term habitation. Just about every part of Western society had some form of restriction (mandated or voluntary) banning Jewish people from occupying certain jobs or limiting their presence in universities going back centuries before the Nazis existed. There were more than 350 years where Jewish people were not legally permitted to live in England.

The reason I bring all of this up is because, even among people who are conscious of Europe's widespread antisemitism prior to the rise of Nazism, there's a strong notion that the Nazis were so detestable because they came out of nowhere; that they completely defied the norms of the day and took their antisemitism to a level that even the deeply antisemitic societies of past Europe never would have.

In reality, the Nazis weren't much of an escalation -- they were a return. Legal segregation, expulsion, and even slaughter of Jewish people really only began to end when the Enlightenment came and public sentiment in the West began to favor secular government. The first country to abolish legal restrictions on Jewish people was Revolutionary France in the 1790s. Russia maintained its restrictions on Jewish citizens' rights up until it also saw revolution in 1917. The idea that Jewish people were responsible for all of society's ills and needed to be subjugated and exterminated was not a new idea that took hold of Germany due to its economic suffering after World War 1; it was a very old, very popular idea that most of Europe had only just begun to abandon and which was brought back in full force the moment it became politically convenient.

Consider how this compares to present-day politics. Jewish Germans were only granted equal rights in 1871 -- Adolf Hitler's father and mother were 34 and 11 years old, respectively -- and when the Nazi Party formed only 49 years later, the majority of adult Germans would have grown up in or been raised by parents who grew up in a world before religious desegregation. The Nazi Party's promise to the German public was not to introduce a newly bigoted society, but to bring back the bigotry they had grown up with and ensure that it would never leave again; they succeeded by using Germany's post-war suffering to "prove" their society was declining and blaming that decline on a recent major societal change, thereby convincing Christian Germans who were still deeply antisemitic that you see? we let the Jews have rights and not even fifty years later everything is awful. Many Germans did not need to be lied to or forced into supporting the Nazis because, to them, the Nazis were just fighting to revive the "Good Old Days" of their youths.

As a political party, the Nazis were functionally identical to all of the modern-day pundits eagerly proclaiming that racial equality and LGBT equality and religious diversity and welfare policies are destroying the country. Any period of significant economic downturn, any large cultural shift, any major catastrophe no matter the cause is automatically the decline of Western Society to them -- and the blame for that decline is always placed on the most relevant pro-equality social movements. What makes the Nazis unique is not their goals or the beliefs that fueled them; what makes the Nazis unique is that they're the latest and largest example of a group like them gaining power and then rapidly losing that power, which makes them simultaneously martyr idols for subsequent fascists and sacrificial vessels through which liberals can pretend the world's evils were expunged.

Any major shift in favor of granting rights to the oppressed inevitably stirs up a proportional conservative backlash with the effort of reversing course -- not just by revoking those new rights, but by making the previous inequality worse so that it becomes harder to undo again. If we care about ensuring an equitable future, it is vital to understand that the fight for that future does not end with a law being passed. It ends only when equality for all is so well-established as a social norm that there is no way to benefit from pushing for its destruction. Do not get complacent.

#pepperpost #antisemitism #long post #disclaimer that i am not a historical expert and this is not intended as a professional essay. it's pretty surface-level t.b.h. #second disclaimer that this is not meant as doomsaying. i believe people are good by default #anyway. spent way too long typing all this out mostly to try and mull over my own recent thoughts on this subject #hopefully it's coherent to anyone else

[interstellarsystem]

Endogenic Systems and Experiences in the Neurodivergent Community

We tend to stay mostly on the fringes of syscourse nowadays without directly interacting with it too often but I'm going to post this more broadly and less focused on our specific instance of this because community-wise I think it's important to talk about.

Endogenic and other non-traumagenic systems are so commonly excluded from so many neurodivergent-safe spaces where they would otherwise be able to gain knowledge about the disorders they might have, share experiences and coping strategies with peers, or at least have a sense of community that is so commonly valuable to disabled and/or neurodivergent people. In a lot of cases, even people who only support non-traumagenic systems get shoved out.

[Continued under the readmore as it's long.]

This obviously harms non-traumagenic systems, but I have to point out that when people sit there and say "we care about REAL disabled people!", I have to say.... Do you? Because if you did care about those with mental illness, physical disability or neurodivergence, you in my mind wouldn't exclude them based on something unrelated to the topic itself which might even be something as small as holding an opinion that other people get to be the judge of their own experiences. You can say that you care about "real" disabled people, but what about when a traumagenic DID system also has a tulpa that they consider just as valid and real as their alters? What about when a system labels themselves as quoigenic because in reality, you owe no one the knowledge that you are vulnerable and traumatised? What about when a system starts out as endogenic but gains so much trauma later on that they develop dissociative symptoms?

We're quoigenic because while yes we are diagnosed with DID:

DID does not have trauma in the diagnostic criteria so our diagnosis doesn't mean anything by way of origin. Nontraumagenic is not the same as nondisordered the same way that traumagenic isn't the same as disordered.

We cannot remember a time before we were plural so we cannot say with accuracy what our actual origin was.

We have headmates we consider to be from both traumagenic and endogenic origins and it feels unfair to pick one.

We don't owe anyone a quick little "hey, we have trauma!" flag on our pinned post which can easily paint us as a target. This is the exact reason we don't share our triggers online--it's not safe.

You don't owe anyone personal medical information including your diagnostic history, your trauma history or lack thereof, your current medications or how many times you've been in a hospital. That is your business and yours alone to decide who you share it with. It's downright dangerous to share some of it, especially so publically. So who is anyone online that clearly isn't your specific medical practitioner to decide whether your experiences are real enough to allow you into spaces meant for a usually completely unrelated thing? Why would someone holding the opinion that endogenic systems get to decide what labels they use be denied access to spaces just because they support people with differing beliefs and/or experiences?

If we as a system with multiple disabilities want to go into a space for people who are schizoaffective because we need others who won't immediately jump on the ableism train when discussing something we're diagnosed with that has so much stigma, should we be denied that just because we don't label our origin with a clear-cut "we are traumatized!!" label? Should we be denied access to spaces because we don't want to sit around and smile while parts of our system and other members of our community are called fake and evil and whatever else they come up with? It's so common in spaces for people with disabilities to be exclusive to traumagenic systems and people with an anti-endogenic mindset that people don't realise they're not only hurting the endogenic community, but literal chunks of their own community itself.

I can't even begin to understand the reason why.

Endogenic systems by just existing do not cause harm. They're not like a transphobe you would not be safe around by default of having a label. Not every nontraumagenic system is a saint but if you took any communtiy and called everyone in it the equivalent of an unproblematic holy angel, you'd be lying. People are bad in every community, some worse than others, but the nontraumagenic system community literally just wants to exist--and yes, sometimes a nontraumagenic system (or supporter of such) does have dissociative symptoms, or maybe they have autism, or maybe they're physically disabled. Should they be not allowed access just because of the way they chose to label their system, or their opinion of people picking their own labels for their personal identity?

What exactly is the reason they're so excluded everywhere? I'd try to assume that this level of exclusion (to the point of endos being on DNIs next to transphobes and racists) would mean there's some real harm being done on a community-wide scale, but even when looking for it there isn't any explanation we've been able to find. "They're fake" is all we seem to see which has no actual backing whatsoever. "They're harmful" is another but.. How? We might be looking in the wrong places, but we have never seen an actual explanation for how nontraumagenic systems cause harm as a community just by being themselves.

At this point, I have to wonder how many people who say "we care about real disabled people!" are just covering up their "we care about socially acceptable disabled people who I understand and/or do not find cringey" sentiment instead. Being neurodivergent should never be about fitting into tight little boxes--it's part of the whole point of having a community like this. You're not the majority, and that's okay. So why are we dividing the disabled community into boxes too?

Of course, this doesn't only apply to ND spaces. LGBT+ spaces are similar and even more divided from the concept of being a system that it makes even less sense to block nontraumagenic systems from entering the space. How does their system origin relate to their LGBT+ identity? Sometimes it can, but should a trans person be excluded from a trans space because they have a friend who is an endogenic system and they support them fully?

Overall, the main point is that it makes no sense whatsoever to be anti-endo in general, let alone so violently anti-endogenic system to the point where you hurt members of your own community due to it. Sometimes from something as simple as them supporting endogenics alone. Your safe spaces aren't actually safe if you exclude a nonharmful group who also belong in that space due to having a personal identity or opinion different to yours. If you want somewhere to be a safe, inclusive space, it should include everyone as long as letting those people in won't cause harm. People who are seeking to cause harm (racists, transphobes, etc) obviously do not belong in a safe space because they seek to harm others, thus making the space unsafe. But people who just want to be themselves without harming anyone should be included in your space if they fall under whatever it may be topic-wise. Even the "cringey" ones. Even the ones who don't quite make sense to you or have "contradicting" labels. Even the ones who use labels completely differently to the way you do. And even the ones who are uninformed or misinformed but trying their best to learn. Your safe space is not safe if it excludes those who do not follow your every single mindset and thought without any deviation.

#reiterating that traumagenic and disordered are not synonyms and that you can be disordered and endogenic too by the way #important note here #plural #actuallyplural #plural system #plurality #endo safe #pro endo #system #alterhuman #didosdd #actually did #syscourse #actually endogenic #endogenic #disabled #quoigenic #did system #did osdd #neurodivergent #did #disability #op #mystery (they/it) #tw #tw: syscourse #tw: ableism #everything althu #althu experiences #everything plural

[leviathan-supersystem]

you know, in the abstract, i think there can, and have, been decent arguments for deontological morality. i don't quite find myself convinced by those arguments personally, but some of those arguments are actually decently well-constructed and coherent. Kant gets a lot of shit, but like, "I ought never to act except in such a way that I could also will that my maxim should become a universal law,” while a pretty flawed and incomplete concept, isn't terrible. like i can see the logic of it, and a community where that was the guiding principle everyone was attempting to follow would probably function at least somewhat adequately.

but like, in practice, outside of the context of philosophy wank, when i encounter deontological moral arguments in the wild, it's always the most mindless thought-terminating shit imaginable. like this:

and to be clear this is extremely standard for libertarians, a vast number of them hold as their core deontological moral belief that it is never under any circumstances acceptable to have taxes, and while they may sometimes make arguments that hinge on the supposed utilitarian benefits of a libertarian ethos, this is mostly a show put on for outsiders. the bulk of libertarians and similar (ancaps, objectivists, etc) believe as this guy does that even in situations where following the libertarian ethos would lead to certain disaster, we are nonetheless bound to do so anyways. Because.

similarly from antiworksters- the whole thing hinges on the core deontological rule of "it is always bad to incentivize labor in any way whatsoever" and when you point out that if this were to be implimented on any kind of large scale, it would make it more likely that disabled people who require labor to care for them would be left to die in the absence of incentives to ensure that the labor to care for them is performed, instead of acting like a reasonable person and going "oh jeez! that's a massive oversight in our ethical framework, we should revise our framework to better account for that, perhaps jettison the 'never incentivize labor' rule since it's apparently deeply flawed" instead they either dodge the question or go "it doesn't matter if paraplegic people end up being left to die as a result of antiwork principles being implemented, the "never incentivize labor" rule can never be broken! Because."

and it's like. why not. like you guys realize you made these rules up. if following this moral code ends up bringing disaster or leaving disabled people to die you can just. not do that. no one is forcing you to follow this poorly thought out ethical code. quite the opposite in fact, since both anarcho-capitalism and anti-work anarchism are fringe ideologies at odds with how the vast majority of contemporary societies function.

and in both cases it's so obvious that the ideologies in question fundamentally hinge on a knee-jerk emotional reaction of not wanting to work/pay taxes, and then just deciding that actually, the very universe itself agrees with you that you should never ever have to work or pay taxes, and therefore the world should have to bend to your- sorry i mean the universe's will, even if society crumbles to dust as a result. fundamentally juvenile.

[angelsdean]

Hot take: between Sam and Dean, Sam is the one more at risk of being Republican.

(Maybe he had been at Stanford but, please, the whole Secession War episode. How people are forgetting their two very different reactions at Confederacy?)

hot take: this isn't a hot take dsjfkdsfk. idk if i'd go as far as say republican. but sam def leans toward some brand of conservative liberal. people use stanford to back up the fact that he's a little liberal college boy but imo stanford is what gave him some of these whacky conservative ideas. he drank a bit of the ivy league rich kid kool-aid to fit in at stanford imo. s1 sam and his judgement and opinions toward dean abt how he makes money is not a cute look. esp since he grew up dirt poor alongside dean !! he teases dean abt wanting to use a free bbq to scope out leads for their case in 1x08 and like yea, sibling teasing, but there's def judgement in his tone re: the free food part. like dude !! you were food insecure throughout your whole childhood !! but dean of course bore the brunt of that trauma, made sure sam didn't realize how bad it was. so, to be fair to sam, i think some of these conservative judgements and beliefs stem from sam just being a bit oblivious, ignorant, and unaware.

HOWEVER, yea he's had some questionable things to say on other topics, like you said his attitude re: the civil war and reducing it to a fight between brothers or some shit and trying to be respectful toward the confederate soldier ???? meanwhile dean was like very vocally FUCK THAT. we won. etc etc. also sam in folsom prison blues when dean was like "innocent people are in danger" re: the ghost and sam was like "we're in a prison i wouldn't call these people innocent" like..........this guy was gonna be a lawyer! (yea tax law, but still, you know what i mean). not everyone in prison is guilty !! and even still, they're not ghost bait.

anyways yea, dean (esp in the early seasons) represents the acab fuck authority working class Othered communities living on the fringes of society while sam is coming out of being very much Part of Society and cosplaying as Upper Class and operating with a very ridged view of morality, right and wrong, little room for shades of grey, which is what most of reality consists of (this is the guy who suddenly wanted to become catholic after zero religious upbringing ! like my dude. what) and he's slowly trying to untangle himself from those beliefs that he absorbed during his pretending-to-be-a-normal-guy years. but yea if i had to choose a brother to end up republican it would Not be dean !!!!!!

#i went to catholic school for 10 yrs my guy. you don't want to be catholic #replies

[shepherds-of-haven]

So it’s established that there is widespread bigotry among Norms against the Diminished but I wondered if there is also any discrimination among the different Diminished groups e.g. Elves against Hunters or Mages etc.? Or do they generally share a solidarity born of shared persecution under the Autarchy?

Good question! Prior to the Castigation, there was more discrimination between different Diminished groups, though they were also much more insular and kept to themselves, so it wasn't like they were all living together in Haven and an Elf would look at a Ket and call them like a dirty barbarian, they just... privately held those beliefs about the other groups among themselves, without coming into contact with the others very much, if that makes any sense? Like the everyday Elven citizen of Sylfaen might go several decades without ever coming into contact with a Ket, so while at dinner in Sylfaen, there might be an offhand remark like "Did you hear the Ket are warring among themselves up in the North again? That's what comes of their barbaric culture"; but that was just a belief they had that went unchallenged because they didn't actually interact with any Ket, and it was the same for many other groups in the Continent. But it wasn't like a Ket would walk into a shop and the Elven shopkeeper would turn them out on the basis of their being a Ket, if that makes any sense. Basically it was relegated to stereotyping and private disdain, not much outright race-based conflict or active discrimination.

In those days, the Elves pretty much looked down everybody who weren't Elves and kept to themselves, and the Hunters did the same; they didn't really have any personal quarrel with any other group and were more focused on demon-hunting, but they were by no means friendly or staunch allies, either. However, the Mages and the Ket had MAD beef with each other in certain regions, and that probably was where the most discrimination came into play. The Ket thought of Mages as weak, sickly, out-of-touch scholars who obsessively dabbled with dark arts, and the Mages thought the Ket were cruel, brutal, barbaric invaders bordering on psychopaths, and they were constantly at war with each other as well as within their own groups. So on and off throughout history, Mages couldn't enter Ket city-states or Ket-controlled territories and Ket couldn't do the same with them, though there were also periods of peace and generations where those vendettas weren't being actively held (usually because the Ket were busy fighting each other and the Mages were fighting the Elves, or sometimes they were allied and fighting the Norms, or what have you; obviously it's a long, complex, rich history)!

Nowadays, however, all of that has been forgotten in the two hundred years since the Castigation, and the Diminished groups have been rallied under the banner of the "Diminished" versus the Norms, so thoroughly that there isn't really any discrimination between them! Some obviously still keep to themselves, like the Hunters of the Reach are kind of like "fuck all y'all and the whole outside world, you can deal with the demons yourselves" but it's not a targeted discrimination, just an indifference to anything beyond the preservation of their own people. But most of the time, empathy and understanding of their shared and mutual position and oppression allows most Diminished to feel a kindred spirit to each other, regardless of their specific race. There may be some criticism from fringe groups here and there (like Ket rebels may feel that the Mages who work in factories in Capra might have bent the knee too easily to the Autarchy, as expected of a culture that didn't prize warrior spirit, etc.), but these attitudes are pretty rare and don't result in outright discrimination or action. Hope that makes sense!

#Shepherds of Haven #worldbuilding #races

[voraciousvore]

The Giant (6/16)

***Contains mouthplay and sex! 18+ only!***

------Chapter 6------

When we got back to Chester's house, he started to prepare dinner early, since he told me it would take a while to cook. As I sat on the counter watching his every move, I noticed how skilled he was with a knife as he chopped and peeled some giant carrots. I had to admit he was a talented cook. The food he had prepared for me always tasted amazing. I supposed such a characteristic was in line with his gluttonous inclination. I wondered to myself, with a twinge of anxiety, if he would want to eat me tonight. Although I wasn't as afraid of him as I had been before, the prospect of being inside his gigantic maw again still made me nervous. I was uncomfortably reminded that he was still a predator, and I was still his prey.

I pushed those feelings to the side and tried to keep myself composed. The giant mixed all his food ingredients together in a big pot and left it to simmer on the stovetop. He grasped me in his hand and went to his study to write. I watched him type for a while and wandered the desk again until I got bored.

"Chester?" I asked. "Can you open up one of those books for me so I can read?"

"I'd be my pleasure, darling." Chester paused his typing for a moment to get me set up with a book of my choosing. Naturally, wanting to know more about the world I found myself in, I chose a history textbook. Chester opened the book flat on the desk to the first chapter and occasionally helped me turn a page, although I was technically able to move the cumbersome pages on my own. Reading took me longer than usual since the book was so large, I had to physically traverse the page to read the whole thing.

I read about how the giants had once lived in the human world, in the days when both humans and giants were less numerous. The giants made their homes on the fringes of society, since they were not welcome with the humans, primarily in secluded mountainous regions that were too difficult or inhospitable for humans for access. Due to limited food resources, however, they had to regularly make their way to coastal areas to hunt for sea monsters, which were large enough to adequately feed them. Apparently other giant species of mammals lived in the mountains that they could dine on as well, but these creatures were eventually hunted to extinction. As food sources dwindled the giants fed more and more on human societies, despite the danger that humans posed.

According to the history text, humans in these times possessed potent magic that could even rival the power of a hungry giant. Human civilizations were protected by magical barriers and other spells, but giants would still eat stray travelers who passed through unprotected areas. Eventually, humans declared war on the giants and used their most powerful spells to slay many of them. The giants retaliated brutally and wrought devastation on human settlements. The cycle of slaughter continued for a long time until both parties begrudgingly accepted a truce. The human wizards would use their strongest spells to create a realm for the giants to live in, away from humans, which became the Land of Giants. However, this compromise came with huge costs for both parties involved. The giants would be banished from their homes, and forced to live where they could no longer partake in their favorite food, humans. The humans, for their part, would lose all their magic and their best wizards. The magic required to create the Land of Giants and transport all the giants there drained all the magical reserves of the human realm to virtually nothing. Furthermore, the only spell strong enough to transport all the giants required the wizards to go with them, essentially forcing the wizards to sacrifice themselves for the sake of humanity. Nevertheless, the solution was vital to prevent the eventual destruction of both sides.

Interestingly, the history book delved into the religious beliefs of the giants as well. The giants had been created by God to act as stewards of the earth, and to keep the human population under control. They had betrayed their purpose when decimating the human cities and hunting the other giant animals, both the mountain and sea monsters, to extinction. Thus, their banishment, and their constant cravings for human meat which would be denied to them, were just punishments for their gluttony ordained by God. This belief was an important reason why the giants had accepted their fate in the first place, rather than continuing to fight the humans.

So, if I were to believe everything that I read in this book, the lore that Chester had told me was true. However, such a tall tale beggared belief, and left me with just as many questions as answers. If these stories were reality, why weren't the giants, or magic for that matter, mentioned in any human histories? Magic and giants were considered myths by modern humans, fit only to grace fantasy stories and fairy tales. Obviously, as unbelievable as the notion was, giants existed. Did that mean that magic was real too? How did it work? Going by the book, magic was eradicated from the human realm. Did that mean my only way back home was gone forever? Was there still magic present in the Land of Giants? What caused the lightning that teleported me here? Was that magic?

"Chester?" I inquired. "What do you know about magic?"

Chester stopped typing. "Not much," he responded. "Giants aren't able to use magic, only humans are. I've never seen it used in my lifetime, so I don't know."

"Oh," I sighed softly. Chester continued typing again.

After typing for a while, Chester said, "Sorry, I wish I could tell you more. Perhaps sometime we can go to a library and read up on it. Although, that wouldn't be safe for you, being around other giants and all." He finished up his work and put his computer to sleep. "Dinner should be ready by now." I hopped into his gigantic hand and we went to the kitchen. Chester prepared me a miniature serving of stew and grabbed a giant bowl for himself, along with a glass of the same red wine he had the night before. When I asked for a sip of wine, he delicately gripped me with his finger and thumb and dangled me over the glass so I could drink.

As I dug into my portion, I noticed warily that Chester wasn't attacking his dinner with his usual enthusiasm. He picked at his food, mostly opting for big gulps of wine instead. In apparent contradiction, I could hear his stomach growling under the table. Resting his chin in his hand, he eyed me as I finished my share of the stew. The giant didn't say anything but I knew what he was thinking. Perhaps in his reticence he was trying to be polite, or respect my wishes, but ultimately, he wanted to slurp me up with his meal. I appreciated at least that he didn't demand that I jump into the bowl outright.

I cleared my throat. "Do you want me to...?" I trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. Chester cocked his eyebrow expectantly. I pointed at the big bowl of stew. The giant grinned, showing off his enormous white teeth, and nodded deliberately. My courage faltered. I grimaced, looking down at my clothes. "I should probably change into the clothes I wore yesterday so this outfit won't get ruined," I remarked.

"I'll go grab them for you," Chester declared, getting up out of his chair. As he raised himself to his full height, I felt my heart flutter, and a very strange idea came into my head. Perhaps a terrible idea.

"Wait," I uttered, scarcely believing I was crazy enough to go through with it. The giant paused and looked all the way down to me, his shadow casting over the table. I gulped nervously and licked my lips. He slowly lowered himself back into his seat, not breaking eye contact. "I could just..." My heart was pounding against my ribs, but not from terror. Chester looked mildly confused but also intrigued. "I mean... I don't really need clothes at all, right? If they'll just get messed up anyway."

Chester raised his eyebrows in surprise. "That's... that's true." He ran his tongue over his teeth. As the idea sank in, his face twisted into a ravenous smile. "You'll taste a lot better too." My face reddened. He sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. I took off my shoes and socks, then stood on the table awkwardly with my bare feet.

"Go on," Chester encouraged. As he watched, I removed my shirt. I unbuckled my pants and let them drop. I was only wearing my undergarments now. Then, in a flash of boldness, I cast off my bra and panties. Chester leaned forward over me. Though he didn't speak, he was already devouring my body with his hungry eyes. I huddled my arms against my comparatively diminutive form. The giant reached out his huge hand, as if to grab me, but stopped before his fingers coiled around me.

"May I...?" he inquired, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Yes," I responded quietly. I expected him to pick me up in his hand, but instead he gingerly stroked my naked body with his finger, tracing my feminine curves. He held his face so close to see all the details that it eclipsed the rest of the room. I could feel his warm breath washing over my skin. I looked into the deep pools of his eyes as they wandered, so close up, admiring the flecks of gray and gold amidst the shades of green, surrounding the deep black holes of his pupils. His gigantic hand gently wrapped around me, lifting me over to the edge of the dinner bowl. I carefully lowered myself into the stew, somewhat relieved that I could hide my nakedness. The stew was nice and hot, like a jacuzzi. I treaded over to the center of the bowl and floated in the thick liquid amongst chunks of meat and vegetables.

I tried to act nonchalant, but the truth was I was highly aroused. I wasn't used to such admiration and attention, especially from a giant man, larger than life, that I was very attracted to. I had always been insecure about my looks, since I was not all that pretty or skinny. Perhaps the exorbitant size difference made it harder for Chester to see my imperfections, since I was so small. Maybe he had been interested more from the perspective of curiosity or novelty, rather than sex appeal. It's not like a massive giant and a miniscule human could engage in sexual acts together anyways... right?

While I was lost in my thoughts, Chester had in the meantime consumed several bites of stew, and was making his way towards me. He scooped me up in the spoon with some liquid and brought me up to his mouth, then paused. He pursed his lips, and I assumed he was going to sip the liquid from the spoon. Instead, much to my surprise, he pressed his plush lips against my body in what could only be described as... a kiss. A pleasant, soft kiss. I was expecting to be eaten and instead I was kissed. For a moment I was too stunned to react. The giant mouth curled into an amorous smile. I reached forward, holding his lower lip in my hand, and planted a kiss of my own on his lip in return. His lips parted, and the lines of teeth separated, releasing a breath of air. I was greeted, yet again, with the fleshy interior of his mouth, and the dark void of his gullet, but unlike before I felt no fear. Gently, the spoon entered his mouth and deposited me on his enormous tongue. The jaws closed around me, enveloping me in the familiar wet darkness inside his body. The giant's tongue undulated beneath me, rubbing my small frame lightly against his molars and the roof of his mouth. This time, more than merely tasting me, I sensed as if he were trying to feel every inch of me.

Per the norm, the giant swallowed every bite of stew while maintaining my position in his mouth. He mostly just gulped down the solid pieces without chewing them, although occasionally played with them with his teeth. Surprisingly, armed with the knowledge that I would not be harmed, I actually didn't mind much being in his mouth, as long as the experience didn't go on for too long. I knew the giant genuinely enjoyed the flavor, so the fact that he was happy made me happy. He hummed deep in his throat with pleasure, then dumped a torrent of wine into his mouth. He swirled it around in his mouth a bit, creating a small whirlpool, then guzzled it down his throat.

After a few more spoonfuls of stew, the giant appeared to have finished his meal, and was rolling me around on his tongue as he had done the last time. Unlike before, though, he manipulated my body into an upright position and pressed my back carefully against his front teeth. Confused, I stood in the red flesh in his maw that was normally underneath the tip of the tongue, a puddle of drool up to my knees. I could feel his blood pulsing through the veins leading to his gums on my back. His huge tongue reared up in front of me, then caressed my shoulders, my bare breasts, my stomach, working its way down until it reached my thighs. The tip of the tongue pushed my legs apart and forced its way in between. When the realization hit me what he was trying to do, I almost shoved his tongue away, but stopped myself. I was... enjoying the act. His tongue rubbing in the middle of my legs was awakening a strong physical response. I'm sure he could taste it too. The puddle of saliva I was standing in deepened. The formidable tongue pushed up into me, lifting me up while still pressing me against the front teeth. The sensation was utterly bizarre, unlike anything I had experienced before, yet still unexpectedly arousing. A low moan welled up from the giant's throat, vibrating through his mouth; I suppose he was enjoying himself as well.

When I felt that I had had enough, I patted his tongue with my hand and pushed it away. I didn't have sufficient strength to force it back, but Chester seemed to understand, gently moving my body until I was sitting on the middle of his tongue again. He separated his jaws and inserted the spoon to help me get out. I mounted my shiny silver chariot and covered my eyes as I was brought back out through the teeth into the bright light of the dining room.

Chester licked his lips. "That... wasn't too much for you, was it?" he asked cautiously. His cheeks were burning.

I giggled. "Not at all, although it certainly caught me by surprise." I bit my lip. "Now it's my turn, right?" I stood up on the spoon. Chester raised an eyebrow. I looked down over the side, making sure I wouldn't fall into the wrong spot, and boldly jumped off the spoon, missing the edge of the table and landing in the giant's lap. Chester dropped the spoon in shock. I heard the spoon clatter on the table above.

"What are you-" Before he could finish his sentence, I had already crawled down into his pants. As I suspected, he was already fully erect. Better yet, I was already lubed up and ready to go, my whole body soaked with saliva from being inside his mouth. I hopped on his penis, which was of course much bigger than my entire body, as if I were riding a horse. I went to work, using the full force of my limbs and body to jerk him off as best I could. I could feel the blood rushing to his member as his heart rate quickened. His breathing grew heavy and fast and he fidgeted in his seat, moaning softly. Being inside his pants was stifling and hot, and I started to sweat from the exertion, but I threw myself into my work with enthusiastic vigor. His vocalizations, muffled by the fabric surrounding me, grew louder. All at once I felt him stiffen and erupt, letting out an ecstatic groan. I couldn't believe it: I had made him orgasm. As his member started to soften, Chester reached into his pants and pulled me out.

"I can't believe you just did that," he stated, incredulous. "But I must say, well done."

"You did get me turned on," I admitted, laughing.

"I think we both need to get cleaned up now," Chester remarked wryly. He walked to the bathroom and turned on the faucet for the bathtub. "Would you like to... take a bath with me?"

"Sure," I replied, blushing slightly. He set me on the bathroom counter, which was cold after being intimately acquainted with the heat of the giant's flesh. However, despite everything that had transpired, I had yet to see him naked. He unbuttoned his shirt and peeled it off, revealing his gigantic torso. He was neither fat nor thin nor muscular, but rather strongly built and healthy, with a crop of hair sprouting from his chest. As he moved I admired his muscles flowing under his skin. Next, he removed his pants and underwear, exposing thick hairy legs. Overall, his body was very well-proportioned, broad and thick and strong. Personally, I thought he was very sexy.

Chester offered me his hand, and I stepped into his palm. Setting me down on the side of the tub, he moved his huge leg up and stepped over the wall into the tub, following up with his other leg. Watching the powerful movements of his giant naked figure left me drooling. He settled his massive bulk into the water, which as the bath was still filling up only came up to his belly button. I excitedly jumped in next to him with a splash. I was eager to get clean, sure, but I also wanted to explore his nude physique. I swam over to his belly and beached myself on the plushy surface. Since the giant was inclined back, I was able to scale his body, like climbing a living mountain. He watched with amusement as I trekked up his titanic frame, past his stomach and chest until finally I perched on his shoulder.

"Having fun?" Chester laughed. He grabbed some soap and lathered it on his arms and torso. I took the opportunity to slide down his slippery arm and landed in the bathwater with a splash. As I resurfaced, his giant hands suddenly snatched me up and rubbed soap all over me. I giggled as his massive digits explored my curves. He brought me up close to his face so he could see me better and smiled. I rubbed soap from one of his fingers on my face. He playfully tossed me back into the water and I shrieked as I plummeted through the air, although of course I was safe. After I rinsed off Chester placed me on his knee and offered me a dollop of shampoo on the tip of his finger. I gratefully took it and we both washed our hair. I used his leg as a slide and splashed back into the water to rinse myself off again.

As the giant continued to wash himself, I used his body as a playground until I wore myself out. Then, I floated on my back in the water, gazing at the colossus stretching far above me with wonder. So much had changed in such a short time, but I still marveled at his incredible size. Once he was finished, he scooped me up out of the water with his hand, so I was laying flat in his palm. He wrapped me up in a big fluffy washcloth and set me on the counter. After we dried off and changed, Chester carried me to the bedroom and once in bed I fell asleep on his chest again.

Chapter 7

Chapter 1

#g/t writing #g/t #giant #giant/tiny #tiny #giant tiny #size difference #g/t fluff #g/t vore #the giant #gentle giant #giant men #vore writing #vore story #mouthplay #mawplay #nsft #gt vore #v0r3 #v0re #v.ore #vo.re #vor.e #g/t story #male pred #v/ore #safe vore

[calebwittebane]

im not gonna lie, there are people i follow who often make posts that are preddy funny and who often have good opinions, but whom i find unpleasant and annoying and generally unkind, and whom i kind of really hate. its not a hatefollow because i do enjoy many of their posts but i hate them as people and anytime something mildly bad happens to them im like LOL :).

thankfully i am not mutuals with them because if that were the case, the close proximity would cause their body to be affected by that hatred, even if they werent aware of it, or knew but didnt care. but the malice would slowly poison and ruin them, and they would start to become sick. they would feel as though someone had been adding antifreeze to their food and drinks. ethylene glycol and so on and so forth. but they wouldnt make the connection between the illness and the malice of mine that they were being afflicted by. their hair would begin to fall out in clumps, they would experience light-headedness and nausea and increased body stench, they would begin to regularly experience sleep paralysis, they would see mysterious red marks on their skin that would quickly fade away.

unable to think of their condition as anything other than them being infested with demons, and consumed by fear and desperation, they would eventually turn to some real out there pseudoscientific woo Soul And Body Healing bullshit peddled by a guy with a youtube channel and a popular tiktok account. they would purchase tons and tons of his supplements and read all his books, and become invested in the belief system to a shocking degree, still tormented by the disease. all the fans followers friends family and folks at home would have a hard time recognizing them at this point. 'what happened to the goodposter we knew and loved?', they would ask, and ultimately all distance themselves from them one by one.

already holding a new propensity for conspiracy theories, the blogger would take this as a sign that the fools were all simply threatened by their recently mastered forbidden wisdom, and fall deeper into the rabbit hole of fringe internet spirituality. they would eventually become an obscure type of flat earther, believing in an astronomical model so strange that other flat earther would scoff at them and accuse them of making them look unserious.

a viral video would emerge of the blogger approaching some young people in the street, vigorously lecturing them about the mobius strip earth, with the sun being a round hole carved in an enormous egg made of black obsidian that we are all trapped within that shields us from the brilliant divine glow the rest of the universe is bathed in. supposedly, humanity had shattered the egg before, freeing the earth from its prison, however an unhealthy diet (containing dairy and plant oils) causes humans to emit invisible particles that float up into the atmosphere and above, where they solidify into the obsidian shell. many commenters would point out the tshirt the blogger was wearing, depicting an absurdly muscular man breaking out of the obsidian egg, with text above saying "W.H.A.T.: We Hatch Again Together".

humiliated and scorned, the blogger would make the decision to abandon their brethren at least for some time, and retreat into solitude deep in the woods. they would sustain themselves on acorns, the youtube guy supplements, and whatever birds and rodents they managed to find. no longer in close online proximity to me (and no longer online in general), they would quickly start to recover from their illness, and (not incorrectly) attribute that improvement to their hermit lifestyle far away from those poisoned by dairy and plant oils.

one day, a bear would attack them. against all odds, newly full of vigor and powered by years of pent up anger, they would emerge victorious from the encounter. they would skin the bear and start wearing its pelt like a fursuit, giving them the appearance of a somewhat deflated bear with eerily human movements. emboldened by this experience, they would make the decision to return to their preaching, and travel from the wilderness to the nearest populated area.

having arrived in a small town, still wearing their hard-earned fursuit, they would cause widespread panic. not sure how to approach the issue just yet, and weighing the possibility of leaning into the bear thing regardless to add some extra dramatic flair to their sermons, they would walk into a convenience store to get some soda. the cashier would immediately flee and call 911 from a safe distance, reporting a horribly fucked up bear casually strolling into the building, so even if the blogger had any money, they would not be able to pay for the soda, absolving them of this responsibility.

they would take a generous sip of the cold refreshing soda they had so dearly missed during their time in the wilderness. unfortunately, the effervescent sugary drink would unexpectedly interact with the supplements and acorns still in their system, causing a violent chemical reaction. the energy released as the byproduct of said reaction would be so great, it would cause their body to disintegrate in a burst of blinding orange light.

as their body faded away, they would smile serenely, knowing that although they did not manage to convince everyone they had spoken to, they had sown the seeds of knowledge among them, and that even the arrogant nonbelievers would eventually start seeing the signs. there is hope for humanity, that it would one day break out of the obsidian shell, and regain the long-lost enlightenment and magic. they would feel that they have done well.

some time would pass absently--seconds or centuries, one could not tell. to their shock, they would realize that their consciousness has not been extinguished by death. suspended in endless void, they would try to scream, yet their efforts would be in vain.

then, another change would occur--they would begin to experience a tingling sensation, seemingly psychological rather than physical. cell by cell, they would regain a physical form, and their senses would all at once return to them as they awakened. their surroundings would snap into focus. they would be surrounded by otherworldly tall green structures, curved and swaying lightly. their field of view would span 360° on every axis, their eyes situated on flexible stalks. they would then realize--they have been reborn as a slug.

all because they had roamed too close to the powerful confident beautiful gentle unemployed brown-eyed bloggeress whose righteous ire they had earned despite her peaceful nature. all because they did not heed the signs. by then they would have learnt their lesson, but by the time they earned another lifespan as a human, the internet would be no more, replaced by a mass malfunction of amazon brain chips giving those affected constant visions of various ai generated rule34 pictures of the hex maniac that jeff bezos had saved on his hard drive at the time the disaster struck

[a-room-of-my-own]

During the Arab Spring I was sitting with my family and we had a friend from New Guinea over. He was a black man, Muslim, and I had known him my entire life. He was one of the nicest, most laid back people I've ever been around, polite, good with children. We were watching the news as they covered the unfolding events. We would usually have non-alcoholic drinks whenever he was over because of his religious beliefs, so we were all chitchating and having a drink. And out of the blue, he says, pointing at the tv.

"This will all end up being a big pile of nothing. Africans don't understand democracy".

And I remember thinking that was such a scandalous thing to say, such a racist thing to say, especially coming out of a black Muslim man who was from an African country. And now after a decade, and event after event, I'm starting to understand what he was trying to say, and I wonder what he has experienced in his life for him to say that.

People will claim this as racism, but I don't think these people are more prone to certain behaviours because of their skin color.

I do think that cultural attitudes, especially pertaining as to how violence is an acceptable way to solve conflict, coupled with the eternal victim narrative, gives leeway to this destruction. I used to be very anxious to the rise of far right parties in Europe and now I feel nothing. It is so predictable why it's happening. It's so predictable that when people wake up day after day, going to work their jobs that don't pay that well so they can pay bills, and they see the same types of people burning shit down and destroying their transportation, their businesses, their community services, their homes etc, they will get fed up. And then the commies will cry racism thinking it will solve the issue, and for a time people will be taken aback and prostrate themselves to social justice mafia. And then a time will come when they're so tired of being called racist and islamophpbes for noticing who's always destroying things, and for talking about it, and they will say. Yes. Fine. I guess I am racist then. Because you won't allow me the speak on the obvious. And the animosity will grow, and people will come increasingly fed up with the ones ignoring the core issue and thus the people who do speak about it, who do call a spade a spade, and who belong to once fringe groups and who are obvious authoritarians will be voted into power. Not because they are competent leaders or have solutions, but because they can at least point out the obvious.

And everytime a Boris Johnson, a Trump, a Meloni, an Orban happens, people will say "how can this be? Must be those racist islamophobes who hate minorities" and they will learn absolutely nothing. And the eternal self-victimizing narrative will deepen.

It's all so obnoxiously predictable.

It’s extremely predictable in the sense that at least in my country, it’s been 20 years that some issues are left to the extreme right to talk about, and it can be things as obvious as everyone has the right to be safe in the public space or religions should be a private matter basically things everybody agree on. The only reason for that is that the left is completely taken by a perverted definition of anti-racism that is basically cultural relativism. When you abandon common sense to the extreme right the problem is it makes their actually extremist solutions suddenly worth discussing which they aren’t.

Then for the people coming from Africa in the Middle East, I think there is a naivety that tends to believe that someone who comes from a very authoritarian country / culture can convert to liberal democracy pretty much overnight. You have a many people coming to Europe and other western countries, who are perfectly capable of wanting to be free individually, and not to suffer from political brutality or corruption, but it doesn’t mean that they agree with the whole package. It’s especially visible as far as women’s rights are concerned ; you can have men who absolutely want to be free but who still want their women to be oppressed and controlled like they are at home.

The influence of religion is also something we could discuss. What we are going through now has happened to North Africa starting in the late 1970s. Intellectuals there have been warning us for years about the terrible influence of Saudi / Gulf extremism that led in their countries to political unrest, riots and even civil war. The Arab Spring is a recent phenomena but yes, in the West everybody thought it would bring modern democracies, but we were only listening to urban, college educated people. The majority wanted more religion, more conservatism, and the diaspora always vote for the extreme right - we saw that in Turkey just recently.

Of course the influence of the west is something that should never be forgotten. At a time our leaders could have supported democrats in the Arab world and in Africa, but between decolonization and the Cold War, they preferred supporting Islamists and tyrants rather than risking seeing countries rich in natural ressources align with the USSR. We’ve been paying for that ever since.

[handeaux]

For Half A Century, Cincinnati Goldfish Thrived Because Of Our Untreated Water

Just south of the Mount Airy water towers lies a large, grass-covered lawn with a small playground tucked away in the corner. No historic marker identifies this plot, although it is an important site in the history of a long-forgotten Cincinnati industry. For fifty years, up until the 1970s, this meadow was occupied by a dozen ponds filled with goldfish because Cincinnati was among the largest producers of goldfish in the United States. It's true. Here is the Cincinnati Enquirer [4 August 1929]:

“Few of the people who buy fish realize that Cincinnati is one of the centers for goldfish breeding. More than 100 goldfish breeding ponds surround Cincinnati within a radius of 15 miles. Many of these are transient, the owner raising stock during the season and draining the pond during the winter, but several of them almost outdistance Japanese rivals in quality and output.”

It was estimated that Cincinnati pet stores sold nearly 5,000 goldfish every day in the late 1920s, most locally raised. Twenty years later, according to the Cincinnati Post [30 April 1946] Maryland was the largest producer of goldfish in the United States, but second place was held by southwest Ohio and southeast Indiana. At that time, according to the Post, there were approximately 50 permanent goldfish breeding ponds in the Cincinnati region.

Goldfish were first introduced to Cincinnati in the later 1850s and Cincinnatians soon became avid collectors. The first vendors to sell goldfish in Cincinnati were florists who appeared to think of these colorful fish as an adjunct to home décor, sort of a living bouquet, if you will.

Goldfish thrived in Cincinnati because our water supply was pumped unfiltered and untreated straight from the Ohio River. Cincinnati goldfish fanciers developed the opinion that goldfish never needed to be fed, because Cincinnati’s water was so loaded with worms and other tiny critters. A local newspaper, the Star In The West [19 November 1859] chastised those who did not feed their goldfish:

“Every other pet is expected to eat, but these gold-carp are expected to subsist on – nothing! ‘But don’t they eat the animalculae?’ Nonsense! Give them a few small earthworms, or anglers’ gentles, twice a week.”

Despite such advice, the belief persisted that Ohio River water contained enough living matter to feed our finny friends. The Cincinnati Gazette [17 March 1875] in a column about goldfish, insisted that “small worms, such as are common to the water, suffice for their food in general.” It appears that our ancestors were perfectly happy to quaff tap water in which small worms (or animalculae) were common!

Wormy or not, Ohio River water was clear enough to cause household hazards, as the Cincinnati Star [8 January 1875] reported:

“A goldfish globe, filled with water, hanging in the window of a house, set the casement on fire one morning recently; the globe acting as a burning glass. Had the family been absent, a conflagration might have resulted, and its origin unaccountable.”

A decade later, goldfish had become big business in Cincinnati as proved by one of the regular Ohio River floods. Hugo Mulertt was a florist with shops downtown on Race Street and on Freeman Avenue in the West End. Like many Cincinnati florists, he sold a lot of goldfish along with bouquets and nosegays. He operated his own fishery out near Spring Grove Cemetery and, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer [24 February 1884], lost most of his exotic stock when the floodwaters that year overwhelmed his fish ponds.

“The backwater from Millcreek flooded Hugo Mulertt’s gold-fish nursery out back of Spring Grove and carried away some thousands of fish of all kinds – Japanese fringe-tails, telescopes, double-tails, hog-noses, tumblers, piebalds, mottled beauties, and a hundred other rare kinds that you and I have never heard of.”

With all these delectable and collectable fish swimming around in open ponds, it is no surprise that Cincinnati goldfish-mongers encountered a veritable menagerie of critters gathering to eat up their profits. Mr. Mulertt kept a rifle to shoot hungry snakes, but listed among his enemies geese, herons, ducks, turtles, muskrats, cranes, kingfishers and crawdads. The crawdads, he said, didn’t eat his fish, but their burrows undermined his ponds.

Robert C. Dolle, whose grandfather excavated those Mount Airy ponds, contended with mud turtles, kingfishers, herons and mink. At Coldstream Farms in Northern Kentucky, the animals responsible for “shrinkage” included mink, snakes, mice, rats, racoons, cats and even insects. According to the Enquirer [4 August 1929]:

“A certain insect will catch a fish between the dorsal fin and the tail, leaving a small mark which is quickly filled with silver scales. These spots are often seen in aquaria.”

The Schlosser family, who managed Coldstream’s fishery for nearly a century, killed as many as a dozen mink every year to save their exotic goldfish.

And let’s not forget human predation. The late 1930s brought a fad that you can blame on your grandparents – goldfish swallowing. Medical experts quoted in the Cincinnati Post [8 April 1939] advised collegiate faddists not to swallow too many live goldfish at all. Or, if peer pressure overwhelmed them, to scale the little suckers first.

In addition to the Schlossers in Fort Mitchell and Mr. Dolle in Mount Airy, there was also a large fishery on Compton Road in Wyoming. That operation was owned by Dr. Charles Goosmann, a radiologist with offices on Seventh Street. In November 1930, Dr. Goosmann learned that predators included humans because a thief or thieves walked off with more than 1,500 goldfish from his breeding pools.

How would one put a value on that theft? This proved to be more than an academic question when tax time rolled around. In 1958, the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals considered the case of James C. Denier, who had taken over Mr. Dolle’s Mount Airy ponds while maintaining a large breeding pond on Poole Road in Colerain Township. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer [25 July 1958], the state tax commissioner just “guesstimated” the value of goldfish in Mr. Denier’s many ponds and decided that the tax bills for 1953 and 1954, amounting to less than ten dollars in total, were wildly out of whack and determined that Mr. Denier owed $24,000 for 1953 and $42,000 for 1954. Mr. Denier appealed and managed to get his tax bill lowered to $1,700 for each year.

By then, the market for goldfish had softened considerably. Cincinnati breeders turned their ponds into sheep pastures. Sheep grazed among the Denier ponds in Mount Airy for a decade or more until the City of Cincinnati acquired the property and drained the goldfish ponds in 1977. Despite an appeal by the Mount Airy Town Council for ideas, the land remains mostly vacant.

#goldfish #cincinnati goldfish #mount airy

[craycraybluejay]

tfw an ex-mutual talks down to you very rudely for disagreeing/being mad ab their fringe psychology beliefs. Lemme guess, you also believe ODD is a real actual disorder.

Sorry you feel the need to make fun of people because they don't listen to your youtube guy. If I agreed with every conflicting psychology researcher and academic I would have every mental disorder in the book and so would you.

Codependency isn't always (but absolutely can be) about "seeing others as an extension of yourself" as referenced in cases of NPD. Sometimes codependency is about traumatic attachment. That is decidedly not narcissistic because neither party has NPD. Sometimes codependency is born out of necessity; ie-- there is one person you have had to depend on your entire life. You got stuck on a remote island for a decade or more. You were in a cult and knew only one person outside. A million scenarios but I won't write them out here.

Furthermore the claim on my own mental state is even more absurdly and rudely armchair psychologist. I don't feel connected to people, let alone see them as an extension of myself. I don't *understand* some people's anxieties and motivations at all and wouldn't claim to. Because they are very much not me. I am me, they are they (about 8.5 billion of them to my knowledge). I can never hope to truly get into their brain universes and unfortunately no one can get into mine either. We are all in a state of internal isolation to some extent because you cannot feed someone your dreams, no one can personally experience what is not their own experience. If I saw others as extensions of myself, would I take the time to study the motives, fears, and ways of showing love to those closest to me? I'd just assume they were like my own, no? But I will ask my therapist quite bluntly if she thinks I have any cluster b disorder if you are so certain. And about her opinion on all this shit. I'll even send her the video, if I can find it on my own again. She is a licensed psychologist with an extensive education and experience in the field. So you know.

Truly insane the level to which some people believe they know exactly how everyone's brains tick. All the same. Almost similar to your claim about seeing others as an extension of yourself. Huh. Maybe I'm just being dramatic and it's again another iteration of "if you haven't personally experienced it, you can believe anything about it simply because you don't understand." But hey, you armchair diagnosed me first. So, I think you have a cluster b disorder despite probably never having been professionally diagnosed with anything remotely similar. I believe it wholeheartedly. You see the world, and people with their complex minds, as black and white. A symptom of, you guessed it, NPD. You defer to any authority that will back up your point of view. Spoiler: there will always be one, because there is no such thing as a unanimous academic vote on what is true and what is false. But most importantly you talk to people who (what a scandal!) haven't read and immediately believed the things you have read and immediately believed like they are inherently below you (see: you talking to me in the most condescending and unnecessarily mean way possible over an academic dispute).

#anyway most psychologists are extremely biased #and psychology is nowhere near a complete science #to say every x is y in psychology is wild to me #sorry i dont agree with everything i read lmfao #armchair psychology #yeah actually this is angering #because it very aggressively decides one phenomenon in psychology can only be tied to people with one mental disorder #not even hallucinations (and even psychosis) are exclusive to schizo spectrum disorders #people with bipolar or bpd can also hallucinate and even enter psychosis #and even 'mentally normal' people can hallucinate from extreme stress or sleep deprivation #so tell me again how an entire maladaptive attachment style is related to one disorder and that alone #im convinced some of yall dont hang out w enough people w different kinds of mental disorders/healthy areas #you can easily debunk every generalizing argument the moment you just spend time around a diverse group of people

[osmanthusoolong]

I keep seeing David Graeber quotes, and they remind me so much of those like, aesthetic/literary posts that circulate here. You know the ones. The ones with like, a pithy quote from some translated classic literature, a couple movie stills that feel applicable, a line from a currently popular midcentury poet, a Romantic painting, etc. No context, all vibes, possibly even creating the opposite context of any of the works.

It feels very similar to me, a theory version of these aesthetic collages: (Reasonable statement, one I may well agree with)(historical example cherry-picked beyond belief and so removed from its original context that the author complained publicly)(another historical example, but the author is long dead and/or is choosing the relatively disputed theory that fits the claim but is considered extremely fringe)(conclusion that feels very plausible if you don’t actually look into the citations for the previous). It just feels like repeating back what people already want to believe, making up a history to back it up instead of just letting arguments stand.

Given that even people who agree with Graeber who look into his claims and citations keep coming back to the fact that not a single one of his points pan out, actually say what he’s claiming or even talk about what he’s claiming, it’s high time to give the fucking hack a rest. It’s just plausible sounding truisms and vibes-based history from someone who absolutely had to be doing this badly on purpose.

#David Graeber hate squad 4ever #his bullshit jobs theory is just Marxist alienation but stupid and patently disprovable

[tanadrin]

I wonder if thinking the US is on the brink of civil war is partially a result of refusing to ever interact with anyone further right than Hillary Clinton. Like I think the conservative political project is fundamentally violent and cruel, but the vast majority of people, even hard-core Republican/Trump voters, have absolutely no interest in taking up arms against their neighbors. The fringe minority who do feel driven to that point end up in militia groups until they take one symbolic action and get arrested by the FBI. A few thousand gun nuts does not a civil war make.

(See also: how many internet leftists say the only hope for the country/world is armed revolution or violent direct action, and how many are actually doing anything of the sort. The vast majority of people, even those with extreme political beliefs, are still basically just people who have other stuff to do.)

could be. any discourse bubble tends to self-reinforcing feedback loops and unless you recalibrate by talking to people outside your bubble you start to say some pretty inane shit.

[angelsdean]

It's funny for me that fanon Sam is, following his time at Stanford, thee greatest of ally and defensor of human rights, while canonically college turns him into a judgemental snob - frowning upon winning money as a hunter, saving the prisoners, etc, etc (snobbish s1 Sammy my beloved !!!) (PS: also his alternative self in Lebanon XD)

no literallly. sam wanted to fit in so hard at stanford he drank some of the snobby rich kid kool-aid. and like, dissecting that is infinitely more interesting to me than perfect liberal and allyTM fanon sam. like i wanna know what sam's problem is sjdkfdfk. s1 does a great job of creating this dichotomy, esp in the very early eps, where dean represents the hunting world, the fringes of society, the outcasts and Other, and sam is coming out of this perfect idealized world that was college, where he absorbed some of those snobby ideals, as a way to reject his family / lifestyle (tho mostly as a way to reject JOHN and john's ideas of what sam's life should be). But then we see sam throughout those early episodes making choices that actively lead him further down the road of hunting, choices that have him rejecting "normal society" and choosing this journey, this quest, taking up the mantle and following john's path.

(there are lot of examples and maybe i'll make a post abt them all one day but one that always stands out to me is in 1x06 Skin, where the conflict is about the isolation of hunting vs the desire for community and connection to the outside world. it seems like dean is pro-cut ties with the world, but why? well, we later learn in 1x13 he tried to let an outsider into his world and cassie rejected him for it. but sam, at the start of the ep, is trying to have the best of both worlds. he thinks he can keep his outsider friends while still hunting. then by the end of the ep, his friend now knows all about hunting and wants to stay in touch. and sam shuts her out and says she probs won't hear from him anytime soon. and it's just so bonkers to me !! but he's making that choice, he's choosing hunting and slowly rejecting and cutting ties to his idealized stanford life.)

and he wants it, is the thing. he's on a one track mind: find john, find the demon, kill it and avenge jess and mary.

this got long-winded but anyway, i think all that s1 snobbery is SO crucial to sam's journey, it's important we see it, it's important we see where he was coming from, how stanford had begun to change and shape him in different ways, how stanford was symbolic of this total opposite to hunting, it's the snobby rich who don't care about the people on the fringes, it's studying LAW while holding beliefs that all people in prison are not "innocent" and a ghost killing them off isn't the biggest deal. and then dean + the hunting lifestyle is meant to be the juxtaposition to that. he's living on the fringes of society, he's Other. That's why the shifter in Skin identifies with dean so much, aside from the queer metaphors. The shifter choosing fresh-off-of-ivy-league sam would not make for the same kind of parallel, as much as sam has his psychic kid stuff going on, that's only barely begun at this point. He doesn't yet think he's a freak for being psychic or the demon blood stuff, he doesn't even know abt any of that. But paralleling the shifter with dean highlighted the isolating, othering nature of hunting, in an episode where the "brother conflict" was isolation vs community. And through the shifter we learn that dean didn't Want to be a hunter either. He had dreams, wanted friends. And sam hears all of this, and still at the end of the episode chooses to reject his friend's offer to keep in touch. Taking another step away from the idealized stanford life and another step down the path of hunting + his revenge quest. And it's so goddamn interesting and delicious and fascinating to me !!!! fanon sam could never

#canon sam is like. i rejected my family's lifestyle in a fit of teenage rebellion but now i want back in bc my gf died and i want revenge #classic hero's journey shenanigans and all that #while fanon sam is like. noooo my brother is dragging me back into hunting against my WILL !!!!!! #sam studies #mymeta #vics spn rewatch #replies