unionize-aromantically

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it's interesting to me that torture just works to us, as a literary device. It's everywhere in movies and stories and whatnot, from big-budget dramas to little grindhouse short stories. It fits neatly into the requirements of plot: character doesn't want to offer information, Gets Tortured, has to offer information.

the issue with this is that it isn't how it works.

torture is a display of power. It fouls interrogation, this is known; a person being tortured will tell you whatever you want to hear to make it stop, which is more often than not a lie, made up on the spot, or if the truth an incomplete and useless version of it. It isn't generally done for information's sake anyway, but as a form of what the ancient Greeks called hybris, the violent exhibition of your power over another person.

This is, every once in a great while, done right in fiction, but it's a challenge to write vs. the idea that it's a shortcut to one character revealing plot-critical information to another. Pretty much every form of torture works this way, even the ones that are legally permissible. Psychological torment or physical discomfort also produce an animalistic desire to escape harm and foul interrogation. The forms of torture the cops can do? The cops do it not to gain information (or if they think it will, they're lying to themselves) but because it makes them feel powerful.

There's probably a master's thesis in it for somebody studying the rise of torture as a plot device since the beginning of the war on terror and the contemporaneous development of the Broken Windows theory of policing. I'm not really aware of any similar level of disconnect between what Works in fiction and what happens in real life!

#undescribed #fiction #literary analysis #fiction propaganda #copaganda #minimization of violence

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horror films for people who don’t like horror films

i’ve been asked this a lot: what horror movies would you recommend to people who try to stay away from the genre in general, for whatever reason? some people don’t enjoy being scared, some people find horror too unrealistic and outlandish, and some people don’t enjoy the repetitive tropes that are admittedly often present in horror films. 

that being said, when i do give people recommendations for horror movies to dip their toe into, they’re often the same ones, or very similar ones. so i’ve gathered them here today, in case my horror loving followers have any friends who ask them the same questions, but aren’t sure of how to answer. 

Q: Why don’t you like horror?

A: “I don’t like jumpscares.” 

Try: 

The Silence of the Lambs

The Orphanage

Rosemary’s Baby

The Shining

A: “I can’t stand gore.” 

Try:

The Babadook

The Others

Ringu

The Conjuring

A: “I don’t like horror’s cheesy tropes.” 

Try:

It Follows

Pontypool

Teeth

A Tale of Two Sisters

A: “I don’t like the way horror treats women.” 

Try:

American Mary

Girls Against Boys

You’re Next

All Cheerleaders Die

Excision

The Loved Ones

A: “Horror is too unrealistic.” 

Try:

Hush

The Girl Next Door

Wolf Creek

Almost Mercy

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer

A: “I’d rather watch something funny.” 

Try:

Life After Beth

Jennifer’s Body

Zombieland

Shaun of the Dead

Re-Animator

#horror movies #txt #movie reccs

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As someone who buys a shit tonne of vintage and retro items all the time I need to tell you about the "shart zone" and "prime nuclear cockroach material"

when buying used items i will do anything in my power to avoid the shart zone, which is in the range of 5-10 years old, this is a short enough amount of time for especially electronic items to have not found a way to fall apart horribly but have become out dated enough to have no support and likely will not retain any value. I do however LOVE the nuclear cockroach material zone which is anything 20+ years old. If it still works after 20 years it is going to work forever. A great example of this is my pc which exists in the shart zone and has to be revved up to turn on lawnmower style, but my N64 works fine.

#txt #tech issues #thrifting #buying used #planned obsolescence

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please listen to me when talk with AAC . if need or want say thing want to be heard . what I have to say same important as what people who mouth talk say . same when I write with AAC . need to be listened to then too .

#txt #aac #ofc

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"I'm just a girl" you are a grown woman with competency in many areas stop selling yourself short and do the damn task to the standard you know you're capable of.

#not a girl/woman but boosting #txt #op imissthembutitwasntadisaster

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Here is a masterlist of every single genocidal statement made by the State of Israel, all appropriately quoted and sourced.

These statements cannot be retracted.

Quote from the Israeli State Minister of Agriculture and Development.

And yet, Zionists will tell you that “This is not a genocide, Hamas are using Palestinians as human shields!”

#links #anti zionisim #op tikkunolamresistance

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jokes that will literally never not be funny to me:

saying “speedrun strats” every time you fuck up

saying “first try” when you’ve tried the thing like 15 times, minimum

#txt #jokes #funnies #tag later

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So we all know that Tumblr is US-centric. But to what degree? (and can we skew the results of this poll by posting it at a time where they should be asleep?)

Reblog to increase sample size!

#no #polls #op birdofmay

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I asked one of my (male) friends to stop using the phrase “man up” and he has been using “fortify” for the past two weeks instead and it’s just a little thing but honestly it makes a difference

and tbh it’s also pretty funny when I start to deflate in the library and he leans over and goes “FORTIFY”

#repeat reblog

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Ok so the biggest conclusion is obviously that most people say mi-ett, but it's been interesting to hear all the different ways people say it :)

How do you pronounce Miette?

re: this poll (no shade, I just wanted a poll with Mi-ett)

*2: mi-TAY with emphasis on tay

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most trans people who people like to call "non transitioning" actually do transition, but people don't want to acknowledge that not all transition is medical

changing your hair is transition

deciding to shave or grow your body hair is transition

doing something different with make up is transition

changing your new wardrobe is transition

changing your name is transition

changing your pronouns is transition

coming out to people is transition

even just accepting your own transness without telling anyone else is transition, as it changes how you see yourself

it's almost impossible to be trans and truly non transitioning, even if that transition might be non medical, non visible or entirely self contained

all kinds of transition are valid.

there are also things that aren't necessarily associated with transition that an individual may consider to be part of their transition, like working out to make their body look different, getting piercings and tattoos and so much more

there are so many ways of transitioning besides surgery and hormones

"non transitioning nonbinary/trans person" is just code for "i don't consider your transition to be real because it doesn't fully fit into what cis people expect"

"some parents would rather have a non transitioning trans child than one who does" like yeah no shit. a non transitioning trans child is a trans child who doesn't come out, doesn't change anything about themself. not their name, not their pronouns, not their hair or wardrobe. a non transitioning trans child is a trans child who never talks about being trans so their parents can pass them off as cis. a non transitioning trans child is a trans child that is in the closet. of course a lot of parents would rather have a trans child who stays in the closet so they don't have to deal with their transness. but you all mean "non transitioning" as in "not medically transitioning" and that's not true either. trans people get kicked out of their house for doing as little as changing their pronouns. and if you say you're doing literally anything as part of your transition/because you're trans, people will absolutely give you shit for it, while a cis person can do the same thing and it's no biggie. social transition is not accepted at all.

there are some weird trans people out there who will completely dismiss people's life saving transition steps as "non transitioning" because they don't fit cis ideas of transness, it's disgusting

when i say "transition" i'm always including medical transition and social transition, as well as anything else an individual may consider part of their transition that doesn't necessarily fit into the two boxes

also can we stop acting like social transition isn't also constantly under attack

#txt #social transition #transition #trans transition #hormonal transition #hrt #medical transition #surgery #trans hrt #trans #nonbinary #non transitioning #nontransitioning #mutual spotted in the wild #op the-delta-quadrant

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#trans #op fishing-lesbian-catgirl #described #trans egg

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"i usually think about other stuff" is one of my favorite phrases ever . truly lifechanging when it comes to not wanting to feel like u Have to have an opinion on everything. like literally. i usually think about other stuff

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Bit telling that for years and years evangelical religious extremists have been allowed on university campuses with their bullhorns and horrific imagery where they harass students into physical altercations and when students complain to the university’s administration they just shrug their shoulders citing freedom of speech but when those same tuition-paying students start protesting against war and genocide they call SWAT

#txt #op mariasatomay #freedom of speech #protesting

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thank you image to txt software. what would i be without you

#ocr>> #txt #on image description

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Jerusalem is concerned that the International Criminal Court in The Hague could soon issue arrest warrants against senior officials, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over the Israel Defense Forces operation against Hamas, Channel 12 News reported Thursday. According to the report, an emergency meeting was held at Netanyahu’s office on Tuesday in the presence of Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Foreign Minister Israel Katz. The four decided to take “urgent action with international authorities” to prevent the arrest of Israelis abroad, Channel 12 added.

#icc should #op sayruq #Palestine #txt #links

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As someone who has been living with severe suicidal ideation my entire life I wanna tell you all something, you don’t have to stay alive for yourself. People will say it’s a bad idea to live for external things because they’re temporary, and it’s true living for yourself is ideal but if you’re not to that point yet that’s ok too. 

I’ve lived for my dog for the past 4 years, before that I lived for my snakes, before that I lived for my cat. You can live for whatever needs you and whatever matters to you. Live for your best friend, live for your plants, live for your pets, live for your animal crossing town. Live for whatever keeps you alive and the day will come when you can live for yourself.

#txt #repeat reblog #staying alive