#(not that I think workers should agree to work for free to show morality!!! I’m no longer of that mindset) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

anthonybialy · 2 years

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Both Equation Sides

I got more. Now stop being selfish. The rather simple look at economics embodied by waiting for handouts hasn't made recipients as wealthy as advertised. It's not like you have options aside from manning the mailbox. The Whopper may not be as full at an actual restaurant as it looked in the commercial, and the difference with government is you don't have to dine at Wendy’s.

Condemning those who actually generate what they possess shows the only thing class warfare-wagers generate is irony. They don't even realize their output. Retailers who get cash from mutual deals are portrayed as prototypical pirates by those who nobly want to plunder your booty without consent. Evading basic notions about trading in order to receive anything leads to having nothing, matey.

All this free money sure doesn't buy much. Have we tried printing more? Half-measures are allegedly the only reason we don't enjoy full prosperity. Going further is always the solution to problems caused by liberal policies. Gun control and government insurance fail for the same reason, namely mean conservatives didn't allow those who selflessly invest faith in the state to take us all the way to bliss.

Purportedly limitless entitlements aren't just demeaning: they look smaller and smaller in the palm every time. Financial interactions indifferently respond to emotional patronization. Inflation is that cruel catch that embodies how unlimited freebies enslave. You can eat anything you want and suffer no consequences other than weight gain.

Demonizing sellers coping with multiple types of inflation is part of the process. Blaming the wrong parties is the plan all along. Raising prices or shrinking portion size is the quandary faced by sellers demonized by crusading office-fillers who handed them toxic waste.

Failing to grasp severe costs makes them even more expensive. Take how minimum wage maximizes poverty. I hope anyone lucky enough to survive the salary inflation purge enjoys doing more, as the few who are lucky enough to ever get hired find themselves doing a higher percentage of job duties.

There won't be raises for doing extra tasks, as your kindly governor cut the payroll budget. By design or not, managers trying to scrape by daily are inadvertently forced to include prayer in their business plans. Hourly workers should feel blessed they haven't been replaced by egg-cracking robots, yet.

Not paying is more than an example of poor character. Dashing on the bill is only okay when government calls it legal. Compensating the party that provided you with an item or service is controversial in these very sane financial moments.

Owing money means you learned from the government. Cancel debt like political science majors demand to dodge the consequences of spending a fortune on a not very valuable degree. If we're going to pretend we can defy economics and algebra, go big.

Students were just joking when they signed. Neglecting to return what was agreed to be borrowed is neither an economic victory nor triumph of personal character. Shrieking about corporate entities is trendy for those out to make fraud legal. Someone gets ripped off, but I'm sure they'll keep working. It's the law.

Mathematical and moral titans never consider what the looted side isn't getting when you think of all the things you could buy by not paying debts. Lenders who doled out funds might like to get their cash returned. The bills don't even need to feature the same serial numbers.

A contract is not quite as greedy as portrayed. Otherwise, loaners won't be able to pay back what they themselves borrowed. We'd undoubtedly all be rich if everyone stopped paying. Jurisdictions that stopped prosecuting shoplifting sure seem prosperous.

Affecting everyone is how to bring Americans together. Liberals love making life collective so misery is universal. Are you enjoying equality? Endless mandates and interdictions drag down universally, and forcing everyone to suffer spurs that spirit of commonality just like not having enough meat during World War II. Today's battle is against generating worth. We really are all in this together.

It's tough to think of a more childish approach than proclaiming everything to be free, which is impressive for liberalism. Proclaiming that everything is allegedly complimentarily now applies to money itself.

Purportedly enriched recipients sure seem a lot sadder and hungrier than you'd might figure. Getting something for nothing is way better than working, you fool. But what if those negative jerks are right about there being some kind of catch? If you're given money without a transaction, you're the one being bought.

Ghastly costs sure seem to be piling up here in a world that was supposed to be liberated from demeaning notions like prices. But allegedly menial tasks enable any freedoms we enjoy. It's way better to have to go to some stupid job every weekday than wait for the Treasury to send checks. Each round dilutes the next. We're broke and headachy without enjoying the previous evening.

At least, prices don't skyrocket if people are obtaining money by earning it. It turns out others preferred getting paid to not work, as well. The mandate for stuff to appear is violating itself.

True selfishness takes the form of thinking what someone else received from bartering is yours to use for your own deals. Same ensuing trades are inevitably mandatory, so enjoy participation in something you can't decline. Demonizing business owners who made fortunes by offering goods so desirable that customers freely handed over currency is standard practice for politicians who don't grasp that supply and demand affects printing money, too.

Confiscating what those alleged parasites earned in order to spend it attempting to defy basic exchange is treated as the apex of altruism. Currency tosses replacing earning it don't just stunt character: ensuing devaluation means you don't even get away with much. Buying votes sure gets expensive. Prices are just the start.

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jenomark · 3 years

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Can i request an ideal type for all members? Like just your thoughts on what the members need please

Keep in mind that this is not truth. I'm not going to focus on the physical stuff, because physical preferences change all of the time. I'll just focus on what kind of person I think they need/want, or what I think they should gravitate towards more. 💚

Also, I answer these kinds of questions a lot, but my ideas do change. Keep that in mind, also.

Taeil: I think he would be so in love with someone whose personality is not unlike Haechan. Someone who ends up being the life of the party. Someone who cares about keeping other people happy and entertained. Someone with a larger than life personality to balance out his own. Someone to bring him out of his shell more (because we all know the real Taeil is a wild man, tbh). Someone extraverted and friendly. However, he'll need them to be serious when it's time to be serious. I also think he'll need someone that really understands his lifestyle, because I can't see him with someone not in some part of the entertainment industry.

Johnny: I think, when Johnny sees people, he wonders if that person will be a good marriage partner for him. There is something about him, to me, that suggests he's modeling relationships off of what he's experienced growing up. He'll need someone with a similar personality to him. It's not because he's vain, it's just that he wants things so badly to be fun and stress-free. So, with that said, their sense of humor has to be amazing. He is a leader type, but I think he'll switch to being a follower type when he finds his ideal type. He'll like it, too. I think he'll end up falling for someone not from his native country. Differences are interesting and cool to him.

Taeyong: Honestly, someone that can take care of him. He's not looking for a mother figure. He's not looking to be babied. I always get the feeling he just wants someone to take over for a while and tell him things will be okay. Someone empathetic. Judging by what he shows us, animal lovers are ideal. Don't laugh at how seriously he takes things sometimes. I think that would kill him. I always see him with someone mentally and emotionally strong. The opposite they are to him, the better. I can see him being interested in someone he works with, but I do think he's the type to get caught up in how people make him feel rather than how good they would truly be for him. I genuinely hope someone good and sweet finds him eventually!

Yuta: Someone who can deal with the intensity he dishes out. They have to be strong and capable, mentally and emotionally. They can't clash with his ideas or opinions, but they also can't back down. He'll be looking for someone who can keep up with him. I do think they would have to have a degree of goofiness to them, though. I don't think he's as serious as he can present himself to be. Someone charming. Someone that can hold an interesting conversation. Someone who makes him feel like home, if that makes sense. He needs to feel at ease in a relationship.

Kun: Someone focused and mature. He feels like someone who would be honored to find a partner just like himself. In a weird way, I think he would look at a reflection of himself and be turned on. However, I happen to agree with him on this one. Someone who enjoys what he enjoys would compliment him well. Someone affectionate and open to receiving his affection. Someone disciplined and wise beyond their years. Though, I do think they would have to differ from him somehow because he'll need someone to help him chill out. For this reason, I would probably place him with someone younger but mature.

Doyoung: Someone even more outgoing than he is. Extroversion. Someone he can learn from and follow. Someone that likes to cuddle and stay inside, but they can also go out and have fun. He's not picky at all. His restlessness makes him want everything and to experience everything at once, so his ideal type ends up looking like a million people squished into one. Personally, I would like to see him with someone mature. I don't want anyone that will be reckless with his soft heart. Someone he can sing with, I think. I feel that would be best for him, because I think it will create a tighter bond.

Ten: Since he knows people really well, he knows what is best for himself. I think he has a whole lot of qualities on a list that he wants. Someone artistic. Someone without an attitude. Someone that lets him live freely. They'll have to understand him, and they can't just pretend to understand him because he'll know right away if they don't. Someone gentle with him. Someone who sees his heart. Someone that feels like a soulmate to him. Someone who can live in the different world he's created for both of them. I think the person he goes for will be spiritual and creative and just everything that embodies Ten as a person.

Jaehyun: Someone pretty. That isn't necessarily a physical thing, because someone can be pretty on the inside, too. Someone who doesn't make him think or talk too much. He doesn't want drama. He doesn't want anything that is too hard. I do get the feeling that he likes femininity a whole lot. Someone who is private about their affairs but knows how to celebrate their own accomplishments. He'll need a best friend as well as a lover in that person. I see him with someone in the entertainment industry, but I think he'll always go for someone people least expect him to. Honestly, they might have to be a little weird, since his energy is a little offbeat.

WinWin: Ideally, I think he wants someone that excites him. Someone who acts one way in public and another way privately. Though observant, his attention sometimes isn't the best, so someone that thrills him would keep him interested. Whether or not that's good for him, only he knows. He likes giving support and likes knowing that they're pleased by that support. He has a lot of determination to do what other people do not want him to do, and I think that might translate into relationships. He'll probably go for someone opinionated and talkative. Someone that will let him spoil the shit out of them and treat them like royalty.

Jungwoo: His ideal type is someone just like him. For better or for worse, they'll have to know what he's like when they're with him. Someone clever is good. He likes mental games and likes to be kept on his toes. Someone that can teach him new things. I think he likes to be surprised. Outdo and outspeak him. On the flipside of all the chaos, he's deeply sensitive and probably needs someone who understands what it means when he's stressed. Someone patient, because he's not a person who opens up as easily. A good listener. Honestly, someone that isn't scared to call him out sometimes can't hurt.

Lucas: Someone who is fun enough for him to take his mind off of things. He has a lot of worries, so he'll need someone to take his worries and turn them into something positive. Someone dependable. Someone who has had shared experiences. Someone who understands everything he is not saying. For this, I definitely think he'll need someone in the entertainment industry. I think his ideal type reads a bit different from what he might need. There is a part of me that feels he has no idea what he really needs or wants. To me, he seems like someone who, right now, just wants to be loved.

Mark: Ambition and independence is a big theme. He needs a hard worker, first and foremost. They would have to give everything 110%. Next, he needs someone with similar values and morals. They, of course, don't have to see eye-to-eye with him about everything, because he's quite accepting, but he can't be with someone who doesn't believe in anything at all. Friendliness is good, but extraversion isn't needed. He needs someone devoted to him. Someone confident and sure of themselves. He'll need someone who can hang around when things get tough, which they will. I can't see him with someone too wild.

Xiaojun: Whether he wants it or not, ideally, someone who can put him in his place. He does need someone to guide him. He needs a boss, in a sense, but not someone too prideful to accept his love. He has a lot of love to give. I think he's addicted to people who are loud and crazy. He needs a big presence in a personality. He wants to always be stunned when this person walks into a room. Someone who likes to play and have fun. If they're too stuffy or serious, Xiaojun starts to change himself, and he doesn't want to do that. Whomever they are, I think his eyes will light up whenever he sees them.

Hendery: Someone sensitive. His ideal person is the same whether it's for a relationship or a friendship. He needs someone who thinks about the welfare of other people. Compassionate. Kind. Welcoming. Humor is a big need. If his person can't make a fool out of themselves, he's not likely to be interested. He wouldn't want them being self-deprecating, though. Someone who believes in and loves themselves is important. I think he wants someone to romance him rather than just him romancing them. The more I get to know him, the more I feel like he strives to be a really good husband for someone someday.

Renjun: I think he would fall so deeply in love with someone bubbly and cute. Someone a little extraverted, friendly, and probably a little annoying. Someone that makes him feel shy when he talks to them. Someone that can talk him down from a ledge. He has tendencies to be a little pessimistic, so someone optimistic is perfect for him. Whomever they are, I see them being small and sweet. A good listener. If they can do the things for him that he does for other people, he would be very thankful. For some reason, I see him wanting to date friends of his friends.

Jeno: I've always seen him with someone older. Not by too many years. I think, no matter what age, they would have to treat him as an equal. Ideally, his type would have the same interests that he does. He would love nothing more than to do an activity and for them to be truly happy about joining him. Someone caring. Someone kind. Someone that other people would call a nice person. He wouldn't want to be taken advantage of in any way. Therefore, someone with a fiery and self-serving personality won't work with him. He needs calmness and simpleness. He doesn't need your support, but he's touched if he has it.

Haechan: Someone who understands him. Don't change the things you don't like about him, but offer to help him grow. I say this a lot about him, but he definitely needs someone patient and compassionate. I think, if he had it his way, he would go for another singer/artist, but I don't think that's the best idea. I think he needs normalcy in a relationship, or it will have the tendency to make him depressed along the line. Someone very intelligent and clever, like, they have to be able to back up what they're talking about. Mental sparring turns him on. If you can play with him and not get hurt so easily, it's ideal.

Jaemin: Stability!!!! It's, like, his number one thing. He is self-sufficient all on his own, so if you don't add any stability to his life,there is no use for you. I think he looks at love in a very logical way. He just wants someone to share his life with. He wants what is his and he wants them to have what is theirs, but to also come together in a way that is mutually beneficial. Honesty is a must, because it's what he values in others. He'll probably need someone who isn't bossy or dominate. He's not someone who takes too kindly to being told what to do, to be honest. Someone wise. Someone intelligent. Someone low-maintenance.

YangYang: Someone that doesn't take themselves too seriously. Someone who makes him laugh a lot . I think, right now, his ideal type physically is very shallow and typical of someone his age (for the most part). The more important parts read like: "Someone my mom likes." or "Someone who makes me be a better person." I do think YangYang thinks a lot about what's on the inside of a person and how that affects him in the long run. He'll want someone kind and easygoing, someone that has good values and morals. Something also tells me he has this idea about love that can be very much like a fairytale. He can be very naive, so someone who knows what they're doing can only help serve him.

Shotaro: I think his ideal type list is miles long but he'll never admit exactly what is on it. His expectations are high, but realistic. He needs someone energetic, someone who wants the same things out of life that he does. Someone trustworthy. Someone intelligent and savvy about the industry. I kind of get the sense that he is picky about who he chooses to love, like, he knows exactly what he wants. I want for him to go for someone who looks tough on the outside but is really soft around the edges. I kind of want him to go for a dancer, but something tells me he stays away from all of that.

Sungchan: Someone he can help. Someone he can take care of, cherish, nurture, love for life. He has a really good and lovable personality, so I think he's going to attract exactly what he's looking for. He'll need someone bold, too, like, they have to match the fearless vibe he sometimes has going on. If they're bolder than him, it's a plus, because he sometimes feels like a coward. I can see them also being a little awkward, and I really think he's attracted to that awkward energy. He'll want his ideal type to make sense when other people look at them together. Someone chill and drama-free. I don't think he cares what kind of job they have or where they come from, just that they make him happy.

Chenle: When I think about it, his ideal type feels simple. He doesn't feel like someone who really needs much in life. The qualities he wants are basic things like: nice, fun, honest, loves him, doesn't like to argue too much etc. I think Chenle's main requirement is probably that the person loves and respects his family. I don't think he's too fussy. I can't see him with someone who likes being part of the spotlight. I think he needs a low key relationship where two people can flourish in each other's company. I do think he draws people to him that he might be so tolerant towards that he won't realize they're manipulating him. Either way, I think relationships are the furthest thing from his mind at the moment.

Jisung: Someone most likely older than him. It's not that he needs someone to lead him in life, just that he likes learning from people who have different experiences. I also kind of feel like he has a need to be taken seriously and seen as mature, so someone more experienced will do that for him. Someone who expresses their own emotions well and can see where his emotions are coming from. His ideal type would need to be best friends with him first. Building friendship is important to someone like him. If you pass the friendship vibe check, he's up to seeing where else it goes. I think he would be into someone artsy and cute, someone soft and kind. I wouldn't be surprised if he went and found himself a little weirdo.

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theabigailthorn · 4 years

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Hey Olly, I’m pro free housing, but i often get stuck on how it would work? Like, how would who gets what housing be decided? What if everyone wants to move to a beach town but all the housing is taken—do people get on some kind of wait list? Should housing be run by the govt, or should it be generational, like you bequeath your housing? Idk when I think about a system where you apply to the govt for your housing and it gets approved or denied, I worry about corruption/tankie shit. Any thoughts?

I get this a lot, and in the first instance I think it’s often framed in a pretty unrealistic way. I very much doubt everybody would suddenly want to move to a beach town because people put down roots wherever they are and have connections and jobs there.

That said, obviously people will want to move sometimes, just like now - so you’re right to think about how that would work! I can imagine that a local council, or some public body under local democratic control, would have a list online of all the properties that are currently empty. If you're looking to move you can browse the list, pick one you like, and apply! If more than one person applies for the same house then we can have a lottery system (unless it’s got special features that one person needs, like it’s on the ground floor and they can’t do stairs, in which case we can let them take priority there). Once you get the house you can pick up the keys and move in! You would be responsible for maintaining it, so once every so often someone from that local body will come round and say, “Hey, you need to clear the gutters or install some fire doors or whatever.” Once you’re done you give back the keys and move out! The important thing to realise is that whilst not everybody will get their first choice house - that is already true of the current system. No rent, no mortgages. The house is not owned by anybody and so it cannot be sold: homes are no longer the sorts of things that can legally be commodities.

Won’t there be corruption and people moving their friends up the list for the nicer houses? Almost definitely! Again though - real estate corruption already happens under the current system. At least this way nobody dies of homelessness and nobody amasses fortunes on the backs of other people’s misery.

Won’t this mean every estate agent and landlord is out of a job? Yup. But we will also be creating new jobs! Someone will need to administer that list, manage applications, show people round properties, inspect them... Seems like estate agents have a lot of transferrable skills that will be useful! Their new jobs will be much more stable since they won’t be conditional on the fluctuations in the housing market! Let’s make sure they’re unionised with pensions and decent wages while we’re at it!

But people won’t take care of the houses if they don’t own them! It’s hard to think of anything that has more evidence against it than this. Private renters already take care of housing which they don’t own because they live there. My landlord hasn’t set foot in my flat for three years: I do all the cleaning and repairs and I make it a home. The owner does zilch!

But what if someone wants to come into my house and just live there? Same thing that happens now if you rent, you have a right to privacy so you can tell them to leave? I don’t own the flat I currently live in, but I can control who comes in - even the owner is required to give me notice.

But I want to own a house someday so I can sell it and getta tha mon-ey! Tough titties I’m afraid. You don’t get to amass wealth at the expense of other human beings anymore.

I agree that the current housing crisis is a problem, but can’t we just introduce strong pro-tenant regulations? The housing market and the housing crisis are the same thing. That’s the point. Consider that every regulation you introduce will be challenged and eroded by the most rich and powerful people in the world. We have tried for over a century to regulate our way out of the housing crisis and it’s been a miserable, deadly failure. It’s time to cut the Gordian knot and realise that we will not solve the housing crisis until we do to landlords what Thatcher did to the miners: absolutely remove them as a political force.

But who will build new houses if nobody can sell them for a profit? We have a free healthcare system, don’t we? Why not a housing system too? It’s not perfect of course, and it’s vulnerable to privatisation by the backdoor, but if a job needs doing the government can pay people to do it - that is a thing that can happen.

But I already paid half my mortgage! Now you’re telling me my house isn’t an asset anymore? Admittedly, that sucks. But hey, at least you don’t have to pay the other half, and now you live in a society where you will never go homeless!

Won’t wages go down once people no longer have to pay rent or mortgages? Maybe. Sounds like a good reason to join a union and have robust minimum wage laws for everybody! But even if they did - if your living costs have just been reduced by half cause you aren’t paying rent anymore and there’s now zero chance that you will end up on the streets, you could lose some wages and still be fine.

But people won’t go to work if they don’t have to pay rent! Absolutely right. Would you still go to work at your shitty job if you had free housing? Would you maybe go half as much, and spend the other half doing something you actually enjoy? If your boss harasses you or makes your job miserable, aren’t you now in a much better position to say, “Screw your job!” Guaranteeing free housing puts a massive amount of power in the hands of workers and would expose just how coercive capitalism is! Suddenly, if rich people want their floors cleaned or their coffee served - well they’d better pay the person doing that job properly or it won’t get done. All the people who actually keep society running in low-paid shitty jobs are suddenly able to demand the respect they deserve. Every pro-worker party should be demanding free housing: it’s hard to think of a move that would benefit the working class more than taking away the threat of homelessness used to keep them in line.

Won’t banks be in serious trouble if mortgages suddenly aren’t a thing? Probably. Some might go under. They will not get bailouts - if bailouts are required they will go directly to the employees and customers, who, remember, have all just had their living costs massively reduced because they have free housing now. They will not end up on the streets because homelessness won’t exist.

This is ridiculous! For most of human history housing was not a commodity. There is more empty housing now than homeless people. The fact that people find it difficult to imagine an alternative now is a function of Capitalist Realism, but a lack of imagination on their part isn’t a moral or intellectual failing on mine.

I’m a foreign billionaire and I bought loads of property in your country so I can leave them empty to inflate my assets/launder my money that I got from doing crimes. Now you’re telling me I’m going to lose everything cause you’re confiscating those properties and letting people live in them?! Get rekt lol

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onlydreamofmysoul · 3 years

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The Prince and The Pornstars

Chapter Four

Chapter four here we go! This chapter was weird because I knew exactly what I wanted for all the chapters after this one, but the issue was getting through this first! However then I had a brainwave and yay here we are!

Happy New Year my lovely, lovely people!!!

Credit for characters of course to the incomparable @lumosinlove

Finn

“I’m telling you June, I think I’m going crazy.”

June looked up at him skeptically over her coffee. “So you have a new job.”

“Yes.”’

“Working for pornstars.”

“Uh huh.”

“And you’re attracted to two of them.”

“So it would seem.”

“Who also happen to be a couple.”

“That would be correct.”

June tipped her head towards him. “I’ve gotta say Finn, when I said you needed to get out there, I did not see this coming.”

Finn nearly spat out a mouthful of his own caffeine hit. “It’s not like I did it on purpose!” He groaned, that aching feeling in his chest even more prominent now that he was actually acknowledging it. “And what am I supposed to do? It’s not like I can ask them out I mean for start that’s probably sexual harassment or something, like you know what I do for them.”

“So why not wait until you’re a proper makeup artist and you know, not doing that anymore.”

Finn bit his lip helplessly. “Because I want them now.” He groaned, dragging out the last word pathetically. “But it’s not like I could even be with them either way - they’re with each other!” He met June’s eyes. “And it’s not like they’re just messing around June, they’re properly in love. You should see the way they look at each other.”

“The way you want them to look at you?”

Finn flushed. “You know what? We’re moving on from me. How’s that girl you’ve been pining after for months? What’s her name again? Oh yes, Heather.” Finn teased, knowing exactly what her name was. He had heard about very little except the woman since she and June had met.

The little bell above the door chimed and Finn looked up out of habit, ever curious to the goings on in the world. June was saying something back to him, undoubtedly sarcastic, undoubtedly evasive, but Finn could no longer hear her. No, instead all he could focus on was the fact that Leo and Logan had just walked in.

He gripped June’s arm and she started at him confused but he still wasn’t looking at them. Leo had gone straight to the counter to order but Logan was looking around for a table and spotted them. Finn smiled weakly and June turned around to see what was going on.

Logan seemed frozen for a minute, but gathered himself and walked over. “Hey Finn.”

“Logan, hi.”

June’s eyebrows rose comically. “Logan, really? Interesting.” She turned to Logan and held out her hand. “I’m June, it’s lovely to meet you.”

Logan shook her hand, blinking. “Yeah, you too.”

Finn gestured to the empty chairs around them. “Do you wanna join us?”

Logan bit his lip, hesitant. “Are you sure? We wouldn’t want to disturb.”

June jumped in before Finn could say anything. “Of course not, grab a seat.”

Logan did so, sliding in next to them and Finn couldn’t help but laugh at Leo’s face when he finally arrived and realised who they had run into. Finn introduced him to June and they chatted for a bit, about everything and nothing at all.

“So, we go onto set and literally everyone except James is stark naked, right?” Leo was saying, in stitches laughing. “And James is like ‘wait, what’s going on?’ except no one ever acknowledges it, we just pretend nothing is happening.”

“All because he tried, and failed to prank you one time?” June asked, tears of laughter forming in her eyes.

Leo nodded earnestly, “We take these things very seriously.”

“Attends attends,” Logan added, still wheezing a little, “You’re forgetting the best part.”

“Oh my god, what’s the best part?”

“After lunch, James came back naked as the day he was born, and we had all put our clothes back on.”

The table broke into a fresh round of laughter, the patrons of the coffee shop looking at them disdainfully.

“Even Lily?” Finn asked.

“Oh, especially Lily.” Leo was saying. “They may be married, but he tried to trick her too. She was going to take him down.” They all chuckled again and June checked her phone as she finished her second round of coffee.

“I think we’d all better get going before we’re all late for work.”

They gathered up and Finn agreed to walk with Leo and Finn. June was going in the other direction so when they made it outside the door he kissed her on the cheek goodbye.

“Text me later, yeah?” She said, giving him a quick half-hug.

“Yeah of course, love you.”

“Love you too! Have a good day!”

“So… June seems great.” Leo hedged after they had walked a bit, keeping a relatively fast pace to ensure they made it on time.

“Oh yeah, she’s the best.” Finn agreed, and it was true, he and June had been best friends for years.

“We’re having a little party next week.” Logan said. “If you wanted to come? You could bring June too of course.”

Finn couldn’t help but feel a burst of confusion at the ‘of course’ but he figured that was for Future Finn to work out. For now, he had an invitation to accept.

“Yeah, I’d love to! I mean, I’ll have to check with June of course, but I’m in. Thanks guys.”

They arrived at their building, walking straight in. The guy at the desk greeted them hello, even knowing Finn’s name at this point. They walked through the lobby and in the double doors, waving to everyone they came across. Leo and Logan both went to their respective dressing rooms and Finn kept going until he reached the makeup department. For the first time since he’d been here, Celeste wasn’t there before him, so he set to work organising the stockroom a little until she arrived and told him what needs to go where. And then of course, what sets and with whom he’d be working with that day.

He organised peacefully for a minute before his mind inevitably went to the same place it seemed to always go nowadays. Which was to say he was most certainly not thinking about Leo and Logan.

Nope. Not at all.

Not one single bit.

(Okay maybe a little.)

(A little meaning a whole lot).

He sighed and tilted his head back, staring up at the fluorescent lights for a minute. It was like he had said to June - he was not going to do this. He was not going to start crushing on his co-workers. He was not going to start crushing on his co-workers who were in a committed relationship with each other.

Never mind the whole fact that Finn worked for them. He couldn’t just start liking them this way. It felt morally wrong.

(But it also felt so, so right. Emotions like this - they could make you believe in fate).

He came out of the stockroom to find Celeste bustling around in a hurry.

“Well, well, well,” Finn teased, “Look who finally decided to show up.”

“Désolée,” Celeste said, beginning to apologise before she turned around and realised Finn was only playing with her. “Oh you are wicked O’Hara. I could have you fired you know.”

“You could,” Finn mused, pushing himself off the door frame where he had been leaning. “But you won’t. Now, what do you need me to do?”

Finn headed down the corridor, delivering costumes, sniggering when he handed in James’ one, much to the other man’s confusion, then he continued making his rounds. He gave Logan and Noelle identical maid outfits (for different films of course. Leo wasn’t the only one Logan didn’t work with) and currently, neither of them were the wiser. Finn could have told them... But he figured it would be far more entertaining for them to figure out on their own.

It was going to be busy today; he was working with Logan first, then Leo and he would be going back and forth between the two sets as the other ‘rookie’, Ollie was out sick today. Everyone here had great fun with ‘O’Hara and ‘O. Halla’, the two fluffers. He went to Logan’s set, smiling at everyone before going directly to Logan, there would be no chit-chat today, it was straight to business as Finn was needed elsewhere. He was glad they had all been able to talk this morning instead, he would have missed his little updates on their lives.

“Back again, are we?” Logan teased, raising his eyebrow as he lay back on the futon that would be starring in today's filming. He untied his robe and tucked an arm underneath his head, looking at Finn through lowered lashes. Cocky.

Finn gave him a look that made sure Logan knew with no uncertainty that Finn was aware of his every movement, before looking him right in the eye as he took Logan’s cock in his hand. Logan gasped and Finn steadied his hips with his free hand as he stroked him quickly. One thing he would never not love about Logan was how incredibly responsive he was. Every single thing Finn did was reflected in some way. The stutter of his hips when he circled his thumb over the head. The intake of breath when Finn’s fingers would accidently brush that damned tattoo. The flash in those green eyes when Finn would bite his own lip.

Logan was hard and ready in no time and Finn rose, throwing him a playful wink before waltzing out of the room.

“He’s all yours, boys.” He called to the producers and laughed a little as he left the room. He had made a vow to himself before he went on set today - he would not fucking blush. It would seem that so far, he had succeeded.

Leo was always a little harder to judge than Logan, but Finn was learning quickly. He liked when Finn’s hand might slip lower and tease his balls. He wasn’t as affected by a little scrape of Finn’s nails. Finn was getting good though, he was learning their bodies, almost as well as he knew his own. Leo always almost came undone when Finn would twist his wrist, hand curled around his tip. Finn had to control himself when he made that discovery. That was what always did it for him too.

Sometimes at night, Finn's mind would slip to them. Then he would feel guilty and think about something else, anything else. Porn was ruined for him now, although he had to admit, it had never done all that much for him in the first place. He always ended up thinking about Leo and Logan again, but never from what he saw on set. No, Finn’s active imagination would slip to what they might be like by themselves, what they might be like with Finn. His orgasms would always come with the crashing reality that his dreams would never come to be.

“Me and Lo, it’s for us. It’s not something anyone else gets to see.”

Finn sighed and gritted his jaw as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and sent a quick text to June.

Fancy going to a party next week?

Would this happen to be a pornstar party?

… Maybe

Yeah I’m in.

Oh, and Finn?

Yeah?

You’re so fucked.

Finn rested his head back on the wall behind him. Yeah, yeah he was.

#the prince and the pornstars #tpatp #the prince and the pornstars chapter 4 #coast to coast lumosinlove #lumosinlove #sweater weather lumosinlove #finn o'hara #Leo knut #logan tremblay #o'knutzy #celeste dumais #James Potter #Lily Evans #18+

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onelastbreath-writes · 3 years

Text

I Spy

Pairing: Frankie “Catfish” Morales/Fem!Reader (AFAB, no y/n)

Word Count: 1.7K

Warnings: Brief mention of bad(abusive/manipulative) parents, general adult topics, swearing.

Summary: You meet a cute guy at a bar, you date, you fall in love, and oops, it turns out you’ve both been lying about your careers. Classified only stays classified until you get assigned a mission together. (SpecOps&Spies, with Young!Frankie)

A/N: Hey guys, I was bad and started another fic. Whoops. This one is for Triple Frontier because I love that soft boi Francisco. The flavour of this fic, the vibe if you will, is basically the spiderman pointing meme. I’ve vaguely set the timeline to like mid-2000s? so I’ll be trying my best to stay true to technology and aesthetic of the era. There was so much denim. Anyways, that means I’m trying to write for about a 27-33 year old Frankie and a similarly aged reader. I don’t see this series being more than a couple chapters at best, so it’ll be short and sweet. Also, like, very little angst if I can help it; I just want this one to be a good, cute, fun read. Hope y’all enjoy! Xoxo

[AO3][Masterlist]

“So, you’re coming out tonight, right? You’re not busy or anything?”

“Please don’t say it like that, you know how busy work actually is. And I’m a grown woman; if I didn’t want to go to a shady dive bar with you and your very loud friends from the office, I’d say so,” You loved your best friend, and you missed spending time together, but you really couldn’t say the same for her co-workers.

You had nothing against the women she worked with, and you found that they were all perfectly lovely and usually quite fun to be around… it was just that when the alcohol came out, the volume control and verbal filters disappeared.

You wouldn’t say that barhopping was what you’d prefer to be doing tonight, along with more or less babysitting your friend and her friends, but you didn’t know when you’d next be able to squeeze in a night off to just hang out and have fun, so this was happening. You would laugh and smile and keep the drunk secretaries from going home with questionable people, and then you would look back on your ladies’ night with fond memories until you could eventually attend another.

You had known when you picked your career that it would be an around-the-clock, all-day, every-day sort of thing. You never deluded yourself into thinking you would have much of a social life or long-term relationships. Most partners, hell even most friends, would have a problem with you jetting off for weekends, or disappearing for days at a time under mountains of paperwork and appointments.

It just made your best friend that much more important to you. You’d met as kids, went through years of school beside each other, hung out, did stupid teenager things and then stupid young adult things together. You’d cried and laughed and fought and made up a million times, you’d gone to different colleges and still kept in touch, moved away, moved back, and you were still going strong. She was your ride-or-die, your anchor and your parachute and everything in between, so if you could use some of your precious, hoarded, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it time off to see her, that’s just what you’d do.

“You should take some of that fire, and direct it at your boss. Tell him no for a change. I’d love to see his face at that!” She meant well, always trying to look out for you and your health when it came to your beyond demanding job. You weren’t even allowed to tell her a fraction of what you were doing in your professional life, and she knew it, but that didn’t stop her from being ready to throw fists at your employer at a moment’s notice.

“One does not simply tell the über-rich that they don’t need to fly to Paris, again. Being a PA is a full-time nannying gig, except your charge is an adult who can argue when you say no, and you cannot put them on timeout when they’re being a brat. Where he goes, I go, and unless something drastic happens, it will probably continue on like that for a while.” She laughed at your jokes, and your heart hurt a little less at her glee. You knew she would never give up on you or blame you for your work being unpredictable, but that didn’t make the sting of last-minute cancels and missed outings hurt any less, for either of you.

“But it must be nice, just getting on a plane and going somewhere amazing at the drop of a hat. Travelling the world like a superstar, meeting people, having amazing adventures with mysterious strangers…”

“Easy there, Mamma Mia, your wanderlust is showing. And I’d take you with me in a heartbeat if I could. You were born to be a jetsetter, not to be stuck in this town with nothing but the office cubicle beside you to stare at. And I still think you should apply for one of those immersive culture grants you keep mooning over. They’d be fools not to fund your writing expedition!” She was an incredible person, three full degrees to her name in the time it took a normal student to get one, and a brain that could run miles around the rest of the professionals in her field. But she was tethered to this quiet backwater town, and she wasn’t free to fly like she deserved.

“You know I can’t just… go, like you can. My mom, it’d just break her heart… I don’t want to leave her alone, not after Dad,” You honestly doubted that you’d ever meet a woman more horrible and undeserving of her own daughter’s kindness. Helen was a parasite full of lies and manipulations and greed, and she had attached herself like a bad rash to your friend after she’d chased away the rest of her family members.

Your friend searched for the good in everyone, but you wished she’d stop looking for it at that home.

“You deserve your own happiness and freedom, and she should be encouraging you to spread your wings if and when you’re ready.” Politicking your friend was never something you enjoyed. She was the last person you wanted to use your negotiating credentials and sly subterfuge tactics against, but you wanted, needed, her safety and health more. You considered it almost bribery; dangling her dream future in front of her in exchange of being rid of the garbage in her life.

“Hey now, we’re getting way too deep into sad-drunk night conversations, and this is strictly a happy-fun-drunk night. Please leave all baggage and woes at the door, thank you!” You admitted your defeat and surrendered your verbal power point on Why Helen Needs to Disappear. You would get her next time for sure, give her the accelerant to burn down that bridge. “Anyways, the reason I called was to remind you of our haunt for the night. One of the girls, Kelly, you remember Kelly, found this adorable little hole in the wall. A total boys’ club apparently: darts, pool, sports games on the TV, but Kelly’s sister’s friend’s brother Tyler said the place was a favourite of the local army guys. So, if nothing else, we’ll at least have some hunks to look at for a while. It’ll be great!”

You jotted down the directions to the bar as she listed them, and the time you were expected to arrive there.

“Oh! And wear that cute little blue number you bought last spring; I know you still have it so don’t you dare lie. It makes your ass and legs look divine, and I think you could stand to make a new acquaintance tonight.” That Little Blue Number was buried in the back of your closet where you had hoped it would remain forever, but luck was not on your side tonight it seemed. But it did make you look, and feel, fantastic. It was just so… breezy. “And heels! Real ones, not your cute little personal assistant kitten heels. Those black strappy ones would work like a dream!” You just sighed dramatically into the receiver and agreed to her demands.

“I’ll let you go now, and yes, I suppose I can be presentable tonight, dress and all. See-ya later!”

---

Hole in the wall was right. This place was basically underground it was so on the D.L. It was warm inside though, and in the middle of autumn with so much skin on display, you could not be more pleased to get away from the chilled outside air.

You would describe the interior as comfortable with a hint of rustic; lots of warm dark wood and low lights, mixed with the soft Latin music crooning in the background and the few patrons’ conversations adding to the ambience.

All in all, it was probably the nicest dive bar you’d been to in your hometown.

Your party was easy to spot where they had claimed a group of pushed together tables towards the far side of the establishment, and you carefully made your way over to them in your tricky high heels.

You said your hellos to returning faces and introduced yourself to the new additions, and accepted the chair you were pointed to and the drink pressed into your hand.

And so, the hours rolled.

You had enjoyed two fruity cocktails and a flaming shot before you called it quits on the alcohol for the night. You still had a few hours to sober up enough to drive home safely, and you would be able to help the girls get to their rides and ways home too. You appreciated having a social drink or two, but you didn’t care for hangovers and would happily take slightly tipsy over party-hard drunk anytime. Plus, your contract stated you were on-call, always, and you could be required to navigate high-stress negotiations at the drop of a hat. It was just better to cut yourself off, then reap the consequences of your actions later.

You tapped your friend’s shoulder as you walked past and leaned over to talk into her ear. “I’m getting some water for the table; do you want anything else?”

“Mmmm, no I think we’re good for now, thanks!” She was plastered already, but she had a huge grin on her face and was laughing at her co-workers’ stories, so you considered it a win of a night. You gave her a pat goodbye and swayed your way to the bar.

But you just were not accounting for the uneven floorboards, or how much your heels affected your currently less than steady equilibrium, and before you could blink you were teetering over into a nasty fall.

“Whoa there, easy does it, muñequita” Arms wrapped around you and pulled you back into a warm chest. “Careful now, don’t go twisting an ankle in those fancy shoes.”

You certainly did not account for the man you turned around to face. Wow.

His hands glided respectfully from where he had caught you around the waist to your still bent and held out elbows, steadying you as you swayed dangerously again.

Warm brown eyes, soft brown curls, and the sweetest smile you’d ever seen. It felt like your heart was going to beat out of your chest, and you knew that it wasn’t left over adrenaline from your near wipeout. He was gorgeous and handling you so gently, and you wanted to spend forever in that moment.

“Hey there, palomita, I’m Frankie, can I buy you a drink?”

[Next Part]

#triple frontier #frankie morales x reader #frankie morales #frankie morales x you #Pedro Pascal #triple frontier fanfiction #pedro pascal x reader

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endof-theline · 3 years

Text

Day 2- Tropetember: Coffee Shop AU

Day 2 going strong with a coffee shop AU!

On Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32328712

Sometimes Bucky hated working his coffee shop job especially since he's working to save up enough to get a replacement prosthetic arm since his current one kept breaking and it was more expensive to get it fixed in the long run.

Times like now, however, he didn't mind it, the customers were quiet and easy to deal with and most orders were to be taken away so Bucky didn't have to worry about cleaning tables while Steve was on his break. Sure Bucky's arm was hurting like hell and his fingers kept twitching without him wanting them too, but it was peaceful right now.

That is until a short, brunette man stumbled in with manic eyes and his whole body looked like it was vibrating, Bucky determined that the man was either drunk or high on something before he was in front of him.

"Can you make the strongest coffee you can morally give me, don't worry if you think I'll die because I won't, just the strongest coffee you'll give me?" The man asked as he leaned on the counter and Bucky had to worry about his morals surrounding coffee, Bucky just nodded before starting to add shot after shot into the drink while the man watched.

"I gotta ask if you're drunk or on drugs right now before I add anymore" Bucky realised, hand hovering over the cup with another shot ready to go.

"Not drunk, no drugs, just not slept in a while but I'm too busy and my friend took my coffee away!" The man explained, angrily slapping the counter before looking at where he had hit and giving a gentle rub like he was trying to soothe it "I mean, can I really call her a friend if she steals my coffee?"

"I guess not" Bucky laughed as he continued adding shots, deciding that now he knew the man hadn't slept for a while he wasn't going to give him as much as he had thought he would "Why did she steal it?"

"Go to bed, Tony, get out of the workshop, Tony, people aren't meant to live off coffee, Tony" The man, pressumbly Tony, mimicked a high voice and mocked it as he scrunched up his nose, Bucky chuckled and shook his head as he finished up the drink and passed it over. Tony took it and immediately took a huge drink of it, eyes widening when he put the cup down with a huge grin on his face "This is awesome, you are now my favourite person ever, Pepper and Rhodey suck and you are the best!"

"Thank you" Bucky couldn't help but laugh at the man who was still grinning at him, Bucky was about to ring him up when the man just handed him fifty dollars.

"That should cover it, right, keep the change and I mean, you personally keep the change because you are my favourite person ever to exist" Tony told him seriously before his phone chimed, Tony looked at the screen and squinted at the words "Fuck, gotta go, keep the money!"

And then the manic man was gone, the customers in the shop all gave Bucky and each other weird looks before they collectively laughed about it and brushed it off, not thinking anything of it. Bucky rang the drink up and realised that he had been given more or less forty dollars as a tip just because he gave a sleep deprived man some horribly strong coffee, and when he told Steve about it the man just laughed and told him to keep it quiet.

Now that should have been it about the manic man, Bucky should never have to relive it and never see him again, that's how the world works… apart from the fact Tony was standing in front of him almost a week later and looking like he was about to collapse from exhaustion any second now.

Bucky quickly, and carefully, helped Tony to a seat as close to the counter as possible so Bucky could keep an eye on him if he needed to while he made Tony's drink before which the man managed to slur out that he wanted it.

"Not drunk, no drugs, just tired" He murmured as he struggled to keep his eyes open to even look at Bucky, but obviously recognised him when he muttered his promise. Bucky nudged the man's arm and placed the cup in front of him, the strong smell of coffee waking him up and getting him to gulp down the drink needily "Life saver, you're still my favourite person"

"And you are becoming my favourite customer" Bucky laughed as he went back to cleaning the empty tables, it was dead in the shop apart from the zombie of a man he was talking to.

"Good, gotta stay in your good books for this coffee" Tony mumbled as he put his head down on the table with a groan, Bucky looked and actually looked at the exhausted man this time and noticed the dark bags under his eyes that almost made him look like he had black eyes and the frown on his face.

"Friend still got your coffee I'm guessing?" Bucky asked curiously because surely the man would have stayed home if he was that tired otherwise.

"Mhm, she doesn't understand how much work I have to do" Tony said quietly with his head still on the table, he sounded like he hadn't slept in weeks and he only moved to take a sip of his drink.

“What do you do for work?” Bucky kept questioning him however as he cleaned up around him, preparing for the rush that normally happened when most people started to leave work. Clint would be getting here half an hour before the rush so he had another pair of hands to help with the coffee orders of tired, stressed workers.

“I’m an engineer” Tony picked his head up as he spoke, his eyes still drooping slightly as he smiled “I design and invent as well”

“That’s amazing, Tony! If you’re so good with mechanics I should get you to take a look at my arm” Bucky laughed and startled when Tony bolted upright, a look of intrigue and confusion on his face “My protestetic is a bit broken” Bucky explained as he wiggled his fingers in Tony’s direction that made the man’s eyes light up.

“I can take a look at it if you want!” Tony chirped excitedly and Bucky laughed again as the engineer made grabby hands at him.

“Sorry doll, I kinda need it right now” Bucky teased and winked when Tony blushed shyly, his eyes darting away before smiling up at him again sweetly “Besides, you just told me how much work you have and I’m saving up to get a new one anyways”

Tony nodded but Bucky noticed how Tony’s eyes were tracking his arm’s movement and typing something on his phone whenever it twitched and glitched, Clint came in just before the rush happened and Bucky couldn’t keep track of what Tony was doing or where he was since Bucky had seen him get up during the rush hour. By the time the rush had been and gone, so had Tony which Bucky tried hard not to feel sad about.

Bucky was surprised to say the least when he walked into work and Natasha handed him a letter, the letter was addressed to him but the actual address was the coffee shop. He frowned but took it into the breakroom to read as he got ready for his shift, he dropped his nametag with a clatter as he had to reread it again and again.

Stark Industries would like to formally offer you a prototype prosthetic, we understand that your current one isn’t fully functional and would like to give you an opportunity to improve the future of prosthetics. If you accept, the prosthetic will be free of charge but you will be required to work with the lead engineer to improve it or make adjustments when needed.

The rest was a lot of legal information and stuff Bucky didn’t really understand, but he was dialing the number they had given him before processing the offer fully. He accepted the offer and gave them all the details he could over the phone before agreeing to send over all his documents regarding his arm. The woman on the phone explained that they’ll get in contact with him once the first model of the arm is ready to go before he hangs up. Bucky decided it was easier just to forward over the old emails he had gotten about the arm instead of trying to type it out, he couldn’t believe that he was actually going to get a new arm and for free!

Bucky couldn’t wipe the smile off his face the rest of the day, immediately telling his friends and coworkers as soon as he could. Nothing could faze his mood, not even when his fingers twitched and he split stale coffee over his lap. Tony didn’t show up today but Bucky vowed to tell him as soon as he saw him.

It was only a week and a half from when he got the letter to his first appointment, he was instructed to wear loose clothes and preferably something short sleeved especially if he wasn’t comfortable taking his shirt off while the engineer was working with him. Bucky rode the elevator up to the R&D level of Stark Industries’ building, he couldn’t stop shaking but smiled excitedly when the elevator doors opened and he stepped into a huge workshop.

“Welcome to my lab!” A familiar voice cheered, his head popped up from a workshop bench as he grinned “Told you I’d take a look at your arm!” Tony jogged over to him and laughed at Bucky’s shocked face.

“You’re Tony Stark?!” Bucky’s voice squeaked before he managed to clear his throat, his eyes still wide in shock as he stared at the man who had been wild when they first met.

“The one and only!” Tony chirped happily before waving Bucky over to the workshop table where a brand new prosthetic arm lay, a panel was open on the side where Tony had been working on it before Bucky interrupted him “I just gotta adjust something and then you’ll be able to get it on and give it a test drive”

Bucky was still in shock and proceeded to be in shock the whole time, he had followed Tony’s instructions during the meeting and tried to make conversation that didn’t make him sound like an idiot. Steve was going to laugh at him forever, Bucky had drunkenly confessed to having a huge crush on the genius after seeing a picture of him on an advert and now Bucky was working closely with him and spending a lot of time with his shirt off.

It took months before the arm was fully functioning and Tony no longer needed Bucky to finish off and the arm was connected and working perfectly, the day they had finished the arm Tony had kissed Bucky’s cheek in excitement as they hugged tightly. Bucky decided at that moment that as soon as they weren’t doing these meetings, Bucky was going to ask Tony out on a date. Tony had agreed with a laugh of ‘finally’ and they immediately made plans for the next evening, the pair’s head beating hard and in sync as they stared at each other with dopey smiles on his face.

And hey, maybe Bucky let the arm get a little busted up after their date to give him an excuse to see Tony again and ask him out once more, Tony rolled his eyes as he fixed the arm with a murmured “Don’t hurt yourself to spend time with me, I worked hard on that arm and I’d hate to think you wouldn’t be able to hold me up with it if it’s damaged”

Bucky was in love.

#tropetember #eotl writes #fanfiction #winteriron #Tony Stark #Bucky Barnes

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ashandboneca · 4 years

Text

Racism, abuse, and why I don’t consider myself a part of the ‘community’

I’d like to talk about the event that pushed me away from the idea of a pagan community, and forced me inwards to further develop my own practice - and about the events of the last few years in regards to continued abuses in the pagan community. About 6 years ago, I started to look into the Norse pantheon. I had worked with Thor in the past, and about 6 or 7 prior to that I did an experiment where I worked with the Aesir for a month. At that point in my life, I didn't connect with them. I don't know why I didn't, I partially blame the terrible book I had for guidance, and the fact that the person who initially agreed to guide me flaked out. However, this time around I endeavoured to learn as much as I could from a reputable source, because the last time I had no idea what I was doing. I approached my friend, who is a practicing forn sidr heathen, and they agreed to teach me what they knew. We spent a number of sessions discussing cosmology and theology. I felt confident going forward, armed with book recommendations and a passion to learn further. I wrote a bit about my experiences openly on my previous blog with Odinn. Interactions with him were not sought after, but something that merely happened. When gods or spirits or ancestors come calling, you answer in some way out of respect. I wrote more about my experiences, and different techniques I utilized to connect with him. None of them were specifically Heathen - but I don't soley identify as Heathen, so I figured if that was an issue, Odinn wouldn't have shown up in the first place.

Some time later, my friend had messaged me to let me know they had gotten some hate mail about me via Witchvox (which no longer exists, but used to be a connection board for finding pagans and witches in your area, as well as open groups, etc). I was initially gobsmacked. Why the hell is someone emailing her in regards to something I did? Wouldn't have been more productive to email or message me to resolve whatever issue? I found it who it was. This person was, at that time, a member of a well recognized organization locally who put on events and rituals - an organization whose first mandate is "We hold that each one of us has their own path to follow to truth and spirit." To be honest, I had never really interacted with this person beyond being paid to do so in my former job at a pagan bookshop. We attended a few of the same events, but never really interacted. There was no real beef. I wasn't particularly fond of said person, but I had no real issues with them - so this came sort of out of left field. I sat on it for a bit. I did not reply to the sender. Instead, I decided to post the initial email on my previous blog. Inevitably, someone is going to disagree with how you practice or what you do, even if you're not doing anything wrong. The point I think is important to underline is that you do not need to stand for other people trying to tear you down, assert some kind of moral superiority over you, or telling you how and when you should be practicing, unless your practice is appropriative - in which case you should be taking a long, hard look at yourself. As heathenry is an open tradition, I had no concerns. I also think transparency is very important, and when people behave badly they often do so to gain something from it. Whether it is attention, drama, or they feel they are in a safe space to do so due to anonymity. So, by posting the email (albeit in edited format - I removed all identifying information about said person, because I wanted to focus on the behaviour, not the person), I felt I was addressing something that more people should have been addressing. Afterwards, my friend received a few more emails about how I was 'pissing on their ancestors' and etc. My friend told them, in no uncertain terms, that the emails were unwelcome, the issue was none of their business, and to fuck off. I also got a few emails, a few messages on Witchvox, a few comments, and a lovely comment from a sockpuppet account here on tumblr, as well as finding out my writing was posted to be mocked because I wasn't 'heathen' enough - with screenshots! I did not respond to anything, just kept record of everything in case it was needed. I disagree with the idea of bringing in some third party who is uninvolved to do one's dirty work. If someone has an issue with how someone else is practicing, they need to question whether it's something to address. Bringing in someone uninvolved is both cowardly and childish. They did not ask to be involved, and I'm not sure what involving another person serves to carry a point. Fight your own battles, or say nothing.

There were a few other instances. A series of screencaps of this person’s continued racist, sexist, and abusive behaviour was provided to a few of us. A known leader was accused of racism and verbal abuse by other members of the community with credible evidence. This leader had a pattern of setting up multiple Facebook accounts and when one was found they would set up a new one with a new name. They talked at length about their feelings on immigration, POC in the Heathen community, and interfaith. They advocated violence and celebrated terrorist acts. Some really troubling, disgusting stuff.

We did what we thought was right - we emailed the organization to tell them and offer proof via said screencaps. In the response, we were told, and I am not bullshitting, that this person was a valued member of the community, that they are 'proud' of their heritage (uh, so am I, but I don't run my mouth off about diversity being white genocide), and that we could essentially go pound sand. I quote "own personal outlook on (their) culture and (their) path. (They are) entitled to (their) own practice as much as anyone of us are, and (they) cares deeply for (their) culture. (They) makes a significant contribution to the Pagan community with (their) efforts through (group). (They are) a hard worker and has accomplished a great many things in (their) time on the board, a commitment that is not to be taken lightly. (They) fulfill (their) duties as a board member admirably."

Do I agree with their hot take on this? No. I think if someone comes to you with an accusation of that kind of wrongdoing, you have a duty to do some manner of preliminary investigation, because if you are in a position where you are teaching people and have authority, those students need to feel safe. You need to determine if the accusations have any truth, and if they are found to be false, feel free to stand behind and assert your belief in the accused. I truly believe the harasser/abuser showed their group the email, and they spun it in some way to discredit us.

Complicity via ignorance is still complicity - it's enough to tarnish an organization's good name. In the working world, business owners have been hung out to dry because of their racist, homophobic, or sexist employee's actions. The whole Kenny Klein situation happened for years because people excused his behaviour and allowed other people to be abused. We are all finger-wagging and clucking when people try to bring up this behaviour - don't be starting drama, oh that's just how (name) is, oh that's just rumours. Look, everyone - assholes, creeps, criminals, and predators exist in every faith, every organization. We are so quick to sweep it under the rug, so rushed to prevent judgement, that we always forget that one important fact. While I think it's important not to jump on every bad thing you hear about people, I do think it's important to have an open and frank discussion about proper behaviour while in a position of power. Especially if proof of misdeeds are being offered.

This group, and their lack of action, stood complicit in this person's bad behaviour. If they made the choice to stand behind a racist, bigoted person who spends their time trying to harass people online (I am not the only one, I have been told - there have been multiple people, including some of their own family members), that is their choice. They have made that choice, and they have chosen to accept any repercussions going along with it. They chose to stand behind an abuser.

Sarah Lawless, back in 2018, named a number of known abusers in the wider PNW community. The flack she received for being brave to stand up and call that shit out was disgusting.

Abusers are coddled and protected in pagan communities. They are viewed as elders, as productive members of the community, as local heroes. While I have been fortunate to encounter very little sexual harassment in the pagan community, I have suffered other abuses and harassment that has shown me that, just like the priests and cardinals in the Vatican, pagans protect and believe only those in their clique. And there are cliques in the community, have no doubt about that.

Sarah pointed out that the ideal community is a fantasy - I agree. Stories I have heard from others about their own experiences in the 'safe and welcoming' pagan community would break your heart. One person I spoke with said 'it's scary to even fathom trying to approach anyone, because it's hard to know who to trust, who might lure you in and take advantange of you'. That is a sad statement, and one I know too well. I have a tendency to keep abuse like this close to the chest because I have been burned by people in the past. There is no spiritual support for people who get abused - no chaplains, no pastoral care, no therapists.

These were people who were putting everything on the line to be heard, and the vitriol and hatred and lies I had seen made my blood boil. This is precisely why people do not come forward. They could put everything on the line - in Sarah's case, the safety of her partner at the time and children - and people will still find a way to claim the survivors are lying. Why? What do the survivors get out of lying about their abuse? What person would come forward, knowing they will be attacked, confronted, slandered, and encounter more abuse, if they weren't telling the truth? Why would any survivor put themselves through that unless there is truth? The most stalwart defenders claim 'they couldn't have done it, I've never seen them do anything to me!' Humans are complicated and complex beings, with many facets and many faces. The face you see may not be the same face others see. The John Doe you know and the John Doe I know may be the same person, but very different relationships.

It comes down to this: You can't 'believe survivors' if you're supporting abusers.

You can't support survivors if you're sheltering abusers.

You can't help survivors if you're siding with abusers.

You can't call it a safe community if you don't protect it's members.

Standing up for myself and others lost me “friends” who ditched me about the ‘drama’, and my community. Something needs to change. It is inevitable that change will befall the community, and those denizens had better wise up quickly. There are a lot of young, vulnerable people looking for guidance and safety, and the community better fucking step up and prove they are willing to protect their members, or they have become no better than the Christian groups who continue to enable their abuse. We need willing leaders to push forward to make the community better. We need dedicated, smart, and savvy people to navigate a new and better future for paganism, because it's got a death rattle going on and it needs the kiss of a new life.

Burn the whole of the modern pagan community down. Burn down the groups that perpetuate abuse, that enable abusers, and grow something better and safe from the ashes. Dismantle the sexist, enabling, racist, oversexed community with it's abusive elders, cleanse it with fire, and create a place where people can come together without having to fear predators.

The only I have learned from watching my and other’s experiences is that we shouldn't call out wrongdoing in the community, because I have gotten abuse hurled at me for it and I have seen others who have done the same get more and worse abuse. People get mad, they accuse those who come forward of 'causing drama' or 'rocking the boat'.

That is a terrible lesson. A witch is sovereign unto themselves.

Bitches, this boat is rocking. Grab on, or drown.

This is my own story. I have posted links for further review down below.

Further reading:

Dealing With Toxic People in the Pagan Community

Sarah Lawless’ post about her suffered abuse, via the Wayback Machine

Abuse, the Pagan Community, and Our Commitments

Abuse Within Paganism - a taboo topic?

A Crisis of Faith

Authenticity and Racism in Contempory Paganism

This is not a new issue - via livejournal, 2006

Cultural Appropriation in Neopaganism

#Ash and Bone #ashandbone.ca #witchcraft #traditional witchcraft #heathenry #The Crooked Path #tw abuse #tw racism #pagan #paganism #yes i wrote a whole damn paper

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schiste-argileux · 4 years

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Idw Prowl is an evil SOB (took him two years to send the Wreckers to Garrus-9 and help Maxy (who was protecting all the war crimes the Bots did), put Maxy’s torturer and a war criminal on board the Lost Light cuz why not, sent Pharma to Delphi knowing it was DJD territory)

Prowl... Prowl’s creation and competence in his area of work is astounding. He is brilliant, creative, and defiantly apathetic of this world. But, he is very human in his own way. IDW Prowl is selfish, yet not. He is a unique in that aspect because most people make decisions like his for the sole reason of benefiting themselves. But Prowl’s sole reason of existing is to create PEACE.

Peace. Peace can only be done when people are complacent, happy, and satisfied. When things are stationary. Stable.

But life is never stable. Elements desire to form bonds, yet are almost always leaning towards to instability... Prowl’s form of PEACE is a world where there is no fighting. But everything sentient requires to fulfill its desires. As long as there is desire, people will fight.

A world of PEACE would be a world of full control, there are no surprises, no change. Safety, routines, and constants. No creativity, no development... nothing. stagnant.

But I must admire Prowl’s tenacity and dedication to this world!

He sacrifices everything for the sake of the directive, preserve cybertron, PEACE. He sacrifices his morals (Robot Gets Bullied By a Human), his dignity (Recent News, Cop Accepts Orgy For The Means of Establishing Peace, his body (Recent News, Cop gets Molested by A Spider for The Autobot Cause), and of course, thousands of lives (Not Recent News). :D Prowl respects and understands that there will always be chaos and instability, and he is so very flexible around it all! He literally can maximize everything and anything he has. He is the embodiment of consequentialism with a lil dash of politics. I wish my group project members were 1% as productive as him! Prowl tries to put everything black and white, and he gets upset when things get far more tricky, and wants to get everything in control so people can stay safe and remain in peace and not fight! And that’s a respectable goal! Control can be good, it means one understands and is able to retain themselves and the thing they are controlling. But Prowl doesn’t want to accept that there are things out of his control. And Prowl likes to think he’s justified when he controls the uncontrollable.

I mean, yeah, if he didn’t do what he did, the autobots would have been six feet under A LOT EARLIER. Optimus is not a good leader, preserving organic life over his own soldiers? Psh. Look at Spike, he’s got valid points and can I understand why he left the ‘bots. Prowl’s probably thinking everyday, DAMN, OP, WHY R U SO DUMB. LISTEN WE NEED TO FEED OUR SOLDIERS AND PRIORITIZE OUR SPECIES LIVES INSTEAD OF THIS FUCKING CARBON BASED CIRCLE. HELLO??? And literally Prowl could have been like I’m gonna get ya assassinated so I CAN HAVE IT MY WAY. But Prowl was BORN for the RULES. To follow, to MAKE PEACE. Killing the prime figurehead is against that, even if it would make his life way easier! (hence, not that selfish and also sad that your life is the rules. That’s a short leash, but he makes due)

Honestly I feel bad for Prowl. Must suck to be so big brain that everyone hates you when you say the truths (but also you could learn some more tricks from Jazz to be nicer and hide the truth, but that’s scary because a nicer prowl means more people he can trick and use. Thanks Prowl for being so straightforward! Now people can avoid you easier). He's so straightforward about things that need to be done, he’s in constant denial about the grey area of life!

That’s why when Spike slapped Prowl with reality slaps, Prowl lost some of his shit. Remember, nearly everyone had the edgy depressed time in their teens or young adult years where you realize the world is truly unfair and nothing is black and white? Yeah. Slap that on a 6+ million year old robot with a battle computer and is capable of big brain CPU-age, and was literally built for the sole purpose of enforcing rules and making peace? And no one really cared about Prowl enough to understand him and his background. So Prowl goes through his angst moment alone with his huge titties, frustrated. THIS. IS. WHY. YOU. COMMUNICATE. YA DINGUS.

Prowl doesn’t become a school shooter like Pharma cuz hes got bigger brain and a lot more power and control over himself, but he literally becomes Shadow The Hedgehog (Even if the world’s against me I’ll fight like I’ve always have). HE’S GONE ROGUE. MA’AM, SIR, THE FUCKING OREO COOKIE HAS TRANSFORMED AND ROLLED OUT. like. OP was the one thing holding prowl back, which was good! But now prowl’s on the roll and bumblebee is too nice and passive to hold him back. + the bombshell brainwash? feels so bad. being prowl sucks. because Prowl is a necessary evil.

At least he’s wonderfully blunt about his goal to create a peaceful cybertron, which makes it easier if you want to avoid him or smth. meanwhile you have fake people IRL that smile their way through and then slit your throat and you won’t even know it was them (hey jazz, no offense, but that’s what spec ops does). Fakers are the scariest enemy, but Prowl is still a threat, just not as big as a someone who fluffs you up on a balloon and then pops it. Prowl would just be like, hey, you’re really useful, come over here in my white van i wanna show you something and then maybe you get destroyed. But hey! You were the one with the highest chance of surviving compared to other people! Isn’t that great? You’re so skilled WOW. (Prowl gets punched. Again!) Prowl represents the necessary evil in society. We WILL ALWAYS HAVE EVIL people in this world. But Prowl is a far better evil than people who do evil for their own selfish reasons. It’s like how we have law enforcers and politicians . It’s basically giving them legal rights to do illegal things (lmao). BUT we need them regardless. We need those people to get their hands dirty, possibly killed, so that people can live in innocence and peace.

I don’t think Prowl ever realized that he was a necessary evil, and when Spike showed him that, he was bitter. But he accepted it. Which I respect because most people can’t be bothered to understand themselves and just throw themselves in denial, and point fingers for their flaws. Prowl sucks up and understands who he is, and he makes the best of it to achieve his goal. I mean, honestly? Prowl is probably a miracle worker. Not in a Ratchet sense. But look at the way modern governments run, nothing gets done, everything is stalled because no one has the guts to make sacrifices. Prowl would have gotten a shit ton of things done, man, and take quick efficient action. Even if he sacrifices many things for it. (Warning. I do not condone any taking of lives, NO ONE has the right to judge whenever a person should live or die.) Prowl reminds me of 秦始皇 (Qin Shi Huang), the king who unified China and sacrificed millions to make the Great Wall, canals, and road systems that last to this day. If it wasn’t for these accomplishments, China wouldn’t have been what it is today. Was it a good thing? For the future residents of China? Hell yeah. But the costs? Those are sins that can never be erased, and they are horrible and shouldn't be done ever again. Was it necessary? Perhaps. But that’s another discussion. Is Prowl evil? Depends on your definition of evil. Perhaps he’s justified, perhaps in his world, he’ll go down as the Qin Shi Huang of the Cybertronians. Regardless, Prowl like Pharma, is an EXCELLENT example to study on public ethics, and administrative officials should analyze him and learn from his mistakes and sins. I think Prowl is not evil in a sense that he wishes to harm others, but evil in a sense of his apathy. Prowl is a necessary component to a functional society (someone to plot, to use people, to enforce rules even if some are sacrificed, someone who can get their hands dirty). He lives a terrible and sad fate, and I do not wish ANYONE to live a life like Prowl’s or look up to Prowl. Yes, he’s so clever and brilliant, but that kind of power will make you the loneliest person on Earth.

Thanks Prowl for taking the entire load of sin on your shoulders! Big MVP! You get nothing from the world except hate and contempt. I would go on about him more but I have IRL stuff to do. I love Prowl as an example to tell people that MODERATION. COMMUNICATION. AND COMPASSION are important factors to have a healthy and good mental state. Prowl is the perfect example of someone who doesn’t want to empathize (haha so many people are like this today), who doesn’t want to try to use more braincells and friends help to make better plans that are more moderate and not extreme, and who doesn’t want to talk to anyone thinking its a waste of time or have difficulty explaining things. BUT I LOVE G1 PROWL because he has far more patience and manners, and doesn’t take a darker, route for his goals. awhohdohd he’s baby,,, i wish all cops had patience and manners and in general open-minded yet cautious enough not to be taken advantage of,,,, perhaps then we wouldn’t have so much polarization and fighting with authority in this world....

uwuwwuwuwuw they did prowl so dirty in idw WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ;____; Again, you are welcome to disagree or agree! I wrote this really quickly so I’m sure there will be points that could be clarified or edited. Prowl’s really complicated and I do not like to talk about current IRL problems, but Prowl represents a lot of problems in society. And I think it’s critical if we try to look at both perspectives to get an understanding on WHY people do these things, and is there a solution to AVOID making those same mistakes? There’s a couple of controversial things in this short essay I wrote, esp. about cops IRL. So feel free to have at it! Or ignore it! Whichever is more comfortable for you! Thanks for coming to my ted talk! Again, Prowl is a bad influence and a sorrowful life to live. please do not try to be like prowl. xD I won’t intrude on you if you do, because you have a right to live the life you want as long as you’re not hurting other people’s interests and wellbeing!

#prowl #transformers #idw #asks #omfg #prowl is so horrible to write about #ugh #oof #idw prowl is the bane of my existence #i love g1 prowl

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megmahoneyart · 4 years

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why did you draw michael who is white as looking more remorseful and human on half his face than helen who you depict as a black woman who appears angry with both of her eyes spiraled? even despite michaels vocal insistence that he is wholly an inhuman monster and his cruel actions you draw him looking more innocent and human than a black woman who has not done anything nearly as monstrous as him and held onto her human identity more strongly?

Okay! So, I use this blog to draw and not to talk, but I’m suuuper long-winded when I write. And to spare the general public, I’ve put this answer under a read-more. But it’s a good and valid question! And I appreciate anon’s concern; I thought the question deserved as good an answer as I could give. So that answer is below:

That’s a totally valid question! I didn’t intend to convey “remorseful” so much as, upset, with Michael. Angry wasn’t necessarily what I was going for with Helen either--so it sounds like my expressions overall aren’t reading super well. Helen was meant to be more, I think enthusiastic, is the word I’m looking for.

The big difference between Helen and Michael isn’t one of them being more innocent or more guilty than the other. The difference is the amount of conflict. Helen has repeatedly brought up how much better she is at being The Distortion than Michael ever was. Michael had a lot of knowledge about the Fears, and The Spiral, in particular, before becoming The Distortion than Helen did. And, along with that, he brought the baggage of being taught that his job was to fight the fears, and the baggage of being scarred by The Spiral before working for the Institute. He kind of sucks at being The Distortion because his job was to stop The Distortion from performing The Spiral’s ritual--and that leaves both The Distortion hating Michael for fucking up its purpose, and Michael hating The Distortion because it’s the embodiment of what he hated and feared as a human. Everything Michael Distortion does is double-minded--because part of him is like “Hey I used to work here, and these guys are technically my co-workers, and I kind of want to hang out with them, but I also hate this place” and part of him is “I want to Fuck Everything Up, and I hate All of these people and would be happy to see them dead.”

Helen, on the other hand, doesn’t have the baggage of foreknowledge or hatred. She’s Michael Distortion’s victim, at first. But the second she has an opening to turn the tables, she jumps on it. And the reason she had an opening is because Michael and The Distortion were at odds and schisming and in Conflict. She’s set up in season 4 to be a kind of narrative foil for Jon--as they have both become avatars without really meaning to (like the majority of avatars that have showed up on the show). In Season 4, Jon is constantly agonizing over what exactly he is now, and futilely circling around the morality of his continued existence. Helen, in season 4, is beyond this point. She has already accepted the Way Things Are now, and she’s dealing--constantly telling Jon he needs to deal with it (the reality of being a “monster” too). By season 5, she’s not just dealing, she’s Thriving. And in seasons 4 and 5, at any opportunity, she (Helen Distortion) is always down to remind Jon (and co) that she is So Much Better at being what she is (The Distortion) than Michael ever was.

I think Helen Richardson probably had a stronger character than Michael Shelley did, as humans as well. Not saying that one was better than the other. But Helen was a successful career-woman. Michael started at the institute as a scared kid, who was then groomed by Gertrude and psychologically experimented on by Emma. I could never see Helen Richardson ever being someone Gertrude Robinson could emotionally manipulate, or convince to “sacrifice” herself.

And all of that informs how I characterize these two characters’ personalities when I draw them. And that doesn’t touch on the race issue.

Unfortunately, TMA doesn’t explicitly describe many characters’ race or ethnicity. A Lot has been said about the few negative vs positive characters who are explicitly characters of color. It’s kind of a black-and-grey-morality podcast. But on the side of the protagonists/positively-portrayed you’ve got Oliver Banks, Adelard Dekker, Basira Hussain, Mikaele Salesa. On the enemy-aligned side you’ve got Jude Perry, Tom and John Haan, Manuela Dominguez, and Annabelle Cane. And those on the positive side are pretty flawed (aside from Adelard Dekker who is an anomaly on this show); and those on the negative side usually have at least some alternate-character-interpretations and can be viewed as sympathetic (lookin at you, Annabelle). A lot of discussion has gone into their characterizations and how that relates to their respective races--and the problems therein (Jude Perry is startlingly devoid of family concerns--when culturally a large part of being a successful businesswoman would usually relate to how it benefits or affects her family; Mikaele Salesa’s setting up an Apocalypse Bunker without the crew he cared for is peak White behavior; bastard cops that are WOC (like Basira) absolutely exist--but should a story about a WOC bastard cop be written by a white guy?; the Haans being avatars for The Flesh is straight-up racist; etc).

But again, the list of characters that are explicitly characters of color is Short. And the fandom filled in some gaps. Almost all of the characters get a variety of designs, and some characters don’t have a Uniform Fanon Race (like Melanie). But some characters are almost always portrayed as a certain race (Jon is almost always portrayed as Desi or Pakistani, Georgie is almost always portrayed as black, Helen is almost always portrayed as black). I came into the show late. By the time I arrived, Desi/Pakistani Jon and black Helen were the only Jon and the only Helen I saw when I showed up. (The first sketches I did for the show, I did before seeing any fan art, and before hearing any canon descriptors. As such, Georgie would be unrecognizable to most of the fandom--because I drew her white the first time I drew her; and Martin is Too Small in my first sketches--because they were drawn before I got to episodes that described him as tall and chubby and before I saw the fantart--which gives us the Big Martin we deserve). So that’s why my Helen is black. (My Michael is white because he is physically described early in the show--and is one of the confirmed white characters).

That said, I accepted the generally-agreed-upon fan depictions of Helen (and other characters) without a whole lot of critical thought from Me. I’ve since read a lot of good takes on why Jon is depicted as Desi and why his characterization has resonated with certain Desi listeners. I haven’t read any dissertation on why Helen is black. My guess is that, where there were no canon physical descriptions (like with Taz Balance before the graphic novels), the fandom Made representation because they wanted it and because they could. Maybe there was discourse, back in the day, on why Georgie and Helen are usually depicted as black; but I didn’t see it. My (completely uninformed) guess is that people liked Georgie. And people liked Helen. And if they could make the cool lady with a great cat that is incapable of being afraid black, and if they could make the cool lady who has sharp hands and set up her house in the Institute basement for fun black, why not do it?

If you, anon, do have strong feelings that Helen shouldn’t be black and why, feel free to pass that on to me. I am Not the authority on Helen’s characterization or her appearance--especially as related to race--as I’m 1) white and 2) just another listener of the show.

If I were to start drawing Helen as white, she’d probably be unrecognizable to people that are looking through the tag for their sharp-handed wife. And I like Helen. So without additional information, I’m unlikely to change my depiction of her. But! If you (or anybody else) do have additional information, I’m happy to see/hear it, and will take any concerns raised with me into consideration.

#tma #anon #ask #characterization #race #long post #readmore

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akechicrimes · 4 years

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Hey crimes, feel free to disregard this tangent but, do u ever feel like P5 inadvertently or otherwise implied Goro was right with his fake “vigilante justice operates outside and the law and thus must be brought to heel” opinion? What with the fact that the Yaldabaoth confrontation implies the thieves work perpetuated humanity’s sloth AND THEN after an entire game showing us the hundreds of people who were at the v least COMPLICIT in shido’s machinations, a system which is (1)

ohhhhh this one is fun!! this is a super neat question, ty for asking!!!

hmmmmmmmmm

im going to try and break this down into parts, partly because persona 5 is such a convoluted mess with its own lines of thinking, so tell me if i dont do it right. the issues are: (1) goro definitely did say that operating outside the law was bad just on principle that you shouldn’t operate outside the law, and (2) persona 5 did definitely go on to say that all of the phantom thieves’ operations outside the law didn’t come to anything in the first place anyway, because they were only targeting individuals instead of mass systemic corruption/their presence was enabling people to become more apathetic.

i think what persona 5 is trying to get at is that it’s not necessarily that acting outside the law is bad, but that, like you said, targeting only individuals doesn’t work as a tactic. so vigilante justice (e.g. batman style of taking down supervillains) cannot compare to societal reform through collective action.

when i say collective action, i mean that i think persona 5 is trying to point out that “systematic” corruption is really just a corruption of many, many, many individuals working in concert--and that “reform” could just be said to be the opposite, which is activism from many, many, many individuals working in concert.

obviously the ending cutscene where akira;s social link network gets together to protest his arrest is the best example of collective reform, but i think one of the things that i rly like about shido’s wide-spread conspiracy is that it does a rly good job of paralleling akira’s social link network, and pointing out that in the same way that shido’s conspiracy is a collective effort of many many many people that make up a “system,” akira’s widespread social link network creates the opposite effect of a collective effort of many many people that make up a force for change.

which is why having the phantom thieves as a group itself just promotes more apathy--you get one group of people doing all the work for the rest of society, when if anything’s going to change, we need everyone on their feet.

which surprisingly correct, insofar as i’m aware. if society’s going to change in a substantial way, beyond just changing the hearts of a handful of abusers and letting the rest of the system remain untouched, everyone’s got to be involved. collective effort. do your part. wash your hands. stay indoors. don’t forget to vote. seriously, wash your fucking hands.

but when it comes to whether or not persona 5 says that you shouldn’t be acting outside the law...

i think persona 5 really really really really really doesnt want to be caught promoting lawbreaking while also being You Should Break The Law: The JRPG.

part of this trouble, i think, is just because they need players to actually like the characters in the game, and therefore all the character have sympathetic reasons for breaking the law. because persona 5 has to sell marketable characters, too, persona 5 itself makes it pretty clear that people who operate “outside the law” are usually not evil dipshit criminals who love sin. the people in persona 5 who act outside the law are usually people who dont have enough power to operate inside the law in the first place. akira, the pt, and goro all seem to have resorted to what they did because they had no societal power at the start, wound up with a persona (aka fast and easy power source), and wouldnt have been able to do anything about their situation otherwise. characters who operate outside the law (like takemi with her vaguely illegal practice, or kawakami and her also vaguely illegal sex work, or iwai and his vaguely illegal gun business) are still supposed to be waifus you are sympathetic towards.

(...i think i accidentally called iwai a waifu? hmm. on second thought, i’ll just leave that sentence as it is.)

and i really do have to point out that persona 5′s attitude of FUCK COPS is insanely strong. like. persona 5 HATES cops. and that doesn’t let up basically ever, at all, at any moment. for anything. persona 5 wants me to believe that makoto will become a good cop in the future, but if i wanted to find an existing good cop, i’d have to go all the way back to persona 4. like!! shit!! goro akechi is the closest thing we have to a good cop, and he has a pet guillotine for CEOs and his middle name is komaeda.

and that part of the big attitude with FUCK COPS is that it’s another way of morally exonerating the phantom thieves. i think... although the game ultimately concludes with “you should probably not break the law any more because the metaverse is gone,” it’s difficult to argue with the fact that persona 5 is a game in which it presents you with 10000000000000 reasons to break the law and feel Great about it.

(another tangent: i feel like one of the big undercurrents of persona 5, and especially the TV station, is that the phantom thieves are justified in their lawbreaking because the police aren’t doing their fucking job. like, someone’s got to keep people safe, and if the cops don’t like the phantom thieves, maybe they should get off their asses and actually get the criminals before the thieves do. akira literally was on live television and he was like ALL COPS ARE BAD and goro was like wow. anyone else think that was really sexy? @ the guy in the glasses in the back, call me later when you’ve leveled up your charm and knowledge.)

so atlus is in this place where they’ve pointed out that people break the law because they dont really have any other choice, and also persona 5 the game HATES cops, and also persona 5 the game cannot tell you that breaking the law is bad because it is literally A Game About Breaking The Law, but at the same time, they cant really go around promoting crime. from a doylist perspective i was 100% unsurprised that they came up with a fancy narrative reason to get rid of the metaverse and their change-of-heart abilities and just the phantom thieves in general, because all of those are a threat to the status quo. although the game might be right that relying on the phantom thieves to change society for the rest of the population makes the rest of the population lazy and apathetic, it’s pretty convenient that this means that the kids are now no longer able to break the law. so persona 5 really wants people to do things the kosher way, e.g. protesting and such.

hhfmgmhfmghfmgfmghmfhgg. taking this all with a grain of salt, because again, i do think atlus is trying very hard to avoid saying that people should break the law:

i think atlus wants to say that it’s not necessarily acting outside the law that’s not right, but the fact that just loading the phantom thieves with a ton of power makes people apathetic, and changing the hearts of a few individuals is Not enough to get rid of something like shido’s conspiracy. so instead they say, you shouldn’t break the law because it’s not effective without collective reform.

i think another thing that persona 5 wants us to believe is that for the most effective reform to be achieved, people both inside and outside the law/system have to be involved in the collective effort to improve society.

e.g., toranosuke wants to be a man of the people--someone who speaks for the people who are outside of the diet, but toranosuke himself is someone inside the diet. sae’s the other good example; the phantom thieves protest akira’s arrest at the end of the game, but sae, as the insider in the justice system, has to be there to hear and work with them. and this might just be because i watched haru’s s link last night, but i feel like takakura is a really good example: haru pushes back against the company’s shitty policies with her “outsider’s” perspective (quoted because she’s technically the largest shareholder, she just hasnt ever been really involved in how the company is run), but takakura, as the company president and most powerful person at okumura foods, has to be there to hear her request and agree with her, and make company changes based on her requests.

and it’s for this reason that persona 5 wants us to consider maybe lawbreaking isnt morally bad, just not effective.

i wish i could say that that’s more bad atlus writing, but it’s not. i’ve only really examined changing schools on an institutional level, but the best examples of institutional change in school administration have always been cases where the administration, parents, and community members all work together. in some cases, parents bring up requests for the school to accommodate their needs, and the administration listens and works with them. something something--everyone needs an advocate. the point of a lawyer is to advocate for you. the point of a politician/representative is to represent you and your interests. so on and so forth.

(and i also wish that it could be as simple as saying, “wow atlus said something right for once!” because that’s not true, either--acting outside the law can be outrageously effective. persona 5 trying to tell us that acting outside the law to get shit done isn’t effect smells like corporate trying to tell its workers that unionizing doesnt actually do anything.)

(and i also wish that persona 5 would have acknowledged that sometimes, it takes more than just an extremely moral person to change the world. take toranosuke, for example--i’m sure that if he gets elected, he’ll go out there and be a wonderful representative of the people, but at the same time, can’t we also simultaneously acknowledge that any politician who can make “politics” a career for profit will always be incentivized towards self-interest? in the same way that a military for profit will always be incentivized towards war?)

but insofar as whether or not persona 5 thinks that vigilante justice/acting outside the law is in and of itself morally bad--i’d say probably not. i think they want us to think that it’s not effective.

this is a slight tangent that kind of goes off the issue of whether or not persona 5 is concerned with whether or not breaking the law is moral or effective. i was going back through goro’s dialogue in the engine room--who knows if that’s going to be changed in royal--but i was trying to figure out exactly what the phantom thieves condemn him for. (fucking difficult as fuck considering how bizarre that dialogue was at places.)

the first one is murder, which goro is unimpressed with (LMAO. KING). the second is that he operated outside the law, to which he replies that they did the same thing (valid). the third is that his form of justice was “selfish,” in that it only served his personal need for revenge. at that point, goro changes the subject--which is not really surprising, since goro admitted long before the engine room that his quest against shido was for his own personal satisfaction.

that is to say, the phantom thieves can’t say that they don’t operate outside the law, because they do--however, if the phantom thieves can’t be legally exonerated, the phantom thieves are morally exonerated despite operating outside the law because they do it for the benefit of others. that’s actually not an incorrect statement from the phantom thieves, although i dont think they’re doing it for Society Writ Large. the phantom thieves in every single palace have taken on targets to help someone else: firstly ann and ryuji and shiho, then yusuke, then various shujin students being blackmailed by kaneshiro, etc, etc. i remember pretty distinctly that ann insists that she doesnt want to get involved with madarame just for drama or fame (whereas ryuji wants to pick a big target just for the sake of getting famous), but she agrees to get involved with madarame’s palace because she doesn’t want to leave yusuke to possibly kill himself like a previous student.

because the phantom thieves are not able to say that they haven’t operated outside the law in the same way that goro has, the dividing line between them is instead that the phantom thieves are doing so selflessly. but this is just an elaboration on the question of whether or not “is lawbreaking moral?” rather than necessarily “is lawbreaking effective?”

there’s an argument that nothing goro or the phantom thieves did was effective in the long run, and there’s an argument that sae is proof positive that working inside the system won’t be effective, either.

anyway, unions are effective. so maybe we should agree to wash our hands and join a union.

#mine #meta #clouis-loumentine

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inyournightmares97 · 5 years

Text

Ultimatum (Part 3)

Park Jinyoung is a master negotiator. He’s used to preying on people’s weaknesses and manipulating them to get his way. So he can’t understand you; a lawyer who sees the world in black and white, as either good or bad. Conflict is inevitable.

But if the two of you can just set aside your differences, perhaps you can perform miracles together.

Word Count: 4k+

Warnings: Angst, office!au, enemies to lovers!au. Some language.

Part 1: In Which You Win

Part 2: In Which He Wins

Part 3: In Which the Common Enemy Appears

Part 4: In Which You Work Together

Part 5: In Which Nobody Wins (coming soon)

Part 6: In Which Everybody Wins (coming soon)

"Sorry I'm late," you apologized, hurrying towards the desk where your co-workers were sitting. They both looked grim. "I got a call from my mother’s care home so I had to drop by to visit before work. Have you been waiting long?"

Yugyeom bit his lip. "It's… it's not that."

"Huh?"

"There’s an email from HR. I think you got it too. You should take a look, it's not good news."

Suddenly recognizing how ominous the atmosphere was, you started up your laptop. There was an email from HR with the subject heading Transfers to New Busan Office. Heartbeat thudding, you clicked on the email. It was a polite, friendly note to inform everyone that the entire Legal, Sales and Marketing departments would be shifting to the new Busan office, and that individual transfer orders would be sent across soon.

"What the fuck?" you demanded.

"It's not true, is it? Are they really going to make us move to Busan?" Youngjae asked. He tapped his fingers on the table nervously. "My wife is giving birth in 2 months, I don't want to move a heavily pregnant woman across the country. We were counting on my mother-in-law's help with the baby. But there's no way she'll move to Busan."

Yugyeom nodded miserably. "I don't want to go there either. I just bought a flat here last month. I took out a mortgage!"

You shook your head in disbelief. "This can't be right. I thought they were hiring new folk for the Busan office. I saw the recruitment files myself! Why do they want to send half the existing departments there? I'm going to have a word with HR-"

"There's no use," Yugyeom cut you off. "I already asked some people from HR. They said there's nothing they can do, because the orders came directly from the CEO."

You frowned. "That bastard."

"Will you talk to him?"

"Of course I'll talk to him," you replied. You slammed your laptop shut and stood up. "I'll go talk to him right now."

------------------------------------------------------------

"Sorry, the CEO is speaking to someone right now," the secretary told you patiently.

"Yes, but it's urgent-"

"Ma'am, it doesn't matter how urgent it is, I can't let you barge into his office while he's already talking to someone! Please understand the situation and be patient. I'm sure Mr. Park will be out in a few minutes."

You groaned audibly. "He's talking to Jinyoung?"

"Yes."

Fantastic. That slimy little creature was probably making everything worse. You suddenly remembered that the email had also mentioned the Sales department shifting to Busan. It struck you that Jinyoung was in there right now, sucking up to the CEO and being the selfish, arrogant bastard he had always been.

Park Jinyoung never did anything for anyone else's benefit.

He could screw up the company's deals all he wanted, but there was no way you were going to let him screw up your life.

"Good morning," you greeted the CEO politely as you barged into his office. The secretary yelled after you, scandalized, but you ignored her. "I'm here to talk about the email I received about some departments shifting to Busan?"

Jinyoung was seated in front of the CEO's desk. His dark eyes twinkled as he turned in his chair to face you.

"We were just discussing that," he remarked.

"Excellent, then you won't mind if I join," you cut in. You sat down beside Jinyoung and turned to face the CEO. The young negotiator’s gaze was fixed on you but you refused to look at him. Jinyoung’s despicable face would only make you lose your temper.

"This is a little surprising," the CEO commented with a raised eyebrow. "But I assume you have something to say?"

"I do, actually," you replied. There was no smile on your face. "I thought I should save you some time. Our employment contracts don't contain mobility clauses. We never consented to the possibility of being asked to shift to a different city for work. I could explain the law to you in depth, but in short the conclusion remains the same. The company cannot legally force any of us to go to Busan."

The CEO blinked. "You're right. I can't force any of you to move."

"So then you agree that-"

"You always have the option of leaving the company.”

You flinched. You hadn’t imagined that the CEO would say something like that to your face but he was looking you right in the eyes and telling you that he would fire you for refusing to move. You didn’t know how to respond.

“But-you can’t fire us without justified reason-”

“I’m not firing you. I’m offering you a job in Busan. If you don’t want to take it then you can always go seek employment elsewhere,” he replied calmly.

“That amounts to constructive dismissal, it’s illegal!” you replied hotly. You had hoped to keep your temper under control but the CEO was being absurd. How could he flip a switch overnight and decide that everybody had to either go to Busan or quit? “You realize that I could easily challenge a dismissal like that in a court of law?”

The CEO raised an eyebrow. “Again, it’s not a dismissal. I’m offering you employment in Busan.”

“How exactly do you plan to handle the fallout of entire departments quitting-”

“I don’t think that’s your concern. If you don’t want to go to Busan, then you’re free to hand in your resignation. We can even negotiate a severance package,” the CEO replied shortly. He placed his hands on his desk and stood up. “If you’ll excuse me, I have a Board meeting to attend. If you want to discuss this further you’ll have to make an appointment with my secretary.”

You watched in silent shock when the CEO stood up and walked out of his office. Your heart sank. This was more serious than you had thought. The CEO wasn’t the sort of person to make empty threats. What were you going to do?

Park Jinyoung cleared his throat.

“Well, good job fucking that up,” he commented.

Your head whipped around to face him. “Excuse me?”

“Do you always barge headfirst into situations without even thinking about it? What made you think it was a good idea to talk to the CEO like that?” Jinyoung demanded. You could hear the irritation in his tone. “You ruined the entire mood by making him hostile. You should have left it to me. I was handling it.”

“Handling it? You?” you demanded.

“Yes. At least I’m not idiot enough to barge in and pick a fight with the man who employs me,” Jinyoung retorted. He folded his arms across his chest while his dark eyes scanned you with displeasure. “Have you ever heard of power dynamics? Don't bite the hand that feeds you. Even a dog knows that.”

“I’m not a dog,” you snapped.

“That’s not what-”

“What the CEO is doing isn’t legal. If you’re saying I should smile and fawn and flatter a man that is trying to fuck with my employment contract illegally, then I’m sorry. I’m not in the habit of having negotiations with people who can’t respect the law. That’s not power dynamics. That’s sycophancy.”

Jinyoung sighed. “God, you’re impossible. Don’t you have any understanding of how the world works? How can you see everything in black and white?”

“Go to hell, Park.”

“Nope. You don’t get to be mad at me. I was trying to convince the CEO not to issue transfer orders but you barged in and fucked it up by making him mad. That’s on you. So don’t pull the moral superiority card on me today. That won’t work. I was doing my part.”

You blinked at him. “I don’t trust you.”

Jinyoung sighed. “Understandable. But-”

“I think you’re a selfish piece of shit that has no concern for anyone around him. You can suck the CEOs dick all you want, Jinyoung. Don’t expect me to believe you’re doing it for us,” you snapped.

Jinyoung stared at you in surprise. He hadn’t expected to hear you using such crude language, but your flushed face and trembling hands made it clear that you weren’t thinking straight. You were distressed and somehow, Jinyoung didn’t want to aggravate you further. He took a deep breath and shoved his hands deep into his pockets.

“Fine,” he surrendered calmly. “You use your methods and I’ll use mine.”

“Fine.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

“The CEO really said that? He said we could either go to Busan or quit?”

You nodded. You were too angry to speak. The more you thought about the encounter, the more furious it made you. You had been working at this company for 3 years. You had given so much of your time, effort and dedication to doing your job perfectly and this was the gratitude you received? Being asked to either shift halfway across the country or quit?

“Yeah. He said it.”

“What are we going to do?” Yugyeom cried.

“We’re going to show him he can’t violate our employment contracts like this. I won’t stand for it. I refuse to go to Busan and that’s a hill I’m willing to die on,” you ranted as you rummaged through your textbooks. You had some research to do. You were flipping through volumes on labobur laws frantically when Yugyeom spoke.

“Is it… is it because of your mom?” he asked quietly.

You hesitated. You didn’t speak about your personal life much at work, but perhaps Yugyeom had picked up a few things from random tidbits you dropped.

“Uh, yeah. She’s at a medical facility for the elderly right now. I can’t leave her here and move to a different city. I also don’t think her health could withstand the move. If it comes down to it, then I’ll have to quit and look for a new job. Busan isn’t an option for me,” you mumbled.

Yugyeom bit his lip. “But it won’t come down to it, right?”

“It will unless you pick up that book and get reading. Find me everything you can on constructive dismissal,” you ordered him sharply. “Where’s Youngjae?”

“He went to talk to Sales and Marketing to find out what’s going on.”

“Well, call him and tell him to hurry back. We have jobs to save.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“It seems like a mixed bag at this point,” Jackson observed as he sipped his coffee. The cafeteria was quiet, and the atmosphere of the office had been grim all day. Nobody wanted to talk. “I think half of Sales will quit to look for other jobs in the city. The rest will just suck it up and move to Busan. It’s going to be a messy situation either way.”

“But nobody wants to go,” Youngjae pointed out.

“Of course nobody wants to go.” Jackson pressed his fingers to his temples. “Hopefully Jinyoung will find some solution. He usually works something out.”

“Is he considering quitting too?”

“Jinyoung? No way. He’s upset because a lot of his clients are here, and he would have to start from scratch to build contacts in Busan,” Jackson explained. “But he just received a promotion. He’s due to get an enormous bonus from the company at the end of the year because of the deal he secured. The guy has made amazing progress in this company. Jinyoung would be an idiot to quit. He needs this company as much as it needs him.”

“Then why are you trusting him to fight for you?”

“I know he doesn’t give Legal an easy time, but Jinyoung is an awesome guy to have on your side. He knows how to manipulate people and he knows the CEO well,” Jackson explained. “He’ll find a solution. I just hope he does it in time. Otherwise, the transfer orders will be sent out and people will scramble. This affects all of us so we need to stick together.”

“That’s what bothers me,” Youngjae admitted.

“What?”

“How fragmented we are. The CEO knows that half of us will stay and half will leave. We don’t have any coordination amongst ourselves. He’s probably counting on us being a mess,” Youngjae pointed out. “We would have a better chance if we presented a united front.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Think about it. The Sales department has the most skilled negotiator this company has ever seen. Legal has a brilliant lawyer that has saved this company from going through huge lawsuits multiple times because she never gives up. Don’t you think these two people should pool their skills and work together?”

“You want them to join forces?” Jackson wondered.

“Both departments want the same thing. We might be able to come up with a better solution if they at least talked about what to do,” Youngjae insisted.

“That would work fine if they didn’t hate each other.”

“Don’t you think they’re reasonable adults who can put aside their personal differences for the benefit of themselves and their co-workers?”

Jackson laughed.

“No. But maybe we can talk them into it.”

“Oh?”

“I’m not a bad negotiator myself, you know.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------

"Youngjae wants us to come to Conference Room 9," Yugyeom told you. Your head was buried in a book on labour law judgements and you barely heard his voice.

"Hmmm. 5 minutes."

"He says it's urgent."

"Huh?" you asked absent-mindedly.

"Youngjae wants us to come to Conference Room 9, he has something to show us. He says it’s urgent. Are you coming?” Yugyeom repeated. The younger man was staring at you and something clicked in your brain as you finally paid attention to what his words.

“Oh! Youngjae, right. Sorry. Did he find something useful?”

“I don’t know. Let’s go see.”

“He better not be wasting our time,” you muttered, as you closed the book and followed Yugyeom towards the conference rooms. There was no knowing when the CEO would send the transfer orders out. You wanted to be ready with a full report about how they were unsustainable in law before that. It required intensive research, and you had to juggle it with your normal work.

“Is it this one?” Yugyeom wondered as he reached a conference room with a plaque that had the number 9 on it. He opened the door and gestured for you to enter first. Since when did Yugyeom have such manners? You walked in, but the moment your eyes adjusted to the dim light you froze.

The entire Sales team was sitting here.

The door closed behind you.

“What is going on?” you demanded. Youngjae was standing in a corner and he gave you a sheepish smile that you did not return. Park Jinyoung was also present. Dressed in a classy light blue button down shirt, he leaned back in his swirly chair and gave you a bored look.

Yugyeom nudged you towards the seat across from Jinyoung.

“Sit down, we have something to say.”

You frowned. “About what?”

“About how we intend to fight the transfers to Busan. Jackson and Youngjae have an idea. They think that since it affects all of us equally, we should work together and make a joint representation to the CEO.”

You couldn’t believe this. They wanted to work with Sales? You couldn’t even start to list all the reasons why that was a terrible idea. You opened your mouth to protest but before you could, Jackson stood up and moved to the front of the conference room. You were pushed down into the chair by Yugyeom.

“Ladies and gentlemen. Allow me to begin my presentation,” Jackson announced grandly.

The lights dimmed. The projector overhead flickered on, and displayed an old version of a world map, with the United Kingdom highlighted in red.

Jackson cleared his throat. “Today, I’m going to be talking about this little country. But it wasn’t always a little country. It used to be the head of the British Empire. The largest Empire in history that lasted for over a century. This tiny little country took over at least one quarter of the world-”

You felt bewildered and furious.

“What the fuck is going on?”

Jackson made a shushing gesture at you and your face turned red. You could hear Jinyoung chuckling.

“But the British had a strategy. They didn’t take over these countries randomly. Their strategy was to divide and rule. Let me elaborate. They identified ethnic and religious differences between the people and divided them into smaller groups that were less powerful than the whole. Then, when the British tried to rule, the smaller groups would be too busy fighting amongst themselves to care about what the British were doing. Which is, basically stealing their land and resources and taking over the country.”

“I think we get the point,” Youngjae muttered. He had noticed the irritation on your face. “Can we wrap up now, Jackson?”

Jackson pouted. “But the best part is still- okay, fine. Basically, the only way to drive the colonial British out was for the different ethnic groups to unite and to combine their strength against their common enemy; the British Raj.”

“Right. So-” Jackson pressed a button and the screen on the projector changed. There was now a picture of the company’s organizational hierarchy. Over the CEO’s bubble had been pasted the words British Raj. “As you can see here, the analogy I’m trying to draw. The CEO is our British Raj. Sales are Legal are two different ethnic groups in the same country. The only way we can fight the British Raj is if we unite and join forces, not if we continue to fight each other. And there I end my presentation. Thank you.”

The lights flickered back on, Jackson took a pleased bow and then took a seat.

Yugyeom looked at you. “What do you think?”

“What do I think?” you demanded. “I think you’re behaving like children and this is a colossal waste of time. Did you just give me a history lesson in order to teach me about teamwork? This is insane. Your jobs must be a joke to you. Unfortunately, I take my life and my work very seriously, so do me a favour and don’t invite me to your playtime sessions.”

Jackson blinked. “But-”

Jinyoung cut him off coolly. “I thought it was a very informative presentation, Jackson. 9 out of 10, although the map ideally should have highlighted all the British colonies and not just England.”

“Thanks, Jinyoung.”

You stared at them. “Unbelievable.”

Jinyoung turned in his chair to face you. His arms were folded across his chest coolly. “Let's get down to the point. Forget the British Raj. I think they've identified a problem that deserves to be addressed. That problem is, you and I keep getting in each other’s way.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s true, don’t deny it. I was in the middle of a negotiation with the CEO this morning. It was going fine until you barged in and argued with him. Calm down,” Jinyoung raised a hand to silence you as you opened your mouth to defend yourself. “I’m not trying to blame you. That’s not the point. The next time you make a representation, it’s likely that I’ll accidentally do something to mess it up. This is because we lack coordination even though we want the same thing.”

Yugyeom turned to you with big, hopeful eyes. “He’s right. Both of you doing your own thing could be disastrous. The CEO will just ignore us, because we’re a mess. But if we pool our resources together then we might be able to scare him. Can we set aside our personal feelings this once?”

You stared at them. Both Yugyeom and Youngjae were looking at you hopefully and you felt weak. You wanted to reassure them that you could save their jobs without the help of Sales, but you suddenly weren’t sure anymore. Park Jinyoung, whatever else he might be, was definitely smart.

That didn’t mean the plan would work, though.

“Look. I’m an adult. I can set aside my personal feelings, but that’s not even the issue. Our methods are too different,” you pointed out to Jinyoung. “We’ll waste time fighting about what to do. You’ll want to negotiate nicely and persuade the CEO, while I’m prepared to show him the law and insist he follow it or face the consequences.”

Jinyoung bit his lip. “I get that. We have our differences.”

“Exactly. We’ll never agree on a strategy.”

Jinyoung suddenly looked up and his eyes gleamed. You could almost see the lightbulb ping on top of his head.

“What if… what if our different strategies are our strategy?”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You were growing tired of the Sales department’s obsession with giving pointless presentations.

The lights had dimmed and the projector was back on again. This time, Park Jinyoung was standing in front of it. He had run out of the conference room suddenly after his declaration, shocking everyone. He was back in two minutes with his laptop and he hooked it up to the projector before turning to face the room with a smug smile.

“Guess what? I have just found the one and only negotiation strategy that will work. It’s a classic, and it’s the only strategy that is based entirely on disagreement,” he explained eagerly. “I gave a seminar on this to the Sales team a couple months ago, remember?”

Jackson’s eyes widened. “Wait, do you mean-”

“Yup.” Jinyoung pressed a button and the presentation began. “The Good Cop, Bad Cop Strategy.”

You frowned and peeked at the laptop. The presentation contained 45 slides. Oh dear god. If Park Jinyoung tried to go through all of them right now then you were going to deck him in the face. You were short enough on time already.

“How about we skip past all the analogies and the introductions and you just give us a brief summary of how this works?” you suggested through clenched teeth. You glanced at your watch. “You have my attention for… 3 minutes.”

“That’s enough,” Jinyoung promised confidently. He pressed a button to change the slide. “The Good Cop, Bad Cop strategy is simple. This strategy is rooted in the fact that the Good Cop and the Bad Cop never agree.”

“Hmm.”

“The role of the Bad Cop,” Jinyoung gestured towards you with a handsome smile and you glared at him, “is simple. Bad Cop takes an extreme stand. She threatens terrible consequences and refuses to negotiate. She basically sets the tone for a worst-case scenario. No matter what the other person says, Bad Cop refuses to show the slightest hint of mercy.”

You blinked. That sounded like you.

“Now, we come to Good Cop,” Jinyoung gestured towards himself with a proud smile. “He’s the one who makes more reasonable demands. Good Cop is the nice guy. He pretends to be on the criminal’s side. Everything Good Cop says looks really nice and generous in contrast to what Bad Cop says. Usually criminals are so terrified by Bad Cop that they give in to whatever demands Good Cop has. But in reality, Good Cop and Bad Cop are working together. They both agree on what they want beforehand. But by splitting the roles and taking extreme stands, they can confuse the criminal.”

You took a deep breath. “So If I understand you correctly…”

“You will threaten to sue,” Jinyoung explained. His dark eyes shone with excitement. “Do what you do best. Gather all the material you can find about the company’s violations of our employment contracts, and threaten the CEO that you’re about to drown the company in a messy, ugly lawsuit.”

“That’s risky. We don’t have the resources to follow through on that. I don’t have enough money to sue the company and I’m sure none of you do either. It’ll be a bald-faced lie. The CEO might tell me to go file a lawsuit if I dare. I might have to return empty-handed.”

“You might, if I wasn’t there to diffuse the situation before he gets angry. I’ll offer the CEO a more attractive option. I’ll tell him that he doesn’t have to deal with the headache and the bad PR that will come out of a lawsuit. He can simply let us stay in this office. If the Busan transfer is an attempt at cost-cutting, like I think it is, then we’ll all voluntarily forgo our bonuses this year. We’ll find other ways to cut costs. What do you think?”

You took a deep breath. “Okay.”

Jinyoung grinned. “Okay?”

“Okay,” you admitted reluctantly. “I think this might just work. Let’s do this.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

#got7 #got7 scenarios #park jinyoung #got7 jinyoung #jinyoung scenario #jinyoung angst #jinyoung fluff #got7 angst #got7 fluff #got7 fanfiction #got7 office!au #jinyoung

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robert-c · 4 years

Text

Abortion Solution?

Most reliable scientific polls show that an overwhelming majority of people in the US want abortion to remain legal and safe for women to choose. While I have seen no polling data on this, I would imagine that most would also prefer that it didn’t happen often. As someone who has been close to women who chose abortion, I know that it isn’t an easy decision, even when they decide it is the best choice. It is an extremely personal and difficult choice, which no one else can fully appreciate without a complete and total understanding of someone’s life, which is never possible.

When people approve of various restrictions, they are buying into the extremist’s viewpoint, that their feelings and opinions about the decision have some standing. Even when of good will, I think these people are simply talking about their own feelings of where they would personally draw the line for themselves, but imagining (as anti-choice forces wish) that it is up to someone else other than the woman involved. I believe that as long as something is in your body, then you have the final and only say about what happens to that growth.

In order for there to be a solution, there first has to be an acknowledgement that the choice is the woman’s. But those who wish there weren’t so many abortions could do something about that which would be a lot more constructive than trying to outlaw them.

I’ve often wondered what would happen if the massive amounts of money spent trying to outlaw abortion were instead spent on services that are lacking for most candidates for abortion. If these services were available, free or for little cost, perhaps the choices would be less influenced by circumstances that were transient.

The Guttmacher Institute has gathered statistics about abortion for decades in order to have reliable scientific data available for policy makers. Most of the data is not surprising; for example, most (59%) had one or more children already and even more (75%) were poor. In addition, most of the women were in their 20’s (61%).

This paints a picture of women choosing abortion when they cannot afford (another) child. Anti-choice forces would love to paint a simplistic picture of “why not carry the baby to term and offer it for adoption”. Aside from personal choice issues including health and risk to the mother, that may well be a false choice for most of these women. Poor means low income jobs, most likely without health insurance. These are the sort of jobs that don’t come with maternity benefits and which might even be dangerous for pregnant women to engage in beyond a certain point. And of course the most adoptable babies come from mothers with good nutrition, healthy lifestyle and who have had regular prenatal exams, the very sort of thing a poor young woman with no health insurance cannot afford. She could even lose her job for taking off to see the doctor, even if she could afford it.

This sort of rigid moralist thinking about abortion is creating societal problems that the very anti-choice proponents claim they don’t want to see – viz. unwanted children growing up in the foster care system or in unfit homes with inadequate supervision.

So I’m just imagining what if there was a place where a woman could go to get free, or nearly so (sliding scale?), prenatal care. Perhaps the place would even have job training for getting better paying jobs. Its hours would be very flexible so that people wouldn’t have to take off work, and risk losing their jobs, to avail themselves of the services. There would have to be a dinner prepared and a place for their existing children to be watched while in the after-hours programs. Perhaps the key would be to assign a case worker to each person so that their particular needs, training and assistance could be assessed and provided. At the very least, those whose primary reason for the abortion was inability to afford the prenatal care would be able to carry to term for adoption, and some who couldn’t support another child may be able to after additional job training. But in any event, it would be the woman’s choice, uninfluenced by many of the economic circumstances that might force her choice.

These are just “spit balling” ideas. I’m sure someone better than me could flesh them out more. But the key point here is that, contrary to Right wing propaganda, abortion doesn’t appear to be a casual decision, or a first line of birth control. The idea here isn’t to impose a morality on someone else, but to find a solution to the needs of real people so that the choices they make aren’t unduly influenced by things that can be changed.

One of the (many) ironies of anti-choice folks is that IF women choosing abortion were as flighty and casual about the choice as they like to believe, who would want to have them raising a child let alone adopting one from them? Successfully forcing these women to carry a pregnancy to term will not give them the financial ability to provide for the child (before or after birth) or turn someone into a caring and responsible parent.

There really are only a few reasons that the anti-choice forces are willing to spend so much money in an effort to outlaw abortion again, instead of using those millions to help create a world in which it is less frequent by choice. A big part of it is about imposing a simplistic morality on others. Then they can bask in a self-righteous sense of moral superiority and deftly avoid having to consider the complexities of real human being’s lives and the choices they have to make to get by. It may not be “let them eat cake”, but it demonstrates the same complete lack of understanding and empathy.

To top off the inconsistencies of their proposals, let’s remember what happened before when abortion was illegal. The well off women found doctors who would discretely perform the operation, some doctors would coach the women on symptoms to report so that a D&C would be needed, ending any pregnancy as a byproduct of the procedure. As usual, only the poor and people without those connections had to resort to more dangerous versions of abortion. Since the poor are overwhelmingly people of color, the anti-choice agenda is essentially racist as well. And yet at odds with other right wing ideas that see the poor as criminals and welfare cheats, and other alt-right folks who just want to eliminate or reduce the population of non-whites.

Of course these inconsistencies won’t split conservatives from the “right to lifers” because they have long sense quit being about principles and are all about voting blocs. Even the “right to lifers” have no consistent philosophy to pursue; some favor the death penalty, others do not, some are OK with contraception and others oppose it. Apparently the only thing they agree on is that they should (for some reason) have control of women’s bodies.

If the human race were on the verge of extinction for lack of enough children being born, then there might be some reason for their position. As it is, with human over population being one of the main stressors on the environment and threat to human survival, their position is ludicrous and dangerous.

#abortion

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leeus-writing · 4 years

Note

What do you think the Turks/SOLDIER (ASGZC) Hogwarts houses are? I’m actually super curious what you think!

Hi Anon,

I had a discussion with a friend about where the FF7 lot would fit into Hogwarts houses.

I don’t necessarily agree with the Hogwarts houses because you can’t put people in a box, plus it can bring up some arguments. So, readers please remember this is just mine and a friends idea of where they fit. If anyone has any other ideas, feel free to add a coment I’ll be interested to see what ya all think.

Midgar Hogwarts

The Turks

Reno: Gryffindor – Although he is second in command of the Turks, he’s not ambitious enough to be in Slytherin, he most likely got there by shear experience. He is also too Lazy for Hufflepuff (my house btw). And although smart, isn’t interested in learning enough. He kind of reminds me of the Marauders. Cocky attitude, brave enough to do the hard tasks.

Rude: Ravenclaw – Rude is an intelligent man. He’s always come across as an intellectual and sharp minded. So, I could imagen him fitting in well in Ravenclaw.

Tseng: Ravenclaw – He is extremely logical and, very much, book learned. Heck think about the shear amount of paperwork he’s got to do every day! However, I think he could fit equally well in Slytherin.

Elena: Hufflepuff – She’s hard working and focuses on the job more than the other Turks. This may be because she is a rookie, or it may be a ploy to impress the equally job obsessed Tseng however, I think being a hard worker is part of her personality.

Rufus (I know he’s not in SOLDIER or Turks but he’s very close with the Turks): Slytherin – He’s very much obsessed with being in charge of everything. Through out his life he’s pretty much done anything he could to prove himself and be in charge.

The SOLDIERS

Sephiroth: Ravenclaw – Sephiroth is Extremely intelligent man, people think he’s a cold person. For him being the best as what he is, is easy. He’s Logical and calm minded. One point I think about is when he found out that he might be a result of an experiment, he did everything he could to find out more about it. Yeah resulting him going insane but still he spent days reading through everything he could.

Demi-SOLDIER Cloud: Hufflepuff – This guy works HARD. He had a dream to be in SOILDER and tried to act on that. As soon as he was turned into a SOLDIER (al be it a Demi one) he became a Merc (mostly because of Zack memories) but he worked Hard at being a Merc. He also doesn’t stop throughout the game.

Zack: Gryffindor – He’s got a lot of loyalty to Shinra to begin with, he would also Fit in with the marauders.

Genesis: Ravenclaw – I’ll be honest I don’t know much about this guy other than the fact he’s obsessed with a book so much so that when he’s insane he tries to act it out…. Though I’ll be honest, he was balanced between Ravenclaw and Slytherin.

Angeal: Gryffindor – I don’t know much about this guy other than the fact he had a very strong moral compass and had the perfect idea of how a SOLDIER should be.

Roche: Gryffindor – He Reminds me a lot of James Potters lot. He’s not interested in raising up in the ranks and I can’t imagen him taking particular interest in learning. Hard working, hmmm possibly but again he doesn’t take the job seriously. He didn’t take down Cloud he just wanted to fight him and show off.

~~~

~Ao3~

#FF7 #FF7 cc #Final Fantasy VII #Final Fantasy 7 #ffvii remake #ff7r

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superviza · 4 years

Photo

For all the characters I’ve never liked, Master Fu is the only one I’ve ever done a PowerPoint for. Maybe that secretly means I love him.

I created this series just to organize my thoughts regarding Master Fu’s character. Exploring this character was my of asking questions that allow me to enjoy the show more. Just trying to solve a mystery and learn more about a show I like. In that quest these questions arose.

Doing this has made me wonder, do I hate Master Fu? The answer I come back to is no. But Supervisa, people don’t create write whole PowerPoints roasting someone that they like. Debatable. I often judge characters based on a few questions, one of which being, “Can I have lunch with this person?”

The results vary....

No I’d rather not have lunch with Sakura or Leenalee Lee. (For some people, thems fight’n words.) But I also adore Azula and by no means would I have lunch with her. The only way they’d let me in the room is if I were serving lunch. In other words, this calls into question the character’s morals. I personally am a sucker for virtuous persons, or in some cases someone who tries to be, the antihero types. A person with outstanding morals and ethics is the type of person I want to talk to, get to know and above all emulate. That guy I’ll buy lunch for. Now that creates a contradiction. Sakura Haruno is one of the good guys right. Its not like she supports murder or human rights violations. No, but I never saw her as friendly person, between telling Sasuke Naruto was a bad person because he had no parents, to lying to Naruto so she could kill Sasuke with the very limited power she had (at the time, no lie I dig Sakura Uchiha a tad) I’ve just never seen her as someone I wanted to be like. Bringing up Sakura can usually start fights but the bottom line is, if I’m thinking about a character with traits I’d like to possess, I’d shoot for maybe Izuku Midoriya. Specifically his love for people which I could use more of. So do you want to be like Azula? That brings me to the next question.

“Did they do their job?”

That’s the question that separates my Sakuras and Azulas. Azula played the bad guy with finesse. She was tactical, decisive and ruthless and did the job of every and any character in any literary work, she supported the plot. Why am I so passionate about this? I love storytelling. The job of every character, anything mentioned in a story; is to support the plot. Nothing in a book, movie, graphic novel or TV Show, should occur due to happenstance. That’s not how real life works. No one exist for no reason, everyone has purpose and everything that happens to (wo)man is of no coincidence. (If you choose to give it meaning.) Therefore a body of work should reflect that otherwise its a waste of ink on paper, a waste of a polygon in a 3D mesh. A writer should be able to justify every stroke.

I think everyone agrees that Zuko had some of the greatest development the art narration had to offer. However, how often do we talk about the parallel of his growth to his sister’s decent. Azula was who Zuko was trying to become, confident, feared and above all, respected. Imagine if Azula didn’t posses those traits, book 2 would’ve ended differently. Zuko’s growth would’ve been motivated in some other way. In addition to that, she was the adversary that was most difficult to defeat after her father. This is not just because of strength, she was cold, ruthless and calculated, driving the Avatar’s objective. And imagine, once she has everything she wanted, and what Zuko thought he wanted, she came to the same conclusion her younger brother had arrived at. Everything we were taught, the callousness, the rigger and patriotism, it amounts to nothing. Her own mother was afraid of her. No amount of honor she gained could restore that relationship. Thus, I believe this supports my prior statement, Azula is a great character, not due to morality, but because of how she supports the plot and character growth in the series.

Does the character have multiple dimensions?

Everyone loves a multifaceted character, but do we know how to create one? This is another concept the resembles our reality. Humans, animals, creation in general is just a network of stories. (Get’n philosophic) Why else would we create characters ranging from human to bacteria source: Ozzy and Drix. But how do we make that character seem real? We’ve heard “one dimensional” used to describe characters in a negative way but why. This usually means the character needs more traits or lacks realism. It’s the difference between the relationship with your child and the relationship with your co-worker. A good parent is more likely to know what their child is thinking before the child acts. (You know, your mother just comes in with something you wanted but haven’t asked for yet.) A co-worker on the hand, even if you’er friends, the relationship will have to see a lot of upgrades before you have the same level of trust you would with a parent, generally speaking, but by then you maybe married by then. In a literary sense, a character with one dimension is essentially a stranger or acquaintance to you. How do we turn that character into our baby?

We get to know them like a real person. What was their childhood like? What event changed their life? What kind of things frighten them? What’s their hobby? If they could vacation anywhere for free, where would they go? The beach? The mountains? Some place urban? Take Izuku for example, he keeps notes on any and every hero? That’s a dead giveaway that he’s a relatively organized person, even more impressive for a 15 year old boy. It also gives the impression that he has a lot of self discipline. He did pick up a work out regiment from a world renowned hero and completed it in ten months, after he overworked himself. He also found ways to work out in during class. It makes you ask how he developed that self discipline. Even his room, covered in action figures and memorabilia, is organized and the rest of the decor matches. Not something very prevalent in men let alone teenage boys. His mother doesn’t seem particularly strict, but Izuku has proven himself to be very thoughtful. Keeping a tight ship may be the result of an attempt to make things easier for his mother. Theory, but that’s fun part in my opinion. It’s like that satisfying feeling that comes with scratching off a seal with a coin. Even if the conclusion you draw isn’t cannon, every time you ask questions about the character or world, it’s like you read/watched the squeal. And if the theory is proven in the show, film or book, it becomes that much more fun. A one dimensional character isn’t destined to be awful however, it just means we need more time to get to know them.

So where does Master Fu fit in this complex scale of character appeal I’ve been painting? Can I have lunch with him? Sure. Do I want to emulate him? Absolutely not. Is he invited to the cook out? Depends on who all over there. Did he do his job? This is the moment of truth. Before I characterized this question from a literary stand point. That, I can’t speak to with an ongoing series.(I’m not holding my breathe though) Thus far, the character of Master Fu has supported the plot, giving viewers plenty of information about the world and lore. Does Master Fu perform the tasks he’s given in the duration he’s on “stage.” No, he failed miserably. Is he multifaceted? I’d say so, in fact, that may be the vary issue I’ve subscribed to. He has 186 years of backstory that I enjoyed probing. Even if the question I raise take me down the wrong rabbit hole, it’s like I got to explore the show from a new angle.I refrain from details because they’re in the slides.

So I say all this because I realize I may very well be alone on my Disaster Fu island. So if any viewer is wondering how I arrived at this conclusion, I hope this clarifies that. I can’t hate Master Fu if I wanted to. I have a healthy anger toward him, like the anger one has when their significant other leaves dishes in the sink. (Except your boy/girlfriend probably didn’t destroy a temple.) I think he would be a great cashier, but not a guardian. Master Fu could work at a mall kiosk, but miraculous guardian is not for him. It do be like that sometimes. Art, I am good at, but don’t ask me to play an instrument. I wasn’t planning writing on an essay but I felt an explanation was in order.

I don’t hate Master Fu

I don’t believe Master Fu was a good or even ok guardian

I decide how much I like a character according to their moral makeup or even attempt at morality

I decide how much I like a character according to their role in the plot and how suited they are to the role

I decide how much I like a character according to their different facets.

With that criteria in mind I made this series to organize my thoughts

This is just my way to explore an aspect of The Miraculous Adventures of Ladybug and Chat Noir

That being said I hope you like the series as much I enjoyed making it. Maybe You agree with it or you don’t regardless, I shared it hoping it would make you laugh. I hope it makes you ask questions not just about Miraculous Ladybug but about your work and whatever you fan for. I hope those questions allow you to experience the story again in a new way that’s enjoyable. There will be more soon!

@solembum22 @starcrossedrose @firstdove15

#miraculousladybug #the miraculous adventures of ladybug and chat noir #miraculous ladybug #ladybug and chat noir #ladybug #chat noir #marienette #adrian agreste #rena rouge #alya #alya cesaire #nino #nino lahiffe #carapace #100 miraculous reasons why master fu is a disaster #100 miraculous reasons why #miraculous reasons why #master fu #master fu is a disaster

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thedreideldiaries · 4 years

Text

Hey, friends! I thought I’d take this opportunity to expound in my political choices a bit - specifically to give some context for my choice of Sanders over Warren. Note for a few of my followers who know me elsewhere: this is copied over from other social media, so if it sounds familiar that is why.

First, I want to reiterate that I like Warren. So, if anyone reading this is torn between her and any of the other clowns who have thrown their sorry hats into the ring, then please: do me and the rest of the world a favor, stop reading this right now, and go ahead and give Warren your vote. I won’t be mad. Promise. If you’re on the fence between Warren and Sanders, though, then I implore you to read on.

Okay, is it just us in here? Cool.

For my friends torn between Warren and Sanders (like I was at the beginning of the primary), I’ve tried to distill my reasoning. As you know, a lot of the discourse surrounding Warren’s campaign constructs her as a younger, female version of Sanders. If I believed that, I’d be solidly in her corner, but a few differences between them make this simply not the case. Here are the ones I find most salient:

1. Let’s look at Bernie’s base. As much as we love to talk about representation in politics, a candidate’s demographic background tells us nothing about who they’re going to fight for. Their voting base, on the other hand, tells you who has placed their confidence in that candidate’s promises.

A good proportion of Warren’s supporters are white college graduates (young and old).

By contrast Bernie’s base is overwhelmingly working class, non-white, urban, and, perhaps most tellingly, young. You could attribute that to naivete, but I think something else is going on here: the demographic group with the most to win or lose from this election are people under 30. We’re the ones who will have to live with the most devastating effects of climate change, and we’re tired of the so-called adults in our lives not taking that rather pressing concern seriously. We don’t care if our candidate is old or young - we care if they listen. Which brings me to:

2. The Youth. Young people in America are disillusioned with democracy - not because we’ve decided it’s not a good idea, but because we’ve literally never seen it in action. We live in a corporate plutocracy where the financial barriers to running for office have rendered most politicians ridiculously out of touch. And Sanders, more than any other candidate in the primary, knows how to talk to young people.

And look - I’m planning to vote for whoever wins the primary. But if 2016 is anything to go by, if the youth demographic doesn’t get a candidate they can get behind, they won’t vote strategically for the lesser of two evils. They’ll stay home, and given what the Democratic party has done for them over the past 20 or so years, I can’t say I blame them.

3. The same goes for his endorsements. I’d be out of my lane if I spent too much time talking about what Sanders wants to do for people of color, but I think it’s telling that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar - three politicians showing real determination to shake things up in Washington - all chose Bernie over Warren. I think it’s telling that AOC cited his campaign, not Warren’s, as her inspiration for running for office (if anyone’s a female Sanders, it’s not Warren - it’s AOC).

4. Sanders is, quite simply, the genuine article. He’s fought for important causes (climate justice, healthcare, workers’ rights) since long before they were cool. He’s *not* perfect, but criticisms of him rarely touch his political history.

Warren’s record of activism is, by contrast, unimpressive. She used to be a Republican corporate lawyer, and while I absolutely respect that someone can change their mind about politics, and I applaud her for doing so, it worries me that what changed her mind wasn’t the Iran-Contra scandal, or the AIDS crisis, or the brutal crushing of the labor movement. It was the realization that Republicans were doing capitalism wrong. I can’t exactly argue with that (show me a Republican politician who truly supports a free market and I’ll eat my beret*), but it doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence.

*This is a joke. I do not have a beret.

5. Warren’s a capitalist; Sanders is a democratic socialist, and I think the difference is important. Warren supports a wealth tax, and she wants everyone to have healthcare, and I appreciate that she has the guts to talk about those things on national television, but at the end of the day, she’s a proud capitalist who believes the system needs to be corrected, not overhauled.

Sanders is a self-professed democratic socialist, and has built a popular movement around that label. And honestly, I’m not too worried about redbaiting. Yes, it’s a common Republican tactic, but the sentiment of “yes I would vote for Democrats but not for Socialist democrats” is a rare one, if it exists at all. And if it works against any of the primary candidates, it’ll work against all of them. They used anti-Commmunist rhetoric against Obama, for goodness’ sake. Look how much of an advocate for the working class he turned out to be.

Courting the centrist vote is a waste of time. Tiptoeing around conservatives alienates left-wingers and doesn’t actually sway Republicans. It’s a bad move strategically, in that it makes us look like cowards, and morally, because it means not getting very important things done.

Sanders doesn’t want to play the game better. He wants to start a whole new game. Warren’s economics platform seems to boil down to “50s but less racist,” and while that sounds nice, it’s just not possible. We can’t go back there - we have automation now, not to mention a global economy the likes of which we barely dreamed of in the 1950s, and it’s not realistic to try to make that happen again. We need something new.

6. People over party. In a lot of ways, Warren reminds me of the best parts of The West Wing. I like that show, but it was a comforting fantasy - a vision of what the Democratic Party could have been like with a little more gumption and a lot more luck. It never happened because the Democratic party and politics aren’t like that in real life. I have confidence in Sanders because his loyalty isn’t to the Democratic Party. It’s to the American people. He’s proved that over and over again over the course of his political career.

7. Bernie is an organizer. The “not me - us” slogan is very telling. Democracy is participatory. We don’t just need a candidate with a plan to fix everything. We need a candidate with a plan who acknowledges that the people hold the real power. We need a candidate who respects the will of the people and inspires them to get involved. We can’t win this election and stop thinking about politics. We never get to stop thinking about politics. We need someone who can inspire people to keep fighting.

The heart attack was a big deal, but the truth is, it’s never been about Bernie as an individual. His immediate reaction after getting out of the hospital was “I’m lucky to have healthcare; everyone should have healthcare; let’s get back to work.” That, more than anything, has given me the confidence that Bernie wants his policies to last long after he’s gone.

Also, people regularly have heart attacks and live another several decades. This is *literally* why we have vice presidents. If Sanders can get elected and pick a good VP and a cabinet (plus, you know, fill any Supreme Court vacancies that happen to arise over his tenure), his health won’t matter as much, because we don’t need a messiah right now. We need a resurgence of participatory democracy. We need more AOCs to take the stage. We need young people at the polls, not just in 2020, but beyond that.

8. I don’t like to talk about electability for a couple of reasons. One: centrists love to bring it up, usually in the service of talking about how policies they have zero stake in will never work. Two: Trump was supposed to be unelectable, and we all saw how that turned out.

That said: Warren’s currently polling third, which is not a great place to be. And while I don’t share some people’s cynicism about Warren, I have to agree that her response to Trump’s attacks has not impressed me. I’m confident that if Trump attacks Sanders, Bernie won’t take the bait, because he’s so on-message you can’t get him off-message. Like I said: he had a heart attack and immediately spun it back into the healthcare conversation.

And the polls are clear: head to head, Sanders beats Trump. Warren’s chances are far dicier.

9. And the most important issue, without which nothing else really matters: the climate crisis. I’d love it if we could wait for the country’s ideas to catch up to Sanders’ socialist rhetoric, but the truth is we are running out of time. I’m voting for Sanders because I have two nieces under 5 years old and a nephew who was just born, and I want them to grow up on a habitable planet, and they won’t get a chance to vote on that. I’m doing it because I want to have kids of my own someday, and while I absolutely respect the choice of anyone deciding to reproduce right now, I don’t have the emotional energy to raise a family during an apocalypse. And while I like Warren, and she’s expressed support for a Green New Deal, Sanders is the only candidate I trust to both beat Trump in the general and put his foot down to the DNC and their ilk.

10. Foreign policy!

First of all: guess who else hates American Imperialism? That’s right; it’s Bernie Sanders. Significantly, he has the guts to bring up America’s habit of meddling in Latin America’s democratically elected governments, which is something you pretty much never hear about from pretty much any other candidate.

https://www.vox.com/2019/6/25/18744458/bernie-sanders-endless-wars-foreign-affairs-op-ed

Foreign policy came up a lot during 2016 primary, with Clinton’s supporters trotting out the bizarre argument that a long history of hawkish policies is better than no policies at all. What with all that, I was surprised to learn that Sanders is actually quite well-traveled and has a long history of trying to mend fences between the U.S. and other world powers: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/02/bernie-sanders-foreign-policy/470019/

When it comes to climate change and foreign policy, Sanders acknowledges not only that it requires innovation (let’s not forget his early and vehement support for the Green New Deal), but also international cooperation. From the link below:

“To both Sanders and his supporters around the world, it is impossible to fight climate change without international cooperation. To that end, a group called the Progressive International was announced at a convention last year held by the Sanders Institute, a think tank founded by the presidential contender’s wife and son.

“The network of left-wing politicians and activists hopes to fight against "the global war being waged against workers, against our environment, against democracy, against decency,” according to its website.”

He’s also popular with left-wing leaders around the world, and it’s those kinds of politicians who we need to get us out of the climate crisis.

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/04/bernie-sanders-global-popularity-1254929

And finally, to stray briefly into comparison: again, I like Warren, but even so, I like her better domestically than internationally. The progressivism she touts at home comes up short abroad. I’m sure you’ve heard about it already, but I think it’s worth remembering that Warren voted for Trump’s military budget in 2017; Sanders didn’t. She talks a lot about peace, but her history on foreign issues looks pretty similar to that of other centrist democrats. This is a problem not only in terms of American Imperialism, but also because the U.S. military is one of the world’s leading causes of climate change. Her voting history and her cozy relationship with defense contractors have me pretty worried. This article goes into more detail about her history with various foreign powers as well as her general attitudes on American imperialism:

https://jacobinmag.com/2019/05/elizabeth-warren-foreign-policy

We all pretty much knew what we were getting with Clinton. Warren worries me not only because she seems to align with the rest of the party on our endless foreign wars, but because she keeps her support for the military-industrial complex behind a facade of progressive rhetoric that reminds me of the early Obama years. We can’t be let down like that again. Even if we ignore the devastating human cost, the planet doesn’t have time.

Further Reading - obviously I don’t agree with everything in every one of these pieces, but they offer a leftist critique that often goes missing from other, more superficial problems people bring up about Warren.

The polling bases of the primary candidates: https://www.people-press.org/2019/08/16/most-democrats-are-excited-by-several-2020-candidates-not-just-their-top-choice/pp_2019-08-16_2020-democratic-candidates_0-06/?fbclid=IwAR2G8np2q9N4P6DArdI-gPhA5Wp_SYDZPKQDpDhxVZ4YbwnAEmFd65swMOA

An interesting take on Warren’s policies vs Bernie’s movement: https://jacobinmag.com/2019/04/elizabeth-warren-policy-bernie-sanders-presidential-primary?fbclid=IwAR14wWjYDNuNMrXN7YjVFFFHXmoMWKpDVqBcbPBlQUUrA354iIyRAbKXG30

An opinion piece on the contrast between them:

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/08/bernie-sanders-elizabeth-warren-democratic-party-elite-2020-presidential-race?fbclid=IwAR3vA54QveM2cCTxQ2BbVXh_IICgTxweKVBLMRjhSFyyAdspnibJ50seDjY

Another one:

https://forward.com/opinion/432561/the-case-for-bernie-sanders-the-only-real-progressive-in-the-race-sorry/?fbclid=IwAR1vwONZ7azJQcoeo_KYNYiJ8ekzHhJsZ4Ms0UzDHI59j7Q6oio-5uJOGcI

Warren’s political history:

More about that from a different source:

https://www.currentaffairs.org/2019/10/why-criticize-warren?fbclid=IwAR0NTP0cRbSnr-a6HCuxE-4SCJZEqU2EAL1Gnx70FME-9UMBg-xYE5t7g7Y

A prequel to the former (beware - this one’s scathing as heck):

https://www.currentaffairs.org/2019/09/the-prospect-of-an-elizabeth-warren-nomination-should-be-very-worrying?fbclid=IwAR03d5I5j72s4kQC9wgRSrXnbmWsp_9HUvRWBZwzcfsT9RsZP-lSAX4aPz0

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