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nadinebrooks · 2 years

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Here is the link to my masterlist

Severus Snape x Reader: The New Potions Master

Warnings: None that I can think of. This is set driving the Half Blood Prince (6th Year) so for the sake of this, just pretend that Professor Slughorn isn't the Potions Professor.

"Hmph. You're not exactly what I was expecting." The old Potions master stood in the doorway of the new Potion professor's office. He casually leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed and this sort of amused look on his face. She was not what he was expecting at all. He didn't know if that was a good or bad thing.

"Pardon me?" The young women looked away from whatever had been occupying her attention. She adjusted her glasses so that she could see the dark haired professor standing in her doorway a little better.

The new professor was even more beautiful than Snape imagined. The photos he had seen of her didn't do any justice to looking at her in real life.

She had written the newest edition of Potion textbooks that Hogwarts was using this year. She had also written a couple other books about her studies as well that he found rather interesting. Her picture could be found on the back in the bottom right corner of every book she had written.

"I'm very well qualified for this position if that's what you're proposing professor."

"No, my sincerest apologies. I'm not questioning your qualification at all." Snape raised an eyebrow at the very young professor. She looked to be in her mid to late 20s. Now she was taking his position as the potions professor while he moved over to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. "I've read many of your articles and books Miss. (l/n) and I am very impressed by your work. The only person I know that could perfectly replicate some of those complicated potions are myself."

"Thank you Professor. It's Snape, right?" (y/n) got up from her spot at her desk and walked over to him. She had heard a lot about him before coming to work at Hogwarts.

"That is correct. It's Snape. Severus Snape." He held out a hand to shake hers.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Professor Snape. It's about time that I put a face with a name. I've already heard so much about you."

"Oh." He raised an eyebrow. "Who have you been talking to about me?"

"The students." She admitted not being able to meet his eyes. (y/n) looked down at her shoes not wanting to see the look on his face.

The last thing she wanted was to see his face when he came to the understanding that she associated with the students more than the other professors.

She already knew that he thought she was too young for the job. A lot of people thought she was far too young for the job.

Truthfully, she felt like it was a lot more easier to relate to the the students since she had only graduated a couple of years ago. They found it easy to relate to each other.

"Please look at me when you're speaking." Snape used his finger and place it under (y/n)'s chin forcing her to look him in his eyes. "Only the children refuse to look me in the eyes when I'm talking to them. I don't plan on treating you like one of them. You are my equal Miss (l/n). Though you do look as if you could fit right in with the children. "If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?"

"Please call me (y/n)." She waved her hand letting him know it was okay for him to call her by her first name. She still found it a challenge to get the students to call her Professor (l/n). It felt way too professional. "And I'm (any age you would like to use)."

"Why you're merely a child." Snape couldn't himself. It accidentally slip out and he instantly regretted it. He could see the look of hurt flash across her face and then it was gone.

She refused to let him see her hurt. She pushed back her shoulders and looked him dead in the eye.

"I am not a child Professor Snape." She hissed. Her voice was not sweet and inviting like it had been earlier. "I am highly qualified for this job. I know for a fact that I am more qualified than you were when you started this position. I mastered the arts of Potions when I was just 14 years old. I've been brewing potions since I could read. I've had pretty much every potion memorized since I was 11. I learned how to brew Wolfsbane when I was 9 for a couple of my parent's friends. I can make Veritaserum so powerful you won't be able to lie for months. I can make a vial of Felix Felisis so that you would never run out of luck. I refuse to let anyone talk down on me just because I'm young. I graduated with the highest marks in Potions that anyone at Beauxbatons has ever received. So I will see you tomorrow at breakfast. Good night." She quickly walked around him to her sleeping chambers leaving all her belongings behind.

Over the next couple of weeks, (y/n) did her very best to avoid Professor Snape. She made sure to get to meals early to make sure she didn't have to sit beside him. She even changed her route when walking to her classroom to ensure that she wouldn't bump into him in the hallways.

The students had grown to love Professor (l/n). She was very hands on in the classroom and rarely took points away from the student.

They were all extremely respectful to her, which she was worried about at first, but since she was only a couple of years older than them, they found her rather easy to talk to.

Snape couldn't help but overhear how amazing of a professor she was from students in the hallway. He was starting to feel ashamed for the way he had talked to her those weeks ago.

"Professor (l/n)?" (y/n) looked up from the potion she was currently brewing and smiled when she saw Hermione standing at the door. Hermione had become a personal favorite of hers. She reminded her so much of herself when she was younger. Always eager to please and happy to learn.

"Please come in Miss Granger. "She grinned sitting down the clippings of unicorn hoofs and wiped her hands off on a spare towel. "What can I help you with?" She walked over to her desk and then gestured for Hermione to sit down in front of her.

"I was wondering if you could talk to me about Amortentia." Hermione looked down fiddling with her hands clearly embarrassed about the whole situation. "I've read all of your books and I think it's absolutely brilliant all the things you've managed to accomplish at such a young age. It's a potion that I've been wondering about for a couple of years, but Professor Snape is not the easiest person to talk to."

"Well you're happen to be in luck. Amortentia happens to be one of my specialties."

"Are there any potions that aren't your specialty?" Hermione questioned looking at her with wide eyes.

"Well as long as we can keep this between us, I'm not very good at Polyjuice Potions." (y/n) shrugged. "I still struggle with them to this day."

"I've made a Polyjuice Potion before." Hermione admitted not sure if it would get her in trouble or not. She honestly didn't think that Professor would say anything about it. "During my second year."

"Wow." (y/n) said clearly impressed. "And how did that go?"

"It went well for Ron and Harry, but I accidentally turned myself into a cat."

"A cat? I didn't know it worked with animals. I've always been too scared to try."

"I would not recommend it." Hermine giggled thinking back 4 years ago. To this day she still couldn't believe that they didn't get caught for the amount of rules they had broken for that.

"But you didn't come in here to talk about a Polyjuice Potion. You wanted to talk about Amortenia." (y/n) got up from her desk and walked over to a cupboard. She returned with a tiny vial holding a liquid with a pinkish tint. She uncorked it and held it for Hermione to smell. "What does it smell like to you?"

"Parchment paper...freshly mown grass...and Ron's hair." She wouldn't have been able to admit the smell of Ron's hair to anyone, but she found that talking to Professor (l/n) was very easy.

"Ah," she sat back down at her desk sighing, "Mr. Weasley. Amortenia is the most powerful love potion in the world. It causes a powerful obsession or infatuation with the person who brews it. Nobody has been able to create a potion strong enough that can last forever. But it smells different to everyone."

"So that won't make him love me?" Hermione questioned her eyes fixated on the bottle in front of her.

"No Miss. Granger. I'm afraid not. But I wouldn't give up on him just yet. Boys can be so stupid."

"Yeah." Hermione nodded standing up. "They really can be. Thank you for talking to me. Good night."

"Of course. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night." (y/n) said giving the younger prodigy a small smile as she scampered out of her room.

"Boys really can be stupid." There came a low voice from the door. (y/n) looked up to see Professor Snape standing there with an ashamed look on his face.

"Hello Professor Snape." (y/n) coldly said still upset with the comment he made at the beginning of the term.

"You've been avoiding me." He said slowly walking into the room. "Why is that?"

"You hurt my feelings." (y/n) admitted. "I know that I'm young, but that doesn't mean I can't do my job well."

"You're right and I apologize. I've heard the students and other professors talking and it's evident that you are very good at what you do. I made a mistake for what I said to you earlier and I'm here to say I'm sorry (y/n). And I mean it."

"It's okay Professor Snape." (y/n) was grinning. Her whole face light up the classroom. It had been a while since Snape had seen such beauty. He knew that there was no way that she would be interested in him. A girl that beautiful had to have lots of suitors.

"Please call me Severus. I would like to think that we're on first name bases now." He chuckled. They talked for an hour or so not realizing how late it had become. "(y/n)?" He had finally built up the courage to ask him something that had been bothering him the second he laid eyes on her.

"Hmm?" She replied as she was picking up her things letting him that she was listening.

"Are you married?" He asked. That caused her to drop her books and look up at him shocked. That was one of the last things she expected to come from his mouth. "You don't wear a wedding band, but I wasn't sure if it was because of the potions and you didn't want to mess it up. I apologize if that question was too personal."

"It's not too personal at all Severus. Like you said, we're on the way to becoming friends. But no, I am not." She shook her head regaining her composure. "I went to an all girl's school for most of my life so I didn't have a lot of experience with the opposite sex. But I did have a boyfriend for about 4 years or so. We broke up though."

"May I ask what happened?" Snape questioned.

"He didn't like the idea that I was smarter than him." She shrugged.

"Well he was stupid to let you go." Snape said before quickly leaving (y/n) in the room alone with her thoughts.

Over the next couple of months, Snape and (y/n) had become very close. In between classes they could be found chatting in the hallways.

Neither the professors nor students had seen the old Potions Master behave this way. They had even started placing bets on if the Professors would end up dating.

Whenever a class would bring up the idea (y/n) would quickly change the top letting the students know that her love life was not up for discussion. And they knew better than to bring up the subject around Professor Snape.

(y/n) was working on yet another article when there came a knock at the door.

"Come in." She called out expecting to see another professor, but it was Hermione.

"Hello dear." She smiled softly. "What can I help you with?"

"I've done something terribly stupid."

"It can't be that stupid." (y/n) chucked as Hermione sat down in the chair across from her desk.

"I made a love potion."

"You know those are banned Miss. Granger." (y/n) raised her eyebrows in surprise. She wasn't going to tell on Hermione or anything. She was still a child and sometimes children do silly things. Especially when it's for someone that they love.

"I know." There were now tears welling up in her warm brown eyes. "I didn't know what else to do so I came here." She held out her hand holding the little vial. "Please take it before I do something rash." (y/n) took it from Hermione and placed it on her desk. "Can I ask you something?" Hermione questioned.

"Sure."

"What does it smell like to you?"

"(favorite fruit), (another favorite smell), and my ex's cologne."

"Thank you." Hermione quickly gathered herself and scampered out the room. (y/n) didn't want to lie to the poor girl but she couldn't admit to her that it smelled like Snape. Speaking of, here he was for their nightly conversations.

"I think I'm going to have to take a rain check." (y/n) got up rubbing her temples. "I have a terrible headache."

"Would you like me to brew you something?" Snape asked clearly concerned. "It would only take a couple of moments."

"No." She shook her head. "Thank you Severus, but I think I'm just going to sleep this one off."

"Amortenia." He grumbled holding up the vial on her desk. "Who was this for?"

"No one." She shook her head. "Miss. Granger made it for Mr. Weasley, but she brought it to me before she could use it."

"Granger and Weasley? That's a very unlikely couple."

"I think it's cute." (y/n) sighed. "I've always believed that opposites attract."

"Like us?"

"Yes. Like us." She wasn't really sure where this conversation was going now. She watched as Snape uncorked the vial and took a whiff. She was curious now. "What does it smell like to you?"

"A perfectly brewed Draught of Living Dead...my grandmother's kitchen...and you." He finally said looking up her. Snape wasn't planning on saying that but it just happened to slip out. There was no taking it back now. It was all out in the open.

"So what does that mean?" (y/n) stammered clearly flustered. This is not how she imagined the night going.

"Are you that daft (y/n)?" Snape chucked. "I fancy you."

#harry potter preferences #harry potter imagine #harry potter masterlist #harry potter x reader #severus snape #severus x reader #severus snape x reader #severus snape imagine #severus snape one shot #severus snape x female reader #severus snape x oc

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utilitycaster · 1 month

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@rowzeoli replied to your post “@rowzeoli replied to your post “Do you think part...”:

There's a lot to tackle on this so I'll do my best to cover it all! So I totally get where you're coming from and to be fair yes there are some things in old articles that I don't agree with any more in deeming people having done things "first" which is part of the issue of not having a collective historical memory around actual play as it moves so quickly. Most of the issue isn't that readership is down it's that AI and venture capitalism is destroying journalism

Hey, sorry for taking a bit to respond; it's been a hectic week and I wanted to give it some thought and time.

I'll start off with the good: I really do, again, appreciate you engaging here, and on the strength of that alone I am going to at least give Rascal's free articles a good solid chance for a while; I have been, admittedly, tarring it with the brush of a lot of frustrations (see below) and I know it's relatively new and still finding its place and should get a bit more of my patience. I also should note that while your article did hit on a lot of the patterns that have turned me - and no small amount of others - off of a lot of AP/TTRPG journalism it is by no means the worst example. The things you credited Burrow's End for are, admittedly, more obscure single-episode events within a huge body of work. Or in other words: there are bylines in the space that make me go "oh this is going to be bad" and yours is not one of them.

With that said: I'm sorry, but Polygon's bias is not a matter of time crunch or lack of funding. There is no way that a time crunch or lack of funding would consistently, over years (this was already word on the street at latest when EXU Calamity came out almost 2 years ago) result in a message of "D20 can do no wrong, and Critical Role rarely does right." If it were throwing out harsh criticism or glowing praise for a wide variety of shows, sure, that seems like it could come from not having a lot of time...but this goes beyond coincidence. It's a reputation that long precedes your entry into the field. As some others in the replies have noted, I might have written the most about it on Tumblr, but it's at this point not an uncommon observation. This also isn't an issue for other publications in a similar "nerd stuff" space - there's plenty of articles on, say, Dicebreaker or Comicbook.com that I don't care for, either because I disagree with the opinion or I think the analysis isn't really worthwhile, but those tend to at least have a mix of positive and critical articles about most shows. When I said you could treat Polygon articles like Madlibs, I meant it. And so I think it's great that you are no longer chasing "groundbreaking", for example, is not a solid ground for an article, but this also is showing me that even relatively new journalists are, very early on, starting with this exact formula. In some ways, that's more damning.

I do also want to add that I'm again, sympathetic to the lack of resources and to coming into a field with passionate and nitpicky fans who have been here for years. Not knowing about a single Critical Role one-shot from 2018 is something that I'd have been much more lenient about if it weren't hitting those repetitive notes of "D20 is great/this thing is groundbreaking/look at the production values." But the other article I posted, also from Polygon but not written by you, is, to be honest, pretty inexcusable. I get there's a lot of lost institutional memory...but either being unaware of, or ignoring the fact that there are a huge number of long-running actual play podcasts that play longform campaigns? That's pretty much on par, in terms of whether your audience trusts you, of the New York Times international news desk not being able to locate Russia on a map (though obviously with far less serious real-world ramifications). (The fact that this was written by a prominent actual play scholar meanwhile is like, I don't know, Neil DeGrasse Tyson not knowing how gravity works, but that's a separate topic).

And again, I get these are your colleagues. I have the luxury of being able to run my mouth without putting my livelihood at stake, and that's not true for people within the industry. I do not expect you to say anything ill about them, nor would I judge any specific individual for getting published in Polygon since I get that people are pitching to a number of sites so that they can get paid! But when I say "Polygon's AP/TTRPG coverage is at needs-a-change-of-leadership levels of bad" I am not alone in this, and it's something that has probably been true for easily 3+ years if not longer. Because it's one of the more prominent publications in the space (ironically, due to Justin McElroy of TAZ being a founder, and the fact that its videogame division is quite good and has had some viral videos, it had enviable name recognition among AP fans that it's only squandered since) it really is at a point where hitting that same formula in any AP journalism - claiming everything is groundbreaking, putting an emphasis on high production values, D20 good and CR bad - makes fans go "oh, more of this bullshit." I don't want to say you can't talk about these things - I definitely do not want to say that you cannot criticize Critical Role - but that specific well is has been poisoned for a long time. If someone hits these points it feels, whether or not it is true, that they're trying to be provocative by going against popular fan opinion, but are simultaneously just saying the same thing we've seen a million times before.

I believe wholeheartedly that from your perspective the competition is AI - and I don't want AI articles either. On the other hand, in terms of what I think fans who are in my position are turning to, it's not AI articles (I'm certainly not). If I want analysis, I'm probably, at this point, going to social media; I am not the only person who writes longform meta or analysis for fun, and I'll seek others who do out. I'm not personally a video essay person, but plenty are, and that's out there too. I'm not going there for reporting on news (I think the Dnd Shorts OGL debacle made it clear that actual journalists are very necessary) but yeah, if I want criticism or analysis? I'm going there instead, especially since there often is that missing institutional memory. If I do want journalism, at this point, some of the bigger shows are getting writeups in less niche publications, particularly Critical Role and D20, as is news of more major tabletop games. It's infrequent and it doesn't highlight indie works, but it tends to be, if nothing else, lacking in major errors or obvious bias. If I want to hear from cast members, at least four of the shows I watch or listen to have regular talkback shows, and Dropout regularly talks to AP/TTRPG figures on Adventuring Academy, and a lot of those shows take viewer questions. Which, again, probably not heartening to hear the competition is even tighter, but I guess my point is I hope it's possible, even with very limited resources, to move away from the above "novelty and production values above all" pattern because even that would do a lot of needed work to rebuild reader trust - and I'm going to be checking out Rascal in the hopes that it can.

#rowzeoli #long post

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lindszeppelin · 2 days

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Giiiirl...People Magazine is known to maintain good relationships with certain celebs, so they give them exclusive info and such. Wrt the new article, it begs the question as to why it was written. No doubt in my mind it was sent by the subject themselves (herself lol), but there were no cheating rumors, no pap pics of them arguing or kissing other people, the gc doesn't care about them like that. So why go out of your way to not only do a very obvious pap walk, but also send accompanying info to double down. Something is indeed going on behind closed doors they want people not to pay attention to. This is part of a narrative fix imo so their eventual split is more "cushioned". They can not have breakup rumors flying around during press. If they are painted as a loving couple till the end, that helps the narrative. She and Elordi were soo in love apparently, but after their split, he was kinda painted in a bad light. Just like the Gerber article after Cabo served a purpose imo: either to keep Austin in line or to make the Gerber stance on him clear, he is no longer in the plans for them. A lot of people here have speculated a split may come after Bikeriders/when he gets back to work, and with these new developments it seems more and more plausable. No way those two enjoyed a romantic evening with those sour faces. And you pointed out the weird details of them just hugging. Not even cuddling or kissing. I am very interested in how the next few months unfold for sure. But PM is def being fed info from them for a purpose and not a very positive one.

Im so glad you brought up all these points, because you're right, and they need to be included in the discussion. the way that article was written, like i said in one of my last messages, it sounded like this "source" was told information from someone who was there, and they just recounted the story. like almost "i heard this happened, and they sound like they're in love". so it makes perfect sense if kaia were to have been the one to call it in. it was so terrible, the story was bland and it really was like trying to make a bunch of rotten apples turn into apple pie. if it actually was someone on her pr team instead, they really did a shitty job. are there shitty PR people out there that suck at their job? yep. and this could be one of those times. but the more it sits with me the more it does make sense that she could have called this one in herself. obviously there is no proof to that claim, but the fact is that this article was written to accompany those pap pics and act as a buffer for when they actually do breakup. regardless, whoever phoned it in to People did a terrible job lol.

and also, i love that they added that restaurant. Waverly Inn i think, because it doubles down on the notion that whoever phoned that in to People is the same person that phoned it in to deuxmoi. the last fake deux blind sighting was them in NYC at the Waverly Inn. how convenient lol

#lindsay's anon asks

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beardedmrbean · 5 months

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Hmm found the kahoot song https://youtu.be/XDd9Yb0JvjE?si=pJ8nsFOC6BIuimCt

My god the more I read about the Dahomey..

Hey black activists with your hate boner toward confederate statues and places named after them. Fun fact I lived on Fort Bragg for a few year no black person on the base and around it gave a fuck about the name. And demonized the founding fathers, even though there are several documents pointing out that understood the irony of owning slaves while perching freedom.

But kinda hard to end that while your country is very young. There a reason why modern American culture is heavily industrialized.

Also activists erasing uncle Ben and that black lady from syrup.

Then years later that are going to be articles about how some of the biggest black actors of their times basically made the black equivalent of birth of a nation.

The next generation is going to look at you, because they going to point out how black Americans actvists was filled with much hatred towards white people. That they glorify the people who created their disposa in the first place

that opening like hit be like a train, how good is it I wonder

youtube

The tik tok sound makes me think of those tubes you hit to get a note out of, plastic ones, they're cool. This is actually not bad at all.

Several of them wanted to free theirs after they died since that was basically the only way it could work but iirc there were some roadblocks

This is a well written answer, got citations and everything, I feel like there's still missing information but you might get something out of it, Washington gets a mention.

Was there a "retirement plan" for old slaves in America? How often would slaves reach old age, anyways?

I do remember reading recently that some actually got to enjoy actual retirement on the dime of their "owner" not sure how widespread that was this piece up here doesn't really go into it too much, but you do get to see some of the, positives is a terrible word but still fitting, so less horrid bits maybe.

Enslavement in the Caribbean, for instance, was much harsher than being more north in the American Colonies. Conditions were so terrible, that slave owners like George Washington used the threat of selling their slaves to owners in the Caribbean against their own slaves because their slaves had heard the horrors of the West Indies. (Washington even did this on several occasions to different slaves.) Also worth noting that only about 6% of all enslaved Africans were sent to the American Colonies, with the majority of the rest heading to the Caribbean and South American colonies.

Worth noting that the average cost of a slave in the US in 1850 was $400, and before anyone asks

People that talk about slaves being murdered for fun confuse me, like yes it likely happened but not much, this will get you a new Kia Rio tho how many people are going to buy something like that just to take it to a demolition derby

Also activists erasing uncle Ben and that black lady from syrup.

It's nice of them to take care of the whitewashig for us, now there's only one Uncle Ben. Aunt Jemima is a tragic loss, but maybe we can salvage it

Jemima Rooper is still around, we could use her (Hex ftw) this is how we heal wounds and atone for the past I hear.

Then years later that are going to be articles about how some of the biggest black actors of their times basically made the black equivalent of birth of a nation.

Go look up what the theology of the nation of islam is. Also I can't think that it could possibly be worse than Battlefield Earth.

Wonder how many favours the screwball crew at scientology hq had to call in to get this one distributed.

God I hope so, that would progress beyond my current dreams.

For a little extra fun reading, here's a bit about a indigenous people that the government of Mexico was selling as slaves up into the early 20th century.

one of those weird things even most Mexicans don't know about I don't think

#anonymous

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360degreesasthecrowflies · 8 months

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Right, I'm going to weigh in on the Lisa Cameron MP situation and current media trends in the UK right now...

It feels like UK journalism has a real problem right now when public figures do something demonstrably bad, of instead of reporting that as news for the community to be aware of and informed by, journalists go directly to the public figure in question and let them mount a defence, defend, or otherwise excuse in advance their actions in the vein of putting across their side of the story... and thus in the process only platform that side of the story.

Enter Lisa Cameron, MP. Lisa was elected several years ago after standing to represent SNP, Scotland's prominent left-wing party. She's recently jumped ship to the Tories, who in Scotland are a party with minority support, and are strongly right-wing. Because of the law of the country, Lisa gets to keep her job representing the local community - although the party she now represents is diametrically opposed to the views of the party she was elected to stand for. She was elected in the first place because a majority of electors in her district wanted a leftwing party to represent them in government - and now that person that they elected will represent the minority of rightwingers in her district only, and is completely unashamed about this and unwilling to consider re-running an election or standing down.

How is the British media reporting this? Across the board, even in leftwing media...

"Poor Lisa, she's been getting threats and abuse from the nasty public. She has to go into hiding now because of all that abuse she's getting." (with of course no reference to why that is happening, leaving the implication it's because she's a powerful, successful woman, or independent minded etc.)

Making that focus so ridiculously overdramatic, as well as totally focused on the wrong aspect weakens the story, and detracts from what's real news - as well as, most importantly, also taking away the weight from real abuse and criticism that people who don't deserve it face; racism, ableism, sexism and other associated genuine discrimination based on prejudices, rather than angry words spoken as the result of actions someone has openly chosen in order to benefit themself and harm people in their community.

This kind of coverage has also arisen recently with the family of Captain Tom, another UK public figure who was a well-known charity fundraiser, whose family later claimed to continue his work after his death - but instead shifted quietly into for-profit work using his image and likeness, without drawing attention to this fact. Hannah Ingram-Moore, his daughter, was revealed to have personally profited from the sales of Captain Tom's autobiography, written with the aid of ghostwriters after he became a high-profile figure based on his charity endeavours, which strongly implied itself to be a book written and sold in order to raise more money for charity... but actually wasn't. Hannah and her family have been doing the media circuit in defence of this decision, pulling the 'my hero father just wanted to provide for his family' angle (who are all, may I add, working adults in their 50s)... and have been getting very little critical pushback for that! Despite the core story here being literally what seems to be a case of unscrupulous family members profiting off the charity work of a veteran.

Going back to Lisa, generally leftwing paper The Guardian just published a fawning article painting her as the victim - and carefully not asking her any hard questions that would go between the lines of the image she is deliberately crafting.

Quoting below, Lisa - who was elected in no uncertain terms to represent a particular political position and set of policies, supported by her voters, defends herself thus:

In the interview, Cameron said that because she repeatedly opposed the SNP’s “progressive” political positions, she had been blanked by party colleagues in the Commons’ tea room and corridors and was forced to seek help from a counsellor and her GP after experiencing panic attacks and loneliness. “I found it to be quite a psychologically coercive situation,” Cameron told the Times. “They are always right. If you question things you are wrong and you’re isolated.

But Lisa, if you don't agree with any of the SNP's positions on anything and disagree with all of your colleagues on every subject, then it begs the question of why you are actually standing as an SNP MP in the first place. And I suspect based on what she isn't saying here, that the 'isolation' and 'loneliness' she felt here came because people legitimately put this question to her.

Is it psychologically coercive to actually represent the people and political positions that you were elected to, folks? Are your colleagues bullying you when they ask why you aren't doing the job that you applied for and are getting paid circa 100k a year to carry out? Why isn't that the story here? Why are we being asked to feel sympathy for people who break the social contract in order to personally profit?

#lisa cameron #scottish politics #uk politics #captain tom #text post #original writing #uk news #journalism #oligarchy #hannah ingram-moore #snp #tories #politics

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rhube · 11 months

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The Case for Limiting Personal Wealth

Unpay-walled link to the New Yorker article 'The Titan Submersible was an "Accident Waiting to Happen"'

I'm reading the New Yorker article linked above, which contains acres of quotes from people warning Stockton Rush about how dangerous Titan was. It's hammering home to me what I have believed for several years:

Allowing people to have more than a certain amount of money to personally dispose of is catastrophically dangerous to themselves and others.

No single person is capable of responsibly managing that much cash. And the possession of riches itself warps perception dangerously. This is powerfully obvious when you read how Rush responded to being challenged. The way he first limited what things he would allow his safety expert to assess, and then fired him when he wrote a report - specifically so there would be a written record of him telling Rush that even the things he was allowed to assess were horrifically unsafe.

We're talking about a vessel Rush planned to enter himself.

And then he asked his Finance officer to be the pilot. This worried her so much that she found a new job ASAP, practically screaming *Scotty voice*, "I'm an accountant, man, not a submarine pilot!"

What this illustrates, apart from anything else, is the capacity money gives to people to say no to others without consequence, and how this makes them inherently incapable of judging when it's appropriate to listen to others and doubt themselves.

That is fantastically dangerous.

Not only should we tax away the possibility of billionaires existing in order to ensure fairer distribution of money, but we must do it for public safety. We need to prevent super rich people from being decision-makers of significant power. Their very wealth makes them collossally BAD at it.

It is unescapable, reading quotations like:

“I had come across this business anomaly I couldn’t explain... If three-quarters of the planet is water, how come you can’t access it?” (Rush)

What utter nonsense. Buzzwords instead of a brain. Meanwhile, experts on deep-ocean exploration (all of whom must be risk-takers to even consider that) say things like:

"You can’t cut corners in the deep,” (Rob McCallum)

The pre-exiting condition of Being Rich should automatically discount rich folk from being CEOs or entering governmental positions.

This wouldn't just ensure fairer salaries for all, and a redistribution of extreme inherited wealth to those who need it, but would prevent people who are inherently bad at assessing risk from endangering others.

This doesn't mean that people who are good at their jobs shouldn't be rewarded, both financially and with responsibility that reflects their good judgement. Rather, there should be a ceiling and more sensible scale for compensation, not just to ensure people at the bottom of the scale get their fair share, but to ensure the judgement of our leaders does not become warped.

This would also help temper the temptation for unscrupulous ladder-climbers to succeed through bad behaviour and backstabbing. There is less incentive to be a conniving shit if you are well-compensated at all levels and you aren't given unhinged freedoms and cash at the top.

This is an expansion of thoughts I posted to Mastodon earlier. I just felt in my bones that this was an insight that I hadn't quite seen captured before. (It probably has been - for all I know, there are studies, but I hadn't seen it expressed quite like this.) I know I and others have pointed out the limitations on an human of managing an amount of money they cannot visualise, but this article made me feel slapped in the face with the fact that it ISN'T SIMPLY that inherited wealth enables stupid people to be in charge of things they can't handle; nor is it just that wealth and power insulate you from harsh realities and consequences.

It is is that the kind of insulation from reality and consequence that (literally) unimaginable wealth brings *makes* you stupid. Or, more precisely, it makes you lose all grasp of certain important self-checking mechanisms that make you doubt yourself, listen to others, and have any capacity at all to assess risk.

Your ability to buy away most problems seems to make a lot of people utterly incapable of processing that some risks cannot be bought off.

Obviously not all super rich people are as insulated from reality as Musk and Rush. Bill Gates seems to retain a modicum of sense - setting up a foundation to help you manage the disposal of your cash is a step in the right direction. But you don't have to look very far to find callous things he's done that many people would be aghast at. Philanthropy is simply a way to buy good press.

As I have said before, no on should have the right to dispose of that amount of cash by themselves. It is enormous hubris to even suppose that you can choose by yourself the right people to manage a billion pounds.

But it's not just that. Money makes you stupid. We all need to know what it is to be told no and forced to accept it with good grace. Whenever you reach a level of money that means you don't have to accept 'no' as an answer, ever, that amount of money is making you stupid, and for your own good, some of it should be taken away.

#money #billionaires #stockton rush #titan

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detectivemickey · 6 months

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Detective Mickey Pilot: Character Backstories - The Core Four

These are the backstories for the four most important characters in my fanfiction series Detective Mickey. They are Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Peg-Leg Pete, and the Phantom Blot. These characters will be influencing the plot the most and will have the most stories written about them.

I will probably make updates over time as the story grows.

Note: This is not required to understand my story but moreso just extra details for those interested.

If you haven't checked out the Sensational Side Characters, I would recommend doing so.

Mickey Mouse - Estimated Age: Late 20's - Early 30's

Mickey Mouse has lived in Mouseton for almost his entire life. He had a decent relationship with his parents, though he was much closer to his older sister Felicity and family friend Captain Churchmouse. He loved to listen to Captain Churchmouse about his adventures over the sea, and imagine what kind of adventures he would go on if he ever decided to leave Mouseton. He also loved to spend time with his sister, taking pictures for her homemade articles with his trusty Ol’ Reliable and just generally being with her. As a kid, he used to be quite the troublemaker, though it came from a good-nature desire to help. Overtime he developed a more modest and mild personality, but is still the brave and curious mouse we know today. He met Minnie in kindergarten and they have been together ever since. He met Donald during a regional Junior Woodchuck camping trip where they were bunk bed buddies. Even after the camp Mickey still kept in contact with him through emails and they would visit each other in Duckburg or Mouseton as much as they could. Eventually Mickey would meet Goofy who was working as a janitor at his high school and would help him out in watching Max and Goofy would help him learn life lessons. In high school, Mickey and Minnie finally started dating, despite having a crush on eachother since middle school. They have been dating ever since and can’t even imagine a life without each other.

Mickey was inspired by his sister to become a journalist just like her. So he went to college and got a journalism degree at Mouseton University. During his time at college Mickey’s relationship with Donald and Goofy deepened as they formed a bit of a trio. When Mickey and Donald finally graduated, the group split as Donald moved back to Duckburg to new responsibilities and Goofy decided to move to Spoonerville for a “promotion”. However they all still try to keep in touch through group chat and visit each other whenever they get the chance. His relationship with Minnie was also long distance for a bit when she went to a different school and eventually Paris to study fashion. Mickey actually found Pluto around this time, which helped him feel less alone when they weren’t there. After graduating, Mickey was able to get a position at the Mouseton Argus with help from his sister. They didn’t get to work together for long as Felicity ended up leaving for a position at a national news network and the Editor in Chief who liked her and Mickey retired and was replaced with one that didn’t. This new Editor in Chief refused to let Mickey be a part of any major stories and often forced Mickey to do busy work under false pretenses that Mickey will eventually be able to move up. This led Mickey to go after his own stories in hopes that he could prove himself as a journalist. Little did Mickey know that this would result in the capture of one of the biggest criminal masterminds of the world as well as a new opportunity to work as a crime-fighting detective. However, is this the direction that Mickey wants his life to go? Has the capture of the Phantom Blot improved his life… or did it make it worse?

Fun Fact: Mickey is actually a pretty good artist. He specializes in ink drawings and uses very simple organic shapes to make beautiful designs in the whitespace. Often when his friends are down he'll make them cards with unique characters he thought of to cheer them up and a kind message. He also made comics for his sister's newspapers and for the Mouseton Argus. His comics tend to vary between being experimental and artistic or silly gags.

Minnie Mouse - Estimated Age: Late 20's - Early 30's

Minnie Mouse was born and raised in Mouseton. She has a great relationship with her mother, though unfortunately not a great one with her dad and her many half brothers. Though she ends up making up with one of her half brothers, allowing her to bond with her nieces Millie and Melody Mouse. Her mom worked as a gardener and often had her clothes torn up or damaged from working. Minnie would often patch these, which gave her a love for sewing and eventually fashion design. She first met Mickey Mouse in kindergarten and they have been close ever since. Often when her mother was away at work, she would visit Mickey’s house and they would go on adventures in their local neighborhood. She was the more organized of the two, but also not afraid to speak her mind if she felt like she or any of her friends were being disrespected. She is known for her famous or rather infamous “talks” that tend to make people regret messing with her. She had a crush on Mickey since middle school, but it wasn’t until their junior year of high school that they finally confessed their feelings at the same time and started to date. They are still in a very loving relationship and care very deeply for each other. Minnie’s love for fashion design evolved into a dream to own a boutique store in Mouseton where she can display and sell her own designs.

She is a huge advocate for bow-centric fashion and believes that she can bring bows back into style. She went to a fashion school outside of Mouseton for a couple of years, but then ended up getting a chance to study abroad in Paris for the rest of her education. Despite showing great skills and taste, Minnie struggled with many of her peers making fun of her designs claiming that bow fashion will never make a return. Thankfully she had the support of her friends and her long distance boyfriend to keep going. She eventually graduated and moved back to Mouseton, sharing an apartment with Clarabelle Cow and Lilly Lamb. She started her own online store called “Minnie’s Bowtique” and hired Lilly Lamb as well as another friend Penny Pooch as employees. Lilly helps with whatever is needed, but later becomes the marketing and social media manager. Penny is temporarily working here as she applies and interviews to get a job in graphic design. Minnie met Daisy Duck online on a forum for small business owners and they’ve been best friends ever since. They often provided each other support for their business and once it was revealed that Daisy’s new boyfriend was Donald, Mickey’s best friend, they started to hang out more as a friend group. The site has been doing decently, gaining meaningful albeit slow growth. But Minnie hopes that once she makes enough profit, she can fully complete her dream and open her own physical store. Can she truly be able to accomplish her dreams as it feels far away from becoming a reality? Would it even matter if the love of her life doesn’t survive his new much more dangerous job? Can she truly get what she wants in life?

Fun Fact: Minnie loves to play softball. She has been a part of a softball team since she was in middle school and even today still plays on the Mouseton Mousers team at the Mouseton Community Center. She is often the pitcher for the teams that she is on with very powerful and tricky throws, though she could still improve on accuracy. Mickey of course tries to make every single game and practice he can, cheering for her on the stands.

Peg-Leg Pete (Percy P. Pete/Percival) - Estimated Age: Mid 40's - Late 40's

Pete grew up in a very large criminal family in a rough part of Mouseton at the edge of town. While Pete had ups and downs with many of his family members, he was close to his mother Maw Pete (Parry) and his sisters Petunia Pete, the mother of Pierino & Pieretto and Petula Pete. But the one person he was the absolute closest to was his cousin Portis Egmont who was practically a brother to him. They bonded due to both being considered the “runts” of their generation and Portis even made him his prosthetic foot. The family Matriarch, Great Grammaw Pete (Patty), owned a settlement of townhouses that have been passed down their family for generations. It was common for members of the Pete family to drop out of high school and join one of the many criminal branches of the family. The family as a whole was never too wealthy, but supported each other through the money they made from their misdeeds. Pete dropped out of high school in his senior year so that he could join the Robbery and Theft branch of the family. He hoped to one day run the branch, but unfortunately his runt status often made that difficult. No matter how many schemes he shared and how many times he tried to prove himself, they either didn’t work or no one would listen to him. Eventually he got fed up and decided to break off from the family to start his own gang with Portis called “Pete’s Gang”.

The two did fine on their own, but decided to hire more members for their gang. They ended up hiring Scuttle and Trudy and together they committed some of the best crimes in all of their careers and formed a sort of family, both figuratively and literally as Pete proposed to and married Trudy after a couple months of working with each other. They even got to work with the Phantom Blot a couple of times just as he was skyrocketing to fame. However, this didn’t last long as Pete decided to take a risky but rewarding job for the Wind Willows Weasel gang. The job ended up failing, and when Pete got arrested he ratted out the weasels to reduce his sentence. But this ended up affecting not just the weasels, but also the rest of Pete's Gang as Scuttle and Trudy also got arrested because of this. Ashamed, he took the reduced sentence. When he got out, he did attempt a prison rescue, but was unable to find where the rest of his team went, leaving him all alone.

This caused Pete to go into another depression as he wandered around Spoonerville, the town next to the prison he was let out of, not knowing what to do. He ended up accidentally stopping a crook from stealing from a poor woman and gained her gratitude. This woman was Peg Percival who decided to take Pete out to lunch as a thank you. When she learned about how lost he was, she decided to take him in as a project. She let him rent a room at her house and got him a job as a used car salesman. Eventually they got married, he took her last name, and had Pete Junior or PJ. Though Pete likes his new family, he still thinks about Trudy and what could have been. He ended up becoming the owner of the dealership he worked at, and when she retired she made Pete the new owner and even let him change the name. Things were going great, until Pete realized that there were quite a few unpaid bills from the previous owner and that the dealership was not doing as well as he thought. It didn’t help that Peg was also pregnant with another child, Pistol. To make matters worse some of the members from the Wind Willows Weasel gang stopped by the dealership to get some getaway cars and instantly recognized him. When they questioned him, Pete quickly came up with the explanation that the dealership is a front for future criminal activity and was hoping to work with them again. He also gave them some free getaway cars, and helped them forge documents for them, in hopes of getting their good graces and to take suspicion off of him ratting them out. It works and he ends up working alongside them and makes quite a bit of money, enough to save the dealership and support his new growing family, without Peg knowing a thing. Scuttle even ended up dropping by from who knows where to help and Pete was introduced to the corrupt lawyer Sylvester Shyster who worked for the weasels and now helps Pete narrowly avoid any legal trouble. Pete even got back in contact with Portis, though he was too busy running his own criminal business to join in. Pete was so successful that he even started to impress his family, when they heard. He decided to open another “dealership” in Mouseton and move his family there so that he could work closer with them and expand his growing criminal empire. He has been in Mouseton for about a year and has been able to make massive amounts of money without the police suspecting a thing. But how can Pete keep this up? And could the new detective provide more trouble than he expected?

Fun Fact: Pete was actually part of his football team at the high school he went to. He initially joined as part of a scheme, but ended up liking it enough to stay on. He even teased the idea of going into professional football. Of course this never ended up happening, as he ended up being part of the reason why the football team lost the playoffs that would have taken them to the state championships. Though it wasn’t entirely his fault as there was a “goofy” cheerleader that got into the way. He actually still uses what he learned from football on some of his robberies.

The Phantom Blot (Full Name: N/A) - Estimated Age: Mid 40's - Late 40's

The Phantom Blot grew up in a very wealthy family. His father was a ruthless top executive at Wright & Thwaites, a company mostly known for being the largest producer of high-quality ink in the world though they also sell other office supplies. His mother was a vain theater actress who had a decent career in supporting roles, but was mostly known for hosting incredible parties for the wealthy to meet and do business. The Phantom Blot was never really close with them as they were more focused on their own goals than him. However, he impressed everyone else around him and quickly gained a reputation as a child prodigy as he won nearly every competition he was in and aced all of his tests. Eventually, he decided to get into acting. He had some assistance from his mother but mostly had to guide the rest of his acting career by himself. At the private school he attended, he practically ran the entire drama department along with the teacher. Being the director, lead actor, props and special effects manager, head of the costuming department, etc. After he graduated he went to Goosliard to study, while still performing whenever he could. He showed so much talent and promise that he was getting multiple offers begging him to star in their shows before he even finished college. The Phantom Blot's future seemed so bright, but also so empty.

One day, an acquaintance asked if the Phantom Blot would help them on a robbery, to pay off a big favor the Blot asked of him. The Phantom Blot, so disillusioned and bored with his life, agreed and they set off to rob a bank. However this heist ended up changing the Phantom Blot’s life as he realized how much he loved the heist and how effectively he was able to avoid the police during a chase. As the Phantom Blot still worked to finish school, he started to be a part of more and more thefts and realized he enjoyed being a thief more than he enjoyed acting. So he abandoned his previous life and started a new life as the “Phantom Blot”. As the Phantom Blot he accomplished some of the most incredible feats in criminal history and raking in billions of dollars. He gained a massive reputation around the world for being an unstoppable criminal genius who has never been caught and has always left the police befuddled in his wake. He even got a request by F.O.W.L to work as a top agent with one of the best salary and benefit packages they have ever offered. But his refusal ended up creating a rift between him and the organization. He continues to go on more impressive heists to prove himself. He prefers to work alone, but will hire others if it is required to complete a heist. One of the first groups he hired was Pete’s Gang and he continued to work with them a couple of times before they broke apart. Though he still works with Portis every once in a while. Except for an odd three to four month break, The Phantom Blot has been a frightening force that no one has been able to stop and most doubt that he even can be. Or at least he was, until a little mouse got into the way. Regardless, the Phantom Blot has achieved fame, power, and riches beyond anyone’s wildest dreams including his own and yet he still hungers for more. Can his greed ever be satisfied? And with a new mouse causing problems for him, is it possible that the Phantom Blot has finally reached his limit?

Fun Fact: The Phantom Blot is a fantastic singer. He was professionally taught by a private tutor while he was young and trained himself to have perfect pitch. His voice has a very operatic element to it that is both haunting and alluring. He typically doesn’t like to sing for others, unless he is performing, but he will often sing for himself in places he assumes are abandoned. However, if a place isn’t as abandoned as he thought, some others may catch his singing, though they never find out where it is coming from. This accidentally led to the creation of many urban legends about these locations being haunted by a musical ghost.

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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 11 days

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Bill Bramhall

* * * *

Become a warrior for truth!

May 18, 2024

ROBERT B. HUBBELL

I have been reflecting on why Democrats feel so besieged by the news. One obvious explanation is the patent bias against Biden and the double standard employed by the major media. However, it is also that the news outlets that are supposedly more liberal in their editorial policies and news reporting are sliding into “both siderism” and false equivalencies.

In Michael Cohen’s testimony on Thursday, he said that he would call Maggie Haberman of the NYTimes and Katie Tur of MSNBC when he wanted to plant “pro-Trump” stories. (I don’t have the actual testimony; I would appreciate it if a reader can send to me or post the testimony in the Comments section. I will pin it to the top.)

Maggie Haberman is no surprise. She is a former Daily News political reporter who thrived at the Times by engaging in “access journalism.” Haberman was brutal in her reporting on Hillary Clinton’s non-scandal relating to emails, but passively supportive in her reporting on Trump, withholding some of the most damning details discovered during her interviews and investigations.

Katie Tur was a surprise—but not really. Nancy Pelosi recently scolded Tur on-air for being an “apologist” for Trump. On another occasion, Tur mused whether it was “fair” for New York to charge Trump with business fraud. Katy Tur Asks Whether It's Fair to Charge Trump For Fraud (mediaite.com).

But it doesn’t stop there. Ari Melber frequently platforms pro-Trump surrogates or Republicans who oppose Trump but are happy to trash Joe Biden (like former Governor John Kasich). Alex Wagner hosted a Republican consultant on Friday evening and allowed the consultant to expound on Joe Biden’s alleged weaknesses as a candidate. Wagner either didn’t care to contradict his misstatements or was not equipped to do so. Either way, she platformed a Republican operative and failed to fact-check him.

So, yeah, it feels like the leading news organization on the side of democracy and decency is giving unchecked airtime to Trump surrogates, current Republicans, or former Republicans who will rejoin the GOP when Trump is gone. The MSNBC hosts rarely challenge the anti-Biden bias of those guests. (Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes, and Lawrence O’Donnell are exceptions.)

What should we do? On the whole, outlets like MSNBC deserve our support. Without it, the leading source of criticism of Trump and MAGA extremism may disappear. But be prepared to send critical emails and turn off offending programs when they drift into placid acceptance of lies about Biden.

Also, support independent writers like Heather Cox Richardson, Simon Rosenberg, Joyce Vance, Jay Kuo, Jessica Craven, Dan Rather, Robert Reich, Judd Legum, Lucian K. Truscott IV, Dan Pfeiffer and others on Substack who are striving to bring balance to reporting on the news. Talking Points Memo and The Guardian are also high on my list of objective sources.

Most importantly, you must become a reliable news source for friends and colleagues. If you read a factual, well-written article, op-ed, or newsletter, do not hesitate to forward it to others. I know that thousands of you forward this newsletter to friends and family—and I encourage more of you to do so!

Millions of people are hungry for objectivity, balance, and hope in the face of a news industry that profits from cynicism and negativity. Do friends and family a favor by giving them something positive to hold onto during challenging news cycles.

We are engaged in a permanent information war. You must be a warrior for truth in that ongoing struggle. I wish it were otherwise, but here we are. If you become a source of truth and hope for others, you will feel less besieged by the misinformation and bias that washes over us daily. Instead, you will take charge of the narrative in your life, a narrative grounded in truth and accuracy. It doesn’t get any better than that!

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

“World War III will be a guerrilla information war with no division between military and civilian participation.”

~ Marshall McLuhan (some decades ago)

#political Cartoons #Bill Bramhall #TFG #Marshall McLuhan #guerilla information war #Robert B. Hubbell #Robert B. Hubbell newsletter #information war #journalism #media #bias #apologists

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receptorconsuming · 1 year

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Acclaimed 00s Visual Novels Never 7 and Ever 17 are getting Confirmed Remakes

In a recent interview with Dengeki, Makoto Asada, the director of MAGES (a prominent VN company) confirmed Never 7 and Ever 17 remakes are currently in process. A translator at Noisy Pixel translated pieces of the interview related to the remakes in an article here. According to this article, a staff member at MAGES asked Asada for permission to work on a remake of the Infinity Series (specifically the first two), and when he was told yes, started on gathering the old assets from the original games. From there, they looked at fan response to the Xbox 360 release of Ever 17 and decided to hopefully stick with 2D art, rather than 3D models. Asada also confirmed he has reached out to staff members who worked on the original games, likely to keep the games true to their original roots. More details will supposedly come in the future, and the new games will have a focus on both maintaining the original mechanics, while still making them easier to play on modern systems. A remake of Remember 11, or any of the offshoots of the series like 12Riven and Code_18 were not discussed or confirmed.

However, when news about the remakes was tweeted yesterday (2/27/23), Kotaro Uchikoshi, the original writer of the Infinity Series, now known for Zero Escape and AI: The Somnium Files, publicly stated that he had nothing to do with the remakes and that he had not been contacted by MAGES.

More Info on the Infinity Series and my personal views under the cut

The Infinity Series was a series of visual novels developed by the defunct VN company KID, and written by Kotaro Uchikoshi. The series’ first entry, Never 7, was released in 2000.

The Infinity series is heralded as an incredibly influential and well made VN series, with its characters, BGM, and plot being widely commended. Each game takes place in a different story with wildly different settings, however they all center around themes of time loops and time travel, the morphogenetic field, and supernatural events. If you enjoy visual novels at all, I strongly recommend them! I’m particularly partial to the first three games.

In regards to my personal views on the topic, I seem to be in the minority by being excited. I’m of course disappointed that Uchikoshi is not involved in the production, but I have some hope from the fact that MAGES seems to have a heavy emphasis on maintaining the games’ stories and vibes. If anything, I just hope it’s a chance for more people to learn about the series. I’ll stay positive, at least until we get more news on the subject.

#Kotaro Uchikoshi #infinity series #zero escape #ai the somnium files #Never7 #ever17 #Remember11 #visual novel #not games #.txt

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evidence-based-activism · 3 days

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Content Analysis of Victim Blaming in Internet Posts

So, in these two posts, I shared the fact that research consistently indicates that explicit victim blame is low(/victim support is high/perpetrator support is low) across demographic groups and victimization scenarios. (Details about relative differences in among the overall high victim support is in those posts.)

But, these results appear fairly inconsistent with anecdotal reports of victim experiences on social media (i.e., victims report victim blaming is common on social media sites and online comment boards).

One possible explanation is these studies were subject to social-desirability bias, where respondents will give the responses they believe are will be looked upon favorably. Anonymity or confidentiality can help reduce, but doesn't eliminate, this. But this bias likely also affects people's behavior on the internet (given a relative degree of anonymity), although possibly to a different degree.

But it's possible that both the research on average individual's attitudes towards victims and victim's experiences with prevalent victim blame on social media are true. There's convincing research indicating that social media increases polarization and that negative, divisive content is more likely to be shared [1, 2]. In fact, a interesting recent study [3] found that people with more extreme opinions were much more likely to post about the opinion on social media.

This make a certain amount of sense ... it's essentially the same problem that prevents convenience samples from being representative. (That is, those who volunteer to share their opinion are not likely to be representative of the population as a whole.)

My question then became: is there any research about victim blame/support as it's expressed in social media? To my surprise: yes! there is!

I'm going to summarize the research I found, but first a few caveats:

Social media content analysis is a relatively new field, and beyond that: this particular question has not been researched substantially. As a result there is very little research, the research is all fairly new (the earliest document I found was from 2014, which as of now is only 10 years ago), and there were very few reviews/meta-analyses on the topic.

The studies I did find all seem to correspond fairly closely, which supports the likelihood that the results are reliable. However, given the points listed above, this should not be considered definitive. There is always a chance of bias in studies, but this is particularly difficult to identify with so few sources/no synthesis of the existing studies.

Several of the studies I did find appear to be written with an (implied) anti-feminist lens (e.g., uncritical acceptance of some anti-feminist myths). I'm mitigating this by reporting on the data directly, but there's no guarantee that the researchers biases didn't introduce bias in other ways that I cannot mitigate.

A significant limitation of these studies is that we cannot analyze differences in the comments by sex of the poster. It may be possible to infer the sex of the poster from the some of the comments (e.g., when the poster reports their own experience), but none of these studies attempted to do so.

That being said, I do think this data is worthwhile. It highlights an important aspect of social discourse (views expressed on social media don't represent the average view), while still validating the experiences of those who have encountered substantial victim-negative opinions.

The specific results vary quite a bit, but here are some of the main themes:

Victim-positive/perpetrator-negative and victim-negative/perpetrator-positive comments are common on social media. However, the differences in distribution vary as a result of various factors. First, source type heavily influences the distribution in sentiment [4-14], such that official sources (e.g., news articles) [4, 5, 13, 14] are generally more victim-positive than unofficial sources (e.g., comments on news articles, tweets, Facebook posts) [6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12]. Second, methodology that targets a specific sentiment (e.g., "slut-shaming" of rape victims) [8] will over-represent that sentiment; these studies are useful to describe patterns in those who interact with posts concerning that sentiment but not overall prevalence of the sentiment. Third, source location will affect the distribution, as many spaces are primarily victim-positive or primarily victim-negative [10].

Official news articles are generally victim-positive/perpetrator-negative [4, 5, 14], but may indirectly reinforce rape myths [14]. Articles involving celebrities include more victim-negative/perpetrator-positive content than those that don't [13].

Rates of victim-positive/perpetrator-negative and victim-negative/perpetrator-positive sentiments generally appear to be similar for female [7, 11] and male victims [6, 9, 12], but the reasoning behind victim-blaming sentiments appear to be different. For example, commenters accuse female victims of lying whereas commenters believe the "sex acts" occurred for male victims but do not consider it abuse.

Conservative estimates of victim-negative/perpetrator-positive comments ranged from 40-50% for female victims [7, 11] and 35-50% for male victims [9, 12].

Conservative estimates of victim-positive/perpetrator-negative comments ranged from 10-12% for male perpetrators [7, 11] and 40-60% for female perpetrators [6, 9, 12]. A substantial proportion of the female perpetrator-negative comments concerned a perceived double standard in the way male and female offenders are treated, excluding that adjusts the estimate to 25-30% [6, 9]. This indicates greater explicit condemnation for female perpetrators than male perpetrators, which may be in response to the aforementioned perceived double standard. Alternatively, one of the male-on-female articles [11] concerned a case involving a celebrity, which another source [13] suggests may be disproportionately perpetrator-positive. Beyond that, the sources concerning male-on-female abuse also indicated a substantial proportion of comments were either politicized [7] or mixed response (i.e., blaming both the perpetrator and victim) [11], which were substantially less common in comments on the female-on-male violence articles.

There was a unique form of "perpetrator-supporting" comment appeared for female perpetrators: commentary on her physical attractiveness, generally in an overtly sexualizing manner, (e.g., indicating a desire to have sex with the perpetrator) [6, 9, 12]. This is an example of where a breakdown of commenter sex would be helpful, as -- based on the examples given in the articles -- this category was most likely made primarily or completely by male commentators. This is significant, as these (and overlapping categories) made up a substantial amount of the male victim-negative/female perpetrator-positive comments.

Within primarily victim-negative circles, posts with victim-negative comments are shared more widely and their posters have more followers than victim-positive posts and posters, even when victim-positive individuals attempt to interact [8].

Alternately, victim-positive spaces remain victim positive despite the prevalence of victim-blaming in many internet spaces [10]. In addition, in spaces specifically designed for online victim-disclosure, both men and women receive primarily supportive responses [15].

There is an unfortunate lack of research same-sex victimization. I found only the one study on news articles about male-on-male violence [5] and no articles about female-on-female violence.

Ultimately, this all indicates support for the idea that victim-blaming sentiments, despite being less common in the average population, are common in internet posts. Victim-negative and victim-positive content appears to be similarly distributed between sexes, but specifics about the content of the victim-negative/perpetrator-positive comments varied by sex.

This is all important because social reactions to victim-disclosures is strongly associated with subsequent psychopathology [16], with some evidence indicating this relationship extends to online reactions to personal victimization disclosures [17]. Research is needed on the impact of generalized exposure to victim-negative/victim-positive content on victims (i.e., victims who don't necessarily personally disclose their experiences).

References under the cut:

Van Bavel, J. J., Rathje, S., Harris, E., Robertson, C., & Sternisko, A. (2021). How social media shapes polarization. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 25(11), 913–916. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2021.07.013

Lim, S. L., & Bentley, P. J. (2022). Opinion amplification causes extreme polarization in social networks. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 18131. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-22856-z

Yamaguchi, S. (2023). Why are there so many extreme opinions online?: An empirical, comparative analysis of Japan, Korea and the USA. Online Information Review, 47(1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-07-2020-0310

Christensen, L. S. (2018). The new portrayal of female child sexual offenders in the print media: A qualitative content analysis. Sexuality & Culture, 22(1), 176–189. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-017-9459-1

Jamel, J. (2014). Do the print media provide a gender-biased representation of male rape victims? Internet Journal of Criminology. https://core.ac.uk/display/29469952

Murphy, A., & Groves, A. (2024). “Pretty women” and “lucky blokes”: Unpacking australian social media responses to female-perpetrated sexual assault against men. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 08862605241239446. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605241239446

Stabile, B., Grant, A., Purohit, H., & Rama, M. (2019). “She Lied”: Social construction, rape myth prevalence in social media, and sexual assault policy. Sexuality, Gender & Policy, 2(2), 80–96. https://doi.org/10.1002/sgp2.12011

Stubbs-Richardson, M., Rader, N. E., & Cosby, A. G. (2018). Tweeting rape culture: Examining portrayals of victim blaming in discussions of sexual assault cases on Twitter. Feminism & Psychology, 28(1), 90–108. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959353517715874

Stutz, J. (2018). Public perceptions of female sex offenders through media word usage and media outlet comments. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12087/25

Taccini, F., & Mannarini, S. (2024). How are survivors of intimate partner violence and sexual violence portrayed on social media? Journal of Media Psychology: Theories, Methods, and Applications. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-1105/a000402

Whiting, J., Olufuwote, R., Cravens-Pickens, J., & Witting, A. B. (2019). Online blaming and intimate partner violence: A content analysis of social media comments. Faculty Publications. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub/4155

Zack, E., Lang, J. T., & Dirks, D. (2018). “It must be great being a female pedophile!”: The nature of public perceptions about female teacher sex offenders. Crime, Media, Culture: An International Journal, 14(1), 61–79. https://doi.org/10.1177/1741659016674044

Aroustamian, C. (2020). Time’s up: Recognising sexual violence as a public policy issue: A qualitative content analysis of sexual violence cases and the media. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 50, 101341. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2019.101341

Sacks, M., Ackerman, A. R., & Shlosberg, A. (2018). Rape myths in the media: A content analysis of local newspaper reporting in the united states. Deviant Behavior, 39(9), 1237–1246. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2017.1410608

Lowenstein-Barkai, H. (2021). #me(N)too? Online social support toward male and female survivors of sexual victimization. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36(23–24), NP13541–NP13563. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260520905095

Dworkin, E. R., Brill, C. D., & Ullman, S. E. (2019). Social reactions to disclosure of interpersonal violence and psychopathology: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 72, 101750. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2019.101750

Bhuptani, P. H., López, G., Peterson, R., & Orchowski, L. M. (2023). Online social reactions to disclosure of sexual victimization via #metoo and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 38(19–20), 10900–10919. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605231176792

#feminism #patriarchal culture #male violence

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user-needs-new-hyperfixation · 19 days

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Thanks so much @user-needs-new-hyperfixation for sharing your fic"The First Poem". It's one of my fav sherliam fic until now.... And imagine my surprise when I read that one of the thing that inspire you to wrote this fic is that one scene from Vanitas no Carte.....💐🌷🌺

Can I ask for advice if you don't mind? My friend wants to write rare pair from Yuumori, between Mycroft and Hudson. So somehow they got into relationship between those 3 years gap, and when Sherlock & William got back to London, miss Hudson found out that she got pregnant.... Now, my friend knows that I ship Mycroft and Albert but still want to ask my opinion on her fic. What do you think? Does that plot seem ooc to you? Is it possible in au?

Sorry for my long ask....

Having now been reassured that the friend is cool with this, I can answer haha! (Thanks for that!)

(Sorry for my long answer! 😅)

First off, thank you so much for reading my fic! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it!! 😊

Even though I obviously very much ship Mycroft/Albert, I do also really really like Mycroft/Hudson. I think it's as valid as any of the other side pairings: Sherliam is the big essentially canon ship and everything else is just kind of taking little crumbs and running with them, and that's great and fun and I love doing it, haha!

I've written random posts before about how I think Mycroft and Miss Hudson could have a very...idk, mature? romance. They're both very independent and well into adulthood. I think they would be really forthright and have a good idea of what they want from life, and, in a relationship context, from each other. I tend to think they'd avoid a lot of the drama that comes with younger romances (*affectionately side-eyes Sherliam's theatrics*).

Also I always think they'd be really good parents because they've already been parenting Sherly together for years. 😆 (I kid, they're definitely both more older siblings to him. Regardless, it's a cute part of their bond.)

I think them growing closer together during the timeskip years is a very realistic possibility. It's canonical that they were there for each other in their grief at least to some degree, with the adorable milk tea thing and whatnot. It's sweet to imagine them discovering something new and joyful together while they comfort each other.

I don't know how familiar you and your friend are with the Victorian Era, but the one caution I'll give just in case is that if an (I'm assuming) unmarried pregnancy is treated in a Victorian-setting fic the way it would be in the modern day, it would absolutely take me right out of the story. Being unmarried and pregnant then was A Big Deal, with relatively few options for how to proceed (here's an article about one of those options: TW for mentions of rape and suicide). So, if the fic isn't a modern day AU, I would want to see those problems at least be acknowledged. Most likely it would put the couple in a position where a quick wedding makes the most sense. (Of course, if the idea is that they actually got married during the timeskip, disregard all this lol!)

Anyway, I would actually love to see more Mycroft/Hudson fics in general, so I'm eager to see what your friend comes up with! I don't think there's anything ooc about the pairing at all -- at least, no more so than any of the other ships besides Sherliam. In fact, I could probably even argue that Mycal (at least with the way most of us like to write Albert 😅) is much more ooc from a canon perspective. I'm always delighted to hear about (new?) people making fic for our lovely little fandom, and I wish your friend all the best with their writing!!

#moriarty the patriot #yuukoku no moriarty #asks

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lesamis · 3 months

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I've wondered quite a bit about Mt Tambora and the colonies, since Malaysias peninsula and India were right there. Surely there was writing from there about the eruption and it's effects, but I haven't been able to find anything, though admittedly i haven't known how to look?

that's a very good point - the fact that the most commonplace way for a lot of literature to talk about the eruption is by referring to the "year without summer" kind of goes to illustrate how focused on europe that perspective is. i think if you're looking for first-hand accounts from tambora's immediate surroundings, some reasons for why they might be hard to find online could be that they were never translated to english, were never written down, or aren't easily accessible digitally.

but it's also true that the british were all over the indian & pacific ocean at this point in time, and so british colonists did record accounts of the eruption. one of them was thomas stamford raffles, then lieutenant-governor of java, and you can read a bit about his view of it in this scientific american article. gillen d'arcy wood's book on the eruption, tambora, also takes a more global view, although this is done more by exploring current research from climate science and epidemiology than by digging into what people observed of the eruption in the moment. it was a slower time and information didn't travel fast. for most people in asia - seeing as being close enough to tambora to see it erupt killed nearly everyone who was in that position - the strange weather conditions would have reached them long before news of the eruption did. that muddies the waters quite a bit. wood's book is worth looking at though! it's on libgen.

#basically i think there's more climate science - people analysing tree rings and so forth - on this than there is like #historical research documenting the social/experiential side of it #but if you'd like to get a better general idea of how the eruption was received across asia wood's book is a good place to start!#and i'm very sure there's much more that's not written in english #asks #anon

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neverwritewhatyouknow · 1 year

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To the four people I blocked who have called me racist:

I’m sorry you’re too antisemitic to understand the fact that Jews are important.

I knew that people would assume I was mad about Nora being Black when I started calling out the Jew-erasure, but I think I’ve made my position on the matter pretty clear. Especially considering how vocal I am about the fact that they could’ve cast a Jew of color as Nora, and how great that would’ve been. I’m not going to defend how I’m not racist, because I know I’m not, but haters gonna hate, and multiple things can be true at once:

You can be upset about Jew erasure, and call out a movie for casting a non-Jew who happens to be an actress of color while also not being racist. Calling out antisemitism does not mean I’m a racist, it means I’m against hate. Clearly by the messages I get, that isn’t true for a lot of others.

I have and will always continue to fight back against ALL antisemitism in the media. I do that frequently elsewhere too. Most recently I have been in contact with countless people about the new Marvel casting of Joe Locke and the casting of Daisy Edgar-Jones as Carole King. I have also written published articles about MoonKnight and the Jew erasure there, as well as the use of Jew-face in Hollywood.

This isn’t a race issue. I don’t hate that Nora is Black, I hate that they erased my ethnicity and religion and took joy in it and refuse to own up to it. If they had cast Rachel and then explained why, or apologized, or acknowledged it in any way whatsoever, I wouldn’t be as angry. But using Jews when you want them and throwing them away when you don’t, is shit.

If you’re calling me a racist because you can’t handle the fact that I’m calling out the antisemitism here, then your problem is with Amazon. Not with me. They put us in this position. I would be doing this regardless of the non-Jewish actress they cast as Nora, believe you me.

Rachel is incredibly talented. She’s a good person. She’s a brilliant professional. She was not the right choice for Nora, since she’s not Jewish. She has no Jewish heritage even though there was a lie going around months ago that I debunked, about her possibly having Jewish heritage. She herself even strongly alluded to not being Jewish in an Instagram story (along with many other posts). So, she wasn’t the best choice for Nora. If Nora wasn’t Jewish then for sure, but as is… No. It’s just a fact. I’m sorry if that upsets you, but it’s just the truth. UPDATE: As of the movie’s release, it’s clear that the movie erased the Jewishness entirely, Rachel was great (like I knew she’d be) and since Nora was no longer Jewish in the movie, her casting can’t be looked at through the same lens as a Jewish character directly

And here’s a fun fact: antisemitism is racism against Jews, so defending those who commit antisemitism is defending racism… So the racist here, is actually you.

#rwrb movie #red white and royal blue #red white royal blue movie #rwrb cast #rwrb #red white and royal blue movie #casey mcquiston #red white royal blue cast #nora holleran #rachel hilson #jewish #red white royal blue #cmq #rwrb film

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ukftm · 7 months

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does anyone else struggle with self acceptance and transphobia? I am stealth as I just want to live as safely as i can, but i’m so sick of seeing transphobia in the media all the time and constantly feeling like i’m subpar. Even though I do not experience it directly to my face I find it so triggering to even read about. It feels like the media is so obsessed with us , even though trans people are a minority and they could be talking about literally anything else besides harassing us

Hi Anon,

The current climate for trans people is really scary and the media deliberately portray trans people in a bad way.

My advise is to not read/watch the news, or read anything that comes up about trans people on social media, especially just now.

When you do see the news about trans people you have to keep in your mind that most newspapers are paid by politicians to put out articles that support their policies or their voters opinions. So if a politician thinks their voters are against trans people and they want votes, you’ll see a rise in anti-trans news articles.

Also most news papers have agendas and will only print what they want people to read. So the best thing you can do is cut all of that noise out, because that is exactly what it is, it’s noise written to scaremonger people, giving them inaccurate information to have inaccurate opinions, while they cover up the bigger things that the government is failing at.

The LGBT community has been targeted for many years as well as other minorities. It just seems to be a carousel of who is picked on next.

The best thing you can do is surround yourself with positive LGBT affirming things. Watch programs and YouTube channels made by people in the LGBT community, look at the work of charities and organisations who want to help trans people, seek out other trans people who are also stealth, but could be an outlet for when you need someone who understands your worries without the need to out yourself.

There is no getting away from the fact that trans people are being targeted just now and we need the support of the entire LGBT+ community more than ever. Once people start to realise that when minorities stand together, they become the majority, we may have a chance at fighting those people who choose to believe inaccurate news articles.

#transphobia

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historyhermann · 1 year

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Otaku Elf Review

Otaku Elf, also known as Edomae Erufu, is a fantasy comedy anime. It is based on a seven-volume manga illustrated and written by Akihiko Higuchi. Directed by Takebumi Anzai, it is produced by C2C, a studio founded in April 2006. This post will have spoilers.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the thirty-fourth article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on June 5, 2023.

This series focuses on a sixteen-year-old named Koito Koganei (voiced by Yuka Ozaki). She becomes a shrine maiden, known as miko, at a shrine in Takamini after the death of her grandfather. As a result, she becomes the caretaker of Eldarie "Elda" Irma Fanomene (voiced by Ami Koshimizu). Elda is an immortal and beautiful elf summoned from another world. Koito encounters challenges as Elda is an otaku and hikikomori/shut-in who fears going outside the shrine following an unpleasant interaction many years prior. Even so, she attempts to get Elda to enjoy life outside the shrine.

Originally, I had not been planning to write a review of this series because I'm already reviewing nine other series this season, either about magical girls (Soaring Sky! Pretty Cure and Tokyo Mew Mew New), legendary warriors (Unicorn Warriors: Eternal), VTubers (Kizuna no Allele), a yuri-themed cafe (Yuri Is My Job!), golf girls (Birdie Wing), idols (Oshi No Ko), or other subjects (Alice Gear Aegis Expansion and Skip and Loafer). One motivation for writing this review was because of Sailor Moon, which I'm currently watching, for the first time. It features Rei Hino as a shrine maiden, when she isn't Sailor Mars.

The animation style, comedy of an immortal elf being an otaku meeting a normal person, and the centrality of food, drew me in. The latter is primarily grounded in the cooking by Koyuzu (voiced by Hitomi Sekine), the younger sister of Koito. The same can be said for Koito and Elda's stories often becoming intertwined. Also, there are characters which are portrayed as "cute", like Koito's friend Koma Sakuraba (voiced by Haruka Aikawa).

I liked that every episode of Otaku Elf has some story about past Japanese culture, especially from the Edo period. Of course, Elda does all she can to impress Koito no matter what. This is despite the fact that although she has a laptop, she doesn't know how to use a cell phone. When she does use it, she texts so much that she angers the spirits! Elda does not know everything, however, and doesn't pretend she is all-knowing. She is wise, but not omniscient.

Yordeilla "Yord" Lila Fenomenea (voiced by Rie Kugimiya) and Himawari Kohinata (voiced by Teru Ikuta) are a good addition to the series. Yord is a dark-skinned elf, who is bad at directions, and has an absurd rivalry with Elda over an equivalent of tic-tac-toe. Dr. Akane Sasaki (voiced by Yumi Uchiyama) was similarly a positive character. In fact, she is shown in the seventh episode with Kadoi, getting drunk at a bar, with both of them as an interesting pair of characters together.

There is undeniable yuri subtext in this series, specifically between Koito and Elda, especially shown in the fifth episode. Otaku Elf has a degree of intimacy it can turn to and expand in each episode. As such, the series centers on the importance of spending time with others above everything else. In that way, Otaku Elf is special.

In marked contrast to Birdie Wing, the value of studying, and education as an extension, is emphasized through Koito's intense studying in the sixth episode. The importance of taking breaks and not over-extending oneself is an interrelated theme.

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I like the slice-of-life nature of Otaku Elf. This makes it different from magic-themed series such as Healer Girl and Management of a Novice Alchemist. Similarly, it is nothing like recent slice-of-life anime. The latter includes Let's Make a Mug Too, The Aquatope on White Sand, Teasing Master Takagi-san, and Laid-Back Camp.

The series differs from YuruYuri, Gabriel DropOut, Is the Order a Rabbit?, Kin-iro Mosaic, Non Non Biyori, K-On!, and Azumanga Daioh, in the same genre. Elda is a living history resource, who is good at origami, but can have awful nightmares. There's occasional casual alcoholism. But, it isn't as present as it is in Bocchi the Rock!. The latter features a sick bassist named Kikuri Hiroi, who spends most of her money on booze.

The seventh Otaku Elf episode was one of the best in the entire series. It primarily focused on Koyuzu and her desire to spend more time with her sister, Koito. Some of the funniest sequences in the episode was when she charmed people in a wholesale market so she could get fish for free.

The latter episode was only rivaled by the eighth episode. It focuses on Elda meeting another elf, named Haira (voiced by Mamiko Noto). Some of the best parts were having the historical remembrance shown in anime style resembling wood block art. The episode features another miko, named Komari, the same age as Koito. Haira is an elf with beauty only matched by Elda. She is older than Elda and Yolde, treating them as her younger sisters. The episode implied Elda is a lesbian, as she said she liked all the teahouse girls during the Edo period.

By the end of the episode, it is clear that the series is uncritical of the fact that Komari was a social influencer and that Haira was a gambler. Even though Komari was critical of Haira for gambling, she tells Koioto that if Haira is doing what she likes, it is ok. On the one hand, this makes sense as Komari had been with Haira since she was young, allowing her to take candid photographs.

On the other, Otaku Elf, by saying that Haira's desire to be a gambler is ok, implies it is a non-issue and downplays it as a problem. Most gambling is prohibited in Japan. There are exceptions for some motor sports and horse racing. The latter is something that Haira said she wanted to do during the episode.

There is an ample culture of gambling in the island nation. The island has a difficult relationship with it. There is inconsistency between reality and law. Some have pushed to completely legalize gambling across the island. Even so, some people, and groups, have objected to expanded gambling in Osaka. They have argued that crime and addiction (to gambling) will rise as a result. Those caught gambling illegally in Japan can face fines or jail time. This hasn't stopped gambling from becoming pervasive, nor the millions afflicted with gambling addiction. The series could have done a better job with this topic.

Despite the problematic approach to gambling, the series often highlights the importance of remembering the past and preserving it. In the ninth episode, Elda reads a manga that has been published for over 30 years. She reorganizes her room due to a ceiling leak (with the help of Koito) and finds an old videotape. Often series only focus on new technology. They act like anything deemed "analog" isn't worth bringing up. In some cases, there is a blend of the "old" and "new". In the case in Steven Universe, a videotape of the protagonist's mother (Rose Quartz) plays an important role in the series.

Similarly in Otaku Elf, Koito sees a videotape for the first time, and goes to her grandmother, who has an old Betamax player, excited to watch a tape of something recorded from before she was born. She learns that her mother, shown on the tape, was also a miko of Elda as well! In a typical scene, Elda embarrasses Koito. She thinks she will be picked up in a "bridal style" pose and runs away as a result. The latter is part of the ongoing yuri undertones of this series, even though Elda and Koito have more of a master-student relationship than anything that is romantic.

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Otaku Elf is much more than a series with endearing character dynamics. It has a protagonist (Elda) who deeply cares about the town she lives in, a neighborhood of Tokyo, I believe. Unlike some other anime this season, such as Alice Gear Aegis Expansion, there's no fan service. Nor are there any characters which are "one-off jokes". In fact, the series, in some ways, counts as an isekai. It has a "genuineness and pleasantness" which evades many anime these days.

The show's animation studio is known for producing over 16 series, including two I'm familiar with: Hitori Bocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu (based on a manga by Katsuwo who also wrote Mitsubishi Colors) and Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina. None of the story elements in either of those series are present in this series.

The voice cast of Otaku Elf is just as strong as the show's opening song. Ami Koshimizu, who voices Elda, also voices the caddy of Aoi in Birdie Wing (Amane Shinjо̄), Mizuki Nakahara in Lycoris Recoil, Makoto Kino/Sailor Jupiter in Sailor Moon Crystal, Shiori in Princess Connect! Re:Dive, Yang Xiao Long in RWBY: Ice Queendom, and Konomi Yurikawa in Yurikuma Arashi. Yuka Ozaki, the voice of Koito, has lent her voice as Asuka Toyama in BanG Dream!, while Hitomi Sekine, voice of Koyuzu, voiced characters in Teasing Master Takagi-san, Konosuba, and Ms. vampire who lives in my neighborhood.

Haruka Aikawa, the voice of Koma, previously voiced a character in Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie. Mamiko Noto, voice of Haira, voiced a supporting character named Kazuki Kosuda in B Gata H Kei - Yamada’s First Time, Hakko in Canaan, Elsa in Gunslinger Girl, Kanon's mother in Love Live! Superstar!!, Shimako Toudou in Maria Watches Over Us, Gin Todo in A Place Further Than the Universe, and Saki Arima in Your Lie in April, and many other roles.

All in all, Otaku Elf is highly relatable to the hundreds of thousands of shut-ins in Japan, which the government believes is a "new social issue", and those elsewhere in the world. It might even draw in an audience from anyone who is living at "home" with their parents, or others living a "hermit-like" existence, being social recluses from society.

In any case, I recommend this series highly. I hope that it receives a second season, even though that is unlikely considering the last nine series by the same studio have not been renewed. Often, companies try and limit corporate risk by planning out each season for only 11-13 episodes. If the show is a success, "additional seasons can be ordered" as noted by Justin Sevakis.

Otaku Elf is currently streaming on HIDIVE.

#otaku elf #pop culture #reviews #birdie wing #videotape #yuri #betamax #steven universe #bocchi the rock #gambling #vhs #hidive #alice gear aegis #voice actors #renewal #anime #Youtube

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