#and basically it adds in religion and politics and as i try to like. actually give a plot beyond hey for ten years things sucked bc like
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I just realized I never properly made an intro for myself so under the cut is where you can find it :)
♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡
Hi! Since I can't come up with a nickname for myself right now you can kinda just call me Vampy because I can't really think of anything else rn. Anyways, to make things easier I'll just write most of the basic stuff in bullet points :)
I’m Cambodian (Asian)
I use she/her and they/them pronouns
My favorite colors are pink and black
I’m an INFJ
I’m a Sagittarius
I love music - metal and rock to be specific
I like reading
I love horror movies
I enjoy things like taxidermy and bones
I’m bi and polyamorous
I’m Buddhist
I’m 13 which makes me a silly minor 😋😋
I literally have the best lovers ever <33
I love you Mikey Way
Bands / Artist I listen To The Most <3
My Chemical Romance - and their side projects
Fall Out Boy
Paramore
Pre-split Panic! At The Disco
Arctic Monkeys
The Last Shadow Puppets
Mitski
Lana Del Rey
Melanie Martinez
Korn
Slipknot
Limp Bizkit
Blink - 182
Dazey And The Scouts
Weezer
Pierce The Veil
Radiohead
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smiths
The Cure
Këkht Aräkh
The Neighborhood
TV Girl
Waterparks
Mötley Crüe
Queen
Nirvana
The Offsprings
6arelyhuman
Okay so now that I’ve said a little about myself I plan on doing more stuff to this blog but that’ll be coming in 2024 :p but other than that here’s my dni list and when more stuff comes it’ll be here :D
Thin Ice <\3 (PLEASE DONT BE MAD IM SORRY)
Swifties
Harry Styles fans
Billie Eilish fans
Wet leg fans
DNI <\3
Homophobes
Racist
Transphobes
Ppl who fetishize homosexuality
Ppl who fetishize Asians
Rcta
Rude ppl in general
Ppl who force their religion on others
Ppl who have stuff to say about politics (this is mainly a music blog :’) plz don’t bring heavy/sensitive topics into this)
Animal haters
MANIA AND DANGER DAYS HATERS
2019 GERARD HATERS
LANA AFTER HER CHANGES HATERS
RAY TORO HATERS
People who listen / support nsbm
WAYCEST/PROSHIPPERS GET THE FUCK OUT YOU ARE NOT WELCOMED
People of any age can’t interact with me I don’t mind at all :))
WARNINGS
This blog will contain things that some people may find disturbing or uncomfortable. Things under this could include:
Blood/gore
Images of cemeteries/graveyards
Eerie/dark images in general
I do post a lot of shit sometimes that mention things about sex, substances, and a lot of other things I DONT recommend / encourage minors use - when I say stuff that mentions stuff like that im joking pls don’t take it seriously 😭😭😭
If you don’t like these things please don’t get upset! I’ll try my best to add tw for the things listed above. If you spot anything on my blog that you think might need a tw then feel free to dm me or put it in my inbox :)
Just so you know
This blog isn’t my main blog this is actually my side blog - my main is @tousyposay so don’t be kinda weirded out by that :p
My additional side blogs include:
@blxxdbxgs - a place where i simp over nurse Gerard
@urmyfavexplosion - my blog where i choose one album and post that for an entire month or some shit like that
MY SOCIALLLLSSSS
TikTok - edgelordbolos
Insta - bolosisagirlkisser
Discord - vxmpywllnvrhrtu
Man I can’t think of any other of my blogs ☠️☠️☠️ I’ll add them when I remember
Sorry if I upset any of you guys I really hope I didn’t mean to :(
Anyways that’s all I have to say for rn but thanks so much! I’ll be adding more to this as the days go on but for now thanks :)
Have a good day/night I love you guys so much! <3
-Vampy
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How I would Fix Prythian
Things I will cover in this post below the cut:
Powers of the High Lords/Court Design.
Political System.
Religion and it's intergration.
Pop Culture.
So basically this is how I would have designed Prythian (Or fixed it if SJM had asked me).
This is a special interest of mine, so under the cut.
Powers of the High Lords/Court Design:
This also falls under the thing of how the Courts are designed, so I smushed them together
Basically, According to the books, the powers of fire are in Autumn, the powers of water is in Summer, and so on. However, this makes no sense logically.
Summer is, quite notably, historically a very hot season. In fact, there are theories that Persephone is actually in the Underworld during Summer because during the summer in Greece, nothing could grow. Because it was so fucking hot. Following this logic, Summer should have Fire Powers. It should be a relative desert, and be incredibly warm constantly.
Autumn is a very windy season. Very dry, pretty cold but not super cold. This season shoudl be pretty colors, lots of forests with either Evergreen Trees or lots of colored trees that flutter around while falling. The powers of this court should be wind, obviously.
Spring is a wet Season. It is literally known for being rainy, it is a season of rebirth and change. Spring, I think, was well designed. However, it had a very noticeable lack of rain and rain related celebrations. Maybe it rains on Calanmai, or some other event. Just something interesting. They should also have a lot of flowers, but buds and fresh flowers. There should be a lot more bees as well. I think bees should be more relevant in Spring. Anyway, Spring should have Water powers and powers of healing.
The rest seem pretty good all things considered, so I'll leave them be (for now.)
~~
Political System:
*crying* the political system in Acotar makes no fucking sense. It's so goddamn discordinated. No one works together. There is no fucking hierarchy. The laws seem arbitrary and made up. I want to throw up even trying to figure out what's happening.
So, first up I'm going to add in an agreement. Think NATO. Except PTO for Prythian Treaty Organization instead. Anyway, they all have an agreement.
And then, of course, within each court, There's the High Lords and Lady of [Court Name] on the sameish level, same idea of King and Queen, or Queen and Prince, Emperor and Empress, etc. Under that are the average Lords, each in charge of ruling part of the Court. Then there's district people, which I can't be bothered to remember the name of.
Of course, the High Lord/Lady of [Court] is still in charge and, like we see Tamlin do, are deeply involved. It's just hard to do that all the time.
The Courts don't get involved with each other too much but they do help each other in times of need.
~~
Religion and it's Integration:
Religion just feels like it should play a bigger part in the series. Or at least in the culture.
I can't say much about this, I'd just probably include, like, more rules. Mother/Cauldron doesn't really seem to involve many rules. Like, nothing to prove devotion, or a desire to do good. No prayers. Basically just references.
So I just feel she should add that. Maybe a religious dress or some cool ass holidays.
That's it.
~~
Pop Culture:
The most infuriating and fake thing is that Prythian has no pop culture or fiction books, or anything else similar. There's like, music. And that's it.
Now, I would understand if Fae couldn't lie, or create fiction, such as in An Enchantment of Ravens. But no, one of the important things we learn is they can, do, and will lie.
So why don't they have any books, or fiction, or anything.
It makes no sense. I would add in popular actors in plays, popular books, etc. Just for fun. Or to add anything.
That's it. Not a lot of examples I can give.
~~
Okay, I hope you guys liked this post, and if anyone wants to discuss it, I will. I love discussing this stuff.
@achaotichuman , here is the post you asked me to tag you in.
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While I have a strong desire to address this topic aggressively, scream at the top of my lungs, because what I’m trying to convey/have been conveying for a while now, should be common knowledge to anyone who is right in their mind. It’s a matter of COMMON SENSE.
I’m seething with rage, but I’ll refrain from acting upon it. I don’t want to divert your attention from the actual cause.
I know many of us are tired and emotionally battered, starting with myself, from witnessing such horrific events unfold in front of our eyes. And I’m not trying to downplay your feelings or add to your sorrow, but when compared to the butchery the Palestinians are enduring at the hands of the occupying state, our exhaustion is nothing. It pales in comparison to the horrors they are being put through.
Just think about how drained they must be, experiencing it firsthand.
Supporting the Palestinian cause is not about religion, nationality, or politics. It’s about standing for the basic fucking principles of equality. Human rights. And freedom. It’s about taking a bold stance against oppression IN ALL ITS FORMS, regardless of where it occurs. And I think we all should know that by now.
If you don’t, educate yourself or leave my page. I don’t have the energy to argue with a brain the size of a pea.
The Palestinian RESISTANCE to Isr-el APARTHEID is not just a distant issue. Again, it’s not limited to a specific religion, or ethnicity, it’s an offense to all of humanity. It’s a test of our moral compass, our commitment to justice, and our unshakable belief in the dignity of every human being, regardless of religion, race, gender, or age.
Speaking to myself first, it’s easy to lose hope during times like this, to give up on everything in the face of adversity. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, exhausted, and battered. But let me remind you and myself that history is filled with the stories of those who stood up against oppression, and refused to bow to tyranny.
We will draw strength from them, and stand united in their legacy.
Our solidarity with Palestinians shouldn’t be an act of charity; it is an act of justice.
For years, Palestinians have been diligent in documenting their experiences, from being trapped in a literal ext3rmination camp, to children getting sl-ught3red by arm3d military forces consisting of GROWN MEN.
Just know that Isr-el is manipulating the media at a global scale, attempting to describe their cr!m3s as defensive measures while executing a literal g3nocidal plan. It’s a DELIBERATE effort to erase Palestinian history and their identity, please try to fit this into your conservative mind. This is what 3thnic cleansing looks like. And I can’t believe it’s taking place in 2023, in front of our literal eyes. They’re doing it in our faces.
*Pro-Isr*elis please recognize that nothing you see is accidental; it’s a planned strategy. Try to understand how and why they’re portraying Palestinians negatively in the media, all the while sl-ught3ring innocent civilians of Palestine and Gaza, the majority of which are CHILDREN, in the worst possible ways in broad daylight.*
Ask yourself how the propaganda is influencing you.
Ask yourself how and why the mainstream media has manipulated you into believing that unarm3d civilians trapped in an ext3rmination camp, with no one to back them, are a thr3at to a SIGNIFICANTLY POWERFUL REGIME backed by the likes of the U-S and the U-K with no one to hold them accountable.
Reflect on how and why they’re portraying PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE to an ONGOING G3NOCIDE by BARBARIC OCCUPIERS KNOWN AS ISR-EL as T3RRORISM.
Palestine is a COUNTRY. Which is currently OCCUPIED by THE ISR-ELI S3TTLERS.
EDUCATE YOURSELF. EDUCATE YOURSELF. EDUCATE YOURSELF.
I beg you to understand the detrimental effects of propaganda on the Palestinians. How the media outlets are nullifying the injustice, trauma, and cr!mes they’re being put through by the Isr-eli occupiers/settlers. Settler colonialism is very much real. Stop letting the media and N3tànyahu toy with your sense of morality. Please.
We’re an educated and smart generation, we do have the power to inspire others. We do have the power to reveal the truth and advocate for what is right. The majority doesn’t always hold the moral high ground. Get it already.
Why does Isr-el, with such a powerful regiment, require aid? Who benefits from supporting Isr-el and why do the ‘Stat3s’, historically isolationist, strongly back them? Please remember that EVERYTHING IN POLITICS IS CALCULATED.
Do not let them condition you to the ongoing bloodbath of innocent people. Do not welcome the Palestinian massacre with open arms.
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More on Zain
His full name, if he's trying to impress you, is Zain al-Shahir bin Zakariya bin Ibrahim. If he's trying to irritate you he'll add more names back seven generations.
Please keep in mind this backstory needs more research and so may be inaccurate, especially in regards to Islam or Sikhi, or Saudi Arabia, and immigrant demographics in the UK in the early 20th century. I've been googling, but currently my understanding is very surface-level; please do not take anything I say here as truth because I could be wrong and have very poor understanding of certain subjects. Corrections are always welcome! I am probably going to constantly revise this as I learn more.
He is the son of a Muslim father and a Sikh mother -- the union was met with concerned disapproval by his mother's side, though not hostility, and largely baffled indifference by his father's side. I was going to make his father the oldest son and heir of an oil baron, but Google tells me that oil wasn't discovered in Saudi Arabia until 1938, so I'll have to adjust that.
Either way, Zakariya al-Shahir bin Ibrahim, Zain's father, was the first son and heir of a very wealthy Saudi Arabian who came to Oxford to study in the '20s (pending whether or not I can find out if Oxford actually had a problem with accepting PoC students in the '20s -- I have yet to find any data). Zakariya was a very cheerful and friendly individual who won friends very easily; even bigots really liked him.
He was also a complete and utter nerd.
He was rich as fuck, but very curious about the world around him and basically nutting himself to be in a completely different world surrounded by people of many different backgrounds, so made it his life's mission to befriend everyone he met.
He met Priya, Zain's mother, while she was doing charity work, and was completely smitten with her from the beginning. She was pretty flustered herself, because Zakariya was hot as fuck, and also very politely persistent. Her immediate family was pretty guarded about the idea of a Muslim courting their daughter/sister (my research tells me Sikhs "frown upon" marrying outside the religion; I'm interpreting that as many having a "why can't you marry a nice Sikh boy" attitude instead of outright opposition), but Zakariya was so charming that most of them had the attitude "well, I'd prefer if you married within the religion, but if you had to pick someone else we're glad it's him." And Zakariya worked very hard on winning over her family because he knew how important they were to Priya.
Meanwhile Zakariya's family got the letter about him marrying a Sikh and were like "yeah, he's Like That, he just does what the fuck he wants" and otherwise didn't give a fuck. Mostly they were hoping that he'd stay overseas. Which he did; back when I thought him being the son and heir of an oil baron was realistic I had him ask for a large sum of money in exchange for giving one of his brothers his stake in the company, but I'll have to do more research.
He did not tell his in-laws or even his wife about how much money he ultimately had. While he made sure to give plenty to charity each month, he inflated the true amount the university gave him to hide how much money they really had. Priya thought they earned enough to be quite comfortable but not wealthy. Zakariya kept most of it in reserve to help the children and provide for their own futures, but no not so much he was as obnoxiously rich as he used to be. He didn't think his in-laws or Priya would approve of him sitting on so much money when it could go to the needy. He understood that perspective, but he wanted to make sure that his immediate family was always comfortable and never in any financial danger, so one night he did a shitton of maths, put a bunch of money aside, and donated the rest. Even then he didn't see the Great Depression coming lmao but they were still able to stay comfortable when that happened.
Zakariya happily took a research position in a university in London and pursued an academic career, and had hundreds of friends. He was sad to leave Oxford, but felt London would be better for his children to grow up in, and most of Priya's family already lived there as opposed to Oxford.
Zain was born in the very early '30s as the youngest of... not sure if eight or twelve children yet, but he had a lot of siblings and Zain was the baby of the family. He had his father's charm and his mother's gentle nature. I need to do more research in regards to Sikh attitudes regarding the children of interreligious marriages, but my current penciled background is that he wasn't raised as a Sikh but occasionally went to the local gurdwara with his siblings and mother. He'd also go to the local mosque sometimes, but mostly Sikhi had a bigger influence on him than Islam. But his parents were big on learning about different backgrounds so he even went to other religions' services on occasion.
Again, need to do more research on dominant Sikh attitudes towards interreligious children, but I'm thinking he was either a Sikh or not "officially" a Sikh but largely practiced or believed in most parts of the religion anyway. I know as a vampire he doesn't wear a turban and keeps a trimmed beard, but I haven't yet decided if as a human Zain followed the rules in regards to wearing a turban and not trimming his beard. I do know he's quite vain and would definitely have struggled with Sikh tenets VS said vanity while he was human. He definitely carried the Kirpan (again: research allowing. It may be that Sikhs don't let you carry it without being "officially" Sikh and I don't know if he was, yet) and used the wooden comb, and definitely grew out his hair as long as it would go. Having said that he's vain enough I'm confident his split ends drove him completely insane and he might have occasionally caved and trimmed them little by little in hopes nobody would notice.
Zain was born early enough he was evacuated from London and split up from most of his siblings. He and the one sibling he wasn't split from weren't treated very kindly by country English people so both of them started up a reign of terror and chaos and had the time of their lives fucking with the locals. But they were also very big on supporting the other displaced kids and making them feel like they belonged, and watching over them and defending them from shitty adults or local bullies. Even at seven, under the guidance of an older sister, Zain was a little vigilante.
I haven't yet figured out the circumstances of his Embrace, just that he was forty two years old when he died and had a family of his own. As a man used to having a very big extensive family his introduction to the Masquerade and divorce from his mortal family traumatised him more than most. He ended up bonding closely with other Ravnos, and coped badly with the whole "Kindred tend to stab each other in the back a lot" thing and so avoided Elysium like the plague except to pay respects to the local Prince. He started coping better after having childer of his own, the great majority of which adored him, and he was also on semi-warm terms with his sire, although he did have to train his sire not to be a total douchebag.
After the Week of Nightmares the destruction of the Ravnos Antediluvian drove him into a frenzy which resulted in him diablerising two of his favourite childer and his sire. He's been on his own ever since. Years later, meeting Evie for the first time was very bittersweet for him.
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Your comment about how there were many people who would want/benefit from Justinia's death reminded me of my Warden (well, my 'main' Warden) who absolutely hates her. Not for any big political reasons, but personal ones. He can't forgive her for what she did to Leliana, essentially pulling her back into a life she'd desperately pulled herself out of. I guess it's supposed to be okay because Justinia was sorry about it and Leliana wasn't mad, but I always felt my Warden, who loved Leliana like family, would never be okay with it. The fact that he's a Dalish elf definitely adds to his resentment, of course.
I don't know, maybe I don't have enough context since I've only played the games, but I really feel like all of Leliana's character development post Leliana's Song is just erased.
What really annoys me is that her character arc is... basically the same fucking arc she had in Origins. You can either soften her or harden her, with her starting hardened for... reasons. Presumably related to what Justinia used her for. It's just really lazy writing. And yeah, Leliana finally got out of the spymaster/bard thing that was clearly bad for her and started spending more time with people who love her for her and not what she can be used for... and Justinia drags her right back rather than finding someone who's still part of the Game. "Oh, Justinia was sorry about it-" if she was sorry she wouldn't have fucking done it.
But honestly for all they go on and on about how wonderful Justinia was all I remember is her presence in DA2 and The Last Court. I mean, in DA2 she's planning a fucking Exalted March because the mages are getting upset about being tortured, raped and murdered on the daily! In The Last Court she decides to throw the weight of feeding and housing all the people she's bringing to the Conclave on a tiny marquisate so far west that it's barely in Orlais (and also is so far out of her way it's not even funny) and that has been largely cut off from wider society (so probably limited trade routes and resources) for the last three generations so that they can "prove" that they're not bad people... which they supposedly are because their great-grandfather was an apostate. Like, Justinia is mostly a negative force in the lives of the characters we actually interact with and play as! She dragged Leliana back into a life she desperately wants to escape, she's an active threat to the entire DA2 cast because she's starting to plan a war against the city because the mages (which would likely include the two/three mages in that cast) don't like being tortured, she forced the Marquis of Serault to support her entire retinue on land that's constantly one bad day away from collapsing around them, and oh yeah, she's the head of the religion that makes half the cast of each game's lives hell. Hell, the thing that causes her death is her trying to push the mages and Templars into some sort of compromise when no such compromise could be morally supported; I mean, what does compromise look like when one side wants nothing less than the total subjugation of the other for being born? Basically for all that DAI tries to tell us that Justinia was super nice and progressive and wanted to do the right thing what we're shown across the previous games is that she at best wasn't willing to actually take risks in defence of the people oppressed by the Chantry and at worst was just a really good liar who pretended to be progressive to win people over without having to do anything. DAI continues to fail at this entire conflict.
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I dont think im on your taglist? Could u add me please? ♡ oh also i got v intrigued about the "writing a book" bit in ur bio, pls elaborate
Sure, your on my taglist now <3
Oh, my book, yeah, right 😅
So basically I have written a book. Or more like first book for a series. And I am trying to get published right now. Which is very frustrating cause I always feel like it's not good enough.
But nevermind that. It basically started as a silly little escapism thing for me and people who I used to call friends (huh). We created a whole world with different religions and countries and political systems. And we created characters, based of ourselves. It was fun and silly and we were just goofing around, making it up as we go. My bestie always drew our characters when there was something we came up with involving them. So I started creating whole stories to contribute.
And after years decided to turn it into something more serious and put together. That's how it started.
It's hard to explain exactly what the book is about tho. High fantasy with a lot of main characters, each of them with story of their own. We have a pirate fixed on revenge (my beloved alter ego)(fun fact she is green-eyed dark blond doubtful morals type who has a soft spot for blu-eyed darkhaired weirdos and right now this is the funniest thing in the universe for me), a girl who decided to start a revolution cause she couldn't bare the harm that was happening to her country, a street boy who became emperor, an old witch fighting for her rights, an enslaved girl fighting for freedom and many many more. With magic being banned (and kinda a metaphor for queer community while I actually have a lot non magical queer characters), and old forces awakening, my happy bunch has to come to work together to survive. And well. Maybe live a little in meantime.
I really love to talk about all of them. But don't want to bore you too much 😘
So yes. I am, in fact, writing a book.
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One comment I saw over and over again was people claiming Christian Extremists "aren't true Christians".
Here's the thing, it doesn't matter.
It just doesn't fucking matter.
The whole point is Christian Nationalism *Exists and it is Wrong*.
They want to infiltrate the government and it's no secret. They base it off of Matthew 28:28-30. They won't stop with the US. Their goal is Global Domination. Just look at how they have already dominated the globe with their Christian White Supremacy. Their next goal is taking over politics. They aren't quiet about it because they think they are following Christ. It is part of their faith.
I want you to take them seriously when they tell you their agenda.
Stop dismissing and downplaying them. Stop theologically debating them. Stop shrugging your shoulders to live your best life like they don't exist.
Your dismissive attitude about them doesn't matter when they are lobbying to take your rights away.
They've already declared a "holy w@r" on unbelievers, and the political climate is playing into their hands. It's fucking already started.
As much compassion as I have, we cannot pander or cater to them. Loving people doesn't mean that we aren't allowed to be angry. I'm fuckin livid and you should be too.
Now that that's out of the way,
I am agnostic. I *personally do not follow Jesus. I don't really care about him, honestly. I don't care what the Bible says. I just want to have a healthy planet to live on and a healthy society as best we can, not just for us, but for future generations.
I see atheism and theists as both valid *personal beliefs. I just think it's best for us not to confuse faith with facts which is why I am agnostic. I have a lot of believer friends on my page whom I respect, and I have a lot of atheist friends I respect. Have fun debating among yourselves if that brings you joy. Just please be respectful and remember we are limited in our understanding here.
I believe in basic human kindness, but I am not naive. I don't follow Jesus, I do not feel compelled to follow his teachings. I may or may not subscribe to turning the other cheek or even forgiveness. If you bite me, I might bite back. 🤷🏼♀️ I don't play with oppression or abusers.
And for fucks sake, I got my tattoos After I Deconstructed. 🙄🙄🙄 Thank you for telling me what wasn't allowed in my own religion... I wasn't even able to speak my mind as a woman, or even God forbid, *say something Insightful in the presence of men* without getting gossiped about or kicked out of the church, but please, tell me how having tattoos *Today invalidates what I said about my own Past experience. I don't want to go to your "fairyland" anyway 🤣🤣🤣 Yes, I was actually quoting a comment. Lmao
I do not speak because I am trying to win anyone over. I speak because, bottom line, it's worth speaking. I speak because We are the MAJORITY and need to act like it. I speak because I have the courage to. I speak because I am a woman and a mother. I speak because I care about my country and humanity. However, changing minds is never a reason why I do what I do. I don't care about that. I respect people enough to let them be.
To all of those who were genuine, felt validated because of your own experience with Christianity, I see you. I honor you. You aren't crazy. You aren't alone. You are my reason. This is our country too. Don't give up. Your story matters. I will try to respond to as many as I can.
For the friend requests, I don't typically add people who I don't have any mutual friends with. If you shoot me a message introducing yourself, I'm more inclined to add you.
For those wanting more of my work, please feel free to hit the Follow button. I am available for writing and speaking engagements, podcasts, coaching and mentoring. I do a lot of various things on the side such as frequency wellness devices (both sessions and sales), Human Design readings, and even payment processing for business owners. Hell, I even officiate weddings and ceremonies. Message me if anything sparks your interest.
Thank you so much to all who shared your heart and shared the post. It gives me a lot of satisfaction to know it hits home and that we aren't alone.
We won't give up or give in.
#christiannationalism#writers#christians#christianity#whitesupremacists#politics#agenda#religion#patriarchy
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#4.1: Build God, Then We'll Talk
Attention is the most basic form of love. Using social media to amplify and focus our attention can simultaneously be a blessing, curse, superpower and virus.
What are the social media platforms I've used, and how have they helped me love?
Part 1 of 2: Blogger, Facebook, Tumblr & Instagram.
1. Blogger (~2007?)
My first presence on the internet is best summed up by its title: "My Thoughts and a Place to Dump Them". From what I can recall of that time in public school, my posts were mostly places for me to express my perspective on what interested me most at the time: "philosophy", atheism and religion, and my self-righteous insistence that I would never touch mind-altering substances (hah).
Lovability: 8/10. I never shared this blog with friends, so it was more of a public/personal journal of sorts. If anything, I think it helped me get a better sense of who I myself was at the time. You can't properly face yourself, or love yourself, until you acknowledge, accept, and reflect on your own thoughts.
2. Facebook (2007-2016)
A little too young of a millennial to join MySpace at its peak of popularity, Facebook became my first real experience with a true "social network", where you could add almost anyone you've met. Before the site became the news and media focused behemoth it is today, before you'd be following so many parasocial public figures, before the term "social media influencer" was a thing... it was actually sort of nice. Everyone was still figuring out how this technology would change how we interact with each other. "Joshua is..." (before the ability to customize statuses) always made sure your friends knew what you were doing, if you chose to share it. That 2009 movie "The Social Network" had a tagline only boasting 500,000,000 users, an indication of how fundamentally our methods of sharing information with each other were changing.
This network encapsulated my high school and college years entirely, with me ultimately quitting the service after a negative event with someone I met through college. Deactivating my account made it naively easier to avoid the social problems entirely, leading to my estrangement from most of the friends I made in college.
Lovability: 7/10. For the first time, online social technology had begun to give me more of a peek into my friend's lives, their thoughts, their memories, family, and other circles. Not only was I figuring out my own sense of personal identity through digital expression, my friends were figuring out theirs as well. We didn't know how these systems would evolve in the future, but at this point in history they certainly helped us reflect on each other in new ways.
3. Tumblr (2010-)
My first more serious girlfriend in high school introduced me to two things: weed, and Tumblr. Out of every social network I've used in my life, I truly believe the communities I encountered through Tumblr to have been the most personally transformative for me. It's where all the "artsy weirdos" would hang out, which happened to include a decent number of my friends at the time. "Reblogging" to create a mix of your own posts plus those authored by others cemented the sense that we all are truly aspects of one another. We are all connected, yet unique, and silly all at the same time.
But most of all, I believe it to have been the most "human" social network I've experienced. There's something about the vibes it brings that makes you feel simultaneously tucked away in your own cozy corner of the internet, while adjacent to a variety of forms of media (text, commentary, audio/video, music, or external links) being presented with a general lack of toxicity. Surely, no network is perfect, but I think when you put a collection of weirdos in a room with each other, they don't tend to try to hurt others for being just as weird.
Lovability: 9/10. I credit Tumblr with helping me love humanity the most: from understanding complex topics like LGBTQ issues, politics, structural and economic inequality, all the way to the somewhat tasteful NSFW communities that made their home here (before the company sale and associated ban). Humans are complex and unique, but underneath it all we are shockingly similar in our hopes, dreams, and ways.
4. Instagram (2011-2021, 2023-)
In the early days of these networks, it felt like each network was for its own purpose. Facebook for statuses and events, Twitter for text, and Instagram for photos. As a more visual person, I've found Instagram to be my longest running "mainstream" social network that I'd use to connect with friends and catch up on the latest about public figures. I haven't used it consistently, with months or sometimes a year between posts, but I never felt a need to abandon it.
That is, until a major break-up and move in 2021 sent me back to Rhode Island and wanting a fresh start. Once again, I pulled a Josh 2016 and abandoned another social platform, rather than deal with the potential social fallout of unfollowing the connections made over those several years. It took me until the summer of 2023 and the arrival of Threads to pull me back to the platform to do some housekeeping.
Lovability: 8/10. When you curate your network appropriately, mostly following real people that you actually know & want to get updates from, and steering clear of the toxic perspectives and assumptions of perfection, it can be a nice place. Intentionality is the key to success here, as with most things.
Continue to Part 2...
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Dynamics of Interdimensional Propaganda
Let’s cut to the chase and start talking a smatter of philosophy. Basically, there’s a bunch of countries warring with each other at the moment, and all of them are trying to get their hands on as much gold, opium and oil as is feasible. Now, none of them can do this without making their citizenry consent to them blowing to smithereens a bunch of other poor, unfortunate saps who are probably just as, if not more so, smart as they are. Now I realize this is a pretty low bar to set, so hang with me here on this point.
Considering the low testing scores among the plebeians of a particular region, our leaders have decided to take advantage of this fact and continue to drive their quest for barrels of oil. Seeing that much of the population, however, are opposed to war crimes, they needed to come up with a better plan amid a (somewhat) political, voting population. So what was the solution? Brainwash them into oblivion.
You got many ways of doing this. For instance, there’s the age old art of lying behind a wall of eloquence. This was a useful tactic, and often used in Greece and Rome. This only worked so well, however, and eventually the lies got so elaborate that people started worshipping deities which signified each layer of a particular lie. But that’s enough talk concerning religion.
Another strategy was to make the lies “esoteric” and “hidden knowledge.” By doing this, you could set up several layers of a lie, and thus make people think you were talking the truth when you hit them with another barrage of lies. Cults are very good at doing this. But there’s no better cult than the U.S. government.
Sometimes this got out of hand, even, and people began to realize that lying will only get you so far. You can’t merely dress up the lie pretty, you also have to do something else to prevent an incitement to anger. That’s where telling “half-truths” and such come into play. By telling a truth, and then spinning it into a lie, no one would be able to tell the difference, and that’s how modern civilization was born. Add in a twist of eloquence, and you have yourself a philosophical treatise.
Eventually, though, many wizened up to this art of deception and began to invent something known as “the scientific method.” Through this, people were generally able to find out what was true, and what was not, by looking at it. This was a big development in the history of humanity, as people were more and more able to tell what the truth was, not by listening to what the person said and taking his word for it, but by actually seeing if what they said was true. It seemed all was lost, but then someone got the bright idea of inventing TV.
With TV you can do anything. You can run a program about scientific discoveries, a program about celebrity gossip, and a program about lying with eloquence (news), all at the same time. And as it turned out, people loved it. About 66% watch the tabloid program, 33% watch the news, and 1% watch the science program, so that by the end of it, you make the science-watcher look like a crackpot. And then when the crackpot starts trying to get into politics, you axe the science program and replace it with more celebrity gossip.
There was one problem to contend with, however—there were actually real scientists who were doing the writing for the TV show. And you can’t just kill all the scientists, because you need them to make better bombs and drone-tracking software. So what you do in these situations is that you cut funding for anything that isn’t actively killing people, and make their PhDs not worth the paper they’re printed on in the market. Genius!
But some scientists got the great idea of making a TV where people could talk to each other. That’s a big problem, because then people might start listening to the scientists who made the computer and take them seriously. Luckily, most of the people who made this device are the ones also responsible for the bombs and drone-tracking software. So their secret is safe with us!
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BESTIE I NEED THE FIC (no rush ofc but 👀👀👀👀👀👀 if I say I'll draw fanart of it will u finish faster ahdhdbdnd)
how about a preview? it's gonna take me a bit longer for the fic haha
—
He can’t do this. He can’t be here, and he can’t see her like this. Marcia won’t want him here anyway, so he may as well just get Zelda to check on her, even though he knows she won’t want that either. He turns to leave, but her voice stops him.
“Silas?”
Her voice is hoarse from disuse, as it had been three nights ago. Fuck, he thinks. He hadn’t known she was awake and he can’t very well leave her now, not after she’s seen him. He turns around again, unsure of what he’ll say, but it doesn’t matter—anything he might have said dies on his lips the moment he sees her, because he doesn’t recognize her.
He had been so relieved to see her the night he helped his children rescue her that he hadn’t taken notice of her. In the three days since she hasn’t moved from the bed she collapsed in, hidden beneath the heavy blankets they’d found for her, so he wasn’t able to get a good look at her. But now golden sun shines through the window and he can see the bruises on her skin, both yellowed and not. He can see her protruding bones, any muscle definition she’d once had gone.
“Silas?” she asks again. She blinks at him, confused, unseeing, and he can see the precise moment she realizes she isn’t where she thought she was. Her eyes widen.
“We’re at Zelda’s,” he assures her before she can panic, taking a step toward her. “You’ve been asleep. Domdaniel is gone.” The words sound empty to his ears, but he just doesn’t know what else to say to her.
She stares at him, almost uncomprehending. “How long?”
“Three days.”
She thinks this over. “And the children? Are they okay?”
“They’re downstairs,” he tells her, unsure if any of them are okay. Then, after a moment, he adds, “Can I get you anything?”
#septimus heap#silas heap#marcia overstrand#slkdjalkjdlakfsa this isnt like anything so im sorry for that#also its in silas's pov#i have like six different versions of this chapter and none of them are finished#yeah this takes place in my fic that is a little canon divergent and self indulgent#basically it expands upon canon and fills in gaps and whatever but its gonna be forever until i get to this part#because im starting with the ten year gap#and basically it adds in religion and politics and as i try to like. actually give a plot beyond hey for ten years things sucked bc like#im very sure people didnt just go oh well we have to live like this now#but i was like hey i wanna continue to do this for every book not just the ten year gap and then things got very out of hand and somehow#silas ended up being there when they rescued her from the vengeance bc i dont believe he'd sit at galens while his children and aunt#were in danger#i think hed be like oh fuck i gotta get to them before domdaniel does its time to get the fuck out of here#saving marcia isnt his priority because he doesnt see how its gonna happen but then his kids are like no we gotta get ehr off that ship#i dont know if any of this is making sense im just rambling in the tags at this point#septimus-heap my beloved#idk i just have a lot of thoughts and headcanons and since most of them fit together perfectly i was like#why not rewrite the books for an older audience and actually have consequences#also i wanted the characters to say fuck so. sorry for that i just think htey deserve it
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PLEASE READ RULES TO FIND MY MASTERLIST
INTERACTION . . .
please refrain from copying my theme or layouts. do not steal/save any of my dividers. i make/customize most of them myself and i make them for my usage purposes only so do not save anything directly from my blog. also do not use or copy my “minors do not interact” banners such as this:
must be 18+. basic dni criteria. have an age in your bio before interacting or following—this blog engages with nsfw & dark content
do not recommend me on ANY platforms outside of tumblr especially tik tok. no translating my work anywhere. no reposting. no using for asmr content. no plagiarizing.
do not spam asks/my talking posts. writing is fine as long as you reblog too
do not comment criticism on my writing. i didn’t ask. you will be immediately blocked
i shit post and have a lot of non writing posts. please unfollow me if that bothers you
this blog is not spoiler free unless it’s a recently released chapter: then i will tag it with #(fandom) spoilers
do not interact if you are anti-aging up. end of discussion.
do NOT say slurs in my inbox, bring up things about politics or religion, ask me personal questions, or vent to me about your personal things
do not bring up topics such as rape, suicide, self harm, pedophilia, eating disorders, depression, etc.
please do not call me bitch, slut, hoe, whore, etc. even if it’s affectionate unless we’re close. please do not playfully curse me out unless we are friends. i just ask you don’t get too comfortable unless we’re close or else it feels weird
my dm’s are set so that only people i follow can dm me. if you have something important to tell me privately but i don’t follow you, reach out to me through my ask box and indicate you’d like for this to be kept between us and tell me the issue you’d like to discuss. i will either answer privately or dm you myself
do not ask to be mutuals ; do not ask why if i break the mutual. i soft block to break the mutual, i hard block if you’ve made me uncomfortable
if you have been blocked, it can be for a number of reasons such as tag abuse, no age in your bio, posting problematic stances on dash, making me personally uncomfortable through an interaction, etc. if you suspect i have blocked you because you didn’t have your age in your bio, and you have since then remedied that, feel free to send an anon ask and let me know your url and that you’ve added an age. if that was the reason why i blocked, then i’ll happily unblock you (i wont post the ask don’t worry.) if that was not why, i will not unblock you and simply ignore your ask—please refrain from further reaching out if that is the case.
i try my best to answer asks and i do enjoy / appreciate interactions. that being said, i do get drained / busy often, and answering asks can be difficult for me so please be patient and please don’t rush / send the same ask multiple times. if i don’t end up answering it’s probably bc my asks have piled up and i’ve deleted old ones, i do apologize if that happens to yours i’m trying my best :,)
WRITING . . .
i do not take requests, but you can always leave thirsts in my inbox and if i’m inspired i’ll write a drabble on it. but again, i do not take requests for plots/scenarios
things that i won’t write for include: eating disorders, mental health, sacrilege, daddy kink, scat, vore, vomit, feet, lactation, noncon, and possibly more i’ll add along the way
if you’re actually reading my rules and not just skipping to the bottom—to find my masterlist, go to my pinned post and click “onlyfans”
do not ask me to specify the appearance of reader. i write gender neutral only for sfw works (unless it involves pregnancy) so don't suggest for gender to be specified. for nsfw works, it will vary between fem! reader and afab! reader most of the time, but it may occasionally be gender neutral
i do not have a post schedule, just when i find the time nor do i have a taglist
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Artists of Arda
The hottest new Discord Club is Artists of Arda. A place for artists who create any sorts of Tolkien-related works, and those who just like looking at the pretty arts.
Text chats
Voice chats
Scheduled events
Unscheduled events
Events that are just Zhie accidentally hitting the voice channel and other people wandering in
Events that are just Zhie's cat accidentally hitting the voice channel and other people wandering in
Virtual studio gatherings
Places to share art (both finished and unfinished) and get feedback (both positive-only and for workshopping things like 'what are hands??' and 'should I put a bird on it?'*)
Places to promote other places, events, and even yourself (if you do art commissions)
Find the link behind the magic cut...
And here are the rules, so that you don't have to awkwardly try to join at 2am to see the rules in case you're not keen on the rules and want a way to slip out the back door before a half dozen people flail at you with giant peach stickers. (We actually have that feature turned off completely.)
1) Please introduce yourself in welcome-nest before participating in other discussion. Just like a party where you'd knock on the door and say hi before you start dancing on the table, we'd like to get to know you first! (And then, by all means, disco on that table all night long if you want!)
2) This server is a non-toxic Tolkien group. Gatekeeping, elitism, snobbery, or other unseemly behavior will not be tolerated. Members here range from casual fans to super scholars, but one's experience should not be compromised because of one's knowledge or expertise. The same is true for artistic skills and experiences--stick figures and moodboards are just as valid as forms of art expression as mural-sized acrylic paintings that could hang in museums. We were all novices on both topics at one point; please keep this in mind during your interactions, and be supportive of one another!
3) NSFW items must stay in NSFW channels! All NSFW art must ALSO be spoilered when posted; finished art should also include the information from the template. Shaming is not allowed--not for content or characters or concept, period--but spoilers should be utilized even in the NSFW area so that viewers can self-curate the content they wish to view. However, due to laws and legal jurisdictions, content which sexualizes underage characters is NOT allowed on this server. Child pornography is highly illegal, a violation of federal laws in the United States (and in many other countries), and not protected under First Amendment rights. Breaking this rule is one of the few things that can get you instantly yeeted into the Void (permanently banned).
4) Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits workplace discrimination based on religion, national origin, race, color, or sex. We add to that class, gender, level of ability, level of education, and political affiliation. While this is not a workplace, these are all protections that everyone should have and not be in fear of discrimination, bullying, or behavior unbecoming from other members. Please be mindful when wording requests and having discussions so that your tone is not dehumanizing to others. (And going back to basics: If you can't say something nice, don't say it at all.)
This also includes commentary about characters vs people IRL. Discussion of characters? Perfectly fine if done respectfully. Discussion of a person who is portraying a particular character on the above topics? Not necessary.
5) If you try to side-step these rules by using a blog, PMs, or other means to engage in toxic behavior elsewhere, especially with or against other members of this server, it will be as if you said it here and appropriate action will be taken. This does not mean moderators are going to be actively searching for violations; it is a protective measure to be proactive about past fandom interactions where individuals would take their views off servers, technically not violate server rules on the server, but would bully, harass, dox, and others disrespect members in other places. This is not non-toxic behavior and is not allowed.
6) Moderators make mistakes, but arguing with a moderator on the server is not going to put out happy vibes, and may land you in time-out (or kicked, if you continue the behavior after multiple warnings). If a moderator shuts down a topic or conversation, please respect this decision. If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to a moderator about these topics. Sometimes, a moderator does not have all the information about a situation or hasn't been able to read through everything before they make a decision. It is fine to question such decisions in private and in a calm manner.
7) These rules are subject to change. Hopefully we don't need more, but, y'know, things happen, and when they do, this list will grow. It is expected that you will read and adhere to all rules if you are participating in this server. Not reading the rules is not an excuse for not abiding by the rules.
#tolkien art#silmarillion art#hobbit art#lord of the rings art#girabbit art#yes by Eru I'm specifically going to try to bring all the girabbit artists together#tolkien fandom#silmarillion fanart#lord of the rings fanart#hobbit fanart#tolkien fanart
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Hello! As finals season (aka 5-research-papers-due-in-a-week season) dawns on many of you, I thought I would share the process I used to write papers in college. This made writing long research papers much less daunting (but can also work on shorter papers). I really hope this helps some of you who feel stuck. Especially during these ridiculous times, when you're stuck at home and might have other uncontrollable factors affecting your mental health, a clear framework of what to do could be helpful. Good luck, my friends! You got this.
About me
I graduated college in 2018 with degrees in Political Science + International Studies and will be starting law school this fall. I wrote nearly 20 15 to 25-page papers, never earning below an A. I loved researching about my topics but hated writing. It's tedious, takes so much time, and everything I write sounds bad at first. Plus, I was a terrible procrastinator so most of these essays were written in under a week. Talk about stress.
Over time I found a process that worked for me, one that made churning out a paper seem straightforward, like going through a factory line rather than this terrifying concept of writing 10,000 words. It kept me sane without decreasing the quality of my work (or more importantly, how much I learned!)
I'm thinking about making a short video to show this in action… let me know if that could be helpful!
Step 1: Research
How you organize your research is a key step in keeping you sane. Usually I'll have a pile of 20 books in my dorm along with dozens of JSTOR tabs open on my laptop, and that can get overwhelming very fast. Right now just focus on collecting ideas, not developing an argument or even an outline! As with most research papers, you could be starting with little to no background information on the topic, so it is still too early to be thinking about an argument.
Put all your research in one document
Open up a new doc: this will be the heart of everything. For a 15-page paper I usually end up with around 14-18 pages of typed research, 10 pt font, single spaced, tiny margins. This seems like a lot, but essentially all I do is type up anything I read that seems relevant to my topic, so luckily this step does not require that much brain power. Just type type type!
Use the table of contents
Find the chapter(s) that are actually relevant instead of skimming through the whole book. Time is of the essence here!
Use Zotero, cite right away
You can also use easybib or whatever you're used to, but keep track of your sources. I like Zotero because I can keep a log of all of my sources and copy the footnote or bibliography version whenever needed. Before you even begin reading, cite the source and copy it into your research doc. This will save you so much time later when you have to put in your citations in the actual paper.
Here is an example of what my research doc looks like:
Full citation is my heading for each source just so it’s crystal clear
I ignore all typos (I don’t think there are any in this part though, go me!) because my head is buried in the book just trying to get all the info down
I always start with the page number so I know what to cite when I go back
Create a shorthand
While typing up research, you might think of something that the author didn't talk about that you'll want to write in your paper. Or perhaps a few sentences already start to form. Put them all in one place, with your research, so you know what source you'll have to cite to then lead into your idea. I type "!@#" before anything that is strictly my own idea so I'm never confused. It's fast and stands out.
This is an example: the two bullet points above are evidence from my source, which made me think of this argument I could make, which I noted with “!@#”
Step 2: Read Your Research
Now that you have all your information, go back and read through it all. Every time you read about a new theme/person/event, write it down somewhere. You may come up with a list of 20+ different ideas in your research. No matter how small, as long as there is something about it, write it down. Each of these mini themes is going to end up being a paragraph in your paper or combined with another mini theme.
Once you’ve made your list, look for larger overarching themes. In the paper I’ve shown you, I had mini categories like “political party x” “religion” “labor groups” “little organization” and “hierarchy.” When I looked back I though, hey these are all groups and how groups are working together, so they each became their own mini paragraph under the subsection of “Alliances.”
As with most research paper structures, I try to find three general themes/subsections (like an extended version of that 5-paragraph essay we wrote in middle school). It makes the paper less messy and also makes sure I’m not covering things that are beyond a reasonable scope.
During this step, you are also searching for your thesis. It won’t be your final version. As you fill in your outline in the next step you may make slight changes. But this is definitely when you start thinking about it.
Step 3: Outline
We’re ready to outline! Once I’ve collected all my different themes and organized all my subsections and paragraphs, it’s time to fill in that outline. I start a new doc just for the outline and take advantage of google doc’s headings function to make a clear document outline.
Here comes the fun part, I read through my research one more time, this time copy and pasting all my research into each section of the outline. The document outline in google docs makes this easy because I can just click on each subheading to get me there (super helpful when you’re dealing with 15+ pages of research).
Here is what it looks like:
Let’s say I need to add something to my outline about labor groups. Boom, labor groups. Also, the typos are really abound here haha
Step 4: Write the Paper
Okay, I get it, easier said than done. BUT! You already have everything set up. Your outline is essentially just a list of your paragraphs and all you have to do is paraphrase, cite, and create a topic sentence. And that’s how you should think about this: you’re essentially transforming bullet points into sentences and adding footnotes.
In high school my English teacher introduced us to Sh*tty First Drafts for creative writing, but honestly the same applies to research papers. Sometimes I’ll even have phrases like “wait no that’s not what I meant but basically...” and when I go back to edit, I realize that what came after “but basically...” is fine! And I keep it. So just start typing.
How do you cite while you write? Because we’re trying to get a constant stream of writing going, inserting proper footnotes after each sentence you type is too bothersome. I usually split screen with my outline and my paper so I just copy and paste a few words from my bullet point into my footnote, like so:
(This is from a different paper about cluster munitions.)
Step 5: Edit the Paper
I work best when I print out my first draft and make all edits in red pen. I feel more productive and can visually see where I want to move sentences and what I need to change. The more red there is the better I can feel the paper getting. (Whether or not that’s true doesn’t matter. We’re trying to stay motivated here!) When it’s all digital I don’t really see the progress. Plus, once I finish all the red, I get another moment of passive brain work, where all I’m doing is transferring edits rather than thinking. And at this point in the process, that kind of relief is much welcomed.
The good thing about this process is there’s not usually a need to cut entire paragraphs or pages because the paper you end up with is just a formalized version of your outline. Because you started with such a detailed outline, the cutting and editing now is just to refine your word choices and get rid of the “but basically”s. You’re almost there!
Step 6: Replace your citations
Now it’s time to go back and replace your footnotes with actual citations. Zotero makes this easy because in Word you can just insert and add the page number, and it’ll automatically do “Ibid.” for you when needed. Ctrl+f in the original research doc to quickly find the source.
Step 7: One More Read-Through and Submit!
Congratulations!! You’ve got a fully-researched and well-backed paper! Of course, even though the process is straightforward, it’s still a lot of work. In ideal situations I would start researching two weeks before the deadline, but if need be, I believe I’ve done this all in three miserable panic-filled days as well.
Please message me if you have any questions at all! I really hope some of you find this helpful! Good luck!
#studyblr#college#university#writing#essay#study tips#studytna#original#research#research paper#study#student#school#you can do it!
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Your take on cancel culture and stan culture?
Oh boy, oh boy, it's happening.
Alright, let's talk about toxic people on the internet. And keep in mind that my opinion goes beneath the mcyt community. I feel the same about the kpop community and any other community that is famous for having lots of toxic people.
Also, keep in mind that this is my opinion about these topics, I don’t intend to offend or misinform anybody. I might be wrong, and if I am wrong indeed, please help me correct any mistake that I’ve done.
Cancel culture
Before ranting about its toxicity, let's understand what it actually means and how it works.
What is cancel culture?
Well, according to Wikipedia, “cancel culture or call-out culture is a modern form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles – whether it be online, on social media, or in person” (source).
Basically, cancel culture is the process of ceasing offering support to a public figure after saying or doing something that is considered objectionable or offensive.
In theory, cancel culture is a good thing that helps the victims speak up and properly defend themselves, as well as preventing other people from doing the same mistakes. No harm done to innocent people, just a way of saying why a certain person or a certain company has done something that really hurt a category of people. Some even say that it’s an exercise of free speech.
However, while a culture that encourages calling out inappropriate behaviour is important, a culture that is quick to cancel and reluctant to forgive is something that divides the internet and starts wars in the trial of defending an opinion that is not shared by every single person on the internet, thus becoming the thing that its purpose is to defeat. (a vicious cycle of hatred)
So why is it toxic?
From my point of view, I don’t think that cancel culture is a toxic thing in theory. But the way people actually use it is what concerns (and bothers) me.
In its current form, anonymous and fuelled by negative emotions, cancel culture has the power to destroy a person’s career in a matter of minutes. There are no gray areas, just the white and black pack mentality: “I am right and you are wrong”.
The subject of the cancelation becomes “cancelled” for disagreeing with a certain opinion, and the cancelled one feels like the whole world is hating them. No one can argue that going through a cancellation, no matter how big or small it is, can severely affect one’s mental health and leave them scarred for life.
Cancel culture, at this point, is bullying someone famous without facing the consequences. We are already used to surf the web and stumble across someone’s cancelation over something that not even in our wildest dreams we would be able to imagine otherwise.
I think that all of us are familiar with a stupid cancelation, like canceling someone over a burger that somehow became the sole reason of obesity (see: Dream MrBeast burger). We can’t help but laugh at people trying to cancel someone for a stupid reason.
But, unfortunately, not all of our cancelations are stupid or laughable. There are people cancelled over their physical aspect or them not being political active, people cancelled over being friends with certain people or over saying something that is now considered to be slightly offensive a few years ago. The ones who are under the spotlight can’t make jokes or take decisions by themselves, they are supposed to be the marionettes of their fans.
(I do not intend to say that all cancelations are bad, but I’m trying to highlight how the majority of the most recent cancelations are out of place. If someone actually tries to actively harm your minority, your beliefs etc. you should call out that inappropriate behaviour, but without purposely harming that person as a means of payback)
There is also a toxic behaviour that I’ve noticed in a cancelation: the “I forgive you”/”I don’t forgive you” phrase used by people who have no right to do so. If you are part of the minority who has been hurt, then you have every right to forgive or not someone for saying or doing something hurtful towards your minority.
But if you are not a part of that minority, shut the f*** up. By speaking on behalf of a minority while you aren’t part of that minority you take away the right of actually addressing the issue from the people who are part of that minority. You can support them from the sides and let them express their pain with their own voice. They perfectly capable of addressing the issue, they need your support but not you taking the spotlight away from the actual problem.
What is my take on cancel culture?
I think that there are more civil ways of resolving an issue without actively trying to destroy someone’s career. Instead of cancelling that person, we could educate them (but not in that harmful way I’ve seen on twitter) on the subject and on why their words or actions are hurtful.
We should remember that we are all humans and that every human makes mistakes. Don’t forget that children learn by making mistakes. And while I’m well aware that we are not talking about children here, you should also be well aware that we are talking about actual humans with feelings.
Cancelation should be the last weapon we use, but only if that person refuses to give an apology and educate themselves on the subject.
Overall, don’t. Just don’t cancel people. Don’t attack people on the internet. Don’t try to harm people on the internet.
Some of you might disagree with my opinion and I’m open to criticism as long as you can help me educate more on the subject.
Now let’s move on to the other topic
Stan culture
Before I start talking about this one, I’d like to point out that stans actually scare me, a lot.
What is stan culture?
“Stan culture describes an online phenomenon in which communities of stalker fans, or stans, engage in overly enthusiastic support of a favorite celebrity online (called “stanning”), including at times vehement, coordinated attacks against detractors and critics” (source).
Basically stan = stalker + fan.
There are also people who say that the word stan comes from Eminem’s song “Stan” which tells the story of a crazed fan. I do recommend listening to the lyrics of this song if Eminem is not your cup of tea, it’s a good intake in what stan culture was at the beginning of 2000′s.
To be honest, I don’t have anything more to add at this section. Anything more I’d say would, in the end, be the same as what was already stated. (but you can see my opinion on it with more comments at the end)
It stan culture toxic?
You have to live under a rock if you had never seen a stan on twitter or tumblr. You usually recognize them by their profile pictures, the content they share, their posts and their ready to argue behaviour in case you insult or disagree with the ones they worship.
I’d like to point out that there is a fine line between a stan and a fan: stans know no length when it comes to defending their object of worship and often have really toxic ways of expressing their opinions, while a fan is there just to enjoy their favourite content without engaging in harmful discussion and hate speeches.
This topic is filled with controversy. In essence, stanning should be a means of showing support. The majority of them don’t even realize the toxicity they spread only after leaving the fandom.
The real problem here is the moment when they engage in conflicts without entertaining the thought that they might be wrong. Anything they do is right and their object of worship can say or do no mistake. This extends to the point of sending death threats and even doxxing.
For those who don’t know about doxxing, short for dropping dox: doxxing is an internet slang that means to publish personal information (of an individual) on the internet. You can find more about it here.
With no intend to disrespect or disregard one’s religious beliefs, you can say that stanning is like being part of a religion. The stans are the extremist people who practice that religion, while the fans are those who practice it from time to time (eg. like a Christian who goes to Church only on Christmas and Easter - me).
In the end, stan culture is toxic to both the stans and celebrities.
Is there a connection between stan culture and cancel culture?
They are both toxic internet cultures, this one is right for sure.
From what I’ve noticed during my short timed stay on twitter, a lot of cancelations are made by stans from the same community or different communities.
I’m part of mcyt community, so I’ve seen a lot of Dream fans and Dream antis fighting over the past months, trying to cancel each other and harm each other. It’s mental seeing people actively trying to do these kind of things just because they love or hate a certain person. Of course that we can’t tie the situation to a certain content creator.
I know that his also happens a lot in the kpop community where stans are in a constant fight to destroy the career of each other’s favourite idol group or bias (someone's most favorite member of an idol group).
What is my take on stan culture?
I feel like I need to repeat myself: stans scare the s*** out of me.
It’s like their sole purpose in life is to support someone and don’t have the basic sense of boundaries. A lot of problems arise with this: like shipping people who are uncomfortable being shipped with, intense sexualizing (sexualizing the minors is the worst from my point of view), creating drama and intentionally ignoring real world problems just to make their favourite person(s) trend, and the list is so long that I feel like I’d create a record on tumblr for the longest post if I go on.
We are talking about some weird adaptation of Lord of the Flies where children raise each other on the internet. It’s like a cult and they are brainwashed into believing what everybody else thinks. And the worst part is that I don’t think we’ll ever get better from this, things are only going south to heaven.
I might be wrong and biased, so I do expect someone to help me understand these topics better, but for now these are my firm opinions.
I’d also like to clarify, once again, that in the religion example I’m not making fun of Christianity, I’m just using it as a means to help people better understand my point.
#if you think doxxing and death threats are justified unfollow me#I'm sorry but I'm so fucking sick of internet at this point#or even better block me you fucking coward#I feel like I have lots of words misspelled but it is what it is#cancel culture#stan culture#mcyt#kpop#free speech#censorship#stanning#important#personal opinion#ask
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Trying to approach religion or belief just 'casually'?
Well, there's so many reasons why most of the people I meet online are atheists. Like why believe in something which is 'imaginary' ...or someone who doesn't help you in your calamities? So, just at the very first sign of anything holy, like a verse from good books, or like divine speech trying to approach you, there's only a millisecond for 90% of the youth here which just scoff it off; like if I just say something really simple as, 'God bless you' ...I literally, even though I don't see people on the other side of screen, feel them rolling eyes at me.
'Preach!' ... 'good imagination!' 'hear hear! 👏🏽'
Yet, if you really are a 'hardcore' atheist and see something which is too violent to digest or too horrifying to look at, even if your mouth isn't uttering these words, it surely is racing on your mind 'No, please no, God...' What do you think the general public was thinking when the towers came down that day earlier in September? All politics aside, what would you feel if a nuke suddenly falls and razes your entire city, like apocalyptically? Believe me, I have analyzed much about battlefields and horrors of war that make people think only of divine help when they become 'Ant walking Alligators'..
Wut's that? Well it was the first time a so-called creature that existed for a very short duration when humanity experienced the most powerful ever potential of weapons man ever made. The nuke on Hiroshima... some vapourised within seconds, some died of shock, traumatic/fatal injuries...
But the ones much not talked about are these people, like ghouls from fiction come to life. Their entire body completely charred black, burnt and almost destroyed but alive. Their face a blank empty space with no more than just their mouths which couldn't scream of pain but actually making a cry for help nobody could understand, a deep gurgling or suppressed voice of agony they want to communicate with their rescuers, they couldn't speak, nor cry, nor be approached... shunned from everyone until they died all alone...
Now this... is not the stuff from Terminator or any other hit flicks. This is something which happened for real, in front of real people who experienced all of this and actually lived to tell the tale, fortunately.
So backing up to our earlier point is what exactly are the emotions of a typical average Joe living casually, when suddenly calamities like this strike? Like all of a sudden, no one thought a safe haven like the New York could have ever been touched with any calamity like those on silver screens...
When things like this happen believe me, I half experienced this as a kid... There were military or airforce drills happening all so suddenly on one fine morning in Riyadh, like the sky was echoing and it felt like nothing but real start of battles... It was just a drill or something because they were prepping for any possible spillover from the neighbouring Iraqi war back in 2003, but nothing much actually happened between the two... I was just a kid and like living a happy carefree life, didn't even finish kindergarten. Just mildly taught about a typical belief/faith a child should have... But what happened at that moment, when the airforce was so active that day, was I can't think of anything else than divine intervention, like I don't even know the 2nd basics of my beliefs...
So this proves that it is all that natural to shove aside religion as a 'medieval' set of obsolete imaginary beliefs, until it starts happening with you. And when you start seeing the truth, it is like you have very little time to make up with God, or maybe no time at all... Even though the Pharaoh was yelling 'I believe! I believe!' When he knew it was his time to die before drowning after unsuccessfully pursuing Moses (Mūsā) a.s. ...
It didn't really help him, because the stopwatch stopped, his breathing stopped, and his chapter closed with no going back. Too late!
Let's add a bit of finesse here just for its sake;
I mean, I also have talked with the same way as I did this way with others... This is like the missing link between religion and science.
This is the Time Dilation effect. If you ever watched the movie Interstellar, you start understanding that our physics don't work the same way when we reach other parts of universe or dimensions. A scene, which is very meaningful in the film, is that when an Astronaut lands on a far off planet's moon, Europa, he spends only a few hours there, but back here at home on Earth, several years have passed!
So when we actually feel what we say when 'Time has flied off so quick since we were kids' ...it is actually our soul making us realize that there is a part of us in a higher dimension making us realize that time is very short... And so, when every human is brought back to life on the day of judgement, they just keep thinking that, I only was alive no more than 2 days, even if they lived to be 80 years as we now feel...
Now I know, there's many different ways to understand religions, what they consist of and what are their practices. The problem we people face these days is the advent of globalization and technology. You just Google something or watch a YouTube video to grasp all you want about any religion. Just ask this to yourself, do you understand everything or get to know your new friend at the first outing? Nope; it takes a week, a month and it becomes best when you get to know him/her better if you spend a good year together.
The problem we have with these so called preachers online is that they have like a bullet points list which they keep striking off one after another as it is explained or dealt with. As with the older times; monks, scribes and librarians and other educated people spent years to fully grasp what a religion has to say to them, they met real people, they asked about them, lived along with them to learn about their habits and way of life... and analyzed with their beliefs to see what could be the actual truth. Then they used their own conscience and reasoning to make up their mind.
Fast forward to 21st century, we have here as we all know it, the internet. Internet is not a bad tool, it only depends on how you use it. What the preachers exploit this on-demand service is just giving quick speeches, answers, queries and things about religion so fast as if you take this knowledge like how all other material scientific theories are here.
Take time in knowing the religion before you Google the answer and say- hah... That is that.
Each verse of any holy book releases energy when you read it, and tries to communicate with your mind about its information.
So if cherry-picked YouTube videos is what you prefer, so be it... I'm not saying that that's bad. I'm telling you that you need time to absorb its facts before making a quick decision by yourself. And don't ever think that being religious is something ridiculous. You have been told to believe that just because of these modern classy and 'rational' people tell you so. Don't be afraid to stand different from the crowd if you really know you're holding on to the truth, you'll be shamed, shunned, mocked and humiliated... But that only lasts for 2 days, if you know what I mean. Then they will take back everything they said after that, but to no use.
#atheism#religion#Christianity#catholic#christian quotes#belief#faith#Islam#islamicpost#islamicreminders#islamic life#islamic advice#islamic teachings#faithquotes#Jesus#follow jesus
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Okay, with you recent inclusion of neopronouns in your Jambandrian language, it's got me wondering, why would you make a set of pronouns for an alien society that are restricted to our real life western gender roles in the first place, especially now that you're adding new ones that don't seem to correlate with anything? For a society like the Jambandrians, wouldn't it make more sense for one's pronouns to be based on status or role, considering they're seemingly a hierarchy based cult? Idk, i'm already not fond of the idea of all of these alien societies in the Kirby universe all sharing our same modern western view of gender, sexuality, etc. (especially since that kinda comes with the implication of a similar history of discrimination and such), but i just can't wrap my head around having the chance to create your own language based on an alien race from a far off future...and just ending up with the same gender roles and restrictive language that leads to the creation of neopronouns irl. At the very least, wouldn't it make more sense for their pronouns to resemble Japanese pronouns/honorifics (after all, if you're gonna base them on any real world culture, why not the one the franchise hails from)? i would love to hear what led you to this conclusion and your own interpretation of Jambandrian society. i'm really curious, is this just a difference of interpretation or did you have a clear goal in mind with the way you decided to handle this aspect of the language...or am i overthinking/misinterpreting something and this whole ask was a waste of time, hhhhh. i patiently await your response!
Okay so for those unaware, in the jambandran conlang doc I added three new pronouns - for those who aren’t keeping up:
Sha = she
Cha = he
Da = they
Sa = neo
Za = neo
Tsa = neo
This is how I wrote it in the doc. This is because I came up with them very quickly and, as I am writing this right now, have a headache and as such can’t elaborate further. I’m still gonna try though!
Yes, I DID add these because it suddenly occurred to me that the alien race with a religion focused on mentality and comfort may have a more abstract notion of gender, how correct of you to notice! Ten points for predicting me :D
Pronouns are now based on self identity in the way that the honorifics that already exist in the doc are. The reason I didn’t change out the direct translations of “he, she, and they” is because they still carry that connotation... here, allow me to translate properly:
Sha = strength, versatility, and femininity
Cha = energy, trustworthiness, and masculinity
Da = peacefulness, balance, and androgeny
Sa = benevolence, kindness, and neutrality
Za = respect, perseverance, and authority
Tsa = freedom, independence and anarchy
...so basically the genders of jambandran society are now “girlboss”, “madlad”, “why not both”, “oh no thank you i’m fine”, “what are you, a cop?” and “i think i’ll do whatever the fuck i want i am too powerful for you to stop me” /j
When addressing someone you don’t know you’ll probably either call them sa, da or za, depending on who exactly it is and whether you’re saying it to their face.
Good example of this: Francisca uses sha/sa, Flamberge uses sha/cha/tsa, Zan Partizanne uses sha/za and Hyness uses cha/tsa. You might address a parent or teacher with za, but a leader figure as sa to be polite.
So that’s the new gist of things, thank you for forcing me to elaborate I’ve been having a hard time actually getting myself to work on the conjang recently
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