I actually want to go ghost on social medias over summer. I had a rlyyy good term at uni :-) but i have some things i wanna focus on BUT ITS JUST SUCH. ! A commitment. But would be good for me.

I just read your input on the whole menstrual cycle thing, and I thought it was interesting. I agree with you on the Grandmother theory front, although I don't necessarily agree with you totally on the cooking front. I mean, obviously yes, cooking has been really important for our species' evolution, but I don't necessarily think it's tied to the development of periods. The first evidence of fire is c. 700kya, which as we share a period with chimps and other primates, it's evolution is probably long before the split between Pan. and the earliest hominins. Now, I personally think that that date for fire is way too late- I study early Homo mainly and I'm relatively sure H. erectus had fire, but periods probably would have been a thing before cooking. Cooking has allowed our species to fine tune and push the limits of birth and what is possible developmentally, but not directly related to periods

I could be wrong, and this definitely isn't meant to be an attack or a critique, I'd just like to discuss it as a fellow human evolution enthusiast and academic, if you have the time/energy

It's all good, I love discussing anthropology and evolution and whatnot. ^_^ I don't mind ppl disagreeing if they're nice about it, and you are so it's fine!

I think whether or not cooking is tied to menstruation depends on why other animals resorb their uterine lining rather than shedding it. if it's "we need to keep these nutrients" I think it definitely could be related to the consumption of extra calories via cooking or even meat eating (although -- and this was one of those moments where I knew my google search history is probably putting me on some kind of list, lol -- due to grooming habits it's likely not a total loss for the other menstruating species.), because that gives us the caloric budget to remove the evolutionary pressure to develop the ability to resorb the lining.

However, if it's for "leaving random blood around is a bad idea bc predators" reasons, then I think it would have more to do with the large social groups that humans, chimps, and bonobos live in. Bonobos and humans have no natural predators, and chimps have very few (and even fewer as adults.). With bonobos it's specifically because of their social structure, as it is with humans (well, y'know, and other things.).

I completely agree with you wrt fire and cooking, I think the 700kya date is way too late, but y'know...evidence is evidence. I think it had to happen earlier though, probably near or shortly after we started consuming meat because we needed it to make the meat safe. We don't have any adaptations for scavenging, which was one of the things that drove my desire to write about the transition to meat eating in my thesis. I think the "hominins started eating meat as scavengers" thing is completely bs. One of the things I found in the course of writing it was that a kill left out on the savannah becomes inedible for humans after around 30 minutes (bc internal fluids ruin the meat *quick*.), and I don't think A. afarensis was so different from us that this wouldn't have been true for them too (the earliest evidence of stone tools in the context of broken bones and whatnot and butchery comes from about 3.2mya, when they were around.), and I think it would take a predator longer than 30 mins to consume their kill. So unless large groups of A. afarensis was driving away predators (which is obviously possible), they weren't really scavenging. And they'd have to be really quick about it to get to the meat before it spoiled and would make them sick to eat. Plus, you know, scavengers are highly specialized animals. We have none of those characteristics, nor even the traces of them. There's also no real evidence that we transitioned from scavenging to hunting, it's just an assumption that scavenging is a step along the road to hunting rather than an end in and of itself for species that habitually do it. So logically I think cooking would have had to come *much* earlier than 700kya or we just wouldn't have had the calories to grow our brains. Now whether they started fires is another thing, but there's no reason they couldn't learn to tend fire and use it and whatnot when they came across it. There's no reason to believe that hominins didn't hang around brushfires to collect plant foods as they passed. Hell, we know an early hunting method was setting fires so that new shoots would attract prey. So yeah, hard agree about the fire.

Upon rereading tgcf, one of the biggest complaints I have is how lackluster all the extra chapters were. literally none of them were good and all contained rlly gross and harmful sentiments (like the amnesia one which.. yea.. or all the things implying xl should get pregnant for hc thus equating gay relationships with hetero ones and playing into the wife thing and just GOD I HATE MXTX) 

There were a lot of little plot points i wish that had been further elaborated on more in the extras as opposed to hualian being ... like that. I had enough. Like mdzs had actaully good extras (minus the incense burners) that were nice side stories that elaborated more on the characters. Like the hook one with the juniors was so cute and i loved seeing them grow more. Or the lotus pod extras omg.. im such a lotus pod extra stan. those were so cute and gave us a lot of good insight into just how lovestruck lwj was during the times when he didn’t see wwx. mxtx should've stuck to those sorta extras in tgcf but NOOO. SO I have a list of so many other more interesting things those chapters couldve been spent on like:

A resolution on He Xuan’s revenge and his character arc. Bc its implied He Xuan is still hanging out and watching over sqx and that taking revenge didn’t fully satisfy him bc ok.. yea shi wudu is dead but he xuans family will never come back. Now what does he have to live for?? i wish we couldve seen a look into his life during the entire ordeal. like a chapter from his perspective while he was posing as Ming Yi  and maybe a look at a conversation btw he xuan and the real ming yi or a chapter after SQX was banished to see what he’s doing now. Also what did he xuan owe hua cheng money for anyways?? Like ik not every little thing has to be explained but I Want to Know. PLEASE more goth boyfriend content now I just wanna see him :,((

a better resolution of yin yu and quan yizhens storyline. im still mad abt how that plot point was split btw books 3 and 5  when it was rlly out of place and  there were other more pressing plot matters and it just rlly deserved more time. Also i thought yin yu died!?!?!? but apparently one of the extras says he’s alive and man... i;m not reading any more of the extras to see that, give me a full yin yu and quan yizhen chapter.. fuck.

a day in the life of the guoshi fangxin or general hua PLEASE especially like one where hua cheng was SO CLOSE to meeting xie lian but had no clue that xie lian was there at the time but the two did smth that inadvertantly helped the other and they still were connected even though they hadnt met omg pls that’d be so nice. like imagine Hua cheng catching a glimpse of the guoshi in public in yong’an while he’s trying to follow some lead that points to xie lian or maybe following a lead to capture qi rong bc he said he knew qi rong was a part of the yong’an stuff and originally thought the guoshi was one of qi rongs pawns. like can you IMAGINE him getting so close. but at the last second he did smth small that impacted xie lian. like they bumped into eachother on the street or smth. god i’d go crazy

OR vice versa.. like a day in the life of the young ghost king hua cheng. Like again, one of my biggest issues was that hua cheng just knew everything and its never really explained how he got all of that info. like yes he’s been alive very long and has eyes and ppl working for him everywhere but like... how did he build that network?? I’d love to see a chapter of young ghost king hua cheng travelling around trying to learn as much as he can abt the world and how it can help bring him to xie lian. and the two maybe are in the same kingdom for a bit and they don’t meet exactly but hua cheng stops some fight or something and helps xie lian indirectly or maybe xie lian is performing on the street in some costume and hua cheng doesn’t recognize him and smiles and gives him a coin or smth. idk i’m just dying for any sorta extra chapter or fic like that. i’m honestly so tempted to write my own but i cant write

also!! we’ve seen how xie lian picks up people down on their luck near him and show them kindness (like banyue, lang ying, xiao ying, he tried to with san lang but we know how that ended lmao) so i’d love to see another little vignette of him doing that on his travels and how every person he meets teaches him smth about life and being a good person and idk, i just think it’d be rlly sweet. i love this facet of his character and feel like we didn’t see enough of it towards the end.

ALSO hua cheng only seems to respect one heavenly official besides xie lian and thats yushi huang.. i assume thats mostly bc she was the only one to help xie lian and let him use the rain master hat to bring water to yong’an. I was thinking maybe when he was a new supreme he had run into trouble and maybe was picked up by the rain master and helped him heal and in return he promised to help protect her village from harm in the future. Like i know a heavenly official wouldn’t cooperate with a ghost like that but yushi huang is different and doesn’t really care about the heavens so i think she would protect him if he could do something to benefit her village. ik this is kinda far fetched but when he first became a supreme I’m sure a bunch of ppl probably tried to mess with him and didn’t rlly believe him to be undefeatable bc he hadn’t proved himself yet also i doubt all his power came overnight. he had to learn how to use it once he escaped the kiln. and some group probably thought they could weaken him somehow. I’m thinking maybe a rlly well formed group of ghosts actually caught him off guard once and he had to retreat and was picked up by the rain master and stayed with her and learned from her a bit. i think it’d be a cool concept also i just rlly want more yushi huang content and i’m on their friendship agenda bc he rlly did seem to actually respect her when she first appeared and i think it’d be cool if the two had some history together.

Also idrc if this was addressed I couldve missed it But!! Did xie lian ever tell Hua cheng that the reason he got the curse shackles and was banished again in the first place wasnt bc jun wu wanted to punish him, but because he requested it. And specifically requested it bc he felt guilty abt letting wu ming take the human face disease and disperse for his sake. So he took the shackles and descended to atone for that?? Bc I dont recall hua cheng learning that bc his soul was already dispersed at that point so it didnt follow him and xie lian didnt say anything so uhhh... someone should tell hua cheng that. Like I dont think xie lian rlly said how much hua cheng meant to him and didnt show him he was loved in grand ways. Like xie lian did always care for bc in other ways but I think if hua cheng learned abt this on screen it wouldve been such a great moment and I'm rlly surprised mxtx didnt address this iirc!?!? Like imagine jun wu telling Hua cheng this in the kiln bc xie lian wouldnt say it himself. Imagine how cool that would be.

Also a small thing adding into the whole young ghost king Hua cheng stuff. Its implied and p much stated that hua cheng isnt his real name. That he likely doesnt have a real name bc his parents died? (It's not clear. I'm still mad at mxtx for not making his childhood clearer). So I'd like to see when and why hua cheng chose that name for himself. The new tgcf ending song kinda hints at its meaning with the lyrics "for you I'd fill a city of flowers" as xie lian is the flower wielding martial god so it's probably inspired by that. Also xie lian saved hua cheng from leaping off the city walls but I'd love to hear him say it bc the implication of his name didnt dawn on me for quite a bit and I dont know if everyone made the connection. Again I sure as hell didnt. So itd be cool to see a chapter that takes place in his past after just ascending as a supreme

Overall I rlly think tgcf had a lot more potential to be even better and a lot of that comes down to fleshing out the side characters and letting hualian have more of a storyline independent of one another. like i know the appeal and message of tgcf is that through love, people can overcome anything, but fuck man. i just wanna see what these two (mostly hua cheng) where like in the absence of each others presence. Part of what I really liked abt mdzs is that we got to see that longing develop btw wangxian when the two weren’t together and how they thought about each other and did things in thei others spirit bc they knew the other wouldve done the same thing. but whatever, mxtx was too consumed by her own unhealthy idea of what devotion and true love looks like but still. i rlly think the extras couldve helped the story be better rather than be fujoshi fuel that i try to bleach from my mind -_-

I need a tag called consensual non-con, because me as the author gives consent to characters having non-con sex. Just thinking about problematic contents and their consumers and creators

Banning sane adults from enjoying problematic contents and denying their desires is misleading and unpractical. As problematic contents are being created and transmitted their meanings are constantly changed and rewritten during the process. The results is that, images and texts can be associated in complicated, and often indirect ways to consumers, so they are never the real cause of reallife harm as long as they're not products of harm in the first place.

However, certain discourse can be perpetuated during the spreading and transmision of such contents. Like sexism, racism, violence, discrimination, facism, oppression, etc. What matters is how such issues are being presented, not whether they exist or not (and we all know reality is far nastier than fiction).

Here are some very biased personal thought: most of problematic contents are bullshit. People seem to think traumas are so easy to come to terms with, and people who're hurt are always surrounded by those who love and care about them. As such narrative always poses as positive, loving, and sympathetic, it's at best good will but mostly it's just bad writing.

If life is rose garden, who needs fiction anyway. And by this I actually mean if your opinions of the world is so optimistic and pure and innocent you won't be able to write problematic content with complexity and subtlety and I already know you're a terrible writer.

So back to problematic contents. Some of them, if read reflectively, really don't suggest bad stuff happen in real life, and can be highly critical of it in their own way. They can be dangerous to some but they are meant to be meaningful exploration and study of human life. Even more, they sometimes become outlets of pains and traumas, and survivors cope with their life by rewriting their experiences (and if, in such case, people choose to romanticize and fetishize something a little, what's wrong with it? The world's hurting we enough, and we should have at least this, how uncomfortable it might look to others.)

There are also pure bad contents with no good value other than ablility to rouse sexual desires. But should we ban them? People get off from all kinds of shit, from rubber ducks to mass murder. While these people are not exactly the ones raping or murdering others for fun, should their desires be denied simply because they're so wrong? And if we want to better the living conditions of people of gender and race and undereprented experiences and identies, and also appreciate their feelings to create a less-awful future for everyone, does these goals really have to contradict with respecting privacy and personal entertainment? Especially when said entertainment only involves fictional characters who are only vessels of our tastes but no one's to claim. I just don't understand why ppl think they can have sweet fluff but others can't enjoy non-con and gore.

When people respect each other and have their own tags, things should be in good order, everyone happy, nobody gets hurt. But in fact the internet has all everything right in your face without your consent because it's a cesspool of luste, hate, and evil thoughts. It makes you think people who you'll never meet your enemies, but sometimes they're just not, even if they enjoy some problematic contents that challenge your worldview or disrespect you by your own standard. But the biggest evil are those with the power and resources to filter internet contents, regulate internet communities, and restrict bad content transmission. People with different worldviews are not enemies, and I hate poorly informed people all the time, but. Choose your war to fight.

Last advice to folks who're sensitive to be triggered: stay away from too much internet. People have imaginations and bad thoughts, but they exist, and will continue to. Take time to heal. I do it all the time. Produce better contents if you will.

re: triggers. I don’t think most people expect to live in a bubble but instead to curate a space on here. If people do tag triggers, they know it’s at least a bit safer for them to follow that blog. For me, it’s really dependent on the day, some days it’s an uncomfortable thing to look at triggers but other days it’s the difference between a panic attack. I’ve always viewed them as a courtesy, regardless of effectivity, the time used to tag is negligible to me but invaluable for someone else

I’m adding everything below the line because I think some people aren’t ready to read this but also don’t want to add tws because there are others who need to have the option to see it.

So I read your ask and decided to take a shower and get my thoughts somewhat together in order to get the best response out. Instead, my mind went a mile a minute in all directions, but that’s nothing new.

Let me preface this by saying I understand that not every trauma is the same, same as how not every person reacts or copes with trauma the same. This isn’t me trying to say that not everyone’s struggle isn’t valid, it’s just my way of reaching out, giving a helping hand and a bit of food for thought for coping.

I keep saying I was raised differently because it’s the truth, might be European but I definitely don’t share the same values as most Europeans (or the image the world has about Europe, which is basically the UK and France). Here things are done differently, tws are almost nonexistent, to an extent you’re considered a lesser human being if you have (so many) triggers, and I’m not saying that this is good. Compassion is rare and understanding even rarer, more often than not, we’re left to our own devices and we can either sink or swim.

But then you have western civilization that comes labeled and prepackaged, where everything is written in fine print, everything is valid, everything is marketed so well that you have no other choice but to believe the seller. I’ve also had the opportunity to experience this, so I know a fair share of how this machinery works too.

I’m always trying to find a balance between the two, because it’s not the Dark Ages, but life also isn’t meant to be so sterile (or portrayed as sterile but I’ll get to that later). And this is where trigger warnings come into play.

We’ve all experienced trauma, either small or big. I won’t bore you with mine, but I can tell you that I’m not immune to triggers. It’s true that I seemingly don’t have them, and if you asked me a couple of hours ago I would’ve said that I don’t have them at all, but upon reflection, mine are just emotional and circumstantial. I don’t get a panic attack from words or images, but I might spiral down from a feeling that a situation might cause (like, say, a sudden right turn in a vehicle or as was the case a few days ago, feeling like my support system is being dismantled, I like my balance, alright?). These are all things I can’t help but fear, but I can learn to cope with them and lessen my reaction to them over time.

But enough about me, the whole reason I started questioning the tws in the first place was because of the overwhelming reaction people on the internet had of the prospect of Ashton’s video/song coming out. I’m talking people literally screaming ‘NO’ but also not wanting to be left out. And this makes me so sad, not because of Ashton or because his work might flop, but because they are missing the whole point of his song. Yes, it’s definitely his way of coping (I don’t buy that bs that it’s only about Harry, like... entering the industry at the fragile age of 18 can cause all sorts of trauma), but it’s also his way of helping other people cope, telling them that their struggle is valid but it can get better if you only allow yourself to get better. By putting a tw on it, it’s not reaching the people it’s supposed to reach, but also, the prospect of knowing that there’s a song about BD but not really hearing it is only leading your brain into thinking about BD, but without the educational guidance the song would provide. I hope I’m making sense here, like you’ll just overthink and reopen old wounds, which will lead you to feel worse about yourself. You can’t unlearn this information, same as how you can’t put a tw on the news that Ashton is releasing a new song.  

I made the parallel between the civilizations because my brain went on a different tangent that may or may not be related to coping mechanisms. Whenever I’m made aware of the difference between both worlds I can’t help but think of The Time Machine by H. G. Wells. Definitely a good read (if you haven’t read it already), but my focus was on the Eloi as a concept. It’s alarming how it translates to modern-day society. For reference, the Eloi were descendants of humans, a species that evolved from (what I gathered as) first-world society, and to fit my narrative, I’m gonna say Western civilization. They had access to everything because of their wealth, from education to food to leisure activities, but they always chose the shorter path or should I say the easier path. They chose to be sheltered from the growingly disproportionate world around them, to the point where they were living under the illusion that everything is alright and they could roam free as long as the sun was shining. They were also scared shitless of the dark because that’s when the Morlocks came out of their tunnels and preyed upon them. Morlocks were another descendant of humans, evolving from the working class and the poor which were pushed to live in the tunnels to cater to the needs of the Eloi.

Now take my short recap as the Eloi being people with trauma and the Morlocks being the trauma itself. Is living in constant fear of the dark really what you want? Or is that something society tells you is okay because there’s nothing you can do about it, so you should stay that way? And what exactly does society get out of telling you that trauma is irreparable? 

This is what I meant by the world being portrayed as too sterile. It just can’t be, we’re not the ones who decide what’s gonna happen, so we shouldn’t be disillusioned that it’s up to us. Tws are there to help you in the moment, but they aren’t a coping mechanism. They’re just a veil we put over things to make them look blurry and to give them a less scary filter so that we can forget they exist. 

And this is what I meant when I said that not every trauma is the same. It comes in different degrees, but it also comes from different irritants. Not everything is because the world was mean to us, sometimes we were mean to ourselves, and we need to learn to love ourselves in order to cope. This is where, in my opinion, tws are counterproductive. Turning a blind eye on what we do to ourselves and romanticizing trauma and martyrdom is only gonna make it worse. 

Before people say I’ve gone crazy in saying this, let me just remind you that I lived through emo szn (I only caught the ends of it, it was mostly the era of ppl born in the late 80s) where self-harm was the norm and trendy and as a person with too many issues with the image of me in my head, I found it appalling that people thought that having scars was helping them. Like... reading fanfics back then, they were FILLED with mentions of self-harm. Say what you will but pop-punk/emo as a genre helped kids feel more understood, but it also popularised physical pain as a way of dealing with trauma, no matter the degree or the outcome.

There’s a prevalent theme in every generation, I think there might be a science behind it all, but it’s almost like there’s depression lurking in the background, but there’s a trend every 5-10 years or so in how we choose to manifest it; self-harm, EDs, drugs, alcohol, adrenaline, violence. Understanding this might help us understand that there’s a root to our trauma, and if we manage to kill it off, we might defeat it. But by adding tws, we’ll never get to this conclusion. We’ll just let society run us over and let us feel like shit.

Did any of this make any sense? Probably not. I’ve been writing this for a few hours now. 

My main advice is to get to know ourselves, to learn what really makes us tick. Introspection can help in finding out which trauma we can deal with, and which one needs to be left on the back burner for a bit. The lesser ones we can cope with one step at a time, until we’re out of the prangs of fear, and we can look back and say “I used to be scared of you, but I no longer am. You hurt me, but you no longer do.” 

Please think twice before relying on a tw. 

As for my blog, I don’t think I’ll tag too many tws, not because I don’t care about your wellbeing, but because I am not an organized person no matter how much I try to be. I also try to steer clear from things that might generally be considered triggering, but you’ll have to believe in my judgment of what’s acceptable or not. If that’s not something you can do, I totally understand if you unfollow me. 

Last piece of advice coming from a person that was just another cog in the marketing industry: Don’t fall for everything that’s been sold to you. You don’t have to do anything online. Something you saw on a blog makes you feel bad? Unfollow it. An event you read about in the news is triggering? Shut your computer down. A social media platform is making you feel like shit because the users are shit? Deactivate asap. Remember that information comes to you in binary code, and at the end of the day, that’s how you should treat everything that you consume online, even tho I might be a person on my side of the screen. Life is much more spicier and colorful when you’re out there in the real world, don’t let the overload of information coming from the virtual world stop you from feeling alive. 

Shit wild that in life all you need to do, in this generation, is to turn off your phone, spend time with your family, focus on your goals, and just have great character and work ethic. Acquire some hobbies and cherish moments with friends. To be quite honest, it’s really safe to say all the shit we go thru.... is just us being consumed by bullshit and subconsciously putting it back out with our own actions.... that’s all I gotta say. This page will just be on queue going forward. I’ll still share my thoughts and what not but mainly sharing that from my other page. Thank you all who have told me in the messages you appreciate my viewpoints and words. It means a lot, but I’m simply giving you the seat to the window, which displays the ocean of my thoughts. I honestly don’t see the need for being on social media anymore besides business purposes only. Y’all honestly take care of y’all selves and do what’s right in your heart everyday and don’t do goofy shit. Stay sucka free. I really want to see what this world has to offer and I’ll never find out if I live with thru a digital device. That’s just me, sounds extreme but it’s just the truth. Jus live life without any type of expectations of other. Live for yourself and fulfill your purpose. Plan on being one hell of a man for myself and for my community and more importantly one hell of a human being. God willing ima get it done, made it this far with self sabotaging tactics, I know I can get far as hell nipping destructive behavior, I developed thru trauma, in the bud. Met some dope ppl on here still hit y’all up when I’m queuing stuff, other then that ya boy is out. I’ll surprise y’all with a photo dump whenever...... time to set out on the path I know I was meant to be on.

Not being mean, I honestly want to know, what are the main tenants of ma'at everyone should follow?

So the answer to this could probably be a couple of miles long, tbh. But I’m going to try and give you guys a concise list of some of the most common themes I’ve seen over the years while reading up on ma’at. Most of this stuff comes from Karenga, Quirke and Muhlenstein. I’ve bolded the key points to help for readability.

So, to start off with…

Humility. You are supposed to be humble. Conversely, you’re supposed to not be arrogant or overly prideful.

Moderation is another common theme. This is why Set is often othered, because he lacks moderation in many respects. This is reflected in what you consume, how you respond to people, how you act, etc. I would also argue that it’s also about how you live (aka the wealth you obtain), but I don’t know that that is historically corroborated (probably not, tbh, because you were supposed to give your wealth to those who had less, and so long as you were giving back, you’d be golden afaict).

Giving to those who have less than you. This is commonly worded as “clothing the naked, giving a home to the homeless, a boat to the boatless, feeding the hungry, etc.” It’s about giving to those who have less than you. Egypt failed on this a lot. A lot of modern practitioners also fail on it.

Not being a jerk to other people. Esp. if they have less than you. It’s written in the wisdom texts that if someone who is of lesser rank than you spouts off, it’ll do you well to listen to them, but not to berate them. Leave that to someone who is of an authority to do so. This also goes back to moderation.

All in all, finding your place within your community, and doing what you can to help the community. This is probably because before the modern era, humans truly required their fellows to help them survive. No man was an island before the modern era, and everyone was needed to help keep everything running smoothly. Hence the emphasis on community in the here and now. This, ofc, means more than just the Kemetic community, but also the ppl you live next to. Conversely, it also seems to tie into not suffering people who would destroy your community.

Doing your job well, being a hard worker, having a good work ethic. Not being a cheating, swindling jerkface.

Self-reflection and making self-awareness and growth something of a priority. Taking the time to look at yourself and being honest with what you need to improve, and working to make improvements as you are able.

Maintaining the cult of the gods. This is arguably more relevant to the people whose jobs it was to do this on the regular (aka the king, priests), but it still deserves a place on the list. The gods helped us maintain Order, maintain our world. As such, it benefited us to take care of them. Conversely, if the gods weren’t fulfilling their roles, it was also within ma’at to call them on it (see my point about doing your job well) and refuse to take care of their needs until your needs (or the community’s needs) are met.

These all seem pretty self-explanatory, imo. And they are probably the most commonly sighted tenets of ma’at. The rules shift, however, when ma’at is threatened. Muhlenstein writes about this extensively in his text “Violence in the Service of Order.” In order to get a complete idea of what ma’at entails, we need to examine this side of things, too:

Being willing to smite isfet when it shows up. This is often referred to as “smiting Set’s confederates” or something similar. Ma’at is all about creating something, and maintaining that creation–which means defending it when necessary. So when someone shows up and tries to wreck the party, you wreck that person’s face and send them packing.

Once any isfet is eradicated, you are supposed to replace it with ma’at. It’s not good enough to just cut down isfet where it stands. You need to replace that void with ma’at, otherwise the isfet will return to fill the void.

Taking care of your community is another aspect of this. Egypt used this as an excuse to go conquesting. Pretty sure most of us know that colonialism is bad and would add in extra caveats on what is acceptable for “taking care of your own”, but from a purely historical standpoint, this meant beating down anyone who had stuff you wanted so that you could bring more resources back to your home. In a more modern context, I would argue that it means helping your fellows to succeed and to be safe. This is also more than just our Kemetic community, and should include people who are a part of your life or in-person community.

Protecting what you have built (usually referred to as Order, protecting Order.) This honestly is just a succinct way of saying what I said in the last three bullets.

Now, obvs, not everyone is cut out to smite isfet or help defend things on the regular. And that’s fine. However, just because you’re not able or not necessarily comfortable with it doesn’t mean that you should get in the way of those who are willing and able to do so. I think that’s honestly one of the largest issues I see in most situations. “I’m made uncomfortable by this, and therefore you shouldn’t do the thing, because I personally wouldn’t want the thing done.” Even though defending the community and those who are adherents of ma’at is part and parcel with ma’at in certain contexts.

Given how extensive ma’at is, it’s possible that I’ve missed some things, but these are probably the highlights of what comes to mind. If anyone else can think of anything I’ve missed, feel free to add.

i agree w everything u said in ur post abt fic/fandom culture but to clear one thing up for my piece of mind, the first type of fic ur talking about is like torture porn right? where it's glorified pain and drawn out scenes of bad shit? bc i've written some stuff that references bad things in a sentence or two but i really hope i'm not part of the problem lol

#abuse ment

(ALSO IM SORRY THIS GOT SO LONG. TL;DR yeah you’re almost definitely fine my dude) (there's more drowsy rambling abt this under the cut)

yeah def! it’s like… suffering for the sake of suffering. the point of the fic is for the reader to gain entertainment from the suffering of a character.

it would be ridiculous to put a ban on depicting bad/sad things in fic. fiction is about human experience, etc etc. but my point was - i think people posting fics in public places need to be responsible in a certain way about it?

like… for example. 13 reasons why is kind of like the genre of fic im describing. the audience is consuming the pain of the character for entertainment. it’s not constructive, but it’s out in the public sphere.

of course one can have bad things happening to a character - there’s just a couple blurry lines you gotta try your best to mind if you’re gonna post sth publicly. is it a very graphic depiction a reader is either gonna be triggered by or relish in? is it the whole point of the fic? what comes after?

like i guess for example… if one were to publish sth about t@@ko having been abused. it would be best if the fic didn’t laboriously detail abusive scenes, drenching the reader with in depth suffering of a gay man, focusing entirely on that and rolling around in it. i (and i know many others) would prefer if like… it was focused on getting better. if it showed a gay man being able to live past that shit. being happy. not about oooooh isn’t it SO AWFUL he’s being abused, let me describe how painful getting punched in the stomach was!!!!!!

in fandom like… the suffering of gay men is fetishized to an unnerving degree. people focus on it sooooo much. maybe its bc those are favorite characters & ppl project onto them, but again - it’s public, we all have a responsibility, get a vent blog. gay people deal w enough pain irl lmao

so yeah. uhhhhh back to the point: is the reader meant to be jerking off to the suffering? if no, i think you’re good. you can depict suffering, just be conscious. you can ABSOLUTELY reference bad stuff, in a context where people can relate to it, and the context of your fic being like… not detrimental to read. fics don’t have to be cotton candy sugary perfect, but they shouldn’t be torture porn, as you said.

i’m not phrasing this exactly perfectly atm - im getting a bit sleepy and am already prone to rambling - but i hope this makes sense. im not trying to make a black and white statement, there’s soooo much nuance to this that i can’t express rn, but yeah.

if u believe in kin u believe theres no such thing as fiction, or skill in creating fiction like art & literature, u believe it just happened. u believe art & lit dont belong to creators, but 2 kin of it & its aus. u believe u have more a right to police the fandom than the creators. u believe ur the only authority on whats allowed 2 be drawn/written/talked about in fandom. its all a power trip. its not to make ppl feel better. its bc theyre manipulative brats. they hide it well. playing victims

and you’re on anon, I should believe anything you say why? Although I think I know who it is already. I’m going to reiterate a few things here because on anon you are a waste of my time. If you were off, you and I could speak of this privately, I’ve said recently I’m against majority of callouts because they’re driven by personal agendas and grievances (and gatekeeping) rather than any kind of betterment to the group. But you’re on anon so that tells me A) you’re not going to stand by your words publically so already they’re meaningless and B) you’re joining this kinhate hype train out of spite. 

I make Original concept works as well as AUs, UAs, and fanworks. I know the feeling of having your art stolen. I know it sucks and it feels invalidating. 

But if a few people making this shitty world better for themselves in a small way that does not change ANYTHING about where your art came from or who made it, you’re honestly just being petty. Because how many text posts and anecdotes from REAL PEOPLE’S LIVES go  viral and get tagged with #me #this is so me #this just happened to me when it didn’t? 

And honestly, if you don’t want people to use it? don’t post it? Do not? you can make plenty of shit and not post it? Are we really going to condone the path of Anne Rice? Like yeah it sucks and there are things people should never do. But considering ESPECIALLY the nature of AUS we’re already perverting the source material. We don’t really get to complain when people do it to us when we ignore the creators. It’s why I don’t post a lot of AE content anymore, because I put my heart and soul into world building and filling gaps, and lazy writing from temps and forced heteronormativity have really ruined a lot of things in universe but there’s not really anything to do about it because a lot of stuff is just ignored or looked down upon by the devs and the fandom. And that’s a damn shame honestly. So the majority I didn’t post and instead turned my energies to making my own stuff. Fandom is supposed to fill the gaps in source work. But when that fails you make your own original stuff instead. Because again, with fandom it’s a line of command with the creator at the very top, not that people remember that when the creator doesn’t agree with every little thing they say.

And to end? Like that’s a really, really presumptuous and pretentious attitude you got there. between that and spelling I can’t imagine you have much that anyone would interact with, much less kin with. Like oh, if I think kin people exist I have to agree with every last little thing they say? I think Christian people exist and I don’t agree with a damn word from any of them. Do you see how that logic doesn’t follow? Creative writing and art is an escape from reality, we make it for ourselves and others to enjoy and you have to let it go and understand people are going to  experience it and appreciate it in their own ways and we have absolutely no control of that, nor should we. Art is meant to connect people, to evoke feeling and to unite people on some level. It is the epitome of the human experience in physical form. And it can take any form be is scientifical, traditional, digital, with words or pictures and so many other things. To see it as something to be controlled or only consumed in one way is just, not possible. 

Also, if you think people define their own lives, selves and realities is any way policing or power tripping, you may have a misunderstanding on what individuality is, pal. I’ve wasted enough words on you though. You’re probably not even an artist or a writer or anything, just a nasty little troll that has fun screaming through your keyboard. It’s been fun though. Well, see you.

Hopeless

I don’t blame you for not wanting to hang out with me as much. I don’t blame you for surrounding yourself with people who are upbeat and seem like they want to be social. I don’t blame you for choosing people that seem like they want to be around you and want to open up to you. I don’t bc I understand and I’m the same way.

I let what you did tear me apart on the inside. I was crushed, destroyed…I didn’t exist anymore. And no one cared. Ppl saw I was upset but no one knew how much pain I felt everyday. Every morning I woke up not feeling enough bc you didn’t choose me. Every second of the day from morning to night was consumed with all the things I could have done differently.

How I could have been cooler, more funny, more understanding ….more perfect etc. I had torn myself up on the inside and then became my thoughts. Instead of being the relaxed, open, smiling, courageous, accepting person I was… I had become this exhausted, angry, bitter, sad, hurt, paranoid, and anxious human being. That’s what my thoughts were.

Even if over half of them were false and it was just my insecurities being amplified that’s all I thought about. And in turn that’s what I became as a human. That’s the only side of me you’ve really gotten to know. The hurt, isolated, insecure, left out, angry part of me.

Is it on me for being hurt? Yeah. Actually this whole situation is. It doesn’t help that I’m hypersensitive and I feel everything so deeply. Whether it be positive or negative emotions I feel. And I feel hard. A lot of people are not like that and don’t understand it. And i care so much that when I find you worthy to be in my life and then you disappoint me by not meeting my expectations I have for a friend. Which is caring back… then we have a problem. You think you’ve done nothing wrong and I look crazy and emotional and obsessed. I’m not. I just cared so much and I got hurt.

I’m not asking you to agree. Im not even asking you to feel bad. Not even to change really (though I do hope you evolve in your own life seeing as we all do). I just want you to understand. I want to understand so that you can see I’m not this crazy person. I want you to understand so that you see I’m not boring and sad and bitter. I want you to understand so you see the endless depths and endless span of my heart. And that you could intentionally fuck me over so many times and I would still find a way to make it good with you and forgive.

I hope that one day you understand so that we can actual start a friendship. Instead of this weird in between. And that friendship can be just that an authentic friendship and evolve in so many ways like that. Or maybe step towards best friends to romantic interest. And evolve that way. I don’t want you out of my life. But I’m tired of feeling hurt by you. Because as of right now I don’t necessarily trust you. And I'm at the point where I truly believe you never cared. But I pray that changes and I can be myself. So then we can see if we are meant to be in each other’s lives or not.