#but then I teach government and know damn well that a president is not a king
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11. Dogs or cats?
28. What turns you off?
31. Do you have any siblings?
41. Are looks important in a relationship?
60. Do you believe in love at first sight?
61. Do you believe in soul mates?
65. What are three things most people don’t know about you?
67. Do you sleep with a stuffed toy?
77. What is your favorite quote and why?
87. If you were the president, what would you do?
11: I have to go dogs - that's all the family ever had, since 3/4ths of us are allergic to cats.
(including me, though it's been literally decades since I've spent any length of time around a cat; other of my allergies have moderated a bit - the hope is that one has too)
28: Conservative politics, smoking, and poor grammar are probably the top three.
31: Yes - a younger sister.
41: I think that certainly at the beginning there has to be some kind of attraction? Though that means something different to every individual person. And I like to think that they get less important as time goes on - that's your person, no what how their appearance may change.
60: Total, full-blown, love? I don't think so - that requires intimate exchange of all sorts. I think there can be a spark of more-than-usual attraction at first sight that can lead to love (and then be read backward as love at first sight).
61: I think there are people who are so incredibly compatible that it may seem fated that they would have ended up together... but getting together takes work and staying together takes work - it's not the work of the gods or what-have-you.
65: Things people here don't know about me? People in 'real life'? Both?
Almost no one in 'real life' knows many of the things I talk about here. Almost no one here knows much about what I do in 'real life'. I guess in some senses I consider that a privilege reserved to very select people.
67: Nope. Not sure I ever really did - at least not conventionally. I believe I had a stuffed bear but he was tucked up at the head of the bed?
77: "I love my country because it is mine." - Stephan Orbelian
There's a rootedness in it that also ties in with a stubbornness and a contrariness that are all strong elements in me. I actually relate to it more powerfully in terms of a more local perspective - thinking about my city, and also to some extent my state: this is a place that has been through very hard times (and is still not exactly in fine fettle). But to me it's the best place in the world: I know it, I love it, and I work for it (in my ways) and I defend it - because it is mine; it is part of me, as I am part of it.
87: Probably a number of politically unwise things having to do with executive orders and smack-talking Supreme Court justices and Congresspeople. The current one actually seems to be doing quite well legislatively, given the political environment, so better him than I.
#probably not treating that question as intended#but then I teach government and know damn well that a president is not a king#...unlike too many people online these days#(and very unfortunately some in real life)#I've only lived outside my local area for one year#when I was away at college#I do love it here#even as all my more tangible connections have evaporated#not a very popular mindset these days#and it has - and probably will continue to - limit my possibilities in certain ways#but... 🤷♂️#I would pair it with James Baldwin's#'I love America more than any other country in the world and exactly for this reason I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.'#especially on a national level#I want to see the places I love do better#not leave them for someone else to clean up#or to the mercy of my opponents#I'm a very active sleeper#so I don't think a stuffed animal would have done well#or would today#'privilege' is doing a lot of work in that sentence 😅#I guess if anyone wants a real answer to the question they should follow-up more specifically#there's a large element of luck to who you get to meet#but I wouldn't consider that 'fate' either#it's just luck#(I don't think the next three need any tags?)#certainly that's the trifecta that eliminates most of the people I look at on the dating site 😂#I guess I could throw 'excessive drinking' in there#I have a few other more controversial (for Tumblr) ones#I have had to take Benadryl in the presence of cats
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Do you really hate this county? Or were you just ranting?
Sigh. I debated whether or not to answer this, since I usually keep the real-life/politics/depressing current events to a relative minimum on this blog, except when I really can't avoid ranting about it. But I have some things to get off my chest, it seems, and you did ask. So.
The thing is, any American with a single modicum of genuine historical consciousness knows that despite all the triumphalist mythology about Pulling Up By Our Bootstraps and the American Dream and etc, this country was founded and built on the massive and systematic exploitation and extermination of Black and Indigenous people. And now, when we are barely (400 years later!!!) getting to a point of acknowledging that in a widespread way, oh my god the screaming. I'm so sick of the American right wing I could spit for so many reasons, not least of which is the increasingly reductive and reactive attempts to put the genie back in the bottle and set up hysterical boogeymen about how Teaching Your Children Critical Race Theory is the end of all things. They have forfeited all pretense of being a real governing party; remember how their only platform at the 2020 RNC was "support whatever Trump says?" They have devolved to the point where the cruelty IS the point, to everyone who doesn't fit the nakedly white supremacist mold. They don't have anything to do aside from attempt to usher in actual, literal, dictionary-definition-of-fascism and sponsor armed revolts against the peaceful transfer of power.
That is fucking exhausting to be aware of all the time, especially with the knowledge that if we miss a single election cycle -- which is exceptionally easy to do with the way the Democratic electorate needs to be wooed and courted and herded like cats every single time, rather than just getting their asses to the polls and voting to keep Nazis out of office -- they will be right back in power again. If Manchin and Sinema don't get over their poseur pearl-clutching and either nuke the filibuster or carve out an exception for voting rights, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act is never going to get passed, no matter how many boilerplate appeals the Democratic leadership makes on Twitter. In which case, the 2022 midterms are going to give us Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the House (I threw up in my mouth a little typing that) and right back to the Mitch McConnell Obstruction Power Hour in the Senate. The Online Left (TM) will then blame the Democrats for not doing more to stop them. These are, of course, the same people who refused to vote for Hillary Clinton out of precious moral purity reasons in 2016, handed the election to Trump, and now like to complain when the Trump-stacked Supreme Court reliably churns out terrible decisions. Gee, it's almost like elections have consequences!!
Aside from my exasperation with the death-cult right-wing fascists and the Online Left (TM), I am sick and tired of how forty years of "trickle-down" Reaganomics has created a world where billionaires can just fly to space for the fun of it, while the rest of America (and the world) is even more sick, poor, overheated, economically deprived, and unable to survive the biggest public health crisis in a century, even if half the elected leadership wasn't actively trying to sabotage it. Did you know that half of American workers can't even afford a one-bedroom apartment? Plus the obvious scandal that is race relations, health care, paid leave, the education system (or lack thereof), etc etc. I'm so tired of this America Is The Greatest Country in the World mindless jingoistic catchphrasing. We are an empire in the late stages of collapse and it's not going to be pretty for anyone. We have been poisoned on sociopathic-libertarian-selfishness-disguised-as-Freedom ideology for so long that that's all there is left. We have become a country of idiots who believe everything their idiot friends post on social media, but in a very real sense, it's not directly those individuals' fault. How could they, when they have been very deliberately cultivated into that mindset and stripped of critical thinking skills, to serve a noxious combination of money, power, and ideology?
I am tired of the fact that I have become so drained of empathy that when I see news about more people who refused to get the vaccine predictably dying of COVID, my reaction is "eh, whatever, they kind of deserved it." I KNOW that is not a good mindset to have, and I am doing my best to maintain my personal attempts to be kind to those I meet and to do my small part to make the world better. I know these are human beings who believed what they were told by people that they (for whatever reason) thought knew better than them, and that they are part of someone's family, they had loved ones, etc. But I just can't summon up the will to give a single damn about them (I'm keeping a bingo card of right-wing anti-vax radio hosts who die of COVID and every time it's like, "Alexa, play Another One Bites The Dust.") The course that the pandemic took in 21st-century America was not preordained or inevitable. It was (and continues to be) drastically mismanaged for cynical political reasons, and the legacy of the Former Guy continues to poison any attempts to bring it under control or convince people to get a goddamn vaccine. We now have over 100,000 patients hospitalized with COVID across the country -- more than last summer, when the vaccines weren't available.
I have been open about my fury about the devaluation of the humanities and other critical thinking skills, about the fact that as an academic in this field, my chances of getting a full-time job for which I have trained extensively and acquired a specialist PhD are... very low. I am tired of the fact that Americans have been encouraged to believe whatever bullshit they fucking please, regardless of whether it is remotely true, and told that any attempt to correct them is "anti-freedom." I am tired of how little the education system functions in a useful way at all -- not necessarily due to the fault of teachers, who have to work with what they're given, and who are basically heroes struggling stubbornly along in a profession that actively hates them, but because of relentless under-funding, political interference, and furious attempts, as discussed above, to keep white America safely in the dark about its actual history. I am tired of the fact that grade school education basically relies on passing the right standardized tests, the end. I am tired of the implication that the truth is too scary or "un-American" to handle. I am tired. Tired.
I know as well that "America" is not synonymous in all cases with "capitalist imperialist white-supremacist corporate death cult." This is still the most diverse country in the world. "America" is not just rich white middle-aged Republicans. "America" involves a ton of people of color, women, LGBTQ people, Muslims, Jews, Christians of good will (I have a whole other rant on how American Christianity as a whole has yielded all pretense of being any sort of a principled moral opposition), white allies, etc etc. all trying to make a better world. The blue, highly vaccinated, Biden-winning states and counties are leading the economic recovery and enacting all kinds of progressive-wishlist dream policies. We DID get rid of the Orange One via the electoral process and avert fascism at the ballot box, which is almost unheard-of, historically speaking. But because, as also discussed above, certain elements of the Democratic electorate need to fall in love with a candidate every single time or threaten to withhold their vote to punish the rest of the country for not being Progressive Enough, these gains are constantly fragile and at risk of being undone in the next electoral cycle. Yes, the existing system is a crock of shit. But it's what we've got right now, and the other alternative is open fascism, which we all got a terrifying taste of over the last four years. I don't know about you, but I really don't want to go back.
So... I don't know. I don't know if that stacks up to hate. I do hate almost everything about what this country currently is, structurally speaking, but I recognize that is not identical with the many people who still live here and are trying to do their best, including my friends, family, and myself. I am exhausted by the fact that as an older millennial, I am expected to survive multiple cataclysmic economic crashes, a planet that is literally boiling alive, a barely functional political system run on black cash, lies, and xenophobia, a total lack of critical thinking skills, renewed assaults on women/queer people/POC/etc, and somehow feel like I'm confident or prepared for the future. Not all these problems are only America's fault alone. The West as a whole bears huge responsibility for the current clusterfuck that the world is in, for many reasons, and so do some non-Western countries. But there is no denying that many of these problems have ultimate American roots. See how the ongoing fad for right-wing authoritarian strongmen around the world has them modeling themselves openly on Trump (like Brazil's lunatic president, Jair Bolsonaro, who talks all the time about how Trump is his political role model). See what's going on in Afghanistan right now. Etc. etc.
Anyway. I am very, very tired. There you have it.
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I think Techno & Phil were very well within their right to find and seek revenge against L’manburg and members of the Butcher Army. A lot of problems had been caused and things done against them where I could see the want for revenge (on a personal level, I don’t think they should have gotten any, but I can see why they did).
I think what they did wrong was hide behind calling it anything but revenge and vengeance. This wasn’t an act of anarchy. They should’ve called it as it was, not made some excuse for their actions. I mean, Techno called other actions before terrorism, this was that but tenfold. This wasn’t anarchy.
Anarchy is to revoke government, in parts, yes, but it is not destroying a country and leaving nothing but a crater. Anarchy’s goal is freedom of an individual, freedom of the people. Where laws and rules don’t bind people. Destroying government shouldn’t be the goal of anarchy, but rather allowing the people within a country or state or whatever gain absolute freedom.
Phil told ghostbur he was teaching the citizens of L’manburg a ‘lesson’, but there was no lesson to be taught. Phil and Techno didn’t teach them anything other than ‘government is bad’ and ‘power corrupts absolutely’. Not once did they ever explain anarchy nor teach anyone on the SMP how to live and survive under anarchy rules. All they did was rip the homes and belongings away from people, many mostly innocent people, under the guise of anarchy, for the purposes of revenge. Hell, teaming up with Dream proves this as, teaming up with a tyrant to destroy a tyrant’s enemies is pretty not-anarchist.
Funnily enough, L’manburg started out as a country that, pretty much followed the rules of anarchy. A small group of people rose up against tyrannical power and fought for pure freedom and independence, and they won. Wilbur stated quite a few times that the citizens of L’manburg could do anything they damn well pleased. The only rules really were- no armor and no Americans (and to be fair, this was established when the fight ended up being all the europeans on the server vs. all the americans). That was it. Wilbur was a president by title only, and held very little authority over the people. That was anarchy. Everyone- Nikki, Fundy, Jack, Tommy, Tubbo, they were allowed to build as they pleased and do as they pleased. That’s anarchy. They had a functioning anarchist country.
It was then that, wanting to have some sort of say and power over the country they created, that Tommy & Wilbur decided to hold an election.
Even with Schlatt in power, the new Manburg had become a sort of mix of anarchy and democracy. The citizens, still, for the most part, could do whatever the hell they wanted. Schlatt just, very often, intervened. The creation of Pogtopia was also a form of an anarchist rebellion of sorts. This server has seen so much anarchy in the past, and understandably Techno and Phil wouldn’t know this because they weren’t there, but they never really asked. Hell, even on Doomsday, Techno had no idea what the hell had gone on before he got there. Neither really know the full story of L’manburg. They just know it as a government where a lot of conflict is focused, they hardly acknowledge other factions and the Greater SMP kingdom as also being governments and being ruled over.
L’manburg, even with Tubbo as leader, was still, in comparison to the Greater SMP ruled by Dream & Eret, a free society. He added a handful of laws, honestly making the country feel a bit more of a democratic-socialist sort of government, but it was much much better than the theocracy of the Greater SMP.
Techno and Phil don’t quite realize that, by destroying L’manburg, they effectively made themselves rulers and tyrants. They took away the only thing that gave them any sort of freedom. L’manburg gave everyone within it freedom from the theocracy of the rest of the SMP, and by destroying it, it effectively took away these freedoms. People like Dream and Punz can now effectively punish and do as they want to these people, and there’s nothing defending them and there’s nothing that would stop this. L’manburg, ironically, was a wall which through contract made it so Dream couldn’t take away the freedoms of the people inside. Of course, Dream still managed to- he can do what he wants when he’s got people wrapped around his finger.
If Techno and Phil were to do anything, they could, nothing is stopping them, which, by definition, makes them dictators and tyrants. The moment that they decided to destroy L’manburg, they became the government they were fighting. What they did wasn’t anarchy, it was a forceful destruction and take over. It was revenge, it was rightful, but it was not anarchy. By working with a fellow ruler to destroy it’s enemy, they gave up anarchy.
The destruction of L’manburg wasn’t anarchy. It was a forceful takeover of an independent nation. It was the destruction of one of the few places which allowed freedom. It was the killing of that freedom. Phil and Techno fell into the ‘lesson’ they tried teaching, that power corrupts absolutely. They’re right in that statement, but they’re not immune to it. They gained power, they make up 2/3 of the most powerful people on the server and they used that power against free people, against innocent people.
I’m sorry Technoblade, Phil, but you can’t call yourselves anarchists and state your actions are in the name of anarchy when the sole purpose of anarchy, people with absolute freedom, is the one thing you deny them of.
#dream smp#technoblade#philza#wilbur soot#tommyinnit#l'manburg#doomsday#dreamwastaken#ive taken government class and world history#this is a story which happens quite often#thought i'd put this whole thing out there#i've been thinking about their actions a lot lately#and how their excuse for nearly everything is anarchy#long story short it's not anarchy#and if that was their goal they failed miserably#i only hope that once again the members of the server band together#because if they don't they stand very little chance against techno phil and dream#anyway also this is all roleplay stuff#and i just think its interesting to think about#it was quite fun watching this from their pov tbh#because i definitely can see why they did what they did#i just think that their characters maybe don't realize how wrong of a decision it was to do what they did#especially with whatever morals/views they had before#lemon's stuff
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@fullheartedlyprovocative
Very good point! Many people who aren’t from the UK are probably not aware of the impending disaster that is Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
I keep describing him as a clown, incompetent and overall destructive to society as a whole, but i’ve failed to go into detail. And the reason is simple: There’s just far too much to cover in a concise and efficient way. It is very literally a massive rabbit hole that knows no end.
But i should probably collate some of his more memorable moments, so that everyone can get a rough idea about who he is exactly and why we’re all dead inside.
Bojo is often described as clownish, but don’t let that fool you into thinking he’s harmless. He’s as Machiavellian as a politician can get, and he weaponises his clownish behaviour in order to cover up his corruption. He has this down to an Art.
A recent example of his perception manipulation:
During the Brexit referendum, Boris was heavily campaigning for Leave, and he infamously commissioned a big red Bus with this message on it, claiming that the 350 million currently going to EU membership will be redirected to the UKs NHS (National Health Service), this was a massive deal and fueled the leave campaign.
This was also a massive lie, and he was (rightly) hated for it.
The Bus Lie hung over Boris long after the referendum. When you’d type up Boris Johnson on Google, it would suggest the Bus scandal as an auto-complete search, bringing up countless articles on the lie that had clearly tarnished Boris’ reputation.
However, during the leadership campaign, Boris did something extraordinary. While being interviewed about his leadership bid, he was asked what he does for fun. This was his response:
youtube
Hilarious. Ridiculous. Blustering. Making it up as he went along. It quickly became an interview widely mocked across social media and news outlets. Why did he make himself sound like such an idiot? Why buses? This is why:
He is not only immune to being mocked, he has weaponised it to cover up his biggest controversies. Typing up “Boris Johnson Bus” now yields funny clips of him struggling to get through an interview talking about painting little buses. His Bus Scandal has almost been entirely pushed out of the picture.
That is only the tip of the Boris shaped iceberg.
His clowning has gotten him national and international mockery. Who can forget that time Boris (while Mayor of London) got stuck on a zip-line because he was too heavy?
Or that time that he got overly competitive in a game of rugby against kids and tackled a child.
Or that time during a recent Leadership debate where he pulled out a literal Kipper and waved it about, declaring that “we will get our Kippers BACK when we leave the EU!”
What a silly man. How completely harmless he must be.
Well while the nation struggles to get these images out of their heads, collectively we have forgotten many of his greatest sins.
One sin still hangs above him... An ongoing scandal that has endangered the life of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
In 2017 Nazanin had travelled to Iran from the UK to visit her parents, when she was detained by authorities under suspicion of coming to Iran in order to train journalists. In 2017 when Boris was Foreign Secretary and during Nazanins trial, Boris made this statement to the news:
“When I look at what Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was doing, she was simply teaching people journalism, as I understand it,”
This was considered damning evidence that was used against Nazanin. She is still imprisoned today. Her husband in the UK has been tirelessly campaigning for her release, going on a joint hunger-strike with her. Boris refuses to take any responsibility for his comments or apologise for what he has caused.
This isn’t the first or last time Boris has been reckless with his words.
Very recently, Sir Kim Darroch (the UKs (now former) ambassador to the US) suffered a memo leak, in which unflattering remarks regarding Donald Trumps presidency surfaced. The leak was unfortunate, but the comments made were not unprofessional and entirely expected from a foreign diplomat. But Trump wasn’t happy and applied pressure to the UK government to fire Darroch for doing his job. The entire UK government united behind Darroch and supported him...... well... almost the entire government. During a live debate, the final two leadership candidates were asked about the Darroch situation, and whether Darroch would remain in his job if they become PM. Boris refused to comment and avoided the question as usual. However since Boris was the favourite to win, Darroch realised he had no hope, so he resigned. Boris was cited as the main reason and was widely criticised.
Before Boris was a politician, he was a journalist. And in recent years, a very unsavoury recording surfaced from his time as a Journalist in 1990...A phone recording between him and Darius Guppy, where the two conspired to have a reporter physically hurt. (Somehow this is the only youtube video available on this...)
youtube
Boris has also been known to have absolutely no filter and speaks before he thinks. Such comments are a result of this.
He had referred to black people as “Piccaninnies” with “watermelon smiles”
In 2018 he had referred to Muslim women wearing burkas as looking like “letter-boxes”
At a conference on Libya in 2017 he claimed that the country could become a thriving luxury resort once they “cleared the dead bodies away”
In 2013 he claimed that Malyasian women went to University because they “have to find men to marry”
In 2006 he claimed that Barack Obama had an “ancestral dislike of the British empire – of which Churchill had been such a fervent defender”
All of this... and we haven’t even covered his politics yet.
This is the big reason why he’s becoming PM and it’s simple. He’s lying to everyone.
He’s promising everything to everyone. He’s promised a soft brexit to some, a hard brexit to others. But he refuses to explain how he would achieve either. He’s only now clearly settling on the side of a hard-brexit, or what’s considered a No-Deal brexit (walking away from the EU without striking a trade deal), but he has no answers for any questions posed to him.
His debating strategy, and interview strategy is to make people laugh until they forget what they asked him.
When asked "Is austerity a dead duck at this point?” he ended up rambling about ducks for a solid minute and making the audience giggle before giving a very vague and nothing answer
When debating with leadership rival Jeremy Hunt, he won over the audiences heart by interrupting Hunt with immature jokes.
After declaring that he knows exactly what he’s doing in regards to a No-Deal brexit, he tells everyone that he will follow “Paragraph 5B” of a document that will supposedly solve the Brexit crisis. He repeats “Paragraph 5B” constantly, giving the impression that he’s a man of detail and knows the entire document like the back of his hand. When asked if he knew what was in Paragraph 5C, he simply states “no” and tries to play it off like it’s funny. Without a studio audience to laugh at him, he was simply left in the silence of an astounded interviewer. This is one of the many reasons why he had avoided as many interviews as possible during his leadership campaign.
The fact is, no one knows what he really stands for, no one knows what he’ll really do. He’s a wild-card, or more appropriately, the Joker card. He seems crazy enough and chaotic enough to go through with No-Deal that people are voting for him. But so many people are going to be disappointed. This is a man who says he’s always wanted to be Prime Minister ever since he was 15. He wants power for the sake of power. And for some reason, the Tory party are handing him that power.
There’s so much more to go into, but this is a good initial crash-course into Bojo, the literal clown.
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history in the making
pairing- atsumu miya x reader
word count- 1500
genre- fluff
fem!reader
history isn’t a common class many people enjoy. sure, they might not hate it, but it’s certainly not their number one subject. you quite happen to enjoy the subject. you found it entertaining how the study of the past occurred. how viewpoints have changed, or overall how different the past is from your now present. this current semester, your curriculum was starting to learn about american history. this you found exciting since it was different than what you were used to. to make sure everyone was paying attention to the last few chapters the teacher briefly touched on, you were put into pairs to present a certain topic of the chapters you had gone over. you had gotten the early development of the american government, dating back to the declaration of independence, the first president, etc. you were given a couple of main questions to answer then you had to make a presentation on the whole topic as if teaching it to the class.
this was a relatively difficult project concerning you and your partner were responsible for teaching the class on the subject. especially since you had gotten mr. ’head empty, only setting’, as you like to call him. your partner was miya atsumu. you could still feel the glares of the angry fangirls on your back, but you chose to ignore it.
miya atsumu, you both weren’t exactly the closest but you would like to consider you were more than strangers. perhaps friends? you both sat next to each other in your classes you would ask for the page number, he would ask for notes, etc. you had noticed throughout the time he had a dislike towards history. when you both got assigned partners you couldn’t help but notice how his then bored expression now became a little less bored. he turned toward you and gave you a small thumbs up. you had honestly found it adorable. well, you had until you could swear you heard most of the girls in your class start to snarl- wait was that a growl?
sighing, you shift your body forward returning your full attention to your teacher. well as much of it as you could with the two distractions- miya atsumu and now his fangirls. sure you had to admit to yourself that he was quite attractive. would you admit that to his face is another question.
“class, remember this is due in two weeks. miya, l/n, stay for a couple of minutes.”
“sensei, is something wrong?”
“not at all, i just wanted to say you guys are taking on the longest section. remember to manage your time correctly.”
“right, thank you!” you said as the golden blonde and you walked out of the classroom.
“finaally out of that class,” he said while stretching his arms.
“when are you free?”
“huh?”
“what do you mean ‘huh?’ i’m asking when you’re free for the project. you heard sensei, it’s the longest one in the class. it’s not something you can leave for the last minute you know?”
the older twin had stared at you, almost dumbfounded. his expression screamed ‘project? me? what, when? what about volleyball?’
“let me put this into simpler terms for you.” you had said, sighing into your hand.
“when..are..you..not..playing..volleyball..” you said slowly, trying to make the words sink into the setter like he was a sponge absorbing water.
“you see, i am playing every day!” atsumu says with a dumb, yet you had found adorable smile before smacking him.
“don’t give me that crap miya. it’s called a partner assignment for a reason. and no, don’t try that ‘i can present’ excuse on me miya. you need to know the lesson and with the number of volleyballs you draw in your notebook every class i doubt you know it.”
“yer’ so mean and for what l/n-chan.”
“it’s not mean it’s being a realist.”
“okay okay fine, i have a general idea but not the best.”
“great, now your brain is working,” you said with a slight smile. to another person, it might have seemed rude but this was your guy’ es normal.
“but it is true i have volleyball everyday. i have about an hour before practice every friday.”
“hmm, that won’t do...it’s too much material to cover in an hour.” you had said tapping your arm, a habit you had created.
“alright, the best way i can see us doing this quickly and correctly while taking away less time from your sport is one day you will need to skip practice altogether.”
“damn really?”
“yeah, sorry about that. but i think we can spend about maybe two hours, four being the max in the library doing research and answering the questions, and then heading to one of our houses to create the presentation. the atmosphere of a library can get exhausting, and i believe it’s the easiest and most efficient course of action. we could do it this friday so you miss a little bit less practice.”
“i hate having to miss practice, but it is what it is ain’t it?” he had said raking his hand through his hair.
“yeah, let’s do it this friday. i honestly didn’t expect you to want to consider my practice.”
“it’s fine so this friday-“ you had said before getting cut off.
“tsumu, your going to be late!”
“shut up i’ll be fine samu! here, just text me later okay?” he said while handing you his number while bidding you farewell and a small ‘see ya tomorrow!’
•
•
•
“ready to go miya?” you asked as you slung your bookbag onto your shoulder.
“atsumu.”
“what?”
“call me atsumu, it’s easier when we’re around samu anyways,” he said once again with the signature thumbs-up you both shared.
“alright then atsumu.,” you said, the word seeming foreign as it rolled off your tongue. not to mention the creeping blush appearing.
“what’s so weird about it y/n-chan? we’re friends ain’t we?” he said, facing you while walking, almost tripping in the process.
“y-yeah.” you had said, stuttering since you were still laughing at him for almost falling backwards.
“atsumu! you’re going to be late for practice,” his younger twin shouted at him. along him was suna and kita waiting for the golden blond to join them.”
“sorry! i have a project to complete!” he shouted at the trio.
“you? not going to practice what is tha- ohhh i get it.”
“well good on you prioritizing your grades miya, see you later,” kita said as he dragged the gray-haired miya and suna by the ear before they made fun of him.
“what was that about atsumu?” you had asked, pivoting to face atsumu face to face.
“who knows, anyways let’s go.”
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“huh? why is this so complicated!” atsumu exclaimed as he banged his head against the written on table in the library.
“atsumu, it isn’t that difficult,” you had said with an awkward laugh. you guys had gotten all of your research for the presentation and decided to leave the questions for last.
“yeah, easy for you to say y/n-chan, yer smart.”
“anything but that.”
”sure.”
“but really,” atsumu started. “why do we need to know about the first president of the united states? the question is ‘why did george washington know he was setting a precedent and how did this affect how he governed?’ what does precedent even mean?” atsumu asked.
“precedent means an action or event that sets a guide or example for similar events in the future.”
“but still, i don’t think it’s that important. setting a precedent and all,” he said
“really? that’s funny..” you said trailing off.
“hmm? why do you think that,” he asked, subconsciously leaning forward.
“well, it’s just ironic to me,” you said looking up, as if asking for permission to keep talking. like reading your mind he nods his head.
“i mean, i just feel- no scratch that. i know you are going to set a precedent. i mean look at you! haven’t you seen how great of a setter you are? atsumu, you’re going to be one of the best setters this world has seen! atsumu, you’re going to set an example of what a setter should be. you’re going down in the history. i’m so lucky to be able to see history in the making right in front of me..” you said, trailing off embarrassed at your sudden outburst.
“you really think that..?” he said, dumbfounded. slowly going back to his original position from before he leaned forward. now a dumb, lovestruck smile and slight blush adorned the setters face. not that you knew of course. you lightly nodded before you two continued to work.
“atsumu?”
“yeah?”
“george washington knew he was setting a precedent since he knew he was going to be an example for future presidents. he knew he would become an important figure in history, which made him carefully chose his actions while governing. that’s the answer.”
closing note: the actual historical information can very well be wrong i am going off my memory
general taglist is open, send in an ask :)
general taglist- @drabblily @bellesowl @miki-snake @newfriendjen
#haikyuu x reader#haikyuu#atsumu#miya#atsumu miya#miya atsumu#miya atsumu x reader#atsumu miya x reader#atsumu x reader#hq#hq x reader#haikyuu x y/n#hq!!
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"(DSMP) You know, I honestly believe that the reason Techno felt betrayed on November 16th was not because of them forming a government because they told him they were going to do that. But the fact that they literally, right after Pogtopia won the war with HIS STUFF BTW, formed a government right in front of his eyes. Like “damn you guys couldn’t go one minute without forming a new government. Have you learned nothing from the last one? Are you serious, right in front of my salad?” He maybe expected them to wait a while, then once he leaves, it’s no longer his problem and they can do what they want. But they didn’t so he had to teach them, with assistance from Wilbur, the hard way instead. It’s like with Tommy on January 5th, like he expected Tommy to maybe not want to be with him when he destroys L’Manburg. As Tommy had stated how he disagrees with destroying the nation. But he didn’t expect Tommy to straight up join Tubbo, a president and a man who has attempted to execute him, RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIS EYES! Like “I knew you didn’t like it when I said I wanted to blow up New L’Manburg but this ridiculous!” Along with the fact that based on what Tommy told him, Tubbo also exiled Tommy and didn’t come to visit him. So to Techno, it’s like Tommy is siding with an enemy. And once again in Techno’s eyes, Tommy STILL HAS TECHNO’S STUFF so it’s November 16th all over again! Well fine, maybe the warning withers weren’t good enough, time to finish off the nation L’Manburg once and for all. This time with Dream as they now share a common goal. In Techno’s eyes, New L’Manburg has brought nothing but betrayal, broken friendships and allies, a failed execution, and corrupted power officials, it needs to go for good this time."
I honestly think that if they actually waited for like a couple of days, Techno would've taken Phil and they both would've moved away to live in their little retirement home. Like, not the cc!Techno, cause audience retention and all that (although I remember when almost 200k people watched him wait for eggs to hatch lmao), but the character Techno - very likely.
And with Tommy - if he just,,,, didn't go with Techno. If he just stayed at home and said like "I don't want to see L'Manburg destroyed", it could've actually been better. Their alliance was definitely not meant to be (heh), but the separation could've gone a lot smoother, ngl.
Also, I'm still salty about the gear and supplies. Now the axe of peace is gone and I'm sad,,,,
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Why I sympathize with or apologize for these Dream SMP characters
Since I’m very unwell and watch just about every perspective on the Dream SMP, I’m a sympathizer or apologist for just about every character. I figured I’d share my thoughts on that. This is probably gonna be long.
Before I get started, here’s who I’m not a sympathizer or apologist for
c!Dream: fuck this guy. You’re not supposed to sympathize with him. He’s just all around evil, man. He’s an abuser, manipulator and he preys on those weaker than him. I still enjoy his character however, he’s just so delightfully hateable and I love when villains are hateable.
c!Sam: I get Sam. I really do. I understand where he’s coming from. But good god, it’s just not working! His little system keeps fucking up and he doesn’t really seem to get that it’s the system itself and not the people fucking it up. He’s too damn lawful for his own good. The prison is eating at him and you can see how he’s becoming more and more a bastardized version of the man he used to be. I want to be able to sympathize with him, and I’m not going to excuse the shitty things he’s done, but I understand him. As he is right now he’s gone off the deep end and doesn’t even know it yet. However I do think he can change. There’s still a chance for it.
Any other character not listed I simply just do not have an opinion on them. Maybe I don’t watch them often, there’s just not much to their character, or they simply haven’t done much for them to need apologists or sympathizers.
Now onto the list
c!Tommy: this kid has been through so much and received so little support. Like yeah, he’s done some wrong things, but he’s been so disproportionately punished for them. Like almost everyone else does the things he does without any repercussions. He’s also stopped doing most of the things people had issues with, or is at least trying. I feel like people don’t realize half the reason Tommy did any of his ‘bad’ things is he’s simply never been taught better. Everyone wants him to learn his lesson but never actually teach him anything but violence and pain. Also, half the things the fandom calls him an asshole for are literally mental illness symptoms. Stop that. Kids got some things messed up in his head. I’m not one to diagnose but he gets pretty damn close to the criteria for C-PTSD. You know, from the near constant trauma in his life. Kid needs a break. And a doctor.
c!Techno: I’m really flip floppy with him. His motives are understandable but his morals are wack as hell. I get wanting something against people who’ve wronged you. I get disliking government. What I don’t get, is the absolute disproportionate retribution he delivers. I also don’t get his moral high ground. He has his reasons for distrusting government. He has his reasons for disliking L’Manburg (o7). And I think it’s perfectly valid to want to air his grievances. He’s got a very admirable combination of “do unto others” and “an eye for an eye”. Mans just bungles the execution of these ideas. He’s got a lot of problems, but however, I feel like he’s got something coming to him. cc!Techno’s a better writer than this. And now with it seeming like a lot of miscommunication is getting cleared up, some of Technos past transgressions might come back to him. I think he’s headed in an interesting direction.
c!Phil: a lot of what I said for Techno applies to him as well. In addition, we know he also blames the government for his son’s spiral and death. It makes sense based on what he knows. I had something completely different here in the drafts but now we know that Wilbur didn’t tell him the truth about what happened in Manburg-Pogtopia era of the SMP. He’s been completely misinformed and you can TELL this has shaken his world up. He’s gaining a lot of new knowledge really fast. It’s becoming clear that maybe he’s beginning to regret some of what he’s done. But beyond the misinformation, he also just never got much time to actually grieve for his son and heal before the plot moved on. I feel like Phil is one of those guys who sorta just stuffs all his emotions away, but now it’s getting to be too much. He has a lot of hidden depth and I think he’s definitely on the way to a different role than what he’s played.
c!Wilbur: before his death, Wilbur needed help. No one realized anything was wrong until it was too late to pull him out of his spiral. We now know he started falling after Eret’s betrayal. He was paranoid and growing to hate what he had created. It seems like Eret was the catalyst, but the election was the straw that broke the camels back. Everyone just kind of sat around and hoped he’d change his mind. The only one willing to try was Tommy, and Tommy was just a kid. Something could have been done for him. He wasn’t a villain. He was just someone who went down a dark path that could have been pulled away if someone who wasn’t a 16 year old boy tried to reach out to him. Post-resurrection, he seems to be happy to be alive again. I’m not saying he’s completely out of the spiral but clearly something changed in limbo. And yeah him saying Dream is his hero is hella sketch but I mean, he doesn’t have the full story yet. I need to see more of revivedbur to make an opinion on him entirely.
c!Tubbo: this kid has had so little agency for so much of the plot. Most of the bad things he’s done were under duress or because he was practically being used. He really was a pawn in other peoples games, unfortunately. Any action of his that wasn’t like this was something he did out of pure reaction. He’s a very reactionary guy. He doesn’t start shit but he’ll try to finish it if he can. Tubbo is mostly just trying to get by. He’s been a soldier, a spy, a president and whatever else he needed to be or what others needed him to be. His time as president had him being pushed around and put under pressure he should never been put under. He was backed into corner after corner and expected to make the right decision with different people telling him what that was. Now he’s just trying to have some peace for himself and his family. He made the nukes for defense and defense only. It’s extreme but he’s been taught that extremism is the only thing that works.
c!Ranboo: dude literally doesn’t know what, when, or how he did any of the bad things he did. He’s not himself for most of the wrongdoings he’s done. Hell, we don’t even know if he actually did do some of the things or if it’s Dream manipulating him. Dream is literally taking advantage of Ranboo having the Enderwalk state. This makes him one of the most dangerous people on the server as Dream puppet, but also one of the most victimized. Now this doesn’t absolve him completely because harm was still done but it’s a reasonable cause behind his actions. Like I mentioned he’s also a victim of Dream in this way. Even he’s scared of what could happen and the possibility that he could be a danger to the people he loves. Granted his moral code used to be pretty wack but he’s getting better at that. I really like his “choose people” stance bc at first it was just him making his own side but now he’s genuinely picking and choosing people and being with them because he likes them as people rather than their stance on things. He and Tubbo were already friends before they got married, he’s not an official part of Snowchester though, iirc, and the only reason he joined The Syndicate was to make sure they don’t go after Tubbo.
c!Fundy, c!Niki, and c!Jack all go in the “seek some healthy coping mechanisms for the love of god” pile. Niki has already started on this as she’s baking again. c!Fundy honestly hasn’t done much wrong afaik, but he still needs to go to therapy that poor fox boy has so much daddy issues and sadness. c!Jack literally just needs to work through his issues with Tommy bc dude only knows murder as an answer to his problems. There’s other ones and he should learn them. These three are just traumatized and don’t know what to do with themselves.
#mcyt#dream smp#mcytblr#dsmpblr#dream smp analysis#dream smp meta#dsmp analysis#dsmp meta#c!dream critical#c!sam critical#c!dream negativity
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Korosensei Never Dies - Chapter 6
Words - 1967
Ao3 Version
Chapter 5 (last)
Chapter 7 (Next)
AN: Just wanted to note (although it’s already in tags) that there are no ships in this story. The characters may be affectionate with each other, but it’s all platonic.
====
Exams are the worst part of school, but the end of the first term approaches fast. Tommy determines he will not fail. Philza has promised to teach them how to fight, and by the ever-loving stars, Tommy wants to show off his mad skillz.
He's so intent on getting fighting lessons that he's dragged his friends into group study sessions. Wilbur insists on leading said sessions, and somehow the schoolwork gets entwined with role-playing battles with fiercesome monsters.
"The answer is forty-two!! I pull out a bazooka and blast everything to smithereens!" Tubbo cackles. "Nothing shall stand in the way of world domination."
"Tubbo," Wilbur sighs for the fortieth time. "That would kill all of your teammates."
"Do I care?" Tubbo grins innocently. "Less competition, big man!"
"I lay down and die." Ranboo says drily, leaning against the wall with his arm around Tubbo's shoulders.
"Not you, Ranboo, you're going to be my puppet queen. Every world-dominating super-villain needs a puppet queen." Tubbo says, quite matter-of-fact.
Tommy scrawls messily on his workbook, determined to complete the next answer first and get a turn. "Ha! Fucking x equals twenty-nine!" He crows. "I shoot my nets at Tubbo and capture him!!"
"Stand-off." Wilbur says with a grin. "Who wrote Frankenstein?"
"Some woman with a boring name." Tommy retorts.
"Anne Rice!" Tubbo cries.
"Tommy, you got the closer answer. It was Mary Shelley."
"Alright, I win, and I say 'Hahaha, you fucking imbecile, you are no match for me!' and then I drag them to jail."
"I completed my worksheet, Wilbur." Eret pipes up. Wilbur takes it, then nods for Eret to complete his bonus action. "I stab Tommy and release Tubbo, saying, 'The world is yours for the taking, but allow me to oversee a portion of it.' and then I kneel and plant my sword in the dust."
"Oh! Oh!" Tubbo waves his worksheet in the air. "Ranboo, stab him for me!"
"As you wish." Ranboo sighs with a wicked grin. Eret protests weakly in the background.
"Ranboo, you need to answer a question correctly, first." Wilbur steeples his fingers. "Or else there will be penalties."
"I, uh, I think I got this one correct." Ranboo shows his study sheet to Wilbur, who nods curtly.
"Fine, go ahead."
Ranboo turns to Eret and says in a dark tone, "You betrayed your friend. I can't trust you, Eret." Then he turns to Wilbur, "I run him through with my dagger."
"Eret, you're now a ghost." Wilbur shuffles through his game notes.
"Aw, man. Can I haunt anyone?"
"Yes."
"I haunt Ranboo to remind him of his crimes."
"Aw, dang, another voice." Ranboo groans playfully.
"Whaddya mean, another??" Tubbo cries. "Am I being replaced, Ranboo??"
"You- you are the voice." Ranboo laughs nervously. "Even when you're dead, I'll still hear you, shouting at me to not kill the bees."
"You better not. I worked hard to cultivate our apiary."
"I won't, I won't."
Tommy finishes his worksheet, ignoring the chatter of the others. "Ha!" He turns it into a paper plane and throws it to Wilbur. "I want twelve actions now!"
"Okay, Tommy." Wilbur replies with a sly smile. The others protest, but Tommy has Wilbur wrapped around his little finger, so they won't be winning this battle.
"But! I want to split them up between us, because I'm a fucking nice person who loves women."
"Go ahead."
"My first action as King de facto of the world is to declare peace between the Moon and Mars."
"Wait, wait, you're king?? Eret, you didn't even kill him properly!!" Tubbo throws up his hands. "Ranboo, kill Tommy for me."
"Hypothetically, what if I didn't?"
"Ranboo. Are you betraying me??"
"No, no, I said hypothetically."
"Then, hypothetically, I would nuke your entire homeland and make you watch as I killed your family before your very eyes."
"Oh! Oh, no."
"And then I would torture you to death."
"Oh, man. That would not be good."
"So are you going to betray me?"
"Apparently not."
"Aw, man. I wanted to torture somebody." Tubbo sighs.
Ranboo gives Tommy a look that says 'help me'.
"You both lost your turns for talking too long." Wilbur decides. "Tommy and Eret, you both have an extra turn."
"I turn corporeal using necromancy, and I use Tubbo's soul as the energy source, draining him of life." Eret says, his cheerful eyes belying his dark tone.
"No! Ranboo, avenge meeeee!!" Tubbo cries melodramatically to the heavens.
"Oh no! I'll avenge you!!"
"I kill Ranboo." Tommy cackles at the horrified look on Ranboo's face.
"Oh, that's not good."
"How do you kill him, Tommy?" Wilbur asks.
"I stab the bastard through the fucking eyes."
"Oh. Man. That sounds painful." Ranboo winces.
"It is. You're screaming like a fucking bitch."
"Am I? Oh dang, that's not fun. Am I a ghost now?"
"Ghostboo." Tubbo laughs. "You're now Ghostboo."
"You're Toast, you don't get to mock my name."
Tommy frowns. "What's my ghost name?"
"Ghommy." Ranboo laughs. "Eret is Gheret."
"Tommy, you think we're ready for the exams?" Wilbur gathers the papers scattered across the floor.
"Fuck yeah, we are. We'll crush those bastards to dust. We'll get the highest grades of anybody in the entire school!"
++++
"What do you mean, you can't transfer me?? My grades are the worst they've ever been in years!!" Jack cries, stomping his foot on the polished wood floor of the principal's office.
"I'm sorry, duckie, but I can't let anyone transfer between classes this year." Puffy-- rumored to be a pirate in a past life and therefore always called Captain-- frowns as she flicks through Jack's portfolio. "Why did you want to be transferred, anyway?"
"No reason." Jack grumbles, then stomps out of the office, slamming the door behind himself.
"How'd it go?" Niki hops down from one of the pillars.
"Terribly. Those bastards in 3-E must've told Captain Puffy to not let anyone in. They're probably planning to take over the world now, using Techno as bait!" Jack cries, his eyes burning with furious tears.
"That's awful!" Niki wails. "What will we do?"
"What do heroes do to villains? We bomb them."
"Bomb them?"
"I don't know how yet." Jack grins, filled with burning rage. "But we'll think of something."
"I know a man." Niki says decisively. "He'll get us supplies. If they really are planning to end the world, we need to stop them."
++++
Exams roll around, and 3-E joins the the main school buildings for the tests. Quackity and Sapnap both leap on and hug Karl Jacobs. Tommy strides through the testing auditorium like he owns the place, with Wilbur glaring at everyone and Tubbo whetting his dagger with a placid smile.
Fundy watches the chaos from the sidelines, chewing on caramel taffy and bubblegum at the same time. He doesn't recognize the quiet boy huddled in a corner and writing. Before he can creep over and look at the boy's words, Eret accosts him. "Hey, man."
"Oh, hey!" Fundy grins and hugs his friend. "What've you been up to?"
"Oh, just trying to stop the world from ending and make a profit in the process, you know, the usual."
"Right, right. What's up with that, anyway? This guy, Technoblade? He must be really hard to kill if nobody's done it yet."
"We have till the year ends." Eret says gravely.
"Right. But why hasn't anybody, I don't know, tried to get in on the action?"
"The government is supposed to be keeping his location a secret." Eret adjusts his sunglasses.
"Weird." Fundy pops a bubble between his lips.
"Indeed. I know there must be a weakness. But I'm not sure what it is."
"Maybe it's something like technical immortality! Maybe he can only be killed if he lets it happen!" Fundy theorizes, chewing more intensely.
Eret grimaces. "Perhaps. Threatening his friend, Philza, directly is out of the question. But perhaps we can get the kill switch from the president."
"Woah, woah, back up!" Fundy laughs. "There's already a kill switch in his friend and the prezz hasn't thought to use that??"
"Well, he's a hostage, but- oh."
"Exactly!! If the prezz actually wanted him dead, all they'd have to do is threaten to kill this Philza dude if Techno doesn't let himself be killed!" Fundy blows another bubble and pops it with his teeth. "Damn, I'm good."
"That's assuming Technoblade would die if he allowed it. What if he can't?" Eret muses.
"He has to have some weakness. How was he even created??"
"I- I don't know."
"The only way a mutant like that could be created is through Human intervention, aka a laboratory and scientists!!" Fundy claps his hands together excitedly. "But why would scientists create a creature who can destroy the world?? Unless he can't, and this is all just a damn test."
"Hmm." Eret doesn't sound convinced.
"So, they're trying to develop immortality, and they're testing it on Technoblade-"
"Why him?" Eret asks. "And if it is a test, why here, with a bunch of students?"
"He got loose before the tests could be finalized, and they're trying to contain him again!" Fundy starts pacing. "He was a terrorist, yeah? I remember him in the news. The Acolyte."
"Blood for the blood god." Eret reminisces, paling. "That's right."
"He only ever went after important government figures! But, five years ago, he disappeared, and nobody ever heard from him again. Until now..." Fundy grins wildly. "This is amazing, I can't believe I get front row seats to a conspiracy!"
"Wait." Eret groans. "He had a partner."
"Oh! He did?"
"Technoblade was the Acolyte. But his partner was the Angel. What if that was-"
"Philza!!" Fundy cries. "Oh god, we have both of the most deadly international terrorists in my school!! Why couldn't I have worn better clothes??"
"I don't think that should be our main concern." Eret steeples his fingers. "I think we should worry more about what they're planning to do."
"I'm going to talk to Captain Puffy." Fundy decides. "Come with me?"
"I'll pass. Good luck."
"I've got the best luck in the world." Fundy crows and skips off. He glances back once, briefly, only to see Eret watching him with an unreadable expression.
++++
Tipsy, Schlatt lounges on one of the pristine metal tables. In the background, HBomb sweeps up the shards of a broken whiskey bottle, the remnants of a drunken tantrum.
"Heyyy." Schlatt greets the mercenary waiting in the doorway. "Come on in."
"How much do I get paid for my trouble?" The mercenary asks, slouching in a too-large purple hoodie and baggy pants.
"Fifteen billion, take it or leave it." Schlatt grins.
"I'll take it. But this is the last time."
"Sure, honey."
"How'd you lose him again?"
"Bitch killed half my fucking scientists." Schlatt shrugs genially, hiding his irritation. "But we've got a neutralizing agent, now." He tosses a capsule to the mercenary, who catches it and inspects it. "Inject that and he'll be as harmless as a two-ton hippo."
"That's hardly what I'd call harmless."
"Eh, semantics. He won't be immortal."
"Hmm." The mercenary pockets the neutralizer. "I'll do it. But you'd better pay me exactly what you promised, or he dies."
"C'mon, darling, what do you take me for? A scam artist?? Nah, that's not my fucking style. Return him safe and sound, and everything will be just fine." Schlatt lights a cigar, takes a deep drag, then lets it all out in a slow plume. "Do as I say and nobody gets hurt."
++++
Eret opens his buzzing phone and answers, "Hey."
"Crocodiles don't cry often." The familiar voice says coldly into their ear.
"Crocodile tears are worthless." Eret replies.
Purpled laughs on the other end. "What do you say, partner? Ready to make some dough?"
Eret grins, baring her teeth. "Always."
Chapter 7 (Next)
#eret#purpled#ranboo#tubbo#tommyinnit#wilbur soot#fundy#jack manifold#niki nihachu#no ship#fanfiction#dream smp au#dream smp#assassination classroom crossover#tw violence#tw threats#not rpf
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I posted 4,262 times in 2021
148 posts created (3%)
4114 posts reblogged (97%)
For every post I created, I reblogged 27.8 posts.
I added 16 tags in 2021
#journalism is dead - 2 posts
#media - 2 posts
#independence day - 2 posts
#july 4th - 2 posts
#4th of july - 2 posts
#fourth of july - 2 posts
#divide - 1 posts
#rittenhouse - 1 posts
#huffpost is stupid - 1 posts
#fauci - 1 posts
Longest Tag: 94 characters
#when i edit a post to fix a typo why would you think i want to go back to the top of the dash?
My Top Posts in 2021
#5
When a liberal or other Biden voter complains about some stupid ass thing Biden has done it's really not good enough to just laugh or tell them they get what they deserve or get what they voted for.
This should be a great opportunity to teach why it is so damned important to have a clue about who or what you are voting for. Point out the times Biden said on the campaign trail that he was going to do exactly what he did that they are so upset about and then ask why they still voted for him? Did they not know he had said he would do that? Did they not believe him?
Point out the importance of researching candidate's positions and statements over simply blindly believing the media. Talk about thinking policies through to the logical conclusions. As one example, it's one thing to say you support clean energy, but it's another to realize the way the government pushes for that means oil and gas industry suffers, including jobs in that industry.
Laughing at people who made a stupid mistake doesn't help keep them from repeating that mistake nearly as well as teaching them how to avoid it in the future does.
59 notes • Posted 2021-01-25 15:20:26 GMT
#4
Seems Biden is trying to figure out how many different ways he can say "Fuck you" to Americans.
67 notes • Posted 2021-02-02 16:00:45 GMT
#3
81 notes • Posted 2021-01-29 22:00:37 GMT
#2
573 notes • Posted 2021-01-23 17:20:55 GMT
#1
936 notes • Posted 2021-06-24 21:14:43 GMT
Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →
I can't help but hear Dinesh's voice in my head when I read that last tweet.
#my 2021 tumblr year in review#your tumblr year in review#but seriously#when I edit a post to fix a typo why would you think I want to go back to the top of the dash?
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Will Butler explains how his Harvard degree developed into his second solo album
“Yeah, it’s terrifying,” Will Butler says, pondering how it feels to be releasing music away from the umbrella of Arcade Fire.
“It’s the classic thing about all writers,” he continues. “The creative process makes them wanna puke the whole time they’re writing something, then they read something back and it makes them feel worse, then a year later they read it and think ‘yeah, it’s okay’. It’s a glorious experience, but it really makes your stomach hurt.”
On the one hand Will Butler is well accustomed to this writing process, being a multi-instrumentalist in the Canadian indie-rock band fronted by brother Win - Arcade Fire. But on his own terms, it’s an entirely new process. Butler’s second solo album Generations arrives five years after his debut Policy, a collection that rattled with a ramshackle charm and what he describes now as a ‘consciously very unproduced’ sound. Arcade Fire wound down from their Everything Now tour in September 2018, leaving Butler with the last two years of playtime. Most musicians, particularly those accustomed to big album cycles, set aside their downtime for family or other musical projects. Somehow Butler’s managed to do both while also completing a masters degree in Public Policy at Harvard.
“I went to school for a variety of reasons but there was an artistic side to it too,” he says. “I have always tried to let music and lyrics emerge from the world that I’m in; you fertilise the soil and see what grows. It was a way to better understand where we are, how we got here and what's going on. You know, ‘where am I from? What's going to happen?’” Both of these questions explored in his degree are used as fuel for Generations.
It’s easy to imagine an album by somebody who’s just pursued a Public Policy MSt to form in reams of political commentary, probably set to an acoustic guitar. However, Butler instead engages character portraits soundtracked by a broad range of thrilling sonics. Opener “Outta Here” is shrouded by a monstrous bass that lurks beneath the depths of the instrumentation before bursting out midway through. “Got enough things on my plate without you talking about my salvation,” he screams.
While the cage-rattling “Bethlehem” is mania underpinned by a thrashing guitar and bubbling synths that help lift the track to boiling point.While there’s no current world leaders namechecked or any on-the-nose political commentary across the LP, the angst of its contents is instantly tangible, backed by the intellect of somebody who’s spent the past few years studying the ins and outs of government processes. A perfect combination, you could say.
This fuel was partly discovered through Butler reconnecting with the music that defined his teenage years: namely Bjork, The Clash and Eurythmics. While these influences certainly slip into frame across Generations, they were paired with something of an unlikely muse: “I got into this habit of listening to every single song on the Spotify Top 50 every six weeks,” Butler explains. “So many of them are horrible, terrifying and just awful but there’s something inspiring about how god damn avant garde the shittiest pop music is now. Just completely divorced from any sense of reality - it’s just layers upon layers upon layers - it’s amazing. It’s like Marcel Duchamp making a pop hit every single song.”
We turn from current music to current events. Navigating Covid-19 with his wife and three kids in their home of Brooklyn, a majority of 2020 has been caught up in family time for Butler. “The summer’s been easier because everybody’s outside, whereas in spring it was like ‘it’s family time because we have to lock our doors as there's a plague outside.’” While being surrounded by the trappings of lockdown since his second solo album Generations was completed in March, the album itself wriggles with the spirit of live instrumentation, which at this point seems like some sort of relic from a bygone era."I think eventually rediscovering this album back in the live setting would be amazing - we’re a really great live band, it’s a shame to not be in front of people."
The source of this energy can be traced back to the way the songs came together; they were forged and finessed at a series of shows in the early stages of the project. “It just raises the stakes. You can tell how good or how dumb a lyric is when you sing it in front of a hundred people,” he reflects. “It’s like ‘are you embarrassed because what you’re saying is true?’ or ‘is it just embarrassing?’ It’s a good refiner for that stuff. I think eventually rediscovering this album back in the live setting would be amazing - we’re a really great live band, it’s a shame to not be in front of people.”
Like his day job in Arcade Fire, Butler’s solo live group is something of a family affair - both his wife and sister-in-law feature in the band, alongside Broadway's West Side Story star, and the student of the legendary Fela Kuti drummer, Tony Allen. Together this eclectic mix of musicians conjures an infectious spirit through the raw combination of thundering synths and pedal-to-the-metal instrumentation; an apt concoction indeed for lyrics that are attempting to unhatch the bamboozling questions that surround our current times.
The timing for Butler’s decision to study Public Policy couldn’t have been more perfect, with his course starting in the Fall of 2016. “I was at Harvard for the election which was a really bizarre time to be in a government school, but it was great to be in a space for unpacking questions like ‘my god, how did we get here?!’” he reflects, with a note of mockery in the bright voice.
“I had a course taught by a professor named Leah Wright Rigueur. The class was essentially on race in America but with an eye towards policy. The class explored what was going to happen in terms of race under the next president. The second to last week was about Hilary Clinton and the last week was about Donald Trump. We read riot reports - Ferguson in 2015, Baltimore in 2016, the Detroit uprisings in the ‘60s and Chicago in 1919 - it's certainly helping me understand the last 5 years, you know. Just to be in that context was very lucky.”
As we’ve seen with statues being toppled, privileges being checked and lyrics of national anthems being interrogated in recent months, history is a complex, labyrinthine subject to navigate requiring both ruthless self-scrutiny and a commitment to the long-haul in order to correct things. The concept of Generations shoots from the same hip employing character portraits to engage in the broader picture.
The writing, at times, is beamed from a place of disconnect (“had enough of bad news / had enough of your generation”), from a place of conscious disengagement (“I’m not talking because I don’t feel like lying / if you stay silent you can walk on in silence”) and from a place of honest self-assessment (“I was born rich / three quarters protestant / connections at Harvard and a wonderful work ethic”).
“I’m rooted in history to a fault,” he says. “My great grandfather was the last son of a Mormon pioneer who’d gone West after being kicked out of America by mob violence. He wanted to be a musician which was crazy - he got 6 months in a conservatory in Chicago before his first child was born. He always felt like he could have been a genius, he could of been writing operas but he was teaching music in like tiny western towns and he had all these kids and he made them be a family band and they were driving around the American west before there were roads in the deserts - literally just driving through the desert! He would go to these small towns and get arrested for trying to skip bills and just live this wild existence.”
Butler’s grandma, meanwhile, was just a child at this point. She went on to become a jazz singer with her sisters and married the guitar player Alvino Rey. “The fact that me and my brother are musicians is no coincidence,” he smiles. “It’s not like I decided to be a musician, it’s down to decisions that were made at the end of the 19th century that have very clearly impacted where I am today. The musical side of it is very beautiful, it is super uncomplicated and a total joy to have a tradition of music in our family...but also in the American context - which is the only context I know - it's also these very thorny inheritances from the 19th century and beyond that influence why my life is like it is.
“For me it’s like, ‘I made my money because my grandpa was a small business owner’ or ‘my grandpa was a boat builder and got a pretty good contract in WW2 and was able to send his kids to college’. Both of which are so unpoetic and unromantic but it is an important thing to talk about, that's a personal political thing to talk about; there's horrifying and beautiful aspects there.”
The lament of “I’m gonna die in a hospital surrounded by strangers who keep saying they’re my kids” on “Not Gonna Die” could well be croaked by somebody on the tail end of a life lived on the American Dream. At times, Butler plays the characters off against each other, like on “Surrender,” which chronicles two flawed characters going back and forth played by Butler’s lead vocals and his female backing singers that undermine his memory; “I remember we were walking” is cut up with the shrug of “I dunno” and “maybe so”. “I found having the backing voices there gave me something to play with,” he explains. “Either something threatening to the main character or something affirming to the main character, just providing another point of view.”
Elsewhere, “I Don’t Know What I Don’t Know” explores the feeling of being unsuitably equipped to unravel the complexities that surrounds us day-to-day. “The basic emotion of that song is very much ‘I don’t know what I can do’ which is an emotion we all have,” he ponders. “There’s also the notion that follows that, like ‘maybe don’t even tell me what to do because it’s going to be too overwhelming to even do anything’.”
Some of these portraits materialised in the aftershows Butler began hosting while on Arcade Fire’s Everything Now tour which found him instigating conversations and talks by local councilman, politicians and activists on local issues. “On some of the good nights of the aftershow town halls, you’d feel that switch away from despair and into action,” he says smiling. “The step between despair and action is possible, that sentiment isn’t spelled out lyrically on the record but it’s definitely there spiritually.”
“I learned anew what a treasure it is to have people in a room. Getting humans in a room can be absurd. And we were having from 5,000 to 15,000 people in a room every night, most of them local. I’m very comfortable with art for art’s sake; I think art is super important and it’s great people can like music that's not political. It was sort of like ‘well we’re here and I know a lot of you are thinking about the world and you’re thinking about what a shit show everything is. You want to know what we can do and I also want to know what we can do!’ So I put on these after shows.”"The dream lineup would be to have a local activist and a local politician talking about a local issue because that’s the easiest way to make concrete change."
Butler would find a suitable location near the Arcade Fire gig through venue owners who were often connected to the local music and comedy scenes to host these events. “The dream lineup would be to have a local activist and a local politician talking about a local issue because that’s the easiest way to make concrete change. Arguably, the most important way is through the city council and state government. The New York state government is in Albany, New York. The shit that happens in Albany is all super important so I wanted to highlight that and equip people with some concrete levers to pull.
“In Tampa we had people who were organizing against felon disenfranchisement, like if you’ve been convicted of a felon you couldn’t vote in Florida, and something absurd like 22% of black men in Florida couldn’t vote and there were people organising to change that - this was in 2018 - and you could just see people being like ‘holy shit, I didn't even know this was happening!’
“These were not topics I’m an expert in - it’s like these are things that are happening. The thought was trying to engage, I’m sad to not be doing something similar this Fall, I mean what a time it would have been to go around America.”
Understandably the looming 2020 election is on Butler’s radar. “It doesn't feel good,” he sighs. “I’ve never had any ability to predict, like 2 weeks from now the world could be completely different from what it is today. There was always a one-in-a-billion chance of the apocalypse and now it's like a one-in-a-million chance which is a thousand times more likely but also unlikely. It’s going to be a real slog in the next couple of years on a policy side, like getting to a place where people don’t die for stupid reasons, I’m not even talking about the coronavirus necessarily just like policy in general. Who knows, it could be great but it seems like it's going to be a slog.”
There’s a moment on the closing track “Fine”, a stream-of-consciousness, Randy Newman-style saloon waltz, where Butler hits the nail on the head. “George [Washington], he turned to camera 3, he looked right at me and said...I know that freedom falters when it’s built with human hands”. It’s one of the many lyrical gems that surface throughout the record but one that chimes with an undeniable truth. It’s the same eloquence that breaks through as he touches on the broad ranging subjects in our conversation, always with a bright cadence despite the gloom that hangs over some of the topics.
The live show is without a doubt Arcade Fire’s bread and butter. While Butler questions how realistic the notion of getting people in packed rooms in the near future is, he reveals the group are making movements on LP6. “Arcade Fire is constantly thinking about things and demoing, it's hard to work across the internet but at some point we’ll get together. It probably won’t be much longer than our usual album cycle,” he says.
You only have to pick out one random Arcade Fire performance on YouTube to see Butler’s innate passion bursting out, whether it’s early performances that found him and Richard Reed Parry adorning motorbike helmets annihilating each other with drumsticks to the 1-2-3 beat of “Neighbourhood #2 (Laika)” or the roaring “woah-ohs” that ascend in the anthem of “Wake Up” every night on tour. It’s an energy that burns bright throughout our conversation and across Generations.
https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/interviews/arcade-fires-will-butler-new-solo-record-generations
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HB 233 does not require students and staff to report their beliefs to the government or state.
(Sort of long) TL;DR.
HB 233 does not make it legal for anyone to demand anyone report their political beliefs to anyone. Political beliefs are protected under the 1st Amendment and a school/organization can't violate your 1st Amendment rights. The bill is worded in a way that's kind of difficult to understand, but it doesn't say that anyone will be required to report any of their beliefs to anyone.
It's now law that colleges (In Florida) have to survey students and staff to find out if the school's environment is intellectually free and full of diverse viewpoints. This does not say ask everyone what their views are. It says ask everyone if this school's environment allows everyone's views, not just the popular views, to be voiced and allows people to think and speak freely rather than being told what they can and can't think or say.
CS/CS/HB 233: Postsecondary Education PDF. (The bill itself on the Florida Senate's official website.) v
The Florida Senate's page for House Bill 233 on the official website. v
In this bill "exposure" and "encouragement" means what it actually says, to expose students and staff to ideas regardless of whether those ideas fit their personal views and encourage them to explore them.
This does not require students and staff to agree with and/or believe anything. This also does not protect anyone who attempts to force someone into agreeing with or believing anything. That would violate your rights and if that happens go to their superiors and raise hell. It is not legal for anyone to threaten you (with a lower grade or job loss for example) into believing in and/or agreeing with an idea, opinion, etc. All they can do is teach you about it and basically say "Here's (insert idea or whatever here), here's what it is, and I encourage you to look into and form your own opinions about it.". This also protect's staff from being forced to believe and/or agree with anything. They can not punish you for not agreeing and this bill does not allow anyone to do so.
HB 233 also does not require students and staff to report their political beliefs to anyone. That would violate the Right To Privacy which is protected under The First Amendment.
https://constitution.laws.com/right-to-privacy
What HB 233 DOES do is:
1. Require that schools and school staff cannot shield students and staff from from views and speech they might not or do not agree with or like. Basically they can't omit facts, ideas, views, etc. that they don't like or agree with, or that students may not like or agree with. They have to teach about all of it. If a teacher doesn't like the fact that a historic figure owned slaves but still has to teach about them as part of the curriculum they cannot leave that out, lie about it, or tell you not to research it. They cannot tell you what to believe regarding anything. They also cannot leave out the word "slaves" if they don't like that word or feel it may offend some students and/or teachers. This applies to everything in the curriculum.
2. Require schools to conduct a survey assessing intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity at the school.
This means it's now law that colleges have to survey students and staff to find out if the school's environment is intellectually free and full of diverse viewpoints. This does not say ask everyone what their views are. It says ask everyone if this school's environment allows everyone's views, not just the popular views, to be voiced and allows people to think and speak freely rather than being told what they can and can't think or say.
This survey is what I see a lot of people freaking out over and I don't blame them. The way this is worded is somewhat hard to understand on the first read, even for me and I used to study law for fun. (Not in law school or anything similar, take what I say with a pinch of salt. I could be wrong but this is as I understand it.) Combine that with concerns about privacy that's rapidly being snatched from us day by day, fears of the government taking more control over our lives, which is very much valid, that would freak anyone out. I freaked out until I read the bill myself, and I had to read it a few times to understand it. I'll break down the parts that mainly have everyone's concern right now the best that I can.
"The State Board of Education shall require each Florida College System institution to conduct an annual assessment of the intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity at that institution."
This is just requiring that the State Board of Education requires an assessment that sees how intellectually free and how diverse viewpoints are in each college. In this case, colleges in Florida.
"The State Board of Education shall select or create an objective, nonpartisan, and statistically valid survey to be used by each institution which considers the extent to which competing ideas and perspectives are presented and members of the college community, including students, faculty, and staff, feel free to express their beliefs and viewpoints on campus and in the classroom."
The State Board of Education will either select a survey made by someone else or create one themselves.
The requirements for the survey are:
1. The survey must be objective. The survey must be realistic.
2. The survey must be nonpartisan. The survey cannot lean towards any political side/party/view. The survey must be free of political affiliation and unbiased.
3. The survey must be statistically valid.
4. The survey must ask to what extent competing ideas and perspectives are presented to students and staff.
5. The survey must ask students and staff if they feel safe/free to express/voice their beliefs and viewpoints on campus and in the classroom.
"The State Board of Education shall annually compile and publish the assessments by September 1 of each year, beginning on September 1, 2022."
The State Board of Education will keep and publish the assessments by September 1st every year, (and as stated on page 1. the Board of Governors will also be looking at these results.) I interpreted this in three ways, there could be more. I believe it's up to the SBOE how they want to gather and publish the results. I'm unsure of which is going to be how this actually plays out or if any of them are how it will happen at all. I'm assuming the Board of Governors will just look at the results but they could be the ones tallying them up as well. Maybe both the SBOE and the BOG will be tallying and publishing the results.
1. This means the questions and answers will go to the SBOE and/or BOG electronically or via paper, and the SBOE and/or the BOG will publish the questions and answers, possibly not anonymously, by September 1st every year.
2. This means the survey results are tallied up by the school and probably turned into a percentage, (like % of how free students and staff feel to speak their minds) then sent to the SBOE and/or BOG and the SBOE and/or BOG will publish the results by September 1st every year. Probably more likely as that's less work and generally how survey results are displayed rather than putting out everyone's answers for everyone to see.
3. This means the surveys themselves are sent to the SBOE and/or BOG and the SBOE and/or BOG will tally up and publish the results as percentages by September 1st every year. This is probably about as likely as 2. since it's also less work and how survey results are generally displayed rather than putting out everyone's answers for everyone to see.
I guess it will depend on who trusts and/or assigns who to do the tallying. It could be these, it could be none of these, we currently don't know. This actually starts in 2022.
"The State Board of Education may adopt rules to implement this paragraph."
The State Board of Education can make rules on how to implement this in colleges in the state.
This bill does not require you to participate and does not require schools to make the survey mandatory. However, it also doesn't say that you won't have to participate, nor does it say that schools cannot make the survey mandatory. As far as I know, the survey can be mandatory if it does not ask for information that's protected under the law like political beliefs and that's because they cannot violate your right to privacy.
Basically, schools have to have the survey but this bill itself cannot force anyone to take it. From what I understand, that's either up to the Florida Department of Education or the schools themselves, maybe the Board of Governors.
About the survey itself? According to a spokesperson for The Florida Department of Education, it won't be asking you for your political opinions and the survey will be voluntary.
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/jun/25/viral-image/new-florida-law-requires-public-universities-surve/
If the survey does end up questioning you about your political beliefs, you do not have to answer and they cannot physically make you. This bill can not and does not give anyone the right to demand your political, religious, etc. beliefs from you.
If you do somehow end up forced into taking a survey that demands your political, religious, etc. opinions, views, beliefs, it's ok to lie or just not answer at all. Answer blatantly off the wall shit or just don't answer. Get up and walk out, exit the page, etc. It ain't any of their damn business.
If you have to answer before submitting it just fill out answers that don't make any sense.
Ex: If it asks who you support for president, answer Daphy Duck, your favorite character, Clef's hat, DickButt, [insert name here]'s left nut, flower petals, basically anything. Hell, answer a McDonald's order in Irken, Wookie, or any fictional language you know. Answer in Gallifreyan. (Imagine a bunch of circles getting sent to the government or educational board lmao.)
Click through the whole test and submit it blank! Turn in an empty Scantron/paper. If there's a minimum time limit, sleep or draw.
If you want to, write an entire essay on why you're not answering the questions and why you believe no one has the right to demand your beliefs/views/opinions from you. Write or type it anywhere you can, even if that's directly written over the questions if they let you/tell you to answer by writing on the packet/in the book, etc. Ask for scratch paper or write it on your answer paper otherwise.
If your school tries to make you take it via threatening punishments of any kind, and/or saying that this bill gives them the right to demand your opinions from you, (they are lying, it does not) blatantly ask them if they are trying to violate your right to privacy. Schools, work places, etc. CANNOT violate your rights and neither can this bill, nor does it.
Sometimes schools act like they have more power than they really do but that's just it. They're acting, and might even try to manipulate you into doing things/giving up info they have zero right to. Learn how to defend yourself, and what they are and are not legally capable of. Especially in these situations should they ever happen to you. I don't have a lot of good resources save for what I've posted here may be able to help? The internet however has tons. Seek them out, ask someone you trust, ask someone you agree with, ask someone you disagree with. Gather as much knowledge that you can and form your own opinions.
I can't promise there won't be repercussions of some kind if something like what we were all (and all things considered, to an extent still might be) afraid of ends up happening and you fight it, but you can fight it. They still have to obey the laws of the land and we deserve our privacy.
Do we have anything to worry about?
With the bill itself? As far as I know, no. The bill itself seems to be an attempt to make colleges a safer space for free speech and for ideas to be taught without being censored by staff or students. That's a good thing.
Even if we disagree with something we need to be able to hear everything about it without anything being omitted or censored and allowed to challenge our own ideas ourselves with every bit of information from both sides of an argument rather than being told what to think or given a manipulated view that aims to sway our opinions and beliefs. Our opinions and beliefs should ALWAYS be OUR choice. Not someone else's and from what I understand this bill is all about that. If there's anything to worry about it would be a school, or anyone really, trying to lie about it and act like it gives them more power than they actually have.
There is however this:
The fact that HB 233 was inspired by surveys that do ask for political opinions raises an eyebrow. However, both of those surveys are anonymous and voluntary, and this bill doesn't ask for or demand political opinions, leanings, etc. to be included in the surveys, nor does the SBOE that's making/choosing the survey. It just asks if the environment is safe to speak freely in. So they just took the good parts as inspiration.
Honestly, I think we're fine.
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Work Place Problems- Chapter 9
“Thomas, we’re in public,” Alexander laughs as Thomas presses him against a wall in his office, the door open.
Thomas hums against his neck. “Are you complaining, doll?”
Alexander hums. “Well, I never said that. Please, do continue, Mr. Secretary.”
Thomas snickers and is about to kiss Alexander again when the noise of someone clearing their throat cuts through the silence.
George stood in the doorway, incredibly unamused.
“Hey, your excellency, how’s it going?” Alexander jokes, attempting to ease the static atmosphere.
“I actually came to speak with the two of you. You just happened to be together. Lucky or not, I’ll let you decide,” George says, a tired twinkle in typically bright eyes.
“Mr. Washington, are you ok? You don’t look too good,” Thomas said, genuinely concerned.
George takes a step forward before swaying a little.
Thomas and Alexander both rush over to Washington as he almost falls over.
“Sorry, boys. Age affects everyone at one point or another,” Washington says, weakly chuckling.
Thomas sends a worried look to Alexander. Washington admitting his moment of weakness. It was about the same chance that Thomas would stop wearing magenta.
“I know you’re busy,” Washington said, laying back on the chair.
“What do you need, sir? Sir?” Alexander says, slightly panicking.
Washington paused and thought for a second. “I wanna give you a word of warning.”
“Sir, I don’t know what you heard but whatever it is, Jefferson started it,” Alexander said, the joke coming more meekly than he wanted.
“Thomas Jefferson has resigned this morning,” Washington said, looking at Thomas dead in the eye now.
Thomas was taken aback. He never resigned. What the fuck is Washington playing at?
Alexander frowned. “He’s been with me all morning, though.”
Washington turned, now addressing Thomas. “I need a favor.”
“Whatever you say, sir,” Thomas said with finality.
“I need you to draft an address,” Washington said wearily.
“Yes! He resigned. You can finally speak your mind,” Alexander teases, poking Thomas’s side.
But Thomas wasn’t stupid. He could see Alexander gazing at Washington through the corner of his eye.
“No, he’s stepping down so he can run for President,” Washington said.
Thomas’s. Jaw. Dropped. Right through the damn floor.
“What?” Alexander said, confused.
“I’m stepping down. I’m not running for President,” Washington said.
Thomas blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”
Washington smiled tiredly.
He takes them and pulls them into his office.
He pulls out a bottle of whiskey and the three sit down.
Washington pours the three of them a glass. “One last time. Relax, have a drink with me. One last time. Let’s take a break tonight and then we’ll teach them how to say goodbye.”
Hamilton felt confused. “No, sir, why?”
“I wanna talk about neutrality,” Washington said, ignoring Alexander.
Thomas shifts in his seat. “Sir, with Britain and France on the verge of war, is this the best time-”
Washington continues nonetheless. “I want to warn against partisan fighting.”
“But-” Alexander tried again.
“Pick up a pen, start writing. I wanna talk about what I have learned, the hard-won wisdom I have earned,” Washington reprimands gently.
Thomas does one more last ditch attempt. “As far as the people are concerned, you have to serve. You could continue to serve.”
Washington smiles warmly. “No. One last time. The people will hear from me one last time and if we get this right, we’re gonna teach them how to say goodbye.
Alexander didn’t let him speak for long. “Mr. President, they will say you’re weak.”
Washington shakes his head. “No, they will see we’re strong.”
Alexander is giving up and just grasping for excuses now. “Your position is so unique!”
“So I’ll use it to move them along,” Washington says gently.
“Why do you have to say goodbye?” Alexander asks.
Washington leans back, a nostalgic expression on his face. “If I say goodbye, the nation learns to move on. It outlives me when I’m gone. Like the scripture says: ‘Everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree and no one shall make them afraid.’ They’ll be safe in the nation we’ve made. I wanna sit under my own vine and fig tree. A moment alone in the shade. At home in this nation we’ve made. One last time.”
Alexander finally amends, shaking fingers grabbing his glass. “One last time,” he recites.
That evening, Washington had left for Virginia for good as Alexander started reading his departing letter.
Alexander clears his throat once before he starts. “Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am unconscious of intentional error. I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will view them with indulgence and that after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned oblivion, as I myself must soon be to the mansions of rest. I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat in which I promise myself to realize the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign influence of good laws. Under a free government, the ever-favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.”
The council silently sits for a moment to remember the great man that now was resting at his home.
Thomas clears his throat causing everyone to look his way.
He smirks at the recognition and starts.
“After our dear president retired, I have decided I will be running for president against our very own, John Adams,” Thomas declares, faking his kind attitude towards the man.
People in the room already had a sneaking suspicion that Thomas hated Adams but the infliction on his voice was just the icing on the cake.
Adams crosses his arms but let’s out a very pained smile.
Alexander tried not to laugh at the tension in the room.
He knew whether Thomas won or not, Thomas would still always have more power.
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Heyo! How about Organization XIII as college students? What courses would they take? What kind of students would they be? owo
If you’re in college, leave a comment with your major and your favorite courses!
Most of you already know that I majored in history, and my favorite courses at my university were the ‘Psychology of History’ and ‘Founding Fathers and Mothers’
Also, shoutout to Matthew for helping me with a few of these when I needed some inspiration!
oOoOo
Xemnas
Pursuing: Double Major for Master’s Degrees in Business Administration and Public Administration, in a PhD program for Government Studies
Their Favorite Course (link): ‘Philosophy,’ ‘Anthropology,’ Business Management’
Type of Student: a student that all other students wish they could be and a student that all of the teachers like but are slightly afraid of. He’s a no-nonsense type of guy who prefers to study alone and keep to himself. Probably Student Body President but he has absolutely no idea how he was elected to that position.
Xigbar
Pursuing (link): Master of Arts in History with a Concentration in Military History
Their Favorite Courses (link): ‘History of Women, Gender, and Sexuality,’ ‘History of Modern Warfare,’ ‘African Americans Since the Civil War,’ ‘History of Rock: Rhythm & Blues, and Rock and Roll to Indie Rock and Hip Hop’
Type of Student: An infuriating bastard to literally everyone that comes into contact with him. He’s so freaking smart that sometimes it takes the teachers and students by surprise, but he’s lazy and sometimes just doesn’t want to force himself to do the work. But sometimes he doesn’t have to! He manages to scrape by with an above average grade without studying.
Xaldin
Pursuing (link): Master’s of Sports Psychology and Counseling
Their Favorite Course (link): ‘Counseling Student Athletes,’ ‘Multicultural Issues in Counseling’
Type of Student: More focused on other activities that don’t have to do with school, but he does fairly well for himself in his classes. He does just enough to pass with average grades even though he would do better if he took the time and effort to apply himself.
Vexen
Pursuing (link): PhD in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Their Favorite Courses (link): ‘Polymer Physics,’ ‘Protein Engineering,’ and ‘Thermodynamics for Chemical Product and Process Design’
Type of Student: So SMART. So damn smart but he’s SUCH an annoying little shit and all of the professors dislike him because he’s obviously more intelligent than they are, and HE knows it, too. He’s a genius and is going to go on to do great things, but most think he needs a steady, guiding hand to lead him in the right direction.
Lexaeus
Pursuing (link): Bachelor of Science in Nursing - Pediatric Care
Their Favorite Courses (link): ‘Infant, Child, and Adolescent Health,’ ‘Pharmacotherapeutics,’ ‘Procedures and Skills for Pediatric Care’
Type of Student: He’s never been book-smart, but when it comes to hands-on learning? There’s no one better to have on your team. Lexaeus has always learned better when he can actually see information in front of him instead of listening to lectures, so he spends a lot of time teaching himself the information in his textbooks - even if it might take him a while to get through the material.
Zexion
Pursuing: Master’s in Library Science
Their Favorite Courses (link): ‘Archival Management,’ ‘Knowledge Management,’ ‘Librarian Special Collections and History of the Book’
Type of Student: The dream student that every teacher wants. He’s quiet, studious, asks really intelligent and thought-provoking questions, always does his assignments and turns them in on time, etc.
Saix
Pursuing (link): Master’s in Law and Business
Their Favorite Course (link): ‘Business Evaluation and Analysis,’ ‘Game Theory and Strategic Decisions’
Type of Student: Quiet, studious, and knows that he’s smarter than you. Has a lot of activities outside of class because he knows that they look good on a job applications, but his heart is truly just into his classes because he enjoys learning new information.
Axel
Pursuing: Bachelor’s in Paramedic Technology
Their Favorite Courses (link): ‘Physics for Poets,’ ‘Immunology,’ and ‘Genetics’
Type of Student: Doesn’t study at ALL and it infuriates literally everyone to no end how he manages to do so well with so little effort involved. The class clown, but also knows when to keep his mouth shut. Defends female classmates whenever they get mansplained by teachers or other students.
Demyx
Pursuing: Double Major Bachelor’s Degrees in Music Composition and Sound Design
Their Favorite Courses (link 1, link 2): ‘Film Scoring,’ ‘Producing Music with Logic’
Type of Student: Demyx is both a good and a bad student. When it comes to topics that he enjoys, he is the most dedicated, task-oriented person you’ll ever meet. When it comes to the boring stuff - basic classes that he’s required to take, like math or science, his mind wanders and he gets distracted way too easily.
Luxord
Pursuing: Bachelor’s in Hospitality Business Management
Their Favorite Courses (link): ‘Introduction to the Casino Industry,’ ‘Introduction to Wine and Hospitality Beverages,’ ‘Hospitality Marketing,’ and ‘Hospitality Business Law’
Type of Student: No one understands how he can possibly have such amazing grades when he sometimes doesn’t even bother to go to class, but they’re impressed, especially when he does manage to go to class without a sign of a hangover when most of them know he spent the night before drinking.
Marluxia
Pursuing: Bachelor’s in Horticultural Science
Their Favorite Courses (link): ‘Plant Breeding,’ ‘Agricultural Law,’ ‘Greenhouse Management’
Type of Student: Knows a lot, sometimes more than the teachers, but is happy to let them all think that he’s dim and oblivious. Aces all of his tests and assignments, keeps himself to the back of the room and watches, silently observing.
Larxene
Pursuing (link): Master’s of Science in Engineering with a Concentration in Electrical Engineering
Their Favorite Courses (link): ‘Engineering Electronics,’ ‘Circuits Laboratory’
Type of Student: Sly and sometimes gets other people to do the heavy work on some of the more tedious projects she’s assigned. She’s too smart for her own good, but she hates the majority of her classes and teachers, so she skips class more often than not.
Roxas
Pursuing (link): Bachelor of Arts in Animation
Their Favorite Courses (link): ‘Storytelling for the Screen,’ ‘Interactive Animation,’ ‘Figure Drawing’
Type of Student: He tries. He tries so hard, really. But sometimes the words dance across the pages of his textbooks and he just can’t concentrate on something that’s so boring, so it’s difficult for him to focus when he studies. He passes all of his courses and is an absolute sweetheart to all of his teachers, but he definitely puts in a few extra hours of studying than most people do just to keep up with the rest of his peers.
Xion
Pursuing (link): A Bachelor’s in Elementary Education
Their Favorite Courses (link): ‘Assessing Impact on Student Learning,’ ‘The School as a Community of Care’
Type of Student: A sweet bean who is a gift to everyone who manages to get her in a group project. She’s studious, sweet, and always willing to help those who need it. She’s also not afraid to ask questions and stay after class if she needs it, especially in math and science courses, which aren’t her strongest subjects.
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Reading One Piece pt 179: Everything Happens So Much
Chapters 425-426
Thoughts:
- Fpos/cs: Oh look, It’s Waipa. He’s living in the Holy Land :)
- Enies Lobby is basically hell on Earth right now
- Lol, everyone’s standing and waiting for Luffy :D
- (Luffy, finish your fight faster!)
- Sanji: “yo, there’s as many warships as us here. That’s bad.” Well, it is. I halfway thought you propose they all will destroy one ship each. Eh, we’re at page 3, there’s still hope *crosses fingers*
- News from the front
- …oh
- Did Frankies and the rest really actually die like for real
- Anyway, shit
- Oh Franky…
- “The number of survivors on the Enies Lobby main island… is zero.” Franky. Franky. Government lies, Franky
- The whole island was obliterated basically
- “The only target left is the Bridge of Hesitation” !!!!!!
- whoops
- Everyone is SAD :(
- At least they had people who mourn them now
- “…Can people die so easily?” “You cannot see humans on the map” we should
- Now Franky is MAD and yelling at Luffy (who can’t hear him) TO HURRY THE **** UP so Frankies death won’t be in vain
- Luffy and Lucci fighting
- Eh, whatever, I’m done with this fight. Now this fight needs to be done with me
- Oof
- No seriously finish this, Straw Hats don’t even see that fight, they just see smoke and hear Kaboom
- “Sometimes it’s like as if Luffy knows who to fight… from the very beginning…” well, yeah, he identifies the strongest and goes for it, Chopper. It’s his goddamn right as a shounen protagonist
- “He… wouldn’t die, would he?” “Idiot” and that’s that on that :D. It’s actually reassuring, you know
- The heck
- Marines decided they want in on Luffy vs. Lucci and that’s RUDE and Zoro should teach them the etiquette of battle, seriously
- Whoops, we all saw that coming v
“All ships: form a battle formation around the Bridge of Hesitation. We have confirmed that there are nine pirates including Pirate Hunter Zoro and Nico Robin on the bridge and the convoy”
- :D they mentioned Zoro :D
- (I’m sorry, I have a one-track mind :D)
- (Robin could use a title too)
- Marines are scared :D as they should :D
- !!!! NOW they can see Luffy vs. Lucci in all its glory!
- More importantly, Luffy can see them too :)
- :D :D :D that’s what I’m talking about
- No but seriously is Zoro an expert on battle now, he says all that cool battle stuff and they listen without a word of protest
- “…in the end, this is what it comes down to – a game of endurance…” he’s like that ex-president on TV I watched the other day, he says the same thing everyone is thinking but 10 times better
- And of course Luffy will win that game. He has something to fight for
- Lol
- These warships are practically on them :D it’s Straw Hats time to ignore a cannon right at their face
- “yo, small fry marines, don’t you dare get close to the fight” I can’t imagine they would want to, Vice-Admiral
- “Th… There’s so many of them!” “It’s simply proof that they’re scared of us!” Usopp, Zoro, never change :D
- Huh!? Where’s Sanji!?
- Chopper still can’t move!
- AND MARINES ARE ATTACKING!!!
- Um what
- …
- WHAT
- DID THAT RANDOM GUY JUST ///BROKE/// ONE OF ZORO’S SWORDS?????
- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
- Marines got few devil fruit users with them. I thought these guys are rare, why are they everywhere now
- Luckily, Straw Hats got a devil fruit user too :) deck them Robin
- “Keep holding on until Luffy gets here!” LUFFY HURRY
- Luffy, damn it, Lucci started monologuing, STOP THAT
- …what
- Did Luffy just fell
- Luffy. LUFFY. Lucci isn’t Crocodile, you can’t just FALL STOP SCARING ME
- !!!!
- …holy shit you guys, Sogeking was Usopp all along
O_O
rOP 178 rOP 180
#one piece speed read#that last one was a bomb#but seriously reach for him Usopp#Luffy needs you!#not Sogeking! but Usopp His Friend!#I wasn't sure if I post today#all this pandemic is stressing me out a lot#we have it kinda bad in Poland#politicians aren't handling pandemia well#and they're also stupider that usual so everyone is on the streets protesting#it's a whole situation#but I'm posting cause I wanted to complain about that :D#and I'm not even touching US election#I'm across the ocean and that thing is still giving me an ulcer#so much happened in this chapter I don't know where to start so I won't#stay safe out there :D#spoiler#spoilers#have a nice day#rOP 179
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Why does India have so many COVID instances? | Coronavirus pandemic News
Something has gone horribly flawed in India. Today, the nation has reported 346,786 new instances of COVID-19 for the earlier 24 hours, with 2,624 deaths – the world’s highest daily toll for the reason that pandemic started final yr. Overall, almost 190,000 individuals have died from COVID within the nation, whereas greater than 16.6 million have been contaminated.
The new outbreak in India is so extreme that hospitals are working out of oxygen and beds, and many individuals who have been taken unwell are being turned away.
New Zealand, Hong Kong, the UK and the US have both banned direct flights to and from India, or have suggested residents towards travelling altogether; and the record could properly get longer.
The UK’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, who's eager to safe a post-Brexit commerce cope with the nation, has been pressured to cancel a planned trip to India this coming week and, as an alternative, plans to fulfill with President Narendra Modi just about.
For a rustic the place COVID numbers gave the impression to be dropping dramatically just some weeks in the past, what has gone so flawed in India?
The Indian variant, generally known as B.1.617, seems to be wreaking havoc within the nation. Since April 15, India has been reporting greater than 200,000 instances of coronavirus on daily basis and its capital, Delhi, just lately introduced a week-long lockdown after an increase in instances there overwhelmed the healthcare system.
“If we don’t impose a lockdown now, we might face a bigger calamity,” Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal mentioned as he addressed the town on Indian tv on April 19. Worryingly, mattress areas and oxygen supplies in hospitals seem like stretched, with experiences of sick sufferers being turned away from hospitals and social media feeds crammed with distraught relations whose family members can not entry the healthcare they want.
On Wednesday this week, because the COVID toll was rising, Delhi’s highest court docket took the bizarre step of publicly criticising the central authorities and its method to managing the nation’s oxygen disaster. The court docket was listening to a petition filed by Max Hospitals looking for pressing assist to tide over the oxygen scarcity it was dealing with in six of its hospitals within the capital. “Human lives are not that important for the State it means. We are shocked and dismayed that government doesn’t seem to be mindful to the extremely urgent need of medical oxygen,” the Bench said. “We direct Centre to provide safe passage…so that such supplies are not obstructed for any reason whatsoever,” it mentioned. “Hell will break loose .” Damning phrases for the federal government in a time of disaster.
It shouldn't be completely clear why this surge has occurred in India, however it's prone to be due to crowded occasions organised within the run-up to elections – President Modi himself hit the marketing campaign path addressing election rallies in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on March 30 because the upturn of instances started. Large teams and social gatherings throughout spiritual festivals have additionally performed a component, in addition to the re-opening of public areas and easing of lockdown measures which passed off steadily all through 2020 with the ultimate “unlocking” of restrictions taking place in December 2020.
There can also be a lot concern in regards to the emergence of recent variants of the coronavirus in India. It is believed the dominant pressure within the nation now's the variant which was first recognized within the UK, and which has proven to be as much as 60 p.c extra transmissible between people.
On March 25, it was additional introduced {that a} new “double mutant” variant had been detected in India, now generally known as the “Indian variant”. This growth is what has different international locations spooked.
The Indian authorities don't assume this new variant has but change into the dominant COVID pressure within the nation, however it's prone to be contributing to the growing numbers.
Genome sequencing of the brand new variant has proven that it has two vital mutations:
1. The E484Q mutation: This is just like the E484K mutation recognized within the Brazil and South African variants, which have additionally been reported in latest months. The concern is that this mutation can change elements of the coronavirus spike protein. The spike protein types a part of the coronavirus outer layer and is what the virus makes use of to make contact with human cells. Once contact has been made, the coronavirus then makes use of the spike protein to bind to the human cells, enter them and infect them. The immune response that the vaccines stimulate creates antibodies that concentrate on the spike protein of the virus particularly. Therefore, the fear is that if a mutation adjustments the form of the spike protein considerably, then the antibodies could not be capable of recognise and neutralise the virus successfully, even in those that have been vaccinated. Scientists are inspecting whether or not this may increasingly even be the case for the E484Q mutation.
2. The L452R mutation: This has additionally been present in a variant regarded as chargeable for outbreaks in California. This variant is believed to extend the spike protein’s capacity to bind to human host cells, thereby growing its infectivity. A examine of the mutation additionally suggests it could assist the virus to evade the neutralising antibodies that each the vaccine and former an infection can produce, although that is nonetheless being examined.
This new wave in India has been devastating for the nation. A coordinated response is required between Indian states and central authorities to handle the provision of oxygen and important medicine if the variety of COVID-related deaths is to be introduced beneath management. There can also be a priority that we do not know the true number of deaths from COVID, as some individuals have died at house earlier than they might get to hospital and many others in India, notably in rural areas, have had issue accessing testing services.
Pressure urgently must be lifted off the healthcare system and the one approach to do this is to ramp up the vaccination programme, strengthen social distancing procedures and re-introduce lockdown measures.
In the physician’s surgical procedure: Teaching medical college students throughout a pandemic
One of my passions as a physician is with the ability to move on my information to the docs of tomorrow. I have accomplished it for years and am a senior lecturer at two UK universities.
A big a part of the instructing I do includes getting my college students to talk to and study sufferers. This has been a problem within the final 12 months as bringing sufferers into the surgical procedure for them to see college students has been too dangerous, and the sufferers that tended to have the sicknesses the scholars wanted to see have been usually shielding to cut back the probabilities of them catching COVID-19.
Medical college students have been lending a serving to hand to COVID-ravaged hospitals everywhere in the world, and their help has been welcomed by many. But we additionally want to arrange them for a world past COVID and, within the restricted time we have with them, to make sure they're ready for a variety of medical circumstances from the bodily to the psychological. But how can we do this in the event that they have been unable to see sufferers as regular?
Technology has been the reply. Our surgical procedure, the place I work as a household physician in Bradford, northern England, is fortunate sufficient to have a scientific abilities lab that college students can study in. This is a room that has “model” physique elements that the scholars can use for examination functions.
Students can come into the surgical procedure and, initially, maintain phone consultations with sufferers, chatting with actual sufferers who ring in about their illnesses. The college students file a medical historical past by chatting with the sufferers and try to give you a administration plan which they then run previous me or one other physician for approval.
Because the scholars can not study the sufferers bodily, we then make a listing of the examinations the scholars would have accomplished and, as soon as their clinic record is full, transfer over to the scientific abilities lab. I then ask them to observe the examination they might have accomplished on the fashions. This may embody a chest examination, a rectal or vaginal examination. The fashions will be adjusted so that every time the scholar makes use of them they may make a distinct examination discovering, equivalent to a brand new lump or irregular respiration sounds. It actually is kind of intelligent.
Although it is going to by no means actually exchange the true factor, this methodology has allowed us to maintain medical schooling going all through the pandemic – one thing that has challenged medical colleges the world over.
And now, some excellent news: Exercising can cut back the dangers of COVID
A brand new study by Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland has proven that common train can cut back the chance of getting infections like COVID-19 by as much as 37 p.c. The researchers carried out a full-scale systematic overview of 16,698 worldwide epidemiological research revealed between January 1980 and April 2020, with world-renowned immunologists and epidemiologists from University College London (UCL) within the UK and Ghent University (UGent) in Belgium, in addition to train and sports activities scientists from Cádiz University in Spain and a public well being marketing consultant from NHS Lanarkshire (NHSL) within the UK.
They discovered that doing half-hour of train which will get you out of breath and a bit sweaty 5 instances every week strengthens your immune response to infectious ailments. It is believed that common train will increase the variety of immune cells within the physique appearing on the primary line of defence – the mucosal layer of antibodies. These cells are chargeable for figuring out international brokers or “germs” within the physique with out miserable the remainder of the immune system, so it’s completely protected and protects you towards infectious illness.
We have recognized for a while about the advantages train can have for an individual’s general bodily and psychological well being. Now, within the time of COVID, it has been proven to assist enhance your immune system too. So the message is obvious; get open air and train in the event you can or to the health club whether it is in line with your native COVID tips. If neither is feasible, your kitchen or front room is a wonderfully good place to do half-hour of dancing, leaping or no matter floats your boat!
Reader’s query: Is it protected to go to my hospital appointment throughout a pandemic?
Over the previous 12 months, individuals have repeatedly been informed that the most secure place for them is house and that hospitals are busy coping with COVID-19 sufferers. While that's true, it is usually vital to do not forget that different sicknesses have not gone away.
I have discovered that many of my sufferers are usually not attending their appointments for different circumstances as a result of they're frightened about catching COVID or assume their sickness shouldn't be as vital as coronavirus. Hospitals and GP surgical procedures everywhere in the world have gone out of their option to make massive elements of their buildings COVID-free. This implies that they can be utilized for non-COVID-related companies and workers working there is not going to be crossing over to cowl COVID wards or clinics. So, in the event you obtain an appointment to attend a clinic or hospital service, it's actually vital that you simply do go.
Read the full article
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2020 - What A Great Year!
There's nothing like disease and death on a mass scale to remind us that bar crawls and barbecues aren't everything. Almost, but not quite. I'll miss this year: the grim news reports, the vacant streets, the realization upon waking that Trump really is President ... 😱😥😖😔 ... that urinal smell of fear. It hasn't been boring; I hate boring. Managed to finally finish all five seasons of Chuck. Had a major fight with my brother. Cared for the elderly and the mentally ill (still talking about family). Resolved to spend my last days in an Arizona desert trailer park with my telescope and a satellite wifi connection. Ah, paradise!
We had plans to visit Japan this year, a long-held dream of mine, but the pandemic put the kbosh on that. My increasingly bad knees and feet may put the kbosh on future plans. All this kboshing is getting to me. I need to switch it out with some kvetching or klatching maybe (wait; pandemic; no klatching; damn). In 2019, my in-laws' home city of Hong Kong became engaged in a titanic struggle between youthful residents who fear a creeping authoritarianism and the single party communist government who want to bring the city more in line with its mainland counterparts. We watched in pain and fear for family as well as admiration for the protestors' resolve. In 2020 the pandemic also put the kbosh on mass protests. Smaller, bemasked actions have broken out here and there but not with the same safety in numbers. Kboshing postponed perhaps forever a travel dream of mine. It postponed perhaps forever Hong Kong's dream of a freer future. It brings perspective.
When I hear Americans kvetch about their loss of freedoms due to the pandemic I'm led to wonder: how do citizens of poor nations that face epidemic diseases on a daily basis get their party on? I mean, do they just accept that one third of the guests will die? Or if they're more careful than we are how are they able to meet their needs for Jell-O shots and beer pong? Perhaps we should commission a study. Just a thought.
Complaints about loss of income are, of course, more understandable. Nothing creates more fear and stress than the feeling that your family's well-being is threatened. That's primal. That's hard-wired in. So when self-serving politicians and media providers help to spread conspiracy theories that the pandemic is a hoax perpetrated by the Deep State (a phrase we Progessives used to use) it's no wonder that protests break out and trust in government health authorities sinks even lower than it already was. Why would politicians and media providers do such a thing? Power. Influence. Money. All three or some combination thereof. Some of the oldest motives in human history. Hollywood hasn't helped with its endless string of conspiracy thrillers and persistent view that if the military or CIA is involved it must be for sinister reasons. It couldn't possibly have anything to do with patriotism and service; how silly. Conservative pundits who excoriate liberals as radicals and extremists create absurdly cartoonish pictures in people's minds. Do you know what my fellow progressives do? We teach, we help mentally ill people, we take care of unwanted kids, we deliver water to areas with poisoned water supplies, we take time off to build houses for people. We do all these terrible things and then get insulted for it by obnoxious conservative commentators. Huh, I wonder where all this anger and disgust comes from.
The greatest disease we Americans face is smugness. We are all infected. We all get up in our heads and our emotions. We all pronounce judgment on other Americans like Charlton Heston and his tablets. One of the sure signs that the disease is progressing is when we fail to see it in ourselves but sure as hell see it in others. I know I can be arrogant. So can everyone I've ever met or known of in any way. Except maybe Jesus. When you're God the only direction you can go is humble. Once you cut through all the myths and lies and bullshit stories we tell ourselves we're just kids on a playground fighting to make our place. One of the greatest gifts of the pandemic is getting us to shut the hell up for awhile. It wasn't long - maybe two or three months starting in March - but for a short while we were all watching the numbers tick up and the body count rise. Some of us were infected. Some of us have loved ones who died. Fear has a way of undercutting smugness. Maybe that's what we need more of in 2021: fear. An alien invasion, an asteroid careening towards us, a revival of CATS. Something to make us forget how important and angry we are. It could just save the human race and make 2020 lead into the best year ever!
#2020 pandemic#arrogance#politics#new year#rant#personal rant#america#patriotism#jesuschrist#humility#smug face#hongkong#hk protests#japantravel#epidemics#poverty#progressive#pundit#independent media#exploitation#conservative#government conspiracy#deep state#unemployment#covid 19
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