one of the things that i think we should pay attention to, socially, about the disney v. desantis thing is that it is really highlighting the importance of remembering nuance.

in a purely neutral sense, if you engage in something problematic, that does not mean you are necessarily agreeing with what makes it problematic. and i am worried that we have become... so afraid of any form of nuance.

disney isn't my friend, they're a corporate monopoly that bastardized copyright laws for their own benefit, ruin the environment, and abuse their workers (... and many other things). this isn't a hypothetical for me - i grew up in florida. i also worked for the actual Walt Disney World; like, in the parks. i am keenly aware of the ways they hurt people, because they hurt me. i fully believe that part of the reason florida is so conservative is because it's been an "open secret" for years now that disney lobbies the government to keep minimum wage down, and i know they worked hard to keep the parks unmasked and open during the worst parts of Covid. they purposefully keep their employees in poverty. they are in part responsible for the way the floridian government works.

desantis is still, by a margin that is frankly daunting, way worse. the alternative here isn't just "republicans win", it's actual fascism.

in a case like this, where the alternative is to allow actual fascism into united states legislation - where, if desantis wins, there are huge and legal ramifications - it's tempting to minimize the harm disney is also doing, because... well, it's not fascism. but disney isn't the good guy, either, which means republicans are having a field day asking activists oh, so you think their treatment of their employees is okay?

we have been trained there is a right answer. you're right! you're in the good group, and you're winning at having an opinion.

except i have the Internet Prophecy that in 2-3 months, even left-wing people will be ripping apart activists for having "taken disney's side". aren't i an anti-capitalist? aren't i pro-union? aren't i one of the good ones? removed from context and nuance (that in this particular situation i am forced to side with disney, until an other option reveals itself), my act of being like "i hope they have goofy rip his throat out onstage, shaking his lifeless body like a dog toy" - how quickly does that seem like i actually do support disney?

and what about you! at home, reading this. are you experiencing the Thought Crime of... actually liking some of the things disney has made? your memories of days at the parks, or of good movies, or of your favorite show growing up. maybe you are also evil, if you ever enjoyed anything, ever, at all.

to some degree, the binary idealization/vilification of individual motive and meaning already exists in the desantis case. i have seen people saying not to go to the disney pride events because they're cash grabs (they are). i've seen people saying you have to go because they're a way to protest. there isn't a lot of internet understanding of nuance. instead it's just "good show of support" or "evil bootlicking."

this binary understanding is how you can become radicalized. when we fear nuance and disorder, we're allowing ourselves the safety of assuming that the world must exist in binary - good or bad, problematic or "not" problematic. and unfortunately, bigots want you to see the world in this binary ideal. they want you to get mad at me because "disney is taking a risk for our community but you won't sing their praises" and they want me to get mad at you for not respecting the legit personal trauma that disney forced me through.

in a grander scheme outside of disney: what happens is a horrific splintering within activist groups. we bicker with each other about minimal-harm minimal-impact ideologies, like which depiction of bisexuality is the most-true. we gratuitously analyze the personal lives of activists for any sign they might be "problematic". we get spooked because someone was in a dog collar at pride. we wring our hands about setting an empty shopping mall on fire. we tell each other what words we may identify ourselves by. we get fuckin steven universe disk horse when in reality it is a waste of our collective time.

the bigots want you to spend all your time focusing on how pristine and pretty you and your interests are. they want us at each other's throats instead of hand in hand. they want to say see? nothing is ever fucking good enough for these people.

and they want their followers to think in binary as well - a binary that's much easier to follow. see, in our spaces, we attack each other over "proper" behavior. but in bigoted groups? they attack outwards. they have someone they hate, and it is us. they hate you, specifically, and you are why they have problems - not the other people in their group. and that's a part of how they fucking keep winning.

some of the things that are beloved to you have a backbone in something terrible. the music industry is a wasteland. the publishing industry is a bastion of white supremacy. video games run off of unpaid labor and abuse.

the point of activism was always to bring to light that abuse and try to stop it from happening, not to condemn those who engage in the content that comes from those industries. "there is no ethical consumption under late capitalism" also applies to media. your childhood (and maybe current!) love of the little mermaid isn't something you should now flinch from, worried you'll be a "disney adult". wanting the music industry to change for the better does not require that you reject all popular music until that change occurs. you can acknowledge the harm something might cause - and celebrate the love that it has brought into your life.

we must detach an acknowledgment of nuance from a sense of shame and disgust. we must. punishing individual people for their harmless passions is not doing good work. encouraging more thoughtful, empathetic consumption does not mean people should feel ashamed of their basic human capacities and desires. it should never have even been about the individual when the corporation is so obviously the actual evil. this sense that we must live in shame and dread of our personal nuances - it just makes people bitter and hopeless. do you have any idea how scared i am to post this? to just acknowledge the idea of nuance? that i might like something nuanced, and engage in it joyfully? and, at the same time, that i'm brutally aware of the harm that they're doing?

"so what do i do?" ... well, often there isn't a right answer. i mean in this case, i hope mickey chops off ron's head and then does a little giggle. but truth be told, often our opinions on nuanced subjects will differ. you might be able to engage in things that i can't because the nuance doesn't sit right with me. i might think taylor swift is a great performer and a lot of fun, and you might be like "raquel, the jet fuel emissions". we are both correct; neither of us have any actual sway in this. and i think it's important to remember that - the actual scope of individual responsibility. like, i also love going to the parks. Thunder Mountain is so fun. you (just a person) are not responsible for the harm that Disney (the billion dollar corporation) caused me. i don't know. i think it's possible to both enjoy your memories and interrogate the current state of their employment policies.

there is no right way to interrogate or engage with nuance - i just hope you embrace it readily.

shout out to Aardman for making a movie that has a lead female character that's well written and feels like a real person (even though she's a chicken), a predominantly female cast with only one or two supporting male characters (pulling a reverse Smurfette trope) whom all have diverse personalities and quirks, and a main romance between said female lead and the play boy male character that's an enemies to lovers that doesn't at all feel misogynistic or like they actually hate each other. And shout out to him for making the main mastermind villain a woman as well. It's an action-adventure movie with a female lead narrative that feels entirely gender neutral and it's one of the few I can think of that does this. Also shout our to him for making the chickens all look anthropomorphized in a way that isn't overly sexualized (or sexual at all really). If there were an award for "man who actually knows how to write female characters and present them as people" it would go to Aardman. Well done.

Today is the second time I’ve found a bone in fast food chicken nugget esque items.

When will my curse of finding bones in unsuspecting things end.

Okay, but Adam said next Extermination the Exorcists would come for all the sinner demons.

Meaning even of you barricade yourself inside, you're not safe from them this time. And yeah, Adam said he'd come for the Hazbin Hotel first, but surely not every single Exorcist in his army is going to waste time leveling that one hotel with like five, six demons inside.

Surely some of them are going to go hunt for the rest of the sinner demons.

What I'm saying is, I want to see the Exorcists go after the Overlords. Especially the Vees. We haven't seen any of them in actual combat (I don't think "Stayed Gone" counts, no one was physically harmed and neither Vox nor Alastor attack each other non-verbally. And Val slapping Angel around isn't really a fight.)

Shawl 13 | Pattern

Finally, he is finished! And absolutely giant!

I don't really think about shawl sizes outside of yardage, so I didn't pay a bit of attention when the listing said this shawl would be 8 feet wide at the wingspan. I regretted that when I realized I didn't have enough foam blocks for pinning and had to cannibalize them from the center part of the shawl.

This was a very lovely pattern and was a lot of fun to knit even with the incredibly long final rounds/bind off. That being said, if I knit it again I'll make several changes purely out of personal preference. In my opinion, most of the thin stripes are very lovely and accent the piece well, but some (mostly the middle width stripes) I think are distracting(?)

For example there's a thin dark grey stripe and a medium mid grey stripe in between the sipped stitch dots section and the half twisted rib section. The dark grey stripe looks really really good. However I think if the mid grey stripe was instead more half twisted rib (making the whole half twisted rib section about a third wider), it would be more attractive. I'm a big fan of thick stripe with thin stripes in between them look tho, so like I said, purely personal preference stuff.

Regardless of my nitpicks, he's a very pretty shawl and exactly what I wanted to make with this yarn when I bought it nearly a year ago. I'm not really a colourwork guy but I wanted something outside my comfort zone both in fiber (to that point I mostly worked with acyrlics or cotton) and technique (it was several years since I last did any sort of stranded or slip stitch colourwork). Between Shawl 12 and this shawl, I've learnt that I really do like fingering weight wools when they're non superwash, and I can do attractive and well tensioned colourwork (with a bit of help from blocking).

Helloooo farmer friends!! So last night my friend @pavusprince mentioned how she doesn’t understand the toothpaste mint chocolate chip ice cream comparison and that got me thinking!! Let’s talk about food!!

Does your farmer like mint chocolate ice cream? Does it taste like toothpaste? Are they neutral, or do they hate it?

During the summer does your farmer visit Alex’s ice cream stand? What flavor/treat do they buy? What’s their least favorite flavor?

What is one treat your farmer will ALWAYS have in their home? Is it healthy or unhealthy?

If your farmer was a snack item what would they be? (It cannot be a food that could be eaten like a meal, but it may be a dessert) Here’s some examples: chips, cookies, M&ms, Twinkies, crackers, bubblegum, lollipops, etc

What’s your farmer’s comfort food, favorite meal, and least favorite meal?

What’s something they will NEVER eat?

What do they cook if they know they will have a guest over?

If the town’s potluck didn’t matter so much, what ingredient would they take? And what food would they put at an event table if you had to bring something?

Finally, if your farmer was real, what would YOU give them to eat.

I want chicken nuggets 🥺

Delenn: what’s something you can’t get enough of?

Sheridan: time with you.

Sheridan: or were you thinking more like dinosaur chicken nuggets?

Delenn: …

Sheridan: I’d chose you over the nuggets, though. just to be clear.

Ok but imagine that Nancy's the one that suggests Steve goes with Jonathan

i've been getting real into Cameron lately. like opening the back of his head and poking round in there trying to find the gear that makes him tick. man i feel like in a universe two steps to the left Neil could have really antagonised Cameron and they would have been at each other's throats, which is fun to write. anyway here's a preview of a oneshot that will be out some time in the next two days god willing

Day 9. Friendship

Friendships through the ages.

I! Included! My! OCs!!! Their names are Sammy Oswald-Wright and Ruben Fridman, one was adopted by Tim at age 12 after being homeless for two years and the other met the former for the first time as a child and held onto those interactions for the rest of her life. Together, they're going to kill The Operator with bombs :]

Also, they're in love. They are in gay love and kiss each other all the time

Here's the unfiltered version of the bros

alia deserves emotional compensation for getting bullied by the ascian cousins in hades ex tonight

hey guys please watch this video analysis on Chicken Run (2000) it’s from 3 years ago but feels more relevant now than ever and the essayist in it is really smart and put a lot of how I felt about the movies message into words please just go watch it it’s called “what a time to analyze chicken run” she talks about white feminist capitalism being represented in the main villain and the importance of community just please go watch it

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🎫!!

@frozenhi-chews @botanists-little-cookie because theres a lot!! ミ⁠●⁠﹏⁠☉⁠ミ

OKAY ANYWAY look at him. :] the guy. the way he smiles. is so cute. he's literally the :] emoji. i love him so much beyond words 😭😭

i think its safe to say that i think of him every single day. No. every minute. he makes me so happy and the way he treats abby in my selfship universe is just 100% top tier... he turns into a lovestruck puppy every time Abby is near. like. a lovely loveable mess. hearty eyes and steam coming out of ears sort of type

also this photo is just too cute i cant stop staring at it. my god he's just the little guy ever on earth

him in this pure white shirt and a red tie is . a look too I THINK HE'S JUST CHARMING IN EVERY SUIT HE WEARS 😭😭 ..oouhg men in suit save me... save me...

Dropping BULBOUS tears all over this event