#like the capitalized U (you) in Dutch | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

delulujuls · 1 month

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young, dumb & bwoke | ln4

hi! as u can see i couldn't stop myself from writing about last saturday events in amsterdam with mr norris as main star (he was more popular than the king himself lmao). lando is literally what i always bring to the function and yup, enjoy him being the chaotic drunk bestie while max and y/n are his literal party parents. its nothing crazy and without plot basically, i just added sum to this years' koningsdag so yeah, enjoy!

summary: there is nothing that lando loves more than a good party and his beloved dutch friends so imagine him with drink in his cup surrounded by whole orange nation. it could be nuts and it was

warnings: TONS of alcohol, lando being drunk (and hurted), mentions of blood, basically sum chaos

pairing: fem!dutch!bff!reader x lando norris (ft. max verstappen)

Lando couldn't wait for the plane he was on to break through the heavy cloud cover and land in Amsterdam.

China and Miami, which were the next rounds on the calendar, were separated by two weeks that were nothing else, in Lando's case, than a time of stagnation. Add to this the fact that Lando had bad memories of his performance in China and, what's worse, the sprint he failed so badly and which constantly played in his head like a jammed record, one could go crazy. That's why the Brit was extremely happy when he received an invitation to spend the weekend in the capital of the Netherlands. He was invited to Amsterdam to celebrate King Willem's birthday by none other than his favorite flying Dutch.

The friendship of Y/N, Max and Lando began in 2019, practically from the very moment he entered Formula 1. The kid, who was barely 20 years old but looked like 12, immediately won over the Dutch couple with his smile and sense of humor, who, due to their sometimes severe temperament, could not boast of having many friends in the paddock. Even though the three friends were only two years apart, Max and Y/N naturally became Lando's racing parents, with whom the Brit spent practically every moment, from time in the paddock, through celebrating on the podium, to time away from competitions. So it was no surprise when they invited him to spend the weekend together, to which he, of course, eagerly agreed.

When the plane landed, Lando pulled the hood of his orange sweatshirt over his head and slung his backpack over his shoulder, in which he packed everything he might need for the coming days. As you could guess, there wasn't much of it, he actually had everything he needed on him and the most important part was an oversized orange sweatshirt. Waiting for him at the airport was Y/N, who couldn't wait to see him. She didn't have to wait too long, because a moment later he walked out in front of the terminal. Y/N smiled as she saw her friend walking towards her and she hugged him tightly.

"You knew I was coming, you could have asked the king for better weather," Lando joked, trying to sound serious, which only made the girl giggle.

"If you think that the weather will have any influence on what will happen in the evening, then unfortunately I will have to disappoint you," she replied, getting into the car. "It's already starting to get crowded in downtown, and it's not even noon."

Lando threw his backpack into the backseat and got into the passenger side. He smiled like a child, looking forward to how the weekend would unfold. It looked like he would spend a nice few days, able to finally de-stress and relax, and in the company of friends. But speaking of friends, one of them was missing.

"And where's Max?" he asked as they left the airport and were on their way to the girl's apartment. "I thought he had been waiting for me with the welcome committee since yesterday."

"He's already in town, I dropped him off while I was on my way to pick you up."

"He's fast," Lando laughed and shook his head, "I hope he's still on his feet when we get to him."

At that moment, Lando didn't think about the fact that no one else but himself would be able to stay on his feet. When the Brit set off for Amsterdam, he obviously expected to spend two days drunk, with legs sore from dancing and a sore throat from singing, but he forgot that he has absolutely no immunity to alcohol.

When the three friends were finally together, alcohol quickly appeared in their hands. Y/N and Max started with beer, but Lando had no intention of wasting his time drinking something that would only cause pressure on his bladder. As soon as he boarded one of the barges floating on the Herenbracht Canal, he drank several shots at once. Y/N and Max just exchanged glances as he drank the drink standing on Garrix's console in one gulp, who didn't care one bit about it, being already in a good mood himself.

"I'm a little worried about how this might end," Max said in her ear as she took a sip of her cider, watching Lando jump happily.

"Even if he's drunk, so what," she replied, handing him her bottle and taking away the body paints in circulation, "He didn't come here to be bored."

Max was about to say something, but she pushed his hand slightly, bringing the bottle he was holding to his lips. Max shook his head and took a few sips from it, while the girl started painting flags on his cheeks. When she finished, she waved them up, attracting Lando's attention, who understood what she meant and nodded eagerly. The girl squeezed through the console and stood next to him, leaning him against the barge rails, because Lando had trouble not bobbing to the music for a moment.

The smile that never left his face wrinkled his cheeks, on which she tried to paint Dutch flags. When she finished and turned to pass the paints, Lando took off her sunglasses and put them on himself.

"Have a drink with me!" Lando shouted, holding out his empty cup to her, and she raised her cider bottle in response. He rolled his eyes in dissatisfaction when suddenly a bottle of vodka appeared in the crowd and someone handed it straight to his hands. Without much thought, Lando unscrewed the cap and took a few sips as if the contents were water, which of course met with the crowd's approval.

Y/N took the bottle from his hands, fearing not the amount Lando drank, but the relatively short time it took him to do so. However, not wanting to seem boring, she tilted the bottle herself, letting the liquid burn her throat. Delighted, Lando clapped his hands and hugged his friend, causing some of the alcohol to flow down her chin. She smiled, wrapping her arms around his waist as well, and raised her hand in a toast, which was joined by everyone who had something to drink.

Max also raised his beer bottle a bit. However, somewhere in the background of his mind there was an image of Lando and what he would look like in the near future. However, the Brit himself did not care at all about this. As long as he was in the company of his friends, his plastic cup was full and he could jump to the music and sing along, he was happy. Even the fact that his face was in the wrong place at the wrong time, when someone, completely by accident, punched him in the face, didn't disturb it.

Y/N, who also decided to pick up the pace after drinking her cider, immediately sobered up when she saw blood on her friend's face. She quickly pressed a tissue to his nose, but he tried to assure her that he was fine. His brain didn't encode the impact or the pain, didn't acknowledge that he was bleeding, even when he ran his tongue over his lips and tasted blood on them. People in the crowd started calling out to each other to see if anyone had a first aid kit. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a bandage appeared, and just as Y/N, being drunk, thought it would be a great idea to wrap Lando's face in a bandage, Max started asking people if they somehow had band aids. He couldn't let that dumbass parade around like that for the rest of the evening.

“I've sobered up a bit, I can keep drinking,” he said as Y/N finished clumsily bandaging his face, “I probably look worse that i did when i crashed in Vegas.”

Her friend tried to be serious, but it was impossible to stay serious around Lando. "You have to be careful, Lan," she said, trying to retain some sanity and touching his cheek, looking into his eyes, "I hope it's not broken."

"Bwoken," he repeated in silly voice, giggling "Oh no, it couldn't be bwoken"

"Honestly, i also hope it is not," Max interjected when he managed to rejoin his friends after some time, "Getting to the hospital now would be a near miracle."

"Hey, I'm fine," he said as Max waved the Band-Aids in his face and began to remove the clumsy bandage into which their friend had probably poured her whole heart and a few drinks that she drank earlier.

"I'm glad you don't feel anything, but that doesn't change the fact that I won't look at it," he replied, lifting his chin and examining his nose from every angle. Luckily this one seemed fine.

Once Max had placed two tiny patches on him, Y/N handed him his mug with a fresh drink again. "Brave patient," she smiled at him.

"In a state like this, I'd be surprised if he felt something," Max admitted, taking a bottle of vodka standing nearby. He decided that since Lando had had an accident, nothing worse awaited them and he could allow himself to loosen a bit more. He took a few sips and handed the bottle to the younger one, who smiled, tightening his hand around it. He looked at his friends standing in front of him, slightly drunk but still fully focused on him. He knew he was important to them and that he is not alone in all this madness.

"I love you guys," he said, with a bottle in his hand, pushing himself off the railing and hugging them, "You are the best in the world, simply the best."

The rest of the day and later in the evening took place in a great atmosphere and the party lasted until 3. in the morning. For the rest of Amsterdam it probably lasted longer, but for Lando it began to end after two o'clock, when he was barely able to stand. Partly from being drunk, partly from being tired. He didn't stand still during a single song, so the next day, apart from his face, his legs will certainly be visible. Taking a break for something warm to eat, Max, Y/N, and Lando sat down at one of the wooden tables. While waiting for their orders, Lando rested his head on Y/N's shoulder and closed his eyes. It was obvious that he just needed something to lean on to fall asleep.

"I think it's time for us to go," the girl announced, directing her words to Max. "The baby is only fit for bed now."

"He's been in great shape for a long time anyway, judging by how much he was on his feet today," Max concluded, glancing first at him and then at the girl, "But you're holding up pretty well, aren't you?"

"Yes, I do," she nodded and hugged Lando, who began to slide off her shoulder, "But I'm also getting sleepy."

"Me too," Max rubbed his face with his hands, "At least we can be sure that no one will wake us up first thing in the morning to explore the city."

He said, glancing at Lando, who was dozing with his mouth open on his friend's shoulder. After eating casseroles and fries, which were for Lando and which he was unable to eat, the three of them went to the girl's apartment. Of course, only she and Max were walking on their own, Lando was between them, leaning on their arms. He was muttering something incomprehensible under his breath, so it was obvious that he was alive and everything was fine, besides the fact that he was completely drunk.

When they arrived at the address and crossed the threshold of the apartment, they immediately went to put him in the bedroom, not wasting time in unfolding the couch for him. Max was in the process of stripping him of his shoes, pants, bloody sweatshirt, and all the necklaces and ribbons he had collected the previous day, while Y/N placed a large bottle of water, painkillers, and a bucket by his bed, as if the contents of his stomach had suddenly decided that they wants to get outside. However, there was no indication that Lando was going to have a restless night, because he started snoring softly as soon as his cheek touched the pillow. Max covered him with the blanket and took a few steps away from the bed, standing next to his friend who was looking at the sleeping boy.

"Can you hear that?" Max whispered, glancing at her, and she frowned questioningly, "It's silence, listen to it, because when he gets up, the only thing you can hear will be his lamentations about how hungover he is."

The girl snorted quietly and shook her head, taking Lando's clothes to the laundry.

"The most important thing is that he had a good time. And a little hangover never killed nobody."

The next day, however, did not bring anything unexpected. When Lando woke up, the first thing that hit him was a terrible headache that got worse when he sat down and tried to get out of bed. When he stood in the doorway of the bedroom, Y/N and Max's eyes immediately went towards him and Lando could swear that they looked like they spent the entire last evening on the couch.

"Hi honey, did you sleep well?" Max asked playfully, in the perfect mood for jokes since he himself was fine after last night.

Lando just blinked several times and wanted to wipe his face with his hands and collect some words to answer, but when he touched his cut nose, he cursed loudly.

"What the fuck?"

"A souvenir from yesterday," the girl answered him, getting up from the couch and taking out a frozen package from the fridge, which she handed to him, "I recommend a shower and I'll make you some coffee."

He closed his eyes and put the package to his nose, sighing and grabbing the bathroom door handle. Before he disappeared, Max just shouted after him.

"And don't puke in the shower!"

#f1 imagines #f1 #f1 one shot #formula 1 #f1 oneshots #f1 imagine #lando norris #ln4 #lando norris x reader #lando norris x you #lando norris x y/n #max verstappen #mv1 #mv33 #max verstappen x reader #max verstappen x you

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hussyknee · 3 months

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hi, i hope i am not crossing a line, please ignore if this is bad question. i am just curious

in one of your posts u said your caste is karava. this is the first time i am hearing a sinhalese talk about caste (i speak tamil and never really felt confident in my sinhala to make sinhalese friends)

can you explain about the castes or tell me where find information about it

Caste is a fucked up concept across the board, obviously, but Sinhalese castes are different from Tamil Hindu in that they involve the cultural and socio-political organisation of the Sinhalese community, and has no connection to religious scripture.

There are thirteen castes that still exist today. We used to be a chiefly agrarian society, so the majority of Sinhalese are Govigama ("Govi" means farming) and they're the kind of "bourgeoisie" of the social order in that few are above them and anyone else is below them. Those that rank below them are castes like Bathgama and Kinnara (who are meant to be agricultural labourers) Vahampura (something to do with making cinnamon or treacle) Navadanna (artisans, especially makers of jewelry) and Rada (launderers). Radala is the caste of the nobility, and afaik the only one above Govigama. They're all from highlands of Kandy, the last Sinhalese holdout against the Europeans for about 200 years. There's no nobility among the lowlanders (between the Portuguese, Dutch and British, they were either killed, assimilated or fled to Kandy) so the Govigama caste is the highest one everywhere else. This means Govigama used to be the only one that was qualified to join the Theravada Buddhist priesthood* and also receive education and job opportunities as government servants—right up until the mid-20th century, when the karava gentry turned into robber barons under the British Empire's demand for cash crops.

Karava people are the majority inhabitants in the Southern coastal lands, which are predominantly Sinhalese Buddhist, as opposed to the Tamil lands of the Northern coast (Eelam really) and the proliferation of sparsely-populated Muslim communities in the rest of the coastal belt. Karava is called the fisherfolk caste by the rest of country, despite their own strong objections. Caste is reckoned patrilineally. I'm Karava through my Dad and I married into a Karava family. Nearly every Karava person I know insists that we're actually the warrior caste and were given the coastal lands as reward for our service to the king. I'm sure there's a legitimate case to be made for this, (this site keeps being referred to me) but I don't care enough to find out because the Karava insistence that being called fisherfolk is a Govigama conspiracy is incredibly funny. I mean, it could be true, what do I know, but so much of the cope and seethe stem from our lingering inferiority complex and resentment at having been treated as inferior until a few decades ago. After being ground under the Radala and Govigama feet along with the rest for ages beyond record, suddenly us lowlanders were rolling in money from our toddy, coconut and rubber plantations, matching or surpassing the wealth of the nobility. We were chasing off Tamil and Muslim minorities to establish our own lost cultural capitals in Anuradhapura and Pollonnaruwa that predated the Kandyan kingdom and making our own sect of the Buddhist priesthood (Amarapura Nikaya) that would ordain Karava people. The robber baron types also got very chummy with the British colonial administration and were awarded cushy jobs in government over the Govigama, who still disdained industrialization and commerce. (To this day my mother's family looks down on business people no matter how rich. Merchants are considered grasping and untrustworthy.) By the time of Sri Lanka's independence from the British in 1948, we had two varieties of equally rich, snooty, virulently ethnonationalist Sinhalese elites who had gotten ahead by selling us out to the British, but with the highland Radala still believing they were too pure-blooded to mix with the hoi polloi and the lowland Karava resentful at being considered the polloi no matter how hoi they'd become. Post-independence, Sri Lanka's adoption of free education and free state universities saw masses of lowlanders, Karava, Durava and Salagama all, sending their kids to university to attain upwardly mobile careers in engineering, medicine and teaching. "If the boy is Karava he's probably in engineering" is a common joke. It's a clear shift away from our rural agrarian roots into urban sprawl and high socio-economic competition in place of social stratification.

We also have a caste of Untouchables called the Rodiya. In ancient times, you and all your family being stripped of their lands and titles and banished into the Rodi Rahaya was one of the punishments reserved for the noble houses that ran afoul of the monarchy. It condemned your entire lineage forever. This was such a dire fate that some would have favoured execution.

Rodiyas were not permitted to cross a ferry, to draw water at a well, to enter a village, to till land, or learn a trade, as no recognised caste could deal or hold intercourse with a Rodiya [...] They were forced to subsist on alms or such gifts as they might receive for protecting the fields from wild beasts or burying the carcasses of dead cattle; but they were not allowed to come within a fenced field even to beg [...] They were prohibited from wearing a cloth on their heads, and neither men nor women were allowed to cover their bodies above the waist or below the knee. If benighted they dare not lie down in a shed appropriated to other travellers, but hid themselves in caves or deserted watch-huts. Though nominally Buddhists, they were not allowed to go into a temple, and could only pray "standing afar off"

(Source)

Allegations of witchcraft and cannibalism aside, the Rodiyas themselves were known to be a proud folk that considered themselves the pure-blooded descendants of the royalty that were punished this way. Here's a Reddit post that expounds on them more, along with photographs. It seems that the strictures against covering up had fallen away between the turn of the 20th century and the '70s. Not much is known about their current living conditions, but I believe that, like India's own Untouchables and the low caste of Eelam's Tamil Hindus, they must have converted to Christianity to escape the stigma.

Casteism is still somewhat of a problem in the Sinhalese community, but it's lessening every generation. My maternal grandparents weren't entirely happy about my mother marrying my Karava father but conceded because he was an engineer with a stable career. My older cousin had to fight his Karava family to marry his school sweetheart because she was both poor and Bathgama caste (I think "Padu" might be a derogatory name for it). The fact that he succeeded is noteworthy because it would have been a huge scandal in my parents' time. The Radalas are still a bunch of insular dipshits who try to keel over and die if one of them tries to marry out. But many of them are also migrating abroad so Idk if it's too much to hope that they leave the caste shit behind when they assimilate into Western society. It certainly hasn't worked for the Brahmin Indians. But the outlook is better for the rest of us.

*There is no caste system in Buddhism. The Buddha in fact was an egalitarian social reformer who advocated against the Vedic caste system and ordained Untouchables as well as women. So obviously the Theravadin priesthood of Sri Lanka, that bastion of the Buddha's Word, would make sure that only high caste men could ever be ordained. Love the fact that the Karava social revolution just made sure they had their own sect instead of, y'know, pushing for anything more equitable. I always say that if we really want to protect Buddhism we have to abolish the Sinhalese.

#sri lankan culture #casteism #castes #anthropology #south asia #desi tag #sri lanka #sinhalese #govigama #karava #sinhalese culture #society and culture #knee of huss #asks #anon

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lain-at-the-gay-bar · 8 months

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lucky! hiii! i am bored on a train rn, sorry about the rambling....

first of all i am so sorry you had to learn german in school, fucked up language fr...(<- i am allowed to say this, you have to be nice to me and tell me you're sure i sound lovely speaking german and also you love my accent so much)

also i agree the Sie thing is kind of weird, like i am used to it, you kind of get a feeling for who to use what for, like there's absolutely older people who are chill with du but there's also some who are very much not..bizarre concept to me. to be fair there's people i'd feel weird using du for but most of the time du would just be soo much more chill?

the thing about it i hate the most tho is that sometimes in movie/series/book translations they just use Sie for waay too long imo, it just makes it super uncomfortable, i hate it so so much...

also the Sue/sie thing is stupid af, german and it's capitalisation are so annoying, why does this language need that many capital letters?🙄

HI EMMI :D ok honestly i think the fact that i had to learn it in school kinda fucked up my opinion of german like usually i really like learning languages but that was. well i almost failed on it. das ist die leben (did i do it right? probably not)

in dutch using U is becoming rarer and rarer, and i was used to never ever using it but now im doing a hospitality study so the teachers actually care about me using U, if not for them then for the customers lol. and that while i was used to calling my teachers either by first name or by whatever class they teach (think ms english, ms dutch, mr photoshop...)

the like.. using sie and stuff for strangers trips me up sooo bad, i would probs sound like worlds rudest person in any country with those kinds of honorifics.. well i am kind of rude tbh. but also nice?

you know what else is annoying about german... die/der/das. i mean i know dutch also has that problem (de/het) but its so stupid like all countries should just pick their favorite IT WOULD BE SM SIMPLER!! but well that will neva happen :[ de and het are just completly random half of the time and so people learning the language contantly mess it up cuz its STUPID!! ok rant over

oh yeah and im sure you sound lovely speaking german and i love your accent so much ^_^

#proffesional ask tag #this got long well. i am perhaps procrastinating atm...#have i ever even heard your accent. emmi you better hop into vc with me soon. ashies server has been a little bit more active as of late an #-ways :]

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panainpublic · 1 year

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i literally just finished shadow and bone and i am dutch so i get to shit on the dutch usage and pronunciation now hehehe >:D

i kept track of all names and words and stuff that i thought were dutch(-inspired) based on the word itself or context, then divided them into 3 categories: "yup, thats correct", "aaaaaalmost", and "wtf is this." (pronunciation will be thoroughly criticized later.)

(disclaimer i have only read a small part of SoC due to ✨life✨ so this is mostly based on the show)

yup, thats correct

the following words/names are completely believable, both in context and the name itself, + why:

tante Heleen - tante = aunt and Heleen is a very Dutch name; Dreesen is a real last name; Edam is a real place (their cheese is pretty good); Rozenstraat is a very generic and common street name; Edyck is the fancy old spelling of Edijk, which is probably either a place or someones name; Rietveld is a real last name; stroopwafels are real and oh so very good; Appelbroek, aka apple bottom jeans (or apple pants ig), could probably be a place name; Hiemstra is probably a real last name; Saskia is a very Dutch name; Lij could be a real place; Kooperom sounds so much like a real restaurant i actually would want to eat there now.

aaaaaalmost

these seem like theyre actually dutch names at first glance, but its just a little... wrong. off. (again, + why.)

Ketterdam, as ketter means heretic (probably why its named that tbf), would never be a real place name. it sounds very weird; "goedemorgen, fantomen" was pronounced so wrong i had to take another listen to pick up what he was saying, + wed use "spoken" instead of "fantomen", especially in the context of surprise survivors; Jakob is fine, but Hertzoon would be spelled Hertszoon. even then, its still weird - -szoon was only used with the fathers name, and "hert" means deer, which isnt really a name; Henrik Van Poel would be correct if Van was spelled without a capital. its a "tussenvoegsel", an infix, which behaves a certain way in dutch, including not being capitalized when the whole name is written out; (B/D)uysberg (dont remember exactly) is almost correct, but idk, something feels just a little off about it, especially if it was Buysberg, which is what i think it was; Kaz would be spelled with an s and maybe a C depending on the full name, and Brekker is right but just doesnt feel like a real last name.

wtf is this.

these arent dutch. these will never be dutch. no. (once again, + why.)

Kerch just doesnt sound or feel dutch, even when pronounced the dutch way (which it isnt in the show); stadwatch is a combo of dutch and english, which wed never do like this - just call it the stadswacht or the city watch, both sound better; Sturmhond is a combo of German and Dutch, make it Stormhond and id believe it (but i guess it was made up by a Ravkan, so its excusable); kruge is just not it.

alright. time to learn some dutch pronunciation and spelling rules.

all letters are pronounced, except, depending on context, for final -n.

g/ch = /x/ or /ɣ/ (make an s or z sound, roll your tongue back until its in the same spot you pronounce k), except for loan words.

ee = /eː/, or "ay".

y/ij/ei = /ɛi̯/ - closest thing i can think of is New Zealand "face" or Scottish "write". /aɪ/ ("I") would be acceptable.

uy/ui = /œy/, like finnish äy. nothing similar in English.

oo = /oː/, "oh".

oe = /u/, "oo" as in "loo" (not as in "book")

the rest is either right or depends on context.

"goedemorgen, fantomen". oh boy.

okay, so far we got /ɣud[e]m[o]rɣ[e] f[a]nt[o]m[e]/, where the letters in brackets are not yet explained and not necessarily obvious in pronunciation. from what i can recall, only one of them was pronounced correctly.

but lets start with stress patterns in dutch. the stress will always fall on the root of any given word, unless its a relatively recent loan word. in "goedemorgen", "morgen" is the root with the stress falling on "mor". they got this part right. in "fantomen" the root is "fantoom" with the stress falling on "toom". theres also secondary stress: "goedemorgen" is a compound of "goed" and "morgen", so it falls on "goe". in "fantomen", -en marks plural, and therefore secondary stress is on the other syllable of the root word: "fan".

if "e" isnt stressed in a word, its almost always /ə/ (e in "burden"). in this case, no e is stressed, so its all /ə/.

the first "o" is followed by multiple consonants, so its /ɔ/ (o in RP "sorry").

the second "o" is the shortened form of "oo".

"a" followed by multiple consonants, so its not the short form of "aa", and pronounced /ɑ/ (generic american english first a in "always")

this makes our sentence pronounced as /ˌɣudəˈmɔrɣə(n) ˌfɑnˈtoːmə(n)/.

#shadow and bone #long post #this is how i show love alright let me be #pana says things #wait i guess theres technically a spoiler in here #shadow and bone season two spoilers #sab s2 spoilers

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yeojaa · 3 years

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I agree and disagree on some points about streaming, esp bcs I studied IPR Law extensively. It is futile to argue about the morality aspect imo, bcs at the end of the day its illegal. So if someone streams n it gets taken down, HYBE is well within their rights to do so. People can be hypocritical at times when trying to defend illegal streaming, bcs at the end of the day the legal basis that is used to take down streams is the same one that protects all other creators from having their work stolen. For example when accs get reported for plagiarism - the basis for that is rooted from the same law. Without these means of protection creatives wouldnt be able to make a living out of their work. However I do understand about that not all people can afford bts content - it is expensive. Even when u do have the money it is often times wiser to keep it. It also feels silly since streams get taken down but clips get distributed almost immediately after. They also can’t take down everything cause people circulating these clips/pics/gifs/etc and talking about it is ultimately what makes bts’s career - its promotion. So like, when u rather not spend money but there are readily available links, ofc ppl are gonna watch- illegal or not. Morals be damned, ppl do things bcs they can. Just to be clear I’m not at all critisizing u for streaming bcs ultimately I understand, but I’m also saying that this is inherently a complex issue. Even in the legal field, the handling of these infringements is not at all black and white. I myself advocate for other alternatives, like going dutch with friends, if u can. In a perfect world we would all have money to spend on anything we want. But this world is far from perfect. Again im not at all coming for u, frankly as far as im concerned u can do whatever you want. Im just sending this as food for thought and to put things into perspective.

as much as i appreciate you coming into my inbox to give your opinion on streaming, it really wasn't warranted. i don't think i've disagreed that streaming muster broke the law. the whole point here - which, frankly, i think you've missed - is that just because something is illegal doesn't mean it makes the person who did it a reprehensible scrounge (as the original anon put it). sure, there are criminal laws that protect people, that keep, y'know, killers at bay. murderers behind bars. etc. but there are also laws that have been put into place to protect the 1% and to capitalise on the wealth disparity. not all laws are made equal. hello, the war on drugs and incarceration of bipoc?

so studying the law is all well and good and having an opinion on things is, fine, go ahead. i've been in law for the past five years, too. but the topic right now is about whether my streaming of muster, and hundreds of people's subsequent watching of same, made us bad people. the answer? no. (and this point, dear friends, is not up for debate.)

in case you'd like some food for thought:

someone pointed out that the muster tickets were priced based on the conversion from USD. while i've not done the research to check if this is true, if it is, that's a huge deciding factor on whether people can afford things. sure, for countries where their currency does well against the american dollar (euro, gbp), this isn't a problem. but for others? sorry capitalism has a chokehold on us and we'd like to escape it.

not all army are adults with jobs. some are teenagers, preteens, whatever. they may not have money or they may not be in a position to ask for it from their parents/guardians. but if they have the option to watch something from a group they really enjoy, they shouldn't? because oof! sucks for you, kiddos, but y'all are broke and stinky. that's unfair and classist.

comparing streaming of bts content to other creators having their work stolen is so... odd. because bts is not just another creator. bts is a huge group worth millions of dollars. they are signed with big hit (or whatever, hybe, idk) that's worth billions. do you think any one of us army that streamed muster would try to steal from an independent/small creator or business? do you really equate <1000 people watching a stream that generated over $100mil in revenue as the equivalent to stealing from an artist?

by the same logic above, gifs shouldn't exist. clips of performances shouldn't exist (outside of those prepared specifically by BH or their affiliates). scans and photo card pieces shouldn't exist. only the people who can afford things (which are not cheap, by any means) should be able to enjoy them and everyone else can kick dirt. again, divisive.

how do you think bts became popular? i mean, yes, they're wonderful and great and the boys deserve all the recognition in the world. but did they do it all, purely through their own advertisement and content? i mean, sure. but how was that shared with the community? probably because of people like me, people like the incredible gif and clip makers, editors, etc. on this site. personally speaking, if i hadn't seen all the clips and gifs i had when i first got into bts, i probably wouldn't have fallen so deeply into this goddamn bangtan hole. but i did. and now i've spent hundreds upon hundreds of dollars to support them. this sort of community sharing is what keeps demand high and helps people get into bts.

anyway, those are just a handful of points i really think you and other people need to consider, as well. at the end of the day, you can have whatever opinion you want. will i respect it? maybe, if you present it like this. i don't and won't agree with a lot of what you've said but here ya go.

#incoming.eml #anon.eml #captaindumbass.txt #muster2021.txt #discourse.txt

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bluu-spectre · 2 years

Note

I find it really interesting that you say you're a good person yet you actively engage in mortal kombat fandom/content which actively encourages violent behavior and identity theft on top of hatred of family. It's disrespectful to parents and teaches kids to disobey people and will raise them to be VIOLENT.

Plus, your interactions with fall out content leads me to believe you're a pessimist who wants the world to end in nuclear war for the "aesthetics" which is really gross. Do you like capitalism and radiation or something? Why do you hate humanity so much?

Also, you've yet to say anything about Elden Ring. Why do you hate maidens you misogynist?

(FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES: THIS IS A JOKE!!!!)

uhhhhhhmmmmmm :///// wow can't believe this i'm just a silly little guy and u mad u aint got no knees

can't pray to jesus

can't double dutch

maidenless behavior

#yes this is a joke #i told my friends i've never gotten anon hate in my 12+ years of being on tumblr #so they gifted me with this <3

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vegetalass · 4 years

Note

hcs of the gang being quarantined in one big house together maybe?? 🥺 lub ur writing

i lub u, anon!!🥺 sorry this took forever!

General

Oh my godddddddddd

They had to stop doing movie nights because there was too much fighting

They tried to set it up such that everyone got a turn to pick a movie but there were still complaints

Now, movies are viewed at random and the policy is that

1. The TV is first come first serve

2. You have to announce when you’re using it

3. Anyone is allowed to join you

This has stemmed into multiple people shouting “IM WATCHING _____” at random times

And yes, people will try to hide the remote (mostly Sean)

If they can find it, that is

The lines between public and private property have been blurred. Everything must be labeled or there is a chance someone will take it

You can risk it, but it’s not recommended since they’re all dudes and will most likely eat anything

And even with your name on a box of graham crackers, there’s still a chance someone will stick their hand it in and steal a few

All the dudes walk around in their Long Johns like it’s not awkward

They have to do their own laundry so everyone is missing socks

Or they have extras

And wet laundry is constantly being left on the ground if it’s unattended and someone needs the washer

Arthur

This dude double dips

He licks the spoon and puts it back in, too

Gets yelled at a lot for this, but never remembers to stop

Everybody is afraid to touch all of the dips now because of this

And Hosea has to start buying separate ones just for Arthur

He’s the one who takes 3 hour baths

I imagine that there’s multiple bathrooms in the house but not enough for everyone so there are definitely times when people are like “WTF, Arthur you’re still in there?” or “Where’s Arthur?”

Usually it’s Charles or John because they don’t mind sharing a bathroom with each other

Cue Arthur having accidentally fallen asleep in the tub

But yea he’s just chilling in there, otherwise

Started the quarantine off by trying to fix up the house… But immediately got lazy

There’s probably a number of things he keeps saying that he’ll “get to, eventually”

The only reason Dutch hasn’t called someone is because it’s a PANDEMIC

Technologically challenged

Barely knows how to turn on the TV and still uses an iPhone 5 that has pretty much stopped working

John has given up trying to explain how to make things fullscreen on YouTube

Because of this, probably spends most of his time wandering around the yard and reading or journaling

Tilly even bought him some scrapbooking supplies, which he’s been trying to use

Little washi tapes and highlighters because she knows it can’t get too complicated too fast

She also makes him an Instagram account so he can take photos or post art

But figuring out how it works is a losing battle, and he never remembers to use it, anyway

“I think we should get a pet”

Everyone: “Arthur... Do we look like we take care of ourselves?

If anyone tries to talk about how annoying the quarantine is, starts ranting about people who refuse to take it seriously

And the conversation ends up spiraling into him blaming capitalism for everything

John

Every other meal he eats is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or Doritos

He does that thing where he wraps a bowl or plate in plastic wrap so he doesn’t have to wash it

Doesn’t clean up after himself

Leaves used tissues, slimy butter knives with PB on them, and crusty socks laying around

Unluckiest of them all

His snacks get taken the most, the bathroom is always occupied when he needs it, never gets to use the TV, his laundry is always moved, etc.

Always ends up using the bathroom when there’s no toilet paper

Texts Arthur for help and then makes an announcement in the group chat about “common courtesy”

Nobody replies

His texts are full of messages to Abigail that all say the same thing

“Help.” + “Please come get me” + “I hate it here”

They’re all left on read except for the occasional response asking if he needs anything from Target

The list he sends back is like four paragraphs long and it’s all dumb stuff

He’s like “FaceTime me when you get there, I wanna go shopping too”

Doesn’t even really want to leave the house for necessities, so he has to do stuff like water down his soaps or steal other people’s toiletries just to prolong how often he needs to go shopping for himself

He’s the one using Irish Spring from the dollar store mixed with water or a block of orange Dial soap that hasn’t been touched in five years

Charles tries to throw away an empty hand soap and John is like “THERE’S STILL SOAP IN THERE LOOK” *mixes water with it*

Steals razors and Shampoo

Thinks conditioner is “unnecessary” and “doesn’t do anything”

Complains about being bored but doesn’t bother to do the things people that people offer

Charles

Voluntarily becomes a recluse

Not because he wants to but because everyone else is too annoying to deal with

He’s forced to start using the internet and when he’s not on the computer he’s trying to block out the noise of the 8 other men he lives with just living

Going on walks is his other hobby

Also probably buys one of those adult coloring books to color

Like Athur, Charles hogs the bathroom

It’s not as bad as Arthur since he’s not in the tub for the whole time but he really will spend an hour getting ready in the morning for absolutely no reason

If anyone asks about it he just tells them that since they’re in quarantine there’s no reason to rush

But he does get yelled at if there’s no other bathrooms available

Becomes a self-care connoisseur

Walks around in a bathrobe and face mask just to try and achieve some sort of zen

Literally the only one who doesn’t walk around half naked

Besides Hosea, the one of the only guys who tries to wake up on time and eat three healthy meals a day

The house is entirely dark and he’s eating toast while Hosea makes coffee

It’s awkward, not because they’re weird about each other but because no one else is awake and it’s quiet for once

Dutch is the third person up and Charles leaves the kitchen by the time he’s around

Gave up trying to do the dishes and only cleans what he uses

Sometimes if he feels like being nice he’ll do Arthur’s dishes, too

But only if he gets something back in return, like Arthur doing his laundry or something

The only one who changes his bedsheets on the regular

Him and Kieran are the only ones trusted by Hosea to leave the house safely

Micah

Everyone is surprised Micah isn’t dead yet

Everyone is constantly fed up with him for something or for just being irritating

And try to ignore him for the most part, which is hard

Tries to defends himself with “Well, you don’t have to bother me if you don’t want to”

Doesn’t clean up after himself, either

John leaves more mess, but Micah does worse stuff

While John just leaves his dirty peanut butter knives around, Micah does stuff like forget to put the mayo back in the fridge, leave the bread bag out and open, forgets to bring his used dishes to the dishwasher, throws his trash in other people’s trash cans, leaves his wet laundry in the dryer, etc.

If it’s annoying and gross, he does it

And tries to eat food that other people have made for themselves or don’t want to share with him

Dutch is the only one who shares with him willingly

Does not pick up his hair from the bottom of the shower

And doesn’t clean the sink after he shaves

Honestly, I doubt any of the drains in the house work properly because so much shaving goes on

It’s honestly surprising to everyone that he takes the quarantine seriously

Accuses people of being sick even though all of them have barely left the house…

Wears a mask inside when he’s feeling salty

He doesn’t even care about the mask, it’s just to make people feel gross and bad about themselves

Besides Sean, he’s always trying to hog the TV

And everything he watches is annoying, pretentious, or both

Complains about there being “nothing to watch” despite always having something on and refusing to stop

Tries to smoke inside and literally always get busted for it

Even if other people are doing it too, he’s the one who doesn’t even bother to be by a window when he does it

His room is always off limits

If you need something from him you need to knock and wait in the doorway

Also does the “You’re too close… Step back, please” thing

And if anyone gets mad, says it’s a pandemic and he’s just trying to be SAFE

Mostly does this to feel powerful

Turns in to Uncle Jr. with all the complaining and berating he does

Uncle is honestly offended

Hosea

The only person allowed to do the shopping

He gave up trying to give people lists because the groceries they came back with were never right

Either too few, too many, not the right stuff... You name it

See here for more

That’s why, despite being the oldest, he’s the one who goes grocery shopping for meals twice a week

Refuses to buy alcohol because of incidents that they’ve had

Can’t stop people from sneaking it, though

Similar to Dutch in that he gets annoyed when people oversleep, but because its quarantine, he tries to not mention it, and at the worst, gets passive aggressive

Tries to make a chore chart for people to follow but it gets ignored

He ends up having to force people to do things by reminding them constantly

He’s the one who starts opening people’s doors in the morning and turning on the lights

Makes everybody start eating on paper plates with plastic silverware because he’s tired of trying to make people use the dishwasher

Arthur doesn’t know how, John doesn’t put his plates in the right place, Charles refuses to since no one else contributes to keeping it neat, Micah doesn’t even know they have one, Kieran also can’t fill it correctly...

Basically, it’s too much for Hosea to handle

His dinners are all Costco pre-made meals that can be made quickly

Frozen lasagna and prepackaged salad type stuff

He’s the guy who falls asleep on the couch sitting up while watching TV and if you try to talk to him he says “I’m awake” without opening his eyes

And if he’s using it, don’t even think about suggesting to change the channel

The answer is and always will be no

Even when he’s not really paying attention

And it’s either on the History Channel or Discovery Channel

Always complaining about how cold his feet are

Doesn’t let anyone touch the thermostat

He’s an in real life Elf on the Shelf

Dutch

If anyone, and I mean anyone starts sleeping in, he gets in a really pissy mood

“While I’m up, doing work for you, you’re sitting in bed being lazy!!!” and “What do you mean you don’t understand why! Why should I have to tell you why wasting the day is annoying to all those who are working!”

Even despite this, he can’t actually change the fact that no one wakes up on time

And it’s not like the work he’s doing for them is very important

He’s the one who thinks that a pandemic is the perfect time to be or do something useful

Eat healthy, write a book, pump iron… Anything

And when people complain about being useless he’s like “You have all this free time!!!1! Stop complaining!!! You can do anything!!!”

And if he’s doing something he considers useful, yells at people who try to bother him

Arthur: “Hosea wanted to know-”

Dutch: *doing sit ups* “CAN’T YOU SEE I’M BUSY?”

When it’s his turn to cook dinner, he’s making 8 boxes of Trader Joe’s mac and cheese in a huge pot and calling a meal

Literally the only meal no one complains about

He won’t clean the pot when it’s finished, though

Literally just cooks and leaves it out for someone else to deal with

Another self-care aficionado

Also walks around in a bathrobe and face mask

He’s worse than Charles though, because while Charles wears pants... Dutch will be booty ass naked under his

Also keeps trying to make homemade masks and scrubs and walks around in those, too

He’s like “This is a good one, I can tell already”

Everyone: “Dutch... is that... mayo... in your hair?”

Annoyingly good at monopoly

Does not invite Molly over and gets yelled at over FaceTime

Cue everyone eavesdropping on their arguments

Goes on power walks

Yells at people when they listen to loud music with swear words

Honestly, always yelling at people

“Can somebody get me my slippers? Arthur? John? Hosea? AnYoNe!!!”

Kieran

Spends the least time in the bathroom because he’s afraid of getting yelled at

Does everything in five minute increments

Except for showers, when he allows himself ten minutes

Barely

Most of what he eats is just microwave popcorn and shredded cheese

He’s the one asking people if they want to go on “family walks” with him

Literally no one joins him

Also tries to play board games with everyone

This goes a little better at least because Hosea will sometimes play and if he’s there, a few people will definitely join

Very bad at monopoly

The most conscious about wearing a mask

The others wear them but Kieran is the one who wears double masks, gloves, and carries around Febreeze

Also will get mad if anyone forgets their “safety equipment”

Or if they’re within six feet of him in public

Props to him though for staying healthy

I’ve mentioned this before, but... Spends most of his time playing games on a big tablet wearing headphones

Candy Crush and FarmVille and Words with Friends and stuff like that

Though all of his internet friends are weird old ladies he doesn’t know

Everyone is mad at him for sending non-stop game notifications, too

Hosea is the only one who responds to any of them

He’ll never admit this, though

Also tries to start doing arts and crafts

Mary-Beth started telling him about the various crafts she’s been doing, so he’s started trying to follow along, too

Things like crocheting or popsicle stick art

His stuff all looks bad, but he’s just happy to be doing it

And to be FaceTiming Mary-Beth

When he gets to choose a movie, he’s picking a “family-friendly” movie like Inside Out or Lilo and Stitch

Everyone starts out being mad but they all end up watching the whole thing without complaining

Heated debates ensue, too

For example, like about whether Flynn should’ve cut Repunzel’s hair in Tangled

“YOU’RE GONNA LOOK AT ME AND TELL ME THAT I’M WRONG?”

Charles + Arthur vs. Dutch + Bill

Makes meatloaf or Hamburger Helper like once a week

They’re basically the only thing he knows how to make

Sides with Arthur when he suggests getting a pet

Wears a Snuggie

Doesn’t change his socks

Javier

Plays his own music very loudly and won’t turn it off or down if you ask

Either that or he’s practicing guitar

It’s not really that bad but when you can’t escape it.... People get mad

The only saving grace is that the singing is usually in Spanish so it’s not as bothersome

The door to his room is always closed

Refuses to open it

To talk to him, you have to knock and then he’ll exit

Dutch is the only one allowed in and he thinks Javier’s rules about entering are creepy so never does it

Javier cooks his own food and won’t share

Only makes enough for exactly one person so even if he wanted to, there’s not enough

Eats dinner in his room to prevent people from bothering him or asking for some

However, he has the biggest stash of quarantine snacks…

No one knows where he gets them

And getting him to share is like trying to do a drug deal, but he’s not against it as long as he gets something in return

He didn’t personally cook all these snacks so the rules are different

His room is full of scented candles to make it smell better since the whole house kinda smells like Boy

Buys a gamer chair at the start of quarantine

Claims it’s more comfortable than the office chair that Dutch and Hosea chose for everyone

Everyone is jealous

Wears fuzzy pajama pants only

Sean

Sean is the one sleeping in

Never sleeps in his bed and just falls asleep wherever, basically

Usually the couch

Because he’s always snoozing, he’s the one who watches the most TV

Micah claims this isn’t “fair,” despite doing the same thing

And even if he’s not watching TV, he’s just using the couch to watch Tik Toks full volume

Tries to make his own Tik Toks, but they either stink or no one wants to participate

Constantly having people get mad at him for recording them

Stopped wearing clothes the moment quarantine started

Always in a tank top and his underpants

It’s kinda weird

People cared at first but by now they can’t be bothered to complain since they’re

1. Used to it

2. Probably start doing the same thing

Leaves his laundry laying around

Also won’t share anything he’s eating

Gets mad when people steal food

Doesn’t address anyone in particular though, just walks around yelling about how “nobody has the common decency not to steal”

Has food delivered almost every other day

No one knows where he’s getting the money from, either

Everyone think it’s a waste

Mostly because he doesn’t share, but also because all hell broke loose when Hosea found out about an expense called “delivery fees”

Also has a stick up his ass about wasting food

Started yelling about this randomly, too

If he can’t force someone else to finish leftovers, he forces himself to finish them

Probably gets caught watching a certain type of nasty video a lot

Lowkey it probably happens to everybody at least once

Yells at anti-maskers

Tries to wrestle the other boys and gets his ass handed to him

Bill

Possessive of everything

Usually he’s not this bad but being cooped up with a bunch of thieves and liars doesn’t make him confident that his Circus Animal cookies will last very long

Doesn’t share anything and very adamant about making sure there’s labels on things so nothing gets mixed up

Also makes his own space in the fridge with tape

BILL’S SPACE DO NOT TOUCH

And will start yelling in anything is moved

Not as bad as Sean though because he only cares about his own stuff

The whole thing is super hypocritical though, because he definitely steals other people’s stuff

If he gets caught, claims “it’s only fair”

Hosea has to buy him soap because he won’t buy it himself

Definitely the one who learns how to make prison hooch with cranberry juice and yeast

And the one who eats all of the ice cream

Even the nasty flavors

Wears the same clothes everyday because since he’s not working, “they’re not dirty”

They start getting holes in them, though

If anyone tries to suggest something for him to do, he gets mad and claims he “knows how to entertain himself”

Also constantly accusing people of being in his space or business

Ends up starting a ton of fights over this and then complaining about how mean everyone is to him

He’s not doing it on purpose, though

Ends up buying some kind of gaming console to pass the time

If he buys an Xbox, he shares with the rest of the boys

If he buys a nintendo switch, he starts playing Animal Crossing and doesn’t put it down for weeks

Out of everyone… He’s the one who takes the pandemic the least serious

He follows the rules because he doesn’t want to be eaten alive by any of the boys, but he probably thought the virus was a hoax at first

He learned his lesson the first time he tried to go out without a mask and got locked in the car, though

Forgets to flush the toilet

His room is dirty

#red dead redemption 2 #red dead redemption 2 headcanons #rdr2 headcanons #rdr2 #arthur morgan #HOPE U ENJOY ANON SORRY IM SLOW #and will probs continue to be slow #my car broke down at mcdonalds today LOL and by the time it got fixed mcdonalds WAS FUCKING CLOSED #i was so sad my mom actually ended up taking me to a different one #but they didnt have what i wanted LOL #but it was fine bc i was happy with just fries #also y'all.... my sink is fixed and let me tell u #I AM NEVER PAYING FOR A PLUMBER AGAIN #i took that bitch apart and snaked it myself #and enough hair to make a wig came out of it but she was fixed #and i saved so much money my mom bought me lunch as a reward #LOL #anyways i love u all thanks for reading hope this shows up in the tags and u like it #i hope i put enough!!#and lmk if i should republish in a new format #i keep getting scared to make a new post and not answer anon directly #oH WELL JUST CATO PROBLEMS #also went back to work and it was... fine i guess #idk #Anonymous

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normal-thoughts-official · 4 years

Note

My headcanon has always been that Alec figured out he was gay very early in life (I've ALWAYS been/I ALWAYS knew/I ALWAYS dreamed) which is... interesting bc visibility and representation must have been a huge issue when he was growing up. This sort of reinforces my interpretation that Alec has always been very in touch with his feelings and very honest about them (he only chose to hide/not act on them). Which is I think what Magnus figured about him from the very beginning ->

-> (it's rare to find a shadowhunter with such an open heart). Which is also funny and sort of on point bc Alec's siblings were widely mistaken about Alec's issues. It also explains why Alec doesn't have any major hang-ups about relationships or expressing his feelings, something a lot of viewers took an issue with (like why is Alec not emotionally stunted or things like that). That said, I keep thinking about Magnus and how he was exploring his sexuality. I mean imagine Magnus talking to his father. Magnus: I feel like I'm into both men and women 🤔 Asmodeus: Great! The amount of people you can seduce and murder has increased exponentially 👀 I mean, poor Magnus 💀

i feel bad for laughing at the asmodeus part but ur so correct hdbdudbdidndidndidndidn

and u know i agree with u 100% on the Alec stuff, this is a hill I'm willing to die on, Alec knew that he was gay since forever, he wasn't lying to himself, he just chose to keep it to himself. he made that very clear every time he talked about it too, i always KNEW i couldn't get what i wanted, I've ALWAYS dreamt, like you said. key words always, knew, and wanted. he was extremely aware throughout the whole process and i can't see it any other way. Alec is terrible at lying and that includes to himself, hes painfully logical and aware and hes been trained to pay attention to his own body/reactions/thoughts and approach them logically and dissecate them from the very beginning. theres no way he was oblivious to his own feelings, or else his lies in s1 wouldnt be so clearly bad.

Alec is, for better or for worse, painfully self aware and that's something i identify with, possibly the part of him i relate to the most. he's struggling because he know it's not safe to come out and he's decided that he wont, so he doesn't, to anyone. but he knows exactly how he feels and that that's his choice. then, when he meets Magnus, he's confused, not because he wasn't ready to face that he liked men (he knew that pretty damn well) but because he was questioning whether he really wanted to go through with his "closeted for eternity" plan. and there was the whole marriage thing. but he wasn't confused about what he wanted, not for a second. he was confused about what he was going to do, and how honest he could be to Magnus about it.

and like you said that's why their transition into a relationship goes relatively smoothly. if Alec were in denial, it would be a lot harder for him to go from that to the Alec we see later on, who is very emotionally available and open with Magnus, who loves him openly and unashamedly, who threatens Maryse to make her respect him and their relationship, who bursts into Magnus' house like "hello lets have sex". Alec can fit into a relationship with so much emotional honesty because he's always been emotionally honest. he just chose not to tell people about it because he was in a place where that wasnt safe

as for Magnus! I hc that his sexual discovery went like, relatively smoothly. I mean he was raised in a recently-colonized Indonesia, which. okay had europeans out there trying to ruin things, but was very open and accepting of both gender and sexuality, and didn't have a binary view of either. and asmodeus wouldnt care because like you can't tell me that demons and angels give a shit about gender, even if by some odd reason they did have a gender system that's exactly like the modern western european mundane one. so i think that growing up, Magnus didn't have a lot of issues with his sexual & gender identity. It wasnt like "figuring out" and "coming out", more like it slowly became clear and he was like "okay". not a lot of denial involved.

I've talked about this here (sexuality) and here (gender) and there i put more sources and everything so I'm... gonna leave that here rjdndjdnfk but i think Magnus' self discovery wasnt the problem, the problem was the shock of getting to England after the Asmodeus Yeet and seeing how different things were.

i mean, he was no stranger to queerphobia (he had a dutch stepfather after all) but when he was a kid, the dutch didnt really manage to colonize Java and interfere with their customs because the javanese empires were stronger, so they were mostly settling by going there to trade, same as always. so Magnus didn't really have to live in a time where people had to hide who they were

and then he comes back from Edom and it's like. you will literally be executed for this. what in the fuck. people meet in like secret underground clubs, terrified of making every mood. some dont even do that and suffer alone. no one thinks this is weird. people act like its always been this way. what the fuck

and hes struggling because after he banished asmodeus he thought he could finally be himself, you know? escape the need to like get his approval and the fear of angering him, get away from his gross, manipulative claws - you get it. he thought he could breathe and be out in the open and live his own life, but he can't, because so many parts of who he is - his culture, his origins, his gender, his sexuality, the color of his skin, his heritage, his powers - are being constantly repressed by the meat grinding machine of early capitalism and colonialism, and it's like, wow.

so Magnus never really lied to himself, either, but he did learn how to hide, and do it well. he doesn't have a lot of internalized queerphobia in the sense that he thinks it's bad that he's trans and bi, but one of the most prominent results of queerphobia in his life (aggravated by a thousand other things) is that hes gotten used to bottling things up and compartmentalizing himself and his identity. hes learnt to be what ppl expect him to be, and to show them only what hes safe to. its instinctive for him, to hide certain parts of himself, be it his immortality, his queerness, or his pain. and it's one of the reasons he struggles so much to be fully open and honest with Alec about how he feels. it's why it's so instinctive for him to stop everything and hide because his glamour went down. he knows that Alec knows about it, but he's used to hiding the parts of himself that people dont want to see

and that's without throwing Camille and her abuse into the mix (which i talked more about in the aforementioned links. like not to self promote but i am pretty proud of those asks so you know) and of course Asmodeus himself, and how they also taught magnus to hide his weaknesses, not be honest, "stop whining", cut off his own feelings and thoughts to please them. again i talked about this in the links. okay ill stop idndidn

in short, Magnus never really struggled to come to terms with his identity, but he learnt quickly that he isn't palatable, and he never will be - not to his mom (even if again i dont think she killed herself because of him, but Magnus believes it), not to his stepfather, not to his father, not to mundanes, not to the white european queer community, not to anyone. so he knows that, to survive, he needs to be able to bottle things up, and even if the people he loves work hard to convince him every day that this isnt the case (Catarina, Raphael, Ragnor, Dot, Alec) old habits die hard

#im sad now lmao #ask #anonymous #alec lightwood #magnus bane #alec lightwood meta #magnus bane meta #malec meta #meta #malec #camille belcourt is an abuser #camille's trash party #asmodeus' trash party #overflowing trashcan #long post #trans magnus bane

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inyoursheets · 4 years

Note

fuchsia! blue! emerald! coconut (which i must confess i did not realize was considered a color but sure)!

fuchsia: favorite land animal?

generally? wolves bc they’re cool and you know it. specifically? the cat that’s currently chilling next to me who coincidentally also yells me awake each morning + is the only living being im allowed to touch bc pandemic, baby!

blue: preferred type of weather?

i just tried to answer this but honestly i dont even know anymore

emerald: if you had the option, would you choose to move and live in another country? which one?

hooooo boy, yes i would. i kinda wanna move back to the uk, in terms of language + having a great time living in birmingham + maybe possibly slightly yearning for somebody i dated for like, two seconds bc im that useless, but also back to sweden, in terms of social welfare + the way the country is structured + the way swedes are absolutely fucking insane when drunk (tho come to think of it, so are brits, just differently) or norway / finland for similar reasons. but in sweden and in the uk i’d actually know some people already which is nice. the times ive lived there were short tho, and always with the knowledge id be going back soon, so maybe im kinda naive what it would actually be like.

also, visa things, brexit things, pandemic things, job things, idek if it’s possible, but i do genuinely consider it an option some time, also bc ive discovered i a) really dont like the netherlands that much and b) thrive more the further away i am from my family. idk there’s something very freeing about really being a stranger. some person. zero expectations just vibes. that said, i did miss the city i live in when i was in sweden, bc it IS a great city and it’s nice to know a place this well. but i also love discovering a new city and making it home, however temporary

coconut: a subject you enjoy learning about

oh oh oh i actually keep a (non-exhaustive) list. are you ready? in no particular order

setting boundaries

how to healthily process feelings

introversion / HSP

fat politics

sex and body image

Christian sex positivity

white privilege

dutch (neo)colonialism

anti/capitalism

anything related to cisheteropatriarchy, really

writing

screenwriting

parenthood / raising children (not bc i want to raise any but bc im TRYING to make sense of how i was raised)

relationships & friendships & the transition between & all the ways in which what i’ve learned about those things are biased

shame

body shame

gender studies + intersectional feminism

thank u my friend!!! color asks

#ask #ask games #mego42 #coconut is indeed a... very interesting color #also i ACTUALLY got used to walking on the left side of the road and now that skill is USELESS #at the end there i really went fuck it i should probably add what im actually studying #for somebody who's so interested in these topics i sure dont work on my thesis that much #ok by NO standards do i work on it much #can u hear me crying #about me

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transrightsjimin · 4 years

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facemasks are FINALLY mandatory in at least a bit more places in the Netherlands since December 1st, nd my municipality sent us two disposable facemasks this week along w a message that the letter is meant to make us feel less lonely? we've been in this pandemic for 10 months now and only recently do i see more ppl in (poorly worn) face masks 💀💀💀 fucking hell, initially a lot of types of face masks weren't even allowed to be worn in public transport, which was the only place a few months after that where you were obligated to wear one, bc we were told medical face masks were scarse nd would take away from the ones medical staff need, which in reality turned out not to be the case at all nd there were a lot of fuckups in receiving help from otyer countries or rather refusing to.

but ALSO there are still potential plans to allow more groups of people to gather together for christmas like R U FUCKING KIDDING ME my mom recently asked if i had big plans for christmas or if i wanted to wait until the PM's announcement nd i was just like??? neither???!!?

like the dutch governments role in this whole thing is making PSAs with information that is a bit off and already too lax when compared to the WHO's advice, but also the only actual policies were barely there nd kept being dropped

while the dumbass self entitled general public that has no sense of community or empathy has acted like jackasses for months abt the idea of wearing masks or social distancing nd were only prepared to take covid measures if enforced by law WHICH IT MOSTLY ISNT

at the start of the pandemic, the fucking dutch government donated MILLIONS to the airport of Schiphol and flight corporation KLM despite the owners making enough money anyway, homeless ppl still arent given permanent shelter, nd the already deteriorating social systems nd underfunded sectors will now prob get budget cuts again, that the working class have to pay for in not only taxes but moreover through losing jobs, cultural facilities, and housing. fucking hell, the main reason the hospitals have no capacity for covid patients and other patients is these very budget cuts on healthcare, leading to hospitals having to close before this pandemic started!! im fucking tired of capitalism nd the apathy in this country nd normalized fascism that blames the very immigrants who are either exploited here or dying at the borders of fort europe, blaming them for the very shit that the people racists vote for have caused to the domestic economy!!!!

my cousin has covid, my 85 yr old demented grandma has covid nd is getting extra oxygen transferred(? is that the word), my capitalist uncle nd aunt flew here from the US to first get tested nd then visit her in this suit thing nd theyre staying here in the home of dutch friends who r currently in the dutch colony Curaçao which makes me even more frustrated bc these white people can just go on vacation in this dutch colony while the actual population was fucked over by the dutch government nd left jobless in the pandemic nd told to suck it up nd once ppl revolted, the dutch govt sent the military to 'regulate'. like wtf and white dutchies just travel to carribeans from a covid-infested country for their fun little vacation bc oh it is so suffocating when at home in a safe home!! like the fucking privilege of it all!! like im so fucking tired nd sick of this crap!!! im SICK of it all nd i dont even have the fucking virus

#rambles #ok to rb #dutch stuff

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andersunmenschlich · 4 years

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Episode 2: Do Not Open

Oh, we're just charging right into the statement this time. Cool. I suppose we did get the setup, uh, set up in the first episode, so nothing more's needed. Onward to a whole ton of horror stories!

I wonder how they'll connect or overlap? ...I might be assuming too much, but being as they're all set in the same universe....

All right, so this one's about a man named Joshua Gillespie.

It's from 1998? Huh. Going back in time a bit, aren't we? I was only nine in 1998, and I was twenty-two when the last statement was given, so.... These archives really are out of order, aren't they. I wonder how he's picking them?

Okay, so Joshua's in his early twenties and he's taking a weeks-long vacation with some friends. In... Holland? I didn't know that was a vacation destination.

But then what do I know about vacation destinations? I can't go above ground while the sun's up, so I never really go anywhere, do I—and frankly I don't really want to. I like being underground, in the dark, surrounded by books, and I don't like being rushed around here and there and everywhere anyway, which seems to be par for the course for away-from-home-vacations so far as I can tell.

This Joshua certainly seems to have done a lot of rushing around here and there. "There were very few points where I'd say that I was entirely sober and even fewer where I acted like it"? Sounds exhausting.

Anyway, he wakes up earlier than his friends one day and leaves them to sleep off their hangovers while he goes to look at buildings.

Apparently Joshua Gillespie is an aspiring architect.

He's wandering around Amsterdam, and he can't speak Dutch, and he gets so lost that he only makes it back to familiar ground after it's started to get dark, at which point he decides to pop into a cafe for some reason. Oh, and apparently he's on drugs.

I predict that Mr. Sims will discount everything Joshua says just on the basis of that.

Well, I would.

Oho, and a strange man turns up at Joshua's cafe table!

From the description, he sounds Unremarkable. With a capital U, because he's just so Ordinary that there's nothing about him to notice, really. And apparently Joshua didn't notice him walking in or sitting down or anything like that, so he's clearly very Unnoticeable.

Mr. Unremarkable calls himself "John." That's interesting. What do you want to bet his last name's "Smith"?

Ooh, and he wants Joshua to look after a package for him. And he pays him a ton of money! Up front! That doesn't seem particularly wise, Mr. Probably-Smith!

...And then he just walks off?

I'm lost. Where's the package, then?

Looks like he just vanishes. Joshua's got all this money for looking after a package, but he hasn't actually got any package to look after. That's very odd. Can't say it's the way I'd do it, if I wanted someone to look after a package for me. I'd say Mr. Unremarkable has something else in mind, but the statement was introduced as being about "an apparently empty wooden casket," so....

O..kay. So Joshua just hangs onto the money for a whole year without spending any of it.

He must be a weirdly rich student.

But then again, what do I know about money? I make just enough for rent every month (most months, anyway), and get my food from people who, for some reason or other, seem to want me to not die. Which is nice of them, I suppose, but a bit baffling.

Anyway, Joshua Gillespie finally spends John Probably-Smith's money on a nice apartment, and a week later the package finally turns up.

The delivery men don't sound normal. "Weren't wearing any uniforms"? "Well over six feet tall"? At least they're very task-oriented: confirm you're delivering to the right address, make the delivery, leave. No wasted time chatting or answering questions or making friends or anything, which strikes me as exactly what one wants in mail delivery—competence and efficiency! In and out, no hanging about. I think I like these two just fine, whatever they are.

So it's a huge cardboard box, and when Joshua cuts it open there's a coffin inside. And the coffin is sealed with a chain and a padlock.

Okay, if you're not thinking "vampire" at this point I don't know what stories you've been reading, watching, or listening to, because clearly you've missed all the ones I grew up with. This is just so amazingly obviously vampiric that—well, I don't know. Is this that kind of show? I suppose it might be....

Ah, and carved into the wood of the coffin are the words "Do Not Open."

There's the title-drop, then.

Joshua doesn't know what's up, but fortunately there's a note from "J" who is almost definitely John Probably-Smith from Amsterdam, which jogs his memory.

He's weirdly affected by the coffin. He calls in sick to work, for Pete's sake. That seems like a really strange thing to do! Suppose someone paid me a great deal of money to look after a package, and then one day a package showed up—well, all right, then. All's well. Right?

Oh, and the coffin is warm. That's....

Gotta say, I'd probably spend a lot of time around it. I like warmth. My average body temperature is a couple degrees below what's normal for humans, so I like hanging out around warm things.

That probably wouldn't be healthy in this case, though, would it?

Joshua is obviously nothing like me. He's so freaked out by the oddly warm coffin in his new apartment that he's got to go make himself some tea to calm down, and then when he's sufficiently calm he goes and drags the coffin into his living room and pushes it up against a wall. Oh, and he pulls the key out of the padlock (yup, the padlock came with a key, very tidy) and just leaves it on a table by the front door, which strikes me as untidy.

The chains around the coffin aren't warm. That's interesting.

And it takes him a full week to get comfortable enough with the idea of a coffin in his living room for him to start using the living room again!

Joshua Gillespie is a wuss.

...Then he puts a glass of orange juice on top of it. Why would you do that? It's warm, clearly it's going to make your juice all warm and gross, don't use a spookily heated coffin as a cupholder for a cold drink, that's idiotic.

Also, it's wood. Use a coaster, you oaf.

Apparently the coffin also objects to his lack of consideration—or maybe it's just interested in the orange juice, who knows.

Anyway, it seems like something inside is scratching on the underside of the lid. He picks up his cup and the scratching stops. He puts it back down and it starts again (after four seconds). He picks his cup up again and the scratching goes on for another five minutes, which is... a lot longer than the immediate stopping it did last time, you know?

So he decides to leave it alone, which is probably the sanest choice to make under the circumstances. Frankly I think I'd probably do the same thing, although the temptation to run more experiments would be really strong. Opening it, though? Nooo, I don't think that idea would even occur to me. I mean, it's not my package to open, is it?

Oh hey, it's the kind of coffin that moans when it rains. That's interesting.

Also interesting is that Joshua Gillespie is apparently the kind of person who would usually have people over.

I mean that he's the type of person who'll actually let other people into the place where he lives. On purpose! He doesn't say so straight out, but it's heavily implied. Can you imagine? What sort of mentally unbalanced nutjob would do a thing like that?

All right: I admit I've done it a few times myself, but that was different. I only invited one person at a time, it was a one-time-only thing for each of them, and I was doing it in order to, you know, observe humanity close up under controlled circumstances—not to make friends or encourage visits or anything like that! It isn't as though I actually wanted them in my home the way Joshua apparently does, that was just the best way of getting the information I wanted.

Joshua Gillespie kind of freaks me out.

Returning to the story: it's raining so hard that it's turned dark outside (which is some of the best weather, I think), and Joshua's reading The Lost World.

I haven't read that book in a while. Despite all the books I own, I don't actually have a copy of that one (though I do own Jurassic Park), and the last time I read my dad's copy the last few pages were missing. Anyway, it's a good book and I approve Joshua Gillespie's taste in this case, weird social freak though he may be. Also his eyes are clearly terrible, because he has to get up and turn on a light in order to keep reading, which I've never had to do in that kind of weather.

The way he describes the moaning sounds really pleasant, actually. "Almost like singing, if it was muffled by twenty feet of hard-packed soil." Not only could I live with that, I think I'd be tempted to sit up against the cozy warm coffin and read with that and the rain for background.

Sounds nice.

This guy, of course, doesn't know how to appreciate what he's got. He doesn't just leave the room, no, he puts on music so he can't hear the coffin 'singing'!

Then he starts getting bad dreams. He doesn't remember them, but it sounds like he's dreaming about suffocating? When you wake up clutching at your throat and struggling to breathe... yeah, he's being choked or something. My first thought (because of the coffin) is "buried alive." I've never dreamed about that, but it doesn't strike me as fun.

Also he's sleepwalking, which is interesting.

So this coffin (or whatever's inside it) is getting inside his head? That seems really dangerous! What good are the chains doing? Can't we get some magical seals or something?

Looks like the coffin wants him to open it, because he keeps waking up with the key in his hand. I guess he can't just throw it out or anything—I mean, it's not his, so throwing it away would be... I dunno... wrong? And also it's untidy. The key clearly goes with the padlock, you can't just chuck the key, then they'd be unmatched and that's just not right.

What would I do in that situation? Hmm.

I suppose I might tape the key to my back. Getting it off would definitely wake me up, I think. And I'd probably also tape a plastic bag around the padlock.

Oh, he freezes it in a bowl of water! That's clever. I don't think I'd've thought of that.

A year and a half, he's got to hold on to this thing. That's a really long time. No wonder he got paid so much! I mean, I could do it no problem, but you've got to admit keeping something that big in your living space for that long is a bit of a bother. Especially when it keeps messing with your sleep.

And they come to pick it up on a rainy day... when it isn't moaning. That's odd. I wonder why it isn't moan-singing?

Oh, don't tell me they wanted someone who didn't know what it was to starve it.

That's it, isn't it? The vampire or whatever is dead now, so they've come for the body and they'll haul it away and... oh, and apparently they're surprised that Joshua is still alive. So maybe they were expecting him to feed it (unintentionally) and will be upset that it's dead?

It's all three of them: John Probably-Smith and the two efficient deliverymen. They don't seem too bothered, though....

Joshua breaks the bowl of ice, John gets the key, and Joshua doesn't follow them into the living room. Apparently he's not curious, which—well, frankly, I would be! Which might get me killed, since it looks like there was screaming and then John Probably-Smith didn't come back out of the living room.

So I guess whatever it was, it was hungry.

The deliverymen carry the coffin out, their van says "Breekon and Hope" on the side, and Joshua considers himself well out of the whole thing.

Sure enough, Mr. Sims pounced on the drug use. Haha, I thought he would! Also on the lack of witnesses, but honestly I think that's just normal, don't you? Who would normally have witnesses in their home? You don't, in general, have other people in your home! Though I suppose he could've talked to somebody online. There was internet when I was nine, you know. I used it.

Looks like Mr. Sims tells his assistants which written statements he's transferring to audio as a regular thing, because another one of them (Tim this time) did some research.

Breekon and Hope were a real courier service until 2009 (I was 20!) and then the business was liquidated—and apparently they didn't bother to keep records of their deliveries (or at least they didn't bother to keep them safe), which is very untidy and I disapprove.

So are those two deliverymen "Breekon" and "Hope," or are they just employed by "Breekon and Hope"?

Not that I s'pose it matters, really....

Wait, what? The apartment building Joshua lived in was totally vacant except for him? For the whole two years he lived there? That seems really improbable and I'm incredibly envious!

So in this story a man gets a vampire coffin, starves the vampire while it reaches into his mind and tries to draw him to it, then the bland fellow who gave it to him turns up to take it back and gets eaten by the vampire, whereupon the coffin-keepers just walk off with the thing and all is well.

...I guess?

I have so many questions.

This is really good! I'm really liking this podcast so far. It's definitely weird. Two episodes in and I've already noticed that the monsters aren't particularly good at luring people.

That's part of what makes me doubt that the 'vampire' is actually a vampire—vampires are good at luring people! Joshua would get alluring, sexy dreams tempting him to open the coffin, not nightmares, and the thing in the alley would not look like a corpse on a stick!

...At least, not at first. Not if these things were good at their jobs.

#The Magnus Archives #episode 2 #commentary #late to the party

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avoidingwar · 4 years

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What the hell is this book about??

(copied from this post if you wanted context)

so it’s like kinda fantasy: medieval with a twist.

The twist is gays

there’s four main characters which is kinda scary for me because so far I’ve only (successfully) pulled off books with one mc, but this’s got FOUR!

The first two are siblings: Monte and Ivory. Ivory’s older, a little bit bitchier and meaner but she’s in it for the right reasons. Both are the kids of the king of this one kingdom Caelest

They’re introduced as these terrifying badasses, they run Caelest’s military and have never been defeated. They’re merciless and the shit you tell your kids about to get them to stay in bed after dark.

And then you actually meet them and they’re just softies.

Ivory’s still pretty intense, she likes pretending she’s emotionless™ (she want’s that Andrew Minyard vibe yknow) but she ain’t

Monte’s just full on softie. One of the first things he does is break into the kitchens at midnight so his boyf can have some toast.

Then you’ve got Izetta: she’s the top assassin for this other kingdom: Kantoga

(Context: Kantoga’s like the resident liberal arts bitch while Caelest’s here on an american football scholarship and they want EVERYONE to know they were scouted. They hate each other, like, a lot)

(If you’re a nerd like me: Kantoga’s really heavily based on feudalish, end-of-the-Heian-period Japan mixed with current America + a lil bit of ancient Athens while Caelest is like Caesar’s-rising-to-power-era Rome/ peak Imperialistic Giant Britain (before Partition) + just a hint of the 1800′s Dutch)

anyways, if you want to see a picture of Izetta just look up the dictionary definition of ‘feral.’ She get’s hired to kill Monte and Ivory and she couldn’t be more excited.

And finally, Sinclair: he’s essentially Merlin but with character arc rights

(no I’m definitely not salty about how the show Merlin destroyed all their best characters why would I be salty about that the show ended like forever ago! XD)

He’s Monte’s ‘assistant’ which basically means personal servant/ advisor/ bff/the only person who doesn’t take Monte’s shit/ yeah just a lot they’re close

but....... (uの‿の)⊃━☆

There’s more (u✿⍘✿)⊃━☆ﾟ.*

Things you should know about Sinclair:

1: he’s terribly in love with Monte

2: he’s a Kantogan spy

Good news!

Monte’s also terribly in love with him

Bad news!

yeah that spy thing’s shit

The whole story is that Kantoga and Caelest both really want to start a war with one another and Sinclair doesn’t want that because it’ll fuck up his bf and Monte doesn’t want that because it’ll make Sinclair sad and Izetta totally wants that because she’s addicted to bloodshed but Ivory DOESN’T want that because war is shit and fuck it and also capitalism :)

So Ivory decides she’ll prevent the war by killing her dad and becoming queen (he sux so it’s cool).

Sinclair decides to prevent it by helping Ivory.

Izetta decides she’ll cause it by killing Ivory and Monte

And Monte just wants some downtime so he can smooch his boyf

[other characters, taken from this post if you want context :)]

There’s also Bones, a gender rejecting hermit who’s lowkey magical and names their chickens after modern-ly famous prisons (Guantanamo, Alcatraz, Elmina, etc)

Amos, who’s Monte and Ivory’s second in command/ best friend/ dad

and Lena! Who’s Ivory’s assistant and the ideal mom™

Here’s some of my favorite little bits cuz I love them all and literally cannot stop myself from sharing at this point I’m sorry akjdsfa;. (∩>‿<)⊃━☆ﾟ.*

#Izetta #Ivory #Monte #Sinclair #Bones #Amos #Lena

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drewstarkey · 4 years

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thanks for tagging me! @rretrophilee @tomfreakinghollandneedsaoscar @pixelated-pogues 💞

rules. answer 17 questions and tag 17 people

nickname i dont have one :(

zodiac sign taurus

height 5’9 (177cm)

hogwarts house slytherin 🤭

last thing i googled recipe for pasta

song stuck in my head TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME by the 1975

followers 2178 most of them are from my 5sos era and are inactive but u know 😌

amount of sleep 5-8 hours it really depends!

lucky number 7 or 21

dream job no job fuck capitalism no okay but probably an artist or designer

wearing beige wide leg jeans and blue bleached shirt with some jewelry

favourite song dreamland by glass animals

favourite instrument probably piano

aesthetic i lovee the carefree summer aesthetic with late night talks on rooftops and campfires and drinking in the park and staying up until sunrise why do i like outerbanks so much huh?

favourite author saskia noort a dutch author

favourite animal sound sksjdj probably birds?

random i know my plant is dying but i still forget to water it rip

i tag whoever wants to do this!!! just say i tagged you hahaha 😌😌

#this was fun!!!#tags

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sataniccapitalist · 5 years

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youtube

Ewald Engelen: "If You Want to Save the Planet, Capitalism Will Really Have to be Challenged"

Published on 13 Nov 2019

For today's WASF Doomer Headline of the Day, I read an essay about "eco-modernists" by Dutch geographer Ewald Engelen.

Here is the link to the article:

https://www.groene.nl/artikel/magie-2...

If you would like to support Humptydumptytribe and Collapse Chronicles, here are a few ways you can do just that. Thank you!

Here is the link to my Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5140032

Here is the link to my new Go Fund Me campaign:

https://www.gofundme.com/hambonelittl...

Here is where you can send a donation via PayPal:

[email protected]

If you would like to send a physical check or money order (no cash!), please email me at [email protected], and I will send you a mailing address.

Thanks, Guys!

#capitalism #ecocide #news

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kevingeo333-blog · 5 years

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Water Management & the Netherlands: a study

In the fall of 2018, I studied abroad in the Netherlands and quickly fell in love with the vibrant culture and the friendly and entrepreneurial people. As I learned more about the nation’s history, I was fascinated by the age-long battle between the Dutch people and the sea. As the nation is mostly below sea level, the country’s engineers are familiar with the most advanced technology and best practices when it comes to water management and flood prevention. After all, 26% of the nation is below sea level (3) and over the centuries the Dutch have reclaimed more than 2,700 square miles of land from the sea (4). When I was presented with the opportunity to study a specific topic related to hazards, I immediately knew that I wanted to learn more about Dutch water engineering and how it has impacted the globe.

My research was aimed to answer one central question: How has the Netherlands used its water management expertise to mitigate both local and global natural disasters in the light of rising sea levels and climate change? As I began my research, I initially was interested in the historical relevance of water management in the Netherlands, but over time I realized that modern-day global collaborations between the Dutch and other nations was of much more interest to me. With that being said, I plan on first discussing how the Dutch people have demonstrated engineering excellence at home and then moving into global applications.

There is no clearer display of Dutch engineering expertise than Rotterdam, which is the financial capital of the Netherlands. A booming city of just over a million people, it contains the largest port in all of Europe and serves as a massive center of trade between the EU and the rest of the globe. The center of the city was almost completely destroyed during World War II, and engineers have played a large part in the city’s reconstruction over the last 75 years. Rotterdam is situated exactly at sea level and is home to the Maeslant storm surge barrier, which is the world’s biggest (1). The barrier itself consists of “a pair of steel lattices twice the size of the Eiffel Tower, lying down on either side of the channel connecting the Netherlands’ second-biggest city to the North Sea”. This barrier was built in the 1990s and can protect Rotterdam from a surge of up to 10 feet. This surge would only be present in the case of a one-in-10,000 year storm under current conditions, but the Dutch believe that climate change is likely to make storms of that magnitude more frequent in the near future. An engineer interviewed for the article about the barrier stated that estimates for flood damage “will be at least 700 billion euros. If you instead spend every year one billion euros, you spread the bill over 700 years. That’s, I think, the Dutch way” (1). I found this quote absolutely fascinating, as it not only represents my experience of the Dutch mentality extremely accurately but it also represents a stark contrast to the American mentality before Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Levees in New Orleans were only designed to withstand a one-in-100 year storm and quickly failed under duress, leading to hundreds of million dollars of damage and hundreds of lives lost. This mindset was In addition to storm surge prevention, the Dutch have built a massive seawall to protect the entrance to Rotterdam’s port (1). Based on the worst-case scenario of sea-level rise from climate change (a foot of rise by 2060), this sea wall accounts for the changes we will experience over the next few decades and ensures that the Netherlands will be among the world’s most prepared countries when it comes to climate change.

Fortunately for the rest of the world, the Netherlands has decided that it is in everybody’s best interest to collaborate to tackle the issues surrounding rising sea levels and climate change. Their knowledge has been shared with countries around the globe, from elsewhere in Western Europe to North America and beyond. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana leaders sought out Dutch expertise as they attempted to rebuild New Orleans and mitigate disasters in the future. As a result of this collaboration, different neighborhoods across the city have storm resilience models that are adapted to their unique characteristics. This approach can be seen through the “Gentilly Resilience District”, which uses resilient design elements like water-permeable streets and sidewalks, medians between streets and former woodlands designed to function as stormwater holding facilities, and a recreation area that can hold over 38.000 cubic meters of stormwater (5). These measures will help New Orleans as climate change increases the frequency and intensity of natural disasters, and also mark a shift in the mindset of officials and citizens that led to the deeply painful impact of Hurricane Katrina. Instead of preparing for 100-year storms, the city is adopting a precautionary principle and sees the value in paying less upfront rather than paying more down the road, which I believe is to everybody’s benefit.

In addition to collaborations on infrastructure in Louisiana, the Dutch have shown their desire to collaborate heavily with California to advocate for overall sustainability. For instance, as the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles rapidly approach, seminars like “’Sustainable Cities, the Dutch Approach’” combine “Dutch experts and LA stakeholders in resiliency and smart mobility to exchange challenges, solutions, and expertise” (2). Although this does not directly tie into water management itself, the lessons that the Dutch learned in terms of contingency planning, flexibility, and budgeting in order to protect their cities will pay dividends as they’re shared with other nations in exchanges like these. In addition to the Sustainable Cities project, the Netherlands used lessons they learned from the “Room for the River” project, which was one of the biggest mitigation projects in the country, to help California manage issues they were facing managing water (6). My favorite part of this project was that although the Netherlands was worried about managing an abundance of water, California was worried about managing water scarcity. The two governments were able to share lessons and strategies in both situations and create to a mutually beneficial discussion, which I think is highly valuable.

Ultimately, the knowledge that the Dutch people have learned from their battle against water for the past few centuries has paid off both at home and abroad. Lessons regarding vulnerability, resilience, and contingency planning are incredibly important and can help resolve global issues as we plan to mitigate the effects of climate change. I admire the Dutch government for their willingness to share their expertise to improve disaster preparedness efforts around the globe, and I genuinely believe that they will be a key asset as my generation seeks to mitigate the disastrous effects of global climate change.

1. Bentley, C. (2015, September 1). As sea levels rise, Rotterdam floats to the top as an example of how to live with water. Retrieved from https://www.pri.org/stories/2016-06-20/sea-levels-rise-rotterdam-floats-top-example-how-love-water.

2. Beijersbergen, K., & Diebels, E. (2019, May 2). Holland Resiliency Week California: Making cities future proof. Embassy of the Netherlands. Retrieved from http://nlintheusa.com/holland-resiliency-week/.

3. Ireland, L. (2010, February 13). U.N. Climate Panel admits Dutch sea level flaw. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-seas/u-n-climate-panel-admits-dutch-sea-level-flaw-idUSTRE61C1V420100213

4. Wee, R. (2017, April 25). Countries With The Most Land Reclaimed From Seas & Wetlands. Retrieved from worldatlas.com/articles/countries-with-the-most-reclaimed-land.html.

5. Iovenko, C. (2018, October 15). Dutch Masters: The Netherlands exports flood-control expertise. Retrieved from https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/dutch-masters-netherlands-exports-flood-control-expertise?fbclid=IwAR0_069_g5UqBecSig-GlvhBt3dhkKYtivfY4hqM0yNHl83Z10I4GHUVn4w.

6. Water Management: Embassy of the Netherlands. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://nlintheusa.com/water/.

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