I’ve seen a few people asking why Thrawn would attack the New Republic – shouldn’t he join them and fix the system from the inside, or just go back to the Ascendancy? Why would he destabilize the galaxy further?

But if you think about it

Really, the only reason Thrawn needs is to believe that the New Republic is a threat to the galaxy. Which, well...

Thrawn joined the Empire to oppose the Grysk, because Thrawn believes in a strong military. Thrawn’s not good at politics, and deals with everything in military terms – remember the Lioaoin's economic issues? That’s why he got along with the Empire, and why he put up with all their crap. In Thrawn’s head, big military = big victory = stop bad guys = good.

Enter the New Republic.

What are they doing? Disarming. While there are still pirates, the Hutts, Imperial Remnants, and, of course, the Grysk nipping at their heels. In the midst of a tumultuous time, they are deliberately weakening their ability to meet the challenges ahead, and opening the galaxy to invasion. Says Thrawn.

It doesn’t even matter if they’re Grysk influenced or just stupid – it’s the same result. The galaxy loses. His people lose. Says Thrawn.

What do you expect him to do? Join them? Of course not – he at least knows he’s terrible at politics. And the New Republic is all politics – it would put him at a disadvantage, in a fight he cannot afford to lose. And it would open him to attacks on fronts where he has no power: trials for war crimes, possibly leading to execution – or worse. The Mind Flayer.

You think Thrawn would risk his mind?

Besides, better to ask forgiveness than permission, as they say.

And if you want something done right, do it yourself.

Conquering the New Republic would be better for everyone, Thrawn says. It would save the galaxy from annihilation, allow him to turn the resources of the Empire against evil, bring peace and order to the galaxy and beyond. He would keep all the good of the Empire, Thrawn says, while getting rid of all of the bad, Thrawn says – whatever that means to him.

For the greater good, Thrawn says.

Everything he’s done has always been for the greater good, Thrawn says.

The tragedy is that he believes it.

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

It’s a quote I often rolled my eyes at. The common interpretation is that good intentions, when acted upon, may have unintended consequences.

But I recently had a thought. Something I think makes more sense.

Those who believe their cause is good will justify their actions no matter how evil those actions are.

That is something that has been done throughout history. I’m seeing it even now.

A side will do unspeakable evil to their enemies because they believe they are “in the right”, or “We are the good guys”.

It’s easy to point out the evil when it’s your enemies and those you disagree with, but the hardest part is looking at one’s own side, one’s own actions and seeing the truth.

If one wants to be morally right, they must do what is right. Do not use a good cause to try to justify evil. For you are only staining the good cause with the blood of vile action.

I can’t think of anything more vile than committing acts of evil and acting as if it’s good.

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

what im really enjoying about dungeon meshi is that at no point the progression felt unnatural. the stakes are so much higher than when they started and so is the general tone of the story but i was never like, "woah, thats a really big jump". everything made complete sense as the natural next step

Making a seperate post from the reblog I typed out about the fact that I have just became convinced that I have never in my life had an interaction with a stable person. Maybe I'm not the socially impaired one, it's been you all along...!

I have quite a lot of sketches of a few particular guys from my class (because they sit right in front of me most of the time so they're the first people I draw when I feel like drawing anyone from my surroundings)

We're literally finishing this part of our... education and I thought wooo wouldn't it be so neat if I put all the drawings I have of these guys in like a collage or something as a little gift for them?

I messaged a guy who, I'm pretty sure, thinks I'm his arch-nemesis for... some reason? and has been treating me as such for the past few months (the hatred is strong but the need to look at me is even stronger!). Because he's a part of this group and I was once very chill (more than chill, actually) with him but never spoken more than a single sentence to the rest of the group, I was going to ask if he thinks that idea could work or if the others would find it weird. And if I maybe could have more pics of them because there's mainly... one guy in these drawings and it's unfair, ya know? But before I did, I wanted to be my usual funny self and so I was extremely vague and asked him if he could do me a small favour. I specified that it's nothing weird because... well, you gotta, clearly.

Why be so secretive? Again, I thought it'd be funny and, besides, I was going to include him in these collages, too. So I wanted to keep it a mystery for at least 5 minutes. What's the point in a surprise without an actual surprise?

I got no response and instead I was promptly removed from his friends on Discord. So that was... something. That's partly on me for being so mysterious about this "favour" but cmon... You could have just said no...

I was polite about it and said I mean I would have preferred a no but if that's how you want to do it, congratulations user.

After 20 minutes (and a tea-like drink!) I decided that it's actually hilarious and so I messaged him to tell him that he actually made my evening because it's pretty funny and that he should carry on doing what he's doing (with a 🌟 at the end. You know. Gold star. For your efforts. Maybe not the continual efforts to make me a cartoon villain but... for something)

So yeah... I am an evil (and a very bad!) person for all of this, as you can see... :D

As a self-proclaimed cynic, I think a lot of people who call themselves by that name do it more for the "Diogenes pissed on people" part than anything else, completely missing the point. Cynicism is more like "society is on a road paved with good intentions, and if pissing is going to get them to notice, I'll do it." Diogenes spit in the face of those who feasted while others languished, he held a lantern in the daylight searching for a good man. He wasn't a misanthrope, he was a warning.

Vegyn - A Dream Goes On Forever (feat. John Glacier)

it's pretty fucking insane how so many humans will use anything to justify their hatred for a group of people. kids books about puberty exist? better harass some random unrelated trans people about it. israel exists? better harass some random unrelated jewish people about it. covid happens? better harass some random east asian people about it. like, you don't actually think do you? do you just live your life being fecklessly led around from hot take to hot take by your emotions, learned biases, and baser instincts? with no logic or reasoning at all? do you actually have any genuine beliefs? or are your morals and actions held up by a foundation made of loose hay, vulnerable to even the smallest gust of wind? how do you sleep at night knowing the foundation of your mind is so fragile?

actually mal’s selfishness driving her to close the barrier was so sexy. ‘i did for us! for the life we have here now!’ yes girlie i love it when characters act out of selfishness for people they care about. when the intentions behind a detrimental action are understandable! mal was trying to keep her family safe and protected! she did it for them!

Someone made This comment under the video so i wrote an entire fkn essay on Impulse: I feel like any of the people cruel enough to participate in the harm of an innocent woman just because she is vulnerable before them can be considered pure evil

Me for some reason:

wasn't the whole point of the art piece/social experiment exactly not this? have you no introspection? it came to show that 'evil' is not some intangible concept that someone either is or is not. evil is an act, a choice, by either the individual, the group, or the society. statistically how likely is it that all of these people have some inherent dark, sadistic personality? highly unlikely. more likely is that the first offenders had the natural curiosity "what would happen" or "what is this like" or even like the woman who made this video said, "one-upping each other" as a form of contest. both curiosity and contest are ambivalent human instincts-- neither inherently Good nor inherently Evil. the way in which these instincts were applied was the evil-- not the person/people and not the instinct. humans are, though we like to deny it, still animals, and this fact becomes very obvious through experiment. the entire point is that, through the cruelly applied curiosity of one person, there was a ripple in the group and in the society. another instinct, that is programmed into all-- very much sane and well adjusted humans-- the social instinct. heavily enmeshed groups act as one, which is one of the reasons why diversity is another important aspect of humanity; without it, the group and the society would become unhealthy and dysfunctional. the very fact that one woman took to wiping Marina's tears and comforting her despite the actions and attitudes of the group shows that. every person fundamentally changes what you do as a person-- and psychologically no human can isolate themselves without going crazy. so yes. pure evil. sure. but this isn't a "oh this is a bad evil man who is by personal atypical nature flawed and violent." it's a "this is an example of evil actions inspiring more evil actions." in dehumanizing herself, Marina gave the group the opportunity to be openly animal-- and not proper humans. she did not tell them to hurt her, but the reason it was an option was arguably to draw the conclusions one can draw from watching/learning about this experiment. that evil is not abstract, not inherent, and not something that is impossible to prevent. and too, obviously we face Marina's pain-- but part of the art piece is the group, not just her. we need to think about what they are thinking, why they are doing what they are doing. the first slap: impulse, in my opinion but feel free to draw your own conclusions. most of the rest likely ranges from real sadism/intentional cruelty (a small percentage) to curiosity, groupthink, contest, etc. (most of it).

think of it in a slightly less dramatic scenario. someone says they have an injury/defect. curiosity + impulse drives you to ask to see it. impulse + fear of the unknown + disgust causes you to lash out upon seeing it and call them/their body gross. this hurts them deeply. did you hurt them? yes, undoubtedly. did they deserve it/ask for it? nope. could this have been prevented by better analyzing your instincts? yeah, probably. but here's the really important question. when you first asked to see it, or at any subsequent point even-- was it your intention or goal to be cruel or harm this person? the answer is no. hurting someone does not necessarily mean you are a Bad Evil Person. nor does helping someone necessarily mean the opposite. humans are complicated and intentions and actions can correlate but are not the same. evil and good are created, they do not exist in a vacuum.

Extra note: this person assumes the intentions of all participants and bystanders, treating the group as a monolithic unit rather than a complex system of clashing desires that naturally try to reach a consensus. there is, in my opinion, a general misunderstanding of why people hurt people in most cases. yeah, sometimes some people are just cruel for the sake of being cruel. but this is an exception, not the rule. the very worst acts we have heard of are for the most part not grounded in the desire to harm but in misguided extrapolations of normal instincts or ideas. if we cannot understand that evil and good only exist insofar as we believe they do-- and are reflected more by effect than cause-- then we will never reach the collective ability as a society to prevent evil. anyway yeah people who think evil is an inherent trait to random individuals and not simply the result of a harmful action or actions hurt my brain.

white people shut the everloving fuck up about what appropriating peoples culture means challenge and just enjoy your goddamn sparkle dragons

No, Gabriel. “Anything” does NOT go.

Vegyn’s The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions

a road paved with good intentions.

Vegyn - Halo Flip (feat. Lauren Auder)