Ruins of the Frauenkirche, Dresden, 1971. From the Budapest Municipal Photography Company archive.    

okay. listen. if you ever find yourself falling into a new ideological circle, pay attention. if you notice that you’re among people who define themselves as part of an “in-group” with a pre-prepared human “enemy” to constantly rail against—if everyone fantasizes about the mental state of these loathsome monsters, if they participate in witch hunts or (perhaps worse) poke bears and court harassment on purpose to comfort each other over—get the fuck out. you haven’t been enlightened to some grand conspiracy, there are no evil “enemies” or “degenerates” trying to rip apart the fabric of society, and you do not have the moral duty to “enlighten” anyone to whatever you think the “truth” is. it’s neither safe nor normal to spend hours of your day fighting with strangers on the internet

a lot of people wear this shit like a badge of honor, but it’s also not normal to hide your “in-group” status as a form of martyrdom, relishing when the “enemy” slips up around you. it’s comforting in the moment, but in the long run, you’re alienating yourself from the world outside of your bubble. the more you alienate yourself, the more vulnerable and lonely you become, and the harder it is to reject the comfort of belonging to the “in-group”

i’m writing this from the perspective of someone who grew up in a cesspool of awful, cult-like rural churches—which is its own situation—but i see similar shit happening in online communities all the time, both within and 800 miles outside of my own ideological principles. yes, every toxicass radfem i block seems to be trapped in a version of this vicious cycle, but i also see it happening in random queer circles and niche fandom communities. no one is immune, not even me. i’ve watched people fall into this shit and never make it out. be careful

just to be completely clear, the amount of military power and political influence Israel has has NOTHING to do with its settlers being Jewish. Israel is a force for American & European interests in the region and they're just doing what America does and allows/encourages its close allies to do.

war crimes aren't considered war crimes when someone America finds useful is doing them. european and american pushback against anyone criticizing Israeli apartheid & genocide is 100% because these crimes are useful to American & European hegemony.

Governments that are deeply antisemitic, like France, aren't suddenly caring about Jewish people. Jewish people, persecuted the world over, don't hold some kind of hegemonic power outside of Israel.

The state of Israel and its attendant brutal treatment of the locals are both incredibly useful to the US, and American hegemony means we're expected to celebrate both.

not bc they're Jewish. this isn't a break in the pattern of western antisemitism and it's not evidence that antisemitism doesn't exist.

it's just like how you could get fired for saying shit against the US war in Afghanistan when i was growing up. it is 100% about US military and political interests (ok slightly western europe too but lbr)

Today's Flickr photo with the most hits: another from Buda Castle. In this shot war damage from 1945 is clearly evident. Possibly the impact from RPG.

so cool that fanfiction won anne rice’s war on fanfiction

Season 1 Episode 11: successfully tags ship

Season 3 Episode 11: fails to tag ship

oh i KNOW they did this on purpose 🫠

height ahh difference

HE BURNS LIKE THE SUN INSIDE!! I WOULD BEAR YOUR BURDENS FOR YOU IF I COULD!!

Little boys see toys and say "I can take that!" Oh, you are my little boy.

Seeing rots is dangerous for me bc everytime I see pregnant Padmé I break down in tears.

I know I’ve already talked about this shot too much

BUT COME ON

Frauenkirche ruins, Dresden, 1970. From the Budapest municipal photography company archive. 

Batman #137

This is so satisfying. Kick that old man's ass, boys <3

Every time someone refers to dinosaurs as "lizards", when a) dinosaurs are archosaurs, not anywhere closely related to lizards in the slightest (birds, however, ARE a form of dinosaur) and b) lizards are their own uniquely adapted thing that isn't just "generic reptile", I take 260 million points of damage you know, the amount of time its been since dinosaurs and lizards shared a common ancestor

The empire hates to see two bad bitches winning

No. Sorry. They are not “collateral damage” they are human beings who happen to have been born there and live there and most of those human beings are stuck there. Have some compassion, they are Palestinians not buildings or roads or things, they are human beings and so are the hostages whose lives you may also be destroying. They aren't “collateral damage” either. —Mark Ruffalo

Detonation imminent

Based off something that happened in my first playthrough of act 3. a heads up would have been nice, Larian!!

ft. the winner of this encounter