I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to have been in the queer movement for 20+ years, to have studied queer theory, to have contributed to you potentially enjoying the rights you have today because I was part of a groundswell of lobbying and direct action in the 1990s….
…to have a 15 year old who’s spent maybe 8 months being political and has never inquired about queer history anonymously message me, “EXCUSE ME QU**R IS A SLUR LMAO OMG EMBARRASSSING AN aCTUAL ADULT WHO THINKS IT’S OKAY TO USE QU**R!~!!!!”
Dude, we are a slur. Queer folks are a slur to conservative straight people. Everything we are will be used as a slur by everyone who hates us. Gay is a slur. Lesbian is a slur. People will try to use all of our words against us. Don’t fucking let them get into your head to the point at which you’re telling actual queer people not to use the words we’ve used to unite ourselves and empower ourselves for decades.
All right, @notsumma it won’t let me reply directly to your reply on the SPN Tirade because this website is CONSTANTLY in need of a white knight (I love X-Kit guys) and is currently acting up with that function, so here we go:
so assuming that by s7 the show you liked was 4 years dead, that lines up with Eric Kripke’s opinion. you know, the creator of the show. he wanted to stop at the end of s3, but the network was like ‘nah, we’re making money.’ then at the end of s5 he didn’t reup his contract, so everything from s6 on is just high-production-value fanfiction.
THIS EXPLAINS SO MUCH, the first three seasons are good fun–it ain’t Shakespeare, but I knew what I was getting into–and even up to five…sort of hung together, at the very least, and then it goes OFF THE GODDAMN RAILS, wow, this answers so many questions. And also, like, basically I was right? It’s basically two totally different Frankenshows with the same characters and premise loosely divided by the whole Lucifer situation.
look I am sleepy and tired and I've got some school shit to attend to pre-enrollment tomorrow so HEY MORAN how would you write an AU where Steve Trevor ends up as the Winter Soldier figure. bc we need more of that trope always.
Okay so I’m real into Winter Soldier AUs where their identity is discovered in the WORST AVAILABLE WAY (well, all WS AUs tbh but like come on I like to see people break down), and also this morning @littlestartopaz suggested that the Waynes are basically the Starks but more humanitarian and less weapon designer (also please note that I generally adhere to Unpretty’s Batman personality because I like it).
So basically what I’m saying here is that Bruce, after the League has formed up and suffered a nasty battle that dredged up a lot of people’s old issues, returns to the unsolved case of his parents’ murder and mulls over the information . He has done this for most of his life when things go awry, not so much because he expects to solve the crime anymore or even because he’s still as emotionally locked in that moment as he once was, but just…it’s his parents and he doesn’t know and if there’s one thing the Batman hates, it’s not knowing.
This time he has actual people, though, and while Clark mostly goes home to Metropolis and his day job, Diana is formally speaking on leave from her day job and she knows who he is and he lets her stay in his mansion because she really loves his gardens. (This is what clinches it for Diana–the Batman is a marshmallow under that layer of body armor.) So she comes across this research and the two of them start poking around and they find a loose end that Bruce hasn’t seen before. They start pulling on it and at first they think that it goes nowhere, that it dead ends in a conglomerate of the wealthy and ethically deficient that dissolved decades ago and took all their records with it.
Two days later, Dick Grayson (probably around seventeen now) hears a quiet beep when he opens his car door and it’s only the years of practice that let him throw himself back fast enough to escape most of the shrapnel. Bruce shows up to the hospital where Dick is getting bandaged up (burns to his left forearm and lower leg, two cracked ribs, and a nasty bit of road rash on his right cheek and shoulder) like the wrath of God, and Diana is already on site, sifting through the debris for a clue. This is a warning, plain and simple, targeting the eldest son–death of the firstborn, Dick says like it’s at all funny, aren’t there supposed to be some other plagues before that?–but a critical mistake has been made. Bruce Wayne is rich and powerful and people know it, and feel threatened even by ‘eccentric playboy Brucie’ because, well, one time he found out someone was paying off a surveyor to build one of his buildings on a burial site, and he came down like the fist of an angry god.
Batman, defending his partner and adopted son, is going to rip these people to shreds.
“Huh,” Diana says with interest, tapping her comm so that Bruce can hear her. She’s picking over what’s left of the bomb itself, armored and disinterested in the police nervously milling about. “I haven’t seen a weight trigger like this since I was in the trenches.”
The manhunt that gets underway is subtle, at first, Diana and Bruce operating from the shadows or with the mild interest of superheros who happen to be in the area, while Clark calls in a few favors to look into the names that Bruce and Diana were pulling at. The rest of the League isn’t told, not yet, because Bruce is protective of his identity and even more so of his secrets and he’s still adjusting even just to Diana and Clark.
Diana does a lot of the legwork. Clark has a secret identity to keep up and Bruce has an injured kid to duct tape to a bed (the entire Wayne household redefines ‘bad patient’ to levels that frankly amaze Diana even now) so Diana is mostly the one quietly talking to people, pushing for information, searching, seeking, hunting.
It draws attention to her, because it looks like Bruce took the warning seriously while she did not.
It takes less than a month for someone to be sent to…deal with her.
Diana is just leaving the house of a woman whose dead husband’s brother’s boss might have had something to do with the whole mess–all of her leads have been like this, but Diana doesn’t mind because Bruce should see that people don’t always have darkness in their souls. She’s willing to work with his kids and Clark on proving the point. Also, she finds the concept of attacking children as horrific as she did a century ago at Veld, and Hades have mercy on anyone who did, because Diana certainly wouldn’t. (Dick had protested that he’s almost an adult and besides he’s been fighting crime since he was nine, and Tim sat on him. Carefully. With affection.) So yeah, she’s fine with digging through people who are at two or three removes from the situation on the off chance that they might have information. Also this particular woman makes lovely home-mixed tea with rosehips and lemon and honey, so there’s also that.
She’s not certain that she’s being followed until she turns into an alley and the figure drifts after her, and…he’s good, she almost missed him. Diana admits it at once–never underestimate your opponent, Antiope’s voice whispers through the years–and twists on her heel to face him. She believes he’s male, but he’s masked, hard plastic too pearly to be skin that covers his face from just below his eyes all the way down, hiding mouth and keeping his jaw closed like a muzzle. His hair was buzzed short at some point, but it’s growing out, as if no one tends to it, and his eyes are as cold and empty as the clear sky at midwinter.
Diana feels a little sick. She was ready to take him down, hard and fast, but the man following her looks more like a tormented hunting hound than anything else. Like he’s forgotten what it’s like to be treated as human.
“Why are you following me?” she asks, holding a hand out, palm down, as if gentling a nervous horse. “Can you tell me who sent you?”
He raises a gun and shoots twice without so much as batting an eye. Diana barely gets her bracers up in time, and then the alley is a melee battle, gun and blind determination against lasso and lifelong training.
Obviously, Diana wins, and the gun clatters away, followed by not one but three knives and a second small gun. Her opponent carries more weapons on him than Bruce does, which is no small feat, and finally she tackles him outright, bracing one knee on his left wrist and catching his right in her hand as she uses all her strength to deny his attempts to throw her off, already demanding answers.
“I said,” she snarls, hooking her nails under the mask and ripping it away, “who sent–” Her words strangle on her tongue as the mask drops from nerveless fingers. “Oh Hades,” she breathes, and reaches out, hand trembling. “Steve?”
He takes the moment of weakness to slam his head into her nose, and she rocks back as he rolls away. She lashes out on instinct with her lasso, catches his ankle and yanks him back down onto the asphalt.
“Steve,” she says again, getting a better look at his face this time.
He bares his teeth at her, as if threatening to tear her throat out if that’s what it takes. “Who the hell is Steve?”
me when i was 12: ‘power of friendship’ stories are so lame and cliche like who cares its just a dumb plot device it’d never work :/
me now: My Love For My Friends Could Topple Cities. It Could Fell Empires. It Could Kill the Gods Themselves But It Won’t Because Then We’d Have Nowhere To Hang Out
So your rant on Supernatural? Also I fell in love with the story you're talking about and basically want to know more. Sorry.
My buddy, you have made An Error, but let’s do this shit. To any SPN fans who have wound up here
through Ye Olde Search Function, I encourage you to stop reading now.
I watched up to about halfway through Season Five before I
decided that I could Do It Better (I think this is the novel you’re talking
about, anon, unless it’s Earth is where the trouble comes from), and dragged
myself up to about halfway through Season Seven before I packed it in and gave
up, resigned that the parts of the show I loved were about four to five seasons
dead. So like that’s the information I’m
working on here.
So, obviously, lots of people have lots of legitimate
complaints about Supernatural,
including treatment of queer characters, characters of color, and women, as
well as their fairly rampant history of queerbaiting. And lots of people have covered this in more
competent detail than I could ever manage, so like google “sexism in Supernatural” or something and you can
do your own reading there. Hell, if you
want to do it the lazy way, you can knock out two of the above with this one
article in friendly, easy-to-read Buzzfeed format. To the nominal credit of the people involved,
I will add that the cast seems acutely aware of these problems and finds it
distasteful, HOWEVER the problems persist and therefore that credit is minimal. Anyway.
These things are covered much more thoroughly by many other people who
are far more cogent than I could hope to be, so I’m going to leave those alone.
Instead, my rant is mostly summed up as “YOU CALL THIS SHIT
STORYTELLING.”
So there are four basic parts to this rant, or rather four
basic flaws that form the fundamentally weak foundation of Supernatural as a narrative.
Failure to commit to a single cohesive narrative
arc, also known as “SOME OF THAT AND SOME OF THAT AND SOME OF THAT AND SOME OF
THOSE” syndrome
The persistent and erroneous belief that
character death = character development and narrative progression
Inability to commit to a major change of
paradigm, also known as out and out narrative cowardice, which I personally
call “flinching during Plot Roulette”
Total incapacity to put their characterization
where their script is regarding the Winchester brothers and the other major players
Hey since apparently I’m sdkfldkjf in this fandom now or something have a non-exhaustive list of things I think a director/screenwriter would stick into an Animorphs netflix series that they absolutely shouldn’t but would for the drama™ of it all
1. Berenson Brawl
Oh my god a Rachel vs Jake all out scrap. In the book it never happens except in Rachel’s fever dream. As much as she sometimes chafes against his leadership and the continual narrative suggestion that there’s a simmering desire to challenge him, having them actually fight to be in charge would be a huge disservice to both their characters as well as their relationship. Rachel and Jake have such a solid thing in which they know exactly their roles and how to work with one another, how to be each other’s anchor, leash-holder, or executioner if they get out of line. Having them brawl for leadership would be terrible, but oh my god it would 100% happen in a netflix adaptation. how could it not? there’d be so many on screen arguments, so many instances of Jake pulling Rachel back, that it would just have to culminate into a super-dramatic, brutal, tiger v.s grizzly bear beatdown that takes up like 20 minutes of the episode and has like 3 scene changes as they crash through buildings, trees, etc.
That said, holy fuck god i would be so into it. Like it’s terrible of me but the second the fight started I’d have to pause to go pop some popcorn and pour myself a glass of wine and get hyped and then settle in for the fucking show.
2. Traitor Tobias
In Back to Before, Tobias gets Yeerked but mostly does not get his brain-controlled self up in anyone else’s business before having his head shot off. That absolutely would not fly in a netflix adaptation. There would 100% be a confrontation between Yeerk!Tobias and Rachel, and it would be tragic, and Yeerk!Tobias would probably be threatening her with a weapon to the temple, and then they’d look into each other’s eyes or some shit, and there’d be this moment of recognition…before someone, probably Ax or Marco, ices Tobias from behind. He collapses and Rachel catches him automatically, holds him in her arms and stares into his empty eyes, not understanding where this profound pain is coming from…
I would be full out weeping. still drinking wine, but also weeping.
3. Honeypot
If you think we’re getting an adaptation involving spying, subterfuge, and teenagers, and not have one of them have to seduce a potential high ranking Yeerk controller who’s attending their school, you do not understand what old men in media think teenage audiences want to see. Someone’s going to a fancy restaurant with a potential enemy while everyone else hides in ridiculous outfits.
I would find this acceptable so long as the one on the date is Jake.
3. High School
Seriously, half the time in the books you forget they were somehow attending school. In a netflix series there would be recurring side characters, and ridiculous club responsibilities that people got sucked into, and the occasional episode climax that takes place at a school football game or pep rally for some reason. it’s the 90s. own the aesthetic.
actually I’d legitimately really be into a slightly more expansive social world for the characters. like show Jake and Rachel and Marco shifting away from their friend groups, even though they’re trying to keep up appearances. have minor characters that notice that there’s something drastically different about their friends.
4. Pair the Spares
It’s unavoidable that whenever Jake/Cassie and Rachel/Tobias get affectionate in the same scene, the camera’s going to pan to Marco and Ax standing awkwardly next to each other. Probably, they’d play it up for laughs. But I’m pretty down for out and undeniably bi Marco completely sincerely making passes at Ax whenever the rest of the team starts pairing up. And Ax just ???????? not understanding human courtship rituals.
It toes a precarious queerbaiting line but so long as it’s completely clear that Marco is actually bi I’m good with a recurring joke of anytime the established couples get mushy, Marco starts wiggling his eyebrows at Ax
I asked you about the Darcy-su-namun and cat fic, but it's too long for me to post into this, so I will send you it in a chat because I can't directly reply to the message you sent me, unfortunately, but thank you for the fic because it was SO cute!! The part about Bucky at the end was adorable, too.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Here’s the original ask and answer in its entirety:
@zombierose3 asked:
I never knew I needed Darcy su Namun and Imhotep. You complete me. Thank you. Ps, I’d love to see a drabble or one shot where Darcy gets a pet cat.
A/N: I feel like the two things I am most known for in Darcyland will shortly be soulmates and Darcy-Su-Namun and that makes me lol 5ever.
She names him ‘Hugh’ because she spent the first two weeks referring to him as ‘Hey, you’ and it kind of slurred, then it kind of stuck. Hugh looks like a pile of dusty rags spontaneously developed a pair of big golden eyes and and long sharp claws. Hugh purrs like an engine without a muffler and makes a sound like ‘myeh’ when he wants something. This is the first time she’s ever owned a - no, that’s not enough, this is the closest Darcy has ever come to having a child in any of her lives and she is overcome.
Clint is nonplussed. “Isn’t he just supposed to be, like, your early warning device when you’re alone? Beware, dead ex-boyfriends closing in? I don’t think you need to bring him everywhere.”
“He’s more than a guardian,” she says firmly.
He shoots a confused look at Natasha, who rolls her eyes. “I’m more of a dog person, myself,” she says, eyes flicking towards the archer momentarily, “but I understand the sentiment. Ask Pepper, not Tony, she will set something up for you.”
Shortly after that, Hugh becomes a permanent fixture around the Tower.
Specifically, around (or on) Darcy. He frequently rides her shoulder, or sleeps in her handbag, or trots at her heels. It takes about a month for everyone (Tony) to get used to it.
“You’re looking better,” Jane comments. “Less-” she makes a vague gesture at her face and grimaces.
“Less sleep-deprived?” Darcy offers. “He keeps the nightmares away.”
Jane nods and, if there is suddenly a surplus of kitty treats on and around the astrophysicists desk, well, she’s not the only one. Steve keeps them stocked too, and Bucky always has something squirreled away in his pockets.
It takes about a month for the Captain to sidle up to Darcy in the elevator, one hand automatically burying itself in the fur of the head next to her own. “Do you think-”
She wordlessly hands him a card with a name and a number.
Three weeks after that, Bucky gains his own purring shadow.
in the original myth mulan isn’t really a clumsy fish out of water. she’s strong and smart and the reason she goes to war is because she’s the most qualified person in her family to fight, regardless of gender.
so how about this: mulan’s a fighter. she knows exactly who she is, like in the original myth, she’s knows how to be the blossoming flower and the great stone dragon. she’s still mulan though, so she still doesn’t memorize the silly ways she’s supposed to be a good wife and has little patience for appearing graceful while pouring tea. she’s innovative and courageous and beautiful, but no one is under any illusions about what kind of wife she’ll be.
and the matchmaker is the matchmaker for the li family as well, for this great big part of china. and general li wants his son to be married before he goes off to war, wants his son to have a reason to fight to live, like a wife waiting for him. and the matchmaker reads the stars and the tea leaves and the astrology charts, and no matter what all the signs point to one thing: the honorable li shang is destined to marry the insolent, arrogant fa mulan.
the matchmaker isn’t going to let that happen, she refuses to be responsible for that disaster of a wedding. so she sends her most beautiful girls, the ones that are obedient and quiet and know their roles, the ones that are eager to marry into the li family.
and each of them are entertained and met and sent back. shang is many things, but smooth isn’t one of them, he has nothing to say to these quiet girls who smile at him, feels large and awkward around their polite smiles. so he and his father go to the matchmaker’s village, shang reluctantly and his father to demand she stops messing with them and provides a proper bride.
it’s on the day that mulan and the other girls are parading in the street. shang sees a girl - mulan - hurry into the end of the line, jumping over a bench and darting around a careening wagon to get there, and stifles a laugh.
then there’s no reason to laugh at all, because a group of huns have decided that this village is in their way, and attack.
everyone scatters, women hide, children hide, and most of the men do too. shang and his father join the fight with some of the other men who hadn’t hid, and these men are starved, clearly not with shan yu, so even though they’re outnumbered they’ll likely win.
shang sees a hun go to attack the girl he’d seen earlier, the girl for whatever reason hadn’t run and hid. the hun raises a sword above his head to strike her down, and shang is so sure he’s about to see this pretty girl lose her head.
but she doesn’t. instead she rolls out of the way, and pops up, headbutting him in the stomach. she takes his sword from his now-slack grip and plunges it into his chest. without hesitation or pause the girl joins the fight, swinging the sword expertly and cutting down every man who stands against her. soon they’re fighting back to back, and shang has never felt more in sync with another person. she cuts off the head of the last hun, and shang has never seen anyone more beautiful than this girl, dress ripped and make up smudged and covered in blood that isn’t hers.
“mulan,” one of the other girls says, peaking out of a store front, “is it over?”
the girl, mulan, looks out over the dozen dead men and says, grimly, “it’s barely begun.” she searches the crowd, finding and old man and yelling, “gather the bodies, we’ll burn that at dusk outside of the village. everyone else,” her eyes sweep across the gathered people, and shang is struck by the fact that this girl isn’t well liked. there’s anger and disapproval in many of the faces, but they’re listening. these people don’t like her. but they do trust her. “let’s clean this all up. these were bandits, not soldiers. there’s nothing more to fear.”
“what if there are more?” the other girl asks, arms wrapped around herself.
mulan raises her stolen sword and says, “then i will slice them to ribbons. this is our village, and this is our country. any who would try to take it from us - from me - will suffer the consequences.”
and it shouldn’t be comforting, hearing words of violence from this young girl, yet everyone around them relaxes, and gets moving, gather the bodies and tending the wounded.
“who are you?” his father asks, and someone who doesn’t know him might think he was angry, but shang can tell he’s impressed.
mulan turns to them and bows, “my apologies. i am fa mulan, daughter of fa zhou. thank you for helping us.” she stands, and shang meets her eyes for the first time.
he swallows, and blurts out, “you - you fight good.”
his father coughs to hide his laughter, but mulan’s eyes crinkle at the corners. “thank you. you do as well.”
and they just keep standing there smiling at each other until his father claps his hands and is like okay - they’ll have to report this to the emperor, no time to dawdle, have to go now.
so they take their leave, and shang thinks this is the last time he’ll see fa mulan.
except there’s still the draft, and this time mulan doesn’t take no for an answer, won’t hear of it. her father is injured and old and she is young and fit to fight. she will go in his place.
so she arrives at the camp, prepared to pretend and lie - except she goes to meet her commanding officer and it’s him, that boy who had fought with her. shang’s eyes widen, but they’re in front of too many people. he can see it on her face, her fear, and she hadn’t shown any fear when she was facing down over a dozen huns, but she does now. so he makes his choice and says nothing, pretends he buys her story.
she tracks him down that night and demands an explanation. he says this war is too important to kill good warriors, whatever gender they are. he swears to keep her secret. mulan is his best soldier from the beginning, and means to treat her like anyone else, but it’s impossible. she isn’t like anyone else, is strong and smarter and braver than them. they argue tactics, and she’s the only one who can give him a workout in hand to hand, and he doesn’t have trouble finding his words with her. he finds himself falling in love with her, but doesn’t say anything. she’s not here for love, she’s here for a war. he vows to say something if they survive this, but it’s unlikely that will happen.
they head to the front earlier. they get there in time to provide back up for his father and his army, and it’s a loss but not a slaughter. his father is too distracted to notice ping is the girl from the village. all he knows is this soldier had led the second wave of attacks, and it was thanks to her any of them were alive at all. they prevent half of the huns from getting through the pass, but that’s still an army heading for the imperial city. the general is injured, so mulan and shang lead the army after him.
they find him at the mountain, and just like before mulan uses the cannon to destroy the army. she knew it would spell their death, but it was worth it, for her people, for her country, for her family. this time it’s shang that won’t accept her death, that tries to drag her unconscious body to safety. only he fails, and mulan becomes buried under the snow.
they return to the city, and shang is besides himself - the woman he loves is dead, she saved them all and she’s gone, and he’ll never recover from this. only he can’t tell his father this, their friends. they think he mourns a friend, not the woman he wanted to make his wife.
except mulan survives, and sees the other huns as well. only she kills them there before they can get to the city, and decides this is for the best. fa ping dies honorably in battle, and fa mulan is free to return home to her family.
so general li decides that it’s time to go to that matchmaker again, and demand she stop playing games. the matchmaker confesses that she thought the bride was unsuitable, and the general demands she send her anyway.
so mulan has barely had the chance to settle back home when the matchmaker shows up at her door saying she’s sending her to see a potential husband, but not who. so mulan shows up all made up to li household and shang drags himself into the room, already resigned to a loveless marriage, when they see each other. “mulan?” he demands, and his father is all pleased because it’s the fighting girl from the village.
but then his son starts crying and they run to each other. shang picks her up in his arms and she clings to him, and shang is babbling about how he thought she was dead, and mulan is so overjoyed that she’s with shang, and shang wants her, that she kisses him without explaining.
except now shang’s father demands an explanation. so they give it to him, the whole story comes tumbling out, and he stares hard at her, and remembers her as ping, the brave soldier that had saved them all. he’s not upset - he ecstatic. he goes to the emperor and tells him everything, and the emperor officially offers mulan an officer position in the army. she accepts, as long as shang is by her side. shang seconds this, and they set in motion the plans for the wedding.
fa mulan and li shang get married and lead armies and live happily ever after, just like the stars intended.
okay okay there's more wonder woman comics to read and from 2006, gail simone's run is always recommended. justice league: league of one is as well. um, wonder woman's 75th anniversary. wonder woman: earth one is not bad. before gail simone took over wonder woman in 2006, greg rucka did my personal fave run and i love it to bits, like, rucka's diana is /my/ diana ngl - would have been in around 2003, issues 195 onwards.
AN EPISODE WHERE BILL AND THE DOCTOR GO BACK IN TIME TO MEET SAPPHO
SAPPHO WROTE POEMS ABOUT BILL 100%
OK YOU KNOW HOW A LOT OF SAPPHO’S POEMS ARE ABOUT APHRODITE WHAT IF SAPPHO LITERALLY THOUGHT BILL WAS SO BEAUTIFUL THAT SHE WAS THE GODDESS APHRODITE
“Oh. My God. Oh my God. That’s her! That’s - that’s the original. The original Lesbian, I mean proper Lesbian. The Mother Gay. Oh, God. Oh, God, what am I even gonna say?”
“Your brother Charaxis may be under the hypnotic influence of his alien mistress might be a good start.”
“Can you even imagine what was like to read her when I was a fifth-former?” Bill continued. “Like, finally it wasn’t some bloke whining about why some beautiful girl won’t give him sex, it was ‘sweet mother, I’m too gay to do my chores, blame Aphrodite’ like, honestly? Most relatable thing I’ve read in years.”
“Bill-”
“God, what I wouldn’t give to hear an actual completed poem.”
“Bill-”
“Seriously, what was up with the fragment that was just ‘soda’? Like, did it mean the same thing, or - ?”
“Bill, she’s staring at you.”
And she was. Like a figure out of a painting, white chiton against dark arms, hands hovering above the strings of her lyre, fingertips gently rested on the frame. She was biting her lower lip, and the look in her eyes was one Bill knew immediately - the panicked, exhilarated look of an actual goddess is walking the earth, right now, and holy mother of Zeus am I gay or am I gay?
“Oh my God,” Bill said again, eyes wide. “I’m the original lesbian.”
Why don’t we ever talk about the fact that leonard nimoy had to walk off set because of tooth pain and show up at his dentist dressed as spock
Also Brent Spiner broke his mandible during the filming of ‘The Game’ and had to be taken to hospital dressed as Data
an earthquake happened near the DS9 set once and Armin Shimerman went racing home to his family in full-on Quark makeup
Andy Robinson also went home after that earthquake in full Garak makeup and the traffic lights weren’t working so people had to make eye contact at the intersections and he says everybody always let him go first
This post has been circulating around for a couple of years and this is the first addition that I genuinely didn’t know about and gOD HOW DID I NOT KNOW
If a neurotypical asks you, “What game are you playing?” they’re not asking you to describe the game.
They’re asking you if they can play too.
If a neurotypical asks you, “What are you watching?” they’re not asking you to explain the plot of the movie/tv show to them.
They’re asking if they can watch it with you.
.
When neurotypicals ask you “What are you doing?”
What you think they’re asking: “Please explain to me what you are doing.”
What they’re actually asking: “Can I join you?”
Now here’s the really fucked up part. If you start explaining to them what you’re doing? They will interpret that as a rejection.
What you think you’re saying: [the answer to their question]
What they think you’re saying: This is an elite and exclusive activity for a level 5 friend and you are a level 1 acquaintance. You are not qualified to join me because you don’t know all this stuff. Go away.
.
This is why neurotypicals think you’re being cold and antisocial.
IT’S ALL A HORRIBLE MISCOMMUNICATION.
I didn’t realize, even thought it took me almost three decades to learn this, that this was such a paradigm changing realization until we had our conversation today.
But it really really is. One of the most bewildering realizations I’ve had is most people don’t talk to learn things unless its related to work or directly towards their own hobbies, all the words and questions are bonding questions if done socially. They are “lets make friends” questions.
So if I answer their question without an opportunity for the person asking the question to give a response or to join in somehow, the asker feels alienated and starts shutting down.
Example: what are you reading?
True answer but not what they’re looking for: Title of book
Best answer for social scenarios where I want to retain/create friendship: This book is about x and y but it has z that i know u have an interest in too.
Example: what are you doing?
True answer but not: drawing
Best answer for friends: I’m drawing but would u like company while I’m working?
And sometimes frankly I’m not in a headspace where I can process people so the answer is something like, “I would like to do something in a day or later, do you want to plan something?”
Tldr: communication is wierd
HOLY
SHIT
that explains so fucking much thank you
(why the fuck do neurotypicals never just day what they mean ie hey this show looks cool mind if I join you)
Further annoying?
They don’t realize that’s what they’re asking and they just feel rejected and go away. So you can’t even ask them what you did wrong because they can’t even put a finger on why they feel the way they do they just know you made them feel bad for some undefined reason.
Oh
Ohhhhhhhhh
Oh shit wow sorry @everyone I’ve ever done this to
So were you aware that the The Beauty and the Beast story we all know is a heavily abridged and rewritten version of a much longer novella by
Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve? And that a lot of the plot holes existing in the current versions exist because the 1756 rewrite cut out the second half of the novella, which consisted entirely of the elaborate backstory that explains all the weird shit that happened before? And that the elaborate backstory is presented in a way that’s kind of boring because the novel had only just been invented in 1740 and no one knew how they worked yet, but contains a bazillion awesome ideas that beg for a modern retelling? And that you are probably not aware that the modern world needs this story like air but the modern world absolutely needs this story like air? Allow me to explain:
The totally awesome elaborate backstory that explains Beauty and the Beast
Once upon a time there was a king, a queen, and their only son
But while the prince was still in his infancy, in a neat reversal of how these fairy tales usually go, the king tragically died, leaving his wife to act as Regent until their son reaches maturity
Unfortunately, the rulers of all the lands surrounding them go, “Hmm, the kingdom is ruled by a woman now, it must be weak, time for an invasion!”
And the Queen goes, “Well, if I let some general fight all these battles for me, he’ll totally amass enough fame and power to make a bid for the throne; if I want to protect my son’s crown, I have no choice but to take up arms and lead the troops myself!”
(Btw, I want to stress that this woman is not Eowyn or Boudica and nothing in the way her story is presented suggests that she had any interest martial exploits before or in any way came to enjoy them during these battles. This is a perfectly ordinary court lady who would much rather be embroidering altar covers for the royal chapel and playing with her child until necessity made her go, “Oh no, this sucks, I guess I have to become a Warrior Queen now” and she just happened to kick ass at it anyway.)
And the Queen totally kicked ass, but the whole “twice as good for half the credit” thing meant that no matter how many battles she won, potential enemies refused to take her and her army seriously until she had defeated them so no sooner would she fend off one invasion than another one would pop up on a different border.
So she spent the majority of her young son’s life away from the castle leading armies, but it was OK because she left him in the care of her two best friends, who just happen to be fairies! This was an awesome idea because a) fairies have magic, and therefore are like the best people to protect the prince from any threats and b) fairies consider themselves to be so above humanity that the lowest fairy outranks the highest mortal, so they’d have no interest in taking a human throne. Good thing they were both good fairies instead of one good and one evil one!
(Spoiler: they were not both good fairies.)
So the two fairies basically take turns raising the prince until he’s old enough to rule. And on the eve of his twenty-first birthday, the evil older one comes into the prince’s bedroom.
“So listen, kid. You’re about to become king, your mother’s on her way home from the war to see you crowned, and I have a third piece of good news for you! You see, I’ve actually been spending so much time here lately because Fairyland’s become a bit too hot to hold me for reasons totally not related to me being secretly evil. And if I have to hang in the human world, I might as well reside in the upper echelons of it, so even though as a powerful fairy I completely eclipse your puny human status in a staggeringly unimaginable way, since you’re about to be king and since my premonition that I should stick this whole guardianship thing out because you would be hot one day has totally proved accurate (go me), I will graciously lower myself to allowing you to marry me. Please feel free to grovel at my feet in gratitude. (Btw, we can totally start the wedding night now, we’ll tell your mother about it when she arrives tomorrow.)”
Wynonna is the hero of this awesome little show. Her mission is to break the curse on her family by killing demons (called Revenants).
Revenants killed her father and older sister when she was a kid, so she’s kind of messed-up. She’s angry, she makes bad choices, she makes a lot of enemies. She’s a complex character and I love her.
But Wynonna isn’t killing Revenants alone! Her younger sister, Waverly, is right there beside her. They’ve been estranged for years, but while Wynonna has been traveling, Waverly has been gathering info on all the Revenants they’ll need to put down.
Look, Waverly is adorable. She’s a little less messed up than Wynonna, but she’s still got her issues. And while she has a boyfriend in canon right now, she also has a flirtation with a fabulous lady cop named Nicole Haught (yes, pronounced “hot”).
The show is produced by Emily Andras, who created was a writer on (thanks to @prydonianrenegade for the correction) Lost Girl, so there’s a fair chance of a f/f pairing in canon! Plus, Diggin’ Up Bones (ep 5) gave us a m/m pairing among the Revenants, with a sympathetic and interesting backstory.
But! There are two more main characters to talk about. Next up, there’s Agent Xavier Dolls.
He’s with the US Marshals Black Badge Division. He knows about demons, and he gets to deal with the crazy Earp sisters. He has some dark stuff in his past (involving other towns that dealt with the supernatural). Oh, and he’s super hot.
(Who am I kidding; everyone in this show is hot.)
The fourth and final lead is Doc Holliday, aka Henry.
Yep, the Doc Holliday. He’s back from the dead and may not be on anyone’s side but his own. He’s mysterious and shadowy and he plays the Revenants and Earps against each other, while having plans for his own revenge.
This show was pitched to me as “gender-flipped Supernatural without the road trip,” and that’s pretty accurate so far. If you’re looking for high art, this isn’t it. But if you’re looking for a fun, cheesy, modern-day western set in Canada with two female leads and supernatural elements, then this is the show for you.
Wynonna Earp airs on SyFy (in the US) and CHCH (in Canada) every Friday. As of today (May 3) only 5 episodes have aired, so there’s plenty of time to catch up!
AU where the reason the Germans wanted to create a super soldier serum is because of reports from the end of the first World War about a strange woman working for the allies with remarkable strength and who nearly destroyed an entire weapons base right before the armistice
If you’re feeling disenfranchised by the fact that Marvel Comics is turning all of your beloved superheroes into Nazis, try the Wonder Woman Rebirth comics!
This comic has everything! A diverse cast of characters,
Commander Etta Candy, who is now a black lesbian-or-bi woman,
actual relationships between wlw characters,
Steve Trevor, the most pure example of non-toxic masculinity,
so many complex women,
and of course, actual Wonder Woman,
a bisexual Amazon princess who fights the forces of evil with truth and love, and also has never turned into a Nazi.
This series is written by the amazing Greg Rucka, who also wrote Wonder Woman: Down to Earth (which is fantastic) and is in my opinion the best writer except for maybe Gail Simone and William Moulton Marston to ever write Wonder Woman comics.
A great recommendation if you want to read the comics after watching the movie
so i have this disney playlist i listen to usually when i’m driving and i was blasting poor unfortunate souls this morning and i was thinking
what if ariel didn’t sign the scroll?
because she’s about to, okay, and she looks at the paper. the parchment made of seaweed, the ones that’s specially treated to survive underwater. and she thinks of her cave of treasures, her books that remain perfectly preserved underwater.
“no thank you,” she says slowly, becoming keenly aware of air of this place, of the not-people she’d seen who hadn’t been able to pay the price for sea witch’s bargain. “i – no. thank you. but no.”
ursula tries to convince her otherwise, but ariel runs. she goes back to her cave, destroyed as it was by her father’s anger, and thinks.
she’s the daughter of triton. her books never got wet, though she lives in the ocean. she feels a pull inside her, to the land, to somewhere else, but what if – what if –
what if she doesn’t need the sea witch or her father to perform magic for her? what if she has her own?
ursula had wanted her voice because that’s how she performed her magic. singing in this cave had given it powers and protection, and when she saved her prince from the sea – she sang then too, to keep him safe, to guide him back to life and away from death.
so she has magic. she only needs to figure out how to use it.
so that’s what ariel does now. she’s quiet and keeps to herself, and her father and sisters think that it’s because she’s upset with her father, that she’s busy licking her wounds.
she’s moved on from that. she has no trident, and is uninterested with fueling her magic with the souls of the damned like ursula has. so she needs to figure something else out.
she does what she’s not supposed to do, and goes where she’s not supposed to go, slipping past the guards and patrols to the one place in the sea that is forbidden to all of them.
the crevice in the earth where what remains of her grandmother lives.
ariel goes to amphitrite, and the sea goddess is so much bigger than ariel, the size of great whale as she curls at the bottom of the sea floor, too old and too tired to do anything more than sleep. “granddaughter,” the great being croaks, opening an eye as blue and as unfathomable as the sea, “you look like me.”
“they say i look like my mother,” she says, and to herself adds: that’s why father can barely stand to look at me.
“you have more of me in you than your mother,” she says, and she shifts and pulls her mass of red hair over her shoulder. “more of me in you than your father does, even.”
“i have magic,” she says, pulling her bravery to the fore as she swims closer to her grandmother, “i want you to teach me how to use it.”
amphitrite pushes herself up, and it’s the first time she’s moved in a millennia, and ariel notices for the first time that her grandmother isn’t a mermaid – she has legs.
she has legs.
“you have power,” amphitrite corrects fiercely, “and i will teach you to wield it.”
and so she does. ariel spends her nights by her grandmother, learning to harness the power of the sea that runs in her veins, and sleeps her days away while her sisters and flounder and sebastian grow more and more concerned, but she refuses to tell them why. she refuses to be stopped.
but her heart still aches. she fell in love with her prince, and she wants him still. so she swims to the edge, goes to the beach where his castle resides in the dead of night when her lessons with her grandmother are complete, and sings
.
she’s careful not to let any magic leak through, only her voice. she does not want to enchant him. she wants him to love her as she is. so she sings, her voice clear and powerful and cutting through the air. she hopes he can hear it.
then one day a figure walks to the beach, and it’s him, her prince. “hello?” he calls out, “are you out there? are you – please, it was you that saved me, wasn’t it? won’t you come out and let me see you?”
so she does, waves her tail at him until he catches sight of her and takes hesitant, disbelieving steps closer.
“you’re a mermaid,” he says, eyes wide, “i thought i saw – but it couldn’t be.”
“i am, and it can,” she says, heart beating wildly in her chest. he’s just as handsome as she remembered, and she wants him just as much. “my name is ariel.”
“ariel,” he repeats, and pulls off his boots and goes wading into the water, watching her to see if she flinches away from him. she doesn’t, and his strides grow bolder. “my name is eric.”
“eric,” she whispers, and when he’s close enough he touches her, trailing fingers across the bare skin of her shoulder and tangling them in her hair.
when he kisses her, she feels powerful enough to undo the world.
so there’s that now, spending her nights with her grandmother and her prince, and she knows how to make her own legs now, could walk onto land and be made a queen among the two legged men.
but she’s a princess here first, and before she can do that she needs to take care of something.
ursula.
the rotten sea witch with her rotten sea magic won’t be allowed to torment her people any longer.
she tells her grandmother, and amphitrite smiles and says, “an excellent decision, child. i’ve enjoyed our time together, but i think it’s time for me to sleep once more. i’ve taught you everything i can.”
and tears prick ariel’s eyes, but she holds them back. she knew that it couldn’t be forever, that her grandmother can’t die but no longer desires to live and this is the in-between.
“you’ll be an amazing queen,” amphitrite murmurs, and closes her eyes for a millennia more.
this isn’t something to be done in the dead of night, although it would be easier to do it then.
she will make a spectacle of it, she will remind the sea that her people are not to be trifled with.
once upon a time they feared a blue eyed, red haired sea queen with the power to destroy them all. it’s time for them to do so again.
so she drives ursula to the center of the city. her sisters cower and people hide, and her father comes rushing forward to save her.
“you’ve committed great crimes against my people,” she says, not flinching as lightning gathers in the sea witch’s hands, “so now shall a great crime be committed against you.”
“foolish girl,” the sea witch snarls.
triton is yelling. he won’t get there in time.
he doesn’t have to.
she doesn’t need to sing anymore. instead she lifts her hands and pulls ursula apart without ever touching her, not only renders flesh from bone but also sets free the souls she’s been hoarding, reverses the magic done to those who’d fallen into the sea witch’s trap.
they all stare at her, her people, her father, and her sisters. she looks to triton and says, “i’m not a little girl anymore.”
he opens his mouth, closes it again, then says, “i can see that.”
all at once everyone’s perceptions are turned sideways about their youngest princess. she commands a power that even her father doesn’t have access to, she’s not depressed and dreamy – she’s powerful young woman who knows exactly what she’s doing.
so she does what she wanted to do, she gives herself legs and steps onto the sand and launches herself into eric’s arms. she becomes his bride, and the rumors run rampant of what she is, of where she came from, but they can’t prove anything and so they rule.
they live long, happy lives. ariel is his consort, his advisor, his wife, his tactician, and his best friend. all those years reading drowned books have certainly paid off. she ages herself along with her husband, bears his children and then teaches them they ways of her – their – people.
her husband dies, and she disappears, like the stories of selkie women that everyone whispers around her. their children give their father a sea burial, and vow to see him again one day. what they know and none of their subjects do is this – their father’s body isn’t in that casket.
she returns to her ocean, her legs form into her glittering green tail, and she goes home. she uses her terribly powerful magic, and brings her husband with her. she went from princess ariel of the sea to queen ariel of the land, and now she’s back again.
she’s not quite a teenager, but neither is she the old woman she pretended to be on land. she’s returned her and her husband to the prime of their life, and as she gained legs to be with him, he now gives his up to be with her.
eric becomes a merman, and a prince by virtue of being ariel’s husband.
she returns to her family and her world without missing a beat, and they all welcome her as if she never left, treat her husband with kindness and respect.
because they all know.
it doesn’t matter that she’s the youngest. when, far in the future, triton’s reign ends –
OH MY GOD THE @ NOTIFICATION GOT BURIED SO I ONLY JUST SAW THIS? AND IT’S SO AMAZING I’M REBLOGGING IT REGARDLESS OF IT NOT BEING SUNDAY BECAUSE IT’S AMAAAAAAAZING.
HOLY FUDGE. I SAW WONDER WOMAN AND I GET IT NOW. I GET IT. AND YOUR POST ABOUT STEVE FEELING GUILTY ABOUT BRINGING DIANA INTO THE WORLD OF MEN????? aSHJSGGGIHN *heart rips into many piece* Sorry i JUST REALLY NEEDED TO RANT ABOUT HOW GOOD IT WAS
RIGHT THOUGH RIGHT THOUGH RIGHT THOUGH
Okay for those of you who want to know my thoughts about Steve Trevor and Guilt, here is Installation One:
AND LISTEN I AM STILL RIDE OR FUCKING DIE ABOUT THIS.
IF STEVE TREVOR–CRADLING DIANA’S FACE IN HIS SHAKING HANDS AS HE STRUGGLES TO ARTICULATE THAT PEOPLE AREN’T ALWAYS GOOD AND HE IS SO SORRY–ISN’T FEELING GUILT SPREAD THROUGH HIS BLOOD LIKE DYE, FEELING GUILT GRIP HIS THROAT LIKE AN IRON FIST, FEELING GUILT TWIST INTO HIS HEART LIKE A BLADE, THEN WHY ARE WE EVEN HERE.
Anyway I am very serious about this and if anyone wants to talk about Steve Trevor and Diana Prince and Guilt, I am here for you.
Giving homeless people MONEY instead of FOOD can save their lives this winter, shelters cost money, being able to sit in McDonald’s and nurse a coke for a couple hours to warm up costs money, often accessing public toilets (whether it’s to use them, wash up or just to be out of the wind) costs money.
Just give homeless people cash, just do it, no excuses, no whining about “enabling their drug habits”, if you have money to spare, give it and possibly save someone from literally freezing to death.
Absolutely. And this idea that people should live up to some sort of predetermined standard you have is really uncool - there is no standard for if people should be allowed to be alive.
You shouldn’t give anything because you expect a result, you should give because it’s a basic human value to nurture other souls and foster community.
If you‘re worried about giving them money (which i think is totally valid btw, you work hard for your money and wanting your attempt at help not to wind up hurting someone, or even buying the hit that kills them, is a valid concern) invest in mcdonald’s gift cards. mcdonald’s are everywhere, they can get a hot meal, and the cards can’t be redeemed for cash.
Nope.
Not good enough.
McDonald’s doesn’t cover the cost of entry for a homeless shelter. McDonald’s doesn’t pay medical bills. McDonald’s also doesn’t pay for the drugs that often keep people alive on the street.
Here’s a fun fact about using drugs when you’re sleeping rough: a $10 hit of pretty much anything can keep you feeling warm, keep you awake through the night when you’d otherwise be vulnerable to violence, keep you from feeling hungry for up to days at a time, and keep you from /dying as a result of withdrawal/.
Your moralistic approach to providing people support benefits no one but you.
I’m pretty sure the legit homeless shelters in the UK are free? Which is why some people don’t feel comfortable giving cash to homeless people who say they need money to stay in one overnight - they perceive it to be a lie and the person actually wants it to go buy alcohol/drugs - and the bulk of the world outside of tumblr isn’t comfortable with that idea.
Really the thought that homeless people are having to pay to stay in shelters is fucking horrifying. How can it be justified? How do you turn round to someone living rough and say “well I know you’re in a shit situation but go beg $x and I’ll let you stay in this accommodation that is specifically meant to help you”?
Well Bethan, as long as you’re 100% sure that all shelters are free and all their services are free too, let’s talk about accessibility. Are they full? Are they near capacity? What’s the quality of life in there? Do people need to fear having their belongings stolen or getting sexually assaulted? Are the staff friendly and skilled? Are people of all ethnicities truly welcome? What about people who are disabled or mentally ill? What about trans people? Even assuming that somehow all currently homeless people in Great Britain have access to a free shelter that is more welcoming than sleeping rough, there might still be expenses. I don’t wanna assume how you live your life but I’m guessing you spend money on more things than food and basic shelter? What about clothes? Using the laundromat? Using public transport? And what about people who are addicts suffering from withdrawal or self-medicating their chronic pain or mental illness? Bottom line is, you only need logical thinking and empathy to realise that homeless people need money and it’s none of your fucking business what they spend it on.
In my opinion, if you’re giving money to someone, it should be so they can lead a better life. If you’re not sure giving them money will lead to that, I don’t see the point in doing it. Just ask them what they need; if they need shelter and you don’t trust that they’ll spend your money on it when they say they will, I guess you could walk them to wherever they need to get a place to stay? Or walk them to a grocery store and let them choose what to get. I guess along the way you’d get to know them better and then decide if you can trust them to use your money wisely and lend them an actual sum.
(if you wanna be extra and all and you pass by that person regularly, I don’t see a reason why you couldn’t take them for a 5 minute shopping trip each day ;) )
It might be a good idea to check up on the quality of your area’s homeless shelters! Maybe they just don’t know about them?
This is just me shooting out ideas though XD
(Just buying them a Happy meal or even throwing them change is still amazing though! You see so many people get passed by hundreds of others before even getting glanced at 😟)
Okay but the thing is, not all of them are going to be able to have a better life. It’s not a great situation, but honestly? Some of these people are never not going to be drug addicts. Some of them are never not going to be homeless. Like, yeah, ideally all of them will be able to get help and find a better life, but it’s not a given.
Does that mean they don’t deserve to have a less shitty time of it? If them using the money I give them to use drugs helps them get through the day means they don’t have to go to the hospital for withdrawal symptoms, then let ‘em use that money on drugs!
I think the problem is that when you only give when you’re sure they’re going to “lead to a better life”, you make yourself a moral gatekeeper of what people deserve help and what help they deserve. And honestly I think that mindset is unkind, unhelpful, and ultimately harmful both to you and the people who need help.
I’m gonna share a quote from Sports Night that in its essence entirely encapsulates the way I approach helping out homeless folks, especially the ones that I think (in my OBVIOUSLY flawless wisdom (I”m being sarcastic)) are going to use that money on drugs or booze or otherwise not working towards “a better life”.
Isaac: Danny, every morning I leave an acre and a half of the most beautiful property in New Canaan, get on a train and come to work in a fifty-four story glass high rise. In between I step over bodies to get here - 20, 30, 50 of ‘em a day. So, as I’m stepping over them I reach into my pocket and give them whatever I’ve got.
Dan: You’re not afraid they’re gonna spend it on booze?
Isaac: I’m hoping they’re going to spend it on booze. Look, Dan, these people, most of ‘em, it’s not like they’re one hot meal away from turning it around. For most of ‘em the clock’s pretty much run out. You’ll be home soon enough. What’s wrong with giving them a little novocaine to get ‘em through the night?
It’s not my place to judge whether or not these homeless folks I give money to are “lost causes”, or whether they’re one hot meal from turning it around, or whether they’re somewhere in between. It’s not for me to judge how they get through the night without dying or giving up. I just want to help them get through it, maybe a little easier than they would have without me.
Help everyone, not just the people you deem “acceptable” in whatever way you judge, because everyone deserves that basic human compassion, and no one should go hungry or cold when we have the resources to help them. It’s not on you individually to feed and clothe and house every homeless person (though I think we should all be working towards getting our society to do that), but giving them a $5 bill is more likely to be of actual concrete help than pre-purchased food that you don’t even know they want or need or may be unable to eat due to dietary restrictions, or a gift card that they may not be able to use.
Walking them to the grocery store might not be something they’re willing to do. They may not have a place to store groceries. They may need actual cash money for something like a doctor’s visit or a prescription or a bus ticket. They may know exactly where the shelters are and they may be unable or unwilling to use them for whatever reason. Or they may use them but still need money for lunch, or to get clothes for a job interview, or any number of things that they probably wouldn’t be willing to go with you to the grocery store so you can get to know them on the off chance you’ll give them money when they can stay put and possibly get MORE money and not have to deal with you interrogating them. Or they might want it for booze or drugs and you know what, that’s not your job to judge.
Also, not everyone has the time or energy or frankly MONEY to walk someone to the grocery store to get them food or w/e. I give a dollar here and there when I, a person who literally is below the poverty line, have it on me and see someone who needs help. I”m usually driving past them on the road. I don’t have time to stop and talk, I don’t have the money to take them shopping, but I can give them a dollar. And that is HELPING THEM.
Not to mention, I’ve lived on “here you can spend X money on Y items and only those, and Z money on A items and only THOSE, and we’ll require receipts so we know you’re not spending it on anything we don’t approve of” and you know what FUCK THAT, because it’s humiliating, demeaning, and ALWAYS comes with an air of “we don’t trust you to make your own decisions so we’re not going to LET you make your own decisions, because even though you’re an adult you’re clearly a failure, so you don’t have the right to be self-determining anymore”. That’s the underlying message your refusal to help people unless you think they’re “worthy” sends. Yes, even if you ultimately help them.
Essentially, giving to the homeless or needy should be what you can spare, when you can spare it, without judgement or strings attached. That’s the philosophy I run on, and I think other people should too.
sorry for the re-reblog but: In my opinion, if you’re giving money to someone, it should be so they can lead a better life. If you’re not sure giving them money will lead to that, I don’t see the point in doing it.
IMO this is essentially ascribing to the idea that giving should make you feel good. You should give because someone needs help. You should give because it’s the right thing to do. Your feelings should have nothing to do with it, because it’s not about your feelings.
Just because someone may not put your money towards a “better” life doesn’t mean that your giving is “pointless”. You still helped someone. You still impacted their life. Sure, they may not use it for what they say they need it for, or what you think they should use it on, but being poor sucks, being homeless even moreso, and you helping them made that less sucky, even if just for as long as it takes for their high to wear off.
If you don’t see the point in helping a person relieve their pain, even in a temporary and potentially long-term-harmful way, but you’re not willing to take that person in and devote yourself to helping them get a job and get clean and find a house and all that shit, then I don’t know what to tell you, because even if they want a better life, you buying them groceries one time is not going to turn their lives around, because poverty and homelessness is more complicated and systemic than that.
And if you don’t see the POINT in helping someone as much as you can even if your help might not actually change their long-term situation in any way, then it’s clearly more about you feeling good than actually helping a person.
Help people because they need help, not because you want to feel good about having helped them.
No one is ever going to be able to lead a better life if they are dead.
#classism#you fucking asshole#also#for the record#withdrawal CAN AND WILL KILL YOU#even alcohol#it’s incredibly dangerous to go cold turkey on a serious alcohol addiction#so if someone is ‘just’ spending money on alcohol and drugs#that very well may be what they need to survive right now
Alcohol is actually one of the MOST dangerous drugs to withdrawal from.
This is accurate. You are far more likely to die from alcohol withdrawal than most ‘hard’ drugs. Yes, going cold turkey on heroin will make you WISH you were dead, but alcohol had a much higher mortality rate. Even with care, the numbers can be between 5-15% due to delirium tremens, or seizures during the later stages of withdrawal.
Also, just in passing, but I’ve been in the position where I’ve had to tell a homeless person “I literally only have five dollars on me and I need it to eat today” and like…they’re not generally going to tell a kid (I was visibly a teenager at the time) to go hungry for them, which is I think a common misconception. The guy I was talking to was totally understanding about it and told me to take care of myself. They’re not automatically terrible people just because our society failed them, don’t treat them callously because you believe that they deserve it and/or are going to treat YOU callously. That is some bullshit perpetuated by the exact system that failed them in the first place.
Listen I’m not even aro/ace or on either of those related spectra but like.
Y'all are doing a real good job. Y'all put up with a lot of shit from a lot of people who should have your back (because come on guys the queer community should have each other’s backs wtf we have real problems in the world), and I’m real sorry for that. But you’re all really tough and I’m proud of you, good job everyone.
okay, so, I love all the posts that run off the assumption that humans are the most ridiculous sapient species in the galaxy
but what if it’s just the other way around
what if humans are notoriously straitlaced and obsessed with protocol. the bureaucrats of the stars.
which is obviously something we would constantly try to complain about and disprove only for some Alpha Centaurian to be like “Captain, your species formalized spirituality, repeatedly, and a recurring theme therein is that the heavens themselves are run as a bureaucracy. Even your rebellions and revolutions are meticulously planned.”
it’s not a bad thing, per se, to have a human on your team — analytical minds, good diplomats (if only because one human etiquette system can be more complex and even contradictory than the vastly varied customs of an entire species) — but be prepared for them to call attention to moral quandaries and loopholes that never would have occurred to you.
and speaking of loopholes, do be careful, because the only thing worse than a human armed with an ironclad system of rules is a human who’s found a gaping hole in them.
“You’re telling me there was a mass movement to name a boat something dumb as a joke?”
“First of all, it wasn’t a mass movement, and second of all, the boat was by no means the first time nor the last.”
“…Exactly how much of Earth comedy is based on incongruous branding?”
Hear me out here: Humans as both.
Like most sapient species assume the above; humans are straitlaced, meticulous, and methodical. They follow strict rules which dictate their social interactions and even a slight variation is considered taboo. They are the quintessential bureaucrats.
Except when they’re not.
We’ve talked about humans method of scientific exploration and advancement involving a ridiculous amount of danger for all parties involved. But, ya know, we write it all down in a very orderly manner and get published and peer reviewed. And then other humans copy the incredibly dangerous experiment to see what happens for themselves.
Humans survived the volatile early years of their species rise through community-bonding. They put the needs of a group of individuals over all else; hunting as a group, eating as a group, raising families as a group, and sometimes dying as a group. This tendency to form strong bonds means that while a human’s signed contract can always be trusted. It also means that a human cannot be trusted to not rip that contract up and say “Fuck it” if an individual with whom they have a community-bond is in danger. Other species are baffled to discover that the individual in question need not be human, or even sapient. Stories of humans who have defended what would normally be considered prey animals by other omnivorous species, of humans who have killed to defend their non-human crew mates, even one story (surely just a story, it can’t be true) of an entire crew of humans who elevated a simple non-sapient cleaning bot to officer’s rank and threatened rebellion if it was decommissioned.
So, sure, humans are logical and awfully organized for such a diverse species. They make phenomenal bureaucrats and politicians. They’re highly sought after as strategists and advisors to royalty the galaxy over.
But, they’re also appear to take great pleasure in looking the rules dead in the eyes and very deliberately thumbing their nose as those rules. Because, the rules (and logic) say you probably shouldn’t jump off a cliff into unknown waters and humans have made multiple sports based entirely off that concept.
as an individual: logical, organized
as a species: hold my beer
I love that Stabby the robot has become part of the Canon of “human interaction with aliens”.
“are you really going to tear a friendship apart over different opinions??”
listen, I got tons of friends who like pineapple on their pizza, but once you reach that “you, your community, or other marginalized communities don’t deserve basic human rights or even perhaps the right to live” level, you should just accept that it’s your fault no one wants to be your friend.
More accurately, no one really breaks up friendships (or families) over differences of “opinion”, but they will do so over differences of fundamental issues of morality.
The fact that large numbers of people think that “moral positions, often about issues that are literally life and death” and “personal opinions” are interchangeable concepts is a large part of what’s wrong with society.
this really put into words something i’ve always struggled to articulate, especially the last paragraph.
