he/they | 🩷💛🩵 | 💛🤍💜🖤 | fully grown adult 🔞 | queer is not a fucking slur terfs are brainwashing you | antis fuck off | current hyperfocus: Hellaverse | i pretty much simp spider ppl | huskerdust my beloved
I read a physical copy of monstrous regiment soon after listening to the audiobook, and I noticed two tiny discrepancies between the two editions that make an absolute world of difference. when I found out that these discrepancies existed (you’ll find reddit posts backing me up about them), I felt cheated that my first experience of the book had portrayed a less cohesive arc than pratchett intended
if you’re looking to buy or read monstrous regiment, I strongly recommend the doubleday 2003 version or the corgi 2004 version, which iirc contain the original text. The harper collins publications and audiobook both contain these changes, which imo are confusing and severely undercut the themes the book is trying to get across. if anyone knows the status of other editions of the book pls feel free to add on
obviously the audiobooks and ebooks are more accessible than physical books to some people, so if you read one of those just know that the original text is different in some key ways. I still recommend you read the book because it’s crazy good :)
the changes I noticed, beneath the cut to avoid some serious spoilers:
firstly, the last line of Jackrum’s last scene. in the Doubleday version, this line reads:
“Jackrum had turned her chair to the fire, and had settled back. Around him, the kitchen worked.”
in the harpercollins version, the line reads:
“Jackrum had turned her chair the the fire, and had settled back. Around her, the kitchen worked.”
this pronoun change is actually has huge implications. in the scene in question, jackrum, a transgender man, reveals that he joined the army in disguise. he is referred to as “she” throughout his background reveal. however, he then considers where his future will take him, and in the final line of the scene his pronoun reverts back to “he.” jackrum’s pronoun goes from he->she->he, encapsulating the gendery arc of the scene. however, in the altered he->she->she version of the scene, half of that circle is erased. the neat tie-up of jackrum’s journey is left confusingly unresolved, and the importance of his gender to the book’s overarching themes goes underemphasized
the second change I noticed is how maladict appears in the book’s ending:
in the Doubleday version, maladict appears “in full uniform.”
in the harpercollins version, maladict appears “in full female uniform.”
maladict is the last soldier to reveal [their] true gender, keeping up a masc/ambiguous presentation far after all the rest of the squad has come forward as women. “in full uniform” maintains this ambiguity, allowing the reader to decide for themself whether maladict comes forward and presents as fully female or continues to dress masculinely despite the fact that circumstances no longer require it (in fact I believe that the latter is more likely, as maladict says “thought I’d try again,” which could mean dressing in male uniform again). “in full female uniform” removes that ambiguity, and brings maladict’s arc to a somewhat unsatisfying conclusion. it eliminates the possibility of maladict as transgender or gender-non-conforming, and I’m left wondering, “if maladict presents as female so readily, why make such a fuss of it before now?”
both changes undermine the book’s message by eliminating its space for non-cisnormative identity… which is kinda crucial to the whole idea. im honestly really disappointed that these changes were made in any version of the book, because whoever made them clearly didn’t get the point
Some lovely HuskerDust from the 1950s style diner, Hellhole Diner, “Eats so good you’ll slap Satan’s Ass!” (Our founder’s a little proud of that slogan)
thought about the idea of vox releasing one of those fucking cancelled youtuber apology videos after the season 2 finale and started laughing to myself
The best way to become immune to freebirthing anti-medical intervention in childbirth propaganda is to follow a sheep farmer on instagram. I mean this. People will try and tell pregnant women not to go to the hospital because their bodies were built for childbirth and it is difficult to know they are lying. Unless. You have witnessed the epic highs and lows of being a shepherd during lambing season. Ewes are undeniably more built for childbirth than we are. Their hips are less weird and their babies less bulbous. They are living the ideal freebirth scenario. And yet the humans watching over them during lambing season exist in a constant state of anticipating needing to give medical intervention because even a sheep is not designed to give birth so well that human interference is not often necessary. And EVEN WITH humans watching and helping ewes and lambs STILL die. Like, pretty frequently. Sheep have spent a million years giving birth just out in a field completely on their own and they still die constantly under near-perfect conditions.
Humans have spent the past 500,000 years frantically trying to make up for having extremely fragile infants and bodies that make childbirth extremely difficult by leveraging the whole of our intelligence and technology and collaboration towards trying to make pregnancy survivable for both parties. You are not honoring your ancestors by giving birth at home with no medical intervention. The midwife you are idolizing would have wept tears of joy hearing about the vitamin K shot and tears of rage to know women and babies are still dying of the things she spent her life fighting even after we invented the cure.
Trying to join a big Discord server when you're not really that familiar with Discord servers somehow manages to combine the social anxiety of trying to make new friends or ordering at a fancy new coffeeshop for the first time with the general chaos and technical barriers to entry of an MMO. I shuffle up to the counter and go "Um, hey, can I get---" only for someone named ☽ 𝓖𝓸𝓫𝓵𝓲𝓷 𝓕𝓾𝓬𝓴𝓮𝓻 ☾ [👑 Mod] [👺 Dark Wizard] [♣︎ BUNT] [🔮 Pengis Time 2022] • he/him to manifest in a cloud of bisexual coloured animated lightning, turning me instantly to dust and then announcing to the shop at large "Hey guys, please remember to read the #2026-updated-rules-terms-and-conditions and choose your role before you speak, also remember that ordering should go in #ordering-drinks, #ordering-cakes, or #ordering-a-cake-and-a-drink, unless you're 🔉just-using-the-bathroom. Thanks"
Yeah I said something similar yesterday but we can NOT let what happened to Renee Good cloud what happened to everyone else at the hands of these SS Demons!!!
Because we can’t disregard one person if we’re for human rights!
btw if someone claims you have to contact them for an unauthorized transaction to get a refund just know its a scam because if they knew it was unauthorized they wouldve blocked the charge
is anyone else getting increasingly disturbed by the memeification of Everything and how badly the online community at large needs to make everything into a joke or a punchline
call me too woke but i don’t think calling popstars you just don’t like ‘spiritually Israeli’ and joking about how you hope your favorite anime character isn’t in the epstein files is funny. i think it’s really moronic and devoid of empathy towards genocide victims who’ve lost their homes, loved ones and potentially their own lives, and children being subjected to the most depraved sexual abuse imaginable
I do not agree with veganism as a moral standard. If it is your personal moral stance, that is fine. If you think humans eating meat is inherently immoral, I don’t want to deal with you, you’re hopeless. Vegan ideology behaves more like a sect of evangelical Christianity than a dietary choice.
Veganism is better for the environment, but claiming that it's a morally superior choice ignores cultural and economic factors that make people eat animal products.
It is not inherently better for the environment. That is the thing. When you begin trying to explain that local, sustainably sourced animal protein is better for the environment than imported plant proteins that are farmed 3,500 miles away using slave labor, they start tuning you out. Down is better for the environment than polyester stuffing, leather is better for the environment than pleather. We should work on making animal agricultural practices more sustainable instead of trying to shame everyone into eating plant products that are also farmed unethically and unsustainably.
