perpetual burnout @sokkasofsocks - Tumblr Blog

Not that anybody asked, but I think it's important to understand how shame and guilt actually work before you try to use it for good.

It's a necessary emotion. There are reasons we have it. It makes everything so. much. worse. when you use it wrong.

Shame and guilt are DE-motivators. They are meant to stop behavior, not promote it. You cannot, ever, in any meaningful way, guilt someone into doing good. You can only shame them into not doing bad.

Let's say you're a parent and your kid is having issues.

Swearing in class? Shame could work. You want them to stop it. Keep it in proportion*, and it might help. *(KEEP IT IN PROPORTION!!!)

Not doing their homework? NO! STOP! NO NOT DO THAT! EVER! EVER! EVER! You want them to start to do their homework. Shaming them will have to opposite effect! You have demotivated them! They will double down on NOT doing it. Not because they are being oppositional, but because that's what shame does!

You can't guilt people into building better habits, being more successful, or getting more involved. That requires encouragement. You need to motivate for that stuff!

If you want it in a simple phrase:

You can shame someone out of being a bad person, but you can't shame them into being a good person.

grungekitty-77

Fun fact, that was literally what inspired me to make this post!

cheacegirl

I made a bad comic and now you have to look at it

punkitt-is-here

mucho texto i know but i wanted to write a lil thing about how u can treat yourself nice!!

atlaculture

Do fire nation ppl actually worship fire/agni? Cuz the vedas actually also worshipped fire and a god called agni. Does that mean fire nation practices early Hinduism/vedas

It's hard to say. We only see the word agni used in their name for honor duels (Agni Kai), with agni (अग्नि) meaning "fire" in Sanskrit and kai (会) meaning "social gathering" in Japanese. The fact that "kai" refers to pleasant and non-violent forms of interaction leads me to think that Agni Kais were originally more ceremonial duels meant to express piety to the deity Agni. However, by the Hundred Year War period, it seems that the religious ceremony had evolved/been corrupted to become a form of conflict resolution with legal ramifications.

The impression I get of the post-Sozin Fire Nation is that traditional religiosity seems to be heavily discouraged. The Fire Sages seem to exist only to maintain ancient temples and conduct ceremonies; we don't see them present in any important meetings, so they presumably don't hold much real power in Fire Nation society. We see the children of the elites are taught to pledge their allegiance to the Fire Lord at the beginning of each day (or maybe even at the start of each class period), which implies that the position has developed a cult of personality that supersedes any religion in the country. The one village in the Fire Nation that seems to follow any sort of deity religion, Jang Hui (The Painted Lady village), is literally marginalized and mistreated by the Fire Nation authorities.

As for the Fire Nation of the past, it's possible they once worshipped Agni. It's worth noting that Agni is also worshipped in Buddhism as a minor deity, as well as in early Hinduism. Of course, Buddhism descends from Hinduism, so it still ultimately comes back to the Vedas. Especially with many aspects of the Fire Nation possessing a really strong Southeast Asian influence, it's reasonable to assume the Fire Nation's religious history might have went:

Early Hinduism-equivalent > State-Sponsored Buddhism-equivalent > Imperial Cult

I think it's very possible that there are small pockets of the Fire Nation that still practice an Early Hinduism-equivalent, though they probably did so in secret during Ozai's reign.

ongoing-catastrophe

We know from the Fire Sages and Aangs memory that dancing was something significant in Fire Nation culture before the war, and given the obvious significance of the Dragon Dance and the Agni Kai and even just dance as a form of social gathering.....could the Agni Kai have started out as a ceremonial dance?

Here me out. You mention the South/South East Asian influences in Fire Nation culture. Well within the Hindu tradition, Kalaripyuttu (the oldest martial art) and Bharatnattyam (a form of classical dance) are often refered to as brother-sister disciplines. They are said to have evolved from each other and the practise of one improves the other, and both (but especially Bharatnatyam) can be considered an act of worship.

(Also dance and martial arts often have complimentary evolutions, which is very cool to me)

Ancient Fire Nation society, where dance and martial arts are seen as complimentary and intertwined, where the Agni Kai is something akin to a Capoeira dance circle, and as the society grows mire warlike the dance aspect fall away and the martial aspect remains. Over time it becomes a rite-of-passage ceremonial duel. Except the society keeps hardening, and soon it stops being a cereminial rite of passage and instead becomes a show of skill and strength, a way to prove that you are worthy of your position.

And of course, Sozin comes along and dials up the "honor" aspect up to a hundred (especially considering the Fire Natiin borrows many elements from Imperial Japan) to the point where losing an Agni Kai no longer means you arent ready for the position you were vying for but instead a deep shame. Its a change that makes the existing heirarchy much more rigid, and rewards good fighters with high government positions regardless of other qualifications, and makes it much harder to question authority.

atlaculture

@ongoing-catastrophe

This a great theory. Really good insight into how a religious ceremony could be twisted to suit the needs of an oppressive society. It's also worth noting that the martial art that inspired firebending, Northern Shaolin, is the most influenced by Buddhist philosophy of all the martial arts featured in the show--- The other martial arts being Tai Chi, Hung Gar, Chu Gar, and Baguazhang.

Firebending descending from dance would also explain why Zuko loves to incorporate breakdancing into his fighting style:

I'd like to think the original Agni Kai ceremonies were once an all-day event that would feature both dances and ceremonial battles as a display devotion and respect for Agni and other spirits.

For example, there's a Thai dance known as Fawn Tian (กวางเทียน) or "The Candle Dance". According to Wikipedia, the female dancers pay homage to the divinities that protect the eight cardinal points of the Earth, asking them to pass through the candlelight. This dance could also represent a firebender's self-control and discipline over fire, as it takes a great deal of concentration and restraint to dance while maintaining a consistently sized flame in each hand. Think about how much Aang struggled to maintain just one flame with two hands.

The ceremonial battles could also be known as war dances (wai khru ram/ไหว้ครูรำ). Imagine witnessing the sword battle above, but the blades are on fire. Being able to pull off a performance would be a display of both appreciation for fire and skill [by not accidentally burning your partner].

I'd like to think that the pre-Sozin Fire Nation valued precision and versatility just as much as power, when it came to firebending. It symbolized how the Fire Nation's values were once much more balanced.

mewochy

decide her fate

put into a small little bed

pelt with 483 tomatoes

highschool calculus class

Voting ended onApr 2, 2025

mewochy

calculus class won the vote! good luck kitty youre really gonna need it

badassdemonsword

Heated rivalry shouldve been about 2 ugly old guys that play mahjong then maybe id consider watching it

krownest

i don't remember them playing mahjong but they do other old man things like going to the wet market together and drinking soup and taking walks. anyway go watch suk suk / twilight's kiss

krownest

"ok but where's the old chinese lesbians" go watch all shall be well. it's by the same director and the old chinese lesbians are also at the market

permanenteclipse

Being nonbinary at all is kind of a disheartening existence, but especially if you're any kind of nonhuman-flavor, or plural of multiple genders, or you're an it/its kind of thing. It actually is too much to ask. Never in your lifetime. You'll never get to be seen the way binary trans people and some nonbinary people have achieved. It's low priority. You're not serious. Pack it up. Take your they/them pronoun pin, say thank you and go.

permanenteclipse

I'm glad I got to be a man but I'm actually not a man. I'm a computer. I'm an animal. I'm a concept. I'm 25 different people. There's a good portion of society dedicated to making sure I get to be a man, and even they see my actual self as a kind of metaphorical joke. Maybe I do want to be a bird in the workplace. I'd like for that to just be normal.

gayvampyr

losing it over this. unbridled chaos

reptile-ruler

Sometimes a guy in a fanfiction has the ability to read someone's gaze with the same level of detail a wine taster can taste the wine

reptile-ruler

"He glared at him with anger in his eyes, but behind that longing and sorrow over things left unsaid, a subtle but desperate yearning for things to be different, and with just a hint of roasted nuts right at the end."

harpieisthecarpie

we've all heard about the male gaze in media, but we've yet to explore the equally important sommelier gaze

reptile-ruler

the only fun addition to this post

msmimundo

Girl that's literally Perry the platypus and Heinz Doofenshmirtz

snowkissedmonsters

Also on age verification: I have been on this website since 2011. Unless you think I started blogging at age 2, you KNOW I'm an adult.

dreamerinsilico

#the fact that 'can prove access to an online account at least 12 years old' or even 'account to be verified is itself fully 18 years old'#AREN'T accepted methods of age verification is such a telling sign of what the real purpose of age-gating laws is:#data harvesting and deanonymization and the buildout of state-controllable ways to restrict both content and internet access itself en masse (via @shinelikethunder )

⬆️

tweedfeather

Crowley the sad sack. 🍕🥀

kotse

lifetime ban from tummy time

commission me on kofi

dragon-in-a-fez

I'm a sucker for a good "you think you're in one horror subgenre but it's actually a different horror subgenre". character struggling to accept that maybe demons are tormenting them suddenly finds out it's actually aliens. trope of all time tbh

almach748-evil

this is the Mouthwashing experience because initially, you assume there’s gonna be aliens or some other monstrous cosmic horror entity that’s trapped on the ship with you, and while there IS a monster, it’s just a guy named Jimmy

cliopadra

3 DAYS!

heatherwitch

Remember Keith Porter, who was shot and killed by an off-duty ICE agent on New Year’s Eve (December 31st, 2025).

Remember Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old man from Cuba, who died in ICE custody on January 3rd, 2026. His cause of death was reported by ICE as “medical distress and under investigation”. Witnesses saw guards hold down and strangle Geraldo. The county medical examiner determined cause of death to be “asphyxia due to neck and torso compression”, and ruled his death as a homicide.

Remember Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres, a 42-year-old man from Honduras, who died in ICE custody on January 5th, 2026. His cause of death was reported by ICE as “complications related to congenital heart failure”.

Remember Luis Beltran Yanez–Cruz, a 68-year-old man from Honduras, who died in ICE custody on January 6th, 2026. His cause of death was reported by ICE as “heart-related health issues.”

Remember Renee Nicole Good, who was shot and killed by ICE on January 7th, 2026.

Remember Parady La, a 46-year-old man from Cambodia, who died in ICE custody on January 9th, 2026. His cause of death was reported by ICE as “anoxic brain injury, post cardiac arrest, shock and multiple organ failures following severe drug withdrawal”.

Remember Victor Manuel Diaz, a 36-year-old man from Nicaragua, who died in ICE custody on January 14th, 2026. His cause of death was reported by ICE as “a presumed suicide; however, the official cause of his death remains under investigation.”

Remember Heber Sanchaz Domínguez, a 34-year-old man from Mexico, who died in ICE custody on January 14th, 2026. His cause of death is “currently under investigation” according to ICE.

Remember Wael Tarabishi, whose health declined and ultimately led to his death on January 23rd, 2026 after his father and primary caregiver, Maher Tarabishi, was taken by ICE. The Tarabishi family are once again asking for Maher’s release, this time so he can attend his son’s funeral.

Remember Alex Pretti, who was shot and killed by Border Patrol on January 24th.

Additional sources:

ICE website (filter to detainee death notifications)

Wikipedia: List of Deaths in ICE Detention

2025:

The Guardian: “2025 was ICE’s deadliest year in two decades. Here are the 32 people who died in custody.”

Previous post on ICE-related deaths in 2025

This post is a list of ICE-related deaths in 2026. It has been edited to include Keith Porter since he was killed just hours before the new year, and Wael Tarabishi.

This post was last updated January 27th, 2026.

ghost-opal

Tech companies have discovered a new anti-pattern recently and its called violating your muscle memory by putting links to shitty features nobody likes where the most commonly used button used to be

ghost-opal

I call the kinds of UX designers who do this "tech pests"

timeturner-jay

An extension of this:

An ad popping up a few seconds after everything else has loaded, pushing everything downwards and moving itself precisely into the spot you were just in the process of clicking.

hesperocyon-lesbian

A Department of Homeland Security whistleblower has released the identities of about 4,500 ICE and Border Patrol employees Tuesday in what h

A whistleblower at the fascist DHS has released the names of 4,500 ICE and Border Patrol agents, providing an unprecedented means to monitor and counter their local presence

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

perpetual burnout