#empathy matters

[itsmythang]

Every once in a while, I go back and watch that moment of Joe Biden comforting a grieving Parkland family.

Not for politics—but to remember what compassion in leadership actually looks like.

Empathy. Presence. Humanity.

That’s what I miss.

[holyschnitzel]

Oh thank you for your answer💗I don't actually know how to edit, but I'm still glad you at least don't support it. We Ukrainians just can't see whether he's a "good Russian" or a "bad one" right now. I think you understand perfectly well why.And I know that there may be many Russians who support Ukraine, but still... we cannot turn a blind eye to what is happening. I understand this is a very difficult situation and it's hard for me to react because I lost my house and a lot of other things, and Christmas was spent in the dark and afraid that it would explode near me.Your game really supports me a little bit so that I don't give up, but still, thank you for your attention and response and I'm sorry if I caused anyone any inconvenience or made them think something bad.Goodbye, have a nice day.💗🫂

thank you for trusting me with something this painful. I’m so sorry for what you’ve been through—losing your home, living in fear, spending holidays like that… no one should ever have to experience this 😞 given everything that’s happening, your feelings make complete sense. you didn’t cause any inconvenience, and you don’t need to apologize for your pain. I understand why, from where you stand, it’s impossible to separate people from what is happening right now. I’m really glad our game could give you even a small bit of comfort during such a dark time. that means more to us than we can put into words 💗 we truly wish you safety, warmth, and peace more than anything. take care of yourself. you’re not wrong for feeling the way you do 🇺🇦🫂

[lovertm]

pins by TheMagpieRepository

[artfilmfan]

Why is Hollywood so afraid of Rachel Zegler and other women who speak their minds?

The 23-year-old Snow White star is at the centre of an online controversy about her political beliefs.

[marionmabelle]

i HATE HATE HATE when people assume things about other people’s lives. even if we’re good friends, you don’t know everything about me. always keep that in mind and try to be a little more understanding.

[grindarkstudio]

Carsie Blanton used this phrase in her recent newsletter, and I got her blessing to make art with it. I hope she approves. It'll probably end up on Threadless swag at the very least, if not as a sticker or a print.

[meredithstannardsjuicebox]

In defense of Commander Cullen Stanton Rutherford...

TW: Discussion of abuse, identifying with victims in fiction, etc.  Grooming is when someone, often older and/or in a relative position of higher power, builds a relationship, trust and emotional connection with someone with the intention to manipulate, exploit and/or abuse them.

Cullen was only nineteen, maybe twenty, when he was sent to Kirkwall. Meredith was much older, his superior, and well aware that he was a victim of torture — someone in a very vulnerable state.

The demon wore her face. I watched my friends die in droves before me. I lost both of my parents during the Blight. The demon wore her face. I watched the villagers die in droves before me. I lost both of my parents to her wrath. I am you. I understand you.

Meredith used their similar experiences as a way to gain Cullen’s trust.

“I was her second-in-command. She kept decisions from me — those I would question.”

Meredith manipulated Cullen, withholding information from him when she feared it would make him question her or her actions. 

Meredith took advantage of Cullen’s trust, trauma, and vulnerability to control and mold him into what she desired.

Meredith groomed Cullen.

Stockholm Syndrome is a psychological response. It occurs when hostages or abuse victims bond with their captors or abusers. This psychological connection develops over the course of the days, weeks, months, or even years of captivity or abuse.

Trauma Bonding is a psychological response to abuse. It occurs when the abused person forms an unhealthy bond with the person who abuses them. The person experiencing abuse may develop sympathy for the abusive person, which becomes reinforced by cycles of abuse, followed by remorse. Gaslighting is form of psychological manipulation in which a person or a group covertly sows seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or group, making them question their own memory, perception, or judgment. This is present even in one of their last conversations in Act 3 of DA2,

“My own Knight-Captain falls prey to the influence of blood magic. You all have. You’re all weak.”

Gaslighting does not happen in a vacuum. We can wager this wasn’t the first time.

“Idiot boy, just like all the others.”

Guilt is the victim’s greatest burden. Guilt for what the abuser did to you, to others. Guilt for not doing more to stop it. Guilt for surviving. And, possibly the greatest of all, guilt for sympathizing with the abuser. 

“The people ask too much of her.”

“Meredith’s methods were harsh, but they kept people safe.”

Cullen served under Meredith for years. He knew of the abuses, he knew of the torture (though to what extent, we can’t be completely sure, as he admits she controlled much of what he was exposed to), and he still made excuses for her — because he, too, was a victim.

“The people ask too much of her.” 

Sympathy.

(This line in particular reads to me like the daughter of the alcoholic making excuses for her father’s drinking.)

“Meredith’s methods were harsh, but they kept people safe.”

Sympathy.

(He drank himself to death, he hit me when he was angry, he shoved my mother down the stairs once, he couldn’t always hold a job, but I was always fed. We always had a home. He’s still my father. He had his faults, but he did his best.)

“I should’ve done more.”

Remorse.

(I should’ve walked away. I should’ve protected my mother. I should’ve taken the bottle away.)

“Meredith’s methods were harsh, but they kept people safe.”

Cullen, too, was a victim.

He isn’t trying to absolve what Meredith did — and that’s where the disconnect in the fandom is. Cullen knows what happened in Kirkwall was wrong. But Meredith was his friend. Meredith was, at times, the only person he had. He cannot just wash his hands of her and be done. It isn’t that simple.

I am too connected to you to slip away, to fade away. Days away, I still feel you touching me, changing me,

and considerately killing me.

For victims of abuse, it’s never that easy. No amount of therapy will ever truly walk let you walk away from what happened to you.

What I’m going to say next is firmly only my opinion, but I think the reason one half of the fandom can look past Cullen’s remarks and behaviors — it’s because we’ve been there. It’s because we know exactly what it’s like to swing on the pendulum of

They did wrong, but I still love them. They did wrong, but they’re still a part of me.

Because I feel guilty for letting myself be complicit. Because I feel guilty for not doing more, for not fighting harder. Because I feel guilty for wanting to forgive you for what you did to me, to them. Because I feel guilty for still loving you, in spite of what you did. 

Because when it was bad, it was bad, but when it was good, it was so good.

The process of healing does not progress in a straight line. Recovery from trauma is not linear. 

I could have cried then. I should have cried then.

We forgive Cullen, because we want to forgive ourselves. We defend Cullen, because we want someone to defend us. Because, in a way, we’re all Cullen Rutherford, angry and regretful and guilty and grieving and forever swinging on that pendulum.

It's crazy when the thing you love the most is the detriment — let that sink in.

You can think again, when the hand you wanna hold is a weapon, and you’re nothing but skin.

Oh, it's funny how the warning signs can feel like they're butterflies.

They say I may be making a mistake — I would've followed all the way, no matter how far.

I know when you go down all your darkest roads,

I would've followed all the way to the graveyard.

</3

[segnities1]

What is life? What is the point of it? The optimists says it's the road, the adventures that makes it worth living. Others, say there is no point, since we all die one day.

I am on both sides. Whatever we do, nothing matters, unless it does to you. Wether humans were here or not, it wouldn't matter in the end. But if something matters to you, then it matters.

The worth of living is individual. What is worth to me, may not be worth to you, or even for the same reasons. But nothing matters in the end. Doesn't change the fact that we should consider others, wether it's worth it for you or not.