#some philosophy

[wr1t3w1tm3]

Why All Your Favorite Immortal Characters are not Truely Immortal

(Hint, they wouldn't be your favorite if they were).

Why can vampires die? Why, in Pirates of the Caribbean (can you guess my current hyperfixation?) do characters like Davy Jones and Calypso work, even if they're supposedly immortal? Why do vampires, ghosts, etc work, even if they're all immortal?

They aren't. Yee Haw.

Also, I hate philosophy, but we did talk about how Kass believed that if one was truely immortal, then they couldn't really be selfless. I think that's why the Cullens and the Twilight vampires never really work with people. Yes, they're killable, but it's really frickin' hard to do it and we only see a couple die, at the hands of either other vampires or werewolves, another supernatural creature. So for us humans, that's not attainable.

Now look at Davy Jones. Initally, he looks like he's truely immortal. In DMC when we meet him, we see that his immortality slowly stripped away, layer by layer. First, Jack gives us the idea that he's not with the quest for the chest with his heart, then we see the key, and they the chest itself. The final nail in that coffin is when we see Davy's reaction to his heart being taken. And in a deleted scene, we get to see Davy supplicate himself to Cutler Beckett, a mere mortal. So in our minds, this really concretes the thing that Davy isn't really immortal. So that makes his death in AWE so much more... I dunno, real? But it works.

So then why would someone like Will, now the new immortal captain of the Dutchman, seem human? He has to loose something else that is common enough to humans to be near universal. So what about... love? He looses Elizabeth almost permenantly. Just one day a decade. Pretty sucky ass deal. Then add on the fact that Elizabeth has a kid, and he looses out on that too... since we sort of know he's not gonna be killed and so for the meantime is immortal, him loosing his chance at a normal life, at a family and love for the first time in a long time makes him relatable. It makes us not hate him.

Now contrast that with Twilight.

Hardly anybody does. Especially the vampires or werewolves. The series does not go out of its way to establish it's immortal characters as having any sort of weakness at all. They're all just sad. There's really no threat to their existence, at all.

The reason Davy Jones works is because his heart, the thing that can kill him, the only threat to his existance, is the object of DMC's entire plot and a major plot device and threat in AWE. It's present and utilized and we know about it. We don't know about the weakness of our Twilight vampires or Werewolves. We rarely see them get hurt either. But we see Jones get stabbed and walk it off, or we see Will died before the heart brings him back.

Bit rambly but I wanted to get this out of my drafts.

[hell-much]

The world thinks that Margaery Tyrell died; burned to ashes when the Sept of Baelor went up in flames. But sometimes the condemned live longer.

[permian-tropos]

Here’s an opinion piece no one asked for about veganism/vegetarianism and why it upsets me that people incorporate those diets into eating disorders.

Also a quick heads-up: I’m tagging relevant topics but I’m not and will never be a food blog. Don’t follow expecting more of this content.

I’ve been an ethical vegetarian most of my life, but I actually have a tiny bit of fish product in my diet right now via an omega-3 supplement because it seems to be the only thing that helps my crippling depression. The reason why I do this without guilt is because I think vegetarianism is all about respect for bodies.

Some cultures that eat meat have traditions that seek to acknowledge and respect the bodies of animals they consume. But most of the meat that’s available for consumption in my society is, I feel, disrespectfully sourced. So is a lot of our food, to be honest. There’s no ethical consumption under capitalism, etc. But I don’t feel right about eating animal bodies. I understand that beings die to further my existence in countless ways, but by abstaining from meat, I am sort of ritualizing acknowledgement of their bodies. If I see a chicken breast in the store, I reflect for a moment on how it was part of a chicken, and so on. Because I don’t eat meat, I’m able to do this regularly without it being too weird for my brain to handle. I don’t think I’m making a huge difference in the world, I think I’m engaging in a personal practice of a philosophy.

But this respect extends to my body too. It’s why my mom started eating meat when she was pregnant with me and my twin, because she realized she was getting weak from the lack of protein. She needed to respect our bodies’ needs and her own. And I take fish oil supplements because my mental health is an aspect of my bodily health. 

It’s not my place to talk about eating disorders as if I understand them because I’ve never had one. The closest contact I’ve had is through people I know and care about who’ve had them. Also, I haven’t looked much into tumblr food communities. I’m not familiar with this scene, I’m speaking as a complete outsider.

I had someone tell me once that they thought vegans and vegetarians had a higher rate of mental illness because a lot of people with obsessive eating habits would gravitate towards these diets. I got... irrationally upset at this. It took me a while to have a reasonable, empathetic opinion on the matter. 

But having seen the subject come up again and seeing that it may really be a problem, this is sort of my take on it:

Veganism and vegetarianism should be an expression of bodily respect. And not the only viable expression -- you can be respectful of bodies and still eat meat! But if you’ve chosen to be v/veg, don’t ignore the most meaningful aspect of it. Even if you consider it to be the best dietary option for you, and would otherwise be quite happy to eat meat, that’s still demonstrating respect for your own body.

Abstaining from meat or animal products as a way to harm your own body, as a way to punish your body for being the ‘wrong’ shape or size, out of hate for your body, is antithetical to what this practice should mean. I don’t think people with EDs should be ashamed of this, I think they’re already struggling with something really tough and ought to be supported. But... I think vegans and vegetarians could emphasize this philosophy I’ve described here and so if anyone with an ED finds themselves joining v/veg communities, they’ll end up surrounded by people who think all animal bodies should be treated with respect, including the body of your own human animal.

[summerslair]

If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind

John Stuart Mill - Freedom of Expression

[genocidalsyo]

(( Oh and also: 

Superiority complex is so 2010. Seriously.

Who's better here? Who's better than who? You better than me? you better than anyone gurl/boy?

How can people fool others so greatly their minions think that person is perfect when the harsh times come you see their true face. Which really proves my point.

You think you're the victim?

As Wednesday Addams would say: All your life.

[letears]

Happiness is always stays in simple things and you need to remember that