The NOT!

Name: Daniel Age: 21

[acreaturecalledgreed]

the concept and idea of “you can always start trying to be a better person” is extremely important to me both in media and irl and i continue to be deeply deeply disturbed by the trend on this site pushing that these ideas in media are bad writing or even morally reprehensible

because theyd rather someone stay terrible or just straight up die than become a better person 

from a compassionate point of view it’s deeply distressing and from a pragmatic point of view it’s outright frustrating

it’s fucked up. 

[falliblefabrial]

What is the most important step a man can take?

The next.

[inklesspen]

[babblingfishes]

I think part of the pushback about this is the idea that, to “redeem” bad people, their victims must first forgive them for unforgivable acts.

This is false. No one is obligated to forgive you. You can learn from your mistakes and become the best, kindest person on earth, and the people you’ve hurt still won’t forgive you, and you’ll have to accept that. And that doesn’t mean you aren’t allowed to grow. Because we aren’t just “pure” or “sinful”, we’re complex.

[thetzimisceshapeshifter]

Never !! enter a official WOD ART COMP

okay im going to post this on tumbler as well cos i think its important for artists to know, if you like having control over your oc never enter a official WOD art competition like the one they have announced recently this is the big issue "Give Paradox Interactive a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to display, reproduce, distribute and publicly communicate the artwork on any platform (or list the platforms) for an unlimited duration." it gets worse " Intellectual property

By submitting your content to us you hereby grant Paradox a non-exclusive, perpetual, transferable, irrevocable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, and worldwide license to use, modify, reproduce, publish, perform, display, distribute, make derivative works of and otherwise commercially and non-commercially exploit all content submitted by you in any manner or medium now existing or hereafter developed, without separate compensation to you or any other person or entity. "

so yep "make derivative works" = your OC belongs to us, so "cool design its ours now" transferable = that they can give to another company at any time this all includes for Ai training btw

on top of their base licensing shit that lets them sell your art or put it in books use it to advertise and never pay you a cent even if you don't win, just submitting it if you are okay with your oc being used for profit, and going uncredited by a giant company that could easily pay you if they wanted to, go a head submit... but if your not okay with that yeah don't enter the "prize" is a PDF and discord role btw

look a lot of companies do shit like this so just know if you enter you are signing your oc over to a corp far beyond your control

[dipsticky]

From Adam Serwer's "Minnesota Proved MAGA Wrong" (Gift Link)

[primarybufferpanel]

"The secret fear of the morally depraved is that virtue is actually common, and that they’re the ones who are alone."

Well that's a banger of a line

[tanadrin]

genuine question, not snark: when did political groups’ understanding of the concept of a “general strike” shift from “concurrent labor actions intended to bring a big chunk of the economy to a halt until demands are met” to “short term or even singe day protest”? I thought the whole point of a “strike” is that it lasts until your demands are met or you can’t keep going anymore, which makes it a substantially different and often more effective (though often more difficult) form of politician action than like a daylong protest or rally. But people don’t seem to use the word consistently that way nowadays.

[hellyeahheroes]

The rich rewrote the definition to defang the working class -Admin

[pirateprincessjess]

The term Micro-transaction such is bullshit.

If I go spend 20 dollars at a restaurant we wouldn’t call it a micro-transaction, but if I spent the same amount of money in a video game then it is a micro-transaction?

It’s a bullshit term to try and normalize nickel and dimming people

[ohnoitstbskyen]

It's such a weird relic, that term. If I recall correctly, it originated with independent creators attempting to figure out monetization schemes that would work for small websites. Scott McCloud used to propose this idea as a way to fund webcomics outside of the old systems of syndication or advertising revenue. Webcomic artists could sell each page of their comic for a fee as low as a couple of cents, and make a profit on sheer volume.

Then they made their way to video games. And it used to be that they presented a reasonably comprehensible bargain:

You get to play a full-featured videogame for free, in return for which the game will occasionally advertise a premium cosmetic or unlock of some kind, for prices like $.99 or a couple of dollars. This was considered slightly annoying, especially in the mobile gaming space, but the trade-off was clear. Free game, paid optional content for less than the price of a cup of coffee.

The absolute maximal price you'd pay for a League of Legends skin was about $30, and those skins were considered an absolutely outrageous expense for totally dedicated League of Legends lifers, and were expected to be the absolute peak of technical possible quality. And those were still mocked as ridiculous expenses for weirdos, the sort of thing that no normal or average player should ever be expected to blow money on.

Bethesda was mocked for MONTHS for trying to sell $2.50 horse armor cosmetics in Oblivion. Microtransactions? In a premium product? In a sixty dollar game? Absolutely unacceptable! That was a breaking of the bargain!

But Bethesda's transgression was the thin end of a wedge. More and more of those post-launch monetizations started creeping into premium products, and by sheer erosion, by sheer slow grinding normalization, they started to multiply and the prices started to creep up and up and up, and day 1 DLC became normal, and ultimate and premium editions and super ultimate exclusive digital deluxe collector's editions and battle passes and lootboxes and... yeah.

It used to be a... not amazing, but at least a reasonably fair bargain. A transparent bargain. You get to play a game for free, and the price you pay instead is the soft pressure of microtransactions—actually micro transactions—being advertised to you.

But the line has to go up. The number needs to get bigger. The center could not hold.

[deactivated-this-account-deacti]

I ended up having a really interesting conversation with some people at the bus stop today. They were getting out of some sort of ‘clean and sober’ meeting and had starting saying how they were so bored because they didn’t have anything to do, and had to stay at home because all their old friends would pull them back. So I said something like, ‘So this is the time to do all the stuff your parents told you they didn’t have money/time for!’ “Whatcha mean?” “You know, like when you were five and you REALLY wanted to have that toy or do that thing and you were like, ‘Please mom please I gotta have this I gotta go do this’ and they went ‘Hell no you think I’m paying for that do you want to goddamn EAT?’ “ And this light went on in their eyes. The lady is going to go check thrift stores for an Easybake Oven and I told her about Wilton cake decorating classes. The dude is going to Griffith Park and ride horses, because, ‘I always wanted to be a cowboy, and you can’t drink when you’re on a horse ‘cause you’ll fucking die!’ Fuck it. This is what being an adult is. Sure it’s bills and work and relationships, but damn it, it’s also time to do the things you LIKE. I signed up for a free class/lecture on Water Gardens. I’m going. It’s time.

[ruthfully]

Jill. Jill you are wonderful.

[lostwolfling]

no joke, this is such an important aspect of overcoming trauma. I mean the trauma of abusive parents, the trauma of broke ass parents who got toxic because of it, the trauma of capitalism. Like fuck it. Go to Wrestlemania. Build a shit ton of terrariums.

[ladyaldhelm]

HOW TO TURN OFF GOOGLE AI in GMAIL:

Open Gmail in your browser

Click on the Gear Icon ⚙️ in the upper right

In the General Tab, scroll down to "Smart Features" and UNCHECK THE BOX. It is about halfway down.

Then, right below that is Google Workspace smart features. Click on the "Manage Workspace Smart Features" and make sure both toggles are OFF

[sea-salted-wolverine]

Of course the lion should be concerned with the opinions of sheep.

The sheep will feel unsafe. The sheep will be uneasy. The sheep will call down their shepherd, will call down a hunt for the lion that ends with his hide on the shoulders of a hero.

Of course, sheep are not very clever. Their opinions are unswayed by the fact that lions do not hunt livestock; by the fact, their pasture was once his home. The opinions of sheep remain unchanging. The shepherd assures his flock he will protect them from the lion. And of course, the sheep are right to believe him.

It is the opinion of sheep, that the lion is imminent death to be defended against. It is the opinion of sheep that their shepherd is their protector.

Of course, shepards tend to be in the business of wool and mutton.

But sheep rarely hold an opinion on that.

[assignedmale]

Praxis

[thelooniemoonie]

"autistic people need instructions for every simple task" okay how about we talk about the neurotypicals not following clear instructions. what do you mean it didn't work the way you wanted, i gave you the instructions. oh you didn't follow them? you didn't see where i clearly indicated the directions you were supposed to follow for this task? and you're shocked it didn't turn out right? you decided to pull a Jared I'm 19 and go rogue? you're surprised the road less travelled isn't fucking paved because no one travels it? do you get off on this

[thelooniemoonie]

nice try but that doesn't work on me. appreciate the attempt tho <3

[sketchyfletch]

Anybody who has spent any time working in retail, hospitality or IT can tell you that a not-inconsiderable number of NT people cannot follow a fucking instruction if you wrote it down on a piece of paper and stapled it to their forehead

[sca-nerd]

[transtessbian]

[thekirammanjinx]

People can handle evil characters(for the most part--usually they twist their behavior and water it down) but people really can't handle good characters that lose their head or lose themselves and have a moment of fallen grace. Fandom has shown this time and time again. They really look at them as worse than the initial evil.

[mikkeneko]

related but tangential. there's a really strong unexamined belief throughout a lot of fandom -- and population outside of fandom, but we're talking about fandom here -- that what you do and say during your worst moments is who you really are.

And the assumptions underlying this, more or less, break down to:

Everybody is secretly bad deep down. They're born that way (no, this is not original sin, wdym, it's just an Honest and Realistic assessment of human nature!) and have to be taught to cover it up through childhood with facades of politeness. Everybody is lying all the time by pretending to be better or nicer than they really are, and this facade takes active effort to maintain. When the effort drops and the facade slips, the true underlying rottenness shows through.

All actions taken are rational and reasoned, at all times. Lying is always a deliberate, purposeful action meant to advance a person's aims and goals. There is never any reason to lie except to make yourself look good. Therefore, any good or nice statement or action may be a lie, but any bad or harmful statement or action must be true.

Ergo: anything a person (or a character) says or does when in states of emotional extremity, overwhelming grief, incapacitating pain, exhaustion, illness, head injury, is Peeling Back the Facade of Goodness to reveal the True Rottenness Underneath.

This is, of course, utter nonsense. But an amazing number of people seem to believe it.

[thegenderienvy]

Imma be real. That’s the cultural christianity at work.

[cryingbard]

That's not fair.

(If you want to see me vent I'm on tiktok, @cryingbard)

[subbygothkittytransgf]

Thank you for putting these thoughts into words and art.

[homunculus-argument]

Saw a post about someone thinking about how the exorcist style possession horror movies operate in an odd world where evidently catholism is literally right but nobody really questions that or delves deeper into the implications, people just accept that an odd rogue priest can banish demons by chanting latin at them.

Now I want a possession horror movie where instead of a catholic christian priest, the closest Man Of Faith they can find is a local rabbi. A rabbi who is insulted and disgusted by the implication that his role in his community is the same as a priest is to a church. He's not some Special Holy Man With Super Powers From God, that's not how any of this works. He can help with the demon but he's not going to do any magic man nonsense at it.

He goes to the possessed person, sits down, addressing the demon, and suggest they discuss this. Because clearly, a civilised being who is capable of speech is capable of intelligent thought, and is willing to debate on whether they should or should not be possessing this person. The rabbi has many arguments on why they should not be doing that, and he would quite certainly want to hear what the demon's arguments are for insisting to possess this person.

The rabbi does eventually drive the demon out, but it's not about chanting magic words and doing mysterious rituals, but a very pragmatic discussion of "you can't make me" vs "no, but I can annoy you until you do."

[ashfae]

I would give SO MUCH to have this movie.

[barrel-fish]

A comic based on this poem

[transhuman-priestess]

I does annoy me that whenever someone asks why kids don’t go outside these days that people immediately jump to how “everything is built around cars these days. You realize that cars weren’t invented in the 80s right?

The reason kids don’t go outside as much is a fun three way collision between Reagan era stranger danger, Clinton era crimejerking, and the bush era explosion in the availability of cell phones. Honorable mention to post-9/11 paranoia.

Kids stay indoors and play video games because the incentive to go outside (controlled escape from supervision, a relatively open commons) are gone when mom and dad keep you on a silicon leash and track you by GPS while cops get called if you’re in the vicinity of a 7/11 for more than 30 seconds.

Everyone wants the kids to go outside until they’re kids outside, then it’s “where are your parents?” Because Americans police the time of youth so completely it’s a wonder that kids manage to have any kind of life at all.

[theconcealedweapon]

Some women are conditioned to be fragile and weak, and to believe that it's a sin to outperform a man. Her feminism would involve allowing women to be strong.

Some women are expected to be strong at times when they can't. Her feminism would involve reassuring her that it's okay to not be strong.

Some neurodivergent people are raised to believe that they're too stupid to ever amount to anything. Their disability activism would involve reassuring them that they're capable.

Some neurodivergent people are raised to believe that they're smart and gifted, and are expected to live up to impossible standards. Their disability activism would involve allowing them to fail, make mistakes, be stupid, etc.

Some children are constantly reminded "you're the child, I'm the adult" in order to deny their autonomy. Their youth rights activism would involve treating them like an adult at times when they feel ready for it.

Some children are treated like adults in order to justify increased expectations or to downplay abuse against them. Their youth rights activism would involve allowing them to be a child.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to oppression. Each individual person's experience is different. Whatever trauma is caused by their oppression, the activism should focus on undoing it.