an unreliable narrator

queer / fandom old / acab Ao3: xpityx

[xpityx]

About Me

Ao3

I’ve been in fandom since 1998 and I’m an avid reader and writer of fic. I’m chronically ill so although I love getting comments I sometimes take a while to reply to them - please bear with me. I have a writing updates tag that I use  somewhat haphazardly (edit: it’s been years 😅 )

You can find my original writing here

[ms-demeanor]

I want to be super duper clear that any time you share a screenshot of a twitter post without going to look for the context, or any time you reblog a news article because of a provocative headline on a story that you didn't actually read, you are "outsourcing your thinking to [X]" or "giving in to cognitive surrender" or "allowing cognitive offloading to override your critical thinking."

Of course it is not good that people are using AI unquestioningly and accepting whatever answers it gives them.

It is also very fucking bad that people are not double checking ragebait news headlines, are lamenting "trends" that are a single deranged twitter user on a rant, or are seeing something third-hand in a post that drastically misinterpreted the source material and using that as the foundation for their reactionary viewpoints.

As somebody who is critical of AI it is crazy-making to see so many people talking about how AI kills your critical thinking abilities while citing points from a tumblr post of a screenshot of a news article that overasserted a claim made in a paper they didn't read that circulated and picked up tens of thousands of notes from people being confidently wrong about water use and power consumption (based on numbers from 2021-2022) IN ADDITION to using language that the authors of the paper explicitly begged people not to use when discussing their research (which, of course, the rebloggers never saw because they read a reblog of a screenshot of a news article that overstated a claim, not the paper that made the claim).

For instance, in the paper that everyone loves to talk about when they say that AI is making people stupider (the cognitive offloading one), nobody ever brings up the fact that the group that used their brain only for the first few instances of the task had higher overall performance than the AI-using group and the search engine using group and then had higher performance over their own previous metrics when using AI in an optional instance at the end of the study.

Our media literacy and critical thinking skills were disastrously eroded before AI tools where everywhere and now people are pointing at AI as a scapegoat while they are still not *reading the goddamned stories or doing the critical thinking.*

[queeranarchism]

& like, we gotta resist doing a Make Our Brains Great Again.

At no point in history did everyone read the studies. People have been skimming headlines and then telling each other about it on the bus since the invention of headlines. Ordinary ancient Romans could not fact check the Acta Diurna. "outsourcing your thinking" is normal-ass human behavior across time. It doesn't 'cause brain rot', it's not going to bring about the end of humanity.

It does make us vulnerable to misinformation and to moral panics. Witch hunts and race riots and the war on Dungeons & Dragons all relied partly on bad actors seeking to maintain their own power and partly on large numbers of people believing information without fact checking and uncritically accepting the framing in which that information was presented.

We need to be both aware of that danger and put effort into preventing it, and we need to not doom spiral about it as if this is new.

[crimethinc]

Protocols for Common Injuries from Police Weapons—for street medics and medical professionals treating demonstrators

https:/:cwc.im/TreatingPoliceViolence

This is drawn from our experience in years of struggle at the #ZAD in Notre-Dame-des-Landes, France. It is not an introductory guide. If you are interested in learning about how to be a street medic, we have included some introductory resources at the beginning.

These guidelines are intended to equip street medics and health professionals to respond to some of the common injuries inflicted by police violence. They emerged from our experience in a struggle against an airport that the French government tried—and failed—to build in Notre-Dame-des-Landes. It can be difficult to find solid information about how to treat such injuries based on real-life experience. Most mainstream health professionals have little experience treating injuries caused by police weapons; this guide shares the knowledge we gained in repeatedly treating these injuries, in hopes of saving others the trouble of having to learn by trial and error.

[kropotkindersurprise]

Now with a working URL:

Protocols for Common Injuries from Police Weapons

These guidelines are intended to equip street medics and health professionals to respond to common injuries inflicted by police violence.

[vielens]

[bebsi-cola]

i'll be honest. If you can't deal with someone wording things badly then you aren't going to be an ally to autistic people or indeed anyone with a developmental disability, intellectual disability, or disability that impacts language.

also you are never going to be safe for people for whom english is their second language. if someone clarifies their meaning and apologises and you can't accept that over the original wording then don't bother pretending to be autism friendly.

and like part of my autism is that i become convinced that the way i interpret words is the way that they're meant. my autism is disabling to my communication abilities. i have poor emotional regulation, i jump to conclusions. a lot of my reactions are informed by prior negative experiences. i can and probably have been overly defensive in the past.

and i've been misinterpreted so much and had my words picked over and mocked for saying the wrong things and mocked for being unable to say anything at all and it always feels devastating. it's ironic that the same disability that has me treated poorly would have me react poorly to a similar situation, but that's just how it is.

so i'm not saying you can perfectly manage all your reactions just by trying hard enough. especially considering how much disability affects these things. but i do think if you are completely unwilling to give autistic and other DD/ID people leeway for how they word things or understand that they have a disability that impacts their communication and give us grace then you aren't a disability advocate.

[tucsonhorse]

And you have to give that grace to everyone, because otherwise you are implicitly demanding that a person tell you their medical history in order to not be treated like shit.

[queeranarchism]

And this applies to tons of other groups. OP mentioned people who for whom English is their second language.

Another pretty obvious group to consider is 'people who are not accustomed to the vocabulary that's common on this topic'. Example": If you broke away from your conservative-as-fuck upbringing and just arrived in your first queer community, you're not going to be familiar with the abundant jargon that has developed around queer theory and identity. It's up to others to give you some grace and time.

[cacodaemonia]

All of this.

A year or two ago, someone accused me of 'using the language of the enemy' when I said, "so-and-so identifies as [insert gender]." Keep in mind, this is someone who I'd known online for a few years, and who was fully aware that I'm queer as well as autistic. To add to the grassless thinking going on there, everyone else in the conversation was just like, "Yup, if someone says that, I don't trust them."

Are you fucking kidding me?? No wonder the queer community (and the left in general) is paralyzed by infighting—because everyone belittles and alienates anyone who uses anything other than The Correct Terminology of the Week!

Needless to say, I got the hell away from all of those people not long after that.

I've also had someone block me on Discord when I admitted that I really, really struggle to remember how neopronouns all change cases in different ways (I literally have to go find charts to refer to, but some pronouns are so niche that they don't even have case charts), and how that makes me nervous to interact with people who exclusively use neopronouns because I don't want to cause offense. And of course, not wanting to cause offense caused offense 🙄

So. Yeah. This kind of thing has completely worn down my desire to ever participate in queer communities, or any community that stinks of word cops.

[queeranarchism]

Queer communities that do this also drive away their elders.

Like, if you don't like 'identifies as', you're not ready to interact with transgender elders who still use words like transsexual, a transgender (noun), transgenders (plural noun), a transgenderist (noun), transwoman/transman (no space), FtM, MtF, biological sex, gender-reassignment, GID, post-op, sex change, stealth, and more.

[wtf-is-hockey]

I don't really believe in brat Shane but I do believe in hangry (horny + angry) Shane who just needs to be fucked into a better mood and eventually Ilya can tell the difference between Sincerely Angry Shane who needs to be listened to and Hangry Shane who just needs to be bent over but he does fuck up bad a couple of times in the process of getting a feel for it.

[bexism]

the pitt | i got soul but i'm not a soldier

[anyanary]

[forsookbooks]

I haven’t sketched for fun in many years, but Rabbot and the Season 2 finale have fully wormed their way into my brain.

[morggo]

2026 - 2025 - 2024 - 2023

in spite of it all, happy 2026 pride.

you can download current and past hi-res versions of these over at my ko-fi (ok to print for personal use): https://ko-fi.com/mxmorgan/shop/freedownloads

you can also snag shirts here which go to various orgs: https://mxmorgan.threadless.com/collections/pride

these get reposted a whole lot from here to reddit to twitter to tiktok and on and on, and i don't personally care whether or not i'm credited. i made these for everyone to use, enjoy, and find meaning in them. i appreciate folks who do credit me, but if able, please at least link to the threadless shop in the previous post - folks can get an official shirt where 90% of earnings go to trans led orgs focused on mental health (which is an important matter in general, but very personal to me) and not from a scam bot site selling AI-churned maga garbage where you probably won't get one anyway. i also suggest downloading the files from my ko-fi - they are free/PWYW and you can use them to make your own shirt, patch, embroidery project, whatever. tips are always nice, cuz i do like a pizza now and then, but never required for download.

final thought - breaking the pride tradition and more than likely won't make a new piece. the top one from TDOV is all i'm making this year. i have my focus on other projects currently and i don't want to force a poster design. these came from a specific head space and my current head space is Very Tired lmao so i wanna work on other things. 👍

[argillaforma]

shane and ilya walking around at home just minding their own business and exsisting in the same place without really talking except every time they cross paths ilya goes kiss😙 and won’t let shane move past him until he gets a kiss

[whitepeopletwitter]

[ramshacklefey]

No IDs, but these tags got me in a huff:

So ok look. The point is not the flared leg by itself. These cannot be yoga pants. These are, and you have to understand this if you are too young to have worn them, BLUE JEANS. And this was the last years before all jeans were 70% spandex.

They were denim, and they weren't bell bottoms. They hung loose from the knee in a way that would make a wizard envious. We all walked around like we were wearing hakama. And they dragged on the ground. That was important. Ragged cuffs. If your jeans weren't so long that they had ratty cuffs, they were embarrassingly short.

And the thing about denim is that it's a twill weave and it's cotton. So not only does it hold a lot of water, it wicks. Walking around in these suckers on a wet day could get you wet to the knees even if you never stepped in a puddle.

Then you'd go inside and take off your shoes and try to avoid letting your freezing, wet, filthy pant legs touch your skin.

Yoga pants. Hmf.

[elodieunderglass]

people in cold climates would have a tide line of white marks around their knees (if they were normal height) in the winter.

From wicking up road salt.

[taibhsearachd]

The visceral memory of that time is something that never leaves you. Everyone's jeans were many inches higher in the back than the front because you kept stepping on the hem and ripping it off. Your lower legs were so very cold. Every new pair of jeans literally enveloped your entire foot, they were so so long re: leg-to-waist ratio. Walking on a rainy day was a legitimate workout. You have no idea.

[xpityx]

Hello! I follow your Boston Boys on ao3. I tried soooo manny times to comment on the last chapter but it doesn’t let me. So I thought I’d send you my love for the fic here❤️❤️

Also:

Do my senses deceive me, or did I get a future Hayleau vibe from this??? Hayden tense when’s asked about Jackie (divorce maybe), Hayden getting along with Cliff, Hayden asking if Cliff likes kids then stuttering at Cliffs innuendo. Calling him dipshit FONDLY?!!! 🙏🙏🙏

Oh you're so kind! Thank you so much for taking the time to find me here on tumblr to tell me 🥰

And I get to learn a ship name! There won't be any Hayleau in this fic BUT you should definitely write that AU. I'd love to see it <3

[mina-logan]

I like to think they’re tucked away in a corner at a farmers market somewhere.

[xpityx]

When the unsentimental financial imperative of the NHL sees Shane traded to the Boston Raiders, he and Ilya are thrown into closer extended proximity than ever before. As they adjust to life as teammates, they are forced to contend with the nature of their relationship - and must answer for themselves: is it even a relationship at all? _

Sliding down the wall, Shane hunched over his untied sneakers, shoved on hastily when Coach had called him in for a meeting after morning skate.

“Boston wanted you specifically. I’ve already spoken to their GM. You’re flying this evening or tomorrow morning: I’ll confirm once the paperwork clears.”

“Mom,” Shane managed.

“Oh sweetie. I know, okay. Those fuckers, how dare they do this! Two fucking cups! Now all of a sudden they decide they want a reset and you’re going to fund it.”

Shane put his head between his knees and tried to breathe. God, Boston. They hated him there; it was so far away; he was fucking their captain.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[marauders4evr]

It occurs to me that there are people who weren’t on this website in 2012 and therefore never saw the magical gif that you can actually hear:

It’s been over five years and that still impresses the hell out of me.