feynites:

libations-of-honey-and-milk:

In fairy tales and fantasy, two types of people go in towers:  princesses and wizards.

Princesses are placed there against their will or with the intention of ‘keeping them safe.’
This is very different from wizards, who seek out towers to hone their sorcery in solitude.

I would like a story where a princess is placed in an abandoned tower that used to belong to a wizard, and so she spends long years learning the craft of wizardry from the scraps left behind and becomes the most powerful magic wielder the world has seen in centuries, busts out of the tower and wreaks glorious, bloody vengeance on the fools that imprisoned her. 

That would be my kind of story.

When Princess Talia was fourteen, her eldest sister was placed in a tower.

Princess Adina was eighteen by then, and so of a marriageable age. She had grown quite beautiful, though she was more willful than winsome, and she did not care for the notion of the tower very much at all. Their mother did her best to persuade her on the subject. After all, the queen herself had been eighteen when her own parents had sent her to live in that very same tower, to be safely tucked away until her husband could be chosen, and then ride out to claim her. A tradition going back ages and ages.

Keep reading

Dear Tumblr

kellyann-graceful-warrior:

WHAT

ARE

YOU

DOING???

This trend is not ok. It needs to stop. End of story.

This isn’t going to be one of those, “I hate people who self-dx! You’re evil!” posts that illogically rants about it or attacks people. They typically have poor arguments and attack the person instead of logically explain why it is wrong, which is known in philosophy as “ad hominem.“ It’s either that, or they will minimize everyone’s struggles and almost make it sound like they’re trying to talk people out of becoming self-aware and opening up about their struggles, out of an attempt to explain why self-dx is wrong. I will take a balanced approach, which is how it should have been.

If you send me hate, that’s on you, and I will delete it. I am not writing this in an insensitive or rude manner. Many of the individuals on tumblr will flip out when rightfully challenged about all of their “self-diagnosies” and tell me to kill myself, that I am automatically ableist, and that I “just don’t understannddd!” and so on (once again, ad hominem).
Let’s show some maturity and intelligence.

If you dislike what it is I am saying, perhaps you are guilty of this. I am not attacking you. It just clearly needs to be pointed out.

To start off: I understand, and here is my story.

There are people who do this who are confused, hurting, and can’t get help, and sometimes they self-dx as a defense mechanism and as means of coping.
At one point in my life, I was immensely distressed and confused by my feelings and symptoms.
I self-diagnosed myself with dissociative identity disorder (DID) when I was 14. I did not post about it, but I convinced myself I had it. My dissociative state, which I now know was an entirely different disorder and cause, was so severe. I turned to self-dx to help with my fears, confusion, and anxiety about it. I see now how my experience wasn’t remotely similar to DID. To someone untrained at the time, yes, I can see how it can be confused. But that is the point: I had no idea.
I would have been better off trying to help myself and manage it than attaching myself to some sort of label to feel “comfortable.” It did not help, but rather, made me preoccupied with symptoms I was afraid of having or thought I had.

With this said, I understand each self-dx case is different and some are because they are so distressed and turn to it. I entirely understand that.
That does not make it OK or healthy, however. That does not mean when you start to realize you may be doing this, you have some kind of excuse or right to continue to do so. When I understood how it was so harmful, ignorant, and biased, I stopped.

In fact you will find a majority of the people who are so against self-diagnosis are those who may have done it in the past. They now realize just how much stress it caused them, how wrong they were, and how it is a major problem towards the mentally ill.

The problem:

As mentioned, each case is different. Sometimes they are confused, other times, they are scared. Sometimes, it’s a mixture of many reasons.
There are some people really not taking it seriously. You cannot deny there are clearly people who add all of these illnesses as some sort of “about me” trait, pull out a list of disorders on their blog, and cling to the labels.
Many people may want to attach all these labels to themselves and draw attention to it.

No matter the reason, even if with good intentions like mine, it is still not ok, and is still a major mockery to the mentally ill.

Most blogs are now:

“I’m [name], self-diagnosed asperger’s, bpd, aspd, ptsd, ocd, bi-polar, depression……”
“I’m [name] and I have antisocial personality disorder, avoidant personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder, anger manifested depression, and (lists a bunch of illnesses that aren’t even diagnosable) …”
“I am self-diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, ptsd, and bipolar disorder. I also might have dyslexia, adhd, and eating disorders.”

People will seriously diagnose people over anons/asks or say whether or not what they are experience is a symptom of a certain disorder or not:

Seriously, people?

It doesn’t matter how self-dx is done. Reading articles on google or databases does not make you qualified or educated enough. Reading books does not mean you know whether or not you have a disorder. It really doesn’t. It’s even worse when people tell me they self-dx and haven’t even done more than go over a list of symptoms.
Doctors are not allowed to self-dx, so why would you?

This leads to a HUGE release of misinformation and mockery on Tumblr. Apparently *everything* is a symptom now because someone on here randomly says it is, as you can see in the pictures above.
The behaviors of some people on here make me ashamed of my actual mental illnesses, and I know I am not the only one. I am happy to see many others speaking up against this self-dx trend. Many people on here will freak out if anyone asks them about their self-diagnosies, and then they will blame it on their *disorders. *

Someone I came across listed about 10 mental illnesses on their blog, and when I nicely messaged them about it, they harassed me. And I mean belittling, profanity, and threats. Later, they messaged me and said it was because of their disorders– they told me they truly do have major depression, anxiety, borderline, ocd, and so on to what all was listed, because them harassing me proves that.

So, on top of everything, many of them have perpetuated stigma.

This happens OFTEN. All it takes is for someone to see it in all the tags and millions of blogs on here. It happens more often than many realize. I have seen it, others have, and if you haven’t seen it, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen or you can try to say those who have experienced it are just wrong.

The arguments for self-diagnosis are typically weak ones. They generally consist of:
-You are ABLEIST because you discourage people learning about and expressing their mental health. You should not discourage someone to look into their struggles.
-You just DON’T UNDERSTAND because some people can’t afford help, are in abusive homes, and so on.

Except this doesn’t excuse self-dx, as mentioned. So let’s address each of these throughout the post.

Medical student syndrome.

As a soon to be psych grad student, here is a well-known term used to describe students who self-dx and worry about whether or not they have the disorders they learn about. This is not something unheard of. Psychologically, we may very well naturally try to put ourselves into the shapes and patterns of what we read and learn about.  When we read a book or watch a movie, we may put our life experiences into it. We see it from our perception.
Sometimes, learning about symptoms aren’t any different. If I mention “severe migraines” we may think of a time we had a severe migraine.

With the rise of technology, people tend to think they have the entire world in their hands and can suddenly diagnose themselves.

You have to remember that while it is true for someone who has a disorder to become more aware of their symptoms the more they learn, someone is also highly likely to put themselves into what they learn about, worry about it, or misinterpret it as a symptom.  

You cannot only pay attention to the information that is biased to your point. I saw an argument going around describing how self-dx is valid because it’s not that you start to attribute the symptoms to yourself, it’s that you become more aware of them the more you learn.

Except that is less than half the story and goes against entirely how our perceptions naturally work, especially if someone actually has an anxiety disorder or phobia and out of worry, ends up actually diagnosing themselves with a bunch of other disorders instead. This can cause extreme distress upon them.

It is far more likely to be biased with your perception. If I did not know what disorder I actually have, I can see how it can be placed into many others if I were unaware of it. As I mentioned, I did that, and most do. Mental illnesses are notorious for having overlaps—this is a clinical fact. If I was completely focused on bipolar disorder instead of what I actually have, I can see how I can put my symptoms into that, too. Quite frankly, I can put my symptoms into any disorder.

Differential diagnosis:

Differential diagnosis is more complicated than anyone can conjure up until they have completed grad school. People go to medical school and spend years in graduate school for this. The more I go through school, the more I realize how little I know—and I have been studying psychology for years. The more I learn, the more I realize how realistically complicated it is. I have come to humble myself even more throughout school, and honestly, part of realizing self-dx is wrong is humbling yourself to this understanding.

In some sense, every mental illness can seem like another at some point in time. When I was diagnosed, I saw three psychologists, a psychiatrist, had blood work, and ruled out brain injuries and seizures. Differential diagnosis is not just to differentiate between mental illnesses; it is to ensure nothing physical is causing it.

Literally every mental illness has an overlap, and I don’t say that lightly. This is because it is a spectrum.

Autism to some extent can seem like: depression, borderline personality disorder, anxiety disorder, ocd, another developmental disorder, adhd, and so on. I could say the same about all those disorders listed. Some symptoms from one thing can really be caused by another or seem to be caused by another, when in all reality, it isn’t. In all reality, it could be one, two, or none, of those disorders.
Differential diagnosis is such a complex process, I would have to make a separate post about it to avoid making this post too long.

Diagnoses are hard to determine 

Arguments I sometimes hear are: (1) I saw my doctor and they diagnosed me the first day after some questions, so self-dx is ok. (2) After seeing my doctor for some time, they pulled out a checklist and diagnosed me. So it is ok to use the checklist yourself because that is how I was diagnosed.

This is just completely absurd; it assumes one’s own perception and experience must be universally accurate.

First, if someone has received a diagnosis within a few minutes, then it’s most likely wrong. It doesn’t take into account anything at all except for the conversation and analysis they had right then and right now. I am sorry to say the mental health field has its many problems, and a doctor who does that really should do a better job. It makes me cringe. I do realize some disorders can be more obvious than others, but it will not be like that for everyone, nor does it change the fact that the professional was the one who determined it.

Second, if you were seeing a doctor for some time and they suddenly showed you a list of symptoms and asked if you “think you fit them,” they are not diagnosing you because of whether or not youthink you do. They most likely already determined you have it through testing and analysis and are simply including you in the diagnostic process. They will have to tell you and show you at one point, won’t they? It is not always appropriate for a doctor to just go, “So…you have ____ disorder” as opposed to, “Do you think this explains you?” Imagine someone has a severe mental illness, and instead of discussing it with the patient, they just told them they have it. They need to include the patient.
Evidently, it is important for a patient to explain if it describes their self-reported symptoms, and why it may not, for analysis too. But they do not ask you to determine the diagnosis entirely, no. Not at all. It may also show them exactly how aware you are of your symptoms if you go and deny it. I hate this argument because it goes to show how people assume they know whatever it is their doctor is doing and thinking.

The DSM is not a checklist.

The American Psychiatric Association admitted right on their website in 2012 that the DSM should not be used in a cookbook manner and that it is often misused. For those of you who don’t know, they created the DSM.

The main purpose is to provide lawful proof that an illness exists and causes x, y, and z main symptoms.  Before this, people could claim anyone was mentally ill or needed to be hospitalized based on word of mouth. People were abusing what “mentally ill” really was, or they kept trying to excuse people or berate them by saying they were mentally ill. Back then, there were no laws and criteria for explaining mental illness at all. What is “mentally ill?” What defines x, y, and z disorder, and what are x, y, and z symptoms?
What the DSM provides is a convenient shorthand to the court, law, and other professionals. This does not mean it determines strictly in itself whether or not someone has a mental illness.

This brings me up to my next point—its purpose is for convenient shorthand. Its purpose is for doctors to know the names and main symptoms of criteria so they know what they heck people are talking about and come to agreement about disorders. It is a brief overview and reference guide for professionals and does not cover their actual knowledge of these disorders.

The DSM never intended, nor claimed, to be something in which both professionals and laypersons can just look at check off of a list. The DSM has disclaimers right inside claiming the purpose for shorthand. And if professionals intentionally did not set it up that way, then what makes you think you can accurately use it that way?

Additionally, The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) by the World Health Organization (WHO) is another diagnostic shorthand criteria, used almost as often as the DSM in diagnosing mental illness. The criteria in these books and descriptions are not identical.
They are similar enough for clinical purposes, and so there are no major controversies, yes (imagine just how much that can screw things up!), but it is not identical nevertheless.

In the DSM, there is one type of Borderline Personality Disorder. In the ICD, there are two. In the DSM, they combined Asperger’s, Autism, and so on, into one spectrum.
In the ICD, they did not. (No, it’s not that “Asperger’s” no longer exists. Asperger’s was always considered to be a spectrum of Autism. The just simply wrote it differently as one spectrum now).

These books, at best, are arbitrary and resources to doctors and professionals for shorthand, rather than something that is some ultimate determinator of diagnosing illnesses. Research reveals this is actually a very arbitrary book with controversies.

No, those online tests aren’t accurate checklists either for the same or similar reasons, nor are they typically professionally constructed.

Most of what people diagnose themselves with on here is not a diagnosable condition, or it is clinically inaccurate/controversial.

Now this is a major point.

People will put disorders on their blog that cannot co-occur, is not a diagnosable condition, or is somehow clinically controversial, uncommon, impossible, or inaccurate. It really proves how they don’t know what they are talking about.

Bipolar disorder and schizoaffective disorder together? OR Schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder together? Schizoaffective disorder is a mood/affective disorder with schizophrenia. You’d be saying you have the same thing twice, and this is not how it is diagnosed.

Major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder? Bipolar disorder is already saying you have major depression (with mania/hypomania). It is not possible for someone to have major depression twice, for the depression in bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder have the same criteria, symptoms, and name.

Psychosis? This is typically diagnosed as a symptom of a disorder and not as a diagnosis in itself.

Manic depression and bipolar disorder? They are clinically the same disorder.

A bunch of personality disorders at the age of 15? They are not typically diagnosed until adulthood. While it is CRUCIAL to realize the importance of detecting disorders early, and to realize personality disorders are in some instances diagnosed before adulthood, diagnosing an adolescent with one is approached VERY cautiously in a clinical setting. The reason for this is the personality development completely alters throughout life and the psychosocial stages of development alter, which I explain more in this post somewhere.

Histrionic and avoidant personality disorder? Extremely clinically controversial.

Schizophrenia at 13 years old? Except this is clinically uncommon and does not typically occur. The phases of schizophrenia do not typically appear in this manner.

You have both PTSD and Acute Stress disorder? Not possible.

I really could go on 10000 pages about this point and most of what I see on tumblr.

Self-diagnosis is not the same as self-help, self-awareness, self-assessment, and self-advocacy.

There is a clear line between these two. You can look into your symptoms with the intent to help yourself and not self-dx. You can express yourself and become more aware of your struggles, without self-dxing all over a blog and without posting everywhere about self-dx. You can look into what might help make sense of your experiences, without self-dxing. You can explain how you feel (angry, depressed) and find tools to analyze what struggles you have from these feelings, without self-dx. You can even open up to your doctor about a concern you had about relating to a disorder, without self-dxing!

There is a difference between, “I get angry a lot and I am going to try to recognize my triggers and find ways to cope with it, maybe even open up to someone about it.” Compared to, “I get angry a lot– I have BPD.”

In fact, even those diagnosed really shouldn’t give the impression their diagnosis are trends and such. It’s just the fact that this isn’t ok AT ALL!!

I am not saying that it isn’t ok to post on your about me!!!!! Society should never make someone feel like they have hide their mental disorders, but even to those who have a diagnosis, it still would not be appropriate to present it as a trend, excuse, or the like. For example, although I have BPD, it is still possible for me to be mean to someone and simply say “it is because of my disorder,” or to self-dx with other disorders, just to name two examples. These are not appropriate with or without a diagnosis.

As discussed, I deeply encourage people to stay mindful of their mental health. Mental health is just as important as physical health. Self-help books have immensely helpful tools—I recommend checking out New Harbinger Publications, as they have many self-help books.
Moreover, online resources can prove helpful, whether it is a discussion or group to avoid isolation and feeling alone, a website about coping, self-help, and/or how to become more aware of our struggles.

Identifying coping skills, recognizing your triggers, journaling, providing yourself closure with validation, self-evaluation, and so much more, are helpful and healthy ways to handle distress. Self-dxing all over a blog, making excuses, telling people which mental illnesses they might have, and so on, is not in itself helpful or necessary. 

It is not good for you.

Simply, it is very well possible that if someone is chasing and clinging to a diagnosis, they’re not accepting themselves. They’re not going to feel better, and it won’t give them treatment. They are not going to move forward, they could focus on the possibility of a ton of disorders, possibly exaggerate, cause anxiety, preoccupations, and more. I did exactly this, and I know others do, too.

There is a huge aspect of denial to some who self-dx, too. Rather than dealing with the reality of the situation (something unhappy in life may be going on, or maybe there is the presence of a mental disorder they are missing and pushing aside because of their own preoccupations) they put all their focus to a label they determine.

Furthermore, the fact is it is very much possible the developmental phase of someone to cause much of the distress. Adolescents aged about 12-19 years are currently in a psychosocial developmental phase in their life called “identity vs. confusion.”
This is the adolescent stage of Ericson’s Psychosocial Theory of Development. Adolescents reach a stage in life where they need to establish themselves, their independence, and find their “group/where they belong.” This clearly can make someone more likely to search for a cause for their issues. It is simply a fact that many individuals who self-dx are in this phase.

No, it’s not to say you need to write it off as, “being a teenager.” This is a stigma against mental health in itself. Regardless of what it is connected to, it is still hurting you and still something that needs to be dealt with. What this doesn’t guarantee, however, is the presence of a certain mental illness. Puberty, hormones, and stages of development, can tremendously take a toll on someone in various ways, but you don’t need a certain mental illness to admit you have struggled in your life before. If you deny this fact, you really don’t know much about human biology and psychology. It is a fact that physically, one is undergoing dramatic changes at this phase, and multiple psychological changes are occurring.
Any sort of event, situation, or perception, that seems to threaten this identity stage of development, naturally causes intense distress and confusion.

It is called “identity vs. confusion” to explain the psychological development individuals go through. It is a complex process. Adolescents try to find harmony, they start to accept or reject parts of themselves to establish who they are, and so on. They may establish a false self out of an attempt to develop who they are, feeling as if they act like one person in some settings, but not in another. Sounds a little bit like a personality disorder to some of you, doesn’t it? It isn’t. It’s entirely different. This is a stage of development, and it is a requirement to differentiate a personality disorder from someone’s developmental factors, environment, and so on.

I don’t want to hear any, “Oh, so you’re saying I’m unhappy because I’m a teenager?? Because of hormones!! You’re INVALIDATING ME!” or “Oh so you’re saying a mental illness only exists when diagnosed?????”

No, no. Although some people may make these poor and stigmatizing points, I did not ever bring up or claim these points, and you will be minimizing my actual point into a different point that is easier for you to refute—this is known as the straw man logical fallacy in philosophy. It is a fact, as mentioned, that your distress and confusion doesn’t guarantee a certain mental illness, and whatever the cause, it needs to be dealt with. It’s not any less important without a certain mental illness present. Do not waste time messaging me, claiming I said something that I did not, which seems to be a tumblr favorite.

Now, what I won’t say is, “You just have a case of Hypochondriasis and/or Munchausen syndrome!”

I get extremely annoyed when people argue against self-dx say those who self-dx must just really have a case of these disorders. First, it seems to mock those who really have it. It can be very severe, especially when someone who has it puts themselves in life-threatening situations or self-harm. Second, it is doing just that—assuming someone has an illness that they very well might not have (just like self-dx). It is a weak argument, defeats the point, and is hypocritical. It attacks the person and not the argument (ad hominem). I don’t blame some of the people who self-dx on here for freaking out at times, because sometimes, the people who confront them about their self-dx are completely rude or belittling. Stop it. You’re not showing how self-dx is wrong. You’re just making us look like bad and illogically expressing your position, even if they did have hypochondriasis.

It is a smack in the face to those with mental illnesses and disabilities.

Self-dx very much spreads mockery, and it is insensitive to the mentally ill.  I already mentioned a bit about how it can give us a bad name. I’m sorry to say by the looks of many blogs, their posts, as you can see by the pictures, it appears to be another internet trend. What would you think just by a glance? This is not ok. It does not matter which side of the argument you lean towards—you have to at least see how this is not ok.

Statistically rare or uncommon mental illnesses on here aren’t *rare* anymore on here. Everyone has it on their blog.

Imagine living with a severe mental illness and everyone on a website claims *this* and *that* is a symptom, when it’s not, uses the disorder as an excuse to treat people like shit, or continuously posts about the trend. Additionally, it shapes the way mental illness is viewed and the way we are treated and addressed in society.

We are minimized, not taken seriously, mocked, and many of them treat us like a fashion statement they can go and clone on their “about me page.”

I realize my self-dx of DID is harmful to those with DID. I realize it was not accurate.
Am I a “bad” person? No. Had they known my situation, I’m sure they’d be understanding, as I am towards many of you.
Does this suddenly not make it hurtful or harmful? No. It does not provide some excuse to continue to do so, and it would still not be accurate to claim that it wasn’t still harmful and wrong in some way at the time.

So, yes, you have a right to be upset if someone comes at you harassing you about it, calling you a hypochondria patient, etc. I can totally see how that doesn’t help the case. But seriously, when educated people try to tell you how problematic it is on all sorts of levels and how it affects the mentally ill, listen. Obviously it’s not like someone will read this and suddenly completely change their mind. That’s not the way the brain works actually, so give it a chance.

“You don’t understand and some people cannot afford it/grew up abused/have no access:”

This is said with the assumption that those who are against self-dx (me in this instance) did not grow up in an abusive home and that I actually have accesses to treatment, which is an assumption you cannot logically make. How do you know I must not understand what being in that situation is like?

I already covered this point in the difference between self-dx and self-awareness/advocacy and described how it is possible for one to actually help themselves, self-assess, and so on, without self-dxing everywhere.

And if I must, if this proves helpful, and because I’m highly aware the mental health system sucks: (X,  X,   X)

Disclaimer:
I already wrote a few disclaimers throughout the post, but just to remind you: Do not waste your time telling me to kill myself over this post, that I just secretly hate the mentally ill, and whatever illogical claim people on tumblr go off about now. 

Additionally, I am not attacking anyone in any way. I never claimed that *every* case of self-dx is someone who just trying to seek attention, I never said anyone was “baddd” for doing so, and I firstly acknowledged the different reasons people do so– I really don’t want to hear any claim that I said so.

What’s not ableist is asking for people to respect the mentally ill. What is ableist is completely disrespecting and seemingly fetishizing, romanticizing, and displaying them in this manner.

greedlingtrash:

allofthewhales:

silvermoonphantom:

merlin-bunny:

azaleecalypso:

callie-quite-contrary:

skidar:

kyogre-blue:

overlycaffeinateddreamer:

faun-songs:

knightarcana:

deamortis66:

IM LAUGHING SO HARD I DIDNT THINK SEXUAL DESIRE WAS A REAL THING LIKE I ALWAYS SAW PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT HOW THEY WANTED SEX BUT I THOUGHT THEY WERE JOKING OR EXAGGERATING OR SOMETHING THATS WHY IT WAS SO HARD FOR ME TO REALIZE I WAS ACE BECAUSE I THOUGHT IT WENT WITHOUT SAYING SEX ISNT THAT IMPORTANT IM 19 YEARS OLD I CANT STOP LAUGHING LITERALLY 99% OF THE POPULATION EXPERIENCES SEXUAL DESIRE AND I THOUGHT IT WAS A JOKE

This is pretty much the definition of being an ace person, tbh, and I’m so glad.

#I thought it was an exaggeration for literal years (via sonickitty)

this is literally the #that sounds fake but okay meme im dying

#ME#I THOUGHT SEXUAL ATTRACTION WAS RARE#AKA#HOW TO FIND OUT YOU’RE DEMI (via @miseryauthoress)

Honestly, every single cheating plotline never made sense because “but why do you have to have sex with them? just don’t??”

^^^^ Every single cheating plot line ever I was like: What is so hard about keeping your pants on what is your problem??

…do you have any idea how hard it is to do literary criticism that will get published when your reaction to at least 75% of character motivations is this makes no sense whatsoever why do they even care? 

When people ask you why you don’t date someone just to try, and when you answer that well you’re not interested in that person, they explain that usually you don’t like the person at first, but you might fall in love after having dated a little while

and you’re just?????? but what?????????? is the point of dating someone if you don’t like them?????????????? 

what do you mean the point is making out and sex????????? why would i want to do that with someone i don’t already like?????????

I have literally experienced all of these.

^Same

THIS

#tbh tho my mom always told me that you dated someone to find out if you liked them#so i dated a lot of guys#who i ended up not liking#and it was Super Uncomfortable

Oh god this is so me. I’ve had to institute a new rule: no going out with ANYONE unless I was already WANTING to ask them out first. Because dating people because “why not” and “maybe ill develop feelings later” is just. A Disaster.

(Also the “wtf is up with cheating plotlines” is so true haha)

voidbat:

kyraneko:

myurbandream:

gotham-mother-of-monsters:

my problem with the ‘harry becomes lord of 2/¾/5 ancient noble houses’ trope is so unbelievably petty because its that fic writers don’t take it to the potential extreme. like, okay, you wanna make harry the bossest of bitches i get that, i understand, i have that urge too from time to time, but c’mon, be a little more creative about it please

so how about a fic where harry goes to gringotts after the fighting is all over to try to make peace with the goblin nation because this boy does not need more problems and after much hostility and some groveling and promises of future payments for damages caused a plucky goblin lass comes and shuffles harry into her tiny cube office to discuss the nature of his financial situation

(this is a grave insult among goblins. getting handled by a female, first of all, because they are supposedly less capable bankers, hello misogyny among other species, and because they consider anyone who needs help with his money to be lower than cave scum. harry doesn’t know about his. and if he did, he wouldn’t care because he does, desperately, need help)

and plucky goblin lass (who we will call PGL for short) brings out this MASSIVE tome of parchment and slams it down on her desk. a cloud of dust rises. harry sneezes and gets a terrible feeling. some of the parchment is mildewing. the stack is taller than his hand is wide. this can only end badly

PGL tells him that he’ll need to read the entire book to fully comprehend the new scope of his property and harry kind of weakly says “what??”

and it turns out that heyo, when the death eaters swore to follow voldemort with all their lives and souls and magic in their little racist hearts they actually swore a modified liege lord oath which also has the coincidental side effect of ceding all titles (and property connected to said titles) held to the lord in question too. haha how funny who knew

and that’s an ongoing thing. so voldemort was the de facto head of two dozen magical houses at the beginning of the war and he just picked up more as he gained more followers and he probably could have just voted himself and his crew into every position of the government and run the country like that if he cared to do it but voldemort was not about dat political life. he wanted change and he wanted it now. he wanted to MAKE AMERICA MAGICAL BRITAIN GREAT AGAIN. so he started a civil war and just never informed his loyal death eaters of that little fact because they didn’t need to know.

and you might think that gringotts vaults are tied into bloodlines but they’re really not. the malfoy family vault belongs to whoever is the current head of the malfoy family. normally, that’s a malfoy and his malfoy spawn becomes the next head and so it passes through the family, accumulating inherited wealth. it was a working system until voldemort got involved and exploited the ever-living hell out of it.

now this all becomes harry’s problem because it turns out that Right of Conquest is an actual thing. what was voldemort’s is now his and voldemort has has the time to accumulate A Metric Fuck Ton of stuff.

also connected to titles are votes in the wizengamot. and whoo boy, this is where harry’s problem becomes really really really problematic. because the noble families squabble over those votes like children, hoarding them and passing them down, occasionally trading them for advantageous marriages and such, but mostly jealously guarding them like the politcal gold they are. it’s such a bitterly tight-fisted market that any one family has ~maybe~ three or  four votes.

and now harry bloody potter has a hundred of the things and a completely unintentional stranglehold on the government. whoops

and then hermione would shotput harry straight into the wizengamot against his protests and things would become so hilarious i just

some jerkass attempts to increase his own salary for doing basically nothing

“how about no,” harry and his hundred votes say.

somebody attempts to tighten restrictions on where magical creatures like vampires and werewolves can work

“how about no.” harry crosses his arms. “actually, how about we repeal those bullshit laws already in place that make it almost impossible for werewolves to get a job right now, hmmmm? and how about we put something in place to catch abusive owners of house elves? and make sure they get paid? and vacation days? and healthcare? actually how about we get healthcare for EVERYBODY HOW ABOUT T H A T?”

ten generations of purebloods cry out in horror. look upon him ye mighty and despair.

the years after voldemort’s defeat don’t go down in history as The Golden Era. in fact, thanks to harry bloody potter (and some incessant nudging by hermione granger), they go down as The Decade of Frankly Astonishing Strides Toward Equality *cough* enforced by a semi-plutocracy.

(all thanks to a third tier plot never really explored by a would-be dictator YOU’RE ALL WELCOME)

Omg this is beautiful.

Harry as an accidental Lord Vetinari, oh my god.

Harry dealing with that all these pureblood families outright hate him. They were loyal to the Dark Lord, loyal to blood supremacy, loyal to their own enrichment and empowerment via the casting down of others, and now here’s Harry Potter, who opposes all of these things, who killed the Dark Lord and vanquished their dreams: their new Lord and Master.

And they can’t do anything about it because not only is it a binding magical contract but it’s their tradition, their law, their way of doing things, and they can’t attack Harry without shattering their own foundations in the process; they can’t even really convey their dislike of Harry because it would be disloyal to their own House.

So, all these pureblood wizards from old families who both hate Harry Potter and everything he stands for but also as a point of honor are perversely proud of him. He’s a wizard; he’s a half-blood, but he’s also the scion of a House of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, and he’s a powerful and talented wizard who vanquished the greatest Dark Lord history has ever seen. And he’s the Head of a dozen great and ancient wizarding Houses, he’s their Head of House so to speak, and they tie themselves in knots trying to figure out how to feel about him.

And the ones who don’t have a noble House, but only have their votes in the Wizengamot that Harry Potter owns, and you just don’t throw tradition out and start casting votes on your own inclination, well, they aren’t honor-bound and pride-bound to claim and embrace him, but they make their social standing from copying the greater Houses, and when their betters are quietly and gracefully saying “he’s a chaos-minded tyrant, but he’s our chaos-minded tyrant,” well, they buck up and agree.

Harry Potter, unlike Voldemort, isn’t lashing out at random or threatening to kill their children, so it’s sort of an improvement in many ways, even as they want to scream and throw things over all his reforms.

And after all, the old Houses value power. And Harry, above all, has power.

He goes down in pure-blood history as the Tyrant. The most powerful Lord their family lines have ever known. The man who reshaped their world. Elderly wizards tell their great-grandchildren long after his death that “I knew the Tyrant.” “I beheld him when my father took me to the Wizengamot, and he spoke to me.” “When I went to Hogwarts, he gave a guest lecture.” This far removed, at the end of their lives, the details of his rule are forgotten, the overturnings of tradition lost to history, and he is remembered with pride, even with adoration.

Their Tyrant. Their Lord. Harry Potter, the Greatest Wizard that Ever Lived.

(There are pictures of Harry at Hogwarts, at the Ministry, at St. Mungo’s, outside the Auror Office and in front of the Minister’s Office and in the entrance hall to the Wizengamot and in both the entrance hall and the Headmaster’s office at Hogwarts, and in every House he ruled. He wears stately robes and an impressive hat, gold jewelry, a beard (dark in some pictures, silver-shot in others, pure snowy white in still more, for he lived to be an old man himself, older than Dumbledore, older than Griselda Marchbanks, who lived to dance at his wedding), his glasses accentuating his brilliant green eyes, his scar more prominent in the pictures than it ever had been in life, surrounded with such trappings as the Sword of Gryffindor and the Elder Wand and a skull that purports to be that of Lord Voldemort.

Also at Hogwarts, in a back corridor next to a set of of dancing trolls and an overzealously combative knight, is a portrait commissioned by the executor of Harry Potter’s estate, in response to directions left in his will. This portrait depicts an eleven-year-old boy in brand-new wizard’s robes, with broken glasses and untidy hair that happens to cover his forehead. The portraits of his older selves go wrapped in the lofty dignity of the position he attained later in life; this child, filled with the untarnished wonder of the magical world, goes freely among the portraits with an anonymity Harry Potter never found in life, and loves it.)

GIVE ME THESE BOOKS.

The Real Problem with Homeworld

golvio:

After listening to what Peridot had to say about Homeworld in Gem Drill, I think I’m beginning to understand precisely what Homeworld’s deal is, as well as why Rose and the Crystal Gems decided to rebel.

People assume that Homeworld is a cold, emotionless, evil society where the upper echelons are comprised entirely of sadists who kill and torture lower-class Gems for funsies. They assume that their attempt to destroy Earth was done out of pure contempt for organic life. But the more we learn about Homeworld, the clearer it becomes that things are not so clear-cut. Why would Peridot get so teary-eyed reminiscing about Homeworld if it had nothing positive to offer her? Why would Garnet and Pearl miss certain things about their home planet and society, even if they gave up everything they knew for the chance at a new life? Why would Lapis do anything to go back home, and why did she still remain loyal to Homeworld even if she found nothing resembling the life she knew when she returned?

Each new episode hammers home the importance of looking at others with compassion. Every antagonist had a reason for doing what they did. Even the Cluster, which was a terrifying abomination that should never have existed, had their reasons, and they deserved to be treated sympathetically and be heard. So what does this mean for Homeworld? What makes the Gempire tick, and why didn’t they stop the war before countless lives were lost?

Seeing Peridot’s behavior this episode, especially after Steven told her he loved her, made me realize that what is going on is not so much a battle between Good and Evil, but a conflict between a heavily individualistic model of society vs. a heavily community-oriented one.

Homeworld is a community-oriented model of society taken to its most extreme. Their social structure is focused entirely on the greater good of Gemkind. Every Gem’s life revolves around their job, and they are tailor-made to fulfill a specific and necessary role in Gem society. They are mass-produced according to demand to fill the quotas that their society needs to function. Their expansion is phrased by Peridot in It Could Have Been Great not so much as a conquest of lesser species, but as a means of acquiring valuable resources which allow the Gempire to sustain itself and expand outwards to find new resources on other planets.

And, despite fanon assertions that the Diamonds and higher-ranking Gems love to shatter lower-caste Gems who displease them at random for no reason, from what we’ve seen, Homeworld is very adamant about preserving the living resources they have. Before Peridot let slip that taboo word that starts with “C” and ends with “rystal Gems,” the eternally busy Yellow Diamond was perfectly willing to spend time and resources on calling a nearby transport ship to swing by and pick Pierdot up to take her home, even though Peridot claimed that she singlehandedly botched the mission. Blue Diamond only ordered Ruby to be shattered because she violated a major taboo of Homeworld, not because she was in her presence while being lower-class. And they were sending parties explicitly phrased as “diplomatic missions” before the actual war on Earth started, rather than shattering Rose and Pearl outright. Their actions were all about preserving Gem lives, even against the rebels, and the war only started because both sides reached an impasse that neither could surmount without resorting to violence.

And then there’s the matter of Peridot’s enhancers. Lots of people love to speculate that the enhancers were designed as a prison which kept Peridot from accessing “her true potential” by keeping her dependent upon Homeworld. But, honestly, I see them more as assistive technology. I mean, it’s not like Peridot’s actually going to become stronger by not having her enhancers; Gems can’t build muscle mass, as their forms are fixed to a specific template for their whole lives. But think about it: a Gem’s life revolves around being able to do their job, to the point that their caste and identity is based solely on “what they’re for.” Peridot, without her enhancers, clearly has trouble with most physical tasks that Peridots are expected to complete, such as removing metal panels or moving heavy machinery around. I’m willing to bet that Peridot is not so much a prisoner so much as she’s like Amethyst — something happened during Peridot’s incubation period that affected her form, making her different Peridots are “supposed” to be, in her case, being smaller and physically weaker. When viewed in that light, the enhancers are hardly shackles of enforced submission; instead, they are a means of allowing Peridot to integrate into Gem society by allowing her to perform her assigned function just as well as all of the other Peridots. Rather than a Social Darwinist society where all “defective” Gems are culled at birth, Homeworld’s government is focused on ensuring that all of its citizens are given what they see as the best possible quality of life, in this case, the ability to contribute to the continued functioning and expansion of the Gempire without physical strain or unnecessary damage. This is why Peridot spoke of Yellow Diamond as a champion of fairness and justice; she may not have been warm and fuzzy, but she ensured that accommodations were available to every stratum of Gem society, and went out of her way to give help to the Gems who needed it most. It’s also why Peridot spoke so fondly of even the inanimate version of Peridots, since her identity was so wrapped up in her caste and her job, that sense of belonging to something greater than herself, and that sense of contributing to Gem civilization at large through her caste’s collective efforts.

Now, in that sense, Homeworld is fantastic at providing for the physical needs and wellbeing of their subjects. But we also have proof that they are absolutely crummy at ensuring the psychological fulfillment and well-being of their subjects at an individual level.

When everything is about the community and the greater good, individual needs tend to take a backseat. Selflessness in moderation builds character, but when you’re constantly expected to work for others without taking care of your own needs, it can rapidly become unhealthy. On Homeworld, the focus isn’t on how you feel, but what you can do. We see the consequences of that in Peridot.

Peridot worked seemingly from the day she was born. Her entire life revolved around doing her job and doing it well. But even though YD went out of her way to provide physically and practically for Peridot, she failed to acknowledge Peridot as her own person, or even look her in the eye. Peridot has never had those basic psychological needs for validation and affection fulfilled, to the point where it’s implied that Steven’s “last words” were the first time someone, anyone, outright told her that they loved her and cared about her as a person, not just as a valuable “human resource” or Resident IT Guy.

Her strong flinch response to suddenly being touched or having physical harm threatened to her also suggests the possibility that she endured bullying or interpersonal abuse in her early years. Now, to me, this doesn’t suggest that all of Homeworld is evil so much as that, due to their priorities, they don’t have an effective system in place for dealing with corruption or abuse on an individual, interpersonal level. After all, if everyone is virtually interchangeable, then how could one Gem make others suffer unnecessarily due to their own issues? This ineffectiveness is also due to being a massive intergalactic empire. Even empires on Earth don’t have the manpower required to surveil everything that happens in every tiny province, so it’s easy for abuses of power to proliferate on the local level as long as the higher-ups or the central government don’t hear about it.

It also suggests that there aren’t really any therapists on Homeworld — so long as you’re capable of doing your job, no one feels the need to check up on you. A Gem who shirks her duties can put a spanner in the entire system and get slapped with a report, but a Peridot who bullies other Peridots or a supervisor who loves terrorizing her underlings isn’t going to be investigated so long as the consequences don’t impact or inconvenience the system at large. In such a system, it would be very easy for an emotional abuser to cover their tracks so long as their victims appeared perfectly functional. Heck, threatening to impede their ability to do their jobs would be enough to scare their victims into silence. And if a Gem falls apart due to the stress of being abused, rather than being taken care of or the perpetrator being dealt with, they’re probably just reassigned to somewhere else to prevent further conflict, and the cycle begins anew with the Gem who replaces them. Homeworld’s greatest issue is not so much outright maliciousness as it is emotional neglect of themselves and others, allowing interpersonal and societal problems to stew and fester by being ignored in favor of “the greater good.” As long as everyone’s physical needs are provided for, what right do they have to complain? To do so would be ungrateful for everything that’s been done for them, and so they keep silent.

That laser-like focus on providing for their own species also gave Gemkind a tendency to trample upon the rights of all non-Gem species who happened to get in the way of their goal. It’s colonialism at its purest essence; everything is about acquiring resources and land for the mother country and ensuring that all citizens of the empire have access to their promised supply of tea, sugar, and microchips. The fact that there may already be people who live on that land or might be harmed by the process of extracting those resources is treated as a mere inconvenience to be brushed aside so long as everyone in the motherland is happy.

This is why Rose’s fixation on individual experience and perception was considered so radical (and dangerous). Prioritizing, even celebrating, the individual over the community was virtually unheard of in Gem society. Even the Diamonds, whose iconography covers every inch of Gem art, are defined not as celebrities with a cult of personality, but as Gems whose function is to govern and ensure the well-being of all of the other Gems.  Rose’s entire army was composed of Gems who weren’t happy with the role that was determined for them before their own birth. Pearl was from a caste that was so encouraged to put their needs aside for others that they were treated as literal objects, but despite being raised in such conditions she believed that she deserved autonomy and the freedom to choose her own path. Garnet, who preferred existing as herself rather than two separate Gems who were divided by a massive caste gulf, had to abandon her home planet and flee to Earth just to live her life in peace. In the end, they were happier on Earth than they were on Homeworld, because on Earth they were free to decide who they loved and how they lived.

But that’s also why Lapis claimed that the Crystal Gems “didn’t care about other Gems.” Every member of Rose’s faction prioritized their own individual happiness above the well-being of all of Homeworld, to the point that they were willing to destroy the system and kill their own kind, and for what? To humans, who are used to regarding themselves as individuals, such a motive is perfectly understandable, but to a Homeworld Gem it’s unnatural, even monstrous. All they were accomplishing was denying the Gempire valuable resources that could have ensured the well-being of existing Gems and the potential to create new ones. People who prioritized their own happiness over the good of their species were seen as selfish, defective, and were treated like outcasts. It’s why Peridot called out YD’s behavior when it became clear that her Diamond was acting based on her own emotions rather than for the good of Homeworld. It’s why Homeworld cut all ties to Earth and effectively exiled the surviving Crystal Gems rather than saying, “Hey, maybe these guys have a point and we should reform the system.” To the remaining Diamonds, Rose and the Crystal Gems were behaving selfishly, subverting their own best interests by interfering with the colonization effort for no discernible reason, and needed to be stopped for their own good and the good of all Gemkind.

However, this viewpoint also prevented the Homeworld Gems from examining their own actions, and from realizing that something had to change. This is why I think Steven is so important to the reconciliation of Homeworld and Earth: he’s not just a bridge between humanity and Gemkind, but also a balance between selflessness and self-care. He cares about others, and will frequently put himself in danger to protect those he loves, but at the same time he acknowledges the importance of being in touch with your own feelings and taking care of yourself, and judging by a recent interview, his finding that perfect balance will become a major part of his personal growth over the series. Hopefully he’ll bring those lessons with him to Homeworld when the time comes.

Character Update: Peridot

poetofthepiano:

Given the progression of Peridot’s character over the series, I want to analyse what’s changed and what’s stayed the same since her first appearance and how those characteristics played out in the first two episodes of In Too Deep.

I’d like to point out that Peridot has always been logical, resourceful, and pragmatic, and brutally honest about that pragmatism. Those are her core values and those are what she values most when she’s assessing a situation. She makes decisions through accumulating information and deciding what the best course of action is based on that information.

When we first see her in Warp Tour,

Source: SU Wiki

It seemed cold and heartless of her to just step on the robonoid. But to Peridot, this was the logical conclusion. It was a robot, and it probably cost more to repair it than to just leave it behind. If anyone got a hold of it, they’d have an insight into her technology and she didn’t want to lose her competitive edge. To her, the technology on Earth, even the gem technology, is primitive.

In the same way, she may have appeared more heartless than Steven did in Gem Drill. Steven says, the Cluster doesn’t know what it’s doing. But Peridot replies, it’s going to do it anyway, and that’s why we have to use the drill on it.

But really that’s pragmatism talking. Peridot doesn’t see any other way to disable the Cluster, which is an immediate threat. We know she doesn’t want everything to be destroyed, and now that we’ve seen her character, we know that she’s not a heartless person who likes destroying things because they don’t work anymore. And it’s because her environment has changed, and the information she has of that environment has changed as well.

1. Peridot felt like a part of Homeworld

I think that we often forget Peridot didn’t want to abandon Homeworld at the outset. She felt like she had a place in Homeworld where she belonged and did her part. It was probably a small part, something along the lines of being a technician or an engineer, but it fell in line with her interests and what she was good at, so she felt at the least comfortable doing that kind of work. Part of the designated labour comes from the caste system on Homeworld. But Peridot is logical. In her mind: This is where my skills can be put to the best use, so this is where I’m best placed.

In It Could Have Been Great and Message Received, Peridot describes the Diamonds as the Deciders, and Yellow Diamond is the best decider of them all because of how logical she is. Because of this, we know that if something makes sense, then that’s what Peridot is going to be in line with.

Source: SU Wiki

Her weakness is that if she doesn’t have all the information, then whoever controls the information can influence her decisions. And this is what Homeworld has done. They’ve taken out information about the Crystal Gems, why they’ve rebelled, and why the war took place. They’ve even taken out the memory of Pink Diamond. In the new Homeworld Hand Ship, we see that the Pink part of the emblem was taken out. But in all the old things associated with Homeworld, we see the diamond symbol as having four diamonds, pink included.

Because of this, Peridot was at first fine with coming to Earth and checking on the Cluster, with the full knowledge that its emergence would destroy Earth. In her mind bank, Earth was a failed colony; it’s not viable. Had it been a successful colony, it would have offered gem kind many things, like a foothold in this part of the system, more gems in the population, communications and towers and all kinds of infrastructure. From what she knows, gems were denied all those benefits because of the war. She called Rose Quartz out on it. Her thinking was that if Rose wanted to help gems, why deny them of everything Earth could have offered as a colony? 

Peridot owes her existence and even her technology to Homeworld. When she first arrived on Earth, none of the gems could recognise her as a gem. Peridots must be a young race and their existence can be attributed only to the shift of Homeworld towards new technology and allowing assistive technology such as her limb enhancers. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to hold her own in terms of size and strength. She says “It’s hard not to have feelings for where you came from.” And she doesn’t sound bitter, she’s sad. She wasn’t and then she was. It’s the same tone Rose used in Rose’s Scabbard when she asked Pearl if she wanted to fight. It’s the same voice Lapis had in Ocean Gem, when she was looking at Homeworld. With all the things Homeworld had done that hurt people, and Earth in particular, it must have done some good things for its people that would make them miss home.

But there were other reasons the war was fought. Individuality, choice, identity. Those things would not have been possible under Homeworld’s systems. And those were the reasons Rose decided to rebel. Peridot didn’t know that, and actually until now, I don’t think she has the whole story. She has realised though, that the organic life of Earth could still be valuable to Homeworld. That was exactly what she was trying to tell Yellow Diamond. It’s a costs-benefits analysis and if YD were logical, she would have agreed with Peridot. And this is where Peridot disagreed with YD. And she tried to convince her, and she tried to explain things in a logical way, because in her mind, YD is rational and logical and she should know what Peri is talking about.

Source: SU Wiki

The moment Peridot decided to rebel wasn’t a moment when she just told herself “Ah yeah, Homeworld is evil and the CGs are totally good guys and I should join them.” The other thing about Peridot is that she’s brutally honest, and just because she was faced with Homeworld’s most powerful figure, she wasn’t going to let it stop her from giving out the diagnosis that YD wasn’t being logical, wasn’t being practical and pragmatic. And then Peri got frustrated and called her a clod.

So I don’t think her reform arc was rushed in any way. It was the natural progression that upon receiving new information (and Peridot gathers information fairly quickly when given the chance) she would make a decision. Throughout the series she never said she hated Homeworld. She was trying to find a way back, as in Cry For Help. When she called YD, she did it because she realised the CGs couldn’t save Earth and terminate the Cluster on their own, but Homeworld, with an entire empire of resources, probably could.

And the biggest indicator that Peridot doesn’t just hop into things because she likes or doesn’t like them is the next point.

2. Peridot feels vulnerable now

Keep reading

reginaeinferos:

selenomancer:

taigas-den:

rissagoosman:

reginaeinferos:

emeralddrop:

reginaeinferos:

fixingtheholes:

reginaeinferos:

I recently saw a video of a young woman talking about all of the reasons our generation, the Millennials, sucks and that’s she’s sorry for what we’ve become. Here is my, a fellow Millennial, response:

You say we’re just ‘existing’ and not ‘contributing anything to society.’ The oldest Millennial is 34, the youngest is 12, we haven’t had time to contribute anything yet. We’re trying to survive in a world that no other generation has had to grow up in, with a tanked economy and most of our childhood hearing nothing but war in the Middle East on the news while also being profoundly connected. We didn’t do that.

You say we’re no longer polite, we don’t say ‘no, sir’ or ‘no ma’am’ anymore and we no longer hold the door open for our elders or women. We also don’t expect low-paid workers to break their backs for us, or at yell at them when they make a mistake, like my 60-year-old grandfather does. We say ‘no problem’ when there’s a mistake in order, and politely stand by while the 40-something-year-old soccer mom huffs and rolls her eyes as the new girl struggles to punch in the correct code.

You say our music objectifies women and glorifies drugs and criminals. There has been no significant change from the songs that were once sung or the singers who sang them. Many of the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s performers were drug addicts, womanizers, and criminals in their own right. Elvis Presley was child abuser, John Lennon raped his many girlfriends and most of the music I grew up listening, which was 80’s rock, were performed by habitual drug abusers. Let’s not pretend like human nature took a drastic turn when 1983 rolled around.

You say we cuss to prove a point. We, as a generation, have learned it’s not the words we fucking use, it’s the passion in them that we care about. As a generation, we’ve become more interested in politics and the world around us, cursing is minor problem when we consider the political climate the older generation has plunged us into.

You say we use ‘bae’ to describe the ones we love. Bae, originally, means ‘before anyone else’ which is incredibly romantic in my opinion. Bae is also hardly ever taken seriously, it’s a jokey way to talk about someone you love. Language changes, I doubt people were happy when we changed ‘wherefore’ into ‘why.’ The greatest injustice we can do to our language and culture is not allow it to evolve and grow with us.

You say we idolize people like Kim Kardashian and shame people like Tim Tebow. Kim Kardashian is a business woman who had a private video she made with a lover illegally revealed. Instead of fading into obscurity, she stood tall and did not let the sexual shaming she endured stop her and now runs a multi-million dollar industry, is married to one of the richest men in the world, and had two beautiful children. Tim Tebow is a Christian who was criticized by a few people for praying in an open stadium while most people just wanted to see a game.

You say we’re lazy and entitled, we want to make a lot of money and get a free education but we’re not willing to put in the work. We are not lazy. I cannot tell you how many people I meet who have gone to school full time while working a part or even full-time job just to make ends meet. We’re not entitled, we’re bitter. In the 70’s, you could work a part time job over the summer and pay your way through four years of school because tuition was $400, now just to walk in the door of your local community college you need to drop $14,000. We have kids who aren’t even old enough to drink, yet are already $20,000 deep in debt. Debt that won’t go away because even filing for bankruptcy won’t erase it. And even with that education, there’s no guarantee you’ll find something in your field. I have a friend who has a degree in microbiology and she’s making $9 an hour selling $15 candles. I have another friend who has a masters in Sport Psychology and Counseling. She’s a bartender. My parents bought a three bedroom house in the suburbs in the late 90’s while my generation is imagining apartments with breezy windows and trying to get enough money to get food while we scrounge up less than $8 a week.

You say we spend more time online making friends and less time building relationships and our relationship’s appearance on Facebook is more important than building the foundation that relationship is based on. We are a generation that is profoundly connected and no other generation has seen this before. We have more opportunities to meet people from all over the world and better chances to understand other worldviews and lifestyles. Being able to stay home and talk to people over the internet is cheaper and more relaxing than having to force yourself to interact with people in public settings after a long day of minimum wage labor. The people I talk to more over the internet are people I have been friends with for years. It’s easier to talk about the day’s events over Skype or Facebook Messenger than arrange a day to meet in person when you have conflicting schedules. I truly don’t believe most people care what others think of their friendship or how their relationships ‘look’ on social media. Most often what you are calling ‘our relationship’s appearance on Facebook’ are documented and searchable memories.

You say our idea of what we believe in is going on Facebook and posting a status on Facebook. Not everyone can join in with the crowds of protesters. It’s easy to see what others have to say through the comments and argue back without the threat of violence. And when this generation does organize events to stand up for ourselves, it’s met with childish name-calling or being reduced to a ‘riot.’

You say we believe the number of follows we have reflects who we are as a person. It’s nice knowing there’s 20 or 50 or maybe even 100 people who care what you have to say or think. We live in an age where we can and will be heard.

You say we don’t respect our elders, that we don’t respect our country. Our elders grew up in one of the greatest economic booms in history and in turn made it the worst economic situation since the 1930’s all while blaming kids who were only five at the time for it. We stand on our flag because it means nothing, it’s a pretty banner for an ugly lie. We’re a country that says you can make it if you just work hard enough while, in the end, that will almost never happen. We’re a country that becomes irate at the idea of 20-something college kids standing on some canvas dyed red, white, and blue but seem to shrug off the millions of homeless, disabled veterans.

You say we’re more divided than ever before. Ever before what? When black folk couldn’t drink from the same fountain as white folk? When women couldn’t vote? When white southerners fought for the idea that they could keep black people as slaves? We’re a generation that is done with injustice and when you fight for social change, you will divide people.

You say everything that was frowned up is celebrated. What does that mean? We frowned up gay marriage. We frowned upon wives being able to say no to sex with their husbands. We frowned up interracial marriage. We frowned up black folk being allowed to go to school with white folk. We frowned upon women being allowed to vote. Are those things not worth celebrating?

You say nothing has value in our generation, that we take advantage of everything. We value friendship more, we value the fists of change, we value social justice and family and the right to marry those we love. We value the right to be yourself, wholly and fully. We value the right to choose and we value the idea of fighting what you believe in, even when everyone older than you is telling you you’re what’s wrong with the country.

You say we have more opportunities to succeed than those before but we don’t ‘appreciate’ them. We are a bitter generation. You can finance a boat for 3.9% but you have to pay back college tuition plus 8.9%. We may have more opportunities but those opportunities cost money we don’t have.

You say you can see why we’re called ‘Generation,’ but we’re not Generation Y, we’re Millennials and we do feel entitled. We were promised a strong economy and inexpensive education. We had the world in our hands and we were going to make it better. And it was ripped away from us because of incompetent rulers, illegal wars, and greedy corporations and we get blamed for it. Crime has gone down, abortion and unintended pregnancy has lowered, people are living longer, people are more educated, people are less likely to die from violent crime or diseases, yet my generation is touted as the worst generation and for what? Crimes that we’re accused of that happened before we could even wipe our own ass? We were raised better, and we were raised in a society that treated, and continues to treat, us like garbage. And we are done. We are not sorry, we did nothing wrong.

So worth the long read

You have no idea how happy that makes me

How does this not have more notes???

Cuz it’s super long xD

I sat in the living room yesterday as my dad watched the video mentioned and agreed with every word. I was sick.

Both my husband and I saw this video and we were just apalled. 

Thank you for the response. 

Below is a comment my dad made in regard to said video- who’s a few years from retiring… Who’s still helping to support me because of many of those things In the long post.

“Millennials are the future of the economy. The cost of education, living and low wage for today’s kids? Will ultimately kill the American economy. You guys can’t afford to buy stuff… And without consumers?? We all know what happens. You guys can’t afford to live-and that means you get stuck coming home and living with us and we old farts can’t retire and give you the jobs because we’re trying to help you out. That whole video is bullshit. MY generation, the baby boomers, created a selfish money sucking monster. But rather than be honest- we’ll just say the kids these days are entitled rather than take responsibility . Shame on MY generation.”

And this is why I love my father.

Your dad is bad ass

Why “The Characters Escaped The Comic” Is Not a Satisfying Ending for Homestuck

purplepurpleunicornsparkle:

There’s this one theory about the ending going around. That theory being that the reason Hussie thumbs-downed LE, the reason the animation cut off before the final battle, and the reason the door on the platform turned white is that the true purpose of the House Juju was just to end the comic, “freeing” the characters from the narrative.

There’s enough evidence to suggest that maybe that’s what happened. I’m not interested in disproving the theory,  just because Act 7 was vague enough on the details that, really, anyone’s theory is equally valid. What I do want to talk about is why that ending fucking sucks.

It’s strange because the main cast escaping from the time loops and causal obligations of Paradox Space was the ending I wanted. Always have. I remember a dark shadow settling onto me in Act 5, realizing the crushing inevitability in everything these characters did. No one’s choices mattered. There was no free will. Everything they did had already happened. That feeling of hopelessness is supported by the narrative – Rose’s attempt to thwart the narrative and destroy the Green Sun turned her into the very author of its hold over reality. That bullshit feeling of being “suckered” by the narrative was cut with the victory of Jade literally breaking through the fourth wall. But even that was fore-ordained. More causal bullshit. The kids never truly had control over their destinies, and they knew it.

Wait. So why is Act 7 as an escape from the narrative unsatisfying?

It has to do with agency.

Hey, let’s change gears and  talk about the ending of a movie from the 90s. What’s more Homestuck than that?

I actually love this type of ending a lot, and here’s a movie that fucking nailed it. The Truman Show, for all of you way younger than me, is a movie about a guy whose entire life is a narrative. As a baby, he was chosen to be the star of a pioneering new television show. Truman’s lived his entire life in a dome, surrounded by actors who are paid to be his family, friends, and coworkers. The director manipulates his life by introducing elements as plot twists and drama. Ultimately, Truman realizes that his world is fake and ties to escape from it.

In the final scene, Truman reaches the edge of the dome. The director reaches out to him like the booming voice of god, telling him that, yes, his entire world might be artificial, but it’s also safe and familiar. The world outside is frightening and nothing is certain. Truman decides that, despite understanding this, it’s better to be in control of his own destiny. He makes his choice, takes a bow, recites his catch phrase, and leaves the dome. The movie ends immediately here, because there are no cameras to document what happens from there. Awesome, ambiguous ending that nails its themes.

The key word in what makes it so good? CHOICE.

Okay. Back to Homestuck.

I started getting nervous last year when Arquius began to release the grist hoards. I was struck by the fact that I didn’t know why the kids were actually trying to make this frog. I couldn’t remember them talking about wanting to beat the game. I never got the sense that they particularly wanted to be gods of a new universe. They always just seemed to  be fighting for their lives, thrown from one crisis to another and swimming against the current. Pages upon pages upon pages of dialogue, and I can’t recall one single time when any of the eight kids talked about what happened after the game, not even with the trolls, who had actually done it before and did have some feelings about it. The thing was, Sburb was never the enemy. Paradox Space was. And making a new frog seemed to play right into what Paradox Space wanted. One more universe to seed and eventually destroy, continuing the cycle forever.

Thematically, everything was leading up to an ending where the characters overcame the grip of Paradox Space and made their own destiny. But instead, they killed some bosses and made their frog.

There’s no reason why this frog is different. We aren’t given any indication that this is a special frog. It was made the same way as any other frog. The kids just did exactly what the narrative wanted them to, smiling vacantly up at old Bilious Slick and then going through the door, ostensibly walking into yet another Paradox Space controlled universe and seeming, somehow, entirely satisfied with it.

Why do they look so fucking happy? What did they actually accomplish, here?

Maybe the House Juju did release the kids from the confines of Paradox Space. Maybe its entire purpose was ending Homestuck, which took away Lord English’s power. But that’s a bullshit, unsatisfying ending, because it happened entirely by accident. Vriska thought it was a powerful relic that would destroy Lord English. And the kids? They didn’t think jack shit. They didn’t know what the Juju would do. They didn’t know Calliope intends to collapse the sun. They didn’t know ANYTHING.

In the final moments of Homestuck, the characters we’ve spent seven years and ten thousand pages with end the narrative the exact way they started it: with absolutely zero control over their destinies. Only now, they seem perfectly happy about it.

It doesn’t matter whether they escaped the comic or not. A victory without a choice is just a fucking coincidence. And the only choice they made was to walk through that damn door and start the cycle all over again.

sodomymcscurvylegs:

Story Time: in 2012, when I still lived in Florida, I used to work for a credit union, and I had the absolute worst manager and assistant manager. They were sloppy, lazy, and offloaded their work onto other people. No biggie; I’m grown and I can handle my job and not stress because I’m damned good at it. Problem: the manager and assistant manager, who happened to be best friends in real life, also happen to be very, very conservative older women. I’m talking like, hardcore conservative Christians, the kind who are not very good people and are very unlike Christ. I don’t make it a point to tell people I work with my business because when you work, you’re busy and you don’t want to burden other people, right? At least, I don’t. Subject of my love life comes up after a while of me staying in my lane, and I’m also not a liar, so I casually mention that I happen to be gay and I’m dating someone at the time.

The change in my managers was almost immediate. From that point on they tried their utmost to make my life miserable, but I wasn’t going to break. Fast forward about a month after this mess and one of the tellers, Tanika, and I have become really good friends, and she pulls me aside one Monday morning to tell me that she overheard the manager and assistant manager talking about firing me, and she didn’t want to get too involved, but she didn’t think it was fair so she wnated to give me a headsup. Here’s the best part: these asshats are SO lazy that they literally say - or so Tanika tells me- that they’ll wait for the end of the week to do it, because otherwise they would have no one to cover my Wednesday shift, and they’d have to sit on the teller line, and no siree Bob, they’re too good for that! Too important! Too. Fucking. Lazy.

Immediately I type up a two week notice at my station, print that shit out, and take it to that sloppy ass manager in her sloppy ass office. They have no receipts on me, but these people will find anything and use it to get rid of you if they can, and I’m not having a forcible termination on my record and dealing with how that will look to future employers. Keep in mind that I’m not supposed to know that they’re planning on firing me, and I’ve done my homework on company policy about two week notices (they had just changed it in January, and it was February). I give her the paper, sit in front of her, tell her some cock and bull story about needing more time for school. She looks upset, tells me to leave the letter, and go back to my station. I pull out a second copy of the letter and say: “Sure! But, first, I need your signature on this one, which is my copy of the two week notice.” Her face was a Goddamned mask at this point, but I could tell she was burning up inside. She’s trapped; she has to either sign it and pretend everything is fine, or she refuses and I go in on her for her “suspicious behavior” and call her higher ups. She signs my copy. I go back and finish my day.

Day ends and the assistant manager comes to me and tells me they have spoken to the president of the credit union and they have decided to terminate me anyway. Tells me I need to turn in my drawer and vault keys immediately and leave the premises. I refuse; “I’m not leaving until we count my drawer down together, I have a printed and signed copy of my balance, and you have signed paperwork confirming that I have given you all keys back.” She has no choice. I walk out with all necessary paperwork, get home, and immediately email the credit union president telling him what happened and how I think it’s utterly unprofessional for an employer to behave this way. He calls me the next day to my personal phone, and tells me the manager and assistant manager both told him I had quit on the spot and walked out without so much as a goodbye. I tell him I have a signed two week notice from the manager, because this sloppy ho can’t even keep own story together for five minutes. He tells me to photocopy it and email it to him. I do. Tells me he is going to have a discussion with the manager and call me back ASAP. Calls me back, apologizes profusely, and tells me that I shouldn’t have been treated as such, so he offers to pay me for the two weeks I had give notice for, ON TOP of an extra two weeks of compensation, and I didn’t even have to show up to the branch anymore. He was paying me a full month for no work to make up for the situation.

First paycheck comes in, and I put on my best outfit. Pick out the hottest shit in my closet that says: “I look incredible” but also “I have free time and you don’t” and “enjoy working here while I get paid while napping at the beach,” and I walk my happy little ass into that bank to pick up my paycheck like:

Happily greet the manager and assistant manager, who are both there like:

Say hello to my friend Tanika, who is at the teller line like:

Enjoying the fuck out of this show, right? Like, she can’t say it out loud, but she’s fucking living for this goddamned circus and it’s written all over her face!

I talk to her and loudly tell her how amazing it feels to have four weeks off with pay, and how polite and nice the bank president is. 

Then I walk my happy little ass out of the bank like:

But not before saying bye to the manager and assistant manager and reminding them that I’ll be back in two weeks to pick up my next check, “probably right before I head to Key Largo for the weekend.” 

…and that’s the story of how I once absolutely wrecked two people who thought they could use their positions of power to come for me unfairly, and a story I’ll be telling my grandchildren so they know, as grandpa knew on one February morning of 2012, that you take bullshit from absolutely no one.

thedailylaughs:

im-patrick-stumped:

this-is-cthulhu-privilege:

spookleic-asshole:

ilikechildren–fried:

the-clockwork-crow:

eee-in:

the-clockwork-crow:

fuckboy4equality:

nucleic-asshole:

itsdeepforhappypeople:

lordwellingtonofficial:

dyrks:

spoopflow:

boopong:

spoopflow:

boopong:

dirudo:

boopong:

spoopflow:

being in a public restroom and hearing someone shitting really loud

being in a public restroom

being in a public

being

people adding things 2 my posts

your posts

ur blog

u

IM LAUGHING SO HARD. I THREW MY PHONE SO I COULD BREATHE

you thinking that comment was necessary

thinking

wen u zoom in

I love this post

love

It just keeps getting better

overused captions

Tumblr’s new layout

tumblr

the internet

this is the only long ass post i’m ever going to reblog