The concepts of NSFW is being cleared of the Internet under the false pretense of children's safety when it's really about the people in power sanitising for advertisers and pushing evangelical narratives AND that not enough is done to keep legitimately harmful content off of spaces that minors have access to are ideas that can coexist

“Authors should not be ALLOWED to write about–” you are an anti-intellectual and functionally a conservative

“This book should be taken off of shelves for featuring–” you are an anti-intellectual and functionally a conservative

“Schools shouldn’t teach this book in class because–” you are an anti-intellectual and functionally a conservative

“Nobody actually likes or wants to read classics because they’re–” you are an anti-intellectual and an idiot

“I only read YA fantasy books because every classic novel or work of literary fiction is problematic and features–” you are an anti-intellectual and you are robbing yourself of the full richness of the human experience.

"you are functionally a conservative" is such a good and clarifying insult

Literally right after I saw this post, I saw another post in a discord chat for BOOK EDITORS in which an outspokenly liberal editor talked about how Nabokov should have never been published because he wrote about p*dophiles and described women's bodies in ways that made her uncomfortable. She described his writing as "objectively terrible" and said she wanted to burn his books. And other editors were bringing up classics they didn't like and talking about how they wanted to throw them in the trash. This wasn't like a light "unpopular opinion!" conversation. This was actual book editors talking about how books should be destroyed and censored.

There is something so scary and toxic in global culture right now. The revival of fascism is influencing everyone's mindset and approach to art, regardless of where they fall on the political spectrum.

I see far more books being censored today than when I was a kid. Librarians handed me The Catcher in the Rye, The Sexual Politics of Meat, and Animal Farm when I was literally 8-11. My mom would never have taken a book away from me. I read everything from the Tao Te Ching to the Qur'an to atheist texts under my desk at school. Teachers thought nothing of it or encouraged it. Books seemed universally acknowledged as sacrosanct to me.

Now I can't find any adults who don't hesitate or want to make exceptions when it comes to censorship. Even the most liberal social activist librarians I know go, "well except for book X..."

Functionally conservative. It's so important to have the language to express that.

Thank you for this addition!

And, following up on the previous post …

“This makes me uncomfortable” is NOT a valid reason for censorship

These fucking book editors should remove themselves from the profession ASAP 😡

The only reason a book should be removed, the ONLY reason, is “we are keeping it in the restricted section for research because its only intended function is to cause harm.”

And to be clear, when I say this, I’m talking about shit like To Train Up A Child and The Protocols of Zion. One is a text responsible for the deaths of multiple children because it’s an abuse how-to, and the other is entirely fabricated “protocols” from a group that never actually existed but is claimed to represent all Jews, and it’s basically one long antisemitic screed.

And even these should be available. Just. Not where they’re gonna be used to start a white supremacist cult.

Sorry to everyone who’s enjoyed the last 130 years of science and culture journalism, but Disney needs the money to fund Toy Story 9

Artist: jiji_zizidolce

❥Permission to repost this was given by the artist. Please do not repost without the artist’s permission. If you liked this fanwork, do take the time to rate and bookmark the original work.

hidden light in the canyon.

There was no lethal weapon at hand, but I seized a shovel which the workmen had been using to fill the cases, and lifting it high, struck, with the edge downward, at the hateful face.

The commercial visibility of Pride over the past few years has often excluded the voices of those most marginalized.

Digital illustration of a large group of queer people. There are people of all different ages, sizes, and genders gathered around a sign that reads, ‘no pride for some without pride for all.’

Do you want to know why Legends: Arceus hits different, yet familiar at the same time?

It honestly all boils down to this sentiment:

In the original Gen I Pokémon games, there was this unknown, potentially dangerous and frightening ambiance to Pokémon. They didn’t come off like something that had always been in the world; they instead felt like creatures that were still relatively abnormal, hence why completing the PokeDex was such an important undertaking. In the original story of Gen I, the older generation (the likes of Professor Oak, Agatha, Giovanni, Lt. Surge, etc.) had just started figuring out Pokémon and how they can coexist with people, and it was up to the new generation to take that further to make a better future. And it wasn’t a mission without risk, because Pokémon are indeed terrifying creatures. Just look at their original in-game models!

The Gen II games, by necessity, lessened this aspect, with Pokémon on the whole now being more well known and well trusted by humans, but it was still present in places such as with the Unown, Dark-type Pokémon and the local Legendaries. Afterwards, Satoshi Tajiri left the franchise, Junichi Masuda took charge, and the world of Pokémon got a makeover that included changing its history so that the titular creatures were commonplace for centuries.

However, Legends: Arceus takes this retcon and runs with it, taking place centuries back at a time when Pokémon, while commonplace, had not been tightly bonded with humanity yet. And thus from a human perspective, there was little that is known or understood about Pokémon, so they end up being just as mysterious and scary as they were back in Gen I.

Seriously, this shit has the same energy:

It is worth acknowledging that in Arceus, you can see the direct progress you make via your work on the Pokedex and side quests. In what’s likely at most a few weeks in-universe, while the villagers still mostly stay within the walls, they tentatively become less terrified and more open to the idea of living alongside Pokemon.

Plus the clans were already doing it too, though, without Pokeballs, most of the members were limited to a single Pokemon each. It’s also hinted that the concept of Ride Pokemon is in place in Alola at this time, so some level of Pokemon coexistion was already happening elsewhere in the world. And while the timeline probably doesn’t match exactly to our own, this was roughly around a mere 2 centuries ago.

You already mentioned it, but it’s less retcon and more natural progress (admittedly the remakes and timeline shuffling don’t help much, some retconning is def there). The Pokedex is continually worked on over the years and developing technology makes it easier to capture, raise, and study Pokemon. Pokemon once considered endangered (Lapras) and extinct (various fossils) are becoming more common in the wild due to conservation efforts, plus at least one Pokemon that was once straight up deified (Volcarona).

why are non-offensive moves even an option in pokemon?? im here to kick ass. have fun wasting a turn with your swords dance mirror shield whatever the fuck while i beat the shit out of you. hope you can still enjoy that raised sp attack stat in poke-hell

My double screen Meganium strongly disagrees 😏

as an Apache studying cultural anthropology, I actually find the concept of “going native” to be very interesting! The meaning of the phrase has changed a lot. Although it was often used negatively, once cultural anthropology was more established and less armchair anthropology, it was more of a negative because it meant the study was no longer really valid, rather than because they had become “less white”.

Someone who has “gone native” had lost objectivity, and probably overly affected the culture they were studying. From an academic standpoint, that can be a big deal, because you no longer have access to the culture in its unaffected form.

In many earlier examples, it also meant an anthropologist had become romantically or sexually involved with a member of the group, which was seen as a sort of consent/hierarchy issue. Can you have an ethical relationship with someone you’re studying? Most anthropologists say no, but a lot did anyway. (Bronislaw Malinowski’s diaries are a great and disgusting example of this)

I do think it can be very accusatory, but it’s also an accepted anthropological technique for an non ethnocentric anthropologist. Although the term was originally colonial, and is still used by many in that way, it’s also a vital part of what anthropologists should do. We must assume the foundation and actions of a culture are rational. If I’m invited to participate in a ritual, then I should, because that will grant me greater insight. If I’m on a study and become ill, I would consult local healers, not to patronize them, but because I believe that they also have valuable knowledge.

to go native used to mean to lose yourself, but now it means to value others.

Anyway, hopefully this made sense, and was at least vaguely interesting. I didn’t directly address GO, but hopefully my example is clearly applicable. If not, oh well.

Number one reason I love this hellsite

The destiel meme has transcended just being a meme and is simply a way of delievering news. I just saw three major current events trending and all of them had destiel as the first image

I love it here

Being a sex-positive personally-sex-repulsed ace is weird cuz like reading about sex? Awesome. Writing about sex? Not much more intolerable than writing about anything else. Sex is good. Sex is normal. Sex is only as important as you let/want it to be. Kinks are natural expressions of sexuality. Sexual purity is a scam. Bodies are nothing to be ashamed of. Sex work is no more exploitative than any other kind of labor. If you touch me I will throw up on you.

Reblogging for pride month

bad dragons aren’t allowed to join the tiny dragon pile