i said i was going to draw whichever out of these two won a shipping poll on twitter but i lied and did them both 🤭
You know what? I don’t think Obi-Wan was wrong to not tell anyone about his mission in the Rako Hardeen arc. And while everyone who cares about him have the right to be upset, I think a good number would understand him faking his death to complete a mission to save someone’s life.
I don’t know, I guess I’m tired of seeing “Obi-Wan has all the apologies to make and needs to make up for lying to everyone!” as a post Hardeen theme.
(Sorry for hijacking your post, but you’ve provided me with an opportunity to rant about the Rako Hardeen arc and I can’t resist the impulse.)
Tbh the most ridiculous take is that the 212th feels deeply, personally wounded by their General’s actions and that he has to atone for them in some way. They are soldiers who have been told (and often believe) that their entire life purpose is to fight and die for the Republic. They know the meaning of duty. If anything, I bet they’d be proud. As for the others…
Satine - a Mandalorian woman who survived a civil war by being on the run and who probably had to use dirty tricks to ensure her survival, a woman who put aside her feelings for Obi-Wan because they both had duties they could not forsake - would understand.
Cody - a Commander, used to loss and sacrifice in the name of strategy - would understand. Bail - the man who later sends his beloved daughter to fight in the Rebellion - would understand. Padmé might be angry at Obi-Wan because his actions hurt Anakin, but she’s a former Queen whose bodyguards played decoys and who had people disguised as her die to protect her - don’t tell me she’s never had to consider pretending to be dead for a while. (Also, Padmé is the one who exchanged Grievous for Anakin without consulting anyone in the Senate or the GAR, unless I remember this one wrong, so she would have very little business being critical of war strategies.)
Obi-Wan’s Jedi friends would understand, because they were raised in the spirit of absolute altruism and with the understanding that nobody’s personal feelings are more important that protecting others.
Ahsoka would probably understand, because we see her handle the situation much better than Anakin does, and because she too was raised to know that you shouldn’t put your loved ones before the fate of the entire Galaxy.
Obi-Wan doesn’t have to fall on his knees and beg for forgiveness. He has to apologize for the pain he caused, not for doing his duty during a full scale war.
(More ranting underneath on the necessity of war strategies and Anakin’s problems. I took pity on the dashboards.)
(saved your tags too, @smhalltheurlsaretaken)
I’d like you all to think of a lot of low paying service jobs that could be helped by AI. Or physical jobs that are sometimes done by robots like cleaning that could be made better with AI.
Instead, the techbros of the world have decided that the best use for narrow AI is to replace all our creatives, with AI that churns out recycled garbage and can’t make a single joke.
Also yes, that is Grey DeLisle, better known to some as Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Voice actors seem be leading the charge against this for obvious reasons.
Fascism sells a synthetic nostalgia.
As good a time as any to remind folks of the 14 properties of "ur-fascism" (described by Umberto Eco, who grew up in Italy under Mussolini, in his 1995 essay Ur-Fascism). Not all need be present for single regime to be fascist, but a Venn diagram of all fascist regimes will cover them all.
- CULT OF TRADITION. The old ways are best. The New is not worthwhile.
- REJECT MODERNISM The development of Western philosophy post-Enlightenment is seen as a descent into depravity. See also : Reject post-modernism, which is seen as an even greater descent into irrationality.
- ACTION FOR ACTION'S SAKE. Action is to be taken without reflection or introspection - that's for weaklings and degenerates. Often seen in a derision of "intellectual elites".
- DISAGREEMENT IS TREASON. Analytical criticism cannot be allowed. A pantomime of discourse may be allowed, but only within the accepted framework and only if reaching the foregone conclusion.
- FEAR OF DIFFERENCE. Outsiders are your enemy. Those who are different are evil and want to corrupt you and destroy all you hold dear.
- APPEAL TO A FRUSTRATED MIDDLE CLASS Capitalising on genuine frustrations by pointing them toward convenient scapegoats. Real concerns used a recruiting tools.
- OBSESSION WITH A PLOT. There is a conspiracy run by THEM. You are besieged by THEM. THEY are behind all your ills. THEY are working in the shadows to enslave and destroy you.
- THE ENEMY IS BOTH STRONG AND WEAK. When rhetorically convenient, THEY are all-powerful. When rhetorically convenient, THEY are feeble, stupid, weak. The rhetorical focus shifts regardless of self-contradiction, because all that matters is positioning the enemy where the speaker's goal requires them to be at any given moment.
- PACIFISM IS THE ENEMY. LIFE IS ETERNAL WAR. There must always be an enemy to fight. When that enemy is defeated, another must be found. When they cannot be found, they must be created, even from within. There is always the promise of a Final Solution bringing Ultimate Triumph, but it can never be achieved.
- CONTEMPT FOR THE WEAK. Elitism disguised as populism. Everyone of US is superior to THEM, cockroaches and drains on society that they are. But people are sheep who require strong leaders, who are by their nature superior to others.
- EVERYONE IS TAUGHT TO BE THE HERO. A CULT OF DEATH. Where in myth the hero is exceptional, in fascism everyone must be the hero. They crave heroic death, the reward for heroic life. In seeking it, they send others to die. (See also: Militarism).
- MACHISMO. Disdain for women and femininity. Intolerance of non-standard sexuality and gender expression.
- SELECTIVE POPULISM. The People are viewed as a monolith with a single will, as interpreted (in reality, determined) by the leaders. Democratic institutions are viewed as illegitimate because they run counter to the narrative of the existence of a single Voice Of The People.
- NEWSPEAK. Vocabulary cannot expand. If anything, it must shrink. Variation and nuance in dialogue means variation and nuance in thought. This cannot be allowed. Therefore categories must be binary. Definitions are simple and limited. If it cannot be boiled down into snappy catchphrase it does not exist.
Beware of anyone that tells you:
"we have to oppress some people to make things right but don't worry, we're not talking about you"
They're not talking about you YET.
Oppression never stops when its just oppression for others. It doesn't stop until its oppression for all.
The UK government has today announced a new building requirement which will prevent gender-neutral toilets in new, non-residential buildings. A policy announced on Sunday (13 August) as part of the government’s Levelling Up scheme revealed requirements for all new builds to separate male and female toilets, which it argues is to “protect single-sex spaces”. “The change comes amid dignity and privacy concerns from women and elderly people who feel they are being unfairly disadvantaged as publicly accessible toilets are increasingly being converted into gender-neutral facilities,” the statement alleges. Pro-LGBTQ+ activists have previously signalled the importance of gender-neutral toilets, including conservative MP Caroline Nokes, who said in 2022 that the “inclusive” facilities are something she stands up for “enormously.“ Following the policy’s announcement, Nokes told PinkNews: “What matters most when it comes to toilets is design. I always point at Portcullis House in Parliament which has bathrooms on every floor, nobody refers to them as gender-neutral bathrooms – they are just bathrooms.
The UK is increasingly hostile for LGBTQ+ people, especially trans people. We used to be rated 1st on the ILGA Europe Rainbow Map, we fell to 14th by 2022 and now the UK's ranked 17th. The latest iteration of the Conservative (Tory) party, in government, is largely to blame but Labour are also backsliding on LGBTQ+ rights as they follow the Tories to the right.
Next time transphobes call trans healthcare "experimental" you can show them this
penicillin was first discovered in 1928; vaginoplasty is less experimental
ibuprofen was first discovered in 1961; phalloplasty and HRT are less experimental
Adderall was first applied as an ADHD treatment in 1994; puberty blockers are less experimental
would also like to note that every single one of these procedures and treatments has been through rigorous testing usually both on animal models and humans in order to be approved as safe and effective by the FDA and not a single one is considered experimental. just in case anyone tries to be like "well HPV vaccines and Adderall are also bad"
LMAO TWITTER IS REALLY TURNING PVP IM LAUGHINGGGG
FREE FOR ALL, ITEMS ON, ANY STAGES
LOL
Oh holy shit they found Silphium alive and growing in the wild.
Like now that I am awake I need to reiterate how huge this is. It was presumed harvested to extinction by the Romans. It was a favorite flavoring and according to historians one of the best contraceptives ever known. True or not it would be fantastic to study that but it being extinct made that impossible.
This is such a huge deal! I hope they get it figured how to grow it.
right now it’s almost halfway through 2023, and 2024 is an election year in the US. I have started to see a growing proliferation of posts suggesting that there is no difference between the republican and democratic parties–the exact same kind of posts I saw an awful lot of before the last major election here. I am unfollowing folks who post or reblog these sort of posts, as I consider these posts to be fascist propaganda framed as leftist discourse, designed to suppress anti-fascist votes and voters.
Prepare yourself to vote for Biden now, because the only other option is someone who will make 2016-2020 look like a picnic.
You work with what you’ve got, not what you wish you had.
I detest Biden more with every passing day (and he was not in my top 10 candidates in 2020). 2024 will be an election between:
- Biden/The Former Guy
- Biden/DeSantis
- Biden/Republican Fascist to be Named Later
No Labels is an op. It’s being funded by unknown parties to defeat Biden and the Democrats. Their election scenarios are fantasy football for political junkies.
No Third Party has a road anywhere outside statewide offices (Bernie is the exception that proves the rule, and he’s a Democrat for all intents and purposes).
Arguably the rosiest scenario is that TFG breaks with the Republicans to form his own party and tanks any chance the Republicans have, but that’s not looking as likely as it did two years ago.
If you’re pissed, get involved in your local elections. Ensure that no position is running unopposed (and that includes if you’ve got a conserva-Dem somewhere now–primary them).
Get the House back in the Democratic hands (unless you’re up for two more years of this only with MTG as Speaker this time). Increase the margin in the Senate (and send Selema to her post-senate career). Make sure your school board isn’t full of flat-earthers. Wake sure your county counsel isn’t going to shut down your libraries if they have a book someone doesn’t like.
As Stonekettle says, if you want a better country, but a better citizen.
There’s a reason we call it a civic DUTY, not a civic privilege.
Starting mid-April I’ll be posting to-do lists and action items for people who’ve never gotten involved before. One party wants you dead. FIGHT.
Speaking as a Michigan resident: Look at the laws being passed in Michigan. Now look at the laws being passed in Florida. Spot the difference? That’s because Michigan is being governed by the Democratic Party, and Florida is being governed by the Republican Party. That’s the difference. They’re different parties. It is not the same.
You want what we’ve got? Vote for it.
(And you want Michigan to stay the way it is and not slide backwards into the shit we had to deal with with Rick Snyder, or even just the way it was when the House and Senate were Republican-controlled? Keep fucking voting.)
D are not our friends or even allies but R is a staunch enemy
look the main thing is that our first-past-the-poll voting style automatically and always devolves into a two party system where the majority of people dislike both parties. This is now a known phenomenon, a feature of our voting method as inevitable as water running downhill.
But that isn’t going to change until we get some sweeping voting reform that revises our voting system into some kind of ranked or run-off voting
Meanwhile one of our destined-to-be-disliked parties is actually trying to do things we want (health care, living wages, social services, public transportation, civil rights, education, support for gay and trans people, religious tolerance, etc) and one of our parties is banning books and undoing women’s rights and supporting corrupt racist police and endangering gay and trans lives while paying people to make posts about how both parties are equally bad so that people don’t vote democrat.
Like, we are going to not like a lot of how the Democrats operate, that is a feature of the current design, but they are trying to protect women’s rights, they are trying to help the homeless, they are trying to raise minimum wage they have agendas that include important things. And republicans? are at this point a literal cult that want to create a religious fascist state.
Even my father, now 80 years old, a man whose politics i have often despised, a man who voted for Reagan for fucks sake! even he (unhappily) votes Democrat now, because he’s not an insane person, and the republican party has become SO BLATANTLY EVIL AND STUPID that he can’t ignore it.
Democrats pass legislation we want that republicans then find ways to block. Democrats have passed bills that:
close gender pay gaps raise federal minimum wage make becoming a US citizen easier for immigrants protect civil/public water sources from pollution cut greenhouse gas emissions to fight climate change increase gun regulation lower and control prescription drug prices improve healthcare access for those with pre-existing conditions protect net neutrality protect gay marriage rights
these are all the subjects of specific real bills that democrats have either passed into law or tried hard to pass in the last few years. Meanwhile republicans act to block these bills while championing book bans and attacking trans folk and giving more power to corporations to ruin our planet and taking away women’s rights.
when you see posts attacking Democrats from the left or whatever, the talking points and quotes can often be traced back to right wing sources
So all posts trying to keep non-republicans arguing amongst ourselves and calling for us to not vote democrat (or not vote at all) ? I will be assuming they are bad-faith posts and i won’t be spreading them or engaging with them or anything.
Honest critique of the party is necessary, but like it or not our system currently is a two party system, and i’ll be voting for the better of the two until we can change our voting style to make additional political parties viable.
I live in Pennsylvania.
Neither of my children is cisgender.
The last gubernatorial election was, literally, do we elect this guy who is overly fond of cops but is generally a normal human being, or do we elect this other guy who believes frightening conspiracy theories and wants my children removed from my care and forcibly detransitioned and honestly would prefer them to be dead?
That’s it. That’s the kind of choice we get in first-past-the-post voting. If that second guy won, we needed to move. There was no safe way to stay here. The votes of my fellow citizens were all that was standing between my kids and serious fucking danger.
And my fellow citizens DID turn out. Lots of them came out and voted to reject the scary death cultist. I am grateful to all those who went, ugh, I don’t really like this guy, but the other guy is worse, and hauled themselves down to the polling place to get it done.
You, too, can vote to reject scary death cultists, in your hometown and your home state and in the country as a whole.
Getting rid of the scary death cultists is a prequisite for getting political representation you actually want.
They want to expand presidential power to make trump a dictator.
They’re building personal militias, aka brownshirts.
Republicans are an existential threat to american democracy, human rights (queer, women, POC etc), and the planet itself. They want to get rid of gay marriage, birth control, trans people. They want to restrict travel for women.
And every election for the rest of our lives will be this fight. Over and over again until we can dismantle the Republican party to make it irrelevant. Every election will be an existential threat.
That’s not being hyperbolic, because they’ll keep trying. Because they’re trying to do these things as we speak. We have to keep them out of power. We have to. 4 years of trump killed millions. Imagine if they take over and eliminate free elections entirely?
It’s actually insane that our 80 year old, lifelong Catholic, cis male president is more accepting and defensive of trans people than a huge chunk of this website.
I wouldn't argue that he's the most pro trans world leader. He is. He just is. There's no competition.
Also worth saying, Democrats are the most pro-trans (indeed pro-LGBT) major party in the world, there might be some minor parties here and there that are more aggressive but in terms of parties that govern whole nations? none are more united behind trans rights than the Democratic Party
Republicans OPENLY want to kill queer people, oppress minorities, and turn the country into a christo-fascist dictatorship, but you ABSOLUTE FUCKING DUMBASSES ARE STILL ACTING LIKE THE DEMOCRATS ARE EXACTLY THE SAME, because you don't want to "compromise" your pretentious fake, holier than thou "values"
The only way to preserve democracy and protect people's lives is to vote blue, every position, every election, every year, down the ballot
To the self-righteous pricks who supposedly have liberal views and values but refuse to vote:
Fuck you, rot in hell, everything, every death, every act of tyranny, every drop of blood, is on your hands you selfish pieces of shit
Vote like lives depend on it
Because they fucking do
Queer lives, Black lives, Jewish lives, the lives of Women, the lives of Children, Ukrainian lives, and so many others
The republicans will do horrible things to them, they are open about it, they already have, and they want to do worse
So, what is more important? The lives of your fellow human beings? Or feeling superior to everyone else by decrying the candidates as "not good enough" for you and doing nothing?
Do you care about other people or not?
You can vote for another party when the republicans party is dead
YES GOOD :D
New stuff/spoilers
Whoever writes stuff on tvtropes for SW content is dumb (no surprise there)
On the ymmv page for Obi-Wan Kenobi, under "franchise original sin" it calls into question Reva being able to survive a lightsaber stab through anger, despite also acknowledging that Maul survives a similar wound (actually what he survives is worse), because she doesn't "have the requisite training"
I'm gonna have to say it aren't I?
Surviving a stab wound (something normal real world people can survive, seriously spend some time looking up incredible injury survival) is not something you need "training" for
What you need is anger, that's it
Anakin didn't have "training" (because he'd only been a sith for a day at best) yet he survived his immolation, because he was angry enough
And Reva certainly had the anger
Anger at herself, anger at Vader, anger at Obi-Wan, and thanks to the communicator with the message from Bail about Luke, she had an outlet
Not to mention the fact that Kenobi previously set a lightsaber stab up as a survivable injury
How?
The grand inquisitor
By stabbing a character who we know survives (and also he shows up to mock Reva just after Vader stabs her), Kenobi foreshadows that Reva could survive a similar wound (plus as we see from the flashback in the same episode, Reva herself has already survived a similar wound once)
But of course that just went over people's heads
Instead of the reaching the logical and simple conclusion of "character who appears and dies later in the timeline will survive" people jumped to "zombie!" "clone!" some bulllshit universe breaking resurrection etc
Of course, I'm sure it's just a coincidence that people find a black woman surviving a minor, previously shown to be survivable wound, unbelievable but have no qualms with characters played by white men surviving things like horizontal bisection or full body volcanic burns
yeah no its actually canon that darth maul used to practice getting cut in half so he'd know how to survive it in the future XD
How the hell do you train for any kind of mortal wound?
I swear Reva could breathe and people would be like "Unrealistic! Bad writing! Leftist BS!"
For crying out loud General Grievous is reduced to a brain, eyeballs, and a handful of organs in a robot shell and he's a non force sensitive!
Honestly at this point it's more surprising when a character gets a grievous injury and actually dies from it.
Whoever writes stuff on tvtropes for SW content is dumb (no surprise there)
On the ymmv page for Obi-Wan Kenobi, under "franchise original sin" it calls into question Reva being able to survive a lightsaber stab through anger, despite also acknowledging that Maul survives a similar wound (actually what he survives is worse), because she doesn't "have the requisite training"
I'm gonna have to say it aren't I?
Surviving a stab wound (something normal real world people can survive, seriously spend some time looking up incredible injury survival) is not something you need "training" for
What you need is anger, that's it
Anakin didn't have "training" (because he'd only been a sith for a day at best) yet he survived his immolation, because he was angry enough
And Reva certainly had the anger
Anger at herself, anger at Vader, anger at Obi-Wan, and thanks to the communicator with the message from Bail about Luke, she had an outlet
Not to mention the fact that Kenobi previously set a lightsaber stab up as a survivable injury
How?
The grand inquisitor
By stabbing a character who we know survives (and also he shows up to mock Reva just after Vader stabs her), Kenobi foreshadows that Reva could survive a similar wound (plus as we see from the flashback in the same episode, Reva herself has already survived a similar wound once)
But of course that just went over people's heads
Instead of the reaching the logical and simple conclusion of "character who appears and dies later in the timeline will survive" people jumped to "zombie!" "clone!" some bulllshit universe breaking resurrection etc
Of course, I'm sure it's just a coincidence that people find a black woman surviving a minor, previously shown to be survivable wound, unbelievable but have no qualms with characters played by white men surviving things like horizontal bisection or full body volcanic burns