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But in general, yes. The quickfire, surface-level, use-once-and-throwaway culture permeates art these days - all glitz and no substance. My more recent style is more pared down for reasons above, but I've experimented with and celebrate other styles too - stream-of-consciousness, long rambling flowery language, everything in between.

I refuse to rearrange my writing to "hook" my readers within the first sentence and make it a blockbuster action script, and maybe I won't be able to get published traditionally due to this, but I can't deal with reducing the richness of human experience down to how desperately I can hold onto a tiktok-addicted teen's attention span.

Only in the USA have I seen such a pervasive culture of sneering at, and shaming, smart kids as "nerds" and "losers".

Insecure people hate other people instead of working on themselves. Stupid people hate smart people instead of working on their stupidity.

This is what the ruling class wants. The dumbing down of education, the constant media noise through knee-jerk reactive social media that eats up attention and kills brain cells, the eradication of liberal arts and humanities. The boot-licking of randomly thanking every soldier you meet, pledging loyalty to a flag, making tribalized sports one's personality. The brainwashing to believe that the ruling class is "just like us!"

No it doesn't.

Feminism is about women's liberation. Not about celebrating every choice a woman makes.

If I enjoy being called nasty names for my skin color, does it make it less racist? If I choose to laugh along at homophobic jokes, does that make the jokes no longer homophobic? Just because I choose to remain a slave, doesn't change the definition of emancipation to mean "I'm emancipated cuz I LIKE being a slave :)" and it sure as hell doesn't mean "I support your choice to stay a slave :)". It means I'm no longer a fucking slave.

Feminism is not "clap for whatever choices women made because yay, good job, they made choices!" It's the systemic release from institutional oppression that's woven into every level of society.

I can enjoy being a domestic housewife and still be aware that I'm playing into millennia of patriarchal institution. I can choose to become jobless and dependent on my husband, and still realize that this is precisely the environment that closes doors and safety venues for women. The fact that I'm lucky enough to FEEL safe and happy within the patriarchal status quo does not magically change the fact that women ARE overwhelmingly abused, violated, murdered, stalked, harassed, dismissed, exploited, and given far fewer opportunities than men. Fundamental changes need to be made to change this fact, and that's what feminism is about.

Mustang is an Atoner figure. Something that plagues Atoner figures is when writers are too precious about the characters we're meant to like to actually let them be guilty of something serious.

The Atoner might be trying to make amends for their involvement in the Great '87 Hotel Massacre, and then three seasons in you find out what happened. And it's like, "I drove a taxi to the hotel, and the KILLER was in it! I ferried the killer to the hotel! That makes me responsible, and now I must atone for being nearby while the killings took place! And also vanquish the real killer who is the villain for this season."

Or maybe the Atoner did do the killings but they were under mind control the whole time and would never, ever have done it in their right mind.

But FMA said no. Mustang, Hawkeye, Hughes, even Armstrong to an extent though he suffered a breakdown and fled during it. They did that shit. They followed their orders and they did that shit. And it haunts them.

Roy did that shit. And his atonement, his grand ambition, is to see everyone responsible for that shit brought to justice for their crimes. Including himself.