Gerroff

and then this kid, this one kid who is always very eager to answer questions and is always kind to his classmates, raised his hand looking a little bothered. now for context, i emphasize thinking for yourself in my classroom, even if that means disagreeing with something i say and he has echoed some stuff that his parents clearly have told him before. he's not a bad kid or an asshole, he's just an 18 year old with conservative parents who otherwise knows nothing about politics. but he just looks so bothered after i explain this about dirty arguing techniques. big frown on his face. looking unsure. when i nod at him to speak, he says, in a very quiet voice, "didn't -- didn't charlie kirk used to do that?"

and i was like. well yes. yes he was famous for stuff like this.

and then the kid looked down and was just like, "oh. i thought he was just really good at debating. i never watched his videos though, only clips. why would he do that?"

Bucky was taken in by the USSR/HYDRA (mcu details are fuzzy on what happened when, but they are both horrible) & had his agency constantly stripped from him. While Loki was able to make his choices, Bucky couldn’t. He couldn’t even tell you his name. He was the victim of abuse over and over. He was made into a weapon. When he broke his conditioning, even in the smallest of ways (seen in catws) his mind was wiped again, he was abused again, all so he had no option but do to what he was told. 

Loki is a victim of Asgard and his parents ingrained bigotry and their lies. Lying to Loki, and by extension Thor about Loki race while raising him a society that is prejudice against that race caused Loki trauma, it led to his emotional breakdown and lead to all his bad decision in the first Thor film. Loki can be in “control” and he can still be a victim.

Loki is not a perfect pure person, but how much freedom he’s had is up to question. He was tortured by Thanos and the mind stone further amplified all his negative emotions. No that doesn’t absolve him of wrong doing but it is something to be noted about his character. Loki driven by this by circumstances beyond his control, he was pushed to his breaking point.

Not only can he be both, but and again; if this is MCU we’re talking about? As early as 2010 when T1 was still in production and well after, they had the base plan already: and the creators specifically designed him that way; and hired Hiddleston in particular for the role because he had the acting range to portray exactly that.

Here’s the thing I have to point out though, that isn’t as minor as people like to pretend it is: Thor is lying when he says ‘adopted,’ and knows it too when he uses the term.

At no point in time, did Odin ask or go through ‘proper channels’ in the society of the completely different species on the completely different planet he took his armies to invade and murder his way into a temple to steal a baby he knew had at least one parent while still wearing their and his own blood after fighting his way in TO steal the child of his opposition, from.

There is and has been a whole other centuries used term for this act in particular and (well several including kidnapping; but the one that fits more here and has been used for over a thousand years:) that is Fostering.

For those unfamiliar; some might recognize that term from other fictions who weren’t afraid to use it openly or call it’s very specific act and nasty traditional follow ups by it’s name.

As one very popular example: Game of Thrones in particular did this too: with Theon Greyjoy, Balor Greyjoy and the Starks.

In fact it’s so similar, that if you were to focus out the rest; the only difference between the two is that Theon and his father was aware of his fostering; where Loki and Laufey were not until over a thousand years later.

Which okay yeah with Laufey, if you’re gonna steal another political power’s heir and get away with that and raising them to be loyal to you with the intent of using them to replace that king after he’s dead, and have to worry about other interstallar allies or powers squinting at you if not using taht as an excuse for hitting you hard before you target them and THEIR children next when they find out about it (because they absolutely would, lets not pretend: Xandar, the clearly very bloodline oriented Kree [see Ronan’s early scenes in GotG and the fact they’d been at war and around for a couple of milennia too], and yeeah no.) keeping it from Laufey and externals knowing about it makes some sense given Odin’s gross takes in particular.

Not telling Loki however.. eh.

And here’s the other one a LOT of folks like to pass over: Frigga is just as bad, and just as responsible (and in some cases more so) for how bad that went, as the mother who admits and is admitted to have been party to this too, for just as long: and refuses repeatedly in the first two films, to take any responsibility for her part, and her part in not ending that problem far sooner rather than giving out flimsy excuses. Or, for that matter taking her place as queen rather than knowingly putting Loki in that position in her place in T1 while all their dishonesty, misuse and passed over mistreatment put on display on screen was still going on!

She was the other parent, lied as much if not more than Odin did so having and claiming that much closer a relationship with Loki; she was the mentor who taught him the skills to become (in their words on screen) the most powerful sorcerer in his generation (a generation which also bridged hers and Odin’s.)

Odin created that mess stealing and holding that prince captive intially yeah. However: the entire time –over a thousand years of this and pretending to know him at least– he was being raised, taught magic to glamor and shapeshift into whatever he wanted and choose for himself?

Nada.

This scene below wasn’t a surprise to those of us who recognized that; but her lack of ownership, kinda was.

Which says a lot; as to just how disgustingly dishonest using the term adopted or family actually was not just in 2012, but throughout the entirety of his 1500 years up to that point (not five or ten, twenty, or even fifty: but one thousand five hundred years of this and grooming Thor and the rest around them to continue it) and still is all the way up to and even past Infinity War in 2018.

(Side note, if you weren’t aware: With the exception of Captain America: TFA, Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange and Endgame; MCU movies were crafted to be happening the same year/time as their release. Initially, the television series’ also followed this format until the studio basically disowned their stories.. which apparently they’ve gone back on since; but yeah that’s also why some of the TV series out of the Defenders lineup Daredevil, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones etc [and yes Shield, Inhumans linked with it, and Agent Carter too] fall out of synch at differing points with the main MCU. Because they basically ditched them: and now have been trying to selectively patch them back in. Which storywise hasn’t been going so great, but yeah.)

Ultimately, we’re back to.. not only can Loki be both, but again he was designed and aimed to be in the MCU: and it was very clear that with how they set his character up as the first person they presented to us that Thanos used, and how they set that up using all that plus the torture an dstated manipulation to push him the extra and into the role? That he wasn’t supposed to stay in that role in the MCU any more than his comic counterpart did, or has.

That complexity of character and universe building was and remains why the early films succeeded, and continue to succeed: even over their more recent dumbed down and forgetful ‘continuations’, if you can call them that.

Most of us who have been around since 2007 when Iron Man was first being mentioned and pitched to the public, and 2008-9 when the MCU was confirmed after it’s success?

Can’t call them that, for the fact we do remember and understand these things; and the purpose that the Committee that used to keep these things straight was dismissed instead of re-staffed with the same goals of quality and direction rather than, well.. what mess was made of it after, starting with Jenga Block Boy Waititi.

Again he chose that term and nickname knowing and still going forward with it with his handling of Gagnarok, and knowing full well it would affect both Infinity War and Endgame.

In case you don’t want to follow teh link, here’s the TLDR out of his own mouth:

These are some of the reasons why many people who actually care or cared about the franchise (and especially the Thor corner in which Loki had his planned side by side introduction into the universe pre-Avengers) don’t like Ragnarok : myself included.

It (and Waititi, along with those in teh studio who supported him, Waldron, Herron and more who continued Waititi’s hateful and awfully dumbed down set of takes) completely ignores the efforts of dozens if not hundreds of people (and dozens of actors including Hiddleston who was well documented as being publicly mocked by the series staff and co-stars for trying to get his character’s named title back on track during production and filming) who crafted that complexity in both characters and the foundations of the universe and worlds they lived on/in.

The problem here honestly lies in the misunderstanding that complexity of any character is bad or above understanding; and the too common unwillingness to even attempt to try and understand, while complaining about it.

That isn’t a slap or anything of that nature.

That’s a statement based on years of experience in living through that; having been involved as someone who has been following this mess and also been given the proof of experience through interaction, and downright threats and harrassment that myself and many others here have been subject to in bringing up these very well established and documented facts that yes, several attempts to PR cover or excuse them have been made over the years since: and allowing it to spread to pretty much every corner of the MCU since rather than fixing it: or join in calling for those fixes.

As an example: the mess that was P4’s uncontrolled 'Multiverse’ stints in particular absolutely could have been and still can be used to put out the dumpster fires, and go back to quality characters complex and otherwise very very quickly? (and less cheap story and character wise than some of especially the collection of D+ series went) And was not just fumbled in the same flavor, but made worse by the lack of control and basic rules a multi-universal story of any kind absolutely needed for it to work.

The problem is the lack of follow through and effort to do so, and the lack of understanding of the most basic reason why the phases were made a thing from that start and have numbers: combined with allowing individuals like Waititi incapable of getting over their own arrogance to get the job of continuing that part of the story done which were hired to do in the first place.

Ninety percent of the confusion and growing distaste and disinterest in the over all franchise as well as parts of it from us their audience, would have gone away if that follow through and hiring people with that intention had remained a thing: or they had fixed it right away when they realized it, rather than eleven to twelve years after the fact.

Little bit of a rant there at the end, and definitely not all of it after this long.

But yeah, all that does contribute.

And especially to the subject at hand, given that the Thor corner and the mishandling of Loki and other characters in it was where the whole mess started? And why this far out? Questions and conversations like this are still going eleven years after Gagnarok’s release; twelve after it’s production: and 16-17 years after T1.

There have been a few good bits here and there; but very little memorable for anything other than defecating on the foundation, lighting it on fire, and then them complaining about the results of, surprise: that not going over well with the audience that was paying to see those stories finished or continued genuinely.

And yeah, Thor and Loki’s stories, creators and actors in particular have definitely struggled and suffered the most for that disingenuous change of direction.

Now, unlike Michael Newton’s book of hope, I appreciate the clarity of this book’s title: Encyclopedia of Things that Never Where (1985). Stating that definitively really gets all that belief malarkey out of the way and lets us appreciate these things on their own imaginary terms (as Georgess McHargue encouraged us to do on Monday).

This book is more like a collection of several small topical encyclopedias, each discrete from the others and in their own alphabetical order. Nor do they necessarily make a perfect or intuitive sense all the way through. Things of the Cosmos is mostly gods of major mythologies, but also King Arthur and his knights. Things of the Ground and Underground collects faeries and tree spirits, but also the manticore, Minotaur and Sphinx. Things of Wonderland seems to imply things from literature, but really it collects all manner of fantastical places, from fiction, but also from legend. Things of Magic, Science and Invention could just as well have been called Things and left it at that; it collects notable items, from Thor’s hammer to Jekyll’s potion to the many unusual uses for nails. Things of Water, Sky and Air covers all the creatures not detailed in Earth chapter — Grendel is here, griffins, too, and all the sea serpents. Finally, Things of the Night details the undead and other creatures who hide from the sun, whether they go bump or not.

“So... We got the exploding diarrhea. Here's my advice for anyone who doesn't have it yet:

It's going to take a minute for the government to pin down where this is coming from, and then issue a recall, because the FDA has been gutted. But, I can tell you, without a shadow of a doubt : this is coming from Taylor Farms produce, and you will see them recalled.

You'll want to avoid all Taylor Farms produce in the grocery store. They supply McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, about any fast food place you can think of.

Raspberries, watermelons, cilantro, and the veggies you're hearing about are not causing this many people to get sick. It's the shredded lettuce, specifically, that's the problem. But, you'll want to stay away from every type of produce this company puts out, because one strand of shredded lettuce is all it takes to contaminate bushels.

Taylor Farms is the source. Taco Bell proactively pulled their produce from their restaurants. You're going to see other fast food places doing this, and probably will see that before the government names a source. The FDA knows this, but they can't come out and tell us all until there's proof, which takes resources and research, which takes manpower, but the FDA has been cut by about 20-30%

During the Biden term, onions at McDonald's had ecoli. We knew this because DNA testing was done quickly and they were able to narrow it down to one place that caused the outbreak. And, it was traced back to Taylor Farms. This isn't going to be solved as quickly though.

When you get this, make a virtual appointment to your PCP - a "same day sick" appointment. Tell them someone in your family just tested for this and was positive and was prescribed Bactrim. If you go in person, they're probably going to make you poop in a cup and wait until results come back to prescribe.

You'll know when you get this. Trust me on all of this.

You'll want to stay hydrated because this parasite damages the lining of the small intestine. Your small intestine, in turn, secretes more water into the gut, and less nutrients and liquid are able to remain in the body. So no matter how much you shit, you're going to want to drink. A day of this leads to dehydration if you don't increase your fluid intake, and a few days will land you in the hospital.

If you have headaches, weakness, muscle cramps, dizziness, or an increase heart rate - hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Go to the ER for fluids if you can't drink enough.

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk. Brought to you by America's 250 birthday celebrations, workforce reduction in the FDA and CDC, and viewers like you.

Please feel free to share this.

And, MAGA - don't blow up the comment section. I argued with y'all on COVID bc I was afraid y'all would die, but I really don't care if you get explosive diarrhea.

you can use their product locator to find their stuff

also, they do store brand bagged salads and the salads for trader joes, target, walmart, aldi, and kroger.

costco sells them, but only as taylor farms (not as the house brand or a private label)

they also do starbucks salads.

[Image ID: The Destiel confession meme edited so that Dean answers 'JK Rowling posted upskirt photos of a woman on Twitter' to Cas 'I love you'. /End ID]

No one doing this should be allowed to call themselves a feminist.

Chad Radwell: “Evil Nun lady from The Conjuring sequel, you just gotta be fine with being stuck inside an evil portrait. Or whatever your deal is. I just want to play golf and hang out with my bros.”