Moths, Art, and Tea

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Kaysona Bearar base and Kaytropolis starter set by Love Silhouetted pets by queijac and tomo

This month will be a quiet one as we work on preparing for the Patreon launch, but keep an eye out for the announcement on that front as well as next month's monthly update!

WELL SHIT, bad news, the KIDS Act with all those Scan Your Face To Use The Net bills (Including KOSA and the App Store Accountability Act) got past the House.

But, in a silver lining, they did get less votes in favor of it than expected. And it's gonna have a hard time getting past the Senate because it lacks a lot of things the senate really wants, even the fundie demons like NCOSE hate it!

So, find your senators, and tell them you want this bill gone any way you can, whether via phone, email, or even fax if you're some kind of pervert!

The EFF has a good list of reasons you can give to oppose it, but if you don't think they'll buy it, note specific ways those ID protocols would harm you, like be as directly specific to you as possible.

And if you don't think they'd care about that, bring up the lack of duty of care and how it's a big giveaway to big tech, pit them against each other and make them infight it to death.

And even if you're not in the US, you can still boost this, and not just to here but to other sites as well!

I get it. It's cute. It's a sweet nickname, in isolation. For any other couple, it'd be fine. Great, even. I'd call it adorable. But in the context of Simon Iron Lung.

So many times.. in Iron Lung, does Simon completely reject talking about religion entirely. And when someone does bring it up, he is INTENSELY irritated.

Quote: "Do you believe in God?" - "Uh, let's not get into that. I hear enough of that talk on Eden."

I want to just start with a question: Why would Simon "RELIGIOUS TRAUMA" Iron Lung.. want to be reminded of his trauma. Because clearly even the subject of it is uncomfortable for him, and he clearly does not buy into eden when it comes to their teachings. He does everything possible to remove himself from Eden, in fact.

Maybe sometimes he parrots some of Eden's teachings, but I don't think it's meant with any sort of genuine "believing in it" as much as he is just referencing it.

Not once in this movie does he pray to any sort of god or saint. The only thing AT ALL similar TO EVEN THE CONCEPT OF PRAYER that he did was at the end, and that wasn't to a god. That was to his fucking MOTHER. And forgive me but it rubs me WAY the wrong way when in these fics Simon is "worshipping" Grace. It just seems so intensely uncomfortable to me.

Why would Grace be attracted to that? I'm decently sure that in the book and movie, Grace seems pretty neutral in terms of religious affiliation? I don't think he would be at all inticed by the idea of that intense glorification. He's just a man, a scientist. He is a man of logic. It doesn't feel "fun" or "kinky", it feels disturbing. He would NOT want to play into that.

Also, POWER IMBALANCE. If you are genuinely viewing your partner as higher than you, as some sort of actual angel, that's INCREDIBLY unhealthy! For Simon and Grace both!

And I know what I am, I am a white person- but this entire obsession with this idea of Grace as an angel and a savior to simon-- It's a bit "white savior".

That's all I have for now, but if anyone has absolutely anything they'd like to add, whether it be agreeing or disagreeing, just sharing a different perspective, feel free.

I would like to remind you - what I say does not matter. You do not have to change anything just because I'm saying something. You can do whatever the fuck you want. I am not attempting to police anyone on anything, or speak down on people. I may go on about this, but I have no disdain for people that do choose to do this trope.

BITE stands for Behavior Control, Information Control, Thought Control, and Emotional Control.

The more points a group “scores” on the model, the more of a cult it is.

I think this model is the best one for several reasons:

It’s more nuanced than “cult” or “not cult” and doesn’t make false equivalences between groups

It’s versatile, applying to groups big and small, and cults of all kinds, religious, political, financial, etc.

This is a great example of Thought Control used by cults whenever they’re confronted with criticism.

Not all high-control groups are religious. Secular cults exist.