pan™

the last time I reblogged this post right before I got a great job, in a permanent work-from-home position, with benefits, retirement, and a salary literally 3x what I was making before, doing something I really like. 

So you know. 

Use it to teach yourself to enjoy the success of others.

Use it to remind yourself that good things can happen.

ok, apologies to my Askers, but going in order just isn’t working for me now that I have quite a few backed up. I’m going to answer them based on which ones I’m most prepared to address at a given moment. I think that’s my best chance at clearing out this queue.

Ah, confirmation bias. You’re speaking to my psychology degree by bringing that up. For those who are not familiar with the concept, confirmation bias is the tendency for human beings to take in new information in a manner that reinforces their already existing beliefs. This is perhaps most often seen in matters of politics or religion, where beliefs are very strong. It’s a mechanism by which people sort of “cherry pick” parts that they like, but not really in a conscious way.

For Stranger Things fans, particularly the Byler and Mileven shippers that were mentioned above, this would manifest as fans on a given side latching onto anything that supports their own ship. A fan would claim that any evidence in their favor is proof, while basically ignoring or negating anything to the contrary. This is a very easy trap for any of us to fall into, as it is very difficult to be aware of it occurring.

It’s true that we are in sort of a bubble here on Tumblr, at least compared to other social media platforms. This does run the risk of us being in a sort of echo chamber, but I counter that other fans have essentially done the same on other platforms through aggressive shouting down of anyone the mainstream disagrees with. That said, we do need to be aware of our own bubble here and not let it lead us to ignoring evidence even if it doesn’t support our conclusions.

Personally, I feel like Byler supporters on Tumblr have done a pretty good job avoiding confirmation bias. It exists, sure, but all evidence seems to have been evaluated and analyzed by someone in the fandom (let’s be honest, if it exists, it’s been touched on by @kaypeace21). So, I don’t think we’re ignoring any evidence in order to avoid weakening our belief. In fact, after season 3 there seemed to be a rather significant swell of despair from the Byler community. That really drives home how much we weren’t ignoring what we were seeing. It was only after time allowed for a more meticulous look at things that we were able to see that the evidence actually grew. It wasn’t an easy road, and many had to be convinced anew. Our beliefs were challenged because we DIDN’T ignore what we were seeing, and it took a lot of work to not lose faith. This doesn’t mean we’re in the clear. There are other biases out there that we also need to be wary of.

I can’t say that I cruise the Mileven tag, but, from what I have been able to gather, the evidence their belief is based off of is rather flimsy. There’s not much look at subtext or any sort of analysis. It’s generally just a look at the obvious, which they genuinely seem to think is enough. Mike and El kissed, they said they love each other, they went to the Snowball, etc. What I haven’t really seen from their side is a look at evidence to the contrary. Generally, they seem to just disregard it out of hand by saying Will just isn’t ready to grow up, negating him as a romantic interest for Mike out of hand. If this is typical of Mileven fans, then they are rather guilty of confirmation bias themselves. I digress, though, and I’ll stop there because I don’t want to create a strawman.

tw angst, mentions of drinking- but a happy ending. 

It’s done.

It’s finished.

Tony realises it a little suddenly. Feels cold and hollow all over. Riddled.

Dusk has just gone, and the fresh darkness seeps in through the windows. The penthouse is empty. It’s just him and his perfect furniture and his state of the art, pioneering technology.

Peter’s gone.

Of course, he’s been gone for months now. Shuffled out, head held irritatingly high, face drawn tight, stuff in boxes, and stayed with his aunt.

Whatever, Tony thinks bitterly, the kid’s 300 million dollars better off, he’ll buy a nice beach house somewhere and Tony will never see him again.

Mr. Wobbles, the fucking awful cat, is gone too. He was Peter’s Tony had realised, even as he’d argued for it over the glass table.

“Yours!” Peter had screeched, making the lawyers on both sides wince. Making Tony smirk victoriously, finally, at having gotten a reaction. “I adopted him, Tony. Me. My name is on all the papers, you- you hate him! You never feed him, or play with him, or give him treats, Mr Wobbles is mine!”

“Tony,” Peggy Carter, his (very expensive) lawyer, had touched his arm and said quietly, “it’s a cat. Do you really want the responsibility?”

Tony had slunk back into the leather seat. Shrugged and looked away like he didn’t care if the cat lived or died.

He does care, is the thing.

GUYS PLEASE LISTEN

!!!! skam nl is not completely lost yet !!!!

the dutch broadcaster is still trying to get the show back on. we have to make this happen!! please, sign this petition and share it as much as you can.

also, please message the npo and the ntr on instagram/twitter as much as you can to let them know WE WANT SKAM NL BACK.

please guys, reblog this to let as many people fight for skam nl as possible.