born to be an idgafer forced to have anxiety

I feel like if humans swallowed rocks like birds do to help grind up food we'd have so much fun with it.

Once when I was in undergrad, someone described something as “problematic” in class and our professor was like, “That’s cool, but ‘problematic’ doesn’t really mean anything. It means that the thing you’re describing has a problem, and in and of itself that’s not bad. Art, especially, should always have problems, or else it’s not interesting and not art, either. It sounds like you’re trying to say that this is bad, but you don’t want to say ‘bad.’ Is that right?”

Mayali seeing Azune get left behind by the mercenaries for being less athletic, less able to run and lift and fight, and wondering what happened to him, if he’s even alive. Looking back and wondering if she killed him by being the one they wanted. Going through unimaginable horrors and thinking that Azune must have had it even worse. Overlaying the memory of him on that roadside with the memory of her parents who let themselves fade away to get Mayali this chance.

"I don't think an 18 gets past Azune's guard - "

There's something about The Boroughs and the way it tackles the idea that you cannot cheat death without exploiting vulnerable people - in this case, the elderly. Obviously irl there isn't any way to actually cheat death, but there are plenty who attempt to immortalize themselves by amassing wealth, fame, etc. But it almost always comes at the cost of people they deem as having lesser or no value. With the folks in TB, they're so easily taken advantage of because society at large has deemed them expendable. They're old so they're either too senile to be taken seriously or they're going to die anyway so who cares if we hurt them? TB's system works because it relies on everybody on the outside being somewhat complicit in the dehumanization and infantilization of elderly people. Nobody questions what's going on because the community is a pretty-looking dumping ground for those who have become "irrelevant" solely due to their age. Nobody bothers to interfere or investigate because nobody cares enough to even challenge that mindset.

The Boroughs is also, intentionally or unintentionally, a commentary on the way elderly people are treated and respected. The fact that many older people in care homes are abused, constantly gaslit, or treated as little more than commodities to make money from is not fiction, it’s a very real social issue tied to the private elderly care industry in general. And so is the paternalism and condescension with which they’re treated, as if they were children instead of fully functional adults.

Conversation with any Einfasen:

tyranny: everyone, wick has something to share . and be nice! he just learned this and he wasn't hiding it from you, but it seems revelant. so be nice.