polical discourse blog

Where do you see that people are romanticizing SA? Just because someone likes the story doesn't mean they are making light of the abuse.

Also, have you read the fic?

In it, Hermione forgives Draco. They had a relationship before the SA and continued it after because she understood the circumstances of Draco's assault. SA is still wrong, and the main character is able to understand and forgive, and Draco is able to repent for his actions. It's not a black-and-white situation, but the characters have made peace with what was going on. It doesn't erase it, and they will always be affected by what happened, but they are choosing to move on as best as they can.

Anyone who reads this story sees this. We all know that what Draco did is reprehensible.

But the story is complex, there are so many things going on. And in the end, the characters have found a bit of peace. I won't say it's a HEA because these characters are so traumatized by what they experienced, but they are content. We understand this. Understanding all this and deciding that we like the story, doesn't mean we are romanticizing assault.

The author also doesn't do this with her writing. She makes it clear what is happening is wrong.

There are stories out there where this happens and the author writes it differently, where it is seen as not a big deal, the victim makes light of their assault or chooses to not define it as an assault, and the perpetrator doesn't apologize or acknowledge what they did, and the readers glamourize the relationship.

This story is not that, and all the readers can see it.

When you think about in the terms of just what the story is doing. BOTH of them are being raped. Both Hermione and Draco in having to do the deed because if he doesn't Voldy will know and kill them both without question.

It still is fukked up. It still is disgusting and does not justify the abuse. But that is the fukked up world they are in. Where two people are just broken over and over again and come to a kind of normalcy.

I wonder for one if these people complaining about this understand how businesses get income to keep operating and expanding, for two given some of the comments I've seen if they think Musk is just going to pocket that money instead of using it to pay for the previously mentioned operation and expansion, and for three they are ripping the mask off about the fact that they think they're better than other people and deserve special treatment because of that.

I know for some dumb reason they didn't do a remake of Days and it's harder to access because of that, but if you can and it interests you enough to where you've wondered if it was worth playing, I really recommend playing it or watching a playthrough of the actual game instead of just the cutscenes. The story really is partly told through the mechanics and so much is lost when they just gave us the cutscenes pulled from the game in the compilations.

They really reinforce how bleak and mundane Roxas' life is most of the time, how bleak and mundane most of the members' lives are. How much control the Organization has over them. You don't just level up organically like in other kh games, you have to do this weird puzzle thing that limits your growth and abilities. They don't give you munny, they give you heart points that you can only use at the moogle shop in their castle, so they're literally paid in scrip. If you're unfamiliar with it, scrip is a currency you can only use in certain places instead of throughout a whole country or other type of political union like the eu, usually with the store at the company you work at. When you're on missions your path is blocked off, you can only go to certain areas that are directly related to your daily mission. It's suffocating and genius, especially since in most other series entries you get so much freedom comparatively.

With all that context it starts making some of their vices a bit more understandable. Can you really blame Demyx for not wanting to do his work when all he gets out of it is room and board, and the distant, vague promise of maybe someday getting a new heart? Especially since he's probably been with the Organization for years?

Can you really blame Marluxia and Larxene for wanting to mutiny when their boss is useless and all of their colleagues seem indifferent to it? I mean like. The murder isn't great. I'm still a bit sore about that. But I can definitely get behind the 'screw our boss' sentiment. I'm still very fond of my 'instead of going the cloak and dagger route Larxene and Marluxia somehow, possibly with the help of devil magic, manage to get everyone to cooperate so they can unionize and kick Xemnas out' au. An Organization XIII union au, if you will. Imagine Xemnas having to explain that to the other Xehanorts.

Master Xehanort: The people you gathered up for us to use as our vessels. Unionized?

#it's a 9 to 5 where the weirdest coworkers imaginable also live in dorms at said job#and the ceo goes outside to talk to the fake moon you're helping him make

#roxas and xion are literally just unpaid interns

#it’s an office it’s a cult it’s a retail job it’s a family reunion#and trying to point everyone in one direction is xemnas. a figurehead if there ever was one#figurehead for master xehanort figurehead for luxu#and the best part is no one questioned it when he was like#‘vexen. part of the plan to summon kingdom hearts is to start making clones’#Vexens just like ‘sure I would LOVE to make clones’

#I love the awful corporate office job vibe the org has#but yes it's also a cult#actually it's those office jobs where they say 'we're just like a family here' and they turn out to be t he worst people you've ever met#it's like that#org xiii works for minimum wage

#one of my favourite bits is demyx complaining that saix sucks as a middle manager who assigns tasks

#what I would add tho is how they’re stuck with each other but in the most ironic way possible#they can physically go anywhere they can literally teleport ACROSS WORLDS but there is no other place for them#so they will always return to that monochrome void and by extension- each other#they really don’t like each other but they’ve gotten used to each other in that purgatory - causing both indifference and frustration

And quite frankly not even the days you can spend watching Metal Gear retrospectives that explain the plot is longer than the doctoral PhD you'd need to examine and read up on the plot of Kingdom Hearts.

Where keep in mind my favorite character, Roxas, is basically treated like melted Crayola crayons. So it's not like I have a actual reason to enjoy the games. Being that the GAME THAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT HIM you do not actually play as him. Which is exactly where I stopped playing this game.

Then felt utterly betrayed when I was playing the game, then it completely switched protagonists. I looked up how long I had to go through the game to get back to Roxas and it was something like an hour or more. So? Yeah. I felt betrayed. Cause I bought the game for my favorite character.

In Final Fantasy games you can have these huge protag switches, but it never felt as jarring or infuriating as what KH did. It felt like I said like I was betrayed. Like the creators didn't WANT to make a game for Roxas and actively and PUROSEFULLY made it like the game was. As in they did these switches on purpose because THEY HATE ROXAS.

If I remember right the game has several times where this happens to the point the game isn't even truly about Roxas and instead actually about the girl character.

I just... yeah. It's... just a betrayal to me. The game completely made me despise the whole franchise. I did watch retrospectives when the last game came out, and realized like... oh so it's really confusing lore wise? Even on par with Metal gear? Yeah no really enjoying that.

A married couple against a large mob of people.

And thousands of other people in hundreds of different situations.

@neerasrealm photo: 11 year old boy with an AR-15 hitting every target 30/30 shots unassisted.

Don't you feel stupid now

Also, there's next to no recoil. The gun weighs in at six pounds and even a 90 pound Japanese woman can shoot it.

"Semi-automatic rifle" does not actually describe the gun's power, @neerasrealm. You can buy semi-autos in .22LR, which is a very weak cartridge. In fact, they're quite popular for teaching kids to shoot.

They have been for decades.

Also, even people who say AR-15s are great for mass murder regularly claim they're low-recoil, highly controllable guns, even in the more powerful 5.56mm.

Second question: in what situation is a married couple going to be required to fire an AR15 into a large crowd of people. That just sounds like murder.

You just quietly changed "large mob" into "large crowd", and acted like it was the same thing. "Mob" makes people think of a violent or potentially violent group of people.

Which is why that word was used.

Because the people present at the incident had already broken down a gate to be there, IIRC, and they were from a movement that had already been rioting and assaulting people for two months.

"Crowd" just makes you think "a bunch of people". A mob is technically a crowd, but implications matter.

> #teaching young kids like that to use guns is incredibly dystopian btw like that child should be playing with a nerf not the real thing

I think society needs to put “dystopian” on the high shelf along with all the other words micro-IQ ideologues misuse.

I know for some dumb reason they didn't do a remake of Days and it's harder to access because of that, but if you can and it interests you enough to where you've wondered if it was worth playing, I really recommend playing it or watching a playthrough of the actual game instead of just the cutscenes. The story really is partly told through the mechanics and so much is lost when they just gave us the cutscenes pulled from the game in the compilations.

They really reinforce how bleak and mundane Roxas' life is most of the time, how bleak and mundane most of the members' lives are. How much control the Organization has over them. You don't just level up organically like in other kh games, you have to do this weird puzzle thing that limits your growth and abilities. They don't give you munny, they give you heart points that you can only use at the moogle shop in their castle, so they're literally paid in scrip. If you're unfamiliar with it, scrip is a currency you can only use in certain places instead of throughout a whole country or other type of political union like the eu, usually with the store at the company you work at. When you're on missions your path is blocked off, you can only go to certain areas that are directly related to your daily mission. It's suffocating and genius, especially since in most other series entries you get so much freedom comparatively.

With all that context it starts making some of their vices a bit more understandable. Can you really blame Demyx for not wanting to do his work when all he gets out of it is room and board, and the distant, vague promise of maybe someday getting a new heart? Especially since he's probably been with the Organization for years?

Can you really blame Marluxia and Larxene for wanting to mutiny when their boss is useless and all of their colleagues seem indifferent to it? I mean like. The murder isn't great. I'm still a bit sore about that. But I can definitely get behind the 'screw our boss' sentiment. I'm still very fond of my 'instead of going the cloak and dagger route Larxene and Marluxia somehow, possibly with the help of devil magic, manage to get everyone to cooperate so they can unionize and kick Xemnas out' au. An Organization XIII union au, if you will. Imagine Xemnas having to explain that to the other Xehanorts.

Master Xehanort: The people you gathered up for us to use as our vessels. Unionized?

#it's a 9 to 5 where the weirdest coworkers imaginable also live in dorms at said job#and the ceo goes outside to talk to the fake moon you're helping him make

#roxas and xion are literally just unpaid interns

#it’s an office it’s a cult it’s a retail job it’s a family reunion#and trying to point everyone in one direction is xemnas. a figurehead if there ever was one#figurehead for master xehanort figurehead for luxu#and the best part is no one questioned it when he was like#‘vexen. part of the plan to summon kingdom hearts is to start making clones’#Vexens just like ‘sure I would LOVE to make clones’

#I love the awful corporate office job vibe the org has#but yes it's also a cult#actually it's those office jobs where they say 'we're just like a family here' and they turn out to be t he worst people you've ever met#it's like that#org xiii works for minimum wage

#one of my favourite bits is demyx complaining that saix sucks as a middle manager who assigns tasks

#what I would add tho is how they’re stuck with each other but in the most ironic way possible#they can physically go anywhere they can literally teleport ACROSS WORLDS but there is no other place for them#so they will always return to that monochrome void and by extension- each other#they really don’t like each other but they’ve gotten used to each other in that purgatory - causing both indifference and frustration

And quite frankly not even the days you can spend watching Metal Gear retrospectives that explain the plot is longer than the doctoral PhD you'd need to examine and read up on the plot of Kingdom Hearts.

Where keep in mind my favorite character, Roxas, is basically treated like melted Crayola crayons. So it's not like I have a actual reason to enjoy the games. Being that the GAME THAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT HIM you do not actually play as him. Which is exactly where I stopped playing this game.

Not sure what the straw that broke the metaphorical camel's back was.

Also I will encourage everyone to remember how you talked about Liz Cheney and a few other members of the gop.

They have been screaming at Ana Kasparian recently because she took issue with the "stop calling natural born women birthing people or women who bleed cause its sexist". So now they are hating her and all that jazz.

Earlier this evening, at around 7 PM CT U.S., Rebekah Jones (notably one of DeSantis’ biggest political enemies right now) underwent a raid on her home by state police.

Guns were pointed in the face of her 13-year old son, Jack. They arrested him under the charges of digital terrorism and “on state orders.”

They are refusing to let him go home and they are refusing to let Jones see him.

These are her screenshots recounting the incident from earlier tonight. They were taken at 10:23 PM CT U.S.

Why call them the FUCKING 'Lost Boys' then?!?!

I'm not going to even tackle the 'why are there girls in the Lost Boys when one of the main things with them was their not having any female influence which caused them to be so rowdy' that some people are talking about, but if you want to have a creative retelling of a classic story, you have to rewrite things in a way that makes sense!

This is an entirely new group of lost kids that the fairy (not tinkerbell) has been gathering up. She picks up our protagonists to help the kids. As all the kids want to find Peter and Wendy as they can help find their parents. So it's a big old walking movie in the wonders of wonderland.

Throw in some pirates.

At any time comic book companies could see these advantages and, you know, put out volumes in similar formats.

They just don't.

The consumer has changed and they refuse to change with it.

It's worse when you realize that comics not only COULD do this, but USED to do this.

The format is called the 'Digest', it exists, and the big two COULD embrace it and sell a LOT of old comics in reprints.

Western Comicbooks haven't been in their original authors hands in most cases for approaching a century. Some of them have a literal legacy of author mistreatment and misappropriation. This means the original story has changed not just hands, but direction, intent, and theme several times over.

Plus, every time western comics get even close to something earth shattering, new, and potentially lasting they ultimately retcon it a little bit later due to a crippling fear of the unknown. They killed off Superman and then brought him back, because they don't have DC without him. They've killed off Magneto, redeemed him, made him evil again, revealed him as a skrull, etc several times each rinse repeat.

The story must go on, but what happens when the story gets stale? You give the implication of change and fudge a potentially good storyline, or you reboot the whole setting and quasi-start fresh.

Unfortunately, this means fans are getting fucking tired of that shit. I mean, I enjoy a long running epic as much as the next dude, but even I have to admit I haven't tuned in for shit since Naruto hit Baruto, and I haven't watched DBZ since the very tail end of the Bu Saga, and even I was only occasionally popping in to see if they were still lodged in that nonse.

What happened in it was that for some reason, they reconnect Magentos helmet into being able to block mutant powers on the one wearing it. ****I THINK****

And I say I think, because quite literally if they didn't it means the entire premise of the whole FIRST ISSUE was utter bullshit. But basically dad wears helmet, shoots and kills daughter, who doesn't have telepathic powers. In fact it's shown she is telekinetic. Which if we are taking this as a analogy of being gay and or Trans, really doesn't bode very well either.

It honestly was just so utterly stupifying that I literally will not ever pick up another modern comic again. Ha ha jokes on me I picked up a NUMBER ONE ISSUE expecting a more coherent story right?

It's not even problems of race swapping, gender bending, making people gay, etc, that is the problem. It's that the stories literally LACK COHESIVE PLOT. There is no a to b to c all the way down. Remember they were doing this crap was in the 90's. And that Era sucked so hard that it's failure has a name. And that name is Leifeild. This Era almost crashed the entire industry and it has NEVER recovered.

NEVER.

The original was a milestone for animated filmmaking, and this remake is live-action. This:

Is just NOT as visually hard-hitting as this:

That overhead pull-back shot looks lazy and soulless. There’s a reason the original’s filmmakers chose to bring the audience closer to Ariel’s face when she was feeling so far away from her dreams, then pulling them back more slowly. There’s a reason the hair is animated so dramatically. There’s a reason her eyebrows move and she’s not just blinking up, like a choir student concentrating on holding a high note. Go listen to Glen Keane, lead animator of this scene.

This version of Part of Your World puts all the emphasis on Halle Bailey’s (very beautiful) singing talent and none on the genuine human moments that are supposed to tell the audience a story about a relatable girl who has no way to reach her dreams.

The trailer shows incredibly dark, dreary, almost-trashy looking ocean shots. What is going on with the dirty-seashell vibe on the floor of Ariel’s grotto? Ariel’s grotto was designed to look dark in the original, but not ugly. Because everything in it is supposed to seem beautiful, to her. The one source of light comes from the one hole in the ceiling, which she treats like a window to the Surface World. Where LIGHT comes from. Because that’s how Ariel sees her father’s “spineless, savage, harpooning fish-eaters.” As wonderful and bright, instead.

THIS QUOTE from the Director of the Live Action movie about Eric: “The role of Eric in the animated film — I’m sure the original creators would agree with this — it’s a wooden, classic prince character with not a lot going on,”

Um. Excuse me, sir? Eric was one of the first Disney Princes not to fit that description.

The only thing the Live-Action Director has said correctly about Eric is that his feelings will mirror Ariel’s in the new movie. That is what happens in the animated classic, so great. But guess what? When you start that point by saying the first Eric was “a wooden, classic prince character,” you show that you don’t understand how the animated classic mirrored Ariel with him. He thinks he needs to cast a mother character for Eric to get that point across. 

Now I’m going on a mini-rant about this one specific point below the cut, because so far it’s the last straw as far as me not watching the new movie. 

- Belle likes to read because she likes the idea of adventure in the great wide somewhere, not because she’s a feminist who believes in overturning the patriarchy by learning to read. Then she learns that giving up your life for someone else and looking past the surface of people is the best adventure she can get.

- Cruella is—and I cannot stress this enough—a crazy puppy-skinning self-obsessed maniac with no discernible care for anybody but herself. She is not a tragic young woman looking to find herself.

- Simba doesn’t think poorly of himself: he thinks about himself too much. When he’s a cub he thinks about how he’ll grow up and get to do everything his own way, and when he’s an adult he thinks he should get to stay in the jungle without anybody telling him how to live his life. He’s always hiding from responsibility. His reasons for doing it just go from childish entitlement to crippling guilt until Rafiki and Mufasa’s ghost knock some sense into him. But until then, he’s always thinking about how he shouldn’t have to take any responsibility. That’s how he runs from who he is—not because he’s ashamed of who he is, but because who he is requires responsibility. - Genie wants to be free more than all the wonders and all the riches in all the world. He would never tell Prince Ali “I don’t care anything about that wish.” If he had said anything like that in the original movie, half the weight of his actually being set free in the finale would be gone. Meaningless.

- Mulan is a klutz who had to learn discipline; she was absolutely not born with a convenient superpower for fighting. - Jasmine does not want to be Sultan. She wants to be free. She wants to be normal. She wants to be known. She’s caring enough toward normal peasants to hand them an apple when she notices they’re hungry; she’s naive and sheltered enough to forget that everything has to be paid for, even apples. - Mulan is a homebody who loves her family enough to risk her life for them; she does not dream of leaving them to have her own adventures and thrills, not even as a child.

- Lady doesn’t teach Tramp how to have self-worth by helping her owners to adopt him after his original owner abandoned him. Actually, the original Lady teaches Tramp, who was never abandoned but instead takes advantage of several human families and lady-dogs alike, the value of commitment and loyalty. 

- Maleficent lives alone in a crumbling tower with nobody but a pet raven. Flora, Fauna, and Merrywhether work together and love each other and stay with one another. Maleficent is petty, holding centuries-long grudges and never forgetting an offense. Flora, Fauna and Merrywhether are selfless, giving up their whole lives and all their magic to raise a child that isn’t even theirs in a poor cottage. Maleficent is cruel enough to kill all her own minions and doom an innocent child and chain a lovelorn prince to a wall while she tells him all about his doomed love. Flora, Fauna, and Merrywhether are compassionate enough to bake a cake and make a dress with no magic and endless trouble for Briar Rose’s birthday, even while they wipe away tears at the thought of giving her back to her parents. Maleficent shouldn’t get to be the villainess and heroine and the lover and the mother and the guardian of nature, while Flora, Fauna and Merrywhether get reduced to annoying stabs at comic relief.  Flora, Fauna, and Merrywhether protect and nurture nature, while Maleficent kills flowers and children. That’s the story. You lose all the compare-contrast when you make Maleficent the only character.

- The Beast doesn’t just allow Belle to trick her father into letting her take her father’s place. He realizes Belle could break the curse, not because she’s a girl who found his castle, but because she’s a girl who is selfless and loving enough to say something like “take me instead.” He makes her promise to stay forever; he would never say that her love for her father makes her a fool, because that type of love is what he’s banking on to break his own curse.

- Aladdin would never say “‘I basically am a Prince.” His whole problem is that he knows, all too well, who he truly is, and it’s not the kind of guy who can be Sultan. He won’t set the Genie free because he can’t make himself pretend otherwise and thinks he needs help.

- Alice starts the movie by saying she wishes she could literally have a world where everything is done her way, then ends it by running out of that world for her life from a mad Queen…who ALSO wants everything done her way. It is just not a story about a young lady remembering who she really is (muchness) and embracing her inner crazy. It’s the opposite of that.

- Belle would never plan to escape when she gave her word that she would take her father’s place. Belle would never prioritize her own freedom over the Beast’s happiness.