A Human Disaster

this kid bathed in the Styx. the book describes it as excruciating. Percy's mortality was burned away until the only mortality left was a small area anchored to the small of his back. not a drop of mortality left beyond that.

think what you will about whether or not his losing the curse of the Styx was dumb. the fact is he did lose it, and his mortality didn't just grow back. that minuscule, tiny amount of mortality had to stretch out and fill the rest of him back up. Percy is and always will be more god than human, at this point. the second he touched the waters of the Styx, his mortality was doomed to die and shrink.

so something i deeply admire about severus snape’s character is how complex he is and how morally grey he is. like I think the only other character who displays grey morality better than snape is dumbledore (much to rowlings despair). this will be important in a second.

i dont believe snape even had a redemption arc because he never redeemed himself for the awful things he did that made him so disliked. Yes we find out his motives, that hes a double agent and is one of the most brilliant characters in the series for fooling voldemort. I applaud his intellect and complexity. But thats not redemption.

Severus Snape never changes as a person or a character. Because you know what he never does? Apologize. Take accountability. He just.. dies.

When Rowling introduced Severus’s character, he was already a double agent. When we find this out, it was a huuuge plot twist. “Aaa it explains so much , he’s in love with Lily he did it for Lily, hes such a hero !!” That’s all she wants you to think . Because if Severus’s character was always good, if he was always as well-meaning as was possible for his character.. then he never changed, and he never had a moment in the books where he self-reflected and grew as a character. Rowling tricked her audience into thinking this big reveal was his redemption but he does not go through an actual redemption arc He DIES with his apologies and laments on his tongue.

This is a man who verbally and emotionally abused children for years, for which there is NEVER justification. He is emotionally immature for a majority of the books, going so far as putting Remus’s life in danger by telling the student body of his condition (that is actively discriminated against). Severus’s meanness and pettiness are arguably his most defining traits and nothing about his “double agent that’s doing this for Lily’s son” justifies those behaviors.

All this to say I think Severus Snape is such a great character. He was just another pawn that Dumbledore used for personal gains. But Severus still did some fucked up shit out of his own free will and never really held himself accountable for those things, nor does he owe anyone that. Do i think he deserved a solid redemption arc? Absolutely. Partly what makes his death so tragic is that he didnt get one. And i think rowling promoting his redemption arc does him a great disservice.

Sirius: Yeah, if I was a girl I would probably date Remus to be honest. Such a shame it’s impossible for me to like him.

James: Impossible? What do you mean??

Sirius: Well you can only like people of the opposite gender.. right?

James: …No, you can like people of the same gender, that exists. It’s a thing.

Sirius: ( °ㅁ°)

(ʘ‿ʘ✿) “what you say ‘bout me”

the original post

You called me "angel" for the first time,

my heart leapt from me

You smile now, I can see its pieces still stuck in your teeth

And what's left of it, I listen to it tick

Every tedious beat going unknown as any angel to me

this kid bathed in the Styx. the book describes it as excruciating. Percy's mortality was burned away until the only mortality left was a small area anchored to the small of his back. not a drop of mortality left beyond that.

think what you will about whether or not his losing the curse of the Styx was dumb. the fact is he did lose it, and his mortality didn't just grow back. that minuscule, tiny amount of mortality had to stretch out and fill the rest of him back up. Percy is and always will be more god than human, at this point. the second he touched the waters of the Styx, his mortality was doomed to die and shrink.

You can get a prescription for methamphetamine. Literal, actual, Heisenberg Blue, smoke-it-out-of-a-lightbulb methamphetamine. (It comes in pills one takes orally, you don't gotta (and shouldn't) use the lightbulb if you get it as a prescription.)

If a doctor can prescribe that stuff, if someone can be medically treated with it, if it can be mass produced safely and administered safely and taken somewhat safely, recreational users are not inherently morally bad.

The criminalization of addiction is evil, full stop. We should develop resources for addiction recovery for every addiction there is and make the recovery resources easily available to everyone for free. We should study the long term and short term effects of every addictive substance there is, and we should make sure everyone's as informed as possible before they ever use those substances. That's it. That's the only thing society can and should do: make sure everyone's informed before they risk becoming addicted and make sure addicts have the support they need to quit.

I'm not saying this as someone from a distant, privileged position. And I'm not saying this as someone from a methamphetamine-positive position. I'm saying this as someone who's had their shit stolen and pawned by meth addicts to fuel their habit. I'm saying this as someone with lifelong meth-addicted family, someone with family members i have seen destroyed by the stuff. I saw my brother go from a young (published!) poet and talented athlete with full ride scholarships to multiple universities, to a disabled, rambling shade of the man he used to be. I hate methamphetamine. Literally actually despise it.

I would still prefer its victims get actual means of escape rather than see them locked away. I would still prefer they spend their lives addicted rather than them get abused by fascist police. Yes, even the violent tweakers, the ones who lie and cheat and steal to get their fix. The deadbeat parents and abusers. The skinny crackers with prison-applied swastika tattoos.* The worst people you can imagine. The living embodiments of every meth-addict stereotype. They deserve to heal as much as the victims of their thefts and other crimes. Same with every other addict.

Getting high isn't evil. Using drugs for effects other than getting high isn't evil. The sooner we collectively realize this and act on it, the sooner we can start loosening up and having fun but also the sooner those of us with habitual problems can start to recover.