Gone on an adventure in my mind

But we look back everyday- rechecking emails, making sure a friend is still behind you, checking to see if you remebered to pick up your keys. It's second nature, a habit of care.

(The best of this post and its reblogs, but with links that work)

Here is a website where you can scroll down to all the different levels of the ocean 

Here is a website where you can see the future of the universe

Here is a website where you can press a ‘make everything okay’ button, over and over, until things really are okay

Here is a website that you can read if you feel like a burden

Here is a website where you can look at strobe illusions (TW strobe/flashing)

Here is a website where you can cut stuff up (TW blood/sh)

Here and here are websites where you can play with sand

Here is a website where you can draw with macaroni and other fun foods

Here is a website where you can paint someone’s nails

Here is a website where you can grow a garden with emojis

Here is a website with hundreds of videos of people hugging you (rightfully dubbed ‘the nicest place on the internet’ because it really is, y’all, it made me cry)

Here is a website that will take you to other useless websites

Here is a website where you can make a tiny cat play bongo drums (and other instruments!)

Here is a website to help give you gentle reminders <3

Here is a website where you can grow a tiny farm

Here is a website where you can take a bunch of scientific personality tests

Here is a website of calm rain noise

What the fuck do you mean he used dynamite? *goes to search for more info* Oh. The beginnings of the field + amateur archeologist.

Well, who was gonna tell me this guy from Disney's Atlantis (Vinny Santorini) was one step away from being based on an actual person?

Why would you EVER feed an artist’s work to AI to generate an image and then claim to their face you love their work? You just essentially STOLE it and fed it to a machine that will use said work to generate copies or rip off pieces of it to generate other images. That isn’t love.

Sure, it may have been done with no malice, you may not have realized what it was you actually did, but taking an artist’s work and feeding it to an AI is one of the biggest insults you can give an artist. You are saying that you “love” their work but that they’re not worth your time and effort to attempt a drawing or even a short message to show them your support and any thoughts you may have to explain WHY you enjoy their work. Instead you just ripped their art away from their hands and shoved it into a machine, then tossed the abomination that resulted at their face with a big smile.

If you want to see your oc with that artist’s character, DRAW IT.

Even if it’s shitty. Even if it’s something you’re not proud of. Even if you’ve never drawn before a day in your life or have to look up a tutorial for help. Draw it yourself, or tell the artist the idea in your head as a way to be like, “Hey, I love your oc so much, I like to imagine them interacting with my oc sometimes” and the artist may potentially give a response on how their oc might act in that situation or just respond that they’re happy you enjoy their work. It really depends on the person. And if you don’t want to draw or are too scared to attempt drawing, COMMISSION A DIFFERENT ARTIST or even ask THAT artist you seemingly love so much if they DO commissions and if they’re fine with it so THEY can draw your oc and theirs interacting. I promise you, the artists on here DO NOT BITE.

Fun fact, Jasmine was not always written as a free-spirited princess. In early drafts, she was much more openly spoiled. There was even a cut song called “Call Me a Princess” where she sang about wanting to marry rich and not have to worry about anyone else.

Back then, Aladdin’s love interest was actually a girl named Abbi, a fellow street rat and his childhood best friend. He was meant to end up with her instead of Jasmine. That character later helped inspire Sadira in the animated series.

Those ideas were scrapped. That’s how we got the version of her that we have now. Traces of that original version of Jasmine are still there, just toned down.

When we first meet her in the film, she sets Rajah on a suitor and her father has to step in and scold her. And he’s right to do it. Hate to bring up a point from Schaffrillas Productions’ ancient Twisted video, but she used Rajah to attack a royal guest. She could've easily started a war or had massive political fallout with that little stunt if the movie was more realistic. Despite that, she doesn’t care or consider that at all. She just wanted him gone, even in the worst way possible.

Yes, that suitor was awful. No argument there. But there were better ways to handle it.

The bigger point is that throughout that scene, Jasmine never really reflects on how the rules affect anyone else. It’s all framed around how frustrating they are for her personally.

Then she runs away to escape her responsibilities altogether. It’s not until Jafar manipulates her into thinking Aladdin died because of her choices that she starts to seriously think about using her position for something bigger than herself.

None of this is to say Jasmine is a bad person. She’s clearly not. She’s kind and well-meaning. There are clear reasons why she starts off the way she does. She’s been sheltered her whole life and has no real understanding of the world outside the palace thanks to being always trapped inside it. She’s also isolated and lonely, having no friends. But those factors explain her behaviour, they don’t erase the fact that she begins the story somewhat inconsiderate and self-absorbed. That’s a flaw she grows out of.

Minajael/Minhaj was born into one of the highest privileges and it can be really hard to realize what privileges you have until you are confronted with the fact that others do not have it. Heck, Jasmine doesn't even realize she has to pay for something until the fruit vendor gets really mad at her and Aladdin steps in to save her. She even gets offended at Aladdin calling her 'a little crazy' until she realizes this is so he can save her from getting her hand chopped off.

Now, we like Jasmine because she's fighting for her own autonomy about her marriage which appeals to our modern day sensitivities, but she and Aladdin do have blind spots. Jasmine isn't aware of her of her privilege and how lucky she is she has a father who isn't just picking a suitor for her, but actually does care she is in a happy marriage rather than the most profitable one. Aladdin has a blind spot to the fact he's treating Jasmine like an object when he's trying to negotiate marriage with her father. Jasmine only starts liking Aladdin when he tells her she's right and she's not a prize to be won.

I feel like both extreme takes on Minhaj are really, really bad. Minhaj is not a despicable guy for venting to Jamil about his discomfort. He's just so very ignorant to the privileges he has (which is a thing most people in the world are guilty of). It is very common characteristic of people to often see more of what we do not have versus what we do have. It is the rare person that can see their privilege right off without being told or made aware of it and academic intelligence really has nothing to do with it. Being aware of your own social privilege is something I would put more under an emotional intelligence vs an academic one.

That said, Minhaj is no saint either. He's flawed. He doesn't know his privilege. Yes, his grievances are legitimate, but if you were complaining to a homeless person about paying a mortgage on your house, that'd be horribly tactless. Minhaj and Kalim are both tactless individuals who do have good intentions, but due to that lack of tact and awareness, come off as really insensitive and that undermines those intentions. On the opposite hand, Jamil has the ability to be tactful, but he lacks the ability to often give genuine empathy and kindness to others due to being in such a bad situation that it takes up most of his attention space in his brain.

The Scalding Sands characters are all 'nice' in different ways, but they all lack traits needed to be genuinely kind and niceness is NOT kindness. All three are flawed and that's OK. Minhaj is not a saint and he shouldn't be. Making him a saint who can do no wrong is the same problem as claiming Jamil or Kalim are flawless or have done nothing wrong. Every person in the world has a capacity to be selfish on some level. It's one half of our survival instincts which are made up of self-interest and cooperation.