"how are the democrats so good at losing?" why don't you ask how the republicans are so good at winning?? stop acting like democrats are the only political party with agency. republicans do things on purpose.

^^ It seems to me that I haven’t seen many people acknowledging that republicans are good at winning because they lie and because they have a multimillion dollar industry committing to getting them elected and backing up their lies.

I’ve seen statistics correlating misinformed views to voting choice, a study about how respondents preferred Kamala’s policies over Trump’s when they weren’t told who had which set of policies, people discussing ‘vibes-based politics’—but in my opinion all this analysis is incomplete without confronting how republicans have a veritable propaganda machine working for them. It’s pretty hard for democrats to fight that. We have to rely on average donations from normal people when corporations/rich individuals can invest millions into networks who will try to get people elected who will give them tax breaks.

#seriously I want more people to talk about the sheer amount of damage rupert murdoch has done to this country#fox news is the most viewed cable news network in the country.#i remember a few months back harris’ campaign had success bringing project 2025 to the public’s attention#but democrats still don’t have anything comparable @choppywaterswiftboats

Fun fact that I will tell literally everyone all the time!!! A former Nixon staffer said they would have survived Watergate if they had their own news network. And that staffer's name was Roger Ailes!

Books to read:

Dark Money: An examination of the Koch Empire, and its patronage and entanglement in Right wing media, politics, and lobbying.

Messengers of the Right: A history of the conservative media landscape, beginning with talk radio (Clarence Manion, before the era of Rush Limbaugh), through periodicals like the National Review, and notable books, like God and Man at Yale. I'm sorry, but you don't know half as much as you think you do about American political history if you don't know who William F Buckley is. All of this walked, so Fox News could run.

Let Them Eat Tweets: A political synthesis of history, economics, and communication scholarship that posits wedge-issue-identity-politics as the method by which contemporary conservative parties drive their white working class bases away from class-based solidarity toward a party that serves only economic elites. That, Hacker and Pierson argue, is how you explain the escalation of billionaire oligopoly, rising economic inequality, and fanatic racism/other bigotries.

If you can understand these patterns and these histories, you'll begin to see why the GOP has nosedived into overtly fascist rhetoric, while STILL successfully courting voters who vote against their material economic interests.

There are no surprises here.

You can even see the ripples of that abroad. My parents watch the Canadian equivalent to the conservative channel and this summer were telling me about how “both parties are the same and Biden is sooooooo old”. They are people who would usually consider themselves aligned a bit left of the center (CANADIAN center). And yet they knew nothing of what Trump actually said or did at any point in this campaign or during his last term.

Two weeks ago, a firmly leftist friend, a queer person of colour, told me “but the democrats are financed by all the big evil corporations”. And then he named checked all the corporations that Biden and the DOJ have been raking over the coals because of their monopolies. And I was just like “you think AMAZON wants the dems to win??? You think FACEBOOK wants them to win??? GOOGLE??”

The propaganda is real and it’s everywhere.

#since moving here ​it is absolutely insane to me how little the average Canadian knows about current events#someone asked me last week what Gaza was @foreign-dorian

In 2016 we had a guy running for president in the US who asked "what's Aleppo?" when he was asked about a crisis in Syria. That wasn't even Trump, it was Gary Johnson. So, you know, at least the person you talked to wasn't running for prime minister.

Still in awe of how well the D&D movie mimicked the feeling of D&D without doing anything as tediously literal as a "sitting around the table" framing device. The way some characters have names that sound like names a DM improvised on the spot, the sudden appearance and disappearance of a overpowered DM NPC for a single dungeon, the way they used the fact that characters can plausibly just mess up for no clear reason to escalate action scenes...that was cinema

Also the tragic backstories that clash noticeably with the goofy tone of the actual movie and are related in full at inopportune moments. And the fact that the DMPC is the only one with a backstory even SLIGHTLY connected to the main plot. Plus the fact that every character is a subtle representation of a DND player trope - Edgin is an extensive roleplayer who barely even uses his bard abilities and just talks his way out of every situation he finds, Holga is a wargamer who's just here to kick monster ass and barely talks about her character (to the point that her tragic backstory comes completely out of nowhere as though the DM shoved it in), Simon is a newbie who doesn't really know how the game works and has picked the most complicated class there is to start off with, and Doric is a rule-of-cool action hero who thinks the limitations on wild shape are Dumb and Stupid and the DM begrudgingly indulges her because what she does is in fairness much cooler.

i am an advocate for Big Dumb Man rights and i will not take this blatant erasure by the anime twitter users

they're in love

unfuckingbelievable and yet completely believable.

Hey did you know that the only recorded instance of a child being poisoned from Halloween candy was from his own dad killing him for insurance money?

You know.

I want to share a story with those of you who were not of trick-or-treating age (or were very, very little, like your grownup was probably saying “trick or treat” for you) in October of 2001.

For the younger folk, it’s important that you know that in the couple of weeks following 9/11, there were anthrax attacks on various people via mail. They were targeted toward the media and a few politicians, but because anthrax is spores and some of the attacks were pure powder, there were fears that it could contaminate other letters, and the timing of the attacks was such that nobody knew if they were related to 9/11 (they weren’t, but we didn’t know that then), there was absolutely a feeling that anyone could be next.

Do you know how many Pixy Stix I got for Halloween the year prior? Dozens. They were a popular choice with the college students manning the frat houses in my town because they were cheap, and of course some other folks who liked to give out candy by the handful would go for the cheaper mixes as well.

Do you know how many Pixy Stix I got in 2001?

Four.

Three were from the same frat house, which apologetically told my mom they’d gotten their candy before the powder-anthrax attacks, and they were out of literally everything else but if she didn’t want me to have Pixy Stix they could get me a soda from their fridge or something. They were down to their beverages and the cookies they’d bought for their own party and they were literally willing to part with those instead of cheap crap candy only a child could love, if it would make my mom more comfortable.

Not only do the overwhelming majority of people not want to harm trick-or-treaters, they actively don’t want to cause undue distress or concern to kids or their parents. People were literally driving to the closest city half an hour away to get non-Pixy-Stix candy when our grocery store sold out, rather than taking an option more convenient to them that might scare the recipients during an already frightening and stressful time. That’s like the exact opposite of “let’s give kids drugs just for shits and giggles.”

As a sidenote, it took me many, many years to figure out someone did get drugs that night. My mom chatted with the frat kids for a bit, and at one point one of them went “do you want a brownie? Uh—for you?” And when my mom was like “hell yeah, I love a good special brownie” they dutifully wrapped one up for her. I was bored and playing with their cat, so literally the part I caught was that there were brownies and I wasn’t allowed to have them (THE AUDACITY), but I assume in some way it was communicated that my mom was absolutely the type of person who’d appreciate a good dose of weed (and given that she was homeschooling me and dealing with the news cycle at the time, probably needed it). Which like, I feel like it should be socially acceptable to offer weed brownies to the parents of trick-or-treaters to enjoy after the kids have passed out in a sugar coma, so A+ frat kids all around, really.

evidence #98273 that People Are Good, Actually

even better, here’s an article detailing the myth of tampered candy

i made this meme in a blind rage

There's wholesome ships and there's toxic ships, but I'd like to coin 'sodium chloride ships', where the individuals involved are both horrible and dangerous people, but somehow being together renders them surprisingly well-adjusted (if a little salty).

The opposite of this is a 'coke and mentos' dynamic, where the two people are generally chill and likeable but being around each other makes them both wild and chaotic.

Here's the breakdown:

So I decided to look at the character sheets for Honor Among Thieves because a lot of people complain about Edgin not using bard magic.

BARDIC MAGIC IS SO SUBTLE IN PRACTICE.

It's not like a sorcerer's magic where you're announcing that you're using a spell. Bardic magic is basically enchantment subtly snuck into casual conversation or into a bard's music, especially with the specific spells Edgin knows:

IT IS NOT OBVIOUS WHEN A BARD USES MAGIC LMAO.

Yeah, during a campaign you're obviously going to know when the party's bard(s) use bardic magic because it requires you to announce it and make rolls, but in universe? NO. What bard is going to announce that they're casting spells meant to charm someone?? NO BARD WITH A DECENT INTELLIGENCE SCORE IS YOUR ANSWER.

Edgin VERY MUCH SO uses bardic magic, but bardic magic is so fucking subtle outside of the meta stuff that YOU WILL NOT REALIZE THE BARD IS USING MAGIC because THAT'S THE FUCKING POINT.

Edgin consistently encouraging the other members of the party? Bardic inspiration (and it FUCKING WORKS by the way).

Edgin noticing Holga's upset after she comes back from grabbing some stuff from her ex and proceeding to play his lute and sing a little song? I've seen some people suggest that he could've been using Calm Emotions there.

Xenk hearing what Edgin was telling Holga despite the distance Edgin was behind him and how quiet he was being? Not sure how likely it is, but according to the player handbook Message doesn't require concentration so maybe he was accidentally casting Message there (which would be really funny and also make Xenk's smug smile after Edgin says "I hate you" even funnier).

It's so subtle that he could've ABSOLUTELY used Charm Person or Suggestion at some point and WE WOULDN'T KNOW because of how those specific spells work.

The entire point of bardic magic is to be SUBTLE. Honor Among Thieves NAILS THIS. Not just in the sense that it would make Edgin an incredibly effective spy, but also because HE LITERALLY DOES USE MAGIC DURING THE MOVIE ASJGDFGDSFKJADSGFKJAS

I think one of the reasons the Harris / Walz ticket has so much momentum is because the campaign is genuinely trying to put out this vibe of fun. Like that's all the "brat" thing is, the coconut jokes, just being kind of silly and fun.

And I think it's working, because let's be real, we are all exhausted. It's been all about preserving democracy, defeating fascism, the past eight years. The message has been "vote for us because the country is literally on the line". The vibes are not good when we are stuck back at that fight, and not even discussing trying to make progress on things like housing, healthcare, education, etc. And the fight to just stop fascism? All still true. Project 2025 is real and is extremely scary. We can't let that man back into office.

But the vibe was "vote for us otherwise we're all fucked :(" and now has shifted to "get in, we're making popcorn and then bullying fascists." Like a lot of the issues conservatives bring up, the Harris / Walz is just not engaging them in good faith, as they shouldn't. Republicans bring up abortion, and the Dems are just like, "you want 14 year old to give birth? Weirdo" and just leave it at that. Like YES, that's what you should do. Because it SHOULDNT be a debate. And it's working. This is how you defeat the identify politics thing Republicans have been trying to push for a while. Just mocking them for the stupidity of it all. "Like seriously? You think a book can make someone gay??? Hahaha." None of the Republicans are reacting well. They can't stand it. Vance even complained about bullying!!! Like do you KNOW who picked you as vp??? It's actually laughable, because they have no room to stand on when it comes to bullying.

And a huge part of the mocking and dismissing of Republicans is that the message is clear - were done debating all this stupid stuff. We've won the last two elections' popular vote - most Americans do NOT want christo-facism. It's time to move on. And that's what gives me hope, and the feeling of hope I think a lot of people have picked up on. It's time to address all the issues we've all wished we've been addressing the past decade. It's important we move onto that, and that's the message I'm getting from this campaign (We're not going back). I think it will resonate with a lot of people, because plainly, we're all just sick of this same old news cycle and fake rage bait over things like "should women have rights?", "Should gay people be allowed to exist?" The general populace have answered YES to both these multiple times, and it is time to move on. Maybe I'm being naive, but I am genuinely excited at the idea of putting to bed these debates (it's exhausting trying to fend your very existence) and moving on to actual economic and social policies that could fix a lot of deterioration over the last 2 decades.

Hey, here is some new frustrating discourse.

I'm going to clear this up super duper quick.

And then we can move on and discuss more important things.

Okay?

Here goes...

Nicolas Cage is an incredible actor who is very bad with money so he has to act in terrible movies because otherwise they will repossess his dinosaur skull collection.

But even when he is in terrible movies with terrible writing he refuses to phone in his performances. And sometimes when you are acting your ass off while saying some of the dumbest dialogue ever conceived it can give the appearance the acting is the issue rather than the writing and story.

Hayden Christensen knows that feeling all too well.

So next time you see Nic Cage in a B movie acting a fool, just know he probably bought some new shrunken heads and forgot to pay the mortgage on his volcano island.

People that are like "oh i didn't like Donna Noble in runaway bride but once her season started i changed my mind" are bastards fools and COWARDS. she's SO fucking iconic in runaway bride. Yelling at the doctor so hard he imprints on her. being too hungover to notice cybermen. Yelling at the doctor so hard SHE imprints on HIM. Being bombarded by questions she can't answer by breaking down into sobs and then giving the Doctor a little wink bc they are IN CAHOOTS!! Jumping in front of the doctor saying "don't you hurt him" after only knowing him for a few hours. Also being like "something is deeply wrong with you" and knowing EXACTLY what his fucking problem is after knowing him for less than a day. Seeing the creation of Earth and cracking a little joke. She is Queen she is Mother she is Every Moment!!!

vegans making honey a bee labour issue is the funniest thing imaginable because like, you picked the one animal that has already unionised

You literally could not exploit bees if you TRIED

"Oh well if you stop the queen leaving the bees are trapped" wrong, bees can and will swarm without a queen. They will also make new queens if they don't think theirs is good enough

"Bees don't consent to their honey being taken" wrong, bees are actually more than intelligent enough to know we take the honey. They LET us take the honey if they think what we provide in return (shelter, food, protection) is a fair deal.

"Taking honey starves the bees" WRONG AGAIN! Domestic bees overproduce honey. A beekeeper NEVER takes honey the bees would need because then you piss off the bees, and if you piss off the bees you don't have any bees. They stockpile honey for the winter, but because domestic colonies do way better than wild ones they stockpile too much. That's why beekeepers can take out whole frames and then have them filled in no time. Domestic bees actively overproduce because they know humans are going to skim some off the top.

And if they didn't want humans to take it, beekeeping WOULD NOT work.

To keep bees you have to let them fly free. If they can fly free they can leave. Meaning if they don't like what you're doing, they WILL leave.

The whole idea they're basically slaves to the queen is also not true, they can just make a new queen literally whenever, and if they don't like her, they kill her.

There is no way for a beekeeper to exploit their bees. The bees are EMPLOYEES.

Employbees, if you will.

my chemical romance is the funniest and weirdest band ever. They’re all fucking losers who would genuinely rather play dnd than hook up with groupies. The singer used to work at Cartoon Network. The bassist is on the fbi watchlist for crimes against disney. One guitarist is a guitar god but he also used to keep a little action figure of spiderman in his pocket all the time, the other is like a little lap dog of a man, but he’s also on the fbi watchlist for death threats against a us president. They refused to be on the twilight soundtrack, one of the most popular franchises at the time but then they preformed on yo gabba gabba and re-recorded one of their songs in simlish.

It’s so cute when people think Crowley is suave and sexy and cool. Like, only under the threat of destruction by Satan himself can make this demon say ‘fuck’ apparently. He has a corny ass voicemail. Don’t give him access to a crystal ball and a fez if you don’t want him to start acting goofy. 20% of his personality is being a Plant Mom. The other 80% is being a Wine Aunt. She cosplays Mary Poppins just cuz. She manages to stay “up to style” and is very bad at it somehow. 90% of his existence can be summarized as “Silly Simp”.

“unalive myself” “grippy socks visit to the hospital” “corn addicts” talk like a fucking grown up. seriously.

"Gen z slang came about by cowtowing to algorithms made by large corporations and ad execs, that is SO PUNK compared to millenial slang which is about being individually unique."

Modern "punks" have no idea what punk stands for. In other, more surprising news, water is wet. More on this at 11.

Seriously though, kids these days are so eager to lick boot and call it rebellion. If you say unalive instead of kill because you'll lose your funding, congratz, you let them censor you. "They'lltake away our revenue!" And? Rebellion comes with consequences, change is a fight, protecting your values comes at a cost.

If you never pull at the leash, it doesn't matter how much you bark, you're still going where they want you to.

NOTE TO SELF-SLOW THE FUCK DOWN!

Slow the fuck down is also the way to avoid scams, social engineering, phishing, etc.

“Oh, no the CEO of my employer is having an emergency and I need to click this link right now!!!”

Slow down…

“Why would the CEO be emailing ME of all people? Maybe this email is a phishing attack that would get my employer hacked and me fired for allowing it.” (It probably is a phishing email.)

In general, “Slow the fuck down” is an extremely powerful information literacy skill.

Genuinely thinking about showing this to my freshmen instead of the CRAAP test

ok.

Listen. Listen. I will respect any interpretation you have of a piece of media provided you meet 2 VERY MINIMAL requirements:

1. You have actually seen/watched/read/played etc the media in the question

2. Your interpretation is based on information that is actually in the fucking media

You would think that these things are easy to meet, but seeing tumblrs reaction to Oppenheimer, apparently this is too much to ask

"Are you saying that i have to sit through 3 hours of christopher nolan's dense and brutal filmmaking style in order to have an opinion on-" yes i am, actually.

"Are you saying that i have to read this entire 500 page book before you respect my opinion that stephen king is a-" yes i am, actually.

"Are you saying that i have to play this entire 80+ hour long game for you to take my opinion that it's problematic serio-" Yes. I. Am. Actually.

Notice here that I never said you can't dislike something on a purely surface, subjective level. If a certain piece of media just isn't your thing in the personal taste department, nobody will hold you down and force you to watch it. You can just put it down, but if that's the case, you need to understand that you will never have a fully-formed and educated interpretation of it. Which is fine! That's fine! But I take issue with this trend of acting like your subjective dislike of something is indicative of its ideological worth when you haven't even seen the whole thing.

Do you know what I say about media that I've put down in the past because I didn't like it? "I couldn't say, I didn't like it." That's it. That's a full sentence. "I can't give you an informed opinion because I put it down due to it not matching my personal tastes." There's no need to act like my dislike inherently means anything other than "it wasn't my thing." It doesn't mean that there must be some insidious problematic whatever behind it that was never there to begin with, it just means "it wasn't my thing."

Can we please, for fuck's sake, bring back the concept that you have to see the WHOLE THING to have an informed interpretation of it? This "if i don't like it or don't want to see it it must be Uniquely BadTM" shit mentality is how we got people saying that Madoka Magica was misogynistic and Steven Universe endorsed fascism. If you find yourself falling down this hole i want you to ask yourself "have I actually seen this accusation play out for myself in the source material, or am I just trusting the word of some stranger online who knows a lot of buzzwords?"