Starteller-7 - Star

I see a lot of posts talking about how you’re not behind in life. And it’s true and a really great message. I’m not disagreeing.

I just want to take a moment to talk to those that feel behind because they’ve lost so many years to trauma, mental illness or any number of circumstances. It’s okay to grieve for the time you’ve lost.

It’s really valid that you feel it isn’t fair that you dealt with the obstacles you did. Because it isn’t fair. And while it’s important to not get hung up on that, it’s okay to feel it and grieve what you lost.

Taters! - Part 1 , bg3 Karlach comic

Finally starting my short little Karlach comic series, yay~

Even tho she clearly has some issues, to me Karlach (+ obiously Wyll) is probably the most mentally stable person in the group and I wondered how does a character stay this sane after suffering hell for so long. And because she misses her parents so much I thought, once in her life she probably experienced the most wonderful love.

sometimes i think a little too hard about how percy jackson started as bedtime stories that rick riordan would tell his son when he was being bullied for his adhd and dyslexia because he wanted to let his kid know that he could also be a hero. and how after his first books were so successful he started to realize that there are lots of kids out there who don't see themselves in any heroes because of various other aspects of themselves, and he doesn't want any kid to feel like how his did, so he started writing heroes that were poc and gay and religious minorities and homeless and genderqueer and physically disabled and from an array of different cultures and he just made it his absolute mission to make sure every single kid could see themselves in his universe. about how the primary purpose of these books is to make kids feel a little bit less alone, and how the percy jackson books are so well loved because they are, themselves, an act of love. percy jackson came into existence as an act of love towards his struggling son and this story grew and expanded into what it is today because so many kids needed that same kind of love, and even those of us that aren't kids anymore still find a home in a story that was made for that exact purpose. and then i cry.

"Saw traps for people with moral OCD" is a phrase that has embedded myself into my brain because, well, Saw traps for people with moral OCD are everywhere.

Stuff that basically amounts to...

"You have to listen to my opinions on [issue], or else you don't care about [issue]. (Constantly talks about how people like you are the absolute worst.)"

Anything that's functionally like, "you have to let me tear you down over things you can't control or you're a bad person."

Anything that's functionally like, "you have to let me vent to you whenever and however I want or else you're a bad person."

"If you enjoy X media/trope, you just hate Y people."

"Everyone knows that X thing is harmful/hateful; if you engaged in it, it's just because you were fine with perpetuating hate/harm."

"You should have just known better/should know this already!"

This thread over here talks about the inherent issues of putting this kind of stuff out there. The TL;DR is that it really only works on people who are mentally unwell and have poor boundaries, while just pissing off everyone else. It really doesn't matter if you're technically correct; you're still attacking people, and that means they're not wrong to block you.

I think that many of these Saw traps are created when people effectively write posts directed toward people who don't want to help, rather than the ones who do. Like, if you catch yourself writing an angry, shame-laden post, ask yourself: who are you writing it for and what are the odds you're going to change their minds? If your mental image is some smug fuck or angry reactionary, you're writing for the wrong person. Write for the person who's curious, who's willing to learn.

Also? Work on figuring out how to transmute negative feelings into positive, encouraging rhetoric. EG:

"Why is there no X positivity?" -> "Let's hear it for X!"

"No one cares about Y problem!" -> "Hey, we need more recognition of Y problem" or "I haven't seen many people talking about Y problem, so here's some info on what's up."

"If you don't reblog this, you don't care about [group]" -> "Please reblog this, it would mean a lot for us [group]."

And if you're really super duper frustrated and want to vent with a lot of nasty words and sentiments? Consider taking it to a private vent channel or a journal or somewhere that a stranger with moral OCD/scrupulosity isn't likely to run across it.

Remember, most people don't want to hurt anyone. More people are ignorant than malicious. People naturally want to do the right thing, so if you feel like you have to guilt them or shame them into it, there's probably a fundamental communication issue somewhere, or they simply lack the context to understand why what you're saying is so important.

asexuals meeting each other

hi. i made some images.

feel free to take them and use for whatever you may need them for. no credit required

Re: shourtney wedding

I see lots of people saying “they better address this in the next video” or “we need answers”. Just a reminder that their relationship is not content on the internet to entertain us. Yes, they posted the photos on April 1st, because it was funny, but that doesn’t mean they owe us anymore. People need to realise that they will probably continue making content as normal on Smosh and they don’t need to address their relationship in videos and people need to be okay with that.

Please treat them with respect as you would any other person and don’t demand answers from them or anyone. Let’s just carry on knowing they have each other and leave it at that.

Xx

I know the animation industry has been going through a serious rough patch in the past 10 years. I just hope the medium and the artists making it can get the respect they deserve someday soon. So I wanna take a moment to spread a reminder of the powerful emotional scenes we've gotten from animation in the past 10 years.