for yuki
I am not Yuki, but I think they are cute.
Daw! Wrinkly flesh cats. <3
“The United States imprisons a larger percentage of its black population than South Africa did at the height of apartheid.”
Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (via humanformat)
(Source: carnivorousdreams)
All this and then some. (This is from my phone. I apologize for misspellings, weird formatting, and lack of tags. I’ll add tags as soon as I can.) Even if we accept Isabela/male!Hawke as cannon that doesn’t make her a streight woman. Isabela is cannonically attracted to both men and women. Monogemy doesn’t invalidate or erace bisexuality. The two are unrelated. For years I only dated men, and only one at a time. I was still attracted to all sorts of people. I was still pansexual. I was just monogemously dating men. I am now polyanorously dating women, and still pansexual. (Jus needed to add my me to to this. Being eraced is no fun. Thank you for doing that film Cypher. What you are doing is validating and powerful.)Bisexual or not, judging by the trailer she canonically ends up with Male!Hawke.
what the everloving fuck does that have to do with ANYthing? do you even understand what it is you’re implying? do you or the OP understand that this whole discussion actually MEANS to bisexual people?
let me tell you, so it’s clear from a personal perspective…you’ve just told me i don’t exist. that’s as plain as i can make it.
play the game however you like, interpret the cinematic trailer however you like. but i’m going to tell you straight up that what you’re doing when you SAY these things…it’s hurtful. it’s ERASURE. and i’m really just not going to hold my tongue about it.
you’re not bisexual? okay, let me explain to you what Isabela means to me (what Zevran and Leliana and Anders and Fenris mean to me)…these characters helped me realize who i was. they were catalysts for the most important, and painful, realization of my adult life. bioware created them to be bisexual (and pansexual, in the case of Anders, i think), and for someone like me…like ALL the bisexual gamers out there…that’s a big fucking deal. their choices mirrored mine, their behavior was recognizable and i absolutely cherish them for the role they played in helping me.
so, i’m really just not going to let you erase that. in the privacy of your head, feel free to be as you like…but i’m not about to blithely scroll past your public bullshit and not call you on it.
It has to do with what I saw in the trailer for the game, mostly? What else could it possibly mean? It also means that for some reason Bioware has chosen to show a scene of Garrett kissing Isabela which makes me think that this is their canon.
What am I implying? Try me, I am interested.
Pfffft, saying that Bioware is shipping Isabela with Garrett in the official trailer means I imply you don’t exist? This is very fascinating, please tell me more.
Hurtful and erasure? Well sorry, but this is your problems. If you see some comment about a true fact and some sort of conclusion a person you don’t personally know made based on it when nobody is attacking bisexuals and you personally and it somehow hits your nerve, then the only one hurting anyone is yourself.
Yes they were created to be bisexual. And I have no problem with that. As for why Isabela is kissing Garrett in the trailer and not Marian, no idea and none of my business. You can try to demand explanations from them. *Shrugs*.
Public bullshit? Please point out exactly which part of what I wrote is bullshit.
i’m bolding the part of this that is EXCEPTIONALLY hurtful. and i’ll come back to that.
the OP said that no matter what Isabela’s canon orientation is…they believe she’s a lesbian. you come into the discussion and use the words “bisexual or not” (implying that Isabela’s bisexuality is still up for debate. yes, you DID imply that) and use a couple of scenes from the cinematic trailer to suggest that Isabela ends up with M!Hawke. which sort of derails the discussion, unless you qualify it. it’s just laying out there without explanation.
the only conclusion i can reasonably draw is that, in addition to the OP thinking Isabela is a lesbian (which is bi-erasure, and other than drawing a parallel between this type of confession and white-washing i don’t really know how else to explain it), you are now telling me how to perceive the romantic plot-line of a game that is based upon individual role-play simply because of a commercial…while also re-enforcing the idea that canon bisexuality is somehow still up for debate.
if calling it bullshit seemed harsh to you i apologize. but, that doesn’t change the fact that you have AGAIN invalidated me by saying this is my problem and i took something too personally. the bolded part of your response is you insisting that what i experienced from this OP’s confession is nothing anyone else feels, or would be interested in, and that’s simply not true. this isn’t just my problem.
the cinematic trailer isn’t a “true fact” any more than the OP’s belief that Isabela is a lesbian. if you meant to draw the OP’s eyes away from their statement by showing Isabela in a relationship with a man, then AWESOME.
but that’s not how it came across.
this is what I meant to reblog. Not the part about everyone’s sexuality becuase that bit about Merrill being asexual since no one shows interest is just stupid.
My original 0.02:
Reblogging for truth… I exist goddammit. This is why I decided to do that documentary, because people want to erase me, call me invalid, just no.
Of course it doesn’t. And I don’t understand where people get the whole ‘erased’ idea from. How does a bisexual person picking a male partner erase the fact they are bisexual? It definitely erases the fact they are lesbian in this case, though.
Oh! I see. That is not the way I read it at all. I, personally, was reading it the way I was because people have made the argument to me before that monogamy negates sexuality. (It was something I believed too, before I talked to other people about their sexuality, in college.)
When I was dating men I had many people not believe I was attracted to women as well, or that being attracted to people who were not men was at all a part of who I was. People I talk to now sometimes ask if I’m “a lesbian now?” As far as I know that is a common experience for most bisexual and pansexual people.
So, basically, I was arguing with something I’ve had said to me before, which is what I thought you were trying to say, and not what you were actually trying to say. Sorry about that.
(Source: dragonageconfessions)
Bisexual or not, judging by the trailer she canonically ends up with Male!Hawke.
what the everloving fuck does that have to do with ANYthing? do you even understand what it is you’re implying? do you or the OP understand that this whole discussion actually MEANS to bisexual people?
let me tell you, so it’s clear from a personal perspective…you’ve just told me i don’t exist. that’s as plain as i can make it.
play the game however you like, interpret the cinematic trailer however you like. but i’m going to tell you straight up that what you’re doing when you SAY these things…it’s hurtful. it’s ERASURE. and i’m really just not going to hold my tongue about it.
you’re not bisexual? okay, let me explain to you what Isabela means to me (what Zevran and Leliana and Anders and Fenris mean to me)…these characters helped me realize who i was. they were catalysts for the most important, and painful, realization of my adult life. bioware created them to be bisexual (and pansexual, in the case of Anders, i think), and for someone like me…like ALL the bisexual gamers out there…that’s a big fucking deal. their choices mirrored mine, their behavior was recognizable and i absolutely cherish them for the role they played in helping me.
so, i’m really just not going to let you erase that. in the privacy of your head, feel free to be as you like…but i’m not about to blithely scroll past your public bullshit and not call you on it.
It has to do with what I saw in the trailer for the game, mostly? What else could it possibly mean? It also means that for some reason Bioware has chosen to show a scene of Garrett kissing Isabela which makes me think that this is their canon.
What am I implying? Try me, I am interested.
Pfffft, saying that Bioware is shipping Isabela with Garrett in the official trailer means I imply you don’t exist? This is very fascinating, please tell me more.
Hurtful and erasure? Well sorry, but this is your problems. If you see some comment about a true fact and some sort of conclusion a person you don’t personally know made based on it when nobody is attacking bisexuals and you personally and it somehow hits your nerve, then the only one hurting anyone is yourself.
Yes they were created to be bisexual. And I have no problem with that. As for why Isabela is kissing Garrett in the trailer and not Marian, no idea and none of my business. You can try to demand explanations from them. *Shrugs*.
Public bullshit? Please point out exactly which part of what I wrote is bullshit.
i’m bolding the part of this that is EXCEPTIONALLY hurtful. and i’ll come back to that.
the OP said that no matter what Isabela’s canon orientation is…they believe she’s a lesbian. you come into the discussion and use the words “bisexual or not” (implying that Isabela’s bisexuality is still up for debate. yes, you DID imply that) and use a couple of scenes from the cinematic trailer to suggest that Isabela ends up with M!Hawke. which sort of derails the discussion, unless you qualify it. it’s just laying out there without explanation.
the only conclusion i can reasonably draw is that, in addition to the OP thinking Isabela is a lesbian (which is bi-erasure, and other than drawing a parallel between this type of confession and white-washing i don’t really know how else to explain it), you are now telling me how to perceive the romantic plot-line of a game that is based upon individual role-play simply because of a commercial…while also re-enforcing the idea that canon bisexuality is somehow still up for debate.
if calling it bullshit seemed harsh to you i apologize. but, that doesn’t change the fact that you have AGAIN invalidated me by saying this is my problem and i took something too personally. the bolded part of your response is you insisting that what i experienced from this OP’s confession is nothing anyone else feels, or would be interested in, and that’s simply not true. this isn’t just my problem.
the cinematic trailer isn’t a “true fact” any more than the OP’s belief that Isabela is a lesbian. if you meant to draw the OP’s eyes away from their statement by showing Isabela in a relationship with a man, then AWESOME.
but that’s not how it came across.
this is what I meant to reblog. Not the part about everyone’s sexuality becuase that bit about Merrill being asexual since no one shows interest is just stupid.
My original 0.02:
Reblogging for truth… I exist goddammit. This is why I decided to do that documentary, because people want to erase me, call me invalid, just no.
All this and then some. (This is from my phone. I apologize for misspellings, weird formatting, and lack of tags. I’ll add tags as soon as I can.) Even if we accept Isabela/male!Hawke as cannon that doesn’t make her a streight woman. Isabela is cannonically attracted to both men and women. Monogemy doesn’t invalidate or erace bisexuality. The two are unrelated. For years I only dated men, and only one at a time. I was still attracted to all sorts of people. I was still pansexual. I was just monogemously dating men. I am now polyanorously dating women, and still pansexual. (Jus needed to add my me to to this. Being eraced is no fun. Thank you for doing that film Cypher. What you are doing is validating and powerful.)
(Source: dragonageconfessions)
(Source: lovelylops)
This ring features a complete band of Gibeon Meteorite framed and mounted in an 18k gold band. The meteorite has been etched with nitric acid to reveal the characteristic patterns, or Widmanstatten figures, of iron meteorites, and set with 9 gemstones representing the planets of our Solar System. Mercury is represented by a rust colored Sapphire, Venus a golden Sapphire, Earth an irradiated blue Diamond, Mars a Ruby, Jupiter an Opal, Saturn a Cats Eye Chrysoberyl with an inlaid 24k gold ring, Uranus a green Sapphire, Neptune a blue Sapphire and Pluto a black Diamond. What really makes this ring special is that the band of meteorite spins independent of the gold ring, so when it is on, the planets rotate around the wearer’s finger.
TL;DR SPACE RING GIMME
“and set with 9 gemstones representing the planets of our Solar System.”
What.
I like this. 9 planets and all!
*********
Pluto is sooo a planet.
Essay: Foucault and the Circle of Magi (Dragon Age: Origins)
This essay will look at the Circle of Magi alongside Foucault’s* theories about the asylum. My argument is that the Circle functions in a similar way to how Foucault saw the asylum working – that is, it is designed to create docile mages that accept the justification for their imprisonment, and end up policing themselves.
I will go through some of Foucault’s original writing, explain my understanding of it, and give examples of where I think it is played out in the Dragon Age universe.
All references are from The Foucault Reader, edited by Paul Rabinow.
I’m more than happy to take any feedback. :)
* If you haven’t heard of Foucault before, he was a French philosopher who wrote a lot of stuff about power. His basic theory was that the most insidious form of power is not physical strength, but the ability to get people to watch and judge themselves based on your criteria. Here’s his Wiki page.
O, I love this, very nice. :D
Speaking of Foucault and docile bodies, there was a confession the other day about how the confessor loves killing templars because they’re all evil oppressors and whatnot, and I wanted to say something about how they’re really not, and how templar soldiers/guards themselves are just disciplined to be docile too. I should probably transpose what Foucault says about soldiers and guards to templars properly, but that would require actual effort on my part, so here’s just the gist of it: they’re often groomed from early age in a monastery-school hybrid (if they’re raised in the Chantry like Alistair); they too are isolated from the world and confined in the barracks and the Circle; they are supervised and made to feel like they’re being constantly supervised even if they’re not (I just played through “Enemies Among Us” quest in DA2 and the recruits are absolutely terrified to talk to Hawke out of fear Meredith would find out); they’re forced into a rigorous routine which includes physical training and prayer/indoctrination (both disciplining them for docility-utility) which solidify obedience and help turn them into elements in a mechanism; they’re coerced into lyrium addiction which insures the complete control over their bodies and them…
Reblogged for insightful essay, and insightful commentary.
Stupid abstract ficcish-meta-idek-wordpukey Anders-babble ahoy.
Anders represents such a complicated dichotomy to me.
He is both human and spirit, both man and monster. Both healer and executioner, a chaotic marriage of vengeance and mercy. Both saving lives and taking them, wielding creation magic and life, a walking death sentence unto himself, fighting to give everyone else a chance to have the things that he himself will never get to know.
He is order and chaos; confusion and clarity; hesitation and determination; hot fury and cold revenge; overwhelming darkness, and all-encompassing light. A pair of caring, well-worn hands glowing softly with bright blue magic, holding a bladed staff stained with dark red blood.
A man with a heart as layered as the armor he cloaks himself in.
He is beauty brushed with ugliness, weakness bursting with strength, vulnerability coated in armor, want tempered by need, desire dulled by obligation, exhaustion fueled by duty.
He is kind, loving, compassionate, merciful—but also harsh, vengeful, jealous, and unforgiving. His entire existence is a chaotic fugue, a life woven together out of stark black and white, threaded together so intricately that most of the time, all you can see is grey.
A good man that does terrible things. A terrible man that does good things. An honest liar. A dishonest truth-teller. A prophet for an uncertain future, a harbinger of unsteady change. A lover, a fighter, an accuser, a forgiver. A perfect blend of imperfections.
A man who fights to hold on even as he struggles to let go.
A man driven to hurt the things he loves, to break the things he wants to save.
A man who knows all this about himself, who is aware of all he is up against, the sheer magnitude and impossibility of it all… and who tries his best, anyway.
He is a walking contradiction. And he’s not.
Omar Khadr, a sixteen year old Guantanamo Bay detainee weeps uncontrollably, clutching at his face and hair as he calls out for his mother to save him from his torment. “Ya Ummi, Ya Ummi (Oh Mother, Oh Mother),” he wails repeatedly, hauntingly with each breath he takes.
The surveillance tapes, released by Khadr’s defence, show him left alone in an interrogation room for a “break” after he tried complaining to CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) officers about his poor health due to insufficient medical attention. Ignoring his complaints and trying to get him to make false confessions, the officers get frustrated with the sixteen year old’s tears and tell him to get himself together by the time they come back from their break.
“You don’t care about me. Nobody cares about me,” he sobs to them.
The tapes show how the officers manipulated Khadr into thinking that they were helping him because they were also Canadian and how they taunted him with the prospect of home (Canada), (good) food, and familial reunion.
Khadr, a Canadian, was taken into US custody at the age of fifteen, tortured and refused medical attention because he wouldn’t attest to being a member of Al Qaeda, even though he was shot three times in the chest and had shrapnel embedded in his eyes and right shoulder. As a result, Khadr’s left eye is now permanently blind, the vision in his right eye is deteriorating, he develops severe pain in his right shoulder when the temperature drops, and he suffers from extreme nightmares.
He has been incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay since 2002, suffering extremely harsh interrogations and torture (methods), and is now 25 years old.
How can they justify shooting and imprisoning a CHILD
normalized psycopathic behavior at the national level.
This is seriously serial-killer level torturing shit. If a single person did this, capturing a teenage boy and keeping them locked up and treating them like this, we’d call them a serial killer, a predator, a sociopath.
But when the government does it and has several individuals on a lot of levels making it happen, suddenly it’s okay.
And this is why civil liberties matter. This is why we need due process, in a transparent fashion.
If your first concern about Guantanamo and other detention sites is cost? FUCK YOU.
If your first concern about government power is that the TSA searches you? FUCK YOU.
No lawyers, no due process, no rights, no trials, no rule of law. This doesn’t stop terrorism, this IS terrorism.
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