Naomi Klein, Doppelganger

I love how on Tumblr, "media literacy" has become "Um, just because someone writes about this doesn't mean they're endorsing this. I hate all these media puritans ruining everything."

I'm sad to inform you that knowing when and whether an author is endorsing something, implying something, saying something, is also part of media literacy. Knowing when they are doing this and when they're not is part of media literacy. Assuming that no author has ever endorsed a bad thing is how you fall for proper gander. It's not media literacy to always assume that nobody ever has agreed with the morally reprehensible ideas in their work.

Sometimes, authors are endorsing something, and you need to be aware when that happens, and you also need to be aware when you're doing it as an author. All media isn't horny dubcon fanfic where you and the author know it's problematic IRL but you get off to it in the privacy of your brain. Sometimes very smart people can convince you of something that'll hurt others in the real world. Sometimes very dumb people will romanticize something without realizing they're doing it and you'll be caught up in it without realizing that you are.

Being aware of this is also media literacy. Being aware of the narrative tools used to affect your thinking is media literacy. Deciding on your own whether you agree with an author or not is media literacy. Enjoying characters doing bad things and allowing authors to create flawed or cruel characters for the sake of a story is perfectly fine, but it is not the same as being media literate. Being smug about how you never think an author has bad intentions tells me you're edgy, not that you're media literate. You can't use one rule to apply to all media. That's not how media literacy works. Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Aheem heem. Anyway.

no multi option, agonize and choose, no results option, pick one to find out or scroll onward

the number of y'all in the notes mentioning how good the choices are/how hard it is to choose got me preening like "i am going to get a good grade in neurodivergent/disabled, a thing that is both normal to want and possible to achieve 😌"

yall do realize just because something has been a target of misogynistic criticism, that doesn't make stanning it completely uncritically in response some kind of revolutionary feminist praxis. right.

like i hate to break this to you but plenty of people who dislike taylor swift have better reasons for it than 'she's a successful woman'. plenty of people who dislike twilight aren't just jumping on a decade plus-old hate train because 'teenage girls like it'. pure personal taste aside, someone pointing out the racism in your girlboss media of choice is not the same as an incel frothing at the mouth over a woman minding her own business while having fun, and you're frankly telling on yourself if you're equating those two people

I was thinking about Xie Lian being able to snap the Xin Mo sword in half with his bare hands again, and then I thought to myself... "Wait, Xie Lian and Luo Binghe interaction could be really cute, though?"

Like, let's say that Xie Lian, during his time as a wandering trash god, accidentally falls into an interdimensional rift and ends up in the SVSSS world. His luck is bad like that. But while this is weird, sure, it's not that bad! The worlds are pretty similar and he can still make his living! So, Xie Lian wanders along as usual, curiously learning about this new world, picking through trash, occasionally punching demonic beasts to death to rescue awed civilians.

And at some point, Xie Lian runs into a young Luo Binghe while he's living on the streets. Let's say that Xie Lian rolls into town shortly before the death of Binghe's adoptive mother, has a few sweet encounters with this cute and kind child who doesn't have much to spare for a trash collector, and is there to comfort his new young friend when Binghe's adoptive mother passes away. Xie Lian is still there when Binghe gets thrown out onto the streets and he agrees to help the boy travel to Cang Qiong Mountain Sect.

So, Binghe gets to spend a month or two as a trash-collecting god's apprentice! He doesn't know that Xie Lian is a god. He suspects that Xie Lian is just a very powerful rogue cultivator who is living very humbly for some reason. The time isn't entirely pleasant, because life is hard and Binghe is grieving, but Xie Lian understands pain very well and is an excellent companion. He sees Binghe safely to Cang Qiong.

At which point, clingy Binghe does not want to separate from this extremely nice person, but Xie Lian insists on it. He wants Binghe to have a better life. He's worried that his bad luck will somehow spread to this poor boy who reminds him of so many other people he's loved and lost. Xie Lian supervises the confusing entrance exam, while the adult Cang Qiong cultivators desperately try to figure out who this strange person is (Airplane Bro is going "???!!!"), and then leaves wistfully. Binghe will later look back on this particular period of his life very fondly.

the thing about el higgins is that terry pratchett would have loved her.

I’ve never encountered a character or a series that I could call a spiritual successor to tiffany aching but el is perhaps the closest possible thing. the way that tiffany’s righteous anger is her magic, born from a sense of deeply rooted love and identity with her home and blossoms into a tempered, powerful ability to see what is in front of her. the way el rages against the systems of oppression she can see and how she follows that rage to the very core and from that core she dismantle those systems. how in both doing the right thing is a choice, always a choice, and one that requires choosing again and again and again. “this far and no further.” “you’re already dead but stay anyway.”

im just so exhausted by the daily onslaught of fatphobia and unwarranted cruelty toward fat ppl were subjected to on today’s internet. i feel like it’s worse than it ever has been in my lifetime and nearly inescapable

i go on twitter. people on my timeline are agreeing that you should be allowed to exclude fat people from your results on dating apps the same you can exclude genders. somebody else reshares a viral video where a man proudly proclaims that he will not sit next to a fat person on a plane. i go on tiktok. a pair of girls post a video sharing advice for fat people visiting amusement parks. every comment is some remark about how the advice wouldn’t be needed if they’d just stop being fat. another video shows a street interviewer asking a fat man what he orders at burger king, it’s a joke that he isn’t in on, but he answers that he orders one regular sized burger to eat part of and save for later. all of the comments smugly announce that he must be lying, surely he orders multiple large meals and eats them all in one sitting. i go on instagram. a friend of a friend shares on their story a ‘funny’ video of a fat woman working out. it doesn’t seem like she consented to being filmed, or that she’s even aware of it. there’s a debate in the comments about if fat women have the ‘right’ to wear sports bras and yoga pants. somebody jokes that she probably left the gym and went straight to mcdonalds, and their comment gets 2k likes

THEY KEEP ASKING ME IF I WOULD DIE FOR THEM AND I KEEP ASKING WHY THEY WANT ME DEAD

job interviews

forgot the best part of death note, the american names written by someone who was just kind of guessing what american names sounded like. anyways rip to raye penber, arire weekwood, and lian zapack, average american men

rest in peace real character and average american man mail jeevas

the real american men and women of death note taken STRAIGHT from the manga

Same energy

Ok I know many foreign names in manga/anime do sound this dumb out of cluelessness and it's funny to point and laugh, but in the case of Death Note in particular, this was not a "haha japanese man doesn't know american names" thing. The weird names were a deliberate choice.

I don't have my copy with me right now to directly quote the passage, but on the Death Note vol. 13 tankoubon—which consists of extras and behind-the-scenes content—, the author says that all the names in the series (including the japanese ones) were chosen to not be similar to real names, to avoid creating awkwardness/fear/superstition due to someone's real name being in the fictional Death Note.

For the japanese names, this was achieved by using names that sound like normal japanese names, but are written with unusual kanji (such as the surname Ide being spelled 伊出 rather than 井手, or Takahashi spelled 鷹橋 rather than 高橋). Light's whole name, Yagami Light spelled 夜神月, is very unique and unusual, to avoid creating unwanted association between him and any real person.

Since names in english don't have kanji, the author just invented names that sound vaguely american/british but are not real names in those countries.

oh i didn’t know this!  that’s actually really cool!

idk who needs to hear this rn but suffering is not noble. take the tylenol

One time when I was younger I was refusing to take headache medicine and my mom said “the person who invented that medicine is probably so sad you won’t let them help you” and now every time I find myself denying medicine I just imagine the saddest scientist making those big wet eyes like “why won’t you let me help” and whoop then I take the medicine

scientist when you don't take the medicine they developed to help your pain

As long as you are taking a SAFE dose of it, then it's *good* for you. Pain is bad for the body. The inflammation from prolonged pain can worsen chronic issues and make it harder to heal.

Ibuprofen is best for pain that has inflammation, while acetaminophen doesn't help with inflammation but is more broadly effective on other types of pain. As long as you are taking the recommended dose, you can even take them TOGETHER, since they have different mechanisms of action.

You do need to be aware of how much and how often you are taking any pain medication. Overdoses can be very painful (even lethal.) And if you are in chronic pain often enough that you need more than the safe dose, then you need to look into other medications to manage that pain.

(Also, if you are specifically taking Acetaminophen/Tylenol for your go-to pain management, getting some NAC and taking that with it reduces the risk of overdose AND may strengthen the effect.)

One other thing: NSAIDS (ibuprofen, aspirin, and naproxen being the three big ones) can cause digestive issues with chronic use, including stomach ulcers. That doesn't mean "don't take them," it means "if you're at the point where you're on them all the time, every day, constantly, you should talk to a doctor about either reducing that risk or switching to another medication that doesn't have those side effects."

I don’t have the source for this table anymore but I felt it should be added to this post.

Also please please please consult your doctor if you are on any other type of medication that put large strains on your liver or kidneys before taking any kind of NSAIDs as they can recommend alternatives.

Yes Chronic Kidney Disease and liver disease prevent the use of NSAIDS entirely. Please remember this. Tylenol is the least harmful to these organs. If migraines are your problem, ask neurologist about the triptan drug family. Downside with these is nausea.

I feel that it is worth bringing up again:

As a scientist, this is the way I feel when people in pain don't take the medication that was developed to help with pain:

Especially because as a scientist, I know that pain sensitization is a thing, and that experiencing pain for long periods of time can even train your whole nervous system to be even more reactive to potential pain. So if at all possible, I want my friends who are experiencing pain to try to control that pain as much as possible.

So if you are in pain, and you do not have any massive kidney and liver strain that prohibits you from taking a NSAID or paracetamol/Tylenol?

Please take the pain medicine. Please. Pleeeaaaaaase. I'm a scientist.

yeah i'm a scientist who specializes in designing new pain meds. suffering is not noble, this is exactly how i look when y'all don't manage your pain:

take the meds! i became a scientist in this field explicitly to help people! i became a scientist because i too experience chronic pain and i failed out of literally all pain meds on the market. those of us in this field, we make these things to be used. be safe, follow doses, and if you have questions, ask your doc and pharmacist!

I recently had surgery, and at the time I came home, I had both my cat and one of my grandma's cats staying with me.

- Within hours of surgery, I wake up from a nap to my cat gently sniffing at my incisions with great alarm.

- I was not allowed to shower the first day after surgery, and the cats, seeing that The Large Cat is not observing its cleaning ritual, decided I must be gravely disabled and compensated by licking all the exposed skin on my arms, face, and legs.

- I currently have to sleep with a pillow over my abdomen because my cat insists on climbing on top of me and covering my incisions with her body while I sleep (which is very sweet but not exactly comfortable without the pillow). She also lays across me facing my bedroom door, presumably on guard for attackers who may try to harm me while I'm sleeping and injured.

That's love. 🐈‍⬛🐈❤️

cats are so very unclear on what is wrong with us but they want to help

Last time I had a really bad migraine my cat curled herself round my head and purred sympathetically, and actually stayed there through two of her normal mealtimes. It wasn't until I was able to stagger to the kitchen and grab a protein bar for myself that she gave a very small, polite miaow to the effect of "while you're up... could you get something for me too?"

She does look exceptionally polite and caring, it has to be said. 💜

Which main Starfleet Doctor would you most want/trust to save your life and take care of you?

If you dare come at me about banning straws, I will throw you into the sun cannon. I’m disabled, I’m crippled, I need disposable plastic straws, and all those pricey ridiculous alternatives aren’t working as well. Plastic straws were invented for the disabled.

Way to shit all over a vital access need because you think straws are worse than corporate greed.

We all care about the turtles, the seals, the oceans, obviously. Notice how the easiest thing to yell about was something that would barely affect anything but appealed heavily to emotional discourse.

The disabled community is huge, and it can be joined by anyone. Most of those As Seen On TV products were invented for us. Society still mocks us and ignores us, and often outright harms us in multiple ways.

Communicate better. Listen better. But stop putting us out in the cold because you are inconvenienced by our simplest needs.

Straws aren’t killing the planet, its animals, or people. They’re a microscopic fraction of an iota of a percentage of the problem. You want to do something? Ban plastic fishing nets. Anything else is just a hollow feel-good gesture at the expense of real living disabled people.

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/03/great-pacific-garbage-patch-plastics-environment/

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ocean-plastic-fishing-waste_n_5bc47dc9e4b0bd9ed55c1f60

i have an environmental degree and i’ve been saying this since this straw ‘debate’ started: its all a tactic by those in power to distract people’s attention from bigger issues such as fishing waste. don’t fall for it. and don’t be a dick to disabled people who need straws to make their lives easier.

That’s the best analogy. Thank you.

There are single-use plastics that don’t need to exist (don’t kill me, let me finish, please). Spices are the most obvious to me—yes, a lot of spices need to be finished off before they expire because otherwise they’re not as potent/don’t taste as good, but salt? Ground pepper? Dried onion? There are other shelf-stable spices that are good for YEARS—slap a best-by label on each batch, put it in a bulk dispenser, and have customers write it on a sticker and put it on a reusable bottle. Customers who care will do so, customers who think “it all tastes the same” won’t but won’t be bothered. Sell reusable bottles or let customers bring their own containers and sell by weight. A few isolated places do this (Winco comes to mind), but very few.

But some stuff can’t be reused, or can technically be reused but it’s really not safe (for example, syringes). We need to focus on things that do not impact QoL, and stop throwing disabled people to the wolves.

Just checking.... We all pronounce Miette like My-TAY in our heads, right?

It's "mne-eeh-t." "Mne-eht" said with that soft tongue on the upper palette French sound or "mee-yet". I put the "n" because the pretty tongue roll on the "y" kinda sounds "n"-like to me.

I've been saying it Mee-yet in my head. Like the French word for "crumb."