tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37206472192525220182024-03-13T23:35:10.261-07:00A blog I probably won't updateRandom musings of questionable sanity.Melissiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594656222902833737noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720647219252522018.post-846560088860706312016-07-18T21:42:00.002-07:002016-07-18T21:43:45.600-07:00A Parable<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: georgia, times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">
<i style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="color: white;">“A man was going from Atlanta to Albany and some gangsters held him up. When they had robbed him of his wallet and brand-new suit, they beat him up and drove off in his car, leaving him unconscious on the shoulder of the highway.</span></i></div>
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<i style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="color: white;">“Now it just so happened that a white preacher was going down that same highway. ‘When he saw the fellow, he stepped on the gas and went scooting by.</span></i></div>
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<i style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="color: white;">“Shortly afterwards a white Gospel song leader came down <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />the road, and when he saw what had happened, he too stepped on the gas.</span></i></div>
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<i style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="color: white;">“Then a black man traveling that way came upon the fellow, <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />and what he saw moved him to tears. He stopped and bound up his wounds as best he could, drew some water from his water-jug to wipe away the blood and then laid him on the back seat. He<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />drove on into Albany and took him to the hospital and said to the <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />nurse, ‘You all take good care of this white man I found on the highway. Here’s the only two dollars I got, but you all keep account of what he owes, and if he can’t pay it, I’ll settle up with you when I make a pay-day.’</span></i></div>
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<i style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="color: white;">“Now if you had been the man held up by the gangsters, which of these three-the white preacher, the white song leader, or the black man – would you consider to have been your neighbor?”</span></i></div>
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<i style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="color: white;">The teacher of the adult Bible class said, “Why, of course, the nig – I mean, er … well, er … the one who treated me kindly.”</span></i></div>
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<i style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="color: white;">Jesus said, “Well, then, you get going and start living like that!”</span></i></div>
Melissiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594656222902833737noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720647219252522018.post-79138035775225209342014-10-19T08:51:00.001-07:002014-10-19T08:53:42.406-07:00A historical perspective<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://a.disquscdn.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/1381/6792/original.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://a.disquscdn.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/1381/6792/original.jpg" height="640" width="576" /></a></div>
<br />Melissiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594656222902833737noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720647219252522018.post-25079166792633608582014-10-07T15:55:00.000-07:002014-10-07T15:57:14.789-07:00Re-Blog: Dominant Male Atheist Leaders Seem to Have a Problem with Womenhttp://www.alternet.org/comments/belief/dominant-male-atheist-leaders-seem-have-problem-women<br />
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<blockquote>
At first blush, it would seem that an atheist movement would be exactly the sort of thing that would attract many women. After all, much of the oppression of women—from forced veiling to restricting abortion rights—is a direct result of religion. Unsurprisingly, then, feminism has a long tradition of outspoken atheists and religious skeptics within its ranks. Suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton preferred “rational ideas based on scientific facts” to “religious superstition.” Major feminist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir argued that belief in God exists in part to “repress any impulse toward revolt in the downtrodden female.” Modern feminist writer Katha Pollitt received the “Emperor Has No Clothes” award from the Freedom From Religion Foundation in 2001, where she said that religion is dangerous because “it connects with very terrible social energies that have lain in civilization for a very long time.” </blockquote>
<blockquote>
But despite the natural and cozy fit of atheism and feminism, the much-ballyhooed “New Atheism” that was supposed to be a more aggressive, political form of atheism has instead been surprisingly male-dominated. The reason has, in recent years, become quite apparent: Many of the most prominent leaders of the New Atheism are quick to express deeply sexist ideas. Despite their supposed love of science and rationality, many of them are nearly as quick as their religious counterparts to abandon reason in order to justify regressive views about women. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Sam Harris, a prominent atheist author who has previously been criticized for his knee-jerk Islamophobic tendencies, recently came under fire when he added women to the category of people he makes thoughtless generalizations about. Washington Post religion reporter Michelle Boorstein interviewed Harris, and during the interview she asked him why most atheists are male. “There’s something about that critical posture that is to some degree instrinsically male and more attractive to guys than to women.” He added, “The atheist variable just has this— it doesn’t obviously have this nurturing, coherence-building extra estrogen vibe that you would want by default if you wanted to attract as many women as men.” </blockquote>
<blockquote>
There was an immediate uproar among female atheists, and understandably so, as Harris didn’t even consider that it could be atheism that has a problem, instead immediately assuming that the problem is women themselves. His reaction to the criticism, which was immediate and probably a bit overwhelming was not, however, a demonstration of the tough “critical posture” he characterized as “instrinsically male.” Harris replied to his critics with a hyper-defensive and tediously long blog post titled, “I’m Not The Sexist Pig You’re Looking For.” His strategy for disproving accusations of sexism was to engage in more sexist declarations, in the time-honored bigot strategy of saying it’s not bigotry if it’s true. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
First, he warmed up with the “women are humorless” gambit, declaring his “estrogen vibe” comment a joke that simply flew over female heads. He then moved on to produce an awesome cornucopia of sexist blather: Women’s value is their service to men. (“I was raised by a single mother. I have two daughters. Most of my editors have been women, and my first, last, and best editor is always my wife.”) Women’s inherent desire to serve rather than lead explains their second-class status. (“For instance, only 5 percent of Fortune 500 companies are run by women…How much is due to the disproportionate (and heroic) sacrifices women make in their 20s or 30s to have families?") Putting women on a pedestal is better than treating them like equals. (“I tend to respect women more than men.”) Women who don’t defer to men are bitchy. (“However, I don’t think I’ll ever forget the mixture of contempt and pity my words elicited from this young woman.”) </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Needless to say, for women who reject religion because it so frequently portrays women as mentally inferior helpmeets who exist to serve men’s needs, Sam Harris is not offering any hope that atheism will give them a meaningful alternative. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
It would be nice to dismiss Harris as an outlier, but sadly, pompous sexism followed up by defensive posturing is the order of the day for the dominant male leadership of the loosely organized world of atheism. In a lengthy investigative piece for Buzzfeed, Mark Oppenheimer demonstrated that the problem extends beyond sexist condescension. Instead, the bros-before-hos attitude of much of atheist leadership is quite likely serving to protect actual sexual predators. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
While Oppenheimer focused on a number of prominent sexists in atheism, such as Penn Jillette and now-deceased Christopher Hitchens (who also was a fan of the “women are humorless” trope), he focused most of piece on accusations against prominent skeptic writer Michael Shermer. Oppenheimer quoted two named women accusing Shermer of sexually harassing them. A third named women had a more alarming accusation: That Shermer had taken her to his room while she was too drunk to consent to sex and had sex with her anyway. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
The reaction to Oppenheimer’s story was swift and did much to support the claim that the atheist community protects sexual predators, much like the Catholic Church did during the priest pedophilia scandal. Richard Dawkins, possibly the most famous atheist in the world, immediately went on a tear on Twitter, blaming victims for their own rapes if they were drinking. “Officer, it's not my fault I was drunk driving. You see, somebody got me drunk,” he tweeted, comparing being forced to have sex with the choice to drive drunk. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
When called out on it, he doubled down by suggesting that rape victims are the real predators, out to get men put in jail: “If you want to be in a position to testify & jail a man, don't get drunk.” </blockquote>
<blockquote>
For someone who is a supposed rationalist, Dawkins refused to even acknowledge the basic difference between making the choice to break the law and being the victim of a crime. But only for rape, of course. It’s unlikely Dawkins would think it’s your fault if you are standing there minding your own business, while drunk, and someone hits you for no reason. But if the assault occurs with a penis instead of a fist, in Dawkins' mind, suddenly the victim is the person at fault. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Again, this situation is no outlier. Dawkins has spent the past few years using Twitter as a platform to rail against feminists for daring to speak up about sexual harassment and abuse. He not only rushed to Shermer’s defense regarding allegations of sexual assault, but rushed to Harris' defense regarding allegations of sexism, even though Harris’ sexism is so off the charts it becomes downright comical. Dawkins used to cling to the idea that he was an outspoken critic against the oppression of women, but lately he’s more occupied with praising professional anti-feminist Christina Hoff Sommers. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
There are many excellent feminist speakers and writers in the atheist movement, men and women who bring the same critical eye to sexism that they apply to religion. Most of them, however, are mostly known only within atheist circles. People like Dawkins, Shermer and Harris are the public face of atheism. And that public face is one that is defensively and irrationally sexist. It’s not only turning women away from atheism, it’s discrediting the idea that atheists are actually people who argue from a position of rationality. How can they be, when they cling to the ancient, irrational tradition of treating women like they aren’t quite as human as men? </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Sadly, this contempt for women coming from the top trickles into the ranks, allowing everyday misogynists who happen not to believe in God feel justified in their hatred of women anyway. Subsequently, there’s a thriving online community of people who live to harass not just women, but female atheists in particular, trying to drum any women out of the movement who want to be included as equals instead of as support staff for the male stars. Feminists like Rebecca Watson and Greta Christina, who upset the image of atheism as a “guy thing," are subject to a relentless drumbeat of abuse through social media by people who prefer an atheism that’s a little more like fundamentalist Christianity, where women know their place. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
It’s become so bad that artist Amy Roth created an installation where the walls and furniture in an 8 x10 room are completely covered by the abuse women receive online, currently on display at the Center for Inquiry in Los Angeles. (Full disclosure: I shared much of the online abuse I get with her.) </blockquote>
<blockquote>
If atheists believed in the afterlife, they would have to assume that Simone de Beauvoir and Elizabeth Cady Stanton are looking down upon us in horror, wondering how the good name of atheism has been so poisoned by rampant sexism. But since they are no longer around to judge us, it’s up to living atheists to strive to be more than a bunch of people who simply don’t believe in God, but stand up to irrationality in all its forms, including sexism. </blockquote>
Melissiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594656222902833737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720647219252522018.post-48800294088841769682014-09-30T14:06:00.004-07:002014-09-30T14:07:29.910-07:00"pro-life"Because I don't feel like writing anything this month. So here have an image macro:<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s1Ozb_KIYYs/VCsbVoegA1I/AAAAAAAAAH4/TiI97D1PC_c/s1600/original.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s1Ozb_KIYYs/VCsbVoegA1I/AAAAAAAAAH4/TiI97D1PC_c/s1600/original.jpg" height="355" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Melissiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594656222902833737noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720647219252522018.post-59226428659786866852014-09-02T05:38:00.003-07:002014-09-02T05:39:34.821-07:00For labor day:<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wp.production.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/files/2014/09/LaborDay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://wp.production.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/files/2014/09/LaborDay.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />Melissiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594656222902833737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720647219252522018.post-61342126958268643882014-08-22T06:20:00.002-07:002014-08-22T06:21:41.266-07:00Hypocrisy and the religious right<span style="font-family: inherit;">The fucking hypocrisy of the religious right in America is practically vomit-inducing at this point. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Religious right households have a tendency to kick GBLT children out on the street so that they're homeless at a VASTLY higher rate than any other segment of the population. At the same time, the people within the movement are attacking anyone who is homeless as lazy bums who need to get a job. However, when the GBLT young adults try to get a job, the religious right is firing them from it just for being GBLT in the first place, and fighting tooth and nail against putting protections against that so that they can actually work and make a living-- all the while they're also also trying to tear down hate crime laws so that the violent criminals who attack homeless people can be as violently homophobic as they want and practically get away with it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
Jesus wept. Melissiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594656222902833737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720647219252522018.post-29093123456685367422014-08-22T06:00:00.001-07:002014-08-22T06:00:52.849-07:00Misogyny and the presshttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/07/gin-lane-magaluf-press-shame-women<br />
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Rebloggin' time:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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Sex sells, but sexism sells even better. Last week <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/sun" style="background-repeat: no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="">the Sun</a> saw no contradiction in slut-shaming an unknown teenager on its front page for "<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/04/stark-warning-women-sun-magaluf-investigation" style="background-repeat: no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="">performing sex acts" on more than 20 men in Magaluf</a>, while featuring softcore pornography on page 3. According to witnesses, the teenage girl was promised an exotic holiday which later turned out to be the name of a cocktail. This is exploitation in anyone's book, and yet the only story being told in the press is the story of a young girl's shame.</div>
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Hypocrisy oils the belching engine of modern media misogyny. The celebrity and tabloid press, particularly in Britain, has perfected a profitable combination of pornography and priggishness, whereby pictures of the precise acts of which the paper disapproves are printed in masturbatory detail. Look at how disgusting these girls are, the editorials seem to be saying – look harder. Look at the sex acts they're performing while drunk and vulnerable. Look at their parents crying. Look at the blurry cameraphone footage, so shocking that we're featuring it prominently on our website, with the flimsiest smear of pixels positioned to protect the paper from prosecution.</div>
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This has happened before. Last year, in the slow summer news season, extensive coverage was given to <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/witw/articles/2013/08/22/behind-slanegirl-young-girl-hospitalized-after-photographed-having-oral-sex.html" style="background-repeat: no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="">cameraphone footage of a teenage girl going down on a chap in a lime-green fedora at an Eminem concert in Ireland</a>. The man pictured – arse out, two fists raised in triumph, grinning like an idiot – is considered a hero; the girl had a breakdown after the barrage of media bullying and was hospitalised.</div>
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This will happen again. In the age of the smartphone, members of the public are now doing the paparazzi's job for them, but they are only mimicking the same old sexual surveillance that has been the stock in trade of the print press for more than a century. In the first days of newspapers, editors relied on line drawings to illustrate the base morals of working-class women, breasts spilling out of dirty dresses, approaching gentlemen in stovepipe hats who are never held responsible for their behaviour. The shame, as always, is hers and hers alone.</div>
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Of course, the men featured in the footage will never be named, will never be made to feel bad about "performing sex acts" on camera. Why should they? Men's sexual behaviour is not policed in the same way: if a man and a woman have sex in public, he is a stud and she is a disgusting slut who deserves to die. It is unknown whether the drunken sex games of British tourists abroad have ever included young men going down on up to 30 women at once, but one suspects that if they have, the images would not be considered newsworthy, although they might merit some sort of award for lingual stamina.</div>
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The role of class hatred in this narrative deserves attention. The British press loves to hate women, but it particularly loves to hate specific, usually working-class, women who are singled out as symbols of moral degradation, offered money if they cooperate with the public humiliation which will happen with or without their consent. Journalists are currently descending on Magaluf, and we can anticipate a month or two of horror stories about a kingdom of sun and sin where the dignity of working-class women goes to die. Nobody is covering what goes on behind the scenes in Mustique or Monaco.</div>
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If there's one thing the tabloid press hates more than women, it's welfare recipients, but it saves up special stocks of loathing for people who are both. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/08/deirdre-kelly-white-dee-benefits-street" style="background-repeat: no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="">"White Dee"</a> from the Channel 4 documentary Benefits Street <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2680842/Everyone-wasted-shes-smashed-thought-good-idea-How-cheap-alcohol-goes-party-culture-led-shocking-video-British-girl-performing-sex-act-24-men-Magaluf.html" style="background-repeat: no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="">has featured in much of the "Magaluf girl" coverage</a>, for no other reason than the fact she once visited Magaluf. Readers were reminded of the precise amount White Dee claims in benefits, next to pictures of the single mother having fun on holiday, which is obviously not allowed. Poor people, and particularly poor women, are expected to be abject at all times.</div>
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The logic of misogyny is routinely used to undermine the social basis of welfare provision. The only way to ensure favourable coverage as a female in the public eye is to be young, white, rich and married to a member of the royal family. The antics of aristocrats and wealthy models, from Kate Middleton to Cara Delevingne, are covered by the same papers that profit from the sexual humiliation of working-class women – revering "good women" while demonising "bad women" and inviting readers to place themselves, their partners, relatives and friends, on that tired old scale.</div>
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Life at the other end of the scale of what the media deems acceptable femininity can hardly be stress-free – these women, too, are relentlessly harassed by photographers, their lives inspected for the smallest evidence of deviation from expensively maintained perfection. Their basic dignity, however, is deemed worthy of respect. <a href="http://www.freshbusinessthinking.com/news.php?NID=15097#.U7pmri_6rW4" style="background-repeat: no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="">The Sun even refused to publish topless photos of the Duchess of Cambridge</a>, acquired by French Closer magazine – and not just out of pique that the French got there first.</div>
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Meanwhile, the many designer bikinis of "blonde celebutante" Paris Hilton were fawned over in the same issue of the Daily Mail that extensively charted the public humiliation of "Magaluf girl". Hilton has also featured in leaked sex tapes but, as Virginie Despentes observed in her important book <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jan/25/king-king-theory-virginie-despentes" style="background-repeat: no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="">King Kong Theory</a>, she is of the class who can fuck in public without consequences.</div>
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Since the days of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/picture/2012/sep/12/william-hogarth-gin-lane" style="background-repeat: no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="">Gin Lane</a>, sexual humiliation of women as a means of social control has been the profit model of the British press. The bottom line of papers across the political spectrum is shored up by slut-shaming, by stoking public anxiety over how working-class women in particular should behave. The message is clear: men can be as raucous as they like, but women, especially poor women, can only be sexual as long as they do not demand respect, pleasure or payment, as long as they understand that their bodies do not belong to them. If they slip up, they will be harassed to the point of breakdown. They are, after all, public property, and should know their place.</div>
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Melissiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594656222902833737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720647219252522018.post-14884958965302302852014-07-11T09:39:00.003-07:002014-07-11T09:41:16.059-07:00"I'm a good Christian"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cWImzM37kX0/U8ATQpYsvKI/AAAAAAAAAHI/qAF4xzdK5bg/s1600/goodchristian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cWImzM37kX0/U8ATQpYsvKI/AAAAAAAAAHI/qAF4xzdK5bg/s1600/goodchristian.jpg" height="224" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Melissiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594656222902833737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720647219252522018.post-77032052002294408482014-06-02T15:04:00.004-07:002014-06-02T15:16:39.323-07:00Some dreams never die.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/blogs/kimberlyknight/files/2014/06/10351168_10152577364177228_4053878373055206672_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com/blogs/kimberlyknight/files/2014/06/10351168_10152577364177228_4053878373055206672_n.jpg" /></a></div>
Melissiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594656222902833737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720647219252522018.post-82096136549099001292014-05-21T12:22:00.002-07:002014-05-21T12:23:36.434-07:00Derpy links from the culture wars<div data-redactor="1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #222222; color: white; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Came across a surprising number of these today, so I figured I'd share them. They amuse me in a mildly depressing manner, so read at your own risk.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #222222; color: white; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/glenn-spencer-tpm">So a hate group ("American Border Patrol"), well known for being racist, homophobic, misogynistic, and antisemetic, is now suing people for calling them a hate group. No one is worried.</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #222222; color: white; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXE8vKM7h6A">Speaking of antisemitism, here's what my state's legislature is doing. Isn't Texas grand?</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #222222; color: white; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/todd-starnes-says-lgbt-activists-will-demand-christians-be-deported-religious-right-got-ther">No, Todd Starnes, we're not as big of donkey-caves as you and your friends are.</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #222222; color: white; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #222222; color: white; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/santorum-solves-contraception-mandate-suggesting-government-should-give-it-away-free">Santorum came up with an idea that, for once, is good. But it's "socialism" so it won't be put in to law.</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #222222; color: white; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #222222; color: white; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/understanding-benham-familys-expression-love">Oh no, you didn't shout "God Hates Muslims", you just organized a protest where you whipped up a mob to the such a frenzy that they said it, instead! Because that's so much better.</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #222222; color: white; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/sore-winners-christian-group-offended-mississippi-businesses-wont-174846100.html">Apparently, it's offensive to put up a sticker at your business saying "we don't discriminate" now, because that violates the first amendment rights of businesses that do want to discriminate for religious reasons. Or something.</a></span></span></div>
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Melissiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594656222902833737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720647219252522018.post-15265142489088242572014-04-08T13:29:00.002-07:002014-04-08T13:30:45.987-07:00"Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin"If you believe in this, you are a liar.<br />
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By saying this in response to gay marriage, you are explicitly saying you believe that the love they share between them is a sin against God and that it should be torn apart, ripped asunder. It is unequal, it is lesser, and they are less human because of it. Using mistranslations and re-translations (don't think that everyone has forgotten that <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2014/03/18/white-evangelicals-getting-ready-to-rewrite-the-bible-again/">American protestants changed the wording of the bible</a> for the sake of politics) to justify hate is nothing but an attempt to defecate on Jesus' message.<br />
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I am not as gentle as <a href="http://thepietythatliesbetween.blogspot.com/2014/04/anti-gay-bigotry-sincere-belief-and.html">others are</a> about this topic-- nor do I claim to be. Actively hurting people because you call them sinful is, itself, a sin against God. As is <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/26/world-vision-reverses-gay-christian_n_5037689.html">preferring children to starve</a> than to associate with "sinners"-- if there are fiery pits of hell like many such bible-thumpers believe in, then that is a sin <a href="https://www.blogger.com/www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25:31-46">explicitly stated in the bible</a> that you will be thrown in to it for committing. Lying <a href="http://bilgrimage.blogspot.com/2014/04/another-footnote-parents-meet-at.html">is also a sin</a>, ESPECIALLY lying in order to hurt people-- which is something that bible-thumpers love to do. Reducing people to nothing but their sex drive is nothing but hate as well.<br />
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Love though, is not a sin. Be it the gentle, playful love of a close-knit family, the passionate love of newlyweds, or the everlasting love of lifelong partners, love is the opposite of sin. Love is, in fact, God. <br />
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There is too much pain and suffering in this world. Stop spreading more...Melissiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594656222902833737noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720647219252522018.post-9755926885211887142014-02-10T06:52:00.001-08:002014-02-10T06:54:19.047-08:00An Orwellian Trick<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px;">And for the last three weeks I have been denounced from the floor of parliament to newspaper columns to the seething morass of internet commentary for “hate speech” because I dared to use the word “homophobia.” And a jumped-up queer like me should know that the word “homophobia” is no longer available to gay people. Which is a spectacular and neat Orwellian trick because now it turns out that gay people are not the victims of homophobia — homophobes are the victims of homophobia.</span></span> </blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 24px;">She brings up a sadly common response to pointing out bigotry. I recommend you watch the entire performance, myself.</span>Melissiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594656222902833737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720647219252522018.post-70443950272139390202014-01-11T14:11:00.000-08:002014-01-11T14:11:37.352-08:00Ain't News To Me... but it might be to others.<br />
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http://www.psmag.com/navigation/health-and-behavior/women-arent-welcome-internet-72170/<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In 2006, researchers from the University of Maryland set up a bunch of fake online accounts and then dispatched them into chat rooms. Accounts with feminine usernames incurred an average of 100 sexually explicit or threatening messages a day. Masculine names received 3.7.</blockquote>
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The whole thing is FAR too long to post it in its entirety here, but it is a great read.Melissiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594656222902833737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720647219252522018.post-77763160413172650262013-12-03T09:52:00.000-08:002013-12-03T09:52:26.781-08:00ReBlog: "Where My Ladies At"http://thebrainscoop.tumblr.com/post/68268630031/the-brain-scoop-where-my-ladies-at-this-was-an<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The Brain Scoop: Where My Ladies At?<br /><br />This was an incredibly difficult video for me to write and record. I haven’t been this uncomfortable or nervous about an episode since we decided to launch the Wolf series. I did it because I know my fellow female creators are with me: these comments are not easy to ignore, and they do have a negative impact on our desire to make videos and blaze trails.<br /><br />Things can be said about women being more sensitive than men, or that men deal with these comments too, or that we should just accept that they’re going to happen.. but if I do, I’ll quit. If I accept that this is just part of the deal, this is what it is and always has been, it’s a requirement of my job to toughen up and barrel through, I won’t be able to continue. The remarks are enough to make me want to throw my hands up and retreat to a tiny cabin in the middle of nowhere. If the compromise is that I need to become desensitized, I would probably just do something else instead.<br /><br />Let’s not create that kind of environment for our peers. Let’s be supportive, encouraging. Focus on the content, not the presenter. Ignoring the fact that these comments are uncomfortable is dismissive and counter-productive: let’s have less tolerance for both those comments, and the apathetic attitude attached to how they affect our community.<br /><br />And, please: check out the women in the video description for more fantastic channels to subscribe to.</blockquote>
Melissiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594656222902833737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720647219252522018.post-76507423164707605002013-12-02T13:48:00.002-08:002013-12-02T13:49:43.631-08:00Regarding forcing your religious beliefs on society as a whole<div class="tr_bq">
Read this, figured I'd share it.</div>
http://www.suntimes.com/news/steinberg/21004925-452/anti-gay-bias-loses-its-legal-whip.html<br />
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<blockquote>
How can McDonald’s sell cheeseburgers, even though they’re banned in the Bible, which is fairly clear about not mixing milk and meat? </blockquote>
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OK, the Bible isn’t clear at all — I’m just making stuff up, a popular pastime when it comes to matters religious. There’s a pair of lines in Exodus about not boiling a kid in its mother’s milk — cruel, if you think about it — that Jewish scholars decided centuries ago means not to mix any kind of meat with any dairy, since you can never tell if any given patty is related to a certain cup of milk. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
The question remains: How can McDonald’s sell cheeseburgers, violating Jewish law? Not a toughie. Answer: Because the laws of kosher don’t matter to anyone but observant Jews. There is no health reason why you shouldn’t mix milk and meat. Jewish dietary law has no bearing on secular law. Jews, a scant minority, are uninterested in trying to force their arcane practices upon non-believers (except in parts of Israel where, alas, emboldened by numbers, observant Jews seem determined to show they can be just as bullying as any other faith). </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Anti-gay Christians are now approaching their cheeseburger moment — welcome, welcome — after the Supreme Court has tossed out much of the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8. The legal whip drops from the fundamentalist hand, which strikes them as oppression, forgetting they can still practice whatever private dogma they like regarding gays — never marry their own gender, disown their own gay children — but gay marriage is going up on the menu in more and more states. Society is marching — running, really — off without them, into a future of gay folk living openly without fear. </blockquote>
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It hurts, bubbie, I know. Here’s a Kleenex. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
You’ll get used to it. Take it from a Jew. You get used to the world not singing along with your religious peccadillos. (Not that keeping kosher and discriminating against gays are comparable, except as religiously inspired irrational acts). No harm in cleaving to your faith in the midst of a carnival of all you don’t believe. At Christmas, it isn’t like I suffer through all these foreign practices — caroling, wassailing, midnight massing. I accept them with humility — it’s not my party, but it’s someone’s party. It isn’t all about me. </blockquote>
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That takes practice, but you’ll get used to it. Used to more gay couples in TV commercials. Used to more same-gender pairs gazing out of the wedding announcements. My younger son and I were walking up Clinton Street last week and a pair of men coming out of the French Market paused to kiss — bye-bye honey, see you at dinner — directly in front of us. I felt the need to say something — a common reaction of mine. “We’re not in Northbrook anymore,” I said, a lame invitation to discuss the tableau, which went unheeded. The boy said nothing. Maybe he didn’t notice. Still, saying nothing is an undervalued skill. Michele Bachmann and her ilk, who clearly lost and will keep losing, announced they will re-double their efforts. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
“Time is not on the side of those seeking to create same-sex ‘marriage,’ ” said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council. “As the American people are given time to experience the actual consequences of redefining marriage, the public debate and opposition to the redefinition of natural marriage will undoubtedly intensify.” </blockquote>
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Perkins says lots of dumb stuff, but you have to savor this bit of gibberish, because it is wrong in every particular. Time is not on their side. Time is conveying them onto the bench of shame with Bull Connor and Henry Ford. If you look at any opinion poll, desire to oppress gay people is directly proportional to age — older folk have the strongest anti-gay bias, younger people, less and less. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
And the “actual consequences of redefining marriage” are that fellow American citizens whose relationships were ignored or trivialized by society suddenly can get buried together in military cemeteries, make important medical decisions for each other, and hold their heads high at PTA Parent Night. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
There is a bedrock truth below all this, one that would have been unchanged no matter what the court ruled: Gay people don’t make worse spouses, or parents, or friends. If they did, chuckleheads like Perkins would wave any scrap of evidence like a flag. But there is none, so bigots have to try to twist these advances into some kind of religious oppression — that hating gays is a bedrock of Christian faith and to try to change that is persecution. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Good luck with that one. Ask the next rabbi you see if he feels oppressed because the United States government doesn’t enforce Jewish dietary laws. He’ll take a step back — distancing himself from the crazy person — and say, “No, and believe me, we know what real oppression is.” That’s where Perkins et al. will be in 50 years, only their privately held torch will not be a harmless dietary quirk, but a shameful, refuted hatred gilded with a thin, worn and crumbling veneer of faith.</blockquote>
Melissiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594656222902833737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720647219252522018.post-65199848313732260242013-11-25T05:50:00.004-08:002013-12-02T13:50:12.833-08:00Why you hate men so much!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://31.media.tumblr.com/8faaf92b960e3c914d20d5f1faecb460/tumblr_mu5wmmRZkH1shrov7o1_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://31.media.tumblr.com/8faaf92b960e3c914d20d5f1faecb460/tumblr_mu5wmmRZkH1shrov7o1_1280.jpg" width="295" /></a></div>
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I'm a bit tired right now, partially because I just woke up and am sleepy, but also because I'm tired of experiencing conversations like this.Melissiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594656222902833737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720647219252522018.post-67241207984699811982013-11-19T05:29:00.000-08:002013-11-19T05:30:08.559-08:00Tropes vs Women ep4<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I imagine anyone who is looking here has probably already seen it. But hey, here it is; Anne Sarkesian's fourth video, this one on a trope that I've talked about on my blog as well.Melissiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594656222902833737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720647219252522018.post-62997947464660259442013-04-10T19:06:00.004-07:002013-04-10T19:07:16.222-07:00Games are populated by skinheads.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/_De0-6t73ocelWTP_mvavAttIiy8G2rt1Vfa5iHJ96cLWvaHqmkvraF1Z0EIKCaqEbSQsqvx" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/_De0-6t73ocelWTP_mvavAttIiy8G2rt1Vfa5iHJ96cLWvaHqmkvraF1Z0EIKCaqEbSQsqvx" width="521" /></a></div>
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So, apparently the average game protagonist is a skinhead-- at best, stubble or a mohawk . Don't you love modern marketing?</div>
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Goddamnit gaming industry. Goddamnit. It's almost like gaming advertising for these "free to play" strategy games has only five images of women in total. Melissiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594656222902833737noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720647219252522018.post-32336605277093668482013-03-09T12:02:00.001-08:002013-03-09T12:02:45.097-08:00Making writing that isn't wordyAs a bit of a condolence to the few poor, miserable souls who actually visit this place (assuming that number is above zero, which is not a safe assumption), I've been sort of sitting on the next parts of my story for some time now. The main worry I have is that, well, they're too wordy. There's a lot of personality bits, exposition, and dialogue in the story at this point. I'm trying to figure out what exactly I should do to reduce the level of dialogue... show, rather than tell. <br />
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So... I have two options. I'm deciding whether or not to post what I have and ask for feedback, or just go and try to re-write it entirely. If anyone visits this place, feel free to leave your opinion on the topic.Melissiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594656222902833737noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720647219252522018.post-12383843101306468952013-01-06T20:28:00.001-08:002013-01-06T20:28:10.075-08:00Brainstorming Mk2Developing the concept further, there are two ideas here. The first, is that the pairs represent mental dispositions:<br />
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White <--Attitude--> Black<br />Grey <--Liveliness--> Green<br />Brown <--Alacrity--> Yellow<br />Blue <--Dedication--> Red<br />Clear <--Method--> Violet<br />
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This would make the various colors opposed to each-other. Which is why I have not put much effort in to it, because it does not always make sense. Red and Blue would not necessarily be opposed to eachother-- fire and water to create steam for example. Clear and violet to give substance to mental constructs. White and black to sacrifice your own health to heal others.<br />
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And so on and so forth.<br />
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Thus, I think it works better simply as a representation on a larger sphere-- the ultimate goal of most wizards is to attempt to understand the mythical Eleventh Sphere, the sphere of Ascension where one literally becomes magic, or so the story goes (what actually happens I am not revealing here). <br />
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White <--Holy <--Relation to the Gods--> Unholy--> Black<br />Grey <-- Artificial <--Relation to Nature--> Natural--> Green<br />Brown <--Within <--Relation to the World--> Without--> Yellow<br />Blue <--Cold <--Relation to Heat Energy--> Hot--> Red<br />Clear <-- Physical <--Relation to the Mind--> Mental--> Violet<br />
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So, then, if the spheres do not represent mental dispositions, what do they represent? Abstract concepts-- each one represents a different section of the four dimensional hypersphere that is the Eleventh Sphere. Every element is, in some way, connected to every other element, but they are connected most strongly to their opposite. Thus why Brown has magnetic powers, and Yellow has meteoric summons-- they are intrinsically connected despite being, at the same time, opposites to each other. Brown is the power within the Earth, while Yellow is the power beyond the Earth, but both are inherently connected to the Earth.<br />
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An easier label of the pairings might go as such: Divine, Life, Source, Energy, and Substance, creating five colleges within the wizard's school of magic, a much easier number to organize than ten (which is why I did the pairing system to begin with).<br />
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The College of Divines: Studies holy and shadow magic. There are no demons or angelic hosts in this setting, but there are deities. The exact nature of these deities, however, is only known by the archmages. There are five archmages for this subdivision of the wizard's college-- two Holy archmages, two Shadow archmages, and one headmaster who oversees both. The headmaster of the College of Divines has been the grandmaster of the Wizard's College more often than any other headmaster.
The Campus of Twin Divinities looks much like a cathedral, with the white magic students cloistered in the upper levels while the black magic students study within the crypts below. Their attire tends towards traditional loose mage's robes, with either hoods or hats depending on the taste of the wearer. <br />
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The College of Life: Studies druidic and golemantic/technomantic magics. There is only one archmage, and only by necessity of needing a headmaster-- the most powerful golemancers prefer to call themselves Artificers, while the most powerful druids call themselves Grand Druids. The headmaster, however, still wields a lot of power within the college because of their bureaucratic authority, and thus they tend to be the one keeping both sides from fighting. Indeed, the head of the College of Life is often the one called upon to make decisions regarding diplomatic matters for the Wizard's College as a whole. The Campus of Creative Magicks Is made up of a widely disparate group of workshops, nature preserves, parks, zoos, arenas, and storage areas which are spread roughly in a circle around the central dormitory. Their attire tends to be more functional than other schools, even incorporating armor, although they all wear the clockwork tree symbol of the college somewhere on their robe.<br />
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The College of Sources: Studies geomantic and astrological magics. There are seven archmages of the order, three Astrological and four Geomantic, with the headmaster being the most powerful Astrologist. The reason for this splitting has been lost to annals of time, but the headmaster of the College of Source is still required to respect and run their opposing school, thus they tend to be long-lived masters of both, but rarely become the Grandmaster of the wizard's college. The Campus of Heaven and Earth is what is traditionally thought of when commoners think of Wizard colleges, striking as it does both deep in to the ground and in to the sky, with Geomancers studing in the rocky cellars while Astrologists peering at the stars from the tower above. Their attire tends to be more showy than the rest, including jewelry created by Geomancers, arranged in patterns that are said to be fortuitous by Astrologists, and because of the necessities of the campus, they tend to wear pants and tunics, believed to be more suitable for climbing stairs as the various initiates have to do until they learn their a travel magic.<br />
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The College of Energy: Studies pyromancy and aquamancy. There are three archmages, whom are rotated out amongst the top fifteen wizards of the college. The headmaster is more of a military general than anything, and indeed may not even be a wizard at all. This often results in scorn from the other schools, but the wizards of the College of Energy always give their headmaster respect, for they have almost always earned it. As a result of the separation of the Grandmaster and Master Militant, the headmaster of the College of Energy is almost never also a grandmaster, instead holding what is often the more powerful position of Master Militant. The Campus of the Elements is often described as a glorified barracks and military camp, and there is some justification for this despite it having a combination of pools, lakes, fire pits, and bonfires. The headmaster runs the college with the efficiency of a general, and they train their wizards in more physical combat as well as magical. As a result, their attire often includes chainmail and a sheathed (and heavily enchanted) weapon, or even a magical musket traded from the College of Life. <br />
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The College of Substance: Studies general arcana and illusions. There are ten archmages, evenly split between the college, with the two most powerful sharing the headmaster's spot unless one of them concedes it. In the case of concession, the headmaster of the College of Substance rivals the College of Divinity in number of grandmasters, although this is happening less and less as time goes on. The Campus of Mind and Matter is a wondrous sight to behold, a floating castle surrounded by wondrously resplendent energies and images, and it is known as a party school. Despite this, it provides the best general education to its students of any of the colleges, and is by far the most egalitarian and creative-- even if its students often take longer to complete its courses than in other colleges. Their attire tends to fit in with the fashion of the times, varying as much between decades as between individual students, but they always wear a circlet which glows when worn by an approved member of the college-- and unwanted guests may find themselves being pushed off to fall to their doom!Melissiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594656222902833737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720647219252522018.post-87113935660545679912013-01-05T23:38:00.001-08:002013-01-05T23:38:19.309-08:00BrainstormingI'm still working on the other story! I just can't seem to get the next chapter to a state which I am happy with. Too much re-writing and then I feel it's incoherent and now I'm gonna just start the chapter over. But I'm also planning out the next story's setting. Wizards as a concept are fascinating ot me. I plan on having the concept of the next story be similar to a more serious take on Magicka. Magic is created through various "spheres", which embody concepts that are often difficult to understand and sometimes even inherently contradictory. <br />
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White <-> Black<br />Grey <-> Green<br />Brown <-> Yellow<br />Blue <-> Red<br />Clear <-> Violet<br /><br />Each sphere is associated with five concepts. A type of magic; an element; a boon; a form of travel; and a flaw. All magics are, however, capable of fulfilling most roles (healing, buffing, damage dealing, minion-making, martial arts, swordmagery, etc, because they are not defined by how they are used, but by what they are) and in the end, no sphere is either more or less evil than the other, although that doesn't necessarily mean that the common person won't think of it that way. Each one has a tendency, but these are not universal-- merely common traits of wizards who end up choosing that specific sphere.<br /><br />White<br />-- Type: Healing<br />-- Element: Holy<br />-- Boon: Protection<br />-- Movement: Flight<br />-- Flaw: Arrogance<br />-- Example spells: Healing Hands, Luminal Blast, Bless, Revive, Disintegrate<br />
-- Tend to be optimistic, but preachy.<br /><br />Black<br />-- Type: Necromancy<br />-- Element: Darkness<br />-- Boon: Life-Stealing<br />-- Movement: Shadow-Stepping<br />-- Flaw: Pessimism<br />-- Example spells: Blood-Siphon, Shadow-Strike, Drinking Blade, Create Undead, Touch of Death<br />
-- Tend to be alluring and friendly, but pessimistic and sometimes nihilistic.<br /><br />Grey<br />-- Type: Golemancy<br />-- Element: Metal<br />-- Boon: Endurance<br />-- Movement: Automated Constructs<br />-- Flaw: Laziness<br />-- Example spells: Fix Imperfection, Iron Hands, Create Stone Warrior, Golemantic Resurrection, Create Mithril Golem<br />
-- Tend to be brilliant inventors, but lazy.<br /><br />Green<br />-- Type: Druidic<br />-- Element: Nature<br />-- Boon: Regeneration<br />-- Movement: Gliding/Hovering<br />-- Flaw: Short-sightedness<br />-- Example spells: Regenerate, Poison Needles, Infinite Ivy, Infestation, Temporary Immortality<br />
-- Tend to be well-meaning, yet rarely think of long-term impacts of their actions.<br />
<br />Brown<br />-- Type: Geomancy<br />-- Element: Earth<br />-- Boon: Shielding<br />-- Movement: Tunneling<br />-- Flaw: Slow to change<br />-- Example spells: Stonegrowth, Rock Spikes, Earthquake Trap, Animate Stone, Petrify<br />
-- Tend to be diligent, but dour. and conservative.<br /><br />Yellow<br />-- Type: Astromancy<br />-- Element: Lightning<br />-- Boon: Retribution<br />-- Movement: Teleportation<br />-- Flaw: Wrathful<br />-- Example spells: Starlight Cloak, Lightning Bolt, Spark of Life, Meteor Strike, Thundergod<br />
-- Tend to be motivated and just, but also prone to fits of rage.<br />
<br />Blue<br />-- Type: Aquamancy<br />-- Element: Water<br />-- Boon: Evasion<br />-- Movement: water-Walking/Breathing<br />-- Flaw: Indecisive<br />-- Example spells: Lifedew, Water Spear, Ice Crash, Water-Clone, Bloodfreeze<br />
-- Tend to be adaptive and intelligent, but indecisive and prone to second-guessing.<br /><br />Red<br />-- Type: Pyromancy<br />-- Element: Fire<br />-- Boon: Power<br />-- Movement: Haste<br />-- Flaw: Passion<br />-- Example spells: Warmth, Fireball, Magma Bolt, Phoenix Blessing, Conflagration<br />
-- Tend to be highly passionate about whatever they do-- and burn themselves out often.<br /><br />Clear<br />-- Type: Arcana<br />-- Element: Force<br />-- Boon: Generalism<br />-- Movement: Force-Assist<br />-- Flaw: Incoherency<br />-- Example spells: Wound-Binding, Force Bolt, Exponential Impact, Force Cage, Telekinetic Crush<br />
-- Tend to be considerate and decisive... until they become distracted-- oo shiny!<br /><br />Violet<br />-- Type: Illusions<br />-- Element: Mind<br />-- Boon: Mirror Image<br />-- Movement: Image-Walking<br />-- Flaw: Hedonism<br />-- Example spells: Wounds to Illusion, Injury from Insult,
Illusory Army,
Temporal Wavering, Mind-Snap<br />
-- Tend to be joyous and gregarious, but also often forget their goals in seeking to enjoy life.Melissiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594656222902833737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720647219252522018.post-65304712720794275252012-12-10T13:00:00.003-08:002012-12-10T13:00:49.242-08:00http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/634706093/dice-rings<br />
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THE RINGS, THEY CALL TO ME.<br />
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Nothing new here. Just a kickstarter I'd like to share with the few, forsaken and incredibly bored souls who actually visit this forgotten little blog.Melissiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594656222902833737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720647219252522018.post-52303991264854610542012-11-26T22:15:00.000-08:002012-11-26T22:15:01.910-08:00A slowdown in my writing.Yeah, sorry to ya poor souls trying to suffer through my horrid writing.<br />
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I've been preparing for a couple of roleplays recently, on top of the Only War roleplay that I GM. First off is DnD 3.5, which is nice to get back in to. A science-y wizard is my current concept there. And then Exalted after that, I'm playing an Abyssal Dusk Caste, focusing on Dark Messiah style martial arts. <br />
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Fun times.<br />
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Will write the net bit up (IE, the post-fight bit) next time I feel I have a chance.Melissiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594656222902833737noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3720647219252522018.post-78095041237635406242012-11-20T19:01:00.002-08:002012-12-29T08:28:28.328-08:00Writing Practice: Day 4 (Mythology)<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Pain, all alone, knows no dreams, resting in a void of itself<br />Sorrow's tears and sobbing silenced, burdens lost forever more<br />Muse, unseen, inspires our greatness; Death then takes it all... away</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Excerpted from</span></span><u><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></u></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Musings On Universal Origins, and the Nature of Existence</span></span></u></div>
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</span></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">authored by "The Scholar Unbound"</span></span>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span>At the beginning of time, the universe was perfectly balanced. All was made up of a single, primordial element, and all energies were spread evenly-- there were no stars, there was no void, there was no creation. There is no true birth of a universe, they always were, and always will be. The undiscovered, infinite universes are the play-toys of gods. Sometimes they work in unison, sometimes alone. Rarely do they work subtly-- for the beings which we call "gods" are almost omnipotent, almost omniscient, almost omnipresent in universes that they claim for themselves. Where they yearn, worlds are created. Where they rage, universes are irrevocably damaged.</div>
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But being this powerful does not put them above the petty desires we so closely associate with mortals. Debauchery, cruelty, avarice, and what not are not unique to the natural denizens of the universes-- they are universal concepts, in the sense of them being in every universe. Some of the gods believe that, in fact, the universes corrupted the more debased members of their kind, rather than the other way around. The truth is something none can ever know, for the universes are the uncreated, the things that always were and will always be. Even the gods are younger than the universes which they claim as their own.<br />
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Perhaps there is a greater power than the gods out there, guiding the universes in some greater plan. Or perhaps it's just the fickle hand of chance, with no thought at all, no fate save for what we make for ourselves...<br />
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In this universe, one claimed by a god who never gave us his name, the standard creation procedure by the gods was not followed. He just wanted this particular universe for his own personal playground, after all. After creating the physical realm for him to enjoy, he began to toy with the metaphysical aspects... turning them in to personifications, one by one. First he formed Love, the Compassionate, whom he coveted above all else-- and shut her away so that none could have her. Then he created Pain the Sentinel, as well, intending to do the same thing to her as he did to Love the Compassionate... and yet, he could not have her, for by her very nature the pain he felt from being near her led him to be unable to withstand her. And so, angry, he collapsed Pain's mind with various tortures, until she became Pain the Autistic, and was not able to interact in any way with the world around her... she lived in a universe in herself, where there was only Pain.<br />
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Learning from his mistakes, he then created Valor the Honorable and Rage the Wrathful, then set them against eachother rather than attempt to claim him as his own, all the while continuing his abuse of Love. The deific arena swelled to include Courage the Inspirational and Pride the King as well, each one fighting for different reasons, and with different methods, all for the god's amusement. Growing bored still in the endless time before mortals, the god formed a social function to match the warriors arena, and added to it Greed the Lonesome, Sleep the Dreamer, Sorrow the Mourner, and Muse the Unseen. And yet, this was never enough, and so he mixed and matched each of them to his amusement, and yet despite his abuse, such as his complete control over them that they could not even desire to disobey, never mind actually do it.<br />
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Still bored, still restless, the god moved to create mortals, in an attempt to expand his decadent court. To govern over them, he created Science the Lawgiver, Wisdom the Scholar, Death the Reaper, and then the final one, Hatred the Bloody. Strangely, however, he was unable to control the minds of mortals as firmly as he could his previous creations, and so they began to converse with them... and give them strange new ideas. Ideas that were not in his vision of how the universe was to be. Mortals were always fickle creatures after all, and we still are. We desired, we raged, we loved, we lived, and we died, no matter what he did to the Living Concepts. And yet... we also felt pity. But the god did not desire pity in the universe, and thus never personified that concept.<br />
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The universe doesn't work out that way, however. As Hatred's tortures continued over hundreds of years, its hate turned inward, to self-loathing. For god hated Hatred, as that is what she was. So desperate, however, was she to escape her inevitable mind-shattering, that she sought the advice of the mortals. Not strictly disobeying her master for he could recall her at any time in an instant, she tried to learn how they had survived the divine torment that they had been given. Upon relating the pains, both physical and emotional, that god was putting her through, she saw the pity in their eyes-- the eyes of the things which crawled in the dirt, which starved and thirsted, which could not even bend reality to their will... and she wept.<br />
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The First Rebellion had begun at the instant that Hatred the Bloody had accepted their pity in to her heart, and become Hatred the Pitiful. It lessened the pain that she felt, and made her feel strong again, as she had when she was first formed. As she was living amongst the mortals, however, she turned her thoughts to the firstborn, Love... Love, the Compassionate, who cared for everything, and yet was locked away, unable to act on her compassion. The newborn pity in her heart made her hatred turn outwards, towards the creator. Taking with her Ictis, the First Knife, an artifact made from stone by the first human to try to work their will upon the world, the first to try to change it in their own image, Hatred confronted god within the arena, calling him out. <br />
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Laying before him a list of crimes, she built up the black hatred within her heart to hide the pity that was to truly power her rebellion. Angered by this rebellion, god struck her down... but she rose up again. And again, and again. Moment by agonizing moment, step by futile step, Hatred moved through his divine power much to the shock and awe of her fellows and the mortals that were watching. Even as the bolts became blasts, and the very essence of creation was turned upon her, she focused on her pity for Love, and pushed her will through Ictis, then plunged it in to god's chest. At that instant, the mortals were rooting not for god, but for Hatred. They chose the Deifics over the Creator, and his powers were removed leaving him as nothing but an angry immortal who knew everything in the universe.<br />
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This was not enough for Hatred, however. She fell in to a cold, black rage that frightened even Rage the Wrathful, and literally beat god to death-- something that Death the Reaper thought should be impossible, for god was not within her purview, as a being from outside the universe. In fact, it should have been impossible, even other gods who had visited this universe were unable to understand how it happened. Gods themselves could not kill other gods, never mind mortals or other created beings. This singular instance in all of creation resulted in the gods closing the universe off and investigating it... leaving it to evolve and change on its own instead of at the behest of the gods.<br />
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Freed from their obligations, the Deifics honored the mortals for freeing them, and blessed them with their virtues, before fading in to the shadows, to give the mortals freedom of their own. And so they spread across the world, and over many generations, different cultures became attuned in different ways to different deifics, resulting in the various races. The ambitious Humans held on to Hope and Pride, while the dour Dwarves held on to Science and Greed. In their search for meaning, the Elves clung to Wisdom and Sorrow. The fae Celestials held on to Sleep and Muse, and entered the Deific Forum, while the martial Daemons coveted Rage and Valor and turned the Deific Arena in to their own eternal bloody fighting pit. <br />
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Of those remaining, Death continued her eternal vigil, while Courage set out to inspire individuals. Hatred the Pitiful helped heal Love, whom she had utterly fallen for, and then both of them helped bring Pain halfway back in to the world, so that she knew she was not alone any more. The smile upon Pain's face was enough to make Sorrow's icy tears turn warm, and make the ever-dour Death crack a smile-- all of them had learned to pity their second sister, punished despite committing no crimes. As the ages went on, the Deifics found themselves in the same boredom as their dead master did. <br />
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This time, it was Pain that provided a solution. Though she could not properly communicate with the other Deifics, she found that she was able to enter the body of a dying mortal, and make them her Host. She took their pain, and handed their soul to Death, and found... she could think. She could talk. Walking the land as a mortal made her feel happy; even the pains of mortals were like the finest wine compared to the suffering she had gone through trapped in her own mind. And in the body of a mortal, she approached the Deific Forum and talked to her sisters in great lengths. Even Death found mortal bodies useful, for they helped her further her understanding of her role. <br />
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These experiences deepened the character of each of the Deifics. Science and Wisdom provided a system through which the Deifics would rotate, spending time as mortals as leisure whenever their duties in maintaining the universe were not backed up. Hatred was the only exception. Watching from afar, Hatred felt the loneliness she had before... her duties were twice as demanding as the other gods, and she was unable to keep up. Her hatred for herself built up once more, bringing her the attention of Sorrow, whom called in the others to intervene. Science and Wisdom created an automated secretary to fulfill Hatred's duties (and have to continually check upon them, leading to the diminishing of the Elven and Dwarven races), while Sleep and Valor guided the near-catatonic Deific in to the body of a willing mortal, whom Death had empowered with agelessness for this purpose and whom Love had gifted with the will to continue on through the ages until Hatred's recovery.<br />
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I still am not sure who this person is. Is it someone that wallows in self-pity in a tower in a forgotten corner of a world? Is it perhaps a secret mover of history, empowered by the weakest, yet strongest, of the Deifics? The historical gold mine that would be this person's brain has long tantalized mortal scholars. It is my theory that Sleep has made the identity of Hatred's host vanish from the pages of history through influencing the dreams of those who write it, or simply making us not care. I have only avoided Sleep's attention because my focus is on the Deifics themselves-- I have taken a vow not to research this mortal's identity or nature, in exchange for this information. <br />
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Perhaps, some day, the glories or villainies will come out-- perhaps when Hatred the Pitiful has recovered. Until then, the universe has far too much to study. The origins of magic is one of them, and I will cover that in my next musings. As always, I expect these writings to be declared heresy by the Human Church, but the knowledge I seek to disseminate will not be denied, so long as I follow the guidelines that Muse has laid out to me. May your endeavors be as fruitful as mine.<br />
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-- The Scholar Unbound --Melissiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12594656222902833737noreply@blogger.com2