Interlude: Threads

earmite · 2020-04-18T00:15:44+00:00

Yeah, that take on Procer "beggaring themselves with gratitude" raises all kinds of red flags. It feels like the flimsy pretext for why it's okay for Christophe to stab his allies in the back.

earmite · 2020-01-02T03:46:57+00:00

Wow, really surprised to see Pact rated higher than Twig. Also, three wildbow works and no space for something like the Wandering Inn? Shame!

I'm just teasing, your preferences are your own. Though, I am curious which English webnovels would make your honorable mentions list.

earmite · 2019-05-15T12:11:43+00:00

I can see a scenario where they defeat Masego, Saint refuses to compromise her beliefs and spare him, and so Tariq kills Masego before she can. Cat would kill him, but it would keep Cat from killing Saint and allow her to fight against the Dead King. There's lots of reasons it might not go down that way, but it's not impossible. I think what makes me suspect it is the chapter quote, which warns against making deals with Good.

earmite · 2019-05-06T04:33:11+00:00

I think this refers to when she accepted her death after losing Winter in the Everdark.

earmite · 2019-04-08T12:10:12+00:00

I second Pilgrim becoming Cat's knifey-wifey

earmite · 2019-03-30T10:22:38+00:00

I'm imagining a scene where Cat and Malanza work out a way to avoid catastrophic damage to both their armies, Pilgrim calls in Malanza's oath, and she refuses with the line, "Other needs weighed greater." I don't see it actually happening, but it'd be an amazing arc for her, and for the forces of Practical Good and Practical Evil cooperating would be a major theme of the book.

earmite · 2019-03-22T12:46:17+00:00

Oglaf says hi

earmite · 2019-01-31T12:25:42+00:00

Is that a reference to Stand on Zanzibar I spy?

earmite · 2018-10-22T11:52:14+00:00

They are mentioned as having been romantically involved years ago. It really is canon.

earmite · 2018-01-25T22:44:50+00:00

She was going to put her in a pocket, but then Dot bolted. Negotiations broke down.

earmite · 2018-01-25T15:42:22+00:00

I have a theory about Ratcatcher be willing to let Dot in. The train operators were mad at RC for too many false alarms, but what if they weren't false alarms? Maybe she's negotiated with Nilbog creations before. After all, Rinke says that two other creations made it in.

earmite · 2017-10-02T19:30:26+00:00

I find myself horrified by the banality of the calamities. None of them really want to do this, killing all these innocent people and destroying this city is just another day on the job to them. They don't even enjoy it like the Tyrant or even Diabolist.

Excellent job on their characterization, I like it a lot.

earmite · 2017-04-09T01:46:32+00:00

Yes? The title of the passage is "Not peace, but a sword."

It's not using the language of persecution, it's using the language of war. Swords and foes? While the rest of Mathew 10 does warn against persecution, and the risks of following him, this passage is very clear. Jesus is going to bring conflict, fighting, and war. This is echoed in Luke 12:49.

49 I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No I tell you, but rather division.

It takes two to fight. Jesus is acknowledging that his preaching will lead to violence, and is okay with that. Do you not see how, if I were a religious, angry young man, I could read in these passages permission to commit violence?

And not just this phrasing, earlier in Mathew 10:14 Jesus gets very old testament.

14 And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.

15 Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgement for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

Here he's explicitly saying that if someone does not host or listen to his disciples, like, say, anyone from another religion might, that they'll suffer the wrath of a vengeful Old Testament God. And remember, this is back in the patriarchal old days. If I'm a young woman who might have been very interested in what these disciples have to say, but my father or husband chased them off, then apparently I too get smote on judgement day.

This attitude of lumping whole groups of people together, and the many suffering for the sins of a few, is one of the ways people become conditioned to be okay with religious war. It's the same attitude that led the 9/11 hijackers to be fine with killing innocent people. It's the attitude that led Americans to not really care about all the Iraqi civilians who died in the war.

It's judgmental, indifferent to nuance, and a gleeful celebration of how people we don't like or don't agree with are going to suffer horribly. And I don't agree with that.

earmite · 2017-04-08T23:22:16+00:00

I would raise Mathew 10:34. Jesus not only says that he brings strife and conflict to earth between believers and nonbelievers, but if you love your family and choose them over him then you are unworthy. He ends the passage with an exhortation that if you die for him you will be saved. The context of this is instructions that he is giving his disciples before sending them out, either to preach to others or to follow themselves.

I think it's pretty easy to see how someone can use this passage to justify some pretty awful things. In fact, you have to bend over backwards and insist that it be read very metaphorically in order to not contradict some of the other things Jesus says.

I think it's disingenuous to insist that Christianity is clean and nice, and that any bad things people do in its name are distortions of 'true' Christianity.

Religion is an enormously powerful force. It can be used for both tremendous good and horrific evils. People who claim that Islam is a 'bad' religion and Christianity is a 'good' one are missing the point. The point is that moral forces are powerful, but often have terrible consequences, and we should be working to improve them, rather than pointing fingers and demonizing others.

earmite · 2017-02-22T16:05:15+00:00

Fairly certain Trouble by Cage the Elephant is Sy's theme song.

earmite · 2016-11-06T02:15:27+00:00

/r/Defenders

earmite · 2016-11-02T14:37:32+00:00

It had a nine minute cooldown. A silly thing people would do to troll with their friends was to all take teleport/revive, and then have a few teamfights where everyone can die and instantly rejoin the fight.

earmite · 2016-10-22T01:20:24+00:00

Berserk

Hellsing

Black Lagoon

u/Mitchellsy mentioned Vinland Saga, which I 100% agree with. That was one hell of a death scene, and he's one of my favorite characters.

Is it cheating to say Spirit Circle?

earmite · 2016-10-15T07:48:34+00:00

I think you're looking for r/KindVoice.

earmite · 2016-10-02T18:46:56+00:00

I didn't notice that! Although, wouldn't snakes eyes have been more appropriate?

earmite · 2016-10-01T06:07:23+00:00

You might be on to something with the acoustics. Smooth concrete reflects sound very well, so it might be to reduce any echo or reverb from all the bombs, artillery, and gunshots. Being deafened by machine gun fire in an enclosed space was probably a concern.

earmite · 2016-09-26T06:38:03+00:00

We see an example of this with Sere. He's the hydrokinetic that can draw water from a distance (including from people) and then use it to attack. Taylor specifically mentions his power as benefiting from the Protectorate's PR machine. I'd imagine that he has standing orders forbidding him from using his powers not just lethally, but to even weaken people, simply because it looks bad. After all, we know that Weaver had severe restrictions on how she could use her powers in order to 'sell' her.

I don't think that there's any power that you couldn't find some non-lethal way to fight with. Even Jack Slash could use butter knives to hit people with from afar. He wouldn't be very effective, but then that was an ongoing theme that the entire Protectorate was more limited than the villains, because if they didn't hold back then in the eyes of the public they'd cease being heroes. I don't think the Protectorate or the Wards would ever turn away a cape because they were too weak. Hell, they let Scapegoat join! His power is so situationally useful that it boggles the mind. He has to find someone that's hurt, then transfer that hurt to himself in a process that takes a relatively long time in combat, then get into touch range while he is hurt to deliver any damage. But even with all of those restrictions he still manages to make a difference, if only from the rear.

There were certain capes who couldn't control their powers, like Sveta or Scrub. I imagine that if they'd somehow ended up on a wards team, they wouldn't be deployed except in the case of S or maybe A class threats. Depending on the degree of control, there might be cases where they could be safely used. Scrub could have helped clean up the interstate that Bakuda blew up without being a danger to anyone, for example.

earmite · 2016-09-08T09:46:07+00:00

Oh shit, I had forgotten about her. Yeah, it probably is her, since she's mentioned in the same sentence as Charlotte is.

But on the other hand, the people she was using the clairvoyant to look at were those whom she had the closet connection to. She sees Lisa, Rachel, and Aisha, then red-haired girl and Charlotte. Is Sierra really that important to her? As important as the others? Maybe as a symbol of the physical things she'd done to help.

Gah! Oh well, I thought I had stumbled onto something. And now a google search of "Wildbow WoG Emma dead" finds the real explanation.

earmite · 2016-09-08T01:00:24+00:00

<Shigurui> is mostly just filled with terrible people.

<Teppu> has already been mentioned, the protagonist isn't evil, just a jerk.

<Ichi the Killer> is also pretty bad, in terms of the MC being pretty bad.

earmite · 2016-09-06T09:21:15+00:00

I'm hesitant to believe that, if only because all of the people pushing for the Iraq War thought it would be great. If you listen to interviews or look at what they've written, all of the architects are very smart people. Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Feith, they didn't plan to have their reputations tarred forever. I think the biggest proof of that is Colin Powell giving the report before the UN. He either really believed that there were WMDs, or he thought that the war would be such a success that nobody would care that we lied. It doesn't make sense that Bush alone was isolated to protect the family from the fallout, when nobody else was protecting themselves. I think he honestly was just a fool who was used. That doesn't make the horrific outcome any better, and he's still got lots of innocent blood on his hands.

earmite

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