You Need To Believe In Things That Arent True. How Else Can They Become - Hogfather, Terry Pratchett

“You need to believe in things that aren’t true. How else can they become” - Hogfather, Terry Pratchett

there’s something endlessly hilarious to me about the phrase “hotly debated” in an academic context. like i just picture a bunch of nerds at podiums & one’s like “of course there was a paleolithic bear cult in Northern Eurasia” and another one just looks him in the eye and says “i’l kill you in real life, kevin”

Reading a Terry Pratchett book is literally just: Here's a funny little joke Here's something that you can tell is a joke but don't get and will only figure out five years later Here's a surprisingly cool fantasy concept Here's a unique and well written simile Here's a lil guy Here's something that has aged depressingly well into the modern day Here's something that has aged remarkably queer into the modern day Here's a character that you can barely understand what he's saying Here is the most terrifying and deeply disturbing concept you have ever heard, casually mentioned Here is the dumbest fucking pun you've ever heard but in the best way Here is a quote so profound that it makes you view morality and the world in a different way Here is a plot twist that you can't tell if it's genius or stupid Congratulations! You've finished the book! It has fundamentally changed you as a person and you will never be the same!

I wasn't originally going to do this, but now that the year is ending and 12:00 is nearing, I thought why not, and maybe it's something you'd like to hear (I know I would). So here goes:

I know things might be weird and scary and strange and uncertain right now. I know the future seems this huge, giant, incomprehensible mass of everything bad in the world coming your way at super speed, and the only thing you want is to just sleep and never wake up, because unawareness is the most blissful and least scary thing right now. I know it's so scary and it hurts and everything you've ever dreamed of seems unachievable and seems to be fading away.

But it's okay. It is going to be okay. It is going to be fine. You are going to be fine. Things will be better, things will become bright and warm again. You have all the time in the world, nothing is falling from your grasp - your life, your time, your age, these aren't sand slipping away: these are all you, and you are here right now. There is time to do everything you want, time to rest and relax and gather strength and courage and support, and everything you need and want.

(The happy nihilist within me says - and even if you don't, even if you'll die soon, then that's even better: it's just the thing you were wanting, so might as well make your last hours good ones, doing something that you like, something that makes you happy)

I wish the coming days get better, I wish the coming days give you back your strength, I wish the coming days give you peace and joy. I wish you create art, finish art, show your art; and if you can't finish, can't find the strength to create, that is alright too - a single moment of guilt-free happiness is enough, and I wish you find that moment multiple times in the coming days.

The coming days, weeks, months, years will be full of all the ups and downs that adventures have, and you'll get through them, fighting, clawing, panting, tired, exhausted, but you will get through them, just as you're getting through the present.

It's okay. It will be okay. You will be okay.

Life will be good, and you'll smile a lot. Don't believe those who say life is hard - learn from them, if you want, but don't believe that life is hard. It doesn't have to be, and you really don't have to go through it believing that it's hard. It's yours, and I hope you get to make it what you want.

I wish the coming days, coming weeks, coming months are good; I wish the coming year is happy for you. I love you.

i do not at all mean this in a perjorative manner, but i do think it’s important to be able to consume a piece of media and go, “i’m not the audience for this” and be able to just walk away 

there doesn’t have to be something wrong or “problematic” about something for a person to not like it. personal taste is personal taste. but something not doing it for you doesn’t mean it automatically has to be wrong or bad. it’s just not for you. 

"The best thing we can do with power is give it away" - On the leftist critique of superhero narratives as authoritarian power fantasies:

The ongoing "Jason Todd is a cop" debate has reminded me of a brilliant brief image essay by Joey deVilla. So here it is, images first and the full essay text below:

"A common leftist critique of superhero comics is that they are inherently anti-collectivist, being about small groups of individuals who hold all the power, and the wisdom to wield that power. I don’t disagree with this reading. I don’t think it’s inaccurate. Superheroes are their own ruling class, the concept of the übermensch writ large. But it’s a sterile reading. It examines superhero comics as a cold text, and ignores something that I believe in fundamental, especially to superhero storytelling: the way people engage with text. Not what it says, but how it is read. The average comic reader doesn’t fantasize about being a civilian in a world of superheroes, they fantasize about being a superhero. One could charitably chalk this up to a lust for power, except for one fact… The fantasy is almost always the act of helping people. Helping the vulnerable, with no reward promised in return. Being a century into the genre, we’ve seen countless subversions and deconstructions of the story. But at its core, the superhero myth is about using the gifts you’ve been given to enrich the people around you, never asking for payment, never advancing an ulterior motive. We should (and do) spend time nitpicking these fantasies, examining their unintended consequences, their hypocrisies. But it’s worth acknowledging that the most eduring childhood fantasy of the last hundred years hasn’t been to become rich. Superheroes come from every class (don’t let the MCU fool you). The most enduring fantasy is to become powerful enough to take the weak under your own wing. To give, without needing to take. So yes, the superhero myth, as a text, isn’t collectivist. But that’s not why we keep coming back to it. That’s not why children read it. We keep coming back to it to learn one simple lesson… The best thing we can do with power IS GIVE IT AWAY." - Joey deVilla, 2021 https://www.joeydevilla.com/2021/07/04/happy-independence-day-superhero-style/