Inspired By That Stupid Billionaires Post:

Inspired by that stupid billionaires post:

It would really be nice if we could get some kind of discursive consensus to put ethical debates over inequality in economically literate terms, like:

A focus on consumption inequality. E.g. “I think it is immoral that some people get to consume so much while people in Africa go hungry.” Better yet if some actual statistics on consumption inequality are introduced, rather than the old “X% of people own Y% of the wealth”.

Actually considering trade-offs when talking about wealth that is invested and not consumed, like, “I think society currently invests too much in benefiting future people who will be richer than us, rather than in helping the poor to consume more here and now.” Or even, “I think we are too far past the point of diminishing returns in investment, where too much is wasted on speculative ventures that won’t pan out. Even though some of these will have returns, the money is better spent on present consumption.”

Instead of “rich man have all the money, no fair” vs. “rich man work hard for money, yes fair”.

The first of many sad ramblings about Yashahime...

Lets call this post: They Did Rin Real Dirty...

In the original, Rin never had much screen/page time, but when she appeared, she made a big impression -- she was brave, polite, loyal, funny, sassy, fearless when it came to defending those she loved. Jinenji compared her to Kagome, feeling that she had the same kind of loving and bright soul. She also had a lot of trauma which was acknowledged and shown to still trouble her, though she tried to overcome it by talking and focusing on bright, silly chatter. She also sang to comfort herself when she was away from Sesshomaru and Jaken. Her fear over losing Sesshomaru and Jaken was an important part of her personality, and though it was not said explicitly, living with Kaede was an important step for her to cope with her trauma over losing people she loved. Small though her role may be, she was a big personality, and she was of the utmost importance to Sesshomaru's character arc.

I was not at all surprised that Rin was the mother of Sesshomaru's children. I don't think you were ever supposed to think of Rin and Sesshomaru as "romantic" in the original, but you could not deny that they had a very deep platonic love for each other. At the end, when Rin is left behind in the village to grow up, it seemed a pretty clear signal that the option for them to get together later was on the table. Separating them allowed her to grow up, sort out her trauma, and have a real choice when it came to following him again (in whatever form that might take). There was also the Assate CD, which call it non-canon, satire, or whatever, it showed us fairly explicitly the romantic possibility between the two.

I'm not going to defend the morality of Rin as Sesshomaru's wife. Other people have done it better. I had no problem whatsoever with Rin as his wife, but the way Sunrise portrayed their relationship gave a lot of ammunition to people who did not want to see Rin as the mother of the twins.

First of all, from the very beginning, the powers that be chose to play coy with who the mother was. Anyone who had seen the original and understood that Kagura, being dead and a demon, was not able to give birth to hanyou for the sequel could figure out there were not a lot of options for the mom. It was not hard to figure out, but they made the audience wait until January 2021, almost a year past the first announcement, before they confirmed. They hinted -- Narita and Noto hosting the event revealing the girls design, Rin in the tree, some subtle hints with the twins characters, but over all, they left everyone hanging, and the resolution wasn't worth it. Those of us who knew were just tired by that point. Those who did not want to believe Rin was the mother were disappointed.

I don't blame the people who wanted to see Kagura return for being disappointed. For all that I was convinced that it was Rin, I saw where the Kagura fans were having their chains yanked. For example, why give Towa red/pink eyes when Rumiko had designed her to have gold? Towa's ponytail when she was a little girl looked exactly like Kagura's ponytail. In the first episode, Towa was wearing a robe with the same motif as the infant's clothing. Interesting choice by the animators! Finally, Towa's romance with Riku, an incarnation of Kirinmaru, certainly has something of the same flavor of Kagura and Sesshomaru's relationship. Like father, like daughter?

In addition, like many of the Kagura fans, I was fairly convinced that what we were seeing on screen was some kind of illusion, that at some point, the girls were going to wake up and find out they were in some kind of elaborate training sequence. There were so many odd discrepancies, so many quite frankly cruel choices made for the characters and the narrative, I, like many others thought there must be some kind of reset in the works. Surely, they would not leave our beloved characters in such a narrative mess?

But they did, and I think Rin suffered probably worst of all. Rin had the potential to be fleshed out beautifully. Her backstory, her travels with Sesshomaru, the bond they already shared...there was so much that they could build on to show us what kind of woman she became, worthy to be the wife of the greatest of all yokai.

Instead, they locked Rin silent and weeping in a tree for 3/4 of the entire series. We never saw her truly shine except for a few, very few seconds where she stood up to Zero and Kirinmaru. She barely spoke except to call out names: Sesshomaru-sama! Jaken-sama. Towa! Setsuna. Moe got more dialogue with the girls than Rin did (more on that later).

Also, this may not be a popular opinion, but they did her SO dirty with her character design. It's not about her being short...though she is REALLY short. It's the fact that except in a few scenes, she is made to look like a child. I don't think she's a child. I don't think Sesshomaru groomed anyone. However, I do think that Rin's character design is at best, unfortunate. At worst, it's deliberately malicious to spur controversy. Given that we know the animators CAN draw her beautifully, why show her on the official pages looking like that? Why did all the marketing show her as a child? Why did they keep her in the purple robe she wore as a young girl when we were SHOWN that she was given new ones? We know they were paying attention to the fans, in part because of that ridiculously weird non-sequitur Jaken dropped about "Rin being about 18-years-old at that time..." Get out of here with that. They knew what they were doing. They were stirring the pot to get a reaction rather than, you know, just telling a good story.

Also, they took away everything about Rin that made her so wonderful. Rin was one of the liveliest, chattiest characters when on screen, but they put her in a coma for almost the entire series.

Rin wore beautiful kimonos, gifts from her lord and her eventual husband. He showed his love and affection, honoring her with rich and beautiful clothing. They showed her in her underwear for the entire series, and when she finally got dressed, it was in the old kimono she wore when she was a kid.

Rin loved to sing. Music was her thing, at least in the anime and in the funny extras that were recorded to go along with the movies. Her song for Sesshomaru was sweet and wistful. She sang funny songs with Jaken. There is even a little subplot in one of the extras (yes, I know, not canon), where she says she wants to sing for Sesshomaru because she finally has her voice back because of him. Setsuna's lullaby is supposedly from Rin. Setsuna remembers it from the womb (how fucking stupid was that...you could not have let Rin actually sing to her babies...I'm so bitter). We get mere seconds of Rin going "da-da-da" to the melody. RIN! The SINGER. Does not even get to sing to her babies the lullaby she created. Towa gets to talk about how Moe comforted her with music after she fought, and Setsuna learns music from Moe, Towa's adoptive mother. Setsuna plays the lullaby with Moe, and yes, she plays it FOR Rin, how much more moving with it have been to have Rin sing to her or with her? Instead, we get Setsuna watching 'Moe-Sensei" with stars in her eyes thinking how amazing she is. And at the very end of the series, MOE plays RIN's lullaby while thinking of the girls. Rin NEVER has a moment with both girls and the lullaby. That's just cruel, and I swear to God, it seems like it's mean on purpose.

Speaking of being mean, the worst of all is that the writers chose to take Rin, a character who watched her entire family get murdered, who died twice, who had to restart her life with Kaede, a girl who had been rendered mute by trauma, and give her even more hell.

They took away Rin's voice. Again. They took away her family, her children. Again. They gave both Rin's music and her children to Moe, a new character that I cannot imagine anyone cares about. It wasn't an illusion. Time was not turned back. They took everything from Rin again, and then showed that she is happy and smiling, trotting off after her lord while the children she birthed but will never raise go flying off in the sky on their stolen -- ahem, "borrowed-- ride. The original honored Rin's tragedy, showing her pain and methods of coping. Yashahime added to the pain and dared to show her unaffected by it.

I hated what they did to Rin. While I love the idea that Sesshomaru and Rin married and had children. I cannot get over what they did to Rin's character and story.

What has Ochako Uraraka's character arc been really about.

It was right infront of our eyes this entire time. The true potential of Uraraka's arc!

I have said it many times that Ochako maybe one of the most complex characters of MHA but since her arc never got expanded upon that much, we never had a clear vision of the kind of Hero she was gonna be...

But now, after 350+ chapters we can finally see a clear arc.

Ochako's debut takes place in the 3rd chapter of MHA where she helps Deku from falling on his two feet to falling from literal sky. She saves the hero who saved everyone, already!

And when she realises that Deku for zero points, what does she do? She goes straight to the office and advocates for his sacrifice or if I put it, fighting for the justice.

Yes guys! Even before she realised what she wanted to do, even before she declared that she wanted to be a hero, she was already fighting for rights of other people, she was already protecting those who protect others and after 350+ chapters we realise, this is what Ochako's character arc has been all about!

Even though she stated that she wants to become a hero to support her family, her real Dilemma has been about what's right and what's wrong. And yeah, don't even get me started on that love interest plot point, geez!

Ochako has always been this passive hero admirer in the background. Coming from a small town, a little girl who used to be more happy to see the reactions of the bystanders rather than the hero himself meaning she was always vary of the effect heroes have on the psyche of other people.

So she considers every step she takes, very carefully. Even during the Kamino rescue she was the one to persuade everyone to not go because she thought of what Bakugo would think of this ordeal. She thinks that this is how heroes are supposed to act.

But she doesn't know that passiveness is not always the answer. Sometimes you have to be authoritative and take the command in your own hands which is why it is one of the greatest developments in VH arc as we see that her hesitation is now gone.

The icing on the cake is when she calls back this exact moment while rescuing Deku stating that she's not the same person as before meaning that it was indeed a very important aspect of her character!

Because she thought it was the right thing to do, only to regret later when she realises what happened later and well, this happens again as she fails to save Nighteye and for the first time in forever, she realises that she's already done past doing heroism only for money.

It was the first time she realised the weight, the responsibility heroes have on their shoulders and decides that she's up for it. She will no longer be just a passive bystander anymore.

And then comes the JTA where we see the glimpse of the central idea that her arc has been built upon "Who saves the heroes?"

Ochako is naive.

She's what? A fifteen-year old girl in her highschool or so? It's obvious, she has never faced any real life villains before coming to UA. She has been throught a tough life and money issues but she has never been in the shoes of someone that has been wronged by the society, say Toga.

Instead, despite the poverty her parents actually loved her. Despite their business not going so well, they manage to pay for Ochako's expenses in UA (and Ochako being the nice daughter she is still uses a fliphone). She has friends who always support her in everything and when compared to Toga, it almost looks like a blessing.

Not that it is, because we see how much they are suffering and technically they are not even 2nd years! But from a villain's POV that's not the case, so when Toga looks at Ochako, she envisions Ochako as a hero with perfect life!

Whereas, what Toga gets?

Horrible remarks on her appearance and behaviour? Being told to not be herself? Her parents abandoning her completely? No friends and family. She doesn't even go to school cause she's already a runaway.

All because of what?

Her Quirk?!

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But Ochako being the person she is cannot simply empathize with someone like Toga.

She is surrounded by heroes who inspire her to work hard. Be it her loving parents who are willing to overlook their own profit to make their daughter's dreams come true , or her friends who trust her blind folded or her teachers to support her each step of the way.

From witnessing the horrors of USJ in their mere first week, to when she saw All Might going down on TV to seeing Deku desperately trying to save Eri.

She has seen it all. The plight of a hero who puts on a smile for everyone else's sake. So her first question becomes, "Who saves the heroes?"

She asks this question to herself again as she goes up against the angry mob fighting for Deku, again. Just like in the Entrance exam where Deku saves everyone by demolishing the Zero point robot but sacrificing all of his power to gain some points for himself.

And after 300+ chapters, it's still the same!

The same old Deku fighting desperately for those in need. However, this time around their is no CCTV to record good heroic actions and it's not the fair Jury of UA who knows everything.

Instead, they're up against an ignorant mob who doesn't know what Deku has been through.

Instead the system is angry and seeing him as threat and even now it's upto Ochako who has to do the advocating.

So she rises to the challenge and with everyone's help convinces the angry mob to let Deku stay at UA.

So she's already on her path to becoming a great hero who will fight for the other heroes but

Are heroes the only ones in need?

During her own speech, she realises this question! Are heroes really the only ones in pain?

Nope! Because she remembers Toga was crying.

And that raises her questions as she wonders if she knows Toga Himiko at all? Like I have said before, it's easy for Uraraka to reach out to her fellow heroes because she has been there making Toga her biggest narrative challenge.

She is a simple, practical and naive girl who is surrounded by good people/heroes all around her.

So she takes it upon herself to fight for the rights of everyone she cares about. She's a practical girl who takes her job seriously. She's like they're heroes, they're good people, I'm fighting to protect them and if you're not one of them, get out of my way or I'll take you down right here, right now!

She never even looks outside of her horizons as she doesn't needs to but seeing Toga crying definitely made her question a lot of things...

Despite being naive, she has faced unjust a lot of time, be it when the crowd started booing in her battle against Bakugo or when the mob wasn't letting Deku in UA just for their own selfish reasons.

She has also seen that heroes are not some knight in shining armor and they may not be able to save everyone.

And anyone can be hurt and fighting, not just heroes but villains too.

We don't know, so we can't judge.

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And like principal Nezu said, she's just one step away. One step for the mankind, a giant leap for humanity. He explained that due lack of understanding and intolerance, we are just always one step away as humanity struggles to make progress down it's path.

Issues shift: war and events happening rapidly without letting them catch a break

Voices clash: war happening everywhere

It feels like an impossible journey. Well it really is, considering it took 340+ chapters for Ochako to finally in understand Toga a little better.

But taking the first step is always hard and we know Ochako has already taken that step, in the right direction and now she is carving the path for the other heroes to follow.

Becase Rising at the time like this will lead to the birth of a true hero.

So what kind of Hero is Uravity gonna be?

The kind of hero that will gravitate to reach out to a lost child and fight for it's right to smile in the society!

Not for heroes, not for villains, but fighting for what's right!

It is our duty as feminists to protect and respect women in Hijabs

WARNING!!!!

People, please be careful. There are also people tracking children and people and putting bids on them based on their profile pictures on whatsapp, tracking and kidnapping them. Especially young children, so please be cautious, especially parents who have their children as their profile pictures.

Please pass this on to everyone so that they are aware of the danger. I don’t how it is all around the world but I know it can’t just be here so please please spread the word. Thank you.

Please Sonic Movie, give Amy Rose the love she deserves

My biggest fear if Amy shows up in the movie universe is that the writers will try to overcorrect her character, and in that, make her generic.

I like the posts about Amy surprising everyone with how strong she is and not feeling bone crushing pain with Knuckles handshake. They are funny posts, but she being strong out of the bat undermines the potential for her physical growth intertwined with the emotional one.

We first meet Amy as a helpless civilian who Sonic has to rescue, and although people may say she was just a damsel in distress, I think is appealing to her character growth. Amy is not super fast, super smart or super strong. She has no physical or mental advantage amongst her peers, which means she has to work much harder to stand besides them, and she does so! She went for helpless civilian to someone that can be side by side with her hero, and that's damn inspiring! You get it? Amy is the underdog of the group! She being tough at the start means we won't see her grow into her toughness. Her reason for sticking around could be her love for sonic, yes, but could also be she being inspired by him and wanting to protect others the way he protected her.

Speaking of Sonic, I'm a bit conflicted when it comes to Amy's fangirliness. On one side it's the old and unfunny stick of 'girl being forceful around the boy she likes' and I'm sick of it. But on the other hand, it would be great for her character to start as a fangirl who see Sonic as this perfect hero to growing out of it as she sees him as a person, but still loves him. And it would be really sweet to see Sonic warming up to her as she starts to treat him normally.

Also, I hope we are at a place in the movie industry that adventure/action writers can write a female character who likes stereotypical girly things without fear she will be seen as weak. The latest games don't tap much into it, but Amy likes tarot, she likes cooking and baking. She is gentle, passionate and compassionate. She also wrecks robots with a hammer. She can do both! Show that Amy's biggest strength is her ability to be compassionate to others, to bring out the best in people and to stand up to protect who she cares about. Show that she is the heart of the team.

The writers earned all my trust with Sonic 2, but I'm afraid the see the fans saying they like Boom Amy better and ignore the wonderful things that made mainline Amy herself.

I may be asking too much, if she is introduced in the next movie, there's still mc'freaking Shadow to develop, and a movie can only be so long.

But please, PLEASE, let Amy Rose be Amy Rose, with the good, the bad and the ugly and all the things that make her herself.