[Image shows an image of Pete Seeger passionately singing. Text says,
In the 1970s, Pete Seeger was invited to sing in Barcelona, Spain. Francisco Franco’s fascist government, the last of the dictatorships that started World War II, was still in power but declining. A pro-democracy movement was gaining strength and to prove it, they invited America’s best-known freedom singer to Spain. More than a hundred thousand people were in the stadium, where rock bands had played all day. But the crowd had come for Seeger.
As Pete prepared to go on, government officials handed him a list of songs he was not allowed to sing. Pete studied it mournfully, saying it looked an awful lot like his set list. But they insisted: he must not sing any of these songs.
Pete took the government’s list of banned songs and strolled on stage. He held up the paper and said, “I’ve been told I’m not allowed to sing these songs.” He grinned at the crowd and said, “So I’ll just play the chords; maybe you know the words. They didn’t say anything about *you* singing them.”
He strummed his banjo to one song after another, and they all sang. A hundred thousand defiant freedom singers breaking the law with Pete Seeger, filling the stadium with words their government did not want them to hear, words they all knew and had sung together, in secret circles, for years.
Except no that’s not what happened, that’s not why he sued, he sued because when he went to ask for more napkins, the staff started racially harassing him, all over fucking napkins. As for the amount, ut was probably exaggerated by the lawyer so when the court shrinks it, McDonalds would still have to pay at least something.
There are no such things as frivolous lawsuits made by individual people.
McDonald’s (and most businesses) have insanely good pr departments. The woman who sued McDonald’s for being burned by their coffee was turned into the face of “people will sue over anything” because suing over coffee being hot sounds ridiculous, right? Except for she was literally burned to the bone. The pictures are nauseating. What she went through was horrifying.
If you ever find yourself ridiculing an individual on a company’s behalf you’re probably just repeating pr propaganda
This is one of several hills I will die on.
I was a kid when this peaked as a hot topic, the PR ops worked so well that it was just considered a fact of life that we had all become “lawsuit crazy,” every comedian talked about, TV news discussed the “epidemic” of frivolous lawsuits, sitcoms parodied these stories and made up their own, it became a stereotype of Americans all over the world and still is. It was just common knowledge that people go around making up dumb reasons to sue big companies as some sort of get rich quick scheme, except no, it genuinely NEVER happened. It is unreal how widely discussed and accepted this “problem” was with almost nobody actually noticing that it was fake.
a friend of mine working as a model got a bad slash on her neck from a celebrity stylist during a speed-haircutting demonstration. like. really bad. she had to go to the hospital (after he tried to hide the injury from her and refused to let her leave the stage immediately to seek medical care) and it left a permanent scar- on someone whose appearance is her source of income
she, quite understandably, sued him
the media reported it as “Model Sues Over Bad Haircut,” and the comments section on pretty much every article was a cesspit
I NEVER take stories of “frivolous lawsuits” against people who have significant power over the plaintiff at face value
you don’t get good at doing something by not doing it
you get good at doing something by doing it badly and learning how to do it better
You don’t learn from success, you learn from failure how to achieve success.
you see, the thing is, i hate failure.
in order to find success, you must first submit yourself to the mortifying ordeal of being kinda crap at something
everyone hates failure, but some people find it utterly intolerable
the key to that is usually to figure out what it is about failure that you find too intolerable to stomach, and try to deal with that aspect first
for instance is it being SEEN failing? okay, practice without an audience and try to do as much of your failing in private as you can
is it how the feeling of failure feeds into your sense some self-loathing? try therapy techniques for mitigating self-loathing in general first
do you hate the actual sight of your failed attempts? put them somewhere you don’t have to look at them
basically, find ways to make failing less awful by mitigating the impact of it on your happiness, even if those are things that some people will tell you shouldn’t matter. do what you gotta do to get stuff done
I had a new flag made for Barntopia, because it’s the truth:
To those who have asked if they can use this phrase for their own purposes, yes, feel free to do what you will with it, but I warn you against starting what seems like a simple project. Welcome to Team Idiot.
(ID: A red flag hanging horizontally on a corrugated steel wall. The flag reads: “We do this not because it is easy, but because we thought it would be easy.”)
Oh look. A flag for every fanfiction writer who has ever said “this should be easy, just a quick little fic, just a couple k long” as they unwittingly set out to write the longest piece of fanfic they’ve ever written before.
That one post that’s like “Why do people always write characters in fantasy and historical settings with a generic ‘vial of oil’ by the bed?” always bugs me
Like what’s not clicking
It’s sex oil for sex, clearly in this setting that’s what it’s specialized for and why it’s there
“What kind of oil? Cooking oil? Saddle oil? Lamp oil?” No clearly it’s a kind used for this purpose
Why do you want an explanation mid sex scene for the production history of this oil. Why is it weird to you that there’s not an in depth explanation of the history of this oil
Do you read contemporary fiction and say “Um excuse me what do you mean there’s a ‘tube of lube’ by the bed? What kind of lube? Is it machinery lubricant? Surgical lubricant? You didn’t explain as the sex scene happened and now I’m so confused!”
Like. Why is this something that breaks a scene for you.
kronk voice:
Look, I’m not saying everyone has this, but as someone who literally has a thing of “sex oil” on my nightstand irl I just don’t consider it that far fetched
I would like everyone writing in the Witcher fandom to know that men’s trousers in the Renaissance were typically fastened to the doublet with a series of short ties called points. Like, the kind of waistbands depicted in the show that actually hold trousers up were not really a thing, as far as I understand. I would pay good money to see this represented more often in the descriptions of Jaskier’s fancy clothes. Please somebody give me Geralt drunk with lust and furious that he has to liberate Jaskier from what is essentially a courtier’s onesie. Yennefer introducting Jaskier to this new-fangled invention called a hook-and-eye that makes it much easier for her to divest him all his clothing. Jaskier giving his paramour an elaborate strip tease that involves slowly untying each of the several points as his hose slowly sag down around his knees. I’m begging you, please, think of the absurdity.
Ok, at first I was like, it’s fantasy and fanfic, we can do what we want, but then I read further and could not stop laughing.
The comedy potential, fam!!!
To be fair, Jaskier probably invented the kind of pants seen in the show (or, you know, stole the design from Geralt) for the sole reason that “normal” (i.e. attached to the doublet) pants were way too hard to get out of in a hurry (and, in some cases more importantly, get BACK INTO in a much bigger hurry, like when an angry husband is currently banging on the door).
Yes, I’m saying that Jaskier caused a fashion revolution just so he could be an even bigger slut.
Oh my god, you are 100% correct.
And now I can’t decide which is funnier:
Jaskier is responsible for this trend before he even leaves Oxenfurt. Just schooldays Jaskier begging his tailor like, “Please, you don’t understand, I need escape trousers, if I have to tie my hose on one more time some jealous husband is going to murder me!” AKA, Jaskier causes a fashion revolution so he can be an even bigger slut.
Or:
Witchers have always worn tight-fitting trousers because they’re more practical and Jaskier gets one look at Geralt and decides that everything he’s ever been taught about what’s stylish and attractive about men’s fashion is wrong. “Actually, it is a huge mistake that we can’t all admire everyone’s ass at all times, and also, frankly, a travesty that nobody has been able to ogle my ass in these padded hose.” AKA, Jaskier causes a fashion revolution because of his lust for Geralt’s juicy ass.
Actually, I’m being ridiculous. The answer is obviously both:
Jaskier gets a look at Geralt in Posada and is like, “Ye gods, this man is hot, but how can I properly sexually objectify without being able to see his calves??? And his chest is so broad and muscular, not at all pigeon breasted like the courtiers I’ve admired in the past? How am I supposed to fantasize about his cock when he’s not suggesting it with a codpiece???”
And then gradually, after spending a lot of time staring at Geralt, Jaskier comes to the conclusion that he’s not a calves and codpiece kind of guy, because obviously a man’s ass and shoulders are really where it’s at. And he feels kind of self-conscious about it because everyone else thinks Witchers are monstrous and he’s out here salivating over Geralt’s sculpted abs, which shouldn’t even be a thing, should it?
And then the first time since he’s met Geralt’s, Jaskier runs afoul of a jealous spouse and runs back to their room in fear for his life, shouting, “Get dressed, we’ve got to go!” And then somehow Geralt is already fully dressed, while Jaskier has only done up half the ties on his hose, and Geralt pushes him out the window anyway because better to run bare-assed through the streets than be stabbed. And that’s what converts Jaskier to the cult of tight, waist-banded trousers — that, and the fact that Geralt rather seems to appreciate the look of his ass in them, himself.
Centuries later, historians have no idea that this complete sea change in fashion and cultural attitudes about male beauty are the cause of one man’s unrelenting horniness.
public proposals are so embarrassing if someone tried to propose to me in public I’d walk away
Because we’re gay and love free dessert, mostly. Grifting is my love language
“grifting is my love language” is the greatest thing I’ve ever heard
We’ve proposed to each other 3 times now. The first time was in a park, with just us. The second time was immediately afterwards, in a restaurant, where the family next to us bought our dinner and left without telling us that’s what they were doing, and the restaurant gave us champagne and chocolate cake. The third time, the restaurant gave us Prosecco. At least one of use legitimately cried on each occasion, so we’re giving the crowd their money’s worth. But yeah, defn grifting.
I mean this in the most queer friendship way possible for someone I’ve never met: I fuckin love you.
I think the Evil Media Bias Against Platonic Relationships is one of those things tumblr loves to get worked up about despite, like. simply not being real.
“men in media are never allowed to have their closest, most meaningful relationship be a platonic friendship with another man!” I’m sorry but I am not convinced that you’ve ever consumed media
“okay maybe buddy comedies exist or whatever, but this is a problem in fandom spaces–” It’s not a “problem” that gay people on the internet like to draw gay kissing. Hope this helps <3
me, shaking the people in the notes by the shoulders: Fandom is an extremely niche subculture. Gay shipping is a niche of that niche. 99% of the population does not engage with it. You do not have to walk into the Gay Romance And Erotica Club and complain about the gay romance and erotica
the people in the notes: I’m being forced at gunpoint actually
Since childhood Lambert has tried every year to successfully put Eskel’s big ass head in a sleeper hold. Since childhood he’s always put himself to sleep first
h/c: geralt has zero idea about who valdo marx really is, and he does think jaskier is a bit of a drama queen, but he’s still always defending jaskier every time they run into valdo.
valdo: ah, jaskier! still traveling with a witcher, i see. very bold and stupid of you.
geralt: can call you the same for becoming a bard.
valdo: wha-why is that? your buddy here is a bard, too.
geralt: yeah, but at least he knows how to do his job pretty well. you, on the other hand… well, i’ve seen you preform.
geralt: rather listen to my younger brother throwing up after a night of reckless drinking.
valdo: *offended bard noises*
geralt and jaskier: *fistbumping*
also geralt, two seconds later: i don’t get myself involved in your bard drama
Geralt doesn’t know why they’re trashing Valdo, but he also knows no one but him can make fun of his bard, so he’s already on board with Jaskier ripping into the sleaze
