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Just now, Shqueeves said:

You meet people from foreign lands

I confer with multinational representatives!

Okay but that ones too stuffy to actually say to people.

I......interview people from different countries about their interests and use that to inform ......creative expression?

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39 minutes ago, Orlion Determined said:

"Discussion...of literary works"? *guffaw* What a waggish deception you weave!

*sips from tea cup*

Come now my friend! What else do you call the rest of this forum! 
Because Brandon Sanderson is clearly a giant in literature! (if only sci-fi/fantasy literature... for now...)

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Hateful YA protagonists. 

I just put a name to it yesterday, but it's been bothering me for a while. 

Spoiler

 

Take Harry Potter, for instance, and the rest of the Gryffindors. Throughout the series, we see instances like Harry being stuck-up toward Malfoy because of the elitist things he said; or lines like "Gryffindors hated the Slytherins on principle." Moments like Hermione permanently disfiguring Marietta Edgecombe, or leaving Umbridge to be dragged off by centaurs. We see a Ravenclaw refusing to help Harry and Ron when they're disguised as Crabbe and Goyle, and walking off with her nose in the air; and when Malfoy is publicly humiliated by a teacher, it's played for laughs—which is especially egregious because when Snape does the exact same thing, he's portrayed as a despicable character. 

On the one hand, I get it. Rowling is trying to tell her readers that if someone pushes you around, you don't have to immediately let go of everything they've done to you. You're not obligated to like them or see the best in them, and their behavior is not okay. But it's taken so far that it actually becomes pretty disturbing. Harry nearly kills Malfoy, and not only does he feel no remorse, but the narrative paints him as the victim because he's missing out on Quidditch practice and time with Ginny. He almost caused the death of another human being, and he's not expected to feel bad about it because….said human being was technically the aggressor in that situation? Because said human being had bullied him for the past few years? If the situation was reversed, you can bet Malfoy would not be in detention, but on trial. 

I don't know if this is the intended message, but it can come across as "If someone mistreats you, it's okay to mistreat them back and not feel bad about it." And again, I don't know if that's intentional, but it's still pretty storming creepy. Because where is the line? If schoolyard bullying is grounds for nearly killing someone and feeling no remorse, then where does it end? 

 

 

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1 hour ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

Hateful YA protagonists. 

I just put a name to it yesterday, but it's been bothering me for a while. 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Take Harry Potter, for instance, and the rest of the Gryffindors. Throughout the series, we see instances like Harry being stuck-up toward Malfoy because of the elitist things he said; or lines like "Gryffindors hated the Slytherins on principle." Moments like Hermione permanently disfiguring Marietta Edgecombe, or leaving Umbridge to be dragged off by centaurs. We see a Ravenclaw refusing to help Harry and Ron when they're disguised as Crabbe and Goyle, and walking off with her nose in the air; and when Malfoy is publicly humiliated by a teacher, it's played for laughs—which is especially egregious because when Snape does the exact same thing, he's portrayed as a despicable character. 

On the one hand, I get it. Rowling is trying to tell her readers that if someone pushes you around, you don't have to immediately let go of everything they've done to you. You're not obligated to like them or see the best in them, and their behavior is not okay. But it's taken so far that it actually becomes pretty disturbing. Harry nearly kills Malfoy, and not only does he feel no remorse, but the narrative paints him as the victim because he's missing out on Quidditch practice and time with Ginny. He almost caused the death of another human being, and he's not expected to feel bad about it because….said human being was technically the aggressor in that situation? Because said human being had bullied him for the past few years? If the situation was reversed, you can bet Malfoy would not be in detention, but on trial. 

I don't know if this is the intended message, but it can come across as "If someone mistreats you, it's okay to mistreat them back and not feel bad about it." And again, I don't know if that's intentional, but it's still pretty storming creepy. Because where is the line? If schoolyard bullying is grounds for nearly killing someone and feeling no remorse, then where does it end? 

 

 

That's the nature of escapism. The desire to fulfill fantasies at little to no cost (like making your tormentors pay) takes precedent over useful life insights.

Escapism is fine, I indulge in it quite frequently. But placing it on a high literary pedestal with little to no critical evaluation will lead to a warped view of life and how it should work.

And that's my pet peeve. Harry Potter or almost any popular YA series does not have the answers to life, the universe and everything.

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1 hour ago, Orlion Determined said:

And that's my pet peeve. Harry Potter or almost any popular YA series does not have the answers to life, the universe and everything.

By statistics, some of them ought to contain number 42 in-text.

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-When your parents sign you up for something you REALLY don't wanna do, and you've had plans to do a volunteer thing for band for months now on the same day as said thing you've been signed up for.

-When you feel like you have to sneeze and do the scrunched up, "I'm about to sneeze" face. But then you don't sneeze and the feeling doesn't go away, so you're not sure if it's okay to go back to regular face or not. 

-When you have to get up in the middle of one of your songs that you're listening to.

-When books aren't stacked with the biggest on the bottom (or when one book is taller than another, but skinnier than another).

-When you have to wait years for a book to come out (looking at you Aztlanian).

Edited by StrikerEZ
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48 minutes ago, StrikerEZ said:

-When your parents sign you up for something you REALLY don't wanna do, and you've had plans to do a volunteer thing for band for months now on the same day as said thing you've been signed up for.

That always sucks. :(

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7 minutes ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

What did you get voluntold for? 

The volunteer work was something I wanted to do. It's a recycle event at my high school that the band does every year to help raise money for the band (and help with recycling stuff). But my parents signed me up for a church camp over this weekend that I had no idea even existed until last week when they told me they'd signed me up for it, without asking me. 

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1 minute ago, StrikerEZ said:

The volunteer work was something I wanted to do. It's a recycle event at my high school that the band does every year to help raise money for the band (and help with recycling stuff). But my parents signed me up for a church camp over this weekend that I had no idea even existed until last week when they told me they'd signed me up for it, without asking me. 

I'm sorry. :( I always hated it when my parents pulled crem like that on me. 

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Just now, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

I'm sorry. :( I always hated it when my parents pulled crem like that on me. 

Yeah, and this isn't the first time ever. They usually don't sign me up for stuff on days that I've already got plans though. 

I'm not really looking forward to this weekend because I'm agnostic, and this camp is very religious....

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2 minutes ago, StrikerEZ said:

Yeah, and this isn't the first time ever. They usually don't sign me up for stuff on days that I've already got plans though. 

I'm not really looking forward to this weekend because I'm agnostic, and this camp is very religious....

From my own memories of church camp, there was a lot of religion—church services every morning and night, which (it being a Pentecostal camp) usually ran long—but there were also structured activities throughout the day, as well as free time that my friends and I usually spent in our cabin, talking and joking around. So, while the church element will definitely be strong, there should at least be some time where you'll be able to have fun. Did the camp release a copy of their daily activity plans? 

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9 minutes ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

From my own memories of church camp, there was a lot of religion—church services every morning and night, which (it being a Pentecostal camp) usually ran long—but there were also structured activities throughout the day, as well as free time that my friends and I usually spent in our cabin, talking and joking around. So, while the church element will definitely be strong, there should at least be some time where you'll be able to have fun. Did the camp release a copy of their daily activity plans? 

Oh, I know. This isn't my first church camp. But this is the first in awhile, and for some reason it's for a church that we don't even go to (but we haven't gone to church in awhile anyway). The activities will probably be fun (the camp is titled "Carpe Diem," and there's a game we're supposed to be playing called carpe the flag), it's just that I won't know anyone going into this, and I won't really be able to connect with them very well because I'm pretty shy around people I don't know. 

Edited by StrikerEZ
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Just now, StrikerEZ said:

Oh, I know. This isn't my first church camp. But this is the first in awhile, and for some reason it's for a church that we don't even go to (but we haven't gone to church in awhile anyway). The activities will probably fun (the camp is titled "Carpe Diem," and there's a game we're supposed to be playing called carpe the flag), it's just that I won't know anyone going into this, and I won't really be able to connect with them very well because I'm pretty shy around people I don't know. 

Aaahhhh. Yeah, that would make it difficult. 

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4 hours ago, StrikerEZ said:

When you feel like you have to sneeze and do the scrunched up, "I'm about to sneeze" face. But then you don't sneeze and the feeling doesn't go away, so you're not sure if it's okay to go back to regular face or not. 

Whenever that happens I just hold on the ridiculous expression and frantically say "Nose! Nose!"

I'm...not sure why.

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26 minutes ago, Sunbird said:

@TwiLyghtSansSparkles Ugh. I can imagine. Retail pharmacy employees get a lot of that crem too. (My mom used to be a pharmacy tech.) What was the unreasonable request, if I may be so nosy?

They wanted me to stand next to their computer while they searched, very slowly, for each and every document they wanted to print. Mind you, I'm not supposed to spend more than ten minutes with each patron, and this one did not catch me during a lull. After the second or third minute of this patron muttering to themselves during fruitless searching (which they didn't even need me for—they never asked me for help) my hand slapped my thigh softly—so softly I'm surprised they heard, but they did and asked "Are you angry with me?" I really wanted to say yes, because you're wasting my time and not even being grateful for it, but said no and told them how to print the document they found. They sat in silence for a minute, obviously waiting for an apology, so I asked if they wanted me to stay. "No, I don't think I do," they said in that passive-aggressive way. And then they came up to the desk and exaggerated what I'd done while I was hiding in the back, stopped when I came out, and turned so simpering toward the coworker who took over that I wanted to puke. (Well, simpering in my presence, said coworker said this patron was just as bad to him when I wasn't in earshot.) 

And the worst part? This patron was in their fifties. How do you go through life so long with the selflessness of a three-year-old? 

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23 minutes ago, TwiLyghtSansSparkles said:

They wanted me to stand next to their computer while they searched, very slowly, for each and every document they wanted to print. Mind you, I'm not supposed to spend more than ten minutes with each patron, and this one did not catch me during a lull. After the second or third minute of this patron muttering to themselves during fruitless searching (which they didn't even need me for—they never asked me for help) my hand slapped my thigh softly—so softly I'm surprised they heard, but they did and asked "Are you angry with me?" I really wanted to say yes, because you're wasting my time and not even being grateful for it, but said no and told them how to print the document they found. They sat in silence for a minute, obviously waiting for an apology, so I asked if they wanted me to stay. "No, I don't think I do," they said in that passive-aggressive way. And then they came up to the desk and exaggerated what I'd done while I was hiding in the back, stopped when I came out, and turned so simpering toward the coworker who took over that I wanted to puke. (Well, simpering in my presence, said coworker said this patron was just as bad to him when I wasn't in earshot.) 

And the worst part? This patron was in their fifties. How do you go through life so long with the selflessness of a three-year-old? 

I think that at some point in life, some people return to a state of entitlement. Maybe he grew up rich.

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Propaganda. Propa-storming-ganda. 
I am so, so sick and tired of it. Can we all just, stop? Collectively? As a society? Can we agree that super-biased, one-sided stuff only leads to a deepening of the societal divide? 
I'm sick of the name calling, mud-slinging, poorly researched and completely unbalanced stuff flying around the internet (from all sides of the political spectrum. Yes, I mean yours random citizen reading this. I also mean mine.)

Can we just, stop? Like, if you see something absurdly one-sided, just don't share it? And, like, if your friends do, call them on it? Super politely?
That would be great, guys. 

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