Random Stuff V - The Adminpire Strikes Back

[Delightful]

But what if the girl is Renarin's daughter?

Her mother is one of the girls Hoid referred to in his first scene.

[Curious Anamaximder he/him]

But what if the girl is Renarin's daughter?

Feather only cares about Renarin, not his relatives.

[Edgedancer he/him]

Feather only cares about Renarin, not his relatives.

But what if this turns into a fic were Renarin raises his child together with Bridge 4? Think of the kaladin/Renarin shipping.

[Mailliw73 he/him]

But what if this turns into a fic were Renarin raises his child together with Bridge 4? Think of the kaladin/Renarin shipping.

Someone would die. If it was a monster fic, of course. If it was a cute story, it'd be one.

[Curious Anamaximder he/him]

Maddie's next decision:

Sitting on my keyboard meant that 1,000 words of writing for 17th Shard Secret Santa was destroyed.

[Orlion Blight he/him]

Maddie's next decision:

Sitting on my keyboard meant that 1,000 words of writing for 17th Shard Secret Santa was destroyed.

Yeah, cats love to do that. Wait until she manages to make your computer do things you did not think was possible!

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

I work on Christmas Eve. As of today, the number of service appointments we have has doubled.

Now we have four Christmas Eve appointments.

I am so getting out early.

[Orlion Blight he/him]

I work on Christmas Eve. As of today, the number of service appointments we have has doubled.

Now we have four Christmas Eve appointments.

I am so getting out early.

Yuck.

I work Christmas Eve, too. However, it's going to be a "No one is around so we can't really get anything done" sort of day... So, yea me!

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Yuck.

I work Christmas Eve, too. However, it's going to be a "No one is around so we can't really get anything done" sort of day... So, yea me!

Same here. Last year, we closed up shop around 2 or 3, even though I was scheduled to work all day. I don't really mind, though.

[Orlion Blight he/him]

Same here. Last year, we closed up shop around 2 or 3, even though I was scheduled to work all day. I don't really mind, though.

Ah, I must have misread your previous post... My brain is kinda fried from yesterday's 127 Hours incident at work yesterday.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Ah, I must have misread your previous post... My brain is kinda fried from yesterday's 127 Hours incident at work yesterday.

That doesn't sound fun....

[Orlion Blight he/him]

That doesn't sound fun....

The incident turned out to have no appreciable impact on any systems... So for a while I was feeling pretty annoyed at wasting a lot of time and effort while being relieved that we wouldn't have to metaphorically cut an arm off to resolve the incident.

I eventually settled on feeling like chatting "Stupid, stupid rat creatures!" When thinking about it.

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/boneville/images/3/3a/StupidStupidRatCreatures.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110719201722

[Delightful]

Same here. Last year, we closed up shop around 2 or 3, even though I was scheduled to work all day. I don't really mind, though.

Isn't that good?

Or are you paid per hour or something?

[Allomancy she/her]

The incident turned out to have no appreciable impact on any systems... So for a while I was feeling pretty annoyed at wasting a lot of time and effort while being relieved that we wouldn't have to metaphorically cut an arm off to resolve the incident.

I eventually settled on feeling like chatting "Stupid, stupid rat creatures!" When thinking about it.

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/boneville/images/3/3a/StupidStupidRatCreatures.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110719201722

You've read the Bone books?

[Orlion Blight he/him]

You've read the Bone books?

Not all of them, but what I've read I have enjoyed thoroughly, and hopefully I'll be able to find the rest soon.

[Allomancy she/her]

Oh, I just added more on to my book that I've been writing!

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Isn't that good?

Or are you paid per hour or something?

Since it means I won't have to work late on Christmas Eve, it's a good thing. I'm paid hourly, but since it's a holiday I get time and a half, which is super nice. Even if I didn't, I'd rather go home early on Christmas Eve than stay late, which I've had to at more than a few jobs.

[Allomancy she/her]

Random thought of the day:

All snowman are organ donors.

They melt, evaporate, condensate, and precipitate as snow, to get built as another snow man.

[Zathoth]

Random thought of the day:

All snowman are organ donors.

They melt, evaporate, condensate, and precipitate as snow, to get built as another snow man.

 

That is more or less how the entire universe works, things break down to become other things.

All of you have been something else before.

 

The universe is still expanding, the big bang is still happening, everything is an explosion.

 

So the entire universe is an organ donor, I think thats where I was going with that.

[Allomancy she/her]

That is more or less how the entire universe works, things break down to become other things.

All of you have been something else before.

 

The universe is still expanding, the big bang is still happening, everything is an explosion.

 

So the entire universe is an organ donor, I think thats where I was going with that.

Uh, that's.... let's just say disturbing for now

[Zathoth]

For once that was not where I was going with that, but oh well, cant help what we are XD

[Kobold King he/him]

Accidentally wrote an essay when someone told me that house-elves are "happy" with their captivity and should be given a "choice" whether to be emancipated or to remain as slaves.

 

Oh boy. Some minor Harry Potter spoilers.

 

They are "happy" in that they form attachments to abusive masters. Dobby physically harms himself in horrendous forms of personal torture if he feels his masters would be upset about him. Kreacher does the same thing, suggesting that it's not uncommon among house-elves to do so.

 

Winky is the "happiest" house-elf we see in captivity, and she was forced to place herself in situations that terrified her and was publicly dismissed for "embarrassing" her master, when she was in fact following orders. Winky was discarded into a cruel world in which she had no prospects so that her master could save face, and fell into depression and butterbeer abuse to solace herself. I think we can all agree that the relationship between her and the Crouch family was not a psychologically healthy one any more than the marriage between a submissive woman and an abusive husband is.

 

And of course there's Kreacher--his entire family had been murdered generation after generation because of a sadistic Black family tradition, and he was outraged when his current master abandoned the cruel and intensely prejudiced attitudes of the former family. This speaks of a deeply ingrained social brainwashing rather than a choice made of free will.

 

When you get right down to it, Dobby's time as a free citizen is the only time we meet a house-elf character who isn't the product of an abusive home and an unhealthy case of Stockholm Syndrome. He's also the only time we've seen one happy, and that's when he's a free elf wandering around in mismatched socks and a pouch full of small coins. And Dobby isn't quite the freak among house-elves as he seems--think about it. What are the odds that the very first house-elf Harry would encounter happens to be the one deranged eccentric who desires freedom? Especially considering Dobby at the beginning of Chamber of Secrets would have dunked his face in scalding water if it'd even been suggested that he might be happier without the Malfoys. He still feels compelled to punish himself years after the fact when he's freed!

 

I think it is very clear that the confinement of house-elves is a very ancient, very real problem. Not one single captive house-elf has chosen a life of slavery; they have been born into it, brainwashed into believing it's where they belong, and abused if they question what they're taught. They are the victims of the very worst kind of crime: the kind that makes the victim find themselves at fault, like spousal abuse or rape.

 

No, Hermione shouldn't have left all the hidden clothes in Hogwarts to free house-elves without their consent. That was wrong of her, as she was oversimplifying their plight and doing more harm than good by making them cling more tightly to it.

 

What needs to happen is for house-elves to be legally emancipated, their rights given the same recognition as those of a witch or wizard. Serious penalties, up to and including Azkaban sentences, should be inflicted on wizards caught abusing their elves or preventing them from leaving their homes. An office should be opened for elves to report abuse or request relocation. Ministry-provided housing should be offered to elves looking to escape their masters. (This last one wouldn't even change tax rates, not when a handful of tents can be enchanted into veritable elf palaces.)

 

Obviously this wouldn't change the damaged psychologies of the abused elves. It'll take generations for the wounds to heal. But, and this is a big but, this lets the children of elves like Winky and Hokey grow up in a world where house-elf rights are worthy of consideration. The first generation will be exposed to posters advising abused elves to Apparate into the House-Elf Rights Department and reveal their stories. Not many will take advantage of the office, but some will, and that's what'll win the battle in the long run.

 

The second generation will see the same posters, and might even hear the voices of emancipated elves over the Wizarding Wireless before the masters get grumpy and turn it off.

 

The third generation will see free elves roaming Diagon Alley while doing their daily chores. They might even get to speak with them, if they do so away from their masters. Assuming this generation of masters is even still in support of slavery.

 

The fourth generation will see ads for elf-owned shops and businesses.

 

The fifth, sixth, seventh generations will hopefully see a world where a free elf in a dress or a suit isn't even worth remarking about.

 

 

You can't force these things, which is where Hermione went wrong. House-elves deserve a choice about what they do with their lives; this is true. Elvish welfare enthusiasts like myself don't debate that. All we do is argue that the house-elves need to be given a choice, and then given ample opportunities to realize that their choice exists. It is in the spirit of every thinking being to want freedom. Given time, support, and reassurance from as much of society as possible, I believe all of the elves would find themselves free citizens in as little as a hundred years.

 

And even if it doesn't, isn't S.P.E.W. worth a try if there's even a chance at making every elf as happy as a Dobby in mismatched socks?

Edited December 23, 2015 by Kobold King

[Mistrunner]

While flipping through some old notebooks I found a line I don't even remember writing.

"Ivory knew she would be dead in precisely four minutes, so she ate another chocolate."

[Kobold King he/him]

While flipping through some old notebooks I found a line I don't even remember writing.

"Ivory knew she would be dead in precisely four minutes, so she ate another chocolate."

 

 

That's a good reason to eat chocolate. But then, what isn't a good reason to eat chocolate?

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Accidentally wrote an essay when someone told me that house-elves are "happy" with their captivity and should be given a "choice" whether to be emancipated or to remain as slaves.

Oh boy. Some minor Harry Potter spoilers.

They are "happy" in that they form attachments to abusive masters. Dobby physically harms himself in horrendous forms of personal torture if he feels his masters would be upset about him. Kreacher does the same thing, suggesting that it's not uncommon among house-elves to do so.

Winky is the "happiest" house-elf we see in captivity, and she was forced to place herself in situations that terrified her and was publicly dismissed for "embarrassing" her master, when she was in fact following orders. Winky was discarded into a cruel world in which she had no prospects so that her master could save face, and fell into depression and butterbeer abuse to solace herself. I think we can all agree that the relationship between her and the Crouch family was not a psychologically healthy one any more than the marriage between a submissive woman and an abusive husband is.

And of course there's Kreacher--his entire family had been murdered generation after generation because of a sadistic Black family tradition, and he was outraged when his current master abandoned the cruel and intensely prejudiced attitudes of the former family. This speaks of a deeply ingrained social brainwashing rather than a choice made of free will.

When you get right down to it, Dobby's time as a free citizen is the only time we meet a house-elf character who isn't the product of an abusive home and an unhealthy case of Stockholm Syndrome. He's also the only time we've seen one happy, and that's when he's a free elf wandering around in mismatched socks and a pouch full of small coins. And Dobby isn't quite the freak among house-elves as he seems--think about it. What are the odds that the very first house-elf Harry would encounter happens to be the one deranged eccentric who desires freedom? Especially considering Dobby at the beginning of Chamber of Secrets would have dunked his face in scalding water if it'd even been suggested that he might be happier without the Malfoys. He still feels compelled to punish himself years after the fact when he's freed!

I think it is very clear that the confinement of house-elves is a very ancient, very real problem. Not one single captive house-elf has chosen a life of slavery; they have been born into it, brainwashed into believing it's where they belong, and abused if they question what they're taught. They are the victims of the very worst kind of crime: the kind that makes the victim find themselves at fault, like spousal abuse or rape.

No, Hermione shouldn't have left all the hidden clothes in Hogwarts to free house-elves without their consent. That was wrong of her, as she was oversimplifying their plight and doing more harm than good by making them cling more tightly to it.

What needs to happen is for house-elves to be legally emancipated, their rights given the same recognition as those of a witch or wizard. Serious penalties, up to and including Azkaban sentences, should be inflicted on wizards caught abusing their elves or preventing them from leaving their homes. An office should be opened for elves to report abuse or request relocation. Ministry-provided housing should be offered to elves looking to escape their masters. (This last one wouldn't even change tax rates, not when a handful of tents can be enchanted into veritable elf palaces.)

Obviously this wouldn't change the damaged psychologies of the abused elves. It'll take generations for the wounds to heal. But, and this is a big but, this lets the children of elves like Winky and Hokey grow up in a world where house-elf rights are worthy of consideration. The first generation will be exposed to posters advising abused elves to Apparate into the House-Elf Rights Department and reveal their stories. Not many will take advantage of the office, but some will, and that's what'll win the battle in the long run.

The second generation will see the same posters, and might even hear the voices of emancipated elves over the Wizarding Wireless before the masters get grumpy and turn it off.

The third generation will see free elves roaming Diagon Alley while doing their daily chores. They might even get to speak with them, if they do so away from their masters. Assuming this generation of masters is even still in support of slavery.

The fourth generation will see ads for elf-owned shops and businesses.

The fifth, sixth, seventh generations will hopefully see a world where a free elf in a dress or a suit isn't even worth remarking about.

You can't force these things, which is where Hermione went wrong. House-elves deserve a choice about what they do with their lives; this is true. Elvish welfare enthusiasts like myself don't debate that. All we do is argue that the house-elves need to be given a choice, and then given ample opportunities to realize that their choice exists. It is in the spirit of every thinking being to want freedom. Given time, support, and reassurance from as much of society as possible, I believe all of the elves would find themselves free citizens in as little as a hundred years.

And even if it doesn't, isn't S.P.E.W. worth a try if there's even a chance at making every elf as happy as a Dobby in mismatched socks?

I think there's also something to be said for changing the mindset of most wizards when it comes to house elves. Hermione, whose parents are Muggles, seems to be one of the few who finds their plight worthy of action; even open-minded wizards like Ron, who attempted the nastiest curse a twelve-year-old could know at hearing a slur use against one of his friends, presume that the elves' brainwashing is natural and normal. What is needed here is proof that it is not. Reform-minded witches like Hermione should look into the history of house elves, seeking a time they were free. They should look at the spells binding elves to their masters, and determine their nature and how long ago they were placed on the entire race. This research should be plainly written and made as public as possible. Not everyone will believe it, but those who will must be convinced.