Feanor: “ok” is such an imprecise term. Under whose rules? The Valar who would rule us injustly?!
Maedhros: I mean. Yavanna made these trees. Are people allowed to chip off pieces of mum’s statues whenever they want just cause she is not their ruler?
Feanor: Your mother is not a tyrant who plays at benevolence while imposing arbitrary rules we are powerless to obey before her might.
Maedhros: Omg NERDINEL ISN’T MY MOTHER?! This is how you choose to tell me I’m adopted?!?!
Feanor: … You’re right, I was unclear. That’s on me. For now, we are going to hastily retreat because I have an appointment and not because we have committed any acts of blasphemy.
The strange thing about growing up in conservative Christianity and then leaving it behind is that there are a lot of secular/progressive spaces that engage in similar thinking while sincerely believing their ideas are counter to conservative ones. So I thought I would just make a list of things I was taught within conservative Christianity, the stuff that was either the core of our beliefs, or the social dynamics that we created. Some of the language I use is specifically either scriptural, or Christian-speak.
This list isn’t to say “stop thinking this way.” This is actually intended to simply be informative because sometimes social justice spaces assume, “we are crafting our ideals in opposition to conservative ideals therefore whatever we think surely must be the opposite of whatever they think,” without ever seeming to know that their language and ideals look and sound the same.
So, let’s begin:
Sin-leveling: x is bad, and y is bad, and all bad things deserve an equal reaction
Sin-leveling part 2: because all things are equally bad, there’s nothing wrong with inverting the consequences. Hurting others becomes acceptable (because it’s no different than doing something distasteful), doing something distasteful is unforgivable (because it’s no different than doing something harmful)
Avoid all appearance of evil: if I assume that your behavior looks wrong, then you are wrong, even if further context would say otherwise. You should avoid doing anything that others would see as wrong because you are not allowed the benefit of the doubt or to defend yourself.
Sin by association: x company contracted with y company. Y company engages in something sinful, which means x company approves of said sinful thing which means if you purchase from x company, you are condoning, supporting, and have actually committed the sin.
Think only on what is good: or as the pastor of my old church liked to call it, “garbage in, garbage out.” Whatever ideas, thoughts, words, arguments, stories, pictures, books, movies, songs, friends, love you put in your head will create the desire to become that. If you want to be good, you must avoid any bad thought because you will “slip” into wanting it and then be unable to stop yourself from being it. (For example, type into google “is secular music” and click on the autocomplete of “a sin”)
Language as an in-group test: if you do not describe your life, experiences, and beliefs with the exact same vocabulary and in-group speak, you are either not really one of us, or you’re someone who hasn’t thought through their ideas as deeply as I have.
By any means necessary: Also known in the ex-Evangelical world as “lying for Jesus.” If my words create the necessary beliefs and actions in others, then it doesn’t matter if I am exaggerating, saying half-truths, or using manipulative language, because I’m saving others and helping them do what’s right.
Touch not God’s anointed: any critiques of those our community trusts, critiques of those we’ve deemed “the good ones,” are actually people trying to sow discord and disunity to destroy our community and their voice should be silenced because they must be lying.
Judge not lest ye be judged: A scripture that we throw at people when someone says our leadership is abusive, a scripture we cry is being taken out of context when we want to harshly critique someone ourselves.
There’s more, lots more, but this post is already fairly long. Once again, though, this isn’t intended to be combative. I just want people to know the actual social dynamics that a lot of us grew up with in conservative Christianity communities, so they know when sometimes they’re sharing those social dynamics, not countering them.
I don’t engage with the replies to my post but one thing I’ve seen people say a few times is to push back a bit on my ending paragraph, where I say that I’m not telling people to stop thinking this way. Some people will reblog with “yeah but you *should*” or “well *I’m* telling you to stop!”
I wanted to mention why it is that I wrote it that way.
A list full of behaviors and perspectives that are written to say “don’t do this” is exactly part of the problem. It turns it into issues of ‘purging’ harmful beliefs, of trying to purify yourself away from doing or thinking bad things just because some post on the internet told you it was bad.
The reason I am not telling you to stop thinking this way is because I’m telling you to think about what you think about. Here is a series of things I was taught as an Evangelical Christian—do you agree with them? Do you think these are moral? There are certain points people will take issue with me on—sin by association is a big one—and I actually think that’s good. Maybe there are aspects that you think are correct ways to operate within the world.
I was being truthful—I wrote this because I *have* seen people who will use language like this or wield ideologies like these while claiming that they are different. That their leftism is radical in the face of a broader conservative society, without understanding that conservative Christianity *also* thinks they’re radical in a broader *liberal* society, using the exact same tools.
I don’t want people to read this post as another list of Bad Things to Stop Doing. I want people to read it and envision the kinds of community it *builds*—and whether they want that community or not. Because maybe you do. Or maybe you don’t. But it’s better to think about that.
I’m not caught up yet but seriously go listen to Dames and Dragons right now if you love real play DnD podcasts and maybe even if you don’t!
(And if you start listening and you’re not sure you wanna continue, I beg you to at least listen up to The Gray Manacle Arc because by while it was good before, around then is when it’s settled into its rhythm.)
But yeah it’s so fucking funny and heartwarming and delightful, and the DM built her own world and mythology for this story and her dedication really shows. The players pour so much life into their characters and have amazing chemistry with each other.
I truly cannot put into words how much affection I have for these dorky teens and the single brain cell they take turns holding on to.
i used to work at a used bookstore and there was an insect anatomy book for sale that was over $8000 im not even kidding. and i just found it at my school library. its mine for the month.
It’s page after page of the most detailed illustration on insect morphology I’ve ever seen
External anatomy only I’m afraid, but an absolutely invaluable resource nonetheless
It’s called An Atlas of Insect Morphology by Steinmann and Zombori. Looks like there are some much cheaper options now than when I last looked. When I saw it in the bookstore’s system I thought it was a pricing error but I remember looking it up and seeing one for sale that was over $10,000 so I was like okay then. I could only find pdfs from university libraries I don’t have access too. So I’m glad my school has a physical copy.
Idk if I can describe how useful this book is. It’s all illustration. The only text is the labels. I have a really nice book on insect anatomy but it’s like your classic textbook
Like very useful but it is still a pain to flip through a thousand page book looking for images but it’s mostly text. There aren’t nearly as many diagrams. It doesn’t show you nearly as many angles. It doesn’t show or label even close to level of detail the one above does.
In case anyone hasn’t read my tags: I’m going to scan this whole book and make it into a pdf. You all can have it for free. It will take a while. Bear with me.
