Daily OpusEverything I write is freely rebloggable. Just keep the source and tell people about my books :D [Until I decide otherwise, my pronouns are Ze/Hir/Hirself. As in "Ze went to the shops to get hir medication hirself". Thank you for the respect.]
My hypothesis is that in like 10 years gen z is gonna have a big cult boom the way the boomers did in the 70s
It’s already happening on tik tok. There’s a fun new thing going round that’s citing common symptoms of depression and anxiety as signs you’re about to have your awakening and that you are actually an alien and the reason you don’t feel right is because you’re home sick for your own galaxy. So that’s fun.
agreed, and i don’t mean this in a “haha gen z is so dumb they’re gonna join a tiktok cult lmao” i mean that conditions are perfect for the formation of cults right now.
high unemployment and a lot of underpaying, pointless jobs = people are looking for things to do with their life, a purpose
skyrocketing cost of living = most young people will not be able to live on their own, meaning some will end up in a group living situation with people interested in recruiting them
it’s a time of great cultural and political upheaval, nothing feels real, people are desperate for meaning and human connection. cults promise that
there is a new wave of acceptance and understanding for ways of life outside the norm, which is great! …except for when cult leaders tell you abusive and controlling practices are just their culture, their religion, their lifestyle, their beliefs, their tradition, and if you disrespect it you are the problem
social media influencers have already shown us how easy it is to build a cult of personality and attract people from anywhere in the world who are interested in the exact brand you are selling
spirtuality is having a boom, as are things like astrology, crystals, tarot, meditation, energy… those things aren’t bad on their own but they are often used as tools of cult spaces
wellness. i think a lot of people are already in wellness cults. you can make people do a lot of things in the name of “wellness” and a big factor of maintaining a cult is keeping members in a state of decreased cognition….. like say, with regular fasting
i think people are just unaware in general of how cults function, especially because the satanic panic was a big stupid false alarm that convinced the youths that dungeons and dragons or doom were gateways to cults, which are scary evil child murdering, satan-worshipping gangs. people don’t know how to spot them in real life.
So if that’s the case everyone remember with me the cardinal rules of not getting cult’d
SOCIAL BUFFER: Learn what healthy social boundaries are and develop relationships which are within those boundaries.
Be wary of those who step on your or others’ boundaries. Be there for your friends, but don’t be their therapists or parents. Go get coffee or juice or snacks & chat casually with a friendly crew on a regular basis.
ESTEEM BUFFER. Recognize that you and every other person on this planet are owed a baseline of respect.
Respect means that what you wear, what/who you take interest in, and who/what you are are things which you decide on based on your own reasoning. If anyone is trying to change your mind, make sure to think critically about their side and decide for yourself whether you want to change. Ask: Why do they want you to change? Is that valid to your situation? Who / what would benefit from this change? Do you want them / it to benefit? Then decide for yourself.
RELAXATION BUFFER. Take time exclusively for yourself.
Take care of your body and mind when it needs to be fed, watered, washed, or nurtured. Have a couple hobbies that are just for you.Have more than one interest. Think about more than just one topic. Cults keep you focused on them to the exclusion of all else, so don’t allow yourself to be blocked in.
BUBBLE POP BUFFER: Learn from multiple sources, even ones you don’t like or respect.
Read multiple sources’ versions of events before you decide what you feel about something. Recognize that not all sources are valid, but understand what those invalid sources are trying to do. Are they misguided or malicious? Who are THEIR sources? What is the agenda? Who benefits? Why would they want to say what they’re saying? Do they have a point? Who pays them? What do they care about? Then make your decision.
BEWARE THE B.I.T.E.: Cults control people via Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotion control. BITE
Look up the BITE model and consider it against groups you wish to join / have joined.
Remember. You are the arbiter of your mind.
You have the blessing and burden of making your own decisions. Other people who will love and care about you throughout your life will want you to think for yourself and will think for themselves.
You are not alone. You are worthwhile. Your thoughts are your own and you have every right to control them yourself.
Just a quick addition: look for BITE stuff in regular individuals and friend groups, not just groups you’re formally joining. Look for it in roommates. Look for it in anyone you start getting close to. Look for it in groups that people you care about are getting into, and people they’re getting close to.
Sometimes people are just flawed, sometimes they’re well-intentioned but still growing, but that’s the point of red flags: they aren’t a sure sign of trouble, but they’re still worth taking note of & keep an eye on in case patterns emerge.
The reason I say this is worth learning and looking out for in more casual relationships is that these are mostly just abuse tactics carried out in a large-scale, more organized way. And because if someone is interested in recruiting you, they may employ these tactics on an individual, casual-seeming level as well.
As someone who’s really interested in cults and cult tactics, I really recommend “The Vow”, too! NXIVM is a cult that essentially set itself up as a self-improvement business tool for white collar folks, and it used “wellness” culture as a major recruitment tool. There was nothing remotely religious or spiritual about it, which is part of why so many people fell into it. “Seduced” is good as well, and shorter.
Challenge #02996-H073: Fixing the Wrong Problem, Fixed
N-now do you understand? This is… the true form of your Legion’s power. All it can do is… is cause pain… nothing more. …we have that in common. In this form… e-even if you do survive… In the end… can you… can you… call yourself “human”? – Anon Guest
[AN: My right wrist decided to have the fail this morning. Joy. I really needed more noise in the way of my goals]
It began with a fallacy. The world would be so much better if everyone thought like me. The one thinking this had access to superior technology. Neural chips. Network connections. Punishment/reward systems to be sure that those who were connected had their thought processes guided towards the right way to operate. Of course it had a fatal flaw.
It was luxury tech. Really expensive luxury tech. Once those who could afford it realised their thoughts were being shaped, they tried to trade their wealth for First Thought privileges. The one who had First Thought simply steered them away from wanting that. The one real way to think was the best way. Then - disaster. Someone hacked the mainframe.
That was what they later called the Legion Event. The hacker gave everyone connected to BrainLink technology First Thought access. Suddenly everyone was having the first thought, and there was no ideal idea to follow. It was chaos. The fateful lesson - Humans were not meant to be a Hive Mind. Especially wealthy Humans, who are so egocentric that their inner model of the universe has everything revolving around them. Three thousand egotists in a closed system made of velvet rope, all trying to shout over each other and believing that their way of thinking was the One True Way.
Hey so this is going to get a LOT of people killed. Not even just in shootouts with police. What the Biden admin believes in this case gives the police a blank check to raid any home they want at any time, and would give them a really convenient way to murder people under the pretense of searching for illegal weapons if Biden’s gun control push passes.
Biden’s assault weapon ban would make America that much more of a violent, dehumanizing police state. We cannot allow this to happen. This is a nightmare for civil rights.
Note the article doesn’t even mention an illegal type of weapon just a handgun upholding this would be giving the police a precedent to invade the home of anyone known or suspected to possess a gun at all even with a license.
In actuality even a warrant is not enough protection from home invasion the courts are corrupt and will already give police a warrant if they ask for it whether it’s a reasonable case or not they’ll legitimize it. The judge is already inclined to conclude by their own bias in favor of law enforcement but even putting that aside the police need only to present false evidence tell a fake story or just flat out bribe the judge to get their consent. No actual checks and balances on police powers exist in reality just the comforting surface illusions of them.
Before this the police have historically already invaded the homes of black radicals and extrajudicially executed and even outright bombed them just cause they disliked them and the courts defended these acts rescued the police from accountability.
In practice such a ruling will be used not with universal application towards all no rich white gun owners will not feel the impact of it at all but rather blacks and leftists will be targeted in particular with not just home invasions but the murders which will undoubtedly follow. After killing someone shootout or not if they can’t find real proof to justify it they’ll simply just fabricate it plant an illegal gun on the body a gun stockpile or factory in the basement. There’s zero reason to trust they won’t.
When we asked for gun control we meant shit like sale limitations and gun buybacks, not this horseshit! What the actual fuck?!?
The first gun control measures in the US were drafted specifically to criminalize black people who committed no crimes. All gun control has been used to criminalize innocent people. This is the history of gun control. This is the reality of gun control being enforced and it always has been. This is what you are asking for when you call for gun control.
My dad isn’t the best dad in the world. He’s flawed and we fight a lot, and most of it is because of our financial situation. He’s the sole earner of my family but things haven’t been looking up for us the past few years. It is one of the reasons why things have gotten as bad as it is now- I should have known that he’s hidden his illness for a while now because he doesn’t want to add more debt into our family burden just because of a “small cough”, especially with the pandemic.
It turns out, he has pneumonia and high glucose blood levels. The pneumonia made a hospital reject giving him first aid care this Monday (22/3) despite his COVID tests showing up negative because they were “incapable of handling a possible COVID patient” due to the fact that my dad’s lungs x-rays had signs of infection on it. Keep in mind that he has a high fever and isn’t even able to walk or go to the bathroom by himself. They didn’t even provide a sufficient IV drip for my dad or a fitting oxygen mask. Monday night we brought him home in hopes of treating his sickness at home because we couldn’t afford any other options. At 1am, he woke up from his sleep at home and puked. We brought him to an ER 30 mins away that told us on the phone that they would take a patient with possible pneumonia as long as their COVID-19 test come out negative. When we got there, they just stood there for 20 mins looking at my dad convulsing in the car before rejecting to give him care after I showed him his lung results. I begged them to at least give him first aid but they told me condescendingly that if my dad passed away, they wouldn’t be liable. So I went home in tears.
Tuesday 6AM my dad went into septic shock. Money be damned, I called an ambulance from a private hospital that informed me they would take possible patients despite them having COVID or not. I thought that my dad could get the first aid help and then later be admitted to a normal room, but when the medics arrived the first thing they told me was: he has to be put into an ICU.
I have just recently resigned from my job due to high risk of COVID-19 exposure, and both my mom and my sibling are unemployed. We’ve asked for friends and family for help, but it’s just not enough given that we don’t have an insurance and an ICU room costs $1k/night. As we’re living in a third world country, no medical action will be taken before we given if we don’t pay first. We’ve used up all of our penny to the last drop to keep my dad plugged into the ICU machines and keep him alive to this daym
As of right now, he’s fighting as hard as he can to keep his body alive. He’s doing his best, and I know I should do my best too. I’ve ran out of options.
If you can help us, please donate at my gofundme or paypal. If you can’t, a reblog would help immensely.
His whole life, my dad has always teased me that I don’t love him as I never express it verbally. You know how us Asians get- I never said it to him because I assumed that he should just know.
Please help me tell my dad that I love him to his face.
I remember one time my regular gyno was on maternity leave so I saw another gyno in the practice, and I disclosed that I did sex work (my reg gyno knows and is chill) because it felt relevant since she was checking my pussy, and this biddy put it in my fucking chart, you know the chart that’s shared w all the area hospitals and your other drs, since that’s how charts work now. Like my mom could access my chart if she wasn’t afraid of losing her license for hipaa violations. This is why I tell ppl to lie.
Like I’m glad I don’t live in that city anymore because I’m like terrified of going to the ER and having all these ppl I used to work with seeing it in my chart
Like if any of my followers are doctors or studying to be doctors: this is so fucking dangerous to sex workers don’t do this. Like even if you’re chill, you don’t know what the next dr who looks at it is like. Sex workers are treated as drug-seeking, lying, and mentally unstable/unreliable in the medical field. I’ve been denied my anxiety and adhd meds because I’m a sex worker. Like I don’t care if school or residency teaches you to chart everything. You are actively putting your patient at risk by putting it in an electronic chart that’s shared with every provider they have and will see.
This happened to me as well, with a coercive surgery that I’ll pretty much never talk about. I want to add that I’ve been turned away from therapists, including group therapy for survivors, due to being in active full service sex work. They treat it like how they treat active drug addiction ( in group, that you can make people relapse or be traumatized etc) and will refuse you. These are many things sex workers don’t talk about re medical institutions, and I hope people studying these fields read this and incorporate compassion and discretion to vulnerable groups.
i keep seeing my mutuals reblog tht pic of the gerbil or whatever without realizing tht “la creatura” is a racist dogwhistle so. just to let u all know. “la creatura” is a racist dogwhistle.
i cant find the original post atm but its this pic
it’s much more likely that someone is speaking in fake or silly Spanish to have fun. “criatura” means “creature” in spanish; “creatura”, with an e, is an understandable mistake for an english speaker to make because e often has the sound of /i/, which is written as i in spanish. This is further evidenced because 4chan is predominantly english by what bits I’ve seen. I’m guessing it’s fake or silly spanish because of the “dios mio” above it and the mostly english userbase of 4chan.
also, that rodent thing has funny eyes, so it makes sense that whoever is talking about it would say a response in a funny way. Not everything is an intensely racist dogwhistle; kinda funny, though, how you’re the only one to hear this dogwhistle, hmm?
im just gonna paste this here to save myself some effort
as for the last part of your reblog, what exactly is it you’re trying to imply? that somehow i’m the real racist for pointing out the connotations of the phrase? or maybe you’re just trying to sound intelligent by offering an empty quip that really means nothing.
either way, the only reason im aware of it is because someone else brought it to my attention. i’m not ~the only one to hear this dogwhistle~ and i’m not the first person to talk about this. and yes. i do think that when you search a phrase on google images and the majority of the results are racial caricatures it merits a talking about it a little bit.
Keep in mind that the normal Spanish word is “la criatura” which can mean creature or even unborn/newborn baby. The 4chan racist meme is “la creatura” which is a Bad Spanglish way of saying it in reference to the “ultra mixing” where they think mixing *too much* racially and ethnically, will corrupt the gene pool. That specific word is the dog whistle, it is not a normal Spanish word.
If you search “La creatura” online *right now*, related image tag terms that show up is mestizo, mulato, zambo, and mestizaje. “Mestizo” is a racial hierarchy term in Latino America with a history of anti-blackness and being anti-native, meaning mixed white and indigenous people, where Spaniards believed whitening out the native population would make a superior race through “mestizaje” that could keep the inferior races in check even in colonies with lower white populations, an extension of white supremacy. Mestizos were slightly below whites but above asian people, native people, and finally black and black mixed people (who were at the bottom). “Mulatos” are black + white mixed people, and “Zambos” (related to “Sambo”) are black + native mixed people and they are both slurs, unlike Mestizo. Read about mestizaje and the racial hierarchy of Latino America if you don’t believe me. [You might ask why I call myself “black ‘mestizo’” if this is the case, but I am reclaiming a term with anti-black anti-native connotations as a black native from Latino America and I am still racialized as black and native, which is not the same as the original purpose, so don’t try to discredit me on this.]
The images that will show up most in a search are (in order of frequency) :
1) Racist memes and racist caricatures.
2) Photos of black, jewish (even if speculated), native, and fat people (4chan sees fatness as a sign of having bad or degenerated genes).
3) Edits of the original meme.
4) The french language version of a dog SCP (Not relevant).
The first version of the “la creatura” screenshot that was circulating on tumblr was a black humanoid blob that looks monsterous. The connotations of which should be obvious by now. People on here thought THAT was an innocent meme and circulated edits like the hamster meme and the kirby funko pop meme to the point people think it’s an innocent meme. So yes, it is a dog whistle that flew over people’s heads even when it was being pointed out from the start that it was bad, and now it’s integrating into the vocabularies of people that don’t know anything about the original context.
