Plasma333 - Untitled

Maybe it’s a product of being a fan of Naruto for near ten years now and considerably evolving in my perceptions of it, but it’s always strange to see how despite it being near as long since the main series ended, so many people still unabashedly miss the point. Naruto sympathizing with and talk-no-jutsuing almost every villain he comes face-to-face with isn’t an arbitrary thing that Kishimoto employs because he’s an incompetent writer. It’s a narrative device used time and time again to illustrate that there are truly no villains or heroes in this world, only victims who are the product of an exploitative, violent environment funded by the feudal-state system. Even the worst people we come to know in the narrative are a product of that environment and of the cycle of violence that refuses to be broken, so yes, empathy is the point, even for the villains who seemingly belong at the bottom of the barrel. Understanding their circumstances is about understanding the desolate environment that created them and how such an environment should never have existed in the first place. It’s never about excusing them for their actions. Recognizing that ultimately the system is to blame and not the individual people in it is vital to Naruto’s thesis as a whole. We can argue about whether the conclusions and sequels to the main series actually stick the landing with that thesis, but at least for the bulk of the main narrative, it is important and intended for readers to recognize that Naruto’s empathy for others is born out of social intelligence and compassion, not naïveté.

reblog for a bigger garden :)

Tech bros talking to creatives about ai

People talk about minimalism and all I think is white room torture

does consensual cannibalism count as veganism

Level 1: I didn't assume that these two words with similar spellings and related meanings share a common origin because I don't think about things like that.

Level 2: I'm completely certain these two words with similar spellings and related meanings share a common origin because it's fucking obvious just from looking at them, you absolute simpleton.

Level 3: I didn't assume that these two words with similar spellings and related meanings share a common origin because I know what a false cognate is.

I hate how people can openly complain about "overpopulation" in the global south and "low birthrates" in europe and japan

I know this has probably already been done, but consider: A stereotypical trope-heavy sitcom family, but it turns out that all the annoying toxic clichés that seem to be in play are actually subverted in ways that are conversely wholesome.

Like a husband who keeps making morbid, almost sadistic Boomer Jokes about how much he hates his mother-in-law. Turns out that his wife's childhood was wildly abusive, and it is entirely reasonable of him to not forgive people who tortured the love of his life when she was a child. Wanting to throw that horrid old witch into a wood chipper is the least that he could do.