SUMMER

hearing officials and public figures criticize biden openly on talk shows and seeing newspaper headlines sharply decry israel killing aid workers is making me feel kind of crazy. like it could've been like this the whole time. before 40,000 palestinians were killed and the infrastructure of gaza destroyed. it could've been like this when people gathered their children in plastic bags at al-ahli hospital, when a poet and his family were assassinated for a joke, when journalists buried their families on air, when children were targeted by drones on camera, when a little boy holding his grandmother's hand in one hand and a white flag in another watched her get shot and die in front of him, when a cameraman was left to bleed out with a live counter for hours while his rescuers were shot, when patients were bulldozed in their tents in the courtyard of a hospital, when four babies were left die and decompose alone in their hospital beds, when six year old hind rajab was crying for help trapped in a car with the corpses of her family on the phone with the red crescent for hours until she and the rescuers sent to get her were killed too.

OK since the person I was replying to isn't somebody I want to get into a discussion with ill make my own post about it. Little rant on the aesthetics of arcane vs writer intention ahead based on the use of child labour in the show.

Child labour in Zaun is normalised. Although it's less recognisable to the viewer as such because we're more used to child labour being as being depicted in factories or mines, all of the zaunite kids in act one s1 are child workers. Ekko works in Benzos shop, repairing and selling things. Vanders kids work as thief's, Oliver twist anyone?

Child labour is a feature of industrial boom historically, as well as the result of wealth inequality. Silco and the other chembarons further wealth inequality in Zaun and make use of child labour, but they invented neither. Zaun is Piltovers industry, the majority of factories and mines down there will be owned by Piltovans because that's a major source of wealth.

We never see the piltover owned factories even though logistically they must exist. Narratively there's no place for them to have shown this, however it does seem like the show goes out of its way to show the poor treatment of children and workers by the other Zaunites but leaves Piltovers hand in it unspoken. The most I have here is Silco speaking on the poor working conditions they had and Jayces lack of surprise in seeing children working, both in the factory and when ekko sold him goods. However, realistically Piltover would absolutely be hiring child workers in zaun and would have been the main contributer to the need for child workers to begin with.

I'm mostly making this point for two reasons. One because I've seen Silco criticised as the source of child labour in zaun which I think dumbs down what actually leads to child labour existing. The fact is, with wealth inequality at a severe level, children are forced to work to sustain their family, if not Silcos factories there would be work elsewhere or they would go hungry. This isn't me justifying his use of child labour, I'm only saying the issue would still exist without him because the root cause goes further back than him.

Two, because I've seen people arguing about the strike team and whether or not children would have been caught up in the factory raids. I don't think the writers intended for the strike team to have gassed child workers, I think it's an oversight on their behalf, but yes, even with the most strategic raids children would have been caught in the gray.

I've then seen people claim the children and the workers deserved that and I'm not even going to bother getting into that, babies first exposure to exploitation much?

Anyway, all of that is to say these arguments can go on forever because there's a discrepancy between the aesthetics of zaun and what the writers want us to believe about Piltover. The aesthetics tell us that Zaun is impoverished and exploited, that it's reminiscent of victorian England, it has casual police Brutality hidden in montages. When you think about the implications it gets messy and you realise that some of our good guys are complicit in some nasty things. I personally think that's good story telling.

But then you get to the writing itself and what they're telling is another story. That zauns issues are more caused by zaunites, that the piltover council has very little to do with their problems, that the strike team cannot possibly have hurt civilians because that would make Vi and Cait TOO morally gray. I see this as pretty lame writing, frankly.

This allows for people to be arguing on the show based on completely different perspectives. I completely get why people argue the strike teams efforts were necessary and caused very minor harm, because the writers intend us to take that away, to the extent of only showing a child harmed by the gray when Jinx reverses it. But logistically tons of Zaunite children would have been caught up in the gray too, its just glossed over because the writers don't want us to consider it.

and you keep reblogging me. instigation goes both ways.

i said, "let's have a discussion", in good faith.

you asked a question. i answered, in good faith.

then you miscontrued and misinterpreted what i said to make it seem like i agree with you, which i fucking don't. you broke the fucking good faith, and here i was thinking that maybe this might turn into something fruitful. just save me the trouble and tell me from the start that you are a fucking brat who can't take no for a fucking answer ever.

first of all, this post has never been about "ending the circle of violence" or whatever the fuck that shit show of an ending was trying to say. it's an irrelevant point to make that came out of nowhere. do you have a habit of stringing along every thought you have in your head and try to make it fit your narrative or did you never get the chance to learn critical thinking?

secondly, you are assuming that if i'm critical of the show i can't ever agree on any of its message. you assume that just because i don't agree with certain character arcs it means i have to be disagreeable to every single fucking thing said in the show. so basically i can't like something and be critical of it at the same time? so media literacy is dead now? say that again three times in your head, do you not find it fucking ridiculous?

and now, at this point of the conversation, you decide to throw in the "nuanced character" argument and accuse me of being performative, while this fucking conversation has never been about characters to begin with?

and whether or not i agree with how the show ends doesn't invalidate any of the things i just said, and if you can't grow a fucking brain cell big enough to comprehend that, then we're done here.

^^^———

It is WILD that you say “selling drugs and engaging in gang turf war does not make you not a citizen” as if that changes the fact that they’re still CRIMES.

I mean, if your logic is that Zaun is technically part of Piltover and thus falls under Piltover’s jurisdiction… committing a CRIME under their jurisdiction means you can suffer consequences from your actions. No? It doesn’t MATTER if you’re a citizen or not. Being a citizen doesn’t give you free rein to do whatever you want! You have to obey laws!

If I’m a citizen of a city in America, and I do a crime, the police of that city are allowed to take away my rights as a citizen. That’s what being a citizen in a functional society MEANS!

WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT YOU WEIRD ASS MOTHER FUCKERS????

Gallery of violence

2024 art series representing acts of violence of Kenjaku, Gojo, Sukuna, Yuji and Mahito

how many hoodies can i give this kid

I’m sorry if this is offensive and maybe I’m just really pea-brained, but I can’t grasp how someone can capture the raw appeal of men with such pinpoint precision while having zero attraction to them. Is it that you exclusively date women, hold a small amount of attraction to men, but just choose not to date them? Sorry if this is invalidating to you as a lesbian in any way. I know my share of being invalidated, given that I’m a bi woman, but I just had to know.

I’m not even remotely attracted to men and I never have been, I’m just a very good writer

his favorite view

Fushiguro…

A Yuuji I did the other day bc I just wanted to draw without thinking too hard :D

how to train your mercenary