Another ironic story out of the UK

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The UK pretty much sucks when it comes to free speech. They just fail, over and over again.

Tapping the sign:

This time, a V-Tuber in the UK was arrested for possession of her own drawings.

Your imagination likely went to one of two places: cartoons of Muhammad, or drawings of naked people. It’s the latter.

UK based V-Tuber Mimi Yanagi issued a public statement on X, letting her following know that she was out on bail after having been arrested for possession of her own drawings. Her electronic devices were seized, including the ones she used as a professional V-Tuber. What’s more, as per her bail conditions, she was to use an approved handle, may only post SFW content, and must be transparent with her content.

Because it’s British police we’re talking about here, I don’t feel inclined to give the benefit of the doubt. They probably saw an opportunity to score some sweet loot, and Mimi is probably not going to see it again.

“A Go Pro? Little Harry always wanted to be a streamer! A £3500 gaming rig? Guess who’s not spending on Christmas presents this year? LED illuminated mouse and keyboard? Yoink! Why’d she have two monitors? Now she’s got naught!”

Allegedly, the drawings contained characters which Mimi herself imagined, and were of the rule 34 variety. In the UK, such images are illegal to produce, distribute, or even possess, even if the characters depicted are clearly fictitious.

This is one of those matters where, if you have a free speech perspective, you choose your words with care if you’re trying to avoid looking like some kind of creep. But considering that the whole matter was victimless, to arrest anyone over it is silly. Even if the art in question inspires an ick vibe for most people, it’s still just drawings.

But there’s an irony to this that can be pointed out. And you probably know what it is.

The UK has a problem with migrant Islamic rape gangs. And British police have infamously been looking the other way, for fear of being called racist.

In the graphic below, two are pictured. One traumatized a real-life British 12-year-old. The other drew pictures for herself and perhaps for other adults who were minding their own business in their own homes.

Can you guess which one got off without consequences, and which one got the legal equivalent of a spear tackle followed by a jackhammer slam?

If the UK wants anyone to take them seriously, they’d leave the poor woman be, and give her back all her devices. She harmed no one.

Then, they’d go after all the Islamic migrants who actually are victimizing little girls. One would think British police care more about the fictitious plight of fictional girls, than that of real girls from among their own people.

Stabbed teen cuffed by British police over racism allegation dies in custody

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Normally, when I comment on this sort of thing, I start off with the facts of the case, then go on a little rant. This time, I’m going to flip matters on its head, and start with a rant, then I’ll get into the story.

I’m getting sick of seeing people on my side of the culture war black-pilling just because their enemies have a plan, and the first steps have already been taken.

This is even the case when it comes to Islamic migrants, whose plan largely comes down to, “We’re going to walk right in, rape out of control, your government is going to give us housing and your money, then we’re going to implement Sharia law so your freedoms go bye bye and this becomes yet another graceless Islamic theocracy.”

Then the blackpillers collectively throw their hands up, as though the only expectation is that everyone who might otherwise resist will just get one one side and just take it up the wazoo.

The fact is, the idea of one’s own country turning into a place where their own daughters cannot safely walk down the street is not something that most people would be willing to tolerate. And when they find out that that’s what’s going on, they’re going to fight back, and they’re not going to give a shit whether anyone calls them racist.

There will be a time that the UK can look back on as the turning point, the point in time in which Brits can agree is when they’ve decided that they’re done being abused by migrants, the corrupt ruling class, and the TikTok-brained and their threats of calling them racist.

This story would be that turning point.

The irony is, the offender in this story wouldn’t be a Muslim. It would be a Sikh. But he still suffices as a figure for cultural incompatibility.

A 23-year-old Sikh man has been charged for the murder of an 18-year-old British student, using a Sikh ceremonial dagger.

While the murder is already sickening, the very fact that the murder was carried out using a religious implement could be more ironic. But, it gets worse.

While the murder was being carried out, the murderer, Vickrum Digwa, shouted “racism”.

Between the stabbing and the allegation of racism, can you guess which one British police responded to?

Too easy. The police cuffed the boy who was stabbed, even as he was bleeding out as a result of the attack. The killer’s mother took the weapon home with her. The 18-year-old died in police custody.

Yeah. That actually happened.

British police are already famously unreliable when it comes to any complaint of violence on the part of a minority. But they are aggressive in their pursuit of social media and speech wrongthink. It’s gotten to the point where the UK has received the dubious honor of being the global leader in arrests for online comments, greatly surpassing China and Russia.

The British have evidently become tired of the way things have been trending, as evidenced by the fact that the new right-wing Reform party has swept the recent British election, beating out all other parties, including the established Labor party, which lost seats. They also soundly defeated a new green party which pandered to constituents more sympathetic to Islam.

In fact, I’ve never seen a new party win as convincingly as the new Reform party. And they might perform even better, now that Brits are coming to realize that they’re not alone in their own country.

British police may be a farce, and some people may blackpill over that. But it’s not over until it’s over.

The Video Game Question

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It’s a question that keeps coming up on social media: What to women have against men playing video games?

It’s a question that stirs up conversation as often as it does because, as much time as men spend around women, the way that they think is still a mystery to us. In this post, I’m going to attempt to answer this question.

Much of the mystery comes down to a lack of theory of mind. The fact is, men and women are different, and those differences extend to the way that we think. And it’s not bad that men and women are different, as those differences play a significant role in bringing us together (and contributing to the continuity of our species).

To get right into it, let’s look at video games in terms of their most frequently-recurring elements: Hunting, gathering, combat, problem solving, strategizing, and resource management. These elements tend to appeal more to masculine players. That’s not to say that women can’t find such elements interesting. In fact, many of them do. But the deal is, these elements appeal more to men than women.

Women are drawn more to relationship intrigue. While such games exist, they are few in number, and don’t get much attention.

Considering this, it becomes easier to understand why women don’t seem to understand why men seem to like video games, or could spend hours at a time playing them. And when you look at women in terms of what they’d be better adapted to, this starts to make intuitive sense. Women are not the hunter-gatherers of the tribe, they are the home and relationship builders. To them, video games that appeal to masculine sensibilities are something abstract.

In the same sense, this is why women have a stronger tendency to assume that while you’re at work, you’re not actually working, or that what you do for work isn’t as meaningful as the work that they do at home. It’s because they view what they do as meaningful, and perhaps have a better understanding of the meaning of homemaking than you do.

Perhaps it’s because of masculine bias, but I have an easier time seeing the value of building buildings, paving roads, running businesses, maintaining infrastructure, engineering, manufacturing, running businesses, and keeping society going. I suppose that that’s a perspective that’s normal for a male to have. Yet, women might not as clearly see that work as meaningful as the work that they do for homes and communities, or they at least better see the value of it. That would be yet another meaningful difference between men and women.

Another question that comes up that stirs up conversation ask women: If you were in the woods, would you rather meet a man or a bear? This is called “the bear question”. And it’s a question that turned controversial because a surprising number of women chose the bear, which left men wondering why. And many assumed misandry.

Yet, their answer becomes more understandable (if still silly) when you understand the way women think, and the framing of the question.

The way that the question is framed has to do with the setting: in the woods. What kind of man would most likely be encountered in the woods? A random hiker. Which, from a feminine perspective, would likely be considered a low-status male. And, in her consideration, there would be a non-zero chance that she would bear his child as a consequence of that encounter.

Women are more adept when it comes to relationships, which is why feminine warfare has to do less with kinetic warfare, and more to do with GSR (gossiping, shaming, and rallying). What’s advantageous to a woman is what promotes their social status. And among these is to be in a relationship with a high-status male.

The kind of male that would be encountered in the woods would likely be a low-status male, and women would perceive danger in that!

Then there’s the bear. As mentioned above, women are not the hunter-gatherers of the tribe. Thus, the danger that a bear would represent might not be something that women are as well adapted to recognize. As men see it, to survive a fight with a bear is considered a legendary feat. After all, bears are capricious engines of death, and even if the human is armed, the bear usually has an immense advantage.

If the question were to be reframed, the answer would likely become more consistent. “If you were in an executive boardroom, would you rather meet a man or a bear?” The number of women who would select the man would approach 100%.

When it comes down to it, the answer to the video question is that men and women are different, and there are reasons for those differences.

But the question that I have for women right now is this: Why do men have a strong preference for women who are more open-minded when it comes to the things that men like?

Democrat Running for Senate Arrested For Threatening President and a Member of Congress

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“Be kind”. LOL.

It’s only been days since the last attempt on the president’s life, bringing the count up to about 3 or 4, and we already have yet another spaz issuing threats to a Republican lawmaker, his family, and the president.

Here’s what we have from WPXI:

An Allegheny County man is accused of threatening to kill President Donald Trump and a member of Congress.

They identify him as Raymond Chandler. But they left out an important detail: he’s a Pennsylvania Democrat running for Senate!

Now, why would they leave out something like that? Why did WPXI deem that to be extraneous information, in this political climate?

Here’s Raymond Chandler, pictured below:

Oh, sorry. That’s not him. My bad. Here’s the real Raymond Chandler:

The guy looks like he’s only a viking helmet away from stealing the Ox King’s look. But while he marketed himself as a wholesome guy wearing a bow tie and suspenders, there’s a dark side behind this carefully manufactured persona.

Courtesy of The Gateway Pundit, here is a message that he sent to a member of Congress:

“Sir, I have, uh, I’m calling this morning ’cause I want you to imagine a scenario. I want you to imagine a scenario where all the 1,200 billionaires in this country, all their properties, are surrounded simultaneously by a thousand people.”

“So imagine your house, your daughter’s house, everyone you know and love who is also rich. Imagine every single one of those homes being surrounded by a thousand people.”

“Then imagine them all getting a text and then, then suddenly taking out their pocket knives, walking slowly towards your house with 10, you got your 10 guards or whatever against a thousand people, and then they come and they pull you out of your house and they slit your throat and they slit your daughter’s throat and they slit everyone’s throat. That you know, sir, that is the future…”

This comes off as a sick fantasy that a middle schooler would have if they were dumb enough to take Hasan Piker seriously. It’s also characterized by the kind of equivocation that is a hallmark of leftist thought. Like the mafia member who says “it would be a shame if something happened to your store” in an effort to extort protection money, Raymond could attempt to say that it wasn’t him specifically who would be behind the hypothetical attack.

To understand equivocation goes a long way in understanding how leftists communicate.

Chandler’s motivation was that “wealth concentration has gotten so bad in this country,”. A country in which, by the way, nearly every resident has climate control, emergency healthcare, refrigeration, electricity, a connection to the summation of human knowledge, supplemental food assistance, access to vehicular transportation, unlimited free entertainment, and in nearly every respect lives a better lifestyle than a king would have centuries ago.

Some people are simply envious. No matter how well they have it, they will always want more.

Chandler left a voicemail for a congressman, stating a desire for the congressman to assassinate the president. While this is in a cruder form, it’s yet another expression of how leftists use telecommunications to attempt to influence other people into doing things.

So much for the wholesome image that Raymond was going for.

He also said that the president is “a liar among all liars. He’s a great deceiver. He’s the antichrist,”. He was going for it with the religious-flavored language. Which often means that someone needs to calm down.

Considering this, and the recent uptick in left-wing violence, there’s something that I’ve been thinking about. I suspect that if Trump ran against Hitler, leftists would have voted for Hitler.

That might sound preposterous. But suppose that Hitler had his name and appearance changed. The only thing that would remain the same would be Hitler’s policy positions. Under these conditions, it becomes more reasonable to expect leftists to vote for the Socialist leader.

Defective: The Cole Allen Manifesto

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There is a certain risk that we become increasingly desensitized by the continual bullshittery. But as things like this occur over and over again, it’s not a bad idea to remind ourselves that events like this are still newsworthy.

Just over this weekend, some leftist piece of work bum rushed the White House Correspondence’s Dinner, firing off, and only managing to hit one officer, who is expected to make a quick and full recovery by reason of the bulletproof vest that he was wearing.

Pictured above is Cole Allen, a California school teacher who viewed it as his duty to carry out the brazen attack. And thanks to New York Post, we have his manifesto to tell us just how senseless he really was.

You can follow the link to read the full manifesto. I just wanted to comment on a few things about it.

I could be more surprised than I am that something so dimwitted could be written by a California school teacher. But by the time I got through it, I had the idea that perhaps he got his education through continual hand-ups just for looking different and playing the victim at strategic points, and that doing so didn’t do society any favors.

For one thing, he opens with the confession that what he was about to do was going to upset and disappoint a lot of people who know him personally. That should have been taken by Cole himself to indicate that what he intended to do was a bad idea, and that he shouldn’t have gone through with it. Many such things would have indicated as much, but considering that manifestos from infamous criminals usually indicate that they tend to view themselves as heroes, Cole’s manifesto stands out for its confession of the foolishness of his planned crime, but rather than elect to not disappoint and upset everyone around him, Cole attempted murder.

Cole Allen’s next failure of intellect is his presumption of collective guilt, which is against the principles of justice in Christianity and the United States. Which goes to show that he did not allow the surrounding culture to impart its virtue upon him.

The fact is, no one bears the guilt for anyone else’s crime. Not only does Christianity recognize this, and informs how the United States handles justice, collective guilt is a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a fact that one would expect one to comprehend if they were employed in academia.

But it gets worse. Because the very charge that he levies is bullshit:

“And I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.”

Like anyone else who believes such things about Trump, Cole Allen is gullible and intellectually defective. But not everyone who peddles such untreated sewage actually believes it. As I often say, much of the internet is trying to get other people to do things.

When someone wants something done, but doesn’t want to get their own hands dirty, they try to get other people wound up, so that they do it, instead.

It’s easy to see where Cole Allen was in that relationship.

Cole continued on by outlining his priority of targets, at the top of which were administration officials, followed by anyone who would act to protect them. At this point, it should already be clear that Cole was motivated by political ideology. But I still expect the usual suspects to disingenuously pretend that they have no idea what could have possibly motivated the latest in a long string of violent leftists.

After this, Cole listed some anticipated objections to his planned crime, followed by his own rebuttals to these objections. These largely come down to building up strawmen, so he could then tear them down. A couple of the points he attempted to make indicated a certain disrespect towards Christianity, which isn’t a surprise, as indicated by his application of his belief in collective guilt.

A more intelligent person would have immediately understood the fallacies that Cole employed, and understood that such misguided reasoning was certainly not worth attempting murder over. That Cole Allen became a school teacher would seem an anomaly. But that there’s something wrong with California’s public education system doesn’t defy the imagination.

Based on everything I’ve read in the manifesto so far, it wouldn’t surprise me if Cole Allen had the early stages of kuru or some other neurodegenerative disease. His manifesto, and his attempted crime, don’t seem consistent with what one would expect from a school teacher.

Cole published his manifesto shortly before the attempted assassination. Just before doing so, Cole added a post script, in which he boasted about how far he had gotten with his plan, which he attributed to failures on the parts of security. Ultimately, the greatest failures were with him. But it can still be amusing to see how a known failure had taken a misguided comfort in his own illusory superiority.

More details about the failure that is Cole Allen are coming to light. As this happens, I would like to offer speculation as to what might have contributed to Cole Allen’s decision to attempt to assassinate administration officials.

I suspect that he was facing personal struggles. And some of them are likely to have been a consequence of taking on challenges that he was either unprepared or unsuited for.

Being a minority in California, Cole Allen was in an excellent environment for appealing with his minority status to acquire opportunities. What’s more, whenever he was at risk of failure, he could easily leverage victimhood status to acquire what he wants through pity. With numerous Californian educators not wanting to take the risk of being branded a racist, even if falsely, it’s easy to imagine that Cole could navigate the Californian education system with the social tools at his disposal.

However, if a school system graduates a student who’s not really prepared for employment, they’re not really doing that student a favor. However long one may kick the can down the road, there will come a time when a person must contribute real value, or else just give up.

Even if Cole had value to contribute, it remains that life is often not easy, even for those with substantial intelligence. The fact is, we all have struggles. That’s a fact of life.

For those with an external locus of control, as Cole Allen apparently did, it’s easy to blame other people for their problems. Student loan debt? It’s probably because the system took advantage of you in some way. Rent too high? It’s probably because the landlord is being greedy. In bad health? It’s the food industry’s fault for making unhealthy food so accessible. Those with an external locus of control tend to struggle more with their problems because they tend to ignore where they have some amount of control.

And they tend to view themselves as victims. And following this reasoning to extremes, they may lash out at the people that they view as victimizing them, even if they seek some other justification. For example, trying to become a hero for other people.

Cole Allen was probably facing a failure that he had no apparent options for avoiding. His teaching award was evidently a sham. He probably couldn’t measure up to other teachers in a true meritocratic environment. He certainly wasn’t a success as a game designer.

Derp.

But rather than fail in the way that was foreseeable, he decided to fail in his own way: by going down in flames. But while he certainly did, it didn’t happen the way he might have wanted.

“Stay in school, kids.”

It’s apparent just how well school served him.

Guy went cray-cray.

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I was thinking of challenging myself with this one. No mentioning Reddit, anime, or Milhouse. But nope, I’m going straight for the low-hanging fruit.

Time has not been kind to Bart’s best bud. But while most such people would have been content with Reddit moderation and anime, Jason Thomas Nichols has decided to don a trenchcoat and go anime t-shirt vigilante.

First of all, it’s a terrible idea to try to confront someone at his home, even if you think a crime is being committed there. The guy’s comically huge schnoz could have easily been deleted. And if it happened in Texas, pretty much every feature from the nipples up, as well.

Knowing this, it’s easy to appreciate what it means that he’s still alive after Nichols had an apparent break with reality, imagined that one of his neighbors was somehow endangering his own daughter, then attempted to kick down the door with his shitty-ass flip-flops.

Then, when the guy was being ignored and told to leave, he went completely berserk:

The guy kicked at the door with such confidence that it would give to his strength that he sent himself flying backward.

And it didn’t end there. The lunatic had somehow succeeded in gaining entry into the house, and the resident succeeded in holding him off with a shovel:

Jason introduced himself as Harry Dresden. I had to look up who that was, and apparently, it’s a fictional detective wizard. So apparently the guy had some sort of Harry Potter adjacent fantasy, or something. I don’t know, and I don’t much care.

But what he has now is four felony charges and bail set at $35,000.

Right now, the question people are eagerly answering is what would have become of the guy if he tried this at their house. And by the looks of his physique, you could do just about anything you want, even with your bare hands. The guy was loud, but also a bundle of impotent rage.

If it were my house, there would have been a non-zero chance that he’d have died the anime-style death that he might have preferred. Look up what an odachi is if you want an idea of how little I’d mess around.

Made In Abyss Theory: The Fate of Aki and Tiare

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Chapter 72 of Made In Abyss dropped just days ago, and it’s one of those chapters with immense lore significance.

Before continuing, a bit of a disclaimer: There will be huge spoilers ahead for the Made In Abyss manga, up to chapter 72 (current as of this posting), and for the video game, Made In Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness. If you wish to discover the surprises yourself, don’t continue reading this article.

With that out of the way, let move on.

At the beginning of chapter 72, Riko reveals that she plundered an artifact from the remains of Cravagli which allow her to view a recorded visual message that he left, which functions like a video.

As the video plays, Cravagli shares lots of lore information. Of it, what I’m focusing on is his mention of a cave raider assassin who doesn’t just slay cave raiders, they make it so that no one even remembers them anymore.

As disturbing as this ability is, what comes as a surprise is who ends up being the assassin: the Hail Hex faction led by Srajo the Mysterious. And what’s more, cave raiders from Belchero Orphanage are among those slain who have had memories of them erased!

Srajo doesn’t issue a denial. Instead, she points out that the many whistles that she wears belonged to cave raiders which she wiped.

This doesn’t sit well with Reg, because some of the cave raiders might have also been with the orphanage. But Srajo points out that, because Hello Abyss passed the test with Nishagora, she doesn’t view them as a threat.

Suddenly, Ozen is back to being the kindest White Whistle that the group has meet so far, just as she had warned. But for the time being, Srajo doesn’t seem like an enemy.

But now, the Made In Abyss community is brainstorming just who among the cave raiders from Belchero Orphanage may have been slain by Hail Hex, whether Riko or Reg may have otherwise remembered them, and whether they were orphans, themselves.

But I have an idea of who one of Srajo’s victims may have been. And it’s not a nice theory.

Among those deleted may have been none other than Aki, the protagonist of the Made In Abyss video game, Binary Star Falling Into Darkness.

For those unfamiliar with the game’s story, it initiates months after Riko departed with Reg. At the outset, there are multiple new cave raiders among the orphans. Among these being, Tiare, Dorothea, Raul, and the protagonist, Aki.

The events of the game seem anachronistic, favoring fan fantasy over consistency with the manga. Though this seems to be the case, the game was made with direct supervision of the Made In Abyss series author, Akihito Tsukushi.

Initially, Riko and Reg are well ahead of Aki in their expedition. As one would expect. But then, something interesting happens: Aki crosses paths with Riko and Reg in the 4th layer, at some point before the pair meet Nanachi.

Considering that Riko is trying to speed run her way to the bottom, while Aki has made multiple returns to the surface, this shouldn’t be possible. But, we might have a hint at an explanation in Nishagora’s off-hand comment about how time flows differently around Riko’s group, though we didn’t get an explanation.

As Aki’s adventure continues, he eventually meets Bondrewd and Prushka, before Riko gets to meet them. And afterwards, Aki becomes a White Whistle, and descends into the sixth layer, apparently before Riko did.

That’s difficult to explain unless the “time dilation” is actually a “time warp”, which I already did a theory on. While the theory is dated, some elements of it might still hold up.

Not only did Aki meet Riko and Reg, he was also present for Hablog’s conversation with Nat and Shiggy about Bondrewd the Novel. A conversation he wasn’t present for in the manga.

Because he wasn’t a character in the manga, and Binary Star wasn’t canon? Or was it because both the manga and the game were both canon, and the game was showing us what really happened?

So far, things are looking bad for Aki. And not just him, but also Dorothea and Tiare. And let’s not forget Raul… Oh, wait…

So, is there some way out for Aki? A way that allows him to live, and be remembered? After all, many players sent him beyond the absolute boundary. We’d like to think we did him a favor.

Well, you can probably breathe a sigh of relief. Srajo herself said that she wears the whistles of the cave raiders she erases. And Aki is a White Whistle. See any white whistles among the one Srajo wears, besides her own?

Of course, it’s possible that Srajo might choose not to wear it. After all, for a White Whistle to slay another one might be scandalous.

But don’t worry, because that’s not all we have that exonerates Srajo, and allows Aki to live.

The ending for Binary Star doesn’t tell us much about what Aki does after his descent into the 6th layer. But it does tell us that he gets a reputation, and a White Whistle title: The Sovereign of Phantasms, Aki the Unseen.

Simple logic goes that a person cannot have a reputation if there’s no memory of them, as a memory is necessary for a reputation. And because a memory of Aki exists, he didn’t have a run-in with Srajo which ended in a bad fate.

Right? Right?!?

But as for what comes next, we’ll be waiting for the next issue to see. And it could be months before that happens.

The Courtroom Crashout

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We have another special one. And this time, a lawyer who is a literal woman with a beard went on a full-on crashout in a courtroom.

Caught on camera:

Commenters were quick to say that a woman taking testosterone led to the crash out. That’s plausible, as many people who turn trans end up taking hormones that have an effect on their behavior.

As an aside, if it turns out that there is some kinda parasite that causes people to turn trans, I thought of a name for it: parasite Steve.

If you get the reference, great.

Some highlights:

Let’s hear it for the man who baited the lawyer, causing her to sperg out, thus ending her career. Yup. The woman shortly after closed her law office:

Wow, that’s her banner? I’d be embarrassed to hire her.

Like many people who get their worldview from TV, she seemed to assume that being male means acting like a hot-headed fuckbelch. She seemed to miss that real men control their passions, rather than be controlled by them.

Imagine being the guy who legally pushes a lawyer to the point that she destroys her own career. You don’t have to deserve what you drink, but it does make it taste better. And in his case, whatever he drank to celebrate had to have tasted great.

And that look on his face tells me that he knew exactly what he’s done.

Absolute legend.

Another highlight would be where the woman brought the fact that she’s trans into it, entirely unprompted, for no reason other than that she perceived some advantage to be had in doing so.

And what’s more, she demanded female officers when she was being arrested. Perhaps because she had less expectation that they could successfully subdue her. Or it could be that she was doing whatever she could to make things difficult, equivocating between her declared and her actual gender depending on the perceived advantage. As much as I might like to imagine that the woman had a stressed-induced reboot to a previous software version.

One point that I’d like to make is that, to contradict what some people are saying, it is true that a person can still speak, even to the point of calling out for help, when their respiration is not sufficient to sustain life. The whole “if you can talk you can breathe” deal is a myth which needs to be put to rest. Hopkins sounded like a dumbass, don’t you go sounding like one, too.

But whatever you said today, it probably wasn’t nearly as stupid as Hopkins’ career-ending crashout.

The fact is, we live in a world with selection pressures. When there’s a lot at stake, no one is obligated to humor someone else’s delusion. Reality doesn’t concern itself with who it pulverizes underfoot in its inexorable march, not does it even slightly slow down.

Reality marches on.

Romeo and Juliet was a boring, crappy book.

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The following post on X was brought to my attention by NotTheBee, a humor page which was originally founded to commentate on news stories that sound made up, but were actually true. Today, it’s more of a right-wing social commentary site focusing on current events and random social media posts. Intermittently, it makes boomer posts bemoaning the passing of days gone by, including ignorant Matt Walsh like takes on anime.

One of their recent posts brought up a social media post which included a rant from a high school English teacher, who listed off things her students said about the book adaptation of Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet.

Which, by the way, is not the masterpiece that it’s been made out to be, and certainly doesn’t deserve to be elevated to the status of sacred cow, as it has been.

But we’ll let the students speak for themselves:

Remember that the boomer generation thought that Bernie Mac was funny, whose entire routine was making fun of the things his kids said and did. Even though they were his own children, thus their knowledge base was his responsibility.

How anyone expects a child to know something they haven’t been taught isn’t something boomers have explained, but that’s an expectation that too many of them seem to have.

Let’s break this down:

‘Was there time back then? Like did it exist when Romeo and Juliet were alive?’

This sounds legitimately stupid, so it’s natural that it would be selected to frame a rant about how stupid students are. If I were to give the benefit of the doubt, I’d guess that when the student said “time”, they meant “clocks”. Which would be a legitimate question to ask, if poorly-worded.

There would also be the assumption that Romeo and Juliet were historical figures, rather than works of fiction. This is also kinda understandable, in a way. Outside of manga, when I read books, it’s usually to be informed, not entertained. Most books, Romeo and Juliet included, are boring.

Though, having worked retail for a decade, I know that stupid people actually exist. If that student were legitimately stupid, they’d be just years away from harassing a poor store employee over something petty, all while their food bill is being paid for by the rest of us.

‘Oh, so you actually hate us.’ (I had asked them to get the books out).

Again, Romeo and Juliet is not a masterpiece. It definitely does not deserve to be placed above criticism. Thus, the student is valid in their feeling that they are being punished by being made to read that book.

Romeo and Juliet was adapted into a novel for the intention of entertainment. This was a self-defeating endeavor. Most novelizations are.

‘Is Shakespeare a real person because I thought he was maybe one of those Greek gods so I’ve been confused.’

A child cannot be expected to know something that they haven’t been told.

‘Bro’s a hella stalker.’

A cheap shot at Romeo. But the implied frustration at having to read his story is understandable.

‘Bro also has bad rizz’

I don’t have a woman’s sensibilities. But if a student believes that he lacks appeal, that’s an opinion that’s valid.

Also, I know that Zoomer slang ignites the disgust of the cheap seats. If this is you, remember that you used to call things “sick”, “tight”, “fly”, “bangin'”, or “dope”. Get over yourself.

‘Oh, he wants that hottie huz, huh?’ (this is about Romeo pursuing Juliet)

Believe it or not, people want to have sex. That’s why they get into the kind of relationship that Romeo pursued. His desire was natural and human, and to point it out is to make a simple observation.

The teacher probably cares about the slang. For the most part, I don’t.

‘Romeo is hella cringe, get him off my screen.’

Agreed.

‘We don’t need subtitles, we’re not old.’

What’s wrong with this statement? We’re talking about high school students. If none of them are hearing impaired, then subtitles for what they are hearing is entirely unnecessary.

Needless subtitles create the habit of a person’s eyes drifting downwards in conversation, which can be awkward. But if someone is caught doing that, then they have high school English to blame.

It seems as though making Romeo and Juliet required reading in school has led to an epidemic of student complaining. The solution to this problem seems obvious. To me, at least.

And that would be to stop making Romeo and Juliet required reading.

Easter isn’t pagan, either.

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It was only weeks ago that I became aware that there were Muslims taking to Christmas markets and social media with the claim that Christmas was an observance with pagan origins.

Looking into the matter, I found out that this was not true. And the irony of that was that I had previously believed it to be the case. All Muslims had to do was keep quiet on the matter, and I would have been among the few who continued to believe the claim that they were considering making.

Since then, I’ve decided to expand my research to include investigating claims that the celebration of Easter is a pagan observance.

Being someone who actually believed this, I’m familiar with many of the claims that are made to support the allegation. This might bring a perspective to the topic that those investigating it might not often hear.

Before getting into it, there is a little something more that I’d like to point out, which might have some irony to it. It’s the fact that it’s often stated that Easter is a pagan observance, even in academic environments, and it’s treated as a statement of fact with little inquiry, as though it’s a given that early Christianity decided to allow pagan observances to be incorporated into Christianity, so as to not discourage people from converting, or disrupting their lives too much.

Here is what we’re being asked to accept: That early Christians were okay with syncretizing pagan observances, so as to avoid undue hardship. This is supposedly the same Christianity whose early converts were killed in great numbers. If you’re up for some difficult reading, look up how the Apostles died. None of them died peacefully on their beds.

Having said that, let’s evaluate some of the claims made about Easter by those who say that it’s pagan. There are more, but I think that touching on some of the more often-repeated ones would be expedient.

1. That “Easter” is a pagan name, therefore it’s pagan

I think that this claim quickly falls apart when you realize that Easter is only called “Easter” in the English language, and nearly all other languages call it by a variation of its original name, “Pascha”, which would be “Passover” in Aramaic. The only exception would be in German, in which it’s called “Ostara”. Pascha was observed by Christians well before Christianity was introduced to England or Germany.

From what we can tell, while it’s possible that there was a British god named Eostre, her name might’ve just been used to indicate springtime, similar to how the western world has named the first month of its year after Janus, without actually honoring the deity.

I suspect that if Easter had its name changed to the Aramaic Pascha, fewer people would make this claim. However, we’re not done with Easter (the goddess) yet, as she comes up in another claim.

2. That Eostre is linked to Ishtar and Semiramis

Okay, here’s the gist of this claim. That Eostre, from whom the English name of Easter comes from, is somehow linked to Ishtar, whose name sounds similar.

The same Ishtar who fell out of favor with the people of Egypt about 2500 years before Christianity was introduced to the British island, was honored by no peoples since, not even anywhere in the entire European landmass which separated Egypt from Britain.

Citation needed.

As if that wasn’t tenuous and unsupported enough, there are those who attempt to link Easter to the ancient Babylonian queen, Semiramis.

Many of the people who make such claims cite Alaxander Hislop’s “The Two Babylons”. The Two Babylons is a 19th century “work” that’s often criticized because its sources are not extant. But that’s what happens when you report hearsay as fact, or otherwise just make stuff up. Like giving Nimrod a fictitious wife in an attempt to make a tenuous connection between Catholicism and ancient Babylon.

Hislop and many of his contemporaries seemed to have a problem with Catholicism, which they believed that Easter originated from. While there are a lot of criticisms that one can have towards Catholicism, that’s not an invitation to just make stuff up.

One question that’s appropriate to ask is that if Hislop didn’t have extant historical sources for many of the claims that he made, how would he have been aware of these things, and why would he state them confidently? Considering that his book read suspiciously like a parody of some of the over-the-top religious claims which were popular at the time, The Two Babylons seems suspiciously like parody. Yet, it seems that wasn’t the case.

Exodus 23:1 tells us, “You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.”

If Hislop were aware of this, he probably would’ve been more hesitant to write The Two Babylons.

Don’t use The Two Babylons as a serious historical source.

3. That the Easter Bunny is pagan, and linked to Eostre

Seems we’re not done with Eostre, yet. A common claim about the Easter Bunny is that it’s associated with Eostre. This isn’t true, but that doesn’t mean that the claim isn’t made.

Because Eostre keeps coming up, I get the idea that she’s significant to claims that Easter is pagan in origin. So, you know what? We’re going to go full-tilt. I’m going to present every historical mention of the goddess Easter from every ancient historical source that we have access to.

Hope you’re ready, because by the time we’re through this, you’re going to know all the information we Eostre.

For our first source, the 8th century Bede, who was present as the British were introduced to Christianity:

…and ‘Easter-month’, which is now interpreted as the Paschal month, since it had the name from a goddess of theirs who was called Eostre, and they celebrated her festival in that (month); now they give the Paschal season a nickname after her name, referring to the joys of the new solemnity with a word customary for the old observance.

Bede, De temporum ratione

And that’s it. That was the last source. Exhausted?

Now, in that long exposé, notice where it says anything about rabbits? Me neither. In fact, it would seem like Eostre wasn’t associated with any animal in particular.

It’s said that rabbits were seen as fertility symbols. And while that’s plausible, there doesn’t seem to be any link to the use of rabbits as fertility symbols with their use in Easter.

We’ve been dancing around it; let’s get to the heart of the matter. We know where the idea for Easter Bunnies came from.

In Germany, there were actually many critters associated with Easter which delivered eggs (we’ll get into why eggs in a little bit). These basically acted like judges of children who were well-behaved, which got more eggs. Among the animals were a fox, a stork, and a hare.

The hare won out, because it was more popular. But eventually, the hare was replaced with the bunny, which is softer and fluffier.

So, no, the Easter Bunny is not pagan. It originated within Christianity, even if it’s not a central part of it.

4. That Easter eggs are an adapted pagan custom

In some cases, the imaginations of people are far darker than the reality of the matter. Skip the next paragraph, if you’re squeamish.

For example, I’ve heard the claim that pagans once colored eggs red using the blood of sacrificed children. If it were someone’s job to make Easter look as bad as they possibly could, that’s the kind of thing that they would make up.

This was possibly intended to be reminiscent of the fact that Christians used to dye eggs red to remind them of the blood of the sacrifice of Christ. Which sounds less grizzly, and wouldn’t be pagan.

But the reason why eggs is because it was on Easter that eggs were back on the menu.

Many Christians observed Lent. Sure, it’s not in the Bible, but some Christians did observe it. During those 40 days, eggs were among the prohibited food items. But hens continued laying them. So, some people would hard-boil them, so they’d last longer. Then, because Lent was timed to end when Easter began, people feasted on eggs, since they tended to have many, at that point.

When you’re aware of this, it’s easy to see how eggs became associated with Easter.

5. That hot cross buns are adopted from ancient Greece

It’s been accurately pointed out that ancient Greeks carved “crosses” into the tops of loaves. And supposedly, this was the reason for the cross shape in the icing of hot cross buns.

As someone who makes Irish soda bread, I can point out that there’s practical reason to cut a plus sign into the top of a loaf before baking. Some Irishmen say that it’s to let the fairies out, which sounds cute. But there is practical reason for the plus sign.

There’s actually two reasons. One is to control how the loaf expands, so it doesn’t split along the side, or otherwise expand unevenly. The other is to make the loaf easy to pull apart, for those who might want to do so.

So, when I hear that the Greeks sometimes cut a cross into the tops of some of their loaves, it makes intuitive sense to me why they would do that. And in some cases, they carved in an 8-pointed asterisk.

I know that some people would see a “cross” and think a religious symbol was what was intended. But sometimes, it’s not. There are people out there who think that a cross is a pagan symbol, just because it was once used by pagans as a religious symbol.

However, the crucifix could have easily been in the shape of an upright pole, with no intersecting beam. Or it could have resembled an uppercase “T”. These were also shapes of crucifix that Romans used. I’ve heard it said that an upright pole was once used as a pagan symbol. Does that mean that every instance of a pole is a pagan symbol?

A coincidental resemblance to a pagan symbol doesn’t make it one.

About 2 millennia after the ancient Greeks carved crosses into bread, a British baker decides to put crosses on his buns using icing. Different actions done for different reasons.

There’s a reason why an ancient practice is still used in baked goods to this day. It works.

But if you look at mundane baked goods, and think you see ancient Greek or Assyrian religious symbols, you might need to seek help.

So, no, hot cross buns are not pagan. Neither are Easter bunnies, or Easter eggs. Or Easter itself, for that matter, even if it might benefit from a name change.

While that might not be everything, that addresses the more significant claims. While it’s possible that there are dubious folk customs that made it’s way into Easter, if that’s so, then the problem would be with those customs, which wouldn’t make Easter as a whole pagan.

And as far as we can tell, Easter is not pagan.