Author Archives: Raizen

I liked them better when they were fiction.

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If you hate bugs, get ready to hate them even more.

Pictured above is what’s called an amaranthine deceptor. It’s a fictional insect from Made In Abyss. Its deal is that it inhabits the 6th layer of an environment called The Abyss. They imitate leaves, which makes them difficult to detect without careful attention. They won’t travel too far away from their nest, and spend much of their time just sitting on plants, resembling leaves.

The problem comes in when they receive a signal to attack. When this happens, they immediately swarm the area, attacking any critter that they can, trying to force themselves into any opening, such as their mouths. Once embedded, they live inside their host as parasites, slowly feeding on flesh, and trying to delay the death of the host so they can continue feasting on a living meal. Eventually, the host dies.

Though the bugs live in the 6th layer, they posed a problem when a number of them made a nest in the 4th layer. The party of protagonists had a brief encounter with them at the beginning of the film, Dawn of the Deep Soul, and haven’t been in a hurry to encounter more of them, since. Their danger classification is five stars (absurd).

“Okay,” you might be saying, “but those bugs are made up. If something like that actually existed, wouldn’t more people know about them?” If that’s what you’re wondering, then get ready to have your day ruined.

Pictured here is what’s called a cochliomiya hominivorax, also simply known as a screwworm. What’s its deal? When a pregnant female screwworm sees an open wound on a warm-blooded mammal, it goes for it, laying its eggs in the wound. It can lay hundreds of eggs at a time.

Oh, in case you’re wondering: Yes, humans are warm-blooded mammals.

When the eggs hatch, the larvae begin feasting on the surrounding flesh, burrowing deeper as it does, which is where it gets the name “screwworm”. Currently, the only option for treating a screwworm infection is surgery, which involves removing the little abominations, often one at a time.

At this point, the next question I imagine you have is, “Where do these monstrosities live, so I’ll know to stay away from them?”

At one point, they were common in the American southwest. But then, they migrated to the southeast as infected livestock were shipped. In the 1960s, Americans decided that they were tired of their buggy bullshit, so they released a bunch of lab-raised sterile male screwworms into the wild, causing females to bear unviable eggs. As a result, the screwworms were driven down to Central America, where they were no longer our problem.

Personally, I would have consented to their complete eradication, but it was still a job well done. There was a small outbreak in 2016 among endangered deer in Florida, but the outbreak was eliminated in 2017.

But now we’re talking about them, again. Why is that? Because there is a confirmed human case in the state of Maryland, and the victim is a traveler from El Salvador.

Screwworm populations have been monitored, and have become an increasing concern as they’ve been migrating steadily North, and have migrated as far as Mexico since an outbreak originating in Panama in 2023, which happens to be when unchecked mass migration was in full swing during the Biden administration.

But a human case as far North as the state of Maryland comes as a shock. Sure, we can release more lab-raised sterile male screwworms to fight back. But I don’t want those things coming back here, at all.

Because we’ve established that screwworms can make it to the US via infected travelers, aren’t they another compelling reason why unchecked mass migration is a horrendously bad idea?

Made In Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness Walkthrough Part 9: Achievements and Other Random Things

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Back to Part 8: White Whistle

The Steam and PSN versions have achievements and trophies respectively. They seem to be the same in both versions. The following is a list of trophies, with the secret ones on the bottom of the list.

There are 32 trophies, total. A huge chunk of these you can get by playing the game as normal, without going out of your way, and the rest aren’t huge trouble. So, this isn’t a bad game for farming trophies.

Binary Star (Platinum)
Obtain all trophies.

Start of a Legend (Bronze)
Clear HELLO ABYSS.
This would be the Riko-oriented mode which was optional as of version 1.0.3.

Red Whistle (Bronze)
Become a Red Whistle.
You know how some games award you a trophy just for showing up? Here’s the one for this game.

Blue Whistle (Bronze)
Become a Blue Whistle.

Moon Whistle (Bronze)
Become a Moon Whistle.

Black Whistle (Bronze)
Become a Black Whistle.

Last Dive (Silver)
Clear DEEP IN ABYSS.
This is for beating the game.

The Edge of the Abyss (Bronze)
Reach the first layer for the first time.
This can be considered a second “showing up” trophy.

Forest of Temptation (Bronze)
Reach the second layer for the first time.

The Great Fault (Silver)
Reach the third layer for the first time.

Goblets of Giants (Silver)
Reach the fourth layer for the first time.

Sea of Corpses (Gold)
Reach the fifth layer for the first time.

Abyss Master (Gold)
Visit over 40 stages.
A stage would be an area that the layers are divided into. Waterfall Gondola is an example of a stage that’s in the first layer. I counted 47 stages, total. If you’ve been playing the game as normal, then near the end, you should be most of the way there. An unvisited stage is noted as “???” on the map screen. Faded gates indicate entrances to unvisited stages on maps that connect to them.

Cave Raider Chef (Bronze)
Cook a dish for the first time.

Cave Raider Craftsman (Bronze)
Craft something for the first time.

Cave Raider Investigator-in-Training (Bronze)
Collected Information with the Monocular for the first time.

First Step (Bronze)
Obtained Relic for the first time.

Tier 4 Relic (Bronze)
Collected 10 Relics.

Tier 3 Relic (Bronze)
Collected 50 Relics.

Tier 2 Relic (Silver)
Collected 100 Relics.

Tier 1 Relic (Gold)
Collected 200 Relics.

Trainee Cave Raider (Bronze)
Learn a new skill for the first time.
By now, you’ve probably noticed that most of these are trivially simple to get.

Full-Fledged Cave Raider (Bronze)
Unlocked 10 Skills.

Artisan Cave Raider (Silver)
Unlocked 30 Skills.

Netherworld Star (Gold)
Unlocked 50 Skills.
The earliest you can pull this off is as a Moon Whistle at level 51, but if you go for it at Moon Whistle, as you may be spending points on skills that you might not prefer. It’s better to wait for Black Whistle or White Whistle, and develop skills that you might prefer to have sooner.

Trials of the Abyss (Bronze)
Be affected by ascension strains.

Completely Cursed (Silver)
Suffer the 1st to 5th layer’s strains.
If you’ve lost track of which layer’s strains Aki has taken, just go through the five layers in this game, one at a time, and trigger them. You can climb, walk up slopes, or simply rapidly jump in place.

There are 5 secret trophies. If you’re not sure what trophy you’re missing, it’s probably one of these.

White Whistle (Silver)
Become a White Whistle.
What’s that? You’ve become a legendary cave raider? Silver trophy!

Connected by the Abyss (Silver)
Clear Riko’s episode.
This refers to a questline involving Riko in the 4th layer, covered in the Moon Whistle Part 2 part of this guide.

Not Yet, Not Now… (Silver)
Clear Reg’s episode.
This questline become available in the Goblets of Giants in the 4th layer, after becoming a White Whistle.

My Own White Whistle… (Gold)
Defeat Detchuanga.
This optional boss is available in Sandy Ice Area 1 in the 5th layer in the post-game after obtaining a White Whistle.

Nnaaa… (Silver)
Receive Nanachi’s best dish review.
Sometimes, Nanachi asks for something to eat. Hamashirama Pot gets the best reaction out of her. You get the recipe for Hamashirama Pot for clearing a quest that’s available from Laffi when you’re a Black Whistle.

Other Random Things

Scanning the Sakawatari
The Sakawatari is probably the most challenging Notebook scan. It’s a huge bird located in Twin Falls in the first layer, and you can scan it after you get the Telescope, which is available after you get the Moon Whistle. It’s recommended that you bring a few ropes, some food that restores blue energy from climbing, and a supply of torches and/or smoke signals.

The Sakawatari can only be scanned from atop one of two pillars in Twin Falls, which takes some time to get to, and takes a lot of climbing. If it takes you a while to get atop one of the pillars, small primeval creatures will start to spawn in, and might interrupt you while scanning. If this is a problem, either light a torch or a smoke signal, and put it on the ground. If a torch, the small birds will be drawn to the light, and will leave you alone (unless you’re still holding it). The smoke signals are even better for driving away the small birds, as they’ll drive them away, allowing you to scan the Sakawatari undisturbed.

The Sakawatari flies in a large circle, and spends much of the time outside the range of even the 10x setting. But if you attempt to scan while keeping it in sight with your Telescope, you’ll start scanning when it comes into range, and as you continue scanning, you can get its Notebook entry before it leaves range.

As far as Notebook entries go, it’s pretty cool, and one that the game makes you earn.

The Patchwork Hat
I mention this, not because it’s a great item, but because many players are likely unaware that this item exists. You know how Shiggy gives you quests to either slay specific primeval creatures or show him relics? The Patchwork Hat is your prize for completing all these quests. I think many players just quit these quests at the one that has you slay an End Jumper, either because they don’t know what an End Jumper is, or because they are located on a cliff in the third layer, where the endeavor could be dangerous by reason of Madokajacks. By the time you reach the 5th layer, you’ll be able to finish up each of these quests.

As for the Patchwork Hat, it’s terrible. Sure, it’s not heavy, but its defense is low, and it doesn’t have a light, but you can put 3 equips on it. It’s largely just a trophy item to keep in the chest. But you can equip it if you want to, and you’ll have earned it.

About that loser…

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My opinion on this matter is going to be pretty predictable. I’ve waited this long because I’ve been waiting for the dust to settle, so that what’s likely misinformation becomes apparent for what it is.

There’s something that I like to do when it comes to mass murderers, and that’s to give them derisive nicknames, in an effort to reduce the legacy that they may have intended. This time around, the killer’s name was Robert Westman. Because he was pretending to be something that he was not, he changed his name to Robin Westman.

Yeah, he was trans. And he preferred female pronouns, but as you could probably tell, I’m not playing along with him.

Because his huge, massive jaw gives his entire routine away, his new name is Jawvious (portmonteau of jaw and obvious). That jaw looks like it could do some damage if it were dropped on someone.

That’s so Jawvious.

Because Jawvious was trans, hated Trump, hated Christians, and hated Jews, the left is panicking to try to get this hot potato out of their hands. But the deed is done, we have yet another mass shooting where the perpetrator believed their bullshit.

And, as was the case with the Nashville shooter, the target was children in a religious school which Jawvious had previously attended. And, as before, the killer had extensively documented their intents in a personal journal.

The choice of children as a target was evidently intended to maximize the societal damage of the attack. Nothing expresses hatred quite like destroying the future of a family and a society by attacking those who would carry families and society into the future.

If I were to speculate on what led Jawvious to attack those more innocent and better than himself, it’s my guess that he had a psychological disorder. But rather than getting the attention that he needed, Jawvious was instead fast-tracked down the trans path, possibly by mental health professionals who were given an incentive to do so. Thus, he continued thinking he was trans, because he was carefully and systematically gaslit into doing so, while anyone who could’ve talked some sense into him was discouraged from doing so by the potential to be charged with a hate crime. And as this was going on, Jawvious’ mental health disorder continued to fester, untreated.

Eventually, Jawvious arrived at the realization that he couldn’t ever actually become a woman, no matter how much magical thinking or surgical butchery he might undergo. But it’s likely that he was in a community which convinced him that this was what it took to become happy.

Combining this with his mental health disorder, whatever that may have been, and you find someone who is so bitter that he decides that other people shouldn’t get to grow up. While his decision was ghoulish to anyone with decent sense, and even to people who lack the same sense, such as Jawvious himself, he went through with it anyway, though he had at least a few days to think it over, and possibly change his mind. He did not.

In the past, as I’ve noticed that the trans movement was in decline, I pointed out that there would be people who I referred to as dead-enders. These would be people who invested so much social capital into the trans movement that after the movement falls into disfavor, as it has already begun to, that they wouldn’t be able to take the hit to their reputation which would come with advocating irreparable physical harm to children.

They took up the wrong cause. And now, they feel like they’re being backed up into a corner. They know that their position will be reduced to a scandal which will damage their political and influencer careers in the years to come. Some of them will never recover from it.

And that’s when they become dangerous. Some of them, feeling threatened, will turn violent, as was the case with the Nashville shooter.

It’s likely that we’ll see this again, and it will be far more likely to happen if professionals continue to ignore and normalize mental illness, which would be wrong and irresponsible of them, regardless of what has been incentivized for them.

Angry Lunatic Muslim Woman Freaks Out

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You might remember the old YouTube classic about the angry German kid who flips out while waiting for a computer game to load. We finally got a sequel, and it made its way to us before GTA VI did.

The following video shows us body cam footage of a woman who was just pulled over. She immediately starts ranting, proclaiming herself the victim because another driver wanted to kill her. And with her X-Men supercognition, she knew that the other driver had to be motivated by Islamophobia.

By the way, people can stop calling every criticism a “phobia”. That’s been going on for about two decades now, and it hasn’t gotten anywhere. Whether you think someone is motivated by fear doesn’t make you any less wrong. Move on.

The woman took out her iPhone and proceeded to record her conversation with the officer, being so full of herself that she thought the internet would side with her, which is ironic considering how things would end up playing out.

What’s really fascinating is that the moment the woman learns that she is going to be arrested, things turn religious. But not in a good way. She’s not bringing a message of love, or of patience. Nor is she bringing a message of salvation for all people.

No, she was being religious in a bad way. Her message is one of vengeance and vindictiveness. As she saw it, the arresting officers who were just doing their jobs were deliberately siding with a fallen angel, and will eventually pay a price.

Oftentimes, when someone is delusional, they’ll insist that they’re something special, like one of “the two witnesses”, or that they’ve discovered some great secret, or otherwise have some grandiose fantasy. As they see it, it’s because of this that some entity is out to get them, usually a powerful entity, such as the government, or demons, or a government that serves demons.

If demons were actually involved, it seems more reasonable to expect that they’d be messing with a person by feeding into a grandiose delusion, and convince them that the government is out to get them.

One thing that the woman reiterates is how special she is. That the officers aren’t supposed to “do this” to an Arab. How a male officer isn’t supposed to cuff her, or search her, or even touch her (the officers would bring a female officer to assist). It’s all an obvious and desperate attempt at evasion, knowing what’s coming and making it as difficult as possible, and proclaiming that there will be consequences if she doesn’t get her way.

One thing that’s particularly amusing about this is the implication that because she’s an Arab woman, she’s indemnified of all crimes. I wonder how long she might have believed this. If your belief is that you can’t be arrested, that’s a belief that’s going to go splat the moment it collides with reality.

And speaking of reality, it left the chat. As the woman is being driven to the station, she proclaims herself to be Muhammad. The Muhammad. And the officer lost his chance to bow down to her when he refused to take her orders.

You know about that seventh-century chomo warlord who claimed to be a prophet? That was Muhammad: A New Hope. That was old news. Now we’re talking about Muhammad: The Empire Strikes Back. This is the one without those stoopid ewoks.

I feel bad for anyone who dated her. That had to have been a nightmare. Of course, it’s possible that her genes benefited heavily from arranged marriages for generations.

Let’s be a little more serious for a moment. Based on what little I’ve seen of this incident, I suspect that drugs were involved. I suspect that the woman wasn’t always like the way she behaved in the bodycam footage, but some substance abuse, or possibly a side effect of medication, caused the woman to become disinhibited. When a person becomes disinhibited, their personality and beliefs usually don’t change. Instead, the person will become more candid with their beliefs, including those which they may have been too reserved to share. The woman’s erratic driving supports the hypothesis that controlled substances were involved.

If this is the case, then it follows that she had to have gotten the idea that she was special from somewhere. I suspect that such an idea may have been culturally impressed upon her, likely from her family, and likely from a young age. Under most circumstances, she would have known that sharing such ideas, some of which are racist, is usually not a great idea. However, if drugs were involved, she would have lost her inhibitions, and her ideas may have had grandiose elements added to them.

I would imagine that, if the woman were later sober, she would not have been happy to hear her own words played back to her. Especially if they were played back in a court of law.

If the woman were sincere in the delusions that she expressed, one could ask how she was able to function in society up until the point of her arrest. That’s not to say that it can’t happen. Back in my days of working retail, I’ve seen people of various degrees of interesting, but as far as I know, none of those people started trending on social media.

While it’s fun to imagine the crazy woman who goes from day to day thinking herself the modern day Muhammad, what we saw was probably just her worst moment. I say that as someone who didn’t much look into her case.

Whatever her background may have been, it likely fed significantly into what came to the surface, and when it did, it was quite a scene. Perhaps we’ll see more out of her, soon.

How did parents get so stupid?

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Why do parents pretend that it’s hard to monitor what their children are doing online? I’m not just asking for a friend, I’m asking for myself, and for everyone else who knows that it’s not the job of the connected world to babysit your kids.

It’s not like parents have limited time or attention. We live in a world where it’s easier to be a housemaker than it’s ever been, due to the sheer number of appliances that trivialize tasks that used to take all day.

You no longer have to spend all day dragging clothing up and down a washboard, then hanging clothes out in the sun to dry. You can put them in a washer and then a dryer, then you can just walk off as they do what they do, then put the clothes away when they’re done.

People today don’t even seem to know what a washboard even is, to the point that both instances of the word in this article could’ve been replaced by spellcheck.

You’re not going to spend hours washing dishes, either. Automatic dishwashers are a thing. You just put dishes in them with some detergent, then let them run.

Vacuum cleaners themselves are already a luxury of the modern age, but now we have robots that do the job for you. Just tell them to get started from an app on your phone, then let them do their thing. You might not even have to be home as it happens.

There’s more. But if your parents and grandparents can raise children without these things, what makes matters more difficult for you in this age of climate control?

So basically, a stay-at-home parent has all day, every day, to monitor their child’s online activity like a hawk. There’s no excuse not to, certainly not because they were distracted by soap operas or something similarly asinine.

But wait, it actually gets easier! In addition to doing your job as a parent and actually monitoring what your children are doing on the tablet or whatever, there’s actually software which restricts how children can use these devices, some of which can be trivially activated on the User Interface level.

And if you know how, you can actually install software that makes it easier to monitor them. You may disagree with keyloggers on principle, but if it’s used by a parent to monitor their child’s online activity as a supplement to being present as they use their devices, then it’s use is justifiable.

To get right down to it, for a parent to do their job as a parent is easier than it’s ever been, eliminating any excuse for being lazy in this regard.

It’s not the job of the internet to babysit your children. If we did, they’d probably turn out like us. Think about whether that’s what you want.

Working at Sears sucks.

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Currently listening: System of a Down – Toxicity

So I got enough for three packs of Pokemon cards. Or I can wait another 2 weeks for a volume of Azumanga Daioh. Life is good. But knowing me, another trip to Suncoast will result in me waiting longer.

Maybe I can distract myself with Metroid Prime 2. Still didn’t beat it.

Maddox did another article. It was funny, but he seems to be putting them up less often now. He’s trying too hard to sound smart.

Maybe Maddox can do an article on my neighbors. They’re yelling again. Do they think we can’t hear them?

(56k warning)

Currently, Deoxys is at level 63. They made it so that you’d have to beat the Elite Four a bunch of times to get to 100. A Lucky Egg would really help.

Zombie Watch: I saw sombody hobbling who had a piece of straw paper on her face. Turns out it was only an old person. But soon, the outbreak is going to happen! And when it does the flow of the era will be to those of us who prepared!

Thanks for reading. My exciting saga continues! Maybe I’ll go to Arby’s after this. Where the pull of Suncoast is even stronger…

PETA made a sound again.

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Nobody really takes PETA seriously, but that doesn’t mean that they won’t occasionally pipe in an effort to remain relevant.

This time, it’s about Mario Kart World, specifically, the Cow character.

From their tone, it doesn’t seem as though they object to the character itself, just to it’s choice of accessory, as indicated in their recent letter to Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa:

Dear Mr. Furukawa:

Greetings! I’m writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). PETA entities have more than 10 million members and supporters globally. We herd there’s a new star in Mario Kart World: Cow! She is already winning hearts everywhere—including ours. But one detail has us hitting the brakes: The brass ring in Cow’s nose. Would you please show empathy towards bovines and remove the nose ring? Here’s why this is so important:

Nose rings are used by the meat and dairy industries to exploit, control, and even drag animals to their deaths. These brass rings are crudely stabbed through the sensitive septum of cows and bulls, which can cause lasting pain and discomfort. The dairy industry will also clip spiked nose rings on baby cows so that the comforting act of nursing from their mother causes her pain and the baby is rejected and kicked away. To control bulls, a chain might be fastened from the nose ring to the bull’s horn for even more pain-driven control.

The brass ring in Cow’s nose glosses over real world violence and cruelty to animals. That’s why we’re asking you to give this beloved bovine a small but meaningful upgrade: Remove the nose ring and let Cow race freely- without any painful reminders of the industries that treat animals like profit-making machines.

Every animal is someone. So leave the rings to Sonic and let Cow breathe free!

They also made a graphic:

While we’re banning nose rings, let’s ban having women wear nose rings, as well. I’m kidding. Women are free to make themselves as unattractive as they wish.

But on that note, has PETA considered the opinion of the Cow on this matter? Maybe the Cow wanted to wear a nose ring. Maybe it considers nose rings fashionable. Or maybe it likes them.

For that matter, has PETA considered that the Cow in MKW is just a made-up character, and therefore can’t actually suffer? Besides, the Cow looks like it’s having the time of it’s life, riding around on motorcycles with a big smile on its face.

Personally, I doubt that Furukawa will even see PETA’s letter. But if he did, it would probably come off to him as another attempt by someone outside of Japan to influence Japanese media. And I suspect that the Japanese are getting sick of this.

When it comes to PETA and groups like it, you can’t give, even a little bit. Because if you do, that’s just going to encourage them to keep going with this kind of stuff. What you do is ignore them.

Or you ridicule them. That would definitely be a correct way to answer them.

Congratulations! It’s a she!

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You see it, right? The image above is promotional material provided by Kadokawa, the publishers of the Made In Abyss manga, for a film concert series to be held at Nakano ZERO in Tokyo on February 8, 2026.

See what’s special about it? If you’ve been following Made In Abyss, particularly the development of the character Nanachi, you probably do. Putting Nanachi in a dress officially reveals Nanachi as female.

Since Nanachi was revealed, the author Akihito Tsukushi deliberately made her gender ambiguous. Even the Japanese pronoun that she used, oira, doesn’t strictly determine the gender of the user. Even foreign language translations went with gender non-specific pronouns when Nanachi was referred to by other characters, which goes to show how far the author, publishers, and localizers went to ensure that Nanachi’s gender remained a secret.

The only exception was the French translation, due to the rules involving gender being strict. For example, when asking for the time in French, one asks “Quelle huerre et il?” Which means, “What time is he?” In the French translation, Nanachi is female, because for her to have been non-gender-specific would have been unacceptable. The French take their language seriously.

Because Nanachi’s gender was unknown, fans have asked Tsukushi about Nanachi’s gender. His answer left it undecided, and invited fans to use their imagination. Meaning, Nanachi’s gender could be whatever the reader decided.

As for me, for a long while, I’ve suspected that Nanachi is male. This seemed evident to me in Nanachi’s psychology, in that he seemed more inclined towards problem solving (which tends to be a masculine psychological trait) and less towards relationship building (which tends to be feminine), and because Nanachi seemed less hesitant to push boundaries, particularly with Reg, whom Nanachi initially regarded as a pushover. There’s also the more boy-like appearance of Nanachi in human form, as compared to the obviously feminine appearance of Mitty as a human.

However, it seems at this point that we could say with certainty that Nanachi is female. If doubt were to be thrown onto this, it would be by saying that the image in question was produced and distributed without consulting Akihito Tsukushi, and may have used Nanachi’s character in a manner that goes against his wishes. But even if this is the case, it’s still likely that Kadokawa, the distributor of the image, has some insight into the character which was provided by the author, but was to be kept confidential. And if that’s how it was, the cat’s out of the bag. Or the bunny, in this case.

However, it seems more likely that Tsukushi did authorize this use of the character Nanachi, especially considering that he didn’t seem to object to it in the days since.

In fact, here he is on X, calling the concert’s content “awesome”:

So, it would seem he doesn’t object at all, though he took note of it. Though, he was the same guy who put another character in a girl’s outfit, and let readers come to their own conclusions. So, maybe this isn’t a strong indication of Nanachi’s gender, after all?

So, short of the author expressly saying it, it would seem like Nanachi is female. Does this change the way you view the character? Or does it confirm what you’ve suspected?

Another old Simpsons episode is now surprisingly relevant

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I know that cartoons like The Simpsons are only fiction, and that because of this, using it to illustrate a point isn’t always helpful. The person writing them can write in any lesson that they want, including those that may not work in reality, but can work in a fictional setting anyway, by nature of being a fictional work.

Still, an old cartoon can make a point that puts things into perspective, and that perspective might be much needed.

Also, using cartoons to illustrate a point is fun, and can hold the attention of those who grew up with the same cartoons.

You may remember an old episode of The Simpsons, titled Itchy and Scratchy and Marge. In the episode, an infant character Maggie strikes her father Homer with a mallet, leaving the child’s mother Marge perplexed as to why Maggie would do such a thing. Later, she sees an episode of a cartoon, Itchy and Scratchy.

Itchy and Scratchy is an in-universe parody of a real-life cartoon Tom and Jerry, but with a stronger emphasis on graphic violence, and airs as part of a program called Krusty the Clown, which is enjoyed by Marge’s other children, Bart and Lisa. Interestingly, while Lisa normally abhors violence, she adores Itchy and Scratchy with the same enthusiasm as Bart.

Having watched the cartoon for herself, and seeing little Maggie attempting to stab Homer with a pencil, Marge makes a mental connection, and decides to take action.

As the episode progresses, Marge eventually builds a coalition, which successfully convinces the writers of Itchy and Scratchy to write a non-violent episode. Predictably, this causes viewers of Krusty the Clown to lose interest, resulting in them playing outside, instead.

For Marge, this appears to be a victory. However, the episode doesn’t end there. The curators of a famous work of art were on a tour which would take them through Marge’s home town of Springfield.

Marge believed the work to be a masterpiece. However, the coalition she was previously a part of objected to it, by reason of it being a depiction of nudity. Thus, there was a new conflict driving the plot, as Marge contested the coalition she herself was instrumental in forming, while being criticized for her alleged hypocrisy for opposing the artistic depiction of violence, while defending an artistic depiction of nudity.

In the end, Marge won out again, and Marge and Homer got to see the statue for themselves at an exhibit, where they expressed a desire for their children to also see it for themselves, possibly through a school field trip.

There are numerous takeaways that a person could come away with after watching this episode. But the one I would like to focus on is the main theme, which concerns the freedom of expression in practice.

Due to the ironic nature of how the characters in The Simpsons are written, it can be difficult to determine whether the characters learn lessons which may be apparent to viewers.

Marge initially disregarded the principle of free expression, apparently taking a position which favored her own interests. Rather than properly instructing her own children, she opted for convenience, insisting on  entertainment media which she saw as having less potential for negative influence.

But when a work of art was to arrive in town which she regarded as a masterpiece, she defended it, against the objections of the cadre she had previously sided with.

The undertone of the episode illustrates to viewers that protecting free expression doesn’t just mean protecting expressions that one prefers, it also means tolerating the presence of expressions that may not appeal to one’s sensibilities. Otherwise, one risks being seen as hypocritical, as Marge did.

Also relevant to today, one can notice that the coalition that Marge helped form didn’t stop with the art she didn’t like, it continued with the art that she did like. That’s how it often goes with such collectivist groups, they can develop in ways that’s difficult to predict, and they often develop desires which are well beyond what they may have initially expressed.

Turns out that everything is peachy-keen.

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Okay, so that one guy? You know the one. The one who trafficked children to people on his client list? Turns out that those children weren’t being trafficked to anyone. That’s right, there’s actually no client list.

That’s right: the client list that we were told totally existed, and was sitting on someone’s desk, awaiting publication, wasn’t actually a thing. All those high-society people actually just crank it out to anime drawings, like normal people.

Therefore, the guy was innocent. The innocent guy, who was arrested for no reason in particular, decided to take his own life in jail, because apparently that’s something that he decided was the thing to do.

Want proof? Of course you do, you ingrate. That’s why they’ve released long video as proof of a closed room, which conveniently comes to us at a time in which deepfakes have developed to the point that they can be indistinguishable from real video.

But dont think too much about that. Or the fact that about a minute is missing from the footage, after which point the camera position or resolution has changed, or whatever. Don’t think too much about that.

Or anything, for that matter. Don’t ask questions. Just consoom product, then get excited for next product.

So that mean guy with the island, the island that’s colloquially referred to as “the island of sin” by the other Virgin islanders? Don’t think about him, or his victims, who (again) were totally not trafficked to anyone.

He wasn’t so mean, after all. Just continue distracting yourself with unlimited free entertainment. Isn’t there some event going on in Genshin Impact or whatever? Don’t be the weird guy who misses out. FOMO and all that.

So, yep. Drama’s over. And I’m not just saying that because there’s some laser beam in outer space that’s pointed straight down, or to satisfy the guy next door who points a microwave in my direction, and somehow operates it with the door open. There. I said it. I know you’re reading this! I’m wise to your schemes! Stop stealing my thoughts!

But there you have it. Show’s over, nothing more to see, stop asking questions, and please tune in to a trusted cable news source to stay informed of all the things which the state prefers contribute to your anxiety.