One of the things that made Captain America: The Winter Soldier so good was that it really went out of its way to establish character’s competence before they fought the big climax of the story, so you really feel the stakes.
Fury escaped a whole set of police cars and weaponized teams and being shot at from all sides, but then comes the Winter Soldier and bam just like that he’s down. Steve took out a set of pirates and Batroc at the start of the movie, then an entire elevator full of STRIKE agents, brought down a plane with his bare hands, but then bam the Winter Soldier slams into him like nothing else before.
And with Winter Soldier we see him take out Fury twice, go toe to toe with Steve, hurl Natasha around, yank a guy from a car, jump from a bridge, he’s restrained in a room filled with people with huge guns and he slams a guy halfway across the room, and then Pierce goes ahead and slaps him, because he can.
I remember watching that movie in theatres back in 2014 (2015?) when it first came out, and gasping in shock when Pierce slaps the Winter Soldier across the face. This guy has super-serum, and Pierce is an old man. The Winter Soldier could have killed Pierce with his pinky finger. I was expecting him to react violently to being slapped, and for Pierce to end up as a red smear on the nearest wall.
When the Soldier just accepted his punishment, I was deeply creeped out. That’s when it really hit me that he is a victim. He’s been brainwashed so thoroughly Pierce has zero hesitation in getting violent with him. Pierce KNOWS he’s the one in control, and the Soldier would never dare to fight back.
Pierce can hit him with impunity, and the Soldier being a supersoldier is irrelevant. Yeah, he’s physically extraordinarily strong, but he’s not a person, he’s a tool. Pierce expects unquestioning obedience from him, and he always gets it. The Soldier’s mind is not his own, and he’s been enslaved.
P.S. Now I’m nostalgic for the days when Marvel used to make movies that didn’t suck. Yeah, there were some turkeys back in the day, but there were also some movies that were really GOOD. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, they convinced Robert fucking Redford to appear in a superhero movie, and he was amazing. Pierce wasn’t your average supervillain.
He was much scarier than that, because he was just a charming, genial, unscrupulous human being who had accumulated far too much power. He had no superpowers at all, but he was a terrifying villain because he didn’t NEED superpowers. He had his brain and his position, and he had a bureaucracy to ensure his decisions get implemented. Plus, the Winter Soldier programmed to carry out Pierce’s every order and treat him like he was God. Pierce didn’t need to get his hands dirty.
Also, that movie is an interesting outlier compared with other MCU movies. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is barely a superhero movie. Yes, it features 2 characters with superserum, and it has plenty of action scenes. But at its core, it’s really a spy thriller.
can you PLEASE put your age in your about/sidebar and make sure it’s accessible on mobile. imo if you’re an adult esp 20+ it’s a little weird that you wouldn’t have your age readily available on your blog. if you’re reading this now and you don’t have your age listed, please rectify that. i feel like teenagers get lured into talking to adults in fandom/lgbt spaces that they may not have intentionally sought out because they think they’re talking to other teenagers, and this can lead to a lot of other – much more insidious –problems
Can you guys step out of the tumblr “everyone over 20 is inherently predatory and creepy towards children” bubble for once and consider that encouraging people to give up their personal information for the imagined safety of the community is like…not safe?
this advice doesn’t even make sense for multiple reasons; if someone is intent on preying upon minors, all they have to do is follow your advice and lie about their age, being over 20 doesn’t mean you can’t be preyed on yourself, you should never be coerced into giving up your privacy on social media (seriously, did a fed write this?), and promoting the idea that turning 20 means your interactions with younger people should be viewed with suspicion is absolutely harmful,like OP do you have any common sense? At all?
“ignore your own privacy boundaries and discomfort and if you don’t idk 🤔sounds a lil sus 2 me, pedophile” will you guys stop larping as conservative politicians for one second please
think-of-the-children fearmongering is not the same thing as actually protecting minors
You’re talking about - much more insidious - problems while telling people if you don’t do what I tell you, you might be a threat to the safety of our community, like okay Dubya!
Let me tell you about the insidious things that happened when I was young in fandom spaces and older fans became my friends
1. I was taught real sex ed by a midwife, including a lot of pros and cons of various birth control
2. I learned you can just get anything printed into a book and having it in a physical book don’t legitimize something
3. I learned how to enjoy other cultures without making people from those cultures uncomfortable
4. I realized my guardians, while better than my past guardians, were still abusive and what I was experiencing was not healthy, even if distressingly common
5. I learned generosity without ulterior motives actually did exist
6. I learned I don’t have to abandon the things I enjoy as I get older.
7. I was taught ways to treat people differently in deference to their age while still treating them as peers.
(they treated me as an equal, but I was not included in any sexual discussions, for example)
8. I learned that friendships don’t have to be quid pro quo
All of these things super insidious and destructive to the conservative agenda.
Destroying the links between generations is part of how the powerful keep us from forming communities and bettering our lives. Don’t do the masters’ work for them.
I should note a different Missouri near total adult ban was also taken out
So if you’re reading about these bans, and you’re scared where you live or that you can’t travel/move to different parts of America, remember these bans are legal nonsense and failing in court over and over and over again
This is why I honestly feel like Biden was the best possible choice in a shitty situation, even with his age and potential health issues. Because if nothing else, he is NOT REACTIONARY. He is methodical and dedicated. Do I wish he acted a little faster and with more of an eye towards progressive policies? Obviously yes. But given the choices, and given everything else that’s happened, Biden has absolutely made the best of a bad situation. Sometimes you don’t need a hero, you need a fucking repairman to come and just make it work until it can be fixed. And he’s a damn good repairman.
The people who are like “why are you wishing death on these billionaires?!” are not understanding what is going on. It’s one thing to wish death on people and it’s another thing to have no sympathy for people who died in a situation they were cautioned heavily to not do.
I don’t want anyone to die, to be truthful; but here are the facts:
That sub is 2 miles down in the ocean where the pressure is immense and the temperature is unbearable.
The Titanic wreckage is literally 111 years old. The Titanic is wasting away and any slight jarring on her will cause her to collapse in that space. This is not new news.
The safest way to experience the Titanic’s wreckage is looking through archives OR going to the museum. I know it would be astounding to look at in person, but… no.
Most importantly, the wreckage is also a graveyard. People’s bones disintegrated because of the pressure and salinity of the water, but the shoes, that were treated with tannic acid, remain. Anybody with common sense knows that you don’t go an disturb and desecrate graveyards. You just don’t.
So, no… I feel zero sympathy for those people who should’ve just been told “no” more often in their life.
As someone who took etiquette lessons, politeness is an incredibly effective tool for disarming bigots. You can either force them to reconsider their words/actions by directly and calmly confronting their behavior (by using the rules of society in your favor), or you can dip entirely while they appear to be in the wrong.
Both options are great.
Because the thing is, when bigots pick fights, they are 100% counting on you to get louder than them. Or meaner. They want you to react emotionally and provide fodder for their ‘You’re Too Emotionally Immature To Understand’ cannon.
What they aren’t expecting you to do is say one of the following phrases in a polite, concerned tone:
Are you okay?
That’s not the kind of language I was raised to use with others.
Do you need a moment to think on why that wasn’t acceptable?
This is no way to engage in intelligent conversation. Please try that again in a kinder tone if you’d like this to continue. (I really like this one because it lets you turn their public-shame rhetoric around)
For those of you who’d are spiteful and/or dealing with Fundamentalists/Evangelicals/generally shitty Christians:
What’s happening in your life to cause you this much anger? I can’t imagine hurting so badly that I need to hurt other people.
Who taught you it was acceptable to treat other people this way? Certainly not the Jesus I remember.
Whatever happened to 'judge not lest ye be judged’?
If I talked like that in front of my parents or grandparents I would be ashamed.
I think there’s something you need to pray on before we try and have this conversation.
And my all time favorite:
“It sounds to me like there are some seriously dark and angry forces at work in your heart.”
(Nothing stops a Christian bigot in their tracks faster than implying the Devil is causing their bigotry. But you MUST be calm, polite, and gentle with your tone and wording. It is absolutely fair to twist the rules and play them at their own game, but you gotta play hard.)
TLDR: It’s much faster to use etiquette, politeness, and rhetoric reversal when eviscerating idiots online and in person, because they aren’t expecting you to weaponize their behaviors back in their direction. Don’t get angry, get spitefully polite! :)
Anonymous asked: i don't really understand why you would be pro-zoo. like i understand nature reserves and sanctuaries where people can observe from afar, but it doesn't seem right to me when they're locked up in generally small confined areas for people to watch them do nothing all day. idk maybe i'm getting this wrong, and i still really respect you, i just don't understand this. like i interned at a zoo and felt uncomfortable with how small their living areas were and how they had no stimulation
Good zoos do not keep their animals in “tiny spaces” with no enrichment. I’m not pro-roadside zoo. I’m pro-accredited zoo. Zoos are incredibly important for conservation and education.
There should be way more pictures of modern zoos so i just add some more
Seriously zoos do so much important conservation work as well I hate when people shit all over zoos as if the animals are locked up and not looked after
The SF Zoo has two sea lions. Now, if you know SF, you know that sea lions are a Thing. They’re all over Pier 39 and various other beaches in N California. In fact, the zoo is near the ocean, so there are sea lions not 200 yards from the zoo entrance. So having sea lions in the zoo seems sort of superfluous.
Except the sea lions are blind. One was found as an adult after suffering a gun shot wound to the face that destroyed his eyes. The other was found as an adolescent, weak and starving because it had been blinded and unable to hunt. So they were rescued and introduced and the zoo built them a nice pool where they can swim and sunbathe and people toss them fish. It’s not the biggest exhibit, or the fanciest. But it’s a home for them, where they’re safe and well fed. Sea lions aren’t the most romantic of animals, but they’re a part of SF culture and a lot of us have a soft spot for the loud, bulbous things. And because of zoos, these two get to live long, happy lives.
Whenever anyone complains about zoos, I think about Silent Knight and Henry.
I think it’s St. Louis zoo that is saving big cats in Africa. Scientists couldn’t figure out what was killing off the local lion population. They were dying off from Canine Distemper. The local unvaccinated dogs of the towns would spread the disease to other animals or have it themselves. When the lions ate the infected animals they would catch it as well. You know what that Zoo is doing to stop this disease? They are going over to those towns and vaccinating the dogs for free. The community loves it and people from other villages comes for miles to get their dogs vaccinated as well.
They also do work with camel populations because the local human population use the camels for food sources the zoos help monitor the camels health.
Another zoo, I want to say it’s the Oregon zoo but don’t quote me on that, is helping female inmates. The zoo works with the female prisons by encouraging the inmates to assist in the breeding and raising of endangered species of butterflies. They plant the specific plants that the butterflies and catapillars need, raise them, and release them. These inmates get noted in any scientific journals that get published. They are giving these inmates a sense of accomplishment and validation.
Zoos not only save species but bring together and assist communities in an effort to save the environment. Zoos, good zoos, are essential to the future and I will fight anyone who tries to say otherwise.
PS you don’t see PETA doing any of this.
One of the local zoos in my area at one point rescued a bald eagle that had been shot and kept it in the zoo to let it recuperate until they freed it again. Some of the zoos in my state will keep injured animals there until they heal again.
Helsinki Zoo is the world leader in snow leopard and Amur leopard conservation, in their care these endangered species have managed to breed more than anywhere else in captivity and this in turn has enabled the re-introduction of these animals back to their native habitats. https://www.korkeasaari.fi/helsinki-zoo/
I work at a zoo that is instrumental in the California Condor recovery program (among dozens of other conservation projects). We went from 42 surviving individuals left to over 400, over 200 of whom are in the wild. We’re part of the amur leopard species survival plan with two young animals who are eagerly attempting to make babies. We host one of North America’s only bachelor troops of western lowland gorillas, preserving the social structure of wild gorillas. All of our bald eagles are rescues who would not survive in the wild. All our keepers participate in field research and conservation work in addition to a full time team of conservationists. We host the most genetically valuable male Masai giraffe in North America, who has sired 5 offspring with 1 on the way, increasing the genetic diversity of his entire species. If you’re against zoos, you don’t know what zoos do.
Super, SUPER important thread.
Also zoos tend to do a lot of breeding and conservation work with smaller, less charismatic species like invertebrates and amphibians. Those species are extremely important in the ecosystem but don’t get the same notoriety as the charismatic megafauna.
This CANNOT BE STRESSED ENOUGH.
Fully accredited zoos are a major source of conservation funding worldwide. They take in and provide safety for injured animals. Other animals are removed from roadside zoos or even where they were kept as pets and therefore are far too people-oriented for any other life.
Fully accredited zoos are absolutely essential in breeding and husbandry of endangered species. They sometimes provide individuals of varied genetics either for release into the wild or to breed to release their offspring into the wild. They keep METICULOUS records which are incredibly important in tracking genetic diversity of small populations, which are particularly prone to inbreeding depression and other negative consequences of genetic drift.
Fully accredited zoos care about the health of the whole animal and will bend over backwards to provide the best enrichment they can with their resources. Great example: Philadelphia Zoo is city-locked and cannot expand its footprint. So they have made what are essentially giant hamster tunnels that go over the visitor footpaths. They will put novel scents or toys in there and (please someone correct me on this if I am wrong) rotate which group of big cats has access to it at any time so that when one group gets access it smells like other cats and that provides new things to explore and interact with. They have also done these tunnels for small primates.
If you want a great look at the power of zoos and what it is really like behind the scenes, all the ups and downs, check out “The Zoo” which is a reality TV show about the Bronx Zoo in NYC (similar land issues as Philly Zoo) or “Secrets of the Zoo” which is a similar show filmed at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and their wild animal park The Wilds. I know people who work at these zoos and who are on these shows and they aren’t making up how much care and dedication they put into their work.
Just like the relationship between some hunters’ organizations and conservation (that’s a whole other post…), the relationship between zoos and conservation is incredibly misunderstood. We need to do better.
The Bronx Zoo *literally* reintroduced a species of frog in Tanzania that went extinct in the wild while they were working on their captive breeding program. Amphibians are INCREDIBLY important to the ecosystem as indicator species so Tanzanian conservationists were THRILLED that the Bronx zoo successfully bred, raised, and released these frogs back into their native habitat. Accredited zoos are UNFATHOMABLY important to conservation (hello Australia Zoo anyone? What do you think THEY stand for?)
[ Text: Calling all dog owners: The doctors and team at Bryan Animal Clinic want you to know that the artificial sweetener xylitol is now being marketed as “birch sugar.” Xylitol is extremely toxic to dogs and can cause liver failure. It is commonly found in peanut butter, chewing gum, and ice cream. End ID ]
Here is a source if anyone wants to read up on it more, from the FDA’s official website: Click me!
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