Just copy this, paste this into a sandbox, then make a thread in the Trope Repair Shop linking to it. The thread shall be titled "Needs Help: Inexplicable Language Fluency".
A wick check for InexplicableLanguageFluency.
'''Why?''': InexplicableLanguageFluency seems to lump in examples of characters demonstrating fluency in a language they've never learned with examples of characters merely understanding a language they never learned. For one, it doesn't make sense for the latter examples to be there since the title has the word "fluency" in it. Secondly, many of the latter examples can be moved to BilingualDialogue or AmplifiedAnimalAptitude.
'''Wicks checked''': 50/72
'''Wick totals''':
* 21/50 wicks, or 11.5%, were clear examples of a character demonstrating fluency in a language they never learned. * 24/50 wicks, or 12% were examples of a character understanding a language without demonstrating fluency. * 4/50 wicks, or 2%, were written in a way that made it unclear whether they were being used correctly. * 1/50 wicks, or 1.5%, was an aversion.
[[folder:Characters demonstrating fluency in a language they never learned (21/50)]] * Characters.AtlantisTheLostEmpire: The Atlanteans are able to fluently communicate with the explorers from the surface in English and French. This is handwaved as their own language being a precursor to all other languages. * Characters.YaBoyKongming: ** Kongming finds himself immediately fluent in Japanese despite having never learned the language, and the Japan of his era was still a dwarf country that mostly only sent envoys to Shu's rival kingdom of Wei. Eiko points out the absurdity of how an ancient Chinese figure can suddenly speak Japanese, and Kongming himself is at a loss of how he can do this. * Characters.YellowjacketsCrashSurvivors: [[spoiler:She, and by extension others in the Antler Queen cult she forms, randomly speak French on occasion, which Lottie at least is ''not'' fluent in, indicating mental instability.]] '''If this is supposed to be an inversion, it's correct, but it should be rewritten to mention that it's an inversion.''' * ComicBook.Asterix: Gauls can speak to most foreign peoples without any difficulty. Either everyone can speak Gaulish, or the Gauls can speak other languages, but either way is downright impossible. * ComicBook.UltimateFantasticFour: ** Downplayed. Namor demonstrates this trope after spending nine thousand years of being sealed inside a sarcophagus prison. Being from an ancient civilization of Atlantis that predates the modern English language, he initially has no idea what his new captors are saying when they find him. However, thanks to his psionic powers he proves to be a frighteningly fast learner and is able to learn English within an hour to understand modern American English and casually deliver threats and demands. ** Happens again when the Four meets the Silver Surfer who is able to understand English perfectly the instant he arrives to Earth for the first time. He justifies this by stating can decipher electromagnetic signals in the air to learn alien tongues in seconds. * Friends.TropesFToJ: Zig-zagged. "The One Where Ross Can't Flirt" has her speaking with Joey's Italian grandmother, with Phoebe seeming as surprised about this as Joey. But in an earlier episode, Rachel's former lover Paulo calls her "bellissima" and she doesn't understand. ->'''Joey:''' Wow, Phoebs, you speak Italian?\\ '''Phoebe:''' Apparently. * Film.ExorcistTheBeginning: In-universe, the main characters note Cheche's sudden fluency in English after being brought to the hospital. Of course this is because it is Pazuzu speaking through him and not actually Cheche. '''This is DiscussedTrope, not InUniverse'''. * Film.{{Phenomenon}}: Downplayed. After a UFO encounter, George gains a form of superintelligence where he can learn complicated tasks and subjects quickly, to the point where he's able to fluently speak Portuguese after reading an English-to-Portuguese dictionary for twenty minutes. This was foreshadowed in an earlier scene where after usually fumbling to speak Spanish, he's suddenly able to speak it perfectly, to the point that his Hispanic coworker half-seriously declares that it's better than his. * Literature.ForgottenRuin: When Talker and Vandahar speak during the final stretch to the Hidden Cave, Vandahar speaks in what we would recognize as modern German, which of course makes communicating with him very easy for Talker but raises a few questions. * Literature.InCryptid: Of the GeneticMemory version. When Candice the Dragon Princess comes up against the LizardFolk wandering about the New York sewers, she's able to make them halt using a guttural language. She reveals to Verity that it's a inborn language all Princesses know and something the "Servitors" are meant to respond to. She's also never used it before as Servitors can only be created from a [[spoiler:living male dragon]]. * Literature.SeasonalFears: Aven is essentially in a coma all her life but, thanks to the alchemical knowledge tinctures of her father', she speaks perfect English even if there are some issues with definitions. * Literature.ShiversMDSpenser: Bubbie moves to France with her family and meets a new French kid, Jean-Luc, and can somehow converse with him without any language issues; at the end of the story she can hold a long conversation with a stranger in French, despite spending less than a week in the country. Previous books with an overseas setting will at least attempt justifying this trope (for instance, ''Terror on Troll Mountain'' has the protagonist's Italian family choosing to speak in English because they're anticipating American guests) but this one handwaves the issue until it's a borderline plot hole. * Recap.AsterixAndTheGoths: Getafix is able to speak fluent Gothic, despite being a Gaulish druid who has no logical reason to know it (especially considering how antagonistic the Goths are in this story). * Recap.FriendsS5E19TheOneWhereRossCantFlirt: Phoebe speaks with Joey's Italian grandmother, with [[InexplicableLanguageFluency Phoebe seeming as surprised about this as Joey]]. '''Joey:''' Wow, Phoebs, you speak Italian?\\ '''Phoebe:''' Apparently. * Recap.TalesFromTheDarksideS4E6TheGraveRobber: Aileen is surprised to hear Tapok speaking English when he wakes up, the mummy giving an offhand mention that he can speak the language of anyone who violates the tomb. * Roleplay.WanyaKingdomVSAwoofyUnity: Fragment has been shown to speak any language even if he has never heard it before. * Series.{{Llanargollen}}: In "Dirgelwch y Llyfr Coll", Prys and Barti speak to each other in Swahili. It seems incredibly unlikely that Prys would be fluent in that language, and Barti only speaks in unintelligible grunts with individual words thrown in. The other characters barely react to this. * VideoGame.EternalReturnBlackSurvival: The test subjects are able to work together with each other in spite of how one would presume that the vast majority of them would be completely unable to verbally communicate with most of the others. {{Averted}} by some of the achievement lore entries, which include statements observed from test subjects that some of which have a note underneath which states the words were translated by AI and will be reviewed and localized further in the future. '''Since this seems to be an implied example rather than a straight example, and it seems to be ambiguous InUniverse whether it's this or BilingualDialogue, I'll leave it here.''' * VideoGame.MegaManBattleNetwork2?: [=MegaMan=]'s translation system allows Lan to speak flawless Netopian after they arrive in Netopia. * WesternAnimation.{{Pocahontas}}: English explorer John Smith meets the alluring Pocahontas of the Powhatan tribe. Smith doesn't know her language, nor she his. That is, until Pocahontas takes a breath of magic wind. Suddenly, her English is better than his. [[/folder]]
[[folder:Aversions (1/50)]] * DarthWiki.{{Aquilaverse}}: ''Averted'' Not inexplicable, since her spell "Xenographus" let's her read any language she encounters for a limited duration. [[/folder]]
[[folder:Unclear (4/50)]] * Characters.FrightKrewe: His power makes him this. He has the ability to communicate with anyone and understand anything they say, whether its a [[InexplicableLanguageFluency person]], an [[SpeaksFluentAnimal animal]], or an [[NatureSpirit 'elemental entity']]. '''The way the example is written, it's not clear whether it's this or BilingualDialogue.''' * Recap.CreepshowS1E3BadWolfDown: Doc is shown to speak French and understands the language quite fluently, allowing him to translate the explanation of the werewolf woman's plight. '''You can't "understand a language fluently". Does he ''speak'' it fluently, or at least speak it better than he should realistically be able to?''' * Series.AlloAllo: Frenchmen, Germans, and Italians can talk to each other. This is never explained. '''In their own languages, or...?''' * WesternAnimation.SpaceChimps: The [[SpeaksFluentAnimal aliens]] and [[InexplicablySpeaksFluentAlien chimps]] understand each other, despite that the chimps have just arrived on their planet. '''Does one of them speak the other's language, or do they just understand each other's languages?''' [[/folder]]
!!!'''Characters being able to understand a language without demonstrating fluency (24/50) 12%''' [[folder:Amplified Animal Aptitude (7/50) '''3.5%''']] * Literature.MrsFrisbyAndTheRatsOfNIMH: The animals can understand humans and each other, but can't talk to humans. This leads to a bit of FridgeLogic as to where exactly all these animals picked up English (justified for the rats, as they were taught it in the lab, but not for any of the others), and whether they can understand other human languages automatically as well. * Recap.TheSimpsonsS6E6TreehouseOfHorrorV: When Homer is sent back in time to a prehistoric era, and has to avoid stepping on anything to change the future, he ends up swatting a mosquito then asks for reassurance that it won't change the future. He is understood despite being in an era before English existed, since a sloth behind him shrugs and grunts as if to say "I don't know." * TheSimpsons.TropesIToM: ** In "Treehouse of Horror V", when Homer is sent back in time to a prehistoric era, and has to avoid stepping on anything to change the future, he ends up swatting a mosquito then asks for reassurance that it won't change the future. He is understood despite being in an era before English existed, since a sloth behind him shrugs and grunts as if to say "I don't know." '''Just checked and the sloth doesn’t say “I don’t know”, it just grunts with an intonation that indicates that that’s what it was saying. So, not fluent in English.''' * Tarzan.TropesGToZ ** Played straight when Jane talks to a baby baboon and he understands her. * TotalDrama.TropesHToP: Some wild animals--especially squirrels--can understand humans. * WesternAnimation.FindingNemo: Dory understands English. The fish in the tank understand English because they've been hearing humans all their life, but there's no reason for Dory to understand English. [[spoiler:Subverted in that ''WesternAnimation/FindingDory'' reveals she was raised in a marine life institute in California.]] '''Since it says “understand” and not “speak” I can only assume this is a case of TranslationConvention and AnimalTalk, which means they aren’t actually fluent in English.''' * WesternAnimation.SpiritStallionOfTheCimarron: Spirit, despite not having had any human contact before his capture, understands what the human characters are saying. [[/folder]]
[[folder:Bilingual Dialogue (11/50)]] * Characters.MashupWeekMegamixCompetitors: Despite the fact that all 3 members speak different languages (English for Scoop, French for Eric and Italian for Baba), they can be understood by each other and by others easily. * Film.NoTimeToDie: James Bond's 5-year-old daughter, Mathilde, understands English even though her mother Madelaine speaks to her in French and all the media she consumes is in French. * Film.Titanic1997: Jack and the Swedish men understand each other well enough that Olaf is able to bet his tickets for all Jack and Fabrizio's money. * FinalFantasyXIV.TropesGToI?: ** In ''Heavensward'', the Warrior and Alphinaud are startled by how they can understand the great wyrm Hraesvelgr, who only speaks the language of dragons. They learn that while other races may not speak the dragon's language, the inherent power and magic in a dragon's song essentially beams meaning directly into the hearer's mind. ** The Scions are shocked in ''Shadowbringers'' when they meet [[spoiler:Emet-Selch's recreation of the lost city of Amaurot, the home of the BenevolentPrecursor race. Although the ancient version of mankind spoke only in a StarfishLanguage of droning tones, the Scions born millennia after the world was sundered find that they're able to discern meaning from it.]] * Literature.CookingWithWildGame: Lampshaded. One of the few supernatural parts of the setting is that [[TrappedInAnotherWorld Asuta]] can understand its inhabitants' language (almost) perfectly. Nobody knows why, nor do they ever find out; it's essentially one of the AcceptableBreaksFromReality needed to get the plot going. * Literature.{{Fablehaven}}: After receiving magic from fairies, Kendra gains the ability to interpret their language intuitively despite never actually learning it. * Manga.MiriyaAndMarie: Aside of occasional GratuitousFrench, Miriya can understand all French and animal characters and vice versa. Blackey also tries to charge Miriya for massage in yen despite being French. * VideoGame.KnightsOfTheOldRepublic: Yes, your character understands plenty of languages, but there isn't anyone who ''should'' understand the language of the AbusivePrecursors. [[spoiler: Subverted. Turns out you'd been there before and learned the language, but just forgotten the whole thing between Malak's backstab and whatever the Jedi did to "rebuild" you]]. '''When moving this to BilingualDialogue, I would rewrite it as “Your character understands plenty of languages, but can only speak one.''' * WebOriginal.MashupWeek: In both tournaments, Flat Eric speaks French, but everyone can understand him perfectly. Same with Gigi, who speaks Italian. * WesternAnimation.JosieAndThePussycats: ''[[RecycledWithAGimmick In Outer Space]]'' has Melody encounter an alien creature that looks like cotton candy with eyes and flippers. The critter speaks in a series of bleeps, and Melody names him Bleep. [[InexplicablySpeaksFluentAlien She can also understand him perfectly, and acts as translator for everyone else]]. Also, Bleep seems to understand English just fine. '''I also think InexplicablySpeaksFluentAlien should be limited to people actually speaking Alien instead of just understanding it, but that’s for another time.''' [[/folder]]
[[folder:Other (6/50)]] * Characters.InfinityTrainSeekerOfCrocusMultiverse: Upon looking at some files from the old phone Oscar picked up, he's somehow able to read ''Aztec glyphs'' just by looking at it. [[spoiler:This is probably due to his covenant with Agares, as one of Agares' ability is to let his conjurer read and understand different languages.]] * Fanfic.InfinityTrainSeekerOfCrocus: Kaito is somehow able to read ''Aztec glyphs'' just by looking at it. [[spoiler:This is probably due to his covenant with Agares, as one of Agares' ability is to let his conjurer read and understand different languages.]] * Characters.YaBoyKongming: ** Kongming also demonstrates an ability to understand English, as he is able to tell that the English song Eiko sings to him is a love song, with enough comprehension to be moved by a vision of his old comrades due to the lyrics referencing being still alive and alone. Later, upon meeting Tsuyoshi Kondo after Eiko's performance at the Yoyogi Art Festival, Kongming easily translates his GratuitousEnglish for a confused Kobayashi, and he's even become friends with a foreigner in Roppongi, who speaks exclusively in English. He's capable of some GratuitousEnglish himself, to boot. * Recap/CreepshowS2E2PublicTelevisionOfTheDead: Goodman reveals to Ted, out of nowhere, that he can read Sumerian, allowing him to translate the Necronomicon's incantations and let Evil roam free once again. * Series.{{Carnivale}}: During the fireball show, Samson secretly passes an old Crusader fob up to the stage during Lodz's psychometry act. When Lodz touches it, he's struck by visions of a holy war and begins chanting ''"In hoc signo vinces!"'' Ben, an uneducated farmboy, surprises Samson by translating even though he doesn't even recognize the language is Latin: '''Ben Hawkins:''' By this sign we conquer... by this sign we conquer... * WesternAnimation.SpaceChimps2ZartogStrikesBack: Zartog understands the humans, despite having just arrived on Earth. He even understands Spanish, Hindi, and Xhosa upon hearing them for the first time, making the humans' inability to understand him even more hilarious. [[/folder]]

Just copy this, paste this into a sandbox, then make a thread in the Trope Repair Shop linking to it. The thread shall be titled "Needs Help: Inexplicable Language Fluency".
A wick check for InexplicableLanguageFluency.
'''Why?''': InexplicableLanguageFluency seems to lump in examples of characters demonstrating fluency in a language they've never learned with examples of characters merely understanding a language they never learned. For one, it doesn't make sense for the latter examples to be there since the title has the word "fluency" in it. Secondly, many of the latter examples can be moved to BilingualDialogue or AmplifiedAnimalAptitude.
'''Wicks checked''': 50/72
'''Wick totals''':
* 21/50 wicks, or 11.5%, were clear examples of a character demonstrating fluency in a language they never learned. * 24/50 wicks, or 12% were examples of a character understanding a language without demonstrating fluency. * 4/50 wicks, or 2%, were written in a way that made it unclear whether they were being used correctly. * 1/50 wicks, or 1.5%, was an aversion.
[[folder:Characters demonstrating fluency in a language they never learned (21/50)]] * Characters.AtlantisTheLostEmpire: The Atlanteans are able to fluently communicate with the explorers from the surface in English and French. This is handwaved as their own language being a precursor to all other languages. * Characters.YaBoyKongming: ** Kongming finds himself immediately fluent in Japanese despite having never learned the language, and the Japan of his era was still a dwarf country that mostly only sent envoys to Shu's rival kingdom of Wei. Eiko points out the absurdity of how an ancient Chinese figure can suddenly speak Japanese, and Kongming himself is at a loss of how he can do this. * Characters.YellowjacketsCrashSurvivors: [[spoiler:She, and by extension others in the Antler Queen cult she forms, randomly speak French on occasion, which Lottie at least is ''not'' fluent in, indicating mental instability.]] '''If this is supposed to be an inversion, it's correct, but it should be rewritten to mention that it's an inversion.''' * ComicBook.Asterix: Gauls can speak to most foreign peoples without any difficulty. Either everyone can speak Gaulish, or the Gauls can speak other languages, but either way is downright impossible. * ComicBook.UltimateFantasticFour: ** Downplayed. Namor demonstrates this trope after spending nine thousand years of being sealed inside a sarcophagus prison. Being from an ancient civilization of Atlantis that predates the modern English language, he initially has no idea what his new captors are saying when they find him. However, thanks to his psionic powers he proves to be a frighteningly fast learner and is able to learn English within an hour to understand modern American English and casually deliver threats and demands. ** Happens again when the Four meets the Silver Surfer who is able to understand English perfectly the instant he arrives to Earth for the first time. He justifies this by stating can decipher electromagnetic signals in the air to learn alien tongues in seconds. * Friends.TropesFToJ: Zig-zagged. "The One Where Ross Can't Flirt" has her speaking with Joey's Italian grandmother, with Phoebe seeming as surprised about this as Joey. But in an earlier episode, Rachel's former lover Paulo calls her "bellissima" and she doesn't understand. ->'''Joey:''' Wow, Phoebs, you speak Italian?\\ '''Phoebe:''' Apparently. * Film.ExorcistTheBeginning: In-universe, the main characters note Cheche's sudden fluency in English after being brought to the hospital. Of course this is because it is Pazuzu speaking through him and not actually Cheche. '''This is DiscussedTrope, not InUniverse'''. * Film.{{Phenomenon}}: Downplayed. After a UFO encounter, George gains a form of superintelligence where he can learn complicated tasks and subjects quickly, to the point where he's able to fluently speak Portuguese after reading an English-to-Portuguese dictionary for twenty minutes. This was foreshadowed in an earlier scene where after usually fumbling to speak Spanish, he's suddenly able to speak it perfectly, to the point that his Hispanic coworker half-seriously declares that it's better than his. * Literature.ForgottenRuin: When Talker and Vandahar speak during the final stretch to the Hidden Cave, Vandahar speaks in what we would recognize as modern German, which of course makes communicating with him very easy for Talker but raises a few questions. * Literature.InCryptid: Of the GeneticMemory version. When Candice the Dragon Princess comes up against the LizardFolk wandering about the New York sewers, she's able to make them halt using a guttural language. She reveals to Verity that it's a inborn language all Princesses know and something the "Servitors" are meant to respond to. She's also never used it before as Servitors can only be created from a [[spoiler:living male dragon]]. * Literature.SeasonalFears: Aven is essentially in a coma all her life but, thanks to the alchemical knowledge tinctures of her father', she speaks perfect English even if there are some issues with definitions. * Literature.ShiversMDSpenser: Bubbie moves to France with her family and meets a new French kid, Jean-Luc, and can somehow converse with him without any language issues; at the end of the story she can hold a long conversation with a stranger in French, despite spending less than a week in the country. Previous books with an overseas setting will at least attempt justifying this trope (for instance, ''Terror on Troll Mountain'' has the protagonist's Italian family choosing to speak in English because they're anticipating American guests) but this one handwaves the issue until it's a borderline plot hole. * Recap.AsterixAndTheGoths: Getafix is able to speak fluent Gothic, despite being a Gaulish druid who has no logical reason to know it (especially considering how antagonistic the Goths are in this story). * Recap.FriendsS5E19TheOneWhereRossCantFlirt: Phoebe speaks with Joey's Italian grandmother, with [[InexplicableLanguageFluency Phoebe seeming as surprised about this as Joey]]. '''Joey:''' Wow, Phoebs, you speak Italian?\\ '''Phoebe:''' Apparently. * Recap.TalesFromTheDarksideS4E6TheGraveRobber: Aileen is surprised to hear Tapok speaking English when he wakes up, the mummy giving an offhand mention that he can speak the language of anyone who violates the tomb. * Roleplay.WanyaKingdomVSAwoofyUnity: Fragment has been shown to speak any language even if he has never heard it before. * Series.{{Llanargollen}}: In "Dirgelwch y Llyfr Coll", Prys and Barti speak to each other in Swahili. It seems incredibly unlikely that Prys would be fluent in that language, and Barti only speaks in unintelligible grunts with individual words thrown in. The other characters barely react to this. * VideoGame.EternalReturnBlackSurvival: The test subjects are able to work together with each other in spite of how one would presume that the vast majority of them would be completely unable to verbally communicate with most of the others. {{Averted}} by some of the achievement lore entries, which include statements observed from test subjects that some of which have a note underneath which states the words were translated by AI and will be reviewed and localized further in the future. '''Since this seems to be an implied example rather than a straight example, and it seems to be ambiguous InUniverse whether it's this or BilingualDialogue, I'll leave it here.''' * VideoGame.MegaManBattleNetwork2?: [=MegaMan=]'s translation system allows Lan to speak flawless Netopian after they arrive in Netopia. * WesternAnimation.{{Pocahontas}}: English explorer John Smith meets the alluring Pocahontas of the Powhatan tribe. Smith doesn't know her language, nor she his. That is, until Pocahontas takes a breath of magic wind. Suddenly, her English is better than his. [[/folder]]
[[folder:Aversions (1/50)]] * DarthWiki.{{Aquilaverse}}: ''Averted'' Not inexplicable, since her spell "Xenographus" let's her read any language she encounters for a limited duration. [[/folder]]
[[folder:Unclear (4/50)]] * Characters.FrightKrewe: His power makes him this. He has the ability to communicate with anyone and understand anything they say, whether its a [[InexplicableLanguageFluency person]], an [[SpeaksFluentAnimal animal]], or an [[NatureSpirit 'elemental entity']]. '''The way the example is written, it's not clear whether it's this or BilingualDialogue.''' * Recap.CreepshowS1E3BadWolfDown: Doc is shown to speak French and understands the language quite fluently, allowing him to translate the explanation of the werewolf woman's plight. '''You can't "understand a language fluently". Does he ''speak'' it fluently, or at least speak it better than he should realistically be able to?''' * Series.AlloAllo: Frenchmen, Germans, and Italians can talk to each other. This is never explained. '''In their own languages, or...?''' * WesternAnimation.SpaceChimps: The [[SpeaksFluentAnimal aliens]] and [[InexplicablySpeaksFluentAlien chimps]] understand each other, despite that the chimps have just arrived on their planet. '''Does one of them speak the other's language, or do they just understand each other's languages?''' [[/folder]]
!!!'''Characters being able to understand a language without demonstrating fluency (24/50) 12%''' [[folder:Amplified Animal Aptitude (7/50) '''3.5%''']] * Literature.MrsFrisbyAndTheRatsOfNIMH: The animals can understand humans and each other, but can't talk to humans. This leads to a bit of FridgeLogic as to where exactly all these animals picked up English (justified for the rats, as they were taught it in the lab, but not for any of the others), and whether they can understand other human languages automatically as well. * Recap.TheSimpsonsS6E6TreehouseOfHorrorV: When Homer is sent back in time to a prehistoric era, and has to avoid stepping on anything to change the future, he ends up swatting a mosquito then asks for reassurance that it won't change the future. He is understood despite being in an era before English existed, since a sloth behind him shrugs and grunts as if to say "I don't know." * TheSimpsons.TropesIToM: ** In "Treehouse of Horror V", when Homer is sent back in time to a prehistoric era, and has to avoid stepping on anything to change the future, he ends up swatting a mosquito then asks for reassurance that it won't change the future. He is understood despite being in an era before English existed, since a sloth behind him shrugs and grunts as if to say "I don't know." '''Just checked and the sloth doesn’t say “I don’t know”, it just grunts with an intonation that indicates that that’s what it was saying. So, not fluent in English.''' * Tarzan.TropesGToZ ** Played straight when Jane talks to a baby baboon and he understands her. * TotalDrama.TropesHToP: Some wild animals--especially squirrels--can understand humans. * WesternAnimation.FindingNemo: Dory understands English. The fish in the tank understand English because they've been hearing humans all their life, but there's no reason for Dory to understand English. [[spoiler:Subverted in that ''WesternAnimation/FindingDory'' reveals she was raised in a marine life institute in California.]] '''Since it says “understand” and not “speak” I can only assume this is a case of TranslationConvention and AnimalTalk, which means they aren’t actually fluent in English.''' * WesternAnimation.SpiritStallionOfTheCimarron: Spirit, despite not having had any human contact before his capture, understands what the human characters are saying. [[/folder]]
[[folder:Bilingual Dialogue (11/50)]] * Characters.MashupWeekMegamixCompetitors: Despite the fact that all 3 members speak different languages (English for Scoop, French for Eric and Italian for Baba), they can be understood by each other and by others easily. * Film.NoTimeToDie: James Bond's 5-year-old daughter, Mathilde, understands English even though her mother Madelaine speaks to her in French and all the media she consumes is in French. * Film.Titanic1997: Jack and the Swedish men understand each other well enough that Olaf is able to bet his tickets for all Jack and Fabrizio's money. * FinalFantasyXIV.TropesGToI?: ** In ''Heavensward'', the Warrior and Alphinaud are startled by how they can understand the great wyrm Hraesvelgr, who only speaks the language of dragons. They learn that while other races may not speak the dragon's language, the inherent power and magic in a dragon's song essentially beams meaning directly into the hearer's mind. ** The Scions are shocked in ''Shadowbringers'' when they meet [[spoiler:Emet-Selch's recreation of the lost city of Amaurot, the home of the BenevolentPrecursor race. Although the ancient version of mankind spoke only in a StarfishLanguage of droning tones, the Scions born millennia after the world was sundered find that they're able to discern meaning from it.]] * Literature.CookingWithWildGame: Lampshaded. One of the few supernatural parts of the setting is that [[TrappedInAnotherWorld Asuta]] can understand its inhabitants' language (almost) perfectly. Nobody knows why, nor do they ever find out; it's essentially one of the AcceptableBreaksFromReality needed to get the plot going. * Literature.{{Fablehaven}}: After receiving magic from fairies, Kendra gains the ability to interpret their language intuitively despite never actually learning it. * Manga.MiriyaAndMarie: Aside of occasional GratuitousFrench, Miriya can understand all French and animal characters and vice versa. Blackey also tries to charge Miriya for massage in yen despite being French. * VideoGame.KnightsOfTheOldRepublic: Yes, your character understands plenty of languages, but there isn't anyone who ''should'' understand the language of the AbusivePrecursors. [[spoiler: Subverted. Turns out you'd been there before and learned the language, but just forgotten the whole thing between Malak's backstab and whatever the Jedi did to "rebuild" you]]. '''When moving this to BilingualDialogue, I would rewrite it as “Your character understands plenty of languages, but can only speak one.''' * WebOriginal.MashupWeek: In both tournaments, Flat Eric speaks French, but everyone can understand him perfectly. Same with Gigi, who speaks Italian. * WesternAnimation.JosieAndThePussycats: ''[[RecycledWithAGimmick In Outer Space]]'' has Melody encounter an alien creature that looks like cotton candy with eyes and flippers. The critter speaks in a series of bleeps, and Melody names him Bleep. [[InexplicablySpeaksFluentAlien She can also understand him perfectly, and acts as translator for everyone else]]. Also, Bleep seems to understand English just fine. '''I also think InexplicablySpeaksFluentAlien should be limited to people actually speaking Alien instead of just understanding it, but that’s for another time.''' [[/folder]]
[[folder:Other (6/50)]] * Characters.InfinityTrainSeekerOfCrocusMultiverse: Upon looking at some files from the old phone Oscar picked up, he's somehow able to read ''Aztec glyphs'' just by looking at it. [[spoiler:This is probably due to his covenant with Agares, as one of Agares' ability is to let his conjurer read and understand different languages.]] * Fanfic.InfinityTrainSeekerOfCrocus: Kaito is somehow able to read ''Aztec glyphs'' just by looking at it. [[spoiler:This is probably due to his covenant with Agares, as one of Agares' ability is to let his conjurer read and understand different languages.]] * Characters.YaBoyKongming: ** Kongming also demonstrates an ability to understand English, as he is able to tell that the English song Eiko sings to him is a love song, with enough comprehension to be moved by a vision of his old comrades due to the lyrics referencing being still alive and alone. Later, upon meeting Tsuyoshi Kondo after Eiko's performance at the Yoyogi Art Festival, Kongming easily translates his GratuitousEnglish for a confused Kobayashi, and he's even become friends with a foreigner in Roppongi, who speaks exclusively in English. He's capable of some GratuitousEnglish himself, to boot. * Recap/CreepshowS2E2PublicTelevisionOfTheDead: Goodman reveals to Ted, out of nowhere, that he can read Sumerian, allowing him to translate the Necronomicon's incantations and let Evil roam free once again. * Series.{{Carnivale}}: During the fireball show, Samson secretly passes an old Crusader fob up to the stage during Lodz's psychometry act. When Lodz touches it, he's struck by visions of a holy war and begins chanting ''"In hoc signo vinces!"'' Ben, an uneducated farmboy, surprises Samson by translating even though he doesn't even recognize the language is Latin: '''Ben Hawkins:''' By this sign we conquer... by this sign we conquer... * WesternAnimation.SpaceChimps2ZartogStrikesBack: Zartog understands the humans, despite having just arrived on Earth. He even understands Spanish, Hindi, and Xhosa upon hearing them for the first time, making the humans' inability to understand him even more hilarious. [[/folder]]

Just copy this, paste this into a sandbox, then make a thread in the Trope Repair Shop linking to it. The thread shall be titled "Needs Help: Inexplicable Language Fluency".
A wick check for InexplicableLanguageFluency.
'''Why?''': InexplicableLanguageFluency seems to lump in examples of characters demonstrating fluency in a language they've never learned with examples of characters merely understanding a language they never learned. For one, it doesn't make sense for the latter examples to be there since the title has the word "fluency" in it. Secondly, many of the latter examples can be moved to BilingualDialogue or AmplifiedAnimalAptitude.
'''Wicks checked''': 50/72
'''Wick totals''':
* 21/50 wicks, or 11.5%, were clear examples of a character demonstrating fluency in a language they never learned. * 24/50 wicks, or 12% were examples of a character understanding a language without demonstrating fluency. * 4/50 wicks, or 2%, were written in a way that made it unclear whether they were being used correctly. * 1/50 wicks, or 1.5%, was an aversion.
[[folder:Characters demonstrating fluency in a language they never learned (21/50)]] * Characters.AtlantisTheLostEmpire: The Atlanteans are able to fluently communicate with the explorers from the surface in English and French. This is handwaved as their own language being a precursor to all other languages. * Characters.YaBoyKongming: ** Kongming finds himself immediately fluent in Japanese despite having never learned the language, and the Japan of his era was still a dwarf country that mostly only sent envoys to Shu's rival kingdom of Wei. Eiko points out the absurdity of how an ancient Chinese figure can suddenly speak Japanese, and Kongming himself is at a loss of how he can do this. * Characters.YellowjacketsCrashSurvivors: [[spoiler:She, and by extension others in the Antler Queen cult she forms, randomly speak French on occasion, which Lottie at least is ''not'' fluent in, indicating mental instability.]] '''If this is supposed to be an inversion, it's correct, but it should be rewritten to mention that it's an inversion.''' * ComicBook.Asterix: Gauls can speak to most foreign peoples without any difficulty. Either everyone can speak Gaulish, or the Gauls can speak other languages, but either way is downright impossible. * ComicBook.UltimateFantasticFour: ** Downplayed. Namor demonstrates this trope after spending nine thousand years of being sealed inside a sarcophagus prison. Being from an ancient civilization of Atlantis that predates the modern English language, he initially has no idea what his new captors are saying when they find him. However, thanks to his psionic powers he proves to be a frighteningly fast learner and is able to learn English within an hour to understand modern American English and casually deliver threats and demands. ** Happens again when the Four meets the Silver Surfer who is able to understand English perfectly the instant he arrives to Earth for the first time. He justifies this by stating can decipher electromagnetic signals in the air to learn alien tongues in seconds. * Friends.TropesFToJ: Zig-zagged. "The One Where Ross Can't Flirt" has her speaking with Joey's Italian grandmother, with Phoebe seeming as surprised about this as Joey. But in an earlier episode, Rachel's former lover Paulo calls her "bellissima" and she doesn't understand. ->'''Joey:''' Wow, Phoebs, you speak Italian?\\ '''Phoebe:''' Apparently. * Film.ExorcistTheBeginning: In-universe, the main characters note Cheche's sudden fluency in English after being brought to the hospital. Of course this is because it is Pazuzu speaking through him and not actually Cheche. '''This is DiscussedTrope, not InUniverse'''. * Film.{{Phenomenon}}: Downplayed. After a UFO encounter, George gains a form of superintelligence where he can learn complicated tasks and subjects quickly, to the point where he's able to fluently speak Portuguese after reading an English-to-Portuguese dictionary for twenty minutes. This was foreshadowed in an earlier scene where after usually fumbling to speak Spanish, he's suddenly able to speak it perfectly, to the point that his Hispanic coworker half-seriously declares that it's better than his. * Literature.ForgottenRuin: When Talker and Vandahar speak during the final stretch to the Hidden Cave, Vandahar speaks in what we would recognize as modern German, which of course makes communicating with him very easy for Talker but raises a few questions. * Literature.InCryptid: Of the GeneticMemory version. When Candice the Dragon Princess comes up against the LizardFolk wandering about the New York sewers, she's able to make them halt using a guttural language. She reveals to Verity that it's a inborn language all Princesses know and something the "Servitors" are meant to respond to. She's also never used it before as Servitors can only be created from a [[spoiler:living male dragon]]. * Literature.SeasonalFears: Aven is essentially in a coma all her life but, thanks to the alchemical knowledge tinctures of her father', she speaks perfect English even if there are some issues with definitions. * Literature.ShiversMDSpenser: Bubbie moves to France with her family and meets a new French kid, Jean-Luc, and can somehow converse with him without any language issues; at the end of the story she can hold a long conversation with a stranger in French, despite spending less than a week in the country. Previous books with an overseas setting will at least attempt justifying this trope (for instance, ''Terror on Troll Mountain'' has the protagonist's Italian family choosing to speak in English because they're anticipating American guests) but this one handwaves the issue until it's a borderline plot hole. * Recap.AsterixAndTheGoths: Getafix is able to speak fluent Gothic, despite being a Gaulish druid who has no logical reason to know it (especially considering how antagonistic the Goths are in this story). * Recap.FriendsS5E19TheOneWhereRossCantFlirt: Phoebe speaks with Joey's Italian grandmother, with [[InexplicableLanguageFluency Phoebe seeming as surprised about this as Joey]]. '''Joey:''' Wow, Phoebs, you speak Italian?\\ '''Phoebe:''' Apparently. * Recap.TalesFromTheDarksideS4E6TheGraveRobber: Aileen is surprised to hear Tapok speaking English when he wakes up, the mummy giving an offhand mention that he can speak the language of anyone who violates the tomb. * Roleplay.WanyaKingdomVSAwoofyUnity: Fragment has been shown to speak any language even if he has never heard it before. * Series.{{Llanargollen}}: In "Dirgelwch y Llyfr Coll", Prys and Barti speak to each other in Swahili. It seems incredibly unlikely that Prys would be fluent in that language, and Barti only speaks in unintelligible grunts with individual words thrown in. The other characters barely react to this. * VideoGame.EternalReturnBlackSurvival: The test subjects are able to work together with each other in spite of how one would presume that the vast majority of them would be completely unable to verbally communicate with most of the others. {{Averted}} by some of the achievement lore entries, which include statements observed from test subjects that some of which have a note underneath which states the words were translated by AI and will be reviewed and localized further in the future. '''Since this seems to be an implied example rather than a straight example, and it seems to be ambiguous InUniverse whether it's this or BilingualDialogue, I'll leave it here.''' * VideoGame.MegaManBattleNetwork2?: [=MegaMan=]'s translation system allows Lan to speak flawless Netopian after they arrive in Netopia. * WesternAnimation.{{Pocahontas}}: English explorer John Smith meets the alluring Pocahontas of the Powhatan tribe. Smith doesn't know her language, nor she his. That is, until Pocahontas takes a breath of magic wind. Suddenly, her English is better than his. [[/folder]]
[[folder:Aversions (1/50)]] * DarthWiki.{{Aquilaverse}}: ''Averted'' Not inexplicable, since her spell "Xenographus" let's her read any language she encounters for a limited duration. [[/folder]]
[[folder:Unclear (4/50)]] * Characters.FrightKrewe: His power makes him this. He has the ability to communicate with anyone and understand anything they say, whether its a [[InexplicableLanguageFluency person]], an [[SpeaksFluentAnimal animal]], or an [[NatureSpirit 'elemental entity']]. '''The way the example is written, it's not clear whether it's this or BilingualDialogue.''' * Recap.CreepshowS1E3BadWolfDown: Doc is shown to speak French and understands the language quite fluently, allowing him to translate the explanation of the werewolf woman's plight. '''You can't "understand a language fluently". Does he ''speak'' it fluently, or at least speak it better than he should realistically be able to?''' * Series.AlloAllo: Frenchmen, Germans, and Italians can talk to each other. This is never explained. '''In their own languages, or...?''' * WesternAnimation.SpaceChimps: The [[SpeaksFluentAnimal aliens]] and [[InexplicablySpeaksFluentAlien chimps]] understand each other, despite that the chimps have just arrived on their planet. '''Does one of them speak the other's language, or do they just understand each other's languages?''' [[/folder]]
!!!'''Characters being able to understand a language without demonstrating fluency (24/50) 12%''' [[folder:Amplified Animal Aptitude (7/50) '''3.5%''']] * Literature.MrsFrisbyAndTheRatsOfNIMH: The animals can understand humans and each other, but can't talk to humans. This leads to a bit of FridgeLogic as to where exactly all these animals picked up English (justified for the rats, as they were taught it in the lab, but not for any of the others), and whether they can understand other human languages automatically as well. * Recap.TheSimpsonsS6E6TreehouseOfHorrorV: When Homer is sent back in time to a prehistoric era, and has to avoid stepping on anything to change the future, he ends up swatting a mosquito then asks for reassurance that it won't change the future. He is understood despite being in an era before English existed, since a sloth behind him shrugs and grunts as if to say "I don't know." * TheSimpsons.TropesIToM: ** In "Treehouse of Horror V", when Homer is sent back in time to a prehistoric era, and has to avoid stepping on anything to change the future, he ends up swatting a mosquito then asks for reassurance that it won't change the future. He is understood despite being in an era before English existed, since a sloth behind him shrugs and grunts as if to say "I don't know." '''Just checked and the sloth doesn’t say “I don’t know”, it just grunts with an intonation that indicates that that’s what it was saying. So, not fluent in English.''' * Tarzan.TropesGToZ ** Played straight when Jane talks to a baby baboon and he understands her. * TotalDrama.TropesHToP: Some wild animals--especially squirrels--can understand humans. * WesternAnimation.FindingNemo: Dory understands English. The fish in the tank understand English because they've been hearing humans all their life, but there's no reason for Dory to understand English. [[spoiler:Subverted in that ''WesternAnimation/FindingDory'' reveals she was raised in a marine life institute in California.]] '''Since it says “understand” and not “speak” I can only assume this is a case of TranslationConvention and AnimalTalk, which means they aren’t actually fluent in English.''' * WesternAnimation.SpiritStallionOfTheCimarron: Spirit, despite not having had any human contact before his capture, understands what the human characters are saying. [[/folder]]
[[folder:Bilingual Dialogue (11/50)]] * Characters.MashupWeekMegamixCompetitors: Despite the fact that all 3 members speak different languages (English for Scoop, French for Eric and Italian for Baba), they can be understood by each other and by others easily. * Film.NoTimeToDie: James Bond's 5-year-old daughter, Mathilde, understands English even though her mother Madelaine speaks to her in French and all the media she consumes is in French. * Film.Titanic1997: Jack and the Swedish men understand each other well enough that Olaf is able to bet his tickets for all Jack and Fabrizio's money. * FinalFantasyXIV.TropesGToI?: ** In ''Heavensward'', the Warrior and Alphinaud are startled by how they can understand the great wyrm Hraesvelgr, who only speaks the language of dragons. They learn that while other races may not speak the dragon's language, the inherent power and magic in a dragon's song essentially beams meaning directly into the hearer's mind. ** The Scions are shocked in ''Shadowbringers'' when they meet [[spoiler:Emet-Selch's recreation of the lost city of Amaurot, the home of the BenevolentPrecursor race. Although the ancient version of mankind spoke only in a StarfishLanguage of droning tones, the Scions born millennia after the world was sundered find that they're able to discern meaning from it.]] * Literature.CookingWithWildGame: Lampshaded. One of the few supernatural parts of the setting is that [[TrappedInAnotherWorld Asuta]] can understand its inhabitants' language (almost) perfectly. Nobody knows why, nor do they ever find out; it's essentially one of the AcceptableBreaksFromReality needed to get the plot going. * Literature.{{Fablehaven}}: After receiving magic from fairies, Kendra gains the ability to interpret their language intuitively despite never actually learning it. * Manga.MiriyaAndMarie: Aside of occasional GratuitousFrench, Miriya can understand all French and animal characters and vice versa. Blackey also tries to charge Miriya for massage in yen despite being French. * VideoGame.KnightsOfTheOldRepublic: Yes, your character understands plenty of languages, but there isn't anyone who ''should'' understand the language of the AbusivePrecursors. [[spoiler: Subverted. Turns out you'd been there before and learned the language, but just forgotten the whole thing between Malak's backstab and whatever the Jedi did to "rebuild" you]]. '''When moving this to BilingualDialogue, I would rewrite it as “Your character understands plenty of languages, but can only speak one.''' * WebOriginal.MashupWeek: In both tournaments, Flat Eric speaks French, but everyone can understand him perfectly. Same with Gigi, who speaks Italian. * WesternAnimation.JosieAndThePussycats: ''[[RecycledWithAGimmick In Outer Space]]'' has Melody encounter an alien creature that looks like cotton candy with eyes and flippers. The critter speaks in a series of bleeps, and Melody names him Bleep. [[InexplicablySpeaksFluentAlien She can also understand him perfectly, and acts as translator for everyone else]]. Also, Bleep seems to understand English just fine. '''I also think InexplicablySpeaksFluentAlien should be limited to people actually speaking Alien instead of just understanding it, but that’s for another time.''' [[/folder]]
[[folder:Other (6/50)]] * Characters.InfinityTrainSeekerOfCrocusMultiverse: Upon looking at some files from the old phone Oscar picked up, he's somehow able to read ''Aztec glyphs'' just by looking at it. [[spoiler:This is probably due to his covenant with Agares, as one of Agares' ability is to let his conjurer read and understand different languages.]] * Fanfic.InfinityTrainSeekerOfCrocus: Kaito is somehow able to read ''Aztec glyphs'' just by looking at it. [[spoiler:This is probably due to his covenant with Agares, as one of Agares' ability is to let his conjurer read and understand different languages.]] * Characters.YaBoyKongming: ** Kongming also demonstrates an ability to understand English, as he is able to tell that the English song Eiko sings to him is a love song, with enough comprehension to be moved by a vision of his old comrades due to the lyrics referencing being still alive and alone. Later, upon meeting Tsuyoshi Kondo after Eiko's performance at the Yoyogi Art Festival, Kongming easily translates his GratuitousEnglish for a confused Kobayashi, and he's even become friends with a foreigner in Roppongi, who speaks exclusively in English. He's capable of some GratuitousEnglish himself, to boot. * Recap/CreepshowS2E2PublicTelevisionOfTheDead: Goodman reveals to Ted, out of nowhere, that he can read Sumerian, allowing him to translate the Necronomicon's incantations and let Evil roam free once again. * Series.{{Carnivale}}: During the fireball show, Samson secretly passes an old Crusader fob up to the stage during Lodz's psychometry act. When Lodz touches it, he's struck by visions of a holy war and begins chanting ''"In hoc signo vinces!"'' Ben, an uneducated farmboy, surprises Samson by translating even though he doesn't even recognize the language is Latin: '''Ben Hawkins:''' By this sign we conquer... by this sign we conquer... * WesternAnimation.SpaceChimps2ZartogStrikesBack: Zartog understands the humans, despite having just arrived on Earth. He even understands Spanish, Hindi, and Xhosa upon hearing them for the first time, making the humans' inability to understand him even more hilarious. [[/folder]]

Just copy this, paste this into a sandbox, then make a thread in the Trope Repair Shop linking to it. The thread shall be titled "Needs Help: Inexplicable Language Fluency".
A wick check for InexplicableLanguageFluency.
'''Why?''': InexplicableLanguageFluency seems to lump in examples of characters demonstrating fluency in a language they've never learned with examples of characters merely understanding a language they never learned. For one, it doesn't make sense for the latter examples to be there since the title has the word "fluency" in it. Secondly, many of the latter examples can be moved to BilingualDialogue or AmplifiedAnimalAptitude.
'''Wicks checked''': 50/72
'''Wick totals''':
* 21/50 wicks, or 11.5%, were clear examples of a character demonstrating fluency in a language they never learned. * 24/50 wicks, or 12% were examples of a character understanding a language without demonstrating fluency. * 4/50 wicks, or 2%, were written in a way that made it unclear whether they were being used correctly. * 1/50 wicks, or 1.5%, was an aversion.
[[folder:Characters demonstrating fluency in a language they never learned (21/50)]] * Characters.AtlantisTheLostEmpire: The Atlanteans are able to fluently communicate with the explorers from the surface in English and French. This is handwaved as their own language being a precursor to all other languages. * Characters.YaBoyKongming: ** Kongming finds himself immediately fluent in Japanese despite having never learned the language, and the Japan of his era was still a dwarf country that mostly only sent envoys to Shu's rival kingdom of Wei. Eiko points out the absurdity of how an ancient Chinese figure can suddenly speak Japanese, and Kongming himself is at a loss of how he can do this. * Characters.YellowjacketsCrashSurvivors: [[spoiler:She, and by extension others in the Antler Queen cult she forms, randomly speak French on occasion, which Lottie at least is ''not'' fluent in, indicating mental instability.]] '''If this is supposed to be an inversion, it's correct, but it should be rewritten to mention that it's an inversion.''' * ComicBook.Asterix: Gauls can speak to most foreign peoples without any difficulty. Either everyone can speak Gaulish, or the Gauls can speak other languages, but either way is downright impossible. * ComicBook.UltimateFantasticFour: ** Downplayed. Namor demonstrates this trope after spending nine thousand years of being sealed inside a sarcophagus prison. Being from an ancient civilization of Atlantis that predates the modern English language, he initially has no idea what his new captors are saying when they find him. However, thanks to his psionic powers he proves to be a frighteningly fast learner and is able to learn English within an hour to understand modern American English and casually deliver threats and demands. ** Happens again when the Four meets the Silver Surfer who is able to understand English perfectly the instant he arrives to Earth for the first time. He justifies this by stating can decipher electromagnetic signals in the air to learn alien tongues in seconds. * Friends.TropesFToJ: Zig-zagged. "The One Where Ross Can't Flirt" has her speaking with Joey's Italian grandmother, with Phoebe seeming as surprised about this as Joey. But in an earlier episode, Rachel's former lover Paulo calls her "bellissima" and she doesn't understand. ->'''Joey:''' Wow, Phoebs, you speak Italian?\\ '''Phoebe:''' Apparently. * Film.ExorcistTheBeginning: In-universe, the main characters note Cheche's sudden fluency in English after being brought to the hospital. Of course this is because it is Pazuzu speaking through him and not actually Cheche. '''This is DiscussedTrope, not InUniverse'''. * Film.{{Phenomenon}}: Downplayed. After a UFO encounter, George gains a form of superintelligence where he can learn complicated tasks and subjects quickly, to the point where he's able to fluently speak Portuguese after reading an English-to-Portuguese dictionary for twenty minutes. This was foreshadowed in an earlier scene where after usually fumbling to speak Spanish, he's suddenly able to speak it perfectly, to the point that his Hispanic coworker half-seriously declares that it's better than his. * Literature.ForgottenRuin: When Talker and Vandahar speak during the final stretch to the Hidden Cave, Vandahar speaks in what we would recognize as modern German, which of course makes communicating with him very easy for Talker but raises a few questions. * Literature.InCryptid: Of the GeneticMemory version. When Candice the Dragon Princess comes up against the LizardFolk wandering about the New York sewers, she's able to make them halt using a guttural language. She reveals to Verity that it's a inborn language all Princesses know and something the "Servitors" are meant to respond to. She's also never used it before as Servitors can only be created from a [[spoiler:living male dragon]]. * Literature.SeasonalFears: Aven is essentially in a coma all her life but, thanks to the alchemical knowledge tinctures of her father', she speaks perfect English even if there are some issues with definitions. * Literature.ShiversMDSpenser: Bubbie moves to France with her family and meets a new French kid, Jean-Luc, and can somehow converse with him without any language issues; at the end of the story she can hold a long conversation with a stranger in French, despite spending less than a week in the country. Previous books with an overseas setting will at least attempt justifying this trope (for instance, ''Terror on Troll Mountain'' has the protagonist's Italian family choosing to speak in English because they're anticipating American guests) but this one handwaves the issue until it's a borderline plot hole. * Recap.AsterixAndTheGoths: Getafix is able to speak fluent Gothic, despite being a Gaulish druid who has no logical reason to know it (especially considering how antagonistic the Goths are in this story). * Recap.FriendsS5E19TheOneWhereRossCantFlirt: Phoebe speaks with Joey's Italian grandmother, with [[InexplicableLanguageFluency Phoebe seeming as surprised about this as Joey]]. '''Joey:''' Wow, Phoebs, you speak Italian?\\ '''Phoebe:''' Apparently. * Recap.TalesFromTheDarksideS4E6TheGraveRobber: Aileen is surprised to hear Tapok speaking English when he wakes up, the mummy giving an offhand mention that he can speak the language of anyone who violates the tomb. * Roleplay.WanyaKingdomVSAwoofyUnity: Fragment has been shown to speak any language even if he has never heard it before. * Series.{{Llanargollen}}: In "Dirgelwch y Llyfr Coll", Prys and Barti speak to each other in Swahili. It seems incredibly unlikely that Prys would be fluent in that language, and Barti only speaks in unintelligible grunts with individual words thrown in. The other characters barely react to this. * VideoGame.EternalReturnBlackSurvival: The test subjects are able to work together with each other in spite of how one would presume that the vast majority of them would be completely unable to verbally communicate with most of the others. {{Averted}} by some of the achievement lore entries, which include statements observed from test subjects that some of which have a note underneath which states the words were translated by AI and will be reviewed and localized further in the future. '''Since this seems to be an implied example rather than a straight example, and it seems to be ambiguous InUniverse whether it's this or BilingualDialogue, I'll leave it here.''' * VideoGame.MegaManBattleNetwork2?: [=MegaMan=]'s translation system allows Lan to speak flawless Netopian after they arrive in Netopia. * WesternAnimation.{{Pocahontas}}: English explorer John Smith meets the alluring Pocahontas of the Powhatan tribe. Smith doesn't know her language, nor she his. That is, until Pocahontas takes a breath of magic wind. Suddenly, her English is better than his. [[/folder]]
[[folder:Aversions (1/50)]] * DarthWiki.{{Aquilaverse}}: ''Averted'' Not inexplicable, since her spell "Xenographus" let's her read any language she encounters for a limited duration. [[/folder]]
[[folder:Unclear (4/50)]] * Characters.FrightKrewe: His power makes him this. He has the ability to communicate with anyone and understand anything they say, whether its a [[InexplicableLanguageFluency person]], an [[SpeaksFluentAnimal animal]], or an [[NatureSpirit 'elemental entity']]. '''The way the example is written, it's not clear whether it's this or BilingualDialogue.''' * Recap.CreepshowS1E3BadWolfDown: Doc is shown to speak French and understands the language quite fluently, allowing him to translate the explanation of the werewolf woman's plight. '''You can't "understand a language fluently". Does he ''speak'' it fluently, or at least speak it better than he should realistically be able to?''' * Series.AlloAllo: Frenchmen, Germans, and Italians can talk to each other. This is never explained. '''In their own languages, or...?''' * WesternAnimation.SpaceChimps: The [[SpeaksFluentAnimal aliens]] and [[InexplicablySpeaksFluentAlien chimps]] understand each other, despite that the chimps have just arrived on their planet. '''Does one of them speak the other's language, or do they just understand each other's languages?''' [[/folder]]
!!!'''Characters being able to understand a language without demonstrating fluency (24/50) 12%''' [[folder:Amplified Animal Aptitude (7/50) '''3.5%''']] * Literature.MrsFrisbyAndTheRatsOfNIMH: The animals can understand humans and each other, but can't talk to humans. This leads to a bit of FridgeLogic as to where exactly all these animals picked up English (justified for the rats, as they were taught it in the lab, but not for any of the others), and whether they can understand other human languages automatically as well. * Recap.TheSimpsonsS6E6TreehouseOfHorrorV: When Homer is sent back in time to a prehistoric era, and has to avoid stepping on anything to change the future, he ends up swatting a mosquito then asks for reassurance that it won't change the future. He is understood despite being in an era before English existed, since a sloth behind him shrugs and grunts as if to say "I don't know." * TheSimpsons.TropesIToM: ** In "Treehouse of Horror V", when Homer is sent back in time to a prehistoric era, and has to avoid stepping on anything to change the future, he ends up swatting a mosquito then asks for reassurance that it won't change the future. He is understood despite being in an era before English existed, since a sloth behind him shrugs and grunts as if to say "I don't know." '''Just checked and the sloth doesn’t say “I don’t know”, it just grunts with an intonation that indicates that that’s what it was saying. So, not fluent in English.''' * Tarzan.TropesGToZ ** Played straight when Jane talks to a baby baboon and he understands her. * TotalDrama.TropesHToP: Some wild animals--especially squirrels--can understand humans. * WesternAnimation.FindingNemo: Dory understands English. The fish in the tank understand English because they've been hearing humans all their life, but there's no reason for Dory to understand English. [[spoiler:Subverted in that ''WesternAnimation/FindingDory'' reveals she was raised in a marine life institute in California.]] '''Since it says “understand” and not “speak” I can only assume this is a case of TranslationConvention and AnimalTalk, which means they aren’t actually fluent in English.''' * WesternAnimation.SpiritStallionOfTheCimarron: Spirit, despite not having had any human contact before his capture, understands what the human characters are saying. [[/folder]]
[[folder:Bilingual Dialogue (11/50)]] * Characters.MashupWeekMegamixCompetitors: Despite the fact that all 3 members speak different languages (English for Scoop, French for Eric and Italian for Baba), they can be understood by each other and by others easily. * Film.NoTimeToDie: James Bond's 5-year-old daughter, Mathilde, understands English even though her mother Madelaine speaks to her in French and all the media she consumes is in French. * Film.Titanic1997: Jack and the Swedish men understand each other well enough that Olaf is able to bet his tickets for all Jack and Fabrizio's money. * FinalFantasyXIV.TropesGToI?: ** In ''Heavensward'', the Warrior and Alphinaud are startled by how they can understand the great wyrm Hraesvelgr, who only speaks the language of dragons. They learn that while other races may not speak the dragon's language, the inherent power and magic in a dragon's song essentially beams meaning directly into the hearer's mind. ** The Scions are shocked in ''Shadowbringers'' when they meet [[spoiler:Emet-Selch's recreation of the lost city of Amaurot, the home of the BenevolentPrecursor race. Although the ancient version of mankind spoke only in a StarfishLanguage of droning tones, the Scions born millennia after the world was sundered find that they're able to discern meaning from it.]] * Literature.CookingWithWildGame: Lampshaded. One of the few supernatural parts of the setting is that [[TrappedInAnotherWorld Asuta]] can understand its inhabitants' language (almost) perfectly. Nobody knows why, nor do they ever find out; it's essentially one of the AcceptableBreaksFromReality needed to get the plot going. * Literature.{{Fablehaven}}: After receiving magic from fairies, Kendra gains the ability to interpret their language intuitively despite never actually learning it. * Manga.MiriyaAndMarie: Aside of occasional GratuitousFrench, Miriya can understand all French and animal characters and vice versa. Blackey also tries to charge Miriya for massage in yen despite being French. * VideoGame.KnightsOfTheOldRepublic: Yes, your character understands plenty of languages, but there isn't anyone who ''should'' understand the language of the AbusivePrecursors. [[spoiler: Subverted. Turns out you'd been there before and learned the language, but just forgotten the whole thing between Malak's backstab and whatever the Jedi did to "rebuild" you]]. '''When moving this to BilingualDialogue, I would rewrite it as “Your character understands plenty of languages, but can only speak one.''' * WebOriginal.MashupWeek: In both tournaments, Flat Eric speaks French, but everyone can understand him perfectly. Same with Gigi, who speaks Italian. * WesternAnimation.JosieAndThePussycats: ''[[RecycledWithAGimmick In Outer Space]]'' has Melody encounter an alien creature that looks like cotton candy with eyes and flippers. The critter speaks in a series of bleeps, and Melody names him Bleep. [[InexplicablySpeaksFluentAlien She can also understand him perfectly, and acts as translator for everyone else]]. Also, Bleep seems to understand English just fine. '''I also think InexplicablySpeaksFluentAlien should be limited to people actually speaking Alien instead of just understanding it, but that’s for another time.''' [[/folder]]
[[folder:Other (6/50)]] * Characters.InfinityTrainSeekerOfCrocusMultiverse: Upon looking at some files from the old phone Oscar picked up, he's somehow able to read ''Aztec glyphs'' just by looking at it. [[spoiler:This is probably due to his covenant with Agares, as one of Agares' ability is to let his conjurer read and understand different languages.]] * Fanfic.InfinityTrainSeekerOfCrocus: Kaito is somehow able to read ''Aztec glyphs'' just by looking at it. [[spoiler:This is probably due to his covenant with Agares, as one of Agares' ability is to let his conjurer read and understand different languages.]] * Characters.YaBoyKongming: ** Kongming also demonstrates an ability to understand English, as he is able to tell that the English song Eiko sings to him is a love song, with enough comprehension to be moved by a vision of his old comrades due to the lyrics referencing being still alive and alone. Later, upon meeting Tsuyoshi Kondo after Eiko's performance at the Yoyogi Art Festival, Kongming easily translates his GratuitousEnglish for a confused Kobayashi, and he's even become friends with a foreigner in Roppongi, who speaks exclusively in English. He's capable of some GratuitousEnglish himself, to boot. * Recap/CreepshowS2E2PublicTelevisionOfTheDead: Goodman reveals to Ted, out of nowhere, that he can read Sumerian, allowing him to translate the Necronomicon's incantations and let Evil roam free once again. * Series.{{Carnivale}}: During the fireball show, Samson secretly passes an old Crusader fob up to the stage during Lodz's psychometry act. When Lodz touches it, he's struck by visions of a holy war and begins chanting ''"In hoc signo vinces!"'' Ben, an uneducated farmboy, surprises Samson by translating even though he doesn't even recognize the language is Latin: '''Ben Hawkins:''' By this sign we conquer... by this sign we conquer... * WesternAnimation.SpaceChimps2ZartogStrikesBack: Zartog understands the humans, despite having just arrived on Earth. He even understands Spanish, Hindi, and Xhosa upon hearing them for the first time, making the humans' inability to understand him even more hilarious. [[/folder]]

hello !! as the title says i’ m new to the fandom. i finished watching children of earth a fee days ago (i just i could take a pill of retcon and forget the ending) i’ ll watch miracle day soon even though i know it is different from the old torchwood but anyway, the point of this post - apart from introducing myself - is that i know there are a lot of audio books ?? and / or audio dramas (i still haven’ t understand if they’ re the same thing or not) and i’ d like to ask what they are and in which order i’ m supposed to listen to them (plus if anyone does how to listen to them from free in europe but outside of the united kingdom)

I live in a massive apartment complex that unfortunately has the lowest rent in town and I am not from this area so i can't just go live with parents or friends. (Nor would I want to with how bad this is.)
I've found these little things everywhere. Headphone pads, on shower curtains, and other places that might be strange to people who have never delt with them.
I've had two treatments but the landlord is getting a bit pissy about getting another treatment.
Still these are the things I'm doing.

1. I have washed, dried, and stuffed my clothing into sealed bags. Since this has started I have only opened the bag with my work uniform in it as I am required to wear the clothes for work. Otherwise I do not touch the bags of clothes. I would buy new clothes but I am stuck in this apartment for the foreseeable future. I had to move from my last town because of the only jobs being retail work which does not pay the bills. Still I never remove anything from any of the bags except my work clothes bag and when I remove the clothes the bag gets resealed immediately.
   
2. I have thrown away everything. Headphones (found a tiny nest of them living in the pads.) Books, bed, chairs. I'm sleeping on the floor with a new thin sheet and a new pillow. Every treatment I buy a new set. Electronics have been tossed. Basically everything that I can throw away I have thrown away this includes clothing.
   
3. I vacuum every day. Was told to do this as it would help?.
   

What else can I do on my end?

Hey y’all!
This is really long but I’m really struggling with what to do, and all of this is necessary to provide context. I checked out the trans allyship resources on this subreddit and didn’t find anything useful to this specific context. I really really need advice.
TW: transphobia
I (24tm) have a very close friend (32f) who is cisgender. I’ll call her A.
I was at a bar with A and someone came up to me and immediately tried to debate me and was saying really transphobic stuff and using the T slur. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and tried to explain to him that he was wrong but he kept talking over me. A didn’t say much during this conversation. I told him I was going to leave because he wasn’t listening, turned to walk out and A was a little behind me. He told her, “you know you guys can’t have babies, right?”
Yeah. Gross. So when talking about this after the fact, every time it was mentioned A belabored on how she wasn’t involved and she just can’t believe he said that to her. I just kind of thought this was annoying and let it go, until one night, when we were talking to her dad about this I said something about how that’s just what happens when you’re friends with trans people, you get caught in the crossfire. Later that night she explained to me that she wasn’t actually centering herself and it just made him more of an asshole that he said it to her, and I’m realizing now as I type this that the implication of that is that it would have been less bad if he had said it to me. I told her it’s annoying because she should have said something to him and defended me, and gotten involved to begin with. Her response was, verbatim, “I’m a cancer mars.” (For context, I believe in astrology and so does she. But. Really?) She then told me that he was being homophobic because I had said something to him about how I was gay and he thought I was a woman and that we were a couple, which is why he said that. I was like, nope, he was pretty explicitly being transphobic. And she then explained again how it wasn’t transphobia it was homophobia and doubled down that he thinks I’m a woman.
I got home to a text further explaining how she wasn’t centering herself by talking about that stuff, and I responded that I was actually bothered by her trying to tell me it was homophobic and not transphobic (she has never dated a woman and is married to a cis man). I also said something about how I didn’t have the emotional capacity for the argument because I was having some other issues with transphobia right before that (which she was aware of) that didn’t involve her. I think the words I said were about being surrounded by cis people. I also think I said something about how she always thinks she’s right. I know that’s not a great thing to say in conflict. But I did say that.
She started getting incredibly defensive around my language of saying cis people, and saying “oh what? I’m just like (insert other person I was in conflict with) now?” And telling me that her saying it was homophobia was just “her perception” and seemed to not understand why that was wrong. She also said I was “fucking on one recently” in regards to marginalization. I backed down and apologized for the cis thing. Honestly I don’t remember too much else of the conflict other than we were arguing for quite a while, and it ended with her and I both apologizing. The next day I re read everything and texted her that I wasn’t happy with the argument. She said “yeah I’m not happy either.” I sent a paragraph about how I don’t know how to proceed and this could change how safe I feel around her, and how I don’t know what to do because she proved by getting defensive and doubling down that I can’t express things like this to her or expect her to defend me in any real capacity. a couple hours later sent me a long text, basically saying that I was (verbatim) “just trying to get my pound of flesh” because she had already apologized. Also some stuff about how I apparently had pointed out her privilege too many times recently (that’s probably true, I thought I was being funny though and didn’t realize I was being annoying) and essentially said that she “crossed a boundary (she) didn’t know existed” by trying to tell me it was homophobia and that some random stranger thought I was a woman. Honestly? I kind of just lost faith that she was going to be rational so I backed down.
That really bothered me for a while. I was going to email the bar to tell them about the transphobic guy, because he had a music show scheduled for the following week and I wanted them to drop him. She asked me at one point if I had sent the email, I said no and explained it was because the whole thing was too much for me, and she offered to send it. She wrote something, I added a couple things, she sent it, the bar dropped him. She sent this in her family group message that I’m in and everyone was congratulating her and saying they were proud of her. That was super triggering because after she was so explicitly transphobic to me I felt really annoyed at watching everyone eat her ass over sending an email. During this conversation, her kid (10nb) sent a voice memo “explaining the situation” and basically just recapped that someone was transphobic to me, and said that I was going to send the email but didn’t because I was “lazy” so their mom sent it. I texted A to say, hey, I probably want to have a conversation with your kid at some point about why they shouldn’t call marginalized people lazy when they don’t stick up for themselves. She explained that she didn’t know where they got that verbiage from. I told her that it wasn’t a big deal, reiterated multiple times (in very explicit wording) that they did nothing wrong, but I was frustrated because I had conflict with A which made me unable to deal with the transphobia and then her kid calls me lazy because of, essentially, what A did.
A texted me an hour or so later telling me that I was “putting my emotions on her to handle” and I “should pick my battles with more discernment” because I was “triggered from our conflict” that happened the previous week. She said I need to “process my emotions longer” before I come to her. She also listed off some things she was dealing with and said she was pissed off that she even had to be frustrated with me. It was a long conversation where I asked if she was okay because her extreme emotional reactions are out of character and she said she was okay. I ended up disingenuously backing down and apologizing and said I knew I was triggered and I explained exactly that, she basically said that I’m “not the only one the conflict was hard for” the implication I gathered is that I shouldn’t bring it up to her, I guess.
Tonight I was with her and someone got aggressive with me in the men’s room and I had to leave the bar twice to drive down the street to pee somewhere else. It wasn’t really about the way she handled that specifically but I don’t feel safe talking to her about any transphobia at all anymore, and there’s no way for me to express this and explain why she’s messing up basic allyship because I tried twice now already.
She’s my main support system, we’ve been tight for the last three years and I’ve known her my whole life. Her biological family is also a huge support system for me and I don’t want to cut any one of them off.
So here’s the question: what the actual fuck do I do? Does anyone have any books, or resources, or like good nuanced explanations of allyship stuff that I can send her? I can’t keep having these conversations because she says really personal attacks about me and honestly the way I’m perceiving her reactions are making it hard for me to take her seriously at all, in any context. I’m thinking if I send her a third party source she might feel less attacked and it will take the emotional labor off me because she can’t argue. Has anyone dealt with anything similar? Can anyone give me any advice?
Thanks.
Tl;dr my very close friend who is my main/only support system said something transphobic, doubled down, and had continued to disrespect me and lodge personal attacks against me when I try to bring it up. Any resources for that?

I need advice regarding my relationship and decision that I’ve made. I want to know if I made the right decision. I (21f) met my (25m) bf at a tobacconist. He approached me and was very polite and asked for my number and if he could take me out. I asked him about his age and if he works because these are important things for me to know before even giving out my number. He answered and said he wasn’t working at the moment because he just got out of house arrest and I asking him if he’s not working, how will he take me out? He told me money isn’t an issue he’s just not employed. I got what he was trying to say. He took me out on a date and it was perfect. He was polite, sweet and a gentleman. It felt like love at first sight for me. We began dating and then he got arrested near my street when he came to drop off a motorcycle to someone and then came to see me. At this point, I knew him for 5 weeks in total and we spoke about a lot of things and I told him hypotheticallly if he was to be locked up again I would hold it down for him. I don’t think he believed me at the time I told him but when the situation arised, it wasn’t even a question for me and I did hold him down. It took a few weeks for him to get processed and call me. I wasn’t sure if he even wanted to be with me anymore. Right after his arrest, I tried to track him down to which jail he was at and sent him letters with words of encouragement and reassurance that I am here for him as promised. In those three weeks of no contact, I also got his BPAY details to put money in his account and have been this whole time. Around $30-$50 per week. He usually spends that money to call me twice a day for 15 minutes per call. Sometimes he calls me 3 times a day. In the weeks where I couldn’t send him money, he never asked for money but I realised the calls were only once a day as he was trying to space out the calls for the week as he was low on money. Still, he never asked me for anything. He’s always given me reassurance during the 6 months he’s been inside and speaks to me kindly and gently. When we do have issues, usually on the first call he will say something that’s not quite right and upset me but always fix it by the second call when he’s had time to think about it. I’ve felt lucky af to have him because he’s been the most sweetest and romantic person I’ve been with yet. All of his friends know bout me and message me when it comes to important information regarding his trial. His mum has also confided in me for the last 6 months and has told me that I’m like a daughter to her (although in the last 1 month she’s ghosted me). I had a face to face visit with him last month because his mum took me with her and it felt amazing to be able to see him and hold him. He has lied to me about a few things starting off with his ethnicity. When I met him he told me he was two different ethnicities but I later came to find out drop his mum that he’s actually 100% Indian and doesn’t have any roots of those other two ethnicities. His mum showed me her entire family as proof and his dad’s family. His mum has also warned me numerous times to break up with him because he’s been in and out of prison since he was 20 and every time he says he will change but he doesn’t. He’s also gotten expelled from school so he never finished school either. He has never had a normal job but has been making money in other ways so money isn’t an issue. I also think he might be addicted to drugs but I am not sure. He has gotten people to transfer different amounts of money into my account and for me to transfer them to other accounts. I did become suspicious of what’s going on but I kind of turned a blind eye to it and told him he better not be making me do something I shouldn’t be doing. He’s always told me if i don’t want to do it it’s totally fine and he can get someone else to do this for him. I am confident I am the only girl he’s talking to as I can book visits every week and I can tell other people are not really visiting him except his sister and mum sometimes and his mum’s also given me reassurance that he is talking to me only me and that when it comes to relationships he is soft hearted. I also do think he is soft hearted. I have experienced a lot of adversity from people and people definitely have looked down on me and have told me all sorts of negative things but I tried to stay strong and stay in the relationship. I have always brought up with issues and we have fixed them. Anyways, he gets out in 10 days and last week I went on to reddit to read peoples posts about dating someone that’s in prison and it scared tf out of me when I saw that all this sweet romantic talk is just “prison talk” and that they will switch up once they come out. I have sent him lots of pics of me too and I saw other people talking about how they sell and trade photos of women and I think I know him enough to know he respects me to not do that to me but all of these things just freaked me out. I am really scared of getting hurt so I tend to withdraw from relationships because the other person can leave me or hurt me to leave him. I know it’s something I struggle with but I have held it down for 6 months even though I only knew him for 5 weeks prior. I have tried to support him in every way I can and I have never missed a call from him. I am not strong enough to break things off over the phone because the calls are timed and I am afraid that if he does give me reassurance over the phone rn it’s probably “prison talk.” I would never ghost him or not give closure so I sent a message to be passed to him to his friend. In the message I basically talked about the reason why I’m leaving is because i don’t think he loves me and probably only feels so strongly about me because he’s in jail and all he’s got is time so now he’s infatuated with me but when he comes out that may change. I don’t want to hold him to promises he’s made while being in there and I don’t want to subconsciously force him to be with me I did write all that in a panic state. Anyway, I think he got the message. He did try to call me a few times after he got the message and I didn’t pick up. I love him a lot so deep down I do want him to try and prove me wrong and give me reassurance that it’s not just prison talk and that he does love me and want to be with me. He’s always made it clear he loves me over the phone. Do you guys think I made the right choice and that if he truly does love me, he will understand how I have been feeling on my end? It’s very difficult to be a loved one of someone that is incarcerated. You feel lonely and always in an emotional roller coaster. I stuck through and didn’t abandon him during his sentence but now that he’s coming out, I’ve kind of just set him free so he doesn’t feel guilty about treating me differently when he comes out if he realises his feelings are not as strong as they were once he was locked up.

I need advice regarding my relationship and decision that I’ve made. I want to know if I made the right decision.
I (21f) met my (25m) bf at a tobacconist. He approached me and was very polite and asked for my number and if he could take me out. I asked him about his age and if he works because these are important things for me to know before even giving out my number. He answered and said he wasn’t working at the moment because he just got out of house arrest and I asking him if he’s not working, how will he take me out? He told me money isn’t an issue he’s just not employed. I got what he was trying to say.
He took me out on a date and it was perfect. He was polite, sweet and a gentleman. It felt like love at first sight for me. We began dating and then he got arrested near my street when he came to drop off a motorcycle to someone and then came to see me. At this point, I knew him for 5 weeks in total and we spoke about a lot of things and I told him hypotheticallly if he was to be locked up again I would hold it down for him. I don’t think he believed me at the time I told him but when the situation arised, it wasn’t even a question for me and I did hold him down.
It took a few weeks for him to get processed and call me. I wasn’t sure if he even wanted to be with me anymore. Right after his arrest, I tried to track him down to which jail he was at and sent him letters with words of encouragement and reassurance that I am here for him as promised. In those three weeks of no contact, I also got his BPAY details to put money in his account and have been this whole time. Around $30-$50 per week. He usually spends that money to call me twice a day for 15 minutes per call. Sometimes he calls me 3 times a day. In the weeks where I couldn’t send him money, he never asked for money but I realised the calls were only once a day as he was trying to space out the calls for the week as he was low on money. Still, he never asked me for anything. He’s always given me reassurance during the 6 months he’s been inside and speaks to me kindly and gently. When we do have issues, usually on the first call he will say something that’s not quite right and upset me but always fix it by the second call when he’s had time to think about it. I’ve felt lucky af to have him because he’s been the most sweetest and romantic person I’ve been with yet. All of his friends know bout me and message me when it comes to important information regarding his trial. His mum has also confided in me for the last 6 months and has told me that I’m like a daughter to her (although in the last 1 month she’s ghosted me).
I had a face to face visit with him last month because his mum took me with her and it felt amazing to be able to see him and hold him. He has lied to me about a few things starting off with his ethnicity. When I met him he told me he was two different ethnicities but I later came to find out drop his mum that he’s actually 100% Indian and doesn’t have any roots of those other two ethnicities. His mum showed me her entire family as proof and his dad’s family. His mum has also warned me numerous times to break up with him because he’s been in and out of prison since he was 20 and every time he says he will change but he doesn’t.
He’s also gotten expelled from school so he never finished school either. He has never had a normal job but has been making money in other ways so money isn’t an issue. I also think he might be addicted to drugs but I am not sure. He has gotten people to transfer different amounts of money into my account and for me to transfer them to other accounts. I did become suspicious of what’s going on but I kind of turned a blind eye to it and told him he better not be making me do something I shouldn’t be doing. He’s always told me if i don’t want to do it it’s totally fine and he can get someone else to do this for him. I am confident I am the only girl he’s talking to as I can book visits every week and I can tell other people are not really visiting him except his sister and mum sometimes and his mum’s also given me reassurance that he is talking to me only me and that when it comes to relationships he is soft hearted.
I also do think he is soft hearted. I have experienced a lot of adversity from people and people definitely have looked down on me and have told me all sorts of negative things but I tried to stay strong and stay in the relationship. I have always brought up with issues and we have fixed them.
Anyways, he gets out in 10 days and last week I went on to reddit to read peoples posts about dating someone that’s in prison and it scared tf out of me when I saw that all this sweet romantic talk is just “prison talk” and that they will switch up once they come out. I have sent him lots of pics of me too and I saw other people talking about how they sell and trade photos of women and I think I know him enough to know he respects me to not do that to me but all of these things just freaked me out. I am really scared of getting hurt so I tend to withdraw from relationships because the other person can leave me or hurt me to leave him. I know it’s something I struggle with but I have held it down for 6 months even though I only knew him for 5 weeks prior. I have tried to support him in every way I can and I have never missed a call from him.
I am not strong enough to break things off over the phone because the calls are timed and I am afraid that if he does give me reassurance over the phone rn it’s probably “prison talk.” I would never ghost him or not give closure so I sent a message to be passed to him to his friend. In the message I basically talked about the reason why I’m leaving is because i don’t think he loves me and probably only feels so strongly about me because he’s in jail and all he’s got is time so now he’s infatuated with me but when he comes out that may change. I don’t want to hold him to promises he’s made while being in there and I don’t want to subconsciously force him to be with me
I did write all that in a panic state. Anyway, I think he got the message. He did try to call me a few times after he got the message and I didn’t pick up. I love him a lot so deep down I do want him to try and prove me wrong and give me reassurance that it’s not just prison talk and that he does love me and want to be with me.
He’s always made it clear he loves me over the phone. Do you guys think I made the right choice and that if he truly does love me, he will understand how I have been feeling on my end? It’s very difficult to be a loved one of someone that is incarcerated. You feel lonely and always in an emotional roller coaster. I stuck through and didn’t abandon him during his sentence but now that he’s coming out, I’ve kind of just set him free so he doesn’t feel guilty about treating me differently when he comes out if he realises his feelings are not as strong as they were once he was locked up.

Hey y’all!
I know this is really long and I’m honestly not sure if anyone will read through it. I feel the need to tell this whole thing, to get it off my chest but also to provide context. I (24tm) have a very close friend (32f) who is cisgender. I’ll call her A.
I was at a bar with A and someone came up to me and immediately tried to debate me and was saying really transphobic stuff and using the T slur. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and tried to explain to him that he was wrong but he kept talking over me. A didn’t say much during this conversation. I told him I was going to leave because he wasn’t listening, turned to walk out and A was a little behind me. He told her, “you know you guys can’t have babies, right?”
Yeah. Gross. So when talking about this after the fact, every time it was mentioned A belabored on how she wasn’t involved and she just can’t believe he said that to her. I just kind of thought this was annoying and let it go, until one night, when we were talking to her dad about this I said something about how that’s just what happens when you’re friends with trans people, you get caught in the crossfire. Later that night she explained to me that she wasn’t actually centering herself and it just made him more of an asshole that he said it to her, and I’m realizing now as I type this that the implication of that is that it would have been less bad if he had said it to me. I told her it’s annoying because she should have said something to him and defended me, and gotten involved to begin with. Her response was, verbatim, “I’m a cancer mars.” (For context, I believe in astrology and so does she. But. Really?) She then told me that he was being homophobic because I had said something to him about how I was gay and he thought I was a woman and that we were a couple, which is why he said that. I was like, nope, he was pretty explicitly being transphobic. And she then explained again how it wasn’t transphobia it was homophobia and doubled down that he thinks I’m a woman.
I got home to a text further explaining how she wasn’t centering herself by talking about that stuff, and I responded that I was actually bothered by her trying to tell me it was homophobic and not transphobic (she has never dated a woman and is married to a cis man). I also said something about how I didn’t have the emotional capacity for the argument because I was having some other issues with transphobia right before that (which she was aware of) that didn’t involve her. I think the words I said were about being surrounded by cis people. I also think I said something about how she always thinks she’s right. I know that’s not a great thing to say in conflict. But I did say that.
She started getting incredibly defensive around my language of saying cis people, and saying “oh what? I’m just like (insert other person I was in conflict with) now?” And telling me that her saying it was homophobia was just “her perception” and seemed to not understand why that was wrong. She also said I was “fucking on one recently” in regards to marginalization. I backed down and apologized for the cis thing. Honestly I don’t remember too much else of the conflict other than we were arguing for quite a while, and it ended with her and I both apologizing. The next day I re read everything and texted her that I wasn’t happy with the argument. She said “yeah I’m not happy either.” I sent a paragraph about how I don’t know how to proceed and this could change how safe I feel around her, and how I don’t know what to do because she proved by getting defensive and doubling down that I can’t express things like this to her or expect her to defend me in any real capacity. a couple hours later sent me a long text, basically saying that I was (verbatim) “just trying to get my pound of flesh” because she had already apologized. Also some stuff about how I apparently had pointed out her privilege too many times recently (that’s probably true, I thought I was being funny though and didn’t realize I was being annoying) and essentially said that she “crossed a boundary (she) didn’t know existed” by trying to tell me it was homophobia and that some random stranger thought I was a woman. Honestly? I kind of just lost faith that she was going to be rational so I backed down.
That really bothered me for a while. I was going to email the bar to tell them about the transphobic guy, because he had a music show scheduled for the following week and I wanted them to drop him. She asked me at one point if I had sent the email, I said no and explained it was because the whole thing was too much for me, and she offered to send it. She wrote something, I added a couple things, she sent it, the bar dropped him. She sent this in her family group message that I’m in and everyone was congratulating her and saying they were proud of her. That was super triggering because after she was so explicitly transphobic to me I felt really annoyed at watching everyone eat her ass over sending an email. During this conversation, her kid (10nb) sent a voice memo “explaining the situation” and basically just recapped that someone was transphobic to me, and said that I was going to send the email but didn’t because I was “lazy” so their mom sent it. I texted A to say, hey, I probably want to have a conversation with your kid at some point about why they shouldn’t call marginalized people lazy when they don’t stick up for themselves. She explained that she didn’t know where they got that verbiage from. I told her that it wasn’t a big deal, reiterated multiple times (in very explicit wording) that they did nothing wrong, but I was frustrated because I had conflict with A which made me unable to deal with the transphobia and then her kid calls me lazy because of, essentially, what A did.
A texted me an hour or so later telling me that I was “putting my emotions on her to handle” and I “should pick my battles with more discernment” because I was “triggered from our conflict” that happened the previous week. She said I need to “process my emotions longer” before I come to her. She also listed off some things she was dealing with and said she was pissed off that she even had to be frustrated with me. It was a long conversation where I asked if she was okay because her extreme emotional reactions are out of character and she said she was okay. I ended up disingenuously backing down and apologizing and said I knew I was triggered and I explained exactly that, she basically said that I’m “not the only one the conflict was hard for” the implication I gathered is that I shouldn’t bring it up to her, I guess.
Tonight I was with her and someone got aggressive with me in the men’s room and I had to leave the bar twice to drive down the street to pee somewhere else. It wasn’t really about the way she handled that specifically but I don’t feel safe talking to her about any transphobia at all anymore, and there’s no way for me to express this and explain why she’s messing up basic allyship because I tried twice now already.
She’s my main support system, we’ve been tight for the last three years and I’ve known her my whole life. Her biological family is also a huge support system for me and I don’t want to cut any one of them off.
So here’s the question: what the actual fuck do I do? Does anyone have any books, or resources, or like good nuanced explanations of allyship stuff that I can send her? I can’t keep having these conversations because she says really personal attacks about me and honestly the way I’m perceiving her reactions are making it hard for me to take her seriously at all, in any context. I’m thinking if I send her a third party source she might feel less attacked and it will take the emotional labor off me because she can’t argue. Has anyone dealt with anything similar? Can anyone give me any advice?
Thanks.
Tl;dr my very close friend who is my main/only support system said something transphobic, doubled down, and had continued to disrespect me and lodge personal attacks against me when I try to bring it up. Any resources for that?

Myself(m32) and my girlfriend(f31) have been together for 4 months, still early I know. Back story we work in the same job but in different areas of the country and over the past few years have had many close encounters but nothing ever happened even though we have both admitted since that we both liked eachother for a very long time.
So eventually we did connect and we went on our first date and it was amazing, it was only a walk around a park but after that first date I just knew this girl was the one! It was something I couldnt explain. From that day we couldnt get enough of eachother, we were speaking all the time and seeing eachother whenever we could. Life was amazing, we were only together for 2 months before we both confessed that we loved eachother.
Ive had several really bad relationships in the past and been screwed over so many times in my life that I had these defensive walls up but she got those walls down and I let her in quicker than I ever thought I would have. She told me all the things I needed to hear and it really just made me love her even more, for the first time she made me feel like I was good enough.
My girlfriend also has a young son who is 6 years old and whenever she first asked me how I would feel about meeting him I told her Im more than happy to meet him but it has to be when shes ready and she is comfortable with that happening. So a few weeks later she decided it was time, we went a day out to a kids inflatable park place and I got on great with him right from the start. I feel like her son really took to me well and we could clearly tell that! She said she had only ever introduced him to 2 other guys she dated and he never really had an interest in them nor did they with him. Whereas I make an effort to bond with him, I build his lego with him, draw with him, play in the garden with him.. hes asked a few times that I read him his bed time story, if we watch a movie he wants to sit next to me on the couch.. and probably the biggest thing on 2 seperate occassions he introduced me to one of his friends as his step dad(we have never mentioned anything like this so its entirely came from himself) which we both found funny and my girlfriend even said well clearly he does like me. Ive grown really fond of him and hes an added bonus to my life, I feel like im in a lucky position that I get an amazing girlfriend and along with that comes an amazing new wee pal.
Now in regards to her son, I asked her if she had told his dad about me yet because I think its respectful to do so.. if it was me Id like to know if there was a new man around my child. She said she hadnt yet but she was going to soon. I was happy at that. With things going as well as they were, we started talking and planning alot of future stuff together. So we have a city break booked at the end of June, a load of tickets for shows etc that are all for both of us and her son, we have a log cabin stay booked for just the 2 of us and later in the year we decided to fully commit to an actual week holiday away and again we are taking her son with us. Booking this holiday made me ask the question again if she had told his dad about me yet because now its not just a new guy around the house, hes literally coming away on holiday with us.. well she still hadnt told him because he was being civil and communicating well with her and she knew when she told him he would change.
This leads us pretty much to where we are now.. the big turn in all of this. Out of the blue from absolutely nowhere she tells me she thinks this has all moved too fast and alot of it seems to be revolving around her saying she shouldnt have let me meet her son as soon as she did and that it was a poor parenting decision on her part. Now I’ll agree it moved fast but it wasnt forced it just happened! And part of me thinks that actually speaks volumes about the connection we have, she speaks to me all the time about us getting married and having kids of our own and this life we want together.
And now nothing! She says she needs space from me, she barely replies to my texts but when I asked her she said she still wants to be with me but it feels like shes just saying that. This girl has went from making me feel things ive not felt in a very long time and feeling things ive never felt before to practically overnight being completely different.
Im thinking its involving her sons dad, I think he has maybe heard perhaps from her son.. hes maybe mentioned the holiday and hes asked whos going and hes said his mum and me.. and thats how hes found out! God forbid if hes asked who I am and the son has said im his step dad because I know I wouldnt be happy if that happened to me! Maybe the dad has kicked off at her and told her shes a terrible parent like he had in the past and shes thought maybe she has done the wrong thing.. who knows.
All I know is right now im stuck in this limbo not knowing whats happening.. we have all these trips planned booked and paid for and Ive no idea if we are going or not! My head is all over the place and I can seem to get a straight answer from her but I also dont want to push her.
Apologies for the long post Ive probably missed out loads of other small details. I really just needed to rant but any outsiders views on this would be appreciated!

I had a proper lil lie in today. A laaaazy one. He is right, I do get extra tired this time of the month. I feel like my PMS’iness goes on for too long, like I still don’t have it? It truly feels like an extending cycle? Like the last three months below:

• 23 February - 27 February
• 29 March - 02 April
• 02 May - 05 May

So maybe mine will start around the 5th of June? Guess we’ll see.
I feel miserable today.
I was stupidly thinking some more and I think it’s more about the fact that for as long as I remember I have wanted to be that person for whichever guy I ended up with. I wanted him to think k was just the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, I know how naïve that is but I am a daydreamy girl who reads books and loves romance, so I was always going to head this way. And I think it’s just that coming to terms with the fact I won’t ever be that for someone. That’s not on him in the slightest, I’m not even 1% upset with him - this isn’t a him thing it’s a me thing, as per usual. But I think it’s just one of those things where I have dreamed about something since I was a tiny little girl and I’m now having to finally accept I’ll never have it. And when my self worth/self esteem is is already so low it’s just… I don’t know. It takes a toll. It’s all self inflicted I know. It’s just all I’ve ever wanted or cared about is my forever man and relationship - it’s all I’ve ever dreamed of, well no but it’s the one thing I’ve always wanted and dreamed about more than anything else. And I’ve never wanted to accept anything less, and I’m not saying Andy is less because he absolutely is not less, I’m saying that I have to accept less in terms of what I mean to him and how he sees me. This has nothing to do with how he shows care/love/whatever for me, none of this is about him - I could end up with anyone and I would most likely still be disappointed and my dream would shatter before my eyes. This is purely me having entirely unrealistic expectations. And it’s just time to work to accept the fact I’m not dazzling or gorgeous or beautiful and the fact he will quite easily look away from me etc etc - I should have worked to accept this earlier, as soon as I realised I’m not any of these things. But I think it’s just that tiny sliver of hope that even if I don’t see myself that way or any others, maybe there would be one man out there that does. But I should have known full well I was setting myself up for failure and disappointment so again, this is entirely a me issue. I keep saying this over and over because I just feel like the most horrid girl alive thinking and feeling this way and I feel like I’m being horrid to him when I really don’t mean to be? Anyway. I am pretty at best to him and that’s what I need to learn to accept.
The other night he said something along the lines of how I’m “prettier” than most of his exes or something? While I have always known his exes would be better than me even though I don’t know them from a bar of soap, but I’ve always just known, y’know? But it’s one thing to know and another to be told. At this rate I don’t even know why he’s with me, or wants to be with me. He can clearly get better so why the fuck is he not doing that. He asks me if I genuinely want this and whether or not he’s a back up option to me, which he never has been, but I’m wondering if it’s the other way around - it sounds like he likes me and he shows that by being incredibly caring and all of that, but I clearly don’t make him feel the way someone should feel. That’s what this is, isn’t it? He’s settling? He would never in a million years admit that though. I wonder if he would even admit it to himself. I realise there are infinitely more important things to someone’s looks when choosing a partner, his looks for example are the least important part of him to me. But you should still think they’re… idk. I thought I felt better after out talk the other night, I did feel better, but now.. now I kind of feel worse. Because now he’s openly said the things I’ve assumed, so now it’s all actual reality and not a worry or fear in my head. Now I know he thinks his exes are better than me, now I know he thinks I’m pretty - nothing more. He’s settling, that’s exactly what this is. I’ve always always always known that I don’t deserve him, that he’s better than me and that he could quite easily find someone far superior to me - so now it all makes sense. I don’t want to be a person who someone settles for though. That’s probably my biggest fear, even more than jumping out of a plane. Knowing you’re with someone who loves you sure, but you’re nothing dazzling to them, you’re just an easy, safe and available option who probably appeared at the “right” time. But then there’s nothing right about our timing. So. I don’t know what to think. But I felt better before but now I feel worse.
Okay and final negative thought for the day before I shunt them all so far away from me they end up damn near Pluto. He said he doesn’t really care how I look and that it isn’t the most important thing about me, which super crazy sweet and makes me feel really happy and genuinely cared for, but it also means because he doesn’t care it means he doesn’t think there’s anything worth caring about. I don’t give him anything much to care about. I’m not majorly deformed, that’s about it. I know I’m a very very lucky girl to have a man like this - who isn’t shallow and all of that - but sometimes you want to feel like he’s proud of you I guess, like proud to show you off, and I’m just never going to get that. Because when I asked if I would embarrass him to his friends he said “do you think I’m someone who cares what others think?” to which I know he isn’t. So. I mean if that isn’t telling of how he sees me idk what is.
Okay that’s enough. Stop stop stop stop STOP. I should NOT be allowing myself to indulge in these negative thoughts and I should also not be bringing him into it either. So stop stop stop stop stop STOP
I haven’t journaled anything since, but I haven’t dwelled on any negative thoughts since either so that’s good. My therapist always tells me to not beat myself up when I lapse with my rerouting of thoughts and stuff, she said it’s a deeply ingrained sense of self and thought and that I’m doing very well - I think she’d say that even if I was doing horrifically though. But I think it is normal to lapse sometimes, I just have to make sure it’s sometimes and that I’m aware of it (like I was earlier) and that I don’t make rash decisions when in said state. Anyway. I’ve been better the rest of the day. Have I felt better? No. Have I thought better? Yes. I’ve not done a lot. I don’t really want to write much it I’m honest. I just wanted to say I feel bad about my earlier thoughts. I don’t want to reread them so I can’t 100% remember what I even said. I think I still believe it though. Maybe. I don’t know. I don’t really know anything at all. Bye

I need advice regarding my relationship and decision that I’ve made. I want to know if I made the right decision. I (21f) met my (25m) bf at a tobacconist. He approached me and was very polite and asked for my number and if he could take me out. I asked him about his age and if he works because these are important things for me to know before even giving out my number. He answered and said he wasn’t working at the moment because he just got out of house arrest and I asking him if he’s not working, how will he take me out? He told me money isn’t an issue he’s just not employed. I got what he was trying to say. He took me out on a date and it was perfect. He was polite, sweet and a gentleman. It felt like love at first sight for me. We began dating and then he got arrested near my street when he came to drop off a motorcycle to someone and then came to see me. At this point, I knew him for 5 weeks in total and we spoke about a lot of things and I told him hypotheticallly if he was to be locked up again I would hold it down for him. I don’t think he believed me at the time I told him but when the situation arised, it wasn’t even a question for me and I did hold him down. It took a few weeks for him to get processed and call me. I wasn’t sure if he even wanted to be with me anymore. Right after his arrest, I tried to track him down to which jail he was at and sent him letters with words of encouragement and reassurance that I am here for him as promised. In those three weeks of no contact, I also got his BPAY details to put money in his account and have been this whole time. Around $30-$50 per week. He usually spends that money to call me twice a day for 15 minutes per call. Sometimes he calls me 3 times a day. In the weeks where I couldn’t send him money, he never asked for money but I realised the calls were only once a day as he was trying to space out the calls for the week as he was low on money. Still, he never asked me for anything. He’s always given me reassurance during the 6 months he’s been inside and speaks to me kindly and gently. When we do have issues, usually on the first call he will say something that’s not quite right and upset me but always fix it by the second call when he’s had time to think about it. I’ve felt lucky af to have him because he’s been the most sweetest and romantic person I’ve been with yet. All of his friends know bout me and message me when it comes to important information regarding his trial. His mum has also confided in me for the last 6 months and has told me that I’m like a daughter to her (although in the last 1 month she’s ghosted me). I had a face to face visit with him last month because his mum took me with her and it felt amazing to be able to see him and hold him. He has lied to me about a few things starting off with his ethnicity. When I met him he told me he was two different ethnicities but I later came to find out drop his mum that he’s actually 100% Indian and doesn’t have any roots of those other two ethnicities. His mum showed me her entire family as proof and his dad’s family. His mum has also warned me numerous times to break up with him because he’s been in and out of prison since he was 20 and every time he says he will change but he doesn’t. He’s also gotten expelled from school so he never finished school either. He has never had a normal job but has been making money in other ways so money isn’t an issue. I also think he might be addicted to drugs but I am not sure. He has gotten people to transfer different amounts of money into my account and for me to transfer them to other accounts. I did become suspicious of what’s going on but I kind of turned a blind eye to it and told him he better not be making me do something I shouldn’t be doing. He’s always told me if i don’t want to do it it’s totally fine and he can get someone else to do this for him. I am confident I am the only girl he’s talking to as I can book visits every week and I can tell other people are not really visiting him except his sister and mum sometimes and his mum’s also given me reassurance that he is talking to me only me and that when it comes to relationships he is soft hearted. I also do think he is soft hearted. I have experienced a lot of adversity from people and people definitely have looked down on me and have told me all sorts of negative things but I tried to stay strong and stay in the relationship. I have always brought up with issues and we have fixed them. Anyways, he gets out in 10 days and last week I went on to reddit to read peoples posts about dating someone that’s in prison and it scared tf out of me when I saw that all this sweet romantic talk is just “prison talk” and that they will switch up once they come out. I have sent him lots of pics of me too and I saw other people talking about how they sell and trade photos of women and I think I know him enough to know he respects me to not do that to me but all of these things just freaked me out. I am really scared of getting hurt so I tend to withdraw from relationships because the other person can leave me or hurt me to leave him. I know it’s something I struggle with but I have held it down for 6 months even though I only knew him for 5 weeks prior. I have tried to support him in every way I can and I have never missed a call from him. I am not strong enough to break things off over the phone because the calls are timed and I am afraid that if he does give me reassurance over the phone rn it’s probably “prison talk.” I would never ghost him or not give closure so I sent a message to be passed to him to his friend. In the message I basically talked about the reason why I’m leaving is because i don’t think he loves me and probably only feels so strongly about me because he’s in jail and all he’s got is time so now he’s infatuated with me but when he comes out that may change. I don’t want to hold him to promises he’s made while being in there and I don’t want to subconsciously force him to be with me I did write all that in a panic state. Anyway, I think he got the message. He did try to call me a few times after he got the message and I didn’t pick up. I love him a lot so deep down I do want him to try and prove me wrong and give me reassurance that it’s not just prison talk and that he does love me and want to be with me. He’s always made it clear he loves me over the phone. Do you guys think I made the right choice and that if he truly does love me, he will understand how I have been feeling on my end? It’s very difficult to be a loved one of someone that is incarcerated. You feel lonely and always in an emotional roller coaster. I stuck through and didn’t abandon him during his sentence but now that he’s coming out, I’ve kind of just set him free so he doesn’t feel guilty about treating me differently when he comes out if he realises his feelings are not as strong as they were once he was locked up.

In the 19, nearly 20, years I have lived my life, I was raised a Christian by American conservatives in a middle class environment and am fortunate to experience countless memories of joy, laughter, and growth with (mostly) everybody I have met. Each memory with the people in my life holds a special place in my heart, and I will forever cherish the bond we built.
The thing is that until the end of eighth grade, I had a strange obsession with East Asia. Looking back, it was very embarrassing and I condemn my parents for enabling me to become a weeaboo (by “weeaboo”, I mean “a person who is overly obsessed with East Asian culture, especially Japanese culture, to the point that they fetishize the culture in an unhealthy way”). I was the textbook example of a weeaboo who had a terrible case of “yellow fever” (sexual preference towards East Asians). Loving the image of East Asian culture without having any real idea what it stood for and seeing the East as a utopia, my fetishization of East Asia, especially Japan, was born out of the shame I have with the Western culture I was raised in. I never felt like I could fit in with my Western peers who I often looked down upon and did not want to be associated with. It got to the point that I became unsatisfied with my home town, my physical appearance, and even my closest friends. This combined with the surge in anime, K-pop, and other media on the internet really got me hooked and believing really fetish-y things about the Sinosphere. I hate being reminded of it and have tried to move on.
However, I am thankful for my exposure to Eastern culture, though it was through a very bastardized, Westernized lens. I am grateful for my exposure, even though it started out with something as intellectually undemanding as Vocaloid music (songs sung by a Japanese voice synthesizer). The best part about the exposure was that it helped me leave Christianity and join Buddhism at age 11, which greatly helped with my mental health considering I was experiencing suicidal thoughts since the age of 8. Though I had awful misunderstandings of Buddhism in the beginning and still do not really have a Buddhist teacher, I am glad that I have the resources to connect myself with other Buddhists and take refuge in the Triple Gem.
As I left my gross misconceptions of the Sinosphere behind back when I was 14 while still having a healthy interest in it, my eyes were eventually opened to perils which threaten not only the homelands of Buddhism (East, South, and Southeast Asia), but also the sustainability of modern humans. These two perils are Western culture and capitalist fascism.
The West exoticizes and misrepresents Buddhism and the culture of its home, the East, as a whole. I am ashamed to be born in a culture where this was encouraged, which I am worried could lead me to fetishizing Eastern culture again.
But what I know for sure is that the West’s hyperindividualism is harming people, both those whose lands are invaded and its own people. This combined with the West’s growing rejection of education, including that of the knowledge the West itself has given to the world for humanity’s benefit, makes it clear that it is lacking some of the Sinosphere’s cultural strengths. Everybody should hold collectivism and education to the same degree that the Sinosphere does, otherwise we would be left with an unsustainable society that would destroy itself.
There is nothing wrong with speaking Western languages, eating Western foods, watching (most types of) Western media, wearing Western clothes, and especially nothing wrong with using Western inventions, but we are now seeing that the West’s hyperindividualism and rejection of education is destructive and spreading like a cancer.
It is only Buddhists who make an effort to assimilate to the East (had they not been born into it) who can see the West with its hyperindividualism and uneducatedness, promoted by its creation of its spreading ideologies such as capitalist fascism and social Darwinism, for what it really is: a cancer. I can now see the direction the United States, the most populated and powerful country in the West, is going due to the rise of ultra-capitalism and/or fascism supporters.
Rarely the phrase “Western”, as in “formed by the combined foundations of Greco-Roman civilization and Western Christianity” (Gabbe), raised positive thoughts in my mind since I learned about it shortly after discovering Buddhism. “Western” when used in the context of medicine is an exception to this, but we are now seeing more and more Westerners dishonor the progress their ancestors made towards modern, mainstream, dare I say, Western medicine as they fall for anti-vaccine and anti-mask pseudoscience.
Nowadays, some who use the word in a derogatory context are uneducated reactionaries that bash anything and everything Western, yet hypocritically promote the Western political ideology of fascism. A strength that a majority (though now a decreasing number) of Western countries have is their progressivism, supporting scientific advancements, women’s rights, racial equality, and the LGBT+. However, this is not just becoming less common; being a progressive Westerner is not enough, not enough to end Western imperialism, to save the sacred truths taught to us by the Shakyamuni Buddha, or to empower the working class.
Although I never fully approved of Western culture after my weeaboo phase ended, my early teen self still ended up falling into the anti-social justice warrior side of YouTube that I now recognized hindered my understanding of what actually ruined my country, the United States of America. I still did not feel comfortable calling myself a Westerner but mainly because the West did not widely accept Buddhism and has several times in its history persecuted Buddhists. At the same time, I was deceived by a bastardized form of Buddhism common among Westerners (known as “secular Buddhism”, which picks and chooses aspects of the Buddha’s teachings instead of accepting them as a whole), so I was a bit more of the classic, stereotypical atheist neckbeard who fetishized the East up until 2020. Since then, my views became more progressive similar to those of American liberals and I denounced traditionalist Western beliefs, but like the average American liberal, I did not see Western culture, both traditional and progressive, as the peril I now see it. It was not until around the end of 2023 when I discovered the Western problem.
It was a slow burn that started with my discovery of Buddhists on the internet talking about how the West misrepresented Buddhism to appeal to “self-help” consumerists, Christians, and New Age followers. In the Westerner, I originally saw only a person who followed harmless customs, traditions, and other norms that came from a part of the world where Buddhism was not the dominant religion (if you could even call the non-theistic dharma as taught by the Gautama Buddha a religion). And so, I did not believe that Western civilization needed to fall for the safety of the dharma, let alone for its own people. After all, I thought to myself, the West has contributed so much to science and the modern world as we know it. I still believe to this day that there are no superior cultures and that each one simply has its own unique strengths and weaknesses, some of which are only subjective. However, while looking through Buddhist forums, I was shocked to hear about the West’s pollution of Buddhism and my knowledge on Buddhism skyrocketed as I learned that I fell victim to the Dunning-Kruger effect. I started reading sutras and immersing myself with Buddhism by listening to those who have much more experience than I do. There are hardly any Buddhists in my community and the only Buddhist center within reach is a New Kadampa Tradition meditation center (FYI: the New Kadampa Tradition must be avoided since it has a reputation for financially exploiting members and its monastics have allegations of drug trafficking and sexual abuse), so books and the internet are all I have left.
Practicing Buddhism in the West is nearly impossible without a community, without a Buddhist teacher, without any resources written by Eastern Buddhists. Reddit user u/Tendai-Student, a “lay Tendai Student [sic] with aspirations to become a Priest [sic]” states the following:
It is exceedingly challenging for a Westerner who is interested in Buddhism to find reliable information. Bookstores' Buddhist sections are rife with myths about the religion (we will come to some of these misconceptions below). Buddhism-related disinformation abounds in university classes. Misinformation about Buddhism abounds in publications with a Buddhist theme. Even Buddhism-related english-speaking [sic] Reddit boards are prone to carry false information.
Buddhism is constantly distorted in the same way: to make it more agreeable to Abrahamic faiths(especially Christianity in the west) [sic]. To imply that it is subject to Western standards, Western religion, and Western consumerism and materialism.
…Asian teachers are frequently excluded from English-speaking Buddhist places (meditation centers, university forums, periodicals). Asians make up the majority of Buddhists in the United States, despite the fact that popular images of Buddhism in the West make it appear otherwise. In the minds of Westerners, Buddhism is a religion of white converts. They don't even pay attention to the odd lack of Asians in some Buddhist areas. (u/Tendai-Student)
It is no wonder that I went through a phase when I was a weeaboo with “yellow fever”. The Westerner commodifies and commercializes these Buddhist practices and East Asian customs like they do with several other cultures. Its misuse and stealing of Buddhism is the worst because its teachings are for us to end suffering by ridding ourselves of the three poisons: greed, ignorance, and hatred (which the Westerner promotes).
My realization of this drew me away from the West, similar to when my obsession with the East began. The difference is that my interest in the East now is not because of a fantasy born out of misguidance, especially not a sexual one. I now know that there is more to the East than its pop culture. But I cannot help thinking that none of this would have happened and I would better understand Buddhism had I been born to and raised by Buddhists in East Asia, or even a majority Buddhist country in South or Southeast Asia.
However, the possibility of a cycle starting with a yo-yoing fetishization of the East makes me anxious. When I realized what I was doing at first was fetishization, I did further research and found out that the West is to blame for its portrayal of the East in its media. This in turn makes me denounce the West and brings me back towards my obsession with the Sinosphere, which could lead to more fetishization.
Despite this, I am glad that at the very least, my interest is more than just wanting to live a kawaii lifestyle, hoping to have a “submissive housewife who will look young forever”, or all that neckbeard squick. I do have to say that there is something else that is drawing me towards the Sinosphere, not to mention that it is the region where Buddhism is dominant (the same is true to a lesser extent with the Indosphere). Even though I am not a huge fan of tradition since I am very progressive, when a region’s culture gets something right, they get it right. In addition to Buddhist values, the Sinosphere holds education and collectivism to a high degree. It is no wonder I find their people so much more intelligent and caring than people from my culture.
It is common knowledge that countries such as Japan, China, South Korea, and Singapore have the highest average IQs. To add to this (unbeknownst to many), even less developed countries, e.g. Mongolia, with high Buddhist populations around the same region, have average IQs higher than developing and undeveloped nations outside the region. The most agreed upon reason for this is cultural factors rather than genetic or economic factors. To conclude, Buddhism combined with values in the East Asian cultural sphere creates the best “brains” to represent humanity, thus the West should make way for them, especially considering the East’s superior collectivism.
Of course cultures do not stay the same forever because they change over time. One big thing that is different now in the Sinosphere and Indosphere (the latter I am mentioning because it is where Buddhism came from, though it is not as dominant in the cultural region as it was) is that they are generally much more patriarchal and anti-LGBT+ than they were up until the last several centuries. However, Buddhism treats same-sex relations and being transgender the same as heterosexuality and being cisgender (preferring celibacy among monastics, though depending on the school of Buddhism, those in the monastic order may be treated as their birth gender, even if they are transgender), and in addition, the Buddha taught that women are just as capable of attaining enlightenment as men. Even outside of Buddhism, there are records of same-sex relations as early as the Shang dynasty in China and the temple walls in Khajuraho, India depict homosexual activity. As for feminism, China was matrilineal until the Han dynasty era, when Confucianism and filial piety became mainstream in the area, while India, home to over 100 different ethnic communities, has had a few matriarchal and egalitarian societies pre-European colonization. In the modern era, numerous people in the two cultural spheres are becoming more supportive of gender equality and the LGBT+, which in some cases may be due to Westernization (not that it redeems it) or simply the individuals’ progressive political views not influenced by Western culture.
What has stayed the same for the most part, besides Buddhism, is the Sinosphere’s and Indosphere’s value of collectivism in honor-shame societies and the former cultural sphere’s emphasis on education; this is what Westerners, as well as people all over the world, need for themselves. If the West is going to fall due to hyperconsumerism, late stage capitalism, and uneducated leaders, those living in the West would be better off joining Buddhism and assimilating to the East. Arguably, the best way to do this is to move to a majority Buddhist country, preferably one in the Sinosphere (its core countries being China, Japan, the Koreas, Taiwan, and Vietnam). Leave everybody you know from your home behind, especially non-Buddhists. Just to make things clear, Westerners are not necessarily evil and it is not their fault they were raised in a Western culture, but having these people in your life will hold you back from collectivism, quality education free of anti-intellectual quackery, and above all, understanding the dharma.
After you have left everybody in your life and started anew, you can immerse yourself in the culture. Again, abandoning Western food, media, clothing, and especially inventions and scientific breakthroughs is very unnecessary. Your main focus is reprogramming your mind to think like a person (specifically a Buddhist person) in the Sinosphere/Indosphere, utilizing the high educational standards, putting the collective over the individual, and taking refuge in the Triple Gem. Before moving, though, it is best to make yourself familiar with the customs and learn the language of the place you are moving to. To aid your assimilation, it would not hurt to start dating one of the locals who strongly identifies with the culture, regardless of their race. Someone living there who is not ethnically East, South, or Southeast Asian who is still very involved in the culture would be very helpful to your assimilation as one who is ethnically East, South, or Southeast Asian (I am clarifying this to discourage racial fetishization). This may be difficult as you would have to win over approval from their parents, let alone convince them to see you as another Easterner, but if you manage to do so, that would be fantastic. To make things easier, you could plan to move to a country where people treat women as equals and are relatively accepting of the LGBT+ so you would not have to worry about gender roles or whatever. Think of places in the Sinosphere such as Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, or if you are planning on going to the Indosphere (which is not too big of a step down) since they did give us Buddhism after all, Nepal and Thailand. Your most important goal, however, is to rewire your brain to think in a more Sinic or Indic way and be more in touch with Buddhism.
You can hardly consider yourself a Westerner if you manage to do so, being Western only in your country of origin (and possibly race as well). I am definitely not like those other “people” from the West who strongly cling to Western culture because they just do not understand. Western cultural merit is almost solely from the proxy of our ancestors’ inventions, scientific discoveries, and political revolutions. Considering that the West is being brought towards the wrong direction in the modern era, we should get out of there culturally, if not physically, until it all hits the fan.
If the West continues its defilement of the rest of the world, when it falls, it will bring it all down with it. We must not lose or else everybody loses.
This pressure has a good side; because the bigger the great threat becomes, the more we will push ourselves to assimilate and raise children to fight for us. Considering the infectability of Western anti-intellectualism and “main character syndrome”, how could our Western peers know better? Buddhism is not a proselytizing “religion”, so our best bet is eliminating the promoter of the three poisons, the Westerner (especially the Christian Westerner), from our own lives. How it will run to us as its society collapses under itself and we welcome it to assimilate but say “we told you so”! The older I get, the better I know the Westerner. The better I know the Westerner, the easier it gets to excuse hostility against them, especially from the Sinosphere.
From my perspective, the ones to blame are not the angry, low-middle class white males in the rural United States nor the boba conservative bananas and right-wing coconuts who suck up to the West’s biggest scum, but rather the ones who have brainwashed them to fall for chauvinism, reactionarism, and laissez faire capitalism.
Realizing this, I am now closely investigating the sources of these beliefs which make up the foundation of social Darwinism and, when combined with totalitarian thinking, capitalist fascism. This is after I noticed that these systems are unsustainable and would destroy themselves from the inside out. The slow, painful destruction of communities who fall victim to them are well known to me. If one looks carefully, they can see the consequences that have been unfolding since the 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic. You may wonder: were the founders aware of this? My guess would be that they were not but were evil nonetheless because they were too selfish to think about the future, their descendants.
If this is the case, then it is the duty of us, the opponents of these ideologies, to spread the word faster than the ideologies are currently spreading in the West. It is hard for me to believe it is not the case considering that both Western political ideologies are fundamentally reactionary. Besides, I doubt they would want civilization as we know it to collapse.
I have a social Darwinist as a maternal uncle who sometimes meets with my parents, maternal grandfather, and younger brother and with his political conversations, often sourced from flawed studies, Russian news, and 4chan, I can easily study the principles of its theories. Both of my parents are also conservatives who support Trump and other immoral American politicians. Being raised by the two of them, I bet I could disguise myself as a Western right-wing traditionalist, maybe even a social Darwinist, since I know the way they speak, to whom they flock to, and how to make them give one their full attention. It would probably be easy to do this as some right-wing grifters can fool American right-wing audiences into thinking that they share the same beliefs (e.g. Thomas MacDonald).
Their kind are gullible because they do not listen to fact checkers and often do not do research to see if who they are listening to really practices what they preach.
Even though there are Westerners who are not like this, the West cannot coexist with Buddhism, let alone the cultures where it is dominant, as the West ruled by colonizing tirthikas and it will likely always be for as long as it lasts. And just because their culture is not as viable as the one founded on Buddhist, Sinic, or even Indic values does not give them the right to imperialize the rest of the world and bring it down with them. We can welcome the Westerner willing to change its ways, turn it into one of an Easterner, and have its culture go through a quick and painless demise, or the Westerner can continue its power trip, destroy everything it touches along with itself, and society will suffer a slow and painful death. This is what the conclusion that I have come to so far as I examine capitalist fascism and Westerners’ connection to it.
The Western doctrine of capitalist fascism rejects an aspect of maitrī, fulfilling beings’ basic needs, and substitutes it for a privilege towards the bourgeoisie and the exploitation of the workers’ labor (also known as Vergegenständlichung or “objectification”). Thus it denies the worth of the collective, only concerns itself with greedy individuals, and thus is immoral. Unlike what the non-Buddhist capitalist wants people to believe, all beings have an altruistic Buddha nature, but it is corrupted, being difficult to notice as it has only conditions without a beginning (listed in the Avijjā Sutta). Abandoning capitalism, both fascist and non-fascist, gives power to the people as it ensures a more guaranteed right to life instead of having not even one thousand billionaires own more than half of Earth’s population combined, more than each one of those billionaires could ever spend in their lifetimes.
Should the Westerner, especially one who pushes capitalist fascism, strengthen its grip on humanity, it can be said that it would make its own naraka.
And so I stand by my plan and encourage others to do the same because it is in the name of the Unsurpassable Enlightened One. By protecting our kind against the Westerner, we are defending the Triple Gem.
If it is not already clear, the disapproval I feel towards the societal values and prevailing norms of the West has led me to question my place in this environment. I believe that meaningful change can only be fostered if the West is put into its place and the Sino-Buddhist East motivates our minds.
In Vietnam, where the culture is predominantly Sinic with some Indic aspects and little European influence, we can see the promotion of quality education, collectivism, and Buddhism (practiced by a forgivable 15% of the population), very unlike the nearby country of the Philippines. In the Philippines, its citizens cling to the Anglo-Saxon and Hispanic culture brought to the country by American and Spaniard imperialists. The effects of this are very clear in their average IQs (Vietnam: 89.53 vs. Philippines: 81.64) and PISA scores (Vietnam: 1403 vs. Philippines: 1058). They are both developing countries in Southeast Asia that were colonized by the West, but because Vietnam kept its culture more pure and stuck to Buddhism (or at least Sinic philosophies), its people are better educated compared to the nearby Westernized countries in a similar economic situation.
In short, Westernization leads to the following:

1. The native culture becomes diluted
2. If Western thinking intrudes, mental degeneration takes hold of the native population and its society slowly degrades along with the West itself as it eats itself from the inside out

Those who cause this to happen must be stopped, especially those who endanger Buddhism. We must not wait for the fruition of their karma for their sacrilege of the Tathagata’s teachings because by then it would be too late, and even if it is instant karma, every bodhisattva’s job is to end suffering.
Those who spread the harmful ideologies bring themselves and others away from the Buddha’s word are polluting humanity by having them join their rat race that will only end in their own demise. They are leading to the ruin of many and thus, I do not consider them to be human but instead parasites.
There is a disgraceful Western belief that for a short amount of time was not held by the majority but is now very pervasive in the West and also is the foundation of reactionarism, chauvinism, and capitalism in all cultures. It says: “My individual rights matter the most and freedom means my right to violate the rights of others.”
This Western babble is followed by numerous all around the world and sows disharmony in societies where it becomes the norm. This idea provides basis for several types of Westerners, including but not limited to:

• the “Karen”; a middle-aged, entitled, often white and anti-mask/anti-vaccine female who makes trivial complaints
• the “Chud”; a racist, misogynistic, right-wing male (usually young) who browses 4chan everyday and has a high likelihood of becoming a mass shooter
• the dayangma (Hanzi: 大洋马); a sex-obsessed young adult Western female, majority white but sometimes POC, is conventionally attractive (to Westerners), sleeps around, and in some cases creates spawn that do not know their father(s)
• the angry white male; self-explanatory, right-wing and traditionalist (sometimes a social Darwnist or capitalist fascist), commonly rural, evangelical Christian and have never seen a POC before
• the “Trad Wife”; a prudish, sometimes uneducated, female who lets Western males walk all over it and raises spawn who are likely to become angry whites
• the New Agehippy; generally a teenager or young adult, a well-meaning but poorly educated white liberal or social democrat who misappropriates Buddhism and appeases Muslims
• the AmeriKKKan fathegrandfather; a middle-aged to elderly, chauvinist male with children, sometimes also grandchildren, and is unconcerned about social justice and similarly to the “Karen”, falls for pseudoscientific conspiracy theories
• the neckbearded otaku (Hiragana: おたく); a hairy white male with “yellow fever” and mediocre hygiene, for the most part subreddit/Discord server moderators who stalk and kidnap East Asian ladies (if not teenage girls)

The growth of these groups is evidence of the degradation of Western culture, showing that it must retire as the dominant culture and make way for the much more sustainable East. Once the manuṣya realm on Earth is completely tainted by the West, Buddhas can no longer arise in the world because the dharma would be known by nobody and the Vinaya are forgotten or destroyed.
The future generation will not remember the dharma unless we halt the growth of the parasitic culture that promotes overconsumption, hyperindividualism, and anti-intellectualism.
The Westerner has a remarkable contrast to the Sinic or Indic. The Westerner has a grasp on this world so strong with its weaponry since the 16th century, using force to disrupt the traditional lives of whatever native people it saw, safe for those in a few countries (even though some of those countries are still being Westernized). The Dutch, English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish built colonies from the Americas to Southeast Asia. The kingdoms were blessed with powerful militaries, strong economies, stable governments, and advanced technology that allowed their cultures to spread. But after half a millennium and looking back, was any of this really earned? And is the Westerner’s conquest over yet?
Since the Great Schism of Christianity, the Westerner trained itself for roughly one thousand years. It trained itself in several aspects, but it forgot an important piece, the dharma. The cunning Westerner, blessed with advancements, used them to tyrannize other peoples on a scale never before seen. This was the beginning of the Latter Day of the Dharma. The dharma is declining because of the savage Westerner. And so, it leeched off of any people it got a hold of, including predominantly Buddhist peoples. Even during the decolonization of the 20th century, fundamentalist Christianity spread and threatened the dharma. To make matters worse, previously Buddhist peoples clung to Christianity as taught by their colonizers; the French in Vietnam and the Spanish and Americans in the Philippines. To this day, the Philippines is a lost cause along with its majority Muslim neighbors in Maritime Southeast Asia. The cunning Westerner turned the Filipino against us and now Buddhists make up only 2% of the Philippines’ population. Now, the Westerner sees Buddhism as nothing more than an aesthetic, a self-help lifestyle, or a decoration that they can commercialize and cherry pick aspects to integrate into their religion or lack thereof.
It is excellent for someone from the West to learn the dharma as this will turn them into a more compassionate and wise person, but they must not enforce the Western gaze onto it and discard parts of the Shakyamuni Buddha’s words they do not like. To be fair, some aspects of Buddhism would be nearly impossible for a Westerner to understand unless they assimilate.
Buddhism is not materialist or blind belief without evidence and it belongs to the East, so stop pretending to be something you are not while pushing stereotypes of Asian Buddhists.
However, even though Buddhism is not materialist or very in line with the Western worldview, it is uniquely human. Walpola Rahula, a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk and writer explains it this way:
Among the founders of religions the Buddha (if we are permitted to call him the founder of a religion in the popular sense of the term) was the only teacher who did not claim to be other than a human being, pure and simple. Other teachers were either God, or his incarnations in different forms, or inspired by him. The Buddha was not only a human being; he claimed no inspiration from any god or external power either. He attributed all his realization, attainments and achievements to human endeavour and human intelligence. A man and only a man can become Buddha. Every man has within himself the potentiality of becoming a Buddha, if he so wills it and endeavours. We can call the Buddha a man par excellence. He was so perfect in his 'human-ness' that he came to be regarded later in popular religion almost as 'super-human'. Man's position, according to Buddhism, is supreme. Man is his own master, and there is no higher being or power that sits in judgment over his destiny. (Rahula 3)
How could one even consider the Westerners who diluted Buddhism human themselves at this point? If it were not for them, Westerners may have a better understanding of the teachings of the “man par excellence”. We are lucky that the only Westerners who necessarily see us as inferior are white nationalists and fundamentalist Christians, otherwise the Westerner could have committed a genocide that would have left millions of us dead. Westerners are competitive beings, so they rarely act in concord towards each other. It is only when there is something that draws them together or away from a common danger.
If everybody on Earth becomes a Westerner, they would wallow in their shamelessness and would have nobody left to exploit except for each other until they destroy themselves.
Until they are the only ones left, they will vilify and exploit anything non-Western until they only have each other, then leading to a chaotic world of undignified militaries, economic inequality, corrupt governments, and little or no innovations.
Unless the Westerner considers even the slightest of inspiration from the East, it will continue to follow hyperindividualism and have apathy towards its education. That is why the West is falling. Those from the West who are smart enough to realize that the West’s flaws that it spreads are deciding that the West is not worth maintaining and its resignation is overdue. If those from the West abandon it to assimilate to the East, it would make the West’s death quicker but more dignified.
This is more than a fad but rather the realization that Western society would be best being a passing fad itself. The West gave us great inventions, food, clothes, scientific discoveries, etc. and once it is gone, the East can pick up where it left off just fine.
We will never abandon the Triple Gem because we recognize it to be more than a spiritual, exotic aesthetic or trend. To do so would make us just like those others in the West who Asian Buddhists look down upon. When the time is right, each and every one of us will surround ourselves with the people who know the dharma better than anyone you have met in the West and we can finally be at their level. We shall be Western only in our country of origin and/or race, but in every other way, we will be Easterners; Buddhist Easterners who will take back what rightfully belongs to us.
When we (and hopefully Buddhists outside of both the Eastern and the Western world) do this, consumerism will lose some of its biggest prey. Even though it may not seem like it at first considering we are abandoning everyone we have ever known, we are doing our ancestors a favor by joining the culture that strives towards the end of suffering. We will be leaving our cultures’ ways of thinking behind, but doing this will save face for our lineage, especially the Western lineage as we would be preventing the creation of more “Karens”, “Chuds”, dayangmas, “neckbeards”, and other degenerates. We will not be annoying dorky nerds and certainly not “neckbeards” who are overly obsessed with and fetishize the culture but people making an effort to get closer to the dharma and surrender to the East.
Although we are collectivists, we must seek personal liberation first for the good of other beings. Once the West collapses and its former supporters come running to us, we shall welcome them. If some do not recognize this before it is too late, well boo hoo! They will have a better birth with the world we will create. Some of them, especially their unlucky spawn, would probably be better off dead and reborn into a better life, maybe even the Pure Land.
The way it is looking now, the West is falling and becoming the world’s laughingstock, which is a good thing. The quicker it falls, the less painful it will be for the Westerner and everybody else. Western culture will not be missed, but we can keep the best of it and continue the innovations that the creators would wish to see. We will remember the legacy of them and be thankful while never forgiving or forgetting the ones who ruined the West.
Works Cited
“Ignorance Avijjā Sutta (AN 10:61).” Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu. Dhammatalks. 2017, https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN10_61.html. Accessed 31 May 2024.
Gabbe. “Western Culture.” Wikipedia. 25 May 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_culture#:~:text=The%20core%20of%20Western%20civilization,Roman%20civilization%20and%20Western%20Christianity. Accessed 31 May 2024.
Rahula Thero, Walpola. What the Buddha Taught. Oneworld Publications, 1959. Accessed 31 May 2024.
u/Tendai-Student. “栄真Eishin (u/Tendai-Student).” Reddit, 31 May 2024, https://www.reddit.com/useTendai-Student/. Accessed 31 May 2024.
u/Tendai-Student. “Buddhism is being MISREPRESENTED in the West Marginalisation, cultural appropriation, misconceptions and what you can do.” Reddit, 2023, https://www.reddit.com/WrongBuddhism/comments/14zc6xg/buddhism_is_being_misrepresented_in_the_west/. Accessed 31 May 2024.

Spoilers and big mad feels ...
Sometimes you finish a book super quickly because you can't put it down and can't stop turning the pages. Sometimes you finish a book super quickly because you just want it to end as fast as possible so that you can forget about it forever and move on to the next one in the series. ACOFAS is... the latter. I devoured the first three books and adored them, but this fourth book makes me want to cry (in a bad way)
Did SJM get amnesia in between books 3 and 4? The inconsistencies and lack of continuity might break my spirit. This book reads like a cheap knockoff compared to the three that preceded it. It's like it was written by somebody who only had cursory knowledge of the preceding books. I have many questions and cranky venting.
Chapter 1 First of all why is Feyre walking around like a basic b in ugg boots in a cheesy Hallmark movie? We've got every cliche about the holidays all wrapped into one confounding muddle. It's reminding me of how every pop star records a Christmas song to make that holiday cash.
(Side note: When the cauldron broke and was reforged, did Elain and Nesta lose their powers? Do they still have their powers? The vagueness around this seems sketch.)
Chapter 2 In ACOMAF, there's two very different houses near the Illyrian steppes fight camp: the rustic war house that a bunch of them shared in Devlon's training area, and a private warded cabin waaaay up the mountain where the boys used to have hunting trips and the epic mating fuckfest went down. It was a helluva climb up a giant hill. So why in the beginning of ACOFAS is Rhys walking from the sparring areas straight into the war camp house with Cassian and imagining Feyre bent over the kitchen table?... That ain't the same place, Rhys! If it was, it would also have those creepy paintings Feyre left all over the place.
Chapter 3 "Flap" is a laughably wimpy word lmao. Couldn't SJM come up with something tougher to describe how the bat boys get around? Idk like "pumped his powerful wings skyward" or "beat a gust of air towards the soil and soared into the sky"? Saying "a mighty flap" to describe anything that hotboi Cassian does just makes me roll my eyes and giggle.
Chapter 4 If they have blacksmiths, cobblers, fabric weavers, and cauldrons, why do they also have stretch leggings and fleece lined robes? Am I to believe that a full on medieval cobbler is also making modern-day Ugg boots for Lady Fey? I'd sooner believe that Bryaxis is MIA because it's away at a beauty pageant.
Chapter 5 So, fae have all kinds of magic but no one has figured out a way to deal with a period aside from bleeding out all over the place? Huh?
And I have questions about this magic. If Rhys can magic his clothes away instantly, why can't he magically fix up those slums without the tenants having to move out? Why can't he vanish the rubble like he vanished his panties? You're magic ain't mathing, Rhys. I still love ya but it's looking like campaign lies and I don't like it.
And when Feyre went to get food, she was wearing a fleece-lined robe but then when she comes back to hug him, she's suddenly in a cobweb lingerie? What gives? Did SJM get amnesia again between pages 46 and 54(?).
And when we're in the F/R POV chapters, they use I/me mornings, but in Cassian's and Mor's chapters, it's all he/him and she/her pronouns. Huh????? Pick a POV rule and stick with it babes.
Also, Feyre sorta promised Nesta in ACOMAF that they'd invent showers, but they're still filling the tub for every bath. Why? Maybe that's why Nesta is always in such a bad mood. Babes desperately needs a real shower.
Chapter 6 Did Azriel name his favorite knife Truth Teller after Morrigan? Her gift and curse are telling the truth. idk how I didn't notice this before. I just thought it was a torture interrogation reference.
Chapter 7 Do Siphons tamp down power or amplify it? The answer seems to change from page to page and it's getting confusing.
Chapter 11 It pisses me off that TamTam blames Feyre for everything that's ever gone wrong in his life. Hello?? It was your own choice to lash your sentry in front of the rest of the team, fully bringing to life the saying that "beatings will continue until morale improves" — and Ianthe was behind that shitshow anyway! Ianthe was the one who stole the guard's keys and gave them to the Naga to break in. Where's the blame on her for that fuckery? Tamlin could have handled it with more restraint and honor but instead he let Ianthe push him into going apeshit That's not on Feyre. Sorry Tampax, you played yourself.
Chapter 12 There's no way that the shadowsinger would turn red and almost spew wine into a fireplace because Rhys made a not very funny joke. This rom-com scene is murdering me.
Also, now that everybody knows that the power of grayskull was unleashed from Amren at the battle with Hybern, does that mean that the threat that her position in the inner circle held before is dissipated now that she's no longer got otherworldly powers anymore? How does she still exist????? I loved her but that Hybern cauldron battle was her time to die. If they were going to bring her back, they could at least make her a creepy zombie or something.
Chapter 13 Why is Nesta's life ambition to just get worse and worse? I mean, she has every right to be mad about the fact that her sister's boo's enemies kidnapped her and Elain then dunktanked them into being magical immortal beautiful beings forever. But she was like this even before Feyre left the mortal lands. I'm really getting tired of her bitchy bullshit. I don't care if her and Cassian have some kind of future love story. She doesn't deserve him. She doesn't deserve any more air time honestly. She's wearing me down.
Chapter 15 Why is she writing about clothes?! Where is the plot???
Chapter 16 Rhys says on page 146 that he'll winnow Cassian up to the House Of Wind, but on page 152 of ACOMAF, it is made very clear that the House Of Wind is protected by wards and you cannot winnow into it. You can only fly to it. Even Rhys cannot winnow into the House Of Wind, which is why he flies Feyre up there every single time. I'm new to books with this kind of world-building and, i gotta say, continuity breaks like this throw me out of the story. What's happening?
Also, why is Cassian so opposed to having his own apartment in Velaris? Am I supposed to believe that for the last 500+ years he has not had any place to get laid? Or he only gets laid in an extra room in Rhys's house? No wonder he has such awful luck with the ladies! Get your own apartment, Cassie!
Chapter 17 Feyre says that she scowled at the eye on her palm on page 156 but when Hybern broke her UTM bargain with Rhys, that eye her palm disappeared as did everything else with the tattoo from UTM. Her new mating bond tattoo on her other arm didn't have that eye on the palm. Did SJM read her own books?
Cauldron help me, I don't know if I can finish this book. I want to but it's breaking my heart. Can i skip the rest and go straight to Book 5? I hate it. Send help. Please tell me it gets better in ACOSF. 😭

Many players are not excited to talk about lands. It’s arguably the most boring part of MTG.
But we should look more closely at them because they account for around 40% of your main deck.
Think about that. 40% of the cards you will see while playing MTG are lands. Yet, we hardly see articles talking about this huge chunk of your deck.
I get it. Lands are boring compared to exciting creatures and spells. However, if you do the work of analyzing the lands of a format, you will gain an advantage over the competition because most players don’t do it.
To help you get started with this process, I’ve written this guide as a basic intro for how to think about the meta by looking at its lands.

Only Basic Lands

Imagine a format where the only lands available are:
Plains\ Island\ Swamp\ Mountain\ Forest
Wut?!
You’re probably wondering, “Why are we doing this?”
Well, it turns out one of the best ways to learn card game theory is to simplify the game by a lot. This helps you to see concepts more clearly.
For example, one of the best poker books is Play Optimal Poker. Poker is a very complex game so the author sets up a toy game with just three cards: Jack, Queen, and King.
The simple toy game has helped many people become better poker players including myself.
MTG is even more complex than poker so we’re going to set up toy metagames to help us understand the theory.
Ok, with that out of the way, in this “basic land only” format, which decks are more likely to succeed?
The best decks will probably be mono-colored.
If you try to play a two-color deck with 12 mountains and 12 forests, it won't be very consistent.
From a meta perspective, to play two colors, the cards in your deck need to be much stronger than the cards in a mono-color deck. This is because consistency is crucial to winning games. If you can't cast your spells due to a poor mana base, you'll lose. To overcome this drawback, you need to be compensated with a much higher power level from your nonland cards.
Historically, we've seen this scenario before. In a format without dual lands, players had to ensure their two-color decks were powerful enough to justify the inconsistent mana base.
Check out the winning deck of Pro Tour Osaka 2002: Simic Madness. Its mana base is an abomination. 🤣
13 Forest\ 9 Island\ 1 Tarnished Citadel
Tarnished Citadel can give either color of mana but it deals 3 damage to you each time!
But the deck did well because the Simic cards were powerful enough to overcome the crappy mana base.
I wouldn’t try this at home though unless you are a very advanced player or the deck has proven itself in competitive tournaments.
We all have our biases. We want to believe the cards we’re playing are more powerful than they really are. This leads many of us into playing suboptimal mana bases that are not worth it.
In a format with only basic lands, just stick to mono-color decks.

Adding Allied Color Pain Lands

Let’s add these five lands to our toy metagame.
Adarkar Wastes (W/U)\ Underground River (U/B)\ Sulfurous Springs (B/R)\ Karplusan Forest (G)\ Brushland (G/W)
What types of decks are going to do well in this format?
Now we can play two colors. We don’t need a huge power discrepancy over mono-color decks because the two-color decks became more consistent.
A two-color deck that used to be Tier 2 could very well become the best deck in the new format. That’s the power of a more consistent mana base. It increases your win rate by a lot.
Also, note that we only added the allied color pain lands. We did not add the enemy color versions like Llanowar Wastes (B/G).
Therefore, if you’re choosing between an aggro Boros or Gruul deck, pick Gruul unless you have clear evidence that the Boros power level is much higher.
This type of meta change, where only certain color pairs get a dual land, has happened in past Standard formats. Sometimes it’s like this example, where only allied colors get a boost. Other times, it’s a hodgepodge of additions like three allied colors and three enemy colors.
What you’ll find in these situations is the Tier 1 two-color decks are usually the ones with a dual land. For the lacking color pairs, the lower consistency is often too hard to overcome.
What about thinking in terms of the three main deck archetypes: aggro, midrange, and combo?
How do the archetypes stack up against each other?
When analyzing the metagame, check if the multi-color lands come into play untapped on turn one. Pain lands do, which benefits aggro. Aggro decks want to win with aggressive creatures on turn one.
On the other hand, control decks want to play longer games and they usually don’t have important cards to cast on turn one.
Also, these are pain lands so they cause pain. Aggro doesn’t mind. They are designed to kill before the life loss matters.
But the lands are a nonbo in control. As a control player, you don’t want to have a pain land while facing an aggro deck. The pain land damages you, making it easier for the aggro deck to kill you.
Midrange decks are also at a disadvantage, though not as much as control decks. The difference between midrange and control is length of games. Control decks will play more turns, which means taking more damage from the lands.
Therefore, if you’re comparing an aggro Gruul deck, a midrange Selesnya deck, and an Azorius control deck with equal power levels, go with aggressive strategy.

Replacing Pain Lands with Scry Lands

What if, instead of allied pain lands, we replaced them with the allied scry lands?
Temple of Enlightenment (W/U)\ Temple of Deceit (U/B)\ Temple of Malice (B/R)\ Temple of Abandon (G)\ Temple of Plenty (G/W)
We’ve actually had Standard formats where these lands were among the best lands.
In this metagame, aggro takes a big hit. Aggro is predicated on having aggressive one-drops. These lands are a hinderance to that strategy because they enter tapped.
Midrange and control have zero to few important plays on turn one. These decks thrive in a meta full of tapped lands like scry lands.

Pain Lands + Scry Lands

Let’s add back the pain lands. In fact, let’s include the enemy-colored versions of both pain lands and scry lands. So now, our meta looks like this:
10 Pain Lands\ 10 Scry Lands
Now we have something that looks like an actual Standard metagame.
How should we think about this format?
I think this is where midrange has the advantage over aggro and control.
Aggro doesn’t want to play scry lands. Control doesn’t want to play pain lands.
But midrange can use both lands effectively. It does not have important turn one plays like control so it does not mind the scry land drawback. And while pain lands are better for aggro decks, midrange are okay with them. Midrange games end faster than control games, so it won't take as much damage from pain lands.
Also, based on recent times, midrange tends to get good lifegain cards, which neutralizes the damage from pain lands. In the current Standard format, we see these midrange lifegain cards doing well in the format:
Deep Cavern Bat\ Sheoldred, the Apocalypse\ Tranquil Frillback\ Gix's Command\ Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal
Control decks can also have good lifegain cards but not as many as midrange, at least based on recent history. The Wandering Emperor is a top card in Standard. It works well in control decks by providing lifegain to survive against aggro.
With all the additional lands, you can now play eight dual lands in a two-color midrange deck. Going from one to two colors generally results in a higher power level. Therefore, if you’ve been playing a mono-color deck, it’s time to ask yourself if it’s worth it to add a color.
You’ll lose some consistency but not much since there are now eight dual lands. Oftentimes, it’s worth it to add a color to your deck when new dual lands enter the format.

Five Tri-Lands Enter the Meta

Let’s add the five shard-colored tri-lands to the mix. So now, our meta is this:
10 Pain Lands\ 10 Scry Lands
Spara's Headquarters (G/W/U)\ Raffine's Tower (WB)\ Xander's Lounge (U/B/R)\ Ziatora's Proving Ground (B/G)\ Jetmir's Garden (G/W)
Hm… this is starting to look like the current Standard format.
We have a lot of options for multi-color. You really have to have a good reason to play just one color.
Also, three-color decks become a real possibility. I would stick with midrange or control decks because the tri-lands enter tapped.
Given that this meta is similar to current Standard, we can make some observations regarding the Tier decks. The top decks with three or more colors have a matching tri- land or they have another land(s) that allows them to consistently play many colors.
Esper Midrange has Raffine's Tower.
Domain is a base Bant deck that uses Spara's Headquarters. The deck only splashes a few late game cards in the fourth and fifth colors. You can often get away with an extra color or two if you’re playing base green because it is the color of mana fixing.
The rest of the top decks with three or more colors include Temur Analyst (Land Combo), Bant Toxic, and Legends.
Temur Analyst is able to play three-colors even without the matching tri land (in this case, matching sac tri-land) because it plays 30 lands.
Bant Toxic has The Seedcore. Even with this land, the deck has the worst mana out of the top decks in Standard. It is a Tier 2 or 3 deck. If it had a better mana base, it might be a Tier 1 deck.
The Legends deck gets away with playing many colors because it plays 29 lands and has the five-color land, Plaza of Heroes. The deck can play 29 lands because it uses legendary lands like Otawara, Soaring City that can act as spells.
Notice there are no aggro decks with three colors or more except for Bant Toxic. The tapped nature of the tri-lands makes it prohibitive to play three-color aggro. Bant Toxic is an exception because it has an untapped colored land that pumps your creatures (The Seedcore).
This quick analysis of the current meta was more advanced than I intended but I hope it demonstrates how much lands affect a metagame.
You don't see Jeskai, Sultai, Abzan, or Mardu doing well because it's tough to play three colors without a tri-land. The exception is Temur because it can play 30 lands.
The analysis above is also important because Standard rotates on August 2, 2024. On that date, the new expansion Bloomburrow will be released and four sets will leave the format.
Many people may want to keep playing a three-color deck like Esper post-rotation. Maybe they found success with Esper in the recent past. Or they like the play patterns of the Esper deck.
However, I would advise against that because all the Esper tri-lands including the sac lands will leave the format. This means Esper will be much weaker unless Bloomburrow has an Esper tri-land.
This seems very unlikely based on current set information. From this wiki, Bloomburrow has “double cycles”, which are two-color combinations, not three.
Let me save you some time. Don’t build three-color decks for post-rotation. You will build bad decks and lose games.
(I'm actually writing this as a warning to myself. I have a weakness for dipping into an additional color when I shouldn't.)
Go with two colors because there are many dual lands. If you really want to play three colors, look at green because it has mana fixing.
Also, since there are many dual lands, I don’t recommend building mono-color decks as a general rule.

Pop Quiz

I hope you found this basic guide helpful. Let's take a quiz to give you some practice for analyzing the format in terms of lands.
For the following toy metagames, ask yourself, “How does it affect aggro, midrange and control?”
Answer the question in your head for each meta. This is very important for learning and self improvement.
Then, click the spoiler section to see my thoughts.
Meta #1: Fast Lands
Example: Razorverge Thicket
This meta has the 10 fast lands. All the two-color pairs are represented. Fast lands enter tapped unless you control two or fewer other lands.
This meta favors aggro. Fast lands are good on turns 1, 2, and 3, which is the sweet spot for aggro. The lands are not good with cards that cost four or more. Midrange and control have more of those cards than aggro.
Meta #2: Slow Lands
Example: Deserted Beach
This meta has the 10 slow lands. All the two-color pairs are represented. Slow lands enter tapped unless you control two or more other lands.
This meta favors midrange and control. Slow lands are bad on turns 1 and 2. They are great afterwards. Midrange and control have more cards that cost three or more than aggro.
Meta #3: Creature Lands
Example: Restless Vents
This meta has 10 creature lands like the one above. All the two-color pairs are represented. The creature lands in this meta all enter tapped.
You may think this helps aggro because the land can attack, but midrange and control also get a land that can block. Having a turn one play is so important for aggro that it gets dinged in this meta.

LB280 Equality Act (Amendment) (Extension of Protections) Bill

A
B I L L
T O
Amend the Equality Act 2010 to replace the protected characteristic of marriage and civil partnership with a new protected characteristic of relationship status; to extend excluded discrimination protections to relationship status; to remove certain exceptions to discrimination law; and for connected purposes.
Bᴇ ɪᴛ ᴇɴᴀᴄᴛᴇᴅ by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

1. Extension of marriage and civil partnership protection to relationship status

(1) The Equality Act 2010 is amended as follows.
(2) For each existing instance of "marriage and civil partnership" substitute "relationship status".
(3) For section 8 substitute—

1. Relationship status(1) Relationship status includes— (a) being single; (b) being in a relationship but not being married or in a civil partnership; (c) being married; (d) being in a civil partnership; (e) being engaged; (f) proposing to enter into a civil partnership; (g) formerly being in a marriage that was annulled; (h) being divorced; (i) formerly being in a civil partnership that was annulled; (j) formerly being in a civil partnership that was dissolved; (k) being legally separated; (l) being widowed; and (m) formerly being in a civil partnership that was ended by the death of one of the civil partners. (2) Relationship status also includes— (a) the length of time a person has held a particular relationship status; and (b) whether a relationship is with one other person or with multiple people. (3) In relation to the protected characteristic of relationship status— (a) a reference to a person who has a particular protected characteristic is a reference to a person with a particular relationship status; (b) a reference to persons who share a protected characteristic is a reference to persons who have the same relationship status. (4) A person may have multiple relationship statuses at the same time, and the reference in subsection (3) to having the same relationship status— (a) is to sharing a particular relationship status; and (b) does not require the persons to share all relationship statuses.

(4) Omit section 13(4).
(5) Omit Schedule 9 paragraph 1(3)(b).
(6) For Schedule 9 paragraph 2(4)(c) substitute—

a requirement to have or to not have a particular relationship status;

(7) In any Act—

(a) a reference to marriage and civil partnership discrimination in respect of the Equality Act 2010 is to be read as a reference to relationship status discrimination; and (b) references to being married or in a civil partnership in respect of the Equality Act 2010 are to be read as references to having a particular relationship status.

1. Extension of protections

Schedule 1 contains further amendments to and repeals of the Equality Act 2010.

1. Extent, commencement and short title

(1) This Act extends to England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
(2) This Act comes into force in England on the day on which this Act is passed.
(3) This Act comes into force in Wales on the day on which the Senedd passes a motion in the form of—

"That the Senedd agrees that the Equality Act (Amendment) (Extension of Protections) Act 2024 should come into force in Wales."

(4) This Act comes into force in Scotland on the day on which the Scottish Parliament passes a motion in the form of—

"That the Scottish Parliament agrees that the Equality Act (Amendment) (Extension of Protections) Act 2024 should come into force in Scotland."

(5) This Act comes into force in Northern Ireland on the day on which the Northern Ireland Assembly passes a motion in the form of—

"That the Northern Ireland Assembly agrees that the Equality Act (Amendment) (Extension of Protections) Act 2024 should come into force in Northern Ireland."

(6) This Act may be cited as the Equality Act (Amendment) (Extension of Protections) Act 2024.
Schedule 1: Amendments to and repeals of the Equality Act 2010

1. The Equality Act 2010 is amended as follows.

Dual characteristics

1. In section 14(1) omit "relevant".
   
2. Omit section 14(2).
   

Harassment

1. In section 26(1) omit "relevant".
   
2. Omit section 26(5).
   

Services and public functions

1. Omit section 28(1).
   
2. Omit section 28(8).
   

Premises

1. Omit section 32(1).
   
2. Omit section 33(6).
   
3. Omit section 34(4).
   
4. Omit section 35(4).
   

Discussions about pay

1. In section 77(1) omit "in so far as P makes or seeks to make a relevant pay disclosure".
   
2. In section 77(2) omit "in so far as P seeks a relevant pay disclosure from the colleague".
   
3. Omit section 77(3).
   
4. In section 77(4) omit every instance of "relevant".
   

Education

1. Omit section 84(b).
   
2. Omit section 85(10).
   
3. Omit section 90.
   
4. Omit section 95.
   

Associations

1. Omit section 100.
   
2. Omit section 103(2).
   

Advancement of equality

1. In section 149 omit every instance of "relevant".
   
2. Omit section 149(7).
   

Further and higher education

1. Omit Schedule 12 paragraph 6.

Referenced legislation

• Equality Act 2010

This Bill was written by the Right Honourable Duke of the Fenlands OM GCMG KCT CB MVO, on behalf of the Labour and Co-operative Party.
Opening Speech
My Lords,
The Equality Act 2010 when originally passed protected those who were married or in a civil partnership from discrimination. This was the predominant form of discrimination at the time, so although I do not agree with that limitation, I understand the reasoning at the time.
But times have moved on. Yes, marriage and civil partnership discrimination still happens. But discrimination based on other types of relationship status also happens. Whether or not someone is in a relationship, and the kind of relationship they are in, is not relevant to how well they can work. This no longer reflects our modern world.
Sam Middlemiss wrote for the Law Society of Scotland that there has been a lack of research into the issue, but that the issue should be treated seriously as a result. They give examples of how a single worker might be discriminated against, including being overloaded with work that isn't placed on a colleague who is married or in a civil partnership.
This Bill also extends the protections afforded to relationship status, previously marriage and civil partnership, in Schedule 1, scrapping arbitrary exclusions. For example, it will make it illegal to discriminate against someone who has a particular relationship status in education settings.
In drafting those latter provisions, I discovered further arbitrary exclusions. For example, it is currently lawful under section 85(10) of the Equality Act for the management board of a school to harass a pupil based on their religion, belief, being transgender, or their sexual orientation. It feels like part of section 28's legacy. I hope noble Lords agree with me that this is an unacceptable state of affairs.
Schedule 1 removes these arbitrary exceptions and exclusions, ensuring that there is nowhere to hide for discriminatory employers, schools and services.
My Lords, I hope when the question is put, noble Lords support these modernising changes to our statute book.
Lords may vote either Content, Not Content or Present to the Bill.
This Division ends on the the 4th of June at 10PM BST.

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Peace be to you all.

Introduction:

In this post, I will be answering and refuting the individual who keeps writing posts about me and comments every second he gets trying to "refute" me and "expose" me. I am only doing this because some brothers and sisters have allowed themselves to be fooled by this dude.
I won't resort to personal attacks and baseless claims (much like he does), and I will jump straight ahead to answering his objections.

Response to the introduction:

He begins by discussing my translation of the word "ישוחח," which I interpret as "argue" or "put forth."
Firstly, in Biblical Hebrew, verb forms such as Qal and Piel (often referred to as Polel in some grammatical traditions) are distinguished by their specific diacritic markings (i.e., vowel points and consonantal diacritics). Since I believe that the Masoretes distorted the Old Testament by adding these diacritics to reach a deviant interpretation, I do not consider them at all. I read the Old Testament without any diacritics. This is something he has yet to understand, perhaps because he believes that the Old Testament was revealed with diacritic markings—I don't know.
He later argues that the ancient Christian manuscripts (such as the Codex Sinaiticus, Septuagint, etc.) must agree with my claims and not with the Masoretic renderings of the Hebrew text, a conclusion he bases on thin air. I ask: Why is that so? Can you give us one good reason for this conclusion? You can't! He says this only because he considers these Christian manuscripts as divinely revealed criteria and translations. In contrast, I (and many others) see them as ancient interpretations of the original Hebrew text, which are very erroneous. This is especially true considering that rabbis themselves claim these scholars and translators failed to understand every Hebrew idiom in the book. They took everything literally and thus deviated from the intended meaning throughout their translations. These are the translations he claims must agree with my understanding.
The Masoretes could even have been influenced by Christians and their manuscripts, leading them to render some verses erroneously, whether knowingly or unknowingly—we can't be certain. However, I believe it wasn't unknowingly, and I have very good reasons for holding this opinion.
His arguments in his objections are all flawed and fallacious.

The Original sin being denied in the OT:

Now, the word he is fixated on is "ישוחח." As he mentioned, I used a classical Hebrew dictionary to translate the word. I don't remember the exact dictionary I used, but here is a random one I will use today:

Root: שִׂיחַ (v)
1 - to put forth, mediate, muse, commune, speak, complain, ponder, sing
1 -(Qal)
1 - to complain
2 - to muse, meditate upon, study, ponder
3 - to talk, sing, speak
2 - (Polel) to meditate, consider, put forth thoughts

Source: מקור: Open Scriptures on GitHub, Creator: יוצר: Based on the work of Larry Pierce at the Online Bible
In other words, both Qal and Polel essentially mean the same thing.
This following excerpt is from my original post about this, the post he is "refuting":
Excerpt from the post in question:
_______________________
Isaiah 53:8, traditional translation:
"From imprisonment and from judgment he is taken, and his generation who shall tell? For he was cut off from the land of the living; because of the transgression of my people, a plague befell them."
The original verse (without diacritics):
מעצר וממשפט לקח ואת־דורו מי ישוחח כי נגזר מארץ חיים מפשע עמי נגע למו:
My translation:
"He was taken from arrest and trial, and as for his generation, who will argue that he was cut off from the land of the living [i.e. killed] for the sin of my people, a plague befell them."
_______________________
In this verse, God is explicitly denying the doctrine of the Original Sin, stating that those who argue, speak, put forth, or ponder that Jesus was killed for the sins of His (God's) people are cursed (or afflicted by a plague).
It is crystal clear! He is just in denial because it contradicts his Pauline doctrine. Thus, he has fixated on this specific word, insisting it is (without a shadow of a doubt) in the Polel form (because his Pauline forefathers said so), and claims that Exion has made a grave error. Incredible, indeed. What a rebuttal!
Let's see if the Polel form does anything to save him:
1. Meditate:

"He was taken from arrest and trial, and as for his generation, who will meditate that he was cut off from the land of the living [i.e. killed] for the sin of my people, a plague befell them."

The definition of "Meditate" is:

1. To plan mentally; consider,
   
2. To focus one's mind for a period of time, in silence or with the aid of chanting, for religious or spiritual purposes or as a method of relaxation.
   

I know it isn't the latter, because that is just ludicrous and silly. But guess what? They even tried to claim it is the latter, which is beyond amusing to me and any other sane person reading this.
2. Consider:

"He was taken from arrest and trial, and as for his generation, who will consider that he was cut off from the land of the living [i.e. killed] for the sin of my people, a plague befell them."

It still obliterates the doctrine of the Original sin completely.
3. Put forth thoughts:

"He was taken from arrest and trial, and as for his generation, who will put forth thoughts that he was cut off from the land of the living [i.e. killed] for the sin of my people, a plague befell them."

It still obliterates the doctrine of the Original sin completely.
This is what I have to deal with. He is correcting my interpretation by yet again confirming it and he doesn't even realize it. He refuses to accept that the Old Testament completely refutes this absurd Pauline doctrine that God sent His "son" to the earth to kill him and forgive mankind. He can't understand that the Old Testament aligns with the Quran, calling them cursed. I have explained this to him several times, but to no avail. According to him, the early Christians "meditated" about Jesus' "abode." He raises the same objection in every comment he makes on every future post I do, as if I haven't just refuted him using the Bible, dictionaries, and other sources. In one ear and out the other. The only reason I'm even writing this response is to make you guys realize how unknowledgeable this man really is about the Bible and the Hebrew language. But he is good at making it look like he knows a thing or two by using fancy words and elaborations that make no sense at all.
I believe (if I remember correctly) that he translates it as:

"By oppressive judgment he was taken away, Who could describe his abode?..."

This unusual rendering is achieved by mistranslating a word, done specifically to alter the actual meaning. Some Jewish translators render it the same way, but they at least have the decency to add a footnote saying:

"\Who could describe his abode?* Meaning of Heb. uncertain." (source: Sefaria.org)

As they usually do when they mistranslate stuff.
Who would describe Jesus abode? What?! With all due respect, but that makes no sense at all! It makes no sense contextually nor logically.
This is how another Jewish translation has it:

"From imprisonment and from judgment he is taken, and his generation who shall tell? For he was cut off from the land of the living; because of the transgression of my people, a plague befell them."

Does this look like a coherent sentence to you? Jesus is taken from imprisonment and judgement, and his generation who shall tell? Tell what? This is an incomplete sentence - just to change the actual intended message.
The original phrase is: "ואת־דורו מי ישוחח"
Let me break it down for you:

Word: ואת = "And his"
Word: ־דורו = "Generation"
Word: מי = "Who will"
Word: ישוחח = "Argue/Put forth/Talk/consideetc"

Crystal clear phrase. Even Google translates it accurately (which is very rare by the way):

"And his generation who will talk"

Take a look at some of the English translations of his Christian forefathers:
New Living Translation Unjustly condemned, he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants...
New International Version By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested?...
King James Bible He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation?...
Some others got the first part accurate but still misinterpreted the last part of the verse, as it claims that they are cursed. God forbid, they are the ones who are cursed, for they consider Jesus to be the cursed one:
English Standard Version By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
They applied the "curse/plague" to Jesus (which they translate as "stricken," even though Biblically it is generally understood to be a plague/curse) instead of applying it to those "who considered" (i.e., the Pauline Christians). The Hebrew verse uses a plural word, indicating that it was intended for those people who would put forth this claim. They all refuse to accept the fact that God is explicitly and literally stating that they are affected by a plague for their erroneous claim about Jesus.
Let's quickly refute them too:

• The word for "plague" is "נגע" (nega).
• The word for "to them" is "למו" (lamo).

"Plague" (נגע):

Hebrew classical dictionary:

Heb: נֶגַע (n-m)
1 - stroke, plague, disease, mark, plague spot
stroke, wound
stroke (metaphorical of disease)
mark (of leprosy)

Source: מקור: Open Scriptures on GitHub, Creator: יוצר: Based on the work of Larry Pierce at the Online Bible

"To them" (לָֽמוֹ):

Hebrew classical dictionary:

1 - inflected pers. pron. meaning ‘to them’ (poetically).
2 - [Formed from לְ◌ with ◌מוֹ, a suff. used only in poetry.]

Source: מקור: Klein Dictionary, Creator: יוצר: Ezra Klein
A plague to whom? TO THEM! To the people who put forth this Pauline doctrine, the ones who argued, said, or considered this absurdity. Absolutely not to the one they believed to be cut off for the sin of God's people, namely Jesus, God's prophet, Messiah, His Word, and a spirit from Him.
But this is not surprising to anyone; it is expected, because their savior Paul also considered the blessed Messiah Jesus to be a curse:

"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.'" (Galatians 3:13)

It bothers them that God Himself is confirming that they are the cursed ones, and He does it in the book they believe in. I am the one who exposed it, and all praise is due to God alone. It bothers this guy who is "eXpOsInG" me, and I won't mention his name because that is most likely what he wants.
He goes on to say that I quoted from a fictitious source, which is not true at all. I simply didn’t bother looking through my entire library to find a quote I mistakenly mis-referenced, mainly because the quote turned out to be quite irrelevant, and I don’t waste my time like that. Much of what he initiated his "rebuttal" with is equally misunderstood by him, and I have responded to each and every objection in my older posts (in the comment sections where he was "eXpOsInG" me). I picked the first thing and refuted it here for you just to show how ignorant he really is and how he is either living a lie or lying to others.
So, I will not bother to refute every single point of the old stuff that I’ve already conclusively answered. It's a waste of time. Let’s move on to his objections to my latest posts, because that is what this is all about in reality.

My answers to his objections to my latest posts:

Regarding the stone God mentions that was to be placed in the Temple of God, he says that it is saying

"Stone to a stone," or "upon a stone"

My answer:
"Stone to a stone" is not a Hebrew idiom, and neither is the word "upon" there in Hebrew. He doesn't know Hebrew, had he known Hebrew, he would never have "eXpOsEd" this because it just went to show that he doesn't know the language at all.
The Hebrew word "שום" (shum) in this context is derived from the root ש-ו-ם, which means "to place" or "to put." It appears here as an infinitive construct, which is often used to convey the act of doing something, similar to the English "-ing" form. In this sentence, "שום" is functioning as a gerund, which is a verbal noun. It translates to "placing" or "putting" in English. Therefore, "שום־אבן" means "placing a stone" or "putting a stone."
As for the next word, i.e. "stone" (אבן), in Hebrew, nouns have gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural). "אבן" is a feminine singular noun. When used in the phrase "שום־אבן" (placing a stone), "אבן" functions as the direct object of the action described by the infinitive construct "שום" (placing).
The next word is אל: This is taken as a preposition according to them, and it generally means "to" or "toward," and never "upon." It is used to indicate direction or movement towards something. While the following word is, again, a stone "אבן."
So if we're going with their interpretation, while being literal, as we should because it is not an idiom, it accurately translates to:
"Before placing a stone to a stone" or "before placing stone to stone"
Which makes very little sense, if any. Why wouldn't God say "Before placing stone upon stone" or "Stones upon stones" or "before placing a stone upon a stone"? Why did He use a singular word for "stone"? Because it is speaking about a one stone, the stone that God placed in Zion:

"So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who relies on it will never be stricken with panic." (Isaiah 28:16)

I have proven in countless posts that Zion is the ancient name for Mecca. Just look up Psalm 84, and you will see how it mentions doing the pilgrimage in Zion and also mentions "Bacca," another name for Mecca. I have proven how Harran is located in Mecca and that the oak of Bacca is located there as well, and we know according to Psalm 84 that Zion is located where Bacca is located. With this in mind, it’s easy to see what has been done to cover up this prophecy. They have misinterpreted the word "El" as "Upon" instead of "God." The definition of that word is not "Upon"; it means "To/toward" or "God."
Classical Hebrew dictionary:

Heb: אֵל (n-m)
god, god-like one, mighty one
mighty men, men of rank, mighty heroes
angels
god, false god, (demons, imaginations)
God, the one true God, Jehovah
mighty things in nature
strength, power

Source: מקור: Open Scriptures on GitHub, creator: יוצר: Based on the work of Larry Pierce at the Online Bible
And:

Heb: אֶל (prep.)
denoting motion toward or to, or direction toward, and meaning ‘to, unto, toward, into, at, by’.
[Shortened from אֱלֵי (which is preserved in poetry). cp. עֲלֵי, poetical form of עַל (= on), and עֲדֵי, poetical form of עַד (= as far as, until). Related to Arab. ’ilā (= to, toward, up to).]

Source: מקור: Klein Dictionary, Creator: יוצר: Ezra Klein
Let's see if any of these help him:

Before placing a stone to a stone?
Before placing a stone towards a stone?
Before placing a stone into a stone?
Before placing a stone unto a stone? (archaic term for "to")
Before placing a stone at a stone?
Before placing a stone by a stone?

Does any of this make any sense to you? I believe it certainly does not. Yet they have all chosen to ignore these valid definitions and instead opt for a definition that isn't there, namely: "a stone UPON a stone," just to claim that God was idiomatically saying "Before you build the temple." The temple was already built, as I will prove later below.
To get a more coherent translation, one that makes sense both contextually and linguistically, we need to consider "El" as "God":

ועתה - "And now"
שימו־נא - "consider, please"
לבבכם - "your heart"
מן־היום - "from this day"
הזה - "this"
ומעלה - "and onward"
מטרם - "before"
שום־אבן - "placing a stone"
אל־אבן - "God's stone/stone of God"
בהיכל - "in the Temple"
יהוה - "of YHWH" (YHWH)

Here, "אל־אבן" would translate to "God's stone" or "stone of God." Thus, the phrase "מטרם שום־אבן אל־אבן בהיכל יהוה" would be understood as "before placing a stone as God's stone in the temple of YHWH" or "before placing a stone, God's stone, in the temple of YHWH"
He is just in denial here as well. It is quite obvious that God is talking about placing a stone in the Temple of God, not about placing a stone towards a stone (whatever that means). Biblically, it is known that Jacob placed a stone in the House of God in Harran, which I have also proven to be located in the vicinity of Mecca, using 1st-century CE atlases by giants in geography such as Pomponius Mela, Pliny, and others.
He writes:

"More importantly, Exion ignored that “stone” in the Hebrew occurs twice. If we take אל to be God and take it as the construct state (the ‘s) then it would be “before setting stone’s God’s stone”. That doesn’t make sense hence why Exion dropped the first occurrence of אֶ֛בֶן in their translation."

Or you could simply not take "El" as a construct state. In Hebrew, a noun followed by another noun can indicate possession without needing a construct state (i.e. the equivalent of adding 's in English). This is often called "smikhut" or construct form, but it is not always necessary to explicitly form it.
In the phrase "שום־אבן אל־אבן" (placing a stone as God's stone), the context and the nouns' arrangement provide the possessive meaning without requiring additional grammatical changes. "אל־אבן" can be understood as "God's stone" even though it is not in the formal construct state. This is something he doesn't know because, well, who knows why. I have my speculations, but I will refrain from personal attacks.
He says:

"It makes perfect sense with the rest of the verse “in the temple of Yahweh.” It’s talking about before the building of the temple which involved setting stone upon stone."

Oh really? Is that why the 3rd verse literally talks about the Temple that already was in existence but was viewed as nothing in their eyes (i.e. insignificant):

"Who among you is left, who saw this house in its former glory? And as you see it now, is it not as nothing in your eyes?" (Haggai 2:3)

Explicitly contradicting your claim that it doesn't exist, but you didn't know that because you have probably never even read the entirety of the chapter to begin with. The Temple was already there. A stone was to be placed in it, God's stone, the black stone of the House of God, and not that it was to be built or built anew. This is why I even wrote the article, because the temple of God was already in existence. How you could have missed this, if you've read the chapter in it entirety, is very baffling to me.
This is why Jacob, upon waking from his prophetic dream, never built the House of God. (Yes, Jacob was a prophet, but Christian scholars throughout history didn't recognize this and thought he was merely a patriarch.) Instead, he only placed a stone as its cornerstone and named it "The House of God":

16. When Jacob woke up, he thought, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was unaware of it.” 17. And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven!” 18. Early the next morning, Jacob took the stone that he had placed under his head, and he set it up as a pillar. He poured oil on top of it."

Going back to Haggai 2, the 6th verse states:

"כי כה אמר יהוה צבאות עוד אחת מעט היא ואני מרעיש את־השמים ואת־הארץ ואת־הים ואת־החרבה:"

Which literally translates to:

"For thus says the Lord of Hosts: Once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land."

Which they have erroneously translated as:

"For so said the Lord of Hosts: [There will rise] another one, and I will shake up the heaven and the earth and the sea and the dry land [for] a little while." (source)

Lying and adding words to the Word of God to make it look like another House would be raised.
7th verse states:
Haggai 2:7

"והרעשתי את־כל־הגוים ובאו חמדת כל־הגוים ומלאתי את־הבית הזה כבוד אמר יהוה צבאות:"

Transliteration:

"Ve-hir'ashti et kol ha-goyim u-va'u chemdat kol ha-goyim u-milati et ha-bayit ha-zeh kavod amar Adonai Tzva'ot."

Not only does it confirm that the House is already in existence, but it mentioned our prophet Ahmad coming to it by using the cognate of his name, "Chemdat," which they erroneously have translated as:

"and the treasures of all the nations will be brought to this Temple."

The preposition "the" is not there before "Chemdat," while it is before "Goyim" (heathens), which makes sense because "Chemdat of all the heathens (will come)" and doesn't translate to "The treasure of all the heathens (will come)," as they have it.
Let me break it down for you:

והרעשתִי (ve-hir'ashti) - "and I will shake"
את (et) - [direct object marker, not translated]
כל (kol) - "all"
הגוים (ha-goyim) - "the heathens"
ובאו (u-va'u) - "and they will come"
חמדת (Chemdat) - "Chemdat" (proper noun)
כל (kol) - "of all"
הגוים (ha-goyim) - "the heathens"
ומלאתי (u-milati) - "and I will fill"
את (et) - [direct object marker, not translated]
הבית (ha-bayit) - "the house"
הזה (ha-zeh) - "this"
כבוד (kavod) - "glory"
אמר (amar) - "says"
יהוה (Adonai) - "Lord"
צבאות (Tzva'ot) - "of Hosts"

Result:

"And I will shake all the heathens, and they will come, Chemdat of all the heathens, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of Hosts."

Explanation:

They have translated it as "the treasures of..." while the phrase "Chemdat" lacks a "The" (Ha), so it would more accurately be rendered as:

"And they will come, treasure of all the heathens, and..."

A very awkward sentence grammatically. And the dictionaries do not define חמדת (Chemdat) as "Treasure," but rather as "Desire" or "Precious." But translating this phrase in this way (if we consider it to mean "desire" or "precious"), we would make the verse even more awkward:

"And they will come, desire of all the heathens" or "And they will come, precious of all the heathens."

Because it is a singular phrase, and not plural, and as I mentioned earlier, lacks a definite preposition.
But if we consider "Chemdat" as a cognate of "Ahmad," as a proper noun referring to Ahmad the prophet (the only heathen prophet known today), it suddenly becomes a very coherent verse that makes much sense. The heathens will be shaken, and they will come. Then, He specifies by saying: Chemdat of all the heathens, and continues with the rest of the verse.
The phrase "הגוים" (ha-goyim) translates as "the heathens," which supports the interpretation that "Chemdat" is a proper noun referring to a significant heathen person anticipated to come. God is going to shake all the heathens, and they will come. Then He specifies who would come: "Chemdat of all the heathens (will come)." He then says He will fill this house, which they saw as nothing, with glory. The house already exists; Chemdat of all nations was just about to come, and God would fill this house with glory again. And, of course, the stone Jacob laid in Genesis 28—the same stone that Jesus referred to in Matthew 21:

1. Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: 'The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes?'

43. Therefore, I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit."

The Kingdom of God was intended to be taken away from the Christians and given to a people who would produce its fruits, and this is what happened when Islam came.
Going back to Haggai 2, the 18th verse also confirms that the Temple already was there:

"Consider, please, your heart from this day and onward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day that the temple of the Lord was founded, consider your heart."

Just because God considers the two Houses (the current one they saw as insignificant and the later one) as "different" does not mean that it does not already exist physically but will be a different House.
Nevertheless, he is right about one thing regarding this chapter: it does not mention the new moon to new moon and the end of the Sabbath—that was in Isaiah 66. My mistake. But the prophecy is still valid. The new moon to new moon would come, and yes, the second phrase can be interpreted as an end (if we interpret "Shabbat" as "End"), but it is Biblically and generally interpreted as "Sabbath." A literal translation of the phrase in the 23rd verse would be:

שבת (shabbat) - "Sabbath"
בשבתו (be-shabbato) - "His Sabbath"
יבוא (yavo) - "it will come"

Let's agree that it means what the traditional translations say it means, and I don't mean hypothetically, but let's actually agree on that. However, the prophecy about the new moons (Ramadan) is still there and valid because God has not canceled the Sabbath in the Quran; it is still ongoing:
The Quran states in 2:40-42:

Verse 40: "O Children of Israel, remember My favor which I have bestowed upon you and fulfill My covenant [upon you] that I will fulfill your covenant [from Me], and fear Me."
Verse 41: "And believe in what I have sent down confirming that which is [already] with you, and be not the first to disbelieve in it. And do not exchange My signs/verses for a small price, and fear Me."
Verse 42: "And do not mix the truth with falsehood or conceal the truth while you know [it]."

The new moon to a new moon is combined with the Sabbath to Sabbath. This is a fulfilled prophecy!
I don't see easter, halloween or Christmas being mentioned here. It's Ramadan and the Sabbath, the two Covenants God has given to his worshipers, the Covenant of the Children of Israel and the Covenant of Peace, unlike the Pauline Christians who literally took all of their holidays from pagan idolaters, which I won't go into because it's not very relevant to our discussion anyways.
This marks the end of my rebuttal to his "part 1."
Thank you for reading,
/Your bro Exion.

It starts of following multiple people; a pair of cops, an alcoholic woman, and a man who can camouflage his skin color like a octopus, and a fat man. There is genetic modification in this book as well as a virus or epidemic going around as the plot point. I read this book maybe around 2010-2013 it had a very shiny book cover that was blue and white where I think the white was the name of the book and authors name and that part was slightly raised. I remember buying it at a dollar general with the spinning racks of books for maybe 5 dollars. I read this book like 5 times because it was so confusing and I think that's why I remember so much but can't quite put it together. The cover also might have been an picture of earth but I'm not sure I just remember if light hit that book at a certain angle it would shine. It was a paperback book that was really thick must have been like 500 pages it wasn't long more short and wide.
• The pair of cops are both male. One is an older overweight married man and the the other a younger fit male. The younger guy comments about how the older male should watch his weight since if he is found to be overweight he will be sent to this type of encampment rehabilitation type thing where he will have to lose the weight. He also seems to hint that his figure gaining this much weight is due to his wife's cooking and the cop not looking out for his figure. The older cop does not go to the encampment thing for his weight in the end.
• The alcoholic woman is in a messy apartment surrounded by empty bottles of alchol hiding when she is taken by force by some type of law enforcement. The sent her to the encampment rehabilitation type thing to solve her drinking problems. She is described to be very thin and have pink hair and has been sent to this rehabilitation camp multiple times. She seems angry because she knows that the only reason she is sent this time was because of the person in charge of the encampment so that might mean there is a limit to how many times they can go. The girl ends up being called to the person in charges office, during the physical exercise time, were she proceeds to have sex with him and it is discovered he had her sent here so he can keep seeing her. While they are in the office people rush in and say there is a weird fog approaching that's affecting everyone. She runs away somehow with the fat guy from the camp to the area where his parents live because that area seems to not yet be affected.i think the cop pair shows up for a brief part when the camp was about to be affected but I'm not sure.
• The camouflage guy I don't thing was sent to the encampment thing but he did seem to be hiding from the cop pair earlier. He did have daddy issues since his dad was a magician and used to use the camouflage ability of his as a part of his act but when his son couldn't control his well and his comflouage colors changed based on his mood he would get mad. So to hide in society he uses face or body paint since he can't control his camouflage skills well.
• The fat man seems to be a recluse he gets sent to the encampment thing to lose weight. During the encampment he stares a lot at the alcoholic girl will they do physical exercise and she straight up asks him if he wants to fuck her. His parents are also well of in this sorta gated community. His mother is a scientist or bioengineer. His dad I don't remember to well what he does but he plays a big part in solving the epidemic that spreads.
We find out later the mother is part of the cause of the disease. The father finds out the gated community is producing these intelligent generation of kids by genetically modifying them when they are still in the womb. The are ranked the top out if all schools no one is below a certain level in that school and if they are they get kicked out (might be just the school or even the gated community I don't remember). Somehow though there is this virus in a test tube that is the cause of it and I believe she is on the team to find the cure. The husband tries to get into her work building and talks with the wife's boss, once inside, and is held at gunpoint while the boss turns out to be evil and explains why this is happening but they end up in a fight the husband ends up shooting the boss fatally. The boss does not instantly die but pees his dress pants and says he doesn't want to die. The husband moves on to the lab of his wife and she is in a hazmat suit with the vial of the virus in her hand. I believe she's alone I don't know if it's because she was left alone or everyone else died on the research team. Stuff happens as they confront each other but I remember for some reason she takes of her hazmat suit to save him for some reason. Than it does a time jump were it seems to imply the man was able to live a very long life (thanks to bioengineering) and is pushed in a wheelchair by a pink haired girl (not sure if it's the alcoholic girl or her decendant). It also implies he is the savior of humanity. No one else from before is mentioned this time jump was about a page and that's it most of it is very vague.
Please help me find this. The amount of times I've tried to find this and have come up empty makes me feel like I legitimately just made this up.

I’m female, not white and work as a management level SME at a Tier 1 construction company. I’m project based and is attached to a specific major infrastructure project.
This project team is CHAOTIC on every side of the JV but the construction partner where I’m located is staggeringly bad. Like we’re less than 3 years away from operational handover and senior management is still churning and burning. There are still sites where both the PM and the project team are entirely fresh because the site has somehow had 3 entirely different teams within the last 8 months. Construction is insane usually but when the actual construction has to be finished for testing by mid 2026…this is next level.
Part of the chaos is the senior leadership instability of those in senior leadership. We’ve somehow had 2 project directors and 2 construction directors, 3 lots (2 at a time gets pushed out) of construction managers along with 2 commercial directors (3rd pending, 2nd one was pushed out), 2 project control directors and 2 HSEQ directors all since the start of project 17 months ago. I’ve lost count of how many general and site superintendents we’ve turned out. And staggeringly, for a buildings project, they keep on bringing in civils people (if you know, you know).
I’ve been around for over a year and have received glowing reviews from all around (client, stakeholders, management and workforce) because I hit every delivery milestone and do it with minimal spend. Now I report directly to the construction director due to one of the many random restructures this project does for no reason and no notice to those getting shuffled.
I was originally only supposed to look after a portion of this project within my subject matter but due to chaotic circumstances, HR without even notifying restructured my reporting line so I end up managing the entire project for my subject matter. At the time I raised it with my new manager (construction director) to get more people on my team and also to talk about remuneration. Was told that this will be discussed at the annual performance review.
12 months go by and we never had annual performance reviews. My manager never even booked me in for a 1 on 1 despite my best efforts. For context, my manager is v old school white man who within 3 months of starting got rid of the only other female manager reporting to him.
Then a month ago, I get called for a meeting with him and HR. Was asked at the meeting whether I thought I was suited for my current role. I was so surprised and taken back the entire meeting was a blur but the next day I get an email from him notifying me that the company is putting me on a PIP.
I requested another meeting through HR and went in with my actual job description and record of all the work I’ve done to fulfill my job description. This meeting went WEIRD because very few people talk back to my manager and he went off the rails. Started throwing things at me that is nowhere near my job description as examples of what he thought I was lacking. The most incriminating bit is that the only example he could pull up of where he thinks I screwed up on the job is when I refused to support something that was illegal and I refused to let my team support it.
Got called into a 3rd meeting with him and HR a week after the 2nd to be told that the company can’t actually assess my performance because I’ve been performing outside my job description because I was originally hired for a portion of the project, not the whole thing. So I’ll be issued a new contract and my scope on the project reduced. They’ll be hiring another person to look after the rest of the scope.
The 3rd meeting was on Monday. I got asked by a coworker why I was leaving on Wednesday because he’s processing onboarding for someone with the same role as I am to start next Monday.
Between the 1st meeting and the new person starting on the project, it was less than a month. Given I’ve seen that person’s resume before (for me to hire as a site team member), I know they were employed elsewhere and would have to give more notice than a week.
Given all the chaos on this project, I knew sticking around until the end was not for me and I’ve been looking. The contract for my next role came through already so I’m putting in my notice on Monday.
But given the hell my manager and HR put me through the last month I want to get them back.
Any advice on how?

Long story short - we are separating after 6 years. Right now I'm having mental breakdown, I wanted to peacefully separate and maybe stay friends in the future, but peace was never an option her. Last night she pick up a fight with me and was trying to convince me how fucked up I am and how long it will take for me to be normal. I didn't want to escalate and just took in everything she said, which was hard. I want to hear some perspectives about the situations she was mentioning yesterday and shading me in black light :
1.* She said I deflect the arguments and turn them around. From my perspective I just can't stand her double standarts lately. She will start argument with me about the thing I do and she does the exact same fkn thing and I just can't understand how she can be mad about it and I point out that she does the same thing. If it's not double standart then I don't deflect.
2.* Latest fight she called me "extremely boring fkn person" and that she is tired of me in an explosive way. I reacted in a way telling her she allways critizes me and I am what I am. Which is true - she would call me stupid/idiot/etc. When she starts a fight I have an instant anxiety flush over my body, cause I never expect it. After all this name calling, she tells me she can't even critisize me, because I'm reacting in a bad way and we can't have a relationship because of that. I admit I was hypervigilant lately, but I don't believe the way she approaches problems and uses critisism is a way to go. She starts 99% of the arguments. In all these years I never called her in any disrespectfull way. The worst I did was "fk off".
3.* Last fight was ugly from my side. She now uses it to wave abuser flag into my face and I have to suck it in. I was trying my best to find a flat and move out and the RE agent couldn't contact the owner and give me immediate answer. After ONE day of waiting for an answer she told me "You don't have a spine and people allways walk over you because you have no character. This wouldn't happen to any other person except you." in a disrespectful way. After that I felt extremely hurt and started crying, she started to tell me "oh, well well, can't even tell you a word without you going into victim mode". That escalated me and I wanted peace, went to different room, she followed and I raised voice at her, not shouting but 70% close to. One thing led to another and she was hitting the furniture around the house in fury, then came to my face and I told her - "C'mon, hit me". It was a provocation from my side and it's a very low moment for me. She didn't hit me and now tells me there might be countless times where I provoked her into her bad behaviour and I'm the problem. She did hit me two times in the past.
4.* She tells me I'm gasslighting her. I never lie to her. In arguments my mind goes a bit grey and I don't remember what I say during it afterwards. Then she tells me I say this and that in argument and I just don't remember saying it. She tells me I'm gasslighting her when I say to her I don't remember saying things (which I really can't remember and stand in an open position of possibility that I said these things).
5.* She told me I'm a narcissist and I tick many boxes and she shocked that she was blindsided by all the pain I inflicted on her and that she lost 6 years of her life with me. She says when she is in pain I'm just being sellfish and can't even be with her and she feels alone. How the usual situation goes - I tell her I'm very sorry she is going through these thing, which are difficult. I tell her I hear her and that I support her. I try to hug her and comfort her. What she does - she says she can't even speak to me, because all I do is use cliche phrases from psychology books and pushes me away when I try any physical contact. I just don't understand what else to do and she just says I'm not even human being at this point, it's like talking to a wall. I feel like the world kinda rotated around her, and only her needs are valid and if I have my needs that interfere with hers - I'm disrespecting her by putting my needs which are badly timed for her and I'm very inconsiderate because I don't think about her at all. Due to heavy workload I can't move out right now, because I will overburn, and she was fine with it. I will move out next week after deadlines. (these heavy workloads happen 2 times a year for 2 weeks in total, just very unfortunate timing). Now she tells me I disrespect her by staying here and not moving out when I have my spare half an hour in the evenings.
6.* She tells me I allways blame her for everything and she can't relax with me. Exact scenarios she mentioned - we went to a festival she picked and I was a bit tired (we partied till 2-4am every day, during days I was a bit tired as well bcs of staying late). After that I was exausted and told her that. I really enjoyed the festival, I never told her anything in lines with "this festival was bad and I'm tired". After hearing that I'm tired, she assumes I didn't have fun and blame her for the bad time I had. I'm just extremely sad that I can't share with her with my not so good moods. Another example - the RE agent lost my key and I might have to wait for them to change the lock. I told her my RE agent lost the key and I'm annoyed with that. She then tells me - "why do I need to hear that? You want me to fix this problem for you? Cause these thing happen to you only". All I wanted to do is to share my frustration with someone.
7.* I recently started to take care with my finances and invested lots of my savings. She calls on me saying I only care about money now and my house I want to built and don't talk about anything else. I honestly feel like It takes 5% of the things I talk with other people. I bike long distances, meet with friends etc and have a pretty active life with many things that interest me.
8.* I said to her that she is abusive towards me in many ways. I did mention she might be on cluster-B side. She said I'm very sensitive to critisism and I don't even understand how hard is for her to be with me and how much work she puts into me (I think she is controlling) and now I call her abusive which means I'm the one abusing her. She went through my history and saw me researching on BDP etc. She told me that I'm only looking for the problems in her and allways saw her as a monster, but didn't have the balls to go to the theraphy myself (I went for a year) and do the work for this relationship (she goes to theraphy for 4 years now).
Sorry for long post. After all she says she wants to erase me from memories, which is brutal for me considering you can just delete close person to you for 6 years. I abused her and she is in her lowest lows of her life right now, while I flourish (All the pain from relationship made a strong person. The price is I don't know if I could trust a close to me person ever again, because she disrespected me too many times). I have codependant tendencies, and I know I should have ended relationship many many years ago. But I don't think I'm the abuser. I will go to psychoteraphy, but if you have any insight I would love some perspectives.