“Reading isn’t important because it helps to get you a job. It’s important because it gives you room to exist beyond the reality you’re given. It is how humans merge. How minds connect. Dreams. Empathy. Understanding. Escape.”
man it makes me sad to see 13 year old girls on instagram pretending like they are 20 with a huge following that includes a big amount of other girls that age who look up to them and think that it’s normal to look and behave like an adult as soon as you start puberty, I hate this entire instagram culture and I equally hate this gross societal practice that is arising of presenting young actresses (and role models) in the same manner as adults and consequently robbing them from the possibility of experiencing awkward teenage years only to force them from childhood directly into adulthood
“are you really going to tear a friendship apart over different opinions??”
listen, I got tons of friends who like pineapple on their pizza, but once you reach that “you, your community, or other marginalized communities don’t deserve basic human rights or even perhaps the right to live” level, you should just accept that it’s your fault no one wants to be your friend.
More accurately, no one really breaks up friendships (or families) over differences of “opinion”, but they will do so over differences of fundamental issues of morality.
The fact that large numbers of people think that “moral positions, often about issues that are literally life and death” and “personal opinions” are interchangeable concepts is a large part of what’s wrong with society.
this really put into words something i’ve always struggled to articulate, especially the last paragraph.
Throwing this out there for the “Not tolerating intolerance is intolerant!” crowd…
Hey, don’t be ashamed about not understanding something, especially with a show like Rick and Morty that is so complex and fast. It’s pretty difficult to keep up with everything in it. I find myself discovering new things every time I rewatch an episode, no matter how many times I’ve seen it before. (Which is always many, many times.) Honestly, I’ve started watching things with subtitles when I can, because I miss so much. To be honest, I’m really nervous to answer this. Mostly because I’m afraid I’ll misinterpret something, or miss something really obvious. Or just not be that helpful. So, followers - please, feel free to add!
(I’ll literally analyse Wong’s speech word-for-word, so I apologise for any delay in replying. Thanks to @freedricksanchez for typing up the whole thing.)
Rick: Because I don’t respect therapy, Because I’m a scientist. Because I invent, transform and destroy for a living and when I don’t like something about the world, I change it. And I don’t think going to a rented office in a strip mall to listen to an agent of average-ness explain which words mean which feelings has ever helped anyone do anything. I think it’s helped a lot of people get comfortable and stop panicking, which is a state of mind [burp] we value in the animals we eat, but not something I want for myself. I’m not a cow. I’m a pickle – when I feel like it. So… you asked.
Wong: Rick, the only connection between your unquestionable intelligence and the sickness destroying your family is that everyone in your family, you included, use intelligence to justify sickness.
[Rick and Beth justify the dysfunction in their family and Rick’s poor mental health (which is the initial cause of the dysfunction) because Rick is a genius. Typically, smart people get away with things just because they’re smart. I suppose it’s natural to assume that they know what’s best in every aspect of life, since they definitely know best in at least one aspect to be called a genius. Higher intelligence is also linked with a higher chance of depression (IRL) - hence the saying “ignorance is bliss.” People - especially Beth - tend to brush aside flaws when they’re caused by or are in conjunction with a strength. Dr. Wong is pointing out that Rick’s genius shouldn’t be used to excuse his sickness, and the sickness it inflicts on the family as a whole.]
You seem to alternate between viewing your own mind as an unstoppable force and as an inescapable curse. And I think it’s because the only truly unapproachable concept for you is that it’s your mind within your control.
[Here, Dr. Wong theorises that Rick can’t have a constant opinion on his own intelligence and whether it is a hindrance or a strength, because he refuses to believe he is responsible for it. Rick’s apathy for everything, including the Beth he abandoned in the Cronenberg world and almost everyone he ever meets, is essentially caused by his intelligence. His intelligence allows him to travel across universes, which allows him to see people as completely dispensable, since there’s an infinite amount of them. What Rick doesn’t acknowledge, or doesn’t want to acknowledge, is that his intelligence and ability is entirely controllable by him.]
You chose to come here, you chose to talk to belittle my vocation, just as you chose to become a pickle. You are the master of your universe, and yet you are dripping with rat blood and faeces. Your enormous mind literally vegetating [haha, that’s a good pun] by your own hands.
[Rick chooses to occupy himself in ridiculous and destructive ways. There’s an infinite amount of safe, yet entertaining ways to occupy oneself, but Rick wouldn’t be captivated by any of them (for long). He chooses to throw himself into disgusting, life-threatening situations, because those situations are the only things that can truly entertain him, despite the fact that he is, essentially, a god.]
I have no doubt that you would be bored senseless by therapy, the same way I’m bored when I brush my teeth and wipe my ass. Because the thing about repairing, maintaining, and cleaning is it’s not an adventure. There is no way to do it so wrong you might die. It’s just work. And the bottom line is, some people are okay going to work, and some people… well, some people would rather die. Each of us gets to choose.
[This part hit me hard, because I relate to it waaaay too closely for comfort. Dr. Wong describes therapy for Rick as how brushing teeth is for anyone else. It’s simply looking after the body, no matter how tedious it is. Not many people like brushing their teeth. It feels like a waste of time, and the payoff isn’t something you gain. It’s just to keep the teeth you have from rotting. Wong describes therapy as the same thing. It feels wasteful and boring, but it is necessary for some people to keep their mind healthy. It’s not fun, it’s not an adventure, and there’s no reward aside from staying healthy. Dr. Wong also describes how Rick would rather die than be bored. This ties into the previous point - Rick needs a constant stream of activity to keep him from wanting to die. And that’s apparently not normal, but I wouldn’t really know????]
Anyway, it’s 2:39AM, so this is probably terribly written, and I apologise for that. I hope it helped, though?? (Again, please don’t feel embarrassed about not understanding all of it immediately! I didn’t either (aside from the last part), and I basically just got all of that by reading it just then!!) :) <3
I’m sorry girls, you act like Aria is the only one who has done bad shit to y’all. Do you not remember Alison? EVERYTHING she has done? Mona? Compared to Alison and Mona, Aria is an angel. And remember Spencer, you did the same thing for Toby. Hypocritical much?
‘Most romantic season ever’
You legit just forced all of the couples together so that all the shippers would be happy, even if it was rushed or didn’t make sense.
- where Wren went and why was he even back?
- why Spencer has so many clothing changes in each episode? (Hi Twincer theory)
- how there are so many supposed twins floating around Rosewood? What is in the Rosewood water that makes women produce TWO BABIES AT ONCE AND THEN MAKE THEM KEEP ONE AND SEND THE OTHER AWAY BECAUSE THEY CRAZY??????
- how they have time for KISSING AND HAVING SEX WHEN THERE ARE ANSWERS TO BE FOUND?
- how A.D literally set a phone on fire?
- how Aria just left said phone to burn a hole in her damn floor?
- how Toby grew that beard in around 2 days (time doesn’t pass in Rosewood, Ali doesn’t have a baby bump but Toby’s got a face full of hair)
- how the police haven’t arrested their asses straight away with all this evidence they have against them?
- how the writers can even TRY to make us believe queen Mona is A.D? We weren’t born yesterday.
- how we have TWO EPISODES LEFT AND LITERALLY ZERO ANSWERS!?!
- how I’m still invested in this plot hole party of 7 years.
“When I was growing up, my parents spoke to each other in Spanish, but they didn’t speak to us in Spanish because they were told not to. In school we weren’t allowed to speak it.”
and also???
“… But America is the only country that promotes monolingualism. Here it’s English, English, English. Every other country makes their children learn a second language very early on. So as my political and social activism grew, I was like, ‘I really need to learn Spanish.’ So I did.“
idk how many people i’ve known growing up in texas whose parents speak fluent spanish but they don’t speak a lick solely because their parents were afraid or told not to teach their children. it’s unspeakably common and doesn’t in any way shape or form diminish someone’s claim to or pride in their heritage.
fuck that guy. you go eva.
lack of intergenerational language exchange is one of the leading causes of language death for endangered and indigenous languages because of this culture of shame attached to “lesser” coded languages so frankly if yr mocking people for not speaking their mother tongue without taking the colonial reasons for this into account, you’re an ignorant prick and you can go fuck yourself like
