kissdbyfire

Benjen was ~ 13/14 years old at the time of the Harrenhal tourney. It is entirely possible that a good speaker with stirring rhetoric about a noble cause yadda yadda yadda could very well impress a boy of 13 to the point that he thinks then that it is a noble and worthy cause. Now, it’s not said anywhere that he decided then and there he was going to join, only that the recruiter made a positive impression on him. And then later, given things he might have known or actions he might have taken and seeing how it all turned out, including but not limited to the deaths of Rickard and Brandon… well, I think it makes perfect sense that he might see joining as a form of deserved exile while also thinking that at least it’s a worthy cause. I’d be surprised if Ned had sent him and Martin never included a single line pointing to that. If we look at Benjen’s convo with Jon during the feast at Winterfell, the strong impression there is that he decided to join, not that Ned made him join. Also, yes, their father and older brother had died, but Ned came home married and with two sons or an heir and a spare. And Benjen could have been the KotLT for all I know. In fact, other than Lyanna he is the only other credible possibility.

I saw the cnn legal analyst (Honig?) talking about that last night. He said that usually lawyers aren’t picked but that in this case the factors were a) so many people saying right off the bat they didn’t think they could be impartial and b) “NY has a lot of lawyers”. I can see the former being true but not sure if he was serious about the latter or just being cheeky.

- Patritotism! - but not really if it's just ultranatíonalism w/ everything that it entails. - Freedom! - but not really when it's only for some and the opposite for 'others'. And of course, "save the children!" - but truly not at all when it's both an excuse and a way of forcing children to be what some expect them to be and not at all about really saving anyone since there are actual millions of children that do need saving - from hunger, from disease, from war - all over the world and we are doing fuck all to save them, and this applies to the "save the children" crowd more than anyone else.

Are you sure whatever Mel or Euron did achieved what they expected?

If sacrifices are to work at all, instead of being some type of red herring where characters believe a sacrifice is necessary and goes on to do atrocious acts only to have nothing come of it or have an unexpected and undesirable outcome, then it will be only a willing self-sacrifice. Otherwise it just becomes a free for all where every important player is sacrificing people left and right to achieve whatever end, regardless of said end being “good” or not.

It makes sense that this was proposed by order of the green hand since it reads more like having an idea one finds cool or interesting and then twisting everything to make it fit and then calling it a theory. Martin has left some questions about Benjen joining the NW unanswered on purpose. IMO because yes, revealing everything would also reveal details of other plots that he doesn’t want to reveal yet. All that said, we do get a little clue in ASoS and AWoIaF. In the former we learn that a black brother spoke during the feast at the Harrenhal tourney urging men to join, and in the latter we are told that Benjen took the plea to heart.

I suppose being anti slavery is frowned upon now.

Makes sense. On top of fElon's many issues, this doesn't look like a great product advert:

Sounds even worse than anything Paris Hilton did, and that’s saying quite a lot.

Neither if you mean King of Westeros. Jon’s kingship is already upon him, he is Jon Snow, King of Winter.

Right. So I guess Iran should have attacked an Israeli diplomatic facility somewhere in world and killed a dozen or so people.

I find it hard to believe that they don’t know how bad Trump is; again, they’ve already lived through 4 years of that hell. Mind you, that doesn’t apply to all who are protesting b/c as far as I understand it, this is not a position that only Muslims and/or Arab Americans have. So one could argue that the younger zoomers who strongly oppose Biden’s position on the war aren’t really aware of how bad Trump is. Another thing is, I really don’t think they equate Trump and Biden?

Do you think the people who are protesting against the Biden administration irt its positions on the war aren’t aware that Trump will be worse and worse for them more so than your average white American? I think they’re very aware of that, especially b/c they’ve already had 4 years of trump and know a 2nd term would be significantly worse.

Nah, your interpretation is way off. But I’ll give you brownie points for at least trying to disguise your ingrained and nonsensical Stark hatred.

Since we're sharing stories like these above... my husband's nan was hospitalised at 103 after a fall in the bathroom but she didn't want to stay in the hospital. After much moaning and whinging from her, everyone left and went home. And much later my MiL wakes up with a phone call from the police. Her mum had managed to get out of bed and call the police, and she told them that both her and her daughter were being held against their will at different locations and can you please come get me?". The police got her name and my MiL's and called her to ask wtaf was going on, "do you know where your mother is?, etc. She passed away 2 years later, still living alone and enjoying her coffee w/ brandy every morning together with her beloved Daily Mail (hey, no one is perfect), her g&ts in the evenings and all the rest.

Wow. That's pretty low, isn't it?

I guess. Apparently no crime is a crime anymore,

@Altherion I don’t know where I got the 49 from, I was sure I had seen it somewhere but apparently that’s way off. Looking it up now I’m getting 16. It’s still 16 x 1.

I see. Condemn for what could have happened, Minority Report style. Yeah, sounds dystopian enough for these times. Also, all analysts I have seen speaking on the topic - and I mean americans, brits, one swiss and a couple others all unanimously said what @Werthead said here. Not only that, but what actually happened fits exactly & perfectly with analysis I saw more than a week ago, predicting Iran’s response would be precisely what it was.

Do you mean the attack on the consulate that killed ~ 50 people vs last night's that killed... how many? None? I've heard reports of some injuries but no deaths. So I'm not sure how that maths works other than worthy victims vs unworthy victims, and that, to me, is a repulsive notion.

It was stupid if escalation was not precisely the goal.

Oh is it good? I haven’t started it yet, will probably do so later today. And if there’s a cat it should be kept safe no matter what!

Agree wholeheartedly. And can the US be any more hypocritical? I mean, to veto any type of condemnation of Israel’s attack on the Iranian embassy that killed roughly 50 people? Can you imagine the outrage and racist & xenophobic & Islamophobic rhetoric we’d be hearing had Iran attacked an Israeli embassy killing 50 people?

That’s exactly it imo. Israel attacked Iran’s embassy, Iran responded in a measured way I guess? This should be the end of this specific back and forth. But it won’t be if Netanyahu decides he has to retaliate. And since everything points to him wanting a broader war and to drag the US into it so he can stay in power, yeah, that’s what we should be worrying about.

Well, try and have fun with it. When someone say you look too young or something, tell them you made a pact with the devil, or just say, “I know but you should see the portrait I have my attic”.