#parableofthetalents — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #parableofthetalents, aggregated by home.social.
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CW: US Politics
I've been using a line from this poem to #protest #Trump for years now. Prescient doesn't do it justice.
Our actions today sew seeds for tomorrow, and collectively steer us towards the future we deserve. Believe your eyes.
#FuckTrump #FuckIce #antifascism #Uspol #resist #resistance #politics #OctaviaButler #octaviabutlerquotes #ParableOfTheTalents
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CW: US Politics
I've been using a line from this poem to #protest #Trump for years now. Prescient doesn't do it justice.
Our actions today sew seeds for tomorrow, and collectively steer us towards the future we deserve. Believe your eyes.
#FuckTrump #FuckIce #antifascism #Uspol #resist #resistance #politics #OctaviaButler #octaviabutlerquotes #ParableOfTheTalents
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@hannu_ikonen How did you miss Octavia Butler's book Parable of the Sower in this list?
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@hannu_ikonen How did you miss Octavia Butler's book Parable of the Sower in this list?
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@SmudgeTheInsultCat Its from a playbook right out of Octavia Butler's book The Parable of the Talents.
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@SmudgeTheInsultCat Its from a playbook right out of Octavia Butler's book The Parable of the Talents.
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Octavia Butler and her Olivetti—Smithsonian Magazine
Butler’s prescience in the Parable duology has been cited during the SoCal wildfires. Her Olivetti Studio 46 manual typewriter is now a museum piece, literally.
@bookstodon @books @religion #sciencefiction #space #ChristianSciFi #AmWritingSF #secretscifinetwork #ProfessorK #OctaviaButler #ParableOfTheSower #ParableOfTheTalents
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“Beware:
Ignorance
Protects itself.
Ignorance
Promotes suspicion.
Suspicion
Engenders fear.
Fear quails,
Irrational and blind,
Or fear looms,
Defiant and closed.
Blind, closed,
Suspicious, afraid,
Ignorance
Protects itself,
And protected,
Ignorance grows.”
#OctaviaButler #ParableOfTheTalents #ScienceFiction -
“Beware:
Ignorance
Protects itself.
Ignorance
Promotes suspicion.
Suspicion
Engenders fear.
Fear quails,
Irrational and blind,
Or fear looms,
Defiant and closed.
Blind, closed,
Suspicious, afraid,
Ignorance
Protects itself,
And protected,
Ignorance grows.”
#OctaviaButler #ParableOfTheTalents #ScienceFiction -
Today seems like a good day to consult #OctaviaEButler's prescient wisdom again. #ParableOfTheSower #ParableOfTheTalents #SFF #Books
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I was out DJing at a club last night (it was a fundraiser for a friend who was injured by a hit-and-run driver). Had a very long conversation outside with some club-goers about #OctaviaButler, and how we were there on 7/20/2024, and talking about current events and Octavia Butler. It was a powerful bonding moment.
#ParableOfTheSower #ParableOfTheTalents -
I was out DJing at a club last night (it was a fundraiser for a friend who was injured by a hit-and-run driver). Had a very long conversation outside with some club-goers about #OctaviaButler, and how we were there on 7/20/2024, and talking about current events and Octavia Butler. It was a powerful bonding moment.
#ParableOfTheSower #ParableOfTheTalents -
@fbaum In some of this fiction, we’re already there… or so damn close😬
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With a past history of religious abuse I have to admit that Octavia Butler's Parable of the Talents was a tough go for me. Triggers galore. I liked the way that Butler expanded on the MC with the daughter's perspective from the future. Widespread slavery in the USA, outside of the prison system, in the name of Christianity (again) is very easy to imagine. An author way ahead of her time. #OctaviaInOctober #ParableOfTheTalents
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With a past history of religious abuse I have to admit that Octavia Butler's Parable of the Talents was a tough go for me. Triggers galore. I liked the way that Butler expanded on the MC with the daughter's perspective from the future. Widespread slavery in the USA, outside of the prison system, in the name of Christianity (again) is very easy to imagine. An author way ahead of her time. #OctaviaInOctober #ParableOfTheTalents
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In #ParableOfTheTalents (1998) there is an actual MAGA President named Jarret. Whaaaat #OctaviaInOctober #bookstodon @bookstodon
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In #ParableOfTheTalents (1998) there is an actual MAGA President named Jarret. Whaaaat #OctaviaInOctober #bookstodon @bookstodon
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Published in 1998, The Parable of the Talents by Octavia E Butler, includes a Christofascsist who runs for and wins the US presidency on the slogan "Make America Great Again".
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Published in 1998, The Parable of the Talents by Octavia E Butler, includes a Christofascsist who runs for and wins the US presidency on the slogan "Make America Great Again".
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Random "Earthseed" thought:
Structurally, it's really similar to the rise of early Christianity, isn't it? We get a very detailed account of the beginnings of the movement, of the founder's youth and travels and disciple-finding.
Then comes persecution, and we start to get other sources than just the original teachings, especially from critics and enemies. The movement spreads by conversionsof high-profile folks and the broad population.
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Random "Earthseed" thought:
Structurally, it's really similar to the rise of early Christianity, isn't it? We get a very detailed account of the beginnings of the movement, of the founder's youth and travels and disciple-finding.
Then comes persecution, and we start to get other sources than just the original teachings, especially from critics and enemies. The movement spreads by conversionsof high-profile folks and the broad population.
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I read #OctaviaEButler #ParableOfTheSower a few months ago and my name finally came up on the waitlist fpr #ParableOfTheTalents.Bracing for impact as I start to read.
I hadn't heard of Butler before this year but now I am a devoted fan.
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I read #OctaviaEButler #ParableOfTheSower a few months ago and my name finally came up on the waitlist fpr #ParableOfTheTalents.Bracing for impact as I start to read.
I hadn't heard of Butler before this year but now I am a devoted fan.
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There are analogies here to the development of early Christianity I'll have to think about in more detail, and of leaders failing their families miserably (even though I think her daughter judges her unfairly). There are thoughts on healing, and what makes a message helpful.
I think my major quibble is that it's almost too hopeful. Bouncing back from fascism isn't easy. Building a society isn't easy. But here, this time, this once, it happens.
(5/n, n=5)
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There are analogies here to the development of early Christianity I'll have to think about in more detail, and of leaders failing their families miserably (even though I think her daughter judges her unfairly). There are thoughts on healing, and what makes a message helpful.
I think my major quibble is that it's almost too hopeful. Bouncing back from fascism isn't easy. Building a society isn't easy. But here, this time, this once, it happens.
(5/n, n=5)
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There are several time jumps, and Earthseed's success story feels very rushed compared to other parts of the book. It feels rougher than "Parable of the Sower", I didn't really warm to the new narrators.
But still, it's a very good book, beautifully written and with disturbingly powerful parts - especially the depiction of the time in a labor camp was so horrible, intense, and rang so true, it was hard to read. So was reading about the trauma afterwards.
(4/n)
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There are several time jumps, and Earthseed's success story feels very rushed compared to other parts of the book. It feels rougher than "Parable of the Sower", I didn't really warm to the new narrators.
But still, it's a very good book, beautifully written and with disturbingly powerful parts - especially the depiction of the time in a labor camp was so horrible, intense, and rang so true, it was hard to read. So was reading about the trauma afterwards.
(4/n)
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Even more horrible, she's separated from her baby and imprisoned for a time. But she gets out, and finds another way to spread Earthseed: not by collecting the poor and destitute, but by preaching to the re-developing middle classes - with huge success, as it turns out.
The narrative isn't as linear as in "Parable of the Sower"; parts are Olamina's diary, parts a report her historian daughter writes, parts from a book by her Christian brother Marcus.
(3/n)
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Even more horrible, she's separated from her baby and imprisoned for a time. But she gets out, and finds another way to spread Earthseed: not by collecting the poor and destitute, but by preaching to the re-developing middle classes - with huge success, as it turns out.
The narrative isn't as linear as in "Parable of the Sower"; parts are Olamina's diary, parts a report her historian daughter writes, parts from a book by her Christian brother Marcus.
(3/n)
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The drug-induced carnage and violence seems to have ebbed up, it's still dangerous, but doesn't seem to be as bad as it was.
But not all is well: a fundamentalist president cracks down non non-Christians, and Olamina herself doesn't want to bury Earthseed like the bad servant in the biblical parable buried his money, but multiply it, go out and grow.
Acorn is thus attacked and burns down in a horrible repetition of what happened to her previous home.(2/n)
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The drug-induced carnage and violence seems to have ebbed up, it's still dangerous, but doesn't seem to be as bad as it was.
But not all is well: a fundamentalist president cracks down non non-Christians, and Olamina herself doesn't want to bury Earthseed like the bad servant in the biblical parable buried his money, but multiply it, go out and grow.
Acorn is thus attacked and burns down in a horrible repetition of what happened to her previous home.(2/n)
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So, "Parable of The Talents", sequel to "Parable of the Sower" and part two of an unfinished series.
Some years have passed since Acorn has been founded, and it's been a moderate success: able to feed and house themselves, the people living there can even sell a surplus to others. The Earthseed community has grown and feels somewhat secure, secure enough for Lauren - who mostly goes by Olamina now - to try conceiving a baby.
Outside feels stabler too.
(1/n)
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So, "Parable of The Talents", sequel to "Parable of the Sower" and part two of an unfinished series.
Some years have passed since Acorn has been founded, and it's been a moderate success: able to feed and house themselves, the people living there can even sell a surplus to others. The Earthseed community has grown and feels somewhat secure, secure enough for Lauren - who mostly goes by Olamina now - to try conceiving a baby.
Outside feels stabler too.
(1/n)
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This feels too rushed, too smooth; too much telling, too little showing.
Because we saw the world, the society, from the point of view of the poor, I don't really have a feeling about how the (upper) middle classes might work, and that's not good.
Feels a bit like a wish fulfillment fantasy - I wondered if it was all a Dreamask Asha did - because we don't really get to see how it happened.
And that Spaceship's name, oh no they didn't!
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This feels too rushed, too smooth; too much telling, too little showing.
Because we saw the world, the society, from the point of view of the poor, I don't really have a feeling about how the (upper) middle classes might work, and that's not good.
Feels a bit like a wish fulfillment fantasy - I wondered if it was all a Dreamask Asha did - because we don't really get to see how it happened.
And that Spaceship's name, oh no they didn't!
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"We give our dead
To the orchards
And the groves.
We give our dead
To life."I did that today; we, as a family, did that today. It's a good thought that life will flourish in that place.
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"We give our dead
To the orchards
And the groves.
We give our dead
To life."I did that today; we, as a family, did that today. It's a good thought that life will flourish in that place.
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"To hear and to see
Even an obvious lie
Again
And again and again
May be to say it,
Almost by reflex
Then to defend it
Because we’ve said it
And at last to embrace it
Because we’ve defended it
And because we cannot admit
That we’ve embraced and defended
An obvious lie." -
"To hear and to see
Even an obvious lie
Again
And again and again
May be to say it,
Almost by reflex
Then to defend it
Because we’ve said it
And at last to embrace it
Because we’ve defended it
And because we cannot admit
That we’ve embraced and defended
An obvious lie." -
Yeah, this feels like 1940s Germany: thugs in the streets, blatantly illegal treatment of citizens, horrible things done in camps - but what undoes the leader is an unsuccessful war the people can't stand.
Only they manage to end it without bombing major cities to dust. Progress.
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Yeah, this feels like 1940s Germany: thugs in the streets, blatantly illegal treatment of citizens, horrible things done in camps - but what undoes the leader is an unsuccessful war the people can't stand.
Only they manage to end it without bombing major cities to dust. Progress.
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I kind of hate that they go along with calling their captors, their jailers, "teachers", even if they put it in scare quotes. It's disgusting.
And /of course/ the people in the region know. The jailers' families know. Just like in the concentration camps. People might've closed their eyes to it, repressed it, ignored it, but they knew.
It's part of the crackdown, of subduing the population. They must know, so that they might be scared.
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I kind of hate that they go along with calling their captors, their jailers, "teachers", even if they put it in scare quotes. It's disgusting.
And /of course/ the people in the region know. The jailers' families know. Just like in the concentration camps. People might've closed their eyes to it, repressed it, ignored it, but they knew.
It's part of the crackdown, of subduing the population. They must know, so that they might be scared.
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Why are religious leaders, as a rule, so unsuccessful with their own family? Because they can't take them seriously as a prophet, preacher, leader?
Or is it because you can't really commit to a family if you're so focused on building your faith, and they feel that distant focus?
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Why are religious leaders, as a rule, so unsuccessful with their own family? Because they can't take them seriously as a prophet, preacher, leader?
Or is it because you can't really commit to a family if you're so focused on building your faith, and they feel that distant focus?
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Interesting how she's sceptical about whether a new faith can be introduced and spread, become a movement, when this "make America great again" guy
Jarret is doing precisely that.Resonates a bit with @michaela's thoughts about how conservative or right-wing evangelical communities today always seem to grow while progressive ones struggle.
Are easy answers that appealing?
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Interesting how she's sceptical about whether a new faith can be introduced and spread, become a movement, when this "make America great again" guy
Jarret is doing precisely that.Resonates a bit with @michaela's thoughts about how conservative or right-wing evangelical communities today always seem to grow while progressive ones struggle.
Are easy answers that appealing?
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"I foresee a time when our settlement is not only “the castle on the hill,” but when most or all of our neighbors have joined us."
Getting Sermon of the Mount vibes here: "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden." (Matthew 5:14).
That visibility has advantages and drawbacks, as the Beatitudes themselves imply: "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
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"I foresee a time when our settlement is not only “the castle on the hill,” but when most or all of our neighbors have joined us."
Getting Sermon of the Mount vibes here: "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden." (Matthew 5:14).
That visibility has advantages and drawbacks, as the Beatitudes themselves imply: "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
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I like this tradition of welcoming a new-born child. Not a baptism, an induction into a faith the child has no concept of yet; but an introduction: hey there, we're your community, here's your world, we're happy you're with us.
(The text I'd use for it - I've read parts of it at my kids' baptism services, in fact - is a letter Astrid Lindgren wrote to her newborn child. It's beautiful, but I couldn't find an English version on the net.)
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I like this tradition of welcoming a new-born child. Not a baptism, an induction into a faith the child has no concept of yet; but an introduction: hey there, we're your community, here's your world, we're happy you're with us.
(The text I'd use for it - I've read parts of it at my kids' baptism services, in fact - is a letter Astrid Lindgren wrote to her newborn child. It's beautiful, but I couldn't find an English version on the net.)
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"Some of the faces of her god are biological evolution, chaos theory, relativity theory, the uncertainty principle, and, of course, the second law of thermodynamics. “God is Change, and, in the end, God prevails.” Yet Earthseed is not a fatalistic belief system. God can be directed, focused, speeded, slowed, shaped. All things change, but all things need not change in all ways."
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"Some of the faces of her god are biological evolution, chaos theory, relativity theory, the uncertainty principle, and, of course, the second law of thermodynamics. “God is Change, and, in the end, God prevails.” Yet Earthseed is not a fatalistic belief system. God can be directed, focused, speeded, slowed, shaped. All things change, but all things need not change in all ways."
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Hah, I never caught there being 13 original settlers at Acorn!
And yes, it does see like burying the talents to keep them safe instead of multiplying them them by trade. But what is one going to do if there's mo fair trade possible? No servant actually /lost/ theirs, we don't know what the reaction to that would've been.
Are there going to be fundamentalist tendencies within Earthseed? You bet.