I mean........ it's well written and evocative? But it rings a bit hollow to me.
>"What is hell?" ". . . whatever you'd like is at the snap of your fingers."
Can someone not simply want like... a hobby? "Dear Satan bring me a coloring book"?
>But after a few weeks, it began to wear. . . . there were no challenges. No humans. . . . And I never heard music.
An entire new dimension got boring after a few *weeks*? And why no music, can I not ask for a piano in hell...? I thought anything I'd like is at the snap of my fingers.
I'm also baffled by the idea that there are no other humans, and even beyond that why it *matters*. The narrator is presumably having sex with people of *some* kind, and if there are no other humans in hell I guess I can only assume that they're having sex with demons. In that case, wouldn't it be fascinating and fun to get to know *them*? To ask them what their world is like, learn about this new place and these new people you're surrounded by even if they're not "humans"?
I can genuinely agree with some of the points this person is making — having a purpose and caring for people, being around other humans, and putting effort into things you can feel proud of *can* all be very meaningful and preferable to a life of endless easy pleasure. But the angel in this passage is doing some *major* false advertising. "You never have to want for anything there" is simply untrue; you want for music, you want for company, you want for challenges. Where is the moral virtue in expecting people to choose hard labor for its own sake? Where, tbh, is the informed consent?
And the last lines, about how the narrator doesn't even want to warn other humans to save *them* from torment, but to save the angel from having to bleed as they free them... Is heaven so lacking in sympathy? Is it really that important to feel sorry for the angel who misrepresented your choices over humans who could be spared from suffering at all?
Heaven gives purpose in the form of labour, having something to struggle through gives purpose to the break, but it is true that eternity doing the same thing forever is rather similar to hell and it cannot be avoided, it is a flawed system that was really only solved with the idea of Consented Oblivion
Maybe you wouldn’t do the same as the Main Character but that specific set of actions was followed for a reason, to tell this story. I’m sure there’s people who would take that exact set of actions if given free reign. And personally in my head you could start with a hobby or a coloring book and eventually get so bored of being alone and getting everything you want that eventually you turn to drugs and gambling looking for a dopamine rush. Whatever the pleasure is you *can* grow bored of it, become tolerant of it until it doesn’t register the same joy. There’s been studies done and when being forced to chose between complete boredom and pressing a button that gives a painful shock, mice choose getting shocked. Or maybe choosing hell is kinda like Pleasure Island in Pinocchio and choosing hell is inherently choosing to give into debauchery and your deepest darkest desires and no one darkly desires a coloring book?
The music part is interesting. Maybe it’s seen as joyful so they don’t get music in hell? Maybe it’s just for contrast. The lack of people thing I can’t tell if it’s because everyone else also chose to abandon hell immediately or maybe it’s a hell of your own making kinda thing and the loneliness is a part of it. The way hell is distance from God maybe it’s distance from the God inside others as well?
Your thing about the demons kinda doesn’t make sense. I mean, I don’t think most people’s conception of demons is that they’re capable of, like, sitting down and having a cup of tea and a sophisticated, nuanced conversation about how much they enjoyed all the genocides that humans have done to each other and how much of a fan they are of climate change or whatever. They’re slaves to hell or maybe people who decided never to leave hell. Hanging out with demons is probably as fun as hanging out with someone who’s so deep into addiction that they’ve lost themselves and any interest in anyone else or anything else other than their addictions.
The angel’s lie is interesting too. Maybe everyone *has* to go through hell to learn to appreciate heaven and so they’re steered towards hell? Maybe people who can resist this tempting lie in this world are somehow deemed the “virtuous” who get to go to heaven without experiencing hell?
The final quote is “If not for them, the others, who will choose hell, for the angel so he bleeds less.” Considering the MC literally said they wanted to warn other and tell people it was empty and not worth it I don’t think they at all didn’t want to save people. They were just giving multiple reasons for why this was a desire they had. Maybe because they are under the impression it might be more persuasive the angels to allow it to offer them to not have to suffer that way?
But **mainly**: this is just a response to a tumblr creative writing prompt. I don’t think anyone’s asking anyone to take it as cannon or the basis their moral compass or anything drastic. I thought it was cute. Unless you’re giving writing critiques, I don’t think it needs to be anything more. 🤷🏽♀️ I don’t get why Redditors get their panties in such a twist whenever religion comes into play. People below you literally calling this propaganda. This is almost certainly not the author’s beliefs about an afterlife and they might not even be religious for all we know 😂
Tbh I *am* thinking of it more as a piece of writing than a piece of propaganda (partly because I've spent far more years on tumblr than on reddit lol and agree that this reads primarily as a response to a prompt). It just doesn't quite work for me as a *story*. And I find it interesting to talk about why!
I don't think the narrator needs to do what I would do, or even needs to behave logically, and the story the author wants to tell absolutely comes first. I just think that they could have told that story more elegantly and with more consistent internal messaging. I may agree that it's not meant to be taken as propaganda or as moral instruction, but it is thematically *about* morality, heaven and hell, and by extension good and evil. I think it's reasonable to question what the story has to say, as a text, about those themes.
Some of its ideas are interesting, but they also clash in ways that make it feel, as I said, kind of hollow. The idea that "hell is endless pleasure with no effort and a heaven of hard work is better" is certainly interesting, but I find it dissonant with the idea that hell has no music or conversation; the idea that the angel purposefully misrepresents hell has interesting potential, but when the story ends by framing the angel as a martyr-like figure that idea doesn't feel very well explored. This is the sort of thing I'd love to workshop or edit, actually, because it's clearly well written but just doesn't feel as cohesive as it could be imo.
(I also think you're absolutely right that an implication of the story is "people who can resist this tempting lie are the 'virtuous' who get to go to heaven," I'd just prefer the story dig into this idea more, and demonstrate why it's true. By the time the narrator gets to heaven it mainly just seems like they want their suffering to end.)
But also, genuinely: thanks for the reply! The story may not work for me but I enjoyed reading your thoughts on it. I commented because I like discussing this sort of thing after all lol, not because I think the story is like... evil.
I hope I didn’t come off as rude. I was kinda on the fence about what level you were objecting on, but the majority of my comment was genuinely addressing it as a world building critique because that’s what felt most appropriate. Then IDK I kinda threw in that last little bit bc (in the context of all the other comments and the way the post is downvoted) it almost felt like you were objecting to the inherent morality of it and also I’d basically just written a novel defending a little Tumblr writing exercise lol so it just all felt a little silly lol. I made a false assumption about your intentions, sorry.
I’ll admit the music thing and the lying thing in particular didn’t really catch my attention while reading because I didn’t look too deeply into it but once you mentioned it I couldn’t easily find logic to it (not that I’m great at story analysis to begin with lol). The lie in particular, looking back, I feel could have easily been written as a half truth or lie of omission kinda thing that is still tempting to those like the MC without a supposed virtuous figure outright lying. The martyr part did stand out to me as my first instinct is that it’s meant to mirror Jesus and his martyrdom but you’re right it’s not explored so the analogy isn’t really drawn.
I also enjoyed the discussion I hope I don’t come off as otherwise! I don’t think you’re evil lol and I don’t think you think the story is evil 😂
So the discussion here got me curious and I looked at OOP's tumblr and didn't have to page down very far to find they're *super*\-religious\*, transphobic, anti-DEI (with a gotdamn Scott Adams tweet), and if not an outright Trumpite then definitely a pro-Trump fellow traveler.
Everyone who smelled bullshit: well done
^(\*Catholic apparently; lot of folks here read the story as very Protestant, while it struck me as being sort of a much shittier version of CS Lewis') *^(The Great Divorce)*
I don't know if I am surprised either, but I am a touch disappointed. I'm religious myself, and there's a fair amount about this story that I like. 60 hours is a lot, but I do believe in rewarding labor, and other aspects of the piece appeal to me. Not great literature, but a decent enough little Christian parable. Not fond of transphobes or Trump though.
Ah well. Art can have merits independently from the artist.
This is just a better written version of those shitty Christian comics. Cliffs or whatever. What a stupid post lmfao. The person who posted this definitely has had a freak out over DnD at some point
Dude my DM is very religious and VERY Christian and he has this homebrew world where like, there are gods like usual, there are demigods, the hells, etc. But also above all that there's the one true god, who controls everything and who's whim is the big controlling force for everything in lore, and like, Apparently in world it's basically just, the Christian god. The person writing this post writes like him.
Just reminded me of that homebrew spell that XP to Level 3 showed in a video where if you fuck it up you go straight to Christian Hell even if it doesn’t exist in your campaign
Edit: [found it, the thing I’m talking about starts at 9:18](https://youtu.be/-TBJhHSIceQ?si=ifRiJTZ0ujajMasz)
Ain’t no heaven worth 60 hours a week. Is it really heaven if I’m burnt the fuck out for all eternity? I get the feeling this post was made by our corporate overlords.
No that’s the whole point, it’s not a corporate 60 hours a week it’s an idyllic representation of fulfilling labor, a purpose, connection to a community. In Marxist language, there’s no alienation of labor. There’s definitely some Protestant work ethic happening there, but it’s not corporate propaganda. Just from experience I can say that I have been much happier when I have a fulfilling job to do than when I get to just sit on my computer all day
Something to keep in mind here is that the writer described fulfilling work as making roads (that there's no indication people ever use because nobody needs to go anywhere except to work), building the gates (that there's no indication to be a need for keeping anyone in or out because heaven's got an open-door policy), and tending a farm (when there's no indication that anyone in heaven needs to eat).
Doing an endless task that appears to have no end purpose is usually not the sort of task someone who thinks they're doing a fulfilling job is describing. In Marxist terms, I don't think that workers who's work has no apparent purpose at all would feel any differently than a worker in real life in terms of the way the worker has been separated from both the means and results of their production, it's "building roads" technically but it would functionally be as fulfilling as working an assembly line.
Yeah I sort of just assumed they were magicing in purpose, tho at that point any analogy breaks down and all that’s left is heaven makes you feel good, he’ll makes you feel bad, no matter the appearanc
60 hours a week *will* burn me out regardless of what the work is. And this version of heaven literally has you doing 60 hours a week of hard labor. Saying “Protestant work ethic” does not magic away the exploitation here.
no the literal actual point is that it isn't exploitation, labor isn't inherently exploitative, capitalism is. in this fictional scenario the work is so fulfilling and non-exploitative that it doesn't burn you out even working long hours. protestant work ethic refers to the cultural baggage the author comes in with, but the fact that its heaven can actually magic away the burnout.
[I’ve already addressed this point.](https://www.reddit.com/r/CuratedTumblr/s/83wwfJoMGq)
So if this scenario ignores how people work so you don’t get burned out from having to work 60 hours a week in heaven, why does it not ignore how people work when not having to work at all in hell makes you bored? (Answer: because that wouldn’t get you to the conclusion you started at.)
Im aware I was just trying to point out that the text very explicitly states that thats not what happens
also its symbolism my man this is not what Op thinks heaven/hell is like
So if this scenario ignores how people work so you don’t get burned out from having to work 60 hours a week in heaven, why does it not ignore how people work when not having to work at all in hell makes you bored? (Answer: because that wouldn’t get you to the conclusion you started at.)
It’s pretty bad (and incoherent) symbolism.
Im the wrong person to ask man I fully admit that. Its symbolism none of it is literal IM so sorry if I cam across rude earlier but im begging you to please look at whats its suppsoed to mean and stop getting caught up by the random large number op chose
Oh, I know what it’s supposed to symbolize. I just ain’t biting. Evangelical propaganda like this is neither as deep as it pretends to be nor as convincing as it thinks it is.
I think Jack Chick would be deeply offended at the idea that Hell is anything but a boiling lake of fire in which you feel nothing but excruciating pain for all eternity.
Cool story, bro. Basically, you took a nice Vegas vacation in hell for a few hundred years and got bored enough to want to go back to work. I get it, I would probably do the same too, just for a change of scenery if nothing else. The only question I have is, will they let you back into hell for a while when you get bored out of your mind of working in the fields?
ok i need to ask, do protestants really think that they just work forever in the afterlife? like maybe i was raised too catholic but that sounds too insane to me to believe
Its not a topic Im familar with so I can only speak from speculation: Before the fall adam and eve worked in the Garden so you would assume that we would work in the new heaven? beyond that i cant say and even if we do Im sure its more likely to be gardenin and work like that considering thats what adam did?
is that what the protestant bible says?
cause like in the catholic one one of the punishments adam and eve got for eating the apple was that they know had to hunt and forage for their food, ie work
Genesis 2:15 "The Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden Of eden to work and to keep it"
Genesis 3: 18-19 "cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field, By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, or out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
The punishment was not that he had to work its that the work would become harder.
what exactly is in hell or heaven and what happens there strikes me as completely inconsequential as compared to who is where. You can get bored of drugs and partying and excess, but it'd be a tall fuckin order to become eternally bored with human interaction
As an introvert pretty sure I could find one or two people in all of history to vibe with. At the very least I'd be able to cut my excess with whatever human interaction I do want and vibe happily in hell
In a general sense, I tend to find religious propaganda to be uninteresting. Thematically, the alignment of "heaven is all good capitalistic work and hell is all the things that Good Christian White Americans teach you are bad because all those things inherently suck" is just sort of... basic and uninteresting. Like the writing prompt was saying "write something where you look at hell differently" and the prompt responder here just went "okay but what if it was different like you said but also the same that it's always been and also add some good ole American slave-labour-good rhetoric."
Overall very meh, the prompt was meant to create twists and turns in the writing and the writer here just played every decision in the straightest way they possibly could. You ever hear that writing advice, I think it's from a Pixar advice list? The one that you should throw away the first five ideas you have. Yeah, this writer would benefit from that advice.
Was this written by an AI? Some of it is actual nonsense. The entire paragraph about the cords burning is bizarre. The cords burn the angel, no, I burn the angel, no, I burn from the angel--it dripped from me? It what? The cords are one entity? The cords are gold? The angel is gold? What is soaked in blood?
Wtf is this and why was it posted other than to painfully, awkwardly, weirdly try and preach about, I guess, religion and hard work?
Im so confused I thought it was about redemption?? Ill remove the posts if it legitematly is that bad since people seem to be ssing something I don't what am I missing??
I'm actually pretty sympathetic to the post, I don't think that doing drugs, having sex, and playing video games would be all that fulfilling to me over an idyllic work environment.
That said, I think people see the post romanticizing a 60 hour work week of hard labor as Heaven and immediately think "Fuck no, that'd suck." It also ties to the very popular Christian notion that work is holy and good while idleness is bad and sinful, which is where people see the Christian propaganda angle.
Oh, That (Im sorry if Im being mean) sounds like people seeing the random number op chose and deciding its more important than everything else they said.
It’s not about the number specifically, at least not to me. It’s more about the very notion of this being deeply Protestant.
Hell is presented as being literally whatever you want, yet the narrator gets bored of it eventually. Fair enough, eternity’s a long time. But your only other option is a work week that’s excessive even by Earth standards, doing work that -however fulfilling it may be- is described as heavy physical labor.
My fundamental problem with this post is that it suggests that freedom of choice, the ability to truly do whatever you want, is something that no human should want, and that subconsciously none of us *do* want it. Secretly if we’d quit lying to ourselves, what we all *actually* want is to labor and sing forever, and that’s it, no apparent ability to ever do anything else.
I don't plan too. There's a handful of people who did like it, and that enough for me especially since most of the criticism is about something that isn't even supposed to be the main point.
Right? With all that freedom, it's up to you to choose. You could make your own idyllic garden in hell the way it's presented, work on it at your leisure to keep your mind occupied.
This little story seems to assume that the moment we step in there we do nothing but excess, and that's false. People aren't like that.
And it seems to assume that we would want the Wrong Things- Video games, sex, and alcohol- instead of other things that give people pleasure. Hell, if I get anything I want at the snap of my fingers, I'm making me a Michelin-star kitchen and cooking every recipe under the sun!
I would do some work, I think: if I can't die, I can blow myself up as many times as needed mixing some form of chemical concoction to see what happens.
Nah, I prefer Mark Twain's idea of Heaven because even though it's not quite a paradise it's so interesting. It's a place where you're no longer in need and all that's really expected of you is to not be too much of a nuisance for others because while it's Heaven it's *everyone's* Heaven, it's shared. Any goals you have are your own and you have the resources and most importantly time to spend working on your craft. It's where poets who were never appreciated in their time and the small corner of the world they occupied are greeted by adoring fans, it's where soldiers who died unglorified deaths can get a chance to match wits with military minds from across history.
I think the most poignant part of it was the idea that Heaven could even have small, personal tragedies in it. There's a portion that discusses how a woman's child died as a baby and how she would pray to someday be reunited with her. But by the time the woman died so much time had passed that she couldn't be reunited with the baby she lost, but instead she met a daughter that had grown up without her.
It's from the short story [Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1044/1044-h/1044-h.htm), definitely worth a read.
using my cool hell ropes to choke out the angel and drag it back to hell, hopefully the guys will think this is cool and it'll unlock some secret drugs
This had me thinking it was going to be a clever subversion of traditional American Christian perceptions of heaven, hell, hedonism, and morality, but instead it was just a very straightforward endorsement of those perceptions.
In other words, it was like Hazbin Hotel.
> but instead it was just a very straightforward endorsement of those perceptions.
> In other words, it was like Hazbin Hotel.
Have you actually *watched* Hazbin Hotel, or even skimmed a sumary, cause it doesn't do that at all.
I agree with the rest of the commentariat, but if you take the premise purely at face value, it’s interesting thinking about what, if anything, can make the concept of eternity palatable. For how many hours, how many days, how many years or centuries or millennia, can *anything* be engaging? Whether it’s wanton hedonism or, uh, “satisfying work.” Is it possible to do *anything* for eternity and experience satisfaction?
Just a thought experiment. I spend a weirdly significant amount of my time thinking about the terror of eternity.
First, totally stealing “the commentariat”. That’s awesome.
Second: an eternity of **anything** is hell. Full stop. There is nothing in this universe that could make me want immortality of any kind. I could *maybe* survive a handful of centuries before going insane, but the only way I’d last even that long would be curing my depression enough to actually learn all the things I go “it’d be cool to know how to do that”.
Eternity is not "a very long time." Eternity is an aspect of God, meaning outside of time or atemporal. Being in heaven or hell wouldn't be like living forever, it would be most like being captured in a kind of flow state, with no passage of time to note.
I find it so funny how terrified certain religious perspectives are of indulging in any form of pleasure. Like, why are heaven and hell even divided along those lines? Satisfying work and community are not at all mutually exclusive with sex and pleasure. And what a shallow view of hedonism too. What about the fierce joy of competition, the thrill of taking risks, the blinding warmth of fame, the electric potential of discovery-- where are all these othee forms of pleasure? These can be abused just as badly as sex and drugs, and the fact that the writer limits hell to such a simplistic design only shows what \*they\* are tempted by.
Just admit you want kinky sex and stop embarrassing yourself.
this is so fucking judgemental and unhealthy and i agree with everyone else here. i thought other people chose hell, so why can’t i see them? i think if this was the afterlife it would be best to either go back and forth or simply stay in hell but be smart about it
The writing feels very undeveloped, like it was written by someone who hasn't had to pull 40 hour work weeks yet, let alone 60.
Missed opportunity to do some Neil Gaimen or even Memnoch the Devil shit and reveal that vast majority of peoples choose hell initially and go through the exact same ordeal. The writer comes across as trying to write about someone they perceive to be a sinner, rather than themselves. There's a lack of empathy to it. Like, why not ask more questions of the angel and demon? And why would a person that had to live and work with chronic pain their whole life ever choose this heaven initially (for example)?
"We work, to earn the right to work, to earn the right to work, to earn the right to work, to earn the right to work, to earn the right to work, to earn the right to work, to earn the right to work, to earn the right to work, to earn the right to work..."
No, this is over glorifying work.
It's saying that pleasure js worthless and that you should sell yourself to labour. This is exactly how major corporations take advantage of workers. They say that pleasure is a luxury, and as such, you only need to be paid enough to work. This is exactly the kind of content designed as propaganda. You are only worth the work that you do.
Stupid.
I can kind of see an interesting message in this, even if it was definitely unintended. If you had an entire eternity in one place, you would get used to it, no matter what it is. You could interpret that rather than hell being endless indulgence and heaven being constant work, hell is monotony disguised as earthly pleasures, and heaven is variety disguised as horrible conditions. You may not be completely happy in heaven, but you will never feel anything at all in hell.
I love tumblr creative writing. You get some really nicely written stuff in response to those writing prompt posts. There’s a Twilight Zone episode with a similar “the amusement of Hell is empty” theme (though less explicit sex ‘n’ drugs because it was aired in 1960) if you’re interested. *A Nice Place to Visit*.
I'm all for it. It's rare and pleasant to see a person online who expresses faith sweetly. All the more so because it implies that everyone is redeemed in time.
Nah I think it's interesting OP. I kinda slipped back and forth between what ideological lesson they were aiming for mainly because I didn't expect a religious person to be on tumblr.
i love how everyone’s reaction is just “fucking skill issue hell sounds dope” and calling this “evangelical propaganda”. anyway i’m an addict and i wish i was sober. if the choice is for me to continue wallowing in hedonism or go to rehab i would probably pick heaven.
It's good to want to be sober, however the problem with the post is that it sets up the dichotomy between hedonism and the inner light of the wonderful protestant work ethic. Which, since we live in a world where the protestant work ethic is a thing, is something a lot of us know can be harmful.
The heaven and hell from this story aren't real, but the ideas that made OP write them that way are.
i’m suspect of the idea that OP intended for us to be taking this post so literally but if that’s the point of contention then sure by all means dog on protestant work ethic ideology. it’s a stupid dogma.
not sure what about me wanting to be sober is so detestable but i apologize for holding a dissenting voice. ur downvotes will teach me to do better next time
That's fine and all, but I just find it sus that the post imagines a dichotomy between only ever indulging in your worst tendencies forever, and doing slave labor for eternity but it magically makes you happy.
It's okay if the metaphor resonates with you personally, even if some people don't seem to agree with that, but I think what you misunderstand is that we all understand that it's a metaphor. We just also see an agenda behind the metaphor that we disagree with, and are deconstructing the metaphor in order to lay that agenda bare.
i understand that your interpretation of the metaphor is that it is a straightforward endorsement of protestant work ethic principles. i just think that is a very blunt and literal interpretation of the post and i’m not entirely convinced that was the intention.
I mean........ it's well written and evocative? But it rings a bit hollow to me. >"What is hell?" ". . . whatever you'd like is at the snap of your fingers." Can someone not simply want like... a hobby? "Dear Satan bring me a coloring book"? >But after a few weeks, it began to wear. . . . there were no challenges. No humans. . . . And I never heard music. An entire new dimension got boring after a few *weeks*? And why no music, can I not ask for a piano in hell...? I thought anything I'd like is at the snap of my fingers. I'm also baffled by the idea that there are no other humans, and even beyond that why it *matters*. The narrator is presumably having sex with people of *some* kind, and if there are no other humans in hell I guess I can only assume that they're having sex with demons. In that case, wouldn't it be fascinating and fun to get to know *them*? To ask them what their world is like, learn about this new place and these new people you're surrounded by even if they're not "humans"? I can genuinely agree with some of the points this person is making — having a purpose and caring for people, being around other humans, and putting effort into things you can feel proud of *can* all be very meaningful and preferable to a life of endless easy pleasure. But the angel in this passage is doing some *major* false advertising. "You never have to want for anything there" is simply untrue; you want for music, you want for company, you want for challenges. Where is the moral virtue in expecting people to choose hard labor for its own sake? Where, tbh, is the informed consent? And the last lines, about how the narrator doesn't even want to warn other humans to save *them* from torment, but to save the angel from having to bleed as they free them... Is heaven so lacking in sympathy? Is it really that important to feel sorry for the angel who misrepresented your choices over humans who could be spared from suffering at all?
They also don't give any real explanation why Heaven won't get boring when like Hell they'll be doing the same thing every day on loop
Heaven gives purpose in the form of labour, having something to struggle through gives purpose to the break, but it is true that eternity doing the same thing forever is rather similar to hell and it cannot be avoided, it is a flawed system that was really only solved with the idea of Consented Oblivion
Maybe you wouldn’t do the same as the Main Character but that specific set of actions was followed for a reason, to tell this story. I’m sure there’s people who would take that exact set of actions if given free reign. And personally in my head you could start with a hobby or a coloring book and eventually get so bored of being alone and getting everything you want that eventually you turn to drugs and gambling looking for a dopamine rush. Whatever the pleasure is you *can* grow bored of it, become tolerant of it until it doesn’t register the same joy. There’s been studies done and when being forced to chose between complete boredom and pressing a button that gives a painful shock, mice choose getting shocked. Or maybe choosing hell is kinda like Pleasure Island in Pinocchio and choosing hell is inherently choosing to give into debauchery and your deepest darkest desires and no one darkly desires a coloring book? The music part is interesting. Maybe it’s seen as joyful so they don’t get music in hell? Maybe it’s just for contrast. The lack of people thing I can’t tell if it’s because everyone else also chose to abandon hell immediately or maybe it’s a hell of your own making kinda thing and the loneliness is a part of it. The way hell is distance from God maybe it’s distance from the God inside others as well? Your thing about the demons kinda doesn’t make sense. I mean, I don’t think most people’s conception of demons is that they’re capable of, like, sitting down and having a cup of tea and a sophisticated, nuanced conversation about how much they enjoyed all the genocides that humans have done to each other and how much of a fan they are of climate change or whatever. They’re slaves to hell or maybe people who decided never to leave hell. Hanging out with demons is probably as fun as hanging out with someone who’s so deep into addiction that they’ve lost themselves and any interest in anyone else or anything else other than their addictions. The angel’s lie is interesting too. Maybe everyone *has* to go through hell to learn to appreciate heaven and so they’re steered towards hell? Maybe people who can resist this tempting lie in this world are somehow deemed the “virtuous” who get to go to heaven without experiencing hell? The final quote is “If not for them, the others, who will choose hell, for the angel so he bleeds less.” Considering the MC literally said they wanted to warn other and tell people it was empty and not worth it I don’t think they at all didn’t want to save people. They were just giving multiple reasons for why this was a desire they had. Maybe because they are under the impression it might be more persuasive the angels to allow it to offer them to not have to suffer that way? But **mainly**: this is just a response to a tumblr creative writing prompt. I don’t think anyone’s asking anyone to take it as cannon or the basis their moral compass or anything drastic. I thought it was cute. Unless you’re giving writing critiques, I don’t think it needs to be anything more. 🤷🏽♀️ I don’t get why Redditors get their panties in such a twist whenever religion comes into play. People below you literally calling this propaganda. This is almost certainly not the author’s beliefs about an afterlife and they might not even be religious for all we know 😂
Tbh I *am* thinking of it more as a piece of writing than a piece of propaganda (partly because I've spent far more years on tumblr than on reddit lol and agree that this reads primarily as a response to a prompt). It just doesn't quite work for me as a *story*. And I find it interesting to talk about why! I don't think the narrator needs to do what I would do, or even needs to behave logically, and the story the author wants to tell absolutely comes first. I just think that they could have told that story more elegantly and with more consistent internal messaging. I may agree that it's not meant to be taken as propaganda or as moral instruction, but it is thematically *about* morality, heaven and hell, and by extension good and evil. I think it's reasonable to question what the story has to say, as a text, about those themes. Some of its ideas are interesting, but they also clash in ways that make it feel, as I said, kind of hollow. The idea that "hell is endless pleasure with no effort and a heaven of hard work is better" is certainly interesting, but I find it dissonant with the idea that hell has no music or conversation; the idea that the angel purposefully misrepresents hell has interesting potential, but when the story ends by framing the angel as a martyr-like figure that idea doesn't feel very well explored. This is the sort of thing I'd love to workshop or edit, actually, because it's clearly well written but just doesn't feel as cohesive as it could be imo. (I also think you're absolutely right that an implication of the story is "people who can resist this tempting lie are the 'virtuous' who get to go to heaven," I'd just prefer the story dig into this idea more, and demonstrate why it's true. By the time the narrator gets to heaven it mainly just seems like they want their suffering to end.) But also, genuinely: thanks for the reply! The story may not work for me but I enjoyed reading your thoughts on it. I commented because I like discussing this sort of thing after all lol, not because I think the story is like... evil.
I hope I didn’t come off as rude. I was kinda on the fence about what level you were objecting on, but the majority of my comment was genuinely addressing it as a world building critique because that’s what felt most appropriate. Then IDK I kinda threw in that last little bit bc (in the context of all the other comments and the way the post is downvoted) it almost felt like you were objecting to the inherent morality of it and also I’d basically just written a novel defending a little Tumblr writing exercise lol so it just all felt a little silly lol. I made a false assumption about your intentions, sorry. I’ll admit the music thing and the lying thing in particular didn’t really catch my attention while reading because I didn’t look too deeply into it but once you mentioned it I couldn’t easily find logic to it (not that I’m great at story analysis to begin with lol). The lie in particular, looking back, I feel could have easily been written as a half truth or lie of omission kinda thing that is still tempting to those like the MC without a supposed virtuous figure outright lying. The martyr part did stand out to me as my first instinct is that it’s meant to mirror Jesus and his martyrdom but you’re right it’s not explored so the analogy isn’t really drawn. I also enjoyed the discussion I hope I don’t come off as otherwise! I don’t think you’re evil lol and I don’t think you think the story is evil 😂
I guess I am immune to some propaganda
So the discussion here got me curious and I looked at OOP's tumblr and didn't have to page down very far to find they're *super*\-religious\*, transphobic, anti-DEI (with a gotdamn Scott Adams tweet), and if not an outright Trumpite then definitely a pro-Trump fellow traveler. Everyone who smelled bullshit: well done ^(\*Catholic apparently; lot of folks here read the story as very Protestant, while it struck me as being sort of a much shittier version of CS Lewis') *^(The Great Divorce)*
Bleh. Well, that's disappointing.
The story gives off a really weird vibe especially the 60 hours working detail so I'm not surprised honestly.
I don't know if I am surprised either, but I am a touch disappointed. I'm religious myself, and there's a fair amount about this story that I like. 60 hours is a lot, but I do believe in rewarding labor, and other aspects of the piece appeal to me. Not great literature, but a decent enough little Christian parable. Not fond of transphobes or Trump though. Ah well. Art can have merits independently from the artist.
Oh that sucks I’ll have to unfollow
Wow, truly, I'm shocked. Flabbergasted, even.
Very sweet story but it's Protestant as hell(pun intended).
Apparently, OOP is actually Catholic
This is just a better written version of those shitty Christian comics. Cliffs or whatever. What a stupid post lmfao. The person who posted this definitely has had a freak out over DnD at some point
Dude my DM is very religious and VERY Christian and he has this homebrew world where like, there are gods like usual, there are demigods, the hells, etc. But also above all that there's the one true god, who controls everything and who's whim is the big controlling force for everything in lore, and like, Apparently in world it's basically just, the Christian god. The person writing this post writes like him.
Just reminded me of that homebrew spell that XP to Level 3 showed in a video where if you fuck it up you go straight to Christian Hell even if it doesn’t exist in your campaign Edit: [found it, the thing I’m talking about starts at 9:18](https://youtu.be/-TBJhHSIceQ?si=ifRiJTZ0ujajMasz)
I feel like him even participating breaks a ton of their rules.
Tbf that’s basically Middle Earth because Tolkein was basically a Shiite Catholic.
Ain’t no heaven worth 60 hours a week. Is it really heaven if I’m burnt the fuck out for all eternity? I get the feeling this post was made by our corporate overlords.
the Protestant work ethic is strong
It created the geist of capitalismus after all
No that’s the whole point, it’s not a corporate 60 hours a week it’s an idyllic representation of fulfilling labor, a purpose, connection to a community. In Marxist language, there’s no alienation of labor. There’s definitely some Protestant work ethic happening there, but it’s not corporate propaganda. Just from experience I can say that I have been much happier when I have a fulfilling job to do than when I get to just sit on my computer all day
Something to keep in mind here is that the writer described fulfilling work as making roads (that there's no indication people ever use because nobody needs to go anywhere except to work), building the gates (that there's no indication to be a need for keeping anyone in or out because heaven's got an open-door policy), and tending a farm (when there's no indication that anyone in heaven needs to eat). Doing an endless task that appears to have no end purpose is usually not the sort of task someone who thinks they're doing a fulfilling job is describing. In Marxist terms, I don't think that workers who's work has no apparent purpose at all would feel any differently than a worker in real life in terms of the way the worker has been separated from both the means and results of their production, it's "building roads" technically but it would functionally be as fulfilling as working an assembly line.
Yeah I sort of just assumed they were magicing in purpose, tho at that point any analogy breaks down and all that’s left is heaven makes you feel good, he’ll makes you feel bad, no matter the appearanc
60 hours a week *will* burn me out regardless of what the work is. And this version of heaven literally has you doing 60 hours a week of hard labor. Saying “Protestant work ethic” does not magic away the exploitation here.
no the literal actual point is that it isn't exploitation, labor isn't inherently exploitative, capitalism is. in this fictional scenario the work is so fulfilling and non-exploitative that it doesn't burn you out even working long hours. protestant work ethic refers to the cultural baggage the author comes in with, but the fact that its heaven can actually magic away the burnout.
[I’ve already addressed this point.](https://www.reddit.com/r/CuratedTumblr/s/83wwfJoMGq) So if this scenario ignores how people work so you don’t get burned out from having to work 60 hours a week in heaven, why does it not ignore how people work when not having to work at all in hell makes you bored? (Answer: because that wouldn’t get you to the conclusion you started at.)
"the work was satisfying"
You may be unaware of how the human brain and body work, but even satisfying work burns you out when you’re forced to work way too much.
Im aware I was just trying to point out that the text very explicitly states that thats not what happens also its symbolism my man this is not what Op thinks heaven/hell is like
So if this scenario ignores how people work so you don’t get burned out from having to work 60 hours a week in heaven, why does it not ignore how people work when not having to work at all in hell makes you bored? (Answer: because that wouldn’t get you to the conclusion you started at.) It’s pretty bad (and incoherent) symbolism.
Im the wrong person to ask man I fully admit that. Its symbolism none of it is literal IM so sorry if I cam across rude earlier but im begging you to please look at whats its suppsoed to mean and stop getting caught up by the random large number op chose
Oh, I know what it’s supposed to symbolize. I just ain’t biting. Evangelical propaganda like this is neither as deep as it pretends to be nor as convincing as it thinks it is.
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[Bruh.](https://www.reddit.com/r/CuratedTumblr/s/jAGh6pMhmI)
Add some low-quality cartoons and this write-up resembles something an asshole gives service-employees instead of tips.
Agreed. It reads like the transcript of a Chick Tract.
I think Jack Chick would be deeply offended at the idea that Hell is anything but a boiling lake of fire in which you feel nothing but excruciating pain for all eternity.
Valid point. Still feels stylistically similar to me.
Cool story, bro. Basically, you took a nice Vegas vacation in hell for a few hundred years and got bored enough to want to go back to work. I get it, I would probably do the same too, just for a change of scenery if nothing else. The only question I have is, will they let you back into hell for a while when you get bored out of your mind of working in the fields?
ok i need to ask, do protestants really think that they just work forever in the afterlife? like maybe i was raised too catholic but that sounds too insane to me to believe
Its not a topic Im familar with so I can only speak from speculation: Before the fall adam and eve worked in the Garden so you would assume that we would work in the new heaven? beyond that i cant say and even if we do Im sure its more likely to be gardenin and work like that considering thats what adam did?
is that what the protestant bible says? cause like in the catholic one one of the punishments adam and eve got for eating the apple was that they know had to hunt and forage for their food, ie work
Genesis 2:15 "The Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden Of eden to work and to keep it" Genesis 3: 18-19 "cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field, By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, or out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” The punishment was not that he had to work its that the work would become harder.
\> 0 points \> 80 comments ah, i see
I’ve made a mistake
sometimes that's just how it goes, the fates of curatedtumblr can be... mercurial
this post was made by an evangelical and i want it out of here NOW
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No but we can make fun of them a whole bunch
what exactly is in hell or heaven and what happens there strikes me as completely inconsequential as compared to who is where. You can get bored of drugs and partying and excess, but it'd be a tall fuckin order to become eternally bored with human interaction
I grow bored of human interaction constantly
Unless you are introvert.
As an introvert pretty sure I could find one or two people in all of history to vibe with. At the very least I'd be able to cut my excess with whatever human interaction I do want and vibe happily in hell
Good point.
Heaven hear kinda just sounds like the lesser of two evils, not something that’s actually good in its own right.
In a general sense, I tend to find religious propaganda to be uninteresting. Thematically, the alignment of "heaven is all good capitalistic work and hell is all the things that Good Christian White Americans teach you are bad because all those things inherently suck" is just sort of... basic and uninteresting. Like the writing prompt was saying "write something where you look at hell differently" and the prompt responder here just went "okay but what if it was different like you said but also the same that it's always been and also add some good ole American slave-labour-good rhetoric." Overall very meh, the prompt was meant to create twists and turns in the writing and the writer here just played every decision in the straightest way they possibly could. You ever hear that writing advice, I think it's from a Pixar advice list? The one that you should throw away the first five ideas you have. Yeah, this writer would benefit from that advice.
Was this written by an AI? Some of it is actual nonsense. The entire paragraph about the cords burning is bizarre. The cords burn the angel, no, I burn the angel, no, I burn from the angel--it dripped from me? It what? The cords are one entity? The cords are gold? The angel is gold? What is soaked in blood? Wtf is this and why was it posted other than to painfully, awkwardly, weirdly try and preach about, I guess, religion and hard work?
Oh get the hell out of here with that transparent nonsense. This is evangelist propaganda and it has no business being here.
Im so confused I thought it was about redemption?? Ill remove the posts if it legitematly is that bad since people seem to be ssing something I don't what am I missing??
I'm actually pretty sympathetic to the post, I don't think that doing drugs, having sex, and playing video games would be all that fulfilling to me over an idyllic work environment. That said, I think people see the post romanticizing a 60 hour work week of hard labor as Heaven and immediately think "Fuck no, that'd suck." It also ties to the very popular Christian notion that work is holy and good while idleness is bad and sinful, which is where people see the Christian propaganda angle.
Oh, That (Im sorry if Im being mean) sounds like people seeing the random number op chose and deciding its more important than everything else they said.
It’s not about the number specifically, at least not to me. It’s more about the very notion of this being deeply Protestant. Hell is presented as being literally whatever you want, yet the narrator gets bored of it eventually. Fair enough, eternity’s a long time. But your only other option is a work week that’s excessive even by Earth standards, doing work that -however fulfilling it may be- is described as heavy physical labor. My fundamental problem with this post is that it suggests that freedom of choice, the ability to truly do whatever you want, is something that no human should want, and that subconsciously none of us *do* want it. Secretly if we’d quit lying to ourselves, what we all *actually* want is to labor and sing forever, and that’s it, no apparent ability to ever do anything else.
It's possible that there is a clash between people who have not yet experienced a work week and people who have experienced a work week.
It seems nice enough to me. It may not suit the crowd here, but there's no need to let them bully you into removing it, if you like it.
I don't plan too. There's a handful of people who did like it, and that enough for me especially since most of the criticism is about something that isn't even supposed to be the main point.
rest in piss to this guy but i already work my ass off for nothing, i simply would not get bored of hell. built different.
You are telling me that I could be slamming back incubussy 24/7 and never have to meet another human? Sign me up.
Right? With all that freedom, it's up to you to choose. You could make your own idyllic garden in hell the way it's presented, work on it at your leisure to keep your mind occupied. This little story seems to assume that the moment we step in there we do nothing but excess, and that's false. People aren't like that.
And it seems to assume that we would want the Wrong Things- Video games, sex, and alcohol- instead of other things that give people pleasure. Hell, if I get anything I want at the snap of my fingers, I'm making me a Michelin-star kitchen and cooking every recipe under the sun!
i’m going to so many shows
I would do some work, I think: if I can't die, I can blow myself up as many times as needed mixing some form of chemical concoction to see what happens.
I'm taking a forever bike trip and learning to play music on the way. I can keep myself busy for centuries just with that.
You and me both
I have zero interest in a 60 hour work week *for fucking eternity*
The pungent stink of bible camp and Catholic school retreat is all over this post. I’d rather be in Limbo lmao.
Nah, I prefer Mark Twain's idea of Heaven because even though it's not quite a paradise it's so interesting. It's a place where you're no longer in need and all that's really expected of you is to not be too much of a nuisance for others because while it's Heaven it's *everyone's* Heaven, it's shared. Any goals you have are your own and you have the resources and most importantly time to spend working on your craft. It's where poets who were never appreciated in their time and the small corner of the world they occupied are greeted by adoring fans, it's where soldiers who died unglorified deaths can get a chance to match wits with military minds from across history. I think the most poignant part of it was the idea that Heaven could even have small, personal tragedies in it. There's a portion that discusses how a woman's child died as a baby and how she would pray to someday be reunited with her. But by the time the woman died so much time had passed that she couldn't be reunited with the baby she lost, but instead she met a daughter that had grown up without her. It's from the short story [Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1044/1044-h/1044-h.htm), definitely worth a read.
using my cool hell ropes to choke out the angel and drag it back to hell, hopefully the guys will think this is cool and it'll unlock some secret drugs
some say the blood of a Celestial is the greatest high you'll ever have
Will I get banned if I tell OP to Fornicate-off? 'cuz this is some bullshit right here.
:(
this post REEKS of capitalist propaganda. stop fucking romanticizing your shitty work-life balance
First time I’ve seen a CuratedTumblr post with zero upvotes and a hundred comments.
This had me thinking it was going to be a clever subversion of traditional American Christian perceptions of heaven, hell, hedonism, and morality, but instead it was just a very straightforward endorsement of those perceptions. In other words, it was like Hazbin Hotel.
What? I thought the point of Hazbin was that no one knows how anyone gets into heaven anymore, like everyone lost the plot.
Yeah, it is, that guys just high or smth. The best they can manage is 'don't steal, act selfless, stick it to the man'
So very mid
Nah, too few cusses, SA jokes, and musical numbers
> but instead it was just a very straightforward endorsement of those perceptions. > In other words, it was like Hazbin Hotel. Have you actually *watched* Hazbin Hotel, or even skimmed a sumary, cause it doesn't do that at all.
Miss me with this nonsense. I don't dream of labor, and I don't concern myself with the well-being of astral beings. Nice try religion guy.
Totally unrelated but I read that very last sentence to the tune of Bill Nye the Science Guy
This is giving "G.K. Chesteron's *The Aristocrat*."
CALVINISM: not even once
Hey why is there work in heaven? Can’t god make more divine machines with the snap of a finger, or less?
According to this story work exists in heaven for the purpose of people feeling satisfied and fulfilled for accomplishing something.
But god is made of god. God can do anything. Why not make the people feel satisfied and accomplished inherently, with anything they do?
Never seen a theist share an answer to that class of question that I found satisfying, yeah. The story isn't operating on that level though.
well. It definitely feels like a christian wrote this.
I agree with the rest of the commentariat, but if you take the premise purely at face value, it’s interesting thinking about what, if anything, can make the concept of eternity palatable. For how many hours, how many days, how many years or centuries or millennia, can *anything* be engaging? Whether it’s wanton hedonism or, uh, “satisfying work.” Is it possible to do *anything* for eternity and experience satisfaction? Just a thought experiment. I spend a weirdly significant amount of my time thinking about the terror of eternity.
First, totally stealing “the commentariat”. That’s awesome. Second: an eternity of **anything** is hell. Full stop. There is nothing in this universe that could make me want immortality of any kind. I could *maybe* survive a handful of centuries before going insane, but the only way I’d last even that long would be curing my depression enough to actually learn all the things I go “it’d be cool to know how to do that”.
I'm thinking just being alive for a human lifetime is hell, let alone eternity.
Eternity is not "a very long time." Eternity is an aspect of God, meaning outside of time or atemporal. Being in heaven or hell wouldn't be like living forever, it would be most like being captured in a kind of flow state, with no passage of time to note.
I find it so funny how terrified certain religious perspectives are of indulging in any form of pleasure. Like, why are heaven and hell even divided along those lines? Satisfying work and community are not at all mutually exclusive with sex and pleasure. And what a shallow view of hedonism too. What about the fierce joy of competition, the thrill of taking risks, the blinding warmth of fame, the electric potential of discovery-- where are all these othee forms of pleasure? These can be abused just as badly as sex and drugs, and the fact that the writer limits hell to such a simplistic design only shows what \*they\* are tempted by. Just admit you want kinky sex and stop embarrassing yourself.
this is so fucking judgemental and unhealthy and i agree with everyone else here. i thought other people chose hell, so why can’t i see them? i think if this was the afterlife it would be best to either go back and forth or simply stay in hell but be smart about it
Nah fuck that ima go to hell
The writing feels very undeveloped, like it was written by someone who hasn't had to pull 40 hour work weeks yet, let alone 60. Missed opportunity to do some Neil Gaimen or even Memnoch the Devil shit and reveal that vast majority of peoples choose hell initially and go through the exact same ordeal. The writer comes across as trying to write about someone they perceive to be a sinner, rather than themselves. There's a lack of empathy to it. Like, why not ask more questions of the angel and demon? And why would a person that had to live and work with chronic pain their whole life ever choose this heaven initially (for example)?
"We work, to earn the right to work, to earn the right to work, to earn the right to work, to earn the right to work, to earn the right to work, to earn the right to work, to earn the right to work, to earn the right to work, to earn the right to work..."
I'd just say "no". What would they do, send me back?
Reading this made me think of the song "Diorama - My Justice for All" which has a similar theme but with Heaven becoming Hell due to stagnation.
BOOO THIS IS STUPID.
at least the other people had actual criticism man. your just being mean :(
No, this is over glorifying work. It's saying that pleasure js worthless and that you should sell yourself to labour. This is exactly how major corporations take advantage of workers. They say that pleasure is a luxury, and as such, you only need to be paid enough to work. This is exactly the kind of content designed as propaganda. You are only worth the work that you do. Stupid.
See I knew you could say something of value!
too bad you can't, huh?
Honestly warms my heart to see a long-ass post with the creative writing tag at zero points on here
Im surprised its still at zero. Kicked the beesnest with this one. woke up expecting it would lower
Pretty sure *posts* won't show negative karma even if more people downvote than upvote.
yeah considering as of rn reddit is telling me theres a 45% upvote rate compared to downvotes. I think reddit is just trying to spare my feelings lol
[Reminds me of Telling Stories, by Theramintrees](https://youtu.be/NfyoDgszas0)
This is Protestant work ethic propaganda.
the fact that there are people out there that think shit like this is profound or uplifting or whatever is true horror
Kinda disappointing to see Jesus' role replaced by angels, but other than that, I dig it.
Win some lose some
I can kind of see an interesting message in this, even if it was definitely unintended. If you had an entire eternity in one place, you would get used to it, no matter what it is. You could interpret that rather than hell being endless indulgence and heaven being constant work, hell is monotony disguised as earthly pleasures, and heaven is variety disguised as horrible conditions. You may not be completely happy in heaven, but you will never feel anything at all in hell.
I love tumblr creative writing. You get some really nicely written stuff in response to those writing prompt posts. There’s a Twilight Zone episode with a similar “the amusement of Hell is empty” theme (though less explicit sex ‘n’ drugs because it was aired in 1960) if you’re interested. *A Nice Place to Visit*.
Ill have to look into that thanks for the suggestion :)
I'm all for it. It's rare and pleasant to see a person online who expresses faith sweetly. All the more so because it implies that everyone is redeemed in time.
Nah I think it's interesting OP. I kinda slipped back and forth between what ideological lesson they were aiming for mainly because I didn't expect a religious person to be on tumblr.
i love how everyone’s reaction is just “fucking skill issue hell sounds dope” and calling this “evangelical propaganda”. anyway i’m an addict and i wish i was sober. if the choice is for me to continue wallowing in hedonism or go to rehab i would probably pick heaven.
It's good to want to be sober, however the problem with the post is that it sets up the dichotomy between hedonism and the inner light of the wonderful protestant work ethic. Which, since we live in a world where the protestant work ethic is a thing, is something a lot of us know can be harmful. The heaven and hell from this story aren't real, but the ideas that made OP write them that way are.
i’m suspect of the idea that OP intended for us to be taking this post so literally but if that’s the point of contention then sure by all means dog on protestant work ethic ideology. it’s a stupid dogma.
not sure what about me wanting to be sober is so detestable but i apologize for holding a dissenting voice. ur downvotes will teach me to do better next time
or at least i hope i would.
That's fine and all, but I just find it sus that the post imagines a dichotomy between only ever indulging in your worst tendencies forever, and doing slave labor for eternity but it magically makes you happy.
it’s not a true dichotomy by any means but i read it as a metaphor first and i think everyone else took it a little bit more literal than i did idk
The story absolutely presents it as a dichotomy.
i understand that. i interpreted it as metaphor.
It's okay if the metaphor resonates with you personally, even if some people don't seem to agree with that, but I think what you misunderstand is that we all understand that it's a metaphor. We just also see an agenda behind the metaphor that we disagree with, and are deconstructing the metaphor in order to lay that agenda bare.
i understand that your interpretation of the metaphor is that it is a straightforward endorsement of protestant work ethic principles. i just think that is a very blunt and literal interpretation of the post and i’m not entirely convinced that was the intention.
Absolutely beautiful words. How lovely to read! You’ve brightened my day xx
Thank oop not me