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Birvan — Liepn Does Study
Published: 2012-06-13 17:14:29 +0000 UTC; Views: 3554; Favourites: 119; Downloads: 35
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I've been working on the differences between the wild and domestic Liepns for a while. It's still incompleteThe one painting is a buck. The others are all does
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Comments: 54
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And the one painting 
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I admire how much thought sent into the design - but they look cute as hell, nonetheless. (Truth be told, if you keep the ears floppy and the fur clipped, they will look domestic enough.)
Anybody else in the comments feel like they would take one home and she would sleep at the foot of your bed every night and be do like "d'awwww" and stuff?
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The idea had a lot of time to mature
I'm sure there are a lot of people that feel the same way and one of the domestic versions does just that. The thing is most people (in the world concept) don't realize these are actual sentient creatures, not mindless animals, so by domesticating them they're actually robbing them of their culture
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Mrm, dammit. I respect sentience in creatures, but it's a problem to be so cute sometimes! All you elicit is condescending coos and gurgles.
(That must be what it's like to have a British accent in America, where the media portrays the accented as 'twee' and 'charming' and shit.)
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Yeah. It's no wonder they despise humans so much
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It's like America is with minority groups.
Do you ever wonder if animals in real life hate us this way?
(Wait, is there a reason that humans never learn their sentience? Like 'they communicate using telepathy' (like rabbits) or something; or is it just a case of 'nobody thought to check if they can think?')
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I think they're too busy surviving to care about other species
And I think most people are too self-centered to notice animals do communicate. Just not in the same sense we do
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Hrm, that'd make sense.
Yeah, again, you think well. The fact that they don't speak human or do wacky family-comedy antics means that humans don't look twice at them.
It's like aliens? "If there really was intelligent life out there, they would have contacted us by now."
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Just say that the humans never bothered to check if they could or not - it takes care of the sympathy votes, adds the 'maltreated' vibe, and casts humans as the assholes in the equation. Humans are masochists that way. It won't fail you.
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Americans at least (IDK how you have it) like to believe that they're the self-flagellating polluters of Eden. (Hell, Massachusetts was founded by religious refugees...)
But watch 'Dances with Wolves' or 'Avatar' or something, and you'll get what I'm talking about. Hollywood crafts to the American sense of capitalistic penance. (Jews have guilt, Frenchmen have their liver troubles, Americans have this sort of penance to themselves for being (as we believe) the greatest thing on the face of the earth.)
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URg, don't remind me. We get a bit annoyed at America always making itself the center of attention, be it good or bad
Here in Portugal there's a rather funny situation. We speak terribly about ourselves (to the point you can't get any foreigner to criticize worse than we already do), but never, ever try let a foreigner agree with us. The poor guy would never live to tell the tale!
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America is full of itself partially because (aside from Canada) it's hard to just run into someone from another country. We also grew up thinking we were the good guys who saved Europe and will crush Communism...a cold war'll mess up your psyche.
We REALLY don't know when to shut up.
Yeah, screw foreigners, what do we know! XD That's actually pretty funny...if I ever write a book with fantasy civilisations, I'll use that! (Just think, half the population of the U.S. probably doesn't know Portugal exists. Who can accuse me of ripping it off?)
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And then we mock Americans for thinking of themselves as the country of freedom and liberty, when to us they look as the most oppressed of all without realizing
Considering most know little to nothing about Portugal and only spew media crap, yeah, foreigners don't know anything about our real situation (especially germans lately)
If you do take into consideration different cultures have different values and that's what conditions the response
For example we place great value in family ties and general good relations with neighbors and friends. That means we try to avoid confrontations as much as possible (which led to a large range of greetings and code of politeness). And we also place the well being of the family and community before our individuality (the opposite tends to happen in the northern countries). Although we also have a fiery and prideful culture, so we're not only passionate about our heritage, but insults can be taken rather seriously
So if you have a foreigner that comes from a culture that values more the individuality instead of tact towards others and is arrogant to boot (another thing we seriously despised, because arrogant people don't value others), you have a powder keg waiting to explode. And when it happens it has an added effect, because with our tendency to politeness and attempts to avoid damage to the community, most think we're incapable of retaliation, which is a big mistake
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We think we're oppressed because other white people politically disagree with us! Although it's a fair comment, that we're really oppressing ourselves.
Arrogance and the unbridled individual and all that - today they announced the running mate for Republican Vice President (second in command in the whole nation), and in an interview, he calls out that literally the only reason he's in politics is because of Ayn Rand. (And one of his competitors named his son after her. This is life over here.)
I can't fathom what it's like to have to be polite to so many people - is it easier if you do more of it?
I don't know my own neighbor's last names. Fact, my childhood home had a boardinghouse next door, and I never knew it until I was 16. We don't give a shit about that too often, do we? XD
Over here, families are so stretched out over state after state that we have a tradition of the 'family reunion' - during the summer people from the family come up to the same house and eat watermelon and talk for a few days - and that's often the only time people see each other.
Arrogant people are still called assholes. Trouble is, we envy how simple life is for them - everybody is worse than them. (Le Petit Prince reference, FTW) (Guys over here like things to be simple. This is a friend, she's related to you, this pain will pass, hit the ball as hard as you can, I want you to hit me as hard as you can. I think if they had to contend with pregnancy, they'd go insane.)
I was just talking this morning with the family about the ways even different CITIES over here do business. My grandfather the business magnate of Grand Rapids, MI is appalled by the way they do things in Detroit and New York - where instead of negotiating to be polite and leave everybody happy, they add one more demand to the contract so they can watch the recipent squirm. There's no guilt to it, because we know they'll do the same to us next year, so why bother?
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Not to mention the racism problems you still have and trying to be the hero in everything
I don't follow the american politics, but I've heard some stories about what some politicians were addressing abortion. If they tried to say even half of those things I've read here, they wouldn't live for very long
Despite the crap our politicians pull, they have enough survival instinct to avoid making the population angry. There are some unwritten rules you should never break, for your own sake
It's not really that hard. Say good morning, good day, please and thank you is usually enough. And if you try to establish a new relationship engaging in conversations and being generally polite and respectful, and asking how people are doing, can go a long way and earn you interesting favors
There's a small restaurant nearby with regular food of average quality, but they have a waitress that's so friendly (and cheeky in the good sense) and willing to stand up for customers, that people keep returning there. I sincerely believe if it wasn't for her the restaurant wouldn't have survived the economic crisis
Arrogant people here are sincerely despised and the same goes for demanding and pushy business people. And we don't envy them because they have little to no chances of survival, because sooner or later their actions will bite them in the ass
When a customer is harassed they might do the purchase, but they will tell everyone how badly they were treated and the word will spread, eventually leading to the lack of customers and the business closing down
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We tried 'political correctness' for a decade, and hated it. Right now we're at that awkward stage where nobody likes racism, but everybody on the top in media, wealth, and politics is still fucking *whiiiite.*
Abortion over there isn't even a debate? Fuck it, I'm moving to Europe! XD
Over here, there's a 'guardian of the public morality' sheen to the debate, that plus the inability of 80% of the population to understand basic biology. (Is a fetus cognizant when it's only like 300 cells big? Then the hell's your problem?)
But if you think abortion debates are full of nutjobs? Our health care and tax debates are out-and-out looney. Our president (1992-2000) Bill Clinton proposed a health care plan that was so maligned by the right-wing media that in one survey, only 10% supported 'The Clinton Plan' and about 70% supported the plan when the plan was actually read to them, but had the name removed. (Likewise, because we're fucking stupid, 1/6 of the U.S. population, according to one poll, is against 'homosexuals' serving in the military and for 'gays' serving in the military.)
Plus, we have the second-lowest income taxes in the civilised world (behind only Switzerland), and three political parties out of five that insist that income taxes themselves must be massively slashed and/or abolished. (The Republican party wants all government programs under private control and every government expenditure (save the military) cut, the Libertarian party wants the government to just be a bunch of volunteers who do nothing but stop people from stealing from the rich, and the Constitution party wants the government to abolish the income tax altogether and survive on import tariffs. [link] They also want to abolish foreign aid, ban immigration until the government stops giving basic sustenance benefits to immigrants, and insist that the Nazi Holocaust and the 16th amendment (Congress has the right to give taxes) don't actually exist. They oppose euthenasia and rape-baby abortion, gay rights and porn freedom, support the death penalty, and support the idea of banning political forms from being written in anything other than the redneck's English.
These guys are all the stereotypes of Republicans, in one party.)
A politician over here always has the 'nutjob' vote to fall back on... must be nice, having politicians play fair every so often.
Hrm. I already tend to do most of that...does this mean giving up random acts of violence? Or is it better to be anonymous in that sense?
Goes to show what can happen when people appreciate politeness! ^^
Every kid over here remembers the bully in school and how they didn't want to negotiate, they wanted to be so strong and important that they could kick the bully's testicles up through his mouth without retribution.
But the arrogant people live such a simple and fun life - who wouldn't envy them if their actions are rewarded as much as they are over here?
The declining customers bit sounds good in theory, but in practice, where the hell are they going to shop? There's really no place else that treats you any better, and living here gives you horse sense and a thick skin.
(However, the service sector (this is the beauty of capitalism) is so desperate to whore itself out for your money that they often stay open ridiculous hours, offer you discount cards, put their service staff to ridiculous requirements in the name of consumer satisfaction... so it's not as awful a place if you have a nice wallet.)
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We don't suffer that problem as much because we always had a rather homogeneous population. Though I admit we have some discrimination towards some people (more cultures than skin color though), I wouldn't go as far as calling it racism
It was some time ago, but never in such a disrespectful tone
I wouldn't be so quick to jump over the pond. Here in Portugal for example, despite the government starting to accept gay rights, the population is still too conservative to allow it (it doesn't go as far as violence, but people are discriminated against)
Wow, that gives a whole new meaning to insane stupidity...
Our politicians are more polite about it, but they're also huge liars. But I don't want to get into that, it's too much of a messy subject
What do you mean by random acts of violence?
You have to understand we don't envy the arrogant people because our society is completely against it. Their actions aren't rewarded because there's little to no room for them to take place, unlike in America (arrogance isn't synonym of well off in life here, friendliness is)
That's why the customers example works. Usually you're not limited to the existence of a single shop, so it's not hard to look for an alternative. And if you were it's doesn't take long for people to start looking for homemade alternatives, or to use their networks of families and friends to avoid that place as much as possible. Not to mention it opens a door for competition to open business and being successful from the start
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Better or worse than France? (You'd think being so close to Morocco would create problems.)
Well, America has a storied tradition of misogyny and eryxinophobia (if google translate doesn't return that one, it's from the greek for 'violence, prejudice, and/or discrimination against sexually active females.' Useful word to look up.)
So similar to here in that regard. If Portugal is as predominantly Catholic as I've heard, I can believe it.
It turns out that, contrary to American's beliefs, people can be batshit stupid anywhere and they often end up in political office - but only in America do people go on Jerry Springer. So our politicians may be equally fucked up, but over here they get exposed and people call them out?
I'm making a joke that compared to the Portuguese, Americans will beat people up for no reason. It was a barely noticeable joke, too.
I suppose being arrogant wouldn't be as fun if people didn't love you for it. Makes sense.
So wait - you get more successful for yourself by letting other people help you? It sounds logical, but it's going against every fibre of the way I was raised. (That also sounds like a logical reason for how it works - we have enough resources for people to be allowed to hog them, and Portugal not so much.)
A good point - your businesses are like the right wing over here tries to act like all American business is. Made polite by the Invisible Hand.
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Better. We thought the anti-burqa law was way too much
Historically we never trusted Moroccans. Partially because of the whole religion war back then, but also because of slavery and piracy (before the Age of Discovery our southern coast was often the target of pirates who would pillage villages and sell our people as slaves in North Africa)
The rest of our discrimination is mostly towards East Europeans, Brazilians, Africans and gypsies. Most of our poor population is composed by these immigrants that run away from their countries and try to find a better life here, but they're often so desperate they turn to crime (most of our violent crimes come from these people). East europeans have been getting particularly bad publicity lately, because of organized gang crimes
No idea. I prefer to stay away from politics (to much of an headache)
That joke wouldn't work because we try to avoid getting physically violent (gives a very bad public image and image plays an important role in our social status) > >
Up to a certain point it works. But then you have capitalism and politics and people that will eat you alive in an attempt to cull out the competition
They are despised and even hated, but they have enough money to get away with it DX
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You give the nutjobs an easy handle and they'll grasp it.
Because caucasians are so sun-resistant (but politically it makes sense).
Again, makes sense. Enclaves of the marginalized breed hysteria, because when you're the only one in the room insulted by a racist joke, it's less of a joke and more of a personal affront.
But what do you do when someone pisses you off to such an extent that you need to bury your foot in his crotch to feel satisfaction? It just doesn't come up for you?
Wheras over here, people will congratulate them for their money. (I was thinking, it only works up to a certain point.)
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Just like any opportunist > >
And sadly the violent ones set bad standards for everyone else
Since I came to live in Lisbon I keep seeing black people performing lowly jobs. To me it feels like discrimination, but I come from a completely different social environment
Those cases rarely happen, but when they do... [link] (the older woman is scandalized by the 2 drunks having relations in public with the children watching. She snapped when the girl insulted her, but everyone else think both are acting shamelessly)
It depends a lot on how that money was obtained, in any culture
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For instance, all you need is to say 'I've read the Turner Diaries' for the nutjobs to latch onto that, before you can finish with the obvious 'and it's the most hilariously stupid book I've read since 'Atlas Shrugged.''
When you see black people in that place long enough, you grow to think it's natural. Took us almost a century between ending slavery and granting racial civil rights. (And yes, it is often discrimination, but oftentimes it's just a guy who wants a job taking whatever job is offered.)
Ah, that looked satisfying...
So...this is rare enough for her to be called out for it? XD How often have you made out on a street while drunk? (I see it at least once a week and envy how fun it looks...I'm alcohol intolerant and so miss out on the best of life.)
I love how everyone in the crowd doesn't know how to react. XD
Yeah, that does seem fair. Although even embezzlement is the product of the respectably cunning, and mugging of the respectively strong.
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Never read it, but I get what you mean
Yeah I know, but it still doesn't feel right. Like the unwritten rule I've observed in the local playground, black kids wait for the white kids to leave before it's their turn to use it (but there's a couple that break the rule and kids play along fine. So they're doing this to themselves)
Yes, it's pretty rare. We're still rather conservative
Embezzlement is despicable and down right wrong. It's the main reason my country it's in the rotten state it is D<
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It's a book told from the perspective of a survivalist, in the middle of a race war: the Jews in Washington passed the 'Cohen Act' and now it's White people vs. everyone else, and the protagonist heroically ends by flying a plane into the pentagon. (Kinda knocks your brain senseless that somebody would even write shit like that...)
Mrm. So it's more deference than it is oppression? Then there's no real target, so it's much harder to fix.
Hm - that sounds interesting, seeing people react like that to la passion.
Well, I'll give you that. Certainly fucks up the little guy. (Then again, if we cared about him, we wouldn't be America.)
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Yeah, but then again there was Twilight
Exactly
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Twilight purports that a 17 year old girl would be less well served by a muscular, sexy, very tan 17-year old who turns into a fucking wolf, and better served by a century-old goth kid, who's still a virgin after a hundred years of high school. >.<
Then again, Twilight doesn't advocate Jew killing.
England loves that shit about industry and the noble sacrifice in the line of duty valiantly struggling against the elements. America loves enterprise and the courage of those who ended up on top anyway. Quite a difference!
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Don't forget the whole scene of ripping a belly open with fangs to give birth and the extreme pedophilia
We don't like neither. We've been so screwed up by the higher ups, we disdain anyone who acts superior and rubs that in everyone's faces, even if unknowingly. Duty is towards family and friends, then society
*not saying it as a good thing though*
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Ah yes. (I thought I implied the extreme pedophilia, though...)
Like those sharks that supposedly chew their way out of the stomach of larger sharks?
That sounds so charmingly quaint. I imagine the tourists have fun...
(It's a valid point - would any culture value all that shit after being on the receiving end all this time?
Well, most of Middle America has been screwed by capitalism, but it buys us nice shiny things, and so we love it. What was that song? [link] )
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Sharks are sharks, they evolved that way for a reason. Twilight on the other hand destroys minds
Not sure what you mean by that
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Touche. Sharks eat and swim, that's almost all they do.
I mean that even after being exploited, American culture worships the exploiter and doesn't think twice about it. XD Not that you all don't have it worse in that regard, but still...
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I still think of it as the wrong way of doing things
And I can't help to laugh when I read american business tips books saying it pays more to be polite than to be aggressive towards clients. That's something we've been doing here for ages XD
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No, over here, being polite is a disarming mechanism. Anyone can shoot down someone who runs towards them with guns blazing, but if you're nice to them, they don't know how to react.
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Well, your culture encourages people to WANT to be nice. It sounds so strange...
[link] One of the VP nominees makes his interns read this book before they work on staff. Longest book ever written by a woman in the english language, and it's basically about how awesome assholishness is. It's scary in some parts that she takes her own philosophy seriously.
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Same way your culture sounding strange to us
I think I've heard about that book. Need to try and find it here
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Full of objectification and fighting your way to the top and everything...
It's hilariously fucking stupid.
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And taking things for granted, but that happens everywhere
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Well, yeah, but our rich people take delusion to new heights. "We must always be a nation of haves and soon-to-haves..." "Nobody gave me any help..." "I don't consider myself especially lucky..." "Have you ever tried to get by with a mere $500,000 a year in New York?"
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The one sleeping on her back is just... TOO PRECIOUS! XD I can really imagine these critters live in action! Great creature design! ^__^
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Thank you. I had fun drawing these XD
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Wow O.o Those guy (gals) are pretty awesome. Love how much detail and thought you put into their over-all body design.
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This is only the tip of the iceberg. I have a lot more floating around
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