#A Fellow Man of Culture meme

[destinylordoffreaks]

Trough back to the time I made fancy versions of the bill and Ted movies for the amusement of my family

[writingwithfolklore]

Pop Culture References in Writing

This is not an advice post as much as an opinion + opening to discussion. I’m really curious what you guys think about this!

                Every now and then I come across a book with lots of pop culture references. I think the last I read was “One Last Stop” by Casey McQuiston.

I intentionally don’t include any pop culture references in my writing—including more niche or time-specific slang, and I have a few reasons:

                I feel pandered to when I read it. I haven’t yet read pop culture references (or even watched it in media) that didn’t immediately take me out of the story. When it’s done poorly, it’s—dare I say cringe in our year 2024? It’s a bit hard to watch, let’s say.

                Even when it’s done well, I imagine the author is like that man holding a skateboard, “how do you do, fellow kids?” It never lands genuinely for me.

                It adds a time limit on the work. Memes, jokes, and slang of the cultural moment are just that—of the moment. I find things die far too quickly so by the time I’m consuming the media the reference is old or dead completely. Or, at the very best, I’ve heard/seen it so much that I’m tired of it.

                Last reason, I consume fiction to be somewhat out of my own world. The inclusion of pop culture references takes me right back to reality and breaks the escapism and immersion of the story. It’s the same as when media references COVID or something similar—I want to be in a fictionalized world, I’d like to escape this one for a little while.

(as an aside, I am totally fine with these references in children's media, because I assume children find it really funny and cool that their interests are in their media. I just watched a Bluey episode (don't make fun of me) where the girls teach their grandparents how to floss (as in the dance) and while I as an adult didn't enjoy it personally, I also know it wasn't written for me, and I'm sure the kids that watched it loved it.)

             Your turn! What’s your thoughts on this? Do you like pop culture references? Do you write them?

[bellezaycafe]

Get Your Shit Together - Chapter 10

genre: 2024 and onwards AU, with the 2024 starting grid.

pairing: Romantic!oc x Lando Norris and/or Oscar Piastri. Platonic!oc x the whole grid.

warnings: angst. max being annoying. idiots in love (yeah its a warning, trust me)

Masterlist / Part 1

comments: this chapter it's pretty Sadie/Oscar heavy :) and I'm not sorry for how long it took me to write...

But [Lando] felt that he’d missed out on months with Sadie. It felt like he had lost time to catch up on.

Sadie, much to her own shagrin, felt similar. So she spent the next two weeks building a dynamic with five drivers.  

She’d given Max permission to share her number with any driver that asked for it; she received texts from Lewis and Daniel.

Max never insisted on anything more than he already had. A monthly check in that she was alive and okay. But Sadie felt less like her presence would put Max in danger with each passing day, and opened up to him more. It was only really about things she liked, movies, books and music, but it was a step.

Lewis had facetimed her almost immediately. He’d said it was too ‘see if she was lying to him’ with a concerned little smile. They spoke for hours, well into the night for Sadie. At one point, he’d insisted that she set the phone where he could see her walk around so he could be sure she’d healed.

Lewis, nearing 40, earned the title ‘Old Man’ when he said that Sadie should go and sleep.

Daniel earned the nickname ‘WA’s Bitch’ when he’d bragged about Western Australia to make her laugh. It had worked, even if Sadie had stuck true to her ‘Victoria is better’ opinion.

The Perth-born man had first contacted her to make sure she was okay. He didn’t thank her for what she’d done at Silverstone, everyone else had done that already and the older driver knew his friend was okay. He didn’t know if Sadie was and he’d made it a mission to make her laugh at any opportunity.

Sadie was one hundred percent sure that Daniel had figured out some details about her life that Max hadn’t. The older driver had more experience with Australian society and cultural expectations. But he didn’t ask and Sadie hoped he never would.

Lando, on the other hand, asked everything. He texted sporadically, at random times of the day or night in both her timezone and his. He sent her behind the scenes photos of anything and everything he was working on. Most of the time it was a silly photo of Max Fewtrell.

He wouldn’t send a large text, it would be six or seven small ones that culminated in his point or opinion on a topic.

Sadie never answered any questions she didn’t want to, and Lando respected that.

Oscar rarely asked anything, except for how her day was and if she was free to talk. His texts were consistent. Full conversations, rather than split by 4 hours like her conversations with Lando.

Her fellow Melbournian never asked about her past, but he would send her memes he found funny and links to instagram posts of cute animals.

For two weeks, there was a pattern. Sadie would text Max and Oscar about her life as it was then, like if her shift was bad or if her favourite regulars had come by the bar that day. She’d reply to whatever chaos Lando or Daniel had sent her and laugh at their antics. She’d call Lewis a couple times each week and talk about how her life had changed in the 6 months since Silverstone.

It was a nice pattern. Sadie tackled the more recent past with Lewis’ help, laughed about the present with Daniel and Lando, and thought of what she wanted after talking to Max or Oscar.

They were simple conversations but she was building some bonds with people she liked.

It was cracked by a simple question.

Sadie's faint smile fell to a frown as she realised how stubborn Daniel was going to be.

Sadie hoped she’d conveyed how serious she was. As far as she was concerned, there was no family to talk about and no family to spend Christmas with.

Sadie had no family.

Her phone chimed with another text from Daniel.

She did. 

Come to Monaco. 

Come to Europe. 

You don’t have to pay for a thing, kid. 

Sadie sighed and, opting to ignore Max, called Oscar. 

"Sadie? You've never called, everything okay?" he mumbled, obviously half asleep.

"Everything's fine, Piastri, calm down," she deadpanned.

There was a sigh of relief and a rustle of sheets on the other end of the line.

"Are you in bed? Mate, you're 23 and in bed by 10?" Sadie teased.

He'd returned to his mum's house for the holidays and had told Sadie as soon as he'd flown in. She knew it was an invitation to make plans, see each other face to face, but his ability to draw a crowd wherever he went nagged at her.

She heard his soft chuckle as he said, "I went karting today, I'm exhausted."

"Should I let you go then?" Her voice was still teasing but she knew she should let him sleep.

"No," he murmured. "No. I have nowhere to be tomorrow, we can talk."

"Really? No last minute shopping tomorrow?"

"Nah, that's all been done already."

"Organised," she mused.

“Yeah, yeah,” he sighed, dry sarcasm dripping from his voice.

But it changed.

“Sadie.” Sheets rustled and moved as he stood up and she heard him move about his room. “Why did you call?”

“I-“ 

She didn’t have an answer for him. Say nothing, her mind screamed. Say everything, something else argued. 

“Sadie?” 

“Relax, Piastri, I'm not in trouble.” She drawled, as if she had nothing to care about. “I’m bored and I didn’t expect you to be half-asleep by 9:45.” 

Her phone vibrated in her hand. A text from Max. Ignored. 

“Sure,” Oscar replied and Sadie knew he hadn’t believed her. 

But he didn’t ask again. 

Instead, Sadie heard the rattle of keys. 

“How about we meet? Go for a drive together and talk face to face?” 

“Now?” 

“Yeah.” 

What? 

As if spurred on by her silence, Oscar added, “I know a car park, we can swap into your car, or mine. We can drive around, and talk.” 

“Your car is a bright orange McLaren.” 

She could hear the grin in his voice, as he said. “It’s papaya.” 

“My point still stands,” she said through a laugh. 

“There’s always your car.” 

Sadie’s heart was pulled in two. Oscar was offering a distraction, and moreover, he was offering a tangible link in their friendship. But there was risk, and if they were seen, was she ready? 

“Alright fine, but don’t bring the McLaren,” she conceded. 

Her phone vibrated with the address, like Oscar had already typed it out. Maybe he had. 

--$--

Three hours later, Sadie was laughing so hard her ribs hurt. Oscar, cleaning the dashboard of Sadie’s car with a tissue, was apologising for spilling the lemonade. 

“Sadie,” he whined with another apologetic smile, “I’ll buy us more!” 

“No!” She laughed. “No! You’ll spill it again!” 

“Hey!” he cried, but he dissolved into a fit of giggles too. “You’re the one who said Alexander Hamilton was more famous than Lewis Hamilton!” 

Sadie laughed louder. “In America, I said. In America! Ask Logan!” 

Oscar pulled his phone out and texted the Williams driver, still giggling. 

“He’s going to agree with me,” Sadie added. 

She couldn’t stop her eyes while he wasn’t looking. Her gaze traced the swoop of his unkempt hair and the soft crinkle of the skin next to his eyes as he smiled. She watched the way his eyebrows curved and his gaze flickered between the different letters he was typing. 

She didn’t expect him to look up. 

Brown eyes met brown eyes. 

There was an unmeasured heartbeat, an involuntary pause. Laughter died, falling away to soft giggles and then silence. Loud, irrevocable silence. The only light was his phone, illuminating the absence of noise. 

But one thing was clear in a hundred different ways. 

A connection. A link. Something. 

 Oscar looked away first. 

“I know,” he whispered into the dark.  

He always does, a little voice whispered.

“Know what?” Sadie asked. 

“That you’re not ready. That you may never be ready.” 

She wanted to ask what he meant by ready. She knew what she meant, but did he mean the same thing? Sadie wanted to know.

She didn’t ask. 

“But either way,” he continued. The young driver’s eyes were firmly forward. “I’ve enjoyed tonight. Seeing you in person and seeing you laugh has been…urrm, well it’s been reassuring.” 

“Reassuring?” Sadie didn’t take her eyes off him. 

“I- we- we were worried about you,” Oscar said, an edge creeping into his voice. “Emotionally, I mean. You were so tense the last time I saw you and I know the trial probably made it worse…” 

His hand went to his hair, sweeping away from his face. It had grown again, into his eyes. A part of Sadie wanted to tuck the brown strands behind his ear. 

Oscar’s face turned, eyes catching her gaze again before he glanced down, like the handbrake was the most interesting mechanical marvel he’d ever seen. 

Sadie was going to break the new silence with some kind of confession, about what she wasn’t sure, when Oscar yawned. 

She laughed, and nudged his shoulder with a hand. “Come on, Piastri. Let’s get you home.” 

His smile, and that crinkle of skin next to his eyes, returned. 

The drive from the small lookout to the car park in which Oscar left his mum’s car was short. Sadie made conversation by asking about Oscar’s season. 

“I’m proud of you, you know,” she commented as he opened the passenger door. 

He paused and looked back at her. “Thank you. And thank you for congratulating me on Qatar.”  

“Max told you?” 

Oscar hauled himself out of her car, and turned back, leaning through the doorway. 

“Yeah, after some slight manipulation.” 

Sadie returned his bright smile with her own. “I bet it didn’t take much.” 

“No, not really,” Oscar confessed. 

With a wave of her hand and a tilt of her head, Sadie said, “go home, Piastri. Text me when you get there.” 

“Drive safe.”

“You too.” 

Oscar closed her door gently, waved through the window and walked to his mothers car. Sadie waited for him to enter it before she, once again, disappeared into the night.

___

let the slow(ish) burn, slow burn.

masterlist :)

Taglist: @snubug

@cmleitora

@izzy-marvel

@aquangxl

@morenofilm

@viennakarma

@simpingcorner

[sparklecryptid]

The Folgers "Incest" Commercial and the Internet

the internet doesn't know how to engage with things that make them uncomfortable or self reflective and im a killjoy

TODAY ON: The Internet is once again Hitting My Buttons and I have been Enabled (shoutout to @fatalism-and-villainy for reminding me of my BEEF WITH THIS SPECIFIC MEME) so now you are all going to listen to me rant about why I get so fucking annoyed with the meme that grew out of the Folgers Brother and Sister Commercial.

This is the commercial in question:

Is the acting weird and stilted? Yes. Does the whole thing remind me of bring a teenager and having awkward interactions with the family members I haven't seen in a long time? Also yes. Does this commercial commit the crime of being suggestive? Does it commit the crime of making it seem like the brother and sister are in a *gasp. pearl clutching. etc.* incestuous relationship? No. It doesn't. The acting is bad. The camera angles suck. The lighting is terrible. The script could be more natural. These are valid criticisms of the ad. The fact that a meme culture jumped up around the siblings in this ad making them into an incest joke makes me wonder if we all need to go back to elementary school Language Arts.

Granted I do take the view that messaging in media can be interpreted by others however they please so I know I've already lost some of you and that's chill, I am not here to convince I am here to rant.

Also like. My guys. My gals. My nonbinary pals. The intention of the creator matters. The creator of this stunted and poorly acted commercial did not intend for the internet to read this as an incestuous relationship.

(That doesn't matter to the internet, and is of little relevance here, but it is still important to note.

"But Moose," You say and I already know where you are going with it, "We know that, that's why it's funny to meme!"

"I know," I reply with a sigh that speaks of having just completed three end of term group projects, "But at the moment I'm taking the words incest and incestuous away from you because none of you can be trusted to use it to describe the thing it is made to describe and siblings just being siblings.")

The internet has decided its a funny haha to giggle at the bad acting here. That's fine! It's fine! You do you! I am simply a fellow on the internet that gets annoyed too easily! It's fine! The author is dead and the internet took over and nothing matters ever.

We're here to talk about how one of the reasons this commercial took off so fast as a meme is likely because it showed an awkwardly acted familial relationship that made people uncomfortable because it showed an attempt sincerity and sincerity is cringe. The internet around the time the memes took off was full of people who would rather make jokes about being affectionate toward your sibling than ever admit that sibling relationships are complicated things and that *gasp* being sincere with a sibling you have a good relationship with isn't uncommon! Admitting that you like your sibling might ruin your cool guy street online cred! Admitting you don't get the joke might make people make fun of you!*

Admitting that you're afraid of self-reflection and being forced to confront why you would rather these two characters be in an incestuous relationship than just be siblings is scary!

AND THAT is why this commercial annoys me! Because these memes are seem like they are laughing at a poorly acted aid that at least made an attempt to be sincere about how it portrayed a brother and sister relationship! Is the commercial cringe? Yes. Does the acting suck? Yes. Is the commercial implying anything? No. It's not. You guys just can't imagine something being cringe and sincere and are stuck on the heteronormative imagining that any relationship between a man and a woman has to be sexual if it is to mean anything.

*why i was on the bandwagon for so long. i am not good at Getting The Joke in real life why would I be any better online?

[swift-perseides]

Scrolled through the Eurovision tag, and it's...fascinating how people simply just. Don't care about Palestine.

I've been a fan of Eurovision for 8 years. Never missed one live. I'm also a "fan", so to say, of people not getting massacred. And if I can't, physically by myself alone, stop the decades-long genocide in Palestine by Israel, then I do what I can do on my scale, and the LEAST I can do is not watching Eurovision. It's the very least I can do. It's the very least WE can do.

And don't try the "You wouldn't get it, it's such an important moment for the gay and trans community", I'm a bisexual trans man. Eurovision was important to me for those reasons too, BEFORE. Representation shouldn't come at the cost of millions of deaths, of lives destroyed, of the culture and history of an entire population being methodically erased. I don't care about wanting more representation for my fellow queer siblings. I don't care that Hamas would kill me for not being cis and straight, bitch you think I give a fuck about what they think of me ? I want Palestine free. I want the memory of the millions of Palestinians dead by Israel's hands respected.

And by just "skipping Israel's performance", by posting memes, thirst pics of the male contestants, predictions, or gushing about the performance, then no. I'm sorry, but no, you are not respecting the victims of this genocide in the slightest right now.

I'm not putting a gun to your head telling you not to watch it. If it's truly "Your only good moment of joy in this awful world", then go for it (and also seek a therapist, because relying on 1 single show once a year to be truly happy, be it Eurovision or anything else, is definitely not healthy, and I'm not saying that to be mean). If it's truly "your right to watch", then okay.

It's also the right of everyone else to use the Eurovision tag to speak of Palestine. And if that makes you feel guilty...

... it's between you and your morals I guess.

Ps: I have disabled the anons on my blogs a looooong time ago. If you want to tell me I'm an asshole, have the courage to say it to me without the username hidden 😙

[ladyzirkonia]

Welcome my dear fellows.

I made another bigger update to my main Masterlist now The Bad Batch season 3 ended. Added some OC stuff (we love OCs in this house!) and a lot of GIFs and Edits. Have fun! 🖤

RP-blogs:

Renegade 99 Squad Crosshair - @toothpick-man

Nite Owl RP-blog - @nite-owl-with-attitude

Knife skill challenge - Hunter and Nite Owl

bg3-blog: @lady-of-waterdeep

Z's suicide squad

Jurij ''just Doc'' Vega - Cybernetic specialist, mad scientist and clone activist - Doc's Masterlist

Ekaterina ''Captain Z'' Zhakov - Ex-Imperial, starfighter pilot and Rampart's chaotic pain in the ass - Introduction

Fanfiction

Collecting some data - Tech x Reader (''Fascinating'')

The perfect drift - Tech x Reader

Eye Rolls & Travel-Biscuits - A little Rampart One-Shot

The Bad Batch Modern Tattoo Shop AU - Tech and Crosshair/OC

Commander Ghoul x Doc - OC x OC (Part 1 - Part 2)

The Clone x Reader Bingo Event

Masterlist here.

My Edits (please credit if you use)

The Bad Batch

Tech in ''The Crossing''

My favorite twins - Tech and Crosshair

The First Battle Memorial of Geonosis - Crosshair

Tech in ''Faster'' - Part 1

Tech in ''Faster'' - Part 2

Neon lights Part 2 - Hunter

Neon lights - Crosshair

Angry boy Crosshair

Looking respectfully - Tech and Hunter

Good morning - Crosshair

Grumpy Crosshair, Wrecker and Lula

The clone/Twi'lek couple

Commander Mayday

Tech in ''The Metamorphosis''

The Bad Batch Season 3

Masterlist - PART 1 - PART 2

The Clone Wars

Juicy Jesse looking at me - with Kix

Look at these crazy boys - Bad Batch (Clone Wars)

Sassy Cody and Baby Rex

Phantom Liberty video edit - Commander Fox

It's hard to be the one who survives - Commander Cody

The faces of Commander Wolffe

Code red - Commander Fox

Masterlist Here.

The Bad Batch and Clone stuff

Incorrect Quotes

Commander Wolffe and Commander Fox

Our favorite twins - Tech and Crosshair

Bad Batch incorrect quote

Memes and rumbles

Mr. tits and Mr. I'm standing there like a model - Jesse and Tech

Every day I wake up meme with Tech

Lost my fucking cat - Crosshair

Shoutout to all my clone- and tech-girlies - Tech x Phee

protective clone (The Last Of Us) submission

The Tech-Turn

I belong with Wrecker but I fear for my spine - Bad Batch quiz

The Kinner Brothers and Cidgor

I have to confess this man does something to me - Dr. Hemlock

Hunter - Joel Miller era

Echo and some grief

The Crossing

Just some random Star Wars stuff

Mandalorian armor culture

Mandalorian tenets or the six actions

Patental divorce - Mando'a

Real talk - about shipping and romances

Space Utah appreciation post

Grief - Tech x Phee and Kanan x Hera

Ahsoka Trailor Star Wars Celebration - Screenshots

I'm so excited for my favorite blueberry! - Ezra Bridger

Were is Captain Rex? Is he safe? Is he alive? - Ahsoka Trailer

Jedi Survivor got me like this

Hottest shit on the Mandalorian throne - Darth Maul

Mandalorian women and light saber - Bo-Katan and Sabine

Cyberpunk 2077 (photomode)

Chippin in - Johnny

Who allowed you smiling like that? - Johnny

Just hanging around - Johnny

Hey choom - Johnny

[gay-dorito-dust]

Sooo I've been reading your re4 fics and I've been loving them! ✨️ I like how you depict Leon (ngl 👏🏾 that's my fav version of bb boi). While munchin at the re4 buffet table (thanks to the remake) I've been seeing drabbles/hc of Leon and current memes, but like Leon isn't gunna know any meme/joke past '98.

Not to speak bad about the posts. I truly love them and understand they're for comedic purposes. (The 🥚 post come on now 😽 delicious)

It just got me thinking (😏 iykyk), what memes do you think Leon would get? Like if reader or oc referenced a meme/joke that's an inkling past the 2000s, I think Leon (all vers) would either laugh/pity laugh () cause he doesn't get it or and tell you he doesn't get it and inquiring about it. Some of your re4 posts have a dash of humor in them, so that's why I asked.

Sorry for the long post. Take care and put your health first. ♥️✨️

(Sorry for any typos)

Firstly I want to thank you very much for taking the time out of your day to read my resident evil stuff, and I’m even more thankful that you like how I depict Leon. I honestly thought I would do shit. So once again, massive thank you for taking your time to read my stuff. 🦦

If anything this felt like an entire post about how little Leon knows about memes….tbh he probably called them ‘me me’ or ask why there was a second e in meme before you tell him that’s it silent.

That’s an excellent question and I know other people will have their opinions and I’d love to hear what others think, whether it’s the exact opposite of mine or other wise. I’m always open to hear out anyone and everyone.

So, I genuinely believe that Leon would have a better time with memes that are straightforward in what they’re about, compared to the ones where he’s expected to be up to date on modern forms of media.

His job doesn’t exactly grants him a lot of free time to catch up on everything that he’s missed that he might as well make a list like Steve Rogers does in Captain America: the winter soldier.

You’re absolutely right in saying that Leon would laugh and or pity laugh at some of the memes due to your differing senses of humour; though that is entirely dependant on what type of humour you’re into.

So if you’re one to likes memes along the lines of;

‘me and the boys,’

‘Is this a butterfly?’

Markiplier’s Farquaad ‘E’ meme

And the ‘tuxedo Winnie the Pooh’ meme (aka the ‘a fellow man of culture’ meme)

Then he will not get them at all and will need you to explain to him what the context of the memes were and why they were inherently funny to people nowadays.

Leon would defiantly do the age old ‘eye squint and moving the phone closer to him’ thing when looking at the memes you show him.

Bonus if the meme in question was poking fun at how people of an older generation reads memes.

I think he recognises some obscure meme that probably wasn’t even funny to begin with but is funny to him and he’d be like ‘I understood that reference.’

To me, Leon S. Kennedy is the Steve Rogers of memes, he doesn’t know many of them but once he does, he makes everyone aware that he does, whether by a snicker or outward acknowledgment.

This might just be me projecting but he’d torture Ashley with the infamous dad jokes. It doesn’t even matter if Leon like them himself, he just knows it annoys Ashley and he’s willing to continue doing it cuz he’s a little shit.

Ashley: I’m tired

Leon: hi tired, I’m Leon.

Ashley: 😒

Leon: 😎

Hate to be the one to say it but he probably likes those Facebook minion memes… I don’t know why but then again I’d say the same for Ethan Winters but that’s neither here nor there.

Overall thing to take away; Leon is a little cringe and likes minion memes, dad jokes, and the like. He’s got really shit taste in humour, plz help this man, he needs to be exposed to bigger and better things.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Stephen Knight

Published: Apr 1, 2024

Once again, an interview with evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins is inspiring a significant amount of brain melt on social media.

There’s an odd feeling of relief generated by witnessing the man most famous for inspiring global sceptical and atheist movements continue to resist the lunacy of progressive dogma. Especially when so many previously sane people have fallen for it so spectacularly. But I suppose that’s the difference between an actual critical thinker and a poseur.

The interview in question was on LBC. You can watch a clip of the most ‘controversial’ section below:

In the clip, Dawkins reiterates that he is not a believer in the claims of Christianity, and is “pleased” to see a decline in belief in Christianity. He describes himself as a “cultural Christian” however and says he thinks it would be worse if Islam dominated our culture in place of Christianity.

He says he holds this view because he believes Islam to be especially hostile to women and gay rights. He’s also very clear and careful to make the distinction between Islamic ideas and Muslims in general or as a whole.

It’s worth pointing out that despite the celebrations from my fellow culture warriors that Dawkins has finally ‘caught up’ and seen the light—the reality is that Richard Dawkins has been open about his ‘cultural Christian’ identity for a long time. Not to mention his criticism of Islam. This interview does not reveal anything new to those of us familiar with his work.

What is especially telling however is the amount of people now hurling the accusation of “Islamophobe” in Richard Dawkins’s direction, such as Mehdi Hasan.

In doing so, they have inadvertently revealed what many of us have often argued: that they simply use the word ‘islamophobia’ to mean ‘blasphemy’ rather than describing genuine bigotry towards Muslims—given there isn’t a single instance of bigotry towards people in Dawkins’s words.

Richard Dawkins was absolutely right to single out Islam for criticism. Those who are honest in their criticism of religion will have noticed that not all religious ideologies are the same—either due to their doctrinal contents, or the way in which they are practiced and understood in the current day. Some religious ideas really are preferable to others.

I think Sam Harris provided the best explanation of this important distinction with the following sports analogy:

Religion is a term like sports: Some sports are peaceful but spectacularly dangerous (“free solo” rock climbing); some are safer but synonymous with violence (mixed martial arts); and some entail little more risk of injury than standing in the shower (bowling). To speak of sports as a generic activity makes it impossible to discuss what athletes actually do or the physical attributes required to do it. What do all sports have in common apart from breathing? Not much. The term religion is hardly more useful.

And this is a truth that appeared to lead to the complete redundancy of organised atheism, especially in America. It was all fun and games patting each other on the back for mocking those crackpot Christian Republicans or sharing Flying Spaghetti Monster memes—but a lot of balls seemed to suddenly fall off when it came to saying anything useful about the bigger threat of global fundamentalist Islam.

American atheism has been utterly infected with dogmatic ‘progressive’ cowardice—exemplified by the fact numerous American atheist organisations condemned and cut ties with Richard Dawkins for asking some mild questions about gender self-ID.

Online drama aside, this whole discussion about the function of our Christian culture in the modern era does raise some interesting, yet potentially uncomfortable questions for me and my fellow secular atheists.

In the past, I had hoped—perhaps naively—that my fellow leftists would fill our cultural ‘god shaped hole’ with a staunch secular liberalism built on enlightenment principles. Instead, what we saw was the emergence of new godless religions.

These new ideologies are dogmatic and hostile to science, free expression and women in ways that could give conservative religion a run for its money. A vindictive, authoritarian, godless culture of cancellation was born.

And as many of us have previously warned until we were blue in the face, this was always going to have the undesired effect of making Christianity seem more appealing to a whole new generation—as well as inspiring older generations to reconnect with their faith in response to what they perceive to be the replacement of their culture and identity with something far worse.

On a personal note, I have just recently, over the space of a few months attended two funerals for close family members. Both of these funeral services were Christian in nature—including the singing of hymns and readings from the bible by the vicar.

And if I’m being honest, there was something comforting about all of us being unified in a familiar tradition to pay tribute to people we loved. It was a very Church of England affair.

Losing people you love is an especially difficult time. The anxiety inducing, guilt ridden question of “what are we supposed to do now?” is made slightly easier by the existence of a shared, familiar tradition we can all recognise and participate in. We all knew the steps to this dance.

It was a great honour to fulfil the role of pallbearer on both occasions. A tradition with roots in Roman/Christian tradition. Of course, Christianity is not necessary to sing songs and carry coffins—but we absolutely wouldn’t be doing these things, in the synchronicity and understanding with which we did them, were it not for the influence of our Christian culture.

Did I think about god or Jesus at any time? Of course not. That’s all nonsense. And the eulogy I read was entirely secular. But was it deeply meaningful and comforting that a room full of people I cared about united in a familiar tradition to pay tribute to people we loved? Of course it was.

This is the kind of thing Dawkins maintains his affection for—dignified tradition. And it’s very difficult to argue that secularism can, at this time, provide an equally uniting alternative, despite the efforts of humanist organisations to do so.

The simple truth is that Christianity had a head start on our culture, and whether you are practicing, non-practicing or a committed anti-theist, the cultural impact of Christianity appears to be here to stay. And whether this is a good or bad thing compared to the alternatives on offer is a perfectly legitimate topic for anyone to grapple with. 

Despite new “woke” ideology achieving little more than creating a massive PR win for conservative Christianity, we should never be complacent enough to forget how things were when Christianity had the run of it however. As the late, great Christopher Hitchens warned us:

“Many religions now come before us with ingratiating smirks and outspread hands, like an unctuous merchant in a bazaar. They offer consolation and solidarity and uplift, competing as they do in a marketplace. But we have a right to remember how barbarically they behaved when they were strong and were making an offer that people could not refuse.”

So, I will continue to push back on the encroachment of Christianity (or any worldview) in the direction of secularism and liberal freedoms. I happen to be someone who doesn't need Christianity for anything, but it would be dishonest to pretend I didn't understand its value to some people, some of the time. And it would also be dishonest to pretend that Christian tradition—if we are going to have a tradition—isn't preferable to Islam or woke lunacy.

But I’d much prefer an alternative to both options of course—so I once again appeal to my fellow secular leftists to reacquaint themselves with staunch liberal, secular enlightenment values, before it’s too late. If it isn’t already.

==

For years I had to put up with Islam apologists and useful idiots insisting to me that Islam wasn't a religion of totalitarianism, worldwide supremacy and thought control.

Mehdi Hasan has proven them wrong. I was right.

Reminder: it's completely okay to hate Islam. Islam isn't a person. It's a set of ideas, tenets and beliefs, and you can hate it as much as you want without any guilt or shame.

[north-wilkesboro-moonshine-cave]

*gets hit with the f1 ask game beam*

tagged by both @oxygenpdf and @flyingcakeee!! Thanks <3

Who is your favorite driver?

I'm a new fan and I haven't begun properly my Summer Of Race Car Homework so it's all current drivers, but Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant are my faves.

Do you have any other favorite drivers?

I am new, and I honestly like a lot of them. My other faves are probably Zhou Guanyu (fascinated by that man), Yuki Tsunoda (fellow short king), and Oscar Piastri (April Aries Solidarity)

EDIT: FORGOT TO MENTION GEORGE RUSSELL, HAUNTED DOLL OF A MAN WHO I AM VERY INTRIGUED AND COMPELLED BY

Who is your least favorite driver?

I don't really have a least favorite! I don't really know anything about either driver for Haas I guess. So maybe them by default? My sister went to a robotics meet this year sponsored by Haas and decided she will root against them forever because of that meet tho. (this is possibly one of her funniest choices. she does not pay attention to motorsports at all, and only glances over my shoulder to ask how bad things are going for Haas)

Do you pull for drivers or do you like teams as well?

I am definitely driver based, but I picked the Williams team (more on this later) because I managed to catch the portion of pre-season testing where Albon was in the commentary box doing his champagne bit and I like. immediately decided I was rooting for him and Williams by extension. But bc of how i engage with sports I definitely also like teams (sorta. race car homework will decide how much I do later maybe)

If you like teams, what team do you pull for?

Williams (Albon and Logan and then got hit with Lia Block in F1Academy. Lia Block I Would Kill For You) but also Sauber (I pick teams based on color frequently and that green matched my hair last year, and is my fave type of green)

If you could take over as team principal for any team, who would it be and why?

Please christ do not put me in any situation of leadership. Just make me be in charge of like. whatever fuckin weird challenges they make em do on grill the grid. That i would be okay at I think.

How long have you been in F1

Uhhhh....February this year? I was *aware* of it and had friends into it before, and I knew like Hamilton and Verstappen before this year, and I knew who Schumacher was (VAGUELY!) but uh yeah. New Entry. New As Hell Entry, Even.

What got you into F1?

This is actually very funny. A couple buddies of mine have joked that they were gonna get me into motorsports for AGES, because it is "the perfect sport for me" and our new year resolution was to begin that process with nascar, since its "my cultural heritage as a redneck." (this is DEEPLY true and I cannot deny my family ties to nascar, redneckery, and general car silliness) February rolls around and Hamilton to Ferrari gets announced and I, recognizing who Lewis Hamilton is and being deeply surprised by the tumblr news bulletin text my friends to check in on em.

Group response is, "JESUS CHRIST!"

The following response is something to the tune of: "We're changing it up actually. Gee, you love sketchy business practices, financial crime, adrenaline junkie tendencies, weird contract trivia, AND athletes who are weird as fuck, Gee. We're starting you with F1 instead. have fun, please enjoy white collar crime and car racing. we will give u homework when the semester's over" And they did.

So I started following blogs posting memes, binged a few seasons of dts and analyzed the editing bc im a reality tv scholar in my heart and also the editing in that show is FASCINATING TO ME, and started watching highlights and found ways to watch the races, and boy. its a lot of fun! I was really surprised how chatty everyone is/seems to be in the fandom (and in the sports fandoms I guess?) so that's definitely helped.

Do you enjoy fanfic/rpf?

I will read literally any kind of fanfiction if the AU pitch is wild enough and boy does athlete rpf give writers good stuff to work with. I'm a former fanfic editor/beta reader, if the concept compels me I am here for it. Also, I love enabling crazy aus (hi wiz! <3) even if im not an rpf writer myself.

How do you view new fans?

I *AM* a new fan! I try to be conscious of my relative newness, but I'm enthusiastic to be here and having fun. So. Hope that's working!

Are your friends and family into F1 as well?

No, but we're a nascar family and we used to always be on a little family trip to my grandparents' house during the same week as the Indy500, so growing up we'd all be very sunburned and therefore hiding out inside while that race was on, so I grew up watching the indy500 (very different from nascar but this is also my fams only interaction with indy). I'm working on getting into nascar for the family, and Indy just to be the family's indycar and f1 correspondent.

For the friends, I do have those friends into f1 and theyre all gems and some of the oddest people I've ever experienced (very much the lesbians/gays who watch all sports stereotype), however the Car Chatter has always gone over my head until this year, but ya know. you move away and get busy so keeping track of hobbies and sports is hard when you arent religiously blocking someone every time a rivalry match goes down lol

Are you open to talking to other fans/making friends?

Of course! I am a very extroverted and social person I love making friends <333

i'll be real i have no clue who has and hasnt been tagged yet so im just gonna throw some names out and hope at least one of yall hasnt gotten this notification already lmao and if u haven't been tagged yet but follow me and would like to answer questions, consider this me tagging u spiritually

@two-tyred-problems, @wisteriagoesvroom, @stockcarbaby24 and @kissingwalls

[dukeofankh]

hey i really really appreciate your posts abt purity culture, desire and objectification and your perspective as an ex-evangelical!! having been born and raised a jew myself i've always been aware of how bullshit all of that stuff is, but not really able to articulate it as specifically as you seem able to, and i find your eloquence really impressive. with that known, i actually have a specific thing that's been bothering me, and i think it's an evangelical purity culture based thing, and hinges on that distinction you made in a post abt a week ago abt how to a lot of people "objectification" = "looking with lust" = "basically adultery"-- okay here goes:

on gay tiktok, there is currently a trend of women (or some nb ppl) who are attracted to women commenting on thirst-traps posted by women the memetic phrase "i am no better than a man".

now this really rubs me the wrong way for a lot of reasons (mainly: contextually this is almost always on videos that are INTENDED to be sexy so why is it weird to find this woman, who filmed and edited this video to be sexy, sexy?? AND what the hell do you mean abt gender by saying this???? women can't desire people?? men can only desire in predatory ways???), and it's weird in that specific way where i'm like. i smell weird cultural christian values embedded in this. but i can't quite articulate the way it all fits together.

this may be way out of line for me to bother you in your inbox like this, but i was hoping to get your take? your ability to explain this stuff clearly and with context i never knew existed is really valuable and while i have seen people responding on tumblr to say "uhhh don't say this", they haven't really articulated what's driving people to say such a specific thing, so much that it becomes a meme.

if u feel this isn't something you want to speak on, that's totally fine! and i just want to say thank you again for your thoughtful posts.

also i feel very weird abt dropping this veritable essay in your inbox so sorry!!

No worries! I love to talk, and I already have opinions on that particular meme 😆.

You've definitely gotten the gist of it, yeah. It's a bunch of unexamined sexist ideas about sex and desire repackaged in the sort of fun memey "it's not that deep, chill out" shell that absolutely thrives on social media. Some of it's Christian, some of it is the radfem repackaging of Christian ideas.

Basically, the version of Sexual Objectification championed by radfem writers like Dworkin was adapted from Immanuel Kant, a Christian philosopher/theologian, so it's not just cultural Christianity, it's also a direct intellectual connection. They just changed the idea from "all people, when overtaken by lust, cease to see people as people and can see them only as means to achieve their sinful sexual gratification. This cannot be avoided, but can be balanced out by keeping sex within a marriage that is otherwise built on commitment and respect," to "Men, when overtaken by lust, cease to see women as people and can see them only as a means to achieve their sinful sexual gratification (due to their patriarchal training to harm and dominate). This cannot be avoided, especially not by marriage, which is one of the main ways the Patriarchy codifies the subjugation of women to men."

Basically, Radfems and Christians get along because Radfems feel the same way about masculine sexuality that Christian men feel about their own sexuality. As for women...both Radfems and more modern Christians are pretty sure that women don't Do Lust in the same way men do. Like, women see people as ends in and of themselves, as fellow Subjects. Men see women as objects. As means to an end, that end being their own sexual gratification.

A few decades later and after a fair bit of social media iteration, we get to this weird point.

What they're basically saying is, "god damn. I swiped onto this thirst trap and I didn't even think about your personality or your accomplishments or anything. I literally just saw big jiggly titties and that's all I can think about. I am sexually attracted to you, and yet it isn't reflective of your soul or a deep connection between us or anything, despite the fact that I'm a woman and I'm supposed to be above just liking your body and that turning me on. Huh. This is what I have heard people describe men's sexuality as being like. You are so sexy that you are causing me to act as badly as men do."

See also: the way tiktok has redefined "the male gaze" and "the female gaze" to just mean "stuff men vs. women respectively like to look at" with most explicitly sexualized visual media being assigned to the former. Women are supposed to like things subtler than that.

Like, saying "I am no better than a man" could be a push to re-examine whether maybe a celibate 18th century theologian/philosopher is a bad foundation for your understanding of sexual desire. I would like to think that for some of these women it probably is sparking self reflection, going "huh, yeah, I guess we all do this."

But as a meme, honestly, even as it claims to lower ones own status I think it still maintains a claim of moral superiority? Like, "yeah, I'm being a horndog, but I am self aware about it. I can tell that I'm being horny on main right now, and it's something that has been conditionally activated by this very sexy thirst trap. Men are like this all the time and they don't even know."

I, obviously, don't like that. I don't like people saying "I'm acting like a man" when they mean "I'm perving on you", I don't like ranking a lack of desire as being better than desire, I don't like ranking genders or better or worse than another. I don't think it's causing problems as much as it's reflecting problems that have been there for a long time, but hey, it stinks.

[bashsbooks]

Iron Widow Book Review

★★★★★ ~ 5 out of 5 stars

Due to its popularity on Tiktok and Tumblr, I have long heard rumors about Xiran Jay Zhao’s Iron Widow. I tend to be skeptical about social media hype, but after a friend recommended it to me personally, I added it to my to-read list, forgot about it for like a year, and then promptly remembered it when I was figuring out what books to read for my 2023 reading challenges. And as soon as I started reading, I was like, “Oh shit. I should’ve read this sooner.” 

Iron Widow lives up to the hype. Actually, it smashes through the hype and goes way past what I expected. Set in a futuristic alternative universe based on Chinese history and mythology, Iron Widow follows Xu Zetian as she volunteers to be a concubine-pilot, a deadly but supposedly necessary role required to power Chrysalises, which are basically giant supersuits used to fight off aliens. Concubine-pilots usually die in the process of powering Chrysalises, though their families are heavily compensated for this sacrifice. At the beginning of Iron Widow, Zetian is desperate to get vengeance for her sister was forced to become a concubine-pilot by their family - and then murdered by a male pilot before she could. (Interestingly enough, piloting the Chrysalises is not deadly for men - usually.) So Zetian volunteers with the ulterior motive of killing her sister’s murderer and quickly finds out that everything she knows - about the piloting system, gender and social dynamics, about the war - is a lie. 

Although the patriarchy is a primary antagonist in Iron Widow, not every man in the book sucks  sucks; in fact, Zetian manages to find not one but two love interests in Gao Yizhi, the son of the richest man in the country, and Li Shimin, a man who murdered his whole family (for good reasons, he’s valid) and is only being kept alive because he’s the best damn pilot in the war. As a hater of love triangles and a lover of fellow bisexual men, I am pleased to report that Yizhi and Shimin are also very interested in each other. 

Iron Widow contains such a nuanced and fascinating take on how the patriarchy fucks over everyone. Zetian is understandably upset with the way women are treated, but she learns over the course of the novel that things aren’t all sunshine and roses for men, either. This does not diminish her passion for fighting for women (and indeed, it is never really poised as a competition of who has it worse; it’s pretty clear that it’s by-and-large worse for women), but it allows her to see men as fellow humans rather than inherently The Enemy. 

Zetian is also disabled, having had her feet broken and bound from a young age to turn them into ‘lotus feet’, which are considered beautiful in her culture. She has trouble walking, even with the aid of a cane, and she constantly feels pain in her feet. This is a central aspect of her character, not an afterthought, and it’s woven into the novel thoughtfully. It parallels and interweaves with the novel’s exploration of gender and gendered expectations - much like Zetian cannot be reduced to the caricature of womanhood expected of her, nor can she be reduced to a caricature of her physical disability. Instead, the integration of these aspects into her character are complex. Her successes are not in spite of her womanhood and her bound feet, but because of them, and that makes her all the richer as a protagonist.

I love Iron Widow, and I’m happy to recommend it with a full 5 out of 5 stars. Its sequel, Heavenly Tyrant, comes out in August, and I can’t wait to read it. Xiran Jay Zhao, Iron Widow’s author, is here on Tumblr (@/xiranjayzhao) and they have already posted some Heavenly Tyrant memes to tide me over until then. (And if you like authors commenting on their books outside of the text, then I recommend following their Tumblr after you’ve finished Iron Widow.)

[malcolm-reeds-pineapple]

Happy 28th birthday to this iconic moment in Canadian history!!

On February 15th, 1996, former Canadian prime minister, Jean Chrétien created this could-be meme format by putting a protester in a chokehold. The photo of the event became known by many Canadians as the Shawinigan Handshake; a joke about the prime minister’s home town.

Now, this dude bred controversy man. Like any politician, you go to the controversy page of his Wikipedia page and all of them have full articles associated with them. This controversy, while having its own Wikipedia page, is barely even a controversy compared to everything else. In fact, the now 90-year-old man allegedly will still take photos reenacting the event. Notable examples being comedian Rick Mercer and current prime minister Justin Trudeau. There’s a Shawinigan microbrewery that has a beer depicting the event on the label. The label uses the likenesses of Chrétien and hockey commentator and fellow controversy-machine: Don Cherry.

So where did this come from? Why did the prime minister of Canada have this protester in a chokehold? Well, this may come as a shock, but Canada has only ever had two political assassinations: D’rcy McGee, 1868 and Pierre LaPorte, 1970. However that has not stopped people from trying.

Three months before the infamous Shawinigan Handshake photo was taken on Flag Day, Jean Chrétien survived an assassination attempt. Much like the president of the US, the PM resides in a publicly known address: 24 Sussex Street in Ottawa. A separatist snuck into the house in the early morning with a knife with the intention to slit Chrétien’s throat. The attack was narrowly missed due to (allegedly) the random chance of Chrétien’s wife Aline being up and spotting him.

So my man is tormented by the traumatic experience of almost getting killed in his sleep both by his own brain and the opposition. Needless to say, he’s a little on edge as he’s at this Flag Day ceremony, even more so when his security detail seemingly breaks up. Then, BAM! A protester is in his face. Having grown up a bit of a scrapper and having assassination on his mind, the PM (around 60 at the time) takes the guy in a chokehold, and the rest is history.

On a quick aside, four years later, Chrétien was pie’d by a protester and, this part seems relatively unclear, but it seems he had a trauma response to it. For whatever reason, the opposition decided this was fair game to bring up in the House of Commons. and one Tory MP was quoted as saying “next time it may not be a pie” which was interesting phrasing. However, this wasn’t new as they felt it was appropriate to make an ableist attack ad in 1993. The ad was regarding the appearance of his mouth, a result of a condition called Bell’s Palsy but that’s another story.

Anyway, thanks for tuning into Heritage Minutes with Goon! A show all about the funny and fact of modern Canadian politics and culture. Tune in next time to learn about the beginnings of Definitely Not The Opera: a tale of a nation hating opera so much that they fucking killed it.

PS Tumblr sucks and isn’t letting me add links so I’ll RB with sources in just a second. Hilariously I’m not embellishing this much at all.

[powerpuff2003]

Continuing the critique of online white transfem culture. Many trans women, especially trans women of color, have this critique.

The reason people talk about the "nazi white trans girl" isn't necessarily transmisogyny. For some god damn reason 4chan holds a huge place in online trans culture and that's what irks people out. Obviously any white queer person can be racist and often are racist but for some reason its specifically white transfems with this subculture. Racism is too often tolerated by white queer people but extreme alt right behavior usually is not, which 4chan culture is associated with. It's not singling out white trans women's racism, it's pointing out the obvious.

This isn't my trying to misgender white trans women (I am one myself, after all), but do you guys not question why that WW2 strategy game is part of "online trans culture"? Which country do you think they choose to play with? I have a guess lol. Sorry but I never see this behavior from cis queer women.

I don't see white cis queer women online posting pics with Wehrmacht uniforms nor do I see them making memes about the Fourteen Words nor do I see their pages filled with Pepe the frog. Either I'm uninformed about cis queer women and enlighten me or don't call it transmisogynistic when people call this weird behavior of online white trans women out. I have to say this phenomenon is largely online and I haven't heard white trans women behaving similarly irl, but someone has to explain what the hell is going on here.

My guess is that pre-transition trans women pick up these behaviors from cis het white male peers (because some trans women are gender conforming pre-transition, whereas I was feminine and had mostly female friends) and then just never realize these behaviors are problematic or drop them later on.

These are the kinds of behaviors and fandoms I see active in the r/196 and r/traaaa subcultures which is why I am not at all sad about them being shut down.

Another thing that I've also noticed, is that this specific subculture also seems creepily fixated on these lolicon-esque characters i.e. Felix/Ferris, Astolfo, Bridget. Particularly the "trap" aesthetic aka what a cis chaser thinks a trans woman is. Not to make any accusations but I do get the vague feeling that at least SOME of these people are former chasers who transitioned. I don't want to misgender anybody but this specific subculture undeniably does have a cis man's idea of trans women ingrained into them and its harmful. The fact that anyone thinks these characters are GOOD representation and aesthetics for trans people shows how low the bar is, honestly. These characters being trans is often played for shock value (especially Ferris), these characters are the animated equivalent of Jerry Springer trans woman scenes.

Again I don't wanna be an asshole but its just.....I expect fellow trans women to be better than this. I think its totally valid that me and many of the other trans women I know are deeply uncomfortable with this subculture and want no part of it.

Edited at 11:30 PM 6/14/2023 to be written in my own words as my friend didn't want her tweets shown.

[wellofhavoc]

idk if this has gone on for multiple years and i just haven't heard about it because i don't really watch the olympics, but i think we need to analyze why there are two really common lies (not mistranslations, LIES) about two totally separate olympic athletes and how their statements were translated into english. why are people who speak other languages not worthy of having everything done in one's power to understand them? why must we instead create funny little scenarios where a man publicly asks his divorced wife for his dog back or a woman initiates a harmful, transphobic attack on a fellow athlete? do we think it is so funny when we see a man publicly make a statement on divorce as long as he's asking for something and diminishing his accomplishment at the HIGHEST measure of his skill possible for his sport of choice by pairing it with this image? i don't particularly find divorcees to be a negative thing personally, but what does it say about our culture? can we only talk about this turkish man's accomplishments paired with something we find to set him down a peg? make him human? why is the only news that blows up regarding competitors from other countries ALWAYS in the context of a meme or outrage?

[brassandblue]

ALASTOR (the RADIO DEMON) // INTEREST TRACKER

MUSE STATUS: PRIMARY

(By liking this post, you are indicating interest in plotting with this character, and are OK with me sending memes/prompts to your inbox!)

NAME: Alastor

PSEUDONYM(S): The Radio Demon; Al

TITLE(S): Overlord

OCCUPATION: Sinner Demon/Demon Overlord/Radio Host/Whole Lotta Murder

SEX/GENDER/PRONOUNS: Male, he/him

SEXUALITY: Asexual

FACECLAIM: ---

AGE: Died in his 30s/40s

NATIONALITY/ETHNICITY: American/United States; mixed-race Creole

HEIGHT: 6'4"

BUILD/BODY TYPE: Tall, thin, wiry, broad shoulders

HAIR: Red (As a human: Black)

EYES: Red (As a human: Dark amber-gold)

PINTEREST BOARD

ALL ABOUT ALASTOR:

**Sources on Vodou, Louisiana Voodoo, Hoodoo and Conjure, can be found at the bottom of this post.**

-

**WARNING: Hazbin Hotel's canonical material contains blood, gore, cannibalism, murder, suggestive and potentially sexually explicit content. Alastor's wiki and comic are to be viewed with discretion.**

-

**NOTE #1:** (Written as of 01/26/2024) Most things I have pulled either from canonical instances or "word of God" (hah!) from Vivzie. Some things I have extrapolated, due to the (current) lack of content, and others I have inserted from my own bullshit. The rest is from research from a variety of cultural, religious, and heritage sources. I still try to stick to the core aspects of his character as seen in canon; and he is subject to change when more material becomes available on new episodes this coming January.

**NOTE #2:** To avoid misappropriating New Orleans Voodoo traditions, as well as hoodoo practices, I will be implementing a sound-based magic system to replace the use of veve. Essentially, the veve will NOT be used, and I will have him use musical notations instead. I cannot abide by cultural erasure, however, nor am I entitled to the use of symbols STILL used in religion and folk practices belonging to groups that have been enslaved, colonized, and oppressed. I want to acknowledge Alastor's Creole heritage without appropriating it and without perpetuating harmful depictions of the past.

-

ALASTOR'S BACKGROUND:

Alastor is an Overlord in the Pride Ring of Hell and a notorious deal-making demon-- a former serial killer radio host on Earth in 1930s Louisiana. Once he'd died and arrived in Hell, it is said he suddenly began to wreak havoc, toppling other Sinner Demons (humans who have died and gained power in Hell) with terrifying abilities of reality and shadow manipulation. He became feared by the denizens of the Pride Ring after his massacre and broadcast of the carnage across all of Hell.

In the pilot, Alastor shows up to offer assistance to Charlie Morningstar (Lucifer's daughter/Princess of Hell) with her hotel project to rehabilitate Sinners and hopefully send them to Heaven, thus dealing with the overcrowding of formerly human Sinners in the Pride Ring. Alastor has made it clear, however, that he has no faith in this project working and believes that his fellow Sinners had their chance up on Earth.

His stated reason for wanting to assist Charlie is boredom: Specifically, he gets great enjoyment out of watching Sinners climb and climb, only to end in failure. He claims he's been bored for decades, and in the first episode of the series proper, it's revealed he has been "absent" from Hell for seven years. What he was doing, why, and where he actually was, are all still a mystery.

-

PERSONALITY:

(From the Wiki, linked below. I'll write a proper bio soon enough.)

Alastor stands out from many of the more chaotic residents of hell for his well maintained amiable persona. He gives the first-impression of a good-natured and charming man, wearing a permanently wide grin on his face at all times. Alastor's behavior, mannerisms, and even his voice are similar to an old-fashioned radio announcer and speaks with a transatlantic accent, often using quaint anachronisms such as "the picture show" and refers to Charlie as a "charming demon belle". This playful dandyish exterior, however, obscures a much darker side to him - one with high levels of self-importance - and he will not hesitate to use physical violence when others don't act in line with his very particular values or expectations. Alastor is described as a man of duality. He values good manners, affability and intelligence very highly in others, and will actively look down on those who do not meet his standards, however he will often play fast and loose with these arbitrary rules in regards to himself and his own conduct. His smiling is also a show of power and dominance, and miserable people are seen by him as weak.[23] Alastor has an odd sense of morality, which is described as "not normal",[24] and has been noted to be quite sadistic, even cannibalistic, devouring lesser demons or those that have incurred his anger. Despite this, he keeps close friends with the other cannibals of Hell, including the denizens at the Cannibal Colony. He is noted to be narcissistic, not seeing many people quite up to his level. However, that does not make him reckless. Despite being extremely powerful, Alastor is aware that there are other demons and entities that rival him in terms of power, such as other Overlords. For this reason, he is wary around such demons, as they could potentially harm him if he is not careful.[25] Despite everything, Alastor does genuinely seem to want to help Charlie run the Happy Hotel, albeit for his own amusement and hopes for its failure over siding with her idealism. Alastor also dismisses the idea that redemption is possible as laughable, nevertheless, he fulfills his role as patron as promised, providing the hotel with staff, and protecting Charlie and her business from outside threats. He views the whole endeavor as a fun distraction from his decades of boredom.

POWERS/ABILITIES:

----

-

(WIKI HERE)

(COMIC HERE)

-

**Sources on Vodou, Louisiana Voodoo, Hoodoo and Conjure are below. This list is subject to change over time to be pruned/updated.**

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WEBPAGES/DISCUSSIONS:

"Is voodoo a closed practice?" Answered by a Priest of West African Vodou (Quora)

"Is voodoo a closed practice? If so, who is it open to?" Answered by a Haitian Vodou Initiated Practitioner (Reddit)

"Is hoodoo/voodoo closed?" General discussion (Reddit)

"Who can/can't practise hoodoo/voodoo ?" General discussion (Reddit)

"A Visual Guide to Vèvè: Vodou Symbols and Cosmograms" (VisitHaiti.com)

DIGITAL MEDIA:

Yronwode, Catherine. Hoodoo in Theory and Practice, An Introduction to African-American Rootwork. 2019(?) / (Lucky Mojo Curio Co.)

[Incomplete/Potentially Outdated Bibliography for the Above] via Wayback Machine

Louisiana Voodoo (Wikipedia)

Hoodoo [Spirituality] (Wikipedia)

African Disaspora Religions (Wikipedia)

Kennon, Alexandra. A Conversation with a High Priest of Vodou. 2021 (Country Roads Magazine)

Crone, Moira. Lives of Voodoo in New Orleans. 2012 (Country Roads Magazine)

Lee, Nadia. The Appropriation of Magic: How White People Demonised Voodoo. 2020. (Brizo Magazine)

https://visithaiti.com/haiti-up-close/haitian-vodou-gods-goddesses/

https://visithaiti.com/haiti-up-close/haitian-vodou-revealed/

PRINTED MEDIA:

Seven books on Haitian Vodou (VisitHaiti.com)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0872865746/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0872865746&linkCode=as2&tag=mawozo03-20&linkId=5b0b9aae316802e47b757f6928c4c121

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WARNINGS: RPing with this character may involve sensitive topics such as various world religions/religious beliefs, occultism, murder, s*rial murder, as well as topics on mental illness/depression/PTSD, sexuality/sexual themes, drug addiction/substance abuse, war/violence/gore/injuries, cannibalism.

By liking this post and indicating your interest to engage in RP with this character, you are accepting the above warnings and have read the rules posted here on this blog.

[theonlygaygoldstar]

As a woman of color who is also a goldstar lesbian, I will always tell my fellow WOC to be cautious of white women and white dominant feminism.

Because most of the time when you're around them, they will belittle you and your intelligence, and treat you like a mouth piece. I noticed that every time they want to speak their own mind, they do it by putting those words into a woman of color's mouth. When they don't have real women of color around them due to their racist personalities, they make these woc in their own art work/comic/meme and put their own words into those fictional woc's mouth. It's honestly disgusting.

Also If you end up dating one, then you get to be that lucky "exotic" show piece that she has for "cultural enrichment". Idk, I wouldn't do that to myself no matter how low my self-esteem is, it just couldn't be me.

So what I'm saying is a white women's racism is not that different from a white man's racism.

And as a goldstar lesbian of color, you have to make sure you set your boundaries around these white people, because trust, they will take advantage of you for their own self interests when those boundaries are down.