#DW fandom racism

[rjalker]

fandom worships white men so much everyone will latch onto a rich white guy and come up with fifty thousand reasons why he was definitely the single person in that white supremacist rich kid club who was definitely not racist. Because these people can't stop worshipping white men for five seconds and are desperate to latch onto the first conventionally attractive white man they can find. So now we're going to have to suffer through hundreds of posts worshipping Ricky September and coming up with a million and one explanations and backstories and headcanons pretending that he was definitely not racist because uhhhhhhh *checks notes* he's a white man and white people who haven't bothered unpacking enough racism think he's hot and think being hot means you're automatically a good person.

You people can just not latch onto the first white man you see. I promise you'll survive.

And if you're one of the people doing this, you need to stop and think about why you're so desperate to excuse and exonerate a rich white man living in a society literally designed to foster white supremacy so you can make him your new favorite blorbo.

[rjalker]

or we could not worship the only white man in the episode when he's literally from an entire planet dedicated to white supremacy. it's not anti-colonial to worship white men just because you think they're hot and they're friendly to white people.

The fact that so many people in the fandom have now decided this man is their new favorite blorbo who should have gotten to be a companion, when it's extremely likely that he was just as racist as everyone else is just. Well it's literal racism. It's literally just mindlessly worshipping white men.

This man read their history books. He had nothing to criticize about the system. He was absolutley just as racist and white supremacist as the rest of them. Just because you think he's hot and inherently better than the "bitch" who was given an oppotunity to be racist because he's a white man doesn't mean it's not a huge show of racism on the part of the fandom to worship this man and pretend he's the best new character on the show.

How about stand for the anti-colonial slugs and kneel for the artificial intelligence who said kill the rich white supremacists and then followed through on it. Instead of being upset that killing the rich white supremacists includes killing a white man you all think is hot and therefore morally superior.

[rjalker]

Yes people it is in fact literally white supremacy and patriarchy that have convinced you it's a good idea to desperately latch onto and retcon Ricky Saturday into The Real Victim of White Supremacy™ and make up hundreds of excuses and fake backstories to prove he's not actually racist.

He is a probably billionaire cis white man on a planet literally dedicated to upholding white supremacy. There is no retconning and headcanoning the racism out so you can pretend he's your innocent blorbo who deserved better and the fact that you're all so desperate to try is literally just showing that you still worship white men above all else and think they can do no wrong as long as you think they're hot.

[leikeliscomet]

(Reposting from twitter)

My POV as a Black fan that thinks Dot and Bubble's racism commentary is trash

Rewatched Dot and Bubble and I'm gonna break down from my POV as a Black fan why this episode didn't work for me & why it's an awful racism commentary. Long arse post incoming:

The whole "You should've noticed the cast was all white except for fifteen ha your bias is showing" doesn't work for a show that's been predominantly white for 60+ years. D&B casting has been the default for most of the show so its not abnormal enough to be a racial litmus test. An example is the Matt Smith era The only reoccurring character of colour in s5 (2+ appearances) is Liz 10. Artie n Angie in s7. 0 in s6. RTD's own era isn't fully safe either. For many eps Martha or Mickey are the *only* Black characters. Most POC are side characters or extras.

White fans should be aware of the predominantly white casting of the show but this late in the game feels cheap. Most of the show has gone through 100% white episodes including fan faves and it was never an issue back then bc it was beneficial. This is so hollow. Representing racists as cartoon caricatures SEVERLY underestimates the danger of white supremacy irl. White supremacy is system designed and constructed and rebranded over centuries. It is not accidental. People aren't racist bc they don't know they're racist because they *do* They know the system that oppresses POC, Black people especially, benefits them socially and financially and that is why they participate. Its not stupidity it's intention. That should've been the Finetime core not Lindy goofing around bc the arrows are gone or some shit.

Human Nature showed us racist young people that exercised this power bc they knew this. They may be children but they are still dangerous bc of their views. Martha knew this. The silly tech obsessed gen z angle erases this danger and that of actual gen z white supremacy

Instead of the camp goofy tone we could've gotten a serious focused episode. The slugs and millenial/gen z social media silly distracts from what could've been the main theme of colonisation instead of saving it for 10 mins of exposition at the end & scattering microaggressions. Saving Fifteen's racism scene for a goofy episode was a horrid idea. Spending 30 mins on representing racism as silliness then giving a dramatic dangerous score is the definition of tonal whiplash. Representing his oppressor as a blonde bimbo again does not take this seriously. Fifteen went to 1960s BRITAIN & got through it unscathed. Finetime is a fictional futuristic land but the racism of 1960s Britain was real. If anytime was right it could've been Devil's Chord. Distancing yourself from a panto villain is easy but addressing your history is hard.

The scene itself is incredibly performed so I'll give Ncuti his flowers but what he used this skill for could've been so much more. Having his FIRST SCENE begging to save a racist is disgusting. It isn't Black people's responsibility to show compassion to people that want us dead. Yes the Doctor helps the baddies bc they care. But they're aren't ignorant to prejudice. The liberal anti racism of who is so jarring and why I still think Thin Ice is performative. When white people are angry at injustice it's radical. When it's Black people we're aggressive.

Respectability politics is a tool of white supremacy. That if one pleads and is nice enough they can earn liberation. What would white fans think of Fifteen if he DIDN'T beg Lindy? If your allyship with Black people depends on showing kindness to racists you are NOT an ally.

Next up is Ricky. It was established ALL Finetime citizens have white supremacist views yet Ricky September stans refuse to see him in any negative light. Just like Joan Redfern white dw fans refuse to see racism if a character is likeable. If nice guy Ricky's a racist, then anyone no matter the niceness can be racist too and that's a pill white fans aren't ready to swallow. If racism is systemic and not about individual character, then what's keeping them safe? What happens when YOU are under the microscope.

THIS is why we NEED Black writers in Doctor Who. The nuances, depth and complexity of the Black experience can only be told at it's best by Black creatives and not guessed, assumed or spoken over by white fans and white writers. It's okay to put ego aside and say you don't get it.

"Im white but I loved the Doctor's reaction" "I'm white and i thought the racism commentary was great" "I'm white but i-" Yet again, we have to sit through another round of white and non Black fans of colour dictating Black representation for us. I'm so fucking tired man. AGAIN IM YELLING FROM MY HILLTOP TO WATCH SHOWS BY BLACK WRITERS. Almost EVERY single theme in Dot and Bubble and frankly most of the show has been done WAY better in other media. RTD is not the authority on Black stories. We are. Always have been and always will.

Tl;dr Dot and Bubble is an unserious and tacky racism commentary. It's core message is drowned by more RTD Who camp. Don't tell me this episode was good at representating my own experience. It wasn't. S15 having Black writers isn't a need it's a must. Goodbye.

Reblog this version pls

[tinkerbitch69]

So I just found out something that I think the doctor who fandom should know regarding Martha and the Shakespeare code‼️:

“A proclamation of 1601 declared that the queen was ‘discontented at the great number of [misspelled slur] and [old-timey slur USED by Shakespeare in the episode] that had settled in England since the outbreak of the war with Spain, sixteen years earlier, ‘to the annoyance of her own people’ * and it ordered that they should be deported.”

Source: Shakespeare’s London: everyday life in London 1580-1616 (2011) by Stephen Porter

*empasis mine

I want to stress that Martha’s concerns don’t need to reflect historical reality to be valid. her safety from racist violence while travelling with the doctor should very much be a concern and she is completely right to address it with the doctor straight away!!!

That being said I wanted to share this and point out the doctor’s flippant response is not only ignorant and condescending but completely inaccurate and martha is right to be concerned for her safety. While unlikely that she would be enslaved in London in that time period (to my knowledge) she was very much in danger from prevalent racist attitudes and had they arrived even two years later than they did (1599!) She could have been forcibly deported to god knows where!

Should be remembered in future discussions of the Shakespeare code I think.

[rjalker]

except literally every regeneration is a soft reboot, and this has never been needed before. It's literally just more of Russel T Davies antiblack racism, but everyone wants to pretend that's not a factor at all.

None of this was necessary. It literally only happened because Russel T Davies is still just as racist as he was the first time he was showrunner.

If you are not going to aknowledge the racism, your analysis of this show is legitimately worthless.

NO BECAUSE IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE FROM A NARRATIVE PERSPECTIVE LISTEN.

In 2005 RTD takes over Doctor Who after 16 years off the air. But rather than bringing back the character with the same characterization, RTD gives the Doctor PTSD a la the Time War. This fundamentally changes how the character is written. The Doctor is not the same. Even after Moffat undoes the Time War he continues writing the Doctor in a similar manner.

Fast forward to 2022 when RTD takes over the show again. The Doctor has been running. The character continually ignores their feelings and never talks about their past or the people they traveled with. Companions have been asking the same questions about the Doctor’s behavior. For 17 years.

Rather than continue on with that same characterization, RTD decides to shift the character in a monumental way.

15 has had time to heal. The bi-regeneration is confusing but 15 says he is the way he is because 14 stopped and healed.

15 isn’t just a new incarnation, he’s a new expression of the Doctor. And the best part is, RTD already said that in so many words! He called Ncuti the new new Doctor. THIS IS WHAT HE MEANT.

[starleska]

as i'm posting a lot about the Toymaker it's only fair to address the elephant in room regarding his racist history and characterisation. i feel this is important, especially as i will be writing fanfiction and creating similar fanworks for him. discussion of racism re: the Toymaker below:

i tend to veer far away from fandom discourse, and don't believe enjoying a bad character = glorifying their bad traits. however, i'm a white person who has privilege in not being personally, directly affected by racism, and i think it's important to have this discussion about the Toymaker, a character whose history is inextricably tied with racism and whose recent depiction is canonically racist, whether we agree with this portrayal or not (or how well it was handled). the following are things we can't, and shouldn't, ignore:

in his original portrayal in the 60s, the Toymaker was played by a white actor (Michael Gough) who wore a Chinese mandarin outfit. this outfit was apparently sourced from the set of Marco Polo due to the BBC's tight budget. even though Michael Gough (the Toymaker's actor) was not putting on an accent nor was he in yellowface (the latter incorrectly sourced from a poorly-tinted print advertising the serial), this choice is unquestionably offensive today.

the word 'Celestial' as in 'The Celestial Toymaker' (alternately the name of the serial and sometimes applied to the Toymaker himself) was used as a slur for Chinese people at some point in history. i can't verify, but i believe it was sometime between the 19th and 20th century. although it appears that the term was supposed to refer to the Toymaker in its astronomical context, as a godlike, transient being, in combination with his outfit it is obviously offensive.

in the original broadcast 'The Celestial Toymaker', the King of Hearts (one of the Toymaker's pawns) outright says the N word. this is while reciting the 'eeny, meeny, miny, moe' rhyme, and appears to have been an ad-lib by the actor. this is revoltingly racist, and is rightly cut from most audio re-airs or animations.

the Toymaker as depicted in 'The Giggle' is a racist; he freely makes racist microaggressions and uses stereotypical accents in order to torment other people. the most overt example of this is his 'you must be used to sunnier climes' comment to Charles Bannerjee, a brown-skinned British man of Indian descent (his parents being from Kerala is sourced from 'The Giggle' novelisation). in the BTS for this episode, RTD has said this portrayal is a conscious effort to address the character's racist history: canonising his original outfit as a purposeful, offensive choice.

responses to this modern canonisation of the Toymaker as an actual racist have been mixed:

some feel it's a clever way of boiling the character's history down and making a truly despicable villain.

others feel it's a heavy-handed attempt to 'get ahead of the curve' of being criticised for the character's legacy, particularly as there was nothing to indicate the character was racist himself in the original portrayal. these are roughly my feelings about this choice.

for some, it makes sense that the Toymaker is racist because he views everything as a game, including playing with character's race and culture: it's all a performance to him, and as a nonhuman, godlike being, why would he have our cultural sensitivities except to weaponise them and hurt us?

however, by the same stroke, some wonder why would the Toymaker be racist at all if he likely exists beyond our human notions of race, as well as other qualities like gender, sex, age, etc.?

wherever you fall on this spectrum of feelings towards the Toymaker's character, ignoring this history and these facts can be harmful. i've seen a lot of POC upset and alienated alternately by the choice to canonise the Toymaker's racism, as well as the choice to bring back the Toymaker at all given the character's history. now, i'm a fan of the Toymaker. i love camp, theatrical villains; showy reality-benders with little regard for personal space; awful bastards who murder and abuse and don't care one jot about who they hurt. he's a fantastic concept with awesome powers and undeniable style, and the moment the Toymaker was announced, i knew i was going to fixate on him. this is a common feeling for lots of people: many of us simp for gorgeous bad guys, and that's fine! however, i'm conscious of doing real harm by either replicating the Toymaker's racism, or choosing to ignore it entirely. even if i disagree with this recent characterisation, i would hate for anyone to feel disrespected, excluded, or harmed by my fandom activities, particularly of the gushing 'oh he's so cool/handsome/etc.' variety, or creating ship, x Reader, x OC fanworks. so here's what i'm thinking of doing:

in my fanworks for the Toymaker, i will not be recreating his overtly racist characterisation. although i may be replicating, for instance, his pseudo-German accent (a Bavarian stereotype), i will not be writing him using microaggressions, nor will i be expanding on this trait by writing him using slurs or similar racist behaviour. this is because i feel doing so would be more harmful to my friends who are POC, as well as strangers who may stumble across the fanworks. this is also because i do not feel i could handle such a subject in a nuanced, meaningful way, and don't want to inadvertently upset people just trying to have fun in fandom.

to prevent the former being an erasure of the character's racism, i will link to this disclaimer if the Toymaker's racism is relevant to a fanwork/discussion. the aspects of the Toymaker that i enjoy are centred around his being a ridiculous, playful character, and i have no interest in exploring his bigotry. likewise, i do not want to continually remind POC fans about his racist characterisation, as i do personally feel that the way RTD handled the topic was clumsy and ill-informed. however, i recognise that i have privilege in being able to make that choice, and do not wish to glorify racism as an attractive, desirable trait.

i understand that there will be folks on both sides of the aisle who will feel strongly about the choice to enjoy the Toymaker as a character at all. some may feel strongly that fandom is not activism, and that posts like this aren't necessary when simping for a bad guy played by an attractive actor. others may be actively harassing people for finding the Toymaker attractive, or as a character worthy of exploration. i feel strongly that no one should be harassed for enjoying things in fiction, and i will not tolerate hateful or abusive language/tactics being used in any facet of this or other discussions. i hope that we are able to have open, honest, and informed conversations about the Toymaker's racism, both historically and in the present. we shouldn't shy away from the topic because it makes us uncomfortable, and people do have a right to choose whether or not to engage with triggering content. let's do our best to be mindful and respectful of each other's boundaries, educate one another where possible, and continue to have fun in fandom without harming others.

thank you kindly for reading this! this was written as well as i know how, but please do let me know if this approach seems like a good idea, or if there are other things i should be considering. take care, and have a lovely day 💖🙏

[walks-the-ages]

For screenreaders, this is a poll. The question is "Did you think Mickey was Cheating on Rose and had evidence in his emails he didn't want her to see?" and the answers available are: option one: "yes-- his emails contained evidence of cheating he didn't want her to see" option two: "no -- it was a generic joke about his emails containing porn" Option three: "other -- explain in tags or replies please" Option four: "No Opinion / Show Results"

Doctor Who fans, it's apparently """common knowledge""" (heavy skepticism) that Mickey Smith was cheating on Rose Tyler in the first season, even before the first episode aired-- what's the reasoning behind this?

There's a line Mickey gives in 1x01 when Rose is using Mickey's computer:

(thanks, Chakoteya.net for the transcript)

[Mickey's flat] MICKEY: Hey, hey, here's my woman. Kit off! ROSE: Shut up. (They kiss.) MICKEY: Coffee? ROSE: Yeah, only if you wash the mug. And I don't mean rinse, I mean wash. Can I use your computer? MICKEY: Yeah. Any excuse to get in the bedroom. (Rose walks into Mickey's room to use his computer) MICKEY, calling down the hall: Don't read my emails! [Rose uses Search-Wise.net to hunt for the Doctor Doctor, 17,700,000 results. Doctor Living Plastic 55,300 results. Doctor Blue Box 493 results. The top one says - Doctor Who? ...do you know this man? contact Clive here. She clicks on the site and there is a fuzzy picture of the Ninth Doctor.]

Mickey's line above about "don't read my emails" is apparently taken by some in the fandom as ~irrefutable proof~ that Mickey is cheating on Rose.

This assumption is a bit flabbergasting to me, as literally every single time I've seen episode one, I took that to be a rather generic joke about a guy having embarrassing porn on his computer.

So! Putting it up for fandom debate--

[doctorhoe]

the fact that the dhawan!master is more physically violent towards the doctor, and that just happens to coincide with the doctor now being a woman and the fact that the doctor uses the masters ethnicity against him - to rat him out against the goddamn nazis and how it god portrayed as a #girlboss moment. and it happened the way it had to: teenagers who were into the whole enemies/lovers thing that the doctor and the master have had going on since the master has first appeared started conflating all of that with the shenanigans the doctor and master are usually up to. and now I still see "romantic" gif sets of the doctor and master where, in one of them, the master is wearing a nazi uniform and/or choking the doctor.

[rjalker]

yeah it's almost like David Tennant shouldn't have been brought back at all and Jodie Whitaker's Doctor should have been allowed to regenerate into Ncuti Gatwas the way literally every single other Doctor ever has.

It's almost like making an exception and dragging back everyone's favorite white man actor to steal the show as soon as the Doctor is played by a woman or a Black man is in fact misogynistic and racist.

I don’t know if this is controversial or a hot take in any way but I found that the 14th doctor surviving actually helped me appreciate 15 more, because as much as I love Ncuti and 15 already, if we had to say goodbye to 14, my mourning him would have overshadowed my enjoyment and appreciation of 15

[mydutyistoobserve]

Ok, this is getting interesting already. MIC was leading for awhile but now it looks like Religion is, uh, taking over (heh) so yeah pls reblog kthnx

[rjalker]

[ID: A two panel black and white meme, first showing a gymnist casually walking across a foam mat before holding their hands out to the sides, labeled, "Aknowledging that Ricky September is a white supremacist just like the rest of the billionaires on Planet White Supremacy".

The second panel is labeled, "Deciding to uphold white supremacist patriarchy by insisting that he ~deserved better~ and was actually secretly the real victim the whole time", with curly lines about deserves better for emphasis, and shows another gymnist performing an exaggeratedly convoluted act over bars, ropes from the ceiling, a pommel horse, and lastly flying over a burning car. End ID.]

[leikeliscomet]

“But We Love Martha Jones!” - The Doctor Who Fandom’s Selective Memory of Racism

Be aware that this article contains explicit examples of anti-black racism and misogynoir.

**Contents** Intro 1. Everybody Hates Martha 2. Utopia-ish 3. Martha vs Bill 4. Martha Triumphant?

Intro

To say being a Martha Jones fan from 2007-2017 was hard would be an understatement. The fandom claimed she was too clingy. Too jealous of Rose. Too bitter. Too bad a companion. For as long as I can remember, Martha Jones wasn’t just an unpopular companion - she was THE unpopular companion. So this recent increase in “my issues with [insert companion of colour here] isn’t about race. Everybody loved Martha Jones!” has me raising an eyebrow. Freema Agyeman as part of Ofcom’s Diversity In Broadcasting Event answered a question on her time as Doctor Who’s first Black companion. She describes her time as “good and bad”. She handled the criticism of Martha as a character “but the racism… yeah, yeah couldn’t rationalise that” as she pauses in the video. In the silence we get a clear answer - Freema Agyeman did not have an easy time as Doctor Who’s first Black companion. So when I see comments about how much she was loved, or how no one knew what Freema was going through when speaking out about the racism she experienced, or “My sus posts about Ryan & Yaz aren’t racist! I loved Martha!” I, and many other Black/mixed Black fans and other fans of colour have bad tastes in our mouths. We remember the real history of how Martha Jones was treated - and her history wasn’t a kind one.

Chapter 1 ->

[rjalker]

coddling literal white supremacists is not anti-racist action.

Getting upset that people are pointing out that the conventionally attractive white supremacist man is a bad person is not anti-racist action.

Why is your immediate response to leap to the defense of characters who are literally white supremacists and demand that they be given the grace to improve themselves?

Why is it only important for people to be able to improve themselves when it's conventionally attractive white men who are literal white supremacists?

The fact that most people in this fandom have decided to latch onto these white men from Planet White Supremacy and say they deserve better is literally white supremacy and patriarchy in action.

White supremacists should die. We should celebrate when they die. If these characters were meant to be anti racist it would have happened on screen,

Insisting that white supremacist white men need to be given grace to improve themselves at the expense of people of color around them is literally white supremacy and patriarchy in action.

Literally no one is saying ~no one can change for the better~.

We're saying stop fucking dropping everything to defend literal white supremacists.

White Fandom literally cannot wait to leap to the defense of white men even when they're white supremacists.

They're also literally not kids. At all.

“Ricky September and Gothic Paul were just as racist and still deserved to die-“

Alright look. Look. These people are all in a literal bubble. A constant echo chamber that just reinforces their worldview and they consciously choose to push everything else away. Gothic Paul was actively pushing against that and trying to warn and help people. He was, just maybe, even starting to break out. And then there’s Ricky. Ricky just got online to post his songs and then he dropped the bubble. He spent time outside the echo chamber in the real world. He was reading books. Ricky was receptive to new thoughts and ideas and actively seeking them out.

Finetime is a cult. Like a lot of these things, it’s a cult. And most of these people are actively fueling that environment. Ricky and Paul were actively taking steps to break away from the cult. And yeah, they were still privileged white trust fund kids. That doesn’t make them inherently evil and mean that they can’t change. Everyone is capable of change. Part of the tragedy of the episode was that the two people actively trying to change things and learn were killed and the people who chose to reject it lived on. For now.

Let’s be real, that’s gonna be a Donner Party situation.

[lonestarss]

crazy how y'all create this image of kaeya where he's a whore who sleeps his way into getting info. easily the most popular interpretation of him in the fandom. but let's think about this for a sec.

one of the few genshin characters that's implied to be bi other than being playersexual (which is a whole can of worms in of itself) and one of the five (?) that aren't paper white, and he's constantly framed as mondstadt's bicycle. hmm.

[shsl-gay-nurse]

the desire to post about my cookie run AU is strong but my burning hatred to devsisters racism is stronger