#DiskHorse

[castielsprostate]

what the fuck is wrong with people can god kill us already oh my god

[deepdarkhwsconfessions]

you guys ever block someone in this fandom not because theyve done anything wrong BUT the way they act and talk about certain characters weirds you out, and then months or years later you find out theyre actually a racist piece of shit? that just happened to me. like holy hell i wasnt being oversensitive and paranoid at all. being a racist hetalia fan makes you give out a sort of stinky aura i swear

~🗳

[sequinbandit]

I feel like I've seen a recent surge in posts on my dash, the subjects of which can be summarized as "trans men vs trans women disk horse." I don't know whats going on with this, but like... is this real? Maybe I'm too reclusive but like, is there actually an issue with trans men being misogynistic to trans women en masse? Or is this a handful of chronically online popular accounts who are just being shitty to each other? Idk, this feels like some kinda psyop to dis-unify right before an inauguration that'll attack both of our groups.'m too reclusive but like, is there actually an issue with trans men being misogynistic to trans women en masse? Or is this a handful of chronically online popular accounts who are just being shitty to each other? Idk, this feels like some kinda psyop to dis-unify right before an inauguration that'll attack both of our groups.

[aintgonnatakethis]

what the fuck do you MEAN dont call trans men honey. literally gender neutral. when an old lady calls me honey it makes me smile

Did you know the world extends beyond America and in different places words can have different meanings? Let's do some simple examples.

UK - 'cunt' is rude but said quite frequently without anyone being stabbed for using it.

Australia - 'cunt' is a friendly nickname, widely used and not considered offensive.

America - y'all will lose your mind over 'cunt' as being one of the worst words you can use.

You understand how living a sheltered America-centric existence might have shaped your worldview? You understand that your experience is not universal? You understand that continuing to call trans people terms like 'honey', 'girl', 'dude', or 'bro' after being asked not to makes you a transphobe?

Don't be a transphobe. It just makes you look like a cunt.

[tinetar-cheez8]

Shipcourse+ Terms

For people who want to reclaim shipcourse stances as a non-serious communication device of sorts. Either as a spiteful response to existing Discourse or just to be silly. Not to be used to participate in 'regular' Discourse (which is very toxic and often frames being pro-censorship as the morally 'good' decision despite how that's historically been used to harm queer and non-normative communities). Inspired by a specific anon ask on the blog of @frb-but-cooler (pls let me know if you want me to delete the ping).

Bishipcourse: Being both pro-ship and anti-ship. Panshipcourse: Having multiple shipcourse stances at once. Omnishipcourse: Having all possible shipcourse stances at once. Payshipcourse: Inspired by payqueer (? think I got that right) where you must pay a certain amount of money to discover what someone's shipcourse stance is, which is a reference to '$(amount) for anon hate' some people have adopted as a response to being tired of Discourse.

[hamliet]

In the context of fiction and media, everything is so sexualized especially when I think of shipping. Even ships with underage minors and adults are popular and why?? Fiction directly affects reality does it not? Why is it okay to show that?

Sexuality is a very normal, healthy part of human behavior. While some people are asexual and that is also normal and healthy, the majority are not. Most people like sex, find it fun and meaningful. All human experiences should be reflected in art (what else is art for?), so sexuality should be reflected in a lot of art.

Unfortunately, we live in a culture that paradoxically both idolizes and shames sexuality, and this is as prevalent among the fundamentalist religious as it is among leftist spaces. So when art ignores sexuality completely, or ignores certain types of sexuality (see, the female gaze, or queer expressions of sex) fans will create that art themselves--such as via shipping. Shipping is simply "there's a story to be told here" and that story may or may not involve sex (most often does) and even in some cases, be primarily about sex.

Fiction is both shaped by reality and can shape reality, but that's not the same as saying it's a 1=1 mirror of reality where you can exactly correlate A cause with B result. Like, look up the anti video game movement of the 90s, the Satanic Panic and the way emo music was blamed for tragedies like Columbine, and ask yourself why people who like detective mysteries aren't murderers.

Yet, there is nuance here for sure. Like, I'll just bluntly state moral policing is a boring way to engage with art and fandom, and that goes beyond just sexuality. However, that isn't the same as saying take off your critical thinking hat, anything goes. Criticism is a very necessary part of fandom and engagement, and must be allowed (shakes fist at toxic positivity). But criticism as a field is designed to open doors more so than close them. It's a discussion more than anything else (note: discussing does not mean conclusions can't be drawn; they can). I have called out the real life implications of different stories before, and I'll do it again.

Me saying "moral policing stories is boring" also isn't me advocating for amorality. Not at all. Ethical questions posed by works can elevate a work to the realm of a masterpiece. There's a reason The Brothers Karamazov is considered top-tier literature. But ethics and morality are best explored not through statements, but through examination of what someone means when they say something is wrong or right. Fiction is a fabulous way to do this.

Let's use the example of minors and adults. Sad face, because "minor" in fandom can mean anything from "short person" (yes, really, I've seen that argued that someone who is short is "minor coded") to "17 year old" to "five year old." Shipping a 17 year old and an 18 year old is way different than, say, a preteen and a person their parent's age.

Like, in real life, people do not have a magical switch in their brain when they turn 18. An 18 year old dating a 17 year old is normal. It's not ethically dubious. An 18 year old (legal!) dating a 40 year old? Is ethically suspect to me, even if it isn't illegal. Ages are the best ways we have to protect children and keep them safe, but there's a reason most laws allow for an 18 and a 17 year old to date. At the same time, no one in their right mind would object to the moral statement "minors shouldn't date adults" (unless you're Matt Gaetz) with a "WELL WHAT ABOUT" because basic guardrails can't be built around exceptions, and the alternative is so horrifying that the guardrail exists for a damn good reason. But real life or fictitious, an 18 and 17 year old is not really sketchy.

Plus, I caution that the portrayal of a thing isn't necessarily the endorsement or "normalization" of said thing. Framing matters. A story can be used to powerfully show the pain of entering a relationship in which a young person is in way over their head. In fandom specifically, the shipping "story" people are interested in, regardless of ages or whatnot, might not be a happily-ever-after one, and might be a way to process their own abuse. I think there's a famous queer author who got "cancelled" for this, but she was processing her own experiences and framed it as negative, which is very sad.

There are other considerations too. For example, the medium of a story also matters. Film (and theater) inherently muddy the fiction and reality discourse dilemma in a way that written or drawn mediums do not: they use real people, so there are multiple layers in which this discourse can be discussed. Fandom and shipping, however, does not (on the whole) use these mediums.

I also know some people age up characters or de-age them to ship them at the same age, because they like the dynamic but do have ethical concerns about ages. I personally feel squicked out when there's a power dynamic like minor/adult (as in the paragraph above), teacher/student, or mentor/mentee, even if both are adults. And yet despite this I still like stories like Scum Villain's Self Saving System which are literally designed to provoke questions about shipping and fandom and morality, because they make me use my critical thinking and are aware of the problematic aspects of their works and precisely explore what makes it problematic, and what makes it not. SVSSS approaches it like:

A teacher who abuses his pupil enters into a relationship with him when they are adults, no grooming when kids. Sounds ethically suspect, right?

What if it's set in an ancient fantasy world where people fly on swords and live as immortals?

What happens to the idea of age (past a certain point in development) when you're immortal and stay physically young? (We don't have a real-life starting point for this.)

What if said teacher is literally no longer the same soul, but has been swapped for another soul?

What if the new soul is forced to be unkind under pain of not just death but soul obliteration?

What if age becomes speculative because the new soul isn't necessarily older than the pupil?

You see, there are a million angles from which SVSSS approaches this question, and ties these questions in with themes about individuality and presuppositions (essentially: see the individual more than the "type" of character). It's not mocking the questions. It's genuinely exploring them.

So, ethical questions can be very interesting in stories, and in terms of how fans interact with fiction as well. But not in terms of preaching, but in terms of interaction, in terms of making you question things--which is not the same as tossing aside all principles of morality.

[dappy-dappernette]

The Hetalia fandom has genuinely done some fucked up shit but hey at the very least we haven't accused someone of faking their CSA and randomly accused people of being nonces because they don't like our ship (at least not yet)

[paladerp]

Ok but are you gonna kill yourself? Asking for a friend.

No no, I'm fine, thanks!! Appreciate the concern (?) but I'm good, just bewildered and a little bit hurt; ostensibly we're all on the same side here...? We all agree with genocide is bad??? Why am I getting this kind of reaction for disagreeing on something that ultimate comes down to personal experience?

It's also the first time I've been told to kill myself by a stranger.

And also the first time I've had anon hate.

When I see anons in my inbox, it's funny, because I'm seeing all the rancid personal attacks and then beneath it is like... a handful of kind anons from when I was in the WoW community, which itself is a hive of scum and villainy.

I'm trying not to be bothered. The people sending these seem angry, and I can empathize with that. I'm angry too. I'm furious, every single day I'm alive, at all the injustice in the world; I can understand this anger, and I'm in solidarity with it, honestly.

I just don't get why we're targeting each other instead of focusing that rage and disgust against the people who have the capacity to stop this, and don't.

I guess it's easier to tell a stranger to kill themselves than to enact actual change.

Like, objectively, it is.

[proudfreakmetarusonikku]

absolute hell nightmare is being exposed to both sides of the hell nightmare discourse of shipping discourse as a kid and now seeing posts calling both sides out but only for stupid inaccurate reasons and not like. the actual problems. which aren’t like. everyone being evil monsters and them being stupid unnuanced takes on something complicated reduced to something stupid and the extreme us vs them mentalities that make just being in those groups isolating and traumatic. saying everyone involved in one side is a monster who should commit suicide isn’t helping especially since a lot are literal kids please stop doing that.

[hensunrik]

Scenes when the "no clear priority in car development and on track strategy will most definitely win us the wcc" philosophy proves to be so successful you almost end up 3rd in constructors instead

[castielsprostate]

Oh, no, no, no, no. But you asked.

Misha posted a post re: Israel/Gaza and some fuckery occurred, people are accusing Misha of revisionist history and not wanting to use the word genocide, he asked for other’s opinions and a instead he’s getting attacked, told to die and some people are now hating him.

He deleted some tweets and now people are using screenshots of the deleted tweets and its all a massive shitshow.

tldr: Social media is scum and be thankful you missed it.

thank you for your insight anon!! i would love to read the article before i actually draw an opinion on it but i think i have a semi clear idea of what went down now. do you, or anyone else have the link to the article? or maybe screenshots?

[deepdarkhwsconfessions]

I don’t like the “England is ugly” spammers. Most of them aren’t English and saying that about a character who’s meant to represent a country feels really mean and uncomfortable.

~🗳

[hetacofessional]

I wish my country's (non-canon nation) fandom didn't sabotage every single ship that isn't [redacted most popular one];

it is one thing when you have preferences (like I have mine too);

but going out of your way to dismiss or harass every single person that doesn't ship what you think is "right"? can't you just block what you don't like and move on?

the worst part is that I don't even think that [most popular ship] is bad, but most of the fanworks are always more of the same boring stuff focused on a dumb football rivalry that is only 30% of what makes said pairing interesting (rather than all the long and complex history they share together???)

I could make also a whole case about how misogyny affect it as well, as female depictions of the country or m/f and f/f ships involving them are also shoved aside in favor of the most popular m/m pairing (unless it is m/f or f/f version of said pairing)

I do feel it has to do with how "easy" it is to ship them, you mention the nations everyone goes "oooh right the football rivalry" and call it a day, and always have a shallow understanding of their complex history and politics (i say this because I DO like putting my ocs of said nations together too because their relationship IS interesting...); no one wants to go out of their way to research and investigate our nations other historical and complex relations (they don't consider other love interests and, like, not even the platonic potential relationships we would have with others, they all get shoved aside too)

like, there is no room for any sort of discussion, nation X is nation Y life, and that's it.

and it sucks that mainly people from my country do this, as the people from the nation of the other halve of the pairings have more ships of equal importance and they tend to acknowledge more the history they have with their neighbors than the fans of my country do

I don't even want to mention any names or make this show up on their ship tag out of respect (because everyone should be free to ship whatever they want and I know many have this as a comfort ship too) but I think people who know, will know™

I have fun indulging on my rarepair involving my country, but I only know 4 more people who like this as opposed to the other popular pair (and they hang mainly on twitter and I'm mainly on tumblr), everyone else only wants to talk about the [redacted popular pairing] it gets lonely sometimes

(hope this didn't come out too confusing, english is not my first language lmaoo, but I just wanted to vent a few silly frustrations)

♱ Received ♱

[paladerp]

it's really fun when your ND ass is super unable to look away from perceived injustice and also hates being misunderstood. I'm just gonna have to get over the anons attacking arguments I didn't make, putting words in my mouth that I never said.

It's cool, gang. Keep telling people with burn out that their contributions mean nothing if they don't keep pushing and pushing and pushing until they die.

Meanwhile, I'm not going to back down on if you're experiencing compassion fatigue and burn out, you're not a horrible person who 'never had compassion in the first place'. You're not selfish and a zionist and a lover of genocide for not being able to be an activist 24/7. We are all only human.

Don't forgive. Don't forget. Keep apprised the of the situation, act in whatever ways you're able; do your best. If you need to rest, rest. If you need to close your eyes, only make sure you open them again.

Compassion fatigue cannot excuse willful inaction and blindness. Only allow for taking a break.

And also, maybe don't center compassion fatigue in activist spaces.

I was told that's exactly what I did here, but my whole argument came from someone specifically addressing compassion fatigue, not a discussion about Palestine derailed by people talking about it. We can discuss both things, I didn't intrude on a space where Palestine was being discussed, I was discussing the topic at hand.

[castielsprostate]

sorry but i, too, find it a bit fucking weird

[bisexual-neco-arc]

(reply via @nebulabrainmatter)

genuinely. like calm down op's not dropping napalm on your fucking house do the "don't like don't interact" shit you spew everywhere else in fandom spaces and move on if you don't like what a random misinformed stranger says on the internet.

Steven Universe: Eh, I don't really feel like saying "girlfriend" or "wife". Maybe they're together. They have a special connection...

(gets violently shoved aside)

The Loud House/Craig of the Creek/The Owl House: Pfft, amateur. "My GIRLFRIEND Sam and I..." "I'm texting my GIRLFRIEND, mind your business." "Luz's new GF showed her..."