#Fight Bigotry

[spacedadsupport]

Jean-Luc Picard @SpaceDadSupport Fascism is inherently evil in all its forms, including transphobic policing of who counts as a woman and rioting because of misinformation about what sort of person perpetrated a crime. Bigotry is the greatest fuel for the fascists' fire. Stamp it out. 12:45 PM · Aug 3, 2024

x.com/SpaceDadSupport/status/1819701225241121089

[steelbluehome]

[meteorologistaustenlonek]

"We must never forget how easily hate speech can turn to hate crime; how ignorance or indifference can lead to intolerance; or how silence in the face of bigotry is complicity." - @antonioguterres

We can all take action to say #NoToHate. @UNGeneva

[intersexcat-tboy]

Calling people "afabs" is the "females" of the trans community

[hanasnx]

i hope everyone is safe right now. i hope for your safety. i am so sincere. everyday i’m aware of what i have to do to make sure i’m accomplishing what i’m capable of so that you’re safe. at the end of a shift i make sure my coworkers get into their cars safely, i call my friends to make sure they’re alright because i’m not there to watch them, i wear whatever i can to make sure that my political standings are clear to anyone who decides to look at me so they can know that resistance exists and i will confront them if they’ve got the balls to tell me they have a problem, i am keeping an ear out for local protests and any boycotts i can participate in, im texting and calling and emailing any politician of any kind that i come across because even something like tiktok makes it so easy for me to get prompts that i can fill out or follow along to. sometimes it’s as easy as making noise or walking someone to their car or annoying your local representation or wearing pins on the front of your shirt. resist. and stay alive.

[soberscientistlife]

[dykedvonte]

I dislike takes that Danse would be just as conservative in modernized aus when it's clearly shown his staunch views of things come from his time in the Brotherhood and his deep-rooted desire to belong to something with a greater purpose.

Not to mention lines that show much more open-mindedness that get overlooked for his harsher sentiments when you first meet him. Like the oppurtunity to be a part of something is why Danse fell so far into Brotherhood dogma and it doesn't negate the offense things he does but I feel like it's just lazy to be like "hmmm he'd def be racist" just so it aligns to his BoS beliefs.

[transformersbrainrot]

Oh look, it's that Orion/Optimus religious trauma post I was talking about the other day

DISCLAIMER: ALL THIS IS ABOUT THE CONTINUITY THAT EXISTS PURELY IN MY HEAD, BUT THERE AREN'T TOO MANY SWINGS BIG ENOUGH TO MAKE YOU LOST. HOPEFULLY, JUST GO WITH IT, AND YOU SHOULD BE FINE. ALSO, EVERYTHING WRITTEN HERE IS WRITTEN FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF OPTIMUS. IT'S NOT NECESSARILY AN ACCURATE REPRESENTATION OF REALITY.

So this is sort of a semi-sequel post to the MegOp No Children post I made a few days ago because, once again, an angst song that was popular in fandom spaces a few years ago is only reaching me and making me crazy now. I'm late to the Saint Bernard party, but whatever, here we go:

Orion Pax: the first worthy Matrix bearer since the Golden Age and newly christened Optimus Prime. Orion was never one to believe in the myths surrounding the Matrix. Sentinel Prime was basically a father to him, and in all their time together, the power that came from having that artifact was political. It was certainly a powerful symbol, but communing with past wielders? Empowering those who held it in their chest? Alpha Trion had always reminded Orion that there was always truth at the heart of legends, but surely the more fantastical parts of those stories weren't what he meant. Those were just hyperbole creeping in as Cybertron's past leaders faded into history and became mythologized. And yet here he was, practically twice his old height, recovering from wounds that should be fatal, and with all these new voices in his head.

Hung pictures of patron saints up on my wall To remind me that I am a fool Tell me where I came from, what I will always be: Just a spoiled little kid who went to Catholic school

When a worthy Cybertronian takes on the Matrix of Leadership, it creates a link to all the wisdom held within it: that of all previous Matrix Bearers and of The Thirteen. Usually, it's a blessing. It's supposed to be a blessing. Instant counsel with some of history's most outstanding leaders, warriors, and philosophers? Most people would kill for something like that, but for Optimus Prime, it was nothing but a constant reminder of what he isn't. He and his Autobots claim to fight for freedom and a better tomorrow but look who he was up against. An Iaconian elite, given all the opportunity and education anyone could ask for, against a miner-turned-gladiator who was never given anything? Wasn't this the same as it always was?

When I am dead, I won't join their ranks 'Cause they are both holy and free And I'm in Ohio, satanic and chained up And until the end, that's how it'll be

No matter how the Matrix judges him, Optimus can't bring himself to believe he is a pure and worthy spark. Those who now reside in the Matrix are written about in history books because their thoughts and actions made Cybertron better than it was without them. And what's Optimus brought upon Cybertron? An inescapable war that's tearing the people and the planet apart? There's no way history will remember Optimus Prime as anything but a warmonger.

I said "Make me love myself, so that I might love you" Don't make me a liar, 'cause I swear to God When I said it, I thought it was true

How is Optimus supposed to live up to the title that's been thrust upon him—that of a leader who loves and cares for his people when he doesn't even love and care for himself. Not after he was betrayed by his... By Megatron. And after he betrayed him back. It feels like an eternity ago, but somehow, when Sentinel had admitted that he hoped Orion would be the person to succeed him as Prime, and he accepted, Orion thought he would be ready when the time came. This is not what he thought it would feel like.

Saint Calvin told me not to worry about you But he's got his own things to deal with There's really just one thing that we have in common: Neither of us will be missed

When Orion and Megatronus first became close, Sentinel said that Orion was wasting his time. Sentinel never saw what Orion did in that gladiator, but look where that landed him. Now, he's dead at the hands of the very person he dismissed so long ago. The two new leaders of Cybertron are so very different. But, in the end, they're both spurring on this war, and they're both damned for it.

Saint Bernard sits at the top of the driveway You always said how you loved dogs I don't know if I count, but I'm trying my best When I'm howling and barking these songs

Even if Sentinel's spark doesn't reside within the Matrix, his memory sits at the front of Optimus's thoughts—almost as prominently as Megatronus. Sentinel's vision for Orion was of someone who upheld the same system he did. Optimus certainly isn't doing that. But, despite how dark the depths of Sentinel's worldview turned out to be, Optimus is not a new person. Deep down, he's still Orion Pax, and he can't bring himself to hate the Prime who did so much to create the man he is today. Maybe somewhere, the part of Sentinel Orion thought he knew was real. Maybe that part of him, however small, can understand the kind of world Optimus Prime is trying to create...

[uncanny-tranny]

So often, I see people who treat certain bigotries as being almost... an unfortunate byproduct of the More Important Bigotry. I see it a lot with bigotries that people are broadly willing to put up with as long as there's a Bigger Picture, or if the bigotry in question is subtle.

Transphobia (for example) isn't an acceptable trade-off for combatting sexism. Often, people are willing to put up with or perpetrate the bigotry (transphobia, in this example) because they see it as an acceptable price to pay for what they actually want.

The thing about bigotry that makes it bad isn't just that different bigotries feed into each other - antisemitism feeds itself into transphobia, which feeds itself into sexism, which feeds itself in racism, and this goes on ad infinitum - it's that bigotry actively affects actual, real people's lives. It prevents people from living, from accessing autonomy, and ultimately deprives them of their human experience. I don't think you ought to see bigotry as a "price to be paid" so you can get yours.

[rjalker]

Here's a story idea. The main character grows up always knowing for as long as they can remember that women can't shapeshift. That is a blessing from the gods reserved only for men. Every man this character has ever known has been able to shape-shift, and none of the women have ever been able to, so they grow up believing that this is true, accepting it it's just a fact of reality. Women cannot shapeshift as a punishment from the gods for disobeying their husbands in the ages gone by, when things were better, so now all women must be perfectly humble and subservient to their husbands, and maybe someday the gods will forgive them and let them back into paradise.

And then one day while the protagonist is out foraging alone, the sky breaks open with a roar like a waterfall, and a stranger falls through, landing almost on top of the protagonist where they were standing in the river, and throws the protagonist's entire world upside down with the revelation that yes, women can shape-shift, everybody can shape-shift. There's literally just a spell cast over the protagonists village to prevent anyone the leaders have decided is a woman from shape-shifting.

Now the protagonist has to decide whether to stay and try to convince their family and friends of the truth, pretend they don't know anything different and try to go back to life as normal, or leave with the stranger into a world that is apparently so much bigger and brighter than they could have ever imagined.

[funishment-time]

More asks, you say? Dare I... I must... I call upon the mighty powers of SEVENTEEN!!!!!!!!!!

your wish is My Command!!!

17. List five headcanons for your favorite characters!

another reason why Junko went off the Deep End is because, as the Ultimate Analyst, she sees every possibility. in a sense, she views the multiverse all at once. there is nothing interesting to her besides death because it's all happened, is happening, will happen. (Kamukura probably has something similar going on, but he reacted Differently)

surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, Mikan is the ex-Remnant who needed the most medical attention after coming out of the NWP. not because of anything that happened in the NWP, but because of her acts before that. she had really Frankensteined herself, to put it mildly

there are lots of characters i headcanon with a body type different than how they're portrayed, or a body type they're only sort-of suggested to have but the sprites don't really Follow Through. for example: i see Kaede as quite thick, a bigger girl, very hourglass shaped

inexplicably, Taka is in charge of moderating a lot of HPA's review sites. he is not proud of arguing with Kokichi people on Yelp about the state of the boys' bathrooms, but someone has to do it, and the SHSL Social Media Director died in a fire last year, so...

Kokichi once tricked Yasuhiro into a pump-and-dump crypto scheme

BONUS: a general headcanon for Hope's Peak Academy i don't think i've talked about much yet. it's a locus for obsessives, hyperfixators, neurodivergent folks, and...Robots. so: they may not be the most PC bunch, coming from Different Backgrounds and all, but it's kind of a tacit thing that most of them are playing around with gender and sexuality. SHSLs who can't cope with that generally leave, so it self-regulates. pride parades and labels may be foreign to some of them, some of them may still refer to themselves as Slurs you only ever heard your parents use, but YOU are considered the weird one if you're a genuine shithead to others for it. why make fun of someone for being gay when you can make fun of someone for being in the Reserve Course anyway

[bifrosted-flakes]

You guys HAVE to stop putting punk on a pedestal

[intersexcat-tboy]

If asking for confirmation about large size = compliment fishing, that means telling someone they have a large dick is a compliment, which implies telling someone they have a small one is an insult

[not-too-many-eyes]

Im so glad Mesmer Jr and Ezra are canonically buddies and I’m choosing to believe this happened because I was telling a friend they would be a hillarious dynamic.

[germiyahu]

Like the situation is not black and white. I saw people gang up on a self-avowed non Zionist pro Palestinian Jew for having boundaries when it comes to supporting Palestine. They ganged up on them for saying antisemitism should still be called out and is not necessary to support Palestine.

But when I saw with my own two eyes Palestinians on twitter begging Westerners to retweet and spread shit straight from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Mein Kampf, as if that would help free Palestine... I mean no Linda, this is not an example of "not speaking over oppressed people," not when those oppressed people know that certain tropes and canards can be used to target Jews around the world and they know that Westerners are receptive to them.

They are trying to use you and your naivete to collectively punish all Jews in the world. They know they're not powerful enough to kill the Jews of Israel so they want you, their loyal allies, to be radicalized into trying to hurt Jews in the Diaspora. That's the only way a lot of people in the Arab/Muslim world can think of to punish Jews. They do not see a difference between Israeli and Diaspora Jews. This is not spreading awareness, this is not #freeingPalestine, this is not "they're just trying to do whatever they can think of to get the bombs to stop falling on their children," this is just petty spiteful sadism, and they know you'll go along with it, because both of you are antisemitic at heart.

So you do have to be skeptical. You can't uncritically spread things. That goes both ways of course. But since you already interrogate every claim of antisemitism, and preemptively dismiss it as crocodile tears, Hasbara, or thinly veiled calls for Islamophobic violence... that side of the aisle is not an issue for you, clearly. But if you can't even go to the other side of the aisle and clean up house even a little bit, you're not a serious activist.

[scottiestoybox]

The ACLU already has ‘battle plan’ drawn up to fight Trump’s policies

https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/11/07/the-aclu-already-has-battle-plan-drawn-up-to-fight-trumps-policies/ Remember all we have to do is tie his every policy change up in courts for two years just like the republicans did with Biden.  Then work like hell to flip the Senate.  Once we do that all of his minions plans for a white straight cis Christian paradise will mostly end. …