#I REFUSE. TO BE. SILENT.

[bamfwizard]

as a transmasc minor in a US state where we are very explicitly unwelcome by government standards, let's talk about Nex Benedict.

(apologies for a very scrambled rant but I have many. many. things to say. please read TWs)

I am SO UPSET because I have not seen a SINGLE PERSON talking about the update in his case. The rage and frustration and grief on my fyp died within a week or so. I am still so, so mad. And today's update made me 10x even angrier.

Nex Benedict's death was self-inflicted. But let's not pretend it's not worth talking about. Let's not blame it on the "trans mental illness", let' blame it on the BULLIES. Let's blame it on the INSUFFICIENT TRANS HEALTHCARE SYSTEM. Let's blame it on the state of Oklahoma beinga douchebag to trans minors. Let's blame it on how SUFFOCATING it is to live as a trans youth in this country. Every few weeks, I watch as another state falls to hate and discrimination. I hear about more murd3rs of trans women, more 0verdoses, more deaths. I am scared of EVERYONE and EVERYTHING because I don't know who the disease that is transphobia has infected. I am scared of being beat up in a bathroom or harassed at work or school or my government taking my future possibility of finding true joy and freedom away.

And let's not forget the negligence of police at the face of a hate crime. I hope that tonight, their pillows are warm and they lay awake, feeling the blood on their hands. There is blood on their hands. I wish the same for everyone who stood by as Nex was bullied, beaten, and ignored to the point of breaking. This needs to be a wake up call to anyone who hasn't seen the effects of transphobia in systems of government, in schools, in the police system.

If you are trans, especially trans youth, I love you. We will power through. Nex is not a sign of the end for us, but hopefully, an end for them. Become active in your local trans spaces. Speak out. Speak up. You are alive, you are breathing, and we cannot let them take that. Transphobia will not win.

I have more thoughts, but my heart just can't right now. Stick it to the man. ACAB. Trans rights. Remember Nex Benedict.

[mooneggtarts]

Radioapple week: Day 2 (Enemies)

Good thing the girls stops them before things gets WAY nastier than this! It is very intentional that Lucifer's wounds look like he was trying to tame a wild cat (Alastor) huaha!

[demonic0angel]

Dead silent and anger management are vacationing in Europe. Danny and Jason are having fun reenacting castle scenes from favorite movies/books and trying to get their respective girlfriends involved.

“O’ Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name. Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet,” Jason said solemnly, standing atop some ruins to dramatically raise a hand to the sky.

Jazz’s lips twitched. She didn’t look at him, as she spoke to herself and quoted, “Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?”

Danny looked at Cass, who was also resisting a smile. Danny leaned close and then muttered, “Y’know, when I was playing around with Jason earlier, I think I forgot how cringey these two are.”

Breaking character, Jason turned to Danny with an offended gasp. “Excuse you! It’s not my fault that you’re literally uneducated and you’ve never read the classics!”

Danny booed. “The both of you are nerds!”

“Go fuck yourself, Fenton. You're the one who only watches movies!"

“Jason!” Jazz scolded. She gave him a stern stare and then continued quoting ‘Romeo and Juliet’, “I take thee at thy word. Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized! Henceforth I never will be Romeo!”

Jason grumbled, “You skipped an entire part of my act.”

“Aww, alright, dearest. We can start the act over?”

Jason nodded primly and then burst into more speech. Danny took Cass’ hand and dragged her away, the both of them stifling their snickers as they snuck away from Jazz and Jason.

Danny gazed at Cass with a smile. "So now that they're distracted, wanna go and look at things on our own?"

Cass beamed and nodded, and off they went.

[rheakira]

I've come to temporarily break my hiatus to bring up something deeply important. Because after a recent event, if I have to go another day without talking about it, I don't know what I'll do.

Fandoms have an enormous issue when it comes to bigotry and people feeling comfortable enough to be openly bigoted.

And I want to make it clear: everyone is capable of it. In fact, most people do it more often than they don't. But because this strange myth has been built up that if you aren't "blatantly saying slurs" or "killing others" it can't possibly be bigotry, we have done nothing but become dangerous behind closed doors.

If your friend has odd beef with a person of color in the fandom and holds them to standards they don't hold their white friends to, that is bigotry. If your friend feels some sort of way about the trans person in your friend group and tries to come up with reasons for why they specifically can't stay, that is also bigotry. If your group insists that a person with a personality disorder is making it up just for attention and uses that as a reason for why they can't be around them, that is bigotry as well.

I've never been upfront about it because... why do I, as a human being, need to be upfront about my identity when people randomly decide what I am? But I am in fact a person of color who is queer and disabled. Whenever I join a fandom group that is mostly white people, I am liked until this is discovered. And then I watch as people get brutal about things I do or say. Things that they don't do to other people in the group, and I also watch as they take my words and either twist them for convenience or ruin my reputation for it.

As a marginalized person, both in fandom and out, you are held to a unique standard that does not apply to other human beings around you. It makes doing what you love very difficult, because unfortunately as a marginalized person, people will always subconsciously side with the person trying to oppress or attack you. This has happened to me my entire life, from school to work spaces to even internet spaces claiming to be safe places.

People will say that they care about you and like you and even form a friendly bond with you, but the moment a person of privilege decides they do not like you very much, they can and will side with the other person even without proof of their issues with you. It's exhausting and ruins lives in places that should be fun and safe.

I am on my umpteenth experience with this exact cycle and I would be lying if I said it didn't make me feel like I couldn't live or breath in places I should be allowed to be involved in. It's a very real problem that refuses to end because no one has the courage to challenge it. I am speaking not only on my own experiences, but for the many other people of color or queers or disabled people who simply cannot join these so called "safe spaces" because of our identities conflicting with people who have been taught that we are lesser and not worth love or care.

If this is a problem you face, please know that I see you and I love you. It's hard to keep surviving in a world that wants to hurt you and leaves you abandoned and alone. I want you to know that the world is scary, but we all exist. You should be allowed to experience joy and fun without feeling like you're being suffocated and wanting to die.

You matter. The people around you that make you feel like you don't are nothing by comparison. You matter and I truly hope that we'll one day find each other and become the safe space that we deserve.

The marginalized people in your fandom are more important than your fictional characters and plotlines that you put above us. We're here and we're not leaving. Learn to live with us and protect us.

If we're truly your friends, you would care when your privileged "friends" want to remove us.

Additionally, please do not take this rant and make it only about white people who are part of these marginalized categories. This is a post about EVERYONE. Including the people of color around you. Do not remove us from this conversation. Care about ALL OF US if you support this at all. Thank you.

[howlsnteeth]

and are you really okay? are you really okay?

[pinkresurrection]

📸: voguearabia

“These are but a handful of the doctors, journalists, and photographers who are risking their lives day and night to bury the dead, heal the wounded, and show the world the horrors raining down on Gaza.”

From top to bottom:

Plestia Alaqad, Journalist

Motaz Azaiza, Photographer

Youmna El-Qunsol, Journalist

Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah, Surgeon

Dr. Mohammed Al Ghoula, Doctor

[respectthepetty]

As a petty person, I'm proud that Yuan is going to play it as if he isn't still desperately in love with Qian and didn't pack his bags the second Qian told him that he could come home, but it would be far more convincing if Yuan took off that damn black bracelet.

It's like another character, haunting every scene and every interaction

staring me in my face and hurting my feelings because it's a constant reminder that Yuan is still connected to Qian even though they are separated.

So I felt it's absence in the scene where Yuan finally got to speak to Qian after three (four?) years of silence.

Yuan's left hand was never shown which is the wrist he wears the bracelet on. He held the phone with his right just like Qian who holds the phone with his right and wears a watch on the left.

But what's important is the red stairs on Qian's left.

I'm a color demon, but this is about the black bracelet on Yuan's left wrist missing from this scene when it was in the previous one of Yuan talking on the phone earlier in the episode.

In some countries, wedding rings are worn on the right hand. In other countries, wedding rings are worn on the left hand because it was believed that there was a vein that went directly from the left hand to the heart (awwww).

So perhaps Yuan didn't need the bracelet in this moment because the line that connected him to his heart (Qian) was present in another way.

But in Taiwan, wedding rings are worn on hands based on gender. Men wear theirs on the left and women wear theirs on the right. Beyond the gender element of it though is the simple notion that married couples wear their rings on opposite hands.

Yuan has been wearing this bracelet as if it was a silent commitment to Qian for all these years, and he continues to wear it upon his return.

But Qian gave him that bracelet!

Yuan wanted to be tied to Qian. He made that clear when Qian was tying his left hand in the red wrap.

So I loved that when Yuan returned and went to pick up Qian, he grabbed Qian with his left hand rather than his right which was the closer hand.

And when Yuan finally decides to walk away from Qian because he thinks Qian pities him, Qian will grab Yuan's left wrist to stop him.

As if he reinforcing that silent reminder, but not the one of Yuan always carrying Qian with him.

The silent reminder is the one that Qian gave Yuan his heart first.

That black bracelet is just as much about how Yuan still loves Qian as much as it is about how Qian has always loved Yuan.

Qian has always been committed to Yuan, silently.

And there were reminders throughout the entire episode.

Qian read every single message.

Qian didn't want to mess up Yuan's education.

Qian is never not thinking about Yuan because everything is a constant silent reminder of Yuan. His gift to Yuan was meant to serve as a reminder to Yuan that someone out there was thinking of him because Qian is always thinking of Yuan. That bracelet is a tangible artifact of what resides in Qian's heart.

And Yuan wants to remind him of that.

[harpoonsnotspoons]

Been listening to the Detective Pony audiobook a lot lately

[anghraine]

I'm trying to redirect my political thoughts from my fandom escape blog again, but I found something interesting enough that I thought I'd talk a little about it.

Occasionally I choose suffering (looking at the more granular 2024 exit poll breakdowns rather than the summaries that I mostly don't trust much at this point). Anyway, I did find something intriguing, if not particularly surprising, in the CNN exit polls, which were done in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin with a sample size of 22,914 voters.

(I mention the specific states forming the sample because this pretty notably excludes any blue states while including some reliably Republican ones.)

Anyway, most exit polls including CNN's let respondents identify their place on the US political spectrum: conservative, moderate, or liberal (reminder that "liberal" in US usage can be a pejorative for "less leftist than me" but also a shorthand for "radical leftist" but also for "anyone who doesn't seek a cishet white Christian ethnostate", but also can be a more neutral synonym for progressives and/or leftists and is often used that way, as here). So you can look at the election results for each of these ideological factions and what share of the overall sample size they represent.

The interesting thing: this "liberal" category accounted for very similar proportions to 2020 of the overall vote in the sample (24% in 2020, 23% in 2024—a difference well within the margin of error of exit polling). There is no need to explain liberals/leftists staying home in 2024: at least in terms of proportions of the overall electorate, they didn't. Just under 1/4 of voters in 2024 were liberals or leftists, just as in 2020.

Okay, if the most leftwards faction of the US political spectrum actually formed a similar proportion of the electorate, then who did they vote for?

Harris. In CNN's own exit polls from 2020, 89% of this faction voted for Biden, and (surprisingly!) a full 10% voted for Trump. God knows what motivated that 10% Trump share after four years of his hellscape of an administration at the height of COVID, but in any case, that support cratered in 2024. 91% of this group voted for Harris and only 4% for Trump. It's an estimate, but it looks like these very peculiar Trump voters had enough of him in 2024 and around half either voted third party this time or for Harris.

So which faction is Trump's victory coming from? Further consolidation of the far right?

In part, yes! 90% of conservatives voted for Trump in 2024, vs 85% in 2020—likely, some conservatives who voted third party or even for Biden in 2020 came "home" this year. However, conservative turnout was actually a little down in 2024, proportionally speaking: conservatives dropped from 38% of the sample in 2020 to 34% in 2024.

But there's one more major faction in all this: "moderates" or centrists. To be clear, we're talking about the US version of centrism, given that this is a US organization polling US voters about US politicians, not "Bernie would be center-right in Denmark" or whatever. This moderate faction jumped from 38% of the overall sample in 2020 to 42% in 2024, and they swung hard towards Trump, though Harris still won a plurality of them. In 2020, 64% of moderates voted for Biden vs 34% for Trump. In 2024, 57% of them voted for Harris vs 40% for Trump—that is, the Democratic lead among centrists dropped precipitously from +30 to +17.

Tl;dr—ideologically speaking, this data suggests that Trump owes his victory to gains among both right-wing and centrist voters rather than some faction of would-be leftists or progressives apathetically staying home or voting third-party or otherwise deserting Democrats (because they're insufficiently radical or for any other reason).

Oh, and if you're curious as to how this compares to CNN's 2016 exit polls, I also checked those! Harris's 84-point lead among the most leftwards faction is a significant improvement from HRC's 74-point lead in 2016. Trump also got 10% of that group in 2016, as in 2020, so it's this campaign—not Hillary's or Biden's—that managed to eat into whatever the hell is going on with that group.

Harris's +17 with moderates is actually a slight improvement on Hillary's +12 in 2016. Biden's jump to a +30 lead among centrists in 2020 represented either a backlash against Trump from centrists, or Biden's own rapport with that group, or some mysterious issue some of those voters had with both HRC and Harris (I wonder what it could be!!), or some combination thereof. Regardless, there are a lot of actual ideologically centrist voters in the USA and not just would-be leftists who haven't heard the good news of Marx yet. And Trump has an iron grip on the right wing at this point: he beat Hillary with conservatives by +65 in 2016, then beat Biden with an even larger margin of +71, then leapt to a 81-point lead over Harris with right-wing voters this year.

[oreo-creampie]

Dragon! Satoru and Suguru who are obsessed with cumming in/breeding you

Dragon!suguru who loves to hoard art and books. He loves to paint you, sculpt statues of you, and asks you to read for him

Then there is dragon!satoru who loves sparkling jewelry and anything beautiful. Beautiful sights, songs, and people. Which is how you ended up in their tower, the best treasure they could watch over on their hoard

[brokeboysbeachhouse]

Every once in a while…

… our society reinvents ‘The Monkees’ and those who are aware of this end up having to silently tolerate those who aren’t

[anna-scribbles]

truest thing gabriel everrr said was that adrien had emilie's flair for the dramatics

[jaybleu25]

guys. guys please someone draw mario and grampy turnip telling dad jokes to each other. i feel like mario would love those jokes so much they just fit him

and then luigi just watches from a distance wishing they could get to the lighthouse already /j

[rooolt]

I do think Sam was waiting for any excuse to be #1 hawk hater again, like the minute demetri is like “yeah he’s being a dick” she’s hunting that boy for sport

[im-bored-so-i-draw]

do you think they be like that

[42eyeballs]

when people say that sometimes (queer) subtext is better than explicitly naming something really what they mean is that weve all seen amok time and we all know what happened on the sands.