#I don't like you Christian Linke

[akai-shuchichi]

Together - a Jayvik oneshot

A short oneshot packed with references to the ending of Arcane and the series as a whole, something I wanted to write as a comfort piece after how deeply it left me in shambles. Naturally, it contains strong implications that Viktor is asexual—because, despite what Christian Linke might think, we asexuals fall in love too (eat my ass Linke). I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it <3

-------------------------------------------------------

With one of the worst headaches he could ever remember having, Viktor opened his eyes to find himself staring directly at a perfectly clear sky. His memories, still blurry, struggled to remind him of what had happened before he lost consciousness, but the pain caused by his choices was so great that he unconsciously rejected those persistent attempts to recall.

Once his vision returned, along with his sense of touch, he realized he was lying on a field rich with flowers and plants. As his hearing sharpened, he recognized the songs of various birds breaking the silence that had preceded his fall. Finally, as his sense of smell returned, he took a deep breath, savoring the pure air offered by the natural surroundings.

One scent stood out from the rest, and its impact made him realize that his left hand wasn’t touching the same surface as his right. With some trepidation and his body still numb, Viktor turned his gaze toward the person lying beside him.

Seeing Jayce’s figure, serene and calm, with his hand firmly grasping Viktor’s own, made Viktor’s heart skip a beat. Anxiously, he bolted upright from the ground as countless memories flooded his mind, now unstoppable, gripped by the terror of seeing his... *friend* in this state.

Though his head threatened to unbalance him, Viktor’s focus was clear: he needed to know Jayce was okay, and that was all that mattered right now, regardless of his physical or mental state. He turned his body completely, propped his elbow on the ground, and brought his free hand to caress Jayce’s cheek and neck, murmuring his name with a delicacy intended not to frighten him. When this didn’t work, he increased his tone, finally adding light taps on Jayce’s left cheek, hoping his body would respond to the stimuli.

All the while, he never let go of Jayce’s hand.

Jayce’s first response to the stimulation was to open his eyes and sit up abruptly, colliding his forehead with Viktor’s chin. Viktor recoiled in pain, his hand flying to the sore spot to rub it gently. Disoriented, much like Viktor had been moments ago, Jayce didn’t hesitate to throw himself into the Zaunite’s arms, hugging him as though Viktor were the most precious thing in his life.

And indeed, he was. He always had been.

“Viktor! Viktor, you’re alive... You have no idea how happy I am to see my partner back!”

Not long ago, Viktor had finally started to feel comfortable with physical contact—though only when Jayce initiated it—and Jayce now seemed to be taking full advantage of that. Given the circumstances, Viktor could only return the embrace with as much eagerness as Jayce had begun it, letting a single tear fall. That tear opened the floodgates, unleashing hundreds more, signaling the end of the tension that had gripped him at the fear of losing his partner.

Jayce, unsure how to interpret the reaction, broke the embrace and raised his hand to wipe away Viktor’s warring tears. The affectionate, non-judgmental look Jayce gave him caused Viktor to lower his head and hunch his shoulders, now paralyzed by fear, shrinking under his companion’s mercy. Hoping to stop Viktor from dwelling on the past, Jayce lifted his chin, forcing him to maintain eye contact, and let out a soft sigh before speaking.

“Viktor, listen to me. What’s done is done. There’s no point in blaming yourself for something we’ve already resolved together. I can feel it—you’re back to being the Viktor I remember. That Viktor who was so dedicated to his work, spending hours upon hours without sleeping or eating, and whom I had to bring a makeshift sandwich to at midnight.”

Jayce followed the statement with a laugh and a gentle squeeze of their still-clasped hands. Softened by the recent confession, Viktor responded with a playful punch to Jayce’s chest. It was that gesture that made him realize his body had returned to its natural state, devoid of any trace of Hextech. Raising his hand to the sky to shield it from the sun, he murmured.

“I can’t explain what’s happened, but it seems we’re in a world where Hextech hasn’t been created yet. The explosion must have acted as a Hexportal, transporting us somewhere far from home… I’m sorry for pulling you away from Mel, Jayce.”

“As far as I remember, I’m old enough to make my own decisions! And I made one when I chose to stay with you, Viktor.”

Those words sent a pleasant warmth through Viktor’s body but also reminded him that he wasn’t ready to talk about his feelings. He’d always thought his emotions for Jayce were obvious to everyone, including him, but he didn’t feel deserving of reciprocation for reasons too numerous to count.

Naturally, Jayce took the lead, being the first to stand and finally breaking the union of their hands. He observed how they were only covered by a pair of dirty tunics and noted nothing around them except trees and nature.

“Ah… It looks like we’ll have to walk a bit to figure out what to expect from this place. Give me a moment; I’ll be right back.”

Instinctively, Jayce moved to help Viktor up but realized it wouldn’t be effective as Viktor lacked an essential tool. In his absence, Viktor sat and hugged his knees, lowering his gaze to trace the ground with his index finger. He didn’t have to wait long, as Jayce soon returned with a functional crutch made from sturdy tree branches.

“Phew! Took some effort to smooth the edges with a rock so you wouldn’t get hurt. Here, let me help you.”

With surprising ease, Jayce helped Viktor stand and then gave him space, observing how Viktor managed to move on his own. Together, albeit in silence, they walked for several minutes until they came across a village that seemed peaceful and vibrant with social activity.

Jayce’s kindness earned them fresh fruit and some food. His greatest success, however, was convincing a merchant to trade clothes for a future favor. Now clothed and fed, they set out to explore the area and, with luck, find a place to spend the night.

Unsuccessful in their search, they ended up in an abandoned factory, wrapped in the tunics they had awakened in for extra warmth. Tired, Jayce sat beside Viktor, glancing at him shyly.

“You’ve been awfully quiet today. Is there something I can do to help?”

“No, Jayce… You already do so much for me. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“It’s never too much if it’s for you.”

Jayce blurted the words before Viktor could finish, preventing the Zaunite from feeling guilty for accepting help. Seizing the moment of progress in their bond, Jayce leaned back, resting his head and part of his torso on Viktor’s legs. Through shattered remnants of what seemed like a mirror, scattered across the floor, Viktor saw the scene they found themselves in, illuminated by moonlight streaming through the upper windows of the building.

With trembling hands and uncertainty about his actions, Viktor placed his hand on Jayce’s hair, gently ruffling it. Jayce responded to the touch by sitting up and meeting Viktor’s gaze, the moonlight softly highlighting his face.

With some hesitation, Jayce drew closer, raising his hand to caress Viktor’s cheek before closing the distance between them with a warm kiss. At first, Viktor hesitated, unfamiliar with the sensation, but he soon reciprocated, mimicking Jayce’s movements.

Once they both felt at ease, Jayce deepened the kiss, tilting his head and using his tongue, while Viktor’s hand unconsciously climbed Jayce’s arm to grip it. Pleased with the progression, Jayce broke the kiss, trailing smaller kisses along Viktor’s chin, jaw, and neck, leaving Viktor blushing and bewildered.

Jayce laughed at Viktor’s reaction before throwing himself into his arms, lying atop him. They pulled the warm tunics over themselves, their combined warmth a perfect comfort.

“We’ll make it through this together, I promise. And I never break my promises.”

As they had awakened—together, hands intertwined—the two lovers fell asleep, indifferent to their surroundings. The presence of the other was all they needed.

THE END

[q--uee--n]

It doesn't quite sit well with me when parts of the fandom act as though they don't understand why, exactly, people become so hyper-defensive/are so hyper-sensitive when people bring up Mel being manipulative. It's because this trait has been weaponized to demean and disparage her at the expense of acknowledging any other nuance/facet about her character, and this also often goes hand-in-hand with ignoring the faults of other characters as to emphasize hers. The fact that Mel is a Black woman can not be put aside as a definitive factor as to why and how she's perceived the way she is—by both the fandom and the writers of the show. I would even argue that one of the show's original sins is a lack of understanding of the real-world intersections between race, class, and colonialism.

In regards to both Mel and Ambessa, this lack of understanding is evident in the writing. Writing that ignores the real-world implications of the Medardas and their social position relative to whiteness, which is one informed by socioeconomic and sociocultural disparities as a result of racism and misogyny. Yes, I understand it's a high fantasy show where things like racism don't exist, so to speak, but Arcane, like all media, is informed by the state of affairs of the world we live in. With classism—classism, which Black people are disproportionately victims of—being a core theme of the show (ostensibly), it's disingenuous to disregard the, from a Doylist perspective, haphazard nature of Mel's function in the narrative as a wealthy Black woman in a classist society juxtaposed against poor, oppressed white main characters (this also applies to Ambessa as a warmonger).

With that said, and harkening back to the beginning of this post, even if you're not bringing attention to Mel's flaws and complexities to demonize her, you have to acknowledge them in the context of her as a Black female character being written with little understanding of intersectionality and how they've been weaponized against her, which are the reasons people—specifically Black woman fans such as myself—are compelled to defend her (or even pretend these flaws don't exist. After all, it's never been a problem in fandom when non-black and male characters' flaws are erased/diminished. It can't suddenly become one now). It's easy to say Mel is a multi-faceted, three-dimensional character, thus, that's why downplaying her flaws is a disservice to her charcter, and this isn't an unreasonable point. However, it's harder to admit that the reason people point out these flaws is not always in the service of acknowledging her complexities but instead in the service of demonizing her due to internalized/unknown biases against Black women. In the end, no one has to like a character. No one even has to defend a character they don't like on principle. No one has to not be annoyed at the sanitization of a multidimensional character. But if those things are being done without an acknowledgement of how the perception of that character is mired by racism and misogyny—knowing or unknowing, from the writers on down—then maybe it's time to address some oversights or unpack some internalized biases before wondering why people feel the need to defend that character.

[phoenixcatch7]

Reading loz/lu fics and it's just so interesting how wide the spectrum is of their personalities.

Sometimes it's got an in universe reason (different past (usually gender or species change), recent or ongoing traumatic events, a spectacularly bad first meeting), but sometimes (often) the characters are just... Weirdly angsty or peppy, there's no in between!

And I'm beginning to think less people have played more than one game than I thought XD.

Not that it's anyone's fault! One game is more than enough to be part of it all, and loz is exclusive to Nintendo consoles - and all the older stuff is frustratingly hard to get hold of. Heck, I'm still looking for wind waker, and that was really popular! And then you have to play it! They're not small games!!

But could people writing wild please ease off just a tiiiiiny bit so he can be a semi functional member of society pretty please XD? He's just as much a polite boy as any other member of the chain! He won't even run in shops! He can't attack npcs! He talks to every single person he's ever seen and remembers every single name. Yes, he's three quarters woodland creature with a hefty amount of trauma but he's also a fashionista who managed to avoid accidentally taking sides in a mayoral election and that's not easy!

[cubicle-thoughts]

Okayyy so what if Viktor was ace Christian?

Ace can still have relationships so I don't think that counts as a dig.

In season one, I already was under the impression that Viktor was ace (or ace-coded in my eyes).

But even I can see the moments of "affection" (as Viktor says) he and Jayce had.

I don't think it changes anything.

Dare I say, it kinda adds to the romance because Jayce will still accept him.

The funny part is that this makes the MelxJaycexViktor throuple dynamic work even more.

[anendtopursuit]

the tl;dr of my opinion on ace viktor, as an aspec physically disabled person who fucking loves viktor:

after the whole "why can't men just be friends" debacle (which, yknow, a simple "we didn't intend them as romantic" would suffice), confirming viktor as asexual seemingly directly in opposition to romantic interpretations of jayvik doesn't feel super purely intentioned, and feels like an attempt to shut the ship down whilst greatly misunderstanding how aspec identities work and using it as a shield against homophobia allegations (since viktor is still queer). if he's intended as asexual representation, why were we given no reason (outside of his disinterest in romance with sky, which could be interpreted as either disinterest in women or disinterest in her specifically - and would imply aromanticism, not asexuality) to solidly identify him as such? why does this only come up to debunk a popular mlm ship, and not just as a cool detail about his character? i'm not saying this as some rally to make the ship canon, i'm just saying it feels like it was done more to shut people up than to provide any actual decent representation.

having the sole asexual representation of your series be the physically disabled man who has an entire character arc about thinking he's broken plays directly into ableist stereotypes about disabled people being sexless and undesirable, an issue that the arcane fandom has never been exempt from. (if other disabled characters (like salo, for instance) were shown to be sexually active or even just sexually desirable, this would be less of a concern. if there were more asexual characters than just viktor, this would be less of a concern.)

[bayofwolves]

i was on the most random nostalgia kick and rewatched the prince of egypt yesterday and let me just say... that movie is truly one of the greatest animated films of all time.

[infiniteglitterfall]

Me, looking through books on Palestine: "Ilan Pappé wrote one called 'The Biggest Prison On Earth?!' People in Gaza hate it being called a prison. There's an entire hashtag for it. There's been an account dedicated to collecting pics and videos of #TheGazaYouDontSee for 6 years.

"Is Pappé even Palestinian? oh god wait I can tell already. this is gonna be an 'Israeli apologist' isn't it." Internet: "Yeah, Pappé's Israeli."

Me: "For fuck's--- so people will believe Israelis unquestioningly if they're shit-talking Israel, but in all other situations, Israelis are all liars?"

Internet: "Pretty much. Also, at best, Ilan Pappé must be one of the world’s sloppiest historians."

Me, admittedly in full schadenfreude now: "What?!?!"

Internet: "Benny Morris. That historian who's extremely hard-core about primary source documentation, who wrote that detailed book about how and why each group of Palestinian refugees left in 1947-9. He reviewed three books about Palestine."

Me: "Holy shit. And the book by Pappé is about the Husaynis. The family that Nazi war criminal Amin al-Husseini came from, the guy who fucked absolutely everything up for both Israel and Palestine."

Internet: "That's the one. Morris wrote, 'At best, Ilan Pappe must be one of the world’s sloppiest historians; at worst, one of the most dishonest. In truth, he probably merits a place somewhere between the two.'"

Me: "Why??"

Internet: "He says, 'Here is a clear and typical example—in detail, which is where the devil resides—of Pappe’s handiwork. I take this example from The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine'....

"Blah blah blah, basically in 1947 the UN voted to partition the land into Palestine and Israel, and extremist militias started shooting at Jewish towns and people. David Ben-Gurion was the leader of the Jewish community there, and his journal describes a visit from a scientist named Aharon Katzir, telling him about an experiment codenamed "Shimshon." Morris gives us the journal entry:

...An experiment was conducted on animals. The researchers were clothed in gas masks and suit. The suit costs 20 grush, the mask about 20 grush (all must be bought immediately). The operation [or experiment] went well. No animal died, the [animals] remained dazzled [as when a car’s headlights dazzle an oncoming driver] for 24 hours. There are some 50 kilos [of the gas]. [They] were moved to Tel Aviv. The [production] equipment is being moved here. On the laboratory level, some 20 kilos can be produced per day.

"Morris says, 'This is the only accessible source that exists, to the best of my knowledge, about the meeting and the gas experiment, and it is the sole source cited by Pappe for his description of the meeting and the "Shimshon" project. But this is how Pappe gives the passage in English:

Katzir reported to Ben-Gurion: 'We are experimenting with animals. Our researchers were wearing gas masks and adequate outfit. Good results. The animals did not die (they were just blinded). We can produce 20 kilos a day of this stuff.'

"'The translation is flecked with inaccuracies, but the outrage is in Pappe’s perversion of "dazzled," or sunveru, to "blinded"—in Hebrew "blinded" would be uvru, the verb not used by Ben-Gurion—coupled with the willful omission of the qualifier '"for 24 hours."'

"'Pappe’s version of this text is driven by something other than linguistic and historiographical accuracy. Published in English for the English-speaking world, where animal-lovers are legion and deliberately blinding animals would be regarded as a barbaric act, the passage, as published by Pappe, cannot fail to provoke a strong aversion to Ben-Gurion and to Israel.

"'Such distortions, large and small, characterize almost every page of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. So I should add, to make the historical context perfectly clear, that no gas was ever used in the war of 1948 by any of the participants. [Or, he later notes, by either Israel or Palestine ever.] Pappe never tells the reader this.

"'Raising the subject of gas is historical irrelevance. But the paragraph will dangle in the reader’s imagination as a dark possibility, or worse, a dark reality: the Jews, gassed by the Nazis three years before, were about to gas, or were gassing, Arabs.'"

Me: "Uuuuggghhhhhhhhh. Yeah, it will."

Internet: "He does say, 'Palestinian Dynasty was a good idea.' Then he does some really detailed historian-dragging about the lack of primary sources and reliance on people's interpretations of what they say instead.

"'Almost all of Pappe’s references direct the reader to books and articles in English, Hebrew, and Arabic by other scholars, or to the memoirs of various Arab politicians, which are not the most reliable of sources. Occasionally there is a reference to an Arab or Western travelogue or genealogy, or to a diplomat’s memoir; but there is barely an allusion to documents in the relevant British, American, and Zionist/Israeli archives.

"'When referring to the content of American consular reports about Arab riots in the 1920s, for example, Pappe invariably directs the reader to an article in Hebrew by Gideon Biger—“The American Consulate in Jerusalem and the Events of 1920-1921,” in Cathedra, September 1988—and not to the documents themselves, which are easily accessible in the United States National Archive.

"'Those who falsify history routinely take the path of omission. They ignore crucial facts and important pieces of evidence while cherry-picking from the documentation to prove a case. 

"'Those who falsify history routinely take the path of omission. They ignore crucial facts and important pieces of evidence while cherry-picking from the documentation to prove a case. 

"'But Pappe is more brazen. He, too, often omits and ignores significant evidence, and he, too, alleges that a source tells us the opposite of what it in fact says, but he will also simply and straightforwardly falsify evidence.

"'Consider his handling of the Arab anti-Jewish riots of the 1920s.

"'Pappe writes of the “Nabi Musa” riots in April 1920: “The [British] Palin Commission... reported that the Jewish presence in the country was provoking the Arab population and was the cause of the riots.” He also quotes at length Musa Kazim al-Husayni, the clan’s leading notable at the time, to the effect that “it was not the [Arab] Hebronites who had started the riots but the Jews.”

"'But the (never published) [Palin Commission Report], while forthrightly anti-Zionist, thereby accurately reflecting the prevailing views in the British military government that ruled Palestine until mid-1920, flatly and strikingly charged the Arabs with responsibility for the bloodshed.

"'The team chaired by Major-General P.C. Palin wrote that “it is perfectly clear that with... few exceptions the Jews were the sufferers, and were, moreover, the victims of a peculiarly brutal and cowardly attack, the majority of the casualties being old men, women and children.” The inquiry pointed out that whereas 216 Jews were killed or injured, the British security forces and the Jews, in defending themselves or in retaliatory attacks, caused only twenty-five Arab casualties.'"

Me: "Yeah. I'm looking at that report right now and it says there had been an explosion, and then people were looting Jewish stores and beating Jews with stones, and in one case stabbing someone. Some people said that some Jews got up on the roof of a hotel and retaliated by throwing stones themselves.

"And then it literally says, 'The point as to the retaliation by Jews is of importance because it seems to have impressed the Military and led them to imagine that the Jews were to some extent responsible for provoking the rising.' That's the only thing it really says about anyone blaming the Jews.

"Except.... the very beginning gives some historical context. And it does say that when the Balfour Declaration came out, Muslims and Christians 'considered that they were to be handed over to an oppression which they hated far more than the Turk's and were aghast at the thought of this domination....

"'If this intensity of feeling proceeded merely from wounded pride of race and disappointment in political aspirations, it would be easier to criticise and rebuke: but it must be borne in mind that at the bottom of all is a deepseated fear of the Jew, both as a possible ruler and as an economic competitor. Rightly or wrongly they fear the Jew as a ruler, regarding his race as one of the most intolerant known to history....

"'The prospect of extensive Jewish immigration fills him with a panic fear, which may be exaggerated, but is none the less genuine. He sees the ablest race intellectually in the world, past-masters in all the arts of ousting competitors whether on the market, in the farm or the bureaucratic offices, backed by apparently inexhaustible funds given by their compatriots in all lands and possessed of powerful influence in the councils of the nations, prepared to enter the lists against him in every one of his normal occupations, backed by the one thing wanted to make them irresistible, the physical force of a great Imperial Power, and he feels himself overmastered and defeated before the contest is begun.'

"Wow! What a great fucking example of how 'positive' stereotypes are actually used to fuck people over! We're not antisemitic, we actually think Jews are the smartest, most powerful, richest group with tremendous global power! So positive!! Not at all being used here to justify antisemitic violence!

"Also, immigration from all over the world actually meant that different agricultural and manufacturing techniques were brought into the region, and yes, financial investments to start businesses sometimes, which meant that Arab Palestinians there had the highest per capita income in the Middle East, the highest daily wages, and started a lot of businesses of their own. But go off, I guess."

"Anyfuckingway.... it basically says that the Muslims and Christians were angry and scared, the Jews were too quick to set up the functioning government that the Brits were supposed to be there to help both sides create -- and which the Arab leaders completely refused to create for Palestine, because (1) fascists and (2) didn't want Jews nearby -- and that they were "ready prey for any form of agitation hostile to the British Government and the Jews." Then it says the movement for a United Syria was agitating them real hard, and so were the Sherifians.

"Is that what Ilan Passe, I mean Pappe, meant by the Palin Report blaming the Jews?! That when it says it's understandable the Arabs were freaking out, because antisemitism, Pappe thinks it's saying the Jews were provoking them?!"

Internet: "I don't know. I kinda tuned out after the first hour you were talking."

Me: "OGH MY GOD"

Internet: "So anyway, then Morris ALSO says, 'About the 1929 “Temple Mount” riots, which included two large-scale massacres of Jews, in Hebron and in Safed, Pappe writes: “The opposite camp, Zionist and British, was no less ruthless [than the Arabs]. In Jaffa a Jewish mob murdered seven Palestinians.”

Me: "What the ENTIRE FUCK? There was no united 'Zionist and British' camp! The Brits would barely let any Holocaust refugees in, ffs!"

Internet: "Morris says, 'Actually, there were no massacres of Arabs by Jews, though a number of Arabs were killed when Jews defended themselves or retaliated after Arab violence.

"'Pappe adds that the British “Shaw Commission,” so-called because it was chaired by Sir Walter Shaw (a former chief justice of the Straits Settlements), which investigated the riots, “upheld the basic Arab claim that Jewish provocations had caused the violent outbreak. ‘The principal cause... was twelve years of pro-Zionist [British] policy.’”

"'It is unclear what Pappe is quoting from. I did not find this sentence in the commission’s report. Pappe’s bibliography refers, under “Primary Sources,” simply to “The Shaw Commission.” The report? The deliberations? Memoranda by or about? Who can tell?

"'The footnote attached to the quote, presumably to give its source, says, simply, “Ibid.”

"'The one before it says, “Ibid., p. 103.”

"'The one before that says, “The Shaw Commission, session 46, p. 92.”

"'But the quoted passage does not appear on page 103 of the report.

"In the text of Palestinian Dynasty, Pappe states that “Shaw wrote [this] after leaving the country [Palestine].” But if it is not in the report, where did Shaw “write” it?'"

Me: "I'M ON IT. [rapid-fire googling] OMG. This is.... Not the first time. In 'The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine,' he reported that in a 1937 letter to his son, David Ben-Gurion declared: 'The Arabs will have to go, but one needs an opportune moment for making it happen, such as war.'

"It's not in the source he gave. It's not in any of the three different sources he's given for it.

"He apparently has never responded to any requests for an explanation, either from the journal he published in, or from other historians. But it says he did "obliquely [acknowledge] the controversy in an article in Electronic Intifada, in which he portrayed himself as the victim of intimidation at the hands of “Zionist hooligans.”'

"This is absolutely fucking wild. THEN it says the chair of the Ethics Committee where he was teaching eventually said that the second part of the quote ('but one needs,' etc) was a (combined?) paraphrase of a diary entry and a speech Ben-Gurion gave, and that the first half is 'based on' a letter to his son.

"And it's so convincing! The chair says, 'Shabtai Teveth[,] Ben Gurion’s biographer, Benny Morris and the historian Nur Maslaha have all quoted this letter. In fact their translation was stronger than the quotation from Professor Pappé: ‘We must expel the Arabs and take their place.’ Professor Pappé has documentary evidence of these quotations and the source will ensure that this is correctly cited in any future editions of the publication or related studies.'

"And IT'S NOT EVEN TRUE?!

"Ben-Gurion's actual diary entry (not a letter) says the opposite.

“'We do not want and do not need to expel Arabs and take their places.... All our aspiration is built on the assumption – proven throughout all our activity – that there is enough room in the country for ourselves and the Arabs.'

"Benny Morris misquoted it as "We must expel the Arabs and take their places" in the English version of his 1987 book The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, although it was correct in the Hebrew version. He corrected himself in the 2001 book Righteous Victims.

"Teveth also misquoted it in the English version of his 1985 book Ben-Gurion and the Palestinian Arabs, but again, had it correct in the Hebrew edition.

"And both Morris and Teveth explicitly point out the rest of the entry. The part about all their aspiration being built on the assumption and experience that there was enough room in the country for everyone.

"Historian Efraim Karsh’s 1997 book Fabricating Israeli History pointed out and corrected their mistakes.

"This is apparently a very well-known issue among historians of Israel and Palestine. It was a big deal in 2003, when an evangelist Christian publisher put out a book FULL of disinformation, which not only used the same quote as Pappe does, but also could not give a real source for it.

"But Pappe STILL USED THE MISQUOTE AND DOUBLED DOWN ON IT EVERY SINGLE TIME."

Internet: "Are you done? I know all this already."

Me: "Also, there are literally only two places where the phrase 'twelve years of pro-Zionist policy' shows up online, and they're both about Pappe making quotes up.

"NOW I'm done."

Benny Morris wasn't, though. The review continues at the link below. And the next part starts, "To the deliberate slanting of history Pappe adds a profound ignorance of basic facts. Together these sins and deficiencies render his “histories” worthless as representations of the past, though they are important as documents in the current political and historiographic disputations about the Arab-Israeli conflict. Pappe’s grasp of the facts of World War I, for example, is weak in the extreme."

[thanatika]

low-coherency rambling in the tags

[gxlden-angels]

Sometimes working through religious trauma is a heartfelt hour talking about reclaiming your bodily autonomy after being sexualized and shamed from a young age with your religious trauma coach and other times it's this text message from your therapist then a caption suggestion to "show my tumblr friends":

[anarchonist]

I think a big problem in our culture is equating intent and effect, and this works both when predicting the effect and when determining the cause. It is important to remember that just as having good intentions does not excuse the harm one causes, so does someone having caused harm not always mean they intended to cause harm all along.

We are able to know our own thoughts, so when we cause harm we may easily downplay it because "that's not what I intended", as if that would make the harm go away. And when we judge others who cause harm, we similarly try to work backwards from the assumption that harm requires intent - and since we see the harm but not the intent, we assign intent somewhere where it may not even exist.

None of this is to excuse people who cause harm, but maybe to clarify that what we call evil is not some nefarious satanic mindset of ill intent, but rather a stubborn unwillingness to critically examine whether you might be causing harm even if you don't actively intend to, and even whether or not you truly care.

And the more power you have, the easier it is to distance yourself from the harm you cause and keep causing it.

[luckywolfsbane]

Honestly, I was mad this morning, but now I'm over it. I think we all need to chill, block whoever, and move on.

We don't need to attack each other. I'm Pagan, but Christians are not my enemy. If you're chill with me, I'm chill with you.

If you're anti-lgbtqia, we can't be friends, and I really don't want your energy around. I can't police what you enjoy, and I think you have the right to like what you like.

I won't gate keep is all I'm saying. If this discourse progresses, I won't take part. I've given my stance, I've made my peace. Find your peace, blessed be.

Edit: To the people who have the energy to really go after anti-queer bs, good on you. I just... I don't have the spoons. I'll support ya'll. I've got bottled water, fruit snacks, sunscreen, and sticks; I'm standing on the sideline like a proud uncle, waiting for ya'll to need something. Go get 'em, bestie. Please don't expect me to run. I'm good for like... one sword fight these days. Have mercy.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

today days old faun/fauna same etymology (equivalent to pan roman god faunus &/or fauna)

[frogdetective]

i had a dream that i was playing twilight princess except i got some kind of cursed copy. it was almost all the same except 1. all water was blinding white like looking at any body of water hurt my eyes and 2. all zant scenes were just replaced with a black and red flashing image of the actual devil

[medicinemane]

"This study says...", sorry mate but your bias is so on your sleeve that I'm not gonna be trusting any studies you cite because the thing is it's very easy to do a "study" that says anything you want, and it's just not worth my time to read tripe that just coincidentally supports exactly your position

(This is about "articles" that have "evidence" that just so happens to align with what the writer would want, and it's for some site that's gonna have massive bias. To make something up as an example, if Atheism.com has an article talking about how this study proves god doesn't exist... maybe you can see why I think they probably have their finger on the scale a bit and it's not really worth my time reading either the article or the study)

(Bonus summary of thoughts in the tags, realized why this most bothers me is it kinda stops being able to have an earnest conversation about important topics cause... yeah; this stuff is worth discussing but we can't when you're presenting evidence that's from one of the most biased sources on the subject you could possible have managed)

[hexhomos]

isnt it wild how jayce is the most heavily misunderstood arcane character..everytime i see takes about him being upper-class and rich or mean and condescending or not caring about viktor in s1 or whatever other garbage ppl say about him i lose a year of my life

It's crazy to me that I've been saying jayce is working class for years and this got confirmed in the draft 1 board for arcane christian linke posted on twitter sometime ago lol

house Talis is a MINOR HOUSE of toolmakers whose most prominent contribution is the 'collapsible pocket wrench'. They're literally blacksmiths. This is a service and labor position. Jayce can't even afford to use gold in his inventions in act1 because he relies on the Kiramman money for everything. This is not the life of a rich guy in Piltover this is middle class at best lol his drive to finish up hextech and succeed academically is him trying to build a better life for himself!

Blacksmithing is historically a very intensive work position. The work wears you down & eventually disables you very early in life (jayce's injury in act3 seems to be a metaphorical speedrun of that, in some ways) we're never told how jayce's dad died but it is very fair to imagine it was a work related. he's fucking aware of this, its true In Real Life and it brings such an interesting context to his interactions with Viktor and how they want to create things that help common laborers and make the work better if it wasn't for the council. (in s1 act2 their progress day showcase to heimerdinger BEGINS with jayce complaining that they've been stuck fulfilling the council's demands these past 10 years and now, finally, *finally* it's their time to decide what to do with hextech. and they're not even allowed that.)

Also, the perfected hexgems in s1 are kept in Kiramman-crest boxes. I noticed this just the other day. JAYCE AND VIKTOR DON'T OWN SHITTTTTTTTTTT they're getting exploited big time while all that 'investor' money is charged back with deep dividends

just like real life academics they probably spent most of their life writing up grant proposals like dogs and begging for funding that will wring them dry later on. Where the hell is all my jayce and viktor class solidarity 'getting drunk off their mugs and complaining about their dipshit bosses' content?

[related post]

[wolfythewitch]

Sorry if this is an odd question but I am also a Christian and I personally could never draw Jesus the way you do (as a Hades character, with minecraft sheep, etc) cause I personally would see that as disrespectful.

I do not mean offense by this and I genuinely don't know how to better word this question, but why are you okay with portraying Jesus this way?

Again, I don't mean any harm, I am just genuinely super duper curious

I don't really see anything inherently disrespectful about drawing Jesus in the hades art style, since it's an art style I really like. Most people who draw characters in the art style don't do it with the intent to fully integrate him into the hades canon/lore (though christianity and the hellenistic world do have very interesting ties, but that's a discussion for someone more well versed in that) and jesus with a minecraft sheep doesn't really incite any negative connotations either. It's a minecraft sheep. Because I used to come from mcyt and minecraft is still one of my favorite games.

Not fully sure what you mean by portraying him that way since the only link I guess is the more light hearted tone, and the video games inspos? Which I personally think is fine. His imagery is more normalized where I'm from so that might be why. I constantly see Jesus painted on jeeps next to marvel heroes and lebron, I see Jesus on a little postcard in a tricycle, I see him on murals painted on walls outside, he's on a cross in every classroom I enter. I guess where I'm from seeing him everywhere is just another form of worship. He's familiar to me. That's my friend Jesus Christ