#I'm not christian but i just think it's fun

[hyperlexichypatia]

I think there's also something to analyze in the apparently snarky "Not everyone is as strict a Muslim as you clearly are," because there's this underlying assumption that, like, specifically only a very strict Muslim would refrain from celebrating Christmas, but a more "relaxed" Muslim would be totally down with Christmas, which seems to stem from the premise that the reason non-Christians don't celebrate Christmas is because "My strict religion forbids it, because we are sticks in the mud who disallow fun" rather than because "I don't worship Jesus so why would I celebrate his birthday?"

Like, it's rooted in seeking a specific religious reason for not celebrating Christmas, because celebrating is the default, rather than just "Why would they celebrate that holiday, when it's not part of their religion or culture or life?"

There's also... like... an attitude among a lot of Christians that people of other religions should only be exempt from Christian hegemony if they're really, truly, strictly, devoutly part of another religion, because of someone who is ""not that strict"" (according to the completely subjective judgment of an outsider) who wants to opt out of Christian hegemony is just "using a fake excuse."

Kind of far afield from Christmas per se, but at the extreme end of that spectrum I'm reminded of the church that gave out free guns to all comers, but they wouldn't give them to Muslims, and to keep out Muslims at the door, everyone who showed up had to eat pork, except that Orthodox Jews were exempt. But they had to specifically be Orthodox Jews, not any other school of Judaism. There is, in that, a strange and convoluted internal logic under which that policy is what passes for "religious tolerance." And the focus on the "strictness" of Muslims who don't celebrate Christmas seems thematically connected.

It's Black Friday and you know what that means: It's Christmas discourse season!

There's a disconnect that comes up every year in these conversations, and I've never seen it illustrated as clearly as in the conversation below.

Context: This is a community group for an app that involves themes and items, and this year's December theme is winter-y but decidedly not Christmassy.

Some people were upset about that, which isn't unexpected, and then this conversation ensued:

What is.... what is going on here? Why is red so upset? Why are they struggling to understand that "cozy" Christmas is still not universal? Does it feel threatening to them?

I mean, maybe green had a bunch of comments and then deleted them or facebook was glitching, but I can't find anything wrong with their initial comment. Is red just annoyed because it's unkind to challenge someone who's just saying they're sad? I don't think that's the only thing though because red doesn't seem to understand either green's or blue's comments and it's a misunderstanding I see every single year.

Also, I don't understand what the issue was with blue, or why that also upset red that much. Is it just because blue ignored the mod's request to close the thread?

Like.... either there's something I'm not getting or there's something red's not getting. I suspect it's red, tbh, because they started talking about how they never mentioned anything about Jesus, the nativity, or religion -- but blue actually addressed that in their comment.

Outside the context of someone getting pushback on just saying they'd wished something different had happened, which I recognize feels shitty, are there ways people like blue and green can phrase things so that it clicks for people like red, or is it a lost cost?

And what am I missing about red's perspective?

[maybe-boys-do-love]

Aof Noppharnach motifs in the Ticket to Heaven Trailer:

1996/1997 makes its return! 1997 is the year P'Med died (and is that P'Med's walkman!?) and the year Torfun was born. It's also the year the Asian financial crisis began in Thailand and it's the year HAART for HIV AIDS was introduced in Thailand. 1996 is the year the first HAART studies were published and the multi-drug therapy was introduced.

Christian topics. Christmas has appeared in several Aof works. In Last Twilight, Day gets notified and rushed to the hospital over an available eye transplant; the transplant fails. In Moonlight Chicken, it's on Christmas that Li Ming takes Heart to connect with the deaf community but it's also when Alan, Jim, and Wen get into a physical fight that leaves Wen injured. And in Bad Buddy, Pran is interrupted in the middle of the Christmas concert and forced to transfer schools because his parents have observed him getting along too well with Pat. I think it's fair to say that Aof does not think Christianity is exactly beneficial to the gay experience.

The swimming pool. Listen, water and underwater shots are used across BLs and queer teen media (Skam and Booksmart, anyone?). And Aof doesn't have this as a motif in many works. BUT! The way he uses it in Dark Blue Kiss and Moonlight Chicken is super important because it subverts the way other series use it. In other shows, the water, whether underwater at a pool or at the beach, is private and away from society. It's a place to explore without commitment. In Dark Blue Kiss, it's a public pool and serves as the culmination of Kao's coming out! He kisses Pete for the first time unafraid of if they are seen and then they submerge while they kiss beneath the surface indicating that whether people see them or not, whether Kao made his love public or not, their love is still real and there deeper than what is seen and what is stated. Moonlight Chicken has Heart and Li Ming at the water's edge while visiting Li Ming's mom where the latter repairs his relationship with her while still choosing to stay with his guncle.

Faith. At the core of almost all of Aof's series is faith beyond the tangible world. We've got a gay ghost that only Thun can see in HCTM. We've got recurring motifs of flight, ascension, and separations (by death and by distance) in ATOTS. Last Twilight is almost vulgar with its theme of faith not by sight. Bad Buddy has its fake-out break-up ending and its antecedent in the beginning where the boys pretend to not know one another despite their former close ties; in other words, love that can't be seen or shared persisting despite. I could go on. Aof himself has stated explicitly that he always aims for his series to convey hope. And as any former Bible school child, like me and apparently Aof!?, might tell you, "These three remain: faith, hope, and love. And above all these is love." Be still my romantic Christian-raised heart.

The autobiography of it all! When Aof takes screenwriting credit, he seems to signal that the series includes aspects of his own life, which is why the year is significant, or why Moonlight Chicken's age-gap romance reflects Aof's owner life-partner, etc.

[gxlden-angels]

Christians are so weirdly obsessed with sex and also obsessed with the world being obsessed with sex

[outlying-hyppocrate]

i have officially returned. ask me anything.

[ano-po]

I love revenge tropes, but I am also a believer of forgiveness, maybe that's why Joseph the Dreamer appeals to me so much.

You exact revenge towards your brothers, all of which have repented and have seen the wrong in their ways, then you proceeded to forgive them.

Revenge, check. Repentance, check. No bad karma points and everyone is happy. Fulfilling drama. Temple soldiers cried of happiness. Good ending.

[californiaquail]

made it through the work day

[unhonestlymirror]

A bit strange feeling of living in Lithuania while looking like... Lithuania

[redkoi1]

We're really here for trying to help everybody reach a middle-ground with understanding...

... but i'm starting to learn why Christians really didn't like the homosexuals. And I really don't want to count ALL HOMOSEXUALS! But as a psychologically sensitive born-Christian, i'm getting really tired of hearing premises of 'getting sucked off' in my head. It's distracting. It doesn't serve any other purpose [PERSONALLY] than distracting and dampening my spirits, and the same beings don't seem to honestly give a damn. It's not my fault you're fucking gay guys. When I say I don't want to 'hear' that, it still continues. Which means it's either of two things:

'Soul-rape'

'Mindless-masturbation'

'Impure sex' I need your lil' rainbow community to think about this; there's no F in the LGBTQ acronym. Stop being faggots to straight/heterosex/demi people. I'm demi. I've always went with that. I need emotional connection to experience sexual pleasure. Not 'lip smacking' going on in my god damn brain 24/7 because, "well, he just makes me horny and i like pretending i suck him off". idk how many people it could be!! but it goes on in my right ear all the time. most of the fvcking day. stop it. i might need some 'soul-help'. because you're holding us back from a utopia at this point by being so mindless and distracting. I don't care if you disregard your humanity and deny it. congratulations. that doesn't give you the green light to suck people's spirits out. you should be murdered for such type of behavior.

BACK IN THE OLD DAYS WE'D JUST BURN YOUR HOUSES DOWN AND ASSASSINATE YOU BEHIND YOUR BACKS! STRAIGHT FROM A SPIRITUAL PAST LIFE. CONTINUING THE SAME BEHAVIOR MEANS YOU'RE JUST BEING DEGENERATE FOR NO GOOD REASON.

#"SOLIDARITY" #MOBILE_ERROR

[kimabutch]

People at work: You just started seminary, right? How's that going?

Me, recovering from the eighteenth time this week that I've been shaken to my core and had to reevaluate my entire way of looking at the world: Oh it's really fun so far!

[concerto-roblox]

wait you're telling me people are actually weirded out by doja cat dressing as a demon for a music video?? everyone is so boring 😭😭

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

peace and love on planet earth save me.... peace and love on planet earth.... save me peace and love on planet earth....

[gloriousmonsters]

remembering again the boom of authors bragging that THEIR kinky m/f romance was sooo much better than 50 Shades of Grey in the wake of it becoming popular. and then with the exception of more coherent writing every one my brother (valiantly trying to find good kinky books) tried managed to be worse in some way. god bless

[grim-echoes]

what *is* cryptofash?

it's short for cryptofascist, it's a term used for someone who covertly supports fascist sentiments or ideas adjacent to them without explicitly signaling it. someone who's cryptofash might closely associate with people who are more openly alt-right, express sympathy for fascist talking points, and voice certain statements/ideas common in fascist circles that, while not always strictly fascist ideas in isolation, can imply alt-right thinking when in tandem with other common fascist sentiments. in essence it's that guy you've always been suspicious of but you can't say for certain if they're just under-educated, reactionary, or a genuine nazi until you discover screenshots of them asking the jewish question in a discord server

[lemonduckisnowawake]

To be honest, horror stuff always gets cheapened and cringe when they add Christianity into it. Like, my man, you do not need to give me some idiotic afterlife theology loosely based in Christian mythos and ruin the decent scares you had going there.

[whysamwhy123]

Illness be damned, I finished this next OrangeHook fic, holla! Thank God this one's nowhere near as long as the first. It definitely got away from me though, didn't end up being about what I intended it to be about. But I don't think it's terrible? At least, not offensively so? I don't know. I'll see how I feel about it after I'm done editing. Maybe then I'll think about posting it sometime later this week?

[these-detestable-hands]

I hate this website because the people here tend to think that the "don't like, don't look" rule should be applied to everything (incest, proshipping, someone being annoying) except Christians