#I've seen it happen it's not pretty and it's not funny

[hawkins-batman]

The Noah Schnapp Situation Going Into S5

With Stranger Things Season 5 coming out this year, we are unfortunately going to see a revival of the debacle around Noah, even though by then it will be an almost 2 year old subject. So, I thought I would get ahead of that with some of my thoughts based on what I've seen these last few weeks and more broadly over the last 6 or more months I've been on this scene.

Spoiler Alert: This is going to be a long one. It'll probably be my new pinned post.

Why Still Talk About It?

Frankly? Because it's still going on. Keep in mind, Liam Payne died in October 2024 (just three months ago), right around Noah's birthday, and THIS is how Twitter responded to that.

And just in case anyone thinks I had to dig back a whole 3 months to find Noah-hate-content on Twitter, here was just random things I grabbed from the last week:

Which brings me to the next point.

Why Do You Even Care?

"Noah doesn't know you." "He's not your pookie."

I know that. The funny thing is, from what little I know about Noah, I'm pretty sure if he DID know me beyond the ONE DM conversation we've had, he'd probably tell me to chill. Dude is very non-confrontational and nice. So, why do it?

Because I think the online movement in favor of Palestinian self-determination has been hijacked by teenagers and performative leftists who care more about looking good for their peers than practicing what they preach.

Because (as you can see above and in screenshots like the one below), people who claim to hold my liberal/progressive/left-leaning values have used this as an opportunity to be openly homophobic and antisemitic towards a then-19-year old who had JUST come out of the closet.

Proponents of the hate campaign against Noah have said that they are just "holding him accountable" or "criticizing him" in the hopes he "learns something."

Look up. Point to me which image is accountability. Point to me the valid criticisms.

There are none. There is just flagrant homophobia. And then there are posts like this one, coming from the same crowd:

This behavior is wrong on its face.

It is violent. It is bullying (which doesn't seem like strong enough of a word) and it's bigoted.

Wanna see more? Look up @noah_schnapp on Twitter/X. See what they've done to his account.

Inevitably, some of the people participating in this will see this blog post. If you've made it this far, this is for you:

This behavior discredits your activism. It makes you look performative and fake to say in one breath that you are a "Leftist" who cares about Palestinian lives as well as the lives of minority groups worldwide, and then to turn around and talk like this about a Jewish person and a gay KID. Because he WAS a kid when this started. Furthermore, it makes it clear to those of us who actually hold the beliefs we claim, that you are vapid enough to use Palestinian suffering for your own personal vendettas. That the APPEARANCE of goodness is more important than goodness itself. And that you will shuck solidarity with minority groups the MOMENT one of them steps out of the lines you have drawn around them.

Not to mention...

It's Based Mostly On Lies

As a reminder, this is what Noah Schnapp actually said shortly after October 7, 2023:

Read that again.

"...we will hope and pray for safety, justice, liberation, and self-determination in Palestine." That was part of the very first thing he ever said about the issue.

And then this happened:

This was the image he was crucified for.

Stickers that weren't even his. That he wasn't holding up or making. He was in a cafe, someone else came up to him with them, and he was videoed with that person.

That's it. That's all. All those tweets you saw above? The fake stories made up about him like this one?

All of that was supposedly "accountability."

The harassment of his family. Murder threats. Rape threats. All for stickers that weren't even his.

There's even a paid Stranger Things author on this very site, styling herself as a Byler shipper, who has contributed to the lies that have further added to the hate campaign I've described.

As an aside, Noah wasn't the only one in that video. The influencers that actually posted the video and HAD THE STICKERS?

Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

And just to be clear - I don't think they should get hate. I think non-Jewish online Leftists appropriated a term from Jewish culture, redefined it, and are weaponizing it to beat down Jews all over the internet—which is par for the course for this charcuterie board of performative activism.

Yet the point stands. Noah was specifically targeted; and the homophobia that IMMEDIATELY came from the Left suggests to me that it was his sexuality and cultural/religious identity that motivated the attacks.

Again, I'll say, this is wrong.

Noah Has Since Responded

It hasn't stopped the bullying.

Didn't stop him from withdrawing from spaces he loved. From needing therapy from what we've learned from his now-deleted second TikTok.

And that really says something, does it? He cleared up his point. He tried to clarify and even apologize.

They didn't accept it. Not because it wasn't good enough. Not because it was "too late." Because this was the point. They wanted to keep doing it. They get sick joy from it.

Which is why...

I'm Not Shutting Up About This

This post doesn't even nearly cover the whole situation. The Byler fans who try to replace Noah's image in fan art and fan fiction. Who fan cast themselves as Will instead of Noah. The stalking and doxxing on Twitter. People reporting to GIANT hate accounts his location and when he's alone, PRAYING for him to be hurt.

I wish I could cover it all.

We have to stand up to this. On tumblr, on TikTok, on Threads, Twitter/X—everywhere we see it.

For our gay and Jewish siblings who see how Noah was attacked and feel less safe in their online spaces as a result, we have to speak up and say something.

And yeah. We have to say something for Noah, too.

The person who replied to me like this:

Him?

He did it because he needed to see a show of love from his fans. Doesn't mean he's perfect. Doesn't mean he won't mess up or do something in the future.

And no. Standing up for Noah, or for Jewish people, or other gay folks does not make you a genocide supporter or apologist. It doesn't mean you want any innocent people harmed. Don't give them the power to talk down to you like that. It's bullshit. You know it, and I know it.

All standing up to this vile shit is is an acknowledgement that Noah is a living, breathing person, as some of these people tend to forget.

And he didn't deserve this.

Any of it.

[mcflymemes]

PROMPTS FROM FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE *  assorted dialogue from the game, adjust as necessary

whatever happens, you can't fall in love with me.

promise you'll come and save me.

we need to make the most of the time we have... to live our lives the way we wanna live. every minute, every moment, matters.

i'm glad i met you, [name]. i really am.

i'm grateful for all the words we've shared, for all the moments and the memories.

you've made me more happy than you know.

there's a much bigger threat.

i just want to do everything in my power to help.

can i come?

then it's a date!

a long time ago i used to sell flowers here.

go. follow your heart.

i'm not some princess who needs to be coddled.

sorry i'm late.

this calls for a song.

this is a one time gig. when it's done, we're done.

survival can be a matter of luck or skill. and you can't rely on luck.

if it feels wrong, don't do it.

i'm a light sleeper.

when we were kids, everybody wanted to be a soldier. by the time i made it in, they didn't need heroes anymore.

i'm not cut out for this crap.

quit acting like you know me.

you have to look at the bigger picture here.

nothing worth fighting for was ever won without sacrifice.

hold onto this.

a good man who serves a great evil is not without sin.

i'm a man of modest dreams.

answer me!

would kill for a shower.

i'll be fine. you've seen how much ass i can kick.

it's kinda funny. us going our separate ways, thinking that must be it... that we'd never meet again... and then here of all places we do.

deep down, you're a pretty nice guy.

they took everything from us. again.

i don't care! i don't want anyone else to die, please!

we should totally celebrate!

i'm sick of this! i'm sick of all of this!

are you ignoring me again?

what's with you all of a sudden? like you're losing that hard edge.

you can't do this.

you gotta be better than this if you're gonna play the hero.

is it our destiny to defy destiny?

i am what you see before you. nothing more.

you are too weak to save anyone. not even yourself.

those who look with clouded eyes see nothing but shadows.

that was then, this is now.

you have failed again.

through suffering you will grow stronger. isn't that what you want?

do you fear me?

do you dream of me?

you're not real. you're dead.

you should rest up while you can.

can't sleep?

i heard footsteps.

sorry. didn't mean to wake you.

it kinda feels like i've gone back to my childhood home.

everyone dies eventually.

do i get a say in all this?

i'm coming for you.

did you miss me?

[macabremayhem]

That's still a weird reason. And I'd say it's less the case when a person identifies with a character. In 80% of the cases where I observe misgendered Valdemar and attribution to them (mostly male, btw): it's just dictated by the fact that the author of such "edits" is just a straight girl who loves dangerous characters and dreaming about gothic princes (kinda Severus Snape or, for god's sake, Edward C… Heathcliff, iykwim). And such girl (mostly girl, btw) just doesn't care about, say, comfort of non-binary people or canon information. You can look at the illustration of the most common case from the Arcana wiki:

/angry 💢 speech below/

However, I've also seen cases where such girls tried to play non-binary (but it was always next to "Valdemar the man" in their headcanons, fics and such). They were good enough for... a month at most. And speaking of comfort, as someone who's been non-binary pretty much all my life, and whose parents tried to "cure" me of it. As someone who, at best, heard the doctors' excuse: "Maybe your child is just playing and will stop soon", which of course did not reassure the parents. And I understood the validity of the doctors' words, because already in 15/16/17 years I saw enough how many people played it and these people forgot about their %any sort of queerness% very quickly. Not locked down in the closet, but forget.

But wow, I'm fucking 30 years old now and I'm still non-binary, I haven't stopped being non-binary for a second, even when I didn't know the word. And I don't really want to worry about the comfort of those who don't give a shit that I'm non-binary and reject non-binary as the whole concept (or about my trans siblings and being trans-person). This is an issue that goes beyond a funny otome-game. And it's not a game anymore, because anyway, my identity is not something that some straight girl/boy can throw away for their own fucking reasons, wow. Whatever they may be.

And finally, a few words about "I misgender them because I want to fuck them". Can I tell you exactly how many times that's happened in my life, or will you go round?

[I’ve seen people headcanon non binary characters as afab or amab and for some reason it really bothers me. Even if they are just fictional characters, it seems disrespectful and rude. Do these people do this to nb people in real life?  This is a game set in a land where adorable purple snakes speak english, magic is real, and people can come back from the dead. Its completely possible to have a character that has no biological gender. I just find it really annoying.]         

Confessions do not reflect the personal views of the mods   

[karmaphone]

seeing some of this egg discourse it's like. I think some of you have rancid friends and/or have whacked out perceptions of how interactions with other people go and what they Mean

[archersgoon]

the international consensus that isaboe must be besotted with finnikin is so funny. they do not like that man

[100percentdirtball]

transcript under the cut

A thread on bluesky from Talia Bhatt, username @enkiducoin.

It's a reply to Oruniter (@outsidein) whose original post was: It's astonishing how much discourse is just everlasting "all trans women are secretly Baeddels" panic. The idea that we're fighting a feminism that includes trans women but excludes trans men is arguing that the mythologised spectre of Baeddelism took over cis feminist spaces. It's often projections.

Talia's thread reads:

It's probably a good time to talk about the myth of the baddels.

Myth because the facts are sparse, largely unavailable, and ultimately don't matter--especially to those who are weaponizing the idea of the baeddel against transfeminist consciousness.

All we really know is two sentences.

During the 2010s, theree was a group of transfems on Tumblr (and some on Facebook) who dubbed themselves 'baeddels' and tried to theorize an early form of transfeminism. They made various missteps and eventually disbanded for interpersonal rather than ideological reasons.

That's about it.

What is far, far more important than the baeddels than their history or theory is the reaction to their existence, which continues to this day.

I don't actually know what their theories were because they weren't really influential, and nearly everything I've learned has been secondhand.

Some girls who weren't baeddels were held up as core members. Sometimes they were accused of being all-white despite that apparently being untrue. One Tumblr passed around accuses them of "anti-AFAB hate" and "AMAB supremacy" in a manner that's frankly reskinned transphobia.

It's a complete mess.

Here's why none of it matters, though.

You see, I wasn't on Tumblr during the 2010s. I wasn't even out online for over half that decade.

However, the literal millisecond I began speaking on feminist topics as a transfem--on TWITTER--I was called a 'baeddel'.

You see the tactic, I hope.

'Baeddel' was a word I had no context for, but in non-transfem queer spaces--especially fandom-oriented ones--it was a libelous word with a lot of weight. If I was a baeddel, I was a fascist radfem white-supremacist bioessentialist enbyphobe and more.

The word is meant to tar, and to silence.

Offenses worthy of the moniker 'baeddel' ranged from using "TME/TMA", to discussing transmisogyny, to simply being a trans girl who resisted disposability.

If you did, you were a bioessentialist TERF who hated transmascs and needed to unpack your "AMAB socialization".

That, in particular, was core to the 'baeddel' accusation. "AFABphobia", hatred of transmascs and "AFAB enbies", a certain prejudice that an AMAB might hold against an AFAB, if you will!

Ahem.

It's kind of fucking obvious when you put it in plain words what's happening here.

The idea of a feminism that is inclusive of trans women but exclusive of trans men is, frankly, entirely made up. No major feminist school of thought with any sway in real-world movements has ever theorized such a line, and if I'm being honest, it's logically impossible.

Yet the myth persists.

Even so, I've seen queer people deep in fandom spaces structure their understanding of actual GCs and TE"RFs" after their 'understanding' of baeddels. I've witnessed utter buffoons who thought 'radfems' were transfem-positive and transmasc-negative encounter actual GC transmisogyny and be stunned.

If I had read Baudrillard say something super clever about maps, territories, and hyperreals.

The specter of the baeddel is a campfire ghost story, a cautionary tale used to finger-wag at trans girls, warning us to not get too many funny dieas about having any dignity as feminist subjects.

How does the tale end?

Honestly, we just stopped caring.

The 'baeddel' accusation is so unfounded in anything real and so fucking stupid that all you could do after a point was laugh and shrug. Over time, I saw even cisfem friends be called 'baeddels' for showing solidarity to transfems.

The best part, though?

I'm pretty all my transmasc friends have been called 'baeddels' by now, too.

We've come completely full circle.

What did 'baeddel' originally mean? I don't know and I don't think we ever will.

Today, however, it means "uppity tranny", and anyone who supports us.

The tags on the original post read: #transfeminism#materialist feminism#gender is a regime#sex is a social construct#social constructionism#feminism#lesbian feminism#baeddel#y'all know that you keep circulating blog posts about baeddels by others right#you are defining a strawman and then insisting that trans girls with any feminist subjectivity are defined by that strawman#and yes i used strawMAN deliberately because a lot of this is an exercise in calling us sexist to non-transfem trans people#buried under 70 layers of tumblrspeak#you have just invented “transfeminazi”#get a fucking grip

On Transmisogyny, Feminism, and the Myth of the 'Baeddel'

This will go well.

[prolibytherium]

There's a photo of me at age 11 tied to a tree with a jumprope and wearing a Green Bay Packers helmet while a white-tailed deer is standing literally within a few feet of me and looking directly into the camera ft. green eyeshine.

The photo only exists on the hard drive of a dead old computer and I want to see it again so badly but it might be irretrievable and it breaks my heart...

[mastersoftheair]

from appletv's instagram story

[nerdyandproud-li]

Okay, I am beyond desperate, can somebody please tell me where I can watch Love Birds (2011) if I don't have Apple TV or Amazon Prime?

I want ro watch it for.....reasons....

[tristansarchive]

Reckless don't mean a thing If you ain't kinda hopeless As she told me not to waste Another moment No point resisting Giving up control Hot Mess

[simptasia]

an unexpected closing to the year was a boy meets world special interest hitting me with a steel chair

[ornithological]

looking through my bird pics and there's a couple of this crow i remember seeing earlier this year, and i really do wonder if it's a hooded x carrion crow. it's dark on the back but definitely has lighter colour on the undersise. unfortunately wasn't able to get a better angle on it

[ulubionywuja]

Idk what's up with that but every time I get a dental surgery I wanna dress in gothic / kuro lolita

Like idk what is it but just had a gum transplant of all things and I'm in pain BUT I WANNA WEAR SUM EGL SO BADDDD

This picture was in fact taken during my bone transplant recovery period last year. I made so many JSKs and headpieces at that time, it's not even funny

I still have to do my hair but.

Guys I'm feeling a bit emotional

Concrit is fine! I always loved this fashion and want to get better.

[hairmetal666]

No one knows who writes the Hawkins High Tattler. It comes out every week, without fail, has for almost two decades. Everyone reads it, even teachers, even parents. It's caused more the one suspension, grounding, and even--famously--a shipping off to boarding school.

Steve's never let the Tattler get to him much. He's in it, of course, practically a new story every week. But it's just silly gossip.

Of course, Steve is also, currently, the titular Tattler, so. It's not like he's surprised when his name shows up.

It's his third year, his last year, and he knows everything that ever goes on at Hawkins High. It's pretty easy, honestly. Everyone thinks he's ditzy and vapid; nothing more than hairspray and polos. People will say anything around him, assuming he's not listening or not interested, and then bam. It's in next week's Tattler. No one even suspects him.

The confessions locker probably helps. Down by the theater, busted and unusable, the perfect place for people to leave tips, to tattle on their friends (or enemies, as the case may be).

That's what he's doing right now, checking the confessions locker. After 9:30 on a Friday night, the place silent as the tomb, perfect time for it. Pretty standard fare this week. The only thing of interest is that Eddie Munson was the person who broke all Ms. Click's pencils and left the stubs on her desk. This one, he laughs at, can't wait to publish it; can't wait to talk to Munson about it.

He gets a lot of stuff about Eddie. Most of it he doesn't publish because it's bullshit about satanic rituals--the nerdy kids he babysits play dnd, and there's no way Karen Wheeler is letting anything satanic happen in her basement--or about his sexuality, and one thing Steve doesn't do is out people.

Gathering up this week's submissions, he closes the locker with a soft clink, and he swears, swears he hears the squeak of a tennis shoe on the polished tile of the floor. He freezes, heart in his throat. Nobody has been here this late before.

Seconds pass but there's only silence. Confident he's only hearing things, he heads out, the parking lot just as empty as when he arrived.

---

He sees Eddie a few days later, when he's picking up the kids from the arcade. They typically exchange casual greetings, but as Steve waits, Eddie stands with him, offers him a cigarette.

"Read that was you who messed with Click's pencils. Good one."

Eddie shrugs, gives a little bow and a smile. "Happy to be of service."

"It was my class, when she found them. Never seen her so mad."

"No way," Eddie laughs. "Not even when Hagan drew dicks on all the textbooks?"

"Not even then, man. She was throwing pencil stubs everywhere."

"Fuck, sad I missed it." Eddie takes a drag, Steve's eyes following the movement, lingering on his mouth. Something warm and tingling builds at the base of his spine and he forces his gaze away.

"How long you in detention for?"

"I'm not. Swore it wasn't me, and Click doesn't want to admit she reads the Tattler, so. Not much they could do. "

"I've seen it sitting on her desk!"

"I know! She reads it when she has detention duty!"

They lean against Steve's car, laughing, and Steve feels good. This is good. He likes Eddie. He's funny and dramatic and smart and kind. He's not deserving of any of the mean things that get submitted to the Tattler.

The kids come streaming into the parking lot then, and Eddie stubs out his cigarette, says "see you around, Harrington," and Steve finds himself flushing for reasons he can't quite explain.

---

He starts seeing Eddie around way more. He's in school most days, smoking in the parking lot after the last bell, chatting with Steve in the hallways.

It shows up in the Tattler; big news that the King and the Freak are hanging out. Most of the submissions are about it, increasingly elaborate rumors about their supposedly deep, close friendship.

He wishes he could tell Eddie.

Eventually, Eddie invites him to smoke at the quarry. He doesn't hesitate to say yes, doesn't even bother to try ignoring the swoop in his stomach, the speed of his heart.

They sprawl out in the back of the van, Eddie's loud, raucous music pounding around them, sharing a joint back and forth.

Steve gets hazy, boneless, can't stop watching Eddie, the way his lips purse around the joint, his long hair glinting gold in the weak light of the camping lanterns, the pleased shine of his eyes every time he makes Steve laughs.

He likes Eddie so much. Everything about him, honestly. Butterflies ping in his stomach, happy and slow, and he thinks how nice Eddie's lips are, wonders how soft they must be. And he thinks--he's read the submissions, right--he knows the things they say about Eddie, and he wishes it was true, he wants--he wants--

He wants

---

Steve's running late to check the locker. Lost track of time at the diner with Eddie, and it's making him panic.

He stuffs the submissions haphazardly into the pocket of his hoodie, dancing with nerves, willing himself to grab them all and get out.

Locker emptied, he sprints towards the exit. He has a second to process someone barreling towards him in the dark, but he's going too fast to stop, can only brace himself as they collide.

It sends him sliding across the floor, Tattler submissions spilling out of his pocket like snow. He hits the ground, scrabbling for the papers, praying that whoever is here with him can't see them in the low light.

Hands grips his biceps. "Stevie, Steve, we have to get out of here" and there's a second where he's comforted by the familiar rasp of Eddie's voice before terror spikes again.

He pulls himself from Eddie's grasp, searching for any dropped submissions in easy reach. "Wha--why--what's--"

"I ran into Jason Carver and his band of idiots at the gas station. They're on their way to here to try to catch the Tattler in action."

Steve freezes. "I don't--that's not--I--"

In the deep silence of the empty school, they both hear the slamming of a door, a bitten off giggle. Eddie grabs his wrist and they run. Into the theater room, through a door Steve didn't know existed, to the backstage area of the auditorium.

"You should be safe here," Eddie says.

Panic spirals through him. "I can explain. I was just--I forgot a--I needed--"

"Harrington! I know, okay? I already know."

Steve can only blink at him, swallows rough in his throat. "What--Eddie, I--"

"I saw you. Weeks ago. Forgot my notebook in the theater room after Hellfire and had to run back for it. You were there, at the locker."

"You can't tell anyone."

"I'm not going to."

"No, Munson, you really can't. Nobody can know. Nobody--"

"Swe--Stevie, I promise. The secret's safe with me." He rocks back on his heels, chewing on his lip for a second before he continues. " I--I couldn't figure you out, you know? I saw you around with those kids and it didn't make any sense. King Steve, babysitting tiny nerds? But I saw you at the locker and..."

"You're giving me too much credit, man."

"I don't think so. You're never--fuck, Harrington--you're never mean. At least, not in the last couple years. You spread gossip, but you don't punch down, and you're funny as hell. Mean as shit too, but only to the people who deserve it."

His ears burn and he looks down. "Just because I have fucking--fucking editorial standards doesn't mean that I'm anything special."

Eddie scoffs. "Remember, Stevie, I was reading it a year before you were here. Cruel, vapid garbage. Always the most vile, pointless stories about people who couldn't defend themselves. And how many submissions have you gotten about me, for instance, that you've never used?"

Steve clenches his fists. "I would never--"

"I know. Sweetheart, I know. That's why I li--You're so fucking good, Stevie."

He laughs, ears burning. "I'm really not, Eddie. I try to write about fun gossip that can't hurt anyone too much, and nobody's found me out because they think I'm too dumb--"

Eddie reaches out then, fingers connecting softly with the edge of Steve's jaw. He can't help but lean into the touch, eyes flickering closed.

"You don't want to hurt people because you're fucking kind. You know how I know for sure? You must get submissions every week about me, and you've never once printed that I'm--" Eddie stops then, swallowing hard.

Steve's throat goes tight. He rests his hand over Eddie's, still holding his face. "Me too," he whispers. "Kind of. I like--it's both. For me."

"Oh," Eddie breathes, mouth lifting in a bright, beautiful smile that Steve can't help but return.

He's watching, sees when Eddie's gaze drifts his lips, making his breath hitch. He doesn't really think about closing the distance between them, slotting their mouths together in a tentative, gentle kiss.

"You're just full of surprises aren't you, Steve Harrington? Eddie asks when they part.

Steve blushes. "That's sort of the last of them."

"Sure. Next you'll be telling me you've played dnd."

"I have a character."

"What???"

"Human paladin. Dustin worked on it with me. Ready to get out of here?"

"Human paladin," Eddie gapes. "You know--you said--what's happening?"

Steve twines their fingers together, leading Eddie towards the auditorium exit. "Well, first we're going to walk out to my car and then we're going to my house, and we're going to look through Tattler submissions. Maybe makeout a little bit."

Eddie giggles. "What the fuck? Like. What the fuck, sweetheart?"

He turns to face Eddie, smile big and pure and bright with happiness. "If you're really nice to me, I'll let you help write this week's issue."

"Oh, oh. You're going to wreck me." Eddie mumbles, almost to himself.

"If you're lucky." Steve beams.

[warblingandwriting]

Okay so the other day I watched the movie Game of Death (not the Bruce Lee one, this one was bad) and I stumbled upon the fan wiki which is the absolute funniest fan wiki I have ever seen:

the 81 unknown people is in reference to an (actually really good) animated sequence at the beginning of the movie for the opening credits, as opposed to anything that actually happens in the movie. And I guess this person did actually attempt to count them because:

Also included in the victims list is literally anything that died, no matter who killed them or when, we see some taxidermy animals at one point in a cabin, and it was not missed

Did the game kill these creatures too? I guess we'll never truly know.

And my personal favourite victims of this movie:

(yeah, this random low-budget gorefest of a movie just cuts to a documentary about manatees sometimes because...?)