#It's anti ableism until it's not convenient for them.

[will-pilled]

[dragonturtle2]

Gwen Clawthorne is abusive, and IRL would have a non-zero chance of killing someone. It's healthy to examine it.

Trigger Warning for fictional examples and discussion various types of abuse, and ableism.

Keeping Up A-fear-ances has amazingly strong scenes. It drops oodles and oodles of character backstory, sprinkles in a ton of world building for the Isles, and I was screaming with laughter next to my roommate. Animation and voice animation is excellent as per usual, and Deb Doetzer gives a killler debut! But part of the final picture it’s painting feels misinformative and negligent. Even though I never think cartoons like Owl House are purposely trying to push something that can harm people.

It’s offering a false sense of security about the kind of person Gwen is. This obsession with alternative medication is much in the vein of anti-vaxxers, with a deep mistrust of education and anything ‘establishment.’ This feeds into a cult mentality, where nothing outside the environment can be trusted. Not even the basic facts and logical explanations laid out in front of them. So it's no surprise people stuck in these movements also dovetail with faith healing BS: the idea that something can be cured by prostrating to God, or some figurehead of faith. Any 'man of the cloth' behind this is inevitably trying to soak people for cash, so you'll often see it at megachurches. This closed-mindedness, and self-isolation from sensible people who would speak contrarily, inevitably leads to extremism. After sacrificing her family’s belongings, and her own personal safety, Gwen finally feels so self-righteous to go ahead and STEAL MEDICINE from her disabled child. Pretty clearly with the intent to trash it. The distrust of close relations and government, combined with a self-fed persecution complex, forms justification for breaking the law and basic human decency. This fear of autism, and the ableist inability of parents to deal with their own children, is what helped light fire of the new anti-vax movement this decade. This fervor to 'help' children is why it was legal until 2020 to use shock bands on autistic patients to modify behavior.  And why a few days ago, it was re-legalized.

The show staff realized they couldn't realistically deprogram a character like this in one episode, so they have to cheat by having her conveniently walk in on the con artist(s) expositing their entire modus operandi. Rather than Gwen overcoming it entirely through critical thought, or just empathy for her daughters. One way to have partly solved this would have been to actually have a confrontation with 'Wortlop', get into a physical altercation, and reveal the little gremlins through that. It wouldn’t even have to be a proper fight, it could just be Gwen tugging too hard on their robe. Then, it would really feel like it was her determination for the truth that solved things, and she wasn't driven entirely by the hope of the perfect scenario. 

Even people who aren't trapped in the alternate reality of the con are still open to exploitation through offered good faith. Such as Luz, who helps trap her mentor when the slightest chance of seeing her mother again is dangled in front of her. When the shoe drops about what Gwen did with the potions, I wanted Luz to scream out to Eda. Not just to warn Eda (vital, sure) but just so that someone ELSE would know where she was. I didn’t know how the episode would go, and was wondering if it would become a full-on fight with good ol' Mom.

So moving from Eda, and the general discussion of medical malpractice, we have the bond with Lilith and her personality explored. I want to say upfront I wasn’t that gung-ho over Lilith at the end of Season One. But I was open to forgiving her devotion to a fascist cult, if the show demonstrated her sense of morality and affection was askew from a flawed home life… BOY HOWDY, did the Owl House crew DELIVER. Heaven's above, Lulu is hurting. Lilith's first words to Gwen are "Mother! Mother, you know- I was there too." They're referring to the Petrification Ceremony. Lilith is obviously begging for help here; "Hey Mom, I was ALSO almost murdered. Could I talk to you about that?" Instead, Hooty was somehow more talkative to Lilith (plus goons) when he was kicking her butt in the forest, than Gwen was after years of absence. Seriously, compare the affection between encounters. It's not even clear if this is just a flaw with cutting things to fit 22 minutes, or if Gwen really didn't notice Lilith in that cage.

The dynamic between Gwen and her oldest reminds me of Buck from Chicken Little: offering no support to a child, and acting shocked at how it’s deeply hurt them. Then both try to balance the scales at the very end with a little self-deprecating apology over sad music. Which even have a part where they partly walk it back with a weak excuse for their failed responsibility. “Your mom… she was always good at stuff like this. Me, I'm gonna need a lotta work.” “Lilith, you were always so self sufficient...” Weirdly, Buck Cluck is coming out of this comparison looking stronger, because he managed to put the puzzle pieces together BEFORE his kid graduated and left the house! (And again, not taking away anyone’s medicine. That’s a sticking point for me.)

My big issue isn’t the idea that someone this crappy can come around. For most familial situations, I never want to just say “give up hope.” But I would also try making it clear to people they don’t NEED a dependent or regular connection to someone who hurt them. No one, certainly not kids, owe satisfaction or attention to any family member that hurt and scared them so badly. Rather, that abuser is the one that owes THEM. That victims can keep an abuser at a distance until they’ve proven to shaped the hell up. I know it would be insultingly naïve to think people can easily cut family from their day-to-day lives. Making contact, having extended conversations, is often absolutely vital to closure. The Clawthornes shouldn’t hate their mother, but the unblinking acceptance, the unhesitating embracing of this person? It lays a lead egg in my stomach.

But I can acknowledge that some of my discomfort at this episode is how the fandom treats it, which is often mostly independent of any artistic effort. I’ve seen many statements to the effect of “Gwen is a flawed parent, but she cares.” On paper, this statement is totally true. But apologists have thrown this around like it's some kind of evidence argument there was NO abuse. Minimizing these as "just mistakes" that can be turned around with an apology doesn't help anyone whose had to go through this.

[sol1056]

when the lamp stays unlit

a multi-part anon that’s been waiting awhile:

...I never really fully thought of shiro as physically disabled... he had a fully functional prosthetic arm with all the motor skills of a real arm plus superhuman strength and so forth AND because it didn’t really impair him. It would be one thing if he was physically disabled and the show thus normalized disability; but to me, Shiro‘s arm (and Ezor‘s fake leg and Zethrid‘s missing eye) were more like sci-fi ‘cool battle scars’ rather than things that really impacted their social or emotional life. [...] The missing arm made [Shiro] more incapacitated during s7 (I guess?) but it was an excuse for benching him, which is something I found ableist. And while he has a mental illness as well, I thought it only ever became an issue when it was convenient to the plot. Hope that made sense, it wasn’t my intention to be insensitive since many people see him as great disability rep.

This is nearly as difficult a subject as race, but it’s also an important discussion to have. We do need the conversation about LGBT+ representation in VLD, but it’s drowning out an equally important conversation about how disability is represented (and treated) in popular media.  

As a caveat, I’m a work in progress when it comes to un-learning the ableism that permeates Western culture, even when directly harmed by its perpetuation. So I’m inviting anyone with the spoons and lived experience to join in. The more voices and perspectives, the better. 

Behind the cut: clarifying a few terms, how the SFF genre conceptualizes disability, how humans conceptualize difference, narrative treatment of Shiro as disabled, and PTSD/mental health in popular media. 

First, let’s define some terms so we’re on the same page.��Assistive technology “increases or maintains the capabilities of people with disabilities.” Adaptive technology (a subset of assistive) is tech “specifically designed for persons with disabilities and would seldom be used by non-disabled persons.” Gadgets like sock cradles are assistive, since an abled person might use them; a prosthesis or screen reader would be adaptive. The majority of media representations of disability will use adaptive technologies to signal a disability, rather than assistive. (definition from wikipedia)

Now for a few lesser-known terms. There’s a philosophical concept concerning the breakage of things we’ve always taken for granted. Like flipping a light switch: the light goes on. We don’t pause to marvel over what made the lightbulb glow. Then one day, you flip the switch and the light doesn’t come on. Now suddenly you have to stop and notice something that previously you’d never given much attention.   

This sudden awareness of wrongness --- the light not going on --- takes three forms. It can be conspicuous, where it’s visibly damaged, ie the lamp is smashed. It can be obtrusive: a part is missing, ie there’s no bulb in the socket. Or it can be obstinate, ie the bulb and lamp are fine, we just don’t have power. 

The abled perspective --- when suddenly reminded of disability --- is to see the disability as conspicuous and obtrusive. That is, broken and incomplete. Which means, that’s the only story the abled perspective knows, so that’s the story it tells, over and over. 

It’s a common assumption, especially in the SFF genre: adaptive technology removes a character from the category of disabled. Cybernetic modifications or prostheses become design elements; the character is considered --- and written --- as abled. In a sense, the character is like the lamp when there’s power: the author can ignore the label of ‘disability’ and carry on without giving more thought to the issue.

But if there’s removal (or breakage), for the author, it’s like flipping a switch and the light doesn’t go on. You can almost hear the author thinking: ‘oh, forgot this character can’t do anything.’ Until the story provides repairs or replacement, the previously adaptively-abled character is now un-abled. 

Disability --- in the absence of adaptive technology --- is, at best, obstinate. The character is neither broken nor incomplete; they’re a lamp without a power source. Nothing else has changed. But if someone never gave thought to how lamps need power to operate, their first reaction won’t be to ask if the power’s out. It’ll be to check the lamp, the bulb, the wiring, and declare it mysteriously broken because no light is happening. 

Abled writers effectively shift the blame onto the lamp: it’s now useless, by some ill-defined sense. But it’s not; it hasn’t changed. It was reliant on power when power was available, and it’s reliant when power’s not available, too. 

The analogy itself is already too simple for the reality; it implies a person could be abled/disabled as on/off. So let’s adjust, and say: the lamp has a solar-power backup and still lights up --- just not as quickly or brightly. Or it’s a drill whose battery needs recharging: it’s still usable as a manual screwdriver, awkward but workable. Plus, the base is still handy as a makeshift hammer. 

The presence of any given disability does not automatically mean the person is fully dis-abled by all other measures as well. Analogies only go so far, after all. 

But this is the main point: the character never stopped being disabled, any more than the lamp stopped needing power. By that same token, the person who takes medication for ADD isn’t ‘cured’ with medication, anymore than a paraplegic stops being unable to walk just because they have a wheelchair. 

Now that I think about it, this could extend to just about any representation one doesn’t experience personally. I mean, we do it to each other: “behind the grill, she’s one of the guys.” And then we see the person after work in a dress and heels and we’re reminded she was a woman all along; we were just setting aside her gender because we could ignore it. Like the light switch we flip unthinkingly, we paid that detail no mind.

And the fact is: it doesn’t matter if an onlooker judges a trait as irrelevant. The person still has that gender, religion, ability, sexuality, ethnicity, age, etc. When we aim to be colorblind, or genderblind, or sexualityblind... it’s like having a lamp that won’t go on and not realizing electricity is required. We’re blind to half the picture, so we blame the lamp, not the absence of power. 

We’re forgetting that because we can ignore her gender doesn’t mean she can. Or even would. But so long as we can, we’ll miss all the ways her reality informs her experiences.   

You’re right that benching Shiro in S7 was an ableist move. The entire season makes evident how little thought the staff has afforded Shiro. To them, he was abled, now he is not, and this radically changes everything: no longer a paladin, not even a pilot, nor even on the front lines (and when he is, he loses). As @caramelcheese​ pointed out, Shiro’s fought with both hands tied behind his back. Lacking one arm shouldn’t slow him down in the least. 

Others have written at length about Shiro’s new prosthesis. They’ve raised practical issues with a floating arm, such as imbalance and center-of-gravity, and ethical issues such as the offensiveness of a design that echoes his tormentor’s signature detail, so I won’t belabor those here. To me, there are two aspects even more insidious. 

One is caused by narrative silence on Shiro’s changed status. Shiro’s only visible difference is the loss of his prothesis; the narrative fails to address this, let alone provide any other explanation. Narrative silence becomes tacit confirmation: an amputee cannot be a hero. 

The second is the dehumanization. Before S7, in casual dress, Shiro’s arm was evident; in armor, he was no more marked than anyone else. His expulsion from being a paladin is visually reinforced by his loss of the Black Paladin’s armor; the Garrison uniform and space suit are modified to be constant reminders that Shiro is disabled. There is empty air where his upper arm would be. 

His redesign marks him as literally incomplete. 

As for mental health, we can’t discuss Shiro’s PTSD in a vacuum, when it’s a part of so many kids’ lives. Some suffer PTSD themselves from first-hand trauma, and likely many more suffer it along with their parents as a result of the US’ anti-immigrant attitudes. The hardest hit may be military kids between 8 and 18, of whom roughly one in five has a parent who suffers from PTSD. 

Shiro had to have been a powerful figure for those kids. He had onscreen panic attacks and flashbacks, yet remained a hero in the story and to his team.  His PTSD-inflected moments may have served the plot, but those also worked to keep present the continuing damage from his trauma. More importantly for younger viewers, he laid a hero’s narrative over the sometimes terrifying reality of a family member who suffers from PTSD or related trauma.

S3 left that behind, turning Shiro’s trauma into headaches, and even that much mentioned rarely. By S7, no signs of PTSD remained. The EPs’ tone-deaf explanation --- that Shiro learned to grit his teeth and just deal with his trauma --- was a horrific betrayal of the audience who related to Shiro. Willpower has never been a viable cure for mental illnesses or trauma.

One ingredient for healing from PTSD is support and love from a strong network of family and friends, and it’s ironic the series’ only example of a healing moment was the DnD episode. It allowed Shiro/Kuron to create and role-play a new story for himself, in a safe environment, surrounded by the support of people who mattered most to him. When Shiro/Kuron tells Coran that he feels better after playing, it’s one of the rare grace notes in the story: because that would be a healing experience for someone with PTSD.

Shiro’s story undergoes an odd reversal. He begins the story treated as though he’s abled, yet mentally traumatized. By S7, the story considers him disabled yet also fully ‘over’ his PTSD. He went from conspicuous and obtrusive for his PTSD, to conspicuous and obtrusive for being an amputee.

After thinking about it, I wonder if perhaps it’s because once the lamp has been broken for long enough --- regardless of the reason --- it eventually becomes yet another thing we don’t think about. Just like once, perhaps as children, we found light switches fascinating and the lamp going on/off to be worthy of deep thought, eventually we learned to pay it no mind. 

Perhaps Shiro’s reversal is yet another indication of an abled creator who doesn’t understand the obstinate nature of disability. We have some backwards notions about illness, in the US, and one of them is that illness is a moral failure. Like, if you just tried hard enough, you’d be better. Any disability for which there’s no cure --- you can’t regrow an arm, after all --- thus renders the person both permanently broken and morally inadequate.

And, apparently, not worthy of being a paladin. 

[gch1995]

I want to watch new Drama/Fantasy TV series on Netflix and Hulu to get the bad taste that OUAT and TWD left in my mouth.

Here is what I want:

• A show that is more strongly driven by the characters consistently and believably, rather than half-cocked convoluted plots, and/or the creators/writers abrupt, blatantly biased, hypocritical, petty, and unfair preferential treatment of their favorite characters/ships, who they destroy other great characters/ships that they don’t care about as much to prop up their pet characters/ships up onto pedestals that they don’t deserve-

I dealt with six seasons of the continuity and logic of every rule of magic, relationships, storylines, and most of the timeline from S1 getting deliberately retconned left and right more and more inexplicably at the drop of a hat every season afterwards for (oftentimes disappointing) random plot twist convenience, and the writers completely stopped trying in 3B when they broke the rule of magic not being able to bring back the dead and decided “Fuck all the rules of continuity and realism in characterization and organic development in any of our remaining main characters, and fuck any and all sort of sort of storytelling integrity in writing a canon that consistently sticks to its timeline and rules of magic! We’re just going to reframe the entire narrative around Hook’s “redemption” arc and CS by ruining/retconning everyone else’s original characterization and development from S1-3A, and do whatever the hell we want with magic and the timeline on this show now because LOL, BOLD STORYTELLING! We’re really just too afraid to admit that we’re a team of horrible creative writers and show-runners, who didn’t know how to write more than two-and-a-half seasons of satisfying and original character development, who, thus, ran out of good new ideas for what else to do after 3x11, and who, thus,, would have done a lot better just ending the show with that episode because that’s clearly all we could handle before ruining everything that made this show genuinely entertaining to fans in the first place with our plot fuckery and character/ship favoritism!”

I quit watching OUAT after S5, but I still dealt with watching roughly four seasons of Rumple, Belle, Rumbelle, and Emma getting made OOC, and later on, outright destroyed in favor of cheaply emotionally manipulative “Gotcha” plot twists, and A&E and their team of hacks petty and hypocritical favoritism that led them to prop up Zelena, Regina, and especially Hook/CS onto pedestals that they didn’t deserve in their favor by ruining them to make them look better by comparison without really doing much to change them, or making them sympathetic characters in their own right, especially post 3A. I still kept up with the spoilers post S5, so I know about what they did to ruin all my faves to prop up Hook/CS, Zelena, and even the dark half of the EQ some more in 6A, past the point of no return this time around, basically.

It would be one thing if Hook/CS had always been a main character/ship on the show, and Rumple, Belle, Rumbelle, and Emma had always been framed/written as unsympathetic characters and a ship that the GA was supposed to consistently root against from day one. But that’s not how it was set up, no matter what A&E and these writers try to insist otherwise.

Hook was meant to be a guest villain, but A&E and these writers got distracted by him so much so that they decided to make him a regular by setting him up with Emma out of nowhere, having him take Neal’s place in the series, retconned the beauty of everyone else’s original characterizations, developments, and storylines on the show to make him look more “sympathetic” without actually doing anything to build him up that way organically post 3A, and made him the entire lead of the show.

Emma started out as a badass, compassionate, selfless, and sympathetic underdog for the little guy and the main protagonist on the show from day one until they forced her together with Hook, and ruined her to set them up post S3.

As for Rumple, he had always been written as a problematic fave from day one. I acknowledge that he had done horrible things that I could never realistically excuse, but from 1x08-3A there was a deeper sympathetic motive for why that was always explained on screen. He quickly became a fan favorite who the GA quickly sympathized with and rooted for as a sort of anti-heroic underdog, who with had a genuinely beautiful, believable, and consistent characterization and struggle for redemption that we saw, and expected to continue to see regularly once we saw his tragic and unfair backstory, and we learned about his love for Belle and particularly Bae and saw how everything he did he did out of love for them. We saw that he had a bizzarely adorable friendship with David, and we saw that he, Belle, and Neal were always willing to offer advice, compassion, emotional support, and understanding when he brokenly and honestly opened up to them for it by offering it in without enabling his bad choices, mercilessly judging him with negative assumptions without asking questions first, or giving him a chance to open up to them honestly, acting hypocritical, acting like they were so above him and incapable of having their own flaws and making mistakes, or making him feel guilty for not giving up magic for them. Belle had always had the short end of the stick on the show when they made her a regular because she often got fridged for Rumple’s man pain from S2-S3, but they outright destroyed everything that made her a great character to begin with from S4-S6 to prop up Hook/CS, Zelena, and Regina by turning her against Rumple, even when it didn’t make any sense for her to do so. When Hook/CS became the lead of the show, Neal was killed off. Rumple and Belle’s consistently sympathetic and complex original characterizations and development/redemption arcs in the narrative got so horrible butchered, and the two most important relationships in his storyline all got abruptly thrown under the bus and trashed on this show by A&E and these writers for roughly five seasons with bad writing, even in the final season when they decided not to fuck up Rumple’s redemption arc halfway through, just so they could prop up Hook/CS, Zelena, and Regina by shitting on him.

I don’t want to have to deal with watching another TV series where beautiful, complex, and relatable fictional characters and ships are abruptly made OOC, and/or outright destroyed in favor of stupid plot twists. I don’t want to deal with watching another show in which the creator(s), writers, and/or network have Gary Stu/Mary Sue pet characters/ships, who abruptly get unfair preferential treatment from the creators and writers in the narrative on the show with my personal favorite characters/ships getting abruptly, cruelly, and unfairly thrown under the bus for their benefit.

• A show that is run and written by a team of people, who don’t offensively enable, encourage, or casually dismiss ableism, abuse, rape culture, incest, racism, and sexism in the tropes they use in the writing for their individual characters, the relationships between them, the plot devices they sometimes make them use, especially if they let them get away with using them, and the plots they set them up in-

I had to watch every character and relationship on OUAT get tainted in canon with all of these offensively problematic issues in the the tropes in the writing for them in one way or another more and more from day one of this trash show of wasted potential in ways that disgusted me, including all of my faves, such as Emma, Rumple, Belle, and Rumbelle, just because A&E and their team of writers never learned from their mistakes, and refused to do so.

I don’t want to deal with that shit again on another show, or try to justify it, especially not in characters who often don’t get how problematic what they did or said is because the creators and writers behind them refuse to understand how problematic their writing for some of the things they make them do and say actually is in canon, and refuse to address it, no matter how many times the fans call them out for their shit.

I don’t want to have to deal with watching another TV series where beautiful, complex, and relatable fictional characters and ships are abruptly made OOC, and/or outright destroyed in favor of stupid plot twists. I don’t want to deal with watching another show in which the creator(s), writers, and/or network have Gary Stu/Mary Sue pet characters/ships, who abruptly get unfair preferential treatment from the creators and writers in the narrative on the show with my personal favorite characters/ships getting abruptly, cruelly, and unfairly thrown under the bus for their benefit.

• A show that is run and written by people who understand how to portray realistic reactions and fallouts to trauma and untreated mental illness in their characters by acknowledging that it exists and that it happened in the narrative, and allowing them to get help for it when they reach out for it. Instead of pretending that it never happened to vilify a character by refusing to allow them to get help, or emotional support from loved ones, even when they do try to reach out to them for it honestly, or work on being better to constantly make them feel like they have no choice but to revert back to self-destructive behavior, trying to prop up the character who traumatized them, or simply because the characters, who were traumatized in their narrative are the “good guys,” and the “good guys” aren’t allowed to have realistic reactions to trauma and mental illness because they are “strong” and the “bad guys” are “weak” from the ableist show-runners and writers point of view-

I dealt with watching this shit on OUAT for five seasons from season one, and from the spoilers I read about season six and seven after finally quitting, it didn’t get any better because A&E and these writers are hacks.

• A show run and written by people, who don’t make it so blatantly obvious that they are emotionally manipulating you with false hope by dangling a carrot before your eyes, only to abruptly snatch it away with a cruel “shock” value twist in their storytelling that becomes incredibly and disappointingly predictable when dealing with it as a viewer for five to six seasons-

Look, I get it, bad things happen in life. However, it becomes predictable bad writing and cruel storytelling when it becomes obvious that you are being emotionally manipulated by show-runners and writers with false hope for your faves. It becomes predictable bad writing and cruel storytelling when there is an increasingly obvious pattern in the narrative of the types of characters/ships that these writers abruptly and inorganically screw over out of nowhere after giving their fans false hope for them in the narrative, only to deliberately and cruelly screw them over for cheap “shock value, and/or to prop up their faves by displacing all of their shit onto their default scapegoat character through making him or her look bad without actually doing anything to have their Gary Stu/Mary Sue faves truly do anything to prove that they are reformed.

Were D&D and Scott Gimple too stupid to think to think that fans of their shows would ever realize that they often tended to abruptly kill off the purest living cinnamon rolls cruelly and abruptly in their show’s universe every season for shock value out of nowhere after giving their fans false hope on Game of Thrones and TWD?

Were Adam and Eddy too stupid to realize that Dearies/Rumbellers would ever realize that they abruptly and cruelly mostly turned their narrative against Rumple and his loved ones to prop up all their lame ass faves and CS after they killed off Neal and brought him back from the dead to make him an on-and-off-again trickster, even after spending the first two-and-a-half seasons of OUAT building up Rumple as a consistently sympathetic, emotionally complex, and redeemable character on the show?

• A show that is written and run by people who understand how to give their endgame romantic couples and familial relationships realistic, consistent, complex, healthy, in-character, and well-written conflict and resolution-

A&E and their team hacks often lacked the desire and ability to write realistic, consistent, complex, healthy, in-character, and well-written conflict and resolution between their characters, especially in later seasons. The only main living romantic couple, who remained mostly untainted in canon by their increasingly OOC, gross, unhealthy, and unrealistic character assassinating plot fuckery romantic soap opera angst in canon post 3A by S6, was Snowing, and that’s only because A&E and their team of writers didn’t care enough about them to give them any significany screen time, or any interesting storylines post 3A.

[titleknown]

Tips On Making Fan OCs For the TITLEWave Setting

So, in the thinkworks for a while, here’s a few tips for making fan OCs for my own completely-open TITLEWave setting!

Because only Mortharris has done it, and I’m egotistical enough to want more! And also because I couldn’t think of a good drawing for a drabble this week...

LETZ DO THIS! PAST THE BREAK!

Post-Post Cyberpunk- A good quote summarizing the morality of the setting is “THIS STORY IS DEDICATED TO ALL THOSE CYBERPUNKS WHO FIGHT AGAINST INJUSTICE AND CORRUPTION EVERY DAY OF THEIR LIVES!”

It abandons the capitalism-kowtowing of post-Cyberpunk for the anti-corporate rage of cyberpunk-classic,  while keeping its idealism and often pro-transhumanism. It’s a world dominated by vast; vile systems, megacorporations engaging in regulatory capture to an extreme extent if they aren’t running their own almost feudally-organized states themselves; but with people fighting against it tooth and nail every day of their lives, and with a possibility for them to win even; rather than the hopeless bleakness of classic Cyberpunk

Though it pastiches a lot of earlier media, this is a story for our times, where there is great evil, but those under its power must do everything to resist and bite. It’s angry at a cruel world, but hopeful of building a better one.

A Wonderland Of Color- If you like muted colors and greys and browns… Well A) You are everything I hate about the dominant cultural aesthetic these days but B) TITLEWave is very definitely not the setting for you. TITLEWave’s aesthetics are about bright; fry-your-eyes-out neon colors, with lots of contrast between darkness and light. It should be like pretty much any synthave album cover.

Tropey as Fuck!- While not directly derivative, the characters/designs should feel like they fit in with the aesthetic they’re pastiching, which is basically 80s pop culture; particularly of the bombastic urban-set kind. From cult classics like Streets of Fire and The Last Dragon, to the B-Movies of Charles Band, Roger Corman and Golam/Globus from this era to the wild and wacky games of this era before aesthetic pretentions towards relevance ruined the medium’s aesthetics, there’s a vast pool to draw inspiration from!

The barrier of eras isn’t the most rigid though; as there are quite a few aesthetics that fit comfortably there too. 90s anime before otaku and moe aesthetics ruined everything and the comically-grimdark McFarlane toys/90s antihero excesses for example fit well, and with a bit of tweaking (namely replacing the cynicism with earnestness) I could even see some stuff like mid-2000s-Hot-Topic-core in there! So go with whatever fits; but that core is still living in the Eighties!

Setting Fundamentals 101- And now for the nittiest of grittiest parts. While the setting’s worldbuilding is a bit loose (As befits an open setting like this) there are a few things definitely there. So many things are controlled by global megacorporations that they tend to be the main villains at the highest point on the chain; either that or those deranged-idealist billionaires who’ve gotten their money from such or the aspiring punks and creeps (Think Macheath from the Threeepenny Opera or any 80s gangleader villain) who want to be them.

Robotics and bio-engineering technology are incredibly advanced; allowing for a wide degree of strange creatures and machinesscattered throughout society to go rogue; and even more bizarre things emerging from the castoffs of those things. Robots are more-or-less mostly sentient or emergently-sentient but also treated about akin to how Droids are in Star Wars, IE treated as people until it is no longer convenient. And even then they had to fight hard to get it to that point and it is always in danger of backsliding.

There’s a shocking amount of genetic mutation amongst the populace; both human and animal; both due to all that biotech being misplaced and nasty; subtle efforts at “biosocial engineering” from said megacorps, and a lot of the treatment thereof is roughly similar to the ableism of today (Tho regular garden-variety ableism still exists, along with new and exciting forms of the other -isms).

Humanity has a few space colonies; mostly Lunar and Martian; but they haven’t discovered FTL yet. But there are quite a few aliens who’ve made contact; but they tend to stay relatively aloof from our affairs; either using us as a “backwoods” where they can operate on whatever freely or trying to work on their various agendas in the shadows.

There are supernatural elements and no active masquerade, but they are subtle and well hidden; but awe-inspiring and huge when they do go off. Think Ghostbusters; The Last Dragon; Big Trouble In Little China, ect.

Open Your Heart, Open Your Source- Lastly, two big points. While these are basic guidelines, I will forever say that some of the best concepts come from the things most resonant with you; the creator. So; I’d recommend not just slavishly following these tips, but also make sure to keep a little of yourself in there as well, even if it means binding things a little.

I know I sure did when I created this setting. And, relating to that, while it’s no means a requirement, it’d be nice if you’d put your additions to the setting under the same sort of vanilla no-frills CC-BY label, to give a little back to this pool you draw from...

But yeah, that’s my advice. If you want more clarification, feel free to ask, and I may add my answers to this!

And, if you want to support me in these endeavors and more, consider being a Patreon sponsor!

I got a few doozies in the works that you’re only gonna get a first look at there with even a dollar’s worth of sponsorship, and great spoils for those tiers above...

[ficdirectory]

The Fosters: Our Thoughts on Episode 4x19 “Who Knows”

It’s time for another twin recap of The Fosters, featuring me (not in italics) on general plot and adoption related things and @tarajean621​ (in italics) on Jesus and brain injury representation.

Who Is This?  Oh no one, Callie.  Just Russell, Diamond’s pimp…

What Was This Letter Doing in Your Pocket?  Nothing!  You know, Jesus just was telling Brandon what a good brother he was, so Brandon reciprocated and Jesus thought better of frisking him…  (Also, it’s so horrifying that now, Brandon, Grandma, Mariana and Moms all know about Emma’s abortion, but Jesus still does not…)

Are You Gonna Tell Jesus?/I Think...That’s Our Choice?/I Think So:  I hate that Jesus is being left out of this discussion, but what else is new?

That’s My Department.  What Should I Look For?/I Would Say a Hardwood Tree, Right?/Yeah, Like an Oak or a Walnut: So, I love that this project is a thing.  But I hate that it is still Jesus’s fake senior project.  I am glad that we can still hear that aphasia impacts Jesus’s speech.  (I also noticed his prism glasses in his hand - not being worn despite one of the moms saying that he would have to wear them for a bit longer.  And while some disabled people do not need or use their glasses/braces/crutches/canes/wheelchairs 24/7, it seems that in this episode, the glasses and cane are nothing but a visual reminder for the audience.  They exist as little more than set dressing.)

Also, we get to see how Gabe interacts with Jesus post-injury for the first time.  And while Jesus stumbling over words seems to make Gabe momentarily uncomfortable, he is able to keep the conversation going and not make it a huge deal.

Isabella, This Is Gabe/You’ve Never Met Her?  How heartbreaking, seeing Jesus and Mariana’s reaction to Ana and Gabe with Isabella.  And hearing Ana talk about dropping her off at daycare when the twins know how they were treated by her as babies?  It’s all in their eyes as they look at each other.  Mariana can’t even hang around after that intro.

Have You Gotten Any Help From a Doctor?/They Put You on Pills...Screw You Up More/Yeah, I See That:  Totally a valid choice, Gabe.  Not ideal for Jesus to hear, though.

Makeunder:  Callie is not having these people tell her what to do with her hair, her body, her face.

If They Find Out How You Got That Toothbrush/I Found It In His Garbage Bin on the Street:  That’s kind of like saying you broke into his house, but different, Callie...

Does It Ever Make You Feel Bad?  Seeing Ana With Isabella?  How Good of a Mom She is to Her?/No, I Don’t Think About It:  I’m so glad that Mariana feels like she can talk to Jesus about these feelings, and contrary to what Jesus says here, his face tells a whole different story.  It has since they saw Gabe, Ana and Isabella together...seems like, maybe he can’t think about it, or it will hurt too much.

Do You Remember Ana Leaving Us Alone in Our Crib When We Were Babies?  For a Whole Day or More?/Yeah...I Had a Dream About It.  We Were in Our Crib and You Were Crying.  I Was Trying to Take Care of You:  How devastating.  As much as this is so horrible for both of them I am so glad they have each other to talk to about it with.  That they believe each other.  They know what happened because they both remember it.  

She Never Should Have Had Us/Is That What You Would Have Done?  If You Were Gabe - Would You Tell Ana to Get An Abortion?/No.  I Would’ve Been a Dad: It struck me last night how Noah’s Jesus really is a completely different character than the first Jesus.  Because in season one, he was all about getting that morning after pill for Lexi.  Maybe that’s because now the writers can portray Jesus the way they always intended to.  I’m not really sure.  But I do really find this statement by Jesus in this scene to fit with the way he is now.  Very tender, quiet, and driven to do what’s right.  Especially after having that conversation with Gabe in season 3 about how Gabe did tell Ana to abort the twins when she was pregnant, and how terribly that sat with Jesus.

So, We Let Her Off The Hook?/They Are Not Us and It Does Us No Good to Get Mad at Them:  This is such a twin thing.  Mariana is so upset at Ana abandoning them (as she should be.  They deserved to be taken care of.)  And Jesus is on the other end of the spectrum where it seems he’s trying to put distance between himself and that time because he knows it can’t be changed.

Twins do tend to try to balance each other out, I’ve found.

Nobody Ever Gave Me Nothin’ for It.  Now I Got the Power:  This reminds me of Jack in season 3, telling Jude and Callie that he had the power after those boys broke his arm.  :(  It seems like Diamond almost HAS to rationalize this as being okay, because it likely feels like her only option.  

It Really Wasn’t His Choice/True.  But We’re Adopted, So Maybe You Could Have Considered That:  I adored this conversation between Emma and Mariana.  I love the honesty.  How Mariana didn’t hesitate to tell Emma how Jesus felt about it but also acknowledged that it wasn’t his choice.  It also felt really accurate that she would talk about how she and Jesus are adopted and how that’s also a valid option.

You Sure You Should Be Lifting Stuff?/Yeah, I’m Fine.  It’s Good for Me to Move Around:  The thing about brain injuries and disability in general is that you’re always contending with your limitations.  And those limitations can shift and change day to day, depending on any number of things.  With the visual disturbance plotline pretty much gone, it follows that Jesus probably does feel markedly better than he has.    

What Are We Doing?/We’re Moving My Stuff In/Why?/Should I Call Your Mom?  And this is why it is not advised to go off medication without a doctor’s knowledge and supervision.  Yes, Gabe, please do call Lena.  (Also, notice Jesus’s speech being impacted by not feeling well.) 

I Can’t Have Sex When I Take My Meds/Well Maybe That’s Okay?  For Now?  Until You Get Off Them?  To recap: Felbamate is a last-resort anti-convulsant with dangerous side effects.  Impotence is not one of said side effects.  Also?  I cannot find any research that supports the arbitrary 5-years-on-anti-convulsants thing.   

My House Could Use Some Pretty Flowers:  Callie, it’s Russell!  Take the girls and run away!

I Folded Your Laundry for You...You’re Welcome?  Why are you doing chores while Jude is sitting on his butt playing video games, Mariana?

They’re Trying to Turn Anchor Beach Into a Private School!...You Can Still Plead the Fifth:  Hahaha!  I love how Jude came in and side-eyed Mariana for instantly telling Mama about Anchor Beach.  (Good call, by the way, Mari, Mama needs to know.)

I Think Diamond Took Something Out of the Trash.  There Was This Guy Hanging Around and I Think He Left Something for Her:  Ooh, I still love seeing Daphne in charge but Callie snooping around makes me nervous - her investigating always leads to so much terribleness…

Call Me on It and Delete the History...Then Put It Back...and Wipe Your Fingerprints Off Of It:  I know it’s not supposed to be funny but I love Daphne like buffing the phone with her shirt.  

After Everything Ana Put You and Jesus Through!/At Least She Didn’t Get Rid Of Us!  God, twist the knife a little more, Brandon!  You can’t bring up how badly Mariana and Jesus were neglected as babies as justification for Emma’s abortion.  How do you think that makes Mariana feel?  Oh right, you’re not thinking of HER feelings…

Jesus, Can I Talk to You for a Sec?  When Did You Stop Taking Your Anti-Seizure Meds?  I’m frustrated that this conversation is off-page.  

If They Want Me to Say That I Think Kyle Killed Martha Johnson, I Need to See Him Again:  Sounds totally legit that Moms will let Callie and Brandon drive eight and a half hours to a high security prison.  So your 17 year old daughter can visit an inmate there.  Sounds totally safe.

We Are Going to Allow You to Drive With Callie to Folsom:  We, a police officer and an assistant principal are allowing our 18 year old son and 17 year old daughter to DRIVE TO FOLSOM PRISON TOGETHER.  What is happening right now?

Mouth Open.  Tongue Up/How Long Are You Gonna Make Me Do This?/Until I Can Trust That You’ll Take Them...So Probably Forever:  Okay, so apparently the off-page conversation did not go so well.  While I understand the importance of taking the medication until a doctor’s appointment can be scheduled, forcing your kid to take it “forever” despite the (fake) side effects?  Not okay.  Understandable if there are no other options, but it appears that Lena is not interested in looking into those options.  

And I can’t help but entertain the thought that perhaps in Lena’s mind, the impotence might be a blessing in disguise - a way of controlling Jesus?  Which is such a gross thought, but the truth is that many disabled girls and women undergo forced sterilization as a matter of convenience even today.  Is keeping Jesus on Felbamate despite his objections due to a convenient “side effect” so different? 

Your Brain’s Not Right/MY Brain’s Not Right?!  You’re So Depressed, You Got Evicted!  Maybe YOU Should Take YOUR Meds!  Oh my.  I know this seems most unfair, Jesus.  And it is.  

I Wanna Be Here For You, Jesus/No You Don’t.  You Almost Left Town Without Telling Us.  The Only Reason You’re Here Right Now Is So You Have a Place to Live:  Ouch, but Jesus speaks the truth.

I Had a Job Lined Up in Tahoe/Maybe You Should Go!  I’m Sure It’s Still Available!/We’ll Talk About This Later: I have to say, as far as adults go, Gabe is actually doing quite well avoiding the whole ableism thing so far.  Just the fact that he does not dismiss Jesus’s anger as a “TBI outburst,” and lets him know that they will talk later is huge in light of how the family has been treating him in past episodes.  

I Don’t Wanna Live Like This/Don’t Say That.  You’re Gonna Get Better:  There definitely is such an adjustment to life with a brain injury - and depression is often a part of that.  And while I appreciate that Brandon is trying to make Jesus feel better, telling him that he will “get better” is harmful in the long run.  While Jesus will definitely make improvements, he will not return to who he was pre-injury.  The promise of this is false hope.  (I mean, this is TV, so a “miraculous recovery” might still happen.  But in real life?  Please avoid the phrase.  “You’re going to improve, but I respect your limitations.” holds the same sentiment.  And it’s okay to be different post-injury.  Life happens.  We evolve.

You Can Talk to Your Doctor.  They Can Put You on Something Else.  Or Give You Something/What?  Like Viagra?  Like I’m an Old Man?  Why is Brandon, of all people, having this conversation with Jesus?  This is a conversation Lena should have had with him when she found out he was not taking his medication.

What About Emma?  Everybody Knows She’s Not With Me For My Mind.  Our Thing, It’s Physical/Jesus, There’s Nothing Wrong With Your Mind.  You Have a TBI - But You’re Funny, Smart and a Really Good Guy.  She Has to Love You for All That:  Brandon, you and I have a love-hate relationship.  And lets be real, it’s mostly hate.  But this?  This was the perfect thing to say.  “There is nothing wrong with your mind.  You have a TBI.”  Please get this engraved on a plaque and place it in the kitchen for all to see.

Are You Sure I’m Gonna Get Better?/I’m Sure:  :/

I Wonder Where This Money Is Coming From?/Is That...That’s Craig Stratos.  Nick’s Dad.  Why Would He Wanna Bankroll This?  Do You Think This Is Personal?  Well, that was unexpected…

Oh My God, Kyle.  Did You Kill Her/What If I Did?  This scene.  Adam Irigoyen’s complete transformation as Kyle is just amazing and chilling.

You Used Me/YOU Used ME/For What?/For a Cause.  To Feel Good About Yourself:  I love this so much.  I love that Kyle is knowledgeable.  I love that he knew, from the start, that he was also being used.  I hate that feeling.  While I obviously don’t condone murder or theft, I do like the reveal that Kyle was aware the entire time of the bigger picture.  That he isn’t just the sweet ‘special needs’ boy that Callie perceived him to be.  He is fully aware and he always has been.  This scene was easily my favorite part of the episode.  What amazing acting.  What a stunning reveal.

I Never Did That/Jesus Remembers, Too/I Don’t See How You Could Remember Something Like That When You Were Babies/We Remember Because We Were Scared and Hungry and Our Diapers Were Full.  We Were Covered In Our Own--:  And runner up for my favorite scene is this one with Mariana and Ana in therapy.  I was just thinking how much I hoped we would see some kind of through-line with this.  I’ve  been wondering how Mari’s coping with her PTSD.

The tweets in Mariana’s secret Twitter account were revealing in that sense because we get to see that she’s still scared.  She’s still dealing with things, and obviously she’s been trying to process this memory of her and Jesus as babies for several weeks.  

I like that this kind of thing was included because it is fairly common from what I’ve read that kids who’ve known severe abuse or neglect do have memories from the time they’re babies of their experiences of those things.  And they’re doubly difficult to process because as babies, Jesus and Mariana were preverbal.  They didn’t have the vocabulary to articulate how they were feeling.  Which is why it’s so good that Mariana’s able to start working it through now, and figuring out how it did make her feel.

Is It Possible, Ana, That You Don’t Remember If You Were Using Drugs?/I Didn’t Come Here to Be Judged or Ambushed by Memories That She Dreamt Up.  I’m Not Doing This:  I also really loved the realism in Ana’s reaction.  It feels so viscerally true that she, as a mom, and especially with a baby now, to be super defensive and dismissive of the idea that she did neglect Mariana and Jesus so thoroughly.  And it is complicated by the fact that she was using at the time so she very well might have zero memories of things she did and/or times that she left them alone.  

I feel so much for Mariana, though, and I do hope that her therapist helps her process what happened in the office, so that she can start to realize Ana’s reaction is about Ana and it doesn’t make Mariana and Jesus’s memories of what happened any less valid.

Before Your Daughter Gets on the Stand With That Story.  Check That Out:  Yeah, Stef, Callie’s story of getting Doug Harvey’s toothbrush out of the trash isn’t really gonna stand up in court when Gray has video evidence of her in his house taking it from there.

We Can Still Do Stuff, You Know, For You?/Hell Yeah:  I’m glad Jesus and Emma are still working on their relationship and trying to figure things out.  (Check out the cane standing next to his bed.)

Did You Hear About Anchor Beach?  There’s a Rumor They’re Turning It Into a Private School/ Where Did You Hear That?/Some Anonymous Twitter Account.  I have a hard time believing that Emma would not check out the anonymous Twitter before sharing it with Jesus.  The very first thing Jesus did was check out the handle and the tweets.  And now, he knows.  Finally.  Oh crap.

For more: Fosters Recaps

[bizarropurugly]

Discrimination/Grossness Myths

This list finally has reached significant length, so I’m proud to introduce a Read More.

The list is about debunking, explaining, or confirming myths that make it around Tumblr that concern social justice issues, primarily.

Content warning for appearance of, mention of, and discussion of:

Ableist slurs, ableism, racism, antiziganism, antiziganist slurs, queerphobic slurs, queerphobia, antisemitism, racial slurs, audism, sexism, patriarchy, uncensored slurs, Five Nights at Freddy’s, the Holocaust, Nazism, anti social justice, doxxing, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, the character Derpy Hooves, rape jokes, audism.

“Derp” began as a way to describe Down’s Syndrome kids.

“Derp” was invented by the South Park creators, originally appearing in their movie Baseketball, and then later re-emerging in South Park several times where it eventually caught on from. It refers to people being stupid, akin to “durr” or “duh”. South Park commonly makes characters use slurred, ridiculous gibberish to showcase stupidity.

“Faggot” comes from the bundle of sticks used to burn homosexuals at the stake.

There are very few instances of gay men being executed in this manner, although laws did exist stating this. Additionally, this term was never used for queer people until relatively recently.

The term does come from its original definition of “bundle of sticks”, but it became used for people when it was used to describe women who collected them, primarily old, poor, widowed, and “ugly” women. If it had anything to do burning at the stake, it would instead reference witches.

It continued being used as a slur for women similar to spinster or shrew, or in other words as something relating women to being unwanted by men.

In the 20th century, “faggot” can be found slowly replacing “sissy” as an insult for boys who were deemed “too feminine”, and eventually both words can be found being used to imply that said boy is therefore gay. In the 60s and 70s, “faggot” boomed into being a slur for gay men in general. Modernly, it has become used for all queer people.

In relation, “fag” as a slur, can possibly be traced to the 17th century, when a practice among school boys in which boys did favours, often sexual, for senior male students was possibly coined as “fagging”.

“I came out to have a good time and I’m honestly feeling so attacked right now” is making fun of people with anxiety.

The phrase actually comes from a personal post made by a Tumblr user in which they bragged about drinking a specialty drink, implying it was high class alcohol, but was rained on by another person, and they made this response after a pause.

The meme is about being called out or corrected; a person says this phrase after being criticized or challenged.

Five Nights At Freddy’s creator made an anti-choice game.

The game in question potentially has anti-choice sentiment, and the creator has considered himself as very religious. 

However, he comments that the game didn’t have abortion in mind, but leaves a vague answer about whether it is pro-life or not. Comments on another post that is no longer accessible state the game is not pro-life.

The questions become instead: 1. Do we believe these comments are his? After all, these comments are on a random, small blog that popped up very conveniently after the backlash, and the post no longer exists.

And 2. do we believe he is telling the truth now that he’s experienced backlash? After all, his statements are vague in the official articles, neither saying yeah or nay to a pro-life message, and stating people are mad, rather than addressing why and whether or not they are right.

The word “Holocaust” specifically refers to Jewish deaths in Nazi Germany only.

Holocaust is actually Greek and technically has been used for a few different genocides. The Jewish term is Shoah.

Many claim the political aim as being a conscious effort to refuse the acknowledge other victims and the widespread role of Nazism against multiple oppressed groups, and to deny the further subjugation of all victims, for example how LGBT+ victims remained imprisoned and unpardoned for decades. supposedly, a few Holocaust museums have aggressively denied to represent LGBT+ victims in particular.

Additionally, many Jewish people find this belief offensive, because they find it insulting to be described by a Greek word when Greece has had a history of antisemitism, and the term “holocaust” originally referred to Greek religious practices that were not Jewish.

That isn’t to say the Holocaust didn’t primarily affect the Jewish (it did) nor that Holocaust denial and general denial of antisemitism don’t exist (they do). Nazism is no different than any other brand of christianity-backed white supremacy.

The original Statue of Liberty was of a black woman who escaped slavery.

Snopes.

Spook and all derivatives are anti-black slurs.

At one point in American history, spook was used against black people.

Spook has always meant something along the lines of a ghost (hence its outdated use for spies - they are like ghosts). I haven’t found any reference as to how this definition was decided to be a way to slander black people, but it may have to do with Tuskegee-trained black pilots in WWII being referred to as “spookwaffe,” which the pilots reclaimed in pride (as American pilots often did). Additionally, some etymology dictionaries suggest it may be because “black people are hard to see at night”, thus, the term relates this to ghosts’ invisibility, or their being incorporeal.

As it has obviously been relatively unknown that this was ever a thing, it may mean that the slur wasn’t very popular, or that this is another example of whitewashed history.

It is outdated as a slur. It’s been at least 50 years since “spook” has been considered a slur for black person, and as a slur had a very short life (possibly being used only around the 20s-50s, at the longest). A great many black users have spoke out against posts demanding the purging of spook and its derivatives, because of this. Spook still means ghost (or spy), spooky still means… well, spooky, spooked means scared.

However, it is always important to note that using a word with a history as a slur, regardless of how outdated, as a derogatory noun against someone that slur affects, is, well, obviously using a slur.

“Fuckboy” is a slur for queer/trans men.

“Fuckboy” is African American Vernacular English for a guy who is one or more of the following: an alpha male, a misogynist, a tryhard edgy tough guy, a tool, and other such similar labels. Basically, it’s “black” for a shitty dude.

It did not originate with the Skeleton War meme. It has never been meant as a queer- or transphobic slur.

Hasbro plans to remove Derpy Hooves. They changed her because of Internet SJWs/Yamino.

Hasbro has not announced such plans and continues to market merchandise with this character, as well as produce episodes with her in them. They have officially named her as Muffins.

Hasbro also cited a few concerned parents contacting them over her character, and denied that they knew anything about an Internet campaign or Yamino.

Derpy Hooves vs Ditzy Doo vs Muffins

The gray pegasus pony whose eyes sometimes cross has finally been given an explicitly official and permanent name, and it’s Muffins.

Originally, the name was intended to be Ditzy Doo, a name stated to an offscreen character in Winter Wrapup. However, due to fans quickly assigning the name Derpy Hooves to her as they noticed her in the background, a last minute change was made to the script as a nod to the fans. Due to the above, the episode stating this name was withdrawn and re-released with edits omitting this name. In 2015, merchandise was labeled with Muffins and crew members stated this was her name, and the decision was potentially made to make clearance items more easily marketable.

http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Derpy

The “Name” section details the history behind Muffins’s name.

SJWs/pinkiepony made Tumblr take down Molestia

Hasbro has a record of making legal moves to protect the kid-friendly image of their products. So, of course, a very popular blog featuring one of their high-market characters as a rapist would find itself in their gaze.

Hasbro sent Tumblr and/or Molestia’s mods/creators legal threats if the blog was not removed.

As with the issue of Derpy Hooves, Hasbro has made no admission that Internet campaigns or users have had anything to do with their actions. They have only confirmed that they were the ones who forced the decision to have the blog removed. Despite this, bronies have continued to try and suicide bait, doxx, and send death and rape threats to pinkiepony and others.

Plebcomics/CommunismKills were doxxed by SJWs

Both these people posted their personal information themselves.

Additionally, plebcomics actually dared Tumblr users to utilize her information.

She was fired for posting her employer’s information, not for her comics, and she was eventually given her job back.

“Gypsy” is derived from/refers to “Egyptian” [and is thus a compliment]

This is true but doesn’t actually change its status as a slur, and in fact is part of the reason it is a slur. Please don’t mock the severity of antiziganism.

“Neurodivergent” is meant for autistic people only.

The coiner of the term says otherwise

Spoon Theory only applies to people with chronic physical disabilities.

“I think it isn’t just good for understanding Lupus, but anyone dealing with any disability or illness.”

Self diagnosis is dangerous [and/or other negatives here].

Here’s my post dissecting the issue of diagnosis.

Here’s some more helpful posts about the psychiatric field and its relationship to diagnosis.

“Butthurt” has origin in anal rape jokes.

Butthurt actually refers to the concept of a child crying after being spanked. It’s still a shitty thing to mock but not nearly as shitty as mocking rape.

Christophobia is a major issue as bad as islamophobia and antisemitism.

Christophobia is only a major issue in select parts of the world, which completely excludes the west, with the reverse being true in the cases of islamophobia and antisemitism. Western Christians are a high privileged group and quite frankly Christians suffering in religiously suppressive countries often find themselves outright insulted by privileged Christians laying claim to an oppression they don’t actually experience.

Christians die in Egypt.

Christians are considered the only ones you can trust to hold political office in the US.

“Dumb” is an audist slur. / “Deaf and dumb” is a phrase insulting the deaf for being unintelligent.

Yes and no. “Dumb” in this phrase and in origin actually refers being mute. “Blind, deaf, and dumb” means a person can not see, hear, or speak, not that they can not see, hear, and they’re not smart.

However, there is definitely a relationship between speaking ability and assumed intelligence, which definitely connects “dumb” with being an ableist slur.

[collectivetey]

Shout out to that one new recurring nightmare for making some of us want to die first thing in the morning, Yet Again. Had hoped it was fading but, nope, still keeping things fresh I see.

Not much point dwelling on it though, it’s just easier to keep undesirables out of control if I log it somewhere For Our Records, because OCPD and so on.

In other news, it looks like CJ finally cast a metaphorical net wide enough into the innerverse abyss to lure out someone who should be more capable of going back to college later this year than I am. I updated the collective charts the other day, but I didn’t realize they’d already dabbled in a few reblogs here and there. Seems our co-consciousness isn’t great, but then, I guess that’s kind of the point.

Need to do more house cleany stuff, along with hoping CJ can keep better tabs on Viper than I can in terms of preparing for school shit that I can’t do and that CJ had replaced by her Prime Directive years ago.. Heh, all this shit going on the past few months, no wonder that ulcer started bleeding the other day. Woo. Wonder if the GI will try to do another pill cam with us, or just go ahead and do our yearly endoscopy. Not particularly looking forward to either option. Whenever the fuck their entire office even comes back from holiday shit, that is. Hopefully this week or next.

Oh right, I needed to write down the endocrinologist bullshit, For Our Records.

The primary recorded our thyroid as being low twice and sent us to the endocrinologist to see why it kept dipping out of the normal range like that. But by the time we saw the endocrinologist, she apparently had already made up her mind about us, just from the paperwork. She decided we were Just Anxious since the thyroid wasn’t low enough, in her opinion, to cause palpitations the way we’ve been getting them. Conveniently ignored me when I specified that I’ve noticed a pattern of them getting worse about a week before The Crimson Tide hits, and I never even got the chance to tell her we have cardiac deconditioning, which I’m fairly certain would make the heartrate wonky even with a low-but-not-extremely-low thyroid, before she ushered us out.

Along with dismissing us as Just Anxious in terms of the palpitations, she was also soo very sure that it was gonna be low cortisol causing our other symptoms. She gave us a prescription for hydrocortisone or whatever it’s called, and tried to put us on some anti-anxiety shit too, then rushed me away rather than listening to anything I said about the pattern of when the palpitations occur having nothing to do with what we were actually doing/thinking about/et cetera. She claimed that the results of testing our cortisol and a couple other things definitely WOULD, as if she knew for a fact, be back in two days, which would be the day before Christmas Eve. When the results came in, we could either stay on the hydrocortisone or stop taking it if the cortisol was normal.

Fuck, I was gonna ask for the test results printed out but she rushed us off so fast the last time after washing her hands of us, ugh..

Anyway, two days later, shocker, results weren’t back, and they didn’t open again until the Wednesday after Christmas. When we tried calling Publix to ask how much it would be, they told us $16, and our broke asses can’t be paying $16 for shit we might not even end up needing, so we had to wait for the results. Finally when they got them, they claimed the doctor would call us back later with the results, which never happened. Instead some other person in the office called back to tell us that the shit tested was in fact within the normal range, though the ACTH was on the low side. With that in mind, from what I can gather, I wouldn’t be surprised if the cortisol was on the high side, since low ACTH and high cortisol seems to be what happens with high stress. But she couldn’t tell me that without losing face after being so fucking sure of herself, so. Maybe we can get the actual results from the primary sometime, and see what the endocrinologist refused to tell us about the actual results.

Anyway, because the ACTH was on the lower side of the normal range, Random Office Person said to continue taking the shit we were prescribed until our follow-up. So we went and got it, but, surprise surprise, I think it was that same day, the body started pooping blood again. One of the risks for hydrocortisone is stomach bleeding, so I opted to wait until we could actually speak to her about that at the follow-up, before risking anything. 

At said follow-up she agreed that that was a wise choice and tuned me right the fuck out again at that point, not even a full five minutes for a fucking $45 appointment, just for her to say “Oh yeah, you were right not to take that, sounds like an ulcer’s bleeding, see your GI and take Tums, you’re free of me now! : )”

In retrospect, I’m sure that just confirmed her “welp, bitch has anxiety and gave herself a stomach ulcer, not my problem!” theory. It’s weird when you can just ffeeeel that someone has already made a decision about you before meeting or speaking with you, watching them rush you through a conversation without listening to anything you’re saying that doesn’t fit in with their preconceived notions. Gotta love the rampant dehumanization that comes with Chronic Illness Hell, mmboy. Now if only that shit were restricted to said Chronic Illness Hell rather than invading most aspects of our existence in a society built on racism/ableism/sexism/et cetera, heh.

So anyway. Yeah. Time to schedule with the GI again. And probably the cardio, too, we’re way overdue to reschedule with them for a check-up and if the endocrinologist refuses to get her head out of her own ass then I guess to be on the safe side we should at least keep the cardio up to date on developments. If it’s not the deconditioning combined with whatever keeps making our thyroid dip out of the normal range, thanks for fucking nothing with explaining why that keeps happening endocrinologist, then I don’t know what to do.

Actually, I guess we should probably see a gyno after the GI, still not liking how cyst-y the ovaries seem to be and how long the tide seems to drag on and how the cramps and various symptoms seem to kick in sooner and last longer these days.. Yaay nausea-inducing inevitability..

I should probably not dwell much on that. So it goes, so it goes.

Since the body seems to be awake, I guess I’ll probably dabble in Overwatch more or something, and/or sketch more stuff, until the spouse is awake. Which should be soon, I think, assuming other shit didn’t run long or something..

Heh, iron pills still messing with our stomach but sitting around for a six-hour iron transfusion sounds inconvenient at best and kinda terrifying at worst, so, whoooo knows how that’ll go.. heh, yeah, should stop thinking about Chronic Illness Hell stuff for now..

At least we seem to be making headway with learning more about drawing/coloring hair to our liking.. Now if only curls weren’t so fucking hard to accurately color. We’re probably gonna have to keep it massively simplified or something, at least for the more cartoony-styled cell-shaded stuff, feh.

Yeah.. I guess that’s it for the moment.