#Misled Children

[badgirlcoven-official]

Thinking about the takes I've seen that act like the Collector is a badly written character because he has a "complete personality shift" between King's Tide and For The Future and it makes me a little crazy cause it's just like... That is quite literally the point just cause you don't like it doesn't mean it's bad writing.

I think it's really well done that we saw the Collector as this intimidating and vengeful figure BECAUSE we only ever saw them from the perspective of people who were either afraid of him or manipulating him and then once we see him from a new perspective it becomes clearer that not only is this a scared child but also that this is an innocent kid who literally just wants to feel accepted and to goof around like yeah we got Belos' propaganda that the Collector was a terrifying/manipulative powerful god-like thing that's only motivated by their own needs and we sort of fell for it just because the other characters all did, they had no reason not to in the context of what they saw

Then we see them from a new perspective and the crux of his character is revealed and we see things from HIS perspective and it doesn't change his actions or what he's said but it recontextualizes what we've seen and heard from them before this point.

Like no the shift in how the Collector is portrayed was done very well imo it's just not done super obviously

[supportgaza]

Help Me Evacuate my Family from Gaza and Reunite with them in Ireland

Note: My main account (@mahmoudkhalafff) was unfortunately brought down.

In the midst of the chaos engulfing the region and the receding in media coverage, you might be misled to think the horrific war in Gaz*a has stopped. However, it breaks my heart to tell you that if anything, it only moves from bad to WORSE. Committing massacres against defenseless civilian families and children has become the ordinary instead of the horrific unordinary.

Unfortunately, the massacres and the mass destruction of our beloved Gaz*a have it into a pile of rubble and rendered the dreams and hopes of people as baseless, far-fetched, meaningless, and unrealistic daydreaming.

I was displaced with my big family five times in Gaz*a and escaped imminent death multiple times before I was evacuated to Ireland five months into the war and I can tell you from my firsthand experience that the situation in Gaz*a is beyond hellish. Can you even bear to imagine that Lifeless corpses of so many children are brought out from under the rubble of their bombed houses almost every day?!

I hate to admit that I never imagined I was this weak. I don’t have the courage or strength to bring the corpses of my future children from under the rubble in Gaza one day. I shudder and blood freezes in my veins when I imagine what could happen to my parents, brothers, sisters and their children while I am in a safe place too far away.

Therefore, I have the moral obligation to do everything in my power to secure a NORMAL, safe, and dignified life for them here. Please know exactly what you are contributing to by boosting my campaign. You are helping a Gaza family reunite in Ireland after their lives and dreams have been viciously crushed by the horrific war. And, sadly, the worst is yet to come!

After consulting the Irish Refugee Council and Doras in Ireland and Palestinian families who managed to reunite in Ireland, I know for certain that THERE IS HOPE!

Please do consider helping me save my family by donating, reblogging, and sharing.

Note: Vetted by:

1. @el-shab-hussein and @nabulsi # 151 on the spreadsheet of Vetted Gaza Fundraisers List]

2. @riding-with-the-wild-hunt Here .

Please consider boosting my campaign and help me reunite with my family in Ireland! <3

@riding-with-the-wild-hunt @ibtisams @vakarians-babe @90-ghost @sayruq @fairuzfan @sar-soor @fallahifag @humanvoicebox

@plomegranate @queerstudiesnatural @commissions4aid-international @nabulsi @stil-lindigo @soon-palestine @communistchilchuck @ghost-and-a-half @kyra45-helping-others @kyra45 @feluka @appsa @schoolhater @irhabiya @transmutationisms @ibtisams @malcriada @flower-tea-fairies

@baby-girl-aaron-dessner @dlxxv-vetted-donations @troythecatfish

@rebecca-levin-art @ana-bananya @vakarians-babe @mangocheesecakes

@lonniemachin @neechees @wolfertinger666

@vakarians-babe

@punkitt-is-here @dlxxv-vetted-donations

@dlxxvetted-donations2 @autismswagsummit @detectivehole

@orriculum @archerinventive @georgiansuggestion

@yourplayersaidwhat @stickyfrogs @dashcon-two

@aromanticofficial @historical-fashion-polls

@whipjack @ameliasom

[spacerockfloater]

Alicent and Criston have every right to be together.

I’ve read a lot of posts regarding their non-existent hypocrisy and I’d like to clear some things up.

First and foremost, stop using Alicent’s “Where is duty, where is sacrifice?” line against her or Nyra’s outrageous “Exhausting, wasn’t it?” speech because you think you’re eating when you’re, in fact, starving. Alicent has done her duty and sacrificed herself. It’s the only thing she’s been doing for the past 20 years. She gave the man she was forced to marry four children and she took care of him despite all the shit he put her through. She has lived all her life based on her principles and now her husband is gone. She mourned him, she buried him, it’s been more than 10 days since his death (confirmed that E1 S2 takes place 10 days after Lucerys’ death) and she is finally fucking free. She deserves a sliver of comfort. Alicent is the only one in this series that’s been faithful and dutiful to a T, yet look where that got her. If someone has the right to break the law a little bit, it’s definitely her.

That being said, I don’t know when it was decided that Alicent is a pious saint that can do no wrong, but I need to remind y’all that following a religion does not magically prevent you from sinning. Is she committing fornication? Obviously. However, you are all under this impression that this is hypocritical on her behalf because she berated Rhaenyra for it when they were younger, without considering that her anger was justified for a myriad of other reasons, such as (but not limited to): 1) the fact that Rhaenyra’s freedom to marry whomever she pleased was a privilege granted to her thanks to Alicent’s efforts, who supported her even if Rhaenyra hated her, yet her friend casually threw that away, 2) the fact that Rhaenyra lied to her by swearing on her morher’s grave and never even mentioned Criston, 3) the fact that Rhaenyra had the guts to call her “sister” while lying to her face, 4) the fact that her lies resulted in Otto getting fired since Rhaenyra misled Alicent so that she speaks to Viserys in favour of her friend and betraying her own father by siding against him (a decision she wouldn’t have made if she knew the truth), leaving her completely alone and friendless at court, even if he was right all along and finally 5) the fact that Rhaenyra is the most sought after bachelorette in the whole world and by having sex she undermines herself (Rhaenyra knows this well, hence why she denies these accusations) and literally endangers herself, because had she been married to any other man but Laenor and had this man found out his wife and future queen is not a virgin, imagine the fucking horrors she could have been subjected to. Like, I hate to break it to you, but a 40-year-old widow, who’s had four kids and has completed her duty to the point where she is actually no longer needed and could leave the palace to go live the rest of her life in peace somewhere else and no one would notice her absence (literally though, she has birthed heirs, her husband is dead, her son is a grown adult king, her job is done there), having sex, is not the same as an 18-year-old princess and future heir in her prime, whose purity is linked to her worth, getting caught drunk in a brothel, hooking up with her uncle and losing her virginity to her guard, all in one night. Viserys himself was outraged. There’s lows and then there’s lows, y’all.

By the way, the crazy assumptions that Alicent has been cheating on Viserys with Criston for a while now need to stop. When Olivia Cooke said that they had filmed a messy sex scene with Fabien Frankel in a recent interview, she never said this was for S1 of HOTD. I don’t know where y’all got that from, but even if it was true, that scene has been scrapped so it is not canon. And don’t make me laugh about Daeron, a dragon rider who canonically has Valyrian features, potentially having brown hair. You’re all so blinded by your hatred for Alicent that you want her to be a lying hypocrite in order to make yourselves feel better about Rhaenyra’s mishaps, that you don’t get that the whole point of her and Criston getting physical is that she is a tortured woman who is finally able to break free, not that she has been a hypocrite all along. You’re heavily misunderstanding her arc.

Finally, when it comes to my good man Criston, y’all have lost it completely. No, Alicent is not raping him, unless he tells her to stop and she closes the door behind her like Rhaenyra did that is. No, Criston did not lie about how important his honour is to him. There’s a whole article on how Clare Kilner, the director of E4 S1, decided that Cole removing his armour slowly was necessary because it symbolises his inner conflict and uncertainty over breaking his vow: should he soil his cloak for the sake of the woman he loves? And he does soil it, because he thinks she loves him back. But that honourable man dies the day Rhaenyra tells him that he’ll never be anything more than a side piece to her. This man stops giving a flying fuck about his honour, oath, position and life. He is trying to kill himself. And you know what stops him? Alicent. Alicent is the only thing between him and death, the only person to show him kindness and understanding, to pull him up from the lowest point in his life. I don’t think you heard Alicent in E7 S1: “No, you’re sworn to me!”. Y’all. His life is hers. He doesn’t care about Rhaenyra, his job, Viserys, anyone else at this point. Only Alicent exists in his mind, Fabien himself has said time and time again that his loyalty to her is unwavering. He only exists for Alicent’s sake. He’s who you wish Daemon was. Crying that “Criston is a bad knight and a liar because he broke his chastity oath yet again!” is so pointless because that knight has been dead since Rhaenyra’s marriage to Laenor. What does an oath mean when you find out the people you swore it to have betrayed you? Why should he keep his promise to the people who abused him?

[allthecanadianpolitics]

In a packed room at the Powell River Public Library, Frances Widdowson is warning about “wokeism.” She accuses two city councillors of destroying democracy in the town, proclaims that trans people don’t actually exist and complains that no one except linguists knows how to pronounce Indigenous names.

Widdowson is a contributor to a book called Grave Error: How the Media Misled Us (and the Truth about Residential Schools) that calls into question whether graves of Indigenous children actually have been found at residential schools.

The book makes the incorrect claim that survivors’ stories about residential schools are “either totally false or grossly exaggerated.” The schools were federal institutions that Indigenous children were forced to attend, separated from their families and culture. Children were abused and died at high rates as a result of overcrowding, malnutrition and disease.

Widdowson is a former professor in the department of economics, justice and policy studies at Mount Royal University in Calgary.

She was fired in 2022, in part because of her comments praising the educational value of residential school. She is challenging her firing. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland, @vague-humanoid

Notes from the poster @el-shab-hussein: this filth is what was teaching economics and justice courses in a University.

[yenneferdivengerberg]

"When the red star bleeds and the darkness gathers, Azor Ahai shall be born again amidst smoke and salt to wake dragons out of stone."

"Stars don't fall for men. But the comet means one thing, boy. Dragons."

"No one ever looked for a girl..It was a prince that was promised, not a princess. Rhaegar, I thought … the smoke was from the fire that devoured Summerhall on the day of his birth, the salt from the tears shed for those who died. He shared my belief when he was young, but later he became persuaded that it was his own son who fulfilled the prophecy, for a comet had been seen above King’s Landing on the night Aegon was conceived, and Rhaegar Targaryen was certain the bleeding star had to be a comet. What fools we were, who thought ourselves so wise! The error crept in from the translation. Dragons are neither male nor female, Barth saw the truth of that, but now one and now the other, as changeable as flame. The language misled us all for a thousand years. Daenerys is the one, born amidst salt and smoke. The dragons prove it."

“When the fire died at last and the ground became cool enough to walk upon, Ser Jorah Mormont found her amidst the ashes, surrounded by blackened logs and bits of glowing ember and the burnt bones of man and woman and stallion. She was naked, covered with soot, her clothes turned to ash, her beautiful hair all crisped away… yet she was unhurt. The cream-and-gold dragon was suckling at her left breast, the green-and-bronze at the right. Her arms cradled them close. The black-and-scarlet beast was draped across her shoulders, its long sinuous neck coiled under her chin. When it saw Jorah, it raised its head and looked at him with eyes as red as coals. Wordless, the knight fell to his knees. The men of her khas came up behind him. Jhogo was the first to lay his arakh at her feet. “Blood of my Blood,” he murmured, pushing his face to the smoking earth. “Blood of my Blood,” she heard Aggo echo. “Blood of my Blood,” Rakharo shouted. And after them came her handmaids, and then the others, all the Dothraki, men and women and children, and Dany had only to look at their eyes to know that they were hers now, today and tomorrow and forever, hers as they had never been Drogo’s. As Daenerys Targaryen rose to her feet, her black hissed, pale smoke venting from its mouth and nostrils. The other two pulled away from her breasts and added their voices to the call, translucent wings unfolding and stirring the air, and for the first time in hundreds of years, the night came alive with the music of dragons.”

[feminist-space]

"The 80-year-old communications engineer from Texas had saved for decades, driving around in an old car and buying clothes from thrift stores so he’d have enough money to enjoy his retirement years.

But as dementia robbed him of his reasoning abilities, he began making online political donations over and over again — eventually telling his son he believed he was part of a network of political operatives communicating with key Republican leaders.

In less than two years, the man became one of the country’s largest grassroots supporters of the Republican Party, ultimately giving away nearly half a million dollars to former President Donald Trump and other candidates. Now, the savings account he spent his whole life building is practically empty."

...

One 82-year-old woman, who wore pajamas with holes in them because she didn’t want to spend money on new ones, didn’t realize she had given Republicans more than $350,000 while living in a 1,000 square-foot Baltimore condo since 2020.

By the time a Taiwanese immigrant from California passed away from lung cancer this year at age 80, she had given away more than $180,000 to Trump’s campaign and a litany of other Republican candidates – writing letters to candidates apologizing for not getting donations to them on time because she was going into heart surgery. She had only $250 in her bank account when she died, leaving her family scrambling to cover the cost of her funeral.

And a 78-year-old, a widow who limited showers to save on her water bill and canceled her long-term care insurance, didn’t understand why the retirement savings her husband had left her was dwindling so quickly. After CNN reached out to her family, they learned that the woman gave more than $200,000 in donations to Democratic political groups and candidates.

...

Richard Benjamin, an 81-year-old from Arizona, believed he had been in personal communication with former president Trump through all the messages he was receiving.

At one point, he told his children the former president invited him to a luxurious reception at Mar-a-Lago. He had grown up on a farm and worried he would feel out of his element at such a fancy venue. But when he received what he described to his children as an invitation to be a VIP at a rally in Arizona, he was thrilled he would finally meet the former president himself. He started making travel plans and asking his sister-in-law if she would like to accompany him, since his wife had passed away in 2018.

Later, he told his son how angry he was that Donald Trump Jr. wouldn't call him back even though the former president’s son had sent Benjamin so many nice messages."

[astraystayyh]

We recently learned in our media class about the four indicators that reveal a country's use of propaganda to justify its actions/build a national and international consensus over its stance. This is exactly what Israel is doing now. Please read this to learn more about the Israeli propaganda (with sources) :

i. Establishing a distinct "us" versus "them"/"the others" divide: The Israeli media has been actively engaged in crafting a narrative that portrays Palestinians as sub-humans and animals, that deserve to be killed, butchered, and deprived of essential resources such as water, electricity and fuel. This dehumanizing narrative serves to rationalize the grave atrocities committed against Palestinians, reducing them to mere statistics, rather than acknowledging them as fellow human beings who have the right to be protected as well.

A recent example of this dehumanization (that encompasses children as well) is Israel's Prime Minister's words in a now-deleted tweet, on Oct 16, stating: "This is a struggle between the children of light and the children of darkness, between humanity and the law of the jungle."

This is also a common practice in Western media as a whole. In the context of conflict, the choice of words plays a significant role: Israelis are often described as "killed," and Palestinians are referred to as having "died" (example of BBC). The distinction can be seen as a way to omit Israeli responsibility, portraying the deaths of nearly 10,000 Palestinians as a result of circumstances beyond its control, rather than the outcome of deliberate and targeted actions.

ii. Use of emotion instead of logic: a stark example would be the whole international outrage that was first sparked due to the false claim that Hamas had beheaded 40 babies. This fake news was confidently shared by U.S. President Joe Biden, who later admitted that he had never actually seen any pictures of such events, neither did anyone in the IDF because there was never any instance of 40 beheaded babies (source) (also trust me if Israel did have any pictures of killed children they would not hesitate to share it)

CNN journalist who first shared this fake news has later apologized for being "misled." (which isn't the case that was a conscious choice of the news agency but that's another conversation)

Israel knew what it was doing by sharing this particular false information, they knew that the simple imagery of such a horrifying notion, even without concrete proof, would be a strategic tool to garner international support through emotional manipulation.

They are still trying to use emotion when it comes to children particularly to sway the public opinion : Israeli government spokesman has shared images of "fallen teeth of burnt children." This post has been debunked by dentists, pointing out many contradictions in the pics that conclude that these are props and not the teeth of actual children found in rubbles. (source)

(Meanwhile, there are factual documented videos and pictures of dead Palestinian kids and babies, decapitated, injured beyond belief, tangible proof of the war crimes Israel commits and yet the public outrage isn't the same, because Israel has already established that Palestinians are lesser people)

iii. Attempting to Influence Both Elites and Ordinary Citizens: In addition to their efforts to secure international support from world leaders, Israel has employed a multifaceted approach by spreading advertisements that regular civilians view. These ads serve to rationalize their actions, and they are strategically placed ahead of unrelated programming, including children's shows or games.

This tactic aims to integrate their ideology into various aspects of our lives, in order to promote their agenda and inundate us with recurrent pro-Israel messages. This strategy capitalizes on the psychological principle that the mind tends to retain information it encounters most frequently. (a more detailed video explanation)

iv. media manipulation tactics : For example, the night before Israel bombed the Baptist hospital in Gaza killing more than 1000 people, BBC published an article with the headline "Does Hamas build tunnels under schools and hospitals?" giving way to a "justification" for the heinous, war crime act that is bombing a hospital, under the guise of targeting Hamas hidden bases.

The use of the Israel-Gaza war as a headline for the news leads us to believe that this is a war with two equal (or slightly disproportionate) parties who are both able to defend themselves. Whereas this is a genocide led by Israel (a powerful military with international backing by the world's most powerful nations- U.S, U.K, France, Germany.. to cite a few) and CIVILIANS. Because those are the people that Israel is targeting, by bombing hospitals, schools, mosques, churches, refugee camps.

It is a genocide, an ethnical cleansing, an attempt to eradicate entire families, then to relocate the survivors out of Gaza, making it impossible for them to reclaim their land, and resulting in a total takeover of Palestine by Israel.

Another manipulation example (because there are so many) is the first and most prominent question that many Western journalists ask their guests: "Do you condemn the attacks of Hamas on Oct 7?"

This question completely disregards the root of this entire conflict, which is the 75-year ongoing colonization of Palestine. By omitting all the previous crimes against Palestinians that led to the attack (the killings, the wrongful imprisonments, the torture, the stealing of land…) these 'journalists' actively manipulate the public opinion, portraying the Hamas attack as unprovoked, when you cannot possibly expect a colonization to have 0 resistance.

And an honorable mention to the zionists who are trying to morph the anti-Israel stance into an anti-Jew one. This isn't about religion, I've said this once and I will say it again, Jews around the world are condemning the actions of their government. Just recently, Jews were arrested in NYC for standing against Israel. (source)

This is a humanitarian cause. We're humans, this is the one denominator factor that unites all. We read about previous genocides in history. We wondered how people could support the killings of innocent people, men and women, and children and babies. It is happening right now again, and media propaganda plays a significant role in shaping public perceptions.

I couldn't include everything here but please, I urge you to use your critical thinking. Don't believe everything the media tells you, and this is coming from a graduated journalist. We learn about propaganda and how to counter it, which also means we learn about how to manufacture it.

So don't be gullible, boycott the companies who support Israel (mainly HP, Siemens, AXA, Puma, Israeli fruits and vegetables, Sodastream, Ahava, Sabra. check BDS for more information) and urge your governments to support the ceasefire. We have a voice and we should use it, even if we're uncomfortable, even if we're scared. Do it. By staying silent you become complicit in genocide.

[lemonhemlock]

I did not get into Game of thrones when it first started airing. In fact, I waited until it was long past it's heyday (around s6 or 7) to check it out because the marketing and the conversation surrounding it misled me into thinking it was nothing more than "grimdark" bullshit. As one famous YouTuber sarcastically called it "hot fantasy that fucks." So, I avoided Martin's work for literal years due to the impression that I got from online reactors and show-only casuals who did as you and a few others have described as his work being fundamentally misinterpreted.

Fortunately, I overcame my hang-ups, purchased the books (even the supplementary material) and fell down an entire rabbit hole of ASOIAF which led me to recognizing that this world he spent decades creating is far more complex than what had been portrayed onscreen. Regardless of the possibility of the books remaining unfinished (which I am fine with, personally), what George has created is a genuine work of art that I imagine took a tremendous amount of time and energy. So, for so many people online to behave like children and throw tantrums because they feel entitled to him (ew) instead of ushering forth more reasonable conversations and legitimate debates about the nature of his situation frankly makes me look at this fandom with a heavy dose of skepticism.

It is truly baffling to hear even professional critics and see articles describing George as being "ungrateful" or "unprofessional" when it has been well-documented just how often authors get locked out of the adaptation process and left to the wayside as consultants. Look at what happened to Rick Riordan and Christopher Paolini! George R.R. Martin is not the only author to have qualms with how a multimillion dollar studio has mishandled his creative work, and to act like he should remain silent just because he's amassed a certain degree of wealth is quite frankly, ridiculous. He shouldn't have to settle down, be grateful, and stay quiet because the greedy corporate executives and their media drones will get offended by actual criticism that could alter the perception of the adaption being revealed as mediocre for having departed from the source material.

TLDR: authors should be allowed to speak up about their art being sacrificed for commercialization.

Thank you so much for this message, anon! This needs to be talked about more, because I don't think a lot of commentators truly understand the vulgar, late-capitalistic sheen that seems to set in and slowly poison any ASOIAF adaptation. It honestly baffles me how quick some members of this fandom are to rush to the defense of, what is essentially (let's not be kidding ourselves here), a cashgrab by a giant corporation to the detriment of the actual artist and the actual creative foundation behind it.

Why else would "MAX" (if that is even their name) make another (or several other) ASOIAF adaptations? Not to stay true to any philosophical aesthetic vision, as it has become more than apparent with Season 2, but to increase shareholder profits by appealing to the lowest common denominator. Even the basic premise has been shifted in order to address popular trends and satisfy the mindless consumer that doesn't want to engage with anything deeper than their favourite tropes, prettily packaged:

from a story about a doomed ouroborous family superimposed on the pitfalls of feudalism, with villainy and heroism to be found on both sides, it has been simplified and reduced to a narrative that exalts white feminism and disqualifies anyone who opposes its girlboss protagonist. This is Sheryl Sandberg's version of Fire and Blood.

Truly, I think Sara Hess did (unintentionally) outline it the best: "civilians don't matter in Game of Thrones". They don't matter in Game of Thrones, but they matter in A Song of Ice and Fire. The entire heart of the series is contained in Septon Maribald's speech. The writers "kind of", must have forgotten, though.

[feministdragon]

every once in a while a discussion flares up on tumblr:  separatism vs activism reading through the various arguments I find myself agreeing with both sides in a lot of places.   the activism side argues that without it, we wouldn’t have the right to vote, bank accounts, property ownership, financial independence, sexual harassment and abortion laws, a lot of practical structures that free women in concrete ways.  i completely agree with this. the separatism side argues that women need a space away from men to experience themselves as human beings, to experience freedom and to experience female solidarity, and to develop networks of mutual aid.  I also completely agree with this. and then everyone starts fighting, which i really don’t understand.   We need both!  Both is good!   There are more than enough women in the world to do all the projects!  We can have some women creating separatist spaces for women to take shelter in, and we can have some women banding together to create practical change that free women in the short term.   What is there to argue about? I mean, maybe the background of this is the whole lesbian vs straight women thing?   Which tbh i also don’t understand why we have to fight about this.  I’m a lesbian, and the majority of my friends and feminist collaborators are straight women.  just by looking at the women around me I’m very very aware of how being partnered with a woman saves me an incredible amount of bullshit in my life, and yet I’m equally aware of why women choose to be het-partnered. for example in our organization there’s one women whose job title includes the word ‘responsible’.  Her husband began a campaign to undermine her participation by telling her that because her job title said ‘responsible’ that when our organization ‘inevitably bankrupted’ she would be left holding the legal debt which then (his main point) would impact him.  So she was scared by him into wanting to leave her position, when we really don’t have anyone else who can fill that right now, and so it would have caused a huge strain on us, but also, she’s perfect for this position, it’s very good for her, and she likes the work.  We were able to show her that he was just fucking with her, that the legal responsiblity for the money actually lay with a different role in the org, but it was yet another example of how men could reach into our private business and stir us about, because of how women are so financialy and emotionaly bound up with their legal male partners. so, do I cut off my friendship with this woman just because her husband is a danger to us?  Obviously not, because her husband is even more of a danger to her, and I’m trying to support her until her children are old enough that she can safely choose to leave him.   Is it irritating that her husband can just reach through her and fuck with us like that?  Absolutely.  Am I angry that women are constantly misled into marriage and find out too late that they are trapped?  Of fucking course.   Do I then conclude that all straight women are bullshit?   Also of course not.   But am I going to be cautious about who joins the group in future, and only let in lesbians?   Also of course not.  Because every set of hands is valuable and necessary, and we do other things to protect ourselves (like not let any man have a position of power in the org).  so what I want to ask is,  what is the separatism/activism divide about? why are people making it a choice between the two things?  is the foundational problem just either-or thinking?    if you are separatist why do you side-eye male-involved women?   if you are a male-involved woman, why do you side-eye separatists?

(crossposted on the Cloven Hooves forum if you want to comment on it there)

[genderqueerdykes]

Having read what y'all have said, I'm going to add a few things.

1. You're right, it's not all cishet men, it's specifically the bad ones that I hate, I do however, have a distrust of specifically *White* cishet men (though at this point I feel like most people do) who have declared themselves to be just that, which brings me to my next point -

2. It's only the people who have flat out said they identify this way that it effects for me. I'm actually married to a non-passing trans woman. I see her struggles, mostly with, you guessed it, white cishet men, and white cishet women. I love her a lot, so no, I don't immediately just assume.

3. Aro, Ace, intersex, Etc are all Lgbtq+ last I checked, no? I personally wouldn't group those folks in with cishet folks, but I do appreciate this take as well. For me, in my opinion, being aro is enough to be queer if someone wants that space. If they tell me they don't, I won't force it, but I've yet to have someone say "oh no thanks" being so fr right now, Even if they are Cis, and Hetero, they are still Aromantic. They are still Asexual. Those are still valid identities in the community. So is being gay? Intersex by default means you're not cis, unless I've been misled on that. So.. No I'm not including those groups when I say I hate cishet men.

4. I know it wasn't you who brought this up, but I'd geuninely appreciate a deeper explanation on how hating white cishet men (or, Bad cishet men specifically) is racist? Idk maybe I'm an outlier here but I'm way more comfortable around cishet men of color than I am white cishet men. I just didn't think it would immediately jump to "You're racist anon" or I would've clarified that intially.

The reason for all of this, is personal. It is because of hurt. But it is also because 97% of women. Statistics back that right now, in society, the most dangerous people are also the ones who try to take up the biggest space. Who shout the loudest. Who punch down most often. So yeah, I do hate them. Would I say that I hate someone who is Amab but hasn't flat out identified that way? No. Would I say I hate white cismen's socialization more than them? Yeah absolutely. I absolutely challenge how we raise our kids on the whole because look at how that turns out.. and that's just the numbers we have. Would I say that I hat every white cishet who's proudly proclaimed that to me? Yeah. Honestly. I think I would. Whether they have personally wronged me, or not, their socialization and actions are a part of them, one they could change if they wanted to, but the stastics don't lie. The people who cause the most damage are, cishet, white, men. I recognize maybe that makes me bitter, but.. I can't really afford to be sweet, with how much hurt I've been put through, my wife has been put through, my friends and even just strangers get put through.

If they're not white, and they admit they're cishet, I'm still cautious. But I don't automatically jump on the hate train without getting to know them.

I don't go up to children still trying to figure things out and loudly proclaim that I hate them because.

Hell I don't even do that to adults. My feelings are my own, and my responsibility. I just make a point of being precautious, and I do my best to protect my wife, where I can, and others.

It's all good and dandy to make room for cishet men, queer men, men in general - and I definitely think it needs to be done more on the whole, and advocated for, but at the same time, aren't we allowed to be angry about how things have been? About how difficult to bring that change in is? (Note, because other things got misunderstood, Being angry /=/ Attacking other people. Hatred for me, at least /=/ Attacking other people. It's not outward. Those are actions. Not feelings.)

I'll stay to see any responses if this is answered, because I do think open dialogue is the only way to learn and to challenge one's views (which I'm not opposed to doing. Maybe one day I'll realize y'all were right or maybe even after the response to this who knows right?) Because that's how growth happens. That's how real change gets started. But, I think in general, me sticking around would probably make you feel uncomfortable, which is valid, so I'll take off afterwards & bear in mind that it *does* include me for others going forward. I do appreciate an answer on that, even if it seems like we have different opinions and perspectives. Maybe I just wasn't clear enough? Maybe this'll be seen as worse not better. Idk. Either way. Thanks for giving me an answer, and for the emotional labour that went into the initial replies, and any replies if they happen to this. If no one is willing to put more into this, I do completely understand that too. I'm not gonna push. It's a lot, and it can be exhausting and cause burn out so like. You gotta take care of yourselves too.

I probably won't feel the need to respond again, but, I might if I see y'alls point more clearly. Otherwise, I don't want to cause any more problems for anyone so I'll take my leave!

no, your hatred is not justified, and it never will be. no part of that is justified whatsoever. what you hate is patriarchy, not cishet men. you hate the system that we've built around cishet men and how we force everyone to uphold it. your talking points are heavily steeped in rad feminist ideals and i highly recommend trying to divorce yourself of that. it's always bad praxis to hate an entire group of people.

you said you specifically hate "cishet men." aro cishet men are cishet men. ace cishet men are cishet men. genderqueer cishet men are cishet men. intersex cishet men are cishet men. cishet men can be queer. insinuating that "cishet man" means "not queer" is dangerous thinking. of course these people are queer.... but they're still cishet men. you don't get to rob a cishet man of their cishet manhood just because they are also ace, aro, intersex, and so on. that doesn't just erase the fact that they're a cishet man and automatically make them 'safer' to be around than any other cishet man.

i would highly recommend on not talking about intersex identities until you learn more. being intersex doesn't make someone inherently trans, it's actually very intersexist to state that being intersex makes you basically trans. there are loads of cis intersex people out there, so you were right in not being informed well on that issue. this spits in the face of every intersex person who has fought to be seen as cis to insinuate that being intersex makes you trans. these wouldn't be two distinct experiences if they meant the same thing.

also i never called you racist. the comment made about racist behavior was from another blogger. no one ever called you racist for saying you hate white men. please re-read this portion of the addition:

you have been hurt by specific men, the general concept of cishet men. to automatically assume someone is dangerous just because how they identify will lead you down a path of extreme isolation. random cishet men walking down the street aren't hurting you. random cishet men in the same community as you aren't hurting you.

i'd recommend giving my initial response a re-read because a lot of this is totally out of left field. it's your choice whether or not you interact with me! you're not obligated to follow my blog if you genuinely think and feel that you need to hate cishet men in order to survive. keep in mind that hating men will not keep you safe from being hurt again in the future. you will never be completely safe from abuse by pathologically avoiding and hating men

shift your hatred to patriarchy, not cishet men who have not hurt you. many men are chewed up and spat out by patriarchy for not being a perfect man. it's not racist to talk about how men of color are treated horribly by patriarchy and how certain racial traits are seen as more "manly" by whites than others. this part of the discussion is extremely important to talk about. no one called you racist, they called the behavior of stereotyping certain physical traits as masculine racist. racist behavior can be changed

i'll leave you with this: you've been hurt by cishet men, but you've also been hurt by cishet women. you cannot in good faith say you have never, ever been hurt by a cishet woman. whether directly, or by virtue of having a cishet woman in a position of power over you, such as an employer or governor, you have been hurt by a cishet woman in some point in your life. people really love to downplay how much cishet women can hurt people.

this question is for you, not for you to ask me, or respond to: is it okay to hate all cishet women because of the likes of JKR? chew on that for a while. women are not inherently incapable of abuse. by asserting that men are inherently abusive, you are asserting that women are inherently defenseless and can only be abused and never hurt anyone else.

hope that gives you a few things to think about. good luck out there

[reality-detective]

ALERT! Antarctica’s Hidden Labs EXPOSED: Elite Trafficking Humans for Brutal Mind Control Experiments and Total Mass Control!

Antarctica is the epicenter of a dark global agenda, more sinister than anyone imagined. Beneath the ice lies a network of underground facilities where the world’s elites conduct mass manipulation, human trafficking, and experiments beyond comprehension. The public is misled to believe Antarctica is an untouched wilderness. But it’s a smokescreen. Access is restricted to protect secret projects, guarded not by scientists, but military forces from multiple nations working together.

These hidden labs are testing technologies meant to control human behavior on a global scale. Psychological warfare tools perfected over years are ready for use, designed to influence thoughts and emotions invisibly. But the most chilling aspect? Thousands of trafficked people, especially children, are taken to Antarctica as subjects for the elites’ disturbing experiments, with many never seen again. It’s a modern black site, where human minds and bodies are exploited to create a system of absolute control.

These brutal tests push psychological limits, using sensory deprivation, chemicals, and electromagnetic tools to break human will, creating obedient, mindless subjects. The agenda is global—methods designed to manipulate mass populations, keeping them unaware of their loss of freedom. Advanced psychotronic weapons are capable of influencing emotions, planting thoughts, and even erasing memories.

Proof of this manipulation is all around us, as the world becomes distracted, manipulated, and divided. Media, entertainment, and politics are weaponized to keep us blind to the real agenda in Antarctica.

In addition to psychological control, these facilities conduct horrific medical trials. Human subjects are used in deadly experiments with unknown pathogens, while others endure chemical exposure to test mass control or sterilization methods. Certain populations are targeted, deemed expendable, as the elites perfect techniques to reduce the global population without uprising.

Antarctica’s dark role goes deeper. It’s a hub in a global trafficking network, fueling black markets worldwide. Vulnerable people vanish, trafficked into a frozen wasteland, used as fuel for brutal experimentation and energy extraction. The elites have discovered how to harness psychic energy from extreme fear, using it to power their technology in ways unimaginable.

Shielded by the world’s most powerful governments, these Antarctic facilities operate with impunity. Whistleblowers, journalists, and researchers who get too close are silenced or worse. In 2024, the elites are moving fast. The tech is nearly perfected, the experiments refined, and the next phase of global control is about to go live. 🤔

[panlight]

Does anyone else remember when breaking dawn book came out the fans criticized it, and meyer kept retconning her words in every single interview? she stated one thing then she would say something else. There was a person who made a petition about a letter to her about breaking dawn and her brother seth gave a very rude response. Fans of twilight (I myself just realized this) need to realized the twilight books are about the author stephaine meyer herself. it's meyer's dream, she is bella cullen, edward is her dream man and renesmee is her dream baby girl she never got. the whole twilight saga franchise of the novels are written for her, not the fans as she stated before in a interview (when she said that i was shocked).

what are your thoughts on this?

I was around for the Breaking Dawn controversy. I wasn't as invested in the fandom at the time, just sort of dipping my toe in, so it was more that I was watching it from the outside than being really involved myself, but yeah it was a lot. A lot of people really hated Breaking Dawn, and one of the sticking points was that the fandom felt like SM had shut down any possibility of Edward and Bella having kids with her answers about vampire reproduction, so for her to do this surprise twist of like, "haha I didn't say a vampire couldn't have kids with a human!" went over like a lead balloon. A lot of people felt lied to, even if SM didn't technically lie. Misled, at least.

I vaguely remember the petition to the brother (who managed her website at the time), and I also remember some leaks a few days before the book came out and everyone trying to figure out who Nessie was and what the name could be short for, and people guessed Agnes because it meant lamb and people complained about what a terrible name Agnes was (oh you sweet summer children!).

As I said, I wasn't super invested at the time. I had read the other three books but I had read them as part of a marathon read of vampire books, so it wasn't that I was into Twilight specifically, more vampires generally, but I spent quite a bit of time reading through Amazon reviews because some of them were so funny. I waited for the book to be available at the library before I read it, though. I wasn't in a place of "you ruined my favorite thing!" it was more like, haha wow this is weird!

And like, I get it. At the end of the day, SM wrote this for herself because she had a cool dream. She's a mom and a wife and that's the world she knows and the "happily ever after" she wanted for her story. But Breaking Dawn just kind of laid all the weirdness of the other books bare. Things I thought were hyperbole or exaggeration I was like, "oh wait, that was all literal this whole time? Wild." And everything that bugged me about Bella being the center of the universe who everyone fell all over themselves to help and protect and comfort and reassure (and if they didn't, they were Bad) was taken to the next level with everyone's instant devotion to Renesmee, who I personally found uncanny and soulless as written rather than cute and endearing.

I found it interesting how SM misjudged how a large portion of the fandom would feel about Renesmee, and especially Jacob's imprint on her. It's like she didn't understand Team Jacob at all if she thought they'd be happy with this. I remember following someone's recap and they got to a point where they were like "ugh are Jacob and Leah going to be a thing? That's so predictable" and then read them epically freak out when the imprint on Nessie happened and they were like "I take it back! Give me Jacob and Leah!! Anything but this!!!" And she misjudged a segment of Team Edward too, who wanted Edward and Bella to have sexy and romantic vampire adventures rather than a kid.

She wrote the story she wanted, so much so that she fought to have a fourth book so she could include Renesmee who was in her original ending (Forever Dawn). And that's her right as an author, and you know it worked out for her, she made a ton of money from the book and movie(s). But her version of a HEA (marriage and kids) came off to some as strange in a teenage vampire romance. I remember SM explaining that the Twilight Moms seemed to get it, that nothing was sexier than your boyfriend becoming your husband and the father of your child, and it's like, cool, but these characters are teenagers so the younger readers who related to them weren't expecting this yet.

[jelloholic]

My defense of Alicent Hightower in the HotD season 2 finale

(Not an Alicent stan, but this must be said)

Her character is still about duty and sacrifice. It's just that over the course of this season, with many realizations dawning on her, her priorities changed. She loves her kids deeply, but Aegon and Aemond are a threat to everyone, including themselves, the people, and most importantly, Halaena. Things she had not previously known. It's her duty as the mother of Halaena to sacrifice her sons to protect her.

What could she do to protect herself, Halaena and Jahaera? The greens are no longer a safe space for them, and the blacks have shown to simultaneously be threat if they oppose them, but willing to compromise if she so chooses. She no longer has any sway with her own party, but she can negotiate with Rhaenyra. The blacks have the advantage with more dragons, and she can't get rid of them. The greens have the advantage by having Kingslanding, and she can give it away. It's made clear time and time again that the only thing she can do to save Haleana is side with the blacks.

Many things dumbfounded me with the reactions to *that* scene:

"Ryan made her a hypocrite!" That has been an integral part of her character since day 1

"Why did she change her mind after pushing Aegon to the throne herself!?" She was partly misled by her father about his intentions, Aegon is a terrible man and king that serves only as a figurehead for the men around him to use, she misunderstood Viserys's last words, she couldn't predict the future to know that her boys would be violent, the brutality of the war hit her with Aemond and Daemon's actions, etc. These are all things she didn't know beforehand that she only realized in season 2, she became disillusioned, like any other sane person would've been

"How could a mother do that to her own son?!" People tend to idealize motherhood to a ridiculous degree. They have unrealistic expectations of women. How they should always think of all their children all the time, no matter what. Yet when those same mothers defend their horrible children, suddenly they're terrible. When most of us find out a loved one did an incredibly morally reprehensible act, we distance ourselves (or give them one or more chances to redeem themselves before doing so), it's odd that people don't consider that an option for fictional characters. Nothing will ever be good enough for many viewers. These people also tend to forget that bad parents exist? And that their behaviors might've been abusive, but *sometimes* done with good intentions? We established her broken bond with her 2 eldest boys already and why, but people are shocked about Daeron, but she didn't raise him. She's been disconnected from him since the start. Most parents who give their children away will grieve at first, then eventually move on and only think about the kid occasionally. She's focusing on doing what's good for her daughter now, 'monsters' and 'strangers' be damned

I do have criticism for some of the ways she and the other women were written, but this level of outrage is ridiculous

(I will gladly interact with ppl that disagree, but I'm not entertaining misogyny (like calling her a cunt or a bitch), arguments against things I have NOT said, or ppl so lost in their emotions that they can't string up a coherent thought)

[alicentsgf]

the difference between jace and alicent was that she was saying so only because of her ambitious, and she consider the velaryon’s boys inferior to her children due to her resentment and cruelty against Rhaenyra

We have been shown time and time again Alicent isn't ambitious by nature; didn't want to marry viserys, didn't want Aegon to be king until Otto told her that his and her other childrens lives were at stake. How can you POSSIBLY come out of this believing she's innately ambitious. If her choices were rooted in ambition, there would have been no need at all for the story to continuously paint her as confused and misled. A choice that's coming back to bite them now. So many choices in the way this story has been told have been mounted up to imply that Alicent was wrong, confused, misled by her father, and that she caused the war because she misjudged things. Its led the audience to believe up until this point that everything would have been sunshine and rainbows if only Alicent hadn't stoked division in this family. That Aegon and Rhaenyra wouldn't have been pitted against each other without her input.

Jace’s dialogue walks all of that back. Say Rhaenyra wins the war with her dragonseeds. Say all the greens die, things are peaceful, and Rhaenyra has a long reign. Jace’s dragon, he knows, is his last tenuous thread of legitimacy. When it snaps with the appearance of the dragonseeds, he has nothing left except his mother’s word that he’s her heir. And when she dies that won't mean anything, and his younger, silver-haired brothers will be seen to have the stronger claim. It doesn't matter if little Aegon and Viserys love him, they’ll simply be figureheads for those who don't want a bastard on the throne. Who see it as a threat to their own claims to their seats, and the claims of their sons and grandsons. If Daemon is still alive, you think he’ll see Jace ascend over his sons? And so decades later, decades after Alicent and her children are all dead, Jace would still have his head resting on the metaphorical chopping block. As would any children he had with Baela. Rhaenyra sealed Jace’s fate when she chose his father, and ensured his own cousins and brothers would be used against him by his enemies, that's what he's trying to get her to understand. And it’s exactly what Alicent tried to get her to understand, only to be gaslit and silenced.

[darkmaga-returns]

A few readers of this afternoon’s column on Jimmy Kimmel took exception to the line, “We now know the vaccine didn’t really work.” Writes “Blissex”:

And here Matt Taibbi jumps the shark as high as he can and states something outrageous: the vaccines really worked well, with few and rare side effects and reasonable ability to suppress the virus, and it was very necessary to reduce the number of deaths, hospitalizations and even mild sicknesses, to allow the scaling down and end of the lockdowns.

I got the shot the first time. Then I got Covid. Then I learned, in part during work on the Twitter Files, that officials like Anthony Fauci misled the public about natural immunity (here’s Fauci in May, 2021 suggesting two doses of mRNA vaccine offered up to “ten times” more protection than natural antibodies), overhyped risks to healthy adults and children, and severely downplayed Covid’s infectiousness. It came out in congresional testimony that Fauci essentially made up guidances about social distancing, that the policy “sort of just appeared” and was not based on studies, because “that would be a very difficult study to do.”

I agree with defamed reporter Alex Berenson: this medicine is more like a “therapeutic with a limited window of efficacy and terrible side effect profile that must be dosed in advance of illness.” For people in a high-risk category, it can be useful, lifesaving. But it’s a substance you stick in my arm that allows me to get the targeted disease almost immediately, and doesn’t stop me getting it from or giving it to my kids. If that’s a “vaccine,” I’m a Chinese jet pilot.

More to the point, I’m struck by the thematic consistency of the lies about the shot, which somwhow all served the same propagandistic purpose. I’d bet good money that if the incoming administration digs in the right places, they’ll find it in writing somewhere that winding up nitwits like Kimmel to sadistic J’Accuse! routin