#What can I say I have a hatred for Joanne | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

bteezxyewriter12 · 1 year ago

Text

I Swear I Had A Plan With Those

Bully/1

Pairing- Namjoon x Named Reader

Word count- 4.9k

Includes- Angst, hatred, remembering of past bullying

Tag List- @tinyidle @mingtina @jaxxmine @yeosayang @delightfulmoonbanana @tannie13 @y00nzin0 @marsstarxhwa

@borntowalkaway @soulseobi05 @kpop-bambi @seokwoosmole @meowmeowminnie @realisticnotes @effielumiere

Masterlists- check out for more fics

📝Series Masterlist 📝Masterlists

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📝Namjoon Masterlist

Note- remember this fic is unfinished with lots of scenes abruptly stopping

Disclaimer- we all know our Joonie is a sweetie pie and would never do the things in this fic to anyone

J POV

No fucking way

Seriously?

I thought I was done with him

Done with his torture, done with him making me feel like absolute shit, all through high school

But no

Of course he has to be in the kpop group I'm hired to be a makeup artist for

Kim, fucking Namjoon

The bane of my high school existence, my worst bully, walks into the dressing area with the rest of the group members

Really?

I can't fucking do this

One of the members looks at me, walking closer

He smiles and waves, "Hi, I'm

J-Hope. You can call me Hobi"

Ok, he's really friendly

I wave back, "Hi. I'm Joanne"

"Are you the new make up artist?", one with blue hair asks

"Yeah", I nod

"Cool. I'm Tae", he introduces himself

I nod at him

One by one they all introduce themselves

Then Namjoon looks at me, smiles and says, "Hi, I'm Namjoon"

I die inside

He doesn't remember me?

I look at him and see absolutely no recognition in his face

He doesn't remember

He made my life fucking hell, but he doesn't recognize me

How could he forget the person he tortured every single day for four years?

How?

My looks didn't change much since high school

I'm not a completely different person

How can he not remember?

It's killing me

I can never forget him but he forgot me like I'm nothing

"Hi", I say coldly, so fucking angry

His eyebrows raise but I look away

"So I have to do J-Hope, Suga and V's makeup"

I point to Hobi, "You're J-Hope"

He nods

"Whose V?"

"Me!", Tae says smiling

His smile is adorable

"And whose Suga?"

"Right here", Yoongi answers

"Ok I also have to do RM's make up if there's time. Whose that?"

"Me"

No, fuck no

I slowly turn my gaze to Namjoon

"You?"

He nods

Fucking fantastic

I don't want to touch him

I don't want him near me

I'm taking my sweet ass time so I don't have to do his make up

"Ok Uh Hobi, I guess you're first"

"Ok", he smiles

Christ his smile is gorgeous

What is with all these guys being so beautiful?

I start with Hobi's foundation, smoothing it in with a beauty sponge

Jesus his skin is already perfect

How?

And why does he need face makeup?

Why do any of them, their skin is flawless

Hobi talks to me the whole time

He's really funny and so adorable

Tae also speaks to me when I do his makeup

His deep voice is such a turn on

Tae has a unique personality

I feel like he's a really fun person to be around

Maybe we can be friends

When Yoongi sits down, I hold in a breath

He's fucking beautiful

He doesn't talk so much but when he does, I love his voice

He asks a few questions like how I can speak Korean, where I'm from and some others

When he smiles, he takes my breath away

When Yoongi is done, I relax a little

"Hey Joanne!", Lisa, one of the other makeup artists yells

"Yeah?"

"Can you do Namjoon's makeup? I'm behind and I need help"

Fucking shit

I don't want to but I can't say no

It's my first day on the job, I don't want to cause any waves

But fuck who does it have to be him?

"Fine", I call her

I take a deep breath, then call him

"RM"

Namjoon looks up at me

"I'm doing your make up. Come on", I snap

"Oh ok"

He sits in the chair in front of me

Anger and hate are flowing through me

I start on his foundation

Jesus even his skin is flawless

How?

"So uh...did you just move here?", he asks

Is he fucking for real?

"No.", I answer

"Oh? How long have you been here?"

I can't do this

I'm going to flip out

"Since I was 15. I left for school but I came back", I growl

He raises his eyebrows at my tone

"Are you ok?",

No I'm not

"Yes"

"But you sound-"

"Look, I don't want to talk ok? Let me just do your makeup", I snarl

"Oh uh ok", he answers looking surprised and confused

He's silent for the rest of the time

I see him staring at me but I ignore him

I know he's confused but I couldn't care less

I just want him away from me

I finish his make up quickly but it still looks good

"Done", I say, turning away from him

I start closing the make up supplies

"Uh thanks", he says

"Yeah"

I hear him walk away

How am I going to do this job?

I don't want to be around him

I don't want to see him

I hate him

I should just quit, move back to the US and get my old job back

I need to talk to my boss

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

Namjoon POV

I'm so confused

I can't concentrate on the photo shoot

The new make up artist is being so cold to me

I don't know why

When I first saw her, my mouth almost dropped

She's the most stunning girl I've ever seen

But the second she looked at me, her smile dropped and she looked pissed

I've never had a reaction like that from someone I worked with

Hell from someone I've never seen before

I tried talking to her but she basically told me to shut up

I saw her talk so easily with Hobi, Tae and Yoongi

Why was she so nice to them but not me?

Does she know BTS and she just doesn't like me?

I remember when a lot of people didn't like me, called me ugly, untalented and told me to leave BTS

Is she one of those people?

But then I remember that she was asking our stage names and she didn't know who was who, so I don't think she knows us

I look over at her

She's standing to the side with the other makeup artists, waiting to check our make up and fix anything thats messed up

Yoongi goes over to her, pointing to his eye, talking to her

She smiles at him, answering

He sits down in front of her while she gets out some make up and a brush

She moves his hair away from his eyes, holding it while she fixes his eyeshadow

Jealousy flood my veins

Why is she being so warm with him but she's so cold with me?

About ten minutes later, Tae goes and taps her shoulder

She turns around, again smiling at him

He asks her a question and she checks his face

She shakes her head, talking to him and he smiles

Which makes her smile again

What the fuck?

I try to pose but I keep fucking up

"Namjoon what's going on? You ok?", the photographer asks

"Uh yeah I'm ok. Just tired"

"Take a break for a few minutes. Get your makeup checked, get food then come back"

I nod

I slowly walked to Joanne

"Uh excuse me. Can you check my make up?", I ask

She glares at me, scanning my face

"You're fine", she snaps then turns away from me

What the hell?

Why does she hate me?

As I walk away I'm so confused as to what's going on

------

"I like our new makeup artist. She's really nice", Jungkook comments during dinner

I almost choke on my food

"Yea she's really sweet", Jin agrees

"And funny! She was cracking jokes back at me today", Hobi laughs

"And she's gorgeous", Yoongi adds

"Oh yeah", Jimin agrees

"So pretty", Tae chimes in

"I couldn't stop staring at her when she did my make up", Yoongi admits

I keep quiet

I don't want to say anything bad since they all seem to have such positive interactions with her

It's just me she's not nice to

"Namjoon?", Jin calls

I lift my head to see all the guys staring at me

Shit

Did they ask me something?

"Uh what?", I ask

"I asked what you think of Joanne? You didn't say anything while we were talking", Hobi answers

"Oh yeah she's nice. A little quiet but she's nice. And beautiful"

"Maybe she was blown away by your good looks and she was too stunned to talk", Jimin laughs

Yeah right I wish

I just smile to get them off my back

I need to talk to her more, maybe she'll warm up to me

I want to get to know her

I hope she'll give me a chance

--------

Walking into the dressing room a few days later, I see Joanne

She looks up and I give her a smile

She glares at me again, rolling her eyes

I feel my smile fall

I guess she still hates me

Sitting down, I take out my phone looking through it

But nothing is catching my attention

I'm upset that she doesn't like me

I hate that I don't know why

"RM", I hear and look up

She's glaring at me

"Come on", she snaps, gesturing to the chair

🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨

2 months later

Namjoon POV

Joanne hates me and I don't know why

She's been here for two months and she never talks to me

She doesn't do my makeup that much and I found out that she specifically requested not to do mine

That was a punch in my heart

She only does it if there's no choice

She doesn't look at me, she glares

She's so cold when she has to speak to me or be around me

And she's completely the opposite with the guys

She talks so much with Yoongi, she laughs with Jin and Hobi, she jokes with Jimin and Jungkook and she's silly with Tae

It's only me she doesn't interact with

If I try to talk to her she shuts me down completely or she just answers with as few words as possible or shrugs

The shitty part is that I like her

A lot

I'm falling hard for her

I love her personality

I watch her when she's with the guys and she's the sweetest, loving, caring and funny person

Just not to me

Her smile takes my breath away and her eyes are gorgeous

She's smart and she loves to read like me

She loves music but I don't know what kind because she never talks to me

We have a lot in common and I want to be with her, ask her out, but she won't give me the time of day

And I want to know why

--------

I walk into the dressing room and spot her by the makeup

A week passed and we haven't needed to get our makeup done for anything so I wasn't able to talk to her

But today we're doing a photo shoot and I can talk to her

And I'm not leaving until she tells me why she hates me

I know she has me today because I specifically requested to have her

Otherwise I'd never be able to talk to her

She does Yoongi and Tae's make up first

I watch as she talks, jokes and smiles at them and I get so jealous

I can't help it

I wish she'd do that with me

I'd give anything to see her smile at me

Finally when Tae's done, I see her face drop as she calls me

"RM"

She never calls me by my name

Just RM

She calls all the guys by their names and nicknames

She even made one up for Yoongi since he doesn't really have one

But I'm just RM

I think she'd call me Mr. Kim if she could

And that bothers me

I sit in the chair in front of her and she doesn't look at me or say anything

"Hi", I say and she just nods at me

She starts doing my make up silently

"Uh Joanne can I talk to you for a minute?", I ask

"Why?", she snaps

"Uh, I have something I want to ask you"

"What?"

Fuck

This isn't going how I wanted it to

She's so hostile towards me

"Why do you hate me?", I blurt

Her hands stops moving and she finally looks at me

And I see anger and hate in them

It's scary

"You're a fucking idiot", she says angrily

"What?", I ask surprised

"You're a fucking idiot", she says louder, "You really don't remember?"

"Remember what? I don't know what you're talking about"

She laughs dryly, "Of course you wouldn't. Just forget it. I don't want to talk to you. I'll get someone else to finish your make up"

What the hell?

She tosses her brushes on the table behind her and starts leaving

I get up immediately

I need to know what I did

"Wait. Joanne. Wait. Tell me what I did. I'll fix it"

She stops in her tracks and turns around

"Uh everything ok guys?", Jin says nervously

"No", she answers

"What's wrong?", Jimin asks concerned

"Him. He's what's wrong. He's always what's wrong", she snaps, her gaze burning holes in me

"What did I do to you? I don't know."

"Of course you don't. Why would you remember?", she says louder, getting angrier

I stared at her

I really don't know what she's talking about

She's acting like I know her

"You know me RM"

I do?

From where?

I think but I can't recall her at all

"I don't think so-"

"Yeah you do. But back then you used to call me stupid fucking American and slut while your girlfriend called me bitch or whore

"What?", Jimin gasps

Oh no

Oh god

"You remember now? The American girl you tortured and teased and bullied all through high school? Then you got your girlfriend to do it too?", she snarls

Oh my god, that was her

I can see it now

I see her clearly

How could I not have realize?

And I'm frozen in shock

All the memories come rushing back

How I made fun of her

How I called her names

How I made her cry almost everyday

"What the hell Namjoon?", Hobi questions

"I...I..."

"Nothing to say? Not gonna tell them how you made four years of my life miserable? How you and you're fucking girlfriend spread rumors about me, turned everyone against the foreign girl? I was alone everyday at school. No one wanted to talk to the girl Kim, Namjoon hated"

I swallow hard

I didn't hate her

I was in love with her

From the first day I saw her

But I couldn't be with her

The kids in my school didn't like foreigners

They were bullied relentlessly and any Korean who spoke to them was bullied right along with them and considered outcasts

And no way was I going against the whole school to be with a foreigner

I was one of the "cool kids" and I wanted it to stay that way

And I was so pissed off that I fell in love with her and couldn't have her

I was such an idiot

And it makes so much sense that I'm in love with her again

I fell for the same person, twice

"Namjoon, is what she's saying true?", Hobi asks

"Yyyy...yes", I answer

"Seriously? Why would you do that?", Tae questions

"I don't know"

I can't say because I loved her

She snorts, "You don't know? That's great. You made my life hell for no reason. Thanks"

"What did you do to her Namjoon?", Yoongi asks

I can't answer

I don't want to tell them

I don't want to think about it

That's not me anymore

"He's not going to tell you. He probably doesn't even remember half the things he did"

No I remember

I remember clearly and that's the problem

I'm so ashamed of the way I treated her

"What did he do Jo?", Jungkook asks

"What didn't he do? I came here when I was 15 just in time for high school. Great right? New country, new language, new school. As if that wasn't bad enough. I sat next to him in one class because that was the only seat left."

I remember

She came in my class with another teacher and she took my breath away

The seat next to me was the only one left in class and she was told to sit there

She was really shy, keeping her eyes down even when she sat next to me

"At first he ignored me like everyone else. But one day I wasn't paying attention in class and I missed the instructions. So I asked him what was said. He glared at me and told me not to talk to him and that I needed to pay attention. I was surprised but I thought he was just one of those kids who hated everyone and wanted to be left alone. There were kids like that in my school in New York. So I didn't take it personally. Until he said "Stupid fucking American"."

She turns to me, "Remember Namjoon?"

I do

This is the first time she said my name to me and she said it with so much hate

It hurts but I know it's nothing compared to how she's feeling

"After that he did everything to make my life miserable. He called me "stupid fucking American" and " slut in korean, which I had no idea what that word meant until I got a grasp on the language. He kept telling me to go back to New York, no one wanted me here, I shouldn't have come here, I'm ruining Korea and shouldn't be here. He told me these things every single day, all day. When I was in the hallway and he saw me he yelled, "Go back to America, slut". Soon everyone was calling me that. They heard him call me stupid fucking American too and the kids started calling me that too. No one said my real name. It was always some kind of insult."

Jesus, I made her life horrible

I feel so bad

I just wanted her and I couldn't have her

And I was ok if she left me alone, but when she spoke to me, I had to get her to stop

So I insulted her

But I kept doing it

I didn't have to keep doing it but I did

The guys are looking at me with disgust

I deserve it

"You remember Namjoon? You got all the kids to turn against me. And you remember the rumors you and your girlfriend spread about me?"

I nod, so ashamed

I can never forget those rumors

"Then fucking tell them what you did!", she shouts, fury radiating off her

The guys all look at me

I don't want to answer but I have to

I did this to her and I need to say it

"Uh...my girlfriend at the time hated her. So uh she started the rumor that Joanne was in Korea because she was expelled from her school in America for sleeping with three of her teachers. And that she needed to get far away from America so she came here. And to keep an eye on her to see if she sleeps with any of the teachers here."

Holy shit", Tae stares at me horrified

"You let your girlfriend do that?", Jin asks incredulously

I hang my head, "Yes, I didn't stop her. I helped her and repeated the rumors too."

"That's fucked up", Yoongi shakes his head

"His girlfriend started calling me bitch and whore and soon everyone was calling me that too"

"Oh my god", Jimin gasps

"Do you know how many guys asked me to fuck them? How many told me that they could fuck me the best? How many asked me how long they have to wait to fuck me? Because apparently there was a list going around of guys I "agreed" to fuck and all the guys were adding their names to it. I was told so many times how they wanted to hear how a slut moans and see how good I can fuck them. I was fucking harassed everyday. I kept getting touched. They touched my hair, my arms, my legs, my hands. I started wishing for everyone to go back to ignoring me.", she says angrily, tears pooling in her eyes

I feel like such an asshole

"Do you know how many times I was jumped by a group of fucking girls? How many fights I got into because they started it? How many black eyes, bruises, scratches, cuts? Did you know your girlfriend was part of a group that jumped me?"

I had no fucking idea, she never told me

"Yeah her and seven other girls jumped me after school. They followed me home, dragging me into the park by my house. They hit my face so many times. When I fell, they started kicking my body all over. You're girlfriend stomped on my wrist. I had to go to the hospital. I had to get stitches by my eye and my lip because they split it. I had three broken ribs and a broken wrist. I was out of school for a week and half because of those injuries. Remember that?"

She was out of school because she was in the hospital?

I thought she just didn't want to come to school

I didn't know she was hurt

"You must have been so bored because you were even worse when I came back. You remember what you said?"

"I....I....said that you...deserved to have your wrist broken and that you should have broken more bones", I whisper

"Namjoon. What the fuck?", Jimin gasps

"Yeah. And the fact I was hurt didn't stop any girl from coming after me. My dad started to teach me how to defend myself after I got the shit kicked out of me and put in the hospital. After that I fought back and kicked the shit out of any girl who touched me. But that didn't stop you. You started calling me a psycho bitch"

I know

I hate that I did that to her

I was such a horrible person

"Your parents didn't know?", Jungkook asks her

She shakes her head, "I didn't want to tell them. They were stressed from their jobs too and they were having a hard time here too. So I just kept quiet. The only reason they knew about me getting jumped was because I had to go to the hospital"

"I'm so sorry Jo", Yoongi says

Silence falls for a few seconds until she says, "You know I left Korea because of you"

Wait what?

She did?

Oh god, I didn't want that

"You did?", Hobi asks

She nods, "Yeah. I was sick of being here. I hated it here. After I graduated, I asked my parents to let me move to California with my older cousin for school. A week after graduation I was gone. I went to school there and worked as a special effects makeup artist. But I missed my family and they convinced me to come back and work here. So I came back because I figured I'd never see him again. I got this job and I was happy about it until he walked in the fucking door."

That's why she was glaring at me on her first day

"But Jo, you didn't know he was in BTS?", Jin asks

"No. I hated everything about Korea. I was bullied the entire time I was here and I wanted to forget everything korean. I didn't listen to kpop. I tried to forget my time here. I didn't know what BTS was. So no I didn't know", she answers

She glares at me, tears welling in her eyes and my heart crashes to the floor

"And the worst part was that he didn't even remember me. He didn't recognize me", she says, tears falling down her face

I feel so horrible

I hate that she's crying

I made her cry back then and I'm still doing it

"He didn't remember the girl whose life he made miserable for four years. He came in, smiled at me and I died inside. I could never forget him but he forgot me. It's like everything he did was nothing to him, it didn't matter, but to me it was everything. I cried everyday, I dreaded waking up and going to school. I wanted to disappear everyday. I went to sleep wishing I wouldn't wake up. But he forgot everything he did. And that's so much worse than everything he ever did back then. He really doesn't care"

I do care

I feel awful that I didn't recognize her

But I never forgot what I did to her

I always think about it and wish that I could apologize to the girl I bullied

The first girl I loved

But I really had no clue that girl was in front of me for three months

But now I see her and I can't believe I didn't recognize her

"I'm sorry. I really am Joanne. I'm sorry for everything I did. I never forgot what I did to you. I think about it all the time and I wished I could apologize to you. I'm not like that anymore."

She just stares at me and I know she's gonna go off on me

Because even though I'm apologizing, I know it means nothing to her

It wouldn't mean anything to me

"You're sorry? Sorry? Fuck you Namjoon. Like saying sorry fucking matters!", she shouts, "I don't care that you changed, if you even did. You'll always be that fucking asshole that made my life horrible for four fucking years. I never did anything to you. I asked a fucking question once and you turned the whole school against me. I hate you"

I know I deserve it but it hurts so much when she says she hates me

"Stay the fuck away from me. Don't fucking talk to me, don't look at me. I'm never doing your make up again. I would fucking quit this job but I stay for them because I love them and they're my friends", she yells, pointing at the guys, "Forget I exist. You did it once. Do it again"

Then she turns and storms out of the room

The entire room is silent

"Namjoon, I don't know what to say. I really can't imagine you being that way. You're nothing like that", Hobi says quietly

"I...I changed after that. After all the hate we got in the beginning, I realized that I was the same as those people. I did the same thing to her. I hated the way I used to be so I changed. I hate that I was that asshole to someone else. I hate that I didn't realize what I was doing until much later."

"Why did you do it? Why her? Why a girl?", Yoongi asks angrily

"I don't know. I don't. She was different, she didn't know Korean so I could say whatever I wanted and she wouldn't know."

"But she learned Korean. She speaks it well!", Tae yells

"By then I couldn't stop and I didn't care. But later on I did it because....", I trail off

How am I going to say this?

They're going to think I'm crazy

How can I tell them I loved her from the beginning?

They wouldn't understand

I don't even understand why I didn't just leave her alone

"What?", Jungkook demands

"Because I liked her. I wanted her. And I was horrified that I felt that way. I knew she would never be with me after what I did and that pissed me off. I was an idiot. I was pissed at her and not myself. I asked a Korean girl, Hyo, in my class out and she was my girlfriend for the rest of high school. Hyo hated Joanne. She was jealous of how beautiful Joanne is and how all the guys wanted her, even though they made fun of her too. That's why Hyo spread the rumor about her"

"You fucked this girl's life, you realize that right?", Yoongi points out

I nod

I know and I'm so sorry

They have no idea how sorry I am

"You're so lucky that she didn't try to kill herself because of what you did! I'm sure she was depressed and if she was it's because of you!", Jin snaps

I know

He's right

And it kills me

I know what it's like to be depressed

I was depressed from all the hate I got when we started

I hate that I made someone else feel that way

"She's strong. She went through all of that and she's still strong. She still achieved her dream of being a makeup artist. She's a tough girl.", Yoongi says

"Leave her alone Namjoon. Don't make things worse for her now", Tae demands

I nod

I want to make it up to her

I still want her like I did in high school

I love her

I want to show her that I'm different

But she'll never let me

And I don't blame her

🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨🐨

This next part of the story was where I was going to have the reader watch Namjoon and notice how different he is over a few months

She would see how he talks to people like the staff and his ARMYS during a fan meet, watch him encouraging the members, being the best leader we all know he is

And she slowly falls in love with him

#i swear i had a plan with those series #kim namjoon fanfic #namjoon fanfic #bts namjoon fanfic #bts rm fanfic #rm fanfic #bts fanfic

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kafkaoftherubbles · 1 year ago

Text

Crack-ass Hypotheses Record #1/ 致命脑洞记录 (一）

Eko has her clay pot. I have my crackpot.

This is where I gather my current To Your Eternity hypotheses and speculations that are wild (low probability) and have minimal-to-no concrete in-lore evidence or arguments per what the story currently shows. Over time, some might get promoted to formal hypotheses (IPA pronounciation: ˈram-bəl) if the evidence pools to its favor, but for now, take 'em with the same copious amount of salt as needed to make marinated Nokkers to serve unsuspecting Human Nokkers. Yum!

Dolly has 32's brainwaves, including a copy of her consciousness/personality (at the time of her copying), uploaded into its AI module. It is still loading in the background.

Dolly has 32's brainwaves and some bits of Left Hand Nokker's consciousness. Ironically making it the latest Hayase "rebirth."

Dolly has 32's brainwaves because she is (forcefully) uploaded into the doll to leave her actual vessel for Left Hand Nokker to completely dominate. Dolly is 32's last-ditch attempt to remain "human."

Dolly is a hybrid of 32 and Left Hand Nokker's consciousness as the Left Hand Nokker's latest attempt to "be human." Hence the panel "I've become human."

Dolly is the Beholder's Orb (a rather popular one in the fandom as it stands, but it's personally placed rather low on my probability scale)

AD and 32 (+ other Mizuha clones) had a very important relationship.

AD was one of the Mizuha executors.

All Kaibara's most dirty-working executors have no stars.

AD is frequently depicted as wearing goggles because (1) he has soft expressive eyes which, despite the intimidating physique, can easily betray his emotions. (2) his eyes are distinctive enough that revealing it will make readers recognize his lineage or connection to past characters. (3) a fashion statement. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

The Mizuha Massacre was conducted because Left Hand Nokker has finally perfected its vessel and it no longer needs these "Hayase's rebirths" anymore.

Left Hand Nokker's perfect vessel is constructed or engineered from scratch the way designer babies like Andy are, but with materials from the Left Hand Nokker itself such that for the first time, it can say this is its body. This is its first time as an independent human being, "free" from Hayase and her "incarnations."

There could be a grand revelation of the true nature of Hayase's rebirths, which the Left Hand Nokker recounts to taunt/spite Fushi. Perhaps the revelation that the rebirths have always been arbitrary and socially constructed and that only the Left Hand Nokker is the constant. In other words, Kahaku could have just been a normal Yanome boy without all that baggage—and self-hatred—all along. (very wild if true; for now, very low on the probability scale despite how much I like this one)

There will be a World Tour of sorts, with each immortal warrior's personal theme and life story coming to full circle and perhaps even dying. It will make this part of the Wish Era mirror the Previous Era's emotional gut punches.

The tundra will return (whether it's still the tundra or not... well, climate change might beg to differ). The NAMELESS BOY (ooh, didn't need to capitalize that) and Joann both will return to the story in some form.

As they are Fushi's earliest memories and life impetus, to the point of being pre-Hayase, they are the ones most connected to the Beholder's Orb.

Nameless Boy is (or the base of) Fushi all along. It doesn't change the fact that Fushi is "everyone", though, but in some philosophical-spiritual-scientific-whatever-sticks way, Nameless Boy and Fushi are "one person." (Also very wild if true, but also very low on the probability scale despite how much I like this one to bits)

Fushi would make do with what they promised Left Hand Nokker back in the Present Era and "become its vessel."

That's it this time! I wonder what everyone's crackpot theories are as of now?

Thank you for reading my ramble.

#fumetsu no anata e #fnae #to you the immortal #to your eternity #tye #wish era #manga spoiler #crack pot mud slinging #some of these are nigh lethal doses of copium #No Beholder speculations though #huh did I do something wrong? feels like I did because no Beholder hypotheses #and I'm supposed to be the president of the Beholder Be Holding Bee Club

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an-idiot-in-fandoms · 3 years ago

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The Less I Know The Better [Jason Todd x Reader]

A/n: just cried for a very long time about my appearance so here’s a comfort piece it’s literally so self indulgent Warnings for angst, very deprecating thoughts

Sometimes, life was a fucking bitch.

No, no; that was too nice. All the damn time, life was a fucking bitch. But, it seemed today it wanted to be particularly petty, and laugh from the sidelines as fate tossed around your broken doll like a dog toy. It wasn’t unordinary for you to have thoughts like today; you didn’t have a very high opinion of yourself; but god, this morning you’d gotten up, looked right in the mirror, and almost had a breakdown.

Why were you so ugly?

So, looks like I’ll be having a fucking awful time, today, you’d thought to yourself, in preparation for the shit show that would begin shortly. You left early, not even bothering to say goodbye to your boyfriend, who laid on the bed, knocked out cold from him nightly, vigilante activities. Usually, you’d give him a little pat, to let him know you were going, and he’d open one sleepy eye, give you a sleep sodden smile, and mumble something about being careful.

But not today. Today, Jason was the last person that you wanted to see you.

Your fractured, unshapely—

Enough.

Arriving at work, you instantly felt even more overwhelmed, seeing all the perfect faces around you. Why were you cursed with the fucking genetics of a turd? Why were you deformed and disgusting?

Every hello that came your way seemed like an attack, a personal sneer, a pitiful gesture. Each time you walked past a corridor, you swore you could hear the mocking whispers and jeers from the other employees you passed, giggling amongst themselves, discussing your grotesque features. When you walked out of any room, your mind would paint an unsightly picture of every person, laughing so hard they clutched their stomachs: “Did you see their face? God, I’m glad I’m not them! They look hideous!”

The hours seemed to drag by, as you tried to settle yourself into your work, to distract yourself. But, the conversations around you were subtle, tiny digs, even if unintended, towards your appearance.

“You look lovely today, Joanne! Is that a new lipstick?”

“Yeah, it is! I’m surprised you noticed!”

“Are we still up for that date tonight?”

“Of course. I couldn’t ditch my handsome knight in shining armour.”

“Some of us don’t have knights, so you stop bragging.”

“And some of us do — but don’t deserve them.”

You juddered at that comment. You’d felt inferior in your relationship with Jason many times, but never really brought it up with him; insecurity wasn’t a very attractive trait.

Well, you’ve got a face to match it, the vicious voice in the back of your head cooed, why don’t you just let out all of the ugly, so it can match the revoltingness of your appearance?

You had to hold back a sob.

By the time you got home, you were a wreck. You regretted going to work in the first place, you regretted listening to other people’s conversation, you regretted getting up this morning at all. But most of all, you regretted not saying goodbye to Jason.

Would he be angry? Did he feel betrayed? You hadn’t heard from him all day, so if that wasn’t a sign, you didn’t know what was. Had he left you? Had that been the final straw, since he couldn’t stand your face any longer? Had he packed up and left, already thinking of his next new significant other, preferably one with a pretty face?

It got to be too much, too quick.

You collapsed onto the shared bed, and let out an anguished howl, every pent up bit of self-hatred coming out, as you sobbed vicariously into the duvet. Usually, you kept your crying quiet, so you wouldn’t worry others — but Jason wasn’t here, so there was no one to worry about. So, you just wailed and wailed, like a newborn baby, coughs and choked whimpers wracking your body with malicious intent.

However, barely a minute had passed, before the door burst open, causing you to jump in surprise, and sit upright; Jason tumbled into the room, his expression one of deep concern and panic, as he took in your tear streaked face. “Sweetheart,” he murmured, rushing to your side instantly, pulling you against his broad chest. “What’s wrong? I could hear you crying a mile away.”

You couldn’t even respond properly, too relieved that he’d actually come back, your fears of him leaving you had been completely disproven by his return. Instead, you started to blubber once more, grabbing a hold of his jacket, to make sure he was here. And he held you, rocking you back and forth gently, whispering sweet nothings in your ear, gradually calming you down.

After about five minutes, you were finally able to form a coherent sentence, now no longer snivelling. “I’m sorry,” you mumbled guiltily.

Jason’s gaze of complete disbelief made you wince. “What in fuck’s name — what are you sorry for?” he demanded incredulously.

“For being ugly,” you at last decided to be honest, and spilled your guts. “I hate the way I look, so much — it hurts. Every time I look at myself I see nothing but a worthless, ugly piece of shit, who doesn’t deserve you, and one day you’re going to realise that I’m fucking hideous and you’ll leave me, rightfully so—”

“Woah, woah, woah,” he pressed a finger to your chapped lips, before moving to smooth over your mouth gently, to try and reduce the downwards curve it was pulled into. “Doll, I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. Can we get that clear? First of all, I need somewhere to live,” he elicited a small chuckle out of you with that, “but more importantly, I can’t live without you.”

You sniffed slightly, and nodded, feeling a little better at the confirmation that he was staying.

“But all this talk about you being ugly? That’s not gonna stand,” Jason frowned, cupping your face so you had nowhere to look at but him. “Listen here, sweetheart. I didn’t decide to ask you out because I pitied you. I want you because I love your personality and your looks, got it? I don’t know what shit has been fed to you, but attractiveness is subjective. And to me, every single part of you,” his gaze adoringly flitted down your figure, to admire you, “is fuckin’ beautiful.”

A lump caught in your throat at his words. He could be so sincere and romantic when he wanted to; a product of all that Jane Austen, you supposed.

“Can you say it for me?” he coaxed, his fingers trailing up and down your jaw in a relaxing pattern. “C’mon, say you’re beautiful.”

An embarrassed heat spread across your body, and a swarm of butterflies invaded your stomach. But, you knew he’d never leave it alone if you at least didn’t try. So, you screwed your eyes up tightly, and tried, tried so hard.

“I’m... I’m beau—” you inhaled a shuddered breath.

Jason paused, before leaning forward, and pushing his lips to yours gently. His hands seemed to be everywhere at once, travelling up your back at one second, then tracing the curve of your face, or rubbing your thighs; he drew back for a second, to murmur, “You’re so beautiful.” Then, he tugged you even closer, his hot skin against yours, now desperate and amourous.

You whispered Jason’s name in between kisses, trying to get a word out edgeways, but each time he’d shut you up with his messy love, complete with his characteristic husky hums as he enjoyed you. You could feel yourself getting backed further and further down, till your back hit the mattress, and his grip fondled your waist. He dipped down, to press his mouth against your neck, fingers still everywhere at once.

“If you don’t say it,” he whispered, “then I’ll say it for you, sweetheart.”

And he did. Jason said it again, and again, and again.

#Jason Todd #Jason Peter Todd #jason todd angst #jason todd imagine #jason todd x reader #jason todd fanfiction #batfamily #jason todd fluff

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lqtraintracks · 3 years ago

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I'm sorry to bother you, but what do you think about all the comments saying everyone needs to stop interacting with all HP material including fanfiction because of how horrible JKR is?

Hi there. Yes, her again. I want to take a moment to just acknowledge the next-level cruelty, ignorance, and hatefulness of her newest tweet(s). I saw one of them yesterday and felt sick to my stomach, and then I felt an all-consuming rage. The false and inflammatory rhetoric she’s spreading, make no mistake, contributes to violence against trans women. It contributes in a very real way to them being targeted with physical and sexual violence and to being murdered. JKR is an actual piece of shit. So I will never presume to tell people what is the right and wrong way to handle that for themselves.

Here’s the thing. We all have to make good decisions on our own behalf about whether or not to engage with HP material, whether that be the books and merch, or fan creations. I will never ever think it’s my place to decide that for someone else, and I respect and honor every fandomer’s choice to completely disengage with it all. Take care of yourselves, whatever that looks like.

I will also say that for me, there is a big difference between, say, buying a box set of the HP books or a Hogwarts Lego set or anything else that makes that vile scourge of a person money, and producing or engaging with fan content. I will never buy her shit again. That’s a firm boundary for me. I do not support her or her sickening views in any way. I do, however, continue to write fanfiction and engage in fan content for that fictional world. And let me tell you why.

I’m finding that HP fanworks are not only the best place but maybe the ONLY fucking place to find solace as a queer and gender fluid person who loves HP. It’s the only place I’ve found that is actively producing queer and trans content, which is more important than ever, in my opinion, to countering JKR’s awful lies and monstrous beliefs. There are trans fandomers creating beautiful things, and I would never presume to tell them that they shouldn’t. If your response to JKR hating you is to throw that hatred back in her face and write or draw self-love and love for others instead? I honor the fuck out of that choice. Trans fandomers making one another feel loved and seen is a spectacular way to deal with this shit if you ask me. I respect it just as much as I respect the choice to walk away.

When I write for this fandom now, it is always at least in part a big fuck you to Joanne, but more importantly it’s a message to trans fandomers, and that message is this: I see you. I love you. You are not only valid as a person but you are essential to this and every other fandom. These stories are yours more than they are hers at this point. You have great power here, to create an HP world where you set to right everything that JKR destroyed by being a heinous bigot. Not that you have any responsibility to do so. But it is your world, if you want it.

You are Hogwarts. You are HP. You are magic.

She can never ever fucking take that away from you or any of us. And as a fandomer and creator here, it is my honor to unfuck this world of hers and make it as queer and trans-friendly as possible. Because it should be.

I have not always included trans and nonbinary characters in my fanfiction. This is relatively recent for me, because I’m learning as I go, becoming a better ally as I go, and opening my eyes to the need there a little more every day. It has in fact been JKR’s utter bullshit that finally pushed me to get over my fear of writing trans characters badly, because I was afraid I’d get something wrong, and to just do it anyway, fear and all (and employ a sensitivity reader). It’s because of her hatred and the huge platform from which she spews it that I got over myself real fucking quick on that issue and wrote my first trans characters into a fic. But I’m late. I recognize that. I’m trying to make up for my lack of awareness now.

Look, I love writing HP. These are the characters I fell in love with writing before JKR showed how truly horrible she is. I’m still in love with them. I love telling stories about love with them. I also hate that JKR has made it feel unsafe for many trans fandomers to be here. I fucking hate her for that. But I imagine a world where we all abandoned the fandom because of her, and I think… does that let her win? Does that let her define what Hogwarts is, who these characters are? I don’t have that answer. And just as we all have the individual right to walk away, if there were a mass exodus because of that, so be it. She’d certainly deserve to see her world burned down around her. But that’s never going to happen to her. That won’t affect her, sitting on her piles and piles of money and being a raging TERF. No, that would only affect us. That would be a loss for us.

Yes, it’s a valid choice to walk away, and I support every individual’s right to do exactly that. But I’m going to stay. I’m going to stay so that any trans readers of mine can see themselves in what I write, can see themselves loved in it. I don’t think I’m all that important personally, and there are a ton of creators producing more trans content than I am. But I want to contribute to that. I want to be a small part of someone feeling welcome in HP rather than reviled. I want to be some small speck of someone feeling like they matter and they belong, that it’s her that doesn’t belong anymore, not us. I want to take HP back and write stories about how well we can love each other rather than let her define that world with her hate.

So I’m staying. And I’m writing HP. If you need to back away and leave fandom because of her rampant toxicity, please do that and know that I love and support you. But if you want to stay… there are those of us that are here for you, that want you here, that know trans fandomers make fandom, and we appreciate you. I’m here for that.

#cw: anti-trans violence #cw: transphobia #jkr is a terf #jkr is a piece of shit #but fandom is beautiful #trans fandomers are amazing #hp fandom #to stay or to go

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amorremanet · 3 years ago

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okay so I just read your entire post on m*lly and a*thur weasley and I have to say I agree with you on pretty much everything and, while I knew they were bad people, I didn't even realise a lot of what they did were bad and since I don't just JKR's narration as far as I can throw her so I was wondering what your view on the other Weasleys are, since I don't particularly like Ron. I'd love to hear another perspective.

Hey, nonny!

I'm sorry to disappoint here, and I really don't want to be rude when you've been so nice? But anymore, engaging with HP anything mostly makes me feel nauseated and ashamed of myself for how much time and energy I put into the fandom, only to have Joanne end up going full on T3RF and perpetuating bigoted garbage that actively makes the world more hostile toward and dangerous for several people I love.

[sorry for the L1ndsay Ell1s video link, and ftr, I'm not co-signing everything she's ever said; I just think this particular video is solid. Watch it with an adblocker on if you don't want her getting any adsense from your view]

So, again, I'm sorry, and please don't feel like you did anything wrong here; I'm rarely on tumblr anymore, and when I am, I don't talk about HP, so you had no way of knowing any of my thoughts or how much I'm still in the fandom or not. But the only real perspective I really feel up to giving here is that Percy is my favorite, Fred is my least favorite, I probably wouldn't like Ginny even if she weren't done dirty by Joanne's internalized misogyny but that's just down to "Ginny isn't my personal cup of tea, character-wise" rather than anything being bad or wrong or whatever about her, and Ron……………is fine.

idk, I used to hate Ron, but it was mostly the overcompensation of a twelve-year-old who hadn't realized that she was allowed to ship Hermione with girls, just like she was increasingly shipping W0lfstar, because apparently, girls being with girls was NOT just something that Takeuchi Naoko-sensei made up for Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune (in my defense, it was 2002, and I was raised Catholic).

So, the HP fandom that I'd seen by that point made me feel like I had to pick some kind of side in the "who should Hermione get with" debate, and out of the most popular ships for her at the time, I didn't personally like her with Draco (my favorite Draco scene was and still is the one with the Amazing Bouncing Ferret), Ron (it seemed like the obvious endgame, which annoyed the part of me that was a bratty tweenager and being pointlessly nonconformist, but also I projected onto her and I didn't want to get with Ron—which, in retrospect? is just because I was a lesbian and didn't know it yet, but……see previous point about being sheltered), or Snape (teacher/student just isn't my thing and usually squicks me)

Which meant that Harry won by process of elimination, which meant that I had to vitriolically hate the other ships and think they were all stupid and bad because I was twelve and the culture on the message boards at the time really led me to believe that being consumed with hatred for the ships you don't like was, like, normal, or a good way to be, or a recipe for happiness. (It's not any of those things, and I don't recommend it, but……blah blah, 12-year-old Kassie was a sweet summer child who didn't even know she was gay yet, despite how the highest praise she could give to any of the famous boys she crushed on—Orlando Bloom, Hayden Christensen, Enrique Iglesias, I could name more—was "he's almost pretty enough to be a girl.")

(also, that video in the link is about the sordid tale of MsScribe, which is definitely well beyond the normal scope of drama in Ye Olde HP Fandom of the early naughts………but although Eldena Doubleca5t doesn't make this point, I personally believe that one of the reasons why MsScribe got away with her elaborate, massively convoluted sockpuppetry for so long? was that she weaponized the anti-Harry/Ginny sentiment that a lot of Harry/Hermione shippers held, and spending as much time hating the other ship as you did actually loving and appreciating your own ship was so normalized as part of How To Be A Shipper In The HP Fandom that nobody questioned why a bunch of ostensibly random alleged H/G shippers would come out of nowhere to harass an H/Hr shipper who was basically a nobody, at the time.

It wasn't even exclusive to these ships. I remember when a fan-artist who I liked from Sailor Moon stuff started making HP art, they did mostly spend their time drawing Remus/Snape, but they made more than one piece shitting on Remus/Sirius just for existing and had multiple friends and fans supporting them in that. Because the whole concept of "just don't talk about the ships you don't like" was totally foreign to A LOT of Ye Olde School HP fan forums, LJ comms, etc. and bashing the ships you didn't like rather than actually enjoying the ships you DO like was treated as Essential for proving that you really loved your ships.

It was a toxic, bullshit culture that hit SEVERAL boiling points, over and over and over again, with several different ship wars because all of us collectively learned jack with a side of squat from every single instance where this happened. But……this jaunt down fandom history lane is way, way off-topic and not what you actually asked about, so. Sorry for that.)

A N Y W A Y.

TL;DR: I used to hate Ron, but it was grounded in fandom bullshit (and more specifically: ship war pissing contest bullshit), and he didn't actually deserve how much I hated him. But I also don't really have strong feelings on him. Y'know, he's fine. Not my cuppa, but I don't find him, like, grotesquely offensive or anything?

#anonymous #ask box #harry potter for ts #fandom shenanigans #actual about me #fandom history #idk i guess #i went way off on a tangent about ship war drama in the hp fandom of yore #weasley parent hate blog #not especially relevant to the tag ig but it's good to keep things easy to find #opinions for ts #also plz join me in affectionately making fun of my sheltered 12 y/o self for thinking she was 'straight'#*trixie mattel oh hooooooney.gif*#maybe she's born with it; maybe it's the complex product of interwoven sociocultural systems of knowledge & performance that shape the ways #in which we perceive & understand reality bc without them the experiences would exist but we would lack the specific terms we've created #either way: it's lesbianism #at least it was for me

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akari-hope · 3 years ago

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how would someone deal w a problematic hyperfixation? like harry potter for example? /srs

that's a good question! obv this is a pretty layered conversation, and this depends on the particular hyperfixation, but for the sake of being able to discuss at least somewhat how far this all goes, i'll focus on the example you gave.

quick note before i go into it though: EVERYTHING is problematic in some way. this is truly just a fact of life, and part of why this is such a difficult conversation to have. you're genuinely never going to find a piece of media that is without problems in one way or another. the difference is the degree of problems, and scope. so keep in mind from the start that i'm not going to take a "everything that's problematic needs to be thrown out" stance, bc that's just not realistic and we'd be left with nothing.

harry potter is a unique beast bc of joanne's transphobia and not inconsiderable money and power that she uses to lobby for it. it's not like enjoying works by lovecraft, who of course held many bigoted views but is now long dead. buying a lovecraft book does not directly provide monetary support to the bigotry. on the other hand, buying a harry potter book does. and even things that may not have a financial boon for joanne are still aiding to the popularity of the franchise, still aiding the platform she uses for her bigotry.

at the same time, it's impossible to say that people cannot have an emotional attachment to her work. ignoring the myriad of problematic elements for a moment (bc wow there really are a lot), joanne fundamentally wrote a story about a boy who was an outcast, who was unloved by the family he had, who didn't fit in, and found solace in others who were like him, just as weird and strange. it's impossible to ignore that, even if it was not intentional coding, that sort of story through a queer lens reads incredibly authentic and meaningful to the experiences of many queer people. i know many trans people in particular who found meaning in those books, and it's been a struggle for them to grapple with joanne's vocal hatred of them after feeling for years that maybe she understood, was an ally.

so it's already a bit of a moral conundrum. you can't support harry potter somehow without at least indirectly supporting joanne's transphobic lobbying. and the more you hear her speak about her bigoted views, the more you realize how much of that is in the books. and then you also run into the problem of your brain being latched onto it, unwilling to let go. it's genuinely a shitty situation.

now everyone can come to different conclusions about what is the "correct" course of action here. some people think that loudly enjoying harry potter with the addendum of "everyone is trans" is sufficient, death of the author as it were (quick note that isn't what death of the author means, but that is the claim people make). some people say you have to throw the whole thing out, become vocally against everything in it. some people say you have to enjoy within reason: don't buy merch but you can still read the books/watch the movies/etc., just pirate and you're all good.

and tbh i'm not going to tell anyone what's "right", bc this is a moral dilemma. not everyone's morals are going to align with mine. but if you're like me and joanne's views upset you too much, if the issues in the books are a little too uncomfortable to look past, if the idea that you might be funding hatred against your own group, against friends, against those you love keeps you up at night - it's definitely time to try and move on from it.

so, if you've settled on that course of action, what do you do? first off, you gradually limit your exposure. if you run a specific themed blog, write fanfic, draw fanart etc., those are the easiest things to start cutting out (mind you, you don't have to cut it out completely from the get go! maybe you write/draw but don't post as an example). if you desperately need to, reading/watching on physical media you already own is okay, or pirating instead. gradually weaning off is the key. eventually as you stop, the hyperfixation DOES begin to alleviate.

and again, this is only for this VERY particular piece of media under this very particular circumstance. were we in a lovecraft situation, where yes there's problems with the text but the man is dead and you're not funding bigotry, we truly wouldn't need to HAVE this conversation. my advice there would just be to consume responsibly and acknowledge the problems without making excuses for them. and to be clear, when the thing in question is not causing direct harm, that IS my advice. bc it bears repeating: everything is problematic in some way, and everyone is going to have a different threshold for what is a workable amount.

but when you have things like harry potter where you're funding transphobic policy, or attack on titan which is straight up japanese nationalist propaganda that can and has caused harm to real life people, this is when the conversation shifts less from "the media is problematic" to "this is actually affecting real life people". which...again, part of the reason this is such a layered conversation. honestly even with as long as i've rambled here about it, i've still barely scratched the surface of it all.

tldr: if your support/consumption of a particular piece of media is concretely (as in there is significant evidence and actual easy to identify examples of this) causing harm to real life people, it's time to consider weaning off of it by gradually limiting consumption, and not providing monetary support. if your support/consumption of a particular piece of media is NOT concretely causing harm to real life people and merely has problematic elements, acknowledgment of said elements and critical thinking is sufficient.

#anon #long post #god i hope this all makes sense. bc like. this is GENUINELY a tough conversation to have.#bc again there's just so much to everything

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nihilisme · 3 years ago

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As someone who suffers from BPD, which is really discriminated against and incredibly misunderstood, I understand why the trans community would feel seething rage towards Dave Chappelle right now. Such a divisive, hot button issue does not deserve to be used as a toy by famous people who are just trying to get clout. Trans people still get hurt and killed by bigots and Netflix allowing someone to put out a show where someone literally says they're "team TERF" is disgusting.

The term "gender is a fact" is JK Rowling's (and in turn Chappelle's) incredibly ingenious way of rebranding transphobia. If any of y'all have read Rowling's treatise, it's basically, in my opinion, a deeply misandrist (obviously on top of being transphobic), thinly veiled guise of her trying to get over her own traumas.

In her own words, "The more of their accounts of gender dysphoria I’ve read, with their insightful descriptions of anxiety, dissociation, eating disorders, self-harm and self-hatred, the more I’ve wondered whether, if I’d been born 30 years later, I too might have tried to transition."

Really? You THOUGHT about possibly transitioning? Maybe you're just in denial about your possible trans-ness Joanne? Or maybe this is your way of coping that's so maladaptive that it's burgeoned into very eloquently worded bigotry? Better yet, just DABBLING in the thought of being trans would've completely turned you trans?

Look, I get that Chappelle just did this for what is equivalent to gold in today's currency - controversy and attention. So for anyone who might say, "he's doing this to get a reaction out of you. He wants you to discuss this and to get mad about it." I fucking get it. I get it and I don't appreciate it. It's lazy, demoralizing, and worst of all, harmful. He put WAY too much faith in people to think that HIS words don't affirm THEIR OWN individual bigotry.

Someone like JK Rowling, as harmful as her words are, don't want to physically harm trans people, as she says so herself in her treatise. BUT THERE ARE PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO DO. And Chappelle, a ridiculously legendary, famous, influential, formerly funny comedian had the platform to just SAY WHAT HE WANTED TO SAY WITHOUT INVOLVING TRANS PEOPLE. Just say that cancel culture is bad Dave! Just say that social media, in its attempts to pivot and manipulate all of our primal, tribal warfare-oriented ape brains, are ruining all of us! Because it is! But guess what Dave? YOU'RE JUST PARTICIPATING AND PERPETUATING THE ENDLESS WATER WHEEL OF GENERATING CONTROVERSY WHILE ALSO JEOPARDIZING TRANS LIVES AT THE SAME TIME.

Dave Chappelle is a fucking hypocrite. Just open the show and tell us you want some money man. We would've given it to you regardless of how funny or unfunny it was. At least it would've been more direct and honest, than all this bullshit "Gender is a fact" nomenclature.

The gender is a fact argument is dishonest in how it's presented by the way. Comparing it to another movement - Black Lives Matter - we know that it means to protect black lives and that they don't deserve to be brutally murdered by cops because of racism. Gender is a fact is trying to emulate BLM by stating a very simple statement that is WAY more nuanced than it presents itself to be. But it just doesn't work on the same level at all. It's demeaning to state this shit thinking trans people don't understand their own plight or what they're going through. And as someone who has BPD - who gets told that all my feelings are just IN MY HEAD all the time from people who have no idea what it's like - trans people are trans for a reason and it's not just in their goddamn fuckin heads or them being "dramatic children". Why don't people who argue about trans rights argue in good faith instead of throwing around bullshit nomenclature that doesn't amount to anything? Because they don't understand what the fuck they're actually saying.

People who side with Chappelle and Rowling can easily say gender is a fact without batting an eye because they don't understand what it actually means to be trans. It's demeaning to trans people - do people REALLY think trans people, people who deal with their gender identity on a constant basis, really not know what the fuck gender means? What the fuck sex means? It's more nuanced than just saying "gender is a fact". You don't get to shut down somebody's entire gender identity and/or their trans-ness just by saying something that is deceptively simple, when in reality it's just a convenient dog whistle for transphobia. JK Rowling desperately tries to assert that her transphobia does not equate to her hating trans people - but what does it matter when you coined an entirely new hashtag EXACTLY DESIGNED to hate on a minority, and you don't even understand, at all, what they're going through? Joanne, on top of all of this, you are a misandrist without wanting to say you are. The fact that feminists only care about trans men because "they were originally born women" leaves a GLARING implied hole of not caring about men. Of how patriarchy HARMS MEN TOO. Yes, feminism still has a fucking long way to go. Yes, women still need to fight for rights and you hoped to have had a better future for your daughters at this point. But you're pointing the gun at the wrong enemy. Saying trans women wearing female clothing is equivalent to them wearing a "costume" is dehumanizing an entire group of people and their identities; implying that they are just "men" playing dress up is incredibly belittling for people who struggle with their identities. It's pretty equivalent to how homosexual people used to be belittled for their "lifestyles".

Back to Dave... It's ultimately just disappointing. If I ever talk to you as a person, Mr. Chappelle, I KNOW that you wouldn't want trans people harmed. Obviously you are still mourning your friend's death. I KNOW that the point of your special was so that "cancel culture" can stop being a thing and you're trying to open discussions on that. But at what cost? At what fucking cost? When you could've approached it in a different way and still would've gotten engagement. You still had a chance to change our poisonous internet culture without participating in discourse you barely fucking understand. You could've snowballed a movement that could have eventually dismantled Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Tumblr, Reddit, and Instagram - poisonous social media culture in general - in literally any other way.

In your own words, you said you can become famous, but you can't become unfamous. You can become infamous, but you can't become unfamous. Why would you choose the latter path?

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bloatsome · 4 years ago

Note

Hey so same anon that talked about fenir lupin snape bit.

I just think it's v insane and like funny how there was literally pleanty of opportunity for Joanne to give lupin the chance of facing his fears like actually being this person who was molded by his past but also not letting that effect him. (basically I'm saying hey be a bit more like snape lmao)

Like there were 2 wars and to my knowledge (idk if it's fanon or Canon) at both times lupin this influencer/spokesperson for other werewolves so literally in the first war it would have been such a cool way to see him grow because like you know he's in the real world where his friends can't really help him 100%. Like him going through the whole how long are you gonna let peoples judgement effect you and then being more assertive with himself and also just simply having fenir Grey back terrified of him.

But Mr throwback Thursday over here is so defined by his past that he makes peace with it???? While we have snape over there deadass being a competent spy for dumbledore army and the order, like he knows he's defined and can't escape his past shitty actions but his active role in atonement for it is incredible. (like both Remus and snape know what's it's like to be at both sides of the war to be hated yet to strive to do good,,,, they both could have ended up like Peter Pettigrew after seeing the damage done in the first war but they both didn't which is neat)

But like back to fenir and snapes overall relationships with werewolves. Like both lupin and snape were traumatized, both having a sense of self hatred regarding this overall experiences and there is this ownership issue (severus snape = Potter saving him, lupin =mauruader friendship and fenir / of you want to add the canon (?) element his dad's original hatred for werewolf).

But one of them only goes : how long are you gonna let this fear of judgement get to you and it isn't lupin. It's fucking snape!!! Which is so cool because it's one thing to tackle the people who hurt you but it's another to make this charecter (fenir) terrified of you.

Like once again it goes back to who's more deserving of this level of bravery to have a nightmare experience be your future baddass moment. And I guess it's snape because it fits his overall charecter of having being molded by his past but not letting it all effecting his task (very solidery) One of them allowed self hatred and fear to define him their decisions ( lupin with tonks the whole deal from her liking him to the child) while the other just didn't (snape being dumbledores spy).

And it's this fear and self hatred that allows fenir to have a leverage over lupin, fenir probably knows lupin hates himself more than he hates fenir (interestingly enough dumbledore knew this and definitely could have used it to his advantage) . Also you can fucking bet the second snape turned into a werewolf he's killing fenir (he is more morally Grey so I think he absolutely would do it)

Yep I think all this is definitely valid. Snape's flaws are that he's super petty and mean which can, interestingly, strike fear in everyone's hearts, be it students or a freaking werewolf. Snape dealt with his past admirably in all ways except one, which is how James Potter treated him (I'm not even saying he should've gotten over the bullying, but he got over pretty much everything else which is so respectable)

Snape is a lot of things, but by no means is he a coward.

Lupin however, has a really bad case of cowardice and how he deals with it is by denial/minimising the damage done. ("oh what Snape and James had was just a rivalry", "oh it was a prank and nothing more"...)

Lupin has a conscience but he rarely listens to it and dismisses and undermines everything, including himself. He'd never ever do something horrible or admirable. He's resigned himself to being an average werewolf while he could've been so much more. I like him as a character, and he's all about doing the least possible to ignore any consequences he might have to face after actually stepping up and doing the thing.

I can understand that though. He's a pretty relatable character (self hatred and cowardice much?)

#severus snape #snape #pro snape #meta #hp #snape fandom #snapedom #asks #remus lupin

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gohyuck · 5 years ago

Text

Love and War Act I - LDH

theater kid! hyuck with some enemies to lovers realness

word count: 3.2k

warnings: a lot of swearing and a lot of hatred, possible nsfw in future chapters

notes: in part based on this post

part of a series: yes, this is part 1

in which you really, really, really can’t stand lee donghyuck

Act I, Scene I: An Introduction of the Situation

You’ve never hated a musical more.

In an effort to ‘generate student interest in the arts’, Neo Culture Tech’s very own Mr. Taeil Moon, head of the fine arts department at what can only be described as a STEM college preparatory school, had put word out that this year’s fall theater show would be an entirely student-produced musical. Whether it was to elevate NCT’s arts up to the level at which they’d have to get the same funding as the robotics team or whether it was to truly cultivate creativity, nobody was sure. Still, the play persisted. From the actual dialogue, to the songs and their composition, to the dances choreography, everything was to be a bona fide effort from students across the school, not just in the theater department. Before anyone could say anything, the band and orchestra students were forced to create and compose scores and songs while the choir kids had to write lyrics for their semester project. The dance team had to choreograph everything and the art students were told they’d be making the posters for the show.

All of this, of course, was to come after the actual play had been written by the students in the Theater IV: Theater Productions class.

If only you’d stayed in Theater III.

Regardless, every good story starts from the beginning. And at the start of this one, there was a group of 13 potential starring roles in the tragedy? Comedy? Romance? Of Mr. Moon’s Theater IV musical production.

The official Theater IV roster was - and is - as follows:

(Name) - (Nickname)

Julia Choi - (Lia)

Renjun Huang

Lucy Hwang - (Yeji)

Somi Jeon

Chaeryeong Lee

Donghyuck Lee - (Haechan)

Jeno Lee

Jaemin Na - (Nana)

Jisung Park

Joanne Shin - (Ryujin)

Hussey Shin - (Yuna)

Chenle Zhong

13 is a decent amount of people able to give input on a play - from characterization, to plot, to underlying themes, there’s a place for everyone. If all of you worked on it, it could’ve been done at the speed of light, with ample time for revision and practice. Playwrighting wouldn’t have been harrowing. In fact, the project seemed fun at the beginning, and it was something you were genuinely looking forward to. After all, you genuinely liked everyone in your class… or, at least, almost everyone. Still, with 11 other people besides you and him, you would have ample buffer for the brain damage you were sure he would inflict upon you simply due to proximity.

You forgot entirely about Murphy’s Law.

Jeno, Renjun, Somi, and Chaeryeong were the first to opt out of writing the play, gently reminding Mr. Moon that they were tech theater students, and would much rather design and build the set. It didn’t take long after that for Jaemin, Ryujin, Jisung, and Yeji to choose choreographing with their dance teammates over being playwrights. Yuna was quick to state that she’d rather make the posters in her art classes, and both Lia and Chenle decided that writing lyrics in choir would take up enough of their time as it was.

At the start there were 13.

You were happy, looking forward to talking about settings with Somi and comedic effect necessities with Jaemin. You weren’t only in theater to act - you were in the program in order to satisfy your need to create. Creating an entire play from nothing made you more eager than anything.

That is, until 13 dwindled down to 2 with alarming speed.

Act I, Scene II: The Devil Incarnate

“Her royal highness is finally here!” Donghyuck faux cheers as you walk into your English Literature class right before the bell rings. The smirk in his tone is not lost on you, though you do mentally revel in the fact that nobody laughs at his stupid declaration. His seat is to the right of yours, but that doesn’t keep him from angling away from the board just to prop his feet up onto your desk. You don’t grace him with a response, only rolling your eyes before shoving his sneaker-laden feet off your desk none too ceremoniously and dropping your backpack onto the floor beside you as you slide into your seat.

“What,” He starts, evidently hellbent on annoying you at 8 in the morning. You don’t turn to look at him, though you can distinctly see his shit-eating grin out of the corner of your right eye. Donghyuck leans towards you, his face coming far too close to you for your own comfort. You hope he’ll get the hint from your silence and leave you alone, but he continues speaking, much to your chagrin. “No snarky response from our resident ice queen today? Is your tongue frozen solid, princess?”

“Call me princess one more time, and you won’t even have a tongue left,” You threaten, still facing forward in your adamant refusal to look Donghyuck Lee in the eyes. He lets out a short laugh and leans back, finally properly settling into his own seat, pleased at his success at pissing you off. Before either of you can try to insult the other again, Mr. Suh rushes into the room, his Staff ID askew around his neck and his glasses sliding down his nose. The door flies shut behind him, and you straighten your back.

Class has officially started.

“You were only three minutes late today, Johnny,” Beomgyu calls from the back as your teacher is getting himself settled, and you turn to see your classmate holding up his watch, mirth in his eyes. “It’s a new personal record.”

As if cued, the rest of the class bursts into a round of applause, with Donghyuck whistling with his fingers beside you. Mr. Suh - better known simply as Johnny to his students, due to him being fresh out of his undergrad - can’t help but chuckle at your class’ antics, doing nothing but shaking his head and pushing his glasses up onto his face.

“Alright, before I get called down to the front office again, let me fill out attendance,” Johnny says eventually, finally sitting down at his computer. While he starts calling out everyone’s names you rifle around in your backpack, searching for your copy of The Taming of the Shrew, the book you’re all currently reading in class. Though it has some… questionable moments and themes, you can’t help but love it - you daresay it’s your favorite required reading book yet. Just as you find it, Johnny says your name.

“(Name),” He says, and you straighten yourself out, your copy of the Shakespearean play gripped firmly in your hand. “I’m h-”

“She’s here. Didn’t you feel the frost when you came in?” Donghyuck beats you to it, and you finally whirl around to glare at him, raising the hand holding the book up high as if you’re about to beat him with it.

“Donghyuck Lee, I fucking swear -”

“Alright, alright, alright,” Your teacher raises his voice, coming to stand between the two of your desks. “I’m going to ignore the swear word this time because Haechan’s being annoying -”

You lean back to meet Donghyuck’s eyes, sending him a smirk that directly contrasts his wince.

“- But you know better than to let your emotions get the best of you on things like this.” Johnny finishes, his words now aimed at you. You sigh, lowering your book to rest on your desk and slouching back into your chair.

“Now behave, you two, got it? Act like actual people for once.”

The snickers of your classmates behind you cause your face to go red, and your anger at Donghyuck flares up again alongside your urge to crawl into a hole and hibernate. Still, through a furrowed brow and clenched teeth, you nod your agreement.

“Yes, Johnny.” You say at the same time Donghyuck mutters a “Sorry, John.” Both of you slide down even further into your seats.

Neither of you say anything to each other for the rest of class, though you make sure to send scathing glances his way whenever your eyes seem to meet. To his merit, he manages to flip you off effortlessly every time Johnny turns towards the board. By the time class ends and you’re packing up, the two of you are seething silently, anger emanating off of your persons. Donghyuck jostles you on purpose on your way out of the room, but before you can give him a piece of your mind out of Johnny’s earshot, he’s halfway down the hallway on the way to his next class. Still, you train all your angry thoughts in his general direction, praying he’ll trip and fall flat on his face, or something.

Jeno, who’s just walked out of the classroom next to yours, makes his way to fall into step beside you as he always does. He follows your red hot gaze towards Donghyuck, who’s currently leaning against a locker and talking to Renjun.

“You shouldn’t let him bother you so much,” Jeno finally says, and you roll your eyes before looking up at your friend. “It gives you too much grief.”

“He shouldn’t be bothering me so much.” You counter, and a small smile crosses Jeno’s face as he shakes his head in both amusement and disbelief.

“I guess you aren’t wrong.” He acquiesces as he pulls open the door to the chemistry classroom, letting you walk in before him. The two of you share a lab table and you pull his stool out along with your own as you orient yourself.

“I still can’t believe you and him are friends,” You tell Jeno as he sits down beside you. “You’re so you and he’s so… him.”

“We have, like, 90% of our interests in common, (Name),” Jeno laughs, knocking your shoulder with him. “If the two of you stopped going at each others’ throats for even a moment, you might even learn to like each other.”

You can’t help the fake gagging noise you make at the suggestion, and your friend rolls his eyes at you, though not before laughing. As the rest of your classmates start filtering into the room, the two of you switch smoothly to another topic of conversation - “Can you believe Moon’s making us do all of the play stuff this year?” “I don’t know, Jeno, it seems kind of cool to me.” “I mean me too, but damn… imagine the hours I’ll be putting into set design this year.”- all thoughts of the devil himself banished from your mind.

Act I, Scene III: Murphy’s Law

You’re almost at the door, deep in conversation with Hyunjin about a protest she’s planning when Mr. Jung calls your name, stopping you in your tracks.

“Yes?” You ask after motioning for Hyunjin to go on to lunch without you. You haven’t done anything wrong that you can think of - not recently, you note, remembering the time you really had almost set Jeno on fire - so you can’t help but be confused about why he needs to talk to you. Before you can ask, your teacher holds out a slip of paper for you to take.

“The note Jaemin delivered earlier is for you. He said it isn’t urgent, so I figured I’d send you during lunch instead of during class.”

You relax your shoulders almost instantly before taking the bright orange piece of cardstock from Mr. Jung’s grip. You head out of his room - though not before thanking him - and unfold the note immediately after walking into the hallway.

Please come see me at your convenience! - Moon :)

♕ ♕ ♕

You get to the black box room before Mr. Moon does, causing you to lament not buying your lunch before coming to meet him. As you wait, you pull out your book, determined to at least do something with your time at the moment. Katherine and Petruchio are in the midst of hurling insults at each other when the sound of footsteps startles you out of your book, and you lay it down beside you just in time for Donghyuck to walk in and drop his backpack onto the floor by the door, his eyes trained on the phone in his hand.

Wait.

Donghyuck?

“What the hell are you doing here?” Your tone is biting at best. He looks up from his screen in surprise, though his expression quickly morphs into one of clear disdain once he sees that it’s you who’s speaking.

“Got a message from Moonie. What the fuck are you doing here?”

You hold up your orange slip, only just noticing the identical one hanging between two of his fingers. His eyes dart down to his own again before back up at you, seemingly still waiting for a response.

“Same here.” You respond, and he sneers at you. Donghyuck looks like he’s about to say something - likely hurl an insult that’s completely unrelated to the situation - but, with spectacular timing, Mr. Moon walks in through the door, a large soda in one hand and a fast food bag in the other. Donghyuck finally sits down, his backpack still by the door.

Your theatre director places his food on the desk in the corner of the room before leaning against it, placing his hands against the edge of the table for balance. He surveys the two of you, both of you on different sides of the room, for a moment.

“I guess you’re wondering why I’ve called you here,” Moon finally says, his words directed at you both. You nod while Donghyuck says a quiet “Yep.”, neither of you looking at one another. Moon nods himself before pushing himself off of his desk, reaching over to grab ahold of his rolling chair.

“Come,” He looks at both of you, nodding towards the center of the room. “Bring your chairs in.”

You stare at your director for a moment before sighing, careful not to let Mr. Moon see you rolling your eyes. Reluctantly, you stand up, grabbing your chair and moving to sit in front of him. Donghyuck follows suit, managing to put as much distance as humanly possible between you while staying close enough that Mr. Moon won’t reprimand him.

“You both know how your Theatre IV class is meant to be the ones writing the musical itself, right?”

The two of you nod, and you can’t help but wonder what direction Moon might be going in. There’s thirteen people in your class - why is it just you two he’s called in?

“Out of everyone in the class, you two are the only ones that aren’t either tech theatre students or double dipping when it comes to fine arts.” Your director continues, his words coming out slower than usual. It almost feels as if he’s trying to force the two of you towards the conclusion rather than telling you what he means to himself. Still, you know your expression is one of confusion. Mr. Moon winces almost imperceptibly before sighing and leaning back, rolling back-and-forth ever so slightly with his chair.

“When it comes to this year’s musical, students can only work with one of the departments, because having anyone work on two parts of it would be way too much work,” He finally says, leaning towards you and Donghyuck again. Silence falls over you as you furrow your brow, trying to figure out what Mr. Moon might mean.

It hits both you and Donghyuck at the same time.

“There’s no way I’m working with just him -”

“Moonie, c’mon, do you really hate me this much -”

“Stop.” Moon says, his voice rising easily in volume. He puts both of his hands up in emphasis, and you realize you’ve leaned further forward than you’d realize. You settle back into your seat, though not without returning the scowl Donghyuck is sending you.

“If I didn’t think the two of you could do it together, I would’ve just written the damn thing myself,” Your director says, glancing sharply at both of you before continuing. “You’re my two best students - you both know this. I’ve seen you put your differences aside to act together on stage. This shouldn’t be any different than that.”

You stare at Mr. Moon for a long moment, weighing your options. You can say no, you know you can - though he’ll advise strongly against it, Moon will ultimately let you back out of the musical’s production if you ask - but your ego refuses to let you. That, and you’d been genuinely excited to work on it before, and you’d rather die than let Donghyuck, of all people, take something you care about from you. That, and you don’t trust him to write a good play worth performing. You’ll be damned if the fine arts department has to count on him in the end. Hell, you’ll write it by yourself if you have to.

“Fine,” You say, raising a hand up to rub your temples out. “But I’ll only play nice if he does, too.”

“You act like I’m the one who finds it difficult to interact normally with other people.” Donghyuck scoffs, and you shoot him a sharp glare. He returns it evenly for a beat too long before finally tearing his eyes away and hanging his head. You watch as he runs a hand through his hair and throws his head back, groaning loudly as he does so, almost as if it pains him to say his next words. When he finally looks forward at Moon again, he sighs before speaking.

“I’m in,” He declares, throwing you an unreadable look. “Let’s get this over with.”

Moon’s face lights up immediately, and, for a moment, you don’t regret what you’ve just agreed to.

“Brilliant!” He claps, standing up from his chair. “We can discuss it together as a group during our next class, but I’m glad we have this sorted out. Now,” He says, moving his chair back over to his desk before settling back down in it. “I have to eat lunch, and I’m guessing you both do too. Scram.”

You get up, placing your chair back from where you got it before gathering your things. Donghyuck avoids looking at you, and you return the courtesy. He gets to the door right before you do, stooping down to pick up his back. Both of you wave goodbye to your director before stepping out into the hallway.

“When should we meet to talk about the planning and shit?” You ask, keeping your tone as steady as possible, though you know your eyes tell your feelings. Donghyuck rolls his eyes outright.

“How about we figure that out in class? I’ve talked to you enough for the time being.”

You make a sound of disbelief, flipping him off as he turns to walk away from you.

“You’re a grade A dickwad!” You call, staring at his back.

“Whatever, you frigid bitch!” He yells back, not bothering to turn around and look at you.

You sigh once he’s out of sight, dropping your head into one of your hands.

This is going to be a lot harder than Mr. Moon thinks it’ll be.

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amphtaminedreams · 4 years ago

Text

J.K Rowling & The Echo Chamber of TERFs: Why Nobody Wants your Transphobic “Opinion”

TW// Discussion of Sexual Assault and Transphobia

SO...

I’ve seen the term “allyship fatigue” going round a lot lately on Twitter, since the issues of police brutality, institutional racism, and now transphobia have taken central stage.

And it’s weird. To be honest, hearing other white cis people calling themselves “allies” has always sounded kinda self-congratulatory. Taking this to the level of martyrdom that the phrase “allyship fatigue” evokes makes me want to heave. It’s shit that anyone even has to be saying Black Lives STILL Matter, but it does seem to unfortunately be the case that every time there is a highly publicised murder of a black individual by police, the explosion of us white people calling ourselves allies and retweeting and reblogging statements of solidarity only lasts so long before half revert back to being complacent with and uncritical of a world seeped with casual racism. Is that what “allyship fatigue” is? The excuse for that? Not only does the term take the focus off of the marginalised group the movement is centred around but it makes supporting equal rights sound like some kind of heroic burden we’ve chosen to take on rather than addressing a debt we owe and being not even good but just plain decent human beings. WE are not the ones shouldering the weight here, and if your mental health is suffering, that is not the fault of the people asking for their rights. Log off. We have the privilege to do that. It just doesn’t need to be a spectacle.

At the same time, this public onslaught of ignorance and hatred that the coverage of the Black Lives Matter movement has triggered (that let me again emphasise, black people have had to involuntarily be on the receiving end of their whole lives) and the frustration and anger that comes from seeing these absolute trash takes from people with no research into the subject who build their argument purely on “what about”isms is do-I-even-want-to-bring-children-into-this-fucking-world levels of miserable. In terms of earth beginning to look more and more like the prequel describing the events which lead up to a dystopian novel, the chaos of the last 4 weeks or so (2020 has not only shattered the illusion of time but also danced on the shards, I know) is the tip of the iceberg. I saw a thread about what’s going on in Yemen at the moment, which I had no idea about, and immediately felt consumed by guilt that I didn’t know. With the advent of social media, there’s been this sudden evolutionary shift where we’re almost required and expected to know about, have an opinion on, and be empathetic with every humanitarian crisis at once. I think young people feel this especially, which is why I say that sometimes it’s worth talking to an older person before you brush them off as a racist or a homophobe and see if they’re open to hearing different opinions-in general, I think we’re a generation that is used to being expected to consume a huge amount of information at once. They are not. For a lot (NOT all) of the older, middle-class, white population, ignorance isn’t a conscious choice, it is the natural way of life. The parameters of empathy until very recently have only had to extend just past your closest circle of friends to encompass people you “relate to”. That doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of caring about other things, and sometimes we owe them a chance to change their perspective first, if for no reason other than to advance the cause of, well, basic human rights for all.

So where does J.K Rowling come into all this? I hear you ask. Why doesn’t she just stop rambling? You potentially wonder. Well, I’m getting to it.

J.K Rowling isn’t an unconsciously ignorant people. She is what I would call consciously ignorant. And of all weeks to flaunt this ignorance, she chose a time when people are already drowning in a cesspit of hatred. The woman whose whole book series supposedly revolves around the battle between good and evil didn’t even try to drain the swamp. She instead added a bucket of her transphobic vitriol into it.

Let me preface this by saying that I wouldn’t wipe my arse with the Sun. What they did with the statement she made regarding her previous abusive relationship, seeking out said abusive partner for an interview and putting it on the front page with the headline “I slapped J.K”, whilst expected from the bunch of cretinous bottom feeders who work there, is disgusting. That being said, the pattern of behaviour J.K Rowling has exhibited since she first became an online presence is equally disgusting, and just because the Sun have been their usual shithead selves, doesn’t mean we should forget the issue at hand, that issue being her ongoing transphobia and erasure of trans women from women’s rights.

As I’m sure is the case for many people on Tumblr, J.K Rowling has always been such a huge inspiration for me, and Harry Potter was my entire childhood. My obsession with it continued until I was at least 16 and is what got me through the very shit years of being a teenager, and that will forever be the case. I’m not here to discuss the whole separation of the art from the artist thing because whilst I ordinarily don’t think that’s really possible, at this point the “Harry Potter universe” has become much bigger than J.K herself. I was so pleased to see Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint all affirm their support for trans rights-I was raised on the films up until the 4th one which I wasn’t old enough to see at the cinema, and the DVD was at the top of my Christmas list. They were always my Harry, Hermione and Ron. It was only between the fourth and fifth films that I started to read the books to fill that gaping in-between-movies hole, but as I grew up, I read them over and over and over again. Any of the subtext that people are talking about now in light of her antisemitism and transphobia went completely over my head, though who knows, whilst I can sit here and write that I’m certain I didn’t, maybe I did pick up some unconscious biases along the way? The art/artist discussion is a complex one and I don’t know if I’ll ever read the books again at this point.

There was absolutely no subtext, however, in the “think piece” on J.K’s website addressing the response to her transphobic tweets. There wasn’t all that much to unpack in the first tirade, they were quite openly dismissive-first that womanhood is defined by whether or not one experiences menstruation (I currently don’t due to health issues but I’m betting this wouldn’t make me any less woman in her eyes), and second, regurgitating an article which furthers the fallacy that trans women simply existing erases the existence of cisgender lesbian women. Rowling’s initial response to the backlash was to blame it on a glass of red wine, I think? Which is such a weird go-to excuse for celebrities because not once have I ever got drunk and completely changed my belief system. If you’re not transphobic sober, you don’t suddenly become transphobic drunk. What you are saying is that you’re not usually publicly transphobic (which isn’t even the case with Rowling because this is hardly her first flirtation with bigotry via social media) but that whoopsies! You drank some wine and suddenly thought it was acceptable!

Now what is her excuse for the formal response she wrote to the backlash, dripping with transphobic dog whistles and straight up misinformation (UPDATE: and as of yesterday, blocking Stephen King quite literally for replying to her with the tweet “trans women are women”, in case you thought that this whole thing was a case of her intentions being misconstrued)? Drunk tweets are one thing but if she managed to write a whole fucking essay whilst pissed I imagine there’s a lot of university students out there who’d pay her good money to learn that skill.

Here is the bottom line. TRANS WOMEN ARE WOMEN. There is no discussion around that. And if you don’t understand why, at the very least, you can be respectful of the way a person chooses to identify, especially when that person is an already targeted minority.

Obviously, sex and gender are complex things. Based on the fact that we don’t walk around with our nether-regions out, we generally navigate our way through the world using our gender and the way we present our gender. Gender of course means many different things to many different people; some see it as a sliding scale kind of thing whereas some people can’t see themselves on the scale at all, and choose to use terms other than man or woman to express how they identify. But, whatever gender one chooses to identify as, we live in a modern world-with all the scientific advancements we’ve made and all that we now know about the brain, using what is between people’s legs to define them is an ignorant, outdated copout. You’ll find that a lot of transphobes can live in harmony with trans women who conform, who have classically feminine features, maybe facial feminisation surgery, trans women who keep quiet about how they’re seen by cis women and don’t kick up “too much of a fuss” (which is in itself still a perfectly valid, brave and understandable way to live your life after years of feeling like you don’t fit in btw). The trans women that Joanne and her friends take the most issue with is the ones who want to expand what womanhood means and stretch the boundaries of what is and isn’t acceptable, destroying the confines of simplistic model that TERFs feel comfortable operating within. The ones who fight to be recognised as no “lesser” than cis women. Calling a person a TERF is quite literally just asserting that they are someone who wants to exclude trans women from their definition of womanhood, or in other words wants to cling to the old, obsolete model. If J.K Rowling cannot let the statement “trans women are women” go unchallenged (which we’ve seen from her response to Stephen King’s tweet she cannot), then she is by definition a TERF. It’s not a slur. It’s a descriptor indicating the movement she has chosen to associate herself with. Associating the descriptor of the position you so vehemently refuse to denounce in spite of all evidence and information offered to you with the concept of a “witch hunt” when trans women are ACTUALLY brutally murdered for an innate part of their identity is insulting, at the very least.

Let’s get this straight: despite transphobes trying to conflate sex with gender and arguing that sex is the only “real” identifier of the two, our existence on this planet and our perception of this world is a gendered experience. It is our brain, where the majority of researchers agree that gender lies, which decides and dictates not only who we are and how we feel but also how we interact with everyone around us. I don’t think it’s an outlandish statement to say that when it comes to who we are as people, that flesh machine protected by our skull is the key player. PSA for transphobes everywhere: when people say penises have a mind of their own, they are NOT talking literally. The more you know.

Gender is obviously a much newer concept than sex-it is both influenced by and interacts with every element of our lives. It’s also much more complex, in that there are still many gaps in our understanding. I assume these two factors combined with the familiarity of the (usually) binary model of biological sex are a part of why TERFS fundamentally reject the importance of gender in favour of the latter. Yes, most of the time, we feel our gender corresponds with our sex, but not always, and nor is there any concrete proof that this has to be the case. Most studies tend to agree that our brains start out as blank slates, that we grow into the gender we are assigned based on our bodies. In other words, our sex only defines our gender insofar as the historical assumption that they are the same thing, which in turn exposes us to certain cultural expectations. To any TERFs that have somehow ended up here-if you haven’t already, I suggest looking into the research of Gina Rippon, a neuroscientist whom has spent a large portion of her professional career analysing the data of sex differences in the brain. Whilst she originally set out to find some kind of consistent variance between the brains of the 2 prominent sexes to back up the idea that the brains of men and women are inherently different, she found nothing of significance-individual differences, yes, but no consistent similarities in the brains of one sex that were not present in the other. Once differences in brain size were accounted for, “well-known” sex differences in key structures disappeared-in terms of proportion, these structures take up the same amount of space in the brain regardless of sex. Her findings are best summed up by her response to the question: are there any significant differences in the brain based on sex alone? Her answer is no. To suggest otherwise is “neurofoolishness”. Not only does her research help put to bed the myth that our brains are sexed along with the rest of our bodies during development (this is now believed to happen separately, meaning the sex of our bodies and brains may not correspond), but also the idea propagated by the patriarchy for centuries that basically boils down to “boys will be boys”-a myth used to condone male sexual violence against women and even against each other on the basis that it is inherent and “can't be helped”. That they are just “built differently”. Maybe at one point in human evolution, men were conditioned to fight and women were conditioned to protect, but whilst the idea remains and continues to affect our societal structures (and thus said cultural expectations), we’ve moved on. I mean we evolved from fish for fuck’s sake but you don’t see us breathing underwater.

Gender identity is based on many things and admittedly we don’t fully have the complete picture yet. The effects that socialisation and gender norms in particular, as much as we don’t want them to exist, have on our brain are huge; there’s evidence that they can leave epigenetic marks, or in other words cause structural changes in the brain which drive biological functions and features as diverse as memory, development and disease susceptibility. Socialisation alters the way our individual brains develop as we grow up, and as much as I’d love to see gender norms disappear, they’ll probably be around for a long time to come, as will their ramifications. The gap between explaining how socialisation affects the brain of cisgender individuals compared to the brains of transgender or non-binary individuals is not yet totally clear, but as with every supposed cause and effect psychology tries to uncover, there are outliers and individual differences. No, brains are not inherently male or female at birth but they are all different, and can be affected by socialisation differently. In one particularly groundbreaking study conducted by Dick Swaab of the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, postmortems of the brains of transgender women revealed that the structure of one of the areas in the brain most important to sexual behaviour more closely resembled the postmortem brains of cisgender women than those of cisgender men-it’s also important that these differences did not appear to be attributable to the influence of endogenous sex hormone fluctuations or hormone treatment in adulthood.

Maybe dysphoria is something that evolves organically and environmental factors don’t even come into it. Like I said, we don’t have the whole picture. What we DO know is that for some people, as soon as they become self-aware, that dysphoria is there, and the evidence for THAT, for there being common variations between the brains of cisgender individuals and transgender individuals, is overwhelming. You can be trapped in a body that does not correspond with how your brain functions, or how you wish to see yourself. Do individuals like J.K Rowling really believe it is ethical to reinforce the idea that we are defined by our sex and that our sex should decide the course of our lives, should decide how we are treated? That we should reduce people to genitals and chromosomes when our gender, the lens through which we see and interact with the world, could be completely different? Do they not see anything wrong with perpetuating the feelings of “otherness” and dysphoria in trans individuals that results from society’s refusal to see them as anything more than what body parts they have? In a collaboration between UCLA MA neuroscience student Jonathan Vanhoecke and Ivanka Savic at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, the statistics collected pointed to what trans activists have always been trying to get at-the areas of the brain responsible for our sense of our identity showed far more neural activity in the brains of trans individuals when they were looking at depictions of their body that had been changed to match their gender identity than when this wasn’t the case; when they saw themselves with a body that corresponded with their gender identity, when they were “valid” by society’s definition, they felt more themselves. When J.K Rowling tells trans people that their “real identity” is the sex they were born with, she is denying them this right to be themselves and due to her large platform, encouraging others to do the same. YOU are doing that, J.K. And who knows why? Where does your transphobia come from? Peel back the bullshit layers of waffle about feeling silenced and threatened, which you know you are directing at the wrong group of people, and admit it’s for less noble reasons. Taking the time to unlearn the instinct embedded into your generation to see people according to the cultural status quo of biological determinism is effort, I know-but you wrote a 700+ page book. I’m sure you can manage it. Or is it an ego thing? You don’t want to admit that you may have been uneducated on gender and sex in the past, and now have to stick by your reductive position so your image as an “intellectual” isn’t compromised. I don’t know. Only you do. But your position is irresponsible and dangerous either way. You can make up bullshit reasons as to why the link between trans individuals and the incidence of suicide attempts and completions isn’t relevant or representative of the struggle that trans people face due to the hatred that people like you propagate but it is there, and you J.K Rowling, someone who has spoken in the past about the horror of depression, should know better. You should know better than to CLAIM you know better than the experienced researchers who have found the same pattern time and time again-that the likelihood of trans individuals committing suicide is significantly higher than that of cis people.

No, Rowling’s transphobia has never been as upfront as saying “I don’t believe transgender people exist” but she continues to imply that when she makes claims such as womanhood being defined by whether or not one experiences menstruation, and the completely subjective concept of whether an individual has faced sex-based violence from cisgender men. I’m sure she’d be out here taking chromosome proof cards like Oysters if it wasn’t for intersex individuals throwing her whole binary jam into a tailspin. Yep, there’s even suggestions that the binary biological model might not be so binary these days-just because two people have, say, XY chromosomes, does not mean that these chromosomes are genetically identical between individuals-the genes they carry can, and do, vary and so their actions and expressions of sex vary.

Ideally, what TERFs want to do with their language of “real womanhood” is create an exclusive club that trans women are left out of when they too suffer under the same patriarchal society that those who are born female do. Yes, they might not experience ALL the issues a person born with female genitalia do, but no two women’s life experiences are the same anyway. Trans women also have their own horrible experiences with the patriarchy, and are often victims of a specific kind of gendered violence that is purported by the idea of “real womanhood”. Don’t throw trans sisters under the bus because you’re angry about your experience as a woman on this planet-direct your anger at the fucking bus. Don’t claim that “many trans people regret their decision to transition” when the statistics overwhelmingly show that this is the EXACT FUCKING OPPOSITE of the truth (according to British charity organisation Mermaids, surgical regret is proportionately very low amongst gender affirmation outpatients and research suggesting otherwise has been broadly disproven) because you’ve spoken to a selective group of trans individuals probably handpicked by the TERFS you associate with to confirm their biases, and then have the nerve to claim that trans-activists live in echo chambers on top of that. Don’t use anecdotes and one-off incidences where “trans women” (I say trans women in quotation marks because we’re pretty much talking about a completely statistically insignificant group of perverted cis men who have, according to TERFs, somehow come to the conclusion that going through transition will make their already easy-to-get-away-with hobby of assaulting women even...easier to get away with?) have committed sexual crimes to demonise and paint as predatory group who are largely at risk and in 99.9% of situations, the ones being preyed on. It’s a point so disgusting that trans activists shouldn’t even have to respond to it, but the idea that an individual would go to the pains of legally changing their gender and potentially the hell of the harassment that trans people face, the multiple year long NHS waiting lists to see specialist doctors, just so that they can gain access to women only spaces is ridiculous. It’s worth noting here just how sinister you repeatedly bringing up this phantom threat of cis men becoming trans women in order to assault women in “women only” spaces is. The implication here is that they should use the toilet corresponding to the sex they were born as, right? Because it’s all about safety? Well, statistically speaking, far more trans women are abused whilst having to use men’s toilets than when they use women’s ones and the same goes for trans men, and yet you don’t mention it once. Your suggestion also puts people born female who identify as women but maybe do not dress or present in a typically feminine way at risk of being ostracised when THEY need to use the women’s bathroom. The idea that by ceasing to uphold values like yours we are putting women at risk is quite simply, unsubstantiated; the legislation to allow individuals to use the bathroom corresponding to whichever gender they legally identify as has been around since 2010 in the UK and yet we’ve yet to see the sudden spike in the number of women being assaulted in bathrooms you imply will exist if we create looser rules around gender identity and let people use whichever toilet they feel the need to. Similarly, in a study of US school districts, Media Matters found that 17 around the country with protections for trans people, which collectively cover more than 600,000 students, had no problems with harassment in bathrooms or locker rooms after implementing their policies. If cis men want to assault women, they will. They don’t need to pretend to be trans to do so. Don’t pretend to be speaking as a concerned ally of LGBTQ+ individuals when you’re ignoring the thoughts of the majority of individuals who come under that category.

(Just Some of the Trans Women Murdered for Being Trans Over the Last Couple of Years, L-R: Serena Valzquez, Riah Milton, Bee Love Slater, Naomi Hersi, Layla Pelaez, and Dominique Fells)

Trans women are not the threat here. Bigots like you are the threat. HOW DARE you use your platform to reinforce this rhetoric that gets trans people killed when there are so many much MUCH more important things going on right now. Two black trans women had been murdered just for being black trans women in the week you wrote your essay defending those initial tweets. This is an ongoing issue. As a cis woman, my opinion should read as sacred texts to you right, Joanne? Because I’ll say with my whole chest that I feel far more threatened by bigots like you who do not care for the harmful impact of their words than I do by trans women. I do not feel threatened by trans women AT ALL. And yeah, to me, unless they tell me otherwise that they like to go out their way to affirm their trans-ness (which I completely respect-it takes a lot of courage to be proud about your past in a world that condemns you for it), they’re just WOMEN like any other. Yes their experience of “womanhood” may be different to mine but no two individuals experiences are the same anyway and our gender related suffering has the same cause. As a rich, white, cis woman, it’s wild that you are painting yourself as the victim in this debate when trans people can face life in prison and in some places a death sentence for openly identifying with a gender different to their sex in a lot of countries. Nobody is saying that you can’t talk about cis women. Nobody is saying you can’t talk about lesbian issues either, though it’s a bit of a piss-take that you like to throw that whole trans women erase lesbian existence argument out there as a kind of trump card to say “look, I can’t be a transphobe, I’m an LGBTQ+ ally!”, an argument akin to the racist’s age old “I can’t be racist, I have black friends!”. You know from the responses you get to your transphobia that majority of the LGBTQ+ community are very much adamant that trans women are “real women” and that the same goes for trans men being “real men”, so don’t claim to speak for them. You cannot simultaneously care about LGBTQ+ rights and deny trans people their right to live as who they are, however veiled your sentiments around that may be. The whole gay rights movement of the 60s and 70s exist partially BECAUSE of black trans women such as Martha P Johnson if you didn’t know, and though it’s kinda common knowledge I’m doubting that you do because very little of what you tout is backed up by any kind of research. The articles you retweet, echoing the views of lesbians who also happen to be TERFs do not count-the idea that trans people existing simultaneously erases the existence of lesbians only applies to individuals such as yourself who don’t see trans women as women in the first place. That is the problem! Most people don’t have an issue with the fact that you may have a preference for certain genitalia, but I would argue that ignoring exceptional circumstances related to trauma or some other complex issue, relationships are supposed to be with the person as a whole, not their “organic” penis or vagina and it’s kind of insulting to anyone in a same sex relationship to reduce their bond to that.

Back to my point though, of course there are issues that cis women and lesbians face that need talking about, but trans people are affected by the same patriarchal system. You don’t need to go out of your way to mention that they’re not included in whichever given specific issue when there are also cis women who may not have experienced some of the things TERFs reference. You especially don’t need to act as if trans women are the reason we need to have these discussions in the first place. As I’ve said, as MANY women have said, repeatedly-they are NOT the threat here. It is disgusting to see someone I once had so much admiration for constantly punch down at a group that is already marginalised. It’s 2020, J.K, there’s so much info out there. YOU’RE A FULLY GROWN WOMAN. There’s no justification. We get it, you had a tomboy phase. You weren’t like “other girls”. You didn’t like living under a patriarchal system. So you think you understand the mindset of people who want to transition. You think you’re not doing anything wrong by helping to slow the advancement of trans rights because well, you turned out fine? But you clearly fundamentally misunderstand what being trans is. It’s not about your likes and dislikes and having issues with the experience of being a woman (god knows we all do but I doubt anyone truly thinks for one moment that being trans would be any easier), it’s about how you think and feel at your core. It’s such a complex issue, and all the majority of trans people are asking you to do is LISTEN to them. You may be determined to live in binaries, yet the bigger picture is always more complex and fluid and it’s ever-changing, so all we can do is keep an open mind and keep wanting to know more and gather more evidence. If you’re capable of the mental gymnastics required to retcon the piece of work you wrote in the 90s to make it seem as if you were “ahead of the diversity game”, to the extent that you are now claiming Voldermort’s snake has always actually been a Korean woman and see nothing wrong with that when paired with the fact that the only Asian character you originally included was called Cho Chang, then well…I’m sure you can put your ego aside and do the groundwork to understand what trans people are trying to tell you too. You inspired a lot of children and teenagers and even adults, and got them through some very difficult times, taught that the strength of one’s character matters far more than what anyone thinks of you. You claimed you wanted to stand up for the outcasts.

Well, stand up for the outcasts. Now’s a better time than any. And once again: TRANS WOMEN ARE WOMEN AND TRANS MEN ARE MEN. They shouldn’t have to hear anything else.

Lauren x

[DISCLAIMER: shitty collages are mine but the background is not, let me know if you are aware of the artist so I can credit!]

#transisbeautiful #trans pride #trans lives matter #blm #black lives matter #jk rowling #trans rights #gender identity #gender studies #trans women are women #politics #socialism #safe space #all are welcome

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iwanthermidnightz · 5 years ago

Video

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This is the level I want to see Taylor go to when it comes to politics. People forget that in 2010, Lady Gaga marched her ass to Portland and gave her infamous ‘Prime Rib Speech’ (full transcript here), in hopes of making an effort to repeal the unlawful ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ rule in the military. I was 16 at the time and seeing someone so fiercely stick up for the LGBTQ+ community like that made me feel seen. Please watch this... this is what we need. We need people with a huge platform to take a strong stand against any and all discrimination and do it relentlessly. I will never forget this speech. Read it below.

Good afternoon. Can you all hear me?

I wrote this speech, this address, myself, I've spent 48 hours trying to find the perfect thing to say. My address to you today is called "The Prime Rib of America."

I do, solemnly swear, or affirm, that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States, against all enemies foreign and domestic, and I will bear true faith and allegiance to do the same, and I will obey the orders of the president of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the uniform code of military justice, so help me God.

Unless, there's a gay soldier in my unit, sir.

That is the oath taken every day by service members of the Armed Forces when they enlist to serve their country. Equality is the prime rib of America, but because I'm gay, I don't get to enjoy the greatest cut of meat my country has to offer. There are amazing heroes here today, whose stories are more powerful that any story I could tell, any fight I've ever fought, and any song that I could tell. I'm here because they inspire me. I'm here because I believe in them. I'm here because "don't ask, don't tell" is wrong. ... It's unjust, and fundamentally, it is against all that we stand for as Americans.

The Pentagon and senators such as John McCain have cited that the military is a unique institution, they have cited that homosexuals serving openly cause disruption to unit cohesion and morale. So what this means is, that they're saying that straight soldiers feel uncomfortable around gay soldiers, and sometimes it causes tension, hostility and possible performance inadequacies for straight soldiers who are homophobic. And even though some studies have been done to show an overwhelming and remarkable lack of disruption to units with gay soldiers, I will, for a moment, entertain this debate. As I am less concerned with refuting the fact that, in the workplace, in any workplace, there are tensions, there is even more of a possibility to have tension when you're fighting for your life. But I'm more concerned that John McCain and other Republican senators are using homophobia as a defense in their argument. As the nexus of this law, openly gay soldiers affect unit cohesion, like it's OK to discriminate or discharge gay soldiers because we are homophobic, we are uncomfortable, and we do not agree with homosexuality, and I can't focus on the field of duty when I am fighting. "We have a problem with you." Wasn't that the defense of Matthew Shepard's murderers? When they left him to die on a fence in Laramie, they told the judge, 'Oh, Matthew's gay, and it made us uncomfortable, so we killed him.' 'Oh, he's gay, it makes me uncomfortable, send him home.' As a side note, both Matthew Shepard's killers have life sentences in prison, and laws have since been passed that homophobia cannot be used as defense anymore in hate crimes in our judicial system.

Doesn't it seem to be that "don't ask, don't tell" is backwards? Doesn't it seem to be that, based on the Constitution of the United States, that we're penalizing the wrong soldier? Doesn't it seem to you that we should send home the prejudiced, the straight soldier who hates the gay soldier, the straight soldier whose performance in the military is affected because he is homophobic, the straight soldier who has prejudice in his heart, in the space where the military asks him to hold our core American values, he instead holds and harbors hate, and he gets to stay and fight for our country? He gets the honor, but we gay soldiers, who harbor no hatred, no prejudice, no phobia, we're sent home? I am here today because I would like to propose a new law; a law that sends home the soldier that has the problem. Our new law is called "if you don't like it, go home." A law that discharges the soldier with the issue, the law that discharges the soldier with the real problem, the homophobic soldier that has the real negative effect on unit cohesion. A law that sends home the homophobe, a law that sends home the prejudiced. A law that doesn't prosecute the gay soldier who fights for equality with no problem, but prosecutes the straight soldier who fights against it. Or perhaps that was a bit spun. ... To be fair, it sends home the straight soldier who fights for some freedoms, for some equalities, but not for the equality of the gay. He is the one — or she is the one — under this new proposition who will be discharged for disrupting the military. If you are not committed to perform with excellence as a United States soldier because you don't believe in full equality, go home. If you are not honorable enough to fight without prejudice, go home. If you are not capable of keeping your oath to the Armed Forces to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic, and I will bear true faith and allegiance to do the same, unless there's a gay soldier in my unit, then go home.

Or, moreover, if you serve this country, is it acceptable to be a cafeteria American soldier? Can you choose some things from the Constitution to put on your plate, but not others? A buffet, perhaps. I'm not talking about citizens — we have a right to grieve, to protest, we have a right to this rally — but I'm talking about soldiers. Should the military be allowed to treat Constitutional rights like a cafeteria? In the military, is it acceptable to be a cafeteria American? What I mean to say is, should soldiers and the government be able to pick and choose what we are fighting for in the Constitution or who we are fighting for? I wasn't aware of this ambiguity in our Constitution. I thought the Constitution was ultimate. I thought equality was non-negotiable. And, let's say, if the government can pick and choose who they're fighting for, as exemplified in laws like "don't ask, don't tell," shouldn't we as Americans be made aware of this imbalance? Shouldn't it be made clear to the citizens of this country, before we go to war, shouldn't I be made aware ahead of time that some of us are just not included in that fight? "We're going to war for you and you and you and you, but not you, because you're gay." You can risk your life for this country, but in the end, you're not fighting for yourself; you're fighting for straight people. ... You are not included. You are not included when we say "equal." You are not even fully included when we say "freedom."

I'm here today in this park, in Maine, to say that, if the Senate and the president are not going to repeal this "don't ask, don't tell" policy, perhaps they should be more clear with us about who the military is fighting for, who our tax dollars are supporting and, ultimately, how much does the prime rib cost? Because I thought this was an "all you can eat" buffet. This equality stuff, I thought equality meant everyone. But apparently, for certain value meals, for certain civil rights, I have to pay extra, because I'm gay. I'm allowed to stand in a line next to other men and women, I'm allowed to get shot at and shoot a gun to protect myself and my nation, but when it's time to order my meal, when it's time to benefit from the freedoms of the Constitution that I protect and fight for, I have to pay extra. I shouldn't have to pay extra. I should have the ability, the opportunity, the right to enjoy the same rights — the same piece of meat — that my fellow soldiers, fellow straight soldiers, already have included in their Meal of Rights. It's prime rib, it's the same size, it's the same grade, the same cost, at wholesale cost, and it's in the Constitution.

My name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta. I am an American citizen, to the senate, to Americans, to Senator Olympia Snowe, Senator Susan Collins — both from Maine — and Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts. Equality is the prime rib of America. Equality is the prime rib of what we stand for as a nation. And I don't get to enjoy the greatest cut of meat that my country has to offer. Are you listening? Shouldn't everyone deserve the right to wear the same meat dress that I did? Repeal "don't ask, don't tell" or go home. Go home. Thank you.

#lady gaga #prime rib of america #lgbtq #equality

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dailyaudiobible · 4 years ago

Text

08/18/2020 DAB Transcript

Esther 1:1-3:15, 1 Corinthians 11:17-34, Psalms 35:17-28, Proverbs 21:19-20

Today is the 18th day of August welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I'm Brian it is joy and an honor to be here with you today around the Global Campfire taking the next step forward on our journey through the Bible this year. And yesterday we concluded the book of Nehemiah, which now brings us one of the great stories of the Bible, kind of an oasis. We’ve been through a lot in our lives like in this year presently is in the last months, but we’ve been through a lot in the Bible too. We’ve experienced just a lot of things including the complete disintegration of ancient Israel and the carrying away of these people into exile.

Introduction to the Book of Esther:

And, so, now we reach this story. It’s another story from exile for. In fact, this story couldn't have happened had they not been, had the children of Israel not been in exile. But this is a story where the Jewish people, there was a plot to completely annihilate them. And it's odd because this story is ancient, thousands of years old and yet there have been these kinds of plots throughout history, including the story of World War II and the extermination of the Jews. So, it's…it's on that kind of level that this plot is hatched in this book that we’re gonna read. And, so, that gives us a little kind of a backdrop at least to understand and this book is called Esther. And it's not a long book we’ll…we’ll read through this entire book in three days but it's full of drama. And it's the story of a Hebrew girl and her name is Hadassah and she's orphaned while she's in exile in Persia, which is where…where we…where we've been in the book of Nehemiah. We’ve been in Jerusalem, but Nehemiah was coming from Persia, from Persian king Artaxerxes. And, so, Hadassah was orphaned, and her cousin Mordecai takes her and embraces her like…like his daughter and they’re from the tribe of Benjamin. And exiled Hebrews often would localize their name or take on a localized name. And, so, Hadassah was given the name Esther and that translates to star or…or morning star in the Hebrew tradition. And as we’ll find out from this book, she is gorgeous, like stunningly beautiful and has a quiet character. And, so, when King Ahasuerus who is thought to be Xerxes wanted to find a replacement queen from the queen that he had banished whose name is Vashti. And we’ll get to that story. He ends up…he ended up choosing Esther, but she kept the fact that she was a Jew secret. And that proved providential because there's another person in Haman and this is the person who wants to annihilate, literally destroy the Jewish people. He was a descendent of King Agag Amalek and the Hebrews and the Amalekites, they were hostile to one another all the way back to….well…all the way back to Jacob and Esau and the prophet Samuel had executed king Agag, if you’ll remember, right, after King Saul defeated the Amalekites in battle. So, there is hatred here and it shows up in Haman's life and in his plot. And it becomes kind of “against all odds”, that kind of a story, kind of an “against all odds” sort of situation. And Esther, the book of Esther, is the basis for the festival of Purim for the Hebrew people, which is still observed and celebrated until this…this very day. So, the story itself, like if we just absorb the story itself, it's a beautiful encouraging story. But as we begin to look at some of the details of the story and apply them to our own lives we begin to see that there is stuff for our lives there, that everyone has an important role to play, that nobody knows that they're not here for such time as this. And such a time as this may be like saving an entire nation, but it also might be like saving your marriage or having the right thing to say at the right time. And, so, let's…let's dive in. We’re reading from the expanded Bible this week. Esther chapters 1, 2 and 3 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for bringing us into new territory today as we come into the book of Esther. And as we just kind of begin to get the backdrop of the story, we certainly invite You to lead and guide our thoughts and hearts as we contemplate what we've read. And as this story unfolds may we once again see what we have seen so many times in the Scriptures, against all odds when it seems like all is lost You rescue. And, so, we trust in You, we put our faith in You, and we love You and we worship You and we pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is the…it is the website, it is where the Global Campfire is in a community like ours. And, so, be sure to stay tuned and stay connected.

Check out the Community section, that's where the Prayer Wall is, that's where there are different links to get connected.

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Check out the Initiatives, that’s where some the things that are going on around here. So, yeah, stay connected as we continue this journey, day by day step-by-step. But we are so far into this year now that it should rhythm of our lives as we…as we continue this, but there's so much out in front of us and we need each other so much. And, so, let's stay connected.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. I thank you humbly and profoundly for your partnership. We wouldn't be here if we weren't in this together. It’s the beauty of community. And, so, I thank you. Thank you for your partnership. So, there's a link on the homepage. If using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address, if that is your preference, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement you can hit the Hotline button in the app, which is the little red button at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today, I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

My beloved DAB family I just want you, each and every one of you to know that I am praying for you and as you call in and you request prayer I’m always listening and praying for your needs. May the Lord bless you richly. I would like to answer Jesse from Washington state. He called in and asked for prayer for his employee, Yami, who witnessed a stabbing and he’s asking for divine protection for his family as well as the victim’s family. And Jesse I just want you to know that I am praying for you my brother and I am praying for your request. And I pray Psalm 91 and that’s the Psalm of divine protection upon this family I’m praying. And, so, God bless you my brother and keep calling…calling in. This is Angel from California.

Good morning everybody it’s Barb calling from Alberta Canada. I am just calling in again to ask for prayer for my kids but for all kids, I guess. My kids aren’t kids, they’re…they have kids of their own already of course but, you know, I just really see this struggle within them, this pulling away and I know that it’s an attack from the devil but they are being pulled away by questions and wrong thoughts I guess or…or wrong ideas and just so many things come against them, you know. And I feel like that I could have laid a better foundation when they were growing up and I am just so sorry about that, that I didn’t. And I often pray God just please don’t make them pay for my mistakes. But I also know that God is faithful and that He hears our prayers and I just feel like if I have this family praying for them too that there’s nothing that can come up against that. So, I really appreciate any help that you guys can give me on this.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family I’m about a five-year listener first-time caller and I’m calling to ask for your prayer for my sister Joanne who is suffering from a severe liver problem. She has not turned the corner toward recovery yet and she’s suffering greatly. And in addition, her husband also is currently being diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening problem. She has three grandsons, one of which can manage to keep his life going. The other two would…would need help. But anyways, I live 600 miles away so I’m here visiting to see everything that’s going on and…and try to help as much as I can. It’s a dire situation and I know that prayer works. So, I’m asking you to pray for Joanne and Bob and her sons and for God’s will to be done because He’s a good God and He’s a loving God and He will make all things new. I appreciate this community and it’s been really lifesaving for me and I ask and thank you all and I did want to mention I know there’s lots of healthcare…I’m a healthcare provider myself and I know there’s lots of them working hard for COVID patients, but there’s lots of other patients out there that need prayer. And, so, thank you all so much and God bless you.

Hi DAB family this is Truly Thankful Taylor from the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex. Val from Vegas today is August 15th so you may be calling in to give us an update. I just wanted to tell you that I am thinking about you my sister and praying for you and just be…stay strong and know that God is with you and that you’ve just been on my heart. And also Running Desperately to Jesus, I heard your call in again and I am praying for you. You have constantly been on my heart. I’m praying for your relationship with your grandson and everything going on but especially when you’re reaching out about your fleshly desires and your sinful desires to want to give into temptation. So, I want to pray for you now. I also want to encourage you to pour into God’s word, read it, let it wash over you. Even more, listen to our podcast here at the DAB over and over if you have to. Put worship music on and just soak in God’s presence. And then also James chapter 4, just really read on that and especially just submit yourself then to God, resist the devil he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you. Let me pray for you sister. Dear heavenly Father God we just come to You now. God, I pray for my sister Running Desperately to Jesus. I pray over her life Lord Jesus. I pray right now God that You would give her strength, give her endurance Lord to resist the enemy, that in Jesus name he has no authority, that her fleshly desires Lord would put to rest, that she would only long for You, that You would be desperate for You, needing You at every place and completely submerging herself in her relationship with You Lord Jesus. Put Your angels around her to protect her and keep her safe, keep her away from those thoughts, away from those desires and give her strength. We love You Jesus we thank You. We pray all this in Your name. Amen.

Hi, my name is Sonny I just wanted to call in to ask for prayer. My wife and I are missionaries in Italy and we’re currently in furlough. And during our furlough, my wife, we found out that she had cancer Hodgkin’s lymphoma, so we are dealing with that now. We’re currently staying in Florida right now. The…yeah…if you guys could just pray for us that we would continue to have wisdom on how to move forward, but also just deity in our marriage, that Satan and all demonic principalities would be kept at bay from our marriage, and…yeah…just for healing, that my wife Amanda would be healed. So, thank you. Thank you for this community. I listen to you guys…well…Brian I listen to you every day and it’s…it’s very encouraging. I thank God for your guys ministry and this community. Love you guys. Bye.

Hi, DABbers what’s going on? It’s Val in Vegas. I just wanted to say I love you guys. Keep rolling. Please don’t give up. Keep pushing forward. God’s got this.

I want to thank you father for all that you’ve done the gift of your word your spirit your son for still waters green pastures and restoring my soul and for giving me this opportunity to gracefully grow old and even though giants still inhabit the land you’ve made room for me __ and allowed me to stand and even though I’m completely surrounded by terror I’m also at peace in spite of all error you’ve stretched out my tent cords and smoothed out the riffs enlarged my territory and showered me with gifts I want to thank you father for all that you do and for giving me this opportunity to live life anew

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I’d like to give a shout out to Michelle Cole from Los Angeles, know that you are thought of often and prayed for daily. And also wanna you know that I recently read the article that was done on you in the New York Times about the wonderful work you do on the blackish show. I pray that this year will be the year where you will receive final receive the worldwide…worldwide recognition that you deserve for the many fine shows that you costume work on especially blackish. And once again Brian and the Hardin family thank you for this wonderful podcast for God’s Holy Spirit to flow. Keep it flowin’ y’all. All right bye-bye.

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