#a lot of people might disagree with me but like

[procrastiel]

You just proved my point. I never once said I agree with the Republicans, or that Trump “isn’t that bad”. Listening to someone with an open mind doesn’t mean you accept or excuse their behaviors. You can still arrive at the conclusion that they’re full of shit. What I’m saying is this: I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will fight for your right to say it. And that goes for you as well as Trump, even if I don’t like it. It’s not about me, it’s about respect, and free speech.

You can’t expect a fascist to accept you if you aren’t willing to accept their right to say whatever the fuck they want to say. Does that mean you shouldn’t fight for your rights? Absolutely not, quite the opposite! You should stand for what you believe in! Just like I stand for what I believe in. But turning people from “the other side” into monsters is a horrible idea. All nazis were humans, and if you understand that all humans have the capacity to do evil, then it will be a lot easier for you to spot the red flags.

Also, it is possible for people to change. Someone can go from conservative to democrat. And someone can move from a liberal perspective to a radicalized mindset. People’s opinions aren’t set in stone.

Listening to someone who hates you is never easy. I have experienced that, I know. But you still live on a planet with Trump et al. at the end of the day. If you’re saying that being civil is the wrong approach, then what would you suggest instead? Kill Trump? Stop talking to someone as soon as they mention a conservative or uneducated opinion like “I don’t see how a man can become a woman”? I see that as an opportunity for dialogue.

If someone was to kill Trump now, don’t you think that another guy will take his place immediately, and spew the same crap, like a hydra?

It sounds like you’re at the point where you think violence is the only answer, because the Republican agenda is aggressive. I agree that you have to meet a force with the same force. But I disagree with closing yourself off to other people’s opinions, just because they go against yours. That is the one of the first steps of fascism, as others have pointed out above.

Reading the beginning of the thread again, if it’s true that “art should be wholesome” is a sign of fascism, then so would be statements like “anyone can be trans even without transitioning” if you put yourself into the shoes of a conservative thinking person. The question is: what do you want to focus on? Do you want to focus on hating x group of people for their x beliefs or do you want to dismantle the premise of hate in general?

Hate begets hate. They hate you. If you hate them back, do you think they’ll stop hating you, or do you think they will hate you even more? I assume you can see how easily this way of thinking can lead to a war.

Also, listening to someone’s concerns underneath the hate they spew is important if you really want to make a difference. I absolutely respect your opinion, even if you are being rude about it.

There’s a great video that might help illustrate my point a bit better, but it’s 2 1/2h long. If you don’t have the time, it’s about a black man, Daryl Davis, who befriended a KKK member. And in the end? The white man left the KKK. But Daryl had to endure some intensely disrespectful behavior to get to that point.

And I’m afraid not a lot of people have the strength of character it takes to do that, and thus affect real change.

Compromise means that no one will be entirely satisfied, but also no one will be entirely left out.

it's true and you should say it.

[transfemme-shelterdog]

transandrophobia experience + a generally interesting observation. was in a friendgroup of almost entirely cis people. there were two trans people, a transmasc (me) and a transfem. when they started parroting talking points about transmen having Male Privilege and masculinity being evil and yadda yadda you know the drill, theyd always defend it by saying "well the transfem in our friendgroup agrees with us, so its progressive and youre talking over her if you disagree." the whole experience was fascinating because these cis people already had shitty opinions about transmen. they already wanted me to shut up, so they told me i was damaging my own community. they just wanted an excuse to sound progressive while saying it. it should also be noted that the main reason we were all friends was because we were the only queer people in a ruralish community. with the worry of being outed without any support, how the hell were me or the transfem supposed to disagree? while being queer was absolutely not a positive for the cis people, they were more capable of hiding it which led to them having other friends. dropping 1 or 2 people from the group wasnt a big deal to them. me and that other transperson were visibly trans, this was the only friendgroup in that area that we were semi safe in. im not happy she said transandrophobic shit to me, but she was also a victim in having to go along with it for safety. what she said and did gave her no privilege or advantages over me, it just temporarily put her in the good graces of the cis people championing this stuff in our conversations.

writing this cause i feel its important to note that transandrophobia is a largely cis thing. its absolutely important to address intracommunity shit, but we need to be clear of where the source of a lot of this BS comes from. people might want to go along with it because it feels like itll protect them, but transphobia will not stop because youre One Of The Good Ones.

.

[starlightwayfinder]

You know, your post saying Ven can’t wrap his head around why people would use the darkness is getting me thinking again about its nature and place in the setting. I hope it doesn’t end up being as evil as the narrative makes it out to be.

This is a super interesting ask, and I think to answer it honestly—I have to disagree a little, but I also do agree? Let me explain my thoughts.

Personally, I do think the narrative works best when “light” and “darkness” are literally interpreted as good and evil, creation and destruction, love and hatred, etc. The thing is, KH is clever and has made a point to specify that *true* light and darkness are a little different from what people might initially assume to be good and evil. 

Of all the games, KHDR looks most deeply into what actually defines darkness. The best example off the top of my head is when they’re comparing the residents of Wonderland. Even though they all seem to harbor a negative emotion of ‘fear’, only the Queen manifests it as darkness in her heart. The difference being that she harms and executes others to maintain her power. We see how she is consumed by ire and lashes out at everyone. Xehanort argues that maybe her darkness is necessary to maintain order… but it’s not a good kind of order to make people live in fear, is it?

Conversely, what defines light? Some ‘light’ sided characters like Eraqus go around seeking to obliterate the darkness out of a hatred for it. (He justifies this by mentally separating darkness from people, but khdr confirmed that hearts and darkness are basically entangled in the modern era.) This sort of behavior doesn’t align with ‘true’ light though, as harming others is still what defines darkness. Of course, there are situations where fighting is required to protect people from harm—but even then, it’s not ideal to have to hurt anyone. When people have been hurt, it can be accepted and transformed into light / something ‘good’, or it can continue to manifest as darkness and become something cyclical that hurts others too.

The best understanding of light in KH is found in actions that stem from a desire to help and heal others. Take Kairi helping Sora come back from being a Heartless, for example. Even though he had fallen to darkness, she revived him with the power of her faith and love. Sora himself says that ‘deep down there’s a light that never goes out’ in every heart, and that ‘Kingdom Hearts is light’. This makes logical sense to me, if life and light are the same, you can’t be alive without light. And if that light never really goes out, neither does a person’s life. Hence why the heart is ‘never really gone’.

A lot of what KH asks comes down to—“what is a perfect world?” In the lore and fairytales of the series, light was a freely given gift from Kingdom Hearts—presumably in the form of hearts. What gave way to darkness was people attempting to selfishly claim that light for themselves and take it from others. This turns the world from order to chaos, and Kingdom Hearts disappears. Until it can truly return, there will still be darkness and suffering in the now-divided worlds. Coexistence and peace would be the ideal world order, but the conflict between light and darkness prevents it. Note that the real conflict between light and darkness is “darkness tries to possess light”, not “they both try to destroy each other”. I don’t think that true light, the kind that has ‘more than meets the eye’, is out to destroy darkness so much as to return it to light.

We don’t know everything about the True Darknesses yet, but Khux implies that they cast away their forms to conquer light, only to realize that their will would be lost without  bodies. This is why they seek to ‘infect’ people’s hearts and stay alive through expansion, claiming more worlds and lights along the way. The Master of Masters claims they are entirely different from people, and yet we see Vanitas gain a heart—which by my logic before, wouldn’t even be alive without possessing at least some light, right? 

So to answer your question, I do think darkness is “evil”, but only in the sense of being an absence or willful rejection of goodness / light. I think there’s a real chance the KH ending will be one of reconciliation and restoration. It would be pretty wonderful to see all of the true darknesses get their own forms and hearts again, especially if that puts an end to the conflict once and for all. Darkness isn’t completely bad to the extent of being irredeemable, but it is completely bad in that—on its own—it only causes an endless cycle of cruelty and pain to be inflicted on people. Just like you can’t fight fire with fire, you can’t fight darkness with darkness; light is the key necessary to make things right again. 

So to explain my headcanon about Ven, we have to get into his mind as a pure-hearted person. He’s selfless and aims to share light rather than possess it for himself (or fight over it with others.) That’s how the ideal world is supposed to work, and it benefits everyone. So he doesn’t see the logic in hurting others to benefit only yourself. That will just make people hate you, right? Where’s the harmony in that?  He values friendship above all else, so that’s why he can’t wrap his mind around people valuing other things (power) more and justifying harming others to gain them. That’s why ‘his friends are his power’. Because if you have the light of friendship, you don’t need to take power from others or use the power of darkness to feel fulfilled.

Thanks for the ask!! I hope this explanation makes sense 😅

[randomfoggytiger]

Dear Tiger, I have always recommended your blog to many people who are interested in the X-Files. My recommendation goes something like this: “Brilliant analysis, well-founded opinions, without unnecessary judgments about the actors' private lives. But beware! The blog is very fond of David and can't be impartial. It's not hostile, but, even unconsciously, it minimizes Scully's importance and Gillian's talent, to the detriment of Mulder and Duchovny. Imagine the blog as if it were a proud mother talking about a beloved child, extolling (and greatly exaggerating) their qualities, and ignoring their flaws. In conclusion, if you allow for this fierce protection of David, it's one of the best - if not the best - blog about the X-Files.” When I read his analysis of the questions posed by Anon, I couldn't help but smile and remember this recommendation of mine. Duchovny is lucky to have such loyal and positive fans, who get to see the best version of him, always. An excellent 2025 to you Tiger, I'll always keep coming back and recommending your blog.🥰🥰 PS: On this particular topic, I think about 85% of your analysis is correct - but there's about 15% that I disagree with, I think it's more of a speculation/interpretation favorable to Duchovny, than exactly the reality.

I was reading this feeling all fuzzy before I got to the "impossible to be impartial" bit. XDDDD

Ah, well. Do I come across as partial? o.o Hm, I can tone down my language in future if needed-- don't mean to come across as if I hero worship (or mentally coddle) DD. His personal life isn't intertwined with mine, for one; and he's also a man who behaved selfishly, made terrible mistakes, and didn't learn gratitude until AA. He's probably still selfish because all humans are; but he's also made personal changes, has grown a lot, and continues to prove-- via his work and actions and interests and mindset-- that he isn't regressing. I give him the charitability I hand to any other person I deem 'good' and 'doing their best'. Ultimately, I just get super happy for others who are trying and are succeeding or are on the path to their own version of success. :DDDDDD

I will say, you do raise a point I've been mulling over: I don't talk about Gillian as much as I do David solely because I haven't found a blog that gives me all her work/projects/interviews/etc. up front. Though I will stipulate that I don't see the sense in taking his side over hers-- there aren't sides in their relationship to me. And I'm fond of her, too! :))))))) She did incredible work on The X-Files, and incredible work afterwards. And she powered through the 90s as a divorced, single mom with mental health struggles, which is worthy of an award. Again, I simply have less easy access to her work. I do heavily disagree that I minimize GA's importance and talent, unconsciously or not: she's part of a team; and she carried the show on her back in David's absence. That more than wins her a medal of honor. Moreover, Scully is irrefutably a woman so forward-moving and inspiring in her own right that the Scully Effect was created in her honor. (She also inspired me to take better care of my nails. Her manicures are spectacular.) You can't have the show without her.

Now that I've got my comments out of the way, thank you so, so much for dropping in to let me know your thoughts! Your words were (and are) so kind; and the knowledge that you spread my work to others, and that they might enjoy it, too, is... it's wonderful. And if you have to buffer my blog ahead of time however you need, go ahead. As long as others know what they're getting into, I suppose. XDDDD It really does mean the world. We all have days where we wonder if we're just shouting into a void; and some days the void is wider and darker than others. But knowing that you and others think my meta is worthwhile... it puts a lot into perspective. And being described how you've described me is.. thank you. So, you know what? I'll wear "loyal and positive fan" with pride, even if you punch on "Impartial"-- it's how you honestly see me; and I'm not at all offended about that. Now that I've thought about it, I'm downright amused.

Lastly, disagreement is always welcome! If you want to share, I'd be curious to know what the particulars are-- it keeps me on my toes by forcing me to double check my own opinions. >:DDDDD

I'll definitely be rereading this ask in future when the void gets bothersome. Thank you, thank you!

[beanghostprincess]

A bit tired of people complaining about Sanji's principle of "not hitting women" being misogynistic when it has been clearly stated multiple times that he does not choose it and it's heavily tied to his trauma and admiration for his dad and respect for women and definitely not from seeing women as somehow weaker than him

[medicinemane]

Sometimes I feel like I'm going crazy

You have... very very very very very very very very smart people you know, and they're say something that not only isn't true, but literally is as opposite of the truth as it's possible to be... and you'll... gently inform them "hey, it's actually a bit more like this" and then they just kinda... go on saying literally the exact same thing

I'm not sure if it's just that... I often feel like I must be very bad at communicating, or people must just not notice/ignore a lot of what I say, but... I don't know

Like dearest friend, you've said something as absurd as... I don't know, it's hard to say without saying it, but honest to god about as absurd as saying the United States was a part of the USSR, that level of completely getting it backwards

...and it just doesn't seem to matter when I try to explain it... I legit don't even know if you read what I said

Really end up feeling like I'm going nuts sometimes

[ostermad-blog]

There's a lot of stuff in this post that is ADL apologia at best and pernicious at worst.

When OP writes "a good portion of the left has been trying it’s hardest to discredit the ADL and alienate American Jews for the last few decades, and the rest of the left just kinda went with it," they elide who they're talking about (the Left is hardly a monolith), and they omit why anyone might have reasons to distrust or disdain the ADL.

See how OP sets "the left" and "American Jews" as opposites? And how they rhetorically link criticizing the ADL with the "alienation" of all American Jews? They've erased leftist Jews (like me) from consideration entirely, and neglected to mention the existence of Jewish criticism of the ADL. Here's a post by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg on the ADL's response to Musk's Hitler salute: "Attempting to find safety and power in whiteness is hard work, okay?! Those pretzels don't contort themselves!!"

So, OP, who proudly proclaims their support of the state of Israel, has attempted to set the Left and Jews as enemies, linked criticism of the ADL with schemes against the Jewish people, and erased both leftist Jews and Jewish critics of the ADL. That's... not a good look.

OP claims the reason the ADL has refused to acknowledge Musk's Hitler salute as a Hitler salute is because it's 'not safe' for them to do so. I disagree. Plenty of other Jewish institutions have named and criticized Musk's behavior. Here's a piece by the Yiddish Forward discussing the incident that observes that the ADL's statement is out-of-step with other Jewish advocacy organizations as well as the organization's former director.

So, why might the ADL want to decline recognizing Musk's Nazi salute?

If the fear of reprisal was so strong, I'd expect to see other prominent Jewish advocacy organizations failing to respond to Musk's salute and not criticizing the ADL's response. We see this is not the case in the Yiddish Forward article. This argument does not hold water.

The author of the above article proposes that: "perhaps the most generous read is to imagine that, in a time in which antisemitism seems likely to spike, the ADL wants to make sure that the accusation is not sapped of its power by overuse."

This is a weak argument. Antisemitism seems likely to spike? Musk just gave a Hitler salute! Failing to name Nazi behavior only enables further Nazi behavior - we've all read the tumblr post about how a bar becomes a Nazi bar.

Prev argues that the ADL offering Musk deniability for the Hitler salute will let the ADL "extract concessions from him in a meeting." I find that ridiculous. If I'm supposed to be watching out for bullying on the playground, and I see some bullying go down, giving deniability to the bully in no way gives me leverage over them. On the contrary, I've shown the bully that they have power over me, that I will enable them. This whole argument is cope.

So, what other reasons might the ADL have?

Here is my supposition: the ADL has been a steadfast supporter of the state of Israel. And they have consistently labeled anti-Zionist protests as antisemitic, even when these protests feature Jewish speakers and have Jewish attendees. We've had ample opportunities to see them do this since the genocide began in October 2023.

So, who else supports the state of Israel?

Our incoming president and the Republican party.

Here's his pick for new UN ambassador agreeing that Israel has a "Biblical right to the entire West Bank." I'm not even going to begin to unpack how fucked up that is.

The ADL's statement on Musk's salute is a capitulation to the new Presidential administration: we'll look the other way. It is a gesture of compliance.

The ADL's statement is what "obeying in advance" looks like.

The ADL tweet about Elon Musk begins with the words “this is a delicate moment.”

To any goyim reading this- understand that is a literal cry for help. The ADL is telling all of us that they are walking on eggshells here.

Do not take the rest of their tweet at face value- take it in the context the ADL is giving you. The are fully aware of the problem of right wing antisemitism, but they do not believe they can call out Elon Musk without making things worse for themselves and for all American Jews. This is in part because a good portion of the left has been trying it’s hardest to discredit the ADL and alienate American Jews for the last few decades, and the rest of the left just kinda went with it.

They are telling us straight up- we are doing our best while stuck between a rock and a hard place.

[bicraigmanning]

the lightwood siblings are literally like. "what if three siblings who genuinely love and would die for each other lash out with the cruelest thing they can think to say when hurt because none of them ever learned proper emotional regulation or communication skills" and that's SO real of them. tbh.

(notably they're all pretty good at/about apologizing when it's called for)

[remma-demma]

Truly fucking insane to me how even some trans people have drunk the gender essentialist koolaid and think that trans men are like, inherently arms of the patriarchy and oppressors. Just like believing all cis men are each, individually responsible for patriarchy. Isn’t the point of feminism that the system and people’s unconscious upholding of the system are the thing to be criticizing?? Gender essentialism is still gender essentialism even if you do it to trans people.

I don’t know why people don’t understand that treating any group as a monolith whose experiences are all the same is like. Bad and harmful. Trans men are men but they are not cis men. Many of us have experienced girl / womanhood enforced on us by society and deeply understand the struggle. I don’t see why it’s harmful to acknowledge the fact that trans men experience misogyny!!!! Lots of trans men haven’t or won’t transition! I promise you even if we are men, see ourselves as men, the vast majority of society will not.

I really hate infighting and “calling out” whole sections of the community, and I guarantee I’m not talking about 90% of trans women who are normal but that other 10% act like trans men have betrayed women by “choosing to be men”. Isn’t that like, 1) literally gc / terf logic and 2) implying that trans people just up and choose their gender one day (not saying that some don’t but like. Being trans is a deeply personal thing that’s often not a choice.)

This is thinking that makes trans men guilty to be trans men. We’re used to hearing it from radfems but to hear it from people who are supposed to be our allies??? From people who we have something so deeply in common with? It fucking sucks!!!

[tombware]

seeing like a mini debate about ast*rion vs daer*n ar*ndae in regards of quality and i might be specifically seeing only one sides opinion because. i do not think Mr. D is more compelling. ultimately i think theyre quite different as well so idfk

[starfox017]

So I have a lot of headcannons about Scar, and this totally checks out. Also, I am talking about Scar, the character Scar, this is not me saying anything about the CC himself. I am Neurodivergent. I am autistic and I have ADHD. I definetly see many autistic and neurodivergent traits in Scar (part of the reason why I relate to him so much). So him being Aro just checks out in my brain because one autistic trait (that even I have experienced heavily) is not being able to distinguish between platonic and romantic love, and not just in the case that you're unsure if a relationship you have with someone is romantic or platonic, but also you're actions may be platonic in your head, but other people could see it as heavily romantic

Scar probably thought of Grian as just a very good friend but in autistic brains the line between very good friend and partner can be extremely blurred (like, extremely blurred, it's crazy, sometimes it's even the same line) and i think this explain a lot of Scar's behavior, becuase he does behave very friendly with a lot of people, but maybe not as friendly as he does with Grian, but it might not be to the level of flirting idk, it all makes sense in my brain, I hope this makes sense to you guys, and feel free to agree or disagree with me, or provide your own theories.

I'll say it-

Scar being incredibly uninterested in finding his soulmate at all is aro coded

[oveliagirlhaditright]

I forgot to mention that I saw the trailer for the new the The Hunger Games movie when I went and saw Blue Beetle (the prequel, you know?) and it does look really good (even though at first I was unsure about it). I'm probably for sure going to see it when it comes out. Though this will be the first time that I haven't read the book first... unless I do end up reading the book between now and then.

[snekdood]

Was tlaking to my bf about my issues w tumblr and he was like "yeah, ever since they got rid of porn neo nazis have been trying to take over the site" and i think that just makes everything make so much more sense on here. The puritanism, the division, the intentional misunderstanding, the fact ppl act like kiwi farmers and fucking. Record people they dont likes every fuckin action. Ppl making excuses for some of the most fucked up behavior. The fact i feel like i cant post my art lest i be hella judged for being #problematic in a way i dont know or understand, the fact ppl are so quick to call people problematic and dismiss them, the way people call you a "lib" like a conservative would and especially for things like idk. Not wanting to kill people. The fact we've somehow normalized saying "kys" to eachother, the fact everyones so fucking paranoid on here about eachother. Like Idk if i feel like i can call this a progressive site anymore or if i can even call it leftist when ppl are like speedrunning trying to prove horseshoe theory true and its like. Are they even real leftists? Probably some of them are or were and get swept up in bs secret neo nazis post. And its not like this is entirely new, neo nazis have been trying to manipulate people since forever on here. I just wish people could recognize when their morals have been compromised by a jackass whos good at wording things a certain way. Im starting to feel like the only way to interact w this site is to reblog pretty pictures and go.

[welpnotagain]

I wrote out like two quite long posts. Anyway it boils down to:

If you post something online, especially a subjective opinion, you are opening yourself up to be disagreed with. This is to be expected. You are not alone on the internet and it is not reasonable to act like you are receiving hate and/or are "being cancelled" simply because people are disagreeing with you. If you think your opinion is entitled to stay entirely unopposed you probably shouldn't post it.

[the0ther-side0f-dawn]

should i just become a Phan trash blog??

[starlit-mansion]

i still keep getting recommended posts about the james somerton debacle (unsurprising) and i swear to god, at this point i've spent more time trying to remember what my reaction was to watching his yoi video a while back while half-sleep deprived or smth than i a) spent watching the video and b) spent thinking about any other creator i watched one mid video from and ignored after