#also the double standards are crazy in this discourse

[idiosyncraticrednebula]

Me when I see any discourse that has to do with the "battle of the sexes":

[ggukkieisintominnie]

This will get me into shit BUT WHATEVER 🙄

I find it funny that ARMYs can sit and Kiki about Namjoon's "toxic male ex" but turn around to call Jimin and Jungkook brothers and us who support them delusional. Like the fuck...

Here is this ARMY doing what we "Jokers" are dubbed to do which is speculating Jimin and Jungkook's relationship being more than platonic. However while we get comments about being jokes and crazy...

... They get this as response. The double standards in this fandom I can't 🙄. Like not only that but the engagement is crazy as well for something that has no valuable prove whatsoever.

Here is another tagging the ex who apparently is known as "emoji guy".

Oh my... sharing or wearing the same shirt allows for ARMYs to conclude that Namjoon is indeed in a gay relationship so why is it when we do the same for Jimin and Jungkook; we are considered delusional.

Jikook has done more than just sharing the same shirt. Jimin went to bed in Jungkook's sweater which the other wore the whole day while carrying out his schedules for the day. But they are the ones boxed as brothers.

ARMYs are insufferable. They legit chose which members in the band are allowed to be suspected as Queer and who are not. Suspecting Jimin and Jungkook to be Queer in this fandom means you have to be skinned alive but hey Namjoon bi king, go off tongue technology Min Yoongi and bisexual icon Jung Hoseok I guess.

It a shame really especially for someone who has showed so much of their identity like Park Jimin to be shunned to heterosexuality because the fandom has such a mindset. Or just because accepting Jimin for anything but straight acknowledges that Jimin's relationship to Jungkook can actually be more than just platonic. Everything Jimin has done from ID: Chaos to Face means nothing to ARMY because they rather sit down and fascinate over the girl in the like crazy MV and the she/her lyrics to songs he has no writing credits on.

ARMYs will never change. It too late to change their backwards views but atleast they should not show up in Jikook spaces and spam with "they are brothers." "I do this with my sibling." comments. Are You Sure wasn't catered for the likes of those who will watch Jimin and Jungkook's relationship and just immediately cast them aside as platonic brothers without seeing and comprehending the beautiful bond they have. And hyping those who are claiming the travel vlog as shippers content.

No they do not have to believe that Jimin and Jungkook are in a love relationship but they also don't have the right to label their relationship as brothers because apparently ARMYs have proclaimed themselves as "who can be queer" police. ARMYs should watch Are You Sure and leave it at that if they don't have anything other than a stupid or an incestuous comment on it.

Like how is Jungkook slapping Jimin's booty something you do with your sibling? How is Jungkook's intense gaze on Jimin's sleeping form reminding you of how your father looks at you when you sleep? How the fuck are those takes normal?

This discourse can go on longer on how they are obsessed with the "rapper girlfriend" trope when it comes to Jungkook's relationship with Namjoon but I decided not to. But the truth of the matter is... ARMYs are annoying. If you are a Taekook, Namjin, Vmin or a Yoonmin shipper you deserve flowers and praise on your comment section but if you are a Jikooker you deserve a spam of "You are delusional" type of comments on your post.

I'm glad Jikook scares them so much. It feeds my soul. And it makes me believe in them so much more. Because Jimin and Jungkook even got "Queer ARMYs" hating on them. Like if they hate is coming from inside the house.... you better believe that shit is good.

Anyway 2moro's we officially hold a funeral to Are You Sure 😭😭😭😭 peace ✌

[donteverblameash]

Talking about the Dream discourse of the week because Idk I feel like I have to talk about this even though I probably don't cause I'm a fan of him. I want to start this off with, while I have many of the symptoms for autism and adhd I have yet to be properly diagnosed with either, also I'm a teenager on the internet so do with that what you will. This is also not a place to bring up old drama, allegations, etc, especially since the ones both you and I are thinking about have been resolved.

Ranting under the cut.

So, first off, I understand how Dream's actions hurt people, even people in his own community, as a lot of them are neurodivergent, like Dream himself who DOES have diagnosed autism and adhd. That word has been used to hurt for literal years and can make people very uncomfortable, and I see why. But at the same time (because nuance does exist), I understand why Dream is mad. At Tommy in particular, Tommy literally is making cash off of Dream and has been doing it for years. It's like for Tommy and his friends, Dream is a way to line their pockets (Not really speaking of people like Ranboo and Tubbo. Ranboo would't have even been involved in this if he did not reply and Tubbo hasn't said anything) when content is dry and rent is due because Dream is easy to hate on and make fun of simply because he's Dream. Like I said, Tommy has been doing this back since the days of the DSMP. Which really makes me wonder why he hasn't removed the videos with Dream in him and with his name in the title if he's so horrible. But besides that, Tommy is quick to throw allegations and shit on Dream and Tommy's fans (Admittly like Dream fans) are quick to back him up, so I get why he's mad and used a word that hurt. He wanted to cut deep and show his anger, but that's doesn't excuse the use of the word if you hear what I'm saying. This could have been handled in a much more mature way. Most things in the DSMP community can he handled more maturely by all parties.

Something I don't understand is Tommy's friends jumping into comment on it when it wasn't directed towards them and isn't their concern. I understand wanting to defend your friend but when people (I'm talking about Jack Manifold) can hardly go a month without mentioning Dream it just makes them seem desperate and instead of seeing a situation where people, people including your friend who this was targeted at, got hurt, you see this as dollar signs. And I think Tommy sees it that way too on the account of the TikTok he made talking about it.

And I would also like to talk about the double standards present. Tommy's and his friends fans are quick to act offended when Dream said this but we're just as quick to pat Cantu/Gumball on the back when he was calling Dream slurs very much like in a way Dream did (With the intention to hurt or cause uproar, stuff like that. For people who don't know, Cantu called Dream the F slur, a slur Cantu can reclaim and people were making edits of him making fun of Dream and him saying the slur back when this happened and patting him on the back, these people were DSMP content creator fans who weren't fans of Dream mostly. Even people who weren't fans were applauding Cantu.)

And what both men did was bad, but why is it okay for him to do it? Because it's Dream and people don't like him. They both should be held accountable regardless.

It's just crazy, this endless cycle of "DREAM BAD BECAUSE DREAM" I don't think people like that are actually upset at what Dream did and how he harmed people I think they're just looking for another reason not to like Dream because they don't like Dream

Anyways, try not to say mean mean slurs to people, the point of reclaiming is to take back the power not give yourself power to hurt another person in the same minority as you

I'm probably gonna keep on watching Dream. Message to Tommy fans: You guys kinda do need to grow up. Tommy isn't a child anymore, and a lot of you guys aren't that young either. It's time to lose that DSMP way of thinking that Tommy is this helpless child and Dream is the manipulating villain in his story. I'm not saying all of you are like that. I'm just saying that from the interactions me and my friends have been having, there is a pattern of behavior. Also remember that these are all rich Minecraft youtubers that don't really care as much as you think they do

Message to Dream fans: Hold him accountable for his grown adult actions like we should do for every grown adult on the internet.

Rest up, have a good day/night :)

[velvetvexations]

anon really went Ah a trans woman who isnt skinny or hairless or feminine and doesnt want to be (thing that can also be true for cis women) clearly this must be a man. anyway (horny voice) wow you are a foot taller than me

I sure am~!

I don't know if it's your blog aesthetics or your kinks or your outspoken opinions on trans rights that gets me the most but i have a huge crush on you for all of the above

I'm a gift.

The way some of the trfs you reblog talk about "tmes" just sounds so much like the way a lot of incels I've seen talk about women, and it still makes me double take sometimes. I don't have an eloquent explanation of how exactly, but the vibe is just so similar to what I saw as an edgy teen on 4chan and it's so weird to see in places that claim to be "progressive"

lotta resentment

MALL ANON HAS A TUMBLR NOW??? we got side-characters fuck yes

an ever expanding cast

came for the trf takedowns and stayed for the neato aesthetic posts hope youre havin a lovely day miss velvet

thank you!

I’m so sick of people on this website taking every opportunity they get to accuse trans men who are just talking about their oppression of being 1. A violent misogynist 2. Not even trans 3. A straight up rapist or abuser. I’m actually so exhausted.

I know anon, and I'm so, so sorry. It's tiring. Take breaks as often as you can.

TRFs saying they need to post discourse and be rancid shit because theyre doing it for "the transfems who cant" (ex, trans women of color & sex workers) sounds INCREDIBLY similar to TERFs saying they need to Post Discourse and Be Rancid because "women in third world countries cant"

it sure is

Maybe i just misread it wrong but why was that one anon implying its bad for transmen to make “trans ppl should be having crazy t4t sex?” Jokes. Is there anything actually wrong about that joke?

I think you mean person I reblogged? They were saying it was sexual harassment lmao.

I feel like a lot of confusion about terfs and radfeminism is simply because a ton of self identified terfs arent radfems but are ppl whos politics abt men arent as intense (like dog standard gender essentialism) but for a lack of a better term coopt the terf concepts around transphobia.

That's certainly true, the term is becoming rapidly diluted not just from people who call all transphobes TERFs but all transphobes calling themselves TERFs. We're still not to where radical feminism is not at the core of it, though.

Some very weird trans people in the dropout tag are complaining about how dungeons and drag queens "makes them uncomfortable" PLEASE explain to me how this is literally any different from conservatives whose reaction to drag is "icky!!! Gross!" Like??? Do they think its progressive to shit on drag queens? Do they think this is ok because they happen to be trans? They sound like Republicans!

well see transfems who do drag aren't real transfems because something something

thoughts on this applying to transfem TRFs?

Blocked so I have no clue what this says.

Re: wounded gazelle. I don't even think it's always that and on purpose. Sometimes it very very blatantly IS. But other times people feel (understandably!) hurt by the backlash they are receiving and instead of thinking "This feels shitty... but could I possibly be in the wrong?" they think "I'm being attacked! This means I am a victim and therefore correct!" genuinely and through lack of self awareness rather than planned malice. Not always easy to tell the difference though!

They are very stupid and egotistical, that is true yes.

[fukaimetsu]

I'm sure im not the only crazy enough who think this recent wave of online discourse on twitter of ''why do lesbian likes yaoi or become fujoshi?" are just repackaged Gold Star Lesbian right.....

like, this discourse is always framed with statements like, ''I'm genuinely asking, why do lesbians become fujoshi? Girl, what are you getting out of watching 2 men having homosexual sex?'' and then it veers into Gold Star lesbian rhetoric or polilez Kool-Aid, attempting to ''question'' lesbian fujoshi sexuality and whether they are 'true lesbians' or 'not lesbian enough.' This is often justified with the excuse that they are ''centering their sexuality or interests around men'' (wtf?)

It just frustrating to me, like why do people always putting women on higher standard & especially lesbian women always feels the need to ''prove'' themselves to be true lesbian and such. this is no different than usual biphobic rhetoric that bisexual women are just ''faking it'' or doing it for ''trends'' , full stop.

Like, do you guys also do this to gay men who like yuri or female pop stars? Do you also question this gay men sexuality or his gayness just because he obsessed with female characters/celebrity? Sorry but I see a lot double standard here, that people always celebrate gay men when they're liking female pop stars or female characters as one of your own but if Lesbian just liking fictional male characters shipping suddenly you guys need to interrogate them and condemn them as if, they're wolf in sheep's clothing. Like what makes this gay men who like female pop stars and lesbian liking fictional male characters that's so different that make you tilted so much, to the point attacking women.

I am annoyed at this people acting like they're just ''genuinely asking'' but then full mask off end up attacking women over asinine thing and most of the time because they're strangely being bitter toward Fujoshi somehow. Acting like lesbian fujoshi being some sort of traitor because they like BL instead of yuri feels insane to me. like come on, you guys aren't different like gold star lesbian who make snarky comment toward lesbians who sleep with men or used to be in relationship with men.

like, Nobody bats an eye when gay men don't like BL and not being a fudanshi, why suddenly it's an issue with lesbian being fujoshi/liking BL romances?

You don't know the people behind the screen, they could be using alt accounts dedicated to BL content, and it just so happens that they’re lesbian fujoshi (I know this because I am one, I have a separate account for BL coupling/shipping). Or maybe they do like yuri but just don’t show it because you don’t know them personally! Even if they’re not into yuri, why is that a problem? It doesn’t mean they’re lesbophobic. Is it mandatory for lesbians to like yuri? Not all lesbians enjoy the romance genre or feel invested in it. Liking yuri isn’t even a good indicator of whether someone is a lesbian or not. There are straight, bisexual, and asexual women who like yuri. There are also men, as well as nonbinary or genderqueer people, who enjoy yuri.

''But it still weird, why do lesbians liking BL"

Have you ever thought that, maybe, some lesbians just appreciate any kinds of gay romances? or whatever their reasons isn't none of your business? it really doesn't matter what's their taste on media, it doesn't always reflect to their real life identity-in this case, their sexuality.

Or maybe because some Yuri works depicting lesbian romance might feel too personal for them, because I know some plenty of lesbians who feels they unconsciously cannot stop inserting/projecting their personal experiences to works that focused on lesbian romances & it just makes it hard to enjoying said works.

And no, it isn’t always due to internalized lesbophobia reasons, even if that can be one of the reasons. Some queer people might have different perceptions of media that portrays queerness because it is very personal to them. It can be feelings of euphoria or be perceived negatively, depending on the individual, as each queer person has different experiences. You cannot assume that just because some queer people avoid certain queer works for personal reasons, it means they have internalized queerphobia ,therefore, that they are bad and need to 'fix' their mindset. I know a lot of gay men who won't read BL because they feel it's too personal for them, I know a lot trans people who won't read a lot of trans media because they might be projecting themselves too hard due of their experiences and this isn't even uniquely to queer people even cis het people also tend to avoid certain genre or media if it's happen too personal for their experiences and identity.

Regardless of the reasons, why does it matter to you? why you feels like it's personal attack if some people not interested with your favorite media/genre.

Again, Lesbian aren't monolith. they're person with different minds, preferences and interests lol. They're allowed to be a fujoshi if they want to.

and I notice this trends tend to be.....end up with people (who questioning lesbian fujoshi) to making up worse assumption of them in order to defend their favorite fictional female characters or AO3 statistics, lol. in the end it just shitty fandom discourse all over again!

it just weird trend of zoomer using faux-feminism & queer academic language just to get angry over asinine things because they're salty their favorite valid media/characters aren't popular. and of course always attacking women despite they claim to be feminist, good job!

I swear, I never see this people like being critical to men but always being hypercritical toward women (especially fujoshi who just...mind their own business most of the time)

like I am sure we can have good discussion about this, but I don't trust ANY people on that hellhole site with poor reading comprehension and mob mentality for having this type of discussion on good faiths, especially not when it always ends up they're just crying over AO3 F/F statistics again.

Also I never take any people who are using ''women who centering their lives around men'' seriously and I will just think of them as mini radfem/TERF because anyone who tend to use that talking point unironically end up being more insane toward their fellow women, more sexist & just one step away to call women as ''useless foid who worship men" just because they like fictional anime boy or boy bands. Not surprised if they unconsciously agree with trans women are invading women spaces or their ideology aligned with Rowling without they realized it.

Another note, Not everything in these worlds is makes sense and sometime everything can be contradictory. you might think lesbian fujoshi or lesbian who likes BL are contradictory with their sexuality/identity but that just how...the world is & it doesn't matter, at the end of the day.

You feel happier for not thinking too much about it & focus on stuff you likes. just look at this 🫃preggo man emoji

[chemnections]

It really bothers me that so few people on this site seem to genuinely like Frank. I'm glad I found this blog.

There are so many people who only post about him when he mentions MCR, or only post about Frank when there is some nonsense drama fabricated around him and those people want to get in on the memes.

It's almost as though people can't be genuine or sincere about Frank. There's always a level of sarcasm or criticism or slight hostility when they talk about him. They can write novel length posts about anyone else in MCR with no snark, but can't do the same for Frank. The only exception to this is the Sydney bus accident, and honestly I dread the day some fucking ghoul tries to make a joke post about that incident.

these past few days really have been disheartening on that front.

i did expect there to be some anger and typical capitalism discourse from people who really do not understand what they are talking about. but it is so crazy to see anger from people i actually didn't expect to lash out in that way. seeing users change their frank profile pictures because they were so mad over the reverb sale, or i have even seen someone keep theirs but with a red x over his face. as if frank doesn't see what happens online and like his feelings can't be hurt. all because they objected to him selling old clothes (conveniently forgetting that were part of iconic shows/tours/photographs) for a proper collectors fee? significant figures in music have their 'old clothes' in museums or on display or in private collections - these pieces have the potential to increase in value or have donation value to future music exhibitions.) the turn around from being excited to try and buy something of frank's to straight up condemning him is weird. like you said, like they never really liked him in the first place.

mikey literally just had a signature bass line where the bass costed over $1000 and i never saw anyone comment or complain about it. no one accused mikey of 'going for the cash grab'. and this isn't a dig at mikey, just shows the double standard.

long time frank fans should know that 'being critical of your favs' is not dished out fairly and often leads to certain fans attempting smear campaigns against frank. it's why i tend to be protective of him on this blog, to try and counteract that bs.

there were some particular tweets that really pissed me off and i thought about responding, but i also didn't want more attention on them. it's a thin line.

and then with the context of certain meddling/manipulation that goes on in the fandom space where frank is often targeted with unfounded rumours. . . i'm usually out of the loop on that one but i've been curious with lola's reemergence. on that topic i can think of a certain person with a deleted possum post making fun of a car crash.

frank cares and puts in extraordinary effort into his career, truly giving fans so much, and for his efforts he is unappreciated or has his name dragged through the mud. from his efforts to reunite mcr in the first place, to the amazing ls dunes content recently and giving fans opportunity to purchased reasonably priced collectors items tagged with stories where all fans can learn more. have fans ever heard of thank you? and appreciating what you get instead of demanding for something else? truly biting the hand that feeds. and then there is a controlling aspect to it as well - not accepting who frank is as a person, the art and opportunities he is putting out and bullying him online to get things out of it. i'm glad he won't bend to that pressure and his snarky response tweets were gold.

this is the same behaviour that ran frank off of twitter in the first place. so it's hard not to get upset about it when it is being ruined for the rest of us. but we also can't change other people. it is what it is.

[cripple-punk-dad]

I don’t know if this is the right place to say this but i need to spout it somewhere. I just found a blog run by a person who has shown off the fact they are punk both in fashion and mentality. They were also a proshipper (shipping a child with an adult. In this instance it was rick and morty. Together. It was fucking insane). Like i just— wanted to be sure I’m not alone in the insanity and the feelings of double-standard ness of being punk and supporting that stuff

I obviously don’t know what that person is like in real life or if they’re— whatever. They didn’t seem to say anything on people in real life but it was obviously worrying.

Anyways yeah i don’t know if this is the place to put this i just wanted to make sure that I’m not crazy in thinking this is hypocritical as fuck

Listen bruv I don't actually give a fuck what somebody ships. Is it gross? Yah. Am I gonna police what somebody does as long as it's not actually causing tangible harm to a real life person? No. Frankly it's not punk at all to try and create thought crimes. I don't engage with proshipping/anti discourse very often and I'm not gonna start now.

[chrissycunninghamkin]

wait so eddie’s allowed to be bi if it’s w trans fem steve but he has to be gay when it comes to taking down hellcheer shippers? i ship both and i swear sometimes. y’all r always at each other’s throats and there’s always a crazy double standard. what bothers me the most tho is that the hellcheer tags have been taken over w discourse and the steddie tags r unaffected. and all the hellcheers being homophobic?? no bc grace is literally bi?? so if ure homophobic then u don’t support gvd 💀 also leave the actors out of it, y’all r so mean to grace and for what?? she literally hasn’t done anything

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

Okay I don't do this normally but out of curiosity, I looked at that guys' posts and yeah they're going around sealioning anyone who likes Dimitri being all like "how can you say Dimitri/AM is your favorite when you didn't play all the routes". Buddy it's called having preferences, subjectivity and opinion. I'm sure if we twist their behavior around back at them, they'll be like stop bothering us for liking Edel cause double standards is their bread and butter.

Yeah, I had taken a brief scroll through their blog the first time I saw them argue with Random about Claude because I had a pretty strong feeling that they were just another stan running around around against Rhea and Dimitri fans because I knew that person didn't follow Random when they started pulling the bad faith Claude takes.

I scrolled through a few posts before I was like yeah I'm not even gonna bother looking further because I could see all they were doing was arguing with people whose names I recognized, and the only people who ever do that are the stans. They also have absolutely nothing else but discourse on their blog.

It's crazy to me too, because I've seen those same Dimitri fans try to talk about anything else FE related and yet they still get pulled back into discourse. Like, I'm at the point where I believe everyone in that immediate group is just actively being stalked by the stans (and I recall one of them mentioning they are being stalked by them, but my guess is if one of them is, all of them are).

Also, the stans tend to pull the "you didn't play xyz route" when I'm quite certain most if not all of the Dimitri fans on Tumblr have at the very bare minimum watched the full route on YouTube of anything they didn't play. All these people have the information they need to know where they stand opinion-wise, and like you said, it's just... having an opinion. The stans have their opinions, we don't agree with them, and we don't engage with them unless they engage with us first.

Something I've noticed about the group of Dimitri fans that gets stans going after them is that it's always the stans who start it. They always respond to asks sent to those people. In other words they go onto those people's blogs, look at their posts/their replies to their anons, and start arguing at them over literally anything they say in thsoe ask responses.

Every single time I see a post reach my dashboard from any of those people (you might know the Faerghus/Dimitri group I'm talking about), it's always a stan going after them when they were just answering one of their own anons and posting something on their own blog. I'm sure there are people who think they engage in discourse too much, but they don't even start it. They get harassed and can't just blog in peace.

Unfortunately those same stans have been targeting Random as of late (and I've noticed it's more and more different ones so they're probably going after someone as soon as they notice their buddies are doing so) so it's not that surprising that they've taken notice of me since she and I interact regularly. They basically go through the chain of who interacts with who and try to start shit.

Oh nonnie honey, you better believe if even a single Dimitri fan did to them what they do to us, they'd be all over that and whining about it and posting callouts and shit.

I just want to be able to post whatever my feelings are about Dimitri without worrying that people will try to tear it down because "it's not about Edel-chan and it portrays Dimitri in a good light".

I've blocked every Edelstan I've come across but more of them keep popping up, so... I guess the blocking never ends. My block list is basically just Edelstans and bots at this point with few exceptions.

Funny how the stans don't block Dimitri fans who hate Edelgard to avoid seeing them (it's because they don't actually want to, because they want to argue), even though we're all over here trying to block them, but some of them block evade to keep going. Literally like Dimitri fans have tried to block them and move on, but they persistently find ways to keep harassing. And like I said, they go down the line, so eventually they'll just find every active Dimitri lover who posts about him and whine at them.

[davekat-sucks]

*reads your equius discourse posts* b-b-b-but i wub equius...!!!

he's problematic only if you're not from alternia. there he's perfectly normal lol

XD People forget that he had a moirail for a reason, to tame some of his bad habits or traits. There is hints that Equius would be seen as more of a creep without Nepeta. Would it go to extreme like Horuss levels, a man who gets off at every little thing? Probably. Eridan gets a lot shit from the fandom for his own bad habits like racism, but how when it is the norm for him to do that and he's highblood status? Equius had also shown this, but the only one who gave him lip was mostly Nepeta and it is mostly seen as "playful", not as serious like how Feferi tries to tell Eridan not to think so rude of the lowbloods. It's a crazy double-standards that I am surprised it is rarely addressed.

[strideofpride]

super random comparison, but recently i’ve been getting into the show jane the virgin, and the way that fandom talks about jane is exactly the same way the gossip girl fandom talks about dan and vanessa, and it’s lowkey making me crazy. like every other jtv post is “unpopular opinion, but does anyone else HATE jane villanueva? she’s such a judgmental hypocrite!!! yes the other characters commit actual crimes regularly and constantly treat other people like shit, but aT lEaSt ThEy OwN iT!!!1!!” like idk but the double standard here drives me insane - god forbid a “good” character has any actual flaws, ESPECIALLY if the flaw is judging people’s problematic faves lmao. idk i know like dan/vanessa and jane are obviously pretty different (save the whole writer thing), but the discourse about them is so similar i feel like if i just deleted the names in the posts about them no one would be able to tell the difference lol

Me? Getting involved in JTV discourse in 2022? It’s more likely than you think!

No, you’re so right anon! Actually, I think there are a lot of similarities between Dan and Jane especially. Like their judgmental nature and their outsider status to the wealthy worlds they have to enter and their grounded worlds with their families…and then yes of course they’re both the Writer and they see their lives as Narratives (although Jane and Blair share some traits with that too).

And then there’s not as much between Jane and Vanessa, but they’re both poor WOC which automatically puts them in a precarious position in fandom where they must be perfect otherwise they’re going to get absurd amounts of hate.

Also going back to Jane and Blair actually, I think part of it is that they were both in self insert ships with the Billionaire Dream Boyfriend the showrunner was in love with and the fandom woobified so anytime Jane didn’t coodle Rafael it became “Jane’s not good enough for Rafael anymore, she doesn’t deserve him, she’s treating him like garbage” while Rafael could rarely do wrong.

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 316: We've Had One, Yes, But What About Second Explosion

Previously on BnHA: Deku was all “[powers up like whoa because it’s time to end the fight]”, and he saved Overhaul from getting not-shot, and then smashed up Nagant’s arm with the power of his new rechargeable super knees. Nagant was all “yoooo this kid is crazy strong whaaaat, it’s like he’s some kind of protagonist or something.” Deku was all “I AM A PROTAGONIST, ACTUALLY, DO YOU WANT TO JOIN FORCES AND FIGHT BAD GUYS WITH ME?” Nagant was all “ah shit why the hell no -- ” and then AFO was all “SURPRISE” and everyone was all “?!?!?!” and AFO was all “TIME TO EXPLODE NOW” and made Nagant explode because he’s an absolute fucking dick. And then Hawks showed up, because Horikoshi just wanted to stuff as many plot points as humanly possible into a single chapter I guess.

Today on BnHA: Hawks is all “good job giving motivational shounen redemption speeches Deku but I’ll take it from here” and screams very earnestly right in Nagant’s face until she finally wakes up. Nagant is all “oh hey it’s my successor, you seem surprisingly unfucked-up from your own HPSC tenure, how did you manage that?” Hawks is all “fandom is going to love hearing this one, but basically it’s because I’m very upbeat and also I had the world’s best role model Endeavor to look up to,” and I swear this man stirs the pot on purpose, but damn it I still love him so damn much. Overhaul is all “HELLO AGAIN, JUST A REMINDER THAT, THE BOSS!!” and Deku is all “MAYBE TAKE TWO SECONDS TO REFLECT ON HOW YOU TORTURED A LITTLE GIRL,” which, thank you, lol. Nagant is all “btw AFO’s hiding in a house in the woods”, and so Deku and the gang go to the house in the woods. Video recording!AFO is all “hi I’m AFO welcome to Jackass” and blows up the house. Sometimes I wonder if this manga is just a weird dream.

I am once again reading the Bean version because I think it was actually the best out of all three translations last week. and that is surprisingly including Viz’s. “faux” is not nearly as entertaining as “knockoff”, and also I have literally no idea why Caleb thought Deku was saying the Third’s lines lol

oh hey, Endeavor’s here too! not that you’d ever be able to tell from this first panel lmao

glad you received All Might’s call, mysterious unidentified glowing smudge

oh snap he says he’s weaker in the rain. is that why AFO told Nagant to attack then?? except that as we discussed the other day, I believe that AFO fully intended for Nagant to lose the fight, so him giving her info that would give her an advantage doesn’t really fit in with that. maybe he wanted Deku to be separated from Endeavor and the rest for maximum angst, though

btw Deku’s eyes are unsurprisingly back to the new normal here

alas, the angst continues. I say, pretending like I’m not totally eating it up each and every week and writing essay after essay about it lol

anyway so apparently Hawks can’t actually fly lmao. he was just yeeting himself with style

for some reason this is the funniest fucking thing I’ve ever seen omfg. wave to Hawks, kids! say “bye, Hawks!”

j/k of course Deku is catching them. -- except???

wow so he was just running on fumes there at the end. well, good to know there is actually a limit to his shenanigans, particularly regarding this new “knockoff” 100% OFA. it will definitely not alleviate any of the discourse, but it’s good for my own peace of mind because it’s solid confirmation that he still needs his pals in order to win this thing

anyway, but on to the rest of this conversation, which is basically Deku deducing what we all deduced last week -- AFO implanted some sort of trap into Nagant when he gave her Air Walk. though I’d still like to get the actual details from AFO and/or Horikoshi, because this was particularly wild even by quirk standards lol

omgggggg

she still has a face after all!! so it’s confirmed, Horikoshi has no idea what “blowing up” actually means. we might have guessed, based on what happened to Toga in the MVA arc, and also based on everything Katsuki does ever, but shhh

so now Hawks is all “NAGANT PLEASE WAKE UP, IF I SHOUT MY NAME AT YOU WILL THAT DO THE TRICK”

this is actually kind of touching though because even though we all know (or most of us acknowledge at any rate) that Hawks is a pretty caring person, it’s rare to see him actually panic over someone’s welfare like this

oh shit Horikoshi is really doubling down on it

I wonder how much Hawks knew about what really happened between Nagant and the HPSC. regardless, he probably sees her as a kindred spirit of sorts, and I’m more than happy for Deku to pass the redemption torch onto him now that he’s on the scene. like no offense Deku but they actually know each other and stuff lol

DAMMIT NAGANT CAN’T YOU SEE HOW LOUD HE IS YELLING

apparently being freed from his HPSC shackles has finally given Hawks the space to embrace his own inner shounen protagonist. is there anything more shounen than trying to motivationally scream someone awake when they’re lying in your arms inches from death?? 100% guaranteed to work

!!! IS THIS NAGANT’S POV OMG

SO SHE IS ALIVE. THANK GOD. Horikoshi doesn’t want to meet with my emotional distress lawyer today after all

love how she’s all “just gonna stir up the weekly Hawks Discourse pot here by implying that he probably committed a lot of Atrocities just like I did, so now people can get all hopped up about that, even though there’s no evidence he’s ever killed anyone aside from that one horrible ‘damned-if-you-do...’ situation with Twice.” no one asked for your provocative speculation young lady!! trust me Nagant, our rabbles don’t need the rousing lol

but nice save there with the “so how are your eyes so untainted” well you see it’s because even when he was following the HPSC’s orders he always went to great lengths never to go against his own moral compass. which just to be clear was incredibly difficult, and led to a ton of pain and suffering on his part, because the life of a spy is basically just one impossible situation after another. but in spite of that he never stopped trying to do his best to help people. I don’t really know where this tangent came from or is leading to, lol, but anyway p.s.a. I love Hawks a lot and he’s a good kid dammit

oh shit??!?

how is the League always able to swing all these fancy forest mansions. where do they find them. how many do they have

so Deku’s dropping them -- very roughly, not sure if he was reacting to finally getting AFO’s location, or if his energy really is giving out -- and now Nagant’s saying that AFO hired other villains as well. well of course he did. gotta keep chipping away at OFA’s ninth successor little by little

now Nagant is asking Hawks how he’s able to keep making “that” face. I assume she’s again talking about the fact that he somehow didn’t let the HPSC wear down his spirit

oh my god???

thanks for stuffing this chapter to the brim with good nutritional Hawks Feels, Horikoshi. what a good. he just keeps on trudging forward undeterred no matter what bullshit comes his way. what a steadfast little guy. I WILL PROTECT YOU FROM DISCOURSE MY SWEET SUNSHINE

lmaoooo

“SPOTTED THIS DUDE JUST CHILLING OUT THERE ON THE ROOF WITH NO ARMS, SEEMED PRETTY SUS” good job Endeavor

anyway so you don’t really need me to tell you that Overhaul is immediately starting in with the “BUT THE BOSS WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE ME TO THE BOSS YOU PROMISED YOU WOULD TAKE ME TO THE BOSS” stuff again. but I will go ahead and tell you anyway. so yeah. he’s doing that

OMG YOU GUYS LOOK AT DEKU’S “of all the fucking assholes to just randomly drop in on my life once again why did it have to be you” FACE THOUGH, OMG

fun fact, if you go back to chapters 124 through 160, there was an entire story arc where Overhaul imprisoned and tortured a little girl. yeah, I know!! suuuuuuuuper evil. anyways just an interesting little anecdote for you all that’s somewhat relevant to the current situation

OMG, YES. FUCK YES, DEKU

THEN WHAT ABOUT SPARING ONE FOR HER!!! YES!!! EXACTLY!!! JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, SOMEONE GETS IT

HERE’S THE PANEL OF DEKU SAYING THE EXACT SAME THING I’M SAYING LOL

(ETA: so apparently there’s some discourse about this because some people are interpreting this as Deku saying “you should apologize to Eri”, which would obviously be a terrible idea even if Overhaul actually wanted to do that, because Eri shouldn’t ever have to see him again. however I just want to point out that there is a HUGE difference between saying “it would be nice if you could direct that feeling of regret/being sorry towards Eri as well”, vs saying “you should also apologize to her.” all Deku is doing is rightfully pointing out that Overhaul has hurt way more people than just his boss, and if he really is remorseful, then he should extend those feelings of remorse to Eri and the rest as well. it’s not a directive to take any specific action, and I’m 1000% sure no one at U.A. would let Overhaul within 100 miles of Eri ever again.

tl;dr “try feeling remorse sometime” =/= “do you want me to fly you over to U.A. right now to surprise the little girl you traumatized”, lol.)

[slings an arm around Deku’s shoulders] you’re a good kid. I like you. I don’t know if I tell you that enough, but it’s true

meanwhile here is Overhaul’s “spare... a thought... for Eri...???????” face sigh

the struggle is real y’all

(ETA: and that’s... the last we ever saw of Overhaul, I guess? well all right then. I assume Deku will make good on his promise, so we know he’ll get that little bit of closure before going back to jail or whatever, and I confess I’m more than fine with leaving the rest of it open-ended, especially given his character’s history. I think this was pretty generous all things considered.)

lmao holy shit

All Might what did you do to those tiki torch guys?? did you thrash them. did you give ‘em those hands. did you deliver their own asses to them complete with a sticker reminding them Amazon Prime Day is on June 21. we missed out goddammit

so Endeavor, who wasn’t the one he was asking, is telling him that they captured (well let’s be real, Deku captured, give the credit where it’s due) Nagant and Overhaul. and so I guess they’re going to take Nagant to the ER now

fire is no one’s weakness

-- oh my GOD I scrolled down and audibly gasped

[is politely but firmly approached and asked to remove my arm from Deku’s shoulder by the physical manifestation of all this Dekuangst] “we’re sorry, he’s not allowed to have visitors right now” oh shit, my bad. [goes to stand behind a police barricade]

lmao what. did you run out of room on the previous page

what an exaggerated fade to black lmao

-- AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I actually can’t see what he’s reacting to so maybe I’m just seriously jumping the gun here lol, but THE HELL WITH IT. the next panel appears to be a cut to Haibori Forest, so I’m just gonna go ahead and declare that Deku ran off on his own all wounded to go have more Dekuangst, just like I manifested. now go call Katsuki goddammit

[scrolls three more inches down] oh

yeah so like I said, Deku is walking very slowly a few feet in front of Endeavor, who’s telling him to wait up. yep. we’ve all gotta be so careful to not just jump to conclusions. I know we’re excited but still

anyway, so! welcome back to Mt. Lady and Kamui Woods (ARE YOU GUYS DATING) and Edgeshot! have fun walking into this obvious trap lol

dammit Deku why are you so determined to tempt fate

[monkey puppet meme faces]

OH MY GOD THIS IS PURE GRADE-A CHEESY COMIC BOOK VILLAIN 101 SHIT AND I’M HERE FOR IT

that’s such a weird way of clapping who claps like that

unlike certain other people who shan’t be named, AFO doesn’t feel the need to inexplicably take his shirt off when recording sinister villain monologues. I think we’re all pretty grateful for that

high fives to everyone who called it!! yep yep

anyway so this whole scene has major booby-trap vibes, which I’m enjoying immensely even though I don’t think anything is really going to come of it lol. probably just another long-winded AFO Speech. but wouldn’t it be funny if like the ceiling started lowering down to try and squish Deku afterwards lol

(ETA: well the explosion was still pretty funny too ngl.)

ffff

[“Dekuangst is the trap” intensifies]

anyway so yeah. he’s just hitting up all of his usual villain talking points. we get it, you’re so smart and you see right through the thin veneers of society and people who don’t conform are left to fend for themselves and labeled as villains and history is written by the victors, and blah blah blah dude are you just jumping randomly from one soundbyte to another lol. literally what are you talking about. what does this have to do with you blowing up Nagant

-- holy shit??

[”Dekuangst is the trap” intensifies MORE?????]

LOL WHAT

BRO. WHAT IS WITH YOU. DON’T YOU KNOW HOW TO LAY ANY OTHER KIND OF FUCKING TRAP GOOD LORD

“YOU’RE NEXT” THE CALLBACK?? THE PARALLELS?? THOUGH WHEN ALL MIGHT POINTED HE MADE IT LOOK WAY COOLER. AFO’S POINTING JUST LOOKS LIKE SMOKEY THE BEAR

HAS ANYONE CHECKED IN ON KAMUI WOODS I HEAR HE IS WEAK TO FIRE?? THE ONLY ONE WHO IS, APPARENTLY

r.i.p. to this particular forest mansion. don’t worry they have a ton of backups

remember last week when I said maybe AFO thinks explosions are gauche. well never mind. he fucking loves explosions

anyway so that’s the end of BnHA, everyone. hope you enjoyed. it was a good ride while it lasted. see you all, good luck in your travels

[thestalwartheart]

i'm gonna say this to you because i know you'll get me instead of getting mad about it, but GOD does it drive me crazy how a straight actor can play a gay character and instantly become the entire internet's fave special little guy, but gay actors who play gay characters are brushed aside and never make it out of their niche. like don't get me wrong, i absolutely adore daniel craig, i've been a fan of his since layer cake back in the cretaceous period and it's lovely to see the craig renaissance coming into full force, but let's be real - if a gay man had played benoit blanc they would not be popping off like this with normies. everyone loves gay people when they're theoretical, but still keep their double standards when it comes to real ones.

Hi Anon!

Okay, first, "layer cake back in the cretaceous period" made me wheeze. I have loved DC for about as long, and he bodies the role of Benoit Blanc. I'm so glad to see him shine in such an incredible series post-Bond.

Secondly, I truly do not have the energy to get mad at anything people say online anymore. And I wouldn't be mad at this anyway because I think you have a legitimate point about mainstream audiences loving theoretical gays and switching off when it comes to real ones. You only have to look at the cancellation of almost all the content on Netflix that features lesbians, or to have seen some of the outraged reviews as The Sandman ("why are they all gay? No one knows this many gay people!"), or to have heard the wank discourse around Q being gay in No Time To Die ("he didn't shove it down our throats! It was just a fact of life!") to notice a trend here. Mainstream audiences love sanitised diversity, and they love it especially when they get to venerate a straight actor for being "brave" enough to take on an LGBTQ+ role.

Having said all that (and this is diverging from the main point a bit), I have complex feelings around the notion of actors, sexuality and the roles they take on. By that I mean that I can see legitimate arguments on all sides of the usual argument about straight actors playing gay characters. We 1000% need more LGBTQ+ actors in leading (esp leading LGBTQ+) roles. At the same time, actors should be free take on roles that are creatively fulfilling and that they connect with, regardless of how they identify. Also, no actor ever owes the audience an explanation of their sexuality for any reason. It's 2022/3 depending on when you read this. I really hope we're done outing people and making assumptions about them based on the roles they take. I don't think any of those statements are mutually exclusive. The problem is with the wider social conversation about representation and why it's necessary.

Idk if I properly articulated myself here, or if I should have even posted this ask, but I'm putting it out there because I'd love to hear some more thoughts from everyone. As always, I loe a bit of respectful debate.

Final disclaimer that I love DC. At least IMO, this isn't really about him. You can love an actor and critique the cultural and social impact of the media they're in. That's a fine and normal thing to do.

[proship-selfship]

Im therian, and it took forever for me to find a pack I wanted to join where Id feel safe enough to exist as a person with paraphilic OCD and a therian at the same time. When I finally did, I started noticing all these other therians getting massive hate and suicide baits from people I was following. As soon as I posted saying that there is a huge double standard and that is disgusting of people to suicide bait and isolate and oppress other people for anything that they see as different or wrong that they cant understand, didnt even reference anything paraphilia related, and immediately I got banned from the discord server for the pack, they started posting everywhere about me, the founding member of the pack is schizophrenic like myself and we bonded ovee that briefly, and they started posting about how Im “probably like this because hes schizo” and they got other people to join in calling me crazy, a freak, insane, retarded, etc. All because I said “if you tell someone to kill themselves for any reason, youre disgusting, and having a therian instagram account is for being therian, not discourse, and nobody wants to see you be an asshole on the regular.” These people are fucked up. One of them from the server is a big trauma positivity advocate and straight up told me that there will never be safe places for me to exist and that she hopes I get physically abused and assaulted by anyone who loves me. She also is in self harm recovery, yet told me to cut myself over this. These people will look for literally any chink in your armor and try to exploit it, just to be a justifiable bully. They learned about bullying in school, so they think that because this is towards “awful people” that every single thing an average cyberbully does that they end up replicating in these situations, they tell themselves, “well, Im doing this to a pedophile, so its ok!” No, youre doing it to a person, first and foremost. And people with POCD are people. Maybe if we treated people who are uncomfortable with their paraphilias before they had to learn to love themselves after trying to seek help and the world telling them to stop existing, maybe we would have a lot less actual pedophiles. Antis are fucking insane.

I'm sorry that happened dude, that was fucked up from start to finish. I hope you find a better pack, pack is family. Family doesn't treat each other like that. Fucken antis dude.

[olderthannetfic]

I'm a Chinese, nationally and racially. Racial projection seems to be a common practice in western fandom, doesn't it? I find it a bit... weird to witness the drama ignited upon shipping individuals with different races, or the tendency to separate characters into different "colors" even though the world setting doesn't divide races like that. Such practice isn't a thing here. Mind explaining a bit on this phenomenon?

--

Sure, I can try. But of course, fish aren’t very good at explaining the water they swim in.

Americans aren’t good at detecting our own Americanness, and a lot of what you’re seeing is very much culturally American rather than Western in general. (In much of Europe, “race” is a concept used by racists, or so I’m told, unlike in the US where it’s seen more neutrally.) Majority group members (i.e. me, a white girl) aren’t usually the savviest about minority issues, but I’ll give it a shot.

The big picture is that most US race stuff boils down to our attempts to justify and maintain slavery and that dynamic being applied, awkwardly, to everyone else too, even years after we abolished slavery.

There’s a concept called the “one drop rule” where a person is “black” if they have even one drop of black blood.

We used to outlaw “interracial” marriage until quite recently. (That meant marriage between black people and white people with Asians and Hispanic people and others wedged in awkwardly.) Here’s the Wikipedia article on this, which contains the following map showing when we legalized interracial marriage. The red states are 1967.

That’s within living memory for a ton of people! Yellow is 1948 to 1967. This is just not very long ago at all. (Hell, we only fully banned slavery in 1865, which is also just not that long ago when it comes to human culture.)

Why did we have this bananas-crazy set of laws and this idiotic notion that one remote ancestor defines who you are? It boils down to slavery requiring a constant reaffirming that black people are all the same (and subhuman) while white people are all this completely separate category. The minute you start intermarrying, all of that breaks down. This was particularly important in our history because our system of slavery involved the kids of slaves being slaves and nobody really buying their way out. Globally, historically, there are other systems of slavery where there was more mobility or where enslaved people were debtors with a similar background to owners, and thus the people in power were less threatened by ambiguity in identity.

Post-slavery, this shit hung around because it was in the interests of the people in power to maintain a similar status quo where black people are fundamentally Other.

A lot of our obsession with who counts as what is simply a legacy of our racist past that produced our racist present.

--

The other big factor in American concepts of identity is that we see ourselves as a nation of immigrants (ignoring our indigenous peoples, as usual). A lot of people’s families arrived here relatively recently, and we often don’t have good records of exactly where they were from, even aside from enslaved people who obviously wouldn’t have those records. Plenty of people still identify with a general nationality (”Italian-American” and such), but the nuance the family might once have had (specific region of Italy, specific hometown) is often lost. Yeah, I know every place has immigrants, and lots of people don’t have good records, but the US is one of those countries where families have on average moved around a lot more and a lot more recently than some, and it affects our concepts of identity. I think some of the willingness to buy into the idea of “races” rather than “ethnicities” has to do with this flattening of identity.

New immigrant groups were often seen as Other and lesser, but over time, the ones who could manage it got added to our concept of “whiteness”, which gave them access to those same social and economic privileges.

Skin color is a big part of this. In a system that is founded on there being two categories, white owners and black slaves, skin color is obviously going to be about that rather than being more of a class marker like it is in a lot of the world.

But it’s not all about skin color since we have plenty of Europeans with somewhat darker skin who are seen as generically white here, while very pale Asians are not. I’m not super familiar with all of the history of anti-Asian racism in the US, but I think this persistent Otherness probably boils down to Western powers trying to justify colonial activities in Asia plus a bunch of religious bullshit about predominantly Christian nations vs. ones that are predominantly Buddhist or some other religion.

In fact, a lot of racist archetypes in English can be traced back to England’s earliest colonial efforts in Ireland. Justifying colonizing Those People because they’re subhuman and/or ignorant and in need of paternalistic rulers or religious conversion is at the bottom of a lot of racist notions. Ironic that we now see Irish people as clearly “white”.

--

There are a lot of racist porn tropes and racist cultural baggage here around the idea of black people being animalistic. Racist white people think black men want to rape/steal white women from white men. Black women get seen as hypersexual and aggressive. If this sounds like white people projecting in order to justify murder and rape... well, it is.

Similar tropes get applied to a lot of groups, often including Hispanic and Middle Eastern people, though East Asians come in more for creepy fantasies about endlessly submissive and promiscuous women. This nonsense already existed, but it was certainly not helped by WWII servicemen from here and their experiences in Asia. Again, it’s a projection to justify shitty behavior as what the party with less power was “asking for”.

In porn and even romance novels, this tends to turn up as a white character the audience is supposed to identify with paired with an exotic, mysterious Other or an animalistic sexy rapist Other.

A lot of fandoms are based on US media, so all of our racist bullshit does apply to the casting and writing of those, whether or not the fic is by Americans or replicating our racist porn tropes.

(Obviously, things get pretty hilarious and infuriating once Americans get into c-dramas and try to apply the exact same ideas unchanged to mainstream media about the majority group made by a huge and powerful country.)

--

Politically, within the US, white people have had most of the power most of the time. We also make up a big chunk of the population. (This is starting to change in some areas, which has assholes scared shitless.) This means that other groups tend to band together to accomplish shared political goals. They’re minorities here, so they get lumped together.

A lot of Americans become used to seeing the world in terms of “white people” who are powerful oppressors and “people of color” who are oppressed minorities. They’re trying to be progressive and help people with less power, and that’s good, but it obviously becomes awkward when it’s over-applied to looking at, say, China.

--

Now... fandom...

I find that fandom, in general, has a bad habit of holding things to double standards: queer things must be Good Representation™ even when they’re not being produced for that purpose. Same for ethnic minorities or any other minority. US-influenced parts of fandom (which includes a lot of English-speaking fandom) tend to not be very good at accepting that things are just fantasy. This has gotten worse in recent years.

As fandom has gotten more mainstream here, general media criticism about better representation (both in terms of number of characters and in terms of how they’re portrayed) has turned into fanfic criticism (not enough fics about ship X, too many about ship Y, problematic tropes that should not be applied to ship X, etc.). I find this extremely misguided considering the smaller reach of fandom but, more importantly, the lack of barriers to entry. If you think my AO3 fic sucks, you can make an account and post other fic that will be just as findable. You don’t need money or industry connections or to pass any particular hurdle to get your work out there too.

People also (understandably) tend to be hypersensitive to anything that looks like a racist porn trope. My feeling is that many of these are general porn tropes and people are reaching. There are specific tropes where black guys are given a huge dick as part of showing that they’re animalistic and hypersexual, but big dicks are really common in porn in general. The latter doesn’t automatically mean you’re doing the former unless there are other elements present. A/B/O or dubcon doesn’t mean it’s this racist trope either, not unless certain cliched elements are present. OTOH, it’s not hard for a/b/o tropes to feel close to “animalistic guy is rapey”, so I can see why it often bothers people.

A huge, huge, huge proportion of wank is “all rape fantasies are bad” crap too, which muddies the waters. I think a lot of people use “it’s racist” as an easy way to force others to agree with their incorrect claims that dubcon, noncon, a/b/o, etc. are fundamentally bad. Many fans, especially white fans, feel like they don’t know enough to refute claims of racism, so they cave to such arguments even when they’re transparently disingenuous.

--

Not everyone here thinks this way. I know plenty of people offline, particularly a lot of nonwhite people, who think fandom discourse is idiotic and that the people “protecting” people or characters of color are far more racist than the people writing “bad” fic or shipping the wrong thing.

But in general, I’d say that the stuff above is why a lot of us see the world as white people in power vs. everyone else as oppressed victims, interracial relationships as fraught, and porn about them as suspect. Basically, it’s people trying to be more progressive and aware but sometimes causing more harm than good when those attempts go awry.

[nightswithkookmin]

MONDAY, JANUARY 18TH: GOLDY'S LOG

I miss Suga. Scratch that. I miss Agust D. My spirit animal.

I've been thinking about him a lot lately, wondering if his injury isn't an exemption to military service. I wonder if he qualifies, in light of his injury, as an able body. I wonder what their law defines as able body.

I wonder if he passed the legal physical exam and health assessment test when he turned 19, since he's had that injury way before debut. Or if BTS have undergone that mandatory military service assessment since they are all past 19 and what their results are.

Jimin has chronic back pain too. That should qualify him for an exemption to military duty. He can still do desk work if it's that serious.

I should talk to ***** and look into South Korea's law on exemptions to military service.

Moon values the arts and culture industry. There's already been an extension for conscription for the benefit of BTS. Their success and longevity in the spot light perhaps influenced this decision. Should BTS maintain this momentum, an exemption would be inevitable I feel.

I miss them. They've been gone for too long. I'm worried about the impact this is going to have on their popularity if they disconnect from fans for so long or be mechanical about the way they connect with their fans.

I hate the limited access to them. But Scarcity increases the value of a product and it's not surprising if this is the approach BigHit is adopting in the wake of the pandemic.

Limited access not only raises value, it creates demand. Bang PD is a bigbrain marketing genius- I hate it.

They are taking a huge risk with this new marketing strategy. Personally, I'd stick to what works but then I am no marketing guru. Just a consumer who likes to play it safe. I guess I won't be getting hired anytime soon. Fuck.

It's all very fascinating.

What's equally fascinating is the shippers out here on these streets. The Jokers.

I... they confuse the hell out of me sometimes.

How are they going to question my rationality when I talk about moments I feel Jikook are having issues in their relationship or had broken up etc but then have no problem with and even applaud that same rationality when I talk about moments that has led me to believe there is lack of depth in Tae Kook's dynamics or that they are not real by any standard or that another ship in BTS isn't real.

Do I have two minds? Or are they more inclined to be selective in their beliefs based on their biases towards Jikook and against other ships? It's weird.

By the same lens I define Jikook as real, I define Tae Kook or any other ship that includes JK and Jimin as not real. And by that same lens if I feel Jikook aren't together then I'm wrong and irrational?

It really confounds me.

Not sure if they expect me to apply double standards to Jikook in those instances.

I don't think there is right and wrong opinions or perspective when it comes to shipping, but I think if they are right about me being wrong about my perspective on Jikook then I must be wrong about my perspective on any other ship in BTS as well.

I can't be right about one and wrong about another. I'm either right about all or wrong about all.

I can't be 'right' about Tae Kook having 'issues' in their bond in such a way I think it often bars them from fully nurturing their bond and developing depth to it but then be 'wrong' about Jikook also having issues that mess with their bond from time to time when it's the same measurement I use in accessing the depth of bond of both ships.

I really don't understand their way of thinking.

What is right and what is wrong and who decides on that?

I think we ought to substitute right and wrong with 'believe and believable.' The approach to such discourse should be about what one is willing to believe or not believe about certain discussions: I believe this. I don't believe that. Because believes stem from our personal biases towards a subject.

And the people that come running to me with 'look, Jikook smiled at each other in On era so change your mind'

I would except I hear this debate all the time. I wonder if they realize they sound exactly like the Tuktukkers in my DMs trying to convince me Tae Kook is real.

'Look Tae sat on JK's laps! How can you say there is no depth to Tae kook' ' He squished JK's cheeks' 'Jk said he wants to ride with Tae, if there was no depth why did he say he wanted to ride with him'

I have a feeling Soft Koo is back. The days of Terminator JK might be over. Too bad, I liked terminator JK. He was a bad ass.

I like that he is experimenting with his looks. But I'm glad his Ravi-esque phase is over. I wonder who he is drawing inspiration from this time. He reminds me of Jimin though. There is something peaceful and serene about his looks.

Can't really tell much because Bighit is sitting on tons of footages. I think I need to send a truck to Bang PD HQ.

I don't like that Jimin posted a Vhopemin photo for Tae's birthday. It was cute and all but I don't like it. That shit felt passive aggressive as fuxk. Lmho. What, he didn't have a V or Vmin photo in his gallery? Sounds like someone didn't put much effort in their VMin agenda for this post.

I wonder if he will keep the same energy come JK's birthday. I mean both him and Tae didn't post for him💀

May be I'm reaching on this one. But a single post where V was not even the focus of the post... I think his birthday means a lot to him and he enjoys when people shower him with love and attention and I don't think his birthday is an exception.

And he kept reiterating after such said birthday how he recently discovered he loves to be loved and how he does most of the things he does in order to be loved by his fans, friends and family.

And it breaks my heart that, the headlines read BTS shower X, Y with love on his birthday but the two people close to him were missing from that list this time. The media talks about BTS posting for eachother as them showering eachother with love. Certainly they all know this.

And the fact Jin posted for Tae after Tae's birthday says a lot about Tae and JK. Tae had no intention of posting perhaps because he left JM a message on the packages. With Jin I feel he was overcompensating for not posting for him on his birthday...

JK gets a pass. If JM wasn't happy about him not posting for his birthday, he would have pulled a Jin.

Jimin talking about coming to the realization he loves to be loved makes me think JK withholding his affections openly made him come to the realization he loves to be loved. Just a hunch. And the only reason JK would withhold his affections is if Jimin himself estopps him. Those two give me headaches.

I think I got the closure I needed from this.

LESSON: dont get on JM's bad side and bloody post for his birthday 💀

Tae been releasing photos of Jimin and Jhope a lot lately. Not sure how that makes me feel either. I think it's beautiful. But when I think about all these beautiful photos he has of Jimin on his phone and how generous he is with them- I think they would have been more meaningful had he released it on JM's birthday. The snow photo he posted still sits in my Vmin heart somewhere.

I really don't like this not posting for each other's birthday business. It's 2021. They need to cut it out.

I feel JK set a bad precedent but personal happiness first so good for him.

This moment haunts me for some reason.

What was going through V's head. I want to know. RM looks done. Lol.

Jimin is really beautiful. I love his eyes when he smiles and the thing he does with his shoulders.

Some people complain I write a lot. Some say I don't write enough. Ayayayai!!!!!!

What to do.

I think I accidentally deleted a post.

I'm looking forward to JKK1. Stay Gold, Still with you, Your eyes tell... I hope he hasn't given his best away cos those were bops.

PJM1... oh God I'm nervous. I'm excited for it but nervous. I think Serendipity is a classic. The Christmas song was equally great and frankly the only good Christmas Ive heard so far and I don't even like Christmas- nothing against Baby Jesus I just think it sucks. That bridge in Dis-ease is something.

I want to read his thoughts. His spotify playlist is insightful but I want to confirm if he really sees himself as a mess who is always causing his lover grief.

I mean he did say he has realized he needs to be considerate towards those that love him. Not sure yet the connection there.

I want to read his thoughts.

PJM1....

I love JHOPE. I think his ship with Jimin is beautiful and healing. They make my insides warm. Not sure if their shippers think they are real. Do they? That would be awkward.

I think RM and Jimin need to spend time together... it would be good for them.

Jimin and Sungwoon shippers are alleging Jimin has been staying with Sungwoon all this while. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

But the bit about him living with Sungwoon before the start of Bon V 4 has me🤔

Around that period, I don't believe JM was at the dorms and Jikook were not together then too. He must have been staying somewhere...

I'll let them have that.

But around November 2019 when he was having issues with JK he was staying with Tae too so no I don't think that means Sungwoon is queer or that Jimin is sleeping with him💀

They need to get out of their imaginations.

I think Jikook will drive me crazy one day.

I can feel my cranium swelling.

JiRose shippers need to pack it up. They really think Jimin is straight? 💀

It's the bad editing for me.

That doesn't look like a straight face to me. Unless his butt was on fire and he was uncomfortable looking at that black interviewer, I think that's his flirting face.

Lately I've been thinking about what ifs.

What if Jikook is not real?

I wish I believed that.