#and also the original racists

[athenaalexandria]

I finally put my finger on why I get frustrated with Europeans (especially the Brit’s) talking about the US.

Often times when I talk to friends from Europe, or see someone from Europe on TikTok or YouTube or whatever, they are always belittling the US. Initially, this was fine and actually kind of appreciated, as I felt vindicated in my thoughts and emotions about my country. They would say “America Bad” and I would go “Yeah! America Bad!” But as time has gone on, those same talking points haven’t changed. And things in the US have gotten worse.

I’ve been told how loud Americans are, how unhealthy we are, how we are obsessed with racism, how ignorant we are, how violent we are. Yet none of the people saying these things have an ounce of empathy or self reflection. I’ve heard about the Danish Vs Swedish Vs Norwegian conflict so much, or the great history of the British empire. Yet if I try to talk about American history, it is immediately tossed aside like it’s not important. I will be lectured about how horrible it is that our cops shoot people, yet when I explain how this has come about with systemic racism stemming back to the founding of the US, and how monopolized violence is a bad and scary thing in every nation, suddenly I’m just another American who doesn’t understand that actually Germany can’t be racist, and the French police need to have assault rifles and body armor. Worst of all is when they discuss our mass shootings. I have been talked down to like a child so many times while backpacking through Europe about how guns are bad and we just need to get the government to stop it by voting that I want to tear my hair out. They will explain our politics, explain what we are missing, yet offer no solutions or help beyond “just stop doing that”.

Now, all of this I don’t think I would mind if anyone I’ve talked to was willing to do some self reflection and listen and learn. But it’s the blatant refusal to listen to us, to learn our geography, to learn about the many cultures in America. To lecture about something they don’t have to live through, tell us we are a third world nation, and then patronize us for letting it get this way.

The US government is a propaganda machine dedicated to churning out new workers who are ignorant of the world they live in so they don’t know they can strive for better. They use the media and violence to scare us, anger us, or make us feel defeated as a form of control to make sure the people in power stay there, and the capitalism keeps powering on. Even when we do learn of what we could have and what we could be, they have systematized everything so that it’s nearly impossible to escape. We are a nation founded on slavery, of the suppression of minorities, and of colonialism. But don’t worry, all that can change if we just stop being stupid and lazy and start to vote 🤗🙄

I could keep ranting about this subject for days. I didn’t even start on the “Americans never leave their country” thing, because I’d need a globe a tape measure and some mouth tape for my students to get across how scale and state vs federal government and land works. I just have had more and more anger over the years as I’ve realized that people from Europe are not better than Americans. It’s just the weird classism shit that I don’t understand rearing its ugly head again, and the US is beneath because we are still just viewed as a colony of lessers.

Now for my next post let me get into how South America is consistently left out of discussions on this, and that European Spanish and Portuguese is not better than Colombian Spanish or Brazilian Portuguese, and that “Americans” should not just refer to citizens of the US, because just in case you forgot the US is terrible too, I’m just also mad at Europeans. Goodnight everybody!

[feyburner]

I fucking hate DC lol. His race is Villain

[transmaverique]

amab and afab, if they were used as shorthand for the actual full phrases that they signify, with emphasis on the "assigned" part, and an understanding that they are enforcements of normative (ie, dyadic and cisgender and binary) sex, would be like. really useful. but people took the terms and started using them as shorthand FOR normative sex instead of the ENFORCEMENT OF normative sex. so when other trans people (almost always dyadic trans people) ask for your agab they are almost always asking for your Original Genital Situation. your starting point, so to say. and the reason FOR asking is also almost always bc they are trying to also enforce a certain kind of normativity within queer spaces (which is stupid bc being queer is inherently non-normative but here we are). like, you cant be a lesbian if you're ftm, bc you ARE m, so if you ARE a lesbian, then that means you're lying about some aspect of your identity. does that make sense?

it is always always always incredibly.... i do not trust dyadic trans people that use cagab terms, even moreso than i do not trust dyadic trans people that just use agab terms. agab is also coopted intersex language, but the "coercive" part of cagab SPECIFICALLY refers to medical "intervention" of intersex characteristics, such as "corrective" surgeries and hrt. i am deeply fucking suspicious of any dyadic trans person that uses those terms exactly the same as described above, even moreso if they do so bc "all gender is coercive".

like. yeah. that's true. but you use these terms to erase and overtake intersex discussions on the medical abuse of intersex infants. and i cant help but wonder why you would feel the need to do that.

[lesbiansforeddiediaz]

Anyone else really love this episode?

[doberbutts]

Google: hello I recommend this show to you based on your interest in 1600s Japanese modern period dramas and animations

Me: oh actually this show is pretty neat, I like that the Japanese characters actually speak Japanese and not *winkwink* they're totes talking in Japanese but for the viewer's sake they're using English *winkwink* and from the sound of it traditional Japanese at that because this is sounding very antiquated and out of date compared to my rough knowledge of modern Japanese

Show: :)

Show: have 10 minutes of a character being tortured by being boiled to death in a large cast iron pot :)

Me: ...

Me: WHY

[beatsheetromanroy]

Castiel + Born Sexy Yesterday, part i

[wetcatspellcaster]

I'm not going to tag this bc I can practically visualise the hornets nest I'm kicking, but I am starting to get annoyed by people who are complaining about inconsistencies in dragon age lore, when the inconsistences mostly seem to be happening in places where the old lore was severely problematic and written at the height of game of thrones grimdark fantasy market trends.

[snaileer]

If you’re sick of tired tropes clap your hands!

👏🏼👏🏼

If you’re sick of overwritten pity parties, clap your hands!

👏🏼👏🏼

If you’re sick of overused tropes, and you just want something new, if you’re sick of tired tropes, CLAP YOUR HANDS!

👏🏼👏🏼

[strawberri-draws]

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁Sparkly Rapunzel . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁

[sforzesco]

you're SO right, how is it that the best portrayal of many italian renaissance figures comes from a bad videogame from the 2010s

wheezing I’m torn between going truly this is the best portrayal of Leonardo da Vinci we may ever get, and defending AC2 even though I’m a full time Ezio Saga Hater

[adore-the-stars-in-her-eyes]

An original story with original characters from an era everyone wanted to see come to life and we lose it because Disney and Lucasfilm can't fucking think beyond Skywalker.

[urproblematicfav-arsonk]

With the reveal of Abel now outside of leaks, unless people are right about the crackship idea that Lucifer knocked/got knocked up by Adam and is the secret father, I feel like the implication is that Eve is white.

Lilith, Adam, Eve, Abel and Lucifer are all white. All of the first humans are white. All of the royals are white, all of the people in power are white. Excluding a few characters, like Sara and Emily(who are still gray, and not black btw), almost the entire governing systems are white people.

I don't understand why Viv acts like her being Latina is the reason people don't like her work, or that hating on a successful Latina woman is all anyone is ever doing, when her representation is terrible???

I'm not special for saying this, cuz this has been a problem since day one and plenty of people complain about it. But every brown/black isn't ya know.......BROWN. Velvette is the only character I can think of thats actually black.

Alastor, Val, Vaggie, Carmilla are all either gray or purple. And Alastor doesn't even have a good excuse like Val or Vaggie have with being bugs. Deer are usually brown anyway, and he's the most humanoid of all the furry characters so him having a more human skin tone wouldn't be that odd of a design choice.

I'm probably missing some other characters because Viv is awful at conveying that a character isn't white. Husk doesn't count, he's only black because Keith David is playing him, he was never intentionally written to be black. (And neither was Alastor so, ¯\_(:/)_/¯) Niffty is only Asian because her pilot VA could speak Japanese, and Viv was like "yeah sure, whatever. she can be Japanese" without any further thought being put into what that could mean for her character. Vassago may or may not have been originally intended to be Latino, idk, but again he's still being played by a irl Latino so it could just be the same problem with Husk.

There's nothing necessarily wrong with the first humans all being white, but there's also nothing wrong with stopping to ask yourself "Why is it that my first instinct is to make Adam and Eve white? Is it my own bias? Is it because this is what society pushes as biblical canon?"

Almost everyone has racist or uncomfortable biases. It's normal when you live in a racist society. You grow up hearing things or absorbing information from your peers and the people around you. The best way to avoid that, is to sincerely question and understand why you feel and think the way that you do. Asking, "Why is it that when I want to convey that this character is evil and scary, my first instinct is to use symbols and words from a foreign religion? Is it because I'm genuinely interested in this religion, and want to explore it? Or is it because I've been taught to think that foreign cultures, especially black cultures, are inherently more scary and monstrous?" Is how you actually figure out if what you're doing is something to be concerned over, and if it's something that's hurtful or mean and thus should be corrected.

But Viv doesn't ask these questions. She uses being Latina to deflect her racism, or claim that people engaging with her art in a way she doesn't like is just them being the racist ones.

(Or homophobia, or hating SA victims, or just being mean to her for no reason. And I get it to a certain extent. She's been dealing with anti's and people fucking with her over being a furry FOR AWHILE NOW LMAO. Sometimes its hard to tell when something is a REAL genuine critique or complaint, and who's just bitching again because they can't handle a pop song about SA, or a bathtub of snakes, or the fact that valangel exists at all. Some people are out to be actually fucking awful for no real reason, but she tends to lump everyone who doesn't like her work as the same when thats not the case. People are also stupid, and genuinely in their very, very dumb hearts think that Snakes In A Bathtub is on the same level as like, racist appropriation and will treat Both with the same Severity because they're stupid)

She panics, and doubles down instead of actually thinking about what she's doing. "Uh, uh, uh, HE'S ACTUALLY MIXED. SO ITS FINE." Isn't helpful. That wasn't the problem. She treats race like its a toy that she doesn't even want to use. There's no sincerity behind anyones design or backstories. It's literally not relevant to her.

Anyway, rant tim. Viv needs therapy. She's definitely too mentally ill and immature to be handling this shit on her own. She is in soooo far over her head and it not only results in a bad show, but probably isn't good for her either.

[requiemforthestars]

Being back in the Dragon Age fandom has awakened something long asleep within me, which is a seething deep, feral hatred and disgust for Cullen and dismay at the way everyone in the fandom is head over heels for him. Literally it's as fresh as it was on the first day. Truly, things you feel at 15 years old do not wane.

[william-shatspeare]

Gentleman's Agreement – Moss Hart, Elia Kazan (1947)

Who mourns for Adonais? – Gilbert Ralston, Gene L. Coon (1967)

[bambinification]

Unpopular opinion but I actually like Bambi II better I think? Idk.

The original is beautiful to look at and really relaxing and comforting, but it's a little bit nothingy and watered down from the original novel in a way that completely changes the story. In the book, the way Bambi left Falene because he was totally enamoured by the Old Stag really spoke to me (ace, lesbian, seeking out elders and mentor figures for a lot of my life). And though the sequel is a bit too kid-ified for an adult without nostalgia to sit through, the sequel DOES recreate this dynamic in a way!!

Plus I like Patrick Stewart as the Great Prince, I like how much winter we get, I like how the meadow scene is actually really unsettling (it haunted me forever as a kid and it still gives me the creeps), I think it's visually pleasing. Also I like how the movie was obviously influenced by the second generation Winnie the Pooh movies (which I like and watch a lot) with random sort-of contemporary songs by a female singer sprinkled throughout. The style of the movie holds it up; it's very watchable as a Disney sequel.