#and as someone who really values media and the power it can hold

[queer-reader-07]

the way i hate tiktok book recommendations is unmatched.

they're always so shallow. there's no depth, there's nothing earnest about them. it's just tropes and one liner pitches that tell you nothing.

i saw a video that recommended Giovanni's Room by saying it was about "two men who enter an intense love affair in 1950s paris" and like, yes. that is correct. that does happen. and yet, i also feel like it doesn't paint a full picture?

why don't you mention that it's not historical fiction, but rather that it was contemporary for the time it was published in? why don't you mention that it was written by a queer, Black, liberationist during a time when Jim Crow laws were alive and well? i think with a novel like Giovanni's Room especially you can't boil down the value of reading it to one, simple line. to me that novel is a heart wrenching narrative of the fear that can accompany queer love. it's a story that outlines how devastating it can be to know someone loves you but watch them live in denial and marry someone they won't be truly happy with. it's a story about how self loathing can destroy you from the inside out, and by extension the lives of those around you. "intense love affair in 1950s paris" doesn't do anything about that novel justice.

idk it's just. annoying. to watch novels be watered down to one line pitches that tell you nothing. people ask me for book recommendations all the time. and every time i recommend people books i give them a paragraph minimum about why i like the book and why i believe it's worth reading.

[gatheringbones]

[“It was only after I came out as a dyke that, for the first time in my life, I felt ready to celebrate being a girl, and I did. Actually, I overdid. Armed with Esther Newton’s Mother Camp, Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble, and Joan Nestle’s A Restricted Country, I embraced femme. I dressed up in short flowery dresses, pushup bras, satin panties, and lacy stockings. I paid great attention to my long, curly, perfectly-coiffed hair, my glamorous makeup, and especially my pouty lips. I spritzed Lola’s smell on my skin—Estee Lauder’s Private Collection—and painted my nails. I wore all of it with black combat boots and a brilliant sense of irony. I reveled in my girliness, went over the top, learned how to tweeze my eyebrows and line my lips with a lip pencil.

My gender presentation was unmistakable: blatant female sexuality. I was a proud, in-your-face, take-no-prisoners, uppity, don’t-assume-I’m-straight-because-I-wear-lipstick-and-dresses femme dyke. Because femmes are always assumed to be straight or sleeping with men, and I do sleep with men, I made sure to always have a butch on my arm so I’d be read as femme. Even though I was sure I’d be mistaken for straight, the boys took one look at me and steered clear. It was as if I was too much of a woman for them to handle, like I was a handful, and I was. But butch girls love a handful—a handful of tits, a handful of ass, a girl who needs to be handled, a girl who can handle herself.

How I figured out I was a femme had a lot to do with the women I was attracted to and the dynamic between us. When I was in junior high, I used to mess around with a friend of mine named Angela. Angela was one of those girls who developed early; I remember she had big breasts in like sixth grade. We mostly kissed and touched over clothes, and we played out various boy-girl scenarios. I was always the girl—my early femme roots. My favorite of all our little scenes was the one where she was my male boss and I was the secretary. The boss made me have sex with him and told me if I didn’t I would get fired. Now this was all before Clarence Thomas, Anita Hill and the media awareness/obsession with sexual harassment. I remember she’d tell me to suck her dick and push my face unmercifully into her crotch, which smelled amazing,. The drama of it all—the force, the degradation, the power games—really got me off. After that, there was no going back to simplicity. I was hooked on the power.

Jen really epitomized all the girls I was attracted to then and still am. Being with a butch girl, I was valued for my combination of strength and vulnerability, for dressing up, for wanting an arm to hold onto, hips to wrap my legs around, being able to give my body over to her and say, I trust you, I’m yours. My butch loved me in low-cut dresses, appreciated my sexual voraciousness, worshipped my inner slut. I reveled in the fact that I could be strong and submissive all at once. Surrender and still be a feminist. Being a dyke is not just about who I fuck and love, it’s about being a girl who doesn’t play by the rules.

Butch girls don’t play by the rules either, and I love butch girls. Girls with hair so short you can barely slide it between two fingers to hold on. Girls with slick, shiny, barbershop haircuts and shirts that button the other way. Girls that swagger. Girls who have dicks made of flesh and silicone and latex and magic. Girls who get stared at in the ladies room, girls who shop in the boy’s department, girls who live every moment looking like they weren’t supposed to. Girls with hands that touch me like they have been touching my body their entire lives. Girls who have big cocks, love blow-jobs, and like to fuck girls hard. Every day, it is the girls that get called Sir that make me catch my breath, the girls with strong jaws that buckle my knees, the girls who are a different gender that make me want to lie down for them.

Someone else said it about me recently and it’s right on target: “She gets off on all different sorts of people sexually, but she falls for butches.” Like the poet who bought her first strap-on with me and then wanted to sleep with it on. The shrink-in-training who got harassed every time she drove down South. She did look so much like a fifteen-year-old boy: blue button-down shirts, neatly-combed blond hair. The ad exec who had names for her dildos and used to love for me to spit-shine her wingtips. The photographer whose face was so mannish she could pass almost anywhere. The writer who wanted a body like Loren Cameron’s. The telephone repairwoman who drove a truck. The cook who had a boy’s name. The academic who got cruised by gay men on Castro Street. The cornfed farmboy from the Heartland with arms so hard and strong you swear they’ve been working the land, not the iron at the gym.

And there’s the one who’s got the James Dean stare down, and dresses like a clean-cut fag, and looks at me like she could look at me forever and never blink or grow tired or move from the spot she’s in. She’s a girl who loves girls like me—girls in velvet bras, girls who want to surrender to her mouth. She’s a girl who isn’t afraid to throw a femme down on the bed and fuck her. Possess her. My kind of girl. This girl is different.”]

tristan taormino, from this girl is different, from a woman like that: lesbian and bisexual writers tell their coming out stories, 2000

[thedivinetarot]

If I can't have you no one should

Who is stalking you?

☆How to chose the perfect pile for you?

1) Close your eyes.

2)Take a deep breathe.

3) Ask the question in your mind.

4) Open your eyes and the picture you are drawn to the most is your pile.

☆Note:

- This PAC can be applied on social media too not just real life.

- Please don't think of anyone while you are choosing.

- If you think that someone is stalking you or your social media and you find their energy here then consider it as a confirmation.

- The energy of this reading is open.

- This reading is just for entertainment purposes, and the energy is not set in stone. This reading can't substitute any medical or professional advice.

Stay safe❤

Arya

Pile 1 - Elivera

What are you coming from?

This pile’s energy is a mixed bag to be honest. Some people here are celebrating their anniversary; could be you and your boyfriend, you and your spouse or any anniversary in general. If it is not an anniversary then there's someone in your family who is getting married and you are so happy and excited for the wedding. And if you are the bride then you are so happy that you are going to be a bride. The second energy in this pile are people who are dismissing a connection. Like you might be dating someone for a while but you discovered that this person is no longer good for you or have the same values as you. I see that this person is crushing on you so hard but you are like "ew, stay away". Or if you are not being pursued by anyone then you are learning how to put healthy boundaries with people you are dating. The third energy in this pile is about people who are dealing with trauma. You guys might be holding on this trauma and refusing to heal and let go. There's this sense of "I'm happy with this pain, I don't want to let go". Like you are holding on too tight on this pain and this is what kills me. You don't have to hold onto that pile one, you are way better than this. Also I see that you might be someone who has been victimized themselves all of their life, you might be the type of person who is like "yeah it is my circumstances that made me do that". You might see yourself as a victim or refuse to see the power you hold within yourself. So you stay at that role and you keep carrying on the trauma baggage and refuse to let go of the past. My own advice is to try and heal yourself and try to forgive that person because you'll only hurt yourself pile one.

Who is stalking you?

Ugh, it is an Ex. And if you don't have any Ex then this is a woman from your family. She could be your mother, aunt or a female sibling with water placements (Cancer, Scorpio pr pisces) she is worried about you and she really want to be around you and spend more time with you because she loves you. Okay returning to the Ex, this person is refusing to let you go. He is so damn possessive over you. I'm not seeing any action but he is just watching you from afar and acting prideful. He doesn't want to approach or return, I don't see that. This might just be curiosity, how or what you are doing in your life. And if this person is not an Ex or a female family relative then this is your Ex fiance. And if this is not your fiance or an Ex then this is your crush (for the second energy who is being pursued by a crush). This person might have moon in sagittarius, strong pisces placements or taurus placements, or it could be you. I asked for advice on how to deal with this person and the cards are telling me that if you feel like this person is annoying you by always invading your life and space then go and face them. The cards are encouraging you to be more assertive about who you want in your life and who you don't.

Stay safe pile one and thank you for reading this❤.

Pile 2 - Elaine

What are you coming from?

This pile is is for people who are planning to travel somewhere. and if this is not the case then you collecting your courage to end a chapter in your life with someone who treated you like trash. This person traumatized and made you feel like you don't matter. This person might be a narcissist or a player and this situation left you anxious regarding your love life. I see that you used to be happy and joyful but this perosn sucked your light and made you feel powerless. Pile 2 I'm sorry to see this, I hope you recover and be happy and content on your own. Other people in this pile have an investment that they DON'T want to do, this chance is so good I advice you to take it and if you do take it you'll be so successful and content because of it. It will pay your bills and other expenses. I also see that other energies in this pile, you might traveled somewhere and you ended up being scammed? I see scam here and if you want to travel then be careful of getting scammed, okay?. Pile 2 have you just came from hanging out with your brothers? I see two young guys one have light brown hair and the other is dark brown or black hair one have fire placements and the other have water placements and if they are not your brothers then they might be your friends? Are they teenagers pile 2? I see you hanging out with them or you will. Anyways let's get into the reading.

Who is stalking you?

I see that this is someone you blocked? Were they an option to you? Or have they treated you like an option? This person wants to work things out with you. They might be rich or stable financially and if they are not that rich they could be more stable financially than you. This person is older than you, he have taurus, gemini, aries and cancer placements or it could be you. I see that you walked away from this connection. You gave up on this person and now you are seeking new and more fulfilled connections, especially the romantic ones. I guess this person saw you as a romantic option but never really pursued anything serious. He might have flirted with you and then ghosted you. He might have a strong masculine energy. Or desired by many. I see that you are trying now to put a full stop to this connection and move on with your life. Did this person made you feel desperate for his attention pile 2? I see that you tried to act cool and non chalant but you ended up feeling desperate and devastated by his actions. Let's see what does he want from you; oh yeah, he want a new start with you guys. He is reminiscing over the past and he remembers everything you did together. He want to be involved in a platonic connection with you, and he want to truly be happy and give it a chance. I see that he has a hidden motive; it could be conquering you and making you his. And if not then just enjoy, he doesn't seem harmful but please DON'T TAKE HIM SERIOUSLY!. Detach pile 2, try to Detach.

Stay safe pile 2 and thank you for reading this ❤.

Pile 3 - Vanessa

What are you coming from?

Pile three have you been doubting yourself lately? I see you doubting yourself and avoiding to do the hard work which is taking the lead and be decisive and assertive. You guys have been ignoring that you should do the work and get out of your comfort zone but somehow you either postpone the work and put it off so you can't be uncomfortable. I see that you are thinking negatively and falling in despair, you might be reading a classic literature or just a sad book. I see you overwhelmed by the choices and the "where to start" phrase kept popping in my head. I see you refusing to face this and you can't literally see what is behind this overwhelming feeling of despair. But I see that at some point you should take action and stop postponing what should've been done. Anyway, other people in this pile are my "I'm healthy, I'm wealthy and I'm rich, I'm that bitch" I guess you might like listening to Doja cat or you just repeat this phrase as an anthem to keep your vibrations high. Have you finished working out? I'm seeing you focusing on your health too. Also I see that you are working with high vibrations and trying to manifest a beautiful life like you pile 3. Other people have just finished having sex? Ngl I see you just finished pile 3. He might be your date, soulmate or boyfriend? Maybe a hookup but the sex was so heavenly? I hope you're doing good pile three. And now let's get into the reading.

Who is stalking you?

Okay pile 3 I see that the person who is stalking you was someone you felt discouraged by them romantically?. I see that this is someone with earth placements (capricorn, virgo and taurus). I see that you used to know this person but the divine stepped in between you two and now you don't really know how he is doing? I see that you turned your back on this person. He is a young guy like between 20 and 25. He might be an acquaintance, a friend of a friend I'm seeing. You might know someone who know someone who knows them? This person is not a crush; it is not giving any crush type of energy. They might be a classmate or someone you worked or studied with. I see that they hear the tea on you from a friend? She could be a female friend with air placements. I asked the cards why he is stalking you; the cards are telling me that he want to be your friend and seek a fulfilling connection with you. He might be interested in you and that passion keeps him up all night. Omg 😭 I don't know why I'm getting this feeling. Like he want to act cool but he is so into you. I see that he is so stable and wealthy and if not then he might be mentally stable. I asked for advice and the cards are telling me that if you are interested then you can pursue something with them. I see that you are very independent pile three, and you are so happy and content with how things are in your life. You don't need this person pile three, you want them and that's the difference.

Stay safe dear pile three and thank you for reading this❤.

26th/Aug/2024 - Mon

*Feedback is appreciated

[shrimz08]

AANG ＆ OZAI PARALLELS: DEBUNKED

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

Because apparently the true villain is the sole survivor of a genocide of his entire nation, and not the imperialist colonizer.

Where do I even begin?? Because I’m genuinely holding in laughter writing this, it’s absolutely insane how certain people can make such egregious parallels that aren’t even found in the first place. 

AH, so a little backstory on how this fucking shit stained idea even came to existence, well our dear z^tara fans pissed their pants over Zuko and Katara not tying the knot, so, as a way of retribution for their supposed “honour” They take any chance to jump on the Aang hate train and make him into some irredeemable abusive demon, aaand they got that perfect opportunity because the LoK decided to take a lick out of the great “Main Characters Must Be Bad Parents In The Sequels” Trope. Which personally, does absolutely nothing to the protagonists resolution aside from cheap family drama but I digress. 

Now, I’m not behind the idea of the writers trying to make Aang a “flawed” Parent, I think it really makes no sense by how they went about it, (I might touch on this in another post) 

((And it’s so very clear that they’re trying to give it a soft “retcon” And even taking extra steps saying that Kya and Bumi just “remember wrong” Which I’ll actually take, because season two of LOK was hell on earth anyway so you might as well give it some saving grace.)) 

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

There’s three main parallels that they got from Ozai and Aang: (god help me)

Favouring a child

isolating the rest

leaving pressure On the golden child

I’m going to debunk all three of them while trying not to fall into complete lunacy over how ridiculous they are. 

Favouring a child + Leaving pressure: 

OK, so people are clearly blind with context clues and media comprehension, got it. No surprise whatsoever. I can’t be disappointed if I didn’t even have any expectations to begin with. 

Let’s compare the treatment on how Ozai treats Azula, and how Aang treats Tenzin. (Holy Shit)

Beginning with Ozai, well.. It doesn’t take much of a rocket scientist to understand that Ozai essentially could not give two fucks about Azula, as she in essence, serves the role of an attack dog, as long as it does its job, it’s worthy. 

Ozai favoured Azula because she was molded to match his ferocity and hunger for power, she was a prodigy bender, and was cunning and calculated, all traits that Ozai found endearing and someone worthy to be crowned the next “fire lord.” His “favouring” Of her didn’t come out of genuine love or care, she is his tool who serves a purpose. In short, she showed more competency and more ruthlessness and callousness in comparison to Zuko. Which earned her, her place as the “Golden Child.”  

-------

None of this is even remotely similar to how Aang treated Tenzin and his kids, aside from the fact he supposedly “favoured” Tenzin more, but that is such a baseline statement and has absolutely no relation with Ozai's reasons.

You have to understand that an entire FUCKING NATION IS DEAD. History, Culture, Tradition, is at the BRINK of being wiped out, Tenzin is quite literally the only Airbender that will be left after Aangs passing. Why do people devalue this concept so much? 

“B-BUT THE AIR ACOLYTES1!!” Still have limited knowledge, airbending is so heavily tied to its spiritual roots, you LOSE your ability to AIRBEND, if you aren't inclined to your spiritual side. Which is a core part of the air nomad culture. Tenzin is... Literally the only god forsaken part left of that, so yeah. It’s a pretty big fucking deal. Aang values his culture and teachings to such a high degree, he is literally the survivor of a genocide. His favouring of Tenzin was done out of necessity and love, not out of a need for power and a new attack dog to send orders around. 

Tenzin will literally be the future “Director” Or guide for the next avatar to learn airbending, people still forget this, and it’s hilarious. He needs to know all the moves, all the teachings because he will be the next avatar's personal guide. 

Aang constantly reassures him, and apologizes for the pressure that may be put upon him but he always reaffirms that he’ll be there to guide him and they’ll “learn together”

---------

So yeah not the same thing at all. Fuck you for being so inept at understanding the different reasons and perspectives of those situations, just for some petty ship discourse, genuinely disgusting.

Isolating the children:

OK this part, I have to say that the writers definitely messed up with aangs characterization, but I think the execution came out way differently than the intention, so I will try to look more into the intention of each decision.

Ozai isolated Zuko, mistreated him, belittled him, PHYSICALLY ABUSED HIM, but yeah totally on par with Aang actually. 

I don’t wanna touch on this part much mainly because his treatment was literally explained all throughout the show, and granted, while I understand most of these people haven’t touched the show aside from reading fanfic 300000 Where Aang is revealed to us as satan himself, but perhaps, even a small peak at Ozai's parenting would reveal the laughable contrast between the two.

Zuko was a slow learner, and much more of a softie, and a “mama's boy” To Ozai’s heavy dislike, he was thus treated as such, he was belittled, turned down, and literally burnt alive for showing “weakness” He is meant to serve as a direct contrast to Azula, ”The everything he isn't.” 

Kya and Bumi on the other hand, don’t show any actual signs of trauma aside from some petty jabs they threw at Tenzin, 

Bumis talk with Aang at the statue was *very very* Clearly, meant to highlight his own inferiority complex that he internalized growing up. His need for proving himself to be capable of doing just as much if not more than a “bender” Probably happened because his two parents were both prodigy benders and him being a first born son who was a non-bender must’ve hit pretty hard for him, and I’m so sure that katara and Aang reassured how special he is but that kind of thing doesn’t really go away.

------

------

Kya: [while healing Bumi] I told you those rocks were slippery. You're lucky you didn't kill yourself.

Bumi: You done with the lecture, mom?

Kya: Oh, grow up. You haven't changed one bit since we were kids. You're still trying to prove you can do everything a bender can. Well, you can't. Deal with it.

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

 That talk with Aangs statue was very much meant to unveil an internal struggle rather than a conflict he had with his father. Kya even doubles down on this, telling him “of course he’d be proud of you” Basically spoon feeding to us, the viewers, that this is much more of internal than an external conflict that he has to overcome along the show. 

“Why Didn’t he share his culture with them 1!!1!” 

He most definitely did, or tried to, but it’s clear they didn’t show much interest so he didn’t pester, this is shown many times throughout the show. 

“You know I could never keep all those gurus straight… There were like a million of them!

remember that long boring story about the guy who never ate?”

This is literally Kya’s remark to Tenzin just after he tried teaching the airbender students this story, basically telling us that Aang DID try to tell them about his stories and culture, but much to their disinterest, didn’t try any further. 

And Bumi, literally could not pay attention to the story to save his life, and instead decided to fool around in his literal 60’s!! I mean Imagine what he was like when he was a kid!! 

I could imagine their dynamic was very similar to Jinora with Meelo and Ikki, Tenzin being the only one with actual interest and care, whilst Bumi and Kya goofing off and not putting much focus onto it. WHICH IS FINE BTW!! 

It only goes to reiterate that Tenzin was the only one who was actually giving interest and attention to the air nomad culture, and it was of Kya and Bumi’s own personal choice to not partake in it. To each their own I see. 

“BUT WHAT ABOUT THE VACATIONS” 

This.. I agree, weird for the writers to decide this, but given how they low-key are retconning it in interviews, my best guess is that each of those trips were side-quests during their journey to teach an important lesson that might’ve just drowned out because Tenzin may not have remembered it as well. 

Also keep in mind that Tenzin was put into a lot of pressure, Aang probably saw this, and as a way to still keep it enjoyable, he took him to trips that would help ease the mind for a little kid whilst also learning something valuable. That seems pretty on brand for Aang actually

And given that Kya and Bumi are literally in their fucking 60’s it wouldn’t surprised me if they didn’t have the greatest memory. Hell, they didn’t even fault Aang as a parent until Tenzin started boasting about “trips” That Kya and Bumi gave petty jabs but weren’t actually showing genuine hurt, just annoyance.

Kya even comments how Aang was too busy “Trying to save the world, and doing his duty that he didn't have much time for them” 

Phrasing as if it wasn't anything "important" But it's clear that this was Kya's own personal irritation towards Tenzin rather than an actual evaluation on Aang's duties.

A continuation comic best explains it in a deeper way:

----------

Literally showing that “neglecting” His kids wasn't up to him, and was out of a sense of necessity, trying to cram as much knowledge onto Tenzin, the only one who was basically putting his lessons into practices. Kya and Bumi were left feeling neglected. But that wasn’t out of his decision; he still loved them dearly.

-------

This. Literally highlighting how much pressure was forced upon Aang, so yes, as any person would, he struggled with making time for everybody. Holy shit who knew?? 

GASP!! IS THAT… A REALISTIC BUT UNDERSTANDABLE FLAW!!?? HOW DARE YOU! ITS OZAI #2 

The fact that the smiley energetic person forgets to SMILE, is a big deal, man was put through hells amount of stress but he never cracked.

So tell me, how is a genocidal freak, who treats his golden child like a tool and abuses the other both physically and emotionally for showing “weakness’ 

Even remotely comparable to

 the sole survivor of a genocide, trying to withhold his teachings and culture onto literally his only child that showed actual effort in doing so, while also maintaining the balance of an entire fucking world and being literally the biggest “advisor” And “Mentor” For society, OH! And also building and managing a literal city, but along the way struggling to make time for his children. 

Guess what, they’re not. And if you think they are. You are an idiot, with bias and headcanons.

So the conclusion is, Aang is a flawed parent, but he isn't a "bad" Parent - confirmed by the literal writers.

Comparing him to Ozai a literal dictator, is absolutely sickening, just for your petty shipping discourse when this show's been over for a decade is insane. Indulge in what you enjoy, but stop projecting delusions like they're canon.

:D

[thesiltverses]

i have got to say the way you write people in power and their media presence in tsv is way too good. we're between the two rounds of the legislative elections right now in france and the far right is in the lead, so the media discourse is for the the most part absolutely chilling. listening to the latest episodes of the tsv over the last few months, during election seasons and with the state of geopolitics at the moment, really makes me appreciate how strikingly horror media can portray the horrors of the real world. i really really love the way you navigate it in tsv, as well as with eskew before! carson especially is such a compelling character as a communicator, with his constant cheerfulness and his misleading framing and outright lies. the latest season of the silt verses really is one of this pieces of media that make me think 'jfc this is Too realistic for a show with a supernatural premise im getting nauseous listening to it' (<- this is a compliment). i'm honestly so excited to see how this show is going to end! i'll be sad to not have any more of it to listen to but i do value a purposefully crafted ending over a show that goes on forever so. props on you for deciding to let it go. i'm really looking forward to finding out what you guys are going to work on next! ☀️

Thank you so much!

I take it as a huge compliment that the political satire can hit home and feel 'too realistic' - because, you know, it is broad, and absurd, and it's in a setting with crab monsters and pylon monsters and someone who turns people into chairs.

But, yeah, the French election - please take care of yourself and fingers crossed the final outcome is as good as it can be. One of the things about having such a global cast is that we can all catch up and compare notes over Zoom: "how are you guys getting on, what stage of the ineffectual centrist unsuccessfully trying to hold the fort to far-right populist successfully leveraging discontent in order to claim power cycle are you at? Oh, you're there, are you? Cool, yeah, we'll be there in four years."

[asksythe]

Hi! I was looking into some stuff and came across a post talking about WWX’s arrogance. It was about WWX’s character and how the fandom insists that his arrogance was one of his main flaws when that’s not true and so on. Then I saw some people saying that arrogance is not inherently bad in Chinese novels and that I might have to do with the way the novel was translated.

I was just wondering if you had some insight on this. Thanks!

On some level, it can be considered a translation issue. But the real reason why WWX's characters, as well as countless other details in MDZS specifically (and Chinese novels broadly speaking), tend to be misunderstood on such a massive scale is... cross-cultural value mismatch.

Consider this:

1/ There is a tendency in the international fanbase to judge WWX (and other characters) on a modern Western moral standard. I don't have to tell you how illogical this is. Imagine if you come into the world of Game of Thrones and start spouting 21st-century judgment. You are likely to become human shishkebabs in less than five minutes. Most people who watch Game of Thrones or read the book understand that's not something you do unless you are a moron or looking to start shit. But for some reason, this is not the case for the MDZS fandom (and many other Chinese media fandoms out there). I'm not sure why this is the case. It might be because of the cultural distance making people not really realize they are coming into an entirely different world, and then they forget to check their modern expectations at the door. Like how tourists become obnoxious when they come to a foreign country, expecting the foreign country to cater to their whims.

I've once seen someone made an addition on TV Tropes saying WWX is a mass murderer that never got punished for his crime. I... I don't know what to say to that really. My expectation is that the person who wrote that is someone under 30, never left America, and never served in the military. For somebody who has never had this kind of experience, no amount of words will explain to them that for major parts of the world and for the vast majority of mankind's history, you have to be able to kill to survive. In fact, for most of our history, killers are our heroes. War is a reality that we live in. The ones who survive are the ones who win wars, the really accomplished killers.

2/ MDZS was not written for an international audience. That is to say, it's written with the expectation that it doesn't have to explain its intricacies and tropes to its intended readers. Because its readers already know. MDZS is xianxia danmei. Danmei has only had about 2 decades of modern history. But xianxia as a genre has stretched back millennia. Its tropes are very set. Chinese (and Sinosphere) readers don't need an explanation because we grow up consuming this kind of stories.

We don't need to be told in plain words to know WWX's only crime is to be possession of the Yin Tiger Tally, and the Jin's scheme is the real reason behind his tragedy. Because it's such a standard trope in our culture that there are millennia-old proverbs about it.

匹夫无罪，怀璧其罪 - pǐ fū wú zuì，huái bì qí zuì. Lit. The commoner is innocent, but his possession of treasure is a sin.

We don't need to be told that it doesn't matter if WWX goes along with the cultivation world's ceaseless demands (keep Suibian with him, consult more with Jiang Cheng before he does things) to know that none of that matters. Because none of those are actual rules, just trivial bullshit made up and used to socially isolate WWX and manipulate the public opinion against him. WWX's true crime is that he is alone. He is an orphan. No one will stand up for him. And unlike his big mouth, he's a real softie. Because if he wasn't then all of them would be dead ten times over with the kind of martial power WWX possess. Only WWX's good heart holds him back from really using his ability. Therefore, you can spit on him, you can cut him, you can trample on him without fearing retaliations.

Nie Mingjue has no sword. Ain't nobody try to lip him about it. Yu Furen has no sword. She uses a whip. Ain't nobody lip her about it.

WWX's undead cultivation is also not really the problem. That kind of cultivation is vanilla as girl scout's cookies. It's only made out that way because it's a method of cultivation that is very easy to learn and does not require enormous resources (i.e. caste issue, not class, caste) to cultivate. Which means it's a method that can be practiced far and wide by poor commoners. Which means it's an infringement on the cultivator House's power and financial base. That's its real crime. Not all that justice bullshit.

For many international fans out there, MDZS is their introduction to danmei (and xianxia). So they come in not knowing these things. They don't see the caste issues, the tragedy, the difference of philosophies and choices between WWX and JC. Their conclusion is built on ignorance and misunderstanding.

It doesn't help that most know little to nothing about Chinese culture which is a high-context culture, the polar opposite of most Western cultures (low-context culture). Something that may seem small and insignificant for a Western reader base can be a really big deal for the Chinese reader base, because it's inbuilt in five thousand years of history and culture. Like why Jin Guangyao buried his mother's corpse in the Guanyin temple and why he needed to reclaim it and take it with him when he tried to flee to Japan.

So it's no surprise there is such a massive divide in fandom opinion.

[soberpluto]

Chart Ruler in the 12 Houses Pt. 1

Hi loves! Debrief on having your 1st house ruler (or chart ruler) in all 12th houses. As a side note: in Modern Astrology, Scorpio, Aquarius and Pisces have a secondary ruler (Pluto, Uranus and Neptune, correspondingly), so if you have any of these signs as your Ascendant, the houses in which your two ruling planets (lords) sit should be taken into account equally. 💎

1st house: Super booster here. When you have the ruler of your chart in your 1st house or conjunct your Ascendant, your character and health tend to be very strong and enduring. You embody your rising sign’s traits to the bone, to the point you may identify more with its characteristics instead of your Sun sign’s, physically and personality wise. You are independent and don’t need to rely on others opinion or approval to build the life you want. You find success easier because of your great resourcefulness. The planets in your ASC can color your psyche big time, and this is reinforced when your chart ruler sits in your 1st house. The sign and topics it represent will be of special importance throughout your whole life. Part of your life purpose consists of discovering and taming yourself through self-knowledge and being able to tap into the purest form of power within your being. How you share it will the world will depend on your rising sign.

2nd house: You are driven by the pursuit of finding value in your life. Depending on the planet, these things can go from relationships to philosophical knowledge, for example. When your chart ruler sits in your 2nd house, matters like money, stability, security, pleasure and comfort represent major goals in life. You feel worthy through your own achievements, and can gain a lot of wealth and material success when you have a dignified placement. Part of your life mission consists of building financial health, but also developing a strong and grounded sense of self-worth and self-esteem through the discovery of what you find beautiful and/or valuable. Things like art, music, nature and enjoyment can inspire you deeply. The downside is that you can be a bit lazy, overly materialistic and/or unchangeable because you fear leaving your comfort zone.

3rd house: You are someone who enjoys networking and communicating with others. You are witty and like to keep connected with your close surroundings. You live in the world of possibilities and connections. Social media and gossip may make you feel alive and important, not in a way that you have to talk about others to feel okay, but in the sense that you need to feel you belong to a close circle or that your social interactions and wide are varied because this satisfies your need for stimulation and novelty. You like to know everything about everyone! Learning and academic pursuits will always help you to evolve and keep your hyperactive mind productive. The intellectual realm is something very important to you, that’s why you like to travel, absorb all possible information, and have a wide circle of contacts. When this house is active, things like writing, learning, communicating, and networking are strengths. You are awesome at spreading information. Your siblings and close surroundings may hold an important key to your life’s mission, too. The not so good thing is that you can be overly analytic, nervous, restless and instable if you don’t control your insatiable need for novelty and freshness.

4th house: You are really private, someone who finds comfort in their own space, a place hidden from the public eye. Home and family life is very important to you. This doesn’t mean that you are obsessed with your family or that you cannot leave your roots, but instead, that you need to find security and heartfelt connection and appreciation wherever you go to feel happy. Women, children and/or heritage are close to your heart, just as family assets and things that have sentimental value. The emotional realm and how you use it anchor to places and people are very important to find your own place in the world. You will make a home wherever you love and are loved, and that’s your superpower.  You are familiar to the ups and downs of life, and this makes you someone who is empathetic, compassionate, and sensitive to other’s needs. The negative of this is that you may have a really hard time letting things go because of your tendency to live in the past; you sometimes just care too much about those you love, even if it’s not reciprocated. Your parents and/or ancestors and you can be releasing karma from previous lives too, so overcoming matters related to your upbringing or childhood are particularly important to fulfill your life’s mission!

5th house: Entertainment, sports, music, art, hobbies, drama and being in the lime-light are yours to enjoy in this lifetime. Your gifts are creative talent and authenticity. Discovering your passions and sharing them with the world through your unique character and candor are part of your life’s mission on Earth. People can be magnetized to you for no particular reason and this is because you are meant to inspire them through your most true self. You can be a bit arrogant, self-centered and/or seek a lot of attention when your personality is out of control, but for the most part, this placement allows you to march at your own rhythm and pace and shine with regality and charisma anywhere you go! Living under too much control, a lack of self-expression or being the shadow of someone else’s light and success will make you feel unworthy and depressed, so it’s important you strive to make your own merits and use your creativity to exploit (in the good sense) all you are meant to share with the world. You can become famous or achieve a lot of recognition with this configuration. You will find a lot of fulfillment in children, romance, acting, modeling, art and/or creative recreational activities.

6th house: Daily routine, health and growth on the material realm will be very relevant to you. Your wellness depends largely on how you feel about yourself. This placement may not be so fun as others, but the promises of having your chart ruler in the 6th house are inspiring others through the way you behave on a daily basis and how much care you put into yourself. You can become workaholic and/or be very committed to your body through exercise, diets, and healing of diseases, just be mindful of the tendency to become hypochondriac or too obsessed with being perfect, nobody is! You will tend to be hard working, diligent, modest, humble, and service-oriented towards others. People may see you as reliable, someone who is very trustworthy and excellent at their job. While you are flexible and curious in life, you like to rely on your mind to engage with the world, and your logic can certainly help you achieve your goals as long as you learn about moderation between your “duties” and relaxation, because both are equally important for your well-being.

I will post Pt 2 in a bit! Thanks for reading 😘

[burst-of-iridescent]

so sorry you've been getting these anons ana :( i thought as a native i could give my two cents on the fire lady katara trope? ill admit im more of a casual zutara shipper, so i havent seen a good chunk of the fandom, but ill give it my thoughts. for me personally, i am not a fan of fire lady katara- it's not particularly to do with the trope itself, but the execution often done by the fandom. ive discussed this with other natives before, but sometimes in the fire lady trope, it is often that katara moves to the fire nation, that she wears fire nation clothes and is surrounded by fire nation culture. obviously, that isn't wrong! the sharing of culture is a beautiful thing, but there is a good majority of fics where it feels like her water tribe culture is forgotten, that she is made to move permanently to the fire nation in favour of zuko. specifically in a post war climate, where a good majority of the people in the fire nation would still hold onto imperialist and racist beliefs, the idea of katara living there permanently is uncomfortable. i moved out of my mostly native village into a nearly fully white uni, and it's scary, and so when i apply those thoughts to katara living in the fire nation, its uncomfortable. and as for the rest, it's mainly just how sometimes it feels like the fandom doesn't value her culture as much as zukos, even unconsciously- it often feels like the fandom values the perceived glamour and power of the fire nation royalty, and finds fire nation culture more understandable than anything water tribe, and so prefer to have katara in a setting that is more 'easy' for them. in hand with this, is often the fandom perception that the water tribe is less progressive than the fire nation, that they are sexist and that zuko is giving katara a better life (i will say that this is not something i have not seen often, especially recently, but it is something i have discussed w people so i thought id mention it, especially since its usually not intentional). sorry this got so long, i went on a bit of a ramble but obviously this isn't the be all end all. like you said, there are lots of people who are fine, or enjoy fire lady katara because they perceive or write it differently, and that is fine! everyone perceives media differently, just like some people will be uncomfortable with zutara, some might not be. i just thought id send this as a reason why some of us do dislike the trope, and things to keep in mind when ppl are writing it

hi anon, thank you so much for sharing this with me! i really appreciate you taking the time to write out your thoughts and offer your perspective on this.

i definitely agree that the fire lady katara trope can be executed in some exceedingly problematic ways. there are many zutara fics that i've clicked out of for the reasons that you've mentioned, especially older ones that were written around when the show aired or shortly after. i won't deny at all that there are ways people write the zutara relationship that make me profoundly uncomfortable. my problem arises when someone assumes that the trope itself is inherently racist or wrong, instead of understanding that it can be written in a variety of ways by a variety of people, who bring their own perspectives - and prejudices - to their individual portrayals.

what you said about moving from your mostly native village to a fully white university really struck a chord with me because (although it's not the same, and can never be) i can really sympathize with those feelings of alienation and sudden lack of belonging. i'm part of the desi diaspora myself, and i've grown up in a country where i've always been the minority, and had to deal with racism and ignorance, so your experience really spoke to me. i hope that doesn't come across like i'm trying to co-opt your struggle or anything like that, because that was not my intention at all. i just wanted to let you know that i can understand what a scary feeling it is, even if not exactly in the same way.

that being said, personally if i could choose between spending my life in india or growing up overseas, i would still choose to do the latter even if it meant living through the bigotry and ostracization i've experienced again. i love the life i've built here, though it's a more difficult one than what i could've led back home.

in the context of atla, i agree that katara would most likely face racism and discrimination in the fire nation, at least in the immediate years following the war. but personally i also find a very empowering narrative in seeing her confront and dismantle the prejudices within the fire nation system, just as she did with the sexism of the northern water tribe. katara wouldn't abide bigotry in any form, and i think fighting inequality is a battle that she would want to take on, and would willingly choose to take on whether she ended up with zuko or not. that's why i take issue with the insistence that her becoming queen of the fire nation inherently equates to her victimization, because it can also very much be a power fantasy, and i know many woc who do see it as such.

(of course, that is just my own perspective, and i completely understand why others see it differently and might not be comfortable with it. their feelings are just as valid and legitimate.)

ultimately, i think correctly executing the fire lady katara trope isn't just about katara herself valuing her culture, but zuko doing it as well. i love seeing explorations of the trope (and the zutara relationship in general) where zuko takes an active interest in katara's heritage, incorporates her traditions and practices into his own life and home, and involves himself in her culture just as much as she involves herself in his. zutara is a ship that has always been about equality to me, and that's something that can and should carry over to how they blend their cultures together. like you said, there is nothing wrong in katara wearing fire nation clothes, or being surrounded by fire nation culture - so long as she isn't the only one in the relationship taking an interest in her partner's heritage. thankfully, in most zutara content i've seen, she isn't.

in my own personal view of katara becoming fire lady, it happens only years after the war ends. she spends her time postwar travelling the world and kicking ass, empowering women in the north to learn waterbending, rebuilding the southern water tribe, meeting and learning from everyone she can. when she becomes fire lady, she continues to travel often - home, of course, but also to the other nations when necessary, using her skill of inspiring and motivating others, and her desire to help the less fortunate, in matters of international diplomacy. when she returns, her husband is in blue, and her children wear whalebone beads in their hair, and there are fire flakes next to stewed sea prunes on her dining table. there are hard times, but there is also love and respect, and so she changes the world as she damn well deserved to in canon.

[prince-liest]

Since Vox is trans in Once Bitten too, I'm a bit curious about one thing: would you say that the way he's currently treating Alastor is close to the way he himself was treated as a "woman" back in the day, by his boss or other men? I have a feeling that one of the reasons he thinks he's not disrespecting Alastor is because on top of having spent ~70 years in Hell already, and being so self-centered, he's intimately familiar with that one specific type of patronization and it reinforces the idea that he couldn't possibly be a perpetrator of that himself if he only has the "best" intentions for Bambi and actually values him and his work (the irony)

2/ Vox (gatekeep, mansplain, manwhore): me? Patronizing? Condescending?? Baby it's cute you think you know what those words mean haha don't frown you're so sexy

PFFT, love that quote. I honestly would attribute Vox's attitude mostly to his shitty personality and the way it's been enabled over the years. His backstory in this verse is exactly the same as it was in 666, and he absolutely did face a lot of the attitude you might imagine someone seen a beautiful woman in his position would face, but he also was a very self-indulgent, go-getting, driven person even in life and occasional shittiness and glass ceiling aside, very much used what he had to get what he wanted.

He absolutely holds patronizing and sexist views despite all of that, and they are definitely sourced from his background, but the greater impact I personally think is from the fact that he came into power as the Media Overlord in a world with no Radio Demon to keep him humbled. The Vees are irreverent as hell (pun intended) even in canon, and that was with them being fundamentally incapable of being top dog. While we don't know how they compare to Carmilla and Zestial in terms of power and influence, I think it's also pretty clear that Carmilla and Zestial don't really have much interest in interfering with them, unlike Alastor, who Valentino mentions Vox has outright fought with.

So: Vox has been running utterly unchecked for decades, supported and enabled both by the other Vees and also his enormous, rabid audience. He's a narcissist who's not prone to seeing other people as people (and this was a problem he had in 666 as well, especially at first), in general and as a whole. His respect and appreciation for others is couched in how he experiences them.

Also, frankly? If you sat him down in a therapist seat, pointed a bright light in his face, and made him answer whether or not he really thought he was being respectful to Alastor in this fic, he would arrive at "no." After all, he does stop himself from doing things he knows would send Alastor running, and while he's pushing the envelope, he's doing so in (relatively) covert ways that he's hoping will get Alastor entrenched and codependent.

But nobody's sitting him down like that, nobody can make him sit down like that, and he doesn't care enough to think past the surface-level justifications he uses for acting on his impulses rather than restraining them.

[artist-issues]

heya, I really like the way you talk about how obsessed media is with centering everything around romance as the ultimate be-all-end-all of a relationship, as well as your love and respect for old pieces of media (I love Anne of Green Gables too!!).

I wanted to ask if you think it’s possible to separate these old pieces of media from their respective societies general views on social issues? If every person creating a piece of art is a product of their time period, is there a way you go about dealing with things like inherent racism / classism / sexism in the work?

Because despite really enjoying old media, I often end up coming up against actions and behavior in fiction that I and my family have had to deal with directly and regularly (for reference, I’m not white lol) in real life, which is often a little exhausting, especially when this behavior is coming from a character that simultaneously holds up values of goodness and kindness and love and respect for all. In these cases it always feels like those values are only directed to people they deem of as worthy of respect, and that anyone that doesn’t fall into this group is subhuman. It’s like this person can decide if a human counts as a human, which feels very human-centric. Why is one group of people allowed to decide if another group deserve to be treated like humans? That feels like a huge amount of power. Shouldn’t only God have control over this and not individual people (and didn’t He already do this when he created humanity?) Anyway that’s some rambling. My main point is that sometimes it’s hard to enjoy a piece of media when I know that the person creating it held beliefs (either unknowingly because everyone around them also held those beliefs, or with the full understanding of how much suffering views like that cause) that are the opposite of my beliefs, and that in some cases disregard my right to freedom and a good life.

This is incredibly rambly and I’m not even sure if what I’m asking makes sense, but I’m curious to know what you think of stuff like this! You’re very articulate and I’ve been enjoying reading through your arguments, they’re surprisingly well thought out! Okay I’m going to stop typing now before I write a novel in your inbox—

Thank you, you’re very kind!

You’re totally right about God and humanity. Every human being is made in the image of God; He gets to decide what they’re worth. Humans don’t.

The short answer (that I’ll inevitably add to with my own rambling) is, “don’t focus on the individual who wrote the story; focus on the truth that’s in the story.”

You might have read one of my posts where I said something like, “when a storyteller tells the story, it’s told. It’s like speaking out loud: once you say something, you can’t take it back. You might not have meant what you said, but you still said it—if your meaning didn’t line up with your words, then you should have been more careful with the words you chose, because you can’t change what you said,” something like that.

The point of that post is: words (and stories) have their own meaning. That’s why it’s so important to choose them carefully.

For example: If Hitler says, “the sky is blue,” even though he’s a monster and a terrible person and clearly wrong about most things, the words he spoke, the sentence “the sky is blue” is still true. It’s a true statement. So you could say, “Hitler is a monster, he’s wrong about most things, you can’t trust him and he shouldn’t be taken as an authority on anything…but he was right when he said “the sky is blue.”” Because at that point, who Hitler is and whether or not he’s credible, or even whether or not he’s right about MOST things, doesn’t change what color the sky is. Truth is truth, no matter who points it out—OR fails to point it out.

So, when someone like a classic author uses their story to say something like: “The truth will set you free,” but then you find out that they were pro-slavery, here’s what you do. You say, “this author was a human being who, like all human beings, had some stuff right, and some stuff wrong. It’s my job to figure out what they got right and what they didn’t get right.” (That’s actually your job with anything anyone tells you.)

Or, to put it simply, like my granny used to say: “Eat the cookie, spit out the nuts.”

And remember, just because you “like the story” doesn’t mean you also “100% agree with everything the storyteller ever said or did in their entire lives.” No. Liking the story means you appreciated that one thing that the storyteller said, for it’s own sake.

Truth is truth. If Louisa May Alcott’s story says, “living a humble life of self-sacrifice is worth more than fame and glory,” but then later I find out that she was racist, guess what? The lesson “living a humble life etc.,” is still true. Maybe she was APPLYING that truth in a really flawed way…but the lesson in the story is still true. Her human imperfections don’t make that lesson untrue. That’s what’s beautiful and terrible about communication, and stories, in general: you can say something, and once it’s said, it stands on it’s own—with or without you.

Point is:

People are wrong. Humans never, ever, see everything in life 100% correctly 100% of the time…and they very rarely communicate life’s truths correctly, either. But…truth is truth, it’s never wrong, and sometimes even an imperfect human can point it out and shine a great light on it for other humans to see.

If you decide that a person has to be right about everything—or maybe they don’t have to be right about everything, but they at least have to be right about very important issues like race and humanity and even religion—before you’ll consider anything they have to say, you’ll find that you can’t consider anything anyone has to say, ever. Because all people are flawed. But even a broken clock is right twice a day. Look for truth—real, objective truth, never mind who’s saying it—and appreciate that. Eat the cookie, spit out the nuts.

It’s fine to celebrate an author, or filmmaker, or director, but honestly, none of them are perfect. None of them have perfect worldviews where they treat everyone in their lives equally and lovingly. So really, you should never have assigned so much importance to the human author in the first place. Assign that importance to truth, instead.

Mild soapbox, kind of unrelated to what I think your question is, below

We keep doing this thing in society where we’re like, “hey, you know that Historically Significant Person we all owe so much to and have celebrated for years because of their Beloved Work? Turns out they were RACIST/SEXIST/AN IMPERFECT HUMAN! You know what that means? Everything we know about them, and their Beloved Work, must BURN.”

And then we throw the baby out with the bath water. Like…like people who make Beloved Works weren’t humans—they were some kind of super-humans—and they should never have had any flaws for us to uncover. Then when we do uncover those flaws, we decide that they must have been wrong about everything, including the Beloved Work. Which makes…no sense.

And, it’s hypocritical. Do you think that in 100 years, kids are going to pick up a book about you and your life, and say, “man, this person was 100% trustworthy and never got anything in life wrong. Anything they wrote, any story they created, is therefore worth enjoying.” No!

The people who lived in the 19th century did not all realize that they were committing historical sins they’d be discredited for in the future. They lived what was, for them, completely normal lives, wallowing in and sometimes even celebrating things that we know were wrong. But just because we know something they never realized does not make us better than them, or able to declare that they were wrong about everything they ever said.

Do you think we’ll be any different than they were? In 2080, don’t you want the younger generation to take the good things you said and the lessons you learned that are true, and just give you grace for any wrongs you committed? Or do you want them to totally discredit you, and your lessons, and your life, when they find out you were doing something that, to you, seemed totally normal?

We’re all imperfect. We’re all wrong sometimes. But truth is never wrong, and sometimes imperfect people can help one another to appreciate perfect truths. It just takes grace, and it takes focusing on truth and celebrating truth, rather than focusing so much on humans and trying to set them up to be super-human.

That’s all. I hope something in that ramble helped. Thanks for the ask!

[rpmemesbyarat]

I can't say I've consumed every piece of abuse-related media out there, but what I have consumed just so often focuses only on the violent, angry, overtly-controlling and obviously-manipulative aspects of abusers, and so rarely on the much more clever (and very common) use of pity and the weaponized illusion of weakness, illusion that the victim is REALLY the one with the power, etc. But, this form of abuse and abuser exists, and it’s extremely powerful. A good example of what I’m talking about is when Girl On Film's video "What the F0K is Labyrinth About" points Jareth's use of vulnerability in the "fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your slave" scene and the "your eyes can be so cruel" bit. On face value these seem so romantic and make us feel for him, but the use of vulnerability as a lure to the victim, especially emphasizing the victim's specialness, and trying to make the victim feel as if THEY are the ones hurting the abuser is like...such a real fucking thing abusers do and I so rarely see it in media. It's why the bit early on in "A Dowry of Blood" really stuck out to me where the main narrator says "I knew then I would chase your tiny moments of weakness all the way into hell and back. What is more lovely, after all, than a monster undone by wanting?"And wanting YOU, specifically, the idea YOU are so special and desirable that YOU can undo such a powerful monster. It plays to people’s sympathy and compassion (you feel for them, you don’t want to hurt them, etc) as well as their pride (I am the only one special enough to make a person like this so desperate)

I've seen a million fictional abusers say "you're nothing without me!" and "I'll kill you if you try to leave me!" but I've seldom if ever seen one say "I'm nothing without you" and "I'll die/kill myself if you leave me"....but a damned lot of them do. It's still manipulation through fear, just a fear born from your own compassion instead.

And I’d really like to see more of this in media. Because if we only portray abuse as overt violence and threats against others and berating the victim, we don’t realize that it’s ALSO abuse when someone self-deprecates every time you contradict and confront them so you instead learn never to call them on their behavior, or that they can hold you hostage with threats to THEMSELVES as easily as threats against you or your loved ones. Yes, abusers will make themselves seem larger and more powerful than they are. . .but also smaller and more pathetic as well. Whatever will manipulate you, whatever will make you stay, whatever will make you cow to their behavior. But if we only ever are taught that one form of abuse is abuse, it’s all most people will see abuse as being, and it becomes that much harder to recognize other kinds and leave.

It’s also very validating for those who have been through this to see their experiences reflected and depicted as being what it is—abuse—in media, because it’s very easy in this form to make you question “was that abuse?” and even “was I the abuser?” because of how abusers will frame YOU as the bad guy holding the power over THEM in this form. It can really make you think you’re crazy or an awful person, and seeing something that says “no, this was real, and this was what was happening, and yes you WERE the victim here” is a tremendous thing for folks who have been through that.

And besides that, I just like seeing more than one type of ANYTHING represented in fiction, no matter what it is. I love beagles, but if every dog in every story was a beagle, I’d wanna see some Rotties and shepherds and so on, you know?

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

Cancel Culture Is Real - Andrew Doyle

"Cancel culture doesn't exist!" is a mantra we often hear from its most obstinate practitioners.

In October 2022, the comedian and BBC presenter Graeme Norton suggested that a better term for cancel culture would be "accountability." But is it really fair to harass, defame and ruin people's lives simply for expressing commonly held opinions? What exactly are they being held accountable for? A much better synonym for cancel culture was coined by the singer Nick Cave. He said it was "mercy's antithesis."

Given that the very existence of cancel culture is so often denied, I thought I'd take this opportunity to outline precisely what is meant by cancel culture, and why it matters so much for those of us who still care about liberal values.

But let's begin with that thorny question of definitions. Now, most of us understand what cancel culture means. But perhaps it might be more instructive to consider what it isn't.

If someone criticizes you for something you've said or done, that's not cancel culture, that's free speech. If someone blocks you on social media, that's not cancel culture; someone has just decided you're not worth listening to and is exercising his or her freedom to ignore you. If you've not been invited to speak at a certain event, that's not cancel culture either; no one's entitled to a platform.

No, what cancel culture actually means is a form of public shaming or harassment, often for relatively minor mistakes or unfashionable opinions. It's the difference between criticizing someone for something they've said or done, or systematically attempting to see their reputation and livelihood obliterated. Cancel culture is not criticism, it's denunciation. it's contacting employers and demanding that people are fired because you don't agree with what they've said. It's spreading lies about them online so their future work prospects are diminished. In other words it's a hugely disproportionate and vindictive form of revenge, dressed up in the guise of virtue.

Here's a way to think about it: let's say a colleague has attempted a joke via email and maybe you feel a bit offended by it. Do you have a conversation with them in private and say, "look I think that was a bit misjudged, but I know that wasn't the intention so let's just move on and go for a pint." Or do you screenshot the offending email, post it online, invite all your followers to pile on to the person who wrote it, and denounce them publicly and then demand that the employer fires them for hateful conduct?

Now if you're opting for the latter, I've got some bad news for you. You you're not the good guy here.

"But free speech has consequences," the cancel culture skeptics cry. Well look, I'm inclined to agree. If a person says something stupid or offensive, they can expect criticism, ridicule, counterarguments, even protest. But if the consequences of free speech are that someone becomes the target of a campaign of public shaming and personal ruination, or worse still, that they're arrested for so-called "hate speech," then that's surely unjustifiable.

A common misconception is that cancel culture is simply a matter of holding the powerful to account. The failure of activists to cancel JK Rowling is often cited as evidence that cancel culture is a myth. But as one of the most successful authors of all time, Rowling cannot be cancelled, much to the irritation of those who sender abuse and threats on a daily basis. The vast majority of targets are those with limited means, who don't have the public profile or financial resources to protect themselves from such attacks. This is why the Free Speech Union has been invaluable, offering support to so many people who found themselves at the center of witch hunts.

Perhaps the most sinister aspect of cancel culture is that it has successfully generated a climate of fear, in which many are afraid to express even their most cherished convictions. Once a few high-profile individuals have been cancelled, this can be sufficient to discourage others from speaking out. The relentless and cruel attacks on JK Rowling are driven not by any serious belief that she'll suddenly become impoverished and unemployable. But rather by the desire to send a message to others who share her point of view. After all, who would want to be on the receiving end of such malicious and continual harassment.

And so, the full impact of cancel culture is pretty difficult to quantify. Like "no platforming," which is the practice carried out by universities of denying platforms to individuals with controversial views, most of the targets of cancel culture are pre-emptive. Just as speakers with heterodox views will never know that they've been deprived of an opportunity to speak on campus, many of us will have been passed over for promotions, or not hired at all, simply for the opinions we've expressed in conversation or on social media. We will never know who has been cancelled, because we can only ever be aware of those handful of instances that have been publicized.

So, while the press will report on pop singer Róisín Murphy's cancelled shows, a consequence of her entirely reasonable comments about the dangers of puberty blockers, the supermarket employee who loses his job for an offensive joke on Twitter is unlikely to garner the same attention.

For all that, there have been numerous examples of cancellations that have made the national news. And the evidence of cancel culture is there for anyone who wishes to see it. And although these examples represent a fraction of the problem, they should be sufficient to disabuse those who cling to the comforting misapprehension that cancel culture is just a fabrication of right- wingers. Not least because so many of its victims have been on the left.

And so, to counter the pervasive and false narrative that cancel culture doesn't exist, I thought it might be helpful to provide an overview of just some of its victims. And now, needless to say, this list is by no means exhaustive.

So, in June 2015, the Nobel prizewinning biochemist Tim Hunt was forced to resign from his honorary position at University College London after a journalist misrepresented jokes he'd made at a conference in Seoul in South Korea.

In August 2019, school teacher Christian Webb lost his job when it emerged that he'd been performing viral comedy rap videos under the pseudonym MC Devo in the mid 2000s.

In December 2021, choreographer Rosie Kay was compelled to resign from her own dance company after investigation processes began because she expressed her gender-critical views at a gathering with dancers in her own home. And although she had cooked them a meal and invited the company to her house, some of those present took it upon themselves to report her to the board.

In December 2018, tax expert Maya Forstater lost her job for saying that women are female and human beings cannot change sex. The decision of the tribunal was initially upheld, so she was forced to take the case to the High Court, which eventually ruled that gender-critical beliefs are protected by law.

The comedy writer Graham Linehan has been unable to work in the comedy industry for six years due to his gender-critical beliefs. His musical adaptation of his hit sitcom "Father Ted" has been halted by the rights owners, Hat Trick Productions, who had offered Linehan a substantial sum of money to have his name removed from the project.

In 2018, barrister Allison Bailey, a lesbian with a long history of gay activism, raised concerns about her chamber's decision to join Stonewall's "Diversity Champions" program due to its uncritical stance on gender self-identification. For raising these concerns, she was labeled as "transphobic" by Garden Court Chambers, who publicly announced that Bailey was under investigation. Bailey later won a court case for discrimination.

In 2018, the children's author Rachel Rooney published a book called "My Body is Me," which challenged sexist stereotypes and promoted a positive self-image for children. It was branded as "transphobic" and Rooney was subjected to a campaign of harassment by figures in the publishing industry. Some bookshops capitulated to activists and stopped stalking her work, and her publisher told her to stop expressing her opinions on the subject of gender.

In June 2023, it was reported that Sibyl Ruth, an editor at Cornerstones literary consultancy, was dropped because of her gender-critical views. Following an employment tribunal she received an apology and substantial damages.

In October 2023, Newcastle United fan Lindsay Smith was banned from the football club stadium for three seasons for her belief that sex is immutable, and that men shouldn't have access to women's changing rooms or compete in women's sports. In addition to her ban, she was investigated by a secret unit at the Premier League, who created a dossier on what they described as their "target." They attempted to find a home address, they assessed photographs from her social media accounts, and they even downloaded images in which Smith could be seen walking a dog.

Dr. Neil Thin experienced what he described as a devastating couple of years when he was falsely accused of racism by student activists. Thin is a senior lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh, and he had criticized a conference called "Resisting Whiteness" because it offered racially segregated spaces. He also objected to the renaming of the David Hume Tower as 40 George Square. It had been renamed on the grounds that Hume had written some passages in an essay in 1753 that would today be deemed offensive. Thin stepped back from teaching while an investigation was underway and was eventually exonerated in September 2021.

Also in 2021, the actor James Dreyfus was dropped from the audio range of Doctor Who stories for signing a letter to Stonewall calling for an open and respectful debate on the subject of gender identity ideology and its impact on the rights of women and gay people. The company not only dropped him but erased his episodes from a compilation in which he was meant to be featured.

In July 2020, the children's author Gillian Philip was dropped by her publisher for tweeting in support of JK Rowling. She's since retrained as a trucker and has written that the haulage industry is far more supportive and inclusive, and a lot less misogynistic, than the world of children's writing.

Criminology Professor Jo Phoenix was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after a campaign of harassment by colleagues after she co-founded a gender-critical research network. In early 2024, she won her constructive dismissal case against the Open University.

In November 2021, social worker Rachel Meade was sanctioned by her employer Social Work England because of gender-critical posts she had shared and liked on Facebook. This led to her being suspended on charges of gross misconduct by Westminster City Council. Meade later won her claim for discrimination against her employer and the judge ruled that the disciplinary procedure amounted to harassment.

In June 2020, Nick Buckley, the founder of charity organization Mancunian Way, was ousted for criticizing the radical politics of the Black Lives Matter movement, most notably its calls to defund the police and abolish capitalism.

In August 2020, Sasha White, an assistant at the Tobias Literary Agency in New York, was fired after a campaign by trans activists who took offense at statements posted on her Twitter account expressing her view that gender neutral pronouns were unhelpful to the feminist cause.

In January 2020, veteran television presenter Alastair Stewart was forced to resign after tweeting a quotation from Shakespeare which included the phrase, "an angry ape." This was misinterpreted as racist because he was replying to a black Twitter, user even though it was a phrase he had used previously in conversation with white people.

In April 2019, philosopher Roger Scrutin was sacked as housing adviser to the Conservative government as part of the "Building Better, Building Beautiful" commission. And this was after a journalist at the New Statesman doctored his statement in an interview in order to make them appear racist.

In June 2019, Asda Supermarket worker Brian Leech was fired after sharing a video online by the comedian Billy Connelly which mocked Islamic suicide bombers, even though the source of the offending excerpt was from a DVD sold by the company that employed him. He was later reinstated following an outcry.

In June 2019, BBC Books removed the writer Gareth Roberts from a Doctor Who short story anthology because he expressed his view that the trans activist movement reinforces outdated gender stereotypes.

In June 2021, the textile artist Jess de Wahls had her artwork removed from sale in the Royal Academy gift shop, having already been driven out of her hairdressing salon in the Soho theater. Simply for her gender-critical opinions. She was bombarded on Twitter with vitriolic messages and calls for her to commit suicide.

In June 2021, it was reported that the Reverend Dr Bernard Randall, a school chaplain at Trent College in Derbyshire had been reported to Prevent, that's the government's anti-terrorism program, and this was because he delivered a sermon on why it was reasonable to challenge ideological viewpoints. And this was in response to a training session that he'd been obliged to attend in which school staff were told to chant "smash heteronormativity."

In June 2021, the cricketer Ollie Robinson was banned from playing for eight months due to offensive tweets that he posted as a teenager. In addition to the ban from the Cricket Discipline Commission, he was fined £3,200 and was compelled to participate in anti-discrimination training.

In June 2021, it was reported that law student Lisa Keogh had been investigated by authorities at Abertay University in Scotland for saying that "women have vaginas." Although she was cleared, she described the two-month investigation as needlessly cruel given that it coincided with her final examination period.

In October 2021, the philosopher Kathleen Stock resigned from the University of Sussex following a campaign of abuse and harassment from student activists who claimed that her very presence excludes and endangers trans people.

Ann Henderson, rector of Edinburg University until February 2021, was falsely smeared by activists as "transphobic" and antisemitic and not fit to hold office simply for tweeting about a meeting at the House of Commons on proposed reforms to the Gender Recognition Act. She experienced a vicious campaign in which the University refused to tackle her abusers.

So that's just a sample of some of the victims of cancel culture.

And if it's true that cancel culture isn't real, it's got a hell of a lot of casualties.

==

They know it's real, because they think it's good.

Until it comes for them.

[aego-weaver]

What is Gender Anyway?

Okay, I'm gonna be an essay blogger now. In this essay, I will talk about my experience with gender. This is gonna be very rambling, with little structure.

Upfront, I want to say that this is only my personal experience. If you agree with me, great; if not, that's fine.

I'm gonna start by saying something controversial and then explain what I mean: I don't understand trans people.

That's not to say I don't support them (because I do support them), but the idea of caring enough about your gender to make that kind of effort is foreign to me. I just don't understand.

To me, gender isn't something you are. It's not a core part of who I am. It doesn't define me. It doesn't really matter.

To put it simply, gender isn't something I am, it's just something I have.

Gender is just a label that, if I tell you, leads you to make assumptions about me; enough of those assumptions are accurate that the label has value for communication, but that's it. If it lacked that value, I would likely just discard it.

I truly don't care what people think about my presentation. In person, I'm obviously a guy, but if someone messed it up, I'd just be confused.

Now, storytime: I was sitting in that mental space for a while. I've sat on the periphery of the LGBTA+ community for a long while, mostly hanging out in aspec spaces, but i would try and keep up with the broader community, even if I didn't quite fit in.

I had an easy enough time finding labels for the rest of my identity: I'm aroace, more specifically aegosexual.

But I didn't really have a good label for my understanding of gender, so it just went unmentioned. I considered the agender label for a while, but it didn't fit. I had a gender, it just didn't matter.

I found the label cassgender by chance. I was reading a wiki, doing some research for a story, when that moment of "oh crap, that me" struck. Next thing I knew, I was looking for a cassgender subreddit (my social media of choice was reddit at the time; I left during the API situation)... and that felt right.

So, that's my story. To me, gender is basically just a sign that I can hold up that says a few things about me. That's it.

I genuinely don't understand having stronger feelings on the matter. For those who do, more power to you, but I personally just don't care.

In summary: What is gender anyway? A miserable pile of ideas! But enough talk, HAVE AT YOU!

[emoelrics]

i'm really interested in the path that asa's character arc is headed. i think it's going to be a really pivotal one. it's going to force her to confront her self-concept and lack of self-esteem.as we know, asa is a character who has extremely low self esteem, has suicidal tendencies, lacks close friendships, and all around is disconnected from her peers.

now she is thrust into the spotlight with people finally respecting her and idolizing her proving that she indeed has value in this world. while she outwardly denies liking fame, i think deep down she really doesnt believe this. with fame, she has external validation to prove all of her notions of herself wrong. she's finally being and celebrated for who she is. she is even called beautiful and her accomplishments are affirmed by the media and society as well. she has coveted fame which so many people especially teenagers crave and desire.

many teenagers in our society often ones who are lonely and depressed yearn to be famous. they believe that being famous will make them happier and will solve all of their problems. (wanis, 2013). people with low self esteem tended to desire to be famous since they believe it would compensate for their vulnerabilities and perceived sense of inadequacy. they tend to fear who they are and are unsatisfied with their lives and fame seems to be the natural solution for that as it may help them overcome their feelings of self-worth (noser & zeigler-hill).

boys tend to believe that it will make them happy while girls are more likely to think that it will make them happier in school (wanis, 2013). tying this in with asa, she has mentioned that she has little desire to establish relationships with her classmates. deep down she probably she genuinely does. she is completely alone with no one who cares about her not even her parents. fame finally has given her this. people care about her. they like her. they notice her. her status in school has probably drastically changed because of this. she is probably no longer bullied because her classmates finally respect her and love her.

on this note, i immediately think of mean girls. cady heron is a social outcast in her new school. she eventually is able to rise in the social hierarchy and insert herself into the plastics who hold influence and power in the school. she eventually becomes just as self-centered and egotistical as them, losing herself to popularity. this form of social influence and power genuinely does corrupt. when you go from a nobody to a person who is noticed and valued, it does something to you. you lose yourself, your self-concept changes. as professor of psychology mitch prinstein states regarding popularity, teens "become almost addicted to any type of attention from peers" (kris, 2017)

for someone like asa, someone with little self-esteem, the external validation will fill temporarily fill the void of loneliness, depression, isolation, lack of appreciation, and purpose but this is nothing without a sense of internal validation. you are forever chasing that high of being appreciated all the while not loving yourself. external validation cannot fill this void. you will be empty and hollow relying on people's words to uplift you.

and we can see with denji who is forever chasing that high of being chainsaw man. without it, he feels like he is nothing. he is aimless because in the end he doesn't value himself. there is no fake it until you make it even with fame. when that fame goes away, you are left with nothing but yourself. at the end of the day, you are the only one capable of uplifting yourself.

references

[autisticempathydaemon]

What song are you fixated on at the moment? - A Nonsense Christmas by Sabrina Carpenter, it fits the season, its playful, and I love all the innuendos in it

What is your Enneagram type? - 4/4w3

Do you love gargantuan Youtube video essays? - I prefer mid-size ones like an hour or less and usually about true crime, natural disasters, climbing/diving expeditions gone wrong, etc.

Tell me about your childhood imaginary friend. - I never had an imaginary friend but I was big on playing pretend especially around like the Warrior Cats books or pretending to have powers.

What is your go-to way to fall asleep? - Noise cancelling headphones, sleeping mask, ASMR, but I play game playthroughs on my TV.

If you had to change your name, what would it be, and why? - I've changed my name before and the two names I go by currently are tied to characters that really resonate with me and that I feel a connection to.

What is your favorite of Redacted’s audios, and why? - David's Hoodie Audio, it was the first one I ever heard and I latched onto the character and the audio kind of aggressively. That audio has gotten me through a lot this year.

What Redacted boy holds no appeal to you, and why? - Ollie! I love him, don't get me wrong, but for me something about him is kind of boring and I don't find myself going back to his audios at all.

Tell me about that one book/movie/tv show you know all the words to. - The Twilight movies as cringe as that is. They came out during a really shitty time in my life and they became a comfort, I've seen all of them more times than I can count.

Which Redacted boy are you platonically attracted to? - Honestly, Damien. I relate to his story in a lot of ways and just generally as a character plus he's so ride or die I feel like he'd be a great friend and wouldn't be hard to relate to.

Do you have a go-to thing you ramble about when you’re tired, and if so, what is it? - Usually random TikTok drama that I've come across and/or random political things going on currently.

Tell me your go-to gas station and drink combo. - 7/11 Slurpees (Coke and Cherry mix) and Munchos (best potato chips ever)

Tell me about your favorite playlist at the moment. - I have an everything type playlist with all the music I like and it's the one I've been cycling through the most. It's fun to hear how all my odd tastes come together in one playlist.

What’s your guilty pleasure media, and why? - Currently? Boyfriend ASMR I suppose. It's really hard to explain to other people what this thing is without sounding at least a little odd - (I had to explain it to a new therapist and could not figure out how to do it without sounding a little insane.)

And whatever else you think tells me about who you are! - My favorite color is pink, my favorite sweet food is chocolate, I use emoticons a lot :3c and I love my friends above all, they've gotten me through a lot and I really value community.

The Enthusiast is an interesting, difficult to match type because I could pair you so compatibly with so many people. Ultimately, it was vibes and the color pink that led me to pair you with Gavin.

Enthusiasts are characterized as creative, outgoing, and unique, the kind of person you don’t forget. I love the idea of pairing Gavin with someone like that because that’s kind of how he is too; he’s best with someone that has the same star power, the same je ne sais quoi to stand out next to him. Not just that but I love that y’all are very interpersonal people with friends being so important to you both; that’ll be perfect considering how the DAMN group are not just his friends but his family.

Y’all would honestly be such an it couple around Dahlia maybe with some cute matching outfits, some pink statement pieces that you and Gavin swap because he’d be a fashionista and a thief that way. When you’re not found at the 7/11 with your respective Big Gulps and Slurpees, you’re chilling at home, giving Gavin a pop culture education because if he hasn’t seen Jumanji, we can’t be sure he’s seen Twilight, and you’d have to fix that.

Song:

Yes, I'm young for a teacher, I'll teach you what you don't know/ (I could teach you the things that you wanna know)/ But I can't give it up all at once, you would overdose/ Don't you bring any bull in the room tonight/ It's a whole new rodeo/ It could be you and me/ But you know that I'll steal the show, oh (yeah)

One, it makes sense for me to give you a Sabrina Carpenter song in return, so that’s fun. Two, I love this song in particular because I could storyboard a whole movie scene set to it of you and Gavin in a Dahlia club, dancing, outdoing one another, just killing it with the romantic and sexual tension of the song like it’s a duet. I have a vision, okay?

Runner-Ups:

Asher was a really close runner-up for you because community and pack are so important to him too as Shaw Beta, so you would have been a good mate for him. Vincent is a runner-up not just because it’s fun to pair Twilight lovers with vampires but because he also finds so much cheesy comfort in those movies; he loves them.

note: whoever this is for and you know who you are let’s pretend this is the first and only time I posted this ask hahaahhaahaaaa I’m sorry bless you

Read this post and send me an ask if you’d like a match-up of your own! 💌

[monsterkong]

The Unspoken Truths of Political Parties

Navigating the Political Maze: Where Do We Stand?

Hey Tumblr fam, let’s dive deep into the murky waters of political parties. Ever feel like choosing a candidate during election season is like picking the lesser of two evils? Let's unpack this together! 🌟

The Flawed Heroes of Politics

It's no secret that sometimes the candidates presented to us aren't exactly... stellar. Take a moment from a recent discussion where a former Senate candidate shed light on this very issue. Voters often end up supporting candidates not because of their genuine qualities or policies but because of heavy endorsements and media manipulation. Why do we settle for this? Isn’t it time we demand better? 🤔

The Media Puppeteers

Media influence is HUGE. It shapes how we see our candidates and often sways us into making decisions that might not align with our actual beliefs. The question then becomes: Are we really making choices, or are we just playing into a larger narrative set by someone else? Think about it—the stories told by the media craft our political reality. 🎭

Breaking the Cycle: It Starts With You

Here’s the real tea: We need to step up as voters. We can't keep following the same patterns and expect different results. It's on us to research, to question, and to challenge the status quo. Only then can we hope to see change in our political systems. We must transform from passive observers to active participants. ✊

From the Campaign Trails to Our Streets

Reflecting on the personal experiences shared by the speaker, it's clear that politics is often more about money and image than about actual policy and integrity. This disconnect between what is needed and what is presented undermines our democratic process. How do we reclaim it? By being better informed, more skeptical, and ready to hold people accountable.

Let's Rewrite the Script

Politics isn’t just about who’s running—it’s about us, the voters, the heart and soul of democracy. We've got the power to change the narrative, to choose leaders who truly represent us, and to create the political landscape we deserve.

Let’s not be content with being told who to support. Let's dig deeper, push harder, and create a movement that values integrity over influence. Are you with me? Let’s make our voices heard loud and clear.

📢 #PoliticsForThePeople #BeTheChange #TumblrTalks

Drop your thoughts, frustrations, and hopes about our political system in the comments. Let’s make this a space for real talk and real change. Together, we can shape a future that reflects our true values. 💬🔥