#and by doing so took away from the message of ''we don't want nazis on the streets''

[purple-is-great]

Finnish media: a police officer on horseback rode into someone when breaking up a protest so that the person fell down. that was fucked up and probably not allowed

People in the comment section: well it's their own fault for not moving out of the way. the police told the people to move so anything that happened after that was their own fault.

[grilledcheese-savage]

Is Animorphs Ableist?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: Look, some of the people on this site genuinely scare me. Their leftism goes so radical that it goes back around to being somehow right wing. There's some real puritanism that's going on that I'm not liking AT ALL. Listen, you can and should think about media critically, and I'm sure there's some things to be said about the way the auxillary morphs are handled. But as someone who is disabled and is a wheelchair user, I feel I'm obligated to defend this series choices.

I believe books should always be able to portray heavy topics, especially when it comes to books about war. Because what is Animorphs if not a book about war? In war bad things happen. People are used. People are broken. People are thrown away. Not once does Animorphs portray these things as a morally good thing to do. In fact, I'd say Animorphs makes you stare right at the disgusting, morally corrupt, real situations that happen in war, so you don't forget them when it comes to vote.

War creates disabled people. There's no way around it. Either you're a veteran, traumatized by the things you've seen, lost a limb etc. being treated as cannon fodder (where the word comes from) or a civilian who was caught in the crossfire. No matter how justified the war, good people get hurt. People get hurt. Not once does Animorphs try to portray it as something that's worth the end goal. I think this is where people get confused. Animorphs is a first person story. You are being spoken to by an unreliable narrator and in the last book where arguably the most "ableist things" are said and done, you aren't just being spoken to by kid; you're being spoken to by a captain. The context surrounding the situation can be easily forgotten seeing as the book is 20+ years old, but Jake isn't a "good person" he's a ruthless soldier trying to see the a-z. That ruthless end goal that can save the greater public. SPOILERS INCOMING IF YOU HAVENT READ ANIMORPHS PLS DO ITS FREE ONLINE: Jake says it himself in one of the most famous lines in the book "It took my breath away, the pure, ruthless perfection of it.

-All i had to do was send my friends to die."

What he said isn't a good thing. Arguing that the author or creators wanted you to take "kill your friends, end a war!" away as a message from the book is being willfully ignorant. Jake just saw his parents be taken over by aliens, while all his friends got theirs back. He lost everything and he's depressed because deep down he knows he will have to kill his brother to end this war. All he can do is focus on ending this war. And then he sees it. The end.

Killing the auxillary morphs (disabled child soldiers) and committing mass genocide on his enemies. When he decides to follow through with this plan we see him lie to the only person he has left to love (and might I add, a symbol of humanity, empathy and hope) Cassie, and watch her cry in agony as she's forced to watch all the soldiers she trained, loved and by proxy sent to die, be killed one by one excruciatingly. We are supposed to feel bad reading this. Yes it ends the war. But it leaves us the audience with the question, was it worth it? If you take empathy out of the equation, yes you could argue it was worth it. But Cassie is empathy. It wasn't worth it to her. She is who we are supposed to connect with in this scenario.

Another situation I see people argue as ableist- that the yeerks are supposed to be metaphors for disabled fascist nazis. No. Thats not even close to the truth.

The yeerks are creatures that cannot hear, see, or feel very well when they are just themselves. They are entirely intelligent beings with the capability to communicate and empathize. Yeerks are not inherently evil beings. There's no such thing. This is why The Departure was written. The Yeerk empire for the majority of the books is written to be inseparable with yeerks themselves, and again, that is because the story is written in first person. Canonically, the animorphs view yeerks as evil, inhuman things that are irredeemable so it's easier for them to sleep at night. That's why when cassie talks to a yeerk who sees things differently than the empire, the animorphs are immediately suspicious, and get downright angry when Cassie first tries to explain to them that there are good yeerks.

When people try to compare the yeerk empire to real life wars and genocides, it makes me frustrated. Yes, they share similarites. But by saying that yeerks are just "nazis" you are missing out on some really good writing and at the same time shrinking the impact of those horrifying real life tragedies by comparing them to a kids book. But If I HAD to compare them to a real life scenario to make you understand, I probably would compare them to russia. Because the Russians in the ukranian war aren't evil. They are people stuck in a horrible system. When cassie finds out the yeerk she's stuck with doesn't want to be in this war, she uses COMPASSION to create a league of symbiotic yeerk-morpher sympathizers. She LITERALLY steps in their shoes by morphing into a yeerk against her greater fears. Ok, this post is getting very cassie focused for some reason but the point is- They arent trying to say that being disabled is an "excuse for committing war crimes", because the yeerks aren't disabled. They aren't even a metaphor for being disabled. In fact, the yeerks were shown in the prequels that they would've been perfectly fine with their symbiotic relationships on their original planet if someone didn't start the empire, using exploration as an excuse for colonization. That's how most empires start I'd argue.

Basically, calling them all nazis is a gross generalization of the true meaning of the series. Now that I'm done with showing why I dont agree with those opinions, here's some reasons why I think animorphs is actually very pro-disabled activism.

In book 41, Jake goes through a traumatic mission and hallucinates another dimension where the yeerks won. In this world, he sees what the empire does to disabled people. The yeerk empire is ableist, and shoves all their disabled people that cant be used as hosts into a dirty alley to die. When one of the people there ask him if he's supposed to be there (this is a police state) he says yes, and internally monologues about how his trauma currently disables him. If you read it, its very ahead of it's time. The yeerks have "no use of disabled people". So what do they do? They forget about them, ignore their needs, and mistreat them just like reality. And in the 90s, mental health being taken seriously as a disability was still a very young idea.

When the auxillary morphs are first created, Cassie was the first one to come up with the idea of "using disabled people as soldiers since they wont be infested" and instantly dismisses it. She thinks it's morally corrupt but is convinced into talking to them after one of the other morphs explains that they cant do this alone and they should at least have a choice, which, in my opinion is pretty progressive. It does not stay progressive of course, since the animorphs are on and off used as a metaphor for the american military. When they get there, they give false promises that some of them might be healed if they gained their disability in an accident. In my opinion, this could be a metaphor for how the military gives people the option to join in exchange for free education. Then after people fight and gain disabilities, some of them cant go to school and cant even find a job. I think again, this is a progressive idea about how the military is a gamble, because as soon as they gain the morphing abilities, whether or not it heals their human form, they still have to be soldiers. They were doomed from the start.

The military can and will forget about their own as soon as they arent able to fight. How is animorphs portraying this a bad thing? In fact, personally I think the disabled characters were good representation but thats a rant for another day.

I know a lot people can be very black and white when it comes to media but please give animorphs a chance because it's not even close to being ableist.

[yourtoradorasextendedwarranty]

So, I'm watching a show called Oshi No Ko. And the story is a pretty complicated one. It focuses on the kids of an Idol. One who was extremely famous for a long time.

This screen shot, is from the most recent episode and got me to start thinking. We really do tend to be heartless monsters sometimes. I lose my head sometimes but I will often refrain from stuff that goes further than "Fuck You" or "Fuck off". Why? Because I want to be better than the worst of the things I see around me.

I saw this and watch as the episode progressed. It focuses on a very earnest girl that isn't the most pretty and doesn't stand out well. This despite being in the entertainment industry. An accident happens on set and as some fandoms do, they went straight for the throat. Moments later you hear rumor monologue which produces these:

And when I saw these my first thought was, "Oh......she's going to take her own life". Because the scene lasted for so long. She was trying so hard to just do her best. Except even if you take this away from Japan and look around the globe, we're all pretty fucked.

We took the idea of being anonymous with us from the birth of the internet, and now we walk around with are noses in the sky as if we own everything. Now a days you can just say whatever you want. And another thing dawned on me during this line of thought. "This is why it's so easy for people to dehumanize everyone they don't like nowadays. This is why it's so easy to see a person throwing a birthday party at a park, get pissed of that they are happy and you aren't and get them mobbed by claiming 'Nazis' knowing good well they probably aren't." It reminded me of this scene from a silent voice.

This is how we see people online. Not as real life people who have their own lives, thoughts, feelings, and circumstances. We see them as invalids who if they don't placate us, they are worth less than nothing. I keep up with people online and I can separate fantasy from reality. More than I can say for so many others. And I normally do not attack people so much as I just levy criticism of their views. Mostly only when it comes to things I find important.

However, I try to flush out my point in a way that is actual criticism, rather than something hateful or scornful. I'm not saying I always succeed in that. I do try though.

If I'm being honest. People who are depressed need to not be on social media at all. They need to seek IRL help. And we need to get back to a time we saw people as people. Once upon a time, there was a notion known as "Talk shit, get hit". Because no matter how you felt, being a punk wasn't acceptable. Now, not only is it acceptable. It's promoted, rewarded, and pushed as the norm. I now understand on a more foundational level why I see people say things like, "kys" in anonymous asks or similar things.

It's because they don't understand humanity at all. Moreover, their only experiences with "humanity" are fake interactions they have online. People being bots. And not in the sense of being "fake" so much as they are constructed versions of who they think others want them to be. They are bots in the sense that they are a robot, with a mask of their own face. Programmed to look as good an acceptable as possible.

Hell.....this is frankly hard to write about. And in truth, this message may land on deaf ears. I might not be able to save anyone or make people second guess sending disgusting levels of hate to others. Hell half the time I don't think I'll be able to save myself from the bottomless well I seem to feel like I'm drowning in almost every single day. When I'm mad most times. It's normally because I've seen the effects of things i'm talking about in my own life or the lives of those around me.

Realize that no matter how much you may think you hate another person......on the other side of that screen is a person just like you. They may be ignorant. They may be stupid. They may be downright appalling. They are still human.

Now I'm going to stop writing this before I'm overwhelmed with the worst parts of myself and I'll instead leave this.

[deathsbestgirl]

Saw your tags-- agree w/ your thoughts! :DDD

I put my fleshed out ideas... somewhere? in an additional post; but I meant (and didn't say very eloquently) was that Mulder's trauma is psychological while Scully's was physical. We see him on more mental collapses over the series than Scully, whereas her arc revolves around her bodily autonomy being violated. Both are tragic; but Scully was given something back for everything CC took away from her (abduction = coma to have a goodbye from her dead father/peace, Melissa died = led her to Emily to give Scully autonomy over her daughter's peace, infertility = IVF = failure = confronting her own scientific reluctance in Amor Fati arc = alien ship healing = journey's end in all things = miracle pregnancy, etc.) Whereas Mulder's tragedies has no good thing to come from them EXCEPT closure for Samantha (his mom's suicide will always weigh on him, and his dad's "hi son" in Anasazi was butchered by Mulder learning about his Nazi dealings in Paper Clip, etc.)

Scully is able to seek help, stability, and normality regardless of her sufferings (even going to therapy when her mental health in untenable); Mulder, however, collapses far too easily without his dilapidated quest (until The Unnatural-Closure.) His trauma is psychological: being too late or too frozen or too incompetent to help others (Max in Fallen Angel, Samantha pre-show, his parents' deaths, Scully's abduction, her cancer and chip control, missing his son's birth, etc.) And his torture in S8 was never addressed, he was competently replaced by Doggett (who had a great solve rate), Scully would have been a good parent without him, Skinner/TLG advocate for his replacement (silently), etc. He had to suffer another loss-- his job, his files, to get a modicum of peace... and even that was robbed by his fear of his child's paternity. And he missed his son's birth (while Scully suffered another physical trauma with Reyes, so both had an awful time of it.)

Their tragedies are incomparable; but Mulder isn't hit hardest by physical violence while Scully is, hence her abduction/infertility being a pillar of trauma for her. For Mulder, it's psychological failure that haunts him the most.

Went on a long-winded spiel there, but I tried to consolidate it all down! :DDDDDD

thank you for this message !! so i tried to start it last night, but honestly was too tired to continue trying lol my issue isn't that i disagree with you at all, but the whole discussion ended up bringing out my anger toward the show 🤣

so i'm finding it hard to talk about their characters in the context of the show when i'm mad about the writing choices.

because. in oubilette (i love this episode), they give a minor the space to have such intense emotions after she'd been kidnapped, raped & abused. and it's SO frustrating that they make scully just bury it. i guess we can assume that because we see her go to therapy, she may go more than we see. and i think you're right to credit her more stable family background for how she's able to heal. but i just don't think being abducted for three months & having no memory and later learning you were medically raped when she was terrified to do any kind of therapy that could help her remember.

so i just don't think she ever dealt with it well, she internalized and tried to bury it and just move forward. or rather, she dealt with it by working on the x files with mulder. cuz maybe she'd eventually get some answers when she was more ready. and she'd already dedicated herself to him.

which i think is another part of the "problem" for me. because they did this with scully, and the way the show is continually about mulder's trauma, i think it just pisses me off. and like. i just can't be sure these were decisions the writers made intentionally, to be part of her character (which when i rationalize it, scully doesn't want to be weak in front of mulder, become another reason for him to feel guilty, another reason for his quest. she's strong & rational and he needs her to be okay. she wants his trust & his pride, to feel worthy. not necessarily because of anything mulder says/does but because of her own psychology & issues...) or if they were lazy & GA worked with what she had as they focused her on mulder.

ANYWAY. all this to say both of their traumas are so so bad. his lead to so much pain, abuse, estrangement and his beautiful beautiful empathy. i think i just care more about scully's because we actually ~see much more of mulder's. half the cases are about his trauma. the whole show is about his trauma. and scully's, i have a harder time talking about because medical rape is too real & scary. losing children is heart wrenching & tragic. the assaults she suffered from obsessive, crazy men are a very present fear for women. we lose people to cancer all the time and it's worse than i could ever put into words (which that aspect of cancer is more about mulder) and i just don't think a lot of that can get better exactly? it's things that stay with you even if you had a loving, stable family, even if you've "worked through it" & "healed" & manage to move forward. there isn't really a choice when a child involved. and there isn't really a choice when you're the one left behind. (not good choices anyway)

(and gods it's so frustrating the way they suck at communicating directly. they really do know each other so well that they can understand so much with looks & touches because they've learned how the other's mind works, though, clearly only to a degree because neither of them can truly fathom how the other struggles when they're abducted & there's nothing they can do except waiting & looking & praying & just doing what they have to as life keeps going because that's how the world works. BUT COMMUNICATING MATTERS. they can't rely on the other just ~getting it, because clearly they can't always get it lol)

(and oh god there's something here about the way mulder is so self sacrificial that any bodily harm that comes to him doesn't matter. and there's also something about the loss of autonomy scully faces repeatedly...)

[ear-worthy]

Podcasts That Make Us Think: Why Do Some still Deny The Holocaust?

 What podcast made me think this week? It's Playing Anne Frank, a new podcast released on January 24. Using archival material and interviews with surviving cast and crew members, executive editor of the Jewish weekly publication, Forward, Adam Langer presents a story that’s never been told: the backstory of "The Diary of Anne Frank," the Pulitzer Prize-winning play and Oscar-winning film, and how this iconic work shapes those involved in performing it — including high school students putting the show on today.

The Diary of a Young Girl, also known as The Diary of Anne Frank, is a book of the writings from the Dutch-language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The family was apprehended in 1944, and Anne Frank died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945 at the age of 16.

The podcast is notable for its timing because January 27th was International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is the 78th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. On this annual day of commemoration, we honor the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions of other victims of Nazism. We also promote the attributes of tolerance, collaboration, and empathy that helps to prevent future genocides.

While listening to the Playing Anne Frank podcast, I ask myself a frightening question. Could this horror happen again?  

Sadly, my answer is yes. 

Why do I feel that way?

First, because a recent study found that only 54 percent of the world's population has heard of the Holocaust. Ignorance, is, well, ignorance. Do you think many of the Russian people know of the atrocities committed by their army and soldiers in Ukraine? Of course, they don't. The masses are fed the line that Russia is saving Ukraine from genocide and, in a note of irony, Nazis.

Second, holocaust denialism is grown into a cottage industry, especially in the U.S. In another ironic twist, numerous studies show that present-day Germans accept and denounce the atrocities committed by the Nazis in their country. While, too many in the U.S. link the Holocaust in with the faked moon landing, JFK's assassination, 9/11, and deep state doomsday scenarios.

 Holocaust denial aims to cast doubt on the facts of the Holocaust as they pertain to its Jewish victims, and for years it percolated freely across Facebook. Even though such messages have been banned by Facebook since 2021 (what took them so long?), denialism still exists in the crevasses and effluent of the social media giant. 

Denial adherents claim that Jews fabricated evidence of their own genocide to gain sympathy, extract reparations from Germany and facilitate the allegedly illegal acquisition of Palestinian land for the creation of Israel. 

Why has Holocaust denialism grown in this country specifically? First, it doesn't help that the ex-president of the United States has dinner with a notorious holocaust denier, Nick Fuentes. Although Trump denied knowledge of the denier. Come on. Give the man credit. He cannot be that stupid. After all, he knew Fuentes from the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where hundreds of torch-bearing far-right demonstrators chanted "Jews will not replace us."

On Truth Social, owned by Trump, Holocaust denialism is a rich topic for discussion, festering on Telegram, an instant messaging site, and Gab, a social network – all known for their far-right user bases.

Trump has engaged is so many wild conspiracy theories that the truth is often obscured amid the mudslinging of wild accusations divorced from factual certitude. For example, Trump has suggested that the father of Senator Ted Cruz of Texas helped to assassinate President John F. Kennedy, and that Democrats funded the same migrant caravan traveling from Honduras to the U.S. that worried the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter.

Most Holocaust deniers want to wash away the stain of Nazism in an attempt to make Nazism an acceptable political alternative today. Many have present and past ties with hate groups and are trying to shed that image by masquerading themselves as seekers of historical truth, rather than merchants of bigotry. Holocaust denial is an important tool for anti-Semites, masquerading as a valiant search for the truth.

Second, the term “bothsidesism” has gained considerable momentum in the last few years. It describes the phenomenon of treating every opinion as equally valid, including falsehoods masquerading as objective fact. In October 2021, for example, educators in Southlake, Texas, were told if they had a book on the Holocaust in their classroom library, they would also have to have one that with an “opposing” perspective. In January 2022, Republican State Senator Scott Baldwin of Indiana said that educators “need to be impartial” while teaching students about Nazism.

In June 2022, at the American Library Association’s annual conference, author Nancy Pearl suggested that Holocaust denial books had a place in school libraries.

Other nations don't share that streak of Holocaust denialism. In 2018, Great Britain banned a prominent American Holocaust denier from entering the United Kingdom, according to a copy of correspondence from the interior ministry.

So where are we at? Seventy-eight years after U.S. soldiers found emaciated prisoners near death, mass graves, and a footprint of sadism not seen in the modern world?  

There's hope, and many will not forget. Will never forget. For example, writer Alexander Verbeek recently wrote an article in Medium about Holocaust Remembrance Day.

 In the article, he writes that, "The people who hid Anne Frank were breaking the law. The people who killed her were following the law."

Clearly, these Holocaust deniers need to be reminded of the tragedy of Anne Frank, her courage, and the inspiration we can draw from her ordeal.

In today's world with the January 6th insurrection, the attempt to overthrow the German government several months ago, and the recent attacks in Brazil, we need a reminder of how democracy protects us from the worst instincts of racial supremacists, extremists, and those who blame certain races and religions for their own woes.

Sadly, a conspiracy theory can provide comfort by identifying a convenient scapegoat and thereby making the world seem more straightforward and controllable. 

“People can assume that if these bad guys weren’t there, then everything would be fine,” says Australian cognitive scientist Stephen Lewandowsky in a recent piece. “Whereas if you don’t believe in a conspiracy theory, then you just have to say terrible things happen randomly.”

 At the end of his Medium article about the Holocaust, Verbeek writes: "Let me end with a quote from one of the other four letters that have been found, written by Zalman Gradowski, and found buried at an Auschwitz crematorium site":

"Dear finder of these notes, I have one request of you, which is, in fact, the practical objective for my writing … that my days of hell, that my hopeless tomorrow will find a purpose in the future."

Verbeek ends with: "He wrote so that his execution would find a purpose."

I think that we should never let Mr. Gradowski down.

[violetsystems]

Woke up someone who got promoted over me at my old job stalking my LinkedIn. The day after I dropped off my paperwork at a new job. It's not like I haven't applied to my old job three or four times over the last two years. So they know. It's the second time and person in the last month or two. The other one who didn't even work on site and telecommuted from Boston was wearing a frog hat in a one on one meeting with me before I was fired. They're all artists and take meme communication into a scary cult like universe. They don't reach out. They don't ask how you are doing. This particular person was even involved in a couple of incidents where they watch me get berated in a meeting in hopes I would walk off the job. This was before all the union stuff. I got let go before that and was never recognized by either party as being gone. It's like they want to be seen and want you to know what their secret messages are. It's like that closet abusive personality that smiles in your face but the other side of them is also dead in your face. The two particular people I don't really trust their intentions. Especially the day I drop my paperwork off at a potential new job. You don't watch somebody for two and half years and put people from that school on your property to fuck with you unless you have bad intentions. Or there's something worse on the horizon. The people at the restaurant seem nice and professional. Like there's no dogma or secret revolution they're part of other than serving good food. I really think at some point everything that happened to me will come out in the open. But seriously. Don't ghost somebody, destroy their life and stalk them as your employer because you are part of some secret proud boy terrorist cell. I know you mother fuckers too well. I worked with you for over twenty years and you pretended I just died and disappeared. You aren't proving anything revolutionary other than you are a criminal. I'm not the one who has to prove anything. I fully rely on good. No amount of explaining it on Tumblr will ever give me my life back. But my side of the story never went away. Neither did my ex coworkers and their secret wars. Maybe you should explain why Kanye West was locked in the president's office there floors below my office before I was let go. This was before you took away his diploma. Maybe you should just take away all the diplomas before you really hurt someone. I'm bette than you and let's hope it doesn't take a court of law to prove that I am unsafe. Maybe we can prove how nazi this shit is too. Kanye included.

[vdlest]

The Roommate

Characters:

TFATWS!Bucky Barnes x Neighbor!Reader

Summary:

Bucky Barnes as your neighbor is a good thing, especially when you need company. You two instantly became friends ever since he heard you listening to classic songs, and that you prefer "old but classic" stuff. To make the long story short, you fell for him, but when you confessed your feelings for him, he avoided you. And you thought that's how your beautiful start would end.

Warning:

Fluff

This is why you sometimes hate Sundays, you have nothing to do, and you're bored as fuck.

There's nothing to watch on Netflix, you have no new books to read, and no new episode of a podcast to listen to. So at the moment, you are just lying on your bed, staring blankly at your room's ceiling.

If only you're still living with your ex-roommate, Ana, the two of you must've talking gossips and having conversations about life nonstop. But she's not here since she moved to a different State last week already for a new job opportunity. She didn't want to leave you but she can't say no to a job opportunity, and you can't keep her from achieving her dream as well. So here you are, hoping that your next roommate will be just like Ana.

You were about to grab the remote control of your television inside your room when your phone vibrated, signaling that you have a text message.

Hey, I saw your post on the internet and that you're looking for a roommate. I'm interested and hoping we could meet today somewhere so we could discuss it.

You frowned a bit when you noticed that the sender of the message didn't mention any name nor introduce himself/herself.

Just when you're about to reply to this text, you received another message from the same number.

I'm Sam by the way.

Now that this sender finally introduced himself/herself, your confusion vanished, and decided to meet with this potential roommate of yours. Although you're still not quite sure whether this Sam is a guy or a girl, nonetheless, that's not important. What's important for you is that he or she is not a bad person and a heartbreaker.

You agreed to meet with your potential roommate in a nearby coffee shop in an hour. So you got up and went your way to your shower to prepare for this unexpected meeting.

The moment you entered the coffee shop you and your potential roommate agreed to meet on, you grab your phone and dialed the number of the person you're meeting, Sam.

Well, at least, you're not gonna die out of boredom. ───────────────────❥

"Hello?" you began when you heard that Sam already accepted your call, "This is Y/N. I'm already here in the coffee shop. Can you like raise your hand so I could see you?" you asked.

You roam your eyes around as you wait for Sam to answer in the other line.

"I'm right behind you," a familiar voice spoke on the other line.

Your heart skipped a beat when you heard that familiar voice.

You slowly turn around and see for yourself if your hunch is right about that familiar voice.

Hell, you are right.

It was him. It was Bucky.

It was the man you fell for.

Your eyes met his blue eyes when you face him. He was still holding his phone to his hear when you two face each other.

Seeing him now made you remember how you told him that you like him and that you're starting to fall for him already, and at the same time, you remembered how he walked out of your apartment and broke your heart into pieces. He left without any words. He just left and avoided you from then on.

Well, not until this day came.

"What the hell are you doing here?" you asked him straight on his face as you end your call with your supposed to be a potential roommate and put your phone inside your bag, "And what kind of sick joke this is?"

Bucky took a deep breath as he moves a step closer to you, "You have every right to be mad at me, and I won't question it. I've been a jerk, an asshole, I get it. But I was hoping you'd listen to me," he said.

You scoffed, "Listen to you? Listen to the guy who walked out on me on the night that I confessed my feelings? That's a bit absurd, don't you think?" you sarcastically smiled at him as you ask him. You shook your head, "This is going nowhere. So long, old friend."

You were about to walk past him when he gently grabbed your wrist to stop you from walking away from him.

"Please, Y/N. I'm begging you," he made you face him again, "I didn't mean to hurt you. I didn't mean to avoid you as much as I didn't mean to love you."

Love you? He loves you?

He nodded, "Y/N, that night you told me that you like me and that you are actually falling for me, I was the happiest man alive. But that happiness faded away the moment I remembered who I am, and who I was. Instantly, I realized that you don't know me that well for you to love me that easily," he explained.

"Let's say you really do love me and that there's still I need to know about you," you pull back your hand away from him and crossed your arms in front of your chest, "Why tell me now? Why confess to me right now?"

"Because I fucking love you damn much already," he answered back immediately. He clenched his jaw and closed his eyes for a second before he started talking again, "I tried my best to forget you, to forget what I feel for you but it's fucking too impossible. So I thought that if I'd let you know who I really am, who I was, I'll leave you the choice whether you still want to be with me or not."

You can't believe that this is happening right now.

A month ago, you realized that you don't have every time in the world to take your time to confess your feelings for Bucky, so you did confess to him. However, he broke your heart. And now here you are, you are very tempted to kiss him right now but you fought the urge to since you are curious about who he really is.

Bucky extended his hand towards you, "Come with me."

You took a glance at his hand before you look at him again, "I don't know, Bucky," you looked down and shook your head, "You already broke my heart and I don't think I have enough trust in you to come with you."

He chuckled, "You have a swiss knife on your bag, you have a pepper spray, if I do something vile to you, use it. I won't fight it," he assured.

Despite the heartbreak he gave you, you won't deny the fact that he's still charming to you. So yes, you ended up saying yes and coming with him.

➽──────────────────❥

"What the hell are we doing in the Smithsonian museum, Bucky?" you ask him as you both walk inside the museum.

It was a long drive from NYC to DC. You fell asleep the whole time you two were on the road. You wanted to ask him why does he have to take you to DC, but you were too tired to give a damn. So you let him take you to the place that will show you who he really is.

But you never thought you'd end up here in the Smithsonian Museum.

He didn't answer you, instead, he leads the two of you inside the exhibit made for the legacy of Captain America, Steve Rogers.

You chuckle and shook your head as you both walk inside the exhibit, "If we're planning to steal Cap's shield, I hate to break it to you but there's a new Captain America already," you joked.

"Yeah, I know," he casually answered, "I know him."

Your brows furrowed as you look at him, "The former Captain America or the new one?" you asked him, not sure if he's kidding or not.

"Both of them," he sighed and stopped walking. He faces you, "Before we proceed," he grabbed your hand and sighed again, "I want you to know that I love you, I really do. I also want you to know that I'm sorry for breaking your heart, for hurting you, but there's a lot of reason why I had to do it."

Your heart melted the moment he told you that he loves you. It wasn't the first time, but it feels like it. You wanted to tell him that it doesn't matter who he was and who he is because, for you, love is love. It doesn't give a damn about anyone's real identity. But you two have come a long way to back out now.

"Ready?" he asked you.

You nodded, "Yeah. I'm ready."

You and Bucky walked a few seconds more, but your body froze the moment you saw his picture inside Captain America's exhibit. He was beside Captain Steve Rogers.

"Battle tested, Captain America and his Howling Commandos quickly earned their stripes. Their mission, taking down HYDRA, the Nazi rogue science division."

"Bucky?" you murmured when your eyes landed on the picture of the guy standing next to you. You took a glance at Bucky and he was just looking at you and what your reaction will be. You look over Bucky's shoulder and saw a portrait of him plastered in a glass. You automatically walked there and check it for yourself.

"Best friends since childhood, Bucky Barnes and Steven Rogers were inseparable on both schoolyard and battlefield. Barnes is the only Howling Commando to give his life in service of his country."

There's both so much and too much to see in this exhibit, not the Captain America part, but the part where you realize that your neighbor, the guy you fell for is actually not the man you thought he is.

Beside Bucky's glass mosaic, you saw a video presented near it. It was Bucky and Captain Rogers.

"You weren't really kidding when you said that you knew the former Captain America," you said when you saw Bucky on your peripheral, looking at you, watching you.

"He's my best friend, and even he's gone already, he still is," he said.

You and Bucky walked around the exhibit more. He also showed you around Captain America's exhibit and even showed you the uniform he wore during his Howling Commando days.

You have no idea what to think or feel at the moment, but one thing's for sure, your love for him didn't fade away even if you knew who he really is and who he was, not even after he told you that he was the infamous Winter Soldier. You still feel the same for him and you have no idea why. Maybe because love is love.

After you two went ou the Smithsonian Museum, you two walked around the National Mall.

"Why did you think that showing me these would change my mind about you?" you asked him, breaking the silence between the two of you.

"Because I--"

You cut him off, "Because you assassinated people in the past?" you stopped from walking and faced him, "Or because you are a hundred and six years old man?"

"Y/N, you know---"

You cut him off again, "No, I don't know, Bucky. So tell me," you chuckled and shook your head, "Does these things supposed to change my mind? My heart? What I fucking feel for you? Well, sorry it didn't! Because even after I found out that you are Cap's best friend, that you were one of his Howling Commandos, that you were the Winter Soldier, and that you are an Avenger, I still feel the same way for you, I still see you as the guy I fell in love with, I still see you as my neighbor who likes Marvin Gaye so much that he listens to it through night and day, I still see you as Bucky Barnes," you told him.

The whole time you two were walking around the museum up to this scenic place in DC, you have nothing in mind aside from the fact that you were actually fascinated about who he really is.

Finding out that he's an avenger, that he's making this world a better place and saving it from going chaotic made you love him even more. Even the fact that he's a hundred and six years old man doesn't bother you at all and doesn't change how you see him.

"And if those things you showed and told me why you broke my heart, then I must tell you," you wiped your tears away, "You just wasted your time because it didn't change the fact that I love you. You told me that you're giving me the choice whether I still want to be with you or not, and I made my choice now, Bucky," you walked closer to him and held his right cheek, "I want to be with you."

Bucky held your hand that was on his cheek, and your eyes landed on his gloved hand because now you know why he was always wearing a leather jacket and covering his hand with gloves.

So you grabbed his hand and slowly remove the glove he was wearing, when you look at him, he was surprised by what you did.

"This is the hand that I will always hold onto, the hand that I will always choose to hold," you smiled at him.

You finally felt his vibranium hand on your cheek as he wipes your tears away, "I'm sorry if I had to hurt you that way. I'm sorry for breaking your heart, but I'm already here and I will not leave you," he pulled you closer to him and kissed your forehead, "I got you now and there's nothing else I could ask for," he pulled you again and this time it was the tip of your nose he chose to kiss, "I love you," he said before he finally claims your lips with his.

His lips dance with yours, and with every sway, you felt his longing, his love, and care for you. As cliche as it sounds, it was truly like your love for each other. It was pure and true.

"Who's Sam by the way?" you asked him after you two kissed, "Wait, Sam Wilson as in the Falcon?"

He nodded, "Yeah, the new Captain America. I asked him if I could use his name because I know you won't answer my calls," he said and sighed, "Anyway, you might have to take down your post about looking for a roommate."

You frowned, "And why is that?" you asked him.

"Because I'll be moving in with you," he revealed, which made your eyes widened in surprise, "Only if you want to of course."

You chuckle as you nodded, "I would love that."

"Just to be sure, you're my girlfriend now, right?" he asked you.

"For a hundred and six years old man, you're the most slow-moving one," you joked and run your fingers through his hair as he wrapped his arms around you, "I'm yours and you're mine, Bucky Barnes."

-v.dl

[dreamsister81]

"I wrote (it) on my friend's couch in Los Angeles. There was a week where I couldn't sleep. I was possessed by the feeling of anger, because there's a grave imbalance in the psyche in America, where a person can do their best all his or her life, get their family together, get their shit together, never hurt a soul, and then somebody will break into their house, break into their car, mow them down in the convenience store or fast-food place or any other incredibly crappy environment to die in. People are still messing with each other racially, sexually. Nothing's really changed. It's just a song that's saying life is too short to be endeavoring to fuck up anybody's life. There's too much to be aware of just about being a human being, just about living. There's too much at stake to be trying to fuck up anybody else's life, because life is bigger than anything. And afterwards is bigger than anything. It makes burning a cross completely worthless-burning a cross in any form, whether it be against your wife or against two gay lovers walking down the street. He don't fuck with anyone, the cardinal. You don't do that. Or pay the consequences."-from the EPK interview

.

.

.

I ask him about "Eternal Life," the most rambunctious song on Grace with crunching guitars and thrashing rhythms. He goes back to his agitated state, pursed lips, knitted eyebrows, and revives the earlier Rivera/Manson discussion. "I've been obsessed ever since I was a kid with the attrocities. Yeah, really fucking heinous shit. [The song] had to be heavy. It had to be very heavy. It wasn't even half as heavy as it should be," Buckley explained.-UR Magazine, September, 1994

.

.

.

"The song frankly shows the person I am," and began to go on to the next.

  “I have been fascinated by historical atrocities since I was a child. Anything, from Charles Manson to Nazis. What is it about peoples' dark side taking over? Why the fascination? And my own as well. I wanted to know the reason.

  "I was thinking about Tipper Gore (Mrs. Gore, the second lady, who organized a protest movement pointing out the negative effects of music on young people. Content warning signs were introduced) while writing this song. She took advantage of the fears of mothers all over the country. Actions derived from fear always produce some form of violence or blasphemy. The blasphemy she commits against art leaves a scar deeper than any murder. "Eternal Life" is my cry for such a reality, racism, and religious atrocities. ‘There is no salvation for people who meddle in other people's lives for personal gain.’ That's the basic message.”

  Here he paused, and Jeff started to speak as if he had thought twice.

  “But this is also about me. In short, everyone should own their own shadow. Don't think others are better killers or thieves than you are. You should accept the part that you want to turn away. The more you reject it, the more you are swallowed up by the "shadow", and it is an incomplete person...I'm saying it importantly, but I just hope this song is logical like that (lol).”-Ryuko-tsushin, February, 1995

.

.

.

I was surprised to find that the “Eternal Life” I had just listened in the office downstairs was much harder than the one you recorded in “Grace”. Will that version be released?

Yeah, it seems to be so. There needed to be a song for a B-side. We didn’t know there was a demand for a ‘B-side song’ in Europe or Japan. “Grace” was a complete work by itself, but the arrangement of “Eternal Life” changed while we were doing it in the live shows. I couldn't get one riff out of my head. So, I re-made it way harder based on that. Actually, I've forgotten the old arrangement, and I can't play it even if you asked me to.-Rockin'on, March, 1995

.

.

.

"This is a song about Republicans, and religious fanatics, and morons who cut school lunches and have governmental vacations to Cabo St. Lucas where they ploof their secretaries. This world doesn't belong to them. It belongs to lovers who sing their souls. It belongs to people who make love with no shame, who love their bodies, the bodies of women, the bodies of men, the bodies of hope. Anything else is death."-intro at The Back Door, May 1, 1995

.

.

.

"I was living in a small apartment in Hollywood, there's no windows it was like a cell, and I was thinking too much again, and it was 3:00 in the morning, and I was imagining...I was getting worked up and very angry, and very upset with nobody to talk to about how people can go through life and set up a life, or just do nothing, and from all sides, somewhere, there'll be these forces coming in on them to, like, totally wreck them, cripple them, thwart them: presidents, killers, policemen, criminals, of all kinds, and I was just thinking, you know, there's life beyond this I've always grown up to believe. And I also pointed it at politicians, televangelists, and all kinds of of mystic politicians like that. It's just basically messing with people from a desk, or from behind a very safe place with some sort of false...bullshit, and I just thought that...it's just a message for people that if you really think that snuffing out joy and snuffing out innocence is where it's at in this life, it's over for you already."-Triple J, August 29, 1995

[jyndor]

Cop-thing-anon here:

(I don't believe in the blue lives matter thing by the way)

I do get where you're coming from. I guess I see the thing about cops and cop AUs differently because the police is different and not as fucked up in my country. The thing about the fanart is just..I think you're reading too much into it. I don't think the artist really focused on the skin colour of Sokka, I mean, it's a kids show. Skin colour was never really mentioned or important in atla. But Sokka's personality is most likely why the artist was inspired to draw him as a "gangster", with azula (the villain) being a cop. It is kind of insensitive to draw that with the events going on, but I think that a lot of people in the fandom take some things way too seriously, for a kids show back in the late 2000's anyway.

hey anon, I say this with love and I am being sincere. I'm gonna need you to rewatch the show if you think skin color didn't matter. and it doesn't matter where you live because there is no part of the world, no culture, that isn't shaped by colonialism. I don't mean to be condescending so please bear with me, I truly believe in educating people as a part of allyship and anti-racism.

Anon, please know that I am not angry or anything but sincere in what I’m about to say. Just bear with me because I know that unlearning shit is difficult and can be painful, but we’ve gotta do it. I do appreciate you wanting to have this conversation at all. And I’m not writing this just for your benefit - this is for anyone who wants to learn about why A) race is a part of ATLA’s narrative and B) why critical analysis of mass media is actually important. So I’m not assuming you don’t know basic things about this stuff, I’m not trying to be condescending.

Now we’re gonna fix colonialism and imperialism XD wee okay here we go.

No matter where you live in the world you have some awareness of skin color. Your understanding of race might be different than mine, in fact it probably is. Race as we know it today is a social construct that stems from many things (and I wrote several hundred words on it but it was too much and too far removed from the point I’m trying to make so I edited all of that out. Yay.)

You don’t usually see imperialism, one of the major themes in Avatar, without colonialism. Imperialism is slightly different than colonialism - you can think of it like the ideology behind the practice of colonialism.* Imperialism can be used to describe expansionism in general - which has been going on since the bronze age lol humans, I stg - but usually when people today refer to colonialism and imperialism they’re talking about imperialism starting in the 17th century.

Now imperialism is not just a European concept. ATLA is set in a world that we know is supposed to be like a combination of different Asian cultures (with some influences from the Americas). And the Fire Nation is clearly influenced by Imperial Japan. So briefly:

Japan had a policy of sakoku (chained or closed country) which kept it mostly isolated (out of concerns that Japan would fall victim to something like the Opium Wars in China, among other things) from the rest of the world for a couple hundred years until the 1850s when a US Naval commander named Matthew Perry (I am not kidding) forced Japan to open its borders for trade to the United States by gunboat diplomacy, an oxymoron if I have ever seen one before.

Japan ended up signing unequal treaties with a lot of Western countries, and this bred xenophobia and hostility in Japan. The Emperor who signed these treaties died of smallpox, and after some internal conflict his son decided try to renegotiate these treaties. The US and European countries were not interested in renegotiating dick but the mission wasn’t unsuccessful because the diplomats A) exchanged some islands with Russia and B) were inspired by western economic policy and society to “modernize” Japan. Japan began industrialization and it converted to a market economy with the help of the US and other western powers.

So over many years, Japan went to war with China, Korea, Russia (and took back some of the land they exchanged with them), and others. From wikipedia:

Using its superior technological advances in naval aviation and its modern doctrines of amphibious and naval warfare, Japan achieved one of the fastest maritime expansions in history. By 1942 Japan had conquered much of East Asia and the Pacific, including the east of China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Burma (Myanmar), Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, part of New Guinea and many islands of the Pacific Ocean.

But ATLA is not a Japanese story. The Fire Nation is not Imperial Japan. The Earth Kingdom is not China or Korea, the Air Nomads are not Tibetan monks, and the Water Tribes are not Inuit. The creators definitely drew heavy inspiration from all of these places and others, but ATLA is a story written by American people in the United States for American kids. It is an American story.

And it was created at a time when the United States was victimizing people in Afghanistan and Iraq (and other places) in many similar ways to how the Fire Nation victimized people. In fact, the show starts in the Southern Water Tribe, which represent Inuit people, indigenous people in Alaska, Canada and Greenland, I think it’s safe to assume that the genocide being referenced here is not one by Japan but rather by European colonizers and later by the United States and Canada.

Imperialism is in the show’s DNA. 

And so is racism. In our world they are inherently connected. And visual cues from the show along with things the characters say suggest that we are meant to make the comparison between our world and the ATLA world. Every story has a purpose - it doesn’t have to be political, but for Avatar it is political, it is anti-imperialist.

In this article about how ATLA resonates with us in 2020, Aina Khan of the Guardian interviews Professor Ali A Olomi about using ATLA to teach at Penn State. “One of the things we see with the Fire Nation is the ideological justification for what they’re doing. We are a glorious civilization. We have abundance, we have wealth, we have technological advancement; we need to share it with the rest of the world. That’s almost word for word European colonisation.”

Zuko and Azula both call Katara a peasant. In fact, Azula calls her a dirty peasant. This is one step away from calling her a s*vage I mean come on. While peasant might just be purely classist (lol no) because Zuko and Azula are royalty, um it’s clearly racialized classism because of real life context. There is real history with colonizers calling indigenous people this, dismissing their cultures as primitive and barbaric.

Add into the mix colorism, which is bias against darker skin and privileges fair skin (which is a byproduct of imperialism) and you have clear race shit happening in Avatar.

When I saw that fanart, I was immediately reminded of black lives matter of course, but mainly of the fact that indigenous peoples are also at high risk of being victimized by police. Not just in the US. And how gross it is to depict a colonizer like Azula as an angry cop (representing the state) turning her gun on an indigenous man who is dressed like a gangster which... yike.

Mass media influence everything we do. The messaging we get, our politics, what we want to eat for dinner because we’re hungry and have been writing this stupid essay for three hours LOL. It’s important that people think critically about what they consume. Otherwise you get the goddamn United States with half of our population stanning a racist fraud. You want to know why US Americans are so ignorant? Because our education system sucks, because we don’t have any real media literacy. But apparently the rest of the world has some fucking nerve making fun of Americans** because all of us suck at it. No one is thinking critically about media.

A really terrifying thing about people is our ability to take whatever message we want from stories, even if it is in direct contradiction with the narrative of a story. There’s a movie called American History X which is explicitly anti-fascist, but because it’s a drama and Ed Norton is cut and looks badass and uncucked or whatever LOL, the iconography in that movie is fairly popular with neo-nazis. Yike. This is not at that level of course, this is some random niche fanart for a rare pairing.

For better or for worse, US media and entertainment gets a lot of attention and people around the world eat it up. Maybe you don’t need to know every little detail about US American shit, and I know we tend to dominate media, but black lives matter is not just a 2020 thing. People have known about it for years, since it started. If that fanart was created in 2019, which I think it was, the BLM movement had already existed for six years. If you’re watching an American show like Avatar and you’re making fanart on social media but you don’t know what BLM is in 2019... well educate yourself lmao.

Considering that Black fans have expressed frustration and discomfort in fandoms over and over again, and I am sure indigenous fans have too because fandoms are racist sometimes, it’s important that white fans help make fandoms better. And I am a white fan, and I consider myself an anti-racist. Which means I have to be active about racism when I see it.

btw I found this great essay by @cobra-diamond which you should read if you want more details about the similarities between Japan and the Fire Nation.

* that is very reductive but it’s fine lol

** I am kidding, unless you are english feel free to make fun of americans for non-gun, non-trauma related things pls

[yourtoradorasextendedwarranty]

Well then.

I recently discovered this "Gem" of an article and oh boy. This is next level insane conspiracy. *The article in question*

https://reclaimthenet.org/no-pixels-for-fascists/

Now the article is not promoting the context in it so much as covering it as a horror story. And at first I believe it to be satire...... But sadly it is not. First if all. Censorship is BAD. Many people will always argue with this because, "hate speech" or, "violent speech" but fact it, the people arguing for censorship so it because they believe that nothing they can or will ever say will be censored. Fun fact mind you. The term, "useful idiot" plays a big part here. See, people in powerful places don't ACTUALLY care about you or your views. They care about power. Consider for a moment why EA is backing this campaign. EA is a game publishing company that has been in hot water MANY times over the past several years. Up to and including incidents like putting out a game that was supposed to have some level of historical accuracy, but with "their version of history". Then there was the loot boxes controversy that literally started a legal war against predatory loot boxes in games, of which EA is literally the worst offender.

Now with all of this in mind realize something VERY specific. Many people that were "right wing" were very much not happy about the "our version of history" crap because it was not how the franchise had been treated prior. ""Left wing" people were mostly against the whole predatory loot boxes thing. Grant you yes, there was a lot of cross over, but fundamentally these were split issues. Now consider for a moment what some people consider to be fascist in modern culture. It's pretty broad. And it has been escaping it's proper meaning by a long shot. But with all of this said, something people neglect to realize is that totalitarianism, authoritarianism, and fascism are all basically the same. And all involve one fundamental truth. Absolute Control.........by ANY means necessary. Censorship is authoritarian by nature. Because when you can't speak, you can't spread ideas. Imagine for a moment Progressives, you finally get free speech removed. FINALLY these "right wing Nazis" can't spread their hate messages any more out of fear of fines, jail, or imprisonment. What doth the governing bodies do next? Maybe they ban protests. Maybe they don't ACTUALLY like gay people and ban pride parades or maybe remove gay marriage. And you think to yourself, "THEY CAN'T DO THAT! THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED T-". Yes they are. You literally handed them the keys and papers to the car....... And handed over your spares while you were at it. Meaning it's theirs now. They don't have to answer to you any more.

And that's the point. You THINK you can just take away people's ability to speak because you don't agree with them, but who's speech do you think they come for next? The people who helped put them in power. The people that handed them the keys. WHY?! You might ask? Because at that point, YOU are the biggest threat to them. You are the loud, violent, useful idiots that wished for absolute control over speech to adhere to your ,"moral compass". News flash. That power? Is all encompassing. And does not just go away when someone you won't like takes power. What's more, you actually TRUST many of the people in power at face value as if they actually care about you. They don't! You, to them, are only a means to an end. And think about it really. The biggest road blocks to freedom right now are mostly all people that label themselves, either left wing, or progressives. Any idea why you can't see your own folly? Because you have too much trust in people that have no real moral compass. Consider for a moment what you've been advocating for (not all of you).

Disarming the general public (2A)

Banning certain types of speech (1A)

Give full control of healthcare to the government (which they can then deny you of)

Give full control of production rights (to the people) by proxy also the government

You are literally advocating for the government to have absolute authority over everything. And it's funny too. They've got you believing that, "The rightous path to end *fascism*, patriarchy, racism, and bigotry,-" is to give them the power to make all of that much MUCH worse. What happens when a progressive get into office that is SO progressive, they legalize pedophilia? Maybe beastiality? Guess who speech gets removed next? Everyone against those ideas since one, you no longer HAVE the first amendment to protect you, nor a second to defend yourself. Then after that person, an extremist right wing LITERAL Nazi gets put in power? Guess what? Racism and bigotry are in full swing now. Welcome back to the 1800's. And guess what you can do about it? Absolutely nothing. And you know who's to thank for that? You are.

The above article also goes on to mention this, which...... Is basically insane-

Fact is, contrary to MOST news sources. GG was not a hate movement. The FBI confirmed as much. And calling "Trump and his associates" gamers? They can't even operate FB half the time. Their only experience with gaming is probably Pac Man. Also the article goes on to say "right wing people" are the problem. No they are not. Because of the text I wrote prior to this. Because they SEE the trap and they are the only ones fighting to keep us free. Them and a hand full of centrists and not insane leftists. Also, it bares noting that "right wing" and "left wing" are not the same in the US as they are in other places, but a lot of people don't fully grasp that. People still have this view of "the right" as hillbilly racists, who shoot people because they can, and wish death upon "the gays". But that's a far cry from the bulk of the right in modern days. Because consider for a moment if the left wing was identified by their extreme? Full government control, make people be gay by force, legalize all age dating/sexual acts, let everyone love everyone *most specifically animals*, and killing/imprisoning all "non progressives". That's your fringes.

The reason so many people literally can't open their eyes is because they honestly can't think for themselves. They listen to "news" media to get all their info, even though that info is often doctored to be as woke and untrue as possible. Do you know why? Because activist types of the progressive fringes are the loudest and most entitled of us all. Salon, Kotaku, IGN, Vice, BuzzFeed, Feminist Frequency, Washington Post, The New York Times, The Guardian, CNN etc. They ALL get their news stories from one another. And they are all activists who want to push a narrative. They have no reason to be honest. The more angry you get reading their stuff, the more you will come back to read their stuff. Basically a loop of hate. Because without it, they'd go out of business. They NEED you to click on, share, and parrot their stories. I mean consider this for a sec. When GG got big, who was it that would have taken the hardest hit from the information found out? Games journalists. Do you know why mainstream news outlets came to their rescue? To paint gamers as all being racist, sexist, bigots? Because if it had come out and gotten attention beyond the gaming sphere that games media was being dishonest and unethical in its practices, how long do you think it would have been until we started to consider the same about mainstream journalism. They KNEW this was bad for them. But they also knew they had dedicated fan bases that would spread their propaganda for them. And they used that. They used that to pin down a few bad actors (the fringe people latching into the coat tails of the movement) to paint the entire movement as hateful. And not only did they succeed in spreading those lies. Now any time they need to make people angry again, or they need something to hide behind, the bring up GG *GamerGate*. Because the article writes itself. And they know by talking about it, they can deflect all forms of criticism. Journalist has sexual assault allegations against them? It's just GG trying to hurt progressives. Black Face? Just a GG lie! They threatened me/my family. It's the perfect shield. So much so, even Hollywood had taken on the mantra. But they took it up a notch to just say, "my movie did bad because sexist man babies". And they all do it. They don't actually CARE about sexism or whatever, but they KNOW, even the mention of "those types" is basically a battle cry to misinformed people that only wish to form a hate mob and enact "justice" on these "bigots". Open your eyes. You're a tool for the rich and powerful and you can't even see it.

[kurogabae]

Are you seriously supporting censoring freedom of speech just because you don't like what supposed "white nationalists" might say? you're fucking disgusting lmao. You and everyone else who reblogged that. Y'all motherfuckers have been dead silent on the literal thousands of people on this website who literally call for the genocide of white people, but the second someone says "I like being white and want to protect my people" you go insane. You're fucking disgusting. Please never come back here.

Oh my god this is a real message I got in my actual askbox.

First off, I am white so like get that straight. I’m white and these neo-nazi, white nationalist, fascist scumbags do not speak for me. They’re the waste of the earth and are pathetic, racist, criminals. 

Secondly, who ARE you? You can’t be a follower of mine because I’ve never been anything but transparent and open about how I feel about this issue and you seem to be very shocked at my stance. That only leaves the option of you being someone who is just going through the notes on one of those posts I reblogged and harassing people. To which I say - get a life my dude.

Finally, and most importantly, no one is fucking calling for a genocide of white people calm your pasty tits. Wanna know who is calling for actual genocide? Those white nationalists, those nazis, the KKK, the fascists. Wanna know who actually have accomplished genocide in the past? White people. WHITE PEOPLE! Countless times throughout history white people have destroyed cultures and civilizations, wiped out people systematically. They did it hundreds of years ago, decades ago, and they’re still doing it today. 

Do white people have a monopoly on genocide? No. But damn have we gone pro with it. 

The only “white genocide” occurring right now isn’t targeting white people, it’s targeting groups that happen to have white people in them -- Jewish people, queer people (like me), physically and mentally handicapped people, mentally ill people (like me), poor people (like me) -- and not the white people specifically. 

As for “being white and proud” that’s a load of shit and you and I and each of those white power fuck faces know it. White power is racism. You wanna be proud of you heritage that’s fine, but your heritage isn’t “white”. As an example my heritage isn’t white it’s mostly Irish, a chunk of German, some Swedish, and a dash of French. Does that sound like a recipe for a white girl crock pot? Yeah, but I know my roots and I could find them out in detail with some digging. African Americans? For most of them the buck stops at “slave ancestry”. All they have is being black, all they know is that they were once from Africa, but they don’t know where. So they get black pride, because we, as white people, took that individuality away from them. 

And on the topic of free speech, literal hate speech and harassment aren’t covered. Do some research. 

In the end, if stand up against people who are and have successfully in living memory called for the extermination of a people makes me a supporter of this so-called “white genocide” you speak of then I only have one thing to say about that:

Get fucked whitey. 

[magical-agatha]

Don't read this. Keep scrolling i need help this is a terrible way to go about it. Please just keep scrolling. I know i could post this privately but i won't and that surely says a lot about the nature of this post and the purpose of it. Don't read this post. Don't reply to it. Definitely do not message me with practical advice. I'm already seeing professional help. I don't kghrn. Don't read this.

No matter what i do i can't keep my glasses completely clean and it is legitimately upsetting. This is not a goof. It's messing with my ocd and it's hard to explain? It kind of hurts?? And it's like. I can't solve this problem so I'm just gradually getting more and more upset. And there's all this emotion building up that i don't know how to express because I'm all fucked up in other areas. If you ever meet me in person and we have an argument I'll have a really hard time because I'll start to panic and struggle to respond because I'm scared of saying the wrong thing because if i do you'll just pick it apart and use it against me. So I'll panic more and say something dumb and then you'll use it against me and I'll panic and say something cruel or something that's unfair, so that you'll get upset and leave. Because if you keep pushing me I'll just get more panicky and it'll get harder and harder to think clearly. And it'll end badly. I'd never hit another person but there's a dent and a hole on my bedroom wall, where my mum has attacked me and I've panicked and my stupid brain has told me it's fight or flight time but there's nowhere to run so i either hit myself or the house. It doesn't happen often but i feel like scum when it does. I always try to hit the door frame because i know i can't damage it. I've got to stress that it's not anger. I'm not angry. I'm usually terrified and crying. Because I'm a crazy person who's inherently broken inside. I'd never ever hurt someone. I hate violence. I get upset when someone squashes a spider. I mean I'd probably punch a nazi or someone who really deserved it. But i hate it when i panic like that. It makes me feel like I'm less than human. That if i hit a wall or break things, i always try to do it to worthless things like paper or sometimes I'll bite my hands. If i do those things i could hurt a person who didn't deserve it. I'm so scared of hurting someone. I can't convey how much it scares me. It comes down to my feelings on life. Life is special in a very specific way. If you take a life you can't give it back. From that we can also say that hurting someone is a reprehensible thing, because while it's often possible to recompense the victim, you can't return what you took or broke. And something somewhat relevant. I struggle to understand other people who self harm. Everyone else seems intent on being found out or caught. They cut their arms and legs, or some will even burn themselves with matches. I don't understand why you'd let yourself be caught like that i. It's probably just me. I'm scared of having discussions that go too deep because I've been hurt by that before. My mind is constructed in regard to and follows several core rules I've learnt from what I'm realising lately was years of subtle and not so subtle abuse at the hands of my mother. Of course I'm scared of calling abuse because What If She Heard Me Say That???? But i guess that's what it is. I also struggle to call her abusive because while she fucked up in a lot of ways raising me, she's broken too, and she was also raised by an abusive mother who was trying her best as well, but was still broken. Basically I'm 3rd generation and that makes it hard to place blame. But part of me wants to hate her. Does having good intentions excuse you if you fuck up?? There's a saying I'm fond of. "Save us from good intentions" and also "hell is paved with good intentions". But one of the rules hardwired into my brain is that if i ever show a weakness or let myself be vulnerable someone will use that weakness to hurt me. Part of that is that i can't make mistakes or I've Failed and I'm worthless. But this rule tells me that if i were to cut someone would either ask questions, use it against me, or pity me. Despite a lot of things and a lot of logic i am both incredibly proud and have almost no self esteem. So when i self harm i do invisible things. I bite my hands, especially the loose skin on the joints of my fingers and that bit of skin between the thumb and forefinger. And I've learned how to flex muscles in a way that hurts a lot. Not over stretching them or anything. It's sort of a combination of tensing conflicting muscles and then you do this thing where you tell the muscles to move but also stay still?? Hard to describe. That was a lot of rambling. I'm trying to determine something. Am i actually worthless? Or more specifically. If I'm miserable and struggling, and i want to give up on something until I've overcome certain other things. Specifically I've been doing a game design course for four or so weeks now. It should be my dream course. This is what I wanted. But there's a number of factors which are ruining it for me and exacerbating my misery. The travel is awful (5hrs a day 5am start 7pm home), and i had to start almost a month late because someone else fucked up, so I'm struggling with the work enormously, i can follow along and mimic what everyone else is doing but i don't understand how the code I'm typing works. But my brain is telling me i HAVE to enjoy this course and i HAVE to excel. But this conflict between struggling with the course, unrelated misery, and unreasonable unrealistic even cruel expectations i have of myself. The part of me that's in the background and just is, the same part that's dictating those rules, is convinced i have to be incredible at anything i do or I've failed and should mentally punish myself. It doesn't listen to reason and i can't argue with it or even ignore it. If i try and I'm not amazing i feel guilty. I feel miserable and like I've wasted everyone's time. It tells me I'm pathetic. And the hard part is that nothing is good enough. And the bit that makes me want to laugh the same way some who has just condemned themselves laughs?? The way you laugh before they take you to hell and install you in some greco styled sisyphean torture??? Nothing is ever good enough!!! I'm chasing infinity!!! I cannot succeed!!! EVERYTHING I DO RIGHT IS UNDERMINED AND DISREGARDED!!!!!!! AND I'M THE CULPRIT!!! I'M RUINING MY OWN LIFE! MY BRAIN WANTS ME TO DIE MISERABLE AND ALONE. IN MY LASTS MOMENTS I BET IT WOULD SEND ME A THOUGHT AND I'D FEEL THAT I WAS PATHETIC. I COULD HAVE DONE THIS OR THAT BETTER. LOOK HOW PATHETICALLY I'M DYING. The deranged sode effect of this is that ninety nine times out of a hundred i give up without starting or never really try. Why should i bother. WHY SHOULD I BOTHER. Why fucking bother. If i can't ever succeed!! It's just pure cruelty. You know i always tell myself I'd never commit suicide. After all my greatest fear is entropy. Time passing, wasting time. Living with limited time and not using it perfectly. So of course since i don't believe in an afterlife despite really trying to get religious. Of course I'd never waste the only life i have. Surely being miserable is better than not existing. Of course. But i was waiting for a train, and i started looking at the tracks and thought about it. Immediately i corrected it to thinking about how can i step into traffic or in front of a train without dying. Because i have no other capability or capacity to tell people just how sick i am. But for a second i really wanted to die. Which terrifies me. What terrifies me more is that i have to force myself slightly not to give up. That part of me is so ready to give up totally. I can't think about that moment any more. If you read this i don't have much to say to you. This is my only way to say how unhappy i am. Because i can say that no one will read this. This is safe. But it's difficult. If someone does read this and sends me a message or something it's difficult. Because i lack the capacity to really admit I'm not okay. If you message me I'll just explain it away or reassure you I'm fine. This is in simplest terms a cry for help. I could and maybe even should just save this as a draft or post privately. This is my message in a bottle. I can convince myself for long enough that no one will reply. Even if they do, so what. There's only so much a kind person's kind words can do. I'm too good at shutting myself off. And no one here knows my real name except for maybe one person who i used to be close with. But he knows me by some old iscribble username. He probably doesn't remember my real name. Point being that even if you reading this want to help, you can't do enough. I'm too smart for my own good. I've found a way to call out for help, but I'm also intentionally sabotaging myself. It's ridiculous. That's what's it's like living in my head. I can't ask for help because then I'll be vulnerable and if I'm EVER EVER vulnerable something BAD will happen. I've explained it to a psych before, or tried. My brain never specifies the threat it says exists. It's always just something bad, but the kind of thing where you know that means so bad it can't be imagined or put into words. It could be death?? It could be everyone you ever meet or know hating you and laughing at you?? It could be always being a pathetic failure?? It could be anything!! It's genius! I don't even know what the threat is!! And my brain never has to worry about whether the threat is realistic because it's not specified! What a nightmare. What a convoluted mess i am. The most ingenious and sadistic torturer couldn't devise something like this! Design pales in comparison to the sheer stupid thoughtless luck of something created naturally without a goal in mind. Now i sound like I'm bragging so I'm nervous about that, that someone will discredit this entire post and send me a hurtful message. Or something WORSE! Now I'm trying really hard to hold onto my frustration and not let anxiety take over. Look at this! I'm such a fucking joke!!! Thank goodness i don't believe in a god. If i did believe in one what would that make me? If intelligent design is real and a man in the sky controls everything, what do i make of that? For one I'm the greatest practical joke ever told, and another this god clearly doesn't care about us. Or worse, he does care but he's powerless to help us. But that's potentially even more terrifying!! Who or what is more powerful than a supposed god??? I'm so tired of all of this. This revolting nightmare of self hatred that lives in my head. Could you really blame me for wanting to give up, or for wanting someone to save me? I guarantee if you living in my head you wouldn't function. If you had this trash suddenly thust on you with no warning and no time slowly learning to cope. I don't want to sound like I'm being edgy. I'm nervous about this paragraph and scared i sound like I'm bragging. Goodness gracious I'm sick of all of this.

[borntobewinterbyjessieb]

The Truth Revealed

                     -Steve's POV-

I couldn't wait for tomorrow. Deporting to the camp. Darcy stayed by my side yesterday and today. And tomorrow I'd have to say goodbye.

What a sad and joyous occasion. Saying goodbye and yet saying hello to a whole new adventure. Going into the army. I stood in Bucky's or our living room staring at Darcy waiting for any word from Bucky. Part of the 107th infantry.

I sighed running my hands through my hair. Darcy seemingly sensing my frustration came to my side nudging my hand to her nose.

"Darcy what am I going to do? I wish you could come with me..." I said squaring my shoulders.

She nuzzles my hand and put a paw on my knee.

-Darcy POV-

It was now three days past Steve's departure. I was still in my wolf form and pacing back and forth.

'I have to get to him. There's no way he would survive without some sort of support system!' I thought.

I have to! But I can't go like this! Well maybe I can...

I ran to the nearest recruiting tent. I snuck in as a wolf. When someone noticed me!

"Eeeek!! It's a wolf!!! Get it out!!!" Some woman screeched. They shoo'd me out. Well that didn't work...

I went to a back alley and transformed into my human form. I ran back to the recruiting tent.

A young man greeted me with a smile.

"What can I do for you miss?"

"I'd like to volunteer my services to the army." I said in full confidence.

The young man just laughed at me.

I would do whatever it takes to get into the army. So I went back around the tent and saw a doctor smoking a cigarette. While I didn't quite understand why a female doctor would be smoking, I did see an opportunity.

I made my way to her and I asked. "Hey doc, why do it think it's so hard for us women to join the military?"

She shrugged, "Don't ask me. I don't care about going into the military I just check em out and check them up."

"Thank you for your time doctor." I said turning back around to walk away.

"Wait!" She yelled.

I turned back around immediately alarmed by her sudden outburst.

"I might know a way to get you in." she said

I looked up at her in confusion.

"I saw you come in and talk to Lewis. When he laughed at you... well that pissed me off and I may not want to join myself, but that doesn't mean I think women shouldn't join." She sighed. "What I'm trying to say is... a couple days ago one of my colleagues took in a boy just wasn't cut out for the military life. Yet he helped that young man and made his dream come true. I want to be like my colleague in that way so I'll help you."

"Thanks I think..."

She laughed, "By the way the name's Janine. Janine Iwensky. Nice to meet ya." She held out her hand for me to shake.

I hesitated but I took her hand and shook it.

"I'm Darcy... Darcy Dolohov." I smiled.

"Do you have a place to stay in the mean time? I mean I can tell your not from around here your accent is different. Alaskan? Maybe? Anyways I have a spare room at my place. You could bunk there until we figure this out." She smiled sweetly.

"Yeah how did you know?!" My eyes immediately sparked. No one could ever tell where I'm from. So it was pretty awesome that she could. "It would be great  if you could do that for me! But I don't want to be a bother..."

"No sugah don't you worry bout a thing!"

————2 years later 1943—————

-Steve's POV-

"We have a surprise for you Cap!" One of the lieutenants said. "We figure Captain America could use a sidekick. Well a mascot more like. And don't worry it's fully trained and tamed!"

"What's going on lieutenant?" Said the Colonel.

"Well we have a surprise for the Cap."

"Alright let's see it." Said Colonel Phillips.

The lieutenant whistled.

And in came a white wolf wagging its tail.

It looked vaguely familiar. "Darcy?!" I gasped.

The wolf ran up to me, and pounced on me licking my face.

"H-how is this possible?!" I asked.

"Well one of our higher ups, she's a doctor, said that you always had this here wolf with you, and she'd had one of our cadets train her. She figured you'd like to have her back." The lieutenant grinned.

"Thank you very much lieutenant. Colonel is this fine by you?" I turned toward Colonel Phillips.

"Are you sure this thing is tame and has been trained enough for the fields?" Asked Colonel Phillips.

"Yes sir, and she is a beauty. Might I say sir." Said the lieutenant.

"What's your name lieutenant?" The Colonel Asked.

"Lieutenant Derrell Lewis, sir!" He saluted.

"Well lieutenant Lewis you are dismissed!" Said the Colonel.

"Yes sir" Lewis said as he left.

"It's alright son, you can keep it." Colonel Phillips stayed blatantly.

"Alright back to work Rogers." He said leaving the tent.

I was alone in the tent no one but me and Darcy.

"Darcy how did you get here?!" I asked knowing there would be no reply.

Suddenly I heard a ruckus outside of the tent. Peggy came up to me.

"Don't worry about it Steve. It's just the production manager wanting you to know he needs you back at the plane to go to your next performance." She said.

I'm getting tired of these little concerts and advertisements for bonds. I want to be doing more. I wanna be out there on the battlefield!

- a week later-

Peggy met me backstage after I had just performed for the 107th.

"Hello Peggy. What can I do for you?" I asked.

"That was one heck of a performance captain." She smiled.

"Yeah well bonds buy bullets, bullets kills nazis, each kill closer to ending this war."

"You sound like senator Brandt." Her smile fell.

"Well its that or Phillips was gonna stick me in a lab..." I said

"You were meant for more than this Steve." Peggy looks at my sketch.

"Are those really your only options? A lab rat or a dancing monkey?" She smirks at me.

"All I've ever wanted was to be out there on the front lines. To be a hero so suddenly... after all those years of people telling me I'll always be nothing." I paused as a platoon of men come out of an army vehicle, catches my eye "They look like they've been through hell..."

"These men more than most." she said as I was watching them. I noticed Darcy sniffing through the soldiers as if looking for someone.

"Hydra?" I asked expectantly.

"Not officially." She explained.

"Back home that's a yes." I say nodding my head.

She looks at me at if debating with herself, then leans in. "Schmidt was moving a force through

Azzano. 200 hundred men went up against them, less than fifty came back. Your audience contained all that's left of the 107th. The rest were killed or captured."

My head snapped to attention and my eyes alert. "The 107th?!"

She nodded. "Yes, What is it?"

"Come on." I said as a scowl passed on my face. I whistled to Darcy and she bolted by my side.

-Darcy's POV-

I ran to Steve as he called. I needed time to prepare seeing as how I think I know what's going on in his mind. I used my teeth and lightly tugged in Peggy's skirt.

She looked down on me with a expression of shock and confusion.

"Steve?" She said sounding unsure.

"Darcy stop!" I huffed he clearly didn't get the message.

I began pawing at the dirt, knowing Peggy would understand.

"I need alone time with Peggy I need to pee. And I don't like Steve watching me pee." I said in Morse code.

As realization finally sunk in Peggy laughed and tossed her head back.

Steve looked at her like she was crazy.

"That is one smart wolf you got there Rogers!"

"What? What is it?!" He asked bewildered.

"She needs to use the bathroom and she doesn't like going to the bathroom with you around." She chuckled at the thought.

Steve turned red for a moment and then said, "well okay I'll be at the Jeep."

She waved him off.

"Aren't you a smart girl?" She smirked as I lead her over to a secluded area with a tent. I went inside her following. I checked the perimeter making sure no one could hear or see us.

Then I transformed right in front of her knowing I could trust her and she wouldn't hold it against me for waiting to long to tell her like I did Steve.

She gasped nearly falling over as she backed away.

"Hey, hey easy now... easy. I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm still Darcy but I'm just... me... now."

"Wait so you're like a werewolf?" she gaped.

"Technically Yes, But my kind prefer the term Shayde." I said and thus leading into a thirty minute explanation.

"Well I'll be darned. That sure is quite the story and I'd not believe it had I not just seen you turn into a human..." she said seemingly fascinated.

"You can't tell anyone! Please! I need to be here just as much as Steve. I think I just told you this but I cast a shadow on Steve and well I felt a connection between me and Steve's childhood friend, Bucky. Bucky is in the 107th."

Her eyes widened And she gasped.

"You need to tell Steve." she said with an all too knowing look. I don't think I like the look of it either.

"I know but after waiting this long I don't know how." I said looking down and feeling ashamed at all my secrecy.

"Well we'll just show him now. I'll come back with you instead of Darcy that could also help the situation a bit. And on our way to camp you can explain it to him in more detail than you told me." She said confidently

"You make it sound so easy..." I said smiling.

We walked out of the tent with our arms linked in a show of support. And we walked right up to Steve and he looked shocked.

"What are you doing here Darla?!" Steve nearly yelled.

I smiled sheepishly, "My real name isn't Darla it's.... its Darcy." I said as I shifted back into the form he is so used to seeing me in. I then shifted back into human form. And hugged him as he stood there mouth agape.

"I'm so sorry Steve!" I said and burst out in tears. And with that we rode off as I explained EVERYTHING to him.