#and it kills me whenever ppl disregard the past as Just Dates

[kissmefriendly]

Okay, the little “History is…” talk in the new Amelia Project is making me emotional. Because, as a history buff, my absolute favourite part of history IS the people and the individual stories! One of my favourite things is to read the correspondences of people who never thought that their stories would ever be worth telling or would be important to the historical record.

“History is just wars and dates.”

“No. It’s people! It’s like… it’s like… what is it like? It’s like reading sci-fi but instead of the future it’s the past. But it’s still all stories and cultures and people and they’re different and you never really meet any of them-“

It’s such a lovely way of putting it. And, as Kozlowski points out, the past is still tangible and still impacts and exists in our modern world. Even if it bears little resemblance to what it once was 100 or even 500 years ago. Wars and dates are how we categorise the past, what we define eras by. But it does not give an accurate representation of the living, human parts of the world. How people still played practical jokes, how cultures were evolving or clinging to stay alive, or how for all of time people have always been here just as we are now. Just in different settings. And you know what, that’s beautiful.

The past is horrific and brutal and ugly. It’s also inspiring and worth remembering the stories that make it all up, the threads in the tapestry that is continuing to be woven. It’s about significant names such as Moliere and his death but it SIMULTANEOUSLY about the joy of that one day you found the perfect waffle.

[moeitsu]

Since it's pride month I wanna talk about something I've noticed in the Red Dead Redemption fandom:

The Bisexual erasure of Sadie Adler and Arthur Morgan.

I apologize if this comes across as harsh, but it's something that's been on my mind since I started interacting w/ this media. And as a bisexual, I wanted to discuss it further.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with shipping these characters with the same sex. Personally, I am a Charthur shipper till the day I die. I don't ship Sadie with anyone but her husband, but I still enjoy seeing the fanart and headcanons of the women she's shipped with.

That being said, these characters are not lesbian or gay. That's literally a fact, and if you think otherwise it is bisexual erasure.

Let's start with Sadie Adler. Her entire character arc is getting revenge on the O'Driscolls for killing her husband. Whom she mourns for years, and talks about frequently with Arthur/other camp members. Now, if you want to ship her w/ Abigail or Molly or whomever, go for it!! But she has loved and still loves her husband. She is not a lesbian, and she didn't just magically turn into a lesbian after Jake's death. If she had any love interests other than Jake, this would make her bisexual. (even Sapphic is still a more appropriate term than lesbian)

The same goes for women in real life who have dated men first, then dated a woman. Just because their current partner is the same sex doesn't mean we can assume they are suddenly lesbian. Calling characters lesbians even if they have been in a relationship with men before is bisexual erasure.

This same concept is applied to Arthur Morgan. He had previous relationships with women. (one of whom he still has strong feelings for) and he is attracted to women. We see this with his greeting dialogue and when he compliments people. I believe Arthur's character is more likely to be bisexual than Sadie's, given his interactions w/ some of the men in the game. But that doesn't erase the fact that he's still attracted to the opposite sex. Arthur is not a gay man. Disregarding his past relationships w/ women is a form of bisexual erasure.

There is a huge double standard here because if these character's were actually lesbian/gay and the fandom decided to ship them with people of the opposite sex (i.e headcanon they are bi), there would be a major discourse.

Whenever bisexual women and men are presented in the media I always notice a few things:

Bi women are "secretly straight"

Bi women "don't know their lesbian yet"

Bi men are "secretly gay"

As well as this funny little graphic below ↓

Like I said before, I am bisexual. And if I'm being honest this years pride month has been exhausting and mildly infuriating with how the community seems to disregard bisexuals in a hetero relationship.

I stopped talking about my bisexuality with people because once they know I have been in a committed relationship with a man for seven years, I am suddenly excluded from the conversation.

I've had ex-friends tell me that I only identify as bisexual to "fit in" with the queer community. I've had people in college assume I was lesbian bc of the way I dressed, and then try to tell me that I must be secretly lesbian when I tell them I'm Bi. (Ppl also assumed I was non-binary bc of the way I presented but that's another story)

This stuff doesn't just happen to fictional characters, it happens to real people every single day. I'm honestly tired of ppl saying "well my headcanon doesn't hurt anybody, they're not real." Yes it does!! You are supporting Bi erasure!!

That's all I'm gonna say on this topic for now. I'd love to leave it open for discussion, but please be nice. This isn't a call-out or me trying to antagonize the queer rdr community. I just wanted to get it off my mind.

[lonelyboy-in-space]

Why does everyone think Luther needs to be redeemed for putting Vanya in the one place he thought she wouldn’t be a danger to herself or others but Vanya doesn’t need to redeem herself for slitting Allison’s throat???

also including: “Same anon I just can’t believe reacting “poorly” (in quotes bc it’s extremely reasonable and ppl who pretend they would have “just talked!!” to Vanya in his position are lying) to Attempted Murder requires a redemption arc but Attempted Murder is okay bc “trauma””

the thing is right, the choice that luther made was wrong. He can’t be excused for making the wrong choices because of mental health issues because ultimately, it was still his choice to lock vanya up, and he could’ve listened to his siblings if you just think about it logically. everyone else has had learning experiences that luther never had, and he should’ve had a vote with the others instead of not listening to anyone, especially allison, who was the ultimate victim.

but just because i say that luther has to be held accountable for his actions, vanya does too. vanya literally fucking killed allison and didn’t even call a fuckign ambulance afterwards when she was in the right mindset. “she was angry! she wasn’tt herself!” bitch vanya is a 30-year-old woman, it was in her responsibilities to listen to allison, who by-the-fucking-way, was the only one who treated vanya in a positive way, going out of her way to talk to vanya, having sister moments, trying to warn vanya about peabody. and you know what vanya did? constantly shame allison for her failed marriage and disregard her voice. then basically killed her when allison has literal fucking proof that peabody was not who he says he is. what kinda person keeps dating a guy who killed his fucking father without taking measures?

and that’s disregarding the fact that vanya had the most normal life out of all the siblings after the academy. yes vanya was neglected her entire life, she never felt like she had anyone, but she also was the one who got out and had a fucking therapist. are you saying that after years and years of therapy her mental state didn’t improve one single bit? you can’t compare the mental states of luther and vanya because they’re not the same in that regard. luther was isolated for his entire 30 years of living, at least 7 without his only supports, his siblings, 4 on the motherfuckign moon with no one for company except for a robot, 4 years of eating soy paste, at least 3 with his negative-brain-cell father who continues to brainwash him, now with no obstacles since his siblings all fucking left. vanya had a chance to go make friends, to have therapy and healing, and while we can see that her social anxiety prevented that from happening as we can see that she has no fucking friends, she had a choice. luther did not. 

you can’t say that vanya wasn’t “in the right state of mind” because her reaction towards what could’ve been a normal argument is unfair. she, of all people, should know that acting out violently is not the right thing to do, proven whenever she tries to stop diego and luther fighting. she knows that peabody was lying to her, but she chooses to disregard that and put herself in danger because she’s just so desperate for love. and i don’t blame her for that. no one does. in fact, everyone seems to baby her because of that. but what about luther? luther is naive, he is inexperienced because all he had in his life was his father and the academy. he has had nothing, he never had friends, nor has he ever left the manor. you can’t compare vanya’s mental state to luther bc vanya should’ve known better.

they both need to be held accountable, not just luther “dad-sent-me-to-the-moon” hargreeves. what i’m saying is that both had a particular situation that they both reacted poorly too, luther with his limited knowledge about vanya’s powers, reginald’s brainwashing, the extreme time limit and his fear. vanya with her years of neglected abuse that she just kept bottling up until it exploded, and the denial that the only person that has ever shown love to her turns out to be an ex-convict that killed his dad and may be mentally unstable,too. But why is it that vanya is the fandom’s sweet angel baby while luther is being bashed and hated on for his reaction, trauma and abuse that has led him to create that reaction? 

it’s not fair.