#and since they dont have the same religion they speak about it a lot

[juanitasupreme]

My friend told me she was sad because we won't be in heaven together fjdjdjjfjff

[alatismeni-theitsa]

https://www.tumblr.com/cardassiangoodreads/722229585723424768/im-just-going-to-say-right-now-that-i-dont-think?source=share

Just curious about your thoughts

The post and the tags because this person has blocked me preemptively - and they're lucky cause I wouldn't shat all over them. This person is a USAmerican very removed from Italian culture.

My Answer:

Ooooo coloniser rhetoric in the 21st century! That's a sight for sore eyes! (Which became sore cause they see such takes all the time).

Funny how this person talks about how objects belonging to Greece right after saying that our heritage figures (like our gods and heroes) don't belong to us. If Greek culture is a global culture why can't foreigners keep the objects? Hmmm I wonder…. They still put the "Greek" or "Roman" to characterise the stories but the moment Greeks and Italians speak up, then all of a sudden "the stories akksuually have no culture, they belong to all of us!" 😂😂😂

I wonder if this person understands what the term "heritage" means, because gods and heroes are definitely part of one's heritage and we never stopped preserving the texts that spoke about them, and they are still part of our living culture.

I'm all for listening to the members of the diaspora but when we are at the point when one of them is regurgitating imperialist points, not only there's a big divide with current opinions in Italy, but I also cannot leave such points unanswered. Also, many Italians, like Greeks, are sick of how their myths are treated but this person didn't even check, they just spoke over them. Because they didn't bother to ask people, obviously.

Ancient Greek heroes and gods still mean a lot to us. They always meant. They were born from visions, dreams, and other sacred methods, or oral traditions from our ancestors, reflecting specifically the ancient Greek culture. It's good that foreigners can access them and relate to a degree but divorcing any folk story from its origin is always negative. Especially when this culture is still ongoing.

Our Christianity is revamped ancient Greek religion, I wonder, does this person know that? Our temples have the same parts. We still have home altars, and divinities presiding over domains. Our hagiography is how we used to paint our gods and creatures. We still have almost the same nature creatures. The customs have remained and have persisted, and I won't have someone who clearly ignores this say "They gave the religion up". Ftou.

Also when it comes to our gods and their symbols (and yes btw we call them "our" gods lots of times), we can deduce things from our local tradition and environment, whereas an Anglophone who worships the gods or is interested in them but doesn't know stuff about the country of origin of those gods has no idea about our history, methods and environment. Example: Foreigner refuses to accept that there's a pine cone on Dionysos' thyrsos (although it looks like a pinecone) because "it doesn't make sense" and very excitedly suggests another plant instead. Greek lets them know that it is actually a pine cone not only because it looks like a pinecone but because the pinecone has been used in our winemaking process forever, and Dionysos also presided over this process. Guess Greece and its environment and it's people are still relevant to the religion, and it also turns out that the symbols of the gods derived from the Greek reality. Who knew!

Now onto another point. Op says that the Greek stories became "global culture" because they got shared everywhere. Them being shared is not a bad thing! However just studying them and be taught about them is not culture. By this logic, and since Egyptians "gave their old religion up", ancient Egyptian gods are now MY ancient gods because I can find books about ancient Egypt at my local bookstore. woww 😂 What about this? Almost every Greek knows 100 and 1 nights. We have made it into a play also. SOO... these are our cultural stories now, right? West Asians and Arabs in general shouldn't speak if they ever see us and other nations being ridiculous about the stories, and stereotypes and changing the characters a lot but still claim we are doing great, right? Got it.

The way this post is written it's like Germans and Brits kept the ancient Greek myths alive since ancient years or something. Greeks themselves never stopped preserving their own ancient texts, and they escaped with them in Europe after the fall of Constantinople, so NW Europeans REDISCOVERED them 1500 years later. They had lost interest by then.

Funny they mention different nations that were Hellenized or became Roman territories because people living in these nations are exactly those who don't speak about Greek and Roman culture as "a global culture". It's always North Westerners who start these discussions, I wonder why…..

People from the aforementioned nations already interact healthily with their ancient heritage - which is not Greek or Roman culture but always a local version with Greek or Roman elements, and that's great too. I haven't heard a Pakistani say "Theseus is our hero too!" or a Tunisian say "Zeus is our local ancient father of the gods!" Because they know exactly how the mix happened and what their national identity is. And I'm getting more and more tired of seeing Westerners erase these experiences too, and just make assumptions for other nations.

I swear I mostly see USians getting butthurt about other people getting conquered 2.000 years ago. The nations themselves don't give a shiiit. Guys, I know our antiquities are the only interesting thing about us in your eyes but Please Make An Effort to understand people from ancient cultures and how we don't give a shit about these conquests cause they happened Two Thousand Years Ago, and we had other tragic stuff in the meantime. Thanks

Also, as I said, these conquests are not why Greek myths are popular today. The conquests were so incredibly old that the average person in these countries (Balkans, the Mediterranean, West Asia) - and Greece - had no idea who built the ancient ruins they saw around! Does this person think Greek myths were handed down from Moroccan grandma to Moroccan grandchild from 300 BCE to 2024 continuously or something?

Greek myths are very popular in most parts of the world today because the West (meaning not Greece, especially at the time when we were "cattle") popularized them non-stop the last few centuries. And they did a shitty job, at that. In fact, Greeks abroad have been cringing about this treatment of our myths since the 15th century but, as usual, we were not being heard.

And what does "global culture" even mean?? As if you see any culture to how the US (because OP focuses on the US and the retellings there, from the looks of it) interacts with our stories. As if they care about the meaning of the story. (There are a few notable exceptions ofc but they remain FEW) People with such arguments just want to feel guilt-free when using our myths out of context. That's why Western academic cycles often run in circles about "what the myths mean" while Greeks have told you exactly what they mean.

The US audience is still not free of the coloniser WASP approach. They see our myths STILL as a product of modern White Supremacy instead of an ancient Greek product, and they often condemn the myths and "better" them by completely pushing them into USian lens to the point they don't look or feel like the original myths anymore. (All the above you don't dare to do with cultural stories and figures from nations you want to respect, by the way.) Is this the cultural "exchange" they're talking about?

I'm done hearing in the international spaces that my culture is "boring" because USians have seen horrible adaptation after horrible adaptation. I'm tired of USians making wild assumptions about how "horrible" our gods are because whoever told them the myths didn't give a simple explanation about our ancient societies. (Don't start crap about accessibility, there are very accessible ways to talk to kids, teens, and adults about other cultures and teach them age-appropriate tales) I'm tired of my heritage being commercialized to that degree. All Greeks roll their eyes in USAmerican movies about our culture and we call them Amerikaniés. And don't worry, I'm getting to the real stuff.

How our ancient culture is treated and how we are sidelined has real consequences on our lives abroad AND inside our culture, on how we are perceived, on how our surnames are perceived, on how we "don't look like Greeks", on how our Greek myth retellings don't get published abroad! They speak in front of us about our own words as if they are magical and mythical and strange! The opinions and perspectives of Greeks are not sought abroad, and you are a masterclass on why this happens. We make y'all uncomfortable. You feel better if you forget about us.

Another exhibit: All the hurtful comments of foreigners who centered the HUGE milestone of same-sex marriage in Greece because all they could imagine - while queer Greeks suffered a lot these last few months - was their wedding in Gay Mykonos and Lesbian Lesbos. This was their first reaction. They didn't possibly think that Greeks were seeing that because we are far away and irrelevant, right?

Obviously culture-mixing is not bad but the West didn't mix our culture with theirs. They just took it for entertainment and their popular culture never saw the depth or the meaning of it. OP speaks about how our stories were spread while actively avoiding speaking in depth about the problematic elements of that spread. They recognize to a small degree how Greeks feel about the matter but they dismiss most of our concerns in such a nonchalant way that all that comes to my mind is "privilege".

And speaking of power… Greeks have less systemic power than the countries of the West. We are the US' puppet, are you kidding me?? Our armies get deployed wherever the US wants. Our politicians don't even fart without a telephone from the US. We are the whores of the German, Belgian and French governments. Greeks abroad still face discrimination for their customs and how they look, and how their food smells, and how our religion is and how our hymns sound, and other ridiculous stuff. Our infrastructure is slowly being bought out by Germans and USians to various degrees. There are different scales to exploitation and bigotry, I agree, but that doesn't mean that only the roughest bigotry cases are worth discussing.

"We could also talk about the additional level of exploitation in how imperial powers used Greek mythology as an argument for the "superiority of the West," while at the same time plundering Greece's resources and treating it like it exists only as a tourist site" They are SO close to getting it, and yet their post says otherwise.

Fetishism of a culture makes the members of the actual culture feel alienated and hurt. As a person of Italian ancestry you should know how this specific "global culture" argument has been used to strip Greeks and Italians of any claims, so the "dirty Greeks" can be separated from the "pure WASP" USian upper class of the time who deemed themselves more suitable to engage with the material.

"Greeks spreading their culture through military force all over (eventually) most of Europe" what the hell?? Sorry, guys, (side-eyes the other Greeks) we conquered Romania??? wow!

Plus, this person doesn't know the difference between the Greek colonisation of Italy and Sicily and the recent European colonisation, and - to say it very politely - they should open a book.

By The Way

You can still interact with the Greek culture without having a colonial attitude! Nobody is barring you! I want to make this abundantly clear!

Most importantly, you don't have to make arguments for "global culture" when it's simple to place the myths inside their original context while interacting with them! You just have to read a bit more books that are on the internet and your library for free! Recognising that a foreign culture is not yours, and that you engage with it because it's just popular, doesn't stop anyone from interacting with it. You simply refuse to interact with them at the proper, deeper level, because you always want to center them around yourself. You want to interact with foreign stories just how the colonisers did it. Congrats.

I'm talking about the majority of cases. Of course people in the US can take all sorts of inspiration from foreign myths and adapt them to their reality. And it's a good result when they're being respectful and have studied the stories beforehand.

All we ask is to engage with the material in context so you can understand what our ancestors wanted to express. If your only view of Greek myths has come from other Americans and NW Europeans then you see them through coloniser lens. That's non-negotiable. I had people from other countries recite to me USAmerican viewpoints about the Greek gods, as if they were fact. Cause it's the only exposure that's happening worldwide right now.

You can interact with Greco-Roman myths whether Greece and Rome touched your country or not, we don't care. But please don't get your source from the pop US culture. These people think that it makes sense for nymphs to look like trees (that's an Anglo-Saxon and Celtic nature creature depiction. Ancient Greece was very anthropomorphic). It's not a crime if you change some stuff in a retelling but why willingly ignore the original depictions and what they have to show you for the ancient people who created them?

Pfff... Thank you anon for bringing this trash to me. I needed to - metaphorically - throw something in the trash. It took me a few hours to answer this but well... I do write a lot and this post was full of shit I had to shovel.

[popawritter12]

Hey hey heyyy im back with another request (im the same anon who requested that yandere morgana piece u wrote, absoutely loved it btw ate it up) and i was wondering if you could write some yandere! Hwei x reader? (fanfic or headcanons is up to you!) maybe the reader is an artist as well and they bond over that? Idk man up to you, also love ur takes on characters ur legit one of the best LoL writers ive seen!!

Btw if you dont mind can i be the 🍊 anon? Ive seen other blogs have their emoji anons and i wanna be one so bad fhdbfh

Hope youre having a nice day!!

Author's Notes: Of course 🍊 anon! I would love to <3

I also got tired of making so many headcanons (believe it or not, I have more saved in my drafts), I'm going to write a one-shot. I hope you like it <3. I also appreciate that you like my work. It's especially nice to know that there's someone who enjoys what I do besides me. By the way, I think Hwei is not in the Yandere “tier list” of LoL, so from how I write him and how I see him, I assume that he is a “Normal” type, because his personality reminds me a little of Ayano from Yandere simulator jjjjjjjjjj

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Yandere! Hwei x Fem! reader

Yandere character: Hwei From the videogame/anime/manga/movie/series: League Of Legends Case: Mention of stalking, allegation of theft, robbery and kidnapping. Part: 1 of 1 Warning: Excessive text LOL

Ｏ(≧∇≦)ＯＯ(≧∇≦)ＯＯ(≧∇≦)ＯＯ(≧∇≦)Ｏ

Obedience.

You had heard that word for so long that it was already embedded in your memory. But not in the way most expected.

You hated that word, and for that same reason you almost never hung out with the teachers or students of the temple you went to.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves, we better go to the beginning.

You had been born into a family that had never been close to other nations apart from Ionia, your mother was a strict woman, sometimes bordering on abusive, who always hated temples. Especially religions… Let's say she never had good experiences with it.

And your father, oh your beloved father… He was a saint in every sense of the word. He was kind, a joker… And a smile was always on his face. He had never yelled, in fact even when he was angry, he would just sit in the corner, ignoring everything around him until his mind cooled down.

And, being an only child, your life around them was quite chaotic. While your mother always tried to stay out of her entire family situation—a rather complex issue even for you—your father was the “husband of the house,” so to speak. He was in charge of teaching you both cooking and home care in general, including carpentry and, mainly, the art of home decoration.

He always dreamed of being a great artist, but in his family it was never frowned upon for a man to make the decision to undertake such a complex world of art, because, you know… that's a “women's thing.” But anyway, a lot of things have happened since the last time you talked to your uncles and cousins so… They aren't very important in your life right now.

But do you know that it is important? Where did you study.

Your father insisted a lot on your talent with sculptures and the human form; You really liked making ceramic vases manually, so much so that from the age of 8 you made your first sculpture; It was the strange shape of a dog with small eyes and a giant nose. At the time you barely knew how to paint sculptures, and your father barely knew about sculptures, and the shape of it so… Let's say it looked more like an "alebrije" than a dog with a big nose.

But that was a long time ago, and now the only proof of that memory is the figure on your father's furniture; kept as a beautiful memory.

As time went by your sculptures became more complex; from simple vases for flowers to sculptures with human figures of such a level that, at this point, we could compare them with the statues of Michelangelo.

And your father wanted that talent to be exploited to the fullest. So, after years of arguing with your mother, they both agreed that you should go to the great temple where you would learn about the art.

But there was a small problem, one that was going to haunt you a lot.

You weren't used to how strict that school was.

The first and second day at that school were quite chaotic for you. It wasn't just because it wasn't as you expected, but because everything was very limited.

If you wanted to make art, you had to do it how they wanted, when they asked you to, and how they expected it. However, not only was that not your style, but it seemed like the teachers (especially the principal) always had one eye on you. And only for a few weeks did you endure that strict issue of obedience.

But there was one boy who was particularly kind to you, and he was a young man of always unkempt appearance. His dark circles always stood out on his face, along with his hair that was rarely organized in a linear manner. From the first time he saw you, he felt charmed by the way you expressed yourself; You were good at painting and using magic, but when he saw the ceramic sculptures you made…damn, you really drove him crazy.

But you obviously didn't notice, you were too focused on trying to get along with your surroundings in general that you didn't notice his desperate attempts to get along with you.

However, in the pleasant conversations you had with him, you always saw him as the stereotype of the exemplary boy; someone who dedicated his entire life to his art, to the temple and was admired by everyone for his great talent. You thought he was assured of a great future thanks to his eccentric abilities.

And you, unlike most, learned very well from your mother that you could not let yourself be trampled; especially by anyone you barely knew. So the blood that ran through your veins and the passion for your own art that you kept for so long was slowly being tied to be limited, but with barely strong ropes. It hurt a lot to know that you were in a place that didn't belong to you, it was as if you were a squirrel in the Freljord, or a mouse in a perfume store.

And in the end, when you mentioned all these things to your mother, she didn't take it very well.

—Did you really go through all this while you were in that temple? —She asked, a cigarette between her fingers as she arranged her needles on the table.

You just nodded your head, not looking at your mother at all. The woman, at this, clicked her tongue.

—I knew that those bitches are only good for the basics, they didn't evolve at all —The woman brought the cigarette to her lips, taking a gentle drag —so, do you know something, my child? Send them to hell.

You were used to her bad vocabulary, so much so that at this, you just nodded your head again.

—I know perfectly well that you are not like me, that you want to venture out and learn about “the ways of art” and that I know —The woman moved her free hand in the air, while with the other she only lightly squeezed the cigarette. —, but if you're going to go alone so that that bunch of nuts can do you less, I'm going to get you out even by kicking you in the ass.

Your mother was tough as a chain in the teeth, and you knew that she couldn't last long without making trouble in the temple if there was someone bothering her only daughter. She cared very little if it was a student, a teacher or even the founder of the temple himself —Even though she knows that she died a long time ago— she would go and give her her dose of shit if she messed with the pride of her as a mother.

She advised you to kick their ass if they messed with you, but your father later talked to you about it, advising that you couldn't take all your feelings and thoughts to such an extreme, but that you should think coldly, and not give importance to people that were not to your specific liking, regardless of their social status. You were no less for coming from a family that came from the middle of nowhere.

During your temple walk, you always walked alone, which gave you plenty of time to think about your actions; You had been passive most of the time, however, more than once you let out those classic off-color comments when they already crossed your limit. Words like “Fuck you if you don't like it” or “You're barely able to use colors and you're going to tell me what I have to do?” escaped you in very rare cases.

You entered the less traveled part of the temple, hoping not to encounter those looks that made you uncomfortable. The song of nature resonated in your ears harmoniously, while the sound of the materials inside your bag resonated from time to time.

In the midst of your ramblings, you remembered your lost sculptures, and your forgotten materials; You were not a forgetful pardon, and it seemed strange to you not to find your favorite materials —That were metal, so they were worth a lot of money —, and even though you asked and asked, you couldn't find it anymore, so it depressed you a lot to think that you had lost something that had cost yout parents so much effort, and the mere memory of it caused you to feel that pang in your heart.

Even if your parents said it was nothing that couldn't be fixed, it hurt to know that you had lost one of the most expensive things your parents had cost you to get you.

But it was curious to think what a surprise you would get.

However, you get to hear some noises; without being the whining of baby birds waiting for food or rodents walking in search of food, but rather it resembled the voice of two people talking. You recognized both of their voices, but you thought it wasn't too important to stay there, in fact, you were already planning to go somewhere else when you heard it.

—So that girl, (Name), right?

—Yes, I didn't think you realized that issue.

The second boy's shy voice reminded you of that young man you rarely spoke to, which took you by surprise. Hwei wasn't the type of person to talk bad about someone behind their back, or at least that was the idea you had based on your interactions.

—You don't have to worry, after all it's normal for you to feel attracted to someone —Jhin mentioned, almost in a mocking manner—. So why don't you tell me about her?

You had already noticed the intention behind that interaction, however, after what happened, you thought that maybe you could calm your heart with some sweet words that you weren't meant to hear at that moment.

—Well, she is… incredible —He begins, you hear how the young man sits on a log due to the sound of the hollow wood —, she is beautiful, kind, tender… and her way of expressing her art is so… unique.

You gently leaned your back against the wood, trying not to make any sound. Something in your chest moved abruptly, as if your heart was fluttering like a butterfly in glass.

—I adore her sculptures, I feel that they are the most beautiful thing I have seen —He continues talking, slowly his emotion rose more and more —. I looked sometimes at her work in class or in the room away from her, and they are… beautiful.

—So much so that you had the need to steal them, right?

It was a single sentence, one which echoed in your head for several seconds.

—What are you talking about? —Hwei asks, arranging his hair a little, trying to place several strands behind his ear —. I would never do that.

You didn't hear how Hwei's tone of voice changed, becoming staccato, as his hands clung to his backpack, which he had in his lap.

At this, the other student laughed, almost like a subtle laugh, while his eyes wandered to where your shadow was looming. A mischievous smile forms on his face.

—So, I imagine that the sculptures that are in your room were made by you, right? —He questions, looking subtly into Hwei's eyes—. Or you bought them from her.

Your thoughts slowly formed a thread of the events that had happened. A lump formed in your throat, almost painfully so.

—Or her favorite utensils, she asked me if I had seen them last week, since she had left them near you the last time she saw them —He continued, almost introspectively—, but when I asked you, you only mentioned that you didn't see them that day either.

You shook your head, from the depths of your soul you prayed that it wasn't true, that you didn't have the school prodigy after you in such an extreme way.

—Well, I admit that I have some of her sculptures in my room, but they are the ones that she forgot in class or anywhere! —The pale boy snapped—. And I don't know what you think I did with her utensils, I don't know how to sculpt.

Jhin laughs again, barely audibly now, as if he knew that now he would have to act more vividly.

—And why were they in the box in your room? —Jhin asks him —, it even had remains of dry ceramics. Could it be that they were already used?

Hwei gritted his teeth, while his gaze met Jhin's again.

—That side of you… It's so peculiar. —He smiles —, I thought no one would see it, but you risk being seen in exchange for getting some things from (Name).

Hwei knew that darkness within his soul had awakened since the first day he saw you. And that darkness spread throughout his soul, mind and body, to the point that it seemed to consume all of his heart and mind.

—Your paintings were always warm colors —Jhin changed the subject, the smile disappearing from his face —, they were never about anything specific, but since you met that girl, something changed —He bowed gently in front of Hwei —. If it was about her, you focused on her in a way that made her seem pure, you used colors that highlighted her body or her emotion on her face. But she never looked at anyone —He subtly changed his focus —, she looked at the painter, or she didn't look at anyone, tell me, do you just want her to not look at anyone but you? Do you want her to the point that you don't want her to look at anyone but you?

He remained silent, in such a way that you could feel the weight of the words lingering in the air, causing an almost inexhaustible tension there. It was such that you could no longer hear the song of nature that you longed for so much.

—I won't criticize you, Hwei, you know that I understand better than anyone the dark feeling inside you —Jhin tried to sound empathetic —. And, if you want, I can help you make (Name) yours. I can make her fall in love with you and make that she can never leave you.

The obsessed young man understood how wrong it was to have those thoughts terrifying his mind, but he couldn't stop it, it was a feeling that had already taken root in his heart, and he couldn't tear it out no matter how much he wanted to.

—I can't… —Hwei whispered, his voice breaking —…, I don't want to harm her; She is so nice to me, I don't want to put her through all my feelings.

You heard him sob.

—You're not going to hurt her —Jhin comforts him, a hand running over his cheek —. I know you love her very much, and you notice how others hurt her. But, tell me, don't you think about those people really hurt her? —He subtly wipes away the tear that slipped down her face—. You should take care of those people, you know? So she could express her art as she loves it. Maybe she could even make thousands of statues without anyone to pressure her, and you could “borrow” them for yourself.

You had heard enough, you couldn't stay there for another minute.

However, before you could move, Jhin leaned close to Hwei's ear, his lips close to her loose strands of hair.

—Or you could take it right now, you know? This opportunity is perfect. —Jhin's mischievous smile spreads across his face.

Hwei opened his eyes to her peak, at the same time he heard a rope move abruptly.

And you felt your foot being pulled up, forcing you to hit your face against the ground, causing you to moan in pain.

—Shit. —You whispered, feeling your head spin, a small wound on your head began to make small drops of blood come out.

—That is…? —Hwei whispers, his heart sinking in his chest —(Name)..?

Ｏ(≧∇≦)ＯＯ(≧∇≦)ＯＯ(≧∇≦)ＯＯ(≧∇≦)Ｏ

Today I came wanting to write. I loved how this one-shot turned out, and I hope those who read it do too haha.

I hope to receive more orders if any of you wish, until then, I will be dedicated to my hobbies and my studies.

[catholic-academia-aesthetic]

hello! i resort to this since I don't have access to a catholic church/guide to ask this type of things. So, here's whats happening: since i was little i always had this admiration towards the Virgin Mary, i always thought that she was beautiful and kind and nowdays i still do, she's like a mother figure for me. But, in the other hand, im extremely scared of God and Jesus. i dont know why, and i feel ashamed to confess it, but I don't feel the same safe and loved with the idea of them like i do with Mary.

Also, im a lesbian, and im even more afraid because of that since i know that religion usually has something against it.

Am I a sinner? Is there a way for me to be less scared of God and Jesus? only beliving in Mary is an actual religion?

Im sorry for bothering, but i really need to start beliving in something because my life is falling apart and i don't want to lose it all. Anyways, I hope this isn't uncomfortable, and i wiah you have a lovely day, afternoon or night! 🩷

hi, thank you for reaching out and sharing all this! I'm sad to hear your life is falling apart, that must be an awful feeling. I'm here for you for whatever it's worth.

There's a lot here so my anwer will obviously be a CliffsNotes version, full of shortcuts and simplifications.

First of all, of course you are a sinner. We all are. Every human in history apart from Mary and Jesus was a sinner. Every saint was a sinner.

I see that you feel close to the Virgin Mary, that her beauty and kindness speaks to you, you admire her. But it doesn't lead you to God, on the contary, you're very afraid of Him.

This makes me wonder where did you learn about Mary? How have you come to know the things that make you admire her? How did you learn she is kind and motherly? What were your sources? Was it genuine Catholic teaching, or maybe some private ideas passed on by someone you know?

Is the person you admire actually Mary, the Mother of God, or is it some vague idea of her built in your or someone else's imagination?

We Catholics admire Mary because of her devotion to God. We admire her courage in agreeing to be the Mother of God and her humility in raising her Son who was God. We admire her because Salvation was made possible through her response and sacrifice.

If you take God out of the picture, what is there left to admire about Mary? Without God there is no Salvation and all of her life choices look rather sad and uninspiring. She's a young woman who had a baby in weird circumstances, then watched him grow into a preacher to be mercilessly tortured and killed for nothing. What's admirable about that? Many women's children were unjustly persecuted but that doesn't make these women worth our admiration. Compassion, yes. But not admiration.

So if you don't want to know God and Jesus, if you're not interested in God's plan for your salvation and in Jesus' sacrifice to bring your salvation about - what do you admire about Mary? If you don't think she did all that for God - what was the point?

Obviously you can't answer me so I'm just leaving all these questions here for you to think about.

The answer to have these things sorted out is good Catholic teaching. It'll take some time, but to really love someone you need to first get to really know them. If you want to love Mary, you need to learn who she is. And if you learn she will eventually point you towards her Son, because that's what she always does. Start with Bishop Barron's videos on Mary on youtube. Word on Fire channel and website has tons of videos and articles to explore. Take a peak at the Catechism. Whatever you do, look for legitimate Catholic teaching, stick to the mainstream. If you learn enough about Mary you'll see Jesus in a new light. Let her lead you to Him.

On a completely different note, this can be a psychological issue. When you say you're 'extremely scared of God and Jesus' it makes me worried. These are very strong words and very strong feelings to be had about this. What makes you feel this? Did someone tell you God is scary and you should be afraid of Him when you were young? Is there something in your life that makes you afraid and distrustful of men in general? Is this a case of bad, fear-based religious teaching you were subjected to? Or is it a case of independent mental issues bleeding into your religious life? Sadly, both happen often and many people share these feelings with you.

If I was your friend, I would advise you to have that looked at by a psychologist-type person. If you're clear on that front you can move to learing and Marian theology with a peace of mind. Whether you decide to do the psychological consultation or not, I would also advise you to find a spiritual guide. It can be a priest but it can also be nun, I imagine that could make you feel more comfortable. If there aren't any where you live you can literally find 5 or 10 female religious orders online and just shoot them an email. Just copy what you wrote to me if you don't feel like writing an new message. Ask for help, guidance. Maybe you can go visit them for a few days. See what they say.

You can always message me, but in your difficult situation you need more support, you need irl people to help you through this. You need them to be smarter and better at this than I am. Again, thank you for sharing all this vulnerable stuff. I hope my answer was helpful. I will be praying for you through Mary's intercession!

[lifenconcepts]

How do you feel about The Church as an institution? Any Church organisation in general, no matter the religion. Thought I could rant to you for a little bit because I know you have some really complex ideas and I’d love to hear them about this topic since I’m really passionate about it… no pressure to write back, would love to hear your opinions tho!

Personally I don’t trust humans to understand divine affairs to a degree where they can explain it validly to each other. Even if they could, I think an organised institution is a very bad way to go about it. There’s just so much that can go wrong…

I think a lot of people see the church as a direct service from their God. They forget that it is, at the end of the day, a human invention. Priests, bishops, even the pope, they are only humans who have decided that God wants them; and the other, regular people believe them, because they are only human too, with needs of validation and a tangible idol. God is, at the end of the day, words in a book. A preacher, however, is a thing one can see, hear and touch: something direct and comprehendible. And preachers, who understand how feeble human understanding can be, know that it can be exploited.

They ask for money from the believing, and the people give it to them for they think they are giving it to God (because the Church speaks to and for God, right?) and the Church takes the money and goes to built mansions and buy luxury cars for their preachers, and pass it off because it must be a reward from God for their saintly duties, right?

They preach horrid things to justify their fascist thoughts, and once those who trust in their Word begin to believe it, they spread it further to the Fanatics — and then action is taken, which favours the Church and ruins the People.

The most awful people join The Chuch because they know they will have the power and influence to make good on their gross fantasies. They can become pedagogues and access children, or become medics and call demonic the sick or disabled, or go on missions and beat those they see below themselves into submission.

I have some problem with some religions themselves, but my overwhelming criticism is towards the humans who pretend they know all and then turn around and use their “knowledge” to serve their own interests. I think the way a lot of Church institutions are established encourage this behaviour by offering monetary gain and huge influence to affect the lives of followers (and non-followers by proxy). The Church, to me, is entirely man-made, and can never truly reflect divine Word. Of course there are many beautiful human traditions to come of it, and organised religion can serve as, well, an organised way to express one’s emotions with others who have the same beliefs, but having a governing body on a religion is a recipe for manipulation.

I entirely stand by your statements and understand wholely, but, I also look past that in certain places where it doesn’t seem that there’s any false love being shown. The ‘money for god!!’ thing and ‘join us, or you’ll suffer! Oh, and keep following us or you’ll suffer too!!’ Ofcourse gets on my nerves, but..

there’s beauty in churches too. And although gods and deities dont mind where you think of them and refer to them or how you acknowledge them, even if you don’t, it’s still somewhere where I find mild comfort in. I adore the hymns and choirs, those voices coming together to wash over all other thoughts I may have, and the organs and bells, just so deeply rooted in their wordless song. Then again, I disregard the lyrics, leave when the priest begins to yap, and don’t really go to services.. but on rare occasion, especially when I’m able to go in there past opening times, the energy present is entirely human made but just so fantastic. Perhaps there is no god there, but we made our own. And even with the problematic aspect of that, there still is a mild security there.

you can’t blame anyone for anything, and especially not if they’re convinced they’re being kind and ‘good’, but also you can not say everyone is the same, and some people there are truly kind from their heart and soul. I personally believe it’s often misplaced faith that people only understand as religion because they don’t want to do the work to soothe their soul and just want the good results, but sometimes a placebo effect can do wonders. Confidence, courage, etc.. it allows people to feel somewhat whole even if it isn’t showing much results, because if not for that, they’d feel lost and confused.

Nowadays, most people are either older folk still going there, and most younger people are forced, but I still hold the hopes that the places aren’t destroyed over redundancy. They’re beautiful even if the energy is hostile for some. The architecture and love in every hand made piece, the love they attempt to bring and convey and show and connect.. it’s still charming, wouldn’t you say?

again, all have their own opinions and stance and reasons for believing so. I’d also like to respond to some points you made directly: yes, humans may struggle with understanding divinity, and it is a whole dilemma on how can you teach something if you don’t fully understand it, but in some cases - it can be a good stepping stone to get up on and recognise if you want to go further, abandon it all together, or search for something similar elsewhere. Nobody can ever think and feel the same, that’s what I’d like all religious people to believe. You can’t teach someone into a specific mindset, especially not when they’re full grown. You can guide, yes! Prompt and help, effective in some cases, but never force. Oh hell - where would we even be if we made sure to never speak unless we knew what we were talking about? My entire blog would not exist if I knew everything perfectly. Our speech is made to communicate, and through mistakes and attempts and assumptions and confusion - we build up a perspective of foundation to live in this world with.

I also wholely accept that phrase you made at how exploitable human minds and belief can be, especially when desperate for someone to give them a sense of comfort and security, because really - are we not just all grown children? Sometimes beaten down by life and our own worries and stresses to then seek out that motherly and paternal love and care? Especially in older people, those who may not be in contact with their parents.. God seems to fill that omniscient and omnipotent and omnipresent feeling that parents do, and while seeming to be a man in most depictions, had motherly qualities, and it fills both needs. From how your mother used to always know what you needed, your father which went out his way to help you understand and succeed, their ways of helping, of trying to understand, make you safe and happy, protecting you from the ‘harsh’ world.. even if you didn’t actively have that, sometimes you still want that, no? And god for many feels like that source of energy. Also, you worded that just amazingly.

Truly, I entirely understand that the powerful people in churches often have twisted minds corrupt with their own beliefs, sometimes spreading word they do not believe in themselves, but I can not go as far as to suggest they’re all so bad. Yes, yes many are.. but the internet can cultivate a specific view, and although global, sometimes experiencing something from first hand experience is quite eye opening. Priests ofcourse give me an icky feeling, I’m spiritually sensitive, and so kinda get this intuitive feeling of unsafety and dirty anxiety, especially those who preach in the streets of city towns with megaphones or speakers (hate them with every bone in my body) but like.. many people which are apart of the church are like one big community. And I’m not talking just about the people who visit, they got their own complexes, but those which help organise events, clean up, build, make, label, guide.. all those which aren’t exactly the first front 2-5 people you recognise, they’re usually so kind in my experiences. From those which stay after dark to practice on the organ, those which volunteer to sing (choirs are beautiful, did I mention that before ;3 ), those which print and put out signs or leaflets for a service, those which make stands of art to show, and others alike you and me who simply make this a possibility.. I’ve visited many of places, and even though the warmth they try spread, as soon as the people themselves leave, it’s all but a cold chunk of building. There may be stories and memories shared here, some deeply haunting the people, but the church itself doesn’t recall it. But hey, enough with the down ramblings.. I’ve seen some places have tea stations out for whoever wants it, free of charge :) oh, and those which are related to bells and bell ringing are rarely if at all religious, and just so down to earth and kind, that it’s fascinating that people are so convinced that bells are a thing of god when there’s just people up there doing it for the fun of it, having practices long hours and years to be able to just ring-a-ding away! Beautiful, yeah?

but yeah.. yeah church has many problems especially with the money begging.. and I’m still a bit conflicted, but I can not hate the actual place. But, as one of my previous posts said - god isn’t stationary, and at here is much more divinity in a child’s park than a church. And yet, adults try force kids to stay in a cramped little building of false promises because they’re convinced that because they’re older they know better, and yet kids understand these lies even if they can’t define it. We can’t make anyone love the place, but you can’t make anyone hate it either apart from with truth. I like to think of god as this magical child. He, too, wants to play and explore and think and act randomly, and unbound by time and space, he will do what he deems best without our own logical conclusion, but at the same time.. there is so much more to it than ‘nah, I help you, but not you’, it’s not as simple, but I’m afraid my words stop here, I can’t really define it any better at this moment.

[teddy-feathers]

okay so. virasana empire books are good.

their world building is so much fun and it seems to be a series that promises a Happily Ever After every time.

there is magic and religion and psionics aliens and demons and mutants and knights and movies and hacking and blasters and space ships but MOSTLY its about love be that romantic or familial.

i recommend starting with the Sir Yaden books. Mostly about family. I started with the Pet and his Duke and assumed it was like. the only fn book of the world and only recently learned differently and have been devouring them ever since.

they're fairly short the first sir yaden book being 273 pages and the latest being 533

the sir yaden books focus a lot on psionics but its not complicated its basically element bending for the first few main characters.

theres switching viewpoints which apparently is now a point of contention all of the sudden despite being very common? anyways its limited to two characters per book usually with the latest barely having three but its not hard to keep up with.

theyre simply written books written more like fantasy in that regaurd than scifi despite the heavy leanings towards the later - they dont go super in depth into tech speak if thats not your thing but they do break down the rules of how magic things work if youre interested.

the basic run down of the sir yaden books is there's an empire that rules the known parts of the universe. the noble family is fucked up beyond all repair BUT their emperor is known as the good emperor and cares for each and every one of his subjects - that doesnt seem to be a load of crap either. so hes trying to make things right - even trying to slowly get rid of slavery.

the... enactors of his will are the lotus knights. they get to go out and be heroes and have movies made about them - which is more of a hassle than a benefit but Public Relations you know.

Sir Yaden becomes a lotus knight and in each book he goes out and saves the day... and brings someone home to be apart of his family. its cute and sweet and adventurous and cool and...

i will say the last book got much more serious than the rest. while bad things do and have happened to the characters its generally something that happened in the past and they're working towards making things better. here something bad happens on screen not as a flashback and youre like what the fuck the entire time.

but despite the trauma most of the characters have its a lighthearted series and the trauma and dark stuff isnt described in an... whump way (hurt comfort heavy on the hurt) its more about the comfort and the love

i wont say theyre brain candy because theres a little bit more substance to them than im used to for brain candy. more like... brain pastery.

the pet and his duke is a stand alone romance set in the same universe and i absolutely love and theres one more series in this universe that i just bought but havent read yet

anyways thats my recommendation for the day

[jbt7493]

not all art has political content because political content is the wrong way to view it. it is subjective. you can view it as a cute girl eating a burger, you can consider the implications of a japanese girl eating american food, you can analyze it as a girl eating a burger in a way that shows she is effortlessly cute and highlights her small stature, you can focus on the burger and go oooough that looks so tasty i wanna eat it, you can even go ‘that is not a girl eating a burger, those are pixels on a screen’. you are free to interpret things in a thousand different ways.

and political analysis is generally easy to justify applying to things, because in order to make a piece of media, you need to live a certain way. and while obviously literally every political topic has some relation to the context of the production of a piece of media and to the ideas that went into its production, the  impact of those influences can be more variable/contextual. not everything was *strongly* defined by gender roles or geopolitics, relatively speaking. all anime is strongly linked to the history of japan and the rest of the world and its developments in styles, themes, and production methods. but thats just all anime, so if you’re comparing a specific anime, that anime was probably less *specifically* influenced by those things in its creation as much as it was influenced by other anime and has had so many levels of zeitgeist and cultural development since then that it’s not as useful to discuss when talking about average individual works from similar time periods and genres. if you were comparing old and new, different genres, different cultures etc, those cultural developments can become more relevant. and while you may often see a huge influence from things like religion, etiquette, or gender, if the creator is of the majority in their culture, they *may* not have paid much mind to those things while making it, and so it becomes more of a general comparison, since it wouldnt have very much distinction between its influence from those things and any other work from the same subculture in that time.

but while your mangaka are gonna be majority cis straight japanese japanese guys and thus the analysis relating to gender sexuality race and nationality is probably either relevant because of a very broad culture or time analysis, because they are an other, or because their work has a distinct relation to those categories (and with all of these It Depends how far you’re zooming out and how precisely you’re comparing and contrasting things), they will probably have something in common that does distinguish them from a different Average (or, rather, ‘One’) Person In Their Culture-

theyre a fuckin mangaka! they have a different job! and anyone with an arts career will almost always have a pretty distinctly different relation to politics and the economy from the “Average Person” in their culture. now of course, so will a lot of the “Average People”, but we dont actually see as many films from hobbyist filmmakers as professional ones, so it would mostly be accurate to say that ‘filmmakers have very different work from the average’, and this relatively intense difference in context from the rest of society and culture is noticeable, especially since almost everyone who makes the art you view, even in the same culture and society as you, interacts with the economy differently *and relatively similarly to each other*. so it’s often very relevant to bring up.

[mickgaydolenz]

HEY BESTIE i saw your ask and i am eatingggg this article up like it’s my last fucking meal.

i was gonna write out this whole thing breaking down the entire article, but then i realized that all i really need to say in a few words or less is that tl;dr its accurate when it's talking about the Capricorn sign...but a lot of these other things describing Mike are not really Capricious in nature and are more explainable through other placements in his natal chart that the Sun sign doesn't account for nor even influences -- if they're not in aspect to the Sun anyways.

for example, in relation to his Sun, there's this quote that says "he wants to devote much of himself to his career, and at the same time he wants to give much of himself to his family", which immediately screamed at me because i know exactly what placement this is and exactly what's going on: it's his 10th house, where both his Sun in Capricorn and asteroid Juno in Sagittarius reside, and although both under different signs they do technically conjunct, since his Sun is 8° from Juno. any conjunctions under different signs will cause the person inner conflict, restlessness, and discontent, and these signs semisextile, which means that these signs often have difficulty working together, however it's absolutely essential that they need to harmonize, or else. not sure if Mike ever got to accomplish that.

on the flip side, there's this other quote that says "he's wild about traveling both for pleasure and for learning" which is not really in Capricorns nature. this speaks more loudly to his Sagittarius Mars 9th house! it's also in conjunction with his POF in the same sign and house. none of them have aspect to his Sun...but they both are in aspect to his Ascendant, to which they square. that has way more of an affect on his outer personality. another quote from the article that ties it in: "he builds up outasite ideas and stirs them into action with confidence and enthusiasm. [...] rare knack of exciting enthusiasm in others." which is incredibly Sagittarian and not at all Capricious.

i'm not clear if the author totally hyper-fixated on his Sun sign or was able to look at his natal chart as a whole, but i'm gonna assume they were only referring to his Sun sign, which imposes a problem because a person's entire personality is not all embedded into the Sun sign. they say a lot of things here that can be spotted in other placements and aspects in his chart that the Sun sign itself does not account for. 

you’d be surprised to know that, way back when, astrologers used to read the Ascendant sign first before going for the Sun sign, because the Ascendant is what people will see and know of when they interact with a person the first time. i have no idea when or why people stopped reading from Ascendant first to Sun first cause i forgor 💀; all i can tell you is that in the mid-to-late 60s we were experiencing an occult and spiritual revival + evolution to the initial early 20th century occult and spiritual boom, and pushing away from organized religion all-together, so somewhere somehow that might've influenced the switch. don’t quote me on that though. it just a very possible reason as to how and why the article was written the way it was.

but yeah, interesting article! although i dont inherently trust 60s teen mags for real & raw info on them, i wonder if they did the same for the other 3, because it's potentially useful for me.

KALE BESTIE I KNEW YOU WOULD DELIVER ME GOLD WITH THIS!!!!!! if i track down anymore astrology related articles to the other guys i will 1000000000000% send them your way!!!! btw as always i am FLOORED by your knowledge, GIRL YOU ARE INSANE AND I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!!!

[onetruesirius]

Israel is a state

Palestine is another arguable state, but it's technically the name of the region?...

they would BOTH exist

on the same land.

Jewish people (when I say this, I mean the disapora, who left the area under.... iffy circumstances and oppression) understandably, since the territory is a technically part of their ethnic heritage, feel tied to the land. Which is why there is Israel the state and Israel the ethnic identity, which are 2 different things.

Palestinians [arabs, jews, and christians!] are living on the same land and have lived there over a thousand years, and understandably feel tied to the land, because, ya know. They live there.

The thing is Israel [the state, not the ethnic identity] is a really British colonial project, so a bunch of racially white and socioculturally Jewish [and therefore persecuted in Europe and America because funny thing??? Christians tend to uhh fucking hate Jews for literally the most petty reasons imaginable] people are coming from Europe to occupy the territory, the territory that was traditionally called Palestine.

At firat they were trying to half-integrate and they had kind of the idea of "hey we're like you Palestinians, we come from here too!" but their white ethnonationalism boner got too big and it started being about *Israel*, an ethnostate for the Israel ethnic group, to make their "Zion", which, hey that's where Zionism comes from—rather than about a shared identity rooted in the region [Palestine].

Now... The funny thing about Zionism is that it's all ethnic cleansing all the way down. Not only are they racially white people displacing racially brown people [SOME OF WHOM SHARE THEIR SAME RELIGION BTW] but they're making arguments that the ONLY place that Jews will EVER be safe is in a fucking ethnostate. Which uh is really antisemitic??? because it plays into the antisemitic "i dont care where you go, as long as it's away from me!". The Nazis were (ironically enough) planning an Israeli state as a place to go for when they would ethnically cleanse their Jews, before they committed to their other plan, which was The Big One. When Zionism came around it was all "you know, Nazis? you're RIGHT about Jews, we SHOULDN'T be here, we should go somewhere else—let's go back to our ancestral homeland. Oh it doesn't matter that there are already people living there, they're brown anyways we can slaughter them without question, and we should, because there's things in the old holy texts that say ethnic cleansing is good because it means we get the land and not someone else!"

And of course America saw that and was like "HOLY SHIT YES WE LOVE BEING ANTISEMITIC LET'S DO LIBERIA 2" and also??? most Zionists, statistically speaking, are White Protestant Christians, not even Jews at all—they just want Jewish people OUT of their countries and packed into Palestine [the region] so that their glorious apocalypse in which we all die, can happen.

So it's.. a whole thing. Without antisemitism, there is very little need for Israel the state, for Israel the ethnic group.

But anyways that's... a reasonably good explanation for why they'd identify as Israeli rather than Palestinian. Palestine... eh, yeah it could be the fledgling Palestinian state, but the way I've used it here is more in reference to the region overall, while Israeli is either the nation [nationalism + supremacy etc] or the ethnic identity, which is usually more a diaspora thing, because, again, a lot of these Israelis are not technically immediately from the region, most of them are from Europe [tho there are some in Africa and further east]. I mean, obviously their ancestors maybe a dozen generations back were indigenous, and also brown like current Palestinians, but like, a lot of Israelis are not recently indigenous.

And that's a sparknotes of it.

So ... like ... I'm genuinely confused as to why many Jews(?) consider Israel as their homeland and not Palestine tbh?? The reason I say this is because Jesus was born in Jerusalem which is in Palestine. If y'all could kindly educate me on this I'd greatly appreciate it.

[shaerin]

Why i think the Kanto Manji Gang members represent chess pieces

Obviously spoilers for the latest Tokyo revengers chapters.

I’m not an expert at chess i play for my own entertainment so don't hesitate to correct me if i say something wrong ^^

I already had this idea in mind since the latest chapter but this post is what made me truly look into it so please go read it it's very interesting ^^

https://wearepurplejackets.tumblr.com/post/677578878855823360/you-are-gonna-call-me-crazy-but-numbers-dont

I will be referring to this panel quite a bit so please keep it in mind ^^

First, the most obvious : Mikey

he's definitely the king, the most important piece of them all cause if the king is captured the game stops.

During Toman's day Mikey was always the first one to throw himself into battle against other gang as we saw against Moebus, but here he isn't there leading the rest of the gang, why ?

Because the king must be protected and only becomes an offensive piece when most of the other have been taken, so in the end of the game. Which is exactly what i think will happen, Mikey will stay in the back with Koko, same as the 3 deity battle and will only fight at the very end like a sort of final boss.

Speaking of Koko he's the bishop for me.

all the other pieces represent royalty or offensive roles such as Knights but the Bishop represent religion, he's Mikey advisor not a fighter. This might be a reach but when i play chess i tend to sacrifice my Bishop first when i have to put them in line cause they are easy to corner since they move diagonally it's pretty easy to block their movement once they are in the enemy side of the board and when they're unable to come back to their own side they usually get eaten pretty quickly and since Koko is not known for his fighting ability I think it's best for him to not engage in the middle of the brawl. His brain is his best weapon.

Kakucho is the rook.

Obviously because he's this responsible, down-to-earth guy with a lot of strong moral (as we saw when he stopped Izana from shooting Mikey) and the Rook can only move straight headed or on the side but always straight.

Which I think represent Kakucho rightness and morals, maybe a contrast to Koko (reminder that the Bishops move in diagonal) who, as we saw multiple times, is ready to switch sides for money or the garanti of victory, meanwhile Kakucho was ready to take the fall with Izana and joined Mikey because they lost during the 3 deity battle.

And i might totally read to much into this but to me from what we saw during chapter 244 what the Kanto did is the equivalent of a Castle. (i’m french btw so not sure if this is called like this in english). For those who are not familiar with chess, Castling is when the King and the Rook chance place on the board. It is used as a way to put your king in security (since it's on the side of the board there's less sides to defend) and put the Rook in the middle of the board to put it in an offensive position.

As we saw in the latest chapter (244) Kakucho is the one leading the rest of the Kanto not Mikey, he's in the middle of the panel face to face with Takemichi. so we can say that the King and the Rook changed places

For the Haitani I think both of them represent the Knights, usually one of the first piece to be played in order to asset your dominance on the board, very offensive, the Knight as a very unique way of moving by forming L shapes. This remind me of the way the Haitani bros are known for their unique way of fighting together and their strange poses.

I don't have much to say about them but I just wanted to point out that they are on the side of the panel with all of Kanto vs Toman, and in french we have a saying "Cavalier au bord cavalier mort" which translate to "A knight on the rim is grim" which basically mean do NOT put your knight on the side of the board because it will greatly reduce their movements.

And finally i used to clown him a lot for that but Sanzu is totally the Queen for me. The queen has the most versatility in matter of movements on the board, it can cross the board in one time from any direction which makes it a very dangerous piece but also the second most important piece after the King.

A lot of people were questioning were was Sanzu on the last panel especially after putting up the show of a life time then disappearing, that's weird, but like the majority i think he went to the back with Mikey and Koko, because the Queen is a deadly offensive piece but it's first objective is to protect the King no matter what.

Plus, it's such a precious piece that most player will try to take it away as quick as possible so it would be inconsiderate to send your Queen on the board without a proper defense, and for that you need a first view of how your opponent is playing his own pieces.

Which is why I think Sanzu will actually sneak up at some point but not necessarily in the beginning of the battle, especially considering the fact that the Queen can cross the board in less than 3 round, you don't need to rush if you want to use it.

Now I have to admit that I don't really have an idea for Shion or Mochi, to me they could be the other Bishop and Rook because of their fighting styles.

Or maybe it could be Wakasa and Benkei but to me they are not part of Kanto since i'm like 90% sure that they're going to betray Mikey, same with Hanma but if i had to guess I would say he's another Knight (the Haitani being only one ig)because of us role in the gang, being able to pull sneaky attacks

[dionysianfreak]

looking for a second opinion here. for about a year, year and a half maybe? i think year and a half... i have been worshipping apollo and artemis. now, it took a lot of convincing for me to do this; i was interested in witchcraft, vaguely interested in paganism, and apollo basically had to slap me into realizing the path i needed to be on.

i feel like i have not stabilized my worship of them enough yet... if that makes sense? my worship can sometimes be intermittent as my mental health and workload waxes and wanes, and i've put many other facets of my practice on the wayside telling myself i need to get myself "better" at worshipping the twins. i have not so much as prayed to any other deity...

but lately, the signs from athena have been very very strong. since i was somewhat afraid, i said a few weeks ago that i was honored but didn't believe i was ready for her presence in my life. now i feel that may have been the wrong choice. i've erected a small (very, very small) altar on my bookshelf for her, and when i say small i mean two little owl figurines, a tea light, and a little cup. but i haven't poured libation or lit the candle yet. i'm still very nervous about forming a relationship with any new deity, as i worry that i haven't strengthened my bonds with artemis and apollo yet.

while i don't expect anyone to look inside my mind and my relationship with the theoi and know exactly what to say, i was wondering what you thought on the matter. i don't want to jump gungho into expanding my practice when it can still sometimes be overwhelming simply to give attention to apollo and artemis and i worry adding another deity to my life will be too much. yet at the same time, i love athena and am very honored that she wants to be present in my life. do you have any kind of two cents?

situations like this are a very good time to remember that sometimes things just aren't that serious. i think that abrahamic religions have cast a sense of urgency into religious air; the idea that we must bend over backwards for the Gods if we decide to engage with Them. that engaging in religion is a devotion of EVERYTHING, your way of life and being. it is the idea that we must commit hours of time and commit ourselves in some way. this is a very fear-based idea because it hinges on the idea that Gods are angered or turned off when this standard is not met. in reality, especially in polytheist religions, this is the opposite of how most engaged with the Theoi. worship was intertwined with daily life and it was often casual or exchange-based. the Gods aren't these "big brother" commanders who come and need your everything. the Gods are supporters who are there to guide and protect you whenever you need.

if we put it into perspective, the Theoi are undying beings forming relationships with beings whose forms are painfully temporary, whose time is severely limited. we only have the time we are granted to experience things as humans. that's a whole lot of stuff to fit into a speck in time. the Gods don't care if our worship slows, or if it's few and far between. that only means that we're indulging in or working hard to exist in the world They've given us. in my opinion, living the life we were given and appreciating it is the most sacred form of worship out there.

so, don't worry about your worship being intermittent. dont worry about not having a strong enough relationship. don't put pressure on yourself to commit to anything. don't put pressure on yourself to fulfill every word the Theoi speak. if you'd like to wait for Athene, then tell Her so. if you'd like to worship Her, then being to do so. She is an extremely patient and level-headed Goddess in my experience, so a change of mind shouldn't be a problem especially if you feel the other choice is best. it's good to remember it is NEVER disrespectful to tell a God no, and especially not disrespectful to communicate that you changed your mind. hell, if you decide again that you want to wait then just tell Her ! if it becomes too much, spread your worship out more. having a shrine period is an act of admiration that the Gods will appreciate always.

so tldr; it isn't that serious. you can worship whatever you feel like, whenever you feel like, as often as you feel like. the Theoi aren't going anywhere and are here to support and guide the earth & its inhabitants. I'm sure Athene will be overjoyed that you changed your mind, and I'm sure the twins adore every moment you spend thinking about Them. you should always worship in the way that's best for you in the way that brings you the most joy and comfort.

all you ever need to keep the Theoi happy is a love for Them and a drive to give to Them, even if reality gets in the way sometimes. i wish you so much luck and an abundance of comfort with Athene, She is a wonderful WONDERFUL Goddess

[alatismeni-theitsa]

Theitsa this is a big rant. I remember there was talk on this blog about paganism and modern worship of gods. In these two tik toks the guy speaks gold. As a N. African who tries to honour the old gods of my country, it feels so weird to see Western "witches" worship a list of gods and no actual connection to the cultures and practices they picked them up from. vm.tiktok(dot com)/ZMRSBkX6r/ and vm.tiktok(dot com)/ZMRSB8Mv4/ He brings up very good points. (part 1/?)

Mainly that many Americans do it for the aesthetic or the "omg so many cool gods for me to choose from!" and not out of cultural respect and deep knowledge.

As it's mentioned in the video, you can't be a pagan if you cherrypick 20 gods from 2-3 different religions (and if the syncretism of these gods or cultures never happened.) If the cultures were at war with each other (and thus their gods were on either side) it's unnatural to support both "sides". (But how would they know that? Most of them don't give a shit about history of the Mediterranean and the Middle East).

If you cherrypick 20 gods from 2-3 different religions/cultures then you are not exactly a "pagan", since historically groups of people considered pagans under one empire had each one their own set of gods. They didn't worship a Babylonian, a Norse and an Indian deity at the same time, I mean.

The man in the video says you can call yourself a polytheist in that case, but I would argue that even ancient polytheists were more consistent with deities, practices and culture than most people on the "community".

But their polytheism is a very superficial reconstruction. First of all because they don't even want to reconstruct it. They don't sacrifice bulls, they dont parade on the road on festive days, they don't visit the Pythia, they don't even have a clergy as a mediator as the ancient worshipers of these religions.

Don't get me started on people who never had any cultural relation to a country suddenly appointing themselves as clergy, without even being elected by anyone. Apparently each and every polytheist has a special connection to the deity and that grants them some authority to do rites themselves, to do temple worship at home. Who would have known that the next priest of Anubis would be Brandon from Ohio?

It's very strange that all these cultures still exist, and yet they hyperfixate on a certain aspect of their past - a past they don't know enough about to recreate! Worship any god you want but why are you reviving parts of a culture you never belonged to??? And in the hypothetical scenario you manage to do so, are you then re-developing the culture separately from its people? (And what happens if you need to incorporate elements from two or three cultures??)

Polytheism is more respectfully defined as worship + culture, but this is why modern reconstructed polytheism is a paradox. You can't recreate the culture! So much time has passed and so many cultural changes have taken place in the world that you are *bound* to be inaccurate when attempting reconstitution! You might as well create your own rules.

That's what a lot of people are doing, actually, and that's why they appear even more disconnected from the gods they worship. They strip them off many cultural elements, just to make them more palatable to their modern, western reality. They excuse this by saying "the gods are energy, they are not something specific, they are just interpretations of One thing". Well, according to who, Sarah? Your Christian background (and lack of research on opposing pantheons) is showing.

Yes they are not as material as we are, but, as you've said in this blog, the gods around the world are not "one". They are not interchangeable. They are not *one big vibe*. They don't have the same attributes or behaviours. And you can't separate them from their culture.

For me it's good to use some elements of ancient worship and read as many ancient texts as you can about the deity you worship. But don't speak about "reconstruction" when you've never lived the past or modern culture so long as to make it part of you.

They are even doing things which are not organic for their background and country they live in. Their mothers haven't covered their heads in a century or more, and suddenly they veil for a deity who doesn't even urges them to veil! It's modesty social rules from ancient empires they follow, not ecclesiastical canon. (Because they don't have one).

I cover my head but that has been a thousand years old tradition in my land and there was never a big historical gap in that part of our garment. I feel they choose veiling because it's a cool fashion choice from the ancient practices they are trying to "bring back to life". Hijabis are fighting for acceptance in western societies for part of their current (!) dresscode, and American witches veil because of women twenty centuries ago in other countries did it.

Yes, women covered their head in these countries for a long time after antiquity but these witches don't even know that. They only follow ancient trends. Ironically, Greek, Italian and Nordic women have stopped wearing headcovers altogether and even see headcovers as regression to extremely modest old fashion. So sometimes what the western witches are doing comes off as so tone deaf!

(Last part. Thanks for reading this and sorry for any grammar mistakes) ______________________ [END OF ASK]______________________

[oldlionsarch]

Same curious anon here, I was wondering what your thoughts were on Cantha’s whole… Omni-Asia thing? Like, the mixture of Japanese, Chinese, and Korean cultures? I know it was the main criticism of Cantha back in the Factions days, and I was curious if EoD made things any better despite not doing away with that?

personally i am not super bothered by it, for a couple of reasons.

first, while the pan-culture thing can def be done in very fetishizing, offensive ways that focus only on a mishmash of whatever aesthetics look cool without paying any attention to people, worldviews, religion, cultural practices, and such, i dont think pan-cultures in fantasy are inherently racist. racism is about a structural oppression and disenfranchisement of a minority culture, so reducing ppl to an aesthetic would definitely be racist, but for a story that covers an entire world and every continent and race and diaspora, i personally think it would be just absolutely unrealistic to expect every single individual country to be represented on its own. there are simply so many unique and important cultures and subcultures even within individual countries! if someone even tried, what would inevitably end up happening would be either so massive an undertaking it would never be done, or smaller less visible groups would be left by the wayside and their absence would be highlighted by the specificity of those represented.

either of those outcomes seems worse to me. i would rather imperfect depictions exist than none at all, as my url indicates i have been begging and waiting for this xpac for a long, long time. i knew it wouldn't be perfect and i (mostly) made my peace with that. asian people are underrepresented and struggle with invisibility and erasure enough as it is. as for the other outcome, since korea is very much in the spotlight right now bc of kpop, we would receive a lot of attention and care along with probably japan and china, while others might not, and that thought saddens me as well.

second, like. cantha isnt Literally Asia, its a fantasy world. in a vacuum where racism didnt exist in the real world and media representation didnt play such a major role in shaping ppls understanding of others in the absence of getting to know us personally, to be completely honest, i wouldnt care as much. it is what it is, so i do care, but i still do keep in mind that at no point does anet claim that they are Accurately Representing Asia. they draw inspiration from us, and as long as they are respectful of us as people and not just an aesthetic, i am happy to be represented.

the kirin situation upsets me because its an example of something specific being taken from our culture and then misrepresented. they cant include everything, they might/could have just not included kirin at all and while i would have thought "ah well, it would have been cool to have kirin but there is so much other stuff here," the specific decision to include kirin and then misrepresent them (even with gw1 lore saying why they are being misrepresented, i see you people and i have already addressed it twice), that is specifically fetishization, cherry-picking something that isnt theirs without taking the time to respect the people it belongs to, and especially profiting off doing so. does that make sense? feel free to ask further questions if you need to, i dont mind good faith questions <3

do keep in mind, though, that i am one korean person living in the diaspora, i do not and cannot speak for all of asia. these are my opinions based on my understanding of how racism materially affects us and of course colored by my own personal feelings. there are definitely some asian people who are not okay with pan-asia depictions and some who dont mind how kirin were handled, and i have my reasons for disagreeing with them as laid out here and in my other posts, but in my opinion, please err on the side of examining how we are represented and never becoming complacent and thinking racism is defeated, because regardless of the specific details, we still have a ways to go.

this got long, thank you so much if you read all this and thanks for your questions! 💗

[demoisverysexy]

Ok fine. Religion AND politics. >:)

Given the fact that reproductive rights are under threat in the US right now, and that I’m trying to make a difference in my home state (you know the one), how do you tend to approach those issues, and how do you tend to make peace between the tenets of Mormonism (which in my limited outsider experience with them seem to be anti-contraception and take a dim view of bodily autonomy when it comes to reproduction) and your leftist beliefs, which I assume also encompass reproductive policy? What’s the best way to reach people of faith on this, especially Mormons, while still having a respectful conversation?

Hmm. I can start by talking to my own experience, then speak to how I would try to convince a Mormon about abortion.

I have pretty much been pro-choice ever since I was a kid, and have grown increasingly pro-choice with time. I grew up in New England, which is fairly progressive, and had liberal parents. And abortion wasnt something that came up in church too much, and if it was, my attention span was such that I didnt catch it. This meant that it wasnt until I was a teenager and older that I began learning more about the church's broader anti-abortion stance. For me, part of the reason there was no conflict between these things was because I was never exposed to it until I was a teenager. So too with LGBTQ stuff and the rest.

For me, the reason I am ok with abortion specifically within a Mormon context (tho usually I dont think about it in these terms), is that even if a fetus is a human with a soul (which I highly doubt), I believe in freedom and autonomy. Freedom is one of the core virtues of Mormonism, especially freedom to do with their bodies as they will. While there are things that you shouldnt do with your body in a Mormon understanding, if you try to limit their ability to use their body so they cannot do those things (for example, forcing someone to follow the Word of Wisdom), you are more in the wrong than the person who's freedoms you are limiting.

Now, a devout orthodox Mormon might respond that yes, but if you kill a child, that limits the childs ability to have agency and freedom. To which I would respond with a hypothetical:

Imagine that you are on a science expedition to Antarctica. You are driving a snowmobile with one of your colleagues, and you arent paying enough attention, and end up crashing the snowmobile. You escape unscathed, but your passenger is in critical condition, and losing a lot of blood. You rush back to base, whereupon they try to operate as quick as they can. But they had lost a lot of blood, and needs a transfusion. You are the only person who shares the same blood type as them on the base. I would argue that, morally speaking, it is correct for you to donate your blood to help them, especially since this situation was caused by your own negligence.

Now, here is the question.

If you refused to give your blood, would it be morally correct for your colleagues to force you to donate your blood against your will?

Most would argue no, as would I. This would be a breach of your bodily autonomy. Violating your bodily autonomy in this way, even to save someone elses life, is a serious breach of your rights, and I would argue a grievous sin. Forcing you to do what is right eliminates your ability to meaningfully do what is right here.

Now, I would not argue that abortion is morally wrong. But even if it is, it should still be allowed on these grounds, in my humble opinion. The differences between this scenario and the situations that make people consider abortion are not meaningfully different.

Mormons believe that before we came to be on Earth, our spirits were created by God, and we lived with him in the pre-existence. God planned to send us to earth so we could learn and grow and make mistakes and repent. As part of that plan, he wanted someone to act in the role of Messiah, to suffer the sins and pain of the world to help people draw closer to God and repent by understanding them.

Two spirits offered to act as Messiah. One proposed a plan where nobody would sin and turn away from God. He proposed a world where nobody would be capable of sin, and thus no-one would be lost. The other spirit wished to go with Gods plan to give people the freedom to choose God or to sin, and to act as Messiah to help them up when they stumble and fall. The first spirit was Lucifer, and the second was Christ. God chose Christ to act as Messiah, and Lucifer in a jealous rage, decided to defy God and to ensare people to commit sin.

I mention this to drive home that, doctrinally, agency and freedom are the central tenets of a Mormon cosmology. Life is meaningful because we have freedom to choose, and to limit peoples bodily autonomy to force them to "make the right choice" is one of the most serious sins. And whether or not abortion is moral or not (it is moral though, of course), to limit peoples ability to do it safely and legally is absolutely immoral.

So that would be how I would try to convince someone. Arguments like the ones I laid out should do the trick, imo.

[nico-no-talk]

I have decided to make more headcanons of the gang and maybe go more in depth to a particular one that we may all know of

Sunny

As I said before, this boy can fit so much autistic symptoms

His parents are quiet close with their kids but it seems like they messed some things up like parents do: Mari is somewhat a perfectionist and Sunny may have undiagnosed autism

Quickly headcanoning Sunny's name might be Hikaru or any name that means light

ANYWAY, as he grew up, the more he verbally opened up to his friends and still uneasy with his family, except for Mari.

Sunny likes to play with toys like any other kid does but he only likes toys that he can role play with such as his stuffed toys and building blocks that he can make homes for

When he was in this 11th year of being alive, his parents got rid of his building blocks as a way to help him 'grow up' since what kind of 11-year old play with building blocks still? They didn't touch his stuffed toys since they knew he would kick and scream way more than with his blocks

Sunny was devastated when he learned his parents tossed his blocks and cried for weeks that his friends, his stuffed toys, didn't have homes anymore

Mari decided to earn money with Hero's help to get him a new set so he won't be sad anymore, and knew he liked the feeling of smooth wood against his skin

After his 12th birthday party, Mari asked to not toss this set out and just keep it for any kids that Mari and Sunny may have in the future. Even Mari wasn't sure if Sunny would want kids, but it was something that managed to convince their parents

Speaking of Sunny speaking, he is somewhat semi-verbal around his friends but he does talk most of the time with them since he felt like it doesn't hurt when talking to them unlike with the rest of his family.

Speaking of family again, Mari's name might be short for Mariko since the transition to the 'ko' may have been difficult for Sunny to pronounce but her name might actually be Mari since it is a Japanese name as it does mean 'real logic' if written in a certain way

Their parents may have gotten a speech therapist for Sunny to help him pronounce words better and so the other adults will stop saying things how strange he is

Stims includes, minor biting, finger snapping, whistles, finger tapping, hand flaps, and random noises. Why random noises? Because I do too

Post-canon, Sunny's mom decided to actually get him diagnose and help him out more so he can graduate in school quickly since he did drop out of middle school

He did managed to get back in school within his age-grade and goes to separate rooms during testing for his classes

For long weekends, he tries to visit his friends as often as he can, especially Kel since he likes the way Kel's hair feels and enjoys feeling the callousness on his hands

Mari

Mari Mari Mari

She is a perfectionist, even towards herself since he parents often compared Sunny to her, saying how Mari was able to do a lot of things when she was Sunny's age

Seeing how they made her a goal for Sunny, she tried to be the perfect image of what it is to be normal

Do after school activities, have hobbies, play music, have friends, fall in love, have long hair since she's a girl and he's a boy, only like boys and show him to only like girls, so on and so on

After the building block incident, thats when she realizes that Sunny will never be a 'normal' kid and go out of her way to make his life easier. She'll continue to be his role model but for a new and better reason

She bought him some of his stuffed toys since he liked the texture, picked out clothes that he liked but had to make the tough choice of getting him 'normal' looking clothes so he won't get bullied, eat any of the food he hates, continued to play the piano since he likes the sound, is happy that she stopped softball because he hated going out to her games because of how loud it is and it felt cramped to him, and so many other things

When hanging out with the gang, Mari allowed herself to relax and not focus on Sunny

Kel

Middle child syndrome screams

Despite it being just being him and Hero for the longest time, he was still an afterthought for his parents when it comes to Hero and Sally

He didn't mind. He thought thats how parents are with multiple kids. Sunny's parents were kind of the same as his so he thought he was right but Basil's didn't make any sense

Like everyone else, he has never met Basil's parents and thought they just worked all day and play with Basil at night

But Basil said it wasn't, so it confused him more but he stopped questioning it after thinking about it for a while

As Kel gotten older, the more he realizes that he sort of has 'jumpies' like Sunny does but it was different. It helped him feel less tighten-up and felt better

He asked Hero during on of his visits, Hero explained that Kel may have ADHD or ADD.

"Oh" it clicked

Kel wanted to do something 'smart' on his own for once and decided to research on his own about himself and Sunny

He learned lots of things and became more open minded about a lot of things: gender, sexuality, neurodiversity, polyamory relationships, religion, and many other things

Hero

Biggest Asexual with Mari as well

Only became an overachiever because he loved the praise he got from everyone

Honestly, I dont got much for Hero, sorry man

Aubrey

Bisexual energy

Her father made sure she was a perfect little girl: wears dresses and skirts, like pink, wears a bow all the time, keep herself neat, come home right after school and ask first if she wants to keep playing, not playing with boys especially the rough playing boys

After loosing her shoe and meeting everyone, she decided to stay around them and be herself: rough housing, wear blue, wear spare shorts that either Mari, Sunny, or Kel may have, take off her bow as often as possible, be out of the house as possible to be with her friends, and may have a crush on an older girl you see almost everyday

When her dad left, everything came down: mom gave up, money became tight, Mari is gone, no one is around with her, and start doing things she never done before because of obligated morals

She started dating Kim, hung out with the hooligans, wore 'less' clothing, rude, crude, tomboy, carried weapons, and dyed her hair

Post-canon, she stopped some of her bad habits: wore clothes that are modest whenever she felt like it, a little more polite but still a little rude, stopped carrying weapons, and kept the pink hair in memory of Mari. Still dating Kim since she loves her more than anything in the world

Basil

Who the fuck names their kid Basil? His name was probably Jermey and just he liked the word Basil so much that he said a lot instead of his birth name. He got the name Basil since it was the first thing he planted

For years, no one in the gang knew Basil was a nickname, just accepted that his name was Basil and his parents just liked plants, not realizing his parents are not around a lot

Bet you anything, since Basil vents to Sunny a lot, he may have talked to him about sexuality and gender a lot with him, coming out to him as gay and might be non-binary in some way, still wasn't sure

Sunny was the one he told that Basil was a nickname but he wants to be his actual name

"But, your name has always been Basil, hasn't it?" Sunny asked

Basil had vowed to protect Sunny at all costs since that day and also be proud of himself no matter what and to always introduce himself as Basil, no matter how scared he was

Post-canon, after being in the hospital and some for of mental hospital for some time, after being officially released, Basil came out to everyone else

"Wait, so Basil was a name you picked this whole time?! That is so cool!" Kel cheered as he lifts Basil up in the air in joy

No one dared to ask what his deadname was and use whatever pronouns he asks them to use: He/They but still struggles to respond to they/them pronouns since he never told anyone else other than Sunny

Annnnnnnd thats all I got. Feel free to ask more from me

[poplinn]

@divine-buni​ ha risposto al tuo post: “ hello! I myself am not Jewish, and I was wondering why Jewish Medic is anti-Semitic? I'm genuinely asking, if it's possible that you could elaborate a bit more, please?” 

Yes, I’d love to elaborate for you [and other people who’ve seen the post and aren’t quite sure what I meant]. Considering this post is going to be quite a long one I’ve put everything under a read more, but here’s a quick TL;DR

TL;DR:

Medic’s actions in Comic 6 contradict Jewish beliefs, therefore I find it disrespectful to our religion to HC him as Jewish.

Most people who HC Medic as Jewish are goyim, and portray him/Jewish beliefs/Judaism very incorrectly but don’t seem to listen to Jewish people who try to correct them.

All art i’ve seen of Jewish Medic so far feed into Antisemetic Stereotypes which is disgusting. 

Jewish Medic only came into existence to counter the Nazi HC

People just don’t their research even though it’s not that hard. 

Full explanation under the read more:

So before i start explaining why I think the Jewish Medic and its portrayals are anti-semetic I want to give a little background information. I myself am Jewish, I have been my entire life, and I’m a practicing conservative Jew. I go to the Synagogue and I have read the Tanakh [The Hebrew Bible]. Now I understand that the text may differ in some translations/interpretations of the original text. I also understand that some things are left a bit ambigious at times, meaning different people can have different interpretations of the same text. What I’m about to write after this is all part of my personal interpretations/findings of the Tanakh and what I’ve been taught. I, obviously, don’t speak for all jewish people out there, this is strictly personal. 

Now, what I’ve always learned from reading the Tanakh is that the belief in demons and Satan [sometimes even angels] is often, if not all the time, rejected. There are no mentions of demons in the Tanakh, and Satan is not a demon. Think of it that Satan is more of a metaphor, and doesn’t exist in physical form. He’s more of an advocate or metaphor for having different opinions. 

In Kabbalah Satan represents a sinful impulse a person might have[we’ve all been there], or a “force” that prevents us humans from submitting to divine will. The Devil doesn’t exists, he’s merely a metaphor for the bad stuff we have inside us, our sins/sinful thoughts. But physically? He’s not there.

It is also generally believed that Hell is...not a thing. It’s really more of a Christian thing to make people fear G-d. But what happens if we commit sins? Well, what I’ve been taught in my 20+ years of living is that when we die, we either go to heaven or go to purgatory. In purgatory you work off your sins for a set amount of time. This time differs per person depending on what sins you’ve committed and if you show remorse. But Hell itself does not exist at all. 

Why does this all matter? When Medic dies he goes to Hell and meets the Devil. 

The fact that this happens contradicts Jewish beliefs. I think that if you headcanon Medic as Jewish without taking this huge contradiction into consideration is very disrespectful of out belief. And mind you, all people I’ve seen HC Medic as Jewish are goyim.  Medic meeting the Devil himself isn’t inherently antisemitic or disrespectful, considering Medic is not canonically Jewish, but headcanoning as Jewish is.

Then there are the portrayals of Jewish Medic in art. Now we all know what Medic looks like: 

He’s a white man, with short black hair and a little flock of hair that rests on his forehead. All the art I’ve seen of Jewish Medic so far, and I mean ALL, feed into Jewish stereotypes. Curly black hair, really dark skin and a huge nose. I’m sorry but, since when is this okay?? [ I shouldn’t be one to speak on this considering I have black curly hair, tanned skin and bigger nose /joke ]. Not every Jewish person looks like this. If Medic were indeed canonically Jewish the way he looks is just...fine. A character doesn’t need to have black curly hair, darker skin and a huge hooked nose in order to be Jewish. It just baffles me that in the year of 2021 people still think doing this is okay. 

And to add to it, like every other religion, in Judaism we also wear specific kind of clothing. The cloth and colour of our Yarmulkes all mean something, and to see this being portrayed incorrectly, by goy people nonetheless, it just bothers me a lot. It gets even worse that, when me and other Jewish people try to reach out to these artists and try to tell them nicely that they’re portraying our religion incorrectly that we 1. dont get listened to, 2. get blocked, 3. get dismissed.

To directly quote a message from a certain person I messaged about their Jewish Medic portrayal being incorrect: “I don't know how much I can say of Jewish issues considering I've never been connected to that part of my ancestry religiously or culturally.” Right after I explained everything to them, it’s incredibly dismissive in my eyes. You don’t need to be Jewish in order to understand Judaism or Jewish beliefs. 

I feel like I’m kind of starting to ramble, so apologies if it’s a little less coherent, but....I also think the origins of the Jewish Medic are a bit...icky/weird/uncomfortable. I’m not sure what the right word is [apologies, English isn’t my first language]. 

Back in the day the Nazi Medic Headcanon was a thing, which is obviously problematic on its own. Some people, in response to that, wanted to counter this Nazi HC by making Medic Jewish. Because it was “fun and quirky.” Which is ridiculous. Our religion is not just something “fun and quirky” for gentiles to randomly use as a headcanon. I personally feel like gentiles take our religion serious because of that. Jewish people are not the direct opposites of Nazis. The world really isn’t that black and white / Bad vs Good. You don’t need to be Jewish in order to counter Nazis or be anti-fascism. If someone isn’t Jewish, it doesn’t make them a Nazi. 

I don’t mind if a person wants to HC a character as something they aren’t, but please please please do some proper reasearc or reach out to people before you do, so you can also do it correctly. For example: I have an OC who is intersex. I myself am not intersex. I did research, I went to forums and I asked around to make sure what I was doing was right. It’s not that hard. 

I may have missed a few things here and there but I hope it answers your question and happy Passover