#anti Jade west

[piperslovebot]

I’d rather be friends with people who are flawed yet kind people over people who are outwardly mean in the guise of ‘owning it’

[sapphic-agent]

Tori's a lot nicer than me, if the girl who consistently belittled and insulted me showed up on my doorstep begging for help I'd have slammed that door right in her face

[stardrawsrmblogs]

I'm sorry but if you say that you want to be like Sharpay Evans or Jade West. Or you you idolize Sharpay, Jade or any fictional mean girls.

Get the hell away from me.

You're not cute, you're an asshole.

If you like asshole characters, you could like asshole characters. Just don't be an asshole to irl people. It's not cute nor funny, it makes you unlikable.

I get that we loved villains and all, but I don’t tolerate mean girl behavior, just don't be an asshole to anyone, please.

[nightingale2004]

Why was I today years old when I realized that Sterek's (derek x stiles) energy matched Jori's (Tori x Jade) energy ship wise?

Stiles and Tori both have antisocial intimidating partners. Derek and Jade have intense chemistry with Stiles and Tori on screen (the actors are no different)

Stiles and Tori are both the sunshine in Derek and Jade's life, and plus they both have been strangled or punched or dragged by each other

I literally rest my case

[dove00]

Happy Pride Month!

Gentle reminder to bat fam fandom fans who ship mlm ships…

Please stop ignoring/making villains out of the women in the other character’s life.

Yes. This is about JayRoy and Birdflash.

It is really annoying when I have to exclude those ships and lose posts in WallyLinda tag. I don’t even want to get into the amount of times I have to ignore fandom JayRoy in the tags of arrow family characters.

It’s also annoying the way some JayRoy fans will treat Jade. And the way some Birdflash fans treat Linda. It’s gross.

Anyway, all I want this Pride Month is for some fans of mlm bat fam fandom ships to stop being awful to women. Thanks!

[rowinablx]

Nickelodeon really said abusive relationships are cute to kids

[whywoulditho]

i was doing a rewatch of nickelodeon's victorious and there's about twenty thousand things wrong with that show but one thing that really struck me was the character of jade and how she's the shallowest representation of an 'alt girl'. and this is definitely an issue that mainstream media is still suffering from but it's like at that time they had absolutely no idea how to write a goth girl. i can assure you it is so much worse than you remember.

i don't think they were going for a specific subculture when they picked out her outfits, they kind of just threw a bunch of styles together to create 'some sort of an alt girl'. her outfits looked like a softer/more casual version of trad goth, i think. since she would be wearing them to school or in her daily life i think the outfits were fine. but they failed with her personality SO BAD.

because tell me why this "goth girl" was a loud transphobe and a misogynist. this girl insulted other people's looks, their weight, their outfits ALL THE TIME. she made fun of "manly looking girls" and i know robbie possibly being a trans boy was a laughing stock for the whole show but it was still so weird seeing jade, with her red doc martens and fishnet stockings and a hairdye that would send conservatives into the grave even today, make jokes about it.

i get that this show is from 2013 and on nickelodeon so they couldn't be *gasp* queer allies BUT even for that time, her being misogynistic is fucking ridiculous... she would call girls ugly back and forth, she would make everyone feel bad about everything about themselves for fun. that wasn't something tori or cat or even trina would do, only jade because she was "an angry person". not to mention they painted her to be this dangerous, violent person that would threaten to harm people if they so much as looked at her wrong.

and the thing is, gothics are angry people. but their anger is towards inequality, patriarchy, fast fashion/consumerism, corrupt governments. hollywood looks at these kind of subcultures in the most surface level way possible, they focus on the part that they're angry people, and never stop to ask what they're angry about.

and this is NOT just lazy writing. because if you want to depoliticize the youth you start by making up rumors about the politicized youth. you push this literal propaganda in mainstream media until the vast majority of your country is convinced that hippies are junkies, punks are violent, goths are scary. alt people are weird and angry and dangerous. you make jokes about it, you use their names like an insult, and if you do it well and for long enough, no one will take them seriously anymore. no one will stop to ask alt people what they believe in and what they stand against. they'll just see them as soft kids looking for attention.

so we end up with characters like jade west, who could only have two effects on society, both of them in favor of a corrupt government looking to depoliticize people. 1) she would make goth/alt people seem too angry and violent so parents would be cautious of them and never take them seriously, 2) she would take all the political and philosophical aspects out of this subculture so the next generation of girls would just buy goth clothes from hot topic and never understand what the subculture actually stands for.

[the-monkey-ruler]

The more I read about the JTTW Conspiracy Theory, the less I like it, and the more disappointed I am that BMW followed it.

I have found that it has turned into a unique taste at least for a more modern audience that really enjoys the thematic meanings of Journey to the West. Xiyouji at its core is one that says that anyone can change and that people can take a hold of their lives and start changing themselves for the better. I found the book uplifting how between the humor and the allegories we see the pilgrims really come together in each new demon fight and rely on each other. That no matter what you've done there can be hope that you can find people like you and you're not alone on any journey.

That is how I always connected with Xiyouji, as a journey to hope, not to save the world per se, but one that you are not you're worst self and that you can learn and grow as a person. This is journey about learning how to save yourself for your own sake. That anyone (even a monkey) can find themselves, know who they are to the point of enlightenment and become one with the universe essentially becaming a Buddha.

The JTTW Conspiracy Theory does take that message and make it more that "enlightenment is a lie" and "changing is just conforming to be more submission to your masters." It frames Wukong's person growth into something of him just becoming a mindless tool of heaven. That all his hard work and travels were really for nothing and just that he is seen as nothing more as a yao and that he will always be seen as a yao to be used.

Don't get me wrong, Xiyouji does poke fun at itself. While yes they do make Arhats taking bribes and do make Daoist yao master eat babies it is in the tone of satire and to make the scene more humorous with the absurdity of it all. Xiyouji is about to poke fun at religion while still being sincere in the religious messages found within the book. It makes fun of the gods but it also makes fun of humans and yao and anyone who can be criticized. But just because it is able to make light of the gods in both Eastern and Weatern Heaven doesn't make it an anti-religious work but rather I see it as an attempt to make the gods more human to the audiences. Humor has been used for centuries as a way to show the absurdity of life and make characters more relatable, and I really think that Xiyouji is still so popular after nearly 400 with such great movies/shows/games because it is FUNNY and their characters are still able to crack a smile even in the more dire of situations.

I have said that the Chinese Odyssey and Bio of Wukong really make the JTTW Conspiracy Theory popular, and it has, but it could be traced back to the Havoc in Heaven 1961 Movie with how it was framed that Wukong was a freedom fighter. The 1961 Movie has a long and rich history about its creation and its political meaning. But in short, it was seen as a symbolic meaning of class warfare between Wukong (the freedom fighter) and Heaven (the oppressive authoritarian government). This was taking Wukong's original meaning being of an arrogant and selfish warlord who uses his power for his own desires and transforming it into a Wukong who is now the common man who is meant to relate to the average worker fighting for his rights and the rights of others. Hence why in the 1961 Wukong WINS in the end! He BEATS the Jade Emperor! He WON! No Buddha, not mountain, he goes home, he DID IT. Because he is the HERO.

This was an understandable change as this was in the mind of inspiring people to stay hopeful in the face of opposition.

"When the first half of the film was released in 1961, state and public reception was glowing, but by 1965, when the second half was completed, it became impossible not to recognize in it revolutionary undercurrents. At first, Mao was compared favorably to the mischievous Sun Wukong, wreaking havoc in “Heaven,” overturning the Chinese bourgeoisie. But by the same metaphor Mao had also plucked away the country’s “stabilizing pillar” with his disastrous Great Leap Forward. By the start of the Cultural Revolution, Mao’s China could be seen as “Heaven,” Mao himself its stuffy Jade Emperor, and the disenfranchised groups living under his regime, the monkeys."

This is still self-contained as it was only Eastern Heaven that was shown to be overthrown. Guanyin and the Buddha were never shown and thus never perceived in a negative light, thus not suggesting that enlightenment is a lie or anything like that. Also Wukong wasn't fighting for Yaoguai but rather his own monkeys, another difference, as this has no connection with "yao are an opposed group" that is seen within the JTTW Theory. Wukong shows no issues in later movies fighting Yao. And the biggest difference is that Wukong WINS in the end, he goes home and the heavens are defeated. We never see any repercussions for that because there are none, the movie is over and the audience is meant to leave with the feeling of hope and optimism that Wukong has given them.

The reason I always connect the JTTW Conspiracy Theory to Bio of Wukong is that it brought in the pessimism that rechanged the whole story. Wukong DOESN'T win. Wukong ISN'T able to change anything. He dies a martyr who rather loses his life against an impossible battle rather than live a life of servitude and while he is gone he will never be forgotten. He is a TRAGIC hero. It embraces the beauty of rebellion even in the face of resistance and the death of blind idealism.

And that IS a beautiful story. I can see why this story got so popular with young adults in the early 2000s, as they are facing a changing economy and starting to feel how hard work and everything they have been studying for feels like it was all for nothing in the workplace. This was a story that resonated with an entire generation and it can show the struggle of trying to cling to individualism in the face of conformity in order to integrate better into social pressures. I think that there can be a lot to be explored and so much that can be take from this kind of take.

But I think the real issue is while Bio of Wukong is a light novel inspired by a movie that is more of a Time Travel Movie reimagining of Journey to the West, the JTTW Conspiracy Theory tries to apply to the actual book. The JTTW Conspiracy Theory takes it a step further and claims that enlightenment is a lie, and the whole Journey is orchestrated by the Buddha to promote his “corrupt” religion while crushing SWK's spirit and making him into a tool for the Heavens. This kind of stance can come from a general anti-religion stance or a nationalist position to base Buddhism.

I could understand how modern authors compare heaven to current authority, creating a hero of rebellion who fights against oppressors but still never wins in a way to connects to audiences through gaining sympathy. By now it feels overplayed but when it first came out the 'dark version' was very appealing to young adults esp when it comes to feeling limited when facing new experiences. While it isn't accurate to JTTW and what the message is, it is more like JTTW can be used as a medium for that kind of storytelling.

JTTW Conspiracy Theory takes what could have been solid symbolism of using JTTW as a medium for modern issues in a way that is able to relate and connect with its audience, and rather turns it around as a critic of JTTW's original narrative and tries to push it as a stance against religion. This uproots Xiyouji's original messaging and its deep connection to established folklore, Buddhism, and Daoism. While I do believe that directors try to capture the impact that Bio of Wukong had, it falls short as it just isn't a FEESABLE story within Xiyouji's own verse. If you view the entire premise of Buddhism and all religions as false, then whatever answers they give to important questions can be nothing but lies and falsehoods, to maintain their own power and deceive worshippers. It takes away the foundations of Xiyouji to the point that it is no longer even the same story.

In the end, I do believe that this Conspiracy Theory has run its course and that it would be better to be shelved as more of a 'horror' genre of the book rather than to be seen as a proper adaption. It might be my own personal old age but I have been through the early 2000 'angst' era and while it was fun while it lasted I do believe that this was a needed step into a new evolution of where Xiyouji interpretations can go. I would love personally to see more interpretations of Wukong as a ruthless warlord rather than a freedom fighter. To see Wukong as a near irredeemable monster and throughout the journey becoming someone more of an anti-hero who learns more about empathy and kindness through each trial. And I do think we are heading in this direction. The most prime example I believe would be Monkey King Hero is Back which shows a reluctant Wukong slowly realizing what it means to be a hero, not his power, but what you are willing to fight for. A more interpretational battle rather than Wukong fighting demons or even fighting an oppressive regime he starts to fight himself. Another layer of Wukong's identity being explored but his own pride and ego being his enemies rather than an external force.

We see more modern movies trying to move past Wukong being just a hero or a martyr but truly being dedicated to making him the complex individual that he could always be. I hope that we do see more directors taking this stance as Journey to the West is a beautiful story with the unique and rare gift that it allows all characters, gods, demons, and humans to be seen on an equal footing. Gods are allowed to be funny and flawed, demons are clever and can be redeemed, and humans can be both good or bad depending on their actions. While Xiyouji is lighthearted I do think that interpersonal struggle aligns more with its messaging. It's complex with it's allegories but there isn't a sense of hopelessness as the one thing in life that you can control is yourself at least.

I think that Black Myth Wukong has a lot to offer, especially in terms of bringing new fans into the series. While I am a lil saddened that the story is inspired by a theory 20 years ago, I can see why as it was quite popular. I will say though it has been done to death, and while I'm sure it was a 'safe' bet it is something that is unoriginal and that does leave me disappointed (please note nearly all web-movie jttw have come out in the past ten years have a similar premise). I can only hope that with future DLC or in future JTTW adaptions they take that as a sign to grow from the premise gathering rather than repeating the same old thing.

[hussyknee]

it’s rare to find a sinhalese person (online atleast) who is supportive of tamil self-determination. genuine question: among leftist circles in sri lanka, how common is such a stance?

I don't know whether I'm a reliable source to answer this question because I'm very jaded about this in general. A couple of days ago, someone on the Sri Lanka Reddit started up discourse about Maitreyi Ramakrishnan's choice to reject identifying with the country that tried to genocide her people, which I'm still chewing wire about. I'm a very isolated person with a very small social circle of like-minded leftist friends. They're mostly not SinBud and anti SinBud nonsense, but none of them are Tamil and I'm the one who really convinced them about Eelam I think. The people I learned from, who are out there doing the work of building inter-ethnic dialogue and overturning Sinhalese propaganda, might have a more hopeful view.

Thing is, there's no one "leftist" faction here because "left" doesn't mean the same thing as it does in the West. The Rajapaksas' party SLPP is socialist, a legacy of the SLFP that they branched off from, who was the party aligned with the USSR. They and their voters and their saffron terror acolytes (Buddhist priesthood) are all for public infrastructure they can rob blind and central government they can use to crush minorities, and build on the nationalist fervour of genocidal Sinhalese Buddhism that's served both major parties independence. There's quasi-communists, descendants of the ethnonationalist Marxist JVP that rose in opposition to the class corruption of ethnonationalist USSR-aligned socialist SLFP and enthonationalist US-aligned neoliberal UNP. The current JVP party itself is no longer communist; their coalition the NPP are mostly just very pro-union social democrats, and they've since distanced themselves from their ethnic myopia, possibly due to suffering much of the same state terrorism as minorities via militarisation and policies like the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). They're the most vocal about the abolition of the executive presidency, the removal of all martial law mechanisms and the PTA, defunding of military and police, and restructuring and executing the long-mismanaged socialist infrastructure. These are usually the working class and university students, but their base has been growing in other demographics too, since we "held our noses and voted" for the Yahapalana government in 2015 and it ended up fucking us over. But despite their sympathy with the suffering of Tamils and Muslims and favouring the devolution of power, most still cling to the idea that Sinhalese majoritarianism is a fair result of democracy.

The kind of pro-LGBT, anti-racist, feminist liberals that would pass muster with the western left otoh, are a minority of urban, English-speaking middle class. The younger of this crowd is increasingly favouring the aforementioned NPP (that is rapidly marrying the economic left with the social consciousness led by western dialogues that go against their traditional rural working class base), but that is very new and hampered by decades of Red Scare propaganda. The minority communities and the urban liberals traditionally vote for the current neoliberal party, that has distanced itself from their virulent nationalism over the last thirty years and basically modelled itself after the US Democrats (diet right-wing as opposed to nuclear right-wing) Their idea of reducing corruption and increasing efficiency is privatizing everything, makes the right pro-feminist and pro-LGBT noises, and coasts on the minority votes on the promise of never actively feeding ethnosupremacy, even if they won't do anything about it either. The Sinhalese affiliated with this party are deeply uncomfortable with if not entirely resistant to the idea that the North and East are Tamil lands colonized by the Sinhalese. Just like the quasi-communists, urban liberals are aware of the corruption and complicity of the Buddhist priesthood in ethnofascism and are prepared to do exactly as much nothing about it.

What I'm trying to say is that Sinhalese Buddhist ethnosupremacy is baked in to the Sri Lankan political fabric. "Left" means jack shit when it comes to whether Tamils have rights, in much the same way that the western left agrees on everything except Palestine. It's a political no man's land everyone tries not to look at.

The fundamental problem is that Sinhalese people who know enough about 1958, 1983, or the full scope of genocide perpetrated against Tamils during the last push of the war, let alone all 26 years of it, are very much in the minority. It takes a particular education to understand that "Sri Lanka" is a post-colonial invention that took over from "Ceylon", which was nothing but a construct for the ease of British administration. As far as I know, this education is confined to activist organizations and whoever followed my sociology program. So my kind of anarchist leftism that calls the war a Tamil genocide with their whole chest, calls the priesthood saffron terrorists, and recognises Eelam, is vanishingly small, afaik.

To be honest, I never really questioned the propaganda and narrative we've been spoon fed myself until I went to Canada when I was 23 to complete my anthro degree (became disabled and dropped out after). One thing that struck me was how racist the Sinhalese diaspora was. I was raised SinBud, my school didn't admit any non-Sinhalese, half my uncles were in the military, but these people that had left the country decades ago still hated Tamils and Muslims in a way that nobody else I knew did. I wondered whether this was what it had been like when it had all started; whether this hatred that seemed to have been preserved in amber was a true taste of what had ignited Black July. Suddenly the attitude of the Tamil diaspora towards the Sri Lankan government and Sinhalese people didn't seem so unreasonable.

Then, later in the same uni term, I went to an art exhibition of a white artist who travelled the world collecting information about their genocides and made art about them, and found a painting depicting Sri Lankan Tamils in 2008. Promptly had a meltdown. Went to the lady and told her tearfully that it was all propaganda, we didn't really hate Tamils, not even my uncles in the army hated Tamils, it was a war, the LTTE had terrorized us for my whole lifetime. Bless the woman, she didn't fight me, just let me cry at her and patted my hand and pretended to take me seriously. This made it easier for me to really think about what I knew once I'd stopped wailing and stamping. It prompted a years-long self-interrogation and fact finding that made me unearth how much brainwashing had been done to us by everyone, from our families to our school textbooks to news media. It's like the air we breathed was propaganda. And I still didn't know a fraction of what life had been like for Tamils (or Muslims) and the scope of atrocities perpetrated by the Sinhalese until I began my Society and Culture degree at the Open University when I was 30. The first year textbooks were only broadstrokes facts, but at last I found out about Gnananth Obeysekera, Prageeth Jeganathan, Stanley Thambaiya, Malithi DeAlwis. Their work on nation-making, ethnicity, historical revisionism, genocide and ethnic conflict and state terrorism...everything I should have been taught as a child. The chapters on the rapes and murders and shelling and war crimes and IDP camps were..indescribable. That was what properly radicalised me about Tamil self-sovereignty, because there's clearly no possible way the Tamil people will ever be safe and safeguarded under a Sinhalese majoritarian government.

I had to drop out of that programme too because of my health. But during the mass protests against the government in 2022, I learned even more about Tamil indigeneity, the extent of JR Jayawardena's crimes, and the persecution of Marxists and victims of the '71 and '89 insurrections. So much of the protests and their encampments were directed and galvanized by social media, that organised online and in-person lectures, teach-outs, and live discussions that anyone and everyone could attend right alongside the protests. I've never seen that kind of truly democratized, free, egalitarian civic education and discourse before. That was the very first time I saw academics, survivors, refugees and human rights activists being given a respectful platform, the masses hearing firsthand accounts from people of the North and East and witnesses of Black July. April to July 2022 was a truly golden bubble of time where I saw people finally start listening, believing, and challenging all their convictions. It was the closest we ever came to realising the hope that things could be different; that we could, as a society, understand how Sinhalese ethnosupremacy had been the black rot killing this country from the first, stop being racist Sinhala-first cunts and actually hold any of these murderers accountable.

Teach us to hope, I guess.

But I suppose it's no small thing that I learned about the Tamil resistance and struggle and taught all my friends about it. I'm sure they're informing their own circles in small ways too. These tendrils are hard to see, but they exist and grow. Especially with the fall of the Rajapaksas and their Bhaiyya contingent, more people can see ethnosupremacy for the grift that it is, and the younger generations are less defensive, more willing to listen and eager for justice and change. So I guess the answer is: not very common, but less uncommon than it used to be.

[dc-tournaments]

As promised, the full list of (valid) nominations for Most Horrifying War Criminal. The number beside the name is how many nominations they got. This list goes in order from most to least nominated. When characters got the same number of nominations, they are listed in the order they were submitted.

Mr. Mind (6)

Amanda Waller (6)

Bruce Wayne (6)

Slade Wilson (5)

Lex Luthor (5)

Joker (5)

Jade Nguyen (4)

Scarecrow (4)

Tim Drake (3)

Professor Pyg (2)

Captain Nazi (2)

Ra's al Ghul (2)

Hank Hall (2)

Damian Wayne (2)

M'gann M'orzz (2)

The Guardians of the Universe (2)

Ares (2)

Vril Dox (1)

David Cain (1)

Kunishige Rokuhira (1)

Sam Lane (1)

Ma'alefa'ak (1)

Dr. Poison (1)

Brother Blood (1)

Klarion (1)

Lyrl Dox (1)

Frank Burns (1)

Wally West (1)

Jan Arrah (1)

Barbara Gordon (1)

Maxwell Lord (1)

Vandal Savage (1)

DC Comics' American Government (1)

The GCPD (1)

All Gotham Villains (1)

Batburger (1)

Cupid (1)

Baron Bedlam (1)

Blockbuster (1)

The Court of Owls (1)

Peter Merkel Sr. (1)

Sinestro (1)

Rudy West (1)

Bart Allen (1)

Darkseid (1)

Talia al Ghul (1)

Jason Todd (1)

Oswald Cobblepot (1)

Danny Temple (1)

The Children of Dionysus (1)

Unknown Soldier (1)

Eobard Thawne (1)

Young Justice (1)

Parallax (1)

Per Degaton (1)

Rip Hunter (1)

Lobo (1)

DC Editorial (1)

Alura In-Ze (1)

Chuckles the Clown (1)

The Order of St. Dumas (1)

The Atom (1)

Gorilla Grodd (1)

Granny Goodness (1)

Anti-Monitor (1)

The Presence (1)

Heracles (1)

[piperslovebot]

Jade 🤝 Caroline

Giving their boyfriends manipulative ultimatums

[percysaidnever]

ted lasso s3e11 oh dear god

i’m not mentally stable enough to fully process so initial thoughts!!

I truly believe Phil Dunster filmed to boot room scene with the sole intention of making Brett Goldstein break character

THE PARALLELS from the very beginning of Ted being happy go lucky and loved while Rebecca is angst!! to now Ted’s mom being happy and loved while Ted is angst is truly amazing

plz rebecca getting in the team bus bc nora yelled at her about her private jet usage i love

SAM AND REBECCA TURNING TO EACH OTHER DURING THE END OF YOUVE GOT MAIL OMG

Beard’s nickname for Teds mom!!

Rebecca excited to know Teds mom!!

Mae dropping free therapy everywhere she goes?? love that for her!!

the boys showing up at Taste of Athens was so …? bc last time they were like fuck nate!! at the west ham game but now their like happy and healthy like the lovable himbos they are

this was not an episode about mother/son relationships and truly processing trauma, this was an episode about kebabs

the way Jade likes the things about Nate she doesn’t understand!!! (thinking 60 pgs is crazy but still picking up the pen to edit!!)

Roy and Keelee trying to steal follow Jamie is the funniest thing, especially when she’s farting between cars and Roy’s just on the sidewalk

he! went! to! see! his! mom!!!

i am very happy that Jamie has one canonically fantastic parent and fun baking stepdad!

also the crowd cheering him as he leaves truly made me tear up

the duality of the Roy Keelee posters in Jamie’s room

Ted and his mom having a real talk truly showing how much Ted has grown, especially with how he started off kinda anti-therapy to who he is now

question: what actually is meatloaf? I have no idea????

i know the whole thing is gonna end with Ted going back to Kansas and that’s why we have the whole, admittedly important for Ted, Henry part but I still want him to stay so badly and it feels right for the character to stay and bring Henry to Richmond

lmao the nose mask bc of Dani

Van Damme slayed so hard omg absolute king i love you baby keep saving those goals!

THE COACH BEARD LORE OMG

truly explains his dedication to Ted and why he was so angry with Nate, who hurt his friends and betrayed Teds trust the same way he did with the car

i know he’s but but for a second there i thought Jamie’s father was dead!?!

and i love Higgins and his refusal to move!! he’s so sweet!!

[nightingale2004]

Victorious next gen: Beck x Jade vers.

Damien Nolan Oliver West

Faceclaim: Felix Mallard

Damien is the son of famous award winning actor Beck Oliver and the famous director, screenwriter, and filmmaker Jade West

Damien also has an older sister in college named Janessa

When Jade and Oliver first graduated from Hollywood arts, they were married a few years shortly after that, along with getting into their careers.

But when Janessa and Damien were kids, they officially filed for divorce, and Beck gained custody over the kids

Damiens's older sister attends college to become a doctor while Damien is in Hollywood arts

Damien has a love for poetry, acting, film, photography, and creative writing

Damien creates the most strange yet beautiful stories and poems, but he never shows it to anyone but his mom or sister

Despite living with his dad, he visits his mom a lot and is pretty much the only one (other than Tori and Beck) to help calm her down when she's spiraling

Loves both his parents but hates seeing them fight

He has a black pitbull dog named Buster that his parents gave him for his 10th birthday

Huge dog person

Likes to take charge....A LOT

He mostly takes after his dad, but his dark side shows a lot which comes straight from his mother

Loves watching his mother's movies

Has a soft spot for the Vega family

He and Melody are besties

Talks with his sister a lot or tries to talk with her when he doesn't want to talk with anyone else

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

+ Robbie x Cat vers.

Evangeline Mia Shapiro Valentine

Faceclaim: Abby Ryder Fortson

Evangeline is the daughter of famous comedian and minor musician Robbie Shapiro and famous award winning singer and actress Cat Valentine

Evangeline goes by Eva, Angel, Angie, or Mia for short

She is the youngest in the group and attends Hollywood arts

She has most of her father's looks, but she has her mother eyes

When Eva was old enough, she put in red streaks in her hair to match her mother's hair color when she was younger

Rex creeps her out a bit but at the same time, he makes her smile and laugh a lot

Everyone loves Eva and are completely soft for her, even their kids

She also inherited her father's intelligence.

She has a love for acting and singing and is always looking to improve

Like her mom, she also has a Bibble addiction

She is a ray of sunshine and she loves it

Loves making people happy

Doesn't know a lot about her mom's family, but she has met her uncle on many occasions when Cat would call him for favors or help him to the hospital

She only wears glasses to read (she's far sighted)

[bongsuvn]

Art by Not A Starchild

KHẢI ĐỊNH: THE EMPEROR WHO DIDN’T LIKE WOMEN

(Tiếng Việt ở dưới)

Emperor Khải Định (1885 – 1925), named Nguyễn Phúc Tuấn, also known as Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Đảo, was the 12th emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty and father Emperor Bảo Đại (Vietnam’s last monarch). Due to historical beliefs, Emperor Khải Định’s disregard of his harem women allowed others to deem him impotent. Having an impotent husband who never noticed her but gambled and wasted her family money away was the reason why First-ranked Consort Trương, his wife, left him to become a nun.

Abandoned by his wife, Bửu Đảo relied on the palace maid’s care. A young and beautiful maid, Hoàng Thị Cúc, suddenly became pregnant and insisted that the baby was of imperial blood, despite Bửu Đảo’s mother’s attempt to find out who the real father was. Because of this, many speculated that his son, Bảo Đại, was not his; some rumored that he took a tonic that made him take interest in women, allowing him to bless Hoàng Thị Cúc with a child.

From a modern point of view, based on the press and research regarding Khải Định’s life, he was not impotent; he just liked men (or very asexual). This could explain why he often showed boredom towards his maids, as well as the way he treated his wives. Although everyone knew of his impotence, many mandarins still wished to wed their daughters to him for imperial favors. Unable to refuse, the emperor often said: “My harem is a chaste temple, whoever wants to be a nun can enter!” Therefore, although Khải Định refused women, he still had a large harem, not unlike his ancestors. Moreover, in the book Inner Court Stories of the Nguyễn Emperors, Nguyễn Đắc Xuân wrote: “In the mornings, when attending to national duties within the Palace of Political Diligence, his wives stood in two rows to welcome the emperor. However, he would collect the robe’s sleeves to his side so they wouldn’t touch any woman.”

Within ten years as ruler, Khải Định raised Nguyễn Đắc Vọng as his imperial bodyguard, a male favorite of the time. At night, the emperor would hug Vọng to sleep. Due to this ingenuity in obedience, Đắc Vọng was promoted to Fifth-ranked Imperial Bodyguard.

Another story revealed that at festivals with dance performances organized by his harem, Emperor Khải Định would watch with boredom. At one point, he even told the mandarins to replace these dancers with male ones. He seemed to enjoy this, and even ordered the male dancers to apply powder, blush, and lipstick to have fun with him.

In the Letter of Seven Clauses by Phan Chu Trinh, which detailed the sins of Emperor Khải Định, he described the emperor as “wearing ludicrous garments that inappropriately mixed Western and native designs,” as well as “dressing improperly.” Historical documentation regarding Khải Định’s wardrobe showed that he invested a lot in designing the mandarins’, soldiers’, and his personal fashion that was clearly anti-tradition. Chu Trinh said: “The emperor liked and attached great importance to make-up and color coordination by applying gems, gold, silver, and diamonds onto clothes, pants, shoes, boots, hats, and scabbards. He created multiple dragon robes that went against traditional standards of former rulers. In addition, instead of wearing traditional boots, he wore shiny Western leather boots decorated with silver patterns, as well as wearing jeweled belts, white gloves, white Western trousers, and carrying French swords, but his head was still wrapped in Vietnamese turbans, and sometimes even conical hats. His conical hats were made of feathers, covered with golden silk, and had golden tips. The emperor also had black conical hats.”

Khải Định’s tomb, Ứng Mausoleum, in Huế, considered as the most elaborate imperial tomb in Vietnam, was designed by the emperor himself during his reign. The mausoleum was inlaid with porcelain, jade, and precious stone from Japan, China, and the West. Upon entering his tomb, or when reviewing his dressing, one can imagine the luxurious (or to the LGBT+ community, fabulous) personality of Emperor Khải Định.

The famous Hồ Chí Minh also produced a series of taunting works regarding Khải Định, including the short story The Anonymous Visit of the Emperor and the play The Bamboo Dragon, with many details attacking the emperor’s gender expression.

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KHẢI ĐỊNH: VỊ VUA KHÔNG THÍCH ĐÀN BÀ

Vua Khải Định (1885 – 1925) tên là Nguyễn Phúc Tuấn, còn gọi là Nguyễn Phúc Bửu Đảo, là vị vua đời thứ 12 của nhà Nguyễn, cha Bảo Đại. Xét trên quan niệm thời xưa, việc Khải Định không đoái hoài đến cung tần mĩ nữ của mình khiến ông bị coi là bất lực, tức kém khả năng trong tình dục, chăn gối. Việc chồng bất lực, không ngó ngàng gì đến mình, lại cộng thêm ham mê cờ bạc, tiêu tốn của cải gia đình nhà vợ là lí do khiến bà Đệ nhất giai phi Trương thị bỏ ông mà đi tu.

Bị vợ bỏ, Bửu Đảo phải dựa vào sự chăm sóc của những người hầu trong phủ. Tình cờ thì một nô tì trẻ trung, xinh đẹp là Hoàng Thị Cúc đã mang thai và nhất quyết cái thai đó là giọt máu của ông, cho dù thân mẫu của ngài dùng mọi cách để tìm ra ai là cha đứa trẻ. Vì thế mà đã xuất hiện nhiều lời đồn đoán Bảo Đại cũng không phải con ruột của ông; người lại đồn rằng ông dùng thuốc bổ, tự dưng muốn gần gũi phụ nữ, nên ông mới ban ơn cho cung nữ Hoàng Thị Cúc.

Nhưng xét trên cái nhìn hiện đại, báo chí và những người quan tâm đến cuộc đời của Khải Định cho rằng ông không hề bất lực, mà thật ra là ông không thích đàn bà, chỉ thích đàn ông (hoặc là hoàn toàn vô tính luyến ái). Đây có thể giải thích vì sao ngài thường tỏ ra buồn chán không quan tâm tới các thị nữ, cũng như cách ông đối xử với những người vợ của mình. Lời kể rằng tuy ai cũng biết Khải Định bất lực, nhưng các quan đại thần vẫn muốn tiến con gái mình vào cung vì lợi ích gia tộc. Khó lòng chối từ, vua thường nói với các quan: “Nội cung của Trẫm là một cái chùa, ai muốn tu thì cứ vào!” Do đó, dù Khải Định không gần gũi đàn bà, ông vẫn có đủ tam cung lục viện như các vua tiền triều. Hơn nữa, trong cuốn Chuyện nội cung các vua Nguyễn, ông Nguyễn Đắc Xuân viết: “Những buổi sáng phải ra điện Cần Chính thiết triều, các bà đứng hai hàng bái yết đón chào, vua liền dùng tay ôm gọn hai vạt áo bào sát vào người để khỏi vướng vào đàn bà.”

Suốt 10 năm làm vua, ông đã nuôi Nguyễn Đắc Vọng làm thị vệ, cũng đồng thời là nam sủng nịnh thần thời đấy. Ban đêm, ông lại ôm Vọng mà ngủ. Nhờ sự khéo léo trong việc phục tùng này mà ông Vọng đã được thăng tiến đến Ngũ đẳng thị vệ.

Có câu chuyện cho rằng vào ngày lễ hội tổ chức những buổi vũ múa do hậu cung đảm trách, vua Khải Định nhìn những màn vũ một cách buồn chán. Có lúc ông còn bảo quan hãy dẹp những màn múa ấy và thay thế vào những vũ công nam. Vua Khải Định lấy làm thích thú, còn ra lệnh những vũ công nam cần phải thoa phấn, đánh má hồng, tô môi son, và vui đùa với vua.

Trong Thất điều thư của Phan Chu Trinh kể tội vua, có nói Khải Định là “ăn mặc lố lăng, dở Tây dở ta,” còn “phục sức không đúng phép.” Những tài liệu sử sách chép lại về phong cách ăn mặc, phục sức của Khải Định, cho thấy ông đầu tư rất nhiều cho các thiết kế trang phục của bản thân, quan lại, lính tráng một cách phản truyền thống. Ông Trinh rằng: “Vua chuộng và coi trọng việc trang điểm, phối hợp màu sắc điểm xuyết bằng cách đính các viên ngọc quý, vàng bạc, kim cương trên áo quần, giày, ủng, mũ nón, bao kiếm. Vua chế ra một số y phục long bào vượt qua các mẫu mã quy định truyền thống của các vua chúa thời trước. Ngoài ra, thay vì mang hia, vua đi ủng da láng bóng, có trang trí hoa văn bằng bạc, ngang lưng mang đai cẩn ngọc, mang kiếm Pháp, đeo bao tay trắng, quần Tây trắng, nhưng đầu vẫn bịt khăn đóng và có khi đội nón chóp. Cái nón này lợp bằng lông vũ, bọc lụa vàng, có chóp bằng vàng. Vua cũng có một cái nón chóp khác màu đen.”

Ứng Lăng của Khải Định ở Huế, được xem là lăng tẩm vua chúa cầu kì tốn kém nhất Việt Nam, là do chính ông tự thiết kế khi còn sống. Lăng khảm sành sứ, ngọc, đá từ Nhật Bản, Trung Quốc, và phương Tây. Thế nên khi vào lăng, hoặc khi xem phục trang của Khải Định, có thể phần nào hình dung về con người và tính cách của vua.

Nguyễn Ái Quốc cũng có một loạt bài chế giễu Khải Định, trong đó có truyện ngắn Vi hành và vở kịch Con rồng tre, với nhiều chi tiết xoáy vào thể hiện giới của vua Khải Định.

__________ Tham khảo:

datviet.trithuccuocsong.vn/van-hoa/nguoi-viet/chan-doan-can-benh-bat-luc-cua-vua-khai-dinh-2259639 vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khải_Định

__________ Tác giả:

Lương Thế Huy Vietnam Queer History Month 

__________ *Vô tính luyến ái (asexuality): sự không bị hấp dẫn tình dục, hoặc không hay ít quan tâm đến các hoạt động tình dục

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: David Bernstein

Published: 16 Oct, 2023

Before the blood had even dried on the pavement of the Nova music festival in southern Israel, where Hamas terrorists ruthlessly murdered 260 young people on 7 October 2023, the Coalition for Liberated Ethnic Studies (CLES) began posting Instagram memes in support of “Palestinian Liberation.” The CLES is a collection of educational organizations that design curricula for US high schools. They aim to teach students about “critical consciousness” and “intersectional forms of oppression.” One of the memes they posted advertised an upcoming “Long Live Palestinian Resistance” event and another gave a shout out to “The People’s Forum,” which organizes events in New York under the banner “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free.” The academic activists of CLES are not first-generation immigrants from the Gaza Strip or the West Bank; they are largely home-grown ideologues who teach ethnic and gender studies at American universities and are now seeking to disseminate their ideas in US primary and secondary schools.

Even I—the jaded author of the book Woke Antisemitism and founder of a Jewish organization dedicated to countering this growing variant of the world’s oldest hatred—was stunned by their rhetoric. I would have thought that they would say that the murder of civilians was awful, but that Israel had it coming. But there was not even a token condemnation of Hamas’ violence on 7 October. Instead, the decolonizers publicly justified the bloodletting.

And then came the protests. Before a single Israeli bomb dropped in Gaza, the organizer of a gathering in New York’s Times Square celebrated the violent rampages in front of a cheering crowd. Alluding to the murdered festival-goers, he joked, “As you might have seen, there was some sort of rave or desert party. They were having a great time and then the resistance came in electrified hang gliders and took at least several dozen hipsters.”

At a massive rally on the steps of the Sydney Opera House three days after the massacre, protesters chanted “Gas the Jews.” And—among other calumnies on campuses across North America—thirty-one Harvard student groups issued a statement of solidarity with Hamas, pronouncing Israel “entirely responsible” for the terrorist group’s slaughter.

There are two distinct but overlapping camps of the social justice left. The radical decolonization camp is made up of extremist academics, anarchists, and Black Lives Matter activists. It is anti-Western, anti-American, and antisemitic to its core. It would be easy to dismiss these people as ideological quacks—if it were not for their outsized role in US educational institutions.

By “decolonization,” they don’t mean a colonial power extricating itself from a former colony; they mean the process of freeing institutions and spheres of activity from the cultural or social influences of what they perceive as the dominant white Western class. One early leader of the liberated ethnic studies movement, R. Tolteka Cuauhtin, has denounced the United States as a “Eurocentric, white supremacist, capitalist, patriarchal, hetero-patriarchal, and anthropocentric paradigm brought from Europe.” Influenced by decades of anti-Zionist Soviet propaganda, the decolonizers reserve special ire for the “settler-colonial state” of Israel, and call for the “liberation of Palestine,” by which they mean the displacement of the interloper Jews from their homeland. Witnessing the decolonisers’ zeal for obliterating the Jewish state, political scientist Wilfred Reilly quipped, “De-colonization is just ethnic cleansing, but woke.”

Those of us fighting the decolonizers have a golden opportunity to discredit them and undercut their influence in the days ahead. In their rationalizations of violence against Jews and Israelis, they’ve outed themselves as the extremists they are. School superintendents who might have seen them as credible educational partners in the new “diversity” initiatives will now have a hard time justifying their role to school boards and community members.

Then there’s the reformist, DEI camp, populated by people who have been deeply influenced by the same forms of neo-Manichaean postmodern thought, but who seek not to overthrow the capitalist system, but to reshuffle the deck of power. Unlike the decolonisers, their antisemitism tends to be latent. They insist that Jews are white, place them in white racial “affinity groups” and frequently downplay the validity of antisemitic claims as distractions from the important task of combating anti-blackness. They include mealy-mouthed university presidents and school superintendents, who see Muslims as a marginalized community and thus susceptible to “harm,” whereas Jews are a privileged minority and thus immune from such harm. These administrators are often held captive by the commitments and hires they made in the summer of 2020 during the great American racial reckoning. Some of them see Western cultural norms, such as being on time to work, as forms of white supremacy. They issue endless statements about racial justice and rightly condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but they found themselves tongue-tied when Israelis were victims of a slaughter, and their Jewish students were in obvious pain. Suddenly, they rediscovered the merits of academic neutrality and free speech. They, too, stand to lose cultural clout in the intensifying anti-woke backlash.

Two and a half years ago, I left my job as CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), the prestigious 75-year-old umbrella body of national and local Jewish advocacy organizations across the US. As a liberal lefty myself, I worried that a radical, illiberal ideology was gaining ground in my own ideological backyard, a phenomenon I first wrote about more than twenty years ago, in a 2003 article for Washington Jewish Week entitled “Consistent Moral Message Missing.” In the wake of the George Floyd murder, I watched with dismay as Jewish organizations in my field fell in line with anti-racist pieties, desperate to remain aligned with their civil rights partners, many of whom had long ditched their liberal principles. While still employed at the JCPA, I wrote articles for Areo Magazine and other publications, expressing my concern. As soon as my departure was official, I wrote a widely circulated article “My Cheshbon Hanefesh (accounting of the soul in Hebrew) for Cowardice in the Face of Wokeness,” which sparked much debate in the Jewish community.

In May 2021, I founded the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values to fight for viewpoint diversity and against the encroachment of radical social justice ideology in the Jewish world. That very month fighting broke out in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, and some of the responses to that conflict foretold our current reality. Media coverage of the ongoing conflict since it first broke out in June 2008, and of each subsequent conflict—in December 2008, November 2012, June 2014, and May 2018, and right up until May 2021—unfolded in a predictable pattern. The stories and editorials first acknowledged that Israel must have leeway to defend itself against Hamas rocket fire aimed at Israeli civilians. Then, as casualties mounted, the coverage turned against Israel, and, within a few days, the same outlets lambasted the Jewish state for using “disproportionate force.” In May 2021—when the last round occurred—Israel was not given the usual benefit of the doubt. In even the earliest stages of the conflict, Israel was demonized as the oppressor in some quarters. “If you've been paying attention to social media over the past week, you will have seen this same attempt to redefine the Israeli–Palestinian conflict as a racial power dynamic, casting Israel as infinitely powerful and Palestinians as completely without agency,” Batya Ungar-Sargon pointed out in a Newsweek editorial. I knew then that the fight against wokeness was not just about preserving free thought, but about combating a variant of antisemitism that grows out of the same ideological conditions that stifle free thought.

I have never been entirely at ease making the case for the growth of “woke antisemitism” in liberal humanist circles. Liberal humanists like me are highly suspicious of promiscuous accusations of racism and bigotry, and oppose dogmatic declarations that only marginalized groups with “lived experience” of oppression are entitled to an opinion on social issues. Such political attitudes are the essence of cancel culture. Yet here I was arguing that the very ideology that produced cancel culture also fueled a new variant of antisemitism that sees Jews as white and privileged. In highlighting the threat of antisemitism, I was concerned that I might be engaging in the same tactics as the people I critique.

From the outset, however, I made it clear that I didn’t regard my analysis of antisemitism as beyond scrutiny. I reject the now oft-repeated claim among some Jews, who, echoing the assertions of minority political activists in other communities, argue that only Jews get to define antisemitism. I sought to discuss antisemitism in liberal, not postmodern terms, encouraging multiple viewpoints about the extent and nature of contemporary Jew hatred. But in the eyes of some fellow liberal humanists, I was still partaking in the identity politics of the day.

Now, in the aftermath of the massacre, I sense a shift. Awakened by the outpouring of Jew hatred in the wake of the massacre in Israel, many liberal humanist friends have expressed their shock. This magazine’s editor-in-chief Claire Lehmann has stated, “I don't think I ever really understood anti-Semitism until now. And it is frightening.” Skeptic Magazine editor Michael Shermer was exasperated by the hypocrisy of many:

When I left my perch at JCPA, I was immediately regarded as a heretic by a number of former colleagues. Some actively tried to prevent me from giving speeches about the topic in their Jewish communities. But, on this front, too, I sense movement. This past week, I received a surprise email from one of my chief antagonists on Twitter, Paul Hackner, a South African-born Jewish leftist who earlier excoriated me for using the term “woke” which, he insisted, “is about compassion and awareness AND you weaponized to express a fragile need to be comfortable when addressing racism.” After the massacre, he told me: “It's clear there is a revanchist left in North America that is allying with Hamas. The firestorm of hatred is raging. Hamas is a death cult. Sad to say you were right. Thanks for engaging with me. It helped me find moral clarity.”

Even among Israel’s most ardent Jewish critics, such as Joshua Leifer, a leftist writer and editor for Dissent Magazine, there’s indignation about moral callousness on the left. “There's also a deep sense that the left abroad has lost the values it was supposed to stand for,” he has stated:

I thought we were leftists because we wanted a world without war, torture, the killing of families and children in their beds I thought we were leftists because we abhor cruelty, detest violence, and believe in the inherent, even divine, worth of all human life. I thought we were leftists because our struggle was for all people to be able to live with freedom and dignity.

Leifer’s discontent might portend greater willingness among American Jews to take on their own political camp.

A local Jewish advocacy organization in my area, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington (JCRCGW), tore into the area school superintendent who originally failed to issue a statement of support for Israel and the Jewish community and later released only a tepid one. Much to my chagrin, the JCRCGW had previously actively participated in the school system’s yearlong “anti-racism audit” and subsequent implementation of DEI training and pedagogy. But when their partnership on anti-racism failed to elicit support for Jewish students in the schools in their time of need, the normally restrained JCRCGW lashed out:

We reserve our greatest anger and disappointment for Montgomery County Public Schools … [which has] consistently ignored our agencies’ urgent appeals over the last three days to respond appropriately and sensitively … if our schools can’t call out the brutal murder of Jews right before our eyes, of what use is the Holocaust education and cultural competency that we have worked together to advance?

I believe that this dogmatic version of “cultural competence,” which rigidly ties identity to privilege or oppression, is the source of the school system’s indifference to Jewish life in the first place. But given recent events, it seems unimaginable that mainstream Jewish leaders will continue to deny or ignore the role of ideology in the callousness toward the murder of Jews and the disregard for Jewish concerns. I, for one, will do everything in my power to place the topic on their agenda.

What could really turn the tide is if Jewish donors and trustees at major universities finally use the power of the purse. Marc Rowan, the chief executive officer of Apollo Global Management and the chair of the Board of Overseers of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, has taken his own university to task. “While Hamas terrorists were slaughtering Israeli Jews, university administrators were figuring out how to spin it,” he writes in The Free Press:

The responsibility also rests with many of our alumni leaders and trustees, myself included, who have sat by quietly as the pursuit of truth—the ostensible mission of our elite institutions—was traded for a poorly organized pursuit of social justice and political correctness.

“It’s long past time,” he argues, “for donors to take notice.”

It’s long past time for all of us to take notice. Let us hope that the horrors of the moment will not only be a turning point in the battle against antisemitism, but in the larger fight against radicalism and illiberalism in the West.

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This was the world's easiest moral question: celebrate or condemn far-right religious terrorists who dismembered babies alive? And they got the answer wrong.

Atheists who defend Hamas lose the right to criticize the god of the bible.

Exodus 12:29-30

And it came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

Numbers 31:17-19

Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves. And do ye abide without the camp seven days: whosoever hath killed any person, and whosoever hath touched any slain, purify both yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day.

Psalm 137:8-9

O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.

What bible-god did is what Hamas did. You don't get to criticize the morality of bible-god while defending a terrorist organization that did the same kind of thing.