#anyway if you wanted proof that unfollowing and blocking people works

[writingpuddle]

thats why it frustrates me when ppl shit on the upperclassmen for calling Andrew a monster. they're wrong, yes. it's dehumanising, yes. but you know what else? violence is dehumanising. drugging people is dehumanising. provoking someone's addiction is dehumanising. "they don't treat him with basic dignity." okay, you show me all the times Andrew treated them with dignity, and I'll show you the exact same amount of times they treated him with dignity.

im with you there anon but im also sort of revelling in this moment, because i know @blogaboutyafavbirdboys has received asks implying that this debate has triggered some responses elsewhere on tumblr and i just want to say thanks to everyone i follow for being chill and not putting all that discourse on my dash. its so easy to go full blorbo-protection mode when someone says something negative about your fave (lord knows i am protective enough about neil) but with a book as morally messy as aftg im glad most people i follow are happy to actually discuss different characters shit-headedness instead of getting defensive.

because youre exactly right! its dehumanizing to call someone a monster. its also massively more dehumanizing to rob them of their bodily autonomy by drugging and interrogating them. there is actually a sliding scale of badness here and andrew is not on the right side of it. when kevin was around you can half-justify it by saying he was under threat from a mafia prince, but he drugged dan back when it was just the cousins, no kevin in sight--ie. the stakes were much lower. his trauma taught him to hit first and hit hardest so that nobody could ever hurt him again. it was a trauma response. it was also a shitty response.

expecting the foxes to respond with total magnanimity and understanding of andrews trauma responses when they are directly hurting them but not expecting andrew to even scale his behaviour to the actual threat posed is a weird double standard to hold. there is a difference between being rude and physically hurting people. even if the other foxes were saints (which i am not pretending they were), they would probably not have been pal-ing it up with him after how he treated them. (he also had no interest in spending time with them, so they wouldnt really have been able to anyway, but thats beside the point).

it would be nice if the upperclassmen apologized to andrew for the way they talked about him. but it would also be nice if he apologized to them for drugging/threatening/punching them. and its sometimes odd to me when people get overly fixated on the first without acknowledging the fact that the second is...probably not going to happen at all. the upperclassmen wont get an apology out of andrew. he doesnt believe in regret, and neil didnt get (or expect!) an apology for getting drugged himself. and andrew cares a hell of a lot more about neil than he does about the upperclassmen.

also. it would be a pretty boring story if they all responded by sweetly asking him if he wanted to talk about his feelings. so. upperclassmen are allowed to be kind of rude. as a treat.

[mimikooandbts]

You do know that the Protect Jk and V account for which you have so kindly provided a link to is a vile jm anti and has said disgusting shit about him? Ironic that you linked an account that is a Jimin anti in your post to report other antis??? On par for an OT7 to not have Jimin antis blocked. That tells me all I need to know what kind of an OT7 you are. And gtfoh with the bs of reporting Jimin antis in silence. I give a shit what jikookers are saying. They are a deranged breed just like Taekookers. I pray for the day when I don’t see any jikooker in jimin tag.

Jimin report accounts have made multiple tweets about blocking that Protect account but I guess it is asking too much of an “OT7” to block Jimin antis. Free Jimin from such ppl who want to prove their OT7ism and can’t even be bothered to post about all the hate Jimin gets because they are in “report gc” for him and “reporting in silence”. I just have to laugh at that.

And I hope you report all the people on quotes of that report account tweet because 100% it will be filled with ppl calling Jimin animal names.

Anon,

First you're a solo, so a big FUCK YOU cause you guys are the ones creating the whole mess.

Those solos report accounts that you're talking so big about are literally solos!! Other members' haters. I keep myself away from member's focus accounts cause they're usually diet or solos. But whenever it falls on my tl, I DO ALWAYS report nomatter which member it is for.

I was a big follower of that JM report account but I unfollowed cause that account was literally following accounts shading other members and spreading solos narratives.

Do you know how many of BTS big accounts get called antis each day? Just not long ago, a BTS report account was called Tae anti. So you want me to shake cause you said so? Do you think I'm stupid? That thing doesn't work with me. No group of solos has ever scared me and will never ever!! Do you think I care about you? What you have to say? Y'all solos keep bullying our group fanbases to run away with all your bullshits. I DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOU! In fact, I hate and despise you all. With everything you do daily, all the hate I see you all spread around, you expect me to even listen to you?

SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH! Next time, when you have accusations to make, come with proof and act civil and respectful. Or else don't even think of coming to my blog. You solos are not welcomed anyway!

[thdramas2]

please don't post off anon if it doesn't work. Hi I don't know if this blog is active but I need advice. I had an irl friendship that ended in a big blowup, friend group altering blow up that had ended in many people leaving said person(due to their behavior and being homophobic to me in a way that hurt most of our shared friends). We had shared friends online and I chose to kept the situation in real life (ie never told them about it) but one by one they unadded me on other places and I blocked them on th because I didn't want them seeing my account even though they never unfollowed me there. I've been silent because I have no real proof to a lot of the stuff since it happened irl but shit keeps happening, one of my friends even told me they think there's a character based off of my sonas created by said ex friend. You see I have no real issue with people viewing my account, I could care less if someone views my account not signed in if I have them blocked because they still can't see sensitive stuff. Recently though one of the peoples partners accidentally favorited an oc of mine(accident because they removed it but I still got the notif) and that has me more paranoid than I have been. Me and the partner had never interacted before, I knew of them but I didn't know their th until then and we have no shared interests. I have a small account anyways so I know they didn't find me through anything, I don't use tags really, don't own anything by any popular creators and the oc wasn't a recent one at the time. I do not want these people contacting me or having an avenue to contact me, I don't care if they see my public work but bypassing the block to see anything more sensitive makes me think they're looking for something for some reason. I can't go to these people and tell them to leave me alone without possibly getting harassed. I don't want to entirely lock down my account for several reasons and I feel like I shouldn't have to, I want to be able to exist and participate on toyhouse without this worry. I also worry this is a small glimpse into some big things they're doing in private, I know there was a server they were all in together. What do I do?

Hm, I'm unsure. I would say it'd be best to IP block the accounts along with that partners account. I would suggest turning on guest block as well if you don't want to go into full lockdown or at least put all your OCs onto log-in only.

[shinakazami1]

⭐ HEYY. OK SO I am like terrified of reaching out to people directly but I genuinely wanted to say I'm so sorry for not speaking out against the drama while it was happening. I wasn't sure what to make of anything and I didn't want to believe it because you're one of the. sweetest people I've ever interacted with??

Nothing can really mend or fix what happened and how it affected you but I'm so, so sorry it happened in the first place. You didn't deserve the mistreatment it sent your way, nor the stress it put on your shoulders.

You MIGHT be able to tell who this is cause I am!! Terrible at hiding my writing style.

Anyway, you're a wonderful person, Shina. You deserve nothing but the best and I really do hope you take care of yourself.

Yeah, you did use your signature style so it was quite easy to tell but I don't still disclose your identity.

Thank you for reaching out and for your words but I don't think I have it in me to forgive you deciding to stay silent. I get why you did it but I still don't think I'll ever be able to trust you like I used to.

The next part isn't exactly directed to you but I'll use this opportunity to share a bit more with others. I know that this will never reach the ones I wish it would but - I want to get it out of my mind.

For context: during this past month I've been slowly gaining follows or been unblocked by folks who did block me during the fandom drama. And I really don't know what folks expect from me in such circumstance. Just act like nothing happened? Be happy that they decided to come back, when in the moment of need they decided to go off rumours or stay silent?

I wish that more folks would have contacted me directly. For those who actually did it, who waited for my response, asked for proof and esp those who stood up for me and supported me, I thank you all greatly.

However - the overall silence was defeaning. The fact most folks reach out because I did it first makes me sad.

But don't be like folks who decided to come to me, saying they unfollowed because they're 'scared of their fanbase'. This is a fandom - this is a place for possible friends, people you enjoy something with. If you care that much about a number... I don't know what to tell you.

Or ones that lied straight in my face, saying they had nothing bad to say about me just because they thought I didn't see the words. I don't need more lies, especially from folks that accused me of things 'just because they wanted to make themselves feel better'. That's where you should have stayed silent, in my opinion.

For most of folks - this is finished, this is in the past. But not for me. There are threads yet not discussed that will probably never be shown in the public. There are many questions left forever unanswered. There is my work, a joke fanfic draft, Filk, that was made into a grotesque copy, with incorrect quotes and an interpretation only based on some past experience, when everybody who actually read the draft know it was never what it was told to be.

I'll still feel anger and sadness. I can't look at a big chunk of the TSP fandom anymore, feeling uncomfortable with how easy it is for folks to judge without any proof. I really want to enjoy The Stanley Parable again and while I do to lesser extent, seeing how I don't know who to trust in the fandom really makes it hard.

But once again - I am also grateful and happy for those who actually cared. Or at least those who asked to see actual proof. Because I really dislike how often I see people throwing rocks at others with only rumours, especially on Twitter.

While I am glad you in particular reached out, getting apologies only after I only show a glimpse of how this had affected me does make me sad. But still - thanks, to some extend.

Take care.

[skyler10fic]

yeah, I have been there. It is exhausting having to be this person. Either you're making enemies OR you're creating work for yourself. Here's what helped me:

Does it ACTUALLY matter that this particular person hears this right now from me specifically? Probably not. If your random coworker you interact with once a month believes something dumb about politics or science or something, that probably doesn't actually affect your job. If it does, yes, kindly keep saying something. Like "Hm I don't see it that way." or "I've heard the opposite." and escalate to your manager or HR if they are being an ass or a stalker about it. If it's someone on social media, would they even notice or care if you blocked them or unfollow or mute? If it's a parent you need something from, is it important enough to derail them from what you actually need to talk about? Most likely this is not worth wasting your energy on. (A deeper subpart of this is asking why it matters to YOU to be right or to correct them. Personally, I've unearthed a lot of childhood shit in therapy that was a giant lightbulb on the eldest daughter/Type A/achiever/compulsive teacher/being useful pipeline that has helped me unlearn this. Cannot recommend therapy highly enough. Get thee to a good one. ACT in particular helps with this more than CBT.)

2. Do you want to spend the rest of your day on this? Your time is limited. Wrong people tend to demand sources, research, all the vetting they didn't do before they spoke. But you corrected them, so the burden of proof is now on you in the conversational dynamics. They can "hear it from a good source" (aka a Facebook meme or propaganda masquerading as "news"), but even if you have a peer-reviewed study or a direct quote from an expert, they will still say they are skeptical and don't believe it, and they don't know why you're "attacking" them anyway. They may then badger you for the rest of the day or longer with what we call "sea lion" replies. Or, worse, sic the masses on you. There are certain types of people on the internet I never correct because any critique is automatically a dog whistle for their loyal followers to come defend them with viciousness. Instead, I play this West Wing GIF in my head over and over until I find something else for my attention span to latch on to. hahaha

3. Do you understand the vibe, honor/shame undercurrents, and power dynamics of this situation? There are a lot of complex social needs underlying correcting someone. You may have heard of the compliment sandwich (buffering critique with two compliments on either side). You may have received correction yourself that made you think "excuse me, who do you think you are?" or "you do not have the authority to talk to me that way" or "that's cute, I was there, honey." Or, as I often wish I could have on a T-shirt: "I know what I'm fucking talking about." (As a woman, this one is particularly frequent.) Even if I'm in the wrong about the fact, what I'm now focused on is the audacity and salvaging the ripples of social repercussions, especially if there was an audience, and trying to manage any pile-ons from any direction from bystanders. It's often not about the information at ALL but actually about how someone feels surrounding the circumstances and interpersonal relationship they have with you.

If you don't know how to give them an "out" or "save face" in the situation, you might be walking into more of a minefield than you bargained for. Phrases like "This is a really common stat, but here's what they were actually measuring with that" or "True, though in this context, I'd say ...." or "I see how you got there and I was right there with you, but here's what I'm learning recently. I had no idea! Grateful someone pointed it out to me. I'd heard it the same as you did originally!" Empathy helps someone hear you, which is more important than being right if your goal is being an effective communicator and not a trivia show contestant.

4. Do you actually know this person? If not, is there a reason you care what this EXACT person thinks? There is a great comic I remember to poke fun at myself when I get too worked up about randoms on the internet:

I can get VERY upset (yesterday I sort of spun out and every tweet and FB post and Insta story and more hit me wrong), but remembering this "Someone is WRONG on the internet!" helps me laugh at myself a bit and remember to take things less seriously. Of course people are wrong here. Anyone can say whatever they want.

This is another favorite to normalize and universalize the feeling. I neeeeed to correct them, I neeeeed to show them clips of Charlie Brown! No, I need to do literally anything else with my one wild and precious life, my limited time on this earth, anything besides argue with (maybe even AI bot) trolls on the internet, especially since many parts of social media are monetized and the greater attention someone gets, even if it's critical, boosts their profits, brand, and/or platform reach. Whether it's someone irl you're not going to see often, if ever again, or someone online who wouldn't recognize you if you DID see them irl, you can think like Elsa and let it go. You have people in your life who matter, and this random is not one of them.

5. Are you emotionally invested in this? Stop and listen to your body. Do you feel anxious? Is your heart rate faster, throat tighter, muscles or jaw tightening? Do you feel a sense of urgency and a flood of adrenaline that makes you feel more activated, even in a sad, angry, or grieving way? Take a breath. The person you are tempted to correct might not even have a stake in this. They might not have given it much thought at all. They might not even remember they said it tomorrow. What is, and very well may be, for you a vital issue may just be an offhand remark to them or a "thought exercise" or some passing thought, but by challenging them in a public way or in front of others, they are now on the defensive in a shame dynamic, receiving your full blast of emotional reaction, even if you are trying to be patient and measured in your words. Instead of saying "oh my goodness, I'm so sorry, I had no idea," most people will dig in deeper, sea lion, or match your emotional reaction instinctively without understanding why you're both upset now.

6. The other side of this is the opposite. Are you correcting someone on something they have a HIGH emotional investment in but for you is just a fact? Maybe a neighbor thinks her recently departed dog came back as an angel to visit her and you happen to know it was just the wind. Maybe someone thinks they healed their own cancer with prayer, and you're a doctor who knows it was statistically likely it was a misdiagnosis. Maybe your coworker looooves a celebrity you know is a problematic person. Maybe a stranger in a Facebook group posts about their hometown with several right-wing talking points you're fairly sure are propaganda, but you've never been there. There's a good chance, that whoever it is IS genuinely wrong. And sometimes these beliefs are very dangerous at a mass level. But there's value in knowing when heads are talking to you versus when hearts are having emotions AT you.

And at the end of the day, you'll save yourself a lot of wasted time, energy, emotional bandwidth, and bad blood if you understand the social subtext and leave it alone.

But then there are times when you will answer these questions and say, actually yes, this is worth my investment, I know how to approach this particular person, I have built up trust and know they respect my opinions and knowledge, I can empathize and hold space for what they really need emotionally beyond facts and logic, etc. and it's wise to say something. They really seem open and might not know.

OR you're not afraid to burn a bridge with them for the greater good of standing up for someone else watching or as an act of allyship when nothing else will do. It may be time to set a boundary that not only protects yourself but someone else, perhaps. Saying firmly and respectfully, no, we don't talk like that here. No, that is not true, and I'm not going to debate you on this. No, I can provide resources for you to learn more if you are truly curious, but you cannot raise your voice at me and I'm done answering questions on this. Especially if it's come up before, you can correct and give an explanation or support, and then say you urge them to do further reading, but you won't be engaging further.

Anyway, I hope something in here is helpful. In the end, we have to do a lot of mindful breathing exercises (okay okay DEEP SIGHS, whatever you want to call it) and just smile and move along with our day because we know our worth, we know what matters, and we know how to discern when the time is right. Good luck out there!

How do I let people be wrong? I'm a bit of a know-it-all and focus on details way too much, whenever someone shows a sign of not knowing or understanding something, I immediately correct them or explain it to them. My intention is to help them, but then I realize they're annoyed or embarrassed and I should've said nothing.

-

[boy-above]

alrightttt so i'm in a very odd position right now where i have no idea what to do, i recently (as in like, day before yesterday) got an anonymous ask saying a mutual of mine is a predator, and i guess i wanted to talk about that a little?? they're not my mutual anymore as i unfollowed them after receiving this information, but i'm in an odd scenario where the anon didn't give me any kind of proof or information on it. i'm very inclined to believe victims of course, but in these situations of course you'd like some evidence to go off so we aren't out here condemning people based on blind accusations. which is why i'm not giving this person's url away as i wouldn't feel comfortable doing so, as well as me just being afraid of any kind of confrontation lol. it's a very odd feeling because i've been mutuals with this person since at least 2016 so i've known them a very long time, although we were never super close or anything. they commissioned me pretty regularly over the years and were honestly a big source of my (minuscule) income lmao. if the accusations are true, i feel very icky having interacted with this person over so many years, especially given i myself am a csa victim. i really wish i could have more information about it because i have so little to go off, and searching their url does little to help me because they were changing their url Constantly, which in hindsight could be viewed as suspicious at least in my opinion. there was a lot of url, icon, name and pronoun changes as well as fandom changes over a short amount of time so it's hard to keep track of this person, i've realized.

anyway i just want to state that if you do happen to know who this person is, i don't wish to be associated with them anymore and had no knowledge of suspicious behavior or anything of the sort. i will feel guilty if it turns out they're innocent, but i've blocked them and either deleted or privated all the art i've done for them in the past (at least i think i got all of it, hopefully there's none hiding from me.) i don't wish to be associated with a situation like this and im very afraid of confrontation, i just thought i should say something because i've done a lot of commission work for them over the years and i just want to make it clear that i have little affiliation with them beyond drawing for them occasionally. i've always thought of them as a bit of an oddball but chocked it up to their specific brand of autism not meshing with mine very well, i thought they were harmless, although there were some moments they did make me uncomfortable. anyway peace guys, i've never had to do something like this before, hope you have a great week and i love you.

[blockofbones]

are you saying people on tumblr are being entitled or dream is? i'm just curious about your thoughts on this because everything i've seen you say so far about the whole situation has been so vastly different from the rest of my dash <- not neg

I'm saying tumblr is entitled.

Warning, most will likely just want to unfollow rather than read, because like anon is saying, I do not have the reaction of most of tumblr right now. If the manatreed situation is in anyway upsetting or triggering, I honestly ask that you do what you need to to maintain your mental health, even if its unfollowing or blocking me.

It's been extremely disappointing. Innocent until proven guilty is suddenly guilty until proven innocent.

Trust me bro is a valid source in accusations but not in denying them. The OP essentially said 'okay so the actual proof is behind this stuff I blocked out but trust me it links to them and trust these gaps in logic I fill in for you. Pay no attention to dates that make no sense'.

The onus has always, always been on the accuser in cases except now. The accuser that, reminder, doxxed a victim for malicious reasons.

People are admitting they can't trust sources in the same exact breath they say that Dream is awful and it looks bad and the evidence is 'mounting against him'. You don't even have to visit that hell site to easily see how much of it makes no sense, doesn't match up, and is entirely built on a previous doxx that both Dream and the actual doxxed person denied.

People got more upset at Dream using the word gullible - which people absolutely ARE - than the actual allegations or the accuser doxxing a victim. Somehow Dream is the big villain in all of this, which is baffling. Because he didn't react how certain people want him to, he's suddenly irredeemable. His fucking sister was doxxed so he deleted his private, and people here immediately were tagging how disappointed in him they were, and then how awful it was to go on stream. A stream that, like it or not likely WAS planned, and with his best friend who we know he finds comforting. The man said he was afraid, likely did what he needed to for his own mental health, but because it wasn't some random on the internet's interpretation of the 'right response', it was wrong. I would love to see how these people, anonymous and behind a screen, would react to millions of people watching their every move and judging, being confronted with yet another accusation, with everyone always finding the worst possible interpretation of their actions. And another accusation that hits so close to him for him, to boot. Hindsight is such a benefit.

He legitimately cannot satisfy the angry fans without doxxing himself. His options are doxx himself to prove his innocence, or not say anything and be presumed guilty. Both of those are shit choices in a situation where people keep saying to believe the victim, but this statement doesn't apply. The victim did not make an accusation, was not involved, did not ASK to be involved, and they are railroaded another victim at the same time.

Lastly: everyone talks about how Dream should get legal council, and then that flies out the window as a possibility in a situation which honestly would be the most likely incident for him to do so. His family is legitimately in danger from doxxing. And if he did seek counsel? He would not speak a single thing about this manner. It would be detrimental to his case and risk his council dropping him. So much would be ruined by a single word. Instead, if he sought legal help? They would tell him to shut up about the situation while they worked it out, and lead his life.

And if he hasn't been silenced by a lawyer, it could also be that they are working out how best to prove their innocence without completely doxxing themselves, and I'm sorry, but it is valid to take longer than 24 hours. You don't have to like that he streamed, it can upset you and that's valid, but I wish people would stop acting as the moral authority.

And to be very fucking clear: do not even attempt to come at me in one of those 'you cant speak if you arent a victim' accusations. I am literally the ever-lasting result of an abusive relationship.

[nangbaby]

I chose to write my post the way I did for a reason.

I try not to screenshot anyone's blog posts unless I've been blocked by them and usually I'll even give credit and link to the original post. I want to talk to people directly. Plus, if you had been of the mind to block as a result of a mention, putting up a screenshot would make it look like I'm stalking you, and people would use the screenshot as proof that I couldn't stay off your blog. At least if I sent a link, a person could verify the link without having visual evidence, and there's no issue for those who would need help reading the screenshot. Text is more accessible.

In your case, you were receptive enough to respond. As mentioned, many people on Tumblr block for any reason. On Tumblr, just saying "hi" is enough to get blocked.

Blocking someone wouldn't be about another person if it didn't affect the blocked person's experience. For instance, if someone blocked me to make my posts disappear from their dash, but I could still reblog their posts to others, then blocking would only affect the person doing the blocking. (By the way, long ago, Tumblr's block did work like that and I wish it still worked like that.) Instead blocking not only renders the blocked party from being able to reblog any posts from the blocking user - even ones that find their way onto the blocked person's dashboard - but it makes the blocked person's posts retroactively disappear. Not only am I not able to react to the posts of mutuals because of these blocks, I have entire entries on my blog that are deleted because someone blocked me.

As someone who has been a subject of many harassment campaigns, a very popular tactic is to mass-block an account, have the blocking tumblr blog into Tumblr-only mode, then spread lies about the party in accounts where the blocked party can't see so they can't report the initial post. (This is precisely what asterosian did.)

Plus, I also find it disturbing that people want the Internet to be safe. As much as I disagree with proshippers, I agree the Internet should not be safe and I don't believe there should be tools to make it safe. I just saw unwanted porn today. Did I report it or block it? Nope. There's a back button. I click it. Done. I don't send hate the person to the person running the blog hate for not tagging unwanted porn, and I don't try to get the blog taken down.

I can't imagine blocking anyone on sight, even if they are objectionable, unless I already had history with them. As someone who is marginalized, there is too much racism, sexism, ableism, and other bigotry going around to block someone just for those unfavorable traits. It's also easy for someone to paint you as a TERF or a bigot or whetever because they don't like what you say. Unless someone is in a position of personal power, there's no point in erasing their presence. And if someone is in a position of personal power, blocking won't help because other people will still support them anyway. Ideally you would be able to argue with them with neither party being able to block the other; this would allow people to speak their mind as well as to be seen.

I don't believe in forced folllowing, and I firmly believe that if someone is being objectionable, it is great to unfollow them. That is determining that a person is worth your time. But blocking them is an imposition on their actions and not your own, and that's why it's not usually a setting of boundaries, but a punishment. It puts a restriction on someone else in the name of your safety, instead of you taking responsibility by taking the opportunity to retreat.

After all, if you block someone, they still have to see your posts on other people's dashes, and there's no way for me to block the user back automatically, so I'm still subjected to their posts that I don't even know I can't interact with. And that is directly damaging to mental health, to not only be able to user a collaborative site because of someone else's individual whim.

So blocking a person makes the block a problem for everyone involved in any post the blocked person. If you're a nobody like me, it doesn't matter who I block, because nearly no one looks at my posts anyway, and thus my words have no reach. But if hundreds and thousands of people interact with your posts, your block is disproportionately negatively affecting the experience of other people in a way that they cannot reciprocate.

If only there were a way to make the sting mutually hurtful in a sting of true empathy. Then, maybe I'd love them for it. Love is shared pain.

Dear @surveillant-of-the-seventh-seal

You wrote a post I enjoyed. I wanted to like it and reblog it, but the original blogger blocked me so I couldn't like or reblog your post.

So I wanted to publicly thank you for writing your reply. And shame the OP of that post (renthony) for trying to prevent me from supporting you.

[greymattermaelstrom]

What she said

This has been a difficult post to prepare. After much thought, I wish to share some very interesting information. Some know from my recent post, I went to Ozlander in Melbourne, Australia on March 14 & 15, 2020, and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Richard and Sophie. As a premium ticket holder, I enjoyed lunch with them on both days. They would individually spend 5 minutes or so at each table and rotate through the tables to meet the fans. At the event introduction on Day One, we were asked to respect Richard and Sophie by not asking questions of a personal nature, which naturally, everyone understood. Therefore, I wasn’t going to ask anything about Sam, Cait, or even Tony. So, I was more than surprised when Sophie briefly mentioned Cait’s wedding!

  Sophie visited our table and we talked about a number of things. It was Sophie’s first trip to Australia; Caitriona had been here and had told Sophie how nice it was. Someone asked Sophie, 'You went to Caitriona’s wedding, didn’t you?'

  'Yeah, Caitriona’s husband is a lovely guy.' (Did she just say that, I thought?)

  I asked Sophie, 'You and Sam were the only cast members that went?'

  And she replied, 'No, Tobias was there as well.' Interesting.

  Sophie then added she took the photo of Sam in the Dunhill suit (remarkable weekend).

  'The background had to be photoshopped as we couldn’t give away the location. It got onto social media and Caitriona wasn’t that pleased about it,' Sophie said a little ruefully. (Sam had posted the photo on IG. The right-side background looks very photoshopped.)

  During a photo session on Day Two, I asked Sophie, 'Did Caitriona marry Tony?' with the emphasis on the word Tony.

 'Yeah,' she said with a smile.

 'Really?' I asked.

 'Yes. Really,' Sophie said.

 Then I said, 'Well she doesn’t say his name and hasn’t released any photos so...'

 'I don’t know...,' Sophie said pleasantly enough. Wow!! Being so busy and so involved with OL for so long, I don’t think she fully appreciated how all the Tait secrecy is being perceived in the fandom.

Okay, a photo or some sort of evidence or it didn't happen. This info from Sophie was really unexpected. What sort of proof would be acceptable and not immediately suspected anyway? Nevertheless, I believe I have the evidence I need to satisfy myself. Someone else who was at the same Day One table, has confirmed to me in writing (I contacted her a week or so after the event) she heard Sophie say all this as well. I don’t think my acquaintance follows the ins and outs of the SC/Tait drama. I don’t think most of the people at Ozlander did from conversations I had and the general talk I heard. So, my witness doesn’t have a vested interest in The Narrative and, I believe, just gave a purely objective confirmation.

If I had heard Sophie say Cait married Sam, you would probably believe it, put this info in the receipt warehouse, and any evidence would be a bonus. I have been wanting truth no matter what it is. I’ll just deal with it. While it’s greatly disappointing, I do wish Cait and Sam happiness in life whomever they find it with.

I discovered OL 18 months ago and have only been active on Tumblr for 8 months. So, I am still a newb of sorts. Some might say a naïve babe in the woods with not much to lose. However, I’ve met some wonderful people on this side of the fence and I will probably lose friendships and reputation, be unfollowed and blocked, receive a lot of vitriol, be called a troll working for (fill in the blank), etc., due to this heresy. So, my info does come at a price for me. I understand I have not experienced years of surviving on this side of the fence, enduring the delusional tag and the attacks and insults from antis, NST, TPTB, Shamuso, and even some from Sam and Cait, and being thrown under the bus when convenient. I get, in principle, some shippers will close ranks and support any higher-profile shippers who don’t believe me. I anticipate this will be the response. One way to discredit information is to discredit the person presenting it, and I assume this tactic will be employed as well.

So why am I putting my head on the chopping block? Notoriety? Hardly. Well, as I said, I want intel even if it conflicts with what I hope for. I believe people can ship the way they want (within reason) and as KDS infamously said, believe what you want. I don’t wish to convince anybody, nor get into a slanging match with anyone. It would be pointless really. I feel obligated out of principle to reveal the info and not hide it no matter how controversial and inconvenient that might be. I understand some may not think it a good time in the fandom right now to deal with this but I didn’t want the info dating too much before putting it on the table. I understand and I am sorry. But is there an optimal time to hear this?

People like I, who want to know what is going on or had suspicions, and are prepared to accept this information, will welcome it. They have had enough of the mess that is happening right now in The Narrative as well. Also, I don't wish to be intimidated into keeping contrary evidence hidden just because it doesn’t suit the manifesto. And I apologise in advance to high-profile shippers who will probably be inundated with comments and asks. I accept there will be jealousy involved. Why did a newb get this intel? Believe me, I wish it didn’t happen to me; I really wish it was someone else. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

For the record, yes, I’m Australian living in Australia. I understand some people’s problem with that. Why does so much narrative controversy emanate from this place? I don’t know. I wish I knew. We often call it the lucky country (for various reasons). Do we appear have more luck than the Irish?!

However, and unfortunately, this does not provide closure for me. I accept the Tait wedding. I do have problems with the Tait marriage, sorry to say. I don’t know why games are being played. Cait still doesn’t call her husband Tony, there were no wedding or engagement photos made public, and no confirmation from her PR team when wedding articles hit the magazines. It seems like secrecy, not privacy. Why so secret? We continue to see gaslighting, innuendo, and an intentional vagueness, to keep us all engaged it seems?! And Hawaiigate is certainly a head scratcher at best.

So, in summing up, the four things I learnt about the wedding are:

1. The wedding happened.

2. Cait married Tony.

3. Tobias was there.

4. Sam posted Sophie’s remarkable Dunhill manipulated photo on IG and Cait wasn’t too happy about it.

Most shippers won’t like my saying Tait is real and most antis won’t like my saying Sam and Cait continue to play games. But that’s ok. I knew this going in. I just think it is important for the info to be put out there. I don’t wish to appear foolish, talking about a fake wedding, now that I know Cait married Tony. I think there must be other intel such as this out there. Perhaps the time is right for others to make their intel known.

I believe the four things Sophie said about the wedding. I do not have any further intel to share, nor do I have any further theories on what is happening with Sam, Cait, or Tony that haven’t been discussed on Tumblr already. With this in mind, I’m prepared to answer every constructive and civil comment I may receive on this post, including any DMs. If you wish, please look through my blog to see what I have posted. You will find it aligns with this side's thinking. You may see some names that do not. Please consider the message, not the messenger. And please, it would be appreciated if you would do some homework before making any comment. Thank you for your time in reading this long and very difficult post. I imagine, many will take some time to process it.

[soopersara]

I looooove Zutara so much. But I’m exhausted by how much the Zutara fandom focuses on salt and hate on Aang/Mai/Bryke/ATLA so much rather than celebrating Zutara, I can barely find 100% Zutara positivity blog spaces. Even in the Zutara Discord there’s never-ending activity in the salt tags. Like, I had no idea it was possible for a fandom to be so consistently angry, but that’s what a lot of Zutarians literally are like. 1/2

The Dramione fandom in contrast is never like this, Dramione shippers just love to celebrate without hating and dissing on canon events so much. Who cares about canon when we know what we love? Why spend so much energy thinking about something they hate? 2/2

I really don’t have any frame of reference for what other fandoms or ships are like. The ATLA fandom (and Zutara specifically) is the first fandom I ever joined, and it’s still my only fandom. I had to stare at your asks for a minute before I even knew where to begin, so bear with me. 

The thing is, people enjoy things in vastly different ways. While you may not enjoy analysis and criticism of the show (which is perfectly valid!), the fact that a lot of people participate in criticism doesn’t mean that they’re always angry or dedicating all of their time to things that they hate. If we genuinely didn’t like the show, we wouldn’t be here, it’s that simple. But a lot of us (myself included, at times), find it satisfying and even fun to pick apart and articulate the things that fell short for us. 

When I first watched the show, there were parts of the ending that niggled at me, and it was frustrating not being able to express what bothered me about it. It wasn’t until I spent time digging around some salty/critical blogs that I started seeing some of my problems with the show being pointed out in ways that helped me figure out how to articulate both what bothered me and the ways I wish they’d been done instead (which, incidentally, has fed into all of my fics). But I wasn’t angry about the show. I didn’t (and don’t) hate the show. It’s like I told an anon who asked if I hated Aang... oh, god, it’s been MONTHS ago now: It’s possible to like/love things and still wish that they were better. And that, for me, is where critcism of the show, characters, and relationships comes from. I love so many things about this show and its characters that I really notice the things that bother me, and I like talking about them because I care about the story, and discussing the things that could have been different has helped me improve as a writer. 

Now I’m not a mind reader, so I can’t say for sure, but I’m almost positive that the vast majority of Zutara shippers are coming from the same place. We love the show and its characters, and yet we wish that certain things could have been better. It probably looks like we’re angrier than we really are when we get into deep discussion mode, because... honestly, it would be exhausting to preface every statement with “I love _____, but I wish they’d done ______ instead.” So we don’t say that. Probably ever. Because most of us who do engage in critical/salty discussions come into the conversation with the base assumption that that’s where all the criticism comes from, and it’s easy to forget that there might be people in those spaces who don’t know that.

Of course, there are people who genuinely dislike certain characters or whatever, but of everyone I know, I can think of maybe... two? -ish? who truly hate the characters that that Zutara fandom is most critical of. That’s fine! Those people don’t have to like things just because they exist in the show! But the vast majority of us criticize because we saw potential that wasn’t realized and we want to analyze that, not because we hate the foundation of the show/character/whatever else.

I’m glad that you’ve had a positive, salt-free (or low-salt) experience in the Dramione fandom, but like I said, I’m not in any other fandoms, so I don’t have personal experience with how they work. I’ve heard from other people that there’s salt to be found in every fandom, but I’m guessing that Harry Potter is such a massive fandom that it’s easy to avoid if you don’t want to see it. The Zutara fandom is medium-ish, so there’s fewer niches to carve out within the ship itself.

That said, if you still want to cut back on the salt in your Zutara fandom experience, don’t be afraid to use the tools that social media platforms put at your disposal. If you notice someone whose posts bother you on ANY platform, it’s okay to unfollow or block them so you don’t see their stuff. On Discord, you can mute and hide any salt channels or categories that are bothering you (or depending on the server, have the whole salt role taken away completely if you’re sure you’re not going to use it). And it’s totally okay to redirect people to salt channels if they start geting off topic in other places! I do it fairly often when people start slipping into NSFW content in general channels. On Tumblr, you can filter tags (I admit that I suck at tagging reblogs because I’m LAZY, but the OPs generally tag correctly, and Tumblr’s filters use the OP’s tags too). “Anti-character/relationship”, “character/relationship salt”, and “character/relationship critical” might be good tags to start with, since those are fairly common. I wouldn’t recommend following the Zutara ship tag on Tumblr, because there’s sometimes mistagged stuff from other parts of the fandom (*cough* antis *cough*), but following a small number of blogs you do like and letting them sort your content for you is pretty nice. And... that’s probably all the advice I have, since I’m only on those two platforms. But remember that the block button is your friend and you’re fully within your rights to customize your social media experience any way you like!

...wowza, I got chatty. Anyway, I hope you’re not too discouraged by your experience in the fandom. The criticism really does come from a place of love and wanting to be able to create better fan content, and as proof, I think I’m going to squeeze in one more writing sprint before I fall asleep so I can bring more Zutara content into the world. 

Hugs, anon! I hope you can figure out how to make your time in the Zutara fandom what you want it to be.

[space-sword]

My experience trying to join BSG

After I got back from my hiatus following finals and my laptop breaking I saw a couple of my mutuals talking about an Avatar Discord server. It sounded like a cool place and since I was done with finals I thought it would be a good time for me to make some new friends and socialize so I asked them how I could join. Neither of them wrote me back. A few days later I got a DM from avatar-chang, who was not one of the mutuals I had asked. The following messages will prove how much of a cult and hive mind BSG really is.

She was suspicious of me right off the bat. I didn’t have a clue what was going on in their server and it seemed like it would be an issue for me to join so I didn’t push it. avatar-chang insisted that I must have known about it.

Every single time I’ve had a conversation with avatar-chang she’s brought up @purpleplatypusbear21 though she claims she’s not obsessed with her. She had warned me about @avatarfandompolice before but I had not heard of @dragomer. After she told me these names though it sorta clicked that this was probably the server PPB21 mentioned on her blog a few times where people were stalking and harassing her. I was intrigued.

Side note: They (obviously) allow people to talk shit about others in their server but don’t allow people to use hate speech. So does this not count as hate speech?

That was avatar-chang talking about PPB21 by the way. Anyway back to the conversation. I wanted to test a theory that avatar-chang would accept me more if she thought I was no longer friends with PPB21 so I said that I was distancing myself from her. This was half true, I hadn’t responded to PPB21′s DMs for a while, mostly because I had a lot of things to catch up on after my hiatus. As you can see avatar-chang is much more interested in me after I tell her this.

Ok I embellished a little about PPB21′s job, it’s not shady at all though she does make a ton of money (way to go!). avatar-chang thought it was shady that PPB21 said she was leaving Tumblr but still posted a whole lot even though PPB21 made it clear she was leaving at the end of May which she did. But it was then that I realized I caught avatar-chang in a major lie (I’ll explain more after the next set of screenshots). Also I think dragomer and AFP already demonstrated that BSG does in fact leave hate comments and hate anons so their rules mean nothing.

I called avatar-chang out on her lie. She told me previously that she blocked PPB21 and I know PPB21 also blocked avatar-chang. So how could avatar-chang know that PPB21 was still posting on her blog? Unless of course... she was stalking her. She tried to cover up her lie by saying other people reblog her posts but that’s not how blocking works. And avatar-chang knows this:

avatar-chang said she doesn’t see PPB21 on her dash anymore. So she’s a big fat liar and definitely guilty of stalking. Not only that but she flat out admits that some people haven’t blocked her and have been checking up on her blog. This is stalking.

There you have it. “I’m sorry but we can’t allow anyone that’s mutuals with ppb.” BSG is a hate group against PPB21 and they can’t cover that up anymore. This further shows their level of obsession with her.

Believe it or not I was gonna break mutuals with PPB21 once she left Tumblr but only because I didn’t see the point of following someone who’s inactive. avatar-chang jumped to the conclusion that PPB21 must have provoked people to send anon hate to her. Is there any proof of this? Can anyone show me a convo they’ve had with PPB21 where she provoked people to send hate? I would put money on no such convo existing. Another thing that majorly pissed me off here was avatar-chang saying: “we’ve noticed that she reaches out to every new atla blog”. When I was new to the fandom the first two people to reach out to me were bizukos and avatar-chang. PPB21 and I didn’t talk until months after I joined and she never tried to manipulate me to unfollow or stop reblogging from others. PPB21 is a supportive person by nature so she does tend to follow new blogs and reblog from them but to my knowledge she doesn’t DM them. Also why would it be so fishy for someone to reach out to new blogs? Oh that’s right because if you have the sole intention of manipulating people then it would be fishy but that’s only avatar-chang’s and her posse’s MO.

The only lie I really told during the conversation was: “Seems like an amazing group of people.” Ok so avatar-chang got back to me later with the decision that the mods did not want me in their server. “But one of our mods feels genuinely uncomfortable with the thought of someone who’s mutuals (even if you’re gonna break it) with ppb21 being in the server.” Obsessed much? Also explain to me how BSG isn’t a hate group.

Now here’s where I got angry. Now it was personal. I wasn’t allowed in because of my personal views. And here I thought BSG was a safe space for everyone.

Lies, lies, and more lies.

“This isn’t gatekeeping” my ass. And then she has the nerve to throw at me that I reblogged from PPB21 recently. Well yeah I said that I was gonna break mutuals with her when she left Tumblr but she hadn’t left at that point so why wouldn’t I reblog from her and more importantly why should it fucking matter who I reblog from? Despite my anger I thought we had ended the conversation in a civil manner. I had no intention of ever sharing this conversation especially because of this part:

However later on I had to hear from a mutual that avatar-chang removed me from her blog recs and is actively telling people not to follow me and that we’re not friends. There’s a screenshot of this but I don’t want to out this mutual. And it would be awfully hypocritical for avatar-chang to be upset with me for sharing this conversation because she’s shared DMs she’s had with PPB21 in BSG for all to read. “I need to be absolutely and 100% sure that everything I say to you will not be discussed with anyone else and won’t leave this chat, and will never ever come back to haunt me in the future.” Why would she have such fears of her words coming back to haunt her if she knew she was doing the right thing? Maybe if she didn’t stab me in the back she wouldn’t have to eat her words.

[serialxsocial-a]

✿ ❧ pour the salt on us, dani

SalTEA

✿ What do you think about public call out posts?

Alright this is something I actually have wanted to talk about before but never knew how to bring it up so here we go.

Call out posts with actual evidence, proof, and genuine terrible people doing terrible things, not some petty bullshit with no real proof besides allegations, are valid and important.

It always makes me... Hmmm. When people in their rules say they will unfollow people who ever post a call out or dont participate in call out culture and shit because... It’s important? Like I get SO MUCH call out culture tends to be... ridic. But throwing the entire thing out the window? heeesh...

Like it sucks how I’m anxious/nervous to reblog a call out post warning of a someone writing smut w minors/writing smut with minor muses in an rpc cus i dont want to loose half my following/friends and be seen as a drama instigator (which was something that was a real thing like a year or two ago - there was a call out post for someone in the rpc who has had proof of this. fortunately i think they havent been on the face of the fucking earth anymore cus i dont see them anymore.)

Like it’s important to be critical and analyze posts and make sure if it is something valid and not fabricated - but people just throwing the whole basket out the window just gives people who are actually toxic and awful to feel safe and welcomed.

Like I hate the mentality of “I don’t want to participate and hear about callout posts/drama because I want to write with whoever and not wanna worry bout them actually being a horrible person” or whatever. It’s understandable if it’s a case of “i dont wanna deal with petty drama and flimsy allegations esp cus drama makes me stressed”, I get it cus Im the same way! but so many people have the prior attitude and just are like. i dont care what you have to say even if there is proof upon proof this is rp and im gonna write with this person anyway -

Basically my tl:dr is

It’s okay to be wary and okay to not have time or care for petty drama, but when there is serious allegations with actual proof and multiple accounts it’s important to take that information and do the proper consequences for it. You don’t have to spread the post, but least block the person and if you see someone else interacting be sure to give a warning I think. Again, if it’s serious allegations such as I mentioned of child predatory behavior.

❧ Have you ever been jealous of anyone?

Okay come for me - 100 percent honesty. Yes!

I do struggle with jealousy quite a bit for... Plenty of reasons. I won’t get into my sad life story but just a lot of things in my life and how I grew up I can’t help but get jealous and anxious over things sometimes!

It’s something I’m certainly working on and it’s something I definitely do my best keeping under wraps and to myself and smothering it. I would NEVER be snippy or rude to someone JUST because I’m jealous or be smothering cus Im jealous (that is saved for my muses LMAO)

but yeah. I think everyone gets a lil jealous SOMETIMES, yk? Human nature.

My jealousy is more so always a product of me comparing myself to other people and getting sad than rlly getting mad over it. Sad girl jealousy - but as I said it’s something I’m working on and have been very better about it over time.

I will be honest, again. When I was like. High school era? My jealousy was bad. Won’t get into details but I was fucking toxic. But! I have grown and changed and ever growing too so. Yeehaw.

[sevenincubistolemyheart]

Okay everyone needs to get some things straight. If you feel triggered by Halloween or certain things regarding dark topics you can block words, phrases and tags. You are intentionally harming yourself and asking the network admins and writers participating to censor themselves for your benefit to cater to your specific trauma. 

Sorry to say; that is not going to happen. All writers are required to put all trigger warnings on a fic, in tags or at the start of the fic and I do so with every fic of mine and also give a rating and put it under a read more. And I will do the same for my Mobster Smash fic. 

I find it hysterical that you people are sending death threats and potentially triggering others just because you feel like you're entitled to have an event not be held to cater to you.  Don't want to read, write or otherwise participate? Wonderful. Leave. The. Network. Unfollow. It's a very simple concept. 

Another thing! There are rules on @ksmutclub for a reason. First off; prompts are optional and can be used to a writer's advantage and twisted in whatever way they like to fit a narrative. They spark creativity, hence why they're prompts. Just because you instantly see disgusting things like incest or pedophilia doesn't mean others do. Anyone who posts for the project which has triggers that don't adhere to the rules will not be reblogged or included by the network. This includes if they don't properly set warnings I'm sure. 

How dare you attack people under the guise of being triggered while consciously triggering others and sending death threats. Leave. We don't want y'all here and you are doing nothing but triggering others and spewing hate. You people are the real monsters and the project hasn't even started yet. 

As for minors; again there is a reason I provide ratings and trigger warnings. It's not there for show. I can't physically stop someone from reading my work obviously but I do what I can, and so does the network. If you have proof of such claims I urge you to bring it to the admins so they can act. 

Those that are sending death threats and similar hate; I hope you're proud of yourselves.

You bullied the admins into stopping the project at first. But the fellow creators in the network and readers alike all agreed to go ahead with it because we know how to put warnings on our fics.

Newsflash people; fanfiction is called fiction for a reason. People would say I'm generally a very kind, innocent person but I write explicit smut and I also like to write and read darker content. That doesn't make me a vile person and it's not up to you to dictate what I write or what kind of person I am.

If the content makes you uncomfortable; Don't. Read. 

It's very simple. 

Prompts were also under a cut. Which means every single one of you saw the event was not only Halloween based but horror themed and clicked 'Read More' and also continued reading once you saw the horrific nature of the prompts. 

Horror!!

You know; something that deals with dark concepts and is meant to scare people. These topics will be treated with respect, obviously or they aren't going to be condoned by @ksmutclub.  It's meant to be scary why do you people keep jumping to conclusions based on prompts and writings you haven't seen yet? 

Everything you've said has been hypothetical! If all you want is to read fluff fics with 0 conflict then go ahead! No-one is stopping you from searching for said fics or even writing your own! 

As someone who has written a story with incubi(sex demons) and yet I still manage to emphasize consent at every turn; you can easily twist prompts or ideas into whatever you wish. Not everything is as it seems at first glance. And it's possible to write dark topics respectfully too! 

Basically; sit down, shut up and maybe have faith in the blog you chose to follow. If someone decided to write the things you're suggesting they'd never be accepted. And the fact that you can't handle or don't want to read horror isn't my or other members of the network's problem. Don't read it if you don't like horror or can't because of the triggers stated in the warnings. It's all very simple. 

Tldr; Stop abusing my friends and the admins of the network and being hypocrites to the max about things that haven't even happened and you have no idea if it even will, in which case it would be rejected harshly anyway. Just a thought. 

Have a great day anyway and I hope @triheartedhero and @ksmutclub know that I support them and am here if they need to talk!

[helshades]

nikolai-mikhailovich:

I can't . . . I can't even read these any more XD . . . can the anons just unfollow or download New X-Kit to block 'Assange' or whatever terms they need to stay sane? Why is this discussion still running? XD  

@nikolai-mikhailovich​, I... am not entirely sure, to be frank. Mostly, I suppose the minds of intellectually-lazy people are made early and it makes them very obstinate. Somehow I suspect they already know they’re in the wrong, so they will try to guilt-trip you, or misconstrue your ideas and arguments; ultimately, though, they don’t have much to say.

Where they are more of a nuisance is that you do waste a lot of time replying to people like those, and I believe you have to reply to those people because you will always need proof at some point that you can counter-argument on such topics. At the risk of feeding the proverbial troll, bad arguments on serious subjects must be analysed, discussed and counteracted. Someone I admire once said about fascist ideas that they always seem evident at first, to those at least who won’t try to see further, which frankly is many people; the problem is, countering those simplistic ideas takes a lot of time and a lot of educating as you need to paint a whole cultural context for why, say, the numbers of immigration don’t automatically explain the numbers of unemployment. Short-sightedness usually wins because it’s short. Intelligence, literally, implies that you take the long run to link ideas together.

yourellamental:

Thank you  for posting that  Julian Assange is the most important  whistle-blower of all time.  That is TRUTH !!

@yourellamental​, thank you for the kind words!

I will add that no matter his personal faults, Mr. Assange should be given political asylum to protect him from extradition for political reasons that have nothing to do with whether we find him nice or not. Even if he were to be proven guilty of sexual misconduct (perhaps we ought to remember here that he was never accused of rape in the first place, as both women accusing him recognised that the sex was consensual; international media have reprised the term ‘rape’ but it is incorrect, perhaps gravely so, considering it does smear the name of a man who never even charged with the offences or crimes he is accused of committing, and is therefore innocent in front of the law) the facts remain that his capture by the United States would be an international tragedy impacting the very core of what the West holds true and dear concerning freedom of the press and freedom of information. Let him be heard, even tried for those alleged sexual assault charges, but let it never be a pretext to use him as an example for all journalists henceforth tempted to cross the path of superpowers that would do wrong without consequence.

nikolai-mikhailovich:

I have to say, I can fully understand - and support - victims having anonymity, but why not also people accused? I don't know enough about the case to voice an opinion, but we've had celebrities in the UK found innocent, but - during the course of the investigation - traumatised by press coverage, intrusive paparazzi, and their reputations ruined (not to mention vigilante justice). Since when was "innocent until proven guilty" something only 'bad' people believe in?                    

You know, in early phases of our dispute the darling Nonny made a spiteful comment about ‘leftists blindly supporting rapists’ and I didn’t take the time to answer at that point, but I’m going to come back to it.

‘Just saying. I don't care about the US. He needs to be extradiated to Sweden to face his rape charges. That's what a lot of UK MPs and officials want anyways.’

Followed by a disparaging remark about the very real menace Assange faces of being tortured and either getting a life sentence or being executed, threats that I am supposed to have made up, of course. I did provide context for this and the fact that several U.S. officials have been on record advocating for Julian Assange’s execution, or life-long imprisonment, and even for him to get abducted from within the embassy.

‘I don’t care about the U.S., he needs to be extradited to Sweden’. It is almost absurd to be this dense. Like The Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald noted back in 2012 when the U.K. Supreme Court rejected Assange’s last appeal: Sweden ‘has a disturbing history of lawlessly handing over suspects to the U.S.’ which has actually sent innocent asylum seekers to be tortured once extradited to America.

As for ‘what a lot of UK MPs and officials want’... Indeed. Speaking of leftists speaking up for human rights and, you know, democracy:

‘The UK government, headed by Theresa May, is gloating over Assange’s arrest, issuing statements that are clearly prejudicial to any legal proceedings. When May, speaking to parliament, declared the “whole house will welcome the news this morning that the Metropolitan police have arrested Julian Assange,” Tory MPs and many Labourites cheered in approval.

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn issued a pro-forma statement declaring that the extradition of Assange “should be opposed by the British government,” but he kept his mouth shut when May issued her denunciation before parliament and has maintained a silence on Assange during his forced asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy.

As for the United States, while the Trump administration is now leading the campaign against Assange, the Democratic Party is solidly behind his persecution, blaming Assange for contributing to the exposure of the crimes for which Hillary Clinton was justly and massively hated. One of the central aims of the Democrats’ anti-Russia campaign has been to justify the attack on WikiLeaks as part of a broader campaign for internet censorship.

Added to the list of those responsible is the pseudo-left, the organizations of the upper-middle class in the US and internationally, which seized on the initial fraudulent and trumped-up rape allegations against Assange to justify his persecution and their own cowardly abandonment of Assange to American imperialism.

For its part, the establishment media, which functions as an arm of the state, has jumped in to support the attack on Assange.’

Many people will have a disturbing tendency to support ‘human rights’ only when it applies to things they like or comprehend, and generally things that don’t shake their sense of self. They’re not interested in legal proceedings and fair justice, they want to know that if they were the ones being accused of anything, they would be protected. Meanwhile, since being accused only ever happens to other people, they know they can safely join the howling cohorts from the comfort of their home and rejoice at the idea that someone bad, who isn’t them, is being punished for something that they have not committed, or that they have, but whose consequences they have escaped scot-free.

[...] “Mr. Assange is not a free-press hero,” declares the Post. “Unlike real journalists, WikiLeaks dumped material into the public domain.” By the Post’s definition, the only “real journalists” are those who self-censor at the behest of the Pentagon.

These newspapers, which once published the Pentagon Papers, are nothing but apologists for US imperialism. One can only imagine the howls of outrage that would issue from the media if it was the Russian government that had carried out the forcible seizure and arrest of a journalist and critic of its foreign policy!

In the seven years of Assange’s confinement in the Ecuadorean embassy, much has changed. Most significant is the eruption of class struggle internationally. It is the fear of the emergence of the class struggle, combined with growing opposition to capitalism, that is compelling the ruling elites to destroy all democratic rights, including the freedom of expression, of which Assange's persecution is the most grotesque example.

In the working class there is overwhelming sympathy for Assange. A dividing line has opened up in social, economic and political life. The ruling elites are shedding their democratic pretenses. Their media and the pseudo-socialist opposition—the representatives of the politics of the affluent upper-middle class—function as defenders of the state and the dictatorship of the financial oligarchy.’

You’ll forgive the overwhelming leftist but, yes. Quite.

[mystikade]

About my last reblog...

Jesus Fucking Christ. This is why the LGBT community is comprised of athiests and other people against Christianity. Because there is the constant stigma that a Christian God is for "Real Love" which us strictly between a man and a woman. It is depicted as a religion where men work and fight while women cook and feed the children. Having experience in this religion, this isn't what true Christians teach. True Christians teach people to love everyone, no matter their background. There were prostitutes that were blessed by Jesus because of his acceptance of many peoples in the Bible. Nowadays, modern Christains misinterpret the conflicting laws of "Love everyone" and, families must be Patriarchal relationships between man and woman. Modern Christians take this and make enemies of anyone different. Anyone that isn't a black and white, vagina and penis love relationship is considered "unclean" and "sinful". I believed in God and followed Him.....wait, there's more proof that they are ludicrisly Patriarchal; God is a Man. Jesus is a Man. David the hero was a Man. Moses the Prophet was a Man. Samuel the Fighter was a Man. Need I continue? It just pisses me off. I try to be open to this religion my family forces onto me, but I see too many things that I can't follow. As I was saying (sorry for the disorganization), I followed God like a fucking puppy. Then I grew up and started to think too much. I am an ISFJ, so I get lost in thoughts ALL the time. When I was 9, I would stay up for hours pondering how the Earth came to be, and It's only worse today. So, as I grew, I thought endlessly about how logical a superhuman entity was. It never fully clicked with me and I have since been a very distant Christain and have never committed to Christianity fully. My faith in God has always been smaller than a mustard seed. Then, at the wnd of 2017, I was going in a downward spiral of depression and loneliness. In December, I was home alone with no homework and watched some GTLivestream. I was sitting in my room with headphones when I kinda zoned out from the video. I pulled out the headphones and took my sharpest BoyScout pocketknife from my desk. I started to cry, I was always thinking of my relationship with my father and how he hates me and my family. I always thought it was my fault all the time. I always hated myself for that. That was the source of my depression. So, I took that knife and put it to my skin, I was too cowardly to cut deep, it wasn't even on my wrist, it was on my forearm behind the back of my hand. It didn't even scar, not physically anyway. Just two quick slashes. Very thin, but the stinging pain I felt made me happy. I was happy that I was punished for everything I did to fail my family and make my father hate me. I reveled in that pain. I let the thin crimson lines slide down my arm and let it dry. I would've gone further if I didn't find Jack in January. Once I found Jack, I realized the truth. There is no God. And if there is, he hates me and neglected me. I've never opened a Bible since. Never prayed since. Never payed attention when I was forced to go to Church every Sunday. I've become more distant from my homophobic Church Group. This is the truth. This is my story. So, I'm sorry if it offends you, but I won't live a lie anymore. And this has been the happiest year of my entire life. I'm not saying I pray to Jack, but he has replaced that placebo Supernatural bitch as the loving Father I never had. I can't tell you how much of a blessing it was to be freed of that curse Christianity. So, sure... go pray to your God. Go read your bible. I'm not judging you. If you want to unfollow and block me, go ahead. This us probably the harshest thing I've said to my friends on this site, but I hope you will forgive me. This is the truth. This is my story. So, I'm sorry if it offends you, but I won't live a lie anymore.

[shinydelusionlover]

Okay but "get over it"? Wow, what a really mature way to comfort a pagan that you OFFENDED about THEIR GODS. I don't even know who the other pagan but I feel them. The problem wasn't misinformation. It's you comparing Apollo and Hermes in a NEGATIVE WAY, even if it's "all for kicks" or your intention to hurt. Not only can damage a devotee or pagan's belief system but also their belief in themselves. Some pagans see themselves in their gods, so when you go post something that's all lmao how Apollo is better at so many more things than Hermes here's proof lmao they can and fucking WILL take offense in that because they love Hermes! Regardless of the fucking facts!

No one can tell you how to run your blog. You can post whatever shit you want, but NEVER invalidate what a pagan tells you, regardless if you have different opinions. It's THEIR RELIGION, IT'S MY RELIGION. If other greek myth blogs can apologize for being offensive, why can't you? They can block you if they want to, and they will if they feel "oversensitive" like you say, but if they actually used to like your content, that's a huge fucking loss isn't it? And that's coming from a Apollo devotee☀️

Listen its,,.. Not that deep. One, you say my way of responding is immature, but how immature you must be to get offended on a religious level by a stupid meme created by some random tumblr user who is here for fun.

Two, I didn't compare them in a negative way. I don't think so. I just listed out things Apollo is better at, deliberately so because I'm biased. I never said Hermes isn't good or awesome (my tags literally say "Hermes is amazing" 🤷🏻‍♀️) I didn't ask people to stop loving (or believing) Hermes based on my post. And if they truly love Hermes regardless of the facts, then why should the facts that I've told bother them? You accept the fact that he's not the best at some things and still keep loving him. Whoever had their belief in their religion and themselves damaged because my meme should probably work more on gaining confidence about their religion and gods.

Honestly it's baffling that you're getting so worked up over a meme. I've literally seen a pagan use the "I mean I'm not a slut but who knows" meme for Apollo. In good humour of course, but going by your logic people should be offended over that too? Or is it that its okay as long as such jokes are made by pagans and the moment someone else makes it, it becomes offensive? Anyway lastly I apologise for hurting you so deeply. But I'm not sorry for my thoughts and opinions and my way of expressing them. I'm not sorry for making that meme. And if someone who used to like my content is displeased of it, then well, they can either just unfollow/block or just scroll past acknowledging that I was joking and didn't intend anything to be serious or offensive. It's that simple.