#as if White = person who never faces discrimination of any kind

[a-frog-in-a-bog]

can i be real i don't think whiteness and racism functions all that different in europe vs the us despite what europeans like to say. sure the irish and eastern europeans are discriminated against but to claim that makes them not white is laughable bc they're definitely not people of color lmao. an irish person is not more likely to be pulled over for the color of their skin. the root of this discrimination is still white supremacy to be sure, but i really don't think the birthplace of fascism aka western europe has a more nuanced understanding of race than america. like. during the very recent fascist riots in the uk right wingers were openly letting cars through if the driver looked white, they weren't checking IDs to make sure they were british, just that they weren't people of color. when the russian army first invaded ukraine, ukrainians were pushing black people off of trains so whites would be evacuated first. again, not checking IDs to make sure they were ukrainian, just that they were white. being white and having white privilege doesn't mean you never get discriminated against for your nationality, it just means you have an added degree of safety by not getting immediately clocked as a marginalized person that people of color don't get the privilege of having

[puppiekit]

I think the funniest thing ever to me is seeing people on tumblr preach "transandrophobia bad" but then you look at the transandrophobia tag and its basically just "transmascs are not cis, do not have cis privileges, and still face oppression / societal discrimination" and "I have personally faced (X) and (Y) issue because of my tansmasc identity"

.... Aka literally no different from any other minority on planet earth talking about their issues.

But for some reason people on tumblr want to tell you acknowledging this issue specifically, and putting a name to it, is not only bad (because for some reason acknowledging that transmascs have issues = claiming cis men are oppressed...? Because idk people feel the need to make shit up);

but actively harmful to transfems (And I'm going to be blunt here: acting like transfems are the only ones who have problems, or are the only ones allowed to talk about their problems, is so incredibly horrible it's actually insane. And quiet frankly very infantilizing).

To be quiet frank it only boils down to the communities continuous hatred for masculinity. Nobody wants to admit the fact that their community will never be a truly safe space before they stop labeling people "good" or "bad" dependent on who they are or how they chose to identify. It's harmful when cis people do it, and it's equally as harmful when queers do it.

And don't even get me started on the fact that a large part of this pointless beef is rooted in the communities refusal to acknowledge intersectionality (aka a bunch of white people unable to grasp the fact that they are not the default and peoples race can play a part in their gender, how it is perceived, and how it effects their oppression... Including masculinity).

I know this is going to piss a bunch of people off but to be entirely honest I was raised a woman for 18+ years, and I still socially pass for a woman NOW, and the shit I get in my day to day life does not even compare to the amount of hostility I face FROM MY OWN COMMUNITY as a transmasc.

At least a random person on the street will be blatant about their hatred for me, trans or not. The people in this community will instead manipulate and gaslight and try to convince you their crap treatment towards transmascs is "a good thing" or "good allyship". No, hating others for identifying a way you don't like and and "betraying their womanhood" does not make you a good ally to anybody, and especially transfems -- in fact, I'd say you're kind of throwing them under the bus by using them as an excuse to be a terrible person.

Whatever... Ignore my rant... I'm tired of people being terrible to eachother. And also it super pissed me off as a POC to see people compare talking about the problems transmascs face to "what if white people claimed they were being discriminated against for being white?!?!?!" as if that is anywhere near the same..... Like are you a legitimate dumbass or what? Why the hell do you people always use POC and their experiences as leverage against others.

How are you going to compare a TRANS person talking about their unique experiences with TRANSPHOBIA to a person at a societal advantage falsely claiming to be oppressed??? POC are only worth considering when you can use our issues to your benefit I guess

WHATEVER.....

[harleyxhoward]

Analyzing The Abilities of Characters From The Boys Pt. VI

🐍Zoe Neuman🐍

Zoe, growing up in both a multiethnic and affluent home, is both marginalized and privileged in a myriad of ways. Her ethnicity, along with her mother’s, is never acknowledged outright on the show. For all we know, the directors could have cast white actresses for the both of them and the core of my analysis would be null and void, but I believe the fact they aren’t white provides a certain layer of tragedy to Zoe’s character in particular.

Going off of personal experience in uppity East Coast spaces, Zoe’s presumably one of few ethnic children in her social circle. While she’s debatably white passing, this would undoubtedly have led to numerous instances of her facing prejudice and most likely teasing of various kinds.

This is where her unique ability of generating snake-like tentacles from her mouth presents itself. Her being injected as a preteen means her body analyzed her current surroundings and decided what she needed most at this stage in her life was some form of aggressive defense that could come from her mouth. This most likely resulted from her being mocked, teased, harassed, or discriminated against, and wishing there was a way her “sharp tongue” could actually cut them. Now with these serpents that expel themselves from her mouth, she’s capable of holding her own against anyone who wishes to insult or berate her.

Her being subjected to Red River felt like karmic irony, Victoria injecting her in adolescence* because she decided having any ability at all would be better than being powerless. I’ve mulled over this decision from Vicky, but ultimately settled on it being near sighted and power hungry on her end. She knew full well that Compound V resulted in the death of her own parents, and could very well have given Zoe a disastrous mutation, if not killing her in a long, drawn out body horror scenario. Even Stan Edgar was repulsed and horrified at the idea that Victoria would stoop so low as to inject Zoe with V, which put the gravity of the situation into perspective.

Vicky additionally knew that, while she was getting herself tangled up in Vought and Homelander, that her life was on the chopping block, and if she died, Samir wouldn’t be able to fend off Firecracker, let alone all of Vought’s forces. This would, assuming Homelander didn’t execute her daughter, land Zoe in the same place Vicky ended up after the death of her parents, which is exactly what happened.

While this seemed unfair at first, I saw it more so as a cautionary tale of what corruption does to a person. Vicky wasn’t satisfied with what she had, and strived for absolute power at the expense of her daughter’s well being. The shift from a loving mother willing to give her child the world to a power hungry tyrant injecting her daughter with a potentially lethal drug to turn her into a #girlboss didn’t happen randomly. I can imagine every thought that went through Vicky’s head as she decided to this to Zoe, especially explaining away the consequences as trivial costs to her daughter’s safety.

My response to that, aside from it not panning out how Victoria intended, is to look no farther than Kris Jenner with Kim Kardashian. In both mother-daughter duos a power/money hungry mother mutates/exposes her child all in the name of giving her a “better life” at the cost of robbing her of her agency and ultimately her humanity. Society blames Kim for perpetuating beauty standards, all of which were thrust upon her by a mother who just wanted a bigger mansion.

*The horror of Vicky’s decision stems mostly from the fact that the older you are, the worse the mortality rates/negative mutations are with V injections. Stan and Vicky already knew this, and it’s why people were contemplating whether Ashley would die at the end of S4 or not. Babies appear to be more malleable, and while some gain adverse mutations, they’re hardly ever lethal, and may even be tailored to Vought’s liking (so it seems).*

[eddiediazismyhusband]

the weponizing of gayness is getting out of hand. you're called a homophobe if you don't ship two people. you're called a homophobe if you don't like a gay character because of their racist and misogynistic past. i genuinely don't believe that a lot of these people have ever been exposed to real bigotry in their entire lives, or they're just straight

Like i’ve said most of the people I’ve seen making these takes are either straight white cis women or white cis gay men who both have an insane amount of privilege in the community to the point that the plights of others aren’t on their radar….

like im not saying they haven’t experienced any kind of discrimination, i am sure they have, but being cisgender white people, there is a level of privilege there that refracts their view of what bigotry actually looks like to a certain degree that they view anything critical of their interests as being violently homophobic.

i myself am a white gay amab person (i’m nonbinary, but I am passing for male) so I definitely have a certain level of privilege that has protected me from being directly discriminated against in ways I’ve seen my non-white queer friends be treated. that being said (and i am by no means perfect) i do my best to check my privilege before blowing something out of proportion just because it inconveniences or annoys me.

i’ve mentioned on here briefly before that i have faced a lot of discrimination from others growing up in church. my mother sent me to a doctor asking him to try and “fix” me when she found out i was gay. i have been called slurs by people who claim to be “god-loving christians” for just existing within that space. i have been harassed and berated by family members over my queerness because they think the jokes don’t sting (and they don’t care if they do). I’m not saying this to ask for sympathy and pity; I have worked through this in therapy, and I have moved on and attempt to rebuild relationships and salvage what I can. But I say this to provide context of my own experiences as s queer person.

A lot of white queer people have experienced this, but a lot haven’t. A lot of them have grown up in far more accepting environments and only know of bigotry towards queer people from reading/seeing it in media. They see these events and in their inability to understand them within the context of their own experience, they equate their own everyday inconveniences to these things because as humans we often have a desire to be coddled and pitied, so when we aren’t the center of attention for pity, we try to force ourselves into it by blowing things out of proportion, or claiming bigotry and homophobia when that is not the case. The “give me sympathy” card is a staple in the white queer person’s wallet.

Unfortunately, for poc queer people, and non-cisgender people who aren’t ‘passing’ they experience a different level of discrimination and violent bigotry that a lot of white queer people have never experienced. Now that is not to say that white cis queer people have never been the victims of violence, they absolutely have and there are plenty of cases out there to prove it. The fact is that for poc queer people, violent bigotry is often the standard for discrimination they experience. And that is something that unless you have experienced it yourself, you will never really understand the affects that has on a person.

so this idea that disliking a queer character is somehow homophobic comes from a place of blatant privilege. it comes from people who want you to look at them and say “ohhh poor ____, they’re being discriminated against because this fictional character is being criticized for his own bigotry within canon” rather than acknowledging that queer people are not inexcusable of bad behavior. they don’t understand that calling other queer people homophobic for having valid criticisms of a character and the way their story has been handled only shows queer people as this melodramatic clump of people who cry wolf over things that are not im fact actually conducive of homophobia.

I’m sorry I kind of turned this into a discussion of the hierarchy of queer privilege and how it negatively affects the entire community when the privileged minority are loudly complaining about things they don’t like by throwing around the word “homophobic” but unfortunately that seems to be where we are at in this fandom. I didn’t touch much on the straight white cis women of it all, but unfortunately straight white cis women are always trying to steamroll queer people when it comes to discussing queer issues so this is just par for the course.

[trojanteapot]

The writing blindspots in Infinity Train with respect to race

To get this out of the way, I love Infinity Train! It’s one of my favourite shows! I started writing fanfiction because of this show, and it still inspires me every day. 

I really do think that Infinity Train as a whole is a very thought provoking children’s show and I applaud it for exploring darker themes relevant to psychology and psychological well-being, which are topics often overlooked not just in children’s media but for adult media as well. However, I do want people to acknowledge some of its shortcomings, especially because it is a show that is dealing with such heavy and complex topics, and also positions its human characters as coming from a world which is pretty much a stand-in for our own.

Now I know that the storyboard artists for Infinity Train were quite diverse, but I don’t really know if it’s the same for the writer's room. The reason why is that as a POC viewer, it really does seem obvious to me from the way that the POC characters were written pre-season 4, that their race was mostly an afterthought.

Okay and to be perfectly clear, this is NOT A BAD THING. This is just a neutral thing. Obviously we don’t need every single story with POC characters to have to be about their experience as a specific racialized person. There are experiences that are shared among everybody no matter what race they are. I am not saying that you need to do super in-depth research into every single cultural nuance of every ethnic minority before writing them. It depends on if you really want to delve into how their heritage or traditions or specific life experiences inform their character arc. Not every character arc is about that. And it shouldn’t be!

With that being said, I do think that perhaps the writers should have tried to consider asking themselves very basic surface level questions on how being non-white would inform the problems and conflicts their characters would face. They don't need to know the ins and outs of each culture for each of their characters, but they could have just asked “How would I feel/react to others if people made weird assumptions about me based on my race? How differently would my parents raise me if they were afraid of prejudice or discrimination?” I think they should have reflected on that before setting in stone the backstories for their POC characters, especially with respect to Grace.

Part 1: GRACE'S PARENTS

So I am not Black myself, but I have had many conversations about Grace with one of my friends in fandom who is Black, and we both do get the sense that Grace’s race was very much just an afterthought to her characterization. To be clear, this is NOT because she has very wealthy parents. I am well aware that there are Black Americans with generational wealth. However, knowing what we know about affluent Black people in the real world, how Grace’s parents treated her makes absolutely no sense.

For example, among extremely wealthy people of any race, networking and knowing the right people is of the utmost importance. This is why so many rich people send their kids to prestigious private schools so their kids can get a heads start on knowing the progeny of other one-percenters. If you look up famous people with famous kids, chances are you’ll see a list of all of the very exclusive private academies that they all went to (looking at you, The Strokes). This is the case for wealthy people of all backgrounds, not just white people. And honestly, I imagine that the pressure is at least double for the kids of wealthy POC parents to get to know the right people as early as possible to be able to open as many doors as possible, in order to mitigate the inherent disadvantage of being a racialized person.

But what did Grace’s parents do? According to her, they never sent her to school of any kind, only having private tutors teach her, and her ballet instructor only made her join the other kids in her class once for a recital or something? This is, for lack of a better term... buck wild.

In addition, her parents are American diplomats. Diplomacy is an extremely people-oriented position. If anything, her parents would want her to not only be in the best private school, but to be the best student in school, to know the best people, to join the school clubs that all the other diplomats’ kids are in, and train her from a young age to be a social butterfly. Yes I know that diplomats will often leave their home country and be stationed somewhere else for long durations, and yes their kids could be taken out of school then, but some diplomats just enroll them in a different institution in the visiting country, or not take them out of school at all. This is what the IB Program was invented for, actually. Her parents being diplomats does not justify never enrolling Grace in school. In fact, it makes it less justifiable. 

The fact that they did the extreme opposite of that is so illogical to me that I wonder if perhaps the writers just cobbled together a whole bunch of tropes that they think apply to rich people without actually checking if any of it makes sense, doubly so for rich people who are non-white.

I think the reason why is because they wanted Grace’s parents to stifle her growth and her natural social skills, but on the Train, she can be who she truly is. I definitely agree that Grace finding herself and being able to truly blossom into the girlboss she is on the Train is a great plot point from a characterization perspective. However, I do not think that it should be because she was being stifled by her parents. The solution is staring the writers right in their face, but they can’t see it because it’s a blindspot for them.

What they should have gone with is: Grace's inability to become a social butterfly and a queen bee in her daily life is because she is a dark-skinned Black girl!!!

Her parents have extremely high expectations for her socially. They could have pushed her to make friends with kids she didn’t like just because they wanted to be on better terms with their parents for networking or diplomacy purposes – which they could have shown with that one girl from her ballet class. Missed opportunity! But no matter how hard Grace tries, she will never be seen as the perfect girl because of other people’s assumptions about her just based on her race. 

Once she’s on the Train, Grace then uses her people skills and finds that they’re a lot more effective there, because it’s no longer Earth’s society, it’s a different world, literally! Plus this even allows her to be a little bit more mean, a little bit more honest, something she wouldn’t be able to get away with in the real world without being punished for it harder than her white peers. We already see hints of this with how she interacts with Simon, a white guy who is the same age as her. 

CAVEAT: The dialogue where Grace reveals that she never went to school was something that she told Hazel in a private conversation. So it could be that she did go to school, but lied about it to seem more relatable to Hazel, who had never been around other kids before. Lying is in character for Grace because she would pretty much do anything to get on somebody’s good side. But the way that they had her voice actress deliver those lines, and the way that her expression changes when she talks about how lonely she was indicates that she was telling the truth. To be charitable, I suppose we can land on the reading that Grace told Hazel a half-truth. She did go to school, but she was frequently taken out of class or skipped semesters because of her parents’ jobs as diplomats. So her loneliness in that instant is at the very least truthful. Your mileage is going to vary on this interpretation of course.

This points to a weakness that I can sort of see in Infinity Train in general, where they push societal problems into purely the realm of personal failings. “It’s not because of society that Grace couldn’t succeed, it was solely due to her abusive parents” being just one example. 

Never forget this monologue from a Black father to his daughter in Scandal:

Part 2: JESSE'S ARC WAS PRETTY GOOD THOUGH

The thing is they actually did write a POC character having to deal with a problem that was society-oriented quite well, at least in my view. Although, I am still pretty sure it was still coming from a race-blind method of writing the characters. Otherwise I feel like Jesse’s status as an Indigenous American would have come up more than a grand total of one time. That they could do this well for Jesse makes the fact that they didn’t do the same for Grace quite disappointing. 

Jesse’s main issue that he had to overcome was he kept caving to peer pressure and had trouble saying no to others for fear of disappointment. Now, this problem is universal, and it’s not solely something that is specific to Jesse’s race or ethnicity or cultural background. In fact, I am quite certain that they wrote Jesse as a character without even considering that this problem he faces is relatable to POC experiences. But I definitely know a lot of POC in my life who do take on more responsibilities than they can manage, or feel a higher pressure to fit in with their peers. Hell, I’m that POC in many cases! It’s kind of like background radiation to us as minorities that we just have to do more emotional labour in order to be seen as equals. That’s just the reality of the situation. You can understand and relate to Jesse’s problem without being Indigenous/Native American, but at the same time it feels like a natural problem for him to have, because he is non-white!

I will admit that a personal blind spot of mine is I don't know and haven't had the chance to speak to too many Indigenous people, so there could be aspects of Jesse's arc that don't really make sense. If you are somebody who knows more than me, please feel free to correct me! I would love to hear how you felt about Jesse's characterization and arc as an Indigenous person!

Part 3: SEASON 4, THE ASIANS 

Alright now it's time to tackle stuff that I actually could have any ounce of authority talking about? Which is how they wrote Ryan and Min-Gi in Book 4. I myself am Asian-Canadian. Specifically, I am a first generation Chinese-Canadian but I've been in Canada since I was six so I find a lot of the experiences of second generation Asian-Canadians more relatable to me. In addition, my partner is fourth generation Japanese-Canadian, so his dad would be the same generation as Ryan's dad. (I also am really really into rock music, but that's besides the point.)

What they got right:

So first off, I could tell that they really did consult Asian people in writing this season, so good on them! The difference in how Ryan’s parents raised him in contrast to Min-Gi’s parents felt very natural and realistic to me. Ryan’s family is more westernized and has assimilated more into broader Canadian culture. 

The fact that Ryan has an English name and not a Japanese name immediately shows that. Min-Gi’s parents not choosing an English name for him is a bit of a surprise; very few Asian immigrants go without an English name back in the 20th century. Even nowadays it’s extremely common for us to go by English or Western names that we, or our parents chose, instead of names in our native language. But there are good reasons to not choose an English name. Perhaps Min-Gi’s parents wanted him to have a closer tie to his Korean roots, or perhaps if they travelled back to Korea to visit family it would be easier for them. 

Also, Min-Gi’s parents not supporting his dream of becoming a musician and want him to get a stable job in… I think it was finance? Definitely true back then as it is today. I’m not entirely sure how Ryan’s parents feel about his life choices, and we’ll get into that later.

The character arcs for Ryan and Min-Gi are excellent. This dichotomy of wanting to do the good, responsible thing that your parents want for you because they want you to have the best chance at a good life, and doing what your heart tells you to do, is an extremely relevant character arc. It’s a life decision that is not just an Asian thing, but something anybody can relate to. However, in East Asian cultures that were generally influenced by Confucianism, which includes both Korean and Japanese culture, upholding your duty as a child to not disappoint your parents in any way is something that Asian cultures are prone to emphasizing to a great degree. We see this in other media centered on the Asian immigrant experience as well, such as Kim’s Convenience, Turning Red, and Everything Everywhere All At Once.

What was a bit puzzling to me:

So I'll start off with the thing that definitely raised many many eyebrows if you were an East Asian or Southeast Asian watching the show: Why were Min-Gi's parents so friendly with Ryan's parents when they're Korean and Ryan's family is Japanese?!

So like, not to bring politics into it but… World War II happened. It affected, you know, the world and stuff. And in the Pacific Theatre (god I hate that term), the Imperial Japanese Army… invaded Korea?? Among many other countries??? And did a bunch of war crimes?????

Like, Japan was invading other countries well before WWII even started… This is common knowledge… for Asian people that is.

Yeah I know what you're gonna say. “But Ryan's family is Japanese-Canadian!! They wouldn't have done those war crimes! They would have been sent to internment camps!” Yeah dude, I know! My partner is Japanese-Canadian, remember?! And even if I didn't know him, we learned about the internment camps in history class. It's pretty common knowledge among progressives in Canada and the US. George Takei did a whole musical about it. 

But that's not how racism works. I can speak from personal experience that the scars of WWII trauma in Chinese and Korean communities run deep. Even my own parents needed a bit of convincing to be okay with me dating my partner, and my parents were born two decades after WWII ended. My partner said that one time when he and his grandmother got into an elevator with an elderly Korean woman, and at first she was friendly, but once she realized they were of Japanese descent, the elevator ride became deathly silent afterwards. 

So when you have Min-Gi’s parents, who were probably born during or slightly after WWII, immigrate to Canada, and then be like… totally okay and hunky dory pals with Ryan’s parents just because their kids were born the same day in the same hospital…? I mean sure, anything can happen. But it definitely speaks to how abnormally accepting, forgiving, and welcoming Min-Gi’s parents are. 

To be clear, this isn’t something that pulled me out of the experience, personally. Yes, it is strange, but it’s not impossible for a Korean family to be super okay and friends with a Japanese family. Maybe it’s because their small town has very few Asians and so they have to stick together due to solidarity or something. Maybe Min-Gi’s parents are the type of Christians that believe in the inherent goodness of everyone and giving everyone a chance. Maybe they are just extremely progressive and see Ryan’s family as Canadian more than Japanese (highly unlikely), or they know about the internment camps and that was enough to get over their biases toward them (also unlikely). I dunno, anything can happen.

The other thing that bugged me was that they really didn’t explore Ryan’s relationship with his family to the same depth as Min-Gi’s relationship with his family. 

They already set up the contrast of like, you have an immigrant who is more connected to their cultural background, and a third generation descendent who is less connected, and more alienated from his cultural background. That kind of stuff can really weigh on you as somebody who is a minority. You feel like you simultaneously aren’t Canadian enough because you aren’t white, and that you’re not enough of your cultural background because you had to assimilate, or were forced to assimilate. 

Yes it makes sense why Ryan would throw himself into his music, and be disconnected from his family. But they didn’t take the time to really explore why he is that way. Ryan barely talks about his family except randomly mentioning that they don’t care what he does with his life. I don’t even know if that really makes sense that they don’t care what he does? Maybe Ryan thinks they don’t care, but his assumption is wrong? Either way they don’t explore this point that much. Even if his parents were more assimilated they would still care if Ryan had a non-standard job, such as being a musician. There is a gap between Ryan and his family/parents that was alluded to, but not explored. Feeling like you come from two worlds but not neatly fitting into either is so quintessential to the immigrant experience of Canadians (and also Americans) it’s a shame they only paid lip service to it. 

I mentioned in a different post that Ryan would be monolingual while Min-Gi would be bilingual, and how this could cause tension between them. I imagine Ryan definitely feels inferior to Min-Gi in that sense of loss and disconnect with his heritage, just as Min-Gi is jealous that he feels he doesn't have the freedom to pursue his musical career in the same way that Ryan can. This is all stuff that can take a psychological toll on people, and is something which the Train as a metaphor for therapy should have been primed to tackle. But unfortunately we didn't really get that.

There is a term among the Chinese Diaspora known as “Hollow Bamboo (竹杠)” or “Rising Bamboo (竹升)” [more info]. It's an insult tossed at kids of Chinese ethnicity from judgemental adults for being unable to read/write Chinese or who cannot speak Mandarin/Cantonese/other Chinese languages fluently because they've been “too westernized”. They say we “look Chinese, but are hollow inside, like bamboo.” I don't know if there are equivalent terms for other Asian diaspora/immigrant communities but there must be. This term is controversial, and in my own opinion very unfair, because it blames the kids for this loss of cultural identity when there are so many different factors at play that makes them lose it, all of them outside of their own control. 

Again, I think this is a blindspot from the writers just not understanding how much this loss of cultural identity is such an integral part of the experience of being an immigrant, and that it's not only felt in first or second generation Asian-Canadians, but also third or fourth generation, and beyond. It's scary to go out there and redefine what your culture means to you, and how to pass it on to the next generation.

CONCLUSION

So there you have it, a summary of the strengths and the weaknesses in Infinity Train as it pertains to writing about racialized characters. Just want to restate that a lot of what I pointed out is pretty minor in the grand scheme of things and I do overall think the writing is solid. I am not going into this to say that I expected the writers to do a good job, because generally my expectations for media and pop culture to portray POCs respectfully is quite low. At least they didn’t fall back on tired stereotypes, which is a low bar to clear, but it is where the bar still is these days.

If on the off chance Infinity Train does get uncancelled and renewed for more seasons, I hope they take these lessons and craft better narratives for their POC characters. Maybe hire some more non-white writers while you’re at it!

[slasheddreams]

The Strawberry Bandaid [ bag of marshmallows / broken glass ] - The STRANGER [ broken glass / blood rain ]

content warning for: [ mentions of injury and blood, mentions of violence ]

Are you hurt?

Do you have a boo-boo?

Injury can happen to anyone at anytime. The young, the old, the weak, the strong. Pain and injury never discriminate.

Bending down, the older boy held the small, pure, snow white cloth to his brother’s knee. Blood blossomed in the middle of the cloth, spreading outwards towards the edges of the cloth. The younger boy gritted his teeth, letting out a small hiss as pressure was applied to the small wound.

Despite how ruthless his brother could be with others, he always showed a small kindness towards his weak, meek little brother. His small, meek little brother who couldn’t hurt a fly.

“You should be more careful, Dai.”

The older brother smiled coldly as he reached over, cupping a bandaged hand against the boy’s cheek. His one good eye creased with his eerie smile, and for a moment, he could see his own face in the reflections of his brother’s eye.

Why did he look so terrified?

…

A small gasp escaped his lips as his brother wrapped his arms around him, entrapping him with a tight hug. His hands trembled for a moment, and then he hesitantly brought his arms up, loosely wrapping them around his brother. Laying his head on his brother’s shoulder, Dai mumbled weakly.

“… okay.”

It felt like an eternity had passed before his brother let go. Leaning over, he observed the wounded knee. Grabbing an alcohol wipe, he gently cleaned the area (while trying to soothe the pained whines of his brother) before rummaging through the box of band-aids. He pulled out several funky shaped band-aids, hovering them above the wound before shaking his head and putting it back.

“This one’s too big!” He’d muse.

“But this one is too small!” He’d complain.

“And this one isn’t cute enough!” His priorities were… a little off kilter.

Finally, he pulled out a band-aid in the shape of a pastel pink strawberry. Sticking his tongue out, he leaned over slightly as he compared the size of the injury to the size of the band-aid’s padding. After a moment, he turned the band-aid around, peeling the bandage paper off. Hovering it above the wound, he shifted it back and forth, before finally putting it down over the wounded skin. Using the palm of his hand, he smoothed the band-aid’s edges down.

“There we go! Cute and practical! Hey, do you think they have any more of these? Maybe we can have matching band-aids!”

The boy beamed with pride for a moment, a smile of joy on his face as he spoke. He truly did enjoy taking care of his brother, even if said brother was perfectly capable of caring for himself.

“Uhm… maybe Mister Mori has some more in his office…?”

Tilting his head a moment, he scratched his head in confusion.

“Where would you put it though? You’re kind of covered in bandages.”

The boy blinked slowly, lifting his arms up as he observed his own person. Dai was not wrong, his brother was completely covered from head to toe in bandages. Even his left eye was covered with bandages. Pouting a bit, his brother shook his head in disbelief.

“There has to be somewhere I can put it! Like… maybe I can put it over my right eye! Like a pirate, argh!”

“… but then you won’t be able to see anything.”

“… damn. Maybe I can take a box cutter and give myself a wound like yours! Then we’d really be matching!”

Sweating nervously, he shook his head in disagreement. He couldn’t tell if this was another one of his brother’s ideas of a joke. They were more mortifying than they were funny.

“Justtt kidding! That sounds like it would be painful.”

Rubbing his chin in deep thought, he placed his hands on his own knees.

“Well, I can always just… stick it over my bandages, I guess.”

Reaching over, he poked lightly at the pastel strawberry band-aid stuck to his brother’s knee. His brows furrowed in frustration as a frown formed on his face. Dai’s knee twitched a bit as an uncomfortable hiss escaped his mouth. Silence arose between the two brothers for a moment. Lifeless brown eyes stared at him, and once again, he could see himself in the glistening.

Why did he always look so terrified?

…

“… do you think we’ll go to heaven when we die?”

The air felt like it had frozen on Dai, too sharp to inhale. In that moment, breathing was painful. Looking up from the bag of marshmallows he had silently been snacking on, his eyes fell on the bandaged man whom was supposed to be his brother…

Yet, in that moment, he felt he didn’t know him at all.

“What…?”

Dark brown eyes bore into his soul, a foreign face stared back him. A smile cracked on the black void it called a face. It exuded an aura of eerieness and knawing dread.

“I said, do you think when we die, we’ll go to heaven? Or, are we too far gone?”

“… what are you talking about?”

His hands trembled slightly as he clasped them over his chest. The figure smiled as it lifted its hand, dragging its nails against Dai’s cheek. Dragging its nails across, the skin split open like a sharp knife cutting through paper. Blood seeped through the tear, dripping slowly down the side of his cheek. Pain flared up, spreading like a wildfire beneath his skin. Tears welled up in his eyes, a hiss escaping his lips. The air felt punishing to breathe in.

“Do the old… and the poor… and the weak deserve to go to heaven? Sloth is a sin, is it not?”

“I don’t- I don’t understand..!��

Wincing as it dragged another nail, it tore through the flesh on his cheek with ease.

“If you were to die right now, would you go to heaven, Daishobu? Would you? Do useless people get to go to heaven, when they’ve contributed nothing to society?”

His hands trembled in pain as tears blurred his vision. Pain spread through his chest, tightening and restricting his lungs. He felt inflamed and afraid. Squeezing his eyes shut, he trembled.

“Why are you so weak?”

…

He wasn’t sure when he had fallen asleep, if he had to begin with. His head ached, a headache pounding against the inner walls of his skull. A dulled pain was present in his right cheek, although it felt less like pain and more of a bitter memory now. Lifting his fingers up to his cheek, the area felt oddly smooth. Sitting up, he turned to the mirror.

A pastel strawberry band-aid clung to his cheek.

———

A piece of paper was laid in front of the young boy as the intimidating, black haired man smiled. He was a tall, well put together man, with a maroon scarf and enough money to care for two abandoned boys. Even if there was something about the man Dai never liked (he never could put his finger on what exactly, though), he couldn’t deny the proven generosity.

“Your brother was always convinced you’d never join our ranks. May I ask what changed your mind?”

Dai held the pen in shaky hands, staring at the piece of paper in front of him. A “contract”, those were the words at the top of the paper.

“… I don’t know.”

“That’s alright, we all do things sometimes without fully understanding why we choose to. Does your brother know you’re doing this?”

“… no. He’d never let me. He doesn’t even let me take care of my own injuries.”

Pointing at his cheek and knee, Dai sighed a bit.

“That’s how you know he cares. Unless… you believe differently?”

“… I don’t know. I just… I feel I don’t know him anymore… he’s like a stranger.”

[nothorses]

As an atheist who frequently despairs at the way progressive tumblr talks about us, I've loved reading your recent posts on the subject. You've articulated some stuff that bugged me but I could never quite describe, like how people think of atheism as some broken remnant of christianity rather than a valid worldview on its own.

But there's one thing you've emphasized repeatedly that I just don't think I can agree with: the idea that other people being confidently convinced of their beliefs means that we should act less confident of ours. Yes, I recognize that most religious people are at least as confident in their faiths as I am in my non-belief. But people are confidently wrong all the time, about all kinds of stuff. When anti-vaxxers, flat earthers, climate change deniers, homeopaths, astrologers, or psychics are confidently wrong, we don't take it as a reminder to humble ourselves in the face of disagreement, especially when it comes time to make decisions based on the facts at issue. Sure, we usually don't preach about it to strangers, maybe we decide it's not worth losing a relationship over, maybe we don't bring it up at thanksgiving, but we don't throw our hands up and declare it a tie because both sides wrote down an answer.

Like, let's be clear, this is a question of fact, just like any pseudoscience or conspiracy theory. The supernatural does not exist. Humankind has spent the entirety of our species' history looking for it, we would all desperately like for any of it to be real, and if there was anything there to find, we would've found something by now.

So why does the fact that a lot of people are confidently wrong about that mean that the ones who aren't have to act less confident than everyone else?

It's not that we need to be "less confident" in our beliefs; I have seen people argue that you can't prove a negative or whatever, there's stuff we don't understand yet, so we can't actually claim atheism is Definitely Correct. and like. I fundamentally disagree with that, actually. it's not something I want to get in arguments on tumblr about (can you fucking imagine) but I think the logical conclusion of "you can't prove a negative" is not "therefore, anything you can't prove isn't true is equally as valid". it's that demanding people to prove a negative is unreasonable, and the onus of proof in fact falls on the people claiming a positive.

this is also how things work when someone on tumblr claims I'm a sex freak who hates women and is also a TERF: it's not my responsibility to prove that whatever unhinged accusations some rando on the internet comes up with aren't true. it's their responsibility to prove that they are.

but here's the thing: it's not about who's right, here. that doesn't actually matter.

there are two things you need to consider here:

1. How likely this person is to listen to you

2. Whether the thing they believe actually has a notable impact on anyone else.

Anti-vaxxers believe something that directly and adversely impacts other people. Climate change deniers also do. Flat-earthers conceivably could be harmless, but the roots and execution of that ideology lead to a lot of harmful, antisemitic conspiracy theories that do harm to real life people.

But like, I don't care if Cindy from class thinks astrology is real. I don't actually have to worry about that unless she starts trying to discriminate against people based on their star signs (looking at you, white queer 20-somethings looking for roommates in Seattle).

I don't care if my mom thinks teatree oil is gonna help her... idk, whatever she thinks teatree oil does. She also takes the meds she needs and sees a doctor about stuff, and the addition of teatree oil isn't hurting her. I worry even less about adult strangers making medical decisions for themselves; that's their business, and their choice. I'll take issue with it if they deprive anyone else of necessary medical care on that basis.

#1 is harder to consider, I think. A lot of us want it to be the case that others will listen to us, and a lot of us want to believe that if our arguments are good enough and we're good enough at it, we can get through to anyone.

That's a fantasy. A very silly, very egotistical fantasy likely to drive you to frustration, and ultimately to isolation. The fact of the matter is that it's rarely about you; people decide to listen or not, and there's nothing you can do about it if they decide not to listen. Pushing the issue doesn't change that.

When people accuse me of unhinged shit on tumblr, I don't take it upon myself to prove a negative. I might address those claims in some way, and remind people to get proof of the positive first, but only if it gets to be enough of an issue that I feel I need to. Ultimately, I know the people making those claims don't care, and aren't listening; the only reason I address them at all is if they have an adverse impact on me or others.

People who believe in things we don't believe exist... well, first, they often do believe they have proof. That's just not a basis you're gonna win an argument about that on. And, also, they have no intention of listening to you- and that's fine. As long as their beliefs aren't causing them to hurt others, nobody needs to worry about it. And if they do, we can worry about the impact and the things directly relating to it instead of trying to convince every religious person with flaws to just stop being religious.

Some atheists are assholes because of what they believe. That's not a fact we can ignore, either.

At the end of the day, the goal is just to share space with others. We don't need everyone to agree with us, we don't need everyone to believe the same things, and it's a good idea, in fact, to look at those other beliefs/religions/etc. and see value in them- the value they add to the lives of those who are a part of them, and the value they add to others' through those people.

At a certain point, it doesn't matter if something is Objectively True. Oftentimes we don't know, or can't know- but that doesn't matter either. The obsession with objective truth is very much a white Western one, and it's done a lot of harm to people- entire cultures, even.

You can't be an econ major looking at this through the lens of hard numbers; you need to factor in human life, compassion, and context. It's not about who's right; it's about being a good person.

[cmyk-universe]

HYONA YUKIHAZE

The Core

^The reference above applies only to his lore and personality, not to his visual appearance.

Profile:

Nickname : Oren/ Ren

Gender : male

Current age : around 19

Heigh : 170 cm

Element : Pyro

Role in combat : Tanker/ buffer

Weapon : Claw and a skateboard that can transform into a sword

Occupation : Student and engineer as his side job

Therians Talents : Agility, claw, jumping, excellent night vision, 2 modes of fire

Human talents : Crafting/ engineering, drawing, skateboarding

Therian type : Snow leopard

Color scheme : Orange, white, and blue

Address : a house in Neoterra

Likes : Sushi (especially fishes), street food, ice cream and sweets

Dislikes : Spicy food, overly processed food especially frozen food. 

This is the previous design of him^

Background:

Racism had been present in Neoterra for many years. To protect Hyona, his mother gaslighted him into believing he was born human, hiding his true identity to keep him safe from discrimination. She hoped that he could live peacefully among humans without being affected by the social tensions. As a result, Hyona never learned about his true nature until much later in his life.

When the war broke out, Hyona was only 7 years old. Fortunately, their house was far enough from the main areas of chaos, but the threat of danger loomed over them constantly. His mother did everything she could to shield Hyona from witnessing any violence or traumatic scenes, hoping to protect him from the horrors of war.

Hyona’s father, a snow leopard Therian, was aware of the Vox Populi, a secret newsletter distributed among Therians. It informed them about a planned rescue train that would transport Therians to safety. He decided to take his family and flee on this train, which required proof of identity despite their human appearances. However, just as they were preparing to depart, Hyona’s father revealed that he wasn’t coming with them. Instead, he had decided to stay behind and fight in the war, to defend their people’s rights. He hadn’t told them earlier because he knew his wife would never have allowed him to go.

With a smile, he told young Hyona to be a good boy until he joined them later. His wife, though heartbroken, restrained her emotions for the sake of their child. With no choice but to let him go, she sent a prayer for his safety, and they shared a final goodbye, full of hope, not knowing it would be the last time they would see him.

The train headed toward Sanctora, the fabled "City of Griffins." As the train left, Hyona noticed a griffin flying in the opposite direction, accompanied by a flock of falcons and eagles, clearly heading toward Neoterra. Later, Hyona learned that this griffin was Seraphine, the High Guardian of Sanctora.

During the train ride, Hyona spotted two little girls sitting quietly in the corner. One had black wings and was injured, with small wounds and scratches visible on her arms and face. Without hesitation, Hyona shared his bandages and some drinks his mother had packed. The girls, still in shock from the war, gradually warmed up to Hyona’s kindness. After some conversation, Hyona learned that they were sisters.

When the train arrived in Sanctora, medical staff checked the passengers, who desperately pleaded for help for those left behind in Neoterra. The guards assured them that rescue teams had already been dispatched, led by Seraphine herself. After the initial chaos, Hyona lost sight of the crow-winged girl and her sister, realizing later that he had forgotten to ask for their names.

Hyona and his mother stayed in Sanctora temporarily. It wasn’t long before a government official came to inform his mother that her husband had fallen in the war. Devastated, she decided to hide the truth from Hyona. Instead, she told him that his father was on a long business trip and wouldn’t be returning anytime soon. Whenever Hyona missed his father, his mother would write fake letters, pretending they were from his father, to comfort him.

The war eventually ended after a major treaty was brokered in Sanctora. Seraphine played a massive role in healing soldiers from both sides, symbolizing unity and compassion between humans and Therians. While the treaty established an uneasy peace, tensions and racism lingered. Sanctora, however, became a beacon of hope and healing. Hyona, still too young to fully grasp the political situation, remained unaware of the complexities.

Two years later, Hyona and his mother returned to Neoterra. To their relief, their home had survived the conflict, likely spared due to its distance from the war’s center. They resumed their lives in the city, with his mother continuing to shield him from the truth about his father.

Later, Hyona unexpectedly met the girl with black wings from the train. She was now studying at the same university as him, although they were in different majors. At first, he didn’t recognize her—well, she had grown up and was always in her full human form, 100% all the time.

Realizing it, she decided to be the one who initiate an approach first to him while he was in front of vending machine. After a lot of 'error 404', Hyona finally remembered who she was and blurted out,

"where were your wings? did you threw them aw--",

That caused her to stomped Hyona's feet to shut him up. It worked, Hyona ended up screamed in pain. Later, finally he asked her name. She finally introduced herself as Nori Mei, then asked him to keep her identity as a crow Therian a secret.

"Look.. I was unlucky that you saw me in that state. But from now on, we're both humans.. you hear me?" She said that with a playfully threatening manner.

Hyona agreed to keep her secret and Nori ended up being the one who bought a drink for Hyona as a gesture of return of a favor in the past. From there, they developed a close friendship... well, as humans..

-to be continued

Personality:

Hyona is like a walking ray of sunshine—wherever he goes, he brings good vibes. His silly, sometimes outright dumb behavior often cracks people up, and he's become a meme among his friends. For example, if he's playing a co-op game and someone says, "Watch out, there's a hole ahead," you can bet he'll fall into that hole exactly one second later.

He’s easily distracted, which means focusing on tasks he doesn’t enjoy is a real struggle. But when he's into something—like gaming or modifying gadgets—he’s all in. Hyper-fixation mode: activated. This usually happens when he's modifying his skateboard into a weapon or trying to beat a tricky boss in a video game.

Sleep? Who needs it when your brain is constantly on overdrive? Hyona often lies awake for 2 hours doing nothing, except listening to the birds chirp as dawn rolls in. In these moments of insomnia, he’ll randomly DM Kuro, knowing full well Kuro’s still awake working the late shift.

He’s not exactly the most perceptive person either—he's oblivious to what's going on around him most of the time. Hyona is the type to completely mix up faces and names of people he hasn’t known long enough. If someone is trying to get close to him or looks up to him, yeah… he’s probably not going to notice.

Despite all that, Hyona has a strong protective instinct, especially toward people he cares about. He’s the guy who will jump into danger without thinking, and somehow, his ridiculous amount of luck (seriously, it's like a plot armor) keeps him alive.

That also applies when he's playing games. He's the one who miraculously survives with 1 HP while his teammates in-game are all dead, or accidentally gets saved from fall damage because he accidentally stepped on a bird in mid-air.

But it’s not all sunshine and memes. Hyona has his struggles, too. Being kept in the dark about his true identity his whole life left him a little clueless, especially when it comes to understanding who he really is. He only found out he’s a snow leopard Therian at 19, and adjusting has been... well, rough. He hasn’t quite gotten used to his ‘cat’ traits—like his improved night vision, stronger sense of smell, or his ability to jump way higher than a normal person. Plus, the involuntary purring and random animal features popping up at the worst times? Yeah, that.. annoys him. His animal features cannot lie like he want to.

That also includes his difficulty transforming back into human form. When Hyona’s stuck halfway and has to attend class, Kuro lends him his oversized jacket (which is definitely too big for Hyona) to hide his animal features. After seeing him waddling around in the jacket, Kuro started calling him a “walking marshmallow.”

This one also old design^

Other facts:

Hyona absolutely cannot handle spicy food. Even the smell of chili makes him sneeze or cough, and heaven help him if he's washing dishes that had spicy food on them. He’s also super sensitive to caffeine and alcohol. Yes, you read that right—he can get drunk from coffee.

Despite his food sensitivities, Hyona’s skills in art and engineering are top-notch, and he makes a good amount of money from it. As the go-to ‘technician’ among his friends, Nori always comes to him when her sniper rifle or gadgets need fixing. He’s even Kuro’s go-to guy when his motorcycle needs some work.

Hyona’s element is fire, but when he's really fired up—emotionally or literally—his flames turn blue. This blue fire can form a shield around him, protecting others without causing them harm. It’s like his protective instincts kick in, and his flames know who to shield.

Back to index

[good7luck]

My quick ramblings about VNC manga chapter 62 part 1

(more under the cut)

.

Time flied again, and now ch 62 part 2 is coming or already out XD so I'm roughly writing some bits at least asdfg

.

.

I wrote some depressing prediction for this chapter, and I'm glad things didn't go that (physically violent) way, especially for Noe :) Vani stood up (as he should, cuz he is part of the cause) and "solved" the problem...by being verbally violent asdfg Anyway, I still feel something similar to that might happen at some point, though ^^;

I'm anxious about Johann for several reasons, but for now...I feel so sorry for him that he had to perform that much to "smoothly" solve(TM) the uncomfortable situation and protect his family ;_; I just...don't know what (proper words) to say, and I hate it :(

I'm happy to be quite right about Riche X) It's a huuuge shame that the anime completely cut out her cute interaction with Noe in the Catacombs :/ It wouldn't have taken too many minutes ://

.

a little or a lot negative from here, with some potentially triggering words

.

Apparently...some people think it's a bad / problematic writing decision that "white" Vani enlightens "black" Noe about "racism" towards Dham...as if the narrative / context was meant to mock Noe or such?? Also, as if similar situations (not just about racism) never happen in real life?? Honestly, they seem to be the ones who are somehow obsessed with the skin color tone of fictional characters the most lol

Like...did Vani have to leave Noe ignorant as he was, then? Was there any other "better" person (ex. "black" Dham) to explain "better" at the moment?? It doesn't even look like what Vani said was particularly wrong, either - especially compared to the situation when Luca "explained" to Vani/Noe what the Book of Vanitas does(TM), and then Vani got annoyed and tried to fix his (Luca's) wrong idea/info (not to mention Blue Moon clan is a discriminated minority as well).

For some imaginary example in regards to real life - it's said 99% of people are allosexual and only 1% are asexual in the world. It may happen that some asexual person never realized oneself being asexual and suffered from it for so long alone, and some allosexual person who happened to know a lot could notice what's going on and introduce "asexual" to the asexual person in a sincerely kind / helpful manner, "saving / freeing" the one, even.

Isn't it a good thing to learn about something "new" that is necessary "in any way (not offensive!!)", rather than staying behind and unintentionally repeating the same negative situation, if not causing worse things? Not everyone is lucky to get to know something or everything "naturally" or "normally" by a specific "proper" age.

Besides, Noe is understandably ignorant (like us readers / audiences) in canon from the beginning, with all his unfortunate, traumatic, and isolated childhood backstories and extremely limited interactions with other people... Noe's such huge, naive ignorance indirectly tells something about the "Teacher" Shapeless One as well! which is quite subtle from MJ-sensei XD

IDK now I'm curious if they called it a bad writing, too (and called MJ-sensei racist), when "black" Noe turned out to have been treated as a chained slave / property in the black market and "taken" by "white" Shapeless One...as if it's all meant to look "pure positive"? What about the scene where "white" Domi put a chain on "black" Noe's neck? Was it only great because it's "female dominant"?? lol :/ I also remember that not so long ago - "white" Misha enslaved "black" Noe and violated him in multiple, stressful ways (including the rapey blood-drinking)...and yet, the fandom mostly felt so sorry for the "white assaulter" Misha much more and got sooo disappointed / mad at the "black victim" Noe for "daring to" fiercely fight back and hurt his face, NOT "gently" pushing him away or (just forgetting about kidnapped Domi his important childhood friend and) "angelically" understanding him (the abuser) and "eagerly" protecting him as a "mere obedient black slave" of his "poor young white master" aka Stockholm syndrome lol =_=

.

.

This was not going to be this long and this petty, but it happened midway, sorry asdfg

Thank you for reading my subjective opinions so far!

[idkjustletmescroll]

Give the Red Lotus more!

I know I made a post praising the fact that the Red Lotus had diverse personalities, but I think all fans could agree that they could’ve used more to differentiate themselves from Zaheer. Naturally, I have thoughts. The entire prison break scene just proves that P’li and Ming-Hua are ride-or-die besties, so why couldn’t that dynamic have been continued, huh, Bryke? Just a scene with P’li braiding Ming-Hua’s hair for her or teasing each other over something stupid or having a running gag with Ming-Hua, the tiniest of the group, giving the literal giant P’li piggyback rides, just because she can. I mean, if they had more moments like Ghazan’s “really? Right now?” Like, the BROTHER-SISTER DYNAMIC THAT COULD EXIST BETWEEN GHAZAN AND P’LI? I saw a creator talk about a who-can-be-more-destructive-in-battle competition between themn and like...

YES.

Like, hello, the banter during their fight scenes on the bridge getting out of Republic City or in Zaofu? Or even Ghazan gloating as he destroys the air temple with lava because he SO just won with that entire move.

Imagine a throwaway scene with P’li making too-spicy dinner and the others literally dying as she just peacefully eats and goes in for seconds. The badass Zaheer, sobbing in pain and begging Ming-Hua for the water she’s hogging for herself.

Also, I’d play up the bromance between Ghazan and Bolin a bit more, even it’s just Ghazan making a comment during their final fight that he’s sad he’s going to have to kill him.

During the stakeout fight, I’d have Ghazan and Ming-Hua sharing amused glances and snarky comments, make it explicitly obvious they’re just playing with the boys before they pummel them and Ghazan runs off to try and find Korra. They’re supposed to be “able to take down any bender,” and have had nine episodes to get back into bending after 13 years.

An idea that recently surfaced was that the red lotus should cause more conflicts within team avatar. Team Avatar’s been a little all over the place for the first two seasons, so having the red lotus so in sync with each other might motivate them to work on their own unity, and maybe help add to Mako coming back to the group and not being a weirdo about his breakups. That all just kind of disappeared as soon as they left. Hell, give them all internal conflicts surrounding anarchy! Have Korra struggling with her own doubts about the world needing an avatar and being raised by authorities--the white lotus--isolated in a compound. Have Mako struggling with being a cop when he’s reminded of how the authorities failed him and Bolin when they were on the streets, with Bolin coming to similar realizations. Even Asami, who faced discrimination as a nonbender, even if it was better because she’s rich and the Avatar’s bestie/gf. Have the red lotus leave lasting impressions on the characters. Plus, this kind of things would be great for team avatar to develop their friendships more, in a way a lot of LOK fans wish had happened.

I would show more foreshadowing to P’li’s backstory before it was revealed in enter the void. One thing I came up with was--and this is kind of reaching--Asami or Mako being reminded of their mothers, both of whom were dark-haired fire nation beauties. Maybe Asami’s mother was taller than average and fairly quiet, as well, and had some similar physical features to P’li, or maybe it was Mako. Let’s explore that trauma and its lasting impact on them! ATLA did it fantastically, and the LOK characters deserved at least some of that treatment. Maybe give one of them a brief moment alone and ask her why she’s doing these things, to which P’li’s only response is “you have no idea what people in power can do,” which we later learn is a reference to her own exploitation at the hands of a warlord. Hell, during her conversation with Zaheer in “enter the void,” maybe even add something about how she never wanted to kidnap an innocent girl, but will do it for the greater good, etc., or something that makes one of the mysteries of season 3 clearer: why would a girl who’d been kidnapped and exploited as a child be willing to do the same to another? I’d actually change the poisoning scene, having Korra knocked unconscious before they administer it, with one of them making a remark to the effect that P’li would only go through with the plan if this part of it were painless--even Zaheer yelling in their final fight that he doesn’t want to hurt her, or SOMETHING like that!

Some kind of will-they-or-won’t-they between Ming-Hua and Ghazan that has the other two rolling their eyes also wouldn’t hurt, fyi.

Red Lotus miniseries when?

[abandonedaccount1234]

I am sure people are gonna attack me for this but it needs to be said.

NOTE: I am in no way, shape, or form trying to cancel Tommy Kinnard or Lou.

I like Tommy. He's a good character.

He HOWEVER is a very flawed character. A character who has yet to have any real reckoning for what he did. Helping the crew to save the ship doesn't mean we get to just forget he was racist and misogynistic.

You don't get to just be racist, misogynistic, and honestly even homophobic, come out later in life, and use that as free pass to get away with with you did. That's not on Tommy or Lou (though he really downplayed that to a point of ICK in that cameo imo), it's on the writers. I do acknowledge this is a fictional character.

Even more of a reason as to why IT'S OKAY TO ADMIT HE'S NOT PERFECT. I want characters to be truly human. To make mistakes. To learn from their mistakes. And to say, hey, that was really shitty and I'm sorry.

I am not okay with the show just writing off the discrimination he caused because some years have passed and he's now Buck's boyfriend.

Hurt people hurt people. Yes. That does NOT excuse the behavior. Only explains it.

Past Tommy was the epitome of male white privilege and never being held accountable. Like everyone else in that station. They quite literally fostered an environment of white supremacy and I don't feel like we talk about this enough.

Present Tommy is....? Who the fuck knows because the writers haven't really let us know? They haven't let us see any real growth besides being out and being okay with woman of color now..?

This feels all to similar to growing up in a predominantly white area where people try to act progressive and like they were never once racist in their lives so no one 'cancels' them.

To never acknowledge it and to write it off like it was nothing frankly pisses me off.

Tommy has the potential to be great representation for people who have truly educated themselves and become genuine good people by learning from their mistakes and the discrimination they caused.

There is nothing wrong with saying, hey, I messed up, I made choices that directly hurt you. I will educate myself moving forward and I will be better. All I want is acknowledgement that he knows what he did was wrong.

I say all of this a woman of color myself who very much has faced similar microaggressions (and major) like Hen has.

You don't ever forget what those people said or did. Whether they've grown or changed and become a better person. That shit sticks with you for life. Every. Single. One.

I wanna like Tommy so bad but I just...can't get past this and I refuse to.

You don't get a free pass because you were in the closet or because that was what the times were like or because everyone else was doing it. There's no excuse.

Sorry not sorry 🤷🏽‍♀️

It's 2024. We can own up to our mistakes and be okay.

I think Tommy is great for Buck. I just wish people would stop acting like he's a saint who has never done anything wrong because they're in a relationship. The relationship is a historical moment for television. I don't want them to ruin it by doing what most casually racist people do, and act like it never happened.

It's okay for someone to not be perfect. It's a fictional show, you'll be okay.

There are some people genuinely attacking other people online for holding any criticism against Tommy and it's giving very-no offense-Swiftie energy. You can like Taylor as an artist and acknowledge she made a whole ass documentary about wanting to be on the right side of history and then fails to speak up for any issues that didn't directly affect her or her image or her profits. It's white feminism.

I don't know if there's a word for white feminism like behavior for white queer characters...? But that is frankly what's happening and needs to stop because it's already gone too far.

***Please be kind in any replies or you will be blocked. I have no energy to deal with people who have the emotional capacity of an almond. <3

[andromedaexists]

the beef was between Greek and French people and slavery was the practice of the Greek (enslaved) one 💀💀 also the author is trans and queer, stop weaponizing racism where it doesn't apply lmfao tired of you white bitches

Hi there! I hope you see this and send me another ask so I can block you properly.

I was corrected on their gender by someone who saw me polite post and responded politely. I have since corrected this on my post because I will never intentionally misgender someone and will do everything in my power to correct it if I accidentally do. I do not take well to assholes like you so I'm glad to weed you out. 😊

This seems to imply a couple things that I have issue with.

Are you implying that Greek people are not people of color? Because if so, then I know a good handful of people personally who take issue with that and are discriminated against in the US where I live. People who have lived their lives being told to "speak English" and "Go back to where you come from" on the daily. People who have their ethnicity and culture used against them in their daily life as well as professions. People who have been hurt and overlooked by people like you.

Are you implying that enslavement isn't wrong if it's between two white people? I firmly believe that no one should be enslaved, regardless of skin color. And that's coming from someone who grew up poor in Appalachia with Irish ancestors. I am white. I will never know what enslavement feels like and I will never know the generational trauma like POC and specifically Black Americans do and in the same breath I would never wish enslavement on anyone of any color

Are you implying that I, a white person, can't stand up and say something when I see things that are not right? Am I not allowed to use my voice and my privilege to help others? Am I not allowed to complain about a fucking book that I do not like on my own personal platform?

Grow up and say it to my face. I will never respect a coward that can't back up their words

EDIT: I completely forgot to mention the whole "weaponize racism where it doesn't belong" thing, silly me!

Should I ignore when a white (just got more information, he is not white! he is white passing, but that is not the same as just a white person. thank you to the kind soul who educated me!) author writes a couple where the white character is the 'master' and the POC character is the 'enslaved' one? Please, feel free to educate me on this since I apparently do not know anything. I will wait 🥰

[opinated-user]

maybe an unpopular opinion but like is the puppet being a few shades darker than her really such a bad thing? like is it bad enough to call it brownfacing i mean (although its definitely a bad sign that she's just straightup lying about it being lighter than her) like, the difference isn't that big? no hate i just think jumping to such definitive terms is kind of similar to what she tends to do and its a bit of a slippery slope

if LO just had that avatar for her channel then no, it wouldn't be fair to call that brownfacing.

Ponder Sprocket for example uses a OC of her that is a dark skinned big lady as her avatar and she herself (last image i saw of her at least) is white with blonde hair irl. Ponder never even implied that she's anything close to her character and i'm sure if someone assumed so she'd be the first person to correct them. futhermore, when people criticize her or openly disagree with her, i never saw her attempting to say that she's a brown woman and people are after her for racist reasons.

there are people who do have a problem with her choosing that avatar but, all things considered, i guess we both can agree that what Ponder does is still very much different than what LO does by actually taking the identity of a "indigenous woman" and showing her (racist) idea of what her ideal of an indigenous woman is supposed to be through her avatar. that's what makes it brownface, not being a shade or many darker.

when LO shows open disregard to the notion that the Nation has to claim her, but she still want to call herself indigenous or Cherokee out of her own whims...

when LO appropiates the racialized violent discrimination that Indigenous women face, that she admits doesn't live, just to make herself more pitiful...

when LO defends blood quantum over any other measurement for belonging to a Nation...

when LO shows she has no interest on engaging with a community, a culture, and only has "native decorations" and burnt sage as evidence of her "embracing her heritage"...

when the only time LO brings the oppression of indigenous up just to refer to herself...

when she uses her ancestry to justify her bad takes about short hair in women...

when she refuses to understand the difference between race and ethnicity and how you can't belong to any ethnicity without sharing the same culture as those with it...

when she does all that and still puts a feathered earring on her avatar, that is also shades darker, also meant to be sexualized, and still won't aknowledge anything wrong or responsability about her handling of it, despite what actual Indigenous people say, that is brownfacing, anon.

rachel dolazel getting a tan and a perm wasn't blackface by itself. pretending to be black while having both those things as signifiers of blackness was.

[writingonesdreams]

Did I lose something by saying what I wanted? By saying the truth?

To be fair, I was so confident in my friendships and my choice of these people, in knowing each other for years, in being connected through our writing, that I was sure no one could fairly doubt I valued human lives and would spit any kind of discrimination based on immutable trait in the face.

So I wasn't expecting my years long friends I spend hours everyday reading the work of, turning against me with accusations of being racist and neo nazi and who knows what kind of phobe, just cause certain people looking to be angry with the world, picked me as their target.

Well, I'm a known and big writeblr with many followers. I guess I was standing out too much.

I'm sorry about ever saying sorry. I wasn't sorry, when I apologized, I felt disgusted with it, but I was still in that pitiful state of wanting to keep some friendships I loved more than I respected my dignity. Well, I learned my lesson. 1) It didn't help. Right after the apology the mob came after me to explain why it wasn't enough, why I could never make up for it, and why I should apologise more. 2) I didn't keep those stupid friendships after all. 3) No one stood up for me outside of DMs, which I kinda get, who would want to be targeted by a mob? Next time I will collect people who agree with me, true allies to the cause, who will support me through it publically as well.

Anyway, no use apologising for something you aren't and didn't do, just because someone made it up and is trying to convince you of it.

So what did I lose?

Illusions of friendship (it's ridiculous how much that person sings about friendship when she didn't manage to be a true friend when it counted)

Convenient services and friendly connections that could have worked if we just didn't know who the other was. (Well I knew. I knew for a long time. I accommodated, I adjusted, I wanted to be accepting and tolerant. Well the other party refused to be tolerant of me and my opinions. If you want to go with "with us or against us" kind of black and white mentality, then bye bye).

My belief in connecting through writing. I thought I understood and read into people's souls by reading their work. I'm a deeply analytical and intelligent person. I feel confident saying I knew my friends real well from their stories. Turns out I knew them a little better than they knew themselves. And a lot more than they are comfortable facing. Well. I'm done with people with lack of self-awareness.

The idealized picture of people I had. Some people are just so deep in their nonsensical ideology and religion of the woke that they can't fathom there are whole countries that have predominantly white population. Or that Europe doesn't care about race as America does. Or that someone might not agree with oppression hierarchies. Or that you shouldn't be writing xyz representation to score points to prove you are a good person. Or that your physical traits aren't your defining characteristics and you shouldn't introduce them as such.

Looking back at this fight I picked, this anon I gave voice to, these friends that I spend hours on everyday...I see that I won.

I won

I won, because at the end, my lovely intelligent eloquent friend I valued very much, was out of arguments, and could only muster personal attacks and declaration of intolerance towards anyone who she disagrees with. In doing so, she lost all my respect.

I won, because the friend whose writing I love so much, turned out to be fully indoctrinated into a very racist ideology that says all white people are racist from birth, from culture and unintentionally spread racism around them. That says that non-white people are less capable of achieving happiness. Bleh. She has good intentions, but wow, I'm so sorry for her.

I won, because I lost friends from similar countries as me, who feel ashamed of being white. Because they are so afraid to lose their standing as good allies to people with entitlement issues. People who only see their worth as writers and people through representation of marginalized communities they don't belong to, and therefore feel obligated to serve.

I won, became I lost people who feel like the world ownes them something just for exiting. Who feel like the demands of having to work for a living instead of gaming and writing out their fantasies are unfair and oppressive. Who would rather accept socialist dictatorships then be responsible for their own happiness in freedom.

I won, because I lost a ton of friends that weren't real. It gave me a lot of energy and space to find new friendships and let other more worthwhile people, mindsets and thoughts into my life. People who deserve me. I'm real sorry for your loss and for wasting my time on you. 

So here I'm in the open. Their goal was to shut me up. I won't. Their goal was to make me afraid with their language and theories. I don't agree with them, I oppose them. I will laugh at them as they deserve.

It didn't show me what kind of unfit audience it is here, so I will be looking for a new blogging platform anyway. But I'm grateful for what the community gave me and that it allowed me to meet some truly wonderful friends.

For that one friend for every 10 fake ones, I say thanks.

[redacted-blue]

Tumblr queers find out that kink community exists and has always been deeply untwined with queer people because even straight people who engaged in kinky sex would be ostracized as sexual deviants and so history is not and has never been black and white. And no, before anyone says it, I don’t think straight kinky people faced the same type of discrimination. However, conservatives have always been against any sex that isn’t related to procreation. So you’ve got to understand that if you start arguing that there’s only three specific ways to have proper sex and anything else is an offensive and harmful act, you are on a slippery fucking slope. I am on my knees right now begging you all to realize that queer liberation comes from all of us collectively saying “what other people do in the bedroom is of no concern to me, what other people identify as is of no concern to me. What matters to me is their character. Are they a kind person? Do they care about consent and take it seriously? Are they a good partner? Are they supportive to their friends?“

I think a lot of people on this website would benefit from hearing that back in 2011 when I was a part of my college's pride group, I was friends with a gay cis male drag queen whose roommate was a lesbian. They had sex with each other often, but it didn't stop my friend from identifying as a gay guy, nor did it stop their roommate from being a lesbian. Neither of them identified as bisexual. This kind of stuff happens between queer people of "conflicting" identities all the time, it's nothing new. There aren't any rules

[socialjusticefail]

It's interesting how in extreme leftists circles the two words Nazi and Zionist mean absolutely nothing, beyond "person I don't agree with." just that they figured out that they can now openly use zionism. It's not even like anyone is trying to make it a secret. Poc especially seem to relish in the fact that they can finally "kick out the whites" because to some of them it was always an insult that those they perceive and label as "white" would also face racism and discrimination.

Also, funny thing that "modern" racism was literally built on the fact to tell Jewish people, (and pale but not "central European" ethnicities like Slavs and the Irish) that they're not white. Like, Jewish people were always an outlier, because they're not white, your skint tone never mattered, people knew you were Jewish because there's more to it than just your skin.

People have decided that even though they'll constantly blame white people for "racism existing" (aka people using the system created to oust Jewish people), they'll kick out those that were basically the cornerstones of European racism existing the way it does/did, and then changed till now. Completely appropriating it to only fit the American standard of racial understanding, which oh just so happens to exclude Jews all of a sudden.

It's almost like a country built on insane levels of fundamental protestantism, letting those beliefs flow into every institution to the point even "non believers" follow that belief centuries later, would already have sowed the seeds for Antisemitism.

It's also laughable how people, activists, ESPECIALLY POC AND QUEER/LGBTQIA++ would dare use the "Well these Jews agree with my activism against the Jewish." Oh you for sure know that these very same people are the ones who tell you that you can't use the "But I have XYZ friends!!" would never fucking fly, but the themselves decided that it's ok when it's Jews? No fuck that, you do not get to use those arguments as a non-Jew. If this happens it's between the people affected, which is Jewish people, not some random POC or queer/lgbtqia++ person who wants to get some asspats and pretend they're not antisemitic.

I've seen POCs use terms like "blood money" as if they have any right to use the term, even as an "own" to zionists they dislike. If you're repeating antisemitic rhetoric when angry, if you feel like you're allowed to use any kind of insult, slurs and anything like that, you're an antisemite plain and simple. You do not get to wash your hands of it, no matter who you are. A non-black person calling a black person the N word in anger is just revealing their racism. A cishet person who insults a queer/lgbtqia++ person by using the F-word is just revealing their -phobia. If you use "blood money" or similar rhetoric against as Jew in anger, you're an antisemite. And nothing will change that, because that's what's deep inside you.

I feel like you identified exactly what is going on with the current discourse.