#bc he was affected by white ppl culture

[lokislytherin]

oh my god i've been so stupid this whole time i could've found steve hong's korean name by mysekf BY GOOGLINF LOOKISM IN KOREAN AND ADDING HONG AND SEEING WHAT COMES UP

it's hong kyeongyeong / gyeongyeong btw. that's what it says. trust me i can basic korean

[toytulini]

lightly defending Toshiro while also fully understanding Laois frustrations. as a bitch who let teachers call me the wrong name all through high school cos it was kinda funny

[devine-fem]

I kinda love your internalized homophobia Damian hc... It makes so much sense

In Damian's cultures homosexuality is a very "don't show,don't tell" mindset ingrained into their society. Not only in Arab and Asian culture,but brown culture as a whole. I feel like as a queer brown person I can absolutely say in this white dominated fandom,queer yt ppl dont really understand how culture will affect how you see queerness. It's not exactly a bad thing too,just a fact of life that affects queer brown ppl.

I think the only way Damian would see lgbt matters is that they're something that's there,but not as important in his mind compared to other subjects.

Like I believe Damian's VERY knowledgeable on women's rights and women's struggles not only because of how integral it is to history but because he grew up with a single mother who faced those issues in her life. You can't tell me Talia raised him otherwise- plus the only other child he had contact with was his female cousin,who undoubtedly faced such issues while Damian didnt. He would want to learn from her perspective as well,since it's a learning opportunity AND to understand his family on a deeper level.

On lgbt history however,Damian has no experience with. He understands that people have other experiences and partners than the heteronormatity he's grown up with,but he definitely wouldn't understand things like pride month. It's just something he has no experience of,so ofc he's not gonna understand.

It's just like western culture,which Damian clearly has troubled assimilating into. I know there's countries that have "lax" visions on homosexuality,but for YEARS Damian didn't even show romantic interest in girls. Why would he show interest in learning about homosexuality in his cultures if he barely sees ANYONE as romantic interests? Honestly I can see Damian looking at girls and boys similarly for years: they're just people. And Damian struggles to be vulnerable with people,no matter the sex or gender.

I also see Damian not understanding when he gradually sees boys and girls in the same way ROMANTICALLY. It'd be a very hard pill to swallow. Not only is it a whole new experience,but now he's different compared to all of his family members. AGAIN!! This hc has my heart now bc of how much it'd stick to his character struggles,and in dur time,the acceptances he'll make with them...

Tldr: yr hc is very valid and very humanizing!!

Yes, internalized homophobia Damian will always be the strongest horseman. I always write him with internalized homophobia, I mean it barely changes anything.

A lot of people scream that it’s problematic that Damian doesn’t know queer culture but it’s just not true. I fully embrace that part of his character and will always perpetuate that propaganda.

It will always be interesting breaking down any facet of Damian’s relationship with his sexuality. Some things he’s done and said in regard to his sexuality I see right for him in canon, others not so much but internalized homophobia is definitely a something that reigns supreme for me.

[dieletztepanzerhexe]

the girlies agreed that they couldnt live here for long bc they could never survive in a place in which they can't wear whatever they want: short shorts and tank tops and similar exposing stuff.

i had absolutely no problem with adjusting to dressing "modestly" bc my debilitating body image issues result in me always wearinng long sleeves and covering my legs. second of all, it's hot here and always sunny so i don't get why do they need to wear booty shorts so bad. you;re blond as fuck and white as a sheet of paper. it's 40 degrees here and the sun shines all they long, there are never any clouds in the sky, never. guess who is the only person who DIDN'T get SUNBURNED? that';s right, it's always me. even the uzbeks have sunburn, BUT NOT ME (obligary white race joke here. ppl always say something like this when they see me put on sunscreen)

also i hate the feeling of sunscreen on my skin so i just prefer to cover myself than to suffer with the slimy unplesant shit on my arms and legs, and god forbid having to put it on my back.

also policing the way of dressing is more of a countryside issue. in Tashkient women wear what they want, and i even saw couples HOLDING HANDS, and even.... KISSING. it's intesresting to see the mix the clash of different ways of living. there are women in hijabs and women in skin tight revealign dresses taking photos for instagram. fascinating.

the girlies said somethign that they can sort of excuse arranged marriages as a "cultural" thing, but can't accept being denied harmless public displays of affection (the older archaeologist was very proud of himself for bothering a random couple he saw in a park who were holding hands, he said that it's indecent and they have to behave properly) and ofc having to cover their legs and shoulders. i will never agree that that being married off to a stranger at 20yo and b*rthing ch*ldren instead of getting an education and working to be independent from any male is as bad as clothing restrictions.

[missr3n3]

My brain needs to shut up, I'm now associating Peter with the songs: Let Her Go - The Passenger || Circles - Hollywood Undead || Better Than This - Set it Off. They fit so well with his journey ughhhhh

Sooo, let's just say hypothetically, someone were to do a crossover with CDTA + RR, would you allow it?

And finally, hit me with an obscure fact about the cast from CDTA and Rotten Roots!!

Okay, bye now (can you tell that I like sending you random thoughts and questions?)

absolutely! im rly not to picky about how ppl interact with cdta honestly lol. though it would be interesting if the timeline factored into the story, since peter would b in his late 40s and sarah in her early 50s by 2009!

i'll start with rotten roots for obscure facts, n then put cdta's cast under a read more bc it's a lot bigger lol

sarah - she's absolutely atrocious at dancing, since all she ever learned to do was line dances to only the honkiest of tonk country songs 😔

peter - the one thing he actually remembered correctly about sarah's preferences is that she did like it when he wore white. she specifically complimented him on the white suit he wore to the company mixer n that still affects his outfit choices even after the Easter Incident

officer wong - she's the only non-rich member of the peace cult/christmas rejects, and got into the organization due to her connection with law enforcement being beneficial

norman - he hasn't actually told any of the other cult members that he killed his wife/peter's mom for cheating on him, since that's not ~technically~ illegal, and thus not a valid reason for their. thing.

isabelle - she's one of those people who, despite coming from an affluent background, deeply longs to be a part of the counter culture, in her case manifesting as an infatuation with hippie aesthetics. thus her extremely long hair and floral dresses

steve - i think out of everyone in the peace cult (that showed up in the christmas special anyway), he's the most purely sadistic. everyone else can as least somewhat mental gymnastics their way into justifying their cruelty, but steve just thinks hurting ppl is a fun game.

ok cdta facts lightening round:

isaac - though he's no stranger to piercings, he doesn't have any tattoos bc he doesn't think he has the pain tolerance for it

joshua - he named the rabbit plush madeline gave him Lynnie after his mom marilyn, though you couldn't get him to admit this out loud even through torture lol

jessie - she has an orange cat named sunny

madeline - she has a tumblr account and is mutuals with delilah, though neither of them are aware of this since delilah doesn't make her status as a cael devil known online

leah - she originally made the youtube channel that would become red dragon project to make death note youtube poops

sam - he's green-red colorblind

delilah - though she has a tumblr, she's much more active on reddit (because she's constantly getting into petty arguments in the comments lol)

luce - he does have a mouth even though it's only visible sometimes, and when he does open it he has 6 rows of teeth :)

cairyx - his human form alias is caleb stone

elijah - a lot of alcohol was involved the night he got his tribal tattoo

cassandra - she gets name dropped as "editor cassie" in some of elijjah's videos, which has led to her having a little bit of a fanbase of her own

anyway hope u didn't mind another essay response lol. n thank you for the music recommendations!

[sereniv]

vegans have to remember that from a non vegans perspective, we are a mariad of different definitions most of which are negative. and that within those definitions, is us being people who want to take away something that is part of their life

I think thats why ive gravitated more towards focusing on the non vegan aspect of veganism than the full on Earthling Ed approach. As in focusing on tradition, religion, and the possible and practical part instead of just trying to switch to more plant based eating.

Because its easy to spit the facts and provide resources and find alternatives, but i feel theres no active support and conversation for people who "cant go vegan". there is, but its nothing concrete and big. just individual conversations

Like someone who has a religion who requires the killing or use of an animal, or a tradition or a culture.

I just feel like these people are alienated, even though they are talked about in reference AND there are vegans who fall under that category of course. but because white/cis/straight/rich/abled types of ppl tend to get more focus, it drowns out everyone else out and even though i KNOW veganism is diverse sometimes it doesn't feel like it. then again, im only on tumblr

but i also feel the alienation can come from the non vegan too, with no willingness to have a conversation and figure these things out. but its also understandable like i said in the first paragraph.

obviously if the talk was with me, id have someone tell me their situation and it would be more about them talking and me listening, since i wouldnt be in the same identity as them and therefore cant have that "same hat" convo people have within their own community

- but also there NEEDS to be a place or network of different marginalized identities so that non vegans can talk with vegans of their same culture/religion/etc.

and i mean im just on tumblr so im limited in what i see. so maybe this exists?

idk how to explain this properly. i just never see anyone double down on these, and focus on people who's best includes animal products, like i do (not saying im better for doing that, i just feel odd one out)

i feel that the more symapthy and understanding for those situations would help drive out the people who claim to be vegan but arent. to get rid of people who try and say veganism is 100% plant based, who shit on others and are racist with their veganism.

to really drive in the importance of "possible and practical" and checking in with yourself and being honest with yourself.

idk there just needs to be...MORE.

i feel there is an emotional/mental/spiritual aspect not talked about enough.

i was watching Earthling Ed and this one guy said that the only options on campus were tofu and it was gross. now with the rest of the video, this guy probably doesnt try hard to find other options.

But i sympathize. But Ed said that theres always options and basically said that he could choose the tofu

But im thinking, what if the only option was mushrooms. I either eat that or dont eat. Now i wouldn't eat animal products, but mushrooms make me gag. I would dread looking forward to eating. it would ruin my day. it would drain me, and thus it wouldnt be practical for me to keep trying to eat it bc of them varying affects it has on my health (mentally or emotionally)

which may seem extreme, but you wouldnt get to say that someone in that situation can just suck it up. there has to at LEAST be sympathy and understanding.

now for someone else if they chose chicken instead, is it worth the life of a chicken? No, but it also shouldnt be at the expense of your wellbeing. This is why we tell people who have ED's who cant eat plant based, to focus on their wellbeing. because its all goes off of situation by situation. Its not about "the life of a chicken for aomeone who has an ED" its about doing your best within the situation you have, and to focus on doing what is necessary for you, and try and avoid unnecessary harm.

And if youve exhausted all other options then i dont think anyone can blame you. Because who is anyone to say that its possible for you to eat the tofu? Whos to say its possible for you to do something you say you cant do? We have to trust people with what they say and work with them, even if they are lying.

Thats why there needs to be symapthy and encouragement of self reflection. And to do that often. check in with yourself every month and ask if maybe you can change something that you couldn't before

idk. i just never see ppl focus on this as much as i do and i keep wondering if im like idk. wrong for it?

and to be clear, when i talk about religion or culture im talking about the individual. Because within every religion or culture i assume, there are going to be people who view it differently. Religion and culture can be personalized while also being a community. i mean cultures change and religions change and its usually bc of one person. this is NOT to say we should aim to change an entire culture or religion, just simply stating that just because someone is from a religion or culture doesnt mean they cant..idk the word..go over their views and stance and see if theres room for change. like "do i actually believe this, or would an alternative work?" and sometimes they come to the conclusion that there can be no change, and sometimes they find things they can change. both are fine

So while culture and religion as a whole are not valid reasons to cause unnecessary harm (unnecessary being individually defined. this is about animal use only), individuals within that culture or religion get to decide whether its necessary or not

Because otherwise youre talking about pushing colonialist ideas and genocide, if you are to say that killing an animal isnt necessary for someones spiritual connection to their religion or culture. Or to say that wearing an animal isnt necessary for a ceremony. Because even though a life is taken, and it might not seen necessary to you, why do YOU get to decide for that person?

2 people within the same religion can have 2 different approaches to it, 2 different views. same with culture. i mean thats how religion and culture change over years. how traditions change

I just wish there was a place where ppl could talk about that with others like them, to get out their worries and their frustrations and also help establish even, a stronger connection by finding out what truly is a necessity for them.

which sometimes will be using animals.

and i support that. and i think someone can still be vegan even if they use animals if they deem it undeniably necessary.

idk maybe ill make a discord server. bc this bugs me. no slight at any other vegans, but it bugs me that non vegans have such bad experience with veganism (whether its actual vegans or not), and i feel that connection is needed.

[cupidlakes]

Bella went through A LOT in her life, you should listen to her H3 podcast interview, even if you're not a fan, it's well worth listening to, and I hold so much respect towards her after listening to it.

okay anon you just sent me down a rabbit hole + i feel so bad for her! :( first impressions though i think ethan is being a little bit of a weirdo trying to subtly demonise her filipino culture/background bc of her parents esp when she pointed out her father was not filipino and in fact.. a white american man 💀 bc shes just trying to tell her story as prompted but he seems to want to turn it into a filipino vs american thing but i can’t tell if that’s just me being biased bc i don’t really like him at all but this is really interesting

quick sidenote: i’m not gonna lie and say i don’t personally side-eye people for a sec if they’ve served or generally show a lot of support for the military industrial complex bc i’m staunchly anti-imperialist and the us military is just.. heinous imo (i say this as someone who has family in the ME that have been affected by unjustifiable war crimes) but ik the whole thing is very brainwash-y and they intentionally recruit vulnerable ppl to give them a sense of purpose and the like + i can’t expect everyone to know or accept the leftist perspective. but yeah she’s definitely a more well-rounded person than you’d think? which really does go to show you can’t judge a book by it’s cover i guess!

[hookingminor]

gonna say a little something so y'all know my stance on the vince/nolan stuff. I wasn't going to say anything but I knew ppl would be up in my asks wondering why I'm also not "canceling" nolan too along w vince and in my opinion they are two very different cases. disregarding past tweets for a brief moment, vince used a slur last year which is inexcusable for a man well into his 20s. now, looking at both past tweets they are both bad and slurs should never be "excused" (reminder: it's not your right to excuse anything if you don't belong to a particular group) however I grew up in a society where things like racial slurs and homophobic slurs were normalized because it was a white and straight community, and I've also seen some of those same people grow up and change while others grew into adults that acted the same when they were 13. I'm not excusing nolan in any sense bc slurs are still shitty and wrong no matter the intent of them even if it was used in a joking manner to his friends rather than actually using it as a slur. but it is my decision to put him in good faith as nothing has happened since then while that is not the case with vince. he is a grown man that knows the weight of what he does and knows the gravity of slurs, especially when he noticed it right away and proceeded to tell others to attack someone for calling him out. I do not hold anything against people who decide to drop nolan as it's their right and their opinion how they deal with this situation and they're allowed to do that. vince is not the same. he used a slur last year, give it up. yes, what nolan did was wrong. yes, he should apologize for it. yes, he should still be held accountable. yes, other fans are valid in their reasonings for dropping him. no, it is not your place to dictate how others feel about it. and yes, this brings into a bigger question about hockey culture and the environment we let boys, especially white boys, grow into and our expectations of them. and also, it's not your place to speak over bipoc and lgbtq+ people when this shit directly affects them.

and a friendly reminder, we can't "cancel" anyone because there is no such thing as consequences for your actions in the nhl (re: deangelo, kane, matthews, varlamov, the list goes on etc etc) these white men are fine and will continue to be fine so shut the fuck up

[menalez]

Hello, I would like your opinion on my thoughts. Where I live, we have many Indian immigrants. The people who were able to immigrate here were at the top of the caste system in India. (There have been lawsuits about the few people in lower castes who came over being discriminated against in the workplace by those of higher castes.) What this translates to is many of the highest caste men displaying a lot of entitlement. This is saying nothing about their race, but in regards to how you grow up culturally. I assume you would agree an observer of this pattern is not racist. Correct me if I’m wrong

As you said, immigrant men are equally misogynistic as American men, they just express it differently. I agree and with porn conditioning most American men I can’t say Im sure who dehumanizes women more. I suppose the best comparison is public vs private exploitation. Anyway, would you not agree that men who have been raised in a culture where rape is more commonplace would be more likely to rape when thrust into a new culture (whether it’s a woman of their background or one of another)? Or would you say the same amount takes place and it’s just more hidden and socially acceptable (such as through coercion and grooming)?

I’m not intending to debate immigration policy or the separation of women from sons or husbands.

im going to speak on my experiences as i can’t comment on indian men. in bahrain, growing up, i had a very specific idea of rape. i remember when i was raped, my australian (of pakistani & palestinian heritage before ppl assume he’s white) friend had to sit there and explain to me how what i went through was rape. i thought that it was my fault because after my rapist said if i don’t comply he’ll do worse to me, i agreed to do some things. i had no idea that coercion is a form of rape, bc to me (and other ppl who grew up in Bahrain & countries with similar mindsets) rape is saying no the whole way through and constantly fighting and i didn’t do that. i gave up and gave in. and keep in mind, i come from a somewhat westernised and very left-wing family. so if that was MY mindset, imagine how the average person in Bahrain thinks of rape.

rape is definitely a major issue, and incredibly common. sexual harassment is even more common, and men will constantly sexually harass women and see nothing wrong with it. that’s just the mindset held here. men are raised to be entitled, even their mothers encourage this entitlement. marital rape is legal and it’s incredibly difficult to prosecute a rapist because there should be two witnesses (if both are male, if ur witness is a female u need more than 2 iirc). so there is basically no actual consequence to begin with. so men here are taught that they’re superior, that they are entitled to women, that if a woman isn’t covered then she’s asking for it, that it’s the woman’s responsibility not to get raped rather than the man’s responsibility to not rape, that coercion and grooming and marital rape and such are all a-ok and not rape. so because of all of this, a culture of rape being basically acceptable is created. women partake in this culture too, we are raised in the same society holding those same ideas so a lot of us won’t even think much of it until it affects us personally.

i can’t speak on how these men would act outside. i doubt they’d just magically unlearn that stuff on their own. i do think that services that teach migrants on acceptable behaviour and things about rape and what is rape, why it’s wrong, etc is good. even in the west, everyone in my university was put through consent classes telling us these things that many would assume is common sense (it certainly should be). many will laugh it off and call it stupid, but i think it’s necessary. even in the west there is debate on if having sex with an unconscious woman is rape. or if having sex with a drunk woman is rape. education on this is necessary in my opinion. as for who does it more, i don’t know. there are multiple factors that come into play with crime rates, and white men will often get away with more so it’s hard to say who commits more crime with that in mind. are men from more overtly misogynistic societies more likely to do such things, or are they more likely to be held accountable for it? when i looked into the crime statistics of asylum seekers, i found that German men aged 14 to 30 made up half of the perpetrators of violent crime in Germany despite only being 9% of the German population. so men of a certain age are more likely to partake in violent crime… so what does that mean for asylum seekers, when in Germany 16 to 30 year old males make up 29% of asylum seekers? what that tells us is that they’re probably behind the higher crime rate among asylum seekers, because they’re overrepresented among asylum seekers. so based on all the info i have…. i can’t say for sure. i certainly don’t think they’re less misogynistic, but it’s hard to say whether they’re MORE misogynistic and MORE violent, or if they’re just more open with their misogyny & more likely to be held accountable / caught.

[zukkacore]

Whitewashing in AtlaLok: the Western & Christian Influence on s2 of LoK

Ok, so i’m not a big brained expert on all things indigenous or even all things asian but I do think bryke's christian & western worldview seeps so far into season 2 of LoK that i think out of every season it’s by far the most unsalvageable out of everything they’ve ever done in the Atlaverse and is a very insidious kind of whitewashing. I know that sounds hefty but here’s what I mean

For the record, I’m a mixed filipino person & while there is religious diversity among filipinos, more than i think ppl realize or that the catholic majority is willing to let on, when we were colonized a large percent of the population was indeed forced to convert to catholicism so that’s my background, & i don’t know everything about taoism or the what the tai chi symbol represents but the way Bryke westernize the concept of Yin and Yang is honestly… kinda bewildering. They get so many details about yin & yang wrong?? & Yes, it’s possible they could’ve been trying to create their own lore that differentiates itself from the traditional depictions of Yin & Yang, but in the end i think it doesn’t matter b/c the lore they invent is a very obviously western interpretation of the concept of “balance”.

The most important and honestly worst change they make is that concepts of “light” and “dark” are completely oversimplified and flattened to represent basically “good” and “evil” (which, the light and dark side are a bit more complex than representing just “peace/order vs. Chaos” like the show might imply but we don’t even have time for that, but is funny how they get the genders wrong. Like. Traditionally, light is usually coded masculine and dark is usually coded feminine, but never mind that, that’s just a tangent). This really simplifies the nuance of the s2 conflict and makes it a lot less interesting, not to mention just—misrepresents a very real religious philosophy?

And for the record, a piece of media going out of its way to do "the show, don’t tell" thing of stating in the text that “oh, light and dark are not the same thing as good vs. evil” without actually displaying that difference through the writing is just lip service, and its poor writing. A lot of pieces of media do this, but i think s2 of LoK is particularly egregious. The point of this philosophy of balance is that you aren’t supposed to moralize about which side is “good” or “bad”, or even really which one is “better” or “worse”. Even if the show states the concepts are not interchangeable, if the media in question continually frames one side (and almost always its “chaos/darkness”) as the “evil” side, then the supposed distinction between “light vs. dark” and “good vs. evil” is made moot. And besides the occasional offhand remark that implies more nuance without actually delivering, Vaatu is basically stock evil incarnate.

This depiction of conflict as “defeating a singular representation of total evil” isn’t solely christian, but it is definitely present in christian beliefs. And I think those kinds of stories can be done well, but in this case, in a world filled entirely of asian, Pacific Islander & inuit poc, to me it feels like a form of subtle whitewashing? B/c you’re taking characters that probably wouldn’t have christian beliefs, and imposing a christian worldview onto them. Not to mention removes what could have been an interesting conflict of any nuance and intrigue… and honestly, sucks, because I do think s2 has the bones of an interesting idea, mostly b/c there are potential themes that could’ve been explored—I know this b/c they were already explored in a movie that exists, and it’s name is Princess Mononoke! It has a lot of the same elements—tension between spirits and humanity, destruction of nature in the face of rapid industrialization, moral ambiguity where there are no easy or fast answers and both sides have sympathetic and understandable points of view. (Unsurprising b/c Miyazaki is Japanese & Japanese culture has a lot of influence from Buddhism, Taoism, Shintoism, etc)

Bryke’s western & christian worldview also totally seeps into the characterization of Unalaq, the antagonist of the season which is a real problem. I’m in the middle of rewatching s2 right now and what struck me is that….. Unalaq comes across kinda ecofash AND fundamentalist which is 1) seems like an odd combination but maybe it really isn’t? 2) i think is a really tacky choice considering that the water tribes take the majority of its inspiration from inuit and polynesian indigenous cultures.

I honestly forgot abt this but Unalaq gives this whole lame speech abt how the SWT & humans as a whole suck b/c of their lack of spiritual connection & it was really eerie to me b/c "humans are morally bankrupt and they must be wiped out/punished for their destruction of the environment" is total ecofash logic bc it blames all of humanity for damage caused by those in power—be they capitalists or whoever. It’s a worldview that blames the poor and powerless for something they have no say in, and has real eugenics undertones bc with every implication of culling, there has to be someone who appoints themself the job of culling—of who is and isn’t worthy of death.

This belief also struck me as......... kinda christian in it's logic as well which is WEIRD b/c once again........ their cultural inspirations are DEFINITELY not christian...... The whole "man is inherently evil and must spend their whole lifetime repenting/must face punishment for it’s wickedness" thing and the way that christianity treats humanity as born with original sin or inherently corrupt—as well as above or separate from nature are really stronger undertones in Unalaqs worldview....... which isn't really an indigenous way or thinking.

I'm generalizing of course but from what I have seen from the indigenous people who speak on this is that (feel free to point out or correct me if i’m mostly generalizing abt Native Americans and not other indigenous cultures & there are some differences here) is that while native tribes are not monolithic and do vary wildly, there are a lot of common threads and that reverence and respect toward nature and your surroundings is an important tenant of indigenous beliefs. (I specifically remember the hosts on All My Relations saying essentially that we humans are a part of nature, we are not separate from it, and humans are not superior to animals—I’m paraphrasing but that is the gist of it)

So, yeah, I think it’s just really distasteful to write an indigenous character who is characterized in a way that’s way more in line with a christian fundamentalist & wants to bring about a ragnarok style apocalypse end of the world when that isn’t really a tenant of our beliefs? (btw, the way the end of the world is framed is also kinda fucked up? If i were being charitable, I could say that maybe s2’s storyline is a corruption of the hindu depiction of the end of the world, but even that sounds mildly insulting for reasons I won’t get into b/c i am Not The Expert On Hinduism. I will say that once again, the framing of the concept is all wrong, the show views the idea of apocalypse through a very western lense)

To wrap this up, I think the depiction of Unalaq could *maybe* work b/c he is the antagonist, so someone who strays from the NWT cultural tradition in a way that makes his view of morality more black and white wouldn’t be a *horrible* idea for the bad guy of the season. Especially because the introduction of capitalism to the A:TLA universe could probably cause a substantial shifts to… idk, everything i guess, b/c capitalism is so corrosive. Like. Sometimes people are just traitors. I do think it would be interesting to portray the way capitalism manifests in a society without white christians. Like… I do think there are a lot of ways secular christianity and capitalism are interlinked. But Unalaq is not portrayed as an outsider, he’s portrayed as hyper-traditionalist in a way that’s vilified? I guess rightly so, he does suck, but it’s just hard to conceptualize how a person like Unalaq comes to exist in the first place. In the end, I don’t really think it makes sense, in a world without white people, I don’t really know where this introduction of black and white christian morality would even come from in the avatar world?

TL;DR, Bryke applying western christian morality & world views to non-white characters in a world where white people have NEVER existed to affect our beliefs is a subtle form of white-washing. It imposes simplified “good vs. evil” world-views & cultural beliefs onto its characters. Any attempt to represent or even just integrate our actual beliefs into the A:tla lore are twisted and misrepresented is a way that is disrespectful and saps out any nuance or intrigue from the story, and alienates the people its supposed to represent from recognizing themselves within the final product. And Finally, on a more superficial story level, these writing choices clashe with the already existing world of ATLA--and is honestly just poor world-building.

[newjenns]

He's only 2 years older than you and he's a gay man, why are you sounding like Black people in this fandom who hear other black people have a different opinion and act like their opinion isn't valid because it's an opposing take despite being in the group affected by it?

And no, cancer DOES affect a community, and it's fucking terrifying with how personal of a history it has to Black people like me. I hold my own opinions on Velvet's take, but you're sounding just as fucking insensitive to insinuate that there's no heavy connotation for cancer as there is AIDS. Same with anyone else who agrees with that fucking take.

first i’m not a fan of the “listen to [insert minority] voices about [insert topic]”, exactly because there can be so many differing opinions and the idea of “community” doesn’t really exist. just bc velvet is a gay man trying to compare apples to oranges doesnt make it not a bad take and blaming ppl who are criticizing sapnap on cancel culture is a bad take. and i’m not attacking some random stan for liking and defending sapnap, velvet is a content creator who can be criticized just like the rest of them

second, i am mixed race and i’ve mentioned this several times (black, taino, and white). i am aware that cancer will effect lower class people the hardest and the experiments done throughout history on black bodies with no recompense to their families. however, cancer is understood as having the potential to effect everyone and everyone knows someone who has had cancer and is not associated with any particular group. doesn’t mean that the rates aren’t higher for certain groups more than others but the mainstream and (to my knowledge) historical association with black people is just not there the way it is for aids and gay people.

[peonycats]

I'm not sure what that other anon is referring to abt Chinese social media bc I've checked APH China on Weibo and a lot of mainland Chinese fans themselves do see him as cunning, which accounts for his longevity. However I think we need to be balanced and avoid extreme categorical statements like "oh he's evil" (I saw this several times, not by u ofc) bc that feeds the Yellow Peril narrative, and he represents 1.4 billion human beings. This is what's causing backlash from some people.

I’m gonna level with you, anon. I’m a bit frustrated with you right now: you spend a lot more time and energy coming up with reasons and justifications on why the previous anon might have been reasonably offended than you spend on talking about the gatekeeping and exclusionism the previous anon spewed towards me.

I agree that there are some people who go out of their way to demonize specifically Yao, or even reduce him solely to the big bad. I've talked about this in my posts numerous times before, how I concur that some negative portrayals of Yao are in bad faith and perpetuate stereotypes. However, even with all of this acknowledgement, this anon somehow chose to send this very hateful, very vitriolic ask specifically towards me, someone, who as you state, is very careful to avoid such simplistic labels like "evil." It makes me think that no matter what I say, the anon doesn't care.

After all, I do find it extremely strange that someone who claims to stand up against racism and sinophobia ends up policing the identity of Chinese ppl, and telling them what is and what is not being a "real Chinese person," reacting with insults and anger when chinese ppl don't align with that. Even if people were doing horribly offensive things with Yao, that still doesn't make it okay for anyone to degrade and insult other ppl's identities and cultures, accusing them of being a "self-hating" Asian who only wants to please the white man.

All of this leads me to believe that the anon doesn't actually care about Chinese people, how they're affected by racism, or any number of issues Chinese ppl care about. They're only looking for a moral reason to take down character interpretations they don't like.

[bisluthq]

I've been drowning in uni work for the past days so I've been offline until now and daaaaaaaamnnnnnnn. This totally deserves to be questioned and criticized. We can't treat famous rich people like they can only be gods or devils because there's a lot of ground in between and no one is perfect, but especially it's wrong to blindly defend these people when their actions usually have a strong impact on the cultural trends that arise in societies. This objectively looks like white rich people riding off their privilege. Lots of extremely talented people work hard for years to even get a record label contract and then work even more to even score a Grammy nomination, let alone an AOTY win. So even if you're a talented instrumentalist and songwriter/lyricist, it's just not fair to go from "doesn't have any producing/songwriting credit history, unknown in the music industry, and has never worked on a record" to "AOTY Grammy winner". There's so many levels between those two stages and people actually work very hard to expand their musical/writing abilities and the cultural impact of their work in order to get recognition from the Recording Academy, which is the highest most valuable form of recognition a musical artist can get. People are supposed to earn this type of honor through hard work and talent, not because they live with a very succesful and recognized artist and therefore have easy access to jump all the levels and contribute to their record.

Like don't get me wrong. Joe obviously has musical formation and is skilled as an instrumentalist, that's just a fact. They were in quarantine in the same house and there were instruments (we know he plays music for fun), one day he sat at the piano and came up with a fun chorus for a song, Taylor was there and got inspired to write a song based on what she heard. Does he deserve credit for this creative contribution? Yes fair enough, he came up with the lyrics and the music. Then one other day he came up with a cool low melody on the piano, Taylor was there, got inspired to write lyrics over that and so Exile came to be. Does he deserve credit for that too? Yeah fair enough he came up with the melody. I believe her completely on this because unlike some "fans" I refuse to think she would lie about someone writing in a song, even if it's just one line.

Did he contribute significantly to the production of the album? That's definitely a possibility, he's artistic, he was there, and he even wrote on these songs. I'm not saying that didn't happen. But formally being credited for this several months after the album came out and after said album won a Grammy? And being credited only on enough to be elligible for a trophy, after it is known that said album won? Not fair or cool.

Maybe he really did contribute that much to the album (that's what the Academy's website is saying 🤷🏻‍♀️), but they both knew everyone would question this if they made it public bc there's no way it doesn't look nepotistic and that would negatively affect their campaign to win awards bc ppl would only focus on that. WB was credited on just 2 songs and ppl made it all about that🙄They didn't want this body of music and art to be overdshadowed by Taylor Swift's boyfriend being a part of it, which I kinda get bc ppl love to hate on her and discredit her and I do think her and Aaron wanted this to be about the art. And if they didn't win anything, they would've suffered that dragging (which tbh would've been a fucking NIGHTMARE) for nothing. So they "hid" his credit to avoid this being an isssue and decided he would only get the credit after the Grammys were over, so as to not draw attention to it. Well, hiding information is still dishonest and low-key unethical Taylor. I would love an explanation and even if it's the one I gave above, I would would like producer Joe to elaborate on his contributions. Unless the fucking Grammy trophy was actually a gift to him like some of you are suggesting, which would reduce this whole situation to absolutely pathetic and embarrasing. Her doing this sneaky shit for him just bc she loves him is the most dissapointing possible scenario to me. So I really hope he produced on this album as much as they're claiming he did.

What shocks me the most is how tf did the Recording Academy agree with this?!?!?! Like did she make some sort of deal with them where they knew Joe was submitted as a producer but they didn't show this information? Did she give them solid proof that he really did so much for this album and they agreed to give him the credit after the Grammys? Maybe these rich people eventually drown so deeply in their privileges that morality fades to the background. I don't speak their language, maybe this type of nepotism is normalized and aceptable to them. Dissapointing but unsurprising I guess. Maybe Taylor is a much shittier person than I thought and after this I do think it's possible that she's been consciously queer baiting to profit from a marginalized community. I really hope I'm wrong tho and I really hope Joe really worked his ass off on this album coz ewww otherwise.

~🇨🇷OG CR Anon

Good thoughts here.

[jentlemahae]

Oh, yeah, sometimes the artists’ ideology does affect their craft, but that’s where critical thinking and death of the author come into play. Critical thinking because even if the artist wholeheartedly meant every single shitty thing they included in the art, the consumer can still consume being fully aware that that content is evil, or realize it’s evil as they consume it.

Like, I’ve read Mein Kampf, and I’m definitely not a fucking nazi. I didn’t read it because I was one nor did I become one after reading it, I was, frankly, curious. And when I finished the book I was like “Jesus fucking christ how did most people read this shit and not see the holocaust coming from a mile away”, and the key point here is that some people, even at the time, read the book, saw what Hitler was doing, and put it all together and tried to warn others. And others didn’t. Some exercised critical thinking.

And then death of the author operates by interpreting the contents of a text without caring about the author’s circumstances or explicit intentions, which doesn’t mean “separate art from author” as most people seem to think, but rather that the only true ideas in a text are those which are contained within it, not the ones one might adscribe to it due to their knowledge of the artist’s life circumstances or attitudes. For example, art be racist without intending to be (Dune, the novel, does not set out to be racist, but it still reads as deeply offensive towards brown poc, because at the time… it was part of the intrinsic white mindset. The author did not set out to actively talk shit about dark people, but he ended up doing it by accident). Anyways, even if a piece of art is created with evil intentions to be evil, it is still possible to consume it without endorsing its contents. (Sorry for the long ass ask, this is ps anon btw, I’m just always fascinated by this kind of discussion 😂)

i personally wouldnt feel comfortable reading mein kampf but i do understand your point, bcs it’s actually a discussion we had back in high school with my lit/history teacher! i personally wouldnt feel comfortable reading it as im not jewish, but i get the point you’re bringing up (also idk whether youre jewish or not, so idk via which perspective ur approaching the text)

but yeah i also understand your other point! tho i think it depends on how u consume it (eg are u just doing it in private or are u like praising it to others are recommending it + are u financially supporting the artist by purchasing the art), but yeah i agree that sometimes the art doesn’t directly endorse the artist’s ideology. it’s a grey area tho bcs i think it depends on how u approach the art, bccs some ppl think that taking into account the historical/cultural background is important, while others solely consume the text directly (like u said)

[leoalcrights]

Have you seen ELEANOR ALBRIGHT? LEO is in HER SOPHOMORE year. The BUSINESS MAJOR is 20 years old & is a VIRGO. People say SHE is CLEVER, INQUISITIVE, NARCISSISTIC and COLD. Rumors say they’re a member of CALLOWAY SOCIETY. I heard from the gossip blog that SHE LEFT HER FRIEND TO DROWN IN A LAKE AFTER HE OVERDOSED ON OXYCODONE AND CONSPIRED IN FRAMING IT AS A SUICIDE SO SHE WOULDN’T GET CAUGHT UP IN AN INVESTIGATION. 

tw: drowning, tw: death, tw: alcohol, tw: drugs, tw: suicide tw: grief

hi u guys !!!! my name’s nina (she/her), and i’m sososo excited to meet/rp with all of you :’)) below i’m gonna list some things about leo and whatnot and yea!!!

so eleanor ‘leo’ albright was adopted by new york senator, lucas albright and his celebrity socialite wife, harriet valentine at age 6, born initially to a single mother and then having grown up in foster care until the albrights adopted her

leo had a very confusing childhood, to say the least

although she knew she wasn’t the “outcast” within her adoptive family, she couldn’t help but feel that way

she never mainly knew why she was adopted? Considering her parents were never necessarily affectionate towards her, she ultimately concluded that her adoption was a ploy to make her parents seem charitable and as if they were do-gooders, having adopted a child from a “broken” background to give them a better life

ALSO to add to the confusion, leo faced a lot of identity issues culturally considering she only grew up around.............white people

but anyway !! leo was not only trying to make her parents proud as she was growing up, but she was also vying for their love and affection in the ways she figured would work… always looking perfect, getting perfect grades, overall being the ideal child

the opposite of what her wildcard sister darby did

leo tried to follow in her brother’s footsteps, but no matter how hard she tried, she would never be able to garner the attention that her father endlessly gave him

nothing was ever enough -- her mother was very caught up in her own problems with alcoholism and her father, as said before, was too infatuated with james to pay leo much mind

of course, her parents proudly showed her off at public events and social gatherings, but that, as we know, doesn’t equate to love and affection

regardless of how leo felt, the media ate this up… she became somewhat of the “golden child” in new york’s elite society

this lead to leo becoming a narcissist in the lowest of keys

since she couldn’t get the adoration she craved from her parents, she looked to the media to give it to her

at 14, right before she was about to enter high school, the real golden child of the family, her older brother james, passed from a brain tumor

not being able to cope with the suffocating environment that her household had now created, leo somehow persuaded her parents to permit her to attend knollwood boarding school in connecticut (one of the most prestigious in the country)

leo, being incredibly bright, naturally excelled at pretty much everything in high school. she always made most top honor roll, captain of the soccer team, and was the editor-in-chief for her school’s newspaper

that being said, the girl quickly fell into the more popular, exclusive, elite crowd

it made sense, right? the girl was wealthy, beautiful, smart, acerbically witty, and came from quite the influential family

leo became the definition of “work hard, play hard” – weekdays, she’d be holed up in her dorm or the library studying, and weekends, she’d be popping percs and blacking out (and of course, she only partied with those who would have just as much to lose as her… that’s how she stayed out of scandals)

flash forward to her senior year of high school, it was time to apply for college, leo (to no one’s surprise) was accepted into the business school at yates university

june came around and leo, like the rest of her peers, considered herself invincible – the world was her oyster and she was about to go and pave her way in it

one night, leo and her friends decided to spend the night at a member of their crew’s lake house

of course, they got a little rowdy with a whole assortment of drugs and alcohol

one thing led to another, and one of her good (and highly intoxicated) friends fell off the edge of the dock and into the lake

this sent everyone, especially leo, into a frenzied panic

she claimed someone had to save him or that they had to go to the police or something until somebody else said it would be easier to assume he was dead/let him drown because if they went to the police, they would get be drug tested and face more significant consequences… she namely remembers hearing, “why should we suffer for his mistake?”

of course, they had to do more to cover their tracks… one of leo’s close friends suggested they frame the drowning into looking like a suicide. and they did. leo, having an incredible talent for imitating anyone’s penmanship and beautiful words, was pressured into forging the note. and she did. she heard it, her own words as someone else’s, read at his funeral.

and that shit haunts ! her !

anyway, leo moved forward with life (or tried) and never spoke to her parents, a therapist, her friends, anyone about the incident. she prays that one day, she’ll forget about it

doesn’t help that her parents never really spoke to her about it (or speak to her) in general

rly homegirl needs some therapy

but ANYWAYSJAKJS 

the thought of attending yates was indeed the only thing that kept leo going through the summer after her senior year… like she honestly swore to herself that things would be different because they had to be, right??

that being said, leo does not party as much as she used to because she sort of associates alcohol and party drugs with that night… but that doesn’t go to say she NEVER parties anymore

like when she does… she goes hard. probably too hard. but she tends to steer clear of hard drugs now bc of her mother & sister and overall it’s just not rly her thing now ........ growf perhapth

she’s also pretty reserved and keeps to herself ...... like she’s still social and talks to ppl and has a lot of surface level friendships but . she doesn't rly share her thoughts and opinions mostly bc of her father essentially telling her ppl don't care ab what she has to say like that HDSJHDSJ fuck lucas albright rights

also… leo doesn’t necessarily have a passion for business? tbh she’s really doing it to appease her father because “an investigative journalist isn’t a fit career path for someone of your prestige, eleanor”

ANYWAY, as a result of all she’s gone through, it is quite difficult for her to make like sincerely deep connections because she’s either afraid of being used or losing people.. she kinda cold..... but shes mad eloquent and polite and hardly ever like Mean to people unless she has a reason to be

but ! if you do win her over, she’ll remain loyal to you for the rest of time and will genuinely always have your back

random facts: shes a very avid reader ..... n for some reason was rly into shakespeare at one point idk..... 

also like a pretty good cook? idk pt 2

ok that's all i fink

but that’s pretty much it !!! i lowkey need to tweak and whatnot but here’s the gist of my little trash child leo :`) if you wanna plot slide into my dms or like this and i’ll go to you!!!! okay thank u love u bye

[caatws]

alright this is gonna be a HOT take and is kinda old but i just. cannot let this go...

i love p*raltiago. love their relationship, their dynamic, jake and amy separately as individual characters. but what the ever-living fuck was that whole deportation shit 3 weeks ago?

you’re telling me, this ship is supposed to be built on mutual respect, love, and understanding - in an intercultural, interracial context, bc jake is very white passing (and has called himself white at least once or twice i believe? even tho he’s jewish) and amy is latina - when jake just fuckin. deports someone without a second thought?

i mostly view the writers as the problem here, obviously. jake and amy aren’t real. the writers choose what to do. but i’m also frustrated by the fandom’s own lack of cultural literacy to consider this as well.

amy deserves better. the writers did not show jake feel true remorse for his actions - if anything, he felt bad that he intervened in charles’ drama, not that he deported someone - and to think this kind of careless man who benefits from white passing privilege with the power to deport others is married to someone from a racial group who is disproportionately affected by this current issue in the u.s.? bad bad bad.

have you guys even considered amy could have had family members deported? known ppl who have been deported? been told by white ppl - ppl who look just like jake fucking peralta - to “go back to her own country”? (not to mention this could apply to rosa as well. or any other poc character on the show. bc ICE only fucks w poc soooo.)

after that ep, i can’t help but be sick and tired of seeing constant praise for p*raltiago 24/7 on here. yeah, i contribute, yeah, i reblog some shit abt them here and there.

the fact that no one has considered this element as to why that deportation gag was so fucked up just goes to show either the ignorance of the fandom (which, tbf, is expected with anyone unfamiliar of the current injustices undocumented ppl [”dreamers”] are facing atm - and have faced for decades) or the blatant choice to just. completely ignore this and HOW FUCKING DISRESPECTFUL THIS WAS TO AMY!!! TO ROSA!!!!! TO HOLT AND TERRY AND COUNTLESS FANS OF COLOR IN THE U.S.!!!!!! or even to, i don’t know, THE ENTIRE FUCKING CAST OF THE SHOW WHO LITERALLY HELD A CHARITY SHOW TO FIGHT FAMILY SEPARATION AT THE BORDER????

you can’t hail jake as the Perfect, Loving Husband without acknowledging the fact that he willfully and lightheartedly participated in a practice that the government weaponizes against ppl who look like his wife. nope nope nope. i refuse to let y’all just ignore or forget that.