#bcs that means we're pretty similar in thinking. intelligence

[everlywindex]

i like to think that after everything finn puts a lot of effort into sticking up for and befriending the bullied loner kids at school

(we're back in business baby! enjoy yet another post-midnight TBP ramble by yours truly!! >:D)

idk i just feel like that phone call with griffin was kind of a wake up call for him because, well, finn felt alone too. robin and gwen really seem to have been his only friends and the only other attention he generally got from his peers was, well, y'know. The ruthless bullying

and i think he'd realize that griffin didn't have anyone like robin or gwen while he was alive. and i can see finn taking it upon himself to Be that kind of presence in the lives of kids whose shoes he used to be in. whose shoes griffin used to be in

bc griffin deserved to have that. but he didn't. so finn's gonna make sure no other kid like him ever has to feel invisible again

it's poetic really because i see this being a sort of continuation of a cycle that started with robin, someone finn always really looked up to

i see robin as someone who would always stand up for kids that didn't have the confidence to stand up for themselves, and even if i don't really think that's how he and finn Became Friends, i do think it lead to robin having quite a few other loner kid buddies Like finn who probably also became targets for bullying once again after robin's disappearance.

i think he's always wanted to be the kind of person to stand up and fight for others and it gave him this kind of reputation of "yeah robin's scary if you're on his bad side but if you aren't a dick he's probably like the most reliable dude you could talk to if you have a problem with bullies or whatever" y'know

of course i still think his dynamic with finn is definitely very special in comparison to other kids robin's stood up for. Mostly bc of how the narrative frames their bond as Being something special especially during the final call

but my point is just that i don't think finn is the Only Other Kid who robin ever made a point in routinely standing up for and i like to think he's relatively popular among pretty much all of the kids who. Aren't the ones that he gets into fights with lol

he's not just a protector but also a ride or die friend who doesn't judge strength based on pure physical brawn alone, recognizing resilience and bravery as just as important and even more respectable! he's a lot more compassionate and emotionally intelligent than people tend to give him credit for and it's one reason why he's my fave

and i think that this reputation of his means that his disappearance left an undeniable void and a lack of support for anyone he used to stand up for. as i said earlier, i don't think finn was the only kid who was "under robin's protection" so to speak and a lot of other kids probably also had to deal with suddenly becoming targets for bullying again once robin was no longer around

so i just think it's a really sweet way to conclude that arc if, post basement, finn steps into a that similar kind of role for robin. once the protected, now the protector, lending a hand to kids with similar struggles just like a close friend once did for him

i think there are a lot of little ways he tries to let the ghost boys' legacies continue through himself and this is just one special little headcanon for that which i find very sweet and nice :)

[lesbianpoptartsphd]

Im about to be fr. I'm a lil sapiosexual. And I didn't know there was a word for it until this moment. You gotta hear me out. It'll sound very rick and morty esque right. Like, "To be fair you have to have a really high IQ to comprehend --" ass shit. But hear me out. It's an attraction to people romantically/sexually based on intellect/intelligence. Not just finding yourself attracted to people who are intelligent, but prioritizing/valuing intellectual connection with people in your relationships bc that is a primary means in which you find yourself developing romantic loving & desire feelings for people!

I have always felt the primary means of my connection with people started in the mind & being on the same page intellectually, and ppl I can have intellectual conversations with I feel connected to in a different way - connected being the operative word. There is something weirdly (but lovingly) sexual about meeting minds like that, and the studying of that person and that mind to understand where they're coming from. Not that I don't like my friends or ppl I become into who I have shared stuff or similarities or just fun vibes with that fall outside of that, but tbh if we're not meeting minds then it'll never be all "me" showing up there in a way that is satisfying to me in my romantic/sexual endeavors. Fun is fun, but it's not the same as fulfillment, and it's not the same as excitement, and it's fun sometimes bc it's silly and stupid - which there's not a thing wrong with. It's just when I have the kind of relationship style with someone where it is a lot of being able to talk/share earnestly, and not have to have the silly dial turned on all the time, well. Yeah it's fucking awesome to have. And I find myself opening up more in those dynamics. Pursuing a kind of authenticity that feels safe because I feel grounded. And I don't know that I can find myself feeling as vulnerable & truthful, as honest & real as I want to show up. If I can't talk about complexity in ideas and have productive conversations & if it's clear that other person has no interest in like, trying to meet minds on that level, meaning they don't really add much or care enough to learn to be able to add much, then. I'm sorry but it'll always be just a lil too superficial for me to ever think me and that person could have anything going on to make a relationship work.

When I do have the mental connection, I don't know why, but it also makes me FEEL LEGITIMATELY LIKE A SLUT Like bro I. It activates the weird part of my "shut up and 🥴🤤" part of my brain. And I've long felt a little weird or stitled for legitimately feeling aroused from when people EXPLAIN things to me lmfao. Or I hear them talk extensively about their thoughts & they're really further thought-provoking and interesting ideas and stuff, and they can phrase it so well and thread different concepts or metaphors through it, or in their stories, that it feels like witnessing a profound lesson or they're infodumping about their niche passion.... And dude seriously, that's deeply attractive. I would legitimately watch a fucking deep dive video essay or something with somebody aa foreplay ahahahhaha we turn that on, i'm getting turned on. They pause it to add their own thoughts and then i'm gonna pause it so i can smooch them.

But it's more than that! It's how they talk, too! It's how when they talk they can't help but *teach* you too, and they get so excited to do that for stuff they know a lot about. And then their tone can take on a degree of great depth and seriousness once they're deep in it, and that's deeply romantic. And to pivot away from their special interests and stuff - people who are able to have pretty nuanced intellectual conversations about just kinda any topic you broach or even on a whim in random conversations and stuff, who demonstrate a lot of self-awareness & desire to learn and understand and have their mind be opened/changed, people who pursue their own intellectual interests outside of anything they "have" to and consciously make deliberate efforts to know more and understand deeper. Bro. Bro. It's joever.

There's a kind of intensity + spark associated with it, and a straightforward kind of bluntness often times to their ability to accurately comment on something and just say it. Or because they are just locked into explain mode. Or they are really feeling the weight of what they're thinking about and talking about or their mental wheels are really goin. Or they just speak really matter of factly. Or can't help but to respond to something with a really strong sense of stoicism that looks like intensity bc they'll just answer your questions or respond to your statements really like, genuinely, because they know better, and they value the perspective you're coming from, and that you may be able to add on a topic that maybe rings resonant for them. And when you're on the same wavelength of when you're both knee deep in a conversation about something, the kind of electric undercurrent of their mind racing and your mind catching up and the shifting gears and then they way you can see in BOTH your eyes when you are thinking the same thought ---- BROOOOO it's HOOOTTTTTTTT.

I feel all the feelings I wanna feel sexually/romantically from that in a desire way! Feeling kinda submissive, and a desire to almost be a little 'babied' as they're so patient to help me understand something, and their having a very blunted affect that feels a little dominant but super grounding and reassuring and frankly relaxing to be in the presence of that melts through not just in everyday but in a sexy context too. But also! In a happy romantic/friend way, I love the feeling of falling deeper in that sense of love bc it's like falling down the rabbithole, and being relaxed enough to just speak your thoughts at any time & they will listen and even if your thoughts are not "intellectual" in nature or in service to some kind of discussion, you know they're the type to take in everything they hear. You know whatever they take in, they think about, and they maintain a level of curiosity & appreciation for learning. And oh my fucking god I'm sorry I just feel like I've cracked an important code here because I think about the times in my life I've experienced this & it really has been in very unforgettable + meaningful relationships (whether platonic or romantic).

Please lord let me marry a smartypants lol

[lizzibennet]

1/2: Genuine question: do u have advice for USAmericans on empathy w/o condescension? ik you reblogged a post about how Americans only ever seem to care about THEIR issues/POV. But at the same time, ik you talked about your frustration with Americans acting as though other countries are the only ones with issues, or going "it must be hard to deal with X" as though we're above it. A lot of the time, I wanna be sympathetic to a friend, but I DON'T want to come off like I'm implying that I'm better

(2/2) bc i often worry that if i clarify stuff and go "oh and idk if you know, but [american thing] is...." or "oh, are you familiar with [american thing]?" that it's patronizing? i don't want to necessarily treat friends from other countries like i expect them to know less, but ofc, i don't also want to be so american-centric that i assume everyone always knows what i mean. and likewise, i want to be sympathetic if i see a friend's country in the news, but NOT come off as patronizing by asking

this is a delicate question simply bc i’m sure most of the time you don’t even realize what you’re doing or why you come off as patronizing so i’m going to try my best to explain why it comes across aas such and from there it might be easier for you to consider what u say. so the “it must be hard to deal with X” is condescending when it’s not directed at a person necessarily, it’s not an expression of empathy but an assertion about a fault that the us has too. it’s the insistence on pointing the finger at a “lesser” country for having this fault that is apparently so grave but the reluctance to accept that your country has that exact same issue that is bothersome, almost as if it’s only an issue when it’s convenient to make another culture seem worse than it is. like one that happened very recently to me was in a group of us friends in which i’m the only brazilian (really, i’m the only one of two out of like 20 who doesn’t live in the usa) they were like “yeah brazil is dealing with shit with a fascist leader” in a conversation i wasn’t online for and when i saw it later i was like. so you think your leader isn’t a fascist, huh, but mine is. to be clear- it’s not that i’m uncomfortable that he’s being referred to as a fascist, he is one, it’s that that word is never used towards trump in that group, even though my friends are WokeTM and definitely anti-trump. even then, they are reluctant to concede that their country is also a shithole in many senses that mine is, too. imagine that- a brazilian comparing their country to the us! the sacrilege! it’s that feeling i get. there was this time when we were talking about something politics related and i said something about trump and one of these friends was like “well it’s not like you can say much with bolsonaro in power” and it’s like. that’s not untrue but why bring bolsonaro in the picture? so i can’t discuss politics because my president sucks? that gives me more reason to be engaged in it, not less. why are you incapable of admitting fault in the us? and that is because even the Wokest of americans has it ingrained in their brain that the us is the greatest country in the world. so i’d suggest you monitor that reaction- when someone shit talks your country, is your first reaction to deny? to deflect? this is what i’m talking about:

so “non americans” (south americans, central americans, mexicans and canadians are still americans, so following this line of thot we can still tell you shit about america because we do, in fact, live in it but whatever) can’t tell you your country is horrible, even though it IS. why? we’re told that our country is shit, that our culture is wrong, that our beauty actually isn’t beauty, that our traditions are weird from the moment we’re born. why can’t you bear to hear that hey, your government is corrupt and horrible and your institutions treat people like shit? that’s not even specific to the us, that’s capitalism 101. why does it bother you that a “non american” points that out? because deep down you only think a “better” country could be critical, and deep down you still believe the us is the greatest country in the world. this person would never admit that they think this because they have a colonialist mindset that is, by default, racist as all hell, but that is in fact why “non americans” especifically telling them shit bothers them. they’re speaking about perceived injustice without realizing the place of privilege they’re in. this person above is like “if what the us is doing is directly affecting your country by all means speak up” as if the only countries affected by the us are the ones with troops stationed, as though that’d shut up the rest of us, showing they actually know shit about their own history and how it affects others’. i’m using this example because look at the retweets! people agree with this because they’re not aware and they live in comfortable ignorance, and it’s this ignorance you will have to go against- it will NOT be comfortable to you and you’ll wish you could be like “hey i suffer too” which isn’t the point, you know, the point is that your privilege actively hurts other people and to act like it’s an independent entity from how you interact with other people is disingenuous

to go “oh idk if you know this but” is definitely patronizing bc like a person from a “third world” country who is even minimally well informed knows, i assure you. if you would expect a local friend to know, chances are that if it’s a country-wide issue we will know, too. we probably won’t know about the particularities of your town’s mayor, but we will know about the bill that was passed that affected your state and about the protests in your city because we watch the news too, and world wide news is about fifty-fifty local news and international news (which, to you, “international” news would just be your local news). “are you familiar with x” is fine to ask imo but one thing that is also bothersome is the assumption that someone who lives in the same continent as you has such a different life that we won’t know idk like how a private post office works or something. even countries that are VERY dissimilar culture-wise are more similar than people think and, say, a south american country and the us are really not as dissimilar as us people seem to think. like recently i saw a youtuber comment on this case of a child singer who was very sexualized, and he was like “idk if that’s common in brazil but that’s not okay” and it’s like. WHAT do you think is common in brazil??? pedophilia?????? children shaking their ass isn’t okay anywhere, why the fuck would you assume culturally we’re so far away from you, of COURSE it is more common than it should be but do you really think there aren’t kids twerking in your country, do you genuinely think people here are inherently more sexual than people there just because, i- UGH headache emoji. that’s not to say each hasn’t its particularities but i guess what i’m trying to say is that the exotification of an entire country is bothersome. if you act like i, a privileged middle class white girl from brazil am a savage and ignorant and uncultured just because i don’t live in the us, even though my life in many aspects is quite similar to yours, then it PAINS me to think of what you’d think of even more different people, like my gran who was born in the middle of the amazon- if you think ill of me (even if unconsciously) then what will you think of her and her people, you know? even without much context my friends from the us get what i say when i speak about things that differ in our lives as middle class 20 year olds from different countries, because again it’s not so dissimilar, and if they don’t get it, they ask. from the get go i assume that they’re intelligent enough to fill in the blanks, so i don’t like being assumed less than capable of following a conversation just because i don’t have every minute detail, and in general, i feel like the entire population of my country is often assumed less than capable. when we encounter someone from outside who hasn’t a lot of context of how things go here, that is simply it - they’re a person without countext and we will help them understand it - but when it’s us who lack the context there is a clear implication that we do because we’re stupid and we should learn on the spot because we should know already anyway. you’re not being too american centric when you assume your friends are at least partially well informed, you’re being realistic tbh lol to assume we’re any less is to assume we’re less intelligent than you. expecting people to know is bad but assuming people won’t know worldwide huge topics that any person with an internet connection would is also not great

genuinely i think if you see a friend’s country in the news and want to ask if they’re okay and their opinion on it i don’t see any occasion in which you’d be condescending unless you tried really hard to be LOL like i think your friends will generally just be happy you thought of them. checking up on them is actually the kind of behavior we don’t expect from a self-centered usa person so i just think they will appreciate your concern. just don’t be like “oh sweet summer child cinnamon pie baby angle :-( poor u on a shithole country,,,,,,,” nor “wow must be hard dealing with [basic problem every other country also goes thru, including urs]. pooooooor thing who doesn’t have access to civilization :-((((((((((((((”

i’m sorry i’m so snarky in this sometimes but it’s because it couldn’t be more simple: if you think of the issue and consider it in a worldwide context, don’t speak about it as though your experience is law, don’t forget that other countries have other political contexts, and yet, don’t forget that normal people just like you live in those settings. literally just remember there’s seven billion people on this planet and b like oh shit, am i being ethnocentric rn,,,, it should be pretty clear tbh it’s not rocket science.

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

hey no worries! i didn't miss the notification for this but i was in the last week of my semester, so i didn't have the chance to respond until now.

im very glad to hear that u dont think izzy's smarter than ed or that izzy is the brains behind blackbeard. tbh, i feel like we actually have a pretty similar read on how ed and izzy have been operating for the past several years?? the only difference is i don't think ed's so much a "math major that can't count" as he is "math major who used to count, but outsources the job now because he's bored."

basically, i think everything izzy's doing is stuff ed used to do with no problem. it's very strongly implied that izzy started working for ed after ed became blackbeard, meaning ed was kicking ass long before he brought izzy on to help as a middle manager. and the reason i think ed isn't doing this stuff anymore is bc ed has been so bored with piracy, he hasn't been giving it full attention in years. it's easy for him to forget simple details bc he hasn't been paying attention to the little details. he might occasionally get bursts of inspiration, but because raids and stuff practically run themselves, he's not as dialed in to the daily minutiae the way he used to be. and also, bc izzy struggles a lot with creativity and improvising, i really think that any fine-tuning of the details are things ed knows are boring fine-tuning details that izzy can handle, and not huge gaps that ruin the whole plan (episode 4 being the exception that proves the rule, bc if ed was rlly always relying on Big Important Details to be someone else's problem, blackbeard would've been caught or killed a long time ago)

now. the racism.

so the thing with my original post is i'm not so much talking about individual fans and their interpretations, but rather about an overall trend i've seen in this fandom. and within this fandom, there are a lot of fans who are more generous towards their interpretation of izzy's intelligence/skills than they are towards ed.

i guess taika waititi is white-passing??? im white, so it is absolutely not my place to debate "how nonwhite does someone have to look before people can be racist towards them," so i'm not gonna get into that. but i will say that within this fandom (and on tumblr in general), taika's race is common knowledge. like you said, you didn't notice ed was a person of color until you got on tumblr. if someone is actively engaging with the ofmd fandom on tumblr, they're going to find out that taika is Māori pretty quick, if they didn't already know.

so. from a fandom-wide perspective. the fandom is aware that ed is a poc. and there's a substantial amount of fans that interpret izzy as the real genius behind blackbeard, despite the fact that this is directly contradicted by the show. your interpretation of ed being smarter than izzy didn't come from nowhere; that's literally the conclusion we're supposed to draw. how much izzy actually helps is somewhat up to interpretation, but the fact that so many people in this fandom, where the fact that ed is a poc is common knowledge, misinterpret the show to think izzy is smarter than ed can only be the result of people's racist biases. how conscious and intentional these biases are, i don't know. most likely the vast majority of people who think izzy is smarter aren't aware of how strongly their biases are warping their view of this show. but this is a noticeable trend in this fandom. one or two incorrect interpretations is one thing, but i've seen this take way too much for so many people to be reading the show so wrong just by coincidence or by accident.

i'm not trying to assume maliciousness. to me, the word maliciousness suggests way more intent than what i think is actually happening here. if anything, i'm assuming people with this interpretation have come to their racist conclusions out of ignorance, not maliciousness. but just because people don't mean to be racist, aren't aware of their own racism, or are completely ignorant to how this interpretation is racist, doesn't mean that it's not a very disturbing trend to see.

tl;dr: izzy might help ed iron out some details in plans, but interpretations of izzy as the real genius behind blackbeard are directly in contradiction of the show. the prevalence of this interpretation in this fandom is a direct result of implicit biases.

idk i just find it very interesting how so many people's take on pre-canon ed and izzy is "ed comes up with crazy plans and izzy figures out the logistics of actually executing them" as if 1. izzy doesn't literally say he considers blackbeard to be The Most Brilliant Sailor He's Ever Met (implying that blackbeard was already successfully kicking ass before he and izzy even met AND that ed's pulled off incredible plans that have impressed izzy before), and 2. we literally never see izzy succeed at anything in the entire show. none of his plans work out the way they want to and more often than not they completely backfire on him

(the ONE time you could argue that izzy got what he wanted is when he got ed to stop dressing in stede's clothes and go back to being blackbeard, but considering that he lost a toe for that and also only succeeded by threatening to kill ed, it really doesn't make me want to side with team "izzy is the REAL genius behind blackbeard")

but no, ed is the illogical one. ed is the one who relies entirely on izzy to keep everything running. ed is the one who would fall apart without izzy. sure. ok. tell me u have implicit biases about the intelligence of poc without telling me u have implicit biases about the intelligence of poc .