#because of how blatant their bigotry was

[11-eyed-rook]

"You don't look disabled/trans/bi/like a guy/sick/diabetic/mentally ill/neurodivergent/autistic/in pain"

*Fucking smacks you with my big paws*

[agnesjurati]

alright since i've had multiple people asking me about it i'm gonna try to link to some stuff talking about the ableism and antisemitism

but--and i don't mean for this to come across condescendingly--i'm also going to ask y'all to please also put some effort into learning how to seek out information on your own. a lot of the stuff i'm linking i found by googling and/or searching tumblr with search terms like "strange new worlds ableism" and "strange new worlds antisemitism"

i understand that searching for information is a lot harder with how search engines are now, and navigating search engines probably isn't exactly something that's taught in general school curriculum. at the same time, it's also a very important thing to learn how to do effectively, especially if learning about, understanding, learning to identify, and combating bigotry is something that's important to you.

snw antisemitism post / and another. (also how Leonard Nimoy very intentionally drew on his Jewish heritage in order to inform Spock as a character and Vulcan culture as a whole, and how SNW has seemingly completely ignored all of that)

post about ableism in snw (hemmer) / post about ableism in snw (pike) (this one is older, but it still stands) / and another one / opinion piece on SNW that gets into some of the ableism (pike) towards the end of the piece

and here are some pages i found that might help with learning how to more effectively search for information online:

Seven Ways to Find What You Want on the Internet - MindTools

10 tips for smarter, more efficient Internet searching - TechRepublic

[hilacopter]

leftists about other minorities: "just because you don't actively hate a minority doesn't mean you're immune to being bigoted, there's always internal biases to unpack."

leftists about jews: "whaaat?! how could I possibly be antisemitc??? I don't hate jews! I'm anti-bigotry! I'm a Good Person!"

leftists about other minorities: "always listen to minorities when they say something is bigoted."

leftists about jews: "don't listen to anyone telling you you're being antisemitc, israel and (((the zionists))) are weaponizing antisemitism to shut down criticism!"

leftist about other minorities: "of course bigotry against a minority should be defined by the people of said minority and it's important not to talk over them."

leftists about jews: "actually it's not antisemitic to say (conspiracy theory)/(blatant dogwhistle)/(repackaged blood libel)!! don't let any Bad Jews™ tell you otherwise!!"

leftists about other minorities: "no, having friends or family from a minority doesn't make you not bigoted. that's literally the oldest excuse in the book."

leftists about jews: "and before anyone starts throwing accusations no I'm not antisemitc, I know many (like 3) jewish people and they're some of my closest friends (I see them at the grocery store sometimes)."

leftists about other minorities: "obviously no people are a monolith, and a person from a minority can still be bigoted or have internal biases towards said minority. it's important to consider who you're speaking with."

leftists about jews: "so obviously since all jews are born with every single piece of jewish knowledge ever I can totally use this very convenient culturally christian ethnic jew as a token for my argument against a person who was raised culturally jewish and knows extensive jewish history."

leftists about other minorities: "we shouldn't center ourselves in historical events of other minorities."

leftists about jews: "I would've been a brave hero who hid jews during the holocaust, which was actually about queer and disabled people because why do the jews get to hog it all to themselves?!"

leftists about other minorities: "it's cultural appropriation to use this word belonging to a minority, you're robbing it of it's history and meaning."

leftists about jews: "(uses zionism incorrectly) (uses zionism incorrectly) (uses zionism incorrec"

leftist about other minorities: "skin color doesn't define ethnicity! there are plenty of white-passing black people, brown people and more!"

leftists about jews: "jews are literally just white people. all the jews I know irl are ashkenazi and light-skinned, what other proof do I need?"

and these are just a few of the double standards I've noticed. feel free to add.

[helluvabossrewrite45]

Helluva Boss and the Disappointing Asexual Representation - an Ace Former HB watcher

I am aromantic and asexual. I used to watch helluva boss during the 2020s when it first started. The internet was the only place where I got introduced to lgbt content and people for the first time, including queer media and helluva boss is one of them. I used to question my sexuality of being aroace, lesbian or bisexual until I finally accepted my identity as an aroace (full circle lol) While my aromanticism was easy to accept, Asexuality was a different story due to how the topic, you know, was around sex and it took more time for me to accept that I was also an asexual. Am I open about it? No. Unless you are one of my close friends, you wouldn't have a clue about my actual identity unless you know the labels for it. This is because with how predominant sex-normativity is, asexuality is often invisible to the wider length of society still, even when were more seen than before. And as someone with a queer identity most people wouldn't understand, I had seen the disguised bigotry people do to other queer identities that aren't as easily understood such as trans people, as they would be misgendered if their bad people. These people who misgender claim its for 'respect' but it's really a blatant excuse to openly be bigoted without backlash for it. It's not only the kind of bigotry that is prevalent within social media but also an extremely sneaky bigot method to avoid accountability.

Let's look at how this related to Mammon, an asexual character in HB:

On a surface level, this would just appear to be Bee insulting Mammon for being an asshole with the same connotations that is a well-known motif of the show; sexual references as the punchline. But Mammon being an asexual changes this viewpoint entirely. For one, Bee is ignoring his asexuality with using nobody wanting to fuck him as an insult even though his identity would immediately weakened it. Her sexual insults to him such as "sucking a dick" and "fucking himself" contribute to negating his asexuality even further. the "fucking yourself" aspect is particularly interesting because it frames him as self-centered. Now yes, Mammon is a self-centered character but his asexuality isn't relevant to this at all. By Bee relating his asexuality to his self-centeredness, unintentional or not, thereby reinforces the entitled notion of asexual people being selfish for lacking sexual attraction as if it wasn't out of their control and as if they owe allosexuals their body to be as "normal" as them. It wouldn't be a problem if mammon had openly show his asexuality proudly to rebut Bee's acephobic insults however, he doesn't. From not allowing the opportunity for Mammon to be open with his asexuality, it highlights helluva boss reinforcing invisibility of asexual people. In addition to this, this scene illustrates the disguised bigotry predominant on social media by Bee's acephobia being framed as justified by Mammon being a bad person, as if it related to his asexuality. Therefore, Helluva Boss failed at representing asexuals through contributing to our invisibility as well as encourage disguised bigotry.

Now, Mammon isn't the only asexual character.

Octavia, the only underage character with some significance, the character Rogers referred to as a 'cockblock' for Stolitz, is also asexual.

*Sigh

Her being underage isn't what bothered me. I'm also similar of age to her and young asexuals should be seen in media. Adult Allosexuals would often portray our asexuality as a phase and immature thing for the "real" mature experience later on. I only mentioned her being underage because of how this erasure of our identity by adults also applies to the later that actually bothered me: Rogers referring to her, an asexual minor, "cockblocking" an allosexual achillean relationship. Him referring to her as that is not only gross to say for a teenager that just wanted her father to pay more attention to his family than his affair but also how it can further isolates asexuals from the queer community. It reminded me of the terf comic where an ace was depicted as prudish, immature and whiny during pride month. Referring to her as a "cockblock" over an allosexual queer ship further reinforces these notions; that were too prudish, too immature, too whiny to be apart of the lgbt community, that we "get in the way" of ACTUAL queer people. And I'm worried that not only would her asexuality not even be shown in the show but also how her depiction in the series can reinforce acephobia because while she's not seen as bad as mammon, I know she would get hate in the upcoming episode and it worries me that there's gonna be acephobia involved, especially from how again, Roger depicts her as an obstable for Stolitz.

This show clearly wanted to do something similar to bojack. Vivziepop clearly likes bojack. And I find it very ironic because bojack is one of the few shows, especially at its time, that's one of the best ace representation. All through one character: Todd.

Unlike HB, Todd's asexuality is actually explored in the show. His acceptance of his asexuality, his explorations of his relationships with other aces (such as Yolanda and Maude) and even having him participate in an asexual space assists in making us aces visible, that we exist and are valid for who we are. There's no disguised bigotry, no joke that digs at his asexuality and definitely no implication that he's an obstacle for allosexual relationships. It's an ace character whose identity is recognized and respected in it's media, and that is what Helluva Boss fails at. Rather than letting asexual characters be as open of their sexuality as the other allosexual queer characters, it instead both ignores and even encourages bigotry towards us. That is what made HB's asexual representation to be disappointing from me, a closeted yet proud asexual.

Any of you who is asexual should be proud of your asexuality too. Your not prudish, immature, whiny or self-centered for lacking sexual attraction and you belong in the lgbt community. You don't owe anyone anything to prove your apart of the community because your existence already defies societal norms about sexuality. You are as queer as the rest in the community. You deserve representation that recognizes and validates you for who you are. You matter.

[renthony]

Since I spend so much of my time researching queer media history, I've had several incidents where I started feeling so overwhelmed by the awful things that I started crying at my desk. It happened again yesterday while working on research for a commissioned article. I reached my limit and just couldn't handle reading anything else about queerphobic censorship and violence. I had to put it down for the day.

It takes a toll to read in such detail about the horrible, violently queerphobic things that have happened to those daring to represent queerness in their art. I have to take great care to pace myself, practice good emotional self-care, and surround myself with supportive community, or else I cannot immerse myself that deeply in stories of hatred. The queerphobia is frequently entwined with racism, ableism, classism, and every other type of bigotry, and none of it is pleasant to read about or reckon with. It's hard.

Sometimes people ask me how I can celebrate queer media that is so flawed. They point out problematic elements in the media I get excited about, as if I am unaware of those elements or haven't considered them. It always stops me in my tracks, because I cannot comprehend being so harsh on queer media when we have such precious fucking little of it, and when everything we have is constantly under attack. Issues with queer media are picked apart and cross-examined in a way similarly problematic straight media rarely is. It's blatant, it's exhausting, and for all that it pisses me off, it also just...confuses me.

If something is dated, if something handles a topic messily, if it had good intentions but missed the mark, if it oversimplifies complex queer topics...well, I guess the question has to be, would you rather it didn't exist at all?

Even when a piece of queer representation is flawed, I am grateful for it, because it means it exists to be discussed and refined. It means a door has been opened for others to follow through. It means we can start having more, and better, and a greater variety.

When censorship rages, when queer rights are under attack, when the moral panics surge against us, it becomes even more important to celebrate our victories, and our past. That includes milestones in media representation.

[burr-ell]

Regarding a recent anon, one of the things I've found most disturbing about a lot of stan behavior—not exclusive to FE3H's Edelgard, though certainly a common trait among her loudest fans—is the insistence that their faves can do nothing wrong and actually everyone ELSE is the bad guy, regardless of the clear evidence to the contrary.

It's interesting that this behavior occurs in fans of villains, heroes, and anti-heroes alike. I've seen it in fans of Edelgard and Kipperlilly Copperkettle, but I've also seen it in fans of Starfire and Imogen Temult, in fans of Laudna and Daenerys Targaryen. Well-crafted characters, lackluster ones, heroes, villains, doesn't matter. Now to be clear, the most mainstream and widespread forms of this occur in fans of male characters—Solas and Kylo Ren's fandoms are full of it, as are those of Caleb Widogast and Tony Stark. In those cases the fan behavior often crosses from annoying into explicit misogyny and racism, and it is absolutely correct to call that shit out when you see it.

The thing is, though, it's precisely because that phenomenon is so widespread and the poor behavior so blatant that it gets a lot of discussion, and the behavior of the aforementioned female characters' fandoms is either ignored or seen as excusable. It's understandable not to want to criticize how people support female characters, especially when those male characters' fandoms' loudest voices treated them so poorly. But frankly, acting ugly is still acting ugly no matter who is doing it or why, and under the surface of "supporting a female character" often lies ideas rooted in subtler forms of bigotry.

(It's fine, actually, that Edelgard keeps Petra as a political hostage, and actually, it's a shame Cyril can't join up with her and totally help her end slavery (by killing the person who actually freed Cyril from slavery). Starfire was actually always black-coded because she had big poofy hair and was enslaved as a prisoner of war, and how dare Nightwing and Donna Troy have a problem with her killing her enemies. Deanna will be Imogen's new mom and will coddle and coo over her and Laudna, and her sole purpose in the story is to do everything she possibly can to get them together. Stans consistently refer to their faves as "girls" who never had a choice in anything, unless it was unambiguously heroic, and no matter how cute and soft-looking they look in canon, the fanart will sand them down more. The use of the term "girlfail" has gotten popular in these corners recently, and fans who use it get very defensive when you point out how gross that is when we have a bunch of Christian nationalists in the White House.)

In just about any given fandom, there exists a subsection of fans who will, in defense of their problematic faves, adhere to the Narcissist's Prayer:

That didn't happen. And if it did, it wasn't that bad. And if it was, that's not a big deal. And if it is, that's not my fault. And if it was, I didn't mean it. And if I did... You deserved it.

I'm not calling any of these fans or the characters narcissists; on top of it being irresponsible, I simply have no interest in doing so. (You don't need a clinical condition to be a tedious asshole.) But let's call it for what it is: there are very loud and vocal fans of female characters who want to project onto someone whom they believe is simultaneously a super powerful badass and blameless in everything they do, and they will inflict their nastiest high school bully fantasies onto anyone who pushes back, and will insist that they should be allowed to do this in the name of Defending Girls. I Mean Women.

Of course that's not on the same level as blatant bigoted hatred—but does it have to be before we can agree that it sucks?

[antiyourwokehomophobia2]

I wish one piece wasn't so misogynistic. It'd be so much fun if the women weren't constantly sexualized. Everyone is like "watch it! It's good! One of the best animé of all time !!" and then you watch it and it's like. Oh, Nami flashes an old perverted king. Oh, Nami gets sexually assaulted in the shower. Oh, all the women are drawn with huge breasts and tiny waists. Oh, all the women are either sexy or ugly and no in-between. Oh, the women constantly have their looks brought up. Oh, sanji is a pervert and it's meant to be "funny". Oh, the men constantly perv on the women at every single turn. The audience is meant to perv on the women with them. I'm pretty sure the only reason Luffy is asexual is because the author thinks him not caring about women is testament to his strength. A man who is undeterred by the allure of women is at an advantage and stronger than those who aren't. The story is so rich and a masterclass in world-building and shows what can happen when you love and take your time with a story, but I had to stop watching it because it's agony to watch as a woman. The author literally said that after he got married he "got more perverted" and it shows. Looks at Nami from season one and look at her now. She goes from looking like a normal girl to looking like she is on her way to a sexy photoshoot. It's so perverse and nobody seems to give a shit. Nobody brings this up. Nobody thinks to put a "misogyny" disclaimer when recommending it to people. This doesn't seem to put a damper on one piece's reputation and it really goes to show how much people don't give a shit about blatant bigotry, dislike of women, and men who don't see women as people.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Hi Miss Raven!! Idk if u have done this already but I've just seen the Masquerade event (I'm sorta a new player and it seemed interesting) and I would really like to hear ur opinion and analysis on Rollo!!

Welcome to the Twst rabbit hole, new player~!

asfkafdivfeetog8qetapafs YOU'VE AWOKEN THE BEAST NOW... I WILL NEVER SHUT UP aBoUT GLORIOSU MASQUERADE AND ROLLO mY BELOVED... 🤡

So first of all, I think it's important to bring up that when this event was first announced in JP, there was outcry from English speaking Twst fans. Numerous fans, primarily concentrated in the west, claimed it was problematic for Twst to "twinkify" Frollo, a villain that is not fantastical at all, but is sinisterly close to real life bigots that use religion to justify said bigotry. People fear mongered and made claims that Twst would try to sanitize Rollo or would present him in a way that was offensive to the crimes his Disney inspiration committed. And, might I add, all of this was before ANY of the event story was released--this was just upon the announcement. (If you want to read more about the controversy, I explained it in detail + shared my own thoughts about it in this post.) Today, you'll rarely find such claims floating around because the event story came out and spoke for itself. Glorious Masquerade is widely regarded as the BEST written event Twisted Wonderland has ever put out, even including 5 years' worth of content out on the JP server. No other event story has topped it in quality--and that's a sentiment that I personally agree with. I honestly don't know if Twst ever will top GloMasq. That's how strong the writing is.

As for my opinion on Rollo! I consider him one of my favorite characters due to his complex character writing and internal conflict (and honestly, I gotta appreciate his grind as a hater). To repeat what I've said in an older post: [I love how unpleasant and dedicated to his goals he is.] He stands out from the crowd thanks to his very blatant disdain for Malleus and acts in some of the most unhinged, overdramatic ways I can fathom (LIKE THAT STUPID TRAP DOOR PART… OR WHEN HE TRIED TO GO “SIKE” ON MALLEUS AND STRIKE HIM WHEN HIS GUARD IS DOWN). It’s the perfect balance of serious villain while also being so serious he almost comes off as desperate and pathetic. I also relate to his neurotic behavior. and conservative manner of dress. I talk more at length about my thoughts on Rollo here, though even that post doesn't fully encapsulate all I could discuss about him. I could go on and on about the dark implications of his unique magic, or how Rollo and Idia are mirrors of each other and sobering reminder of what can happen to someone that turns their grief into fuel to blame the world for his sorrow, or how the consequences Rollo faced at the end of the event were so fitting for his particular character, or the validation I feel that someone finally calls out Malleus for his potential to be a monster. IN FACT, I HAVE. And I have also gushed about his SSR here!! There's just so much interesting stuff to explore with him and his fucked up psyche.

[nekropsii]

I'm sorry to bother with my ask, but you are the most trustworthy mituna/ alpha trolls writer and I need to hear your thoughts.

How do you think mituna Pre-game life has been based on his classpect? Heirs usually have a certain privilege over the aspect they inherit, they dont have to work hard like a page to get it, however they either dont know what to do with it or the aspect get to take control of the heir. Do you think Tuna got to live a more comfortable life for beforus standards? How would the doom manifest in him? John became wind, equius became irrelevant, pehaps mituna great act of heroism was doom taking control of him instead of him learning how to take control of doom.

We actually can infer quite a bit about this. He was Cassandra. The logical conclusion is to keep adapting the Cassandra myth, and to assume his Doom is being Cassandra.

Mituna was an incredibly powerful psionic and basically an oracle. In the game, he knew whenever something bad was going to happen, and tried desperately to tell people. They never listened. I wouldn’t say his story follows 1:1 with that of Cassandra’s, where his Doom Vision was granted to him by an Apollo figure… But it’s pretty damn close, and I’d have to assume part of why they never listened was because he still got Apollo’s subsequent curse - to see the future, but never be believed. Considering this is a destruction of others’s belief, and the curse came as a punishment for Cassandra telling Apollo she doesn’t want to date or have sex with him… We already know who the Alpha Trolls’s Apollo figure is. It’s Cronus, Bard of Hope. Destroyer of Beliefs, and Known Sex Criminal. Due to the severity of the abuse he inflicts upon Mituna on screen - the violent bigotry and insults, the blatant disregard for his clear, desperate, repeated exclamations of his lack of consent, the molestation - we must also assume he fulfills the role of Ajax the Lesser as well.

Following this train of thought is the idea that people would actually readily listen to Mituna’s advice on Beforus. If he told someone to cut shit out, they’d listen to him. He likely didn’t have all that much mysticism surrounding him, considering he entered his SGRUB session at 13 years of age - it likely would’ve manifested in the same way Jade’s friends listen to her because she tends to be right about everything, inexplicably. They think it’s weird he can do that, but just shrug their shoulders, puzzle about it, or think he’s cooler for it.

Although he was an able-bodied male and carries an extremely useful ability, he was still a Goldblood, so his life was not privileged. He was pretty high on the Culling block, with him actually likely being specifically sought after due to his unique ability. Perhaps he evaded this through means of reclusion.

Getting culled might, theoretically, adopt you into the potential for wealth of a Highblood, but your autonomy is still getting stripped away from you quite violently. You are a trophy. You show wealth and status. You’re a novelty toy. You’re shown off like a cool knickknack, as if you’re not a person with a life and feelings. Everything is decided for you - what you wear, where you can go, what symptoms you’re allowed to have and express, what you eat, etc. - your control of your own life harshly limited to the whims of the Highblood. You are a foster child in middle class white suburbia, and your life is hell.

So, his life before the game was theoretically not as bad as it was in and after the game. He had yet to meet his combination of Apollo and Ajax the Lesser. He had yet to sacrifice himself for people who he called friends, yet who discarded him the second he stopped being what they wanted. He had yet to get locked with these people for eternity, still never listened to. But it still sucked. He’s an Heir of Doom, and a Lowblood on Beforus. It all still sucked.

[popculturebuffet]

Supermay II: Superman Vs the Klan of the Firey Cross!

Hello all you happy people and welcome back to Supermay II: The Sequel You Knew Was Coming. Not brought to you by Kellog's Pep. That's P-E-P PEP!

This review couldn't of come at a better time honestly: With Facisim on the rise, blatant xenophobia and tranpshobia used by the right as an easy tool, and people's bigotry being cashed in for big dollars, there's no better time to talk about both times superman smashed the KIan. First up is the original, a 16 part serial on superman's Radio Show titled Klan of the Firey Cross.

The Adventures of Superman debuted only a year and some change after Superman's debut in Action Comics #1. It was clear the man of steel was a massive hit and getting a big radio program only incresed it. It's also a key foundational piece in the superman mythos: It's where he learned to fly (solidfied by the Flescher shorts a year after), first encountered Kryptonite and met his pal JImmy Oleson, all of which was quickly ported back into the comics, also showing adaptations influcing comics is as old as the medium itself.

This 16 part marvel came about thanks to Stetson Kennedy, someone I had never heard of before doing the research but now want to know everything about. Stetson Kennedy, no relation. Stetson was a civil rights advocate, his views shaped at a young age when his maid and second mother Flo was beaten and raped by the klan. It showed him the lie of the Klan being good cristian men. Stetson was a hero, collecting folklore, diving into racisim and going against racist policies like Poll Taxes and White Primaries, both the kind of thing you just.. know are bad on instinct.

His biggest target ended up being the Klan. Since like yours truly he had a bad back, Kennedy couldn't participate in World War II and being a damn good man decided to still try and do some good. So with the help of the anti-defimation league, crated a second identity and inflitrated every white suprmacist group he could, settling in to primarily target the KKK, from joining the campaign of KKK friendly goverenor, facist and asshole I don't have time to cover here Eugene Talmidge (Check out the podcast behind the bastards excellent 4 parter on the guy).

Kennedy knew just how to attack them: He first planned to explore their weird, hilaroiusly dumb rituals, from calling the days of the week " "Dark, Deadly, Dismal, Doleful, Desolate, Dreadful, and Desperate" to using K words for everything, he recognzied a tool that modern activists have against facists and cult leaders today:

Now you have to be careful with this, not undermine or ignore the fact the people your mocking are a threat, we've made that mistake with Trump and Musk, but don't let them have the prestige they crave. Don't let them be taken completely seriously. Make it VERY clear that they are clowns. It's a strategy that almost worked in the election. If you take away your foe's aura of strength, it makes it that much easier to nail them for the shit their doing.

He also knew to hit them where it hurt. See something I didn't realize till watching behind the bastards despite "Superman Smashes the Klan" pointing it out.. was that the Klan was a pyramid scheme. You recurited whoever you could to your hate group to try and rise up a rank. The people who revvived the Klan for the 40's were more concerned with money than racial purity, like certain folks who shall remain nameless but your certainly thinking their names as hard as you can today. So he kept campanging with the georgia goveneor till he eventually removed their non profit status.

He wasn't done either: He worked hard to publish a book Southren Exposure, that threw back the curtain on the structural racisim in the south, with a damming chapter on he Klan, kept on them with the help of radio and even shoed up to huac in his own klan robes to try and get their attention. It didn't work because the far right comitte trying to use anti-communism as an excuse to get rid of anyone they didn't like was never going to give a shit about the Klan, but he gets points for pissing them off, and the Klan who put a bounty on his head.

So he decided to do one better: He was aware the Klan had ties to the goverment and law enforcment so while he had gone through proper channels and such, he knew that wouldn't be enough and could get snuffed. So once again ahead of his time he realized pop culture was a valuable tool in the fight against facists and racists.

So he wrote a letter to the producers of Adventures of Superman asking them to do a story on the Klan, or what ended up as a very thinly veiled stand in. They agreed because hey, they needed new bad guys why not and thus the Klan of the Firey Kross was born, a MASSIVE hit for the show and the Klan's attempt to boycott kellogs, the shows sponsor, was a non starter: Kellogg's was making WAY more money off the show than it would loose from any boycott. So the Klan throughly lost on this one. There was apparently a rumor about codes said on the show being real.. but this feels like an urban legend as having listened to all 16 parts, complete with ads... the Klan nor anyone smashing them never uses code.

So with that it's time to tackle this 16 part behemoth itself, around 3 hours without adds.. which is literal as Kev watched a cut that cut out all the ads and despite me mentioning the ads, didn't bring up this was a thing that existed. I reacted... measured and maturely...

So let's take a look as superman takes on bigots in a shockingly chilling and timeless tale.

Klan of the Firey cross begins from a chillingly mundane place: Young Tommy Lee beans fellow player Chuck Riggs with a baseball after Chuck won't stop crowding the plate, sore that Tommy's replaced him as star pitcher. It's the kind of thing we're used to. Sure superman is there.. but as Clark Kent, while Jimmy Oleson isn't turning into a turtle or anything he's just managing the Unity House Baseball team (Some kind of rec center judging from Smashes the Klan which is all I have to go on as this serial never explains what Unity House actually is. )

It's what starts the story.. and what makes it work so well. What starts this is just a simple scuffle between kids and one kid refusing to apologize and getting thrown off the team as a result. In a better world this would at worst lead to Chuck's uncle being a dick about it. Instead.. Matt Riggs is a monster. Matt Riggs is an abuser, with Chuck afraid of him and afraid to even get into the incident and it later being clear his sister in law, Chuck's mom, only puts up with him because it's Matt's house and being incensed when Chuck starts talking back to her too, refusing to take it from her own son. Chuck thankfully only does because he's worried, we'll get to that, but it shows just how bad Matt is before we learn just what a monster he is: Matt Riggs is a terrifying presence from the jump. While I do think this serial's adaptation does a good job making Matt blend in better, I still like this matt: the kind of evil that even superman can't easily deal with. An abusive monster.. who happens to be a racist.

The second Matt hears the story, the wheels turn and he coaches Chuck on the incident, wanting him to say it was deliberate when even Chuck realizes it was an accident. Matt dosen't see his nephew.. but a solider for a righteous cause.. a spark to light the flame and burn down those he sees as lesser. He takes a horrified Chuck with him into the hills.. and shows him a Klan meeting. The meeting.. is geninely creepy, matt's oration being genuinely unerving as it should be, his gravely voice echoing as he calls for action. Tommy Lee.. is chinese. His father Dr. Lee recently got a job with the health department. And Matt will not rest till they either leave town.. or leave this mortal coil.

The transition really helps... we know where Matt's taking the poor boy but Chuck has no idea and is utterly horrified to find out what his uncle is. ... but has no idea what to do.

Chuck however.. has already struck. The next day Tommy shows up.. to quit, being terrified after the Klan lit a cross on his lawn. Jimmy convinces him to still pitch but asks Clark to look into it. Why would the Klan do this.. but the answer is simple: Because they exist. The baseball incident was simply an excuse, the kind of thing bigots used all the time back then and now as an excuse. "They pushed me" "They pushed my kid" "they etc etc" when it was the other party that started it. But it dosen't matter. They have what they want: a thin excuse to beat up someone they deem unacceptable or kill them. Whatever gets rid of them. The writers of the show may of been lookign for a new villian.. but they understood HOW these racists worked. They wanted the lees gone already.. Matt just wanted a thin justification to avoid arrest. While the police aren't demonized here, with the police helping best they can, it's clear Stetson Kennedy's words got to them and the subtext I get is that Matt knows he can't be caught easily unless he's caught red handed. And even then eh dosen't care. The cause goes on, the fire burns and the all white future he wants gets closer.

The Klan fail on their attempts on Tommy and Jimmy so they try another way: have another kid plausably injure tommy during the game. Thankfully superman is there and just zooms in and out.. which leads to a thankfully hilarious part of this dark tale: Radio Superman is AWFUL at keeping his identity a secret. Just the worst. Jimmy rightfully brings up botht he blur and Clark vanishing and Clark is just like "Well jimmy you see OH LOOK GAME'S STARTING FOCUS ON THAT FORGET ALL ABOUT SUPERMAN WHO SAID SUPERMAN NOT ME GAME GAME GAME" Radio Clark is five SECONDS from accidently blurting out "I'M SUPERMAN" at any time. It's the best

Matt decides to do the hate crime himself , preparing to tar and feather tommy, a truly horrifying sequence as the klan show up, grab tommy and beat up his dad for trying to stop them. This leads to a tense sequence as tommy escapes...but you feel every second of it desperate for these bigots to not harm this poor child. You feel tommys fear , hearing every crunch. Tommy is caught but falls in a river.

The tension ratchets up as Tommy's only hope is chuck. The boy heard....but doesn't want to call Jimmy as he'd identify him. So he tries calling Clark. This sequence couldve been tedious, tommy trying to reach Clark, reaching the night desk then getting shoed away from the booth. All normal stuff ...but the life of a child being on the line all makes it agonizing.

So Tommy is saved, goes to the hosptial and is.. not seen again the rest of the serial. While Clan of the Firey Cross still gets a lot.. it's still a 40's radio serial. It does not give one Iota of a shit about his trauma having the Klan attack his home, kidnap him and nearly kill him. He's done what he was supposed to in the story.

Tommy is what tv tropes dubs "A Special Aseop Victim" He's there to be introduced, trotted out and usually die. Tommy does not die, but he still gets threated by racists, nearly blown up (In a scene that was apparently missing from my copy or I missed as the racists apparently try a bike bomb), kidnapped, nearly tarred and feathered , nearly drowns and breaks an arm all to show Racisim is what bad without actually ever once asking what he thinks about all this. While some cases of this CAN be better, Tommy's whole purpose is to suffer to show Racisim is bad so that the main characters can solve it for them. He's there as a prop. It's not suprising for the times but in an episode that's so progressive in so many way, that's speaking out about hate showing how it works showing just how TERRIFYING being on the receiving end of one of these hate mobs is.... it's disappointing. Tommy can and should of been the protaganist or deutragonist with Chuck if they had to. But he's not. He's shoved into a closet somewhere forgotten until he's mentioned in the finale and even then STILL dosen't get to show up.

So with Tommy injured Clark decides to look into this like any journalist: Have Perry put out a letter telling the boy who anonomusly contacted him and was clearly afraid for his life to come forward for all the children everywhere.

JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY!

The intentions are good.. but he's betting a lot on Chuck both getting to him unscathed and that the kid dosen't have a relative in his house in the klan or in his neighborhood or somewhere near bye where they can stalk and beat him should he choose to confess. Which is exactly what Matt threatens a little later in the story after easily figuring out Chuck was the informant as he was the only non-klan member to see their secret hq. I get superman had some trouble with empathy back in those days

But even for him this is a lot to just ignore for the greater good. Chuck should come forward.. but Superman should do more to look for this kid than paint a giant target on the child's back.

Perry White has a better idea; A bounty: A thousand bucks a piece for the identity of any Klansman. Matt naturally takes this about as well and rationally as you'd expect and has the clan burn a cross on Perry's lawn, a truly chilling cliffhanger.

So the main trio go to look for Poco. You are not ready for Poco. I was not ready for poco. Poco.. is a fat alien who lives as Perry White's cook who came to earth and just.. stayed and speaks entirely in rhyme.

Yeah even in a mythos that would later include a flying dog, a 5th dimensional imp, a clone that was one half him one half his arch enemy, 80 types of kryptonite, a bunch of swell kids from the future, Jimmy oleson being married to a gorilla with superman officiating the wedding in his most racist costume, superman as pope, supergirl's horse having a crush on her, Lex Luthor posing as his own Australian but compitent son after cloning himself, Pa Kent throwing himself into a tornado to prove a point about how his son shouldn't help people, a half batman half superman super fighting robot, Lex Luthor stealing 40 cakes and that's terrible, and a whole ass musical... that this might be the silliest thing i've ever heard. Not just "let's give superman's boss an alien chef/butler/best friend to do shenanigans" but deciding to crowbar that into THIS story, AND get beaten up by the racists. You can use alien's a a metaphor for what immigrnats go through, Superman is an excellent example of this as is the Martian Manhunter and as this story's adaptation proves, you can absolutely do it in the same story with a real minority group if you do it with grace and tact. Having perry white's comedy relief sidekick who I assume looks exactly like this

Is the opposite of that. Unsuprisingly Gene Leun Yang did not adapt this beloved and treasured character.

Incensed that his beloved comic relief was ruffled, Perry vows to increase the bounty to 5000, which is a hundred thousand and some change in modern dollarbucks to keep perspective.

Matt decides to go back to his old tried and true.. he's gonna tar and feather em. Clark ends up being the only one who gives a fuck, with everyone else assuming the klan would NEVER attack a high powered businessman to make a point that their just all talk cowards. This... is a message I love as Lois and the Police are both HORRIBLY wrong. What they fail to realize, and what Clark picks up on.. .is the power of belief. Many bigots either participate because it's easy or because of money, something we'll see more of soon.. but Matt TRULY believes in the Klan. He's a white nationalist through and through and will "Cleanse" this nation if it costs him everything. IT's the kind of fire modern right wingers play with: They talked about how the 2020 election was rigged, how it was fake, how they should overturn it... and then tried to wash their hands when it lead to a violent insurrection they definitely helped cause. It keeps happening because humans just can't belivie someone would REALLY pull the trigger... and someone doing so keeps getting people killed again and again and again in mass shooting after mass shooting. I"m just.. so tired of it. Yes they would. They absolutely would and i'm as frustrated as clark hearing so many people assume violence won't happen.

But happen it does as Jimmy and Perry are kidnapped to be tarred and feathered. To Perry's credit he tells the klan to go fuck themselves and refuses to take back the bounty or stop and demands they pull of the mask and face him like a man. They don't because the bulk of them are cowards and Matt, while a monster, is not stupid. Jimmy.. is scared out of his mind but also refuses to back down, only admitting his fear in private when the Klan need to go get more tar.

Something that's fantastic about this arc... is how powerless superman is. He CAN solve things in seconds: when the klan actually fight him at any point it's a one sided fight and the catharsis of having a pure hearted, good man with the powers of a god easily swatting facist racist monsters left and right is orgasmic. But for a lot of the story Superman can't swoop in... for realistic reasons. He combs the county but they have Perry and Jimmy hidden, he has x-ray vision but he dosen't have the time to cover every inch of metropolis and it's surroundings. He has no idea where the Klan meets, where to find them, and thus they have the upper hand.

It's Clark Kent who can do something. He goes with his original plan: publicly appeal to the boy who sent it to get him to confess with a morning edition of the planet, something Lois agrees to before she peaces out of the story. It still feels a bit wrong to publicly shame a child who fears for his life, but I get it: Perry and Jimmy have been missing for days, he has no other options and the two soon find themselves in deadly danger: after they try escaping, they only manage to pull matt's hood off.... so he can't let the live to the shock of his fellow Klansmen. I do wish the show didn't treat this as an easy thing for superman to do, that risking this child's life was something he struggled with.. but superman was a bit more detached in those days.

Yeah I went easy on him in the Krypto review and that.. was a mistake. SECONDS after saying she wouldn't be alone... he's like "No that'd make MY life harder, to the orphanage you go!" So I completely buy he'd risk a child's life because "it's the right thing" versus modern clark who'd ONLY do it if there was NO other way and exaust every other option first. "I mean I can't ask every boy in town". Your superman. Yes you can. Clark just.. refuses to use superman to rally the children to find this boy or something less public that puts Chuck in direct danger.

And it does. Chuck sweats it out iwth guilt but his mom enoruages him to come forward.. well the boy but given how his mom is not being at all subtle with her speech and how she reacts with fear with Matt suddenly comes home, I get the implication she knows.. but knows she can't say it and knows matt would come after them if she just packed up and left.

That fear is sadly justified. The stories biggest strength is once again in it's realism: Matt Riggs is just as much a realistic portrayal of a zealous bigot as it is a potrayal of a domestic abuser whose family is trapped with him due to economic reasons. Keep in mind this was 1946, 18 years before the first women's shelter would open in the US. The Riggs have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide and Matt is on the surface a well respected member of the health department. No one suspects him of being what he is so there really is no escape. The way everyone acts around matt gives me the vibes of someone who at the very least is verbally abusive and likely has hit both his sister in law and nephew. The fact matt is blunt, saying "if the klan knew they sure would be watching that boy and sure would tar and feather him" the fact he has no qualms about harming his nephew or scarring the boy into not doing the right thing... it says a lot. Matt is chilling in that he exists: there are many matt riggs out there and many people who WANT to escape their bigoted families but can't. Imagine if Chuck was LBGTQ+... would Matt even bother with veild threats? Would Chuck still be alive if he were queer? It's only the heat it'd bring that keeps Chuck alive.. and only for so long.

So Chuck understandably is trapped. The right thing to do is tell someone.. but he can't and we never find out if Matt's warning is real or not. Given how the rest of the Clan is shown to be not nearly as loyal to the cause, he could be bluffing.. but to a child that dosen't matter.

Thankfully Clark does figure out that Chuck has probably been silenced.. and where he likely came from, as they mentioned the unity house team meaning the boy is likely one of the players. He explains this to.. some random copy boy that sounds like a stork. Why this couldn't of been tommy and saved us an episode or been lois I don't know. He has the copyboy interview players, tapping his pen if their voice dosen't match. It's a sequence that goes on a bit long, but works due to the tension: We know Jimmy and Perry are not far from the grave, Chuck is trapped and every second counts. We know who their looking for .. and that he's not there and that every second they don't know he's not there is a second they don't have to waste gone.

Thankfully Mugs, the assitant coach and Jimmy's friend who was in the story earlier but not releviant till now, points out Chuck is missing.. and Clark easily pieces the rest together and heads to chuck's house.

Chuck clams up at first... not willing to say anything and just wanting to be left alone. Clark eventually gets the truth out of him.. and the promise that Superman can protect him. Why once again Clark didn't just go as superman in the first place I have no clue. He's beaten up domestic abusers before.

But it works and him showing up gives Chuck the confidence to unmask his uncle and Superman takes the boy flying to find matt's secret lair. The Klan has departed from there by now, and is digging Jimmy and Perry's graves. Thankfully superman finds them and smashes the Klan before they can do anything, capturing many. He's understandably disturbed to find that Matt.. has escaped. While they've captured the Klan and gotten many red handed with Jimmy and Perry's testimony to put them away, Matt persists.

Chuck is put somewhere safe the next day as Jimmy prepares for the game and once again the police ignore the obvioust hreat of Matt returning. Surely after all this he woudln't keep going.. forgetting he just attempted murder on a big newspaper editor and his child sidekick and beat his comic relief into the floor.

Matt is not having a great time though and in a great sequence he meets with the head of the firey cross.. who berates matt for making things so public. It's a sequence so well done that it's the only one taken almost word for word and hardly altered at all for smashes the klan.

That last part is part of Smashes the Klan's own additoins to it but everything else is beat for beat and it's a great scene as it shows both just how much Matt believes in it... and exposes the Klan for what it and many hate groups like it are: a pyramid scheme. This is something I didn't know reading Smashes the Klan the first time but the Klan at the time REALLY was a racist pyramid scheme, set up more to get money than actually do hate crimes. For those at top Hate is just good money. It's a song as old as time and still true today: As Trump puts people in camps and flails desperately to become a dictator on day whatever we're up to, he still hocks nfts, gold, merch and other scams. Former Infowars owner and paranoid asscrack Alex Jones hocks god knows how much overpriced bullshit. The Daily Wire tried getting into the movie business. While some of the far right are ride or dies for this bullshit.. a lot just want money, power and whatever they can scam. The bulk just want to ride the outrage train to the bank and don't care how many people get hurt, how many lives are ruined.. as long as they get paid.

Naturally grand scorpion man plans to murder Matt as a loose end, but Matt instead murders the fucker because that's what happens when you tell the unhinged monster you helped create the cause is bullshit: they won't believe you, they won't back down and they WILL NOT stop.

Riggs finds no allies though: He goes from Klansman to Klansman and they all reject him, throw him out. The serial makes sure it's clear it's not morals, it's not a realization of what they've done: it's fear. Their being hunted as long as they keep their mouths shut and do nothing, their fine. The cause was good racist fun when it was just bullying a child, kidnapping people, bullying the powerful.. but now there's actual consequences they run. While the Matt Riggs of the world are the most dangerous their thankfully not the most common and the police were PARTIALLY right: the klan did mostly back down out of fear... what they got wrong was assuming EVERYONE is a coward who once their not behind a hood or a keyboard, will back the fuck down. The mask of anonminity was all they had a separation that let them do whatever they wanted. And now it's over their all afraid.

Matt however.. has lost it. Whatever thin scrap of sanity he had is gone. He wants to kill jimmy, perry.. and chuck. His own nephew is expendable and he believes if they all die no one can rat on him. He's spiraled down down and his voice actor does a fantastic job portraying his madness. His plan is nonsensical, has no chance of working but it must work. The cause MUST survive.

So he goes to his house and we get easily the most chilling cliffhanger of the serial: him sneaking into Chuck's bedroom murder in his eyes. Fortunately, Chuck isn't here, he's at Jimmys. Unfortuantely his mom is and while she refuses to tell, he figures it out and her protesting too much gives it away and he ties her up.

He ropes another klansman whose less willing but trapped with this monster to go to the house but seeing i'ts too guarded gets a better idea: they'll all be at the game tomorrow, with Chuck back on the team, so he'll just snipe all three in quick succession. Surely no one will catch him. Especially not superman.

So the game comes, the finals with chuck replacing tommy which feels wrong and the officer once again refusing to believe matt would do anything

So Matt gets to the roof of the stadium and plans to snipe them. It's chilling in how prescident this is.. a man with a rifle killing people en masse for darring to belive diffrent than him. Or trying to anyway. It's tense as hell.. but thankfully Matt is so obsessed with getting three perfect shots off at once so he can quickly flee he gives time.. and Clark eventually notices the glint of his rifle and in an awesome scene catches each speeding bullet as their fired before confronting riggs.

The day is saved, the championship continues.. and superman has smashed the Klan. Their may be more like them but he'll face them. We end on everyone getting golden baseballs .. but chuck has jimmy refuse his as he wants to give it to tommy. I do like that Chuck feels guilt, that he realizes he screwed up and shouldn't be here.. but that the story forgives him. He fucked up.. but he's more than risked himself to make up for it and perry already had an extra made just in case. They all go to see tommy and our story ends.

POCO DIED BACK ON THE WAY TO HIS HOME PLANET

Superman and the Klan of the Firey Cross is excellent. It's a bit padded in places and if you listen to the ads your bound for a bad timne. There are about 80 of them for Kellogs pep, all the same add copy. It's like 30 youtube sponsorship bits in a row it's a lot. I'm glad that breakfast cereal burning in hell where it belongs.

While I've had my issues, the objectification of tommy lee, the padding to fill out episode and the random alien sidekick. ... i'ts still a fine tale about standing up to bigotry, that really gets WHY bigots exist how they operate and the diffrent kinds from the grifters to those who will drop it the second it's a danger to their livelyhood to the true frothing mad believers. It holds up shockingly well and the goofy bits don't detract from the narrative. It's a strong, chilling tale of hate and standing up against it. It completely deserved the adaptation it got, a comic that takes all the good that was here.. and gives it depth, heart , and character arcs galore and next week we'll see it all as Superman smashes the klan. For this week expect the death of superman tommorow and thanks for reading. If you liked this article follow for more and subscribe to my substack or patreon to help me keep the lights ona nd get exclusvie reviews from substack. Next month starts an exclusive retropsective of the oblongs for paid subscribers and continues the critic retrospective for free ones. Don't miss it

[localkittycat]

Ive seen a few creatures post about this, so here's my personal experience with physical and biological nonhumanity. :3

(and yes this is serious. all this became my reality after many years of blatant denial. its only recently that everything seems to have fallen into place and started making sense)

so, yes, I am a cat. fully and entirely. the way my body is perceived by outsiders seemingly fails to reflect my real form*, and i am unsure how or why. i feel and even see parts of my body that others just... don't. I've learned to accept my life being this way.

was i born this way? that's a very loaded question. for me, i think yes. i was born different, i was the odd one out, the humans around me seemed able to atleast sense that something was different. I've lived with that feeling for many years before i even realised that humans are unable to percieve my entire body at all. I've had to contort my body since the day i was taught to stand upright, but luckily as a feline I'm naturally quite flexible. though, i feel like I've unlearned some natural positions over the years with how it was drilled into me that it was wrong to sit and stand a certain way.

i experienced alot of traumatic things (both related to my nonhumanity and not) that have lead me into years of dissociation and denial. i am very disconnected from what is seen as my body*, but i still have to be aware and adapt because of it. its more annoying and exhausting than anything, i especially dislike human clothing. it's playing dress up. this paired with gender dysphoria has been a very difficult combo to manage. i dont dress this body up in the way many humans expect of me because of the genitalia i was born with. you can image the bigotry ive experienced related to this aswell.

roaming the environment i live in with my body, it becomes quite apparent that people think my body is wrong, i'm behaving wrong, i'm moving wrong. i sit down in ways that dont hurt my tail (dont get me started on how inconsiderate typical human spaces are), i wear headphones and hats in ways that dont injure my ears. i walk in a way that is natural to me- but i am often forced to/expected to put my paws down the way a human foot would. its not particularly comfortable, shoes help but i will struggle with this forever. luckily it is easy to blame this on other illness of mine that cause "abnormal posture", so humans think there's a ""real"" medical reason and i wont be seen as such a nutcase.

one part many don't talk about is sexuality. i have the drive of a cat, i have the instincts of a cat, i have the needs of a cat. I've learned the expectations and customs of human relationships and live happily by them knowing that's what my partner wants, it works out and i am very lucky to have him. and, yes, this means i see my real body in the bedroom too. and i act accordingly. my partner is entirely aware of my nonhumanity, and doesn't mind. he is unable to see the aforementioned body parts* so it is of little concern in the first place.

what's nice however is that, with how close our bond is, he seems to be able to sense them much more than any other human. it's like he can see the real me.

so, yeah. no, this is not particularly distressing or affecting my quality of life. i dont think this is anything diagnosable, nor do i care. i know I'm mentally ill, disabled, and frankly weird. but thats my life.

i dont think I'm any sort of secret experiment, or was born into a wrong body. i am just an anomaly. no matter how you as an outsider percieve me, it will never erase my reality. maybe I'm an SCP or something. lol

* my real form, the body parts I'm talking of inlcude the following; my paws, pawpads, my stripes, my tail, my nose, my whiskers, my ears and my fangs. i have those of a marbled cat.

* i am aware of how humans see me. i know what i look like from anothers perspective. i dont see this in the mirror, however pictures taken will often also not reflect my form correctly.

[velvetvexations]

Still hung up on that “culturally appropriating transfems” nonsense but since im in a bitter mood let’s talk about “”””appropriating”””” niche in-group signifiers. Let’s talk about the prevalence of “girlthing” as a new transfem-exclusive self description, about the “all trans girls have a secret other gender they only reveal to other trans girls” thing, about the “binary trans woman is a dogwhistle bc no transfem is truly binary” posts. Let’s talk abt all those paired with these people’s absolute disdain for ever associating themselves with nonbinary people. Nonbinary people just describing ourselves are obviously doing so to make transfems seem ‘less cool’ bc our genders couldn’t possibly be about US, but then they turn around and make post after post about how nobody outside their little group has ever known the depths and nuances of gender. But don’t you dare insinuate they’re not 100% fully woman nothing else. They’re only nonbinary when convenient to shut us up but never when they have to support us. And you can tell how performative it is bc any transfems who dare to describe their not-fully-woman gender in a way that doesn’t adhere to the pre-approved little memes gets immediately excluded or misgendered bc “girlthing” is basically just girl but “male woman” is hatecrimeing them by proxy. It’s so fucking blatant that only one group here treats gender identity and presentation outside the binary as purely aesthetic virtue signalling and it’s not the ‘TME genderfucks’ lmao.

(Same anon who sent the ask about the hypocrisy of so many of these blogs loving nonbinary memes when it suits them but being wildly exorsexist and hostile to any notion of solidarity with non-transfem nonbinary people, wanted to emphasise that this isn’t a transfem-specific issue, just a really obnoxious pattern with a lot of these TME/TMA people and that I don’t believe this is “”””culturally appropriating”””” nonbinary people or anything. I would actually agree that the line between binary and nonbinary trans identities is blurry for many of us! Hence why the double standards going around frustrate me so much! Sorry for the rambling I hope this made sense)

I'm torn because I don't think it's great to do what they do and insinuate their non-binary identity is superficial or fake in some way but it does really gall me how they rake me personally over the coals for calling myself a male woman while doing this shit. Ultimately they are non-binary if they say they are and we shouldn't be trying to prove they're the ones doing non-binaryism wrong, but the way they treat others is startlingly hypocritical, not because they're more fake but because none of their beliefs about "TME genderfucks" stems from any real viewpoints on being non-binary to begin with. It's all just purely a combination of bigotry and insecurity, and statements like "no trans woman is binary" make that extra clear when it's mostly people who do not in fact identify as non-binary that are having these tantrums.

[storm-angel989]

hello!

today was my birthday, and i was wondering if you could write some comfort?

Val x teen trans reader? My friends kept teasing me today for being trans and I was wondering if Val Vel and Vox would be there for reader :)

Hi friend,

First of all- Happy Birthday! The world is a better place because you were born into it. <3 I'm sorry that you're going through this, I hope this story brings you a bit of comfort and love today and every day!

<3 Mandy

The ones who made fun of me did so relentlessly. 

It didn’t matter that I was the child of one of the highest ranking overlords in the pride ring. It didn’t matter that my father, Valentino, was literally the overlord of lust and depravity. It didn’t matter that he was in a well known polyamorous relationship with my Auntie Velvette and Uncle Vox.

But Satan Forbid I come out as transgender. 

Genderfluid, I technically identified as. Flowing through outfits with the self I identified the most with that day. Some days that meant more masculine, some days more feminine but for the most part, I dressed in between, my styles ebbing and flowing. In a school setting, that meant my uniform switched from the skirts required for the girls, and the polo shirts and khakis required for the boys. Dress down days and school events meant whatever vibe I went most with. 

“So, are you a girl or a boy?” One of my so-called friends demanded the day before. “He, She, It?”

The question in itself wasn’t the worst that I had heard. But it was the tone, the mockery of the way the words were spoken that made me feel small. I tried to explain that it didn’t matter- I used both pronouns. But either way, at the end of the day, I was just me. 

“Fucking weirdo,” was the response. “Why can’t you just be a boy or a girl? Like a normal person?”

Feeling dejected, I made my way out of the school and climbed into the awaiting limo. Was I wrong, I wondered, for expressing how I felt? Was I wrong for being who I was? With each passing second, the sadness in my chest grew. I stepped out of the limo and into the flat I called home. I tossed aside my school uniform and pulled on a pair of pajama pants and t shirtI struggled to do my homework, struggled to find something to keep my mind off of the cruel words spoken. But instead, they kept playing on repeat. 

“Kiddo? Dinner time,” my Uncle Vox called. 

I wasn’t hungry. But skipping family dinner was never an option. I begrudgingly sat up and made my way down the hallway. I slid in my seat at the table and quietly nibbled at my plate. 

“Tough day, sweetheart?” My father asked. 

“You’ll feel better if you talk to us,” my Auntie Velvette added. “Come on, spill honey bun. What’s eating you?”

I kept my gaze down as “Did people…did people give you a hard time when you guys came out as poly?” 

“Someone giving you a hard time?” Vox asked with concern. 

Valentino held up his hand. “First we answer the question. In short, mi amore, no. But for no other reason than we were already at the top of the chain of power. Why do you ask?”

“Cause, I guess….Dad, is there something wrong with me?” I blurted out. “My friends called me weird. A couple people asked if I was confused cause I wear both the boys and girls uniforms. Someone even called me fucked up, and I just…am I?”

All three voices flooded the table at once. 

“No, Bebita.”

“Absolutly fucking not.”

“No, buddy, no. You’re not. Fucking christ.”

I didn’t answer. Any sense of an appetite had vanished and I pushed myself back from the table. 

“I think I need to be alone,” I mumbled as I tried to bite back the tears.

“Fuck. No, that’s the last thing you need,” my father said sharply. He pushed his own chair back and his hand fell to my shoulder. “No. Hey, reader. Look at me.”

I felt his fingers under my chin as he tilted my head up to meet his gaze. 

“This is what we’re going to do, princessa. Tomorrow morning, first thing, I’m calling the school. You will not be subjected to blatant bigotry, teasing or bullying. You’re my kid, and I won’t stand for it.”

“Dad, I…”

He held up his other hand. “I’m not finished. I respect and understand that you’re a teenager now and you need your space. But I’m not going to let you sit and torment yourself relentlessly alone in your room. You can hang out with us, we can watch a movie, I don’t care. But you’re not going to go through this by yourself.” 

He folded me into a hug and for the first time in a long time, I rested my head on his shoulder a cried. Every fear, every feeling, every sense of self doubt flooded out. Before I knew it, I was on the couch with a cup of tea in my hand while my family listened. 

“We promise you, we love you just the way you are. There is nothing wrong with being trans, being genderfluid, hell mi amore, you could tell me tomorrow you wanted to get implants or grow out your hair. We don’t care. What we care about is your happiness, and you being comfortable in your body.” My father reassured me gently.

“And feeling safe and secure to do so in everyday life,” my Uncle Vox added. “That includes school.”

“And we promise, even when you’re scared or not quite sure how you feel- we’re here. You won’t ever be going through any of this alone,” my Aunt Velvette added. “We love you. More than anything.” 

[woman-respecter]

On the topic of tankies,

THEY HATE AO3 SO MUCH THAT THEY TREAT IT LIKE THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL AND IT NEVER FAILS TO MAKE ME LAUGH 😭

Pre October 7th, most of the blogs I followed had always been very political but seemed normal for the most part.

Now, they're all constantly rage posting about AO3 like it's the most of everyone's problems 😭 it's giving 4chan talking about Jews every second and bringing us into everything not gonna lie.

"You evil queers support Ao3 but question Palestinians on Tumblr, racist genocidal zionazis 🤬" these people are sooo insane. People donating to Ao3 bothers them so much that whenever anything happens now it goes back to Ao3..it's giving Trump blaming everything on the libs

Whenever any sort of injustice trends on here the response from tankies is automatically "you use/donate to ao3 you guys are evil monsters" ???? 😭🤨

Oh and don't forget the constant "this is tumblr staff's fault". They're sooo extremist that suddenly whenever anyone gets banned it's prejudice from the staff. Like girl! You posted blatant antisemitic shit straight from mein kampf but you being banned is somehow *checks notes* a result of the staff silencing Palestinians? 🤨 if you cannot criticise tumblr without immediately diving into batshit crazy conspiracies where every move the tumblr staff makes is bigotry and an attack on minorities idk what to tell you.

Idgaf about anyone hating ao3 but it's very strange to watch how they decide to hate it in the most extremist way possible lmao.

Also obsessed with how they go so left they end up right. Popular responses from leftists about the fake Palestinian scammers was "you people are always poor and ebegging but you draw the line at giving Palestinians money" 😐

Wow being classist towards the people you don't like will surely show them! Also obsessed with how only Palestinians matter in this case. They are allowed to say these things and then get cheered on by many (these posts get thousands of reblogs and likes lmaoo) because Palestinians are experiencing the Worst Thing in The World which means only they matter and anyone who supports them are allowed to say whatever they want in support. Therefore making fun of poor people who ask for money on Tumblr is progressive actually because it's in support of Palestinians.

Funny enough tankies are also homophobic when it comes to hating ao3 and everyone who dares to use that evil website but they're #gay so it's okay 😭😭😭 they'll say shit like "you queers have money for ao3 and never Palestine" first of all targetting gay people when I know many straight people who use ao3 is insanee. 2) where do they get this info from because they are always saying this but i only ever see queers donating to palestinians 😭 are they seriously making shit up to be angry about ? they talk about it like every gay person in the world is donating to the evil ao3 instead of palestine when it's a much smaller number than they exaggerate it to be.

i made a post in like 2021 (which got like 30k notws but i can’t find it bc tumblr search function sux) about how tumblr users would act like its evil to donate to ao3 instead of people’s (like fl****s******e) personal gofundmes but once again you can just replace personal gfms with palestine scam asks this time. really nowadays donating to anything that doesn’t have to do with The Omnicause is seen as EVIL. like chill, people can care about multiple things. plus i bet most of these people raging against ao3 still spend many hours on the site and get free entertainment from it so its like. do u want this site to exist or not because servers cost money and it can’t exist without donations.

[torpedopickle]

A small PSA about Dawntrail

In the wake of all the harassment and blatant bigotry being hurled at Sena Bryer for her performance as Wuk Lamat in FFXIV Dawntrail, I really think it's time we have a conversation about knee-jerk reactions and how the inability to process them can very easily be a slippery slope to hate.

Like most people, I have sadly at a few points in my life heard a trans woman speak and then my brain takes a second to process it and then goes "That doesn't sound like a lady. That's not a lady"

These knee-jerk reactions aren't uncommon when for instance first meeting a character voiced by a trans VA in a video game. But what's important is that you stop and tell yourself;

"I just had a thought I did not like. Why is that?"

It's SO important that you interrogate yourself whenever you have thoughts like that. You need to dismantle those thoughts, pull them apart and refute them. Only then can you start to unlearn programmed prejudice.

Teach yourself that "they don't sound feminine/masculine" is an invalid train of thought. Ignore it and go on with your life until you stop having that thought. Then you've grown.

It's important that you DON'T indulge these trains of thoughts. Don't follow them, they don't go anywhere good. They go to a place that starts to make you irrarionally upset every time you hear trans people speak because you're not allowing your brain to ignore the disconnect it believes exists between voice and gender.

Thats how you end up with dozens of forum threads where gamers rant about how angry they get when a rather inoffensive character opens their mouth.

[jewish-vents]

Cw for mentions of the current war, and general i/p stuff

There’s this growing narrative in Jewish spaces that we can’t be mad when Palestinians, especially Gazans, do or say something Jew hating because they’re traumatised, and I just… I can’t anymore. I just saw a Jew say it’s fine if a Gazan calls a Jew a kike because ‘do what you need to do’. NO. I am NOT going to tolerate the most blatant fucking Jew hatred just because it’s coming from traumatised people. Like, I get it, be lighter, make sure to critically evaluate the statement and see if it’s actually bigoted or if it’s just in an iffy tone. Trying to tone police very recently and deeply traumatised people IS bad, but saying that they’re allowed to be as bigoted as they want?? What the fuck???!!!

It’s like how there are a few big Palestinian bloggers here who are very Jew hating. People who literally spreading things like blood libel with ‘Israelis kidnap blonde kids from Gaza’, updated well poisoning, saying Zionists need to fucking die, and then on top of that refuse to talk to Jews who aren’t there to tolerate the rhetorics that are being spread by them. And these people are fucking Jew haters. And they’re harming Jews and radicalising a LOT of people into Jew hatred because their audience is so big.

Palestinians can be Jew haters. Bigotry is never acceptable, no matter the status of the perpetrator. Jewish safety is not less valuable than Palestinian safety, they’re fucking equal because everybody in danger deserves to be safe. Fuck all of you in Jewish spaces who try to spread this shit.

It's worth remembering that, while Jews currently have systemic privilege over Arabs in Israel, there is a history of over a thousand years of Jewish oppression in the Muslim world, and antisemitism is just as baked into Islam as Christianity.

Jews have been ethnically cleansed from the entire Arab and Muslim world, and Arab and Muslim governments frequently deflect attention form their own abuses of their citizens by blaming the Jews. This is as true in Palestine as it is in Egypt and Iran.

The situation is complicated, and grace does need to be extended to those currently suffering because of Israeli action, but blatant antisemitic lies cannot be tolerated.

-🐞