#but the link is still there and the racism from the fandom is...yikes

[ahamkara-apologist]

Something that people don't really seem to see (or perhaps it's just my perspective, as the son of an Iranian immigrant) is that the hatred for Eramis among fancircles goes beyond pure media illiteracy and seems to be directly tied to anti-immigrant racism. People on youtube seem to be fixated on the idea that she's a 'terrorist' for firing the Warsats- it doesn't matter how many times people tell them that she didn't have a choice in the matter with the Witness being right behind her, or that her target was the Traveler rather than the Last City, or that it means nothing when they never actually discharged in the first place. It doesn't matter that she has a very good reason to hate humanity-the Vanguard in particular- after they systematically destroyed her House and any attempt that the Eliksni made to rebuild a functional society. To them, she's a terrorist, and terrorists are executed for what they've done no matter what. There's no consideration for the circumstances that led them to this point, because these people grew up in a landscape where that does not matter- all that matters is the elimination of a perceived barbaric threat against their nation. And this ideal is extended into the video game

Idk, it just gives me a really bad taste in my mouth that people are so vitrolic towards the Eliksni who do not trust the Vanguard. It doesn't matter who started the Eliksni-Human war (the answer is that both sides started wars across the Houses), the end result is that post Final Attempt, the Eliksni had lost, and we continued to systematically hunt down and eliminate any attempt at reformation with the end goal of exterminating them from the system. If it wasn't for Misraaks and House Light, the Vanguard would have eliminated them from the system entirely, firing on civilians and protectors alike and sending agents in to wipe out as much of them as possible. And Eramis watched all of this happen from the outside, after seeing the entire collapse of her society and the faliure of the Final Attempt, as well as the Vanguard's moves to put Eliksni refugees in a bombed-out district with very little effort for actual reconcilliation to any Eliksni not House Light. She has a very valid reason to hate our guts, and her acting against us doesn't mean that she's a terrorist, but bc she's a refugee from a hostile nation that we meddled in (cough America cough), she's seen as the bad guy, even when the narrative of the story displays that its much more complex than anything we saw when we first started out as a New Light

[ablednt]

One thing I want to add is that there is a big difference in interacting with content uncritically and critically interacting with content.

If people do choose to buy, buy secondhand if at all possible. Limit the amount of hype and money that goes to creators.

But, there is a way to be able to talk about media without being entirely supportive or unsupportive, especially since a lot of media is a mixed bag. (Xanth as a whole has plenty of sexism (Piers Anthony writing underage girls is a big yikes and poor Faun), but the book we have actually helped explain a part of our system to us.)

The only reason why I bring this up is that for a bunch of people it can be more complicated than just being able to stop cold-turkey. Some people may need exposure to critical analysis of media to begin a slower way of distancing themselves.

I just want to add that, since the posts can come off as a "You're either supportive or not if you don't fit in one box or the other you should fit in one" and it really ignores the nuance of the situation and the spectrum between those two. The black-and-white view of it can be very harmful to people who don't fit in one box or the other.

No lol if a media is doing measurable harm (interacting with dsmp in any way encourages a fandom and whilst YOU might be "critically" consuming this content the people you pique the interest of will not be. Buying harry potter shit second hand still gives money to transphobes even if that doesn't ever wind up going directly to JK rolling. Shit like hetalia cannot be consumed critically because there is Quite Literally nothing to it other than extreme racial + xenophobic stereotyping and antisemitism. Encouraging fan content/fandom for attack on titan is directly indoctrinating people into antisemitic and imperialist ideologies (especially against Korea) etc. etc.) then there's no critical way to consume it without supporting shit that you should not be.

Like for example I'm not going to instantly cut off everyone who enjoys a cringy media that could have been handled better but ultimately isn't hurting people so long as you're like normal about it. But our source's canon was ultimately extremely harmful and I realized my participation in the fandom was intrinsically linked to the grooming I and other minors experienced because canon uncritically contained so much goddamn sexualization of minors and had a Lot Of Other Issues to the point where I couldn't think of anyone who wasn't in some way harmed by my participation in this fandom, including myself. So for me that was extreme enough that I was like yeah screw this shit and whilst my exomemories are simply just not like that I am still very careful about who I talk about this series to because I do not want anyone to genuinely engage with it ever.

I've Never Genuinely seen anyone act like you cannot critically consume media that isn't really hurting anyone (you should be critically consuming everything for that matter) unless they're bad faith argumenters who are just latching onto whatever and don't genuinely believe the shit they're saying. Cancel culture and being "too mean" to fandom just really isn't an issue no one needs to be reassured they can Like Things during conversations about genuinely harmful media.

I made the post about fictives because I've seen a painful amount of fictives use being fictives to be racist (and bigoted in otherways but imo the racism is the main issue here) especially if the system is white and there's not nearly enough people talking about it because somewhere along the lines of separating ourselves from sysmeds the wider plural community got it in their heads that the issue wasn't fakeclaiming and dehumanization of headmates (that targets fictives especially) but in fact just being critical of others or expecting that they follow the basic human decency of listening to systems of color* when they say shit like don't be proud of being a fictive of some youtubers racist caricature and don't encourage people to engage with your source or reward content creators by boosting their content.

(*I don't suspect this is going to breech containment but in case it does our system is white and so this is the only thing we're saying on this because we can only really repeat stuff that we've heard from systems of color. We are Not The Authority on any of this.)

[magnoliae]

Hii, I saw u had ppl who support the penumbra podcast on ur DNI, and i was just wondering, what was the hiring event u were referring to? It's on my list of podcasts to listen to n I was wondering if I should take it off

Hi! Ill start from a beginners perspective of the penumbra as the main controversy is very much a direct result of all of penumbras past mistakes, sorry if you know parts of this already. Also Im white and started listening mid season 2, so this is more of a rundown than like an authoritative judgement.

Theres two unrelated stories that are just going into the fourth season, one a scifi noir show with many themes on family, trauma, recovery and corruption, and a fantasy D&D like fiction which I have not listened to as much so I dont know the themes as well. However both stories are really popular because of their diversity in primarily LGBTQIA+ charcaters, but also race, disabilities, age, gender.

The main protagonist of the scifi noir is Juno Steele, a black disabled nonbinary character who has PTSD and other traumas. However, the penumbra has a predominantly white cast and writing crew, especially at the beginning of the show, and didnt explicitly give any charcters a race or ethnicity (except for iirc the antagonists of the now non-canon pilot who were south asian and said to "breed like rabbits" yikes).

Then in 2017, penumbra hired Michaela Buckley, whose art is a whole nother can of worms of racist and transmisogynistic caricatures. As the first "official" artist she gave the characters a lot of their traits that are still seen today, especially races and ethnicities like black for Juno, and South East Asian for his love interest Peter Nureyev. As a white person its not my place to judge the harmfulness in making an angry alcoholic character with a broken home black, and a suave homme-fatale thief Asian, but it doesnt sound good on paper.

When people brought this up with the creators of the show, they sort of made it canon but not really? Nothing really was mentioned on changing their ways or combating fandom racism. According to this timeline by @/ofdreamsanddoodles they later apologised, but still sold Buckley's merch. They also kinda sidestepped it by making their future "race blind", however the setting is very much not a utopia so idk the decision to avoid race as a topic seems a bit glaring imo. I think Buckley as well apoligsed separately, and she never intended to be like, the voice of god on canon representation.

The recent controversy however is around the newest artist penumbra have hired after their season 3 artist left. They hired Ellison Estephan, who also has a history of drawing racist, lesbophobic and transmisogynistic caricatures. the link goes over one of the most offensive artworks, which the penumbra team later address.

The first "statement" was given by one of the showrunners, Harley Takagi Kaner, on twitter I think a day after the announcement. However they basically only talked about the bullying theyve received in the meantime. It was mentioned later by Kevin Vibert how this was done in the spur of the moment by Harley. Vibert did compare the numbers of slurs sent to him, a white cis gay guy, vs Harley, a nonbinary POC so like, I understand why Harley would try to stop like abuse rather than criticism, but it wasnt great when this looked like their only official apology. Ellison also dismissed their offensive art as "goofy", which was also not great when fans hadnt heard anything else from the team. They did later apologise properly.

Then a week after the announcement, Vibert releases an 12 page statement on the matter. However, a large part of this was more going over why it took the team so long to respond and their hiring process, rather than an actual apology. In regards to Ellison's infamous artwork, he only goes over Alessandra Strong because no one on the hiring team was a black woman. And the response was it made sense to make a tall gruff muscular woman black because of her personality and because previous fans (like Buckley) had drawn her as black so it'd be taking away representation. I cant truly make a judgement on that, but he handwaves away the overly offensive caricature style which is what people mainly had an issue with, and didnt bring up the other characters. The crew have also decided to keep Ellison as their artist, so this is just another case of the penumbra team refusing to make changes and not take accountability in writing their characters and plot.

[jadelotusflower]

June 2021 Roundup

It's been a month of highs and lows. Every year my city holds a cabaret festival, and I've seen some truly amazing acts over the years - including Lea Salonga, Kristin Chenoweth, and Indina Menzel. This year's Artistic Director was the great Alan Cumming, and although due to covid he didn't quite get to curate the program he wanted to, the opening night Gala was still a highlight, as was Alan's DJ set at the pop-up Club Cumming afterwards, where there was much singing at the top of my lungs and dancing to pop anthems and theatre tunes. At one point Alan, dressed in a onesie and perched on the shoulders of a man wearing only sparkly short shorts, was carried around the dance floor while Circle of Life blared. Reader, I was delighted.

I was also able to see his solo show Alan Cumming Is Not Acting His Age, which was hilarious and damn, he can sing!

As for the low, I was meant to fly to Sydney for the weekend to see Hamilton, a trip I have been looking forward to for almost a year, but had to be cancelled because of a covid outbreak and border closures. The tickets have been rescheduled, but I'm still kind of bummed about it (while completely appreciating the need for covid safety, especially when our vaccine rollout has been completely botched by our incompetent, corrupt federal government)

Anyway.

Reading

The Hundred and One Dalmations (Dodie Smith) - With all the bewilderment over Disney's Cruella, I decided to revisit the original novel which I first read as a kid. It's funny, I had very vivid memories of this book, or rather thought I did, particularly the scene where Roger and Anita have dinner at Cruella's house that fixed in my young mind as utterly disturbing with all this devil imagery and the implication Cruella was literally some kind of demon, which must have been either a) my overactive imagination or b) an illustration, because it's not as clear as I thought it was. The strangeness is there (food with too much pepper, Cruella's inability to keep warm, the walls painted blood red) but not the explicit demon imagery I had remembered. There is a part later in the book recounting the history of Hell Hall and the rumors of Cruella's ancestor streaking out of the place conjuring blue lightening, but clearly child me was reading far more into the book than was on the page.

But I still wish they'd gone with this version of Cruella's backstory, because to me an aristocratic, ink-drinking, heat-obsessed, possibly-demon spawn, high camp villain is more interesting and rings far more true than plucky punk against the establishment.

Smith clearly had Facts About Dalmations to share, and she does really craft a wonderful animal-based story that the Disney animated film is largely faithful to. Key differences include: Roger's occupation (he doesn't have to pay tax because he wiped out government debt somehow?!?), Pongo's mate and the puppy's mother is called Missis, Perdita is another dalmation who acts as a kind of doggie wet nurse, Roger and Anita both have Nannies who come to live with them (Nanny Butler and Nanny Cook), Cruella is married to a furrier (who changed his last name to de Vil). Also odd, on her first description Cruella is described as having "dark skin" but later in the novel her "white face" is mentioned, so I'm chalking it up to 50's descriptors not having the same meanings they do today.

The Duke and I (Julia Quinn) - After being just whelmed by the tv series, I wasn't really planning on reading the books, but I saw this on the top picks shelf at the library and damn, the top picks shelf is irresistible. This is very much Daphne's book (and I had known each in the series dealt with the different sibling) so many of the characters and much of the plot of the show is absent, as are some of the more baffling elements of the show like the Diamond of the First Water nonsense, which I always thought was a strange character choice in that it stacks the deck for Daphne when her character arc is better served as somewhat of an underdog (in her third season, the kind of girl who is liked but not adored), and the Prince subplot which was always far too OTT even for soapy regency romance.

It's a breezy, fun read (that scene excepted), even if the misunderstandings are contrived and I'm never going to take "I'll never have kids because I hate my dad" as a credible romantic obstacle deserving of so much angst.

Faeries (Brian Froud and Alan Lee) - A lovingly detailed and illustrated compendium of Faerie and its inhabitants, drawing from a range of European (but primarily Celtic) folklore and mythology. Froud was a conceptual designer on The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, and the link is clear in the art as well as the focus on faeries as mysterious but oftimes sinister beings, where human encounters with them rarely end well. Lee has illustrated several publications of Tolkien's novels, and was a lead concept artists for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies, and there is a touch of Middle Earth here as well, or rather the common inspiration of the old world. A useful resource for my novel!

Watching

The Handmaid's Tale (season 4, episodes 4-8) SPOILERS - So when I last wrote about this show in the Roundup, I was complaining it wasn't going anywhere. Well, I'm happy to be wrong because they finally changed things up with June finally escaping to Canada. That part of the plot following the survivors and their trauma has always been far more compelling than Gilead, and so it was a welcome development even if I side-eye some of the choices (none of these characters is seeing an actual licensed therapist why?).

This show has always been difficult to watch given the subject matter, and that has not changed after the shift in power dynamics. I will give the show credit for showing a broad range of trauma responses, from Moira wanting to move on and not let it consume her, to June, a ball of rage and revenge on a downward spiral, to Emily, trying to follow Moira's path but being drawn to June's, to Luke, trying his best but utterly unequipped to deal with what is happening.

But it is very hard to watch June go down this path - raping her husband (I concede the show perhaps didn't intend for it to be rape, but that's what is on screen and framing it as just "taking away Luke's agency" doesn't change that), wishing death on Serena's unborn child, and orchestrating Fred's brutal murder by particulation, then holding her own daughter still covered in his blood and it getting smeared on Nicole's face (an unsubtle metaphor in a series full of unsubtle metaphors).

There are interesting questions being asked of the viewer, and the show (perhaps rightly) not giving any answers. I can certainly appreciate the catharsis of Fred getting what he deserves even if I personally find the manner of it horrifying, but where is the line between justice and revenge, is revenge the only option when justice is denied, when does a trauma release become cyclical violence/abuse - the show is, for now, letting the viewer decide.

Soul (dir. Pete Docter and Kemp Powers) - In a world full of remakes/reboots/sequels, Pixar is perhaps the lone segment under the Disney umbrella committed to original content. However, there does seem to be a Pixar formula at work directed to precision tugging the heart strings, and some of the film feels like well-trod ground. On the other hand, it's hard to criticise the risk of centering a kids film around the existential crisis of a middle aged man, even with the requisite cutesy elements (and of course, the uncomfortable pattern of yet another film where the black lead character spends a great deal of the runtime in non-human form - herein, an amorphous blob or a cat). But the animation is stunning, it successfully did tug my heart strings, and the design of the Great Before and the Jerrys is original and fun.

RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under - Drag Race is somewhat of a guilty pleasure for me, since I generally don't watch reality shows, and this is something I really enjoy even if I'm not invested in the fandom (which like many fandoms can be very yikes). This year it was time for the Australian/New Zealand (Aotearoa) queens to show their stuff, although it's been met with mixed reactions. Covid restrictions didn't allow for guest judges, relegating them to mere cameos via video calls, and its clear that Ru and Michelle really don't quite get all the cultural nuances - Aussie judge Rhys Nicholson was however always delightful. But it wouldn't be Australia without a racism scandal, with the great disappointment of the two queens of colour eliminated first, and one queen having done blackface in the recent past yet making it all the way to the top four.

In the end, the only viable and deserving winner was last Kiwi standing Kita Mean, and it was pure joy to see her get crowned. I do hope they fix the bugs and indeed do another season to better showcase AU/NZ talent.

Writing

A far more productive month - to try and get out of my writing funk I had a goal to try and write every day, even if it was only 100 words. While I didn't quite achieve a consecutive month, I did get a pretty good average, at least got something posted and two others nearly there.

The Lady of the Lake - 2441 words, Chapter 4 posted.

Against the Dying of the Light - 2745 words

Turn Your Face to the Sun - 1752 words.

Here I Go Again - 1144 words

Total words this month: 8082

Total words this year: 35,551

[hotfuss]

i don’t know how to make this more crystal clear:

Tl;dr: I don't want you on my blog if you agree with people who think tk didn't need to be vocal during blackout Tuesday like user let me be your comet who literally said I excuse racism but I draw the line at tk not giving Sarah junker a pass (and who also holds the delusional belief it was ''mean'' fans who bullied tana out of insta) or people like brandonsvictim and their insensitive take on the chez allegations (when there are victims suffering it is never about who is the only true fan who never doubted their fave)

- if you agree with people who think tk didn’t have to say anything during blackout tuesday because they aren’t a political band and still praise them for land of the free and think that’s enough activism from them for the rest of their lives i don’t want you on my blog

- if you think ronnie’s non answer about not wanting to talk about political stuff on social was a good enough answer (1st: black people not wanting to be killed bc they are black is a human rights issue not a political one, 2nd: it’s your white privilege to think you can just avoid this discussion bc you don’t feel like talking about it) and hope us complainers would finally shut up then i don’t want you on my blog

- if you praised tk for changing a whole verse of land of the free to make it actual bc that was so hard to do in just a week, yet you excuse them for not explicitly acknowledging that black lives matter and post some link/resources on their social media (waaaaay more easy) and don’t see the hypocrisy of this all then i don’t want you on my blog

- if you don’t want to listen to the black and brown fans talking about their issues with lotf and how this fandom is an extremely white space that makes them feel unwelcome/their voice ignored then i don’t want you on my blog

- if you agree with the tumblr user who made a long ass rant post framing this as just a fandom issue and literally saying “i can excuse racism but i draw the line at tk not giving sarah junker a photo pass” (see below) then i don’t want you on my blog

(yikes)

- if your reaction to the chez allegations coming out wasn’t to be horrified and appalled by what happened to the presumed victim and what chez herself experienced (the misogyny in the workplace, the fact she had to make the decision between giving up for her safety and endanger her career or keep up working back to back with people who made her think they were rapists for a “hazing joke”, the fact she carried with herself the remorse and regret for not helping out the alledged victim FOR ELEVEN YEARS) then i don’t want you on my blog

- if you call us fake fans for “having a knee jerk reaction” or “having a temper tantrum” bc once again you frame this about being a fandom issue and not about the victims then i don’t want you on my blog

- if you frame all of this about as a real vs fake fan issue and equate being a “real” fan as someone who just blindly stans the band with no critical thinking skills and accountability applied to them then i don’t want you on my blog and please grow up

black lives matter. black and brown fans deserve to feel safe and their voice heard in the fandom, they deserve to enjoy and being uplifted by tk songs too and have all the rights to feel disappointed when they don’t feel included by the band when they fail to express that (and you should feel the same too). even if the allegations turned to be not real what chez went thru is still horrible and she is still a victim. being a “real” fan, whatever that means, isn’t measured in how fare you can swallow the band’s boots down your throat. you aren’t perfect, your fave band isn’t perfect, they can fuck up and you can criticize and/or feel disappointed in them and held them accountable while knowing there is always space for growth and improvement.

[joshler]

regarding my last post

tw// topics relate to suicide/suicide prevention, racism, and bullying

before i get put on blast for “being white” or whatever the replies have accused me of: no, i’m actually a queer asian poc! my dad is a chinese immigrant from hong kong and my mom is cambodian who immigrated to america from vietnam during the vietnam war. i support blm 1000% bc i feel that as a fellow minority, we are on the same team. we’ve felt oppression, in different degrees, yes, but oppression nonetheless. i wanted to clear the air in regards to myself personally because the things aimed at me in the replies of my last post were insensitive and ignorant when you do not personally know me.

i would like to say i’m more of an update page at this point for TWENTY ONE PILOTS. i’m not here to get political, but i do want to say some things in regard to yesterday’s twitter incident with tyler joseph. first of all, YIKES. the joke was distasteful and the entire “thread” on everything he made yesterday had the worse timing in the history of ever. the platform “joke” was in regards to everybody pressuring for him to say something on current events such as blm, lebanon, etc. those things are very important and i have already done many things on my part to support blm and lebanon including donations, signing petitions, and posting on my main social media accounts (i’ve really ghosted tumblr) with ways others can help. i put links to resources, petitions, and places to donate among other helpful sites. the way tyler handled things yesterday was really idiotic on his part. with that dumb joke, he could have immediately linked blm and apologized right afterwards which is what should have been done. instead, he moved on into a tangent regarding mental health and suicide awareness. i understand what he was trying to say, but in the heat of the political movement RIGHT NOW, shifting the conversation to mental health while it should have been about blm was a terrible choice on his part. even if he connected how mental health and blm tied in together, it would have been great for what he was trying to say.

WHAT HE MEANT for all of the sjws jumping on this bc “a white man is being racist and using his privilege”: september is suicide prevention month. tyler’s intensions with the platform tweet was to make fun of everyone mass tweeting him for the past few months (you cannot make people do things). he was NOT mocking blm or any political movement. that platform joke was supposed to lead into talking about mental health. for anyone who doesn’t know, tyler is a very meticulous person. there’s no doubt he’s planned talking about this stuff for a long time. the fucking band’s moto is “stay alive” so of course mental health is a huge part of twenty one pilots culture, and tyler would want to talk about it. at the same time, that doesn’t mean i’m at all excusing him for not immediately speaking on behalf of blm in yesterday’s tweets. once he saw that what he was saying was not received as he thought it would be, tyler apologized for hurting anyone and sent out the links.

this is not the first time he has talked about blm either (as seen above). his band mate (josh) and wife (jenna) have spoken on behalf of blm as well. debby ryan (josh’s wife) has been the most vocal in regards to everything going on right now. for you strangers out there to jump on here and to call him this and that is doing nothing but spreading negativity. you are wasting your own time. instead of badgering people, how about taking your business elsewhere or at least trying to educate others. do not come onto my replies just to make trouble. as fans, you can’t just say “we don’t personally know them” while you know even less than we do since you just popped in when shit hit the fan for them and they turned “problematic.” tyler did what was right at the end of the day. i am not praising him at all, but he has at least apologized and learned his lesson.

in regards to them being rich and not donating: nobody knows what they’ve done behind the scenes. i personally donated to many blm funds and to the red cross in lebanon, and nobody knows that until now! just because you donate does not mean you are obligated to publicly blast that for everybody to know. your money is going to a cause that you support, and that should only really matter to you. celebrities are no exception to that idea.

fun fact: tyler has a niece named mercy on his wife’s side! she is black and tyler and his wife are extremely close to her and her family. to come out of no where just to call him racist and all that when you in fact don’t know a thing about him besides some surface tweets is uncalled for. in regards to being silent on the crisis in lebanon, tyler is part lebanese! without a doubt, he’s donated to some sort of lebanon aid fund. but again, we will never know.

for those of you upset about the platforms: dollskill isn’t the only site that sells those boots! dollskill is certainly the most popular brand the shoes are on, but if you look them up, the platforms pop up else where as well. to blatantly say “oh he supports dollskill so he’s racist/homophobic/supports the police/all the shit that company stands for” is just as ignorant as you think he is!  dollskill as a company is complete shit. i don’t support them at all. many people think they’re from dollskill mainly because of this one instagram page that’s all about finding the exact/similar clothing to what tyler/josh/jenna/debby have worn, but we cannot be 100% sure that they were purchased from dollskill. that shit company steals from other smaller artists/designers, remember? (that same instagram account reuploaded a link to a different store who is selling them, as found here)

if you still have beef with tyler and what he said, there’s really no point in bickering just to call complete strangers “stupid” or “clowns” or just really hurtful names! you are screaming into an abyss and hurting others at the same time. there is a fine line between straight up bullying and educating others on bettering their understanding with what is currently going on. my intensions behind the post was to show that he had become active again. we are a fandom, and i like to update my page when they post new pictures. that is simply what i did. i made THIS post to clear the air on what people were saying about ME. i deleted tumblr off my phone because what was being said was just belittling and i didn’t want to see that when this whole situation with what tyler did already made me upset. feel free to dm me if you would like to talk about anything. i would be happy to discuss any points that i’ve mentioned. i would much rather have a civil conversation than be picked on through replies and anonymous messages.

at the end of the day, not everyone can always have satisfied and that’s okay. if anything, this entire situation truly opened my eyes to that. hopefully you read through this whole thing before you put anything on blast again.

here’s this, too. they do care.

summary: sorry on behalf of tyler joseph. he needs to work on reading the room better.

[secretlyatargaryen]

@leavingwestcovina it really convinces me that you are asking me for an explanation in good faith when you block me, but here’s my reply anyway.

Girl, you do know that idiot is an ableist slur or is your defense of ableism selective? 👀

“No YOU” is not a great argument, and policing people’s words in order to do a “gotcha” is itself pretty fucking ableist. We’re talking about a word that has a specific connotation for this specific character, and there is a difference.

I’ve already admitted that fans have used ableist slurs against Tyrion before, but this is not the context. If you want to argue that intentionality is irrelevant, please be my guest, but if you’re arguing that they’re intentionally calling him a monster because of their ableism, your projecting meaning simply to be argumentative.

Yes, I am saying that the context is irrelevent. I already told you not to use that word and the context NOW is that you are continuing to spout this bullshit at me, which DOES speak to bad intention.

Be more specific…do not use it in reference to marginalized groups. Many people on the show are called monsters all of the time. Would people calling Cersei be an example of sexism, now??? You may have a point, but you’re poorly explaining it.

I don’t actually owe you an explanation. But since you seem to truly not understand, no, calling Cersei a monster is not sexist. Using the word “monster” about Tyrion is ableist because it is a word that has specifically been used to demonize him because of his disability and justify abusing him. Calling Cersei “cunt” or “bitch” is sexist because it’s a word that links her sex with her morality or worth as a person. Calling Tyrion “monster” when it is a word that has been used to dehumanize him from birth is ableist, regardless of whether you are trying to criticize Tyrion’s actions or morality.

I’ve seen you purposely misunderstand the point with three different people, which includes myself. I literally said that I do not care that Tyrion killed his father, my original point, which is also in the post, is that Dany gets judged for being unflinching as her abuser is killed, yet Tyrion receives no blowback nor is he called a bad person. It’s about the hypocrisy between Dany and Tyrion when it comes to morality and isn’t centered around his height. You’re making it about height doesn’t mean it is about that. Who said “poor Tywin???” If Dany not reacting to her abuser brothers death is a seed that shows her madness, then what does Tyrion killing his abusive father and taunting him say?

You’re making a point that doesn’t need to be made and preaching to the choir, in order to defend other people’s ableism. Have I ever, EVER said that Dany was wrong for killing her abuser? I’ve made quite the opposite argument, actually, many times. This is a point that does not need to be made, and it definitely doesn’t need to be thrown at me to defend other people’s ableism.

Tyrion DOES receive blowback and is called a bad person for killing Tywin. Just in the past few days he has received a lot of it, but I’ve been in this fandom for years and he’s ALWAYS gotten that shit, just like Dany has. Just because YOU haven’t seen it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

I’ve also talked quite a bit about how I hate the “madness” narrative and what the show has done to Dany. I don’t know what you are trying to accomplish here by trying to argue at me that I should be blaming Tyrion instead, other than spreading around more victim blaming, ableist, nasty bullshit. If you see a pile of shit, do you think “oh, I think I will roll in this so that everyone I meet can experience this pile of shit!” What’s the point here? This makes YOU look hypocritical because right now, in this thread, I am not the one being a hypocrite. YOU ARE.

And just because YOU don’t think it’s about his height doesn’t mean that it isn’t. That is what you are failing to understand, and what I have tried to explain to you. For Tyrion, everything is about his height because that is his reality, and because other people have made it about his height. You do not get to decide what is and isn’t “about that” and that is a highly offensive thing to say, to any marginalized person. For me, personally, this discussion is about my disability because that is my lived reality. You do not get to tell me that it’s not. You do not get to tell me that I’m making it up or overreacting, things that many, MANY bigots say when trying to invalidate sexism, racism, or any ism.

Perhaps you need to stop speaking with your inability to see beyond your own poor points. I made a contrast between Dany and Tyrion to highlight the hypocrisy between two ABUSE victims and how the fans and series paints their reactions to their abusers deaths. You’re adding a lot of meaning where there is none to make a shitty argument. My argument isn’t that Tyrion is wrong for killing his abuser or taunting him, it’s: if Dany is “mad” for not giving a shit that her abuser died, then so is Tyrion. If Tyrion is seen as right for what he did, then so is Dany. You cannot condemn one and validate the other.

When did I condemn Dany? I made the original post saying how stupid it was that Tyrion tried to argue that her killing slaves was a condemnation. Y’all reacted by trying to condemn Tyrion. “You cannot condemn one and then validate the other.” You’re right, and what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. You should take your own advice.

I personally haven’t called him a monster

But you defended people who did. You hopped on this post to tell me that I was actually making up ableism.

but in the many points I’ve listed, I’ve mentioned the other shit he did that has nothing to do with advice. Are you overlooking him killing Shae, which is an act of misogyny and he killed a sex worker as well. Yikes. You think that’s justifiable? What about him using wildfire? What about him finding out about Jon’s true parentage and telling Varys, which he should’ve known better than to do? What about him using his power to free Jaime? What about because of him telling Varys Jon’s true parentage, it mostly resulted in Rhaegal and Missandei getting killed? His bad advice led to not only terrible loses for Dany, it undermined her position. Then, to make matters worse, he paints everything Dany did in the worst light and convinced her lover to kill her. The problem for you isn’t that Tyrion is being called to task for his own shitty behavior, the problem is is that you don’t want anyone to. I do believe you feel passionately about the monster word, but you conveniently ignore everything else to push the idea that hies only getting criticized for being short. It’s a bad faith argument.

I didn’t excuse anything he did that he should be blamed for. I didn’t address them because that literally does not matter in this argument. Calling him a monster would still be disgusting and ableist regardless of what Tyrion did wrong. Because you’re specifically using a word that is not about his morality, it’s about his dwarfism. The word does not exist in a vacuum and you cannot divorce it from how it is used to justify dehumanizing and abusing him by characters in the story. You just can’t, and that would be true regardless of what he does.

I told people not to use that word and you came at me telling me I was making up ableism. THAT is a bad faith argument. Your trying to accuse me of “hypocrisy” and blame Tyrion for trying to save innocents is a bad faith argument. I literally never blamed Dany for anything. The show wrote her as becoming an evil tyrant in the last minute and that was stupid and shitty and offensive, but now YOU are trying to flip the narrative to blame a character who did something entirely heroic and THAT is a bad faith argument. And then you tried really hard to tell me that it’s unfair of me to tell you not to call a disabled character a monster and that I’m making up ableism, which makes your argument seem EXTREMELY in bad faith.

Criticize the narrative all you want, but don’t tell me that Tyrion is to blame for “bad advice” or for trying to save innocents and DEFINITELY do not tell me that I’m making up ableism or that I’m not allowed to be angry about people using ableist slurs and that ableism doesn’t exist because you haven’t seen it.

[imagineproduce101]

hey just curious, but i'm wondering what do u mean by some of the got7 members being problematic?? as in im just genuinely curious, not tryna bash or anyth!!

-like okay, before i start, i just wanna say that i literally stanned got7 SINCE DEBUT, they were my first kpop concert (when they came to the usa in january 2015), and it took a lot for me to say ‘i’ve had enough’, and believe me, i made a LOT of excuses for them

-bambam said the n word and literally doesn’t understand why it’s problematic, like he’s literally so invested in internet culture and yet people try to pull the “oh he just hasn’t been exposed to it” lol k bye

-multiple members have said colorist things and don’t understand why that’s a problem

-one in particular that irritated me was bambam put like vanilla cake (?) on his face and said that it made his skin look lighter AND THEN PROCEEDED TO TELL HIS DARKER SKINNED FANS THAT THEY SHOULD DO THE SAME

-bitch i may be tan but i love my skin i ain’t changing it for no goddamn social construct

-members have said inconsiderate things about medication/mental health

-jb has been recorded saying something INCREDIBLY homophobic and violent

-jackson wore dreads and got super defensive about it, and when fans tried to educate him he was like lmao no i love black culture !!1!

-jackson has also done blackface for an ad but i didn’t see much backlash for it which was strange because i was really surprised 

there comes a point when you realize that even with an apology, the understanding of why the apology is necessary just isn’t there. like if a kid throws a dish on the floor and says sorry, but throws a dish on the floor a week later, clearly they don’t understand why destroying dishes is wrong. i’m okay with people messing up and learning from their mistakes, but i have yet to truly see that second part-- LEARNING-- from got7.

and the worst part is (and this always happens even with other groups tbh) there’ll be backlash for one of these incidents for a few days– max a week– and then the kpop fandoms just return to their daily lives and forget about it and continue to stan these groups like no enough is enough. as a person who opposes racism, homophobia etc, how can i call myself a supporter of blm/lgbtq etc rights and still support these groups like that’s not how the world works…

anyways that’s my opinion (based on facts yikes), maybe at some point i’ll go through and link my sources since some fans really just can’t seem to believe that their precious idols could mess up but whatever

[soacethetic]

alright I was hoping I’d get an actual rebuttal beyond linking other people’s opinions but ok. this is gonna be long, but seeming u linked a million different posts for me to sift through, I hope u read it.

1) “MOGAI was a mistake.”

-> “It’s vague so pedos/kinksters try to get in.” Pedophiles have been trying to legitimise themselves by linking themselves to the LGBTQ community since its inception, this isn’t a new or MOGAI-exclusive phenomenon.

-> “The A is for asexual.” Actually, the A stands for “Alignments” as in Marginalised Orientations, Gender Alignments and Intersex. Of course, aspecs are included under marginalised orientations. Funny how the poster doesn’t think that applies to us.

-> “Intersex people don’t want to be included.” Afaik there isn’t a consensus within the community, although as a perisex individual, I think leaving the door open is much more accommodating. Also many organisations, media and schools around the world (like in Aus) officially include intersex people in the LGBT+ acronym so moot point either way.

-> “MOGAI is a shithole...” From here it devolves into personal anecdote with zero evidence.

2) “SAM was a mistake/I rly hate the SAM.”

-> The first link defines asexuality as someone’s relationship to sex rather than an orientation or even its own form of attraction, and equates aspec identities with internalised homophobia so yikes.

-> Second link is mainly an attack on aspec microlabels. While some microlabels may equate attraction with action, or exist to ignore trauma/internalised phobia, that’s a problem separate from the SAM, and doesn’t equal “microlabels as a whole are bad,” especially as labels are first and foremost a personal thing.

3) “Allo is a shitty word.” Allosexual was coined as an alternate to the actually problematic term “sexual” and is completely synonymous with the term proposed by OP, “non-asexual.” Assigning allosexual to a false oppressor/oppressed dichotomy is a problem, sure, a similar one faced by words like “monosexual” or “binary,” but I’m sure you’d agree words like “binary” are intended as descriptions to label differing experiences/lateral aggression and aren’t inherently problematic. Context is key in this one.

4) Bigotry in the ace community

-> First link is entirely sourceless and therefore untrustworthy, as there’s no way to sort exclus trolls from ignorant 2005 teen posts from genuine bigots from shit OP made up.

-> I took the time to look through 90% of these links and ok so. Some of them are genuine, and disgusting — ex lesbophobia, serophobia, homophobia. Some of them are URL-less screenshots or very obvious trolls (using inflammatory language and ridiculous tags like cake, asexy etc) and thus unreliable as sources. Others are purposely making small things seem like major offences, or otherwise being misleading — “claim allos have been raping them!!1!” is actually claim cishets have been raping them which is exaggeration at worst, “someone coined alloculture” is actually a clumsy attempt to describe amatonormativity/allosexism. Others are, ironically enough, things that have been frequent in exclus circles, like comparing LGBT people to Reagan/fascists, using the holocaust and antiblackness for Discourse Points, calling LGBT people straight, rape/abuse apologism, ableism, telling marginalised ppl to kill themselves, calling LGBT/ace people a “fandom,” calling LGBT/ace people “deviants” etc.

Now I’m not intending to minimise what is genuine out of the above — it’s insensitive at best and wildly malicious and bigoted at worst. But I am pointing out the futility of acting like bigotry is an aspec-exclusive phenomenon. Racism is incredibly prevalent in white LGBTQ spaces - it would be ridiculous to assume it also wouldn’t be in white aspec spaces. Transphobia is rampant in cis LGBTQ spaces - same for cis aspecs. Homophobia is also, unfortunately, still prevalent in LGBTQ spaces - and perhaps more so in aspec spaces as aroaces/straight aspecs don’t experience it. But to act like bigotry is inherently aspec is itself bigoted as fuck. I could bring up countless articles and blog posts and personal experiences of bi people being homophobic, or gay people being racist and transphobic, or trans men being misogynistic. But the only thing connecting these groups is an unchangeable, marginalised identity. They aren’t a hive mind, and individual bigotry will never “cancel” a fucking orientation - it’s simply something we need to be aware of and combat.

And to address what bugs me most about your OP; how would remaking the community fix any of these so-called problems? How would it erase existing bigotry? How would destroying the SAM stop people microlabelling, or explaining their own attraction? How would getting rid of MOGAI do anything beyond antagonise nonbinary people?

the entire ace community needs to start OVER

mogai was a mistake. the split attraction model was a mistake. All of the rampant homophobic and transphobic and racist ideology that makes up a huge chunk of the ace community was a MISTAKE!

We need to wipe our slate clean and drop all the nonsense that we’ve helped create. I know its too late and that pandora’s box has already opened and many people have already been hurt. But I want us to start over. 

[latinalesbi]

Stefs hair is awesome I mean she looks so butch and it's so hot I love how they have styled it this half of the season

I love the style. I knew it was longer, so I feared it wouldn’t look good. But the stylist is on point, we don’t need to worry if Teri’s delayed in getting it trimmed. Stef is so hot, I just love looking at her.

Anonymous said:                                                                      Of Stef and Lena had been where they are now when the whole monte thing started do you think that kiss would have happened or if it had had happened Lena wouldn't have kept it from Stef?

No, not at all. I mean Lena liked the attention because Stef wasn’t giving it to her. One of the first things that happens when things start to change is that Stef cries on Lena’s shoulder. And she says, I just wanted to see you. I think one of the most important parts of being in a relationship is feeling needed. You have to feel like your partner will turn to you for support. It’s so important. In short, no Monte would not have been able to get that close.

Anonymous said:                                                                      I always think that Stef would top Lena. With her being more butch and that but seeing Lena top Stef in 0410 and in 0203 is hot stuff             

Yep, that’s why I don’t write it with one always on top. I think for them, it’s dynamic and depends on the circumstances.

Anonymous said:                                                                      Do you think Lena knew Stef was a cop right away?             

I imagine she knew fairly quickly. The position she was at school would sort of lend itself to that knowledge. So if she didn’t find out the first day, she found out fairly quickly.

Anonymous said:                                                                      The twins actually wouldn't have been in foster care long. We know their last Christmas was with their Mom when they were 5. Lena said they fost-adopted the twins when they were 5 and Brandon told Court that they adopted the twins when they were 6 and he was 7. Now, they've screwed with the timeline a lot but they seem to have settled on the twins being with them when they were 5. I don't think it was until the Christmas episode until we found out the twins with with Ana until they were 5 too.             

We don’t really know. We know they were with her for Christmas but do we really know they weren’t moved around before that? (And I could be wrong because I never really rewatch anything but Stef and Lena). I know they came right out of a foster home when Stef met them. I have heard nothing to believe that they left Stef and Lena’s home after they arrived.

My experience with foster care is that they don’t take them away permanently at first. So I would imagine that they had been taken away from Ana before and returned. We literally don’t know. Here’s what we do know, they weren’t being raised. They were neglected in god knows what ways before that. And we know Ana was excommunicated from her home before the twins arrived. So they were exposed to her family’s culture.

Anonymous said:                                                                      Callie hugged Stef two times this half season but not Lena :(

You can’t be surprised by this. The fandom as a whole prefers that relationship. I like it when they mix it up. I still think Callie needs Lena.

Anonymous said:                                                                      I don't know what it is but there's seems to be something so off when it comes to Sherri and Kamar. He gives off such a weird vibe to me. I saw them on OLTL so it's not Teri that's messing up their vibe for me & this is a thought completely unrelated to her.  Their relationship just feels platonic & not couply. & he gives off an extremely self-centered vibe. Not in a narcissistic way but he definitely thinks very highly of himself. Just my opinion though. What do you think?

I don’t know Kamar, so basically all I know of him comes from their social media and from press photos. When he’s posing pictures with her, he doesn’t come off as a very warm person. He seems to be more about himself and the publicity. I have only seen one clip of them from OLTL (really only to get a comparison for Sherri’s style of kissing). The social media stuff, he seems focused on the boys. However, they’ve been married a long time so they must be real close or they’re focused on their family. Hollywood makes for volatile relationships.

Anonymous said:                                                                      I'm worried that Robert getting custody of Callie will happen. Like I won't be surprised if they do it like that because they want Brandon and Callie to hook up again (yikes)          

Look, Callie and the moms are the angsty relationship of the show, will they, won’t they. Robert is an external threat being wielded again. I wish they wouldn’t. I fear a cliffhanger but I don’t have a single doubt that this show ends up with Callie as their daughter.  They have brought up Robert’s money and privilege, and I don’t see the writers letting that win. I don’t.

Anonymous said:                                                                      What Lena and Stef outfits are your favorite?

I made a whole post about this. Let me link you:

First Stef, then scroll for Lena

  Anonymous said:                                                                      Do you think Frankie's death was necessary to the plot of the show?

No, I never think death is necessary on a show. I know they didn’t want a baby on set all the time, so they did what they had to do. I still hate that Ana has a baby and Lena doesn’t. Life isn’t fucking fair.

Anonymous said:                                                                      what does ur url mean             

hell yeah adamfoster. When I started my blog, there was a hellyeahstefandlena account and I kinda copied them when the few active fans decided adamsfoster would be a good tag for the ship.

Here comes all the OT questions, I deleted a few: 

  Anonymous said:                                                                      How do we know that Brandon's ex Cortney is white though? Like the actress is mexican so her character could be a WoC, from what I know they never stated Cortney's ethnicity so we shouldn't just assume she's white.             

The actress has nothing to with character. The fosters is not shy about race and so we don’t have to guess, even about ethnicity. For instance, with one small comment we know Emma is Jewish. If they wanted us to think Cortney was Latina, we would know and same for the following question.

Anonymous said:                                                                      Mike is clearly a person of color, so why wouldnt his biological son be half of whatever Mike is?             

Whatever in the fuck? Mike is a white man. I know another fandom has had a meltdown over an Italian playing a Latina, so let me tell you, it’s not the same thing at all. Just because a man is dark doesn’t mean he’s a man of color. Anyway, just as the above, if the show wanted us to think that, they would tell us. One time, a witness who ID’ed Mike mentioned he looked Mexican or Italian. That’s where many have gotten that idea, but he’s not.

  Anonymous said:                                                                      what's with all this silly debate about B's ethnicity? he is entitled because of his upbringing, not because of his race. B has always been in a stable (barring mike's alcoholism) and loving household. cal and jude, however, have not, and were profoundly abused emotionally, physically, and sexually while in the system. cal and jude are white. all this white privilege "it's cause he's white" rhetoric makes the fandom sound racist.             

While true, both things influence Brandon. His white race has kept him from encountering the same problems as someone like AJ. There’s a difference. So he doesn’t know how nice he has it. He has had stability at home and in society.

Interesting that you bring up Callie and Jude. Jude has a more nuanced experience because he’s gay and a foster kid. He still has white privilege. Someone pointed out that in the premiere we see a cop wanting to make sure that Jesus is interviewed for assaulting Nick, yet two white boys are seen breaking and entering into a boat to smoke weed and make out and yet they get to run away laughing and giggling as if nothing happened. Do you think if Jude had been black he would have even been allowed near the boat? Do you think the cops would have been looking for him if he had gotten to the boat itself? I think the situation would have been very different.

Callie supposedly meets a version of herself, introduced to her through Stef. I think she’s played by a black girl, and it will be interesting if she sees someone who has had it worse than her and has a positive attitude. I am interested in the parallels. Callie’s problems are often her own doing and she loves throwing pity parties. And maybe she does it because she knows she has 2 moms that will fight for her and a rich white daddy who will come to her rescue.

And people can be prejudiced against white people but not racist. Racism requires institutional power which people of color do not have.

Anonymous said:                                                                      how do you feel about jude's relatiomship with noah? i think hes problematic but he makes him very happy so im condflicted

Don’t like Noah, don’t like Jude with Noah.

 Anonymous said:                                                                      i really like emma and jesus as a couple as noah playing jesus. i feel like she and jake didnt have as much onscreen chemistry

I am not in love with new Jesus. I liked it better when he was more latino (-Gabe) and played by a latino. By that token, I liked Lexi and OldJesus much better than anything I’ve seen on that front.

Anonymous said:                                                                      How do you feel about Ana and Isabella moving in with Mike?             

Train wreck. But you shippers feel safe, I am sure the writers think it’s cute. I think it’s creepy. He wanted to kill her and she framed him for murder. Yeah, people grow and all but I’d like for them to talk about that. Strike that, I don’t want them talking because I don’t want them taking up air time.

Anonymous said:                                                                      I really hope Callie tells someone about what happen with that guard. I prefer it to be one of the moms or AJ. I'm sure she wad scared but had to stay strong and calm at the moment.

Who knows? Police corruption is a theme this season. However, at this point, I will take this as a plot device for Callie to want to fight this all the way to trial. Much like that time they put in her in foster care for a night as a plot device to get her to look for her father.