#defend-international

[thepersonalwords]

YAZIDIS AND CHRISTIANS WANT TO BE FREE OF NIGHT MIST AND BEHEADING DRIFT!

Widad Akreyi

[inkskinned]

okay if you're really cool about things, i can be honest with you. before you read further, decide if you're a girl's girl. if you're cool and actually cool or like not cool.

men don't talk in my book because i was fuckken tired of the way they're the center of every fucking story. i was tired of how every story takes a moment to let them talk. men can shut up for literally one fucking book.

unfortunately not everyone is cool. professionally what i usually say is i didn't want to add violence to the world. the only men in my book are abusers, so they don't get to talk. they don't get to take up space. they ruined my life, they don't get to have their words echo anymore.

because like, yeah! you find practically any story about a person surviving trauma and... there's a man at the center. men are often rescuing us from these things. a "good man" is always standing around, being a good man, proving to the victim that good men are the real men. that her experience was unique rather than universal.

the redacted text has not been taken well by all of my early readers. there is this weird, crouching growl that keeps occurring with men-of-a-certain-age. why don't we hear his side of the story?

when i sat down to write everything that happened to me, i couldn't look at the frank brutality of my abuser's words on a page and think to myself: i actually let him speak like that. i had to redact his words from the manuscript. i then left it redacted. no victim is going to read this book and hear the person who hurt them. it is a book for the victims to speak. abusers shut up challenge, forever. for eternity.

my father once told me, chuckling, i should just have a page of redaction where i let the man just finally talk. it is funny to joke about how we should make a whole page in my book about a man that hurt me. this was not the only time someone commented - it feels like you're hiding things. how do i know you're actually a victim if he doesn't get to speak?

there are books where women aren't even present. i even genuinely like some of those books. like, who doesn't like the hobbit?

i keep running into people defending this imaginary man. the default narrative is so true to some people that they will defend any man, just by virtue of the assumption - "if he's acting like that, you had to push him." certain people need definitive proof that you didn't accidentally make your partner into an abuser. they need to decide if you deserved it, because they want to be able to judge you.

which makes sense, i guess, from a hind brain perspective. if you can figure out "why" someone was cruel, you can protect yourself against it. if you defend the bully, the bully might side with you. i don't really know their explanation for feeling this about a character in a book. trust me, i wrote the guy. he is not going to protect you.

i guess i just - there was a time in my life where i desperately wanted anyone to defend me. where i could have really used someone saying holy shit are you okay instead of what did you say to make him act like that to you.

instead, over dinner, a friend-of-a-friend i just met is pouring herself wine. i heard you wrote a book, she says. she gives me the kind of chilly smile i associate with knives. i heard it's unfair to men.

[emotionaloof]

ive passed more finalss so have some more silly prime defender doodles ive made while procrastinating

[claie171art]

The original Ace icon himself, of course I had to draw sans Undertale for international asexuality day

[dangerdazee]

headcanon:

despite his mother, Morgie isn't actually evil at all. he just wants to be liked and wants to fit in and have friends and he ended up falling victim to Uliana and that whole crew.

if non-villains had gotten to him first, he would be the nicest kid in the school even rivaling Bridget's sweetness. but the non-villains mostly avoided him simply because of his mother being evil. they assumed Morgie was too.

Bridget tried, but she only met him after Uliana did, so it was a bit too late.

Morgie doesn't really like being mean, but he follows whatever the others do and tries to be like them so they'll be his friends.

he's a victim of his circumstances and insecurities, and thus (in the original timeline) the banned cookbook recognizes the good in his soul. so, he was able to open it and find the recipe. Uliana made him tell her, even though he had his hesitations.

[stil-lindigo]

Wait, if that wasn’t a call for a ceasefire what did that mean? Will it change anything?

The ICJ does not have the ability to enforce its rulings, provisional or not. They did not demand a ceasefire despite South Africa including it as a central part of their case, and instead outlined that Israel must halt their attacks on "Palestinians" (civilians) as well as ensure safety for humanitarian aid. However, since Israel has been operating under the lie that all civilian deaths are just a result of them trying to target Hamas and them being caught in the crossfire, this isn't likely to change much.

Also, Israel is led by a collection of petty monsters who will interpret this ICJ ruling, toothless as it is, an insult and will take it out on Gaza. Today might be the most violent day yet. Continue striking and keep Palestinians in your thoughts.

[dirtyriver]

RIP Keith Giffen (November 30, 1952 – October 10, 2023)

[itsabouttimex2]

Not sure if you have covered this, but I’ll ask. How would you have gone about Macaque’s redemption arc…if it’s possible with how he was written before season four? No hate or debate, just curious. I like alternate takes on characters :3

Hmm okay I thought on this for a little bit, and the crux of my problem with Macaque’s arc is that he’s established late Season Three to be “not a bad person” when-

1. He enjoys hurting people

2. He goes out of his way to hurt people

3. He hurts many people

4. He expresses no regret or remorse for hurting people

5. He faces no consequences for hurting innocent people aside from his intended victims winning their fights against him

6. His victims are reduced to a hivemind of non-autonomous set dressings who have no feelings on his presence or past crimes

And he promptly just becomes a person that everyone is okay with despite everything. So, if we have to keep the “one good action is enough to redeem you for betrayal, deceit, slandering, multiple counts of assault and attempted murder”, then we need to shift some things.

So I think the best thing to do if we want the actual “redemption arc” to hit the way it’s supposed to in canon is-

1. Thin his list of victims

2. Thin his list of crimes to the point that one good deed is actually a reasonable atonement for all of them

3. Play up his victimhood at the hands of the Mayor

4. Establish his inability to escape from the Lady Bone Demon much sooner

If the crux of his arc is just being forgiven by ONE of his many victims and then becoming a good person, then we just need to sharply reduce the amount of victims he has to make the immediate and all-encompassing forgiveness feel more realistic.

When he’s “sieging” the city in Macaque, the Smoke Demon ignores everyone who isn’t MK and deals no structural damage, creating no victims aside from the Monkie Kid.

When he’s performing in Shadowplay, Macaque portals MK away to fight him alone, leaving everyone else unharmed, creating no victims aside from the kid.

Then, when he’s stolen away by the Mayor, either:

1. Lady Bone Demon implants him with her powers right away, preventing him from running away and immediately establishing him as desperate, or, what I’d argue for-

2. Send the Mayor with him.

When he receives the compass and is released, Macaque pulls a Bone Key-

and throws it away, trying to shadow portal away, only to be greeted by

The Mayor, who proceeds to outright accompany Macaque on this journey, thereby serving as a foil to Tang Sanzang.

Where Sun Wukong was taken under the wing of someone who genuinely cared for him and wanted to see him improve, Macaque is forcibly dragged along by an outright malicious figure who wants to see him rot.

(Fuck, have Lady Bone Demon give Macaque an ice circlet to seal the “foil” deal! Have him be forced into these actions in outright agony! It would help Sun Wukong sympathize with him, expediting the “forgiveness” that a redemption arc needs!)

In fact, every time Macaque tries to leave, or steps out of line or even just fails? You hear an offscreen thud and yelping and then when we get to see him next, there’s new bruises on his body, new tears in his clothes. His fur becomes messy. His eyes grow haunted.

Play up his victimhood to coax the audience into sympathizing with him.

Macaque tries to run. The Mayor hurts him. He tries to stall. The Mayor hurts him. He tries to argue. The Mayor hurts him. He tries to fight back. The Mayor beats him back into subservience.

Establish that Macaque has utterly exhausted all avenues of “escape” before he resorts to attacking the Monkie Kids, and even then, have him try to avoid the majority of them in favor of MK, only to be forced by the Mayor into actually fighting Mei, Tang, Sandy, and Pigsy.

So now every character understands why he’s doing this- and don’t have a reason to hold it against him or expect any further atonement because none of his worst actions (like sieging the Dragon Palace) actually need to be addressed- they aren’t his fault.

That basically solves all the problems I have with the “arc” as it stands, honestly.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

These FFS inner demons are very “disco elysium skills” reminiscent. I NEED to meet that cast! Also freaking awesome work to you and your buddy :]

May it be an open secret that one of my inspirations was Disco Elysium. I think they could party together.

[minh-i]

With Kaiser (Then) 🥰

Without Kaiser (Vs now) 💀

[thepersonalwords]

YAZIDIS AND CHRISTIANS WANT TO BE FREE OF NIGHT MIST AND BEHEADING DRIFT!

Widad Akreyi

[seypia]

erm they're having a bonding moment ur honour

[kismetconstellations]

Imagine wanting to kill this man with such intensity, you were willing to send your entire eight season series into a prolonged nosedive before it inevitably crashed and burned as a result of your hubris.

[torveiglyart]

Who's your favorite voltron character and what is your favorite thing about them?

Oh boy. Oooohhhhhhh boy.

Lance quiznaking Charles McClain.

Okay okay okay so, There are MANY reasons he’s my favourite, and I could go on and on about him, but you asked for my singular favourite thing. If I had to pick one thing about him?

His extroversion.

See, Lance and I are extremely similar in mannerisms, personality, family, looks not so much, and fears. The main difference between us is the readiness to talk to others. I’m extroverted, but over the years I’ve drawn into myself a bit more and tend to get pretty bad anxiety when met with new scenarios that involve meeting new people or talking for long periods of time. This is simply due to my upbringing and other social factors I couldn’t control, but it still affected me. I used to be, like Lance, ready and open to talk to new people, experience new things, and I was a chatter box. And in seeing that reflected in a character that already shares so much similarity with me? It made it pretty easy to latch on.

I admire him not just for who he is, but what he represents to me. An academically challenged kid with ADHD, a love of the beach, big dreams, and a terrible case of martyrdom. Oh, and the bisexual panic, but that’s not important in this right now.

By emulating Lance’s mannerisms when it comes to new people, I’ve actually found myself not only with more friends who like talking to me, but I’ve also found myself happier than I ever was in middle or high school. Oh! And I joined a sports team for the first time! I get that college itself is a new experience, but just placing that bit of Lance in the everyday Me has helped a lot with the harder stuff, at least, the things I consider hardest.

Soooo that got away from me, but yeah! Lance, or as we like to call him, Leandro, is my favourite.

[justapotato89]

watch people score higher on psychopathic tests and score more and more left in political compass tests as the baseline average shifts towards people who'd do anything to achieve what they want but are also leftists, with consideration for society. Those two goals are not complimentary, but they are the only two lifelines that they have. Either they are considered as a part of the greater society which deserves equality and they will fight for it through anarchy as a unit, or they will oppose the government with anarchy being concentrated to the individual, the driving force being only survival.

[andychaosblog]

Lily Orchard detractors: *Makes up crimes to get a Trans woman thrown in prison*

Me, and @risu-risa: *Banging our heads against a brick wall*

Me: WHY. WON'T. THIS. SHIT. END.