#everyone is entitled to their own opinion

[theeroins]

If I say that I'm not used to people misinterpreting my favorite characters, I'd be lying. But the way they get so many things wrong about Inho's character is kinda pissing me off because you KNOW that most of them do it to cancel out the possibility of InHun being *something* more than what's shown so far. You don't ship them, that's fair, frankly I don't care. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion UNTIL your opinion is wrong.

Let's talk about a couple of things I've seen being talked about on tiktok (🙄)

“Inho joined the games because ilnam said that it'd basically be more fun to play than to watch so he followed his example." loud incorrect buzzer ! Inho has joined the games before, and not only that, he's also a previous winner, so therefore he's very much aware of what it's like to be a part of it, he's experienced them first hand, just like he's experienced the atrocities of it. they've changed him for the worst and possibly caused him a huge trauma —they're the reason he's lost faith in humanity after all— so, why would he crave to relive it just for the thrill of it? i, personally doubt he even enjoys watching the game.

“Inho didn't look at Gihun with love, he likes to watch him suffer” Short answer is no. He doesn't like to watch him suffer, neither he looked at him with love, not the pure kind of love at least. Two things can be true at once. Inho spent half the season staring at Gihun because everything about the man intrigued him; His determination, his stubbornness, his kindness, his hope, his heart that's full of love despite the pain he suffered, even the pain in his eyes every time someone got eliminated in front of him as if it was the first time it had happened, as if the cruelty of it all surprised him every damn time. How can someone, who's been through the same things Inho has been through, be the polar opposite of him?

now, the reason(s) that I think Inho actually joined the games for..

(yes I am an Inhun shipper, does that make my opinion a little biased? maybe. do i still believe I'm right? absofuckinglutely.)

Let me clarify this: Inho is NOT a good man, no matter the redemption arc he might get in s3, he'll continue to be a terrible person because nothing will ever erase the blood he's spilled and the evil men he's worked for. BUT at the same time, he's not ALL bad, not like the VIPS and ilnam. See, Inhun are the average "yin-yang" trope in fictional romance, (which I eat up every time and I find it very interesting when it's done the right way, don't get me wrong) Inho is bad but there's some goodness somewhere deep inside him. And the only person who's brought it to the surface is Gihun. Sure, he does think Gihun is naive, but he's also the only person who's actually challenged him, who's "forced" him to get his stupid head out of the dirt and look around him, even for a short while and Inho definitely liked what he saw. Honestly, it wasn't even that hard for Gihun to do so because the goodness in Inho wanted and waited for someone to pull him out of the dirt, he wished for someone, something to give him hope for humanity or.. anything. Anything that'll help him escape from his misery.

You can definitely argue that he joined the games to befriend Gihun, to gain his trust and stop his plans when the time comes, which is half true. But keep in mind that he needed to justify his choice to join the games. He's not a VIP nor the mastermind to simply get to do that without consequences. He's the frontman, the one who controls and manages everything. He's needed for the games to work and go by smoothly and successfully without unnecessary losses and problems. Gihun would only cause problems, Inho knew that very well and yet he chose to put him in it once again. He recklessly made that choice, risking pretty much everything because of his inner conflict. A part of him wanted Gihun to prove himself to him, that there's indeed good that'll save the world and the rest of him wanted to prove to Gihun that everything he so strongly believes in is merely a fantasy.

Joining the games and befriending Gihun was the only way for Inho to see the real him, without the heroic mask he puts on every time he faces the frontman. I think he believed that someone as extraordinary as Gihun will either break in front of him and he will end up disappointed by the human kind once again, or Gihun will change everything about the way he thinks for the better. But the problem is that Inho hopes for both of those things at the same time.

And that was Inho's arc in season 2. His inner conflict and how it will affect him, the game and Gihun later on.

[greaserdreams]

everyone is entitled to their own opinion but talking so loud at intermission about how you hate certain voices of the cast is insane!

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Well, I was tagged in this reblog (linked for context because that post is wayyyy too long already and I’m prone to run on sentences) so I am going to respond to the part of this that @doublel27 quoted me on. 

I want to make some things clear before I start: 

Critiquing shows does not mean I always hate those shows, few shows are perfect, and for me it is worth discussing what a show did and did not do well. 

I do not care if people like the shows I do not like, and I do not care if people do not like the shows I like. It is extremely rare that people agree on everything in the same piece of media. Everyone is entitled to their own enjoyment of their preferred media and I guarantee you that Shan, Turtles, Ben, Twig, etc. etc. will say the same. Also, since you mentioned Twig’s post about We Are, please let me direct you to the episode of The Conversation where Twig, Ben, and NiNi talk together about their differing opinions on that very show. And in case you were genuinely concerned about Ben and Twig’s feelings on the quality of Thai BLs this year, you can stick around for the second half where they talk about Knock, Knock Boys! Hopefully that will assuage your fears.

Some of the issues I have with vague posting are (a) it can lead to confusion, especially in a case like this where, according to you, maybe boys do love posted a response to eight different people’s commentary simultaneously without attributing which op’s thoughts he was responding to at any point. (b) By bundling eight responses in to one post without @ ing people, it makes it seem like he has misinterpreted other people’s commentary or taken something in intentionally bad faith (c) other tumblr users in a fandom will let people know when an “unrelated post” makes commentary specific enough to be recognized as a response to someone else’s statements thus drawing them in to the conversation. It’s why I prefer to be tagged in responses to the thoughts I share. This is a public forum, whatever I post in here is able to be reblogged, tagged, or commented on. If I didn’t want people to interact with my posts…I wouldn’t post them. If you don’t feel comfortable tagging people who you are responding to, then at least acknowledge them in your writing. We love a cited source.

I don’t love policing language, but since you were more than happy doing it in your post, then I’ll say one thing here: the tone of maybe boys do love’s post does not read, to me, like it is intended to welcome people who appreciate that there is “not a single stance about what qualifies BL as good work.” It reads like it is “reminding” the supposedly eight people he is vague-posting about that they are being unreasonable in their expressed opinions. It especially does not read with the primary intention of welcoming others when Maybe Boys Do Love’s response to Turtle’s initial reblog was to comment on her “respectfulness” and Shan and Ben’s lack thereof simply because they blocked him on Tumblr. A thing which people do every day for any number of reasons. But I digress.

As for my part in your response, you referenced a statement from my tumblr post A Pause for Reflection: Part 2- Only Friends, Racism, and the Commodification of Queer Asians: 

“We all need to, but white Westerners especially, be extremely careful and introspective with the ways we are engaging with queer Asian media”

On the seriousness of this statement, doublel27, you and I are agreed. I think it is valid to state that this should apply to the decisions of writers, directors, etc. of BLs. And I also agree that preventing infantilization and removal of agency from writers, directors, actors, and audiences is a good addition. That said, I do not think critiquing media is in any way shape or form an infantilizing or agency-removing act. 

I do, however, think you are falling victim to the western paternalism/white saviorism you are so upset about by going on to a South East Asian woman’s post and chastising her about not speaking for a South East Asian audience when you are a white westerner?

Also, I think there I might be missing a step in your logical progression when you say “I’m of the opinion that what’s good for queer Thai television is not for foreign audiences to decide, ultimately. That’s for queer Thai people to decide.” It would amaze me greatly if this hypothetical monolith of queer people in Thailand were to be 100% in agreement about what constitutes good queer television. Personally I see your belief that no one outside of queer Thai people is allowed to critique queer Thai shows as actually undermining the legitimacy of this genre as a source of entertainment for audiences outside of just queer (in this case) Thai people. Media is frequently made with an intended audience in mind, but that does not mean people outside that target audience are barred from engaging with it. No one is saying “this is a bad queer Thai show and I am deciding that for all queer people” they are saying “here is what or why I did not like the decision they made about x,y,z."

If you are going to quote me, then I hope you also read the first half of my Pause for Reflection posts Taking Pause for Reflection- Part 1: Respectable Promiscuity and Only Friends where I talk about respectable promiscuity and discuss the ways in which respectability politics have resulted in “current LGBTQ+ political movements shifting away from highlighting sexual liberation as an aspect of queer culture, in order to make queer people more palatable to the overarching heterosexual society. And how that bleeds through in to the kinds of media that exist, the types of queer people portrayed within that media, as well as how often gay sex is shown, the type of gay sex shown, and the number of gay sex partners depicted. (Read: generally infrequently, generally vanilla, generally one).” Just so you are aware of where I stand in all of this and what people like Shan and myself are talking about when we critique the decision to remove sexual content from queer stories for the sake of storytelling or viewership.  

I haven’t mentioned this one in awhile but I used to talk a lot about my perception of queer content being able to be categorized in By, For, and About Queers formatting. For example, a film like Pariah (2011) is a story about a queer person created by a queer person with a narrative that feels like it is made for the enjoyment of queer people above all others (but of course anyone can watch).

^I think this was made by abl, who I am not tagging because I do not want to drag them in to this conversation, but whose image I still want to cite.

This is obviously subjective, and I’m not saying it should always be used, but I know some people can find it nice to organize things by categories. 

Again, this is subjective but I’ll give a short list of a couple of BLs that I personally would categorize as being For queer people- by which I mean it feels like a love letter to queer people, I can see something of myself and my experiences in it, and I would not be surprised if the primary intended audience was queer people:

I Told Sunset About You

The Miracle of Teddy Bear

What Did You Eat Yesterday

Koisenu Futari

Here is a short list of some BLs I would personally categorize under About queer people- that is, queer people are the main characters but the piece feels like the primary intended audience is not queer people:

Kiseki: Dear to Me

KinnPorsche

My School President

Spare Me Your Mercy

That does not mean the shows about queer people aren’t queer stories, but it does mean the intention behind the work is different. Which brings me all the way back to Spare Me Your Mercy since that’s what started all of this in the first place: 

Lux Sirilux in an interview before the show came out stated:

“Having NC would steal the attention of the story because what we were going to talk about was dark drama and euthanasia.”

She also says: 

“The characters are gay, but we don’t offer [fan]service in every episode or include NC (explicit) scenes."

(I got these statements above from this post by clariredaring who I am not tagging in this because I do not want to pull them in to this whole ordeal any more than they already have been).

Lux is absolutely allowed to make the decision to remove NC scenes from SMYM if she believes that it will detract from the vibe and the overarching theme. Sammon is absolutely allowed to approve and accept the removal of NC content from the Spare Me Your Mercy television show. No one is arguing that. (And I feel comfortable speaking for Shan here at the very least because we talk about shows a lot and I know what her post was actually saying as it relates to viewership). I already wrote a post about my feelings on this matter where I discussed why I feel that choice went wrong in this case. That does not mean anyone else has to feel that way, and I’m not forcing anyone to agree with me. And if people disagree with me, fine, they are welcome to discuss with me why they feel like the story worked as is if they want to and ignore me if they don't. (And literally as I was writing this a great example of someone disagreeing with me came through in this post by elimstillnotgarak who I will not be tagging in this simply because I don't want to drag someone who is not involved in this in to a very different discussion). But there is a level of disingenuousness that comes with the statement 'you should not say anything negative ever about the stories you have watched from cultures outside of your own.' I'm not saying this is the belief you hold, but I am saying that is how I interpret your statements about not speaking for a queer Thai audience.

And, as someone who has written multiple essays breaking down sex scenes in BLs, let me just say that I believe there is a fundamental difference between NC scenes and fanservice. I think there are instances where fanservice can result in positive changes (The Magnus Archives, for example, updated their ending after seeing how much fans were shipping Jon and Martin together and I think the ending was better for it) but I think there are a lot of times when fanservice actually does undermine the narrative. As for NC scenes, there are definitely ones that detract from the story at hand, and there are ones that I think people throw in as a bandaid in the hopes that they can get higher viewership (Playboyy and Battle of the Writers are examples of that imo) but I think there are a lot of times when NC scenes actually improve the narratives they are a part of expressly because they can tell you a whole hell of a lot about a character’s relationship and feelings to another person in a very short period of time. 

For me, I think Sammon and Lux here engaged in respectability politics operating under a belief that NC scenes between these queer characters would take away from the larger story they were trying to tell. And I think that the believability of the romantic relationship between Kan and Tew suffered for it. This is a show that already was written for a larger general audience because most of Sammon’s work places some medical mystery narrative at the front and center (which makes sense because she’s a doctor). 

And personally doublel27 I feel you are drawing a false equivalency between critique and infantilization and I would appreciate it if next time you quote me, you make sure you read the entirety of the post so that you can better understand that I will continue to be critical of people who submit to respectable promiscuity and make the choice to tone down the queerness in their story because they are worried it will distract the audience at large.

[utilitycaster]

I may have mentioned this phrase before, but I was introduced to "would anyone be swayed by further discussion" in college to put an end to debates where people simply would not agree and (in that case) to just put it to a vote or make the decision that was being discussed. The thing is, on the internet there's not the same impetus to wrap it up already because we're doing this all asynchronously and aren't actually people who need to work together in the first place, and so two differing opinions can endlessly sling mud without real consequence, and I think the discourse has reached the point of "you're stupid" "no you're stupid", and to be clear, I have participated heavily.

I don't actually mind if the discourse remains that way, for reasons that will become apparent in the course of this post, but here's what I propose: this isn't the kind of discussion that vagueing forever can solve. It requires actual back and forth with opportunities for requests for more information (eg: if I'm not understanding the themes of this campaign, what are they, in your own words, and how are they being demonstrated throughout the course of the campaign) and a cessation of ad hominems and at least the appearance of an assumption of good faith on both sides.

Here is the other thing, though: it is my hypothesis that most people posting about why they don't like Campaign 3 are in earnest: they don't like Campaign 3, they are articulating why (perhaps imperfectly! perhaps even incorrectly, in your eyes), and that's that. I think the people complaining about those people, ultimately, are mad that their personal preferences aren't shared by all. Or, to descend back into the mud for a moment: I think when I call you an idiot it hurts your feelings, and when you call me an idiot I say "Likely thing for an idiot to do." I think if the discourse continues, anyone who dislikes Campaign 3 will keep posting and say "wow it's a little annoying that people keep complaining about me expressing my opinion but them's the breaks, I know what I'm about" and the people complaining about those posts are simply going to feel worse and worse, no matter how much they yell about the other side's stupidity, because what they really want is agreement and validation. In other words, there's a pretty clear advantage, because one side doesn't rely on the good opinion or really any actions of the other. Or in the words of what I consider to be a far superior campaign, you need me more than I need you.

So with that in mind. If you'd like to make a good faith attempt to convince me of Campaign 3's excellence (and I can only speak for myself but if anyone else wants to do this, be my guest), my inbox is open [note: if you're doing this, you'll need to be off anon as I'm not carrying on a discussion via 20 annoying asks that clog everyone's dash - we're using replies], you can @ me, and if you are blocked and you're someone who does not have a specific history of direct harassment of which I'm aware, have a friend message me and I'll unblock you for the duration of this discussion. Ad hominems in the course of this specific discussion constitutes an immediate failure on behalf of the person saying them. The focus is on the text of Campaign 3; bringing in external circumstances as supporting information is valid if relevant but I hope it's obvious that "WELL IT'S THEIR CAMPAIGN AND IT'S ENTITLED TO CRITICIZE A THING THEY KNOWINGLY PUT ON THE INTERNET" is an automatic forfeiture as well due to the utter lack of argument and the fact that I cannot be swayed of the belief that little is above criticism and even less above judgement. Otherwise, I'll leave your posts and inbox alone while saying whatever the hell I want and you can deal with that accordingly. You want to make this an actual discussion of literary criticism in which you need to structure arguments and provide evidence instead of yelling "but I like it and I think it's brilliant so you have to agree with me or you're a mean anti-intellectual [broadly despised group]"? Sure. I can do that. I think most people who agree with me can also do that and would love to.

(this is nonrebloggable because I don't think it needs to spread, but feel free to link it. Also, I hope it's obvious: yes I'm aware I sound like an anime villain; it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make to either elevate the discussion to the point where something can get done; or call your bluff and keep doing what I was doing)

[bnhaobservation]

@eclecticfurywhispers said:

“While AFO's parenting does diminish Tomura's role in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't fully absolve the latter of guilt. I feel sorry for Tomura, but a rough childhood doesn't grant you a pass. This is an amazing meta! Are you suggesting that Tomura had no idea that his urge to destroy those punks was in response to them attacking first? When AFO claimed that Tenko's destructive urges were "innate" my take was that he was claiming that Tenko was "born" with "Decay". During the Final War, Tenko broke free from AFO's grip. That was a decision Shigaraki made on his own w/o AFO's encouragement.”

I thank you for appreciating my meta but I fear, from your reply, I didn’t make it clear enough, though it might be also because I developed some of the points I forgot to expand in my reply to @granny-griffin.

Anyway, here are my replies to your points.

While AFO's parenting does diminish Tomura's role in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't fully absolve the latter of guilt.

So, to clear things up, AFO’s manipulation doesn’t diminish or increase Tomura’s role, AFO’s manipulation DECIDES Tomura’s role in the grand scheme of things. Tomura wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for AFO meddling in his life, Tomura wouldn’t even be Tomura without AFO, he wouldn’t have a Decaying Quirk who turned on with him unable to control it, causing him to kill his dog, his sister, his mother and grandparents. Without AFO he wouldn’t have forgotten he has killed his family, he wouldn’t have been taught destroying is a good thing and that he doesn’t have to resist to his wish to do so, that not hurting others made him meek, pitiful, that he shouldn’t feel guilt, that conscience, morals, ethics are a mere fabrication, that if he endures he’s the only one suffering, that he must become the symbol of fear (and other things I can't remember), when all Shimura Tenko wanted to become was a Hero.

I feel sorry for Tomura, but a rough childhood doesn't grant you a pass.

I don’t know if this is just your belief or something you felt the need to tell me in relation to what I wrote, but what I said was different. The fact he had a rough childhood or not isn’t WHY Tenko becomes Shigaraki Tomura, giving him a rough childhood was AFO’s way to further manipulate him, isolating him from other people and warping his perceptions. AFO could have chosen to give him a pampered childhood but, as long as he got to manipulate him while Tenko was in his formative years and hadn't learnt/interiorized yet right from wrong well, and managed to keep him isolated by any other source of information that wasn’t supervised by AFO, the result would have been just the same.

Now, if your culture, law and ethical beliefs, in short the things that inform your decision, tell you he shouldn’t get a pass for reason X, I’m not going to discuss your decision. I think everyone is entitled to his opinion and since we all come from different countries with different cultures, laws and ethical beliefs, we all work with different information that inform our decisions.

In the end, for the story, all that matter is solely the culture, law and ethical beliefs of the people of Japan. They decide if Tomura get a pass or not. While I’ve a general idea of how they might judge him, I’m not so deep into the Japanese legal system I can tell for sure (especially since this is a fictional story and some things just aren’t realistic or things that Horikoshi made up to suit his plot).

Of course, since I’m not Japanese and my culture, law and ethical beliefs might not agree with them, their decision might feel wrong to me. We’ve already cases in the story where people who wouldn’t get a pass in my country get a pass because in Japan what they did was allowed.

Long story short, I’ll just respect your opinion and withstand from replying to this.

Are you suggesting that Tomura had no idea that his urge to destroy those punks was in response to them attacking first? When AFO claimed that Tenko's destructive urges were "innate" my take was that he was claiming that Tenko was "born" with "Decay".

Everyone is free to interpret scene as they prefer but, if you ask me, AFO doesn’t need to declare Tenko is born with Decay. Tenko has always known he’s not Quirkless (remember the whole thing about the extra tow that tells people if they’re Quirkless or not), Decay is a Quirk and Tenko has understood it’s his own. Of course since he lacks the information AFO switched his own Quirk with Decay he assumed this is the Quirk he was born with, what else could he think? AFO repeating it would be redundant and that specific scene is actually tying Tenko’s supposed inborn wish to destroy to his hitch, which he had PRIOR to AFO giving him decay.

AFO claims Tenko’s wish to destroy give him the hitch. You can of course decide to read it as ‘Decay gives him the hitch’, it wouldn’t change much in the BNHA world where people thinks Quirks are tied to personalities, but this would be equally false. Tenko had had the hitch for a long time, it’s not Decay which gave him the hitch, the hitch is a psychosomatic symptom of distress.

In regard to the punks I wasn’t suggesting anything, the whole talk about Tenko having an urge to destroy was PRIOR to Tenko meeting the punks, but I think  that what AFO is leaving as implied is that Tenko has a urge to destroy ALL THAT HE HATES, not a urge to destroy random things, as AFO wanted to cultivate his hate. So the logical leap is that since the punks hit him and Tenko obviously hated being hit and could easily transferred his hate to those punk, AFO told Tenko he also got a ‘urge to destroy them’ and that he was wrong to resist it as conscience, moral, ethics do not exist (AFO’s words not mine, I very much think they exist).

During the Final War, Tenko broke free from AFO's grip. That was a decision Shigaraki made on his own w/o AFO's encouragement.

Yes, of course, if you had read my post you should remember I did say Tomura did take decisions. I never denied it, I never said AFO wanted Tomura to be a mindless soldier who, like Machia, needed to be ordered to act. That’s not the kind of manipulation AFO used with him. My point was the decisions Tomura took were based on the information AFO gave him.

That decision you picked up is a perfect example of this, and of how AFO’s manipulation eventually backfired on him.

Let’s start with clear up something. Tomura did rebel to AFO in the Paranormal Liberation War arc (chap 277), when AFO tried to take control of his body, he didn’t wait until the Final War.

Why did he do it?

First of all because he has gained a new info AFO had no control over, which is that AFO is a loser, because he has lost to All Might, one man. Tomura decided he wouldn’t be him but greater than him because being defeated suck which is another info Tomura has learnt.

Second because one of the things AFO liked to tell Tomura and taught him was that everything was for Tomura, that Tomura should do everything he wanted without resisting to his impulses.

Now… if everything is for Tomura… why should he give his body to AFO, AFO, who’s forcefully trying to steal his body from him? And the more it goes on, the more AFO reveals himself for who he is, he leaves behind Tomura’s friends, he believes everything is FOR HIM, not for Tomura, so he lied to him, the world he wants doesn’t match with the one Tomura wants.

By the end of the war Tomura ends up hating the master he previously respected and was grateful to.

Too bad his conscience and AFO start merging and, eventually, from chapter 295 AFO’s one manages to take control of his body but, even if AFO claims it was a perfect merging (Chap 368) we know Tomura is still in there and here and there he emerges (Chap 377) until chapter 379, in which Tomura manages to reclaim his body.

And once he reclaims his body and gets free from AFO’s control he still continues following AFO’s teaching, as he’s sure he’ll find salvation in destroying what he hates, which is another thing AFO taught him.

Why?

Because, in this case, he has no other information that could counter the ones that AFO gave him and that said that the destruction of what he hates will make him feel better. So yes, even now that he has rejected AFO, most of his decisions still come from what AFO taught him. That’s why AFO, despite being aware that Tomura CHOOSE to reject him, continue to say Tomura didn’t choose anything. Tomura has interiorized the wrong info AFO gave him, even though he rejected AFO, he won’t reject all he taught him, it’s not so simple, he wouldn’t even know where to start and it would mean to reject his own identity as well.

However you can make an informed decision only when you’ve corrected information and Tomura doesn’t have them. Doesn’t know he doesn’t have them and probably doesn’t want to know because those info are all he has. He’ll go into an existential crisis and a need to rediscover who he is and what is right or wrong if he were to genuinely manage to track down each info AFO gave him and reject them… and the mind tend to resist to this sort of things… especially in a war situation.

15 years of manipulations can’t be easily washed away.

I hope all this helped making clearer my post. Sorry if the first time it weren't.

Where really Tenko’s choices not his own?

AFO ‘Yowai mama tsuyoku arou nado ā orokana Shimura Tenko. Omae wa ima made nani hitotsu erande nado inai noni.’’ AFO「弱いまま強くあろうなどああ愚かな志村転弧。おまえは今まで何一つ選んでなどいないのに。」’ AFO “Though you've become strong, you remain weak. Ahh, foolish Shimura Tenko. Even though until now you haven't chosen anything.’ [Chap. 418]

This is what AFO said to Tomura/Tenko at the end of chapter 418 and of course it sparked discussion because what is this supposed to mean? Of course Tomura/Tenko chose plenty of things, he had free will, hadn’t he? His body wasn’t always controlled by AFO, Tomura/Tenko took plenty of decisions or is this an attempt to take accountability from him?

To discuss this and what AFO really means I’m going to talk to you about something else.

Ever hear about informed consent?

When the hospital needs you to agree to undergo a certain treatment they don’t just need your consent, they need your INFORMED consent.

The informed consent process is an ethical and legal requirement for medical treatment. It ensures that you understand your diagnosis and your treatment options and agree to have specific medical treatment. This process involves ongoing and clear conversations between you and your healthcare provider. These conversations often lead to your decision to give (or not) consent for treatment. Informed consent protects your autonomy and your legal rights as a patient. Informed consent protects your ability to make your own decisions about medical treatment. It also protects your legal right to ask questions about recommended treatments.

And yeah, it also helps your healthcare provider but, for this discussion I’ll focus on what it does for you.

Basically, your decision to say ‘yes’ if you weren’t informed, is legally considered void of value. It doesn’t matter you freely said ‘yes’ if you weren’t informed your consent is not enough.

You might also have heard if you’re a minor even though you decide to give consent to some things, that consent holds no value.

Now you might wonder, where does this lead us?

Tomura/Tenko is not a minor nor he has to undergo under some medical procedure.

The mechanism behind decisions, behind choosing something, is always the same. We choose according to the information we have. Freedom of will isn’t the most important factor deciding our choices, it’s information and they dictate our choices to the point some can predict them.

We inform our decisions and opinions through experiences, be they personal or made just by observing others, through what people teach us be they our parents or our teachers or people we trust, through confronting with others be it in discussions or in arguments.

If you tell me I have to choose between eating a pear and an apple I’ll choose the apple because I know I hate pears but I like apples. This is my INFORMED decision.

If you however were to tell me the apple is poisoned I wouldn’t eat it because I don’t want to die, and this would also be my INFORMED decision.

If you were to lie to me and tell me the apple is perfectly safe to eat when it’s not, I would go back on eating the apple and this would be my INFORMED decision… and it would obviously suck because the information I was given was false.

In Tomura/Tenko’s case, what AFO is saying, is he’s behind each information about how the world work that Tomura/Tenko received.

He got his hands on Tenko when the latter was 5 but even before that age he began shaping the world around him, the experiences Tenko would make. When he took Tenko he told him to call him ‘sensei’ (先生). The English version translated it as “master” as it is a word with many translations but the more common translation is “teacher” which would fit more with how Tomura/Tenko asks him what will he teach him.

AFO taught Tomura/Tenko how he had to see and interpret the world, how he had to see and interpret himself and his feelings, how he had to see and interpret the others. He kept on filling Tomura/Tenko with information that were aimed at influencing Tomura/Tenko’s beliefs, perceptions, will.

AFO taught him that he had an impulse to destroy, that the itch is DUE TO IT instead than due to the abuse he was suffering in his home. That he shouldn't endure abuse or he'll be the only one to suffer, that coscience, morale, ethics are lies, fabrications.

Tomura/Tenko was a small kid, thanks to the trauma he forgot most of his past, which includes the teaching and experiences he had before, and AFO took care to keep always alive the trauma inside him.

Tomura/Tenko was mostly kept isolated, having solely the company of AFO, of Garaki and of Kurogiri. They were his source of ‘reliable’ information as he trusted them… only they were clearly not reliable.

But, you might say, what about the internet?

Tomura/Tenko has no net friends. AFO took care to give him a certain view of the world, so that every information Tomura/Tenko would receive through the web would be influenced by such view. Tomura/Tenko has no reason to doubt AFO, as far as he knows he’s his savior and caretaker and he has no one else.

If AFO tells him the net lies when it says All Might is a good person, that it’s wrong to destroy things, that it’s wrong to murder, why should Tomura/Tenko doubt AFO? Where are ‘reliable’ information telling him what AFO says is a lie, when the other people around him who take care of him (Garaki and Kurogiri) agree with AFO? Why should he trust the net, the people who abandoned him, over the people who’re so nice and caring toward him?

And the more time Tomura/Tenko is left in this world in which AFO is his main source of information the more those information become part of him, influence his perception of the world, his personality.

Remember when All Might first saw him and called him a ‘man-child’? It wasn’t a completely wrong definition, since Tomura/Tenko wasn’t really allowed to mentally grow by interacting with others who were his equal and presented different opinions and wills.

It's not he didn't have Quirk counselling what stilled his growth, it's not he didn't want to grow or something and that took advantage of the fact he had too much power which made him spoiled...

...what the Heroes didn't consider, mostly because they didn't really care WHY TOMURA/TENKO IS LIKE THAT was that it was trauma and manipulation that made him like that. Tomura/Tenko experienced the world and the battles through roleplay games not through real interactions.

AFO was always around him, shaping him, telling him he can do what he wants and that everything was for him and Tomura/Tenko has no reason to believe he was lying, has no reason to think his words though.

Tomura/Tenko decides, but as his choices are all informed by AFO and AFO lies to him, his choices are all dictated by wrong info and manipulated in a certain direction. Even if he's told he can do what he wants his choices aren’t really ‘free’ because he doesn’t really know what he’s choosing and what he’s rejecting, because he’s not informed correctly.

Yes, inside him there’s his own persona, he’s not a complete will-less doll, but this matters little when all the information he receives are manipulated and he has not the means to realize it and AFO knows it. He’s a master manipulator, he knows how to give Tomura/Tenko the belief he’s choosing of his own free will when it’s AFO who put such ideas and beliefs in his head.

Tomura/Tenko is 20 when he is first sent against All Might and can interact with people with a diametrically opposite mind setting compared to AFO.

Still Tomura/Tenko’s first confrontation with All Might is easy for him to dismiss, AFO raised him thinking Heroes and especially All Might are a certain type of people, so All Might’s words are easy to dismiss like empty rhetoric and pretty words (remember? one of the first things he was taught is that coscience, moral, ethics are fabrications that allow people [aka Heroes] to run the world smoothly) and All Might clearly didn’t act in such a way it would positively impress Tomura/Tenko.

Tomura/Tenko views him as a representative of state-sponsored violence and All Might can’t prove him wrong because… he has to use violence to protect everyone.

Tomura/Tenko wasn’t taught to care about the nobility of the mean, for him use of violence makes Villains and Heroes alike and yet they’re split in two groups… but most of what Tomura/Tenko says is something that’s not really coming from him but from AFO’s indoctrination. They aren’t really HIS ideals yet, even All Might realizes so.

What Tomura/Tenko has in that moment is hate for All Might and society. When Stain will force him to tell him which is his conviction, this is what Tomura/Tenko says, not all the rest. He hates All Might and society.

AFO’s indoctrination was meant to manipulate him into believing why he hates them, but the truth is what Midoriya will nail at the end, society and All Might didn’t save him when he was an innocent child, not yet a Villain, and left him miserable. His father, AFO, they all told him this happened because Heroes and society are fundamentally bad. Due to this teaching Tomura/Tenko hates them with a passion, because he feels victimized by them. They’re the cause of his misery.

Stain’s words are harder to ignore as Stain is no Hero and Kurogiri wanted them to join forces and yet Stain attacked him… but then let him live. All of sudden someone who’s not a Hero makes something unpredictable. Tomura/Tenko tried to compete with him and loses, everyone is impressed by Stain and not by him and makes wrong assumptions on them. Touya and Himiko comes to him but he doesn’t understand their behavior. Ultimately he talks with Midoriya.

The talk doesn’t dramatically change him, it merely helps him to reframe everything in a familiar contest. It’s All Might’s fault, he decides, and this is what AFO taught him, but he doesn’t realize he’s parroting what his master taught him.

Ironically, his talk with Midoriya actually helps him to internalize, to interiorized what AFO taught him, because now HE HAD TO PONDER OVER THE SITUATION AND CONFRONT WITH SOMEONE ELSE, which is the first step to makes ideas your own as now they would come from you… but since he tackles that confrontation using the tons of info AFO poured into him and Midoriya is just a kid who makes wrong assumptions of him… well, the result ends up being that now Tomura/Tenko doesn’t just merely absorb AFO’s information but embraces them as if they were his own ideas.

This is what AFO wanted when he said there’s no point in simply telling Tomura/Tenko�� an answer but that he needs to reach the conclusion himself.

In a way it’s a test to see if all the wrong information he has given him for years now really live inside him and have become his own. AFO knows that now that Tomura/Tenko is a man, albeit one kept immature, if he has succeeded in influencing him then it would be difficult to completely change his mind after 15 years of manipulations.

He’s not wrong, to completely change Tomura/Tenko’s mind would be difficult… but it isn’t impossible to partially change it, especially since Tomura/Tenko will then keep on interacting with the League… and won’t interact anymore with AFO so that AFO won’t manage anymore to teach him how to interpret his experiences.

In this new contest free of AFO the little of Tomura/Tenko’s original personality kind of come back to life, the League become precious friends he wants to protect. Ironically Tomura/Tenko, who hates Heroes because they abandoned him, want to be a Hero for the League. He doesn’t want to be their master or their ruler, all things AFO wants to be, Tomura/Tenko wants to be a Hero.

AFO used to say everything is all for him but now Tomura/Tenko wants everything to be for his companions, when he’ll submit Re-Destro he’ll ask suchi for them because they wanted it, he won’t force Touya to do what he doesn’t want to do, he promises he won’t destroy what Himiko loves, he let Shuuichi get angry at him.

Tomura is taking some choices that don’t come from AFO and could have taken more if he were to be given more time as he already wanted to be different from AFO and AFO’s attempt to take over his body as well as the revelation he manipulated him likely would have pushed Tomura/Tenko to reconsider everything he knew that influenced his mind and his decisions.

However plenty of what he chooses through the story come from AFO, from how he had taught him to see and feel the world, from the experiences he forced him to go through. We see it in the first war. AFO fed Kotarou’s resentment for Nana, which lead to Tenko’s abuse, AFO made sure Tomura/Tenko wandered for the city while no one helped him and when Tomura/Tenko faces the Heroes he quotes what he learned from that experience, that Heroes hurt their families to save strangers, that society is trash he says as he thinks back at how no one helped him. Society would always reject him, he says strong of his experiences which were manipulated by AFO. AFO taught him he has to free his violent impulses his wish for destruction that whatever tells him the contrary is a lie fabricated by society (chap. 237). Tomura wants to destroy because that’s how AFO taught him he has to fight the pain inside himself. Because he thinks his decaying Quirk is a reflection of his own personality, of his own role. He’s born to destroy… and this idea, as well as his Quirk… well they both come from AFO (and society, to be honest, as society tended to judge people’s personalities tied with their Quirk).

So, where this leaves us?

Tomura/Tenko did make some small choices that didn’t come from AFO… but too much of him come from AFO to the point if AFO had never meddled with his life he would have likely grown into a completely different person, with a completely different set of experiences and information that would inform his decisions.

As we don’t know which experiences and information he would have had, we can’t tell who he would have become (for example AFO gave him the decay Quirk and this influenced him into thinking he’s born to destroy but we don’t know which was his original Quirk. If he were to have a Quirk which also destroyed, he could have come to the same conclusion). Maybe he would have turned into a Hero, maybe he would have turned into an ordinary person, maybe he would have turned into an even worse Villain. Wondering over this is material for fanfics not for meta.

What remains true though is that way too many of present Tomura/Tenko’s important choices come from AFO, from what AFO taught him, that he shaped so much of his persona and actions that what AFO says about Tomura/Tenko never choosing anything is only partially incorrect at the end of the story and probably completely true at the start of it.

So yeah, as unpleasant as it is there’s a huge part of truth in AFO’s words… but it could have turned into a lie had Tomura/Tenko been given more time because, first he was freed of AFO’s influence and free to interact with others and second because AFO revealed his game and made clear he wanted to take over Tomura/Tenko’s body so he wasn’t the caring and disinterested benefactor he painted himself to be for 20 years and Tomura/Tenko didn’t have to take his words as reliable anymore.

A complete turn over would have probably been hard without a positive influence in his life, but for sure Tomura/Tenko would have been free to revaluate all he’d been taught by AFO and judge it again through the lenses of those new info.

But well, in the end he died so we’ll never learn what he could have done, which is just sad.

So is Tomura/Tenko innocent because manipulated?

There’s a part of the world population that think that inborn in humans there’s still the ability to choose between right and wrong even if they’re manipulated… and in real life it’s extremely hard to establish how much manipulated can be a person and how much it was due to them. Many don’t want to think that you can take a perfectly normal child and turn him into a serial killer through carefully raising him as such.

Discussing about this would be a minefield that would require psychological and educational degrees and probably would still see experts arguing because we can’t really test this theory and check if a baby is perfectly psychologically healthy and then try to raise him as a psychopath, and repeat the experience until we’ve enough data to judge, can we?

Real life cases weren’t cases which were carefully observed from start to end as an experiment would require so they leave the door open to speculation.

Long story short… this meta isn’t here to tell you if a real person can be raised and manipulated that much all his choices come from another and he’s unable to take them for himself.

This is a meta to tell you that from what we know and what we could observe Tomura/Tenko was manipulated from young age and that the majority of his life choices, especially the ones that lead him to become a Villain, were due to this.

Not that it would have made any difference in the BNHA world where Aoyama, a teen acting under duress, is viewed as a terrible Villain because, when threatened to be killed and have his parents killed if he weren’t to comply with AFO’s wishes, he choose to comply.

[fistfightinganxietyandlosing]

Gyro best character idc

[fishyfishdishreal]

[mimikip-stuff]

Okay- so I've seen SHB (super horror bro) do a review of the new Bendy content we got today, and I've recorded it with my friends as well. I've also seen a few other opinions and I'm gonna give mine:

First of all, this new content was sort of a game? Very unfinished and I think the point was to showcase more of what was to come with a tease and some game announcements.

I will agree with Halfusek on this: Mike Mood is a cunt and definitely kept this unfinished on purpose because he's a bitter bitch about the fans and all the data miners and theorists

However, I think TheMeatly is trying his hardest to keep people in the fandom happy with new games and fresh ideas. I'm very excited for B3NDY and Silent City personally, because I want to know more about GENT and their role in making Bendy and Dudley and the colored ink. It's all too shrouded for it not to be suspicious.

I liked what we got, because it'll hold us over until THE CAGE comes out and it keeps us on our toes. Just because something was a flop now doesn't mean the future content will flop. We just have to have patience and see what happens.

No matter what, I am staying in this fandom. This is a home to me and where I met all the friends I've come to know and love. I have my au's, I have my characters, and no one's opinion is gonna change that no matter how large of an icon they are in a fandom.

TLDR: The new content was a little underwhelming, but we have new games to look forward to. I will remain in the fandom despite harsh opinions from others.

[throatgoat4u]

i still watch, and love them but i gotta agree 2022 and early 2023 was peak. and yes, some of the tik tok fanbase is corny asf. like tf you mean you're tearing up over an edit?!?! saying shit like, "my boys are growing up?" I BEG YOUR FINEST PARDON?!?! YOUR BOYS?!?! anywho... people who are hating on you are weird because everyone is entitled to their own opinions!

LMAO idk why some of yall bein weird about me not watching the triplets nm and thinking they boring now! im they’re content has gotten boring compared like 2022 and early 2023

so why are we confused and acting like i’m weird for sharing my opinion

+ i’m talking about the TIKTOK fanbase. every user that be like “💜💙🧡sturniolos” and then say some corny shit piss me off

[lcandothisallday]

Yea I understand. I love the fics but a little part of me says Jack don’t hit the same no more bc the obsession is turning into that parasocial thing. Idk if this make sense but I’m at the point where I wish I didn’t become a fan bc I know too much and get jealous

can i be honest? i think the best thing i could’ve possibly done to get rid of this problem myself was stop writing fics and to stop reading them for the most part too. especially when writing/reading reader insert fics, your body and brain truly begins to react to the events/plot of the fic and you almost begin to feel entitlement towards the person. so jealousy and anxiety comes easier in that regard. because it becomes so personal without you truly realizing. getting constant updates from update accounts too pushes you deeper into this never ending hole. trying to distance yourself a bit would probably be beneficial because you can then appreciate him as an artist and the content he produces and that only so you can go back to being just a fan of his rather than a stan. also please prioritize your own life more! you deserve to focus on yourself and reality because then you’re able to distance from that parasocial relationship you’ve established.

i could honestly write a whole ass essay on this topic to be honest lol. i think that’s why if I do get into writing again, it’ll be concepts and not full on fics

[mirabels-miracle]

Everyone is hating but I actually like the Wish songs so far.

[emmyspov]

omg the comments under the latest pic that was posted by the rop instagram account has my blood boiling again. do these people have too much free time???

if you don't like the show don't. fucking. watch it. literally no one is forcing you to watch it.

don't go around spreading hate, don't bully the cast and crew - just move on with your life. don't take the joy away from people who do love it

[simply-shadaria]

THANK YOU! I'm getting so damn sick of it as well.

It's posts like these that are completely unnecessary. People are free to see Shadow and Maria as siblings; no one is stopping them, and it doesn't bother me. However, it's the comment in the tags that bothers me: "I saw too many Shadow and Maria shippers; we need to throw rocks at them." Really? Is that a nice or appropriate thing to say?

Shadow and Maria are FICTIONAL CHARACTERS!! There's no need to get all bent out of shape.

Look, everyone is entitled to their own opinions and preferences, but promoting violence or hostility towards others simply because they have different views is unacceptable. The fandom should be a place where diverse interpretations and creative expressions are celebrated, not a battleground for hurtful remarks. Let's remember that words have power, and we should use them to uplift and support each other, not tear each other down.

The way people get so weird about Shadria makes me wanna scream. What do you mean "well in CANON they're [insert label] and they CANONICALLY don't see each other romantically so it's weird and you can't ship it!!" My sibling in Christ, Sonadow is the most popular ship in this fandom. Y'all don't gaf about canon 💀

People will preach about not letting canon shackle your shipping experience in fandoms until it's a ship they don't like or deem "problematic" then all of a sudden the canon relationship status matters and shipping it now means that you think it's canon. But the same rules don't apply to other non canon ships. Just say you personally don't like it and pick a lane for goodness' sake.

[noinfinity]

i have nothing against astarion x female characters, but please understand

this man is GAY

to me at least.

he is a HOMOSEXUAL MAN

even the 'man' part is iffy for me.

hes just so

gay

yk???

[wolfspaw]

[ghostlynimbus]

I just saw someone refer to a character from another series as Dean Winchester coded and I could not disagree more