#hate men in general from bad past experiences that are leaking into their perception of everyday life

[vulturesawake]

You know. For some reason I really do like anti-transmasculinity better than transandrophobia. I'll have to ruminate a bit on why that is but I just feel like it's a better term for the experience idk

[raincityruckus]

So @jontyaxefive​ made two posts about clarke and because there is no convenient way to respond to both (and literally no one is surprised that i have ~opinions about anything even clarke adjacent that happens) this is how we’re addressing them. 

this is what you have reduced us to tumblr!

So I know the list was a hypothetical/going to be the very last resort for Clarke, but like what was she going to do if it had to be used in the end and the list hadn’t been leaked? Like was she planning on secretly going to the other 98 on the list and being like ‘okay so at this time on this day go to alpha station’ ? Was she’s planning on having the guards that would be saved arrest and/or kill anyone who got upset and acted out physically. Would she make an announcement calling out the names of those who were worth saving cause ‘logically it makes sense?’ Was she even planning on looking them in the eyes and basically telling them, even if she doesn’t see it this way or actually feel this way, that 'You’re not worth saving’ 

#Clarke griffin #like I know she's doing the best she can #and never wanted to make that list #but what was the plan if it had to be used? #and the way she made it was smart I won't deny that #and jaha's plan is not good #but like at the same time just imagine being one of those people who doesn't hear their name and then hears well you're dad got sick #and you might too so not worth it #or you have more training and experience in this field but we need you're also a guy so #not worth it #or you're the chief guard but we already have enough guards so not worth it #your not you're on that one tag  [x]

and then 

Just so we’re clear I don’t hate Clarke. I don’t think she had an easy time making the list. I don’t think she wanted to make the list, but I also don’t like one (maybe two if Bellamy helped her) person/people getting to play god and decide whether or not someone’s life is worth saving. [x]

Anyway, long ass response below the Read More. Does anyone else miss LJ cuts and being able to make them say whatever you want? The LJ AU of this one says “good earth doing-the-best-she-can”

I don’t actually disagree with you on any particular point. And not in the Zoe Washburne way where that clearly means I still think you’re wrong, Captain Tightpants. I just have ~thoughts and they are three(ish)fold

un: I also do not like one (or maybe two) people making the list. It’s unethical, it’s unfair, and while it might be the smart way to do it and the technically correct one to ensure species survival it certainly isn’t the right way. Especially when we package that with all the connotations of morality that come with “right”. However, I think it’s pretty clear that Clarke doesn’t like it either and that we’re not supposed to see it as the right, likable response to the situation. 

This is more of a non-specific-to-@jontyaxefive commentary on the ~general relationship to Clarke making the list but I think it riffs off this point. There’s an interesting (and by that I mean frustrating) relationship that this fandom in particular has with moral rightness from the characters. It’s a discomfort with ambiguity that I think is so odd for a fandom whose source material  pushes “there are no good guys” every season and hell, “there are no easy choices” every couple episodes. But there it is. It’s the reason people rush to justify away Bellamy’s participation in the massacre and let “leveraging food to get starving children to do what he wants” fade into the forgotten past. I’m responsible for it myself, I get caught up in the tone of the fandom and frame my explanation/understanding of Octavia’s behavior as a justification. This fandom makes saying “yeah, that was a shitty thing my fave did. maybe I understand why but fuck, bad call” so uncomfortable. 

So bringing this back on point. Yeah, it’s a shitty call, one person deciding who gets to live at the end of all things? Terrible. And arbitrarily deciding who gets to make that call? Shit. Ty.  But Clarke doesn’t like it either, the narrative certainly doesn’t suggest we should. So I’m not really sure why it feeds into fandom’s negative perception of Clarke? Because she did it anyway? Because she can do it and live with herself? 

deux: To @jontyaxefive‘s rhetorical question of what Clarke was intending if worst came to worst and they had to implement the list? No rhetorical questions here, we offer our unsolicited opinions like men! 

In practice? I think Clarke would have handled enforcing the list the way she handled explaining it. Cold logic and her Grumpy Cat face. I think she probably would have taken Raven’s advice on only arming the guards who would be on the list and made another speech that she doesn’t want to make. Because that’s what Clarke does, shoulders being the face of impossible decisions until it breaks her. See: her #redhairdontcare phase.

But I honestly don’t think she thought seriously about that part. Or perhaps didn’t let herself think about that. And this is based on nothing but supposition and my ~feelings about Clarke. But she made the list only in exchange for Rover time to try and find another solution. It’s Raven who says that they should arm only those on the list wen the time comes, that they need to have a plan in place (I think because it was easier for Raven to think those things. To an extent she knows she wont be the one making the final call on them.) Clarke is using the list as a bargaining chip for the Rover, and as a failsafe, not A Plan(tm). 

(And here’s why I say “three(ish)fold” because this really builds from point two)

trois: I don’t think Clarke had a plan for implementing the list, or let herself think about having to do it because her defining characteristic is hope. I know that might sound weird, but I do think that Clarke is a fundamentally hopeful person. When she tells Raven that she thinks hope is the important thing she’s speaking of herself as much as anyone else. She doesn’t have much faith in humanity but she does have hope. I don’t think Clarke is facing the list as something she might have to actually enact.