#i am not a racist

[seventhofcrows]

Are you okay? You haven’t had your Octo Samurai sugar cookies.

[baronafanas002]

Get this, saint nicholas (sinterklaas) has gotten a upgrade that UPSETS many people and parents, he turned into a black woman. People are just furious. But why?

Meet queen nikkolah:

I don't see any problem btw.

This is how sinterklaas original looks btw. An old man with a beard. I mean as i saw pictures. Children love her.

Traditions change because times change. And we still are too much stuck into the past sometimes. They are meant to change. I can't believe why we still do some of them these days?

Can't believe some people are still racist as well...

We live in 2023. Get over it.

[just-aro]

*sigh*

I'm seeing variations of this meme around again, so to today's (un)lucky 10000:

the "inside you there are two wolves" meme is racist. full stop. it was invented by a Christian pastor in the late 70s and attributed to the Cherokee nation, despite being completely made up. every native american / indigenous page I've ever followed denounces it as made up and racist, using their imagery to sound mystical and wise while ignoring the people themselves.

please consider using another format. try to use your guilt productively: I'm not calling you out, this is aimed at educating. You can't erase not knowing in the past, but you can elect to 1) not reblog these in the future, 2) delete any that are easy to delete, 3) help to spread education by following native people's accounts and news so that you hear this from them, not me.

[calicostorms]

"Wyll is boring" 😑 he is literally the fairy tale prince archetype, you guys just are not interested all the sudden bc he's a black man instead of a white blonde

[rottmnt-residuum]

Hi, I've read the Residuum comic, and I think the characterization of the boys is really good. I was wondering if you have any tips on how to write them? Especially Mikey, please.

I'd actually recommend re-watching the show with one character in mind. All my notes on the turtles come from doing separate re-watches for each of them. The key is to ONLY watch the character you are focusing on.

In the end, you'll probably be happier with your own personal interpretation. As we are with ours lol

TL;DR

Massive post under the cut

To preface: we'll be contrasting (this Mikey) against the fandoms version of Mikey, as our interpretation is very different. Don't worry if you prefer the fandom version, there's nothing… wrong per se with writing him this way. We just find him flat and uninteresting. (Main author: not me, I just hate him, lol).

Every reader or fan comes into a story with their own biases and experiences. A ton of our view of Mikey is based on how our siblings acted. We see Mikey as the young sibling that got preferential treatment from the whole family, simply due to being the youngest, but is now aging out of the privilege. Which all youngest siblings do at some point or another.

The fandoms version of Mikey is empathetic, naive, vulnerable, co-dependent and quite often a door mat who cries at the drop of a hat. And as much as the fandom like to say that people love him… when this particular character archetype is in other media, they seem to attract the most criticism. Mable pines, Bolin from Korra, people rag on Aang all the fucking time, and Steven Universe is a whole other bag. These characters don't deserve it, and yet it happens anyway.

To flatten Mikey to simply 'the baby' is a disservice. We don't see or write Mikey as the fandom “baby” version (cinnamon roll uwu). Part of this comes from having multiple siblings, so we interpret the times when Mikey does the puppy dog eyes as typical younger sibling bullshit, mostly by the way that the other turtles rarely react to it, if at all.

The other turtles traits can also get projected onto Mikey. Mikey being the fandom therapist is in the same category as this. He isn't a therapist, he's a psychology nerd who likes to psychoanalyze people and meddle in their relationships. (Donnie and Shelldons relationship, Splinter and Draxums...) he's not trying to resolve your emotional issues. Of the turtles, the character that cares the most about people's feelings is Raph. And Leo is more of a consoler than Mikey ever is. It flattens all the turtle's characterizations when you start doing this because you are ripping out parts that are integral to another characters' complexity.

Co-author has told me that they've seen people become confused when going into the show after only reading fan fiction or coming from the movie. They see his characterization as inconsistent and become upset when their view of him is contradicted. This also happens when a fandomized version of him becomes the primary characterization that they use. Sometimes when this disconnect happens (or if they just don't like the character), Mikey characterization is swung in the complete opposite direction.

They make him manipulative and abusive, or someone who is hyper violent and avoids being held accountable for anything. This is an uncharitable interpretation of him and can come off as pretty racist depending on the circumstances. (like if someone considers the turtles black or not)

Every version of Mikey is a shithead (affectionate), even this one. Especially this one, really. When Mikey not doing the "baby schtick" hes mean. If you pay attention to what he's saying, and just not his tone of voice, he's consistently saying pretty mean or condescending stuff. (You could take this as simply naïveté, but he still says mean shit pretty often regardless)

The times he does say genuinely nice stuff the turtles don't exactly expect it from him, at least, in the early season. And while he is mean, and seems to find saying mean things to be funny, Mikey isn't cruel. Nor will he ever be.

This shit-headery behavior is found in both 2003 and 18 Mikey. They have a degree of social intelligence that lets them use it to annoy people into doing what they want. 18 just has the advantage of being baby faced and having better tonal control. He's good at using people's perception of him to get what he wants.

Let Mikey have his problematic traits, but don't overexaggerate them. He doesn't revel in fooling people. He loves doing character bits, and the baby faced one just happens to be one of them. However, to infantilize or to deem him incompetent is to piss him off, he wants to be viewed as a competent part of the team and competent as an individual. He's not insecure about being young, he just doesn't want to be treated like he can't do anything.

Mikey above all is an optimistic character, he sees the brighter side quite often and is conscious of the harm his actions have on people. Mostly after the fact, but he consistently attempts to rectify the harm he has personally done to peoples lives. (Todd, Bullhop, Draxum). Food and shelter seems to be a thing that he considers to be a right. He doesn't cross a boundary twice once he learns of it, and he never pushes people too far (if he likes you, that is. if he doesn't know you or doesn't like you, he doesn't give a singular shit. But that is standard to most people.). He doesn't care about people's stuff, though. He breaks things all the time.

Mikey understands boundaries, but he doesn't automatically recognize them. He needs them to verbalized or for there to be a very obvious reaction to the boundary being crossed (unfortunately, for Todd and Donnie). Sometimes people mess up (esp. younger people), and it can take a while for teens to learn where boundary is, but he fully respects the boundaries he does know about. He doesn't act petulant when he's told about boundary, he apologizes, accepts it, and moves on. He doesn't dwell.

Mikey doesn't hold on to distressing emotions. He bounces between emotions quickly, but isn't effected in the long run. One thing Iv'e seen people often conflate is the difference between sensitive and vulnerable. Mikey is sensitive, but I have never seen him vulnerable to others. To be sensitive is to be easily influenced by the current situation. To be vulnerable is to hold that influence for a long time. Characters can have one, both, or neither of these traits. But Mikey is not vulnerable. It is the difference between compressing memory foam and a piece of metal until they deform. One will pop back, the other does not.

Those who are vulnerable but not sensitive will take longer to effect, but once you do, they will hold on to that emotion for a very long time. The vulnerable, are grudge holders. (leo). But like I've said, Mikey bounces back. What a character does has an effect on his emotions, but it doesn't make a lasting impression.

Forgiveness is another thing people like to push on him. It is not that Mikey forgives people easily, it's just that he doesn't hold grudges. He neither forgives nor forgets, but he does not ruminate. He's generally affable, first impressions seem to be a big part of how he views people. He is idealistic, and doesn't assume people are unchanging and/or evil, but he's not a mark.

Mikey isn't so much as naive or overly trusting… it's just that he's inexperienced. He doesn't get fooled by anyone in the series except meat sweats, and that's because Meatsweats is on Todd drugs. Mikey just didn't notice when he started faking. He's not… actually all that aware of people's emotional states, passively. He has to tune in to notice things like that.

Mikey isn't someone who really tries to regulate others emotions, either. The fandom like to make Mikey afraid of his brothers fighting and others being upset, but Mikey doesn't actually care. The most distressed we ever see him in a fight is in the movie, and he's not SCARED, he's just concerned (and then alarmed once it turned physical). If anything, outside extenuating circumstances (like the movie), Mikey actually seems to find their fights annoying.

(Mikey actually seems to have a pretty short fuse, but his bounciness doesn't really let it linger very long, lmao)

(One pet peeve of fandom Mikey is the constant crying, crying at fights, crying at insults, crying for no reason all the time. Sure, he tears up when he gets emotional, but when Mikey is genuinely crying It's when he's desperate, like when he's hungry, or when he's trying to save Leo from certain doom. Same thing, really.)

Mikey respects no one (we love him for this). He admires people, he admires his family: April, the turtles, his dad, Lou Jitsu. He admires Rupert Swaggert, but he respects none of them. No one is sacrosanct to the Mikey.

Above all, the way we write characters is to give them a past that informs how they act now. We view Mikey and the other turtles as teenagers that were kids, and that will be adults. Yes they all have “problematic” traits, but 1) good characters need flaws, and controversial traits are one of the best to use, and 2) they're teenagers, don't expect adult behaviors from them, also don't expect them to be kids. They're minors, not toddlers.

This is getting as long enough as it is, so we'll stop here, but this is a very broad overview of how we characterize him. There's a lot we didn't cover here, but if we even started on hobbies, or the real minutia of his quirks and ticks, or even how he feels about other specific characters... we'd be here all day. So I hope this is good enough lol

If there was something you wanted to know in particular, you'll need to get specific. Feel free to ask again ahahh

[qqchurch]

you know you're in a cishet male gamer discord when you see stuff like this without pushback in comment to people being mad or baffled by a gacha girl having a complete joke of proportions 🫡🫡🫡

[comradekarin]

ok so this is the last thing imma say on the grammys thing… billie will be fucking fine. she’s fine. and so will those other white girls in the category. beyonce made history last night being the fourth black woman to win album of the year (26 years since lauryn hill won hers). this is the first time in Grammy history that all of the major categories were occupied by black artists. this is the first time a black artist has won best country at the awards (or the second, I believe). black excellence was finally being rewarded last night… and suddenly the grammys don’t matter, it was rigged, it was paid for, etc. beyonce had the second most acclaimed project, one of the best selling albums and quite literally put so many black artists on the map (I.e shaboozey’s fire record streak, linda martell getting her FIRST grammy, ether getting more people to listen to country, etc)… just for yall to spit in her fucking face? her FIRST aoty win too. asking how beyonce won best country if she didn’t win anything from the cmas- the SAME cmas where they had to remove beyonce’s performance with the Dixie chicks from their site bc of the racist vitriol they spat, as if they didn’t yell “get that black bitch off the stage”, as if the whole point of the album wasn’t a RESPONSE to the shit she went though there. how can you run right into the point and miss it still?

I don’t care if you wanted someone else to win, the mask off anti-black comments im hearing over this shit is actually blowing my mind. “dei awards”, “she’s not country”, “I didn’t listen but it wasn’t deserved”, “billie should actually have kendrick’s grammy”- there’s such a blatant disrespect of black artistry, culture and hard work to cop for white mediocre artists and yall can’t even hide it. I can’t even celebrate bey, kendrick and doechii’s wins without a bunch of whites crying in my inbox. if you don’t have nothing of substance to say, shut up!!!!!!

[animentality]

I have always wanted to believe in ignorance over malice, but in the 2024 us elections...

I think it's both.

and I'm not sure if I can see Trump supporters as human beings anymore.

[k3n-dyll]

Y'know what, I really was trying to take a break from ranting about Arcane but shit keeps pissing me off and twitters format doesn't let a bitch rant like she wants to.

I'm sick and fucking tired of white queer people acting as if they're the only ones that are underrepresented in media. Like actually get a fucking grip on reality. I keep seeing people say that MelJay doesn't count as rep because "it's straight" as if that is not a direct representation of a dark skinned black woman being loved and cared for without needing to fight tooth and nail for it. As if that isn't an interracial couple that doesn't have a white person in it for fucking once. As if Jayce isn't a Latino coded man.

Straight white people have a fuck ton of representation, sure, but let's be fucking for real, out of all the people in the LGBTQ+ community that need more representation, white queer people are not at the top of the list. Y'all get most of it actually! Y'all have me on the internet fighting for my life about a straight ship because y'all can't stop for two fucking seconds to think about anyone that isn't fucking you!

"I think Mel is sapphic though!" - And a good chunk of the time the account has not shit about Mel on it. It's just a JayVik shipper using it as an excuse to completely shove her aside.

"She deserves better than a man"...they don't live in a patriarchy bookie. Jayce is not some misogynistic asshole from the real world, he's flawed for sure, but he's not treating Mel like she's inferior to him. He loves her and she does in fact deserve someone that loves her. If that person happens to be a man then so fucking be it. Not to mention...'she deserves better than a man' but you're ultimately using it as an excuse to...ship two men together? Oh okay...

EDIT: Real quick - I dont really wanna hear about how you 'just prefer gay ships' babe. I prefer sapphic ships. That doesn't take away from what I said. Actually, it just makes me feel like you're trying to deflect from the topic at hand rather than just listening and shutting the fuck up and I can't promise my reply to that is going to be particularly kind <3

[helaenadream]

the hotd fandom’s reaction to gwayne hightower has been nothing short of baffling to me so far. it’s no secret that people’s love to hate criston cole has been prone to making them miss the point in a major way but this to me is kind of a new level. the idea that he is “slay” or “serving cunt” or even that he legitimately sees through criston and resents him for being a bad person is a stunning misinterpretation of what the show is obviously saying. which is that gwayne hightower is racist. he talks to criston that way because criston is brown. and poor.

[neechees]

I think if you're not Native, and you see Natives talking about an actor we suspect could be/is a pretendian, you shouldn't immediately run up to the conversation with "Well x actor is mixed so that doesn't mean theyre nor Native American!" And assume that's the reason we're suspecting them.

Some of the most prominent, most beloved Native celebrities & household names are mixed race, like Sacheen Littlefeather, John Trudell, Radmilla Cody, Irene Bedard, Tantoo Cardinal, and so many more. Like yeah there's lots of Natives even, who are super weird and racist about BQ and mixed Natives.

But a lot of the time we're suspecting these actors specifically because they're not actually Native & are exhibiting some classic pretendian behaviors, not because they're mixed race or allegedly "mixed race".

[dunmeshistash]

Third time I get a huge ask about representation in dungeon meshi.

People praise dungeon meshi for representation cause they are comparing it to other anime, the reason is that simple.

Some people do exaggerate on the compliments and Dungeon Meshi has a colorism problem but I think it's kinda silly to pretend you don't understand why it gets praised, unless you have never watched anime before.

Also race representation isn't the only representation that people praise Dungeon Meshi for, what was the last anime you've seen where heavier looking people weren't the butt of the joke if they were there at all? Not even anime, media in general? What was the last show you've seen where disabled people are defined by more than just their disability? Not that many, the fact is that dungeon meshi is a step in the right direction even if it's not good enough it's a start.

For the piss on the poor crowd: The good parts of Dungeon Meshi don't erase the bad parts, the bad parts don't erase the good parts.

[haventacluewhatimdoing]

A theme of this week's episode which I really think more people should take away is this:

You are not immune to being racist.

The signs are there. The microaggressions are abundant. And can you honestly say that you didn't notice them? Or did you notice them but make excuses, and only realise at the end what they truly were? Because that's what I did. With the exception of the 'I thought you looked the same' comment, I made excuses for EVERY SINGLE ONE unconsciously.

She immediately rejects the Doctor? Oh, that's just because he's not on her friends list. She's shocked that Ruby and the Doctor are in the same room? Oh, that's just because she never sits in the same room as anyone else (despite it LITERALLY JUST BEING SHOWN that she works in the same room as other people, this is where my brain went). Her looking forward to the Doctor being punished? Yeah well she's just a dick, right? Even when she saw them face to face at the END, and walked away from them, I didn't clock on as to why. And not once did it occur to me that Ruby, who was in exactly the same position as the Doctor, didn't get this treatment.

So yes, one of the most important takeaways from this episode is: you are not immune to being racist.

[bixels]

I've been making the transition these past few months, but I think I'm gonna just move back to Tumblr. My Twitter's follower-base has reached a point where I can't tweet anything casually opinion-related without it overflowing like a toilet. I post a short thread on my gripes with color design in anime and I'm getting QRT'd with "kill this guy with hammers" reaction gifs. Like, damn, this isn't fun anymore. It's not fun to talk about stuff on Twitter in general anymore. I wanted to post some ship dynamic doodles sometime there, but I know I'm gonna get weirdly aggressive takes and reactions. Monkey's paw curls, but I don't particularly like having that many followers.

[kick-a-long]

Jewish Columbia students were chased out of dorms, spat on, and pinned against walls: damning report

By Matthew Sedacca

Published Aug. 31, 2024, 3:44 p.m. ET

Jewish students at Columbia University were chased out of their dorms, received death threats, spat upon, stalked and pinned against walls, as the Ivy League school devolved into a cesspool of antisemitic hate in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 murderous raid on Israel.

The new and disturbing details emerged from the lengthy, 91-page document released Friday by the school’s faculty-led antisemitism task force, which revealed the extent to which the hate permeated the institution.

“Students described being shoved, pushed to the ground, berated for showing support for Zionist causes, and watching Israeli flags burned,” the task force’s authors wrote.

Jewish and Israeli students at Columbia University endured a months-long nightmare of harassment, violent threats and assaults after Oct. 7.

Getty Images

“They recounted seeing drawings of swastikas in their dorms, students yelling pro-Hamas chants, and being denied access to public spaces and opportunities simply because they were Jewish or Israeli.”

Testimony from nearly five hundred Columbia students informed the report, which found visibly observant Jews had been pinned to the wall and had their jewelry ripped off while coming and going from synagogue. Others recounted being spat on and having been called ethnic slurs on campus.

One student, who had installed a mezuzah on her dorm’s doorway prior to the Israel-Hamas war, was forced to move out after people were pounding her door throughout the night beginning in October, demanding she explain the Jewish state’s war in Gaza.

“If I walk on campus right now with my star out or kippah or say ‘am Yisrael chai,’ I could start World War III,” one anonymous student’s testimony read.

Instructors tasked with guiding and mentoring students instead contributed to the sense of isolation and unease among Jews and Israelis on campus, according to the report.

Students recalled being pushed to the ground and watching Israeli flags being burned.

One faculty member leading a class that delved into the Israel-Hamas conflict called a student who previously served in the IDF a murderer. Another professor extensively said a pair of Jewish donors to the university had “laundered” “dirty money” and “blood money.”

During the spring, as protests and encampments roiled the school’s Morningside Heights campus, protesters, including outsiders and members of the university community, bellowed death threats at Jewish students. Demonstrators who held Israeli flags, meanwhile, recalled being assaulted.

“There is a sense of personal threat, and we keep looking over our shoulders,” master’s student Omer Lubaton Granot, an Israeli veteran and father of a toddler, told an Israeli radio station in the wake of protesters seizing the academic building Hamilton Hall in April.

Councilman Eric Dinowitz (D-Bronx) described the students’ testimonies as “horrifying — and not surprising.”

“These are stories we’ve been hearing about, as the report says, even before the encampments,” he told The Post, adding that antisemitism had been on the rise at college campuses even before Oct. 7

“Without any sort of consequence [for students and faculty] this sort of behavior will continue

The task force offered several recommendations to address the issues detailed in the voluminous report, including improved anti-bias training for students and staff along with a new system for reporting complaints about antisemitism.

The report was issued just days before Columbia’s fall semester begins and less then three weeks after embattled university president Minouhce Shafik suddenly resigned, citing the “period of turmoil” that marred her brief tenure at the school.

Interim President Katrina Armstrong called the disturbing incidents “completely unacceptable” before rattling off new initiatives at the university aligning with the panel’s recommendations.

“This is an opportunity to acknowledge the harm that has been done and to pledge to make the changes necessary to do better and to rededicate ourselves, as university leaders, as individuals, and as a community, to our core mission of teaching and research,” she said

[fae-morrigan]

Y'know, I see a lot of people argue that like, Jay is ugly. Why does Jon like him? And I've made it clear I disagree, because, like, cmon:

That is OBJECTIVELY a handsome man, and I'm a lesbian, lmao.

But like. If he was. ... So?

I actually think it's pretty cool that DC was like, yeah, Superman fell in love with a guy who cuts his own hair with dull scissors and dresses like oscar the grouch. He's a little weird to look at, maybe he's not the most conventionally attractive dude, but SUPERMAN found him wonderful and wanted to kiss him on the mouth.

That's... great? Like that's great. There's no universe where that reading of the text isn't awesome and empowering. Queer love should transcend looks and social status, and a huge part of queerness is finding beauty in the 'odd', anyways.