#i benefit from anti-Blackness as a non-Black person

[khizuo]

I think there’s a lot more nuance to your f1nn5ter take that’s missing simply because it doesn’t really take into account… how and why people use tumblr?

most people don’t use tumblr to try and advance queer liberation or promote social justice and mutual aid…. they use it for entertainment first and foremost. they want to post/see things that they enjoy, instead of focusing solely on real life issues. hell, tumblr can also be an ‘escape’ of sorts from the shitty reality around them (or that they personally experience)

so they just… don’t want to make their entire feed about those real life struggles, and doom posts about those trying to kill and erase them, and people asking for help to escape their shitty lives. it’s distressing and sad and not what they come to tumblr for. instead they focus on things that are more simple and lighthearted and positive, like a popular gnc streamer.

the point I’m trying to make here is that…. I don’t think you can accurately judge someone’s moral beliefs or actions based on their posting/reblogging habits, because for them this isn’t the moral beliefs website— that’s not what they’re here for. It might be for you, and that’s okay! but that’s not how it is for, id argue, the majority of users. they want a safe space away from that and i don’t think pressuring or shaming bloggers for doing that (/for not posting about [X] issue) is going to help anyone.

hi anon! if anyone out there following me uses tumblr as an escapism site™, then good for you. i'm commenting less on the moral character of individual people as i am on a general culture i've observed on the site as a whole. and the fact is: posts about how "revolutionary" f1nnster are get tens of thousands of notes while trans crowdfund posts struggle to get to a thousand.

the thing is — very few people on tumblr are completely removed from the reality of queer oppression. posts on the topic are frequently reblogged, because such a large part of the userbase is lgbtq. this is why f1nn is so popular on tumblr rn — people are upholding him as a shining example of gender-noncomformity. the problem comes when people (mostly tme queer people) start legitimately calling him more "revolutionary" than trans women because he's "challenging gender norms" or something. this completely ignores context — f1nnster is a popular wealthy white streamer, while transfemme folks often face disproportionate levels of violence and poverty, often as a direct result of coming out.

a lot of tumblr activism is performative. i'm not saying this in a "this makes xyz a bad person" kind of way, what i mean is that posts about social justice and hating capitalism and shit will blow up with the people reblogging them doing nothing to actually build material solidarity, which, yes, involves mutual aid and uplifting marginalized voices. now, i don't know everyone on tumblr, so I'm sure there are people who do mutual aid/organizing work offline and then come on here to exclusively fandompost. but i'm also sure there are people who don't do any mutual aid/organizing work and who then come on here to reblog a few social justice-y posts and then never think about concrete actions to take to actually live up to that which they say they care about. and these are very often the same people who will reblog a post about how "revolutionary" f1nnster is.

I know of plenty of people on tumblr who could participate in mutual aid but don't. this popular tumblr idea that crowdfunding posts are evil or whatever needs to die. it screams of liberalism and a "not my problem" attitude that is actively harmful towards goals of liberation. my complaints are about the performative leftism that I observe a lot on here, and how this culture of performative leftism has chosen f1nnster to uplift as its newest hero. and honestly, I'm more worried about trans poc and multi-marginalized folks who are struggling to get their basic needs met than i am of white and/or class-privileged queer people feeling bad about their escapism site™.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for bringing dahl to a compagny potluck ?🍩🍜🍝🍱🍛

Everyone had to bring "their speciality" at work for lunch. I didn't really paid attention to the wording and brought a Dahl.

Dahl is easy to make for a lot of people and very accommodating for people with food restrictions (I am vegetarian with various allergies and used to only rely on the food I bring myself in shared meal events). Emma, a colleague, was mad at me because she interpreted "speciality" as "cultural food" (no one was bringing specific traditional food, just the usual potluck food). She thinks I am committing cultural appropriation.

Emma is a Black American woman, while I am white. We both live in a white European country, however my patents were immigrants in this country, and European "racism" can see 1000 flavors of "white" and are quite xenophobic (if not plainly racist), so I have been victim of racism/xenophobia here.

Emma is well versed in a lot of woke stuff, anti racism, feminist and stuff and I usually look up to her on those subjects but here… I don't think there is cultural appropriation ? Maybe it's an American/European difference?

From what I understand, cultural appropriation is when a dominant culture (usually white) benefits from doing cultural stuff of someone else, while the minority who the stuff comes from is oppressed and forbidden of doing the stuff.

But I am not saying Dahl is a dish I invented. Everyone is well aware it's Indian. I didn't published "my" receive or anything. I have no social media influence and don't posted about the food I cook anyway. People at work were unphased by the dish.

In my country, Indian people don't face discrimination (that I know of) for cooking their traditional food. There is a ton of Indian restaurants in my city and they are managed by Indian people. I go to those Indian restaurant quite often. So I don't think there is a financial or systemic problem.

I have cooked Dahl for myself for decades as it works really well with my vegetarian diet (as lentils are great plant based protein source) and MY cultural dishes are way too meat based. A lot of foreigner friends taught me their cultural vegetarian dish, as I taught then mine. I have seen a lot of white an POC (but non Indian) people cook Dahl. It's really a go to dish in the vegetarian circle I frequent.

My Indian friends think Emma is dumb but they are biased. The only Indian person at work didn't care and is usually pretty racist himself so I wouldn't trust his judgment if he told me something was "safe to do".

Was I culturally insensitive or was her anger misguided ?

[jpitha]

Between the Black and Grey 68

First / Previous / Next

Fen stayed still a long time, running in emulation. This wasn't her fault, she knew this. She spent a long time running back through her memories. While she was in software it felt easier; she found she could remember things much more clearly. Pretty much since Ma was killed, she's been passive. Things happening to her rather than because of her. She's been along for the ride.

That was part of why Fen was so upset now. The Nanites had their own agenda, Penny had her own agenda, the previous Empress had her own agenda, Gord and the AIs have their own agenda. The only person she could think off that wasn't trying to get something out of her was Zhe. Fen sighed at the thought. She hadn't treated Zhe well enough for how good of a friend she had been. Zhe was kind and helpful from the get-go. Sure, she was a pirate from a family of pirates, but that doesn't mean she wasn't a nice person.

If Fen was going to get out of this, she was going to have to take the reins and start doing things because she decided to do them.

So, what was she going to do then?

This was tough. Better to back up. What did she want?

In the end, what she wanted was to be with Ma-ren. Okay, that was extreme, but doable. She already had a leg up in that she knew where she was and how to get there... well, two ways on how to get there. One was traversing a wormhole link that the other...well she wasn't quite ready to take the reins in that way just yet. She remembered the bomb that Han'iel implanted, and wondered how it was triggered... No. Not that way. Not yet at least. It would do nobody any good to check out now and leave everyone to deal with the Nanites from both sides.

Okay, we're getting somewhere she thought. Now she knew that while her number one wish was to be with Ma-ren, her number two wish was to defeat the Nanites once and for all. Fen stared up at the non existant ceiling. For the millionth time, she wished Ma was here. She was always the planner, she always had the ideas. How do you get rid of a being that is a mass of nanoscale machinery?

Break the machinery.

But how? Fen sat very still. She felt like she was on the cusp of something big. How does this happen in BI bodies? Wait....

"Gord! Chloe!" Fen called out. Before she could blink, they appeared in her space.

"What is it Fen? What's wrong?" Gord said, looking at her. Chloe eyed her, but she appeared to have her attention directed elsewhere.

"Gord! Can we make a virus to kill the nanites?" Fen said, her eyes wide. She looked like she was trying to hold onto the idea, lest it slip away. "Like, something nanoscale like they are, but instead of being intelligent it just-" She waved her hands "-does something to them? Isn't that how a virus works? It takes over cells and makes the cells make more viruses?"

Gord started to shake his head. "We tried that back with Melody's....." he trailed off. "No wait. We didn't. Our gas tried to interrupt their connections to each other and force a disconnect. It worked at first, but they were able to easily overcome it." He snapped his head to Chloe. "Could we do that?"

"Hmm." Chloe's image flickered a moment, and then came back. She had finished whatever she was working on and was back at full attention. "Maybe. We would need access to Han'iel's data. Do you think he kept backups?"

Fen nodded. "I know he did; he used my personal datastores. That part should be easy."

"Good. Theoretically we could. It would be relatively simple code. Take over a Nanite, make more viruses, disassemble whatever is left, continue on." A 3d model appeared in space in front of her. It looked almost like a molecule. At this scale, everything looked like large molecules anyway. She spun it around, peering at it. Fen realized that this was all being done for her benefit, Chloe didn't need something like this. "We'd need a way to deliver it to a lot of them at once so they couldn't isolate and work on an anti-viral. It would also need a power source."

Gord grinned. "You mean like - for example - the white hole? Coincidentally also where a metric ton of those Nanites are congregating?"

Chloe nodded slowly. "Yesss, like that. Hmm." She stared off in the middle distance again while she thought. "How would we deliver them?"

As the three of them looked at each other, the room transitioned to the chamber where Fen's cabinet was kept. Gord whistled low. "Fen, you may only have been digitized for a day, but you've got a knack."

Fen smiled weakly. "I'll take the compliment Gord, but how do I deliver the... virus?"

Chloe answered. "We have to treat it like a real virus. Sneak in under the Nanite's defenses. They're nanoscale, they're probably used to defenders like a biological body has. Antibodies, white blood cells, similar. Viruses get in with trickery. We can look at the nanites in your body - both the originals and Han'iel's, and see if we can work out their defenses and how to sneak around them. The propagation of the coding is the simple part. It's getting them infected that'll be tricky." Chloe flashed a rare grin. "It's a good problem Fen, I'm excited to work through it."

"This is good though." Gord added. "This will give the Nanites time to congregate at the white hole. They'll be fighting Han'iel's Nanites too. We'll use the time to our advantage and then deploy you there and we can ideally knock them both out!"

Fen's blood went icy. "What's going to happen to me? Will... this kill me?"

"No, we'll extract a small amount of both nanites from your body in hibernation. You will be our vector and our test subject as well." Chloe was sanguine. "It'll all work out. Probably."

"Probably?!?"

The next week went by in a blur. Gord showed Fen how to change her perception of time while in emulation, and they were able to spend subjective months working out the problem while only a week of clock time went by. Fen was no nanoscale engineer, and had barely any idea about how biological bodies worked, but she was game to learn, and she was someone that Gord and Chloe could rubber duck to - that is, to explain their problem half to themselves and usually they answered their own question. In the rare times they couldn't at least Fen offered an ear and sympathy.

Chloe was able to extract quite a few of the original and Han'iel's nanites and placed them in very secure storage. When placed together, the two of them would fight, and when apart, they'd attempt to consume all the matter in their confinement and then would just go dormant, waiting for more matter or a host. Chloe kept them in modified antimatter containers, and that seemed to be safe.

The three of them stood around a virtualized screen, giving a radar view of the chamber with the original nanites. As she watched, Chloe pressed some buttons, and lightning quick, a needle entered the containment and injected something. It retracted before the nanites could attack it, and they watched.

Fen could barely make sense of what she was seeing, but Chloe had added some helpful annotations to the video. One cloud was tagged 'virus' and another cloud was tagged 'nanites.' As she watched, the nanite cloud moved over to the virus cloud. She couldn't exactly figure out what was happening, but it was clear that the virus cloud was growing and the nanite cloud was shrinking. After a few minutes, the nanite tag disappeared as the virus cloud looked to be nearly twice as large as before.

"There! A successful test, I'd say" Chloe said proudly. "We'll test it on Han'iel's nanites and-"

There was a distant sound like thunder, and both Gord and Chloe's attention snapped away. In Fen's peripheral vision, red emergency overlays appeared, warning her about systems she didn't have access to. "What's going on?" She asked.

"Attack. We're being attacked. Sit tight." Gord said, and the two of them vanished.

[creatingblackcharacters2]

How to spot a Stereotype: An Example

Okay, so I talked about this in my Lesson 6 Stereotypes series, but I feel like people haven't quite... Understood what I meant. So I'm doing a mini lesson/application. First, I'd really appreciate it if you take the time to read the links in my posts, because that will provide you the historical and social context necessary. If you lack it, you will never be fully able to understand this. Remember, all I do here is provide the beginning steps. You have to be willing to do the rest!

One thing I constantly emphasize is that it's not the description of a character that (always) reveals an existing stereotype, but the writing! And again, until you grasp why anti-Black stereotypes are what they are, you will continue to be frustrated with how to avoid incorporating them, both in your writing and in your mindset. I'm going to use one stereotype as an example.

The Mammy Stereotype

"[Black woman character] is very fond, doting, and protective. She's like the team mom of the group."

On the surface, people who are worried about this stereotype will worry, because Black readers have long rolled their eyes and said we're tired of seeing this as one of the Only Options for Black women characters. And we are. Here's the disconnect: the attributes are not what we're tired of, but how they were utilized in the writing- often by non-Black writers!

Mammy: put simply, the caricature of the Mammy is the Black nursemaid that would take care of the Master's white children and the Mistress, prioritizing them above the well-being of herself, her own children, and her own community. She is fat and homely (so as not to attract the Master from the Mistress), unthreatening, sweet and subservient.

In other words, the only value she held was to serve white people's needs (and quench their guilt).

While the image of the Mammy herself is a strong imagery that has faded from its specific origin, I would say the modern day fan archetypes that ring of the Mammy stereotype are the Black woman character that "holds the Braincell", the "begrudgingly fond mother of the group", the canon love interest now relegated to the "mommy/mean lesbian" whose feelings are erased altogether, her new role to help the two white characters get together without acknowledgment of her own potential. She has no real story of her own, or as mentioned, has her own story stolen because "it doesn't look good with her in it" (which is its own bag of worms).

Now, people often give these characters motherly (or what society deems motherly) traits: caring, sweet, protective, loving, self sacrificial. Because they want to defensively show that "they're a great person! Nothing bad! I still think they're good! I'm not racist!"

But upon learning of the stereotype, there appears this insecurity- "oh, my Black woman character has these traits, is she playing into this stereotype?" When you get to this question, what you really need to be asking yourself is:

What makes the Mammy a Mammy?

They are a tool, a utility to white people with more power.

They lack autonomy. How they feel is irrelevant, if it does not serve the white person.

Nonthreatening so as to feel "harmless" to white people who bask in her "selfless" care.

They are not allowed to show frustration or upset at their lot or at life; it is seen as a negative attribute because if they are not caring, they have no use (and may now even be considered a threat).

They will also disagree with anyone else, even to the detriment of themselves, to the benefit of the white person. This is considered "selfless", rather than sacrifice (consider that "real" Mammies were originally slaves. They probably hated every single day with the people they "cared" for, but God forbid they speak on it. To white people, they were supposedly so happy and grateful! Smile and nod!)

Notice, out of the things I listed, "strong", "protective", "intelligent", and "caring" (on its own) weren't there! Because those aren't bad attributes for a Black character to have! Why would we ever suggest that?? Why would I be mad that a Black woman was any of those wonderful things to her peers? That's not the issue. The issue is that they are often used in service of usually white characters and their stories. They're a tool of the writer to coddle their white characters, versus a character that has their own inner workings and existence.

Knowing what you know now; things that would make your strong, protective, and caring Black woman character fit the Mammy stereotype can include:

If she is pushed to the side with no autonomy or inner life of her own, as the narrative centers the white characters and their needs.

If she is never shown to have any reason for acting outside of to the benefit of the white characters around her. That's the only time her presence counts.

If her disagreeing with, getting upset with, or refusing (or really, just not being "motherly") the white characters is deemed trashy by the narrative (whereas anyone else receives nuance or reason for their behavior).

If the white characters in the story treat her poorly, and it is treated as a good thing that she "stays calm" without any sort of reflection on her feelings.

You can come up with any sort of setting, plot scenario, and description of your Black woman character. But at the end of the day, what's going to make it the stereotype is how the narrative treats her, which you will only find out by writing it, and then reviewing your own work!

You're going to have to approach any stereotype this way. It's part of the *intent* thing I keep pushing 😅 if you don't intend to write a stereotype, you're going to have to actively understand what it is, which will help you actively avoid it.

[david-talks-sw]

The fact that Dave Filoni called Anakin “the greatest Jedi ever” is proof that he’s bias AF. His anti-Jedi rhetoric is bupkis.

I wonder if he means "the greatest" in terms of in-universe fame...?

Dunno if this is the case in Canon (then again Dave Filoni blatantly ignores any *non-motion* transmedia elements in Canon so meh), but in Legends he's:

"Anakin Skywalker, the Hero with no Fear™, handsome, dashing, the face of the Republic's army during the Clone War, the only Jedi who tried to resist the nefarious Order's coup and was treacherously murdered for it".

And I seem to remember that, in Canon, he's like the Jedi Temple's superstar anyway, every Jedi recognizes him on sight. I mean, that line from Baylon about "Anakin speaking highly of Ahsoka" must have some meaning beyond artificial personal stakes.

So from a fame and a "power level" standpoint... sure.

He's the greatest.

I'm giving Filoni the benefit of the doubt.

While I've talked about why Filoni's entire headcanon about the Jedi doesn't track with what George Lucas' intended narrative, I think it's worth acknowledging that Filoni's bias comes from part of his duties while directing The Clone Wars was.

One of the goals of TCW was humanizing Anakin, expanding upon his character make him go from "a character whose only purposes is to embody the themes presented in three movies based on the matinee serial format" to a relatable person, a good man, the hero Ben mentions to Luke in A New Hope.

I think it's normal that he'll see Anakin in a more positive light.

Also (and full disclosure this is just me theorizing I am no authority on any of this so if turns out I'm wrong just come right out and say so)...

I'm pretty sure that Filoni, Lesley Headland and most of the recent Star Wars authors are all Gen X, raised by baby boomers forced to conform to society, obey authority and have proper decorum (boys don't cry!) all of which they strove to rebel against. Add to that the corruption they witnessed growing up and coming out of high school, and you see a kind of jadedness emerge. "The rules aren't as black and white, the world is grey."

So while most of them and the boomers despised the Prequels upon release, a few of them projected a more individualistic headcanon onto those movies that fit with where their head was, at the time.

As such: Anakin isn't interpreted by them as a cautionary tale about what happens when you're greedy. He's a misunderstood rebel, a non-conformist who has his flaws but is ultimately good at heart. Which isn't entirely inaccurate, but it is very clearly an embellishment of a character who will one day become a space nazi.

The fact is... the Prequels were made by a boomer. One with very liberal values and who was himself a rebel, but a boomer all the same. The whole point of his story is...

"we all must come together and fight as one, if push comes to shove; we must all be compassionate and selfless if we are to survive; don't be greedy, let people go when it's their time to leave".

And then he makes the Jedi say that, making them beacons of truth and good and compassion in his fairy tale, now aimed at Gen Z kids.

Gen X-ers hear/read that and project all the boomer BS they had been told onto the Jedi...

"oh, so the Jedi are saying you shouldn't love yourself, you shouldn't be yourself, you should give up on what makes you an individual to fit in, you shouldn't feel any emotions"

Because nobody is that good, realistically, right?

This happened in other mediums. The one that comes to mind on the spot is the relationship between Mufasa and Scar.

In The Lion King, Mufasa is strong and noble, Scar is weak and conniving. Simple enough. Around that same time, in A Tale of Two Brothers, young Mufasa is shown to be pretty nice with Taka (Scar), who is framed as a spoiled brat to begin with.

Skip to the 2019 remake, and it's hinted Mufasa gave Scar his wound, and in The Lion Guard they explain that Scar got his nickname from Mufasa mocking him for a misadventure.

He went from being a noble king to a bully who had it coming, Scar is an underdog who got picked on. Because again: nobody is that pure, right? Fairytales be-damned.

Nothing is black and white, it's all grey.

So yeah, long story short I do think that Filoni being part of the generation that wasn't the target demographic but was old enough to retcon the crap out of the Prequels also plays a role into his view of Anakin.

[aikoiya]

DPxDC - Bell Above the Box

Dude, they used to put bells above graves in case someone was accidentally buried alive so that the interred could just ring the bell & be saved. Basically, if this happened to you, then you were supposed to feel around for a string inside the coffin, then pull. Or they'd tie the string to a toe so that if the buried begins to move, it just sets off automatically. Now, I get that this custom was originally for lead poisoning, but it feels pertinent here as well.

Now, imagine if Bruce, be it out of some vain hope, had had one installed, just in case, with a sensor that would alert the batcomputer, Alfred, & Batman if it were ever pulled. Never actually expecting for it to happen. Only for, in the wake of Superboy gutpunching reality, it does.

Because of this, Bruce is there as quickly as possible, before the League gets a chance to take Jason from him.

Jason is only half there & Bruce has him at home. But the confused boy tends to wander off.

It's because of this that Jason eventually wanders to a nearby swamp & finds what's called a "blue hole," though it looked more like a green hole to him.

The glowing green water that bubbled from the stone outcrop & filtered into the swamp felt somehow familiar. The closer he drew to it, the clearer his thoughts became until he fell in.

He's submerged for a moment, not really realizing what was happening, until it was as if someone had suddenly flipped a switch inside his head. His mind was clear & there was this strange, almost comforting energy in the center of his chest.

That's when Bruce reaches in & pulls him out.

Jason becomes a very low-grade halfa with only a few powers that he now has to practice at.

Things like advanced healing, increased strength, speed, & flexibility, intangibility every once in a while (like, he can't use it willynilly), the ability to actually grab & hit ghosts, night vision, able to walk silently, even the power to see the regular, non-GZ DC ghosts like Deadman & the Gentlemen Ghost. Not able to turn invisible, but he is able to affect people's perception of him similarly to ghosts. So, he can manipulate not only a person's sense of object permanence when in regards to himself, but he can also make himself unnoticeable. Like, he can basically do what the Chameleon Circuit does. Like this:

Spectral Acknowledgment

However, because he's not a very good ratio of halfa, his anti-gravity center isn't fully developed, so he can really only slow his falling. Just stuff that gives him an edge & a few benefits, while not taking away from his fighting style.

He also gets slitted pupils, pointed ears, tapetum lucidum, & fangs, as well as a core element once it's fully developed. I'm thinking an electric primary & either a fire or shadow secondary, but he can only really cover his body with the elements to give him an edge in combat.

The Pit Rage was much more manageable because the Lazurus Water he bathed in had actually been cleaned in the last century unlike the one in Nanda Parbat. At the same time, it isn't just that Ra's doesn't clean his bath water, it's also that Nanda Parbat's pit has been intentionally corrupted by dark magic & especially necromantic energy. Luckily, this one had recently (like, within the last 50 years) been purified via the same prayer used to make Holy Water (which is the proper means of neutralizing black magic from water). This helped to stave off Gotham's many curses from corrupting the water fully.

In the end, instead of becoming Red Hood, because he has no reason to, he becomes the Cardinal.

Not much difference in the costume to be fair. Instead, he wears the red vest (but it reaches his ankles like a trench) with an actual hood & a black mouth guard.

But, he does tend to use the All-Blades more often. Don't know how he gets them here, but he does because they're awesome!

One change to them, though. They don't only appear in the presence of pure evil & also work on paranormal beings. They are, however, only deadly to those who are evil. They can hurt those who aren't, but can't kill them.

However, despite Bruce having actually been there for him, the fact that the Joker was still walking around & killing people... stung...

The thing is that Bruce had been there for him. Had actually found him. Had kept him safe once he came back. And hadn't replaced him. So, Jason couldn't hate him entirely. But in a lot of ways, that's actually worse because it hurts even worse.

And because of this, he can't bring himself to trust Bruce.

And whenever Jason sees the Joker, it's like he's right back there in that chair being sold out by his own mother. Screaming for Bruce to save him.

You see, a ghost's killer is an extreme source of stress & anxiety for them. If they are still alive & able to continue on with what they do, it is a consistent source of trauma that can send the ghost spiraling if you're not careful. It is an IMMEDIATE & INTENSE trigger. Like, we are talking some serious PTSD! The sort that triggers the fight or flight instinct. So, even though it appears similar to Pit Rage, the source isn't rage, it's fear.

The only upside is that Dick is actually treating him like a brother now.

Then, one night, Jason hears Dick & Bruce arguing & learns that Dick had actually killed the Joker & that Batman revived him.

It shattered him.

He couldn't stay with Bruce anymore & went to live with Dick in Bloodhaven.

Edit: I also just learned that, apparently, due to being part of the All-Caste, Jason also has some basic precognative abilities, though he can't use them very long before they start causing migrains. As well as the apparent ability to just shut off people's powers.

I'm thinking about making Jason the resident magic-user/supernatural hunter in the batclan. Just as a treat!

I mean, does his love of literature also extend to research on ancient mythology & legends, even those of other cultures? Because if so, he could end up being a natural.

For those who don't know, I'm talking about the Supernatural-type hunters.

DP Character HC Masterlist

[wathanism]

Your ideals are going to kill people. The only thing refusing to vote is going to do is ensure that the republicans win and their project 2025 gets enacted. This is not a conspiracy theory. They want a theocracy. They want authoritarianism. They want fascism. You and everyone you convince to not vote is letting that happen.

I don't know who convinced you that its impossible to care about two things at once, but abandoning the vulnerable here in the states because you care so deeply about the vulnerable on the other side of the world doesn't make you more righteous.

Refusing to vote for him is a foolish act that will do nothing to stop what is happening. Even if he finally pulls back all aid for Israel at the eleventh hour, no one will vote for him now, which means the vulnerable right here at home are fucked. Thanks.

i was really close to not answering you at all because i have a hard rule about not talking with selfish cunts who are commited to misunderstanding everything a non-white person says to them. but since you had the good sense to realize that you were being an ass right then, i'm going to assume that you're worth engaging with, and i'm going to hope you'll talk with me in good faith and read everything i have to say rather than blow up at me again. if nothing else, i'm going to use this as an opportunity to say all the things i've been wanting to say since i made that post. that said, i'm real pissed and i'm not gonna be all nice and palatable in my answer.

first of all, no i'm not a US citizen. i live in west asia. y'know, where all the wars are? gaza is five hours away from my hometown of damascus, which is also being bombed with your tax dollars, by the way! in fact, i grew up living under a textbook authoritarian theocracy. so don't sit there and talk to me like i don't know what it's like to be afraid of your own government. we're in this shithole world together, and you and i are a hell of a lot more like each other than the politicians putting our lives on the line.

second of all, i should have been more clear about what i actually would like for US voters to do. contrary to small-minded liberals' assumptions, i'm not republican nor am i anti-voting. i'm saying people should vote third party. i even have a preferred candidate in mind, jasmine sherman. they even have strict and well-defined policies to protect trans rights and provide universal healthcare that includes gender affirming care and reproductive care.

this is usually the point when usamericans talk down to me like it's my first day on earth, so let me be clear. i know about the electoral college. i know about the flaws of the first-past-the-post voting system. i know about ranked-choice voting and why that's a better system in almost every way. i know that until there's drastic changes to the US voting system, there is no chance a third party candidate could even win. i'm not delusional about that. and i'm asking you to protest-vote anyway. which, yes, i realize is a big ask, but consider that this is a big fucking problem that requires pretty drastic actions.

several absolute dumbasses who i refuse to engage with said some very interesting stuff that made me realize why so many people are quick to dismiss the idea of refusing to vote for either major party. some examples:

they describe the push to vote third party as us lashing out at biden. in their eyes, we're not politically aware adults with a righteous passion for justice. no, we're petulant children causing problems for everyone whose rights actually matter. maybe a nicer person than me can give them the benefit of the doubt, but i find it extremely suspect that they truly seem to believe that non-white people are irrational, easily-angered, thoughtless creatures with no understanding of the complexities of the situation. there's a complete refusal to consider that there might be an actual coherent strategy behind the activism of indigenous and black people.

and again, because this is not my first day on earth, i know about the "but trump!!" argument. i honestly am BAFFLED that liberals seem to genuinely believe they're offering anything novel or valuable to the discussion at hand when they parrot talking points that we've been hearing since 2016 with quite literally nothing to show for it.

but i digress. the important thing is: yes, i fucking know. i know trump would have a near identical policy on gaza. he'd also have an identical policy on the police, on covid, on immigration, and on most other issues. you worry about project 2025, and you're right to! but the thing is, and you'll forgive me for quoting imani here but she is the most correct person ever always, "everything in project 2025 relies on biden doing exactly what he's fucking doing right now. the more successful this genocide is, the more likely project 2025 is to happen." because at the end of the day, it doesn't require a republican president. it requires a CONSERVATIVE president. and that's what biden is.

i don't know if you're missing it or if you don't care, but democrats benefit from you being terrified, and that's exactly why they'll never keep you safe. you will always be one election away from being killed by the system because that's what keeps you complicit. democrats won't shoot the gun, but they will ALWAYS make sure it's loaded and that you're trapped in a room with the person who'll shoot you. don't forget that roe v. wade was overturned on biden's watch. trans rights were rolled back on biden's watch. covid deaths skyrocketed and protections were dismantled on biden's watch. he'll find every loophole in the book to funnel weapons to israel's military but he'll never lift a finger to fix the problems ruining your life, because he needs you to be as scared as you are. that's exactly what's keeping you from showing an ounce of compassion or solidarity to palestinians right now. and no, your fucking lip service and crocodile tears don't count as solidarity.

liberals have managed to completely forget the most important lesson about social justice: none of us are free until all of us are free. you've been so busy yelling at arabs to even realize that this moment in time is one of the greatest pushes against the two-party system. do you not get how important that is? right now, when damn near everyone who's even mildly left leaning (and many who are right leaning) is so deeply unsatisfied with both major candidates, is the perfect time to be thinking of ways to break out of this system. to organize, to advocate for your mystical fucking ranked choice voting!

palestinians aren't asking you to lay down your life and throw away your human rights so they can mildly spite joe biden. they're asking you to grow a fucking spine and stand on principle and god damn DO SOMETHING to tear apart the two-party system. make people realize that a third party candidate IS a viable one, so that one day they can be.

you're framing this as a matter of pitting palestinians versus americans, which couldn't be further from the truth. maybe instead of directing your hate towards palestinians and their allies, show some gratitude. palestinians are uncovering the veil of all the atrocities and all the corruption in the world, and they're giving the people of the earth a banner to unite under. there have never been so many people (afaik, at least) pushing against the systems of corruption in america. that kind of thing ripples out. standing with palestine isn't easy, but all of our lives will be better for it, including and especially the lives of minorities living in the US.

there is so, SO much more i can say about palestine, and it will inevitably turn into a very spiritual rant about the uniting force of the holy land. but i'm instead just gonna leave you with this tweet that i think sums up everything about this.

[transingthebourgeoisie]

funny how "non-black folks" can't have an opinion on whether US citizens benefit from US imperialism or not, even in a post that does not mention black people at all. I guess native americans don't actually have a history of suffering under colonization, genocide, and oppression by the US and the other settler states in America, since, you know, they are non-black.

(this person is one of the people running the harassment campaign btw)

I want to say that it's kinda've funny, but it's really not. It's somewhere between horrifying and pathetic. Of course we all know that the average USamerican 'leftist' becomes utterly deranged when forced to confront the idea that they are not, in fact, morally unimpugned, - even when we aren't making absurd moral judgements, and are just stating basic material facts.

Utterly disappointing, but what else can we honestly expect? Scratch a liberal and a fascist bleeds; tell a USamerican 'communist' that Imperialism isn't something they can dodge by telling their priest they're sorry at church, and in comes the aircraft carrier.

Edit; apparently the person in question there is south african, actually, and not american. Their position remains basically the same; absurd, anti-materialist feelgoodism.

[transcriptroopers]

"Non-Violent" Protests

I recently saw a disturbing video of the anti-war protests currently going on. You may have seen it; several cops are holding down a Black protestor, who is restrained and not resisting. Still, while the protester is being held down by three cops, one uses a taser on this restrained person for several prolonged seconds. The white crowd stands around them doing nothing. Scratch that - a bunch of them are filming - some quickly raise their phones when the tazing begins around 19 seconds in- and I assume they think this is doing something. 

Tasers are not a non-lethal weapon! Black people are disproportionately targeted and killed by inappropriate taser use by police, and Black protesters are disproportionately arrested compared to their white peers. Standing there filming knowing you’re in no danger is taking advantage of your white privilege! 

The crowd should have stormed those cops the moment the taser came out. Or at least after multiple seconds of contact. There is a single cop with a weapon pulling guard duty, who can easily be dispatched from behind. 

When your comrade is being arrested, don't just stand there with your thumb up your ass. DE-ARREST THEM. The cops completely ignored being surrounded by useless observers because they know that getting filmed doesn’t mean shit. Look at their armed guard, his positioning! His weapon at ease and his movements relaxed because he knows none of you represent a threat to him even though you outnumber him ten to one! Meanwhile, look at how many of them it took to restrain this man! You all move in at once, push ‘em away from your comrade, expect resistance so stay together stay tight, protect your comrade so we can get the handcuffs off and get 'em out of there.

These mass protests have served as a perfect example of how non-violent action is a mere spectacle. If you aren’t willing to defend each other from violence, you are a participant in the violence. 

I highly recommend Peter Gelderloos’ “How Nonviolence Benefits the State” regarding the tactics of student protestors over the past week. If you really care about putting up a real resistance to systemic violence, then it’s time to start re-educating yourself about what violence is.

[andthemoonsingswisely]

ok I never thought it would get to this, but I’m gonna say it: I’m not old enough to vote yet, but if I was, I’d vote blue. I’m a centrist at best and some would even consider me to be conservative economically speaking, I think, even though both of them suck, that Harris is a much better candidate. I know some of y’all are skeptical, but let me break it down for you.

The economy: the main reason why so many people think Trump will be better is that the economy was good under Trump and bad under Biden, but studies show that Trump didn’t “make America great again”; rather, he inherited an America that was already great. this study shows that during the last 33 months of the Obama administration, non-farm job growth averaged 224000 per month. During the first 33 months of the Trump administration, it was 34,000 jobs per month less. Moreover, it also shows that during the last two years of the Obama Administration, annual median household income increased by $4800, more than three times the amount under the first two years of Trump. I’m too tired to quote the entire statistic, but if you read the study, you can see that the stock market increased at a greater pace under Obama as well.

Patriotism: Trump has repeatedly made anti-American statements, from his mocking of veterans to his “joke” on 9/11 that now his building was the biggest (a time when the entire country was grieving and shocked). Moreover, Trump has made racist statements against Mexican, Chinese, and Black people; with his father, he has historically discriminated against Black people when renting out buildings. Moreover, I see the claim that he increased funding for historically black colleges get thrown around a lot, but the truth is that the funding actually stayed the same as what Obama gave . The same source also confirms that the record low unemployment for black people under the Trump administration didn’t come because of trump’s policies, and instead only decreased at the same rate at which it had been decreasing before. Lastly, I’d like to talk about Springfield, a town in Ohio which’s economy was weakened due to the decline in manufacturing jobs, but was revived thanks to the Haitian immigrants. With his running mate, JD Vance, Trump spread baseless rumors of Haitian immigrants eating locals’ pets. Trump disrespects all of America, whether it be veterans, minorities, or immigrants, which is why I argue that he’s not the patriot that he claims he is.

Lastly, I’d like to say that I understand why people turned to Trump in 2016 (not talking about the people who voted for him out of bigotry here, I’m talking about people who genuinely thought he was the best for America). Manufacturing and industrial jobs had been lost to other countries, and Trump, with his MAGA campaign, promised to bring back those jobs. I know that Biden, with his incompetency, has made life harder for a lot of you. But you need to ask yourself: does Trump genuinely care about the American people? Because based on the evidence I listed above, I can very confidently assert that no, in fact, he does not. Trump cares about himself, and he’s obsessed with the attention he gets. It’s why Harris was so easily able to goad him during the debate by insulting his rallies: that man is obsessed with gaining an audience, and needs to believe that he is admired and liked. He feeds off of being worshipped. Personally, I say that this is not the type of person I want to represent me or my country. This is not a man I ever would trust to make decisions to benefit everyone.

this was longer than I expected. I’m not claiming I know everything, I’m not even claiming that Harris will be a good president. I could write an entire essay dissecting the flaws in her policy ideas and her candidacy. However, I’d still choose her over the man who ruined America’s history of peaceful transfers of power. I’d still trust her over the man who posts “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT” in all caps like a middle schooler. Then again, maybe that’s just me.

[system-of-a-feather]

Sorry for all the Tulpa-discourse lately, this is more of a Buddhist ramble / discussion than syscourse but ya know

It's been on my mind a lot between it being in syscourse circles heavily and the fact that I'm actually currently on a system-designated theraputic homework assignment to reconnect with Buddhist concepts and to incorporate it into my self care routine so I can get back to my baseline after doing something of a survival mode to help balance out XIV being in borderline-crisis lately resulting in my burn out

I'm (as Riku as a part) actually usually very hesitant to talk about much of my cultural and personal experiences and AAPI-rooted parts of my life because of old system dynamics, persecution, and a lot of other things that make me very anxious and prone to fawning when me existing in a space I am involved in is at all challenged which is largely why I leave it to XIV to voice it for me since he also is the guy that keeps me from falling into old dynamics. (<- literally is the person who thought I was *checks notes* faking being asian like that is a possible thing let alone something I thought LONGER than me faking DID)

So honestly, its kind of a bit cathartic occasionally to actually have a sense of self and security enough to have the balls to actually defend myself in terms of this sort of crap and assert that I actually, ya know, have an experience in life. So as much as I typically hate the negativity and contention that bringing this stuff up brings, it's honestly theraputic and part of me expressing a valid part of my existence and self - so with XIV's nudging I tend to let myself have that space.

With all that said, I wanted to bring up a discussion point and correction point now that I'm not genuinely and authentically triggered about racism, I think a thing I do want to comment on in regards to the rhetoric on the tulpa topic that anti-tulpa-term people get wrong when talking about Buddhism and """""""tulpamancy""""""" is that Buddhism is not a closed culture or closed practice and stating that does a disservice to the group as well; albeit its the lesser of two wrongs by a LONG shot so I shirk it off as a "to get to later" point

But Buddhism is incredibly open to anyone interested on engaging with it and its part of why - when I specifically talk about the critiques of """"""Western Tulpamancy"""""" in terms of Buddhism I try to remind myself to desalinate between "westerner" and "white". There are many many many white Buddhists - as there are many black, latin, native, Middle eastern, etc Buddhists as well.

In some cases and for some people, Buddhism is a religion and/or spirituality, for others it's more of a way of life / philosophy. Tibetan Buddhism, as I know it as a non-Tibetian Buddhist, is a lot more on the religion side of things which is a different topic I honestly am under knowledgeable to comment on - but overall the thing that ties a lot of Buddhism together is the core and underlying principles of acceptance, letting things go, connecting to the greater world, and just general enlightenment as a means of finding peace.

Myself, and a lot of Buddhists, gladly encourage people to look into Buddhists practices and principles and ideology because its honestly extremely healing and regardless of if you are SUPER into it and go become a monk or what not or if you just dabble in it, so long as you do it respectfully and understand your biases and genuinely have GOOD RESPECTFUL intent and an interest on understanding it more, its an amazing and really welcoming thing to get involved in.

The thing all the 'pro-tulpas' quote on the Dalai Lama is honestly entirely true. Almost everyone could benefit from the practices and principles found within Buddhism.

That is to say however, that there is a large difference between spending a day or two at a monastery and learning more about the culture and the ideas of Buddhism and integrating them into your life and just grabbing this Really Cool and Quirky High Level Principle / Ritual / Practice of a Specific Typically Very Dedicated Version of Buddhism and ignoring EVERYTHING ELSE about Buddhism and saying "this aspect, this aspect I like and I'm going to completely warp it how I like it while calling it and/or referencing it in terms of Buddhism to make it look intellectual and enlightened for me to be involved in it."

I've seen it said in some Buddhist communities and discussions regarding the more ritual and involved aspects of Buddhism - specifically in regards to the Mahayana approaches - that a lot of the practices and rituals when used inappropriately or unguided can be "dangerous" with danger in this sense being a worsening of the individuals conditions resulting in an increase in a lot of the core things almost all versions of Buddhism considers unhealthy and unideal such as increase in conflict, desire, and disconnect from the greater world and thus generally more suffering.

And on that front, while not being of the Mahayana school of thought and as a result not really believing so much in bodhisattvas, I can - from my personal view and perspective - entirely understand how frustrating it is to see a term often sighed with "buddhists roots" be used in a way that - in my opinion - almost exemplifies the exact opposite of what I understand to be the crux of the idea of Buddhist peace.

A large part of me getting more involved into the concepts Buddhism has to offer and honestly a thing that had both helped my healing journey and how I interact with my system is the large realization that the existence of "I" doesn't really have much ground to it in what it is and what it means and what defines "I".

That identity and human nature is largely a mobile and constant changing force part of a larger and grander thing that is just really existence as a whole and there is little that makes me more unique than say the trees or the squirrel looking for nut or a bird singing in the tree other than the fact that I have the "curse" of conscious awareness and 'advanced intellect' that makes it so that I both feel the need to >Be< something and the bother of "the next thing". A large part of practice is letting go of a lot of notions that a lot of society and life reinforce - one of the most in my current stage of learning and practice - is letting go of the concept of "me and I" and just, ya know, being.

And to me, looking at the """""Western Tulpamancy Community""""" you have people who are sectoring off a part of themselves, their experience, their life whatever and not only identifying it as seperate from them (NO!!!! We are all connected >:[ <- light hearted comment) but also giving that part of themselves an entire identity of it's own and a whole second sense of "I" beyond what was already there - combined with the overall themes of 'developing your tulpa' by giving it more traits and details and stuff until it 'becomes independent' is rooted in such American / Western individualism which DO not even get me started on how toxic individualism is and how inherently opposite it is to Buddhism and

//deep breath//

I'm getting ahead of myself, the truth is while the concept of 'creating a headmate' or whatever greatly concerns me as a Buddhist - as a human and as a Buddhist (in a different perspective), seeking out to change people is the last thing I'm interested in and it's honestly not this uber horrible or harmful thing and its really not my business; so as long as it is making someone happy and what not, I really don't care if it doesn't match to my theory cause ya know, theory is that - just theory. Live and let be ya know - yall have your own life to live and yall know how to live your own life better than I could assume to know so I'm not gonna try to tell you how to live it. Philosophical theory comes second to philosophical practice and practice says to live and let be.

But its just really frustrating a lot of the time to see how the topic is handled when its far from really what it is. And in theory, I should let it go because honestly, people using the word "tulpa" to describe experiences that are largely anti-thetical to my understanding of Buddhism - while annoying - is not the end of the world and fostering hate and aggression does nothing but increase the overall suffering (dukkha) in the world. Often, when I think about talking about it or getting mad, I do tend to repeat that mantra back to myself and most of the time I refrain and leave it be.

That being said, XIV runs on the philosophy and critique of the over theroretical approach to Buddhism over the realistic and practical in saying that by "letting go of" certain frustrations and annoyances and grievances - while healthier for the individual person - enables and perpetuates long term suffering for the masses and years to come. So that while it would be best for me / us to let it go and exist in a state closer to Buddhist peace and doing so is an entirely valid decision (thus why I respect Buddhists who say using the tulpa-term is fine), I would also be choosing to maintain my peace over acknowledging and speaking up about the honestly long and ongoing racism and disrespect that plague those that I feel particular kinship with and in XIV's perspective (one that I am starting to take on a bit more lately) - the choice of personal peace is a selfish one that is complicit in increasing the suffering of the world as a whole in favor for the individual "I" that honestly has become a bit distasteful for our system.

But anyways, I digress. Buddhist ramble done.

[genericpuff]

I hope you won't mind this in particular because I have no way of posting this anonymously to the critical community outside of making a burner account but I'm hoping that maybe you could share this as you're well respected in the community and may understand where I'm coming from.

It has become increasingly uncomfortable the way I've seen some people in the community comment on Psyche's design. I'm Black, and while I have my issues with the way she's been introduced, her entire character arc, or the fact that she was made into a token character for diversity points, I still find the way part of the community discusses her increasingly uncomfortable and nearing anti-Blackness at times. Really all I want is for non-Black criticals to please be more mindful of their criticisms when it comes to her character. That's all. Some comments are starting to become hurtful, like her current hair being called ugly (which I get isn't done in more creative styles but puff ponytails are a thing Black women wear often) or just the fact that she's Black now at all, she was always brown, the only thing that really changed was her hair texture and eye color. And repeatedly seeing things like "She looked prettier before" when she isn't ugly or "I liked her hair before" it's...uncomfortable, which hurts because I really enjoy this community full of creative and intelligent people. 💔

That's all, thank you for taking the time to read this.

Ouu, this is a great post with some great points, thank you for sharing! I don't mind people sharing their takes through my inbox if it gives them a safe outlet to do so, just so long as y'all don't mind me responding to them!

CW: this is mostly just a very sensitive post regarding race and culture representation in LO so just be aware that this one miiiight be heavy and/or triggering, please please please if anyone has anything to share in response to this just let me know, these discussions are important to have but they can still be emotionally draining and I don't want to make anyone feel upset or invalidated by this lil' essay post!!!

So obviously I can't speak on this as a black person BUT as an Indigenous person, I feel like I would be in your same boat if Psyche were being drawn with Indigenous/Mi'kmaq traits and I saw people going "well she looks UGLY now and she was PRETTIER before." So I can empathize with you there in that regard, people's takes can be a little rough around the edges with this kind of topic.

But I'm willing to give people the benefit of the doubt most of the time when these topics do come up because a lot of the criticisms aren't aimed at Psyche specifically being black or having textured hair, they're aimed at Rachel for suddenly retroactively retconning Psyche from being a dark-skinned/brown Mediterranean woman into a black woman.

Like, straight up, what pisses me off about how Psyche is treated is simply how she's been drawn as 4 different women of color over the course of the comic. Having a hairstyle that changes often is one thing (literally every character in LO lacks consistency) but her hair texture and length is constantly changing (which isn't something you can just change on a whim unless you're Persephone LMAO) AND her skin tone has flip flopped between, again, dark-skinned/ woman and black woman. In some panels she's outright orange which is... ech.

Now, take this with grains of salt because I have no source on it, but I've seen claims that RS once stated she "always wanted to draw Psyche black, but didn't know how to." Besides the fact that this sounds outright lazy (it's not hard to learn how to paint skintones that are not your own, Google exists) it also seems like RS trying to paint herself as "progressive" which she's done for a LOT of things beyond just POC rep (ex. fat rep, mental health rep, etc. all things that she's butchered or misrepresented entirely but still pretended like she was doing well).

Again, I'm giving a lot of benefit of the doubt here and I'm sure I'm gonna be proven wrong on this (I welcome it if there's something I've blatantly missed here, educate me in the comment section below pls) but when I see people say Psyche's hair is "ugly" in the newer panels or they "prefer her old design" I don't see it as them saying the hair style or texture itself is ugly or that she, in and of herself, is ugly. Often times people will short form it to "it looks ugly" especially in the faster-paced discussion circles, but really more often than not they mean "I think the way RS is trying to draw her just isn't good." Especially considering how low effort and lip service-y it feels. Like, Psyche's hair rn is literally just a giant texture brush pressed onto the screen and her skin tones are just brown + brown set to Multiply.

And that design is a far cry from where Psyche started.

Like, these are LITERALLY not the same women and while some might say "well maybe it was after she became a Goddess-" nope, she looked like her S3 version when she turned back into a mortal from nymph form, except she had an entirely different hair texture and skin tone.

None of this is to invalidate anyone's feelings regarding this criticism and how it's delivered. There doesn't need to be an intent to hurt for something to be hurtful. The purpose of this post is more so just to explain my own interpretation of where these criticisms come from (as someone who's had them myself) and how I interpret them as a POC. I don't think anyone's trying to be intentionally malicious to people from the POC community (though they can be blasé) especially considering a lot of the people talking about it are black themselves. No one person is a monolith for the entire community so while some are fine with how Psyche is being drawn, others aren't, and I think both are valid in their own ways. Often times it can come down to individual experiences and what people are used to seeing in media when it comes to POC rep and that's something that will vary per person. I've definitely seen conversations revolve around something being racist towards the Indigenous community that I couldn't care less about because it just wasn't something that I found offensive due to my own upbringing or what I'm used to seeing in media. Doesn't mean I can't still be educated on why it's hurtful to others, though!

All I'm gonna say on it is that, personally, I don't find anything inherently wrong with any of the designs on their own, there's nothing ugly with any of those looks. If they were all each their own character, I'd be down for it, absolutely. It's just the fact that all these designs are for ONE character. It's a shame to see Psyche robbed of any consistency even more so than every other character in the plot, and it very much feels like a case of a white New Zealand woman trying too hard to win representation points (and yes, that's a hot take, but it's a small hill I'm willing to die on because we all know RS' history with this sort of thing at this point, she's not good at hiding it lmao). It feels very low effort and obligatory, like Psyche is just there to check off a list of mandatory representation rather than be her own character with her own goals or traits or motivations.

And, REAL hot take, though it isn't really related to the majority of this post, I have to point out that it gets even weirder/ickier when you remember the fact that nymphs are treated as lower class in the narrative and Psyche... becomes a black-coded nymph... who works for Aphrodite as a servant...

(sigh how was this any better than just doing the OG myth, Rachel?)

Anyways, that's all I'm gonna say on that. That is, again, my personal take on it but I obviously can't speak on behalf of the black community or people in it, most of what drives me nuts just has to do with the lack of character consistency and the feeling that RS is just phoning shit in. The designs on their own independently from one another are fine and I don't think that's what most of the criticisms out there are annoyed about anyways - we're all just tired of seeing Psyche morph into different POC rep characters every other week.

Thank you for taking the time to write and voice your opinion on it, it's definitely a topic that can veer into nasty territory if not treaded carefully but it's one that interests me in talking about because POC rep is important to me, whether or not I belong to the specific culture that's being represented. I know I would be in the same boat if it were concerning Mi'kmaq characters.

And by all means, if y'all think I'm just spouting shit out of my ass or speaking completely out of turn, tell me in the comments or in my asks, this isn't a discussion with one simple clear cut answer or solution so I'd love to hear your own takes o(*￣▽￣*)ブ

[elegant-gypsophilia]

Women’s Roles in House of the Dragon (Baela and Rhaena edition)

Every day I wake up and see people arguing that it’s an anti-feminist take to say that Rhaena and Baela’s plot lines have felt lackluster this season. They have, and it has little to do with fans hating their gender (or race) and it has everything to do with their lack of screen time and differentiating characteristics. The major racist or sexist take (to me) is the idea that the reason the writers feel like it’s ok to cut their time is because they are black characters. However that’s not really the argument I’ve seen so far. It’s been more people denying that their storylines are boring at all (and that the people that think so are just being racist or sexist), so let’s look at why people might feel like their stories are boring besides simply prejudice:

If you compare the major plot points of Rhaena for example, one of my preferred TB characters, it’s not all that different from Aemond’s initial storyline. Except where Aemond diverged and is now taking power in a maniacal way, she is ever prudent and still stuck in the eyrie waiting for something to happen. She has all the reason in the world to resent her family for casting her aside but we barely see any of her reactions to things (except for within expositional scenes which don’t lend themselves to characterization in the same way as action or more casual scenes do). I WANT her to be more interesting so that the scenes we see of her are more appealing to casual fans/non team black stans. I benefits all of us to use the time spend with Baela and Rhaena on further conflict and intrigue.

Compare that to people like Addam and Alyn, who actually are doing/preparing for things in their scenes and talking to eachother like siblings. They laugh and interact and we hear about their problems, but they also have disagreements and strain in their relationship despite them still loving each other due to their difference in position. It’s not that B&R don’t have this potential: I’m excited at the prospect of seeing Rhaena claim a dragon. I think Baela patrolling was really cool and a good way to get the audience hyped, but we have yet to see her do that again. She and her sister have consistently been relegated to background characters after their individual dialogue scenes- so we as the audience have relatively little to attach to emotionally. I’m not saying you can’t like or see yourself in these characters, I’m saying that their story lines in general feel less relevant to the overall plot and more feel like devices to prepare for something that may impact the plot down the line in an abstract way.

If anything, the feminist take should be: let the female characters have more agency and then when their scenes come on it will feel less like watching someone thrown into the winds. Or if you’re going to throw them into the winds, then focus on THAT aspect of their characterization more than just listening to her talk about how she feels. Let’s see how they react and make decision. Let’s see how those decisions further influence the plot. Let’s see them make mistakes or argue or even just laugh and smile with each other. Please give us characters that have strong personality traits, even if they are ‘nice’ people.

I understand feeling upset that people don’t like your favorite character. I hate when people bash my favorite character (Helaena) too, but I think a lot of the complaints about her ALSO stem from her lack of agency. People feel it less since she has more scenes and differentiating characteristics as a tragic neurodivergent/magical character, so that it has thus far not been as much of an issue. Her characterization is evident when watching her behaviors in stressful situations which is a plus, but she could still have do more to do as well.

[emblemxeno]

Personally, I've kinda noticed a trend where some people assume every character who experiences a form of discrimination is black-coded if they're not human or should've been black if they are human

And it feels like a double-edged sword in a way

Where is the line between wanting to properly discuss anti-black discrimination, restricting black characters to only that side of their experiences, and the idea that kind of plotline only applies to a specific group?

I have not seen this myself, so apologies in advance if I get assumptions wrong.

I wanna give the benefit of the doubt to people most of the time and think that they're not being serious, but there's consistently a type of person who this reminds me of: good intentions, but online too often, not mature or socially savvy enough to understand the type of nuance in these conversations, secretly entertained by any and all discourse they are privy too, and-as a result of the previous points-has issues that they need to talk to a therapist who specializes in navigating the world through a racialized lens (or an "ally" lens if the person in question doesn't experience said racial discrimination applicable to the situation/discourse they are involved in).

The best answer I can give for how to respond as an individual is, depending on how volatile/open to conversation the person is, to have civil discussion or let the matter go.

Popular posts on social media get popular because social media, for some people, serves as "bite sized" news, research, or societal topics, thereby ripping away a lot of damn nuance from important conversations.

That's how you get situations like you described. "Should we discuss anti-black discrimination in media?" "Yes!" "Well this character-who we do not know is actually black-has similarly coded pain to black people so they must be black" "...Well, no. Not necessarily. Let's talk about this more so we can discuss why I disagree."

That last part is something many people are EXTREMELY adverse to doing, and unfortunately it's in part with how lots of social media presence involves constant policing and "stakeouts" of any and all slip ups-even minor ones-to the point where there's little to no wiggle room with even asking questions like this in the first place i.e. the ask you sent me, which I myself appreciate, but I can think of many accounts on various sites who'd react to even asking about this stuff as something to mock or bitterly toss away.

Throwing my hat into the topic itself:

The line of discussion is not easily found and shifts constantly depending on the media itself (context of the story, when the thing was made, who made it, why was it made, who was it made for, why is it popular for people to ascribe certain identities to this, etc.) so there will always be grounds to talk about it. It's just that, as I said, people don't wanna fucking even entertain the idea of talking/discussing things like a normal person anymore.

Further on, IMO, Black people are very much not the only racialized group who have known suffering, and to base character headcanon/interpretation on that suffering itself leans into behavior that's very ignorant, for lack of better words. At that point, the person who says "X character is Black because they have this pain experience" and that's the only reason? It's a big yikes and, again, they should really talk to a professional in order to unlearn that, even if it comes from a good place. Defining a group of people by just the bad shit that's happened to them is very dehumanizing to other people.

After all, there's plenty of non-black characters who are very more easily coded as black in ways that aren't pain and suffering, though the main examples I can think of are cartoons lol. Uniqua and Tyrone from Backyardigans, Will from Foster's Home, Darwin from Gumball, and Garnet from Steven Universe. All of those characters have unrelenting positivity and none of them are really defined by constant pain/tragedy. There's more to Black people, and humans in general, than bad shit we've been through lol.

[newsfromstolenland]

Do you think Asian Americans need to work on anti-black racism in their communities? It seems like some Asian Americans are against affirmative action, even though it benefits them too. And some seem happy it was overturned. Which seems a little racist.

oh absolutely, anti-blackness is rampant in asian communities

opposition to affirmative action from asian communities has been a problem for as long as affirmative action has been in place. it's hypocritical, because many implementations of affirmative action have provided opportunities for asian people as well

it also ties in to the whole "model minority" concept, and the extremely racist idea that asians are the good, smart, hardworking racial minorities and that black people are none of those things

when in reality, non-black people of colour like myself have a leg up over black people for multiple reasons. colourism is a huge factor. also, the stereotype of the "smart nerdy asian", while racist in it's own right, does provide an advantage in accessing education and finding jobs. and then of course there's the fact that many black people in canada and the united states are descended from slaves, making them significantly less likely to have family wealth being passed down to them, because their ancestors didn't own property, instead they were considered property. while all people of colour face systemic racial injustice, there are specific and heightened systemic injustices that black people face and that the rest of us do not

and those are just the systemic factors! there's also cultural factors among asian communities, including my community as an indian person. colourism is rampant in asia and among asians all over the world. stereotypes about black people are shared between white people and non black people of colour, and we are absolutely complicit in their oppression

a few years ago it came to light that the government in india had as a part of its education curriculum for children an extremely racist concept floated by the hindu nationalist government. the story that was being taught in schools was that when the deities created the first humans, they constructed them and cooked them over a fire. and that the first attempt was undercooked, and those were white people. then the second attempt was "overcooked and burned", and those were black people. then the third attempt was "perfect" and when they "got it right", cooked the right amount, and that was indian people.

I don't think I need to explain how racist that concept is and how it negatively impacts how indian people treat black people, and is outright claiming that we're genetically superior in some way

when it comes to affirmative action, a lot of asians have bought into the "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps" bullshit, and view it as giving unfair "handouts" to black people. of course, the truth is that affirmative action is nowhere near enough to balance out the injustices faced by black people, and any asian who thinks that it is too much is both a hypocrite and a racist who has decided to side with the oppressor and throw black people under the bus for their own benefit

[wendytestabrat]

kyle’s most toxic/chaotic episodes:

•ike’s wee wee - for harassing ike once he found out he was adopted and saying he’s not his real brother and then sending him on a train to nebraska

•cow days - for him being a spoiled materialistic brat and a jerk to cartman all for some terrance & phillip dolls; HE FUCKING THREATENS CARTMAN INTO RIDING A BULL AND THEN WHEN CARTMAN GETS HURT AND HAS TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL HE STILL MAKES CARTMAN GO BACK ON THE BULL

•douche & turd - for bullying and pressuring stan to vote for a giant douche, sending puff daddy after him, LITERALLY SPITTING ON HIM, and using kenny for his own benefit all so he could beat cartman. also the fact that he wanted a giant douche as the mascot was just immature af LOL

•cartman’s incredible gift - for jumping off a fucking roof because he couldn’t stand to see people taking cartman seriously as a psychic

•mr. garrison’s fancy new vagina - for his blatant racism (and internalized anti-semitism) assuming he would only be good at basketball if he was tall & black - basically he did blackface here LOL

•two days before the day after tomorrow - for hiding the jew gold

•ginger kids - for BREAKING AND ENTERING into cartman’s room to turn him into a ginger which caused cartman to go on an extermination against every non-ginger

•le petit tourette - for rounding up 47388392 pedophiles to shoot themselves on dateline because he was mad abt cartman pretending to have tourettes (even tho he was just jealous of cartman’s brilliant idea LOL)

•imaginationland - for being so fucking arrogant and sure that leprechauns aren’t real that he signed a legally binding contract to suck cartman’s balls (which wasn’t very smart) and then couldn’t honor his commitment when he was wrong. i’m sorry but like IDGAF what a bet is about you just don’t agree to suck someone’s balls idc how sure u are that you’re gonna win LOL.

•tonsil trouble - for making fun of cartman for having aids and then gets MAD at cartman for making aids jokes later on to stay positive smh

•britney’s new look - for coming up with the idea to get a paparazzi photo of britney for $$ - it was his fault that britney shot herself

•fatbeard - for purposely trying to get cartman sent off to somalia to die and inadvertently making his brother go there too

•you have 0 friends - for being an annoying social media prick and not leaving stan alone about facebook and doing dumbass shit to get more FB friends WHO GIVES A SHIT people who care too much abt their social media followers are losers

•it’s a jersey thing - yeah do i even need to explain this one?

•crack baby athletic association - for exploiting crack babies for money and acting selfish & greedy like cartman in the process

•you’re getting old/ass burgers - FOR SELLING OUT STAN AT HIS WORST AND BEING A BACKSTABBING ASSHOLE

•a history channel thanksgiving - for throwing a hissy fit over cartman’s idea to use the history channel for their thanksgiving report and then getting all pouty later that he was wrong about aliens or whatever the fuck

•ginger cow - i don’t need to explain this one

•go fund yourself - for being all extra and causing drama by making his own startup company bc he was jealous of cartman for coming up with the name ‘washington redskins’

•stunning and brave - for encouraging cartman to stand up to PC principal and getting him sent to the hospital (AND BTW KYLE DIDN’T WANNA DO SHIT ABT PC PRINCIPAL UNTIL IT PERSONALLY AFFECTED HIM AND HE GOT IN TROUBLE FOR THE COMMENT HE MADE ABOUT CAITLYN JENNER)

•skank hunt - for accusing cartman of being the troll and getting everyone all riled up to break his shit

•wieners out - for him being salty when he found out cartman moved on with heidi, you know after he deadass broke all of cartman’s shit

•fort collins - for him threatening to expose cartman’s INTERNET HISTORY to heidi

•doubling down - for stealing heidi from cartman

•super hard PCness - for blowing up canada bc he was still pissed off about cartman & heidi LOL

•tegridy farms - for enabling cartman to sell vapes to kindergarteners (including his brother) despite his original stance of being against it, deadass almost giving up his entire birthday money for cartman, and then letting cartman beat up the drug dealer & helping him break into a vape shop 🙄

•south parq vaccination special - for trying to steal the vaccines for himself - yet bitching at stan & cartman that they were being selfish JFC

•south park post covid and the return of covid - for getting mad at cartman for being a rabbi and having a happy family and accusing him of stupid bullshit and cussing in front of his wife & kids (bringing up shit from 40 years ago) and then making cartman sacrifice his entire family to help him

•the streaming wars part 1 - for giving up all the money they earned on the streaming services to let cartman get tits LOL