#i guess this is a conservation blog now

[fluffysminion]

Love-in-a-mist is a flower with a wonderful name that has a long history of being grown in British gardens. Hailing from Southern Europe it’s not miles off being native (which is a fuzzy concept in Britain for reasons I’ll eventually get around to writing about) and it self seeds in a small area which makes it a great low maintanance plant to grow. Plants like this are good for wildlife gardens in the UK precisely because of this self seeding behaviour - they are annuals that you do not need to buy each year, and have the ability to move around to find their ideal conditions without the risk of them spreading everywhere and taking over. One of the most delightful things about a garden is how they change over time, and there is something I find especially wonderful about putting together a stable community of plants, each with different nutrient needs and prefered microclimate, and watching them move about in a slow motion dance - each one changing the conditions just enough that one of their neighbours takes that spot next year, and they move into the space left by another plant.

[girlwiththegreenhat]

Why the fuck are people on Twitter upset about nonbinary robots. Transformers are aliens, why would they follow another species gender binary based on reproduction when they don't even reproduce sexually. If anything, ALL the robots should use they/them.

[nikiiwi]

what's rainbow capitalism going to look like this year?

[canisonicscrewyou]

It’s not something that really bothers me anymore but thinking once more about how Wow some of(a lot of) the people I chose to surround myself with in high school and early college,,,, like. Extremely not good to me. And other people. But the more I reflect on like. Discovering that I’m autistic and feeling truly like myself for perhaps the first time ever… I deserved better. I also GOT better, both in the sense of the people in my life now and also got better mentally. But sometimes there’s a part of your brain that probably never will get over the “wow you really were just fucking MEAN to me. and still called me one of your best friends.” anger that comes along with the healing+moving on. We love the anger that springs from being protective towards your younger self.

[still-searching-for-something]

It's funny being able to read whether or not someone is left wing enough that they've drunk the antisemitism Kool-Aid based on specific cues and tells in posts unrelated to Israel.

"Hmm, they're very loud about punching Nazis? They call themselves a socialist and disdain liberals as being too conservative? Yep, that's a person who would condemn racism and xenophobia in one breath and post about how all Israelis deserve to die painful deaths in the next."

"Oop, they've made a post about American neocolonialism? And they call themselves antifascist? Yep, their next post will be about how October 7th was uwu resistance and Israeli women are lying about rape."

And it's crazy how I'm usually right when I go and check their blogs. Like, I guessed that @stonebluerue was a left wing antisemite based on how she wrote about socialism and picking up trash. Now, is picking up trash bad? Obviously not--but the way she wrote so was so 'I Am Deep In Very Left Wing Circles' that I could intuit her repugnant views on Israel.

And look at that, I was right! She recently reblogged @rin-tezuka, who is basically Tumblr's loudest and proudest cheerleader for Hamas. All @stonebluerue's posts about Israel are about how 'Zionists' are silencing pro Pal speech on Tumblr (god, I wish we were), reblogging pro-Hamas propaganda, supporting the 'resistance', and stuff about the evil 'genocide.' Wall to wall blood libel and Holocaust inversion.

I don't know if I'm really going anywhere with this, except maybe to point out that there is a very clear correlation between running left wing enough and taking on antisemitic views. I could run this test on a thousand Tumblr leftists and I bet you I'd correctly guess which ones were left wing antisemites... 70%-80% of the time. Have other jumblr users found they can do the same thing?

[sysmedsaresexist]

Could you please dive into the RAMCOA controversy that's been going around? I've literally never heard someone say "RAMCOA is antisemitic" until like a week ago and now there's multiple blogs (I'm sure you can guess who at this point) who are saying this and calling RAMCOA a conspiracy theory from the satanic panic.

It's being said by the same 3 blogs that all reblog the same bad takes so I wasn't putting any stock in their word. Just the latest misinfo spreading unchecked, would appreciate your thoughts on this.

You know what, I'm not going to lie, I've been dreading getting this question.

Terrified. Harassment in this area of discussion is rampant.

We are currently debating making a post and how to approach it.

I will make our stances clear right now.

I think the conversation as it is now is full of misinformation and confusion. I think no single post can cover that amount of history and the theories and controversy.

I don't think anyone understands what they're arguing about, or the histories they're trying to bring up, and how they overlap. I think many members of the conversation lack access to resources and education that the mods of this blog DO have access to. Most of the links being thrown around lead back to the same single sources.

To shorten a very long, complex, and honestly unfinished conversation: the satanic panic and RAMCOA are two completely different entities. The satanic panic was a religious political movement of the 90s pushed by conservatives as a way to scare people back into church and scare women back into their "place" at home by attacking child care facilities. It called on a lot of tropes. And many of them were, yeah, ridiculously antisemitic. As the movement got more and more sensationalized, it began to call attention to therapists (some of them bad faith) and to RAMCOA survivors as a "Look! It's real!" kind of thing. If anything, this attention hurt far more than it helped. It painted an inaccurate and insulting picture that's still utilized to harm people today.

To be very clear: programmed DID is a well documented occurrence and it can occur in several ways.

We support survivors, no matter what they call it. We support clinicians trained in treating people who have gone through that extreme level of horrific abuse. We support people learning to separate fact from fiction, in whatever way that may apply to any given situation.

SAS supports ramcoa and oea survivors.

Here's something we suggest reading, though it's very long.

Stay safe, everyone ❤️

[local-hellhound-steals-spaghetti]

(Moo Deng related, sorry if you’ve been flooded with these)

Another reason why the “trust the keeper” argument isn’t a good one is… guess what… professionals can make mistakes too! Or, in this case, purposefully do harmful things.

Just because someone is a qualified, bonafide professional with degrees and years of experience doesn’t mean they will never make mistakes or do harm. I don’t want to doubt that Moo Deng’s keeper has experience, but how he handles her is just plain wrong. Professional or not, it’s not right.

And I understand the thought of “trust the keeper instead of this random tumblr blog” too. But c’mon guys, use some common sense! LOOK at how Moo Deng is handled, where she’s being kept, how she reacts. Even if you know nothing about hippos, you can pretty easily tell she’s not comfortable. Please, people, just think about it for more than a minute…

Completely agree! I have no doubt that these keepers love Moo Deng and care deeply for her. But there's just no reason to be handling her in such a heavy handed and aggressive way.

She's a nocturnal animal that should be sleeping for most of the day, not being poked and prodded and chased around.

Interestingly this article came out recently and a lot of people are also considering it to be a "debunking"

Now I certainly don't share any of that Tiktoker's sentiments about "imprisoning" zoo animals but this article did address the excessive handling concerns.

Basically they're saying that they don't interact with Moo Deng when she's eating, which is clearly not true since the animals pretty much always have food when the keepers interact with Moo Deng.

They also talk about all their conservation efforts. And yeah, that's great good on them. But it still doesn't justify how they handle her. It still boils down to "yeah but we only harass her for the entertainment of the guests a few hours a day and then she gets to sleep" and I still don't think that's an acceptable excuse.

And considering it is WAZA accredited it really should know better. https://www.waza.org/priorities/waza-code-of-ethics/animal-welfare-strategies/

This document is readily available in multiple languages and includes the following:

I would say a lot of the answers here would be no, regarding their Pygmy Hippo enclosure.

[tulpars-nurse-anya]

“I have to believe our worst moments don’t make us monsters.”

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

“I’m Anya, just refer to me as she/they pronouns. I usually don’t do stuff like this but Daisuke showed me how to, and I guess I’ll have some fun with this, just to entertain him. Ask me anything, just don’t be weird, please.”

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Hiii!!! I’m the owner of this blog [ @the-silly-superstar ] (just call me Uni or mod Uni! I use she/they pronouns, anyway back to it!) idk if I’ll use this much, but got bored so I figured I’d do this. I’ve never had a rp blog before, so spare me if I mess smth up, but as of rn I rlly like Mouthwashing, especially Anya, so I’m gonna have some fun with this!

buttt I would like to set some rules first

You’re free to rp with me if you’re another Mouthwashing rp account (obviouslyyy) I love being silly and need more people to be silly with. OCS and stuff are allowed!1!1!1!

pleassseeee don’t be gross or perverted in asks, I don’t wanna deal with that

Don’t bully me or any other rp blogs, we’re just trying to have fun

anything in the game is fine to yap about, pre or post crash. Haven’t really decided

I don’t really know abt any ships I particularly like with Anya, so I prob won’t engage in any ship stuff

other fandoms are welcome :333 I live for indie horror games or indie shows, so welcome aboard :]

🌟Here’s the crew that I’ll mainly rp with!!!🌟

[sry for ping gang, also if you wanna be taken off this lmk 😞]

Captain Curly!1!11! - @curly-capt

Daisuke!!!!!! - @mister-daisuke-dude

Jimmy - @the-true-tulpar-captain

Swansea - no one yet, idk not a lot of Swansea blogs I interact with 😔

Onto the sorta ‘key’ or whatever

stuff with yours truly, (me) will have the tag “Uni’s turn!” And “ooc”

“stuff with Anya will have her speak like this”

It will also have tags such as “Anya’s thoughts” (for rambles) “Anya’s art” (for art) “Anya reblogs” (for reblogs!) or any other RP stuff!

I’ll try to stay canon, but I’m not gonna be that strict on it, just bein’ silly here :]]] I’ll toss some headcanons here though,

Lesbian (but she’s clueless on that) she/they, 25 years old

grew up in a conservative like area (hence why she’s clueless about her sexuality)

Errr I also want this to be kinda close to curly-cape’s lore since I’m the canon Anya there, so pre crash!1!1!1!1! Me thinks, idk

animal crossing fan!1!1!1!1!1!

never draws but is actually kinda good at it

Anywayyyyy I think that’s it for now! I’ll update as we go on, but have fun!!!

(also if there’s anons, I’ll try to list em here if they’ve a nickname or emoji!)

[miradelletarot]

Ughh this is gonna be a messy post, but I want to say some things that are on my heart rn.

First of all, this blog will always and forever support LGBTQIA+. No intentional erasure of any kind will happen here. I just want to make that clear.

All my life (despite a very Conservative, bigoted and r*cist upbringing with silent gen and boomer parents,) I have always fought to love everyone. To treat everyone the way I wanted to be treated. With love and respect.

I spent my whole life with a binary mindset, trying to understand and learn about all the different pronouns and identities. I still have a lot to learn and understand. I'm getting there. (And I hope you'll be patient with me as I continue to grow).

Now, here I sit, months after discovering my own demisexuality... And I'm straight. Talk about feeling like a round peg trying to fit thru a square hole. My identity means so much to me right now because it's belonged to everyone else for all these years. I was brainwashed into believing I had no autonomy. I'm finally in a place where I can reclaim what's been taken from me. (I won't go into how Christianity hurt me...but let's just say, I have a lot of trauma bc of my old faith that ties into a lot of this. I'd need to make an hr long video just to unpack it all.)

What's great is that I have been met with nothing less than love, respect, and kindness, welcomed with open arms without terms and conditions from this community. On and off Tumblr. More than I've experienced in any community ever. Even more so than the witchy/pagan community.

I guess I just want to say that I love y'all. A whole fucking lot. Thank you for making me feel seen. Thank you for your love.

And I hope it's ok to say this but... I'm excited as hell to celebrate this year's Pride month, no longer just as an ally...but as a part of the Ace community.

Thanks for giving this odd, funky-shaped peg a place to call home.

Happy Pride. 🏳️‍🌈

[yandereend]

Hello!

So, I saw you liked one of my post so i checked out stalked your blog. I thought I’d share an idea I had! Feel free to ignored of course.

A Yan! Caregiver with a player/delinquent darling. Yes this was based on the Yandere cheater you wrote, sue me.

The caregiver is just a good person and took in the player/delinquent after their ex kicked them out for cheating. And they slowly became obsessed with always taking care of them after patching them up.

I really think that player/delinquent darling would catch on to caregiver’s affection and use it against them (I love when darling is an asshole), purposely bringing people home and making them as loud as possible to get on caregiver’s last nerve, knowing that caregiver is listening and seething.

Idk, just something to think about. I really like your work!

-Valentine

Omg thanks for writing this, tbh I was really down lately and I think I needed some distraction so thanks for submitting this 🙏

—————————————-

Yandere caregiver x delinquent darling

TW: yandere stuff, you know the drill

Btw English is not my native language so please keep that in mind

—————————————-

Yandere caregiver is the nicest person to ever exist they work as a teacher helping kids, help out in an orphanage in his free time and sometimes he goes to clubs looking for people who are feeling unwell or sad

Yandere caregiver saw you stumbling out of the club and throwing up around the corner

Yandere caregiver immediately walked over to you and asked if you wanted anything, he offered you water and napkins to hydrate as well as to clean yourself up

Yandere caregiver didn’t care that you looked at him weirdly for being so nice he was more fixated on your beautiful face

Yandere caregiver tried to talk to you offering to drive you home, but when you said you didn’t have a home he immediately saw his his chance and invited you to his house. And hey lets be honest who would refuse a free place to stay

Yandere caregiver’s house was big since his family was loaded, maybe thats the reason why he is so nice considering his sheltered upbringing

„Do you like the room? I hope it’s big enough for you…“ he asked looking at you as you stumbled across the room still a bit tipsy. „ It’s fine I guess“ you slurred lying down on the bed as caregiver put a blanket on top of your body. „Sleep well my love~“

Yandere caregiver was so happy to find you he always wanted to find the love of his life and now he was sure he found it

—————-

Sadly for him he was suprised by your behavior. I mean who would have guessed that you took so much advantage of him. First it was food and shelter, then you demanded clothes. And not the clothes he picked out, they were way too conservative for your taste you wanted something more sluty. But not for him, oh no it was all for the hot folks at the club. The fuck boys and bitches who would embrace your fucked up self as one of them.

Each night you bought another one home. You didn’t care if it was not nice you already know that your a bad person and Ethan was always so kind to you. He picked you and your new flirt up from the club, drove you home and helped you both get inside. You demanded his master bedroom a week ago and so you got it.

Now the magic happens. He dims the light to your liking fluff‘s the pillows up and even lit candles. He wants you to be happy my love. When you and your fling were done he showed the whore the way out and while he does the laundry he lets you relax in the bathtub. When you finally went to sleep in the early morning hours he watched his beautiful darling sleep.

He even enjoys your taunting the next day as you tell him that you know he watched you „playing“ with someone. Maybe a nice car would excuse his perverted behavior.

Yandere caregiver is truely the nicest person ever… maybe not when he kills the whores and fuckboys you call lovers in an disgusting manner or when he cums in your food before serving it to you.

But let’s be honest that’s a small price to pay for all the love and devotion he gives you. Maybe some day he can be your only lover…

—————————————-

Thanks for reading I appreciate all the support you guys give me<3 thanks again for again for the request and please leave a like or comment

Let me know if you want a part 2<3

[aingeal98]

Steph for the ask game?

three facts about them from my personal headcanons

-The first woman Steph was ever attracted to was Zatanna. She didn't realise this until later on when she was dating Cass and it clicked that it hadn't just been platonic girl crush appreciation

-She did actually die. The body they put in the ground was actually Steph. Due to reality warping from various villains she ended up in Africa with Leslie who admitted that she hadn't actually let Steph die but tried everything and saw her bleed out regardless. They were both highly confused how she was alive again and they never did fully confirm why.

-She has all the autopsy scars and long lasting damage from Black Mask's torture. She used to play the piano but when she came back her fingers didn't stretch the way they used to and the first time she tried it gave her a panic attack.

a reason they suck

They were created and written by Chuck Dixon, which often meant being a part of his shitty conservative propaganda. She was more of a victim than a perpetrator most of the time, but I'd love to have modern Steph reflect on that and be like "Damn that internalized misogyny was kicking my ass sometimes huh."

a reason they are great

What if the entire narrative was stacked against you, what if your writers and editors looked down on you for being a teenage girl and treated you as nothing more than a pawn in their shitty sexist manpain stories. And what if you survived and triumphed and became loved enough to carve your own narrative. What if people have come and gone from the "family" that once excluded you maliciously but you're still here and kicking, a core part of it now. They put you in the Robin uniform as a consolation prize before killing you but you're still here and you're clawing your part in that history with everything you've got. For everyone that'll say Damian is the fourth Robin there's someone who'll reply "Actually that was Stephanie Brown."

a reason I relate to them

Being an isolated teenage girl who feels a deep anger at the injustice of the world and doesn't quite have anywhere to fit in or fully vent that anger? I was literally two bad days away from going out on the street to fight crime when I was a teen. I tend to relate to Cass more because the specific mentality and issues she have resonate strongly, but Steph also has plenty of material for me to dig into.

(what I consider to be) the top tier otp/ot3 for that character

Stephcass. It's gotta be stephcass. I could give a million reasons but I've yelled about this so much on my blog already. They bounce off each other so well, they've got the backstory and angst and complex dynamic while also being funny and cute together. The accidental romantic narrative they created is so damn good it barely needs anything to canonize it at this point.

five things that never happened to that character that I believe should have happened

A proper go at being Robin. An apology from Bruce. A discussion with Tim about what they did wrong and an apology too. A long talk with Cass after she came back from the dead with (you guessed it) an apology from Cass. Getting to talk to preboot Jason about what it means to be a sacrificial lamb to give Batman manpain and hype Tim up as the perfect Robin.

five people that character never fell in love with and why

-Dean. Even if she hadn't gotten pregnant it would have never worked out. He was simply too old and for all Steph hates herself she would have realized it eventually

-Detective Gage, for exactly the same reasons as Dean.

-Jason. He died before she came along and by the time he came back it would never cross either of their minds to be anything but purely platonic. They can bond but neither of them appeal to the other romantically.

-Kyle Mizoguchi. He's sweet and they could be something but unfortunately she's in love with Cass at this point. Like the entirety of Batgirls is just Steph and Cass being in love and not realizing it. Kyle had the wrong timing.

-Dick Grayson. The hypothetical age difference isn't a problem for Steph. But obviously, it's an issue for Dick. If she were ever to fall in love with him in an alternate universe and confess he'd be highly alarmed to find out why she thought things were possible between them. It might actually be nice for Steph to get an understanding ear and a shoulder to cry on, someone to tell her that it's not her fault and those men were wrong, but that's all. For one thing Dick is not a scumbag who creeps on young girls and for another thing that's his little brother's ex. In no universe could this ever be more than a one sided crush.

[fantomette22]

Can we talk about how The Doll basically fits the image of a conservative view of women?

No

Ok more seriously I’m actually polite so i’m actually going to answer a bit more below :

If you’re one of my followers or i follow you or we like each other stuff posts I’m actually willing to listen to your points in dm if you wish. We can talk about it more it can be interesting!

Or idk write something about it in your own blog. But i will probably not read it because i don’t like those kind of essay (i made the effort to read some in their entirety before! I don’t like it and it exhaust me).

Also i made those if you are interested.

And there a bit. And if you know my blog just look around.

I prefer to think of it that way and you know i don’t magically put it out of my hat either. There’s back up to those.

Also the doll literally have almost up to the knee boots?! (Same as Maria) Literally like if today a girl with a dress/ skirt wear basket or doc martens but ok. There’s women with more traditional attire. (Also if you think xix/19th century accurate clothes in a xix fantasy setting are conservative euh ok i guess). And she’s not fully human my poor girl act like a robot discovering emotions for the first time give her a break.

Instead of bothering someone with a very different view as you please, go hype yourself up about how much you’re smart in analyzing things and see historical/ cultural references in a fantasy world like it’s 100% accurate there, with people who think the same! I can recommand a few blogs if you want! (In dm) they block me and i block some but i’m sure you might actually enjoy their stuff more.

Now you literally ask me this 2mins after i reblog some gehrmaria drawing. Like what i am supposed to think about it. If you don’t like that (and I can completely understand)/ or if you're are not aware i like this, you can literally mask/block the tag in tumblr parameters.

But if you’re just some random stalker that is just here for trouble and bother people?

Please leave me alone thank you. Or "fuck off" if in other terms it’s more understandable.

Cordially,

[mithliya]

Sorry i just want to put it out there... toppdyke moved to youtbe. She ended up in with some ... Interesting... women (GC not feminist) and they've only just found out her tumblry past and I think it's about to be another huge shitshow. I'd been wondering if this would happen eventually after I realised VF555 is toppdyke a few months ago and ! It's happening!

crazy reading accusations that toppdyke/vf555 was in some kind of threesome with a slightly twisted female and astf's boyfriend ngl and crazy that toppdyke admitted the boyfriend was there but she did not have sexual contact with him (but I guess he was at the very least watching?!?? which,,, idk i think thats fucked up. some straight man should not be watching women having sex considering how men are about lesbian sex. but two radfems being involved in that is even wilder to me)

but also I knew about the ASTF situation as it was unfolding long ago bc toppdyke told me & asked me to keep it a secret back then (ig its no longer a secret) and its funny hearing how ASTF is like changing up the story now. she was thirsting after toppdyke while her boyfriend was in jail and I Guess they actually dated for a bit (even tho when toppdyke n i were talking, she was clearly conflicted n not willing to be some 2nd choice of some woman with a boyfriend again. so i guess sth happened to change her feelings there) after toppdyke n i lost touch. ASTF seemed to be misleading TD and it seemed like they were not a good fit whatsoever & last I heard from TD, they had become enemies again. i guess they then became lovers after that then became enemies a 3rd time and now ASTF is posting my very old posts on TD to get her cancelled? fhdshfd

in regards to ASTF's claims which involved my old post, for the record: TD/VF555 was not run off of radblr for having been with significantly younger women. i was one of the few people who actually seemed to take issue with that on here. her blog kept getting termed and then a straight conservative "radfem" on here "exposed" TD for "being a fauxbian" by pointing to some old account on a site called shybi from over 15 or so years ago. TD got termed again and when she remade she kept things lowkey.... until getting termed again. eventually she moved onto youtube bc she was tired of being termed ig, but she was never actually chased off of here. im sure ASTF knows the real story and is purposely twisting things to make it seem more ~scandalous~ tho

[wildpeachfarm]

this is meant lighthearted : instead of “all men are trash, women do no wrong” a secret third thing “PEOPLE suck in general”

as someone who grew up with an absent father who tried to make life difficult for my mother once she took him to court for child support for me and my siblings - ing…I grew up with a not nice view of older men BUT my grandpa was a big big influence in not making men a negative experience for us.

the recent shift of the last 4-5 years has been worrying. I used to liked jkr and could emphasize where she was coming from originally. but it was scary to see the gradual descent into where she is now and the stuff she is saying. Bc she is so far removed from what she originally stood for. It can happen to anyone, I even get worried if I’m on that slope sometimes. This whole situation had me second guessing myself bc I gave gnf time and believed in him. I had a moment when a few female creators made remarks (not from mc community) and I checked myself bc I was scared I was falling into the conservative rhetoric to blame women and protect men. Then I saw others who had more information and actually looked into it and also found this blog where the nuances were being discussed and let out a breath of relief that I was just using my critical thinking skills lmao

There are so many men out there who just aren’t given a chance bc society is set up for them to fall into a certain role. And I think a lot of men are trying to break that role and stereotypes. I became a dream fan bc I saw him doing this, saw a gamerboy in 2020 who was passionate and excelled at the game but didn’t fall into the toxicity of the space, actively fought against it.

and women should not be encouraged to drag men through hell bc they feel empowered by the rhetoric of recent years. women can and are just as selfish and shitty people as men. Sometimes they are worse

we’ve gone so far off center, we’ve essentially gone from one extreme to another. Which I learned two years ago was called terfs 😂 the movement needs to go back to its previous meaning. Feminism is not solely female empowerment it is the deconstructing of the patriarchal roles and belief that push men and women into boxes. Feminism, as I was taught over a decade ago, was the fight for women and MEN to be equal and have the same rights and opportunities. We can uplift women without putting down men. if this feminist movement doesn’t correct itself, it will allow more men like andrew tate to grow and influence young men.

The lack of female representation in the sphere cannot be corrected by women. It just can’t. Men need to be part of the change bc if the environment is not corrected, women cannot succeed and thrive. They can become successful but the hate and obstacles directed towards them is crazy. This is in general not just for streaming.

It can’t just be women solidarity, men need to learn and actively engage in calling out misogynist behavior. Women need to talk with their males friends and call them out when they say or act in disgusting ways. Women need to hold women accountable as well! It is unfair and unattainable to put female equality solely in the hands of women. We need to All work together.

Puffy is so good at this when she streams, especially on the smp. Hell, she even created a whole villain arc to call out the people telling her to “be a therapist to Tommy, omg your like dreams mom”. Puffy is awesome 🥹

men =/ bad

women =/ good

PREACH ANON

this breaks it all down so well and i really sympathize with you about having a poor view of some men in your life and trying to not let that influence your views but also not go so far off the other end that you end up blindly defending them without critical thinking.

Really important discussions and introspection about how your thought processes work that I think everyone should have at least once when situations like this come up

[monstersinthecosmos]

I'm so glad you're back!! I was so panicked when I saw your blog was gone, because you are truly one of the absolute stars of VC fandom!!

I joined VCblr a few months ago because I have been obsessed with Marius since I was 13, like my Marius obsession literally changed my life in multiple ways and I saw VC was becoming popular again so I wanted to join in! but like one of my first posts got these comments from people I'd never even spoken to before about how I was disrespecting Marius and his fans, and to be a little dramatic the way some of these comments were written, I felt like some of them seemed to actually really hate me personally. It just killed my desire to write fic or meta anymore so I just deleted my tumblr and now I just have an empty one so I can lurk on people. Like I have really limited time and energy for fandom, and I don't want to spend it writing stuff that people just hate seeing and making them feel bad, and then feeling bad myself for liking the stuff I like.

Anyway, I found your blog a little while ago and I am OBSESSED with your creativity and your perspective on like everything, so I'm sorry to be a weird rambling anon but basically I'm just trying to say your blog has made a difference to how I feel about my own freaky way of loving Marius and I just love your openness and acceptance and your ABSOLUTELY FLAWLESS A++ MARIUS TAKES and you genuinely have improved my VC experience 100% and I'm glad you haven't been erased from existence.

ugh see this is what I mean dude!! I'm so sorry to hear you had that experience!!!!!! Please talk to me off anon any time, I'd love to see your posts if you wanna come back and share again!

I BRING THIS UP NOW AND THEN so I'm sorry if I'm like a rambling old man telling the same story 400 times, but, now and then I think it bears repeating. But like, when I was 13, a boy at my school bashed my head open on a locker (I had to go to the hospital and get my head stapled shut) and he punched me in the face so hard that I have permanent ligament damage in my jaw. And it was because I was like, a baby bat and I was into numetal and Wicca and I was like the only kid in my small town school who didn't go to church. The day it happened I was wearing a Korn shirt!!! And I had blue hair! And I'd been like very intensely bullied my whole time in middle school, and the adults in my life NEVER protected me. This was RIGHT after Columbine and people were still buying into the propaganda that the killers were bullied goth kids and not fucking neo-nazis, so like, the entire time I was getting violently harassed, every day!, no one protected ME because they thought I would turn out to be the violent one. And yet, I was being put on hit lists. I had a gun pointed at me. A boy one time stole my Wicca book out of my backpack and read it to the class to make fun of me, but *I'm* the one who got in trouble for it because they thought I wanted to cast spells & curses on my classmates. The boy who assaulted me was a KNOWN problem in our school, and I wasn't even the first girl he hurt! MEANWHILE I still got a week of detention for having my head bashed open because they said I started the fight. ((This is up for debate: Yes I actually did throw the first punch LMFAO but he HAD been teasing me incessantly for like ever so like come the fuck on. I deserved that one.))

idk why I was just born like, without any shame or something, I guess it's innate, the rebel streak, I can't explain, but none of this really hurt my feelings? Every time people would make fun of me I was thinking "Yeah but I love Korn and they're so COOL and if you're making fun of me that means you're NOT cool and I don't really value anything you have to say????" And that really sustained me through all of this.

So yatta yatta terfs & conservatives poisoned the fandom well on Tumblr and I always think that it's not so different -- being picked on because you like something weird & offputting or whatever, and being treated like a threat or a danger when you're the one who's vulnerable to harassment and violence. In the digital space on Tumblr it's going to be about like kinky stuff and villainfucking and IRL it was because I was the only goth at my school and I liked horror films. It's the same shit, being harassed because of the fiction you like and the media you consume. And on Tumblr it's people being absolute fucking dickheads and IRL it was me being put in the hospital because a guy put his fucking hands on me, he was that upset that I was into cool shit.

And just. Yknow. It does suck when you want fandom to be a chillout space and you get your feelings hurt. It fucking SUCKS when people show up here specifically to be unkind to others, like I can't think of a less productive use of time. But part of me always thinks "I didn't get my head stapled shut for some grassless little fucking weasel on tunglr dot com to shame me over vampire porn" lmao.

(As an aside if you ever want to look into other examples of people being IRL fucked over over STUFF THEY LIKE, google the West Memphis Three ((innocent metalheads who did 20 years on death row because people thought the weird metal boys MUST be murderers)) or the FBI trying to file Juggalos as a GANG which means anyone who had an ICP phase and got a Hatchetman tattoo as an 18 year old is now in jeopardy of losing their fucking children for affiliating with a gang, okay. And this isn't even to scratch the surface of the way people treat hip hop and way it's mired in racism. Censorship and thought policing are always going to come down to Christofascism and white supremacy, but I digress.)

So blah blah all that to say, I'm not going anywhere and it pisses me the fuck off that people can't keep this bullshit to their private group chats. I have NO idea what anyone gains by acting like this in public.

Like, yeah yeah, fandom is silly, whatever, but hobbies are legit! And we deserve a space to unwind that isn't ruined by capitalism and bigotry and just, some little space to land. ESPECIALLY when, let's be real!, it's very very very common for fandom folks to be neurodivergent. I mean why else would we be so obsessed and blorbo-sick lol. So like, it just feels extra fucking shitty of people to be rude to fans like that, to make you feel shame for the thing that excites you.

Fandoms SELF GENERATE. Someone has to be here posting shit and we have to interact with it and create community. And genuinely if all you can contribute is your horseshit attitude, you can go fuck yourself!!! And I can't begin to tell you how much it breaks my heart when I see this infighting in one fandom, because like, being a Marius fan - BELIEVE ME - when I tell you I've done my time as persona non grata, the antis have fucking come for me LMFAO, I'm on the blocklists, I've been accused of absolutely heinous bullshit for liking a stupid fake vampire character. Like, listen!

I've had my head bashed open on a locker for liking numetal! You're not going to chase me off Tumblr!!!!!!

Anyway this got away from me, idk what I'm trying to say, I'm saying that I'm so sorry you had a bad experience and I hope you come back some time! And I encourage everyone to block & curate your space as needed to make for a happy escape zone. EVEN BLOCKING ME, I KNOW I GET ON PEOPLES NERVES SOMETIMES. And my content isn't for everyone! It's fine! Stay safe please, and I love you, and I have your fucking back dude!!!

AND EVERYONE ELSE JUST, HOLY SHIT BE NICE TO PEOPLE. IT COSTS $0 TO BE FUCKING NICE TO PEOPLE. IF YOU'RE NOT BEING CREATIVE YOU'RE BEING DESTRUCTIVE!

[sirfrogsworth]

I have two best friends.

Which is not an apt description.

Best friends is too small a term to describe what they are to me.

Chosen family. Ride or die. People I would drop everything for if they needed me. People I would protect with my last breath. People who know embarrassing details they will take to the grave.

Now that my mom and dad are gone, they are my lifelong companions. I trust them with my life.

I talk about Katrina all the time. But I tend to keep my friendship with Delling a little more private. I don't love either of them any more or less. There is no ranking system for my besties. But Katrina and I are basically like an old school comedy duo, so we have a lot more shenanigans to share. Shenanigans are easy content for a blog.

Delling is disabled like me. We have a lot of the same consequences from our health issues. Extreme fatigue most of all. Delling was unable to get disability benefits though, so they have to work a 9 to 5 job. And it exhausts them to the limit. They often will work and go straight to bed. If it were possible, I would talk to Delling every single day like I do with Katrina, but circumstances don't always allow for that.

So we have less shenanigans, but the same amount of love.

I'm also a little more protective of Delling at the moment. They are trans and for some reason a large portion of the "very online" people have decided to hate my best friend. And sometimes I worry about drawing attention towards Delling from the few trolls who still hate follow me.

Delling is almost always in my thoughts when I write about trans issues or argue with transphobes on Twitter. But I refuse to invoke "I HAVE A TRANS FRIEND" most of the time. For one, I don't advocate for trans people just because I have a trans friend. Though it does make the emotions I feel very intense sometimes. A lot of tears and anger. But I also don't want to sound like those conservatives who justify everything they say because they have a friend from a marginalized group.

There are certainly times people will be like, "Why would you mutilate someone and cut off healthy breasts??" and I wanna be like "Delling is much happier without boobies and I can see a huge difference since their surgery and you don't know what the fuck you are talking about with that mutilation nonsense. FIGHT ME!"

But I don't think I need to announce my bestie's private top surgery details just to win an argument on Twitter.

I'm just really happy for them and I am glad it helped. They struggled to get the surgery for so long and fought like hell to make it happen. People acting like it is this horrible thing make me so angry. When it finally happened it was... a relief. A weight lifted off their shoulders... err... chest.

After my dad died, Katrina was unable to get away from Florida to help me out. She was dealing with her disabled dog, Lucy, and her end-of-life care. That just isn't something you can ask someone else to look after for a few days. So Delling got permission to do remote work and drove down from the top of the country to help me. They came on the weekend of my dad's service and stayed a few days after to help me get the house sorted.

I'm honestly not sure I could have made it through that experience on my own. During the service, Delling just clung to my side as I tried to act normal when long-lost relatives offered similar grief platitudes over and over. And I kept introducing Delling and saying they were from the wrong state for some reason. I do actually know where Delling lives, but I guess my brain was not functioning in that situation.

Delling also helped me finish my eulogy literally hours before I gave it. And they helped me print out a bunch of photos of my dad that almost no one looked at. I'm so glad we spent all morning frantically doing that. *sigh* Though I'm hoping the photos will come in handy when I do an online memorial for my parents, so it was not all for naught.

There was a moment when a certain someone gave an impromptu speech at the end of the service about how she let my dad see his granddaughter for a couple of hours a year ago and how special that was, and Delling tightly squeezed my hand to help channel away my anger.

Ya know, those totally normal *yearly* visits all grandpas get to have.

Sometimes friends just know, ya know?

Delling and I also revamped the kitchen for my needs, which I have already turned into absolute chaos. And we had a fun shopping trip to Sam's where I bought tender beef jerky that was the toughest to chew jerky I've ever experienced. I guess the "tender" on the label was sarcastic.

All I know is that casually shopping with my friend was this beautiful bonding adventure where we just got to hang out and be together. It's weird the experiences that stick with you. Trying to pick out wholesale sushi with my bestie will be a treasured memory for the rest of my days. And I think that is kinda perfect in its simplicity.

There are not enough thank yous in the world for what Delling did for me. I wish they could have stayed a few months instead of a few days. I miss having them here in person. But they had a foster bunny to take care of and a job and a family. So I had to give Delling back to the top of the country.

I just wanted to write this in appreciation of my other best bestie. I love them more than anything. And I can't tell you all how special it feels to have someone who will drop everything, drive across the country (through tornado weather, no less), and keep you company during a very lonely time.