#i just find the likes are evil rhetoric to be weird

[jewishbarbies]

I think that a huge part of unpacking antisemitism is recognising one’s capacity for evil. I think a lot of leftists and liberals cannot accept that are antisemitic or can be antisemitic because they truly believe that they cannot do any wrong, or at least anything wrong to that degree. They truly believe that they themselves cannot be racist, they themselves cannot be antisemitic, they themselves cannot be homophobic, etc, so they don’t see anything wrong with the things that they perpetuate. That’s why the “it’s not antisemitism, it’s anti Zionism!” shit spread so fast, because antisemitism = bad, and recognising that what they’re saying is antisemitic would be recognising that they themselves are maybe not bad people, but are spreading bad rhetoric. So they needed something to oppose their rhetoric that they could call “bad” instead, which in this case is Zionism. Now I don’t have any dog in this fight when it comes to imposing morality or immorality upon the concept of Zionism because I myself am not a Jewish or Israeli person, but this is just something that came across my mind earlier today when I was thinking about my own morals, beliefs, and feelings and how sometimes I truly find myself unable to at first empathise with certain people and I started thinking about my own capacity for what either is evil or may be perceived as evil. I don’t think people have to go as far as thinking that they’re a psychopath or something, but just actually recognising that you’re not a perfect person and that you will have biases that may be harmful to other groups of people and opening yourself up to unpacking and dealing with them can go a long way because thinking that you’re a great person who could never commit such atrocities (like being racist and/or antisemitic, etc) creates this weird sense of leftist or liberal narcissism.

this is really well worded.

many if not all leftist spaces lack the room for self reflection to the detriment of everyone in them. leftism doesn’t teach self reflection, only projection, so they’ve never actually unpacked any of the biases and bigotries required to be as good a person as they claim to be by virtue of being a leftist. they want to be good so bad but they’re intellectually incapable of committing to that work, it takes too long and it’s not something you can post about with a hashtag. truly, even just as a human being, they need to look inward.

[deadtrashpanda]

To my moots who’ve been reposting the “likes only serve to kill art on tumblr, repost or don’t touch” like??? No??? All forms of interaction are appreciated! I get so excited when I see likes!

And yes I want my art to get out there and reposts and notes are nice but to insinuate that thats the *only* reason I post my art is a bit insulting.

[drdemonprince]

so first off, sorry bc this is super fucking heavy.

re: commonalities between cis and trans men, and that other ask. something I've had to come to terms with is how even as a teenager before I had the concept of transitioning in my head - I still got all of the societal messaging wrt misogyny, etc. I totally benefited from it, even as a woman. I put other girls down. I was the cool chick. I cashed in where I could with it. i was absolutely a chauvinist when I transitioned. I felt inhuman as a woman, but I understood that ultimately that's the way women were *supposed* to be, as much as I wished otherwise. it took a long time to unlearn that.

my personal experience makes me very uncomfortable when I see other trans men talking about gendered socialization, or how overly negative people are towards men as a class. I wonder if they have ever sat down and really reconciled with the way they have, and do, benefit from their gendered position, or if they've convinced themselves they can't be a "bad person" by virtue of their birth sex.

I can't find a nuanced way to talk about this that won't be read in bad faith as essentialist rhetoric. rape culture is the system by which consent violation is normalized, its all the music and books and movies and bad relationships I assumed were normal and romantic as a young adult. I really, really hurt people, and I did it as men are encouraged to do, and as they are rewarded for doing. I found affirmation in hurting people, and it is so fucking easy to do this without even really thinking of it because it's the entire culture you've come up in.

I'm not even talking like, obvious cases here like phyrical domestic abuse & intentional date rape. there are so many subtle boundary erosions, there's weird gray areas around drugs & alcohol, there's attitudes and expectations in established relationships, there's the potential to exploit community for personal gain. there are partners who will fear you, and freeze and fawn and will not tell you "no."

a lot of the "we need a special word for masculine transphobia" types seem to also disavow the possibility that they hold male privelege. but we need to look at that shit, sexual or otherwise. it's scary to see guys who see women talking about it and they knee-jerk shout back "I'm not a rapist" and "not all men." guarantee some of them are, and just aren't aware of it. i was.

Thank you so much anon for this really brave, candid message. I think it's something that a lot of the trans guys crowing in my inbox about how cis men "are the bad gender" need to hear. (yes, someone literally said that to me). Portraying gendered categories, especially ones based on birth assignment!, as ontologically more evil or pure than others sets people up for abuse. Separating cis men out from trans men erases the ways in which trans guys can both leverage power and the ways in which toxic masculine norms are transmitted culturally to everyone regardless of assigned sex at birth. Lots of trans guys are palpably uncomfortable with their power, and can only see that relative to cis men, they experience transphobia and misogyny in greater amounts, and so they presume they must be in a highly victimized category. But they dont ever consider that as men they can and do often wield power over women -- especially trans women -- and they've got to fucking learn how to handle that reality responsibly, which many cis men actually do know how to fucking do. Especially multiply marginalized cis men who have been preyed upon and exploited themselves.

I think it's really powerful to hear you taking ownership of the actions you've taken that have hurt others, and the allure such actions had. Very few people have the courage to look their lower moments in the face and affirm that it's actually a part of them. If we're ever going to stop abusing and talking over women we've got to own up to our shit. I've seen what can happen when men come together to be vulnerable about their struggles, own their wrongdoing, and seek to change -- back when I was working in a men's drug treatment program. We can overcome this shit and take responsibility. But a lot of the birthday boy trans guy squad is incensed by even the idea of owing anything to anyone. Like a lot of MRAs.

[revalition]

OCT 10 - EMPATHY Understand others. Work your mirror neurons.

I really love this guy. Mostly. I rambled about it and then decided to shove it under the cut haha.

So as usual, tons of quotes and rambly commentary under the cut!

empathy!! I love him a lot, he has so much insight to offer. But. I will admit I did not like him at first!

probably not 20 minutes into my first playthrough, I'm on the phone with Sylvie. And yes, fail the empathy check... I'm like oooh no what is wrong with this empathy skill, it's completely broken... why is he *like this*.

but I give him another chance and accept the kingdom of conscience quest! which, uh, made me realize I hate moralism I suppose!!

And then we get to the tribunal... where he very nicely tells you to find a non-violent solution! so I once again. give him a chance (because the only one who dissuades me is half light, who I trust even less) and it ends up in several avoidable deaths... sigh.

he has so much good advice, and invaluable insights into other people. (esp. the working class husband side quest) and then there's these random bad bits mixed in - like all the skills I suppose.

He's like, look at this poor birch tree... and look at this poor dead fly... and I realize this guy is way too much like me. >:(

----

empathy fun facts! from my weird spreadsheet

- he's part of an exclusive group of 8 skills that restore more morale than they damage!

- he says sorry a dozen times and not a single one is directed at you! that's right, he does not apologize to you once!

- he says "we" more than he says "I" (only counting actually referring to himself, not quoting others)

- compared to the other skills I've checked so far, his swearing is at ~3/10 swearing amount edit!! empathy's score is 4.97... a perfectly average amount of swearing

----

here are empathyyy quotes!

this one obviously has to be here. empathy gives a few peeks into Jean's mental state

empathyyyy. interestingly, if empathy doesn't fire here, inland empire will say the exact same thing, word for word

empathy just knows, somehow. it sounds terrible.

kingdom of conscience empathy is so funny. the (only very slowly) at the end always gets me

these guys trying to save you from the evil phone call...

empathy during the tribunal!! at least he can admit when he's wrong... I really felt the limits of empathy's usefulness during my first tribunal. I trusted him and tried to do things peacefully and all that ended up happening was the gardener got shot and I ended up with a bunch of negative modifiers on the bomb throwing check. It's so easy to put some of the skills into the 'good advice' category and forget that they all have a really limited way of viewing the world, and that that impacts their decision making abilities... poor guy.

total annhilation :( as usual, this is in the last dream.

I don't think anyone who even slightly likes empathy wants to look at it, but the Love Quest has to be in here. empathy said it, it's real

these dialogue options...

it's sooo bad. the Love Quest is so painful. euuugh. Empathy is so *enthusiastic* about it too!!

lol.

this one's if you pass the empathy check and then pick the stupid dialogue options he warns you not to pick. you reprimand him sweetie!! empathy almost never reprimands you!

nooo not the cells :((

always love empathy insights into kim!!

another one <3 this one gives you the dialogue option to reassure kim that you'll be able to do it tomorrow

empathyyy :,( I hate (love) you

this is such a cool insight

empathy trying to steer you back... (also rhetoric using them??)

empathy picking up random weird stuff!

I really liked this one. And being able to visit the birch later <3

precious naive empathyy

these two haha

really like this one too. (I like the insects too empathy!! my sweet guy)

viscalc getting distracted by the coins *so* fast, and empathy not letting you forget what you just said haha

empathy is so surprised!

<3

empathy! looking out for everyone

empathy making me feel bad for bringing kim into the room (with the help of savvy and endurance!)

this one's nice too

It really, really is.

Ending it on a sad one today. The working class husband quest is the one part of the game I just can't engage with, which is why lines from it aren't in here. Even though I think it's the place where Empathy really really shines. If you pass the check, it has the one really impactful line - he knows how important your words are, choose them carefully. The failure is incredibly painful too. It's really beautifully done, and I would have absolutely included many of those lines in here if I could.

Anyways, that's sadly 30! I put aside some other nice ones I can share later though. It's a bit hard to find the best of them because the way I usually search for stuff doesn't catch everything... Empathy has so many great lines <3

[egg-emperor]

Kinkshaming is queerphobic tbh!

yeah for sure, I can attest as it's common for people who have kinkshamed me to be homophobic towards me too. some also do it in an internalized way where they act like they're exempt/get a pass because they're LGBT and have tricked themselves into thinking the same kind of homophobic rhetoric, talking points, and word usage like freak, degenerate, pervert etc, is suddenly cool and woke when they do it

I mean it is cool when myself/others are reclaiming certain insults and other people are calling me them positively. In turn it helps any time it's being said to attack me just completely roll off me now and I even find pride in them and it's awesome lol. But all those words have literally been used in homophobia too, yet even other people in the community are literally just repackaging it to use in kinkshaming

It's right down to the same "you're doing something I don't see as normal because it isn't conventional and doesn't abide by ideals in society, I think it's weird and gross, and I'm going to put down anyone that likes it/does it and call them a pervert/degenerate/freak" mindset that people have used for homophobia and other various forms of bigotry and prejudice towards people. And it's deeply and miserably puritanical

It's not morally righteous to attack people because it's the "right" ones who "really are yucky icky freaks this time, I swear!" It's literally the same "anything that isn't traditional heterosexual vanilla sex is bad and evil and morally corrupt" as homophobia. Some will willingly admit that as they're guilty of both, yet some claim to be so supportive or are part of LGBT yet also join in with them and that's really disappointing

I'm happy to have full pride and security in my sexuality and kinks so it doesn't do anything to me these days and I just laugh when people try it on me. But it is disappointing that I even had to learn to tolerate it as something that happens so often by bigots and even by people who say they're in your community and push you out of it. And it's unfortunate how people who aren't used to it like me can be very badly affected by it

[xoxo-ren-xoxo]

really weird thing ive noticed lately re: hermits getting critiqued for stuff theyve said or done is that as soon as someone holds a shit opinion (even if it's just them being stupid, or a centrist, or saying a bad word without knowing what it means, or whatever) people immediately seem to flock to the 'this guy should die' 'kys' 'why are we giving this person a platform' rhetoric and like. that's not how meaningful change is made?

like, yeah, if one of my beloved CCs posted a tweet or video tomorrow about how much they hate gay people, or believe in conservative ideals, or they just said a bunch of slurs or whatever (these are hyperbolic examples obviously) then yeah, fuck them, they should go rot. but like, having some dumb takes, or saying bad things in the past, doesn't = evil terrible person...

idk, i feel like we can critique content creators without getting so insane about it. like, shit, there are things some of my favourites do that i don't like, but theyre not even really worth bringing up tbh. unless its something actually important, i feel like it just creates more drama out of nothing and all these assholes come crawling out of the woodwork to tell everyone how much they hate that creator. or find their content boring anyway so clearly they have no real merit to anyone.

more of an explanation of what i mean in the tags but yeah.

[an-idiot-in-fandoms]

CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE WAY WE TALK ABOUT THE MEMBERS OF MCR???

A-FUCKING-TTENTION. I WOULD LIKE TO ADDRESS SOMETHING.

as my followers may know i am a giant mcr stan. i love their music. i think most of the band are good people. however, something came to my attention.

i haven't made it a secret that i am NOT a fan of Lindsey Way, Gerard's wife, who is a racist, pedophile apologist. learning about her being a giant piece of shit made me very sad to acknowledge that if Gerard is willing to not only marry her, but use the reunion tour as also an opportunity to uncancel his dear precious wife or some bullshit, then he's not obviously the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to race and racism in general. the fact that they even endorsed and was a fan of MSI, a "shock humour" band, which used slurs to get attention (which is fucking pathetic by the way), says a lot already. perhaps it speaks to the rock scene's general tolerance for racism at the time in the 2000s, but it wasn't the 1800s. Jimmy Urine was still a white man using the n-word at full volume, and profiting off of it during his concerts and releasing his music.

and maybe shut the fuck up if you're going to call me a "snowflake" about it, because chances are you're white, and you have no fucking clue how dangerous this rhetoric can be towards POC, who have to put up with the normalisation of slur use that the band encourages. i am a POC, and i find the fact that he used that language for money and fame absolutely disgusting. the whole band is disgusting. they can rot in hell.

anyway.

i came across a blog, not going to say which one, but one where it called out Lindsey Way. i was like "ok cool someone else who can use critical thinking in this fandom and doesn't just blindly support Gerard even though he's still definitely not the goddamn messiah". so i go on a scroll through their blog. they were a big fan of Frank, and i respect that, Frank deserves all of his flowers and more.

and then it got weird.

i came across posts where they speculated on the dynamic of the band. and a lot of things were spoken about, where they talked about Gerard being manipulative towards Frank, and how Frank didn't like going on the American leg of the tour during the reunion, and how, basically, they weren't friends, and how Gerard wasn't a good person.

the point is - there was A LOT of speculation. it made me upset to be reading it because i felt as though i'd been punched in the face, reading all this stuff about a guy i look up to partially. i sort of fell into a rabbit hole scrolling through their tumblr, getting more depressed, feeding into the logic that i could never truly feel happy about liking mcr again, reading about all of these theories, and---

hold the phone.

did you read that?

THEORIES.

it occurred to me that these were THEORIES. and the way they were demonising certain people, such as putting down Ray in certain posts to make way for Frank, made me realise that there's a problem with this fandom and how people like to assume what happens with the band members' personal life, and how they interact with each other. people like to speculate in this fandom. like, a lot.

i'll assume it's partially due to how most of the band don't shed a lot of light on their personal lives, only really Frank and Mikey are active on social media, usually showing appreciation for their families/or Frank's countless side-projects (which are all great btw, go listen to Parachutes again). so a lot of the fandom turn to speculation, to come up with these theories that "oh there's in-fighting", or "Gerard is secretly an evil genius who manipulates the whole band".

these are real people. Gerard isn't a saint, despite what some people may believe (cough, girlgerard, cough), but what we don't have to do is start making up bullshit about them being a certain way with no evidence. it's all speculation. and it's demeaning, not only to Frank and Gerard, who've probably had enough with the rumours about them over the years, but for Mikey and Ray as well.

these people aren't your friends. they're not some mystical beings shrouded in darkness that you have to find everything out about either. they are people in a band.

going too deep into speculation robs them of their autonomy. it makes everyone in the fandom look like creeps as well. it's horrible to see, and it takes away the real importance of critical thinking.

you can think critically about Gerard for marrying and excusing a racist woman, because there is EVIDENCE of her being racist. there is EVIDENCE of her being a pedophile apologist. that brings up questions about his own views on race, and how much he's willing to excuse, if he could love someone who willingly takes part in racism.

you can't do the same for Frank and Gerard's relationship. we know JACKSHIT about that. they have never said anything negative pertaining to each other in interviews, whatever "beef" people have made up between them is entirely manufactured by the fandom's overactive imagination. it's like a dead-dove fanfic on AO3 for fuck's sake, where Gerard is tagged as an asshole.

i'm aware it is only a small proportion of people who do this. but the extent to which they do it is honestly shocking. so i got pissed off.

we don't need to know everything about what happens with the band members. Frank has LS Dunes. Mikey has his family. who the fuck knows what Ray and Gerard are doing.

(now, no one's complaining about the lack of Ray on social media, but when people see a picture of Gerard's hand they flip out and beg for a face reveal - but no one's ready for that convo...)

point is: let them be. work with what you get. there's no need to make up things to make it all interesting, to create conflict - you've got that with the heavily problematic connection to MSI. evidence is key. you do not need to analyse these people like they're fictional characters.

because they are PEOPLE. and people are neither completely good or bad, they are usually in the grey area.

[burr-ell]

What I actually find kind of interesting about the player pandering Edelgard gets is how the impact of it in the fandom flows onto characters that are absolutely NOT meant to be that player pander-y. Hubert and Jeritza might be given a bit of sympathy here and there, but they are definitely ultimately supposed to be seen as "evil butler" and "weird serial killer" before they're meant to be seen as GOOD guys. But because of their direct link to Edelgard they're instead seen as "guy who ACTS like an evil butler but is totally a complete sweetie pie at heart" and "misunderstood victim who'd never ACTUALLY hurt anyone (it's JUST the Evil Persona who would!)". Even all those shitty Agarthan takes probably only exist BECAUSE they work with Edelgard, since those guys are given NO sympathy at all in verse - erase Edelgard, I'd bet the overwhelming majority of Agarthan stans disappear.

While the Edelgard pandering was absolutely intentional I don't think the devs thought that people would go THIS far about it, which is kind of fascinating (even if it makes the fandom horrifically annoying).

This is absolutely true, and what's really worrisome is that the root cause of this is an all-too-common mentality that "I'm a good person, therefore my fave/the character I agree with has to be a good person". It's a lack of self-awareness and an unwillingness to self-examine, and it leads to people doing truly wild mental gymnastics to justify actions that they claim to be against in real life—to the point where they'll defend genocidal death cults by using the rhetoric of real-life racist demagogues.

And like, I'm not a "what you like in fiction reflects your character" type—if you like a character like Edelgard because you think that despite doing shitty things her vision is the best option for Fodlan? I disagree, but more power to you. If you like Edelgard because she's a terrible person and you want to see how she immolates herself and other people because it's crunchy? Hell yeah dude, keep on truckin. But if you're bending over backwards and using headcanons to justify objectively terrible actions and conveniently make your fave look better, and furthermore it's everyone else who's a bad person? Yeah, I do think that's fucked up. And when canon inevitably makes you look like an idiot, you'll have no one to blame but yourself.

[jaskierx]

people fundamentally misunderstanding what abuse even is all for the sake of arguing about fictional characters and being an abuse apologiser kind of actually drives me crazy like. real people get abused. and these idiots who do this are going to end up repeating violent rhetoric that will be harmful and actively put people in danger by normalising something like "you can't be abused if you fight back against your abuser because that's also abuse" or "abuse is when someone physically larger physically hurts someone who is smaller" or something. ("abuse is when the scary brown man hurts the defenseless small white man")

like 😭? ed holds a certain degree of authority over izzy as his captain and someone izzy projects his own fantasies onto, but izzy holds an IMMENSE amount of power over ed, and has for a while and maybe even ALWAYS has been building it up, and that fantasy plays into it. abuse occurs when someone holds power over another person and misuses that power and causes them harm, even if that person is "unaware" they're doing it... it's not complex and it's nothing to do with what's "typical", a parent can abuse their offspring, an adult child can abuse their parent. it's about the power dynamic. their relationship is incredibly imbalanced and it's always been in IZZY'S favour, his role is LITERALLY meant to liken to like an evil advisor whispering in ed's ear – an imbalanced, toxic dynamic where ed is the victim with false control over the situation, because the entire point is izzy wants him to be The Best He Can Be (a ruthless pirate).

izzy eventually getting hurt physically in retaliation isn't ABUSE because ed isn't enacting what little authority he does have over izzy (who allows him to have it as izzy finds perverse joy in SEEING ed use that authority against him and Be the fantasy he wants ed to be), he's just fucking retaliating to being taunted by someone who hates him. izzy got physically hurt, sure, but he was not ever scared of or threatened by ed, ed did not hold any further power over him other than the fear in any man's mind who knew they fucked around and found out and got fucking shot for it.

when ed severed their connection with that bullet he severed izzy's hold over him to a vast degree, but that still doesn't mean he then held an equal amount of power over izzy in his place. and ed even had the insane heart to actually feel bad about hurting him and forgive him for everything else 😭. izzy literally acknowledges this IN THE SHOW. it's actually concerning the lengths people will go to defend an aspect of a character that is written in the damn script (izzy is a toxic manipulative cunt who wants to control everything ed does who eventually stops doing that because he knows he went too far).

anyway. sorry for that. good morning ^_^

good morning anon you are correct and you should say it

it absolutely baffles me like how the fuck are you going to be so committed to banging a drum for your shitty fave that you end up posting stuff with real world implications about who can and cannot be a victim of abuse

like even without the nonsense the take was full of headcanon and weird analogies anyway (like it's useless to compare being a pirate captain to owning a house. those are fundamentally different things. turns out piracy doesn't neatly map onto 'normal' life today. who knew!)

but the lengths that people will go to to declare that izzy did nothing wrong after the show has looked them in the eyes and said 'the narrative is telling you that izzy was wrong'??

i'm so glad they killed him off bc i cannot cope with another season of shit like this. i patiently await their exit from the fandom tbh

[aita-blorbos]

AITA for chopping off my (ex?)boyfriend's (both 20sM) arm?

Okay, that's a rhetorical question. I know I am. I just desperately need to talk to someone about what's going on and I don't really have anyone I can talk to besides him and he's hiding from the law right now and I am the law, or working for the law anyway, and I just. I'm very stressed.

My boyfriend, I'll call him B, maybe killed someone? Or maybe was framed? I'm not really sure, but I way overreacted and chopped off his arm. Sure, we were both trained to eliminate any and all threats swiftly and thoroughly, but like. His arm! Who does that??? ARM CHOPPING IS NOT A LOVE LANGUAGE!!!!

Sorry. I just, I don't really know what to do right now. If I don't try to find B and bring him in, I'm letting down everyone-- my country, my colleagues, my boss. But if I do, I'm letting down B. And I just--

I know I should just do my job, find him and bring him in. But even though he has a new, really weird and pretty much definitely evil best friend now, I can't do that to him. I just want to go back to how things were in school-- the two of us, together through everything. Back then, we looked forward to graduating and making the world a better place together. But instead, we graduated and everything immediately got way worse.

Also, I'm starting to think my boss might be in the wrong in some way. I don't know what exactly is going on, and I've always trusted her before, but not everything is quite adding up. B used to trust her too, but now he's claiming she's the one who framed him. I don't know what to believe, or who to trust.

Please, help. I know I'm the asshole for the arm-chopping thing and I wish I could undo it, but I can't, so what's the least asshole-ish thing I can do going forward?

[bagel-boy-sama]

Astarion Baldurs Gate 3 Isn't A TumblrSexyMan™, He's Just A SexyMan™

I've seen a large number of people, most of whom are in the Astarion Disliker/"I don't get it" camp most who are not on this particular hell site, cite Astarion as Tumblr's latest sexyman. Today, I will be explaining why I do not believe that to be the case. That instead, as the title states, he's just a sexyman.

No real knowledge of the hell site is required, I'll explain things for the new people.

Setting The Definitions

First, definitions because this is now Intro to Writing and Rhetoric. A sexyman would be anyone, usually masc or a man, who is concidered sexy by a wide range of people. Fascinating.

A Tumblr Sexyman, on the other hand, is a thing - usually fictional entity - that is incredibly popular on Tumblr.com to the degree it escapes it's fandom sometimes, in the most extreme of cases, becoming far more popular than it's original fandom. It is characterized by a few major characteristics. Ranging from Twinkism* (be it the character or fan interpretation), generally unconventionally/perceived to be unconventionally attractive in a non physical sense (character traits that wouldn't otherwise be desirable, like absurd behavior or generally evilness), to impeccable drip (either in the original media/design, or done by fans in fanart).

*note: Twinkism (which I did just throw in on the spot this is entirely bullshit for my own amusement) is the phenomenon of skinny, young looking, pretty/feminine white boys who are within media. This is different from twinks, who are understood to be young and skinny - being pretty, popular, or white is not connected. All those who participate in Twinkism are Twinks, but not all Twinks participate in Twinkism.

Does Astarion Baldurs Gate 3 Fit The Definition?

First rule: must be at least a twink. Is he?

No. Yes. Kinda. In a way. Many people would describe Astarion as someone who's gone through "Twink Death". No this is not because he's literally undead. Twink Death, in it's simplest form, is when a twink no longer looks young and/or feminine. Astarion has aged. His crows feet and laugh lines, while beautiful, do not make him look 18. For some this would disqualify him from being a Twink. So perhaps he has failed at the first step.

I, however, am not satisfied with that. Moving on, is Astarion - or would Astarion - actually be considered conventionally unattractive in any way that is disconnected from his appearance? I argue no. Vampires are considered very well, normal to lust after. They're right below succubus on the "This isn't considered weird to find attractive" scale. You aren't romancing The Emperor here. Outside of that he's well groomed, shown to be muscular in game (headcanon does often disagree and while I wish it was true we are working with facts for this specific discussion), and an elf. In personality, while not for everyone, he's the pretty standard fruity sarcastic gay who's a bit selfish. We all know a fruity sarcastic gay who's a bit selfish, and they get laid. So it can't be considered that bad. Probably.

I feel important to note here that I am aroace and have no idea what I'm talking about right now. This is an educated guess.

Astarion has lost now, two for two. He's barely a twink, even going off of his model he's more a twunk. He definitely doesn't fit the Twinkism phenomenon. He's not weird to find attractive, I assume, so what else is there? His drip? I'm sorry, but his base outfit is a bit well Goofy to say the least. Much fanart leaves him in this outfit or a simpler version because drawing ruffles is enough to make anyone want to willingly jump headfirst into the underdark, so he fails the drip test as well.

His final hurtle: is his popularity Tumblr™. In this context Tumblr™ is different from Tumblr. Tumblr™ is the fandom side, where a sexyman would flourish and find their own fandom. Importantly, this fandom needs to be very insular to the site. It's a *Tumblr* sexyman after all. So that begs the question, is Astarion highly liked by mostly or purely Tumblr people/those who have the vibes of a Tumblr user? No.

Astarion is well loved by many people of various vibes. He has affected (previously) straight men on Reddit. Few can escape him and his 10 charisma.

Conclusion

Astarion is just a sexyman. He's just a fictional character that many think is neat and attractive for a variety of reasons. He's the Ryan Reynolds of crpgs. He's some dude, who's generally considered attractive by a lot of people who you both would and wouldn't expect to find him attractive.

[floaromaxtowns]

salty ask game, 3?

@monoukotori

Salty Ask List [Accepting]

3. Have you ever unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion?

Oh yes, several times across several fandoms I've been in over the years. Everyone is welcomed and more than allowed to come to their own conclusions about anything but, it doesn't mean I have to stick around to see/read everything.

This was especially prevalent in the Star Wars fandom. "Anti-jedi" rhetoric and folks, more like, neofascists in the making. For a time I found myself interested in their takes, because my interest in SW had shifted from the Jedi order to the Clones army (I still find this part of the lore super interesting to delve into, discuss and explore [Especially in the old Legends material]. Just don't touch anything clone related by the fandom.). But then I realized the kind of people some "clone stans" are, and I decided it just wasn't worth it. From people who are mad projecting their religious trauma, to a point it twists the source material to a point beyond recognition (it's even worse than whatever the current writers have been doing to SW. Somehow, the jedi were evil all along, Palpatine did nothing wrong according to those nutjobs.). To just people who have a weird obsession with armies/soldiers/world war 2.

This hasn't happened that much in Saint Seiya but, I know very well the crowds to not engage with: anyone who decides to trash talks Kurumada isn't welcomed here or any of my social medias. Anyone who claims that TLC was "the only good thing to come out of the franchise" also won't be welcomed here. I'll also make sure to side eye anyone who tries to claim how "Diversity isn't needed in StS" (Apparently that's a take in this world).

[lakesbian]

Alec bring groomed to be a superpowered sexual assault minion is, like, turbo sexual abuse, nesting doll sexual abuse. Thinking that being a perpetrator of sexual abuse cancels out him being a victim is so fucking cop-brained that I wouldn't trust their opinion on this subject even for the clear cut cases

these redditors would Not behave in a kind or appropriate manner about finding out that COCSA is a common outcome of CSA due 2 inability 2 distinguish normal behavior/boundaries & coerced hypersexual impulses i can tell you that. it literally is just ye olde "childhood sexual abuse survivors are weird and gross and evil unless their experience & the ways it impacted their mind & behavior line up with my personal extremely sanitized vision of what they should be like" rhetoric. same reason why so much alec fanfiction presents him as sympathetic specifically by inventing a New Secret Sexual Trauma We Didn't Know About where he's as traditional a stereotyped innocent victim as possible & he has the "appropriate" emotional reaction to this Shameful Secret being revealed. same reason why people think his ability to stand up for himself and say "again, i was a kid" in response to a family member who groomed him trying to turn his friends against him is some form of "nuanced" where he's still partially in the wrong. same reason why him speaking frankly about it results in people somehow feeling comfortable with calling the [checks notes] 15yo boy a "whore" or "femboi slut" for [checks notes again] Being Sexually Abused And Then Being Direct About His Life Experiences Afterwards. in terms of "undersiders trauma people are the most awful about" it's a tight competition btwn him, rachel, and aisha, but i think he actually might pull ahead and take the ultimate prize. like i still can't believe that my "yes alec was sexually abused no the shit he did as a child was not his fault on any level" alec essayposting was revolutionary enough to get Notes instead of just being common sense. abysmal environment. cannot stress enough in terms of things to morally blame alec vasil for him making shitty racist jokes during behemoth fight and being whiny about stopping when aisha tells him to is 10x more Ethically Bad And His Fault than literally anything he did prior to the age of 14. even his interlude is just sort of profoundly sad on all ends. like he's fifteen man. do you know how little fifteen year olds are they're pretty small. he's like that because the first 13 years of his life were everything distinct about his autonomy and identity being systematically annihilated and you just can't fix a break that big with just the two (2!! 2! he has 2 sorta-okay years and then he fucking dies!) years he spent away from home. when i say alec vasil sucks i mean that he uses 4chan too much the atrocities however are just sad and not his fault and he deserves a little ice cream treat about it

[vintageseawitch]

anybody else remember V for Vendetta (lol)? do you recall this scene in particular? when Chancellor Adam Sutler sits back in his chair to relax in the evening with a warm glass of milk to watch the funny man Gordon Dietrich's sketch show reminiscent of Benny Hill but approved by fascists... only to find that the particular segment made the Chancellor look like a fool, & well, he took that shit personally.

okay. one of my favorite videos to come across while mindlessly scrolling are ones that make fun of jd vance, beyond any doubt. he just enters the room & any good vibes get sucked out. he's beyond weird, creepy, & off-putting. there's no doubt to these things & more. the problem is he's someone that is being underestimated. at first it sounded a little like he was being fed lines but it's really clear now that the evil batshit things he says are things that he believes & while i think an effective tactic to fight fascism is to laugh at fascists i also think that only seeing him as a joke downplays just what kind of evil he represents. i love good characters being underestimated only to come out on top when people least expect it. evil characters that are underestimated? they're the worst sort of evil by far. he has no political charm but that won't matter should trump win.

a content creator i enjoy is Josh Johnson. his style of comedy is a comical storyteller, where he talks about real events & offers thoughtful, engaging, & funny perspectives. i love his brand of humor. anyways so he pointed out in a recent stand-up talking about the debate between Harris & trump & reminded everyone that trump decided to run for president because Barack Obama joked about him. this walking joke who everyone thought was funny & ridiculous & not to be taken seriously then wildly made it into office. even he didn't seem to realize he made it (yet still complained he didn't win the popular vote). during the debate with Harris there seemed to be a moment where she was laughing at him (can't blame her for that) where she had an, "oh shit" moment. like deja vu or PTSD. there's more than one period in history that feels like is playing again it seems.

it doesn't matter that we already know what kind of person he is. everything he touches turns to shit & half the country believes we had it better when he was running even though he was riding on the coattails of the Obama administration. our legal system has been allowing someone who literally attempted a coup to run for president again & the polls remain consistently too close for comfort. even the vp pick jd vance hasn't deterred people that much even though a large portion of maga voters don't even like the guy but goddamn do they love their grifting, felon, allegedly rich conman of a candidate who previously treated the US government like his own piggy bank.

maga wants trump for president. they seem to think a man who is only a few years younger than "too old & senile" Joe Biden is more than perfect for the role & that he will "save us" from all the "woke" or some such garbage. they don't care about the hypocrisy they display when his slurring nonsensical word salad speeches make no sense & they don't bat an eye when he slips in alarmingly authoritarian rhetoric. he "tells it like it is" but when you literally quote him back to them he "didn't mean it like that." what are these fucking cult members going to do when he finally kicks the bucket?

it's clear now that trump is the useful stooge for the Heritage Foundation, the Federalist Society, a bunch of billionaires, & other nazis. he's gotten them this massive fanbase of uneducated, brainwashed morons who hate people who are different from them so much they're more than happy to hurt themselves in the process in order for people they hate to also get hurt. so while yes, he's useful, & allows them to finally be loud with their racism, misogyny, homophobia, & xenophobia, & they won't face any real consequences, his usefulness is also running out. if they win, we get him as president: a 78 year old showing clear signs of dementia who loves dictators & thinks getting compliments means they love him & aren't using him (lol) & jd vance as vp, the evil creep with a breeding fetish & strong hatred of women.

vance is in his early 40s. he's in his first term ever as a senator & seemed to come out of nowhere but he's a calculated choice make no mistake: paid for by peter thiel, looks up to curtis yarvin, is friends with kevin roberts. jd vance has been publicly talking about not just making up dangerous stories in order to incite violence & hatred but also that the government should be brutal. you just need to dig a little & the evil is in plain sight. the issue now is he's also incredibly off-putting & socially awkward. by himself, while booksmart, he would be forgettable. just another hateful white asshole man with mommy issues & believes in shit you'd hear some creepy incel that lives in a basement would believe in (only now there's a chance he could implement said evil).

people are making fun of him relentlessly. he's given us plenty of material. most of the time he sounds like an alien or a robot who only recently learned how to pretend to be a human being. now i don't have an issue with being socially awkward; i'm pretty awkward myself & know there's plenty of people out there who are as well but it's just so bizarre that the Republican vp candidate has the charm & charisma of period cramps or a horde of mosquitos. it's almost brilliant really. i don't think his awkwardness is an act at all but it feels like they're using this to their advantage in a way: he's being underestimated.

people are talking about it more: that vance is really who the Heritage Foundation wants as president. trump will get them into the White House should they win & they can start the horror & chaos they've been dreaming about for decades. vance is pure evil & i've been quoting from Letterkenny about him ("stand for nothing or you'll fall for anything") & the Ferengi Rules of Acquistion (number 98: "every man has his price"). it sounded like vance was once a decently progressive man. a close friend of his was a trans woman when he was in college with her. his radicalization probably started when he was in the Silicon Valley. anyways he gives me the impression that he's full of rage & other issues that he should get help for but won't since he's a white man who thinks everything is owed to him by merely existing & at first he may have been saying certain things because that's what thiel & roberts like but now vance is completely on the bandwagon. at this point it's a full speed, on fire train. he believes it & will take orders like the good little nazi that he is.

so in his being underestimated while being a complete weirdo clown, people have naturally been creating videos & posts making fun of him. they're so fucking funny. but as the election draws nearer i can't enjoy them as much. if they win they'll make the US into their version of V for Vendetta & it won't be trump who is the Chancellor. no, our Chancellor will be a guy with serious anger issues who doesn't like to be made fun of so publicly. he will make it everyone's problem.

it's only a matter of time before some people may get the Gordon Dietrich ending. these are weird, scary, uncertain times. i hope it turns out well.

[fancyfade]

trick or treat

Ok, so another potential fanfic idea floating around my head

Is based off me reading sandman, infinity inc, and young all stars and wonder woman and in general finding the arc of lyta trevor and helena kosmatos unsatisfying.

Ok so general themes: I think that Sandman Lyta is too passive compared to Infinity Inc Lyta, and she feels like a very generic character mostly designed to fill a role, rather than "This is what Lyta would actually do"

I also think that the Silver Scarab plot in Infinity Inc was rather unsatisfying.

Anyway, so. the premise is that we see Helena Kosmatos actually appear on panel (well ""panel"" it'd be in words if it's a fic) sometime post COIE and before Lyta leaves to look for Hector. She warns Lyta about the potential power of the Furies, because Helena has felt herself become more and more okay with what they do* and acting as Tisiphone, just over the years, but she remembers how horrifying she found it when she was young and acting as a conventional superhero**. The having no control would "foreshadow" Lyta in Sandman as she says (when she is being warned away from her path to kill dream and become an agent for the furies) that she has no choice. This also parallels well with the "it was destiny/unavoidable" of Hec's arc in Infinity Inc, where his villain-face-turn (thru... being hollowed out) is treated as a prophecy that cannot be averted except for in his death.

Anyway, so! How do we get to Lyta as she is in Sandman?

I think that Lyta should kill Hec >:D

Ok well TECHNICALLY Tisiphone should kill Hector, but while possessing Lyta, so Lyta would blame herself.

My idea is that after Lyta is approached by Helena, post COIE, she eventually goes to find out where Hector has ran off to, as she did in Infinity Inc canon. In this instance, when she sees Hector's dead body and is approached by Silver Scarab, she becomes so angry that she starts to unleash Tisiphone, and nearly kills him. She stops because Silver Scarab pretends that he is Hector, and she overcomes Tisiphone because of her love for him. This is what creates the weakness in Silver Scarab, rather than Lyta being pregnant***. He was saved by love. Slowly (very slowly) the silver scarab starts to unwind.

However then her not killing him results in her getting captured, like she did in Infinity Inc. The furies hate that!

Norda finds the infinity Incers after being re-trained by Worla and they go after Silver Scarab similar in canon. BUT! Norda, due to the training he received, notices Hector's weakness. He is encouraged by it, because he does not like the rhetoric that he just has to kill one of his friends because the prophecy says so. When Norda observes this, the Furies see this as their chance to strike. They are angered, humiliated, and Lyta does view her previous showing of mercy as part of her fault and why she was kidnapped, so she is in the place to unleash the Furies.

And... she kills Hector.

This explains why she's so willing to follow him into the dream world when he reappears as sandman, rather than young love and it being scandalous to be pregnant and unmarried. She has a nagging sense of guilt. She follows him into some new world that is not quite reality, from which she will not be able to return, because she remembers her own hands killing him.

When Daniel is at first kidnapped later on, and we don't see her acting at first but just letting the police try to solve things, it is because she remembers how badly things went last time she let her anger and fear influence her decisions.

but then daniel dies.

And she goes on the quest she does in Sandman, slowly becoming more and more an agent of the furies and less and less herself, and she remembers her mother's warnings.

*as she is in wonder woman, Jimenez's run

**as she did in Young All Stars

***which was just... super weird? IDK its like he can't be completely evil b/c the person he is possessing had unprotected sex?

[kusundei]

iiiii. am. normal. i mean? as normal as i’ll ever be.? its just like. yeah no i feel better sort of but thats also the bad part. oh bcuz who am i.? im trying again not to condemn myself over it but i cant exactly help feeling bad whenever iiii feel okay again. who am i to be normal??? to act like everything js okay and nothing happened?? its just. incredibly selfish. half the reason i keep just kind of distracting myself is because if i am alone for too long j will start thinking about it and i’ll be evil but isnt that whats supposed to be happening anyway? im not relinquished of anything. he can be as kind and sweet as he wants because he truly is just at his core but he is. way too kind to me when i am so incredibly undeserving.

ive always sort of felt undeserving of everything regarding him but i chose to look past it because i am better. i am a good person i am okay and i can be better and im not condemned to my past but idk. this just reminds me that no i am still selfish and i am still not . really a good person. it really has just kind of brought the attachment style and allll my doubts back into the forefront of my mind ljke it was before. like when we first started dating and i was horrified. didnt believe anything he said really but i worked through it its just like? why am i doubting him now? i was the one who hurt him so why is it making me? falter?

i mean im just asking a rhetorical question because i know. iiii always know. its just that i truly dont believe he means any of it anymore because j huuurt him. the one thing thats always sort of bothered me is when he deemed me perfect, which is such a nice and flattering sentiment but i think it weighed down pn me this feeling that i HAD to be perfect when i knew deep down i had already made such a bad mistake. which is why it was so scary? i knew how he was going to take jt and j tried to just accept it and work through it and j AM. i am i am i am but i keep going back and forth on how i want to deal with this. do i keep acting like im okay and everything is okay and live like that? because it would work and it would probably help him so much more than me focusing on how much i hate myself now but i just feel. horrible if i do do that. but is that me self sabotaging again by truly preferring to condemn myself and let this kill me? like it did last time?

i dont know. again it kind of has just reminded me of last time. but the issue with this compared to how it was with jd is that that issue w jd happened about a year and a half into our relationship and the worst part? it ruined it. it festered there and grew more and more till it killed both me and her because it stuck. ajax and i arent even at 2 months yet and jve already? done? something? that detrimental? its just like. i need to change something. find something. DO something different. because i know what i did with jd last time and jm trying not to repeat a cycle. i’ll be different ill try ill do everything i can because iii cant. as selfish as it is i cant let. this . go. i cant let HIM go either and j feel horrible about it again but i just i dont know

its just so weird because. its all came back. and its so unhelpful. because i KNOW hes still going through it and he doesnt believe me and things r just different but why is it also different for me? i should just be focused on him. doing the most i can to make him feel better and really emphasize that nothing has changed in me especially regarding how much i love him. its just i also keep just feeling. so. so guilty. it comes and goes in waves again. it truly is just the fact that hes right. because if i do love you this much then why would i do that to you? why did i do that? and my only answer is just that i am selfish. because i didnt know how to keep my mouth shut and i made such a personal thing out to be just another thing i could just say because iiiii trust them. but HE doesnt know them. j told her for what? because i needed her to know? she didnt need to know that. even if i was as shocked as i was and still processing it and wanted to talk about it i shouldve kept it to myself and processed it silently. instead i put him last and ignored the matter of fact that this would affect him badly just because iiiiii wanted to talk about it . i was selfish and put myself before him and this always happens when i do so. truly why dont i ever learn? what is wrong with me?? i keep kind of forgetting about it all and then it comes back. then goes then leaves. what sucks is truly that . im so doubtful again. its not that i dont trust him and i dont believe him its just that i hate myself. i hate myself all over again and its making me unable to believe that i deserve any of this AGAIN. that no. hes lying to me. he doesnt mean it hes just saying that? ive hurt him too much . because theres no way he just has no negative feelings toward me when i was the one who did that. and let alone if he IS telling the truth then thats worse because why am i spared? why am i given the benefit of the doubt when he has vocalized that if it was anyone else he wouldve hated them? so why is jt different for me? you SHOULD hate me. thats the problem.