#i'm convinced people who like it just don't have the critical thinking skills to have read the books

[livingprophecy]

bruh what was sab s2

[just-antithings]

I need many people to realize a strong contribution to the purity discourse in media we see among young people is due to radfems & gender criticals poisoning the water supply on sites like this one (tumblr) or other social media since 2014

Seeing teens and young 20-somethings using "porn addicted", "porn-brained", "degenerate", all unironically, those are words you find in alt-right & anti-LGBTQ+ message boards.

It wasn't JUST GCs alone, but many people have been around to see them influence a generation of kids with arguments you see today like

“X in fiction causes abuse"

“x is fetishization"

"Unless you've personally gone through trauma you shouldn't write about it"

“If you HAVE gone through trauma, you can't sexually explore it"

"If you like abuse in fiction you're an abuser in real life”

Hearing kids call random (usually queer!) shippers in fandom "groomers" and "pedophiles" for ships that have been established in fandom for decades, or because of a "power imbalance" between adult characters isn't a coincidence. Hmm, I wonder what other groups use those words?

It's not solely kids alone, it is a combination of:

Online radicalization and disinformation

No spaces for kids

No internet safety/literacy

Steeping censorship in activist language,

lack of education (If you don't know red flags you can't avoid them)

COVID did NOT help

This is why ignoring it will never help, because while thankfully some people grow out of it, it usually happens to people who had some support system or breakthrough in cognitive dissonance. There are plenty of people who are becoming adults and who keep infantilizing themselves

“My brain isn't done until I'm 25, you're all predators" and they're talking to a 30 y/o

That argument is literally being used by UK government officials to block access to gender-affirming healthcare. Infantilizing adults only serves the purpose of stripping agency and rights

They're not being safe. They're not gaining skills. They're participating in a fear-fueled climate of faulty medical misinformation, keeping themselves in a perpetual childish-victim state no matter how old they get and nothing about this is healthy

How do you think a person goes through this world when they've been wholly convinced that you can tell someone is safe because they like "safe" or “wholesome" things, & people who make them uncomfortable via hobbies or interests (not IRL actions) are probably actual criminals?

[monimccoythings]

Random headcanons of Alastor and his child!reader

This will mix headcanons from both the living and the afterliving times.

Tw: Controlling behavior, implied cannibalism, references to murder.

This is not proof read so I apologize for any grammar and vocabulary mistakes.

Your home is always filled with music. Be it the radio, a record player or him singing. There's always someone playing a tune. Even now at the hotel you can always find him in one of the common rooms humming a song or with his cathedral radio on.

Loves dancing with you, you'll be helping him cook and next thing you know he is swirling you around the room, music mixing with your combined laughter.

From a very young age, he will teach you to love the radio. He is immensely proud of his job (the legal one) and wants to share it with you.

Likes to treat your wounds and illness the traditional way, just like he used to when you were alive. You got a scratch? He is cleaning it for you and bandaging it up. You are down with something? He'll wrap you in blankets with a hot water bottle and feed you old family remedies and warm soup. If the wound or illness is way too severe to his liking, he will immediately make it go away with a snap of his fingers, otherwise he just likes to act like your caregiver and mother hen you.

Really loves to pull the 'single hardworking dad' act that makes the mothers and female teachers at your school swoon. He is not really interested in pursuing anything further with them, but boy, does he enjoy the attention.

He likes to check on you while you are sleeping. Sometimes he just stays there, quietly watching you sleep, his ever present smile growing bigger as a sense of pride fills his chest.

Lots of dad jokes, I think he's the only one who could pull it off and have everyone laugh. It goes with his radio host charisma and personality.

He does your hair. This man has singlehandledly researched and become well versed in the art of braiding hair. Braids, pigtails, or just brush it, you call it, you got it.

Alastor loves control and having power over people, he is the kind of dad that will subtly talk you out of doing something he doesn't approve of, just using his inmense charms and smooth talking skills to convince you into thinking this was your decision after doing some critical thinking. "Cher, I don't think you should do X, how about you do Y instead?" "I'm sure your friend is too busy to hang out today, why don't we go to the ice cream shop?" He won't ever put you down or make you feel bad about anything, but if you are deviating for the path that he has already set for you (the safe path) he will immediately persuade you to go back to the right way, his way. In Hell that aspect of him has become a million times worse, since he has already lost you once and has become someone with many dangerous enemies who wouldn't hesitate to use you to get back at him. His overprotectiveness and controlling behavior skyrocket when he becomes a demon, which eventually will come back to bite him in the ass.

Doesn't like having anyone question about your biological parents. He is your parent. You don't need anybody else.

Alastor is not fond of physical affection, unless he is the one initiating it. But, since he has had you since you were a baby, he has mostly grown used to your touch. He has become proficient enough in detecting your moods that he knows exactly when you are going to need a hug, a kiss or some other kind of physical comfort, so he can get ahead and start the contact first. He admits that one of his favorite ways nowadays to show affection to you is ruffling your fluffy hair, lightly tickling your ears, his eyes fill with joy when your ears get all twitchy.

Your room back at the hotel is a carbon copy of the one you had back when you were alive, but bigger, and with a private old timey bathroom. Alastor likes to come in whenever he pleases, he is the unliving embodiment of "I'm respecting your privacy by knocking but asserting my authority as your parent by coming in anyway". He even said so once. Word by word.

You can't stand Mimzy. Sorry, it's a fact, she always gets your name wrong and only comes by if she needs something from your dad. She seems to not be very fond of you either, can't understand why in Hell Alastor would waste his time so willingly just to take care of a snooty brat that ain't even his. But your father seems to like her enough, so you swallow up your critics.

When he was alive, and came back from a 'hunt', he always brought a little memorabilia for you, maybe some old watch, a fancy toy or trinket the victim had on them at that moment. Whatever little thing that wasn't too incriminating and pretty enough to be worthy of you. Now that you know the truth, you can't stop wondering with dread if every little thing he gifts you belonged once to a poor tormented soul that crossed in his path.

Might had fed you human remians in his stews. He utterly denies it, claiming that he would never do that to your delicate stomach. But the suspicious way his eyes quickly dart around the room, makes you think otherwise. It was the Great Depression after all, food was scarce. You'd rather not dwell too much on it or you will never eat anything ever again.

He is a monster, and it pained you to have been so blind all these years, but even after discovering his true nature, the only thing you could say about his parenting before that terrible night of the discovery, was that he was an excellent dad, a tad bit overbearing and overprotective, but a great parent nonetheless.

[hellobitchlet]

Actually, I'm going to make this it's own post.

If anyone who has said that they're boycotting stops just because they like Natlan's archon quest, or Capitano becomes playable, or they like a 5 star that gets released, or a 5 star gets a skin you like, or any other reason, I'm going to be so fucking mad. If you still give them money, especially if you claimed that you wouldn't, you are won over too easily and have no critical thinking skills.

And it's especially bullshit if your excuse is "the boycott isn't working, oh well!" Hoyoverse ignoring the boycott is exactly the reason why you shouldn't give them money!

The reason why I keep saying "don't give them money" instead of "boycott them/sign the petition/etc." is because I'm not just talking about convincing them to change a few skin colours in one game. I'm talking about everything that they've done across all of their games that is shamelessly bigoted, and combining them all into a huge folder of reasons why they don't deserve money.

I'm talking about the racism in Natlan and Sumeru, yes, but I'm also talking about Paimon and Traveler being unnecessarily shitty towards Kaeya and Venti, one of whom was the only brown skinned character in the game at the time of that shitty behavior. I'm talking about hilichurls. I'm talking about none of the Chinese or Japanese characters having brown skin either, except for one 4 star in Liyue with a bad kit and a personality centered around a type of music often stereotyped as being 'violent'.

I'm talking about Boothill and Azta, the whitewashed Indigenous American characters from Honkai Star Rai and Houkai Gakuden 2 respectively. I'm talking about Aventurine, the whitewashed Romani character whose backstory includes being a slave and being terrorized by a greedy, violent tribe. I'm talking about Aven's home planet being named a slur against Romani people. I'm talking about Sparkle and Ratio, a pale skinned Japanese and white Greek character who calls him slurs against Romani people on screen. I'm talking about the hsr place based on the Jazz Age in the US not having any playable black characters.

I'm talking about Carole, the only brown skinned playable character in hi3, canonically hating her skin colour. I'm talking about Arlan, the only brown skinned playable character in hsr, acting subservient to a pale skinned character and spending the whole tutorial telling pale skinned characters that they're better than him. I'm talking about the only notable African place in hi3 being a destroyed city a white male antagonist took over. I'm talking about Nanook, the closest we have to a main antagonist in hsr, being the only brown skinned aeon.

But it's not just the racism. I'm also talking about the sexism. I'm talking about the horrifically oversexualized designs that almost every single female character in every one of their games have. I'm talking about Ayaka suddenly not being allowed to have anything to do with politics the moment her older brother was revealed, turning her into a cutie standing around doing nothing in events. I'm talking about the four seperate cases of 5 star male-4 star female duo's where the boy overshadows the girl (Albedo and Sucrose, Itto and Shinobu, Tighnari and Collei, and Lyney and Lynette). I'm talking about the only women in a 'masculine' outfit in Genshin, Arlecchino, still wearing an uncomfortably form fitting, backless vest. I'm talking about the female archons having a focus on having them look cute, with two acting like literal children. I'm talking about Dehya actively defending her male friends who were sexually harassing her into using her body to attract new recruits and bragging about sexyally harassing all other women out of the group.

I'm also talking about the pedophilia. I'm talking about all of the tiny children in Genshin and hsr except for Sigewinne still having sexualized outfits. I'm talking about multiple children in Genshin having the exact same puffy white shorts that look suspiciously similar to underwear. I'm talking about half of them actually being adults.

I'm also talking about the classism, copaganda, and other societal things. I'm talking about Fontaine's... everything. I'm talking about Chevreuse the c*p who has at least 2 high class vision weilders who aren't part of the government to help with her investigations in exchange for letting them get away with illegal stuff, or at least in Chori's case idk I didn't do Emilie's sq. I'm talking about the prison that Paimon claims is amazing but does prison labor, has a questline about saving an innocent child from it, kept another child who defended other kids by killing their traffickers in it, and forces prisoners to work if they want more than ONE meal per day. I'm talking about Furina seemingly making up laws on the spot and getting away with it. I'm talking about the current leader of Fontaine being the guy who didn't wait for the investigation of the crime scene to finish before starting the trial in act 1, then wrongfully imprisoned Childe in act 2 on purpose because a mysterious machine said so.

I'm talking about the leader of Sumeru telling a guy who told her that his life sucks because of the capitalism in her nation to make his tools pretty instead of dealing with the actual problem. I'm talking about the leader of Inazuma being an ex-antagonist who let her puppet self and the rest of her government kill god knows how many, and the mc's being fine with that. I'm talking about the previous leader of Liyue purposefully putting all of his people in danger to prove to himself that he can retire, and the mc's being fine with that. I'm talking about the depiction of Shenhe supposedly living a better life in CR's story quest being that she got a job, instead of her improving on her actual problems.

I'm also talking about the ableism. I'm talking about Chongyun's disability not being acknowledged as a disability because everyone insists that he just needs to let himself overheat bc they like seeing him like that, and Xingqiu 'pranking' him using his disability. I'm talking about Collei and everyone else with elezar getting Magical Disability Cure-d, and elezar almost never being brought up again. I'm talking about hi3 Wendy, a wheelchair user, being an npc who was killed off the chapter after she was introduced, while her fully abled Genshin expy is a popular 5 star.

I'm also taking about the fatphobia. I'm talking about Ganyu being used as a fat joke multiple times, including the only mention of her time in the Archon War being her accidentally choking someone to death with her butt. I'm talking about multiple female characters, especially in Genshin, worrying about gaining weight. I'm talking about Venti insulting someone for being fat in the comics. I'm talking about every playable character in all of their games being so skinny that Genshin and hi3 are even allergic to the weird bodybuilder version of muscles that have no fat on them. By which I mean, they don't have any playable fat characters.

... this got way longer than I expected. Ok I'm done I've proved my point lol

[radmalenia]

If anyone on radblr has interacted with this "taythewhom" account, I would advise just try not to engage with them; because it likely won't be possible to have a productive conversation and will just piss you off.

Caution: this post is a lengthy breakdown/rant about the horrible reading abilities and the critical thought-killing mentalities of so many "TRA's", and the dangerous and tragic ramifications of being taught next to no reading and thinking skills.

TLDR: this person is a prime example of it. And the problem they have is a disturbing sign of how the education system is fundamentally failing to teach youth to read, to critically think, to stay out of echo chambers, and to know enough to articulate their stances - this is also why so many fall for trans ideology, too; and why they are more easily manipulated away from genuine feminism.

~ This is not a usual type of post for me but it brought up a couple of key things I think people need to be discussing more overall; so here goes.

So this "taythewhom" clown has bought the bullshit about radical feminists not being feminists and also about them being transphobic, and (surprise surprise) are apparently not willing to read more than one sentence at once that has been spoken by someone whom they've been told is "the enemy".

No better way to keep someone in an echo chamber, to make sure they never question or analyze their beliefs or those of anyone else; than convincing them not to read anything that a person outside of their own ideology says! Convincing them that "well this person is wrong no matter what, so you shouldn't even care to read their words"! What an unbelievably thought-killing and sheep-creating form of manipulation. Very cultish, too.

Anyway, this person suddenly DM'd me. I've seen them before in comment sections; contributing nothing and generally being shockingly dumb. I was a bit harsher overall than I maybe could have been, but it deeply frustrates me to encounter someone who has so thoroughly bought these types of thought-stopping cliches.

In this instance, they were on a "this person's apparently transphobic so don't listen to a thing they say...but yet engage with them anyway to tell them off ." (??) As it continued I got more confused by that; by why they were even in my dms at all while not willing to have an actual conversation... And wondering what do they think they get out of it. What do they think they're doing?? (I wish I'd manged to ask that!!) But the gist is that they kept insisting they didn't care to read what I was saying...yet they still kept messaging. At least for a few minutes.

And then a block? Too cowardly and/or egotistical to consider they could be wrong. To even discuss it. Notice of course how they never explained anything about what they're claiming. Never said why they say I'm transphobic. Never said why they claim radical feminism isn't feminism. NO THOUGHTS - NO CONTENT - ONLY BUZZWORDS.

They also seem to be so horrendous at reading that they saw me mention male supremacy, I presume in my bio; and somehow concluded I support it?! And that it means I want the sexes segregated?!?! How??? How are these people so quick and willing to proclaim a strong opinion on something they're literally so ignorant (and usually always wrong) on?

Even female separatism, which I fully support (but do not mention in my bio) is not a total separation of the sexes (except in an ideal and unrealistic utopia;) and even that would not be actual "segregation".

And if this person can't understand that the sentence about male supremacy in my bio is calling it the status quo that needs to be overturned by genuine feminism; then ...wow. I just don't know what's going on in schools this past decade. Why are so many of these kids unable to properly read?? 🤦‍♀️ Why are so many unable and/or unwilling to analyze something complex, or even simple - unwilling to critically think and see what conclusions they draw, to challenge their own views by analyzing a disagreeing view; to even learn enough about their own stance to articulate it beyond a basic slogan or buzzword?? Do they even know how they choose a stance? Not specifically with taythewhom but I've seen instances of other people like them admitting when questioned that they don't know why they have the stance they do, they just felt "it's what everyone else is doing" or something like that.

Like, I...cannot even imagine basing my opinions off popularity alone like that.

And honestly I do consider a large part of this person's state to be this failing of the modern public education system. For someone to call a moderate paragraph a "novel" is fucking mind-blowing. Whether you disagree with the subject or not, even if you find it totally boring; you can't call a mild size paragraph a "novel" unless something pretty bad is up with you.

No wonder these Tumblr TRA's are so often woefully uneducated about issues women face, and so woefully incapable of learning or understanding new concepts and things that they're presented with. So uneducated about how to analyze things and use critical thought. Even so uneducated about trans issues (with them often having no idea the meanings, ramifications, and realities of the trans stuff they talk about); so uneducated about gender roles and how they've been used on people, so uneducated about history (and so willing to rewrite it to fit their narrative but that's a whole different post...), so uneducated about actual feminism; about misogyny, patriarchy; about homosexuality and the gay community. So uneducated about how many of these things relate to each other, and how stuff doesn't exist in a vacuum and therefore stuff like so-called "choice feminism" doesn't work.

No wonder their reading comprehension is fucking abysmal (where does my blog say anything about sex segregation????) They either CAN'T or DON'T read...so they don't even understand the issues and stances that they're trying to support - much less the ones they've been told they're in opposition to!!

This is why we see so many of them being trans ideologists. Gender ideology necessities people who do not think, question, or read. Because as soon as one does that, it begins to fall apart.

Also - because genuine feminism ideally requires educating onself on feminist philosophy, and going on a journey through the study of feminist texts to arrive at the conclusions all of us radical feminists do, to be able to articulate these facts to others and to raise female class consciousness and have impactful discussions - it is a lot less appealing to kids who don't want to read, who don't want to think or put in effort. Who would rather be told that they can think and behave exactly how they already do, but just call it "their choice" and therefore "feminist", and be done with it. No class analysis, no understanding of the way males oppress them specifically because of their sex and have done so for hundreds even thousands of years; no - that requires long paragraphs, and very heavy subject matter.

To be clear I do truly empathize with young women feeling turned away by how heavy it is emotionally to face and accept the actual realities of their oppression...the realities of who does it, how severe and all encompassing it is; the reality of what it is based upon. It is a horrible thing to face; and once you've seen it you can never stop seeing it. It permeates everything around us in our entire culture, it overshadows and undertones everything and every situation and etc etc etc. But - to use the overdone matrix analogy - would you rather take the blue pill to make you forget that you ever peaked behind the curtain, or would you rather take the red pill that shows you the grim truth in full - and live the rest of your life in proud resistance against the oppressive force? That red pill is what radical feminists all choose...and it is certainly worth it emotionally.

(NOT to be confused with the fucking "red pill" that far-right males sometimes refer to!! They have entirely different views from radfems, this cannot be overstated - and their "red pill" views of hateful misogynistic nonsense; and often of other hateful and stupid views like antisemitism or homophobia; are entirely incorrect. The ONLY similarity is the matrix pill analogy itself.)

Anyway... going back to the younger people who won't read. They don't read and they don't think. And it considerably contributes to keeping them inside an echo chamber as well, as I'm sure one can understand - if they read nothing from the outside, they've obviously been successfully placed in an echo chamber where they just keep supporting and agreeing with their own stances...which again are often so shallow because they don't even flesh out what they're supposed to believe in themselves.

This is also so concerning for so many reasons; I've already glossed over some and am sure I don't need to list them all... Essentially - being able to read, to effectively properly read and do the thinking that comes with it; is SO DAMNED IMPORTANT. Being able to read multiple paragraphs is VITAL. Books are vital, for a start. If you want to have a stance about a serious and complex issue, for example feminism; you need to be able to read books, studies, articles, news reports, and complex discussion threads. Otherwise you have your stance in name only, with no substance behind your label; and so it would be more beneficial if you don't say a word in these discussions and debates and instead let the people who can actually read and learn and think and speak do the reading, learning, thinking, and speaking...otherwise you'd just be derailing the conversation and adding pointless or even detrimental words.

Like taythewhom does in the notes on multiple feminist posts I've seen 🙃 and they don't mean well at all, certainly not when it comes to women's rights. It's people like this who turn the word "transphobia" meaningless - and into a joke or even into a compliment, depending on context.

Anyway, to wrap this up; while this is a post about the importance of being able to read well (and that's still undeniably true), I admit this also has a level of irony because it is somewhat longer than it needs to be. However there are multiple places where I could have brought up other topics and tangents that were relevant, though - so is it really longer than necessary?? To me that's an incredibly cool thing about writing; no matter what you're discussing there are so many ways you could expand upon what you're saying if you were so inclined to. And how abundantly rich the world is with subject matter is something everyone deserves to be able to access and experience; and the way the school system is degrading the literary level of children is just so tragic and disgusting for so many reasons.

Well - if you made it this far through my 4am adderall comedown vent; congratulations, I think - and thank you! ADHD, which I have, is often awful to live with - but sometimes it can be very handy; although not always in the most productive manner.

Reading and writing are a never-ending source of enrichment, intrigue, revelation and knowledge; and the last one in particular can easily be your greatest source of personal power. All of them lead to personal growth, so don't neglect them. To be a little petty - the moral of this post is, in its simplest terms...be a reader - don't be taythewhom.

[ariaste]

Are you, perchance, a 2013 BBC's Sherlock veteran

No particular reason I'm asking

I watched it and I think I probably reblogged a few things back in the day because I had mutuals who were into it. But I don't recall ever really feeling like I was in the fandom myself.

I'd guess that you're asking because you've recently read my Good Omens essay and your next question is about whether I was a supporter of The Johnlock Conspiracy, and the answer is a hard nah. At least to me personally, all the textual and meta-textual evidence made it abundantly clear, even a decade ago, that the show was not only inhospitable to queer fans, but actively and deliberately hostile towards them (one recalls that utterly mean-spirited depiction of what Steven Moffat thinks a "fangirl" looks and sounds like, as well as more than one occasion when he and others involved with the show mocked fans/fandom/fanfiction in interviews, on camera, with their actual human mouths). I do vaguely remember coming across people on tumblr in those days who were convinced that there was something else going on, that somehow Moffat was going to suddenly change his tune and start loving them back the way that they loved his show, that they would be rewarded for their faith by having their ship made canon, but that seemed extraordinarily unrealistic to me and not based on any concrete facts.

Now, don't get me wrong -- wishful thinking can be really fun, and you're not hurting anyone by hoping for the best and daydreaming about a happy ending. That's just basic human nature. But when someone shows you what kind of person they truly are, pay attention. Balance dreaming with prudence, and don't put all your eggs in one basket--or, rather, don't pin all your hopes on one stranger's artistic decisions.

Part of me wants to say that Steven Moffat is one of several significant contributors responsible for the deep-rooted media trauma that still afflicts thousands of fans today (consider how so many people watching the first season of Our Flag Means Death as it aired were utterly convinced that it was going to queerbait them and exploit their sincere, heartfelt desire for a queer love story on screen, the same way that nearly every other show had done already. So many people met that glimmer of hope with cynicism and pessimism, because when you've been not just disappointed but outright punished for wanting something, the natural trauma-response is to assume that you're not going to get it until you're proven wrong, because that's the only way you can protect your bruised, exhausted heart.

It is true that Moffat's cruelty to the fans of his show contributed to our collective media trauma. However, it is not the only thing that has done so: Particularly in America, we are in the midst of a literacy crisis. Schools have been failing us for more than two decades: They have increasingly failed to teach nuanced reading comprehension and to adequately equip young people with robust and agile critical thinking skills, and this means that an entire generation has been robbed of the tools that would help them to protect themselves from the psychic damage of media trauma before it happens. Moreover, it means that many people now insist on looking to canon to "legitimize" their ships, as if their own interest and enthusiasm was not sufficient. Instead of feeling empowered to reimagine the stories handed to us in order to suit our personal needs, we give away our power into the hands of strangers who do not feel any ethical responsibility to care for their audience as if the audience is a guest in their home. And thus, we get hurt. Media trauma is real, and it sucks.

To return to your original question, no, I don't consider myself a veteran of BBC Sherlock, because I wandered through town, saw that it wasn't worth the fight, and left before the war started.

Remember: In literary criticism and in science, you don't do good work by cherry-picking evidence that supports your pet theory; you do good work by assembling all the data and asking what theory would unify them into a cohesive whole. And if you're really good, you make the effort to be skeptical and look for evidence that might disprove your theory, and you invite others to check your math, because at the end of the day, you are a beautiful, imperfect human and sometimes you make mistakes.

[studentinpursuitofclouds]

Protective bachelors headcanonssssss?

Yeeesssss!

Usually when people ask for "bachelors", I think about like "they are not yet 'Farmer's partner" because they are a 'singles', but I'm always not sure if I'm getting it right. Therefore, I try to find an alternative and write in a way that candidates would behave in both cases. I hope this makes sense.

By the way, I took the word "protective" in different ways. I mean, you can protect them from bullies, from natural disasters, from danger, from themselves if such a case ever occurs. I was interested in experiencing with this writing. Feel free to write criticism and suggest if such a headcanon deviates from the essence of the issue, I'm interested to know your opinion.

Anyway, thank for your ask, anon))))

_________________________________________

Alex:

Alex has been volunteering as a beach lifeguard for years. Given his physical qualities, ability to swim well and basic knowledge of first aid, this role suits him perfectly, so he agreed to volunteer and keep the beach safe every summer.

But it's fall now, too cold for the beach season, so no one needs his skills for now. So Alex thought until the Farmer, fishing on the river bank near Alex's house, fell for some reason directly into the rushing waters. The athlete acted faster than he thought: a jump into the water - and he is already dragging the Farmer to land. Alex carefully examined the Farmer to understand their condition, and when he was convinced that everything was alright with them, he took them home, where Evelyn brought a blanket and a cup of hot tea for the Farmer after a cold bath.

Whether or not the Farmer knew how to swim at the time, Alex now always watches over them when they fish near his house and moves them away from the river to prevent this from happening again.

Elliott:

There was one case when one of the tipsy tourists began to pester the Farmer with an offer to go on a date together. And when the Farmer politely refused the offer, they received threats and promises from the interlocutor to spoil the image of their farm. No one knows how long this clowning would have continued if an enraged Elliott had not approached them.

I can't get the fact out of my head that Elliott will challenge this asshole to a duel like the old fashioned way. It doesn't matter if the Farmer is just a good friend or his partner, the writer is determined to uphold their honor. Of course, here it will do without pistols, but still there is a theatrical note.

But that doesn't mean that Elliott is deliberately turning it into a theatre, oh no. He is fully prepared to fight this ill-mannered interlocutor on the battlefield, whether it be a verbal skirmish or a fist fight. Even if physical superiority is not on Elliott's side, he was able to successfully teach the offender a lesson, although now his nose is covered in blood. The Farmer, treating Elliott's wounds, must admit that they obviously did not expect this from him and were grateful for the support.

Sebastian:

Sebastian was surprised that the Farmer knew so little about social media. Like, they and Sebby are the same age, but if Sebastian himself makes magic with his programming skills, then the Farmer is more like an elder who was given a new phone by grandchildren and don't know how to use this device.

Therefore, Sebastian suggested that they create their own page on the Internet, where they will post their photos and posts on their favorite topics, for example, about farming, or life hacks on growing different crops. To which the Farmer happily agreed, rejoicing at the opportunity to put up tips that will help people. But, unfortunately, in addition to good people there will always be fools, trolls and bots in the vastness of the World Wide Web, which can not only spoil a person’s mood, but also put them into a depressive state.

Sebastian may still feel awkward talking to people face-to-face, but with a snap of his fingers, he will permanently ban nasty people from the Farmer's page while they don't see. Fair criticism is one thing, but just being toxic is another. Sebby won't just watch his friends get bullied by some idiots on the other side of the monitor, right?

Shane:

Shane doesn't get paid enough for this shit. Stupid boss, stupid Joja products, stupid co-workers (not counting Sam and that cashier). This was not enough for him, so now he saw through the window of the store how one of the Joja loaders clings to the Farmer. He can't make out what started the skirmish, but Shane heard loud and clear the phrases about the Farmer "our goods are better than yours", "bastard" and "bitch".

And at that moment, Shane's patience snapped. This pissed him off so much that he went to yell at that freak, not afraid of losing his miserable job.

Do you think Shane can't intimidate a bully enough? Have you ever seen his face when he's angry? This is the face of a man who will fight with God for the sake of people dear to him. For his aunt, goddaughter, chicken Charlie and the Farmer (friend or partner), he will tear off the offender's hands. Even though Morris issued a fine to both Joja employees for "spoiling the image of the company", Shane does not care. No one dares to offend them and think that the asshole will get away with it.

Harvey:

Merciful Yoba, give Harvey great patience. Because if he does not have enough patience, then brute force will come into play. What kind of stubborn fool do you have to be to get out of bed immediately after you had an emergency operation!?

The wounded Farmer after another adventure in the mines became an all-too-frequent sight in Harvey's clinic, but this time the case was quite dangerous. Harvey, as a professional in his field, quickly treated the Farmer's wounds, brought food and ordered them to rest for at least a couple of days. But they declared that the farm would wither without them and were preparing to get out of the hospital bed.

Because of this, Harvey's angelic patience finally snapped and he barked that he would tie the young troublemaker to the bed if they tried to get up again. This cooled the Farmer's ardor, and they obediently lay down again. Harvey, regretting his words, quickly apologized to the Farmer, explaining that he was very worried about their health no longer as a doctor, but as a friend (or more than a friend?). Every time he worries about their health, because they have become a close person to him. To which the ashamed Farmer also asked for forgiveness and thanked Harvey for his care and patience.

Sam:

After Sam's first concert ended successfully, he invited his band members and the Farmer to stay a little longer in Zuzu City for a bite to eat before the road. The Farmer offered to buy everyone burgers and sodas in the cafe while Sam, Sebby, and Abby took a table outside. It's been 30 minutes, and the Farmer still hasn't left the burger place, so Sam decided to check what took them so long. And the delay was because of another visitor to that cafe, who, in a drunken stupor, tried to prove to everyone that the Farmer had stolen their wallet. Neither the seller nor the Farmer themselves were able to calm down the raging visitor.

Sam approached the Farmer at the moment when the problem was solved by itself: no one stole the guy's wallet, he just put them in another pocket of his jacket. But instead of apologizing, the drunkard said that the Farmer could have stolen anyway.

To which Sam, with all his positive and ability to find a common language with everyone, barked at an unpleasant person, saying that the loser should get lost. His tirade somehow worked, and the man left. Sam doesn't like watching his friends get hurt, so he apologized if he scared the Farmer with his swearing. To which the Farmer themselves thank for the help and note that they have never heard such cursing from Sam. Well, yeah Sam is no longer a child! ... But anyway, don't tell his mother that he expressed himself like that, okay? For silence - delicious burgers, at his expense 😉

[millipedish]

I finished Wembley the Spokesfraggle, and I gotta ask: what do you think of Jack Hammer Doozer (considering he's a spiritual successor to Convincing John), and what do you think of how they used Ball of Fire?

It got through! I think Jack Hammer is fine! He's not as interesting to me as my boy John, but that's because he's a one-off celebrity guest so they can't dig into his lore like fr gave us for John. Man, maybe I should make a post about my John lore sometime? But even design wise, John wins out for me. His design inspirations come from bombastic televangelists. He is kind of a very specific criticism of preachers who straight up tell lies about the world to scare people into going down the 'correct' path. But also, I love the suit and the horrible teeth. Man is channeling Iyami Osomatsusan and I love that for him. But I do adore the bttr team and what they were going for with Jack Hammer's design. Guy Fieri is a hype man, and he has sold some really dumb shit in his lifetime. Jack Hammer is less a criticism of preachers and more of a criticism of advertising. Also I love the pompadour and the vest! Bttr has some extremely skilled and dedicated set and puppet designers. I mean they're kind of two sides of the same coin, aren't they? John exaggerates the negative and scary things and Jack exaggerates the positives, but both are being quite dishonest. The thing that John represents feels a little more biting, advertising is also super dangerous, and kids need to learn to think for themselves. So this is ultimately a good thing. Something I really like about this episode is that it feels like peering into John's origin story. I really love that the Doozers picked Wembley for this role *because* he's such a Wembler. A very good shout out to the Secret of Convincing John, where it's revealed that John a worse Wembley than the guy *named after* wembling! With little details like this, you can tell bttr is made by people who have a lot of love and respect for the original series. I'm not a fan of bttr's rendition of Ball of Fire. Kenan is great, but he kind of just shouts the words instead of singing them. But's not a song that I was super attached to to begin with, so it's not like I feel like it 'ruined' it or anything. Actually, I feel strongly that old things don't get ruined just because someone does a new version of it. The old things are still there and still exist in their own context. I like what they're *going* for tho, turning this song into a pseudo villain song. I really think it's neat how they use songs in different contexts in bttr. Turning Chase the Wind from a sports anthem to a queer pride anthem is fucking genius! But this one just doesn't work for me 🤷

[sunnflowyyr]

heyo! first of all i LOVE your writing, I aspire to write as well as you one day <3 I wanted to request some headcanons with the rise boys w/ a gn reader who’s mute!! please don’t feel like you have to answer this, feel free to ignore/delete!!

aaa, hey there !! first of all, thank you so much for your kind words !! i'm sorry for taking so long to get to your request, but i've thought about your idea since it popped into my inbox so i'm excited to finally put it all into this post. i am my own critic and i bully myself until i like my content; so i took a while with this one.

quick disclaimer: i do not have a lot of knowledge about mute individuals, but i did some research during the writing of this fic to try to be as respectful as possible and to also educate myself; however, my comprehension skills aren't the greatest. if i have inaccurately represented this community with misleading information (or if i have misunderstood mutism as a whole), please let me know and i'll correct my work to reflect accurate information. it is never my intention to hurt or offend anyone. - much love, sun

i hope you enjoy !! <3

-

rise!turtles with a mute reader

Raph

i imagine april introduces you to the turtles and that he doesn't really clue into you are being mute at first

mainly because he didn't read the group chat message where april tells the turtles you're mute (he never reads the gc, smfh)

so he always feels bad when he talks to you and you just kind of smile or blink

since he doesn't realize, he just overthinks about why you don't answer back

maybe you don't like him? is he annoying? too loud?

can you smell his "I'm Nervous About Meeting New People" stink?

so when he tells his brothers and they clue him in, it just clicks for him

it makes him feel closer to you because he grew up mute

(i saw a hc once that raph was mute as a kid and no, i will not be convinced otherwise)

you might notice a slight behavior change

he'd normally be a little awkward or stiff in conversation before, but now he finds a way to communicate with you!

even if you don't talk, he'll find a way to keep you in conversation

especially because he can talk a lot if he thinks no one is annoyed by his rambling

the longer he knows you, the longer he picks up on your nonverbal cues and you both find an easy way to communicate with each other

he can't sign very well (just because of the lack of fingers) but he knows how to interpret ASL so you can communicate with him !!

Leo

honestly doesn't notice it from the first time he meets you

also doesn't read the group chat

mainly because he talks so much that he doesn't pay attention to how quiet you are

though when he does notice, he might ask about it?

not to embarrass you, though; he might tease people about a lot of things, but even he knows his limits on that

we love a respectful king

he's just curious about the details, but definitely doesn't push you into telling him about it

he's a nosey mf he can't help himself

all of the brothers (him included) will speak up for you

if you're comfortable with that, of course

"hey, they said no pickles."

he might be sassier about it though, just because he's leo

but he'll do it a million times over

he's also pretty good at picking up on nonverbal cues and body language (because of raph being mute and donnie having nonverbal moments)

if you're uncomfortable? tired? excited? overwhelmed?

leo is here for you

Donnie

knows immediately because he actually reads the group chat

like the others, he knows how to communicate with you

especially with sign language, because he actually knows it and can sign really well?

he actually finds it nice to communicate with you this way as well, especially during some nonverbal moments

and sometimes he can really ramble on; even more so if it's about his interests and superior tech

so signing helps him slow down (because he wants to make sure you can interpret his signing; having three fingers can make it difficult) and watch for your replies

there might be days where you both sit in a comfortable silence (or he just watches you if you want to communicate), or he's really verbal

he can either ramble or keep it short and simple; it really just depends on his mood

but he quietly appreciates the understanding between the both of you

he can see how excited you are about everyone talking about something you're interested in; you wanna join, but it's hard to keep up with their voices and it can be overwhelming

what's wrong, (name)? - donnie asks in ASL

when you tell him he immediately finds a way to stop the conversation

"(name) has something to say about that."

ALL of the brothers look out for you, but he would the most

Mikey

"knows immediately because he actually reads the group chat": the sequel

this boy will do all of the verbal talking for the both of you

he's not necessarily over-talkative, but enjoys having conversations

i'm projecting in the next headcanon but hear it out okay

when mikey was a kid, he grew up with a speech delay

it wasn't until his he was between age 8-9 that he began to improve in his speech

because of it however, he relied heavily on gestures and used very little words unless he was unsure of how to express himself

it was a frustrating for him as a kid; not being able to communicate as well with his brothers

excluding donnie from that cause he taught himself ASL, then taught mikey some words to help him

he wants to make sure you feel heard and that you're comfortable

be prepared because if he knows you're fine with it, he'll rope you into group conversations like donnie does

he understands ASL pretty well, but he won't sign back most of the time; he just has a hard time with it

like leo, he's also pretty good at noticing your body language

i mention reader knowing ASL a lot (aligning it with the fact that i hc the turtles knowing it), but if you don't use it to communicate?

the turtles value your friendship and will adapt any form of communication so you can talk with them!!

you just write on a small whiteboard? mikey's got plenty of supplies for you in his room

if you use a text to speech program? they wait patiently for your reply

as i said, they value you as an individual and welcome you into their little family with opens arms <3

[prettyboykatsuki]

may i pick ur brain wrt something? you write such a large variety of characters and i think you have great skill in following through with a character's characterization (lol) to their sexual life. i was wondering what do you choose to focus on or how you approach figuring out a character's sexual style (?) when you write? im pretty new to writing smut (i write in general but i usually just fade to black) and im having trouble translating a character's neurosis into sexual acts, particularly when you move beyond the vanilla missionary etc sex (which im not particularly interested in writing even tho i think it can be emotionally poignant in its own right).

what i have most trouble with is like figuring out if a certain act fits character a or character b in my ensemble, say, and then moving through with that. i've been trying to approach it like fighting styles bc of the character's physicality, but there are certain temperamental and moral tensions informing fighting in particular (as a deliverance of violence, i mean) that make it hard for me to pinpoint how to translate that to sex without it feeling shoehorned. for example (and this is just for reference), i have a character who's like a gunslinger and whose style is very explosive and wild and a little bit cocky, but when u look at it under the microscope, his approach is polished and precise and meticulous. and THEN his internality is of a young man with a lot of anger and stunted growth, who really just wants acceptance and affection deep down, and who is so very tired. now i can translate each of those things and its combinations a hundred thousand ways, but which is correct? or faithful to him? at one point it all seems unfathomable to me. and then bc i can't make up my mind i fear everything i write ends up being too plain, or ill-fitting, and because my cast is large, it also all ends up feeling too same-y. has this ever been an issue for you?

first of all - i want to say thank you for entrusting and believing in my writing abilities enough to want to pick my brain about this. i'm not entirely sure what the appeal of my writing is to other people (not in a negative way but more in that its my own stuff so im always critical of it) but i put forth a lot of thought in characterization and translating that into sex as i am primarily a smut writer so while im not the most confident u should come to me for advice, im deeply flattered and will do my best anyway

i'll be real though, the best advice is genuinely just not to overthink it and go with your gut. have some faith in your own writing voice and ideas etc. but anyway

there are a lot of layers to this question and i'll do my best to go through it bit-by-bit. and i don't know if this will really help you since it might come off vague

if i can offer you any advice on characterizing well in a smut scene, it's to not view the smut as a separate entity to your work but as an integral part of it's infrastructure. do not treat the smut scene as part of the work, but as a pillar of it.

the other thing is understanding what is personally compelling to u or arousing about this characters storyline or personality. and not arousing as in physical lust, but what concepts tickle you and make you want to write.

the truth is there's no objectively correct way to characterize a character especially if they're nuanced and complex. which is why all writing is subjective in a sense.

ultimately, it's your job as the author to choose what characterization you like best and convince the audience it's the correct one.

for example, the character you're describing is multifaceted. there are several ways you can take the direction of the story

their outward persona is being a cocky gunslinger who is inwardly polished, meticulous, sensitive and tired. all of these traits can be expanded upon into sexual acts based on your will as the writer - so you have to ask yourself, what aspect of this character is the most arousing to you as a writer or what is this sex scene intending to display about a character. what trait of theirs are you hoping to highlight through sex?

to translate these things into sex gets really tricky and is honestly something you have to experiment with until you feel it click.

for me - if i were attempting to write this character, the breakdown process would look something like this.

this character has a personality gap of being a cocky gunslinger but is actually polished and meticulous

this means they they are likely concerned with appearances.

something in their past must've brought them to that conclusion. if they are continuing to outwardly project themselves as a reckless gunslinger - it is is likely not their "true" self.

what would make a character with this many defense show their true selves, or what other characters cause this character to demonstrate to their true selves?

the translation process of eroticism can go in a hundred different languages. if i personally were writing this character, i might pair them with an older mentor type of character, or a nonchalant rival. i might put them in a situation that requires a different kind of vulnerability and forces them to expose some of their nature for the sake of their ideals

as an author, im aroused by the idea of them showing their submission and affectionate side. trying to subconsciously appeal to authority figures might be interesting if i'm trying to demonstrate their lack of validation. the opposite can also be true, that a character like this might resent mentor / authority figures that impede their own ideas and trying to highlight their anger. writing this gunslinger lashing out at a fellow gunslinger they respect can easily be turned into erotica.

you could pair this character with a nonchalant rival type. a direct opposite that challenges a characters morals ideological belief or perhaps - understands them through their differences. this rival character pays enough attention to the gunslinger to know that they are polished and special. while they are rivals, there's something legitmate in their dynamic to this sensitive, tired character who puts up a facade and wants to be understood.

your own arousal as an author comes in here and where you have to make choices.

lets say then, i go with the latter. i would then structure the story or chapter around this idea through by demonstrating the push and pull of their relationship. i would subvert this characters personality through the framework of submission and a desire for acceptance. i'd write the erotica about the slow crescendo to sex with their rival who seems to accept them fully. i'd write about their different meetings, choosing small things to represent larger themes. maybe their rival praises their technique or offers them a listening ear. i use those small moments to build up to the intimacy and weave the erotic stuff into the story itself so when the sex comes it feels gratifying and releases tension (lol)

for the actual sex stuff you just have to go with your gut and distinguish things based on what traits you're showing. maybe this characters need for affection and rest makes them a whiny bottom. as a writer, i'd monopolize that. i'd point out their eagerness to please through desperation like kissing or nuzzle, and i'd have their words contradict their actions to display their personality gap etc

for me being structured around erotica means going through that kind of mental process and and building a story framework from the ground up and aiming for a proper sex scene. the erotica process is weaved into the plot mechanisms, the metaphors, the stories ideology. the smut is the point, and every action is central to emphasizing what is going to end up happening. my better examples of this lately are probably uncle sukuna rip

ive been writing smut for long enough now that i do not struggle with it and it's easy for me to come up with a unique character voice and do all the above sort of automatically in my mind. and i know it can feel intimidating.

the best advice i can give you though again is don't overthink it which ik seems contradictory to all of the above advice. but sometimes you just have to let yourself go with the flow and believe in your own abilities. trust your gut and just shoot straight ahead.

i hope this was bale to help u some!!

[sapphire-weapon]

I think the fact that so many people want to label Leon/Ashley as canonically "sibling- coded" is because they feel threatened in the way they view other of Leon's relationships, they can tell Leon and Ashley have chemistry and they try to convince themselves that they have a familial bond going on (like Ellie/Joel) so that they can justify not shipping them and making people who ship it feel bad/weird.

Because nowadays so many people can't just dislike something, they have to make up a reason why it's morally wrong and unacceptable so that way they can bully people that think differently and feel like their own personal opinions are objective and right while everyone else is wrong smh. This is mostly the case with younger fans (tho a lot of people older than me does this too lmao) so that's why I don't really find it frustrating bc it's most likely they have limited real life experience. Plus they might not be that good at interpreting canon from contextual clues yet.

In my case though I think a lot of these people are actually doing the opposite tbh because to me it just shows that they recognize that Ashley's relationship with Leon is real and they can't even concede that they're friends in the canon because they know it could lead to something else if followed through in the story, they admit there's potential there subconsciously with how hard they try to make it seem otherwise with nonsense claims. It's like when insecure guys feel uncomfortable but try to seem tough by buying big trucks and having guns on them all the time lmao.

So, I've talked about this before -- about how the "sibling coded" or "problematic age gap" discourse is just modern-day fandom's way of slutshaming and engaging in casual misogyny in a societally acceptable way.

I'm pretty confident in saying that anyone in my generation who slaps "siblings" on Leon and Ashley are probably people who have another ship and have had it for a while and don't want Ashley getting in the way of it, tbh LMAO

Like.... my generation has co-opted the current generation's vernacular, but make no mistake about the kind of bitches we are. We're ship war bitches. That's all we've ever been AND WE ARE NOT GOING TO CHANGE OUR WAYS NOW fjdskfh

But if we're talking about the current generation...

Media illiteracy is a big factor in this. It's no secret to anyone that the US education system took a massive shit starting in the late aughts/early 2010s, and things like critical reading skills aren't being taught in schools anymore.

I graduated high school in 2007. Two years later, I went back to visit an old English teacher to get a letter of recommendation, and he was lamenting to me that he'd just given up. It wasn't worth trying to explain the deeper themes of Beowulf to kids who didn't care, because the only thing that mattered was getting them to pass standardized tests.

So, now, without an overt, explicit declaration of love or something visually concrete like a kiss, kids literally do not have the skills to parse through a text and pick out themes and tropes and use of symbolism and imagery. They were never taught how to do it.

But there's a more culture-based thing happening here, I think. It's this fucking mess of a cocktail of internalized misogyny paired with learned helplessness, social anxiety, intense sheltering possibly exacerbated by the pandemic shutdowns, peer pressure, and internet purity culture.

I think it's pretty safe to say that fandom is predominantly made up of women and teenage girls. That was true in the 60s in Star Trek fandom, it was true in my generation, and it's still true today. And what I've seen happening today is that young women are absolutely terrified of their own sexual agency -- because the internet keeps telling them that, if you're under 18, it is wrong and bad and unacceptable for you to engage with anything even remotely sexual and how dare you express your sexuality -- and you'd better not do it not just because it's wrong and bad, but also because you are GUARANTEED TO BE PREYED UPON IF YOU DO. SEX IS DANGEROUS ALL OF THE TIME AND YOU'RE LITERALLY TOO YOUNG AND TOO STUPID TO UNDERSTAND ANYTHING SO DON'T TRY TO EVEN THINK ABOUT IT. Because if you're 17 and he's 18, he's a pedophile!!!!!!!!

I just.

So, we've now basically turned an entire generation of young women into the same type of young women who created the BL genre in Japan. These are women who were too afraid to explore their sexuality on their own, and it felt safer to do it with two male characters, because it was always more "okay" for men to be sexual. This is happening here in the West, now.

Slash ships have always been a thing in the West, but not to the degree that they are today. In today's fandom, if you have an M/F ship at all, you are outnumbered by at least 3:1 -- because M/M just "feels" safer for a lot of the current generation.

So, I think young women look at the Remake portrayal of Ashley Graham, and they identify with her. A lot. They're probably around her age, and her personality is very relatable to the kind of girls who play video games. Ashley's clearly introverted, but she's a fast learner who just wants to help, and she's got a good heart and a weird, kind of awkward sense of humor.

And, not only do these girls identify with Ashley, they're probably thirsty as fuck for Leon.

But that's terrifying to them.

Because they have been taught to fear their own sexual agency. The idea that an attractive, traditionally masculine, older man would be romantically or sexually interested in them is immediately categorized in their brains as wrong and bad -- and they don't want to think of Leon in that way.

So... for them, it can't be romantic. It can't be sexual. But there's clearly something there, but Leon would never abuse or prey on anyone so... that bond must be a perfectly innocent familial affection. That's what it is. That's what it has to be, because anything else forces them to face the uncomfortable reality even young women like them go on dates and have sex -- and sometimes, it's with men like Leon.

So, they thirst over Leon at a safe distance through Luis, primarily. Or they self-indulge on reader fic, because that's so much easier to write off as "just a fantasy" and not a statement on who Leon actually is as a character.

And it's just kind of sad, man. It sucks to see this happen to an entire generation of young women.

That's why I don't really get mad when I see the "siblings" shit out in the wild. I just feel sad for those people -- because they can't just say "I don't like the ship." They're so insecure and neurotic that they have to think of a reason why the ship is literally impossible to ever happen so that they don't have to be worried about it.

One day, they'll finally suck a dick for themselves and learn that it's not that serious. It's really fuckin not. Dicks are stupid, and the boys that are attached to them are even dumber.

[whenlifegivesyousparklingwater]

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Dear Public Diary,

I feel an increasing sense of dread as April approaches. As a student in the humanities and social sciences, not only do I have research of my own to do, but I have so many papers to write for courses. Just in the next week, I have two papers due, neither of which I have started. I have been staring at the same page and reading the same sentences over and over. I cannot concentrate or comprehend what I am reading. However, in my defense, Locke writes in paragraph-length sentences that could have easily been broken up into at least three separate statements. This inability to be productive, combined with the inability to relax, puts me in stasis, where I just freeze up. It's not that I don't like the Enlightenment thinkers... or maybe it is.

I have to remind myself that just because power is shared among several White men (as opposed to power concentrated in one White man) does not make it democratic. It's so easy to read ideological philosophical texts and convince myself that I am one of the humans they speak of, though I know that these thinkers would not have considered me as one. Even still--centuries after Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau--I am not truly considered as a full, free [hu]man by the government. It is not really that oppressed people are becoming a part of this "human" category; we are just changing the boundary between who is in the human and subhuman categories. We are just given an illusion of progress by introducing new moral justifications.

For example, in the US, we are taught to believe that racism ended with MLK--we no longer treat Black people as lesser just because of skin color! Hooray! However, what the government did was refocus our morality--we believe criminals deserve to be punished and treated as lesser. Solution: make Americans believe crime is out of control and that Black people are criminals. Now we draw the line slightly differently from where it was before, but not really. It just gives us new moral justifications to put a certain group of people in the trash to be forgotten. This is a weird analogy, but it reminds me of the barber poles that captivated me as a child; the spinning motion combined with the diagonal lines give the illusion that the lines are continually going upward when, in reality, the stripes are not changing.

I am taking a graduate-level course in philosophy of law; this semester, it is focused on feminism and cornography laws. [I don't know what words Tumblr flags these days, but just to be safe, I will just use 'corn' to refer to--you know.] We are reading In Harm's Way: The [C]ornography Civil Rights Hearings by Catharine MacKinnon. The hearings took place in the 80s when there were no real laws limiting corn or allowing people to seek justice for wrongs they faced because of corn. I'm happy to discuss the philosophical, sociological, and psychological dimensions of harm caused by corn, but that would be an entire dissertation on its own, so I will hold myself back for the time being.

In the past seven days, I have read ten books. These were mindless fantasy romances, so I breezed through them, no critical thinking skills activated. However, it made me stop and analyze the parallels between mainstream romance books and visual cornography. Corn had previously been limited to the men who had access to art (so basically the upper class) or brothels. Until the internet age, it was not as democratically accessible. Nowadays, even young children are able to access corn without any barriers. Corn tends to refer to visual mediums (rather than literary), and we as a society now recognize the existence and harms of sex trafficking and its role in creating corn. People tend to believe that the harm of cornography lies in the women who are forced to perform and that this is what makes the ethics of corn questionable. [Of course, some may argue upon which ones or what situations can be evaluated as "forced," but that's a topic to tackle on another day.]

However, this is my controversial opinion: I think corn and the pimps of this multi-billion dollar industry have strategically adapted to the new social constraints of the time. Behold, spicy books: a newly-mainstream medium of corn that still maintains abuse/violence as something sexually arousing, maintains toxic gender dynamics (i.e., male dom/female sub), brings in a new demographic of customers (i.e., women), and seems ethical (i.e., no women are harmed in the process). Seems like female sexual liberation, but is it really? I recently went to a local bookstore, and they had a whole section of the store dedicated to BookTok romance books with an emphasis on those with "spice." Alarmingly, it was right next to the Young Adult (YA) section (ages 12-18). The displayed spicy books have such deceiving, innocent, cute covers that make children pick them up and prevent parents from knowing the true nature of the story. Pimps would often show children corn as educational material of sorts so that they know how to behave and what to reenact. Especially since sex education is not very thorough (if there is any at all), these toxic dynamics displayed in these books become young girls' sex education.

Even for us adults, it's important to analyze whether the maledom/femsub dynamic is truly a personal preference that many people also happen to hold or whether it is an internalization of misogyny. Although these YouTube shorts were satirical, I saw a few that were something like "POV: you're dating a book girlfriend" and the girlfriend would do toxic things, like objectify their partners, have unrealistic expectations, expect/demand violent actions in sex that the men are not comfortable doing, etc. Seems like an ironic reversal of the previous situation with visual cornography. [It is important to remember we are still in a male-dominated society, and as long as we are in a male-dominated society, men will not truly understand the harm corn has caused women.] However, men are being called "too sensitive" by talking about the harm these books are causing in relationships. Wouldn't this be another form of silencing a group, this time on the basis of toxic masculinity ideals? Then, we are not necessarily giving more people voices but shifting who gets the voice based on a shallow understanding of the deeper issue at hand.

One of the reasons why violent corn should not be protected by the First Amendment is because of the real-life harms that they cause. For example, corn may just say these are "sexual fantasies," but they cause real-life harm as real-life men seek to reenact them with women in coerced/forced situations. Just because one has a camera recording should not mean that the violent act is protected under free speech. If real-life harm is being caused because of smut, smut should not be fully defended by the First Amendment as free speech. More importantly, we need to realize that these books are not "just fiction" or "just sexual fantasies" and understand the real-life implications. I guess smut books can also be seen as a form of sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act in that they create content based on gender/sex where one group (i.e., women) is degraded, and these books facilitate gender-based discrimination in real life. Anyways, these are my thoughts.

I have a breakfast meeting to get ready for, so I will call it a day here.

Yours Truly,

RCH

[showmey0urfangs]

Alright Toni, since you decided to get on this public platform and start insulting me and dragging my name in the mud, seemingly out of the blue then fine, I'll bite and give you the attention you crave.

-------

For reference, this is the post they are referring to, that I made back in September, criticizing the gross implication that Louis enjoys being subjected to racism and being emasculated by white men. A post in which btw I did not even mention your name.

And this was the other post I made some time before that, expressing my dislike for the prevalence of what I consider to be harmful racist and homophobic tropes in this fandom—which earned me a series of hateful comments and anonymous messages, no doubt coming from all those lovely people in your comments who are calling me names and accusing me of all sorts of things simply for daring to disagree with the great Masterletters.

Well, newsflash Buddy being black does not place you above criticism when you say some dumbass racist shit. Nor does it give you the right to bully and harass other fans for expressing opinions you don't like.

I will reiterate the same thing I said a month ago: Me expressing my opinions on my own blog, in posts that I usually don't even tag, is not me policing other writers.

I am allowed to say that I dislike certain tropes and find the way they are written in this particular fandom—especially when it comes to Louis—homophobic, dehumanizing and racist. That is my opinion and you're more than free to disagree with it.

I don't comment on any of your fics, nor do I come onto your account or in your inbox to tell you what to write. And I have never attacked other fans anonymously. When I have something to say I will always do so from my own account. Hiding behind vague posts and anonymous hate messages is you and your friend's MO, not mine.

Since you all seem so convinced you're the bestest writers in this fandom and your interpretation of these characters is the only correct one, then great. Keep doing you! After all, I'm just a talentless nobody who is sooo jealous of your brilliant writing skills, so why do you even care so much about what I think? Why are you so obsessed with me to the point of continuing to stalk me and talk about me even long after I've blocked you?

It's always funny to me that you and your friends want to act like the moral authorities in this fandom, harassing and bullying other writers to the point that several of you got banned from discord servers and are blocked by half of the people on here for the nasty way you behave, and yet you still fail to see the irony of you perpetrating the same racist and harmful tropes in your own writing you claim to denounce. And you certainly seem to have no issue targeting any other black fans who dare to disagree with your very narrow interpretation of these FICTIONAL characters. You think it feels "off" that I called you 'kang' and yet it's okay for you and your friends to call me and other black fans coons, race traitors and other derogatory racial slurs?

As you said so yourself, I have never interacted with you and as a matter of fact, I have most of your little group blocked, both on here and on any other platform, and carefully avoid any and all interactions with any of you. So I would appreciate it if you keep my name out of your fucking mouth!

And this is my PSA to everyone who liked that post, is friends with any of these people and/or endorses the way they behave towards other fans: please kindly unfollow me and refrain from interacting with any of my content in the future!

I come here to have fun and enjoy my silly little gay vampire show, and I always try to remain civil and have open discussions with everyone, even with people I strongly disagree with. But when someone decides to fuck with me and thinks they can intimidate me or silence me with cheap high school mean girl tactics, I will meet them with the same energy!

[stele3]

https://www.tumblr.com/stele3/736276958029168640/longtime-readers-will-know-that-i-was-once-a

As a leftist, I just wanna say that whenever I see someone who says “I was in the army, I’m now a leftist”, I have to pause. I’m anti-war and I just keep thinking:

“You’d get kicked out of my org for saying the things you’d say, and that’s why we need you in the fucking org. You know the system, you can call out rampant misinfo, and we need that.”

Because (to roughly misquote Angela Davis): “Why are we still debating whether or not Israel has the right to exist when we see what the Israeli government is doing on social media?” That feels like more of a genuine distraction than anything else.

And like, you probably know things that would drive me nuts. So, I guess what I’m trying to say is, I trust you, on the grounds of authority

Thank you; I do want to instantly contradict that a little bit and say: don't trust me blindly.

People can and do lie about their personal identities on the internet all the time. We saw this in 2016 when Tumblr and other social media platforms were infested with psyops agents pretending (especially) to be Black Americans. I see this now on Tumblr with the proliferation of Hamas and Houthi sympathizers; certainly some of them are real people who have been taken in by the lies, but I'm betting a lot of the big accounts (h*ritageposts in particular) involved are very skilled psyops agents. My point being: unless you know someone in real life, do not blindly trust that they are who they say they are online. Including me.

I'm human. I make mistakes. I can't guarantee that h*ritageposts is a psyops agent (but I'm sure watching them with a hairy eyeball -- either they're psyops or they're really committed to reblogging misinformation). If you take away anything from the post you linked, please don't let the thing be 'trust me I know what I'm talking about' and let it be 'think critically about the things you read and reblog, and try to get your information from reputable news sources rather than social media.'

I'm not looking to convince people to trust me. I'm looking to educate and teach people to recognize mis/disinformation, and stop as much of the flow of it as we can.

[sodiumlamp]

Lower Decks

I'm not gonna liveblog Lower Decks because I only liveblogged Picard to maintain my sanity as I endured it. It was more of a defense mechanism than a plan. The only reason I bring up LD is because I wanted to end the Picard thing on a more positive note. Lower Decks is a much better show, and I dare say watching Picard first made me enjoy the experience even more.

It's a comedic take on Star Trek, and the show could be forgiven for playing fast and loose with the premise, but it doesn't. Lower Decks feels like a very authentic Star Trek expereince, but it just has a comedic flavor to it.

It also does a whole lot of callbacks to old Star Trek lore. The difference is that LD isn't depending on the viewer to get all the callbacks. If you don't notice or recognize Spock Two's skeleton hanging in that display room on the collector's ship, it doesn't matter, because the plot doesn't hinge on it. LD also doesn't pull the Picard trick of making callbacks as an end unto itself, like Adam Soong holding a folder entitled "PROJECT KHAN" and nothing happens. Lower Decks has some running subplots, but it's very clear to its audience about which moments are clues and which moments are fun easter eggs.

Most critically, Lower Decks maintains the optimism of the classic 20th Century Star Trek shows. You watch an episode, and things usually work out by the end of it. More importantly, when people lose faith in the world they live in, there's some moment where that faith is restored. Starfleet stands for something and it's not just empty slogans or cynical public relations. It's not all sunshine and rainbows, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel and the characters generally find it. Except for Peanut Hamper. Fuck you, Peanut Hamper.

The fundamental conflict in the show is that these are all good people who strive to be better, to do better, and they tend to get in each other's way as they try to improve. Mariner defies her superiors because they doesn't always know best, but sometimes her superiors do know best. Boimler (and other characters) crave promotion and recognition, but he sometimes has to take a step back and consider why he wants those things. There's an episode where he joins a group of ambitious ensigns and they practice making inspiring leadership speeches, but he eventually realizes that it's a skill he can't use in the here and now. "We have to inspire the crew!" "We are the crew!"

The show demonstrates just how badly Picard fumbled the ball with its "everything sucks now" philosophy. In theory, you can do a utopia-gone-wrong story with Star Trek, but there needs to be a clear understanding of what went wrong and how it gets fixed. You can't just make a Star Trek story that flat out repudiates the optimistic future. You can just have the characters say "Whoops, that never worked!" That'd be like Batman deciding that crime is actually pretty cool. Shows like Picard try to convince the audience that the only way to tell a story is to break everything and make it miserable. Lower Decks proves that's a lie told by lazy showrunners who only know how to pull one lever.

Part of the problem, I think, is that these studios keep trying to do big events, relying on spectacle over storytelling. That's why Picard Season 2 had to climax with Picard's mother hanging herself. It has to be this big provocative moment, regardless of whether it makes sense or fits the characters. Picard has prophetic dreams of Data, the exploding girl looks just like the one from the old painting, it was the Borg the whole time, and by golly there sure are a lot of decapitations in this show.

By contrast, one of the most powerful moments on Lower Decks is when Captain Freeman finally gets fed up with Mariner and has her transferred to Starbase 80. It's not a big, apocalyptic moment that will Change The Marvel Universe Forever™, but it's effective, because the show took the time to establish that Starbase 80 is the worst assignment in Starfleet, and it's the one punishment Mariner takes seriously, and Freeman must be really upset if she's decided to take it that far. And then later, she regrets her decision, and when things work out in the end, their reconciliation is that much more satisfying. It just works. Not everything has to be a swordfight in a Borg Cube, for crying out loud.

I haven't watched Season 4 yet, but I'm really looking forward to seeing the new Vulcan character, T'Lyn on the show. Now we have two blueshirts in the cast. And they're not doctors or nurses! Nothing against doctors or nurses, but there's a severe lack of science division characters in Star Trek, and that screenshot of two of them doing something involving hydrogen samples is more exciting than a hundred Jack Crushers. I hope they do a whole episode about hydrogen samples. That would kick ass.

[pynkhues]

I feel like this show is too smart for most of it's audience. The fact that people take Claudia's remark meant to hurt and manipulate Louis as a fact of his personality when the show has been playing out Louis's struggle with his internalised homophobia, misogyny and toxic masculinity all this time. I swear to God, I stumble upon gender essebtialist, homophobic posts in this fandom every day, especially when it comes to Louis's relationships. The reductive discussions about who is top/bottom or dom/sub in his sexual relationships are truly disgusting to me. Because they are clearly "who is the man, who is the woman" discussions cloaked into sex talk. Sorry for the rant, I am triggered today too. I actually want opinion from you about the reasons for Loumand's dom/sub dynamic, everyone always talks about how it's because of Armand's trauma but I actually think it happened because of Louis's internalised homophobia, misogyny and toxic masculinity combined with trauma. I think he's not a person that actually needs or wants to be dom permanently. I think he convinced himself that this is who he is because it allows him to tell himself he's a real man even if he's gay. I'm rambling too much, I'm sorry!🙈

Ah, anon! Please don't apologise, and I'm sorry it's taken me a couple of days to reply after my own annoyed rambling, haha. It's just been a busy week, and it's often quicker and easier to send a reply to asks that, well, ask a bit less (and please, that's not a criticism, I love longer, more provocative asks, and I have a lot more in my inbox I want to get to!).

I don't know if I think the show is too smart for people. I think everyone and anyone can and does have the capacity to engage in a show like this - it's not that clever or pretentious - but I do think the current state of fandom and social media means that a concept gets floated and people get swept up in it.

We're living in an increaingly disconnected society and people seek community through things like fandom and so it becomes natural to lean in, to not question, to consume media as a part of something as opposed to as an individual. I think it's too easy to become a BNF in that sense (I know, I've been one previously, and while I love having chill convos with you guys and writing fic, I don't want to be like - - a known entity in this fandom, haha), especially if you know how to write an argument, and that the result of that is a blog / user becomes a meeting point for fans who are just hungry for engagement and the more-more-more pipeline that's a byproduct of the era we live in.

It's the same across the board, right? Whether you're arguing Louis' 'woman-coded' on tumblr, or being dogmatic about an interpretation of - - I don't know, a TSwift song, i think it all comes from the same place, and I don't think intelligence plays as much of a role as perhaps social skills and personal investment in the actual source material. Is it the art that matters to you, or the community/fandom? Because that's going to motivate your engagement in very different ways.

In regards to your actual question though:

I talked about it a bit in this post, but I think Louis stepping into that role with Armand was hugely about his own issues of identity at that point in the story. Claudia asking him who he was without her or Lestat was basically the set-up for Louis' arc across the season, and Louis tried and failed to do something on his own which left him searching for something familiar - "running things".

I think the d/s dynamic with Armand though worked two-fold - it positioned Louis closer to power, made him feel he had a purpose in guiding Armand through the theatre drama, but I also think it probably helped him to regain a sense of romantic control. We tend to focus a lot on Lestat's abuse of Louis as being what wrenched Louis' grip on himself away, but the reality is that was just a part of that. The point is that Louis and Lestat never feel clear-headed when they're around each other, they're never rational, even when they're at their most loving, which Louis knows because he's hearing and feeling it through Dreamstat.

That dynamic in the relationship with Armand is, to me, about a lot of things, but a huge part of that is just about Louis feeling like he's in control of both the romantic dynamic and, I'd argue, himself again. And I agree, I don't think Louis wants to be a dom permanently by any stretch of the imagination, but I think he understood Armand, at least that part of him, and saw a way they could be symbiotic. Which they were for a chapter! They just lasted probably 70 years longer than they should have, haha.