#if both parties are terrible regarding the genocide then you have to look at their other talking points

[terryfuckingturniptruck]

Alright, here we go again. I'm sorry that you all want to feel righteous and just but not voting or voting third party is only going to make everything worse. Of course the dems are fucked up politicians too but if you are going to just not vote for anyone bc of the genocide, then you are voting indirectly for that orange fucker to be back in office. And not only is he for the genocide in Palestine, he is for various other types of genocide and other egregious behaviors as we've seen.

[stranger-who-writes-fiction]

Back at it again with my self-indulgent comic posts. This time! It’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow #3, perhaps the most tonally-distinct entry yet, with shades of The Twilight Zone. 

Spoilers!

So, as mentioned, this issue is the most deliberate in terms of both its pacing and its tone, IMO.

What is that tone, you ask?

To quote Alex Danvers, from “Midvale”: Hello, darkness.

THE STORY:

Kara and Ruthye are still looking for Krem Clues in the alien town of Maypole.

(Which is actually just Small Town, USA, complete with vintage 50s aesthetics.)

But the locals are clearly hiding something! So Kara and Ruthye continue to investigate, and they eventually discover what it was that the residents of Maypole were so keen to keep hidden. 

Genocide, basically. 

As I said, this issue struck me as very Twilight Zone; a genre story involving the build-up to a dark twist, all set against the backdrop of an idyllic small town. (Think, like, “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” but instead of focusing on the Red Scare, it’s classism and racism.)

The wealthier blue aliens kicked all of the purple aliens out of town, and when space pirates showed up to pillage and plunder, the blue aliens made a deal with them: the lives of the purple aliens in exchange for their safety.  

Which is where the episodic story connects to the larger mission; it was Krem who suggested the trade, and then joined up with the Brigands (space pirates) when he was freed by the blue aliens.

The issue ends with no tidy resolution to the terrible things Kara and Ruthye discovered, but they do have a lead on where to find Krem, now, as well as Barbond’s Brigands.

KARA-CTERIZATION:

Ironically, it’s here, in the darkest chapter yet, that we get the closest to what might be considered ‘classic’ Kara. 

Which I think comes down to that aforementioned deliberate pace--this issue is a little slower, a little quieter. It gives the characters some room to breathe.

That’s not to say Crusty Kara is gone. Oh no. She is still very much Crusty. XD 

But anyways. A list! Of Kara moments I loved!

I mentioned a few of these in a prior post when the preview pages came out: I like the moment where Kara blows down the guy’s house of cards, and I like that the action is echoed later in the issue when she grabs the mayor’s desk and tosses it aside. A nice visual representation of the escalation of Kara being, like. Done with these creeps. (Creeps is an understatement but you get the idea.)

Another one from the preview pages: Kara explains to Ruthye that her super hearing won’t necessarily help her detect a lie, especially if she’s dealing with an alien species she’s not familiar with.

It not only reveals her level of competence and understanding of her super powers, it also shows that, you know. She’s a thinker. She’s smart. 

Amazing! Showing, rather than telling us, that Kara is smart! Without mentioning the science guild at all wow hey wow.

(Sorry, pointed criticism of the SG show fandom.)

Anyways.

I dig the PJs! 

And Kara catching the bullet! Not only are the poses and character acting great, it’s also a neat bit of panel composition:

We start with Ruthye’s POV, and then move to the wide shot of the room. The panel where Kara actually catches the bullet is down and to the side of the wide shot panel--we move our eyes the way her body/arm would have to move to intercept the bullet. Physicality in static, 2D images!

Also, like. It’s a very tense moment, life-or-death, but. Ruthye’s wide-eyed surprise at the bullet in Kara’s hand? Kind of adorable. 

I was pretty much prepared for the page of Kara shielding Ruthye from the gunfire to be the highlight--it was one of the first pages King shared and I was like, ‘yeah, YEAH.’ But, shockingly? The TRUE highlight of the issue?

Where do I BEGIN?!?!

EVERYTHING. About this moment. Is lovely.

From Kara holding Ruthye above the bench to explaining the concept of a piggyback ride, to telling her:

“I’m going to hold my hands here, and these hands can turn coal into diamonds, so they’re not going to let go. I’m going to keep you safe.”

HNNNNNNNNNNNG.

Ruthye’s narration--about how Kara had avoided flying as she was concerned it would freak Ruthye out--just adds a whole additional layer of YES, GOOD, YES, and her line on that splash page is great: “You see, all that time, she was worried about me.”

HNNNNNNNNNNNG. AGAIN.

To say nothing of the STELLAR ARTWORK.

And SPEAKING of that stellar artwork, Evely and Lopes continue to knock it out of the park. Each issue is distinct and beautifully crafted, a true joy to look at.

Before I jump into more of the art, a few final notes of character stuff in general.

Ruthye is the one most affected by the experience in Maypole, as she can’t comprehend how a society of people that look so nice and gentle and peaceful could have been party to such a horrible act.

One of the big criticisms of the book thus far is that Supergirl is not the main character, and I guess I can agree with that observation. Typically, in Western media, the main character is the one who goes through the most change in the story. 

And, yeah. That’s Ruthye.

As I was reading the end, where Ruthye sits on the curb and Kara hugs her, I was imagining how the scene would’ve played, had King stuck with the original idea for the series: Kara as the one learning to be tough/experiencing all of this for the first time, and while I think that could certainly work...

I continue to appreciate that King literally flipped the script; that Kara, especially in this issue, is like, ‘I’ve seen this, I know this,’ as opposed to being the one going through a loss of innocence.

*Marge Simpson voice* I just think it’s neat!

Because Kara’s been a teen in DC comics for so long--ever since she was reintroduced to the main DCU continuity, actually--so this is all brand new territory, here. Having an older Kara who’s SEEN SOME STUFF.

(Alsoooooo, since Bendis made the destruction of Krypton not just inaction and climate disaster, but rather, genocide, and the subtext of a Kryptonian diaspora text, the waitress’ derogatory comment regarding the the destruction of Kryton, as well as Kara picking up the bad vibes the entire time, suggests not just a broad commentary on discrimination in all its forms, but specifically allegorical anti-Semitism. The purple aliens being forced out of their homes and into substandard living conditions, then the blue aliens--their neighbors and once-fellow residents--essentially allowing the space pirates to kill them, making them literal scapegoats, Kara discovering the remains of the purple aliens, and Ruthye’s horror at the ‘banality of evil’...yes. A case could be made, I think.) 

(Which would probably require a post unto itself and a lot more in-depth discussion, nuance, and cited sources.)

(Should mention that King has brought up that both he and Orlando--the other Supergirl writer he talked to--are Jewish, and for him personally, that shaped his views on Kara’s origin story.)

I guess my point is that this issue is perhaps not as out-of-left-field as some might think, and just because there isn’t as obvious an arc for Kara, doesn’t mean there isn’t some sharp character work at play. 

(I could be WAY OFF, of course, and I’m not suggesting it’s a clear 1:1 comparison. I’d actually really love to hear King talk about this issue in particular.)

Anyways.

Here’s the final page, which I think works, because as I mentioned before, there is no easy answer/quick wrap-up to the story of Maypole:

THE ART:

I mean. How many times can I just shout ‘ART! AAAARRRRRRRRRRRTTTT!’ before it gets old?

I dunno, but I guess we’re gonna FIND OUT.

There are some panels in this issue that I just. Like ‘em! From a purely artistic standpoint! Because they’re so good!

Like, I just really love the way Kara is drawn in that top panel. Her troubled, confused expression, the colors of the fading light, the HAIR. 

Evely draws the best hair. I know I’ve said this before. I don’t care. I will continue to say it, because it continues to be true.

The issue I find myself running up against when I make these posts is that I really don’t want to post whole pages, as that’s generally frowned upon (re: pirating etc.) but with something like this, you just can’t appreciate it in panel-by-panel snippets.

(Guided View on digital reading platforms is a BANE and a POX I say!)

Anyways.

LOVE the implied movement of the cape settling as Kara speeds in and stops. 

And, obviously, Kara flicking the bullet away is just. A+. 

And the EYES, man. LOPES’ COLORS ON THE EYES???!?! BEAUTIFUL.

Also, should note the lettering! The more rounded letters for the ‘WOOSH’ of Kara’s speed (and, earlier, the super breath) work nicely, and contrast with the angular, violent BLAMS of the gunshots. 

And, I gotta say, the editor is doing a really great job of not cluttering up the artwork with all the caption boxes. Which is no small task.

(I assume the editor is placing them, as editors usually handle word balloon/caption box placement, but I suppose it could be Evely? Sometimes the artist handles it. Either way, whoever’s taking care of all the text, EXCELLENT WORK! BRAVO!)

Okay I think that’s everything.

Ah, nope, wait.

MISC.

Just a funny observation, more than anything else: Superman: Red and Blue dropped this week, and King had a story in there, “The Special” (which was very good, btw.) Both Lois and the waitress swear a lot so I’m beginning to think that this is just how King writes dialogue for any adult character who isn’t Clark. XD

This is absolutely a personal preference but when Kara was like, “And my name IS Supergirl,” I was like nooooo. I know King is trying to simplify all of the conflicting origin stories and lore but I LIKE KARA DANVERS, SIR. XD

It’s almost assuredly a cash-grab/an attempt for DC to get all the money it can out of a book they don’t have much confidence in, but I like the cardstock covers! Very classy, much Strange Adventures.

(OH my gosh, can you imagine that issue 1 cover with spot gloss???? Basically the only way you could possibly improve on it.) 

Okay NOW I’m done. For real. XD NEXT TIME: Kara and Ruthye go after Krem and the Brigands!

[scripttorture]

Hello! I've browsed this blog a bit and came across the idea that torturers often develop mental illness because of their repeated exposure to the violence/trauma of seeing another person in pain, which I'd never considered before. A) Do you believe torturers can therefore be a type of victim as well, depending on the circumstances, and therefore deserving of compassion/therapy? B) Can you point me to more information about this/what kinds of mental illnesses develop in torturers? (1/2)

C) Do you think it's possible for a mass murderer/torturer character to have a realistic, satisfying redemption arc? Do you know any media that's pulled it off believably? Thank you so much for taking the time to read/answer this if you do! And for this excellent resource!

-

The most accessible sources that cover this are O’Mara’s Why Torture Doesn’t Work (good grounding, start with him), Rejali’s Torture and Democracy and the appendices to Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth where he describes treating two torturers.

 The most current research is about 600 pages of print on demand untranslated French. If you’re fluent in French (I am not and lock down etc has got in the way of me getting this translated) Sironi Comment devient-on tortionnaire?

 Broadly speaking the symptoms appear to be the same as those survivors and witnesses develop.

 And I will go into this in more depth later but keep in mind there is not anywhere near enough research on torturers for us to be entirely sure about most of this. I’m working with the best information we have right now.

 The other two questions are subjective and sort of complicated. By definition a lot of this is going to be my opinion because well that’s what you’re asking for.

 I think we need to be really careful about describing torturers as ‘victims’.

 Yes they’re put in this situation by social structures beyond their control. It is not their fault that they weren’t given training or support in their job. It’s also not their fault that we have this global message that violence is effective or that so many workplaces are unnecessarily pressured/stressful. Most of the time they are drawn in to abusing others because of the social groups and structures within the organisation they join.

 Oversight (with a drive to eradicate torture), funding, training and clear consistent messages about the right way to handle difficult situations would probably prevent most cases of torture.

 This does not change the fact that on an individual level each of them chose to hurt other people.

 Some of them will have made that choice understanding there was a threat to their own safety if they did not. Some of them will have made that choice just because it was what everyone else was doing. Some of them genuinely believe what they did was the ‘right’ decision at the time.

 They still made that choice. And given that we have records of people in similar positions refusing, even when it put them at risk of attack or death, I don’t have a lot of sympathy with the choice torturers made.

 The fact I’m a pacifist factors into this. Consider my biases.

 Torturers typically show a very low understanding of the impact their actions have had on other people.

 They might regret their actions but this is typically framed in a very self-centred way. They usually don’t express more then cursory regard for the victims. They regret it because they’re suffering now, because they have nightmares, because they can’t keep a job. And oh it’s all so unfair.

 I don’t know why this is the case. But it’s a feature Sironi described in interviews about her work. And I’ve seen it over and over again in interviews with torturers.

 Yes torturers suffer. The symptoms they develop are terrible and have a lasting impact on their lives. They typically can’t hold down jobs and struggle to re-integrate into society in any meaningful fashion.

 And yes I believe they should be treated. I believe that anyone with a disease or condition which requires treatment should have access to care and treatment. Whoever they are. Whatever they did.

 I believe that as fellow human beings torturers are entitled to a degree of compassion. When I say that torture and mistreatment are wrong I mean it. My position doesn’t change just because the theoretical victim is a former torturer.

 I do not think that treatment and compassion should be dependant on a person being suitably victimised. For me the only thing it depends on is their need and their humanity. In the literal physical sense of them being a human.

 But we tend to think of ‘victim’ as a simple category that doesn’t overlap with mass murderers.

 And I don’t believe the position of torturers is that simple.

 Especially when so few of them are charged. Torture trials are rare. Convictions are rare. And sentences are short.

 And their victims deserve justice too.

 I feel conflicted about calling torturers ‘victims’ because of this complex reality. And because in fiction we have a tendency to focus on the torturers prioritising their voices over the survivors. I feel like presenting torturers as simple victims of society could risk adding to that.

 For me the focus has always got to be the survivors.

 And I think all of this feeds into how we handle redemption arcs.

 I don’t think that writing redemption arcs for villains, even torturers or mass murderers is ‘wrong’. In fact I think that it can be a really good idea. Showing how toxic the environments these people are in is a good thing. Puncturing the way it’s romanticised is a good thing. And showing a way out of it, even if it’s imagined, is not a bad thing.

 But if we’re going to do that in our stories then I think we need to think about what redemption means and in whose eyes the character is redeemed.

 There’s also a small problem: we don’t really know what recovery for torturers looks like.

 There isn’t enough research on them. Partly because of lack of interest but partly because the low conviction rates means sample sizes are small. We’re talking about a limited number of individuals who are jailed and we can’t really ‘prove’ that individuals who weren’t convicted were torturers. We don’t really know what the long term outcomes are, what treatments might be effective or- Much of anything.

 Studies on torturers are typically based on very small numbers of individuals. (For a long time Fanon’s work was the only example of a mental health professional talking about torturers specifically. He saw two of them.) They are not statistically sound. And a lot of resources were simply journalists or mental health professionals compiling notes on the handful of individuals they talked to.

 Everything I say about torturers is based on things like interviews, a handful of studies that have flaws and anecdotal evidence. Unfortunately as of right now it’s the best we’ve got.

 Personally I don’t think there’s enough research on torture generally. Or enough attempts to collate relevant research from other fields. But that’s a rant for another day.

 Let’s get back to that central question: what does redemption mean?

 I think that it’s pretty easy to write a character changing for the better. You can build up the character’s level of insight into what they’re doing/did over the course of the story. You can show them choosing to stop. You can show them shifting to oppose their former allies.

 But bundled up in the idea of a redemption arc is this: is it enough? And who is it enough for?

 I don’t think survivors should be obliged to forgive former torturers. I also don’t think they’re likely to interact positively.

 I’ve talked about this now and again when asked about the difference between legally defined torture and abuse. Because of the organised and widespread nature of legally defined torture there are usually communities of survivors. And communities that are collectively moving through a recovery process because even those people who weren’t directly attacked are likely to be witnesses, carers and relatives or friends of survivors.

 These things echo down generations.

 Cyprus gained independence from the British in 1960, my father is too young to have any real memory of the violence during the colonial period. But he referenced it in arguments with my English mother during my childhood. There are people throughout China today who won’t buy anything Japanese because of Japanese war crimes there during World War 2. There are people who won’t eat fish from the Black Sea, because the bodies of their ancestors were thrown into that sea during a genocide over a hundred years ago.

 I know that as a both a Greek Cypriot and an English person there are people all over the world who will not want anything to do with me based on what my people have done to theirs. And the fact I wasn’t alive at the time does not really factor into it.

 What I’m trying to illustrate here is that this is much bigger, broader and more complex then individual acts of forgiveness.

 Survivors are a highly varied group of individuals. And each torturer can have thousands or tens of thousands of victims. Expecting each impacted individual, and any witnesses and all their family members and friends, to forgive these people is… let’s say ‘unlikely’.

 So does redemption require forgiveness from the wounded party? Is there any possible action that can atone for the sheer scale of these atrocities?

 If we play a simple number game causing this level of harm can be achieved in months or years, but saving the equivalent number of lives takes decades of skilled, dedicated work. If we look at concepts like wergild or jail as ‘paying your debt to society’ then how do we measure something like torture where the numbers are so big?

 I haven’t seen a piece of fiction seriously tackle these questions. But then again I also haven’t actively looked for that fiction.

 I feel like a lot of fictional redemption arcs judge a character to be sufficiently redeemed based on audience sympathy and the main cast forgiving the character. They don’t typically go on to broaden the scope of the narrative and question whether any one else impacted by the former villain’s actions also sees the character as redeemed.

 One of my stories has a former torturer as a major character and I think they are a sympathetic character in many ways. I think that my readers would empathise with them through a lot of the story (which takes place decades after they stopped torturing).

 They’re a mentor figure to some of the younger cast members. They’ve acted as a protector to them and taught the younger generation a lot about the minority culture they themselves are from. And they do genuinely care about these people that they helped to raise, consistently sacrificing to protect these ‘kids’. (The ‘kids’ are 30s-20s at the time of the story.)

 But they’re also incredibly self centred. They don’t really interact with or have a lot of sympathy for the people they hurt. And while this particular family loves and forgives them society at large views them as a monster. Albeit one that is now leashed.

 Is this a redemption story? Is this character redeemed? I genuinely don’t know. In fact that’s part of my interest in writing the story: trying to work out if there is a point, as this character grows, develops and helps others, when I believe they’ve done ‘enough’.

 I think that redemption means different things for different people. A satisfying redemption story is different for different people. And if we can disagree so strongly about it with much simpler, smaller scale crimes then where does that leave us with torture?

 There isn’t a simple answer or a one-size-fits-all writing solution. There can’t be.

 My approach is to try and use the story to see if I can find an answer. Even if it’s only a limited one. For me the story itself is a forum for exploring human complexity and difficult ethical questions.

 I don’t think we have a good solution for how to deal with these people in reality yet. But I do hold out hope that a good solution is possible. Fiction is an arena where we can safely explore possible solutions.

 I guess in the end I’m not sure if there’s any story or arc that will work for everyone. I don’t think there are any hard rules for writing anything and I don’t think there’s ever a way to please everyone.

 Redemption and forgiveness are complicated topics. I think we do a much better job when we engage with that complexity then when we assume a character just has to do a, b and c in order to achieve it.

 When you consider someone to be truly redeemed is an ethical question that I can’t answer for you. I don’t think I should. The chances are you’ll know when you think your character has done enough.

 Just be open to the fact that it won’t be enough for everyone. Consider reflecting that with the characters, because that can make for truly powerful moments.

 In Midnight’s Children Shiva never forgives Saleem, even though Saleem isn’t responsible for Shiva ‘losing’ his life and family because they were both infants at the time. And damn there are a lot of flaws in the movie adaptation but that scene between them in the jail, when Saleem throws that in Shiva’s face hits hard. It shows us so much about both characters.

 And I think that’s a better way to approach it then trying to figure out if a character is redeemed yet: figuring out how they’ve progressed, how others respond to that progression and why.

 I hope that helps :)

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Disclaimer

[ashandboneca]

Racism, abuse, and why I don’t consider myself a part of the ‘community’

I’d like to talk about the event that pushed me away from the idea of a pagan community, and forced me inwards to further develop my own practice - and about the events of the last few years in regards to continued abuses in the pagan community. About 6 years ago, I started to look into the Norse pantheon. I had worked with Thor in the past, and about 6 or 7 prior to that I did an experiment where I worked with the Aesir for a month. At that point in my life, I didn't connect with them. I don't know why I didn't, I partially blame the terrible book I had for guidance, and the fact that the person who initially agreed to guide me flaked out. However, this time around I endeavoured to learn as much as I could from a reputable source, because the last time I had no idea what I was doing. I approached my friend, who is a practicing forn sidr heathen, and they agreed to teach me what they knew. We spent a number of sessions discussing cosmology and theology. I felt confident going forward, armed with book recommendations and a passion to learn further. I wrote a bit about my experiences openly on my previous blog with Odinn. Interactions with him were not sought after, but something that merely happened. When gods or spirits or ancestors come calling, you answer in some way out of respect. I wrote more about my experiences, and different techniques I utilized to connect with him. None of them were specifically Heathen - but I don't soley identify as Heathen, so I figured if that was an issue, Odinn wouldn't have shown up in the first place.

Some time later, my friend had messaged me to let me know they had gotten some hate mail about me via Witchvox (which no longer exists, but used to be a connection board for finding pagans and witches in your area, as well as open groups, etc). I was initially gobsmacked. Why the hell is someone emailing her in regards to something I did? Wouldn't have been more productive to email or message me to resolve whatever issue? I found it who it was. This person was, at that time, a member of a well recognized organization locally who put on events and rituals - an organization whose first mandate is "We hold that each one of us has their own path to follow to truth and spirit." To be honest, I had never really interacted with this person beyond being paid to do so in my former job at a pagan bookshop. We attended a few of the same events, but never really interacted. There was no real beef. I wasn't particularly fond of said person, but I had no real issues with them - so this came sort of out of left field. I sat on it for a bit.  I did not reply to the sender. Instead, I decided to post the initial email on my previous blog. Inevitably, someone is going to disagree with how you practice or what you do, even if you're not doing anything wrong. The  point I think is important to underline is that you do not need to stand for other people trying to tear you down, assert some kind of moral superiority over you, or telling you how and when you should be practicing, unless your practice is appropriative - in which case you should be taking a long, hard look at yourself. As heathenry is an open tradition, I had no concerns. I also think transparency is very important, and when people behave badly they often do so to gain something from it. Whether it is attention, drama, or they feel they are in a safe space to do so due to anonymity.  So, by posting the email (albeit in edited format - I removed all identifying information about said person, because I wanted to focus on the behaviour, not the person), I felt I was addressing something that more people should have been addressing. Afterwards, my friend received a few more emails about how I was 'pissing on their ancestors' and etc. My friend told them, in no uncertain terms, that the emails were unwelcome, the issue was none of their business, and to fuck off. I also got a few emails, a few messages on Witchvox, a few comments, and a lovely comment from a sockpuppet account here on tumblr, as well as finding out my writing was posted to be mocked because I wasn't 'heathen' enough - with screenshots! I did not respond to anything, just kept record of everything in case it was needed. I disagree with the idea of bringing in some third party who is uninvolved to do one's dirty work. If someone has an issue with how someone else is practicing, they need to question whether it's something to address. Bringing in someone uninvolved is both cowardly and childish. They did not ask to be involved, and I'm not sure what involving another person serves to carry a point. Fight your own battles, or say nothing.

There were a few other instances. A series of screencaps of this person’s continued racist, sexist, and abusive behaviour was provided to a few of us. A known leader was accused of racism and verbal abuse by other members of the community with credible evidence. This leader had a pattern of setting up multiple Facebook accounts and when one was found they would set up a new one with a new name. They talked at length about their feelings on immigration, POC in the Heathen community, and interfaith. They advocated violence and celebrated terrorist acts. Some really troubling, disgusting stuff.

We did what we thought was right - we emailed the organization to tell them and offer proof via said screencaps. In the response, we were told, and I am not bullshitting, that this person was a valued member of the community, that they are 'proud' of their heritage (uh, so am I, but I don't run my mouth off about diversity being white genocide), and that we could essentially go pound sand. I quote "own personal outlook on (their) culture and (their) path. (They are) entitled to (their) own practice as much as anyone of us are, and (they) cares deeply for (their) culture.  (They) makes a significant contribution to the Pagan community with (their) efforts through (group). (They are) a hard worker and has accomplished a great many things in (their) time on the board, a commitment that is not to be taken lightly. (They) fulfill (their) duties as a board member admirably."

Do I agree with their hot take on this? No. I think if someone comes to you with an accusation of that kind of wrongdoing, you have a duty to do some manner of preliminary investigation, because if you are in a position where you are teaching people and have authority, those students need to feel safe. You need to determine if the accusations have any truth, and if they are found to be false, feel free to stand behind and assert your belief in the accused. I truly believe the harasser/abuser showed their group the email, and they spun it in some way to discredit us.

Complicity via ignorance is still complicity - it's enough to tarnish an organization's good name. In the working world, business owners have been hung out to dry because of their racist, homophobic, or sexist employee's actions. The whole Kenny Klein situation happened for years because people excused his behaviour and allowed other people to be abused.  We are all finger-wagging and clucking when people try to bring up this behaviour  - don't be starting drama, oh that's just how (name) is, oh that's just rumours. Look, everyone - assholes, creeps, criminals, and predators exist in every faith, every organization. We are so quick to sweep it under the rug, so rushed to prevent judgement, that we always forget that one important fact. While I think it's important not to jump on every bad thing you hear about people, I do think it's important to have an open and frank discussion about proper behaviour while in a position of power. Especially if proof of misdeeds are being offered.

This group, and their lack of action, stood complicit in this person's bad behaviour. If they made the choice to stand behind a racist, bigoted person who spends their time trying to harass people online (I am not the only one, I have been told - there have been multiple people, including some of their own family members), that is their choice. They have made that choice, and they have chosen to accept any repercussions going along with it. They chose to stand behind an abuser.

Sarah Lawless, back in 2018, named a number of known abusers in the wider PNW community. The flack she received for being brave to stand up and call that shit out was disgusting.

Abusers are coddled and protected in pagan communities. They are viewed as elders, as productive members of the community,  as local heroes. While I have been fortunate to encounter very little sexual harassment in the pagan community, I have suffered other abuses and harassment that has shown me that, just like the priests and cardinals in the Vatican, pagans protect and believe only those in their clique. And there are cliques in the community, have no doubt about that.

Sarah pointed out that the ideal community is a fantasy - I agree. Stories I have heard from others about their own experiences in the 'safe and welcoming' pagan community would break your heart. One person I spoke with said 'it's scary to even fathom trying to approach anyone, because it's hard to know who to trust, who might lure you in and take advantange of you'. That is a sad statement, and one I know too well. I have a tendency to keep abuse like this close to the chest because I have been burned by people in the past. There is no spiritual support for people who get abused - no chaplains, no pastoral care, no therapists.

These were people who were putting everything on the line to be heard, and the vitriol and hatred and lies I had seen made my blood boil. This is precisely why people do not come forward. They could put everything on the line - in Sarah's case, the safety of her partner at the time and children - and people will still find a way to claim the survivors are lying. Why? What do the survivors get out of lying about their abuse? What person would come forward, knowing they will be attacked, confronted, slandered, and encounter more abuse, if they weren't telling the truth? Why would any survivor put themselves through that unless there is truth? The most stalwart defenders claim 'they couldn't have done it, I've never seen them do anything to me!' Humans are complicated and complex beings, with many facets and many faces. The face you see may not be the same face others see. The John Doe you know and the John Doe I know may be the same person, but very different relationships. 

It comes down to this: You can't 'believe survivors' if you're supporting abusers.

You can't support survivors if you're sheltering abusers.

You can't help survivors if you're siding with abusers.

You can't call it a safe community if you don't protect it's members.

Standing up for myself and others lost me “friends” who ditched me about the ‘drama’, and my community.  Something needs to change. It is inevitable that change will befall the community, and those denizens had better wise up quickly. There are a lot of young, vulnerable people looking for guidance and safety, and the community better fucking step up and prove they are willing to protect their members, or they have become no better than the Christian groups who continue to enable their abuse. We need willing leaders to push forward to make the community better. We need dedicated, smart, and savvy people to navigate a new and better future for paganism, because it's got a death rattle going on and it needs the kiss of a new life.

Burn the whole of the modern pagan community down. Burn down the groups that perpetuate abuse, that enable abusers, and grow something better and safe from the ashes. Dismantle the sexist, enabling, racist, oversexed community with it's abusive elders, cleanse it with fire, and create a place where people can come together without having to fear predators.

The only I have learned from watching my and other’s experiences is that we shouldn't call out wrongdoing in the community, because I have gotten abuse hurled at me for it and I have seen others who have done the same get more and worse abuse. People get mad, they accuse those who come forward of 'causing drama' or 'rocking the boat'.

That is a terrible lesson. A witch is sovereign unto themselves.

Bitches, this boat is rocking. Grab on, or drown.

This is my own story. I have posted links for further review down below.

Further reading:

Dealing With Toxic People in the Pagan Community

Sarah Lawless’ post about her suffered abuse, via the Wayback Machine

Abuse, the Pagan Community, and Our Commitments

Abuse Within Paganism - a taboo topic?

A Crisis of Faith

Authenticity and Racism in Contempory Paganism

This is not a new issue - via livejournal, 2006

Cultural Appropriation in Neopaganism

[doctorlaelia-ffxiv]

speechless.

Throughout my life, I have been told to be silent.

My father didn’t tolerate me from the day I started to form my own opinions. Maybe I should have spared myself the headaches, but I would hide when he had his other warmongering friends over for drinks. I would listen to the ideas that this man I was meant to trust with my own life spew about the subjugation of others, listen to him toasting to the genocide and slaughtering of a nation.

And I was not able to hold my tongue.

My mother took to crying whenever my father and I argued, and it was often. Despite the doors of his office being closed, our voices rose through the house, and even when he hurled books and glasses at my face, I found that I could not stop myself from drilling my points down until my throat hurt too much to keep shouting. I always wanted to go in with a level head, and initially, I always did, but no one provokes me so much as Remus tol Caelius. 

I showed him military strategies that I had studied that could bring both peace and prosperity to the nations he’d rather see razed, as well as our own. I tried to be calm, quiet, and bring my point across without raising my voice. I raised the level of my arguments. 

He didn’t take me seriously.

“You’re a child,” he’d spit, and he was right. In age, I most certainly was a child. But I was smart. And I knew that I was right. Even if I wasn’t planning to become a great military strategist, I knew, at least morally, that I was right. 

As I rose higher and higher in the world of medicine, the men around me continued to resent me. I was better seen and not heard. It was better for me to be quiet and work hard rather than point out if ever my male colleagues were wrong. They told me I would get further if I smiled and was more agreeable, if I stopped being such an “ice queen” and let the professors and doctors above me advance my place in the hospital for me in return for a small fee. 

I never slept with anyone for a position. Not once. I worked, with my own blood, sweat, and tears. I worked so hard and was so valuable that no one could deny me, as much as they wanted to. I did not smile for anyone I did not want to smile for, I did not let up on my less skilled peers and colleagues, I didn’t relent. 

They all hated it. Still... No one could deny me. No one could deny that no one in that hospital was as good as I was, considering my age and relative experience. I was on par with the surgeons, professors, and doctors that had studied for far longer than I had. 

No one likes to see a woman succeed and be better than the men around her. It especially stings when that woman is young, when is attractive, and when she can confidently say that she earned everything she had by her own merits. 

I would not be silenced. Not by anyone. None of them were ever given permission to make me feel lesser, no matter how they tried, no matter the comments they made or the stumbling blocks they put in front of me. 

And now, now, after all of that...

All they want is to hear me speak. To make me justify my actions. 

To watch me fail.

I sit in a makeshift courtroom within a warzone, still dressed for surgery. My back is straight as I stare ahead at a point on the cloth tent, and the voices around me are just background noise. I am recanting why I’ve been brought in for questioning to begin with, recalling each and every reason I had for the course of action that I took.

If I was not Laelia lux Caelius, this meeting would not have been called. 

They’d not have made anyone else explain themselves for this.

“Laelia lux Caelius.” I look up as I hear my name spoken.

A steel beam that had slanted as it fell in a building that had been blown up. It was through the chest of one of the Doman conscripts who had been assigned to the building project, just missing his heart, while it just barely propped up a mass of rubble that would, ultimately, kill the foreman beneath it if shifted even a single ilm. We were running on borrowed time... 

“Do you know why you’re here today?”

The lights are so bright on my face that I can barely see the council of men who are gathered to question me to begin with. My jaw tics. 

“I was asked to make a medical decision as regards the two parties who were caught in the collapse of the new medical facility, sir, after a steel beam trapped both of them in the building.” 

I lift my eyes to zero in on who has addressed me, who is in the center.

It was a room full of damn mal Up-Your-Asses and mal I-Love-Killing-Savages. 

“And you made the decision to save the life of a Doman conscript rather than the life of kir Drusus, a most valuable architect and engineer to this project.” 

“Yes, sir.”

“Explain yourself.”

Explain myself? Fuck you, you crusty old bastard.

“I’m sure any medicus in this room would be able to answer this question easily, sir,” I reply, my voice tight. 

Kir Drusus was my friend. He was my friend, who had known me since I was just a little girl. I held his bloodied hand and sobbed as I told him the decision that had to be made, and he smiled at me with his face covered in dust and blood, told me that this was the right call, that it was okay. He had squeezed my hand. They think I killed a Pureblooded Garlean because I wanted to, because of my reputation and political alignment. 

“I’m an old, old man, Laelia,” kir Drusus had managed to laugh. “And I have lived a good, long life. I trust you. I trust you, above anyone else in this Legion.” 

They don’t know a damn fucking thing about me. 

“I was given two choices, sir, because it was simply not viable to save both parties involved in the accident. It was my job to assess each party and to assess who had the higher likelihood of surviving after the beam was moved. And it was Hansuke oen Watanabe who had the better odds of survival.” 

I had seen a lot, but I hadn’t seen anything like Hansuke’s situation in the field before. He was still gasping for breath as blood gushed out from around the beam that had gone through his chest, missing his heart just barely. He was white as a sheet, but he was... younger. Stronger. And he was on the high ground, on the second floor rather than the ground floor, where kir Drusus was. It would be easier and safer to extract Hansuke. 

There was only five minutes to make the decision. I had never felt such deep panic or such grief. But the beam could move at any moment. We had to work quickly. I couldn’t afford to hesitate.

I had to do what I knew was right.

“And why is that we expended resources to save a conscript that could easily be replaced rather than do everything we could have to save a valuable Garlean life, Miss Caelius?”

“Lux,” I said, looking back up at again. The silence that filled the room was so stifling, so still, that you could have heard a pin drop. 

“I’m sorry?”

“Laelia lux Caelius. That is my title, and it is a title that I have earned. I was given a decision to make, as a woman that has earned her place that she’s in, and I made the choice that I made because I am good at what I do.”

I shift, leaning closer to the microphone. 

“Hansuke oen Watanabe is a man who has served as a conscripted individual for twenty years. He is a valuable soldier, and now that he’s gained citizenship, could prove to be a valuable strategist, as we have - several times - followed his guidance and his knowledge in the field and come out successful. Know thy enemy, sirs, and he knows our enemy.”

Our enemy. His people. Doma, a people who did nothing to anyone. But I have to say this. I have to say this to keep Hansuke safe. To keep me safe, too. 

“Cyrus kir Drusus was a man that is far older than Hansuke, with a body that was weaker and less able to withstand trauma. He was also on the lower floor of the collapsing structure, and as with all things, the odds are better for those on the high ground. Even attempting to move the rubble off of him could have been disastrous, as it would move the beam likely directly into Hansuke’s heart. Instead of losing one man today, I can confidently say that if I had made any other decision, we would have lost two.

“You will address me as Laelia lux Caelius, and I hope with utmost sincerity that, since I have been granted this title and this responsibility, that you will acknowledge that I take it seriously and respect my decisions, as a medical professional, moving forward from today. The casualties of today are far higher than they should have been, and with all due respect, that is because the integrity of the building was weak. An explosion of that caliber should not have brought it to its knees like that, even if it was just in the infancy of its construction.”

Still the silence persists. I hear a ruffling of papers after a moment, a few murmured words, and I close my eyes, steady myself. 

“Cyrus kir Drusus was a friend and a man that I admired greatly for his devotion to his work, his family, his friends, and to seeing this war end peacefully.” I should stop. I should stop now. “He believed in a Garlemald that is better than the one we have now, and so do I. Hansuke oen Watanabe and Cyrus kir Drusus were like father and son. He did not see a conscript from a foreign land lesser than the men of his own. He simply saw another man of honor, and of integrity, who he could drink with and laugh with. 

“I have patients to attend to, and after that, I will be taking a day to mourn for the people we lost in this terrible accident today. I trust there will be no further issues. My decision today was made with a sound mind, and I am happy to say that oen Watanabe will make a full recovery and be able to return to the field.”

“Lux Caelius--” one of the men began, and I rose to my feet.

“Yes. That is my title. Thank you for recalling it, sir. Is there anything else?”

“...No. You’ve made your stance on this issue very clear. We... commend... your quick thinking under such a stressful situation.”

“If your intention was to commend me, then you’d not have a spotlight shining on my face and would not have pulled me in here for questioning before I could wash the blood off of my hands. Excuse me.” 

I will not go quietly into that good night, you motherfuckers. You shouldn’t have asked me to speak. Was this what you were afraid of? 

Were you afraid of the words I would speak once you gave me permission?

[lytefoot]

Enemies to lovers trope?

No | rather not | I dunno | I guess | Sure | Yes | FUCK yes | Oh god you don’t even know |

I really like a good enemies to lovers. Notice I said a good enemies to lovers! Like, not a bad one... and there’s a lot of bad ones.

So, I’m gonna focus mainly on proper enemies to lovers, not rivals to lovers, which is a whole other thing. I’m talking about full-on redemption arc romances, where someone is a former bad guy. Like Shorsha (pretty sure remembering this movie marks me as an Old... I had the board game, too). Or Blackarachnia.

Notice I’m just naming the characters with the redemption arcs? It’s because the redemption arc is part of what makes for good enemies to lovers. It has to look like something that’s, like, in character for them. I need to believe that this character is someone who could have a redemption arc by other means, that maybe their interest in the other party helped to motivate them to reexamine their principles, but it could just as easily have been something else. (Bonus if there really is something else--maybe in the, “Skull helmets? Killing children? Are we the baddies?” genre.)

Like, you can do an enemies-to-lovers romance as part of your redemption story. If it’s a bad redemption story, it’s gonna be a bad enemies-to-lovers.

And... there’s some good angst to be had, okay? “How could someone like that love me, even with all the terrible stuff I did when I was with the horde?” Like, coming to regard themselves as worthy of love being part of a character’s redemption journey? Yes, sweet.

But.

But even with the proper enemies to lovers, there needs to be some... emotional distance in the enmity of the couple? Like, there’s a difference between having been one of the bad guys and personally participated in doing bad things, and having e.g. personally murdered the other person’s family. Like, while recognizing that there’s no moral difference depending on whether the people killed are known to me, there sure as heck is an emotional difference. If the Good Guy character has been wronged by the bad guys generally but not by this specific person, and the ex-Bad Guy character has wronged the good guys generally but again not this specific person, it just feels... better. If I found out my friend was dating the guy that blew up their planet I would probably think that they were Not Okay, even if planet-destroyer guy was fully reformed now and had taken up a career in raising orphaned kittens.

The things that are bad in enemies to lovers are the things that are bad in redemption arcs in general, really. Just... the absolute expectation that everyone is going to be Over It, and anyone who isn’t is the bad guy now. (”Susan, that dude killed Jack’s parents and ate his dog. You’re not bringing him as your plus-one to Jack’s wedding.” “Well, fine! You’re so closed-minded!”) Again, it works better if there’s some distance. If your redeemed character hasn’t personally wronged whoever you’re shipping them with.

The best kind of enemies to lovers is, hands down, “This looks like one of us is a bad guy and the other is a good guy, but we’re going to end up with a narrative that questions the entire notion of conventional morality.” Good Omens is a currently-popular example: Angel and Demon, but it turns out to a great extent that Heaven and Hell are just the names of sides. Or, stuff where the Designated Good Guy ends up having to question everything he ever knew about power structures. All that kind of thing is great.

Honestly that’s one of the biggest problems with the first kind of enemies to lovers. You really, really risk looking like the second kind if you aren’t careful with your redemption arcs. “Yeah, he’s a planet-destroying genocidal maniac and she’s a hero of the resistance, but they’re in love! I’m sure there’s wonderful people on both sides.” (Like... no... there comes a point where, if you’re marching with the bad guys, you’re a bad guy now. You’re not a misunderstood baby. You’ve got to work on yourself.)

Then there’s rivals to lovers. (I feel like that’s what a lot of Drarry shippers are going for? And you could maybe sell that up through maybe book four or five. After that, the war was on, and Draco had chosen his side.) Rivals to lovers is great stuff. Especially if the point of their rivalry is actually really petty to normal people? Like, they’re members of rival Sportsball teams! Nobody understands why they hate each other so much! Foundation for romance: nobody else truly understands how important Sportsball is like we do!  And there’s also a certain amount of, “Okay, but why do you have so much emotional investment in this person?” that’s quite amusing. Though... rivals to lovers tends to fall way too much into “he bullies because he likes you.” Leaving aside the likelihood of that being true (low), if someone bullies you because he likes you... maybe... take that as a sign that he’d be a really terrible person to have a relationship with? Like--seriously--this is not a person with wholesome romantic attitudes. Run far away.

Friends-to-enemies-to-lovers is probably the best kind of enemies to lovers. Like, they’re childhood friends, but then Something Happens and they’re on opposite sides of a conflict, but finally their fundamental love for one another overcomes their differences.

Regardless, the most important part of making good enemies to lovers comes in the “to.” You’ve got to sell it. And really, it’s best done if that’s, like, the entire story. Like, it’s easier to do in original fiction than in fanfic, because like, if you say, “Steve used to work for the bad guys. Also he’s hot. Let me tell you about how he became a good guy, saved the hero’s life, and now they’re married,” that’s going to work a lot better for me if that’s my first introduction to Steve than if I’ve just read seven books of Steve being a complete s***head.

[post-office-inbox]

Undertale & delta rune Sequel/Prequel/Post-Genocide/AU Theory

There seems to be a disagreement about what delta rune is in regards to Undertale. According to Toby’s Q&A that this is an alternate universe where choice does not matter. He also stated that Undertale and its characters had a happy ending and that nothing we do here can affect them.  But there is still some discourse in weather the game is a sequel/prequel/post-genocide/au/some unholy combination of that. Strap in, I think it’s the last one.

To clarify, there will be four characters I will be mainly focusing on that the games seem to revolve around. I’ll be clarifying each one and how that character makes each of the “quells” possible.

Sequel: OK, this is the one that goes right into Meta territory. I think it is safe to say that in Undertale you were part of the story. Not Frisk, not Chara, you: the player. You are controlling the vessel in the game. This is backed up by how if you boot up Undertale Flowey calls YOU by the name you entered. Delta rune confirmed this by asking for YOUR name. You the player, and when you save low and behold, that is the name that gets put on the save file. Not Kris, your name.

So, we are controlling Kris for this adventure. That is why he ‘knows’ things that he couldn’t possibly know about characters that we know from Undertale. Like Alphs and Undine being together or knowing San’s even though both characters don’t know what we are talking about. Interesting enough Kris has information that we the player don’t have. When you go to inspect the card for the reindeer and he asks you why it looks like we (the player) have never seen it before. Also cute reindeer from class seems to be weirded out by the way Kris has been acting, so we the player are controlling Kris’s actions, not Kris himself/herself. Also, both in Undertale and in this game, right after cut scenes Frisk/Chara/Kris will turn to face the camera, right at you. This being an RPG maker game where you have control over what happens to the character sprites, Toby did this deliberately.

And of course where Chara directly interacts with you at the end of a Genocide run. AND Kris looking at you with a knife in his hands, throwing out his soul, the culmination of his being, the thing that we controlled him; is now locked away. And we can’t do a damn thing about it. My point is that for us (the player) this IS a sequel. The game that comes next. “Undertale 2”. The next point of reference that we can see and can control. Or rather NOT control as the narrative says: our choices don’t matter. That brings us too:

Prequel: Flowy tells us over and over again that “In this world it’s kill or be killed!” If we substitute the word ‘world’ with ‘game’ we (the player) can infure that in this game our choices matter. That depending on how we act we could kill or save anyone or everyone depending on our choice. Deltarune tells us up front that “in this world, your choice does not matter” that is telling us that in this game, evens will play out no matter what we do. One of the most frustrating parts about a prequel is that it is just telling you stuff that happened before the main event.

For example: in a story about Alfred, batman’s butler (I cannot frikking believe they are making that a movie) it does not matter what he does or who he met along the way, by the end of the film, he will become the character we know. We end up with a bit of predestination. Who will be our Pennyworth in this situation?

Sans. And possibly Papyrus.

In Undertale it is established that the two skeleton brothers just showed up one day. No other explanation was given and it was just sort of hand waved away. Later we got all the connections to Gaster and that lead to some speculation about this vague origin. Now, here comes delta rune. We see Sans outside of what is clearly a building representing Grilbies. And if you listen carefully HE SOUNDS DIFFERENT! His little ‘he he he’s are speed up from what we heard in Undertale. I think the Sans we hear here is younger, more fast talking. A bit more inexperienced, not seeming to know as much as he did in the old game.

There is this lovely theory going around that Sans is actually a Darkner. That does answer an obvious question I didn’t think about until then. Where is Sans moving from??  Answer: The Dark Word you just spent so much time getting out of, duh. (Papyrus not so much but?)

So we have his origin and possible timeline:

Born in the dark world ->

came to Hometown (possibly through the same door you and Susie got through...) ->

Something terrible involving Gaster AND Kris gets him sent to the underground in an alternate timeline/world ->

Undertale happens.

That’s how he knows that ‘kids like you, should be burning in hell’. He has already seen one world be shattered by one kid in a striped shirt go crazy and kill everyone. And that leads us to:

Alternate Universe: The tale of two Asriel’s. Or three possibly. Everyone is trying to figure out where the heck the beginning bits and the end bits ‘fit’ into the timeline. They kind of skip over the part where you are in a completely different game for the entire time, you know hello? Ralsei is one of the three party members for most of the game and is reveled to be a sort of espy for Asriel. Susie (and possibly Kris) seemed to understand this due the vast amount of “??????????????????????????????” she gives after he takes off his hat. We know that Kris has a brother named Asriel matching up with the one from Undertale (honestly I thought for sure that meant the ending of Hunger tale was cannon). With the bizarre way everyone in Hometown has a counterpart in Undertale why would there need to be a second Asriel?

Let me introduce what I think Toby is going to do here: enter the multiverse. Now it could be that delta rune and Undertale are alternate timelines instead of straight up different universe. For now though I will be treating them as different universes. We have three ‘worlds’ that we know of: Undertale, the light world, and the dark world. If I had to guess the dark world is somehow a reflection of the light world so they also have characters that are similar to Undertale counterparts, see The Legend of Zelda: A Link between Worlds. The Light and Dark worlds also mirror of how the humans and monsters were on against one another.  We should be on the look out for characters in the dark world that matches with the ones in the og game.

I had a thought that maybe Sans is the Dark world counterpart of Papyrus so that instead of treating themselves as they same person they decided to be brothers instead.

I do wonder who the ‘Knight’ is that Lancers dad was talking about though.

Most of the rest of my thoughts are me just trying to project without much evidence. Until we know how Gaster and his followers fit into all of this I don’t think we can get much more out of it. Buy this being bizaro world the last one is:

Post-Genocide: Chara you poor creepy child. As everyone knows, in a genocide run, you kill everyone. Chara eventually takes over and kills you the player. Even though Flowey thinks you are the sibling from his childhood. You are not. You are the player controlling the character. The evil came from you. The vessel might become Frisk once you decide NOT to kill anybody but then Chara comes back and kills everyone anyway.

Now, we are in an alternate universe. Where our choices (the players not Kris’s) do. Not. Matter. And there is no Frisk, only a child who is this universes version of Chara. He did not die like in Undertale so now we live in a universe where that less than happy kid grows up into a less then talkative teenager. Where is Frisk then? Did Frisk’s own reasons for climbing the mountain (as hinted at by Asreil at the end of the game) never come to pass? Did just straight up die? We don’t know.

And having us act like a kid that may not exist in this universe really doesn’t sit well with Kris and he throws his will (US!) is in the cage. We told him about stuff. We knew about the other Universe and how things were different. And how little Kris was actually a guy called Frisk and he was a happy person that made friends and talked to people and didn’t kill anyone. If you didn’t do the Genocide ending anyway. Then you were…Chara.

Yeah, that’s the ending of delta rune ch1 guys. We see Kris throw us into a cage and since we were controlling him, he knows about the genocide ending. Since we told him how, he knows exactly what to do. A normal (if creepy) kid got possessed by some beings from some weird dimensions and knows exactly what to do with them. Pulls out a knife from nowhere and smiles (the kids smile, not one we made ) and his eyes glow red like in a photo he has seen through our eyes. The ones he is looking into as the view goes black. He has seen the ending and he has seen us and he knows he can kill us. All he has to do now is to kill everyone else. And he’ll do it too, because we can’t do anything to help BECAUSE OUR CHOICE DOES NOT MATTER!

TLDR: All four theories are true. If we look at them from four different characters.

The player – It’s a sequel because it is what you play after the 1st game.

Sans – Prequel because this is the world/timeline he comes from: see quicker voice

Asriel/Ralsei * – Are both au Asriel because of light/dark world and might have further indications that we should look out for  * and a bunch of other people

Kris – Post Genocide because we controlled him and now he knows that’s an option.

[padawanlost]

Hi, sry this is a rough topic. Maybe bc Im not american I don’t understand the pov where people heavily like to bash Anakin for killing tusken raiders. I understand killing woman and children is wrong and no Im not getting him off the hook with that and I think he pays for it with his humanity in ep3 when he kills the younglings anyways. However, there are many who just call them “innocents” and I find that OOC...[]

[…] In the movies we only hear about how terrible and “monstrous” they are, and unofficial guide books shows how much of awful beings they’re supposed to be. Someone said it’s racist thing and again not an american so Idk about that, but the overall canon shows that they are indeed not so innocent adult or children alike. I’m just trying to understand where all the sympathy is coming from? Is it just another Anakin hate? What do you think? 

Hey!

Well, what Anakindid was wrong so many people hate him for it, that part is simple. Everything else, isn’t. I’ve seen peoplesay Anakin killed them because he was entitled, because he was “crazy”, he was afascist, etc. None of that is true, the movie make his reasons for slaughteringthat group pretty obvious. He did it because of what was done to Shmi.

However,what Anakin did was also textbook genocide. The moment Anakin slaughtered everyone who he identified as a TuskenRaider, instead of slaughtering only the responsible for the Shmi’s death hiscrimes evolved from murder motivated by revenge to genocide motivated by revenge*(more on this later). But, to be fair, that’s only part of story. We only seeAnakin’s real genocidal tendencies once he becomes Vader. Now, Vader was deeplymotivated by his prejudice against the Tusken and Tatooine in general.

 This world means as much to me as a speck of dust, and all its inhabitants might as well be dust too. As he returned to the Devastator, Vader considered the fact that Tatooine could be reduced to dust by the Death Star. He wondered if watching the sand planet’s obliteration might bring him any pleasure. It was a possibility he wouldn’t rule out. [The Rise and Fall of Darth Vaderby Ryder Windham]

Here is the thing: Anakin didcommit genocide and the Tusken did tortured Shmi. Honestly, I think the situationway too complex to label any of the parts simply as innocent or guilty.

People sympathizewith Tusken because they don’t like Anakin but, also, because the anti-TuskenRaiders movement was very real and widespread in Tatooine.

“What is driving them so close to thefarms?” Owen asked. “It’s been too longsince we’ve organized anything against them,” Cliegg replied gruffly. “We let the beasts run free, and they’re forgettingthe lessons we taught them in the past.” He looked hard at Owen’s skepticalexpression. “You have to go out thereand teach the Tuskens their manners every now and again.” Owen just stoodthere, having no response. “See how long it’s been?” Cliegg said with a snort.“You don’t even remember the last timewe went out and chased off the Tuskens! There’s the problem, right there!” [R.A.Salvatore’s Attack of the Clones]

The Lars family was being serenadedthrough yet another night by the lowing of many banthas. None of the four hadany doubt that Tuskens were out there, not far from the farm, perhaps even thenwatching its lights. “They’re wildbeasts, and we should have gotten the Mos Eisley authorities to exterminatethem like the vermin they are. Them and the stinking Jawas!” Shmi sighedand put her hand on her husband’s tense forearm. “The Jawas have helped us,”she reminded him gently. “Then not the Jawas!” Cliegg roared back, and Shmi jumped.Taking note of Shmi’s horrified expression, Cliegg calmed at once. “I’m sorry.Not the Jawas, then. But the Tuskens.They kill and steal whenever and wherever they can. No good comes of them!”[R.A. Salvatore’s Attack of the Clones]

The Tuskenraiders were victims. They were one of the native civilizations of Tatooine andthey were invaded over and over again for centuries. So, of course, they were forcedto adapt to survive and so also developed an understanding hatred of outsiders.And that hatred turned into violence and that violence affected both sides ofthe conflict. We all know what happens when a society invades another, and whathappened in Tatooine and the Tuskens wasn’t all that different from our ownworld. Their culture was “incompatible” with the invaders and, being outnumberand overpowered, they become the ostracized group (the savages, instead one ofthe rightful owners of the land). That created a cycle of violence thatresulted in many deaths on all sides.

Fearsome desert savages inhabiting the rocky JundlandWastes, Tusken Raiders are the foremost reason Tatooine colonists do not wanderfar from their isolated communities. Extremelyterritorial and xenophobic, Tusken Raiders will attack with very littleprovocation. They show no allegiance toeven their native world-mates, as these nomads have attacked Jawa scoutingparties on occasion. They have even gathered numbers large enough to attack theoutskirts of smaller towns like Anchorhead. [x]

The Tuskenwere victims, but that doesn’t meanthey were innocent. Understanding thereasons behind their behavior, doesn’t mean we can excuse it. Very much likeAnakin, you can be a victim and still be responsible for atrocious actions.

 Annie was [Shmi] comfort, her placeto hide from the pain the Tuskens had, and were, exacting upon her batteredbody. Every day they came in andtortured her a bit more, prodding her with sharp spears or beating her with theblunt shafts and short whips. It was more than a desire to inflict pain, Shmirealized, though she didn’t speak their croaking language. This was the Tuskenway of measuring their enemies, and from the nods and the tone of their voices,she realized that her resilience had impressed them. [R.A. Salvatore’s Attackof the Clones]

In Shmi’scase, they were not defending their territory against trespassers or securingtheir resources. There was no moral justification for what they did. The self-defenserhetoric doesn’t work here. There’re no excuse for Anakin’s actions but thereare no excuses for this cruelty either. One crime doesn’t justify another. TheTuskens being ostracized by Tatooine’s powerful groups, doesn’t make it alrightfrom them to kill and torture people. What Anakin did was terribly wrong but it’sobvious that his actions were motivated by vengeance, fear and rage, notmadness, racism or entitlement.

Don’t getme wrong, racism against Tusken Raiders in Tatooine did exist. But Anakin’sactions that particular night was not motivated by it. Anakin andShmi were victims of the Tusken. But that doesn’t make Anakin innocent. The sameway they had no right to torture and kill Shmi, Anakin had no right to slaughterthem. 

Anakin, too, had heard the voice ofQui-Gon, imploring him to restrain himself, to deny the rage. He hadn’t recognized it, though, for he was too full of pain and anger. He spotted a Tusken woman to theside, in front of another of the tents, carrying a pail of dirty water, and sawa Tusken child in the shadows of another nearby hut, staring at him with anincredulous expression. Then he was moving, though he was hardly aware of hisactions. [R.A. Salvatore’s Attack of the Clones]

Anakin had nothing against the Tusken before Shmi’s death. He and Shmi were one of the few people in Tatooine who were willing to help them. In fact,before Shmi’s death, Anakin risked his own life to help Tusken Raiders. As achild here is what he thought about Tusken Raiders:

The residents of Mos Espa, themselvesa less than respectable citizenry, hated the Sand People with a passion. Anakin had not yet made up his mind aboutthem. The stories were chilling, but he knew enough of life to know there weretwo sides to every story and mostly only one being told. He was intrigued bythe wild, free nature of the Tuskens, of a life without responsibility orboundaries, of a community in which everyone was considered equal. [The Phantom Menace by TerryBrooks]

“Master Anakin, we really shouldn’tbe out here at night,” the droid observed after a moment. “This country isquite dangerous.” “But we couldn’t leavehim, could we?” “Oh, well, that’s a very difficult determination to make.” […]TheTusken regarded him intently for a long minute, then slowly eased into asitting position, his wounded leg stretched out in front of him. “Uh, hello,”Anakin said, trying out a smile. The Tusken Raider made no response. “Are you thirsty?” the boy asked.[…] Finallyhe spoke again. The boy looked quickly at C-3PO. “He wants to know what you aregoing to do with him, Master Anakin,” the droid translated. Anakin looked backat the Tusken, confused. “Tell him I’m not going to do anything with him,” hesaid. “I’m just trying to help him getwell.” [The Phantom Menace by Terry Brooks]

That doesn’tsound like the thoughts of a person corrupted and motivated by prejudice. Andonce he left the Tatooine, his views didn’t change because here is whathappened when he met A'Sharad Hett (aJedi and Tusken):

As Obi-Wan approached the balcony, hecaught Anakin in the middle of asking astream of questions while the masked figure stood silently, watching thestars emerge over the vast cityscape. “You’re from Tatooine, too?” Anakin saidto his unresponsive companion. “Can you understand Basic? You might not believethis, but not too long ago, I actually saved a Tusken Raider’s life! I foundhim when I was out in the Xelric Draw. He was a bit bigger than you. Maybe he’sa friend of yours? Do you know where the Xelric Draw is? Or maybe your peoplehave another name for it? Did you ever see —?” [Ryder Windham’s The Life andLegend of Obi-Wan Kenobi]

Obi-Wan bowed slightly and said, “Iam Obi-Wan Kenobi.” Before the figure could respond, Anakin interjected, “Ithink he’s a Tusken Raider from Tatooine!” Pointing to the weapons at theTusken’s belt, Anakin added, “But he’s aJedi too, like us. Only he has two lightsabers.” Indeed, the quiet figureon the balcony was, by all appearances, a Tusken Raider. Obi-Wan could see hisown reflection as he peered into the red lenses of the Tusken Jedi’s goggles.“Please forgive my impetuous Padawan’s manners,” Obi-Wan said. “We welcome youto the Jedi Order, A’Sharad Hett.” [Ryder Windham’s The Life and Legend ofObi-Wan Kenobi]

Anakins, despitegrowing up surrounded by people hating on Tusken Raiders, was actually surprisinglyaccepting of them. He demonstrated no fear, no hate and no reservations, only ahealthy childish curiosity.

His viewsonly changed after Shmi’s death. and even then, he still managed to work with  A'Sharad Hett, who re-humanized the Tusken Raidersin Anakin’s eyes by removing his mask and showing him how similar they were.Anakin even confessed to Hett what happened in Tatooine. Unfortunately, after the war, as Vader, hewas too consumed by fear and hate to ever deal with what he did and change howhe looked at the Tusken.

To put it simply: the Tuskens were victims. That’s clear byhow some characters talk about them. But that doesn’t mean they are beyondreproach or are morally justified in everything they do. And it also doesn’tmean that what happened to Shmi wasn’t terrible crime or that Anakin killed thembecause he was entitled, privileged or racist.

Fans sympathize with the Tusken Raiders because they are were ostracized and killedby a violent and corrupt society that completely dehumanized them. And somepeople do try to make it all about Anakin and how Anakin is the worst™, whenin truth, the situation is much more complex than that.

The key here, imo, is to understand that though the Tusken Raiders were violent and victimized many Tatooine residents, they were also victims and have been victimized themselves. And that Anakin, though guilty of many crimes, wasn’t part of this particular problem until Shmi was killed. There victims on both sides, not many innocents.

[ghostmartyr]

SnK 98 Thoughts

Can my post this month just have a bunch of pictures of fish flopping around on the ground? Because at this moment, that is what this chapter has spawned the greatest empathy in me for.

At least the fish get to die.

The Marley saga never dies.

It is an evil Energizer Bunny come for us all.

My ability to care about the Marley side has been dying (dead?) for a while, but I think this chapter is where I just can’t stand it anymore. I just. The last bit of my creative energy went into being envious of a dying fish. I don’t care about Marley’s continued horribleness. I don’t care about moments of levity for the young kidlets who are either going to die terrible deaths or coerce other cast members into dying terrible deaths. I do not care about Diet Reiss. The Giants aren’t in the playoffs, so I really don’t care about baseball.

Have a Zeke.

.Someone wake me from this nightmare.

Turning the volume down on my mental screams a tad... I’m still trapped in how little I care about any of this.

Large portions of it are clearly framework for things that haven’t happened yet. Staring at scaffolding that doesn’t even have the decoration of drying paint isn’t my usual definition of fun. I appreciate that the story is setting up its dominoes, and looks to be taking significant care with doing so, but--well, in lieu of repeating myself ad nauseam, yeah.

What it really comes down to, I think, is that these aren’t our protagonists. The kidlets and the Warriors are all the shining stars of the Marleyan Eldians, and Magath and Willy surely have some other grand scheme going on to propel the plot into interesting places for their country.

So what?

For ninety chapters, the story has been preoccupied with the concerns of a tiny island. Eight chapters with people who don’t consider their stories worth hearing about can’t elicit the same responses.

We get the highest concentration of levity we’ve had in ages with this chapter, and a lot of it is thanks to tiny children. They’re small and cute and innocent. The impulse to sympathize is ready and waiting, and it is very keenly exploited here. Who wouldn’t want two pages depicting how completely whipped Reiner is by a set of four children?

It’s a humanizing element, and more fun to read than much of this arc has been, but it’s difficult to feel that it has a real point.

One of the reasons previous chapters have worked, even through some pits and clumsiness, is that Reiner gets most of the attention. Reiner, happy about it or not, is a person who is familiar with both worlds of this conflict.

Paradis is not just a place with monsters to him, the way it is for Zeke. It’s the place of Reiner’s nightmares because he lived a life there, and deep down, he understands the citizens of Paradis.

His denial of that is a whole separate topic that could use a different chapter as a launchpad, but Reiner is still aware of the world in a way that the other cogs of Marley aren’t. He’s fully committed to our current perspective side, but he carries the burdens of both.

No one else has that problem. They have the age-old problem of titans in the world of humans. The kidlets are Eldians fighting for a better life for Eldians through supporting Marley. The Marleyans are trying to keep the rest of the world from eating them alive. The rest of the world is waiting to hear why they shouldn’t.

Paradis barely exists as a real place for the rest of the cast. It’s a mine. It’s there to supply people on the outside with the resources to survive.

All on its own, that’s not a bad thing to explore. The complete obliteration of any Paradis perspective is very much how the outside world functions in regard to the island. No one on any mainland cares about those people.

The audience doesn’t have that problem. Ninety chapters is a lot of history.

So that’s part of it. The other part is what I’ve been railing against nearly every month since this arc started.

Marley sucks.

The players of this arc are occupying a different story than the one we’re used to, and the fights they’re embittered in are ones that begin in such moral depravity that attempts to make their plight sympathetic fall flat. The Warriors are sympathetic because they’re being used, dragged forward by a carrot that no one seems to care about delivering. Likewise with the kidlets, since they’re too young to know anything but putting their best game face on and trying hard.

But the core of the conflict is that a bunch of jackasses can’t go a single generation without genocide, and those jackasses are not who the protagonists of this arc are preparing to go up against.

I have to compliment Isayama on how frustratingly human the night before the festival is, really. We get a more expansive look at Marley’s victims, and they have no love in their hearts for Eldians or Marley.

Willy’s okay, though.

Willy’s their buddy.

It doesn’t make any sense for people who hate Eldians and hate Marley to be okay with a man who represents both. But they are, because Willy is just one person, and he’s a person that these people have come to know. They’re familiar with him. He isn’t like those other Eldians. He isn’t like the rest of Marley. He’s a worthy human person.

No one at that party’s going to look at him and the little serving boy and think they have anything to do with each other, even though their blood has everything to do with why the little boy is going to be belittled by the people he��s bringing food to.

It’s disgusting, and it’s exactly what people do. As long as they never become the rule, there’s nothing wrong with exceptions. The idea that those exceptions mean the rules are ridiculous somehow never comes up.

As a depiction of humanity, it works pretty well, but going back to whining, it’s one more layer to how meaningless the destruction of this conflict is. This chapter’s ending tagline is, “Those who seek peace have no choice but to fight others who seek the same for themselves.”

If this statement is shooting for aphorism, no.

If it’s a commentary about Eldians fighting Eldians, yes, and the above no is why this is such a pain.

The Eldians in Marley are seeking peace from the treatment bestowed upon them by Marley. They are doing this by going after Paradis. The resulting sensible reaction to threat of genocide means that fighting happens, and that is a very sad thing.

Two sides, desperate for peace, should have the choice of not fighting. That can be very helpful for a thing like peace. But that choice has been systematically removed from one side, so. yay.

Characters with the very real and sympathetic desire for peace have all of that undermined by the active role they take in constantly keeping everything from being peaceful--in the name of peace.

What it boils down to is that the characters who have motivations that are understandable are repeatedly reaching the conclusion of genocide. You can’t sell that. Rooting for the bad guys is only fun when their selected aim is relatable.

Pulling off the perfect heist? Obviously wrong but LOOK HOW COOL

Defeating the undefeated superhero? Holy cow someone really did it.

Protecting your country? That’s normal, right?

Wanting a better world for your people? Awesome!

Genocide? ...

That is supposed to be one of the universal Not Okay things of the world. History books written by the societies who did that are very clear about it.

Even if all of the lives Marley has already cost Paradis are ignored, their mission statement when it comes to that island is that they want to steal something they have no claim to whatsoever. Solving your country’s problems by being the same entitled pricks that caused them to begin with is not a good thing.

There’s a lot of relatable material to be found in the hearts of Marleyan people. That doesn’t make their conclusions any less appalling, so all of this time devoted to this side of the conflict feels really, really pointless. Their reasons are nowhere close to excusing what they’re up to, and the story stepping into their world and listening to the side that says it totally does... The overall picture is pretty clear on condemning this tripe. These aren’t the people who are going to change the world for the better, and one thing this series consistently cares about is people trying to shoot higher. The close-ups of Marley digging a pit instead just aren’t working.

Now that I’ve said all that, the only logical conclusion is that Willy is going to announce at the festival that it is time for the world to become the bestest buddies with Paradis and not actually declare war on them or hurt them, and then they’ll be pals and prance off into the sunset with rainbows scattered like rose petals.

I’m only sort of kidding. Like I said, the story’s pretty clear on the whole that murder, oppression, and all the other things Marley picked up from their time under Eldia’s thumb are wrong. This deep into their perspective, one of the few twists remaining is doing something right, and less murder and more diplomacy might not be a bad start.

But this chapter kicks off with Reiner being ignored while he tries to help devise military strategies against Paradis, so that’s probably going to end up being too much to hope for.

I’m pretty terrible at plot speculation, which is probably another reason why this chapter finally sent me over the deep end. Magath and Tybur are clearly up to something, and I don’t care enough about either of them to be curious instead of frustrated. The basic thing was Magath needing an exterminator and an explosives expert, and Diet Reiss putting on a show, and I imagine both of those things are ominous foreshadowing of some kind and aaaaaaaaa

The one thing that I did kind of wonder about was Eren being a mouse with a baseball mitt. A few people have speculated that he’s actually in contact with Zeke, not island buddies, and if that’s the case, of course big brother is responsible for the glove, because baseball is the only way Zeke knows how to pretend he’s well-adjusted.

If it is from Zeke, then it seems likely that Eren is very much one of the mice Magath is talking about (and I’d very much like to know who the other ones are), but then that’s... its own type of weird. Presumably, Eren’s only contact with Zeke was that one awkward battlefield moment. Eren choosing to communicate with Zeke while he’s behind enemy lines just seems really, really risky, and I have no idea why he’d do that, but I also don’t know why the series would be so heavy-handed with the baseball stuff if it wasn’t meant to intensify the blood family feels in a significant fashion.

Knowing what the heck Eren is up to is probably going to help my feelings on these chapters greatly in the future.

Alas, that is not the now, and so I am left to suffer and ask myself why I ever thought writing a thing about a thing every month could end positively.

I do find it vaguely amusing that Eren’s first contact with his grandfather is encouraging him into a screaming fit. That probably just makes me a terrible person, but it feels oddly appropriate.

...Maybe Zeke left the glove for his grandad and Eren nicked it.

Wow, Eren. First stealing all of dad’s love, then stealing memories of precious moments with grandpa. This is why your found family is bonded to you through murder.

One thing in this chapter I did really like was the scene between Colt and Zeke. For Colt, watching Falco succeed is a horrible thing. He doesn’t want his little brother to end up cursed.

Galliard, watching nearby, had an older brother who thought the same thing. Marcel’s dead because of that fear.

Zeke, whose little brother is alive and who knows what else to him, understands big brother instincts and decides to go play catch with his successor (probably the closest thing to a brother he has access to at the moment).

Meanwhile Galliard sulks at the brotherly love, Pieck notices and cares, and Reiner is trying to ignore that his life is happening.

Beautiful.

Everything to do with Falco is also wonderful. He works hard, improves, thanks the person who’s helped him, and even shouts his feelings out to the girl he likes!

Unfortunately, the girl he likes is Gabi.

I really have to laugh, though:

“So you’re trying to say you’re getting in my way for my sake and claiming that you’re doing it for me??”

Yeah. That’s about what romance looks like in this series. Have fun, you two.

(The wounds Gabi leaves on Falco’s heart are the real reason he hangs out in hospitals.)

And of course, the most magnificent Falco moment comes from being so purely happy at leading Reiner down a creepy abandoned cellar to meet with an escaped hospital inmate. This kid is so jazzed over doing good deeds for Eren. He deserves a better setting. Say... a farm. On an island. With other children who have suffered the world’s cruelty. ...Would his parents have to get killed off first?

I hope his brain doesn’t break too badly when he finds out what he’s started. I also hope that one of the adults in the room asks him to leave before things get too messy. Falco’s a good kid and doesn’t deserve a quarter of the angst gathered in this dark room.

He’s smiling.

How many characters even know how to do that in this series?

Please let him die last. Or first, if that would be easier on him.

Anyway, I should probably say something about Reiner and Eren.

The only thing I can really think of is the first thing Eren says to Reiner is a reference to Reiner’s stated goal of living while they were pals, and in a similar time frame, Eren’s stated goal was eliminating every last titan.

...That’s probably reading a bit much into it.

It’s loaded enough that Eren is willing to reference Reiner’s desire to go back home. That’s the only thing that Reiner got out of that whole mission, and what he lost possibly wasn’t worth it in his mind. But of the two, he is the one who achieved what he said he set out to do, so kudos.

This really can’t end well.

I’d like it to. Eren and Reiner are both so incredibly damaged by everything they’ve done and had done to them that it would be nice if they could just agree that this is all fucked up, btw, we’re back to killing each other tomorrow, see you then, just wanted to say hi first. Or they could skip the killing each other part entirely.

I don’t know about deserving peace, but they both need it, and I think it would be nice if they could reach it somehow. Meeting underground is a good start; it means Eren isn’t looking for a brawl.

(There is no way this is a sanctioned Survey Corps assignment. Too many people would yell at him for trying to do this on his own.)

Next month, place your bets. Are we finally going back to Paradis? Will Eren and Reiner be left staring at each other for four months of infodump? Is Willy going to finally fulfill his dream of being a director? Is his play going to be any good? Will I finally stop typing the same monthly rant about Marley?

I fear the answer to that last one is no, but for the rest, oh, the possibility!

Something

might happen!

[nebris]

Why Our Societies are Collapsing

What do a Decadent Left, a Regressive Right, and a Silent Majority All Add Up To?

I have a strange life. I go back and forth between the UK and US. And these days, I have the strange pleasure — or displeasure — of watching both my societies collapse. Now, when I say “our societies are collapsing”, you can include yours, too, if you want. When I look at my societies, Anglo ones, it couldn’t be clearer that they are in the throes of what history will regard as something like one of history’s most epic, swift, and catastrophic collapses.

And yet one of the great ironies of now is that the UK and US don’t understand that they’re collapsing, still — nor why, nor how. They are living in a fairy tale. Are you? There are many reasons for the collapse of Anglo countries. And they are spreading around the globe. Let me highlight three of the most vital.

(Now, let me warn you. You won’t like this essay. It will make many of you angry, outraged, incredulous. I’m going to be just as critical, if not more, of the left as the right. And I’m going to be critical of society at large, too. So if you want something more comfortably numbing, go read Vox or the NYT.)

Think back to Weimar days for a moment. The 1920s. What was most salient about Weimar — apart from the obvious, a rising extreme right, and a collapsing middle class? A decadent, degenerate left. Think of what was happening in Berlin in the 1920s, and even the 1930s. Where there should have been resistance…there was cabaret society. Dedicated to sexual libertinism, excess, and partying.

Today’s left is degenerate and decadent, too, in exactly the same way as the left of the 1920s. That is the first reason my societies are collapsing, and maybe yours are too.

The left in my societies tells me that I have to use words like “cis” and “trans.” That I have to always respect people’s personal pronouns, and say “them” instead of “he” or “her.” They thunder that I must support gender free bathrooms and sexual freedom for teenagers and everybody choosing their own gender identity, no matter how strange. And that’s alright. I suppose I do support those things — although not entirely without reservation. But the left in my societies tells me these are the only things that really matter very much, or at least that they are the things that matter first and most.

Why is it that they aren’t willing to say the words “concentration camps” or “fascism” or “Nazis” or “genocide” or “crimes against humanity”…but don’t use the latest, rightest words for someone’s gender or sexuality, and that’s some kind of shameful, terrible, unforgivable atrocity?

See the problem here? Sure, we should all support sexual and gender freedom. But they cannot be the top or only priorities for a sane left. That’s because if they’re all you’re really fighting for, the bad guys aiming for bigger things — control of judiciaries, institutions, presidencies, will probably win them, since you’re not fighting for them at all, really. And they will use those bigger things to deny you just those rights…along with many others. See the priorities of these issues?

And yet the left today doesn’t understand that it’s a precise mirror image of the decadent Weimar left, with its incessant, overweening, obsessive — and juvenile — focus on gender and sexuality. The Weimar left loved playing with gender, too, my friends. The flappers in the Berlin cabarets…the libertines in the bars…all these were playgrounds for fluid, expressive gender and sexuality, where much of the modern world’s iconography of sexual freedom was born, from women in suits, to men in drag. They were much more daring and bold and experimental than our gender warriors today.

But you know what? The sexual libertines of the Weimar era didn’t stop the Nazis. Playing with gender was no match for a fascist demagogue crying to exterminate people in a stagnant, broken economy, in a country that had lost its pride, reason, purpose, and sanity. Yesterday’s gender warriors only really aided the cause — not by provoking some kind of backlash (sorry, I don’t make David Brooksian arguments here) — but simply by ignoring larger, much more urgent issues, that affected many more people. By not fighting for the larger institutions of democracy…just the cultural institutions of pleasure. They gave up without a fight. And we are too.

That brings to the second reason my societies are collapsing. A decadent, degenerate left finds its perfect mirror image in a regressive, extreme right.

Think again of the Weimar era. There were the libertines in the cabarets…playing with gender…women in mens’ haircuts and clothes…men in glitter and dresses…expressing every kind of sexual freedom. “Just party with us!”, they cried to the Germans. And the average German was completely and totally baffled. What difference would partying make? Partying? Are you guys serious? The average German’s life, you see, was falling apart. His savings had been destroyed, his income ruined, his opportunities in life shredded. He had nothing much left. He wasn’t concerned with pleasure — how could he be? He was just trying to survive.

So the ideas of gender and sexuality and whatnot — the things the decadent left championed — made no difference whatsoever to him. He wasn’t queer in any way. He was just a regular old straight person. So what difference could “queering” some kind of ideal of gender or sex make to him at all? It didn’t. He needed an income, savings, a job, a home. Freedom from the crushing anxiety and despair of everyday life. Calling for some kind of arcane, bizarre, decadent pleasure was like speaking a totally alien language to him. It was surreal and absurd and selfish and a little bit irresponsible and vulgar. It was childish. Like a teenager partying while his house burns down.

Hence, a massive political opening was created. All that — the stuff that mattered to the average German — was precisely what the Nazis gave him. You see, one thing we don’t understand these days is that life improved for the average German under the Nazis. They had new jobs, incomes, savings, homes, chances, again. The catch was that those jobs were in Gestapos and SS’s, at concentration camps, putting yellow stars on Jews. The price of this newfound German prosperity, and sense of purpose, was…fascism.

That history is repeating itself exactly today in Anglo countries. A regressive right is offering people what a decadent, degenerate left will not. Even on the rare occasions the left does care urgent material issues, not sociocultural ones — austerity, inequality, stagnation — they come last, after the ones about sex and pleasure and the right pronouns and whatnot. But the average person in the US or UK could care less about pleasure, gender, sexuality, “queer theory’s” increasingly bizarre terminology and demands — even though many of them support them anyways, because they’re most good people. The reason these things don’t mobilize, inspire, galvanize, electrify people is simple: they aren’t affected by them.

Average people, by definition, don’t want to be the things the increasingly outlandish things a decadent left is fighting for. Pansexual aromantics, subverters of gender, libertines of extreme sexual pleasure, outliers without any boundaries in human relationship or sexuality, unwilling academic specialists in queer theory made to speak a grad-school seminar level of discourse just to say hi. Sorry if that makes you hate me, but it’s true. There’s nothing wrong with being any of those things. Many of them are interesting and challenging things. But average people are just boring old straight people. Two cars, kids, a mortgage. The average person is just that…average. Just like the good German. But if a left won’t fight their political battles…for higher incomes, savings, wages, better jobs…who do you think they’ll turn to?

What happens to a left so decadent and degenerate that it forgets to fight political battles — only increasingly narrow fringe cultural ones? What happens is America 2019. What happens is Nancy Pelosi refusing to impeach Trump…and funding concentration camps instead. Pelosi has no reason to impeach precisely because the left is far more likely to consider using the wrong pronoun or abstruse gender terminology a horrific crime against humanity than…actual crimes against humanity. But when the left is shouting — “Use the right pronouns! Say the right words for gender, sex, and pleasure…or else we’ll shame you! You are a terrible person!”…but not “Impeach the fascist! He’s a genuine fascist, and those are actual concentration camps! Impeach him or we’ll shame you!!”…what do you think is going to happen? The fascists win, because the average person is going totally unrepresented and unheard in this mess. Why can’t the left say the simple, accurate word “fascist”…but it makes us all speak the baroque, bizarre vernacular of radical “queer theory” now? Do you see the problem here?

In the void left by a decadent, degenerate left — because such a left won’t fight real political battles for the average person’s life, for income, stability, security, safety, purpose, trust, meaning, only the battles of the fringe, for fringe issues, like the right to be a unicornsexual or a panromantic gender fairy…the extreme, regressive right will rise. Why? Because the left offers no good, progressive way forward to prosperity for the average person. But the regressive right offers a way, and it’s a simple one. Go backwards. To more tribal, more authoritarian, less democratic times, institutions, modes of governance. Forget democracy…it hasn’t worked for you. Join the tribe. Join the gang. Be one of us. We are against them. If we take all that’s theirs, enslave them, kill them…We’ll Be Great Again.

It’s a story as old as time, my friends. A decadent, degenerate left, enabling the rise of a regressive, extreme right. Not through backlash or provocation…but simply by refusing to fight for the progress of the average person. In the Weimar days, it was Berlin libertines fighting for the right to wear drag. Today, it’s the left fighting for gender free bathrooms and pronouns. In the void, the Nazis rose then — and they are rising again now. How much has really changed?

Now, the average person is stuck in the middle of all this. It’s a bewildering, frightening, surreal mess. He or she wonders…why the hell is my choice between a left that only seems to care about sex, gender, partying…a left who only cares about pleasure…the more bizarre and outlandish the better…or a right who wants to go backwards to the Stone Age? What the hell am I supposed to do with that? My life is falling apart!

That brings me to my third reason my societies are collapsing the silent majority. The average person doesn’t know what the hell to make of all this…a decadent, degenerate left, and a regressive, extreme right. They’re trapped in a very real dilemma. Two bad choices. Neither of which seem to make much of a difference to them. Elect the extreme right? Things get worse, my life continues on its downward trajectory. Elect the pleasure-obsessed left? Same outcome, only a different way. One, through commision, the other, omission.

Hence, the majority in my countries is silent. Barely a peep is heard from them. They think they are being very vocal and angry, sure. But tweeting isn’t civic action, my friends. It’s just catharsis. A protest once a year? It only confirms your impotence — it doesn’t demonstrate your power.

I’ve seen many social collapses, of varying degrees. And a silent majority is a key, key ingredient. It was in Pakistan. In India. In Egypt. In Argentina. All over Africa. In Russia. The silence of the majority paves the way for the bad guys to do their worst. Because then they know they can get away with anything. Who will stop them?

But the silence of the majority is produced by the dilemma of a degenerate left, and a regressive right. When people have nothing good to choose…they go silent. They feel defeated, resigned, apathetic. Hopeless and powerless. That dynamic has held true in collapse after collapse, too. India and Pakistan and Egypt and Russia too have decadent lefts and regressive rights, which produced silent majorities.

The silent majority is a kind of license, my friends. The silence of the populace lets the bad guys know they have been successful. That there is no one and nothing that will stop them. That the opposition is supine and the people are voiceless. It is a license to plunder and pillage and destroy and terrorize.

I see a silent majority in my countries that doesn’t even know it is one. That is the most tragic thing. When I say “silent majority” I don’t just mean that a hush falls across the land. I also mean that people begin to speak and think in Orwellian terms.

So in America, those aren’t concentration camps — they’re “detainment facilities.” That’s not a literal form of genocide — “it’s a border family separation policy.” When kids are put in cages without food, water, or medicine, it’s not torture — it’s just “detainment.” Those aren’t fascists doing all these textbook, well, fascist things…they’re just “nationalists”, or, at worst, “white nationalists.”

The majority has been silenced — and it doesn’t know it. In a kind of subtle, clever way. Not by shutting their mouths. But by giving them half-truths to repeat. And once those half-truths are repeated, what is real? What is true? What can matter? Who can tell what is false, and what is not? Orwell’s warning has gone unheard in my societies. Silence is not the act of being quiet. It is the act of doublespeak — which the average American now does daily, even if he imagines he is against Trump. In fact, he is Trump’s great ally, using his concepts, language, vocabulary, and frames, losing the battle for the mind before it has even been fought.

That is a silent majority, my friends. People too callow, desperate, or weary to even understand that they are speaking in tongues. Better to just be silent than repeat “Arbeit Macht Frei.” But Americans don’t understand that. They are trapped, you see.

The decadent left tells them they must use the right words for pleasure. But what about pain, suffering? Violence, murder? Why is it that the left won’t say “fascism” and “concentration camps”, but it insists, with a kind of juvenile rage, that you’d better say “trans” and “their” and so on now? Which one of these things is more fundamental — defeating the fascists, or wearing glittering drag? No — it’s not about “both”. It’s about which comes first. What does the history of the Weimar Republic say?

That is the gap, my friends. American may never understand it. But it says something profound. The regressive right is speaking to Americans about their pain — in a violent, dehumanizing, hateful way. The left is still mostly only speaking to people about their pleasure. Pleasure, they wonder. What pleasure? I can barely make ends meet, man! What do I care about being a beautifully ambiguous gender fairy? I just want to pay my bills and feed my kids and sleep well at night. So Americans are trapped in a dilemma. Which of these two foolish sides to choose? Why is nobody speaking about their possibilities?

It’s true that figures like Elizabeth Warren are changing this. Slowly. One brilliant and bold plan at a time. I wish her all the luck and success in the world. Because the truth is that she is America’s last chance. In between these three implosive forces — a decadent left, a regressive right, and the silent majority both produce…few societies endure.

Umair July 2019

https://eand.co/why-our-societies-are-collapsing-32948c177fa4

[clubofinfo]

Expert: Alessandro Bianchi: The geographic location of Afghanistan has always occupied a central role. The April peace talks between Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Russia and China seemed to have put an end to the persistent and dominant American presence in the country. What’s your opinion? Andre Vltchek: What you have mentioned is extremely important, but I’m not ready to celebrate, yet. This could be, at least in theory, the first step towards the end of one of the most destructive and brutal occupations in NATO’s history, or in what the US mainstream press likes to describe as “the longest American war.” Let us also not call it only the “American presence”. I know some Europeans lately love to portray themselves as some kind of victims, but they are definitely not. Europe is at the core of this entire global nightmare. And the US is nothing else other than its creation: it is Europe’s offspring. In many ways, the United States is Europe. The UK is now well behind this horror through which Afghanistan is being forced to go through, at least theoretically; a sadistic revenge for all former British defeats in the country. The UK is responsible for more massacres worldwide than any other country on Earth. And now it is shaping the US and, in fact, the entire Western imperialism, ideologically. Its Machiavellianism, its propaganda machine is second to none. What I can confirm from my first-hand experience is that by now the people of Afghanistan have had truly enough of this Western imperialist barbarism. They are exhausted after 16 years of the horror invasion. They dislike the West; mistrust the West… But most of them are silent, because they are constantly being frightened into submission. And also remember: collaboration with the Western occupation forces is now the greatest ‘business’ in the country. Afghan diplomats, many politicians, countless military commanders, Western-funded NGO’s, even thousands of educators, are all serving the occupiers. Billions of dollars are being made from such shameful collaboration. It is all one huge business, and the mafia of servile Afghan ‘journalists’, diplomats, governors and ‘educators’ will never leave their lucrative positions voluntarily. Western colonialism corrupts! It corrupts one generation after another in all conquered, occupied countries. Afghans who are pure, Afghans who are proud, true patriots with beautiful hearts (and there are still many of such people in this country that became one of my favorite places on Earth) have presently no power, no say. Fortunately, even the elites are now realizing that there is no way forward under the present regime, and under the present foreign rule. In Kabul and in the provinces, people are beginning to look towards Russia, China, but also Iran, even India. Despite its terrible past track record in this part of the world, even Pakistan cannot be ignored anymore. Anything is better than NATO. AB: Like in other parts of the world, the presence of American troops does not fully explain the long-term goals of military planners. Afghanistan in some respects resembles a similar situation to Southeast Asia. In South Korea, the American presence has persisted since 1950, and with it the destabilization of the Korean peninsula. The American surge will not change the delicate balance negotiated between the parties back in April and it will not affect the efforts of Moscow and Beijing to stabilize the country. How do you define the US presence today in Afghanistan? AV: I define it as inhuman, barbaric and thoroughly racist. And I’m not talking about the US presence only, but also about the European presence, particularly the British one. There could be absolutely no doubts regarding how deep once-socialist Afghanistan has sank under the NATO cruelty. It is enough to go even to the sites of the UNDP or the WHO and it all there, in details: Afghanistan is now the least ‘developed’ (using HDI criteria) country in Asia. Afghan people have the lowest life expectancy on their continent. The US alone claims that it has managed to spend, since the invasion in 2001, between 750 billion and 1.2 trillion dollars. That’s huge, an astronomical amount, even bigger than the entire Marshall Plan after WWII (adjusted to today’s dollar)! But has it been spent to help the Afghan people? Of course not! It has gone mainly into corrupting of ‘elites’ and their offspring, into the military, into the salaries of foreign contractors. Huge military bases were built; some were at some point decommissioned, others were moved somewhere else. Airports were constructed – all of them military ones. Private Western security firms are having a ball. I once calculated that if all that money were to be equally divided between all Afghans, the country would have had a much higher income per capita than relatively affluent Malaysia, for 16 consecutive years! What the West has done to Afghanistan is insane! It is Orwell meeting Huxley, and all mixed with the worst nightmares of painters like George Grosz and Otto Dix. Old trolleybus lines built by the former Czechoslovakia are gone; only stumps are left. But so much is still surviving. Soviet apartment buildings, so-called Makroyans, are still standing and flats there are in great demand to date. Water ducts in the countryside were built by the Soviet Union, and so were irrigation canals around Jalalabad and elsewhere. India built dams. China constructed public medical facilities. What did the West create? Nothing else other than total misery, armed conflicts and above all – countless military barracks, tall concrete walls and fences, the drug trade, intellectual prostitution and as always, dark and complete nihilism! In 2007, around 700 Afghan civilians were killed by Western airstrikes alone, a great increase even when compared with 2006. Georgian military contractors who are working for the US occupation army recently told me: US have total spite for Afghan people. They even destroy unused food at its military bases, instead of giving it to starving children. People of Afghanistan know perfectly well who are their friends, and who are enemies. AB: The world is changing, and more and more fruitful efforts to replace the chaos wrought by US policies can be seen. The road to economic prosperity and a re-established unity among the Afghan people is still a work in progress, but once the country manages to establish its independence, Washington will have a hard time dictating conditions. Will countries like Russia, China and India be able to prevent a dangerous escalation in Afghanistan? AV: Many people in Afghanistan are actually dreaming about true independence, and most of them remember with great love, all the kindness and internationalism given to them by the Soviet people. Unlike the Westerners, the Soviets came here first as teachers, doctors, nurses and engineers. They shared with the locals all that they had. They lived among them. They never hid behind fences. To date, in Afghanistan, you say you are Russian, and dozens of people will embrace you, invite you to their homes. It is all in stark contrast to the Western propaganda, which says that Afghans dislike Russians! When it comes to Russia and China, yes, both countries acting in concert would be able to bring economic prosperity and social justice to Afghanistan. I’m not so sure about India, which is, until now, clearly sitting on two chairs, but definitely China and Russia are ready and able to help. The problem is that Afghanistan is still very far from any sort of independence. The West has occupied it for 16 years, that’s terrible enough. But the country has also been sacrificed for the even more sinister designs of the US and NATO, for much longer than that: Afghanistan has been, for decades, a training ground for the pro-western jihadi cadres, starting with Al-Qaeda/Mujahedeen (during the ‘Soviet War’ and the war against Afghan socialism). Now the Taliban is ruining the country, but also, increasingly, ISIS are murdering all in sight here. Recently, ISIS have been arriving from Syria and Lebanon, where they are in the process of being defeated by the Syrian army, by the Russians, but also by the Lebanese forces and Hezbollah. The ISIS was, as is well known, created by the West and its allies in the Gulf. This is essential to understand: two countries that the West wants to fully destabilize are Russia and China. In both of them, Islamist fundamentalists have been fighting and bringing horrible damage. The West is behind all this. And it is using and sacrificing Afghanistan which is absolutely perfect for the Western imperialist designs due to its geographical location, but also because it is now fully destabilized and in a state of chaos. In Afghanistan, NATO is maintaining ‘perpetual conflict’. Jihadi cadres can be easily hardened there, and then they can be ‘exported’; to go and fight somewhere in Northwest China or in the Central Asian parts of Russia. The destruction of Afghanistan is actually a well-planned genocidal war of the West against the Afghan people. But the country is also a training ground for jihadists who will eventually be sent to fight against Russia and China. AB: While the United States exhales the last breaths as a declining global power, no longer able to impose its will, it lashes out in pointless acts like lobbing 60 cruise missiles at Syria or sending 4,000 troops to Afghanistan. Such acts do not change anything on the ground or modify the balance of forces in Washington’s favor. They do, however, have a strong impact on further reducing whatever confidence remains in the US, closing the door to opportunities for dialogue and cooperation that might have otherwise got on the table. AV: Here I have to strongly disagree. I’m almost certain that the West in general, and the United States in particular, are clearly aware of what they are doing. The US has some of the most sinister colonial powers as its advisers, particularly the United Kingdom. The US will not simply go down the drain without a great fight, and don’t ever think that Europe would either. These two parts of the world were built on the great plunder of the planet. They still are. They cannot sustain themselves just from the fruits of their brains and labor. They are perpetual thieves. The US can never be separated from Europe. The US is just one huge branch growing from an appalling trunk, from the tree of European colonialism, imperialism and racism. Whatever the US, Europe and NATO are presently doing is brilliantly planned. Never under-estimate them! It is all brutal, sinister and murderous planning, but from a strictly strategic point of view, it is truly brilliant! And they will never go away on their own! They will have to be fought and defeated. Otherwise they are here to stay: in Afghanistan, in Syria, or anywhere else. AB: What is the role of Italian troops that you have seen in your last visit to Afghanistan? AV: It is a usual cocktail consisting of what Italian fascism has been made of throughout its colonialist, fascist and NATO eras: a medley of cruelty, hypocrisy, as well as some great hope in Rome that Italy could finally become a competent and ‘respected’ occupier… I saw the Italian troops in Herat… They occupied an ancient citadel of the city, jumping like members of some second-rate ballet troupe all around, just because some high-ranking Italian officer was bringing his family to visit the site. It was all tremendously embarrassing… I still have some photos from that ‘event’. But the best thing about Italians as occupiers is that they can hardly be taken seriously; they are disorganized, chaotic, and hedonistic even during war. Italian troops took over ancient Citadel in Herat City. I actually love to see them in such places like Afghanistan, because they do very little damage. They are true showoffs. The French, Brits, and the US – they are efficient and brutal, true killing machines. Italians are still better at making movies, writing poetry and cooking, than murdering locals in occupied foreign countries. ***** • Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. Three of his latest books are revolutionary novel Aurora and two bestselling works of political non-fiction: Exposing Lies Of The Empire and Fighting Against Western Imperialism. View his other books here. Andre is making films for teleSUR and Al-Mayadeen. Watch Rwanda Gambit, his groundbreaking documentary about Rwanda and DRCongo. After having lived in Latin America, Africa and Oceania, Vltchek presently resides in East Asia and the Middle East, and continues to work around the world. He can be reached through his website and his Twitter. http://clubof.info/