#just. basic media literacy folks

[theliteraryluggage]

I was only going to put this in the tags but then I had Thoughts and I need to add them--sorry!

About the last point:

Yes, not every detail has some big symbolic meaning. The blue curtains don’t have to represent profound melancholy or some such.

BUT. If the story is worth its salt (hence “If they aren’t you should read better books”)--if it’s mentioned that the curtains are blue, it is mentioned FOR A REASON.

There is a significance in the author’s choice to mention the colour at all. Or even to mention the curtains at all. So why?

That’s the question you should ask yourself when analysing a story or any piece of media. Not “What does this symbolise?” but “Why did the author mention it?”

AND WRITERS, I’m looking at you too!

Ask yourself the same question when editing, even when writing if you’re the type. Ask yourself “What does this contribute to the story?” And if the answer is nothing, CUT IT.

(Also note I said contribute to the story, not contribute to the plot. There’s so much more to a good story than plot.)

Basic rules for analysing fiction, an incomprehensive list jotted down in a hurry:

The protagonist isn’t always right

The protagonist isn’t always good

The protagonist isn’t always written to be relatable or likeable

The narrator isn’t always right

The narrator isn’t always good

The narrator isn’t always telling the truth

The narrator isn’t always the author

The protagonist’s moral compass, the narrator’s moral compass and the author’s moral compass are three entirely different things that only occasionally overlap

Pay attention to what characters do and not just what they say

Pay special attention when what the characters do is at odds with what they say

A lot of the time the curtains are blue for a reason. If they aren’t, you should read better books

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

"If you ship these characters together at all you've fundamentally misunderstood the plot of the story"

Bro I get this if like. It's a case where people genuinely are misunderstanding the story

But like bro you know shipping is inherently neutral and doesn't necessarily tell you anything about how someone interprets a piece of media, right?

You know that people who ship something don't always want the thing to be canon, right?

You know that people shipping something doesn't change canon

Right?

[prokopetz]

Your post about the origin of paladin in D&D made me think of a long standing pet peeve of mine - when people insist that a knight, guarding a palace, without employing holy magic, is not a "real paladin" in modern media. Do you have any particular thoughts on the way that D&D has so heavily coloured definitions of things in this way?

(With reference to this post here.)

It's just basic lack of media literacy. People who get hung up on how Dungeons & Dragons defines its character classes are in the same boat as folks who misidentify bog-standard sword and sorcery fantasy tropes as Discworld references because they've only ever been exposed to the genre via Terry Prachett's parodies of it, or folks who see colour-coded alchemical symbols and think they've caught you name-checking Homestuck – they all need to read a second book!

[blackfilmmakers]

"you can't objectify characters because they're objects 🤓🤓🤓" well okay but you can reduce character traits' of characters that REPRESENT HUMANSSSS. Reducing character traits are a key process in the process of objectifying someone. I love how people use these type of takes to feed into their harmful ideologies while simultaneously downplaying and dismissing common forms of racism in fandom (demonization and/or fetishization of POC fictional characters)

idk man people will do ANYTHING but realize how your treatment of characters contribute to racism and OTHER forms of bigotry... it can be so frustrating sometimes, but I'm glad there's other black folks like you that can call them out, since as a black person, at times i just can't deal with these kind of people

This trend of reducing media literacy because "the curtains are just blue" people want to make fun of those they deem as elitists, are doing so much damage to yalls(not u specifically anon) minds

Why do yall think conservatives love making fun of art majors of any kind? Or any creative that learns about the history and thought process of those before them out of interest?

You learn how art can represent people, and you learn how it can affect people's perception of those groups irl. That has always been a thing. If it wasn't, then places like Ancient Rome wouldn't have fifty thousand stories that have heroes messing up certain territories presented as the bad guys, and are 'coincidencntally' enemies of the empire somehow

If not humans, a lot of times the monsters are supposed to represent a group of people too

It's basic metaphors and allegories type shit, yall should have learned this in elementary

[lurkingshan]

Okay now that Halloween is over and my head is clearer, I wanted to add some thoughts to the great posts @waitmyturtles and @bengiyo shared debriefing Only Friends and unpacking this desire by some in fandom to declare that it has no message and therefore we can't be upset with the creators for what they chose to put out into the world via this show. Let me just say upfront: I find that claim preposterous and completely contra the basic tenets of media literacy and analysis.

Turtles already gave a great overview of the foundational truth here: media is communication, and all communication contains messages, both explicit and implicit. For the first 11 weeks, I believed that Only Friends was attempting to take a neutral POV on its characters' morality, asking us instead to think for ourselves about the moral complexities and implicit messages of the situations the characters were in, and wondered if the lack of a very explicit perspective from the show was making folks uncomfortable. But then, in the final hour, the show shifted its tone to provide an extremely explicit POV on the characters and its themes (with the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the head), with a heavy focus on punishing Boston, and that POV was so rooted in heteronormativity, sex shaming, and frankly, anti-queer sentiment, that it took many of us aback. As Ben put it so succinctly in his post: NOT A SLAY.

I want to unpack this more because it’s important to understand that there are ways to write the events of the final episode as essentially the same without embedding that explicit moralistic POV. If the intent was to maintain a neutral presentation of events that does not cast judgment on Boston, you would not do any of the following:

Have several characters explicitly judge Boston for being a non-monogamous slut in dialogue with no counterpoint voices

Make Boston spend the episode apologizing to every character while receiving no apologies in return for the wrongs done to him

Insert a random episode of Boston acting on impulse in a way that is not actually consistent with any of his previous behavior to make a sudden point that he can't change

Have Nick, who has been explicitly singled out as the one person who understands and loves Boston, change his mind and dump him in a frankly condescending way while Boston begs him for another chance

End Boston's final scene of the show with him devastated, alone, and defeated while the rest of the characters are happy and thriving

There is absolutely nothing neutral about those choices, fam. And they were in fact choices that the creators of this show are responsible for. They could have had the basic events of the finale stay the same, but changed the dialogue and framing of these interactions, and it would have completely changed the message being sent. For instance:

Instead of having Sand say Nick deserves better than Boston because Boston kissed someone else, he could have focused his comments on helping Nick understand whether he wants monogamy and why

Instead of having Boston grovel to everyone, they could have had all the friends just decide to forgive and forget all their mutual trespasses, or had the rest offer Boston sincere apologies in response to his own

Instead of Boston randomly deciding to make out with Boeing and lie about it, they could have had him invite Boeing to meet Nick for a threesome and have Nick react to that

Instead of having Nick dump Boston, they could have had them mutually decide they want different things and decide to part ways

Instead of Boston crying and dejected on the concrete, we could have seen him say goodbye to Nick on positive terms and walk away with his head held high to the life waiting for him in NYC where he can be his authentic self

Do you see how that works? All of the events of the story are the same, but the message it delivers is completely different. This version of the story would tell us that even though Boston's current friends don't really get him, and even though Nick is not ultimately comfortable with an open relationship, there is nothing inherently wrong with the way Boston wants to live. But they didn't give us this version; they gave us the stigmatizing and shaming one I described above. And that is absolutely something we should hold the creators responsible for, even if it makes us feel some kind of way about our drama heroes.

I have been giving this show the benefit of the doubt for weeks because I had a lot of faith in Jojo and Ninew not to put art out into the world with such a terrible message, a faith that was rooted in their previous work, including Gay OK Bangkok, 3 Will Be Free, and The Warp Effect, all of which featured queer ensembles and strong sex positive messaging. But no creator is infallible and mistakes were made. We will never know how much of the final messages in Only Friends were intentional versus a result of sloppy and rushed storytelling, or how much was the creators’ original vision versus studio interference, but ultimately it doesn't matter. We have to deal with the show we got, and we should be putting a critical eye on the people who delivered it to us. I know I will not be going into any future Jojo/Ninew shows with the same kind of faith, and I will not be pretending this one wasn’t a huge letdown from these creators.

[luckystarchild]

STOP SHARING THIS TWEET.

This is 99.99% likely to be fake. As someone who works in the anime industry, let me tell you why.

This has been sent to me dozens of times over the past few days, and it's pretty obvious to me that it's fake.

I work in the anime industry. Here's why I don't put any stock in this "official" announcement at all.

1. THE 'SOURCE' IS A TOTAL RANDO

The source is a random Twitter/X account. It isn't a studio or licensor. It's not even one of the "reputable" leakers. It's just some random person making a claim with zero backing and slapping the words "official" and "confirmed" on it.

Accurate leaks have happened, but they're usually accompanied by some kind of source claim (a leaked press release, a leak within the company, etc.) and a claim that an announcement is coming soon. This has nothing. This is just a random person saying shit for clicks.

Every one of their posts has "FOLLOW FORE MORE" in a subtweet. They're just farming for followers. The rest of the account is just random anime edits and posts + promotions for a discord they run.

I could literally write anything in a tweet and slap "OFFICIAL, CONFIRMED" on it, but if you see those words, you need to be asking, "Who confirmed it? What makes this official?" And in this case, it's NOTHING and NOBODY in the world of anime.

Media literacy, folks. It applies to Twitter/X. It ESPECIALLY applies to Twitter/X.

2. THIS 'SOURCE' DOESN'T UNDERSTAND THE ANIME INDUSTRY

"Studio has not been announced" is a WILD thing to suggest here, because YYH's rights are LITERALLY OWNED BY AN ANIME STUDIO. Studio Pierrot is still a license-holder for this IP, and it would be weird as hell for them to not handle a remake.

(Also, "studio not announced"... NOTHING has been announced. The wording here is very sneaky, as it implies an announcement was made but the studio was just left out of it. If an announcement had been made, it would be Pierrot/the studio/Shueisha doing it.)

Not only has Pierrot made animated content for the series as recently as the 2018 OVAs, their copyright info is on literally every piece of YYH merch being produced this year (alongside Shueisha and Togashi). They still have some rights. They (in part) hold the IP. They still make art for it. They will be the studio for any remake unless they willingly let go of that license. Considering they're still making money off of it through merch sales and the liveaction adaptation (tho that's another can of licensing worms we could discuss), that's highly, HIGHLY unlikely.

The likelihood of Pierrot letting some other studio handle the remake is very, VERY slim. It's one of their hallmark, legendary series. Why would they ever let that go to a competitor?

The "studio hasn't been confirmed" bit tells me this person doesn't know who actually owns the rights to YYH, and when they don't even know that basic piece of information, it puts everything else they say into question.

3. THE TIMING IS SUSPICIOUS

Anime series are in production long before they air. How long in advance depends on the project. You can't keep a lid on a high profile project for an extended period. For big projects, studios want to start the hype train sooner rather than later. (Obviously there are exceptions to this (see the Fruits Basket remake) but we'll get to that later.)

This tweet claims the project is coming out in 2024. We are at the VERY TAIL END of 2023. It is basically 2024 already. That tweet isn't an official announcement (despite the word "official" on it), which means the studio/license holder would have to announce it even LATER than this tweet did. The latest anime seasonals begin airing in Q4/October/the Fall Simulcast season. That gives Pierrot less than a year of lead-up time to market the anime before its latest possible air date in 2024, and for this particular property, that does not seem realistic OR wise.

Let's examine Pierrot's recent treatment of the latest Bleach installment as evidence. They announced the project in March 2020 via a livestream event. They began airing the project in October 2022, MORE THAN TWO YEARS LATER. That gave them two years to market the series.

YYH, like Bleach, is one of Pierrot's hallmarks. The idea that they'd give it less than a year of marketing is just not realistic. They'd likely give it the same kind of treatment as the new Bleach arc, given it's one of their past tentpole titles getting revived.

(Also note that Pierrot animated the new Bleach installments after years of no new Bleach. They didn't let go of those rights. They held on and made more content later. Now apply that logic to YYH, and arrive again at: To suggest another studio would handle a new series is farfetched.)

If the tweet had said the series was dropping in 2025 or later, it would be much more believable. But the details they gave, again, discredit their claims from the jump.

If a new YYH was coming out in 2024, btw, the series would already be well underway and likely have been in production behind the scenes for quite some time. They probably would've announced it last year if they intended a 2024 release.

4. THE LIVEACTION OF IT ALL

A liveaction adaptation for YYH is about to drop (December 14 on Netflix).

I can already hear the argument of, "Oh, well maybe they'll announce a new anime for 2024 when the liveaction comes out," and while that might be a possibility, I think there's another, far more likely alternative.

If the liveaction does well and the license holders make a fuckton of money on it, or if they at least see a large resurgence in interest in the IP, THEN I think the license holders/anime production committee would start thinking about a new anime adaptation to cash in on that interest. But I do not see them making that decision before the streaming numbers for the liveaction come in, and I do NOT see them working on the anime before the liveaction has even aired.

The anime world moves slowly. The execs and committees behind the scenes like numbers and sales figures. If they see good numbers, balls might start rolling. But it's unlikely they're already in production NOW, let alone far enough into production to support a 2024 release for a remake.

If the Netflix show gets the ball rolling on a new YYH anime, that anime won't come out in 2024. There just isn't time.

And I can now hear some muttering the argument of, "Oh, well they probably just held the news to time it with the liveaction," but see again their habit of announcing projects with lots of lead-up marketing time.

CONCLUSION: THIS SEEMS FAKE.

BUT...

Given the details above and the COMPLETE LACK OF EVIDENCE supplied by the tweet, I do not expect we'll get an ACTUAL "official, confirmed" announcement for a remake anytime soon.

In the event that I'm wrong, what I'd predict is the announcement of a remake (one made by ACTUAL official sources, AKA Pierrot and Shuiesha) sometime in Q1 or Q2 2024. Pierrot would be the studio, and the project would be slated for late 2025, or even more likely, sometime in 2026. (And yes, projects slated for 2026 and later are in the works right now.)

I think the above is a longshot, but it's possible. The timing suggested in the tweet everyone is sharing isn't realistic at all, however.

Long story short:

DO NOT TRUST RANDOM TWITTER ACCOUNTS.

ANYONE CAN SAY "OFFICIAL" or "CONFIRMED"

THE ONLY OFFICIAL SOURCES FOR ANIME NEWS ARE STUDIOS AND LICENSORS

QUESTION EVERYTHING

[k4txlulzz]

(warning: this is a random late night rant y'all , feel free to not take this seriously its just my scrambled thoughts lol)

vanitas no carte fandom is a lot more chaotic than i remembered it to be😭guys what happened i just came back to see how the story progressed (BTW MY FAVE SCENES GOT ANIMATED SO WELL !! the eng dub is so good too)

okay so! vanitas is my favorite character and i truly think he has a good, selfless heart. but yk what? that kiss scene with him and jeanne keeps popping up in my head. but then i remember that if i consider that moment SA i'd have to consider ALOT more romance scenes in the story as that too and i just don't think there can be that amount of **intentional** assault scenes from the creator ?😭

folks have brought up the cabin scene and??? that just confused me. because i never even thought of that possibility while looking at the panels or the scene. people hate vanitas or vanijeanne or even jeanne because of this kinda stuff and . while im conflicted and even uncomfortable(the kiss scene specifically) i also believe that the creator would not make a character SA anyone like that and make it seem romantic. i see this as: if its shown to be cute or romantic and does not show negative mental consequences of the characters after the event, it was not **intended** to be assault. (edit: while vanitas is shown to be malicious in this scene, the incident gets brought up like once after and doesn't really turn into an obstacle in vanitas' and jeanne's relationship which is what made me think this) basically, if it's shown to be harmless, it was most likely intended as that. and i understand the issue with that one weird kiss scene, i don't like it either. its just that vanitas happened to be my favorite before i learnt all this and that made me try and look for an explanation or some sort of evidence that maybe this is a "suspend your disbelief" moment but i dunno. i just desperately don't wanna think that a character and one of the dynamics that mean a lot to me have gross, scary implications . the creator wouldn't write jeanne or vanitas to do something so horrible because those are some of the characters she wants fans to be invested in and that can't be done if those characters are assaulters😭 the kiss scene still does ick me though and i think the moment should have been done differently? in any case, i generally think that media literacy is something every fan needs to have. because otherwise we back ourselves into a corner and "criticize problematic stuff" ourselves into viewing every character as a terrible person who should not be liked

but then again, this IS just my opinion and, to be clear, i don't support assault being brushed off in any media

[edit 2: i also acknowledge that i may be leaning towards copium with this one but that doesn't mean i don't recognize the creator's attempt to create a complex dynamic and characters; i just feel like because of this one scene a lot of people hate vanitas and brush off his dynamic with jeanne entirely which is sad because they have a lot of stuff thats worth getting interested in. i just wanted to make it clear that this post is just me ranting about something and not meant to be taken as a proper analysis ^^🙏🏼 it has also been a while since i looked at VNC stuff and may have gotten a bit rusty. i acknowledge that SA may perhaps be a significant part of the storytelling in VNC but i don't really want to think about those moments for personal reasons and especially when it is shown to be done by a character that really does mean a lot to me:) i enjoyed reading the comments i got on this post and am genuinely quite grateful for them]

[chuplayswithfire]

Im sorry about this i need to rant. I thought things were getting better but Izzy stan Twitter is at it again with their whining, truth bending and self-victimising.

'Do you like OMFD but wish the queer disabled hero didnt die?' IZZY IS NOT THE HERO OF THIS SHOW!!!!! He is at best a reformed antagonist. What an insult to the other disabled characters, and what about the actual heroes of the show??

'We've been betrayed by straight man writing queer stories'. First of all, way to dismiss the other writers. Also, its not his fault you project your personal traumas and mental health on a fictional character on a show with death in the title.

'GB's ending is comphet (?????) because 'we only need eachother' and theyre breaking away from their queer community' ED HAS BEEN WANTING TO LEAVE PIRACY SINCE LAST SEASON!!! also, its progress that Stede was able to resist basic flattery. And David made it clear that they still have work to do. This one truly broke my brain.

Im just sick of all this. Izzy stans have been coddled for the past week, being told its ok to grieve, but theyve crossed multiple lines. I do wish some things had been more explicit in this finale, only because David overestimated the maturity and media literacy of some people.

Sorry for this but i needed to talk to people here. Its beyond annoyance at this point. Im angry and sick of petty crybabies actively working to poison what we've built.

go off anon my inbox is open to your ranting let the rage flow through you [insert palpatine dot gif] but ngl the best thing you can do is just block liberally. block everyone. block left, right, center. do not be merciful. do not hold back. block until the ceiling comes down!!

because like, some of these fans have spent the last 18 months convincing themselves that their little guy was of equal importance to the main characters, the secret third protagonist, and he just got put in a box.

🎶izzy's in a box 🎶izzy's in a box🎶izzy's in a box🎶

izzy was never a hero of this show. he was a villain and then a side character on a rushed arc to redemption for the specific purpose of making him into the kind of man who could apologize to ed for being a shit. but that's hard to swallow for people who were convinced he was always right, so. also let's be honest: they don't give a shit about the other disabled people on this show. a bunch of them were trying to figure out a way for it to be wee john who was killed, and kristian is actually a queer disabled actor. they're just mad it was their little guy who they latched onto.

also yeah like four of the writers are nonbinary people of color, and there's definitely more queer writers on the team, but somehow this was totally the decision of a straight white guy. alright folks come on now to quote your idol pack it in.

gentlebeard's ending is them deciding to give their relationship a go in a more relaxed and sedate environment than the high stress locale of a pirate ship. their friends ARE going to come see them again. just because they don't all live together in the same frat house i mean ship doesn't mean they're suddenly forever alone. also there is nothing comphet about shacking up with your gay lover in a soon to be literal loveshack.

but like you can't expect these folks to care about ed or stede or gentlebeard or anything that doesn't center their white man of choice. the only thing you can do is block because anyone still throwing a fit a week later is simply not worth it.

no need to apologize anon. return to my inbox whenever.

[alpaca-clouds]

Is There Actually A Media Literacy Crisis?

Something I am thinking about a lot is that supposed "media literacy crisis" that people talk about a lot online. Some people say it is real, some people say it isn't.

Of course I am in the strange condition of not being American and this discussion focusing mostly on America. Talking to some of my bald eagle loving friends, I know that most Americans get way less media analysis taught in schools than us Germans. Like, I kid you not: All I did in German and English and history class between 7th and 13th grade was analyse texts and pictures. NOTHING ELSE. And how that was very dependent on the teacher in terms of how much media literacy I actually learned would be a topic for another day. But I know that a lot of my US friends did some analysis, yes, but comparatively little.

I will openly say one thing: Despite being pushed through so much literary analysis in school, I probably learned more about media analysis thanks to the internet than I ever learned in school. Because while we did it a lot. Well, it was basically the quality of content that the Japanese schools have when it comes to learning English. Do they start in primary school? Yes. Do they then absolutely fail on building on the vocabulary and all? Absolutely.

In history class we did a lot of analysis of historical propaganda. But do you think we ever spoke about framing? Just as a very accute example.

I would however not quite argue that we have a media literacy crisis really. More... Well, I would say we have four other problems that are seperate from one another - but that will contribute to it appearing as if people are media illeterate.

People do generally not think about or inform themselves how the media they consume is created. They are not really aware of what goes into the production of a piece of media, that has more complex behind-the-scenes scenarios than a book. Movies, TV shows and games are the most notable example here. As such, folks are often not quite able to see how the influence of several different people working on a project can be felt - let alone be able to analyse how that might have influenced the end product.

A lot of the most widely marketed media is very much created by coorporations to extract money. While some of the people involved might have had something to say, the studio producing it just wanted to make something that they can sell, which often results in some watering down of more complex themes. Through this people have kinda forgotten to even expect themes in their media. (Yes, this is very much about the MCU and most of AAA gaming.)

Because half of the discussion of any piece of media now takes place in the arena of the culture war, people often just reduce themes - if they are there - to very superficial culture war readings. And this happens on both sides of the isle. While the on the right we have idiots going "they hate white men", because a movie does not have a white male protagonist, the other side will go "this is sexist" because in a show of mostly female characters, a female character died.

People just do not have the time currently to actually sit with a piece of media and everyone in the industry knows it. A lot of media is created to be "second screen content", aka, something that you watch on your TV while you are in home office and working on that stupid powerpoint. And of course you cannot really interact with that media the same, you would, if you watched it on a first screen basis, right?

And of course, then there is the fandom side of things. Because yes, the entire proshipping and antishipping thing is also very much a media literacy problem, that mostly originates with, well... How should I say?

It originates with the same stuff like the rightwing leftwing culture war: From people not touch grass. From people not being aware that the folks that scream so loud online are actually a minority. And most people who will ever engage with a given piece of media will just never write something on tumblr, reddit or twitter about this piece of media. They will just consume it... and move on.

[dragon-ball-meta]

Are there any decent dragon ball YouTubers? I gave Totally Not Mark a shot (I got clickbaited into his Bardock is ruining Dragon Ball video) and his take was: TV Special good, Minus version makes Goku Superman, Super manga further ruins the story because of the wish Bardock makes.

I know I’m biased as a Bardock fan but I actually liked Super Hero/Minus Bardock just as much as TV special. Will never defend the Super manga though, I don’t even think Toriyama outlined the Granolah stuff did he?

He outlined some of it. The idea was Toyotaro's (and Victory Uchida's too, apparenty, which would explain why he's always trying to hype that arc) and he sent it to Toriyama, who apparently came up with a lot of the lore and a basic outline for him based on those ideas. From there, Toyotaro wrote the dialogue, the details, etc. So what exactly is Toyotaro's or not, we don't really know. But the arc itself was not Toriyama's idea. As for DB Tubers, unfortunately, I tend to not really watch their content. More than once I've been accused of "ripping off" some of my own thoughts on things from them, or being influenced by them, so I've kind of made it a point to ignore them to avoid that in the future. I'm sorry I can't really be of more help there. But for the record, I absolutely HATE the whole "Goku is Superman" thing, mostly because of how people misuse that. While there are some basic similarities in that both have the whole "Baby Moses" motif, for some reason people don't refer to the updated comic origin for Superman with this, but the 1978 film where he's deliberately sent not just to survive, but to be a hero. This is not the case with Goku. He's legit dropped on Earth to hide and potentially be picked up later. It's a completely random event, not one of "destiny" or anything like that. In fact, the Bardock Special has more of that to it than Minus does, given Bardock legit sees the future and sees Goku on Earth, fighting Vegeta, facing Freeza, etc. Such a weird, bizarre claim to me, and betrays a lack of media literacy in regard to the material.

Anyways, sorry, got a bit meandering there at the end, but I maybe folks who follow the blog can point you toward a few good ones?

[a-forger-and-a-point-man]

which eyewitness account. what news outlets. correct about what exactly. because all the articles and eyewitness accounts i am seeing is everyone from a random to the dutch prime minister condemning the attacks. and all you did is yell at me about israel being a savior to their people, insult my basic comprehension abilities, and link some dude's op ed of an article locked behind a paywall, the collective diatribe i could not even read because i do not and refuse to have an x account-- and then lock replies. but go off i guess.

with all due respect i don't think i feel inclined to accept your view about what is or is not antisemetic if your adjacent views on indiscriminate violence is apparently justified if it's jews (not zionists, not "soldiers", but anyone who looked like a jew or helped a jew). and I'll reblog or not reblog whatever i want, thanks. you have the distinct pleasure of clicking a block button if you'd prefer.

always open to genuine discussion of a very complex current events. not so much in whatever has transpired here thus far. it's been real. i sincerely wish you the very best.

the fact that you rely on what political leaders say tells me all I need to know, especially given their fears about their donors and backers, and the pressure they are under from the Zionist lobby. and look, no, I didn’t approach you in the most gracious way, and it’s not my style to lash out before approaching someone privately first, but this issue is a red line.

I suggest you work on your media literacy. It’s not taught in schools and it’s a universal problem. your reblog wasn’t just offensive and incorrect— it was an incitement to violence against anyone that dares to fight back and protect themselves, especially against a Zionist who attacked them first. and especially if it’s black or brown folks.

call me whatever names you like including an antisemite (false and defamatory), report me on tumblr, banish me from fandom, do whatever you like. this isn’t about me but about the fact that you are not even asking basic questions about the incident. I slept on your ask and thought… you know what, no, after the past 13 months (and decades before of anti-occupation advocacy and grassroots work on my part) I don’t need to educate you. you cannot possibly be this ignorant of the circumstances. don’t you read news articles and subsequent analyses? aren’t you tapped into social media discussions by historians and academics? have you the slightest idea what soccer hooliganism entails and Maccabi’s yearslong role in that?

Former US State Dept officials will tell you that Israel’s entire defense mechanism is to keep playing up its victimhood, its need for money and weapons, and its “right to defend itself.” But if Israel did away with that front, its attempt to unify the western world behind it crumbles. Everything would be exposed.

Israel’s surrogates toe that line. Those surrogates are Maccabi hooligans.

I am actually so confident that your reblog was full of lies that I will sit back and wait for you to find out. Wait for you to see how Sky News panicked and deleted its original report about Israelis attacking people on the streets of Amsterdam. Wait for you to see how some Dutch journos are demanding their videos from the scene stop being exploited for a pro Israel agenda. Wait for you to see that funny enough, Dutch authorities aren’t stepping up security and protecting synagogues and issuing safety measures for the Jewish community— because it wasn’t about them and they weren’t being attacked.

In due time you’ll realize you are wrong. Cannot believe you reblogged content saying it was a pogrom. My God, we just throw words around now… utterly heinous. The Netherlands of all places knows what an actual pogrom is like. But no, please, by all means let’s have US-based pro-genocide commentators call any violence against an Israeli a “pogrom.”

[localsharkcryptid]

Hello, hello folks! While I'm slowly getting back in the groove of developing Ouroboros I actually want to get some input on what you guys would like to see out of the AU first! I'll get to all of this stuff eventually but for now I wanna focus on one thing at a time instead of hopping around.

For context for new people: Ouroboros is an extensive crossover AU between the DSMP and Wings of Fire that places the story of the DSMP into to world of WoF. Ouroboros is not a black and white story and it is critical that everyone understands that I am leaning into the messy and morally grey nature of these characters. Not one of them is wholly perfect or wholly evil. (Basically: Please for the love of god have some media literacy)

[ofmdsalt]

Heyyy! Nice to see someone who's not afraid of the gentle beardie's bullying actually make critical takes about ofmd! (I am afraid of their doxxing and harassing behaviour. That's why this is anonymous 🙃) Just curious, since you seem to not just be critical of the show but the fandom in general, how do you view the use of how folks in the fandom use academic buzzwords to moralize their specific interpretation of a character, and then justifying it as the only "correct" or "canon" read of a character and then weaponizing their own personal read against others in the fandom?

hey anon! i completely understand your fears. some people get too attached to a piece of media and make it their whole identity and if that media is criticized, then they may feel attacked themselves. i just think it's important for people to realize that taking a step back is a good thing. logging off is a good thing. doing something other than Fandom is good and healthy and gives people perspectives.

to your point about the use of academic buzzwords within this fandom. a lot of these words just have lost a lot of meaning to me because they're used to justify argument of why i'm right and you're wrong. but it's all done in a way that's mean to imply 'all interpretations are valid! but these interpretations are less valid than mine and are therefore wrong.'

it's another form of fighting within fandoms when analyzing media is meant to be incredibly nuanced. my problems with a certain subset of this fandom understanding 'canon' and weaponinzing canon in way to discredit other people (the canyon, lbr).

there's a reason why Death of the Author exists and everyone keeps misunderstanding it. Death of the Author, as theorized by Roland Barthes if we really want to keep going with this academic angle (because apparently you need 10 citations to have a Valid opinion in this fandom) is the understanding that once a piece of art is out in the world it is no longer defined by what the author/artists intended for it to mean but by the reader. everyone can have their interpretation of a text. to then go about arguing that "not all interpretations are equal actually" is basically the nice way of saying "your opinion is wrong and mine is right."

if you can't handle the fact that some people don't see Izzy as a fucking 'father figure' that's a you problem

if you can't handle the fact that some people see season 2 as subpar, that's a you problem.

if you can't understand why people don't like the fact that this show does commit historical revisionism, that's a you problem!

look at me with my big words and use of theoretical texts to win an internet argument! aren't i just smart and special.

that's how this all comes off to me. and i know i'm participating in it, but it comes off as condescending when people say they're worried about the media literacy of fans these days and clutching their pearls when someone posts an idea that they don't agree with and have to make dozens and dozens of posts with thousands of words refuting something

[tchallasbabymama]

I wanted to vent here, but I can also understand if you may not want this in your inbox, so if you choose to ignore and delete, I will respect that. Your personal space and mental capacity is more important than anything else.

But I have a contribution to the series we like to call "Twitter is the cesspool of the miserable" (no seriously someone should coin something like that because as much fun as I have over there, they can be trash sometimes). Here's what happened.

For context, news had dropped that the Ironheart series is being delayed till about 2025, which is a little disappointing. This news comes after Two other black shows (Swagger and Riches, I was going to watch those eventually, I promise) were canceled. Around that time, I was reminded that a preteen show produced by Marsai Martin named Saturdays was canceled months ago. And also that we have several black-led projects that are stuck in developmental hell and if they're released, they're barely promoted.....unless they are backed by Oprah apparently because she promotes her stuff. Coupled that with every white person on FB still saying months after TLM's release that black people need their own original characters.

Compiling all of that into my annoyance, I tweeted in response to the Riri thing: "Black people should get their own original characters" The treatment of said original character: [quoted is the tweet about the the delay]. People who follow me and know that I've been trying to advocate for supporting black original characters, especially in the sci-fi/fantasy genres knew what I meant, what I was talking about, and why I was frustrated.

Somehow Members of Team Recast T'Challa found my post and were saying: "yet you were cheering Marvel on for killing off an original character". Mind you, I was already being gaslit by the "this isn't racism" crew, and then that happened. That was completely off topic and not the point of my original post. I had already asked them to stay on topic, but they still wanna argue that darn recast. So now (after I muted the post) people are arguing about whether or not T'Challa should've been recasted.

Months ago, I heard a black person say that black people have issues staying on topic, which is why we have a hard time progressing, THIS is what they meant.

So that just added to the dejection I was already feeling about us being canceled and stuck in developmental hell.

It really be our own people.

I’m sorry they’re doing all that. Unfortunately Twitter isn’t a place for nuanced conversations, it’s just a bunch of people yelling over each other.

Those two things don’t even make sense together, but alas, literacy is low.

I will say though, idk if I agree with the statement about Black folks not being able to focus hindering our progress. It’s not that it’s wrong, I just feel like even though it applies to everybody, we get unfairly labeled (a lot of times by our own people) because we’re an easy target. Meanwhile all of America is regressing thanks to a horrible education system not teaching critical thinking or basic reading comprehension AND social media making things move unnaturally quick. Idk, it just feels like even Black folks love blaming societal issues on Black folks sometimes.

[urfaveisroma]

Welcome to urfaveisroma <3 I saved this url out of spite, and if that's not pen then I don't know what is. This blog is primarily for celebrating and discussing Romani characters in comics, but I take submissions for Romani characters in other mediums and headcanon submissions, so long as they are appropriate.

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Here are some basic rules and principles to follow. Failure to respect these rules and principles will earn you a block, so be mindful-

· If nai tu san gypsy then be quiet for the sake of devla [ie: gadje (non-roma) can follow and reblog my posts, but if you're going to be weird and racist, go away]. I do not strictly mind submissions/asks from gadje, but if you cannot be respectful, and if I find your submission/ask to be purposefully offensive, you WILL be blocked.

· Do not pester me with questions about Romani culture. Friends may come to me in private, but I do not feel comfortable answering to strangers on the internet. For one, it makes me uncomfortable because our culture is closed. For another, I am not an authority on Romani culture in every vitze and in every corner of the earth. We are not a monolith. If I feel the want or need to volunteer certain information to clear up misconceptions, I will.

· We use media literacy and critical analysis here, sir. Please do not come in my inbox and tell me a Romani comic character should not be Roma because they have been written stereotypically from time to time, especially if you aren't Romani. The fact of the matter is that characters of color across the board have been subject to racist and stereotypical writing on occasion. I do not advocate for the erasure of Romani characters' racial identities, just like I do not advocate for the erasure of any other nonwhite characters' racial identities. I advocate for the involvement of Romani writers, artists, consults, and sensitivity readers in the creative process for Romani characters in comics. I advocate for positive change, not negative change, and erasing what little representation we have in media is 100% a negative change.

All that being said, I’m not going to jump you if you make a misstep. Please don’t be afraid to send asks and chat with me because you’re worried you might say something wrong. If I feel that the mistake was made in good faith then I will correct it in good faith.

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Some basic information about me:

I am a multiracial American Rom. My pronouns are he/him. I have not decided if I want to be public about who I am on this blog because I have been racially harrassed many times over for discussing Romani characters online, therefore I think maintaining some separation and anonymity on this blog will be beneficial for my mental health. If you must refer to me at all, you can call me chavo or Vic (yeah yeah kinnie moment, blah blah).

My favorite Romani characters in comics are Dick Grayson, the Maximoff twins, and (as you may have noticed) Victor von Doom- which...is basically every major racially Romani character in comics. I am very attached to them, so I love to be sent submissions/asks/posts relating to them!

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That's all for now folks ;)

[alpaca-clouds]

How To Improve Historical Literacy

As I have already established: If my life had gone according to my plan, I would have studied history at university, not IT/economics. Because history is to me one of the most interesting areas of study. BY FAR.

But being a history nerd also brings me one thing: I... kinda notice how little most people know about history. And I am not talking about the kinda stuff I love even - you know, pre-colonial Americas and stuff. No, I am talking like European history.

I recently allowed myself the kinda joke and ask around with friends and with colleagues of work for them to just generally date me certain historical events, that are definitely taught in German schools. The events were: Christianization of Rome, the Fall of Rome, the Crusades, the witch hunts, the revolutions, the industrial revolution, and the fall of Weimar.

What can I say? In some cases people were off by 500 years.

And sure, I hear you say, but history is not about remembering dates.

I agree with that. History is about understanding how and why things happened. But if you do not even get the general series of events right and how much time roughly passed between those events... you do not understand how and why things happened. Because you have no way of knowing this.

I also quizzed three people a bit about the history of Islam as it interacted with European history and... Yeah. Most I got in response to that were blank stares and the question of: "How am I suppsed to know that?"

We talk a lot about media literacy. What we do not talk a lot about is historical literacy. And I think... that is a big issue.

I talked with a friend about this recently. A retired history teacher. (Mind you, he is not that old, he just could not do teaching anymore because of health issues.) And we talked about how the curriculum in history very much is still following the Great Man narrative - and also repeats a lot of historical propaganda unquestioned.

Sure, at least over here in Germany we do very much interact with the Nazi propaganda in a critical way. But at the same time we absolutely unquestioningly learn stuff as "true" that came from colonial propaganda - or from the Victorian era propaganda about the middle ages.

We generally do fairly little in history over here when it comes to anything happening before 1600. Sure, we roughly skim over it. If you pick Latin class you get a bit more of Rome and Greece. But without Latin class you will barely know anything about those times in history.

And the problem that comes from that is, that most folks never actually LEARN how to even read historical sources. Be it primary sources - or just historical research. Which then leads to people taking words as gospel from some idiots who want to turn the past into their personal fantasy (Shadiversity for example).

And really... I will decry curricula in so many different classes. But none as much as history. Because in history, well... the folks do not even learn the basics.

You absolutely cannot teach history without teaching about how history interacted. You cannot just do German history. Technically the people know that. It is why we learned about the French Revolution, and about the Industrial Revolution in the UK. But that is just not enough.

Kids need to learn how the world works - and how certain things came to be. And something that Germany barely talks about is colonialism. Or the crusades. And both things are so inherently important if you want to understand the state the world is in right now.

More than that, however... Kids really need to be taught how to find historical research and sources to inform themselves.

And I mean that bitterly.

Years ago I did an analysis of certain kids books that had historical themes (like those non-fiction books for kids) and... Oh boy. It was not good. There was so much bullshit in those, that came from research that was at times more than 80 years old and had long been disproven. But those fairly new books had not updated that kinda stuff. And how are kids supposed to recognize those issues? And how are they supposed to develop a bullshit detector, when they are taught bullshit as kids?

And really... Media literacy is bad, btu I think more than anything we should talk about historical literacy.

Might also help with the conspiracy theorists.