#like being a shitty person doesn't make systemic harms ok

[dearqueerdeers]

sorry i know you reblogged this post like two days ago i was scrolling through the tags but re: the english teacher who said you couldnt call the male character abusive bc of his culture, was the novel in question things fall apart by chinua achebe bc if so that is NUTS thats like explicitly part of the point of that novel

YEAH IT WAS!! IT WAS THINGS FALL APART!!! THATS WHAT I WAS SAYING!!!

me n my friend spent like 30 mins after class arguing with her after a class discussion and she just kept saying that he wasn't abusive bc in his culture his actions weren't abusive and we were like. that's not how that works actually?

AND it got even stupider than that. bc I had convinced the English department at my school to give out a list of content warnings for their books at the beginning of the semester, so that students who needed could request an alternate book assignment if the material would be too upsetting for them. And the teacher refused to put abuse as a content warning for Things Fall Apart under the same "you can't call it abusive because it's cultural!!" reasoning. I tried MULTIPLE times to explain that while the character in the novel may not see it as abuse, any student who had faced or was currently facing abuse at home most certainly WOULD, and she still just held her ground about it not actually being abuse (and therefore not needing a warning)

[mogamuncher]

An exhaustive headcanon post about Bruce Wayne's unhealthy mentality.

trigger warning for: mentions C-PTSD, Survivor's Guilt, shitty dietary habits, insomnia, self-ableism, masking, workaholism, somewhat shady parenting, technically self-harm, and passive suicidal ideation.

Ok, so:

•Bruce def feels like he has to earn things. Like affection, respect, or just any form of a good thing happening to him.

•He earns his life, or so he says, but it's more like he's trying to earn the right to be alive, which is a wild thing to believe.

•Bruce is autistic as all hell, right? Diagnosed and everything, his parents used to pay for private treatment since the mental health system in Gotham is so ass. Well, after they died, Bruce just, doesn't do any of that anymore, he avoids therapists or psychologists like the plague, even ones outside of Arkham. He has a whole lot of Other Things™ outside of autism now, but he still refuses to go get proper help.

•Similarly, Bruce would rather die than to actually mention it to anyone. Like, yeah, as Brucie Wayne he's definitely masking hard (to the point where it's kinda upsetting and he gets overwhelmed), but like, he also doesn't tell shit to the whole rest of the Batfam, or the Justice League. The only person that knows that Bruce is autistic AND just generally mentally ill/traumatized, is fucking Alfred.

•This causes people to misunderstand him a lot, but part of him feels like that's more "deserved". Like, he thinks that he'd hate to be judged by his mental illness because he he dislikes the idea of his actions being justified retroactively of excused by his illnesses, not being self-aware enough to notice that this horrifically heightened sense of hyper-responsability about just fucking everything in his life is itself, a trauma response. Also, he's the world's biggest hypocrite, who famously believes that other rogues and people like Jason Todd need to be helped instead of killed or put down, going directly against his own attitude towards himself.

•He genuinely believes that whole "[insert mental illness here] is not an excuse to [insert a behavior or symptom of aforementioned mental illness here]", but like, only towards himself. To everyone else he rightfully thinks that stuff is bullshit.

•Bruce puts himself up to some crazy standards, actually. He works non-stop as both Brucie, Bruce, and Batman, always doing something, unable to stay still or even sleep. He skips meals, neglects his well-being, he puts everything on the line and expects himself to do it everyday, every hour, without fail, every single time.

•His kids think that he's neurotic, they're kinda right, the Justice League think he's too paranoid, they're right too, Gotham city thinks he's a saviour, it's true, the rogues think he's a monster, that's fair as well. Alfred? He just thinks Bruce is hurt, he's the most right of all.

•Part of this is a form of punishment, atonement for being alive, for surviving that fateful night when his parents didn't, for daring to go on with life when they're both sixteen feet under, for having the audacity to raise a family, the gall of having friends, the sheer nerve to even consider having a romantic relationship, when his parents couldn't even hug him. Not anymore. He's here, not them.

•And it kills him, because he saw it, saw them die, saw them gurgle on their own blood and sat with their bodies until the police arrived, this is what led him to become Batman, to mask as Brucie, to guide so many young people away from being like him as Bruce. So how dare he, how dare he be happy when they died? How dare he forget that alley, for even a second? How could he? Didn't he love them? Didn't he make a promise to live out the rest of his life in a mission to prevent events like this?

•It's like he's in a toxic relationship with two corpses, they're cold and their eyes follow him, he's hollow and blind to anything but them. Part of him would love to argue that his parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne themselves, would prefer to see him happy and fulfilled. Another part of him remembers gunshots, blood spatter, and the sound of choked gurgling, and Bruce spirals all over again.

•Perhaps he's waiting for this life for kill him, finish the job that gun didn't do years ago, kill him like his parents, hurt him so deeply he can't recover, destroy him until he's repented for being so inherently horrible. Because he is, he knows he is, he's neurotic, paranoid, a saviour complex having monster, this is what he aimed for, he seeked out this outcome, just waiting to be put down like those before him.

•He's passionate about his cause, sure, but that's surface level. The front used to keep the image of an asshole neurotic paranoid man that has a saviour complex, instead of exposing the truth behind himself. Who he really is.

•A child, that's who he is, a kid reliving his worst bad day over and over and over again.

•He earns his life, he'd earned this.

[inferablossom]

2, 18, 25 for Kyoko from PMMM and 1, 7, 23 for Mikoto from Milgram!!!

Kyoko

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

Hm, I think I'd have to say it's the way she contrasts with Sayaka, tests her ideals, and calls out the dangers in the self-destructive edge to Sayaka's selflessness.

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

Hm, I don't know if admire is the right word, but again, her relationship with Sayaka is probably the most interesting to me in how they contrast each other, seeming to represent extremes of selfishness and selflessness that, under more peaceful circumstances, could balance each other out, and how it's revealed that a lot of her anger at Sayaka comes from recognizing in her the same ideals of heroism and kindness she used to have which come more towards the surface of Kyoko again as she interacts with Sayaka.

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

Hm, I think Madoka Magica probably wasn't the first thing I saw to be more than it appeared, but even if it was, but the time Kyoko showed up I probably knew better than to trust appearances, so her having some element of kindness deep down wasn't a shock. At least I don't think so, it was a while back.

Her being more or less ex-Catholic was a surprise though. That element definitely made me connect to and feel for her more, with her shitty dad (even if she doesn't seem to realize how bad he was).

Mikoto

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

Ok, to start off, I know that some people use the tag Mikoto for the whole system, but I only use that for the first alter we as the audience met, the only member of the system to directly refers to himself that way.

With that said, my feelings on this character are complicated. I was at first excited at the theories of him being part of a system, and then when MeMe came out was disappointed and afraid they were going with a harmful and negative stereotype for the system (albeit more from who we now know as John than him), and then tentatively hopeful in trial 2 and relieved upon the release of Double that they seemed to be on to something or had potential to be after all.

Even so, I still feel somewhat conflicted on him. I do like a lot about him and find him relatable, in how adaptable he is and how he's learned to play the social games a bit as a form of self-preservation, and his anxieties and fears of being hated or rejected. Though the way his behavior effects John frustrates me a lot... Mainly because I see a lot of my own flaws in him when I was first learning about being a system. His denial, hesitation, and fear that lead him to demonizing and pushing away John even when he's trying to help due to how society makes people feel like those with multiple personalities are somehow "crazy" or "dangerous", and how he keeps on overworking himself and pushing down his emotions without actually solving the problem causing them, leaving John to deal with all the stress and making John only more worried over him... It feels familiar in a bad way. I don't like remembering times where I didn't handle being a system well or treat others in my system the way I should, even if I know it's realistic and probably a pretty common experience in this world that so negatively stigmatizes DID to the point a lot of people either fear that someone with a system might have a "dangerous alter" or just think the condition as a whole doesn't exist. Ultimately I probably like Mikoto more than I dislike him, but those aspects definitely do make me feel frustrated.

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

Well, while seeing the fandom react to this character and his representation as part of a system was definitely... A process, for sure, but I do appreciate that overall the majority of the fandom does seem to be making an earnest effort to respect real-life systems and hear them out, even if how they went about that has changed over time and it looks different ways depending on different perspectives.

23. Favorite picture of this character?

I didn't really have something already in mind so I had to go looking around a bit. I'm also not sure if you meant canon art or fan art, but I decided to go with the former for this. I think the art for Milgram got a lot better overall in trial 2, but due to how things happened I'd consider a lot the more elaborate art to be focusing more on John (as is only fair for his turn in the sun), but I think this frame of Double speaks to me and pulls at the heartstrings.

He just looks so tired, and like, I get it.

[trans-axolotl]

hi, I really like your blog and your antipsych thoughts have been very helpful to me. i hope this is ok to ask for advice (sorry i have brain fog and this question is vague)? i think i'm looking for 'unconventional' advice or suggestions, the kind that someone in the psych system would not necessarily recommend to me.

i have had a bad history with therapy, but i very much need some kind of mental support that i am not getting otherwise in my life (issues like CPTSD, DID, among other things). im in a position where i /can/ go to therapy, and i've been with a therapist that specializes in the things that are causing me the most problems for a year and theyre fine (i.e. has not ever helped me figure out anything about how to improve my life but has been someone who can perscribe me stuff, and hasn't done anything actively harmful to me like other therapists and psychiatrists have), but going is so upsetting for some reason (maybe because the therapy environment has been so bad in the past?) and not at all helpful. it's useful for me to have a relationship to a psychiatrist/therapist for medication and other 'navigating the system' reasons, but it's absolutely unhelpful. i am very frustrated and disillusioned with the whole concept of 'therapy' in general (maybe due to my history)!! but i don't know how else to get help!

it's harder because of the brain fog. i also feel very isolated partially because i'm in a not great environment, and partially because i have multiple mental illnesses in addition to not being a very nice person. i have felt really let down by supposed friends i've come to for help who just said therapy speak stuff like 'you should get help....' and 'sorry i don't have the emotional bandwidth to help <3' and stuff like that. it really makes me feel like i'm too messed up to be able to ask for help from regular people and i have to go to the psych industry but of course i've already been failed by them too :(

hey anon!

I think what you've said makes so much sense. I feel like we're so often told "go get help" but when we do try to seek support, it isn't as simple as just going and easily finding a therapist who is able to provide all the support and care we need. It can be so hard to find and pay for therapy in the first place, harder still to find someone who specializes in a therapy style to meet our needs, and sometimes we might not just be in a place in our life where we are in an environment that allows us to do in depth therapy work. And I just want to say that it isn't your fault if therapy isn't meeting your needs right now--that doesn't mean that you're failing at therapy. You absolutely aren't alone in feeling dissatisfied with therapy and wanting other options.

For me, what's helped when I've been considering making changes about how I approach my mental health has first been sitting down and really taking a thorough look at what things are working and what things aren't working. It seems like you've done a lot of that already--you know that it's helpful to have a therapeutic relationship to get meds and for help in the system, you know that the therapy environment hasn't been particuarly helpful for other types of healing work, and it seems like another thing you're thinking about is how to get mental support from your friends and other people in your everyday life. I think those are really good starting places to consider where you want to go from here. It might be helpful to make a list of what feels like priorities to focus on right now--do you want to develop more skills for navigating crisis? Do you want to focus on changing your relationship with dissociation? harm reduction for self destructive behaviors? building resilience and cultivating relationships in your life? There's no right or wrong answers here--you're going to be the expert on what feels most important right now.

I also just want to say that I think it's really shitty when we're made to feel like we're too crazy or too needy or too messed up to be able to be cared for and supported in our community. I've definitely had people tell me that, and it really hurts and makes me feel hopeless, like I'm always going to be struggling and that there's no chance that I'll be able to get better. But fuck that. We deserve to have meaningful connections in our community, access to resources that help us, and to be able to build resilient relationships where getting emotional support isn't considered an unmanageable burden, even if we're mad/mentally ill/ neurodivergent. I'm sorry that you haven't been able to rely on your friends and community that way, although I know it's hard when everyone we know is struggling and people don't have the energy or skills or knowledge to be able to help each other.

This is getting long, so I'm just going to list off a ton of random tips and suggestions, and I hope some of them might resonate with you.

Join a peer support group aligned with antipsych values. Hearing Voices Network, Alternatives to Suicide with the Wildflower alliance, Multiplied by One, FEDUP trans/intersex eating disorder support groups are all great options.

harm reduction! this can be especially applicable for self-destructive behaviors, but just in general moving outside of an "abstinence-only model." working to understand your actions on a spectrum of totally chaotic, unmanaged behaviors to more managed, intentional relationships with those behaviors. embracing any positive change as an important step instead of self-blame and all-or-nothing thinking.

Trying to think of the best way to describe what I'm thinking here, so I might not have the best phrasing. But basically, spending time separating your ideas for what wellbeing and quality of life look like for you from the psychiatric system's ideas of what a "normal," "healthly," quality of life looks like. For me, this looked like realizing that I wasn't actually interested in getting rid of all my hallucinations, but instead I just wanted to lessen the distress I experienced and find a way to hallucinate without panicking. So I guess just in general--really exploring what is actually important to you for your wellbeing and not limiting yourself to mainstream definitions of "recovery."

Unconventional coping skills, or coping skills that traditional psychiatry deems "risky." I've talked with some people who things like getting tattoos and piercings are actually incredibly healing for them, and are an important part of their "therapeutic" journey. Not going to go into detail or promote other "risky" coping skills on Tumblr lmao, but more just say that it's okay if there's things that therapists view as risky that you might have another perspective on how it fits into your personal healing.

Building up your and your loved ones capacity for community care. This can be a really hard one, because I know it always frustrated me when I would see people talking online about how great things like care webs or the power of peer support when I just didn't have any of that in my physical everyday life. So I'm not just going to put this here like it's a magical solution or something that's easy to accomplish. It's something that can take a ton of work and we're allowed to be frustrated about that. I think one strategy that helped me with this was spending a lot of time building my own understanding of my own capacity to help, my own needs, and what ways I would like to be cared for. That helped me start small, just by having conversations with my loved ones when I wasn't in crisis and saying "Hey, this is how I would like things to go when I'm in crisis. This is something that helps me when I'm hallucinating. This is a way you could let me know that you can't support me tonight but still leaves room for us to have connection. This is how I can help you. Let's talk openly together and develop and practice how we want to care for each other." Starting with just one person and one conversation really went a long way for me in terms of eventually building up an actual support network and for me was super instrumental in healing work.

Setting out an hour a week that's my "self therapizing time." just using one hour a week to look up new resources, try out new skills, journal, do self-inquiry, participate in activism, do something that brings me joy, read something new about mental health, literally anything that feels intentional in that hour. trying out a lot of new things and quitting a lot of new things!

Incorporating your physical needs. I'm sure we've heard a million times things like "get sleep, nourish yourself, go outside," and all that is great but often feels fucking impossible when we're mentally doing not great. but I guess just saying it can be good to be aware of how our physical body impacts our mental health in other ways. things like trying to get our sensory needs met, embracing movement that feels good + making space for rest, embracing things that bring our physical body pleasure whether that's tasty food, sex or other kinds of physical intimacy with other people, if it's using substances in a way that feels helpful or joyful or fun--anything really!

Here's a bunch of random orgs and resources that I have found helpful: Fireweed Collective, Wildflower Alliance, Project LETS, Mapping our Madness, Mad Survival Tools, Organizing Guide for Psychiatric Survivors, MindFreedom Resources, Multiplied by one (I can't personally vouch because I haven't been to their groups, but I have a friend with DID who attends these groups and had positive things to say about them.)

I'd also add on this book: "Psychosis, Dissociation, and Trauma: Evolving perspectives on Severe Psychopathology" although I do want to give a warning that this book is a heavy academic text that has a lot of clinical and stigmatizing language. For me, it had some helpful information that helped me make connections between my experiences of trauma, dissociation, and psychosis, but I would not recommend reading it unless you feel like you're in the right headspace and can deal with wading through a lot of the psychiatric narrative.

These are all just some things that sometimes work for me, so please feel free to disregard anything that doesn't resonate with you. I'd also love it if followers could add on with any tips, resources, any "unconventional" advice!

thanks for reaching out, anon, and I hope you have a good night 💜

[squidcourse]

Why do you feel that it's appropriate to bring up drama and bash on people that you yourself have started you have not been around for a while? I do not understand your reasoning - what's the point of this, a smear campaign? People are allowed to privately be mad about somebody that is actively harmful to them and their community

You're calling it a smear campaign, even though I have not named what discord server it is or who is directly involved. There is another ask which I could use as an opportunity to bring up what server this is. I just might, considering how this is going.

There is a difference between being privately mad about someone who is indeed harmful; and having a publicly advertised discord server where it is allowed to turn a tumblr user into a meme and openly roleplay as said user pretending to react to situations to mock her.

A recent ask I received and answered from someone currently on the server implies that this is still going on, which doesn't surprise me.

If you really must have a reason why I bring this up, the answer is, I don't know. Honestly, I find it quite weird whenever I see certain users posting under syscourse, and I'm reminded how while there is plenty of intelligent deconstruction of misinformation, there is also a lot of bad-faith bullshit behind the screens. It comes from wanting an easy target to clown on. The easiest thing to do would be to simply block and ignore bullshit while occasionally responding to anything particularly harmful that gets popular.

However, the childish mockery of users on a fairly popular discord server that heavily advertises as being a "mature space" when you read the rules, it is just so gross and hypocritical. Its behavior that just describing will result in the assumption that there must be some kind of targeted smear campaign going on.

I don't care what someone did online, the appropriate response is to fucking block them, and move on. If you want to roleplay as a tumblr user and maker her say funny things to mock her using TupperBox or PluralKit proxies, ok. If you want to bring her up in voice chat as a joke when playing JackBox like she's a hilarious meme, go ahead. It is your decision to do that. However, if you're going to do that on a discord server that's being publicly advertised for anyone on tumblr to join provided that they are an adult and a system... well then you're going to have to deal with someone letting that behavior sit in their brain and think about it and realize how fucked up that is, no matter what absolutely stupid bullshit that person said to make you think that it was appropriate to clown on them like that.

tl;dr - The shit that went down on that server was fucking weird and I didn't like it. No matter how shitty someone is, acting petty is not a mature solution. I'm allowed to talk about what happened if I want to. You calling it a "smear campaign" when I didn't even specify who it was makes me more motivated to share the server (although I forgot exactly who participated directly).

Also, what really motivated me to continue thinking about this was that bracket game which includes both the mocked and the mockees. I don't know who started the bracket game, and I will not claim their intentions, however, it prompted me to think more about how gross that server's vibes were.

[lunarsilkscreen]

Outting Trans Kids

I've been trying my best to stay out of this since my previous understanding was *I don't know what detransitioners go through*. I maintain that their testimony is only good for the queer community as a whole. (As long as they're not used to disenfranchise trans people as a whole )

Medical transition is NOT easy to get anywhere. And after getting it, people will take it upon themselves to steal your medication "for your own protection". (I'm F*ing 35, give me back my medications.)

I don't know why a trans person would wish to detransition *except* if they would like to have children of their own. It's a heavy mental toll for either decision in that case. And medical providers should be aware that both can harm a trans person.

I'll state that I know people that knew they didn't want children when they were young, and that never changed when they got older.

Me personally? I can't function as a whole person in the detransitioned state. (I'm talking Estrogen and Testosterone blockers) it's a night and day experience. The brain fog is back with a vengeance, and I cannot function as I used to, just keeping my head down and staying distracted with a job. Which is part of the reason I needed to leave the military in the first place. Because I couldn't function EXCEPT to goto work, and my work output was constantly getting worse. (Even as my skill improved which partially covered up the issue.)

Ok.

The reason the queer community doesn't like outing is because of queerphobia. Forcing the teachers to tell the parents put the teachers in confrontation with those parents if they are anti-trans or anti-queer. Parents in the past have gone heavy handed in forcing gender norms on their kids in order to "fix them" in the past, and this has resulted in increased suicide amongst queer youth.

The teachers may be put into a situation where doing their job can literally lead to that child's death.

On the other hand, that doesn't mean parents *won't* be understanding. And that information, as stated, can help them with the care of their children. But... Conversion Therapy (Therapy designed to force queer youth to not be queer.) Is still legal, and is still dangerous.

To be clear, I went to a religious summer camp that was uncomfortable for me to be at. (I got a perfect score in archery my second time shooting with a bow.) That's not what I'm considering as conversion therapy. It's literally an education designed to "make men, men" and "make women homemakers". And the "make men, men" part can be likened to torture. Which, you know, some people enjoy that. I wouldn't send unwilling or unprepared kids to that.

I feel like a lot of this sounds like rambling. But it's all important for the overall point.

So what do we do? Honestly, the only way to normalize being queer or trans is to stop hiding. Some parents are shitty parents, and they should probably not be parents. And outing the kids, while uncomfortable, outs the bad parents too.

But the system we have in place for children with unfit parents, the adoption care, everything sucks. Queer people are all but banned from adopting (unless they're in a hetero-assuming relationship) and some of the families that do give care to children abuse those children too.

If you're looking to fix the problem, you have to be willing to fix the WHOLE problem. But as it stands, the laws in places, the societal norms. They all say "Hide being queer, because if you don't, you will be fixed." And for detransitioners, it's worse, because they knew all that beforehand and still feel like they made a mistake.

There is a solution here, and it's not "Stop being queer." None of the "solutions" offered so far ensure that queer people can be. They all say "being queer is bad. And it's not safe to be out." No matter what you think by the queer looking representation in the media you consume. The media is imaginationland.

In the real world, queer people are assumed to be unfixable child predators. Unless they're children, then they're unfixable victims that will be predators when they get older.

As President Obama said, "the wheels of government are slow to turn". And while Queer representation is on the rise, acceptance isn't. We're still either seen as victims or sideshows.

[athenagrantnash]

People giving shit to Megan when they should be giving it to Ryan, shm, the misogyny. And the insane thing is how many WOMEN this is coming from. They can excuse Ryan for his anti-semitic comparisons, using the N-word because his friends supposedly said it's ok (even though Aisha said it definitely wasn't for her), and his anti-vaxx (therefore he doesn't give a fuck about anyone's life) bullshit. And Megan gets hate for *checks notes* playing a love interest to a character they want to see fuck another male character because they are fetishizing the gay community. They may frame it as "oH bUt ThE rEp" but they don't actually give two shits about that in most cases.

Just absolutely appalling.

Sorry for the vent, you don't have to post this I'd you don't want to.

YUP!!!

It's literally so awful. And even with the covid thing I can understand people, especially minorities, being uncertain about getting vaccinated. A lot of minorities have legit reasons to be afraid of the healthcare system.

And if that's all Ryan had done I would have defended his right to be uncertain about it just as much as I've defended Rockmond.

But Ryan took it WAAAAYYY too far, and instead of just personally not wanting it for himself (like Rockmond) he's sitting there spreading EXTREMELY HARMFUL false information. And frankly? As somebody whose family literally had to escape from Nazi concentration camps MULTIPLE TIMES, I'm deeply offended by his comparison.

Every single time Ryan opens his mouth he proves more and more exactly how shitty of a person he is.

But that's all okay apparently, because he's part of a fanon gay ship, and as we all know when that happens the person can be as awful as he possibly wants to and people will make excuses.

Meanwhile, Megan likes a tweet that says kind things about her from somebody that b*ddies have decided is ableist (whether they are or not I won't venture to guess...) suddenly she's also ableist, therefore must be fired.

I'm seriously so goddamn tired of it all.

And no need to apologize for venting.

[professorfaber]

I'm interested to see what you have to say about my communism paragraph.

To point out the Healthcare Man, me personally? No, I have not been able to do that for years on end due to my age, however several people over the years have been pointing out the issues within Marvel media as well as general superhero media. Including Healthcare Man. I wasn't trying to seem like I was disagreeing. I think that part got deleted, apologies. (I had made note that the paragraph was no way intended to be directed at you, more as like an agreement and that the situation was kinda dumb.) As for the memes, yeah could definitely do without those, I'm tired of seeing them. (Also wow do I agree with the statement that Marvel are incompetent cowards. Oof Marvel, step up or clear out.)

The WandaVision thing, g o d s don't get me started on the bs they pulled. Consumer activism definitely doesn't work in this situation, I wish that situation was handled differently. For the centrist fearmongering, it could potentially have to due with the fact it's a common piece of media. I'm sure as you know, the more x is in the media, the more people seem to think x is ok. The memes would contribute by someone taking it lightly or not thinking it's a serious issue. Only mocking it to go with the crowd and not looking at the situation through a critical lens, barely even scratching the surface level on the issue.

As for the statement of "Marvel is problematic" I'd say in this day-in-age, it needs to be worded like that because it catches people's attention. Do I personally agree with it, no. But it's necessary to catch an audience so something can be done. As long as the person using that statement has an actual argument, I think it should be used. I see where you are coming from though. Also I hope I haven't come off aggressive or rude, if I didn't address your other points it's because I agree with them. I'd also like to apologize, my tone often comes off as argumentative when I just mean to have a conversation. I hope you are havin a good day.

Thank you for clarifying all of this! I think we agree on a lot more than I initially thought (and no, you haven't come off as rude, don't worry). And thank you for sending an ask instead of adding on to an already very long post. I hope you're having a good day too.

Okay, point by point (this might be pretty long, sorry, I'm like. allergic to brevity but I do try):

1. The communism paragraph. First of all, I'm allowed to make snide remarks about liberals on my own blog on tumblr dot com without it harming The Cause. My post was not directed at liberals, and very few people, if any, that I engage with on this website are liberals so I wasn't hugely concerned about watching my language. Normally I would agree with you that it's important to do outreach, but it's my personal blog and I make the rules. Also:

"liberal this, republican that", both side are are horrible in their own ways but we still need the people.

Okay so, this is tricky because sometimes when I say "liberal" I do mean it in the modern, especially American, sense of social liberalism that the Democratic Party (ostensibly) adheres to, and that was kind of what I meant in the original post, but Republicans are also liberals, just of a slightly different ideological strand. In America today both parties are primarily dominated by centrist and rightist factions, with the original American left (i.e. socialists, anarchists, trade unionists, social democrats) being essentially squeezed out of political discourse over the past century. It's less an instance of "both sides are horrible" than "one side is horrible, but it's being presented in two flavors".

Also, I never said I was a communist and I actually usually don't politically identify as such, but I can see why you'd make that assumption based on the kind of things I post.

2. I think I get where you're coming from on this better than I did at first and I'm sorry for being dismissive about the memes. It did not occur to me that casually shitting on a massive corporation's ridiculous propaganda could be an issue in that way. Like, to me it was less "people all of a sudden realizing that Marvel is bad" than it was just a continuation of people criticizing Marvel as before, but you've honestly made me reconsider and I'm sorry if those sorts of jokes are frustrating or annoying. They honestly seemed like completely innocuous leftist tumblr memes to me, in the vein of jokes about any other shitty company ("shitty company" is kind of redundant I think but you know what I mean). But yeah, you've convinced me. I'll stop reblogging them if that helps.

3. This was a bit confusing to me? I understand being personally upset by the memes, but the notion that they normalize and contribute to corporations using propaganda to nullify left-wing ideas is kind of odd. Companies like Marvel and its parent Disney make those sorts of characters and storylines because it is in their interests to do so, and it will continue to be for as long as capitalism exists. What I called "centrist fearmongering" is like, a function of their existence as capitalist entities with immense power to manipulate public opinion in their favor, and what you or I post on tumblr really does not have an effect on that.

Capital shapes public opinion, not the other way around. That's one of the big reasons consumer activism doesn't work.

4. I've gotta disagree with you here, honestly, though I should say upfront that I'm not like, super invested in whether people call Marvel problematic or not. My original post was just a rant, no one is obliged to listen to me, I don't care about this nearly that much.

However, if we are going to have that conversation, then I will say that while it is important to attract an audience, using patently misleading or reductive language is the wrong way to do it, even if you also have a solid argument. I might also note that the problem that needs addressing (the influence of the interests of capital on entertainment) isn't exclusive to Marvel, and pretending that it is just lets the problem fester. "Marvel is problematic" just... seems like a bad slogan honestly as far as critiquing capitalist media goes.

I think there are two separate problems here: Marvel media broadly containing harmful or clumsy messages, and Marvel media suppressing or distracting from left-wing ideas and resistance. The former will change when it becomes legitimately profitable for Marvel to become more sensitive to certain members of its audience (which will only result in more marginalized identities becoming emptily commodified, unfortunately). The latter is a more direct result of capitalism that is systemically unavoidable.

Lastly: as you said, if I didn't respond to one of your points or comments that probably means I agree with it or couldn't think of anything to add