#most hated is of course the slur version

[karenandhenwilson]

I love how we have come up with half a dozen or more names for our ship.

This thought has been brought up by one of my fandom groups discussing all the different names we have for Buck and Tommy. It's fun to see them all and to talk about how they came to be. I think it really shows our excitement and joy and love for the ship. Wanna tell me in tags or reposts what ship name you like the most and the least and why and what you remember of the origins?

Also, I think it's really funny how a certain group of haters is so desperate in their obsession that they try to mock us about it but then also came up with their own version of a ship name just so they have a slur for it.

[woozapooza]

Of all the opinions I’ve seen on The Sopranos since I started watching it last year, one of the ones I hate the most is the idea that Richard and Elliot are ultimately proven “right” about Tony. Richard and Elliot do not know Tony! They have never talked to him! And they are literally, factually, not right about him, especially Richard. In “Tennessee Moltisanti,” Richard—who knows nothing about Tony except that you shouldn’t use anti-Italian slurs around him—tells Melfi that eventually she’ll get past “moral relativism” and reach “good and evil. And he’s evil.” Later in that episode, in the family therapy scene, he says that Melfi acknowledged that, in her last encounter with Tony, she saw his “subhuman” side, a word I am 100% sure Melfi herself did not use because come on. Elliot at least doesn’t use these words, but he doesn’t see any good in Tony and consistently acts like Melfi is deluding herself by holding out hope for him. (I’m not going to get into The Blue Comet in this post for the sake of keeping it concise.) But Melfi has seen that Tony has compassion and a conscience, and so have we in the audience. We know more than Richard and Elliot, and so does she!

Now, Tony is obviously not a good person by any means. I think even Melfi would agree with that. But he is a person who, despite his harsh upbringing, despite the machismo and brutality his position demands, still has a tiny spark of tenderness and compassion inside him. That's what makes him so compelling! Of course he was never going to change for the better, because that’s not the kind of show this is. But that is a statement about The Sopranos, a fictional show made by writers who have a certain artistic vision in mind. It does not mean that Tony as a person—i.e., viewed from in-universe—had no choices, that he could never have changed for the better at all, that he was a destined to be a waste of Melfi's time. It's fair to disagree with Melfi's approach to treating Tony, but the idea that both she and the audience are fools for thinking that a human being who has been shaped into a villain by forces beyond his control is still a human being, with all the value and responsibilities that entails, is so fucking r/im14andthisisdeep it makes my skin crawl.

I realize this post is kind of dramatic, and partly that’s because, well, I’ve just always been the sort of person who gets really dramatic about her blorbos, but it’s also because I hate the brutally cynical, weirdly black-and-white worldview that’s implicit in this reading of the show. I hate it so much!!! The Sopranos is very realistic about the limits of what willpower can do, but it’s also very realistic about portraying its protagonist as someone deeply human: someone with a capacity for both evil and good, who does bad things and justifies them by pretending he didn’t have a choice, but I never bought it, and neither did Melfi. Tony cannot simply stop being a mob boss and start being a saint any more than he can simply stop being depressed, but he does have good in him, and he does have the capacity to make better choices, otherwise the story is utterly pointless!!! 

This has been on my mind because I read Emily Nussbaum’s article about the finale, in which she describes Richard and Elliot as “hard to listen to but essentially correct,” and sorry Emily, I think you’re very smart and a good writer, but my god, I hate this article. To me, it boils down to “the finale was Chase scolding us for empathizing with and caring about Tony” which is not at all how I see the show, and thank goodness, because I think it would be pretty ridiculous to spend eight years telling the story of a deeply human, deeply relatable character and then be like “lol wait, you guys related to him? Cringe! Hashtag society” or whatever. She says that in the final half season, Tony “was becoming his real self: the empty golem.” Seriously? The version of Tony who’s had most of his humanity sapped from him is his “real self”? SERIOUSLY? Okay. I’m gonna go calm down now. I promise. (I actually have one other point I want to make related to the Richard-and-Elliot thing, but I’ll save that for another post because this one is looooong.) I'd just like to close this post with this comment that I've posted here before and will probably post again because I love it so much and it makes me tear up whenever I think of it:

[tenaflyviper]

I need to talk about something.

Conservatives are in hysterics over "drag shows for kids", and their concern is nothing but a transparent excuse to freely express their bigotry while appearing self-righteous about it.

Now, I believe venues that are not making sure their content is age-appropriate need to reevaluate. HOWEVER, the very few cherry-picked incidents showing kids at these shows (and often including a falsely-labeled clip of what is clearly a topless woman, and which was proven to have come from South America) does NOT prove that this is a widespread thing, nor that drag performers pose any threat to kids. There is also a post circulating claiming a performer exposed himself to children, which is a lie. There were more mass shootings in January alone than incidents of kids at drag shows--does that mean all gun owners are violent? Clearly not.

These people assume anyone criticizing anti-drag legislature somehow wants children to be at adult-oriented performances. No--the problem is that false claims are being made against an already-marginalized community (which has led to an increase in anti-LGBT hate crime), and some of the proposed legislature would criminalize simply being in drag in public, regardless of time or place.

This hysteria led to not only armed protestors showing up to events for children, but a hate group also stormed into one, screaming slurs and accusations at the reader. The kids were in tears--they genuinely thought they were about to be shot, because that's unfortunately something they have to be taught can happen to them now.

Many of these same people are religious, yet never have anything to say about the fact that sexual abuse of kids in churches has been going on for over 400 years--since the first recorded incident in 1629, in Rome--and continues unabated. One recent incident had 28 victims. Imagine how many there have probably been over the course of 4 CENTURIES.

Ironically, these are the men expected to lecture to kids about "morality" from a book that's over 3k years old.

They insist merely seeing a man in drag will "traumatize" kids--but not being made to think they were about to die, right? Kids on TikTok challenge each other to watch Cannibal Holocaust, and these pearl clutchers think men in dresses will destroy them. Zero common sense.

Ultimately, if a child sees something a parent doesn't like, that is 100% the parent's fault. No one is bringing anything to their doorstep.

These people do not care about children if learning that there is not the threat they were led to believe only makes them angrier. They seem to almost WANT kids to be assaulted by drag queens, because it would validate their own personal hatred.

I'm not even going to get into accusations of "grooming", since we all know parents are the most frequent creators of child sexual abuse material, and drag queens make up maybe 3% of the population--and that's being extremely generous. Meanwhile, I've seen 3 people just today conflate drag with being trans, which only exposes their ignorance.

In the end, this is no different than the "Satanic Panic" was. There was never a single incident of ritual sacrifice of children, but they wanted so badly to believe it that they bought into it--literally. It became a multimillion-dollar industry to keep scared, ignorant fools afraid of something that didn't exist. Today's version is circulating lies on social media to get clicks to your monitized account and YouTube videos.

Anyway, drag queens don't deserve this bullshit, and it can't end soon enough.

[thesarahshay]

A Dorothy Sayers Primer

I initially wrote this for any Shipwrecked fans who loved Honeymoon Homicide and are now curious about Dorothy L. Sayers (the author Sinead named Tracey's fictional detective after) or Busman's Honeymoon (the Sayers novel that the script was inspired by), but it works for anyone who's curious about the Lord Peter Wimsey series! Here's some info to get you started.

For Shipwrecked fans: Busman's Honeymoon is the final book Sayers wrote in the Lord Peter Wimsey series, so unfortunately you can't start there (trust me, it'd be like watching the musical episode of Buffy first). Lucky for you, the whole series is delightful!

The elevator pitch: Lord Peter Wimsey, a wealthy and amusing English aristocrat, solves murders in 1920s and '30s London with his friend Chief Inspector Parker of Scotland Yard and his faithful valet Bunter. Why you should read it: Highlights of the series include Lord Peter's nonstop literary references (guy was basically an old-timey meme factory) and the fact that, more often than not, the books are about some bigger concept in addition to having a nice tricky mystery to solve. Topics Sayers tackled include everything from the place of women in society to the way countries fail their veterans.

There are three possible ways to read them, depending on your preference.

Read the series in chronological order. The best way, IMO! The first book is Whose Body and it's delightful, but I have heard some people say they found the earlier books harder to get into until after they had read the Harriet books, hence method #2. Admittedly, she develops Peter's character a lot over the course of the series, so the Peter we initially meet has a lot of growing to do.

Read the Harriet Vane books first. About a third of the way through the series, Lord Peter meets a mystery novelist named Harriet Vane, and their relationship is covered over four of the seven books that follow: Strong Poison (book 5), Have His Carcase (book 7), Gaudy Night (book 10), and Busman's Honeymoon (book 11). It is entirely possible to read just these four and feel you've gotten a complete arc.

Read the first book, and if you're not entirely sold, skip ahead to Strong Poison. I was talked into method #2 so I can't knock it, but I usually recommend #3 for people who aren't totally sold on the premise. At least give Whose Body a try, but if you're not feeling it and/or just want to get to the relationship stuff, read the Harriet books and then go back and fill in the gaps as you like.

There you go, more information than you possibly could have wanted! Now you can choose your method and get over to your local library to get started (btw, If you plan to go the audiobook route, I recommend seeking out the versions read by Ian Carmichael). EXTRA INFORMATION (aka I'm sorry I'm like this)

Content warning: It's the 1920s, so there's gonna be some racism, classism, fatphobia, and sexism. But if you've read Agatha Christie, this is mild by comparison. There are a few slurs and references to stereotypes, but when Sayers writes an actual minority character they're complex, sympathetic human beings. For my fellow Jews, be warned that the victim in Whose Body is Jewish, but it's not a hate crime and the Jewish characters are all cool.

Other works by Sayers: This primer is focused on the Wimsey books because they were her main writing output, and everything else she did kind of requires a caveat or is in a very different vein: she wrote some plays and nonfiction, primarily about Christianity, and a translation of Dante's The Divine Comedy which I understand is very well regarded. Her only other novels were all co-written with other authors, and in my opinion don't feel particularly Sayersesque. If you read all the Wimsey books and collections and want more, The Documents in the Case is decent. I haven't read most of the rest: I am a fan, not an expert!

A full list of the novels and short story collections in order (because I'm a completist, sorry not sorry):

Whose Body (1923) Clouds of Witness (1926) Unnatural Death (1927) * Lord Peter Views the Body (1928) [collection] The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1928) Strong Poison (1930) Five Red Herrings (1931) Have His Carcase (1932) Murder Must Advertise (1933) * Hangman's Holiday (1933) [collection] The Nine Tailors (1934) Gaudy Night (1935) Busman's Honeymoon (1937) * In the Teeth of the Evidence (1939) [collection] Posthumous: Lord Peter (1972) [collection of all* Lord Peter short stories] Striding Folly (1973) [collection of three stories, including one never before published (later editions of Lord Peter included this 'new' story)] Thrones, Dominations (1998) [novel by Jill Paton-Walsh**, using an incomplete manuscript Sayers started for a twelfth Lord Peter book; questionably canon, but worth reading] The Complete Stories (2002) [collection of all Sayers' short stories]

*The collections are listed in publication order, but the stories therein happen at different periods of Peter's life and can be read any time.

**Paton-Walsh wrote three more Wimsey novels after completing Thrones, Dominations, but they should be viewed purely as fanfic (I personally do not care for them).

[turtlemagnum]

i think my first exposure to AI art might've been this video where somebody was testing out this new, weird thing where they automatically generate a song using AI, and i couldnt help but feel that it was an indictment of the modern music scene that a goddamn computer could effortlessly and accurately replicate the generic swill that passes for popular music nowadays. didnt have a vocalist synthesized yet but those have been becoming a thing too, or so i hear.

i saw a little article about how the newer generations of gamers are turning more and more to retro games. as somebody technically belonging to the "newer generations" this felt self evident, as frankly most of the gaming i do nowadays is almost invariably in an emulator. i think that to a certain extent, most of the best mainstream games that are going to be made already have been, at least for the forseeable future of major developers with games made scientifically perfect for milking you for the most money possible rather than as an art form. im sure it's all gonna collapse in on itself eventually, from what i hear some of the older folks who lived through more than i have we've been here before. hell, pretty much anybody who cares even a bit about gaming history knows first and foremost about the gaming crash of the early 80s, mostly spurred on by the temporal equivalent of modern cheap asset flip garbage that floods most stores these days. it's hard not to feel like we're about to see a massive crash yet again, with the ones inheriting the earth being the little fellas, and of course nintendo. which, makes sense, their earliest history is of weathering shit just like this, of course they'd know when to spot enshittification and stay clear of it. i'm in no way saying that nintendo is exempt of being a shitty corporation, but i will say that from a business standpoint they're one of the only ones i know of that actually seem to understand the idea of sustainability on a broad scale. hell of a lot better than the likes of activision, thats for damn sure. but back to what i was actually trying to get at before i adhd tangent'd, i think it makes a lot of sense that when the majority of the shit being put on the market is corporatist, design by comittee, prefab trash with aggressive monetization and a consistent attitude of fixing any problems in patches, it makes a hell of a lot of sense that we'd go back to our roots. NES mario is the same as its ever been, has been for over 30 years, and will be in another 30. you dont gotta worry about them patching it to make it actually function as advertised, or patching it from being something you enjoyed into something you hate, or having fomo marketing based microtransaction bullshit. the most that's gonna change is that every now and again, nintendo will make the only version they give not have flashing lights for epileptic folks, or patch out mike tyson because he sucks and replace him with a white guy, and the white guy's less hard but thats ok because it's still pretty hard, and either way it's a good game, fun, and you can still find the original on rom sites and also probably ebay if you dont have a vpn but do have a disposable income, so dont worry about it. getting sidetracked again, ANYWAYS-

what i wanted to get at is that i wonder if we're gonna see a similar resurgence in other old kinds of media just like, in general, for the mainstream. like why watch the 22nd reboot of ghost busters when the originals are right there. king crimson's still good, why dont you listen to them instead of bemoaning how your new favs are problematic, even though i dont think fripp can reclaim the fag slur (im gay, i can it's fine). i've recently been watching fist of the north star and original dragon ball, ilike the m. there are books. lots of those, actually,. you can read em! if you have the attention span. i honestly think we might be seeing more and more of this, now that im looking out for it. like i see just like, random people mention how much they like prog rock or 1930s dracula. relatively normals talk about how they like lemon demon these days. those stupid aestheticized classic anime accounts on twitter get sososo many likes. can you tell im sleep deprived writing this? i can, and im writing thjis. im writing this SO HARD. send poast.

[gorogues]

tricksterrune replied to your text post: Clearly he has a pair of dice in his fist, ready to fling them dramatically at the right opportunity

Oh yes, clearly!

aukisstic replied to your ask post: THANK YOU I hate the pride special so much…

Yeah, I just did not think that story was good at all.

demonbirdsforever replied to your ask post: See this is where I go… they were in other comics!? I missed those!🥺

The Rogues are in tons of issues (cumulatively), but not all those stories are great :>

it-is-i-zim replied to your ask post: Not to be weird or anything but rn I actually feel like for Captain Boomerang, Knight Terrors Robin #1 or Suicide Squad Blaze as a whole are the worse than Suicide Squad v4

You're not being weird at all, but neither of those are canon. If I'd included non-canon stuff the list would have been really different lol, but in hindsight I should have made that clear.

it-is-i-zim replied to your ask post: Cuz Suicide Squad Blaze treated him like he was nothing more than a joke (and called him Captain Cultural Appropriation, which if we take Suicide Squad v4 #26 into account, where his mother is aboriginal, it feels like the writers just don’t know him), killed him off revealed that he was actually assaulted by whatever monster he was fighting and then killed him off for real.

Believe me, I agree that story was terrible :] It just didn't make the list because thankfully it's an AU.

it-is-i-zim replied to your ask post: And then in Knight Terrors: Robin #1 like… I understand it’s supposed to be from Tim Drake’s perspective, but it really paints Captain Boomerang in a really bad light. Like he killed Jack Drake on purpose. When he didn’t even throw the boomerang until he was collapsing from 3 gunshot wounds to the chest.

Well, Digger did go there to kill Jack, but Identity Crisis was a terrible story anyway. I should have included it in my worst Digger stories list, and am not sure how I forgot. I'll add it with a note that it's a late addition.

it-is-i-zim replied to your ask post: Like… The beginning of Suicide Squad v4, yeah, I agree, they fucked over Digger big time, but at least it got better at the end, despite issue #26 also calling him Owen instead.

It's of course a very subjective matter (all best/worst lists are), but I just thought those comics were straight up edgy and terrible. I've never liked any Adam Glass or Ales Kot comics.

it-is-i-zim replied to your ask post: Suicide Squad v1 was also Not Great™ as a whole due to the use of slurs for aboriginal people within it. Issue 4 was the worst of those where on top of using a slur for an aboriginal person to a black man, he also said black people can’t be artists and tried agree with a Nazi and made the super racist statement that minorities commit the most petty crimes.

This is also subjective, and I get where you're coming from but I don't think they're bad comics. It's fine if you don't like it -- a lot of people don't like what was done with Digger in that series, and that's valid -- but I think it's a good series. It hasn't always aged well, but it's the reason the Suicide Squad concept exists to this day. The racism is tough to read, but Ostrander was making a point about the garbage Waller, Bronze Tiger, and Vixen have to fight through to do their jobs and just exist as Black people. It does suck for Rogue fans that Digger was chosen to be the problematic mouthpiece, though, so I understand why some people don't like it. I agree it was a very drastic swing from his pre-Crisis characterization, so I don't love that aspect either.

it-is-i-zim replied to your ask post: Sorry, I have many thoughts on the true worst Captain Boomerang comic.

That's fine! :)

it-is-i-zim replied to your ask post: Also for Owen I’d argue for the Supergirl v5 comics. Cuz apparently that version of Supergirl that he’s not only rooming with, but is also trying to get with is 16. And he’s like… Literally an adult man. He literally called that version of Supergirl “jailbait” in one of the better comics of the bunch.

Yeah, I have mixed feelings on that series. It wasn't good, but unfortunately I think a lot of Owen's stories weren't great so to me it doesn't necessarily stand out. He's a good character who's been in a lot of mediocre stories…in part because a lot of DC's output was mediocre around that time.

demonbirdsforever replied to your text post: I read the Catwoman issues you recommended and now understand the kiss.

Hope you enjoyed it!

[shruhkstreams]

(OOC) ASK GUIDE

[Donate Bits] is the ask button! And here's a little guide on what to ask, what's off limits and other things This is all mostly framed in Twitch streams! So get creative with your ask messages!

What's Allowed

Risqué/NSFW questions (As a reminder this IS an AU of a show with a demographic targeted towards minors, so PLEASE keep them at most to a minimum. Even with the main cast sans Blythe and classmates being adults who do Adult Things, I do not want to contribute to exposing minors to questionable content)

Any asks regarding personal aspects about the askees (relationship stuff, personal anecdotes, anything about past events that happened before the events of the askblog, etc)

What's Not Allowed

Anything implying roleplay! This is mostly an interactive story, not to mention from a somewhat parasocial relationship between Viewer (asker) and Content Creator (person being asked), so, try to keep this set within the idea of a livesteam (with some exceptions of course)

Any hate speech or discourse asks. Like. C'mon this an LPS AU Askblog, be realistic. (My stance is TERFS fuck off, all queer identities are valid identities, and queer slurs are tight as hell. Also endos and proship DNI)

4th wall breaks (if you MUST ask something 4th wall breaking, I guess go ahead but keep it to a minimum if not at all.)

FAQ

"Can I kin [x]"

No. While these are just altered versions of canon characters, they still are different enough for me to consider them original characters, not to mention, as a system, most if not all of them are alters within the system and therefore, too real to me to be treated as a kin object.

"Can I self insert/have [x] be an F/O?"

Same as before, no. Again, system members who are too important to me to want to have someone they don't know date a personal depiction of them, if not them entirely.

"Can I use your art as an icon?"

Sure, I don't mind! Just be sure to credit either this account or my main art account @/dreamscape-popstar

"What is the posting schedule?"

Despite being a plural with people literally living in the brain, we are bodily still one person so the schedule will be when we have the energy to answer asks. The fatigue is chronic so, just be patient with us.

"Can I make fanart?"

Yes!! I think fanart would be lovely! As long as you aren't drawing anything heinous like proship shit or erasing ethnic features. And be sure to tag me

This will be updated as we go along so, keep your eyes peeled for that. If you have anything to ask about the AU or characters, mark it with an OOC beforehand, but don't be too generous with your asks because somethings will be answered as the askblog progresses.

[daydreaming-memories]

¹Number 1🌟 •What do you usually do while you daydream? Pace, stay still, stim, etc?

Pacing to music

№²Number 2🫒 •How real do you feel your paras are? Do you worry about them and feel like they exist beyond you, or do you view them purely as characters? Does it vary between paracosms?

It vary paras to paras and paracosm to paracosm, because like some paras later became alters LOL

№³Number 3🗂️ •Do you usually have paraselves or just generic paras as your parame?

More so generic paras as parame, but like usually take like a 3rd person view of events, like a ghost interacting with a story?? where you can view anything at once quickly, but like sometimes I'd view things as said para

but there are paraselves LOL

№⁴Number 4📑 •Do you have any paraselves that aren't the parame?

YEah! poly gang! But like there's more specifically honeydrop and allie!

they are fucking disasters do not trust them.

№⁵Number 5📊 •Do any of your paracosms not have a parame?

(a parame is the pov character of a paracosm, and a paraself is a version of you within the paracosm)

UHHH really only the less defined paracosms, but the currently circling ones do.

№⁶Number 6🕳️ •How comfortable are you talking about your paracosms and sharing them with other people?

High number = Easier to talk about/more comfortable

Lower = harder/less comfortable

Daycosm 3 - Fluxates, around 6 rn?

It's hard to talk about it right now because like there are alot of elements getting rewritten. As like alot of personal trauma and our experiences have bleed into this, along with having to rewrite alot of old lore that included alot of factparas of abusers.

Into the flip pit - 8-7? (LOL HAD TO)

this is Ribs, Blaze and Conner's paracosm though of course Jack kennedy and Dave miller help as well.

Scorned revenrancve AVA - 1

It would be a 7 because drake loves talking about it, but there's a common HC that's become essentially canon for most people for the source that drake hates.

so he just doesn't feel comfortable sharing with others outside the system

Fallen hearts - -1

this is literally a paracosm that is very much based on exomemories of alters in the system, so this shit is low in being comfortable talking about it rn

Especially because certain alters who have para-ified versions in this are on the "sexypedia" and like people have acted absolutely horrible to said alters.

Daycosm aus- 2-5

Alot of these aus are more

№⁷Number 7🦝 •How many paracosms do you have? Either the amount you're actively engaging with or the amount you've had across your entire life!

Currently Active:

~15?

we have daycosm 3, into the flip pit, Scorned revenrancve AVA, fallen hearts and like 11 aus for daycosm 3

Total: 150+, there's a ton of minor ones

№⁸Number 8🎠 •Do you think what happens in your paracosms says something about your mental state?

LOL yes. that's like all I feel like stating.

№⁹Number 9🪨 •How much does your daydreaming afffect your ability to connect with other people, and vice versa?

Intensely with both, let's not get into this further.

№¹⁰Number 10🐡 •How much are you consciously in control of your paracosms/paras vs unconciously?

Not consciously the most in control of paras, ESP daycosm 3. Daycosm 3's paras call me slurs.

№¹¹Number 11🏖️ •What do you imagine a 'normal' person's daydreams to be like?

UHHH a normal person probably wouldn't be as dark as this system's LOL

№¹²Number 12🕯️ •How visual are your daydreams?

Depends on health, and how deep in the daydream. But in good health it can be super detailed.

№¹³Number 13🧊 •Do you prefer to focus on interactions between paras or central narrative threads?

Honestly it's really dependedent on my mood, if I feel shitty then yea I do interactions with paras which usually mimick what I'm dealing with, when I'm doing good it's the centeral narrative threads.

№¹⁴Number 14🪜 •Do you have any pararcosms with no paras (focused on the world)?

Not currently, alot of the older ones got merged into daycosm 3.

№¹⁵Number 15🧣 •Do you have any spiritual beliefs regarding your paracosms?

GOD THE SCARF EMOJI IS HILARIOUS, but yeah I do have some beliefs regarded or effected by my paracosms.

But genuinely I don't like talking about any spiritual beliefs in detail that often, because like.. well I got religious trauma, and was in an IRL cult for a bit of time as a kid.

№¹⁶Number 16🦪 •How disconnected are you usually from reality when you daydream? (i.e. being totally unaware of what's happening in the real world, versus actively using real world stimulus to inform the contents of the daydream)

Depends on alot of factors, and it's like a pendulum swaying.

So I say like middle road of the two extremes ig???

№¹⁷Number 17🎀 •What's a paracosm you've built for a long time or something about it?

Daycosm 3, well That's not actually it's name Currently. But I am not retagging and rewriting things right now. It's been the main paracosm for like over a decade now, the original character being Allie.

№¹⁸Number 18🦖 •If you're a system, do you have any paratives, and do they have exomemories?

LOL YEA WE got paratives, and they do have exomemories. There's literally an allie parative who likes to front while we work or daydream abt daycosm.

№¹⁹Number 19🏵️ •How long does your daydreaming usually last for unbroken?

4 hours.

№²⁰Number 20🏡 •Do you view your daydreaming as positive or negative, ignoring others' opinions?

It's mixed, like it's positive and negative. It's heaven and hell. It's both at once.

№²¹Number 21🧺 •How do you feel when something prevents you from daydreaming, especially if it's for a long time?

PAIN.

№²²Number 22✴️ •Do you tend to daydream casually or treat it as a dedicated part of your day?

I treat it like "something I have to do everyday like drinking water"

№²³Number 23🧃 •Does tiredness or exhaustion affect the way you daydream?

YES, im so tired writing this but yes.

№²⁴Number 24🪞 •Is there anything you think people frequently misunderstand about your daydreaming or immersive and maladaptive daydreaming in general?

People are so confused about the difference about paratives vs verits vs paras vs sonas vs ocs for us. And it's so fucking hard to explain lol.

№²⁵Number 25🚜 •Do you call your paras ocs, or does that term feel wrong? Does it depend on the para?

It depends on the para, but generally yea I call them para and oc interchangibly. Because like the paratives or system member inserts are like more typically called alters, some jokingly say Exoparatone like a mix of exomemory, para, parative, and tone, making the end also like paratone.

№²⁶Number 26🎣 •How has your daydreaming changed over the years?

ya, it's gotten a lot less maladaptive.

№²⁷Number 27🧥 •Is there anything you refuse to ever put in a paracosm? Why?

Certain specific traumas and certain types of abuse, I'm not going into any further detail.

№²⁸Number 28🦦 •What's your view on the community? Do you wish you knew more maladaptive/immersive daydreamers than you do currently?

We kind of stand on the edge of the community as like being a system, maladaptive daydreamer and some other disorders make interacting with other people just exhausting. Like we do enjoy talking with others in the community, we're just so tired.

№²⁹Number 29🚪 •If you have other neurodivergencies, how do they interact with your daydreaming?

It's hard to explain, but like OCD + Autism add alot of patterning, it's partially why the whole time loop thing came to be.

There's probably more im just TIRED

№³⁰Number 30🛋️ •How do you feel if you forget parts of a paracosm?

terrible! next question.

№³¹Number 31🖨️ •How strongly do you think morals should be enforced when making paracosms?

Genuinely I don't care what people have in their paracosms, but certain things will get me to block if they are a repeated topic.

№³²Number 32🧮 •If you're an immersive daydreamer, how well do you feel you understand maladaptive daydreaming, and vice versa?

I feel we have a good understanding of both sides as like our daydreaming has swung between both. Though right now is more close to immersive daydreaming than maladaptive.

№³³Number 33📢 •What changes how often you daydream and does it make you daydream more or less?

Energy levels and how long we can walk. If we get really sick and congested we really can't

№³⁴Number 34🪵 •How much do you project onto your paras?

High, next question.

№³⁵Number 35🌡️ •Are there any trends in the paracosms you make?

Yes! Some intentionally, most accidental bullshit that I connected together with twine.

№³⁶Number 36🪢 •What's one of your favorite parts of your paracosms?

the

№³⁷Number 37🌽 •If you have paracosms based on or about pre-existing media, what media?

Gonna mention pre-existing media that's paracosms are inactive, but I want to note to not judge us for these alot of them are interests we got into due to people who literally abused us.

Hazbin hotel/Helluva boss, Cookie run, Lego movie, Cookie run ovenbreak/kingdom/wars, animation vs animator/minecraft, dayshift at freddy's, five nights at freddy's, pokemon, uhhhh Ik we're blanking on a ton we're just tired.

№³⁸Number 38🏛️ •What was your first paracosm (that you remember)?

It was minecosm, it's been on the backburner of paracosms to try to bring back just it's got alot more baggage than daycosm 3.

№³⁹Number 39🤺 •What is your most recently created paracosm?

into the flip pit, this fucker is insane and I love it. Very fnaf lore.

№⁴⁰Number 40🖍️ •What's a part of your worldbuilding for one of your paracosms that you're really proud of? Geography, economy, religion, magic, science and technology?

I'm proud of a ton of the worldbuilding but right now, like the spectulative biology of objects and like object species.

Have a ton of lore for that, though gotta write a ton of it back down

№⁴¹Number 41🌐 •Do you enjoy listening to music while you daydream or do you find it distracting?

Yea I have to have music to really daydream, and like woo at the end.

Feel free to like ask about this stuff in more detail, like we're posting this and then going to bed so we have it at least posted

[perfectlyvalid49]

I appreciate the edit. I think it gets my point across, and I can’t really complain about you sending them to my reblog – I said what I said to hopefully help people understand, so it’s good if people see it. I’m always happy to answer questions as long as they’re in good faith, so I don’t mind people coming my way.

There’s a lot to say about antisemitism on the left, and I don’t really know how to condense it all down into something shorter than the length of a novel. It’s been a constant conversation going around jumblr for the last four months (a lot longer really, but as the antisemitsim intensified after 10/7, so did our discussion of it). And I know this post started as an, “oops, I messed up” post, and I don’t know what conversations you’ve already had that prompted this post, and I don’t want to beat you over the head with this stuff, as that’s not fun for anyone.

So I guess, here’s the shortest version (and it’s not short) of what a goy needs to know about antisemitism on the left that I can write. To keep it short(er), some of these are going to be VERY broad statements. I’m happy to follow up with more detail if you have questions. All instances of “you” in the list are the generic you, not any specific person.

Judaism is an old religion, and people have hated Jews for a long time – longer than Christianity has existed.

Christianity has a bunch of antisemitic teachings. A lot of these stem from the fact that for Christianity to be right about certain things, Jews *must* be wrong. Why are we wrong? Because we’re bad.

Also, early Christians allied with Rome for power and threw Jews under the bus as part of that deal.

Because of this, EVERY culture that has been significantly impacted by Christianity (and its offshoot, Islam) has a background level of antisemitism baked in. This includes atheists living in cultures heavily impacted by those religions, such as atheists living in Europe and any of its former colonies.

Because it’s everywhere, of course it will be present among leftists.

Leftists generally aren’t big on hating people for no reason.

But many of them are ok with hating people who are morally bad in some way.

So, you can’t hate people for race or religion, but you can hate “oppressors.”

To alleviate their cognitive dissonance at being antisemitic, they find a reason for Jews to be bad guys that are ok to hate.

Examples:

Rape is bad and wrong, but it’s ok that Jews were raped on 10/7 because they were oppressors who needed to be stopped.

People have a right to defend themselves (and nations have a right to defend their citizens) unless their Israeli because Israelis are colonizers.

Indigenous people have a right to their native land, unless their Jewish because then they’re lying about where they came from.

People will also hold Jews/Israel to different standards than they hold other people/nations to. As an example, when talking about Israel/Palestine, people will talk about the Nakba, where nearly a million Palestinians lost their homes and were ethnically cleansed from Israel, but no one talks about the approximately equivalent number of Jews that were ethnically cleansed from MENA countries in the years following Israel’s independence.

This is incredibly frustrating because a lot of Jewish teaching leads to left leaning Jews who are made to feel unwelcome due to their religion.

And when they point out antisemitism, they are shouted down or kicked out of leftist spaces.

In the last few months, this has come mostly in the form of calling Jews “Zionist,” “Zio” (a slur coined by David Duke (yes, that David Duke)), or “Zionazi” (any conflation of Jews and Nazis is antisemitic. Don’t…just don’t fucking do that guys).

Zionism is a Jewish movement with many branches. At its most basic, it is simply the belief that Jews have a right to their own state, and somewhere between 80 and 90% of Jews identify with Zionism in some form. If you hate Zionists but not Jews, you basically just hate Jews

If you object to there being a Jewish ethnostate, but you don’t object to Ireland (Irish ethnostate), Germany (German ethnostate), Lebanon (Arab ethnostate), Syria (Arab ethnostate), Jordan (Arab ethnostate), Egypt (Arab ethnostate), etc., then it isn’t the ethnostate part you have an issue with, it’s the Jewish part.

A lot of the left’s arguments against the Jews/Israel fall apart when this metric is applied. They either don’t object to the behavior unless it’s done by Jews, or they object, but object much more strongly when Jews do it. There are at least half a dozen major ongoing genocides right now. Most people angry about Palestine couldn’t name three if I gave them a million dollars.

Many Jews want to be allies to left leaning causes, or should be welcomed into leftist communities, but they can’t because Jews aren’t welcome. See my earlier post about the Dyke March for an example. I saw one person put it simply: “I can only be Jewish and Queer in Jewish spaces, because in Queer spaces I need to stop being Jewish.”

Basically I think your original post actually covers a lot of the actions that non-Jews should take pretty well, I’m just trying to add some understanding of some of the talking points I see coming from the left and how a lot of Jews feel about them. I guess I’d also throw out that Jews often disagree with each other (two Jews, three opinions is a thing for a reason), so you may wind up getting different takes from different Jews. I would urge people to err on the side of caution and if one Jew says “that’s antisemitic” then I just wouldn’t do it even if another says it’s ok. Especially because I’ve seen a fair number of people claim to be Jewish or “of a Jewish background” and then turn around and say stuff that a Jew just wouldn’t say, like “this person won’t be going to heaven” or stuff like that. Also JVP isn’t Jewish, they’re just pretending to be. That’s a whole thing I’m not going to get into, but just know that they’re not.

The easy rule I tell people to use is swap in a different minority identity for “Jew” or “Zionist” and if it doesn’t sound OK, that’s a belief you should maybe question. Like, if you wouldn’t say, “I wish Hitler had finished killing all the queer people,” then you shouldn’t say, “I wish Hitler had finished killing all the Jewish people.”

I hope this makes sense. It’s late and I need to go to bed, but like I said, I’m happy to answer any questions. But, tomorrow. Right now I need sleep.

Is your pro-Palestine activism hurting innocent people? Here's how to avoid that.

Over the last few days, I’ve had conversations with several Jewish people who told me how hurt and scared they are right now.

To my great regret, some of that pain came from a poorly-thought-out post of mine, which – while not ill-intentioned – WAS hurtful.

And a lot of it came from cruelty they’d experienced at the hands of people who claim to be advocating for Palestine, but are using the very real plight of innocent Palestinians to harm equally innocent Jewish people.

Y’all, we need to do better. (Yes, “we” definitely includes me; this is in no small part a “learn from my fail” post, and also a “making amends” post. Some of these are mistakes I’ve made in the past.)

So if you’re an advocate for Palestine who wants to make sure that your defense of one group of vulnerable people doesn’t harm another, here are some important things to do or keep in mind:

Ask yourself if you’re applying a standard to one group that you aren’t applying to another.

Would you want all white Americans or Canadians to be expelled from America or Canada?

Do you want all Jewish people to be expelled from Israel, as opposed to finding a way to live alongside Palestinian Arabs in peace?

If the answer to those two questions is different, ask yourself WHY.

Do you want to be held responsible for the actions of your nation’s army or government? No? Then don’t hold innocent Jewish people responsible for the actions of the Israeli army and government.

On that subject, be wary of condemning all Israeli people for the actions of the IDF. Large-scale tactical decisions are made by the top brass. Service is compulsory, and very few can reasonably get out of service.

Blaming all Israelis for the military’s actions is like blaming all Vietnam vets for the horrors in Vietnam. They’re not calling the shots. They aren’t Nazis running concentration camps. They are carrying out military operations that SHOULD be criticized.

And do not compare them or ANY JEWISH PERSON to Nazis in general. It is Jewish cultural trauma and not outsiders’ to use against them.

Don’t infuse legitimate criticism with antisemitism.

By all means, spread the word about the crimes committed by the Israeli army and government, and the complicity of their allies. Criticize the people responsible for committing and enabling atrocities.

But if you imply that they’re committing those crimes because they’re Jewish, or because Jewish people have special privileges, then you’re straying into antisemitic territory.

Criticize the crime, not the group. If you believe that collective punishment is wrong, don’t do it yourself.

And do your best to use words that apply directly to the situation, rather than the historical terms for situations with similar features. For example, use “segregation,” “oppression,” or “subjugation,” not “Holocaust” or “Jim Crow.” These other historical events are not the cultural property of Jews OR Palestinians, but also have their own nuances and struggles and historical contexts.

Also, blaming other world events on Jewish people or making Jewish people associated with them (for instance, some people falsely blame Jewish people for the African slave trade) is a key feature of how antisemitism functions.

Please, by all means, be specific and detailed in your critiques. But keep them focused on the current political actors – not other peoples’ or nations’ political or cultural histories and traumas.

Be prepared to accept criticism.

You probably already know that society is infused with a wide array of bigotries, and that people growing up in that environment tend to absorb those beliefs without even realizing it. Antisemitism is no exception.

What that means is, there’s a very real chance that you will screw up, and get called out on it, as I so recently did.

If that happens, please be willing to learn and adapt. If you can educate yourself about the suffering and needs of Palestinians, you can do the same for Jewish people.

Understand that the people you hurt aren’t obligated to baby you. Give them room to be angry.

After I made a post that inadvertently hurt people, some were nice about it, and others weren’t. Some outright insulted my morals and intelligence.

And I had to accept that I’d earned that from them.

I’d hurt them, and they weren’t obligated to be more careful with my feelings than I had been with theirs.

They weren’t obligated to forgive me, trust me, or stop being mad at me right away.

I’ll admit, there were moments when I got defensive. I shouldn’t have. And I encourage you to try not to, if you screw up and hurt people.

I know that’s hard, but it’s important. Getting defensive only tells people you care more about doubling down on your mistake than you do about healing the hurt it caused.

Instead, acknowledge that they have a right to be angry, apologize for the way you hurt them, and try to make amends, while understanding that they don’t owe you trust or forgiveness.

Be aware that some antisemites are using legitimate complaints to “Trojan horse” antisemitism into leftist spaces.

This is a really easy stumbling block to trip over, because most people probably don’t look at every post a creator makes before sharing the one they’re looking at right now.

I recently shared a video that called out some of the Likud and IDF’s atrocities and hypocrisy, and that also noted that many Jewish people are wonderful members of their communities.

I was later informed that, while that video in particular seemed reasonable, the creator behind it is frequently antisemitic.

I deleted the post, and blocked the creator. I encourage you to do the same if it’s brought to your attention that you’ve been ‘Trojan horse’d.

Fact-check your doubts about antisemitism.

Depending on which parts of the internet you look at, you’ve probably seen people accused of antisemitism because they complained about the Likud and/or IDF’s actions. So you might be primed to be wary, or feel unsure of how to tell what counts as real antisemitism.

But that doesn’t mean antisemitism isn’t a very real, widespread, and harmful problem. And it doesn’t mean many or even most Jewish people are lying to you or being overly sensitive.

So if someone says something is antisemitic, and you aren’t sure, I encourage you to:

A. Look up the action or thing in question, including its history. Is there an antisemitic history or connotation you aren’t aware of? For best results, include “antisemitic” in your search query, in quotes.

B. Understand that some things, while not inherently antisemitic, have been used by antisemites often enough that Jewish people are understandably wary of them. Schrodinger’s antisemitism, if you will.

C. Ask Jewish people WHO HAVE OFFERED TO HELP EDUCATE YOU. Emphasis on WHO HAVE OFFERED. Random Jewish people aren’t obligated to give you their time and emotional energy, or to educate you – especially on subjects that are scary or painful for them.

@edenfenixblogs has kindly offered her inbox to those who are genuinely trying to learn and do better, and I’ve found her to be very kind, patient, reasonable, and fair-minded.

Understand that this is URGENTLY NEEDED.

In one of my conversations with a Jewish person who’d called me out, they said this was the most productive conversation they’d had with a person with a Palestinian flag in their profile.

THIS IS NOT OKAY.

I didn’t do anything special. All I did was listen, apologize for my mistakes, and learn.

Yes, it feels good to be acknowledged. But I feel like I’ve been praised for peeing IN the toilet, instead of beside it.

Apologizing, learning, and making amends after you hurt people shouldn’t be “the most reasonable thing I’ve heard from a person with a Palestinian flag pfp.”

It should be BASIC DECENCY.

And the fact that it’s apparently so uncommon should tell you how much unnecessary stress and fear Jewish people have been living with because of people who consider themselves defenders of human rights.

By all means, be angry at the Likud, the IDF, and the politicians, reporters, and specific media outlets who choose to enable and cover up for them.

But direct that anger toward the people who deserve it and are in a position to do something about it, not random people who simply happen to be Jewish, or who don’t want millions of people to be turned into refugees when less violent methods of achieving freedom and rights for Palestinians are available.

Stop peeing beside the toilet, people.

[traegorn]

Funny how you don't like the word worlock because of it's origins but think the word witch is gender neutral. It's literally the feminine form of the word. You're just cosplay as a personality trait.

Oh sweety, you fucked up.

I repost this from time to time, so I'll do it again.

A practitioner of Witchcraft is a Witch regardless of gender.

Witch is a gender neutral term. Has been more most of the English language’s history too.

The Modern English “Witch” comes from the Middle English “Wicche.” The Middle English “Wicche” was, of course, a gender neutral version of the Old Englsh “Wicce” and “Wicca” – which were gendered. “Wicce” being the feminine form, and “Wicca” being the masculine.

You may recognize the masculine Old English word as it lends itself (albeit with a different pronunciation) to the most common form of modern day Witchcraft – the religion Wicca.

Outside of the Modern Witchcraft Movement, if we poke into history you’ll find that during the European Witch Trials men were tried as – you guessed it – Witches. While those trials did disproportionately affect women, that was mostly because of, well, western culture just hating women in general. Many men were also accused though, and when they were, they were called Witches.

(And let's be clear -- I'm not trying to conflate the Witch trials with the modern Witchcraft movement -- but when we're talking about the meaning of a word, we need to consider its full context.)

Warlock is a word meaning “oath breaker” (specifically breaking an oath to Jesus Christ) and didn’t start getting widespread use for “Male Witches” until 19th century fiction. That fiction eventually entered the pop cultural consciousness – but those practicing Witchcraft have almost never actually used that word (save for a few who have decided to “reclaim” what they consider a slur).

Witch is gender neutral. You're an idiot.

[nonenosome2]

The sex binary IS real. The fact that mutations happen doesn't mean it isn't.

Also, did you even read the article you linked me to?

The disapproving parent could take temporary custody of children if "it is necessary in an emergency to protect the child because the child, or a sibling or parent of the child" is "at risk of or is being subjected to the provision of sex reassignment prescriptions or procedures," according to the proposed bill text.

So yes. If a child is going to be put on puberty blockers, hormones, or have a surgery, then they can be taken from the parent.

Later on it says that a loose reading of the Bill might mean a child could be taken away if a parent is transitioning, but then again, this is from the proposed text. Not the final version. This is an important distinction because it seems people don't understand that all bills are written broad then narrowed down before they are ever put up for a vote to become a law. Of course, if they don't clear that up in the final version, you might have a case.

In regards to the genocide claim and the link you sent, it isn't a genocide.

At the most, even from you saying we are on step 8, it still isn't a genocide. At most it is leading up to one, but that's only because the people saying we are on step 8 seem do not know how to count.

Classification – The differences between people are not respected. There’s a division of ‘us’ and ‘them’ which can be carried out using stereotypes, or excluding people who are perceived to be different. This literally happens with and diverse group of people.

Symbolisation – This is a visual manifestation of hatred. Jews in Nazi Europe were forced to wear yellow stars to show that they were ‘different’. What symbol are trans people being forced to wear?

Discrimination – The dominant group denies civil rights or even citizenship to identified groups. The 1935 Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of their German citizenship, made it illegal for them to do many jobs or to marry German non-Jews. What Civil Rights have trans people lost?

Dehumanisation – Those perceived as ‘different’ are treated with no form of human rights or personal dignity. During the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, Tutsis were referred to as ‘cockroaches’; the Nazis referred to Jews as ‘vermin’. Maybe. I don't know all the slurs for all the innumerable groups of people.

Organisation – Genocides are always planned. Regimes of hatred often train those who go on to carry out the destruction of a people. Please tell me the organization training people to go out and kill trans people. And not, "Muh Republicans" but the actual group.

Polarisation – Propaganda begins to be spread by hate groups. The Nazis used the newspaper Der Stürmer to spread and incite messages of hate about Jewish people. I'll give this one to you, but considering you can find hate being passed around online against every group of people, that's not saying much.

Preparation – Perpetrators plan the genocide. They often use euphemisms such as the Nazis’ phrase ‘The Final Solution’ to cloak their intentions. They create fear of the victim group, building up armies and weapons. So about that group you totally know is training people for the sole purpose of killing trans people, where abouts is there army? I mean, if we are already another step from here, there must be an army somewhere around.

Persecution – Victims are identified because of their ethnicity or religion and death lists are drawn up. People are sometimes segregated into ghettos, deported or starved and property is often expropriated. Genocidal massacres begin. Hasn't happened.

Extermination – The hate group murders their identified victims in a deliberate and systematic campaign of violence. Millions of lives have been destroyed or changed beyond recognition through genocide. Hasn't happened.

Denial – The perpetrators or later generations deny the existence of any crime. Hasn't happened.

From my count, we haven't even hit step 2, but then again step 6 is fulfilled for every group on earth so maybe it's not steps but a list.

[mypoisonedvine]

While You Were Sleeping... | dark!Stucky x reader

warnings: noncon, somnophilia, dp, slight breeding kink, kidnapping, bondage, drugging, pain kink, choking, spanking, slapping, degradation, mention of blood

word count: 3.3k

Thunk.            Thunk.            Thunk.

The sound was the first thing you became aware of.  Your eyes were heavy, so heavy you couldn’t open them, as hard as you fought.  All your effort led to one brief sliver of light, but it was gone so fast you couldn’t process what it was.

Thunk.            Thunk.            Thunk.

You heard yourself moan softly as you tried to stir, but your whole body was half-numb and as dense as lead.

Thunk.  Thunk.  Thunk.  Thunk.  Thunk.  Thunk.

It was faster, and louder, until it suddenly stopped.  Something shifted after that… something outside you, and something inside you.

“Your turn.”

Hearing words tore one more layer of your sleep away, and you managed to open your eyes for just a moment longer, long enough finally to see your surroundings for a second.

You were face-down on a bed; no sheets, just a mattress.  It shifted again, and you realized another weight was settling onto it.  

Something warm ran down your spine.  Fingers?  Was someone touching you?  And not through clothes, but straight onto your skin.

...am I naked?

You fought through the static tingling your tired limbs, and wiggled your arm a bit.  A jingling noise, a tightness on your wrist; a shackle and chain.

“Are you wakin’ up now, doll?”

Bucky? you tried to speak, but your lips wouldn’t move.  You were nearly paralyzed, but conscious enough to move your arm again, shaking the chain louder this time.

“Good,” you heard him reply.  “I’ll be honest, the drugs were a compromise for me.  I want you to be awake for this.”

Your legs were pushed wider apart.  Something hot was pushing against your— no, that can’t be right.  This can’t be happening.  This isn’t happening.

A shift inside you.  He was inside you.  You tried to kick him away but all that came of it was a twitch in your calf.

“That all the fight you got, sweetheart?” Bucky chuckled.  You could feel his hands on your hips, pulling you into him each time he thrusted forward.  You were thankful for the numbness, because you knew this would be painful without it; you could feel how far his intrusion was stretching you, how deep he was inside you.  So deep that you could feel it in your stomach.

Thunk.            Thunk.            Thunk.

The headboard slammed into the concrete wall with every thrust, the sound marking each time he buried himself as deep as he could go.  He was so impressed that you could take all of him, even though it would probably be challenging for a version of you that was fully lucid.  There had been a little blood after Steve was finished with you, so he knew you were being pushed beyond your limits.  But he also knew you could take it.

Well, he knew you had no choice but to take it.  So maybe not so much that you could, but that you would.

“So tight, doll, especially when you try to fight it,” he praised, groaning when your walls pulsed around him again.  “You came when you were knocked out— twice.  Wanna see how many times I can make you come when you’re awake?”

You fought the instinct to writhe in protest, knowing now that it only egged him on.  

“There’s a good girl,” he groaned, “just lay there and take it, honey.  I’m just sorry you can’t feel all of me like you know you want to.  The last of the tranquilizer should wear off soon…”

No, no, that’s the only thing making this tolerable, you realized.  “No…” you managed to mumble aloud, though it was broken and nearly inaudible.

A harsh slap landed on your ass and your body jerked with the pain.

“What’s that, doll?  Can’t hear you,” he mocked.  

“Bucky…” you murmured, still barely able to believe that he was doing this.  He’d acted weird around you a few times, Steve had told you it wasn’t a big deal—

Steve… Steve would help you.

“Steve?” you slurred.

“What is it, pet?” his voice echoed from behind you.

He’s already here?

The realization made your gut sink.  He was already here.  Your turn, you remembered someone saying; it was him.  He’d been here a long time, hadn’t he?

“Want me instead, huh?  Buck’s not doin’ it for ya?” Steve laughed.

“Shut up, punk,” Bucky groaned.  “She’s gonna cream on my cock any second, I can tell.”

“Go ahead then,” Steve encouraged you, “come for him if you like it so much.”

“No…” you managed to sigh again, but it wasn’t to them this time; it was to yourself.  You needed to stop this, because Bucky was right and you weren’t ready to cope with that in this moment.  You needed to hate this, it needed to hurt.  And both of those things were true… but you were going to come in spite of it.  Or, perhaps, because of it.  

You started to sob as your mind warred with your body, as pleasure and fear and dread and disgust were all overshadowed by a deep primal need.

Bucky leaned down, his body crushing yours as his teeth nipped at your neck.  “You’re drooling all over the mattress, sweetheart; our brainless little fuckdoll, so stuffed with cock you can’t think.”

A tingle ran up your spine so strongly that your back arched involuntarily, pushing his cock even deeper into you.  Bucky grinned and you would’ve grimaced if you could move your face that much.  “Oh, you like that, don’t you?  We knew you needed to let go, but you would never do it on your own.  That’s what the drugs were for, to loosen you up a bit.  But you’re awake now, and you’re finally realizing how good it is to be owned, aren’t you?  Nobody’s here but us, baby, we won’t tell anyone how much you love it.  It’ll be our little secret.”

Out of nowhere, you came.  It was dulled and distant as it fought against the effects of the drugs, but undeniable.  You felt hot all of a sudden, like you would burn up, as you shivered and tightened involuntarily.  You could really feel him now, every ridge and vein, every detail sliding along your insides and stretching you impossibly wide.  It felt like it wouldn’t stop so long as he didn’t stop fucking you; your skin erupted into goosebumps, even though you felt anything but cold.

“Just like that, doll… so fuckin’ good,” he groaned, the deep timbre of his voice reverberating through your bones.  “Squeezin’ me so goddamn tight, I could come right now—”

“No!” you yelped.

“Is that the only word you know?” he hissed.

“Not… not inside…” you murmured.  

“Not inside?  Doll, Stevie already filled this filthy little cunt,” Bucky informed you with a purr.  “You couldn’t even tell, huh?  Don’t worry, you’re gonna feel it this time.”

You whimpered but couldn’t put a sentence together, focusing most on not moaning every time he thrusted into you; his balls slapping into your clit was just enough sensation to keep you on the edge, but his thick head massaging your g-spot was too intense to ignore.

When you opened your eyes, you could see Bucky’s long hair falling in front of your face, and his hand reaching out to interlace his fingers with yours.  How could he do something so intimate, like he couldn’t feel the restraint around your wrist as he did it?

“I’m close, sweetheart, you’re gonna make me come,” he grinned, and it was weirdly prideful.  Like he knew that some part of you craved for his approval.  Of course you did; he was your superior, your Sergeant, your boss.  You just didn’t intend for this to be the way you got it.  

Thunk.  Thunk.  Thunk.  Thunk.

You bit down on your lip to keep quiet, hoping you could give no reaction at all.  It didn’t work, because just as he’d promised, you could feel his cock flexing and pulsing, you could feel his seed pumping into you.  A groan of protest slipped from your lips, louder than you’d expected.  It seemed to go on forever, or maybe it was just because you knew the potential this had… he’d said Steve had come inside you, too.  You just hoped they’d let you go in time to get a Plan B.  Surely they were going to let you go soon, now that he was done and they’d both had their turn.

The idea of them taking turns with your body made you feel sick.  So did the rush of hot liquid that oozed out of you as Bucky pulled his cock out.

“Can you go again, Buck?” Steve asked gruffly.

“Sure,” Bucky answered, seemingly just as curious as you were as to why he would ask that.

“Get under her,” he demanded.

“Wh… what…?” you moaned sleepily, trying to understand what was happening.  You were being lifted and manhandled, limp in his arms, as Bucky slipped under your body and wrapped his arms around you.  Your head laid against his chest as you pulled at your restraints again, more determined than before but just as fruitless.

Another weight moved in behind you; Steve, of course.  You could tell by the little laugh he made as his rough hands moved up the backs of your legs.

“Your pussy looks completely ruined,” Steve informed you, “like it was meant to be.”

He reached down and gathered some of the come that had leaked out of you— yours, Bucky’s and his own all mixed together— on two of his fingers and pushed it back into you.  You winced and struggled, even just his fingers big enough to stretch you.  Then again, anything was big enough to reignite the pain in your sore channel by this point.

“But this hole is still untouched,” he added, his fingers slipping out of you and trailing up to— oh.

“N-no,” you moaned quietly, “not there…”

“Not where, honey?” Steve taunted, his wet fingers drawing circles over your puckered opening.

“Not… not in my ass,” you pleaded weakly.  You could hear Bucky’s heartbeat get faster next to your ear.  “You can use my pussy again just… not there, please.”

“Oh, so generous,” Steve grinned, but his amusement turned to anger as he slapped the inside of your thigh.  You squealed with the pain, jerking inside Bucky’s embrace, and Steve hit you a few more times.  “Bargaining with your body as if it’s yours in the first place.  Stupid whore.  Both these holes are mine, you understand?”

You cried out when he hit you again, the telltale burning of oncoming tears starting to sting the backs of your eyes.  But you refused to cry.

“Do you understand?” he repeated, firmer.

“Yes, Captain!” you blurted out, an old habit from when you were at work.  You felt your face burn with shame as both of them laughed at your obedience.

“Such a good soldier,” Steve praised.  “I know you can take it, baby, if you just relax and let it feel good.  I’ll make it good for you.  Buck’s gonna keep that greedy little cunt full, too; won’t you, Sarge?”

“Yes, Cap,” Bucky grinned, rubbing his cock through your swollen folds again.  You hadn’t anticipated that their stamina would apply to this. They’re going to keep me here for a while, aren’t they?

As Bucky teased your clit with his fat and leaking head, Steve pushed his fingers into your hole.  You tried to relax through the burn, gasping and groaning in spite of yourself.

“Ever been touched here before?” Steve asked, curling his fingers inside you until you let out a little moan.  “Doesn’t seem like it.  You were always hard at work, never had time for a boyfriend did you?  Not one that knew how to treat you right, at least.”

“Is this your idea… of treating me right?” you hissed through heavy breaths.  “Knocking me out?  Chaining me up?”

“That was just the only way to get you to let us take care of you,” Bucky explained.  “This is treating you right.”

Before you could ask what he was referring to, both of them pressed their cocks into your holes.  Bucky’s cock slid in with a hint of pain, but Steve’s hit more resistance— not that that stopped him.

You screamed, knocked out of the last of your drug-induced haze and thrown head-first into reality.  Sick, stinging, sharp reality.  Your arms pulled at the chains as your legs kicked wildly.  Steve grabbed your ankles as they swung by, pushing your legs up and holding them down until you were forced to straddle Bucky.  The new angle made you feel somehow more exposed to both of them.

“Shut up and take it,” Steve groaned darkly.  They both pushed in deeper, their cocks getting thicker the further down you got, and your eyes rolled back into your head.  

“That’s it, just let go, sweetheart,” Bucky whispered.  “You can take it, you were made for us, you can take it…”

You were too overwhelmed to process his words, though, as they kept filling you and you wondered if it would ever stop.  You wondered if you wanted it to stop, even though it was painful and degrading and beyond twisted.

“Almost done, honey, you’re takin’ us so well,” Steve cooed.

“She might pass out, Steve,” Bucky realized as he examined your face, tilting your head up to look at him.

“Maybe then she’ll stop fighting,” he shrugged in reply.

Bucky was buried all the way into you, but there was still some of Steve left to take and you were sure it wouldn’t fit.  You already felt so full that you could barely breathe.  Just to rub it in, Steve slammed that last inch into you, knocking the wind out of your lungs.

“Fuck,” Steve sighed, “you feel so good, babygirl.  The others call you a tightass behind your back, did you know that?  They don’t know how right they are…”

“Talk to me, soldier; are you still with us?” Bucky asked, slapping your cheek lightly to get your attention.  You nodded quickly.  “Feel how full you are, doll?”  You nodded again.  “You like it, don’t you?”

You stayed silent this time.  

“No need to pretend, honey, we can tell,” Steve groaned.  “You’re dripping all over the both of us, and your cute little ass is clenching around me.”

“Just say it,” Bucky moaned.  “Say you love it.”

“I… I love it,” you stammered, hoping that it was just to appease them.

“Then ride our cocks, like the little slut you are,” Steve demanded, smacking your ass one more time.  You tried to lift your hips, shuddering with the way it moved both of them inside you, but it was so difficult with your weak and aching muscles.  When you did it again, you fell suddenly with a wavering groan.

“Too weak, baby?  You’re so pathetic; let me show you how,” Steve offered, grabbing your hips tightly and lifting them with almost no effort.  You moaned, properly, as he used your body and dropped you up and down on his and Bucky’s cocks roughly.  “The least you could do is sit up; go on, put your hands on Buck’s shoulders and arch that back, show me how bad you want it.”

The chains were long enough that you could do it, though looking down at Bucky and the metal cuffs on your wrist was a lot to take in.  With a groan of pain, your wobbling arms lifted you up.

“I knew you could be a good girl,” Steve sighed, moving your body faster against his as his grip left bruises in the shape of his fingertips on your skin.

Bucky reached up and wrapped his cold metal hand around your neck, choking you suddenly.  Both men groaned as the loss of air made you flutter around them.  “Fuck, you like that, huh?  You like getting choked, doll?  Dirty slut.”

When he finally let go, it was like all the sounds that had been caught in your throat came out at once.  A groan, a sigh, a moan, and a sob churned together to make something inhuman and debasing.  They were fucking you like animals, you were shackled and bound like an animal, and now you sounded like an animal.

“Do you wanna breathe, doll?  Or do you wanna come?” Bucky growled.  

“I wanna… I wanna come,” you moaned.  The hand on your neck tightened again, and the tingles of lost sensation spread over your body quickly.  You were so close to coming again that you could barely imagine how it happened so fast.  They were reaching every sensitive spot inside you— rather, they were turning every spot inside you into a sensitive one.  The loss of air only pushed you closer, and you wanted to scream but all you could do was dig your fingernails into Bucky’s shoulders as it hit you hard.  You went completely limp in their arms, only Bucky’s hand holding you upright.  He relaxed his grip, still tight enough to keep you completely aware of his power over you, but loose enough that you could breathe.

“Don’t stop coming, sweetheart, I love seeing you do it,” Steve beamed.  “You can give us a few more before we’re done— right, Buck?”

“I don’t know man, she feels really good,” Bucky moaned, choking you again so you wouldn’t interrupt their conversation.

“Get it together, man,” Steve teased, “you can’t get all sentimental on me again.”

“I can’t help it, okay?  Been waiting for this for so long…”  Bucky trailed off, or maybe it was just that your hearing was fading out as the loss of air pushed you towards the beckoning darkness.

You gasped when he let go again, your moans turning into sobs and tears finally rolling down your cheeks.  You’d sworn you wouldn’t let them see you cry, but you couldn’t even remember that now.

“Such a cute little crybaby,” Steve purred, slamming into you faster.  “Can’t take it anymore, huh?  It’s too much for you?”

“Please…” you whispered, so hoarse that you couldn’t recognize it as yourself.

“‘Please’ what, doll?” Bucky pressed, massaging your neck in his palm.

You didn’t know what you were begging for, truly.  Bucky choked you again, grinning up at you and fucking you rougher than before.

“I know what you want: you wanna come again, yeah?  So needy… this’ll be, what, the fifth today?  Go ahead, princess, show us how bad you need us.”

They all started to blend together after that.  Just one big haze, interlaced with so much sensation that you couldn’t parse any of it into separate incidents.  Steve leaned forward to suck a mark on the back of your neck; Bucky used his free hand to twist your nipples and slap your tits, before moving down to roughly rub your aching clit with his thumb.  Bucky came first but stayed inside while Steve roughly pumped into your ass.  Without the distraction of Bucky’s movement inside you, you became more aware of how far Steve’s cock was stretching you.  He came with a cry and Bucky’s fingers pulled another orgasm from you, too.  He never stopped rubbing you there, not even when they’d both stopped moving and you were too exhausted to do anything but take it.  It made your body jolt even though your muscles ached and begged for rest.  You vaguely remembered begging for rest, too, but you didn’t get it until Bucky was satisfied.

When they both pulled out, you could feel the hot sticky mess gush from your holes; it was disgusting, and yet you felt a weak pang of arousal run up your spine.  Bucky slipped out from under you with an exhausted groan of his own, leaving you to flop down onto the bed lifelessly.  

“Get some rest, honey,” Steve encouraged.  “We’ll help you shower when you wake up.”

Any other day and you would’ve needed to shower first before you could fall asleep again, not to mention having your wrists freed from the chains.  But you were already nearly gone by this point, your eyes heavy again as your mind went blank.

The last thing you heard was a heavy steel door slamming shut: thunk.

[slasherrabbitmadness]

Slashers with a S/O with a form of social phobia - Gender Neutral

SFW! -Toxic behavior from Brahms-

Brahms Heelshire (Brahms is toxic)

> "Me too!" Honestly, he loves that you have social anxiety. It's messed up but let's be real, so is Brahms. To Brahms, your social anxiety means you'll never leave the Heelshire estate.

> Insists that you leave Malcolm a check and have no interaction with him. This is fine by you. With Brahms basically being your boyfriend and the only one you're comfortable around, this works out well. Malcolm always flirts with you when he stops by.

> Bad news from home? Brahms will be there, holding you and reassuring you that everything is gonna be alright. "You don't have to call back right away. Take your time...can we kiss?"

> Insists you get everything you want to be delivered. Clothes? order online. Hygiene products? You can set up a monthly subscription on Amazon. Brahms doesn't mind if you have to spend extra on this. He's old money, so it's not a problem.

> Being cooped up with Brahms puts you the most at ease. The only stressor itself is Brahms. He can be temperamental. Lashing out to get his way, it worked on his Mummy and Daddy.

> Mature enough to know when he's taken it way too far. Sees you with a hand over your chest, breathing heavily calming yourself down. He'll apologize of course. He'll do it again, especially if it means he can hold you close and kiss away your worries.

> It's Brahms, he's toxic.

Michael Myers

> Knows all about this.

> Was diagnosed with this by Loomis. And many, many other diagnoses.

> Very patient with you in public. Not embarrassed at all when you fumble your words with a cashier, slurring out a thank you to a kind stranger holding the door open for you.

> Realises he's become somewhat of a security blanket for you. Doesn't mind. He'll never admit it, but you're his security blanket.

> He loves the dates where it's just and him at home, curled up on the couch with a movie.

> Protective over you in a violent way. If you come home from work, tears in your eyes after a hard day "Coworker gave me shit today, said I wasn't picking up enough slack." Michael will give you a deadpan look and offer to kill the person. He hates when someone makes you more anxious. Hates to see your eyes glossy and brows furrowed.

> Michael wants to see you smiling, will never say it. So he shows you. When you come back home from work after having a good day, a smile on your face, he'll pepper you in kisses and give light tickles. Loves to see your smile growing even wider.

> The best at being able to detect when you'll have an anxiety attack. He was surrounded by many mentally unwell people at smiths grove so it's easy for him to catch the signs.

Vincent Sinclair

> Will always validate how you feel.

> Never questions you on it.

> If Vincent didn't have to feel the need to hide his face, he'd be out in public more. But the fact he feels deep embarrassment over his face, staying cooped up with you sounds perfect.

> The type that will find ways to relieve your stress.

> Anxious to eat dinner in front of Bo and Lester? That's fine, so is Vincent. It'll be you two in his workshop.

> Vincent's work makes him feel Anxious free. But if your work gets you anxious, then Vincent will encourage you to take a day off. It's better you mentally recharge than work yourself up even more.

> The most comforting hugs during a panic attack. He'll rock you back and forth till you've calmed down. Doesn't care how long it takes.

Billy Lenz

> Poster boy for social anxiety.

> Judging from the novel version of Billy, he feels great anguish with having to interact with others. He wants too but it's all too much on him. This is also fairly obvious from the movie Billy.

> Scared of making a phone call? so is Billy, he hates the thing. But he'll actively encourage you to make that much-needed phone call. "Come on, come on, just call. It'll be over be you know it. It's how I deal with it." He'll hold your hand while on the phone. After the call, he kisses your cheeks and rubs your noses together.

> Will gladly let you ramble on and on about what's making you anxious. Repeating yourself? Billy doesn't mind. he does the same thing after all.

> Encourages you to get outside. Will accompany you. As long as it's a nice day. Likes to see the little things from the outdoors make you happy.

Bo Sinclair

> "Social Anxiety? great, another Vincent." What an ass.

> He does care, just it's Bo. He's gonna be an ass about it. Verbally anyways.

> Gives anyone shit for making you feel anxious. Not scared to get confrontational for you.

> He'd like you to help with distracting female victims while he handles the males. But, if he's been handling them before you, he can handle them without you.

> "What do you mean you wanna take a day off? One day of not working means less pay." When you do take the day off, Bo will be there rubbing your back as you curl up into his wide chest. He gives the occasional kiss on the crown of your head.

> "I'm a little nervous, Bo." you said while shifting slightly outside the crowded restaurant. "We came all this way, might as well finish what we started."

> He takes you to a less crowded one next time.

> Genuinely smiles when he sees you handle a crowd without it getting the best of you.

> Wants you happy.

[flyingicecube]

In a similar vein, I have serious gripes with "fix-its" where the characters seem to conflate the political persona of Palpatine as Chancellor with the Empire. The idea that simply killing Palpatine will be enough to stop the Empire from rising shows a huge lack of understanding of the source material by the author.

Consider that by the day before Order 66 was executed, the Galactic Republic had already become the Empire in everything except name, which I love that Stover includes in the RoTS novelization's version of the Declaration of a New Order: "We have become an empire in fact; let us become an Empire in name as well! We are the first Galactic Empire!"

The final nail in the Republic's coffin for me is the Sector Governance Decree, which appoints the first Moffs. Of course, the Petition of 2000 opposes it, but they are very clearly shown to represent a minority group in the Senate. The overwhelming majority of the political forces in the Republic at this point in time are in favor of placing supreme authority in the hands of a single person, the Chancellor, by giving him the authority to appoint Governors for vast regions of the galaxy without accountability to the Senate, the elected body of representatives. When Palpatine declares himself "Emperor," no one cares because it's just a stylistic tweak. Nothing has functionally changed in the government beyond cosmetics.

I would like to see, just once, a fic where the Sith are wiped out. Yoda kills Palpatine in the Senate fight, so no one rescues Anakin from Mustafar. No more Darth Sidious, no more Darth Vader. Except instead of fixing anything, this only makes things worse!

The assassination of the head of state by the Jedi just days after a previous failed assassination attempt also by them removes any doubt whatsoever from 99%+ of the galactic public that they're the bad guys. With the worst accusations of the government against them proven irrefutably true, everything else no matter how farfetched will seem completely plausible!

The "Deliver Us From Jedi Evil" propaganda poster will be tame stuff compared to what the Empire, under new Emperor Mas Amedda, will produce. What's more, without a sorcerous overlord in charge of the Empire, who do you think will really be in charge? Yep, the military.

Ironically, I believe that is what the original vision Lucas had for the Empire was supposed to be, a military junta who ruled in the name of a powerless figurehead "Emperor." See the prologue to the original novelization of Star Wars:

"[The Emperor] was controlled by the very assistants and boot-lickers he had appointed to high office, and the cries of the people for justice did not reach his ears."

The military administration dominated by figures like Moff Tarkin would have implemented more or less the same policies as the Sith-led Empire did: usurpation of authority nominally vested in the Imperial Senate, "Non-huMan" racism, militarism and the curtailment of civil liberties, etc.

Meanwhile, the history books would be rewritten to cast the Jedi as villainous zealots who ruled the corrupt, decadent old Republic as sorcerous overlords, instigated the deadliest conflict in living memory, and attempted to overthrow the government after growing so power hungry that merely ruling the galaxy as puppet masters wasn't enough for their egos.

In this AU, I feel like the average Order 66 survivor would be in for a massive culture shock when they realize, truly realize, that not only does the the galactic public hate them with the fury of a million supernovas, but the very word "Jedi" has become a slur, the expression of most ultimate entitlement and evil you can accuse someone of.

The Jedi would be reduced to being "exactly like" the Sith in popular consciousness. Boogeymen in stories used to scare little children, a cautionary tale about mixing state and religion, "shameful magicians" who tried to enslave the galaxy with "elitist, dangerous powers."

"It's not that I like the Empire. I hate it, but there's nothing I can do about it right now. Although I will say for them, at least they got rid of the Jedi." -citizen of Tatooine, Luke Skywalker

Fic where Palpatine dies and all seems well post-ROTS - the Skywalker family is together, Ahsoka comes back, the Order is alive, Padmé is Chancellor - but as the story goes on, we realize how incredibly superficial this all is, and the story goes on and Anakin and Padmé spiral, on and on and on, until at the very end, the Republic is overthrown by Luke and Leia as they face their parents and what they've become.

[statticscribbles]

Hot Girl Bummer

Summary: Song-Fic with Reader/Johnny Storm (human torch, either version) with the song Hot Girl Bummer by Blackbear; using the song as the plot 

Johnny Storm was the guy that everyone wanted. Johnny Storm was the human torch. Johnny Storm was one of the guys that saved humanity. Johnny Storm was a playboy. Johnny Storm always partied and teased anyone who caught his eye.

Johnny Storm was the one that got away from you.

You were one of the many party girls that spent time around him. It wasn’t like you were part of those girls that followed him around, or checked various sites and sources for his most likely location. You just had a bad habit of running into him; and kissing him, and ending up sneaking out from his room in the morning.

You didn’t realize it was him at first; you’d just come back from the bathroom; your group of friends nowhere to be found and your stomach rolling from the five shots and the shitty bar food you’d had. He’d been smiling and laughing playing up the joke of his hand cooking out the alcohol of his drink; he was joking about getting another round and you couldn’t help it, fingers brushing the glass cooling it. You smirk a little at him walking back towards the bar. He’s hovering behind you a playful smirk to match your own as he offers you another drink.

You wake up curled in a massive hotel room bed, alone.

The second time you know it’s him but he doesn’t know it's you. His words are slurring and he kisses up your neck, laughing when you tell him your name and that you’ve met before.

He likes to use his fire as a party trick so when you feel heat from his hands sliding up and down your body you know this will end with you alone in another hotel bed.

Instead when you wake up you find him looking away, face flushed slightly.

“Sorry.”

“For what?”

“I was expecting you to be much uglier; usually the girls I bring back from bars are maybe four out of ten.” You scoff and make a point of freezing the bed. The sheets crack as you move from them.

“Clearly I’m not the usual.” You can feel the heat of his stare as you leave the room, purposefully pulling his shirt over your dress.

You don’t see him for weeks after that; you try to convince yourself you’re not looking for him but you seem to see him wherever you go. Of course it’s not really him, just an image burned into your brain. You wonder if that’s part of his power; the heat you feel when you think about him can’t be anything but. You try to avoid seeking him out, going to the bars and places you’ve seen him, even going so far as to sit in the hotel lobby. You know you’re being pathetic; you wonder what he’s doing, probably drinking himself into a stupor and fucking some random girl.

Johnny’s starting to hate his powers. It feels like everyone who wants to spend time with him just wants it because of the flames. He knows he’s overplaying it; he’s pulling an Icarus and getting too close to the sun; he knows he’ll alienate everyone soon. He thinks he prefers it; just his family, just the rest of the four. He doesn’t think about you, well he tries not to, so he goes out to some random bar, as far from the usual places he can get; he keeps his powers hidden; he doesn’t want to attract attention but of course someone snaps a picture and then suddenly people are swarming but the only person he wants to see is you.

He finally catches sight of you and grins. 

You turn when you can feel a familiar heat, you almost tell yourself not to, you’re confused why there are so many people at the local bar by your house but you realize why when that heat returns.

”Do you think; maybe we could try again?” He looks nervous and you’re about to nod when you can feel your stomach lurch again and he actually laughs when you vomit into a trash can this time.

“Look at you learning where to throw up, what’s next?”

“Learning how to get a second date.” You know it comes out harsh but you just feel a soft warmth on your back and it calms your stomach.

“Can I help with that?”

“Don’t you have someone random person to fuck?”

“Well I don’t consider you random, but I can if you want. There’s a hotel near-”

“My place is closer.” You grin winking and he smiles back at you leaning in for a kiss that when he pulls back there’s steam wafting from his lips.

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[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Michael in the Mainstream: The Passion of the Christ

At what point is it okay to separate the art from the artist, and at what point is doing so simply impossible? Let me give you a few examples to illustrate my thoughts.

In the case of H.P. Lovecraft, I think it’s okay to enjoy his stuff. Yes, the man was virulently racist and xenophobic, and yes, it does tend to bleed into his writing from time to time… But here’s the thing: He’s dead. He’s not making money off this anymore, he’s not naming any cats racial slurs, and he’s thankfully not on Twitter. By reading his stories and using his public domain creations in your own works, you’re not lining his pockets or pushing his agenda. Of course, I believe acknowledging his bad views is important, but I also don’t think buying a Cthulhu plushie means you hate black people.

In the case of JKR, it’s not okay. Rowling is a miserable, virulent TERF who uses feminism and her own past negative experiences as a hammer to beat down trans women every chance she gets. By watching the movies of her work, buying her books, retweeting her, and openly expressing your love for her in fandom, you are in effect advertising for her and funding her hateful agenda. Not to mention she has tons of racist, transphobic, and anti-Semitic themes woven into the very fabric of her works. This woman ruined goblins, and that alone is a sin more unforgivable than any curse she could ever write. Now, if she dies (or better yet, is assassinated), and hate groups no longer profit from her, then I think liking her shit is fine. Whatever. If JKR is down having tea with her like-minded buddy Thatcher in Hell, I think watching Daniel Radcliffe and Alan Rickman transform her awful prose into something watchable can be done guilt-free.

And for when it’s impossible… Well, I think Mel Gibson nailing Jesus to the cross is about the point where you can’t ignore subtext anymore and you’ve gotta quit that cold turkey.

Yes, I’m not kidding. Gibson’s hands are the one hammering those nails into the Lord, and that one simple fact undermines the entire story and just serves to highlight how demented and evil Gibson truly is. For those who are blessed not to know who Gibson is, he is a miserable washed-up action star who was the lead in films like Mad Max and Lethal Weapon, franchises that would have been enough for him to coast by on goodwill for the rest of his life… But then he had to go and blow it all. Racist rants. Horrific anti-Semitism. Conservativism, the list surprising thing here since it really only makes sense he’d be right-wing considering the other stuff.

And then here he is, making a movie about one of the most beloved Jewish men in history being brutally maimed, tortured, and executed, and he’s the one pulling the metaphorical trigger. It’s unsurprising every conservative dimwit from film critics to Bill O’Reilly bent over backwards to defend this, but goddamn Roger Ebert? He gave this movie four stars, denied anti-Semitism, and called it the most important version of this story ever? Seriously? I couldn’t even charitably call it a good version of the story. Look, I get it. I get the Passion is about his sacrifice, that’s all well and good. And I get that it wasn’t pretty. But the way this is filmed, the way it lingers on our boy JC’s suffering… It feels less like an honest and frank attempt at spirituality on Gibson’s part and more like self-serving torture porn so he can live out his twisted fantasies.

It’s not even possible for me to praise the things that, in other contexts, would be worth praising. All of it being subtitled, the set design, the acting, how can I lavish any praise on it when it is a hateful movie made by a hateful man? It’s impossible here. Gibson is a despicable, evil man and it really seeps into this film, especially with how he portrays the Jews. In her own review, Katha Pollitt said "Gibson has violated just about every precept of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops own 1988 'Criteria' for the portrayal of Jews in dramatizations of the Passion (no bloodthirsty Jews, no rabble, no use of Scripture that reinforces negative stereotypes of Jews.) … The priests have big noses and gnarly faces, lumpish bodies, yellow teeth; Herod Antipas and his court are a bizarre collection of oily-haired, epicene perverts. The 'good Jews' look like Italian movie stars (Magdalene actually is an Italian movie star, the lovely Monica Bellucci); Jesus's mother, who would have been around 50 and appeared 70, could pass for a ripe 35." Rowling would be proud of this crap. It’s just a miserable, miserable movie, and yes that’s part of the point but it’s impossible not to read into it in the worst ways because of who Gibson is.

Gibson has never even apologized for how he is. People like Robert Downey, Jr. have called for us to forgive him, but what has he ever done to deserve it? He just keeps on being an evil man, saluting Trump and acting in racist movies alongside fellow right-wing hack Vince Vaughn, while reaping in all kinds of rewards for his directorial efforts. He barely suffered at all for his horrifying, toxic behavior, but he gets to lay claim to having the most controversial film ever made, and it’s not even controversial for the right reasons. I remember people being more up in arms over the violence than anything, and yeah, the violence is so over-the-top to the point of being unnecessary, but I think Mel’s rampant bigotry seeping through the screen is the bigger issue here.

There is literally no reason to watch this movie. You want a better look at the final days of Jesus? Scorecese made The Last Temptation of Christ. Don’t want to feel miserable while watching Jesus die? Jesus Christ Superstar is right there. Do you absolutely have to watch a version of Jesus that has the involvement of a stupid old bigot? The Life of Brian is right there. All that The Passion has to offer viewers is misery, brutality, bleakness, suffering, and bigotry, and we get enough of that in the real world without watching it on the screen. If Gibson really wanted to make a beautiful and personal film about Jesus, maybe he should have done a more wholesome and uplifting part of His life, instead of the part where He is literally murdered. If this is what Gibson thinks faith is, that really says more about him than anything else ever could.

Fuck this movie, and fuck Mel Gibson.