#nazi imagery mention cw

[answrs]

anyway so a few years back at one of mom's old churches, someone snuck a pair of nunchucks (illegal in Ohio, also sir this is A Fucking Church) into the donations for the rummage sale.

I went to help out sorting through and pricing things yesterday for her newest church's sale and found a whole-ass iron(?) dagger with a very sharpened foot-long blade in one of the bins...

with a bonus eagle & swastika hilt

so that's fun 🫠

my dude. like what was your plan here. "yes the 50¢ an item fundraiser is definitely gonna sell a fucking nazi knife to support their free community breakfasts. I am a Good Person."

[notaplaceofhonour]

An Open Letter Regarding the Holocaust Inversion & Blood Libel of the “Average Pace” Meme:

The person who shared the screenshotted post deleted it after I sent the following message. I truly believe they shared it out of ignorance & not malice; I cannot say the same of OP who created the graphic. I am sharing my deconstruction of its rhetoric & imagery here as a learning opportunity:

Nothing justifies the injustices Palestinians have faced, and what Netanyahu is doing is vile. No country should be above criticism, nor its leaders above condemnation, but this is not that.

What people like OP are doing is weaponizing legitimate atrocities to spread the antisemitic narratives of Holocaust Inversion (an offshoot of Holocaust Revision & Denial that claims “The new Nazis are Jews”) and Blood Libel.

And no, the fact that these libels are made in criticism of Israel does not absolve them of being antisemitic narratives that predate the existence of the State of Israel. As if to hammer in that point, that is not the flag of Israel that the creator of this agitprop decided to equate to the Swastika—that is the Magen David. That’s just the symbol for Judaism.

Worse, to impose the Magen David over images of blood (especially what is implicitly the blood of children) is a direct invocation of Blood Libel, the antisemitic accusation that Jewish leaders thirst for the blood of children. This libel has incited the mass slaughter of Jews since long before the Shoah, and is still being used to this day to incite violence against Jews through Qanon & accusations that Israelis drink & bathe in Palestinian blood.

And if it truly weren’t about the Jewishness of Israel, why would OP pick the Shoah specifically? There have been countless other mass killings in the world, many with much greater resemblance to Israel/Palestine than Jews in Nazi Germany (see: ethnic cleansings in Liberia & India/Pakistan for instance). Meanwhile, the only things The Shoah/WWII and Israel-Palestine have in common is people dying and Jews being present. So why specifically invoke the slaughter of Jews to criticize Israel if it is not about invoking the Jewishness of Israel?

That doesn’t even get into how cherrypicked those numbers are to the point the exact same “average pace” metric could easily be used (and in fact is, by the German far-right) to present the Bombing of Dresden by the Allies—a campaign that killed more than 25,000 German civilians in 72 hours in an area much bigger & less densely populated than Gaza with a fraction of the bombs that Israel has used—as comparable to the death camps.

This rhetoric does not aid Palestinians in any way. In fact it drags the movement down by providing ammunition that can be used to paint all criticism of Israel as antisemitic & give people who just hate Palestinians the casus belli they need to shut it down. The only thing it accomplishes is hurting Jews; it twists the knife in the wounds left in our community, it trivializes the Shoah by universalizing it or presenting it as “the lesser of two evils”, and it incites violence by equating Jews to Nazis.

[haveyoureadthispoem-poll]

"Dying / Is an art, like everything else. / I do it exceptionally well."

Read it here | Reblog for a larger sample size!

[sorrel-scribbles]

I don't watch Bailey Sarian often (no disrespect, I just have other youtubers I prefer for true crime), but today I watched the latest ep. of Dark History, and there were a couple small things I noticed that were off in terms of historical accuracy in regard to the Nazi party.

1)

No, not really. The Abwehr was a military intelligence organization, meaning an agency who's goals in conducting intelligence work on foreign soil is to provide information about troop movements, military targets, etc. The CIA is a foreign intelligence organization, meaning an organization that gathers information mainly for the purpose of aiding foreign policy and preventing or mitigating conflict (though if you're talking the CIA specifically, they have also functioned as military intelligence). My point here is that the Abwehr and the CIA are not a 1:1 of each other and should not be treated as such.

2)

While you could argue my greivence about the Abwehr is splitting hairs, this one is just wrong. I understand untangling the web of Himmler-controlled agencies can be confusing, but that's still not what the SS did. The Allgemeine-SS were a paramilitary organization and also functioned as a "peacekeeping" force in occupied territories, guards for certain high ranking officals, and staff for some concentration camps. The Waffen-SS was an eltie Nazi fighting force and also staffed some concentration camps. (all that it still somewhat of an oversimplification because the Nazis did the bureaucratic shuffle a lot, but it's closer to the truth) Neither of those really functioned as a police force. The Allgemeine-SS could and did preform police duties sometimes, but it wasn't their primary job. They had the actual police, the Gestapo, and to some extent the SD, for that.

(The organizations under Himmler have a way weirder, more complicated history than this, and if you want to know more feel free to send an ask)

[ferocioustrout]

WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT HOLY SHIT

I BARELY PAY ATTENTION TO KOKICHI BUT I WAS REPLAYING V3 ADN I GOT TO THE INTRO AND WHY ARE WE ALL IGNORING THE NAZI IMAGERY ON HIS SPLASH ART WHAT. BROTHER TAKE THAT HAT OFF

[silassinclair]

Michael's Girl PT. 4 \\ PolyLostBoys + Michael x Reader

Summary: The final test. CW: Murder, Blood, Traumatic Events, Gore Mention

AN// I'M SORRY IT'S BEEN MONTHS SINCE I UPDATED, LOWKEY FORGOT I WAS A FIC AUTHOR. BUT I'VE BEEN SO BUSY WITH ENLISTMENT PROCESSES AND STUFF SO HERE IT IS!! PART 4.

Previous Part <- 🖤 -> Next Part

It's been a few days since Y/n was forced to witness a bloody massacre right before her very eyes. But it was all apart of David's test, so she had no choice but to endure the newfound trauma that will forever be staining her brain. Luckily Michael was always there by her side, every nightmare she had she would be awoken with small kisses to her face or warm arms around her waist. So after a few days Y/n stopped having nightmares about the event with the surf nazis.

Of course she'll never fully recover but she can stand it now. But no longer does imagery of blood and gore cloud her mind constantly. It’s almost as if it never happened.

"Y/n it's almost 8. We should head out soon." Michael says while tying his shoes. His girlfriend sighs and sits down at the kitchen table as Michael finishes tying his shoe.

A look of confliction is on her face. On one hand she loves Michael so much that she'd sacrifice her humanity to be with him forever, but on the other she knows she'll eventually have to kill her own prey.

Kill other human beings with her bare hands.

"Y/n!"

She snaps up and looks at Michael with wide eyes. "Y-Yeah? What is it?"

The brunette lets out a sigh and he sits next to Y/n at the table. He gently grabs her head and presses it to his shoulder to lean on.

"I’ve called your name like, 7 times… Something is on your mind. You have that look on your face." He says, reading her like an open book.

Y/n hides her slight shock and just nods lightly. "Yeah... There's been a lot on my mind lately."

"Well you can tell me anything okay? I'm here for you. After all we're going to be together forever right?"

Y/n smiles at the thought of being with Michael forever. And if this is the case then she should be more open with him. She lets out a small sigh and looks up at Michael who he looks at her curiously.

"I know when I turn I'll have to hunt and kill my own prey eventually." She says, avoiding using the word "people" or "humans".

Michael's expression is unreadable as he stares off straight ahead into nothing. But he does nod.

"You're right. I won't be able to hunt for you forever. But you'll get used to it. Just hunt bad prey okay? Bad people who deserve to die. That's what I do. I don't kill innocents, not like the other guys." Michael says with a small smile as he nudges his girlfriend's shoulder.

Y/n smiles up at him and kisses his cheek. "You always give the best advice Michael. What would I do without you?"

.

.

.

The clock struck ten and Michael and Y/n arrived at the cave. Everyone was already there with the turning preparations. David, Dwayne, Paul, Marko, the wine bottle, and a tied up human girl.

"Huh?!" Y/n says in shock. Low and behold there's a tan blonde young woman tied to David's wheelchair with ropes. Y/n's reaction to the victim causes David to smirk.

"Surprise! This is your final test Y/n." The head vampire says. "This woman here is going to be your first kill." He snickers and gestures to the frightened woman who thrashes in the restraints.

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"

Michael charges at David furiously and throws a mean punch to his chiseled face, causing him to stumble backwards. Dwayne, Paul, and Marko immediately move to help their eldest brother but he shoves them all away.

"Get off me! I'm fine." David says with a growl. He glares at Y/n who is seen standing behind her boyfriend, clinging to his arm.

"This wasn't apart of my initiation! What the fuck is this?!" Michael glares at David with his piercing yellow vampiric eyes.

David shrugs and wipes the blood from his lip. "I decided I needed to up the difficulty. Make things more interesting for her, and for all of us. You're not gonna back down now are you Y/n? Think about Michael, think about how lonely he'll be without you being an immortal by his side."

His voice was like a taunting echo bouncing along the walls of Y/n's skull. It was ringing constantly like a bell, every chime, every word was painful to hear.

"N-No.. This isn't right. That lady is innocent!" She says with a wavering voice. Her confidence flew out the door along with part of her sanity. No way could she kill this woman. This isn’t what she signed up for. All she wanted was to be with Michael!

"You're going too fucking far David! Just let her turn and let the woman go." Michael snarls and gets in David's face. The platinum blonde stays standing straight and tall, even with a rabid looking Michael looking ready to rip him apart.

"You know I can't make this easy for her, or you. This is a test of trust, loyalty, and bravery. Whether you kill her Y/n or I kill you because you know who me and my brothers are."

Y/n stands frozen and afraid. Her thoughts were drowning away in a pool of fear and doubt. But Michael was there to keep her afloat. He is her rock as she is his.

"Like I'd even let you lay a fucking finger on her." Michael gets ready to pounce on David but he's suddenly held back by Dwayne and Paul, who both have him by both his arms.

"Now Y/n." David turns to said girl with an intimidating glare. "Make your choice. Kill or be killed. This is life darling. Not everything goes your way."

Y/n swallows and takes slow steps towards the woman in the wheel chair. When the bound woman sees this she starts thrashing around in her bindings, trying to break free. Her screams are muffled by a rag tied tightly around her mouth.

"I'm sorry. I-I have to do this… Please forgive me!"

Y/n grabs a decorated knife adorned in authentic gems that lay on a small table next to her. She holds the knife and stands before the woman. The girl raises the knife and shuts her eyes and makes a slash straight ahead, not knowing whether she hit the woman or not. The blade was so sharp that it felt as cutting through air. Y/n feels the blade contact something but she doesn't know what because the touch felt so light. All she hears is muffled screaming that slowly dies down.

"Open your eyes." The husky voice of David says in her mind.

Y/n hesitates and opens her eyes slowly, the first thing she sees is red. A blur of red. Then everything becomes clear. The woman in the wheelchair is dead, her throat slit open with blood oozing out. And in Y/n’s hand is the bloody weapon that was used to end the poor woman’s life.

Y/n screams and drops the knife. When she accidentally looks into the dead woman’s eyes she feels her heart drop to her stomach. The woman has a permanent look of betrayal. Her green eyes no longer shine, rather they are dull and lifeless. Her throat is drowned in a sea of red and so are her clothes. The sight is gruesome.

"Y/n!" Michael shouts and breaks free of Dwayne and Paul's grip. He rushes over to his girlfriend who sinks into despair. As she slowly drops to the ground Michael kneels beside her and holds her to his chest. Her broken sobs are muffled in his chest.

"You're fucking disgusting for doing this to her. I'll never fucking forgive you David." Michael says with a primal growl.

The other three vampiric brothers have seemingly unreadable expressions. The usually chipper Paul and Marko seem awkward and Dwayne looks like he'd rather be anywhere else. The cries of the young woman make their undead hearts break. But why did they feel this way? Perhaps it was because they knew Y/n was going to be their future vampiric sister bound by blood. And seeing her in such disarray pulls their heart strings in all the wrong directions.

"It had to be done Michael. She needed this." David kneels in front of Michael and Y/n. He places his cold gloved hand on Y/n's hair making her flinch into Michael's hold. Instantly, Michael smacks David's hand away. His glare is sinister and out of character. Michael was the most humble and sweet out of the vampires but now he looked like a real beast. His arms clung possessively around his whimpering mate.

"Give me the fucking wine so she can turn. Once she turns into a full vampire then Y/n and I are leaving." Michael utters hauntingly, striking fear into David. David is frozen when he hears Michael. "You can't leave. We're all bound by the same blood, we're a pack." He says as he tries to hide the desperation in his voice. Having anyone leave his pack would break David. He may seem like a lone wolf but in reality he loves and cherishes his pack. And losing a member and a potential member would kill him inside.

"I don't care. Y/n is mine and I am hers. We only need each other."

The other three vampires look to David, wanting to know what he'll do.

"Y/n will drink the blood tonight then... But she's still apart of our pack. If she wishes to stay with us she will, and if she stays you will stay. However if she wishes by the end of her half cycle to go with you then you and her may leave. But you cannot return." David announces with authority.

Michael looks down at Y/n who seems to have fallen asleep from severe mental strain and exhaustion. He caresses her cheek softly and looks up at David. "Alright. Deal." Michael reaches his hand to David, which David takes firmly in his own and gives a stiff shake.

GUESS WHO'S BACK BITCHES 👹💅 I've had months and months of writers block but I'm finally back! Plus it being October really put me in the mood to update this series. In the future I may not upload for this series as often as I like to because I plan on making oc x reader content. But don't worry, I'll still write for the Lost Boys!!

[robocops-a-christ-allegory]

Peacemaker in Blue Beetle 2006 is Christopher Smith, a PSA

So theres this really common misconception that the Peacemaker that mentored Jaime Reyes in Blue Beetle 2006 is Mitchell Black or some other Peacemaker, basically anyone but Chris, and its a misconception that can only survive if you havent actually read the first half of the run all the way through. However its also common enough to really bother me and since Jaime might be about to get a lot of new fans who may not read his comics I feel the need to make this post collecting evidence. So heres the "Peacemaker in Blue Beetle 2006 is definitely Chris" post.

Going under a read more because this is kind of long because Im gonna talk too much, but if you dont want to read it you WILL just get the gist by just looking at the screenshots included.

Also its Peacemaker so CW for nazi imagery/depiction of nazis in some of these screenshots and mention of nazis, also depiction of someone about to commit suicide by firearm, also mentions of ableism

So this misconception comes from the fact that in early Blue Beetle 2006 Peacemaker tells Jaime and his family that hes Mitchell Black, the third Peacemaker:

This is lampshaded immediately as probably being a fake name just because of how Fake It Sounds (though ironically it is Mitchell's actual legal name, poor guy), and Peacemaker's response to Brenda asking if its his real name is "Its what I told you."

By issue 13 we have Peacemaker being called Smith-Peacemaker by the Negotiator.

By issue 20, which is also the issue that heavily focuses on Peacemaker and goes into his backstory, Chris is referred to by his full name by the Reach.

Chris's backstory in issue 20 is his backstory. This is fully Christopher Smith specific. You cannot apply any of this to the other two Peacemaker's that existed at this time.

So yeah, its definitely him, but Im gonna also really quick go into "so why did he tell everyone he was Mitchell Black?" because I really like talking about Peacemaker.

Basically Peacemaker playing things close to his chest and also straight up lying sometimes is actually a really consistent character trait for him, both in Blue Beetle 2006 and also before that

As for why hes lying its probably because he doesnt want anyone to realize hes still alive, since the chances are high he'd be arrested and either put back in prison, back with Checkmate, or straight up assassinated. He probably started using Mitchell's name because that way he can keep doing Peacemaker stuff. The guy also pretty much didnt have any real freedom until Blue Beetle, constantly being monitored by the government/Checkmate and constantly being under threat of either being forced to fight or forced institutionalization.

In summary Blue Beetle Peacemaker is Chris. Please stop saying hes not Chris. Its so good for both him and Jaime for that to be him and everytime someone says its not him I start crying really loud.

Bonus screenshot of Jaime referring to Chris by his last name because it didnt fit into this but I got it up and its cute. Thank you

[stories-of-the-multiverse]

((So for preservation sake, I am gonna slam down the dump about the Goth Punks I made a while back. Look under the cut if you wanna-

And this is it. The Cassandra bit was more to show the others what Cassandra looks like according to MindChamber and sort of invite people to let her manipulate or work with their muses iorhetgjeui))

[sporkandpringles]

I’m watching ENT 4x01-4x02 “Storm Front Part I and II” tonight and boy oh boy was I not prepared for that alternate timeline 1940s american nazi imagery. Yikes. Its giving me all the worst chills. 

[nefepants]

Gonna go to bed, but holy shit Love, Death & Robots went so downhill and I should’ve seen it coming the way it started with that lesbian death fakeout. It really started getting off the rails with all the military dick-sucking, and I thought it couldn’t get worse.

And then there was the chibi Hitler short with unnecessary fucking swastika imagery laden throughout.

Hahahhahahah, Netflix what the FUCK ARE YOU DOING

[shalheretical]

Propaganda in ATLA & LOK :

Can I just say I love the propaganda in ATLA and LOK? "The Boy in the Iceberg" and "The Adventures of Nuktuk, Hero of the South" are both such interesting bits of worldbuilding in the Avatar universe that I don't really think are talked about enough, at least in the lense of what they both tell us about the worlds they've been made in, the views of the people, how things are seen.

And because I'm a nerd, and also spent a lot of AP history classes analyzing propaganda, I'm going to do it again now. ALSO: CW - I'm going to mention racism in relation to the propaganda.

PART ONE: THE EMBER ISLAND PLAYERS

Okay, so what I'm going to be doing is breaking down the society and the stereotypes of the people who made the show, IE, giving an example of what Fire Nation society sees the world as in general. Now, we have been told how they view the world - and how they seem themselves as superior - but I actually think a lot of things in the play are incredibly interesting, especially because of what we already know. It's also one of the few examples of Bryke not skirting around the racialization of other peoples that are inherent aspects of imperialism and colonialism, which is great.

I'm going to break it down by character.

Aang: I like that it lets us know, right off the bat, that anti-Air Nomad stereotypes probably feminized them to an extreme. It's also funny to see that such a serious culture, that is made fun of for being so serious in the Kyoshi books, proves how serious they are, by making it clear they look down on what they consider "carefree" attitudes, mocking Aang for having one. This especially culminates in seeing how they portray the events of the Siege of the North, seeing Aang as reckless and relishing in what, to them, was probably a very dark event in their history, and something they probably hadn't recovered from by them. The Avatar is weak and careless and callous towards human life, and that's why you should cheer when he dies at the end.

Sokka: His is a little less in-depth. He's weak, stupid and starving, and his portrayed is somewhat reminiscent of a minstrel show - just to laugh at a "stupid, animalistic brown man." It's very clear, that they really look down on Water Tribe men, and that's probably because they want to show people how "dumb" they are, meanwhile, the Southern Expedition Forces have humiliated the Fire Nation multiple times.

Katara: Hers is probably the most offensive, which is most accurate to real life - WOC are always treated the worse due to the intersectionalism of racism and misogyny. Anyway, she's very hypersexualized, and her "emotions" are seen as a bad thing. She's also portrayed as very stupid, but it seems a lot more viscious then with Sokka's, which was just supposed to be 'entertaining.'

Zuko: It seems to me that they want to portray him as cowardly and incompetent, make him seem less like someone you'd genuinely want on your country's throne. He's cruel to his elders (his treatment of Iroh), he disregards his home's traditions (growing out his hair when that shaved look is meant to be a punishment), and he's incredibly weak (he never wins fights). They also seem to want to imply he's a race traitor by having him show romantic interest for Katara, which is another interesting thing about hers; they're mocking him, by dehumanizing her.

Toph: They portray her as a man because, unlike Air Nomads, Earth Kingdom people are hyper-masculinized. Even a little girl is the same threat as a full grown man to them. I also do think the theory that no one wanted to admit that they had their ass handed to them by a little girl might be partially responsible.

It's just a really interesting (and disturbing) look into how the Fire Nation sees other races.

PART TWO: NUKTUK

I think the first thing I love about Nuktuk is the way it shows us that, the same way Nazi imagery has affected western cinematography, Fire Nation imagery has affected their world's.

That deadass looks like Ozai, and they're using it as a way to immediately inspire fear and incite hatred. Perfect. Invoking a still relatively recent event to stir people up is exactly what a propaganda film would do. His scene where he crowns himself and declares his intentions to rule the whole world, was also clearly meant to evoke Ozai.

Also reminiscent of real-world propaganda films is the interspacing of real combat footage with a fake compelling narrative, as a microcosm of all the horror that is happening, making the audience sympathetic, while keeping them engaged.

Another thing very reminiscent of our world, is having Nuktuk beat the shit out of the villains, sort of like Captain America during WWII. Seeing as Nuktuk was made by a SWT man (we'll get to that), I imagine he put that in as a way to make the audience feel better about what was happening. They couldn't go punch Unalaaq in the face themselves, so Nuktuk will.

Nuktuk of the North is clearly modelled after Nanook of the North, but I think that's in title only, considering I doubt Varrick would spread misinformation about his own culture.

The sexualization of Nuktuk and the Water Tribe in general is interesting. I imagine it's from just how pervasive the Fire Nation's sexualization of the Water Tribe, and the world's view of them being "uncivilized" compared to themselves. I don't know if it's mean to say that Varrick has sort of forgotten his roots in his attempt to assimilate into the United Republic or if it's trying to say that he knew it would be the only way to get people to see it. (Obviously, it's just meant to be funny, but that's a whole other topic.)

Finally, the fact that Varrick used it to promote his products is a pretty good satire on capitalism finding even the most tragic events to exploit for money. As Varrick himself said, "If you can't make money during a war, then you flat-out cannot make money."

I know both of these are just meant to be funny, to break up some of the more serious stuff, and to sort of recap what's been going on, but from a Watsonian perspective (as in, in universe), I think it's a fascinating study into worldbuilding that I'm not even sure Bryke fully intended to make.

[notaplaceofhonour]

I made a reblog with sources before but I don’t see it in the notes (it may have gotten nuked for showing an uncensored Swastika flag?)

The official name of the party is the Syrian “Social Nationalist” Party (SSNP). They’re a rabidly antisemitic, fascist, Syrian-supremacist organization founded by Antoun Saadeh in the 30s.

They often deny being Nazis on the technicality that they aren’t “Hitlerites” (i.e. Hitler isn’t their leader), their hatred of Jews is “social not racial” (despite repeating all the same libels & conspiracy theories), and that they’re Totally For Real Purely Original™️ because “basic originality is a Syrian characteristic”, but like…

C’mon. The plagiarism of German Nazi ideas & symbols is pretty transparent:

Their flag is a color-swapped Nazi flag with a four-pronged “red hurricane” in place of the swastika, their militant wing’s symbol is a Syrianized reichsadler with the red hurricane in place of the swastika, they use the Nazi salute, their song “Greetings to You, Syria” is apparently even set to the tune of the Nazi anthem “Deutschland, Deutschland über alles”, they advocate for a Syrian-supremacist national-racial unity in an expansionist “Greater Syria, and members have been known to praise Hitler and other fascist leaders. Even the name “Social Nationalism” is a pretty clear play on “National Socialism” (and tbh more descriptive of Nazi ideology).

Fayez Sayegh was a member from 1943-1947, with sympathies and ties even earlier.

I don’t know specifically what disagreement he had with Saadeh that led to his expulsion, but I think it’s safe to say it wasn’t for liking Jews. If I had to speculate, their disagreement likely had to do with Pan-Arabism (based on the fact that Sayegh seemed cozier to Pan-Arabism than Saadeh & Saadeh shifted the focus of the SSNP from an uneasy allyship with Pan-Arab factions to opposing Pan-Arabism outright around that time).

As for the “Judeo-Bolshevism”-esque Red Scare over Israel, that refers to his book “Communism In Israel” (1958), which features alarmist rhetoric about the “strength” and “influence” of “Communist-Marxist Forces”:

It’s maddening to find out that the scholar who first developed the idea that “Zionism is Settler Colonialism”, Fayez Sayegh, was a member of the Syrian Nazi Party during and immediately after the Holocaust, was an active participant in the Red Scare, using it to demonize Israel as a manifestation of a Global Communist Threat™️ through the height of the Cold War (true to his Nazi roots, accusing Israel of Judeo-Bolshevism) before switching to a Colonialism narrative when Post-Colonialism came in vogue in the 60s. And yet, the people I hear parroting the talking points of this anti-Communist, Ultranationalist Fascist-turned-scholar are the people who are constantly talking about how Liberal Progressives aren’t Communist enough and actually enemies because “Liberals will always side with Fascists”. Maddening.

If you’ve ever noticed how the “Zionism = Settler Colonialism” narrative eerily shares the core components of the far right’s Replacement Theory (that there are 1. Jews 2. conspiring to invade a given place and 3. replace the population with Jews), this is why; it’s because the idea that Zionism is Settler Colonialism came from a literal Nazi.

It is very literally Nazi propaganda.

[chilewithcarnage]

big list of fave yt reviews/video essays/docs pt.2

How Disney Ruined Culture

The Strangest Christmas Horror You've Never Seen (cw for blood, horror movie violence, familial/domestic abuse)

I Found the Most Poorly Edited Lifetime Movie (cw for fatphobia)

How Heathcliff Lost His Cool

Why The Cynical Super Hero Isn't That Interesting

Future Danny Phantom is the Ultimate Nicklelodeon Villain

The Problem With Monsters University

Mr. Peanut Deserved to Die (cw for antiblack/anti-native racist imagery)

Kairo & Pulse: Fear Lost In Translation (cw for flashing images, horror movie violence, mentions of suicide)

Kids (1995): Can Realism Get Too Real? (cw for sexual assault, child exploitation, drug abuse, mentions of suicide)

NEO NED: THE MOVIE THEY DIDN'T WANT US TO FIND (cw for mentions of csa, nazi imagery, white supremacy, antiblack/antisemitic language)

I Rewatched Girlfriends as an Adult And...

"Very Special People" (cw for mentions of antiblack violence, white supremacy and alt right politics)

Is Satire Dead?: Edgelords vs Bo Burnham (cw for mentions of alt right politics, misogynistic/homophobic language)

Brooklyn 99: COPAGANDA?! (cw for mentions of police brutality)

Did Homosexuality Kill the Dinosaurs?

BISEXUALITY: Here's The Thing (cw for biphobia, mentions of suicide ideation)

Indigenous People Review Native American Characters In Film & TV (cw for anti-native racist imagery/language)

How Fraggle Rock Ended the Cold War

The (Slight) Return of Action Cartoons

Let's Stop Worshipping Troubled Celebrities

I watched every ILLUMINATION movie

Cultural influences in the clothing of Avatar: The Last Airbender

How 'Relationship Channels' Turned Into The YouTube JOKE

The Wonderfully Diverse World of Arthur

Black Women Are DONE Playing Nice

The John Hughes Paradox

Wes Anderson and the Follies of Modern Orientalism (cw mentions of anti-asian racism/imagery)

Aaliyah, Britney & the Apathy of Lifetime "Biopics" (cw for death mention)

The Absurd Horror of Marge Simpson (cw for suicide ideation, domestic abuse; there's also mentions of literary works discussing multiple/alternate realities, so this may be triggering for people with psychotic disorders)

The "Blaccent": Nonblack Creators' Key to Fame

we need to talk about Lolita (cw for mentions of pedophilia, child sexual exploitation)

Why 'Friday' Was Made

Sleepaway Camp: Ending Explained (cw for blood, horror movie violence, pedophilia, transmisogyny)

I'm Done With Harry Potter (cw for mentions of antisemitism, transphobia, anti-asian racism)

[kirythestitchwitch]

oh my gOD. i need to have a friend like. Call me at some point to PLEASE talk about how OBVIOUS liberal theory is or like, Donald Trump is is part of the KKK b/c his dad or like. God idk just like anything that is in opposition to smug weirdness i’m hearing in the conversation between mom and her Trump supporter not-boyfriend who is (i think????) going to more Trump rallies????

and if mom makes another joke like “just don't wear a white polo shirt and khakis!” @ this guy istfg 

[peppermintmonster]

Well this is pleasant. Someone scratched a swastika on my front door. 

At least I think it’s scratched in. It’s a little hard to tell--my guess is someone used a pen to draw it on and pressed hard enough to scrape off a little of the paint, which is why Windex and a washcloth didn’t get rid of it. It’s pretty small and after I scrubbed it it’s fainter than it was before but it’s pretty clearly still a swastika.

I’m Jewish, but since I’m white and I don’t walk around with “Jew” written on my forehead it was more likely targeted at my black and Hispanic neighbors than me. That is, if it was targeted at all. I think it was more likely some random idiot defacing random buildings. 

I don’t feel afraid or in danger, just to be clear. Pissed off, but that’s about it.

(Picture under the cut, like I said it’s pretty small so whoever put it there was probably a coward scared of being caught in the act. Content warning for Nazi imagery, obviously.)

Fig 1.1: Pissy little swastika drawn by some pisskid before he ran home to brag about it on 8chan.

[threewaysdivided]

Yo hey!!! I just read through your YJ:DW series and I absolutely love it??? So much??? You write absolutely marvelously and have such a wonderful devotion to characterization and everything feels very Real and Natural. Your pacing is most excellent, you really know when things need to be lingered on and when they don’t need much more than a passing mention. And g o d I absolutely adore how you characterize so many characters, but particularly Danny. Like, he’s still the same Danny from the-(1/?)

show, but he’s changed in very particular ways that really match with what he’s been through. He’s very cautious and nervous and frightened after everything that’s happened, afraid to trust, to let people know too much. And that makes sense with everything he’s been through! He’s been on the run for so long, settling in one place definitely chafes at him. More than he feels it should, but it does. And like! He’s so wary and on edge with meeting the Team and the League members. I am def- (2/?)

-initely looking forward to seeing even more of their interactions. And like!!! The team’s reactions!!! Are so well thought out and just fantastic. Like, how Robin is aiming for a mix of normalcy and just a touch of protectiveness. And M’gann is curious and welcoming and doing her best to be Team Mom without being overwhelming. And how Wally is so intensely disbelieving and flippant QND almost abrasive to Phantom. I really wonder how he’s going to change in his approach to Phantom,- (3/?)

-like if he’ll dig his feet in even further to the point of rejecting reality in an attempt to maintain the reality in his own mind, or if he actually will start considering the science behind ghosts possible. I’m so excited to see how that develops. Also, aside, can I just say I loved getting Black Canary’s perspective on things with the last chapter? It revealed a lot more of Danny’s proper abilities and strengths than ya’d necessarily be able to piece together with a younger perspective-(4/?)

-and it just really helps develop the dynamics of everything even more. I’m wondering if you’re going to end up giving Danny enhanced strength or not, and if so to what degree, as an aside, explaining a bit more why he might be pulling his punches. I also wonder if he has any hesitation with fighting living folks who aren’t actively trying to hurt him, seeing as he mostly has experience fighting Ghosts and Hunters. Also also, I’m just so excited to see them all go on a mission!!! (5 or 6/?)

-Aaaah I could keep gushing for a Good While but I’m forgetting how many asks I’ve sent and I don’t want to bother you toooo much, so Imma just finish with you write beautifully and I’m So EXCITED to see where you go with things and like aaaaaaaaah, ya kno!!! (6 or 7/ 6 or 7)

Okay, first things first, you are absolutely not bothering me.  You found a piece of free content that I put up and - with no obligation or expectation -  sent me six messages detailing how much you liked it, and that’s Delightful.  It made my morning.  ‘Bothering’ is more than welcome on this blog.  Encouraged, even!

We’ve got a lot to cover so let’s get to it:

Danny’s Characterisation

Danny’s character has been a bit of a challenge to balance at times but I’m pretty pleased with how he’s shaping up.  There was this trend I noticed back when I started where - even in fics I really like - people had a frustrating tendency to swing him too much in one or the other direction; either turning him into a confident wise-cracking hyper-powerful hyper-skilled Troubled Badass™ who everyone respected even if he was humble about it, or into a Sad™ Broken™ Tormented™ cinnamon roll who just wanted love and who trusted and is trusted by every hero with minimal persuasion, when really he’s somewhere in the middle.

He’s a hero, yes, but he’s also a teenager.  He’s experienced and competent, but it’s in the self-taught way that leaves him with rough edges, blindspots and a lack of technical skill.  He can be a good, confident leader when the situation calls for it but he’s also someone who reads as fairly socially introverted and canonically has personal self-confidence issues, anxious and depressive traits and really wants to be accepted by his peers.  He’s friendly and funny and likeable but lacks social experience in a casual setting and can struggle with expressing his feelings, knowing the right thing to say/ do and being open with people.  He’s not just one or the other.  He’s both.

I also really wanted to explore the Death and Secrets plot points with more emotional detail.  It felt like a lot of the time in stories where he lost his family, Danny would either stall out in a tormented Grief State right until a Power of Love/ Friendship-prompted revival toward the final act, or he’d be sad for 5-10 short chapters then bounce back to his old self and go off with his New Family like it ain’t no thing.  With Deathly Weapons I want the characters to have to grow and come together naturally; to earn their healing and show why/how they’d come to like and trust each other, or decide that the other person is worth making the investment.

The Team

It’s kind of funny in hindsight but the Team’s development was a oddly late addition to the planning.  Which was fine for Arc I - being very Danny-centric - but then, as I was brainstorming Arc II it kind of hit me that if I was going to call this fic Young Justice: Deathly Weapons I should really try to showcase what I liked so much about the series.  And then I realised how much Danny’s experiences (canonical and DW-verse) and Team Phantom paralleled different members of the S1 cast, and how much character exploration potential there was to be had.  Arc II is basically just 8 teens looking at each other and going “We’re not so different you and I” in various settings for 20+ chapters.

There’s this nice quote from Stieg Larsson that I think sums up how I see both Danny and the different members of the Team fitting together: 

“I’m not going to compete with you. I’m better than you are at what I do. And you’re better than I am at what you do.”

All of them have at least one thing they’re good at, and at least a few weaknesses that other members can cover.  Their skills are complementary, their personalities and experiences are complimentary and none of them feel redundant in being there.  And with the extra challenges a DW-verse AU opens up, it creates a space where Phantom can slot in without having to displace an existing well-established member.

It also makes revolving perspective a lot of fun as I can tag in whoever’s mindset and perspective best fits the tone and information that needs to be delivered, rather than risking any one character losing their characterisation to their role as de facto narrator.

Despite how he’s acting right now, Wally is actually one of my favourites.  Needless to say there’s a lot more going on with our resident speedster than simple garden-variety ecto/paranorma-phobia, but that’ll be explored more in the chapters Flashpoints, Combustion and Equilibrium.

Training and Powers

Bruce and Dinah both make fun writes because they’re adults with more maturity and experience, which makes them great sources of diegetic exposition and perception that the main Team wouldn’t carry as well.

I’ve gotten a few questions about Danny’s powers in that chapter and how close they play to canon, so I should probably clear that up.  First thing is that DP’s canon is very wibbly wobbly about Danny’s power set (Is it super-strength letting him lift that or is he touch-transferring flight to make it weigh less?  Are those ectoblasts actually fire or was that just an animation flourish?  Can he teleport or is he just really fast and invisible? Does him lifting a rake that one time mean he has telekinesis or was it just a quick sight-gag?) so I’ve had to make some calls with grouping and sometimes dropping or altering edge-case powers to create a system that makes sense.  The other thing is that Chapter 17 is Danny explaining the things he consciously uses on the job and exploring how they compare to similar DC powers, rather than detailing out every single aspect that makes him different from regular humans.  (Kind of like how you wouldn’t bring up your own lung capacity, 20/20 distance vision or excellent patellar reflex unless someone drew your attention to it).  The chapter mostly serves to do some character set-up for later and drop some needed exposition so that Danny won’t have to be breaking the flow of future missions to explain very basic facts about his abilities the first time he uses them.

As for pulling his punches, some of it is certainly to do with him being uneasy about fighting breakable living beings when he’s used to ridiculously tough Ghost Beasts, and some of it was specifically due to who he was paired against.  But again, that’s something we’ll explore in future chapters.

Pacing and Writing

At this point I can only put this down to lots of planning, drafting and taking inspiration from the styles and structures of some very, very good published authors.  Quite a few chapters started out as simple exposition dumps or time skips before I realised that they’d have more value expanded out into full entries of their own.  (My drafting process = step 1: write too briefly, step 2: balloon to massively bogged down self-indulgent explorations, step 3: reign it in to something readable).

Books I definitely took stylistic influence from:

1. Steig Larsson’s, Swedish crime-mystery series The Millenium Trilogy.  Lisbeth is one of my character references for writing both Batman and Robin.(NOTE:  Hard MA+ rating, cw for explicit discussions and depictions of misogyny, homophobia, violence, gendered violence, sexual assault, stalking, drug use and Nazis.  Good books but Discretion Advised.)

2. Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief.General influence/ reference for prose and imagery, especially for the tone of Roads to Safe Places (ch.15).(Beautifully written story about humanity, but set in WWII-era Germany so be advised that Nazism, Nazis, War and Death feature heavily.)

3. Patrick Rothfuss’ The Kingkiller ChroniclesGeneral influence/reference for style and prose, YJ:DW Ch. 15′s title is a deliberate call out to the same title in Chapter 18 of KKC Book 1.(Fantasy books with some fantasy violence and a little bit of sex but nothing especially shocking.)

I’m just so excited to see them all go on a mission!!!

Me too!  Quick question though:

Just one?  Or are all of these okay? 😏

Now that I think about it there’s a weird dearth of story missions outside of the one needed for set-up in most YJxDP stories.  Not sure why.  Anyway, Deathly Weapons is a beast, we’re going to do at least 10.  I gotchu fam.

Aaand I think that’s everything.  Thanks for dropping in, feel free to stop by anytime.  Hope to see you around! ❤