#no rbs please if you have sth to say do it in the replies

[masquaves]

i honestly feel completely disconnected from all my queer subcommunities because of the amount of focus there is on what other ppl think of us and how to gain acceptance among them, like

me being bisexual ostensibly had a big hand in my abuse when i was younger (when i came out to my mother she effectively put me under house arrest, curtailed my internet use out of paranoia that i was using it to talk to girls, and by the time i ran away at age 20 her own mother was conspiring to force me into an arranged marriage w/ a man) but it hasnt left an Individual impact on my consciousness bc i was already being abused by both her and just about everyone else for being autistic and mentally ill, like, i was a weird unlikable unloved kid on many levels and being queer certainly exacerbated that but it wasn’t the beginning of my problems. if societal bigotry against queer people retroactively stopped existing right this instant i would still have c-ptsd from being treated like shit for a dozen other things.

external resistance notwithstanding, i really had no difficulty coming to terms with being bi once i learned the word because i was already such a social misfit that i had nothing to lose at that point. so The Great Internal Struggle Of Coming Out To Yourself is another community experience i just straight up don’t have.

i am closer to the autistic community if anything because knowing that i was autistic earlier on would actually have gone a long way towards mitigating the amount of self hate i internalized in my formative years. also, being exposed to more peers + elders who weren’t fatphobic and didn’t reduce everything i ate to how much weight i was gonna put on as a result? that would have been nice ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ took me forever to start shaking that off on my own. idk my queerness isnt rly at the forefront of my own self identity and it’s kind of exhausting to be actively involved in a larger community that just assumes it always is

[footyleclerc]

So sorry for you having asshole in your inbox. As a new follower I agree everything you said in the last month (idk any posts older and I’m factual so I can’t say everything lmao). Luv you out there during truth XOXO.

Anyway (idk if it’s sensitive. Hope it doesn’t trouble you. Dun reply if you dun want) but Charles’ tweet saying he’s not into politics (that sometimes ppl cite to claim he’s racist and ignorant) is abt Salvini tweeting sth that may promote racism using his image. He’s literally publicly speaking against a rightist politician. How abt taking this into acc too? (Pissed)

Tbh idk much abt Max side tho. If you dun mind can you say abt him?

Salvini’s tweet: https://twitter.com/matteosalvinimi/status/1279807459096436737?s=21

Charles’ tweet: https://twitter.com/charles_leclerc/status/1291399038697459712?s=21

Charles confirming his tweet’s meaning: https://twitter.com/charles_leclerc/status/1291403685751398400?s=21

Poor boi dk how to express himself.

hey sweet anon, thank you for all your kind words! any fan of Charles is a friend of mine :)

you've asked a very interesting question and since it's a sensitive issue I'm going to try to explain it in as non offensive a manner as I can soo bare with me! personally, I don't believe Charles and Max are racist. if you think I'm going to shit on them and say that they are racist, this ISN'T for you. DO NOT click on keep reading then.

okie, if you've made it here let's start!

CHARLES LECLERC

Matteo Salvini is an Italian politician, who was once the deputy Prime Minister of Italy. he stands for elections with a party called Lega Nord (Northern League), which is a right wing, federalist, conservative party. (tbh the party is pretty confusing cause their policies have kept swinging but they are right-wing under Salvini)

This is the tweet he posted: google translated - Never give up and never bend, always forward with your head held high!

Charles hadn't been taking the knee. Salvini used him as a forefront for his (anti-kneeling) agenda which Charles didn't like and on twitter he clarified:

but obviously people weren't happy with the response. almost all the replies to his tweet are branding him a racist because he didn't take the knee and his tweet was mistaken as him calling the BLM movement a 'political movement'.

luckily a fan could help him out:

still people remained unconvinced and have deemed him to be racist. in my opinion, kneeling is a show of solidarity with the cause but unless you actually want to learn, understand and make a difference, nothing will happen. you could kneel to please the world and still be a racist towards those in your personal lives.

with these professionals, you can rarely ever tell. unless it's individuals and organisations that are very open with their activism like Lewis, Seb, McLaren, Aston etc.

I don't think not kneeling makes Charles a racist. he has his reasons for doing so, and they are quite legitimate imo. he's a young guy who is constantly learning. he has said he likes to educate himself about matters before speaking out and honestly, I think that's very responsible!

MAX VERSTAPPEN

now, moving onto Max. this is where things get a bit messy and you can definitely disagree with me here.

so the reason why people accuse Max of being racist is due to an incident with Lance Stroll during FP2 of the 2020 Portuguese GP. they collided and in the heat of the moment Max said this (team radio):

"Is this f*cking guy blind? What the f*ck is wrong with him? Jesus Christ. What a r*tard. I have damage. What a mongol. I swear." (source)

this was definitely ableist and racist. no excuses, whatsoever. the article also shows how he said it, "wasn't his problem" which was also wrong but RB said they don't condone his words. it's a lil odd but very few on twitter spoke against him.

however, he apologized to Lance after the team had a talk with him. he admitted he made a mistake and while he didn't mean to offend, he certainly did. i am not excusing his actions, they were wrong and he should be held accountable, instead I'm appreciating his response.

you can scoff at that, but remember, not everyone has the awareness that certain language is wrong and offensive. not everyone has grown up in such an environment. cultural or language barriers, what you've been taught at home etc. also play a huge role in what you may think is right to say. don't want to get too into it but his father isn't so innocent in all this. what you hear and experience growing up impacts you massively and THIS is a great article on their relationship. well written and not too biased.

as an Asian and POC myself, I was upset when I heard his words and his apology also didn't make me happy. but seeing that he realised why it was wrong and not repeating it is something I am glad about (it's a small thing but if we want people to learn, you need to be patient).

we all make mistakes, it's how we respond to them that makes us who we are. Max hasn't repeated his errors, he's learned to be better and I think that's the most important thing. he has been so much more careful on his team radios and that's improvement.

I don't think those one or two moments define him as a person. he's much more than that. he's also a young person, learning about the world as he grows just like most of us, except he has the spotlight shining on him 24x7. instead of giving him a chance at redemption and learning, people are quick to attack him and I REALLY hate that. you can't expect people to improve if you're going to villianise them instead of help them learn why they are wrong.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I don't think Charles and Max are racist. one has his reasons for not doing a symbolic gesture and one made a mistake from which he has learned. I am NOT excusing their behaviour though and will NOT defend or justify their mistakes. just cause they're celebrities doesn't mean they can't do wrong. it's an expectation we have of all drivers to be like current day Seb and Lewis but that's not possible!

at the end of the day, they're still young and may make a few more mistakes along the way that people will criticize, and that's okay. they will learn, improve and come out as better humans.

it's easy to bring up incidents from the past to hate on any driver, and I'm not expecting anyone to deem Charles and Max completely innocent. you can still not like them for whatever reasons but calling them 'racists' isn't right in my opinion. there are many things you can not like them for, as drivers or humans, but terming them something that serious due to an error, isn't right. you're judging a person's entire character on one choice, one mistake, and both these guys are sooo much more than that. they've learned to be better than that.

this doesn't mean I'm disregarding the racism that is existent in this sport, towards Lewis and Yuki especially. it is a valid problem, one that isn't getting any smaller. from the casual racism from the commentators to f1 media to even the teams being provocative, it's a legitimate issue that needs sorting out. my only point is, those that say racism and racists exist in the sport cause of guys like Max and Charles aren't being the most logical.

if you've made it this far, I hope you agree with me! I don't mean to have offended anyone, and if I unknowingly have, I am very sorry. that was not my intention. if you don't agree with me, feel free to have a polite discourse!

thank you for the question anon! and I hope I made my point clear :)

huge thank yous to @formulino27 and @fcb-mv33 for getting me through the writing of this <3