#not being ironic and not being misogynistic

[colleybri]

Dedra is a fascist. She works for a fascist regime and wants to do a good job . That good job involves tracking down those who are opposing the fascist regime. She is prepared to do unspeakable things to further that end including torturing and killing. What does she want, on an abstract basis? What are her ideals? What does she believe in? She never says it, but one thing seems pretty clear: power. She enjoys control. It’s most chillingly on display when she tortures Bix. It’s intimate and sadistic. She’s enjoying herself.

Syril is naive and childish. Kyle Soller calls him “unformed”. What does he want or believe in? Unlike Dedra – he tells us : Justice. Or rather, his strange, twisted and unformed idea of that. For him, the people in the uniforms are the good guys. Look at the toys in his bedroom. The fact he doesn’t care about bullying Maarva but is outraged at the killing of two Corpos. After episode 3, he becomes obsessed with hunting down Cassian as an extension of that belief in justice, but it’s now also become very personal . Cassian is chaos… it’s outrageous that he got away with it! The obsession is  about showing those who’ve always doubted him - his mother of course but also himself - that he can succeed, in some way.

For Dedra, finding Axis is about protecting the fascist state. She never, ever expresses any abstract principle of what she stands for, what she wants. Syril does. He says he wants Justice, Order, Beauty. He looks at the Empire and seems to see a route to all these. It’s the naivety of a child - but this is exactly how these regimes brainwash young followers: the Hitler Youth, for example. But having ideals at all, even really twisted and naive ones, is the key difference between them and why the door is open for Syril and closed for Dedra (unless something very fundamental about her changes, and I can’t see that happening). Whether Syril chooses to go through the door is another question. But this is why I believe a redemption arc is genuinely, unironically possible for him.

while i have an unmatched level of faith in the andor team and trust them with any plot development no matter how "out there", i really do hope s2 doesn't have any sort of defect/rebel/“redemption” turn for syril. one of the great joys watching andor live was seeing ppl empathize with and babygirlify this guy instantly, then get hit with week after week of "He Is The Biggest Loser Fascist You'll Ever Meet" . am still riding that high . like they were editing him to folklore taylor swift . just bc he was somewhat meek and had blue eyes . i need him to become a bigger fascist in s2 if anything

[rouge-fauna]

Some ironic/idiotic points I’ve seen way too many people say:

Tommy and Dream should have worked things out privately

How? Did you miss the part that Tommy literally blocked Dream on everything and refused to talk to Dream? How is he meant to handle it privately? Besides I’m pretty sure Tubbo in his first stream is the one that brought up things like the messages to Tommy’s mom in the first place, so if anything Tubbo is the one who brought up things to the public and made things bigger than they needed to be. Remember, his hour long stream about the meme and reasons why he dislikes Dream and how this is Dream’s “death by a thousand cuts” came first before Dream’s first stream where he reacted to parts of Tubbo’s stream.

Dream takes no accountability

He apologized for something he’s not even done, he literally took down the meme, admitted it was a bad thing to do, apologized multiple times for it, apologized for not doing a proper apology the first time and explained his reasoning. That’s literally the definition of taking accountability. Like what more do you want? Want him to beg on his knees for the internet (who called him every slur in the book) to forgive him? He made a mistake, we all do, he apologized, let’s move on, because there are parties in this drama who haven’t taken accountability or apologized so maybe we should be focused on that.

Dream and Dream Team are sexist and misogynists

Says the people who formed a nation on a role play server called L’MANberg because it didn’t allow woman (or non-Europeans). Says the guy who I get frustrated to watch because of all his sexists and inappropriate jokes (I still don’t understand how the majority of his fans are woman like heh?). Says the people who when asked why they think this only bring up recent public examples, despite a - they have always been sexists behind the scenes implication, all but one of which are bogus anyways.

Well they didn’t handle the Caiti situation properly.

What do you mean? They all responded, I’m pretty sure apologized and owned up and took Caiti’s side and made sure to tell their fandom to not go after her. Meanwhile, you think Dream should have brought her up, when she has specifically asked to not be talked about anymore. Pretty sure if he never responded he’d be bashed for not taking accountability and if he did mention her in the recent video then he’d be bashed for not respecting her wishes.

Dream’s neurodivergence (Autism and ADHD) is not important here why is it being used as an excuse.

It ain’t. I don’t think I’ve seen a single person excuse his behavior or whatever, in fact the same people pointing out the autism piece are also mostly the same neurodivergent people who are the ones upset by the use of the word. But this all blew up with the r word which Dream was told by people using it against him that it can be used by someone who’s autistic. So from the get go it’s kinda important. Then you look at the pieces, at the comments people make about Dream being weird or doing things that are socially unacceptable, is inappropriate, ridiculous…etc and then you get to a 3 hour stream of talking in circles as they can’t seem to understand eachother or at least Tubbo not understanding Dream, which afterwards Tubbo labels his Audhd way of communicating as manipulative. So yea I’d say autism, adhd and neurodivergence are pretty damn relevant and important.

Just ahhhhhsbhfnnabdnnand… I still see people condemning him for the damn r word and it’s like bruh… move on. We are way past that damn meme he apologized multiple times for at this point. Especially from the moment Tommy posted his video and weaponized his fandom against Dream. And good god, and if you didn’t watch the streams then don’t be acting like you have this hot take and posting essays and shit because damn, maybe the reason no one’s said that is because it isn’t true, something you’d known if you watched all of the streams!………….. sorry just had to get that off my chest…

[marshmellowtea]

sorry to still be on this but the people who try to imply jack’s a misogynist for going after sssniperwolf are goddamn bizarre to me like can you look past your rudimentary radfem ass understanding of gender for like five minutes and actually look at the situation. she’s the one he mainly targets on twitch sure but he has called out other huge MALE creators for doing the same shit she does, and he’s only focusing on her actual actions (and only her current actions relating to her content thieving, he’s not dragging up her past like other people who are calling her out are doing), and he makes an effort to keep his criticisms fair and relevant. him daring to play bingo with her “content” is not this act of sexist violence like some of y’all are trying to claim, she’s a grown ass woman who’s made millions off of her shady actions, she doesn’t need y’all to come in and protect her from this scary male youtuber who’s having a little fun with it.

[amouthfulofopals]

I think there is kinda something to be said about how tumblr will go "oh yeah we love and accept trans men! but don't forget, the trans man reading this, to feel constantly guilty over your identity, always triple check everything you do in case you're offending someone halfway across the planet whom you will never meet, never forget you were Born A Woman and therefore Privileged (???), never project yourself onto things unless the majority approve of it, and also we're going to use neurodivergent and transmasc in derogatory ways"

like you're not slick. we know you don't really like us. just because we're men (or masc aligned) doesn't mean you get to take out your frustration with masculinity on us.

[faelapis]

I really hate that people are framing this like Shiv being stupid or fucking herself over for no reason.

No, Shiv made a real choice. It just wasn't based only on her own personal ambitions, for once. It was part anger, part jealousy, but also part understanding that Ken just shouldn't be CEO, no matter what became of her. It was a rare moment of choosing based on her real feelings, not just whatever benefits her. Because she knew she couldn't win anyway. She exerted whatever power she had, not to really win, but to avoid the tragedy of Kendall winning.

Stop throwing that "lol she'll be a housewife now, she’s so dumb" shit like Shiv didn't know exactly what she was doing. Sure, there's tragedy there, but Shiv is not stupid. And she doesn't need Tom to survive, they're all getting massive golden parachutes. At the end of the day, knowing she couldn't win, Shiv still decided everyone's fates at the board meeting. It's an ironic moment of agency and power from someone knowing she can't ever fully wield it. And she did it knowing it would mean Tom, not herself. There were entire scenes dedicated to her processing that.

Shiv knew very well. And she made the choice, anyway. She didn't win, but you don't have to treat her like an idiot.

[jaycestaliss]

i can't believe that mexico a country that's misogynistic as hell is gonna have its first female president meanwhile the usa who likes to wave the '''''progressive''''' flag is still trapped on having male presidents

[scrambleseggy]

Feminism isn’t attached to an identity, it’s attached to what you do and how you treat those around you. I’ve met lesbians with bigger misogyny problems than a handful of cishet men I know. I generally think the idea that you’re only capable of being feminist based on “how much of a woman you are” is a harmful, unhelpful idea to spread and in my experience is also far from the truth.

[umilily]

the poll on hated subjects in school made me remember the single most unhinged class i ever had, which was my last politics lesson in 10th grade. everyone (first and foremost our teacher) was screaming and insulting each other. people were crying and some just deadass left out of protest in the middle of it. it was absolutely surreal.

[solidsnakesfiftyhuskies]

the relationship between me and quiet metalgearsolid is just like ursula k le guin and lavinia from the aeneid

[snekdood]

are you

FUCKING

KIDDING ME!??!!???!?!W

[butchlifeguard]

praying on the downfall of gender envy culture. disclaimer im trans

[cheyj05]

while you spend your entire day on your phone defending abstract faceless men and trying to make strawmen out of random strangers, there are millions of men who would kill you if given the chance, especially if they saw your tumblr account. think abt how you spend your limited time on this earth brother.

Hey, there also also plenty of women who'd kill me given the chance! Don't be misogynistic. Also bold of you to think I'd spend my entire day, projecting much? I'm not defending "abstract faceless men" I am defending real ass you human beings with feelings. That seems to have pissed you off.

Maybe you should think how you spend your time on earth,because you seem to be mainly seem to be spending it sending anon hate and arguing half the population of earth are all inherently evil oppressors. That's not even a strawman, that's literally what the people I argue with are saying.

I sincerky hope you get off your computer and talk to real human beings for once one day <3

[fatimajpeg]

adding to this

This was an interesting article to read. I think it's a little simple but still fun to skim thru.

[angsty-aliens]

According to my coworker it’s okay to make homophobic jokes so long as there’s no one gay around.

As he told me this I just made direct eye contact and pointed to my rainbow lanyard.

(Yes I did talk to his supervisor. After a string of very inappropriate comments, this was the one that made me go “hi, can we chat? I’ve been keeping a list of things you should know about.”)

[hairless]

I personally think its really weird to criticize the way cis women express their gender. Just bc it's not a gnc expression or related to their sexuality doesn't make it any less valid or significant imo. It's misogynist to suggest otherwise tbh.

[la-pheacienne]

blankwhiteshield explains so eloquently what i tried to say in this post of mine and it has been bugging me ever since i joined the internet fandom.

i think a lot of fandom should learn to stop trying to grapple criticism from a doylist perspective with watsonian arguments. u can analyze the text for what it is, and decipher what the author’s actual intentions and the themes they are dealing with are (& see the merit in them), and criticize execution and the issues from outside. art is not something that comes from the ether, it is written by someone lmao. engage with fiction like it is fiction. it is criticism of author, not watsonian criticism of a character. it is also very obvious when u all just pretend to care and make use of legitimate grievances to support an unfounded watsonian read, which leads to criticism of author getting lost in criticism of a character (as if they were a real person), because of perpetual discourse brain.