#opinion columns

[bethanyactually]

sometimes I boggle at things the fandom Youths™ don't seem to know these days, especially in an era where virtually anything you want to look up is a mere internet search away and then I realized: it's because bored tweens don't have to resort to reading old issues of Ladies' Home Journal or Glamour in waiting rooms anymore

[spookygibberish]

Also if anyone is curious here's my big dumb very very roughly ranked list of shit I've listened to over the last yearish

[nikki-rook]

Favorite Caskett moments Season 4 x

[drewtanakagf]

what do you think of the mareven fanfic that have maven as a confident dom

tbh i don't read much rq fanfic but uhm. maven as a confident dom is certainly a concept. i feel like all of maven's confidence is merely a mask and in intimate settings that would fall away, no?

[charmac]

[meme of that one fish from SpongeBob voice]

Wait you people actually DON'T genuinely dislike Rob as a person (as opposed to as an artist) I thought that WASN'T a joke

/gen (i do genuinely dislike him lol I just tolerate him cuz he's decent at his job and isn't actively causing harm, at least not on the scale of SOME ppl (eg jkr))

This ask is confusing to me, ngl I don't know Spongebob very well so idk the tone, but I don't really think this is a "you people" kind of thing here, just my opinion(s), which you really can't lump into the majority of the fandom (or really anyone else at all)

I'm pretty sure when most people in this fandom speak about liking/disliking RCG they do mean as creatives, where the "like" comes from the positives they've given us with their projects (mostly Sunny) and the "dislike" is the negatives they've given or contributed creatively. To a smaller extent people have decided if they like/dislike RCG as people based on their personalities and the opinions they've shared on the Podcast, and to another extent what they see from or hear about them on socials..

My feelings are muddied because of my personal experiences, which is funny because I've seen quite a few people express that's why they never want to meet these guys, and I think that's totally legit because having met Rob and had conversations with him, my perspective is forever a little warped (and don't ask about Glenn or Charlie cos that's truly fucked)

But for the most part, yes people generally dislike Rob as a person but tolerate him for what he birthed (Sunny) and does creatively, lol, that's the general fandom opinion and similar to mine, which I thought I had expressed but maybe I didn't do it properly? So to be clear: most of my "like" for Rob lies in what he has done and given us in Sunny (and to an extent Mythic Quest, as well) and most of my "dislike" lies in... most else he's doing right now

[post-modern-prometheus]

louis hofmann would slay james from iwwv in the adaptation. reasoning one: james is typecast as the hero. jonas and uhhh the guy from the new show. bro has crazy protag energy. reasoning two: hes got the vibes i believe. reasoning three: THE DUDE CAN CRY. HE HAS THE CRAZIEST ABILITY FOR THE PAIN HE IS ACTING SO GO SO DEEP INTO THE BLACKS OF HIS EYES. HE’S CRAZY. reasoning four: looooves doomed by the narrative characters. apparently. reasoning five: relates to one BUT he’s always played these poor tortured souls like maybe he should be a little evil yk like as a treat. let him kind be a bit crazy. it’d be cool to see that I THINK.

[ausetkmt]

Walter Suza of Ames writes frequently on the intersections of spirituality, anti-racism and social justice.

“Racism, you choose to look for it!”

My good white friend said those words despite touting to have read countless books on racism, despite countless hours of me explaining why we must fight racism.

My friend’s words of dismissal are not new. Some go as far as to say, “No one cares about your feelings!” That’s their right to speak as such. Yet that’s also not the point.

This column does not seek emotional support nor pity. This column speaks to those people who call themselves good white people yet are silent despite the fact that racism has a negative impact on the physical and mental health of people of color.

Racism will not end until all white people recognize racism for what it is. Racism is evil. It lurks in dark crevices of the heart. In there it breathes and thrives until one day, it lunges forward, unprovoked, to penetrate and hide in the innermost core of society. When more darkness comes, when it catches a whiff of its prey, when the unsuspecting closes his eyes and falls asleep in the bedrock of denialism, that’s when racism strikes.

It’s like a bed bug.

The bed bug is not just an annoyance; it’s a stealth pest that is harder to eradicate than a roach. Amid the darkest times, the bug emerges to suck the life blood out of men, women and even children.

My white friend who fears bed bugs should have known better. When traveling, my friend does not set the luggage on the floor or sleep in a hotel bed before the room and furniture have been inspected for signs of bed bugs. After the trip, my friend intentionally leaves the travel bags in the garage to fry the bugs during summer, or to freeze the bugs during winter. This strategy helps prevent potential stowaway bed bugs from getting into my friend’s house.

It’s not just the bite that my friend is afraid of, it's also the tenacity of the insect. Bed bugs are the hardest pests to control once they have infested a home. A couple of bed bugs in love is all it takes for their kind to colonize a home.

This is why my friend should have understood why I might “look” for the racism bug. To stop racism requires diligence because it is a difficult bug to eradicate once it has infested one's home or community or nation.

We must be vocal. Bystander apathy sustains racism.

If we don’t stop racism, the United States’ vision to become a more perfect union is nothing but lip service. If we don’t stop racism, wherever there will be people who look white, Black and Brown, there will be racism. If we don’t stop racism, it will continue to be a menace like it was in the past.

From the 1500s to the 1800s, it led to the forced shipping of enslaved Africans to the Western Hemisphere to be used for labor. Close to 2 million perished while being shipped across the Atlantic in the bellies of filthy, humid, disease-infested ships. Hundreds of thousands shipped to the United States became subjected to hard labor and horrific living conditions for centuries.

Despite the struggle for civil rights, racism continues to thrive.

In 2019, the FBI released statistics that paint a dark picture of the state of race-based hate in the United States. Of the 15,588 law enforcement agencies that contributed data to the statistics, bias related to race and ethnicity topped the chart — at 58%.

In 2020, it led to people of Asian descent, Chinese in particular, to be blamed for the virus that causes COVID-19. The blame did not prevent the coronavirus from being more lethal in communities of color, Ahmaud Arbery from being gunned down by vigilantes, Breonna Taylor from being killed by police while sleeping in her home, a white woman from calling the police on a Black man watching birds in Central Park in New York City, or George Floyd from being murdered by a white police officer.  

Does this make America a racist country?

In 2021, despite admitting to having experienced racism, Sen. Tim Scott's response was “America is not a racist country.” Despite admitting a need “to speak truth about the history of racism in our country and its existence today,” Vice President Kamala Harris’ response was “No, I don’t think America is a racist country.”

Is that right?

In 2022, the FBI released more dismal statistics pointing to the more sickening truth that “hate crimes rooted in race, ethnicity or ancestry” were the most common that year.

In 2023, Americans remained polarized in their views on the existence of racism. One group representing “53% say people not seeing racial discrimination where it really does exist is the bigger problem,” according to the Pew Research Center.

In 2024, some have the audacity to suggest that bad genes predispose migrants of color to violence. The eugenicists' trope is like saying bad genes made white people kill millions of indigenous people across the Americas and lynch thousands of Black Americans. 

See racism. Hear racism. Stop racism.

[sixty-silver-wishes]

I was part of Columbia protests. NYPD was anything but 'professional' (usatoday.com)

Excerpts from this column from student Allie Wong:

Once dispersed, I held my hands up to show I was neither resisting nor armed. In response, I was handled brutally by police alongside other students being shoved down concrete steps saying with shameless condescension, “Watch your step.” We were arrested, bound and shuttled down to 1 Police Plaza, where the New York Police Department had a pizza party prepared for arresting officers.  They threw us in cells like animals – cells where the only toilets women could use lacked any privacy and where our naked bodies were in plain sight to throngs of male officers. During news conference hours later, New York Mayor Eric Adams said there were no incidents of violence. This is an abhorrent lie. Later on Wednesday, in an email sent to the entire university community, Columbia President Minouche Shafik thanked the NYPD for their “professionalism.” This supposed professionalism is also a lie. 

(...) But make no mistake, we are not the heroes of this story – that honor belongs to those in Gaza; those whose families have been starved, whose cities have been bombed, whose children have been slaughtered; and those who did not have the privilege of choosing arrest or offering their bodies up as a public relations sacrifice. Nor are we villains – those are the perpetrators of slaughter, such as Minouche Shafik and the Board of Trustees who would rather beat and arrest students than divest from a foreign government committing genocide. (...)

On Tuesday I was shackled and arrested as part of the campus movement that many in the news media are calling “antisemitic.” It isn’t. Critically, our fellow Jewish students are not the villains in this story. They are our friends, our family, our blood, our fellow foot soldiers. Like us, they bleed, they crack, they bruise, they feel. At no point have the student organizers called for or promoted violence against our Jewish brothers and sisters. We are calling to end the violence and genocide against our Palestinian brothers and sisters.  (...) I chose to risk arrest because – unlike many of my classmates and friends – I’m privileged enough not to face deportation; because my potential suspension – and any other consequences that may befall me – does not even register on the scale of suffering experienced by those for whom we sing, whose lives have been taken, whose children have been slaughtered, whose families are being starved and tortured – those whom Columbia University is complicit in killing.

[filthforfriends]

When I go to answer a serious ask, I usually type out my initial ideas, save it to drafts, and craft a response after I've had time to think. But recently, some of the asks have just disappeared. Unfortunately, this was one of those instances. (I'm recalling to the best of my ability).

Anon said they felt like the only one noticing how Maneskin use people as props in their photos, usually People of Color.

This topic touches on some of the most historically and currently relevant subsects of society. Race & ethnicity. Social development & communication, (now in the age of social media). Entertainment & representation. Plus, others I'm not thinking of. I want to acknowledge how deserving of an in depth discussion this topic is, while also acknowledging that I'm not informed enough to broach it. So this is gonna be pretty surface, anon, and I'm sorry for that.

What does it even mean to use somebody as a prop?

Props are used to add detail and context which make the subject or background more interesting. As inanimate objects, they only exist to enhance the scene. Therefore, to treat someone like a prop is to prioritize the way they can improve your image over that person's autonomy. Sure, both the prop and subject can both have individuality, as long as one serves to make the other look interesting.

So who's culpable? The subject, the photographer/videographer, perhaps a director of sorts? Personally, I think the blame is shared and situationally dependent.

Below are the most obvious examples of Maneskin using a person as a prop, posted to their insta pages. The trend anon pointed out is evident. Admittedly, I don't have a good sample size here, though. A ton of Maneskin's content is only available on their stories. Especially content with non-band members (which is what anon is referencing), since Maneskin's publicist prefers to post just the band.

I wonder how many of the people in these photos gave informed consent. (Not necessarily to a band member, just someone). As in "This photo will be posted without your name and seen by millions, but you won't receive royalties." Because some of these images Maneskin (the brand) can profit from via merchandise and copyrights. Conversely, most of the folks in the photos will experience poverty in their lifetime. Some of Maneskin's outfits are worth more than the other person makes in a year and they're treating them like a plant. There's also the safety concern. If any of these people have someone in the whole world that wishes them harm, that person can now find their job/neighborhood.

I know these photos aren't all bad. Victoria probably got consent to post pic #5, just a harmless prank. The woman in pic #3 was likely thrilled to be sitting next to such a handsome young man and thinks all social media is Facebook (which she hates). But why take pictures with the Black men in photos #2 & #4? What about the Latinas in #1 & #12? They're are using POCs as visually compelling markers of cultural and ethnic differences to say something meaningful about themselves. Look how far I've come! Look how successful my music is! You envy me, right?

[majorpublicintersection]

sorry still pissed off. why do people always think non-fiction/non-creative writing is worth less than creative writing like dude

[neiptune]

you know what... contrary to popular belief I fully believe barou is super gentle in bed. like you're his #1 priority, he knows what to do & where to do it with surprising effectiveness. he's kind and attentive and softly asks this okay? and just really loves taking care of you

[saunteringvaguelydownwards]

I wonder how much Aabria might be trying to poke Imogen along towards clarity about her feelings for Laudna. Not saying that she's trying to metagame, or even influence Imogen's decision one way or another, but maybe just help her come to some kind of decision by talking about Deanna's relationship with Chetney in broad terms and letting that percolate in Imogen's brain.

Because here she is, forcibly separated from Laudna for the second time, and now she's sharing that experience with someone who had something special, twice, and lost it both times. You can't help but notice the parallels, and that could either be Aabria doing it with the specific goal of holding a mirror up to Imogen and giving her a nudge, or just a consequence of understanding narrative flow and nurturing the progression of the story because 'yarr, there be potentially interesting plot'. She's a talented DM and can easily shape the riverbank of the story to get the water flowing where she wants it to go.

So I guess my question is this: is it 'I know if I poke the story in this direction it will go this specific way'? or is it 'I know if I poke the story in this direction it will definitely do something interesting'? Did the parallels occur organically and are now specifically being accentuated, or is that just how it's working out because they're all just that damn good at telling a story?

[frot-vember]

500 year long bass boosted fart sound effect

[goldrushzukka]

get in loser we're going to get really weird about something no one else cares about

[nebulousharmony]

I hate seeing those posts where it’s like. Here’s the RIGHT way to use this hellsite. You have to REBLAG posts and if you only like them you are directly responsible for the post not gaining traction. It is your responsibility to use tumblr the RIGHT WAY.

Like sibs there’s no moral responsibility to interact with a post in any way. If you want you can like and reblog nothing. Just follow people and journal if you want. Make a secret vent blog and tag nothing. We ain’t cops.