#people either watch the show holistically or they don't

[the-witchhunter]

DP x DC Phantom Punk: Rowdy 3

Back on my Punk Danny agenda

So, Danny is not like your typical ghost, and thus, Dan and Dani, aren't either. Most ghosts can coast by naturally and just exist outside the GZ despite the lack of ectoplasm, as long as they don't go overboard

The Phantoms?

They need more. It's not normal to need that much ectoplasm, but after a series of incidents where both the Fanton's and Vlad's portals no longer exist, they're a little screwed

So, what's a trio of Punk ghosts to do?

Luckly, there is a way to supplement their energy, and they learned it from a less than savory source... Spectra. Spectra feeds off of emotions, misery, anxiety and depression being her bread and butter. Now, technically any emotion will do, it just has to be heightened for them to get anything out of it. Joy and euphoria can work, but it's hard to consistently produce those emotions and feed. Things like fear and anger are easier to produce, but come with some... ethical issues

Their solution? Get it from people who deserve it

So, Dan, Danny, Dani, and [insert fourth character here, maybe Jazz? Sam would probably be down, remember to delete placeholder] hop into a heavily graffitied GAV and drive to Gotham. Living out of the GAV, Decked out in leather, spikes and denim, they roll into the most crime ridden city in the world and proceed to find random goons and criminals homes, bust the place up, make them nearly shit their pants and then feed off the fear and anger of these career criminals

Meanwhile, the Bats keep showing up at the scene just after they scram and keep having to deal with the aftermath

The inspiration is the rowdy 3 from Dirk Gently's Holistic Dectective Agency, if you are not familiar with my favorite punk energy vampires, allow me to educate you (only watch to the two minute mark if you want to avoid spoilers for the show)

[olderthannetfic]

I know about the origins of the Bechdel Test, but I do think it's inaccurate to say it's not meant as a criticism of movies that don't do that. I think that when people stop thinking in binary terms of "is this feminist?" or "is this anti-feminist?" and instead look at things more holistically, that you can recognize both that a character like Mako Mori is great, a step in the right direction for female characters in action movies and especially WOC, go forth and stan her and write all the fanfic you want.... but yeah, it is also a valid criticism of the movie (and many others like it) that she doesn't talk to or have relationships with any other woman in the film.

I think one thing to help people realize just HOW much of women's lives are being left out of media representation when we never talk to other named women about something other than a man in movies, is to just think about your own life. I talk to my mom every day, and if we are not talking about my stepdad or my brother-in-law (and I don't think we've ever had a conversation that wasn't at least IN PART not about them or another man), then it passes the test. I'm a professor and when I talk to a female student about her homework or project (which is, again, something that happens pretty much every day I teach), that's passing the test. If I order food from a female cashier and she has a name tag, that's passing the Bechdel Test! It's literally just constant for the vast majority of women on the planet, and that's what's being left out of our stories.

Like, I like the takes I've seen about how part of the joke in Dykes to Watch Out For is that this is *particularly* alienating to lesbians - as a lesbian myself I agree - but I also think it should be frustrating to straight and bi and ace women as well, because like unless you are like exclusively interacting with your husband or male relatives every single day + you work in a workplace where you are literally the only woman, you are almost certainly passing the test constantly. That's a pretty big part of women's lives that Hollywood is leaving out!

But I think it's important to view it as just one piece of the discussion about feminism and women's representation in film, not the final judge on if a film is feminist or not. Which it wasn't intended to be - as you said, it was mostly a joke on the extreme maleness of 80s action movies. Honestly, I do not miss those days on Tumblr where people were obsessed with declaring certain movies/TV shows/other fandoms they liked as "feminist" or "anti-feminist" and the really bizarre granular discussions people would have between two works that BOTH had a long way to go in terms of representing women. I remember people in the Fullmetal Alchemist fandom would use this to argue about if the original anime or Brotherhood/the manga was better - when both have some fantastic female supporting characters, but are ultimately male-centered stories where even a lot of those women's lives and stories are centered around their male love interests and family members. It's better than a lot of shounen, but if that's your bar for feminism - either version - you have a long way to go (and need to watch WAY more anime because there's sooooo much of it that is female-centric). I also remember people coming up with other tests that were blatantly silly: like I thought the Mako Mori test about "if a woman has a motivation/story that isn't centered on a man" was fair because it did point out a legitimate criticism, but there was that ridiculous "Tauriel Test" where it was "a woman who is good at her job." And it was entirely about someone just disliking that movie critics and feminist commentators alike were down on the Hobbit movie trilogy, which a) were bad movies, sorry you have bad taste, b) are absolutely not where you should focus your attention if you're so concerned about women's representation in film, Tolkein has always been a sausage fest! And her big thing was being mad that people thought Judi Dench's M in Skyfall was a better female character, and so she arbitrarily decided she was "bad at her job" and Tauriel was "good at her job" even though that's completely subjective and can be challenged in both cases.... but also, once again, why are you looking to the fucking JAMES BOND franchise for movie feminism! There's nothing like comparing the relative "feminism levels" of JAMES BOND and LOTR to make it obvious that this is 100% about validating your subjective taste preferences by giving it a "progressive" excuse, not actually about feminism and not actually caring about women's representation beyond how it makes you look good. And yet SO many people took that transparently stupid post seriously. I'd see professional articles mention the Tauriel Test as "one of the new tests" like there was anything serious about it.

And then on the flip side, over-reliance on the Bechdel Test alone led to some clueless conclusions especially in anime fandom, given that anime has an abundance of shows that exclusively feature female characters in school clubs being cute, where those characters are nonetheless two-dimensional archetypes designed for the male gaze. Someone like fandomsandfeminism did a presentation at an anime con that called one of those types of shows "feminist" and some Japanese user eviscerated it, but that just led to the equally shallow fandom analysis of "everything a Japanese person says about anime is automatically more valid" and "any Westerner who wants to criticize anime on feminist/progressive grounds is culturally appropriating and ultimately coming from a place of ignorance, even if they literally have a degree in Asian studies."

Wow, this turned into a rant about the history of bad "feminist media criticism" on this website. Sorry about that, I think I had a point in here somewhere. I guess that the Bechdel Test is indeed a joke and those origins should be understood, but also, I don't think it's wrong to say that it identifies a real problem and one that people could probably take MORE seriously than they do - but as just one part of the conversation, not the Feminism Litmus Test, and certainly not as a dick-measuring contest about whose fandom gets them more progressive brownie points.

--

I think as long as we grasp that the joke is "The bar is so far under the ground that we might as well go home and eat popcorn there", it's fine.

The real issue with the test is that people started thinking a pass was meaningful.

If you say something like "X% of 2020s movies can't even manage this weaksauce level of women existing", that's a meaningful statistic. Even if you got a couple of data points wrong, you're not factually wrong enough for it to matter because X is going to be some massive, massive percentage, and the overall trend is so clear.

But a pass is nothing to celebrate, and that's where we went wrong.

Like you say, litigating which of two big franchises that barely do anything with women wins on tumblr points is idiocy.

I think people are so unaware of what media that genuinely centers women even looks like that it's hard for them to even begin having a discussion.

I personally have been a massive fujoshi type from adolescence, and media that centers female characters isn't actually what I typically want. (Though media that is by and for women and that doesn't give a fuck what men think of this is.) I am also not much of a fan of slice of life in general...

But when I was coming out and figuring my shit out, being able to go buy collections of Dykes to Watch Out For was incredibly valuable to me.

Ditto the other lesbian comic books that were just sitting there in the bookstore. I'm sure if I went back and reread them all now, I could find things to nitpick or ways they were more for lesbians and less for me as a bi girl, but the really distinctive thing they did was let me exist in a world where media isn't all 80s sausagefest action movies where women are not people.

In fact, they were a world where men don't matter terribly much—not because they're dramatically rejecting men in some facile and reactionary way but because... who cares? They just had other priorities... and this was normal.

It feels like people who've never taken a vacation from really mainstream media just have no concept of what it would feel like to exist in some other space.

And I think that's a pity even if, like me, they later choose to go read mostly BL later instead of focusing on female characters or they genuinely love trash 80s action movies despite everything wrong with them. It's not just sexist media that's the issue: it's that feeling like the fish can't see the water it's swimming in.

[the-halls-of-hatchetfield-high]

(Grace is definitely my favorite but don't tell her that)

To all of you, favorite tv show?

Sincerely, me

Grace: I'm your favorite? *smiles smugly* Yay! Just as God intended :)

Steph: *rolling her eyes at Grace* Uh, I've been getting into Black Mirror? I guess? It makes me think, and...makes me feel smarter than I am *looks down sheepishly*

Ruth: Smash! It's a classic! I also looooved Once Upon A Time, I should really rewatch it, maybe if I ask Steph reeeeal nice...

Richie: oh...evangelion! be still my fanboy heart!! (｡♥‿♥｡)

Finnley: i'm not really one for tv shows but...probably....only murders in the building or...dirk gently's holistic detective agency? i like how you can watch them over and over and always notice something new ~ you get to find the little easter eggs and little details! and the queer rep :) i have a bad habit of getting my friends to watch it...whoopsies...

Pete: Yeah, I don't watch much tv either, but I do love old classic cartoons like scooby doo, they're a nostalgic comfort to me :)

Max: Friday Night Lights - it's a cool show. that or Peaky Blinders, that show's SICK, man.

Grace: The Good Place, I think more people should watch it and take note of it's lessons *pointedly looks at the others*

What about you, fan of mine? *smiles sweetly at you*

[mybrainproblems]

the thing is i'm hyperaware of the fact that i'm Weird About Andrew Dabb but it comes from a place of me realizing back in fall 2021 that i wanted to identify why exactly i didn't like him and deciding to do a close watch of his spn eps. and when i realized i was enjoying parts of it, i decided to see what i could turn up any of his non-spn work. (this is something i've always tended to do with creatives: tracking down older stuff for a more holistic view of their work.)

i was so stuck on how much i hated some parts of his writing (s7 dabb-loflin is horrendous) and couldn't get past that... then i found out independently that he was showrunning the upcoming netflix resi show (a franchise i both love and have complicated feelings about) which filled me with dread that the guy who co-wrote 07x22 would helm a show with a predominantly black cast -- especially with the ultimate villain, albert wesker, played by a black man (RIP lance reddick, you are dearly missed). i wanted to be optimistic but i was ready to be infuriated and was so nervous that i'd hate something i'd been looking forward to as some camp horror tv.

but then. oh. OH. it was everything i ever wanted from resi and never thought i could have. i could not conceive of a resi like this. a resi where women and poc are treated with empathy and as nuanced characters with interiority. where they are the central characters. the video games have their own issues but the movies are truly egregious when it comes to black characters. so to have a predominantly black cast (and a black female protag, no less!) and have them treated respectfully was amazing. this was a show that had heart and a somewhat diverse writer's room and bts crew (not saying it was perfect) and you could see that difference in how characters were treated and how the plot and direction was handled. (i think having female directors and producers in particular helped a lot.)

for those who have not seen the anderson/jovovich movies: there is always a token black character and they will always die by the halfway mark bc they make stupid decisions. it's non-stop tits and ass shots of jovovich (which feels super weird when the director is her husband). alice (jovovich) is an Action Girl who is frequently subjected to sexualized violence but unfortunately, i love the camp horror of it. it's complicated. the video games have their own issues with the portrayal of women and ada wong being DLC feels really shitty when she's so pivotal. women are largely either helpless or Strong Sexy Action Women.

like i really cannot express just how much 8 episodes of tv so wholly changed my opinion of a writer/showrunner bc it showed such growth. a showrunner is only one piece of the puzzle of a tv show but they are the ones guiding it and the ones who have substantial influence in the hiring and development/direction of the story.

it's like. i don't forgive dabb for 07x22 and the shit he wrote with loflin (or solo, tho he improved a lot without loflin), but to see how resi turned out and to read/watch interviews with him and the bts crew is like. oh, okay. i think this person gets it now. i don't think i can forgive and forget bc s7 makes my blood boil, but i can accept that growth has happened here and that's what we should want from people.

also i'm gonna say that when i look at how i am Weird About Dabb and take a step back, i can see that i'm about as weird about him as some folks are about other writers and actors from spn (and willing to acknowledge his faults). i just chose a weird writer to be Weird about.

sorry but i just have a lot of feelings about resi.

[the-lightning-strikes-again]

Hey Lightning, I was wondering if I could get your thoughts on something. One take that seems to keep returning every once in a while is the "Allura fell for Lotor only after he revealed his Altean heritage," but I know u and others have disproven this many times, which does reassure me. While I love Allura, I definitely think one of her weaknesses was her devotion to Altea and singing Alfor's praises, which sometimes became too much. At the same time, it bothers me when I see some ppl (1/?)

Continuing anon message: “ say that she thought Alteans were superior to all other races, and that when the colony plot twist happened, she became repulsed by Lotor's Galra side, which is why she rejected him. For them, that's why she forced violent memories onto an uncorrupted Zarkon, but somehow "saw the good/redeemed" Honerva, the Altean. I can kind of understand where they're coming from, but for me, it just didn't make sense that Allura suddenly had a change of heart considering for most of s8, she was angry and dead set on going after Honerva. Even with that, I think to a lot of her fans, s8 made Allura so ooc that she became unrecognizable, which hurt to watch. I guess for me it's hard seeing antis and people who don't like her claim that that's just how she is and has always been. Haha sorry for rambling, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, since your arguments ease my mind on a lot of things when it comes to Allura :)”

Hi, anon. Wow, thanks for your extended note! I don’t know anywhere in canon that Allura champions Alteans as a superior race. The definition of racial supremacy is a belief that inherent genetic differences between races determine cultural or individual achievement, with social/governmental policies championing intolerance of other races. To get Allura to fit into such a label:

1.      A viewer has to ignore or undermine all the evidence available about who the main-universe Alteans really were before main-universe Zarkon’s massacre of them.

2.      A viewer has to ignore or undermine how Allura actually responds to a variety of different races in the show, including her own.  

So let’s start with issue one. To support an “Allura was a racial supremacist” opinion, a lot of antis (and even non-militant, average viewers) are favorable to the opinion that Alteans as a group, including Alfor, were actually evil and violent colonizer elitists before Galrans killed them off. In other words, they question Altean victimhood, and this allows the militant antis to poison and undermine scenes of a woman mourning her home and her beloved family. And it just gets to be a really unsettling conversation, to listen to someone actually try to justify genocide. They’ll also have suspicions that all of our foundational backstory in the s3 finale was just “cleansed” propaganda from Coran. So if antis can undermine Allura’s entire race and family as corrupt, then they can intentionally undermine any of her canonical statements about or efforts toward peace. Which is hilarious, because this racist tactic applied to Allura is actually what a lot of antis accuse Allura of doing with Lotor.

For the record, I don’t think the show production team actually intended the subliminal messaging/cognitive dissonance that I’m about to discuss. The people who designed and developed this show are fans of robot kitties and aren’t PhDs in social issues. But I think there is a very serious issue about the portrayal of genocide victims that feeds into some very real problems in our world, especially regarding the concept of racial supremacy and conspiracy theories about genocide victims.

VLD tried to play with both genocide politics for edge™ points while ALSO playing with shatterglass theory (shatterglass meaning an AU where the heroes are villains and villains are heroes). Combining these two concepts into the same universe creates some incredibly disturbing subliminal messaging about Alteans that very closely mimics ongoing neo-Nazi propaganda against Jews. Nazis and other anti-Semitists justify their hatred of Jews by equating them as terrible villains out for world domination via some underhanded shadow control of the mass populace. It’s an incredibly malicious form of propaganda, because it works so terribly well. And what do you know, VLD plays right into this kind of propaganda. In the season 3 episode, Hole in the Sky, we’re faced with team Voltron confronting an Altean Empire that was actually evil and out for multiverse domination. And oh by the way, they’re using malicious shadow tech to control a mass populace.

It’s like someone on the production team read the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and then just copied/pasted that incredibly damaging and widely accepted conspiracy theory right onto Alteans for s3 funsies because edge content.

This is incredibly punishing, for the narrative to wave the carrot stick in front of genocide survivors that maybe some others survived—and then to suggest that Alteans were the evil ones all along. A shatterglass twist worked very well in Captain Marvel (2019) for a lot of reasons, for example, but it just doesn’t work well in the VLD universe given that the show explicitly portrays the genocide victims as evil and validates this concept. And this episode unfortunately feeds ongoing cognitive dissonance in antis that if AU Alteans could be so evil…how certain are you that they aren’t in the main universe too? On the reverse side, the main-universe goes out of its way to portray that not all Galrans are evil, and even that Galrans were the primary resistance (BOM). But in this singular episode, we see a united Altean empire. And the only Altean who moves to stand against it once the shine wears off…is Allura. There is no AU Altean actually shown in the Guns of Gamara. So Allura stands alone as an Altean against her own people.

For this reason, this episode doesn’t function very well as a shatterglass AU either, because the moral “flip” isn’t a mirror balance to main universe. The Alteans of the AU world appear as fully united in their evil plans. And then, no doubt, anti-alluras point out other quirky things about main-universe Alteans throughout the show—the violent language-learning system that scares Pidge, and the ancient Altean terraforming technology that Haggar activates, and the fact that Oriande is a hidden place that keeps out the less magical with a violent guardian. These details, when removed from main-universe world building, create a cognitive dissonance about whether main-universe Allura and Alteans were actually genuine in how they depicted respectful “peace and diplomacy.” So anti alluras who believe Allura was a racial supremacist really rely on this s3 episode and these details to uphold their conspiracy theory.

So let’s focus on Allura in this episode, because it says a lot about who she ultimately is as a person, and people have forgotten how she actually responded in this episode. Allura is unquestionably hopeful at the thought that her and Coran might not be the last Alteans alive. Pretty understandable. If I were the last human, I’d be darn excited to find out there’s more of me left, lol. So her experience as a genocide victim initially blinds her to the evilness of these Alteans. You can even see the ache on her face, of how badly she wants to believe their narrative of peace.

So Allura is initially star-struck that she and Coran are not the last Alteans, yes, and that somehow they’ve achieved a “peace.” She is also not afraid to admit that they would be valuable allies in the war:

And she’s not wrong there, considering that they have what appears to be extensive military resources and a robot force of their own. But she makes a critical mistake in assuming that “these are my people” means that they share main-universe cultural sentiments. The instant Allura hears Slav (so not someone of her own race) call these Alteans out as actually evil colonizers turning people into slaves, she begins to question the narrative she’s received.

In this instance, she actually affords the Alteans the same courtesy she afforded Lotor—the opportunity to deny the accusations.

But in the AU Altean’s case, they try to turn blame back on other parties. Allura listens to Keith when he grows increasingly fearful of what the Alteans might do to the others, and she tries to plead for actual peace:

And actually, this is a pretty interesting moment for Allura. She tries to salvage an alliance…until she realizes that their differences are irreconcilable, and that their definition of peace is inherently different from her own. This probably sets the stage for why Allura was so triggered by Lotor talking about peace while also killing people—because she’s seen people misappropriate that term before. And also probably informs why she trusts the information of both Keith and Krolia (both of whom have Galran blood, btw).

Ultimately, Allura turns against her own people. Violently:

When they get angry about her wanting actual peace, Allura draws a weapon against them and rejects them from her people. This mimics how she spends several seasons fighting an Altean Haggar/Honerva for her crimes, and how she turns against Lotor too.

So case in point here, Allura loves her people, obviously—but she also is holding them to moral standards regarding their behavior, which is something that a genuine racist doesn’t do. As a matter of fact, Lotor is the only person of Altean blood that Allura genuinely bonds with ever again in the series. She’s distant with Romelle, she’s distant with the s8 Alteans… In s8, Allura even says this about Luca, which refers back to her own mistakes she made with initially being star-struck by the s3 AU Alteans who came in “peace”:

Allura herself had been manipulated in s3, wanting so desperately to not be the last Altean alive that it initially blinded her to how Commander Hira was manipulating her. The plight of the s8 Alteans who are deceived by Honerva is inherently frustrating to her, because she can see herself in them.

Absolutely none of this correlates with Allura seeing or perpetuating Alteans as a superior race. At every turn, her own people continue to disappoint her, and she increasingly and progressively separates herself from them in hopelessness, because they’re so brainwashed that they can’t see they’re just cannon fodder for someone else’s military agendas. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for a superior race, lol.

So let’s think about anti accusations here. Allura is a racial supremacist…but she’s arguing against her people who believe unquestionably in Honerva, another full Altean like herself? Nothing about that accusation makes sense with her actions.

The fact is, consistently from season 3 and onward, Allura is faced with her own people morally disappointing her.

The good news for the s8 Alteans like Tavo is that Allura is able to remove the dark entity Honerva is using to control him. Which allows other Alteans to “wake up” from being manipulated and try to make amends.

Regardless, Allura makes a very clear line that simply being Altean doesn’t make someone “right.” She sees herself fully at odds with her own people who are drawn in by Honerva’s lies. And she experienced well back in s2 (revealing Haggar as Honerva) and s3 (evil AU Alteans) that any given race, including her own, can house people who do bad things.

The fact is, she’s consistently and willingly drawn weapons against even her own people when they didn’t meet her moral expectations. So her response to Lotor isn’t particularly out of line there. She’s repulsed by a moral flaw.

And actually, Lotor himself wouldn’t have known this, but he very oddly echoed the AU Alteans by getting angry that Allura was angry over the means through which he was trying to get peace:

So Lotor actually reverts to the same logic of the AU Alteans—peace at any cost, just look at the results—

And keep in mind that the AU Alteans also manipulated Allura’s excitement about them, to get her to make the transreality comet usable so they could go into other realities. So Allura has felt betrayed and used before, by her own people.

So when she says this:

Yes, it’s a reference back to how Zarkon manipulated his friends in order to get access to the quintessence field, at the explicit cost of potentially killing his own people. But it’s not without understanding that yes, Alteans can be just as manipulative and betraying as Zarkon. Because she’s experienced it, again and again.  

As a matter of fact, six out of the eight seasons of Voltron: Legendary Defender feature villainous Alteans/Alteans on the wrong side of the war, and we continuously see Allura punished again and again for wishing that Alteans still lived.

No wonder she wanted to die.

This is something that I find uncomfortable about the narrative of the show. Previous iterations of Voltron did in fact have a “blood on everyone’s hands” perspective, such as within the ages 16+ Dynamic Comics. However, Arusians/Alteans in those old Voltron narratives were not victims of genocide. VLD turns Alteans into victims of the worst racial crime possible and then also consistently portrays them as inherently antagonistic to genuine peace efforts in some way, instead of focusing on the evil of the oppressors.

And this is such a double whammy for Lotor’s characters as well, given that he was abused by his parents and threatened with slavery via his Galran culture, and that he was half-Altean too trying to connect to his lost culture.

As a matter of fact, the larger show’s narrative interest in “victims as antagonists” makes it such that when we see victims try to enact actual justice, it feels almost jarring. Let’s look at that s8 Zarkon moment you brought up as an example, where Allura destroys his innocent perspective by showing him his evil deeds.

The s8 Zarkon is a weird topic because 1) This Zarkon actually doesn’t exist outside of Honerva’s mind, so how he has any kind of actual free-will is beyond me, unless someone wants to argue that Honerva actually cursed his true soul just as she cursed the other paladins. It’s hilarious too, because Honerva-mind-Zarkon also calls Honerva a psychopath, so I guess now Honerva is psychoanalyzing herself using her dead husband as the vehicle, while also discreetly helping the paladins to stop herself—

ANYWAY, using this Zarkon as a “proof” of Allura’s “racism” is also cherry picking in the weirdest of ways. Is she angry about his horrific and incalculable crimes, including even how he betrayed the OG paladins and ruined his own planet? Absolutely. Does she want him to be aware of his crimes instead of having to pretend like nothing’s wrong? Yes.

But notice here, this Zarkon actually shows remorse. He is actually crying over those memories and recognizing that he had done something wrong. And Allura can work with that. In fact, out of everyone standing around and doing nothing, it’s Allura who gives him a second chance and offers an alliance with Zarkon in order to stop a crazy Altean: 

Keep in mind too, Honerva didn’t have memory loss at the end of s8. She knew exactly what she’d done and had given up and had to actually be convinced to do anything halfway constructive. That’s a very different circumstance than mind-Zarkon had, who jumped at the chance to do something to fix what all had happened, and gets even morally righteous about it, calling his own wife a psychopath, lol.

So generally, antis who believe Allura was a racial supremacist haven’t watched the show holistically. We see her hold the same standards to her own people as she expects out of others. This show would look incredibly different if Allura were a true racial supremacist.

Ah, you ask. Okay, so we’ve refuted the big pieces of “evidence” used to incriminate Allura. But what about all of those weird details about ancient Altean history? The violent language-learning program that scared Pidge? The violent terraforming tech that almost kills Voltron? The concept that Alfor tried to play “police” over the Galra and actually blew up their planet? The Alteans’ ongoing discussions of “peace and diplomacy” and spreading it throughout the universe while they happen to sit on a massive load of ancient power?

The s3 finale and other facts throughout the series very heavily smash the claim that our canon, in-universe Alteans were evil colonizers like the AU Alteans. The biggest piece of evidence to the contrary is that the Altea we know was one (1) planet. You counted right. One planet. Not an empire, but a singular planet. The s3 finale corroborates this, showing Altea as being largely isolationist from a military perspective while Daibazaal and Nalquod warred "for generations," right in front of their salad.

So some viewers would have you believe that Alteans were these big bad, intergalactic police state colonizers. But for all of its great power and knowledge, the singular planet of Altea didn't even canonically interfere in the wars of its own galaxy for actual millennia? And looking at the screenshots upon the stabilization of the alliance, Alfor is revealed to not have had experience with a neighboring culture. His face while exploring Gyrgan’s homeworld is an indication that it’s all rather new for him too. So again, we have evidence showing that Alteans were not colonizing or even functioning as a police state.

Note here that in the s3 flashbacks, the show confirms that it actually wasn’t just Alfor who suggested an alliance. All five leaders had common interests in protecting their galaxy from even worse threats, so all five came together at the same time. This is actually the first piece of evidence we have of Altea entering into some kind of intergalactic military agreement to stave off said worse threats.

And all of this is on top of a history where in s6, the Galran Archivist confirms that the Galran Empire had existed before Zarkon for 3,000 years, with times of “expansion.” It’s very easy to see that Blaytz’s people were actively fighting off Galran occupation of their homeworld within this past.

And that’s actually what I think makes Alfor and the OG paladins some pretty interesting characters. Here, we had colonizing Galran empire setting down its sword and accepting the value and space of its neighbors. Here, we had master alchemist Alfor giving up military power within their group by acknowledging Zarkon as the superior strategist. Here, we had Blaytz who had previously been battling Galran occupation…fully accepting the Galra?   

So the OG Paladin backstory represents a pretty incredible alliance that removed a lot of intergalactic toxicity and helped heal broken bonds. But it required all five leaders to agree to that. Alfor did not throw his weight or power around within this. There were several checks and balances here.

But this backstory also helps to explain some of the quirky details about Alteans. Their planet existed within an active war zone, and it’s very likely that they’d had to fight off Galran occupation just as Blaytz’s people did. So the violent robot trainers and fear-based language learning systems start to make sense. Alteans weren’t just simpering people playing harps all day and eating grapes. They were actively prepared to defend their planet and their culture.

So when Allura says in season 1 that Alteans were “spreading diplomacy” across the universe, the only pieces of evidence we have of that is the OG paladins themselves, in which Alfor was a big part in creating that alliance—and then possibly the Alteans with the Balmerans, given their deep collective rituals with that planet while the Galra literally just came in and ripped the planet nearly to death. Allura tries to mimic what it means to accept and interact with a culture without changing it well in season 1, when she stumbles through trying to respect Arusian culture and its demands on its people. Also, there is a big fact that antis like to overlook:

The fact is, despite the untold numbers of civilizations we interact with across 76 episodes, no outside race remembers Alteans as evil colonizers. If they were really so big and bad, we would have heard it, like, “Man, yeah the Galrans are bad. Just as bad as those Alteans, back in the day.” Or something. But nope, nothing.

So I heavily question the history of Altea as an ancient colonizing race. If they were, then Altea wouldn't have just been a single planet with limited resources to fight wars in even its own galaxy. All of this supports the idea of Altean children being raised to fight--because they were preparing to defend themselves when/if diplomacy fails.... But the fact that the Balmerans see Alteans fondly and that literally every other race we run into is explicitly suspicious of Galrans and not at all of Alteans says something.

I think the only piece of evidence there might be for a genuinely colonizing ancient Altea is the use of terraforming technology, as mentioned in s4. Haggar discovers it and activates it to try and kill Voltron--and she nearly succeeds, because said tech destroys the entire crust of the planet to reform it. But you have to step back for a second and wonder--if ancient Alteans were so powerful, why was Alfor struggling so hard to even hold his own planet together in the midst of all these other cultures warring and larger threats? If they had this technology--and they did know about it because Allura recognized it right away as ancient technology--why the heck wouldn't they use it? Or were they using it, and it was to reform uninhabited planets to help sustain displaced peoples? Why is it, if Alteans were so terribly bad, we have no record across ANY of the many alien races being cautious of them? Even Galran Lieutenant Lahn snapped at Allura only because he was jealous of the general security she had back on, you guessed it, explicitly Altea. There's a lot of potential explanations for a positive use of terraforming technology, and the evidence against colonization and Altea committing omnicide against other races is incredibly more aligned with the other details in the canon.

And even Alfor’s creation of Voltron and the blowing up of Daibazaal—that’s something that antis like to position as evidence of his police-state ways to underhandedly control other cultures.

So let’s tackle those too while we’re at it.

Honestly, I know people like to hate on Alfor, and I do think his character picks up some misogynism just from the writers....But I don't think he was as much of a controller as people think he was. He was already in an alliance with four other leaders to try and stop bad things from happening in their galaxy. That meant they were expending incredible amounts of time and resources to accomplish that end—resources that were not renewable and may have been straining various planets. We know that he started building Voltron with Zarkon and everyone else's blessing because he called them "clean ships," but it's only after the rift creatures attack that suddenly Alfor's perception of Voltron moves from "clean energy" to "omg we need a more powerful weapon against this unknown enemy.”

So these are his intentions BEFORE he discovers rift creatures are a threat to the universe. While Zarkon states that these new ships are to be endlessly powerful for the Galra Empire, Alfor shames him by offering what his desire is for them:

  After the rift creatures nearly destroy Daibazaal, intentions change.

So here, we see the game change in a BIG way. Voltron is not just about offering a more renewable way of sustaining peace-keeping efforts. Alfor is now adjusting and finishing these ships with the explicit knowledge that if they are not powerful enough, then Daibazaal and the Galran people will die. Alfor’s got a LOT of pressure on him now to deliver a mighty and powerful weapon to stop this new threat. So even his creation of Voltron as a superweapon involved using it to protect people from imminent death—not to police them.

And about Alfor blowing up Daibazaal—once again, it’s Alfor trying to clean up Honerva and Zarkon’s mess. Honerva had convinced Zarkon that the rift needed to be wider, and so Zarkon deceived the paladins into widening it.

So keep in mind here, at this point in time—the rift was destabilizing and eating an entire planet. The entire universe was now at stake. Alfor had to choose between a bad fix and an even worse option of allowing everyone to die, but he very clearly evacuated people before destroying Daibazaal, as part of his promise to keep Galrans safe. So that no one would have to die.

And as a matter of fact—about that terraforming technology. How sure are you that Alfor didn’t intend to use it to build Galrans a new home? It’s entirely within the realm of acceptable conjecture that he allowed for the existence of that technology because it could restore what had been lost.

And here’s where the story gets really screwy and feeds into some anti hate. Because when Zarkon wakes up as a zombie, he desires more quintessence as zombies do.

So he’s pissed that Alfor just cut off his gateway, and he manipulates his people:

And it’s here where we get the idea that Alfor was an evil controller. The idea came from Zarkon, who—we can look around pretty easily and see that he was not a man of honor, ultimately. Even if you chose to not believe the s3 finale flashbacks as being objective, there’s something wrong with Zarkon. (It’s clear that the show thought using Coran was a smart way to shell off massive amounts of info, because clearly if this were truly in Coran’s perspective, we would NOT have had intimate looks into Zarkon and Honerva’s bedroom as Zarkon is tending to her, like omg.) Numerous sources, histories, and cultures outside of Coran confirm that Zarkon hit a point of no return on the evil scale, and that he projected his own blame for Daibazaal’s destabilization onto Alfor in order to raise up his new regime in the name of Quintessence™.

So at the end of the day, even Alfor was a victim. But yet somehow, various antis choose to believe Zarkon’s victim-punishing narrative because said antis can’t or else refuse to connect one scene to another since it undermines their justifications for why they can hate on Allura. And that’s not so much an issue with the story itself as it is just poor critical analysis or malicious weaponization of content against other fans.

Now, at this point, we’ve talked about Allura and we’ve talked about Altean history. I have numerous other posts about Allura’s interactions with other races and Galrans and overcoming trauma to give the entire universe a second chance. So if there is anything in this show that suggests Alteans were in any way a superior race, then it’s probably within the show’s own worldbuilding. The show contradicts its own definitions of what quintessence even is by suggesting Alteans have “bluer/purer quintessence” in order to justify why Lotor would even be trying to sacrifice them for anything. The show-championed concept that Alteans have a bluer, purer life force above all other people, and that only Altean energy could interface with the fabric of space-time. Now, this is a problem in the later seasons’ world building itself. And you know who wrote that in? The production team. So once again, we do have racial issues in this show, in ways that shows like Star Wars desperately try avoid by showing racial diversity in who has Midi-chlorians.

That said, I’m not a perfectly woke storyteller either. I think every story and show is going to have something problematic™, but with VLD it’s very clear that its disrespectful handling of genocide politics and shatterglass conspiracy theories, on top of its weird master race angle created the perfect storm. These mishandled and quirky details have created a cognitive dissonance with the provided narrative, resulting in some people in the anti fandoms to champion what aligns very closely to actual neo-Nazi propaganda against Jews, who according to them are not victims but instead the true perpetrators of all bad things. For the sake of the antis, I’m pretty sure they’re not intentionally looking at VLD this way and are probably just looking for any easily graspable reason to hate on Allura for interfering with their ship or something.

But this kind of subliminal propaganda that undermines victims, and the effect it has had on fandom morality politics, is deeply concerning to me. I really wish that we’d had an opportunity to respectfully and critically discuss this with the production team of the show, because a Y7-FV show about “strength in unity” should NOT result in us needing to have a conversation about people walking away with neo-Nazi-ish propaganda sentiments against genocide survivors. Like. Clearly, VLD is fictional, but it’s feeding into a real-life beast that it does NOT need to feed. And it’s keeping alive ongoing conspiracy narratives against some of our most vulnerable populations on the planet.

So, we need better stories. We need a production team that, if they’re going to get paid to do something involving portrayals of genocide and politics, that they need to do their research on those topics. Nobody is going to be perfect with a creation, but VLD validated some very damaging things—and it ALL is something that could have been fixable. I think it would have been incredibly validating to hear the production talk about and accept that these were issues that cropped up unintentionally, and to hear them confirm that these issues are not the sorts of things that VLD was supposed to champion.

The greatest tragedy of all of this is the potential that this show had to really champion some great and validating messages, and the potential that we as a fandom had to come together and do something that fandom was meant to do—which was celebrate the things we love. Because that’s why we’re all here. That’s why this crazy tumblr of mine even exists. It was supposed to celebrate things.

For that reason, I’m going to end this here. I’ve written several responses now as to my thoughts on the inappropriate narrative lens of the show, its contradictory and damaging worldbuilding about the purest race, and how it champions demonizing or punishing genocide survivors again and again. Within all of that, I’ve talked at length about Allura’s character and behavior over 8 seasons and how she built even empathetic connections with militant Galrans like Commander Lahn. In fact even her own homesickness is how she emotionally connects with Lahn, because she understands that desire to call something one’s own. To have a home. A family.

I now really would like to get back to writing stories that I find meaningful to me using these characters and these worlds—and trying to find the hope in all of this darkness, haha. And maybe with any luck, I can hope to do VLD some justice, knowing that I am still on a learning journey as well.

But I appreciate your note, and I hope this very extensive response helps to settle your questions and concerns once and for all regarding VLD Allura. If you should have any remaining questions, please feel free to reach out via a private message to discuss. Thank you!

[animebw]

Would you mind expanding on your Steins;Gate post? Because you’re completely right and I genuinely want to read your particular thoughts on it. I always struggle to talk about the show and articulate my opinions on why I have A Lot of issues with it, so I’m curious if we’re on a similar wavelength.

Eh, why not? I've got nothing better to do this evening, and I don't think I've ever talked about Steins;Gate on this blog before, so it'll be a nice change of pace. Spoilers below the cut, for those who care.

So my big problem with Steins;Gate is that once you step back from the exhilarating pacing and take a holistic view of the story, there's a lot about it that's just... incredibly goddamn stupid. And I don't mean stupid in a fun over-the-top way that knowingly embraces its own ludicrousness like, say, Symphogear. Nor do I really mean stupid in a "wow, this plot has more holes than a cheese grater and more contradictions than a Republican politician's moral outlook" way either. It's a time travel story, not everything's gonna fit together perfectly, I'm fine with that. No, Steins;Gate is stupid because it doesn't realize just how embarrassing a lot of its choices are.

Like, for just one example, take the reveal that Suzuha is Daru's child from the future. Sure, that twist works fine enough in a story sense, but then you have to deal with the fact that Daru's spent the last, like, five episodes perving on Suzuha and being a creep towards her. This is supposed to be a really emotional moment for both of them, but all it does is make you think about Daru trying to have sex with his own daughter, and it's gross. And the show doesn't seem to realize it! It just makes a single "lol Daru has the hots for his daughter" joke and then tries to play it as emotionally straight as possible! Like, do you not understand how off-putting this whole thing is?

Admittedly, it's been a long-ass time since I watched this show, so I don't remember many specific examples off the top of my head. But there's a lot of this energy all throughout it. Especially with Kurisu, who gets dealt the shit hand of being an ice queen tsundere who gets constantly humiliated to make her "loosen up." Look, I'm sorry to all the Okabe/Kurisu shippers out there, but this relationship is just not earned. Kurisu doesn't deserve to suffer these weird, creepy dudes making her uncomfortable until she finally falls for one of them.

And oh gods, where do I even start with Ruka? Even before I realized I wasn't on the gender binary myself, everything about Ruka's character and the way she's handled made me sick to my stomach. Hey, I know what's a good idea, let's have a trans character who's forced to give up her chosen gender! That'll go over great! And while we're at it, let's throw in some homophobia as well by saying that Ruka only likes Okabe romantically when she's "a real girl" and only respects him when she's back to "normal!" Oh, and here's a scene of Okabe LITERALLY MOLESTING RUKA TO THE POINT OF TEARS BECAUSE HE THINKS SHE'S A GUY! HAHA FUNNY! ASSAULTING TRANS PEOPLE IS FUNNY! ARE YOU LAUGHING YET?! WHY AREN'T YOU LAUGHING?!?!?!?!

(god I've been bottling that rage up for so long FUCK this goddamn arc)

So... yeah. I still like Steins;Gate, but it can be a gross fucking show at times. And it's hard to stomach so many weebs holding it up as One Of The Best while either ignoring these problems or just not seeing them as problems in the first place.

Mayuri is perfect, though. I will hear no Mayuri slander in this house.

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

Hope you don't mind me asking but what's your take on fans especially larries wanting Louis be more like Harry? Seen soooooooooooooooooooo many posts about fans wanting Louis to wear make up more, be more out and about, like what happen in the recent show, if Harry wore a kilt, Louis too should wear a kilt. Thinking about mating and pregnancy or just being pregnant in general, if Harry adores and craves that idea, Louis should too. "They do share it". I dunno, I know they mirror a lot, look so similar to each other but I dunno why people tend push the idea that they SHOULD be the same holistically..

So I've long thought that there is definitely a trend where fandom as a whole wants Louis to be more like Harry, but is often angry that Harry is like Harry. Although I don't think it's anywhere near as pronounced as it used to be.

But I really disagree with your examples. I think only a very Harry centred view of the world, would see any of those things as being linked to Harry.

To take them one by one:

If fans want Louis to wear makeup more, I don't see how that has anything to do with Harry. There's not much difference between the make-up they wear now. They both wear reasonable naturalistic stage make-up for performances most of the time and little more. Harry's done one shoot where there was noticeable playing with make-up (the Beauty Papers shoot).

If fans want Louis to be out and about more, I don't see how that has anything to do with Harry. If I think back over the last year, Harry went to a Euro match in person, while Louis watched them in pubs, but apart from that I can't think of much difference in their out and aboutness. Occasionally spotted around London, and then at their own gigs.

I don't think fans wanting Louis to wear a kilt has anything to do with Harry. Lots of artists wear kilts in Scotland - and lots of fans like it. There's no need to understand people responding to Louis in a really normal way as about Harry

And as for the pregnancy - the if in "if Harry adores and craves that idea" is doing a hell of a lot of work. Harry likes babies and is very aware of pregnant women, but anything more than that is unevidenced fan storytelling. That whole area of fandom is very much not for me, but suggesting that fans who imagine Louis wants to be pregnant want him to be more like Harry is showing no understanding of the boundaries between fan storytelling and Harry as a person.

I don't think your framework of seeing things that Harry has done once, or used to do, or fans think he does, as being defined through their relationship to him is a particularly useful way of understanding either fandom, or Harry and Louis.

[loraneldin]

I posted 363 times in 2021

7 posts created (2%)

356 posts reblogged (98%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 50.9 posts.

I added 637 tags in 2021

#fanart - 212 posts

#marvel - 104 posts

#mcu - 96 posts

#stevetony - 48 posts

#lovely people - 46 posts

#marvel 616 - 35 posts

#marvel 1610 - 28 posts

#venom - 27 posts

#winterfalcon - 23 posts

#genshin impact - 18 posts

Longest Tag: 118 characters

#for a moment i had no idea what this was referring to because i was in that happy spot where i forgot endgame happened

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Fic Writer Interview Meme

Thanks forthe tag, @oluka ❤

name: Loran_Arameri (AO3), loraneldin (tumblr), and just Loran anywhere else.

fandoms: Marvel in many forms, mostly the comics and MCU with a very deep love for the Ultimates. Also The Magicians (more the books than the show), Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (where I mostly watch from the sidelines), and lately Genshin Impact.

two-shot: I would say I have only one I would really count as such which is Latent Phallacy (MCU, Stuckony). (It was originally a one-shot but this was the one time were people asking for a second chapter actually inspired something)

most popular fics: That is Feeling Good Was Easy (MCU, Bucky/Loki/Tony) by far. (I think it has a lot to that it updated twice a week for three months...)

actual worst part of writing: The one where either I can't even remember why I started the thing in the first place or where I remember why the story idea was good but suddenly forgot how to write. Either of these happens several times a month...

how you choose your titles: I have started to like picking titles more, but also am less obsessed with finding the perfect one now. I try to play around a bit with what the story is about and see if that can be phrased interestingly. Also, song titles XD

do you outline: Yes, no, maybe. A method that works for outlining for me is something I have tried to hunt down for several years now. I usually have a lot of notes all over the place (notebook, random pieces of paper, my notes app, discord chats, my writing program...) and then go from there. Only definite rule after a bad experience: I don't start to write something anymore if I don't know how it ends. That way lies pain.

ideas you probably won’t get around to, but wouldn’t it be nice: My idea folder is plentiful, but the ones that are the furthest away but I still think about them a lot MCU, Bucky/Loki/Tony: The Wintersoldier and Loki are the villains that the Avengers just can't beat for good. One day they kidnap Tony and he finds out that a) they are a couple, b) the Wintersoldier is Bucky Barnes, and c) who's the villain depends which side you're on. 616, Steve/Tony: The Headmen have been weirdly active lately, and Steve really needs to get to bottom of that, especially since they have been targeting Mr. Stark. But somehow Iron Man seems weirdly unworried about his boss being in danger. Steve starts to believe it might be because there is more between his best friend and the Avenger's benefactor than they tell them.

callouts @ me: You need to remember that you write for fun. And you know that your motivation is fickle, so don't try to force it with a crowbar.

best writing traits: Ooof. I think I have great ideas for smut XD I also can tell an intriguing story if I find it first.

tangential opinion: It is okay to abandon things that are not producing joy anymore.

tagging: @mizzy2k, @capnstars, @menatiera, @serinah80, @cpt-winniethepooh, @athletiger, and anyone else who sees this and wants to.

4 notes • Posted 2021-07-25 07:22:47 GMT

#4

Cut Jan out of one panel, and where better to put her than in Carol’s bedroom?

(Comic manip, Ultimates)

4 notes • Posted 2021-02-18 21:22:35 GMT

#3

Touch Points

A Rhodey/Tony soulmate AU (3.8 k, mature)

Jim has plans for his life, and his soulmate is not part of them. Luckily, there is the possibility to get a cover-up tattoo over your soulmark. When he and Tony meet, this is the first but not the last thing they share.

Their lives lead them away from each other, but they never leave each other behind.

(link in the reblog)

13 notes • Posted 2021-10-11 18:32:16 GMT

#2

THE ULTS BOOK CLUB WANTS TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Ultimates book club has been taking a break, and we are using the opportunity to see how we can give more people the opportunity to join.

WHAT IS ULTS BOOK CLUB?

The questionnaire explains it all, but in summary, Ults Book Club is a weekly live reading group created by the Ultimates discord server to help guide people through the tricky task of reading comics and do so with friends!

If you have attended Club before, please also fill out the form, as we want to make sure we have the needs of starters as well covered as those of our veterans.

FILL OUT THE QUESTIONAIRE HERE

Want to ask some questions or yell about our favourites? Jump into our server Here!

14 notes • Posted 2021-05-21 19:54:26 GMT

#1

Civil War as told by Tony’s gauntlet

A comic edit for the SteveTony Games, square “Civil War” and challenge “Uncharted Waters” (Telling a story via a series of edits without text)

41 notes • Posted 2021-06-30 15:03:28 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[renee-writer]

The Diner Chapter 27 Albany

She is shivering. He pulls over at the first rest stop he sees. “I am sae sorry Claire. I wasn't thinking. It gets colder the farther north we go.” He is up and searching through his clothes,” we will have to get ye some fall and winter clothes.”

“I wasn't either. When you live in a place where you don't need a jacket until after Christmas. Well, you don’t think about being cold.”

“True.” He returns with one of his button down long sleeve shirts. “It will be a bit big but should keep ye warm.” She slips it on and buttons it up. She rolls up the sleeves.

“Better. Thank you.”

An hour later.

“Look Claire.” She looks where he is pointing. A sign that says,’ Welcome to New York, The Empire State.’

“Oh wow! I never imagined being here.”

Unfortunately, there isn’t much to see as they are still on the highway. She sees signs that revere to the upcoming cities, businesses, but no real sign of what New York is about.

“Hold on love. We are coming off the highway soon.” He moves into one of the smaller byways. She can catch glimpses of the top of the houses.

“Oh, the trees! Jamie look at the trees!” She has never seen such pretty leaves. Fall happens so fast in the south. The rich colors she sees on the trees don't exist there.

“Beautiful.” If she had been able to look away, she would see he wasn’t talking about the leaves.

The roads get smaller as they move towards Albany. She sees the houses with the stoops like on the TV shows set in New York. She is thoroughly enchanted and he is enchanted watching her. He will drive her through the city part of the city on the way back out. Then they will find a hotel. But first, he has a load to drop off.

Albany's Natural Food Store, is just a bit away from the residential area and the people in the townhouses that shop there. He pulls into the back and helps Claire and Highway out.

“Mr. Fraser, you are right on time. And who is this?”

“Ms. Stern, meet Claire Beauchamp and Highway.”

“Highway appropriate. Hello Miss Beauchamp. I am Ms. Stern. My partner and I own this establishment. We choose your partner to drive for us as he is independent also.”

“Nice to meet you. Very good reason.”

“You are southern?”

“Yes ma'am.”

“Ma'am? Please call Ms. Stern.”

“Yes m.. Ms. Stern. Jamie, I am going to walk Highway why y'all do your business.”

“Aye love.” She walks to the edge of the property and monitors both the puppy and watches as Jamie opens the back of the truck and Ms. Stern disappears. She returns a moment later with driving a fork lift. Claire's mouth pops open. She walks back over. She has to see this.

Jamie draws her close as they watch her drive up the ramp and in, backing out with a pallet full of boxes. They disappear into the store. She returns. After a half hour, the back of the truck is empty.

“Miss Beauchamp, would you like to meet my partner?”

“I would be honored.”

“I will take Highway back in and join you.” She nods thinking, of course, that a puppy would be unsanitary in their shop. She soon finds out that isn't the only reason.

The shop smells of herbs and flowers. A bit overwhelming but not bad scent. “We sell only holistic, natural, and made in America, products,” she explains as they walk farther in. A second later, Jamie takes her hand as he joins them.

“Ah Mr. Fraser, I am glad you could join us without the puppy. My Sara, wouldn’t approve.”

“I am well aware of that Md. Stern.”

“You are a smart man, Mr. Fraser.”

“Is Sara allergic?” Claire asks.

“You could say Miss Beauchamp.” They walk through the main store and into the living quarters beyond. “Miss Beauchamp meet my Sara. Sara, Miss Beauchamp. Seems our truck driver has found a southern girl.” She is presented to a cat. A cat!

She looks to Jamie for help. “That is right Sara. She is a lovely lass. A writer. We've also a puppy, Highway. But she is out in the rig.”

“He is a smart one is Mr. Fraser.”

“Ah, it is a pleasure to meet you Sara.”

“She likes your accent. She has an ear for languages. It is why she took to Mr. Fraser right away.”

“I see.”

“Sara and I are the sole employees. We are only open a few times a week. It is enough to keep use. More then that is wasteful.” Claire nods like she completely understands.

“We must be off Ms. Stern and Sara.” Jamie rescues her.

“Of course. More deliveries to make. We will see you next time.”

“What, in the hell, was that?”

“Sorry lass,” they are back in the truck and safely away. “I dinna have time to tell ye. I dinna expect her to invite ye in. She doesn’t many people and with ye being southern..”

“Wait, pray tell, is wrong with being southern?”

“Nothing love. It is just Ms. Stern has her opinions. And her Sara.”

“Right. And I ask again, what was that?”

“A sad story actually. I got it from the last trucker that delivered to her. She had a daughter, Sara, who died of crib death. Her partner, they weren’t married, left. He couldn’t handle it. She went a bit crazy with grief, hospitalized for awhile. When she came home, she found the kitten. From them on, the cat was a replacement for her lost child.”

“That really is horrible. Did I react okay? I wouldn’t want to hurt her.”

“Ye did fine. Better then most. If I wasn't pre-warned. Ye ne' ken what is behind someone’s actions. Tis I lesson I learned on this job.”

“A very good one. Where are we going now?”

“To a hotel. I ken one that excepts pets.”

“Oh. Good.”

[sometimesrosy]

Someone in this fandom thinks Bellamy being sad after 6 years is racist? I'm sorry but I don't like that at all. I'm not emotionally perfect at coping. I'm still suffering through things that happened over 10-15 years ago. It's human to still be emotionally affected by things that have happened to you, is it not? Or am I just a weirdo who hangs on to the past? I expect Bellamy to at least be functionally depressed, but I also expect him to still have moments where he breaks down. Is that bad?

This show is very much about how the past affects the future. It is a post apocalyptic show and deals with a lot of trauma. It’s not just the characters who are traumatized, but also the physical world and the cultures. It’s about how the decisions of the past lead to destruction and about how the leaders of the present repeat the past mistakes to start the cycle all over again.

This show is not actually ABOUT people being healthy and making good choices and being happy and positive and never suffering pain. 

The fandom has some distinct ideas about what suffering on this show means, and they get angry (ANGRY) at the betrayal of how the characters suffer. They get offended (FURIOUS) when their representation or the character they identify with must go through suffering. It seems sometimes as if the fandom forgets that every character is on a journey, they have goals and hopes and fears and flaws and they make choices that are realistically based on psychology and human development rather than fairy tale tropes and archetypes.

I’ve said before that I think a lot of the fandom’s issues with The 100, their anger and feelings of betrayal about the story lines and the suffering, are based upon genre confusion. A lot of people don’t seem to be all that comfortable with or familiar with the post apocalyptic science fiction genre. It doesn’t matter how many times they are explicitly told that this is not a happy ending kind of story or a romance. They refuse to accept the genre and the conventions of the genre. 

In the apocalypse, people, things and worlds are destroyed. You can’t have this story without it. Because that’s what it’s about. Destruction. Survival, fighting, and, hopefully, rebirth. There is a version of Post apocalyptic fiction in which there is no hope and humanity is doomed, but I hate that kind and I don’t think this is it. This one explicitly says there is hope. 

And it explicitly shows ALL the characters going through extreme suffering, torture, confinement, threat, horror– and it shows them either fighting through to defeat the horror and grow, succumbing to the darkness and dying, or fighting through but becoming the horror themselves. There might be some other paths in there, too. But the point is that this show is ABOUT the characters suffering and the suffering does not go away magically, like it does in so many other stories.

As a person who not only suffers from PTSD and is a domestic abuse survivor, I find this incredibly valuable. It HONORS the real world suffering I’ve experienced and says, yes, this is real, it is painful, it hurts, it is life changing and no one is going to make it go poof. It’s hard work to get through it and it IS a risk. And not everyone makes it out. It’s a struggle every day and it is a war that we are fighting to win. 

I understand why people want Bellamy to be strong and happy, but the world DID just end, his sister is buried, Clarke is gone, they live on an empty tin can and eat algae. This is not a recipe for a happy go lucky life. Bob and JR have said that he’s found a way to process  a lot of his trauma and he has become a more holistic leader and this is great. It’s what I’m hoping for. 

But it is not wrong to hope to see your pain and the struggle of your own recovery on screen. It’s not wrong to find value in the suffering of the characters and how they overcome their obstacles. It’s why a LOT of us watch this kind of show, and for all that many fans have decided that Bellamy’s or Raven’s suffering is racist, that is completely negating the importance of seeing those characters fight through to become the HEROES OF THEIR OWN STORIES. Which, let me be honest, is not a story POC get all that often. 

Yes, we want stories where the POC characters have happily ever afters, but if that is what you are looking for, you shouldn’t watch The 100, because the purpose of this kind of show is the opposite of happily ever after. It doesn’t mean it’s racist or wrong or morally impure, it means we’re getting something different out of it. Something JUST as valid as seeing POC characters win without ever struggling because they are perfect and pure superheroes. 

I personally don’t really watch that kind of show, because without conflict and struggle, it seems kinda boring, but, hey, whatever floats the boat, right? 

All I know is that I don’t care if people are only watching The 100 for Bellamy or for Bellarke or for representation or whatever are their reasons. They can do that. I know that I am watching it because I NEED to see that struggle, and have them fight through and WIN against the apocalypse. I am personally transformed by watching Bellamy or Clarke’s or Raven’s struggles, not having them disappear conveniently, because that’s the usual story trope, but having them remain even after they’ve won a battle. Because that’s the truth. Pain is an onion, and when you peel off one layer, there’s another below. This show, and the suffering, has layers, like life. And that is really important to see.

I am an adult. No one is allowed to tell me how I may or may not relate to a work of fiction. Whether someone else thinks it’s morally bankrupt or not. I personally have not really seen those people to be all that pure, as they’re out here trying to bully people and silence them. So I’m not interested in their idea of morality. 

And let me tell you another thing. As a teacher, as a person with an english degree, as a writer, as a counselor, I’m telling you and all the other fans that you have a right to interpret this show any way you want. I may not agree with you, but if it is important to you, it’s yours. This is me, as an authority with degrees and licensing and a curriculum vitae all about literature, interpretations, making meaning, media analysis, personal empowerment and multiculturalism, that no one has a right to tell you how to interpret fiction, or love characters, or find meaning in a show. And it’s pissing me off that people on the internet are going around telling people that they way they ship is wrong because they personally don’t like it. They’re claiming the authority to do that to fandom, so I’m claiming my authority, and giving it all back to YOU. 

Officially. 

Here’s your permission slip.

I don’t care if the person telling you how to ship is a professor, or a 20 year old kid or has skin darker than yours or is me. Tell ‘em to shut up. 

[takadasaiko]

Hi hon! *hugs* I figured now was as good a time as any to ask you about what drew you into Dirk Gently and why you love it? I've seen it on my dash from you for a while now and it looks so bizarrely fun, I've been thinking about giving it a shot? Thanks for the lovely blog! (And I'm so sorry about last night, I don't understand the writing choice either :l )

Hey there! Yes,please distract me. Please please please :)

So, I followed the lovely Michael Eklund form Wynonna Earp over to Dirk Gently. He plays Martin, a psychic vampire and leader of the Rowdy 3 (in which there are now five of them).

Here’s Martin for your viewing pleasure:

The Roomie ( @kamikazebirdwithabrokenwing) actually watched it first. I remember walking in to talk to her and there’s this bit of chaos on her screen and I asked her what on earth was going on. Her response was something to the degree of that (gesturing to the chaos) was the whole show. It’s a fantastically cracktastic mystery each season in which Dirk 

this lovely boy here:

tries to solve The Case in a holistic manner. He’s slightly psychic (though he won’t admit to it) and sort of just.... stumbles across the clues (sometimes when he’s actively NOT looking for them) and it finally all ties up, usually after much mayhem and destruction. There’s chaos and craziness all through and some really incredible writing. Definite supernatural element to it, yet still based more or less in the real world, just with all of this moving as sort of the undercurrent and coming across to average people as being absolutely insane. Also very hard to describe without major spoilers?

Anyway, it’s nuts, there are a million things flying a million different directions, lots of different and amazing relationship types, and the fandom is utterly fantastic. They’re so welcoming and sweet and while I’m sure there are shipping issues here and there, the majority of the fandom is super chill about it. It’s fun, quirky, and this season one of my favourites (Amanda, who is a spoonie) is being taken on an adventure in which her chronic illness may actually become the source of a superpower for her. 

I feel like that’s sort of all over the place, but there are just so many reasons why I love it. I would highly recommend it. It’s a lot of fun and the fandom is fantastic! 

[surlydruid]

Hey, one note is enough for! Buckle up kids, this might get long.

So, I was thinking about how prevalent certain types of shows are. When it becomes apparent that a certain style or genre is popular, it gets replicated to an almost ridiculous level. The best examples are hospital dramas and police procedurals. I have no idea how many different series of Law and Order there are, but I know it's a lot. And that's just from one producer. There could be entire channels just related to hospital shows and police shows. They take up a huge amount of time slots because someone exec behind a desk decided they were popular.

Now, I'll grant you that there's some variety within this miasma of options. There's some diversity in casting, in plots, in character arcs. But it all feels very much the same. To me, one hospital drama looks indistinguishable from the next (it would take me several minutes of concentrated watching to know if the show was ER or House, for example). The same is true I think of a lot of food shows. They can mostly be divided into 1. exploring restaurants/bakeries/cities/etc, 2. competition among 4 people, some strange twists involving the ingredients or how they need to prepare them, or 3. competition among many people to either win a prestigious sounding title or their own show.

And to me, this is the television equivalent of gentrification. Taking over channels and time slots with a huge amount of content that all looks and feels very uniform, but with enough slight variations thrown in to keep the attention of the viewer. It's like a neighborhood of all nearly identical "luxury" apartment buildings that most people who started out in that neighborhood can no longer afford.

Enter Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.

Not quite a crime drama, not quite science fiction, not quite fantasy, it's really its own thing. It doesn't look or feel like any other detective show, even compared to other detective shows from the same network (looking at you Sherlock). It also doesn't look or feel quite like any other sci fi or fantasy out there right now. The characters are all given a lot of depth, and many of them defy the stereotypes you'd expect from them (e.g. Dirk isn't cold and emotionless for the sake of being a logical detective, he's so so warm and friendly and he's scatter brained and weird but he embraces that. Also see: Panto Trost and Silas Dengdamor and their beautiful stereotype defying gay asses). The plots are really unique and detailed, and it's difficult to predict the twists and turns they'll take (not something that can be said of every show). For a live action show, they use some seriously bright, bold, unusual colors. My point here is that it sticks out.

Additionally, Dirk Gently really deals in characters that are outsiders, that don't fit into mainstream living, that are thrown into situations where they just need to make the most of what they have, which is usually not really enough.

And that's the heart of rasquache, as I was taught to understand it at least. It's about taking what little you have and making it suit your needs. It's the artistic side of a survival mindset, and a middle finger to anyone who dares look down on it as being lesser for the limitations faced in making it. It was at one point used derogatorily to mean something along the lines of ghetto. But now there's a decent amount of scholarship on reclaiming the term. It's a defiant attitude that says "I will make the most from the least, and if you don't like it I really don't care because it's not for you."

In relation to conversations about gentrification, rasquachismo is about your house or neighborhood proudly not fitting into the "popular" standards. Maybe it's bright pink, or covered in polka dots, but it sticks out. There's a backstory behind that place and the way it looks, and the backstory is inherently tied to the people who have created that place. Gentrification tries to sever places from their backstories, in the name of commerciality and uniformity.

That's why a lot of television feels sort of heartless to me, characters with no backstories or backstories that are really overused or somehow irrelevant to the character. Plots that have been done to death, arcs that feel forced and are only there because they've been proven to be popular. And DGHDA is so the opposite, it's the most heartfelt show I've seen in a long time. It's truly unique in the television landscape, a bright yellow house with found-object art all over the lawn. And they can try to fit it into a mold to make it conventionally popular, but I don't think that Arvind or the other writers will let that happen without a fight.

Thanks for coming to my tedtalk y'all.

My brain just gave me a weird series of thoughts but I also really like them, anyway, would anyone like to listen to me talk about Dirk Gently and the way it fights gentrification of television, and more specifically how it embraces the natural opposite, rasquachification?

[neijayah]

Seoul, day 3 - they just left me ㅠㅠ

I had an extrem short night again. Not that I went to bed so late, like the night before, due to not being very active during the flights. But my body had decided around half past 2 in the night: that's enough, though my eyes were falling shut. This was going to be a hard day. Thanks body.

Back to the 3rd day. So on a quite short notice via KakaoTalk it was decided that this day we weren't having classes but an excursion to the National Museum of Korea (국립중앙박물관) and the National Hangeul Museum (국립한글박물관).

All of the students are connected with the CEO, teachers and co-students via KakaoTalk, the Korean equivalent to WhatsApp, Messenger or other social messengers. Emoticons, which are much cooler btw., can be bought for small money. Especially, emoticons by K-Pop idols are very famous amongst K-Pop fans and Teenagers.

So the whole school was devided into two groups, depending on when you have your general Korean lessons. So for my group it was 10 am at Chungmuro Station (충무로). Another pro of having metro station with several exits is, that you can meet up at a certain exit, without having to walk an extra mile, just to get where you want to. So you can just say: 'Let's meet inside exit 3' and you won't miss each other as well as getting most easily to where you actually want to go.

After all students attendance were checked (of course with mobile phones - duh) we went in groups via metro to Ichon Station (이촌), exit 2 where both museums are.

You first come across the Mirror pond. A beautiful pond surrounded by nice buildings and trees. This alone offers a beautiful scenery.

When going up the steps, you'll get right in front of the National Museum of Korea.

At least one class of kids (surprisingly not in school uniforms) went in with us. Maybe it was just my impression, but they are as loud as German classes. Another surprise, both museums are totally for free.

And there is so much to see. The building was build and design very well. You start on ground level on the right side and move along the exhibits and finish this level coming out of the left side of the upside down U. Then you can continue your round on the next level. This way you won't pass by exits, that might have been interesting.

Most of us weren't really eager to visit these museums, but it was extremely fascinating, as it is a culture so far away from ours, and even more fascinating what they developed how and in which era. I know, that around the beginning of the 1900s they were still in the Joseon Dynasty. Ever watched a Korean Drama (well, you really need to, they are awesome)? A lot of their historical drama play in the Joseon Dynasty....no industry, no cars, no electricity, no advanced medicine. Probably comparable with the Roman Empire (by knowledge and technical development).

A lot of art was also displayed.

I found the way of displaying the exhibits very beautiful. This way you were able to make stunning picture, though a bit blurred, as you weren't allowed to use your flashlight. But still, I think, they turned out pretty good.

At around half past 12 we all went to get lunch. The museum has a small food court with cheap food. Unfortunately, everyone had that idea and while we had been walking around level by level, another 10 classes and a huge group of elderlies had joined the party. So the food court was over crowded. Three Swiss students, that I somewhat befriended, and I decided to go to a restaurant just in front of the museum called Mirror Pond Restaurant. A little bit high priced, but as most Korean food, more than enough. One meal could have fed two women. But it was soooooooo delicious. Like to all meals, you get Banchan (the small bowls next to the coke) to the meal. Those are cold side dishes, that compliment each meal. At least one of it is always Kimchi.

To this meal we also received 3 small Pajeon, small pancakes made with Kimchi (the red ones) and green onion, maybe with sea food (the green one). Maybe, because I haven't even tried them, as my dish, some kind of Japchae/Bibimbab mix was so much, I could hardly eat half of it. Such a shame to leave it. ㅠㅠ (But if you have ever seen one of those videos Korean people watch, where people are eating, you will know that this is impossible to eat all. I mean I'm just watching a show about one of those "YouTubers" and they showed how expanded their stomach is.....That's really sick.)

Just like in the U.S. water is served for free to each meal. The water is nice and cool and even I like to drink it.

After having payed about 19,000 Won (= about € 14,59, pretty expensive for a Korean meal) we went back to the meeting point and went on to the National Hangeul Museum, right next door. You just have to go through a small park, which is really beautiful. I will make pictures, when I return there. I had the feeling, I haven't taken in every exhibit, as much as I wanted to. Especially, with hundreds of kids having to fill out some kind of questionnaire.

The Hangeul Museum describes the way the Korean language was developed. One of the few spoken languages that were artificially created, leaned onto the former Chinese/Korean language. The museum also describes the way, modern medicine helped introducing new words into Korean vocabulary, as Korean medicine and therefore their language was pretty holistic. This exhibition is also very interesting, but unfortunately not all exhibit descriptions were translated. So sometimes all you can do is to look at the beautiful exhibits. What I really liked were the old typewriters and their keyboard. It was totally different from todays keyboard. I do't know, how they were able to write with that?

The museums shop was also the first time on this travel that I bought some souvenirs. Just a keychain and a bottle for drinks. I think, I will keep it on the low with souvenirs, as I need to put them somewhere as well.

Afterwards I looked out for my co-students and teacher, and all were gone. ㅠㅠ A second ago, I had just seen 3 of them, hanging around, and suddenly everyone was gone. I tried to wait a bit, to see if they were still in the exhibition, but no one was to be found. And the weather being so hot, I didn't wanted to wait much longer outside, so I made my way home. We were to meet in the evening anyway, for a welcome Newbies 치맥 (Tshimaek = Chicken 치킨 and Beer 맥주)

But plans just didn't worked out that well. Though I generally love all kind of meat here in Korea, being out in the open the whole day might have not been that good. Either I caught a cold or something or the pollution was so bad, that my throat hurt pretty bad and even drinking water didn't help at all. I downloaded several apps beforehand to get warnings if Yellow Dust will be blown over to Korea (usually more around May) or how bad the pollution is. That day it was straight on yellow, meaning, not so great but just keep the windows closed and don't do sports outside. But obviously I'm not used to it anymore. Growing up in the former GDR with all these exhaust fumes getting blown into the air, I would have thought my body can take that. So my next purchase will be some face masks, which you can get in almost every convenience store. They're more or less just so women can hide their faces when not yet having Make-Up on, or if you want to protect your surroundings from your gems. Sometimes even as fashion statement, when having one with a design on it. But it may at least keep a bit of the stuff away, that isn't so nice to my throat and voice. I asked my teacher at home, and she said the pollution is pretty bad and she always wears face masks when in Korea.

So in the end I skipped the meeting and went back home. I'm not that social anyway. I had to continue writing anyway.

Seoul, day 4 - doing nothing but writing and watching TV

After feeling a bit sick with my sore throat, I had slept full 12 hours. Honest, I could have slept 12 more. But I knew, I had to write it down as soon as possible. If I let myself go, I won't write down anything at all.

So, the next day will be pretty much only school, and finally finding a face mask for my throat. I would at least have two longer breaks to maybe find one mask in the near surrounding and maybe going to the river, which is nearby. Let's see.

[yes-dal456]

Why So Many Americans Don't 'Believe' In Evolution, Climate Change And Vaccines

The U.S. has a science problem. Around half of the country’s citizens reject the facts of evolution; fewer than a third agree there is a scientific consensus on human-caused climate change, and the number who accept the importance of vaccines is ticking downward.

Those numbers, all gleaned from recent Pew and Gallup research polls, might suggest that Americans are an anti-science bunch. But yet, Americans love science. Even as many in the U.S. reject certain scientific conclusions, National Science Foundation surveys have found that public support of science is high, with more than 75 percent of Americans saying they are in favor of taxpayer-funded basic research. 

“The whole discussion around scientific denial has become very, very simplified,” said Troy Campbell, a psychologist at the University of Oregon. [6 Politicians Who Got the Science Wrong]

Campbell and other psychologists are presenting findings from polls and other research that they say reveal Americans’ complex relationship with science. The presentations are occurring today (Jan. 21) at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) in San Antonio.

Science denial — whether it comes in the form of dismissing fact-based evidence as being untrue or in accepting notions that are not factual as being true — is not typically rooted in blanket anti-science attitudes, the research showed. But the facts aren’t always paramount, either. Often, people’s denial of scientific evidence is based on motivations other than finding truth, such as protecting their social identity, the research said.

Why deny?

One key thing to understand about people who engage in science denial is that very few people deny science as a whole, according to research by Yale University psychologist Dan Kahan, also presenting at SPSP on Saturday. For example, the more liberal a person is, the more likely he or she is to agree that humans are causing global warming; a conservative is far more likely to blame natural climate variation or say scientists are making the whole thing up. [Wishful Thinking: 6 ‘Magic Bullet’ Cures That Don’t Exist]

But that same conservative may be just fine with the evidence for the efficacy of vaccines, and there is virtually no partisan split on issues like the safety of nanotechnology, the use of artificial sweeteners in drinks or the health impacts of living near high-voltage power lines, Kahan wrote in a book chapter soon to be published in the “Oxford Handbook on the Science of Science Communication.” 

Kahan’s research has also shown that the more science-literate people are, the more strongly they hold to their beliefs — even if those beliefs are totally wrong.

In other words, it’s not about hating science or misunderstanding the facts. It’s about motivation.

“Beliefs are difficult to budge, because people don’t act like scientists, weighing up evidence in an even-handed way,” Matthew Hornsey, a psychologist at the University of Queensland, wrote in an email to Live Science. “When someone wants to believe something, then they act more like lawyers trying to prosecute what they already want to be true. And they cherry-pick the evidence to be able to do that.”

The real question, Hornsey said, is why people want to believe something that flies in the face of scientific evidence. In some cases, the reason can be political: Solving the problems created by climate change would mean standing in the way of the free market, something conservatives tend to oppose.

In other cases, people might have some other vested interest in their beliefs, Hornsey said. A smoker may not want to believe her or his habit is really going to cause lung cancer, because that would mean the person would have to quit. Social identity can also be an important driver of beliefs, Hornsey said. Studies of teens in Midwestern towns have found that these individuals typically go along with the crowd, he said, believing in evolution if the majority of their friends do and believing in creationism if that’s what the people around them believe.

“For someone living in a ‘creationist community,’ to express belief in evolution might be seen as a distancing act, as a signal that one was defiantly assuming an outsider status,” Hornsey said.

Changing minds

When someone’s self-image or social acceptance is at stake, badgering them with facts isn’t likely to change their minds, research has shown.

In fact, a 2010 study found that when people were shown incorrect information alongside a correction, the update failed to reverse their initial belief in the misinformation. Even worse, partisans who were motivated to believe the original incorrect information became even more firm in their belief in that information after reading a correction, the researchers found. For example, conservatives who were told that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction before the Iraq war believed that claim more firmly after reading a correction.

So researchers are suggesting more-subtle ways to change people’s attitudes toward accepting scientific facts. Hornsey said he and his colleagues call this “psychological jiujitsu,” in reference to the martial art that teaches people to use their opponent’s own weight against them. [Best Supporting Role: 8 Celebs Who Promote Science]

In this approach, people who accept scientific facts might try to get at the root of the disbeliefs held by those who don’t, and then address that basis, rather than addressing the surface denial. Campbell and his colleagues have found, for example, that if free-market solutions to climate change are presented as an option, self-identified Republicans become less likely to deny climate science.

Using this jiujitsu approach is challenging, Hornsey and his colleagues wrote in an article soon to be published in the journal American Psychologist, because people’s underlying motivations are not always clear. Sometimes, the people themselves may not know why they think the way they do. And no single message will fit all possible reasons for disbelief, the researchers warned. [Evolution vs. Creationism: 6 Big Battles]

“A two-tiered strategy would be optimal: messages about evidence and scientific consensus that should be sufficient for the majority, and a jiujitsu approach for the unconvinced minority,” the authors wrote.

There’s another trap to watch out for, though, Campbell warned: smugness. If a message from a science-accepting person comes across to a denier as being holier-than-thou, or as judgmental of a person’s whole character, it’s likely to backfire, he said.

“I like to say, ‘Tell people they already are the people you want them to be,’” Campbell said. For example, “don’t go to somebody and say, ‘You don’t care about the environment enough.’ Point out all the ways they do care about the environment.”

From there, Campbell said, there is common ground to work from. Successful persuasion, he said, finds common values without triggering people’s self-protective instincts.

“The general thing I think is important to say is ‘I like and care about you,’” Campbell said. Once respect is established, he said, “any criticism is very much tapered, and is not a holistic admonishment of who you are.”

Original article on Live Science. 

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-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from http://ift.tt/2jxHayX from Blogger http://ift.tt/2k4ebGl

[imreviewblog]

Why So Many Americans Don't 'Believe' In Evolution, Climate Change And Vaccines

The U.S. has a science problem. Around half of the country’s citizens reject the facts of evolution; fewer than a third agree there is a scientific consensus on human-caused climate change, and the number who accept the importance of vaccines is ticking downward.

Those numbers, all gleaned from recent Pew and Gallup research polls, might suggest that Americans are an anti-science bunch. But yet, Americans love science. Even as many in the U.S. reject certain scientific conclusions, National Science Foundation surveys have found that public support of science is high, with more than 75 percent of Americans saying they are in favor of taxpayer-funded basic research. 

“The whole discussion around scientific denial has become very, very simplified,” said Troy Campbell, a psychologist at the University of Oregon. [6 Politicians Who Got the Science Wrong]

Campbell and other psychologists are presenting findings from polls and other research that they say reveal Americans’ complex relationship with science. The presentations are occurring today (Jan. 21) at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) in San Antonio.

Science denial — whether it comes in the form of dismissing fact-based evidence as being untrue or in accepting notions that are not factual as being true — is not typically rooted in blanket anti-science attitudes, the research showed. But the facts aren’t always paramount, either. Often, people’s denial of scientific evidence is based on motivations other than finding truth, such as protecting their social identity, the research said.

Why deny?

One key thing to understand about people who engage in science denial is that very few people deny science as a whole, according to research by Yale University psychologist Dan Kahan, also presenting at SPSP on Saturday. For example, the more liberal a person is, the more likely he or she is to agree that humans are causing global warming; a conservative is far more likely to blame natural climate variation or say scientists are making the whole thing up. [Wishful Thinking: 6 ‘Magic Bullet’ Cures That Don’t Exist]

But that same conservative may be just fine with the evidence for the efficacy of vaccines, and there is virtually no partisan split on issues like the safety of nanotechnology, the use of artificial sweeteners in drinks or the health impacts of living near high-voltage power lines, Kahan wrote in a book chapter soon to be published in the “Oxford Handbook on the Science of Science Communication.” 

Kahan’s research has also shown that the more science-literate people are, the more strongly they hold to their beliefs — even if those beliefs are totally wrong.

In other words, it’s not about hating science or misunderstanding the facts. It’s about motivation.

“Beliefs are difficult to budge, because people don’t act like scientists, weighing up evidence in an even-handed way,” Matthew Hornsey, a psychologist at the University of Queensland, wrote in an email to Live Science. “When someone wants to believe something, then they act more like lawyers trying to prosecute what they already want to be true. And they cherry-pick the evidence to be able to do that.”

The real question, Hornsey said, is why people want to believe something that flies in the face of scientific evidence. In some cases, the reason can be political: Solving the problems created by climate change would mean standing in the way of the free market, something conservatives tend to oppose.

In other cases, people might have some other vested interest in their beliefs, Hornsey said. A smoker may not want to believe her or his habit is really going to cause lung cancer, because that would mean the person would have to quit. Social identity can also be an important driver of beliefs, Hornsey said. Studies of teens in Midwestern towns have found that these individuals typically go along with the crowd, he said, believing in evolution if the majority of their friends do and believing in creationism if that’s what the people around them believe.

“For someone living in a ‘creationist community,’ to express belief in evolution might be seen as a distancing act, as a signal that one was defiantly assuming an outsider status,” Hornsey said.

Changing minds

When someone’s self-image or social acceptance is at stake, badgering them with facts isn’t likely to change their minds, research has shown.

In fact, a 2010 study found that when people were shown incorrect information alongside a correction, the update failed to reverse their initial belief in the misinformation. Even worse, partisans who were motivated to believe the original incorrect information became even more firm in their belief in that information after reading a correction, the researchers found. For example, conservatives who were told that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction before the Iraq war believed that claim more firmly after reading a correction.

So researchers are suggesting more-subtle ways to change people’s attitudes toward accepting scientific facts. Hornsey said he and his colleagues call this “psychological jiujitsu,” in reference to the martial art that teaches people to use their opponent’s own weight against them. [Best Supporting Role: 8 Celebs Who Promote Science]

In this approach, people who accept scientific facts might try to get at the root of the disbeliefs held by those who don’t, and then address that basis, rather than addressing the surface denial. Campbell and his colleagues have found, for example, that if free-market solutions to climate change are presented as an option, self-identified Republicans become less likely to deny climate science.

Using this jiujitsu approach is challenging, Hornsey and his colleagues wrote in an article soon to be published in the journal American Psychologist, because people’s underlying motivations are not always clear. Sometimes, the people themselves may not know why they think the way they do. And no single message will fit all possible reasons for disbelief, the researchers warned. [Evolution vs. Creationism: 6 Big Battles]

“A two-tiered strategy would be optimal: messages about evidence and scientific consensus that should be sufficient for the majority, and a jiujitsu approach for the unconvinced minority,” the authors wrote.

There’s another trap to watch out for, though, Campbell warned: smugness. If a message from a science-accepting person comes across to a denier as being holier-than-thou, or as judgmental of a person’s whole character, it’s likely to backfire, he said.

“I like to say, ‘Tell people they already are the people you want them to be,’” Campbell said. For example, “don’t go to somebody and say, ‘You don’t care about the environment enough.’ Point out all the ways they do care about the environment.”

From there, Campbell said, there is common ground to work from. Successful persuasion, he said, finds common values without triggering people’s self-protective instincts.

“The general thing I think is important to say is ‘I like and care about you,’” Campbell said. Once respect is established, he said, “any criticism is very much tapered, and is not a holistic admonishment of who you are.”

Original article on Live Science. 

Editor’s Recommendations

The 10 Most Controversial Miracles

6 Myths About Girls and Science

Science Fact or Fiction? The Plausibility of 10 Sci-Fi Concepts

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from Healthy Living - The Huffington Post http://huff.to/2jq5vJd

[angstandhappiness]

How fascinating! You took things thay are overlooked normally into account and made a very compelling essay!

Hey Lightning, I was wondering if I could get your thoughts on something. One take that seems to keep returning every once in a while is the "Allura fell for Lotor only after he revealed his Altean heritage," but I know u and others have disproven this many times, which does reassure me. While I love Allura, I definitely think one of her weaknesses was her devotion to Altea and singing Alfor's praises, which sometimes became too much. At the same time, it bothers me when I see some ppl (1/?)

Continuing anon message: “ say that she thought Alteans were superior to all other races, and that when the colony plot twist happened, she became repulsed by Lotor's Galra side, which is why she rejected him. For them, that's why she forced violent memories onto an uncorrupted Zarkon, but somehow "saw the good/redeemed" Honerva, the Altean. I can kind of understand where they're coming from, but for me, it just didn't make sense that Allura suddenly had a change of heart considering for most of s8, she was angry and dead set on going after Honerva. Even with that, I think to a lot of her fans, s8 made Allura so ooc that she became unrecognizable, which hurt to watch. I guess for me it's hard seeing antis and people who don't like her claim that that's just how she is and has always been. Haha sorry for rambling, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, since your arguments ease my mind on a lot of things when it comes to Allura :)”

Hi, anon. Wow, thanks for your extended note! I don’t know anywhere in canon that Allura champions Alteans as a superior race. The definition of racial supremacy is a belief that inherent genetic differences between races determine cultural or individual achievement, with social/governmental policies championing intolerance of other races. To get Allura to fit into such a label:

1.      A viewer has to ignore or undermine all the evidence available about who the main-universe Alteans really were before main-universe Zarkon’s massacre of them.

2.      A viewer has to ignore or undermine how Allura actually responds to a variety of different races in the show, including her own.  

So let’s start with issue one. To support an “Allura was a racial supremacist” opinion, a lot of antis (and even non-militant, average viewers) are favorable to the opinion that Alteans as a group, including Alfor, were actually evil and violent colonizer elitists before Galrans killed them off. In other words, they question Altean victimhood, and this allows the militant antis to poison and undermine scenes of a woman mourning her home and her beloved family. And it just gets to be a really unsettling conversation, to listen to someone actually try to justify genocide. They’ll also have suspicions that all of our foundational backstory in the s3 finale was just “cleansed” propaganda from Coran. So if antis can undermine Allura’s entire race and family as corrupt, then they can intentionally undermine any of her canonical statements about or efforts toward peace. Which is hilarious, because this racist tactic applied to Allura is actually what a lot of antis accuse Allura of doing with Lotor.

For the record, I don’t think the show production team actually intended the subliminal messaging/cognitive dissonance that I’m about to discuss. The people who designed and developed this show are fans of robot kitties and aren’t PhDs in social issues. But I think there is a very serious issue about the portrayal of genocide victims that feeds into some very real problems in our world, especially regarding the concept of racial supremacy and conspiracy theories about genocide victims.

VLD tried to play with both genocide politics for edge™ points while ALSO playing with shatterglass theory (shatterglass meaning an AU where the heroes are villains and villains are heroes). Combining these two concepts into the same universe creates some incredibly disturbing subliminal messaging about Alteans that very closely mimics ongoing neo-Nazi propaganda against Jews. Nazis and other anti-Semitists justify their hatred of Jews by equating them as terrible villains out for world domination via some underhanded shadow control of the mass populace. It’s an incredibly malicious form of propaganda, because it works so terribly well. And what do you know, VLD plays right into this kind of propaganda. In the season 3 episode, Hole in the Sky, we’re faced with team Voltron confronting an Altean Empire that was actually evil and out for multiverse domination. And oh by the way, they’re using malicious shadow tech to control a mass populace.

It’s like someone on the production team read the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and then just copied/pasted that incredibly damaging and widely accepted conspiracy theory right onto Alteans for s3 funsies because edge content.

This is incredibly punishing, for the narrative to wave the carrot stick in front of genocide survivors that maybe some others survived—and then to suggest that Alteans were the evil ones all along. A shatterglass twist worked very well in Captain Marvel (2019) for a lot of reasons, for example, but it just doesn’t work well in the VLD universe given that the show explicitly portrays the genocide victims as evil and validates this concept. And this episode unfortunately feeds ongoing cognitive dissonance in antis that if AU Alteans could be so evil…how certain are you that they aren’t in the main universe too? On the reverse side, the main-universe goes out of its way to portray that not all Galrans are evil, and even that Galrans were the primary resistance (BOM). But in this singular episode, we see a united Altean empire. And the only Altean who moves to stand against it once the shine wears off…is Allura. There is no AU Altean actually shown in the Guns of Gamara. So Allura stands alone as an Altean against her own people.

For this reason, this episode doesn’t function very well as a shatterglass AU either, because the moral “flip” isn’t a mirror balance to main universe. The Alteans of the AU world appear as fully united in their evil plans. And then, no doubt, anti-alluras point out other quirky things about main-universe Alteans throughout the show—the violent language-learning system that scares Pidge, and the ancient Altean terraforming technology that Haggar activates, and the fact that Oriande is a hidden place that keeps out the less magical with a violent guardian. These details, when removed from main-universe world building, create a cognitive dissonance about whether main-universe Allura and Alteans were actually genuine in how they depicted respectful “peace and diplomacy.” So anti alluras who believe Allura was a racial supremacist really rely on this s3 episode and these details to uphold their conspiracy theory.

So let’s focus on Allura in this episode, because it says a lot about who she ultimately is as a person, and people have forgotten how she actually responded in this episode. Allura is unquestionably hopeful at the thought that her and Coran might not be the last Alteans alive. Pretty understandable. If I were the last human, I’d be darn excited to find out there’s more of me left, lol. So her experience as a genocide victim initially blinds her to the evilness of these Alteans. You can even see the ache on her face, of how badly she wants to believe their narrative of peace.

So Allura is initially star-struck that she and Coran are not the last Alteans, yes, and that somehow they’ve achieved a “peace.” She is also not afraid to admit that they would be valuable allies in the war:

And she’s not wrong there, considering that they have what appears to be extensive military resources and a robot force of their own. But she makes a critical mistake in assuming that “these are my people” means that they share main-universe cultural sentiments. The instant Allura hears Slav (so not someone of her own race) call these Alteans out as actually evil colonizers turning people into slaves, she begins to question the narrative she’s received.

In this instance, she actually affords the Alteans the same courtesy she afforded Lotor—the opportunity to deny the accusations.

But in the AU Altean’s case, they try to turn blame back on other parties. Allura listens to Keith when he grows increasingly fearful of what the Alteans might do to the others, and she tries to plead for actual peace:

And actually, this is a pretty interesting moment for Allura. She tries to salvage an alliance…until she realizes that their differences are irreconcilable, and that their definition of peace is inherently different from her own. This probably sets the stage for why Allura was so triggered by Lotor talking about peace while also killing people—because she’s seen people misappropriate that term before. And also probably informs why she trusts the information of both Keith and Krolia (both of whom have Galran blood, btw).

Ultimately, Allura turns against her own people. Violently:

When they get angry about her wanting actual peace, Allura draws a weapon against them and rejects them from her people. This mimics how she spends several seasons fighting an Altean Haggar/Honerva for her crimes, and how she turns against Lotor too.

So case in point here, Allura loves her people, obviously—but she also is holding them to moral standards regarding their behavior, which is something that a genuine racist doesn’t do. As a matter of fact, Lotor is the only person of Altean blood that Allura genuinely bonds with ever again in the series. She’s distant with Romelle, she’s distant with the s8 Alteans… In s8, Allura even says this about Luca, which refers back to her own mistakes she made with initially being star-struck by the s3 AU Alteans who came in “peace”:

Allura herself had been manipulated in s3, wanting so desperately to not be the last Altean alive that it initially blinded her to how Commander Hira was manipulating her. The plight of the s8 Alteans who are deceived by Honerva is inherently frustrating to her, because she can see herself in them.

Absolutely none of this correlates with Allura seeing or perpetuating Alteans as a superior race. At every turn, her own people continue to disappoint her, and she increasingly and progressively separates herself from them in hopelessness, because they’re so brainwashed that they can’t see they’re just cannon fodder for someone else’s military agendas. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for a superior race, lol.

So let’s think about anti accusations here. Allura is a racial supremacist…but she’s arguing against her people who believe unquestionably in Honerva, another full Altean like herself? Nothing about that accusation makes sense with her actions.

The fact is, consistently from season 3 and onward, Allura is faced with her own people morally disappointing her.

The good news for the s8 Alteans like Tavo is that Allura is able to remove the dark entity Honerva is using to control him. Which allows other Alteans to “wake up” from being manipulated and try to make amends.

Regardless, Allura makes a very clear line that simply being Altean doesn’t make someone “right.” She sees herself fully at odds with her own people who are drawn in by Honerva’s lies. And she experienced well back in s2 (revealing Haggar as Honerva) and s3 (evil AU Alteans) that any given race, including her own, can house people who do bad things.

The fact is, she’s consistently and willingly drawn weapons against even her own people when they didn’t meet her moral expectations. So her response to Lotor isn’t particularly out of line there. She’s repulsed by a moral flaw.

And actually, Lotor himself wouldn’t have known this, but he very oddly echoed the AU Alteans by getting angry that Allura was angry over the means through which he was trying to get peace:

So Lotor actually reverts to the same logic of the AU Alteans—peace at any cost, just look at the results—

And keep in mind that the AU Alteans also manipulated Allura’s excitement about them, to get her to make the transreality comet usable so they could go into other realities. So Allura has felt betrayed and used before, by her own people.

So when she says this:

Yes, it’s a reference back to how Zarkon manipulated his friends in order to get access to the quintessence field, at the explicit cost of potentially killing his own people. But it’s not without understanding that yes, Alteans can be just as manipulative and betraying as Zarkon. Because she’s experienced it, again and again.  

As a matter of fact, six out of the eight seasons of Voltron: Legendary Defender feature villainous Alteans/Alteans on the wrong side of the war, and we continuously see Allura punished again and again for wishing that Alteans still lived.

No wonder she wanted to die.

This is something that I find uncomfortable about the narrative of the show. Previous iterations of Voltron did in fact have a “blood on everyone’s hands” perspective, such as within the ages 16+ Dynamic Comics. However, Arusians/Alteans in those old Voltron narratives were not victims of genocide. VLD turns Alteans into victims of the worst racial crime possible and then also consistently portrays them as inherently antagonistic to genuine peace efforts in some way, instead of focusing on the evil of the oppressors.

And this is such a double whammy for Lotor’s characters as well, given that he was abused by his parents and threatened with slavery via his Galran culture, and that he was half-Altean too trying to connect to his lost culture.

As a matter of fact, the larger show’s narrative interest in “victims as antagonists” makes it such that when we see victims try to enact actual justice, it feels almost jarring. Let’s look at that s8 Zarkon moment you brought up as an example, where Allura destroys his innocent perspective by showing him his evil deeds.

The s8 Zarkon is a weird topic because 1) This Zarkon actually doesn’t exist outside of Honerva’s mind, so how he has any kind of actual free-will is beyond me, unless someone wants to argue that Honerva actually cursed his true soul just as she cursed the other paladins. It’s hilarious too, because Honerva-mind-Zarkon also calls Honerva a psychopath, so I guess now Honerva is psychoanalyzing herself using her dead husband as the vehicle, while also discreetly helping the paladins to stop herself—

ANYWAY, using this Zarkon as a “proof” of Allura’s “racism” is also cherry picking in the weirdest of ways. Is she angry about his horrific and incalculable crimes, including even how he betrayed the OG paladins and ruined his own planet? Absolutely. Does she want him to be aware of his crimes instead of having to pretend like nothing’s wrong? Yes.

But notice here, this Zarkon actually shows remorse. He is actually crying over those memories and recognizing that he had done something wrong. And Allura can work with that. In fact, out of everyone standing around and doing nothing, it’s Allura who gives him a second chance and offers an alliance with Zarkon in order to stop a crazy Altean: 

Keep in mind too, Honerva didn’t have memory loss at the end of s8. She knew exactly what she’d done and had given up and had to actually be convinced to do anything halfway constructive. That’s a very different circumstance than mind-Zarkon had, who jumped at the chance to do something to fix what all had happened, and gets even morally righteous about it, calling his own wife a psychopath, lol.

So generally, antis who believe Allura was a racial supremacist haven’t watched the show holistically. We see her hold the same standards to her own people as she expects out of others. This show would look incredibly different if Allura were a true racial supremacist.

Ah, you ask. Okay, so we’ve refuted the big pieces of “evidence” used to incriminate Allura. But what about all of those weird details about ancient Altean history? The violent language-learning program that scared Pidge? The violent terraforming tech that almost kills Voltron? The concept that Alfor tried to play “police” over the Galra and actually blew up their planet? The Alteans’ ongoing discussions of “peace and diplomacy” and spreading it throughout the universe while they happen to sit on a massive load of ancient power?

The s3 finale and other facts throughout the series very heavily smash the claim that our canon, in-universe Alteans were evil colonizers like the AU Alteans. The biggest piece of evidence to the contrary is that the Altea we know was one (1) planet. You counted right. One planet. Not an empire, but a singular planet. The s3 finale corroborates this, showing Altea as being largely isolationist from a military perspective while Daibazaal and Nalquod warred "for generations," right in front of their salad.

So some viewers would have you believe that Alteans were these big bad, intergalactic police state colonizers. But for all of its great power and knowledge, the singular planet of Altea didn't even canonically interfere in the wars of its own galaxy for actual millennia? And looking at the screenshots upon the stabilization of the alliance, Alfor is revealed to not have had experience with a neighboring culture. His face while exploring Gyrgan’s homeworld is an indication that it’s all rather new for him too. So again, we have evidence showing that Alteans were not colonizing or even functioning as a police state.

Note here that in the s3 flashbacks, the show confirms that it actually wasn’t just Alfor who suggested an alliance. All five leaders had common interests in protecting their galaxy from even worse threats, so all five came together at the same time. This is actually the first piece of evidence we have of Altea entering into some kind of intergalactic military agreement to stave off said worse threats.

And all of this is on top of a history where in s6, the Galran Archivist confirms that the Galran Empire had existed before Zarkon for 3,000 years, with times of “expansion.” It’s very easy to see that Blaytz’s people were actively fighting off Galran occupation of their homeworld within this past.

And that’s actually what I think makes Alfor and the OG paladins some pretty interesting characters. Here, we had colonizing Galran empire setting down its sword and accepting the value and space of its neighbors. Here, we had master alchemist Alfor giving up military power within their group by acknowledging Zarkon as the superior strategist. Here, we had Blaytz who had previously been battling Galran occupation…fully accepting the Galra?   

So the OG Paladin backstory represents a pretty incredible alliance that removed a lot of intergalactic toxicity and helped heal broken bonds. But it required all five leaders to agree to that. Alfor did not throw his weight or power around within this. There were several checks and balances here.

But this backstory also helps to explain some of the quirky details about Alteans. Their planet existed within an active war zone, and it’s very likely that they’d had to fight off Galran occupation just as Blaytz’s people did. So the violent robot trainers and fear-based language learning systems start to make sense. Alteans weren’t just simpering people playing harps all day and eating grapes. They were actively prepared to defend their planet and their culture.

So when Allura says in season 1 that Alteans were “spreading diplomacy” across the universe, the only pieces of evidence we have of that is the OG paladins themselves, in which Alfor was a big part in creating that alliance—and then possibly the Alteans with the Balmerans, given their deep collective rituals with that planet while the Galra literally just came in and ripped the planet nearly to death. Allura tries to mimic what it means to accept and interact with a culture without changing it well in season 1, when she stumbles through trying to respect Arusian culture and its demands on its people. Also, there is a big fact that antis like to overlook:

The fact is, despite the untold numbers of civilizations we interact with across 76 episodes, no outside race remembers Alteans as evil colonizers. If they were really so big and bad, we would have heard it, like, “Man, yeah the Galrans are bad. Just as bad as those Alteans, back in the day.” Or something. But nope, nothing.

So I heavily question the history of Altea as an ancient colonizing race. If they were, then Altea wouldn't have just been a single planet with limited resources to fight wars in even its own galaxy. All of this supports the idea of Altean children being raised to fight--because they were preparing to defend themselves when/if diplomacy fails.... But the fact that the Balmerans see Alteans fondly and that literally every other race we run into is explicitly suspicious of Galrans and not at all of Alteans says something.

I think the only piece of evidence there might be for a genuinely colonizing ancient Altea is the use of terraforming technology, as mentioned in s4. Haggar discovers it and activates it to try and kill Voltron--and she nearly succeeds, because said tech destroys the entire crust of the planet to reform it. But you have to step back for a second and wonder--if ancient Alteans were so powerful, why was Alfor struggling so hard to even hold his own planet together in the midst of all these other cultures warring and larger threats? If they had this technology--and they did know about it because Allura recognized it right away as ancient technology--why the heck wouldn't they use it? Or were they using it, and it was to reform uninhabited planets to help sustain displaced peoples? Why is it, if Alteans were so terribly bad, we have no record across ANY of the many alien races being cautious of them? Even Galran Lieutenant Lahn snapped at Allura only because he was jealous of the general security she had back on, you guessed it, explicitly Altea. There's a lot of potential explanations for a positive use of terraforming technology, and the evidence against colonization and Altea committing omnicide against other races is incredibly more aligned with the other details in the canon.

And even Alfor’s creation of Voltron and the blowing up of Daibazaal—that’s something that antis like to position as evidence of his police-state ways to underhandedly control other cultures.

So let’s tackle those too while we’re at it.

Honestly, I know people like to hate on Alfor, and I do think his character picks up some misogynism just from the writers....But I don't think he was as much of a controller as people think he was. He was already in an alliance with four other leaders to try and stop bad things from happening in their galaxy. That meant they were expending incredible amounts of time and resources to accomplish that end—resources that were not renewable and may have been straining various planets. We know that he started building Voltron with Zarkon and everyone else's blessing because he called them "clean ships," but it's only after the rift creatures attack that suddenly Alfor's perception of Voltron moves from "clean energy" to "omg we need a more powerful weapon against this unknown enemy.”

So these are his intentions BEFORE he discovers rift creatures are a threat to the universe. While Zarkon states that these new ships are to be endlessly powerful for the Galra Empire, Alfor shames him by offering what his desire is for them:

  After the rift creatures nearly destroy Daibazaal, intentions change.

So here, we see the game change in a BIG way. Voltron is not just about offering a more renewable way of sustaining peace-keeping efforts. Alfor is now adjusting and finishing these ships with the explicit knowledge that if they are not powerful enough, then Daibazaal and the Galran people will die. Alfor’s got a LOT of pressure on him now to deliver a mighty and powerful weapon to stop this new threat. So even his creation of Voltron as a superweapon involved using it to protect people from imminent death—not to police them.

And about Alfor blowing up Daibazaal—once again, it’s Alfor trying to clean up Honerva and Zarkon’s mess. Honerva had convinced Zarkon that the rift needed to be wider, and so Zarkon deceived the paladins into widening it.

So keep in mind here, at this point in time—the rift was destabilizing and eating an entire planet. The entire universe was now at stake. Alfor had to choose between a bad fix and an even worse option of allowing everyone to die, but he very clearly evacuated people before destroying Daibazaal, as part of his promise to keep Galrans safe. So that no one would have to die.

And as a matter of fact—about that terraforming technology. How sure are you that Alfor didn’t intend to use it to build Galrans a new home? It’s entirely within the realm of acceptable conjecture that he allowed for the existence of that technology because it could restore what had been lost.

And here’s where the story gets really screwy and feeds into some anti hate. Because when Zarkon wakes up as a zombie, he desires more quintessence as zombies do.

So he’s pissed that Alfor just cut off his gateway, and he manipulates his people:

And it’s here where we get the idea that Alfor was an evil controller. The idea came from Zarkon, who—we can look around pretty easily and see that he was not a man of honor, ultimately. Even if you chose to not believe the s3 finale flashbacks as being objective, there’s something wrong with Zarkon. (It’s clear that the show thought using Coran was a smart way to shell off massive amounts of info, because clearly if this were truly in Coran’s perspective, we would NOT have had intimate looks into Zarkon and Honerva’s bedroom as Zarkon is tending to her, like omg.) Numerous sources, histories, and cultures outside of Coran confirm that Zarkon hit a point of no return on the evil scale, and that he projected his own blame for Daibazaal’s destabilization onto Alfor in order to raise up his new regime in the name of Quintessence™.

So at the end of the day, even Alfor was a victim. But yet somehow, various antis choose to believe Zarkon’s victim-punishing narrative because said antis can’t or else refuse to connect one scene to another since it undermines their justifications for why they can hate on Allura. And that’s not so much an issue with the story itself as it is just poor critical analysis or malicious weaponization of content against other fans.

Now, at this point, we’ve talked about Allura and we’ve talked about Altean history. I have numerous other posts about Allura’s interactions with other races and Galrans and overcoming trauma to give the entire universe a second chance. So if there is anything in this show that suggests Alteans were in any way a superior race, then it’s probably within the show’s own worldbuilding. The show contradicts its own definitions of what quintessence even is by suggesting Alteans have “bluer/purer quintessence” in order to justify why Lotor would even be trying to sacrifice them for anything. The show-championed concept that Alteans have a bluer, purer life force above all other people, and that only Altean energy could interface with the fabric of space-time. Now, this is a problem in the later seasons’ world building itself. And you know who wrote that in? The production team. So once again, we do have racial issues in this show, in ways that shows like Star Wars desperately try avoid by showing racial diversity in who has Midi-chlorians.

That said, I’m not a perfectly woke storyteller either. I think every story and show is going to have something problematic™, but with VLD it’s very clear that its disrespectful handling of genocide politics and shatterglass conspiracy theories, on top of its weird master race angle created the perfect storm. These mishandled and quirky details have created a cognitive dissonance with the provided narrative, resulting in some people in the anti fandoms to champion what aligns very closely to actual neo-Nazi propaganda against Jews, who according to them are not victims but instead the true perpetrators of all bad things. For the sake of the antis, I’m pretty sure they’re not intentionally looking at VLD this way and are probably just looking for any easily graspable reason to hate on Allura for interfering with their ship or something.

But this kind of subliminal propaganda that undermines victims, and the effect it has had on fandom morality politics, is deeply concerning to me. I really wish that we’d had an opportunity to respectfully and critically discuss this with the production team of the show, because a Y7-FV show about “strength in unity” should NOT result in us needing to have a conversation about people walking away with neo-Nazi-ish propaganda sentiments against genocide survivors. Like. Clearly, VLD is fictional, but it’s feeding into a real-life beast that it does NOT need to feed. And it’s keeping alive ongoing conspiracy narratives against some of our most vulnerable populations on the planet.

So, we need better stories. We need a production team that, if they’re going to get paid to do something involving portrayals of genocide and politics, that they need to do their research on those topics. Nobody is going to be perfect with a creation, but VLD validated some very damaging things—and it ALL is something that could have been fixable. I think it would have been incredibly validating to hear the production talk about and accept that these were issues that cropped up unintentionally, and to hear them confirm that these issues are not the sorts of things that VLD was supposed to champion.

The greatest tragedy of all of this is the potential that this show had to really champion some great and validating messages, and the potential that we as a fandom had to come together and do something that fandom was meant to do—which was celebrate the things we love. Because that’s why we’re all here. That’s why this crazy tumblr of mine even exists. It was supposed to celebrate things.

For that reason, I’m going to end this here. I’ve written several responses now as to my thoughts on the inappropriate narrative lens of the show, its contradictory and damaging worldbuilding about the purest race, and how it champions demonizing or punishing genocide survivors again and again. Within all of that, I’ve talked at length about Allura’s character and behavior over 8 seasons and how she built even empathetic connections with militant Galrans like Commander Lahn. In fact even her own homesickness is how she emotionally connects with Lahn, because she understands that desire to call something one’s own. To have a home. A family.

I now really would like to get back to writing stories that I find meaningful to me using these characters and these worlds—and trying to find the hope in all of this darkness, haha. And maybe with any luck, I can hope to do VLD some justice, knowing that I am still on a learning journey as well.

But I appreciate your note, and I hope this very extensive response helps to settle your questions and concerns once and for all regarding VLD Allura. If you should have any remaining questions, please feel free to reach out via a private message to discuss. Thank you!