#race racism and the middle ages

[astronomalyy]

Thinking about the lifespans of Dungeon Meshi elves... The fact that they're completely unnatural alters my brain chemistry, because you can tell just how haphazardly the demon implemented their wish. They live five times the length of tall-men, so they age at a fifth of their rate. It's simple maths and the implications are terrifying. No wonder their birth rate and population are declining - their early development is so slow that at the age of two, they're still unable to stand.

They don't reach adulthood until their eighties. What does the infant mortality look like? How many elves succumb to illness or injury before they're fully mature? It only takes one accident to lose the child you've been raising for decades - and could you bring yourself to care for another? Add to that the implication elf culture has no idea how to process grief... just look at the way the Canaries treat Rin after the death of her parents. They're callous and insensitive and detached - part of that's racism, but there's also an element of pure cold ignorance. They don't even recognise the emotion on her face.

And that's just scratching the surface... does elven memory accommodate their extended lifespan? Once you reach two hundred or so, do the years start blurring together? Kabru mentions that their temporal awareness is remarkably poor.

Two years feel like a few months. Their lives are longer but not fuller. They're older but not wiser than the short-lived races, and most refuse to understand this. Those that do grasp it are interesting - namely Otta, who's ostracised for pursuing half-foot women.

A 30-year old elf is a young child; a 30-year old half-foot has entered middle age. Otta is in the equivalent of her late twenties. She knows that her elven lifespan makes her no more mature than a half-foot - but she also acknowledges that it creates a rift between herself and her partners, and not just in the eyes of society. 'She dumps them as soon as they pass 30', but probably not for the reasons Lycion assumes. For this to be a pattern, decades must have passed - it's possible Otta doesn't want to watch them die as she herself barely ages. No doubt some of her previous lovers have already passed away. In the end, all living 400 years accomplishes is leaving them out of sync with the rest of humanity.

Marcille's perhaps the best example. As a half-elf, she's got 95% of her life ahead and the thought terrifies her. She's going to lose everyone she loves, over and over and over again, and this cycle has barely even started. She runs at a different pace. This context adds so much to her dynamic with Falin in earlier chapters.

Marcille loves her! She's scared for her! Maybe even of her! She's grown attached to a short-lived girl who she met as a kid when Marcille was a teaching assistant! Biologically and developmentally, they're the same age, but chronologically she's twice as old as Falin! Considering what happened to her mother, is history repeating itself? Her feelings towards Falin are tangled and messy and fascinating. They're also more than a little homoerotic, which makes Marcille's infantilization of her friend all the more interesting. It feels like her way of resolving their power imbalance, of remaining a responsible (former!) authority figure... but it's also a coping mechanism. She's frightened by the ways Falin is maturing and changing - aging - and keeping her mental image of her friend as young as possible is her way of denying the march of time that's destined to sever their bond.

Marcille's dream of lifespan extension would remove the need for this obfuscation, render them equal... only, they already are! This desire is imposed onto Falin, but it's primarily for Marcille's benefit. Watching her fight for a world nobody wants, for reasons both selfish and altruistic... it's as tragic as it is understandable. I love this manga.

[whumpster-fire]

Broke: Chilchuck Tims is child coded.

Woke: Chilchuck Tims isn't child coded, he's a middle-aged, divorced man with grown up children.

Bespoke: Chilchuck Tims cannot be accurately described as either "child coded" or "not child coded" because he is a deliberate commentary on the idea of "child coding" itself.

Chilchuck, and half-foots in Dungeon Meshi in general, are given significantly more neotenous proportions and appearances (e.g. larger heads and eyes, rounder faces) than the other races. This is not universal for depictions of hobbits / halflings in Tolkien / D&D inspired fantasy fiction. Compare Chilchuck relative to the "tallmen" (humans) in Dunmeshi to how small races are drawn in something like Legend of Vox Machina (many of those characters are gnomes but whatever) or in basically any official D&D art. It was an intentional artistic decision to make him look like that. This is reinforced when he's temporarily transformed into a tallman (human) and in addition to becoming much taller he gains features that make him look more visibly middle-aged (stubble, eye bags / wrinkles, a more oval face) that he doesn't have as a half-foot. See also Marcille's transformed form and supplemental drawings of what all of the main party would look like as other races. However they do NOT look indistinguishable from actual children as portrayed by Dunmeshi's artstyle and have distinguishing features e.g. larger ears.

Chilchuck is frequently mistaken for a child in-universe, or treated / perceived as one even by members of other races who know he's a half-foot, and he hates this. His infantilization and that of half-foots in general isn't just a running gag, it's a significant plot point and source of discrimination. Like when the party gets impersonated by shapeshifters copying everyone based on the others' memories of them, and most of the Chilchuck clones look and behave more childish than the real one, and they almost get away with it, even though his party should know better than to think of him as a kid.

The narrative consistently takes the position that the people infantilizing Chilchuck are wrong, and are being ignorant/racist.

Conclusion: Chilchuck is definitely not "child-coded" in the way that a 700 year old shapeshifter that looks and behaves indistinguishably from a little kid for contrived reasons. However, he is intentionally designed to make it seem plausible for people who know he's an adult to still not fully believe it and this can make the viewers fall for it too. Which I guess is "child-coding" in a sense. But the message the work is trying to send is very clearly "Don't decide that grown-ass adults are equivalent to children and treat them like children because they have physical characteristics that remind you of a child you dipshit."

While hobbits aren't real and Chilchuck's traits that get him mistaken for a child are exaggerated compared to the vast, vast majority of real people, infantilization of grown-ass adults due to ableism, racism, or just people being dumbasses who forget short people exist is a real issue, and if you start shit with people for shipping Divorced Dad Chilchuck Tims with other characters or whatever you are displaying the exact attitude that's being criticized.

[theduchessofnaxos]

On the last episode of OFMD S2.

Horribly torn between "please let Ed out of this shit" and "FUCK YEAH ED'S GONNA TAKE BACK THE REPUBLIC"

Which I think is probably an interesting commentary on like, heroism and such.

Also, what is with the racism??? To be clear, I totally get how pervasive it is and the accuracy and whatnot. But why are people like this? Why are all these white men looking at Ed and deciding fucking Izzy must be the power behind the throne? Izzy's a jackass. Much less of a jackass now that the Evil Leg was removed, but still a moron compared to Ed.

[what-even-is-thiss]

People who get mad about poc being included in medieval fiction and fantasy are not only racist but they also have a deep misunderstanding about how their own ideas of race and culture work.

Perhaps, yes. Most people living in Europe in the time period we call the Middle Ages would’ve been what we now consider to be white. But that doesn’t mean poc wouldn’t have been there at all and it doesn’t mean they understood identity in the same way we do.

“Outsiders” could be from within the same city or from a world away. A lot of peoples loyalties and who they saw as being from the same group as them had to do with religious conflicts, politics, and combinations of the two. Maybe just based on what neighborhood or village they lived in.

Historically before the era of colonialism Catholic countries like Portugal have sometimes given aid in various forms to Ethiopia because they’re both christian countries. People in the area we now call Italy would’ve killed neighbors less than a 20 minute walk away over papal politics.

People also traded frequently with people from other continents. Married people from other continents. Early into the so-called age of exploration Portuguese and Spanish explorers were known to sometimes marry women traders from west Africa for their wealth and trade connections. People from all over the Muslim world have also often been traders, enemies, allies, and mercenaries all over Europe and vice versa with Christian and Jewish traders, scholars, mercenaries, traders, crusaders, etc. traveling and living within the Muslim world as well.

Vikings got around. To Eastern Europe, the Mediterranean, North America. Many stayed where they went or made deals with the locals. Many brought prisoners, slaves, illegitimate children, and new wives back home.

Not only did the concept of whiteness and any other modern understanding of race not exist yet, people intermingled, intermarried, moved around, converted religions, traded across continents. Sometimes people made it all the way to North America even if that route and the colonies that came out of it faded out of memory eventually. The world was still interconnected even if it did move much slower.

Also when talking about fantasy and not historical fiction, it’s fantasy. There’s dragon. And wizard. Why are you worried about your racist ideas about “realism”? Besides the racism I mean.

[athenaeum-of-the-herald]

• Blackness and the Worshipping of "The White Man's God" •

TW/CW: Racism, anti-blackness, religious trauma

With my next few posts, I wanted to dig into some far deeper, more emotional, and personal topics that I feel I haven't seen discusses in the helpol community. Please understand that these new few posts come from my personal lived experiences and don't apply to everyone, but I feel like are topics that should be discussed and seen.

There is something to be said about growing up in religion, as many young black girls do. Even more to be said when we leave the faith we grew up with behind.

From a young age, I was taught the Christian God. Warned that leaving his side meant damnation. Taught that to leave God and even learn other religions was condemning myself to a life of sin. And this isn't just a young, black experience, as every race deals with the intensity of religious trauma spread throughout generations in the form of tradition. But in the black community, this feeling suffocates. It is ingrained in our very being, as our ancestors who were slaves were made to pray to a God that wasn't ours until we forgot what ours looked like. Until too many generations had folded their hands on their knees in pews forcibly carved by their fathers. Their grandfathers. Their great grandfathers. And that's not to say the black community is indoctrinated, but maybe it is.

No, indoctrinated isn't the right word. We simply pass down what we were taught, as our parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins were.

I remember when my church swapped out the photo of Jesus for a black one. I remember looking at it and wondering where the Jesus with lighter skin and blue eyes and wavy brown hair went. It was only when I began developing a sense of self that I had realized blackness meant not serving "the white God." Jesus was black. Every black person knew that, and to deny it meant you yourself weren't black.

Yet we still worshipped him in buildings modeled after those built by our great grandfathers who worshipped a Jesus with lighter skin, bluer eyes, smoother hair.

To be black is to be Christian. Catholic if you can afford the gas to drive to the bigger, nicer churches. And to leave Christianity is to be exiled from the community that you spend your whole life with. Your family. To not believe in God means you have the devil in you. Even the gang members that lived on my street had Bible scriptures tattooed on their bodies. Men I would see at church every Sunday in suits with their grandmothers and mothers. Folding their hands and praying for their friends that had been gunned down by other black men earlier that week. I'm sure the men they gunned down the week prior did the same thing. Funny enough, I remember as a little girl, when the shootouts would happen, my dad would have my brother and I get low to the ground in the house, and pray. So that in the unfortunate event that a stray bullet found its way into one of us, at least God would take us.

Even steeped in sin, to be black is to worship God.

Leaving Christianity was hard. It wasn't an all at once thing. It happened slowly. Starting with an interest in Greek mythology and Egyptian gods. I read Heroes of Olympus in middle school in secret, my dad would've thrown away my books if he knew I was reading about the Greek gods. My history class did a segment on ancient Egypt, and I studied every book on Anubis in the school library. I never checked them out, I was afraid they'd be found.

Maybe there was a taboo to it. To be black and interested in other religions. The spiral away from Christianity started there.

It was only in tearing my eyes from black Christianity that I began to notice that there were 2 paths of religious blackness. Christianity, or ancestral. You either worshipped the one and only God and no other, or you worked with your ancestors and respective black deities and rejected any other. Two very opposite paths, both with one similar rule.

You do not worship the white man's god or gods.

A black hellenic polytheist isn't some strange anomaly. Some rarity that's impossible to find. But it feels that way. I have met a handful of black helpols, and funny enough, we all typically come from previous religious backgrounds.

Of course black hellenic polytheists exist. But it could be considered that the vast majority of those within the religion are of lighter skin than we are. To announce yourself as a black follower of Greek gods tends to be met with off-putting looks from other black people. At best, a light laugh and a "sure". At worst, condemnation from the religious. Blackness means worshipping black gods. Or the capital G. Gods forbid your skin be lighter like mine is, where you'll be met with "that's that white in you."

On the other hand of this, you have non-black/poc worshippers with their own racial biases. Those who consider this religion theirs and not something for the black community to taint. I've been told plenty of times, "You have your own religion."You have closed religions and practices already. Why can't we have this one?" Mind you, none of these people were of Grrek descent. Simply ignorant children and adults with no understanding of themselves or how religion works.

So where does that leave blackness in hellenic polytheism?

Well, sometimes I don't know. But I find comfort in the gods I worship. In the gods I revere. Perhaps my blackness will always be a source of religious contention internationally. Perhaps externally.

But within the community I find in diverse spaces, there will always be acceptance of my blackness, and I pray that any black hellenic polytheist reading this feels the same.

Xaire the deathless gods, who do not see the color of my skin, but the beauty of my offerings ♡

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Hedy Lamarr (Samson and Delilah, Ziegfeld Girl)—Look. I'm sure someone has already submitted Hedy Lamarr because she was spectacularly beautiful, and a very strong lady too: she fled both an abusive marriage AND nazi persecution at a very young age and rebuilt a life for herself pursuing her love for acting all on her own!! Her career as an actress was stellar; while she began acting outside of Hollywood (her very first movie, Ecstasy, won a prize at the Venice Film Festival), she conquered American hearts very quickly with her first movie in the US, Algiers, and then just kept getting better and better. If all this isn't enough, she was also an inventor: her invention of the frequency-hopping spread spectrum radio transmission technique forms the base of bluetooth and has a lot of applications in all kinds of communication technologies. I think that deserves a prize, don't you?

Anna May Wong (The Thief of Bagdad, Shanghai Express)—Wong was the first Chinese American movie star, arguably the first Asian woman to make it big in American films. Though the racism of the time often forced her into stereotypical roles, awarded Asian leading roles to white actors in yellowface, and prohibited on-screen romance between actors of different races, she delivered powerful and memorable performances. When Hollywood bigotry got to be too much, she made movies in Europe. Wong was intellectually curious, a fashion icon, and a strong advocate for authentic Asian representation in cinema. And, notably for the purposes of this tournament, absolutely gorgeous.

We are in the quarterfinals of the Hot & Vintage Movie Women Tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Propaganda is not my own and is on a submission basis. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Hedy Lamarr:

The only person you can find both on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and in the Inventor's Hall of Fame--her radio-frequency-hopping technology forms the basis for cordless phones, wi-fi, and a dozen other aspects of modern life. She was also passionate in her efforts to aid the Allies in WWII (unsurprising for a Jewish-Austrian Emigree to America), and her name served as the backbone for one of the best running jokes in what is possibly Mel Brooks' best movie. Look, Louis B. Mayer apparently believed he could plausibly promote her as "The world's most beautiful woman". Is an entire website full of people going to be less audacious than one Louis B. Mayer? I didn't think so!

Described as "Hedy has the most incredible personal sophistication. She knows the peculiarly European art of being womanly; she knows what men want in a beautiful woman, what attracts them, and she forces herself to be these things. She has magnetism with warmth, something that neither Dietrich nor Garbo has managed to achieve" by Howard Sharpe, she managed to escape her controlling husband (and Nazi Germany) by a) Disguising as her maid and fleeing to Paris or b) Convincing the husband to let her wear all of her jewelry to a dinner, only to disappear afterwards. Also she was particularly clever and helped develop Frequency-Hopping Spread Spectrum (I can't really explain it but anyway...)

Her depiction of Delilah and Samson and Delilah just lives rent free in my head. The woman was gorgeous.

One of the most beautiful women ever in film, spoken by many critics and fans. Beautiful shapely figure, deeper seductive voice, and often played femme fatale roles. She was also brilliant and an inventor. Mainly self-taught, she invested her spare time, including on set between takes, in designing and drafting inventions, which included an improved traffic stoplight and a tablet that would dissolve in water to create a flavored carbonated drink, and much more.

Gorgeous and brilliant pioneer of modern technology and the middle part.

Anna May Wong propaganda:

"She so so gorgeous!! Due to Hollywood racism she was pretty limited in the roles she got to play but even despite that she’s so captivating and deserves to be known as a leading lady in her own right!! When she’s on screen in Shanghai Express I can’t look away, which is saying something because Marlene Dietrich is also in that film."

"SHE IS ON THE BACK OF QUARTERS also she was very smart and able to speak multiple languages and is a fashion icon on top of the acting/singing"

"Paved the way for Asian American actresses AND TOTAL HOTTIE!!! She broke boundaries and made it her mission to smash stereotypes of Asian women in western film (at the time, they were either protrayed them as delicate and demure or scheming and evil). In 1951, she made history with her television show The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong, the first-ever U.S. television show starring an Asian-American series lead (paraphrased from Wikipedia). Also, never married and rumor has it that she had an affair with Marlene Dietrich. We love a Controversial Queen!"

"She's got that Silent Era smoulder™ that I think transcends the very stereotypical roles in which she was typically cast. Also looks very hot smouldering opposite Marlene Dietrich in "Shanghai Express"; there's kiss energy there."

"Hot as hell and chronically overlooked in her time, she's truly phenomenal and absolutely stunning"

"A story of stardom unavoidably marred by Hollywood racism; Wong's early-career hype was significantly derailed by the higher-up's reluctance to have an Asian lead, and things only got worse when the Hayes code came down and she suddenly *couldn't* be shown kissing a white man--even if that white man was in yellowface. After being shoved into the Dragon Lady role one too many times, she took her career to other continents for many years. Still, she came back to America eventually, being more selective in her roles, speaking out against Asian stereotypes, and in the midst of all of this finding the time to be awarded both the title of "World's Best Dressed Woman" by Mayfair Mannequin Society of New York and an honorary doctorate by Peking University."

"Incredible beauty, incredible actress, incredible story."

"-flapper fashion ICON. look up her fits please <3 -rumors of lesbianism due to her Close Friendships with marlene dietrich & cecil cunningham, among others -leveraged her star power to criticize the racist depictions of Chinese and Asian characters in Hollywood, as well as raise money and popular support for China & Chinese refugees in the 1930s and 40s. -face card REFUSED to decline"

[girlactionfigure]

ANTISEMITIC BIAS 

Many antisemites don’t consciously dislike Jews. They might even think highly of Jews. For example, they might believe “positive” stereotypes of Jews, such as that Jews are good at business or good with money. They might have Jewish friends. They might like “some” Jews. But they still cause tremendous damage to the Jewish community. 

“Biases” can be defined as “an inclination or prejudice for or against one person or group.”

Unconscious biases are known as implicit biases. We all have implicit biases (whether negative or positive) in the way that we interpret the world around us. Conscious biases (such as, for example, the Nazis outwardly believing that Jews were “the inferior race”) are known as explicit biases.

Because antisemitism is everywhere in our world — in our cultures, our languages, our folklore, our literature, our entertainment, our media, and more — it’s impossible for us not to internalize at least some antisemitic biases. These biases, however, exist on a spectrum: from unconsciously assuming that most Jews are wealthy (implicit bias) to believing the white supremacist conspiracy theory that Jews are enacting a “white genocide” (explicit bias) to everything in between.

Because antisemitism is so old and so deeply embedded into our society and institutions (e.g. religion, language, literature, education, and more), that means that there is a lot of antisemitic bias in our world, most of which you might not even be able to see. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. 

ANTISEMITISM IS A CONSPIRACY ABOUT THE JEWS

Antisemitism can be tricky to spot because it works very differently than every other form of bigotry. While other bigotries see their victims as “inferior,” antisemitism sees Jews as both “inferior” but also “superior” or all-powerful, capable of causing every calamity from wars to natural disasters to diseases to controlling the weather. 

Societies project whatever they dislike most onto the Jews. In the Middle Ages, Jews were Christ-killers. In Nazi Germany and McCarthyist America, Jews were communists. In the Soviet Union, Jews were capitalists. In Nazi Germany and during the rise of the scientific racism period, Jews were the inferior race. To white supremacists, Jews are not white. To left-wing anti-Zionists, Jews are white. For centuries in Europe, Jews were untrustworthy foreigners from Palestine. But today among anti-Zionists, Jews are Europeans colonizing Palestine. We are whatever makes us the perfect scapegoat at any given time. 

It’s no coincidence, then, that antisemitism tends to surge most when societies are in upheaval. After all, the leaders need someone to blame. Examples of this include the Germans’ blaming Jews for Germany’s suffering post-World War I, as well as the rise of the “Deadly Exchange” conspiracy which blames Israel for police brutality in the United States, following George Floyd’s murder. 

Antisemitism moves through conspiracy theories. Most notably, since to the antisemite, Jews are all-powerful, the most prevalent and deeply ingrained antisemitic conspiracies have to do with Jews and wealth and power. In the Middle Ages, for example, Europeans believed that Jews aimed to subvert Christendom. Since the 1920s, antisemitic leaders in the Arab world have rallied their followers behind the conspiracy that Jews intend to destroy Al-Aqsa Mosque and usurp Islamic lands. White supremacists — and far left anti-Zionists — today believe the “Zionist Occupied Government” conspiracy, which accuses Jews of controlling and manipulating the American government for their benefit. 

Given the pervasiveness of conspiracies regarding Jews and power, antisemitism is nearly impossible to address without triggering more antisemitism. If an antisemite faces consequences for their actions, antisemites will use this as “proof” that it’s the all-powerful Jews that have imposed these consequences. This makes antisemitism a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

BIGOTRY WON'T ALWAYS BE OBVIOUS TO YOU

Most of us want to do the right thing. The problem is that bigotry — whether antisemitism or something else — doesn’t come with a flashing neon sign that says “this is bigoted! Call it out!” Instead, bigotry persists because entire societies convince themselves that their bigoted worldview is somehow justified. This is especially true of antisemitism. Antisemites throughout history have long persecuted Jews under the guise of seeking justice. 

For instance, since the Middle Ages, Jews have been periodically persecuted on the accusation that they killed a Christian or Muslim child for ritual purposes. In other words, antisemites were seeking “justice” for these children that the Jews allegedly killed. This antisemitic trope is called “blood libel” and has led to the deaths of millions of Jews. It’s safe to say that these murderous antisemites fully believed that they were doing the “right thing.” Some examples of historic blood libels that have resulted in violence against Jews include the William of Norwich blood libel (1144), the Damascus Affair (1840), and the Kielce Pogrom (1946). 

During the Bubonic Plague, Jews were persecuted under the false accusation that they were “poisoning the wells” and sickening the gentile population of Europe. Once again, the persecution of Jews was seen as just.

During the Nuremberg Trials, high-ranking Nazi officers testified that they believed that Jews were a danger to the safety of the German people and the German nation. In other words, they justified their mass extermination of Jew under the guise of “protecting” the people of Germany. 

The list goes on and on. Is it possible that today you too have been made to believe that violence against Jews — Zionists, Israelis — is a just cause? 

THE NAZI FALLACY

A few years ago, the notorious antisemite Shaun King argued with a Holocaust survivor on Twitter. When accused of antisemitism, he retorted, “I can’t be an antisemite. I fight Nazis every day!” But anyone even remotely familiar with antisemitism or Jewish history will know that Nazis were far from the Jews’ only historic oppressors. You don’t have to be a Nazi to be an antisemite. In fact, most antisemites are not Nazis.Not even close. 

Nazism is just one manifestation of antisemitism. It’s a deadly one, certainly, but it’s also far from the only deadly manifestation of antisemitism. Jews have been killed by the thousands — sometimes by the millions — by a multitude of other oppressors. Some, like the Nazis, the KKK, and other white supremacists, are far-right. Others, like the Soviet Union, are far-left. Others are somewhere in the middle, and others oppressed us so long ago that their ideologies long predate the left-right political spectrum as we know it today.

The horrific images of Nazism and the death camps are seared in the world’s collective memory. It’s easy to think that if it doesn’t look like Nazism, if it doesn’t look like Auschwitz, then it’s not actually antisemitism, or perhaps it could be antisemitism, but it’s not serious antisemitism. In reality, though, antisemitism doesn’t go from zero to Auschwitz. Instead, antisemitic tropes, conspiracies, and stereotypes fester and proliferate, operating under new euphemisms and adapting to whatever society they’re in. Many of the same antisemitic conspiracies that drove the Nazis nearly 100 years ago are the exact same conspiracies that are driving “protestors” to violently harass Jews in the streets of New York City today. 

For many years before the gas chambers, antisemitism in Germany, which once was home to the most assimilated, well-integrated Jewish community in the Diaspora, proliferated in university lecture halls, justified and explained away in academic language. It wasn’t deadly yet, but it soon would be. When you dismiss any sort of antisemitic rhetoric because it doesn’t mirror the deadliest days of the Nazi regime, what you are actually doing is that you are contributing to the sort of hostile, conspiratorial environment that eventually made the Holocaust possible in the first place. 

THE GASLIGHTING

Antisemitism and the gaslighting of Jews go hand in hand. If an antisemite faces consequences for their antisemitism, it simply reinforces their antisemitic beliefs. Because antisemitism always places Jews in the role of oppressor, it’s nearly impossible for Jews to seek accountability or justice without being accused of exaggerating, crying wolf, playing the victim, or otherwise having nefarious intentions. 

After the Holocaust, for example, the second in command at the Red Cross, Carl Jacob Burckhardt, decried the Nuremberg Trials, calling them “Jewish revenge.” Others, like the Palestinian newspaper Falastin, did so as well. 

Antisemitic bias oftentimes makes it impossible for some people to see Jews as victims. If an antisemite loses their job for espousing antisemitism, they will then blame the “powerful” Jews — or Zionists, or another euphemism — for taking their job. In that way, they turn the victim into the victimizer. This is a classic gaslighting tactic, which creates a catch-22 and is one of the reasons antisemitism can be so hard to combat. 

For example, in the lead up to the Holocaust, American isolationists of various political persuasions accused Jews sounding the alarm on the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany of trying to instigate a war with the Germans. 

Sometimes we are even accused of provoking or exaggerating antisemitism for our own benefit. There are a number of conspiracies, for example, that the Zionists worked with the Nazis to instigate the Holocaust to justify the creation of a Jewish state. 

An example of the accusation that Jews play the victim is when we are told that we talk about the Holocaust “too much” — contrary to the statistics that demonstrate people are woefully misinformed about the Holocaust — or that we should move on because we “got reparations” (not exactly true, but that’s a different topic). 

Then there are the accusations that we brought antisemitism or antisemitic violence onto ourselves — something that we’ve seen on a grand scale following the Hamas massacre on October 7. 

WHAT YOU CAN DO

(1) Listen to Jews. I don’t mean just listen to your Jewish friends, or to the Jews you personally agree with. I mean listen to the Jewish community as a whole. Jews don’t often agree on much, but at the end of the day, we are a community, and only the Jewish community can fully describe our own experience. 

Don’t listen just to the Jews who validate your views. Listen to the Jews that challenge you. Don’t shut yourself off from learning because it might contradict whatever ideology you follow. Learning is a lifelong process. I promise you you don’t know everything there is to know about antisemitism (I don’t either! I’m always learning). But it’s your responsibility to open yourself up to new information so that you can do better. 

(2) if Jews are telling you something is antisemitic, then your first instinct should never be to distrust us.Can Jews weaponize accusations of antisemitism? Sure. Anyone can weaponize anything. Is it likely that that’s what’s happening? No. Antisemitism worldwide has skyrocketed to the highest levels since the end of the Holocaust. It’s a very real threat taking lives. You should take accusations of antisemitism just as seriously as you take accusations of other bigotries…even if initially you don’t see it. 

(3) I can’t stress this enough: do your best to educate yourself about antisemitic conspiracies, stereotypes, and tropes throughout history. The euphemisms may change — sometimes we’re “globalists,” other times we’re “Zionists” — but the formula remains the same. To be able to spot antisemitism, you have to learn to spot it. I recommend reading my post “The World’s Oldest Hatred” for more. 

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[livefastdriveyoung]

Every team has a first and second driver. It is just that not every driver fulfills the role in the same way.

At Aston Martin we know Fernando is driver one. He is the more experienced driver, and right from the mouth of Lawrence Stroll himself, was brought in to make Lance a better driver so he could one day be the first driver. He does media, he's funny, and he also clearly has a mentor/mentee relationship with Lance.

I call this the mentor/mentee set up

At Mercedes, we know that Lewis is Driver one. Based on titles certainly, age almost definitely, and also because he is Lewis Hamilton. Until February, and even after, when you think Mercedes, you think Lewis. He is their better driver. He won six championships with them. He's stayed longer than most drivers stay on the whole grid. It is his through blood, sweat, and tears. George is the prince, he's set to inherit, potentially (BTW TORGER, I would like a word), and has a lot to live up to. Comparisons are hard, especially when the first driver is Lewis. I think that it's a forced proximity set-up, but they are friendly. Mostly off the track because on track they do not have their greatest moments.

I call this the King/Heir Apparent set up

At Red Bull, we know that Max is Driver one. Aside from the championships, he is just too fast. Every time one of the other drivers who drove alongside him was brought up to Horner or Helmut (YIKES to both), they would compare where they raced to Max. It is unattainable, and isolating. Until Checo. Checo didn't think he was going to be able to drive after BWT. He didn't have a contract, he was a middle of the pack driver, Mexico's son, and his story was supposed to end there. The Red Bull contract was a dream, but for all of the weird behavior some of y'all have with him (again, he's had his problems but the racism and idiot syndrome some apply to him is also NOT OK) he's not an idiot. He knows he's on a limited contract, he knows he's no spring chicken. Hearing him talk about next year, he knows he's very likely out of a contract. But he doesn't let any of this impact his relationship with Max. They are teammates, Checo will do what is best for the team. Max's whole world is predominantly driving. Checo has more of a balance, and in some ways, allows Max to be young.

I call this the Sibling set up.

At Ferrari, Charles LeClerc is Driver one. He is il Predestinato, the second coming, Monaco's prince. He can do no wrong. Carlos Sainz is the second driver. In spite of the fact that he got dropped from the team, in spite of the fact that he has won them two races, he is the one that is being pushed out. But he and Charles are friends, and teammates. They've driven together for several years now. Ultimately, while Carlos has done most of the heavy lifting on his side of the garage in terms of strategy and driving, he is also the one who knows when to walk away from the fight, when to stop letting yourself get hurt by the team that should be defending you. For Charles, Ferrari is a promise to Jules, to his father, to himself. He cannot walk away. In some way, Carlos can. That's why he makes the good second driver. The second in command is the one that sees the whole picture, including the first in command, because they never look at themselves.

I call this the friends/us against the world set up.

At Mclaren, driver one is Lando Norris. An indefinite contract, the sponsors, the adoration, Lando is the golden child. But Oscar is too, sort of. They're both young, both incredibly talented. But they're young. They're doing this together. McLaren went from disaster to top of the pack last season, and they're both on this ride together. I think McLaren is going to do whatever it takes to get Lando his win, but then I think they'll split 50/50. What will happen then, I don't know.

I call this the to soon to tell set up

At Williams, Alex Albon is so clearly driver one. Last year, he scored the majority of the points, they signed him for an extended contract, and they're desperate to keep him for 2026, when the car is supposedly going to be insane. Logan is the second driver. Alex wants to be the mentor, and to some degree he is. But Logan's narrative from last season to this season has shifted dramatically. Less and less people want to see him gone, they like the American. Williams renewed him. Whether because of sponsorship or genuine interest in his improvement, I don't know. But, in the last two races, they have managed to tank Alex's reputation, and boost Logan's. You don't publicly destroy your second driver's confidence, and career potential so publicly and walk away clean. We've seen it with Red Bull and Pierre, and Alex. Both times, those two drivers walked away with insane support. Logan is now receiving the same, but I wonder if it is going to make a difference. I think that Logan talking about what is best for the team is what is keeping him going, but if you watched the newest Team Torque, you can see fatigue and some tension between him and Alex. I don't know if it is jet lag, or work, or stress, or damage to the relationship. But this is a driver relationship on a razor wire.

I call this the Icarus set up

At Alpine, it is Pierre. He gets away with murder, at least by the team. Esteban has certainly mellowed a little, but he calls Pierre out still. However, they are both miserable with the car this year, so I think they are probably commiserating. The fact they can work together after years of rivalry and blatant hurt between the two is interesting. I think that both of these men have racing above all on their heart, and they will do whatever it takes to stay there. So for now, they suffer in the car, and they are colleagues.

I call this the "there's no other choice" set up (aka forced proximity)l

At Visa CashApp, there's currently a power struggle. Daniel is Daniel. He's been second driver for a few years, he's been third driver. He's got the popularity, though it is waning, and more importantly, he's got Christian Horner's support. That, plus the fact that the team talks about Daniel's presence being about helping them improve, makes him sound like first driver. Except, Yuki has been First driver for years. He's the one who stayed through the revolving door of drivers. This is his team. Honda pays the majority of his salary. So when you bring someone in, someone who doesn't even want the seat as much as he wants the Red Bull seat, the seat that should be yours, you're not going to go down without a fight. It creates this weird tension, but then Daniel is like "I know how lucky I am to be here, I'm focused on driving here," and is already being threatened with losing the seat like Nyck was, and Yuki realizes he might never get the Red Bull seat. So you have these two guys who are fighting for the same thing, that doesn't want them.

I call this the Alone Together set up

At Sauber, it is Valtteri. He has won gps, he's former Mercedes, who used to come second usually only to Lewis. He's funny, older, a weirdo that people love and feel they know. Zhou is younger, he's dealing with the pressure of being China's only son, and the higher expectations of him. Valtteri helps keep him young and focused. He's been through the wringer, and he's teaching Zhou that it is not going to be what breaks you.

Also Mentor/Mentee except the mentors are nuts in a different way

I don't know what the hell is going on at Haas.

[bleulikedaylight]

hey there, welcome to my intro & masterlist — a little cozy corner for fics, chats, and fun !! <3

hai, bleu here — 18, she/her. this blog is a safe place, so feel free to message me about everything — questions, advice, venting, or just random stuff. i love hearing from people and i’m always open for moots and friends !! 💌

enchanted anons: ⚽️, 🌟, 🫖, 🎀, 💗, 🌙, 🐈‍⬛️, 🍀

requests are currently open !! but fair warning — my lazy ass might take a while to get to them, so pls be patient hehe. > _ <

> i might write for other characters soon, but for now i’m all about natasha because i miss her so much !! T^T

fun fact: i accidentally made a second blog instead of a new account. so if you follow this acc and see @definitelynotbleu followed you — yep, that’s me !! that’s my main blog because apparently tumblr says “you can’t follow people using your side blog.” okay, thanks for that, tumblr. 😔💔

right now, all my fics are family-friendly, but i might post 18+ content in the future once i’m happy with my smut writing. so heads up to minors: i won’t always be watchful, because these accounts are my safe spaces, and what you consume on social media is your responsibility !! ^ _ ^

before you read:

- all my fics are female!reader

- i usually add warnings at the beginning of every fic; if you notice i missed something, don’t hesitate to tell me !!

- i will not write: incst, non-con/rpe, age play, pedphilia, & omegaverse

- no hate speech, bigotry, homophobia, transphobia, racism, or anything like that allowed here !! >:(

note: english isn’t my first language, so sorry in advance for any grammar mistakes 🥹

𝗠𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗧:

I Was Hoping You'd Say That – It always starts the same way — the squeak of rubber soles, the bounce of a ball, and your hopeless crush on basketball captain natasha romanoff. as AAU’s cheer captain, you swear it’s all “professional observation.” but when natasha starts noticing your disappearing act every time she’s near, she calls you out — and maybe, just maybe, calls you in.

If You See This – When Y/N returns home for the weekend, she doesn't expect to unearth a middle school notebook filled with doodles, glitter gel pen hearts, and dramatic entries about the girl who once made her heart race and her head spin. natasha romanoff—basketball captain, mortal enemy, almost something more.

Ms. Delinquent, Natasha — Y/N L/N, perfect student council president, gets paired with the school’s worst nightmare—rebel basketball captain natasha romanoff—for a major project. she’s late, annoying, and impossible to work with. but one unexpected moment makes Y/N wonder… is there more to natasha than the chaos she brings?

part one ‎♡‧₊˚ part two ⋆. 𐙚 ˚

Cite Me Later – You’ve always been top of your class—sharp, confident, and unbeatable. in your world, there’s no such thing as a worthy rival. that is, until natasha romanoff strides into your class with a smirk and a sharper argument that throws your entire carefully controlled world into chaos.

The Cat-astrophe Next Door – College life was already chaotic enough, but things took a sharp left turn when your sweet, innocent cat ended up pregnant—thanks to the mysterious feline next door. turns out, the culprit is none other than liho, the smug, too-handsome-for-his-own-good cat belonging to your intimidating (and unfairly attractive) condo neighbor, natasha romanoff.

In Sickness and In Soup – You planned a cozy welcome home for Natasha Romanoff—clean apartment, candles, kisses. But instead, she comes home early to find you sick as a dog, buried under blankets and full of complaints. While you wheeze through coughs and cravings for fried chicken, Natasha dives headfirst into caretaker mode with soups, threats, and soft forehead kisses.

Through Thick and Now – Late nights were once filled with whispered promises, stolen laughter, and the comfort of being understood without speaking. But now? Now they’re filled with silence. With absence. With everything that love wasn’t supposed to become. When doubt takes root and trust begins to fracture, even the strongest bonds can break.

Teenage Dirtbag – A story about pens that smell like caramel, songs that say more than words, and what it means to be chosen—on purpose.

thank you so much for stopping by, and i hope you enjoy what you find here! feel free to reach out anytime. ily !! 🫶

[opheliaswhitegown]

triggered by a recent video essay i watched of yet another tolkien-purist, complaining about the multiculturalism in the rings of power, i wanted to cite some thoughts i’ve been carrying (for years !) regarding the matter. i didn’t have a platform until very recently, so, at risk of sounding graphic and repetitive, since a lot of people have already taken and are taking a stance, and recognizing that too much analysis leads to paralysis, i still felt the need to write something very quickly, chaotically and probably developed very poorly, because the knot has reached the comb. i understand that the negativity (produced sometimes even by rational criticism) is harrowing for the psyche, so please feel free to scroll. 

i couldn’t help but notice that the voices who are the most loudly hostile to the multiculturality, the broader diversity of the cast, and are so passionate about it to the point of making hours-long video essays, are always middle-aged white men. 

till the show first aired, they were used to a depiction of creatures in tolkien’s world; the prominent characters were centred on a very specific pack of people just like themselves. they were the ones who covered up all the space. now they have to share, so that gives them the right to dissect and decry every deviation from the image they’ve grown comfortable with.

many think of it as a matter of woke representation. they say representation, and they mean desperation. (and let me say at this point that your engagement with art shouldn’t be reduced to; do i feel represented ?) the belief however is erroneous. the problem here is about who holds the power and the politics we’ve all been taught to consider natural. unfortunately to their dismay, everything is inherently ideological and political. they try to push to us this logic, that even in a fantasy world appy the same patriarchal and prejudiced hierarchies that apply to our modern day, very real world, that these systems are vital for the authenticity of the story.

they do not monopolize the series. they feel replaced by women and characters of races other than theirs. they cannot stand it every time they speak, every time they take up space, every time the characters are different from what they know and by extension themselves.

apart from the evident racism on display, i will also give you an example of clear misogyny, which is their deep rooted hatred towards galadriel or disa (who is also a mother and a wife); they cannot stand the idea of a woman being a leader, of a woman being stubborn, angry, passionate, proud, loud, of a woman making mistakes. and the reaction usually extends to the actors, mostly actresses, themselves in the unjustly harsh criticism they receive in their interviews.

they try to conceal their bigotry and phobias under the prestigious and righteous mask of a strong moral need to defend tolkien’s work and legacy. they use the name of the creator so lightly, without realising that the way they defend their views about purity is disrespectful, inhuman, and against tolkien’s own ideology.

a normal person wouldn’t feel so personally insulted about the cast. the reaction truly disturbs me. with people who spend so much time analyzing, with such passion, their prejudiced views, without even realizing they are prejudiced, and calling them criticism, i personally find it very difficult to discuss. hopefully this post won’t reach enemy territory :)

(pardon my incoherent thoughts and poor english)

*as malignant as it is, i can accept the dislike towards the series, after all you are entitled to your opinion, and i have some complains myself. however, invocating someone’s race or gender in order to justify your hostility is psychotic and completely irrelevant to the show.

[redfoxwritesstuff]

Why Is Misdemeanor Of the Heart's Reader...

White Coded?

Yep, I said it. Come, take a seat and get cozy in the Fox Den while Mamma Kit answers some questions.

CW: Discussions of race and racism in a historical context and me being a wordy ass bitch

I've seen some discourse around Human!Alastor readers and writers and have gotten some of these questions myself over the last few months.

Firstly- I am white. I'm so fucking white that I use SPF 100 sunscreen. I grew up in Alaska. The history I learned growing up wasn't African American history; it was Alaska Native history. I didn’t learn about how we fucked over African American people in America’s early history. Instead, I learned how we fucked over the villages of the land I was raised on.

Why does this matter? The current accepted fanon for Alastor's human life is that he was a Black or mixed-race radio host who died in 1933 and reached his mid to late 30s or 40s. We know he had a successful career and was also a serial killer. He favored jazz, and rye is his drink of choice. He exists somewhere on the ace spectrum.

Time for a little math. Let's go with the middle ground—he was 40 in 1933. That means he would have been born around 1893. Let’s assume his mother was 25 when he was born. She would have been born in 1868. Using the same age for her mother, Alastor's grandmother would have been born in 1843. Remember this—it’ll matter in a minute.

For MisD and all of my human Alastor writing, as well as the works of many other human Alastor writers, we approach Alastor's life through a historical lens. I, like many others, enjoy exploring a time period rich with change—dynamic and vibrant with energy, money, and hope.

What does this mean? This means Alastor would have faced significant amounts of racism. Being Black, mixed-race, or how well he could pass as white would all drastically impact his life. It affected what opportunities he had, the education he received, and how laws were applied to him.

Ready for a history lesson? The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. It declared all enslaved people in rebellious areas of the United States to be free. Alastor's grandmother—based on the ages we used earlier—would have been a 20-year-old woman at that time.

Alastor would have been raised by a first-generation free woman. He likely wouldn’t have had access to public education, instead being taught in group homeschool-like sessions by those who had learned to read and write.

If he was mixed-race, he would have faced significant discrimination from all of society.

The Civil Rights Movement in the USA didn’t begin until the mid-1950s—a full twenty years after his death.

The reality is that we don’t know a lot about the Black experience during the early to mid-1900s. Much of this history wasn’t recorded by (white) historians. Instead, it was passed down through stories from parents to children, and so on. Only now are we starting to uncover and listen to the histories, stories, and experiences of Black Americans during this time period.

Remember how I mentioned at the start that I’m white as fuck? I don’t have grandparents I can go to and ask about the Black experience when they were children. First—my grandparents are all dead, and second—they were somehow whiter than I am. Their perspective wouldn’t help me because it isn’t my family’s story to tell.

What I can do is look at what we do know, listen to the voices of Black Americans who are finally being allowed to share their stories, and reflect that in my version of human Alastor. I can spend the time to research and learn. For instance, Alastor would have been ahead of his time—the first Black radio host was in 1929, a man named Jack L. Cooper from Chicago. He hosted the first Black-produced weekly variety show and showcased Black entertainers.

I can listen to stories of how mixed-race men were afforded the privilege of their lighter skin as long as they were useful to their white employers, only to be scapegoated the second anything went wrong. I do my best to reflect these stories in Human!Alastor's experiences and behaviors.

Why A White Coded Reader? I cannot even begin to hope to understand the Black American experience as it is now, let alone how it was in 1922, when MisD is set, or in the late 1910s, when my other Human Al fics take place. What I can understand on a deeper level is the white woman's experience, the experience of poverty, the experiences of abused women, and what it’s like to view the Black experience from the outside looking in.

And so that is what I try to highlight with my Human!Alastor fics. Yes, when I’m writing a Human!Alastor fic that deals with racial, class, and social politics as one of the themes to be explored (such as MisD), the reader is coded as white. It is through a white reader that I can have conversations with Alastor about why he feels he has to be perfect, why he straightens his hair, and so on. I cannot do proper justice to these feelings on a deeper level from a Black perspective because I can’t even begin to hope to understand it.

I cannot truly understand what Alastor’s Blackness would mean to him or how he would feel about being mixed. However, I can learn and understand how it impacted his life from the outside looking in. This is what I strive to do—to shed light on what Alastor’s accomplishments would have meant and how much his mistakes would have cost him.

I would love to see more Black writers in the fanfic space, especially within the Human!Alastor space. I would also love to see fewer readers written as blank slates. The Black experience in America and other white-dominated cultures is still not spotlighted often enough, both in present-day and historical settings.

These are stories that need to be told—perspectives that need to be explored, seen, and heard. However, they are not my stories to tell. Personally, until I am far better educated on the matter, I feel it would take away from these stories and be disrespectful to the lives of the very real people who lived them if I were to write from a perspective I cannot hope to understand.

I will continue to strive to write readers as racially neutral as often as the plot allows. However, I also ask that readers respect that, when the plot deals with racial, social, and class divides in a historical setting, if the reader is coming from a place of privilege, their skin tone is often the reason for such privilege.

Of course, I encourage readers to suspend disbelief and insert themselves into the fic regardless of their personal skin tone. I write from a historical setting, but as readers, you can imagine a set of historical laws or circumstances that allow for the same dynamics without requiring a white reader.

Can I do better? Absolutely—we all can. We’re always growing, improving, and learning. I was blessed to be raised in one of the most diverse places in the country (over 45 languages were spoken fluently at my high school). However, since leaving, I’ve struggled with the realities of having that bubble burst—not that Alaska was without racism.

I always welcome respectful discussions about the themes in MisD and all of my fics, as well as the reasons things may be portrayed the way they are. I prefer to write dark content, and with that comes the opportunity to educate and shine a light on topics many people avoid discussing. I simply ask for respect in return for the respect I give.

Much love, Kit

[bug-the-chicken-nug]

thinking about how i would hypothetically rewrite rwby (i probably never actually will because i can't fucking commit, tbh)

and i think the overall key would be like

"make it narrower, but deeper"

like to use an analogy. RWBY to me is like. rain on a salt flat. looks cool, expansive, but shallow as hell.

which i do understand. this is a hypocritical complaint, tbh. i *do* often abandon my own ideas, and make things overcomplicated.

(i even had to edit the above down, it was 3x longer for no good reason.)

but instead, i'd make rwby more like a deep pond rather than the big wet salt flat.

"wtf does that Mean tho"

well here's a basic rundown.

-axe the racism. i am black, and find it a fundamentally poor allegory, even *with* more polish. tbh on a more shallow front i'd also just like doing animal jokes without it being racist.

-retool it to classism that affects all races (also helps my issue with Cinder's backstory feeling like a Faunus backstory)

-(yes, yes, intersectionality, the two issues are fundamentally intertwined, i know, i know, but you get the gist of it)

-this could make the thing with adam and blake *more* interesting in some ways, as because Blake has a well-off family and just sympathizes with the cause, Adam grows to resent that, feeling she'll never *really* understand or *really* be willing to go as far as the movement needs, in his eyes.

-salem's a mortal, middle-aged woman who became obsessed with illegal grimm research and experimented on herself. Not some Ancient Great Evil.

- similarly, Ozpin is Just The Headmaster. No Epic Cosmic Destiny or reincarnations.

-there is no fucking ever after

-there are no fucking relics

-there are no confirmed gods but there Are religions

"ohh you're sooo high and mighty, removing stuff rather than having the bravery to add or build on anything"

okay, fucko strawman i invented, i see you.

-there *is* magic. (but Atlas isn't held up by magic, it really is just Gravity Dust now)

-simply put, "magic" is now defined as "being able to draw upon the world's Aura rather than yours, and without reliance on Dust"

-btw, Dust is just a sort of "crystalized" version of world Aura, so now the three concepts are neatly tied together (yes, this makes it TECHNICALLY a renewable resource, but it replenishes slow as fuck)

-by extension, Grimm (And Salem and Cinder) are magic in a parasitic sort of sense. (they passively suck the Aura outta things and can slowly sicken and kill just by *existing* somewhere for too long/ too great a number. But as a direct result of how this wouldn't be sustainable for them long-term, they *usually* have a natural instinct to spread out and wander, which lets the land recover and makes them a little more manageable to fight).

-by further extension, Cinder's Grimm arm is neatly explained as a further exploitation of Grimm's pre-existing parasitic, power sapping nature

-Silver eyes are magic, as what they draw upon is the collective hope, willpower, and general positive energy of humanity

-Ozpin and Salem were like. multidisciplinary scientists/historians who both sought to study and revive magic for human usage, as it's not only more flexible, but neither of them missed the implications of a power source that can cut out Dust as a middleman entirely, either.

-Salem of course IMMEDIATELY saw the connection of Grimm being, BY FAR, the most abundant avenue for magic around.

-Ozpin was all like "Saleypoos. Saleykins. My sweet. Grimm are like the world's parasites. This *has* to be a bad idea."

- "Ohrrrr Ozzed Pin my Sweet, Don't You Gnow? all we have to do is modify the Grimm tissue to make it more cooperative and less harmful! You know, Watts thinks that he's really onto something with using cybernetic implants to control and alter their behavior... and I've been talking to this wonderful Dr. Merlot fellow, and if we include his theories, I really think we have a shot at this!"

-"Weeeelll... ok... if you say so. I know I can always trust you :)))"

-OZPIN COULD, IN FACT, NOT TRUST HER (Or Dr. Merlot, or Watts, for that matter)

-This raises the fucked up possibility that, in fact, Salem is *such* a recent phenomenon that the reason the Branwens can become birds is because this is a power granted by sketchy Grimm research, and *this* is why everyone else is so affronted, because it takes it from "oh cool he gave them powers" to "WHAT DO YOU *MEAN* YOU DID SECRET GRIMM EXPERIMENTS ON ORPHANS, EVEN IF THEY DID CONSENT. HOW ARE YOU EVEN HEADMASTER. WHAT."

- Yang being the one who is particularly affronted and concerned because now she's paranoid that she was born secretly maybe like 5% Grimm without knowing it.

Weiss: come on Yang... don't be ridiculous...

Ruby: yeah, i mean, sure your eyes turn red when you use your Semblance, but I'm sure that's just-

Yang: oh my GOD my eyes DO turn red!

Blake, loudly whispering through clenched teeth: Ruby! Not helping!

Nora, oblivous: welllll your Semblance does kinda, in a way, absorb energy from others, which *might* sound a *liiiiittle* like a Grimm, BUT-

Blake: NORA.

Weiss: *facepalm*

Yang: *existential crisis*

[ckret2]

What are some of your favorite books?

This is not an exhaustive list. I have read a fucking lot of books. I guarantee you I have forgotten 8 out of my top 10 favorites.

Here are the answers that would make my literature teachers proud:

Grendel; To The Lighthouse; Dracula but I was into Dracula before it was cool; Don Quixote; a moment ago I had two others but I forgor

Here are some other answers:

When I was a kid my mom said I was too young to read RL Stine's Goosebumps books so I was banned, so I picked up one of RL Stine's Fear Street books instead, because at age 7 I understood malicious compliance. The book was Revenge of the Shadow People. It was the first horror story I ever read. Because of that I've had a lifelong obsession with shadow people characters. (Heartless, Aku, Okage Evil King Stan...) It's a modest book, but it helped shape my personality, so it belongs on this list.

My middle school favorite books—because I read them 5,000 times and will never forget them—were How To Disappear Completely And Never Be Found; The Last Book In The Universe; Self-Portrait with Wings; and anything by Neal Shusterman. The Last Unicorn SHOULD have been one of my favorites except I only saw the movie and didn't learn about the book until I was an adult.

As a kid I was really into Lovecraft when I was still young & ignorant enough to be like "gee, the way he writes about other races sounds kinda racist, but I'm sure there's a good reason for that!" The reason was he's hella racist. On the bright side, there's now a bunch of very good Lovecraftian stories ABOUT racism. I liked Lovecraft Country (of course) and The Ballad of Black Tom.

Lovecraft was the biggest influence on how I think about horror and Hitchhiker's Guide was the biggest influence on how I think about comedy and idk what that combo says.

Adultier favorites: Wild Seed (anything by Octavia Butler tbh), Machineries of Empire trilogy, Sherlock Holmes Vs. Cthulhu and I shan't apologize for my terrible taste; The Android's Dream; NOS-4-A2 which I picked up because it had the same name as a Buzz Lightyear character even though the Buzz Lightyear character is a robot and the book is about a car; I'm gradually working my way through Poirot; Carnacki the Ghost-Finder. 

I read the Popol Vuh in college and was hypnotized by its poetry but that was an academic translation and more recently it's had a poetic translation that I've bought but I haven't read yet.

Here's some random recent books I enjoyed—not necessarily my "favorites," but they're in my recent library card history so it's easy for me to look them up rather than trying to pull titles of old out of my ADHD black hole. Beholder by Ryan La Sala was fantastic—fun cosmic horror (both the premise and the entity itself), fun mystery, and I like it when you can say "and it's a queer romance" as a bonus to what makes the story good as opposed to being its only selling point. Such a Bad Influence had such a perfect ending that I went to the writer's site to immediately email her about it but then my browser crashed so I went to sleep and I still need to email her about it. Darcy Coates is my current "pumps out a million haunted house mysteries" author whose books I'm working my way through. Zero Sum Game was good, I still need to read the sequels.

Separate from the above, I'm in the market for book recs that feature Death/the Reaper as a main character, because I just read one that was crap. (The book was fine; but Death was characterized boringly and didn't have any significant impact on the plot. Like he was the selling point of the book and they could have just left him out.) Bonus points if Death is depicted as an actual skeleton rather than just some guy. I'm flexible on genres, but if it's romance Death has GOTTA be a skeleton, I'm not interested in a monsterfucker bait-and-switch. I already know about Discworld and respect that Death, I just want something that isn't Discworld.

[rubz-loves-you]

"Feminism must be intersectional, or it is not feminism"

True feminism must recognize and address the different forms of oppression that affect women based on not just gender, but also race, class, sexuality, disability, age, religion, immigration status, and more.

The term "intersectionality" was coined by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989 to describe how systems of oppression are interconnected and cannot be examined separately. For example, the experience of a Black woman is not just shaped by racism or sexism independently — it's a unique intersection of both. The same applies to queer women, disabled women, Indigenous women, trans women, and others who face overlapping systems of discrimination.

A feminism that only advocates for the needs and rights of white, middle-class, cisgender, able-bodied women excludes a vast number of people. Even if its only excluding trans individuals, its still deminishing the struggles women face. That’s not liberation — it’s selective empowerment. True feminism demands justice for all women, especially those most marginalized. It must confront not just sexism but also racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, and economic inequality.

[conceptofjoy]

I am sideeying anon so hard Huh. Like. Okay I personally don't really get what you mean by the raceplay stuff but I'm not about to insinuate that you're?? Being racist?? That's what anon is saying right??? That sounds like that's what they're implying

Anyway uhh. Sorry about. Gestures. The bomb. I like your analysis posts a lot even if I don't understand them sometimes. Keep cooking

im just kind of flabbergasted. i thought i made it Pretty Clear that i was not Pro Racist Caricatures…? by mentioning which racist caricature was being used, that does not mean i Believe Them…..? how does one go about reading history articles, and come away with the take that the person describing racism is racist themselves?

anyway 8) i can explain the race play thing…

after the start of european colonialism, to justify slavery, rape, theft, etc etc, colonists made up various caricatures to dehumanize black people. they're generally split by male and female kinds, you might know the mammy, a middle aged often fat black woman who is very matronly. not a negative trait by itself, but it comes with the loaded history of black women forced to have children only to have their infants taken away so they can breastfeed slave owners' children. idk if ur american, but if you remember that aunt jemima controversy after the blm upswing in 2020? yep. minstrel caricatures are so baked into american media, it perpetuates itself in an ouroborean way and homestuck's especially not exempt from this. race play explanation below cut >

there's a particular caricature of " the buck", a sexually ravenous black man who loves to rape white women in his free time. if the old film "birth of a nation" rings any bells... a more contemporary instance is the BBC <yk that acronym. long story short, a lot of rich conservative couples get their rocks off to seeing their wife get fucked by a spry and often times muscular black man. because caricatures are formed to dehumanize minorities, this one diminishes the black man to the role of cattle. a buck, a bull. at the end of the day, the white man is his owner, so any controlled instance of "giving up power" doesn't Actually mean anything. a black man can play that role to taste a hint of power as much as he wants, but black masculinity holds no genuine fucking power in society.

what's interesting applying this to equius and gamzee, is that gamzee IS higher up on the caste system. hussie's application of the caricature of "powerful and violent black masculinity" means it is incredibly superficial. it then comes off as a white supremacist using the veneer of this caricature to uplift his own violent image. EXACTLY like white rappers using black aesthetics to then seem more vicious and more masculine. you can see post malone in real time dropping it to further a career in country music because he knows it's taken him as far as it can go. again, black masculinity holds no power. it's his whiteness that makes him capable of making that switch. the caricature is a performance. because alternia is a violent society, white supremacists can milk this performance as much as they want.

the race play aspect was probably intentionally added by hussie, but NOT gamzee being white. the addition of the buck caricature was also not satirical either. back to how i said racist american media perpetuates itself, you don't have to be a white supremacist to do racist shit.

[setsunas-genshin-edits]

Okay, this is probably the last thing I will say about Natlan for now: The comments and posts I've seen about how the characters look as if they were originally designed to be darker and were only later changed due to higher-up pressure shift the blame in a way that makes HYV seem like victims of unfortunate circumstance and not the more likely answer - simple racism on their part. Is it possible they were forced to censor the Natlan cast? Sure, I guess. But which seems more likely, a company with a history of whitewashing and racism deciding to be more inclusive before being forced to retreat, or that same company continuing with their status quo? Genshin has always had issues, from Kaeya's original character description referring to him as "exotic", to Xinyan having a reputation of being scary and off-putting, to the European and East Asian-inspired areas being mainly based on one country each while the Middle East, Africa, and Indigenous Americans are thrown together into two areas despite being composed of vastly different cultures. Star Rail and Honkai 3rd have problems as well, from Penacony being based on the Jazz Age - an era built on Black musicians - while having an entirely light-skinned character roster, to HI3's Carole, the only black/mixed race playable character, being canonically self-conscious of her skin and avoiding anything that would darken it. "Fun" sidenote - Carole's mother, Lewis, is as far as I am aware the only truly muscular and "masculine" woman in the game. Do with that information as you will.

So while it is understandable to not want to have something you enjoy be blatantly racist, you shouldn't use that dismay to try and rationalize a secnario in which it's not their fault. If you really want things to be better, boycott Hoyoverse games - or at least don't spend any money, spread awareness, and push back and make your disappointment known through channels like feedback surveys, e-mails, and in-game support.