#racial stuff

[booblywooblies]

idk why im thinking about this

but when i was a kid i really hated that people always immediately thought my hair was black. when i was in like kindergarten we were doing a thanksgiving pretend game or something and we had these little pilgrim masks and one of the girl ones had brown hair and one had grey hair and the other kids made me be the grey hair one bc black hair is closer to grey than brown and i threw a FIT

i was like crying and i was like my hair ISNT BLACK ITS DARK BROWN (bc like, grey hair = old = ugly, saying i had black hair meant they were saying i was ugly)

and for some reason ive kind of fixated on my hair color ever since? and its a bit confusing because sometimes when you look at it it genuinely looks black and other times it genuinely looks brown, and my eyebrows are clearly just black but theyre slightly darker than the rest of my hair

and i only really actually noticed recently that my hair is actually BOTH brown and black, like if you pull two different hairs out of my head they may be different colors from each other, i have like a mixed hair color

this is like the weirdest thing to have a complex about, i grew up exlusively around like very blonde white people and like idve already been a little different if i was just a regular brunette but the fact that i wasnt even a WHITE brunette like destroyed me self esteem wise for some reason, i used to feel like such a weirdo for looking so different, even compared to people in my own family

i also used to like pull at my eyes to try to make them "bigger" and i really wished i had green eyes and freckles growing up

the eye pulling thing is kinda funny now bc like, my eyes have never been small and i didnt know what actually made my eyes different from other people, tbh most people probably wouldnt even think i have "asian eyes" (i just have epicanthal folds but thats not even unique to asians) and i really didnt understand what about my facial features even made me "look" asian

i think i saw my face in profile for the first time like, AS AN ADULT and it really hit me like, oh thats probably why people clock me as different/off all the time, i had no idea my face was so flat (old pic)

and now i live in a way more diverse place and people arent automatically suspicious about my appearance (though sometimes they are, i still get "what are you"d a lot) and its honestly kind of jarring, like people at the grocery store used to fucking STARE at me trying to figure out what i am or what i was doing there

and i mean people will probably start doing that again here for trans reasons but its been nice on one hand to not have to deal with that for a bit! ive got other problems here like people forget im a POC at all or think im "not a real asian" bc theyre used to full blooded asians and it kind of invalidates all my experiences. also its kinda funny that i can write that many words just about the little insecurities i had about looking different growing up that doesnt even come close to the extent of how people actually TREATED me. but i will probably just do that another time, its hard to get away from even though its almost entirely in the past for now.)

[sentientsky]

just a friendly reminder that, just because slavery was formally "abolished" in the so-called united states* in 1865, enslavement itself is still ongoing in the form of incarceration, which disproportionately affects Black and Indigenous people

(*i say "so-called" because the US is a settler-colonial construction founded on greed, extraction, and white supremacy) recommended readings/resources:

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

"How the 13th Amendment Kept Slavery Alive: Perspectives From the Prison Where Slavery Never Ended" by Daniele Selby

"So You're Thinking About Becoming an Abolitionist" by Mariame Kaba

"The Case for Prison Abolition: Ruth Wilson Gilmore on COVID-19, Racial Capitalism & Decarceration" from Democracy Now! [VIDEO]

[unlimitedbutchworks]

ultimately you have to remember that complaining about "4chan white trans women who are bigoted and so and so" is almost entirely pointless for any purpose aside from raising transmisogynistic sentiments in observers. this specter of an evil tranny is constantly looming despite the individuals being rare and often total shut ins, and people expect transfems to take this shit seriously and be constantly swearing off association with """bad people""". these people, when they do exist, by and large lack the power to actually do anything with their beliefs; obviously if they do it sucks but this idea that there are trans women ~getting away with it~ and that all transfem communities allow and hide this behavior is blatantly transmisogynistic in addition to often being completely imagined! its insane to act like you have to choose between resisting white supremacy and resisting transmisogyny, and yet, people wind up continually portraying it as this

[sukibenders]

Bridgerton states from season one, through Simon and Lady Danbury, to season two, with the Sharmas, to Queen Charlotte, from the beginning episode to the end spelled out clear as day, that racism exists in this world and many of the characters of colors have been impacted by it in some way. And, supposedly, I'm supposed to believe that Marina, that Kate and Edwina, that they all had more privilege and power than Penelope? No, I don't think so, a lot of things aren't right with that statement.

[lesbianralzarek]

thinking about all of the masks kim wears. he hides his generational trauma and foreign heritage behind his thick local accent, his homosexuality behind his (genuine) love of cars, his entire system of beliefs and morals and self-identity behind his badge. his creation of the self looks to have largely involved cutting off anything someone might consider objectionable, trying to earn respect from people who will never see more in him than the shape of his eyes, until he was left more lieutenant than human. kim is a man who accepted the world's invitation to hate himself

[laurrelise]

rewatching scenes of allison and ray from s2 and im once again so disappointed with what they did to him in s4.

i get that the filming schedules didn’t work out: that’s totally understandable. but you mean to tell me ray WALKED OUT on allison AND her young daughter? we couldn’t have figured out another plot that could’ve actually saved the characters motives, goals, traits, etc?

that man was head over heels IN LOVE with allison.

the man that said “i dont want to forget you. i dont want to forget us. i would take my year with you over a lifetime with anybody else. you hear me? i’m still the luckiest man i know.” just up and LEFT????? i refuse to believe it bro (also that quote will be the fucking death of me)

like you have a team of professional writers. you have a team of professional writers and you took a look at that man and said “nah it’s totally in-character for him to have felt out of time enough to completely abandon the love of his life and leave her to raise her daughter as a struggling single mother” i hope you all get fired

^ literally me rn thinking about them

[moralesmilesanhour]

A thought before i gts: Upon learning more about Miles' past love interests in the comics I think Shameik Moore needs his ass beat right along with Sony for creating the "Miles only likes white girls!!" narrative by association I think /hj

[sanyu-thewitch05]

Me watching the LGBT community who almost never rarely gives black women and girls, asexuals, or aromantics genuine respect, pretend we’re all friends and have always treated us right the minute it’s June 1st and want to use black women(mainly darkskinned) and girls as their little poster girl:

[simplepotatofarmer]

i still have reservations and issues with the whole qsmp mob pack thing.

i'm glad the mob pack was removed. i'm glad the creator of the pack is open to feedback and changing things so it's not racist or offensive. i get the intention wasn't malicious or to be racist and i do think that counts for something.

however.

there's still the way it was handled. yes, it's good that the mob pack was removed but it was deeply hurtful and racist and that warrants some sort of apology. especially from FitMC. what he said and the way he interacted with the mob was disgusting and racist and he absolutely needs to speak out on it and apologize.

there's still the way wider fandom handled it. just because the intent to be harmful wasn't there doesn't mean it wasn't harmful and didn't hurt people. so it sucks when you see so many people going 'well that wasn't their intent' because intent or not, it wasn't okay and seeing the reactions made it even worse because so often racism against indigenous people is minimized and anti-blackness is a huge problem. we're seeing that right now and as someone who is ojibwe and who has been watching qsmp, it hurts.

and there's still the fact that often white and non-indigenous creators/media feel entitled to taking culture that isn't theirs and using it in ways that are thoughtless and hurtful. so yes, the creator's intent might not have been that but the fact that it got this far just shows that the pattern of using indigenous and african culture without care is alive and well and it does contribute to a lot of hurt.

if you're not indigenous or black, i really implore you to think about these things and this situation because a lot of people were hurt.

[dentalcaring]

me trying not to have beef with cultural anthropology bc understanding others and their cultures is an important exercise. but also being an indigenous person it's hard to look at cultural anthropology and distance it from white people in pith helmets writing notes about that which they perceive as savage and other

[noperopesaredope]

Hey, other autistic folks?

Have you ever had a special interest that is kind of annoying to have? Like, it's your special interest, so you're obviously interested in it, but you're also annoyed that that's the thing your brain has decided to focus on? That's the thing you feel the need to talk about all the time?

If so, can ya'll tell me what yours might be? I don't want to feel alone in this.

[bumblingbabooshka]

Stonn x T'Pring and Sybok x Angel are the only SNW ships I like. Honestly, with the way the show is written, I'm rooting more for the Gorn than the Enterprise at this point.

With how that show's writing Vulcans I'm like 70% sure they're gonna make Stonn a bad guy or make T'Pring cheat on Spock so their relationship ends with "They both cheated!" or so that Christine can comfort Spock as if he hasn't been cheating on T'Pring pretty much the entire time he's been on screen. I watched a 'short trek' I think they're called? Because I heard T'Pring was in it but it was REAAALLY bad like humor I might have laughed at in middle school...anyway T'Pring was only in it so they could make a joke where the premise was "T'Pring keeps breaking up with Spock because she falls in love with other people and Spock is SOO sad about it" and I was like Hey. Are you even WATCHING your show???? You're taking potshots at the WRONG CHARACTER. Like, even if you wanna make that joke - Christine'd make more sense because Christine and Spock ARE actually 'keeping it casual' and Christine DOES actually date around whereas T'Pring is committed to Spock in SNW and trying at every turn to make their relationship work. It still wouldn't be funny if the girl constantly breaking up with Spock was Christine but having it be T'Pring literally doesn't even make sense. You can say "it's just a funny little joke" (as people say about a lot of SNW'S issues) but T'Pring is a female character who's been viciously maligned for YEARS and if their 'jokes' or 'comedy' come at the expense of their characters or the message of ultimate togetherness and hope in the galaxy then I don't find it funny. SNW isn't supposed to be a comedy I don't know why they keep trying to be 'funny' at the price of being earnest. This isn't a marvel movie. The pro-eugenics trial, killing the disabled character, killing the chronically ill character (and framing this as a beautiful relief), 'being disabled is worse than death' messaging, turning the Gorn into horror movie killer monsters (especially when they could have just made up another species), the bioessentialism, constantly maligning Vulcans as racist bullies (with Spock's half Human blood saving him) <- Which I hate ESPECIALLY when Spock has always been a symbol for mixed people in which he struggled equally with feeling belonging in BOTH cultures whereas in SNW it feels like "If he could only be released from Vulcan's evil clutches he could be happy!" + The laziness of cheating being a plot point in so many main characters' romance stories so far. [La'an wants to be with Kirk but that'd be cheating, Spock is cheating on T'Pring with Christine, Pike sleeps with another woman in 'Lift Us Where Suffering' despite having a girlfriend <- They COULD be open but I don't think this is explained. That's Five or Six characters involved in potential cheating and more if you count M'Benga wink-nudging Spock and Christine's relationship when he most likely knows Spock is engaged to T'Pring.] I just have no faith in SNW. It doesn't feel earnest, and it doesn't feel kind and I don't want to watch a show where they'll sacrifice someone's character at any time for an ultimately meanspirited joke.

[whatever-you-can-give-me]

[ID: two images of wolfwood, from trigun 98 and trigun stampede, in similar fully sunlit lighting conditions, chosen specifically to show design similarities: light brown skin (98 wolfwood has a cooler undertone to his skin, stampede a warmer tone) a prominent nose bridge (more visible in the image of 98 wolfwood, straight with a slight curve) an open shirt collar, and a noticeably oversized jacket, as well as the way the punisher dwarfs their frames. End ID]

i’ve been thinking about the virulent unpersoning of stampede wolfwood again and while i’m not saying that criticisms of the stampede designs are complete unfounded. it’s not like studio orange was reinventing the wheel here. wolfwood is one of the most similar designs of the bunch, really, milly pending.

also. for the record. i’m not east asian so it’s not really my place to take this personally. but…

[ID: one of the earliest panels of wolfwood in the trigun manga, notable for the same oversized suit jacket as his later iterations and the way his eyes are drawn, almond-shaped and angled to imply a monolid, beside a photo of tortoise matsumoto (frequently cited as wolfwood’s main design inspiration) a japanese man in a suit with a wide smile and a prominent nose bridge). End ID]

[ID: a later illustration of wolfwood from trigun maximum, in color. his skin tone is closer to the reference of matsumoto above, with the same warm yellow undertone as stampede wolfwood’s design. his eyes are brown, once again with the almond shape and implied monolid. End ID]

…just something to think about, i suppose, next time the discourse carousel comes back around to various wolfwoods canon and fanon not being Of Color enough.

[orcelito]

I bought a chair and a sword today

Wahoo!!!

[justahalfblood]

I started The Lost Hero audiobook narrated by Joshua Swanson and his voice for Leo..... yikes.

[spineless-lobster]

I think it’s interesting that the Captain loves Gilbert and Sullivan so much because not only is it musical theatre, but I e noticed there are some common themes in most Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. (Especially the ones Cap mentions, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado)

The Pirates of Penzance (as well as HMS Pinafore) focus on themes of forbidden love, in PoP it’s because the main character is a pirate. In HMSP it’s due to class differences.

I can imagine a young Cap, wondering why the feelings he’s having towards other boys is so frowned upon. And seeing those concerns reflected in the opera.

The Mikado is a satirical take on capital punishment, the crime in the opera that’s punishable by death is flirting. Now, I’m not saying Gilbert intended that to be some Victorian commentary on gay rights; but being sentenced to death for loving someone is not an exclusively heterosexual problem.

The fact that the Captain (along with Fanny) canonically praised the opera for it’s comedy regarding this theme kind of says a lot about him. He puts up this front of a stiff upper lip perfect English gentleman but reality he despises the establishment of his era.

The last thing I want point out is that (as far as I know) every Gilbert and Sullivan opera ends with a happy ending. The forbidden lovers manage to beat the system via some sort of loophole and they get to live happily ever after.

I think the Captain loves these operas so much because he gets to see people who cannot love who they want to due to an oppressive system; people like him, receive the happy ending he wishes he could have.

He gets to have second-hand queer euphoria along with catchy songs and funny jokes, all while presenting himself as socially acceptable. And I think he deserves that happiness.