#the one where a nazi gets punched

[sunbeamedskies]

I know it's hard to do so when you've dedicated so much time to leftist movements and found a community that's helped you and some others thrive, but you HAVE to criticize the left when it is failing groups of people. And it is 100000000% failing Jews.

Almost every single non-Jewish activist who usually posts about tragedies when they happen to numerous other marginalized groups has remained silent about the recent news about the Bibas family. Most have been entirely silent about October 7th. Even this post will likely be reblogged/liked by 95% Jews.

All your Jewish friends could have been born Israeli. It's entirely dependent on where their ancestors fled to. Half of the world's ENTIRE Jewish population lives in Israel. And you- no matter what group you belong to- could have been born Israeli. You might be in denial about it, but it's true. Anyone of us could have been born anywhere.

I roll my eyes when "I'd totally punch a nazi!" activists complain about Elon Musk maybe doing a nazi salute, yet never post about what Jews have been mourning for over a year now. Their words are empty. Elon is easy to criticize because he is a douchebag who is rightfully hated by the left. You risk no real social consequences for your posts about him. You are not a social justice advocate- you are a coward.

But what kind of world are we living in where anyone in any movement claiming to be about "justice" feels they are risking social consequences for posting about Jews who were murdered due to being Jews? Fearing your "comrades" scolding you for posting against antisemitism? They have some big antisemitism problems to deal with. Are you willing to confront them about it?

Fearing social consequences for speaking up about suffering Palestinians and suffering Israelis are two sides of the same coin of extremism. I always wonder if my posts really get through to anyone, or if I'm mostly screaming into the void. Will this post affect you? Or will you just go "ah that's kinda sad idk" and move on?

It's time to have some tough conversations with people you might be afraid to get into them with. Are you going to be a true ally to Jews or not? Are you going to fix your activist spaces to be ones centered around the principles of justice and equality? Or are you going to ignore it and claim you're not antisemitic? Because Jews have seen where indifference and denial leads to before. Spoiler alert: it's horrific.

[the-indigo-symphony]

I don't think I'm gonna really say this better than the Jewish folks I've already seen talk about this, but I kinda feel obligated to on some level, so here we go

"Punch a Nazi" is all well and good, but over the past few years, I've seen lots of otherwise respectable and kind people drink the antisemitism juice until they become Nazis in all but recognized name. And I say "recognized name" because people have somehow forgotten that the core of Nazism is Jew-hatred, and not just being an extreme bigot (or even just a run-of-the-mill asshole), so people refuse to look at what's in front of them and name it (Nazism) for what it is. So many would rather use that serious, specific term as a general insult for anyone they disagree with online. Ignorance is bliss, after all, even if it means looking the other way as a mere mention of someone celebrating Hanukkah brings out accusations of blood libel from your fellow activists. (I'm not exaggerating with that example, btw, I've seen simple posts just about celebrating Hanukkah get filled with comments accusing the poster of supporting child murder. And a lot worse besides.)

If you want to punch a Nazi, if you're concerned about parallels to the years before the Holocaust... learn to recognize a Nazi before they get on national television and """throw their heart out to the crowd""". And perhaps more importantly, learn to keep yourself from going along with their shit for even an inch.

Listen to Jewish people. And when you do, be aware – there will be a part of you that is biased, that is antisemitic, and you have to pay attention to when it rears its head and you have to kill it where it stands. You have to listen to Jewish people, you have to have an open mind when you do it, you have to remember that you are not immune to subtly internalizing the idea that you, too, should be biased against a group that has been hated and scapegoated and lied about and cast as the root of all evil for centuries upon centuries.

The point of punching Nazis is to stop Nazism. And the first step to accomplishing that is keeping yourself from joining them because you didn't catch your bias becoming prejudice becoming discrimination becoming hatred becoming... any of the bullshit I've seen, any of the bullshit that Jewish people have had to put up with as antisemitism rises over the past few years.

No one is immune to propaganda. I know I'm certainly not. And none of the formerly respectable and kind people I've seen fall to hatred over the past few years were, either.

You want to be inclusive? You want to be accepting? You want to minimize harm and help bring about a brighter tomorrow?

Then make sure you stand alongside Jewish folk as you do it.

Name and kill the Nazi in your head before you go out punching the ones around you, or you may find yourself marching with them without a second thought.

[waytootiredstudent]

Why the CDU/CSU can go fuck itself

Time for another one of these. a quick(ish) summary for all the non-german speakers about why we're freaking out and the state of our democracy.

Spoiler. its not...good. Not catastrophic (yet). But the alarm bells are very, very loud.

Tl;dr: The CDU, party currently prognosed to win the election, has basically worked together with the afd to get a migrationbill to pass that is very strict. The afd are the nazi party that is getting backed by Musk. This might forshadow a cooperation between AFD and CDU. That would put the far right in power. The current response from the general public are demonstrations against that. Like. there are a LOT of protests currently.

Alright grab a drink and lets go.

First, groundwork: Who are parties and who is the guy we currently all want to punch in the face?

on top: Careful, risk of confusion. on the left: on the board of a sleazy cooperation. not interested in the enviroment. Real. On the right: on the board of a sleazy cooperation. not interested in the enviroment. comic figure.

This guy here is Friedrich Merz. no, not the guy on the right. the guy on the left. I know. Easy mistake to make.

He's an asshole. He's also the current boss of the CDU and their chancellor candidate. He's very likely to win according to recent polls.

The CDU has a complicated history, but to simplify it: They were in charge for sixteen years before the now broken apart Traffic-light goverment and are responsible for a lot of shit that we're currently dealing with. Like crumbling infrastructure for example. They were more interested, as a party, to preserve the status quo at all costs, than to invest anything. You could argue that a lot of the enviromental issues we are facing and the reason why Germany is currently pretty stagnant, can be traced back to the one and a half decade the CDU was in charge. They are conservative, not a fan of migration and like to throw around 'tradtional values'.

They are, generally speaking, or better were, center right. More on that later.

The other party that is going to be a major pain in the ass to outright fucking dangerous, is the AFD, short for 'Alternative for Germany'.

this is Alice Weidel, she's the current chancellor candidate for the afd. here is her wikipedia article and lets just say her 'controversies' part is longer than her 'political positions' part.

Those are the, to put it bluntly, Nazis. They are dangerous but also a fucking mess. Like, to just list a few of their hits: They've been getting money from dictators (different ones btw, not just one), infigthing is a sport to them, they try to glorify the nazi-regime, the german intelligence agency is watching them because they are officially considered radical right-wing and a threat to democracy, there is a petition to ban the afd and that is a high bar to cross, the demonize immigrants, hate queer people, you know, the usual. Also of course political correctness has gone too far and climate change isn't real and we need to leave the EU. Elon Musk, you know the rich guy who did the Nazi-salute, also has been appearing and is actively supporting them. Just in case we were unclear before on where they all stand.

(btw the whole 'elon is supporting them' thing is pretty scary bc you could argue the reason that the afd is able to win so many votes is bc, frankly, they're good at social media. Do i need to elaborate why that is a dangerous combination.)

to put them into perspective: The afd is too right for the other alt-right parties in the EU parlament. There is a coalition in the EU Parlament for the right, made up of all the right wing parties from other nations and the afd is too right for them. So. yeeeeaaah.

that should do it as background information.

Now. back to current events. where both of these parties are getting more and more support.

For a short history of why we currently have a non-functioning goverment, i made a post about that. Be aware that it was made as a product of its time and doesn't have all the information. For example back then we didn't know that FDP had actively engineered that break up and wanted it to happen for a while. Yes. They wanted to topple the goverment they were in. on purpose. It's been a fun time over here in Germany as well.

anyways, lets get to the meat of things. Since we don't have a functional goverment currently, Merz has introduced a harsh migration bill. This has been in the wake of an attack with two murders, where the current suspect is a migrant. while this is a tragedy, its getting brutally misused by all out rightwing parties to scream about how we need stricter migration laws and that migrants are a danger. Which to be so fucking clear about this, is such bullshit. It's been proven so many times how that is bullshit. I'm gonna be real and not even bother. They're just the newest scapegoats everything can be blamed on.

But because nobody has a majority, all attempts at governing so far have been pretty stalled.

(our goverment currently)

Quick information from the past:

in 2018 the CDU basically stated they wouldn't, in any sort of way, cooperate with the AFD, declaring basically a Brandmauer (fire wall). This basically means that yes, the afd had been given seats in the parlament, but nobody would give them any power whatsoever.

This has been the position of the cdu. It is why people still considered them center-right.

Merz has repeatedly said he didn't care who voted with him. now with a slight majority, 348 to 344, the cdu has won, with the support of the afd. Many see this as the fall of the Brandmauer. It's not good. Merz has more and more talking points that sound exactly like the afd and that is SCARY. There is still a vivid memory alive here about why having a far-right goverment is dangerous. There is a reason why there are currently a lot of massive protests all over the country loudly proclaiming that 'never again is now'.

This also puts for many the cdu from 'center right' to 'right'. There are calls from inside the cdu to 'stop demonizing the afd'. This is scary. This could mean that we get not just a conservative goverment in a few weeks, but a rightwing one. One who is comfortable cooperating with radical right wingers if it suits their needs. To cooperate with a party that even our own intelligence agencies consider a threat to our democrazy.

So. that is why your german mutuals sit there like

Now. To another part. What exactly is that migration bill merz had wanted to pass so desperateldy?

Well first of all it calls for a national emergency, using the beforementioned murder as reasoning, for the danger of immigration. It calls for closing and controls at the borders permanently, not temporary as is curently the case. They want for people without valid ID to be refused entry, even when they are searching safety. People that are already in Germany but need to leave should be thrown in jail until they actually leave.

Which. just to be clear about this. this what the bill they had, that had the support of the afd, says. This is not a wish list. This what they want to be law.

But to be also clear, lots of this is against our current law, against Basic EU law and principle and also a pretty big violation of our constituation.

Which is what makes this situation so fatal. This bill is going to be fought. In court, in politics, with demonstrations on the streets. this bill is controversial. Merz knew that. he knew that a lot of this wouldn't pass. This is a publicly stunt. This is testing the waters. How much will the public allow? how far can he push? Is cooperation with the afd possible for him? How does everyone react?

It was never about immigration or that bill. All the people this is going to impact, all the lives that are going to be lost because of this shit they are pulling - this is to them all just collateral. Its testing how much is possible, tolerated even. The chances of this bill making it law is slim. It needs to pass again in a different body of the goverment with a two thirds majority and that is nowhere in sight.

Also, lets take a look at who voted what:

it was about four votes. So my german friends who also read this - look at this and be aware of who voted what. Who abstained to vote and gave up the four votes it would have taken to stop this. who accepted that to get what they want they would need to get the support of the afd, no matter how much Merz now claims that he still doesn't cooperate with the afd and that there were no talks between them. Look at the numbers. Look how and with who they voted.

To be frank, i am pretty pissed off. I don't think much about wallowing in self-pity and despair. i am pissed off about what is happening. i am pissed off that these people don't have a spine, i am pissed off at the FDP for enabling this in the first place, i am pissed off that we have Nazis in out goverment, i am pissed off that we have people who are willing to cooperate with them. I am pissed off that i need to settle for damage control instead of being able to see something finally move forward.

Now here we come to the less depressing part of this whole thing. And i want you to pay attention to it.

People are protesting. loudly. And in the thousands. There have been ten to a hundred thousands of people all over the country in the last week, protesting against the rise of faschism and the far right. Its all over the country, in different cities. Where the afd appears to talk, so do the protesters. There are 35 afd people to 1300 protesters. People loudly say 'never again is now'. And they show up to back that claim up.

This shit is vile, yes, but it's not going to be unopposed.

I know this all reads as depressing as fuck but do not give into the temptation of falling into despair. This is far from over. Yes those are the alarm bells and they are ringing loudly. But there is still things that can be done. Don't let the afd lure you into thinking this all pointless anyways. It's not. This is all not good, yes, but no reason to fall into blind panic. The bill isn't law yet. Merz is facing massive backlash for his little stunt. This is not a hopeless situation. It's just a shitty one.

[insert-content]

a summar(ule)y of 196 culture

since the tumblr veterans have been kind enough to introduce us newbies to their site and culture, i think it is only fair that we explain the culture of our glorious former home to any tumblr users who might be interested in the #196 tag. keep in mind, all these things are based on my perspective of the situation.

first of all, some general information (that you might’ve already heard):

196 (r/196 on reddit) was a subreddit with only one (official) rule; "post before you leave." it was mainly a meme/shitposting sub, but it cultivated a large queer and left-leaning community. in protest of the recent api chances in reddit, 196 has shut down indefinitely until reddit reverts these changes.

now for some culture/references that you might come across

spronkus kronkus:

spronkus is this yellow, rabbit-like creature.

they were the mascot of our subreddit. their appearance can vary from images to image, but as far as i’m aware, their full outfit consists of a bandanna in the colours of the trans flag around their neck, a gun labelled as such (other wise you obviously wouldn’t know what you’re looking at), and an axe also coloured like the trans flag.

r/place:

this is a rare event on reddit where the entire website gets a huge white canvas and can start creating pixel art on it. 196 participated by collaboratively creating our mascot, spronkus with "196!" written next to them.

this version of the pixel art was recreated by me as i couldn't find a nice image of it. there were some changes between the first version and the end result, so this might not be exactly how it looked in the end

post titles/"rule":

reddit forces it's users to title every post they make. as most of the posts on 196 spoke for themselves, many user instead titled their posts "rule", to indicate that they followed the subreddit's only rule. some people also tried to make puns with the word or tried to include it in words that shared some letters (example: wor(ule)d).

anarcho-stripperism:

as the amount of cropped porn jokingly posted to the subreddit increased, the moderators decided that porn would be banned from the sub, with one exception: anarcho-stripperism. she made food fucking videos, in which she jokingly tested the fuckability of different food items (fruits, pasta, etc.)

bigotry showcase:

bigotry showcase was a post flair (basically the reddit equivalent of tags) on the subreddit and was later restricted to only be used on saturdays. under this flair people posted instances of different forms of bigotry to make fun it.

eating babies/hungryposting:

at some point, the subreddit started to pretend to like eating babies, which started a variety of memes regarding the subject. even a post flair called "hungrypost" was added because of this

goblinhog:

goblinhog is the most prominent and well-known member of the 196 moderation team. besides this, on 196 he was mostly known for changing people’s flair if you enjoyed him enough about it.

flairs:

flairs are little tags that are displayed under your name in posts or comments, they are also subreddit specific. most subreddits give their users a palette of preset flairs and the option to make your own custom flair. however, in 196 you only had the option to customize your flair during special events. if you wanted to customize your flair outside of those events (which was basically the entire time), you had to ask a mod to do it for you.

punching nazis:

from time to time, the same gif of a person with a nazi armband getting punched in the face, and promptly falling to the ground, was reposted to the subreddit. this became a sort of tradition.

discourse/drama

wasp discourse:

the wasp discourse was a one to two weeks long heated discussion that generally divided the subreddit into two factions. one side said that they were justified in killing wasps if they were attacked by them, while the other claimed that since wasps are just animals, they aren't aware of what they're doing in the same way humans are, and therefore should be spared.

drama about the british:

there was a time when jokes along the lines of "ew, british" became pretty frequent on the subreddit. as a response, some user claimed that this was akin to racism and tried to get others to stop with the jokes. a debate over whether or not it was important or necessary to stop followed afterwards.

pillar discourse:

this was a debate over which type of pillar should be considered the best (ionic; doric; corinthian). i have seen the question "which pillar is the best?" being used as a sort of greeting between 196 refugees on here.

related subreddits

195:

195 was the predecessor to 196, and also was a social experiment with the same premise as 196 (one rule, post before you leave). as the creators of 195 ended the experiment, the community wanted something with the same vibe to continue posting, and thus 196 was born.

197:

197 is another part of the 196 ecosystem and is commonly understood to be the more politically right-leaning and bigoted as 196, as some people who were banned from 196 continued posting there. besides that, the subreddits were essentially the same in terms of how they functioned.

19684:

this subreddit adds a second rule which banned all mentions of sex (that’s why it’s name is a pun on 1984). some people took this as banning all discussion of sexuality, which resulted in a community that was slightly less accepting of queer people. it is currently still up and running as the 196 moderation team wants a way to stay in contact with the community.

amendments to the posts:

u/femboy_expert:

another well-known 196 user. as the name suggests they're an expert on the subject of femboys, with their flair on 196 reading "phd in feminine boys". as the subreddit was somewhat obsessed with femboys, it's no wonder that they became popular.

u/shitcum_backup:

this was the main account of a pretty popular shitposter on the subreddit. although i didn't see them as much in the last few months, i remember them sometimes having a unique speaking pattern, in which they referred to themself in the third person.

u/monko74:

this user commented "Every day I thank god for not making me a r/196 celebrity," which led to many users of the subreddit treating them like a micro celebrity. there are even a few subreddits solely dedicated to u/monko74.

691:

a sister subreddit that inverts the rule of 196, here you would be (temporarily) banned for posting. some time ago the members of this sub initiated a rebellion/revolution against the bot who performed all the bans (roomba).

u/Smart_Calendar1874:

this wasn’t necessarily part of the subreddit, but it was a pretty popular meme. and since it’s getting posted on here again, and i know enough about it, i’ll add it to the post. this user made a post to r/AskReddit titled "How would you get a small cylinder (5.1in length, ~4.5in girth) unstuck from a mini M&Ms tube filled with butter and microwaved mashed banana? [sic]" it was pretty clear that they were referring to their penis, yet they continued to claim "it’s a cylinder," in the comment section. this lead to comments like "it is imperative that the cylinder […] remains unharmed," in response to people’s advice of cutting the m&m tube.

it's going to be very interesting to see which aspects of 196 culture are going to survive the tumblr migration, and which aspects won't be applicable on this site.

i'm obviously not the ultimate scholar on 196 lore. if i’ve missed or left out anything, or said something wrong, please comment it.

[hateyourgovernment]

Some self proclaimed leftists are so caught up in the shame about their own lack of action they start patronizing everyone who actually tries to do something. We should all stop acting like punching nazis is actually possible and care more about feelings in online forums. Cause clearly no one actually punches Nazis.

Meanwhile antifa all over the world are struggling to keep the streets somewhat safe by any means necessary and are prosecuted for it. Just this week 7 antifa turned themself in after german police couldn't get hold of them for 2 years. They could use ur solidarity, material or not. No matter where you're living, there probably are antifascists in prison right now for doing what you don't dare to dream of.

[tinytablepodcast]

Help Us Choose Our Next Game

We received so many wonderful submissions from the indie ttrpg community of games to play next on Tiny Table. We need your help to narrow them down! We will be taking the top 3 games to Patreon for our patrons in the Mini and Micro tier to vote on.

Reactors and Romance: Reactors and Romance is a rules-light RPG about flirting while piloting a giant robot. You only have one stat, and that is your HEAT 🔥. Your HEAT measures how hot your mech's reactor is getting, and how hot of a pilot you are 😉 Will you fight or flirt your way through battle? Can you keep your mech from overheating? What will it be hotshot? https://jp-bergamo.itch.io/reactors-and-romance 

Dawn of the Orcs: Dawn of the Orcs is a GMless dark fantasy worldbuilding and roleplaying game. You play as the magical technocrats who create the first Orcs as weapons of war, modify and improve them over time, and tell the story of how the Orcs become their own people. https://lymetime.itch.io/dawnoftheorcs 

The Trains of the Glorious Republic of the People: The Trains of the Glorious Republic of the People is a tabletop RPG where players take on the roles of a train crew in a fictional 1930s totalitarian state. Your mission is simple: get yourselves and your unique train from point A to point B though things are never that easy on the tracks of the Glorious Republic. The game requires only d6s, pen, paper, and, above all, your loyalty to the party.

'til it kills us: in ‘til it kills us, you play as a group of young, reckless queer activists fighting to make a difference in the world. you’re angry, and you’re scared, and rightfully so. not to mention, you’re all a little bit fucked up. whether you’re dealing with issues at home, struggling with mental illness, or just learning to stand on your own two feet, life isn’t easy. but you’re also in love with the world, and with each other, so you keep fighting anyway. it’s the only thing you can do. the only problem is your magic. sure, it protects you. sure, it helps you fight. but you can feel it – feeding on the most unpleasant parts of you. and the longer you have this magic, the more you fear by those feelings. you worry it might be powering but you keep fighting. what else is there? remember what you always said: we’re going to keep on fighting ‘til it kills us. https://damsels-dice.itch.io/til-it-kills-us

Dragon and the Warrior: Create your own oldschool JRPG world as you play, by drawing monsters and maps; creating magic items, spells, allies, and quests; or filling the world with towns and dungeons. Every conflict, whether a sword and sorcery combat with monsters, or an argument with your overbearing mother, is imagined as turn based combat with a card based system. Players constantly switch between playing the hero protagonist and taking on varied GM roles, controlling Allies, Monsters, or Treasure! https://orioncanning.itch.io/ 

here, there, be monsters!: here, there, be monsters! is a rules-lite response to monster-hunting media from the monsters' point of view. It is an explicitly queer, antifascist and anti-capitalist game about the monstrous and the weird not as something to be feared, but to be cherished and protected. It features a simple tag-based system and resolution mechanics based on a pair of six-sided dice (2d6), as well as 100 pre-made character backgrounds and dozens of other tables to get you started as fast as you want. Play as a diverse crew of monstrous, anomalous or just generally odd people. Create and populate your own supernatural underworld, abnormal gang and extra-dimensional haven. Hunt monster hunters! Punch nazi occultists! Eat the rich! Protect each other! Fight back! Here, there, be monsters! https://soulmuppet-store.co.uk/products/heretherebemonsters 

Speedrune: SpeedRune is a rules-lite ancient world fantasy game. Inspired by myths and fairy tales, players build and maintain a community between seasonal adventures. It's like if Xena: Warrior Princess fought the Bible but weirder. Check it out for free here: https://erinking.itch.io/speedrune

I’m in!: A fast-paced game where you pull off a one-shot heist, including everything from assembling the crew to the getaway. Using the rules of Blackjack to resolve the various obstacles of the game, it's a snazzy, jazzy time! https://gobbogary.itch.io/im-in 

Wizards of the Longest Night: WotLN is a game about WIZARDS, DOMINOES, ESCAPING DEATH and OBSCURE RULINGS. You and your FELLOW WIZARDS are trying to escape DEATH ITSELF as it twists the world around you back towards it. You are FULL OF WIZARD HUBRIS and think you can BEAT BACK THE CONCEPT OF ENTROPY which of course you can, because you have WIZARD MAGIC. You lay down paths to meet death as you lay down cards to beat it. Or tarot. Or scrabble times. Fuck it, play uno. Swap someone's hand. Play poker with a hand full of small rubber pigs. Cast wizard voltron. Read the rules. Cheat at the rules. Stick postit notes on your friend so you can offload your entire hand and declare uno. Watch the gameshow wheel of fortune. Be a horse. Email god. Cast the estrogen spell. BEAT DEATH AT ALL COSTS. The darkness stretches on forever, but if you set enough things on fire you dont need the sun to know the dawn again. https://moonhawk.itch.io/wizards-of-the-longest-night 

Death Cap Sauté: Death Cap Sauté is a GM-less one-shot TTRPG for 2 to 5 players. Players will compete in a deadly cooking competition in the weird post-apocalypse to gain the favor of the elusive Shroomp Lord! Using a simple push-your-luck dice system, face-off in 5 unique cooking challenges to see who will come out on top! https://junkfoodgames.itch.io/death-cap-saut

If you submitted a game to us and don't see it on the list, don't fret! We will be hosting many polls like this and your game is still in consideration. If you game is on here and isn't chosen to move on to our next poll, also don't fret! We may add it on to the next poll again.

[durnesque-esque]

Yes, punch Nazis.

But remember, one does not simply wake up able to punch Nazis. Punching requires strength training and form. You should sign up for a martial art of some kind and regularly stretch and lift weights. Practice on a punching bag frequently. If you have not already started training to punch Nazis, you should start today.

And this is not just a lesson for literally punching Nazis, this is also a metaphor for punching Nazis. Y'all need to get educated about the issues and get involved. And you need to practice standing up for your deeply held beliefs.

I am a Holocaust / Shoah scholar. When we talk about the Holocaust / Shoah, we talk about 4 categories of people: victims, perpetrators, rescuers / resistors, and BYSTANDERS.

Everyone likes to think they would be a rescuer / resistor AUTOMATICALLY. But you wouldn't. And probably many of you already haven't. And that's ok - I'm not accusing you, but I'm trying to wake you to the fact that most of us have already been quiet bystanders too many times. It takes active, daily work to move from bystander to rescuer / resistor.

One does not simply wake up able to punch Nazis. But if you start educating yourself, you will find yourself equipped with knowledge needed to spot Nazism / Facism where you see it. If you get out and involved with community groups that are part of the resistance: IN ANY FACET OF THE FIGHT YOU FEEL MOVED BY (queer rights, womens rights, health care, climate change, immigrant rights, financial inequality, workers rights, free Palestine / Congo / Sudan, etc - the fight is on MANY FRONTS), you will learn how to speak about and stand for your rights. You will learn what systems and networks you have access to that can help victims (including yourself!) who are in danger.

The Bystander Effect is STRONG. It takes knowing how to break through your own conditioned responses to stay silent and uninvolved when you see crisis of any kind.

Resistance is ACTIVE and DIFFICULT work. But it is work that needs doing and that is worth doing. So start stretching and strength training today. We're going to need you.

[transman-badass]

I hope everyone who's ever said they'd punch a Nazi gets the chance to prove it.

I hope everyone who's ever said "protect trans kids" put their money where their mouth is.

I hope everyone who has ever caused discourse and division in the queer community shuts the fuck up and stop doing the feds work for them.

I hope the world that's born when this one burns down is kind.

[artbyblastweave]

ask game; Victoria Dallon, aka Glory Girl aka Antares

I've always thought that Victoria's first appearance is quite the bit of deft needle-threading.

The thing about Interlude 2 is that Vicky is our first example of one of this setting's established heroes actively fighting crime- not just swooping in to vulture up the accomplishments of an up-and-comer- and a therefore a major goal of the sequence is to ensure that the audience comes away structurally unnerved by what counts as business as usual for the heroes, set the stage for the hurricane of ass-covering to come. So we have a sequence where she lords her power over a baseline criminal who has no realistic chance to fight back or get away, where she cripples and nearly kills him in a display of excessive force, where she uses her connections to other capes to duck out on the consequences of her excess once she realizes that she's crossed certain moral and optical Rubicons. All of this is gross, all of this speaks to an alarmingly cavalier attitude amongst even the most ostensibly accountable heroes. And from a protagonistic perspective, all of this serves to soften the blow of Taylor's actions at the bank in act three, because we're predisposed to see Vicky as an arrogant, overprivileged loose cannon who'd actually have a significantly higher body count than all of the Undersiders put together if not for the cushion afforded to her by her status as a superhero. A golden child up against the already put-upon underdog.

But. She also does all of that to a Neo-Nazi, who was fresh off committing a hate crime. I mean, if this was violence against a purse-snatcher, a drug-dealer- It would be very, very easy to block this sequence in a way that would set her up as a villain and nothing else for the rest of the work. In The Boys, for example, Homelander debuts by incinerating one bank robber's hand and throwing another a thousand feet into the air to land hard on a parked car, and the dissonance between that casual brutality and his chumminess with the onlookers is the thematic backbone for... basically the entire show, because he was in such total control of the situation that the only reason to do it that way is that he fundamentally doesn't care. In Super Crooks, it's made abundantly clear that the superheroes trying to arrest the titular supervillains are significantly more destructive to the city than the villains are, because their institutional backing removes any incentive to do anything but pursue the flashiest arrests possible for the sake of ratings. But Glory Girl? She's a sixteen year old putting her money where her mouth is on the unconsidered-dilettante suburban-left-ish tumblrite rallying cry of punching a Nazi. She's living out a near-boilerplate superheroic fantasy of righteous violence against an uncomplicatedly righteous target- likely a fantasy entertained at least once by the median cape fan, if we're being honest- and then, in the aftermath, blood on her hands and on the pavement, staring down the full weight of the prospect of actually having killed a person in an unconsidered spate of rage, is very much a panicked teenager about it, scrambling for a way to walk it back.

Which, independent of the specifics of whether this particular asshole had it coming, is the problematic element of this that generalizes- that superheroism in this world is a system that puts the social license to use concrete-shattering power in the hands of a kid with the judgement and attitude of someone scheming up ways to dodge curfew. She's done this before, she's gonna keep doing this, she's gonna keep being two-faced about it with her public-facing golden-girl image. But she wasn't wrong to be angry. And the fact that this is the kind of thing she gets angry about is hard to separate from later beats where she tries to do right by people, hard to separate from her willingness to put herself on the line against Endbringers and the Slaughterhouse 9. It's a bad situation, a horrible system that's guaranteed to incentivize bad behavior, they shouldn't be assigning any of this shit to a 17-year-old. But later on, when things go south for her, the seeds are planted so that she can retain audience sympathy in a way that she likely wouldn't be able to if this story was a banal hatswap, with unfairly maligned "villains" who do no real wrong against supervillains who happen to call themselves superheroes.

[baberoe-archive]

top 10 insane bucky moments?

god where do i start.

perhaps basic of me but getting drunk and then saying he's fine then asking curt to punch him in the face and then howling. perhaps number one bucky moment for me. just absolutely falling apart. i hear that brother. do you ever think about how eps 1-3 he never really lets buck see this side of him. and its only when curt dies that buck is privy to it. yeah i dont think about that either

"maaaaaarge...." is to me far more insane than scissoring in the yard. like at least when he's provoking fights it can be written off as restlessness, but mocking your best friend for taking comfort in his sweetheart's letter with the most sickeningly jealous expression in the world AND right in front of everyone's salad.......... this man is a medieval peasant self-flagellating in the street.

trading his sheepskin that buck hated to go on his first mission after buck went down. he didn't even think about it he just saw jack and ran over and did it. and then when brady asked him about it. he just straight up said "buck always hated that jacket" bitch WHAT

provoking col harding for no reason unprovoked. in front of the men!!! his self destructive tendencies and distaste for authority compel me

also when he starts yelling at that nazi guard on the march. that's such a good moment i get the impression that most of what bucky does is (to some extent) calculated like he knows hes being a dick he knows he flying too close to the sun and thats what he wants yknow he wants to egg people on but this moment he just completely lets go thats the pure thoughtless rage thats been simmering the whole series. god.

offscreen moment (forgive me) but not letting them send bucks footlocker back to the states. and then the 100th kept it for a full year like what did he say??? how desperate was he that no one could bring themselves to move bucks footlocker after a year???

stalag baseball scene. when you put on your off-putting and hard to be around-sona because you feel yourself to be so abandoned and abused that any semblance of gentleness would make you bare your teeth and bite. when you want to bite. when you dont want to bite.

willingly got a dart thrown at his face so he could give his boy best friend a bike so they could bike around together. ohhh my god bitch. down so bad its pathetic

whatever the hell he did to get on the regensberg mission and also the regensberg mission in general. pushing one of the gunners out of the way cause they were going for buck. "reserve command pilot" or whatever. i know what you are.

i dont remember the scene exactly but before the mission when they are getting their gear and hes like "call me sir" and crank goes "none of the people we're bombing today shot down buck" and then he just goes. absolutely silent. nothing to say to that. outline in the shape of a person moment.

[anamericangirl]

This is something interesting I've learned studying criminal psychology:

98% of people who commit violent crimes told someone they were going to do it long before they did it, not once, not twice, but over ten times. Described how they would do it, tried to get the person's approval for it, even solicited getting help with doing it.

You see on TV where fictional villain characters discuss with a friend how they'd dispose of a body, that literally is real. They passively and casually will talk about what they want to do, how they'll clean it up, how they'll go about it, how they'll get away with it, for two major reasons.

One: They want an outside source to help them find holes in their plan.

Two: It is in our nature to not want to do anything unless someone is aware we're doing it. From our childhood, "Mom! Look! Are you looking!? Mom! Mom! Watch this!" is part of our nature. We are obsessed with letting people know what we're doing. We want to be seen. We do not want to be acting alone.

So, the reason I say this?

Because the liberal left, the woke movement, antifa, blm, acab, lgbt, etc. have been very very very vocal about their violent desires. They've celebrated death, they've celebrated murder, they've laughed at bombings in Israel, they cheered when Luigi shot a dude, they say shit like "Punch nazis" and "Blow up the whitehouse" so passingly, and then when someone actually does it they act like they have no idea where it came from.

Well, back to criminal psychology: The most uttered phrase by murderers is "I don't know."

"I don't know" is a desperate attempt to disconnect yourself from a situation where you know you're guilty but can't on the spot think of a reasonable alibi. "I don't know" or "I don't remember."

"I don't know who killed them but it wasn't me."

"I don't know who plotted the murder but it wasn't me."

"I don't know who drove the getaway car but it wasn't me."

It's fascinating. Having studied the psychology as much as I have, watching the left constantly show not just one but every single sign of manipulative violent criminal behavior on a daily basis is just a terrifying yet fascinating sight.

The left knows they're guilty and are in the "I don't know" phase right now. They don't know why someone would shoot at Trump, but it certainly wasn't because they encouraged it for the last 8 years.

They actively call for, want and commit and excuse violence but then act like they have no idea how it could have even happened.

Never thought about it in the context of criminal psychology but you’ve got a point.

[begesus]

Heyyy,,

Tony ran a hand down his face, blinking the tears out of his eyes before they came.

“Tony, I’m sorry!” There was a note of desperation in Cap’s voice there. Not willing himself to plead, but the unsaid shit hung in air anyway.

“Screw you…” Tony said again, mostly to himself. Somehow, they had ended up in an apocalypse where everything had gone to shit in a matter of days, over goddamn mushrooms for fucks sake. Of course, leave it to good ol’ Nazi punching Steve Rogers to get reckless at a time like this where one bite would cause you to lose your mind.

His mind is all Tony had, barely hanging on to the scraps of Jarvis and all his other inventions to keep himself protected. Rogers just hit things hard, and healed better than most, and had a death wish the size of a continent when no one was looking.

Figures Rogers to decide to check out early when most convenient, saving a few civilians, death by the hand of his friend.

Well, Tony wouldn’t let him. Not unless he had to. Steve had the serum, so he didn’t think he had to, yet.

Tony turned to Bruce, keeping his eyes there and ignoring the sad-eyed American hero wishing the doctor would just put him down.

“Monitor him. Stash him somewhere, keep him chained to a bathroom, I don’t care. Just- let me know if- if anything changes. Or if nothing changes.”

Bruce just looked sad. They had all been scared to death by the idea of an infected Hulk running around the place. What would they get with an infected super soldier?

“Okay Tony, I’ll-… I’ll do what I can.” Bruce said. “But if he-“

“Then we’ll deal with it.” Tony turned to Steve. “You hear that Rogers. Well deal with it. But not before.”

Steve looked a little vacant, staring down at the bloody mass beneath his torn glove.

“Will it hurt?” He asked.

The thing was, Tony didn’t know. Rhodes hadn’t said a god damn thing before it happened. Back then Tony hadn’t even known to look for something wrong.

“Let’s just hope we never have to know.”

———

I am CONSUMED by this au idea!

General thoughts:

- takes place somewhere slightly pre- CA: Winter Soldier. (So around when the game has the outbreak set)

- Tony is in his post Iron Man 3 era. He and Pepper were in separate parts of the states when the outbreak hit, so he’s not entirely sure where she is or if she’s alive. His goal is to find her.

- Tony, Bruce, and Steve are a main team in this au. Got separated from Clint and Natasha a while ago. Clint’s been trying to take care of his family.

- once Tony and Bruce figure out that Steve is immune to getting infected, their big goal is to find a cure through that, ei, using the serum as a potential blueprint to fight cordycepts. There’s a lot of failed attempts though and they’re not sure if it would only be a preventative, or if it could be administered after the fact. Or if they can figure it out at all, mass produce it, and avoid a lot of nasty side effects that came with Steve’s initial run of serum, yk, from the 40s.

- Sam Wilson gets involved in this AU somehow. (Cause I love him) he and Steve met me thinks, just before outbreak, so like, that beginning of CA:WS and Cap is out and running? That happens and he and Sam meet. Ounce outbreak happens, Steve and Nat hide out in DC a bit, using the VA office Sam works at as a shelter. Of course it all goes to shit and they get overrun with infected.

- Steve gets separated from Sam and Nat, and is trying to find them again. Nat is trying to find Clint who was with his family last she knew. Tony and Bruce, who were in New York, had to flee cause the government started bombing all the major cities to stop the outbreak. Rhodey died there :( (I’m sorry, some of you have to go, you can’t all have plot armor. Nick Fury, you’re also on that list) Pepper was in LA at the time. Tony thinks she got out before they started bombing it. He hopes.

- Steve meets up with Tony and Bruce.

- Nat and Sam meet up with Clint. And Sam also eventually finds this straggler in the outskirts of DC. A man with a metal arm absolutely covered in infected bites. But he’s not infected himself. Nat recognizes him as the Winter Soldier and doesn’t understand how he can be here.

- bruh, imagine coming out of Cryo-freeze for some “taking out the commander or SHIELD” mission and then the world literally goes apeshit right in the middle of it and people start going fucking nuts.

- hey Steve, it’s okay. I know it feels like the world is falling apart around you, but guess what! Your best buddy you lost 70 years ago? He’s alive! And he doesn’t know who he is, and has been fighting infected Hydra all the way here to see you!

- Also Thor is here. He was just in England visiting Jane, but now there’s a very hazardous infectious outbreak on Midgard so it’s unsafe for him to return to Asgard. I can’t decide if Asgardians are susceptible to Cordycepts. Maybe they are, it’s just they can get infected but they remain sane. The fungus just eats away at their flesh tho, so it’s a very slow death. Not fun for Thor. Since post Thor:TDW Loki is ruling, I bet there’s some low level guilt at leaving his father to live on an infected world, and now his brother, who doesn’t know his father is down there, and that Loki is alive… posing as his father…. Guilt.

—

Honestly, I just live dreaming up shit for this concept, this might be an on and off spitball of ideas for me. If anyone else wants to take this concept and run with it, feel free, I’d love to see other takes.

I’m thinking the hashtag #Avengers:TLOUAU

so if I do more posts about this, or if others want to post about this, maybe tag your posts so I can see it! I’d just be interested to see if anyone else is interested.

My other adjacent post to this is linked here. Just more detailed in the drawing, probably a direct aftermath of this current bit.

[dcdreamblog]

The All-Star Squadron included heroes who came from a wide array of professions, social/economic classes, regional cultures (which was a much bigger deal back then) and ethnic backgrounds. And while most of them were cishet white men, some of them weren't. Likewise, many of them held religious/philosophical beliefs other than "mainline" Protestantism. Now, they were all heroes, dedicated to the common goal of fighting for justice, and etc. so I have absolutely no doubt that all of them were able to get over any prejudices they may have had and do the job, but we are talking about people who were mostly white cishet American men who were born in the first half of the 20th Century; I cannot imagine that none of them had prejudices, and that these prejudices caused friction. Can we talk about that?

You're right and I wish I had better answers to give you. But a few factors keep me from offering up a lot of clear or worthwhile examples.

The Squadron's members were really opaque, and their actual thoughts came AFTER the war through Tarantula's book "Altered Egos". He's one of the few heroes where we have a distinct and purposefully kept war journal of his thoughts and the thoughts of some of his comrades during and after the war. Most of the other heroes were really concerned with their secret identities and didn't write these things down for posterity, especially not their own bigotries and stumbling blocks.

The War gave everybody an incentive to face front and close ranks. Public schisms in the Squadron's membership basically didn't happen and arguments that occurred behind closed doors stayed there.

The Squadron was, for its age, a deeply, RADICALLY liberal organization.

(A propaganda poster of Will Everett Sr, The Amazing Man, punching Hitler in the face. Circa 1943)

It accepted a black man into its ranks without a single public disagreement. From its FOUNDATION a large chunk of its membership were women. The Squadron even intervened in the Detroit Race Riots in 1943 where Amazing Man publically eviscerated an android supervillain calling himself "The Real American".

I could sit here until the sun came up rattling off all the times that Squadron teams or its individual members smashed pockets of the Klan or the American Nazi Party, or the German American Bund and then dragged their ass in front of the papers to call bigotry and intolerance UnAmerican and damaging to the war effort. The Young All Stars publically celebrated a Japanese American member during the era of internment.

Any bigotry in the organization was imposed upon it from the outside. The biggest example I can think of is that Wonder Woman spent the war years officially listed as the JSA's "secretary" because the Society's membership was more heavily scrutinized and it wasn't possible for her to take what was technically a military position in what was technically a combat role.

What stumbling we do have evidence for is very, VERY slight. The Sandman voices some homophobic opinions during a case that lead up to his confrontation with the Phantom of the Fair. But by the end of that case file we read about Dodds going through an active epiphany about homosexuality because of that case.

The widest spread "bigotry" that seemed to be present in the Squadron was patriarchal language directed at its female members who were always in a position to safely and openly give as good as they got. We have a collection here at the Perisphere that is JUST photos of Liberty Belle elbowing Johnny Quick in the ribs!

It sounds absurd. It sounds too good to be true. It SOUNDS like a lot of things. But there it is, in black and white.

If you want me to undercut your heroes from the past, I would for the sake of intellectual honesty. But I can't.

The JSA are the superhero community's North Star.

Not just because they were the first. But because they have always been like that.

The only time I have ever even heard a RUMOR of UNCLE SAM cursing is a couple years ago when the modern Ray came out as gay and people started talking bad about him online.

The modern Shining Knight started identifying as Bigender and Sir Justin has gotten into fist fights over it.

Please just. For your own sake. Believe in them, they are maybe the only figures I can't bring myself to mistrust these days.

[northwest-cryptid]

You know, I heard the very weird take of "Chesed wouldn't kill people to defend others he deemed more important." Which is a wild opinion to have because he uh... he does that, in canon.

This is something I see happen a lot in fandom spaces weirdly enough. It's nothing new either; this idea of "[Character] wouldn't actually do [thing they do in canon] because they're not I don't see them as that kind of character!"

I think a lot of people need to understand when something is just being misinterpreted in your head a specific way. It's fine to have a different opinion than the canon, but it's a whole different thing to say "well actually my opinion is correct and the CANON is wrong." The canon is the base by which we create everything from. Your idea of Chesed may be a fine AU or headcanon or whatever, but it's not going to go above the canon for who and what Chesed is. The same goes in the opposite direction, I love all the very on point Coffee Shop AU Cheseds. It's funny because it works for a character who does seem to love his coffee. However reducing a complex character into "the coffee man" doesn't mean his actual canon character in the actual canon games, made by the actual company behind the games; is ALSO actually reduced to such.

I think the take that Chesed shouldn't be available for reception in LoR is kind of wild because he is. If he didn't want to be, he wouldn't be. I mean look at Binah she doesn't play a role in receptions, and when we see the exception for this it's fantastic because yea she totally WOULD decide "no no I'll do it this time" when it comes to the reception of a SPECIFIC guest. Which I can say with assurance because it's literally backed up by the fact that she does that in the game. It's one of the few receptions you're allowed to use Binah for.

More over we specifically get dialogue where Chesed remarks that he doesn't enjoy fighting but that he's able to protect people he cares about by doing it. While he doesn't condone the act of hurting people, he sees it as a necessary evil to protect people. So yes, Chesed would in fact punch a nazi. That's all but confirmed through his beliefs and actions that we see him take via the actual source materials. He's not some passive centralist who wouldn't take action. ESPECIALLY given his actual trauma that stems from Lobotomy Corporation. I mean come on guys did we play the same games?!

I'm not telling people they can't have fun with AUs and headcanons or whatever. I'm saying that it's weird to claim the canon is just wrong. It's the canon, it's the basis for everything; it's the "truth" in a sense. We don't get to say it wouldn't happen that way just because it goes against our belief of how we see a character. I can't claim that "Gebura wouldn't have lost that encounter, don't you know who she is?" Because the canon says she did, and more over that's an important part of her character growth. Likewise you can't tell me Chesed would just passively stand by and not fight while his friends are hurt or killed, simply because you see him as some kind of centralist pacifist. This man literally has an entire storyline about figuring out how to take action to do something because he's tired of seeing so much pain happen around him when he can't do anything about it. Yes we know Chesed has a genuine love for all people, yes we know he hates the idea of anyone having to die or be hurt, yes I understand he would in most cases be a pacifist. However we literally see him fight to protect people. He is not above violence to end violence.

[crimeronan]

you may have already answered this but im obsessed with your ocs so: what kind of music do they all listen to? what's their relationships with music in general?

GREAT question. it's taken me a couple days to answer because i was like "this is probably not going to be surprising to anyone," but hey. we love character consistency. and i will use this as an excuse to plug some artists i like!

nova is the only one whose music taste does not overlap with my own at All. she's an EDM girlie through and through. the thumping bass is stimmy for her. the louder the better. unfortunately i do not have good EDM recs because my own autism recoils from it LMAO

ruby likes traditional music from home. lots of fiddle, lots of clapping, lots of singing. the kind of music you find going into a pub during a jam session. i also like to think her parents are musicians who met through their love of music... one group i really love is afro-celt sound system, which combines west african drums with celtic fiddle. i picture her parents' music sounding like this since she has a fantasy nigerian dad and fantasy irish mum. also, i imagine she listens to fantasy raidió na gaeltachta whenever she's alone. even though it makes her so homesick she feels like she's gonna throw up.

i think devin would LOVE shit like fire from the gods. really angry political rap metal. devin likes music loud and furious. anti-establishment vibes are Technically legal in tachni (as long as they don't "incite violence"), so. this type of band Absolutely exists.

like, take these lyrics from the song excuse me:

like. yeah. devin Needs This.

i think it would be cathartic Especially because devin has the rageful nazi-punching instincts of the best angry metal frontwomen, but has been given a life where she's basically being forced at gunpoint to be an american senator. Harrowing .

sol is the only one who Might be surprising.... i think she mostly listens to soft, sometimes-emotional piano. she wants everything to be quiet forever & i don't think she'd get much out of angry music. i like to picture her listening to stuff like this gorgeous piece by elijah brossenbroek. he's one of my favorite favorite Favorite composers of All Time. i actually bought a book of his pieces for my sister to learn years ago & he was very kind in the emails we exchanged!

[findafight]

I need. NEED. Y'all to understand that in a MCU captain america au Bucky and Steve would be Steve and Robin. Like. The unhinged amount of devotion? Yes. Soviet torture? Yes.

But it also MUST be understood that Steve is Bucky, and Robin is Steve. DO YOU SEE MY VISION.

Steve, charming and charasmatic, looks out for his awkward but good hearted and mildly unhinged (he's no better) bestie until he goes off to war. Robin, a bit of a weirdo, wants to do something to help fight. She ends up in an experimental program, and getting super strength etc.

She gets shipped around as propoganda. She ends up in Italy. She finds out Steve's unit has been captured. Her best friend, the only one who really knows her, the guy she's probably going to end up bearded by. Her sweet cheese.

She goes to save him.

Against all odds she does. He's strapped to a table and muttering to himself and thinks he's hallucinating when he sees her. But she saves him.

They form a strike team, blow up bases, punch Nazis etc. The war in Europe is almost over. Then Steve falls from a train. Then Robin crashes a plane. They both die heroes.

Except.

Robin wakes up. She wakes up in a world not her own and she's scared and frightened and told she has to fight again except this time she's alone.

And she does. She follows orders and fights and tries to figure out how to live when anyone who would understand her is in their eighties at the youngest or dead. How to exist in a world where the only person, even in their own time, who actually knew her, was dead. Dead for a long time. Deified alongside her by America.

So she follows orders. Until she doesn't. Until fury dies and someone with a metal arm and long brown hair shoots at her but holds their own against her enhanced strength. Pushes her, actually, being broader than her.

And she has allies, yes, but when it comes down to it, it's just her and the Soldier. Fighting under the overpass, and there's something about the Soldiers brow, the possible cowlick on his hairline where his long hair should be parted, that pings something in the back of her mind.

The mask slips off. And Robin thinks she's died again.

He doesn't recognize her, but his eyebrows scruntch together in a way she's known for what feels like eons. She's missed him.

A long time ago, longer for some than for her, he had been strapped to a table. She saved him then. She is going to save him now.

On a helicarrier, she can't bring herself to fight him. She knows him, how many hits he's taken, and even after whatever's been done to him, she knows him. Knows he's confused and scared and fighting it. Whatever's taken him away from her.

He knows her too. She can tell by the way he hesitated, pulls back. He's in there. She just has to find him.

She falls.

A strong hand pulls her out of the river.