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askshivanulegacy · 1 month ago

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Yeah, seriously.

The thing that I've never understood is how no one on either side who talks about America seems capable of understanding what America IS.

The people who glorify it don't understand it. The people who whine and cry and hate on it don't understand it.

America is an idea. It's the idea of a place where you can live without persecution. It's the idea of America that we should be working toward. That's literally why we exist.

And like every other country ever on the planet, it has a bloody and violent past. And the past has great and inspiring stories on every side. And every figure on every side was a real human being with flaws and contradictions. They were good and they were bad, and they had complex reasons for doing things. History is all of it. History is fascinating. It's great stories! It's Remember the Alamo and all the great things the founding fathers did. And it's also that they fought for the wrong thing, and they owned slaves and never freed them.

You all love flawed characters and tragic stories and watching trainwrecks happen in your media. We all just watched terrible person, murderer, and war criminal Jinx in Arcane and people cheered for her. It was a great story! And also she was a selfish little bastard who murdered people for no reason and other characters rightfully wanted her dead. Well, that's what history is.

We all have the capacity to enjoy stories - and history as stories - and also to analyze the flaws and context and situations behind them. You can find the Alamo an inspiring moment in time because any life and death struggle can be. And you can also criticize it. Both can be true because people are capable of holding opposing concepts in their minds at the same time.

History isn't either/or, it's all of the above is true. And it's water under the bridge.

I think if more people understood that, they'd be able to celebrate historic moments without taking things personally when people decide they don't want to repeat that moment. And they'd also be able to recognize that you can't condemn for history either - it's over and now you take what you have and move it forward.

What I struggle with, as a public historian and a US American leftist, is how right wing US Americans can say they love history and call themselves “history buffs,” but get so righteously indignant when it is suggested that we can learn from history, and that it is normal and healthy to discuss the flaws and dark sides of various historical figures.

It’s like a wall which I, speaking as a public historian, wish I knew how to dismantle. Like when someone’s all REMEMBER THE ALAMO, I think the natural response is something along the lines of “certainly, but it’s important remember that one of the things the revolutionaries were fighting for was the freedom to continue their enslavement of other human beings.”

For me, that’s not a political statement. It’s a commitment to view historical events and figures for what they were in all their good and their bad and their complexity. But you say that to someone with right wing US American politics, and it’s like you spat on their mother and pooped on the flag.

I do make political posts here as an angry, frustrated progressive citizen of the USA who is also a historian. But right now, I’m posting as a historian, who happens to be a left wing US American. I don’t want to talk shit, I want to figure out how to fix it.

But then, knowing what I do of MAGA Americans, I don’t think there is a fixing it? Unambiguously valorizing the American past in order to maintain the illusion that this country was at some point Great is kind of their whole Thing.

Idk. Just some stray thoughts.

#commentary #maybe an aside to the original post oops #this is an 'everyone on every side is wrong' argument #people should be able to celebrate historic moments. yes even the bad ones #because it's HISTORY. it's literally OVER. and even the bad moments were COOL and they were FASCINATING with FASCINATING PEOPLE #and you can feel for the struggles and the conflicts and the triumph over adversity #even if the people were on the 'wrong side'#they're just stories!!!#but they're also not your identity. they're not the be-all end-all and you can enjoy moments and events without wanting to repeat them #and while understanding the greater context #like watching a trainwreck. history is for eating popcorn over #and then for turning around and using it to inform better ways #glorify it AND understand it #AND have perspective #the MAGA toons fail to understand it #and most of the left fail to have perspective and condemn for no reason #anyway there's definitely a fixing it because that's the inherent core of America #this country wasn't made to NOT do better. it's in our DNA #history #just thoughts

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paintedcrows · 2 months ago

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When asked why they still haven't kicked the bucket after decades: Ford insists he beat Death at chess. Stanley insists he kicked Death's ass in a Denny's parking lot

#Beloved Grunkles you will never die <3 #They're speaking to a like 50-60 year old Dipper and Mabel. The former of which is just... So done #I'm certain this has been done before and goddamn its such a fun concept! They change their story every time! They never die!#Also love dennys memes because as someone who is not american to me it is a mythical location that only exists to have fistfights behind it #Gravity Falls #Sea Grunks #Fan art #Stanley Pines #Stanford Pines #Grunkle Stan #Grunkle Ford #Ford Pines #Stan Pines #Post canon #Fanart #GF Fanart #Artists on Tumblr #My art

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aleatoryw · 2 years ago

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getting blazed as fuck in public, thinking "boy I sure hope no one knows how high I am right now", and then having the jumpscare of your life when duolingo gives you this notification

#for context it says ''how high your streak is!'' but it crops at just the right point in the text and i misread it every time 💀#duolingo #unironically though i really like the characters in the duolingo stories i think they're fun

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homoquartz · 2 months ago

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a show doesn't necessarily have to be ABOUT queerness to BE a queer show. it's a cultural dialect that cishets don't quite speak.

edit: i gotta clarify that the shows do indeed still have to have actual queer characters in them to count

#our flag means death #and yeah i'll say #the owl house #not just in the fact they are stuffed to the brim with queer characters #or their stories of self-transformation into who you truly are #or even that they're about outsiders finding community amongst each other #though those things certainly factor #it's that the queerness cannot be disentangled from the story without costing complexity #luz has to be neurodivergent and queer. if she wasn't the story would be about someone else #am i making sense? is this microphone on?#a couple others of note are #killing eve #renegade nell #and star trek #which cannot be made straight despite best efforts #conversely heartstopper and first kill are not queer. but that's another essay.

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mobius-m-mobius · 1 year ago

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#the Nowhere Man who waits and the God of Stories who watches

#mobius #loki #lokius #mcuedit #lokiedit #marveledit #loki spoilers #owen wilson #tom hiddleston #owenwilsonedit #marvel #dianagifs #😩😭#what... in the most tragic of romances did i just witness #gotta rewatch tomorrow but cannot BELIEVE how okay i am with everything atm???#their story clearly isn't done their burden is obviously going on without each other and they exist fundamentally connected #they've lost everything but being able to see mobius every step of the way is enough for loki to make the sacrifice #and mobius left for his timeline with no other purpose than to make sure loki could do just that #now they're lost without each other?? the only thing mobius can do is exist for a moment in loki's creation i'm UNWELL #god this is the star crossed angst that's gonna keep me going for the rest of my LIFE they're my everything #loki s2 spoilers

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seventeendeer · 7 months ago

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ppl are too quick to point to laios' disability as the reason his friends think he's a freak sometimes. so many instances of laios getting yelled at are, in my eyes, a case of "this guy had to emotionally mature very early in order to be there for his little sister" combined with "much older friends who never had to learn to manage their own emotions to the same degree"

a lot of the time he's right about needing to be more direct/deal with things in a way that may seem scary/needing to put your gut reaction aside. he tries not to make his friends uncomfortable and he puts up with a lot because he's trying to keep the peace, but he also pushes the others out of their comfort zones purposefully to try to get them to think more constructively. everyone else in the party is prone to acting on their gut instincts and avoiding uncomfortable situations even when facing them head-on is very much necessary. part of what makes laios such a great leader is the fact that he knows from experience how to put his own feelings aside to help someone else grow.

yes, he does make a lot of social blunders by accident and he does struggle to connect with others, but not all of his positive influence on others is accidental or "despite" making people uncomfortable. a lot of the time, I think it's clear he knows exactly what he's doing and he's trying to help the people around him process emotions in a healthy way as they all go through some truly harrowing shit. all the main characters support each other as well as they can with their unique emotional skillsets. laios' skillset just happens to be "gently talk child into eating her vegetables"

#deerchatter #dungeon meshi #laios touden #of course this IS also connected to his disability. bc having an iron grip on your own emotional reaction is often needed to survive #in an ableist society. and he wouldn't have had to parent falin so much if the two of them hadn't been ostracized growing up #but the point of the post is that laios is a lot more emotionally intelligent than his party (or many fans) realizes #he's not just stumbling ass-first into being helpful he is clearly applying a skillset that is direly lacking in his friends #marcille and chilchuck in particular haaaaate uncomfy situations and are under the impression that if smth Feels bad then it Is bad.#and senshi avoids so many situations and feelings because of his trauma that he's been unable to grow past it on his own #this post was particularly inspired by the griffin meat scene. everyone else suggests senshi just avoid his trauma forever #and they're absolutely shocked when laios suggests senshi try to grow and overcome his pain bc. That Sounds Scary. lol #so many of the story's themes revolve around overcoming your own impulses and biases #and laios is uniquely suited to leading that change.#r.i.p. laios/toshiro friendship you guys have so much more in common than you realize

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egophiliac · 8 months ago

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bring your son to work day

#art #twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland spoilers #tsumsted wonderland #sorry this might be it guys #just kind of burnt out right now #i am enjoying the event though! i love these silly beanbags and their charming little adventures #can't wait for silver-tsum to wake up just long enough to take a bullet for malleus-tsum #and i extra extra love malleus and his beanbag both being SO passive-aggressive about missing the pile-up #the solution: DANCE PARTY #APPARENTLY #between this and glorious masquerade i'm starting to think this is malleus' solution to everything #(is this how episode 7 will end) (we DO traditionally get an end-of-episode rhythmic...)#also a+ some truly excellent spritework going on in this on #(sebek crunches down slightly 'RIDE ME WAKATSUMSAMA') (long beat) (malleus and tsum just sliiiiiide away screen left)#genuinely so much funnier than a literal depiction could ever be #anyway i did some careful calculations re:the probability of upcoming cards that i absolutely need and long story short #i am key-poor but tsum!malleus-rich >:)#(immediately goes through and switches all his lesson sprites to having a tsum wobbling on his head) worth it #now watch next month they're going to give us a white rabbit rerun with malleus and/or lilia as the frilliest froufrou bunnies #and i will be thoroughly effed

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kunaigirl · 1 month ago

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This was funnier in my head I swear lol (once again, characters belong to @gooseworx!)

#does this project have a name yet???#once it does I'll make a tag for it on this blog lol #THEY'RE JUST SO FUN TO DRAW OK #Gooseworx Y2K Story #Y2K story #fan art #gooseworx #fanart #my doodles

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naomistares · 3 months ago

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short comic about a queen's peculiar tower activities

(this is kind of unrelated to the rejoice mini comicverse i just wrote this dumb thing in 10 minutes cause i wanted to try horizontal comics pages 😭)

#art #artists on tumblr #comics #original comic #ocs #this is based on a true story #kinda #>10 year old me who was obsessed with throwing her toys out the window for whatever reason #i had a lot of fun doing that but was sad cus. i lost my toys.#but my neighbor saw me and told my parents and i got them all back :)#it was just fun seeing them outside #they're always inside!#yea.. this took forever!#queen rejoice #comic #webcomic #original webcomic #rejoice comic #original characters

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fluffyartbl0g · 11 months ago

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Yea I was having terminal sanuso brainrot so I had to do something about it (completely separate matter from stardew sanuso). They're watching the ship together while everyone else is off adventuring <3

#one piece #op fanart #usopp #sanji #sanuso #the reason why usopp isnt regailing his usual captain usopp story is because A) he wants 2 shake things up a bit #and also B) hes actually just talking about how he tutored the usopp pirates for a bit XD #they're sharin childhood stories to pass the time

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taamlok · 3 months ago

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varric tethras woke up and put on his cock ring necklace and red tunic. he threw his hair up into a messy bun and came downstairs.

"pack your things bitch! i sold you for red lyrium money" said hawke from the kitchen table, cigarette in hand.

"what? you're a horrible person!"

"well i love red lyrium and i hate you!" said hawke. varric felt something hard hit the back of his head. hawke had thrown a copy of hard in hightown at him. varric ran for the door.

"hawke, he's trying to run away!" screamed anders as he grabbed varric. he was also smoking a red lyrium cigarette. when varric opened the door there was a beautiful butch lesbian standing there with a bald guy and a person with a glowing hand.

"ello, love! we're your new owners! i'm cassandra" said the beautiful butch.

"aren't you those losers from that stupid inquisition? there's no way i'm going with you!" varric turned to run away. the green hand one gestured to the bald guy, who started telling stories about the fade in extreme detail. it was so boring it started putting varric to sleep.

"thanks for taking him off my hands, inquisitor! goodbye, slut!" hawke laughed. it was the last thing varric heard before the bald guy's iambic pentameter made him pass out.

#inspired by the beautiful story sold to one direction by citrusdarling7 on wattpad #a queen and legend #you're all welcome for this contribution to the dragon age community #idk why they're smoking red lyrium just accept it #dragon age #varric

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aethersea · 4 months ago

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I do think Blazing Saddles handled its one depiction of native americans very poorly, and the full extent of its representation of chinese workers on the railroad is they were literally just there. not even one single speaking line. unclear if this is worse or better than the redface.

it's fucking phenomenal at lampooning antiblack racism though. extremely blatant, extremely funny satire, which is constantly and loudly saying "racism is the philosophy of the terminally stupid at best and morally depraved at worst, and we should all be pointing and laughing at them 24/7"

plus the main character is a heroic black man who has to navigate a whole lot of bullshit but is constantly smirking at the extraordinarily stupid racists and inviting the audience into the joke. the one heroic white character is a guy who was suicidally depressed until he met the protagonist and they just instantly became buds, and he's firmly in a supporting role the whole time and happy to be there. the protagonist saves the day with the help of his black friends from the railroad, and uses the position of power he was given to uplift not only those friends, but all the railroad workers of other minorities too, in an explicit show of solidarity.

anyone saying "Blazing Saddles is racist" had better be talking about its treatment of non-black minorities. it had better not be such superficial takes as "oh but they say the n-word all the time" or "they have nazis and the kkk in there!" because goddamn if that's the full extent of your critique I very seriously suggest you read up on media analysis. there is too much going over your head, you need to learn to recognize satire.