#this is a joke please do actually engage with media critically

[oysterspearl]

You read theory so you can argue online. I read theory so I can be annoying about Disco Elysium. We are not the same

[magxit]

Just dropped: https://twitter.com/rollingstone/status/1663660316817780745?s=46&t=Jv7EvC8oVb-dKk_gHc29yQ

I haven’t read the full thing. But kinda sad when the media gets it more so than her own fans…

We Wouldn’t Be Having This Conversation If Taylor Swift Was a Man

Publicity stunt or not, Swift can have a sleazeball summer if she damn well pleases.

ON THE FINAL night of Taylor Swift’s MetLife shows this weekend, 80,000 Swifties screamed in the swamps of New Jersey for over three hours. They wore outfits from every era — tinsel fringe dresses, serpent arm cuffs, and heart-shaped sunglasses. I saw countless faces in cowboy hats similar to the emoji — only these cowboys were sobbing uncontrollably while eating foot-long hotdogs. And the bracelets! They were all wearing beaded bracelets coded in Swiftian lyrics, trading them in the parking lot like Deadheads swapping grilled cheeses. (Take my advice: do not try to pay for the bracelets. They will look at you like you’re from outer space.) 

It’s hard to believe that while this magical Eras tour is happening — and while Swift is somehow reaching previously-unimaginable heights of popularity, surpassing even the ludicrous highs of 2015 — she is also experiencing a backlash from some corners of the Swiftie community over her supposed new boyfriend, the 1975’s Matt Healy. 

Their sentiments were best summed up in an open letter on Twitter using the hashtag #SpeakUpNow (named after Swift’s upcoming re-recording of her 2010 album), which states that Healy’s many controversies “deeply trouble” them. “From engaging in racist remarks, making offensive jokes, and admitting to watching degrading pornography in which people of color are being humiliated and assaulted, his actions contribute to the perpetuation of hate, stereotypes, and objectification, which targets and hurts some people from the Jewish, Black, Chinese, Hawaiian, Inuit, LGBTQ+ communities, as well as women.”

The statement refers to the derogatory comments Healy made about the rapper Ice Spice on The Adam Friedland Show podcast in February and the questionable apology he delivered onstage last month. Fans raised eyebrows when Swift recruited the rapper for her “Karma” remix last week, and on Monday, Healy finally addressed the controversy in a New Yorker profile that only exacerbated the issue. He explained that the whole thing “doesn’t actually matter” and that the backlash he received was merely virtue signaling: “It’s just people going, ‘Oh, there’s a bad thing over there, let me get as close to it as possible so you can see how good I am,’” he said. “And I kind of want them to do that, because they’re demonstrating something so base level.”

If you didn’t catch this quote aggregated on the internet about 137 times (you probably had better things to do than scroll Twitter and hustle children for their handmade bracelets), you aren’t missing much. This is all part of Healy’s artistry: an intricate, tangled web of bits intended to rile you up and piss you off. This is the guy who eats raw meat onstage, gives Nazi salutes, and delivers intelligent observations like, “I’m obsessed with my dick for some reason.” Stupid Shit is his brand. Are we really supposed to take anything he says seriously? 

I’m not here to answer that, but I am here to tell you that none of it is Taylor’s problem. For the last 17 years, we’ve held this woman responsible for the actions of men she chooses to spend time with, and it’s time to stop. It would be fair to criticize her for walking out of Electric Lady with the ghost of Pol Pot or wondering why her dad and Matt Lauer are grooving out to her performance of “22.” But this is just a hot sleazeball who wants Oasis back together (I don’t know about you, but I’ve dated a lot of guys who fit that description), and it’s up to Taylor to spend her time as she pleases.

[ticholasnesla]

Nimona (2023), friends.

First of all thank u to the people who made these great gifs!!! This is presumptuous of me but i truly hope u dont mind me featuring them! This is the first of - hopefully many - years of my Media Gifventure for the Holiday Season of 2023. I will go into more details if i need. So.

🥺

man of the hour. Man of the Year. Gold Star. 🌟

Gif use Disclaimer, I hope me making this post with these gifs isnt overstepping 🙂‍↕️💛 people who upload gifs, which, 9/10 times, they made themselves, are one of the most supportive vertebrae communities of Tumblr. 🫡👏👏 bravo chudovyy splendid чудовий mykola please tell me what i should remove and i will remove.

Above all else, Thank u.

anyways here's3 something i hope is going to be fun. Last chance. Gif heavy, flash warning excessive emojis, stupid shite and a dog.

🐕 . . . 🤎

nimona beat my ass yall. It beat my family's ass yall.

That's a Ss²+Gold ranked film if ever i saw one. Congrats Neæs@tflix - Nimona, and congrats ND Stevenson.

Ss²+Gold means Soupsoup Squared PLUS Gold which MEANS

+4 of thees bad boys!!!!!!!!

Enjoy!

i stop talking about strictly Nimona Heere.

so with that all said and done...i was Thinking... part 2?

disclaimer pls read the 👎 RULES. Trans rights human rights. Protect trans kids. Pronouns for your Hostess this evening are she/he/they. this isnt a nft thing so dont talk to me about that. and im not writing free reviews or reading your book. I just wanna award movies and webtoons and webcomics without putting any real artistic effort in (except when i WANT to put real artistic effort in) and also feature some great indie/non indie stuff In a (hopefully) positive light 🔮 shit i might even do requests. Or sketches. Imagine. 🐙

PROCEED 👎to RULES and engage in critical thought and problem soliving before sending me asks.💢

That being said, keep it PG. All asks are good asks and i will develop an FAQ if need be!

Rules 👎 down dere keep scrolling and reading. Thx. But first

Do u wanna submit something to be considered for a Soup GoldTM? Submit your favourite,

Webcomic

Youtube channel

Trending topic

Webtoon

youtube series

Manga

Anime

Plot twists

Lesser known artists

Indie artists

Podcasts

Heartbreaks /no actual bummers pls.

Memes etc etceteree

that kept you warm this 2023! And for my immediate needs, Happened in 2023. For this thing, i will only accept submissions til new yrs day. Is that peechy?

👎👎Ok finally rules for real. Proceed to pig 🐷 for tldr

Keep it pg🦉

K.I.S.S - keep it simple, Saoirse🦆

Stay in your Lane 🫎🦍🐏🪿

Dont message strangers on the internet if you're under 18.🔴And if you do KEEP your age out of their inbox. 🪺🐣🐊

Adult media is fine but i want to keep it Prime Time 🦐🐚 🪸🪼🐠🚦🐬

66I know i might be typing like a fucking bunyak but i wanna have FUN and talk about FUN STUFF my past 3 years has been ROUGH, BAYBEE. I miss my parents, Tails. I miss them a lot. /not a joke.

💐🦋🕊🐝🦂🦈🐄🐓🦤🦀🦀🦅🪱🥀🦽🏥🏥🏥🏥🏥🏥🫀🌎☀️🌜🪐🌬🌪🌦🌈☔️🔥☃️🎅🏡🎆🪻🌷💐🫀🐦‍⬛🚜👨‍🌾💚🤟💒💊🌋🏞🎡🛝🚛🚚🛻🚲

I am but flesh n blood n bone.

Please keep in mind i will only do what i have the jnj marbles for, but i will dedicate a lot of my downtime to this and i really want to have a good experience so um if u know a friend, or maybe want to tag cool accounts to maybe look over here yoo hoo hi there hello and do u wannaaa 🐕🐕🐕

Click that rebwog pwease 🥺 pppwease. Ding that like button smash that like button Uw0

This only works on Good Will so dont Play with my heart. We want to have fun.

I do have a DO NOT PASS GO list in my head but i wont reveal whats on it til i come across it ya? 🦩

Thank y for reading the rules. Now.

Me vs you the reader

Proceed to pig for tldr🐷

The Soup Golds and other Soups utilize a vector of Grandma's Soup from Lengend of Zelda Wind Waker that i edited with my phone. I do not claim to own this graphic and am just fucking around.

Submissions that dont pass my sneefing test are welcome and valuable! Incoming bee gif:

🐝

love rubbin my dusty little fingers in new Things and readings. So they will be rewarded either with Unseen, Uninterested, or Unwatchable badges, and might be featured as (dis)/honorable mentions! More nuance on that if the need arises. 🦄🔮👀

🐷Asks are open / pending! Feel free to Lurk/ask questions. Dont be rude or ELSE..u get The PIG 🐷🐷

✋️HYYYYYY

🤘🪑YAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!🐖🐖🐖🐖💨💨💨💨💨💨💨💥⚰️🪦🐽🍄

.. and then the Anon is going off. i dont want to have to do that. 🫠

🐗Let's keep it Frosty🐗

🐖💨💨💨💨Inbox closes Boxing Day! Get ur submissions in Today and get some fun ?

Write a letter and leave me a cookie pls. Im not asking for money i just wanna spend some quality time with u as we ____ 2024.

Here is the dog btw and she's a rottweiler mix.. She's sitting on my foots here and has curly furs all a on her butt. She was a foster fail and is living her best cushy life last i heard about her. I wanna see her again. 🖤🤎🧡🖤🤎🧡

The end. Play Sims 4 but try not to spend money on it. EA's starting to offer free packs that u can download for Free. Console and PC as far as i understand.

Love u. Be back soon.

[vivaciouscynner]

Welcome to tumblr

Introductions: You'll notice very quickly that tumblr has a very different vibe than most social media sites. One of the biggest differences is that no one here is really aiming to be popular or have a ton of followers.

This isn't to say you won't be super popular. That can still happen. But, unlike other sites, there's no algorithm to fight here. And honestly, there's a lot more respect at tumblr than anywhere else.

{Can't believe I said that, but when other sites dig themselves into an abyss... well, you get the idea}

Rules: Honestly, there's not really any other than:

if you intend to be garbage, do it lovingly.

If you intend to be loving, don't miss.

If you want to be fun, go loud.

if you want to be a mess, love yourself first

Do know that if you attempt useless discourse for the purpose of just causing a fight, you'll likely see this quickly fail. Tumblr is a lot LESS reactionary. And because of this, you'll be promptly ignored and freely blocked.

But also, rest assured, people generally have higher critical thinking skills here. You will not have to wrap a statement with an overwhelming, over-explained, disclosure that you didn't mean something else (especially unrelated). Example:

I like pancakes Oh, so you hate waffles?

You don't, generally, have to worry about that too much here. And if you spot it, just block it 👍

About: Do whatever you want that makes you happy. The only real way to get any form of engagement is through the tagging system. Also note, that it's a form of communication. See tagging section below.

Tumblr has a lot of benefits, one being, you are not shown any posts unless you want to see them. There's no forced "for-you" page, there IS a "for you" page, but it's not forced, and honestly, it's actually kind of good.

IF YOU'RE NEW: It's really important that, BEFORE you follow anyone, you must have AT LEAST, BARE MINIMUM, somewhere on your blog, something that says, "bear with me, I'm new, I'm not a bot, I'll have posts and reblogs soon".

::Context:: Tumblr users have recently been getting a lot of bot follows. And they're pretty easy to pick out. So easy, that if you even somewhat look like one, you'll be blocked and reported immediately. So here's what NOT to look like:

The blog is EMPTY - no posts or reblogs

The title is "Untitled"

The user avatar is the DEFAULT avatar OR a random woman (please just choose some cartoon character or something)

The Likes and Follows page are inaccessible (this is generally fine but if you hit the other bullet points, then this immediately tells us you're a bot. Seriously, if I see default icon or human face/body follow me, there's a 99% chance they're a bot.)

So please, to avoid getting blocked by possibly your favorite artists/writers/interests/whathaveyou, please do the opposite of the bulleted list there.

Basics: ::Tagging:: Unlike other sites, we don't dump the tags in the body of the post. Instead, at the very bottom - the footer, basically - there is a spot to add tags. Tags are converted to tumblr quick-links that navigate to similar posts with the same tag. As mentioned before, the tags are also used as a form of communication, usually after-thoughts or punchlines to a joke. They are also a good way to let the person you reblogged a post from know your thoughts without adding to the thread of posts.

::Likes:: "Likes" work a little differently than most sites. This acts as a bookmark, basically. It's also what tumblr uses to curate the "For You" page should you choose to use it. It does absolutely NOTHING to spread information other than you told the poster that you, indeed, liked their post - which is good!

::Reblogs:: It's pretty straight forward and acts like you think it would. It's essentially a retweet (if coming from twitter) or a retoot (if from Mastodon). Reblogs help spread the blog post. The post will show up on your follower's dash (the main timeline, if you will) as well as on your blog site (your yourusername.tumblr.com or tumblr.com/yourusername) Reblogs and tagging, help "spread the word" and allows more viewers to see the post.

::Chat/Replies:: In a blog post you can leave a comment and each one can be replied to. These replies are actually a lot LESS intrusive than twitter. They're also a lot less noticeable. Usually only the original poster will "notice" them unless you @ someone's handle (or click the triple dot and reply to the user which adds the @ automatically)

The separate, standalone chat function that tumblr has is like a private direct message. You can even start group chats like you would is most places.

::Asks:: You can set your blog to accept Anonymous or Non-Anonymous asks where they can simply shoot you a question or comment in your inbox. Do what you're comfortable with, but you'll more likely to get asks if you allow anonymity.

Final Thoughts: You really can't "screw up" here because this IS the place to screw up. This site is like that meme where it's, 🎶 "Thanks for checking in, I'm still a piece of garbage" 🎶

I think the biggest issue people have when coming here from another platform (namely bird app) is that there's a mission or competition to survive. And, that's just not what it's like here.

Take your shoes off, sit on the couch, relax.

[dwarf-vader-of-middle-earth]

My biggest pet peeve is the constant pressure for everything to be considered a monumental success. Anything that is made and fails to completely outdo its predecessors by a huge amount of views/profit/downloads/streams/etc. is immediately considered a flop, therefore is entirely abandoned and seen as unenjoyable, unplayable, unwatchable, unconsumable, and is discontinued and taken off all services and is forgotten about entirely.

Critics of anything ever will treat all flops as a detriment to society and production, say they should never be enjoyed, or watched, played, read, listened to, etc.

But the thing is almost all "successful" media fucking sucks. It follows the same formats, the same formulas, uses the same dry "jokes" that aren't funny, the same cliches, the same plot arcs, literally everything is the same. Nothing critics say is a success is ever really unique. And for something that is unique to become a so-called success, it NEEDS to be so popular and make such a huge profit that, again, it outdoes every single predecessor.

But when push comes to shove, the margins for success become entirely unachievable by any means. What is considered a success will be beyond what we as people are capable of doing, whether because there's not enough money in the world, or not enough people to view/download/buy the thing, whatever.

And because anything that isn't a success is automatically deemed a flop, it becomes a target for all critics to hate it, point out every flaw, everything possibly wrong, most of which is opinion based and not actually flawed by mechanics/technicality. It gets hated on so much that creators lose their entire careers, and critics pressure everyone to never engage with that media under any circumstances for any reason because they themselves say it's just that bad.

But really, in the end, you like what you like. Nobody can or should tell you to stop consuming media that has "flopped", that hasn't made it to triple A status, or to the big names. Nobody has the right to convince you to drop all interests that aren't mainstream, and consume solely mainstream media. Mainstream shit sucks a lot of the time. They're soulless money grabs, versus a small name project that was made with heart and soul, originality, and uniqueness. It's something NEW. And legit by design, humans need new experiences to enrich us. Doing the same thing or experiencing the same thing over and over and over again, especially if it doesn't bring you joy, is legit damaging to the mind.

So I am begging everyone. PLEASE listen to those small bands and musicians, watch those movies that seem interesting even if you feel or know they aren't going to be popular/successes, play those games that nobody enjoys but you love for whatever reason. Whatever media it is, if you find enjoyment in it, and it's not actively harming anything or anyone to consume, just enjoy it.

Not everything will be a huge success. Not everything has to be. Not everything will become mainstream. Nothing ever has to be for it to be enjoyable.

[shana-reviews-tmblr]

Lily Critic here, just want her to know that my intake of media consists of the following:

Ten Commandments 1950s

Diary of Anne Frank

Ben-Hur

Grapes of Wrath

The Haunting

The Birds

Seven Samurai

Ghostbusters

Friday the 13th

Legend of Hell House

ATLA

LOK

Voltron Legendary defender

Primal

Unicorn Warriors Eternal

Samurai Jack

Dexter's laboratory

Kid's next door

Little Bear

PB&J Otter

Franklin

Rocket power

Hey Arnold

Angry beavers

Gamera

Godzilla

Transformers

Helluva Boss

Hazbin Hotel

Robot Chicken

Smiling Friends

Rick and Morty

Owl House

Kim Possible

Star Vs.

Indiana Jones

Schindler's list

E.T.

The Thing

Alien

Predator

Prey

Ducktales (80s and 2017)

Talespin

LOTR (Tolkin, Bakshi, and Rankin Bass)

Wizards

Fire and Ice

Conan the barbarian

Star Wars

Star Trek

Family Guy

Simpsons

American Dad

I could go on but this should give enough of a scope to know what media i take in and from different eras and genres that aren't under what Lily says is shonen OR Comics.

so Lily, please ACT YOUR AGE and TAKE. THE, CRITICISM, Like an ADULT.

you are a woman in your 30s, stop acting like a 15-year-old who thinks they're tough shit on the playground with a bunch of K1 to 3rd graders.

also even if your critics do enjoy Shonen and comic themed media

iIT DOESN'T NEGATE THE LIMITED MEDIA

YOU

have taken in.

You purposefully limit your media intake because children's media is so much easier for someone of your skills and intelligence to pick apart and criticize, whereas if you were to actually engage with other media that challenges you, it would be too much for you to handle.

Live in your bubble if you must

but don't act like you're tough shit because TWICE you got your shit handed to you when you acted like your 100 Tips thread was just a joke when in reality you started a thread with an idea and just ran out of steam because you realized you couldn't commit and people picked apart your thread like you pick apart the media you watch.

and then there was your Villains Challenge with Ant and Crimson and you couldn't even understand Godzilla

FUCKING, GODZILLA

a being who was an antagonist and villain in his early films because he represented the fears and dangers of atomic use, but also was a victim of that atomic weapon, he wasn't "just a bomb"

that kindergarten level description showed how little you cared to engage but I digress.

Nuh-uh, I personally watch thrillers like spy x family and since fiction shows like a place further than the universe.

[lesbiancolumbo]

I saw someone on twitter trying to do the "media literacy is dead" schtick but about people not getting that the exploitation of Blonde was intentional to make people think about how Marilyn was exploited? As if that's not a point that can be made without depicting graphic fictional SA and having your lead actress topless for the entire second half of the movie????

i swear to mother fucking god, i hate that every fucking year we have to do this. every year some beloved male auteur makes a film with misogynistic treatment of women and a decent chunk of but not all women critics and normal ass people on film twitter will phrase it like hey! kinda sexist! don’t like it! feels exploitative! and then men will see that and it’s like why are these HATEFUL FEMINISTS being like this!!!!!! sorry i trust this male filmmaker who up until now makes movies primarily about men butthat’snotrelevant to make a good movie REGARDLESS OF GENDER #REALFEMINISM and then the exact same four pick-me women of film twitter come home and see that their ugly ass boyfriends and husbands got their fee fees hurt by some cunt online and log on and go ACTUALLY AS A WOMAN I LOVED THIS HASHTAG NOT ALL WOMEN THIS IS BIOLOGICAL ESSENTIALSM GOODFELLAS IS MY FAVORITE MOVIE #COOLGIRL and then the movie comes out and everyone else is like oh yeah this is actually misogynistic lol

i’m sorry but (i am speaking rhetorically, not to you stephenroot i love you, you are one of the few who gets me on this and i appreciate you) media literacy does not mean some cunt bitch online thinks misogyny in the movies isn’t fun OR this stupid joyless WOMAN doesn’t realize that MISOGYNY IS THE POINT HAHA (I AM VERY SMART). media literacy is that i understand what andrew dominik’s intentions are and that i think they’re horseshit. i haven't read blonde yet but i think there was a way to adapt it in a way that was both faithful to what it tried to accomplish while also being respectful to the very real person that it (however fictionally or not) depicts and everything i've read about the finished film leads me to believe this isn't the case. so then why would i give this the benefit of the doubt? and like, i'm sick of this constant cycle where women can't speak expertly about what is sexist or not on film? for fear of upsetting those four women on twitter who go like ummmm actually i LOVE graphic rape scenes in films :) like ok good for you? no one cares? men get to go to tiff and watch a film about a group of women debating whether or not to leave their community because their husbands and boyfriends won't stop raping and beating them and say its politics are too blunt and obvious or whatever, and that's fine, but women can't watch blonde and go hey this is exploitative! because what if that's the point? okay sometimes it is the point. and sometimes the execution of that point fucking sucks. what now.

anyways i care about this so much only because this woman has been so misinterpreted and profited off of and exploited for her whole life and longer dead than she ever was alive, and i want people to engage with her as a fucking ARTIST and a PERSON and a BUSINESSWOMAN and as she wanted to be remembered. all people ever care about is the fucking tragedy and her body. blonde only encourages this, and andrew and anna the arms can say whatever the fuck they want about marilyn would have loved their little tragedy porn experiment, but THESE were the last words in her last ever interview, and i trust her more than them to speak on her own fucking experience. so i will leave you all with this.

"Please don’t make me a joke. End the interview with what I believe. I don’t mind making jokes, but I don’t want to look like one. I want to be an artist, an actress with integrity. If fame goes by, so long, I’ve had you, fame. If it goes by, I’ve always known it was fickle. So at least it’s something I experienced, but that’s not where I live."

[fyoggo]

I don't think you are consuming Hypnosis Mic properly

I have already had to tell someone else this here but it seems you need to hear it too. first off I dontlike how you use that square ended highlighter resembling brush when drawing them. They look like abstract Minecraft characters.

Seconsd off your jokes are not very funny or at least not in the context of Hypmic they do not seem relevant. You seem to have a very loose understanding of these characters and these stories, as if you were someone just pretending tney were in the fandom because they enjoy the characters on the surface, but do not bother to do digging or reaearch or someone who has only seen Rhyme animal and does not care about their full story and this is why you hyper focus on Dotsuire Hompo to try and mask in the community who know what they are doing

I have been called a troll for this and possibly a hater but I can't remember. The point is I am just saying, you snould take some time off. Take a break from Tumble or at least HypmicTumbler and then in your spare time;

I will organize a short list of what to research

Find Slugtranslations and ask for their link to their Discord where they will give you a password so you can go read the manga (it is private now due to their personal decisions). Please read all of the manga

Go to the wiki and Spotify and watxh the drama tracks and read alongside them then go to Sound cloud to find the manga drama tracks (special drama tracks that come with special manga issues these are harder to find because they are not on streaming services) Please read and listen to all of these they are the final step in canon

DNI with rhyme anima and the live action musicals they are not true to canon

I think when you come back after this you will feel very refreshed and have more relevant takes and funnier jokes. Thank you

When you are done can you please, with a normal brush draw some Saburo funny memes

I was thinking about whether or not I should answer this at all but I'll give it a shot.

First and foremost: I don't engage fandoms. I don't create story relevant content because I don't particularly feel like it... not that I should have to justify drawing what I like.

Second: humor is subjective. also the comics I draw are memes. again, I draw those to have fun to make some people chuckle. if it doesn't amuse you, that's totally fine!

I appreciate the art criticism, but unfortunately I only draw on my phone at the moment and I don't have a touch pen to do any better. sorry if this bothers you; not much I can do about it when I am pretty much finger painting digitally.

As for the story stuff... I have actually read all of the drama track translations while listening along, but none of that is really relevant to what I want to draw... I'm not sure I understand what kind of art it is that you want me to produce. like I said, the things I draw are meant to be (subjectively) funny, and I haven't gotten any anon asks like this before about any of the other games / media I created content for. is every piece of fan art you've come across 100% accurate, relevant and/or thought-provoking? I'm sure there are creators that you can follow for those things instead of sifting through my doodles. Sorry if they clutter your feed, I think I'll have to ask you to block me because I don't plan on stopping drawing things that I enjoy.

I appreciate the offer to help me open my eyes to the lore and whatnot, but I respectfully decline. it's nice of you to want to do all those things for me, but I don't like joining discord servers and I don't really think I need to do any of those things you listed either to be allowed to just draw, like thousands of other people on this website do.

thanks for this message, though! I hope if anyone else out there felt the same way they'll read this as a bit of a clarification. I doubt my sense of humor will change, and as for the takes, I haven't had a single one — I just drew characters I liked. I do suggest blocking me though, and I don't mean it in one of those "if you don't like it, block" ways, but just so you can get me out of your way. I think my blog isn't for you, and I hope you find another creator that'll check all your boxes! 😄

[stopbeingnecrophiles]

⚠️warning post regarding the users weimu (now ppgd), flonnezillas, & stupidneet (check blog description for updated urls)

UPDATE AS OF 5/02/2021 (BEFORE POSTING):  the user weimu now goes under the name “gabberzon“. this url was a past username flonnezillas owned, and is now in use under the user weimu. user flonnezillas has terminated (to our knowledge). stupidneet has also changed her url to darkishcircles. UPDATE AS OF 5/14/2021 (BEFORE POSTING): raquel has deleted her server. the people behind the post still find everything here relevant and necessary to bring to light. 

the following post was made as a warning to showcase the behavior of some of the users on the site. if you're a minor we highly discourage you from interacting with any of the individuals mentioned; if you're 18+, do as you wish but with discretion (and the trigger warnings in mind). we find the things these users have said and done to be morally reprehensible, and to be genuinely concerning. this isn't some random petty callout post; we sincerely believe the behavior of those mentioned to be genuinely concerning and need to be brought to light.

that being said, we also do not condone the harassment or hate towards these users. the people behind this blog recognize that bringing forth this sort of thing may incite other users to do so, but we highly are against it. sending hate and harassment is not the way to go about this. simply stay away from those users if you have nothing better to add to the situation. thank you.

(all images have been censored for proper viewing. if you don't believe the claims being made, you're free to ask for the uncensored versions of the screenshots off anonymous so long as you're 18+. usernames/icons censored are of the minors or those irrelevant to the post in the server.)

⚠️ major tw: necrophilia, lolicon + pedophilia mentions, nsfw, irl gore (one image in particular contains a 17 year old girl)/drawn guro, & underaged characters in torture/sexual situations. ⚠️

users mentioned + their past/present urls (please check description of the blog for updated urls): 

raquel/witch/cas (17 yrs at the time of posting) (neko865 > ureshichan > autismchan > weimu >  gabberzon >  omduvarmin > ppgd | past sideblogs were disgustchan, suicidegirlsjp, and now currently speedcorebeach [tw for guro/gore]) 

dasch/rena (18 yrs at the time of posting ) (catgirlmode >  slashermedia > mawisa > stupidneet > femcelirl > darkishcircles  > aspiechan > 719203727299272910822810 > 71920372729922980822810) 

maid/val/vale/valentine (20 yrs at the time of posting ) (morimiyamiddleschoolshooting > raspberry-valentine > nekrofylia > phonestalker > gabberzon > pukemaid > morimiya > flonnezillas | sideblog named ichigomashimaros)

url proof here. 

TW: THE SERVER ITSELF AND ITS CONTENTS

first thing we’d like to address here is raquel’s server and what goes on in it, as the server is not at all properly ran or moderated well. on her blog, she explicitly states this:

but still allows those under the age of 16 to join her server, and doesn’t even make it mandatory to make an intro or for the users in there to state if they’re a minor or not. however there are minors that are in the server, and it’s clear who they are. we wont be showing who they are, but there are a handful that have joined and are active within it.

raquel herself is also a minor (being 17) so it’s odd that she wouldn’t make sure that fellow minors wouldn’t be kept away from some of the things that are said and shown in the server. that being said, a few of the conversations that have gone on publicly in the server have been about:

dasch’s tights and how sweaty they were, with raquel and maid talking about wanting to do things to her tights

dasch offering her bra 

talking about having phone sex together

openly condoning gore in the chats and saying it’s fine to be 100% okay with gore (which isn’t true, it’s fine to have a fascination with gore but to be 100% okay with it or even obsess over it is not okay). 

(screenshots of the conversations can be found here & here.)

we recognize that a few of these conversations are obviously jokes/banter between the three, but it is still wildly inappropriate to publicly talk like this where minors can see. you have an nsfw chat, at least use it properly.  (important to note: in raquel’s server, the nsfw & real life gore channels were opened to the public for awhile, accessible to anyone at any age, before there was a complaint to make them hidden with a role. even with a role implemented, the guro channel is still visible to those who have the ‘baby’ role [and as guro is, the content is very sexual].)

TW: NECROPHILIA IN THE SERVER

second thing that is worthy of being addressed is how (mainly) dasch and maid fetishize irl gore, dead bodies, and crime scene photos. as stated prior, we’ve censored out the images that were posted, but if you would prefer to see uncensored versions of the images (if you somehow don’t believe what is being censored), you’re welcomed to come off anon and ask for the uncensored versions (so long as you are 18+). like the rest of the screenshots, they can be found in a separate link here.

TW: CONTENTS OF THEIR BLOGS & SOCIAL MEDIA

third thing that is noteworthy of the people mentioned are the things they post publicly to their blogs. on raquel’s blogs, she has warnings in her pinned posts. 

the warnings on her blog, while one being genuine and the other uncaring, do in fact warn users that content on her blogs are nsfw and explicitly state what she posts. however, this doesn’t mean she is exempt from criticism of what she posts. anytime raquel is called out for posting something questionable, she simply blames it all on “terfs”, that she’s allowed to post the things she posts because she is also a minor, or that you’re in the wrong for insinuating that a csa victim would even have lolicon art. raquel is not free from criticism from this, as she has posted art with actual children in it. the people behind this post mean no disrespect to raquel and the things she has been through and we respect that entirely. that being said, this does not mean you are free from criticism of the things you post willingly to your blogs. especially when some of the things you’ve posted in the past include children.  when asked why she doesn’t credit artists on her guro blog, this is what she responded with:

someone in her notes also pointed this out, but to our knowledge she never acknowledged what they replied to the post with (censored out as they are not relevant to the post).

regardless if you credit the artist or not, people can reverse image search to find the creator themselves. it’s also worth mentioning that you are blatantly admitting to posting from a pedophilic artist. you are still supporting this pedophile’s art by doing so. you are admitting the guro content you post is from pedophilic sources, and regardless if you source them or not, you are inherently posting pedophilic content.

we’ve provided examples of posts on her main blog here, and examples of posts on her sideblog here. major tw (for lolicon art & underaged characters), although we’ve censored the images, the content is still pretty intense. 

the next person we would like to shed light to and the things they post are maid. since the post started, maid has terminated her account. however some screenshot examples (with links) still exist, so those are what we will be using to explain the sorts of things she posts/has posted. 

before we go on, we would like to make it clear that we have no definitive proof that maid is a pedophile, but the content she is into is very questionable due to the nature of what they are. a few of things that she is into can be considered lolibait, which includes a lot of underaged girls. 

examples of the media (click the links for examples of her posting about it):

ichigo mashimaro (strawberry marshmallow): an anime/manga about 10-12 year old girls, that while not problematic itself, the creator of the anime makes lolicon-esque content of the girls (outside of the anime/manga). the media is also heavily known for being liked by lolicons.

ro-kyu-bu!: an anime surrounding a basketball team comprised of mostly young girls, the content of the anime itself is rather deplorable as it sexualizes the young girls very frequently (which is basically the only plot it has). very much known for being lolibait and liked by lolicons. 

on her main blog, she had reblogged this post:

(post contains two young teenagers from yuru yuri.)

just on the surface, this image isn’t necessarily sexual and we do not claim that maid reblogged this with sexual intentions, however with her consumption of media known for lolibait, it makes it questionable. 

she also has a body pillow of satou matsuzaka, a 15 year old girl from the anime “my happy sugar life”. we wont be getting into the content of the anime here, but it should be odd enough that this 20 year old woman has a pillow of a 15 year old girl. 

the last thing we’d like to address with maid is the posts on her instagram (can be found here. major tw for guro & emetophilia [all of which is censored]). a main point here that we haven’t brought up is that she blatantly fetishizes asian women and often posts about them. you can go here to look at a few of the things she’s posted and the fetish nature of the content she puts out there involving them. 

CONCLUSION

the point of this post was to highlight a few users in the animecore community who are clearly unable to host servers or interact around minors properly. we still do not condone the harassment of these users, and we would highly recommend to simply block them in response to this post rather than seek them out and harass them. there’s no point in doing so, however we realize we cannot stop every single person who reads this post from doing something. all we can do is state that we are against doing so and have no want or need to engage with that sort of behavior. 

to the users this post highlighted, if you’ve read everything through, good on you. instead of taking this as a call out post for drama (which genuinely was not the intent of this post), maybe the few of you can recognize the faults you have here and work on them and change for the better. this isn’t some post made because those behind it had personal beef or something with the users it mentions. this post was made because some of you cannot behave and act appropriately when interacting with minors and the general public. clearly not, as a server was allowed to exist with tons of minors alongside fucking weirdos. maybe give a shit about the minors you allow to interact with you. thanks

[karmicpunishment]

Roleplay Conduct in the Dream SMP

just want to forwarn, this is throwing no hate to any cc involved with the DSMP, i just think this is something that needs to be talked about. For example, I will be mentioning cc!phil quite a bit, but thats just because he’s a good, recent example of what i want to talk about. this has no hateful intent, just hopefully helpful critisism.  also if there are any spelling errors or something, ignore them please <3 ---- I think there’s one major thing that bugs me about the DSMP, both on the side of the content and the fandom, and thats the lack of understanding of the basics of roleplay. it’s clear that most people involved (both cc and fandom wise) this is their first major experience with rp. and while thats not a bad thing per se, it does majorly effect how the proccess runs and the content produced. 

with the dream smp its incredibly clear there is a lack of awareness relating to rp experience, especially when it comes to etiquette. and to some people that may sound silly or to complicated for something like a blockman rp. i promise it’s not. 

rp etiquette is a vital part of ensuring a roleplay experience is enjoyable (for the rp’ers and the viewers if there are any), consistent, and understandable. this applies to things like dnd campaigns, improv shows and yes, the dream smp. 

there are several different versions of rp etiquette, depeninding on medium and what you want out of it, but there a few that stay pretty consistant. things like “show respect to your fellow rp’ers”, no godmodding, no metagaming, keep irl drama outside rp, and more. but the ones i really want to talk about today are: retconning, powerplay/imposing your ideas onto other’s characters. these three things are all major problems i percieve in the dsmp, and for the most part, this has to do with lack of rp etiquette. 

examples of these things: retconning: c!jack manifold’s canon deaths, c!phil’s not knowing about l’manburg/schlatt/the festival etc and the letters, the various age discussions, three canon lives and the many retcons attached to that, family sbi dynamic being canon and then not (also falls under powerplay)  powerplay/imposing hc’s onto other cc characters or the story at large: cc!phil talking about c!wilbur as a child, tommy posting to twitter about c!wilbur smoking (though this was more a joke the fandom took as canon),  puffy canonizing horns for tubbo 

and look, no one is expecting them all to be master rp’ers, especially considering for most of them this is their first time. but to engage in a media form like this, with an audience the size of the dsmp, there has to be expectations that people will educate themselves and learn as they go. you don’t see these breaches of etiquette on other rp media like critical role or dimension 20, you simply don’t, at least not on the scale you see it in the dream smp. and this damages the media, making it incredibly difficult to follow, especially when depending on who you watch, facts about the story change. the dsmp suffers from not having a headwriter(s) and set schedule to keep it in check, as well as its actors having a deep lack of understanding of rp culture, especially in terms of etiquette. 

and these problems spread to the fandom as well. there’s a real problem with people making headcanons that are actually au’s (and yes there is a difference between the two) and letting it influnce how they view canon. this also stems from the problem of not listening to cc about their own characters (ranboo and tubbo saying michael will not be hurt, killed or involved in angst, as well that beeduo won’t divorce, are things commonly thrown away by the fandom) and letting their favorite “hc’s” influence how they percieve canon and its characters (especially see it with characters like wilbur, dream, niki and fundy)  once again, none of this is intended as hate, neither to the cc’s or to the fandom, just some honest criticism. also im sorry if this was very rambly, i can’t stay on topic for the life of me  tldr; the cc’s (and the fandoms) lack of experience in rp and its etiquette is actively hurting the story. please go play a dnd game and learn /lh 

[iamanartichoke]

Please do not screenshot or link to this post on any other blogs/discord servers. If you think my take is hot trash then you are more than welcome to reblog and engage with me about it (or just think I suck bc you're entitled to your opinion) but I cannot stand being talked about behind my back, so to speak, so please just don't.

The Problem With The Term “GirlBoss” (aka The New Mary Sue)

The thing that I really dislike about the term Girlboss(TM) is that it's become so ubiquitous that any original, possibly positive meaning of the term has been lost, bc it's now a label that's slapped onto seemingly any woman character who is assertive and/or has the physical prowess to defend herself; Girlboss now functions to, essentially, be another box to shoehorn women into.

I don't know where or when Girlboss originated, just that I see it increasingly applied to women characters across media (including, of course, Sylvie, but I'll talk about her specifically in a bit), and the ease with which fans apply it to this or that character honestly just irks me.

It's dismissive. It's limiting. It's reducing a woman character to the sum total of her parts and saying, this character is Label and nothing else about them matters; they should not be taken seriously and also I hate them.

(Cut for length.)

And, I mean, I'm not saying people can't dislike women characters for whatever reasons they want - but, to see fandom adopting the term and it becoming so widespread just makes me wonder if the inherent misogyny in it is just lost on them, or if they realize it but just don't care.

So like, okay, let's really think about the term Mary Sue for a moment, bc the Mary Sue is kinda the predecessor of Girlboss (in my opinion).

For literal decades (at *least* going back to the 90s, as far as I'm aware), Mary Sue has been liberally applied to women characters whom audiences decided were too perfect in some way - whether they were liked by everyone, effortlessly good at things, incredibly smart, or some combination of all these "flawless" qualities, Mary Sues were consistently called out for existing in the space of a story and not being flawed enough to earn her spot there.

The Mary Sue isn't always the main character, but often she is, which adds another layer of contempt to the term bc in addition to being flawless, the Mary Sue is also accused of being a stand-in for the author, a vessel through which the author can write out her fantasy of *checks notes* being well-liked and good at things. Or her fantasy of *checks notes again* finding a partner who is both very attractive and also kind, respectful, and thinks the sun rises and sets on her.

In other words, calling a character a Mary Sue is implicitly saying that a woman who either doesn't have enough flaws, or fantasizes about an idealized version of herself and her life, or both is a woman who deserves to be mocked. Bc that's what the term Mary Sue is used for - to mock, dismiss, and just generally hate on a character who exists in a story.

If Mary Sue equals a "flawless" woman ('flawless' as defined by whoever decided that a woman should have A, B, and C wrong with her and if she doesn't, she's perfect, regardless of whether or not she's dealing with D, E, Q, S, and W. But I digress.), then a "flawless" woman equals a woman who has no depth or complexity and deserves mockery.

And when the Mary Sue is also functioning as the author's stand-in? Well, the author deserves mockery, too. Little boys can fantasize about being knights and slaying dragons, or being professional baseball players, and adult men can fantasize about being Tyler Durden or whoever, but if a woman fantasizes about being loved by everyone and good at things and having men fall in love with her for no reason except that she exists, well, that's stupid. That's cringe. Chuck Palahniuk gets to be critically acclaimed and Stephanie Meyer gets to be a joke.

This isn't about saying Fight Club is actually bad or Twilight is actually good, for the record. This is about saying that women characters in media - and by extension, women writers - are held to different, kinda impossible standards and the term Mary Sue is emblematic of that. Something a male character is admired for is something a female character is mocked for. Etc.

And, yes, I realize that "Gary Stu" exists, but 1) it doesn't hold the same weight or negative connotations that Mary Sue does, and 2), even if it did, I rarely see it applied to male characters who "earn" it, and 3) even if that character did get defined as a Gary Stu, well, that's not okay, either, bc it's just as flawed a concept as Mary Sue.

But, so, thinking about Mary Sue in this context - as a dismissive label - provides context for Girlboss, in that the Girlboss is a Mary Sue but also she can fight. Or she's just physically strong or athletic. Or she's written as being "better than the boys," in-universe.

Girlboss (TM) is what happens when the same kind of people who resent "flawless" women characters also resent flawless women characters who then outshine the men.

Because why else would being able to fight be seen as a negative? Why else would speaking her mind or being better than her male counterpart at something be seen as a negative? And therein lies the misogyny, the kind of misogyny that says a woman needs to "earn" her existence in the story by being the "right" kind of flawed that aligns with "complexity and depth" but also she can't be better than the men or outshine them or basically do anything that's going to detract from the Male Hero of the Story. It's like how guys get pissed when their girlfriend is better than they are at a sport or a video game, stereotypically "male" things, or how women and mens' sports teams compete separately bc they can't risk the possiblity of any of the women beating any of the men. (See: that Olympic swimmer.)

And, I mean, I might be getting kind of jumbled here but the point is that Girlboss is just another term that contributes to keeping women characters in boxes, and those boxes are getting smaller, not larger. And that just means that the woman who is writing the story is also being pressed into a box. Writing is hard enough, but now the writer also has to be cognizant of whether or not her character is flawed enough, or too flawed, or if giving her a mean right hook is going to dismiss the entire rest of her arc bc readers think she's a Girlboss, or just - these labels are just tools to limit creativity, not inspire it. And it's really, really frustrating to see.

This is going to have to be a two-part post, bc I don't have time to write anymore and it's ridiculously long but I also intend to talk about Sylvie. I'm gonna throw caution to the wind and hit post without editing (I will regret this) but if nothing else, please don't take this post as me saying that women as characters are not allowed to be disliked, bc they absolutely can. Some characters are good and well-written and some are shitty and poorly-written and a lot of them fall somewhere in-between - *gasp* just like male characters. It's almost like what I'm saying isn't that these labels are bad bc women characters shouldn't be criticized, what I'm saying is that the critera with which you criticize the character shouldn't rest solely on the few attributes or deficiencies that the label you gave her has reduced her to.

[docholligay]

I was going to write most of this in a reblog of another post, but then I realized that I was straying quite a bit from what the post itself was about, which was genre conventions and how they are a thing. 

It talked a lot about children’s media with response to this, because tumblr is wild about children’s media, so you get wild takes like, “This adult is ABSUING A CHILD” when it’s like, a villain beating up Sailor Moon or some shit. 

As a media analyst (lol let’s put a title to ‘talks about TV’) something I run into a lot is what I like to call “Schrodinger's Children’s Show” where the show is magically for and about children and not, at the same time. 

When a show is sold to me or when I hear it talked about tumblr, it is pretty much always, “This show has MATURE THEMES, and is VERY SOPHISTICATED and TALKS ABOUT TRAUMA IN A MAJOR WAY” so I engage with it, and then I’m watching it and I’m saying something like, “Wait so is this show ultimately prizing pacifism even in the face of evil” to be met with “It is a CHILDREN’S SHOW and you have to remember that it is FOR CHILDREN” 

This has happened to me MULTIPLE times, and even more the “This character is a child/there’s nothing untoward about this character being in their position” So, back to the post this is based on: We accept that teenagers have to save the world because adults are idiots. Genre convention. But if we actually delve into the reasons YA/children’s shows exists FOR TEENAGERS AND CHILDREN and not for ADULTS ON THE INTERNET, though sadly the market is moving away from its Actual Target Audience...much of the “teens saving the world” thing is allowing the 12-15 year old set to imagine themselves as possible adults. So, in that vein, criticizing a teenage character who is not a real teenager in many ways, because we have suspended that belief, is probably okay! 

I think this tendency with favored characters and shows, to use the “children” thing as a mode of protection from criticism, is why you see people sometimes, like me! Very guilty of this. Going, “well then if what you’re telling me is I can’t expect too much from it, why are we talking about it at all?” There was a show I ADORED the concept of, but the whole time I was watching it, I kept thinking, “Fuck I wish this was made for grownups*” because I knew the SECOND I said something like, “wow I wish we would have explored this point” I would hear “Well doc lol its for children do you want to traumatize the children” and its always sold as this unrealistic desire. But I should definitely still carefully analyze the show in all the good ways! It’s still totally worth watching! Please enjoy this sanitized version of an adult concept with me and other adults! I don’t like adult things because they’re all about men having affairs but each of these magical girl shows is special and unique! 

So yes, genre conventions are a thing we accept when we enter the door! I am totally for that, and sometimes, man, the Narrrative Requires, and other than in joking, I don’t actually get surprised when there are no adults in an anime. But I think what I find frustrating is the insistence that we take this show seriously, often, but also let it slip serious critique. I can’t say, “This show is immature because it is literally made for developing minds” that’s judgmental, but if I say, “This show actually does not explore trauma in a meaningful way, it touches on it in and moves away” I get accused of not understanding when I thing is for children.”

Schrodinger’s Children’s Show. 

*This show goes into Top Ten Anime Betrayals for me because I was SO SO excited for it, because when the pitch was sent, not even to me, but to a friend! I jumped on her stream because the pitch said it “was on HBO” and I read the concept and thought “OH MY GOD THIS SOUNDS INCREDIBLE” and then the fucking....cartoon network logo popped up and I think Jetty watched me visually deflate. 

[ms-demeanor]

Some meandering thoughts about jokes about rape and cultural changes in the last decade and a half

Like, don’t get me wrong, I’m really glad we’re in a place now where we DO question rape jokes and it would be much harder to get away with “raping Jonah Hill is incredibly amusing” as the center of a scene the way that you could in 2007-2013 but I do kind of feel like we don’t talk about how sudden that change was enough.

People talk about how you should have always known that awful things are awful but if you’re surrounded by rape jokes and pedophilia jokes all the time and that’s what’s funny to the other kids around you and the adults in your lives and what makes up the jokes in the movies you watch then it’s hard to act like you always knew it was wrong.

Dead baby jokes were a HUGE thing when I was a teen and in my early twenties and sitting around swapping dead baby jokes was just a thing we did, and tossed in among them were things like:

A joke about incest with the punchline “Get off me pa, you’re crushing my smokes.”

This joke about a pedophile murdering a child.

Let’s not turn this rape into a murder.

And hell, look at the activity graph for “soap on a rope” on urban dictionary:

2014 starts a significant taper.

Letterboxd has their “sexual assault against men played for comedy page” and if you sort by release date there’s a downward trend with 2014 as a really stand-out year for rape jokes about men in popular movies:

2010 - 10

2011 - 12

2012 - 14

2013 - 12

2014 - 18 (jesus, which includes a prison rape joke in “Paddington”)

2015 - 9

2016 - 9

2017 - 11

2018 - 15

2019 - 4

2020 - 1

(this is of course with the caveat that this is only what has been documented so far)

Shock porn sites used to be a thing and they used to be a COMMON thing. A thing that would get remixed and have late night hosts make jokes about them and that got parody music videos.

So on the one hand I was really glad that in 2010 the hacker conference WASN’T asking me to make a rape joke on their tee shirt, but since Pool 2 Girl came up at every single “this is what defcon is about” discussion and some of the guys from the con had printed up “lemonparty.org” stickers to slap up around town it wouldn’t have been *surprising* if they’d been asking for that.

If you were a teenager in 2005 would you have known how much of a dick move goatse-ing people was? We didn’t have the same culture of trigger warnings (not that I disapprove of trigger warnings, they are good and I like them) and there was very much an attitude online at the time of “if you can’t handle it log off.”

I think the fappening was the turning point for a lot of this stuff - I think that was a big cultural moment that changed a lot of people’s attitudes really quickly and I’m seeing echos of that with what Chris Evans is dealing with right now: people are a lot faster to say “oh, that sucks, don’t be an asshole, report people for posting the pics” while I remember sitting and arguing in an imgur thread because there were a bunch of people saying “if you don’t like it don’t take nudes” about the celebrities who got caught in the icloud leak.

People look at Shane Dawson’s (admittedly gross and incredibly inappropriate) behavior with a poster of Willow Smith and act like it’s unprecedented***** but as someone who remembers not only Olsen Eighteenth Birthday countdowns but ALSO the jokes about fucking the Olsen twins that came BEFORE they were legal that’s just bizarre. Seeing people my age and older react to James Gunn’s pedophilic twitter jokes like they’re worse than Jay Leno’s jokes about Michael Jackson (which were made on TV! Across America! On a major network!) is just. It’s bizarre.

I’m glad we are where we are now, I’m glad that making rape jokes in public or jokes about incest or pedophilia (or murder or abortion) is less common and less okay (especially in children’s media, jesus fuck) and more likely to get criticized.

But I’m also pretty sure I’m going to get called a rape apologist by *someone* for saying “2010 was a different time, rape jokes were more common and we didn’t realize how shitty it was” when it really was a different time and rape jokes were more common and most people didn’t realize how shitty it was. I sure didn’t. I do now, and I’m glad I do now. But pretending that we should have ALWAYS known this, pretending that this was NEVER acceptable, pretending that it WASN’T a different time is ignoring the fact that for over a decade there was an entire genre of pedophilic rape jokes (that were frequently also racist) centered around one celebrity and that people told these jokes in public and in pop culture *all the time.*

Does that make it right? Fuck, I don’t know, shit is relative. It was still largely acceptable to electrocute gay kids and people tossed around the word “faggot” pretty freely. Mean Girls is full of jokes about how awful it is for people to think you’re a lesbian and Superbad is full of jokes about getting people shitfaced so they’ll sleep with you (so date rape) and there’s an entire “cute comedy” from the 80s starring Kurt Russel and Goldie Hawn that’s an extended rape-by-fraud joke. I think that as a whole we’re better now as people than we were in 2010 and the 90s and the 80s and the 50s and I don’t think that someone who made a sexist joke in the 80s is irredeemably evil and I don’t think people making rape jokes in the 2010s are rape apologists in 2020 and I wish there was a lot more understanding of both history and nuance in these conversations.

*****to be very, very clear Shane Dawson has been filmed kissing underage fans on the mouth and having explicit sexual conversations with his very young cousin - Dawson has done things that go beyond “inappropriate” and fall clearly into “wrong” “bad” “dangerous” “illegal” etc, which is all the more reason that it’s so strange to see people focusing on him fake masturbating on a poster of Willow Smith. YES doing that was gross but why is it even being compared to the way he’s been filmed interacting with fans? The lack of nuance, making “fake masturbating at a poster” and “creating a sexually abused puppet character” the same as “inappropriately touched and kissed minor fans and engaged a young child in explicit sexual conversations” is NOT GOOD. That is a bad thing. Two of those things are tasteless and two of those things are actively harmful and it’s the actively harmful stuff that we should be focusing on and part of why it’s really weird to see shit like “pizzagate conspiracist accuses James Gunn of making inappropriate jokes” like yes Gunn please don’t but can we maybe refocus and talk about the dude who can be pretty significantly assigned blame for a fucking shooting? https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/01/james-gunn-alt-right-marvel-film-director-tweets

Actually, you know what, I thought I was done ranting, I’m not.

It’s purity culture.

YES you should attempt to do less harm with your language, YES you should attempt to not use slurs, YES you should try to avoid making rape jokes. But there’s an entire huge group of people who are willing to drag up rape jokes from a decade when rape jokes were REALLY REALLY common in order to say that nothing you say or do today matters.

And that same group is ALSO really interested in expanding the concept of what pedophilia is to include age differences in adults or liking the wrong style of drawing and it’s a purity culture silencing tactic and can we PLEASE stop pretending that gross, tasteless jokes are the same thing as actually sexually abusing people? Can we stop pretending that pointing out “rape jokes were more common fifteen years ago and I feel bad about it but that’s just the way it was and I don’t make jokes like that anymore” is the same as saying “rape isn’t bad and you shouldn’t make a big deal out of it.”

It’s always good to try to be a less shitty human but if you’re only allowed to grow and improve and be less shitty if you never fucked up in the first place then it’s all just calvinist bullshit and none of us could ever really be saved in the first place.

I dunno, dudes. We got so careful about disapproving of the wrong kind of language that we let a white supremacist concern troll Disney into firing a director who caught the attention of the alt right by shit-talking the president.

I think perhaps we need to reexamine some strategy here.

[skeletalsepulchre]

okay so im seeing people get anons about this and its coming up in friend groups so i think now's actually a pretty good time to tackle the idea of religious (specifically cultic) abuse in media and how we as an audience interact with it

TLDR: dehumanization and sexualization of cult victims furthers the misunderstanding that cults "don't exist now", and RA survivors would feel much safer in fandom spaces if people acknowledged and analyzed the harmful portrayals of cults in media.

cw: discussions of cults, abuse, and sexual assault

also, if you have questions, please shoot me an ask or dm (off anon preferably, though)

let me start this with a disclaimer that i dont think every media that features ra is inherently bad. i think thats a bit harsh and as an ra survivor ive come to terms with the fact that there are going to be depictions of it in ways that maybe dont give it the respect it deserves, and trying to "what about [x]" everything will only lead people to talking in circles with themselves. what i want to address here is how you, as a consumer, respond to and parse out what cultic abuse means in any particular portrayal of it.

*also please don't harass people about their RAS status, like, if you see someone enjoying something with a less than stellar portrayal of cults, don't send them asks or dms like "well are YOU a cult survivor?" reducing the consumption of media to a yes or no game based on identity-- especially an identity that comes as the result of explicit pain and spiritual violation is not only derivative but also degrading to survivors and the people you're grilling. all we want is for people to think carefully about what they spread and portray, and how they think about those situations.

so, i think the first thing to tackle is...what is a cult? This is something that's surprisingly hard to define, especially in fictional settings with fictional cults. For example, (and pardon the use of this example, I don't feel like hunting for others), My Hero Academia has an organization in it that I would say fits the criteria for being a cult, but by and large isn't considered one by fans because it's not explicitly called a cult. (Although numerous cult jokes have been made about it). It also has an organization that IS explicitly referred to as a cult.

So, when you're dealing with how to process what is and is not a cult-- and how to make your presence safe for RA survivors, you have to be able to sift through more than just "did the narrative tell me this is a cult?"

There's a few different models people use; one of the most popular being the BITE model-- but I should clarify that the BITE model is really tailored towards religious and strictly hierarchal cults, but can be applied to other kinds of cults.

(and yes, there are cults other than religious/spiritual ones. corporate cults and wellness cults have been on the rise, and it's good to keep that in mind both when engaging with media and also in the real world.)

However, I'm a religious cult survivor, so a lot of my experience is strictly irt this, so please take what I say with a grain of salt, and know that I don't speak for every cult survivor, every religious cult survivor, or every religious abuse survivor. I am One Guy on the internet.

When it comes to media, I have a few questions I run through in order to figure out if something is A Cult.

1) Fringe Ideas. This one is one of those that most people know-- and often incorrectly use to attribute cult status to other things. However, it is worth mentioning, that you don't become a cult by following mainstream ideologies. BUT. BUT. not every group with weird ideas is a cult! Some groups are just weird and are fine being weird. It's a rectangles and squares situation. All cults have fringe ideas and behaviors, not all fringe ideas and behaviors belong to cults.

2) Hierarchies. Cults always have people in power, at least in my experience. There have been ideas thrown around about "completely decentralized cults"-- but to be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about that concept, and I don't know enough about it personally to say whether or not it's legitimate. If you have any sources, hmu.

BUT. Most cults have a power structure. You're going to have leaders, usually with a handful at the verrrrry tippy top, whose word is law. This can be associated with things like religious ideas (channelling god) or being "a genius", like in corporate cults.

3) Control. I cannot stress this enough; cults are all about control. How you think, feel, behave-- they discourage critical thought, encourage snitching on each other, buddy-group behavior; the BITE model explicitly lists these models of control.

4) Us V Them. Cults will give all those that oppose them or simply don't believe them a bad name. They're uneducated, they're evil-- it varies cult to cult, but you'll see them turning the non believers into a homogenous, frightening group. They want to discourage looking outwards, and they want to viciously isolate members.

Other things of note are extremism, talks of enlightenment, harsh punishments, the cult eating large portions of the member's finances, etc.

However, this post is largely to address FICTIONAL cults. and the unfortunate fact of the matter is that fictional cults are rarely fleshed out in a way that can be held one to one to a model, and, more often, don't even afford the victims of a cult humanity.

and this is one of THE biggest issues you find in cult portrayals. the leader is usually a charismatic, or perhaps menacing, figure, one that usually our protagonists-- who are rarely cult victims, they are typically outsiders (not inherently bad, mind you)-- faces personally, with the hoardes of mindless zombies forming one giant hurdle.

Naturally, this can be...hurtful. There's nuance to who is and is not a victim in a cult (although my rule of thumb is to look at what abuses that person specifically exerts over others-- and you can be both a victim and perpetrator of abuse. to treat them exclusively is lacking all nuance), but the people are the bottom, even if they joined willingly, are people who were preyed upon. Not only that, but many media cults forget that people can be born into cults, and never really had a choice to begin with. To treat these people like they are mindless-- or that they deserve the suffering they are in because they are there-- completely erases all nuance, humanity, and understanding to the cult survivior struggle. Not only that, but it continues to sensationalize and deify cult leaders, which is doing their job for them, really.

The second biggest issue is the romanticization and sexualization of cults, religious abuse, and cultic abuse.

(yes...this is a thing.)

The use of cults as a way to make a character edgy or tragic is one thing, but there's something sinister about using it to project a certain sexual behavior onto that character-- whether it be as the subjugator or subjugated. Sexual abuse is rampent in cults, and ritualistic sexual abuse is used to justify it. To sexualize the idea of a cult(ist) raping and abusing someone is...beyond offensive to anyone who has been in a cult where their sexual safety and autonomy has been compromised. Or, in some cases, the cultist is so naive and sheltered they can be easily coerced and taken advantage of due to their brainwashing.

This is...bad? This is bad. To ignore the fact that these depictions are just as harmful as any other romanticization of abuse is to ignore the real suffering of cult victims.

Really, the larger problem is that people don't really think cults exist, not really. They're all things of the past, or things that exist solely in fiction-- when in reality, every day cults form and continue to grow. If you've ever met a mormon, you've met a cultist. The moment you begin to process and parce the fact that this isn't as bizarre and unusual and fictional as it seems, you take the steps to respecting people who have been in that situation and become better at detecting cults, cult recruitment, and are able to more clearly assess what you take in.

Once again, there's so many bad portrayal of cults that it would be...stupid to call for an immediate disowning of anything with it in it. I personally have come to terms with the idea that I will have gripes about these portrayals in most cases, but rarely do I see people other than fellow RA or cult survivors discussing these portrayals. I'm hoping people can become more aware and willing to discuss cults in a serious and analytical context and criticize how they're portrayed in the things they love.

And once again, cult survivors are NOT a monolith. If a cult survivor expresses they are uncomfortable with something I said here that I'm not, or vice versa, listen to the people who actively surround you and whom you care about.

[raymondebidochonlifechoices]

All fans are equal but some are more equal than others. NOT.

There’s been quite a few people in the fandom lately getting very stressed, feeling they’re obligated to constantly be on the defensive re: their fandom choices.

Apparently, whoever has a different opinion about a character or a ship must be said character’s/ship’s stan i.e. overzealous and/or obsessive, i.e. not an objective viewer. Even worse, they must be a dreadful person, who condones a number of moral offences that said character/ship perpetrated (or is thought to have perpetrated). Because, of course, the only acceptable reason for appreciating/enjoying a fictional character or dynamic is their morality. And, by that reasoning, fans who support the correct character/ship must be better fans and better people.

Nothing is more ridiculous than the notion of the objective fan. An “objective” fan is called a “viewer”. You and I, Riverdale friends, we are not just viewers. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have created blogs and dedicated hours of our lives to a fictional couple from an extremely mediocre show. We are still undoubtedly capable of critical thought and objective analysis but we are also aware of our own emotional investment in the show. (Or, at least, one hopes). As a fandom, we engage in activities that exist independently of the show. Fandom is a space of free expression. No one gets to play the higher moral card here. Needing to loudly tell everybody how wrong they are? That’s not the sign of an objective viewer. That’s the sign of a viewer who is also extremely invested, just for different reasons than I am.

Are we seriously holding the morality card over people’s heads for a show that used a poc woman’s pregnancy (Toni) as the means to retroactively establish trauma for a white male (Kevin), all the while touting it in every media possible as a woke response to the BLM movement?!

Are we seriously holding the canon card over people’s heads for a show that treats its 5th(!) season as a tabula rasa?! If the Lodges new backstory in 5x12 shows anything, it’s that s5 is not a time-jump. It’s a reboot.

There are so many people “enlightening” others on their inability to understand canon …

Seriously? That’s the hill you’re willing to die on? Canon Riverdale? You think that people don’t understand what they’re watching? That they’re interpreting canon incorrectly?

No, but seriously: canon for a TV show consists of what the characters say, what the characters do and how the actors portray them. Does this really apply to Riverdale?

Let’s take Donna for example.

Canon explicitly tells us Donna did what she did to avenge her grandmother. At the same time none of her canon actions were against the people who were actually responsible. So, riddle me this, fandom friends: why did Donna do what she did, as per canon?

Let’s try this another way:

Donna is a psycho bitch. Both in terms of Riverdale’s canon (the writers’ intention) and real-life criteria. To create a tag that reads “Bonna for ever uwu!” is deranged.

On the other hand, her character is (like a lot of Riverdale’s characters) an inconsistent caricature. Canon uses ridiculous dialogue and a lot of the Bonna scenes are cartoonishly enemies-to-lovers tropey. To create a tag that reads “Bonna for ever uwu!” is hilarious.

This doesn’t mean that Bonna is a canon couple. It does mean, however, that a Bonna crackship is based on Riverdale’s campy and over-the-top canonic writing.

A viewer who thinks Bonna is disgusting is not more “objective” or more “correct” or more “true to canon” than a viewer who thinks Bonna is funny. Nor are they a better person for it, and this cannot be stressed enough.

Similarly, who is canon Cheryl?

1. Cheryl is an absolute bitch: if a privileged student was calling an actual homeless boy a hobo in your real-life school, you would neither think her a queen nor use “hobo” affectionately in your tags, comments etc.

2. Cheryl is a deeply traumatized person: her father killed her brother, her mother killed half the town and forced her in conversion therapy, she attempted suicide and more.

(Note #1: this more does not mean more than the other Riverdale characters).

(Note #2: nor is it an excuse for her rudeness, affectionately called “mood for chaos” by the writers).

3. Cheryl is also a caricature of the archetypal mean girl who’s there for laughs and meta comments. She’s not to be taken seriously.

4. Cheryl is lgbtq+ representation …

5. … who canonically shits on other lgbtq+ characters.

6. Cheryl is one half of Choni, who are canonically presented as an uber couple.

7. Choni is also, as per canon, a couple with an acute power imbalance (cough!gaslighting!cough) that visually very clearly panders to the male gaze.

But most importantly:

8. Cheryl canonically is not the sum of her parts. The different facets of her character do not intermingle in any meaningful way.

Was Betty kissing Archie specifically a sore spot for Jughead?

Canonically no [2x14]. But, also, canonically yes [5x03, 5x10].

Are there seriously fans that are astonished that Betty is making some highly questionable choices while investigating?! Did they just discover Dark™Betty/Killer Genes Betty? That is canon Betty! Was it ok before because she was then smooching Jughead instead of giving him the cold shoulder? Honestly, the only newly outrageous part of s5Dark™Betty is the fact that she still believes in “killer genes” despite having spent 4 years at Yale …

As for liking/disliking Betty and morality …

Look, I’m going to be very honest: I am NOT particularly enjoying s5 Betty. And it’s not because of b*rchie.

S5 Betty has 99 problems but the sexcapades ain’t one.

For me, it’s the fact that she’s turned into s1 Alice 2.0. But surely that’s not news either? Ever since the first info about the time jump, everyone and their mother have been speculating about the teens becoming their parents …

Just because Jughead is better written (and written to be more likable), it doesn’t make him more worthy of redemption. Just because the writers are keeping Betty’s redemption “secret” (insert eye roll) for their big reveal in the season’s penultimate episode, it doesn’t mean she won’t have one.  

Simply put, the writers have made Jughead more likable. He’s still the underdog. He’s the only character in Riverdale actively trying to deal with his trauma, since the very first post-time jump episode (working at Pop’s explicitly to fend off the debt collectors). He has scenes with a new and extremely likable character (Tabitha). He has the only new plot line (the Mothman). Said plotline is narratively already tied to both his unknown past and the town’s destruction by Hiram. His behaviour is explicitly explained, even as his recent trauma remains unknown. He’s transparent.

In comparison, s5 Betty is traumatized but not the underdog. Her trauma (TBK killer) is both known to us and a repetition of previous storylines, which makes it narratively less exciting. She is completely disconnected from any other storylines. She comes out as being judgmental and self-interested: telling Tabitha Jughead’s not her business while previously accepting his help? Berating Polly for lying while not keeping in touch and lying about her own life (TBK)? Please note: I’m not saying there isn’t a reason behind her behaviour, just that it comes out in a negative way.

You don’t like Betty’s current behaviour? You don’t consider trauma a good enough excuse? Cool.

You feel sorry for what she’s going through? You consider trauma to be a valid explanation for her behaviour? Also cool.

Personally, I don’t give a flying fig, either for Betty’s trauma or Jughead’s. Because, even though Trauma™ is s5’s actual mystery plot, narratively speaking, trauma never affected the plot of the past 4 seasons, nor s5 trauma will affect future plots, once revealed. And you know what? That is also cool.

None of the above is better.

And just because I’m not enjoying Betty right now, it doesn’t mean that I don’t want her to overcome her current situation or that I won’t cheer for Bughead like a River Vixen on fizzle rocks, once they reunite.

This thing though, where people are made to feel as if they owed anyone in the fandom an explanation about why they like the things they like, because, somehow, their preferences are a reflection on their character or their cognitive abilities to read a TV show? This is a joke.

There is no “wrong” way to consume any show, let alone Riverdale, with its fractured format, its short-term memory and its see-sawing characters.

Look, everybody’s here for their own reasons. For most people this is a place of escape. No one’s escaping better than the other, because of how they enjoy their teen TV show ... 

[ranboo5]

why is it that every time you dislike a take you turn it into something about bigotry? sometimes people aren't being classist theyre talking about the media literacy that most of the target age of this fandom is in should. start to have. idk it seems concerning to me that you feel the need to dig for points of potential bigotry whenever you don't like something! xoxo please fucking touch grass ^_^

I am going to engage w/ this in good faith bc I have already yelled for a bit and I'm not in the worst mood yay! Unfortunately this means this got, ofc, stupid fucking long. Srry jhfdskjf tl;dr at the bottom

This is not true actually! I talk abt takes I dislike All the time that have nothing to do with bigotry jhfsajhjhkdfhsgf like. I think it might be skewed on here bc I will often keep it in the Discord if I think it's unimportant, but I guarantee to you there are so many takes I do not like that are not bigotry related lmao

If you'd like to address my points further I gen would like to hear it but I've already explained here and here why specifically I think the topic du jour of the night is classist. I very much appreciate the problem you're bringing up of trying to justify dislike via bigotry, and of using accusations of bigotry in places they don't belong. This is why I make sure to support my claims when I make them, like I do in the linked posts

If you would like to address and contest those points/prove my reading is wrong go ahead. I'm open to being proven wrong here. Unfortunately what I am getting (in, hysterically, an exact redux of the knftrck discourse) is "this isn't [x]." "Okay but it is; here is where it functions as [x] here, here, and here, regardless of claimed intent" "Weren't you listening it isn't [x]"

I understand this may also be referring to here? Which is a musing on prescriptivism in general, which. Yeah is a product of bigotry. We live in bigoted societies. While it's true calling bigotry isn't always productive it is naive to assume that because a situation is suitably lighthearted bigotry doesn't exist in it I think this reaction is partially bc of the Immediate reaction to prove that OP of the post I responded to Could Never Be A Classist because my reply implied more condemnation than perhaps would've been productive and that was probably a mistake on my part. Honestly I should've probably opened with a brief explanation instead of just the snap

However. I saw and responded bc this was an evident point and people I know were hurt. People to whom academia is not accessible Read Posts Sometimes. I have yet to see a compelling counterargument for why this was not prescriptivism, which is a trapping of bigotry, as it is a symptom and a tool of enforcement of social hierarchy

When you live in a fucked up society your opinions are gonna be fucked up dude and even if you don't mean your posts that way if they get seen without context and can be interpretable without context as cringe you are still responsible for that fallout

Example w/ myself (including Subtle Societal Bigotry): back when the beeduo meetup first happened and we got 2 see Ranboo play Wii sports on irl stream I was one of the people who got unreasonably hype to see a streamer I frequently relate to /parasocial get to move around with enthusiasm and vibe. At the time I rbed and partook in several posts/jokes/comparisons about it, largely bc I saw myself/my ideal self in that and was pretty delighted

However, people I knew with things like joint conditions and also wiggles pointed out that several of those posts/that genre were tokenizing and sometimes straight up dehumanizing. It wasn't something I'd realized before and certainly not my intent (even in like, the didn't-realize-I-was-thinking-it way (which has also happened)); however, that didn't change the fact that my blogging that day had been alienating and functionally ableist (yes, ableist! Bigoted!). Recontextualized and looking at them more critically, I saw the point, deleted the relevant posts, and apologized. (I think the apology is still on my blog tho I can't remember the keywords to look for it so)

Like idk I probably was not clear (especially bc I was mad about other things too lmao) but the point when I call shit is not and never has been to #Cancel The Person Forever. When I call shit, and/or endorse calling shit, it's a call for something to be rectified

Both on this issue in particular and with the above point in general I try to make my intent and statement violently clear every time, though apparently I have not succeeded; I would be open to feedback here I'm kind of at a loss. Genuinely where am I unclear because evidently I am losing people somewhere

TL;DR: - I don't do that actually tho I do appreciate why you may think this - I do talk abt bigotry a nonzero amount and that's because bigotry is pervasive - We all live in a society no one is immune to it - When I call shit/when I made this response in particular it is because I see a legitimate problem and I think it needs to be corrected - In this case and in a lot tbh the issue is prescriptivism - I appreciate that intent and impact aren't the same thing but impact cannot be handwaved away by intent