#turns out the critic group supports trolls

[kagenoneko]

Some Observations

After calling out the troll in the Ace Attorney section on fanfiction.net, I have experienced a deluged of spam reviews on my fics. One of those reviews happened to be from a member of Critics United.

The Critics United reviewer happened to have only one favorite story. That story is a word for word copy of Mein Kampf by Adolf Hilter. Doesn't seem like a story that someone from Critics United would support, especially since it is a rule violating story.

Then I decided to do a search based on some words from the review and added site: fanfiction.net to the end of the search query. I found that using DuckDuckGo resulted in me find a bunch of other reviews that use that exact same phrasing. Using google resulted in me find this blog post on on flames.

As for the other reviews that I found, some are associated with a different user. Here is an image of one of the reviews:

And here is another example:

And I have also found a similar review that was from a guest and then there was a story that I found that had a ton of guest reviews that had this similar kind of language. The guest reviews are under different names most of the time.

So I decided to search the user who had left the review on my fic.

That search resulted in me finding some of their comments on a forum that was not associated with Critics United. Their comment was pro-Donald Trump and implies all members of Critics United are also fans of Donald Trump.

It also seems like a Critics United member might be supportive of John Phoenix spam fest going on the Ace Attorney section.

To pull all what I found together as a TL;DR:

-Critics United members post unoriginal flame reviews

-Their members are pro-Trump and some like a story that is a copy of My Struggle by Adolf Hilter.

-Support the people who post troll content on ff.net.

So yeah, these people are horrible.

[mariacallous]

Ahead of the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, a liberal Gen-Z-led group has purchased a handful of domain names related to the top Republican primary candidates in an effort to extinguish support from young voters.

“Republicans are not investing in outreach to young people, and we know why,” Jessica Siles, deputy press secretary for Voters of Tomorrow, said in a statement to WIRED on Friday. “Their regressive, radical stances on abortion rights, guns, climate change, and other top issues are overwhelmingly unpopular with Gen Z. Since Trump and Haley won’t accurately inform young people of their views, we will.”

Voters for Tomorrow has bought up new domain names—GenZforTrump.org and GenZforHaley.org—in an effort to sway young voters in battleground states from backing Republicans in the 2024 election. The websites will redirect to another site, GenZvsFarRight.org, which the group says will outline how “out-of-touch” the GOP’s platform is with the needs of young voters. On the redirected site, the group outlines Trump and Haley’s records on the environment, LGBTQ+ rights, and gun safety, among other issues, without explicitly encouraging people to vote for Biden.

To reach them, the group is launching a digital ad campaign across Instagram and Snapchat, hoping to reach at least half a million users in battleground states where they say the youth vote could make a difference for Democrats. “Gen Z will determine our next president,” the ads say, as they ask users to visit the websites for more information on Trump and Haley. Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Arizona, and Florida are some of the states where these ads will run, and the group plans to spend as much as it takes to reach at least half a million voters, Jack Lobel, Voters of Tomorrow's 19-year-old national press secretary, told WIRED on Friday.

For nearly a decade, domain trolling, or the act of buying up URLs related to an opposing candidate and redirecting them to unfavorable information, has become a popular digital media tactic for campaigns. In 2015, Senator Ted Cruz and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina had domains related to their GOP presidential campaigns swiped up by trolls before they were able to grab them. CarlyFiorina.org, at one point, displayed 30,000 sad-faced emojis to represent the workers she laid off at HP. In 2020, the Biden campaign bought KeepAmericaGreat.com, the Trump campaign’s reelection slogan, attacking Trump’s handling of the pandemic.

“P.S., If the GOP candidates had invested in young voter outreach efforts like we are, maybe we wouldn’t have acquired these website domains in the first place,” stated Voters of Tomorrow’s press release.

It’s impossible to know whether these domain trolls have the power to sway voter sentiment. But Voters of Tomorrow thinks they do. “Trump is the greatest threat to our generation, and we’re going to continue to expand that belief in our generation throughout this project because the stakes of the 2024 election are unprecedented,” Lobel said.

In 2020, young people came out to vote in record numbers and arguably helped turn the election in Biden’s favor. But a recent poll from the Harvard Kennedy School has shown that the same demographic appears less likely to vote in 2024 than in the prior presidential election, declining from 57 percent to 49 percent. The poll reported that a plurality of these voters distrust Biden and Trump to act on critical issues like climate change, gun violence, and health care, which could dampen their desire to vote in this year’s election. Those same voters said Trump was the better choice to address the current crisis in Gaza over Biden by 5 percentage points.

These numbers could spell trouble for Biden and the Democrats come November. Around 41 million Gen-Z voters will be eligible to vote for the first time in 2024, according to Tufts University. Of those voters, more than 8 million of them will be first-time voters, and could play an outsize role in electing the next president.

“Young voters have historically been left out of the political process, and that changed with the election of Donald Trump in 2016. Young voters realized their power. And since then, we’ve been showing up in droves to shape elections,” Lobel told WIRED. “Going into 2024, we have to build on that power.”

[omar-writes-stuff]

Good morning 🌿

Unlimited has recently blocked me out of fear of being discovered and sent all their followers to do the same for fear that they’d actually use their brain and critical thinking skills and realize for themselves that they’re lying to all of us, but I’ll keep going nonetheless and break it all down 🌿

“Incorrect Kaeloo quotes” is also a fake account run by Unlimited, who strangely only ever says everything they want them to say to support them even tho they’ve never been in stm or never interacted with other server members apparently (just like raspberry used to do lol)

I’m not a troll and I’m not harassing anyone, the fact that I’m simply asking for proof and explanation goes to show you feel “threatened” by my harmless curiosity and autistic interest

I’m not tracking down a child because there is NO child, I’m trying to find their real identity and use logic to help everyone realize that the writer is actually Unlimited themselves (nobody has sent me proof of messages yet so my suspicions are only growing bigger)

I’m sorry but I have no idea who the people that made the doc are, my friends are from Twitter and they shared the document with me there but that’s about it :)

Never sent a single rude ask in my whole life, again, I’ve ONLY asked simple questions. If Unlimited is innocent then why are they so scared by my questions?

You turned off your ask box after sending yourself a billion insults and slurs and death threats in the hopes of framing others for it and painting yourself as a victim (again, it’s not working I’m afraid. Maybe 2 people from your group were dumb or naive enough to be able to fall for it when you made them believe it was “Jay from the doc”, but this trick is also poorly structured and bound to fall).

“Sharing a porn fic in the Kaeloo tag”? Weird Unlimited…is this you with all your underage followers?

Listen good Unlimited: You can try to lie and manipulate naive children by pretending to be a child yourself behind a fake account (groomer behavior btw), you can try to shame others for writing nsfw even tho there’s nothing wrong with it and you enjoy it and write it as much as everyone else (which is your fair right as an adult), you can try to insult yourself and try to blame it on someone else in the hopes that people will feel pity towards you (really Unlimited? “Acoustic? Cowardly bitch?” Learn better insults), but one thing will always, and I mean ALWAYS, stay true…

The truth ALWAYS comes out eventually.

Hope you all have fun and have a good day everyone, I’ll be spending a lovely day outside enjoying my life because, unlike Unlimited, I have absolutely nothing to hide. Mashallah, goodbye 🌿💗

[unpopularfanopinion]

if your defense of ao3 ignores the racism and zionism displayed by both users and staff then you are in no position to call people white supremacists. protecting bigotry under the guise of "free speech" while belittling and shouting down opposition is exactly what conservatives do. don't act like the people who disagree with you are republican adjacent when you've used their ideals to make your point as well.

i hope you snap your neck falling off that high horse lmao.

I am going to try to say this as simply, bluntly, and kindly as possible. I have not compared anyone demanding additional content moderation than the current legal stand they use to being white supremacists. I have compared them to conservative authoritarians. If you think being a white supremacists, or supporting white supremacy is inherently or intrinsically tied to conservative authoritarianism you are sadly mistaken.

A Frank Wilhoit gave one of the best description of conservatives and conservatism ever

Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect

There is no marginalized group that is so inherently good and pure that they will not have members who desiring, power and control over others will try to place themselves as the protected in-group and others into the subjugated outgroup. (and oddly enough you're complaining about one such example of an oppressed marginalize group that successfully turn itself in a group of conservative, authoritarian oppressors. If you can't tell yes I am talking about the Zionists. While tight media control and propaganda helped them get away with it for so long, part if was also "Oh they were so harassed and oppressed in so many places and for so long. They has a people understand the pain of oppression. They wouldn't go harm another people.)

As I have mentioned in the past being conservative is more about a way of thinking and HOW you come to your positions rather than about the positions themselves. Studies have demonstrated that conservatives have a much stronger disgust reaction than liberals. So when an idea or concept triggers a feeling of disgust they immediately assume that thing to be evil, immoral etc. . . without truly taking the time consider if it’s actually harmful(or even disgusting sometimes it’s just different) This winds up making them fearful of change and non-conforming behavior.

This feeling of disgust also makes them feel justified in certain forms of bigotry making up all manner of excuses to call whatever disgusts them immoral. Such as supposedly leftist progressives being ablelist and claiming that any disabled person is basically a child and therefore featuring disabled people having sex(fictional or live action)is no different than CSEM.

Conservatism is more often less about the specific position a person claims to hold and more about how they got to those positions, and how they intend to fix the issues and problems that they find.

Conservatives hide behind claims of free speech when they wants to spam, harass, and troll people(and often using other people's equipment such as servers to do so) And I have noticed that when people like you actually seem to care about free speech on Ao3, when you want to spam comments, troll people, and harass people using Ao3's comment features either on news posts or on people's stories.

There is a lot to criticize about Ao3's response to reports of racist harassment, and how they resolve interpersonal disputes between volunteers, however none of that can or would be resolved by them even trying to make additional content rules or attempt to ban "bad fic" Because despite what you think someone writing a bad fic, or using certain tropes(tropes are tools, tropes are not bad) is not in and of itself harassment.

And also no, Ao3 staff telling one volunteer not to harass, and abuse another and reminding them of the professional code of conduct they expect from ALL volunteers is not proof of Zionism among Ao3's staff. Pretty much everyone involved in that fight on Slack on reprimanded for it but only one went crying to the internet about it. If that had happened between a Ukrainian volunteer and Russian volunteer and the Ukrainian volunteer quit would you be accusing Ao3 of being pro-Russia?

[sailorsharky]

On Hogwarts Legacy and allyship.

TW/CW: J.K Rowling, Hogwarts Legacy, Transphobia, Antisemitism mentioned. Right. CW out of the way, let me preface this by saying that this may turn out to be a long ramble, but I feel the need to voice my grievances in some way as a non-binary person. First of all, let's set some boundaries. Arguments in bad faith and trolling shall be ignored and/or reported/blocked. Lately, with all this hassle going on about Hogwarts Legacy, I felt the need to air my frustrations. We have all seen many different arguments from across both sides, but I will try to keep this as short as I can.

This game has been talked about well before launch, and many trans and enby folks, as well as Jewish people have asked for people to show solidarity by not buying the game. As an ally, it's important to note that it's not a lifetime pass. Many think that being an ally just means saying you support something or be generally neutral and not saying slurs. That is not the case. To be an ally you have to listen to what marginalized groups are saying. The release of this game and the widescale purchase of it by people only talking the talk and not walking the walk has shown many of us under the Trans umbrella (as well as our Jewish comrades) that we cannot trust those we called allies.

I am not saying that playing this game automatically makes you a bigoted person. Some folks I know got it and one admitted that the last JKR controversy he recalled was the whole "Dumbledore is now gay" debacle. (Pretty solid rock you've been under. Room for one more? /j) My ire is not pointed towards people that were genuinely ignorant of the situation, though my disappointment still stands and my trust in them as allies is gone. What mostly draws my ire is the knee-jerk reaction of supposed "allies" when pointing out that they have crossed the picket line and attempt to rationalize their purchase with arguments such as "I'm only supporting the devs", "I'm seperating the art from the artist", "What will 60-70 bucks change?" and "It's okay though because I donated as much/more to a Trans charity!" and so on. Let's go through them one by one. I'd like to keep this as short as possible however as many others have pointed out why these fall flat. 1. "I'm only supporting the devs". If you ONLY support the devs (of which the lead dev and a voice actor share JKR's horrific viewpoints), why aren't you buying EVERY single game on every storefront you make use of? This is a non-argument. If you buy games ONLY to support the devs, then by all means, bankrupt yourself to do just that. But you don't. You wanted to buy this game for nostalgia's sake. 2. "I'm separating the art from the artist" As a fan of HP Lovecraft's work, I understand the want to separate the art from the artist. But 1) Lovecraft is rotting in the ground as we speak. JKR is very much alive. 2) It's hard to seperate the art from the artist when said art is used as a cudgel to infringe upon human rights and dignity. Every act of consumption of her IP she sees as a vote of confidence in her brand of hatred. You may not personally see it that way, but she does, and she relishes in it. "But you just said you like Lovecraft's work! He was VERY racist and xenophobic!" Yes, absolutely! Let's HAVE that conversation, but not on this post. I agree that Lovecraft's art needs to be talked about in a critical light and the setting needs to be reclaimed and distanced from his fear and hatred of all things Not-From-New-England.

For now, moving on to... 3. "What will 60-70 bucks change?" In the grand scheme of things? Nothing. But this was never about trying to ruin JKR's pocket book. This was a litmus test for allies. Stand side by side or cross the picket line and play a mid-tier magic game filled with propaganda and caricatures of Jewish people (among other things). No, I will not entertain statements such as "But I don't see that! If anything, you seeing Jewish caricatures means you are the antisemite!" No buddy, no no no, that's not how propaganda works. There are other posts that delve into this. But in short; recognizing when something is a racist caricature does not make you a racist. Nor does not recognizing it immediately make you a racist, it simply means that you do not recognize propagandic imagery and it's important to listen to people who do know about it, specifically people that have been so unfavourably depicted in the past and present. Moving on. 4. "It's okay though because I donated as much/more to a Trans charity!" Martin Luther would like to have a strong conversation with you. Specifically 95 Theses long. Karma is not a linear scale. Buying something that ends up directly harming people and then turning around to pledge the same amount of money (or more) to a charity is not going to fix the broken trust, nor will it actually help at that point. What might help mend the fence is recognizing what the issue is and listening to the voices of those affected. Granted, many of us feel that they can no longer trust former allies because of this. Once broken, trust is hard to repair. It's important to keep that in mind and not get upset when we point it out. Personally, I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, but with that said, I won't be so trusting of people calling themselves allies when they choose to spend 60-70 bucks on a game that directly benefits Queen TERF (Royalty cheques are a thing, remember? You ARE directly financing her hate) rather than saving the money or putting it to a different game or charity. In short, my advice for folks that call themselves allies is this; If you want to call yourself an ally, actually listen to what is being said and learn from it. We all make mistakes, but launching into a kneejerk reaction is simply degrading what little trust remained. Don't just virtue signal, but stand beside the voices of the marginalized in solidarity.

That is all I can spare at the moment. Please keep the responses civil among one another. Asking for clarification is a-okay. Repeating above mentioned "arguments" and more like them is not. P.S: Do forgive me if I forgot some key points, I've been running on very little sleep at the moment and I needed to air my frustrations in a constructive way.

[redwineconversation]

in re harsh truths

I don't like getting involved in this sort of stuff but this is also really getting on my last nerves.

There is only one group of supporters who have a documented history of:

impersonating individuals, whether it be on a social media platform, on the hellsite known as the L-Chat, or just outright catfishing (???)

harassing players who leave the club

stalking players on social media

stalking and harassing the family members of a player, to the point of actually traveling to another country to do so

violating basic boundaries

inability to grasp human decency.

And I think we all know which group of supporters it is, and it's not Lyon.

Now I get it, Arsenal fans have never grasped the concept of critical thinking before, so really to expect them to display any of it now is on me. I should have known better than for them to even suspect that just because invasive behavior is the norm for them, it might not be for supporters of other clubs.

I don't know why that Dutch troll whose name is (_____) and who works (__ _ __________) has a complete and utter meltdown every time Ellie Carpenter commits the crime of humanity that is breathing. I don't know she continuously promotes the narrative that Danielle van de Donk must have cheated, despite written evidence by their darling Beth Mead stating otherwise.

I also, for the life of me, do not understand why (_____) cares so much about players she so openly dislikes. It requires time and effort that could so easily be spent elsewhere. It's not that hard.

It's genuinely infuriating to me that Arsenal fans seem to think that because they exhibit so much invasive behavior it is seen as the norm amongst them, that they seem to think other supporters act the same way. When called out on it, there's immediate defensive behavior, and it turns into a "well, you have no fans!" competition of handbag throwing.

Like Jesus Christ guys. Look at some of the shit you Arsenal fans deem acceptable behavior. Ask yourselves why you seem to think impersonating people is something that should be given a pass. The truth is, you know what you're doing is wrong. But you don't want to pretend that you are alone in displaying this gross behavior and so you pretend to be other fans doing the same just to manipulate the reality that, well, people see Arsenal fans exactly for what they are.

Arsenal fans have the reputation they do for a reason. Maybe they can focus on trying to change that rather than harassing my club's players or impersonating people on social media platforms.

[ms-revived-frogs]

Open letter to all terfs:

You’re revolting. You look at a group of people trying their best to survive, to break an oppressive view of the world, and you try your best to ruin them. Need I explain why painting a group of people as monsters, why encouraging others to oppress a minority, why raping (and yes, trans people have been and are raped by terfs) and killing a group of people is wrong?

You claim to be for Justice, yet at every turn you side with fascists who impose the very rules you claim to want to break! Hell, you enforce those rules yourselves, claiming that they’re entrenched in sex! You claim that women are inherently weaker, gentler! That no woman has broad shoulders or facial hair, that no woman has excess testosterone, that no woman looks like a man!

Don’t you see how repulsive you are to people not embroiled in hate? Don’t you want to do something to make the world better, not worse? Use your passion for good! If you can’t understand trans people, if you don’t care too, fine! Focus your passion towards something else, but don’t focus it on a small population of people who just want to live happily in their own skin.

Prove to me you’re not just bigots. Prove me wrong, and put away your hate. Prove me wrong, and improve yourselves. Or, don’t. And let your hate consume you. But just understand, trans people are never going away. You can’t stop them from existing. But you can make your existence better.

I feel like this is a troll just in part of how misinformed it is. But some things I would like to clear up outside of just pure insults are...

1) Radical feminists are not out there raping and killing trans people. I tried searching up for examples and found no such cases. Please feel free to send me any such proof and I will gladly avoid and cease support for anyone who does that to another person, trans or not.

2) Radical feminists do not say that women are weaker or gentler. Radical feminists acknowledge the reality that female bodies store more fat and less muscle. This is a biological fact. This doesn't mean women are weak, we have our own unique strengths as well. Just in terms of physical strength, specifically upper body strength, men tend to perform better.

3) Radical feminists do not say that women don't have broad shoulders or facial hair or higher levels of testosterone. I am a woman with broad shoulders and thicker than average peach fuzz (brown genes coming through!), and yet all the radical feminists I've met in here would still consider me 100% female. Because I am. And yes there are women with elevated testosterone levels, we see this often in women with various hormonal conditions or DSDs, and yet still, these types of conditions / disorders are often female-exclusive (ex. Intersex Turner Syndrome only occurs in biological females). Meaning that they don't disprove the sex binary and female as a distinct category, but reinforce it.

4) I and other gender critical / radical feminists have not always been this opinionated. I once identified as trans myself (I first thought I was "genderfluid", then FtM briefly). Even after that, I still remained "anti terf". It was upon watching this marginalised group grow a more toxic and toxic activist movement that made me reevaluate my opinions. Watching as lesbians and gay men were called bigoted for their "genital preferences"; watching famous feminists like Chimamanda Adichie be called transphobic for recognising woman as a sex class; watching women in general get called transphobic (and other names like "terf", "bitch", "cunt", etc) just for recognising their biological reality. It became apparent that the matter of trans activism was no longer concerned with genuinely supporting trans people - which I still do - but with exerting dominance over women and gay people. I still recognise and support trans people's rights to safety from discrimination, proper housing, the right to their own spaces, etc. These are all things that trans people are entitled to, and deserve, as a marginalised group. They are not, however, entitled to dominate over women legally or socially by erasing the status of woman as a female person - which has been recognised since the dawn of time.

5) I do not want trans people to stop existing, I actually want for them to get better care concerning their dysphoria and for them to receive better treatment in general. I will happily support their rights to things that really matter (like I said earlier, protection from discrimination, proper housing, etc). I just cannot deny my own status as a female person and that being what makes me a woman. Trans activism must be compatible with basic reality, or it will never be taken seriously as a movement for people's rights; you must understand that when your movement pushes against the reality of biology, people will rightfully misinterpret it. There is a way that trans activism and feminism can be compatible, but they will not be if trans activists keep erasing women and gay people, eradicating our sex-based spaces (see: Vancouver Rape Relief vandalism), and harassing feminists.

[kenzotheweebmaster]

Do toxic fans in some online spaces make it difficult to become or identify as a fan?

In the present world, social media holds an incredible power which can affect or influence an individual’s social life which either can be in positive way or negative way. Among in this present generation, people constantly feeling pressured especially among the youngsters to keep up with what is popular and trying to seek approvals from their peers. In this case, fandom community are often facing this situation every day. While social media can be used by people who are a fan of a particular something which either can be a fan of movies, anime, favorite celebrities, and so forth, utilizing it to express their thoughts, or opinions on the platform, as well as maintaining connections can contribute to a positive atmosphere. However, what will happen when social media cease to contribute to an individuals’ happiness, sense of belonging, support and empowerment, fulfillment and enjoyment, and stress relief, turned into a source of toxicity in the fandom community? According to Taylor (2023), the term “toxic fandom” is used to describe admirers of popular culture who engage in behaviors that are seen as inappropriate and unpleasant.  Especially on social media, toxic fans that bring their negative behaviors can lead to a serious issue among the other fans within the fandom community as well as people’s perspective from the outside to have different views on the community in general. Which brings us to this question arises; Do toxic fans in some online spaces make it difficult to become or identify as a fan?

Let’s look at K-pop fandom as an example here. When an individual is discussing a K-pop group on social media platforms, disagreement from other fans can happen. But disagreement from a certain fans, the individual may expose themselves to cyberbullying. Online discussions about K-pop group very often it can lead to intimidation, racial slurs, misogynistic remarks, and even explicit death threats if the discussion using a single term that goes against the broader K-pop community. It could be criticizing K-pop groups or labels, making statements that don’t portray the group in the best light, even expressing support for different K-pop acts. In addition to that, even discussing K-pop cyberbullying can lead to backlash and be blamed for pointing out the evident issue by bullies who can’t accept valid criticism. Not to mention, engaging with trolls is also pointless as they might label the individual who speaks out as an  ‘ anti ’ and using whataboutism to justify their actions. Even for a journalist, who are also a passionate fans, may downplay the problem ,saying its minimal and limited to a small group. (Raphael Rashid, 2022)

As a fan of anime, myself, sometimes I like to discuss it with other people on social media even with the people who just started to get into anime. From my perspective it is a wonderful sight and interaction because I met other people who have the same interest as mine and consider them as fellow allies. However, there are some fans who gatekeeping other fans from taking part in activities, for example discussing anime shows. According to Urban Dictionary, the term Gatekeeping is someone who takes it upon themselves to decide who does or does not have access or rights to a community or identity. In fandom context, it is someone who acts of setting up barriers, criteria, or requirements to determine who is considered as a “ true ” fan and who is not. Often these gatekeepers use the phrase “ you’re not a true fan “ as a weapon that they throw around and uses those weak justifications and labeling others encourage new fans to keep their developing interests hidden until they feel experienced enough to proudly share them. For example, when Megan Thee Stallion displayed and expressed her love for anime on social media, many gatekeepers expressed their hatred because the character she cosplayed doesn’t match her skin color and isn’t worthy of being identifies as a true anime fan. (Nicole Trinidad, 2021).

In conclusion, every fandom has its fair share of troublesome fans. Though it is fun and enjoyable to engage and interact with other people who has mutual interest in particular fandom, these toxic fans that belongs in the fandom community that has been mentioned above, does make it very challenging for other fans to discuss, and express their thoughts on social media without ever have to feel of being judged by those “ so-called fans” just because they view it as a fact, and think it in a very close minded. Nevertheless, there are also numerous respectful fans combating the negativity of the fandom, trying to make social media a good platform to have fun with others that have real passion, mutual, and love for something that they like.

List of References

Rashid, R 2022, Cyberbullying by K-pop Fans Must Stop, Medium, 18 Jun, viewed on 23 November 2023, https://medium.com/@koryodynasty/cyberbullying-by-k-pop-fans-must-stop-c7e1f978fa57.

Taylor, V 2023, Toxic Fandom: What Is It?, Medium, 31 January, viewed on 23 November 2023, https://medium.com/change-becomes-you/toxic-fandom-what-is-it-c8c1520beb06.

Trinidad, N 2021, Exclusivity within fandoms creates toxic environment, Daily Titan, 2 April, viewed on 26 November 2023, https://dailytitan.com/opinion/exclusivity-within-fandoms-creates-a-toxic-environment/article_f6a7c2d4-8d09-11eb-918c-9331db53d0ff.html.

[noteverythingisgrooming]

Meta Post #2: Fantasy, Real Cruelty

There was once a time when cyber-bullying was novel. The early history of the Internet, which included sites like Cracked.com, Something Awful, and 4chan, was rife with shock content, but likewise the early 2000s featured shock comedy, radio shock jocks, and abrasive characters in television series. Offensiveness was a kind of aesthetic adopted by a wide range of parties to affect various poses of masculinity, patriotism, wit, and individualism. To be rude to someone online was more about affecting a pose than inciting terror. Thus, when the news of Phoebe Prince's suicide broke, it was a story that captured people's attention, especially the attention of parents. Bullying has existed for a very long time, but it usually involved some risk on the part of the bully -- having to engage in a physical altercation or the risk of being observed and intercepted by peers. Now there was a way to coordinate harassment with low stakes, and in such a way that the victim could not even escape with physical space.

Now online harassment is a normalized part of online culture. Taylor Swift fans doxxed a music critic for giving a lukewarm review. Star Wars fans send each other death threats based on which fictional characters they imagine having a romance. Twitter trolls create sock puppet accounts to stir up controversy and in-fighting. White supremacists call the employers of people who criticize them. Q-Anon supporters flooded Wayfair, a furniture company, with calls about a trafficking conspiracy, and harmed real children in the process.

In each of these examples, the coordinating group felt justified in their actions. Something that they have seen or heard online has been labeled toxic, dangerous, or offensive, and there is a wave of online action to stamp this behavior out. While each case could be analyzed on its own terms, I want to turn these examples to the focus of the blog: obsessive policing against art on the premise that it will 'encourage' or 'cause' abuse in some way.

In short, this is absurd. The truth is that even the possession of real child pornography does not predict contact (i.e. offline) offenses against children. If possessing evidence of a crime against a child and consuming that evidence does not correlate with a contact offense, then how can people assert that art might do so? This has to do with two broader misconceptions: the idea that art can influence one's morals, and the idea that pornography is linked with violence.

To address the second claim, no causal link between pornography and rape has ever been proved, though the theory has been touted for decades. Sexual violence has fallen by more than half since 1993. Between 1992 and 1998, cases of child sexual abuse fell by thirty-one percent. Multiple reports confirm these trends. Crime overall has significantly dropped. Yet online fervor would persuade one that abuse and crimes have increased. One could make a stronger argument for pornography decreasing sex crimes than for it increasing it.

To address the first claim, art is merely one factor in an individual's life, only one source of influence. Generally speaking one is exposed to culture, as opposed to repeated exposure to a singular piece of art, such that one could not point to any single piece of art whose exposure was so dominating as to be the point one could trace a belief to. As Maria Caruso argues, influence is much more complex than simply declaring a piece of art 'harmful' and assigning it responsibility for the morals and behaviors a viewer may adopt. However, as with the concept-child, people are eager to construct simple solutions for complicated problems.

To delve into the minds of people who harm children is uncomfortable and disturbing. It is easier -- and in fact, more fun -- to investigate what a person consumes, and then make large and simplified leaps to what this indicates about their psyche, and thus their future behavior. From there, the cruelty starts.

As evidence shows, this cruelty is not based in any evidence that altering someone's consumption patterns will change their behavior, because there is no evidence that someone's consumption patterns predict their behavior. Often, there is no evidence of any harmful behavior at all, and the consumption patterns are used to create rumors about potential (i.e. invented) behavior. Fantasy is a complicated realm where people indulge in thoughts and art that they would not humor or perform in their real lives. On the other hand, the cruelty that people inflict on one another over that art is very real.

What compels people to harm real others over fictional others? Once again, motivations may be broad, conscious and unconscious. Certainly in the case of Isabel Fall, there was professional jealousy. In fan spaces, there may be the desire to control a space so thoroughly that they are not exposed to anything they dislike. Others might have been conditioned into a kind of anxiety-paranoia disorder by exhortations to 'challenge' 'problematic content'. The overall result is that it takes very little to trigger real harassment campaigns and moral crusades whose goal is absurd and impossible on the outset.

Fiction is fiction, Vladimir Nabokov stated. Literature is invention. Art is an invention. Somehow this division has broken down, to the point people confuse consumption of fiction with behavior in life. But it is not so. Fantasy cannot be used to justify cruelty. Cruelty is never justified. We will not eliminate cruelty and abuse by exacting it upon those we disagree with or find disturbing. As always, the solution is much more complicated than that.

[northern-passage]

Do you have any advice for a new author or something that you wish someone had told you when you first started? I really want to share my work but it feels very daunting

i don't really think i'm the best person to ask for advice here but. sure

my best advice i guess would be that you need to make sure you are ready to receive criticism and also are actually open to criticism before posting anything online. if you're not ready for that then i would say don't force yourself to post anything until you are ready. also when it comes to criticism be receptive but don't let people be rude to you.

something else i've actually spoken with other authors about quite a bit that i've noticed recently is: focus on writing the game. this might sound a bit mean but i just mean in the most genuine sense, make sure you are actually writing your game. since i've been writing tnp the community has shifted in a way where it has become so focused on like... aesthetics and other frilly shit over the actual writing in games and i think people can really get caught up in making this really polished image while forgetting to actually write the game. aesthetics and themes can come later but you can't do anything if you don't even have a first draft. it doesn't have to be perfect, you just need to write it.

my second best piece of advice: you do NOT have to answer every ask you get. i know it can be very exciting as a new author getting asks and you want to answer them all but people send weird shit. sometimes it might be worth it to step back and really think if answering this weird ask about something that will never be relevant in game is actually worth it. with new authors, i see it all the time where they come into your inbox and try to see how far they can push you or how much they can get away with before you get mad or annoyed.

as for what i wish someone had told me...well. the IF community is not very good. particularly on tumblr it's very racist, it can be homophobic, and i’ve had transphobes in my inbox for over a year now (still mad about lea lol) i try my best to delete most troll/hate messages i get (see previous advice) but it can get exhausting. turning anon off will serve you best here. it sucks to have to say this but be ready to deal with these kinds of messages. literally no matter who you are or what your story is about, someone is going to send you some dumb, hateful shit, if nothing else but to get a reaction out of you.

you can join the interact-if author discord server to connect with other authors (i believe it's linked through their main discord server) other authors are going to be your biggest support especially on tumblr & it can make the whole process easier having a group of other authors to talk to. i have my own little space carved out here now where i hang with my friends and we all support each other and it makes it all a bit more tolerable.

tl;dr: be ready for and open to criticism, actually write your game, don't answer every ask you receive, and hope for the best but prepare for the worst 🥴

[queerfictionwriter]

On Fandom Policing: Part 1

This is gonna be an unpopular opinion, but I'm gonna come right out and say it: the "please examine your biases" argument in fandom is anti logic in concern-trolling drag. It is functionally meaningless, and has no actionable or observable objective within it aside from "don't write this thing I don't like".

Asking someone to examine their biases is not inherently a bad thing. It's something we should all do semi-regularly, like checkups or cancer screenings. But the problem with this argument in fandom is that you cannot know whether or not someone already has examined their biases, and chosen to create something you find personally objectionable or Problematic™ anyway. Arguing that people should do this in fandom creates the expectation that, if everyone were to examine their biases, the Thing—be it a trope, particular pairing, or popular trend—would simply cease to exist, because everyone would realize that it is Problematic; AKA, Wrong and Bad.

But Problematic™ fiction is not the problem these concern trolls want to make it out to be, because we live in an inherently flawed, problematic world, populated with inherently flawed, imperfect, messy beings. And that means that nothing is perfect or unproblematic, and the things that are, are probably incredibly unrealistic. They also risk being boring as hell. (1) 

It also means that "examine your biases" turns into a Trojan Horse of fandom bullying and groupthink, where you have to, somehow, "prove" to the concern trolls that you have examined your biases before you're allowed to create what you want, or before you're allowed to enjoy what others have created and shared for free without fear of concern trolling or dogpiling. But you will never be able to prove that you have, actually, done the deep internal work they're asking of you, because it's internal, and fandom is not an accurate reflection of who you are as an entire person. The only thing they will have to go on, and the only thing they will judge you by, is whether or not you have continued to write The Problematic Thing they don't like, regardless of your reasons for doing so. (2)

And, even if you do stop writing The Problematic Thing they don't like? Chances are, whatever else you've written will be "problematic" in some other way. And I need you to know that that is okay, because no one piece of media—mainstream, indie, or fandom-generated—can provide all representation to all people, no matter how good it is. The point of creating good representation is to make sure everyone can have stories that represent the various facets of their identities, to see characters like them across different genres and mediums, so they can feel seen and validated and reassured that the world knows they exist. And that is a massive job that no single piece of media or single person can accomplish alone.

That's why good representation is a team sport, and in the same way that sports teams have different members specializing in different roles, not everyone can write great representation for every group. And, to continue the metaphor, creating good representation requires practise and help. Criticizing people for doing badly only discourages them and makes them more likely to give up, not create better representation. It takes time to learn what good representation is, and how to create it, and—like any other skill—it is unfair to expect perfect execution 100% of the time. People need the time, space, and grace to fail and do badly before they are capable of doing well. Assigning ill intent to people in that phase is unfair, and you cannot know from the outside who is in that phase unless you have a close personal relationship with them. And, again, like a sports team: if you want the individual team members to do better, they need support and coaching from people they know and trust, not a mob of strangers screaming and hurling criticism from the stands. (3)

The argument around representing a Problematic thing being equated to supporting the Problematic thing in real life is a separate, also garbage, argument.

There are a wide variety of reasons for people to write Problematic™ things that are not “they are a horrible human being”, including, but not limited to: processing their own experiences; being new to writing, a particular fandom, or writing a particular minority group and making mistakes as they learn; and enjoyment of darkfic and the catharsis it provides. 

This entire argument presumes and addresses good faith attempts at representation. I am fully aware that there are, in fact, bad faith examples out there, and a lot of bad faith erasure, but that is not the topic of this particular essay.

Part 2

[peakstories]

Common Questions and Information

What is peak trans?

Peak trans is the moment where you you begin to see the logical inconsistencies and cognitive dissonance within the trans movement which makes you realise that you can no longer (fully) support the trans movement.

The full, long definition which I like is this:

The moment when you realise that the trans movement is misogynistic, homophobic (and especially lesbophobic), full of autogynepiles, based on sexist stereotypes, full of circular reasoning, silencing (and attacking) those who disagree with them, silencing women who are affected by laws they wish to be put in place, ignoring science/statistics which go against their beliefs, based on beliefs rather than science and statistics, ignoring what people in their community are doing (as being trans is more important), and denying what other people in their own community are saying (because they’re not saying it). It’s the moment when you turn around and say ‘I cannot support this movement anymore’ because of all the reasons listed above.

But this definition from Urban Dictionary is also pretty good:

When the threshold of cognitive dissonance that the trans ideology requires of someone exceeds the limits of a person’s willing suspension of disbelief, and that person’s eyes open to where they can no longer agree with the narrative.

Who is this blog for?

This blog is open to everyone, regardless of if you are reading because you agree or hate-reading or just trying to understand other people’s side, my blog is open to you. I will only block people who harass me or attack people from the stories/on my posts.

What are TIM, TIF, and TRA?

TIM = Trans Identified Male (aka trans woman)

TIF = Trans Identified Female (aka trans man)

We use these acronyms in order to refer to trans people by their sex which makes things less complicated.

TRA = Trans Rights Activist. Basically a shorthand for anyone who unquestionably supports trans rights

Do you have trigger warnings?

There are two:

Trauma and Mental Illness

Eating Disorders

I am not the best at tagging so I may have missed some (which you can point out to me if you want to) but I try to make sure that they’re all tagged appropriately.

Where do most of these stories come from?

Many used to come from the subreddit r/GenderCritical and some from r/GenderCriticalGuys before the subreddits were banned by Reddit for ‘promoting hate’.

Some now come from the new Gender Critical group on SaidIt while others come from Spinster. Many are simply direct submissions.

How do you decide which stories I post?

I post all stories unless they have asked for their story to not be shared on different platforms or the story is riddled with slurs/obviously a troll. The moderators of r/GC, and now s/GC are very strict and good at removing those stories before I come across them, otherwise it’s just my own judgement on them.

What is ’peak queer’ and ’peak libfem’?

Much like peak trans, peak queer and peak libfem are reaching a point where you can no longer support these movement.

Peak queer, or peak TQ+, is no longer being able to support the micro identities which are often associated with trans activism such as pansexual/romantic, demisexual/romantic, allosexual/romantic, and omnisexual/romantic. Realising that many of these things are unnecessary identities for normal, human behaviour which exist because everyone wants to think that their feelings are special or unique.

Peak libfem is no longer being able to support the so-called ’feminist activism’ (really just conforming to patriarchal standards) which libfems support including sex-positivity/sex work is work, supporting make-up (culture), the massive support of trans activism at the expense of women’s rights, and calling everything a (free) choice so feminist.

What is a trans widow?

Trans widow is a term for people, although mainly women, who have married someone who later came out as trans which causes the end of their relationship. Their trans partner changes so much (including personality, likes/dislikes, the way they act, style, etc) in the process of transitioning/figuring out their gender identity that they become a completely different person. These changes mean that the person they originally fell in love with and married is effectively dead which gives them the name trans widows.

There’s a really good TEDTalk by a trans widow on the subject. There’s also an organisation called Trans Widow Voices to help support and raise awareness of trans widows.

List of Tags

Submissions and Tags: Stories which were submitted directly to this blog or which we reblog as we were tagged. (Links will eventually be added)

GC Reddit: Stories from Gender Critical Reddit (RIP r/GenderCritical)

GC Saidit: Stories from Gender Critical SaidIt

Spinster: Stories from Spinster

WoC Stories: Stories written by women of colour

Racism: Stories about racism by TRAs

TIMs: Stories with a TIM in (see above for definition)

TIFs: Stories with a TIF in (see above for definition)

Non Binary: Stories with someone who identities or used to identify as non-binary

Libfems: Stories which contain libfems, that is trans allies (especially allied women) who are not allies themselves and who also support choice feminism (eg: women can choose whatever they want with no analysis as to why women choose certain actions and why it could be harmful to them)

Peak TQ+: Stories about people reaching peak TQ+ or peak queer (see above for definition)

Peak Libfem: Stories about people reaching peak libfem (see above for definition)

Trans Widow: storiees by trans widows (see above for definition)

Misogyny: Stories containing some misogyny towards women

Internalised Misogyny: Stories about women dealing with their own internalised misogyny

Female Socialisation: Stories which include how women have been socialised a certain way, how TIMs don’t exhibit these signs, or denying that TIMs have not experienced this socialisation since they’re male

Silencing of Women: Stories which includes TRAs activly silencing women on certain issues

Female Spaces and Services: Stories which include female-specific spaces and services, normally being invaded by TIMs

Female Sports: Stories including TIMs in female sports

Male Privilege and Behaviour: Stories which include men (especially TIMs) acting with male privilege, showing typical male entitlement, overt misogyny and misunderstanding over what it is to be a woman, making male threats (ie: rape threats or anything about how they’re bigger/stronger/have a dick), etc

Stereotypes: Stories which show that TRAs really see gender as conforming to a specific set of stereotypes. 

Homophobia: Stories containing homophobia (including fetishisation of gay people)

Lesbophobia: Stories containing lesbophobia (including fetishisation of lesbians)

Conversion Therapy Rhetoric: Stories containing conversion therapy rhetoric. Lesbians must like dick, gay men must like pussy, etc.

Internalised Homophobia: Stories about people dealing with their internalised homophobia

AGPs: Stories about autogynephilia which is men who get aroused at the idea of being a woman

Trans Obsession: Stories which contain people completely obsessing either over themselves being trans or trans stuff, to the point it appears to dominate their life or at least dominates how they interact with others

Trans Entitlement: Stories showing trans people/their allies seeming to be entitled to certain things (including sex, certain spaces, etc)

Trans People in Their Own Words: Stories which show someone peaking at least in part due to actual things actual trans people have directly said to them

Trans Harassment: Times trans people and/or their allies have harass people

Trans Violence: Times trans people and/or their allies have been violent, including harassment with a lot of threats of violence

Trans Abusers: Stories containing trans people who are/were abusive

Trans Children: Stories containing trans children

Cult Tactics: Times when TRAs use the same tactics cults have used to keep people in line.

HRT and transition: Stories about people who have gone through or are going through some kind of medical transition from puberty blockers to HRT to surgeries

Detransition: Stories by or about someone who has detransitions

Biology is a TERF: Stories which contain TRAs not understanding or denying biology which includes: denying that sex matters in any way, ignoring sex based issues, complete misunderstand or even abuse of intersex disorders, etc

Eating Disorders: Trigger warning tag for mentions of eating disorders

Trauma and Mental Illness: Trigger warning tag for mentions of trauma (eg: severe abuse, rape, etc) or mental illness.

[yuta1forme]

like magnets | ten

summary: in which you and ten are up and coming choreographers who are forever at each other’s throats. but maybe fighting is just an excuse to get close.

pairing: ten x reader

genre: angsty fluff

warnings: some swearing, alcohol mention, loads of bickering

length: 4.3k

tag list: @sly-merlin​ @animegirl366​ @yonoohcore​

He’s confident to the point of arrogance. He knows exactly how to get under your skin. When the pair of you start fighting, all the other dancers make their way out of the studio, not wanting to get involved in another explosive Y/N-Ten showdown. He counters your every suggestion. He always has more critique for your performances than praise. 

And yet, he is the best dance partner you could ever ask for. He matches your poise with his passion. In dance, you both have found a middle ground. 

When Ten first joined the studio you really wanted to like him. He was a young, up and coming dancer from Thailand. What you had not seen coming was that besides being the same age, you and Ten had precious little in common. The day you first met Ten, you had decided in less than ten seconds that you two would never, to put this lightly, become the “best of friends”. 

You had entered the break room of the studio that day, late and soaking wet because of the heavy downpour that had begun the night before. Hungry and disgruntled, all you had wanted to do was to grab a steaming cup of green tea and the last of your favorite jelly doughnuts. Only the thought of those jelly doughnuts had you hanging on during your hour and forty-five-minute long journey to work this morning. They were your emotional support food, your one and only indulgence. After almost three years at the studio, all the other dancers knew not to touch your jelly doughnuts. All except for the bucket-hat wearing Thai newbie who clearly hadn’t gotten the memo. 

“Those were my doughnuts”, you had barely managed to huff out, focusing your mind on not raising your voice or worse, bursting into tears.

Now, if he had just apologized for eating them without asking you first, you both might not have started off on the wrong foot. No, the fucker just shrugged and said, “Didn’t see your name on them”. No shame in his eyes, not an ounce of regret in his voice. The powdered sugar from your doughnuts still around his mouth and dusted over his all-black ensemble. That fucker.

“So people just waltz into a room and eat someone else’s snacks where you’re from?”, you asked, your pitch becoming shriller with annoyance. 

“No of course not. Because where I’m from, people don’t leave their snacks where everyone can see them, without putting their name on it first”, he replied, cool as a cucumber. 

Taeyong had entered the break room at this point. He took one look at the powdered sugar on Ten’s face and the eyes-gonna-pop-out expression on yours and connected the dots. As one of the senior choreographers in the studio, Taeyong had developed a sixth sense for sniffing out conflicts before they broke out. 

“Y/N! I see you’ve already met Ten! He’s the new dancer from Thailand. Ten this is Y/N”, Taeyong had prompted by way of introductions, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge and inching closer to the door he had entered from. 

“Oh, you’re Y/N. The one who choreographed the last Pink Cashmere comeback, right?”, Ten had asked, suddenly sitting up straight. Seeing that your conversation was turning civil, Taeyong had left the room just as quietly as he had entered it.

“Yes, that would be me”, you had responded. That was your first time working with an idol group and was a milestone in your career. You had spent weeks running on pure adrenaline and Americanos (and the occasional jelly doughnut), spending day and night listening to the new comeback track, reviewing concept photos and looking up old performances to get their style down just right. When you watched the girls perform the choreography for the first time, you were so immensely proud of yourself, you hadn’t stopped beaming for days. 

“I should’ve known it was you, it had your signature footwork style all over it”, Ten had said, nodding his head slightly. You had felt flattered at that, surprised that anyone had even picked up that you had a certain trademark in your choreography.

“But, I thought it was too showy if you know what I mean”, Ten had continued, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair, a slight frown on his face. 

You were almost embarrassed at how much his words affected you. While you were used to internet trolls taking jabs at your work, it was something entirely different to hear full-blown criticism from your peers. As the youngest choreographer in the studio, you rarely got challenged when it came to choreography, with most of your colleagues wholeheartedly encouraging you to spread your wings and grow no matter the outcome. It probably was not intentional on their part but it had become a fear of yours - what if nobody would outwardly challenge your decisions because they thought you were too weak to handle the truth?

Still, you felt a need to defend your creative decision. You needed to stand up for yourself. “The girls are great dancers and I thought a more challenging choreography would push them out of their comfort zone. Sooji and Maya were actually part of a hip-hop dance crew pre-debut. They were itching to try out a new concept”. 

“But why not use more formations in the dance? It’s an eight-member group. You could’ve used that to your advantage”, Ten had countered. He made a good point. But you didn’t want to concede to him. Who did this man think he was? Walking in here and questioning your vision as a choreographer?, you though to yourself.

“Most of the other girl groups that came back around that time had similar songs but only Pink Cashmere had a distinct choreography. I wanted to make their choreography memorable”, you had said. 

Ten had remained quiet for a while. “I didn’t think of it that way”, he had replied, a thoughtful look on his face. “In that case, I think you succeeded at whatever you set out to do with that choreography.  It was definitely memorable, Y/N.”

He turned his gaze up towards your face and flashed you a sweet smile. He looked like a whole different person, almost innocently brushing powdered sugar off his cheeks like a mischievous cat who had just been caught doing something he shouldn’t have done. 

Your whole first interaction with Ten had confused you. First he walked in acting like he owned the place, critiquing your choreography as if he was a veteran dancer. But then he had just as easily praised your abilities. But at the back of your mind you had this nagging feeling that whatever Ten had said to you was not in an effort to undermine you, unlike some of the backhanded compliments delivered by your peers. He had criticized you because he thought you could take it, because he thought of you as an equal. And you kind of enjoyed that.

Arguing with Ten became a part of your everyday routine thereafter. So did labelling your snacks with your names and leaving passive-aggressive messages on post-it notes.

At nineteen, you gave up a full-ride scholarship to a prestigious law school in your country and moved to Seoul with a single suitcase and your old school backpack in hand. Your family had threatened to cut off contact with you if you left the country, but you left anyway; Your passion for dance was stronger than your fear of losing them. Dance was your first love. You lived and breathed it. Like hell were you giving up on your first love that easy. 

You worked odd jobs during the day and filmed original choreographies for your YouTube channel during the night. After struggling for over a year, your hope slowly dwindling, you got a notification that changed your life. Kim Jongin, one of South Korea’s ballet prodigies had shared one of your videos on Twitter. Your subscriber count had quadrupled overnight, with hundreds of thousands of commenters dubbing you a “prodigy”. Fate brought you to Jongin, who then introduced you to Taeyong, who brought you to SM studios. 

It was a dream come true - for years you had only struggled, floating in dark and murky water, swimming forward towards a hazy future. Now, you had thousands of fans, dozens of supportive friends, and a solid foundation from where you could dream. Your friend Hendery liked to joke that you would need more than twenty-four hours a day if you wanted to do everything in your planner. And truth be told, he was right. You had given up a lot to pursue your dreams. Given up on your family, most of your friends, your home country. You wanted to make sure it was all worthwhile. So you wanted to spend every day making the most of the opportunities that you now had. You went to bed each night with a head full of ideas and woke up every morning with the fire to bring them to life. 

Of course, dedicating your life to your craft came at a cost. The rest of the world had not stopped moving just because you decided to make dance your life. This dawned on you one rosy Valentine’s Day evening, when you, date-less for the fifth year running, quite naively decided to scroll through Instagram. Amongst the sea of pink, flowers and picture-perfect happy couples were two faces that made your stomach instantly drop - your ex and a stunning woman posing for the camera with their fingers intertwined. On her ring finger, a diamond the size of a blueberry. 

You remember the day you broke things off with your ex like it was yesterday. You were at the airport, waiting to get on your flight to Seoul, positively buzzing with nerves. You had waited until you were seated on the plane to send your ex a rather heartless text message saying you were breaking up with him to find yourself and that it was best if he forgot you. Very dramatic, even for you. But you were nineteen and had just watched ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’. In return he had left you an equally dramatic voicemail, pleading with you to not end the relationship and proclaiming that he would never stop loving you. You had all but laughed at his message then.

You weren’t laughing anymore though. He was happily engaged, while you were lonely, lying in bed on Valentine’s day in a pizza grease-stained sweatshirt. You had spent the last few years working relentlessly which had given you a career that you could be proud of, friends you could rely on. But besides the occasional fling here and there, you didn’t have much in terms of a romantic life. You guessed you deserved this, that karma had finally caught up to you.  Didn’t stop you from feeling like shit though.

So you did what you always did when you felt particularly shitty. You went down to the studio, turned the music on full blast and dove right into a new choreography. You were freestyling, too lost in the moment to hear the door creak open.

“I gotta hand it to you, Y/N, that was pretty impressive!”, a male voice exclaimed. You had spun around expecting to see Sicheng or Hendery at the door. Instead, you were met with a tired but rather amused looking Ten.

He was dressed in a white silk shirt and a pair of black slacks. You noticed the roses in his hands, slightly wilted but still beautiful nonetheless. He was clearly dressed up for a date. He looked striking as always but you didn’t linger too long on that, thinking that it was your romance deprived mind projecting thoughts onto the first attractive male it saw. 

“What are you doing here? It’s Valentine’s day, don’t you have a crowd of screaming fans to attend to?”, you asked sarcastically.

“One date. And they stood me up, actually”, he replied with a bitter smile. He must have been quite upset if he didn’t have a snarky response for you.

You were truly taken aback. Ten? Getting stood up by someone? Ten, who could charm the socks off of anyone he set his eyes on, getting stood up on Valentine’s day? 

“But how?”, you blurted out, instantly regretting it when you saw the quizzical look on Ten’s face. Yet you foolishly continued mumbling, or rather digging yourself deeper into a hole.

“I mean, you’re just...so...you”, you said vaguely gesturing at his whole form. From his boyish good looks to his ability to sweet-talk, Ten’s charms were undeniable. Ever since he joined the studio, the number of signups for the afternoon classes had doubled. Dozens of people would come to the studio every day, just to catch a glimpse of him. And he indulged them all too, flashing them his signature grin or paying them a cheeky compliment. If only you weren’t all too familiar with the way he could run his mouth during an argument, you too might have fallen for his charms. 

“Sorry to disappoint you, Y/N, but I’m not quite the Casanova you expected me to be. But I will take that as a compliment”, he said with a wink that had you resisting the urge to roll your eyes.

“Still doesn’t explain what you’re doing here though”, you mumbled out.  

“I like to choreograph at night. I think I’m my most creative after midnight. Besides I just got my heart broken and I should channel that emotional energy somewhere right?”, Ten said feigning nonchalance. You could tell he was genuinely upset from how his night had played out and couldn’t help but sympathize with him.

“Well, I’m here for reasons along similar lines. You could join me? Help me choreograph this new freestyle piece I’m working on?”, you had asked. 

Ten cocked his eyebrow at you, clearly not expecting you to extend an olive branch to him in this manner given how you were still being snarky with him five minutes ago. But he accepted your offer nonetheless.

You both entered your element pretty quickly, letting the music move your body freely. You worked out a simple choreography, cheering for each other when you came up with a particularly impressive move. You were having fun, even though you wouldn’t admit it to yourself. At least you hadn’t thought of your ex in the last couple of hours, mind completely occupied with the thought that you and Ten surprisingly made good dance partners. Perhaps the friction between the two of you translated to great chemistry when you were dancing. Taeyong would be pleased to know that.

“I’m beat”, you exclaimed, slumping down on the floor after the final round of practice. Ten sat down next to you, resting his back against the mirrored wall. The pair of you sat wordlessly for a few minutes, letting your heartbeats slow back down. You lay flat on the floor, too physically exhausted to move. As soon as you closed your eyes, your traitorous mind brought back the images of your ex’s engagement and you groaned loudly.

“Long day?”, Ten asked, giving you a slightly concerned look. You just chuckled bitterly in response.

“Want to talk about it?”, Ten pried in an almost uncharacteristically gentle voice. You wondered if he had ever spoken to you in that tone before. 

“I don’t know if we’re close enough to have little heart-to-hearts yet Ten”, you replied. There was an invisible wall between you and Ten that you were just not ready to tear down. The thought of sharing embarrassing details about your love life with someone you could consider a frenemy at best, too jarring. You didn’t miss the way Ten’s shoulders slightly slumped at that. You hadn’t meant to sound harsh, yet you felt somewhat guilty.

“But…maybe we are close enough to have a drink together?”, you asked, suddenly emboldened by a rush of confidence that confused even you. You took his cheeky smile as a yes.

You spent the rest of the night drunk and giggling with Ten. The thoughts of your ex were long forgotten. Perhaps you could learn to do more than merely tolerating Ten’s presence. Perhaps you could learn to enjoy his presence too.

Soon it became a ritual - if you and Ten were the last ones left in the studio, you would grab some beers and head to the roof. It was such strange departure from your usual selves that you often wondered why it was so easy for you to enjoy his company sitting under the stars like this when you would be at each other’s throats the rest of the time. 

Over time your conversations had gone from discussions about art, to plans of travelling the world, what you were currently binge-watching on Netflix, and everything in between. Still, there were some topics that you both steered clear of - talk of family and love lives was seemingly off the table.

Until one night after a couple of drinks, when Ten pulled his phone out to show you a picture of two women, one older and one younger. The striking resemblance between the faces in the photo and Ten confirmed that they were indeed his mother and sister. His sister was clad in a dark blue graduation gown and his mother was holding a beautiful bouquet of light pink roses. 

“She graduated last week, my baby sister”, Ten said practically glowing. The proud look on his face was a testament to the close relationship he had with his sibling. 

“You must miss her a lot”, you said, voice barely a whisper.

“All the time. My family are my biggest supporters. I don’t think I would have had the courage to move out here on my own if it weren't for their encouragement”, Ten answered. 

You hadn’t spoken to your family ever since you came to Seoul. In the past, the longing left a pressure in your chest that sometimes made it feel like your throat would close, choking you on your guilt. Now, it just left you numb. 

“What about you?”, Ten asked, cautiously prying into your personal life.

“What about me?”, you countered, diverting your gaze away from the man sitting next to you, instantly wary of how much you wanted to share about your past. 

“What about your family? Your old home?”, Ten asked. 

It couldn’t hurt sharing with Ten, right? It’s not like what he thought of you really mattered to you. Right?

“I actually don’t keep in touch with my family any more. They weren’t too keen on me becoming a dancer. It’s been, what, three? Three and a half years since I last saw them. When I first left home for Seoul”, you said, trying your hardest to suppress any trace of emotion in your voice. You kept your gaze focused on the city skyline ahead of you, too afraid to turn and see the expression on Ten’s face. You wondered what he thought of you, whether he thought you were stubborn. Worse yet, whether he pitied you.

After a few moments, Ten broke the silence. “I guess sometimes, not having a family is better than having one that doesn’t love you for who you are. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t possibly know how you must have felt, all these years. But I want you to know that the people who love you now, love you without any agenda. Not because they are related to you by blood, not because they are obligated to love you. But because they just love you”, Ten said, eyes shining with an emotion you didn’t know how to react to. 

“And they could be your family too”, he finished in a voice that was so warm, so gentle, you wondered if this really was the Ten who stole your jelly doughnuts when you first met.

You were speechless, processing his words for what felt like hours but was probably just a few seconds. Then you did the only thing your impulsive mind could think to do - you leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. In response, he wrapped you up in his embrace. You stayed still, focusing on the faint scent of his cologne on the sleeves of his hoodie. You breathed out a thank you, soft as a whisper. Whether or not Ten heard you, he moved his left arm slightly, gently stroking your hair and continued to chatter on about some entirely different topic. 

You knew that once the sun came back up and both of you returned to your lives inside the studio, this little moment would not be brought up in front of anyone else. That moment was just for the two of you to share and bury deep within your hearts.

You knew you were in too deep one day when Ten gave you a friendly smile in passing while making his way to the break room, and you felt your cheeks and neck heat up. You had finally let the Thai dancer charm his way into your heart. 

Typical Y/N, you thought to yourself, Falling in love with any cute boy who gives you attention. But he wasn’t just any cute boy. It was Ten. Ten, your frenemy turned close confidant. Ten, who would send you pictures of cute animals he saw on the street just because you once told him you wanted to adopt a cat. Ten, who took you dancing to a club in Hongdae when you were feeling low and all but carried your drunk ass back to your home. Ten, who over the last couple of months had heard every single one of your deepest insecurities and had still chosen to stick by you. Ten who had just left a box of jelly doughnuts in the break room, next to a post-it note with your name on it. To make matters worse, you were supposed to start working on a new collaboration together this week, a contemporary piece set to an R&B slow jam. How were you meant to work with him all week when you could barely make eye contact with him? You had to physically restrain yourself from facepalming.

You spent the week, evading conversation with him beyond work and some small talk to fill the silence. But none of your usual banter. You had even turned down his suggestion to grab dinner together several times that week, to the point that even typically non-confrontational Sicheng had picked up that something was off.

“Why have you been avoiding Ten all week? I thought you guys had given up fighting?”, Sicheng asked after he cornered you one day.

“Avoiding him? Now, why would I do that when we’ve been working together all week?”, you had chuckled nervously, desperately looking for an out from this conversation.

“He’s been sulking around since Tuesday, Y/N. He said he doesn’t know what he did to upset you”, Sicheng had asked you sharply. 

The guilt in your eyes must have been apparent because Sicheng dropped his voice into a gentle whisper for what he said next. 

“I know the two of you are as good at dancing around your feelings as you are at dancing on stage. But maybe try talking to him, Y/N? I think right now, you two might have more in common than you think”, Sicheng told you as he gave you a knowing look. 

The day of the performance shoot came and there was a noticeable awkwardness between you and Ten. You decided to cut the tension by apologizing to him, citing the nerves for the performance as the reason you had been on edge the whole week. Whether or not Ten believed you, he accepted your apology and wrapped you up in his arms. You wished you had psychic abilities so you could read his mind. Did he have the same butterflies in his stomach right now?

As soon as the music started any nervousness you felt around Ten melted away. Dancing with him was like second nature to you by now. The song started with you on stage alone, dancing under the single spotlight illuminating the stage. You could see him out of the corner of your eyes, following your every move and observing you with nothing short of adoration. You left the stage for Ten’s solo and you could feel the goosebumps on your skin from watching him perform. He was absolutely stunning, moving fluidly through the movements as though he was painting with his body on the canvas of the stage. You joined him on stage for the chorus, dancing apart but facing one another as though mirroring the other’s movements. Through the bridge you inched closer and closer to one another. You felt your heartbeat beginning to rise from the proximity. 

Both of you could communicate with each other with your eyes alone. You danced perfectly in sync with one another, pulling apart only to fall right back into each other, just like magnets. So different yet inseparable. You could see it in his eyes, when he looked at you, that the emotion in his mirrored yours. You knew you weren’t imagining it when he audibly gasped as you melted into his embrace for the final move. His heartbeat was racing a hundred miles an hour, just like yours. The pair of you stood there, lips just a few millimeters apart, breathing deeply as the studio erupted into thunderous applause. You were no longer afraid to admit to yourself and to the world, that you had it bad for Ten Lee. 

And when he kissed you on the rooftop that night, you knew that he had it bad for you too. 

[calacuspr]

This England team has shown us all what the power of sport really means

There have been a few times in recent years where the entire nation has appeared united and optimistic – and almost all of them have been connected to sport.

The World Cup in Italy in 1990, the EURO 96 in England and the London 2012 Olympic Games all come to mind as moments that will endure as epochs that transcend everything else going on in the world.

England has been particularly divided in recent years as the Leave and Remain factions argue; the challenges facing the nation during the COVID-19 pandemic; and the economic struggles that so many have encountered pretty much since the financial collapse a decade ago.

At Calacus, we work with organisations who see the value of sport to positively transform society and the England team has shown that throughout the build-up to EURO 2020 and beyond, they have brought the nation together in a way little else can.

Granted, it helped that England did so well, reaching the final of the tournament. It is hardly a new phenomenon that the squad is so multi-cultural, with players with family heritage from around the world.

While the aftermath of the defeat to Italy has shown the unpalatable side of society, the way in which the England manager and players have conducted themselves has been a masterclass in authentic communications.

STAY TRUE TO YOUR VALUES

Taking the knee has been part of football tradition in England for more than a year now, highlighting inequality and promoting diversity.

The England team have been criticised by many, with the Conservative MP for Ashfield, Lee Anderson, announcing that he would not watch “his beloved England team” while the players took the knee; Home Secretary Priti Patel suggesting that it was nothing more than “gesture politics.” and Prime Minister Boris Johnson refusing to criticise those who booed the team.

Given the racism that the likes of Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka, Raheem Sterling and others have suffered, particularly from online trolls, it’s remarkable that politicians sought to condemn them and accuse the team of Marxist tendencies and BLM affiliation rather than a compassionate plea for solidarity and equality over division.

England defender Tyrone Mings said: “Everyone’s entitled to their opinions. The home secretary is one of many, many people who oppose us taking the knee or refuse to defend it . . . we [have tried] to educate and inform the minority who refuse to acknowledge why we take the knee and want to boo it.”

Notably, the boos faded as the EURO 2020 tournament progressed and the team got to the later stages and it speaks volumes that many of those politicians who criticised the team then tried to associate themselves with them through staged photography that fooled no one.

CELEBRATE INCLUSION

This England team are no strangers to speaking up for those who don’t have a voice.

Marcus Rashford has campaigned for an end to child hunger and has twice forced the government to make u-turns over free school meals.

Raheem Sterling, one of the stars of the tournament for England and who has been vilified himself by media and fans alike, has fought hard to call out bigotry in the fight against racism.

EURO 2020 started during Pride month and saw players wear rainbow laces and captains use rainbow armbands, despite some mixed messaging from UEFA.

When England played Germany in the round of 16, captain Harry Kane joined his counterpart Manuel Neuer in wearing a rainbow armband with England's official Twitter account saying: “@HKane will join @DFB_Team 's Manuel Neuer in wearing a rainbow captain’s armband for tomorrow’s game at @wembleystadium to mark the end of Pride month, as the #ThreeLions stand in allyship with LGBTQ+ communities around the world.”

Kane himself explained: “From our point of view, it is a show of solidarity with the German national team from all of us at the England national team to be united in trying to kick out all inequalities there are. We’re on a huge platform on a big stage so it is obviously a great opportunity to do so.”

Jordan Henderson has shown himself to be a captain on and off the field, supporting local charities during lockdown as well as leading his Liverpool team to success over recent years.

He is thought to be one of the main drivers behind the team planning to donate its EURO 2020 prize money to good causes.

Their donation – which could be in the millions – will be made to NHS charities now that the football tournament has concluded.

The team made a statement last May which said: “Following positive discussions with the FA, the England senior men's squad are pleased to confirm that a significant donation from their international match fees will be made to NHS Charities Together via the #PlayersTogether initiative.

“This contribution will be taken from a fund already set aside to support a variety of worthy causes using all match fees collated since September 2018.”

While England supporters still let themselves down by booing national anthems at times during the tournament, it shows the progress that this England team has prompted that Joe White, an England fan who co-chairs Gay Gooners, Arsenal’s LGBT+ supporters group, attended the England v Germany match at Wembley Stadium “in full makeup.”

They wore red lipstick, shimmery eyeshadow and mascara along with a rainbow flag and England flag painted on their face to complete the look.

They tweeted: “This is a really small and personal point but today was my first game at Wembley in full makeup and overtly queer (as opposed to just camp). Absolutely no issues from fans and some lovely chats.

“Despite being absolutely petrified pre game, really proud of our fans”

Henderson responded: “Hi Joe great to hear you enjoyed the game as you should. No one should be afraid to go and support their club or country because football is for everyone no matter what. Thanks for your support, enjoy the rest of the Euros.”

How refreshing that the LGBTQ+ community can now support the national team with no fear of abuse or intimidation and that the Three Lions Pride can display positive banners – understandably celebrating Henderson’s goal against Ukraine.

ENCOURAGE TEAMWORK

England manager Gareth Southgate arguably had one of the most talented England squads in recent memory.

The team’s headquarters at St George’s Park became a centre of fun with photocalls featuring the likes of Bukayo Saka jumping into a pool on a flying unicorn inflatable and Ed Sheeran playing a special concert for the team not to mention a preview showing of Top Gun Maverick and call with its star Tom Cruise.

While early on, there was uproar among fans over players who had been left out of the starting XI or even the squad, with flair giving way to pragmatism, Southgate showed how much the team ethic mattered to him.

After the 4-0 victory over Ukraine, Southgate paid tribute to the members of his squad who had not featured much during the tournament.

He said: “I am thinking about the players who I had to leave out of the 23 because they have been such a massive part of what we’re doing. It is so difficult to keep a group of this size feeling valued and yet those guys have been phenomenal about how they have sacrificed themselves for the group.

"I feel the responsibility keenly. But it is these challenges that make us."

Not once during the tournament did any stories leak of disgruntled players, while the players reflected the afore-mentioned values by resisting well-trodden paths of nationalism that previous encounters with the likes of Germany may have engendered.

In fact, this England team have shown dignity in the face of criticism and the very definition of what it means to be a team – there are no egos, no vested interests.

Where once supporting England meant violence and xenophobia, this England team has inspired a new identity with a commitment to diversity, inclusion and a more tolerant society, which is a credit to them all.

SHOW REAL LEADERSHIP

It was quite telling when, during the celebrations following England’s win over Denmark, former international Gary Neville said: “The standard of the leaders in the past couple of years in this country has been poor but look at that man there... he’s everything a leader should be: respectful, humble, tells the truth, genuine. He’s fantastic, Gareth Southgate.”

Southgate has been humble, engaging, honest and resolute that he knew what he wanted to do and would not waver, even when senior politicians criticised some of the decisions made by him and his management team.

Ahead of the tournament, in an essay on patriotism, titled Dear England, Southgate linked football and national identity and underlined why the game means so much more than just sporting excellence.

“I have a responsibility to the wider community to use my voice, and so do the players. It’s their duty to continue to interact with the public on matters such as equality, inclusivity and racial injustice, while using the power of their voices to help put debates on the table, raise awareness and educate.

“On this island, we have a desire to protect our values and traditions – as we should – but that shouldn’t come at the expense of introspection and progress.”

Southgate has been calm and assured throughout his tenure, ensuring that he and the team are consistent in their focus, messaging and conduct. There have been no scandals, no drama and every press conference or media opportunity has been assured and engaging.

FACE ADVERSITY HEAD-ON

Losing on penalties is part of football, but it’s also something that England have encountered at a number of major tournaments.

The backlash after England’s defeat was brutal, with the three players who missed penalties, Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Bukayo Saka all targets of racist abuse.

Some MPs also used the defeat as an opportunity to tell players to keep out of politics, such as Andrew Rosindell, who tweeted: “We are all proud of our England team, who have had the support of the whole country over recent weeks, but please focus of football, not politics. If you win for England, you win for everyone!”

Home Secretary Priti Patel expressed her outrage at the racism, prompting Mings to again address her double standards.

He said: “You don’t get to stoke the fire at the beginning of the tournament by labelling our anti-racism message as ‘Gesture Politics’ & then pretend to be disgusted when the very thing we’re campaigning against, happens.”

Soon after the game, the mural in tribute to Rashford was vandalised, prompting hundreds of positive messages and fans voicing their support for the Manchester United forward.

Rashford tweeted: ““I’ve grown into a sport where I expected to read things written about myself. Whether it be the colour of my skin, where I grew up, or, most recently, how I decide to spend my time off the pitch.

“I dreamt of days like this. The messages I’ve received today have been positively overwhelming and seeing the response in Withington had me on the verge of tears. The communities that always wrapped their arms around me continue to hold me up.

“I’m Marcus Rashford, 23-year-old black man from Withington and Wythenshawe, South Manchester. If I have nothing else I have that. For all the kind messages thank you. I’ll be back stronger. We’ll be back stronger.”

CONCLUSION

The England team have shown without doubt the power of sport to unify – and while EURO 2020 is now over, we have the Olympic Games coming up where athletes will come together in the spirit of competition and camaraderie.

As Southgate put it: “The reality is that the result is just a small part of it. When England play, there’s much more at stake than that.

“It’s about how we conduct ourselves on and off the pitch, how we bring people together, how we inspire and unite, how we create memories that last beyond the 90 minutes. That last beyond the summer. That last forever.”

While the positivity has proved to be a brief moment in time, the England squad showed society how to empathise, respect and engage in a way that has been in short supply for so long.

[ryoyuftw]

Where have you read about critizism and calls for boycott of the ski jumpers? I'm norwegian too and I haven't seen or heard anything. I completely agree with the boys btw, but not with what you say about most norwegians. In my experience, toooons of people are critical of Johaug. I think its more the media and the officials that see her as this "cannot do anything wrong" type of figure)

Oops, way too long rant incoming😅

The media hasn't done the criticizing this time, but it's almost everyone who is commenting on the issue online, which is a very hot topic in comment sections/forums today. Like on fridiskusjon.no, vgd.no, vg/facebook comments to the news articles etc.

When it comes to boycotting, there have been several people saying "I'll boycott Vikersund for this unless they apologize" or "I'm done watching ski jumping because of this" or "I've lost all respect for the ski jumpers" etc. 90% of online comments are really "how dare you say this about lovely Therese, she doesn't deserve this stress right before the Olympics" and "how can these ski jumpers talk about cross country skiers when they're not nearly as popular/good" etc. People are even bringing up dsq's as if they can't comment on doping because they're apparently cheating in their own sport🙄

It's just sad to see all these negative comments being supported and upvoted, while any critical thinking about Therese's situation, and any mention of people actually agreeing with Johann and Daniel, gets buried, downvoted or accused of being trolls...

And there's also the sizable bunch that says "we're so disappointed in Clas, who we supported throughout his tough times, that he hasn't punished them more. He shouldn't let them go to the Olympics after talking so badly about their Olympic colleague” etc. Like that huge facebook group that was created to support Clas this fall were pretty much all criticizing Johann and Daniel, and Clas' handling of the situation, as if he should have kicked them off the team for speaking the truth.

I guess it's kind of my own fault for noticing all this when I'm seeking out the information, but this is also on popular foras where people are generally quite sane about topics, but then all talks about Therese turn into "poor girl, of course she didn't do anything wrong, and fuck anyone who implies otherwise."

[tinysatansierra-blog]

Markiplier manor is toxic here’s why

So Markiplier manor (Markipliers official discord server) has gotten a surplus of new people in it, this happened a few weeks ago the manor itself though has been up for awhile. originally a members only server it was eventually opened up for everyone and yes there are alot of genuinely good people and the mods are alright but unfortunately its becoming a toxic environment. 

SO EDIT i have discussed with the mods that being said ... im keeping this up as a reminder of we can do better we can help people who are struggling through something instead of shutting them down we can listen to people who are being oppressed and bravely point out new media that only worsens that oppression and stigmatization and not just the mods who i was kind of harsh towards but who are human everyone as a community can do better and this is a large community think of the work we can do just doing the basics like boycotting problematic content and helping those who cry out for it who need it (and noticing and shutting down manipulative/toxic behaviors) ... i dont know if im going to go back to the manor yet tho im going to let this sit give it a week yall can agree or disagree but know that if you try to be an ass your going to get shut down and your feelings are going to get hurt 

lets start with the basics “triggering topics” triggering topics can be anything in particular but it generally means a topic that relates to another persons trauma. Now while it is important to acknowledge a persons trigger words and try to keep the conversation respectable ive also noticed people use it to shut down people who come on freaking out because their dealing with a stressful situation/something traumatic just happened. This has happened to me personally and to a friend with me it was about being pro choice and having to in short make that actual choice. i was discussing this in the bathroom because i (like anyone else who comes in with baggage) did not know about any pro choice discords at that moment and was afraid of being stigmatized or going onto a discord that says its a safe space only for it to be filled with trolls. Mark manor is labeled as a safe space and many people come on there looking for support with me no one told me that the topic was triggering to them (which apparently it was because a friend of theirs had to make the choice not her herself think what you will) they just went to a mod early on when i just found the server as a member a friend (who i wont name) had gotten.... assaulted majority of her werent online and as someone who has been there and yes when she told me it did trigger my own trauma she needed moral support... the mod shut her down and deleted her comments and didnt give her a pointer to any other discord where she could discuss the topic openly and get moral support and be pointed to resources (it actually took me ten minutes to find and confirm a lgbtq therapy chat earlier this year for another individual discussing mental health) this was before i had gotten on for that day but i noticed those messages and i contacted her when she told me what was up yea it triggered my memories and its not fun but I FUCKING HELPED HER i made sure she went to the police to atleast file a statement (while the police dont always help it is good to have it on file) i even made her a plush and shipped it out to her and i would do it again and again because its not good to basically tell another person to shut up because it triggers others not without atleast trying to help them find another fucking place and making sure their actually ok and in a physical safe place  next is them claiming the manor is a “safe space” a safe space is by definition  “ a place or environment in which a person or category of people can feel confident that they will not be exposed to discrimination, criticism, harassment, or any other emotional or physical harm.” you would also think that the manor would be a safe space in the fact that marginalized and oppressed groups of people would be able to point out problematic content and have an open and free discussion about it and how it makes them uncomfortable. especially people of lgbtq community which alot of people in that chat are. yesterday (and this was what caused me to officially turn away from the server) in the patio (which is the members only chat) a Transgender individual pointed out the problematic content that is huniepop and how it fetishizes trans people as well as other minorities now this game i hear tries to make itself out as a “parody” .... its not its a sexual dating sim what would make it a parody is if sex noises were replaced with donkey sounds and the lewd pictures were replaced with poorly drawn doodles of tits or what have you its a game for incels marks hilarious when he plays it because he doesnt take the game seriously my issue isnt with him its with the developer. and if you did not know (which apparently people dont) the character poli is described as “a girl with a dick” the individual pointed this out because they felt like it dehumanizes them and paints them as nothing more than a fetish... and also apparently you can “choose” is poli is trans which kind of gives off the message that people can ignore trans peoples identity if it makes them uncomfortable... or if they dont sexualize them. and the muslim community is more or less in the same boat i come from the bible belt in usa im not muslim i am not trans but i do have a reason for standing with both and i will get to that in a bit so i was raised in a christian household in a christian setting like muslim women were basically told we cannot have sex and any sexual thought is sinful and we will be punished blah blah blah your even more closeted if your gay or bi because then you can face ... violence that being said to make the woman from the middle east hyper sexual like they did is kind of shitty even for a incel pleasing sex game. the individual who thought it would be ok to discuss this in the server because its labeled as a safe space and is generally “lgbtq” friendly thus believing he would have people agree and discuss ... was unceremoniously shut down by their peers and a mod was notified this person was not hostile maybe a bit frustrated because he wanted to talk about it and thought he would have this genuinely helpful conversation and people would listen and spread the word because to have problematic content be popular can isolate the oppressed group even more so WHEN NO ONE WANTS TO LISTEN TO THEM. if a group of marginalized people notice something problematic with content and you claim to be an ally of said group then you need to acknowledge and support what they say. they told him to go to twitter where he could potentially be bullied and written off ... because again its an INCEL PLEASING SEX GAME.(which means incels if you ever dealt with them will go and say anything to justify the game even using slurs and bullying) and to put the icing on the cake to change the topic they brought up robin ... i actually dont know who robin is as i dont really focus much on youtube creators personal stuff (it feels off for me to not personally know an individual but know their personal stuff without having actually talking to them its weird i know its a thing i have in my head) but apparently they recently came out as female and good for them im super proud of him and the patio members were discussing how they were proud of him as well for beginning to wear makeup and making themselves more feminine which would be great if they werent trying so hard to shut down the trans male who was trying to spread awareness on problematic stuff .... something he pointed out ... and something they gaslighted and said he was being hostile. really its almost as if they only care about trans issues when its someone famous discussing them  so what can we possibly do about huniepop being transphobic and the answer is very easy BOYCOTT IT like... yall were up in arms and boycotted jk rowling with snap and a turn do we only cancel the old and ugly? do we only cancel those who we dont think is funny? mark is not at fault he probably doesnt realize it and any comments made on the issue are talked down upon or drowned amongst other comments im not saying to cancel him im saying to cancel the game HARD. ignore the posts bitch at the dev demand refunds for your game. like consumers have infinitely more power than corps want to admit.  so you basically have a community that claims to be a safe space but only if you want to talk about sunshine and rainbows and its highly hypocritical of them to claim safety.  another thing is emotionally abusive/manipulative people hide in the server and the mods dont ever seem to acknowledge it. i cannot tell you how many times ive gotten into arguments with people who seems nice then turn into assholes then claim to be the victim when i or others go off on them. if you recognize my name you know i dont stand down when it comes to having a snarky or rude comment thrown at me if your going to be an ass were fighting i dont care how nice you seemed beforehand and you dont get to call a mod just because i actually stood up for myself or others sorry not sorry dont be a bitch nuff said.  now why would i care so much about problematic content? why would i care and stand by the transgender and muslim people (aside from being ya know... an actual ally and not someone who claims it for sympathy and brownie points?) its because i am autistic i am also able to function well on my own but there is a movie created by the famous singer sia it is called music it is a movie frowned upon by the autisitic community because infantizes and dehumanizes non verbal autistic people i am fortunate and unfortunate in not having to deal with much stigma unfortunate because i wasnt diagnosed until i was 17 alot of answers about my behavior could have been answered if i had been diagnosed earlier but considering society loves the quiet timid female and i functioned “well” for neurotypicals i was ignored. so yea you bet your ass im standing with them and raising awareness about huniepop and their was this one person when i mentioned this point i cant remember there name nor to do i give a shit about them because when i mentioned how autistic people ... how i was in the same boat with music by sia (again i advise that no one target the actress who was under contract target sia and please boycott her so she knows she cant get brownie points or money for a movie that stigmatizes who she claims she wants to “help” (*cough* profit off of *cough cough*) and only serves as a feel good movie for neurotypicals and ignorant people)  they said “i heard people who hated the movie i heard people who found it alright people are ALLOWED to like problematic content” ... and like ... does anyone else see the problem here? its not hard at all to boycott celebrities for making content  and im going to repeat this point  IF A GROUP OF MARGINALIZED, STIGMITIZED AND OPPRESSED PEOPLE CALL OUT SOMETHING FOR BEING PROBLEMATIC AND YOU CLAIM TO BE AN ALLY YOU FUCKING LISTEN TO THEM AND DONT SHUT THEM DOWN I DONT GIVE A SHIT YOU DONT HAVE A FUCKING EXCUSE. if you cant bring yourself to boycott a piece of media and replace it with the infinitely more suitable forms that supports the group you claim to be for your not an ally your a fucking hypocrite  and that is why i left markiplier manor i am still a youtube special ... thingy member and i will continue to be a member to support mark i want people to overall listen to those who speak up against a creator and a piece of media and listen to us all no matter how “good” something seems. .. also there is a video called listen it was created by nonverbal autistic people  and communicationFIRST a group that sia apparently communicated with for her movie... and then ignored  https://youtu.be/H7dca7U7GI8