#tw discussion of genocide

[magicalqueersarah]

Aerith, the Last of the Cetra

from a Jewish POV

Aerith is a huge part of why I love Final Fantasy 7. This is partly because she and the Cetra are somewhat Jewish coded.

Spoilers below

This is pretty blatant, since they're an ethnoreligious people trying to find the promised land, just like the ancient Hebrews. This promised land is a metaphor, which is a common belief in real life. The Cetra spend their whole lives trying to find the promised land, but it's within. It's not a physical place, it's being one with the planet by taking care of it and letting it flourish, then returning to it after death. The Cetra's relationship with the Lifestream parallels the concept of tikkun olam, repairing the world. I could go on about how Kabbalah influenced FF7 but I won't do that in this post. On to Aerith.

On a surface level, Aerith is striking to me. FF7 takes place in a world largely based on Modern Earth. Aerith wears a pink dress and bow to symbolize her femininity, a biker jacket to show her toughness, and gardening boots to show her relationship with the planet.

Her hair is slightly curly, which reminds me of my own. Aerith's last name came from Serge Gainsbourg, a Jewish and French singer.

She was adopted during a war after her mother died escaping a lab. They were experimented on and persecuted by an evil Corporatocracy who tried to use them to find the Promised Land, a source of infinite mako, and thus, infinite riches. This parallels the long history of Antisemitism and modern "Philo"semitism(Evangelicals want all the Jews to colonize Palestine so that Jesus will kill all of us and the Palestinians by starting the rapture :) https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/5/26/biden-palestine-and-the-buttressing-of-christian-zionism). Only Aerith's mom is a Cetra, but she is 100% Cetran which is just like halakhic tradition and how all Jews are equally Jewish, regardless of what our DNA looks like. Even if all of this is unintentional, Aerith is Jewish coded.

Rebirth reveals that Aerith has been alienated all her life, her Cetran heritage and abilities being the subject of bullying. Though she kept it hidden from those who persecuted her, she was able to connect to her ancestors by cultivating the planet and growing flowers at home and in an abandoned church. Aerith admits she doesn't know how to pray properly because her mom never taught her, which really resonates with me. When she comforts Marlene because Shinra is going to destroy her home, I think Aerith is reminded of her and her mother being forcibly removed from their homes.

Even many ethnoreligious agnostic or atheist people will still practice their ancestral religion, philosophy, and culture in some way, to keep in touch with their history. But many of us have lost parts of our culture because of ethnic and cultural genocide. I've had to hide and stand up for my Jewish identity because people would make violent jokes about us, or accuse us of murdering their god.

Aerith is plucky, kind, and savvy. She lives life to the fullest, becomes more in touch with her heritage, and works to repair the world. She fights against a greedy corporation and a Messianic Jew who's trying to forcefully spread Christianity mass murdering super soldier who claims to be a Cetra and the rightful ruler of the Planet. She inspires me as a Trans Jewish woman.

So it's really devastating that Aerith, the only known Cetra, dies. Not only does an important member of the party get murdered, the world loses an entire people.

it is implied throughout the compilation of FF7 that Marlene has inherited a connection to the Cetra through Aerith. In the original game's ending she can sense Aerith before the Lifestream erupts to stop Meteor, and she is able to sense her father in Remake. Aerith says she holds the white materia when she wants to feel safe. The Ultimania reveals that Aerith let Marlene hold it to feel safe during the evacuation of Sector 7. In Advent Children, Marlene has inherited Aerith's mannerisms and insight, and has begun taking care of Midgar's flowers. I believe this means at least some of humanity will become Cetra; Inheriting their culture and taking care of the planet.

So yeah, Aerith is tied for my favorite Final Fantasy character with Tifa :P. She is a great character and I feel connected to her because of the hardships she's faced as a marginalized person, and her willingness to live life to the fullest, heal the world, and fight injustice.

[queerbauten]

seeing liberal Zionists on this site talk about ideals while my inbox is flooded with dozens of Gazans trying to raise money as they are being slaughtered in unprecedented and horrific ways… unbelievable

[wordsalt]

okay this is a question for any US history buffs/historians out there

do y'all think we can see some parallels between America's current situation and our situation pre-WWII?

granted, before WWII, we were ignoring the genocide instead of outright supporting it

but we were choosing not to stop an ongoing genocide while we had a domestic economy that was completely imploding

and we had a president who came in and significantly expanded social programs to help avoid the economic implosion

thoughts?

[some-teeth-in-a-trench-coat]

hi

you are not morally obligated to give platform to every voice that makes you feel guilty, ever

guilt does not make you a good person, that's not how anything works

thanks for reading I sincerely hope you can also comprehension

[ambulance-mom]

there banning the xl bully dog in the uk well what about the fucking innocent xl,s huh?! onces that have done nothing wrong they will be ripped from their familes for just existing

[crystaldeclear]

[scrawlingwithstyle]

I just feel like info-dumping about my D&D character. If you're interested, strap in.

Ash, a half-elf trickery cleric, had a best friend and partner-in-crime, a tiefling who took the name Serendipity (Sera for short) for the goddess of good fortune, Tymora.

They played pranks together and partnered up for Ash's sham magic trinket shop.

Some time in the future, Ash got teased for being a trickery cleric who doesn't know how to pick locks, and I just realized: she never learned because that was what Sera did. Sera was the rogue!

Anyway, they were close friends for a few years before Sera was kidnapped and killed. Another conman killed Sera as part of a greater tiefling-genocide scheme to try to gain power, but he also had a personal grudge against Ash, so Sera was more than just collateral damage.

Ash took it extra hard because she was working up the courage to tell Sera she was in love with her.

About 8 years later, Ash is still on the hunt for the conman, whose real name she doesn't know. She is also part of a party who are in training to become deities.

She meets Dave, a life cleric who values honesty so greatly that it leaves a great impression on her. She's immediately intrigued and thinks she'll just keep tabs on him from a distance--until he finds out her party is supposed to make a new creature and he can't allow them to meddle with the power to create life.... Not without supervision, anyway.

In a moment alone together, Ash reveals her past and real name to him, and he helps her figure out what kind of a deity she wants to be.

Not long after that, the party finds the bastard who killed Sera, put him on trial, and at sentencing, turn him over to the party's death cleric (who specializes in vivisection) and her necromancer boyfriend. (Dave requests to be blissfully ignorant of his fate.)

In a very brief period of time (like 2 weeks), Ash and Dave kiss, her party saves him from an evil goddess who kidnapped him, and a few other events lead to them getting married. Since Sune (goddess of love) officiated the ceremony, they were telepathically bonded (they share thoughts back and forth) and each knows exactly where the other is.

(This is relevant: Dave's dad has many wives and partners.)

It has been around 3.5 months in-game since then, and the party is still working on their creature. Their travels take them back to the Astral Plane, where Ash had been invited to seek out Sera's spirit (they had met thrice in the last year, and each time Ash figured it would be best not to share her feelings).

When Sera pulls her aside for a private conversation about everything she's missed (the wedding, Ash getting pregnant), it gets harder and harder to not tell her how she feels. In her mind, Dave encourages her to do so. She confesses, Sera cries, Ash cries, and then Dave interrupts with, "I love you. And I'm not the only one."

Ash has already made up her mind to bring her friend back from the dead, but she is confused at what he implies. "I thought... when I said I didn't want to share you, you felt the same way. Did I miss something?"

"I don't intend to share you with another man. I would not wish for you to share me with another woman. But she is not another man, and she is not for me. I have no such reservations in this case. Besides... she had you first."

Shocked and delighted, she tells Sera what Dave said, and asks if this is an arrangement she would be happy with.

Sera agrees and joins their party as a spirit.

~~~

This is where we left off, but now we have a new side quest to resurrect Ash's dead girlfriend. I also made this:

[laughyoudrecognize]

Sometimes I just feel so hopeless about the world. How do you convince people that genocide is wrong when they don’t seem to care? How do you convince people that these shootings in the US don’t have to happen? How do you convince people who don’t care about people dying and suffering to care that people are dying and suffering? My heart hurts.

[calling-the-angels]

Tldr; anon hate is nothing in the face of genocide and I refuse to let this get sanitized in history books.

~~~~~

After a decade on this website, I finally got my first anonymous hate! It was honestly devasting and really made me reconsider my stance on everything and I'd just like to thank the academy and... /jk 😂😂

It was obviously in response to my post about a CNN article on Palestinian journalists that's gaining a bit of traction here. But seriously, calling me a Nazi isn't going to stop me from posting about Palestine. Telling me to kms isn't going to stop me from posting about Palestine. You could threaten me and my entire life and it STILL wouldn't stop me from posting about Palestine.

Why?

Every GOD. DAMN. DAY. I go online and am bombarded with even more evidence of IOF war crimes and zionist hate crimes. I've seen a toddler pulled from the rubble to discover his lower half was no longer connected to his upper half. I've seen IOF soldiers gleefully recording themselves pushing Palestinian men into a ditch dug between ruined buildings, shooting them in the head, and laughing. I've seen zionist mothers training their toddler to parrot a saying about growing up and "killing all the arabs". I've seen adults grinning at a middle school aged classroom of zionist kids talking about their hate for 'the arabs'. I've seen cultural and historical landmarks DECIMATED because of the zionists complete disregard for anything celebrating Palestinian lives. I've learned about bumper stickers that say "Finish them" which are popular in Isntreal. I've watched real estate development companies market 'coastal' homes over the real ruined images of Gazan homes and shops. I've heard Isntreal political and religious LEADERS blatantly state their plans of genocide and mass displacement. This is only the bare minimum of what I have seen, freely accessible, online for the masses.

Yet zionists call me the nazi? Seems they need to read a fucking history book.

Grow the fuck up and recognize that colonial mindsets and doing terrible, HORRIFIC things with impunity is no longer the status quo. Grow up and realize that the global mindset is shifting from a me-based society to a we-based society at a scale never seen before due to social media and its reach. Grow up and realize that THE PEOPLE ARE ANGRY.

And to fellow activists and good people standing on the right side of history... through us refusing to stop talking about Palestine, we are ENSURING that the future knows exactly what happened in Gaza, in Palestine. We are making sure history can't be rewritten. I feel pretty good about that, what about you?

Flowers are blooming in Antarctica and fire is catching.

[magicalqueersarah]

I know I've already talked about this re: the fandom's Gerudo genocide theory and Hyrule's Civil War but do people really want a genocide that is never hinted at to be a thing in Zelda? People make all sorts of leaps and assumptions to justify their claim. We know barely anything about the civil war and the events preceding TP.

I've seen people say "I have no doubt that Hyrule committed genocide against the Gerudo before WW" which is.. so gross. Using a group inspired by (orientalist depictions of) an actual ethnic group as a prop for your edgy grimdark "what if the good guys were evil!!" headcanon just disgusts me.

We are given like 3 pieces of info on the war prior to Hyrule Encyclopedia, which is really contested because it's mostly the authors' interpretations of the lore, not necessarily intended by the game writers. 1. The war ended 10 years before OoT after a long period of time. 2. Link's mother died fleeing the bloodshed 3. It ended with all the tribes of Hyrule uniting under the under the banner of the kingdom. Nothing about how it started, who sided with whom, or who participated.

Here's what we know about the relationships between tribes(warning: fantasy racism); 1: the king is a sworn brother of Darunia, King Zora was childhood friends with Biggoron. 2: the kingdom has been a long time ally of the Zoras. Darunia gets angry at the Zora mask, 3: Ganondorf, the king of the Gerudo thieves, feigns allegiance to the King of Hyrule, and many Hylians are scared of the Gerudo mask because they are thieves and Darunia hates Gerudos (😬) . Hyrule Historia says the king quelled the fighting and the entire land was united under his rule. After the Twinrova are defeated an NPC says the Gerudo don't seem so scary now, implying brainwashing was involved which is further supported by Hyrule Historia and a gossip stone

The King and Darunia are sworn brothers and probably have a good relationship. We can assume that the Zora and Hyrule were allies long before the war ended, since 10 years is not a very significant amount of time. The King trusts Ganondorf enough to not believe his daughter's dreams, even though the royal family are well known to have mystical powers.

The Shadow Temple was presumably used during the Hyrulean Civil War and a spirit says Hyrule has a history of blood and hatred. It's fair to come to the conclusion that this was used as a torture chamber during a period of battle due to all the torture devices. But we have no reason to believe this history is recent, and the implication of the above is that the current king is a decent ruler due to the (seemingly) good relationships between him and the other rulers.

Moving on to Twilight Princess, people often claim that the Arbiter's Grounds suggests the Gerudo were victims of genocide which is again, unfounded. As the video below shows, the Grounds were built by both Hylians and Gerudo, and they must have been built long before Ocarina of Time since the mirror of Twilight was used to imprison the Interlopers. It's highly unlikely that the Gerudo text and Snake Goddess statues would remain and be so interwoven with the Hylian designs if the building was taken over by Hylians. We see the Gerudo later in the timeline in FSA and they have a great relationship with Hyrule.

I really wish people would stop repeating Gerudo Genocide Theory as if it were canon. People should keep in mind that Zelda is intended for all ages. There's not gonna be a lot of subtle implications and depressing lore like the Soulsborne games. We learn all of the relevant story info in-game, and learn about the connections between the games through supplementary materials such as interviews and books.

[queerbauten]

But "both sides". 🙄

[chaosclover1999]

some Americans really just r openly bigoted 2 British and Irish ppl 4 legit no reason and act like its okay

"but Britain colonised everywhere tho"

1st of all most ppl i c make that argument r literally white American meaning that if me being born in Britain makes me a coloniser than they definitely r 1 also and secondly i should not b blamed on a personal lvl and hav 2 deal w/ ppl treating me like less of a person and making jokes abt going genocidal against every1 in my country, myself included just bc of something that happened long b4 i was born

"but Britain has a racism problem"

...u guys realise that not every1 in Britain is white right? cus it rly doesn't seem like u do.... like im not even white... and a lot of people in Britain r not white, also as ppl outside the UK its not ur place 2 joke abt UK specific racism, its us that hav 2 live w/ it also America has a racism problem 2 so... also u saying its ok 2 genocide British ppl as a "joke" isnt helping its making it worse

"but Britain is TERF island"

not every1 in Britain is cis either, im actually a trans guy and its rly not ur place as ppl outside the UK to joke abt UK specific transphobia, its us that hav 2 live w/ it, also can't help but notice that i c this a lot less now that the transphobia problem has got worse in America, also u saying it's ok to genocide all British ppl as a "joke" isn't helping, it's making it worse

it just really seems like as soon as the UK has a problem it must b every1 in the UK and u can't even imagine that it could b that us lot r suffering bc of it and instead u assume all of us r bigots in agreement w/ it but then as soon as America has a problem we r all suddenly supposed 2 understand that all of u r suffering and none of u r in agreement w/ this and this doesn't say anything abt the ppl living in the country bc fuck nuance ig, the fact that some of u can't understand the hypocrisy in that shows political illiteracy

moving onto Ireland specifically

if ur rly gonna b out here thinking it's ok 2 make jokes abt the potato famine which was a targeted genocide against Irish ppl then i rly don't know what 2 say, ur a dick and u shouldn't get 2 call urself a leftist if ur gonna b xenophobic also b4 u pull out the "but they make jokes abt it all the time" card like yeh no shit, ppl joking about their own oppression is very different from joking abt the oppression of other ppl, i call myself a transfag but that doesn't mean it wouldn't b different if a straight cis person started calling me that

basically if u think that xenophobia and xenophobic jokes are okay then you don't know fucking anything abt politics

[archesa]

I'm sorry what? I'm purposely keeping this out of the notes of the post, but I think there's something worth discussing here : Once again, What?

Let's take a deep soothing breath and crack open a dictionary just once, you know, just for fun!

Genocide :

The deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group. (source)

The deliberate murder of a whole community or race (source)

The deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular race or nation. (source)

So... once again, and I'm deliberately trying to make my point clear : BITCH WHAT?!

What in the Pale Tree's holy blossoms are we referring to here?

Infiltrating the asura lab during 'The Newly Awakened', to free the secondborn kidnapped and tortured and experimented on by said asura ?

Or perhaps are we talking about the Nightmare Court? Same Nightmare Court that regularly captures, tortures and kills sylvari from the hamlets and villages of Caledon Forest ?

Neither qualify.

She has no beef against the asura as a whole, just against those who were at the very moment using her newborn siblings as golem batteries... merely weeks after another of her siblings got vivisected by same said group...

And she harbours no ill-intent or feelings towards the Soundless, so her quarrel with the nightmare court has arguably more to do with, you know, their methods than their beliefs...

I'm once again not trying to get into a fight, and I wish the author of the above comment no harm... just a little bit of literacy.

[michelangelos-twink]

i hate this