#well based on racism as well as classism. like these people are horrific

[llycaons]

mexican gothic is really fucking good huh

[menalez]

What is your definition of racism, and do you think white people can be victims of racism?

I live in western / northern Europe, and a lot of Slavic people who live here, especially Polish people, say that it's racist to say that white people can't be victims of racism because they say that they are victims of racism from western / northern Europeans, and that what they face from western / northern Europeans is just as bad, if not worse, as what people of color face.

I'm a little hesitant to agree, only because some of the most horrific racism I've witnessed against people of color has come from Eastern Europeans (the very ones who say they're victims of racism just as much as people of color). I feel like it's not my place to say as a white western European though, so I wanted to know what people of color such as yourself think about the matter?

i define racism as: “racism is the process by which systems and policies, actions and attitudes create inequitable opportunities and outcomes for people based on race.”

no i do not think white people can be victims of racism. i do think they can be victims of xenophobia, ethnic discrimination, and colourism… but no, not racism. bc it’s not their race (ie being white) that is underlying the discrimination they face. some face discrimination for looking like they’re not white, some face it bc of classist or xenophobic ideas around their ethnic group. some face discrimination bc of their ethnicity despite not being immigrants and being light skinned etc.

yes, eastern europeans do face discrimination in western europe. but “just as bad, if not worse, as what people of colour face” ?? no. i would agree with the argument that they have some overlapping experiences with us, but they absolutely do not face the same or even worse. and yeah it has also been my experience that some of the most overtly racist & often white supremacist people have been eastern europeans,,, so the ones who try to argue they’re actually deemed poc or actually face the same as poc are aggravating to me bc they have no problem utilising white supremacy & racism when it benefits them. a lot of the hatred i’ve seen towards eastern europeans could be summarised with the terms classism & xenophobia ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ southern europeans also like to argue they’re poc and face racism sometimes too, and i disagree there as well.

[itsclydebitches]

To expand on the Ironwood thing, I’m pretty sure there were citizens of Mantle IN ATLAS ALREADY. I think they mention the evacuation was almost done in the show. Don’t quote me on that, I think it was before they told Ironwood in the Schnee Manor.

There were absolutely citizens there already. Yeah, that's a common point fans will bring up if someone tries to paint the situation as Ironwood abandoning Mantle because he considers Atlas to be superior and, therefore, the only city worth saving. Though classism and racism were definitely a part of the Atlas arc (with iffy results), they didn't factor into Ironwood's decision to leave. Only the time limit, Salem's power, the ability to float Atlas (which Mantle doesn't share), and the "many vs. the few" mentality drove his decision. Ironwood never wanted to abandon anyone, but faced with what he saw as certain doom, he was willing to leave a portion of the population behind in order to save the majority. This majority included the city of Atlas, the whole world in a hypothetical sense — if Salem gets the Relics/a Maiden they're all doomed anyway — and yes, an unknown portion of Mantle's population. Based on what we heard in "Gravity" the evacuation wasn't almost complete back then, but it was definitely underway:

Weiss: Why would the general call us back without giving a reason?

Ren: Especially with evacuations still going on in Mantle.

***

Blake: But we're nowhere near finished evacuating everyone! You'd be leaving Mantle to die.

So Mantle citizens were evacuated from "As Above, So Below" (episode 9) when the team first went there to help, through sometime after "Gravity" (episode 11) when Ironwood leaves the RWBY vs. Ace Ops fight to cease evacuations. Idk how long that time frame is and, frankly, it might be hard to figure out given that at the end of the Volume some fans were working to figure out how much time had passed based on dialogue vs. sunsets and sunrises and it... wasn't matching up well. Regardless, even if we could say precisely how long had passed, we still don't know the speed of the evacuation and how many made it. What does "nowhere near finished" actually mean? Do we trust Blake's assessment here? We just don't know, but we do know many did make it. To me, that's as important as remembering that many were going to be left behind.

This was always a trolley problem where either option ultimately sucked. Ironwood chose pragmatism and put his efforts towards saving who he thought he feasibly could, from both Mantle and Atlas, making a morally horrific compromise in order to do that. The fandom has largely ignored those aspects in order to paint it as a simplistic, "Ironwood ran away to save the rich, racist elite because he's just awful" reading, even though there's nothing to support that in the show. (Well, outside of systematic problems like the rich city inevitably being the one that receives the magical object that would someday lead to their home being the lifeboat... but that's a level of commentary RWBY isn't even aware of, let alone weaving into its narrative.) These takes don't just break down because Mantle citizens were already on Atlas, but because Atlas citizens were in Mantle too. This isn't a situation where the two cities are forcibly divided, each staying on their respective sides. They're the same Kingdom, interconnected, and the idea that all the rich were on Atlas when Salem attacked and all the poor on Mantle is absurd. RWBY does little to flesh the Kingdom out, but we have at least two concrete examples to point to. In her flashback, Cinder is a literal slave staying in the opulent Atlas hotel. At the start of Volume 7, Pietro is the head Atlas scientist running a shop down in Mantle. Everyone is already mixed up with Ironwood trying to bring as many people up to the city as possible, regardless of where they to live, or who else was already in the city. Evacuations stopped because Salem herself announced that she'd arrived to kill them all and no one could come up with a plan other than running.

"Simply accept the futility of your situation and this can all be over."

Ironwood accepted that he couldn't beat Salem now, so he took steps to try and ensure that the world had a chance to beat her later. That included keeping the war resources out of her hands and saving as many people from his Kingdom as he could without endangering the whole, regardless of where they came from. The classism and racism, though it easily could have been a factor in this decision, weren't. Or if they were, they existed entirely off screen like the semblance that had, supposedly, wrested control of Ironwood's willpower.

[radiantseraphina]

Do you have any advice for writers who just. Don't have an experiance with important things? Like, if I wrote a story with a plot that followed conflicts I personally deal with, it would be whiny and dull. But I worry if I try to branch out to issues other people face, my lack of experiance on the topic will come across as plastic, or worse that im trying to profit off of other people's problems. But every story needs a conflict of some kind,,, and you get the picture

Hmm… If you feel comfortable with it, send me an ask with maybe some examples of what you’re thinking of, so I can give you some more specific advice. Because, like, writing about racism is quite different from writing, about, say child abuse? Also, I would argue that you shouldn’t so easily discount your own experiences and that there are, well, still plots you can write that wouldn’t fall into these, but that’s another post entirely. But here are my general thoughts in loose categories.

Firstly, do your research, preferably from people who have experienced whatever you want to write about. That’s crucial to approaching experiences that you don’t have. Aside from things like slaying dragons. Literal ones, of course. Metaphorical ones may still require research. But here’s the thing. Simply put, most problems are complicated. So how do you keep, for example, your story about racism/homophobia/sexism/ableist/etc. from sounding like a Very Special Episode™?

Keep in mind that most people know these things are bad. That’s why people always deny being them. Bob the Bigot isn’t homophobic; Bob the Bigot is ‘I don’t have a problem with gay people, BUT–’ So you need to go beyond X is Bad. And I’ll admit that’s something I struggle with. Incidentally, that’s why in DLU Alera’s racism stems from her insecurities (and her desire for money, which comes up later); Alera is constantly afraid of giving up her power, so she tries to make sure she has all of it and constantly tries to claim it’s what Bikaia would have wanted. Do I succeed? I don’t know. Maybe. She’s also loosely based off a certain president, but we won’t go there. So I suppose this boils down to ‘don’t just make someone racist/sexist/homophobic; give them reasons for being racist.’

And I don’t mean, ‘this person hates gay people because a bisexual woman named Seraphina murdered their wife.’ Your readers aren’t going to be fooled by such an obvious ploy for sympathy. Like, I do think you can have a character be whatever because they don’t think they are, and that tells us something other than Don’t Be Racist, Zelda. But do the extra work beyond X Is Bad.

(That being said, if you are looking at writing about racism/ableism/transphobia you would definitely want to ask someone besides me. As much as I’ve learned about these from academia and other places, I am still an able-bodied cisgender white lady.)

So now, you’ve made your plot something besides a Very Special Episode™. At this point, you need to look at your characters. Why? Because characters drive plot. So if you’re writing about sexism/racism/homophobia/ableism, you’re probably going to have characters who are very diverse. You might have a hard time writing about biphobia if you don’t have an bisexual people in your story. So at this point (assuming I’d already done my research about these complicated issues), I would look at TVTropes. I’m not even kidding. It’s a great source for finding all the negative stereotypes associated with any given group of people.

Now, here’s where it gets tricky. Some tropes you very obviously should not use. But you also need to use some judgment here. For example, just because the Dashing Hispanic is a trope…doesn’t mean you should simply go to the complete opposite end of the spectrum and never write a Hispanic swordsman, even when the setting would call for it, and make all your Hispanic characters as un-dashing and unattractive as possible. And really, a lot of things (but definitely not all!) can be fixed if you humanize your characters really well. So keep in mind that your Hispanic swordsman isn’t just a swordsman or defined solely by his swordsmanship. Just like you aren’t also just a student/writer/whatever. Or maybe you take away the dashing bit and turn him into a flustered mess anytime a man/woman/nonbinary pal pops into the room. 

Incidentally, some tropes can also be a good starting point if you notice there is a lack of diversity in them. I’ve been wanting to, for example, write a female Swashbuckler character (and well as a lady Hannibal Lecter) for ages and just haven’t gotten around to it.

(I personally also look up sporkings (chapter by chapter critiques) and/or reviews of relevant books for tips. Right now, I’m following a sporking of Mists of Avalon, once considered the feminist Arthurian adaptation before it was revealed what a horrific person Bradley was. Do I like Mists of Avalon or Marion Zimmerman Bradley? No. But if I want to write a bestselling feminist version of the Arthurian legend revolving around Sir Gawaine, I’m damn sure going to learn all the historical, feminist, homophobic, etc., missteps Bradley made. And I’ll happily recommend some sporkings if you’re trying to avoid certain things.)

So let’s say you don’t want to write about any of that. Let’s say you’re wanting to write about trauma. Depending on what you write, you want to be careful not to romanticize certain things. I’m not going to lie. As someone who was sexually abused as a kid, that is the absolute minimum standard for me. I cannot stand to read massive swaths of the romance and YA genres simply because of the way the Broody, Threatening Love Interest™ is romanticized. And as with anything else, do your research and ask questions. (Incidentally, the National Novel Writing Month forums are great for inquiries like this). Above all, be respectful.

If you can find them, beta readers are always a good option, especially if you can find people who have experienced the things you’re writing about. Or if you just have a couple of questions, you can always anon someone on Tumblr. Yes, some people may blow you off, but some of them won’t, especially if you’re polite and can show that you’ve already put forth effort to research that matter. (And not even kidding, I would answer EVERY bigoted question about the people of Appalachia if I NEVER had to read another nursing paper talking about how we’re “too stupid” to breastfeed and “feed all our babies Mountain Dew” ever again.)

Now, as for this profiting off others business. Let’s say you write your story, and it does actually bring you profit. Then, you use your platform to promote the voices of people who do have those experiences, and you acknowledge the great debt that you owe that community for sharing their experiences with you. And you acknowledge the luck and privilege that got you where you are. Support people working in the same area! You wrote a novel about a man in a terribly abusive relationship, and it becomes a bestseller? Great! Use your spotlight to share resources for abuse victims. You wrote a novel about a young person transitioning, and it garnered some success? Fantastic! Why don’t you point people to that underappreciated transgender writer? 

And sometimes? You’re going to make mistakes, and sometimes, being told that you’ve made mistakes will really hurt because you’ve worked so hard not to make them. I know. I’ve been there a couple of times. When I wrote DLU, I knew I could get some things right. I knew I could write about child abuse and being mistreated by someone you loved and still loving and fearing that person because I’ve been there. And I knew I could write about depression and loneliness and struggling to trust people because I’d been there. I could even say I knew a little bit about classism because I grew up dirt-poor in rural Appalachia, babysitting my brother since I was nine because both of my parents worked multiple jobs.

But I also knew that when I wanted to make Meta Knight a Hispanic man that I was opening myself up to criticism about race. And when I wanted to make Bandanna Dee a trans man, I knew I was opening myself up to criticism about transphobia. And I knew that when I wanted to make one of the primary villains a really racist, evil queen that I was treading on ground that I had no personal experience with. And we haven’t even gotten to Nightmare’s backstory, which basically features the first-hand colonization of Traumwald. So guess what? Sometimes, I’ve gotten it really right. And sometimes, I’ve really screwed it up and had people send me messages saying, ‘Sera, no.’ 

(And this is crucial; what I haven’t gotten is ‘don’t try to write this type of character.’ Generally, people like seeing different characters with different problems, and if you treat those characters and your readers with respect, your readers will treat you with respect).

But if you’re going to take any one thing away from this post, let it be this: do your best and learn to accept criticism with grace. Don’t let your fear of messing up keep you from ever trying. It is far better to try and write an experience, having approached it with respect and nuance, than it is not to. And sometimes, you will mess up, and that’s okay. You apologize, you learn, and you do better. I, personally, would rather see a writer fail, learn, and do better than to never try at all. Because that’s what writing is. It’s a process of continually working to improve yourself.

[thegreatexpress]

Menace II Society

So they recently added Menace II Society to Netflix and I had to watch for the 100th time of course being the nostalgic Cancer I am and to make more observations. I like to pick up on things I might’ve missed before like the fact that Caine and O-Dog are chuggin’ St. Ides 40’s in the beginning infamous store scene. I always assumed it was Old English but nope it’s St. Ides! Please don’t lose me with that random observation, trust I pay attention to detail. Stay with me! Observe this if you’re ever driving around. High End neighborhoods: Wine & Spirits. The Hood: Liquor stores, food stamps excepted, checks cashed, No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service.

Menace II Society is a classic hood film directed by the Hughes brothers set during continuous turbulent times in South Los Angeles. High tension struck due to police brutality cases like the Rodney King/LAPD beating incident that was videotaped. I refer to Wikipedia to see production credits on entertainment releases and I noticed Menace II Society is labeled an American hood drama thriller… That sounds like some scary shit right?? Every word in that description even American is horrific! When I watch a film like this as most critics usually label “Urban” I understand the darker points of it just as well as the enlightening moments. I also understand the behavioral transitions of us as humans based on environments we’re placed in.

I’ve been blessed to experience many diversified areas of living and then also areas challenged by segregration as well as classism East Coast, West Coast, and Down South. My keen senses always alerted me when I’m amongst the hood but what is that? Is that the place you’re dropped off when you need to be taught a lesson about life like the Chappelle Show skit? Maybe. Is that where the guns and drugs get dumped for the kids suicidal leaving behind single mothers weeping? Probably so. Is that where generational weatlh has refreshed from a street level? Definitely. I believe “The hood” is a state of mind forced upon poverty stricken areas ususally minority by the political higher ups to keep individuals in those areas down technically by slow genocide through limited access and deterioating landscape. The same politicals who allow-ed liquor stores on every corner to infest and loan shark businesses to bully away minimal income we could invest have also strategically placed miseducated combat ready authority in our communities driven on a historical cycle of hatred. I could go deep on an endless mad black man rant about my knowledge/perspective of systematic racism holding us down but that’s not what this is about. Instead I’ll simply state that Nobody Is Right. We all have demons to be faced. I’ll admit I’ve been guilty of being what they want me to be. That comes from frustration, anger, a sense of being forgotten and left to rot. A Menace To Society. I define this as an individual dealt some bad cards with the presumption to lose. I can’t allow these cards to turn into excuses. I HAVE TO WIN. I AM ABLE TO WIN. I WANT TO WIN. I CHOOSE TO WIN. I WILL WIN. And then there’s also WE. I look back at how far I’ve come as a young black man in America and realize I’m one of many roses that grew from concrete. The petals might be a bit flawed and have some dirt on them, the stem might cut you if you don’t handle with care and someone might’ve pissed nearby my foundation but when you look at it for what it is in the moment, where it came from, and where it could be placed watered for growth, there’s beauty in that. Discovery, communication, and understanding alone I believe unites people. If you grew up in a high end atmosphere like Beverly Hills all your life you should go to the opposite side to discover, communicate, and understand. We’re all guilty of comfort zoning. Put aside the safety nets and free yourself! Only open minded people will get this. Don’t be a menace to society, learn about people and grow. Travel is the best education. -Menace II Society- ©2017

[minhthangcoi9993-blog]

Review Game Vampyr

With a fresh and genuine take on the familiar supernatural mythology, Vampyr’s bold RPG ambition is to tempt you into eating your own quest givers. Beguiling the citizens of London and suffering the consequences of quenching your terrible thirst sets up some big choices that generally pay off, though its combat doesn’t quite have the bite needed to force you out of your comfort zone and into the darker, morally gray areas it so clearly wants you to live in.

Where Vampyr sets itself apart is in its excellent recreation of London during the first World War and in the throes of the Spanish Flu epidemic. It’s a gloomy, somber city, explorable through snaking alleyways, cobblestone courtyards, dingy sewers, and expansive buildings that combine with the moody string-heavy soundtrack to create a dense, sad atmosphere of a city on the edge.

The great sense of contrast throughout Vampyr is a focused theme. You’ll see the posh and proper etiquette of early 1900s English aristocracy juxtaposed with the ugly, seedy underbelly of the city. Even our protagonist, physician and newly turned vampire Dr. Jonathan Reid himself, reflects this conflict, as his modern-man-of-science persona clashes with the mysticism of his newfound supernatural world. It all complicates the experience in ways I found refreshing.

That setting is reinforced through the many, many authentic characters. And there are dozens of them spread throughout the distinct districts of London, each with so much to say that if you’re looking to investigate each person and solve all their problems and side quests, you’ll be wandering through forests of branching dialog trees with hours of voiced conversation.

And if, like me, you find it easy to soak in this melting pot of society, science, and the supernatural, you’ll be glad to know that each of these characters are generally well-written and performed and that they only occasionally cross the line into hokey. Which is both a surprise and a relief, considering Vampyr leans hard into its heady vampire lore that without appropriate delivery it could’ve come off as downright goofy. It doesn’t stop at the accepted tropes of the subject like wooden stakes and garlic but instead aims for the moon, pulling inspiration from landmark moments of history, mythology, famous figures, and much more to weave a vampire conspiracy theory with its tendrils burrowed throughout history.

Vampyr’s story is generally engaging thanks to its grounded approach, setting the stage with modest, understandable stakes before going off the deep end. It starts small as our reluctant hero, Dr. Reid, grapples with his new vampiric condition. As a man of science, he’s a walking mockery of his own beliefs, and he only gradually begins to accept the gravity of his situation. Much of the early game mirrors that journey, with quests built around using your vampire senses to locate characters and resolving pedestrian issues like infidelity, a lost heirloom, or a gang war, and peppering it with the ugly racism, sexism, classism, and xenophobia of the time period. The only blemish on these citizens is the obvious discrepancy in animation qualities between the lead characters and the minor ones, with poor mouth syncing being the most obvious sign.

Feast and Famine

The citizen system that binds all these characters together is a highlight of Vampyr. Because you can choose to mesmerize and feed on just about everyone you meet, characters are more than just side quest givers and information pinatas. As you talk with them you’ll uncover their secrets and, in the process, improve the quality of their blood, giving you more experience when you finally decide to sink your teeth in. If you choose to at all, that is. The choice to abstain from fresh blood is there, and I found myself avoiding it because Dr. Reid seems so opposed to giving in to the temptation that I felt I owed it to his character.

Play now Dynamons World

Stardew Valley Catfish  

But in a deliciously morbid way, talking with people and solving their problems is kind of like preparing your meals. The idea is that when you’re not strong enough and need a quick boost, you consume someone to quickly gain a healthy chunk of experience at the cost of permanently losing any information or quests they’ve yet to give you – and taking on more of a monstrous appearance yourself. That decision is given even more weight by the fact that Vampyr’s save system doesn’t allow you to reload to a previous save to undo a choice – something the load screen tips make clear is a conscious decision by the developers.

In a deliciously morbid way, talking with people is like preparing your meals.

The problem with this in practice is that I never found combat difficult enough to make me want to suffer the consequences of feeding on a citizen. Despite the fact that there are some top-shelf garbage-people all over London that the world would probably be better off without, feeding on a citizen damages the stability rating of their district. If that stability drops too low, other citizens living there will start suffering and go missing, and feral monsters will start roaming the streets where they didn’t before. It’s a selfish dilemma: eat for personal power, or abstain for the good of the city. This is Vampyr’s version of a difficulty setting, and you can see how it’s supposed to force you into making a hard decision. But developer Dontnot didn’t balance it aggressively enough, and so I was able to complete my approximately 30-hour playthrough without taking a life, and only died a handful of times.

Low Stakes

The loop of Vampyr’s combat boils down to locking on, dodging around an enemy, and smacking it over and over with a club or sword that you’ve upgraded through a very simple crafting system. Such crude methods are strange for a vampire power fantasy, but in a way, it actually plays back into that theme of duality all over Vampyr.

What’s more interesting is the health, stamina, and blood resources that you’ll want to manage during combat. You expend blood to power your vampiric abilities and stamina to dodge, attack, and stun enemies, so it becomes this interesting dance of dodging, striking, and using blood-based abilities, then stunning and enemy so you can bite it and refill some of your blood, which then recharges your supernatural abilities like healing, turning invisible, or conjuring pools of shadow. There’s a good level of micromanaging these resources during combat, and it works because enemies aren’t just your obstacles, but also your health packs.

Progression in Vampyr is all about being a vampire. As you cobble together the paltry amounts of experience you get for killing enemies and the more respectable amount you get for uncovering dialog hints and solving side missions and quests, you can choose to sleep and evolve your vampire abilities. There’s enough here to branch out into the kind of vampire you want to be, casting bloody spears and freezing an enemies’ blood in place, lunging over great distances and pouncing with devastating claw attacks, or any combination of the dozen-or-so skills you can learn. But experience is scarce if you’re not regularly feeding on citizens, so I found the best investment for my hard-earned experience was to bump up my passive health, stamina, and blood reserves rather than dumping it into those expensive, flashier abilities.

Unfortunately, even with all those unique vampire-afforded abilities – including some devastating ultimate powers that pack a horrific punch – the simple combat loop does start to feel stale sooner than I’d hoped. Fairly early on I found a two-handed club and enough materials to upgrade it through the barebones crafting system, to the point where clubbing things to death was overwhelmingly the most efficient and reliable strategy. I did experiment with all manner of weapons, firearms, and abilities, and while there are some cool combos you can employ, dodging and counter-striking with a heavy weapon remained the best option.

This means most fights boil down to the same experience, and that goes double for the dozen-or-so boss-arena fights throughout the campaign. While they add some interesting mechanics like environmental dangers and otherworldly abilities and certainly ratchet up the pageantry, they lack enough variety to require anything more than just quickly learning their attack patterns before the dodge/counter-striking resumes.

There’s a welcome variety in the enemies of Vampyr, at least. The militaristic vampire hunters, called the Guard of Priwen, send shock troopers and sharpshooters after you, while the feral subsets of vampires, werewolf-like monsters, and full-fledged children of the night begin to appear regularly as the city succumbs to the epidemic.

But the most frustrating obstacles are the frame rate dips, the spontaneous loading screens, and the occasional bugs. Vampyr runs acceptably on the PS4, but dips below the 30-frames-per-second mark regularly when you turn a corner or enter a new area too quickly. While I didn’t find anything game breaking, a few issues with quest markers not updating made progression more difficult than it needed to be, costing me an hour or two of scouring the city for something that should have been made much clearer. These hiccups seem to get worse in the later stages, but they never become more than minor annoyances.

The Verdict

Vampyr is a slow burn of an RPG, taking its time to ramp up its intriguing blend of science and the supernatural in an elaborately gloomy version of London. When it gets going you can see the potential of the way it offers you more power if you consume its interesting citizens. But Vampyr never commits to this idea to the point where I felt I needed to make that sacrifice to succeed in its relatively simple combat, which leaves it feeling toothless and vulnerable to having a lot of its fun sucked away by technical issues, despite its genuinely engaging story.