#what about that is destroying the community?

[doberbutts]

So I'm going to ask an honest question here and ask you please explain in layman's terms. Every trans person I know irl has no concept of the transandrophobia discourse but every time I see more of it online I'm...unsettled, and it takes a lot to power through all the terminology.

I initially was really receptive to transandrophobia because the rationale behind being against it sounded stupid and akin to label discourse in the queer community. I saw "being a man is not an axis of oppression therefore you don't get your Own Word" and thought that was pedantic nonsense, that language doesn't need to adhere to that rule, and that it's helpful to have a term designated towards transmasculine experiences so people can find those experiences easier. Not that trans women's experiences aren't also beneficial! But that, well, obviously no matter how similar the experience birds of a feather and that sense of comfort of sharing identity still matters. This is true for other issues of identity too, I find, weather that's a good thing or a bad thing idk, but it is human.

The thing is I follow a lot of transwomen and have been seeing some alarms being raised about the community being formed around this word. You blocked one of the most egregious offenders so I trust you (which is why I'm asking sorry) I've seen a lot of misogyny and essentialism from people using the term "transandrophobia" and more egregiously "transmisandry." Idk your opinion on the latter term (I haven't scrolled down far enough on your blog, sorry if you talked about this before) but to me it's unconscionable. I was taught that transandrophobia existed as a term specifically NOT to use that term, that elevating misandry to a legitimate issue was dangerous for obvious reasons and it was one of the reasons why I was so supportive of transandrophobia. To me, it seemed like an awareness that misogyny was the prevailing issue behind all issues of gender oppression, but when I actually look at the tag I...get uncomfortable.

Blogs I follow have repeatedly been upset at misogyny from this community, and have been using the term "transandrobro" to describe behavior they find akin to cis MRAs. I've truly seen horrible things with hundreds, sometimes thousands of notes to it that do, unfortunately, feel like women are being blamed for the plight of trans men. I've seen cis people say they were originally on MRA reddits and then came to tumblr to "confront the misandry directly" only to wholeheartedly adopt transandrophobia into their worldview. It's hard because I KNOW I shouldn't judge a community based on a few crazies but it truly does feel sometimes like "transandrophobia" gives misogynists a venue to air their woman-hating to an eager audience, kinda like how "Karen" has been co-opted beyond the og meaning of being for racist white woman to any woman being mildly rude.

So like, here it is: can transandrophobia exist without being co-opted by misogynists? Is there a threshold of proliferation for misogynists destroying this word until a new one needs to be made? Or will every word trying to identify the transmasculine experience be inevitably co-opted by misogynists because misogynists are just that powerful, so people should double down harder on the word and work to push misogynists out?

(Also am I going crazy, or did this word a year ago used to have a WAY better community than the one I see nowadays. Back then I could find your blog and really compassionate people easily, and now it's just...bad.)

It is a little hard to understand some of this post but I will do my best to answer what I think is being asked.

To put simply, I think the reason why it was better a year or two ago is because the majority of the people who were actually trying to further the conversation and not just circle jerk in the echo chamber got chased off. Transandrophobia, anti-transmasculinity, transandromisia, transmascphobia... the guys who coined these are largely either not posting at all anymore or post far far less than they used to. They were harassed and the constant exposure to transphobia made them shut down their blogs for their own mental health. Not all of them, but a lot of the so-called "big names" had this happen.

Even I stopped posting for a while and shuttered the doors for a bit outside of a long queue of dog photos because of how much it was affecting my mental health.

In their place remain people who are not committed to the same conversation. Perhaps they are younger, or less familiar with the building blocks of theory that really should be required reading, or are still stuck in their "everything sucks and it's YOUR fault" phase. Maybe they do come from different places, like 4chan or reddit, which are less prone to this sort of discussion. A lot of the original crowd had been on tumblr long enough to remember when we could still edit posts, and I keep seeing people who would have been in elementary school at that time posting to the tag nowadays.

I was discussing this problem on discord with a small group of friends and one of them- a trans fem- called it second wave transandrophobia discourse as a bitter joke. I think she is more right than wrong, regardless.

I'm not sure who you believe I've blocked- in general I don't air out who I block on this blog because at nearly 12k followers there are too many people who would love to dogpile someone for the sin of disagreeing with me and I do my best to prevent that. I don't want anyone to be harassed, after all. There's a lot of assumptions that have been made about my block and follow behavior that vary from "hilarious but untrue" to "outright offensive slander".

People are people, and some people are shitheads. Trans mascs and people who want to support trans mascs are not exempt from that. I say this all the time- Kayne West is objectively a shitty person but his existence doesn't prove the concept of antiblackness to be a myth. Caitlyn Jenner is objectively a shitty person but her existence doesn't prove the concept of transmisogyny to be a myth. So why do shitty trans mascs prove our own theory to be dangerous or nonexistent? Why hold us to a higher standard than any other marginalized group?

I could ask you the same question- there are posts on here with hundreds, sometimes thousands, of notes made by trans fems and cis women who blame their problems with transmisogyny on trans mascs. There are people coming from reddit, Twitter, 4chan who are being actively transphobic and misogynistic and claiming they're doing it for the good of transfeminism. There are posts filled with misogyny and bioessentialism and gender essentialism and even interphobia and racism and transphobia being left completely unchecked. Do you think it would be acceptable for me to ask if that means transmisogyny theory should be abandoned or if we should just accept that it will draw people with bad intentions?

Or do you think the better answer is to focus instead on finding those with a good head on their shoulders, and making sure it's them who has their voice heard? Do you think we should maybe not judge entire demographics because there exists some shitty people who claim the same identity?

[oops-all-concrete]

Arcane S2 spoilers below the cut, but Jayviks, let's talk about THAT scene

I hate how the scene with Viktor and Jayce goes in the commune Viktor makes. It feels too fast-paced, too quick to appreciate, and not emotional enough on either part of Jayce or Viktor. But there's crumbs, and those crumbs keep me awake.

Viktors body, once he awakens from the hex-core, is, while at first rejected by Viktor, because he asked Jayce to destroy the Hexcore, but now he's fused with it, adored by Viktor eventually. He can help people, the thing he always wanted to do, he can be in peoples minds and understand them in a way the world as it was wouldn't otherwise allow. And of course the main thing: It's walking.

And yet, even as it withers with a bowling ball sized cavity in its chest, the closest thing he's ever had to a "perfect" body, he doesn't look to see the deed in all it's gore. He looks at Jayce.

Was betrayal or love pulling his eyes?

I don't know what's worse.

Maybe it's simply that as "evolved" as he sees himself, Jayce has always been the most perfect thing in the room to him. Even if he's hurting Viktor, Viktor knows he won't stop loving Jayce.

Imma go cry now

[27moremoons]

Press Statement

In light of the criminal Zionist occupation's lies and allegations on the presence of resistance fighters and combat equipment in the Kamal Adwan Hospital, in the northern Gaza Strip, the Hamas Movement emphasizes the following:

- We categorically deny any military presence or fighters inside the hospital, whether from Al-Qassam Brigades or from any other faction, as the hospital was open to all including the international and UN groups that know the hospital very well.

- The enemy's lies about the hospital are to justify the heinous crime committed by the occupation army today of vacating it and burning most of its sections, in application of the plan of genocide and forced displacement.

- The Zionist lies and deception are not new, as it previously promoted the same allegations against the hospitals that the occupation army had destroyed in the Gaza Strip, including Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, which international investigate reports proved the occupation's false claims.

- We demand the UN to condemn the occupation army’s destruction of Kamal Adwan Hospital and form an investigation committee to examine the extent of the crime committed in the northern Gaza Strip, which is witnessing a fully-fledged genocidal and displacement plan. We also urge to provide medical services to our people after the occupation's destruction of all health facilities in the north.

Islamic Resistance Movement

27 Dec

Official website - Hamas movement

Statements by Ismail Thawabteh, director of the Government Media Office in Gaza:

- The crimes of the occupation in the Northern Gaza Governorate and Kamal Adwan Hospital are a disgrace to humanity.

- Shame on the world that failed to prevent the Nazi occupation from burning the Kamal Adwan Hospital.

- The occupation burned 34 hospitals in the Gaza Strip in the course of its genocidal war.

- The occupation has been committing genocide against our people in Gaza for 450 days.

- The occupation has reached a level of decline that cannot be described in words in its disregard for international law.

- We hold the Security Council and the international community responsible for what is happening in Kamal Adwan Hospital.

- We have lost confidence in the international community that has been cracking our heads with talk about international law.

27 Dec

Official website - Hamas movement

[undeadentropy]

In a kinder world, we could share our stories and characters without fear, as we did centuries ago, but this isn't that world. Don't risk it all to make money, that's when they start burning down communities. They only care about money. Fanfic is functionally no different than regular fic and deserves the same respect and I will kill on that hill. But copyright laws are powerful and capitalists destroy all they can't exploit. Don't give them a reason.

Also don't steal people's free stories to make money?! That's seriously fucked up and wrong in any scenario. That's the exact shit copyright laws were supposed to protect against, and fanfic authors don't have even those protections. So do that and lose your right to unshattered kneecaps is what I'm saying

Our fandom forbearers did NOT suffer through Anne Rice, strikethrough, and other bullshit for fucking ACOTAR and Harry Potter fans to fucking ruin it for all of us by selling fanfiction. I am not losing novel length yaoi epics because some of you don't know how to act in fannish spaces and yes I do blame the booktokification of fanfic but I also blame those of you that treat fandom like content to consume and not a community to engage with.

[mariacallous]

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been accused of antisemitism after claiming that “ethnic Jews” are seeking to “tear apart” the Russian Orthodox Church. The Russian leader’s controversial statements, which came during his annual end-of-year press conference in Moscow on December 19, were the latest in a series of similar outbursts since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine that have either directly or indirectly targeted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is Jewish.

“These are people without any beliefs, godless people. They’re ethnic Jews, but has anyone seen them in a synagogue? I don’t think so,” Putin stated during the flagship event, which is broadcast live on Russian state television and traditionally runs for hours. “These are people without kin or memory, with no roots. They don’t cherish what we cherish and what the majority of the Ukrainian people cherish as well.”

Putin’s comments came as the Ukrainian authorities seek to limit the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, which is seen as closely tied to the Kremlin. Russian Orthodox Church leader Patriarch Kirill has emerged since 2022 as an outspoken supporter of the invasion, which he has sought to defend on spiritual grounds. His backing for the war has shocked many and sparked international criticism, with Pope Francis warning him not to become “Putin’s altar boy.”

Many commentators have noted the similarity between Putin’s recent attack on people “with no roots” and Stalin’s earlier Soviet era persecution of Jews as “rootless cosmopolitans.” The Kremlin leader’s comments also offered alarming echoes of Russia’s most notorious antisemitic fake, the early twentieth century Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which alleged a Jewish plot to take over the world by infiltrating and destroying Western institutions.

Putin and his Kremlin colleagues have faced multiple accusations of antisemitism since 2022 as they have sought to defend Moscow’s claims to be “denazifying” Ukraine despite the country’s popularly-elected Jewish president and its role as a prominent destination for Jewish pilgrimages. This toxic trend has included frequent attacks on Zelenskyy’s Jewish heritage. “I have a lot of Jewish friends,” Putin stated in June 2023. “They say that Zelenskyy is not Jewish, that he is a disgrace to the Jewish people. I’m not joking.”

Following these comments, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum accused the Russian leader of repeatedly employing “antisemitic lies” to justify the invasion of Ukraine. US officials have been similarly critical. “President Zelenskyy’s Jewishness has nothing to do with the situation in Ukraine and Putin’s continued focus on this topic and “denazification” narrative is clearly intended to distract from Russia’s war of aggression against the Ukrainian people,” commented US Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Deborah Lipstadt in 2023.

Similar slurs feature regularly in the Kremlin-controlled Russian state media, with leading propagandists such as Vladimir Solovyov known for questioning the authenticity of Zelenskyy’s Jewish identity. Meanwhile, during the initial months of the invasion in spring 2022, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responded to a question about the absurdity of “denazifying” a country with a Jewish leader by claiming that Adolf Hitler “also had Jewish blood.” Lavrov’s remarks sparked outrage and were branded “unforgivable” by Israeli officials.

Many within the Jewish community see Putin’s most recent inflammatory comments as part of a broader trend that is legitimizing antisemitic tropes and raising serious safety concerns. “This is just one example of his regime’s explicit and virulent antisemitism, which has intensified following his 2022 invasion of Ukraine,” commented Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, the president of the Conference of European Rabbis and former Chief Rabbi of Moscow, who fled Russia following the attack on Ukraine after coming under pressure to publicly endorse the invasion. In December 2022, Goldschmidt warned of rising antisemitism in Putin’s Russia and advised Jews to leave the country.

Goldschmidt is now appealing to the international community to address the antisemitic rhetoric coming out of the Kremlin. “As a representative of Jewish communities across Europe, and someone who was forced to flee my home and community in Moscow, I call on Europe and the free world to unequivocally condemn President Putin’s dangerous propaganda before it spreads further,” he stated.

[gutsondisplay]

Hater of "harmless personal identity" because being gay used to be considered harmful

"harmless personal identity" and then doesn't include transIDs that have nothing to do with harm

"harmless personal identity" and then doesn't give main credit to the original coiner of multiself because it was a radqueer

Sorry but coining "harmless personal identity" AND "historical inclusionist" is contradictory

If you only feel like including identities that have a history, you could use the argument that "they don't have any/enough history" for LITERALLY ANY IDENTITY!!!!

Transmen, pansexuals, nonbinary, aspec, any mogai made term, AND MORE! can be fucked over with "historical inclusionist"!

They *did* exist back then! But most people didn't have words, or had to stay hidden and not talk about it, or didn't accept themselves, or had their things destroyed. Literally anything that ESPECIALLY happened to queer people!!!!

History inclusion does not include most people

Harmless personal identity does not include most people

It doesn't matter what argument you make, anyone could make a counter argument, most people probably could

There are psa's up on YouTube about the "dangers" of gay men, there are hundreds of people and books trying to say trans people don't exist or are hurting your kids, there are lesbians who claim mspec people don't exist and claiming they do is bad for their community

What do you say to those people when they consider you "harmful", what do say to that part of history?

Not even getting to the point that "harmless" makes it sound like it isn't that important, or that harm CANNOT be done from people with those identities, or making it seem like ALL harm is inherently bad for everyone, even the consensual kind

I am a history nerd, but I also understand how history has been used. You cannot make a stance out of it that includes everyone, and someone you care about will get hurt

[vminsos]

@eshaq-albdrasawii - post | fundraiser

@eshaq-albdrasawii message: "Hi, I'm eshaq from Gaza. I have 6 children. I need your help if you can. Please donate to save my life and the life of my family 🍉🇵🇸 My link is in my bio. Asking for help is not easy. I am asking for a small donation of $15 or $25 from each person. It will save my family and help me cover travel expenses and rebuild what's left of my home."

@mohamedshasta - post | fundraiser

@mohamedshasta message: "I am Mohammed from Gaza. I do not want to talk much about my story. I am married and have two children. I am a simple young man living in Gaza. My situation was good. I worked in a correspondent hospital and my job was good. I provided for my family and myself. Our life was very sweet and our days were beautiful. The war came and destroyed everything. There was no home, no work, no life. Everything was gone. My wife and children traveled to Egypt for treatment. My wife has a blood clot and my son has an electric shock in the brain. I am in Gaza. I cannot see them or communicate with them to check on them. They live alone in Egypt. There is no one by their side. They cannot provide them with a living, treatment, or rent an apartment. I live in a tent with my family, which consists of my mother, father, sister, brothers, their wives, and children. I cannot live in the difficult conditions that Gaza is currently experiencing. I hope you will listen to my story and donate to me so that we can live in this difficult situation."

hello, these people reached to me for help in my inbox. since I can't donate, I can only help sharing their stories and fundraiser! so, if you are able to donate, please do it! and if not, I would be glad if you reblog and share this post! thank you!

@yusra-maryam58 - post | fundraiser

@abuadam86 - post | fundraiser

@teto110 - post | fundraiser

@ibrahem-4 - post | fundraiser

@nedaaabd - post | fundraiser

@hashem1979 - post | fundraiser

@yasmin-yonis - post | fundraiser

@ammarfamily - post | fundraiser

@yousef-falestinef - post | fundraiser

@mohammed-hassouna1 - post | fundraiser

@samy-family55 - post | fundraiser

@wafaaresh1 - post | fundraiser

these are the ones it was on my inbox today! this post probably will be updated if i receive more!

[badaziraphaletakes]

Hmm...

It very much sounds like OP is in a place where their church does not have the power to destroy them. That’s not to minimize their trauma. I’ve been there too. (Mod X here). And all trauma is equally valid. But it never, EVER gives us the right to analyze and make judgments about what’s going on in other victims’ heads and what they need to do to survive.

Yes, the fake "friendly coffee" meeting trick they are talking about is gross and wrong. I know how much it sucks - I've had it done to me.

But it is not the same as knowing that you and/or your loved ones are in physical danger if you don't go back.

The only time I'd consider leaving a religious community to be comparable to what Aziraphale is living through is if they would try to physically harm you and/or your loved ones if you left.

And again, even then, and this is the main point - we have no right to make judgments about how other survivors should react.

[uboat53]

Dude, the more I read about the movement to "punish Democrats" over their support for Israel in Gaza, the more it just reads like an exercise in mass delusion. SHORT RANT (TM)?

First of all, the amount of people who claim that Harris wasn't willing to call for a cease-fire... when she actually did. Numerous times. You can look it up, that's a thing she actually did.

Secondly, the people who are upset that Harris and Biden didn't push for an arms embargo against Israel or declare Israel to be in violation of US or international law... they realize that Congress has a veto-proof majority in favor of Israel, right? Don't get me wrong, I also think that Israel violated US and international law, but if Biden/Harris had tried to cut off the supply of weapons the most likely outcome would have been for Congress to override his decision and his veto, supply the weapons anyways, and destroy any leverage that the president may have had over the leaders of Israel.

Finally, the people who genuinely think that Trump's policy would be more positive for Gazans than Biden/Harris's... I mean, I have no idea how you reach this level of delusion. This is a man who openly declared that his policy was to "let Israel finish the job". This is a man who is appointing (as he promised during the campaign!) Evangelical Christians who believe in Israel's right to control the entirety of the Levant and expel or otherwise eliminate the "other" population to key positions. This is a man whose calls to "end the war", which were apparently taken as commitments to peace by some in this movement, were clearly calls to finish the genocide.

Yes, the father-in-law of one of his children is a Lebanese Christian and has been appointed to a minor advisory position and some of his surrogates definitely went to the Islamic communities of Midwest/rust-belt states and made promises to those communities that were at odds with what the candidate actually said, but it beggars belief to think that any reasonable person would believe such a thing. When someone tells you a candidate thinks one thing and the candidate themselves says they think another thing, one of those people is definitely lying and I think it's reasonable to say that the candidate probably has a better handle on what they actually think and, ultimately, will more likely be held to what they actually said.

And look, I get it, the pro-Palestinian movement was/is desperate, tens of thousands have died already and millions more are still in mortal danger, but retreating into fantasies and delusions is only going to make a bad situation even worse. Biden/Harris may not have been making a particularly public push for peace, but Trump is going to stop even the behind-the-scenes pressure that was happening. Biden/Harris may not have called for a ban on weapons transfers to Israel, but Trump will push for more weapons. Harris DID publicly and repeatedly call for a cease-fire, Trump will not.

Ultimately, though, the reason why Harris didn't do what they demanded is that (a) her opponent was (much) more extreme but also (b) the American public is overwhelmingly pro-Israel. Yes, Americans have approved of Israel's conduct in this conflict less than in previous conflicts, but the amount of Americans saying Israel is taking the right approach or even hasn't gone far enough is still roughly equal to the number saying it's gone too far. Yes, Americans overwhelmingly don't have faith in Netanyahu and are concerned about the war expanding, but only about a quarter of Americans want the US to take a major role in diplomacy and two-thirds see a last peace as unlikely. No matter how much pressure small groups brought to bear, they were never going to force Harris to take positions that were so far outside the mainstream of American politics.

Unfortunately, the pro-Palestinian movement was trying to fight against decades and hundreds of billions of dollars worth of pro-Israeli influence on public opinion in the space of only a few months; frankly the level of success they've had is amazing. Equally unfortunately, though, the inability to change American politics in such a short time has made them retreat to magical thinking which will ultimately hurt the people they are trying to help.

This is an object lesson in effective activism here, people. Pressure is most effective when it's directed at someone you support and sustained over a long time. Note that "someone you support" part in there, you'll be much more effective at influencing someone's policy AFTER you vote for them than before. In fact, the most effective way of pursuing activism is to get sympathetic politicians into office and then push them to go further in your direction by offering even greater support if they do.

Voting against your own interests is a quick path to irrelevance. Democratic strategists are not sitting around today wishing they'd gone further in opposing Israeli actions, they're writing off Arab-Americans as a voting group that they need to focus appeals on and strategizing to appeal to other groups instead, and Republican strategists have figured out they can get Arab-American votes (or at least get them to sit out the election) without having to give them anything at all. Meanwhile, Gazans will pay the price as Netanyahu continues a campaign that can only be referred to as genocide while also instigating conflict after conflict in the greater region, all with the full support and even encouragement of the US administration.

Normally this is the point where I'd say of Trump voters that they deserve to get what he's going to bring them, but ultimately it won't be them that are directly hurt by Trump's actions, it will be the people of Gaza and the broader Middle East. Given that I can't wish that upon an innocent population but that I have very little if any ability to stop what is coming, I hope that, at least, those who voted for Trump out of frustration with Harris/Democrats are able to pause, take a deep breath, and study how American politics actually works.

Arab-Americans are a fast-growing group in the United States, and particularly so in key swing states. They deserve to have their ideas and policy preferences reflected in American politics and heard in the national debate. Hopefully, though, they can figure out how to wield their influence effectively before those who want to silence their views are able to sideline them completely.

Anyways, if you're interested in the piece that got me thinking about this, here you go. Those three delusions at the beginning aren't exaggerations by the way, they're actual statements quoted in the piece from leaders of the larger movement.

[stacksattack]

just got a very unsavory follower so obligatory post about this

[antisemitism-eu]

Why is it so hard to believe that antisemites can't understand the idea that Jews lived and fought for their homeland 2200 years ago? After all, those same antisemites loudly proclaim that Jesus could not possibly have been Jewish (2000 years ago)?

Those same antisemites say that Jews are colonizers and that the modern Jewish state in the Land of Israel should be destroyed. We're talking about people who know nothing about the Jewish history of Israel. They have no idea about the Jews who wrote the Mishna, the Midrash, the Palestinian Talmud, the Piyyut, the Mesorah - all until the ancient Jewish community was finally destroyed by the Colonizing European Crusaders. They know nothing about the immediate resurrection of the Jewish community - about the Jews who developed what later became Hassidut, the Kabbalah, the rebuilding of Tiberias, the mass migrations to Israel.

And that's just mentioning a few things off the top of my head. So why is it so hard to believe that they would say something else that's so extremely stupid as to be laughable?

[zanmor]

We are well beyond canary in the coalmine warning levels with the way trans people and particularly trans women are treated on this site.

Maybe you've heard the metaphor of allowing wolves and sheep to share the same space, welcoming everyone. You end up with just wolves because allowing them in that space makes it unsafe for any sheep. Or the story about how a nazi goes into a dive bar and is refused service. The bartender then explains to someone else at the bar that if you serve them once they tell their friends and before you know it you're the nazi bar they all go to and normal customers don't feel safe.

Terfs and other bigots are seeing these targeted harassment campaigns succeed against trans women and rejoicing. They see Tumblr ban them and officially stand by those decisions as endorsement for their harassment. It's a sign to bigots across the internet that Tumblr is a good place for them.

And what's more is that a lot of us probably don't realize just how much trans women contribute to Tumblr. The women banned recently were sources of site-wide memes and posts I wasn't even aware originated from them.any years old memes and references can be traced back to trans women on this site.

How many of these folks have to be removed before this is no longer a site you want to be a part of it? Sure you cultivate your own experience, but you can't follow or interact with people who aren't here. And if I wanted to interact with the nazis and terfs I'd go to reddit.

I encourage everyone to reblog this. Trans women shouldn't have to be the only ones speaking out against the bigotry they're experiencing. They shouldn't be the only ones risking their blogs being nuked by staff. We have to stand with them.

[maeamian]

Part of the reason that Republicans are so desperately acting like they will never lose again is because they are deeply terrified that this is their last real chance to win. The big orange dipshit came in and gutted the party of everyone who wasn't a loyalist, which left it full of nasty little gremlins who have gaping voids where charisma and human decency is supposed to go.

They still hold a lot of power, but if we stop them this year the next presidential election may not be the Most Important One Of Your Life™, that's not a guarantee or anything, but if they don't win here and now their future looks grim, this dipshit is the only guy they have left and he's extremely diminished and has his brains leaking out of his ears at this point. We can beat him into the ground.

So that's what we're gonna fucking do. We're gonna break these fucking fash. They will crash upon us and we're gonna break their fucking necks. When they come for us they will lose because they're fucking losers and we have each other's backs which is something they fundamentally are incapable of comprehending.

[benevolenterrancy]

("Always. Continuously. With increasing apprehension, and decreasing hope. I will love you if I never see you again, and I will love you if I see you every Tuesday. I will love you as a corpse loves the beak of the vulture. I will love you no matter what happens to you, and no matter how I discover what happens to you, and no matter what happens to me as I discover this." -- paraphrased from The Beatrice Letters, Lemony Snicket)

[cienie-isengardu]

Sokka's sexism

Sokka’s sexism from the earliest episodes is an interesting case, because the Southern Water Tribe, at least from what was presented to us on screen, doesn’t seem to operate that much on gender roles? Especially when compared to the Northern Water Tribe?

I mean, yeah, warriors (men) went to war, while women, children and the elders stayed at home. But as Hama’s story shows, when Fire Nation attacked Southern Water Tribe, both female and male benders were fighting against invaders arm to arm and it seems like they were the actual first line of defense there, not the non-bender warriors.

In contrast, during siege of North Pole, in the final of Book 1: Water, we don’t see any female bender helping defend their home except Katara, who was involved in protecting Aang when he was in Spirit World.

Since all the waterbenders were captured from the Southern Tribe, it makes sense that non-bender warriors stepped in and got involved with war, while the kids and elders were left under women’s care.

Another example comes from “a ceremonial test of wisdom, bravery and trust”, known as ice dodging. As Bato explained, it is a rite of passage for young Water Tribe members and in their village “done by weaving a boat through a field of icebergs.” When a child turns 14, their father was supposed to take them to ice dodging, so they could earn their mark. Though the episode itself was focused on Sokka’s ceremony, Bato never specified it as something that boys alone should do and not only Katara (girl) but also Aang (outsider) is allowed to take part in the ritual. Once Sokka proved himself, everyone of their group got a mark, as a sign they passed the test. Interesting thing to note, since Bato did not specify it is a rite of passage for boys alone, it suggests girls were expected to know how to sail in boats of the Southern Water Tribe. Of course, again, war didn’t allow to continue this tradition as men (Hakoda, in case of Sokka & Katara) left to fight against Fire Nation.

Later, when Sokka and Katara reunited with their father, Hakoda did not try to send away Katara nor relegate her to just a medic job during the invasion. In Northern Water Tribe episodes, we learned that teaching for waterbenders there was defined by gender - women were allowed to learn only how to heal, while men how to use their bending in fight. Hakoda, nor Bato nor other of their warriors even for a moment questioned Katara’s presence on the battlefield nor the presence of women in the ranks of their allies like a blind, 12 years old Toph or the female water benders from Swamps or female(?) soldier from Earth Kingdom

And during battle, Katara did not fight in rank with other soldiers, she first alone secured Appa during submarine attack, then alongside her brother and father took down guardhouses - Hakoda himself told her and Sokka to attack one when he took down the other one

showing how much he trusted his 15 years old son and 14 years old daughter while ordering them attack on Fire Nation adult soldiers hidden in well guarder place.

Later, when Hakoda got seriously injured and Sokka temporary took the command of their forces, we could see that Hakoda relied on Katara to follow his troops and not ever once tried to send her back “to safety” or argued she should leave him behind, as often it happens with heroic (male) figures. Quite the opposite. When Katara offered him to “wait here if you want”, Hakoda firmly said “I want to press forward with the others”, which meant his daughter needed to come with him directly into an already ongoing fight (even if they stayed more at the rear of their army, they were still on battlefield).

She and her brother, alongside with the youngest members of Invasion, were forced to flee on Appa once the battle was lost, but no other adult woman was included. During Zuko’s coronation, when all war prisoners were released, in the background we could again see the female character(s) from Swamps.

And let's not forget how impressive Hakoda was by Suki when she single-handedly captured the warden at Boiling Rock prison and did not try to stop her from fighting against Ty Lee alongside Zuko and Sokka against Azula.

Understandably, we have no idea how the Southern Water Tribe and its culture looked like before the war, even arguably, the characters themselves may not have a clear idea due to growing up in dire times. But my point is, Hakoda and Bato, the two main adult Southern Water Tribe’s warriors that Avatar: The Last Airbender allowed us to know more about, have never shown any direct sexism toward Katara or other female characters. And though Sokka was the oldest boy at their village, there is no reason to think women did not hunt in absence of men, because one person would not be able to provide for a whole community 24/7. Also, as Hama proved, the Southern Water Tribe’s waterbenders were capable of fighting and their gender did not play any vital role the way it happened in their sister tribe at North Pole. 

Of course, Fire Nation’s repeated attacks affected residents of South Pole and their living conditions but from the little bits the show gave us, I think it is correct to assume if Sokka grew up with Hakoda around to guide him as he should, his behavior would be different from the sexism and dismissive attitude toward Katara or Kyoshi Warriors. For one, logically thinking Southern Water Tribe’s warriors need to do all the cooking, sewing and keeping their camp clean all on their own during war so it is not a “girly job” but a vital part of a warriors skills to survive and ensure their equipment is in the best condition. But Sokka doesn’t know it, because there is no one to teach him the importance of those skills. All Sokka had was father’s farewell words to cling to - and I’m not sure if Hakoda truly expected his son to be able to protect Katara and the village in his absence, or he just tried to make Sokka feel a bit less depressed about being left behind. You know, by giving him purpose and a Big Important Job to focus on and to feel needed and trusted. 

Which leads me to think that Sokka’s sexism is not rooted in Southern Water Tribe’s culture itself, but in his own insecurity and pressure of being the oldest boy in the village. If girls could be warriors - and be better than him - it would put into question all his self-worth, purpose and the trust given by father. Once Sokka met Kyoshi Warriors and later all the skilled girls, it challenged him on a very personal level, but he accepted the truth and moved on and alongside, finally became a true warrior and a man. 

And I find it indeed an interesting case, as Sokka’s sexism and dismissal of girls is not necessarily stemming from the culture he is part of, but rather is the effect of not knowing said culture & pre-war history of his Tribe. And of course, from his own insecurity. 

[beneathsilverstars]

i do think about how pre-canon isafrin would be such a fucking mess