#whats that thing called fascism again?

[kitty-pelosi]

I am willing to bet everyone in this thread is a white person (because this is tumblr and it’s white queer city) and it’s because this whole conversation completely dances around one topic:

the fact that the primary drive behind online discourse for not voting in this election, along with the historicity and testimony of people who say they can no longer vote for democrats all have one thing in common - the centering of immigrant, black and indigenous voices invested in anticapitalist decolonization.

I would say that it is true that white people are MORE WORRIED about Donald Trump than black people in America. And my people (white people) HATE to recognize this and will refuse to recognize this because they are themselves the privileged political class that sees itself in the structure of governance. But they don’t see how others do not see themselves in the same structure, or how asking people who are certainly already NOT a part of that structure to throw themselves into it is… a complete non-starter for a dialogue. And it makes you seem like an out of touch white liberal to a person who is already very adept in ignoring out of touch white liberals.

I feel like nothing said here actually matters remotely if you’re in touch with the fact that for the past 35 years, Democrat or Republican, asking a black person to vote is asking them to vote for the same white oppressor. There is a reason that the most successful presidential candidate in recent Democratic politics was a black man who was speaking to black Americans directly and not through a party organizing apparatus. And then he turned out to have the same problems all the white men have in their liberal politics. So telling people that they HAVE to vote for Biden because Trump is “pro cop city!” while at the same time democratic legislatures at the state and local level (not to mention the overwhelming conservatism of federal democrats) are abetting the construction of these cop cities is not productive. Being righteous online about voting for someone who goes on TV and justifies genocide actively reduces the value of your words to these people. You (vaguely targeted to the Democratic voter and organizer) are honestly shooting yourself in the foot. You and the way you communicate are the primary obstacle to your own success, and you don’t even see it. People don’t want to be involved with you, because at this point in history and given the matrices of oppression at play, you just disgust them.

and white people just do not see how insulting and ridiculous they seem when they ask - no, DEMAND black votes. because they need black votes or else they won’t win, but the internal party structure has made it plain as day - to those of us who aren’t in line - that their voices are to be silenced and averted at any cost at all times, even when it damages the Democratic Party. (see: 2016, 2020, and 2024 and the actions of the DNC)

White liberals don’t see any of this because they view themselves as the righteous protectorate of the American underclass (black folk) and their ability to access civil liberties. They think black people should be more grateful for their work. While at the same time people who aren’t white in America are asked to vote for two different men - a difference only white people get to see and know, and that the rest of us don’t experience.

and if you want to know what the plan is for after the election, it’s to actually have some white people with money on our side again. because those people only care about humans when a Republican is in power (they are themselves democrats) but feel righteous fulfillment when a Blue Guy is in office, which terminates their desire to help others. We see it in canvassing, we see it at polls, and we see it at protests. It makes organizing easier, it makes it more productive, and it’s because white people will donate money to us out of a neurotic fear of Donald Trump. Just how the Democratic Party primarily markets itself now off of not being Trump, we can capitalize on those same fears at the donation drive and in local politics. The impending failure and collapse of the Democratic Party will provide a great opportunity to radicalize millions, given that it is really the Democratic Party and its infrastructure that has been a HUGE obstacle in effective grassroots organizing and Marxist movements.

i kind of wish the anti voting people wouldn’t dance around the idea of what happens after the election. Like okay, the democrats lose, you taught them a lesson (and fwiw, I do think its a legitimate message to send- the people are not happy with the actions and status quo of the DNC). Now What. Trump, the multiply indicted crime president who incited a violent mob upon the capitol, is now President. He has all the qualities you hate about Biden, AND more, except he and his administration have even less reason to be sensitive to the wishes of their democratic constituents. He is a puppet for the far right and white supremacists and christian nationalists. I really shouldn’t even have to go over this- we LIVED it already. Genuinely asking, is this what you want? Because frankly I do not think 4 more years of Trump is worth it over Biden. Your hands are not clean, this is the future you want to choose. I just don’t understand why.

[transhuman-priestess]

Every few years there’s a shift in the discourse where someone decides that there’s a group of queers who aren’t “really” queer and for reasons unknown decided that they will focus all of their discourse on trying to discredit that one group.

It used to be “straight passing” bisexuals. Then it was “Theyfabs” and “transtrenders”. Then it was “hetero aces.” Now it’s “transmisogyny-exempt” people. And the thing you find every time is that the people writing angry multi-paragraph screeds about how these “invaders” are “stealing resources” or “silencing people” but they can never actually point to more than one or two examples, at best, of this happening.

But if you repeat something enough with a strong enough conviction in your voice, people will pretty much always be willing to think you’re right, even when you aren’t.

This is the basis of fascism. Exclusionary rhetoric is fascist. No one is immune to this thought process. You have to actively work on avoiding it.

“Did you just call me a fascist because I’m concerned with TME people silencing trans women” i mean, yeah. I did. Fix yourself, and I’ll be willing to talk to you again. I won’t apologize for what I said, mind you. But you can always fix yourself.

I used to think like that. I used to talk about how you “need dysphoria to be trans” and how bi people can “pass as straight” and how trans men “take up our space.” And I was wrong about all that.

There’s enough space in the queer community for everyone. We are always stronger when we understand this. Please, look towards unity rather than division. Fix yourselves.

Being wrong doesn’t make you a bad person. Changing your views is not evidence of weakness. Your friends will still live you if you change. Please.

[antifainternational]

Hi! There have been fascist stickers around my neighborhood and I have kept tearing them down. What do I do more than tearing these stickers down? Should I contact my country's antifa about this?

Common problem, good question. Here's what we'd suggest: LEVEL ONE: Yeah, tear that shit down. LEVEL TWO: Tear that shit down & talk to your neighbors about it - have they seen them too? What do they think? Are they concerned? What do they want to do about it? LEVEL THREE: Tear that shit down, talk to your neighbors, and replace them with antifa stickers or posters to put the fash on notice that they are not welcome in your 'hood! LEVEL FOUR: All of the above + start up an anti-racist neighborhood watch! LEVEL FIVE: All of the above + when you see the fash stickers pop up again, take note of when & where you saw them. If someone is tearing down your antifa stickers you put up in response, take note of where & when you've noticed their down. Keeping doing this and pretty soon you might notice a pattern - for example, maybe you learn that the fash like to put their shit up on Tuesday nights between 10pm and midnight. Once you've detected a pattern to their behavior, you can do things like follow them to find out more about them or set up a surprise welcome party for them! WHAT YOU SHOULDN'T DO: Contact your country's antifa and expect them to solve the problem for you. Feel free to let them know for sure, but remember that antifa are people just like you who hate fascism and are willing to step up to do something about it, but don't have any more power to do things than you do and are probably as more of a disadvantage since you know your neighborhood better. Bottom line: there's no "antifa police" you can call and it's on you to respond when fascists are trying to stake a claim where you live. Good luck/let us know how it goes!

[evelynvipah]

On a very serious note, the jokes or takes about Caitlyn being a fascist or a dictator definitely have to stop. She is neither one of those things. Caitlyn’s whole mission was to dismantle shimmer, get rid of the chembarons and remaining partners of Silco, and locate Jinx. Not dictate over Zaun and further the oppression against the Zaunites (she literally asks Ambessa why peace is the justification for violence), instead taking measures that would benefit them in the long run with more opportunities for growth (hence getting rid of shimmer and chembarons).

Using the definition of fascism—“a populist politicial philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual, that is associated with a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, and that is characterized by severe economic and social regimentation and by forcible suppression of opposition,”—Ambessa is the one people should be looking to when using that term. She is a colonizer, a warlord that has made it known that any person or nation that is weak or shows significant fragility should be dealt with. She even exiles her own daughter for such, insulting her as well as Topsiders. She believes it to be her right to position herself in the battles between two cities, singling out the one she deems a “problem” and using her own forces to basically put them in their place before she chooses to eradicate them. Ambessa would have no qualms about invading and emptying out all of Zaun if she was able to without interference. We’re literally shown that she has been pulling the strings from the get-go in order to further the hatred and disgust Piltover has for Zaun. Orchestrating the memorial attack to force the hands of the council, and Caitlyn, to take action because of the fear that this is an impending uprising so she could get what she wants out of the blood of Zaunites being spilled.

Labeling Caitlyn as a fascist or dictator, ignoring that her issue was not with Zaun or Zaunites all together but Jinx herself as a single individual, is quite irresponsible considering the fact that it is watering down the severity and gravity of what those terms mean and the history behind them. It is also very sad and frustrating to see people act very performative or morally righteous in their portrayals of Caitlyn as such even more when we are watching literal gen-cides (don’t know if this’ll be censored) happen to many different communities of people. It overall just feels like people care more about virtue signaling than actually being good people that have the capacity to understand what’s fictional, while also acknowledging the importance of understanding politics in fiction, still treating it with the respect and attentiveness necessary.

To add: calling Caitlyn, KKKiramman is pretty disgusting considering that she is not actively trying to achieve supremacy against the Zaunites with Topsiders. I don’t understand why Black people are the butt of jokes like this when we are still facing such oppression and violence from white supremacists. And to also ruffle a couple more feather, Caitlyn is the minority being targeted time and time again here by a white person, yet I don’t see people talking about that aspect.

[deadlydelicious]

God I did my whole first term masters theory on the Degenerate Art Exhibit so this is a special interest area of mine that gets me fired up.(and its why I am so aggressively pro ‘absolute art’ (aka the idea that anything is art) and so anti ‘modern art is bad’) because no fucking joke - ‘modern art is bad and useless’ is core fascist ideology. its literally one of their first building blocks facists lay down to route out ‘undesirables’ when taking over a culture.

So the Degenerate Art in Nazi Germany was both a label handed out by the Ministry of Propeganda against certain artists, and an actual exhibition staged by the Nazis. The exhibition toured over the years, but the first was held in 1937, and in the years leading up to it, the ministry of propeganda seized THOUSANDS of artworks. People talk about the Nazis burning books and stealing art, but they tend to think of the stolen art in terms of the Nazi plunder (aka hi-value art pieces being stolen from Jewish families or invaded countries and being distributed to party officals) but they forget that the Nazi's stole and destroyed thousands of artworks from living artists because they either saw the artists or the subject of the artwork itself as 'entartet' (degenerate). Officals from Goebbels Minstry of Propeganda oversaw the removal of hundreds of works of art from museums across the invaded territories throughout the war, and the raids of artists studios to steal and destroy art and arrest artists. Some of what wasn't destroyed was exhibited in the Degenerate Art Exhibit.

The exhbition was held in 1937 in Munich, and it was essentially the art equivalent of a 'freak show', as in ‘come look at these degenerate examples of art’, or ‘come look at the art made by degenerates’, to show Germans the stupid frivolous nature of art and build their case that modern artists were an economic drain and a danger to the pure ideal of Germany. The Nazis also hosted another exhibit across the street at the same time called the Great German art exhibition, which held all the neoclassical style art create by the Nazis offical artists, to show good Germans what proper art was.

Now why they showed the art is for a couple of reasons. You have to keep in mind that pre-nazi Weimar Germany was sort of a cultural hub for modern artists, so there were a lot of them, and it was also a country expiriencing MASSIVE economic issues, so the goal was to make these artists feel like the enemy - to say modern art was expensive and ridiculous. It was also importantly a move to try and silence a large portion of artists who were VERY traumatised by WW1 and were trying to depict that trauma through art, which the Nazi's hated because it ruined the image of the 'strong but wronged' German soldier they were trying to push in an effort to kick start their hostile takeover of Europe. Artists like Kathë Kollwitz creating memorials depicting grieving parents rather than matryed heros, or Ernst Balach depicting WW1 soldiers as emaciated terrified young boys huddling in the shroud of death didn't really back up Hitlers vision of the great German Ubermensch. Images and ideas that were seen to weaken the image and integrity of Germany and were therefore a threat to the powerful German state.

A lot of the artists who had their work seized spent the rest of the war being closely monitored by Goebbels men, with their ability to purchase art supplies or create art almost entirely denied, and some of them were arrested as political prisoners.

The V&A museum has a PDF of the full inventory of degenerate art avalibile online here

and I highly urge people to explore the work of the artists who had their work siezed, artists like Ernst Barlach, Elfriede Lohse-Wächtler, Karl Schwesig, Otto Dix, Emil Nolde, and of course Kathë Kollwitz (who may or may not be my favourite artist of all time). They had their legacies destroyed by the actions of a fascist state, and they deserve for their art to be admired and remembered. As artists, legacy is often everything. Disrespect a Nazi today by honoring the legacy and voice of someone they wanted you to forget

Stop using the word degenerate to mean horny challenge

[qqueenofhades]

I understand how important it is to be able to criticize the President, and am not at all of the belief he should be beyond critique, but the critiquing of Biden makes me so nervous. (That's not to say I agree with every decision he's made - I absolutely do not). But I feel like people see things he's done wrong and decide they won't vote for him because of it. I'm not sure if enough people have the ability to see that he's done things wrong but also is our only hope of staving off literal fascism.

So many people talk about how sick they are of it constantly being a lesser of two evils situation, constantly having to vote for a candidate they hate because the other side is worse (I heard it in 2020, 2022, etc), and I guess I just- I don't really get it? We're here because they didn't do that in 2016. All of this could've been avoided had the result been different then. I just feel like people don't comprehend how different of a place we'd be in if Hillary won and engage in all this cognitive dissonance to make themselves feel better about being part of the reason she didn't.

Like.... this has been a long-running topic of discussion on my blog, not least because it is so inexplicable and maddening. It also shows how terribly shallow most people's understanding of the American political process is, and how toxic the "I can only vote for a candidate if every single personal belief/position of theirs matches mine" belief is, as well as how much damage it has done to American democracy even (and indeed, especially) by people who technically don't identify as right-wing. Yell at Republicans all you like (God knows I do, because they're the worst people on earth) but they vote. Every time. Every election. Every candidate. Whereas the Democratic electorate still holds out for Mister Perfect, and it very definitely is Mister Perfect. The amount of "evil HRC!!!" Republican-poisoned Kool-Aid that so-called progressives drank in 2016, and then afterward when they insisted they could have voted for someone like Elizabeth Warren and then didn't do that in 2020, is... baffing.

Frankly, I don't care if Hillary Clinton's personal positions on XYZ issue were the most Neoliberal Corporate Centrist Shill to Ever Shill (and Online Leftists' intellectual skills being what they are, I seriously doubt that they were using any of those words correctly and/or accurately). American policy is not made by "personal dictate of the ruler," or at least it shouldn't be, because we are not an absolute monarchy. We rely on the operation of a system with input from many people. As such, if Hillary had been elected, we would have 2-3 new liberal justices on SCOTUS and have secured civil and environmental rights for the next generation. Roe would be intact, and all the other terrible rulings that SCOTUS has recently handed down wouldn't have happened. We wouldn't have had January 6th, the attempt to stage a coup, all the tawdry scandals, our national security being at risk because of Trump stealing classified documents and probably selling them to Russia and/or Saudi Arabia, etc etc. If you think that's in any way an equivalent amount of evil to what would have happened if Hillary was elected, or if she was "still evil!!!," then I honestly don't know what to tell you. She could fucking murder puppies in her spare time if she had preserved SCOTUS for us, WHICH SHE WOULD HAVE, BECAUSE SHE WARNED US EXACTLY WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN.

(Hoo. Sorry. Still steamed. 2016 war flashbacks, again.)

In short, Hillary would have been a solid continuity Democrat and she would have signed whatever legislation a Democratic House and Senate passed, not to mention been hugely inspiring as the first female president. But because it's so important to the Online Leftists' moral sense of themselves that BOTH PARTIES ARE THE SAME!!!, they can't possibly acknowledge that ever being a factor, and/or admit that they have any culpability in not voting for her in 2016. It's like when you read the British press about any of the UK's equally numerous problems, and they BEND OVER BACKWARD to avoid mentioning that Brexit might be a factor. They just can't mention it, because then that means they might have made the wrong choice in pulling for it as hard as they did, and blah blah Sovereignty.

Basically, if HRC had been elected president, everything would be so much less terrible and terrifying all the time, we would be talking about her successor in 2024 as someone else who could be the "first," we could explore handing the reins over to Kamala as a Black/Asian woman, we could promote Buttigieg as the first gay president, etc etc. But because 2016 was so catastrophically fucked up, we are in damage control mode for the immediate future and every election is just as pivotal. And yet, because people think that the only thing that matters is a presidential candidate's personal views, we're stuck having the same old arguments and desperately begging people over and over to please vote against fascism, since that somehow isn't self-evident enough on its own. Yikes on Bikes.

[eroguron0nsense]

Garp, Fascism, and Parental Failure

Garp is truly one of the most interesting One Piece characters for me because of the extent to which his dogged, relentless devotion to a fascist system–and the supposed "order" it promises to uphold in the face of anarchy or rebellion–perseveres no matter how many times it fails him and his son and his grandsons. He's fully aware of the deep-seated corruption and atrocity, and feels some kind of moral obligation to bend its rules to protect the innocent (as we can see with his attempts to protect Rouge and Ace), but when faced with widespread femicide and infanticide, genocide, slavery and endless examples of egregious cruelty, he is unable to comprehend the notion that the system is indefensible, or that the only moral choice he can possibly make when faced with that level of atrocity is to leave and resist it. His son recognizing the inherent, inexcusable failures of the World Government and its armed enforcers–literally quitting the force to start a revolution– changes nothing. The order to slaughter pregnant people and infants at Baterilla can't convince him otherwise. The countless instances of bribery, the tolerance of atrocity from state-sanctioned privateers, everything about the history of the Valley of the Gods are all things he's aware of, and takes issue with, but never comes to the conclusion that he cannot affect positive change within a system designed for oppression. The public execution of his grandson–a prime example of the marine's fundamentally irrational, arrogant, vindictive cruelty clearly bound to blow up in all of their faces even before their Pyrrhic victory at the summit war–makes him waver, but even when confronted with this obvious, indefensible injustice against a child he raised and rescued by people seeking to murder him on live TV and desecrate his corpse as a show of power, he cannot bring himself to act against it in any meaningful way no matter how much it hurts him to leave his grandson to die. If he can't veto it, he'll stay Vice Admiral and suffer through Ace being sacrificed on the altar of fascist state control, and functionally leave Luffy for dead in the process while he's at it. He fails every single person he wanted to love–Ace, Luffy, and almost certainly Dragon–and allows himself to be reluctantly complicit in countless crimes against humanity again and again and again because he's so deeply steeped in this notion of preservation of order through state control that he convinces himself that even this disgusting, atrocious, fundamentally flawed and untenable excuse for a government is better than abolition, better than revolution, or just the act of expecting accountability or literally anything better from the systems that issue false promises to protect you. Dadan beating the living shit out of him and calling him a failure as a grandfather, as a self proclaimed defender of the people, is one of the most important scenes in the Postwar Arc because a lesser series might frame Garp as a tragic, helpless figure suffering more than anyone else due to conflict of love and duty, but One Piece refuses to whitewash his actions/inaction or allow the grief and suffering caused by systems he's complicit in to take precedence over its real victims: the D brothers.

There's so much I could say about statism and anarchism and the ways people have internalized the supposed necessity of state violence to the extent they can't oppose that violence even when it ruins them or their loved ones, but that horrible indoctrination and its devastating consequences for both him and his family are what makes Garp so fascinating to watch and so thematically/politically important to One Piece as a whole.

[kyupidos]

updated 08/02/24: here is a part 2 to this analysis!

i think one of the most disturbing yet funny things about sebek antis is how they manage to twist a well written narration about internalized racism and the struggles of being a mixed person into something relating to “fascism”.

( btw there will be SLIGHTTT b7 spoilers in here but i personally think it’s whatever, no big difference to what we’ve known in the past nothing shocking. )

as his biggest fan AND as an ethnic person i feel as though you HAVE to be brain dead and/or white to not understand any of this. he doesn’t genuinely believe that humans are an inferior race, he has MULTIPLE instances praising human people ( riddle, epel ). and the evidence is in firstly, epel’s school uniform vignette where he praises his apple carving, saying it’s even nice enough to be used as a gift to malleus, and we KNOW how highly he regards him. and not once does he ever say anything like “for a human”, or insult him for “being human”, he appreciates his skill.

then there’s riddle’s ceremonial robes vignette, and while he does look down on him, it’s not really even about being human saying, “i would better be served by weight training than riding with a bunch of amateurs” ( in reference that here we see him initially join the equestrian club ). but once riddle proves his skill, sebek is more than willing to respect him highly.

( a small thing from the harveston event that i’ve been told of from a friend as well, he also holds high respect and love for marja. initially he wasn’t fond of her, but she gave him a squirrel plushie for the plush sled race. because of this he’s basically like, “she’s the only reason i got this far!!” and praises her. i haven’t played the event and this is what my friend says, but i figured to at least include this. )

the most insane part is you don’t even have to scour through every single moment he shows up on screen to know this, it even shows in his WIKI that one of his dislikes/pet peeves is “whining.” to be clear, while admittedly he does make patronizing remarks in regards to humans, it’s never enough to say he has a genuine hatred, and in fact he proves the opposite many times, in both epel and riddle’s case. and, in regards to the personality section, again referencing epel and riddle ( there may be other examples, they just happen to be the ones i found specifically ), he isn’t afraid to acknowledge and respect people for their talent or skills, even if they are human.

and if you’re wondering what i mean by it being ethnically related, fae are canonically ( say it with me now canonically, ) considered to be a minority race. being half human half fae is what makes him mixed, equally canonically so. as far as i’m concerned basically everyone in the fandom knows this but the complexity around this part of his character is just SO undermined that people are willing to call him “openly racist” ( to others, not his internalized racism ) and a FASCIST. are you serious?

we know already that sebek learned a lot of what he thinks now from his grandfather, ( sebek zigvolt wiki, trivia ) considering malleus and lilia commenting that his temper is a trait he gets from him ( scary monsters event story for malleus ), which of course is likely what garners his dislike towards his human aspect and his father for being human, even considering his father outputting, trailing off when noting he is human, while being prideful in his mother who is a fae ( birthday boy vignette ).

and what do we learn about his grandfather? he was in a war against humans, which makes it obvious enough how he would learn this internalized racism and why he would put down that part of his human identity. remember that fae age differently, this war wasn’t even that long ago for them. i think it’s a shame people seem to put so much love into diasomnia but not even recognize its lore that’s rooted so deep yet at the same time is right in front of our face.

but that’s all from me folks. willing to dive deeper into my sebek love and analysis if anyone wants it!

[pochiperpe90]

[ENG] Marinelli: “Playing Mussolini? It was painful”

The actor, on stage without pauses in the eight episodes, talks about his experience in the role of the dictator: "I didn't know how things went, I hope that M can be useful to the public".

Luca Marinelli didn't just give Benito Mussolini his face, he gave him his entire soul. Present in practically every scene of the eight episodes of the series "M - The son of the century", coming soon to Sky and streaming on NOW, he climbed through dialogues without time limits and monologues that he gave shape to by looking straight into the camera, an unbelievable work and not just of interpretation: The feeling I had reading Antonio Scurati's book was of having been confronted with my gigantic ignorance. It’s healthy to confront this, never take it for granted that you always have all the answers and simplify life, because this attitude is called populism, and it was invented by Mussolini himself. It’s healthy to know the limits of our knowledge, I honestly didn’t think that things had gone this way and I hope that they push the audience towards the desire to be present to themselves, to make their own interpretations, knowing that they are not alone. “During the shooting he confesses - I would have liked to be launched on some other planet. We talked about our history, which is perhaps the most painful thing and I am very happy with what we did. It happened that in some scenes I got excited with the Duce, which generated a deep sadness in me, but I had to crush something in myself to continue to pump this dark side of evil, a process that for me was very painful. Some scenes struck me particularly, like the ones we shot in Parliament, even there Mussolini did not hide any of his aims, we filmed the speeches he made and for me repeating those words was something really scary”.

To prepare for this difficult job, the actor watched many films from the Istituto Luce “and even in their triumphant aspects I perceived the great violence of fascism, it’s wrong to treat dictators like devils or madmen, because they are people like us and we need to know them”. But it’s precisely the knowledge that is lacking in our country, starting with the education of our school system, about which Marinelli has several doubts. “I’m curious - he says - to see what the public's reaction will be to the arrival of the series. I believe it’s important to start counting on an education ‘alive’ again, but in Italy unfortunately we don’t invest in the school system and we see obvious results. I have not been a great student in my path, but honestly I don’t remember having addressed these issues, perhaps we didn’t even get there with the program and I think it’s dangerous”. After so many months spent wearing the uncomfortable shoes of Mussolini, it was not easy for the actor to get out of a role that was totally immersive. “This series - concludes - left me with the fact of wanting to be present in my present and my past. Only like this can we understand what we are experiencing today as well as going in the direction that is most useful to everyone”.

Cr: CIAK

[raconteur-wanpi]

Time to defend Reiju again because sometimes I feel like people have a misunderstanding of her character and even what Sanji thinks of her.

I love looking back at the source material because it's always a good reminder of what the characters actually say, feel and do.

Immediately you can tell she trusts Sanji so much, she tells him "I know you wouldn't lie to me". She trusts him with her life. At this point she's even supposed to still have her cold facade, but she lets that kindness towards him "escape" from her mouth.

I've seen some people even say that Reiju's kindness only extends towards Sanji, but she so clearly despises the fascism and violence of Germa with her whole being. This scene is not just her being suicidal, she thinks Germa shouldn't exist. Sanji's reaction to the idea of her dying is immediate as well! He's extremely upset at the idea of her getting hurt.

And when he's worried about her, she dismisses it. It's so easy to misread the middle panel as her saying "oh Sanji, I fooled you into thinking I care about you", when what she's actually saying "I'm not worth your kindness". She's not trying to be cruel towards Sanji in this scene; she's trying to be cruel to herself. She doesn't see herself as worthy of any love, concern or praise from him.

Once again she is sacrificing herself for him. Again and again, the only thing she cares about is his safety. Telling him to be with the people that are free to openly love him and take care of him. She doesn't care about what happens to her. She never partook in the cruelty towards him out of any agreement with the rest of her family. It was always fear and self-preservation that motivated her, and it's apparent how much it haunts her and how much she regrets every second of it.

She also doesn't blame him for Sora's death in the slightest! The moment Sanji even thinks about it, she shuts it off immediately. It was Sora's decision, her strength, her choice, her power. Reiju doesn't want anyone to take away that from her mother. She respects the little agency that she had. After all she wishes she was capable of such disobedience and rebellion towards her father. She sees Sanji as the gift Sora left to her and to the world, not as the thing that took her away. And she clearly wants Sanji to feel the same way.

The juxtaposition of "Sanji's a worthless failure" from the rest of their siblings to Reiju saying 'of course you're not a failure" hurts so much. She used to pretend to agree with the rest of them as a kid. She'd call him a failure in front of them. This is her admitting she never, ever meant it or even thought it. This is the closest her emotionally constipated ass can get to an apology. She's telling him to his face how she really feels, that she didn't mean it. She cries! She cries while she tries to hold it back, this is how much she cares about him! She's telling him how much she appreciates his kindness, but also how she doesn't she herself as kind like he is.

Again, telling him to run away. She's not worthy of mercy in her eyes. And Reiju here not only rejects Germa's fascism, she also shows a really good understanding of how it works. Glorification of an imagined past is the first telltale sign of the ideology. She is very clearly both emotionally and intellectually opposed to the ideology itself, not just Germa's tangible actions. She sees all of it as a plague.

And here's the part that frustrates me the most when it comes to people misremembering or misunderstanding canon: Sanji absolutely does not group her with the rest of his family. It's text, he says it right here! "I have nothing but hatred for them, but why you? Why do you have to die?!".

Every time Sanji rejects his birth family, this panel makes it clear to me that he understands that Reiju hates them just as much, that she is a victim of the same abuse. He is not including her. It's normal for him to have conflicting feelings toward her, don't get me wrong. He doesn't seem to trust her at first, especially when she puts those handcuffs on him. I don't think that he doesn't have feelings of discomfort about how she was forced to treat him in the past. He obviously does! That's normal! But that doesn't mean he doesn't understand why it happened. He can feel upset and recognize the situation at the same time, those aren't contradictory. He absolutely does not see her as or include her within the rest of the Vinsmokes.

It's interesting to look back at Arlong Park and see the way Sanji talks about Nami being forced to act cruel and lie about who she is, presenting herself as a monster. He immediately recognizes that sort of behavior. He understands what young girls often have to do to escape the violence of men; he saw it with his own very eyes with Reiju. And like Nami, she sees herself as someone who has to hurt and isolate and self-sacrifice for the safety of those she loves. Hell, Sanji does the same thing! This is probably the moment where he realizes what he looks and sounds like to the Strawhats during this arc, what self-sacrifice looks like to those who love you. It's probably part of the turning point for him to decide to go where Luffy is waiting for him. He finally got to look at the situation from Luffy's eyes.

It hurts. She's saying "leave me behind" again. Like you did those 13 years ago. You were able to find the people "out at sea" I promised you that you would. Maybe they can love you for me, in my place.

And he knows it. She's not the same as the rest of them, she never was, and she never will be in his eyes. She's his mirror. She's who he'd have to be if he was forced to stay behind. He understands.

[shipping-isnt-morality]

I don’t feel like I have anything to say to Zionists anymore except “this is what it sounds like to defend genocide.”

I just - can you hear yourself? I know many of you have studied fascism and the rise of genocidal attitudes. Do you think you’re immune? Do you think being Jewish, or educated, or the descendant of genocide survivors makes you immune? You know better.

My god, if the 20th century can teach us one thing, let it be that humans are great at justifying genocide to themselves and each other when motivated to. No education can inoculate against it. Every excuse had been used before. Every feeling of righteous justification for slaughter has already been invoked.

It is undeniable that there are tens of thousands of dead. So many thousands upon tens upon hundreds of thousands of children dead maimed orphaned traumatized by bombs that Israel dropped, shells that Israel fired, targets chosen by software Israel made.

This is undeniable; I can see it with my own eyes. You can say, this is the reality of war, and I will say: this is the reality of your choices. How Israel wages “war” is a choice. How they go about statecraft is a choice. We cannot and should never accept their justifications that some action of the enemy necessitated this response; they still chose the response.

There was a euphemism in some death camps in Poland: “dirty work”. It was often literally true - there’s horrific stories about the smell and texture of industrial amounts of human ash - but also figuratively; the work of mass executions is more often seen as a necessary evil for the accomplishment of a greater good. It’s rarely celebrated or acknowledged openly for what it is at the time. All of this is very normal in genocide.

I look at my timeline in the past months, at the choices Israel has made for its “greater good”, I have listened to the justifications. What I see is Israelis making the same old tired weak excuses for their own dirty work.

And all I have to say anymore is: this is what it sounds like when you defend genocide. You have not invented a new thought in all of it. “They’re not a real group, they’re monsters, we don’t want to kill them but we have to, we just want them to leave before they kill us all and they’ll try to exterminate us the second we stop killing them” - save it.

Do some fucking reading on other genocides - the Armenian one is particularly relevant - and read arguments from genocide deniers and you will quickly see it is all the same shit. Check out Facebook posts from Myanmar during the genocide and it’s basically indistinguishable from tweets from Zionists today. It’s the same shit, over and over and over again.

Literally billions of people with eyes can see what Israel is doing and call it what it is, because it’s been done before, and all the defensive answers and excuses have been done before too.

This is what it looks like when people defend genocide. Always just like this.

[selfchiller]

Man I'm a little conflicted about some of everyone's favorite DE...idk what to call them. Slogans? I don't feel 100% sure they're all supposed to be seen as positive/inspirational in the ways I see people using them? But like ik my understanding of the game isn't complete and I don't have extensive Fayde quotations to back me up, I kind of just would like someone to explain it to me in small words.

Are we sure "after death, life again" is actually meant to be about the beauty of the cycle? Is "after the pale, the world again" really supposed to be positive/inspirational when it's heavily associated with Moralism, which the game clowns on constantly? The philosophy of "maintain the status quo until we all die, maybe it'll be better next time"? The "for one brief moment there was hope (but clearly there isn't anymore)" guys?

I would say it's presented positively in game but to be honest I'm not even completely sure about "Un jour je serai le retour (etc)." I love Shivers as much as the next guy but are we sure la Rev isn't a bit of a nationalist? Are we sure Retour is a good thing at all? Shivers a red skill, after all--it's the fascism row. Isn't the concept of RETURN (RETVRN as I believe Luiga cryptically posted several months ago) associated with like...IRL fascism as well?

Can one of the politically astute 25 year olds just really break these down for me? ARE WE GOOD??? What am I missing here? Am I stupid?

[embroid-away]

What If: Captain America Were Revived Today? #44 (April 1983) by Peter B. Gillis and Sal Buscema; Original Image by John Romita Sr.

In this What If? Marvel tale, Captain America is unfrozen in 1983 rather than the 1960s. Without the leadership of Steve Rogers, The Avengers disband. Meanwhile, a Captain America imposter, who calls himself a "real American," has decided to use his newfound influential media status to publicly support a National Identity Card to "deal with illegal aliens,” to suggest that members of civil rights groups "ought to think seriously as to whether or not their actions contribute to the strengthening of communist enemies," and declare that if those groups tear the country apart with protests, martial law is justified "for the peace to find a solution.”

Neighborhoods with large black populations (e.g., Harlem) are walled off and forced into poverty, and one character even mentions that Jewish people are being “put back into camps.” The right-wing politicians make sure that things like this aren’t shown on television, keeping the majority of the American public ignorant of the horrors committed with their indifferent support. The public are simultaneously told that with some sacrifices, America can be free once again. The fake Captain America confronts a group of peaceful protestors, and he is shot by a sniper (in what reads like an inside job), allowing the police to have “reason” to attack the protestors. The imposter does not die and instead uses the attack to provide more reason for the violent crackdown against protesting groups.

When the true Captain America is unfrozen, he is horrified to see what America has become, especially with his emblem stamped all over it. He immediately seeks out the resistance forces (who clearly represent the Black Panther Party) and joins their cause, stating that "the wrongs [he's] seen will take much more than one man to right -- but [he's] got a name to clear, a costume to unsoil-- and a country to die for!!"

By the time Steve joins them, the resistance only has one chance left to stop the American downfall: a political convention where the "America First" party will be able to secure its support to sweep the national elections and allow them "to return America to the pure and great nation [the] forefathers envisioned."

The resistance strikes just as the convention begins. The Captain America imposter is no match in a fight against the true Captain America -- especially against a Steve Rogers who's fucking pissed. ("Get up so I can knock you down!!")

With the imposter knocked unconscious, Captain America addresses the convention crowd, warning that an America that does not represent all its people does not deserve to exist at all; that liberty can be "as easily snuffed out [in America] as in Nazi Germany" and "as a people, we are no different from them."

The crowd realizes that the man speaking before them is the true Captain America and cheers. Captain America holds his hand up and silences them, stating that he will not allow them the chance to simply replace one idol with another. He alone can’t undo the horrible damage, and he pleads that there’s still a chance for the people to “find America once again.”

Fascism doesn’t change its tune, just its singers.

A 2021 Marvel Trumps Hate ( @marveltrumpshate ) commission, completed on 22-count aida cloth with embroidery floss and watercolors on a 9" diameter bamboo hoop.

[katyspersonal]

Someone really said we shouldn't take Messmer's last words ( when he cursed Marika) seriously because he was demonically possessed by the abyssal serpent ijbol

I do not think that it was the case either! My impression from his phase transition was more of him finally giving into his serpentine nature, and thus, finally allowing himself to feel his true feelings!

"Hatred that would be confined" here can mean both him hating himself (since fire is a hazard to the Erdtree, evidenced by Fire of Ruin and Destined Death, so why not his?) OR hating her for having forsaken him! Except... they are not mutually exclusive. He could have hated himself for existing as something that could inevitably bring ruin to everything she created and hated her for abandoning him!

Like other characters in the DLC, he is aware that we've been called by Grace of Gold, her creation, to become her new Lord! Nonetheless, he decides to still disrespect what counts as her wishes, which already gives something away, at least for me. It could be that him taking Crusade beyond just vengeance, to fascism level, WAS what split them apart, and he is still convinced he knew what was better for purity and life of her Order better than her (LOOOOVE this version because it makes him even scarier). It could be jealousy, because some nobody Tarnished would get the chance to fix things for her when he tried to do the same and yet she was not "grateful". It could be that this "purpose" he took up for her feels like the only thing still connecting them, since she is not coming back. It could be many things that I can keep listing!

Yet, at the same time, he asks her forgiveness before removing the seal! So, killing someone he (correctly) believes she is awaiting is a lesser crime than removing the seal she gave to him to keep Base Serpent away? I think it is very telling that the root of how much he hates his flame is her hatred of it.

( x ) Perhaps, by being deadset on killing everyone spurn of her grace, he sort of overcompensates for how much he hates himself for being graceless (in a way, 'shorn of light' is very blatant)... He can't fix his nature, nor can she, but he could remove her OTHER pains and grudges. He is compensating!.. like, for how much he wishes to never having been born, or something...

Damn this got weirdly sad And a simpler interpretation is that it was just a cry of pain, because he was dying and she was not there for him. Or maybe it was the horror of feeling like he was to fall into Abyss, since he removed the seal? Not that I ever died in my life yet, but I'd imagine that thoughts and emotions upon violent death would not be very rational!

I really want some help with Japanese description of this item, because this "but never again" feels like some sort of grudge. Like that she realised it was useless; not so much because what afflicted him was untreatable, but because she deemed him not worthy of any more chances! You see what I mean! Again, English choices of words should be taken with a grain of salt.

Messmer also was not "possessed" by Base Serpent, he became Base Serpent! Saying you will be taken in jaws by a serpent shorn of light, he means himself! He has a habit of addressing himself in third face already, saying that you will meet death in the embrace of "Messmer's" flame, not "his" flame! There is definitely some parallel with Malenia unleashing Scarlet Rot again just to not lose to us, but whereas Scarlet Rot is confirmed to eat away at people's personality and memories (Millicent's questline), nothing said it was the case for the Base Serpent!

(Images by Zlofsky as usual) All statues of Marika in the Lands Between are missing heads... except for one, depicting her as a mother holding a child, hidden in his chamber by a veil. I need to check it later, but in at least three cases it makes no sense to be this way: one in the Church of the Crusade where Queelign hangs out, another surrounded by his soldiers, and another in Shadow's Keep itself! UNLESS, he is the one responsible for crashing the images of her head...?

It feels like he has been very conflicted long before this dreadful moment of unleashing his serpentinge nature! He did not want to think of her because it hurt, but also still wished to be held by her again. Considering the statues, it feels like he hated her as a Goddess, but loved her as a mother. So, he hates her divine existence, her as an owner of the Erdtree, a "destined victim" of all fires, but also knows it can't be separated from her and follows her design. Perhaps, follows TOO much.

Basically it IS a reasonable assumption that upon his death, he's been feeling as though he did everything he could for her, but that was not enough for her to see beyond her fear! Worse yet: she did try to love him, but "never again"! Hatred of abandoned child is a very intense thing, but it is also not a true hatred. It is more akin to cry for being accepted, but distorted into insults, curses, pushing away and such!

^^^ If this doesn't look like Humanity running wild manifestation of someone's own repressed self-hatred, loneliness and suffering getting unleashed I don't know what does fdhfdhs I don't know, man... I just think there is more evidence for the fact that he's been suffering because of her.

[antifainternational]

For quite a long time, I have wanted to become involved on the street level with an anti-fascist organization/group, but that became a lot harder to do once antifa became something more publicly known. Infiltration by government and law-enforcement became a fear. What is something I can do on my own? Do you have any tips on infiltrating right wing spaces online and monitoring them?

DO WE EVER!!! First off: yes, we recognize that it's often difficult to join existing anti-fascist groups, because thanks to having to both deal with state repression and death threats from fascists, anti-fascists have to be a lot more careful these days about who they let in to their crews and work with. But that's not to say that no antifa group would accept new members! Here is our advice about how to find and approach a local antifa crew you're interested in joining or working with, or, if that doesn't work out, how to start your own! Second off: there are two requirements to become "antifa:" a) you have to oppose fascism b) you have to be willing to do something about it That's it! If you can say yes to a) & b) then you are antifa, my friend! Thirdly and related to b): if you're wondering what you can do to put your anti-fascist beliefs into action, we have a list of 30 anti-fascist actions that we believe just about anyone could pull off (maybe with the help of a couple of friends in some cases). Check out the list, pick something that sounds easy to do, do the thing, evaluate how it went/how it could've gone better, then do it again or move on to the next thing! Don't like any of our ideas? Spencer Sunshine x PopMob did a 'zine a while back called 40 Ways To Fight Fascists - find some inspiration in there! Still not inspired? Take a deep dive through our archive to find out what other anti-fascists elsewhere have been up to. Note here: even if the action you take seems small & insignificant, believe us when we say that it's not. The smallest action signals to others that anti-fascists are active in the area and may inspire others to act as well. Lots of small actions in one area, over time can lead to bigger and better things! Finally: we get that infiltrating & monitoring the far-right seems like a logical place to start. But we would not recommend that as a starting point for any anti-fascist. Why? -that's some of the most dangerous work you can get involved in and without the right experience, training, and security precautions you can put yourself, your family, and your friends in a lot of danger. To do this properly, weeks of preparation have to happen, to maximize your online/IRL security and establish a credible cover/sock puppet. -even if you were able to safely & successfully infiltrate & monitor a far-right/fascist group, what are you going to do with the info? It's not of much value unless you've established relationships with other anti-fascists in the area and have a plan in place about how the info collected gets used. So basically, a lot of first steps need to be taken before jumping to "I'm going to infiltrate & monitor a far-right extremist group!" Again, we'd recommend picking some antifa actions to pull off first and building off of those first. Good luck & feel free to let us know how it goes!

[qqueenofhades]

I don’t understand. Why is not only the NYT but EVERYONE screaming in circles about Biden’s age? I mean I too would love a slightly younger president, but faced with Trump, I don’t understand how this is even a discussion. What can the motive possibly be?

First answer: Money. The corporate media is not your friend for many reasons, but especially because it will happily shill for open fascism, and sabotage Biden left and right, because the corporations and/or oligarchs who own the media (think how hard Elon has been trying to shill for Trump partly due to Biden's promised 25% billionaire tax) do not give a shit about American democracy. It's kind of nice in theory, maybe, but they do not give a shit as long as they get their tax breaks and "pro-business" legislation, which Trump has perforce promised to give them again. They are also not fans of Biden for other reasons, especially since he has been busy promoting unions, new labor laws, new industrial requirements/standards (even as fast as SCOTUS is trying to strip them away) and other things that interfere with the Reagonomics pursuit of the rich getting richer by any means necessary. Biden is the first US president since Reagan to openly call trickle-down economics bullshit, say that it doesn't work, and try to install a new economic model. Everyone who got rich under Reagonomics, therefore, has incentive to get rid of him.

First-continued, the money element also extends to the fact that Trumpists/MAGA love reading stories about how old and frail Biden is (especially if this distracts from their candidate being a raging fascist lunatic), so they will click on the story and read it and gleefully share it with other Trumpists/MAGA to shout about how terrible Biden is and how the Trump Vengeance Train is coming. "Biden actively dying RIGHT NOW!!" stories also make Democrats panic, so they will click on it and read it to find out how much they should be panicking, then share it with other Democrats to let them know that they should ALSO be panicking. Either way, it drives page views and advertising revenue, so the media is once more financially incentivized to produce these kinds of stories and to find "facts" that fit these stories, regardless of whether or not they are, uh, true. American media swings conservative in many ways, but especially if they can promote the "both sides the same!" or "Horserace!!!" narrative to keep Republicans gleeful and Democrats nervous.

Basically, no mainstream media outlet (even the so-called liberal ones like MSNBC) has any financial interest or incentive in supplying Americans with accurate information (we live in late-stage capitalist hell, etc) and many of them are openly pining for Trump back in office so they can be Principled Truth Tellers In Exile, get clicks and coverage from reporting on the crazy things he does (think the CEO of CBS saying that Trump was "bad for America but great for CBS") and other activities that drive the bottom line. This also adds up to an impulse to shill for Trump and sabotage Biden, who is competent but boring. After, American politics are a reality show and should be Driving Headlines!!!! Fascist America would be a great story!!! Think of the ratings!!!

.... anyway. We! live! in! hell!

Second, the media also loves to push "Democrats in disarray" stories, because there has always been a WILD double standard in regard to how they cover the Democrats vis-a-vis the Republicans. As such, they have completely given up on mentioning anything even slightly critical about Trump, and the 500 disqualifying and awful things he has already done and continues to do every day, in favor of driving as hard as they can at the "Biden should step down!!" story. Now, I'm not denying that obviously, I wish we had a better (and younger) candidate and that Biden's health is a legitimate issue, but trying to do it to the incumbent FOUR MONTHS BEFORE THE ELECTION is an exercise in sheer insanity and something that the media wants to do because again, It Would Get Clicks!!, regardless of how insane it would in fact be. It's also insane because this is the same exact fucking thing that the media did to Hillary Clinton in 2016 (running MONTHS of stories about her health problems, her emails, how she was secretly ill and/or the Democrats should replace her, etc) and A LOT OF Y'ALL ARE FALLING FOR IT AGAIN. Which isn't terrifying or anything, but also.

Now, of course, the establishment Democratic party is partly complicit in the tone of this coverage, and that is also a problem. I personally want to smack every "anonymous Democratic adviser" or "Democratic politician" giving these Anxiety Concern Quotes to Politico, NYT, the BBC, and wherever else with a brick over the goddamn head and tell them to Shut the Absolute Fuck Up and dedicate all their energy to helping Biden win, instead of deliberately and unhelpfully perpetuating the narrative that he's about to die at any moment. (And also, if he did have to step aside before or after the election for any reason: THE ONLY DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED CANDIDATE TO REPLACE HIM IS KAMALA HARRIS. KAMALA HARRIS IS THE ONLY PERSON WITH ANY LEGITIMACY TO TAKE OVER THE NOMINATION AND/OR OFFICE OF POTUS FROM BIDEN. IF YOU DON'T LIKE THAT AND THINK YOUR MAGICAL WHITE MAN WILL PARACHUTE IN THERE INSTEAD, SHUT UP. THERE IS NO OTHER OPTION EXCEPT HARRIS. SHUT THE FUCK UP FOREVER.)

/deep breaths

Anyway. That is how you end up here: where the media is still diligently pretending this is an absolutely normal race between a terrible degenerate ancient Sekritly Dying Biden and.... some totally normal establishment Republican and not literally Donald Goddamn Trump. They are running many of the exact same hatchet jobs that they ran on Hillary Clinton for the same exact reasons, and ask yourself this: if Biden is just the status-quo stooge who will never change anything, HAS never changed anything, and is otherwise completely acceptable to the American/global power structure, why are they SO FUCKING DESPERATE to get him out? Why are they throwing absolutely everything they have at prying out a successful (albeit yes, old) incumbent when that incumbent is, by any reasonable metric, the most progressive president since at LEAST FDR, very definitely in any of the post-Reagan years, and possibly ever? Why are they so shit-scared of Biden as demonstrably the only candidate who can (and has) already beaten Trump, and therefore his entire ghoulish agenda of American fascism forever?

I just think it's worth pondering these questions. Yes, I had an awful anxiety attack today and applied to several jobs in Europe because the Fight or Flight instinct kicked in HARD that I needed to start working on a plan to get out of Fascist America, just in case. However, we can still forestall it. Yet again, as I will include in every post on the subject between now and November:

The end.