#when is china going to liberate us like i can't take this anymore

[smerzbeliever]

there literally no hope for the world until american govt is violently overthrown and then even then the chances of the result being good are sooooo slim. hooray 😃

[potroasttheghostdogpontificates]

Time for my first rant about politics here. Warning, long, left, angry, and ranty. Grab a snack if you wanna read.

I've become completely exhausted with the white center left. I'm tired and frankly, over these past four years I've come to despise them. I'm making the express decision to abandon platforms like reddit for political discussion, because even though there are a plethora of actual left spaces, the actually welcoming ones to anarchists and anti-war leftists have been settled and colonized nearly totally by liberals and they regularly brigade them, stirring the pot to run cover for this latest crop of neocon democrat fuckery.

I don't think I've ever been disappointed by a political affiliation before. I expect the fascists to have monster brained takes. I expect neocons to call any dissenting opinion about the status quo in my home country of America traitorous. But here we are. The party I supported for nearly a decade and a half, voting for them in literally every election I've ever been legally permitted to vote in from school board to president, my supposed allies even if they weren't 100% as cool as I'd like them to be; throwing a tantrum at the latest failures of electoralism and ineffective neoliberal governance, but flinging shit in the wrong direction. Four years of this after voting for the guy they told me to, even though I wasn't happy about it, and I'm done. I'm tired of it. I can't anymore y'all. Too much bullshit to swallow from the neoliberal center. I knew Biden was going to suck, but I didn't expect the bastard to be so outwardly hostile to everything I'd like to see.

This administration, the liberals have completely shown their ass. The absolutely vile whataboutisms, hostility, doublespeak, rahrah hyper-patriotism, excuses for genocide, vote and value shaming, needless argumentstion, smug condescension and snippering, and simpering cowardice from them has just made me hostile to them and any space they occupy.

I was one of those leftists. The ones who USED to say: "Well it's liberals. They aren't gonna grill us for food, so they aren't THAT bad. Outreach is important, and they're probably amenable to leftism if we remember to extend the olive branch when they reach out. No hon your aunt with the 'I'm With Her' bumper sticker isn't the enemy".

This administration and the actions and voices of their supporters has changed that, radically. Out of all the things that radicalized me, I didn't expect the most extreme radicalization I would experience would be from the motherfucking "gOoD gUy" party. These people have got me in marxist-leninist spaces that excuse the authoritarian actions of places like China, NK, and Russia, because they seem to be the only ones talking sense about what this administration has done and is trying to continue doing. The anarchist spaces currently have to cut through the chaff of an aggressive liberal infestation to even begin to discuss genocide with a sensible head on their shoulders. But the tankies hate them about as much as I have come to, and their zero tolerance stance has at least allowed a breath of clean air while trying to discuss an actual left position.

I should clarify that this goes BEYOND Palestine, by the way.

Tokens. Get. Spent.

As a nonbinary person of color, I've become disgusted by the white center tokenizing trans people to excuse the blatant fact that the democrats AND the republicans have voluntarily entered into an arms race over who can be more draconian on policing black people and shutting down the border to keep out latin people. There are other marginalized people out there people. Communities that are being made invisible so that the token can be used as a get-out-of-jail-free card, because both parties benefit from keeping them under boot. To the trans people out there who think the dems have our back, baby, they don't.

Remember this line. It was to explain to people of color latching onto right-wing movements to secure their safety the reality of their situation:

I had to learn that as a biracial person, so I don't have to learn that as a queer person. To those who haven't, keep it to breast, and watch carefully. This is how it starts. They aren't coming for you yet because they can squeeze some press out of you. That will pass. It always does. Ask brown skinned latin/south americans. The dems used to campaign on how they're treated so poorly under Trump because of his and his party's racism (they have, here in the US). Trump's successor just called them all vicious invaders in a god damn State of The Union, holding up a photo of a white woman and telling a sob story about her death at the hands of "a violent illegal" to appeal to scared white racists, because he's afraid his genocidal aspirations might cost him an election among his hostaged progressive voter base. If Spike Lee had put that in a movie, Renni Eddo-Lodge would ask him to tone it down a little.

They speak out of both sides of their mouths, saying in one breath that we should all set aside our differences and kingmake THEIR chosen and work together to fight the fascists and how they NEED us to save everyone (when they aren't sure they can win an election). Then in the next, sneer with contempt about how they never needed us in the first place and will win this election without the interference of the "children" who dissent to their spiral into fascism, (when they think they have the election locked up or just won one), which they either see it and love it, or are too smug to see it. They tried that in 2016. They still aren't over the sore asses they got from it, even though they're milking the loss for all it's worth, because they keep pushing absolutely atrocious candidates as if it's their "due", because Trump's existence and a post-Trump world are the only places people like that could even hope to be politically viable anymore as zero hour approaches in America. Biden and Clinton needed that scumbag to win a presidency, which is why the party gambled with him in 2020 rather than hand the nomination to Sanders, the more popular, more left candidate. They'd rather gamble with the only ones who could lose to this guy than cede the fact that the voter base has moved more left than they'd like.

"Sorry idealists but unfortunately, "not genocide" isn't on the ballot this year" isn't a fucking excuse, no matter how many times you say that to me. If it is true, fuck that ballot. If it isn't, fuck you for lying. Also, fuck you, the fuck it isn't. There are plenty of anti-genocide candidates running in this election, it just requires the bare minimum of due diligence from the electorate to find the candidates running. Claudia de la Cruz, despite being absolutely buried by pop coverage of this election to where you basically have to be told she exists or stumble upon her by accident, has what might be exactly what the left wants, or at least I do, as far as incremnetalist progress goes, and what the liberals claimed they wanted during Trump. Anti-capitalist expansion, anti-war, pro-marginalized, anti-fascism. But yet, all the pro-Biden camp has to say about her is "who?" and "oh so nobody then". What a genuinely contemptible, vile thing for a person to say.

I expect that from conservatives, but not democrats. Oh wait. And yet, leftists tired of the decades of compromise with the viper that is the center are "politically uninformed" or "unengaged/uneducated voters just doing what the tv tells them to do" because we say Biden as a president has been far worse than we anticipated and has moved to the right of Reagan and Eisenhower in terms of policing and Israel, to where it should be unteneble that he is allowed to occupy the nomination that claims to be left, as if their complete snow-blindness (and I choose that word very carefully) for candidates other than what the Democrat Party Brass feeds them is anything other than political laziness.

Liberals have shown me that for all their fluff about caring about the downtrodden, about doing what's right, it's smoke. Add a qualifier to every stance they have: "--until/unless I can justify it".

They bitch and moan about social media like TikTok as if it's a bastion of misinformation (it is, like all social media) but don't challenge hegemonic media even when they blatantly lie, and no, "just Fox" doesn't fucking count anymore, when multiple outlets have gotten their nuts nailed in scandal, ESPECIALLY regarding Israel (Not a peep when CNN literally reversed the x-axis on a graph to drum up white fear about crime that actually wasn't being reported, for example). No eyebrows raised when TikTok and only TikTok gets limitations put on it to "protect users from disinformation", when literally a few years back the founder of Facebook was getting interrogated by the state for getting caught selling personal information to the highest bidder for profit and having literally zero interest in curtailing the storm of lies being circulated by the platform.

Social media limitation without information and privacy protections and reforms is propaganda effort, simple as, and the fact that TikTok has a lot of young people, the demographic that skews the furthest left and TikTok being the platform that has been sharing most of the horrors happening in Gaza without a spin, should make people concerned when it amd only it is being targeted for "misinformation". The government is targeting the social paltform most outspokenly against what it is doing and getting its fingers into it to silence it. I don't even use TikTok, but I'm old enough to know what a damage control narrative looks like from a politician.

When the dems have, without prompting, threatened to sic the FBI on pro-Palestine protests to "investigate ties to Russia and China" that shows us that the dems are perfectly content to get authoritarian when you don't make shit easy for them. Pelosi walked that shit back, AFTER she got called out for it, but remember the old adage: "When someone tells you who they are, believe them". No one prompted that outburst from her. That's her true face. Sure she dressed it up in cute weasel words about how "they'll be subject to due process and it's just an investigation" blah blah blah, but anyone who has even a working understanding of McCarthyism amd protest strategy should tell you why you shouldn't ever EVER cooperate with that. McCarthy "just wanted to make sure" too. It just so happens that "making sure" under a hierarchical government involves being arrested, (and considering our police force, brutalized in the process) scared shitless, threatened, detained (and as long as they like to) until they've decided they can no longer politically survive the jailings/deaths. The byproduct of this rhetoric is of course you don't need to try someone as a traitor to treat them like one and kill a protest, so you get the dual benefit of authoritarianingly(?) kill a protest of your government and pretend you're a just government of the people. Don't buy it. Accusation will be enough to kill a protest stone dead if you spook enough people, because all of our lives are already dangling by a thread. It's risking enough to take time off work when a few hours of pay can determine eating or going hungry for a week for far too many people in this god-forsaken country, it's a deatb sentence to be tried as a criminal. It worked for McCarthy, don't let these milquetoast posh versions of Reaganites pull the same stunt. At least McCarthy had enough sack to be an evil bastard publicly instead of simpering when interrogated.

"I'm against racism..... until I can justify it" "I'm against war.... unless I can justify it" " I'm against draconian borders..... unless I can justify it" "I reject genocide.... until I can justify it". "And we'll kill you if you resist enough".

Makes em seem a lot more honest when you put it that way.

I hate how cowardly they defend this shit. I hate that I have to add parentheses to highlight the obvious to points I make that no leftist would actually make, on the off-chance that some miserable Biden campaign social media quote-doctors me into a republican.

They pretend that they're the politically engaged, they're the "big picture" "adult" voters, or, even more egregiously, that they're the empathetic ones.

If you keep a rabid dog loose in your yard, you save a shit load of money not having to build a fence. Controlled opposition is manipulation.

Single-issue is fucking rich, considering the only defense they can angle for this guy at this point is "but trans people though!" As if any of the bones they toss will actually make the situation for trans people better. It's liberal identity politics at its absolute pathetic.

Trans people can join the army again! (If they can survive the rampant bullying, sexual assault, and white supremacy in the armed forced that no one in authority has any intention of addressing and face no threat of repercussion for that failure because the US increases their budget every year with no regards to stopping for any reason)

If trans kids get misgendered or their pronouns disrespected at school, they can sue! (Provided they have access to the means of effective legal representation and aren't under a judge who is not amenable to their side of the issue, which is unlikely due to the inroads of privilege necessary to become a judge in the first place ensures that a frighteningly big percentage of them are white, upper-middle-class and above, conservative, and isolated from the community at large.)

Good news! Trans people won't be discriminated against in hiring! (Until the EO times out because let's face it, they aren't gonna draft an amendment to enshrine that federally any time soon, and also ignoring the fact that a majority of hiring discrimintaion happens under the table and in secret, and is facilitated by at-will employment practices and allowances, AND a majority of trans-discrimination in the workplace happens after hiring, when trans people start to publicly transition where they face bullying or firings). Do nothing about the plethora of anti-trans bills worming their way through the legal system on this country, meaning the trams community has a literal ticking clock over them. (Unless they help the republicans pass them like in West Virginia). Do nothing about homelessness being a death sentence that is nearly impossible to escape or seek aid for, even though the trans community is disproportionally homeless because of bigoted families disowning them. No, they won't ever ever be allowed to go to the doctor or safely access transitionary care without a shitload of front-loaded privilege to financial stability that only some have.

We did it! Trans people saved. Now vote for us. Because we burned the black vote bridge with our vicious policing practices even after pretending to side with them during the 2020 protests, and the hispanic vote bridge with our scapegoating of them and our draconian border, migrant, and asylum policies, and the arab vote bridge with our blatant spreading of misinformation about a genocide facing their people and families. Screw the poor, black people, arab people, hispanic people (but only the brown ones, if you don't have an accent or melanin we won't be able to tell and will let you do as you please), leftists, protestors, and trans people (eventually) but we aren't gonna bite you trans people. Vote. Do it. Do it now. You don't wanna see what will happen to you if you don't. Oh no not us. Just an associate. We won't stop them if they come for you. Give us all the authority over you so we can prevent it. We'll do it this time, we swear.

"You're a single issue voter, like a loser" says the liberal to the person who opposes genocide regardless of party (it's a pretty big fucking issue, no?) But this is the person who sees the state of affairs and says "but trans people" without even asking them what they need to survive. How dare you dangle their lives for political gains because you're too cowardly to fight your own battles. My fellow trans people, don't swallow this. All they're doing with their "buying time" is allowing the situation to decay unseen for a few more years, after which, it will be too late to stop things becoming catastrophically bad unless we literally fight for our lives.

If you've read this far, you've already been here for days. Took me a while to organize my thoughts in downtime between work. So one final point so we aren't both here for weeks.

I can't stand the sneeringly condescension if liberalism-as-default as a method to defend their position. They bite back on leftists who don't support the center as "well there's no leftist on the ballot right now. Why do you always 'pull this' during election season instead of a ground-up movement over time?? Bring me a leftist and I'll vote for him." Or my favorite, "what are YOU doing about it??" I hate this counterargument for multiple reasons. Let's have some fun with formatting and list them.

It tacitly admits that the speaker doesn't support anything for an ideological reason. They support people who can "win" neoliberal electoralism and nothing more. They care about winning. Doesn't matter who does or for what reason. They support the establishment, for better or worse.

This is also taking as read the idea that they will not support leftism in any meaningful capacity until it reaches hegemonic status, despite (or perhaps because of) it needing support from multple sources to get to that point at all. A Catch-22 from someone who is basically saying "I refuse to cooperate with you until you get me to cooperate with you and you become the default which requires me cooperating with you". They won't help the left get off the ground, even though it needs them at least out of the way to do so, but will say they will get out of the way once it does get off the ground. This is why the left says the liberals hold progressives and leftists "hostage"

It demands the left do the work of justifying and legitimizing itself to compare to THEIR chosen default, while admitting they have zero intention of doing the same. Liberalism is default. Therefore, the left has to justify itself, the liberals don't, and anyone who asks them to is being disingenuous or unfair. They demand legitimization from their opposition, and won't give it.

They are admitting they have been ignoring leftism and only pay attention during election season, because it threatens their hegemony.

They are ignoring the fact that the reason the left raises so much stink during election season is because the candidates claiming to be left and what the center champions as what leftists supposedly want have yet again slid right to win said election. The left is sounding the alarm bell as it happens. It's not the left's fault the center is choosing, yet again, to ignore it.

They're pretending that the center and right won't unite to kill the left if it ever DOES get that far, even without them (more than likely because that would include themselves in the ranks, and that's a bad look when trying to high-horse a political discussion with a leftist). This includes party formation or any sort of on-the-ground organization like protests. The left will be killed stone-dead unless the center starts putting its money where its mouth is, because the center will be the one holding the knife. They know this. They don't want you to. Ruins the surprise.

They're demanding you fix the problem they made while also refusing to compromise with you to do so. "We've done nothing and we're all put of ideas" has gone from a derogative to an accusation. Liberals have shown themselves to be painfully bad at media analysis.

It's a blatant trap to bait out organizational efforts from psy-ops to break them or infiltrate them. Chances are higher than you might think that someone asking you how you organize is a cop trying to insert operatives into the ranks to disrupt. The liberals trying to ask "well how are YOU organizing?" are doing the oppressors work for them, even if unintentional.

The demand for organization of politicial ingress into hierarchical electoralism while ignoring the truth that for organization of that level to even get off the ground requires a degree of privilege and legitimization that the left has been barred from accessing outside of violent revolution, while also quietly admitting they don't intend to give that to them unless they take it, and they will resist them taking it

And that's it for now. Rant over.

Jeez did you get all this way? I'm impressed. And thanks for hearing me out. As a reward, if you feel slighted by my words, here are some verbal face pets to ease my point and position.

No, I don't vote shame. If you do vote for the dems, either because you support them ideologically, vote tactically and genuinely believe they are a good option, don't vote, or vote third party, you won't get any oushback from me. I'm an anarchist. I believe it's your right, completely and fully, to do whatever you want with that vote of yours. If you want Biden to represent you, go for it. I do not. Under any circumstances. If you vote tactically or genuinely believe in them to protect queer people or stop the onslaught of the right, if you believe that neoliberal electoralism will help us, I don't think you're evil, I believe you're misled. I feel upset on your behalf that you've been lied to. No, I don't think you're unintelligent, young, gullible, or naive. I believe you've been lied to. You can't be "enlightened" or whatever you personally call being woke if you've never seen what the truth looks like. I don't blame a propagandized people for being propagandized. You don't blame a person for believing a lie. You get angry at the liar for deceiving them.

If you think Trump might be worse, you're probably not wrong. He's an ugly kind of neoliberal, the kind that has melted into a fascist. But if you think he DEFINITELY will be, I genuinely believe you to have not been paying enough attention. Will he be better? Absolutely fucking not. No way in hell. See? There's that clarification and emphasis that I have to do to prevent bad-faith characterization that will happen anyway again. But if you can't recognize Biden as a lateral move at best, I honestly don't trust you. Sorry, but I don't. Shit's bad out here for more than white queers. Please remember that. The LGBTQ community is not a hegemonic white one. Liberals don't have a target on your back, yet, but that's because it's easier to shoot at us first. The cops Biden and Harris like putting on the streets won't ask me my pronouns before they gun me down. They're gonna see my afro-textured hair and skin-color first, and go off that. They're gonna see me at a protest and declare me a dissident before they even ask me about my bisexual spreadsheet. Solidarity is important, because they're coming for us all. Avoid class reductionism AND neoliberal identity politics. Both poison the well.

To all the white trans people who are fucking scared, I see you. We're all scared. I don't mean to diminish this fear or disregard it, because I get it. These bastard hegemons at the top think they can push and pull us using the fear they themselves create to turn us against each other. I remind you not to fear. If they could have destroyed us they would have succeeded long ago. I have zero faith things will even be in a staid equilibrium under Biden's next term. Mutual aid will survive literally anything these bastards can throw at us all, but we must remember to stay true to our values and communities and remember solidarity to the allies. We will get through this like we have everything else, I promise. I stand with you. I intend to fight for you if I have to. Most everyone on the left will. Electoralism for neocons like Biden and what the dems are trying to shove down our throats will not, remember that. Vote, if you want, but don't trust them to save us. He thinks protecting your pronouns in school are enough but won't expand hate crime laws. He's jerking us around.

And that's it. Here's some genuine literal face pats to thank you for hearing me out. Go with peace and happiness and love. Love strong and live your truth. And fuck these god damn liberals. Solidarity, support. We're gonna get through this, together, like we always have, without their help.

[morningsound15]

i seem to remember you giving some podcast recs that i wanted to check out, but for some reason i can't find them on your blog anymore. am i mistaken? if not, do you think you could repeat them?

omg hi! sorry tumblr was NOT showing me any asks i’m really sorry idk when you sent this but yes! i love this question i love podcasts, and i think i’ve rec’d a few individual episodes? but i’ve definitely not made a whole post so i’m so down for this

idk what sorts of podcasts you listen to but i basically divide my podcasts into shit i listen to for education (leftist podcasts, news podcasts, etc,) and shit i listen to to keep myself sane (pop culture/movie/music podcasts, gay podcasts, tv recap podcasts of shows i used to watch) so i’m gonna give you a lot! basically my whole podcast queue list lol

i’ll link you to their online pages (if they have some! either youtube or a digital library) but most of them are on spotify i believe, a lot of these podcasts also have patreons and i personally listen to all of them through apple podcasts\

(under the cut because it’s LONG hope this helps!)

shit for education:

in a clump right off the top:

-- Revolutionary Left Radio - #1 essential listening for people interested in socialism, leftism, communism, marxism-leninism, etc. current events analyzed with leftist theory, great interviews, honest perspectives from organizers.

-- Red Menace - featuring the host of Rev Left, a podcast that mainly deep dives into leftist theory and texts (specifically marxist-leninist theory, but also mao, fanon, stalin, etc.) if you are new to theory and have trouble tackling difficult texts, this is the podcast for you

-- Guerrilla History - from the host of Rev Left, a podcast that looks at revolutionary uprisings from the perspective of those on the ground, using the past to help make sense of the present

and then some others:

-- 5-4 - "A podcast where we dissect and analyze the Supreme Court decisions that have made this country –by a wide margin– the worst country in the world" all about the us supreme court and the decisions that keep us strangled. great legal analysis highly recommend for people who care about the courts

-- Bad Faith - featuring former bernie sanders press secretary briahna joy gray and chapo trap house host (i know guys i know) virgil texas, this is a more accessible introduction to thinking outside of the american political binary. for people who liked bernie and need to figure out where to go next, this podcast might be helpful, or it just might feed your petty soul

-- Citations Needed - if you only listen to one american news podcast, let it be this one. with a focus on american news and how our news industry manipulates us into supporting imperialism and mass death

-- Death Panel - on pop culture and politics, particularly focusing on the healthcare industry in america and why it’s designed to kill all of us.

-- Decolonized Buffalo (youtube) - with a focus on decolonial theory and current events

-- IT’S GOING DOWN - with a focus on revolutionary anarchist, anti-fascist, anti-capitalist grassroots revolts and social movements across north america.

-- Millennials Are Killing Capitalism - i really recommend everyone follow the host of this podcast josh briond (@ jos.hau on insta and @ queersocialism on twitter) because they have been fundamental to my personal journey into leftist literature, their podcast is incredible and their pop culture takes are always fire. interviews, theory, essential takes on the news.

-- Moderate Rebels (podcast / youtube) - if you want to learn about international news/foreign policy from an anti-imperialist source, Moderate Rebels is the best recommendation i can give you. greyzone reporters Max Bluementhal and Ben Norton host a weekly news podcast that is essential listening if you want to understand what it is to live in the core of the world’s imperialist center

-- Radical Reflections - for an international perspective on revolutionary history, from a comrade based in scotland

-- The Black Sublime Podcast - for a black, queer perspective on pop culture, politics, oppression, and liberation

-- The East is a Podcast - for a perspective on leftist theory, history, and revolutionary movements centering people from the (quote unquote) ‘east’. recent episodes cover such topics as (including but not limited to) china, india, paul robeson, war, decolonization, palestine, iran, tunisia, and strongly centering muslim writers, thinkers and scientists

-- The Minyan - jewish comrades! (specifically marxist-leninist)

-- The Red Nation Podcast -- indigenous comrades (mostly in north america - USA/Canada). essential listening for anyone living in emperial/colonial powerhouses in north america. The Red Nation also has great educational resources

-- Useful Idiots - standard news podcast from people much smarter than me who hate the political establishment almost as much as i do. they have some really good interview episodes

-- Working Class History - some really cool episodes on important events in working class history! great episode on The Exotic Dancer’s Union aka the first stripper co-op in america

shit for sanity/fun:

-- Bad Romance Podcast - comedians jourdain searles and bronwyn isaac watch terrible romantic comedies and then tell you all about them

-- Buffering the Vampire Slayer - THE buffy rewatch podcast! they’re deep into season 6 at this point, but features great (gay!) content, buffy analysis, excellent guests, interviews with the original cast, and an original song every episode based on that episode. this podcast brings me only joy

-- Girls on Porn - a porn review podcast featuring only ethically-made porn, tackling kink, fetishization, racism in the porn industry, and so much more

-- GLEEwind - don’t judge me lol i like recap podcasts and this one has the right amount of fun with the right amount of will schuester hate

-- How Did This Get Made? - funny people (and great actors) Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael and Jason Mantzoukas watch truly awful movies and then talk all about it

-- Keep It! - for everything in music, tv and celebrity culture featuring Ira Madison III, Louis Virtel, and Aida Osman. great interviews, always makes me laugh

-- Las Culturistas - bowen yang and matt rogers’ weekly culture podcast, also featuring great interviews and a lot of survivor talk

-- Popcast - i don’t like the NYT but i do sometimes like their music podcast, they review new shit, big shit, and all the shit you might be hearing about from the music world

-- Still Processing - again, do not like the NYT but DO like what jenna wortham and wesley morris have to say about what’s happening in the world

-- The Big Picture - another movie podcast! this one features great interviews with actors and directors, as well as takes on popular movies that i generally agree with (although way too much love for marvel movies for me)

-- Why Won’t You Date Me? - nicole beyer’s hilarious podcast where she talks to other comedians about their dating woes. surprisingly heart-felt, always hilarious

[animentality]

People are trying to tell me that I have to go see crazy rich Asians

First off.

Asian saying this.

I don't think that movie looks even vaguely interesting.

If it does poorly, then it does poorly.

Second.

I wish Tumblr would stop trying to encourage everyone to see EVERY movie with diversity in it or else you're "showing Hollywood that movies with women/Asians/insert minority can't be successful."

Y'all are dumb, did you see black panther's success?

Hollywood isn't a hive mind.

There's market research that says this and this is true, but the film industry looks at demographics to determine who a movie will appeal to.

They took a chance on black panther and it paid off.

Part of being in the entertainment business is knowing when to gamble, and I wouldn't even say black panther was a big gamble.

Hollywood is full of fake liberals, remember?

They love diversity now.

Plus in regards to Asians in big films, yes.

You're absolutely right.

Asians are a horribly underrepresented group in American films.

But Hollywood is ALWAYS trying to market to the Chinese film market, which is one of the largest in the fucking world.

It's assumed that if your movie bombs in America, it'll make up for it at the international box office.

I'm not saying that this alone has or even will make more Asian actors show up in American movies.

But it's dumb to say that Hollywood will just instantly abandon every asian actor or asian role just because this romantic comedy fails.

That makes no sense from a monetary perspective since Hollywood likes making money, and marketing to China is fucking huge nowadays.

Crazy Rich Asians is a fucking romantic comedy. If it fails, they'll assume that the time just wasn't right for one. Or that it wasn't interesting to people who've seen that whole plot before.

They are not going to say "get rid of all the Asian actors and Asian-casted stories, Asians just don't sell!!!"

I'm not saying I don't want Asian representation or that it's not needed.

God knows I've complained a lot about how much it sucked for me, growing up and only ever seeing white heroes everywhere.

But I am not getting on board with Tumblr trying to say "oh Hollywood will take this movie failing as a sign that no movie that has an Asian person in it can be successful."

Corporate executives are a bunch of sleazy greasy fingered sweat licking capitalist cumballs who will use diversity to market anything and everything, "spice up" stories that have been done before.

It's almost as sleazy as Sony product placement at this point.

We aren't in the world of the fifties anymore, so sleaze looks different, but has a more liberal look since diversity is such an in-thing.

So stop trying to guilt people into seeing every fucking movie.

I'm Asian and I think Crazy Rich Asians looks like your stereotypical romantic comedy with the plot of "my boyfriend is secretly rich" film. The fact that everyone is Asian is a moot point. That's just the setting. A backdrop for a story I don't care about.

I don't need WHITE PEOPLE telling me that I need to see it so that Hollywood knows it can have Asians in lead roles.

Next time make the lead of ghost in the shell Asian.

Next time you have a big spy action movie planned, cast Lucy Liu.

Next time you make a marvel movie, maybe have Asians whose entire existence doesn't revolve around helping doctor strange realize his destiny.

I'll see those movies.

But I'll pass on Crazy Rich Asians.

And I don't need to see one more Tumblr post telling me that if I don't fork over my money to a bunch of money grubbing balding middle aged turds stuffed into business suits, then they'll never pander to me again.

They're the ones who are supposed to be appealing to me.

It's not my job to pay THEM to start suiting MY tastes.

[ecotone99]

[SP] The Mis-Adventures of Le'xander Malcolm Part 1

My dear Jenny,

I pray this letter finds you in good spirits.

The Lord's good grace seems to have finally ended five years after those damn Yankees abandoned us. They hoped our spirits would dwindle after they destroyed our guns and choked our supply of gunpowder, but they were wrong, for we Southerners are a resilient bunch who take pride in our fortitude. That could be the reason for our downfall. We arrogantly dismissed the North and worried nothing of our free labor force. We should have worried.

When reports of the Negros not working began to spew about, it should've given us cause for concern, but instead, we ignored them. The missing power of the gun behind the master's hand must've made the whip sting a little less. Even my most loyal and trustworthy Negros began to speak more loosely at the lip, declaring when they would or wouldn't do a task.

Whispers began to pick up in multitude, speaking of the Negroes arming themselves with sword amongst other savage tools. Then talk of attacks spread. One rogue Negro turned into a few that turned into a mob. Soon enough, full revolts were afoot. Men hacked to death in their sleep; plantations painting the sky orange and red as fires engulfed cotton fields.

I write this now barricaded in my bedroom. The Negros have hung the overseers and are banging on the door as I scribe. I'm confident I won't make it through the night. My arrogance has failed us, my love. To think we were justified in–

Charles Sumter 1856

Moonmilk Plantation, Georgia.

Blood trickled from Slash's thick broadsword dying the cotton parchment a tarnished brown. The smooth feather-penned ink was still wet. He stood over the slaver's limp body gazing at it with relish. A pounding heart rocked his chest and surged warmth throughout his body.

"Do we burn it down?" Dante asked Slash and interrupted his moment of triumph. Thick creases of worry burrowed into Dante's light-brown forehead.

"No, let em find it. Let em see what fruit their seeds have brought," Slash swung the massive blade onto his back.

He spent days sweating in front of a sweltering hot forge tucked away in the Chattahoochee Forest, hidden from prying eyes. He'd strike the molten metal until it formed into shape, and with every hit, he envisioned how rich it'd be to watch the man who caused him years of torment finally get what he deserved. The finished product wouldn't have hung on anyone's mantle in an attempt to impress onlookers, but the look never concerned Slash. The only thing of importance was its usefulness–the sword's ability to execute. He knighted it Sweetback's Revenge.

Slash stepped over the slaver with complete disregard and out the door. Dante and the other members of their freedom crusaders followed close behind. The plantation house was unrecognizable. Splintered wood pieces from a hacked door were scattered apart on the floor. Blood-soaked soles tracked footprints throughout the formerly pristine mansion that once hosted dignitaries with fina china for a Sunday's tea. Imported Italian leather couches mourned for sections of itself to be whole again after being cut and sliced about, neglecting its painstaking assembly. The extensive portrait that previously overlooked the opulent fireplace, meant to be the piece people commented on while eating pound cake served by a subservient Negro woman, decorated with gold trimmings, laid face down and ignored.

The only care displayed that fall night was a benevolent, full moon as it cast its silver light down onto their black skin and tinted it a milky-blue as they stepped out the house.

"So, what are we going to do now, Slash?" Dante asked.

Slash pointed across the field towards the stables, "we gone snatch sum hawses up and make fo tha hills."

The grass crunched under their feet as they made their way towards the stables. Five men walked across that field, some armed with clanking swords at their hips, others toting large maces on their backs or small personal hatchets. Slash and his brother in arms were together for three years now, which was rare for field-hands, well all except for Dante, who looked white enough to be in the house. He and Dante went so far back, Slash would often forget when was the first time they met. The occasions Dante snuck food to him, risking his own hide, out of the big house made him forever endeared to Slash's heart. He promised Dante he'd bring him along when the time came. The time was here, but they all knew, this was only the first step. The road ahead of them would be far from easy and about two miles from hell.

They entered the stables and found it barely lit by the moonlight, making the veiled movements of shadowed horses the only thing visible. One of the men struck a lantern for light and counted eight horses. There were only five of them, but the extra horses would come in handy, especially with the immense distance they planned to travel. Bothered horses whined and neighed, surprised at the time they were awakened, but quickly recognized the soft touch of hands who brushed, bathed, and fed them, and instantly calmed.

Dante approached the last stall and squinted, trying to figure out what was tucked away in the crevice. There was a small figure laid in the corner of the booth curled into a ball.

"Slash," Dante called, sure to speak softly for fear he'd startle it.

"What," Slash's voice boomed throughout the stable and woke it, unaware of Dante's efforts to keep quiet.

It was a boy, small and lean clothed in tattered rags. The coal-skinned boy scrambled up into the nook of the enclosure, encasing himself in a dark shadow that hid everything but wide-open pupils of a startled child.

"Lemme see that lantern," Slashed illuminated the stall.

"It's a boy, still wit shackles on his wrists and ankles," Slash spoke once seeing him, "it's okay, we ain't gone hurt cha boi," Slash spoke in a low soft whisper with his hands raised in a surrender hoping to disarm the boy of his fears, but he stayed put.

"I ain't going back to the Johnsons, y'alls gone try and take me back but I's ain't gone go, y'alls gone have to kill me before I go," the boy's voice teetered on the edge of manhood and childhood while it navigated the cliff of uncertainty. He wasn't sure if death would be any better than the Johnsons, but he slowly spaced his leg apart and bent his back into an angle that welcomed a rushing bull.

"Oh, is that right?" Slash chuckled and rose his eyebrows.

"Slash, we ain't got much time for this. The sisters will be returning soon enough," Dante warned, sure to glance over his shoulder, "leave the boy and let's go."

"Nah, they'd torture him for our whereabouts, and I can'ts let that happen. Hand me ya hatchet, will ya?" Slashed reached out his hand, then Dante begrudgingly obliged him.

Slash crept within a hair's touch of the boy and sucked in a gut-deep breath. "Stay still boy, this won't hurt," Slash wielded the small ax high above his head, precisely casting it down onto the chains that trapped the boy and shattered the links between his wrist.

The boy's eyes widened with grateful shock as he shook his arms freely, no longer constrained by the stifling chains. Tear-washed eyes glanced up to Slash's towering figure in awe. Amazement swept the boy's voice from under his feet.

"What's your name boy?" Slash bent on one knee to meet the boy's eye.

"My ma and pa would call me Le'xander Malcolm, but Massa call me–"

"It don't matter what the white devil called ya. Ya name is the one ya daddy, and ya mammy gave ya. But we all gotta callin name, like mine is Slash, so we gotta give you one too. How bout' X?"

Le'xander would've preferred his own name, but Slash's benevolent warm eyes were reassuring arms for Le'xander to fall into, so he gracefully smiled and shook his head in agreement.

Dante continued to argue against bringing the boy, claiming the extra body unable to defend itself was nothing more than a liability. The path they were set to travel was ill-equipped to handle burdens because the mistakes here weren't your average dustups that were fixed with a light pat-down of the trousers. No, an error on this road surely preceded death or worse. Slash fully comprehended the consequences but still swung the boy on the back of his horse, for something occured in his spirit when he broke those shackles. No longer was it merely about enacting his revenge and escaping off into the hills for his own freedom, it was about his people.

Ten years later and Slash orchestrated the freedom of countless Black bodies thanks to The Nation, a paramilitary organization comprised of Black militants. An aged body now littered with wounds stacked on one another arranged in picturesque fashion, hindered him from leading the liberation missions anymore. Instead, he focused on running Bramblebush, a town named after the same shrub Moses seen set ablaze. It was Slash's version of Eden, a place where Black people could be free from the horrors of chattel slavery. The people who presided in the town were free from those fears, but Le'xander couldn't escape his own.

No longer the terrified boy Slash found, Le'xander grew into a man who was granted, as Slash thought, to lead The Nation's missions. The honor of delivering a people who look like him, from racist tyrants resonated with Le'xander like wolves resonate with the moon. But just like the rainbow after a treacherous storm, the feeling wouldn't last forever.

One muggy summer morning, where the humid heat of Georgia stalked you–a type of morning where mosquitoes buzzed and flies flew–Le'xander, now twenty-three, sulked through town. He dragged his anchored feet through the hardened red-clay that was soaked in steady sun rays robbing the dirt of its soft nature. Le'xander's head swooped and swayed in between his shoulders, staring at his feet with the melody of a lazily swinging hammock. A group of boisterous men alerted him to look, but it was nothing more than a group of railroad workers drunk with more than laughter tumbling out of the saloon. They chose to enjoy their day off, drinking away their aches and pains before going back to their homestead. The metal from children-thrown horseshoes amid a Pitch game rang in his ears. Thick-thighed, cornbread-fed women, who shuffled about and carried the town's gossip in their hips, waved hello at Le'xander. He gave a half-hearted smile keeping his hands securely thrust into his pockets and continued on his way. Years of nights where he was robbed of sleep, drenched pillows full of sweat, and daydreams transformed into nightmares occupied his thoughts. Freedom didn't seem so free, after all.

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