#with the same brush as hateful bigots

[queen-thinky-thoughts]

.

People completely seriously calling a woman a "known homophobe", who accepted her partner of many years as gay when he came out in wildly homophobic times, remained close with him, supported him, and helped keep him company and look after him when he was dying while she had her own family with a small child... all because she was a bit bitter, possibly a bit shitty and not super accomodating to his lover and friends, who were not her friends, after his death?

Damn, dude, when did they change the definition of "homophobia"?

[mhsdatgo]

By the way, you can say you hate characters and STILL admit that they were abused or harassed. There's literally nothing wrong. Denying it or romanticizing it because of a strange kink of yours won't make your hate any less evident, trust me.

Rhaenyra was abused. She's continuously taken advantage of, and brushed away the moment she isn't needed anymore. And she experiences this first hand with her own father, who completely ruins motherhood for her when she grows up watching Aemma get impregnated and either miscarry or have the baby be stillborn or die in the cradle. If Viserys had been by her side as a supporter to her claim since the start, he wouldn't have gotten Aemma pregnant again and again in the pursuit of a male child. He wouldn't have married Alicent for the same reason. Even after, the only reason why he still stands by her side, and it's time the fandom accepts this, it's solely because of his grief and guilt, because Rhae is the only remnant of Aemma.

And there it starts. Firstly, groomed and left alone naked and alone by her uncle in a brothel. Secondly, slept with Criston Cole (although she did coerce him, that's still a literal TEENAGER) then she's married to a gay man and still approached super young by her new bodyguard and just one year later she's started giving birth to his children. (Side note: FUCK Rhaenyra x Harwin. FUCK with reverb. With hard K.)

And up to this point, most fan agree that she's had a shitty life, although I don't agree with some of her choices. (like her treatment of Criston Cole and the bastards, not because I'm some kind of bigot, but because passing bastards as trueborn in THAT precise world sets them up for failure, not being legally deserving of a thone DOES NOT mean me hating them. That's for another post.)

To top it all off, she meets her uncle again, and there starts the fanfic self insert. They have sex on a beach the day of Laena's funeral, the only one of the three wives he's ever been canonically loyal to (FUCK you writers) and fans think it's soulmates meeting again or sum shit. They subtly threaten Laenor to fake his death or actually die (that's what they were trying to do, cope harder) and marry mere days after the death of Laena.

Yes, all cute and romantic (for Dumbnyras twats) but literally, has it done anything good? For Rhaenyra or like, anyone else? It just brought Daemon closer to the line of succession. Literally. That's all the good it has done.

Fast forward to ep 10. How do I even start with this? Only Jace seems to be on Rhaenyra's side. It's clear he only obeys to Daemon out of fear and is scared to talk back to him. Meanwhile, he COMPLETELY disregards his wife's, and by his faction's loyalties, QUEEN's, orders, he ignores her wails of pain as she miscarries their daughter out of pure shock and grief for her father's death. He lashes out and chokes her on the same day and people still see him as the malewife to Rhaenyra's girlboss. They're always ready to do award-deserving mental gymnastic to justify this man.

"He was planning war because he wanted to distract himself!!!!" "He only choked Rhae because he was mad at Viserys, he'd never hurt her!!!!!!"

Fuck off. Coming from probably Rhaenyra's #1 hater. Fuck. Off. Don't say you care about her place in the view of men when you're ready to justify shit like this.

This is the same man who runs off and has an affair with a teenager, and then prefers going on and having a badass death instead of joining his wife and children who need him in King's Landing.

Do I like Rhaenyra? No. Do I think that, because of this, she's never been abused, or exploited in any way, in her life? ALSO no. My distaste for her character has NOTHING to do with Viserys, Criston, Daemon, Harwin or literally ANYONE ELSE in her life.

Alicent Hightower time, baby.

My mother, my aunt, my grandmother, my entire bloodline, my Roman Empire. And more. To anyone who thinks of her as nothing but a bitter/jealous girl, go read @feretrumdulcia 's post about this matter cuz there's literally no one I've seen that words it better. (And bub if you're reading, long live you and the way you think.)

https://www.tumblr.com/feretrumdulcia/720746371814195200/i-have-seen-quite-often-that-many-people-consider

Anyone who can read this and argue that Alicent is envious/jealous or bitter, honestly needs to take the heart shaped sunglasses off, get off tumblr and Ao3, learn what media literacy is and start learning how to possess a crumble of it. To us it makes sense to synpathize with both, because we've seen the big picture. To Alicent, Rhaenyra gave her virtue to the man that almost killed her brother, and chose to believe she did not out of trust and maybe nostalgia for her friendship and easier times, only to have her father be blamed and taken away from her as a result.

She has four kids in the span of, how much? Five, six years? Seven at best? Helaena and Aemond are NINE MONTHS APART. Viserys didn't even let her rest after she gave birth to her daughter. And I'm convinced 100% that he kept her as Idk some whore he didn't need to pay for because it's stated that he never wanted Aegon but the son he butchered Aemma for. Why keep on bedding her and forcing children on her when you'd never get what you want from her?

Throughout the series she's called bitter and downright a c*nt for this and that reason. She tries convincing Viserys that Rhae's children are CLEARLY bastards and she's setting herself and them up for failure by committing treason and putting them on the throne? Nah, power hungry, jealous, bitter. She marries Helaena to Aegon as a last resort because she's Valyrian and probably would've received proposals worse than the ones Rhaenyra made that would eventually convince Viserys to give her away? Hates her daughter, abuser, shitty mom. Rhae's sons slit her son's eye out instead of running when they had the chance and she rightfully lashes out? Nah, crazy ass, for the dungeons. She gives money and moon tea to her son's rape victim to ensure she gets a way out and isn't forced to have a baby she doesn't want? Bruh, rape apologist. She goes to Aegon and RIGHTFULLY disciplines him? Abuser. Forced to show her feet to a rancid filthy man to know where her son is? Upholds the patriarchy, hypocrite. She convinces Aegon to start fighting for her family because it's either them or the Blacks and he needs to start putting his life together and fight for them, so she crowns him and makes him King? Treason, deserves death, long live the brothel queens.

Somehow, it is ALWAYS HER FAULT. And those few that admit how wronged she was make fun of her.

CAN SHE FUCKING WIN?! Or y'all just hate her because she isn't Valyrian?

Btw almost all of these arguments are the same for Book!Alicent who I personally believe to be FAR MORE than just a bitter stepmom that hates her stepdaughter. She arguably has more reasons to start a coup against her in the books without that prophecy shit.

TLDR; It's OKAY to hate characters and admit they're abused and taken advantage of at the same time. You don't have a moral high-ground on no one because you hate or love a character instead of the other.

[sepublic]

I remember hearing that Dana was inspired by True Crime, amongst other things and people IRL, when writing Belos. And it seems that contrary to the notoriety of True Crime fans, she actually understood the assignment.

Because she opted to demystify the serial killer as this dark, unusual psychology that operates outside of societal borders and rules, disturbed by some secret reason, and instead literally pull off the mask to reveal he’s just some white manchild who hates women and minorities to a violent degree, because he feels threatened by them and their ability to say No in his entitlement. There’s nothing special or unique about his motives.

He’s no exception to the status quo, he is it unmasked of the veneer of civility, he’s the lynch mob and the cop (all of whom inherit the violence of white supremacy and colonialism) and fittingly a lot of serial killers were clocked by women and PoC as dangerous, but cops —largely white men— dismissed their claims because look at this dude, he seems like an upstanding citizen! And that’s really how he got away.

And because his victims were people the system was less likely to believe because they both operated on the same biases, you see why a lot of cops who commit brutality are drawn to an institution where they’re given violent power over brown and/or queer communities who are labeled as ‘suspicious’, because they enjoy easy targets they know the system doesn’t care about, and are enraged by body cams and accountability.

It doesn’t matter if they’re intentionally bigoted, their support of an inherently bigoted institution makes them the same; Internalized biases and “I don’t see race” and all that. You see how Philip wanted to be a witch hunter —the prototypical cop who is not exclusively violent towards women but still has a clear slant— or colonial savior so bad, because his violence could be legitimized by the authority of the state.

He leans into it hardcore when he feels threatened by the presence of an outside girl who challenges the Christian narrative of Gravesfield, to the point of violence; It’s a position that validates killing anyone who doesn’t agree with him in general, hence Caleb and the Grimwalkers, but of course his and society’s biases slant towards women and PoC. And while it ultimately doesn’t matter whether he’s intentionally racist/misogynistic, it’s worth addressing that he very much does have the intention due to his blatant Conservative backdrop.

And seeing how charming Philip is and the portrayal of him as a little kid playing games in his youth, a perception Caleb might’ve still had which led to his death, I can see the direct line to families who find out their sons are school shooters and are in disbelief because he was such a nice kid! While ignoring the obvious Red Flags because white men are allowed to express these without being immediately scrutinized by the community, by having it brushed off. On some level cops don’t suspect him because he’s the same type of guy as them.

Part of that denial comes from the fact that he’s not an “unfeeling sociopath” who’s wired differently. Philip can feel empathy and guilt like anyone else, but he’s still a hateful prick and these aren’t mutually exclusive; Not when people can be perfectly selective about who they extend these feelings towards, or even do things in spite of these feelings, because other ones —anger and pride and hatred— exist and they choose to prioritize those. There’s an assumption that empathy and guilt inherently make you a good person, but they don’t; That ultimately comes from what you do about it, not how you feel.

You could even say Dana and the other writers wrote him too well, because true to life, we have a similar issue but on a micro-scale via the abstraction of fiction regarding a very dedicated fan base who loves to romanticize him and his actions, attributing his issues to some secret trauma in childhood, a young man failed by society! While also scrubbing him of his racism and misogyny and reliance on the status quo, to make him ‘apolitical’ and you can see the same not just with fans but also in society.

Because society doesn’t want to acknowledge serial killers as just the truth behind their white sons and the system that absolved and encourages them, because that would require them to admit their guilt in how they’re structured. Rather, they’ll say these men reflect some dark truth inherent to humanity, and don’t exist within a certain sociopolitical framework.

And so he was a ‘loner’ whose problems can be pathologized via mental illness, his trauma can be traced back to a specific incident in his youth he just couldn’t get over. So you see how school shooters are made into victims, how serial killers are also made apolitical and even alien to distance them from the status quo.

And then you can lean into how unusual they are by writing characters like Dexter or Hannibal Lecter, you can not just defend the system but feed into it via the commodification of their violence as entertainment and consumption, and thus fuel the white supremacy train by letting their violence towards women and minorities be praised as something fascinating and interesting and conveniently clean of bigotry. This is the dichotomy of the hypothetical, romanticized Fantasy Serial Killer, and the banal IRL Serial Killer.

Thus we have the same cycle of white men’s violence being praised and validated by the system, and white men feeling entitled to this fame as a delusional fantasy. Because you’ve never heard of a black serial killer; Because black people are violent, that’s just the way they are, right? But if white men are violent, this is sensationalized as somehow unusual and fascinating and worth dedicating countless books and shows and movies towards. Obviously.

And even going back to witch hunters, sometimes I wonder about the constant consideration of, What if witches did exist? What if they were evil? Things like The VVitch or The Conjuring series, which have some framing of the Salem Witch Trials’ IRL violence towards women as legitimate in another universe, because of Satanism’s genuine predatory threat towards women, and how evil women sacrifice theirs or others’ God-given gift of a child, and now threaten another white Christian family.

And again there’s the the demystifying of the real life witch hunter too when we have a historical reenactment declare verbatim that IRL witch hunters were motivated by economics and other banal factors, not by any genuine belief in the dangers of demons; And even in a setting where the demons were real, they were not the predatory threat IRL witch hunters made them out to be, and so their very real biases and ulterior motives still apply in cumulative insincerity.

Hence, the Titan correcting Luz by explaining Belos as someone who only cares about being the hero in his own delusion; The fascist wet dream of a hidden invader here to corrupt even young white men, an outside monster to vanquish and whose destruction justifies the state, when in reality the monster IS the state, and before he was even presented as a witch (much less the human truth), his system’s destruction was called for.

Ultimately, a lot of True Crime and similar narratives are criticized for focusing more on this apparently inevitable mystique behind the perpetrators, who warrant far more attention than their victims. So when the villain is an example of True Crime, it’s worth noting how the show is so much more focused on the ‘weirdoes’ he targets, on women and/or PoC. The lives of Luz Noceda and her friends, them getting along and their psychologies, are just so much more important, and it really isn’t about that guy, who is informed as much as he needs to be.

But again, the True Crime fans dilemma; People genuinely salty at the show for not focusing on their favorite serial killer and his troubled backstory, his tragic motives and Puritan repression. The framing of his murders and motives isolated through the lens of his violence on undeserving white men, and not on the out-group he is specifically targeting and has committed much more violence on, esp if you look at the narrative’s actual framing of his impact on our protagonists, but also other victims who are witches or demons, and even his own self-professed motives; Hence, ‘Fratricide Georg’ as a joke depoliticized of his colonial violence, a violence that is not just adjacent to but fulfilling racism.

Because he hallucinated only those white men out of guilt, but that’s his biased perspective and priorities; And so you see how this is contrasted with a refusal to empathize with people like the Collector or Luz, who are put into the same situations as his white male victims via shared cinematography, yet are just as rejected. Luz is only put into this situation as convenient to Belos’ narrative, the closest replacement to a white male human he can get, but again if this girl of color says No, he tries to murder her and even does.

Yet again, people take genuine, personal insult at the creator for finding Belos to be her least favorite character to write, while ignoring that she still found him necessary to the story she was trying to tell; She just found the framing and focus should’ve been shifted to his actual victims’ deep and meaningful lives, how they matter. So people hate that S3 cares more about Luz Noceda’s relationship with her parents of color, as well as her female mentor and demonic brother, or her queer relationship with her girlfriend, etc.

And even when they get a bone of white boy Hunter, it’s still not enough; Fans inevitably gather themselves into an almost frenzied state of personal victimization, rallying into harassment of PoC who criticize their portrayal and discussion around their colonial serial killer fave, organizing dedicated trends and months to giving their white men the focus they ‘deserved’, because this is just White fandom in general.

Look at the entitlement campaigns regarding Ben Solo or Billy Hargroves deserving better, these young white men violent to women and minorities. It’s just the same thing but on a micro-scale, at least filtered via fictional characters. But Jesus you see how internalized biases bleed into everything. You’ve never heard of a black serial killer and fandom doesn’t fight for characters of color.

[to-be-a-dreamer]

you sound like a right winger. cancel culture?

This is legitimately the funniest insult I’ve ever received thank you Anon. Like, you can’t think of any better way to discredit my post about how I wish people would just let a character be Not Racist and acknowledge that sometimes people can learn they were wrong and become better people so you call me (a queer woman of color who is college-educated and an immigrant, btw, just so we’re all on the same page) a “right winger” for using easily-recognizable terminology to ensure everyone reading understands what I think is the core issue. Incredible, insane, I wish you weren’t a coward who posted anonymously so I could scroll through your blog because I’m sure you’ve got jokes.

But anyways, since we’re all here I’ll take the opportunity to explain what I mean and my thoughts on cancel culture.

Original post that Anon is talking about for reference

People on the internet are obsessed with this idea of perfection. They think that a person has to do the right thing, always, every time. They think that a person who does or has ever done something shitty is just a shitty person who doesn’t deserve a platform. And they think that a person who was a shitty person in the past should always be viewed in that way. They can never accept that someone could have toxic or harmful views, realize they were wrong, and then become a better person, especially if they went through that journey offline or a long time ago. They don’t care if the person they see before them is clearly an open-minded, good person who doesn’t possess those views anymore. In their eyes, that person is still that same bigoted asshole from three, five, ten, twenty years ago and they have to acknowledge that past and be publicly shamed for it every single day in order to be “forgiven”. (They will never truly forgive)

And it’s just. I don’t understand it because what is the point of activism and education if we’re not going to allow people to learn what we’re trying to teach? How is our movement supposed to grow if we don’t accept the people who have been touched and reformed by it? How does any of this get better if we don’t allow people to be better?

Here’s my biggest problem with “cancel culture” (the mass ostracism and shaming of someone who has behaved or spoken in a socially unacceptable way). I think that this kind of mindset has led to an entire generation of internet users who are terrified of ever doing “the wrong thing” on the internet. We’re so afraid of making mistakes because we know how hard it is to come back from that and how unforgivable the rest of the internet is. And it’s turned us into overly defensive people who struggle to admit when we’ve done something wrong. We’re terrified to consider the possibility that we’re the "bad guy" in any situation because we've convinced ourselves that doing something shitty makes you a shitty person. We think our individual actions are lifetime sentences. I've seen so many people on the internet make small mistakes but double down and take things way too far when they're called out for it because they don't want to see themselves as a person who does problematic things. Because we've convinced ourselves that making a mistake makes you a bad person on a fundamental level. We've tied the amount of criticism we receive to our self-worth.

I also notice that it prevents people who actually need to learn and be better from realizing that. Because the amount of hate someone receives is so disproportionate to any mistake they actually made, it's so easy for a person to think "okay there's no way I deserve to be harassed this much, this is probably just the internet overreacting again, I haven't done anything wrong" and instead of learning the small lesson they needed to learn they just brush off the hate and dismiss it as cancel culture.

And so to bring this back to 9-1-1, I do think that some of the hate towards Tommy is due to shipping wars, but on a deeper level I think people just can't handle the truth that Tommy is actually a good person now. Maybe it stems from people hating the idea that someone who made their own lives miserable could learn and grow and become a better person later in life like Tommy did. Maybe people have some unresolved trauma about bigots that they're projecting onto these characters. Maybe they want to feel morally superior and just don't like the idea that someone who was shitty in the past could go on to have the same views and ideals as them. It's hard to tell for sure and it probably varies from person to person but I think the idea that a person has to be defined by their past is a big part of it on all levels.

Anyways, those are my thoughts on cancel culture as a whole and why I think the current generation of internet users has a really tough time taking accountability and why we all have rejection sensitivity (not RSD, the actual real medical condition, just a general sensitivity to being told you're in the wrong). We don't like to confront our own flaws because, according to the internet, those flaws make you a terrible person always and forever and you will never be able to overcome them or move past them. I hope this all makes sense I've been thinking about this a lot since 2020 but I've never tried to explain it in words. I don't think there's anything wrong with holding people accountable for past actions, I think there's something wrong with the disproportionate hate those people receive and the amount of shaming and shunning they have to go through before they're allowed to move on with their lives.

[kheta]

I don’t actually like Snily except for Feral!Lily Snily.

I don’t care about a mournful Snape who wants to make amends with the most perfect best friend in the world. I don’t care for regretful Snape who needed to lose his best friend to realise he was a prejudice bigot.

Give me Lily Evans who has had one constant her whole life. Lily Evans who knows every single cruel, bitter thing to say to hurt Snape. Lily Evans who has hated the other Slytherin’s far before blood-purity rhetoric was being sprout, because they were too comfortable encroaching on her territory. A Lily Evans who is visibly thrilled, pupils dilating from the intense, singular attention she garners from wide, onyx eyes. A Lily Evans who forces her way into all of Snape’s hobbies, making a home next to him, arms and legs brushing. A Lily Evans who drags Snape through Hogsmeade by his hand, pretending it’s his reluctance, his discomfort that makes her lovingly join their fingers and not her own selfish desires. A Lily Evans who argues with her parents, with her sister, with her friends for the boy who lives down Spinner Ends, because Severus Snape had called her a witch at all of nine and she’s wanted to know all of him ever since. Give me Lily Evans, the girl who let herself be dragged to Quidditch matches she doesn’t care for because even though he acts otherwise, Snape has an obsession with the game. Give me Lily Evans who poured over potion books for hours just to keep up with Snape when he’s in a ranting mood. Allow me to see Lily Evans, a princess to everyone but her equally as cruel, equally as brilliant best friend. The girl who gossiped with her best friend under trees and archways and between classes but the Gryffindor who also used the same snark to the faces of the people she badmouthed. The girl with a sneer as twisted as a future potion master. I want to see the girl who managed to get distrustful, sarcastic, socially inept Severus Snape to be wholly and truly obsessed with her.

Lily Evans who is sarcastic and obsessive and for all she hates him, can’t live in a world without Snape. Who has thought about shoving him against the wall during an argument to shut his stupid, brilliant mouth shut. Who has thought just as often about kissing him when he’s studying with her because his voice does something to her. Who had mentally prepared a whole argument on what they should name their kids and why. Who has a thousand and one torn pages of love letters she never sent. A Lily Evans who had never imagined a world without Severus Snape but can no longer picture her world with him. Who cries herself to sleep because she can’t love him anymore. Who can’t even look at him without getting mad, because he didn’t just shout a slur, he said it to her, he cut into her. It wasn’t that he was a bigot that made her give up on him, it was that he was a bigot to her. He turned on her and that was the final straw. Because no matter how much he liked the Dark Arts or he had other friends who were plain evil. No matter the red flags and the shouted arguments and the exchanged hexes with the marauders, and the passing of blame, Severus was supposed to be hers. Was supposed to pick her. The fact that he didn’t. The fact that he picked anyone else over her. It was the last straw.

And that. That is the Snily I want. The one about two obsessive, unintentionally cruel and intentionally vindictive people who knew each other as well as they knew their own body. About two wildly different, wildly loyal and wildly in love friends, who gave up on being together not because they did not love each other, but they knew that love could not be enough.

[watsername]

im just so confused why ppl aren’t as mad about this literal racism in 2023 as they were bigoted jokes made by teenagers almost a decade ago . these are grown men in 2023 but teenagers a decade ago got more hate in 2022 than the grown men being racist and barely acknowledging the weight of their actions in the present damn day . ‘oh so now dteam fans care’ but did you ever really bc a lot of the more vocal qsmp fans are being really quick to brush this present day stuff over especially on twitter . the same ppl who were ‘x needs to be cancelled for this’ are now just barely acknowledging this or saying ppl are escalating it . i don’t get it .

[jacquiarno]

It’s Bisexuality Visibility Month (also Suicide Awareness Month), and the biphobia has been constant and intense, even in our own bi spaces, mostly from fellow LGBTQIA+ people.

Bi women have been told they are tainted for being with men, that we are dirty and dick obsessed. We’ve been told we are perverted fetishists by both cis and trans lesbians, with even gay men joining in on the insults, with one even threatening violence towards bi women if they come near lesbians. We even got told we deserve to be abused, raped, and murdered by our male partners because that’s what we deserve for dating men.

Bi men are being accused again for being HIV carriers, with gay men saying they are only good for sex because they will end up leaving them for women. One trans man said he would kill himself if a man started dating a woman after him, not leave him for one but just start dating again and that person being a woman.

I haven’t seen insults directly about non-binary bisexuals, but I’m sure there would be and a lot of hate lumps us all together. All this hates stings me but I can’t imagine the pain of all this for non-binary, trans women, and trans men dealing with it all, and it makes me so disappointed and angry that fellow trans people in this community are hurting them.

Pride Month a lesbian wrote “I wish god would eradicate all the bisexuals” while another wrote “For Pride Month let all the bi people disappear” with both having thousands of likes and comments agreeing. Now during Bi Visibility Month, a non-binary lesbian with feminist in their profile posted “Happy bi visibility month, I hope they find a cure soon 💖”. While continuing to mock us after.

Our allies and so-called LGBTQIA+ advocates have been silent and have even participated in bierasure, laughing at us when we point it out, saying “It’s not that serious.” “Lol the bis are getting upset over nothing again”. Only the bisexual advocates and pages have spoken out against the hate.

The B in LGBTQIA+ is suppose to be for bisexual but this community says and treats us as awfully as the bigots do to all of us. Bisexual is the sexuality that is attracted to two or more genders, that we have the ability to love anyone regardless of their gender. But we’re treated as greedy, perverted, hyper sexual, unfaithful, which from bigots you understand and usually brush off, but from those within the community who go through similar prejudice and should understand, sharing the same ignorant mindset.

These spaces are suppose to be our safe havens as well, but are just as dangerous. We try making our own spaces and even that is invaded by these people, we are beyond exhausted. We need the other members of the community that aren’t biphobic to speak out more and shut these people and this hate down. Because the lack of empathy from this community is frightening and all this in-fighting will allow the bigots to pick us a part more easily.

[jmagnabo92]

“How Bad was Snape Really?

Is Snape hated more because he was awful or because he was awful to characters we love? Snape is judged as irredeemable by a lot of the fan base for the way he treated children, which is fair, however the same fan base loves it when characters they dislike have awful things done to them. Hagrid giving Dudley a pigs tail is brushed aside. Crouch Jr turning Malfoy into a ferret is seen as hilarious and I haven't come across too many people who felt that was a suspect thing for Moody to do. The twins enlarging Dudleys tongue doesn't cast any doubts on their character. If Snape had threatened to poison Dracos pet instead, or made mean comments about Pansy rather than Hermione would he receive as much hate?”

There are also comments about James hexing anyone he sees, and he and Sirius being worse when they’re defending Snape.

I know you’re getting a lot of these, sorry if you don’t like it, but it’s interesting to hear your thoughts about these things (I didn’t send the other ones)

I love it! I'm not used to getting asks, so keep sending them :)

How bad was Snape really? - Absolutely Terrible.

The assumptions that I dislike Snape purely because of his actions toward Harry and Sirius (my beloved characters) rings entirely false when I list out the things he's done:

Supported a hate group and was a bigot.

He was a terrible friend to Lily.

He abused students under his care (not just Harry).

He probably turned off a lot of people from Potions - like a whole decade of students - which impacted Aurors and Healers and such.

He was a loyal DE until ONE PARTICULAR PERSON was in danger

and he would've continued if that hadn't happened.

I am sure there are better lists but at this point, I can't think of them. (too tired I guess).

As for the others:

I criticize Hagrid, the twins and other characters - including James, Harry and Sirius - when they do something wrong. Including the things mentioned.

While I don't hate them for the few terrible things they've done - it isn't a double standard because they do nothing on the scale of what Snape does.

Snape is terrible. He abuses children. He abuses his power. He doesn't care about anyone else. He just does what he does out of guilt for Lily - not because it's the right thing to do.

Jr I don't care about enough. I certainly didn't find it okay.

Anyway. It's not a double standard. Snape sucks.

Thanks for the ask :)

[shellxrls]

cast made too many rafebarry jokes last press tour so netflix and the writers straight up just nuked barry right off the show. the cast talking abt potential queer arc is also why every pogue is shoved into straight relationships when there is more chemistry between two characters of the same gender imo.

this is not even exclusive to obx at all, but the way with so many incredibly popular shows, they will dance around queerness in the characters. sometimes leaning into it but almost never fully committing. and like... do i think the writers could give us genuinely good and deep and interesting queer rep? no not particularly. but it'd be nice for obx to not exist in a world where every singe character is heterosexual and no one even knows what being gay is.

im abt to out myself as a stevebucky here but honestly ... i feel like if they tried to do "gay rep" it'd be like marvel pre-endgame where they inadvertently had this crazy ass storyline abt 2 characters whose love and dedication spans decades apart and actual mind erasure that soooo many people where recognizing as The foundational relationship of one of the most relevant og 6 avengers, and they adamantly refused to lean into it at all despite the blatant queer-coding of the characters. instead they had one guy who's on screen for maybe 2 minutes talk about missing his bf/husband - and then this character is never heard of again. [plus SEVERAL more stevebucky atrocities were committed but that's not the point]

like there was soooo much potential there and they fucking squandered it. which (if the obx writers ever let their characters learn the word "gay") is exactly what i think the obx writers and netflix would do. just have a gay character exist in passing and then we never hear from them again so netflix can be like "see! we had one (1) gay!!! you can't be mad now!!!!"

anyway yes im still mad abt stevebucky in the year 2024, but patterns repeat and i am nothing if not a pattern-noticer, AND i can see obx falling down this rabbit hole.

bigots and homophobes die mad every character on obx is fucking gaaaaaaayyyyyy

marvel is the most talented at creating the most queer coded characters ever (some of which have been confirmed queer in comic canon mind u) to send the fandom into a frenzy without confirming anything.

in all honesty nobody hates this show like the fucking pates do. it is only what it is thanks to actor chemistry and character dedication. all the relationships formed and the life we see in the show is solely because the cast is so talented, and they convey what they want (even if it means warping it somehow around a shitty script).

& on that note so many of them desire queer relationships ! hence who is to stop them from imbuing it into their character even if it’s not a confirmation. i believe all the queer chemistry we see is #real and #true because the actors see it too, and who better to know the character than them, even if the show is homophobic and refuses to confirm it in order to conform to bigoted 13 yr olds.

i kinda love seeing it this way too (in which it’s. girly implied thanks to the actors immense emotional dedication to each other), cause like u said if they did put some rep into there on purpose it wld be cringy, unrealistic, and immediately brushed over.

[psudopod]

Splatmas is coming, and you know what that means?

Bet none of you guessed it's Psudopod's Big Lecture on How Y'all Need SPORTSMANSHIP!

Sportsmanship is behaviour and attitudes that show respect for the rules of a game and for the other players. 

Part 1: Rules of the Game.

There are indeed rules, here they are!

In Splatoon 3 you may be reported for breaking the rules for the following infractions;

Inappropriate Nickname

Inactivity

Intentional Disconnection

Unsportsmanlike Play (Self-Destruction)

Unsportsmanlike Play (Disrupting Team)

Intentionally Not Contributing

Network Manipulation

Malicious Use of Glitches or Errors

Cheating

Griefing (the action or an act of deliberately spoiling other players' enjoyment of a game by playing in a way that is intentionally disruptive and aggravating)

I've bolded the rules I see broken, often, especially during splatfests. Thankfully, I rarely see the ones I didn't bold. What I do see, pretty often, is Bad Sportsmanship.

I am referring to mid-match squid parties.

What are squid parties? A squid party is when the players ignore the in-game objectives and do... Whatever they feel like! Usually, this is seen as people standing around squidbagging together. It's honestly pretty fun! When everyone is on the same wavelength and the full lobby parties, it can be a cool time to explore how the game feels, play party games, and be silly! Note however, I said the full lobby. To play by your own rules when any single player is playing by the game's rules, is unsportsmanlike.

Thankfully, for all you partiers, there is a simple and easy way to make sure every player in your lobby is playing by the same rules; private lobbies! Make a private lobby, invite your friends, or join a pool to make some friends! I imagine "Squidparty" is a code you could use, but please do share any codes you've tried in your reblog. You can even plan games in lobbies, like "bumper brushes" or "hide-and-seek"!

Please, if you want to party, join a private lobby. Everyone else there will want to party, too. Assume everyone in public lobbies is there to play the game as described by the rules, even if they leave you to party.

If you are in a lobby to play, don't ignore partiers. They are just as often "Griefing" with intentions to use your mercy against you. Kill. Leave the lobby. Report. Move on. Pick any of the multiple rules that apply to squid party behavior. You can find the report button in the battle logs section of the terminal. Don't join a private lobby and report the goofs going on there, don't join a public battle and goof.

Part 2: Respect for Other Players

The Sportsmanship life doesn't end when you put the controller down! Y'all still Unsportsmanlike in the community. You need to treat other players right. We don't have Rules out here, but here's some bullshit I'm sick of seeing:

Racism (colorism and xenophobia)

Bullying (extreme language, hate mail harassment)

Being a sore loser (BS points 1 and 2, really.)

I don't need to re-hash the colorism issues. This is an old problem. Stop. Please remember your comments on the physical features of the idols can be hurtful, real people share those features.

What I do have to hash is the xenophobia. Y'all aware that blaming an entire nationality for you losing is bigoted? Y'all aware that claiming an entire nationality is just too good at the game is a stupid stereotype? Stop saying weird shit about Japanese players.

Bullying- hey, are you aware saying "KYS," any suicide baiting, is bullying and harassment? This is EXTREME language. Do not throw that shit around in the Splatfest tags when you're sad you lost. Do not throw that shit around in plaza posts. You will lose your plaza posting ability, account-wide. I dare you to send that shit on anon. I will drag your ass. Again.

It's ok to be sad you lost, but please be aware that lashing your negative feelings out on real people, or in ways that can hurt real people, is POOR SPORTSMANSHIP. Do you remember, in grade school sports, how the coach would tell you to line up and tell each member of the opponent team "good game"? You ever wonder why?

You should always be grateful and courteous, respectful, and constructive to every one of your opponents. You would not be able to play the game without opponents.

This splatfest, I really hope to see some better sportsmanship inside and outside the game.

I've said way too much already, I'll leave you with homework. This 'fest, I'd like for you to thank your opponents. Even when they beat you. Especially then. They did their best and respected you with a display of the fruits of their effort.

[bunnyinbedlam]

I haven't posted about Herman and my oc Silas in a long time so here they are !! I'm gonna ramble abt them for a bit bc i love them

Their whole deal is just toxic old man yaoi. Herman canonically is a conservative and very traditional, especially when it comes to issues like war and the military. Very patriotic and libertarian. Silas is none of those things, he's a self described progressive and intellectual, he's very interested in the same subjects as Herman, like weaponry and warfare, and they share mostly all the same hobbies, but when it comes to political stance and values they are very very different. Silas spends a lot of time with Herman, and that means he's also surrounded by a lot of the same conservative, conspiracy theorist bigots. He only tolerates this because of how much he loves Herman, but they do get into a ton of arguments often because of this tension. Silas absolutely hates that Herman is like this, he so desperately wants to make him understand that his prejudices and beliefs are harmful and they will both be a lot happier if he becomes a more accepting and educated person.

Herman is very stubborn and stuck in his ways, though. When they get into feuds like this they might stop talking for a few days, but one of them (usually Herman) reaches out to the other and they try to "make up" (they usually just make out or have sex.)

Herman is bisexual but is very closeted, and Silas is gay and out. Herman's other friends will often tease him for having a gay "friend" and make very gross comments about Silas. Herman mostly brushes them off, much to Silas' discomfort and anger. Their relationship is entirely secret, at least that's what Herman likes to believe. Lots of people suspect they have something going on. Silas will often complain about their relationship to his own friends, who are mostly Springfield's small population of out gay men like Julio Franco and Dewey Largo.

But despite how frustrating and difficult it is for Silas to keep doing this, he does it anyway. He keeps trying to change Herman for the better, he keeps trying to tolerate the horrible offensive shit he is forced to endure, he wants to believe that some day he and Herman can just stop arguing and be a normal couple, despite how much his friends tell him to leave Herman and find someone better.

[thecollectionsof]

i know we’ve all seen a lot about it by now, and it’s hard to put your energy and effort into something that’s so horrible, especially for those of us who have to live the realities of these bigoted and hateful bills if they pass. but if you have the time, the energy, or the bandwidth to read what blair said, i think it’s really really well put.

here’s someone who got to “win the lotto” and have the money and support to transition, and i’m so glad she got to do that. watching her journey has brought me so much joy because i got to watch someone begin to thrive and present themselves the way they want to present. but look at her story—even for those of us who get that opportunity it’s still not often an easy road.

her journey isn’t the same as everyone else’s, but everyone’s journey is different. taking away this care that can save the lives of trans children, a group notorious for high rates of suicidal ideation, is something i can’t stand to think about without feeling terrified and sick to my stomach. this care should be normalized, not criminalized.

blair said it best: “i want trans people to have a future.” this isn’t a trivial matter. this is the lives of all of your trans friends, family, acquaintances—all of us will be affected by these laws and bills and bullshit. if you can stand to fight it, please do. if you have the energy to talk about it, don’t let people brush it under the rug. if you have the ability to uplift the trans people around you, listen to their stories and support them in a time where the world is trying to make them illegal, please, i’m begging you. stand up. do something. don’t let trans children, trans people, suffer through this alone.

don’t let transphobia win.

[snowyknight-17]

I’m gonna leave this WIP here for a bit…

NSFW under the cut

Featuring Hancock and other FO4 mentions

“Let me ask you something,” John sat lazily on his sofa drawing another puff from his cigarette; eyes hooded under a tilted tri-corner hat,

“Why me?” Hancock paused for affect watching Annie twiddle her thumbs and pull at her jacket,

“You come all this way for a tussle all the while passing up 3 to 4 other dicks on much prettier men.”

Annie only now realized she’d been holding her breath and let it out loudly; but before she could make her plea John put out his cig and lit another.

It was hard to not notice how smooth Hancock moved, like water, and Annie was here to swim.

“For instance, that ‘holier then thou’ Paladin of yours. Yeah I see him get an eyeful every time you turn around, big lumbering soldier gets all pink in the cheeks when you take lead. Or that boss of his,”

Hancock snapped his fingers trying to remember Elder Maxson’s name,

“Elder Scarface. I fuckin hate that bigot but don’t mean he wouldn’t turn to putty the second you touched his shoulder. Guy’s so frickin tightly wound, I bet he’d cum by the fifth bounce. Sure he acts like a war tactician, bloodline bred for excellence, deathclaw slayer but I’d bet my last cap he’d turn into a little red faced bitch/sub underneath you.”

The conjured image was not unpleasant. Maxson begging for release, reduced to a tear stained, blubbering mess. Hands bound of front of him trying to feel any inch of her sweat slicked skin…

Her ears began to beat to the rush of blood to her face, had the room always been this hot?

John was standing over his coffee table, fingering through his stash of chems; amongst the stash were random bullets, poker chips, buttons and a magazine of some porno called “Three’s a crowd”. The cover showed 3 men in a cramped space with the same amount of lust in their eyes that Annie had for Hancock. He pocketed a jet then shot a round of hydra into his shoulder.

Annie remembered the last time they traveled together a couple of months ago. Helping out the folks at The Slog, when suddenly 3 super mutants appeared. They were low on the totem pole though; carrying only one pipe rifle the other two had 2x4’s, so they went down pretty quick, but not before John took a wack to his right side from one of the boards. He recovered fast due to his ghoul flesh, but his shoulder joint would always get stiff in rainy weather. If he would only ask, she would rub it.

Hancock made no sign he’d just been jabbed by a needle. Just rotated his arm adjusting the tight muscle, retuning his cigarette to his lips. Giving her body a quick once over before continuing,

“How about that Boy Scout lieutenant of yours? He’d practically marry you if you asked nicely…”

“Preston is an angel and wouldn’t know how to fuck me into a mattress of his life depended on it.”

John snorted, “Don’t be too sure about that chica. Every time I meander my way to your castle, I can practically feel the buzz coming off him when you’re around. He may be a saint but he’s still a man.”

Preston was Annie’s friend. Her first friend. She knew he wanted more, but she didn’t feel the same. It felt wrong to think of him that way when she had no intention of cultivating a relationship with him.

By now Hancock was close. Close enough to feel his warmth, smell his tobacco, see little stains on his red coat from when he refills the oil lamps. He huffed a final draft of smoke just to the side of her, before dropping and stepping on the butt. He adjusted his hat and looked her in the eye. Black voids meeting pale blues.

“Or perhaps this is a social call for a whole other reason.” His rough hands were barely touching her hips. Gentle caresses over her dirty jeans, his fingers sliding into her back pockets, heat radiating off him now. The front corner of his hat brushing against her hair,

Annie looked up and saw a restraint set in his jaw. As she leaned in to kiss the ghoul, he leaned back away from her mouth, and with a softness asked,

“Any chance you’re here to forget about that doe eyed, southern man you’ve been chasing?”

The mention of Jake sucked the heat out of the room. Annie felt a humid cold spread over her, tears pricked at the corner of her eyes and weakness began to build.

Jake.

Gods she loved him. Wanted him. Needed him; and what’s worse is Jake wanted her too. They kissed once after GNN was won. But Jake had to talk her down from taking more. While he wanted something between them to bloom, he just couldn’t give himself fully until his daughter was found. She understood. Hell she knew better than most what it means to have a child missing; her own son still in the clutches of ‘lord knows where’.

It made her sick to think about. Her baby boy, out there, somewhere. Was he safe? Well fed? Happy? Annie didn’t know. Was she terrible for wanting a distraction now and then in the arms of a lover while her dream guy worked endlessly looking for his baby?

Thick, wet tears trickled down her flush cheeks. They culminated in salty pools in the crease of her mouth only to be swiped away by Hancock’s thumb.

“What makes you think a boozy night with a mug like mine would make the ache go away?” His hands were no longer on her ass but on the small of her back, rubbing soothing circles.

[being-of-rain]

I gotta get round to writing down my feelings on Dot and Bubble, before the next episode comes out! They're conflicted feelings. My opinion has been swinging like a pendulum.

For most of the episode, my main reactions was 'are they Seriously just doing a Social Media Bad episode? Surely there has to be something more to it.' And of course, there was. But... well, the last few scenes really committing to the twist doesn't really change the fact that for a lot of the episode I was cringing at the 'these people spend too much time on their phones' vibes.

The twist that everyone was bigots... well, at first I wasn't sure it landed as well as it could've. I've seen lots of accounts of people who didn't get 'space racists' right away, and I agree that most of the final read classist more than (or just as much as) racist. But then again, in many circumstances aren't the two things tied together? And the more I sat with the episode after it ended, the more I appreciated it. There were quite a few moments and microaggressions throughout the episode that were easily dismissed as simply the mistrustful and argumentative nature of many a Dr Who guest star. And I guess the episode WAS saying 'being on your phone too much is bad', but it followed it up with 'because you'll end up in your own little bubble of social media that could easily radicalise you or feed your inherent prejudices.'

But... after I fully digested all that, I was left thinking 'is that all?' The episode's big reveal is 'this society is bigotted,' and it did have a few things to say about that. But in the end, is that it? I know AI has been done to death, but 'social media becomes sentient and hates is userbase' is an interesting (and hilarious) idea that gets brushed over as quickly as possible, and the slugs don't get much more attention, all because the episode is too focused on the human aspect. And if this episode is so interested in racism, then what does it say that there's only one character in the episode who's experiencing that racism, and when he finally understands it he doesn't care about it at all. Because the Doctor's frustration in the end is just about not being able to save the humans, not about anything they've done to him.

Then again maybe we should circle back to this being just as much about other prejudices and not racism exclusively. Sure it's important, but as we've said, the episode does have things to say about bigotry more generally. About the mindset of mindlessly following instructions, and ignoring your own hypocracy, and throwing people you idolise under the bus if you need to because the only person more important than people like you is you.

But on the other hand, I'm extremely very white. I've seen fans of colour accuse the episode of being cheap and shallow. After all, why is it a big statement for an episode to have an all-white guest cast if there's tons and tons of other Dr Who episodes that do that without thinking?

You get the idea.

In the end... well, I'll be brutally honest. On top of my mixed reaction to the episode's politics, I've just never really vibed with 'sanitised dystopian utopia' aesthetic. So my current emotional reaction to Dot and Bubble is 'meh'. Mark it down in the same category as the previous episode: I'll be interested to see what I think when I rewatch it, but it's not going to be something I'll go to rewatch very often.

What else to say about the episode? I actually noticed that a lot of the colonists were white and blonde before halfway through the ep, but then drew the conclusion that maybe they were all clones. I didn't fall in love with Ricky September like it seemed many viewers seemed to, I just got a little confused about what role in the story a random perfect guy like him was playing (I found out eventually, and boy was it more brutal than I expected). But I did enjoy seeing the Doctor and Ruby both try to flirt with him. The Doctor is now a Gay Best Friend tm. Oh it goes without saying that Gatwa's acting is phenomenal, especially in his brief time appearing in-person.

I know it isn't the show's fault that Gatwa was busy filming other things, and I usually enjoy shows finding ways to work around production limitations like that, and I even tend to like Doctor-lite episodes... but it is a real shame that in the first season of an exciting brand new Doctor, there's two episodes in a row that he's hardly in. I've seen the next episode described as the most traditional of this season, and while I'm not going back on my opinion that I love the experimenting this season, I am looking forward to More Traditional purely because it'll mean more Gatwa. And regency Gatwa at that. I hope he has a fucked-up romance with Jonathan Groff.

[beevean]

Honestly that callout is the inevitable end of what we already mentioned abt nfcv criticisms:

-Loud annoying fucks make obvious racism fueled criticism of n!Annette

-Fandom considers this to be the sum of nfcv critics

-You n other fellas make criticism of n!Annette based on how her character was adapted, her story arc, interactions, etc

-"You're so racist n misogynistic!!!" Dogpiling

And you did acknowledge the unfair backlash against her in good faith and if ppl had disagreements it could be like "nah i dont agree bc x and i think you're being insensitive abt y bc z". Hell, if i got told i said something insensitive i'd rectify and apologize but nope. You're a bigot now congratulations :/

And (and im gonna get a bit political here sorry for that) forever gonna hate how nocturne made me have to speak abt all the nuances of the french revolution bc it is true that France was and is an imperialistic country w racism issues, but said history and issues can't be reduced into "white men bad, rich bad, 21th century 'murica politics" (specially considering how this is an Usamerican show, aka imperialistic country w racism issues that casually has France's politics on a leash lol)

It's all so annoying I just want a good adaptation of the funny beat up Dracula games

Pd: one of the things i like abt nocturne is her redesign lol. It doesn't has anything to do w the og but it's very good looking👍

Yeah, I knew I would be brushed off as one of those genuinely racist people whose criticism of Annette begins and ends with "MUH POLITICS, MUH WOKE" without knowing shit about history or even being a fan of the games. It's still annoying :V I always, always pointed out that those people exist and they have poisoned the conversation too much. But no, scream to me about how black women deserve to be in fandoms I guess. Yeah, I know. Good thing I didn't target you, isn't it.

And as other people have pointed out in the nothes, NFCV is genuinely all sorts of -ist and -phobic, there was a huge post that blew up about the blatant antisemitic implications of a "vampire cabal" owning all the slaves, so if you really want to play white savior, the show you're defending has plenty of material already :^)

And yes. I know this is going to sound like those MUH WOKE people, but I swear I don't mean it in the same way: Castlevania is not the franchise that should deal with real life politics. Not the games, nor the show. It's about humans vs. vampires. It has always been about human vs. vampires, or any sort of monster. Yes, N!Isaac had a past of slavery, but 1) it was highly historically inaccurate, since NFCV takes place before the Transatlantic Slave Trade and slaves in that area tended to be European, 2) it was still lowkey racist, as if black people can only be slaves, as if Isaac doesn't have already an in-built backstory of being persecuted for his powers, and 3) it was, at the end of the day, an insignificant factor of NFCV's lore. It justified one antagonist's misanthropy. It wasn't the literal core of the show. Nothing about the original show, let alone the damn games, would lead me to think "mmh, I sure would love to see important, complex historical events played out in this setting!".

(N!Annette is very cute, I concur lol. A much better design than N!Isaac. I appreciate that she's dressed in yellow like the original Annette :>)

[concerningwolves]

hello! i have question for you if you don’t mind me asking:

one part of my story focuses on a blind-from-birth friend (let’s call them A) struggling with not being overprotective of their friend (let’s call them B) who has very recently gained deafness.

would it be inappropriate or insensitive for B, in their confrontation, to compare their conditions? as in, if A could make it through life as successfully as they have, what’s to say B can’t adapt and succeed too even if it’s not the same condition?

Ohh, this sounds like a very interesting and crunchy dynamic!

I think this is one of those occasions where, yes, what your character is saying could be insensitive, but it's said as a result of a very reasonable conflict. The way I look at it is this: Your character(s) can say and do things that are insensitive if it's true to their characterisation and/or makes narrative/thematic sense. What's important is that you as the writer can recognise when something is insensitive/offensive/incorrect, and handle the issue respectfully in the wider story.

So, there are two issues with B's comment about "adapting and succeeding":

It doesn't acknowledge the nuance in disabled people's experiences, which could feed into the stereotype that all disability exists as a monolith (usually a monolith of suffering).

It doesn't account for any potential struggles or difficulties that A has experienced – or, more crucially, still experiences – because of their blindness. This skews close to the "Inspirationally Disadvantaged" trope, wherein a disabled character is treated as heroic for doing something everyday ordinary. (See also: inspiration porn)

It's a sad reality that if B wasn't otherwise disabled before gaining deafness, they were probably ableist. I don't mean "hateful bigot" degree ableism – more the insidious, everyday type of ableism that seeps into us because of social beliefs. In that context, a comment like B's is understandable. You see it all the time both in fiction and real life: people become disabled or chronically ill, and both they and those around them immediately treat the new situation as something that needs to be "fixed" or overcome.

While becoming disabled is a life-altering circumstance which may carry its own trauma or grief (even if not caused by a more "typically" traumatic event!), it's not a tragic condition that has to be overcome. It's a new way of living. There will be new problems to deal with though, ranging from The Symptoms to internalised, social and systemic ableism, and it's important not to shy away from or gloss over these. In B's case, they're going to learn to live without a sense that they probably never realised was quite so important to them. I've always been deaf, so I really recommend finding accounts from people who became deaf later in life to get a deeper understanding of this perspective.

When handling A and B's disabilities in the wider narrative, think about the two issues I raised above and see if they're present at all. Some questions to help you assess your narrative as a whole are:

Are you painting A and B with the same brush? – by which I mean, have you done research into blindness and deafness separately, and reflected differences in the culture and beliefs associated with them in the narrative?

↪ (Disabled communities often have a culture built up around them, with facets like humour, shared experiences, and language and other communication systems. I always wholeheartedly suggest looking into these and incorporating them into stories!)

Does A ever encounter any issues related to their blindness, or do they somehow manage to ""overcome"" everything? – think about what accessibility aids they use, what barriers they face, and how they navigate the world as a blind person. If you've not checked them out already, blindbeta has an incredible blog for portraying blind and low vision characters.

↪ (Even in an ableism-free 100% accessibility-focused society, most disabilities are still going to be, y'know, disabling in some way. The core question to ask yourself is how does my character's disability/condition affect them on a day-to-day level?)

Have you included disabled joy as well as disabled struggles? – there are often positive aspects to disability! Sometimes it's as simple as "this is how I experience the world and I'm okay with that"; sometimes it's "my disability means [X] and I'm proud of that"; other times it's "this is what I've learned from living with [disability] and I value that". There's a lot of variety in opinion and you won't be able to please or represent everyone, but it's infinitely worth looking into and including as much as you can.

I hope this helps. Please feel free to ask if you need anything clarified, and good luck with your story!