#you don’t have to drag black peoples oppression into it

[sanyu-thewitch05]

Does anyone else remember that aroace flag discourse where the user that shall not be named decided the Aroace flag was offensive cus it looked like the flag the apartheid used. And they were worried someone would think it was the apartheid flag from far away because of the colors. Then on top of that foolishness, when black people started dragging them for the tomfoolery they said they wanted people to explain their arguments as to why the Aroace flag isn’t offensive.

Like-

Photos of post and link for reference

[pandorem]

Okay so I don’t feel the most qualified to talk about this, especially to make any value judgements on how any of this was handled, so I would love other people to add in if they feel like it, but this is eating my brain actually so.

Esther Finch is a funny villain. She’s a joy to watch on screen, even if part of that joy is in hating her. But there’s something that feels very deliberate in the fact that the only two girls (barring in the animated flashback) we see her target are black girls. Becky Aspen and Crystal. I don’t think we’re supposed to infer from this that she only ever targets black girls, but the casting of Becky feels deliberate. While there’s plenty of in universe explanation for why she wants to use Crystal to feed to her snake afterwards and doesn’t ever say, specifically target Niko, it’s still there. And though Niko was just hurt because she got in the way, she’s also another woman of colour we see Esther hurt.

And then at the end Crystal, who many have pointed out has been a voice for women throughout the whole season, stands in front of Lilith, the goddess of wronged women, and screams to her about who gets justice for all the little girls Esther hurt. And then Lilith, played by a black woman, is the one to drag Esther away.

Crystal says to Esther that she knows how anger can poison you. Esther says she learned to be predator instead of prey a long time ago. Do I think that the show literally wants us to think that Esther is a racist who deliberately targets black girls? No. Do I think the casting choices that they made bring up themes of the kind of people who, because they have been hurt or marginalized, want to push others down to have others that they can have power over instead? Whose problems with societal oppression is not that it exists, but that they aren’t the ones who get to benefit from it? I think so.

[eddiediazismyhusband]

i really want a fic of eddie realising him and buck have been falling in love the entire time.

I keep seeing posts (and even had someone tell me) that it’d be unrealistic for Eddie to be in love with Buck and not realise. Like not even think of him as an option. 

But that’s such a real queer person thing- i’ve lived that experience. I’m a women and despite all the times I admired other women it took forever for it to click for me.

I mean I grew up with accepting parents and kind friends and even queer people on tv. I remember looking at girls as much as I looked at boys. And yet I still had the reoccurring thought “I could be gay, I mean i’m not- but I could be. But most people aren’t gay and i’m most people”. (gay being used here in my head to mean “not straight”) AND YET despite it all I didn’t realise i was Bi until I was much older.

And even then, I’d had at least two long term crushes without realising they were crushes before it clicked. 

(I kid you not- it took a drag queen talking to me like i was a toddler for it to click, but that’s a whole other story SO-) 

Whether or not Eddie already knows he’s gay (or demi or whatever) doesn’t really make a difference, cause it’s that same sort of heteronormative internalising that causes these feeling to not be understood. 

Especially for Eddies character who’s had this messy norm with Shannon for so long, a stable thing to grasp (even when their relationship was a mess) and then her death and him chasing to find that weak grasp to SOMETHING again- something that can be another excuse to not go looking for himself. 

Like he’s internalised this behaviour of, “if i’m in a relationship, I don’t have to look deep and figure out why it’s not working” and never quite realising that maybe the reason it’s not working is cause he’s trying to replace something that was never really real.

(Speaking of, Eddie and Shannon are the epitome of loml by taylor swift. I mean- “we were just kids babe” “from one kiss to getting married” “something counterfeits dead” “what a valiant roar, what a bland goodbye” “i’m combing through the band of lies- “i’ll never leave” never mind”) 

babe you are speaking to the POSTER CHILD of raised in a religious household and convinced themselves they weren’t queer until it was staring them in the face

the biggest issue is that most (again i said most before yall try to jump down my throat) of the people who are against buddie are either straight people who don’t understand the nuances of queerness, or queer people who didn’t grow up in environments of oppression and have never felt the need to hide themselves

i used to tell my parents i had crushes on girls only to later realize that it was because i just had a genuine platonic connection with them (two of whom are my best friends and are also queer women) and i used to get confused about what the difference between attraction and admiration was— something a LOT of queer people go through without realizing.

comphet is literally such a widespread phenomenon that people truly don’t realize just how common it is— like even queer people don’t realize they probably know several “straight” people who are still lying to themselves bc sexuality isn’t black and white— it exists on a spectrum. I’m not saying that to invalidate anyone’s straightness, im just saying i know multiple men who are my dads age (60s +) who only recently came to the realization that they were gay.

it’s genuinely so disappointing to see some of the people in this fandom pushing homophobic talking points from history just to disprove a character’s implied queerness bc they view that character’s queerness as a threat to their ship.

anyway, i agree eddie and shannon’s relationship is soooooo unconscious lavender marriage coded to me and there are SO MANY beautiful TS lyrics that apply to that… another song that i really feel like captures Eddie’s pov of the relationship is Home by One Direction… especially these lyrics:

[canichangemyblogname]

Breaking my hiatus briefly to say this:

It’s really unfortunate how the “kill men” and “sterilize men” and “imprison men” discourse got turned into “men are oppressed for being men” by— well— white people, predominantly men. Because there should have been a mainstream conversation about how this rhetoric is most frequently leveraged at racially marginalized men by white men and women.

It is so, so, so transparent what these phrases really mean when they’re added to posts calling marginalized racial or ethnic groups “genetic trash.” And I’ve seen black and brown women point this out, only to be called “sex traitors” or be told they hate women and have internalized misogyny for “siding with the oppressor.” Black and brown women can’t point out “hey, arguing that men should be forcibly sterilized is eugenics and that scares me as someone who comes from a community that has been victimized by eugenics” without people coming out of the woodwork to tell them that they’re setting back feminism.

“Men should be lined up against a wall and shot.” And you think the person who’ll be targeted is your creepy uncle? Not black drag queens or Jewish doctors or immigrants? Who’s pulling the trigger? White men? Likely. They’re already trigger happy.

“Men should all be in prison as a precaution.” And you think that the prison industrial complex will target predators, who are predominately cis het white men in positions of authority— a group it notoriously fails to “hold accountable”— instead of the poor black men it currently targets? We have done little to dismantle a system that is designed to imprison black men and women for their labor.

“Men should be forced to get sterilized as a precaution against unwanted pregnancy.” And you think that the men who will be forcibly targeted are— who?— Republican politicians? Not the men who have faced forced sterilization for the furtherance of white supremacy? You think such a campaign won’t disproportionately— or even exclusively— target black and brown men? You think they won’t be targeting gay men? You think that black women agree with you? You think their biggest fear is an unwanted pregnancy rather than the fact they don’t have the privilege of safely and healthily giving birth to their wanted babies because the medical system kills black mothers?

None of y’all people treat white men in positions of authority with the same rancid energy as black and brown women who disagree with you. I see y’all out here retweeting Matt Walsh or quoting Jordan Peterson with quotes like, “thank you 🙏. so refreshing to see men who understand real women’s issues and the differences between men and women!” But the moment a black feminist breathes in criticism of a pro-ethnic cleansing post, you perfectly demonstrate why white people should not be involved in “slur reclamation” discourse.

[odinsblog]

Is the Hamas torture video post true? I can't find anything other than an ADL post

I haven’t and I refuse to post or link to any of the videos, so I’m not really sure which “torture video post” you’re talking about, unless you mean this post or maybe this one

At any rate, I have unfortunately seen at least two such videos (mostly because of how Twitter no longer labels graphic content/violence), and it was before I was fully aware of what was actually happening in Gaza. The first video showed young women being dragged and paraded through the streets by Hamas. Some of the women were dead, and the ones who were alive had very clearly been raped and their clothes were all bloody between the legs. The other video I watched showed a family that was taken hostage, and then abruptly they murdered an 18yr old girl in front of her parents and her little sister. I “saw” other videos, but LOL, I’m ex military, but I’ve been shot at, at close range several times before (not while I was in the military), so I tend to be a bit squeamish around real/realistic depictions of death — so I let the video and audio play, but I looked away and had a friend more or less describe what was happening to me, only looking at the screen myself periodically.

Look, I wholeheartedly believe that decolonization always has and always will require violence. Things are absolutely no different with Palestine freeing themselves from Israeli oppression. I get that, okay?

SN: now feels like a particularly good time for this warning: be wary of anyone suddenly stressing “peaceful nonviolent resistance”.

I’m sorry, but rape, torture and intentionally murdering children and disabled people is kinda a bright red line for me. It’s an indelible line that I cannot cross. And I won’t defend it, I won’t excuse it, I won’t ignore it, and I won’t pretend that war crimes like rape are just the cost of doing business.

Let’s do a thought experiment: pick whatever’s most important to you, something (you think) you’re willing to die for - maybe it’s LGBTQ rights, or Black liberation, Climate Change, or whatever. You get the idea. If someone said to you, “Hey, we may be forced to kill some people to achieve our goals and gain our freedom,” maybe you’d be down with that. But if they said that rape would be required, would you still be cool with that? If they told you that killing children and the elderly was a part of the plan, could they still count on your unwavering support?

And to be super clear here: please let’s not pretend that the IDF hasn’t done some of the exact same things to Palestinian civilians that Hamas has done to Israeli civilians. Israel is currently bombing the fuck out of Palestinian hospitals, UN schools in Gaza, and turning off water on children, the sick + disabled, and the elderly. You would have to be the biggest most gullible fool on earth to believe that all of the apartment buildings that the IDF has leveled to the ground in Gaza, had zero innocent people inside them.

So I guess in the end, all I’m saying is, regardless of which side you choose to support, we must always always draw the line at war crimes.

And a friendly reminder: Hamas ≠ Palestine

Another friendly reminder: you can be pro-Palestinian without being antisemitic.

One more friendly reminder: Hamas would not be nearly as strong as it is today if Benjamin Netanyahu hadn’t repeatedly propped them up over the years, to keep the Palestinian people from becoming united.

And one final warning for anyone reading this: Elon Musk has all but eliminated the part of Twitter that used to block misinformation from being posted. Therefore you’re going to see A LOT of rightwing, anti-Palestinian + anti-Ukrainian propaganda. Please don’t fall for it. Check and double check the sources.

And as always, TERFs dni

[whumble-beeee]

Whumptember 2023, Day 18

“You said I’d be safe here”

Ambushed | Paranoia | Being watched

The Bee's Whumptember Masterlist 

~1720 words

CW: “bad” caretaker (literally, you’ll see what I mean), mermaid whumpee, “it” as a pronoun, kidnapping, implied mermaid trafficking

------------

"Caretaker? Where, uh… where exactly are we?"

Caretaker looked back at the mermaid that haphazardly clung onto their shoulders.

“Almost home.” They grunted, hiking the mermaid resting on their back up so their tail wasn’t dragging on the ground again. Caretaker was decently strong, but lugging a mermaid from the docks where they had been captured all the way back to your house would have made anyone's body protest and ache after a while. Theirs was no exception.

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Whumpee whispered. “You should have just let me go… Someone could have seen us. I think I saw someone following us!”

“Yeah, well I couldn’t just leave you there, and I couldn’t just let you go. They’ve got hunter ships covering half the gulf, you’d never make it.” Caretaker spotted their house in the distance, the single lit window a shining beacon through the oppressive darkness surrounding them. A second wind graced them with new energy. Almost there… Almost there. God, their back was killing them. “And if someone’s following us, then I’ll kick their ass and we’ll keep going.”

The mermaid sat silent for a moment, the day's events flipping through their mind like an ancient film reel. Their eyes flicked around the darkness pressing in on them, odd shapes morphing and charging in the blackness and making their imagination run wild. Goosebumps prickled up their arms and back. 

“How… How do I know I can trust you?”

“Does it really matter? Not like you could do anything about it one way or the other.”

The arms clutching around Caretaker’s neck grasped themselves tighter, and Whumpee went silent, leaving only the sound of gravel crunching under Caretaker’s feet as they continued their trudge to the cottage. Caretaker sucked in an extra deep breath and let out a small groan. Maybe that response wasn’t as reassuring as it should have been.

“... look, I promise you can trust me. You’ll be safe here. We’ll get you in a bathtub with some water, and figure out our next steps together, okay?”

Whumpee took in a raggedy breath near Caretaker’s ear, one that Caretaker knew was in a vain attempt to hide their dangerously dried-out state. “Yeah… thank you.”

A sudden beam of light cut through the night from down the path they had just trekked, swooping over their heads as it slowly came up over the hill.

“Shit…”

Caretaker ran the rest of the short distance to their house, much to the dismay of a very jostled Whumpee, and they quickly locked the door behind them, turning off the light and running to the bathroom to turn on the water before sloughing the now wide-eyed mermaid into the filling tub with a small yelp.

“What’s going on?” they whispered, as if the danger would be able to hear the conversation and snatch them away again with yet another net.

“You know how to work the spigot? Turn the knob to make it hotter and colder?”

“Uh, I do now… But–, but what’s happening, please?”

“I think you were right, someone followed us.” Caretaker held their hand under the water for a moment before adjusting the knob as the blood drained from Whumpee’s face. “I saw a light coming up the trail and my house is the only one up this way, so it couldn’t be for anyone but me. I’m gonna turn off the lights in here, and you’re gonna have to pretend you’re not here while I deal with… whoever.”

“They’re coming for me!” the mermaid squeaked, clutching at the sides of the tub.

“You don’t know that, it could just be someone on a late-night visit.”

“That’s not a thing that people do!” 

“Actually, my friends do sometimes–”

The mermaid grabbed Caretaker by the lapel and pulled them in close. “You said I’d be safe here,” they breathed, serious as the grave, practically shaking as they held themself up. “You just promised me.”

Caretaker cupped the mermaid's hands in their own and pulled them off their shirt, firmly setting them back down on the edge of the tub. “Sometimes people break promises. I’ll do my best to keep this one.”

A hard knock at the door echoed through the house, sounding out over even the noisy water hitting the porcelain of the bathtub. Caretaker jumped up to the door and quickly flicked off the lights.

“I’ll go deal with this then come back to get you as soon as we’re done. Don’t make a sound.”

“Wait!” Whumpee called. “Should I turn off the water?”

“No, you need it, I’ll just say I’m drawing a bath for insomnia or something. Don’t let it overflow.”

“Oh, uh–” The door slammed shut, plunging the mermaid into near-complete darkness with the click of a lock. They tensed up even more, if that was even possible, only kept company by the gushing sound of water and the sliver of light peeking under the door. Their head whipped around in the darkness, looking for any signs of someone watching them even though all logic said that was very much impossible, and they felt their eyes starting to burn. They weren’t even sure if it was because of held-back tears or their sorely dried-out face. Probably both. They could barely breathe. The bathtub wasn’t large enough for them to be able to dunk their face down, so they had to resort to splashing water onto their face and hoping a more sufficient solution would come along once Caretaker came back…

 If it was Caretaker who came back… 

Whumpee didn’t want to consider it might be the very hunters who had captured them who might be the next ones to grace the bathroom doorway.

They leaned back, biting their lip as they death-gripped the sides of the tub. Someone was going to find them, they knew it. If not now, then soon. It was impossible to smuggle a mermaid across land, especially such a ‘prize’ like Whumpee, so they’d been told. So many people would be searching for them. It was only a matter of time. 

They’d never be able to feel the water rush against their face again, the briefest moments of euphoria when they jumped out of the water and felt gravity take hold, pulling them back down into the water’s cool embrace. They’d never see the vibrant colors of the coral again, the fish all around them, darting this way and that without a care in the world, before becoming one unified entity and moving as one away from some predator. They wouldn’t even see any more of those stupid eels that they hated when they were a child, the eels that still creeped them out to this day. Their heart hurt for the eels.

Tears sprang to their eyes, which just alarmed them more because they’d never cried above water before, and then they started crying harder. They just wanted to go home. Just one more time. Just one more time, that’s all they asked.

------------

Caretaker gently closed the bathroom door and clicked the outside lock into place just as another knock echoed through the house, making their heart nearly seize out of their chest.

They stormed over to their front door, slamming it open to the sight of a person leaning against the doorframe, one foot pressed up under them, arms crossed and head tilted down in a vague caricature of a… mobster? Hardened detective? Caretaker narrowed their eyes, aggressively unamused.

“Ya got the goods?” they grunted in a very bad approximation of an accent. They looked up at Caretaker through eyebrows and half-lidded eyes.

“What the fuck are you doing, Partner?”

Partner straightened up. “Uh… you said to meet you here at midnight?”

Caretaker clapped their hands together as they stared at Partner with dinner plate-sized eyes and gritted teeth, in a vague attempt to not throttle them. “First of all, it's almost two, and second of all, no I did not.”

“Right, whatever.” Partner cooly walked past Caretaker into the house, flicking the light switch and bathing the living room in a warm glow. “You got the mermaid though?”

“You were supposed to wait for my call, which I said would probably come tomorrow morning and then you’d come over and I’d introduce you. No one ever said anything about meeting at midnight, and especially not at 2 a.m. in the middle of the heist.”

“Right, yeah, but did you get the mermaid?”

Caretaker slammed the door and growled. “No thanks to you.”

“Then I don’t see what the problem is. You got the mermaid, and no one’s following you, ‘cept for me, of course, because I was looking out for you and trying to make sure you weren’t being followed.” Partner lied halfheartedly. “Everything’s going great. We already got the hard part done, now we just need to smuggle it across the border and sell the damn thing.” 

Partner flopped down on the couch and patted the seat beside them, an invitation which Caretaker ignored in favor of standing directly in front of them, seething.

“The problem, Partner,” Caretaker growled. “Is that we saw your light coming up the road, and now it thinks the hunters are onto us. I mean, hell, I did too, I was fully ready to cave your face in. It's probably having a panic attack in the bathroom now, and it’s gonna be a nightmare to calm down. We need it to trust us.”

“Who cares if it trusts us?” Partner groaned. “Not like it can run. And even then, there's two of us and one of it, we can just knock it out and be done.”

Caretaker snatched the back of Partner’s jacket and dragged them off the couch toward the bathroom.

“Right, I’m gonna tell the thing that it was just my friend after all, then you’re gonna introduce yourself and be so nice and believable and you’re gonna help calm it down. And it’s going to trust us.” Caretaker hissed in Partner’s ear, the sound of the still running faucet growing louder with each step. “Got it?”

Partner rolled their eyes with a sigh. “Got it.”

“Good. You better pray to whatever god you believe in you haven’t ruined this.”

“So dramatic, Caretaker. We’ll be fine.” Partner jumped in front of Caretaker and unlocked the bathroom door, slamming it open with little care.

“What could go wrong?”

Whumpee let out a terrified scream.

@whumptember

[theundertalenebulartheory]

Dream Catcher, Nightmare Snatcher (A Symbiote Nightmare!Sans Fic)

((I’ve had this idea rattling around in the back of my brain for a while, inspired originally by @zwagyzonk and their little comic of Nightmare as a sleep paralysis demon that gets captured by a dreamcatcher. https://zwagyzonk.tumblr.com/tagged/sleep%20paralysis

But @mothiepixie and the Nightmare Revival she’s inspired with her Symbiote Nightmare https://www.tumblr.com/mothiepixie/tagged/symbiote%20nightmare

gave me the kick in the pants I needed to finally put something a little more coherent together.))

DREAM CATCHER, NIGHTMARE SNATCHER CH1

You’re cursed.

Utterly and completely, hopelessly cursed.

It was the only explanation. You’d been having night terrors for weeks on end. Spooky voices following you through the woods. A cyan eye. Falling. Running. Your pants missing at your commencement ceremony. Teeth falling out. A cheshire smile. You’re late to the most important event of your life. It’s your birthday and nobody shows up. Even the kind where everything seems normal but it’s just wrong in ways you can’t actually articulate nor even strictly identify, but in ways that become oppressively more intense until you’re screaming and crying as you come-to from something so horrendous as the ice cream man asking you what flavor you wanted. Ink-black oil-slicked tentacles lashing out from the shadows and dragging you into the dark.

Needless to say, you’re also desperate.

Utterly and completely, hopelessly desperate.

You’ve tried everything. Melatonin. Warm milk. No TV before bed. A break from social media. Researching dream meanings online. Avoiding fast food. A warm bath before bed. Staying up for a full night and not sleeping until the next night to try to exhaust yourself past the point of being even capable of experiencing nightmares. Alcohol. Reading silly stories. Buying different laundry detergent. Changing the thermostat. Checking for carbon monoxide.

More nightmares.

You dragged, quite literally if the scraping sound of the scuff of your shoes is anything to go by, yourself through a Farmer’s Market you’d had on your calendar for days. You were excited to be here. You’d wanted to come. There were colors and people and sounds and smells. But you were so, so tired you could barely focus on anything happening around you. Even the strongest espresso you could buy was barely keeping you vertical. You were clutching it like a life preserver and trying to look at the art and you reached for a little sample of cheese. Your mouth told them (someone) it’s amazing even though you couldn’t actually remember if it made it past your teeth. You’re exhausted, incoherent, and in danger of falling on someone or something if you keep going even though you’re barely halfway through. It was warm and sunny and not even the brightest summer sunshine could keep you upright so you reached for another sample of something. The nice lady behind the stall asked if you could only please take two and you don’t even remember taking the first one. So, you admitted defeat and turned around. You just had to get back to your car. You have to drive home without getting into an accident. You have to...

You sat. It was shady. And still shiny. Colorful. Someone asked you a question and you answered. Then kept talking. Until there were tears. Something was pressed into your hand and you reached into your wallet, grabbing what was in there and trading everything you had for whatever was in your hand before fleeing.

You’d forgotten your espresso somewhere before arriving home, clutching your new prize as if it could save you. As if it had answers to questions you couldn’t even ask. You flopped into bed on your back, your prize resting over your heart (your soul) as you passed from consciousness.

It’s the dark and spooky woods again. You’re breathing quickly, great gulps of air giving you barely any reprieve as you dodge trees and stumble over their roots. Roots that reach for you, oil-slick and glistening eerily as they grab for your legs and ankles. You don’t even know what you’re running from, only that It’s Coming. And if you stop, you’ll be caught. Dragged away. So, you run. Your blood is pounding in your ears and tears are streaming down your cheeks, or maybe it’s the blood from catching a branch across your face. All at once the roots grab at you and you hit the ground hard enough to bounce, knocking the wind completely out of your lungs. You lay there gaping, suffocating, drowning, and over your shoulder there’s that cyan eye and the cheshire smile. The roots have you trapped, winding tighter around you like a boa constrictor. They wrap around your neck, your face, holding you completely immobile as that menacing smile grows closer and the cold chill of terror seeps into your very bones.

A black, skeletal hand reaches for you and catches your face.

There’s something in your hand.

You wrench free of just one tentacle and shove it at him. He easily catches your hand, prying your prize from your desperate clutches. It’s a... net. And you aren’t letting go. But then again... neither is he. The smile falters as the skeletal hand draws back, caught fast by the fingertips in the delicate weave of the net, and then by the wrist. The entity jerks back fully, the tentacles around you instantly dissolving and you choke out a wheezing gasp as they struggle against the threads that seem to be materializing out of the shimmering beads embedded in the net that’s still held fast in your hand. It’s arm is fully caught, and then it’s ribcage. He shouts in distress and disbelief as he’s fully entangled, and not even all the tentacle roots surrounding you can wiggle free.

Something in the dreamscape shifts and changes and suddenly you’re... yourself. It’s you. Awake and lucid and staring wide-eyed at this... being. Creature. Monster.

He’s trapped.

The threads grow thicker and stronger until they’re chains holding HIM immobile and he’s shouting a loud string of archaic curses as he thrashes in his bonds. Bonds that stretch across the small clearing and lead right back to your hand.

He, too, follows the lines and discovers YOU to be his captor. He snarls, bares his fangs and strains will the full might of his power. Roars with a multi-layered voice that growls deeply enough you think you feel your bones rattle, “What Have You Done!?”

“ME?” You ask incredulously, still reeling from this turn of events. You blink at him, utterly flabbergasted and honestly a little offended. “You were the one chasing me! Are YOU the reason I’ve been having nightmares for weeks? What the hell, man!?”

The skeleton snaps his teeth at you, thrashing regardless of how useless it seems to be. “Silence! I’ll not be spoken to in such a manner! I am a demigod! Nightmare, Guardian of Negativity. You are a mere human. Kneel when you speak to me, peasant!”

You raise a single eyebrow at him. “Kneel. To you. Uhhh... no thanks. You’ve been terrorizing me for weeks, I don’t have to do jack shit. If anything, YOU should be the one who’s kneeling! I’ve fallen asleep at work like 10 times this month. I’m probably one more infraction away from getting fired. I could have died, dude. If I’m driving to work and I fall asleep at the wheel, I could kill other people AND myself! YOU kneel! YOU say sorry!”

Nightmare actually verbally sputters at that, glaring at you with hatred, disgust, and vitriol. “I do not kneel to anyone. The insolence. Your unmitigated gall is reason enough for me to end your pathetic life this instant. No ties can truly bind a being such as myself. I do not know what tricks you have devised to hold me this long, but you stand there and speak to me in this manner no longer. Perhaps if you beg, I may take pity enough on you to end you quickly and painlessly.”

You blink at him, your expression deeply unimpressed. “Yeah. Uh-huh. Ok. Well. That’s nice. You seem pretty stuck there, though.”

It’s now Nightmare’s turn to give you a flat, unimpressed look. The root tentacles begin to undulate and thrash in earnest now, his teeth gritting as he strains against his bonds. He growls with the effort, attempting to pull them back underground, slip between the cracks, even flex against the chains to try to break them. But they hold fast, almost as if they’re somewhat elastic and sticky. He thrashes harder, growl raising to a snarl and finally to a howl of frustration when it becomes clear that he’s absolutely stuck fast and cannot break his confinement.

“Blast these chains! How have you done this!? What is that in your hand!? What device have you crafted that has fastened me so!?”

You drop your gaze down to the thing in your hands and you’re surprised to see it’s a dreamcatcher. You’d call it ordinary since you’re pretty sure most people where you’re from are at least familiar with what it is and how it’s made but it’s actually far from ordinary. It’s stunning. You can feel the care and attention to detail put into it, and what little bit of silver light filters through the trees catches beautifully in the moonstone beads carefully woven into the design. Its small size is more than made up for by its intricacy, and you’re half wondering if it’s some kind of lace inside of the hoop. It isn’t, of course, but such delicate and intricate weaving is certainly reminiscent of lace.

“Huh. You know... I don’t actually know how I got this. I think maybe I bought it? Or someone gave it to me? I don’t really remember, it’s all a bit fuzzy.”

“You don’t...” Nightmare shakes with fury and the chains rattle ominously. “You aren’t even aware of how you came to possess it? What kind of dullard are you? You half-wit! Blundering Trollop!”

You couldn’t help but snort at him a little. “Wow. Go back to the 1400’s, my man. They want their speech patterns back.” You shake your head as he shrieks about your insult, and you go back to inspecting your super cool prize.

“Alright, here’s how this is going to work. This thing caught you because you’ve been giving me nightmares. I’m going to wake up, and then I’m going to look online to see how you like... cleanse it or purify it or whatever. That should banish you back to wherever it is you came from. And then I’m going to keep this thing with me for a very long time. If you like being all tied up, feel free to come back and try again, but I’m going to give you the suggestion that maybe if you would prefer not to get stuck like this again... don‘t come back. Alright? I don‘t care who you are, I don’t care what your deal is, I don’t care about any of that. I want my sleep back, and that’s it. I don’t have any beef with you, I don’t want to fight you, I don’t want to be mortal enemies or anything. I’m not going to hunt you down or whatever. No grudges or anything. I just want to sleep. And this thing seems to be capable of helping me not wake up in the middle of the night screaming. So... begone with you or whatever.”

You waved your hands at him in a ‘shooing’ manner, and he continued to tremble with rage. “To think you even could fathom to hunt me,” he spat, “is laughable at best. Hear me now, human. Your little ‘device’ may have saved you from my wrath in the realm of dreams. But should you ever cross my path again, I’ll not hesitate to destroy you. There will be no preamble. There will be no mercy. There will be no begging for your life. You will cease to exist.”

“But why,” you whined. “I didn’t even do anything! YOU showed up and bullied me in my sleep for weeks for no reason. I found a solution that isn’t even hurting you, told you that I’d set you free by banishing you back to wherever it is you come from once I wake up... and your reaction is to threaten me with imminent death!? What if I just... don’t ever free you, then? Hmm? Wouldn’t that be smarter of me? If the reward I get for finding the most peaceful resolution to all this is imminent death, then why bother with trying to find a way to release you!? Or... banish you. Cleanse the... the thing. What if I just go bury it somewhere instead? Wouldn’t that be better AND easier for me than trying to research how to release you?”

Nightmare seethes in his bonds, glaring at you with his one piercing cyan eye light, but you can see the wheels in his head turning. You only stumbled there in the end because if this guy is a real thing, you probably shouldn’t be telling him about what a dreamcatcher is. That seems to be your one deus ex machina at the moment and you definitely don’t want to give him information he can use against you later. The less he knows, the better. And if that means you look like an idiot that’s stumbled on something they don’t really know how to use, all the better. Because that might give the impression that maybe this is the minimum power this “device” might have, and if you knew more about it you could use it even MORE effectively. That’s not actually how it works, but you like giving the impression of that being a possibility.

“Fine,” he spits eventually.

“Fine?” You fold your arms over your chest. “Fine what?”

He growls lowly, a dangerous rumble that shakes your very soul. “Release me, and I shall trouble you no longer. I shall reward your... mercy... in kind, and depart peaceably.”

“You promise?”

His upper lip curls as if he’s smelled something particularly foul. “You have my word.”

You squint at him. He seems like the kind of being that trades in deals and favors often, but this Nightmare (literally) hasn’t exactly given you a lot of reasons to trust him at his word. “And what happens if I believe you and then you double cross me and come back for revenge later or something?”

He sputters again, indignant, and shakes in his chains. “I gave you my word! Do you have any idea of how rare a thing it is? How many beings across the multiverse have begged on their hands and knees for such an assurance?”

Even kneading at the space between your eyes isn’t doing much for expressing just how deeply conflicted you feel. “Alright. Alright. I’ll wake up. Find a way to purify this thing. Banish you back to where you belong and never see you again. But if I catch you in this thing again because you came back for revenge, I’m just going to bury it somewhere. You’ll be stuck in it until someone else comes along and stumbles on it, however long that might be. Got it?”

“I agree to your terms.”

The light filtering through the trees is taking on a more golden tone than silver and you shift to try to find its source. “Guess maybe it’s morning now?”

Nightmare doesn’t deign to respond to your rhetorical question, but you feel a little weird about just leaving without saying something. “Well, uh... I guess it was pretty cool to meet you in person after everything. Maybe stop doing that, though. The whole ‘terrorizing people’s dreams’ thing. Or at least just like... pick a different victim each night. Share the misery or something. Anyways. Uh... take care of yourself, ok?”

He rolls his eyes and groans in exasperation. “Just take your leave, for stars’ sake. Listening to your aimless prattling while trapped as I am is more punishment than I deserve.”

“Tch. Fine. Bye.”

You blinked awake, staring at your ceiling for a long moment while the memories of your dream clung to your consciousness. It was strange, actually. Usually you didn’t remember much about your dreams. Little snippets of moments here and there. But this one was actually sticking. And the fact that you could remember most of it had you looking down at your hand, where it was resting over your heart.

Huh. There really was something in your hand. You lifted it up and inspected it, half surprised but more intrigued that the very same dreamcatcher you’d dreamed about was held tightly in your palm. Well... it was mostly the same as it had been in your dream. Black ooze was tangled in the threads of the delicate weaving. THAT certainly hadn’t been there before. But it did look eerily like the iridescent slime that the Nightmare creature had been covered in. You touched a bit of it, and it moved, which made you jump. You tried again, and the goop flinched away.

“No way.”

You pinched and pulled a bit of it off of the fibers, and you jumped when it sounded like the slime made some teeny little sound of protest. “Oh hush,” you admonished, “I’m trying to get you out of there. I’m trying this first.”

It was wild to think that the Nightmare creature was so tiny. The amount of goop stuck in your dreamcatcher probably wouldn’t have even filled a thimble all the way, if you had one nearby to stick it in. He’d seemed so huge and powerful in your dreams. But, then again, this was the waking world and perhaps you couldn’t really expect everything to be exactly how it was when you were sleeping.

It took some effort, but after a few minutes you’d managed to remove most of the goop from the dreamcatcher. It trembled a little in your hand before stretching experimentally and wrapping around two of your fingers. It slipped, almost snake-like, in and around the gaps, like it was blindly trying to get a feel for the world around it. “Well, hello to you too.”

It was kindof cute, if you were being honest. And a little bit puzzling. You’d said you would purify the dreamcatcher (you vaguely remembered something from when you were a kid about putting them in direct sunlight) but you’d sort-of expected that all that would happen is you’d leave it in your window sill, and whatever banishing or purification was going to happen would happen in the dream world. You hadn’t expected the Nightmare creature to join you in the waking world. But then again, maybe it was better this way. Maybe this would give you some kind of visual cue as to when the banishing/purification had finished. Maybe the little blob creature would slowly vanish through the day or maybe it would suddenly disappear.

You picked up the dreamcatcher and moved to put it in the window, but startled a little bit to see more ooze seeping out of the threads. Ah. So... perhaps the rest of him was still in there, then. You plucked the new goobers of ooze out of the threads and they easily joined with the small mass in your hand. “Alright. Well. Clearly that’s not going to be enough to get you free, then. Let me do a quick internet search to make sure I’m doing this right and then we’ll get you out of there.”

The mass shifted a little, moving to your wrist where it wrapped around it like a bracelet before settling against your skin. You turned your hand a little to look at it from both sides, but it seemed like the goop was content to rest on your wrist, so you left it alone. A quick internet search revealed that you’d at least remembered somewhat correctly, though the few websites you’d found all talked about how the bad dreams or bad thoughts that had been captured in the dreamcatcher would be “destroyed with the light of the morning sun,” which seemed a little bit... harsher than you really wanted to be. But maybe that was just the phrasing some older website had used and everyone was just citing the same source (or each other.)

“Alright, little guy. Let’s see if this works.”

You took your dreamcatcher to your east-facing window and pulled up the blinds. The reaction was horrifically instantaneous. The goop bracelet constricted painfully tight and squealed, and the little beads of goop that had managed to leak out of the threads in the dreamcatcher during your internet started shriveling up with a soft hiss. Cursing, you yanked the hoop out of the sunlight and clutched it to your chest. Guilt and anxiety clawed their way up your throat and you whispered while furiously petting the slime still squeezing your wrist.

“Sorry! I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t know! I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry. We won’t do that. I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to hurt you, honest. I’m just doing what the research said, but if it’s hurting you then I’ll find something different to try. I’m sorry. Are you ok? Uhhhhh... Here!”

You rushed to your bathroom and turned your sink on cold, trickling it carefully over the bracelet and the beads of goop that had been affected by the sunlight as you continued to murmur your apologies. Slowly the goop on your wrist relaxed, and the knot of guilt in your chest eased a little.

Well... this was maybe going to take a little longer than you’d expected it would.

Nightmare was NOT going to be happy about that.

[[ You can read the rest of the fic on AO3 at https://archiveofourown.org/works/48671317 ]]

((Tagging @velvetwyrme because I was telling them about this fic idea the other day. If anyone who follows MothiePixie ends up reading this fic, I’ve been trying to be a little more active with other UTDR / UTMV blogs by commenting on posts and sending asks and stuff but uhhh, you’ve probably been seeing me around under the main blog name accioturtur - Hi! It’s me. Lol. This is the sideblog I’m using for UT stuff. AO3 is down for maintenance today but maybe at some point I’ll get this over there.))

Disclaimer: For anyone unfamiliar with Native American Dreamcatchers, there are actually several different versions of the beliefs surrounding them corresponding with the different tribes that use them. Some tribes believe that the webbed netting of the dreamcatcher actually captures GOOD dreams, to keep them close to you. Some tribes believe the net captures bad thoughts and dreams to keep them from troubling your mind. The different parts of the dreamcatcher are symbolic and very important to the cultures that use them. For the opening chapter of this idea, I only reference a couple of parts AND I will be the first to admit I’m taking a few artistic liberties for how the interaction in the Dream World might go down. This fic is just for Fandom Funsies - please only ever purchase dreamcatchers from actual Native American sources.

THAT SAID - the basic premise therefore could be used for either a Nightmare Gets Caught fic OR for a Dream Gets Caught fic, both of which have fun and silly implications. Since I’m blending the Dreamcatcher and Symbiote ideas, mine will be using Nightmare. Anyone is welcome to playing around with the idea, though!

THIS fic takes place about 50-100 years after The Tree and Dream is still trapped in stone. Nightmare is still trying to learn about his powers and his place in the multiverse and because he’s still a bit less experienced and on his own, he gets caught somewhere he really doesn’t *technically* have any business being in the first place.

[sitronsangbody]

I decided to make a pinned post with stuff about my positions and my perspective that might be relevant - first of all: I'm not a nutritionist, scientist or anything like that. What I post here is based in facts and scientific research by those who are, but I am not an expert, just an activist who's been delving into this topic for a while.

- I don’t care for the words “obese” or “overweight” because they're laden with stigma and imply deviance from the correct way. I use “fat” because it’s a neutral descriptor of a normal way to be.

- I haven’t weighed myself in years now but I believe I fall into the category of small fat.

- My preferred angle of fat activism is fat liberation, but I don’t really care what movements or words people identify with as long as they support fat people socially and politically.

- I’m in favor of cultivating online (and offline) spaces that allow for discussion, learning and self-reflection. If the discourse is all black and white thinking, dragging and name calling, I’m out of there, it’s not worth it.

- I reserve the right to occasionally change my mind about things when I learn something new.

- If you’re trying to lose weight that’s fine, but I don’t want to hear about it.

- This blog very much supports trans people (I wish I didn’t have to specify this), terfery will get you blocked on sight.

- Feedism is not my cup of tea personally, but you guys are totally welcome on here and more power to ya ❤️

- I'm a white scandinavian. My perspective will inevitably be affected by this and there are many intersections of oppression that I can't speak to from personal experience.

- English is not my first language and it probably shows now and then idk

[aronarchy]

https://thenewinquiry.com/dear-marooned-alien-princess-3

I’ve been trying to learn more about colonialism and capitalism, but how does it tie into my daily life? I know I have been oppressed and abused in my personal life but it still feels abstract to read about larger systems. It seems like our current problems are now and that’s the past. Can you help me understand?

Well, to put it simply, micro is macro. That means the little things are small versions of the big things. We could look at interpersonal relations, rape culture, modern wars, colonialism, capitalism, globalization, white imperialism as a continuum rather than separate things. Think loops within loops. Giant abuse cycles with mid-sized and smaller abuse cycles interlocked.

You’d say, what does a cycle of domestic violence have to do with rape or the Iraq War or 1492, right? But let’s look at the mechanisms of all these things, how they’re perpetuated, supported, who is most affected, who is assumed to be rightfully aggressive and whose self-defense is vilified. Let’s look at victim blaming and how it keeps pretty much all the “isms” alive (“If only you were X, Y, or Z, I wouldn’t have to hurt you”), and how respectability politics works on the same logic.

The need to exert control over other people’s bodies and reactions and disregard for personal boundaries is seen in abuse within interpersonal relationships, in slavery, and in colonialism. The same “Do what I say or be guilted or aggressed into it” is seen in rape—which is usually an extension of other forms of abuse from people you know and even love. Rape doesn’t come from a singular, isolated goblin in the dark of the night. The same “I want what I want, and I don’t care how it hurts you” that we see in domestic violence is what we see in how capitalism operates across the world. It’s the same notions of “Everything’s here for the taking, to be exploited by me” we see in sexist men, in their manifest destiny, and all over what we now call the globalized world. The point has been not so much to connect communities (though that has occurred and it’s had its wonderful effects) but to expand the reach of capitalists.

Your question is why I hate to see rape culture framed as if it exists in a vacuum, when it is part of the larger culture of abuse and systems of domination. The same way people victim-blame women enduring domestic abuse, they victim-blame people who’ve endured rape and civilians being currently droned and bombed: “If only you left, did what they want, dressed like whatever, made better choices, they wouldn’t have to hurt you, be grateful, blah blah.” The same way black women in prison tend to be there for defending themselves from abusers, people defending themselves from the war machine are labeled dangerous insurgents and enemy combatants. In those cases its implied you should be a good victim and just lay down and take it with a smile, no room to fight for your life. And it happens that the more “isms” you face, the less power you have, the less sympathy or right to self-defend you are allotted, the less accountability you get.

By the same token, we can see how abusers, people with more institutional power, are generally more supported than the people they abuse. Power means people are more willing to see your full-on humanity even if you colonized, murdered, and enslaved millions. Abusers are often also lauded as “important to the community” and their “good work” is seldom unmentioned as victims are dragged through the mud, much like marginalized communities are treated on a large scale by their oppressors.

This is before taking into account whose labor, blood, sweat, tears, and land all the things we now have are built on.

That is to say, these systems and dynamics are damn near inescapable. They’re in your romance flicks where being chased after saying no a million times is glorified (A.K.A. a drawn-out dramatization of rape), they’re in your home when you are guilted into submission and admonished for speaking up, they’re outside when strange men assume they’re entitled to your time and body, they’re in your university when you mainly learn about colonizers and are subjected to classist, racist, gendered, other emotional abuse you can’t speak against lest you threaten someone’s chance at a tenured position, and they’re online when people try to use and abuse you and your personal space.

They are, unfortunately, what we see as normal life.

[graff1980]

There is a cramp, a pain in her lower back, with fever, weakness, and vaginal bleeding. Help is what she’s seeking, but when the doctor starts speaking, she realizes “I may die. I should have tried to drive out of state cause some politicians have decided my fate, and it is too late for me to migrate.”

Trans is the new gay and it still isn’t safe to be queer in a red state. If you dress in drag or seek medical attention, if you even try to acknowledge your own existence you can be punished severely.

A coyote comes to take her son to the states, so he can be safe, but she hasn’t heard from him in days. The smuggler rapes then leaves a human being dead in the grass, cause no one is going to ask what happened to a migrant kid.

Today, child labor is real, but doesn’t pay enough for a child to get by, so migrant kids are left in debt, owing their traffickers, sponsors, and employers a lotta of money, in sharecropping style.

The cops are still trying to kill black people, daily lynchings in the news, are pure evil but by not prosecuting it because of qualified immunity, America makes it legal.

It all blends and bleeds as one more news feed becomes an amalgamation of struggles we are facing and the oppressive forces coming for our fellow humans.

There is no hope or happy ending for the lives in danger if we don’t start defending humans at any cost, if we are not willing to put our bodies between those who deem to demean and prioritize ruining people’s lives with hates speech and ludicrous lies.

-2023

[jeffbrutlag]

No but it’s the way some of y’all on Twitter used the ease in which that app allowed dogpiling to drag me for a tweet that essentially said “trolls ain’t shit, don’t let them get you down” to make me look like I said “trolls are great, let them walk all over you”

The tweet in question:

Like?? Literally wtf

Could I have worded it better? Sure. But the context was clear: if you’re scared of someone calling you a slur online, just think of how sad they must be as a person to where THAT’S how they have fun

And then y’all SPECIFICALLY started targeting people I was close to, to make me look like I was some sort of abuser because when YOU said I was subtweeting you (on a tweet that was 100% not about you), you decided to PUBLICLY call me a gaslighter??

?????

You wanted to dunk on me to get your social media advocate points

So you could syphon a following off of what they’ve worked DAMN hard to create, leading with love and kindness

What makes it all so sinister is that you KNOW the language. You KNOW social Justice. But you use it in a way to make YOU look superior.

It doesn’t matter that the person you just decided to drag (IN PUBLIC) has, for simply being gay on the internet:

- been called the f-slur on a near daily basis

- been hate raided, flooding my Twitch channel with death threats, always targeted at me being gay

- has been SWATTED, like, a GUN TO MY FACE, for being gay

You don’t get to tell me what knowledge I can or cannot pass based on my own experience. If it doesn’t work for you, then it doesn’t work for YOU

But I, in good faith, would NOT impart knowledge on people that did not at LEAST work for more than just me

But you didn’t ask! You just assumed.

Because at the end of the day, you don’t know me.

You haven’t had a chat over coffee. Dinner at a place we’ve never been.

So why on earth would you, without knowing more about me than what I say in plain text, assume I didn’t do a little bit of my own research first?

The Oppression Olympics are the only games where if we all play, everyone still loses. The goal isn’t to reign supreme

Yes, intersections of PoC and queerness will create even more angles of discrimination. But a black gay man and a white gay man can get called an f-slur

And a PoC being called an f-slur can be completely separate from their races. That experience alone is still the one that relates me to the black gay man

And the tweet you dragged me over? THAT’S the experience I was talking about. Did…did we somehow miss that part???

I will never know what racism feels like. I’m Hispanic, but I have light skin and no discernible accent. Therefore I can never speak from a position of being PoC

But that doesn’t mean I have never been targeted in such a way to where I could have DIED. For being GAY

I genuinely wish only the best for you all, though. I say that with no sarcasm, no ill-will in my heart.

I hope you find what makes you feel fulfilled in life. Whether it’s content creation or something else entirely

Because I know for DAMN sure you need something better to do

[kinomiya]

"things you said ....When you thought I was dying" Tala/Takao Go as unhinged as you can lol

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHahahahahahahahaaaaa.

It’s not unhinged, I don’t even know that it is.

It’s ~ART~

Tala aimlessly roamed the fiery remains of what was once a city block, careful not to let the black flames lick his skin, an annoyed scowl on his face. Boris never hesitated in sending Kai into these once densely populated cities to wreak havoc on the poor souls that remained hidden within the derelict structures, and Kai, who held no fondness for this country or its people was all too happy to oblige, leaving the unrecognizable, charred remains of the families systematically oppressed by Biovolt.

But while Kai felt no predilection for the innocent Russian people caught up in the crossfire of his endless pursuit of one man, they were Tala’s compatriots and something deep inside him felt he had an obligation to at the very least attempt the rescue of survivors. 

Unfortunately Hiwatari was particularly thorough in his cruelty and all that Tala ever found were the scorched bodies of men, women and children, both friends and foes to Biovolt. It was a hopeless task, he knew as much, there were no saviors and no salvation for those who had remained ambivalent as Biovolt’s regime arose.

Tala was roused from his reverie at the sight of red patches staining the dirty ash covered snow, following the trail he was brought to the back of a small concrete building that had somehow escaped his teammates' flames.

He came to an abrupt stop at the sight of him, propped up against the cement, his head tilted to the side as blood flowed from his mouth down his chin and onto the grey snow, extensive burns covering his neck and arms. His eyes were glazed over and for a moment Tala thought him dead too until he caught the slightest movement, a shallow breath.

Tala exhaled sharply, knowing he should just turn away, and let him die for any other decision would have unfathomable consequences but his feet carried him forward towards the man anyway.  Perhaps he was just so tired of seeing so much death or perhaps it ate away at him but that he couldn’t ever save one single mother or child from the inhumanity he’d endured all his life, but in that moment he didn’t give a damn about the repercussions or how this one moment could change the entire course of history.

Gently he reached his hand out and shook the nearly lifeless man before him, causing him to slowly shift his gaze towards him, a hint of recognition, an acceptance of inevitable death in his eyes.

He closed his eyes for a moment, clenching his jaw and contemplated for a short time before finally reaching a decision. Carefully, he hooked his arms under his knees and back and lifted him up off the cold ground before speaking faintly:

“Kinomiya, you’re not going to die here.”

At some point in time, Tala would have considered himself loyal to Biovolt to the bitter end, sooner having a bullet put in his head before abandoning his comrades and the institution that had given him power, but as the endless bitter winter dragged on, and he watched more and more loyal innocent civilians be turned to ash, with only one single man standing in such bold, beautiful defiance of it all. 

He just couldn’t help but think Takao Kinomiya was the closest thing to a savior they had.

[femmesandhoney]

trans people want to and will make everything about them. oh another school shooting happened and there are literal dead children but the shooter identified as trans? gosh it must be because of those anti trans laws that aren’t actually anti trans at all. the day derek chauvin was found guilty for killing george floyd there were people outside the courthouse waving around trans flags with black trans lives matter written on them. jewish people weren’t legally allowed to ride bikes and had to have the star of david pinned on their clothes so they would be identifiable as jewish for law enforcement before they were forced to go to auschwitz’s and be gassed to death simply because they were jewish. come the fuck on trans people don’t have a genocide against them. someone not calling you it/itself and not wanting their preschoolers to go to a drag show isn’t a genocide. trans day of vengeance is such a cringey thing anyway. these people throw temper tantrums when the mcdonald’s cashier says sir instead of ma’am. they’re not gonna do shit and honestly the tq+ community is probably one of the most protected communities right now.

yeah i remember those black trans lives matter flags during the live streams/news casting of the courthouse :( i think i made a post about it myself too. it's just so intellectually dishonest to compare what happened in the holocaust and other genocides around the world to what trans people in the US are experiencing. also i feel i've never seen another social justice group bank so heavily on other oppressed and minority peoples experiences so much to get their own point across. if what was happening to you was as bad as you say it is, you wouldn't have to utilize such loaded words and language to make others empathize with you, you could go "look, look at what's happening right here right now", but the trans rights movement cannot do that because, again, there's no actual genocide. buzzwords, loaded words, slippery slope bullshit. my AP Lang teacher would probably go nuts.

[volixia669]

Standing Strong in Current Political Climate

Alright, I mostly try to keep this to silly fandom and tumblr stuff, but with everything going on politically, it’s time for a serious post. About reality, about politics, and about how we survive. This is going to be about transphobia, queerphobia, and genocide, so I’m giving fair warning.

Buckle up.

Now, this is going to primarily US-Centric, as that’s what I’m familiar with, but make no mistake. There has been an authoritarian rise worldwide.

The UK has been Tory central for the past decade.

Australia has been putting climate refugees into concentration camps.

Israel has been using the pandemic to increase efforts to wipe out Palestinians.

Italy’s Prime Minister is Mussolini’s granddaughter (she’s proud of that btw) and is increasing queerphobia.

Russia is trying to recreate the USSR only with no fake pretenses of Communism (it was authoritarianism) this time around.

And the United States? Well the Republicans have been playing the long game since Reagan, and most of the Democratic party is perfectly fine with fascism since it makes them richer.

All this while the Earth becomes unlivable, people starve, and more. Oh, and covid never went away.

So.

The situation is...bad. Let’s just say it’s bad. There also seems to be a target on queer folks moreso than Jewish folks this time around, most likely since the Holocaust made most people a little twitchy about targeting Jewish folks, though that’s not to say those in charge aren’t perfectly fine with killing Jews.

Anyone who doesn’t conform to a mold is at risk.

But.

The situation is not hopeless.

I know it’s easy to read all that and think we’re all fucked, but I promise you, there is hope.

People have been unionizing, and striking at their workplaces.

Time and again, polls show that more people support queer people than oppose.

Time and again, polls show that the extremist view is a minority.

CPAC? That was practically empty this year.

More and more people are making it clear they want policies that help people and they’re tired of policies that help corporations.

People want to help the planet, they want to help other people. They don’t want to mass murder the “outsider.”

So what can you do?

Well, it varies depending on who you are, and where you are. Are you in Canada? Then vote and push for progressive policies, rather than right wing ones. In particular, you can join the push to allow asylum seekers to claim dangerous levels of queerphobia as their reason. This would help so many. Folks in other countries, I would reccomend the same. (Also maybe do something about that law preventing disabled people from immigrating to your country? Yeah, it’s a thing in a lot of countries. And there’s a lot of disabled queer people.)

You can join protests, and help local politicians canvas.

Unfortunately I can’t provide much info on what to do if you’re in most countries where being queer is either criminalized or being criminalized.

If you’re in the US though...

First off, for my white readers, are you familiar with the term antiracism? No? I recommend reading Ibram Kendi’s How to Be Antiracist. There’s a lot of racism in queer circles and it needs to stop. The way we solve these issues is through intersectionality, which means listening when black queer folks speak up. Listen. Learn. Improve.

This is important, because I need folks to understand that black queer folks are far more likely to be arrested, or worse. The cops will target black drag queens before they target white ones. They’ll target black trans folks before they target white ones.

Because this country is built on racism, and racism plays a key part in how laws are policed.

I’m not saying be careless if you’re a white queer btw, but recognize the levels of oppression here, work on improving yourself, but also? Use other people’s racism to protect black queer folk.

Weird sentence, I know, but let me explain, as this actually came up during the 2020 protests.

Say you’re at a protest, and the cops show up. The cops will try to arrest, injure, and/or provoke the black people there. But. If you’re white, you can stand inbetween the cop and the black person. If you get a bunch of other white people to join you, you can create a wall protecting multiple black people. And while you and the other white people aren’t immune from being arrested, injured, and/or provoked by the cops, you and other white people are more likely to come away unscathed.

There’s a bunch of situations this is applicable btw. Just don’t get all “white savior” about it, understand there’s a whole lot of history behind why black people might be wary of you and that’s okay, and ensure black people have the space to speak.

Alrighty, long spiel targeted to one particular demographic over. As for other things to be done? Be aware of the bills being passed in your state. Protest what you can. Make plans for escape if you need to.

Remember these things when crafting your escape plan: -Where?: This will effect everything else. A handful of states have passed bills making them trans refuge states, however getting to them may not be easy. You’ll also need to consider potential support structures that are there. -When?: This will depend on factors like what bills are being passed, how likely you are to be effected, and more. If you’re able to, consider making this a “normal” move rather than a last minute escape. -Finances: If you need to leave at the drop of a hat, can you? Are there any places you can cut back to save money? Are there any organizations that can help you? What about jobs? -Ease of escape: If you’re not in a position where you can move over the course of a month or two, this is where you need to really consider what you need and what you can leave behind. Also attempt to tie up as many loose ends as possible, and reduce the amount of objects you own as much as you can. Having a “go bag” can be extremely helpful. -Transportation: Can you drive? Do you have a license? Is getting a license feasible for you? What transportation is needed to get to the safe zone? Depending on the bills passed, you may want to have multiple options at hand. Documents: Linking back to finances and the go bag. What are your important documents? Where are they? What might you need in a new place and/or to claim asylum? Do you have a passport? Do you have a REALID? Currently you can fly domestically without one, but that could change swiftly. Keep everything together in a fireproof lockbox, until you need to throw it in the go bag. Lots of things to consider, which is why it’s important to think of this stuff ahead of time.

But it’s not all about escaping. Are you in a position you can help folks? Great! Look into mutual aid groups, find out what’s needed and how you can best help people.

So. This lengthy post is all to say the situation is bad, and we need to plan like it’s bad. But that doesn’t mean it’s hopeless. There’s places to escape, there can be even more with increased effort. We can work together to ensure that people stay safe, while also protesting.

And while I used the word “strong” in the title, it’s more complicated than that. You don’t have to be a bulwark. You don’t have to be stone. You can cry, and you can show weakness. This is stressful.

WHich is why, I want to be clear, this will not resolve in a short period of time. This may take years. The bills are passing incredibly quickly, but the resulting fallout? That’s the unknown variable.

The human body is not built to be stressed for years.

It’s just not.

That means the best way to remain strong against the tide of hate, is to have moments of joy. Watch silly videos, play silly games with friends, create beautiful art! Cry! Express your stress, and sadness. Then hold that ember of anger close to your chest, letting it motivate you, but not letting it take over until the moment is right.

Be prepared, be aware, but do not let the stress overcome you. On top of the multitude of negative physical effects, it can lead to snapping at those you love, or jumping the gun too soon. It leads to bad decisions at times those can be deadly.

But by having those moments of joy, you will survive. You will survive the hatred. Together, with the rest of us.

[90363462]

I’ve seen once again discussion about white women and their voting record. Let’s be clear. These women aren’t voting the way their husbands do or tell them to vote. They are the same people as their husbands—racist, bigots, misogynists.

Don’t expect them to ever be supportive of other women, not just black and brown women, but white women as well. And not just in politics either. They don’t support women in the workplace, in church, in their social lives.

They don’t want children of color in “their” schools. Nor do they want families of color living in their neighborhoods and shopping in their stores, worshipping in their churches & using their parks. All you have to look at the election of Youngkin.

The suburban mom vote is a myth created by the media. Never ever expect white women to vote against their self-interest. Not going to happen. So many on twiter ask why they vote against their self-interest. They’re don’t. They are voting to protect their position in society

To protect their status as privileged “princesses.” They don’t want black or brown women to have power. They could’ve elected Cheri Beasley. White women could have saved Ann Richards or Hillary Clinton but nah.

Ask yourself why a sobbing Heidi Cruz was found sitting on the ground next to a freeway or let her husband drag to a trump dinner. Why does Kavanaugh’s wife stay with him? Position and power.

So let’s recap. White women are racist, misogynistic, and bigoted. They vote for candidates who will oppress people of color. They vote to keep the title of privileged Princess. They aren’t going to save democracy.

[shut-up-rabert]

That's my point. You've made it clear that you live in a place densely populated with Sikhs. Second to majority as you mentioned. I don't. Result is the only other sikh in my class wears a cap ALL. THE. TIME. INCLUDING INDOORS. Because since 2020, which saw a major spike in sikhophobia, kids think it's perfectly fine to call him a khalistani for no reason at all. This dude has never presented a political opinion, let alone an extreme separatist one. Literally I cannot see where they were coming from except for just the fact that he's a Sikh but it's genuinely devastating to see him cover his pagdi every single day without fail. I'm lucky I don't face the same cuz well I'm a woman and I don't look Sikh.

But ok that's an isolated incident, if I talk of why exactly this started happening in 2020 it's because that's the stuff those kids heard their parents say at home because that was the fucking response to the farmers' protest, something that had absolutely nothing to do with religion. Religion was dragged into the debate because a majority of those farmers were sikh and their demands that had NOTHING to do with a separatist movement got brushed off as khalistani terrorism. This was around the time when Modi made his visit to Punjab or attempted to (it was a pretty big deal, it was all over the news), his route had protestors on it and man the reaction supporters of the party had to it? Literally one Google search away. There's literal MLA's of the party talking of a repeat of the '84 genocide. MLAs. And it's these very people who call Sikhism a sect of Hinduism which is an entirely different load of horse crap. But it's just the fact that they have thee audacity to say that but then a moment a Sikh person says something they don't like (it doesn't even have to be related to religion, in fat bonus points if it ain't) that person becomes a khalistani.

This isn't woke, acknowledging that yes, a minority community does face marginalisation (big shocker) is basic fucking decency. Your reaction to this is exactly like the reaction of a white person being told that they might be racist. 'What?! I have black friends. They get treated equally.'

It's hard for people to hear that their community might be marginalising another, especially if they don't do it personally because it makes them feel attacked. But the matter of truth is that your reaction is absolutely not how a decent person responds to the idea of someone being oppressed. You usually wait to get educated on the topic before you form an opinion on it and especially before you mock someone else's pian over it. Also you need to realise for the future that if you don't see a certain problem in the society around you doesn't mean it doesn't exist, it could very well mean that you are just lucky enough to not encounter. This applies to all contexts.

I usually wouldn't pester a kid but I needed you to hear this because your opinion could potentially hurt someone and over the internet, they wouldn't know you're a kid (like I didn't when I sent the previous ask) and I would hate for someone to form a bad opinion of you over it. Everything I've told you isn't guaranteed to change your opinion over the matter, in fact I doubt it will, but atleast after this whatever opinion you hold, no matter how hurtful, will be an educated opinion and you ought to take responsibility for it because 14, no matter how young, is still enough age to tell right and wrong apart. That's all I have to say to you and I won't be sending asks again.

Firstly, the hat incident you refer to, as devastating as it is, was practically impossible for any Haryanvi/Punjabi to relate to, so please don’t blame me for not seeing what you were referring to. Its like being from Arkansas but then shouting at a Californian for not seeing the racism.

Secondly, where’s this incident happening? Maybe you’re right, its my lack of knowledge and education on the issue, so please tell me as to atleast what state this is so I can make a decent, dedicated post on the issue if I see the arising need. I’m so sorry you had to go through that, but can you give me the details so I know what I’m looking into here?

As of the farmer’s protest, I think you are forgetting a major, and I mean very major factor that lead to the issue being labeled as Khalistan: there were khalistanis involved. How it is that you managed to ignore the bit about how khalistani outfit sikhs for justice started propagating it for ulterior motives, another one made toolkit for it, or when Sikh extremists beheaded a lower caste Sikh over the disrespect of the book is beyond me.

How it is that you say that it doesn’t have seperatist influence is astounding. Religious influence of sikhism? Not. Khalistani influence? Totally.

Offcourse, I’m not saying that the issue WASN’T about farmer’s rights and all, most of it prolly was, but lets not act like it wasn’t hijacked for ulterior motives by various anti India groups. The toolkit leaking and the pro seperatism handles suddenly and simultaneously supporting the cause says it all.

I don’t think everyone involved, or for that matter everyone who wasn’t proven guilty deserved to be shunned as Khalistani, but the thing is, if there was a pro muslim movement going on that got hijacked by likes of the now gone PFI, no one would care how it started or what the beginning cause was. Or am I wrong?

That’s just how the it works, I’m not trying to sound ignorant, I’m trying to say this rationally so please think about this for once, but if one is leading a cause and sees it getting infested by some other reason, its only his/her job to make sure that same doesn’t get to represent the movement. The protesting farmers sat by and watched as a religious flag was put on in front of the red fort, what were people expecting? NOT being labelled religious fundamentalists? (Once again clearing the fact that I don’t believe the sikh community deserve a blame for this. Shitheads exist in every religion.)

The BJP MLA bit? Yeah, pretty sad if I’m being honest. I won’t equate it to being the same as persecution at a central level, because of my own experiences, but I’ve said once before on my main that I feel like BJP has the worst, And I mean THE WORST lot when it comes to local leaders. Leave Sikhophobia, I won’t even put Rape and Genocide supporting above them. They’ve even shit talked Budhhists and demanded Hindu women to be baby making machines.

Even a few CMs have proven to be mildly (albeit not anywhere NEAR as much of asshats as the MLAs) problematic if I remember. The only way I can sleep at night is knowing that people like these will never be in power, because they can only run their mouths, not the country. Even the Higher ups at NDA seem to be aware of that. Believe me, if someone like that ever comes to hold a prominent position, I’ll book both of us a one way ticket to the nopetopia.

All in all, while I feel like I can’t be blamed for not seeing the issue because actual headlines of Sikh persecution are unseen around here, because maybe its rather remote or unheard of on both national and local level for me, I’m always open to know more so that I know what kind of issues deserve light and to be brought to mainstream.

So please, do tell me more. I want to be aware of the whole cause and be of help if the situation is for real that dire.

PS I’m not a kid🗿