#you don't win here in what world do you think this moral high horse is doing anything to help the situation??

[dreamonminecraft]

God damn I had everyone starting shit today already blocked but I wish I could block people twice

[total-karma]

LISTEN i GET IT if you think sierra is weird or creepy or whatever I GET IT!!!! i also think that taking her weird and creepy actions at face value and examining them through a real-world context just... takes away the enjoyment of her as a character made for a show where the whole point is to cartoonishly exaggerate stereotypical character archetypes. she's nuts! she's batshit! the show itself IS AWARE OF THIS!! the show explicitly makes a point of saying 'this girl is not normal and her behaviours are not healthy.' the show is not celebrating or romanticising ANYTHING she does; it is quite literally making fun of the 'stalker fangirls' of the 2000s by dramatising their behaviours for a cartoon show in order to say: this is what you guys are like, and it's freaky and uncomfortable for everyone involved. her attachment to cody only stresses this even more - she is obsessed with the character who is known to be pretty ordinary, a little bit dorky & fairly awkward ON PURPOSE. he's not trent, who is a perfect charming charismatic writes-cheesy-romance-songs-on-his-guitar 2000s love interest, and he's not justin, who is implied to be the most attractive boy on the planet, and he's not even duncan or owen or harold who have big, bold personalities and character traits that draw others to them despite their flaws. he's literally just Some Guy. yet sierra attaches herself to him and acts like he's the most PERFECT boy on the planet - to exaggerate just how insane her behaviours are. cody is not special in any way whatsoever, but to sierra he is the Most Special Person to ever exist across all of history.

sierra is a weird, unhinged, chronically online stalker girl, absolutely!! nobody wants to deny this!!!! if she wasn't these things, she wouldn't be sierra! if she was 10% less creepy or insane, if she was 10% more well adjusted, if her obsessive attachment focused on chris rather than some random guy like cody, the critique of her unhealthy behaviours would fall flat completely because... they wouldn't be there. she HAS to make you uncomfortable in order to WORK AS A CHARACTER. she's not there to be likeable or relatable or even win the show. she's there to say: look, this is a type of person who exists, and we're exaggerating the things they do in order to make fun of them. she's honestly exceptionally well written and it sucks so bad to see people on here constantly trying to change parts of her character just because she does some things that are morally questionable or just plain weird. and she's entertaining! she's funny! she's actually decent at the game and she livens up the show with her interactions with literally all of the cast members! her alliance with heather is refreshing & enjoyable to watch, chris going from loving the attention and flattery she gives him to finding her extremely irritating is hilarious, and her being fed information about all the cast members by izzy for her fanblogs prior to joining the show is a great little detail. she has multiple fun storylines. she's fun! it's okay to find her fun!

"but the show downplays her sexual harassment of cody for a joke!11!!" the show also downplays: being eaten by sharks, being blown up with dynamite, falling off cliffs, falling out of planes and helicopters, consuming toxic substances, the effects of sleep deprivation, being hit in the head with heavy objects, being attacked by bears, being bitten by venomous animals, having all your awkward teenage fumbling aired on national television. it's a cartoon. i don't really know what you expect people to say: it's not real, cody isn't real, the trauma he suffered is not real, because he is not real. if you sympathise with him because you have suffered though something similar: that's totally fine! but don't get on a moral high horse because of it. plenty of sierra fans are also victims of similar behaviours, and we are not bad people simply because we enjoy her as a cartoon character.

[axylolo]

So I've started unfollowing everyone who is still fucking around about not voting blue in November. I've had it with this shit. You all think you're so cool with your moral superiority bullshit. Let me ask you something; what's your plan for if trump wins in November? Because I see a lot about how "Biden supports Genocide!" and "Harris is a cop!" and pretty much nothing about how not voting is going to fix ANYTHING in this country. Because the truth is, it's not. The truth is our political system is messy and dirty and awful and a lot of it is voting for someone who kind of sucks to prevent someone who is a NIGHTMARE from winning.

We have a two party system. That's a fact. It's shitty, but it's true, and not voting, or even putting a write in candidate, is not going to change it. Many people are working towards that change, but it's not here yet, so this election you've got to suck it up and vote.

And since this seems to be a sticking point; let's talk about Gaza for a second. Because I want to know, how do you think trump being elected will help Gaza? By all means, protest, donate, keep screaming from the rooftops about Gaza, it's an atrocity and as human beings we have to do everything in our power to stop it; but that does NOT include handing trump and the heritage foundation the keys to the kingdom so that they can enact their own genocide right here at home.

So fuck you and your privilege to sit at home on your high horse, refusing to vote while the rest of us are scrambling to prevent the country from descending into open fascism. I have been having almost daily panic attacks worrying about what will happen to me, to the people I love, to my community if trump is allowed to take office once more. I am terrified, and if you're not then you are either stupid or willfully blind.

And if you disagree with me? Fine. Block, unfollow, whatever. I don't want to see or hear from you. You are cowards and infants who refuse to learn that nuance exists in the world, and your giggling, smug refusal to paricipate may actually kill us. So fuck off.

[pebblysand]

i don't claim to have any novel, hot takes on this but i've been going through my 2023 tumblr archive to update my FAQs (linked in pinned post) and the sheer violence of those anons i was receiving last may from trans activists just for being a HP fan is baffling. it's funny how quickly you forget, or how you sit there and wonder if maybe, you overreacted a bit. in hindsight, i don't think i did. those were horrid.

i wrote a couple of pieces at the time (here and here) about how i felt these people (who send hate to strangers on the internet) were harming the cause, which to me, is very much stating the obvious. of course, they are harming the cause. you send people death threats for literally no reason and you sound insane, and thus cheapen the work of all and any activists out there who are supporting the same cause as you. that's how the right wins. by saying: look! these people are violent and insane! and getting away with harmful legislation to "combat" them.

but, i think what's interesting is that this isn't exclusive to trans rights. as we, on the left, have seen the right radicalise (and no, this is not only a US problem) there seems to be this tension that emerges in the question of: how do we react? because the fact of the matter is that whilst the act of sending strangers anonymous death threats on the internet is relatively harmless, the right has fallen into a habit of using increasingly violent methods to get their point across, some of which do work on the masses, the same way all authoritative governments work, by instilling fear.

and, i think, for a lot of people on the left (myself included) there is a real question as to whether we are ready to and/or should, be using similar methods. cancel culture and online death threats and all of these moralising exercises from people who claim a societal moral high ground, is an iteration of that. and, i believe that this is actually not an easy question to solve. because, just like on a playground, there are times when it is actually appropriate to hit back, there may be times where the use of violence and threats is justified. there are people who have been "cancelled" who... deserved it. JKR is probably first in line. and, i don't think that's a particularly shocking take.

i come from a country where most major societal advancements have been won through armed revolution and the spilling of blood, so i'm not someone who actually believes that peaceful protest will always get you where you want to be. sometimes, in the face of violence and oppression, violence has its place. and, i am not a trans person myself, but i can understand the outrage and anger you might feel as one, seeing the violence and the legislation out there, especially in certain american states, or in the uk. so, you see someone on the internet enjoying the work of someone who seems to be threatening your right to exist, and you want to respond in a way that is equally violent. i do see the logic. to be honest, when you look at the harm JKR is being accused of, sending death threats to people who enjoy her work may even seem tame.

at the same time, as i've said above, anyone with more than two brain cells can see that whatever these people are trying to do, aligning with the violence of the right and responding "in kind" is ridiculous. it's going nowhere. it's making other trans activists look crazy by association, because what the fuck are you doing sending death threats to people for writing fanfiction about a book? chill. get off your high horse and understand that we are all navigating the world in shades of grey. it goes beyond lunatic behaviour and is, again, reinforcing the right's legitimacy in imposing laws and sanctions that are preventing people from having basic human rights. just like when the right sends twitter death threats to and doxxes left-wing activists, we, on the left, look at them (rightfully) thinking they are insane and evil.

at the time this happened, i had a conversation with a friend of mine who basically said (i am paraphrasing) "don't use the words 'trans activist' to talk about these people. they are not trans activists, they are harming the cause, and it's hurting me to be grouped with them." so at the time, i didn't. but... i'm not going to lie, this comment really angered me and stuck with me, though. i didn't say anything at the time, because i was not in the mood to get into another argument (especially with a friend - and i kind of know you'll be reading this, and if you are, i'm sorry i didn't say these things to you at the time), but i felt like "hey, you're not on the receiving end of death threats from these people, you don't really get to tell me what to do."

and, now that time has passed, i think i know why i felt like that. because these people, sending death threats on the internet in support of this cause, are trans activists. not only do they identify as such, and act in favour and support of this cause, but also, i'm pretty sure i would agree with most of what they believe in. and, i think, for a lot of us on the left, it's very easy to distance ourselves from this violent fringe that has risen in the past few years, instead of looking at it for what it is, which is an active part of our political spectrum. i think distancing ourself from it helps us avoid the real question of: are we okay with using the right's methods to achieve our aims of protecting human rights?

obviously, in this debate, you also have to weigh in the fact that internet activism is a mostly fake. i'm pretty sure that beyond sending HP fans death threats on the internet, these people have, IRL, actually achieved nothing of substance in the fight for trans rights. which makes their existence and belonging to the movement even more frustrating because not only is their particular brand of activism harming other forms of left-wing activism, but it's not even a net positive. but they are part of this movement and i think recognising them as such is actually pretty important.

i say i don't have any novel takes on this debate because this is a recurring question for the left and it’s been so for decades, and i don't have a solution. i don't really know what my opinion is on these people and their methods, and i, too, am navigating shades of grey. there is a part of me that will always believe that the left should not, actually, respond in kind. ever. that we're better than that. but, should we be?

i think there are things that we believe in, and principles that we uphold, that do not and cannot support idiotic behaviour, such as sending strangers death threats on the internet, regardless of the fact that we are doing this to match the other side's energy. but, other types of more violent action? i don't know. i don't know where the line should be drawn. there is a difference between the potential, debatable legitimacy of armed revolution and, again, a fake form of internet activism which helps literally no one. but, i think we do need to recognise that these two ideas stem from the same root of matching the right blow for blow and using its methods to advance a cause. it is a form of activism, it's just not one that we like to think about.

[surplus-of-sarcasm]

Things My Characters Have Said

Ik I have an ask to answer, will get to it I promiseee! These quotes have been in my drafts and it's only now that I finally worked up the courage to post them!

🔹"No. I told you, that's not something I can get through. It's too advanced. It's hacking, not black magic."

🔹"It's not funny."

"A lot of people think my jokes are funny!"

"A lot of people are stupid."

🔹"Back off, big guy! I'm not scared of you!"

"So I take it you're shivering from excitement."

🔹"If there was a prize for having the world's most punchable face, I'm sure you'd win."

🔹"I'd rather have Ryan Reynolds narrating my internal monologue, but I'm too broke, so I'll just have to do it myself."

🔹"If the experience could possibly get better with the sluggish pace of the rom-com, it's worth mentioning the popcorn had dirty socks mixed with mouldy cheese for a flavour, with enough salt to cause hypertension as a nice aftertaste. "

🔹"So what's the plan?"

"I don't have a plan."

"But you're the smart one here, you must have a plan."

"Being the 'smart one' does not mean I come with a lifetime supply of plans in my pocket!"

🔹"I'm sorry my knife could not resist stabbing you. It needs better training."

🔹"Why aren't you answering me?"

"I'm busy."

"Busy doing what?"

"Ignoring you."

🔹"Your essay feels like a parental lecture. The same sentence being repeated over and over again, just with different words."

🔹*After accidentally getting high

"I'm not high!"

"I swear you are."

"I'm on the floor, not the ceiling! How is that high?"

🔹"Get off the dysfunctional moral high ground horse, please."

🔹"It's only 'illegal' if you're not doing it for the government."

🔹"Everyone who says boys don't know how to clean is a fool. Have you seen my brother's search history?"

🔹"Ah, Valentine's Day. More like, My Annual Reminder that I'm Still Single Day."

🔹"Okay, teenager, leather jacket and daddy issues. Where are the hordes of people swooning over me?"

(for the record these 2 characters do not fall in love)

🔹️ "You're not cool."

"I know, sweetheart. It's called being hot."

🔹"I'LL KILL YOU!"

"Well, my physics test results come out tomorrow, so by all means, go ahead."

🔹"Sometimes I wish I could IV some common sense into your bloodstream."

@feline17ff oc crack quotessss!