#Its worth adding that people dont stop having bigoted thoughts | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

minas-linkverse · 9 months

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When designing/writing characters that have certain traits/characteristics which in our current society may be a hot button topic (like being trans), how do you tackle making sure it’s not a Big Deal (ie that character’s dominate trait or only reason for being in the story) but also not brushing it under the rug (like what JK Rowling did with Dumbledore being gay)?

This topic is a little too complex for me to sufficently cover it in a tumblr ask+reply, and even if I could I would feel like it wasn't my place to speak for everyone.

I will attempt to give some advice, but consider this more of a starting off point than anything.

The main two things are research and improving yourself, I think. These two things go hand in hand to form a cycle that if you continue going through you will become someone who wont pull garbage bigotry on minorities.

What I mean is, that you have to research whatever group youre hoping to represent. Not just wikipedia or other articles, but find their own opinions. Things said by them. During that research you might get uncomfortable, confused, overwhelmed and maybe even angry.

That's because we are all subconciously bigoted one way or another. That's where improving yourself comes in. You will never be able to represent a group youre not a part of if you do not process the feelings that come up and deal with them. Subconcious bigtory is incredibly visible in writing. The reason someone like J.K ended up writing Dumbledore's sexuality the way she did, is because she never went through the cycle and learnt to be humble in the face of critique.

That gets me to another point, which is that you are allowed to and will make mistakes. Many weirdos online like to say you cant and will be cancelled forever, but if you are genuinely remorseful and show that and show youre listening... You can mess up. Its okay. People who want rep often also want to help.

Uhm... This is getting long, but to make clear what I mean, is that its very difficult to start, and there arent shortcuts... But you become someone better by the end of it. Be humble, find ways of learning that work for you, be kind and curious, and you might end up with so much more joy than just good writing. Life is better with more kinds of people, cultures and stories in it. I reccomend it.

#Ask #Uuuh this turned out to be a bit much haha #Its worth adding that people dont stop having bigoted thoughts #Its something you have to keep working on always #But once you get the cycle going #The wheel starts to roll easier #Harry potter mention #HP Mention

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chillerhjemmeisak · 7 years

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Can you write one about Yousana where Sana has to take care of Yousef and Elias (mostly Yousef) after they got into a fight? Thank you so much ❤

Here you go nonnie!

“Y'know… if both ofyou idiots knew how to look after yourselves this wouldn’t happen.”

“In my defence”,Yousef began, pulling the icepack from his face. “Elias startedit.”

Elias, where he layacross the couch opposite Yousef, groaned and threw his arms up tothe air. “Bro! Don’t rat me out to my sister!”

Yousef laughed slightlyas he settled back into his chair, making himself comfortable as Sanamoved around him, dabbing at the gashes scattered across his face.

“You’re both idiots”,Sana sighed, rolling her eyes. Yousef watched the concentration onher face as she cleaned up a particularly nasty cut above his eyebrowthat he was pretty sure was the result of a beer bottle. He couldn’treally remember though.

Maybe he was getting aconcussion.

Yousef’s thoughtsturned back to his girlfriend as she took out a large bandaid andplastered it to his face. Yousef winced slightly and quickly decidedto not inform Sana of his possible head injury; she’d probably kickhis arse twice as hard because of it.

“Why did you even getinto a fight in the first place?” she asked, her voicesignificantly softer this time as she looked down at Yousef with asmuch sympathy as she could muster.

Which wasn’t a lot.

Yousef shrugged,averting his eyes when Sana looked down into them, Elias alsoappeared to become uncharacteristically quiet.

Sana sat up straighterimmediately, her face falling into its usual stoich mask. “Serr.What happened?”

Yousef stared at hisnails nervously, Sana noted, something he only did when afraid toupset or anger Sana. Elias on the other hand, looked as though hewanted to speak, but had been silenced by Yousef’s reluctance.

“Elias!” Sana saidsharply, immediately drawing her brother’s attention. He lookedsomewhat like a deer caught in headlights under her gaze.

Sana attempted not tobristle with anger when Elias looked over he shoulder to Yousef, andat whatever he saw quickly settled back into his chair. “It wasnothing.”

“Fy faen”, Sanagrowled as she passive-aggressively turned to throw the medical kitback together. “If you wont speak to me then I wont speak to you.Both of you”, she added for effect.

It had the anticipatedreaction from Yousef, whose head shot up quickly and whose eyesbecame hard but somehow simaltaneously unsure.

Elias seemed to growimpatient and sighed loudly, fiddling with the cuffs of his jacket.“At the club… some guys were just trying to pick on Yousef.”

Sana knew he wasn’ttelling her the whole story. She turned to Yousef in confusion. “Theywere picking on you?”

Yousefshrugged reluctantly.

“There’smore”, Sana stated simply. It wasn’t a question.

Yousef’ssilence was all the answer she required.

“Theseassholes were just…”, Sana turned back to her brother as hehesitated. “They were making comments. About you.”

Sana’seyebrows drew together in confusion. “Me?”

“Yeah”,Elias said firmly. Sana could sense that her brother was slowlygrowing angry the more he thought about the confrontation. “Theystarted saying shit to Yousef, about how you were probably areally… ughhh”, he paused to grit his teeth, “a really goodlay because you’re so oppressed. Or… something like that. They wereaccusing him of having a ton of wives and like… kidnapping andabusing you and stuff because of the, er, well your hijab. Theyassumed he was oppressing you, I guess.”

Sanacouldn’t remember the last time she saw her overly-confident, oftencocky older brother, nervous. But the way he diverted his eyes whenshe looked his way made her frown. Sana snorted after a moment ofsilence.

“It’snothing new. And it’s nothing worth getting into a fight over.”

Yousefsat up hastily at Sana’s words. “Of course it is! It’s ridiculous!”

Sanasmiled but it was void of any real happiness. “Racists tend to be,Yousef. Just… forget them.”

“No”,Yousef said firmly, standing so he was level with his girlfriend.“No, I don’t want to. I forget and ignore a lot of the crap youdeal with Sana; I ignore the looks people give you for your hijab, Iingore the sneers when your call to prayer starts, I ignore all thedirty glares I get when I’m with you. I ignore a lot of it. But notthis. I won’t sit around while people reduce my girlfriend tosome stereotypical, racist caracature of Muslim culture. No way.”

Sanasighed softly, obviously touched by Yousef’s words. “Yousef…there will always be people saying that stuff. And if they aren’tsaying it then they’re thinking it. We can’t do anything about that.”

Eliaspiped up, standing to join Yousef both literally and metaphorically.“Yousef’s right, Sana. I would have kicked his ass if he didn’tstep up and defend you, and honestly if you don’t challenge thesepeople then they get to walk around thinking they’re right andthey’re entitled.”

“Eitherway, maybe confronting his bigotry was a good idea, but letting itget physical wasn’t. It never is.”

Yousefand Elias shared a meek, obviously embarassed look at her words.Eventually Elias shrugged. “Oh well, when people say stuff likethat they’re asking to get punched.”

“Andby punching them, you get injuries like that”, Sana said, smakingElias lightly across the cheek where a clear bruise was blossoming.“Just… be careful next time okay? And… I appreciate what youdid but try not to let it get to you. I don’t let it get to me.”

“That’sa lie, Sana”, Yousef said gently as he moved towards her, takingher hands in his and squeezing them softly. “You internalise all ofit and you dont defend yourself, you just relive it everytime youclose your eyes. And even if I can’t stop people from saying orthinking bigoted, racist things against you then I can sure as hellsleep better knowing that I put them in their place and made sure younever walk away regretting that you stayed silent. If you have to besilent then that’s fine. But I’ll be your voice if you cant, and I’lldefend you with everything I have in the face of racist idiots.Okay?”

Sanalaughed softly, her cheeks heating up slightly as she nodding, hereyes dropping to the floor bashfully. “Okay. Just no morepunching.”

Yousefnodded, grinning widely. “I promise.”

#ask #emma answers #skam #my writing #yousana #sanasef #yousef acar #sana bakkoush #elias bakkoush #oneshot

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cynthiajayusa · 5 years

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Eric Porterfield is Blind—Literally and Figuratively

Eric Porterfield is blind, literally. According to his website, Blind Faith Ministries, he lost his eyesight in 2006.

But Porterfield is also figuratively blind, in that he apparently is either ignorant of, or refuses to see, the horrifically violent racism perpetuated thought history by the Ku Klux Klan.

Let me back up. Porterfield is a Republican delegate in West Virginia who, according to the Charleston Gazette-Mail, “went into an extended diatribe supporting legislation that would have enabled LGBT-discrimination in cities that have passed ordinances expressly criminalizing it,” during a Feb. 6 committee meeting.

So, spoiler alert, Porterfield doesn’t like gay people. He definitely wants to see LGBTQ people get discriminated against and wants that discrimination to be legal.

His reasoning, however, is pretty ignorant.

“The LGBT is the most socialist group in this country,” he said on Feb. 6. “They do not protect gays. There are many gays they persecute if they do not line up with their social ideology.”

First of all, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know what “socialist” means. Even as a member of “the LGBT,” I don’t understand what he’s referring to.

Secondly, his claim that “the LGBT” doesn’t protect gays is odd. First of all, it’s not like he WANTS gays protected. Secondly, his proof of gay-on-gay persecution is Milo Yiannopoulos, a right-wing provocateur who is an enemy to the equality and justice that LGBTQ people want and deserve.

Porterfield pointed out that when Yiannopoulos went on tour “the LGBT stormed that building and did $200,000 worth of damage because he didn’t line up with their ideology. He is apparently referencing a protest at UC Berkeley in 2017, though reports I have read put the damage at half that.

Porterfield then said, “We cannot allow discriminatory bigots to determine how our citizens are going to live.” OH, THE IRONY.

People were upset about Porterfield’s anti-LGBTQ comments and West Virginia Democrats called him out. Thankfully, Porterfield was able to talk to the Charleston Gazette-Mail on Feb. 8 and smooth everything over.

“The LGBTQ is a modern day version of the Ku Klux Klan, without wearing hoods with their antics of hate,” Porterfield said, adding that gays were a “terrorist group” who were persecuting him.

There are many things wrong with this, but let’s start at the obvious. Porterfield, a white man, speaks of the KKK as if they are a thing of the past, when not only does the KKK still exist, but the white supremacy that fueled their terrorism against black people in America is currently shared by the president of the United States, FFS. The reign of racist terror in the United States never went away. Yes, cross burnings are a rare occurrence now, but racism has morphed into a more institutional framework that systematically oppresses people of color. White people don’t have to live with this day-to-day, and thus many don’t see it. Even “woke” white people are often oblivious to how long tentacles of racism are.

The KKK were, and are, terrorists. Full stop. They murdered black people and drove them out of cities and neighborhoods. They burned churches. Calling LGBTQ people equivalent in any way to the KKK is nonsense. LGBTQ people are not murdering people who don’t agree that we deserve full and equal protection under the law. This comparison both demonizes LGBTQ people and minimizes the KKK’s past and present history as a terrorist group.

Porterfield posted on Twitter, that since his comments “members of the LGBTQ have exercised hate crimes and threatened my safety.”

I do not condone threats or acts of violence, but please spare me the “LGBTQ people are so intolerant of my intolerance” act. When an official in power threatens to hurt LGBTQ people with legislation that would strip them of their rights or block their access to rights that official always seems to be surprised that LGBTQ people might react to that in a negative way. That some would even resort to posting nasty things on the internet or to name-calling. The audacity!

I have read comments online that attack Porterfield for being blind and for being overweight.

These comments are dumb. What he looks like and what his physical abilities happen to be have nothing to do with his ignorant and hateful attitudes toward LGBTQ people. There is no reason to meet his bigotry with ableism or sizeism.

You want to attack Porterfield? Then attack him at the ballot box. Support his challenger in the next election. Support Fairness West Virginia at fairnesswv.org or the state’s ACLU organization at acluwv.org. Join like-minded voters and work to elect people who not only understand the difference between “LGBTQ” and “KKK,” but understand why it really, really matters.

source https://hotspotsmagazine.com/2019/02/26/eric-porterfield-is-blind-literally-and-figuratively/ from Hot Spots Magazine https://hotspotsmagazin.blogspot.com/2019/02/eric-porterfield-is-blindliterally-and.html

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demitgibbs · 5 years